BK Jackson's Arizona Inspiration

Will You Take Time Today?

2012-02-09T08:09:00.002-07:00

Will you take a minute to pray for our struggling families? We have many teens in crisis. Many adults in crisis. Families torn apart.

They need our prayers. They need our helping hands.

Reward Yourself for Writing Goals Reached

2012-02-05T08:34:00.003-07:00

I've felt very strongly for the last few months that I needed to make it a determined goal to produce this year. Produce for me means getting those first drafts written. I have lots of excuses for not getting it done--the most hideous day job ever, church responsibilities, too tired, haven't had time to research, haven't had time to outline, etc. You name it, I've got an excuse for not writing.

As I've already shared, last year felt unproductive, but in actual fact, despite all the ups and downs and gaps in my writing, I managed to pen 125K words last year. So then I got to thinking--if I can write 125k words haphazardly, what could I accomplish if I made a determined effort to write steadily every week?

So my goal has been to write 3,990 words a week (570 words a day).

I met my goal for January, so I treated myself to a writer's night out this past Friday. I grabbed a quick bite to eat then took myself to the movies--went to see Red Tails, a story of black WWII fighter pilots since I love American History (and I will pause here to say again God bless our men and women in uniform, past present and future.). I even treated myself to a Strawberry Icee (don't tell the endocrinologist).

In order for me to succeed with my writing goals, I must live a balanced life. And I need to treat myself periodically as a way to fight burnout. Life is a hard slog--seems like we're going 90 miles an hour all day every day.

It was good to kick back and relax and just absorb some history and some good entertainment. And now I'm working on tackling my goal for the month of February.

Best wishes to you in your writing journey.

Favorite Author Website?

2012-01-28T15:34:00.000-07:00

Hello all,

Whether you are a reader or a writer, I'm asking for your input. If you visit any author websites, I would like to know if you have a favorite that you like to return to.

Here's the thing, I'm asking for responses based on their WEBSITE, not how well you like their books. If there is an author whose website appeals to you, I'd love to hear about it, get the link and if you could also tell me why it appeals to you. Also, are there things you wish had been on the author's website that weren't?

I'm asking because for the last several months, I've been taking online classes to learn how to develop a website. Yes, I do realize that I can use Blogger or a number of other programs to create a website. But I'm a geek and I wanted to learn the process from the ground up (I'm the proverbial glutton for punishment).

So, as part of my homework, I've been visiting different author websites to learn what the differences and similarities are. But I'd also appreciate your input.

Thanks!

Ongoing Storyworld in Reality & Fiction

2012-01-26T05:57:00.003-07:00

It started out so innocently.

I was over at author Nicole Petrino-Salter's blog (http://hopeofglory.typepad.com/into_the_fire/2012/01/that-time-of-the-year-.html) yesterday, where she posted about The Academy Awards. Simple post on entertainment, right?

Well, as usual my brain went a different way with it. Conversations like this typically lead to favorite movies, who you think is going to win, etc.

But instead, I was thinking about the fact that I watch very few movies. I'm different than most people that way. Sure, part of the reason I watch few movies is content--most of the stuff released today has content I'm not willing to compromise myself on. But in truth, even as a kid, I never watched many movies--not even western films. And the western was by far my favorite.

So in that innocent little post about The Academy Awards, I realized I've ALWAYS been about recurring characters, rather than stand-alone novels, even before I began to write. For example:

* I've always been about series TV. Gunsmoke, Five-0, Bonanza, and a zillion other shows you can name. The same recurring characters--a chance to know them well, grow with them, have adventures with them.

* I've read lots of books in my day and some are certainly stand-alone novels. BUT--a very large percentage of the books I read growing up were all about--you guessed it, recurring characters. I devoured The Hardy Boys books (still love to read the original series occasionally); I bought nearly every original Star Trek novel from the 70's and early 80's featuring my favorite triad of Spock, Kirk and McCoy (sadly, since those days there just hasn't BEEN a plethora of good Trek novels.). Even my all time favorite novel, Zane Grey's Forlorn River, had a follow up novel based on one of the lead characters. And while epic novels are stand alone novels, they dig deeper and carry a story farther than most regular length fiction, and I'd rather read an epic any day than a short bunny-hop.

* My need for recurring characters extends to sports. As a kid growing up in Maryland, I'd watch the Orioles play. But eventually the Eddie Murrays, the Cal Ripkens etc got traded or retired, and suddenly I was watching a group of strangers on the field. Baseball was no longer interesting. In tennis, I was planted in front of my television or, occasionally going to a tennis tournament where I could watch my two favorite players, Stefan Edberg and Andre Agassi play tennis. But first Stefan Edberg retired, then Andre. Tennis was no longer interesting. And I haven't watched tennis since.

It's a built in requirement of my make-up to surround myself with recurring characters, both in fact and fiction.

I'm not sure the revelation is helpful in any way, but at least it explains why I'm always mired in a continuing storyworld and books in a series rather than hopping from one novel to the next of unrelated characters.

Perhaps it's a tip-off to me. Writing books is hard work. Writing books in a series is even harder, because you don't have to think about just the first book, but the timeline and character arc of your characters over multiple books. In short, it means extra headaches and hand-wringing. Because of that, I spend a lot of time trying to wrestle myself into the stand-alone category of novels.

But perhaps rather than trying to force myself to write the way others do because their way must certainly be better than my way, I should instead just go with the way I was programmed, write my stories, and see what happens. After all, with the digital book explosion, the short story market is making a bit of a comeback, so I always have the option to publish short stories for material I develop that may not be novel length that emerges during my process of creating storyworld.

Free Devotional eBook for Military Families Tuesday 1/24/12

2012-01-22T16:32:00.000-07:00

I wanted to pass along this info from author Edie Melson, who has a great offer:

I want to let everyone know my devotional book for military families, Fighting Fear: Winning the War at Home When Your Soldier Leaves for Battle, is being offered as a free eBook on Amazon all day Tuesday, Jan 24. Since it's only for one day, I want to let as many folks as possible know. So if you know someone who has or will have a soldier at war I encourage you to let them know. This is also a good choice for someone who has a loved one just enlisting in the military.

Here's the link:
http://www.amazon.com/Fighting-Fear-Winning-Soldier-ebook/dp/B006H9NUUA/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1327272423&sr=8-2

You can visit Edie on the web at:
www.EdieMelson.com

Even for those of us who don't directly have a loved one serving, it's a great reminder to keep these brave men and women at the forefront of our thoughts and prayers. It's free all day 1/24/12, but it's only $.99 to download, so a great option any day!

God bless our soldiers and their families!

Calling All HIstorical NON-Romance Writers!

2012-01-19T06:26:00.000-07:00

WANTED:

U.S. based historical fiction (CBA or at least clean. No erotica or slasher fic) that does NOT revolve around romance and has no women in dresses on the cover. Books that provide a powerful look at a moment or span of time in history and gives me insight into the decision making in the past and how it affects us in the future. Plot that leans toward epic. Male protag greatly preferred.

If you are a writer of this type of fiction or know someone who is, please reply. Reader is having trouble connecting with writer on this vast web.

Odd Writer's Compulsion or Just...Odd?

2012-01-17T19:23:00.000-07:00

I have a compulsion to go out and buy some spiral notebooks.

I've had this compulsion for the last several days but I keep resisting.

Why? Because:
1. I have some legal pads around the house. I don't need more paper.

2. I'm trying to train myself to put even my scratch notes on the computer--the more paper I have around me, the less organized I am. and

3. While spiral notebooks are certainly cheap, it's a silly thing to spend money on when I could use the money for a Cherry Dr Pepper instead. 8-)

I understand all those reasons rationally.

But I still want to buy some spiral notebooks.

Maybe this is an odd thing writers do.

Or maybe it's just odd.

But I have a feeling before the week is out, I'll be the proud owner of some new spiral notebooks....

Why Writing Regularly Is So Important

2012-01-14T13:08:00.001-07:00

One of the most difficult things for me to develop as a writer is the habit of writing on a project daily. Instead, since I began chasing my writing dream in earnest beginning back in 2004-2005, my writing life has been characterized by fits and starts of actual writing. One month I'll write like crazy on a novel project. The next three months I don't even open the file.

As I mentioned in a recent post, I'm also trying hard to train my brain to outline to a moderate level before I begin to write. So this morning, I opened up a manuscript I started last year--one that had been sealed shut for months while I argued with myself over the flow of this main character's life events and how many books I could get out of it.

So I began reading from the beginning to refresh my memory on how I'd intially introduced the character, what they were going through, etc. When I read the prologue and the opening few chapters I'd written, I knew immediately it was a section of the manuscript that I had written steadily over a period of days (last January in fact).

How did I know that?

Well yes, I do have the option of going back to last year's journal entries to see what I was working on this time last year. But I didn't need to.

The reason? I saw some traits in those first few chapters of the book that screamed "Consistent writer!":

1. Solid Rhythm: One sequence flowed easily into the next. It wasn't jerky and off-kilter.

2. Deep characters: I'd really taken the time and the focus to dig deep into the characters for each scene--to immerse myself into the characters and their location and to make it read like you were really there with them.

3. The plot flowed: It wasn't disjointed and rambling.

The result? It gave me one of those rare moments of reading my own writing where I said to myself, "I thinks this reads very well."

You see, the reason writing in fits and starts doesn't work for me is because I lose all sense of rhythm, I forget minor character names or even some little bit of backstory I used to give a character more depth, and even my plotting gets shaky when I wait between months to work on a particular manuscript. Disjointed writing springs from infrequent writing.

So that's one of my goals for this year--to write regularly. I don't want to say daily because there are simply times in our lives when we won't be able to write daily. But for myself, even writing one or two sentences daily on a project and making small progress is better than writing nothing at all, because it keeps my brain engaged.

I'm so encouraged by what I read that I think I may even submit the first several pages to my critique group, even though generally I never submit for critique those chapters from a novel that isn't a completed first draft manuscript.

I'm glad I took some time out to go back to the beginning of the manuscript and read where I started. It was a real encouragement to me to keep chugging along.

Encourage yourself too. Get back to that manuscript and write as regularly as you can. You'll be amazed at the results.

Review: Conflict & Suspense by James Scott Bell

2012-01-08T18:00:00.000-07:00

Like any good writer, I enjoy the guilty pleasure of stealing time to read the latest in writer's reference books. While I already have Mr. Bell's Plot and Structure and Revision and Self-Editing, I was eager to read Elements of Fiction Writing: Conflict & Suspense.

So as soon as I discovered it was available, I downloaded it to my Kindle.

I have three measuring sticks for writers reference books:

1.  Do I set it down easily after a few pages or paragraphs?
2.  Does my highlighter get a workout?
3.  Do I find myself automatically thinking of my manuscript(s) and how to apply what I'm reading?

Conflict & Suspense passes the test easily. While I generally use the term "unputdownable" with regard to fiction, I found it applied to this book as well. I started reading it this past week, but when yesterday came and I had time away from the day job, I couldn't stop reading it and finished it in a marathon session (I was at it so long it drained my Kindle battery!). I had my Kindle highlighting feature working overtime. Most importantly, Conflict & Suspense kept my mind busy thinking about my WIP and how to enhance the conflict and suspense using the techniques I was reading.

Not all writers reference books are equal. I usually glean at least one useful strategy from each of them, but not all of them immediately spark my imagination with regard to my own works in progress.

While you will see some material in this text that you've seen before in Mr. Bell's earlier books (such as the LOCK System), don't let it dissuade you. This book is chock full of tons of great advice and practical tips on infusing your book with both conflict and suspense.

The book does not employ heavy use of charts or graphs at all, but one of the charts in there, as is usual with e-readers, is very difficult to read even in zoom unless you have x-ray vision. I hope publishers and e-reader makers will find a way to overcome this (as far as I can tell sole) disadvantage to reading non-fiction on e-readers.

Even though I bought the Kindle version of the book, I'm going to have to buy myself a paper copy too--first because I feel an itch to use a real highlighter throughout its pages (and I want to scribble notes in its margins) and second because I'm OCD. Plot and Structure and Revision & Self-Editing sit on my physical bookshelf, and just knowing they have a third partner that isn't there yet is going to drive me crazy. Weird, I know.

As one who has bought numerous writers reference books over the years, I can honestly say you'll get a lot of practical use from this one. Forget the high-brow theory. Mr. Bell puts you straight to work on your masterpiece. And that's as it should be.

The Quote That Plagues Me

2012-01-01T17:18:00.000-07:00

I was recently skimming through a book by David Fryxell called Write Faster, Write Better. Coming from a non-fiction background gave Mr. Fryxell a good foundation for speaking to the topic. In this book, he had a quote by author Jon Franklin, who says:

“In telling yourself youcan’t outline, what you’re reallysaying is that you can’t think your story through.”

I was more than mortified by this quote, because my first thought was "Oh my gosh! He's talking about me!" Because I do have problems outlining my books. Oh, sure, I can do the beginning/middle/end stuff. But where I struggle is knowing where to begin a story, and how much plot is too much plot for one book.

Yes of course I realize I have the option of just writing whatever comes to me, than taming that 500K epic down to 100K in the re-writes. But I want, more importantly NEED to learn to work faster. Not a 3-4 books a year faster, but I don't think it is unreasonable to expect two first drafts a year from myself. The more books become entrenched in this digital age, the more important it is I prove to myself and others that I can produce product in a timely fashion. And it is very common for authors to have books in various stages--one they're writing first draft, another going through edits, research on another one, etc.

I need to keep my manuscripts in motion. But first I have to get the blasted things outlined!

I am neither seat of the pants nor detailed outliner. But in my heart I want to be a moderately detailed outliner, just because I'm a geek. But mostly I want to be efficient with my time. So time constraints put a great deal of self-pressure on me concerning how I approach my writing.

But here's my other, bigger problem with outlining. My brain automatically thinks in terms of epics. I'm talking Roots saga type stuff. I have yet to come up with a story idea that did not automatically morph into a long saga. What typically happens is I'll come up with one story idea, usually that falls somewhere in the middle of main character's life. Next thing you know I'll be scheming up stories about the precursor years or the post-years and each of those take on a life of their own. And I just can't seem to turn epic-brain off.

In this regard, I am probably one of few. I did a blog post in the past here at Arizona Inspiration, and clearly, most folks prefer a series of books to one epic length work. With rare exceptions, the time of the epic length works has come and gone.

Which brings me back to my problem. Outlining that gargantuan gob of plot in my head into individual stories, and figuring out where is the appropriate place to start each of them. For others, this may seem easy as pie. For me, not so easy.

Take my work in progress, what would be the first book in the series. I wrote the second book in the series over the course of 6 years. But then I wanted to tell the wife's story, what this WIP is about. But guess what? Another major character has evolved with plenty of story of her own, and the two main characters are out of time sequence with one another. (one main character is several years younger than the other, so their life experiences come at different times). How much of that to address in the novel? And how to lay it out in the novel? Or does it require another novel of its own?

You see the vicious cycle here? AGH!

So yes, as the writer puts it, I do wonder if I'm incapable of thinking through my own story. Largely, I think the problem is one of perfectionism. If I pour all my time, effort, and research into a project, I want it to be the best it can be. But because of perfectionism, I often leave myself floundering, unable to figure out how to move forward. I know. It must sound absolutely silly. But it's a struggle.

At this stage of my life, I've learned how to carve out time from a hectic schedule and get the words down. But get the outline down? Not so hot. And it's a problem I'm determined to smash through this year.

So if you have words of wisdom for this discombobulated writer, I'd surely appreciate it.

2011: Highlights

2011-12-29T00:00:00.000-07:00

I'm glad to see the backside of 2011. There have been good things about the year, and there have been some very unpleasant things about it. (In other words, it was another year of life, lived.)

So below are random thoughts from a chaotic mind on how 2011 summed up:

Out of the Mouths of Babes:
"Jesus has a lock on you."

One of my junior highers in Sunday School uttered these greatest words of wisdom for 2011. A perfect reminder that if we know Him as our Lord and Savior, nothing can snatch us from His hand (a lesson I sometimes forget).

The Power of Video and YouTube:
Expressed in 2 significant ways this year. One was the viral video of Micah the laughing baby which you can see here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RP4abiHdQpc&noredirect=1

I'm not one for oohing and aahing over babies, but you'd have to be dead not to be affected by Micah's infectious laughter.

The other was the powerful video of the Federal Express delivery guy ending his career with one toss of a box:

http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/events/fed-ex-delivery-video

The first video, a reminder to enjoy life's simple pleasures. The second, an equally powerful reminder that the decisions we make every day, even the seemingly small ones, can have a significant impact on ourselves and others.

Just as E-readers are opening opportunities for readers, the fact that it is becoming easier for the average Joe to have filming opportunities is an exciting development in technology. I'll get to my 35mm camera lament a little further down, but one of the exciting aspects of digital photography is being able to shoot short video as well.

The Benefits and Liabilities of Technological Advances:

The Glory:

E-Readers: Having a Kindle has transformed my reading life and made books more affordable. I've downloaded about 275+ books this year. I didn't even top 10 books purchased last year. E-readers make it possible to put more books at your fingertips.

Online Classes: I took my first online classes this year which made it possible for me to continue my education in a way that is more suitable to my hectic lifestyle. I wish the option had been open to me years ago. I think some classes are still more conducive to an in-class setting, but wherever possible, I'm going for the online version.

The Defeat:
Grieving the loss of 35mm photography. One of the biggest shockers of the year for me was going to get four rolls of 35mm film developed and 1) finding how difficult it was to FIND anyone who developed 35mm film still and 2) how ultra-expensive it was to develop 35mm film, thereby forcing me to send my beloved Canon EOS Rebel 35mm SLR into retirement. Not only that, I now must begin the lengthy education process on digital photography and searching for a digital camera. I am sure I will love digital photography once I get used to it, but I am very grieved to let my 35mm SLR go.

