A Work in Progress

Sometimes, just saying this question outloud -- "What would Jessica Fletcher do?" --can be the absolute best way to work through a scene, or maybe in the extreme case, your entire novel. I know, it totally sounds hokey ... at best. But, it's true! If you've never watched an episode of Murder She Wrote, or really an episode of almost any crime/drama, then you need to. It can help to focus in on what it is you're trying to explain, reveal, hide or introduce in your story. In reality, detectives -- or in her case, unofficial detectives -- rarely solve a murder case within the time frame that these shows take place in. However, that's because the show is limited to an hour or two. If it isn't short and quick, our attention wanes, we get up for a snack, or we will change the channel. In our writings, even if things don't move quite this quickly, we too need to move the plot along. Otherwise, no one will want to read our words either! Watching J. B.

I'll admit it ... the title of this post sounds suspiciously a lot like a travel article, or a top ten to see while you're in Aruba. But this post is more about being writer/reader productive -- without actually feeling like you are working -- while on vacation (or holiday, if you're on the other side of the pond). Even when I'm on vacation, I still have this infinitesimal -- and sometimes grand -- urge to write. Something. Anything, especially when a postcard doesn't quite cut it as literary work. If this sounds like you, yet you don't want to write too much because heck, you are on vacation, keep a tiny notebook with you. Jot down story ideas, characters flaws for your hero, write a poem as you watch the ocean, or end that novel with the final two hundred words you were trying so hard to write back at home. While vacation is just that, vacation, it doesn't mean you have to abandon all creative writing. That's sort of like cutting out your oxygen

I don't know if any of you are looking to be published, or need a great agent, but if you've tried to find the right agent, it can be grueling. All those requirements, or quirky specifics, and every agent is different. Some are big-timers, and some are small-town folks. And if you're like me, and you don't feel like shelling out 30 bucks for an agent book -- the kind that list all the agents all of America, along with their info, in really small print -- then you have to check out AgentQuery . They are a database of agents, and yes, I'm warning you, it's overwhelming!  But, really,  AgentQuery is like finding a gold mine. Oh, and did I mention that most of it's free? Jackpot! I've been casually going to their website for a couple of years now. The agents' info --all thousands and thousands of them --stay relatively current, you can specify to the city what you are looking for in an agent, or an find agent by genre or category; those who special