Fragrance of Thought

Whip Those Wimps Into Shape

2011-11-18T20:01:00.001-08:00

I’m about to wrap up my latest novel. I was feeling quite pleased about it until I read a chapter about creating potent and memorable characters in the book Thanks, But This Isn’t for Us by Jessica Page Morrell . I had to step back for a moment and analyze what I had already written (yeah, I know, I should finish the book first) to see if I committed some of deal breakers she mentions in the chapter. What I discovered is I’m a wimp at heart, and I allowed the cowardice in me seep into some of my scenes.

I realized my main character battled in the war of nerves and emoted like those annoying people who can’t hold their emotions in at the office (hmm…sounds familiar). Ugh! My heroine was anything but courageous, and I had to do something about it before I allowed a discerning editor toss my manuscript into the slush.

Here are some of the comparisons Morrell makes between figurehead characters and wimps:

Wimps worry, fret, and are indecisive/ heroes tuck a decision under an arm and charge the line
Wimps moan and tuck tail while blaming their trials on others/heroes swallow mistakes and challenges; they face the consequences, embracing whatever perils life throws at them
Wimps run from relationships, principals and beliefs/ heroes leap into love, cling to conviction, and know who they are and where they want to end up
Wimps can’t handle the heat and give up; heroes walk into the inferno, despite the odds of survival

Are you getting the point? By the end of the story, we forget wimps; they fade from our pages like disappearing ink. But heroes levitate like embossed lettering; they make us salivate for more, make us race to the end of the book to discover their fate. Scarlett O’hara, Indiana Jones, and Jack Ryan trigger our emotions. We hate them, flee from danger with them, cry for them because they refuse to swagger to vulnerability. Their reactions are the stuff that makes us sigh relief when they triumph at the end.

Of course, they can show faults or momentary weakness, but by the end of the story your characters better learn how to stand up to mayhem or they’ll lose their lives in the pages of forgettable literature that gathers dust on the discount tables at bookstores.

Whip those wimps into shape, I tell you. That’s what I did with mine.

A Tortoise Race to the Finish

2011-09-06T21:31:00.000-07:00

Over the Labor Day weekend, I got a lot of writing done. It was a bit of heaven, dusting off the corners of my brain, throwing out the cares of my make-a-living job, and putting fingers to the keyboard eight hours a day. I often yearn for large chunks of time to write daily, but, ah, wishing never made it so. My goal is to complete my WIP by next March, yet the fruition of that objective remains a distant flag on the horizon.

What’s a writer to do?

We keep writing, whenever and wherever we can. We prepare our thoughts for the next scene while we’re driving to and from work. We edit while we’re waiting for our son to come out of the doctor’s office. I keep thinking about the story of the tortoise and the hare. All my friends are the rabbits, speeding past me, progressing toward the finish line, though unlike the hare, without criticism and with great success of their own. I, however, take one methodical step after another toward the goal, and the finish line is nowhere in sight. I have to remind myself the tortoise eventually crosses the finish line, even before the hare, though in my case, after my speedy friends publish several of their books. That’s okay. I can look at my progress and say I plodded away at the course every day. I feel confident in the effort I have put forth.

My slow thrust forward frustrates me at times, and I have to imagine myself at the other end of the track, leaning into the ribbon, letting it flow behind me as I finish the race. Frustration never did a writer any good. It places obstacles in the path and blocks focus. Still those feelings are real, and if I can invent ways to stay positive and productive, I increase my ability to succeed. I have to revel in my victories, celebrate the forty pages I wrote over the weekend to lessen the sting of placing dead last.

Maybe some of you are struggling to win the same kind of writing races. I’d like to hear how you put your negative energy to a more constructive use. We know the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong…but time and chance happen to them all. (Ecclesiates 9:11) And whether time and chance indulge us with favor or not, it’s how and that we finish the race that really matters in the end.

The Ebb and Flow of Sentence Structure

2011-08-29T20:55:00.000-07:00

Recently I listened to an excerpt from someone’s novel, and after mulling the piece over in my mind, I finally figured out what disturbed me about it. Her sentences all sounded the same.

The ebb and flow of sentence structure is key to good writing. Like the waves of the sea, using varied sentence lengths provides the current that undulates within a paragraph, moving the reader upward with the flow then ebbing to emphasize and to clarify.

Three basic kinds of sentences exist: simple, compound, and complex. Sentences consist of independent and dependent clauses—sentence fragments that contain subjects and those that do not. It is the creative usage and variety of these clauses that either cause our words to succeed or fail.

Simple sentence structure uses independent clauses that can stand alone as a sentence, such as: The dog chased the cat. Sometimes a short sentence is sufficient. Compound sentences use two or more independent clauses. The dog chased the cat, and the cat ran up a tree. This format extends the flow of our words and provides more interest. Complex sentence structure consists of one or more dependent clauses and at least one independent clause. The dog chased the cat, and though the dog’s snapping jowls ripped one of the feline’s nine lives to shreds, the cat ran up the tree to perch safely on the highest branch. Be careful to punctuate correctly within this format. Break the sentence into smaller segments if you aren’t sure where to place the commas.

English teachers have lectured and pointed their knotty fingers at us when we’ve used dependent clauses by themselves, threatening to mark “sentence fragment” on our papers with their accursed red pens. For the most part I agree with them. Yet isn’t it fun to break the rules? We would do well to understand the difference between dependent clauses and independent clauses. Knowing the rules helps us to produce a product worth reading. But sometimes we can use a wayward sentence or two with purpose. For emphasis. Or special effect. Or in dialogue. It’s the flotsam that puts punch into our writing. Just use them sparingly. And leave them out of formal writing.

I can’t tell you how to write. However, I guarantee if you use a variety of well-crafted sentence lengths, your work will sweep your reader into the stream of your words and surge them forward to a satisfactory ending.

Going for Blood

2011-08-04T05:35:00.000-07:00

When I entered college, several of my Sophomore friends counseled me to avoid the English teacher Mrs. Krafchick. Their warnings were often accompanied with the words, “She’s a tough grader.” I took care to request specific classes during registration, especially in English, because I wanted to sidestep an instructor that would make my life miserable.

You guessed it.

When I attended orientation, there on my class schedule, in all capital letters, the name KRAFCHICK jeered up at me. My spirit sagged. I hoped I could switch out of her class before the start of school, though fate would have her own way. I sat low man on the totem pole, one of many in a banner year of incoming freshman, and the school made rearranging classes near impossible. I gulped at the cruel joke destiny had played on me, and prepared to face my fears.

I entered Mrs. Krafchick’s classroom that first time with palms sweating and heart racing. She appeared younger than I had imagined, though her face drew to a pinch and her attitude boomed with authority. And because she had written the classroom textbook, I feared she would hold the book over our heads as a standard—the last word in the realm of the all-knowing lady at the front.

I landed a “D” on my first writing assignment, a hard dose to take, since I was an “A” and “B” student. My second attempt earned little better—a “C-”. Each paper foretold the dismal report card that was sure to arrive in my mailbox by the end of the quarter. On the day I dropped out, half-way through the term, I had worked myself all the way up to a “B+”. I stood outside her classroom, withdrawal notice in hand, waiting to get her signature as soon as the class dismissed. Imagine my astonishment when I heard through the door Mrs. Krafchick say my name and talk about the wonderful paper I had written. I hadn’t expected that. I wanted to get in and get out with my completed signature sheet and retreat to my home to plan my next life adventure.

I remember the disappointment that flicked in Mrs. Krafchick’s eyes when I presented the withdrawal slip and my feeble explanation of why I wanted to give up. She said nothing but handed me my paper with “B+” marked in bold letters at the top of the page. I left with the stigma of that humiliation. It was almost as if she had said, “I don’t understand why you’re leaving. You had such promise.” Her words, though imagined, have stuck with me some thirty plus years later.

I learned more than just how to write from Mrs. Krafchick. She taught me that to write clean copy, free of frilly, garbage can words (her words, not mine) required struggle—editing, shaping, word-upon-line-upon-paragraph warfare. If I wanted to write with clarity, I had to put in the effort, even if the process drew blood.

Had I stayed in that English class, I know I would have won a few more battles with my native language. I’ve had to learn to write by trial and error and rejection over the years, a skirmish I could have cut short with a bit more courage in the war of words. But I am grateful for the tidbits of wisdom I gleaned from her. I’ve filed them away somewhere inside my aging brain. They stand at the ready, popping up from time to time in hand-to-hand combat when I’m tempted to pad my sentences or use words like “utilize”. At times I lose the conflict, but because of my brief training with Mrs. Kraftchick, the fight has made all the difference.

Staying Inspired Is an Art

2011-07-14T20:04:00.000-07:00

When it comes to writing, staying inspired is an art. Waiting for an editor to say you are talented enough—that they will publish your words—well, you could end up wrinkled and gray before that happens. This is a tough business. We all know how difficult it is to believe in yourself when you have nothing to show for years of effort. Your family and friends, even a beta reader or two, have all told you your writing is the freshest thing since this morning’s doughnuts, but without the validation of someone in the publishing world, it’s difficult to believe your cronies are a good judge of talent. Rejection after rejection letter can deflate even the most confident writer, and the sad thing about the situation is such dismissal may have little to do with one's abilities. So you keep searching for homes for your pet projects, all the while sagging under the weight of little substantiation.

How do you keep typing when yet another year passes without a sale? As I said staying inspired is an art. You have to play mind games with yourself to ease the pain, rev up the energy, and obey the muse encouraging your creativity. Here are a few ideas I like to use to help remove the negative voices in my head. Discouragement begins with a thought, and these diversions help to keep me in a positive mode.

Access inspirational stories—I love reading stories about writers who have struggled to climb the publishing ladder, who have had to overcome great obstacles before they finally made it into the publishing world. Their plights give me hope, and I can almost envision myself standing in their shoes.

Read other successful writers’ work—Nothing gets me more excited about writing than reading exceptional phrasing. I keep my favorite author’s books nearby, and when I feel a slump coming on, I read what I love about a particular author’s work and it starts the words flowing within me again.

Remember past rewards—If you have written for awhile, you most likely have a few successes under your belt. Look through your scrapbook. Read the inspiring comments a writer’s contest judge said about your work, or bring out the check stub from the article you sold years ago. That is validation, no matter how small, and it suggests you have some of what it takes for success in this business. Remember if you were successful once, you can be successful again.

Keep writing—You need to practice your craft. That’s the only way to grow and get better at what you do. Odds are if you keep writing, you’ll eventually get published.

Believe rejection puts you one step closer to your goal—Sylvester Stallone said, “I take rejection as someone blowing a bugle in my ear to wake me up and get going, rather than retreat.” Rejection should make you resolute and activate you to prove an editor wrong. Not in an obnoxious way; I’m not suggesting you should harass an editor, but use that rejection to inspire you to continue writing, to make your work better or to find another editor who sees your words from an entirely different perspective. As I said, odds are if you keep writing, you’ll eventually get published.

So...fill your lungs with air, blow out the discouragement, and sit down in the chair and type till you drop. But don’t forget—send out your manuscript as soon as you can. Your time to shine is just over the horizon.

Cave-Dwelling

2011-06-03T06:12:00.000-07:00

When it comes to the business of writing, I live in a cave. Maybe some of you should too. Not a literal black-whole-in-the-rock kind of cave, but a technological one, part self-inflicted and part circumstance-imposed. Let me explain.

Honing my craft takes a considerable chunk of time, and I make some serious choices in this fast-paced world I live in. The smorgasbord of online forums, technological devices, and the life condition throw an inordinate amount of stimuli my way, burying me under the barrage of distraction. My head hurts just thinking about keeping up with the all of it. If I allowed myself to sample the variety of these time bandits at my disposal, I’d never get any writing done. Prioritizing has become my byword.

Circumstance-imposed time stealers include earning a living, driving to and from work, serving at church, exercising, taking care of family and pets, researching, and reading for inspiration. That takes up about sixteen hours a day, without exaggeration. Then there’s the self-inflicted retreat into my cave, protecting, at all costs, the two hours I have left a day to put a few words down on paper, which includes writing my blog and continuing my novel. I have to sleep at least six hours so I can handle the load.

I witness many of my writer friends participating on Facebook and Twitter, posting every day and several times a day, and they still manage to crack out a book here and there. I want to know where they find the time to write. Would they show more productivity without these modern-day diversions? They participate in critiques groups, family functions, and some even go to school. All I can surmise is that some don’t hold jobs or they have spouses who can help with chores, but I find it annoying when I’m unable to find the same time they finagle out of a day. Maybe their houses are in a shambles, or their children fix dinner, or they ignore the dog; I don’t understand how they manage their time, and I continue to analyze how I spend every minute of my day.

All I know is I use breaks at work and downtime to cram the writing I do accomplish into a limited block of time. I avoid Facebook, texting, and the online social groups my writer’s group hosts. Bottom line: I sacrifice networking time just to write a few measly pages a week.