Grief and Suffering:-
There has been a phenomenal amount of suffering seen in the steep increase in behavioral health care sought out this year as opposed to previous years I've been in the field. There are a lot of people who are really hurting, and it's manifesting itself physically and mentally.

- There are a lot of people without jobs, and a lot of people trapped in jobs they feel powerless to get out of. Both scenarios are painful.

- A Downer Christmas 2011: We close the door on Christmas 2011 with suffering and heartache--a loss in the church family, and the equally sudden and unexpected loss of a friend and crit partner, leaving both families with grief for Christmas, not smiles and celebration.

Best Good Guys Win Moment:
After the years of terrorism and warfare, it was a great shot in the arm as Navy SEALs and others took out Osama Bin Laden on May 1st of this year. Nope, it doesn't end terrorism, and he was just one fish in the sea, but Americans needed some small form of closure to all the pain and suffering caused by the 9/11 attacks.

Best Fictional Moment of 2011:
The best fictional moment of 2011 did not come from a book. It came from film and it was so inspirational to me that it gave me the impetus to keep fighting forward in 2012 with my writing. That would be the final 3-4 minutes of episode 2.10 of Hawaii Five-0. Team and buddy stories are my ultimate favorite, and this helicopter scene was just about pure perfection. Comraderie, team spirit, striving for a greater good, making sacrifices--this short scene had it all and will be one of the best of the entire series and one of the best in all television period.

Oh I love it when you see something so powerful it becomes a great and deep well for you to draw from!

Most Surprising Progress:
Though the year has felt non-productive from a creative standpoint, I was surprised to learn I'd written nearly 125,000 words this year. Which is a reminder God is faithful, even when day to day I act like He's not. It's also a reminder to keep plunking down words on paper, even if you feel like your wheels are spinning.

What does it mean to note these highlights of 2011? Maybe just to say it was another year in the life of fallible human beings. Victories. Defeats. And sprinkles of good and bad things that fell somewhere in between.

May we learn from our past and move forward into 2012 determined to be the people God has called us to be.

How Did the Osmosis Process Fare in 2011?

2011-12-28T00:00:00.000-07:00

We've talked about the importance of reading fiction to train ourselves as writers--to get that osmosis thing going. Personally, I find it hard to squeeze in time to read each year. I certainly cannot read books in the volume that I did as a kid when I had no responsibilities.

But this year I did manage to read 14 fiction titles, which is good for me--that's a lot of reading scheduled around a jam-packed life. I hope to make it 15 by year's end.

Not much surprise as to the categories they fell into. My favorite books to read are historical fiction, but I must rule out a lot that are romance driven, which considerably depletes the field of available titles. So I only read 4 books under the historical fiction category.

Seven of the titles were suspense--this is my fallback category for reading pleasure. I like the suspense genre, especially since I can usually read a suspense novel without being battered over the head with a romance thread. Rounding out the reads were a contemporary romance (very funny), an old and very long classic, and a middle grade novel.

Out of the two primary genres--historical fiction and suspense, two suspense titles I read stood out from all the others. Those two were John Gilstrap's Threat Warning and James Scott Bell's Try Dying. Two books which the writers wrote so well it seemed effortless (and I'm sure the authors would disagree with that effortless bit!). They were a pure pleasure to read and the osmosis got a definite boost while reading these two works.

What about the other books? The other 5 suspense novels I have literally already forgotten so they would have to go into the indifferent category. As to the historicals: One was very disappointing, the other 3 did have some take-away value, just not enough to vault them to the top of the ranks in my reading pile for 2011.

So osmosis did get a bit of a workout in 2011. Here's hoping for a lot of great novel discoveries in 2012.

What Can You Learn From An Indifferent Story?

2011-12-27T00:00:00.000-07:00

Since the book cropped up in discussions with some folks at ACFW, I decided to read the book The Moral Premise: Harnessing Virtue and Vice for Box Office Success by Stanley Williams. I may write novels, but I have often found that books on screenwriting are very helpful in novel writing.

In reading the book this passage stood out to me:

"Was Doug's "instinct" for a good story something he was born with? He doesn't think so, but rather it's the product of exposing himself literally to "thousands of stories, good, bad, and indifferent." In other words, instinct for a story that works (and it's Moral Premise) can be acquired through osmosis--immersion into the art." (p. 55)

The book's author is referring to a gentleman he worked with on a writing project. A gentleman who spent a lot of time reading stories and has a good eye for story.

Any of us who have hung around the publishing venue for any length of time already know it is constantly drilled into us to "read, read, read." A good guideline if not taken to extremes (after all, if you're busy reading, when do you write your own material?).

But that is not what I want to discuss.

I want to zero in on the theory of osmosis--the reading of stories that are good, bad, and indifferent.

What if the bulk of the books you read are indifferent? I do believe in the theory of osmosis--that you absorb from what you read. So if most of what you read is indifferent material--neither bad nor good, what exactly is the impact to you, the writer in training?

If I read a book that is stellar, there are very obvious things I can take away from that book that I can learn from and apply to my own writing. Likewise, if a book is really bad, there are typically very obvious flaws that scream at you that you can easily pinpoint and say "I don't want to do that in my writing."

But what about the bulk of the books published that fall into the middle--the indifferent ones? They are neither bad nor good. Just there. They provide you with an "Okay well, that passed some of the time of my day," and you put it aside and forget about the story--literally.

And with the huge amount of fiction being published, it's a certainty that the bulk of the books will fall into this indifferent category. It's natural law. What makes the publishing worthwhile is the immeasurable quality of subjectivity--a book someone else hated, I will love, and vice versa. A book that I am merely indifferent too, someone else will be impacted strongly by.

But if we know that osmosis is at work--we are absorbing lessons from the books we read, what exactly are we absorbing from "just there" books? It is usually more difficult to extract lessons from these books in a specific way. It's not that the prose was bad, or stellar. It's just that the story worked well enough to get along, but only enough to get along. I read them and set them aside thinking "Ho hum. Nothing new here. Nothing to make me sit up and take notice." We can reach general conclusions from these books, such as "the characters weren't compelling enough," or "I did not connect emotionally with this story." But how do you translate that to a lesson you can use? That's the hard part about indifferent books.

Because that's certainly not the aim of any writer. I've never met an author who wants to write a book that's just good enough to get by. They want to write stories that rock the readers world.

Merry Chistmas!

2011-12-25T00:00:00.000-07:00

We here at Arizona Inspiration (that would be myself and everyone's favorite mystery dog, Aztec) wish you the very merriest of Christmases and a blessed New Year.

Since I am a weather wimp, I simply couldn't bear to use a picture of snow. So instead I chose this wonderful territorial style home that is WARM and inviting.

May you and your household celebrate in love and good cheer and in recognition of the One who gave us this and every day. My best wishes to you all.

Your Stress Affects Your Kids Too

2011-12-21T20:07:00.001-07:00

I hesitated to write this post because I am no authority on the subject. But I am concerned about our nation and the state of our citizens. But if this brief post will serve as a reminder to even one person to consider that how they cope affects others, than it will be worth it.

I have a very simplistic analogy. My dog is better behaved on the weekends than during the week. You may scoff and wonder what that has to do with anything. But it directly relates to my point.

My dog behaves better on the weekend because I have had several hours to detox from the high stress of the day job. I am calmer. She is calmer.

My point? This has been an abysmally bad year for a tremendous amount of people. Our nation is unstable. Many people have lost jobs. Lost homes. Employers are cutting back on employees benefits and on staffing. Our mental and health insurance is in an abysmal state. And that's only some of the very serious issues facing us as a nation. And it doesn't look any better for next year.

If you're an adult trying to weave your way through this nightmare, it will be difficult for you not to be affected. But what affects you will affect your kids. Families are being torn apart for some or all of the above reasons plus many more. Our families are experiencing tremendous strain.

How you handle that strain doesn't affect just you. If you have kids, or even if it's one spouse to another, talk to them. I can imagine that many people choose to keep their worries to themselves, not wanting to alarm the spouse and/or children. But believe me, they already know something is wrong. Talk to them. In the case of kids, reassure them. Your life may seem like it's spinning out of control, but your kids still need a stabilizing force in their lives. If you're thinking they're going to get that at school, think again. Many of those students and their families are suffering too.

Why do I bring this up now? As I said, I have no authority to speak on the subject. I'm not a PhD, MD, MA, LCSW or any other batch of initials you can name. But I do work in the behavioral health field, supporting those who support the patients. More importantly, I'm hurting for the many hurting people out there. And this year, more than any other year since I've worked in this field, I've seen an extraordinarily high level of suffering.

I wish I had answers. Even those of us who are people of faith know only that God will see us through to the end, but He doesn't promise to make it all smooth sailing. Life is hard. Which makes it all that much more important to use whatever support system we have in place, be it spouse or other relatives, friends, etc. And to be aware that those closest to us are picking up on our cues, whether we think we're hiding them or not.

In the meantime, I pray that the hard times will ease, people will find their balance, and that 2012 will see an easing of burdens.

Kindle Revolutionizes My Bookshelves

2011-12-17T03:00:00.000-07:00

It is roughly 2-2 1/2 weeks shy of my one year anniversary of getting my first e-reader, a Kindle.

Seriously, I think it is the best invention, second only to computers. In my pre-ereader days, I was able to obtain perhaps 5 books a year for my own personal bookshelves, excluding books borrowed from the library. This was mainly due to expense, as the typical trade paperback runs an average of $13-17 a pop, and a hardcover book much more than that.

And if you're a working stiff who scrapes by just to make the basic rent, car, electric and grocery bills, spending that kind of money on a book is a luxury, no matter how much you wish otherwise.

The other factor for the low purchase of physical books was space. There's only so much bookshelf space, and what little space I have is reserved for books I use in my research.

But that was then.

Fast forward to December 17, 2011. Excluding the four insanely addicting word puzzles I have on my Kindle, I have downloaded 271 books in the last eleven and a half months.

From 5 books a year to 271.

That's phenomenal. And it simply would not be possible without an e-reader. Why?

1. I can obtain books for free. Yep--the magical price of zero. Classics, some titles published a couple of years ago, some published this year. But there's always a lag time for me in reading books, so it doesn't matter to me when they were published.

2. I can buy books at vastly more affordable prices. Just this week I downloaded a hugely popular fiction title for UNDER $5. That would NEVER happen with a paper book. Ever.

3. I don't have to be uncomfortable shopping in a crowd of people. I can shop from the privacy of my own home.

4. I can shop for books far more quickly with my Kindle.

5. Just as I organize my physical bookshelves by topic, so too, can I organize my Kindle. I have folders for Arizona History, Biblical/Christian Living, Civil War, Classics, Business/Marketing, Presidents/Government, and a whole host of other folders with as much variety in content as I desire.

6. Carrying my Kindle is equivalent to being able to carry my bookcase around with me wherever I go.

7. I don't have to search for a piece of paper to bookmark. Kindle does it for me.

These are just some of the benefits to readers. The way e-readers have benefitted writers is a whole other subject and just as exciting.

Honestly, the only possible drawback to e-readers that I can see is that for some types of non-fiction, e-readers are still not ideal. By that I mean books that use charts, graphs and other visual graphics are extremely hard to read even when zoomed on an e-reader, unless of course you have eagle eyes, which I don't.

But that's the beauty of it. I buy most of my books on Kindle, and save my physical bookshelves for non-fiction that I need to buy in paper format. I have ceased to buy paper copies of fiction altogether.

My Kindle is a magnificent blessing and I'm truly thankful for how it has revolutionized my life and given me more options as a reader.

How Do We Make Our Lives Count

2011-12-16T08:39:00.000-07:00

Mike Duran posted this about his friend Steve Holtrust, recently killed in Honduras. You can read it here:

http://mikeduran.com/2011/12/a-greater-cloud-of-witnesses/

Erratic Writing & 2012 Writing Goals

2011-12-14T02:00:00.000-07:00

Last post at Arizona Inspiration, I shared my amaze that I had managed to rack up around 125,000 words in 2011. "That's great!" you say. "You have a figure to work from in drawing up your 2012 goals."

It is great. But the goal setting isn't so simple. The problem is that my word count month to month is very erratic. For example, I only topped the 10K words per month goal twice in 2011--in January (50K) and July (40K). Three of those months, I didn't even hit 1K. The remainder of the months, I went anywhere from 2000-6000 words per month.

I don't want to just achieve word count, I want to consistently produce.

Why? A few reasons:

1. In this digital age, whether we like it or not, it's hard to get your book discovered in the first place, but once it's out there, the impatient modern reader isn't going to wait years for you to release the next one. Translated as--when you publish the first one, you better have another waiting in the wings. Yes, I know--you can't rush art. I can hear that response now (and I've thought it myself). But the bottom line is, if I want any kind of secondary income from my writing, the work has to be out there on the market. Period.

2. Part of laying out my writing schedule is not only scheduling writing time but spacing out my projects so that once I've finished the draft of one manuscript, I can set it aside and edit another. That's hard to do when your production schedule is at such extremes.

This whole writing goals thing is further complicated by other commitments. I have a highly stressful day job. And there are certain times of year when it is even more stressful than usual. It is no coincidence that my best writing months were months when my job was at "normal" high stress level. But if I want to consider myself a professional in the field of writing, I need to learn to produce--even when the going is tough.

Tack onto that an intensive course load as I learn web design (or try to) and you've got a struggle to find time to write and write consistently.

There are also certain months of the year that I'm simply more productive. I love January. While there may only be 1 second separating 2011 from 2012, when that clock ticks over to 2012, it reinvigorates me with new possibilities and the desire to forge ahead with my writing.

Traditionally, October has always been a good month for me, but in recent years, losing both my brothers in the month of October, it has dampened my enthusiasm and productivity for that month--I only wrote 500 words this October.

So how do I muddle through all that to set my 2012 writing goals? When setting my goals, these were the key:

Increase the previous year's word count:
No one can tell you by how much to increase it, but you've already proven last year's word count, so it's time to raise the bar a little bit.

Space projects through the year in phases:
Sure, there's the writing, but there's also editing, research, lining up critique partners, etc. You need to allow ample room for each phase. While ideally I'd like to set aside a manuscript for six months and let it percolate before the first set of revisions, for 2012 I'm going to try for 30 days. I'll have to wait and see how that will work for me.

Give weight to your most naturally productive months:
For me, my most productive months were January and July. It might be different for you. So I'm going to set robust word count goals for those months, even though in January I'll be knee deep in a couple of killer classes. I'm going to trust my natural rhythm during those months to see me through.

Set weekly word count goals, not daily:
Everyone is motivated by different goals. In past years, I have set daily word count goals. For me, that doesn't work. Since my life is so hectic, I think it will be less stressful to set weekly goals--which will give me some flexibility around the highest stress days in meeting my word count goals. The danger of course, is letting your word count pile up till the end of the week. But I'll have to live and learn.

Acknowledge that try as you might, these goals are merely targets:
There is no such thing as a goal set in stone. While we might plan our life in one way, God might have completely different plans He hasn't shared (just because I pray about my goals doesn't mean I get clear answers). All I can do is use these goals as my target, but I know I must be flexible. After all, for most of 2011, I thought the year had gone abysmally in the writing department, and then I was pleasantly surprised to sit down this week and realize just how much I had accomplished.

These goals will be difficult to achieve in the midst of all of life's other stressors, but I just have to remember one thing. No one is waiting in the wings to say "Here sweety-pie. Let me just handle that nasty old day job for you while you sit and write," or "Here honey-bun. Don't you worry about the rent. Just think of this as your year-long sabbatical to write."

While there might be someone out there who HAS heard those magic words, for the rest of us, we must decide if we want publication badly enough to pursue it, despite the stress, the fatigue, the illness, or any other barriers, real or perceived.

For me, it's worth the struggle. There are so many amazing stories waiting to be told.

Surprising Word Count Progress in 2011

2011-12-12T07:00:00.000-07:00

I have to admit, I enter the end of this year utterly (and pleasantly) surprised. By the time December 31st rolls around, I will have gotten over 125,000 words down on paper this year! 8-)

The only negative to that is that those 125,000 words are spread over four different projects, which means I did not complete any one manuscript. But this has been a phenomenal breakthrough for me, if you consider that this is more than THREE TIMES as many words as I got in last year (and last year was far better than the previous several years).

When people give aspiring writers advice and tell them that the process of building a writing career takes years, it is no joke. I started seriously pursuing writing in 2002, initially with screenplays then switched to my true love, novels, in 2005. And from the time I switched to novel writing, it took me SIX YEARS to complete my first manuscript.

Now there's no rule that says you can't take six years to write a book. But I ain't gettin' any younger. 8-) I had actually hoped to finish the first draft of a complete manuscript this year, but it wasn't meant to be. But I still got a whole lot closer than I ever have before.

Now what remains is to decide how to set my writing goals for 2012. I'll get to that on the next post.

I'm just elated (and very grateful) that during all the hardships and tremendous stresses of this year, that even so, I managed to get a solid word count in. Besides reminding me that I am blessed (no matter how ungrateful I act toward God sometimes), it also proves to me that though sometimes it doesn't feel like I'm making any progress, I HAVE been diligent in pursuing my career with all the means I can muster, in the midst of many other responsibilities. It is also proof that you can find time to write when you want it bad enough.

Now on to setting those 2012 writing goals...

James Scott Bell's Post over at The Kill Zone

2011-12-10T22:17:00.001-07:00

I highly recommend reading James Scott Bell's post today over at The Kill Zone. You can read it here:

http://killzoneauthors.blogspot.com/2011/12/10-reasons-why-i-am-self-publishing.html

Before you click away thinking, "I'm so sick of the debate between traditional publishing and self publishing", I ask you to give it a read anyway. While Mr. Bell certainly does make a case for why he chooses to both traditionally publish and self publish, what was most engaging to me was his infectious attitude in going after his writing.

