I’m excited to announce that I have a brand new Amazon Influencer store featuring books and products for writers and entrepreneurs. They make great gifts for friends who love writing or who work from home—or for yourself! You’ll find journals, business planners, writing books, home office supplies and decor, tech gadgets and accessories, video and audio equipment, and products to help with the aches and pains that come from hunching over a computer all day. Headaches, eyestrain, backaches, neck aches, carpal tunnel—you’ll find suggestions for all of those ailments and more. I also shared some of my favorite “fun” products to decompress by myself or with my family.
You can check out the main storefront here. Please note that as an Amazon affiliate, I receive a small commission on sales made through my links.
Below, I’ve included direct links to the various subcategories in my Amazon shop. I also embedded a series of three Show and Tell videos where I hold up some featured products that I own and do short reviews.
Let me know in the comments which products look the most interesting to you, if you’ve ever used any of these, or if you have suggestions for my lists.
Stacy Juba has written sweet and sassy chick lit novels, mysteries about determined women sleuths, and entertaining books for young adults and children. She has had novels ranked as #5 and #11 in the Nook Store and #30 on the Amazon Kindle Paid List. Her books include the Storybook Valley chick lit series and the Hockey Rivals young adult sports novels.
Stacy is also a freelance developmental editor, online writing instructor, and an award-winning journalist. Her signature course, Book Editing Blueprint: A Step-By-Step Plan to Making Your Novels Publishable, empowers fiction writers to think like an editor so they can save time and money. She also runs the Shortcuts for Writers: Editing Made Simple group on Facebook, an international community of more than a thousand members. Join her Facebook groupand download the free toolkit 7 Simple Steps To Nailing Your Book Blurb.
I’m always excited to tell my followers about another helpful website for writers, and today I’ve got a terrific one to share. I recently met Justin Cox of The Writing Cooperative, which provides advice and encouragement for writers of all genres. Founded by Justin Cox, Jessica Jungton, and Sand Farnia, The Writing Cooperative strives to connect writers and help them grow. Below is an interview with Justin, chock full of valuable resources.
How did The Writing Cooperative come about? When was it founded?
The Writing Cooperative was formed in 2015 as a publication on Medium. Initially, the publication was formed to give people an opportunity to share and peer-edit each others work. It was a small band of people committed to bettering each other. The publication and community grew from there. We’re now one of the largest publications on Medium, publishing writing advice and interviews to over 200k followers.
How did you know your co-founders?
Jessica, Sand and I have never actually met in person. We came together to create The Writing Cooperative because we all were passionate about writing and helping others improve their abilities. We initially communicated and built everything through very long email chains and have since moved to other collaboration tools like Slack and Discord.
What is the goal of The Writing Cooperative?
Our goal is simple: help writers improve. The primary way we reach our goal is through the publication, providing between five and ten new articles each day. In the years since our inception, we’ve also expanded to an active Facebook Group where people from around the world connect and help each other out, a podcast, a store, and a presence on every social media network.
What types of articles have you published on the blog?
Our most popular stories contain quick pieces of advice, often gleaned from working writers. Our Write Now series interviews writers about their habits and styles. There’s a lot writers can learn from authors like Andy Weir, Kristen Arnett, and Pierce Brown.
How does the blog work – how much of it is written in-house and how much comes from submissions? Do readers need to be members of Medium to read the articles?
The vast majority of our publication’s content comes from our open submissions process. Anyone with a Medium account can request to contribute to our publication. So long as the submission is unique and meets our standards, we’ll publish the story to our audience. What’s great about being publishing within Medium is our stories are often distributed outside our publication throughout Medium’s network. This brings an even greater exposure to our contributors’ content. Plus, since Medium pays writers through their Partner Program, writers receive compensation based on the engagement their stories receive. This helps us get great content to share with the world and helps writers earn money for their words.
Since everything we publish is behind Medium’s paywall, a membership is required to read more than three articles a month. Medium only curates stories throughout their network and to people beyond the author’s follower list if they’re behind the paywall. With the added bonus of writer compensation, it’s in everyone’s interest to publish accordingly.
What types of discussion and events happen in your Facebook group?
We have guided discussions a few times a week based on topics that bubble up in the publication or through other discussions. Though most of the conversations happen organically with people looking for support or asking for editing advice.
We run a few writing challenges a year. Most recently we partnered with Inspired Writer for a personal essay contest. Again, our goal is supporting and encouraging writers, and sometimes that means giving away free things.
Tell me about your podcast.
