A Work in Progress

I'm a bit overdue for a post, but that's okay. A new year means doing new things. And here's something new: I see that the more I am away from blogging, the more I realize I don't know what I'm doing, even though I'm always researching what I think I want to be doing. New years goal? To write to be happy. Not to write to finish a project or to enter a contest (which, by the way, I like). But, I want to be really happy writing. That is the main purpose for writing in the first place, for me. I write because I love it. But, when the writing turns mundane because I HAVE to write or feel compelled to write because I'm a "writer" well, it takes everything good out of the whole experience. Sure, it makes me busy. But I'm filling my time with with writing things I don't really end up liking, or using; things that don't mean much to me. I want to write whether the subject I'm writing about is ever published or not. I want that f

There's a whole lot to be thoughtful about right now. Particularly now that we're post-election. No more ad campaigns, no more lies ... well, fewer lies anyway... maybe. But, I'm not going into that. No sirree. I'm going to talk about less formidable, less headache-inducing things. Fantastic things --and one not-so-fantastic thing-- that happened this week. I'm doing this so I won't cry. Look at this! ↓ Fantastic: My book, my little, tiny story has been in the top 100 kindle classics for kid literature for three weeks now. THREE WEEKS. Why? I'm not exactly sure. But a few sales a day sure can make a writer happy. THIS is fantastic. If you haven't read my middle grade book, you should.  I kind of like it. The Puzzle Master . ◄▬ Click on that and get the Kindle version for only $.99. Not fantastic : See this coupon? Imagine me cutting coupons out of the Sunday paper. Imagine me trying to save money. Imagine seeing this coupon, reading wha

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 --

Wow, such an incredible title. I know. But, that's sort of what this post is about. Bunheads and stuff. What is Bunheads ? Just the newest and wittiest show around. If I'm not mistaken, this show was written by the writers --or at least some of them-- from Gilmore Girls. If you saw that show, then you'll love this one. If you ever took ballet, like even one class, you'll like this show for that reason too. A bunhead at heart! I took more than one class. In fact, I took years of classes, so much so that I could've gone pro if that's what I had wanted. But no, I wanted something that paid more, yes, I wanted to be ... a writer. What? You mean writers don't make money? So maybe I chose the wrong profession after all, or I'm par for the course. Whatever. The thing is, I completely relate to the main character of the show. This dancer chic, she had gone that route, and did what she wanted with her dance life: went pro. Only life sort of took over an

 I'm doing okay during this round of NaNoWriMo. I'm not at the recommended projected speed, but I do have eleven thousand very disorganized set of words already written. Only need 39,000 more by the end of June. No problem. Actually, there is a problem. My words will be horrendous. How can it not? And the story will still probably need another good thirty thousand words just to make it a complete book after NaNo. But, that's what revisions are for. And that's just what I'll do. I'd like to have this middle-grade book written and edited by the end of the year, this includes the thirty thousand extra words, the thirty thousand I have to edit out and rewrite, and of course, the thirty thousand that was supposed to write itself because I'm so brilliant. (Oh and did I mention this is the THIRD rewrite of this book? Yeah ... issues). Anyway, NaNo is great because what it is, is a giant swift-kick in the behind. And right now, at the onset of summer a

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

Camp NaNoWriMo I've written several times about why we need to expand our writing, as in, writing in styles and genres that we normally don't write in. I can hear you saying, "That's all fine and dandy for someone else, but for me and my thriller manuscripts I don't need that kind of practice." Now, I want you to hear me saying. "You're wrong!" Why? Because, we have to always be learning in order to keeping knowing. That sounds kind of lame when I write it that way. But here's the gist: to be really, really good at something, requires continual, daily, practice. This means writing in your genre, and writing in OTHER genres to be not only a good writer, but a great writer: someone who can understand all sorts of things because of this very act of writing in a genre one normally doesn't write in. So, what do you need to do? Try doing what I'm doing. Well, so I'm probably not doing all of these, but here are three exampl

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

It's time for me to stop blogging. Because, I'm losing my mind, and doing dumb stuff. Yesterday, I added a picture of the letter U to my W word. Ummm.... yeah. That's not good. And because blogger changed their site, I'm having to relearn where all the functions are, and my formatting looks horrible at times, like the other day, when my title didn't go into the post, and there weren't any spaces between words after a period. Argggghhhh. Hopefully, you've learned a lot over this past month. I know I have. I also have a ton of blogs to visit still, which I hope to do over the course of the next month. I've also learned that I still really love to write. And I'm glad to be a part of this blogging fest. Even if, I'll always have an issue with editing my blogs ...