In short, he knows how to "git-er-done" when it comes to writing and getting his work out there. THAT is probably the single greatest battle for any writer, and I'm not talking about rejections from a publisher. In order to be published in any form, we have to do the work--we have to write the story and either provide or procure the cover design, technical know-how and marketing of our books.

But no one can read what we haven't written. And THAT is the main attraction of Mr. Bell's blog post. Go read, and be inspired!

Taking Risks With Your Writing

2011-12-06T20:45:00.001-07:00

Maybe it's because when I began writing I started out with screenplays, but I find that the right television show or movie is a perfect course for studying the craft of writing. So once again, I have to point to the modern Hawaii Five-0 as my classroom.

I have to be honest. I haven't learned to take risks with my writing or as a writer. As writers, we are often afraid to show our work to others for fear of being knocked down. We also avoid taking risks as writers because we have a tendency to write the "tried and true" formula, or perhaps we simply don't dig deep and give our characters all we've got--maybe it's too painful to do so, too exhausting, or who knows what other reasons we may have for not doing more than scratching the surface of our characters.

But in this competitive market when there are a bazillion books to choose from, we absolutely must dig deep and create the most powerful stories we can.

This is a trait I think can be learned from Team Five-0 at CBS. One of the things I admire most about Hawaii Five-0 is that they take big risks with their writing. Most television shows rely on the old standbys of advancing storyline for serial characters. Such as:

Will Jack marry Jill?
Will Jill have an affair?
Will their teenage daughter run away from home?

A little of that is fine but it can quickly grow old.

But Hawaii Five-0 is built on deeper, richer stuff. A dual platform drives the show. Yes, you have the personal lives of the characters and their romantic interests (which fortunately they keep to a minimum most of the time). But this series, where the risk comes into play, is the deep and penetrating story line of the murders of both of Steve's parents and his subsequent hunt for the truth about their murders and about the depths of the investigation his father was undertaking before he was killed.

For me, THAT is the glue that holds the show together--and that keeps me coming back week after week. I think it takes guts for the powers that be to pursue that storyline. It is risky. If they do it, and do it well, people will think they are brilliant. If they make a choice and it flops, people will think it's the biggest dud ever (in Five-0's case, the series dud is the character of Weston).

And TV writers don't get the luxury of churning out the manuscript and putting it away for a few years while they let it simmer in their mind. They have a production schedule to keep. The job has to be done and they have to stick their neck out on the line.

So far, I keep watching the developments on Five-0 and thinking, man that is so cool. But my next thought, analyzing it from a writer's standpoint is, "Man, how will they keep raising the bar? How will they ensure that taking the risk is worth it?" Working in television must be a nerve-wracking experience. Far more so than writing novels.

But it's still a good lesson for a novel writer. When we write, do we have the guts to take risks? Or will we just stick to the tried and true and hope that our trusty market will always be there, ready for its usual fare?

It's a call every writer has to make.

Powerful Stories That Break Through the Stratosphere

2011-11-28T20:08:00.001-07:00

There's a phenomenon in the world of fiction that I can't explain. But when it happens, it's like magic.

We read a lot of novels during our lifetime (at least most do). Probably a small percentage of those are truly bad books; the vast majority are average--you read it and say, "hey okay" then forget it and move on. But if you're lucky, you'll read a handful of books that rock your world. Books that are so good you are deeply and emotionally drained afterward. Books that had such deeply developed characters you keep coming back to them and thinking about them and their situations again and again.

To me, it works the same for television. I've watched a ton of TV shows in my day. Each show has at least one episode that should never have seen the light of day it was so bad, several episodes that are average to good, and then a few that are stupendous and stick in your memory forever.

Last Monday's Hawaii Five-0 episode (11/21/11) for me was one of those stupendous, remember forever episodes. I think it will stand as one of the best episodes of the entire series. The episode appealed to me personally and as a writer.

Personally because the best way to press my buttons is to give me a book or a show that utilizes the concept of "the team coming together in a major crisis to back up one of their own." When I think of the most memorable TV shows I can recall, they always follow this format. For example, there's an episode of Gunsmoke in which Matt turns in his badge to go after the man who nearly killed Kitty. But the entire town turns out to back him up and the effect was magic. Ditto for a particular episode of The Young Riders--the Express riders were trying to defend a runaway slave, but when they themselves were endangered, the entire town showed up to save the day. For me, cinematically, nothing beats this type of story.

Enter the most recent Five-0 (btw, if you have not yet seen this episode, beware--SPOILER ALERT!!!!). For a writer, this was a dream episode to study. Sure, as writers of novels we don't have the advantage of conveying our stories on film, but we must still write powerful characters.

The reason this episode was so powerful was because of the depth of the characters and the careful attention to detail that they gave it. I will cite only a few or this will turn into a dissertation. 8-) :

The character of Jenna Kaye:
She was a fun addition to the show last season and she worked because they didn't use her in every single episode. In this episode, she betrayed Steve McGarrett in the worst possible way. But even now, I'm very conflicted about her.

I have a hard and fast rule. No one messes with McGarrett and gets away with it. NO ONE. So I'm glad she was gunned down in the episode. That said, even a week later I find myself conflicted--could I forgive her for what she did if I were in Steve's shoes? I honestly don't know. Was she only sorry about how things turned out because Josh (her fiance) was dead? If he HAD been alive would she have walked away and left Steve to be tortured to death by Wo Fat? Jenna was smart and thought fast on her feet. And who of us in her situation could maim the rapidly decomposing body of our fiance to pull a pin and give someone else a shot at survival? That is DEEP stuff, and a deep character. As a writer, if you write a character that leaves the reader thinking about characters THAT much, you have definitely arrived--you have captured the magic. It's what any of us hope for in our fiction. But it is so elusive a thing it is seldom achieved.

The Improved Danny Williams:
While Steve and Danny's partnership is the core of Hawaii Five-0, I didn't care much for Danny Williams in season 1. While I appreciated his ever-present sense of humor, he came off as a jerk to me a lot of the time--unteachable, unbending, and apparently holding the belief that he was the only one who knew anything about police procedure or protocol. The powers that be at CBS chose the perfect time to air this newest episode. Had they filmed this episode during Season 1, I would not have bought into it. Season 1 Danny Williams didn't have it in him to go to a hostile foreign country and rescue Steve. Danny's character has grown a lot in season 2 and it makes him an all around better character.

As novelists, unless we're writing a series with recurring characters, we don't have a year and a half to develop the depth of our characters. Nevertheless, we have to strive for depth in our characters, and to show how they've grown. It's not easy, but the rewards are fabulous.

The Many Complexities of Steve McGarrett:
Talk about a character with limitless story potential. We have a man living in two worlds--military and civilian law enforcement. The dynamics of his family provide endless story opportunities and make him a character with many facets--and many conflicts. While the every-day person's life may not be so dramatic, Steve McGarrett encompasses the question we all have to answer for ourselves--in life, we're going to get clobbered, get knocked down time and again. How do you hold up over the years. Do you overcome the setbacks or do the setbacks overcome you? If one by one people betray your trust, at what point do you stop trusting? You've got a smokin' bad Navy SEAL on one hand and a vulnerable guy on the other. LOTS of character material to work with.

Attention to Detail:
The end of last Monday's episode as they left Korea in the helicopter is one of the most powerful I've ever seen. The mix of seriousness and humor, the different character responses, and the attention to detail. The musical score. The acting was terrific. But it was the details that impressed me most. Take for example one small gesture. They've just rescued a man who has been chained up, beaten and tortured. And his comrades are smart enough to know this man--that the one thing he needs the most is to feel a sense of control after it has been stripped away from him--so they hand him one of the rifles, which he promptly checks and makes sure is ready to go. To some, such a thing might seem a trifling detail in a fictional story, but that little trifling detail packed a world of power into it and spoke volumes not only of the recipient of that action, but those around him.

WOW. I am so pleased to have had an opportunity to see this episode. I am reminded again of the power of story. And it encouraged me. Truth is, I don't know if I'll ever be able to write a story with the depth and power of this one. But it makes me more determined then ever to work hard at my craft. Because you never know when one of your stories will be THE ONE. That one story that rocks the world of its readers.

There's no greater reward for a writer then when one of your stories drains your readers, for all the best and most powerful reasons. It makes the endless hours of time investment all worth it.

Thanks for Cracker Barrel

2011-11-24T16:55:00.001-07:00

For the last 3-4 years, it has been my Thanksgiving tradition (since my family lives back east still and I do not usually travel during the holidays) to go with a friend of mine to Cracker Barrel for Thanksgiving Dinner.

At a time when so many things are so expensive, Cracker Barrel not only serves up about the best Thanksgiving Dinner it's possible to have, they do it very affordably. AND they have the best pumpkin streusel pie ever!

I always go to the same Cracker Barrel each time and they have consistently good service and fantastic food (and they serve up the best bacon of any restaurant, period.)

My hat is off to Cracker Barrel and their wonderful staff for their consistently good service and consistently wonderful food. THANK YOU!

Get Rid of Throw-Away Characters

2011-11-23T18:11:00.001-07:00

I first touched on this issue in my October 11 post, which you can see here:

http://bkjackson.blogspot.com/2011/10/on-writing-does-adding-more-characters.html

In that post, I mentioned the television show Hawaii Five-0 (modern version featuring Alex O’Loughlin), currently in its second season. In that post I discussed the fact that the Five-0 powers that be added 2 new characters to the show this season, and whether that addition was a bad thing or a good thing.

One new character, Joe White, has actually had a distinct and unique purpose for being present on the show. The other, a character named Officer Lori Weston, is what we call in fiction a throw-away character.

Five-0 just aired its 10th episode of the season on Monday night, so is almost half-way through this second season, assuming they film approximately 23-24 episodes per year. In all of these episodes, not ONCE has the character of Weston done or said ANYTHING that only she could do. All of her lines and scenes could easily have been performed by any of the other Five-0 team members.

While I love Five-0, and most of the season 2 episodes have been pretty good, I think the producers and powers that be at Five-0 have the same problem novel writers do—they find it very difficult to step back and admit when they need to cut one of their darlings.

We’ve all been there—written a character into our story that we personally were in love with. We thought they were a marvelous addition to the story. But then your crit partner or your editor gets a hold of your manuscript and tells you, “Sorry, but this character serves no useful purpose. Get rid of them and give their scenes to one of the other characters in your book.”

OUCH! It hurts.

I wish the powers at be at CBS would murder their darling and move on - bringing the show back to its successful core—the fab foursome of Steve, Danny, Chin & Kono (with occasional appearances by Joe White).

I don’t know how many episodes are typically filmed before a series begins airing, but I hope that if we’re going to be stuck with Weston all season long (talk about unendurable torture), that when the DVD’s for season 2 become available, that they sell two versions. I want to buy the season 2 DVD’s with Weston’s scenes cut out—that way I can take all that wasted time and use it for other, much more valuable things.

In the meantime, I think this has caused me to coin a new phrase for editing fiction. Each time I read my own or someone else's work and I see a character who serves no purpose in the story, I can see myself getting my nice red pen and writing "Get rid of your Weston!".

So I guess that does give Weston's character one useful purpose after all. 8-)

Thanksgiving Brain

2011-11-20T23:52:00.001-07:00

Come the latter stages of November, I always get Thanksgiving brain. That means I'm already anticipating that rare 4-day weekend I get during Thanksgiving. That's the good news. The bad news is that in my line of work, I can't afford to be less than 100% focused on all the minutiae my job entails, so I have to work extra hard to retain my focus (because in my mind, I'm on Thanksgiving break already).

But there's more good news. I work an extremely high-stress job. But during the holiday season, people at long last focus on their holiday hustle and bustle, which means they spend less time stressing me out--it's the only time of year I get a break from the high-wire tension.

And that means that finally, toward the end of the year I get to think and plan and even have some creative fun time. Now I'm not sure, with all the homework I'm having to do to stay on top of my classes, how much writing time I'll have, but I will undoubtedly have some. Which is good because I need to get some plotting done.

So as we go in to this holiday week, I am extremely thankful for the opportunity, near the end of another extremely stressful year, to let off on the gas and enjoy simply being for a change.

Here's to blessings and renewal over the holiday season.

The Gift Of Learning

2011-11-16T20:02:00.001-07:00

As I've been sharing, since late September I've embarked on a journey to remake myself technologically on two fronts:

- Learning to create a website
- Moving into the digital photography age (to, among other things, aid above mentioned website).

Primarily this has come about because as a writer, I need a web presence, and I need to give myself the tools to have that web presence. But I also want to learn these things as potential new additions to my resume, in hopes of making some sort of career change in the near future (though that whole path is still unclear to me).

But you know what? I'm in the midst of my second and third classes on this journey (XHTML/CSS & SEO) and I'm realizing something else. The capacity to learn is a gift from God. And it is a gift we frequently take for granted.

The desire to learn is hard-wired into us. Why else do small children put things in their mouth, touch the hot stove they were warned away from, or have a deep desire to press elevator buttons?

To learn. To experience life.

As we grow older, rites of passage are tied to learning--driver's ed and passing your exam to get your license (and your independence). Graduating from college into your chosen career path.

And some people simply enjoy being life-long students even if they have no particular career goal in mind.

Have you ever just burned with a desire to learn a long list of things? Then panicked in the next moment because you wondered how you could possibly live long enough to learn all you wanted to know? It's amazing, this gift of learning, of exploration.

It gives us inspiration to keep pressing forward to meet a new day. Learning something new gives us a way to help others, and to allow others to help us. It keeps us fresh and revives us.

My only hesitation about embarking on this web design journey was knowing that it was going to force me to table my writing for a while. But I have to be honest, it's been nice to have a break from my novels. Writing and the publishing industry was becoming stale to me. Taking a different path, learning new things, has been a breath of fresh air.

Learning something new is exciting. It refreshes my spirit, even though the going is very hard and very time-consuming and I despair whether or not I will grasp these coding languages as well as I need to. But I will come out a little wiser in the end.

And I suspect that it will in turn give me a new appreciation for my writing journey when I return to it, and I will tackle my next novel with renewed fire. I look forward to it already. 8-)

Force-Marched To High Tech: Web Design & Digital Cameras

2011-11-13T01:11:00.001-07:00

Here at Arizona Inspiration, my goal is to share my experiences in the writers journey which, surprisingly, takes me down a lot of non-writing roads. Today that road is about technology. Specifically web design and digital photography.

One of the universal struggles that writers have is finding time to write amidst all the other things demanding a chunk of their time. That's because, at least for most writers, stories do not come quickly (though I have spoken to a rare few writers who can churn out a draft in 3-4 weeks). And finding several hours a week to write, on top of research, marketing, church, family, day job and a multitude of other commitments is very difficult.

One of the things that is essentially non-negotiable for a writer in this day and age is that you must have a web presence. How else will you make people aware of your books? Sure, there are in-person engagements, but the bulk of book-hawking occurs online.

Among other things, that means you need a website. That forces the writer into the decision: do you hire someone to design your website for you, or do you design it yourself (and therefore take more time away from your writing)?

Despite the fact that there are multiple web designers who offer reasonable packages, sometimes, the financial situation is such that you need to go DIY. Long story short, that means I'm embarking on a six month mission to take a series of courses that will enable me to learn to design my own website. And while I am very early in that process, I can tell you that I absolutely understand why people opt to pay someone else to create their website. Just as a novel is a huge investment of time, so too, is designing a website. But I'm looking forward to learning new (and hopefully marketable) skills.

Now, on to the next technology issue: the digital camera age.

Obviously, graphics are an extremely important aspect of any website. I consider lack of graphics to be one of the weaknesses of this blog. Seeing that my books are Arizona themed, I want to use some Arizona photos on my website. I don't take a lot of photographs, but when I do, I always go to my faithful and true Canon EOS Rebel 35mm camera. Here's where the story gets painful.

I hadn't taken film in for probably around a year. But this past Friday, I took four rolls of film to Walgreens for development and to have them put on CD so I'd have digital copies.

I very nearly had a heart attack when they quoted me a price for the job. Evidently, the camera and retail industry is determined to force-march everyone over to digital cameras.

I'm not against digital cameras (even though I've never used one in my life). But I am against having my beautiful, wonderful, faithful companion of nearly 20 years, my old Canon EOS Rebel, retired due to no fault of its own. This camera STILL works beautifully. It grieves me to give it up. But I simply can no longer afford to develop 35mm film.

Why am I telling you this? Partly because I'm in the midst of grieving over my Rebel. But also because this is yet another example of the curveballs that get thrown at you as you journey the difficult path of the writer.

Certainly, in the end, once I learn to design websites, and learn how to use digital cameras and embed videos, it will be to my advantage. And I look forward to learning new things.

But it's not without cost. My writing time takes another hit. And that always freaks me out. I wish I didn't need sleep (sleep wastes valuable hours I could be creating) but alas, I'm just a mere (tired) mortal. And I just have to trust that these things happen in their season and that my tech time, and my writing time, will come when, where and how they are supposed to.

Now I must begin the task of researching digital cameras. If you have a favorite, please tell me about it.

Guilt and the Writer

2011-11-09T06:52:00.000-07:00

It's Mike Duran's fault that I'm posting a blog entry today, as his latest post is about writers and guilt and blogging regularly. And sure enough, while it has always been my goal to post every Thursday, I fell off the turnip truck.