Our podcast, This Week In Writing, launched in July. It’s a different way to engage with writers around the world. Episodes typically include some of our more popular content along with a discussion from our community, though there are a few special edition episodes coming out soon featuring interviews with content writing experts and the authors behind some of our favorite series.
Since we’re all about engaging our community, we wanted the podcast to feature people from our community. Each week we have a discussion segment where listeners can “call in” and be part of the show. This uses a voice message feature, but gives everyone an opportunity to be part of the show. It’s been a lot of fun to hear people “call in” from around the world.
The website talks about live and virtual events. What are some types of events you’ve held?
Earlier this summer we hosted two live comedy events over Zoom. Each show featured four working comedians or comedy writers. They performed a stand-up set or read one of their pieces live and then provided tips for writing comedy. These were great events and a lot of fun to produce. We sold tickets so we could compensate the comedians. We have ideas for additional live shows later this fall, so stay tuned to learn about those.
What can people expect if they sign up for The Write-Up?
The Write Up is our monthly newsletter. Over 63k people trust us with their email address, so we strive to make The Write Up something they want to read. The Write Up is where we make our big announcements, like when we launched our podcast or if we’re hosting a giveaway. It also typically includes an actionable quick tip and links to some of our favorite stories from the past month.
Tell me about your Patreon program.
Our Patreon is a way for people who want to support us monetarily to do so. We don’t run ads on anything we do, so Patreon is a way to help keep Jessica, Sand, and I going. For the financial support, our patrons receive perks, like discounts on ProWritingAid and access to our priority submission system.
Tell me about your own writing? What do you write?
I write across genres, but mainly in the realm of personal essays. Because of my work with The Writing Cooperative, I write a lot of writing guides and encouragement for writers. Some of my most popular stories include my guides to all things Medium and freelance writing. Though, what I’ve been exploring lately is old-fashioned blogging through the resurgence of newsletters. My weekly newsletter, This Just In, provides a new outlet for creativity that goes directly to my readers. It’s been a lot of fun to experiment with.
More About Justin
Justin Cox is a content writer living in Orlando, FL. His work has appeared in Wired, Film School Rejects, Heart Support, The Billfold, ProWritingAid, PS I Love You, The Writing Cooperative, and more. Justin is also the co-founder of The Writing Cooperative, a publication and community for writers.
Stacy Juba has written sweet and sassy chick lit novels, mysteries about determined women sleuths, and entertaining books for young adults and children. She has had novels ranked as #5 and #11 in the Nook Store and #30 on the Amazon Kindle Paid List. Her books include the Storybook Valley chick lit series and the Hockey Rivals young adult sports novels.
Stacy is also a freelance developmental editor, online writing instructor, and an award-winning journalist. Her signature course, Book Editing Blueprint: A Step-By-Step Plan to Making Your Novels Publishable, empowers fiction writers to think like an editor so they can save time and money. She also runs the Shortcuts for Writers: Editing Made Simple group on Facebook, an international community of more than a thousand members. Join her Facebook groupand download the free toolkit 7 Simple Steps To Nailing Your Book Blurb.
I had a great time recently speaking with Ayushi Jaiswal, a book reviewer and host of the show It’s A Nerdy Thing. Ayushi calls herself a book nerd and says her goals are to share her bookish experiences and make viewers laugh.
I’m delighted that my novels have been part of her bookish experiences, and I had such fun sitting down to chat with her. We talked about my Storybook Valley chick lit novel Prancing Around With Sleeping Beauty, my lifelong love of reading, how I got into writing, and my tips for writers.
I hope you enjoy the video. If you love to read, be sure to follow Ayushi on Instagram and YouTube.
Stacy Juba has written sweet and sassy chick lit novels, mysteries about determined women sleuths, and entertaining books for young adults and children. She has had novels ranked as #5 and #11 in the Nook Store and #30 on the Amazon Kindle Paid List. Her books include the Storybook Valley chick lit series and the Hockey Rivals young adult sports novels.
Stacy is also a freelance developmental editor, online writing instructor, and an award-winning journalist. Her signature course, Book Editing Blueprint: A Step-By-Step Plan to Making Your Novels Publishable, empowers fiction writers to think like an editor so they can save time and money. She also runs the Shortcuts for Writers: Editing Made Simple group on Facebook, an international community of more than a thousand members. Join her Facebook groupand download the free toolkit 7 Simple Steps To Nailing Your Book Blurb.
I love talking about two of my most important roles: being a mother and a writer. Thanks to business and life success strategist LaWann Moses, I recently had the chance to discuss both of those roles.
