On Purple Prose, Plagiarism, and Other Things

The Rambling Inner Monologue of a Freelance Creator

[ladystormnightfire]

Living Intentionally

So, as you may have guessed, I haven’t had much luck with keeping up with my blogging. Business is booming and I have a number of projects underway, so blogging has fallen by the wayside.

However, I discovered over the course of my work as a ghostwriter that setting broader goals, such as, “I’m going to blog more often,” rather than specific goals, such as, “I’m going to blog every week,” can be just as beneficial. It’s called living intentionally, and that’s the approach I’ll be taking.

For anyone else having trouble keeping up with your lofty new year’s goals, there’s still hope. Don’t focus on the small failures and let them dictate the tone of your year; set an intention and let that be your guide.

[thesuperheroesnetwork]

Texts From Superheroes

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Illustration by Fabiola Lara

Everyone has a role to play in stopping sexual assault. Whether you do something drastic or simple, helping a friend or an absolute stranger can make a big difference.

Being a good bystander is not as hard as it might seem, and there are tons of ways to do it. To prove it to you, we’re teaming up with It’s On Us (@its-on-us) and Tumblr’s Post It Forward (@postitforward) to illustrate all the amazing ways people have stepped up for their friends.

Over the next few weeks, we’ll be collecting your true stories of successful bystander intervention and will be asking you to create art that helps illustrate how someone can step in to stop sexual assault. From January 24 through January 31, we’ll be highlighting some of those submissions right here.

Want to participate and inspire others to step in? Share a story of when you or someone you know intervened.

You can also share your own story as an illustration or submit an illustration of one of the bystander stories collected by It’s On Us by January 23 for a chance to have your art featured on Tumblr. Submit here!

To learn more about It’s On Us and to join the movement to end sexual assault visit ItsOnUs.org.

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A wonderful partnership, a great cause. Continue taking care of each other, Tumblr.  

[ladystormnightfire]

New Year, New Me!

Hi, there! My name is Chelle Truman, writer, artist, editor, cook, nerd and mom extraordinaire! I’m the sole proprietor of MVT Art & Editing Services (which you can find on Facebook for all your art, editing and writing needs, discuss orders via PM) and I have been meaning to start blogging regularly for approximately forever, and I just haven’t gotten around to it. Too many distractions, too little time, and it just took until I got myself organized to get it going.

No, seriously. I’m organized, now. I even made myself a Quest Tracker. (Did I mention I was a nerd?)

The new year is here and I, like most people I know, am happy to give 2016 the metaphorical boot and move into fresh, new territory. With that (for me, at least) comes personal and professional development and improvement – in the familiar form of New Year’s Resolutions! And I’d like to share them with you all, in case you’d like to steal them.

Professional New Year’s Resolution #1: Write a combined total of at least 10,000 words per week.

Between my blogs (which all get a slightly tweaked version of the same post per week, see below in PNYR2), my novel, my clients, and my business and personal social media, it shouldn’t be too difficult to make this one happen. I’m well on my way to hitting the mark for this week already. But, I’ll also be working on some short stories, poems, and freelance articles to fill the void when needed. Be sure to stay tuned for new work and new posts!

PNYR #2: Update ALL blogs, business and personal social media accounts at least once per week.

The blogs (there are four, total) will all have a similar, if not the same, post. I write them beforehand and tweak them as needed. I’m doing really well on this resolution, and that makes me obscenely happy. I have certain days I would ideally do each one on (eg blogging on Wednesdays), and that’s not exactly working out, but I am getting them done. That’s what counts. Right? Right.

PNYR #3: Weekly batch uploads to my portfolio sites, including deviantArt.

These will be both commissioned and non-commissioned work, along with the (drawing, definitely; writing, maybe) results from PNYR4. This way, both fans and new clients can see what I’m capable of. One notable caveat: All ghost-written work longer than a blog post/article will be uploaded as an excerpt, without a title out of respect for my clients. Ghost-written blogs and articles will be linked if published, and/or uploaded as a .pdf.

PNYR #4: Daily writing and drawing exercises to keep the creative juices flowing.

I have enough prompts to get me through the end of 2018, and I fully intend to do every single one. It’s fun, it’s stimulating, and even on days that I don’t have the energy or inspiration to write or draw, if I can just eke out these little bits, I feel like I’ve accomplished something. The writing prompts for this year are linked above, but the 2016 drawing prompts are a compilation of different challenge images, with the repeating ones crossed out. Do you want a consolidated list of the prompts I’m using? Let me know in the comments!

I also have a vague plan to get the MVT website up and running by mid-year, but I’m hesitant to make that one a formal resolution. There’s still a lot of work to be done on that, and I have a lot of work ahead of me as it is.

As you can see in the Quest Tracker above, I have a number of personal NYRs, too. I want to read at least one book per month, and I want to complete at least one non-commissioned work of art, written or visual, every month (prompts notwithstanding). I’m getting the family in on the act with some weekly and monthly challenges geared toward time together, too. 

But my favorite personal NYR is my exercise regimen. I found these fantastically nerdy “River Tam” and "Mulan" workouts by Darebee (there are TONS of other characters available if Firefly or Disney just aren’t your thing) and this “Harry Potter” (drinking game-style!) workout, and I’ve fallen in love with them. They’re super fun, and they work.

So, now you know what I’ll be doing this year. The question is, what are YOU doing to change your lifestyle in 2017? I’d love to hear your NYRs in the comments!

(P.S. Want an editable Quest Tracker template to make your own? Let me know! If I get 10 likes, I’ll make one for you guys to download! They make excellent chore charts for kiddos, too!)