June 21 2018

A Few of My Favorite AuthorTubers

This is in no way a complete list of the AuthorTubers on YouTube, but these are a few I have watched for years and a few I have recently discovered. I will sneak back in and add more as I come across them because this will become a resource for all of us. So you might want to bookmark it, or just subscribe to the channels you really like and want to see more of in the future. So, in no particular order, here is the list with links to their channels:

1) WordNerds (USA & Canada):
https://www.youtube.com/user/YAWordNerds
2) Alexandra Van Horn (ThePatchworkNerd) (Minnesota?):
https://www.youtube.com/user/ThePatchworkNerd
3) Kim Chance (Michigan):
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtcDmM2bgezD0c95Y38OAcg
4) Kristen Martin (Houston, Texas):
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYyy_hiZRaSLGLOn62Nc4AA
5) Vivien Reis (Jacksonville, Florida):
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmBw2VslVxiCHZHMCKWSJpQ
6) Tamara Woods (Hawaii):
https://www.youtube.com/user/pimptwoo
7) Kate Cavanaugh:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrE_yfPzL-aGQtk80lF_Khw
8) Joanna Penn (The Creative Penn):
https://www.youtube.com/user/thecreativepenn
9) Ben Sanders
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC41rwV3Nv27UCnlsZ3FGeHg
10) Coffee Reading Writing:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCz3BpeMOAa5hpLUDaiO-egg
11) Jessi Elliott:
https://www.youtube.com/user/LifeOfaTeenageWriter
12) Jenna Moreci:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCS_fcv9kBpDN4WWrfcbCrgw
13) Natalia Leigh (Littleton, Colorado):
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDnWB3tgu-Nu4aqoI50Cd1Q
14) Mandi Lynn (Willington, Connecticut):
https://www.youtube.com/user/mandilynnVLOGS
15) ShaelinWrites (Canada?):
https://www.youtube.com/user/ShaeTheWordNerd/
16) Ava Jae (bookishpixie):
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEzkc9WE7mHodfO2L90Q28w
17) Chris Fox:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCu6RYg6_-pTQxLVq3Fv6lYg
18) Ellen Brock (Editor):
https://www.youtube.com/user/KeytopServices
19) The Self Publishing Formula (Mark Dawson)
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5Qu8GvA0lUm3GmzBqmmfeg
20) Holly Davis (WriteHollyDavis) (Chicago, IL)
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5Qu8GvA0lUm3GmzBqmmfeg

I just know I must be leaving a bunch out. I told you, I watch way too much YouTube, but theoretically, most of it qualifies as personal development or learning about the craft of writing. I hope if you are a writer or want to be a writer, that you will watch some of these great people putting out tons of writing advice and sharing it with the world for free.

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February 22 2018

On the Way to Confidence

The year is more than six weeks gone and I am asking myself how my one word for the year is going. For those who are new to this site, this year I chose the word CONFIDENCE to guide me through this year. I don’t really feel like I exude confidence yet or anything. Maybe I never will. I don’t think of myself when I hear the word confident, it just isn’t who I am. But I am working on changing that, one step at a time. So since I have let six weeks of the year slip by, I am asking myself if I am doing things to make myself more confident and if so, what are they and how did they work.

I have read several books about gaining confidence this year. While I’m not sure any of them has exactly helped to boost my self-confidence, they have helped me to understand that having too much confidence can also be a bad thing.
So, let’s cut to the chase and talk about things I have done this year to show that I have confidence in myself, especially as a writer. Continue reading

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January 11 2018

My Year of Being FEARLESS

For the first time ever, I chose one word to guide me through the year. Never having done such a thing before, I wasn’t sure how it would work out. I am happy to report that it went very well. The word I chose to guide me through 2017 was FEARLESS.

In January, I chose to submit my first written contest entry. This was huge because I really hadn’t even been promoting my blog at that time and I rarely let anyone read my writing. I was fine with the idea of blogging because I know my posts weren’t being read by anyone and I saw no reason for that to change.

Enter February, where my idea of being fearless included not only blogging, but also committing to the purchase of a domain name and moving my Weebly blog that no one was reading to the WordPress platform. It was a huge commitment but I told myself a fearless person would do it in a heartbeat, so I did it. I also bought a blogging course so I could do it without embarrassing myself too badly.

As part of blogging and trying to do it well, I read that each blog post should have a graphic to go with it and grab the reader’s attention. I also read that it would be best to use graphics that you created or photos that you had taken. I take photos all the time, so no problem, right? So I heard a lot of bloggers were using PicMonkey to create graphics, or at the very least to add text to their photos. So I spent an entire Sunday playing around with it and taught myself the basics of using PicMonkey. I even used it to design myself some business cards and ordered them too while I was at it. If I was going to be fearless, I needed a business card, right? Continue reading

Category: Blogging, Bullet Journal, Fearless, Goals, Writing | 1 Comment on My Year of Being FEARLESS
January 5 2018

Motivate (Five Minute Friday)

This time of year seems to motivate everyone to think about their goals for the new year and what they would like to accomplish. I too struggled with what goals to choose and what word I would pick to motivate me throughout the year as the word FEARLESS did in 2017. I chose the word CONFIDENCE to be my 2018 word of the year. It was very hard to choose this year. You see, last year was the first time I had done this word of the year thing and though I went into it half-hearted last year I tried my best to think about being fearless whenever I found myself with a tough decision to make. I think I allowed the word FEARLESS to guide me very well last year and it only seemed fitting to follow my year of being FEARLESS up with a year of CONFIDENCE.

You may ask yourself why I need confidence, after all, I am writing and putting my work out here on the blog for the whole world to see. Continue reading

Category: Blogging, Confidence, Fearless, Five Minute Friday, Writing | 4 Comments on Motivate (Five Minute Friday)
November 30 2017

NaNoWriMo Wrap-up

I have come a long way as a writer in the last four years. I have finally become a year-round writer. (As of this month I have written over 113,000 words so far this year!) I am not afraid to call myself a writer. I have put in the work and time and, though I may not have a book published yet, I AM a writer. I have 5 NaNo wins under my belt to prove it (to myself if nothing else).

My motivation for the month was a printout of the image below. This is my 2014 NaNoWriMo progress graph, also the first year I attempted to write fiction. As you can see I got off to a super slow start because I had no idea HOW to write fiction and I just plain had NO IDEA for a plot of any sort. I seriously doubted I could ever catch up once I got started and then around the 25k mark, I began to question whether I had a workable plot at all (I really didn’t), so I didn’t write anything for a few days. Seeing this graph and how I beat the odds, no matter how badly they were stacked against me, kept me going this month. My present-self would like to take this opportunity to thank my 2014-self for sticking it out and winning because if I hadn’t done it back then, I’m not sure I would have believed I could do it this year.

Continue reading

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