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Showing posts from 2012

Growing Where You are Planted

I've written about this topic before: Growing where you are planted; becoming the best you can with what you're doing despite your circumstances. And the truth of it is, while I write about it and talk about it like it's easy to do, I hate it. Hard work is just that ... hard work. And I still don't like it. And who wants to write anyway, only to feel like they're going nowhere? No one. No one likes to see zero progress. No one wants their work to be in vain. But is our work truly in vain? If it's to the best of our abilities, whatever we are doing from writing to cleaning the house, it isn't in vain because someone ultimately benefits whether it's a clean house hours from now, or an actual well-written book WRITTEN years and years from now. It has to benefit someone. Yourself, namely. And if you don't grow where you were planted -- if you don't sit down and write or work hard or sweat out the tough things when you don't want to --

If I Hear That One More Time ...

Ever find yourself asking that question? I do. All the time. And I'll tell you usually what it has to do with: language and vocabulary. I know slang is (unfortunately) a huge part of our vernacular because of social media, and music, and trying to be cool and all. But here are three things I can't stand to hear. And if I hear them once more, it will be way too soon. Epic: As in, "that was a WAY epic bike ride I had." Okay. Epic needs to be reserved for one thing: books. As in, the category of book that has a zillion pages, and takes about three years to read. Epic this. Epic that. If everything is so Epic, why haven't we transcended to heaven yet? I'm sick of it. Stop using it. Try incredible or stupendous, or outstanding. Even the old standbys of amazing, or great will suffice. Epic is overused and overwhelming the air waves, radio and television waves. It's also so very 2012. Don't date yourself. Love on somebody : Holy Mackerel. Since when di

Prompts

You know how I wrote about "Expanding your territory" last week, by branching out and writing in areas that you aren't familiar with? What if you could do that and not have to write a book, or even an essay for that matter? What about a plain and simple writing prompt that forces you to write -- and only write-- twenty five words? Writer's Digest has these incredibly cool exercises that do this. Writing prompts are one of them, and this one -- the super short one-- is not only fun, but hard. Twenty five words? That's like only being able to take a sip of coffee out of a twelve-cup pot. Hard to do, and not as easy as you'd think. Here's the contest: Take a look at this picture, and write the opening sentence to a story. Easy, right? Actually, no it isn't. Everyone has a million ideas, and yet, when it comes to writing, seems like those million ideas boil down to just a handful ... a handful of openers that everyone has heard of. Don't be

Openers

Sorry I've been MIA for a little bit. I needed a little break after blogging for thirty straight days! Anway, I'm back and I'm curious to know something. You know how the first few sentences in a book are critical for hooking the reader, well I would love to know your imput on this little paragraph: The hammer in her hand felt smooth and comfortable, and as cool as a glass of water.   Cleopatra Riley grabbed the key from her pocket and walked to the cabinet in her darkened closet. She unlocked it, and after opening both wooden doors wide, took out all of her porcelain horses, setting them on top of the dresser. In a few seconds, what had taken almost ten years to collect, was gone – smashed to hundreds of pieces Does it draw you in? Is it too wordy? Do you want to read more? I know beginnings are SO important. Important as in, getting an agent to request a partial, or having them say "thanks, but no thanks." What are some of your favorite openers? Some b

V is for Vacillating

The definition, according to Webster, of vacillating: to sway to and fro: to waver, totter, stagger. Such a strange word. Yet, I do this all the time. I vacillate between writing a middle grade book, or literary fiction. I vacillate between excercising, or sitting down to watch something on the TV. I vacillate between a warm sour-cream laden burrito for lunch, or yogurt and fruit. I vacillate between a lot of different things, and usually, it's because my wants are trying to overpower my true needs. Though, I don't know how I account for the writing thing ... I vacillate on writing a lot of different styles, mostly because I like so many-- from young adult to fantasy -- and to see if I can write in a particular style that I'm not used to. Well, that's the reason I'm coming up with, anyway. What about you? What do you "stagger" and "totter" over? Facebook or actual writing? Folding laundry or eating chocolate? And really, have y

