As many of you know, I don't normally host guests who solicit and/or advertise charities. There are just too many worthy causes, and I honestly don't want to turn my blog into a “donate, donate, donate” site.

But the lack of easy access to clean water is a real and serious problem in many developing countries. I saw a documentary on a Japanese TV show once that showed a small village in Africa that didn't have running water or a well nearby. So everyone had to walk an hour to a small river, then walk another hour back to the village with as much water as they could for the day.

The documentary didn't end on a bleak note, though. The Japanese TV station paid to have an expert well digger from Japan to go to the village and literally, manually, drill a hole into the ground. It took him and a team of villagers over a month, but they finally got their water. I'll never forget the joy on the people's faces as they realized what this meant for them. Their children no longer needed to spend a big chunk of their day hauling water. Instead they could attend school. Men could raise cattle and farm more easily, now that they didn't have to spend hours in transit to the river and back.

So when Kat approached me to publicize her Crits for Water effort, I wanted to help out. Here it is:

I don't know about you, but in University, I was pretty much broke on my ass. Fortunately, my family was “poor enough” and my head was “smart enough” to get some scholarships, “enough” to get me a BA at least, including a year of studying abroad in China.

I don't know about Nadia, but I'm a ginormous geek. Sailor Moon, Pokemon, Dungeons and Dragons, video games, computers and other techy shiny things, writing and reading fantasy/futuristic YA and romance…you name it — I've probably dabbled or been outright obsessed. I'm so lucky to be living the Geek Dream: the Japanese government is paying me to live in Japan. Genius!

So when I landed my job on a gorgeous, sub-tropical island in the Sea of Japan (with beaches), was I primed to give back. My life had become Total Awesome, and what better way to make it awesomer* than to help folks who don't have “enough”? Voila! Via sublime intervention (slash happenstance), I discovered charity: water.

A few things about charity: water struck me off the bat. They have a very sleek website, a great founding story, and, oh yeah, one hundred percent of public donations go directly to fund clean water projects, not staplers. But even better, a relatively small amount — US$20 — is all it takes to change a person's life. It provides them water for twenty years. Let me repeat that:

I was sold. And my dedication solidified in 2009 when, during my first mycharitywater campaign, an atomic bomb victim donated because he remembered the horror of searching for water in the days and weeks after the bomb dropped. And he didn't want others to experience anything like that. Ever.**

THE MORAL OF THE STORY IS that I live in Japan, and my life is fantabulous. I'm also a writer. The online writing community is even more fantabulous. I love supporting charity: water. And three great things together = MY BEST IDEA OF ALL TIME.

So! Starting on my birthday, March 31, and until June 30, me, other amazing authors, Super Agents, and wonderful editors will be offering Crits for Water. That is, we will critique your manuscripts, queries, and/or synopses in return for you giving someone (or many someones) clean water. IT IS A WIN-WIN. You get your stuff looked at by skilled industry eyes while improving lives. (Or you could just donate to donate, because you are incredible that way.)

My goal is to raise US$5,000. That is enough to give an entire village water for twenty years. WE CAN DO THIS, DUDES.

When the campaign opens, donations will be made directly to charity: water through a mycharitywater page. I can't create the URL for the campaign until I'm ready to start fundraising, but on March 31, you should be able to go and donate. (http://mycharitywater.org/critsforwater —> will NOT WORK until March 31.)

Until then, check out the information page on my blog or follow me on twitter to keep updated on the campaign and the authors, agents, and editors critiquing.

*awesomer is totally a word. Er, beginning today.

**Yeah, I still get awed chills thinking about this man's epic selflessness.

Hello everyone!

Thank you, Nadia, for allowing me a spot on your blog. I've never been a guest blogger anywhere before, so hopefully I entertain rather than bore you all.

I decided to blog about a question I get asked frequently — where do you come up with your ideas? There are a million answers to that question, and each depends on the writer answering it. Instead, let's look at the next step — research.

I love to research. I'm a nerd. I can admit that. Research is fun. I love libraries and looking through volumes no one has cracked open in years. It makes me feel like I've discovered something amazing, even if it is only from 1970.