My cave dwelling will probably hurt me in the long run. My writer friends will prove more technologically savvy when an editor asks about theirs and my marketing skills. But something has to give, and I refuse to let my writing suffer to fit in the social aspect of the business.

My advise is to do the best you can do with what time you have at your disposal. And never…ever…allow networking and playing with the fancy technical devices to rob you of accomplishing your writing projects. While in your own cave, try these tricks to help squeeze out a few more minutes to practice your craft:

Identify the best time to write
Focus on writing—that means turn off your phones, email, Internet, and refuse visitors.
Write without editing, erasing, or stopping.
Set easy writing goals.
Hold yourself accountable.
When you meet your goals, reward yourself.

If you follow the above suggestions, your cave may seem a bit lonely, but hey…at least you’ll have something to show for it.

Enticing Readership with Skill

2011-05-15T17:26:00.000-07:00

I just finished an exceptional book. You know…the kind that grabs you by the socks and lifts you until you’re floating above the ground… the kind that conjures up rich plot and natural dialogue, and charms you into the book’s pages only to mesmerize you with its come-to-life phrasing. Reading one chapter of this type of story proves my undoing. I can’t put the book down until I reach the end, panting for more.

What makes one book more compelling than another? I’m sure a variety of answers come to mind, though individual tastes might have something to do with what you deem as top-rate. Admit it. Some writers are much better at writing than others. Publishing trends lead us by the neck and tell us which authors to read—which writers are better than others—and they may know from experience some of what they are talking about. But just because they lead you to the trough, doesn’t mean you have to drink. How many books an author sells isn’t always an indication of his writing skill. That’s why I shout praises when I get hold of a book that zaps me with its magic. I want to analyze every part, discover every component that makes the world pop out at me like the action in a 3-D movie.

Take The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton—this exceptional book I was telling you about. Over and over again, the author surprised me with how she transformed an ordinary sentence into fresh, living imagery. Her words sucked me into each scene, had me living the characters lives vicariously as they searched for understanding. And she didn’t have to use the lurid tactics of the majority of those who call themselves writers today, either. I’m tired of searching for an author who can tell a story, one who makes us better after reading their work. Such talent is lacking in today’s entertainment.

So what’s my point? I think I’m ruined for life. I won’t find satisfaction until I can find another skilled writer like Kate Morton who can enthrall me with their clean, precise, and magical words. A reader shouldn’t have to strain to envision what they’re reading or wade through a clutter of nonsense, and a writer should use their skill, not sensationalism and smut, to entice readership.

Bravo, Kate Morton. You have me hooked. I hope my followers will feel the same.

Bogging in the Comparison Mire

2011-05-03T07:47:00.000-07:00

I have a useless habit of comparing my least to someone else’s best, especially when writing. I judge my blog posts with narrow eyes and a sneer on my face when my words fail to inspire or snag comments like the witty quips that successful bloggers post. I often throw out acceptable sections of my manuscripts or lash at my words until they beg for mercy all because I want to become like some other author. Comparing our work to others’ for the sake of learning a better way to write can be useful, but if we weep on our keyboards or berate ourselves for not measuring up to someone else’s style, we’re bogging in the comparison mire.

I say go ahead and admire another writer’s work, but remember you as a writer need to develop your own style. Recognize the myriad ways to make words come alive on the page…that maybe your way is more concise or less trite or builds on a style you have used throughout your manuscript. Chances are when you give your words a rest and come back and read them later, the passages will jump out at you as clever phrasing, just like you imagined when you first saved them to file. And if not, then put your fingers to the keys and come up with something else. It’s that simple.

I, for one, want my work to resonate from my own inner voice. I don’t want my readers to say, “Hey, she writes like Dan Brown or John Grisham. Not that I could, but why would I want to? I want my fans to recognize my work the moment they read one of my sentences. I want them to say, “Yep, that sounds like Peggy Shumway.” I read a blog the other day where the author suggests there is no such thing as style. She claims that style IS the writer. I guess that’s true. My inner voice is exactly that…who I am as a person.

However, we are influenced by other authors and our style will reflect what we like to read. The world is replete with different ways to write a novel or a magazine article, but the more unique you are in your design, the better chance you have to capture an editor’s eye. Learn the techniques that make you a better writer and then let your creativity take over until you create a story that reveals the facts in a fresh way. It may take a while to learn how. Let’s face it; some writers have success flowing through their veins, others, well…they have to try a little harder or find something else they like to do.

Just don’t flail in the comparison mire. If you want to write as much as you want to sleep or eat, you’ll do what is necessary to learn how to write and to find your voice. You must practice your craft, edit, and read your manuscript over and over until you get it right. And if you find the process takes too much work or, after years of trying, you can’t satisfy you own muse, find a new day job. You’ll be much happier.

Supporting Our Craft

2011-04-26T08:22:00.001-07:00

Do you support the craft of writing?

Recently I attended a writer’s conference where an agent suggested a writer should buy books. Buy books for birthdays and anniversaries, for special occasions and for pleasure or research. Buy books for the fun of it or to read to your children. She said we should walk into a bookstore and purchase the several-hundred-page vestiges…ones you can hold in your hand…that have pages you can actually turn. She and the other agents and authors on the panel hinted that we should avoid the new Kindles and ban the ease and cost-saving effectiveness of Amazon and other online bookstores. “Bookstores are closing all over the country and that should strike fear in all writers’ hearts,” they said. I left the conference concerned for the future of our industry and feeling a little guilty for patronizing such establishments.

Should writers fret over the redirection of buying entertainment? Should we run out and purchase half the bookstore and frown at our children for investing in the newest technology? Could the wave of automated purchasing in our bathrobe and slippers be just as lucrative for a writer as buying books in a bookstore? People still have to buy the downloads they read on their Kindles, right? They still have to purchase the online copies they have sent to their homes. Unfortunately, there are more disadvantages to a writer in the impending wave of book buying than one would expect.

E-Book Publishing:

Sell self-published books. More and more authors these days are gravitating to the self publishing market. All a writer needs to do is create a website, format and pre-publish the book, and then put it up on his website, right? Well, that’s not all this form of publishing requires. If a writer desires to present a quality product, he’d have to hire an editor, a cover designer, and then spend a certain amount to market his book. Do you know how to format a website? If not, add the cost of a website designer and a person to maintain the site. Pay Pal also requires a fee to collect the money.

Sell through one of the booksellers such as Amazon: In this method you would have to pay the costs of producing the digital book as well as pay the bookseller for storing and selling your book. The bookseller will then pay only once per month whatever is left over…that is, only if you've sold enough.

Sell through a traditional publisher: the third method of publishing a digital book is through a traditional publisher. A publisher assumes most of the risks and the costs of publication therefore rewards its efforts with a greater percentage of the proceeds. A writer would receive an advance on his royalties and then a small amount for each book the publisher sold.

Online Dangers:

What about the Library e-book checkout programs? This is an online check-out program similar to purchasing a book from Amazon.com. However, the reader can check out the book they want to read, minus the charge. What does the author get from that? Zilch, Zero. Nada. The UK has it right. They passed the Public Lending Rights Act mandating that authors receive a royalty every time someone checks their book out of a public library.

Then there’s piracy and the numerous ways the public can read an author’s work online without paying for the privilege. Considering the hours and blood it takes to right a book, I have to ask, does this seem fair to you? Maybe instead of fighting the inevitable, authors should spend their energy finding ways to make online purchasing more advantageous or invoke online protection and penalties for unlawful access. Weaknesses in any system can be turned around for the benefit of all. At least I like to think so.

The payment process is far more complicated than I have explained here, but you get the gist of what I’m trying to say. Buying books at a bookstore far exceeds the benefits of buying them online. And either we accept the way the trend is headed or we can change that process and find a way to make it work for us.

Call me a dinosaur; I’ll still buy books from the bookstore. A Kindle isn’t research-friendly, and I like the feel of turning pages, the smoothness of a paperback, not hard plastic, nudging the side of my nose when I wake up in the morning and discover I lost consciousness sometime during the night. And I don’t like the inconvenience of having to recharge devices. A book is self-contained, easy to store. Besides, purchasing books supports my craft and that has to be a good thing.

What a Character Looks Like

2011-04-03T12:43:00.000-07:00

Writers not only have to think of ways to make their characters’ personalities come alive on the page, but they also have to devise a look that will help the reader envision them. In my last post I described the four basic personality types I learned in a company that trained me as a color analyst. As promised, I will now describe what these four personalities tend to look like. Hair color is less an exact science than eye color and skin tone due to a variety of hair dyes on the market, but unadulterated, hair color will tend to have specific characteristics among the four personality groups.

People who express themselves have a light tawny complexion or a suntanned look with yellow undertones. Their cheeks turn rosy following exertion or embarrassment. Some in this category have pale skin, but they often have a yellowish cast to their complexion. Eye color is clear and usually blue, blue-green, grey or grey-green. If you look closely, these may even have mustard color surrounding the iris. Brown eyes are rare in this group. People who express themselves can have any hair color, but red heads may possess a bit of sandiness and blondes may have a taffy-colored appearance.

Overall look: These people look radiant and alive.

People who analyze possess a skin tone that is cool with rose undertones. Some may possess an opaque whiteness or an olive complexion with a blue cast under the skin. Eye color can be any color, but usually not green. Often those with brown eyes have eye color almost black brown in appearance. Blonde or brownette hair is possible among these people, but most in this category have brown, dark-brown to black-brown hair.

Overlook look: Icy, elegant, regal

People who are driven possess yellow undertones to their skin, however they have more gold or orange tones in their cheeks and more bronze in their overall appearance than do those in the first group above. Their eyes can be any color, however those with brown or green eyes might have gold and brown flecks. Most in this group will have gold or brown coloring around the iris. Their hair will tend to have bronze or metallic characteristics, although the hair can be any color.

Overlook look: Tawny, coppery, metallic, and dramatic

People who are amiable are often quite pale and their skin is transparent in appearance. They don’t hold a tan well. Usually their eye color is light blue, grey, grey-green or hazel. Rarely will they have brown eyes. These people tend to have light brown or blonde hair.

Overlook look: Colorless, soft and delicate, comforting

The look and character of the four personality groups, although as variable as the leaves on a tree, are more accurate than not. A study of the topic may surprise you. A person who falls under one of the four groups will possess at least 50% of the characteristics I have described above. Maybe you aren’t as detailed in character descriptions as this, but the information might provide you with some guidelines as you create believable heroes and heroines.

Giving Personality to Your Characters

2011-03-02T04:41:00.000-08:00

Many years ago I learned color analysis and how to determine what colors looked best against a person’s skin. The company that trained me used four separate tests in their analysis: make-up, eye pattern, color draping, and personality. The company’s personality test fascinated me, for although the test possessed flaws, it revealed how people fall into four basic personality categories. I later discovered the Greeks, specifically Socrates, expounded on these four personality types thousands of years ago.

Imagine my surprise when a college English professor asked me to answer a questionnaire to determine my learning style, and I discovered the survey centered on the four personality groups. I have since used the information to better understand my children, the people I work with, and especially the characters I use in my fiction.

This scientific approach to find an individual's learning style is quite a complicated process. The several published theories on the topic are difficult to understand and would take too much space to explain here. To keep this article simple, I’ll only share what I learned about the four personality groups. They are made up of people who are driven, people who analyze, people who express themselves, and people who are amiable. Let me clarify:

People who express themselves love everybody. They enjoy using their imaginations and tend to be emotional creatures with extreme mood swings. They are either happy, energetic individuals or in the depths of despair. They blush at the smallest embarrassment and have difficulty making choices. Don’t ask them to choose an ice cream flavor; they love them all. Many who fall into this category are natural sales people or storytellers. They like to gather information, analyze it, and talk about it from several different perspectives, though they might not want to do the work of solving problems after they gather the facts. They are good at brainstorming and appreciate feedback.

People who analyze use logic to solve problems and require explanation rather than practical application. They take time to think through their ideas, and they are great organizers and lovers of lists. In fact, ideas and concepts are easier for them to understand than dealing with people. They lean toward the dramatic and can appear aloof or cool at times. They can be highly critical people and pessimistic. They make great scientists, engineers, or doctors.

People who are driven are get-it-done, people movers. They know what they want and how to get it. They are good at leading a crowd, although they can be rather severe when dealing with others; they are sometimes tactless and curt. They prefer technical tasks and can solve problems and make decisions without difficulty. They like to experiment with new ideas and can’t understand when other people are closed minded or unwilling to try something new.

People who are amiable are sensitive, kind-hearted individuals who avoid conflict. They are often quiet and soft-spoken, the shyest of any of the groups discussed here, though they can possess a stubborn streak. They blend in well since they avoid making spectacles of themselves, and they love to use their hands. Their common sense approach and drive to complete any task before them often lands them positions as teachers, secretaries, or executive assistants.

Thus are the basics of personality analysis.

While I worked in the color industry, I witnessed the veracity of these four personality types, and they resurfaced continually among my clients. I also found I could determine the specific skin undertone, eye pattern and eye color, and sometimes even the hair shade of each personality type (I’ll explain these concepts in part two, coming up in the next post).

The knowledge I have gleaned from participating in this color analysis company has helped me more than I can say over the years. Although some of you may be skeptical about pegging people into specific categories, I find whether you believe it or not depends on your personality type. Don’t pooh-pooh the idea until you know more about it. An in-depth study of personality analysis just might help you create the most realistic fictional characters you have dreamed up so far.

In the Still of the Night or Sing Me a Tune?

2011-02-18T05:28:00.000-08:00

I’m baffled at how some writers need distraction to write. They prefer listening to music or eating snacks during the creative process. Really? How does anyone create something coherent when their iPods are blasting in their ears or when they have to wipe salty crumbs off their fingers?

I’m just the opposite. I’d rather write in quiet so I can hear words forming in my head, so I can read aloud and hear the flow of the day’s musings. And eating takes too much time when I’m working; the task occupies my hands when I could be typing a few more lines. That’s not to say I haven’t written through many a distraction: kids temper tantrums, an ornery husband’s grumbling, and the dog’s incessant scratching at the door. But the stillness allows me to be alone with words and to concentrate on what I’m trying to say. It removes clutter from my mind.

What are your preferences? Inquiring writers want to know!

That Which We Call a Rose of Sharon

2011-02-03T04:55:00.000-08:00

Many years ago, my high school teacher assigned my class to read Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath. I filled that assignment and it was a great read, though I remember only a few things about the experience. I remember how the struggles that family faced pulled on my emotions. The characters came to life for me, even though today I don’t recall everything they did or even their names—that is, all except for one. Rose of Sharon stuck in my mind because I thought it an odd name, especially when the characters’ accents slurred the name into Rosasharn. The name bothered me through the entire novel. Why would Steinbeck choose such an unusual name? I imagine if I did a little research, I’d find that Rose of Sharon was a familiar name to that era and locale. Funny—how Rosasharn is the only name I remember forty years later.

Naming our characters in a way that will cling to our readers’ minds is a vital aspect of characterization. Of course, nothing is as important as creating word images that make your characters walk off the page, but the process falls short if we dub our heroes or heroines mundane or overused names that will fade with time. Nor do we want to use names that go to the extreme, unless our novel is extreme and that kind of name fits. Here are a few things to think about while you hunt for the perfect name for your characters.

Avoid Common-Place Names or Overused Names – Whether a name is common place or not depends on the trend. Names that were frequently used fifty years ago may be fresh for the taking in the current market. Knowing your character will make your choice easier. Is your character powerful or wealthy? Would a name like Melvin Bunny portray those characteristics? Or would Trask Hamilton provide a better picture? You might even use genealogy sources to look up possible surnames. Scour what names are used in current books or on the back of novel covers to make sure you're using unique names and not someone else’s. Especially avoid names that belong to someone famous.

Stay Clear of Names That Sound the Same – Characters with names that sound alike are a distraction. Names don’t even need to start with the same letter to sound similar. If you use names like Jerry and Larry your readers may confuse them throughout the novel. Don't end the first name with the same sound as the last name either. A character whose name is Damon Namouth will keep your reader’s tongues twisting for days.

Use Names That Fit the Period or Genre – Entering your name choices into a web search engine will help you research names common to an era. Make sure these names were used exclusively for males or for females during that time period or used for a specific ethnic background. You can also browse the Social Security Names List for a specific year if your character was born in the U.S. But whatever name captures your attention, keep the names something modern day readers can relate to and something they can pronounce.

Other Things to Consider –When writing your story, note how people who are close rarely use each other's full names. They use nicknames more often than not. Sometimes a specific reason lies behind the naming of a character. Your character's parents loved the movie Star Wars so they named their son Han. If you use that kind of motivation, find out how the name has affected that character throughout his life? Is the name an embarrassment when his parents address him in front of his fiancé? Does your hero go by a different name throughout his life to avoid strange reactions? Let these odd circumstances become a part of your story.

Choosing captivating names for your characters is an art. We’re going for memorable here. The more memorable, the more likely your readers will remember the characters in your novel forty years down the road.

A Room with a View

2011-01-16T06:34:00.000-08:00

I moved to a new home recently, and now I have a room with a view. Yes, that’s right—a second story room looking out over the world around me. This room came with a price; I took care of my dad for a month last summer while he rehabilitated from a stroke and am continuing that care for as long as he is with us; I moved him to a new state, sold his house, and finally helped him purchase and move into a new home a week before Christmas. It was a grueling six months, but we have survived. Not only is the New Year facing me with a smile, but I have a whole new perspective on which to view my life and writing possibilities.

Apparently, I’m not the only one who struggled through 2010. I heard the abundance of horror stories in the nightly news casts and cried over the hard luck of some of my friends. And like them, I allowed the difficulties to stifle clarity of thought, not to mention all my energy, though there was really little time to think about anything but family and only enough energy to do the most pressing tasks before me. After meeting with realtors, title companies, and changing addresses twice over, I can actually see my world settling down a bit.

As I look back at all I’ve accomplished, I do not feel guilty for the time away from writing. Writing can never be more important to me than watching over my dad and helping him adjust to a new life. Yet everything has a season, and there is a time to get back to our talents, dreams, and aspirations. There is a time to take a fresh look outside our rooms with views and approach our writing with new fervor.

What’s that? You say you live on a single level and the only view you see is the fence around your backyard. Ah, contraire. We all have a place from which to see with newborn eyes, we just have to know where to locate that vantage point. Finding your own room with a view can be as simple as finding a different place to write in your home, but wherever you discover your own special nook, you are bound to glean new perspective as you continue writing in 2011. If nothing here works for you, come up with your own special out-look and, by all means, share the ideas that have helped you the most. Here is my list:

Take a trip – If you can’t move to a new location, take a day, a week, or a month to venture away from home. Take your computer with you and write from a bench in the mall, from a blanket on the beach, or from your grandmother’s cottage in the woods. Listen to the conversation and sights around you or soak up nature and let the setting transform into words. Change is often the catalyst that sets our minds afire.

Move your writing hovel – Writing in the same place every day might be hindering your thought processes. If you have formed bad habits sitting in a mundane locale, change it up a bit. Find a new corner in your home or at least remove the clutter. Turn your desk to face in a different direction. Writing from a different angle may be all you need to get the juices flowing again.

Read a different genre or style – If you tend to read the same kinds of books all the time, surprise yourself with a different read. An innovative approach to fiction, poetry, or non-fiction might stir a novel idea or at least provide a new window to look over what you’ve already created.

Join a writers group – Authors come in all shapes and opinions. They enjoy sharing their points of view. Attending a writers group might start you thinking in a new direction.

Interview an author – Ask an author how they approach their work, and you are bound to discover an original way of approaching your own. If you lack the time to interview someone yourself, read the zillions of blogs that do nothing but consult authors.

Research – If your mind bogs too often, try searching the Internet or scouring through a resource that will help you fill up the blank spots in your manuscript. You never known, you might pick up a fact or two that sends you into a frenzy of writing.

Whatever your approach to finding your own window of inspiration, let your new eyes do the work. Your examination just might help you unveil the words waiting to come to light.

Thanks to OnlineEnglishDegree.com

2010-12-02T19:32:00.000-08:00

I'd like to thank OnlineEnglishDegree.com for honoring me with a Top Blog award. Visit their website dedicated to help people consider a career in English.

Life has kept me away from this blog for the last six months. I hope to be online again in January 2011.

Giving Pause

2010-07-18T06:24:00.000-07:00

I feel as though I’ve been away for a year. I left Arizona on June 5th when I heard my father had a stroke, and we just returned home last week. When I left, I had no idea what to expect. I thought two weeks was sufficient time to take care of matters. Little did I expect to close up his house and place it on the market so I could move him back to my home.

My heart broke as I dispersed his 5000 volume library to book collectors and lovers in the San Francisco Bay Area. I toiled from morning until night packing and throwing things away that he cherished, all the while placing my writing on hold.

In the span of time I’ve been away, I’ve received two blogger’s awards, and have only managed to put one online. The second award was from Lydia Kang and this is the first opportunity I have had to acknowledge her kindness. Thanks Lydia. I much appreciate your thoughtfulness.

A few weeks ago I stated if I were stranded on a desert island, I would write in the sand just to keep writing. Obviously, I had no idea that some challenges would alter my desires and wishes more than I could know. Taking care of my father and working are quite the challenges to juggle. Since my novel takes first priority in my writing, I have decided to close down both of my blogs until time affords me to take them up again.

I want to thank all those who have become my followers over the past few months. I almost reached the 100 mark, and I’ve enjoyed every moment of this writing adventure. I’ve felt much impressed with those who have entertained me with their informative posts and kept me returning to their blogs. I’ve enjoyed sharing thoughts and ideas with you. Keep up your wonderful efforts. I will try to visit your sites from time to time.

I look at this as a momentary break from a pursuit that will take time to build up again. But for right now, my priority is my father. My love for him takes the higher road, and I will miss you all.

What the Doctor Ordered

2010-06-19T11:17:00.000-07:00

I'm stunned! I have just received my first blogger award, and my heart is bursting. Thanks to Bec over at Gaining My Writing Wings. . . I have received a big lift. I am still tending my father who suffered a stroke two weeks ago. I am moving him from California to live with me. My writing is on the bottom of my list for another few weeks, but this award is exactly what the doctor ordered. Thanks, Bec.

The Rules:

1) Thank and link back to the person who gave you this award.

2) Share 7 things about yourself.

3) Pass the award along to 15 bloggers who you have recently discovered and who you think are fantastic for whatever reason! (In no particular order...)

4) Contact the bloggers you've picked and let them know about the award.

Mmm...now, what seven things do I want to reveal about myself? Let's see...

I'm a graphic designer by day, so I write at night and on weekends.
I belong to the American Night Writers Association (ANWA) based in Arizona.
I love to write both fiction and non-fiction, though writing fiction brings me the greatest joy.
I once had a novel contract, but lost it because the company made a financial blunder and had to release all their contracts.
I have many published newspaper articles and a featured story in another author's book.
Several years ago, I won the American Mother's creative writing contest.
If I were stranded on a desert island, I'd draw letters in the sand just to keep writing.

My choices for this award go to the following excellent bloggers. These writers have kept me returning to their blogs over the last few months:

I just love this blogging stuff. I can't wait to get back home and continue with my favorite pastime...writing, of course.

An Emergency Takes Me Away

2010-06-04T23:20:00.000-07:00

Life has provided me a curve ball this week. My father had a stroke last night, which takes me away from my writing for a short time. Thank you for all who have left comments and supported me by stopping by my blog. I hope to be back with my weekly posts in a week or two.

Keeping the Creativity Faucet Turned On

2010-05-29T16:54:00.000-07:00

I'm all for finding ways to improve my writing.

Sometimes when I sit down to write the resulting effort is nothing more than a mess. After such unfruitful sessions, I wonder if I even know how to put a sentence together, or how I have the cheek to call myself a writer at all. At other times, the words flow from my creativity faucet, and I marvel at the miracle of my thought processes. It is at these times I ask myself, “Where do the words come from, and how can I keep inspiration’s faucet turned on?”

These are good questions. In his mentoring programs, the motivational speaker, Anthony Robbins, suggests people can learn to create consistent results in whatever they do.

“If you want to be successful, find someone who has achieved the results you want and copy what they do and you'll achieve the same results,” says Robbins.

His advise has helped top professional athletes, Fortune 500 executives, parents, and world leaders achieve consistent results on a variety of subjects. He has helped individuals manage weight, improve relationships, and obtain a better outcome in virtually every domain of life.

So how can using Robbins’s method help us achieve consistent creativity in our writing? We can’t exactly copy another successful writer’s work. That would be unprofessional and unethical. Mr. Robbins clarifies that it is the successful person’s state we should model—reproducing the same strategy and syntax—the order, the timing, and the way in which they do things.

Since writing is a lone endeavor, we might have a difficult time observing another writer’s syntax as he works within the confines of his private office—how he sits in his chair, the routine he carries on before he types the first word, the way he breathes, or any of the tricks he uses in the writing process. If we can't talk to the writer or read about his writing syntax, our only alternative is to analyze ourselves for these intimacies during our more successful bouts with creativity.

When the words are flowing out of us, we need to see what we do and in what order we do them and then repeat that process the next time we write. According to Robbins, if we accurately repeat the steps, something triggers in our brain, and we are able to reproduce the same results as before. My question is this: does the brain cooperate every time, especially if sleep-deprived, or aged, or under the influence of fluctuating hormones? It seems to me brain functionality is more complex than we think and inconsistent at best, even if we use the same syntax every time. And does talent have anything to do with a writer's success? I'd love to talk to Mr. Robbins and pick his brain on the subject.

Strategy is another matter, however. We can observe an author’s strategy: how he uses nouns, verbs and adjectives, how he sets pacing and constructs plot. If we find an author whom we admire and then examine and recreate the formula he uses to write books, perhaps the books we create will end up winners. The trick is to allow our own style to develop and shine as we use the proven techniques.

The only way we'll discover if such a process works is if we practice, practice, practice. Every successful athlete, musician, or writer practices his field of expertise. And it seems logical, the more we apply what we observe, the more adept we’ll become at mimicking strategy and syntax.

You might be skeptical about the success of such a program. I know I was when I first read Robbin's book, Unlimited Power. But so many people swear by his methods. We may not become bestsellers *or maybe we will* but if we apply Robbin's techniques to our writing, we might actually become better writers. That result, in and of itself, makes me think his ideas might be worth a try.

The Last Manuscript

2010-05-22T16:41:00.000-07:00

If you, a writer, were dying and you had time to create a last work, cork it in a bottle, and throw it into the ocean for someone to discover later, what message would that work portray?

I’ve thought about this long and hard since I listened to and watched Randy Pousch’s The Last Lecture. The doctors diagnosed this Virtual Reality professor of Carnegie Mellon University with pancreatic cancer in 2006, and he spent the last two years on earth lecturing, leaving a legacy that has inspired a multitude. He didn’t sulk. He didn’t give up hope; he handled the inconveniences of his disease with a positive outlook, even though he would leave behind three young children and a wife who adored him.

Think about it. What would you want people to know about you if you weren’t going to be around for long? What could you possibly write that would sufficiently portray who you are as a writer? Would you want to leave something that would last through time, to be read like the works of Shakespeare and Chaucer in classrooms around the world? Or would you direct your words to a more intimate setting, like your family? Would you leave out certain words or ideas that might taint your readers' minds? Or would your words become more potent, more angry, more shocking?

After much thought on this question, my answer is this: I would write exactly the book I'm writing right now. Maybe I would better use every spare moment I have to get the words down on paper, to complete the task more quickly. Maybe I'd find more courage to consult with experts and find beta readers, realizing that what I want my reader to know is plausible if they will just keep an open mind. The thought excites me, fuels my muse, and silences the negative voices that would hold me back.

For I am a writer and a human being, and I have something to say. Thankfully I don't have ten tumors vying for my time right now, but the question spurs me on to treat whatever time I have left on this earth as a laboratory for creating the best I have within me.

I hope the thought does the same for you.

Using Or Not Using Prologues

2010-05-15T21:06:00.000-07:00

Upon returning from a writer’s conference, a member of my writer’s group informed us that editors and agents hate prologues. Since I had just read the group my WIP’s prologue, her revelation made my heart sag. I was quite pleased with what I had written. I introduced vital back-story in a pertinent character’s viewpoint, which was the one and only chance for this character to express himself before his demise would silence him forever.

That got me to thinking—and researching—about when we should use prologues in our fiction. The online consensus about the nasty little setup pages brought me to conclude that more readers *and editors* are against them than are for them.

Really? Why? I love a good prologue. I never skip them because I’m afraid I’ll lose out on vital information the author placed there to help me understand the plot. If done well, they can enhance a story.

I imagine editors get tired of reading misfit prologues. One editor said she could count on one hand how many necessary and successful prologues she has read in her years as an editor. Another suggests a new author avoid using a prologue if he really wants his manuscript considered. So when may a writer use a prologue or is it best to avoid them altogether? My research uncovered the following.

A writer may include a prologue if it:

Provides critical information – You should never use this information elsewhere, and it should provide necessary enhancement to the plot. However, if you can weave that information throughout the rest of the novel then eliminate the prologue all together. If the story makes sense without the prologue, you don’t need 3-5 pages more to bog it down. If you hold doubts about whether the information is important enough to stand on its own, consider making it chapter one, even if it takes place in a another time period.

Provides more than mood or action – If your purpose is to set the mood or hook someone into the story with action, then get rid of the prologue. You can do those two things in the body of your story. Using these ploys might suggest to the editor your first chapter is weak.

If you do use a prologue, make sure it is short, relevant and in the same style as the rest of the book. Since using a prologue is asking the reader to start the story twice, make sure this addition is brief and supplies the missing elements that make the plot clear as it progresses. When submitting your manuscript for consideration, include the prologue with what you send.

After all this advise, I still love a good prologue. As I rush to the completion of my manuscript, I'll consider and weigh whether mine contains information I can slip into the body of the story or not. I want the best chance possible to impress an agent or editor. Even if the setup pages are well written, I have to be willing to sacrifice them for a sale.

Late Blooming, But Present and Accounted For

2010-05-09T08:57:00.000-07:00

I think I’m a late bloomer—you know, the kind of girl who stumbles through her early years lanky and boyish, whose body holds back until after all her friends develop from ugly ducklings into beautiful swans. Except my underdevelopment has nothing to do with looks but instead revolves around a fascination with books and reading them.

I’m confused about this enigma of my history, really. From an early age, my father collected books and couldn’t put his latest read down before he purchased another. Today his library holds over 5,000 volumes on various subjects and schools of thought. He also taught me to read before I attended kindergarten. I swelled with pride that I could read words my fellow classmates struggled to decipher. My teachers placed me in the advanced readers while the rest of my friends had to drudge through the regular curricula for our grade level. In other words, I had all the tools at hand, yet I lacked the one thing that would have aided my present hunger to write books: the desire to read.

I’m not saying I didn’t read at all. I had my favorites: Beverly Cleary’s Ramona Quimby series, Caroline D. Emerson’s The Magic Tunnel, and later Daphne Dumaurier’s Rebecca. But as a young girl, I had much rather my parents find me skating around the block or winning at tetherball than find me cooped up in my room reading a book. I never read the classics; somehow my teachers hadn’t required such in-depth study. Nor did I care about Nancy Drew or any of the other popular fiction that other kids were reading.

I did, however, enjoy writing stories and poetry. My first poem appeared in a hometown newspaper in 1960, and I often submitted short stories for my elementary school’s student publication. Yet until I entered the eighth grade and won my first creative writing contest, becoming a writer hadn’t even occurred to me. Why would it? I still skewed my nose at the thought of diving into a book when there were so many more interesting things to do, like drooling over boys and listening to the latest Beetles tune. Reading back then made my head hurt and sent me running for open air.

I often wondered if my elementary school’s Nazi librarian had anything to do with my disenchantment. Well, she wasn’t exactly a Nazi, but her stern demeanor and maniacal penchant for embarrassing students who couldn’t answer her Spanish Inquisition about the Dewey Decimal system frightened me. Every time my class’s weekly required library sessions rolled around, my stomach balled into a knot, and I found any excuse I could to stay home from school that day. I have no doubt the school authorities were trying to expand our young minds, guiding us toward the realm of reading, but their well-intentions only invoked fear in my heart each time I stepped across the library’s threshold.

Today my world has blossomed because of books. I love to read, can’t find enough spare time to stick my nose into the latest novel. I struggle to balance my time between reading and writing and all the other billions of tasks I juggle in the air. I can hardly manage patience because I want an author to sweep me away to England to learn about Shakespeare’s missing manuscript, or fly me all over the world to discover and put into place the six missing pillars that will save the world. I feel like I’m in a race to catch up with all of you who have thousands more reading experiences tucked under your belts than I do. And that doesn’t even account for the umpteen research tomes I’m pouring through that will help me make my WIP more interesting. My current library is growing on a weekly basis, and I haven’t even scoured through the pile of books reaching to the ceiling on my bedside table yet. Time just isn’t cooperating.

I wonder if they have a book about resisting our urges to purchase new books before finishing the ones we already possess?

I bet they do. As a Mother's Day gift to myself, I’ll have to check that out on Amazon tomorrow.

On What Wall Is Your Ladder Leaning?

2010-05-02T14:06:00.000-07:00

Last week I started reading a novel (I won’t mention the author’s name) that began well enough, but about half way through the plot the author ventured into the most graphic sex scene I had ever come across. I stopped reading, threw the book in the recycle can (hoping the pages would be put to better use) and started searching for prose worth my time. Now I ask you, I know sex sells, but are our efforts to become great writers enhanced by writing pornography? Wouldn’t we better spend our time lifting souls and encouraging others through our words?

That author is probably laughing all the way to the bank. After all, I helped fund her future projects by buying her book in the first place. Though I’ve added her name to my black list of stinky authors, I’ve already helped to further the demise of morality in the world with my purchase. Not to be a prude, but honestly, why can’t we leave the most sacred of acts behind our bedroom doors and write something that can pull us out of the trash receptacles of life?

A wise man, Boyd K. Packer, once expressed my sentiments in a perfect analogy: “There are many who struggle and climb and finally reach the top of the ladder, only to find out that it is leaning against the wrong wall.”

If we have to struggle and climb to the top, why not reflect the best of what life has to offer? Of course, the plots we create must reflect opposition to make the story interesting, but the sole use of the lurid and the degrading, just to sell a book, saddens me beyond expression. I can’t help think those authors will one day find themselves under the heavy hand of heaven’s task masters erasing their words with their noses.

Some might argue that free expression is what makes our vocation important. Yes, that freedom is important. But I believe the way we use our gift, either for sensationalism or for helping people discover the best they possess within them, matters far more than we realize. And if I’m wrong--well, I’d rather be on the side of honor and decency, than on the dark side, enticing the worst from my readers.

Were we put here on this earth for good or for evil? Whether we believe in God or not, something inside tells me we already know what wall we need to scale. And in this day and age, we have no time to waste. We'd better start climbing as fast and high as possible.

Defeating the Writing Ogres

2010-04-25T08:03:00.000-07:00

During the months of March and April I struggled to find time and the words to write. On my writing days I’d sit and stare at my screen, begin to peck out sentences, but then end up erasing them. I took a week of vacation to make up for the time I had lost, but self doubt and conflicting research sent my creativity into a nosedive. I accomplished only two pages during that time which I wasn’t sure I even liked. The sad fact about my efforts was this: nothing I tried pleased me.

Added to the mix were my time bandits—overtime at work, family needs, bush removal, car maintenance, and church assignments all vying for my writing slots. I went crying to my writers group, lamenting that I teetered on the verge of abandoning my project for good. My frustration had brought me to the brink of writing disaster, and the sage words my friends handed me failed to convince me otherwise.

Then the unfathomable happened. I wrote over my manuscript with a lesser version and realized the two pages, and then some, I had written out with my blood no longer existed. During that same week my employer took away the block of space I had set as my official writing day. My self-fulfilling prophesy had come true, and I was lost on the road climbing toward novel completion and publication.

Sound at all familiar?

I think their must live a writing ogre in the world, ready to jump out at us from behind the trees, whose purpose it is to pounce on our good intentions and well-laid plans for writing. At times he is the victor, far stronger and equipped with more tools than we, mere writers, possess. But whoever said writing was easy?

Sometimes determination and cunning are the only weapons we have to outwit our foe. Pushing ourselves to write, even when the victory seems futile can surprise us. Courage in the face of defeat can send the rocks of our retaliation hurling toward the enemy’s head, buying us time until reinforcements arrive.

Natalie Goldberg in her book Writing Down the Bones suggests to “take out another notebook, pick up another pen, and just write, just write, just write.” That’s exactly what I did. I never gave up, although I allowed myself to concentrate on other writing while my subconscious mind worked around the roadblocks of my novel. I took time to restructure my outline, put the research away and began to trust my instincts for survival. To my surprise, as I tried to recapture the segments of my manuscript I had lost, stronger and much more pleasing passages flowed from my depths. I wrote beyond the loss and my characters came up with new ways to direct the story, sending discouragement and self doubt behind enemy lines with their tails between their legs.

I’ve stunned the ogre for now. I’m sure he’s found another tree and is waiting for the right moment to leap out at me. But I’ve learned some strengthening strategies along the road that will aid me in future battles. I’m grateful for my characters too. They’ve taken up the fight and are carving the way to my next victory.

Such is the fairy tale of this feat called writing. But as in all fairy tales, there is a happy ending.

Writing Through the Eyes of a Child

2010-04-18T19:42:00.000-07:00

Have you ever watched a toddler explore the world? Whatever circumstance we place before them, they move about touching, seeing, tasting, smelling, and hearing their way through their environment. They sample everything and turn their experiences upside down and sideways, often wedging themselves in the least expected nook to see life in a way their eyes have yet to behold. I’m convinced if that toddler were capable of writing their encounters in words, we’d have some of the best poetry and prose the world has ever seen.

Somewhere along the way to adulthood that desire to thoroughly investigate our surroundings springs a leak. Maybe we become lazy or get bogged in the mire of disappointment and forget how to enjoy the adventure. Or maybe we form prejudices and borrow the narrow opinions of others instead of reaching for the ideas dangling from our own study and observation.

Life is tough, no question about it. But should we allow our weariness or indifference or slothfulness keep us knee-deep in the mud? As writers, taking time to explore our world in new ways is vital to our success. We must feel the textures of our thoughts, smell the meaning of the moment, taste the laughter and tears that living life rains down upon our literary tongues. As we seek new angles of our existence, somehow we have to clutch the vision and translate the data into words that others can hear in their hearts.

How do we lick life and explain the flavor on the page? Some of my favorite techniques are analogy or metaphor. Imagery can draw pictures in the mind and help the reader see what we’re trying to say. But maybe this post tastes too sweet or smells too flowery for your liking. That’s okay. We can choose from a variety of methods to decipher and explain our corner of the world. Please share how you delve into your part of the whole and how you translate your inner thoughts into the written word? I bet we can learn incredible things from each other.

Leave a Mess, Glean a Draft

2010-04-15T07:04:00.000-07:00

Each time I sit down to write I show up at my computer like an excited pup, tail wagging, anxious to play, ready to retrieve the words my unconscious mind tosses out in my line of sight. But just like the dog, there comes a point in the game when the fun runs out. It’s then the thought of retrieving one more word makes my head sag, tongue droop, and my body long to plop down and take a nap for the rest of the day. After I run my little synapses off the romance is over, and I’d rather be anywhere than loping around inside the wordless void between my ears.

Some writers have a bigger challenge than others. I question my abilities when someone tells me they write 10,000 words a day; on my productive days I might pinch out 2,000 words and feel like a train wreck when I finally drag myself from my chair eight hours later. Maybe I’ve yet to catch the vision of free-flow writing. I labor over each word and try to make my phrases sing the first time around.

Call me a perfectionist. I am. And I'll take my punishment now, thank you very much.

Writer Anne Lamott reminds us that perfectionism makes us try too hard to avoid the big messes we'll have to clean up later. However, her point is this: clutter and mess show us “we are living life”. As we allow the unedited words to flow onto the screen, we find more opportunities to glean a treasure or two among the muddle. More importantly, this uninhibited process helps us avoid writer’s block and teaches us to write with more flare while having fun in the process.

Somehow we’ve all got to learn to let the dam in our minds go. Natalie Goldberg suggests participating in writing practice. Fill up notebook after notebook. She tells about the piles of notebooks she’s accumulated over the years. She admits that some of what she writes is trash, but other parts of the writing are some of her best work. The important thing about writing practice is to keep our fingers moving and to lose control.

After struggling with the void today, I’m anxious to try something new, something that might improve my productivity tomorrow. It sure can’t hurt. Who knows, I just might finish a scene or two and feel like I’ve accomplished something. Care to join me?

The Power of Encouragement

2010-04-04T04:40:00.000-07:00

A couple of Sundays ago, as I sat in church, an old friend walked by and squeezed my shoulder. He said nothing, but proceeded up to the front of the chapel to join the choir who presented a lovely Easter program to our congregation. I hadn’t talked to him in weeks and had missed our conversations of gospel topics and life musings. His was a simple gesture of encouragement that told me I was in his thoughts and prayers and that I was not alone.

How often in the business of writing, or in life for that matter, do we give and receive gestures or kind words of encouragement? How often do we take interest in anybody else’s work but our own? Brief well wishes or donations of our time to get someone over the slump are life preservers that lift our colleagues and friends back on life's ship. Someone once said, “A word of encouragement during failure is worth more than an hour of praise after success.”

I believe that. For the last month I’ve struggled: finding time, direction, and balance in many aspects of my existence, including my writing. I've wished for someone to throw me a lifeline a time or two. I know I will eventually work through the lack of productivity and discouragement. I always do. But a pep talk could have buoyed me up as I dangled over the water’s edge.

Fortunately, it doesn’t matter how we toss these circles of hope to those who are drowning. It only matters that we take notice and exercise life-saving, mind-hefting service to lift a sinking soul from the murky waters of defeat. Sometimes it might appear the service is just one more thing to add to our lists. But I know that in the process of lifting another, the soul we help is often our own.

Applying Time Well

2010-04-02T16:37:00.000-07:00

Life is too short to impatiently wish for more quality time—time that life may or may not afford us. Have you found yourself wishing for the next stage of your life: for more time to write, for the weekend, for a worry free existence, for a better house, for a better financial position? The constant longing for better circumstances does nothing more than take the joy out of the journey.

If you drag yourself home with unfulfilled-dream days, taking to your bed early in hopes that tomorrow you might have better ideas and more time with which to write them, you just might miss the lessons of the moment because you’re living in and for another time zone.

Think of all the precious and life-expanding moments we let go by when we worry about the next tick of the clock and how much more and better things we can cram into the moment. In my case, the image staring back in the mirror is an impatient writer who wishes work, heck, life for that matter, was a little easier.

Easier is relative. Our efforts over the passage of time become more difficult if we fail to practice living for now.

Goethe reminds us, “One always has enough time if one will apply it well.” So I guess the lesson I want to remind us about today is this: the only time we have is now. Make the best of it. And if the day turns out less than you had hoped for, switch gears and think about how wonderful it is that you are a writer. Don’t waste another moment. Prove that you are.

Journal Writing for Our Own Good

2010-03-28T09:35:00.000-07:00

How many of you keep a journal? How many of you would like to keep a journal but find it hard to begin? I have good news for you. Of all the types of writing, this should be the easiest form of expression you ever attempt. You don't have to be a great writer, perfect speller, or creative thinker to keep a personal journal. Journal writing means that you regularly write down your thoughts and experiences. If you keep a blog, you can keep a journal.

I’m not talking about diary entries here. Diaries contain a description of daily events, usually nothing more. A journal, however, is where we breathe life into those mundane lists; it is our opportunity to reflect on our lives and express emotions and understanding behind our actions and thoughts.

I have a few tips for keeping a journal that might make the experience a little easier.

Begin. Write down a few thoughts you experience during the day—the passage doesn’t have to be long—just get the thoughts down on paper. Don’t worry about your spelling or grammar. The most important thing is to express yourself. I know, I know, you can’t allow misspelled words and poor grammar to go unchecked. Fine, edit AFTER you pour out your soul.
Write a little each day. Practicing every day helps you become more observant and confident. Who knows, something you write may inspire a scene in your current work in progress or become the plot for your next novel.
Ignore excuses Sometimes you may feel you don’t have time to write down your personal experiences. Spencer W. Kimball once stood before the World Conference on Records and said: “By now, in my own personal history, I have managed to fill seventy-eight large volumes . . . . There have been times when I have been so tired at the end of a day that the effort could hardly be managed, but I am so grateful that I have not let slip away from me and my posterity those things which needed to be recorded.” (Ensign, Oct. 1980, p. 72.)
Try to write at the same time every day. When writing becomes routine, the words will flow more easily. You'll begin to feel committed to your journal. Hmm, have you heard this writing advice before?
Carry a notebook with you at all times. If you do this, you'll never miss an important moment.
Get your senses involved. Say exactly what you see, feel, hear, and so on. Be specific when you write. For example, instead of saying “tree”, say what kind of tree you’re writing about. I could have written a boring list of incidents about my move to Arizona in 1982. Instead I wrote:

The rich San Joaquin Valley never looked as beautiful as when we drove out of the Bay Area on February 21, 1982. Through my windshield, I must have viewed six different shades of green that crisscrossed patterns over the land. The almond trees were abloom, emanating life, providing a white contrast in square patches alongside the highway and afar off. This display came after torrential rains pounded the Bay Area, saturating the homes and hillside residences. Mudslides had demolished anything that had stood in the way. As I marveled at the hues, textures and patterns before me, I found the scene ironic—that such beauty exists so close to devastation.

Observe. Take note of "who," "what," "when," "where," "how," and "why." Even the most routine events are worth observing. But don’t record things like, “I went to the store. Then I came home. Then I brushed my teeth and went to bed.” Don’t forget to write about the life changing events that occur in your life. That is what you and your children will want to go back and read.

I know, without a doubt, that writing personal and family histories bless our lives and the lives of our families. I enjoy reading the recorded memories of my past. Even my children love to find out about my successes and failures, and like to kid me about my peculiarities. They are reflections that can enlighten and teach important lessons to my posterity. So the next time you resist the urge to record your life’s events, kick yourself, and say, “This is for my own good.” You might even discover it’s worth a belly-laugh or two.

Eloquent Phrasing

2010-03-21T16:19:00.000-07:00

Each time I read a book I really like, I break down the author’s work, write down the phrases that impress me, and try to discover what aspect of their writing draws me in. Most times my attraction is due to the author’s way of saying mundane things in unique ways. I’ve started a phrase book to inspire me on those days when I struggle to write with a fresh perspective. I read through the phrases until the itch to create something as clever pushes me to the keyboard. The process usually helps.

I recently read Interred with Their Bones by Jennifer Lee Carrell. She has a PhD in English, and not only did her topic enthrall me, but her phrasing made my taste buds water. Below are just some of her creative uses of the English language:

I camouflaged the lie in a thin wrapping of truth.

I felt hope splinter and crack.

Sparks shimmered down like a slow rain of fiery petals.

A mundane tale of worn-out parts

Smoke scudded across the sky.

The spiraling wail of sirens

A prickle of watching eyes

My voice carving through the shadows

Lights kindled as night crept through the city in a dark tide.

The smokestack speared the night.

Smoke poured like black blood.

Ahhh!!! Divine!!!! Does anyone else get excited reading her words? Since I’m always hunting for unique turns of phrase, always desiring to add to my phrase book, please leave a comment, sharing your ideas of exceptional writing.

Pleasing Our Readers

2010-03-19T20:48:00.001-07:00

The other day, my son, the one I thought would NEVER show interest in anything I’ve written, told me how he’s read my manuscripts when I wasn’t looking. He complimented me on my skill as a writer and called me an intelligent woman. I stared at him, mouth open, eyes ogling. My child had actually read my writing and felt impressed!

Writing can seem an intimidating pursuit sometimes, and though I struggle to stay positive in the climb up the ladder, I have to remind myself, people often read my words and like them. The crazy thing about the process is that we never know who is reading our work. As we network, we pick up potential readers, and we might balk at how many people are really interested in our progress. Of course, we also push away a few who hate everything we say.

That’s okay because we’ll never be able to please everybody, all the time.

Still I obsess over spelling and punctuation; I cringe every time I go back to read my blog posts and find some infraction of the English language or a thought that misses the point. Such infringements ruin our credibility as writers, right? The same son who read my manuscripts on the sly shakes his head and tells me not to worry so much, especially when writing a blog post. He assures me bloggers misspell words all the time.

I don’t know how comforting that is. I want to at least appear as though I’ve used spell check and have edited my posts before I publish them—because according to my son, I am an intelligent woman. And I do want to present to all those who read my work the best I have to offer. After all, I am trying to build a reputation in the writing world.

Still—I'm thrilled that Hemingway choked at spelling.

Writers Are Odd

2010-03-14T09:22:00.000-07:00

On February 27, I attended the ANWA writer’s conference, Start Write Now, and one of the more humorous speakers, J Scott Savage, commented that writers are odd. To emphasize his point, he revealed his list of oddities: writer’s talk to their characters in the shower, cry over the characters they kill themselves, write down their dreams, and have crazy egos. We all laughed over his slide presentation, illustrating the various quirks. Despite his humor, I’ve thought about his comments over the last couple of weeks, and I’ve come to the conclusion he’s more correct than not.

I came up with my own list of idiosyncrasies to prove he’s hit the mark. I’m sure if you thought about it awhile, you might come up with some weirdness yourself. Please share if you do.

Writers Emote - I’ve always been a drama queen. My husband (now ex-husband) used to tell me all the time, “You’re not on the stage,” when I reacted to life’s curve balls. I went around the house emoting and feigning the end of the world often. My children ogled at me, marveling at the woman banging her head on the computer keys and crying, “I’ll never get it! Never!” When I think back on my moments of drama, well, I'm sure I'd have repeated the same things over again.
Writers Are Superstitious - Charles Dickens placed objects on his desk in exactly the same position, always set his bed in north/south directions, and touched certain objects three times for luck. I recently learned about Feng Shui, and now I won’t write facing the south, my worst direction of all.
Writers Roll Play - Whether on a bus or in a grocery store line, you can find a writer acting out their characters’ lives in the strangest ways. Perhaps you’ve taken up skydiving or asked your children to tie you to a chair so you know how your character feels. On a good day, you can find me throwing punches in the air and dancing with my houseplants.
Writers Rather Type Than Eat - A writer is always rushing to meet deadlines or yearning for the right word to replace another one from their last writing session, thus they’d rather be typing than doing just about anything else. I’ve skipped meals often when the flow is erupting from my depths. My stomach grumbles on, and I can’t stop writing until the walls start moving behind my computer.

Sound familiar? At all? I hear a resounding, “Yes!!!!” Because writers ARE odd. It’s the nature of the zillions of beasts that roam around inside our heads. But, hey, rather than tame the invasive creatures, I’ll do whatever it takes to get to the end of my novel.

Up With Which I Will Not Put and Other Rules

2010-03-04T09:34:00.000-08:00

The rules of writing are sometimes meant for bending or breaking. That being said, we must first know what the rules are in order to ignore them.

I love the way Winston Churchill made this point apparent concerning the age-old rule of ending a sentence with a preposition.

“Ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which I will not put.”

By following the rules we learned in elementary school, we see how ridiculous that sentence sounds. Now I ask you, is there anything wrong with ending this sentence with a preposition? Most grammarians will say it's OK to end sentences with prepositions when the preposition doesn’t create a relationship between other words. Yet violations of this rule might tick off editors and land our manuscripts in the slush pile. If we are preparing letters or manuscripts for publication, we might make a better impression by using proper grammar. I might have rewritten the sentence this way, avoiding the issue all together: I won’t put up with using a preposition at the end of a sentence. I used one less word and it gets right to the point.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve never completely understood what my elementary teachers taught me about the more complicated grammar rules and can never remember the meanings of the odd titles they used to describe grammar mismanagement, like split infinitive and dangling participle. Back then, I thought the English language had to be the most complicated gibberish in the world.

It wasn’t until I started writing regularly that grammar usage started dripping, one rule at a time, into remote locations of my brain. Even so, my hands shake every time I write a blog or submit a manuscript for fear I have yet to learn another important rule and have proven my ignorance. The remedy: continue to write, continue to learn grammar.

If you choose to ignore the standard grammar rules, make sure you do it in a way that makes your purpose apparent—like in the quote mentioned above or in dialogue. But please sacrifice a misuse of the rules if, by doing so, you sacrifice clarity and a foot in the editor’s door.

Finding Voice

2010-02-19T15:28:00.000-08:00

I was born with more writing sense than oral expression. When it comes to speaking, my lack of eloquence constantly goads me, often rendering me spineless. I sometimes wonder if this underdeveloped talent is the reason for my lack of published works. You know, sort of a self-fulfilling prophesy: if I publish, I might have to speak to people, so I give less effort, and thus I never get published.

I talked to my friend about this the other night. She suggested I take less threatening opportunities to learn how to express myself right now, while I get my novel on paper. I nodded, and told her that is good advice, all the while knowing that forcing myself to talk in intimate settings, impromptu, would cause me to stutter and go blank inside my head, never to get to the point of the multitude of words roiling around inside me. Why can’t I ask questions in a lecture or during a lesson at church? Why do I remain silent most of the time? It’s like lacking a tongue.

I’m told my problem is a self-esteem issue, although, if you get me behind a pulpit after I prepare a speech or lesson, I can present an air of articulateness. It’s the springing of an unrehearsed speaking engagement upon me that is another matter.

So what options do I and others with this stigma have to increase our abilities? I researched the topic and came up with these helpful pointers:

Decide to Confront, Face, and Defeat the Obstacle - Unless we are committed to doing the things that will help us improve, we probably never will. We must remind ourselves that a little discomfort now, will help us defeat the problem in the future.

Practice - According to authorities on the subject of shyness, my friend was right. Searching for opportunities to challenge ourselves will help us improve. Practice relaxation and breathing techniques. Think calm thoughts. Talk about the things we’re passionate about and use personal experiences to help our conversations along.

Focus Elsewhere - Having low self-esteem tends to make us think about our fear. If we can turn the conversation to the other person, be genuinely interested in what they have to say, it may help us push fear to the back of our thought processes.

Be Mentally Prepared - We should start rehearsing in our minds what we might say in different situations. Obviously we can’t think of all that will occur, but analyzing our feelings ahead of time may help us over the hurdles when forced into difficult situations.

Start a Success Diary - No matter how small we think our successes are, we can write them down and remind ourselves how we managed each victory.

Becoming more assertive may take time to accomplish, but if we desire to improve, practicing the above techniques may help us find our voices again.

The Pen: Responsible Use of Our Weapon of Choice

2010-02-12T06:57:00.000-08:00

Whether we want to admit it or not, writers have a great responsibility to their readers. Those who write and publish without understanding or caring about this, might as well drive drunk and let the bodies fly where they may.

Nathaniel Hawthorne once said, “Words - so innocent and powerless as they are, as standing in a dictionary, how potent for good and evil they become in the hands of one who knows how to combine them.”

Edward Bulwer-Lytton drove his point into our hearts when he wrote,

“The pen is mightier than the sword. Behold
The arch-enchanters wand! — itself a nothing! —
But taking sorcery from the master-hand
To paralyse the Cæsars, and to strike
The loud earth breathless!”

Have you analyzed your writing motives lately? Maybe you have no goal but to irk your readership as Thomas Hardy expressed, “'If you can't annoy somebody with what you write, I think there's little point in writing.” Or maybe you desire what Cicero said was to get at “the very heart and core of ages past, the reason why men worked and died, the essence and quintessence of their lives.” Then perhaps your combination of words is meant to strengthen the “hands which hang down, and the feeble knees.”

I ask you: doesn’t a writer’s work reflect the character of that artist? I believe it does. I have seen the fallout from the explosion of an artist’s words both build and destroy, shock and please, even inspire and nullify.

The consequences of a writer’s musings may successfully strike the loud earth breathless, and he might sit back in his chair and put his feet up on the desk and smile at his cleverness. Whether he believes in a higher power or not, if his intent is to see how much damage he can inflict, I am certain whatever missile he launches will eventually turn around to seek out his heat, maybe explode in his face. Then when it’s too late, when he emerges from the rubble, maybe, just maybe, he’ll wish he had traded in his pen for a weapon less dangerous.

Sucked Away by Research

2010-02-07T08:07:00.000-08:00

I love research. If I had to live my life over, I might have considered some form of investigative exploration as a career. I love to scan the Internet or sit down with a good book on a topic about which I am writing and glean interesting facts to put into my novels.

Yesterday I attended an eleven hour lecture on a Book of Mormon topic I’m currently pursuing in one of my works in progress. Never mind eating (they didn’t break for dinner), never mind housework, never mind preparing my Primary lesson, and never mind WRITING, I was hooked and couldn’t leave the mini-conference until I helped put away the last chair.

The grueling hours of sitting with backside to seat, eyes fixed and dilated, was well worth my time. I came away with two new books, validated the research I’ve already done, and realized more than ever the importance of my novel’s subject matter. Even viewing the very artifacts I write about in my novel still has my head buzzing a day later.

Now some of you might think eleven hours is overkill. They did repeat one of the afternoon topics in the evening (I HAD TO hear the information again). But it was an event that filled my well to overflowing—invigorated my mind so now all I want to do is get my thoughts down on paper. What more can a writer want than the desire to write.

All writers understand there is a time when we have to put the research aside and put fingers to the keyboard. I agree 100%, well, maybe 98%. The amount of research, and the consideration of what we gain from it, is dependent on the type of writing we do and our purpose within that market. If your book explores the Nicene Creed and Egyptian Coptic Christians who came to this country before Christ, your research time will obviously require more attention than if you were writing about your dog, Charlie.

There will come a time when I collect sufficient information about the Michigan relics and the Hopewell culture of the Great Lakes area that I can stop attending eleven hour lectures. However, I won’t stop willingly; I can already envision myself holding on to the door frame by my fingertips as obligation sucks my feet off the ground and pulls me toward home. But right now, lengthy lectures and hours of studying my notes will help me write the novel my heart yearns to create. I’m not going to lash myself into submission or feel guilty for taking the time away from the essential part of my craft. Research, for my project, is essential. And, if you need the extra book time for your projects, I say, “Go for it! Get carried away! You’ll feel better when you relieve your suffering.”

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

2010-01-28T20:04:00.000-08:00

When I attended college, my English teacher taught us about Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Simply stated, the theory professes the following:

Man’s most basic, primitive needs must be met before he can consider other needs.

What is Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs? See the list below:

Physical Needs: air, food, water, sleep, sex
Safety: shelter, physical and financial security, health
Social (Love/Belonging): family, friendship, acceptance in a group, intimacy
Esteem: confidence, respect, acknowledgement
Self-Actualization: morality, wisdom, personal potential, privacy
Cognitive: acquire and understand knowledge
Aesthetic: appreciate and create beauty and structure

Hmm…does the need for food, water, or sex always take precedence over morality? Not necessarily. Someone with high moral character might deny himself sex before marriage. A starving mother may feed her child before feeding herself.

Writers are always trying to find motivation to move their characters to action. Our characters are constantly involved in relationships, solving mysteries or crimes, seeking betterment, more knowledge, money or glory, and sometimes they are totally insane. Understanding this theory and how man often defies the rule can help us better create believable characters and maybe even help us introduce plot twists. And don’t forget motivation such as attachment, comfort, trust/dependency, occupation, and control are additional needs to throw into the mix.

Serial Commas: To Use or Not to Use, That Is the Question

2010-01-20T17:58:00.000-08:00

I do a lot of editing at work, and one of the main annoyances I see over and over again is the missing comma before a conjunction in a series of three or more items: red, white and blue. Unless you are writing a newspaper article, a proven venue for saving space, in most American style guides, this is incorrect grammar usage and is considered the Wrong Rule. The phrase should read: red, white, and blue.

Now before you get riled and swear to me that everyone has accepted this grammatical faux pas, that it’s a matter of preference, let me cite the sources I use as my foundation.

» Chicago Manual of Style
» American Psychological Association (APA) Style
» The MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers
» Elements of Style
» Modern American Usage: A Guide.
» A Manual for Writers
» Gregg Reference Manual
» Scientific Style and Format

Most people who argue for ommision quote from newspaper style guides, which include the Associated Press (AP) Stylebook. Some British writers also have jumped on this grammatical band wagon. You might ask why most American standard usage keeps this vital comma. The reason is to prevent confusing combinations of the final two words: eggs, bacon, and toast. “Bacon and toast” is not one idea. If I write eggs, toast and jam, and bacon or eggs, bacon, and toast and jam, the potential confusion becomes apparent.

Just Get the Words Down

2010-01-14T21:30:00.000-08:00

I had to laugh when I attended my writer’s group this week. I had shared the first scene from my novel and was telling everyone that when I begin a writing session, I usually read what I wrote the day before and then continue to write more.

An excellent writer in the group, Donna Hatch, looked at me and said, “You’ve got to stop doing that. Just keep writing. Get the words down.” Obviously her insight didn’t seep in the first time because I again told everyone how I often go back and add information I have forgotten.

Donna looked at me again and said, “Don’t do that. Don’t edit. Place asterisks in your paragraph with a reminder to yourself and keep writing.”

Each time she tutored me, the thought became more prevalent in my mind. I think she even admonished me a third time when I told the group I’m worried about writing a query letter that will snag an editor’s attention. But it wasn’t until then I finally got the point. I can’t even begin to tell her how much I appreciate the reminder.

We’ve all heard this counsel over and over again, and I know every one of you is far better at obeying such wisdom than I am. I guess I’m an editor at heart. I want to make my scenes as perfect as possible before I go on. But editing is a left-sided brain function that can stifle right-sided brain creativity. Unless one is exceptionally gifted and can use both sides of the brain at the same time, I think we should follow Donna’s advice and just get the words down.

I’ll say it again, for emphasis. “Just get the words down.” Now stop reading this and get to work.

Shoot for the Stars

2010-01-03T07:10:00.000-08:00

I often start writing projects I never finish because I stew over the significance of my message. Since writing drains me of time, blood and tears, I figure I had better use my resources on endeavors that lift and edify or on those that change thinking in important and essential ways. You know—tasks worthy of my trouble.

I'm not saying that other forms of writing aren’t just as noteworthy, but I have to be true to myself. If I have to struggle to write, I want to write something that will mean something to ME years from now. I want to make my mark on the universe, in the most comfortable method for my psyche and personality.

I like to laugh, and I enjoy a story where I don’t have to dig too deeply to ponder the meaning, but someone forgot to install my funny bone before they sent me to earth. If I attempted to write the witty and fun-filled fiction that Janette Rallison pens, I’d never get my nose in the publishing door. More importantly, in the back of my mind, in the very root of my soul, I can’t ignore the stirrings that drive me toward the more serious side of my craft either.

That’s okay. We all have to find our niche for telling our stories, and thank goodness they differ in scope and purpose than in other authors’ works. It would be a dull existence if we had to read the same style and category all the time. And there is all kinds of room in the writer's mansion. But that which we feel comfort in creating, should come from the best that we have within us.