I is for Ink

When was the last time you wrote a letter? I know. A letter. When did you last take some actual paper, lined or frilly or otherwise, pick up a pen -- one of those tubular things that emits a liquid called ink -- and wrote out your thoughts to a friend? With the use of e-mail, we are forgetting something quite remarkable: we are forgetting how to write with our hands ... and not just our brains. Like the keyboard, we can write out our thoughts in ink- giving life to our thoughts, words, deeds, images and feelings. Ink and paper are the beginnings of any writer. But, ink is truly feeling your words. Ink lets you directly write out not just what you're saying, but how you feel about it through the way we write. Our words, though we can't write them out as fast as we can on a computer, are intentional when printed in ink; our words really mean something. How about a journal entry? When was the last time you wrote out your thoughts in a notebook rather than a blog post? W

G is for Gatsby

There are a lot of books, essays and plays that talk about or discuss The Great Gatsby , written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. There's a reason for that: it's a great book. I think I studied this book in one of my lit classes, but that part is a bit fuzzy now. I've been out of college for well over a decade, so I don't know if it was an undergraduate or graduate class. Or both. Either way, the book stayed with me. I loved it. I read it almost every year. And I'm going to tell you why I love it so much. 1. There is a little bit of Jay Gatsby in all of us. Enough said. We can relate. We may not have his kind of money, but we all feel the need to be loved and appreciated. 2. There is a little bit Nick Carraway in all of us. We can really relate to Nick. He is us. The average joe. In awe of Jay, and his wealth. 3. There is a little bit of Daisy Buchanan in all of us. Again, we can relate. She is mixed up; loves her husband and is frustrated by him. Is drawn in by

F is for Female Authors

I'm not going to get feminist on you. That's for somebody else to do. But did you realize that three of the best selling books --series -- of the last twenty years or so are written by women? The films didn't do that bad either. In fact, they were some of the highest grossing movies ever. 1. Harry Potter, written by JK Rowling. Okay, no explanation needed here. Everyone knows who she is. She is a very talented writer. No wonder her books did beyond great. I love the stories, I love the friendships and familial ties that are promoted. Rowling is a true story teller, to me. 2. Twilight Series , written by Stephanie Meyer Again, you'd have to be a castaway on an island not to know who she is. Her books sold in the millions, and though the subject matter isn't a new one, teens to forty-something moms loved them. I think (and this is just me) some of her books were way too long. As in, she could've told the same story and cut 25,000 words out of each book. Wha

D is for Distractions

If you're a writer, you know what distractions are. It's the facebook check, or the e-mail check, the laundry, or the sink of dishes. It's every single chore that's left to do in your house, but the actual act of writing. These distractions are sometimes intentionally put out by ourselves, and at other times, it's the normal routine tapping us on the shoulder trying to get our attention. Distractions come to other folks too. But, their distractions seem different, maybe not as cruel. A writer sits by themself, everyday, alone to battle the demons of inferiority, writer's block or procrastination with no one else but themself to bat them away. This isn't to say writers have it worse than other professions. We don't. The problem is we have to talk to our diversions all the time to be productive. We have to ignore the phone, the texts, and the books we want to read. Because, if writers don't do a simple two things -- sit down and type -- we don&

E-books Galore

If you don't know about Ereader News Today or Pixel of Ink , then you're missing out on free books. Sure, some are newbie self-published authors (like myself) but there are plenty of very established authors that offer up their book free everyday. Check out these two sites, like them on FB, or sign up to recieve their newsletter, and you'll never be in want for books ... for free. I've already FAR too many books on my ipad ... but they're free! Just a happy reminder, that I'm offering my new book The Puzzle Master for free again this saturday, the 24th of March. Know anyone who would like to read this? Have a middle-grade/YA reader? Friend or family member? Be sure to send them the book. You can do that! Just go to  the page, and send it as a gift. And hey, if you don't want to wait, then buy it today. It's only $.99! The Puzzle Master Also, remember: you don't need a Kindle to read any of these books. You can download it to your ipad, iph