You can read his post here:

http://mikeduran.com/2011/11/crafting-a-blog-schedule-that-works-for-you/

But guilt and the writer is a fascinating subject. I wonder if any other occupation houses as much guilt as does a writer? Mike already covered the ways in which we are made to feel guilty about blogging, so let's look at some others:

- Guilt because you need sleep each night and can't stay up and write 50 pages
- Guilt because you're in the midst of writing the first draft of your novel and that means you will have nothing to submit to your crit group for several months because you don't share your work in first draft stage
- Guilt that you don't Facebook 12 hours a day
- Guilt that you don't Twitter 12 hours a day
- Guilt that you don't join every single social media format
- Guilt that you can't find a way around having to work a day job for a living
- Guilt that said day job is a job from hell and sucks the creativity out of you and once again, you can't write 50 pages a day.
- Guilt that you can't take web design classes and still write 50 pages a day plus the day job
- Guilt that you don't succumb to the (unintended) pressure to do more and more at church on top of everything else, just because you're on the brink of exhaustion.
- Guilt that you don't help more writers on their journey.
- Guilt that you can't visit more of your author friends' websites to support them
- Guilt that you can't afford to buy every one of your author friends' books

I think you get the idea.

I do not know if it is accurate but I have heard that some famous writers of past times had emotional problems and probably succumbed to substance abuse. If that IS the case, is it any wonder? Who is more prone to seeking false euphoria than the guilt-riddled writer? We are inundated with impossible advice daily. Most of it well-intentioned.

But few in this modern age understand moderation of any sort, and that's what we as authors need--to view our careers and proceed with our strategy for career building with the use of moderation. And if we are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, what does it say about our walk of faith that we allow ourselves to be so deeply guilted by others' advice? What does it say about me personally that I allow myself to feel guilty on so many levels because I'm not superhuman and can't leap tall buildings in a single bound?

The writing journey is very stressful. I can't imagine taking that journey without my Anchor, even though I definitely swerve off His path at times. But He ain't the Solid Rock for nothing. How do people cope without Him?

And how do writers get off the guilt bandwagon?

Importance of Editing & Sides Roads on the Writer's Journey

2011-10-20T20:44:00.000-07:00

Previously, at Arizona Inspiration...
I'm at the point in my writing journey where I have to make some decisions. I have to look at my time and my money and decide which services I will hire, and which I will provide for myself. On the next post, I'll talk more about my decision on that journey, and the side road it is causing me to travel.

About those decisions... In the last post we were talking about the massive amount of details and work that goes into getting a book published. Writing it is only the beginning. There are a whole slew of other services you either need to hire or perform yourself.

To me, one of the non-negotiables is no DIY editing. It's best to hire an editor before your work is published. It doesn't matter how many times you've been over your own work, you need a fresh set of eyes who can apply themselves to the task and who has the experience with books to make a difference. I don't know how much it costs to hire an editor, but I know it doesn't come cheap. So I need to start saving my money now.

What about the other stuff? Book cover design for instance? I'm on the fence about that one. I need to gather more info. What I do know is that an unprofessional cover doesn't do a book any favors and is usually more harmful in the long run. I also know that despite the fact that I may only look at a book's cover for a few seconds, it plays a major part in my selection of books to read. I have seen some book covers that were really cheesy. On the other hand, I've seen some fantastic book covers that literally lightened me on the inside and put a smile on my face. But if I can learn the skills necessary to design a quality cover, I think I'd be willing to do it myself. But the jury's still out on that one.

What about marketing? YUCK! I hate that word. But I've got to learn to like it. But more relevant to this conversation, an essential to marketing books is a web presence.

Enter that side road I've begun travelling. Every decision I make concerns the trade-off between the value of my time and the availability of a budget. My time is extremely valuable. But the other inescapable fact is that the budget is extremely small (ie. practically non-existent). So I've launched into the website design waters, with the goal of developing my own site.

But it has brought me a new problem.

You see, my greatest nemesis is the desire to learn. I like learning for learning's sake. You know why it takes me so long to write one historical? Because I could read history for hours and days and weeks at a stretch, even if it's not relevant to a story.

I started taking a course on creating web pages with the ultimate goal of training to launch my own site. And I'm working on that--slowly but steadily. But learning how to write HTML (and now launching into CSS and XHTML), has created a new monster. Designing web pages utilizes a combination of logic and creativity that very much appeals to the inner me. So like reading history, I'm going to have to have a talk with myself--regularly--to ensure that I stay on task, learn what I need to learn to meet my web design needs, then move it along. Even though in the back of my mind my voice is already saying, "Well gee, if I do well with web design, I wonder how I'd do at learning programming languages?" Yep. I'm never satisfied. 8-) But who knows? One day it could launch me into a totally different day job.

In the meantime, finding the right balance of job, actual writing time, and other writing career work continues to elude me. But for now, I want to enjoy these web design courses and see if I can put them together to create a wonderful and inviting website. Only time will tell.

The Madness of The DIY Writer

2011-10-17T14:48:00.000-07:00

There has never been a more exciting time to be a fiction writer. And while writers from different eras may disagree with me, I think this is also the most headache-inducing time for writers.

Assuming you've made the first choice, ie. whether you write as a hobby or write for the ultimate goal of publication, then you must decide if you desire to be traditionally published or publish your own work (I prefer to use the term indie publish, as too many people are still stuck on old "self publishing" stigmas). There's no right or wrong answer, it's your choice as an author.

While I am not at all opposed to traditional publishing, I lean more and more every day toward the indie route (my reasoning is that there isn't a whole lot of difference between the amount of work an author has to do whether traditionally or self-published, so if I'm going to put in the work, I might as well be my own gatekeeper).

But let's talk about that work business. And I do mean WORK. Here's just a sample of what you can expect to have to pour into the process:

- Research the novel. Yes, even contemporaries require some research. And research could take months or years and is a blog post all on its own.)
- Write the novel
- Re-write the novel (you may have to do this one to even a dozen times depending on your writing style and your skills and abilities)
- Hire an editor to go over your book (you don't want to sling sloppy garbage up for sale--it will haunt you for a long time to come).
- Cover design
- E-book conversion (assuming you are not just doing print)
- Website design
- Media outlets
- Marketing (the big evil "M" word)
- And oh yeah--write MORE books and start this process over again.

Can you see why it's enough to give you a headache? And there's one added component I didn't mention above. The majority of writers have to do all this IN ADDITION TO their day job.

So for the writer who desires to indie publish, the main issues are how to manage your time and resources. Obviously the ideal is to hire someone to do all the extraneous stuff so that you can concentrate on your writing. But ideal is often NOT reality.

I'm a secretary by day. Secretaries make survival money and that's it. You know--cover the rent, car payment, electric, groceries sort of money. They do not earn thousands of extra dollars to hire graphic artists, web designers, publicists, and so on.

Why do I tell you this? Because my goal these last four years at Arizona Inspiration has been to share the writer's journey from one traveller's perspective. I tell you this because there are a lot of people who sit back and think "I'd like to write a book someday." But those who do actively pursue that goal know there's a lot of work, a lot of sacrifice, and a lot of cost to chasing the dream. People who haven't begun their writing journey have a lot of misconceptions--and idealized notions--about the writers life. It is not glamorous, we don't turn in a book, get it published, and sit back and rake in our millions.

Instead, each writer represents one guppy in an ocean with a bazillion fish, swimming toward publication, recognition, and hopefully, a modest extra income.

In order to accomplish that, you've got to want it. And want it bad.

I'm at the point in my writing journey where I have to make some decisions. I have to look at my time and my money and decide which services I will hire, and which I will provide for myself. On the next post, I'll talk more about my decision on that journey, and the side road it is causing me to travel.

Eternally Inspired by Arizona

2011-10-15T14:47:00.000-07:00

Arizona Inspiration. What an incredible place I live in!

I went to a historical Arizona photographs fair at Arizona Historical Society/Tempe today. A gentleman by the name of Jeremy Rowe (http://vintagephoto.com though in my opinion his website could use a facelift) did a presentation on old photographic methods and showed tons of photos from around Arizona at different points in time, mainly ranging from the 1870's through the early-mid 1900's.

It's seeing exhibits like these that make me wish people still lived to be several hundred years old like in early Bible times--because every time I'd look at a photo from a different period I'd think, "I wish I could've been alive then...or then...or then..." etc. Just think of what you could learn over several hundred years!

And certain photographs are like certain books--there are a few books when, each time you think of them, you feel a special warmth in your heart for how it made you feel and how much it inspired you. Likewise for photographs. Sometimes you see photographs that are so compelling, so touching, that it just makes you jump up and down for joy inside.

What a treat for me today.

Makes me also wish (for the millionth time) I could be paid to study Arizona history every day and let THAT be my day job!)

On Writing: Does Adding More Characters Sweeten or Sour the Pot?

2011-10-11T20:28:00.000-07:00

Okay, I'm taking a bit different approach today. Obviously the majority of time at this blog is spent discussing writing in the form of the novel. But I'd like to switch gears here and discuss writing in the form of series television and see if there are any comparisons we can make to writing books.

Of course I'm referring to the only TV show I watch--Hawaii Five-0, which just launched season 2 four weeks ago. If you've never watched the show, I'll give you a very brief rundown:

Steve McGarrett, who spent several years in Naval Intelligence and several years as a Navy SEAL, takes over the Governor's task force to fight crime in Hawaii. He is propelled into this role when his father is murdered by one of the terrorists he has been chasing around the globe for 5 years in the Navy. When he returns to Hawaii to take over the task force, he learns his father had been independently investigating organized crime, including people within the ranks of HPD. Throughout season 1, we see the development of a very strong, cohesive team of four, made up by Steve, his partner Danny, Chin, and Kono. Each character is well established and strong in their own right. By season 1's end, we learn that the Governor herself is involved in organized crime and Steve is jailed after being accused of her murder.

Enter Season 2. The writers of the show deemed it necessary to add two new characters to the show. A new female officer named Lori Weston and an old friend of the family and Steve's trainer in the military, Joe White. Now casting aside my personal likes and dislikes (ie. the Weston bimbo is a horrible addition, though Joe is likeable enough (at least until last night's episode)), the question is, how many characters can you add to the pot of stew before the stew becomes watery and thin?

This is solid grounds for discussion as writers. For TV, the problem is this--at most TV shows these days run 42 minutes. That's not much time when you ALREADY had a team of four to begin with. Now you add two more characters? While I think the writers intended it to sweeten the pot, I think it has had the reverse affect.

Biggest reason? The backbone of the show is Steve and Danny's partnership. Thus far in season 2, there has been very little partnership time. Big problem.

Second biggest reason? The addition of Weston adds absolutely nothing to the show (it doesn't help that her character was introduced in a very cliched way).

Third, while I like Joe White, and I'm glad Steve FINALLY has someone around who appreciates the military side of things, he too, is serving to sour the stew.

The whole feel of season two is off.

So that brings us to application to our novels. How do you know when you've got too many characters in the stew? I'm not talking about surface level stuff like introducing too many characters in one chapter and people being confused because they can't distinguish one from another.

It is also far too simplistic to say "If you have X number of characters in your book, that's too many." Tolstoy's War and Peace had countless characters, the story worked and has endured all these years.

It would seem to me that knowing what the backbone of your story is plays a critical role in your ability to determine how many characters are right for the story. In the case of Five-0, I'm not sure CBS understands what the backbone of their show is (Steve and Danny partnership). As a result, they seem to be staggering around a bit in season 2. While the whole thread of Steve's family problems is marvelous and I want to see that story played out week by week, it also requires being balanced by his partnership with Danny and their work as Five-0.

When you're adding characters to your story, ask yourself, does the addition of this character bring real value to the plot or can this character's purpose in the story be absorbed by someone already in the novel? There's nothing worse than a bimbo who wastes screen time, aka the Weston character on Five-0. But it is just as easy to write unappealing, throw-away characters in our novels if we don't examine them closely.

So have you struggled with this in your writing? In the end, did you keep the characters in question or get rid of them?

Do Readers Warm Up To Your Protagonists?

2011-10-05T06:27:00.003-07:00

For me, Donald Maass is one of the most inspiring writers of books on the writing craft, so I always enjoy his blog posts. Today he once again provides great food for thought over at Writer Unboxed.

His comment about plot driven writers being afraid of getting too mushy is spot on. You can read what he has to say here:

http://writerunboxed.com/2011/10/05/warmth/comment-page-1/#comment-169726

HTML--An Unlikely Beacon in the Midst of Dark Times

2011-10-01T23:24:00.000-07:00

Life right now is a series of severe trials. It seems like many I know are going through extreme hardship for one reason or another--employment, finances, relationships, family problems, health. Certainly these things go on all the time, but it just feels worse than usual right now.

Very rarely do I hear the Lord speaking to me in an almost literal fashion, but a few years ago He asked me: "How deep is your faith?" I've been struggling to answer that question since then. Okay, let me just be painfully honest--I've been avoiding the question since then.

But I believe He was preparing me for the trials I am facing now. And I am finding, unfortunately, that my faith, my spiritual maturity, is lacking (still feeding on milk instead of solid spiritual food). Instead of trusting God to bring me through it, I whine and moan and groan. But I need to trust Him to bring me through it; to trust that there is a reason for all the current suffering.

But what I wanted to focus on instead is that sometimes, encouragement and joy come from unexpected sources. And for me right now, that unexpected source of joy is...HTML.

Yep. You heard that right and I'm not insane (okay, maybe I am, but...). On September 21st, I began taking a class on Creating Web Pages. I knew that regardless of my career choices down the road, any self-employed or freelance work I chose to do would require a website, and I simply can't afford to pay someone to craft a website for me. Which means learning to do it myself.

And I am finding that I very much enjoy learning HTML. It requires extended periods of concentration, it requires creativity AND logic, and you have something tangible to show for your efforts when you are done. It truly is like learning a new language, techno-geek style.

Just as God allows trials in our lives for a certain season & reason, so too, He brings other things into our lives at a certain time. Taking this web design course now is a way for me to focus my energies on something where I can actually achieve results, where I can sit and concentrate, where I can learn something that will ultimately help not only myself, but help others too.

It is very labor intensive--I spent about 4 hours today brainstorming what I want my future author website to look like, and another 3 hours on the latest class lesson, but I enjoyed every minute of it. I felt fulfilled. Like I'd actually accomplished something worthwhile. That is a feeling that has been missing in my life for a while.

I like the course so much, I've already signed up for the Introduction to CSS and XHTML class to build on the skills I'm learning now.

Other things in life may at present seem dark and ghastly, but I'm so grateful to have this class to feel productive and to have skills that will come in handy no matter what I tackle in the future. I'm thankful this class came my way for just such a time as this.

Friday Fun Post--Hungry-Man Pot Pies

2011-09-23T07:58:00.000-07:00

I have a crisis.

I want a Hungry-Man pot pie. I've wanted one for a couple of years now. But I can't find them.

Maybe you're not a pot pie connoisseur. As a primer, Hungry-Man pot pies are pot pies for serious pie eaters. They're not those little rinky-dink pot pies from Banquet. These are a real meal--4 zillion fat grams and all.

But the grocery stores here in Arizona don't carry them. Why is that? What did Hungry-Man ever do to them? I know for a fact Arizonans eat unhealthy food because of all the OTHER high fat-gram content food I see stocked on the shelves. So why is Hungry-Man being censored? I can get their frozen dinners--those meal trays.

BUT I WANT THE PIES!!!!!

I did write the company that makes Hungry-Man and asked where I could find them. They kindly wrote back and verified that, yes, indeed, my local grocers were not stocking this item. But that I could buy them by the case and to inquire at my local market.

But that won't work. I live in an apartment that utilizes a side-by-side fridge/freezer. For the record, I hate side-by-side fridge freezers because the freezer space is very small. No place for a case of pies. Sigh.

So here's the question for the weekend. What food do you crave in your region of the country that isn't sold there?

Books That Wear You Out

2011-09-21T06:36:00.000-07:00

Not a lot of writing going on during the month of September. Chaos at work, preparing to take a class about how to design web pages, researching possible career alternatives have gobbled up my days and nights.

On a good note, I'm looking forward to the release of Hawaii Five-0, season 1 so that I can FINALLY see the half dozen or so episodes, including the series pilot, that never got shown as reruns. BTW, the season 2 opener was fantastic!

But more to the point, I ran across a great quote while visiting Port Yonder Press's website today:

“A good book should leave you slightly exhausted at theend. You live several lives whilereading it.” – William Styron

There has been a good deal of discussion on message driven fiction recently and about the different types of readers out there--ie. those who want escapist fiction or those who want a deeper read.

While I think it's necessary to experience both types of fiction, I prefer the deeper read, which is why Mr. Styron's quote really resonated with me. The best books leave you worn out because they took you on such an intense ride. This is VERY hard to accomplish as a writer. Of the books I read, I'd say 1 in 20, if that, have that kind of power over me. That is why most fiction is "mass market"--while certainly readers varying tastes make this subjective (what one finds intense/deep another reader finds trifling), to me, a deep read requires a special skill at writing that not all are equipped to achieve. I know that is certainly one of the things I have wondered about myself many times. Will I only ever achieve surface level appeal or will I one day write something that reaches down deep and wears out my reader?

If I manage to wear out my reader, every bit of the strain and struggle will have been worth it.

The Art of the Short Story

2011-09-04T08:32:00.001-07:00

There are surprisingly few pointers to be found on the Internet with regard to how to write a powerful short story. Why is that?

Is it because there is an assumption that because the story is shorter it is therefore easier to write?

Is it because the short story market has been all but dead for several decades and is only now beginning to re-emerge with the life-giving power of ebooks?

Is it because everyone instinctively knows how to write a short story except me? *-)

Writing ANYTHING shorter takes more work, not less, so I can toss out the first reason. There may well be truth to the fact that the non-existence of a short story market has by necessity shrunk short story teaching resources to the barest few. As to the last--well I'd like to think there's SOMEONE out there besides me who feels the need to learn more about writing short stories.

I'm not sure why I've had an interest in the short story lately--I think part of it is because, in the back of my mind, I'm thinking that's a good way to experiment with the ebook market and get my feet wet. I'm also thinking that with the advent of ebooks, we don't have to be dependent on anthologies. I haven't studied the market so perhaps a reader would not pay for a single short story and still wants to buy in anthology format, but it is something worth trying.

Perhaps I also get frustrated at times at how many months and years it takes to produce a novel.

