The worst writing advice I’ve heard
Some of these are a bit pettier while others are more serious, but I’ve heard a lot of advice in my time, and not all of it is great.
The “Cursed” Amulet
A Misadventures of Montoya and Rose short story “This is not the amulet, Rose,” Montoya hoists up a necklace with chunky turquoise beads and a centerpiece of a carved flat stone. “This is the amulet of protection,” he purses his lips, “if the name were to be directly translated…” Rose sniffs, crossing his sweaty arms.…
The Cost of Improvement
Recently, I made an Instagram post comparing my writing from 2019/2020, to 2022 to serve as encouragement, to show how I’ve gotten better, but it ended up making me melancholy. Objectively, I got better: my descriptions are more vivid, my dialogue has nuance, and my characters are deeper, yet something is missing. I improved, but…
Here’s to Hoping My Lack of Motivation Won’t Kill My Novel
My current WIP is an odd little child of mine that’s wandering about, bumping into things, and getting lost in closets.
“Write in Your Lane” Made Me Quit My Series
Act 1 May 26, 2021, at three in the morning on a stormy night, lightning struck and I was lying awake in bed. Thunder boomed and my mind was alight with a new story. I had just started writing a Romcom, but this new idea was beyond alluring. It was of adventures and action, love…
Did I meet my writing goals for 2021?
I did not meet half of my writing goals for 2021. As a quick recap, my goals were: Release a series of short stories Revise the novel I was working on at the time/learn how to revise a novel Learn how to work with beta readers Publish Looking back at that old blog post, one…
I stop writing when I’m forced to
I never rest with my creative projects until I am forced to. My creativity, motivation, and mental health tend to take a dive before I take a break. That’s not a good thing. It’s not that I don’t understand the importance of rest, I absolutely do, but my mind doesn’t quiet when ask it to…
Publishing Panic
I fall off the face of the Earth, then I crop back up again like nothing ever happened. Typical. Well, I’ve debuted! I’m now an ‘official’ author, doing official author things (like procrastinating on updating this site again). What have I debuted? On December 17, I released The Stolen Dagger, a short story that follows…
Three Books by Sixteen: What this Third One Taught Me
The Golden Heart, the third book I have ever written, is unlike anything else I have ever created. While my process for it has been much the same as it has been in the past, now it feels more streamlined. While there are many, many flaws in this first draft, I am proud of my…
Welcome Back, Me.
Intro On October 31, it’ll be a year since I started this blog. I had big plans: grow this platform along with my Instagram, consistently document my writing journey, share short stories, advice, the lot of it. And here I am. The last time I updated on here was ten months ago with a shoddy…
2020, Writing, and Me
Do you remember how we all had such high hopes for a year with such a swanky number? This past year was disastrous for many reasons, but it pays no fool to focus on the negative. There were only two obvious things that weren’t terrible for me this year, and one of them was my…
New Book Giddiness
I’m riding that wave of starting a new book and I’m trying to keep the dread at bay.
I’ve Just Finished Writing My First Novel at Fifteen
I think that when I’m older, when I have a better grasp on characters, plot and plot structure, and how to write emotionally charged scenes effectively, I’ll give this another shot.
My Writing Goals
“It may be a little ambitious but I have let myself down a number of times and this is hardly different.”
More coming soon…
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J. V. Montague 