Where do I find this stuff? Well, we've established that I'm a nerd. Therefore, I will happily spend hours watching History Channel, Discovery, and Travel Channel. (We won't even get into my Food Network addiction). I also spent more hours than I care to count at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NY as part of a requirement for my bachelor's degree, once upon a time. GMU believed that riding a bus to NY for a day once a semester would somehow magically give all us art students more artistic ability. I don't see it, but it was a cheap way to get to fun museums. I picked up many things there — here's a fun tidbit for you: If you can, try to look at the back side of all those Greek and Roman cups and urns. A lot of the time, if they're turned to the wall, its because there's a dirty scene on the other side.

Important things you learn in college, right?

And that brings me to the other reason. I was an art/graphics major. I love art history, and there is so much art based on mythology and legend that it's hard not to be exposed to those things. Eventually you remember some of it. I also minored in medieval/renaissance literature. We read some awesome works that I would never have been exposed to otherwise. I adored Havelock the Dane and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight! If you haven't read them, do it!

Urban legends are always a great place to start. Pick one, any one. Doesn't matter which it is, I can almost guarantee that if you look it up you will discover other areas of the country/world with similar stories, and you may even find that it is based in a true story, or a local mythology that is even more intriguing than what you started with.

For this book, I did some research into werewolves, obviously. Some of the mythology is my own. I never liked that silver stopped them. Probably because I'm partial to silver jewelry, and I always want my characters to wear it. But when you go back, silver has a really interesting history all its own. I wanted to make mine into something that both explained why it would be a deterrent and still give it a different and positive spin. In mine, it's like…werewolf steroids. In the wrong hands it's not a good idea, but with the right use, a terrific performance enhancer.

I also have a fondness for Celtic mythology and I wanted to incorporate it here. The Wild Hunt has always intrigued me, and while it only gets mentioned once in this story, it was the inspiration for Cern's character. There's more to, but I don't want to bore you.

One last thought for you — I have always found that if you keep a notebook, journal, pack of cocktail napkins, etc. with you at all times, while your friends may tease you for it, you'll be better off. I carry a million pens and my “idea journal” around all the time. I write things I overhear, I glue articles and photos, I paint in it, I draw in it, write lists and notes, and even write my favorite quotes down. I've never been able to keep up with writing a daily journal, but you'll be surprised how easy this habit is to create, and the fantastic things it inspires.

Thank you so much, Nadia, for allowing me to ramble on your blog, and I hope you've all enjoyed the visit!

Ellen Keener lives in rural Virginia along the Chesapeake Bay, enjoys long walks on the beach discussing classic literature, and big drinks with little umbrellas. If you'd like to follow her thoughts on life, the universe and everything, you can do so at her blog.

Sunrise Over Texas is my first historical novel, inspired by a lesson I taught my fourth graders about Jane Long, “The Mother of Texas,” who was left alone at a fort on Bolivar Peninsula, near Galveston, with only a servant and child. I had taught this lesson at least twice before, but never was I struck by what a brave thing this was. I wanted to write a story with a heroine like that, and give her a happy ending (Jane Long was widowed and never remarried.)

Some things I learned:

1. Researching Texas in the 1820s is hard. It was very wild then, and not a lot of records were kept. I found an online resource, The Texas Handbook Online that was invaluable to me — even told me when the first boarding houses and hotels were built.
2. I learned the Bolivar Peninsula is LONG. One day during spring break, my step-dad, mom and brother took me to San Felipe, the state's original settlement where Stephen Austin brought the original 300 families, then we continued down to Galveston, where the fort still stands. This was 8 months after Hurricane Ike, and the damage was still pretty severe. We took the ferry to Bolivar, where people were returning from working salvage. The line to get back on the ferry was LONG, so we drove down the peninsula, halfway between Louisiana and Houston. There is NOTHING out there, y'all. We were starving by the time we got to Houston.
3. My step-dad has amazing patience. I should have known this, since he taught me to drive, but facing the traffic going to Galveston, then waiting for the ferry, then driving endlessly down Bolivar…yeah, he's patient.
4. The fort looked nothing like I expected, and it was RIGHT on the beach. I modified this in my book, since I wanted my characters to suffer a bit more.
5. The Native Americans who lived in the area, the Karankawa, were tall, tattooed and rumored to be cannibalistic. VERY little is known of this tribe, who'd I'd taught my students were hunters and gathers.
6. I learned I can write 50,000 words in a month for NaNoWriMo, but not be done with the book. In fact, I didn't finish this book until April (NaNoWriMo is in November.) I had some other obligations along the way, but found myself going back to research certain points along the way.
7. I learned to go with my gut. I complicated matters for my characters, and had to write three different ways for them to get past it, which is also why it took me 6 months to write it :)
8. I learned I really enjoy writing western-set historicals. I have three more ideas outlined—if only I had more time!