I was interviewed on LaWann’s podcast More Than A Mother, talking about writing, publishing, and balancing a career with motherhood. I shared about how I almost quit writing because of how my hopes kept crashing down, how I found the will to keep going, and how I learned to become a stronger writer.
We also discussed tips for breaking into freelance writing, branching out into offering an author service, the pros and cons of traditional vs indie publishing, and why my self-paced online course Book Editing Blueprint: A Step-By-Step Plan To Making Your Novels Publishable is a steppingstone to hiring an editor.
LaWann’s show reminds moms they can follow their dreams and be a great mother at the same time. I love that philosophy! She provides tips, tools, and strategies to help manage it all. You can listen to our interview here or also find it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and more.
Stacy Juba has written sweet and sassy chick lit novels, mysteries about determined women sleuths, and entertaining books for young adults and children. She has had novels ranked as #5 and #11 in the Nook Store and #30 on the Amazon Kindle Paid List. Her books include the Storybook Valley chick lit series and the Hockey Rivals young adult sports novels.
Stacy is also a freelance developmental editor, online writing instructor, and an award-winning journalist. Her signature course, Book Editing Blueprint: A Step-By-Step Plan to Making Your Novels Publishable, empowers fiction writers to think like an editor so they can save time and money. She also runs the Shortcuts for Writers: Editing Made Simple group on Facebook, an international community of more than a thousand members. Join her Facebook groupand download the free toolkit 7 Simple Steps To Nailing Your Book Blurb.
Marketing strategy coach Anna Paszkiet hosts the podcast. In episode 24, I share insight on the pros and cons of indie vs. traditional publishing, tips for creating characters and conflict, and discuss why hiring an editor too early can make you use up your editing budget—fast!
Past episodes focus on topics such as building an email list, choosing your target audience, using Pinterest, making excuses, setting goals, and much more.
Stacy Juba has written sweet and sassy chick lit novels, mysteries about determined women sleuths, and entertaining books for young adults and children. She has had novels ranked as #5 and #11 in the Nook Store and #30 on the Amazon Kindle Paid List. Her books include the Storybook Valley chick lit series and the Hockey Rivals young adult sports novels.
Stacy is also a freelance developmental editor, online writing instructor, and an award-winning journalist. Her signature course, Book Editing Blueprint: A Step-By-Step Plan to Making Your Novels Publishable, empowers fiction writers to think like an editor so they can save time and money. She also runs the Shortcuts for Writers: Editing Made Simple group on Facebook, an international community of more than a thousand members. Join her Facebook groupand download the free toolkit 7 Simple Steps To Nailing Your Book Blurb.
Oh my gosh, can I just say that I LOVE being called a kick ass mom! I had a great time being interviewed on the podcast Moms Kicking Ass With Rachel Friedman.
We chatted about my online course for writers, Book Editing Blueprint: A Step-By-Step Plan to Making Your Novels Publishable, as well as the challenges of juggling working from home and motherhood during the pandemic. One topic that came up was how now is a great time to pursue a passion such as writing. Distraction and stress relief are important at times like this, and writing can help.
Here is the description of Rachel’s show: Are you ready to make some money doing what you love? Rachel is here to guide you through her simple process and teach you everything you will need to know to be hugely successful. All you need is a passion and everything will fall right into place.
Rachel received her undergraduate degree in social work from Syracuse University and her graduate degree in clinical social work from New York University. She is a certified yoga instructor with over 60,000 hours of teaching under her belt. She leads transformational teacher trainings, and has assisted alongside some of the best in the industry. Rachel currently teaches yoga in Atlanta, GA and leads retreats for yoga and personal transformations around the world. Through her coaching program, she helps clients to shift out of overwhelm.
Stacy Juba has written sweet and sassy chick lit novels, mysteries about determined women sleuths, and entertaining books for young adults and children. She has had novels ranked as #5 and #11 in the Nook Store and #30 on the Amazon Kindle Paid List. Her books include the Storybook Valley chick lit series and the Hockey Rivals young adult sports novels.
Stacy is also a freelance developmental editor, online writing instructor, and an award-winning journalist. Her signature course, Book Editing Blueprint: A Step-By-Step Plan to Making Your Novels Publishable, empowers fiction writers to think like an editor so they can save time and money. She also runs the Shortcuts for Writers: Editing Made Simple group on Facebook, an international community of more than a thousand members. Join her Facebook groupand download the free toolkit 7 Simple Steps To Nailing Your Book Blurb.
I know that many writers are having trouble tapping into their creativity during the pandemic. Thankfully, Allie Pleiter has a book that can help with this problem, and I asked her to share some tips about writing under stress. Read on for some helpful advice from Allie. You’ll also learn more about her valuable book, How to WRITE When Everything Goes WRONG—A Practical Guide to Writing Through Tough Times.
