A Writer's Journey

My Facebook Page is up!

Nat Russo July 19, 2013Facebook, How-To, Process, Publishing, Reference Books, Writing 2 Comments

It’s been said “if you build it, they will come.” Well, I decided to put that to the test!

If you’ve enjoyed the blog and would appreciate smaller-sized content that I don’t post here or on Twitter, I invite you to join me on my new Facebook author page: Nat Russo – Author. Please head on over and click the “Like” button for me. It will likely inspire me to continue producing quality content. But if nothing else it will give me a much-needed ego boost! 🙂

For some added incentive, I submit this picture of a skull on black…for no other reason than I like it…oh, and I write about people who play with dead things. What’s a little necromancy between friends?

Smiley says “Like Nat’s Facebook page…or else.”

The Importance of Stepping Away

Nat Russo June 30, 2013Disney, Health, Process, Writing 10 Comments

[Update 03/05/2016: This was one of the articles I migrated from the old blog site. Some of the formatting zigged when it should have zagged. I’ve fixed it. Also, I did some additional editing. Why? Because I write gooder now. 🙂 ]

I’ve been absent for several weeks, but let me assure you…it was by design. Those of you who follow me on Twitter know that I post a Tweet every couple of weeks that reads as follows:

Sometimes you just need to step away for a while.

As I prepare for at least two more weeks of hiatus, I’d like to delve a little deeper into that Tweet.

Look out, mouse! Here I Come!

The Man Who Lived

Nat Russo April 20, 2013Health, Weight Loss 12 Comments

How many hours do we sit in front of a keyboard, going over our prose in painstaking detail, tweaking the minutiae of plot, characterization, and setting?

How many hours do we spend doing something about our health and wellness?

I bet the answer to the first question is a larger number. I know it was for me, but that’s no longer the case.

I’d like to tell you a story about a person who was dying. That person is me.
Read More

The Cascade of Talandri

Nat Russo April 18, 2013Fantasy, Flash, Writing Leave a Comment

I’ve been getting a lot of requests lately from people who would like to see samples of my writing. Like most writers, I feel a certain amount of fear when it comes to sharing the material I write. Having never published officially, I guess I’m lacking that psychological “stamp of approval” we all need at the beginning of our careers.

I’ve decided to share a piece of flash fiction I wrote for this years annual Lascaux Flash contest. I didn’t win…for that matter I didn’t even place…but, for better or worse, this is a sample of my work. I tend to write about dark subjects, and this is no departure from that habit.

The contest is simple: Look at a piece of art (supplied by Lascaux) and use it as a writing prompt. This is the picture they gave us:

As I stared at this beautiful picture, an image of a waterfall…a cascade…entered my mind. What follows is the resulting story, titled The Cascade of Talandri.

If you like it, or have any questions/comments, please leave me a comment in the comments section. I’d love to hear your opinions/critiques! It’s difficult to tell a story in 250 words or less, and I had to make some word-choice sacrifices, but that’s the truth with any piece of flash.

I hope you enjoy.

[Edit: I should point out, since I didn’t make this clear earlier, this was my first official attempt at Flash. My typical medium is novel-length fiction, with some excursions into short stories when I’m taking a character for a test drive.]

Very Inspiring Blogger Award

Nat Russo April 13, 2013Awards 7 Comments

My fellow bloggers and writers +Katherine Vucicevic and +Jasveena Prabhagaran have been kind enough to nominate me for a Very Inspiring Blogger award! I am both humbled and honored.

There are five rules I have to follow to accept this award. They are as follows:

Display the award logo on my blog.
State SEVEN facts about myself.
Link back to the folks who nominated me.
Nominate FIFTEEN other bloggers who deserve this award.
Notify each of the nominees.

Read on for my acceptance post!

Should Writers Follow the Rules?

Nat Russo April 7, 2013Basics, Publishing, Writing 31 Comments

There’s a commonly held belief among new writers that the rules are made to be broken. I agree to an extent, but if you’re an unpublished writer you break the rules at your own risk. Those of you who follow me on Twitter (@NatRusso) know how I love my “writetip” autotweets. Here’s another one of my favorites:

Don’t break a rule until you understand it. Learn the rules of grammar…then break them like a pro. But start with learning.

Continue past the jump to discover how this applies to not only grammar.

Can Anyone be a Writer?

Nat Russo March 31, 2013Basics, Process, Writing 58 Comments

[Updated March 19, 2015]

Those of you who follow me on Twitter know that I have a schedule of writing “tips” that I tweet semi-regularly. They often spark thoughtful conversations on the craft, which is one of the reasons I started them to begin with. But there is one tweet in particular that I receive no end of grief for publishing:

Writing is a learned craft, not a mystical gift from the universe. You can learn. Practice. Read. Write. Read some more. Write! #writetip

That sounds innocent enough, doesn’t it? Read on to feel my pain…

Anatomy Of A Love Scene: A Guest Post By Laura Oliva

Nat Russo March 23, 2013Guest Posts, How-To, Writing 2 Comments

“Why should I be ashamed to describe what nature was not ashamed to create?” -Pietro Aretino

Have you ever read a love scene that just didn’t work?

What did you notice most about it? Did it read like an electrician’s manual? Did the characters suddenly morph into completely different people? Was the prose stilted, or conversely, so flowery and over-the-top it made you snort? Do you live in mortal fear of making these mistakes in your own writing?

Love scenes are scary to write. There’s so much that can go wrong, a lot of people choose to bypass them altogether. Well, I’m here to tell you: you can write a love scene. Hell, with a little work, you can even write a good one.

Using Twitter Effectively: Part 10 of 10 – Inactivity

Nat Russo March 8, 2013How-To, Twitter, Writing 22 Comments

We’ve finally arrived! Welcome to Part 10 of a 10-part series on Using Twitter Effectively. We’ve covered all the dos and most of the don’ts, but one don’t remains:

Lack of activity.

This one is simple, so we’ll keep it short and to the point.
Read More

Using Twitter Effectively: Part 9 of 10 – Being Antisocial

Nat Russo March 7, 2013How-To, Twitter, Writing 2 Comments

If you’ve been following this series, then over the last 3 days you’ve discovered the evils of Auto-DMs, the tediousness of people who tweet their shopping lists, and the dark side of Auto-Tweets.

Today I’d like to take us one step further and talk about antisocial behavior and how it can <ahem> harm your efforts to build a writer’s platform.

My Facebook Page is up!

Like this:

The Importance of Stepping Away

Read More

Like this:

The Man Who Lived

Like this:

The Cascade of Talandri

Like this:

Very Inspiring Blogger Award

Like this:

Should Writers Follow the Rules?

Like this:

Can Anyone be a Writer?

Like this:

Anatomy Of A Love Scene: A Guest Post By Laura Oliva

Like this:

Using Twitter Effectively: Part 10 of 10 – Inactivity

Like this:

Using Twitter Effectively: Part 9 of 10 – Being Antisocial

Like this:

Share:

Like this:

Share:

Like this:

Share:

Like this:

Share:

Like this:

Share:

Like this:

Share:

Like this:

Share:

Like this:

Share:

Like this:

Share:

Like this:

Share:

Like this: