The circus rider who stands on top of the horse as the horse gallops around the arena stays focused. He doesn’t allow those around him to distract him. If he did he might fall. This holds true in our writing. If we allow those around us to influence us to either change our writing to what others say it should be or those around us don’t support our writing then we won’t write or we change our voice which becomes lost in who we really are as a writer. We have to remember to always be true … [Read more...]
Day 117: The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Writer #acfw
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 115: Writing the Tree #acfw
In life we usually learn by either example or making a wrong decision. This is how we better ourselves. I love this because if I never learned from any of my mistakes what good would that be. My writing has benefited from this. If I had started to write and then didn't get any feedback/critiques on my writing, I wouldn’t have learned how to become a better writer. My writing has become stronger as a result of the time and effort I've put in. My hope is that those who have been helping me will … [Read more...]
Day 114: The idea That Won’t Go Away #acfw
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'll need to be completed by the time I go to my first writer's conference in September. If you aren’t a writer you may think that we have something … [Read more...]
The Journey with Natalie Monk #acfw
Please welcome this weeks guest Natalie Monk for The Journey. She answers the question: How have you seen God work in your writing journey? “He hath made every thing beautiful in His time...” Ecclesiastes 3:11 Sometimes the writing journey is wonderful. Other times we writers shove our foot onto the brake pedal and ask ourselves if the endless hours we spend drafting, rewriting, editing, marketing and networking are really accomplishing anything. This is especially true for those of us … [Read more...]
Reflecting back over the A to Z Challenge #AtoZchallenge #acfw
This year is the first time I did the A to Z Challenge on this site. However, I did do it last year on my daughter's dedication site (mommysangelinheaven.com) and fell in love with doing it. So this year I decided to really up the ante, so to speak, and do the challenge on both this site as well as my daughter's site. It wasn't easy and I even was late a couple of times with posting, but I was able to write on every letter and get them posted on both sites. Yea!!!! The topic I chose to write … [Read more...]
X is for eXpectation #AtoZchallenge
In life we have so many expectations that we'd like to see happen. From watching our children grow and hoping they become successful adults in whatever we do. To being successful in whatever job we do. To so many things in life. As a writer I have several expectations I want to do or have happen for myself. Like, continually being ready to learn how to improve my craft of writing. The more I focus on this the better my writing has become over time. I know I still have more to grow, but the … [Read more...]
U is for Unsolicited Manuscript #atozchallenge
Have you ever gone to a literary agency's website or to a traditional publisher's website and looked up their guidelines to find out how you could send a query or proposal for your work only to find out it says something like this: We do not take unsolicited manuscripts. So exactly what is an unsolicited manuscript? It's one that is not represented currently by an agent or for a writer who has never been published before. In other words, agents and publishing houses don't want anyone to just … [Read more...]
T is for Tagline (Dialogue Tags) #atozchallenge
Taglines, or better known as dialogue tags, have been used in writing clear back to the Bible. They help the reader to know exactly who is talking during a scene. However, today, many publishers are moving away from dialogue tags as this is more telling than showing. Adding an action beat for whoever is talking is a way to show that person is the one talking instead of saying so-in-such said. As a reader, to be honest, I never really noticed that kind of stuff and it never bothered me. But … [Read more...]
S is for Slush Pile #atozchallenge
The dreaded slush pile. No one ever wants their manuscript to be tossed into this pile. All their hard work given up to chance that maybe someone just might pull your manuscript out and read it thinking it was the next Nicholas Sparks or Nora Roberts best-selling novel. Unfortunately, for most of us, we will either end up in this slush pile or, quite frankly, no pile at all. I'll be honest. As most of you know, I've never been published so I'm, as they say, relatively green behind the ears … [Read more...]
