A warm & fuzzy new ebook you can, and should, take to bed with you.
Because it’ll hug you back.
If this writing thing is so hard, which is what we hear all the time from writing teachers and tired old sages (me included on both counts) and around the cookie table at writing workshops, why are so many of us so utterly devoted to it?
Masochism? Fantasy? Delirous self-delusion?
Why does Jim Frey refer to writing fiction as bleeding from our foreheads?
Why are so many writers alcoholics — cause or effect? Inquiring relatives want to know… — or worse, suicidal?
How does The Writing Dream survive all this darkness?
Truth is, writing a story is fun. Fulfilling. Seductive. Vicarious. And impressive when it works.
It’s all the stuff surrounding it that challenges us, and on so many levels.
Getting it right. Making it great. Finding someone who cares. Knowing how to play the agent game. Keeping your chin up against all those odds and those chilly one-line rejection letters that tell you that your manuscript “just doesn’t meet our needs at this time.”
Yeah, I wanna kill ’em, too.
What’s Inside
Warm hugs, that’s what.
Over the course of 30 months and nearly 500 posts on this site, a handful have departed from my usual craft focus and sought to bring light to the occasional darkness that accompanies the nametag of Writer.
Over 30 of them have been buffed up and assembled in Warm Hugs for Writers.
These have consistently been the most responded to and best appreciated of the content here on Storyfix, which is why I’m thinking having them all in one place is a good thing. Sort of like a favorite pillow, or having a wise old bestselling author around, someone who’s been there, felt that.
In addition, a handful of guest posts from other writers who share their writing journey are included, with an absolutely killer Foreword (itself worthy 0f a stand-alone ebook) by writing workshop legend and bestselling craft author James N. Frey.
Yeah, that guy.
To get a copy either as a Kindle ebook (exclusive) or as a downloadable PDF, see the middle column under the book cover and click on either the Kindle link or the ADD TO CART (for the PDF) link. Or do it right here.
A January Promotion to Kickstart This Thing
If you buy either version of Warm Hugs for Writers this month (January 2012), I’ll send you any of my three novels available on Kindle (“Darkness Bound“… “The Seminar” or “Bait and Switch“)… OR… a PDF copy of one of my bestselling craft ebooks (“Get Your Bad Self Published”… “Story Structure Demystified”… or “The Three Dimensions of Character”).
Just send me your Kindle or e-Junkie receipt (to storyfixer@gmail.com), tell me which bonus novel or ebook you’d like, and I’ll fire it off to you within a day or so. (This is manual on my part, so please be patient… I might be at the gym or my therapist’s office.)
So let there there be hugs.
The warm and fuzzy and motivational kind.
We all need ’em from time to time.
21 Responses
A new book! My bank account is in overdraft, so I’ll miss the January bonus, darn it. But I’ll be back on Feb. 1 (payday) to get this book. I can’t wait to read it. “Story Engineering” has turned into a must-have-handy on my writer’s bookshelf (both in paper and ebook), and I bet this one will end up there, too.
Larry
Thanks! I read Story Engineering. Very helpful. I decided to write a business fiction (I know a bit of an oxymoron) and had been so wrapped up in the education dimension, it was flat and I was stuck halfway even after mapping all the scenes.
I stumbled on your deconstruction of Avatar. That movie fascinated me to write a business book on Respect (I see you). Anyway, wish me luck, though luck has nothing to do with it. Your structure ideas resonate and I’m reworking and newly energized. Thanks.
I just bought “Warm Hugs” — but no need to send me my freebie, Larry, b/c I have’em all, I’m proud to say.
I will download it on my Kindle right now and start reading. Thanks for making this available to us — it’ll be a rewarding experience, I know.
Happy New Year!
The foreword alone is worth the five bucks. Wow–I wish I had written that. I forgot who said it, but I love the quote, “I write because I can’t NOT write.”
I wrote a little book about an incident in my family history and gave it, complete with some vintage photos, to my 83-year-old dad for Christmas. He read it immediately and has called me every day since to thank me.
That catch of emotion in his voice? That’s what does it for me. I’m sure there’s nothing like the high of getting your first paycheck from a publisher, but this feels pretty darn good. Nourishment for the soul of a writer.
Writers need support and encouragement along their difficult journey of bringing a novel to life. The journey is so full of negativity, criticism, and heartache. The writing community has needed this book for a long time. I know this will help countless people.
This sounds great! Thanks! Couldn’t we all do with a hug and some kind, positive encouragement?
Heh, I might go for “Get Your Bad Self Published” considering what triage revealed about my book in editing stage. It might fly mainstream – more money later, or smaller but more frequent monthly royalty checks from an e-publisher is a serious question for me.
I have Amazon Prime, so I’m borrowing it first till I near the end of the month and see if I still have any money left or it’s all gone into contingency necessities. Pretty short on cash right now for the top of the month.
Couldn’t wait to read it though. That’s just too awesome a topic. Sounds like good reading for those days the chronic fatigue leaves me too foggy to work on editing.
But it’ll be worth hanging on to my budget to get it in order to get one of your others along with it. Your deals are always good.