Here's what I've been able to pull together about the art of the short story. If you have corrections or additions to my understanding, I'd appreciate your comments.

* Length (duh!) Although actual world count is all over the place. I've seen length ranges anywhere from 500 words to 50,000, though 500 words to maybe 30,000 seems more prevalent.

* The short story focuses on one main event or period in time. Perhaps best viewed as a snapshot of a particular place in time.

* The short story has fewer characters. Less space, less ability to deal with multiple POV's. Maybe 2 characters.

I have a short story in mind that I want to tackle. It will be a challenge, particularly since my tendency is to write a large cast of characters. We'll see how it turns out.

The Discipline for Self-Employment

2011-08-30T11:57:00.000-07:00

The month of August has mostly been a bust for me in terms of writing. Oh, I've gotten maybe 2500 words down on paper, but considering my goal for August was 10,000 words, that means I've only met about 25% of the goal. And considering my brain is firmly locked in "business" mode, I'm unlikely to get beyond that 25% before midnight tomorrow.

But that's okay. Like the human body diverts blood to areas of the body that need it most in a crisis, so to, do we instinctually know when we have to set something aside for a time to focus on something else.

For me, the crisis at hand is career. I've got to get out of my field, out of healthcare, out of the unhealthy environment in which I work.

But change does not occur quickly. So a change in day jobs is obviously a long term plan.

But in the meantime I am left with two other big areas of life that I must consider:

1. How can I set realistic goals for building my writing career?
2. What other freelance opportunities can I use to slowly build up my own business over time and provide an additional income?

While it is certainly stressful enough trying to find time simply to write your books, authors can't stop there. We must be our own marketers, editors, and many other things (unless you have the money to hire people to do that for you or don't have a writers' co-op to help you to trade skills with).

Even if you are considering some other line of freelance work, those same rules apply.

I am admittedly confused about the direction my career path should take, despite the fact that I've been in prayer about it for some time. While there is a whole lot I do NOT know or understand, there are a few things I do know:

1. I do not want to be placed in a position where I must rely on my writing for income. While I feel I write too slowly, neither do I think the process can be rushed. I always want to be free to let a story ferment for as long as it takes so that it will be the story I want it to be.
2. Whether writing or some other freelance business, it is an inescapable fact that if I do not have the money to pay someone to design a website, I must learn to create one myself.
3. Likewise, I am going to have to educate myself on things I don't like: how to start up and run a business, all those boring legal requirements, tax information, etc. Not only that, some of the freelance opportunities I'm considering pursuing will also require some re-training.
4. I can expect to remain exhausted for the forseeable future.

I don't know about you, but to me, that sort of sounds dreary and depressing, especially considering that all these things must take place in addition to being plowed under by the day job each day.

BUT--there is good news in all this. One of the reasons I have not given careful care and consideration to freelance work is because I doubted whether I would have the self-discipline to put in the hours required--to put my nose to the grindstone.

I believe I have turned the corner on this issue and honestly feel that I have reached a point in life where I can. Case in point was yesterday. I am on a rare full week of vacation this week. I don't know about you, but the temptation while on vacation is to sleep in, get up, lolly-gag around, take a nap, lolly gag some more then go to bed. In other words, fritter away the hours in nothingness because it is such a rare change from the usual pace of life.

But before my vacation started I wrote down a list of 23 things, mostly career related, that I needed to start researching this week, and I knew that I needed to work on them a little each day so that by week's end I would be in a better position to begin making some decisions and career investments.

And you know what? I have exercised the discipline required to do the work. I may have been on "vacation" from the day job, but I literally put in 8-9 hours yesterday beginning my investigation into various career areas/small business matters I've needed to do. Five years ago, you couldn't have gotten me to do that.

I haven't got a clue what my future holds, but if it does include freelance work, I'm more equipped than ever to begin heading in that direction, even though it will be a hard slog.

Tips on Twitter

2011-08-28T13:45:00.000-07:00

I don't know about you but the whole concept of social media gives me a massive headache. I'm being absolutely honest when I say I simply do not understand how people manage their day jobs, families, chores, errands, research and oh yeah, writing and do this social media thing. I mean take yesterday for example--on TOP of the work-week from hell (I'm sorry to be blunt, but that's what it was) I logged 12 hours of work time yesterday between a trip to Tucson for a workshop relating to my novel research and catching up on crits I owed my crit group.

I realize this kind of exhausting schedule is not unique to me, but I ask again, how in the world do you find time for social media AND find something that's actually relevant and useful to say?

Nevertheless, my point is not a rant (though I certainly gave it a good go. LOL!) My point is that over at Writer Unboxed, I read a good post on the use of Twitter--one that spelled it out so even a social media incompetent like me can grasp most of the concepts of the article. And the article does not dawdle--it is just nuts and bolts bullet points on how to use Twitter.

If you are brave enough for social media, I encourage you to check out this very informative link:

http://writerunboxed.com/2011/08/27/the-art-science-of-twitter-part-1-the-science/

Navy Seal's Dog

2011-08-25T13:37:00.000-07:00

If you haven't already, please check out this heart-rending pic of a lab lying beside his master's coffin during the Navy SEAL's funeral service.

It breaks my heart for the family, and for the dog.

And it serves as a reminder that no matter how long the conflict lasts, please continue to lift up our service men and women in prayer and their families.

Here's the link:
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/44271018/ns/today-today_pets_and_animals/?GT1=43001

Write What You Read?

2011-08-19T07:30:00.000-07:00

Write What You Read?

I'm in the process of reading Robert's Rules of Writing by Robert Masello. Here's the link for Amazon (as of time of this posting it is also being offered as a free download on Kindle):

http://www.amazon.com/Roberts-Rules-Writing-Robert-Masello/dp/1582973261/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1313760934&sr=8-1

So far I'm enjoying Mr. Masello's sense of humor and his approach to this book that contains some content that is not your everyday advice on writing.

In particular, I'm intrigued by Rule #16: Write What You Read.

The author asks what kind of book(s) are laying on your bedside table or your reading stack and that chances are--you ought to be writing those books since that is what you are most interested in.

As with all else in life, I find this to be not nearly so simple a thing as it sounds. Anybody who has read this blog for any length of time knows I struggle to find my writing niche in this world. Ideally, I want to write historicals that are non-romance in nature.

But you won't find any books like that on my bedside table because they hardly ever get published. I can't read what's not available.

But what you will typically find on my bedside table are thrillers of the spy and military sort. That's about the only genre you can go to and depend on not being clobbered over the head with a romance element.

But there's more to my interest in those thrillers than just the fact that it's my only go-to place for non-romance. By their very nature, thrillers in the spy/military categories automatically look at a much broader picture--they are concerned with what's happening in the world at large or at least a region of it. These books look at ideals, principles, customs--all from the standpoint of how they collide and shape the world around us. Our world is one of conflict both great and small, and it is endlessly fascinating.

It is that kind of broad view I seek but rarely find in historicals. Most of the time, historical time periods are used merely as a backdrop to insert Jack and Jill so they can make their journey toward each other after a predictable misunderstanding.

Why do the bulk of writers not push for this broad view in their historicals? Yes, someone is bound to point out that even with a broad view, a story must focus on a couple key characters.

I agree. But I find that inherently, people choose to go the romantic route, which is fine, but it has been my experience that when authors latch onto a romance thread in a historical, they forsake the interesting potential of the story to give us another typical romance. Why is it so hard for authors to explore beyond these standard bounds? Why is it so hard to explore the greater world around them? Matters of the heart are not the exclusive territory of romantic relationships. There are other forms of passion--justice, patriotism, loyalty. And to me, those are far more powerful motivators.

But that brings me to the next question for myself--so then, why don't I write spy/military thrillers, since that's what's usually on my table? I will have to give it some further thought, but I'd say it comes down to two reasons: 1) right or wrong, I view the lens of the past more simply than I do the present and 2) no reasonable means of obtaining the research. And these two items, at least in my mind, are bound together.

We live in a very complicated world. I don't know about you, but I have a hard time staying on top of the news, both nationally and internationally. We are bombarded with news and you have to be able to sort and sift it. To write spy/military thrillers, being on top of the current world climate is a must. But at this present time in my life, given time constraints due to my job and other factors, I must simply acknowledge that this is beyond my realm right now--either staying on top of the news or finding the tricky sources needed to write these books.

But with historicals, I already have several years research invested, and while it is no easy deal obtaining the research required, in some ways, it is easier than obtaining government classified secrets for a thriller. 8-)

But who knows. Maybe one day the circumstances of my life will change and allow me to go after that contemporary thriller that I love to read. In the meantime, I can explore the trials of our past and see what I can bring to light in terms of where we come from--and maybe shed some light onto where we're going.

Do You Psyche Yourself Out During A Writing Vacation

2011-08-15T06:55:00.000-07:00

Reading a post today over at Writer Unboxed got me to wondering...

How often do you plan time off for a writing holiday but when the time comes you psych yourself out and don't make any meaningful progress?

If this happens to you, isn't it one of the most annoying things ever? I know it is common for me and drives me absolutely bonkers. Time is so precious I hate to waste it.

What tips and helpful hints do you recommend for a successful writing holiday? I'd love to hear how you make it work for you.

The Most Difficult Thing To Do

2011-08-09T07:30:00.000-07:00

In reading today's devotional at In Touch, (http://www.intouch.org/magazine/daily-devotional), the subject is overcoming obstacles and part of the devotional states:

"Whenever you face an obstacle, you may experience great heartache. But even in the midst of pain, you can have full confidence in God." The background scripture for this is Joshua 6:1-5.

I don't know about others, but having full confidence in God--putting my faith in Him in all situations, is the hardest thing of all to do. I wish that level of faith were so simple. So easily obtained.

I know from numerous examples in my life that God hears my prayers and knows my suffering. And that many times, He answers. But it usually takes a long time (as per my view of time, not God's). I also know that suffering brings about good eventually. We can't grow more into the likeness of God without trials. But sometimes...well sometimes you just get sick of the trials, especially when they drag on forever, when you just want to fall down and cry in frustration and pain and yes, even yell at God because you've confessed every sin you can think of and still the pain and suffering strains you to the breaking point.

To be honest, I have a very blessed life--except for one huge glaring area--my job. You know, that thing that sucks up most of the waking hours of our lives. And yes, I'm ever mindful of the many, many people who are out of work and I'm not denying their pain or suffering. But pain and suffering comes to the employed as well. I can't share the details as I'd like to, for quite a few different reasons. But let's just say you'd have to go a long way to find a person more ill-suited for the job they are in than I am in my present situation and, at least for now, I am firmly trapped there (I recently used the anaology with someone that finally I understood why an animal chews its leg off to get out of a trap).

While most of my angst surrounds the job, it is not helped by the general mess our country is in--stress that we are all feeling. And to be perfectly honest, as human beings I look around me and see that we are all falling apart because we've walked so far away from God's plan for us.

Pessimistic? Perhaps. Or just another gift garnered by my particular area of employ. What I do know is that there is only one answer to life's problems. But He has his own timing and it takes deep faith to trust in Him completely. For timing. For solutions. For everything.

And I pray that He will grow my faith to trust in Him beyond every trial, every frustration, every worry for my nation and my world. I want to live Joshua 1:9, which says:

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.” (NKJV)

Highest Recommendation: Threat Warning by John Gilstrap

2011-08-07T17:00:00.000-07:00

I just finished reading John Gilstrap's thriller, Threat Warning, and my rating is

5++ out of 5 stars

John Gilstrap, author and one of the team members over at my favorite blog, The Kill Zone (http://killzoneauthors.blogspo,t.com/) released a new novel in July, Threat Warning.

It is a thriller that features hero Jonathan Graves and a nerve-wracking plot to wreak havoc in the states that goes much deeper than he at first thinks.

I love it when the tension in a book is so strong it wears me out. You will be captivated from beginning to end.

Mr. Gilstrap handles difficult-to-write scenes (intense sustained action, for example) with seeming ease. His characters are well defined and true to human nature (read as, all over the place logically and emotionally when under stress) and he educates you a lot besides. Since I got my Kindle in January, I have never highlighted within a book as much as I did while reading this novel.

Honestly, I don't think I have liked a book this much since reading Nancy Turner's These Is My Words probably five or six years ago. I would actually like to buy a print copy of this novel to mark up and study for craft.

It was an extremely intense read. I say that because it is an in your face reminder of how unstable the world often feels, but it is made better by a solid hero you can root for (and would be glad to have on your side). Nevertheless, it is so intense it's probably not the type of book I'd want to pick up and read once a week.

The other warning is just a bit of language (not much) and if you like a genteel read, this book is definitely not for you. But if you like it high on the action and low on the smarmy, this is a most excellent choice.

It's funny. I never set out to read in the thriller genre. My main love has and always will be historical fiction. But since it's difficult to find historical fiction that isn't too girlie (at least in CBA fic), the thriller genre has become a natural substitute for what's lacking in the historical arena.

If you need a weekend of intense diversion; if you want to read a book that re-invigorates you to get back to your computer and get working on your own novel; if you just want to be flat-out entertained; if you want to reaffirm that the good guys still win, then Threat Warning is for you.

Here's a link to it at Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Threat-Warning-John-Gilstrap/dp/0786024925

A Passion For Place In Your Novels

2011-07-31T13:24:00.000-07:00

I think I'm all alone in the world.

...When it comes to passion for place in my novels.

Nobody I talk to seems mysteriously driven by a great love for their homeland, be it their city, state or region, that writing a series of novels set in that state consumes them. Oh sure, I know there are authors who tend to set their novels in a certain city or state because that's what they are familiar with so that's what they write. But I don't see a lot of deep and abiding pride for place in the novels I read. Pride that makes a difference in the work they're creating.

The only person I can even think of whose passion for place shows through is James Scott Bell regarding L.A. Frankly, that's a large reason why I read his books. While I may not be all that wild about California personally, I am drawn to authors who have a passion for place.

But I have a deep yearning to bring the pages of Arizona's history alive through fiction. Generally speaking, my interest in Arizona begins around 1849-50 and moves forward from there. I'd like to see the novels I write become a microcosm of Arizona from 1849 to present. To me it's a way of examining life and reminding myself and others that the ripples we create in life make a difference--for good or bad. And Arizona is my vehicle to do that.

I have a large foamboard in my office. On it I have a 4" X 6" colored index cards, one for each of the several novel concepts I have in mind. Those are spread out over my foam board so I can gaze at it and day by day, bit by bit, see what links each of those novels together--what impact those characters have on their land, and what lesson was learned in the process.

When I've tried to express my love of place in novels, invariably, someone feels compelled to make a snarky comment along the lines of "Good fiction is about characters, not places." To which I must bite my tongue and resist the urge to reply with an equally snarky "Seriously? You don't say!"

Perhaps where I differ from most people is the weight I place on how much impact your environment has on the person you become. Even the physical land you grew up on.

Of course being this passionate about place has a couple big negatives--I am ALWAYS paranoid that I haven't researched enough and I always fear I will never do Arizona and her people justice in my novels--which makes me loathe to share my work. And just because I love Arizona that much, it doesn't mean I'm naturally skilled at bringing her to life in my work.

And if you want to write a series of novels that are a tapestry of your state's history, it's also difficult because you have to resist the urge to use actual players from her history, since you can't high-jack people's personal histories or fabricate your own to suit your purposes.

Which makes the whole process a very huge challenge. I feel sort of like those people who have endlessly pursued clues trying to find Jacob Waltz's Lost Dutchman Gold Mine, or reporters who never give up trying to solve a 40 year old crime. Its a fire that drives you, pushes you forward, and you just can't seem to stop (almost sounds like a novel in itself. LOL!).

Sometimes I feel like I'm chasing my tail trying to nail down the depths of the stories that I am looking for. But I guess I'll just keep chasing my tail till I'm too tired to push on any more. Because I'm having too much fun to stop.

A Must-Read Post Over at The Kill Zone

2011-07-30T21:39:00.000-07:00

It takes a lot in the publishing industry to truly put me in awe, but James Scott Bell's post over at The Kill Zone has done it for me.

Something fresh and imaginative and definitely off the beaten path. You can read about it here:

http://killzoneauthors.blogspot.com/2011/07/legal-thriller-to-die-for.html

Mr. Bell, you inspire me.

Grandiose Words in Fiction

2011-07-21T05:30:00.000-07:00

I've been trying to read some of the books in my extensive 'to be read' digital pile lately. As I was reading one of them, I was reminded again why having a good crit partner or partners is so crucial.

Let's face it, writing a novel is a huge undertaking. There are 12 million details to keep track of, and seemingly 12 million rules of writing that the world wants you to keep in mind as you revise. Sentences and paragraphs that make perfect sense to you might have a glaring error that your crit partner finds. There have been many times where I've read a section of my manuscript for what feels like a zillion times, only to have someone else come along and pick up on something that, when they point it out, seems quite obvious.

In one of the books I recently read, they could have used a crit partner to point out their heavy handed use of what I call "ten dollar words." I don't mind a few of them. In fact it's cool to go to a dictionary once or twice and look up a long and unfamiliar word.

But when it happens multiple times within a few paragraphs, and then multiple times throughout the manuscript, the novelty of dragging out your dictionary loses its luster. Unfortunately, it begins to sound like the author sat there with his manuscript in one hand and a synonym finder in the other, looking for the longest, most awkward words possible to replace simple, clear and easy words that could have been used in its place.

In the grand scheme of things, I don't see this problem too often. Perhaps that's why when I do, it does seem so glaring.

So do me a favor. When you're writing, go ahead, throw in a few ten dollar words. I like my dictionary. We're friends.

Just don't get carried away.

Shower Scrunchy: An Analogy of Life

2011-07-20T06:17:00.000-07:00

I used to be an old fashioned wash cloth only type person when taking a shower, but a couple of years ago, took the plunge and began adding those scrunchy shower ball things to the morning routine (do they even sell bar soap any more? I haven't looked in so long!).