I love President Spencer W. Kimball's quote about greatness. "Let us remember, too, that greatness is not always a matter of the scale of one's life, but of the quality of one's life. True greatness is not always tied to the scope of our tasks, but to the quality of how we carry out our tasks whatever they are. In that attitude let us give of our time, ourselves and our talents to the things that really matter now, things that will still matter a thousand years from now."

So in all we do as writers, I hope we strive for greatness in whatever form of the written word we pursue. “Shoot for the stars,” my friend, Anna Arnett, says, “and you might hit the top of the telephone pole.” And if we strive for a quality ride, I’m willing to bet we'll hit even higher.

My Writer's Resolutions for 2010

2009-12-29T17:15:00.000-08:00

I am always filled with a sense of adventure and excitement when the New Year comes around. Maybe it’s because I was born on New Year’s Eve and everybody is celebrating, although not because of my birthday. Or maybe it’s because I’m hopeful that better things are standing at my threshold than those of the previous year. Let’s face it, 2010 has better possibilities to offer me than my mother’s death, a pay decrease, and the bathroom pipes springing a leak.

I feel the same excitement about my writing. I started my newest writing project last June and hope to be at least ¾ of the way, or even closer to the end, by next December. I get all jittery inside when I think of 365 days of writing opportunities, and I have intensified my enthusiasm by taking a week’s vacation in January to get a running head start.

Even with all this exhilaration, I’ve decided to devise a few strategies that will help me stay on track when the words refuse to materialize, or when research binds me in chains, or when life gets in the way. The motto Be Prepared works just as well for a writer as it does for a Boy Scout. So here are ten writers’ resolutions for 2010 to keep the prose flowing and discouragement at bay:

Reevaluate Your Writing Career: Take note of what you achieved as a writer in the previous year and what you want to accomplish in the coming year. Make goals to achieve this new direction.
Resolve to Write: A writer must commit to produce. Without the will, there is no way. Set goals of when, where, and how often you will work. That way when friends want to distract you, you will be ready to politely turn them down.
Set Realistic Goals: If you set your goals too high, you are sure to fail or at least overextend yourself in the process. Moderation is the key to all writing pursuits. By setting lower goals and surpassing them, you will feel more successful and spare energy for other writing endeavors.
Add Variety: Sometimes I get bored with the same piece of fiction day in and day out. I keep a variety of writing projects at hand to stir up the muse. Journal writing and blogging also keep me writing, and these outlets are cathartic ways to practice the art. Just don’t overdo the variety and neglect your more important projects. That would defeat the goal.
Finish Old Projects: There is nothing more stifling or draining than unfinished writing tasks. Their constant cry for completion is like an invisible shield that blocks free thinking. Finish these annoyances and you will unclog the passageways that hold back creativity.
Read More: I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: We can learn how to write by reading other writers’ works. The way they use words and the way they structure plot can spur us out of writer’s block and help us handle plot in better ways than if we attempted the task in a stupor.
Focus on Your Successes: Dwell on the things that you do accomplish this year instead of on what you don’t. Failures aren’t really failures. They are just methods you’ve tried which don’t work. Attempt different techniques and ways of approaching the subject and you might turn the piece into one that works. But until then, be kind to yourself and pat yourself on the back for all you have achieved.
Submit: There is only one thing to say about submission. If you submit, you provide opportunities to get published. The opposite holds true if you fail to do so.
Be Confident: Wherever you are on the publication scale, don’t think your failure to get your work out in the world makes you a bad writer. I hate to say it, but sometimes publication depends on timing or whether or not the editor had a fight with her husband that morning. Your abilities aren’t necessarily the reason you haven’t seen your name on a book cover.
Promote Yourself: And do so whenever you find the opportunity. Promotion is a vital part of a writer’s success. You might hand out business cards, or contact an editor, or be bold and tell everyone you talk to you are a writer. If you’re like me, this part of the equation is difficult, but critically important if you want others to know your work.

Such are my ten resolutions to keep moving forward on my novel in 2010. I hope those of you who read this little list may find solutions to some of your own writing dilemmas.

Surviving the Unexpected Grinches

2009-12-26T07:03:00.000-08:00

The Grinch who stole Christmas is alive and doing well.

Four days ago my son called me at work and screamed into the phone, “Mom, there’s water in my closet.” Several hours later, a plumber discovered my bathroom sink pipes had sprung a leak and that the walls behind the bathroom were completely saturated. This resulted in the dry out company cutting holes in my closet and bedroom walls, as well as ripping up carpet, my bathroom floor, and installing nine fans that have tried to blow through my Christmas and writing plans.

I must admit, at first I didn’t handle the shock well. As I cried in my Christmas pudding, complained to whoever would listen, and slept on my couch for three nights, I realized my sulking just wouldn’t do, especially with a houseful of people coming. Since I couldn’t sleep well on my uncomfortable, makeshift bed, I had a lot of time to reflect on my attitude adjustment. After all it was turning out to be a Whoville Christmas, and I couldn’t allow this unexpected inconvenience to ruin the holiday.

I realized I have the Gospel, family, my health, good friends, a roof over my head, and talents. The true meaning of Christmas always exists and for everyone, not just in perfect circumstances. The Savior was born and blessed this world with love and a better way, and the sooner my face reflected these facts, the sooner I could spread this message to everyone.

Although all my Christmas money will go to the deductable, I do have homeowners insurance and will get the tile that has sat in my garage for two years finally installed in my bathroom. I was also able to enjoy my family yesterday and put on a nice dinner for all. What more could I ask for?

As for my writing plans, well, although somewhat delayed, I’ve found a little hole between the food storage buckets and misplaced furniture to write this blog post today. The chaos has given me a different perspective and definately something to write about. I’ll get to my novel later on, too. I will always remember Christmas 2009 and how it reminded me of my blessings. Merry Christmas everyone! It truly has been a good one!

One-Sentence Summary Statements Save Face

2009-12-09T19:57:00.000-08:00

As I sat in my monthly writers meeting last night, we were asked to tell the group about our latest writing projects. When my turn came around I stammered and stuttered, and by the time I finished trying to tell everyone what my book was about, I shrunk in my chair, red-faced, wondering if I sounded as lame as I felt. Mind you, I’m far better at the written word than I am at orating. If I have to speak in front of small groups, unless I prepare on paper what I’m going to say two weeks in advance, my tongue goes numb and my brain springs a leak. Yet, I wondered if my speaking engagement would have been easier if I had known precisely, in only a few words, what the core of my story was about.

A couple of months ago I read an article by Randy Ingermanson on his snowflake method for writing a novel. He suggests that as we begin, we should define what the story is about in a one-sentence summary using fifteen words or less. That shouldn’t be too hard, right? Try it. You’ll see just how difficult the task really is.

First, to keep the summary under fifteen words, you need to use the most specific language possible and avoid using character names. Instead of saying, “Jane must convince colleagues …” write “A deceitful archeologist must convince colleagues...”

Second you need to determine which of your characters has the most to lose and figure out what he wants to gain.”A deceitful archeologist must convince colleagues he’s unearthed an artifact revealing the world’s end.” The sentence needs to be concise enough that you can later use it to sell your book to anyone. I keep thinking if I had already accomplished this assignment for my current manuscript, I would have aced the task of selling a room full of writers the plausibility of my story.

Ingermanson says to search The New York Times Bestseller list for examples of concise one-sentence summaries. I go to this list often and read the short sentences not only to know what fiction is popular, but also to learn ways of honing in on the heart of a plot. I suggest you give yourself at least an hour to find the most compact way to describe your novel’s basic thread. After you try the exercise, please comment below about the ease or difficulty you experienced. I hope I’m not the only writer who finds this drill a challenge.

2010 ANWA Writer's Conference Is Coming!

2009-12-03T07:27:00.000-08:00

As writers, we need and deserve a high quality resource where we can learn ways to improve our work. I have just the venue, a place to receive a pinch where our pants meet the chair, one that will inspire us on to success. It promises to be the best conference ANWA has ever sponsored. Please read the specifics below:

ANWA Writer’s Conference
February 27, 2010
“Start Write Now”
Best Western Dobson Ranch
1666 South Dobson Road
Mesa, AZ 85292-5699

Keynote Speaker: J. Scott Savage, Author of the “Farworld Series”

Also Featuring:
Aprilynne Pike, New York Times best-selling Author of “Wings”
Helen Bair, Counselor and Author of “Finding the Healer in Me”
Sara Fujimura, Freelance Writer, Magazine Writer, Author and Educator
Doug Johnston, Publicist and Owner of Little Red Ride Promotions LLC
Nancy E. Turner, Author of “These is My Words”
Marsha Ward, Author of the “Owen Family Series”
Dr. Pamela Goodfellow, Writing Coach, Editor, and Owner of Goodfellow Publishing Services.

I know I will be at the conference with my pad and pen. I hope to see anyone with a desire to improve their writing skills present and ready to learn from the best. Sign up at http://anwa-lds.com/conference.html

Be Still and Become Productive

2009-12-02T17:37:00.000-08:00

I’ve stopped listening to the radio on my drive to and from work. The noise was a distraction, filling my mind with repetitious tunes and everybody’s thoughts but my own. I’ve discovered that in the stillness, competition for head space has dwindled to a minimum, and I’ve created a healthy environment for the development of plot ideas, blog posts, and ways to improve my manuscripts.

These quiet moments are crucial for a writer’s success. Besides the dreamless, Delta levels where our subconscious often inspires us in our sleep, in today’s busy, over-stimulated world we must create special moments where our brains can engage the muse, a place where we can focus on the next passages we are going to write and the crowning ideas that are trying to immerge.

Not all of us have two hours to kill in the car every day like I do, so how do we find ideal places and specific times for productive thinking? I used to ask myself that question all the time, but it wasn’t until I practiced the fine art of being still that I realized how many opportunities I really had during a day. Below are just some of the ways I’ve found to reconnect my synapses. If you try any of these, don’t forget to keep a pad and pencil with you to write down the ideas that begin to flow.

» Create a sanctuary in a remote corner of your house – Decorate a special corner all your own with some of your favorite items that generate peaceful surroundings. A candle, pictures of family, a floral arrangement, or a special pillow can work magic in this haven away from distractions. Put up a partition to keep your attention reigned in on your work. Before long, you’ll wonder how you ever wrote a sentence without this refuge.

» Take a walk outside – Fresh air and exercise are cures for a stagnant existence. Twenty minutes away from your desk can wet your imagination and get you back to writing again.

» Get up an hour earlier – Even a half hour earlier might give you a few moments to jot down some ideas that you can develop later on in the day.

» Use down time at work to brainstorm – Between work projects or during a break, write lists or send yourself Internet data that will help improve your writing sessions when you have more time to develop the information.

» Stay out of the break room at work – The break room is notorious for wasting time. Well-intentioned people want to talk to you when you want to write. Find an empty desk somewhere in the office or park yourself on an outside bench where no one will find you. Your colleagues will begin to respect your desire for alone time.

» Keep a writer’s journal and use it daily – the moment you wake up is a good time to write down ideas. But carry your journal with you and get in the habit of using it whenever you feel inspired.

» Use the time in grocery store lines to observe action and dialogue – We spend half of our life standing in one line or another. Make the most of those wasted moments by writing down someone’s quirks or the dialogue you hear. You never know when a phrase or oddity might come in handy in one of your plots.

» Refrain from watching television, blogging, or listening to the radio for a day – All the vices of networking and the media can be the worst bandits of our time. Listening to repetitive plot ideas and the same music over and over only locks our mind into someone else's patterns of thought. Social networking and video games may exciting and fun, but they do not help us congregate where we most need to be: at our desks writing. Tune out and tune in to your own unique ideas and you'll be producing abundantly before you know it.

The key is to train yourself to find ways to be still. Remember that as we discover more of these moments in our lives, the easier it will be to find them again. And the more productive we are, the more success we will glean as writers.

What is Truth?

2009-11-28T06:13:00.000-08:00

I am currently working on a novel that deals with the meaning of truth through the eyes of science, religion, and two different cultural backgrounds. Frankly, I’m discovering this is not an easy task. I recently read Dan Brown’s latest work, The Lost Symbol, and was quite disturbed at the conclusions he draws about what is true. I wondered whether most of the world shared his views or if people were able to decipher between what is fiction and what is non-fiction. From the public's response and media coverage of Brown’s DaVinci Code a couple of years ago, I’m beginning to think the general public is not that smart.

Since time's beginning, man has argued the issue of what is truth. Just a few weeks ago I started a lively debate with my son about whether or not truth was absolute. He debated that truth is whatever a person thinks it is. I disagreed and, drawing on the scriptures, said, “Truth is truth, has and always will be truth, whether a person understands it or believes it.” This debate continued for a couple of weeks, but without either of us agreeing with the view of the other.