Five Reasons to Write a Short Story

I had this cool essay that I thought about writing. So, what did I do? I didn’t write it. Instead, I sat on the idea for about three days. I would go back to the idea, while I was cooking, while I was doing laundry, while I was exercising and watching Murder She Wrote reruns, and by the time I sat down to write it –something I really didn’t want to do, because I wasn’t even sure how to write it—the whole thing came tumbling out in about fifteen minutes. Mind you, it was definitely not pretty. It was mashed-up, ugly and not readable. However, after I edited it about two times, things improved. And after a few more edits, it might even be printable. Why am I telling you this? 1 . Because I realized I wrote for 15 minutes and came up with seven hundred words. That’s so cool and very hard to do. If I did that every day for an hour I could have a “book” written in a month or less. In the real world, words rarely come that fast and furious. 90,000 words is usually a three-month thing a

Your Writing Spot

Here's a view --from the outside-- of my ash and birch trees. Every day, I go to my writing desk -- one that includes a PC, paper and pens, and a spot for my unending cup of coffee -- and write. Well, each day except Sunday. I do need a day of rest. But this is my writing spot; it's where I go for inspiration, creativity and dreaming. If it changed, I would also have to seriously change my writing process and routine. A  writer-friend of mine recently  blogged about how her beloved writing spot has drastically changed: how three of her neighbor's trees were cut down in a matter of hours over the course of three days! Not just little trees mind you, but decades-old trees that not only provided shade and glorious beauty, but inspiration for her work. She depended on these trees, even if subconsciously. The trees are gone now and it's as if three family members have died. She basically has to re-establish her writing routine. Though they are mere trees, they

Successful Writing

E-publishing on Amazon is like fishing in an ocean: it's huge, overwhelming, and at any moment a huge wave could take you out. Could. Truthfully, for most things in life we  allow or make them happen. Luck helps, and bad things happen, but working -- and making sure we catch our fish (readers) -- requires a lot of ... work, continually. i.e. all the time. I wish I could say that just by putting a book out in Amazonland means I'm through. Hands off, let the bucks come in. But, I know this isn't the case. Things that we value --and want-- require work to achieve them. And this work requires patience. I read this great post over at a super blog called Writer Unboxed . The post goes into detail about the five top things indie (independent) authors need to work on, work with and utilize to get those book sales. It was discouraging and encouraging at the same time. Mostly, the article was eye opening. What does it say? In a sentence: In order to be successful as an in

Never Say Never

Okay, here we go. So, you know that extremely worn cliche that says "never say never?" Well I'm going to use that cliche right now. Don't EVER say never because odds are in your favor that you will do the very thing you said you'd never do. For example, over the past eight years, I've told my husband that I will never self-publish. Absolutely never. (Look at my last post to see reasons to why I didn't want to). It just wasn't for me. Okay, now here's where I explain how I'm going back on that promise. I am self-published (e-published) now, and the book is up on Amazon Kindle today! I've about a million feelings going through me right now: I'm completely scared that my work is no good, completely expectant, hoping for cool things to evolve from it, and I'm completely enamored that I can publish a book myself and see it on Amazon just like all the big-wig authors out there. My book is called The Puzzle Master . It's a

E-reading: Are you doing it yet?

Kindle E-publishing A few years ago, when Kindle came out, I was hurt. It sounds absurd, but as a writer, we view books as the actual evidence to verify our profession. How in the world was a writer supposed to be an author if their books were virtual? Did it count? Did it invalidate all the authors out there? What about the wanna-be authors who think they too can be authors all because their work is out there as a "book"? Now that we've all gotten a chance to deliberate over it, buy our Kindles or Nooks or Ipads or other e-readers, it seems that none of that matters. My thinking that e-publishing debased authors and their platforms was incorrect. Why? Because good writers, whether physically published or virtually published, still need the readers -- the public -- to consider their work good in order for it to fare well. I also used to think that e-pubbing was a cop-out; that this wasn't "real" publishing because an editor or agent or publisher did