When you first start using them, they are wound up too tight, and sometimes you can barely fit the rope over the shower head so that you can easily access it for use the next time. Then it loosens up a little and life is good. Then next thing you know, the scrunchy has loosened up too much and flops all over the place when you use it and you become dissatisfied again. Then off you go heading down the personal products aisle at Walmart hunting for a new one and start the cycle all over again.

I find that's a great analogy of my life. I may be facing something that has me tense and ill at ease--but then things smooth out for a bit. Then all too short a time later, things seem to flop out of control and you want to start over. Only in life, it's not as simple as zipping down the personal products aisle at Walmart for a replacement.

I often feel like Jekyl and Hyde. I am so blessed in so many areas of my life. But I continue to struggle greatly with the day job. And I do not hesitate to thank my heavenly Father profusely for His blessings, then I feel guilty for being so miserable at work, where I feel trapped (and yes, I know, someone is bound to read this and think "Well then just shut up and get a different job," Wish it were that easy). And I plead for answers. There's a lot about my job to dislike. The thing is, I have a strong sense that I can still make a difference where I am. And these two parts are constantly at war.

But I read a devotional this morning that nails it, entitled "That Nagging Sense of Dissatisfaction."

Somehow I manage to be dissatisfied with some aspect of my life all the time--the perpetually played out scrunchy. The point of the devotional of course, is to focus our attention more on the Lord. But again, that's not always so easy in these fallible human bodies in which we live; these bodies in which dissatisfaction can so easily reside.

I need to learn to think like a two-week old shower scrunchy that is neither too uptight or too played out. One that that is happy and well adjusted to it's task.

The Joy of Daily Writing

2011-07-13T13:40:00.000-07:00

Probably the most difficult thing about writing is the discipline of writing itself. We BADLY want to write those stories in our head. Still, fear, multiple commitments and priorities, and a host of other things somehow always manage to get in the way of our writing on a consistent daily basis.

This month, ACFW is once again hosting NovelTrack/Writing--the ACFW equivalent of Nanowrimo. My goal this month is 30K words. I'm pretty close to target, maybe 2K shy of where I should be, but going well.

The first week of July I didn't get to write consistently every day. Most days, but not all. This week, it has been going great--I've met my daily goal each day. I can't tell you how much better I feel when I set a daily word count goal and meet it. Not only that, if I meet my word count goal before I leave for work, I practically feel like leaping over the moon.

Somehow, getting my word count done in the morning just makes my whole day go better. And as a reward to myself, if I make my word count goal before I leave for work, I use my breaktimes at work to read some fiction on my Kindle, since I never have time to read it otherwise.

The key to accomplishing the daily writing quota for me has been:
1. Set a daily goal I have a reasonable shot at achieving. Not too low, not too high.

2. Get more efficient at managing my email (ie. I really DON'T need to read that thread on women's dresses in 1898.). Only read the critical email and either delete the rest or save it for later.

3. Once I meet my word count goal for the day, do NOT try to exceed it--that way I'm fresh and raring to go the next day. This has been key for me this month--I do not have my entire plot nailed down and this enables me to ponder my story between writing sessions.

4. Remind myself that "slow and steady wins the race." Sure, I may not be able to write 5K words a day like Jane Doe writer does. But if I write a thousand words a day for a year, I've got three first draft manuscripts plus.

5. Cut back on my time reading industry blogs. What good is knowing how to market, publish etc if I don't have completed manuscripts?

Here's hoping for continued consistency for the rest of July. Next month I'll set a new goal for August.

Explosive Writing

2011-07-06T05:25:00.000-07:00

As I was making my rounds of a handful of industry blogs this morning (and hey--pat me on the back, I have successfully pared down the amount of time I spent reading blogs. I limited myself to 16 minutes this morning! Good thing too, as I woke up late.), I noticed the theme of fireworks has been...well, ok, overused in so many blogs.

Obviously it's Fourth of July week so there's a good reason, but I'll be glad when the week is over so everyone can move on to other analogies.

However, since Donald Maass wrote probably my favorite book on craft (Writing the Breakout Novel), I'll always take time to read one of his posts. And today was his turn to post at Writer Unboxed. You can view the post here:

http://writerunboxed.com/2011/07/06/fireworks/

Making your stories pop has, of course, always been one of the leading things he has taught. But I wanted to zero in on one thing in particular. He and others who teach about what makes good writing, will sometimes say something like: "Go to a scene in your manuscript and look at your protagonist. What is the worst thing that can happen to the character in that scene? Make it happen."

This is meant to be an exercise to help you push the envelope in your writing. Maybe there's something wrong with me, but I find an exercise like this un-scintillating. Perhaps I am just too pragmatic for my own good. Because if you ask me something like "What is the worst thing that could happen to that character?" my instant answer is going to be "they could be dead."

Yes, yes, I know. You could argue in some situations there are some things worse than being dead. But still, that is typically my stock answer, particularly since I write historicals with a leaning toward the west, where life and death are precarious. So this type of exercise simply isn't that helpful for me.

I think I need to learn to re-frame the question. Maybe I should ask myself, "In such and such a scene, what could happen that would kill the character on the inside," and see what kind of results I might get.

Finding Time...and Energy

2011-07-02T19:53:00.000-07:00

I'm piggy-backing on my post of a few days ago regarding the fact that it takes deep, serious concentration and time to build your story-world.

Everyone writes differently. Some build stories quite successfully in short snatches of time. I'm not one of those. But as I mentioned in the last post, I had a good hour and a half to brainstorm my story and it felt absolutely WONDERFUL!

But there's something that's equally as important as time. Energy.

What I have found is that those periods of deep, deep concentration on my story last for not longer than 3-4 hours. And when that 3-4 hours is done, I feel deeply drained, just as if I'd run a marathon.

While writers often talk about time (and the lack of), we don't often mention how draining writing can be. And while it may not affect all writers this way, I suspect it does for a good portion of those who write fiction and create those story-worlds.

On the surface, you might be thinking, "Well big deal. When you get tired, stop."

True enough. But it's something worth considering. I don't know many writers who don't desire to be able to write full time and allow writing to be their "day job". Should we be blessed enough to achieve that goal, we not only will have to be time managers but be energy managers as well.

We have to learn to parse out our work day. In a way, we are forced by necessity to do this anyway. You have to find time for networking through social media, other marketing tasks, editing, and a million other tasks (including the boring business end) that have to be done to manage a full time writing career.

While it will be a long time (if ever, who knows) that I become able to write full time, this revelation is important to me for another reason. I'm like everbody else. I moan and belly ache about not having enough time to write. It is very true, and very frustrating.

BUT--knowing that my energy levels for deep creativity last a maximum of 3-4 hours (and often times, less than that in the face of the other issues of life), I should gratefully recognize that while my day job may not be ideal, if I wasn't working, it's not like I'd be spending 8 hours a day creating. I wouldn't have the energy to do it.

Which all goes to prove what we already innately know--we need to have good balance in our lives.

Absolute Joy In Creating Your Story World

2011-06-30T10:34:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in my last post, I'm brainstorming various significant characters in my 3 book series. Building a story-world that has to range across a series of books is a very exciting (and daunting) task. And it struck me today how very much like raising a generation of people it is.

The hardest thing about it is being the creator of that story world--looking down from above, as it were, on this microcosm of a generation of life. You have to look at these story people on a macro level first--what is life like for people in their time period? Locally? Regionally? Nationally? Across the world? How will those external forces exert pressure on this microcosm of human life you are growing? Then on the micro level, you watch them grow up, grow older, endure life's hardships and watch them come out on the other side--successfully or not. These story people tangle each other up, become entwined, and you have to figure out a way to straighten them out again--or not.

Whether they be good guys or bad guys, you want to do right by them because--dang it, they really are real to you. You've probably spent more hours with them than with your own in-the-flesh family. And most of all, you want to do right by them because you know if you do, it's going to teach you something too.

And to me, that's what writing is all about.

I have to say, creating that story-world, spending hours crafting characters and writing scenes, is about the most pleasurable experience on the face of the earth. There is nothing like disappearing into another place and time and immersing yourself in another world to try and problem solve and see what makes those characters--and yourself, tick.

The only problem with creating story world? Time. While I can write in 15 minute snatches marginally well, preparing your story world takes long periods of deep concentration. And in our hectic world, where you are inundated with noise of humans and equipment 24/7, where you barely have time to think two coherent thoughts in a row, finding world-building time is very elusive.

That's why on the rare days it occurs, when you have time to think, to concentrate, to sit in blissful silence and ponder story world to your heart's content, it feels like a euphoric drug. Sadly, these types of days come few and far between.

This morning I had 95 minutes of blissful silence and unobstructed time to sit and ponder my story world. That 95 minutes was some of the most rewarding time I have spent since the last time this occurred--way back on January 24th.

No wonder it takes years to write a novel. I pray I'll find ways to discover more bliss-time in my schedule. Because you ought to be able to enjoy life too, not just survive it.

It's The Quiet Ones You Have To Watch Out For

2011-06-28T07:27:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned last week, I wrote book 2 of my 3 book series last year, leap-frogging over book #1 because #2 just kept drawing me back.

The toughest thing to me about writing books in a series is when one or more of your characters recur in that series. In one book they may be prominent. In another less so. But they still need to have a presence. They still need to have their own story.

I have a character in my novels that I am very intrigued with. He is not the lead character. And he is hard to figure out. He is a quiet man--one of those people who likes to live peacefully among others, not too demanding, and he has a great amount of patience.

But even a quiet person who keeps to themselves has a story to tell, has his or her own issues. In fact, I find I am usually drawn more to such people because it seems that their fires burn deeper than for those who just blabber out about any and every thing. This may not always be true, but it is often true.

But getting the heart of the story out of such a quiet person is like pulling teeth. And that is my task this week. To find out what the inner fire of this character is and harness it for this series. I want to do right by him so I'm going to have to figure out a way to make him talk.

So I think your average brainstorming session isn't going to work. I think I'm going to need to put him in different situations then observe what he does. Then I will begin to understand him.

But I think it will be worth the extra work to find out what he's all about.

Many blessings to you in your writing this week.

Organizing Electronic Files of Your Novel in Progress

2011-06-21T21:40:00.000-07:00

I don't know how most writers work. For me, novel ideas have to roll around in my head for months and sometimes years. And I work on them in spurts on my computer. I might do the initial brainstorming and save it in a file folder with that novel's name and the year.

Then I'm likely to put it aside for months and years while I work on another project. Then I brainstorm some more, save it in a file, put it aside for another project and so the rotation goes.

The end result is that I end up with a file on my computer filled with tons of different documents---various spurts of manuscript, different versions of chapters or scenes, research files, brainstorming sessions where I puzzle out the GMC of my characters, etc. It makes for a LOT of files.

Now that wouldn't be so bad if you are working on that manuscript from start to finish with no breaks. But when you take detours and come back to the material months later, you can no longer remember which version you'd settled on, which scenario you wanted to use, etc. Even your brainstorming notes from months ago don't make much sense to you any more.

So you are left with heaps of files to go through, sort, and try to figure out what to keep and what to toss.

I am going through this right now. Last year, I completed what was novel #2 in a series. Now I am preparing to go through and get back to work on novel #1 in that series. And what a mess I came back to! As if I had time to waste sorting and trying to organize all the material I'd compiled previously.

If this has happened to you and you found a solution for this problem, I'd love to hear from you.

I don't know if its the best solution, but I have decided that for 2011, once I sort and organize all the data, I am going to have only two files for this novel---one for actual manuscript in progress, the other file for all the brainstorming, research, and miscellaneous notes.

I can't think of any other way to keep it manageable.

If you have ideas or advice, please share!

Getting Your Dog To Take Care of Business Without Taking Ten Years

2011-06-16T07:18:00.000-07:00

I love my dog. Most days.

To say I'm frustrated is an understatement. I just recently moved from living by myself to having a roommate. I thought that was going to be super-stressful because I've been accustomed to being a lone wolf. THAT has been surprisingly easy to adapt to.

What has NOT been easy is the fact that at my old place in the hood, I had a small back yard with a dog door where the dog could go out and do her business. Now she has to be taken out every time.

I don't mind frequent trips out for the bathroom, what I do mind is that she has to sniff for 20 minutes to do a 30 second bathroom break. And easily distracted? Good grief! If a leaf blows, or the a/c cooling unit kicks on, or a car passes by in the far distance, instant distraction.

ONE of us has to work for a living, and might actually like to have some time to spend somewhere OTHER than the dog potty area, you know, like writing? Even doing other household chores?

If you have tips for settling your dog into the task at hand for going potty, I'd love to hear it.

Finding My Niche In The World of Novels

2011-06-12T15:41:00.000-07:00

One of the toughest things for me in pursuing a writing career is being one of approximately 3 people in the known universe who don't want to write (or read) romance novels of any genre.

On the whole, as a would-be reader of fiction, I most often find myself dissatisfied because writers don't pursue in depth any relationships other than romantic ones. I want something more. And that is a very large part of what drives me to write.

Since I don't want to write what is most common, romance, that leads naturally to the next question---so what DO I want to write? And because my take on things is outside the norm, how can I put that unique perspective to work with my stories?

That got me to thinking about favorite TV shows I watched growing up, as well as favorite books. If you were to ask me off the cuff what I enjoy most in television, I would tell you that I love buddy-centric shows. Simon & Simon (ok, they had to be buddies, they were brothers. LOL!), Starsky & Hutch, Riptide, etc etc. My favorite novel, Zane Grey's Forlorn River, knocks my socks off because of the friendship between Ben Ide and the former outlaw Nevada.

BUT...I also love shows/books that feature the "lone hero" concept. MacGyver, Hawaii Five-0 (the original in this case), Gunsmoke (yes, each has a supporting cast, but the lead character stands head and shoulders [in James Arness' case, literally] above the rest.

So I have a running list of 18 different novel/novella ideas that I want to develop. Naturally, I decided I ought to review that list of 18 titles and see if they leaned more toward buddy-centered fiction or something else. And as I reviewed the story concepts (some more well developed than others), I found myself surprised by the results:

10 story concepts featuring primarily the Lone Hero
5 story concepts featuring buddies
3 story concepts that were romance (yep--you heard that right. Romance)

Of those 18 titles:
10 were historical genre
6 fall roughly into contemporary suspense
2 contemporary women's fiction

How very interesting, both from a writing and psychological perspective.

I then decided to take those 18 titles or story concepts, and rank them in the order they interested me. I was also quite fascinated to learn that the first 5-6 I chose as a priority were about evenly spattered between Lone Hero, Buddy, or Romance.

How weird is that?

It gives me much to think over. Now that the moving hoo-ha is over and life is beginning to settle down into what passes for normal for me (the constant, wearying drama of the day job aside), I need to get back to writing again. So I need to have this philosophical battle with myself, get it over with, and pick a project to work on next.

All the philosophical debate in the world is useless to me if I don't produce manuscripts. THAT is what it is all about.

We'll Miss You, James Arness!

2011-06-05T21:18:00.000-07:00

I was very bummed to learn of the death of James Arness, better known to all as Marshall Matt Dillon of Gunsmoke, who died on Friday at the age of 88.

Matt Dillon is such an endearing, ageless character, it's really hard to wrap my head around the idea that James Arness, the man who made Matt, could ever die. My condolences to his family and friends.

I know very little of the actor, but what a legacy he left behind in Matt Dillon! And after the 20 year run of Gunsmoke, as the crusty and tough Zeb McCahan in How The West Was Won.

Thanks to James Arness, I had a LOT of great television to watch growing up. Thank you, Mr. Arness. You will be greatly missed.

Putting Writing Career In Perspective

2011-05-31T11:08:00.000-07:00

Do you want to put your writing career in perspective? Just pack up and move.

The last 3 months have been a nightmare. Like everybody else, I deal with a lot of stress on a daily basis. But then there is stress, and then there is STRESS.

Moving qualifies as S-T-R-E-S-S.

Funny how the things of life take up your time. Pre-move, I was caught up in trying to keep up with the publishing industry and find time for my own writing. During the last three months, writing time disappeared altogether and in the last 3 weeks especially, it has felt like "publishing industry? What publishing industry?"

So now, FINALLY, after spending Memorial Weekend packing up and cleaning up and finishing the move to the new location (thankfully I did have sense enough to take time to pause to remember our men and women in the military and those who made the ultimate sacrifice), I only have the chaos of one new household to deal with (well that and the dog being very sick---you know things have devolved when your life is structured around your dog's medication administration and eagerly awaiting the moment they go to the bathroom!).

So other than the dog, only the considerable amount of unpacking and organizing remain.

And to return to some sense of writing normalcy.

To be honest, I skim publishing industry blogs today and realize I just have no interest in them right now. I am just too tired to care about writing. And of course that instills a little fear. I'm thinking, "Have I come all this way only to throw in the towel now?"

But then I have to remind myself---I've just spent three exhausting months preparing to move and moving. I am beyond tired and mentally fatigued.

The drive will come back. Hopefully in time to participate in ACFW's NovelTrack Writing segment in July.

Until then, I just need to unpack, get organized, then rest and regroup to see what the last half of this year brings!

Moving TIp of the Day

2011-05-12T07:57:00.000-07:00

Here's the question I'll be asking myself about all future purchases:

"If I buy it now, will I have to pack it up later?"

ANNOUNCING: Phoenix Rattler Contest

2011-05-11T05:33:00.000-07:00

Christian Writers of the West (CWOW)

Arizona’s ACFW chapter - Announces:

The Phoenix Rattler 2011-2012 writing contest - “Does your story have bite?”

