Tuesday, November 22, 2005

Sights and Sounds

As writers, we are to pay very close attention to our world. Thanksgiving, and the other holidays, are prime for us. These are the days full of sights, sounds and emotions. The Holidays give us material for all our emotions. So, this Thanksgiving, I challenge all you writers to record the day on paper. Write down how you felt, what everyone looked like, what the food tasted like, smelled like...felt like. Go ahead. I dare you!

Thursday, November 17, 2005

Better Now

Okay. I'm better today. Almost finished another chapter and it wasn't quite as difficult as the last one. Guess I answered my own question. Persistance does pay off. I'm sure there will be quite a bit of revising when I'm finished, but to me revising is the easy part! And now, back to the old keyboard.

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

Feeling Stale

I'm 33,000+ words into my novel...and it's feeling stale. I love the characters! Just having trouble getting them to speak to me. Each chapter is a chore to get out. Hopefully, by persistance, the words will come and, once finished, I can go back through and liven the story! Does it work that way? Does persistance in writing pay off?

Wednesday, November 09, 2005

I Want to Take it All Back

I have two, soon to be three, Print-on-Demand novels out. I was so excited about them and, amazingly enough, there are readers who wait for my next novel. Here's my dilemma...Ugh! They were written before I even knew what pov was. Can I take them back? Please? Although I now read them, and have received the final proofs on the third one, I want to change so much of them. Rewrite them. My readers (amazing there are any!) say no. It shows how much I've grown in my craft. It does give one hope, though. If these three books sell, which they are, although they aren't flying off any shelves, once a "traditional" publisher picks me up, my readers may even, if possible, be more thrilled than I!

Tuesday, November 08, 2005

Drawing the Reader in

Can you see this? Feel this?

The walk was made in companionable silence, each of them lost in their own thoughts. A slight breeze blew over them, carrying with it an autumn nip. Brightly colored leaves in ranges of orange and yellow, rained down around them, carpeting the sidewalk. Jo sniffed. A fireplace burned, bringing to mind childhood memories of popcorn and marshmallows at her grandmother's house. Somewhere, a lawnmower roared, its sound muffled by distance.

Monday, November 07, 2005

TOO MANY

Every where I turn someone is recommending a book that will take my novel "to the next level". How many books can I read? How many levels can I take my novel to? Getting stressed here. Silly, I know, but I feel I must read them all! Help!

Friday, November 04, 2005

The Five Senses

Well, I'm knee deep into a chapter on putting the five senses into your writing. I can see my scene, I can visualize how my character feels and I know what things smell like. Putting it into mere words is, well, very difficult.

I'm sitting here at my desk, looking out at a sea of detention kids. Papers are rustling, whispered giggles from students who think I can't hear, drift over to me. The maintenance man is working on the lights so they flicker and the kids go yes when the lights go off, and no when they go on. The hum of the air conditioner sounds in the background, and over it all is the clicking of my keyboard.

Okay. This was a practice for me. How did I do?

Wednesday, November 02, 2005

Description

A friend recommended, Description & Setting, by Ron Rozelle. I think this may be one of (if not the) best writing tool I will have ever read. Thank you, Robin! Rozelle gives you simple, effective ways to pay attention to the world around you and then goes on to show you how to implement these things in your writing. I can't wait to read his other book, Characters, Emotion & Viewpoint. Talk about a light bulb going on above my head.

Monday, October 31, 2005

What A Scary World We Live In

I am currently reading a book written by the FBI's famous profiler, John Douglas. In his book, he takes us into the minds of serial killers. These wackos actually believe in what they're doing! Anyway, these books are becoming great tools for my writing. I've already got an idea for my next book and great ideas into the insight of the villain in my current wip. Any "real" life tools you use in your writing?

Friday, October 28, 2005

Huh?

Okay, as I muddle through Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook, I hit chapter 7 and skid to a halt. Personal stakes I understand, I thought. I know who my protagonist is, I even know her name. I know her main problem--to get her son back, alive. What I don't get is how many ways I can make this problem matter more. Isn't it enough that her son is missing and she fears for his life? What exactly is Mr. Maas asking? It's enough to give me gray hair!

