Campaigner Spotlight: Chris Eboch

Hey, everybody! Tonight the spotlight is shining on Chris Eboch, from Write Like a Pro.

What’s the earliest clear memory you have?
Our neighbor’s house burning down. In my memory, I was lying on my bed reading when my father came in to get me, and I was annoyed at the interruption. I was four, so I probably wasn’t really reading – maybe flipping through a picture book with a familiar story – but I find it funny that my first memory involves both books and a dramatic event.

What’s your hobby horse?
If you mean what do I do for fun, I spend a lot of time reading, of course – the cheapest, easiest way to explore other worlds. Now that I live in New Mexico, with beautiful weather almost year-round, I love to get outside to take advantage of it, whether it’s having weekend brunch on the patio with my husband as the hummingbirds dart around us, or fossil hunting in the desert, or rock climbing on one of the many nearby cliffs.

What’s your pet peeve?
Cleaning the kitchen. It’s not that the job is so bad, but that it never stays clean more than half a day. As a writer, I hate when people assume that writing is easy, anyone could do it, and all you have to do is whip out a book to get rich quick. If only!

I offer writing advice on my blog, Write like a Pro! I have years of experience as a writing teacher, freelance critiquer, and workshop leader, and I’ve written over 20 articles for Children’s Writer or Writer’s Digest. I try to go beyond the common advice and dig into the nitty-gritty of writing, such as how to find moments for cliffhanger chapter endings and make the most of them. Recently I’ve been sharing excerpts from my new book, Advanced Plotting, which includes essays from other professional writers. Check out my past posts, and perhaps follow me for future advice!

The Consistent Reader’s Club

One of the features over at the Stringing Words community that I’ve never participated in is the Consistent Reader’s Club – until today. I’ve been telling myself ever since I got to the Kansas Workshop that I need to make more time to read, and it hasn’t added up to much, so I figured that an ego challenge might help. 😉

There are a few Consistency Clubs over at SW, and I’ve joined in most of the others from time to time. (There’s Consistent Writers, Consistent Editors, and Consistent Bloggers; I think that’s it.) Aside from Bloggers, which plays around to give participants the chance to choose their own schedule, the rules are pretty much the same.

You set a minimum goal that you want to accomplish every day – writing 500 words, reading for a half hour, or editing a page, maybe. You keep track of your progress, count up how many days of a streak you can make it up to, and post that count on the thread as often as you like. If you fall short of your pledge for one day – only writing 350 words, say, you can choose to lower your pledge for the entire streak if you like. But if you go a day with nothing to show for it, then you have to end your streak and start a new one.