Allie’s Tips For Writing Under Stress
As the author of How to WRITE When Everything Goes WRONG—A Practical Guide to Writing Through Tough Times, I’ve been getting a lot of cries for help from writers these days. The crisis we find ourselves in right now can squelch any writer’s creative energy. New words can feel impossible, the focus to revise eludes us, and we’re just plain stressed.
How to write…right now? Believe it or not, there are several things you can do to help yourself. Here are a few of my favorite tips:
#1: Try Small Batches In New Formats.
The trick is to pick a word count that feels doable–even if it must be tiny. One hundred words, for example, can fit on an index card. I suspect even the most traumatized of writers could manage six imperfect sentences that can be edited later. That work, once accomplished, can become the foothold for more. Can you tuck three or four cards into your pocket and set yourself the challenge to fill them? Your smartphone, a small notebook, or even email can help a small task feel small. All you need at first–maybe all you need at all–are baby steps.
#2: Change Locations.
Give yourself time in a different location in order to compartmentalize your brain space. You may not be able to go far—maybe only to the next room—but even that shift can make a difference. Ritualize it if it helps, saying: “At two p.m. I go out on the balcony with a cup of coffee and do my writing,” or “After lunch I make myself a cup of tea and write.” Remind yourself this is your time to work, and you can be fully present to whatever problems are facing you when you are done with your writing.
#3: When You Feel You Can’t Escape Your Situation, Start By Describing It.
Many books—fiction and nonfiction—have been born of personal difficulties. Writing about where you are right now can “prime the pump,” proving to your creative self that writing is possible. As a bonus, you may also discover the seeds of a new project in the process.
Brilliance is likely beyond your reach—even if you discover you work great under pressure. Tell yourself: “It doesn’t have to be perfect; it just has to be written.” You can revise and polish your draft at another time once you get through the difficult stage of putting the words down on paper no matter how inelegant they feel. As best-selling author Nora Roberts famously said, “You can’t fix a blank page.”
#5: Set A Timer.
Pick whatever span of time feels possible—even fifteen minutes. Most of us can stand fifteen minutes of almost anything. Once or twice a day, set the timer and have at it. During those minutes, give yourself permission to “be a writer” rather than someone ill, caring, or coping. Starting is often the hardest part, and you may discover you can work longer than you think.
#6: Try Dictation.
Chances are you won’t need any special equipment for dictation because most computers and nearly every smartphone comes preloaded with some form of basic dictation software. If typing feels beyond you—or if you have a physical limitation such as carpal tunnel syndrome, eyesight issues, a bad back, or a broken wrist—close your eyes and dictate a scene, a setting, or even a character description to get you started. Carry on dictating as long as you can. An added benefit of dictation: You can’t edit or see mistakes, so there’s nothing to impede your progress.
Creativity is possible. You are just going to have to go about it in different ways for a while. The gift of writing God has given you hasn’t gone away…it may just be in hiding. I hope these tips will give you help to go find it. The world needs your stories!
As the author of The Chunky Method Handbook, I’m passionate about creative people be more productive. If you’d like to join my Chunky Method mailing list and get many more writing productivity tips, simply text the word CHUNKY to 22828.
Buy The Book
How to Write When Everything is Going Wrong: A Practical Guide to W riting Through Tough Times by Allie Pleiter – Is your muse yelling “SOS”? How do you keep the words pouring onto the page when your real life feels like it’s under attack? Every writer knows how stress and personal crises can strangle your creativity. Help is on the way in this brilliantly practical guide. Inside, you’ll find advice that:
– Gets you through the thick of your crisis
– Gives you tactics that will energize you to keep writing
– Teaches you to use your stress to inspire your writing
– And much more! As the author of over 30 books and the creator of The Chunky Method of time management for writers, Pleiter has met deadlines in the midst of some imposing traumas. With candor, insight, and the wisdom of experience, she shares practical and inventive strategies for how to stay afloat and creative amid life’s stormiest seas.
More About Allie
Allie Pleiter writes both fiction and non-fiction working on as many as four books at a time. She is the bestselling author of over fifty titles with a twenty-year career of over 1.5 million books sold. Allie also coaches on productivity and speaks on the creative process. Visit www.alliepleiter.com.
Get a free download of her 15 tips for writing under stress!