Thursday, October 27, 2005

Okay, I'm delusional

What was I thinking with my last post! As a friend pointed out...how do I get away with only eight hours? I was thinking of the eight hours at work, totally spacing the other 100 I need for things after 4:00 p.m. Am I thinking of things I'd like to do, or things I want to do? Often it is difficult to schedule the priorities to fit. I am not a person who enjoys losing sleep!

Wednesday, October 26, 2005

8 Hours

We all get eight hours in our day. What do you do with it?

Tuesday, October 25, 2005

Hopping on the wagon

All right, folks, I've bitten the bullet and actually opened the cover of Writing the Breakout Novel workbook. Pretty intense but I'll wade through it, groaning and ah hahing through the whole thing. Must continue to improve my craft. Isn't that what they all say?

Monday, October 24, 2005

Getting in the mood

Okay. Haven't been in the mood to write for a couple of weeks. Battling some depression here. How do ya'll get in the mood when you aren't? I'm determined to write something today.

Saturday, October 22, 2005

Students

Last week I had the priviledge to speak before a fifth grade class of aspiring authors. What a thrill! To stand in front of those young faces, tilted expectantly up at me and hold their attention was wonderful. One child won a copy of one of my books and you would have thought I'd given her the moon. Others, although I mentioned I wasn't yet "famous" wanted my autograph. What a day that was. If I should inspire one young person to someday write a book...I will have accomplished something fabulous!

Friday, September 09, 2005

The Ripple is Spreading

Got my latest royalty check. Not big, but big enough to treat my family to dinner. Each time I actually get a royalty check, letting me know people are seeking out and buying my books, makes all the frustration and hard work worth it all. If only one person should be touched by God while reading a story I've written, it will all have been worth it. Thank you, Lord, for this opportunity.

Sunday, July 31, 2005

Showing vs. Telling

Finally...I think it clicks. One of the lovely ladies in my critique group put it this way; Whenever you say she saw or she heard, you're telling. You don't need this because you are in her POV. Would she say to herself...I heard or I saw? Pretend you are she and show it.

Yep, folks, I'm still growing and learning. Thank God for wonderful friends willing to continue to correct you when you're wrong, support you until you get it right, then congratulate you when you do!

Thursday, July 14, 2005

Doing It Again

Yesterday, I sent the first three chapters of my latest wip to a well-established author who had the grace to read them. Well...needless to say, I've got some re-writing to do. Most of the book in fact. I felt discouraged a bit after I received the e-mail. I was told I had great things to work with, story flowed and POV was good, but...that old human nature, you know? Today, I'm excited. Fired up. I know I've got a great story going. Now I've got the tools to make it better!

Tuesday, June 28, 2005

I really mean to, but...

Really. I mean to be more consistent with my blog writing. Would love to use it like an actual journal, but time seems so limited. It occurred to me the other day, something I'd read, that Jesus and the disciples also had only 24 hours in a day and look at what all they accomplished! It's discipline folks. How do you do it?

Monday, March 14, 2005

Blogging-Is it worth it?

There is an awful lot of controversy over blogging. Some say for blogging to be effective, you must write everyday. Others say--only when you have something to say. Some writers use it as a journal, others as a teaching tool and still others, like me, to post a thought, or comment. Is blogging writing, as in creative? Is it something intended primarily for the writer to post their thoughts? Input, readers. What say you?

Tuesday, February 01, 2005

Writing Withdrawal

I'm ill with the flu and want to write, really, but my brain won't work. My fingers are poised over the keyboard, my eyes are focused on the monitor and...nothing. My head aches and no thoughts come. I should be writing or critiquing someone else's work. What do you do when the ole' grey matter ain't spinning?

Wednesday, January 26, 2005

Hero vs. Heroine

I realize that we live in a world where women are/and are allowed to, strong. In a writing group I belong to, we are learning that the heroine should come out strong by the end of the story. Is there no one out there who still loves the books where the Hero comes riding in on his white horse to save the day?

In my first novel, Pursued By Evil, this is what happens, yet readers clamored for a sequel. I came up with one and it is at the publisher's now. Look for Haunted By Evil by the end of 2005.

Saturday, January 08, 2005

New Year/New Book

2005 appeared along with the publication of my second novel "A Dream Fulfilled". I doubt the excitement of holding the finished project in my hand will ever diminish. I have submitted the sequel to "Pursued By Evil" and am writing my fourth novel. I thank God that I am capable of being more than a one book author.