Author: Yvette
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Wien…er, schnitzel
Overcoming jet lag by adding a quick two-day visit to Vienna probably wasn’t the best plan. It just made me sad to leave. The visit was relaxing, welcoming, and left me desperately wishing I had more time to spend. Mark and I waved goodbye to our driver in CA on a Tuesday afternoon. We arrived…
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The Picture Game: A Sample Entry
I thought I would start giving you more samples of my writing. To be honest, I wrote for 10 and edited/added for 20 minutes. Here’s an example of what I write when I’m playing the picture game. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Picture Game is a daily writing exercise for anyone who wants to participate. The rules are easy. 1…
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Trust the Process. Follow the Process. Do NOT skip any step in the process.
In my work-life, I continue to learn the difference between an amateur voice actor and a professional one. Amateurs may “know” what to do, but haven’t repeated the process enough times (or recently enough) to do a task without a checklist, cheat sheet, or laborious pre-work. Professionals have gone through the process so frequently and fastidiously that…
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What’s Casper The Friendly Ghost Got To Do With This?
A day after my post about ending friendships and not wanting to be “ghosted,” the brilliant Emily wrote a piece offering an opposing viewpoint. I’m reposting it below and coining a new term: Diablog. (might not be new. didn’t bother checking) I strive to be fair and have open discussions about important things. Like childhood cartoons.…
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Finnemore Fridays: Interdivention
Anything we humans can do, we can do a little too much of. This week, a blogger friend, Emily Randolph-Epstein, wrote a post asking for help with her tendency to hyper focus, sometimes on the wrong things. I replied in the comments, and she found it useful. Her post, and my response to it, made me think of…
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More Castles with Emily Randolph-Epstein: My Life as a Fairy Tale Character
If you are subscribed to my monthly newsletter you’ve seen a few snapshots of Mark and me touring castles in Germany and heard what I thought about cruising. If you are not a subscriber, you can sign up here, or read the wonderful post below about someone else’s experience of the castle tour. My over-simplified…
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Story Prompts for Non-Verbal Thinkers, Part 2
I don’t experience the same hesitation with verbal prompts that Mark does. Generally, words of any kind spring to life as pictures in my head. However “image inspiration” is one of my favorite approaches to writing prompts. When Mark wanted to offer tips about what works for him, I knew I could jump in with…
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Finnemore Friday: Narrative Protection
This is still a blog about writing and narrating, so this week let’s talk about those things. I have a book to narrate that is set in England, filled with British characters. Listening to John Finnemore and his team makes me slightly less terrified as I consider prepping for the job. They are amazing examples…
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Melanie Marttila: The Writing Excuses Retreat, part 2
Occasionally, the beauty of travel is that it makes you appreciate what you have at home. Like when you travel 5,603 miles to Copenhagen Denmark to see the same statue – literally the same design – that sits about 33 miles away from your house. Here she is in Copenhagen: Our guide told us she is…