MJ, a four-time Golden Heart finalist, travels wherever her imagination takes her, from Honduras to Africa to the past. Find MJ online:

Website: www.mjfredrick.com
Blog: www.mjfredrick.wordpress.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/MJFredrick
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/MJ-Fredrick-Fan-Page/224464194236?ref=nf

I am a writer. A true writer, writing with my heart and soul. And I love fantasy and taking on other roles. Let me tell you why:

I have loved fantasy all my life. Fantasy books, fantasy films, fantasy computer games and fantasy Role Playing Games (RPGs). It enables me to view the world from other viewpoints. I can take on the roles of heroes, magicians, thieves, and I can be a part of their world. Whenever I read a good fantasy book, I'm losing myself in it. I start seeing the world in my head. There is no cheaper way to make journeys to different times and places and to visit other worlds which are sometimes exotic, sometimes frightening, but always interesting.

Some years ago, I played a pen and paper RPG with friends of mine. The Dark Eye. My favourite character was a female burglar, a thief, a woman fleeing from her family and husband. I simply loved taking on her role, acting and speaking like she would do. Nobody was harmed, nobody lost anything while playing. And I'm by no means a real thief or burglar. I would never even think of taking another one's property. But my character did. It was just her nature.

My experiences with fantasy and RPGs have taught me one valuable lesson: I can see the world through the eyes of other people, other characters. And I can see a world completely or partly different from ours.

It is only consequent that I love writing fantasy most. I write fantasy stories for children, teenagers and adults. My wish is that I can take them on a journey into my worlds, into my fantasy, and that they will enjoy this journey as much as I enjoy mine.

In my opinion, being a writer and loving fantasy and RPGs goes hand in hand. Every writer needs to take on the roles of their characters. Those characters can differ greatly from oneself. They can have a different cultural background, different moral views; they can even be from the opposite sex. Playing RPGs can teach the ability to see the world through different eyes. I can write and play a really bad guy without being a bad guy in real life. However, if I don't have the ability to take on another role, all my writing characters will be like me, the writer.

You see, fantasy and RPGs have had a great impact on my writing and I hope that my writing will take future generations on fantastic journeys too.

You can find Saoirse O'Mara at:

saoirseomara.wordpress.com
@saoirseomara (twitter)
Saoirse O'Mara (facebook)

There are many ways to study, revise and work whether it be on paper, computer or somewhere between. In any case, there is one very useful tool which can help organize, compress and simplify your work and that is the cheat sheet. To show the power of this tool I will describe using a cheat sheet in forming a plot and revising a story for whatever purpose you may have.

Start by writing what you feel, what comes out of your head the natural creative impulse inside you. It may feel awkward at first, but if you have taken a few English courses and know the basic rules it shouldn't be long before you have a thousand word down regarding some theme. It may not be very good, but the quality is not very important at this stage; the session has really been a kind of brainstorming.

The next step is to work on transforming this thousand words into a short story, novella or novel, depending on how ambitious you are feeling. The shorter the length, the easier the transformation and this is the point where the cheat sheet comes into play. The cheat sheet organizes what can be a confusing and directionless blurb and give the writing structure and purpose. As long as the writer has a few characters and a background setting the cheat sheet acts as a very simple way to keep the momentum going till the end of the journey.

“What will be on this cheat sheet?” is probably the next logical question. “Anything really” is the first answer, but it's important to have certain structure to the sheet. It's probably helpful to put the most important aspects of the story, like the plot, at the top of the page, with lower priority sections at the bottom.

After completing a few cheat sheets, you may begin to notice a pattern in the way you organize your thoughts and create a template for the sheet. A novel may have a different template than a short story, and a technical paper may have a different template than a blog post. The sheet may also turn into a storage box for your words if you need to re-organize the story. For example, you may come up with a really good line from one of the characters but find it impossible for it to fit directly into that piece of dialogue. Assuming you don't want to delete the sentence all together or leave it floating around the original document, it might be useful to copy it over to the cheat sheet and save it for later when there is a more appropriate place for it.

This shows the versatility and ease with which someone can create a cheat sheet for their own work. If you create certain rules for your writing they can be kept on this sheet as well as any info dumping you just have to do for yourself but don't want to include on the main document. The inclusion of a table can make the cheat sheet easily demarcated for cutting into cards.