Unlike real physical exercise, I love writing exercises. And I especially love writing prompts. Those few words or sentence gives me a freedom to write about anything, without my own creative restrictions, precisely because I didn't come up with the writing prompt. Weird, but that works well for me. I also like coming up with book openers. You know, the way the first couple of sentences look on the first page -- sentences that are supposed to hook you immediately. I try to do this frequently, just for fun, but I really try to do this on genres that I don't typically write in. For example: Murder is tricky. Sometimes, it takes the victim by surprise and other times, the victim knows it's coming from miles away. Kind of like the sound of a train whistle on a train not yet visible. But when Matthew Sasson murdered me, I'd heard that train whistle for months. -paranormal mystery I don't write paranormal. But, it would probably be pretty fun

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

For some reason, I was having a hard time coming up with a blog post for the letter U. It may be because my head is a little fuzzy. Why? Because I was awake last night, in the middle of the night around three a.m., thinking about a young author (age nineteen) who this year, wrote a book in two weeks, did one week of revisions, and submitted it to agents with an offer for representation a week later. Unbelievable. Unsusual, yes. And still, always unbelievable to hear stories like that. Stephanie Meyer was one of those in the "unbelievable" category too, and though rare, these writers are out there. I was awake thinking about what I was doing at nineteen. Wanting to write, but not thinking I could sit down a write a book. It's amazing how all authors find the road to their writing, and how most of the roads are similar and very different, too. I was in college, studying literature at that age. I was writing too many papers to even think about writing a book that I wa

Because, we all have them! I even have a book out, one that I published mind you, and I'll still find a missing period, or misspelled word, and I cringe to think about all the people that have read those mistakes! I'm a perfectionist, but not to the point that it had to be so perfect before I put the book out there. If that were the case, I never would've published. I had to let it go, typos and all, and then fix them, once the book was out--once I had many sets of eyes telling me what I missed. Some folks don't like that, but really, I don't mind it at all. I need the help.While I can edit for content, sometimes, I just CAN'T see the formatting, or grammatical or punctuation errors because I'm looking for so many different things. Again, this is one of the negatives to self-publishing. And also a reason to hire an editor to fix those things before you put something out there. And sometimes, even that isn't error-proof. I've read many a be

As in Nicholas Sparks. I know what you're thinking ... we've already heard about this guy. But, probably far less than you're hearing about Suzanne Collins of The Hunger Games , right? I know a lot of people like his writing. I know a lot of people don't like his writing. Usually, the latter group says this because they've never read any of his books. They're only basing their opinion on what others have said, what they've heard in an interview, or how bad they thought the movie was. Don't base your judgement of a book from the movie ... ever. You know the cliche: The book is better. Here's two super reasons to read Nicholas Sparks . 1. His writing is real. I know. Some of you guys are thinking, come on, he's so not real . But he is! He's real for guys and girls, and on so many levels. I just read The Last Song . Sure it was sad, as he usually has sad elements in his books, but how is that any different than other book? Life is ab

As a writer, it's easy to lose sight of the big picture. I'm sure this is a common theme for any artist -- from painting to acting to dance -- as they have to daily focus on small segments, perfecting those parts, which in turn creates the final masterpiece ... even if it takes many, many days. What artists have to do, in order to remember what the whole thing is about, is to step back and refocus ... take a look at the whole picture and remember what it was they had originally intended to create. Writing is the same way. We work a chapter or page at a time. But, after months of this, sometimes we don't remember the passion; what it was that sparked imagination or flamed the fire of this story. Sometimes, we need to reread what we wrote to remember. Other times, we have to sit on it. And usually, we just have to keep doing what we're doing, one day at a time, having faith that the final project will appear. Masterpieces don't come over night. They don'

This entire week of April has been National Library Week, the 8th through the 14th. So here's my questions: when was the last time you were in a library? For a lot of writers, we can't live without them: they are our eternal reference, even though we have the internet. Most libaries have that slightly dusty, papery, hard-bound goodness to them, so that every book you pick up feels like you've found gold. Libraries are probably more economical than ever, as plunking down $15 for a book (and more) isn't as viable as it used to be. Whatever your excuse is for not visiting, try to make it into one -- even if just for old times sake. Check out a book, something that makes you love to read, be it a mystery, thriller or memoir. I grew up living about three blocks away from a library. My sisters and I were there all the time. So much information, so much to read, so much to pour over and ponder. I absolutely love libraries. And if you love to read or write, you really shou

Yes, I wrote Joy. Because, true joy is really hard to come by these days. There's a whole lot of negative, a whole lot of stupid, a whole lot of vanity and myriad of joy-stealing things happening all around us. Yet, who is in control of our own joy? We are. It's all up to us, whether we're going to say "today will be a great day" or stay grumpy. It's up to us to say, "I'm going to be productive today" -- even if that means one solitary, but solid, paragraph of writing. Many days, the joy just isn't there, despite those words, despite yelling them out, or repeating them over and over. Joy is very elusive -- it is much like that missing sock when you take the clothes from the dryer ... sometimes never to find it again, but believing it is still very near. For me, and my belief, my mantra -- if you will -- is "the joy of the Lord is my strength." That may not be yours, you may not agree, but I don't really care. It's the

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

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

I know I've talked about this before, but if you don't know about ebooks you're missing out on something amazing.While ebooks will never replace actual books, they are extremely convenient, easy to get to, and can go anywhere your phone goes. Okay, here's why you should get into ebooks. 1. They're almost always cheaper than actual books. Need a better reason? Well, there's four more below. 2. You can read them from your phone, or ipad, or any ereader or PC at home. No excuses not to read. 3. You can get a plethora of free or cheap books. Pixel of Ink and Ereader News Today are the top lists. Be careful. You'll have a hundred books in your queue before you know it! 4. They go where your phone goes, on any plane, bus, car, train or boat. Everywhere. 5. They don't take up any room. It's all digital and fits in the palm of your hand -- or almost, anyway. While I love, love books, i.e. the smell of them, they way they feel, the hoards of th