Stacy Juba has written sweet and sassy chick lit novels, mysteries about determined women sleuths, and entertaining books for young adults and children. She has had novels ranked as #5 and #11 in the Nook Store and #30 on the Amazon Kindle Paid List. Her books include the Storybook Valley chick lit series and the Hockey Rivals young adult sports novels.
Stacy is also a freelance developmental editor, online writing instructor, and an award-winning journalist. Her signature course, Book Editing Blueprint: A Step-By-Step Plan to Making Your Novels Publishable, empowers fiction writers to think like an editor so they can save time and money. She also runs the Shortcuts for Writers: Editing Made Simple group on Facebook, an international community of more than a thousand members. Join her Facebook groupand download the free toolkit 7 Simple Steps To Nailing Your Book Blurb.
Every story is worth sharing. That’s the philosophy behind The International Connection Podcast, which aims to connect with creative entrepreneurs from around the world to share inspiring stories.
Host Jag Sandhu, a passionate young creator, says that helping people recognize their creativity has been his biggest dream. I have that dream as well, and was honored to be interviewed for Episode 42, titled Inside A Writer’s Mind. Among the topics discussed were overcoming the fear of putting your work into the public eye, dealing with rejection and negative feedback, having multiple streams of income, keeping up with technology, getting ideas, and lots more.
Here is the description of the episode from The International Connection Podcast website.
The 42nd episode of this podcast gives you a glimpse inside a writer’s mind. It features an amazing interview with an extremely passionate creative writer, Stacy Juba.
Stacy has always had a passion for writing and creating stories. In her childhood, she fell in love with the process of documenting ideas, thoughts and experiences & creating interesting stories out of them. In this episode, she breaks down her process of creating content. That’s right! Stacy describes each and every step from writing your first idea to getting your story published in detail. Our conversation also lists various ways in which one can use today’s cutting edge technology to improve his/her writing.
Stacy has successfully recognized her creative passion, which has enabled her to write stories in the genres of Sports, Mystery, Romance and even online writing courses. Her personal journey is a story in itself that inspires various other struggling writers (like myself) to take their creativity to its next level.
So, if you find yourself stuck in the process of writing and hence, want to get yourself “unstuck,” this episode is the right fit for you.
You can watch the episode here. You can also find The International Connection on Apple Podcasts. You can learn more about the show and its host at the below links:
Stacy Juba has written sweet and sassy chick lit novels, mysteries about determined women sleuths, and entertaining books for young adults and children. She has had novels ranked as #5 and #11 in the Nook Store and #30 on the Amazon Kindle Paid List. Her books include the Storybook Valley chick lit series and the Hockey Rivals young adult sports novels.
Stacy is also a freelance developmental editor, online writing instructor, and an award-winning journalist. Her signature course, Book Editing Blueprint: A Step-By-Step Plan to Making Your Novels Publishable, empowers fiction writers to think like an editor so they can save time and money. She also runs the Shortcuts for Writers: Editing Made Simple group on Facebook, an international community of more than a thousand members. Join her Facebook groupand download the free toolkit 7 Simple Steps To Nailing Your Book Blurb.
Are you an author who would like to get some exposure on the Shortcuts for Writers blog? Then I’d love to have you participate in my guest blogging opportunity, Behind the Rewrite. This is a win-win opportunity as you get to share the post with your readers, giving them a fascinating behind-the-scenes glimpse of your writing process. And I get to share the post with my writer followers, so they can learn more about self-editing through your examples.
You have three choices for how to approach your guest post. Please choose one of the below options.
Line Editing Before-And-After – Find a section of your manuscript that you did a lot of line editing on (50-150 words). Write an introduction giving a short overview (a paragraph or two) of the type of line edits you made. (i.e. making sentences more active, cutting vague words, using more vivid words, etc.) Then copy and paste the unedited excerpt into the blog post. Beneath it, paste the rewrite of how it reads with line editing.
Top 5 Changes – Rather than pasting a before-and-after with line editing, you can do a post talking about your larger-scale edits. Tell us about five things you changed and why you made those changes. Each explanation should be at least a paragraph. For example, did you flesh out your protagonist? Add more obstacles in the middle? Cut your prologue? Change your characters’ names? Delete sections to improve the pacing? Add more description? Do more research and add authentic details? Give us a summary of five things you rewrote and your reasons for each change.
Deleted Scene – Share a deleted scene (up to 500 words). Preface it with an explanation of at least 3-5 paragraphs. Explain specifically why the scene didn’t work as written and when you realized it. Did you totally delete the scene, or did you heavily rewrite it? If you rewrote it, give us a summary of what you changed and how this was an improvement. If you cut out the section without rewriting it, how did cutting it improve the book? How hard was it for you to cut?