* Contest open to all unpublished novelists
* Send the first scene, up to 10 pages, double spaced
* Deadline Oct 29th 2011, winner announced Feb 11th 2012, fee $25
* Category winners receive $25 prize - All Finalists receive an award certificate
* Grand Prize (worth $515) paid registration to 2012 ACFW Conference (minimum 150 entries)

CATEGORIES & FINAL-ROUND JUDGES:

Contemporary Fiction:
Don Pape, Publisher, David C Cook
Bill Jensen, Owner, William K Jensen Literary Agency

Historical Fiction:
Karen Schurrer, Acquisitions Editor, Adult Fiction, Bethany House
Joyce Hart, Agent, Hartline Literary Agency

Suspense/Thriller/Mystery:
Sue Brower, Executive Editor for Fiction, Zondervan
Elizabeth Mazer, Assistant Editor, Love Inspired Suspense

Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Allegory:
Jeff Gerke, Owner, Marcher Lord Press, Author, Jefferson Scott
Amanda Luedeke, Agent, MacGregor Literary

Young Adult:
Becky Monds, Associate Editor, Fiction, Thomas Nelson
Rachel Kent, Agent, Books & Such LiteraryAgency
Joanna MacKenzie, Browne & Miller Literary Associates

Women’s Fiction:
Ami McConnell, Sr Acquisitions Editor, Fiction, Thomas Nelson
Sandra Bishop, Agent, MacGregor Literary
Judy Mikalonis, Senior Agent, Andrea Hurst & Associates

Romance included in all categories

Watch website for details and entry form: http://www.christianwritersofthewest.weebly.com/

Contest Coordinator: DL Shipley – Rattler (at) dlshipley (dot) com

It's a great contest with a great prize. Happy writing!

Your Dog On High Alert

2011-05-05T08:26:00.000-07:00

Had to pop in and share the humor moment of the day.

Dogs have different barks. My dog, Aztec, has a standard bark, the one that says "My name is Aztec and I want to know everybody's business!" (you know, staring through the slats of the fence into other people's back yards to see what they're doing, etc.).

But every once in a great, great, while, she goes into high alert mode. The tall rigid carriage of her body, and the incessant barking that says "Hey! Something's happening here!" Since it happens so rarely, I pay careful attention when she does do it.

So this morning, sure enough, she went into high alert. My first thoughts were "Great, did someone break into the back yard? Is the place on fire? What?"

So I go out with her into the back yard to see what's going on and she immediately tears off around the corner to the southwest corner of the back yard fence, starts throwing herself against the fence and barking like a mad dog, nose pointed up.

What is it?

There--up in the sky, floating along as peacefully as you please, a REMAX Realty hot air balloon. THAT was the cause of the big ruckus.

Oye. Dogs. You gotta love 'em.

Ladies, Do You Cry More As You Get Older?

2011-05-01T18:48:00.000-07:00

Nope, on this beautiful Lord's day the topic is definitely not writing related. This is a post especially for the ladies.

Inquiring minds want to know---do you find that you cry more often and more easily the older you get? I'm not talking just sadness and tragedy. I'm talking joy and happiness too.

Because I find that I do, and it weirds me out sometimes. And honestly, while there are times of sadness (such as, in the process of sorting and packing, finding my dog, Cody's euthanasia bill from 2007 and a sympathy card from the vet) I find I am simply moved to tears more often for joyful reasons.

For example, you hear a song (like Laura Story's "Blessings" for example or even the Newsboys classic "I Am Free") and you can't help but shed a tear because you're so thankful to know the Lord as your personal Savior. And sometimes it's simply driving down the road taking in the gorgeous scenery that is Arizona and being deeply thankful for the privilege to live here.

So what about you?

Reader Survey: How Do You Search For E-Books?

2011-04-25T06:23:00.000-07:00

I'm looking for reader feedback (for sake of clarity let's keep this to a discussion of FICTION):

1. Have you made the move to buying e-books?

2. How do you search for e-books to buy? (ie. do you only search for favorite authors, do you search by subject, do you search by price? Some other method?)

3. Has the way you shop for books changed when shopping for e-books as opposed to print books? By that I mean, is it now less about cover art and more about some other aspect? Is a catchy title more important to shopping for e-books online? Etc.

4. Where do you go to shop for e-books primarily? (ie. Amazon, Barnes & Noble, individual author websites, other)

5. Do you read more short fiction in this digital age?

I would very much appreciate your insights on this topic. If I get sufficient response, I'll post the results at the end of the week.

The Creepy Library Experience

2011-04-17T08:21:00.000-07:00

I assume my local library is much the same as yours. Gradually, but especially over the last two years, I've watched the number of staff and desk spaces shrink. It used to be that when you entered the library, the entire front area was filled with a bullpen area where staff issued cards, received fine payments, and helped you when you had problems checking out books.

That area has been totally stripped out now and replaced by half a dozen kiosks where people check themselves out. There are a few staff now moved to the near-center of the floor, sandwiched between the audio/video section and the used books for sale section.

But overshadowing all of that on the first floor of my library are banks of computers. Lots and lots of computers that have spread out across the main floor like an oil spill.

And every one of those chairs has a person in them, staring at that computer screen.

Now I'm the first to admit, I'm glued to my computer a lot of the time too. I use it for email, for my writing, my research, to keep in touch with folks, buy stuff, and just about everything else.

But yesterday, as I was walking past the tons of computers to look for a James Scott Bell book, I was creeped out.

Seriously.

I walked past a sea of blank faces, staring at their computer screens, totally oblivious to anything else going on around them. Has the movie Wall-e already arrived? It felt like it. There's just something so creepy about seeing a mass of people staring at a computer. So Alfred Hitchcock-ish. It was like I was living in a city full of zombies.

There must be a book in this somewhere.

Of course this image isn't going to change, unless the first floor of my library eventually has the books removed from it altogether to make space for more computers and more zombies.

I love technology. I really do. I love my laptop. I love my Kindle. But by the same token seeing visually how dependent we are as a people on technology makes me feel completely vulnerable. It's unsettling.

I just need to remember that the Lord of all Creation is also the master of all technology.

Five-0 & The Captain Fallout Ep

2011-04-14T20:55:00.000-07:00

Well I've had my turn at grousing about the 4/11/11 episode of Hawaii Five-0 which aired on Monday night, so now it's only fair to turn the tables and hit the highlights of why I enjoyed the previous episode (episode #19) so much.

Yes, this is still writing related--a creative outlet to analyze episodes and see what worked/didn't work and how I can apply that to my own writing.

I LOVED episode 19. So much so that I've probably watched it a dozen times. LOL! Here are the highlights of why:

* Excellent use of humor sprinkled throughout the episode such as:
- the blank look on Steve's face when Max is describing the history of Captain Fallout. LOL!
- I especially loved the interaction with Steve, Danno and Johnny D when they pointed out to the guy the snowglobe represented Seattle, not Paris. Double LOL!
- I LOVED the line from the guy dressed as a commander from Star Trek DS9 when he said (RE Uhura) "She was a sister, and she answered the phone. I'M a commander!" Even though I think Nichelle Nichols ought to smack him for that, it still made me laugh my head off. 8-)
* Good balance and use of the whole team--they were all used to good advantage and I got some good Steve as team leader/problem solver (this is an area of adjustment for me with the new series. While Steve and Danno worked closely together in the original, the line was not as blurred as it is in this series--there was no mistaking at any time that Steve McGarrett was the head honcho.)

* Great use of secondary characters in this episode. Whoever casted these folks did a great job. Loved the guy who played Johnny D--he was so much fun I just didn't have the heart to be upset with him for being a thief. *-)

* The episode pulled at me emotionally. Now maybe you could explain it away by saying I'm going through a mushy, sentimental phase in life. But I thought the progression of the investigation, and the personalities involved was a great lesson for myself and everybody else. This episode really made me stop and think--each decision we make in life has consequences. Oftentimes we make decisions with little thought or anticipation. Could this woman have ever envisioned that her crime of passion in 2008 would result in the death of a man she didn't even know in 2011? That touched me on behalf of all the characters and it touched me on behalf of myself and thinking about the way I make choices.

And if an episode hits me on that level, I know they've done a very fine job of it. Excellent, excellent episode.

Five-0 Episode Aired 4/11/11

2011-04-12T07:36:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned here previously, I don't have television at home and I've only seen one full episode of Five-0 before last night, along with a bunch of short clips on Hulu that drew me in.

Last week, I arranged to go over to a friend's house last night to watch the latest Five-0 episode. I waited all week with great anticipation, having been impressed with most of what I'd seen of the show thus far.

Man was I disappointed. The episode had no tension (there's a reminder for novelists as well). Starts out with a tense opener that turns out to be easily solved with technology (cell phone). Then I think "Ooh! A complication of stormy weather!" That too fizzles. Steve mentions a storm, but the weather, and the episode, remain for the most part boringly calm. And a really fast med-evac, then even the murder seems to be solved too easily.

The episode was not without it's good points. I'm enjoying being fed bit by bit more insights into Steve's family and his pursuit of his family's killers. There were a few good bits of humor. While I thought it could have packed more punch, I enjoyed the insight into Chin and Kono's family and the reference to what happened with the money--the one scene was very touching. But for me, the episode fell flat on its face.

But even with great disappointment, I found myself looking at the specifics of that disappointment and asking myself what I can learn from it as a writer. I took away a few things:

1. Don't introduce what seems like a promise of conflict then not deliver. A no tension story is a boring story. If you mention a storm, there better be a good reason for it. If you make an implicit contract with the reader with a tense situation, don't deflate it like a popped baloon. Unless you've got a seriously powerful and more interesting reason for doing so. Characters who get out of difficult situations easily are annoying to the reader. In last night's episode, I would much rather have spent it watching Steve and Danny have to fight to get out of that remote location, rather than exiting faster than you can blink. The opening of the story broke the implied promise. Then think what tension that would have been for Chin and Kono--a dying Aunt, the question of the missing money, and two team members they can't get access to. THAT would have been tension.

2. Multiple plotlines are great if they are well done. But if even one of those threads are weak, chances are the whole story will be weak.

3. Make sure you don't skim the surface of your protagonist's emotions. It's one thing if the character is intentionally hard to get to know. But it's another thing to hold yourself aloof from the depths of your character's being. The reader can spot shallowness, even if they can't give voice to the reason.

Of course just as with scriptwriting, those things are not so easy to do in a novel. But when you achieve those things, it makes an emotionally satisfying story.

Konrath & Eisler and Tagging Books

2011-04-04T07:12:00.000-07:00

Happy Monday! (Okay, I know that’s a contradiction in terms, but work with me here) *-)

I’m here in my role as publishing industry sponge and thought I’d pass along a couple of links of interest. Sorry I don’t have time to synthesize the gist, you’ll have to dig into them for yourselves:

Konrath & Eisler Take 2:

Below is a follow up post to that 13K mega-post from a week or so ago. Well worth the follow up read.

http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2011/04/ebooks-and-self-publishing-part-2_03.html

AND—

Tagging Your Books Online:

The below link will be a helpful article for you to read if a) you already have ebooks online and want to learn how to give them more reach or b) you will be putting an e-book online and want to take one step closer to unraveling one small part of the marketing mystery.

For people like me who reel at the thought of marketing, specific and directed posts like this one build my knowledge base up one block at a time:

http://theworstbookever.blogspot.com/2011/04/tagging-your-book-and-ebook-on-amazon.html

And don’t forget today is Make-A-Difference-Monday. Make a difference in someone’s life today!

There's A Down-side To Being A Bookworm

2011-03-30T06:52:00.000-07:00

With the continuing downward economic slide, I'm faced with the great likelihood of having to go from lone-wolf status to moving in with a roommate to share costs. In advance of that liklihood, I'm beginning to pack up 14 years of lone-wolf living into boxes.

This will be my third move. When I moved from my parents house in Maryland to North Carolina, everything I owned fit in the trunk of my car. When I moved from North Carolina to Arizona, my car was stuffed full (my poor dog had to jam himself in amongst all the stuff for the 2500 mile ride) plus have 6 or 8 moving cartons shipped to me. In both Maryland and North Carolina, I was dwelling in one room.

Here in Arizona, I have had an apartment to myself for 14 years. Five rooms. I am NOT a packrat. I have been very rabid about enforcing with family and friends to NOT buy me knick-knacks (mostly because I hate dusting). It took several years of training, but by and large I have finally broken them of the habit.

But I am amazed (and terribly depressed) at how much stuff you can accumulate in 14 years. EGADS!!!!

The two greatest culprits in terms of taking up space? My video collection and books.

I probably have about 300 or more VHS tapes. I taped a lot of tennis matches during the Stefan Edberg and Andre Agassi years (side note: there's a 5.5 hour match between Stefan Edberg and Michael Chang at the U.S. Open that I love to rewatch occasionally because as a writer, I need the same thing Stefan Edberg did to win that match--dogged persistence. He needed IV's after the match but he got the job done. I still glow with pride just thinking of it!). Those are things I can't replace. I also taped a lot of TV shows. Some have finally come out on DVD and I can throw those VHS tapes away, but some I still hold onto because these shows still haven't been made available or the DVD's are too pricy. VHS tapes take up a LOT of space. Trust me on this.

But at least in the case of VHS tapes, I can eventually buy one of those machines (at least I hope so) that converts the format to DVD. And I'd like to do that before the VHS tape quality declines. Having VHS tapes also means you can't just store them anywhere, a big consideration here in the hot southwest climate.

But then we move on to the big bugger--BOOKS. Lots and lots of books. Double egads! And this is a problem I'm not likely to ever solve. As I posted in the last few months, one of the terrific benefits of Kindle is not buying paper copies of fiction titles, or even an occasional non-fic title if its one I'm not going to flip through a lot.

But as a rule, I have always bought much more non-fiction than fiction. So while Kindle is saving me a little space, I still have all my non-fic titles and am destined by trade to accumulate more. And since I'm always researching history for my writing, the books are not only many but those many are big in size (think the Time Life Old West series, or the huge tomes you first found in the libraries that are coffee table size books).

But boy oh boy, books are a BEAR to pack up. But out of all my household items these are what I treasure the most. I'll throw out furniture and gadgets before I throw out my books.

But I have learned to give up some books. I used to buy some that I would read once but never touch again, say, a political book or social issues of the day. It took a long time but I learned how to toss them.

Nevertheless, I can guarantee that after I make this move, I'm going to scrutinize each book purchase even more carefully than I already do and make sure I want to lug that next book to my next abode. 8-)

Hawaii Five-0 aka "Hey Mikey, she likes it!"

2011-03-29T08:14:00.000-07:00

We interrupt our regularly scheduled writer broadcasting to discuss fluff. 8-)

Anybody who knows me knows I hate remakes of any sort. Movies and television shows that get reincarnated almost always universally stink. I’m a firm believer that once the magic of a show is done, it’s done. There’s no going back.

Enter Hawaii Five-0 circa 2010. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I actually like this show.

But the whole thing is very weird.

I should preface my comments by saying that I don’t have cable TV (or TV at all), so I can’t actually watch the show. My only exposure to the new show is from watching the sole full episode (#19) that is available for viewing on the internet, and watching the many small film clips on hulu.com. I also perused some of the fan fiction, which, while it’s not uncommon for fanfic authors to write out-of-character of the show in question, you can still get a good baseline for the gist of a show.

By watching the many small film clips available, I’ve been able to piece together the gist of the show, and the main characters.

First the bad news. This show doesn’t appear to have much of anything in common with the old one. Yes, they took the same show title; the same character names (though Kono appears to have shrunk and had a sex change operation), a close theme song and a few seconds of similar opening credit photography (I especially like that they kept the “Steve McGarrett turning around on the high-rise” and the end scene with all the flashing lights and view of the city.)

But there the similarities end.

The only similarity I have noticed to the old show is that the original Steve McGarrett came from a naval intelligence background. So does this one.

But this Steve McGarrett is nothing like the old one. Without being able to see episodes, I still haven’t answered the big question in my mind. The appeal of the old show was Steve’s intelligence, his ability to figure things out and outwit the bad guy. And there are Jack Lord mannerisms that are synonymous with Steve McGarrett to me such as the finger-snapping while he’s figuring things out.

I’ve seen no finger snapping. But that’s all right. They shouldn’t try to approximate Jack Lord’s unbeatable portrayal. I am seeing some of that intelligence and figuring out of things in this Steve McGarrett, but not enough to tell for sure how closely that parallels the old. But I really like who they selected to play Steve in this version (Alex O’Loughlin). He’s a great choice and I have quickly become drawn to him as a lead character. I can see lots of potential there if the show’s writing is good.

I also like the actor who plays Chin Ho Kelly. He seems to have a lot of charisma and appeal and I like the calm intelligence he portrays which I also recall was part of the original Chin’s character.

I’m still reeling a bit that they kept the Kono character’s name and gave him a sex change operation. Weird. Nevertheless, this Kono appears very likeable as well.

The character I have the most problems with is Danno. There is absolutely no similarity whatsoever between this Danno and the old. And that wouldn’t bother me so much except that this Danno comes across as extremely obnoxious a great deal of the time. While I think some degree of the antagonistic banter between him and Steve is needed, sometimes this actor, either by his choice or the producer’s, seems to go well over the top. Call it over-acting, call it unhoned instincts about a character. Whatever you call it, I hope that as Scott Caan settles into this role in subsequent seasons that he will tone it down just a little. As he comes across right now, if I were Steve I would be very hard pressed to work with him on a daily basis and would be tempted to dangle him off the edge of the high rise like he did a perp. No one wants to hang out with someone who is overly obnoxious all the time.

Maybe I will change my mind about him as more episodes are made available on the net. We’ll see. But right now, I view him as the weak link. But all it requires for a fix is to just scale back a titch on the obnoxiousness.

I love the macho, butt-kicking style of the show as I’ve seen it so far, but hope they will also allow for some good solid friendships to grow between the characters too. It would be nice to sense that it’s not just all macho bluff and bluster (even Kono-ette seems good at carrying out macho bluff and bluster), but genuine caring as well. I haven’t been able to absorb that from the film clips I’ve seen thus far.