I started researching the topic on the Internet and found quite a heated argument taking place. One asked, “If there were such a thing as absolute truth, how could we know what it is?” Another said, “I don't believe there's one truth. There are a variety of people in the world, so there are a variety of ways of looking at things.” One individual went as far as to say, “People who believe in absolute truth are dangerous.” I laughed at that one. I never thought myself as a dangerous person.

In my research, I discovered more about these different viewpoints, and so I’ll explain them as far as I understand them. First, the correspondence view of truth, or belief of absolute truth, claims that any statement is true if and only if it corresponds to or agrees with factual reality. Thus questions, commands, and exclamations are neither true nor false, because they do not make claims about reality. To further clarify this view, those who believe in absolute truth claim that any clear-cut, declarative statement must be either true or false. It cannot be neither true nor false; nor can it be both true and false. Either the world is round or it is flat.

Those in opposition to truth as an absolute believe in relativism, a view that espouses that truth and morality are relative to a person's situation or standpoint. They deny that any standpoint has the advantage over another and, that since there is no way to prove that something is true, truth has to be whatever the individual or culture deems it to be; it is true only if it works for that particular person or culture. The earth is round, but if another person believes it is flat, then it is both round and flat.

Somewhere between the realms of correspondence and relativism is that of pragmatism, a view that truth should be tested by the practical consequences of belief. Pragmatists are concerned with results rather than with theories and principles. The earth is round because pictures from space verifying that fact exist .

Hmm…is it just me, or is anybody else struggling with the latter concepts? If I believe in absolute truth, then either absolute truth or relativism is true. They can’t both be true. If I believe in relativism, both can be true, if I believe it to be so. And if I'm a pragmatist then someone will have to prove that correspondence or relativism is true before I believe either of them. This brings up some interesting questions.

» Can anything be considered truth?

» Can contradictory ideas explaining two different realities both be true?

» If I believe relativism is false, then is relativism false?

» Where does truth come from? An individual/culture or from some entity with more knowledge and understanding than that of the world? Or does it spring out of nothing? Does it just exist?

» If truth is manifested by an entity with more knowledge and understanding than that of the world, or if it just exists, does mankind have the right to create his own truth?

» If truth is whatever an individual or culture decides it to be then will truth really ever exist?

» Is proof necessary for something to be true?

To me, relativism and pragmatism miss the mark. What do you think?

Once Upon a Three-Act Play Structure

2009-11-25T07:00:00.000-08:00

Steven Spielberg has said, "People have forgotten how to tell a story. Stories don't have a middle or an end anymore. They usually have a beginning that never stops beginning." We, who like to write fiction, should pay heed to his message if we want to write compelling stories.

A few years ago, while attending college, I discovered the book called, Interactive Writer's Handbook by Darryl Wimberley, PH.D. and Jon Samsel. The fourth chapter, "Story Dynamics: The Spine Comes to Life," tutors us about the Three-Act Play Structure, and it taught me how to craft fiction. The formula isn't new. It evolved from Horace's five-act plays and has inspired Shakespeare and other playwrights through the ages.

The Three-Act Play Structure’s purpose is simple: to set a spine into the body of a story. We all know the purpose of a spine; it supports the body's musculature and holds us upright. I used to hang a Far Side cartoon on my wall entitled the "Boneless Chicken Ranch" to remind me that my stories needed a spine. In the comic, boneless chickens sprawl haphazardly on the grounds of the farm. The same principal works in our fiction. If we fail to put a story-spine in place, our plot will sprawl throughout the manuscript, bringing us a passel of rejection letters.

Five stages make up the Three-Act Play Structure, helping the author pace dramatic conflict. These stages need to occur at specific times within the story and in specific proportions. The Second Act is longer than the First and Third Acts, and the First and Third Acts are relatively the same size. The ending should somehow connect with the beginning to provide unity. Writers should know how a story will end before they begin so they can repeat a symbol or theme throughout the plot which helps in the unification.

The first stage of the Three-Act Play Structure is the Trigger. This stage occurs within the first eight to ten pages of the manuscript. The trigger jump starts the story, involving characters in immediate conflict and promises more struggles to follow. The trigger does not have to involve the hero. The villain can do the job just as well. But remember, the introduction of conflict must affect the character's head and heart. As the main story changes, so should the inner lives of the players, otherwise the author risks leaving the reader unsatisfied.

The second and third stages of the Three-Act Play Structure are the First and Second Reversals or Plot Points. Many reversals occur throughout a story, but only the first and second Plot Points are mandatory or the story will crumble. The first plot point occurs at about a quarter of the way through the plot in Act One, and the second plot point occurs at about three quarters of the way through the plot at the end of Act Two. These Plot Points take the story and the characters lives in new directions, but the second plot point is where the main character learns something significant about his mettle. The second reversal introduces the third act, leading to the Climax of the story.

The Climax, or fourth stage, is where all action escalates to the main point of the plot. However, the Climax should never answer all of the character’s problems. This allows the final stage, the Catharsis, which the Greeks knew as a type of healing, to tie up lose ends. The Catharsis should be brief. After the climax, readers care very little about what comes after.

The Three-Act Play Structure works, whether writing a novel, a screenplay, or a short story. Remember this structure is a guideline only; a writer doesn't have to be exact, just in the general vicinity, although she needs to use all five stages. More times then not, the authors of my favorite novels have used this formula, and I have committed to mastering all five stages so my novels are of the same caliber. Try restructuring your own work. You'll be surprised how your stories improve.

Pulling Weeds and Working Through the Blisters

2009-11-21T21:08:00.000-08:00

I hate pulling weeds. I’d rather be writing. Yet last Thursday those nasty little creatures beckoned to me until I walked trance-like out to the side of the house and began ripping them out with retribution. And they literally beckoned to me; I heard their maniacal titters as I hunched over their spiky heads, for they knew the harder I worked, the faster and more abundantly they’d grow back, especially if I glanced in another direction.

But call me dim-witted; I didn’t wear gloves. Whether it’s the bulkiness of the fabric that blocks my sense of touch, or the lack of fashion, or the drudgery of walking all the way to the garage to retrieve them off the shelf, I just won’t wear them. As a result, twenty minutes into my love fest with these pests, a blister formed on my index finger, a wound that is still quite tender as I type this post.

Why do I put myself through such torture, when I know my salvation (my gloves) is only a few yards away? For one, I love the feel of freshly-turned dirt in my hands. I also get a better grip on the objects of my aggression. After a week or so, the blistered spot eventually becomes hardened, providing me a tougher surface with which to attempt the task again, provided I don’t let too much time pass before my next visit.

However, in the midst of the resulting jagged fingernails and worn skin, all pain is forgotten when I experience the end result: a colorful garden, the fresh smell of overturned earth, thriving plants blooming in their weed-free environment.

"And what is the point of this gardening lesson?" I hear someone ask. My answer: It reminds me of writing.

Often my writing contains an abundance of weeds. Nasty little problems like clashing points of view, passive voice, messy grammar, and flat scenes that fail to advance my plot. They are nuisances, and sometimes they take over before I realize they are even there. Maybe my gloves, the bits and pieces of research, the help of a writer’s group, or the expertise of a dictionary, are available to me, but I am too embarrassed to ask for help or too lazy to get up from my chair, and there is so much research to do that one more fact about Newaygo, Michigan will clog my brain beyond repair.

The inevitable blisters eventually form, like writer’s block or unwanted scenes that have to be thrown out. I realize some of the blisters might have been avoided with a little more preparation, or more motivation, maybe even less pride. Call me crazy, but I, for one, welcome the blisters. They force me to take a different approach or to seek the help of another author, and as I deal with the pain, the blisters toughen me and make me a better writer. Sometimes the ache comes close to breaking me, but, oh, how I love the feel of the keyboard beneath my fingers when I come back after a break. And the best part of working through the pain is how glorious my manuscript turns out when I finally complete my work.

Breathing Life Into Our Readers

2009-11-17T19:07:00.000-08:00

Words and the way gifted writers use them have always fascinated me. This fact had everything to do with choosing the name of my blog. An author who crafts a paragraph that makes my mouth salivate, my nostrils flare and my eardrums thump is usually as expert at conjuring up images that I can almost see and long to touch. When I read such poetry, I can hardly sit still until I throw down the book, run to my computer and start hacking away at my keyboard, hoping to create something as magical.

Thus my first suggestion in learning the art of descriptive writing is to READ. I can’t say enough about perusing the works of other authors who have mastered the written word. They will show us, not tell us, how to create fresh sentences and inspire our descriptive juices to flow. I love this opening from Geraldine Brooks’ book, Year of Wonders.:

“I used to love this season. The wood stacked by the door, the tang of its sap still speaking of forest. The hay made, all golden in the low afternoon light. The rumble of the apples tumbling into the cellar bins.”

Equally captivating is this passage from James Alexander Thom’s From Sea to Shining Sea:

“Six thousand Continental soldiers paraded down the long side of the sunny, May-green meadow, in perfect step to the beat of drums. From a distance, with their neat ranks and billowing banners, they looked like a perfect army as they tramped down toward the little hillock on which General Washington stood waiting to review them.”

How do authors like Thom and Brooks construct sentences that invite us to live on their pages? I imagine instinct, or a sixth sense, plays a part in hoisting them to the top of the bestsellers lists. But in attaining any worthy goal, the steps are the same. We must want the reward enough to learn and practice what it takes to acquire the end result. Likewise, if we yearn to write sensational descriptive sentences and then learn and practice several established guidelines, we, too, can produce masterpieces fit for any New York publisher. The following suggestions will help us meet our goals:

1. Include plenty of sensory language to enhance or define the main theme.
--Continental soldiers paraded down the long side of the sunny, May-green meadow...

2. Use details which go beyond the ordinary.
--the tang of its sap still speaking of forest

3. Use words that enable the reader to see what the writer is describing.
--The hay made, all golden in the low afternoon light.

4. Use figurative language such as simile, hyperbole, metaphor, symbolism and personification.
--Her hand was as shriveled as a dry leaf; I could eat a million of these; Ben is a snake;

5. Use active verbs and precise modifiers.
--paraded; tramped; rumble; tumbling; neat ranks and billowing banners

6. Organize your details-- Some ways to organize descriptive writing include: time, location, and order of importance. When describing a person, you might begin with what they look like, followed by how that person thinks, feels and acts.

For our writing’s sake, applying descriptive methods to paint word imagery across the pages of all our essays, articles, short stories and novels is vital to our success as a writer. The knack may or may not come naturally to us, but if we will daily practice turning our mundane sentences into vivid, lively passages and master the above proven techniques, our work will breathe life into those who read it.

USS Peggy: Ready to Launch

2009-11-14T20:13:00.000-08:00

I'm a charter member of ANWA, the American Night Writers Association. I was one of five women who met on that inaugural night twenty three years ago in the back room of the Gilbert Public Library, and with our founder, Marsha Ward, shared feelings, hopes, and desires about writing. Through the years I've been newsletter editor, webmaster, conference committee member, chapter president (twice) and designer of the original ANWA logo. I was immersed, so to speak, in the workings and dealings of the group responsible for throwing me a life preserver and helping me reel in my first book from the murky waters of non-completion to contract.

So what happen to my good intentions? My hope of publication? But for the short anecdote in Michele Garvin's By Small and Simple Things, a winning entry in an American Mother writing contest, and a few articles in the Latter-day Sun and The Beehive, I'm still treading the unpublished waters of the writing world (yes, I lost my book contract). I wondered why, after all the miracles I had experienced through the course of writing my novel, I was forced to jump ship and start swimming again.

Choking and gasping for air, I surfaced long enough to send out my manuscript to other LDS publishers. Even my previous editor championed my work, hailed additional publishing houses, and provided new opportunities to be saved. No one bothered.

So I quit writing. I let the waves of divorce and water-logged self-esteem roll over me. I even abandoned my beloved ANWA, while all the talented sisters who had supported me from the beginning, and a shipload of new ones, started publishing, blogging and signing books. I watched with tears in my eyes as the Good Ship ANWA sailed off into the sunset.

Funny thing about self-pity, it fails to build self-esteem. Neither does it heal broken hearts or write books. And not to be trite, but sometimes when a ship's hatch closes, somewhere a portal opens. The powers-that-be often chart courses that take us to entirely different ports than the ones we chart for ourselves. To my surprise, my first novel is breaking headwaters to new adventures. And as I begin other projects, I realize my previous effort was not wasted, but was the springboard to faith in my Heavenly Father's promises and in my own abilities.

Such is my current outlook from the bobbing depths of where I tread today. I can see calmer waters ahead. And though I'm busy filling my cargo hold with the how-tos of blogging, Internet networking, and the myriad ways of publishing in the ever-expanding writing/technology ocean, this post is proof that USS Peggy is, again, underway.