Whichever option you choose, at the end of your post be sure to include the following:
If this book is published, share the title, blurb, and Amazon link at the bottom of your post.
If it’s an unpublished WIP, then please mention that in the post. You’re welcome to promote one of your published books below that post. Share the title of the published book, blurb, and Amazon link.
A short bio, link to your website, and links to Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. (if applicable). Please paste this beneath the book blurb.
Send the post to stacy@stacyjuba.com as a Word attachment. In the subject line, put BEHIND THE REWRITE FROM (INSERT YOUR NAME) Also attach a jpeg of the book cover you’re promoting. Size should be 600 by 900.
Is there a specific time-frame you’re hoping this post will run to coincide with a book release or blog tour? I run these posts weekly, in the order they are received, so you will be scheduled for the next available date. Unfortunately, I can’t change the schedule around to squeeze in a blog tour or a book release. However, if your book release or blog tour is a few months away, and you want me to hold onto your submission until then, I don’t mind delaying the publication.
I will let you know when the post will run, and will tag you on social media. I can’t wait to read about the behind-the-scenes of your rewrite process!
Stacy Juba has written sweet and sassy chick lit novels, mysteries about determined women sleuths, and entertaining books for young adults and children. She has had novels ranked as #5 and #11 in the Nook Store and #30 on the Amazon Kindle Paid List. Her books include the Storybook Valley chick lit series and the Hockey Rivals young adult sports novels.
Stacy is also a freelance developmental editor, online writing instructor, and an award-winning journalist. Her signature course, Book Editing Blueprint: A Step-By-Step Plan to Making Your Novels Publishable, empowers fiction writers to think like an editor so they can save time and money. She also runs the Shortcuts for Writers: Editing Made Simple group on Facebook, an international community of more than a thousand members. Join her Facebook groupand download the free toolkit 7 Simple Steps To Nailing Your Book Blurb.
Are you ready to write a book but don’t know where to start? Are you wondering about the pros and cons of traditional vs. indie book publishing? Do you want to gain some book marketing tips so that you can increase your royalties?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, then I invite you to listen to my interview on The Boss Lady Investor Podcast. Host Krista Goodrich interviewed me about the inspiration for my books as well as the ins and outs of writing, publishing, and marketing. We discussed lots of book publishing tips to help new writers as well as experienced authors.
Krista is the author of the book, The Boss Lady Investor: You Don’t Need a D!*k to Understand Money. If Robert Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad Poor Dad and Rachel Hollis’s Girl Wash Your Face had a baby, this book would be it! This hilarious take on personal finance for women will get you learning and laughing at the same time. Ready to get out of debt? Grow your retirement? Increase your savings? Build a life of wealth, so you can do the things you REALLY want to do? The Boss Lady Investor: You Don’t Need a D!*K to Understand Money is the go-to book for women looking to understand personal finance, saving, debt, investing, real estate, and more.
This entertaining and relatable book explains, from a woman’s point-of-view, how to understand the stock market, plan for the unexpected, and build yourself to a level of wealth beyond your wildest dreams. Jam-packed with ideas, information, and real-life examples, The Boss Lady Investor will get you started on your way to financial freedom. Want to have a wildly successful life? Then get ready to dive into this book and take the reins on your financial future.
You can tune in to The Boss Lady Investor Podcast to hear sneak peeks of chapters from the book, interviews with down-to-earth Boss Ladies, and all the great advice and tips Krista couldn’t fit into the book.
My episode, #24, will motivate you to get out there and write if that is what your heart desires. It will also give you my candid feedback on where to go for support, book promotion tips, and how to deal with rejection. Listen here.
Stacy Juba has written sweet and sassy chick lit novels, mysteries about determined women sleuths, and entertaining books for young adults and children. She has had novels ranked as #5 and #11 in the Nook Store and #30 on the Amazon Kindle Paid List. Her books include the Storybook Valley chick lit series and the Hockey Rivals young adult sports novels.
Stacy is also a freelance developmental editor, online writing instructor, and an award-winning journalist. Her signature course, Book Editing Blueprint: A Step-By-Step Plan to Making Your Novels Publishable, empowers fiction writers to think like an editor so they can save time and money. She also runs the Shortcuts for Writers: Editing Made Simple group on Facebook, an international community of more than a thousand members. Join her Facebook groupand download the free toolkit 7 Simple Steps To Nailing Your Book Blurb.
Would you like to create ease when writing or editing your fiction? Then check out my interview on the Imperfect Manifestor Podcast where I discuss the most common mistakes that authors make in their early drafts as well as the inspirations for my own books.
