JoAnn Smith Ainsworth's Blog
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Apr.29.2012
Rejection. Hard on the ego. A given for an author. A fact of life for everyone. Allow me to share some life experiences with you for surviving rejection.
1. Stay unhappy for only a short time.
Sounds impossible, doesn’t it, but it can be done. The trick is to focus on your mood instead of on...
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Apr.05.2012
Sometimes we need to do a thing even if we’re scared, don’t you agree? Sometimes we feel in our gut that the action is the right even if others are saying it’s not. More and more as I age, I act upon how I feel and take my head out of the decision process. If what I’m about to do or say feels good...
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Feb.03.2012
Do you agree that to be productive a writer needs a degree of good health?
Writing stresses the mind and the body. Whether first draft or final edits, the brain is exercised by constant choices and decisions. We must sort through thousands of words each day and make decisions about each....
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Jan.04.2012
Despite the dire predictions for 2012, this author is optimistic and eagerly looking forward to the sale of manuscripts in the year ahead. My belief is that my words will touch readers in a wide range of countries. That anticipation excites me.
Writing as a craft is hard work, but when a reader...
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Nov.27.2011
I've been asked what the best part of the writing process is for me. I'll tell you. I enjoy editing. I peal off excess words and feel like a sculptor chipping away at the marble to get to the image inside. Or, in my case, the story inside.
The worst part for me is ...
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Sep.30.2011
Missed your big chance because the economy tanked? About to step onto the next rung of the corporate ladder only to find yourself down sized? Graduate to no jobs available?
Cheer up. It's never too late to "follow your dream". You can start now. The key is to stay focused and take baby steps toward...
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Sep.05.2011
I’m an optimist. Are you?
I inherited that quality from my paternal grandmother. She was always saying, “Every cloud has a silver lining” and “always look on the bright side.” So I do.
Being an optimist has protected me from a lot of the battering that authors get while creating a manuscript and...
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Aug.23.2011
1. What is the most fascinating thing you discovered about yourself when you started writing?
That I’m passionate about writing character-driven stories about how people face life’s challenges. I knew my head would be involved. I didn’t know how much my heart would be involved.
2. Any interesting...
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Jul.07.2011
If you’re like me, you’re a self-starter who plans each day and often gets work done faster than anticipated. Qualities that can drive those close to us mad, but necessary qualities for solitary authors.
Still, there are those days when everything we touch seems to drop out of our fingers and...
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Jun.03.2011
When fiction spills over into the everyday, it's time to pull back, don't you think?
It happened to me last night and the end result could've been traumatic. It wasn't, but it could've been. I've decided to focus my attention in a different direction for awhile. It'll be healthier.
These past...
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May.02.2011
You can take it from me that it’s never to late to follow your dream. I’m a senior citizen and I dreamed of getting an agent. I even wrote it down as one of my goals for the New Year. Last week I signed with Agent Dawn Dowdle of the Blue Ridge Literary Agency.
That doesn’t mean that having the...
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Apr.03.2011
Yesterday, I signed an agreement with a literary agency to market my paranormal suspense series. Even as I affixed my signature, I relished the opportunities opening up for me.
I don't know about you, but I have trouble keeping track of what publishers want and when they're open for submissions....
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Jan.09.2011
I wrote down some weighty goals for the New Year. On looking at them, some would seem too ambitious to achieve. Yet, inside I have an optimism that this year I might surprise everyone, and perhaps myself, by accomplishing many of them.
I feel in my insides that the sweat equity I invested over the...
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Dec.02.2010
Have you ever attended a booksellers tradeshow?
I had my first experience with one. My local chapter of the California Writers Club decided to rent a booth at the Northern California Independent Booksellers trade show. The CWC offered exhibit space to eight members on a first-come, first-served...
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Nov.07.2010
A songwriter friend of mine named Elizabeth Edwards wrote this in her newsletter:
"How was it that with all this technology supposedly making life easier, I felt as if I were just a rock skipping across the surface of my life. Information overload made me tired and I became aware of how...
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About JoAnn
When JoAnn carried wood as a pre-teen so her Great Aunt Martha could stoke up the iron stove to prepare dinner, she wasn’t thinking, “I could use this in a novel someday.” Yet, the skills she learned from her horse-and-buggy ancestors translate into backdrops...
JoAnn’s Favorite Books
See Goodreads or LibraryThing.