I can use this! – that spark of excitement you get when you connect a new idea to one or more of the story subplots you’ve been mulling over. Everywhere we look there is inspiration of one sort or another. Sometimes it’s so much that we actively have to tell our minds to hold off on generating new ideas until we’ve had a chance to complete the dozens already waiting in line.  Today’s episode dives into some of our discussion over the years at the Blood-Red Pencil about ideas and inspiration. Links mentioned in this episode: Ideas for Writing   Shonell Bacon shares a list of inspiration sources for when you need to generate a new idea or two. Where Do You Get Ideas?   Terry Odell says that sometimes the ideas for books come when you’re looking for something else. Where Story Ideas Come From   Pat Stoltey says one of the questions most frequently asked of writers is: “Where do you get your ideas?” It’s not a popular question among published authors. Maybe th...

Welcome back to the Blood-Red Pencil podcast, with your host, Elle Carter Neal . We would like to wish all our readers and listeners a very happy new year and a successful and prosperous 2023.  New Year’s resolutions—no matter how well-intended—are made to be broken. Why so? Could it be that they are created on a whim and aren’t backed by the commitment that turns spoken words into physical (or mental) action? Links mentioned in this episode: Linda Lane - Resolution or Commitment  When Linda Lane moved into a smaller place, she spent days going through old files and eliminating bags full of no-longer-necessary papers. She found several rejection letters received years ago when she had sent out her not-quite-ready-for-publication first novel. Most were form letters, but one agent sent a personal note, commenting that the manuscript needed "revision". He was right.  Helen Ginger - Making Writing Resolutions     For the late Helen Ginger, the area of commitment s...

  Episode 02 - Scorpion-Readers and the Writers Being Stung Transcript and links: A scorpion asked a busy beaver for a ride across the river. The beaver complied, and that time it was fine. Other scorpions heard about the deal and arrived for a lift across the river. The beaver began spending more time giving lifts to scorpions than he did building his dam… so he asked the scorpions to each carry a small twig to help with the dam building. And for a while that was fine. One day one scorpion took offense at the request and halfway across the river he dropped his twig and stung the beaver. “Why did you do that?” cried the beaver with his last few breaths. “You’ve killed me for no reason. The other scorpions now have no one to help them across the river. And what about you? You’re going to drown.” “Don’t care,” said the scorpion. “I’ll just float here until another beaver comes along.” [Music] Author, how shall I harm thee? Let me count the ways. Piracy, copyright theft, and p...

Episode 01 - Fools & Sages Transcript and links: Good morning, good afternoon, good evening – wherever you are in the world. Welcome to the brand new Blood-Red Pencil podcast. If you’re not going to launch something new in January, then what better time to start than a month that’s… NOT January. I’m Elle Carter Neal , the (sort-of) techie, behind-the-scenes, admin person here at the Blood-Red Pencil, and now behind the mic as the host of this podcast. I’m in Australia, while the rest of our team currently operate from the US. Please leave us a comment and let us know where in the world YOU are joining us from. We love to connect with you. Our theme for April is Fools and Sages, and, while we do enjoy entertaining you with a little foolishness, we hope that, after 14 years of blogging at the Blood-Red Pencil, what we have to offer is a whole lot of writing and editing wisdom. The wisest piece of advice anyone could give or follow is simply “Be kind”. Be kind, be generous, take care...