The Imperfect Manifestor Podcast explores the ins and outs of mindset and how powerful it is. The host, Nicole Jordan, is a mindset coach and strategist who wants to share all that she knows about how to harness the power within you while getting a little help from the Universe. While there is a practical side to what Nicole talks about, there is a lot of spiritual content that includes the Law of Attraction (and the other 11 laws) and the communication you can open to the subconscious mind. With the weekly shows, you can learn, in user-friendly language, how to tap in to what you desire most.
If you’re a beginner or intermediate writer and want to find out what flaws your manuscript might have, give it a listen while you’re folding laundry or driving to do errands. It is also available on Apple Podcasts.
Also explore Nicole’s past episodes for topics including overcoming limiting beliefs, taking control of your time through freelance writing, and finding what motivates you.
Stacy Juba has written sweet and sassy chick lit novels, mysteries about determined women sleuths, and entertaining books for young adults and children. She has had novels ranked as #5 and #11 in the Nook Store and #30 on the Amazon Kindle Paid List. Her books include the Storybook Valley chick lit series and the Hockey Rivals young adult sports novels.
Stacy is also a freelance developmental editor, online writing instructor, and an award-winning journalist. Her signature course, Book Editing Blueprint: A Step-By-Step Plan to Making Your Novels Publishable, empowers fiction writers to think like an editor so they can save time and money. She also runs the Shortcuts for Writers: Editing Made Simple group on Facebook, an international community of more than a thousand members. Join her Facebook groupand download the free toolkit 7 Simple Steps To Nailing Your Book Blurb.
Writers will often tell me that they don’t know where to start with writing or editing their story. One good place is with something that looks deceptively simple—naming your characters.
Below, I’ve included six questions you should ask yourself when picking your characters’ names. I’ve also listed seven sites to help make this task easier and uploaded a video that gives a tour of each site.
I want to hear about your character names in the comments and how you selected them, along with links to the books we can find them in!
But first, let’s discuss why names are so important. Regardless of whether you’ve finished your draft or are in the early stages of writing the book, it’s important to assess whether your name choices do the story justice.
What’s In A Name?
Think about famous fictional characters like Katniss Everdeen, Albus Dumbledore, Bridget Jones, Luke Skywalker, and Sherlock Holmes. Or how about Fudge from the Judy Blume books, or Ponyboy Curtis from The Outsiders? Can you imagine any of those characters with a different name? Neither can I.
I give a lot of thought to naming my characters, especially the protagonists. Let’s take my chick lit novel Fooling Around With Cinderella. I chose Jaine for my reluctant theme park Cinderella as it symbolized the transformation of a “Plain Jane” into her new role as princess, and more importantly as a confident young woman.
My mystery novel Sink or Swim is about Cassidy, a reality show contestant grappling with her newfound fame and the attraction of a stalker. As a child, I got hooked on reruns of The Partridge Family and remembered reading about David Cassidy’s mobs of fans and his devastation when a teenage girl was killed in a gate stampede at one of his concerts. That always stuck with me. When I was outlining my novel, the name “Cassidy” popped into my mind, and it felt right as it represented the downside of fame. Even though my readers probably wouldn’t make the connection to David Cassidy, naming her that helped to reinforce the theme in my mind.
When I was growing up, I also loved watching reruns of Charlie’s Angels. My favorite angel was Kris, portrayed by Cheryl Ladd, and I’d imagine that I was a private detective, too. That’s why the protagonist in my first mystery novel, Twenty-Five Years Ago Today, is named Kris. Once I gave my character that name, I found it much easier to write about her as I was tapping into my love of women sleuth stories.
Not every name has to have a deeper meaning, but it does need to fit your character and story. This goes for your supporting cast also. I’ll use baby name books and online name directories to get ideas, then choose the one that fits best. Usually a few will jump out at me, and I’ll go with the one that “feels right.” I’ve also been known to change names in mid-story.
Here are some questions you should ask yourself when considering names for your characters.
6 Character Naming Questions
1. Is there a story behind why your character’s parents chose that name?
We had a fascinating discussion in the Shortcuts for Writers Facebook group about why our parents named us what they did and how we got our nicknames. I started the discussion because I wanted everyone to think about how they might apply this question to their characters, especially the most important ones. If you’re a member of the group, you can look for it under Characters in the Topics section and add the story behind your name.
2. Does the name fit the character’s background—what is the character’s age, ethnicity, and geographic location?
This goes a long way toward making your characters and story world believable. For example, according to the Social Security database, the top boy and girl names in 2018 were Liam and Emma. In 1918, the top names were John and Mary. If your protagonist’s grandfather was born in 1960 and is from an Italian family, Angelo would work better than Aidan.
