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Author: The Reluctant Author

The Reluctant Author, a user of words, has spent a lifetime writing words and storing them in notebooks, computer discs, digital files, and has now decided to step out into the light and start sharing some of those words with the world. (The Reluctant Author is Kendra Cooke's pseudonym)
May 2023 Books

May 2023 Books

I read a lot of books this May, most were from one series. Enjoy! Cartographers — Nell Young’s greatest passion is maps, just like her father, Dr Young who is a legend in the field. But Nell hasn’t spoken to her father since the day he fired her from her position at the NYPL. When she gets news of her father’s death she’s not sure how to feel, and when she finds the very map he fired her over it…

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Creating Characters

Creating Characters

When I begin to write a story, sometimes I have an idea of what my characters will look like, and sometimes I don’t. Sometimes, the vision that I have is only partial. Perhaps a key feature of the person I’ll be writing about, because it will matter a great deal to the plot. Other times, characters pop up. Sometimes they help move the plot along, the clerk at the shop, the barista in the cafe. Other times they appear on…

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May Quotes

May Quotes

Welcome to May’s writing quotes. It took me a bit of time this month to narrow down which ones I wanted to share. I was distracted by the desire to post them all, or at least everyone I put in my stack for this month. My love for words makes it hard to narrow my choices down to just a few. I even had some quotes that had nothing to do with writing that made me sigh with happiness that…

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Writing About Real Places

Writing About Real Places

Do you ever write about the places you’ve been? Or, you know, real places? It’s a common question I hear, and the simple answer is yes— and no. It can be difficult to write about the places we know and not find ourselves overwhelmed and wrapped up in the most minute of details. One of the projects I’m currently in revision mode with takes place between two made up countries, and a real one. The real country just so happens…

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