F.E. Bedford

Visit my Author Site as febedford.wix.com/author to learn more about me and my current projects.

[nimblesnotebook-blog]

Word Tracking Spreadsheets - These sheets also have sections for character and plot information.

[fyp-science]

Man cannot remake himself without suffering, for he is both the marble and the sculptor.

Alexis Carrel (via fyp-science)

[thewritershandbook]

[thatdiabolicalfeminist]

I’m really uncomfortable with stories where one person is like, really wary and Doesn’t Trust Anyone/Believe in Love because they’ve Been Hurt Before, and their love interest’s way of Teaching Them to Trust Again is to just utterly ignore their boundaries.

Especially if whenever our prickly protagonist calls them on it, the love interest shames them and insists it’s for the protagonists’ own good, because They Need to Learn to Trust Again.

That’s so fucked up.

After a bad situation, especially a bad relationship, it’s completely understandable and normal to be afraid of losing your autonomy again, of being railroaded and having your boundaries ignored like they were before. It’s completely understandable to be cynical about people’s intentions and to not want to fall in love when your love for someone has been weaponized against you before.

And the right way for someone to earn your trust should involve them taking the time to listen to and respect your boundaries and be there for you in a way that doesn’t threaten your autonomy. Someone who deserves your trust and love won’t try to bully or manipulate or coerce you, even “for your own good!”

Someone who wants to earn your trust and love should be willing to prove that they can be trustworthy. If it’s too much work for them - which is fine! - they shouldn’t be pursuing a relationship with someone who doesn’t feel safe without that work.

It’s not romantic for someone to decide that their interest in someone gives them the right to do absolutely anything, however inappropriate, that might result in a relationship. It’s really gross that we get sold this idea that it’s “romantic” to overrule people’s boundaries and autonomy, as long as your goal is to be in a relationship with them.

It’s not romantic. Stories where this happens are not good love stories. They’re stories of people afraid to trust, having their choices taken away from them yet again.

[writingdotcoffee]

[nanowrimo]

11 Steps to Check Off Before Self-Publishing

Curious about striking out on your own, and tackling the world of self-publishing? Miral Sattar, CEO of NaNoWriMo sponsor Bibliocrunch, shares her 11-step checklist for self-publishing success:

Interested in self-publishing that NaNo novel you just spent all month editing? Before you begin, I’ve compiled a handy check-list that no self-published author should do without. From defining your goals, to remembering to convert your files, to making a marketing plan: this list covers it all. So go out there in the world with your book, and good luck!

Define your goals

Read More

[wordsnquotes]

You are personally responsible for becoming more ethical than the society you grew up in.

Eliezer Yudkowsky (via yourestyourust)

[did-you-know]

And this is how you pick a lock.  

Source

[nanowrimo]

Writing your novel is a marathon, not a sprint. Self-care’s tantamount to your writing—you won’t go far on an empty physical, emotional, or mental tank.   Spend some time today reading a book, going for a walk, grabbing coffee with a friend, or finding another way to recharge. Feed the body, feed the soul, feed the muse.

Courtney Alameda is the Bram Stoker Award-nominated author of Shutter, and the forthcoming novel Pitch Dark (June 2017). A veteran bookseller and librarian, she now writes full-time and lives in Utah with her husband.

Writer’s Care Packages from Camp NaNoWriMo and We Need Diverse Books.

(via nanowrimo)

[therumpus]

Like, if I’m watching an action movie, and it’s the end, and the hero comes out of the wreckage of the destroyed building, and there are clouds of dust and destruction billowing behind her, and she’s all like, “I just wrecked this town and killed the terrorists and where’s my bourbon?” The credits start to roll, and here’s what I’m thinking: What if someone a few blocks away was on his way to tell his wife that he’s been cheating on her and wants to leave her, and then buildings started falling down around him? How would that alter his actions and feelings? That’s the story I want to tell. That ripple effect that violence, trauma, betrayal, horror, can have on the people who were before just standing on the sidelines. And it doesn’t have to be as dramatic as a terrorist attack. Sometimes the everyday horrors and traumas can be just as devastating, if not more so.

The Saturday Rumpus Interview: Tara Laskowski. (via therumpus)

[mistressvelma-deactivated201612]

Bad Writing Advice

Sometimes, writing advice that works for some (or a lot) of people might be bad for you.

I can remember once that a writer whose advice I’ve followed in the past (because she truly is excellent) said something along the lines of, “only write one story at a time.”

Well, I took it and got so bored with one story that it literally took me seven years to write and it still isn’t done.

For me, that advice was toxic.

Before that, I would crank out five fanfics at a time.

The lesson: writing advice is helpful, but take everything with a grain of salt. What works for others might not work for you.

[commander-ledi]

fun fact! google image search allows you to search for images that you are legally allowed to use for example as textures for your art or as assets for your blogs and websites

[anexperimentallife]

I keep forgetting that not everyone knows about this.

[febedford]

Very important tool!

[terf-destroyer-inator-5000]

[mexi-doodler]

DUDE

[nine-touched]

I thought I was the only one with this problem, I’m just as bad lmfaoooo you should see me with leather journals…

[fixyourwritinghabits]

The struggle.

[thewritewire]

[febedford]

Well... it’s official. I AM A WRITER!

I am mere WEEKS away from graduating with my MFA in Creative Writing and I am SO excited. I’m a little nervous, too, but this program has been absolutely fantastic. I have learned so much and I’m SO ready to apply what I’ve learned here.

You better look out, World, because here I come!

[lianabrooks]

You Will Be Rejected

Not: You might be rejected.

Not: You’ll have a few rejections.

Not Even: Well, if you’re only mid-list worthy you’ll have at least twenty rejections.

You want to get published? Fine. You need to accept that every single day of your career will have rejection.

Everything you write will be rejected.

Every book you publish will be hated.

Every character you love will be degraded.

Every hour you put in – the blood and sweat and tears – will be dismissed as “…talentless hack who doesn’t know how to string a sentence together.”

Millions of people will never read your book because they can’t read at all.

Millions of people will never read your book because they don’t speak the same language as you.

Millions of people will never read your book because they hate your genre.

Millions of people will never read your book because they don’t like fe/male authors.

Millions of people will never read your book because they didn’t get into it.

Billions of people will reject your work. They will mock you. They will dismiss you. They will talk trash about you.

You. Will. Be. Rejected.

It doesn’t matter. You aren’t writing for the millions. You are writing for the one.

The one person who tells you your book made them cry because it spoke to them.

The one person who tells you your book changed the way they saw the world.

The one person who tells you your book was the only light in a dark time.

The one person who tells you your book inspired them to be something more.

You are writing for them.

They will wish they could take your characters to prom.

They will read your book after their mother’s funeral.

They will curl up in bed with your book on a cold night after their first real break up.

They will turn to those pages time and again to revisit the places they love.

You’re going to get rejected. And you’re going to take that punch square on the chin and not ever back down because you know who you are writing for. Because you know it takes more than a pretty font to make a book work, you have to be willing to take the rejections. You have to go into this knowing you will fail a million times with a million readers, and that it doesn’t matter because you aren’t writing for them.

Keep your chin up. You are someone’s favorite author even if they don’t know it yet.

[writingdotcoffee]

Not Quite Dead: A Writer’s Guide to Serious Injuries and Calamities

Sometimes I want to make it seem like a character might die — but hey, guess what! She makes it! A lot of fiction writers, especially those who write fantasy, science fiction, thrillers, and …