Have you ever felt like your life is out of control? You have a direction you'd like to go, but your path is anything but straight. If you'd look back, it's as if you're drunk with the way it looks like you've weaved back and forth along the way. For the last few years, that's how my life has been. There are things happening in our home that began in the summer of 2015. While I can't go into details, the seriousness that's evolved as a result has added an enormous strain on our … [Read more...]
Postponing my journey
Many of you have probably noticed I have not been posting about my 365 day journey since the end of June. While I plan to keep going with it, this past month is always hard for me. For those of you who don't know me very well, my husband and I have lost our only child, our 8 1/2-year-old daughter, six years ago on July 16. I end up having a hard time focusing as the days draw closer to this time. This year has been no different. On July 1 we also had family fly in from California and has been … [Read more...]
N is for Novel
The novel. It's been around for not only years but centuries. It's a place where we can lose ourselves as we read what's been written on the page. We can go off on adventures or fall in love with a prince. We can go to a place only the imagination can make up or a place we've never been before. Novels can be both historical or contemporary. They can teach us things or simply be a nice escape from reality. They can be light and just a fun read or they can be go deep delving into emotions that … [Read more...]
G is for Genre
When it comes to writing fiction, there is a plethora of things we could write about. One of the first things we need to narrow our choices down to is what genre do we wish to write in. Since I started to write fiction, I've heard time and time again that the genre you need to write in is the genre you read and usually you want to write in the one you read the most because you are most familiar with the format. For me that genre would be romance. I like all versions of it: contemporary, … [Read more...]
A is for Antagonist
The antagonist, the one we all love to hate, or at least most of the time, as we read our stories and immerse ourselves into the world of the characters we grow to love. In my fiction story, my antagonist is my protagonists mom. She one of these types of characters that likes to make sure appearances count. She doesn't know how to show lover to her two girls because her own mom never showed her what love is really supposed to look like. Sometimes within a story the antagonist happens to be … [Read more...]
Day 97: Clear Language
When we write do we want to be vague or do we want to be as clear as possible? I hope your answer was the latter. In our writing we should want to be as clear and straight forward so there is no confusion on the part of the reader. The clarity of our story needs to not make sense only in our heads but also the reader. If we didn't have readers there would be no need to write a story in the first place. One morning my niece and her friend that had stayed the night were upstairs in her room … [Read more...]
Day 83: Retyping the Best
This is an interesting concept. Have you ever thought about taking one of your very favorite books and retyping it out? That's right, the entire thing. Nope? Well, I hadn't either until I read about today's phrase. Here is a small excerpt from the book: "When Donald Ray Pollock turned forty-five, he decided he wanted to do something different with his life; he was going to learn how to write. He began by retyping stories by writers he liked —John Cheever, Richard Yates, and Ernest … [Read more...]
Day 63: Feast or Famine: Part 2
Have you ever sat down to your computer or your binder paper and suddenly you have nothing to write. In fact, this goes on for several days. Nothing is coming to you. This is what we writers hate to have happen: Writer's Block. Or the famine. For whatever reason, all of our ideas have dried up like a lake that goes through a severe drought and dries all up. We want to write. We've scheduled our time out and yet here we sit. This has happened with my daughter's dedication website for me. If … [Read more...]
Day 24: Writing While Drooled Upon
Really, this just means to not let anything get in the way of your writing. I know I could have what seems like a million and one things to keep me from writing. To be honest, I think I let many excuses get in the way of doing so. If I was more disciplined I think I could find the time I need. But, for whatever reason, I can't seem to find the motivation within myself to become disciplined. It's almost like it's a vicious cycle. I know right now it has a lot to do with the time of year. You … [Read more...]
Day 22: A Writer’s Lifestyle
I don't think there's a cookie cutter lifestyle to apply to all writers. It would be like saying all stay-at-home moms are great cooks or fantastic at keeping their homes spotlessly clean. With that said, I do think when we're wrapped up in a story we're writing we could allow it to take over our life if we were to let it. Writing seems to come to me in waves. When I'm hot and in the zone, so to speak, all I want to do is write. I don't want to watch TV or movies. I don't want to do any of my … [Read more...]
