I love this. Here is what the author said about loneliness: “Writing can be a lonely business. But gradually your characters, or the scenes and people from your past, begin to rise up around you, and you find yourself writing your way out of loneliness, writing your own company. And you’ll find yourself at dinner some evening telling your family or friends, “Well, Natalie really made a mess of things today” or “I can’t believe what John said about Kathryn’s dog.” And everyone will look at you … [Read more...]
Day 114: The idea That Won’t Go Away
Have you ever had one of those moment when you're writing where your characters just won’t shut up. They continue to talk and talk and talk. They won’t quit until you write what they're telling you to write down. This has happened to me a few times with the fiction novel I’ve been writing to the point I have a major rewrite in the works that will need to be completed when we get more settled in Anchorage. If you aren’t a writer you may think that we have something mentally wrong with us if … [Read more...]
Day 102: Five Things Writers Can Learn from Cats
1. Stay focused. As writers it's important to stay focused on our writing to make it the best we can. When we don't we end up with a mess and more likely than not have to go back and either do some major edits or to rewrite it all. No fun at all. So staying fucused is paramount to making the writing successful. 2. Retain mystery. It's important to keep the story a mystery so the reader will continue to keep the reader engrossed in the story otherwise they would lose interest. 3. Hunt … [Read more...]
Day 98: Ideas in Limos and Planes
I love this quote in the book: "You can’t just dance or paint or write or sculpt. Those are just verbs. You need a tangible idea to get you going. The idea, however minuscule, is what turns the verb into a noun." —TWYLA THARP Think about that. As a writer, no matter how small the idea might be, we're able to turn that into a full length book. We can get ideas from any where. A little over two years ago I was told I needed to add fiction elements to my daughters book. The problem was I … [Read more...]
Day 90: The Wrestling Match
Here's a question for you? Are you ever fully satisfied with yourself? If you say yes, I don't think you're being truthful with yourself. No matter who we are or what we do there is always room to grow. As a writer, I'm still a long way off from being able to write a book with as few of edits as possible. I'm so in the throes of learning this craft to make it the best I can. In the past year since I joined ACFW, I have learned so much on how to improve my writing. I'm still amazed … [Read more...]
Day 87: Lessons of Drama
Which one of these paragraphs has more of an emotional effect? Mom stared off into the distance. Her mouth didn't move. Her hands stayed in her lap. One tear trailed down the side of her face. She stood and walked out of the room. Mom longingly stared off in the distance. Her stoic mouth didn't move at all. Her hands stayed perfectly still in her lap. One lonely little tear made its way down the side of her face. She gracefully stood and gently walked out of the room. I hope you said … [Read more...]
Day 82: Finding a Genre
I'm a romance nut. I started off reading teen romances by the time I was 13 or 14 years old. I eventually graduated to he adult romances. The ones I like the most are historical romances set in the UK somewhere, but mostly in London. I also like to read historical romances set in the US. Once in a while I will read a contemporary romance. The point is, I love my romance books. So, when I had my first book idea pop into my head I was sure that I'd be writing a romance. I began to write my … [Read more...]
Day 75: Signs and Messages from Above
Are there actually signs or messages from above? Do they actually lead us down a path if we choose to follow? Are they there so obvious that if you choose not to follow it you come to regret that later? Are you too stubborn to follow them because it's not according to plans we have for ourselves? I think the answer almost every time is a great big yes. We are all selfish by nature. Of course we think about ourselves and what we think will be best for us. But no matter how great or how grand … [Read more...]
Day 74: The Truth and Nothing But
It's interesting when we compare fiction to nonfiction. With fiction as a writer we many times will infuse a part of who we are into our stories, but the story itself is fiction. It comes from the recesses of our mind as we write down the story. Nonfiction, however, is based on real life stuff. Take this quote: "The writer of memoir makes a pact with her reader that what she writes is the truth as best she can tell it. But the original pact, the real deal, is with herself. Be honest, dig … [Read more...]
Day 73: Starting Again and Again
I think we all have our times when we start something only to stop, then we come back and start again going through the cycle over and over. Whether it's a job where we start each day anew and by the time we are getting off we have our ending each day as well. Or if we start some new craft project like crocheting a blanket. Some people don't get easily bored. But if you're anything like me I can only go so long before I get bored with what I'm doing and I stop for a while only to start again … [Read more...]