3.Does the name fit the genre and time period?
If you’re writing a historical novel set in medieval times, a girl named Zoe doesn’t fit the era, but readers should accept Millicent, Alice, or Eleanor. If you’re writing a vampire novel, Tobias may resonate with readers more than a name like Chuck
4. Is the name easy enough for readers to pronounce?
If your audience keeps stumbling over it, this doesn’t make for a relaxing reading experience. This is particularly important for a character who appears a lot such as your protagonist.
5. Did you avoid using names that sound too similar?
Limit how many names start with the same letter such as Adam, Alex, Andy, and Annette as readers may get confused. Also limit having too many names with the same ending sound (Sandy, Cindy, Danni, Bennie), that rhyme (Dawn and John), or that have the same number of syllables. (Jen, Sam, Tom.)
6. Did the character’s name shape who he/she becomes or reinforce any qualities?
I took this quite literally in Fooling Around With Cinderella. A supporting character was named Tiara by her quirky parents, and she embraced it. Guess what she collects? Tiaras. This can also be more subtle. Is your character Harmony calm and peaceful? Or, is she the opposite of the hippie parents who bestowed it upon her? Is your character Jagger rugged and macho?
According to George Lucas, Darth Vader—the name of Luke Skywaker’s father—can be traced back to the Dutch and German words for “Dark Father.” We don’t find out about the family relationship until The Empire Strikes Back, but we met Darth Vader in the original Star Wars film. How’s that for foreshadowing? In more Star Wars trivia, Luke Skywalker was originally named Luke Starkiller, but Lucas changed it because he thought Starkiller sounded too aggressive. Good choice!
I’m a diehard fan of the TV series Supernatural. When I started watching it, one of the first things that struck me was the boys’ last name. Dean and Sam Winchester. Since Winchester is associated with guns, that is the perfect surname for a pair of badass monster hunters.
7 Helpful Character Name Generators
Now that we’ve established why names are important and what you should consider, let me give you some helpful resources. It can be hard to pluck the perfect name from thin air, but luckily you have plenty of options to find inspiration. In the below video, we’ll tour seven sites to help you find the perfect name.
Random Name Generator – This generator contains English first and last names based on the database of the US Census. If you need to come up with a quick name, try this one.
Name Generator Fun – You can find a slew of real names and fantasy names arranged by category. Need a princess name? A superhero name? How about a unicorn name? You’ll discover all that and loads more.
Nameberry – From Avery to Zephyr, Nameberry is the complete guide to thousands of baby names. You can browse by style such as cool names, names with interesting meanings, historic and vintage names, and more. The creators of Nameberry also have a book out called Beyond Ava & Aiden, offering hundreds of innovative lists of baby names. You can check it out on Amazon here.
Behind the Name – Discover the etymology and history of first names including African, European, Biblical, Ancient & Medieval, Literature, and more.
Reedsy Character Name Generator – Kickstart your story with this random name generator that has 1,000,000+ names to inspire you. Sort using filters such as language, gender, medieval, and fantasy.
Fantasy Name Generators – Fairy names, vampire names, gargoyle names, evil names, unicorn names, knight names. I could go on and on. It also offers other sections such as place names. Need to brainstorm the name for an arcade, bakery, magic shop, space station, or forest? How about an African town or a steampunk city?
Conclusion
If you’re thinking about writing a book, are in the middle of a WIP, or working on edits, make sure you’ve given careful consideration to names. It will enrich your story, help readers connect with the characters, and you may even learn a thing or two about your fictional cast.
How do you choose character names? Leave me a comment with one of your character names, why you chose it, and the retail link if it’s in a published book.
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Stacy Juba has written sweet and sassy chick lit novels, mysteries about determined women sleuths, and entertaining books for young adults and children. She has had novels ranked as #5 and #11 in the Nook Store and #30 on the Amazon Kindle Paid List. Her books include the Storybook Valley chick lit series and the Hockey Rivals young adult sports novels.
Stacy is also a freelance developmental editor, online writing instructor, and an award-winning journalist. Her signature course, Book Editing Blueprint: A Step-By-Step Plan to Making Your Novels Publishable, empowers fiction writers to think like an editor so they can save time and money. She also runs the Shortcuts for Writers: Editing Made Simple group on Facebook, an international community of more than a thousand members. Join her Facebook groupand download the free toolkit 7 Simple Steps To Nailing Your Book Blurb.
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