What's important to remember is that this is an organization tool and is designed to keep the writer focused so you don't stray and leave half-completed works scattered around your desk/desktop.

You can follow Jonathan on Twitter (@fwc).

Thanks to Nadia for having me here today!

Nadia asked me to blog about my experience as an indie author and how it's working out. In some ways it's working out great. In other ways it's definitely not easy. I'm not sure if authors who are traditionally published get a rulebook or not, but I know that indies don't.

We're expected to know the rules going in both socially and from a business angle. We're expected to know how to interact with our readers and fans, with reviewers (positive and negative), and with the online publishing world in general.

From the beginning, I've been a very opinionated indie. I'm someone who isn't afraid to speak my mind about things. Sometimes this gets me into drama. Sometimes it earns me enemies or just people who “will never read me now”. That last part sucks, since as an indie, I need readers or I won't make it. I don't have somebody else's marketing department to help push me to a wider audience. Though I realize many traditionally published authors don't have that nearly as much as they'd like or need either.

I'm on a very steep learning curve, not just in publishing, but in social interactivity… how much to market, when to stop, what lines not to cross, and which lines to cross. Sometimes being seen as controversial is a good thing. It gets me exposure I wouldn't have normally had. It gets me talked about. It ultimately gets me sales.

Sometimes the fallout isn't as good. And even when it nets me sales, it also nets me stress and drama.

So my experience has been a mixed bag. On the one hand, I really love self-publishing. I love being in control of the entire process, hiring a cover artist, picking my own editors, and telling the story I want to tell with no apologies. In romance there are a lot of formulas. Many publishers want a certain number of sex scenes occurring at certain points in the story. They want a certain heat level. They have rules about what language you can use. Etc. etc.

I didn't want to be stifled in that way, and so that's been another wonderful thing about being indie.

I've met a lot of really cool, talented, and self-possessed indie authors like Moriah Jovan, R.J. Keller, M.T. Murphy, and Kait Nolan, to name just a few. Each of them has a different way they go about being indie and slightly different goals and motivations.

I love running my own business and keeping all the profit.

I really love being a part of an indie movement in authorship that should have happened back when it became cool to be an indie musician or indie filmmaker. But it's happening now. So that's what matters.

Initially a lot of people told me not to do it, that it was some sort of career suicide. I never felt that way, since I could just start over with a new pen name if I didn't like how things went for Zoe. I didn't want the pressure of traditional publishing and deadlines and such. The irony is that I've learned a lot about myself here, including that I often create my own pressure and chaos no matter what road I'm on. And it's not something I can avoid by merely taking a different aesthetic path.

I ignored the well-meaning advice of those who told me not to go indie. I saw a future in indie authorship and particularly in ebooks. I started growing my audience and marketing my work. One of my little marketing projects is the Zoe Who? series, which is a youtube cartoon series about my self-publishing journey poking fun at the publishing industry, romance, and myself (lots of material there, LOL).

I try to be genuine, looking for that line between being genuine, and maintaining some level of emotional privacy. It seems to be overall paying off, since more people seem to be attracted to me than repelled by me.

Right now, as an indie, I live pretty naked because I talk a lot about my experiences as a writer and as an indie in particular. There are a lot of things I struggle with including “how should I present myself?”, “how should I engage?”, “when should I disengage?” that often become the topics of blog posts because I know I can't be the only author who feels this way, who feels sometimes the creative flow shuts off from too much Internet connection.

I try to form genuine connections with readers and people on Twitter, Facebook, and through blog hopping because we all want connection and if someone likes you they are more open and receptive to checking your work out. This has opened a lot of doors to helping overcome reader objections and getting my work read by an ever-widening audience.

My three novellas, Kept, Claimed, and Mated, generally hang out in the top 1,000 of the overall Kindle store, out of over 700,000 titles. I'm very proud of that, but I have a long way to go.

I'm constantly growing. This growth takes place in my writing and how I package my work. I recently had the novella covers slightly revamped by my cover artist to look more polished. (I had designed those particular covers originally.) The growth is also ongoing personally in how I handle the various emotional changes involved in putting work out there without a net or rulebook.

Hopefully my experiences help someone else who wants to do the same things.

Overall, it has been an incredibly rewarding journey and, yes, I would go indie again. And I want to stay indie forever.

You can find Zoe at:

http://www.zoewinters.org
http://zoewinters.wordpress.com
http://www.twitter.com/zoewinters