Mostly, I’m just reeling at the fact that I actually LIKE a remake. Mark this date on your calendars. LOL! And it’s the first time since I gave up watching television in 1992, that I wished I had TV.

The Konrath/Eisler Discussion

2011-03-27T21:14:00.000-07:00

Unless you've been vacationing on a remote island with no communications links of any sort, you know the digital publishing age keeps turning the publishing world on its ear. As an offshoot of digital publishing, authors who want to indie publish their work have more opportunities than ever.

Below is a conversation between indie-publisher JA Konrath and Barry Eisler, who made a splash this month when he turned down a $500K offer to go the indie-publishing route. Here's the link:

http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2011/03/ebooks-and-self-publishing-dialog.html

If you're the least bit interested in publishing your stories, this article is a must read. Two warnings. First, this is a LONG post--you'll need probably a good hour and a half to set aside and digest all it contains, but is well worth the time investment. Also, fair warning, there are a couple occurrences of swear words but just a few.

Much food for thought here, no matter your opinion of the current market.

Finding The Publishing Industry Blog For You

2011-03-26T22:34:00.000-07:00

Publishing industry related blogs have been on my mind a lot lately because I’m becoming painfully aware of how much of my time they take up, surfing and reading.

But I am also utterly fascinated with them because there are blogs for all kinds of blog readers within the industry. I have always had a fairly substantial list of blogs that I’d visit to soak up information or be entertained, but I’m realizing more and more that I need to gain some control over my voracious blog reading appetite because it is robbing valuable time from me.

But I can’t give up my blog reading. It is too valuable. So I decided perhaps I need to compartmentalize my blog reading habit and decide which blogs I will check daily and which weekly. And the way I decide how often I view a blog is contingent on whether I view for entertainment, education, or straight industry business. Here is a brief list of blogs I have visited and what you can expect content wise:

Writing Business Blogs:

The Shatzkin Files
http://www.idealog.com/blog/
What It Is At A Glance: Strictly business.
How Often I Visit: Weekly
Benefits: This is a blog I only need to check weekly because that’s roughly how often it’s updated. Be warned, the content in this blog is NOT going to appeal to the creative within you. This blog is “strictly business” ie. the business side of the publishing world. But Mr. Shatzkin, President & CEO of The Idea Logical Company, always has extremely insightful posts about the business of publishing and this digital age. Well worth a weekly check if you truly desire to understand how publishing works.
CBA Ramblings
http://cba-ramblings.blogspot.com/
What It Is At A Glance: business (relaxed)
How Often I Visit: Weekdays
Benefits: Rachelle Gardner is an agent with WordServe Literary. Ms. Gardner updates her blog Mon-Fri and will appeal to both your angsty creative side and to your business side, not to mention, it’s a place to go to keep your name in front of an agent by posting your comments (and if you don’t believe people do this, go look at the volume of comments!).

This blog is beneficial for people desiring information on how to enter the competitive publishing arena. Content can get repetitive (after all, how many fresh ways can an agent find to repost the same information about contracts, agents, etc?).

The key to this blog’s success, in my opinion, is that in addition to giving clear guidance and suggestions on the process of publishing, this agent openly invites discussion and opinions, and who of us does not have an opinion on just about everything?
Books & Such Literary Agency
http://www.booksandsuch.biz/blog/
What It Is At A Glance: Business (relaxed)
How Often I Visit: 1-2 times per week
Benefits: The business of publishing from an agent’s perspective. I’m not a frequent reader of these posts but do find good content here sometimes. I probably only frequent this blog less because I tend to get my “Agency perspective” fix over at CBA Ramblings more often than not.

The Philosophical Blogs:

Into The Fire
http://hopeofglory.typepad.com/
What It Is At A Glance: Philosophy, creativity, controversy
How Often I Visit: Daily
Benefits: Nicole is a deep thinking, deep feeling writer who gives the impression that she does not fit the commonly accepted mold of the CBA writer (please note--MY words, not hers). Her blog will appeal to you if you’ve ever hungered for a certain type of book in the CBA market and not found it. I confess, it is a common occurrence for me to spend a good 30 minutes a day (sometimes more) pondering or replying to one of her posts. I like that she makes me think. I like that she challenges assumptions. I do not get the impression she does this for the sake of argument, but because she truly feels the need to raise some subjects up for discussion. You may not agree with what she posts, but I like her boldness, her forthrightness, and the fact that she will travel in uncharted territory, including giving political or other updates on Saturday, outside the normal writing blog posts of Monday through Friday. Nicole blogs outside the status quo and gives me a fresh perspective to think about, and for me at least, that makes her blog stand out.

Mike Duran
http://mikeduran.com/
What It Is At A Glance: Philosophy, creativity, controversy
How Often I Visit: Twice a week
Benefits: I enjoy Mike’s blog for much the same reason as I do Nicole’s. He addresses topics outside the status quo or gives a fresh look at standard topics in the publishing industry. It is worth a visit simply to look at the captivating artwork that serves as the banner of his homepage. Again, I enjoy his posts because he makes me think, even if I don’t always agree.

The Writing & Creativity Blogs:

The Kill Zone
http://killzoneauthors.blogspot.com/
What It Is At A Glance: Business, creativity, fun
How Often I Visit: Daily
Shout Out: My favorite blog of all
Benefits: I confess, this is my favorite blog of all for several reasons:

• It’s a smart blog. By that I mean, 11 mystery/suspense authors pooled their resources to design a blog with a catchy name and great content. The 11 authors who take turns with posts are: Clare Langley-Hawthorne, Kathryn Lilley, Kathleen Pickering, Joe Moore, Nancy Cohen, Michelle Gagnon, Jordan Dane, John Gilstrap, Joe Hartlaub, John Ramsey Miller, James Scott Bell. It just makes good sense to divvy out the blog posting duties and it’s a blog I hold up as a fine example of that skill.

• Even if you don’t read mystery/suspense (I read some but am primarily a historical reader) this blog is very relevant.

• My favorite blog post ever was at The Kill Zone, including probably the best line I ever saw in a blog: “Do you want to be an insurgent?” To understand this, you can read the full post here: http://killzoneauthors.blogspot.com/2011/02/no-target-escaped-alive.html

• This blog is a great mix of writing industry business, creativity, and fun.

• These authors make it a point to interact with their blog readers and this genuine give and take is one of its strongest selling points. They truly have achieved community, which is very hard to do.
Novel Matters
http://novelmatters.blogspot.com/
What It Is At A Glance: A place to discuss literary writing
How Often I Visit: 3 times a week (which is how often it is updated)
Benefits: A fantastic site to feed and nurture the creative within you.

Novel Journey
http://noveljourney.blogspot.com/
What It Is At A Glance: A co-op of authors who share blog posting duty. Covers marketing, creativity, and other writer specific topics.
How Often I Visit: Weekdays
Benefits: Greatest perk? I always look forward to when it’s Athol Dickson’s turn to post. I always find his stuff very insightful. This blog also often has many useful articles and tips, though I tend to skip author interviews (on this and other blogs).

Writer Unboxed
http://writerunboxed.com/
What It Is At A Glance: Author co-op, Creativity and Business
How Often I Visit: Weekdays
Benefits: This site is a recent discovery for me but has quickly become a favorite for the outstanding variety of helpful articles on creativity and business, with the added bonus of some fantastic cartoons periodically shared.

Seekerville
http://seekerville.blogspot.com/
What It Is At A Glance: Author co-op, Creativity and Business
How Often I Visit: 4-5 times a week (updated daily)
Benefits: I don’t read the full blog posts often because the frequent updates make it difficult, but I do skim most days of the week. Good community established on this blog and contributors are very good at interacting with commenters on this community. Geared specifically toward romance.

Summary:
I find it interesting that my favorite blogs are co-op blogs. I wish I had known about co-op blogs before I started my own, because I would much rather participate as a member of a group blog then do my own show. When the time is right, I will probably make the switch.

At any rate, there are many great informative and fun blogs out there. A writer who is looking to improve their writing or learn the business has oodles of information at the click of a mouse. I hope you’ll find this list helpful.

Build A Better Crit Partner: Taking It To The Next Level

2011-03-22T06:58:00.004-07:00

Build a better crit partner. That's the aim of this post.

A crit partner or crit group is an indispensable resource. I have been helped a great deal by various crit partners over the years and I'm thankful for their investment of time and energy into my work. I know likewise I have been able to help others by critting their work.

But like automobiles, when we critiquers get some mileage on us, we need a tune-up so we can run better--and everyone benefits.

This post will wrap up thoughts from the Dangers of Taking Advice On Writing we discussed in late February. If you are not familiar with those posts, to sum up, we discussed that sometimes allowing the Ironclad Rules of Writing to be driven into your head like a spike can become a bad thing. Sometimes it can even cause writing paralysis.

I've been thinking about what adherence to the ironclad rules of writing does to a person's ability to critique. We are all taught these same ironclad rules, so naturally, critiquers are generally spotting the same things and giving the same advice.

As critiquers we all want to give our absolute best advice to our writing friends. But sometimes I think we forget to think outside the box. Let's examine a few issues--a few comments critiquers usually make out of habit:

Critique Advice: Use only 1 POV per scene.
How many times have we all heard this one? How many times have we given this same advice? The majority of time, this advice is undoubtedly sound. But there may come a time when to get that extra edge in a scene, someone's work requires stepping outside that particular rule. As a critiquer, do we quote this rule by habit, because it's "what everybody does" or do we cite this rule because it is necessary to that person's book? Being receptive to when a manuscript can "break the rules" can make the difference between cookie cutter writing and a fresh new approach.

Critique Advice: There are too many characters in the opening of this book.
Okay, this one is a pet peeve of mine and one I could spend an entire blog post on. Again, it's advice we've all either dispensed or received countless times. Often, I fear, from habit, and from having the rule drilled into us. The danger of this advice? Assuming readers are dumb. It is one thing if you have a bunch of characters that are not uniquely defined, one from the other, and there is indeed a balancing act to how and when to introduce a series of characters. But I was able to read War & Peace and distinguish the characters, thank you very much, so in the name of giving credit to readers for a little intelligence, please don't quote this rule from habit. As a critiquer, the goal is to clear up any muddy areas, but NOT take away tools in the writer's toolbox for telling their unique story.

Have you noticed the common thread in these two pieces of advice?

Both are geared to make the author's writing more clear. To eradicate confusion for the reader.

And since we need to be able to communicate clearly with our writing, making our work clear is absolutely necessary. But maybe those ironclad rules aren't always the way to achieve that goal of making the writing less confusing.

But there's another element that's MISSING from this common pieces of advice: We often quote the same rules, but seldom offer comments on how to take it to the next level.

What would take this writer's piece from good to fantastic? What would make the difference between a book read once and set aside to a book treasured and re-read multiple times? After all, isn't that our heart's desire? I don't lay awake dreaming about the books I write thinking "It'll be the highest achievement of my life to write a book that adheres to all the rules of writing." YAWN! No, I want to write a story that the reader won't forget!

So why do critiquers spend more time simply making a submission "rule" compliant rather than looking for the extraordinary?
1. Habit
2. Perhaps rushed to get the crit done
3. Sometimes may simply not know what to suggest for how to take it to the next level.

I am guilty of all these things at one time or another. I suspect every critiquer is. Especially if you have problems saying "no" and end up critting for more people than you truly have time to help. To me, it is better to restrict your number of crits and take time to think outside the box than to spread yourself too thin and become a rule spouter.

Don't get me wrong--I don't think anyone does this with the intention of harm. I find writers to be very giving of their time and energy to other writers. And writers do need a foundation of rules to guide them. The key thing is to remember that rules serve a purpose--achieving clarity for the reader, and are not an end in themselves.

Let's help each other. Let's strive to surpass rules and achieve extraordinary writing!

Traditional or Self-Publishing: More Authors Diving In?

2011-03-21T07:08:00.003-07:00

As an unpublished author, I feel less than apt to understand the complexities of the publishing business, be it the traditional or self-publishing model. I do know that as technology changes the way things work, and as traditional publishers offer less value to the author and by the same token push more work off on the author, the more I question whether or not traditional publishing is the right way to go, regardless of how much harder still it is to get your book out there as a self-pubbed e-author.

So I turn to people much more knowledgeable than me to listen to all sides of the debate.

Extremely interesting blog post today at this link (this blog is always very informative--if you haven't already, I suggest you bookmark it):

http://www.idealog.com/blog/eislers-decision-is-a-key-benchmark-on-the-road-to-wherever-it-is-were-going

In short, it examines a decision made by an author to pass up a $500,000 offer by a traditional publisher to go the self-pub route.

Regardless of what route to publishing you choose, it is necessary to be informed. Publishing, in either realm, is not for the faint of heart.

The Black Hole That Is Research

2011-03-18T21:02:00.003-07:00

I want to point you to a great post on research and writing by Jeanne Kisacky. It is probably the most well articulated article on research I have read. When I read this post, I truly knew that the author had experienced the ins and outs of research--that she understood how research is great on the one hand but can become a controlling monster on the other.

I felt like she'd been sitting in my home office, staring over my shoulder while I was researching. 8-) Here's the link:

http://writerunboxed.com/2010/05/23/writing-comes-before-research-or-at-least-at-the-same-time/

One of the Dumbest Comments From A News Agency

2011-03-17T06:28:00.003-07:00

My heart grieves over the situation in Japan and it is my constant prayer that they will get all the resources and rescue personnel they need to recover as many people as possible and deal with the massive, massive disaster resulting from last week's quake/tsunami.

I try NOT to read too many articles about it and thankfully I'm spared from 24/7 news reports because I don't have cable TV. But this morning I read an article which made me so sad and mad at the same time.

The news article reports: "U.S. officials took pains not to criticize the Japanese government, which has shown signs of being overwhelmed by the crisis that began after last Friday's devastasting 9.0 magnitude earthquake and resulting tsunami."

"...shown signs of being overwhelmed"

Um....HELLO? Of COURSE they're overwhelmed, as any nation would be by such a disaster. What an idiotic thing to say.

And criticism? Give me a break. Yes, I know both Japan and all the nations of the world need to learn from this about how to do things better, but what Japan really needs right now is focus on rescue, recovery and restoration, NOT criticism. And what foolish ingrates we are to worry about criticism or political posturing at a time like this.

It is only by the grace of God this didn't happen to us, or some other country. And there's no guarantee such a terrible disaster might not occur again.

My heart also grieves for the countless pets who have no doubt been abandoned and left for dead in the face of this disaster. That too, I have to try not to think about much because the thought of a dog, as well as a person, waiting for help that doesn't come just tears me up.

I pray the Lord will give the Japanese authorities clear thinking amdist the stratosphere of stress, and energy to all rescue personnel and nations and companies involved in the rescue effort, that communications will be good so that people and materials can get where they need to be, when they need to be there. And of course, for all of those, two legged and four legged, who are crying out for rescue, that they will be saved.

You Gotta Be Fast, Girl

2011-03-01T21:28:00.002-07:00

Post script to my excitement of reading James Scott Bell's fantastic novel, Try Dying.

I went to the library yesterday. Decided I'd check and see if the second in the series was there because I didn't want to wait until the next time I made it to B&N to get the book. They had the book, Try Darkness, but I stood there in front of the library book shelf, having an argument with myself (I do this a lot). This time arguing back and forth with myself as to how wise it was to check out another book to read when I had a story of my own to be working on.

So---I put it back on the shelf then rushed out the door to make my dr's appt. But then I came back to the library 2 hours later. I said to myself, "Self, you found a good book series. Get the next one!" So I went zipping over to the bookshelf only to find...

SOMEONE HAD CHECKED IT OUT IN THE SHORT TIME I WAS GONE!!!!!

Sigh. When you snooze, you lose. When will I ever learn? Indecisiveness just doesn't pay...

My Love Affair (With My Kindle)

2011-02-26T18:03:00.002-07:00

Can I just say, again, how much I LOVE LOVE LOVE my Kindle?

How in the world did I function before I got this thing?

And the weirdest thing is, I figured I'd be the last person in the world to fall for an electronic book reading device. HA! Made a fool out of me! (but wouldn't be the first time)

I've already got like 62 books and short stories downloaded to this thing. And to put that in perspective, I've only had my Kindle since JANUARY 2011.

Or put another way, I've probably got 10 years worth of reading already downloaded to my Kindle yet the insatiable hunger to keep finding and downloading continues.

Granted, the vast majority of my downloads are free, because you can download tons of classic books for free. Having recently finished Tolstoy's War and Peace, I'm very anxious to begin reading Anna Karenina, which I heard is even better still. But I had to set rules for myself--I can't start Anna Karenina until I finish Dickens A Tale of Two Cities, which I confess is going slowly and I haven't quite figured out what's going on in that book yet.

Despite the free downloads I mentioned above, one of the most exciting things to me as a consumer is that with the power of Kindle, I now can be a book-buying consumer MORE than when my only option was paper books.

This may not make sense to someone else, but I have always felt guilty that I can't buy more books. As a writer, I understand that selling books brings home the bacon. And I love contributing by purchase of books. There's only one problem with that. I also enjoy having a roof over my head and food on the table and having a car to get back and forth to work in. That means near zero book budget. What money I have had to spend on books has gone to books I buy for my research, not fiction works.

But Kindle has begun to change that. And I have been seeing very rapid changes in Kindle offerings. I remember complaining to someone that the old blue-spine Hardy Boys books were not available on Kindle. Then, I kid you not, within the next week, they began to appear. Ditto when I first started looking for James Michener on Kindle--he wasn't there at first. But I'm pleased as punch to say I just ordered a copy of Chesapeake today for $7. SEVEN. Much cheaper than the average price of $13-15 for a paperback book (though you can buy used Michener books for around the $7-8 figure--minus the portability).

HINT TO AMAZON AND PUBLISHERS: I'd really like it if you'd make Michener's TEXAS available for Kindle too. 8-)

So now I have tons of books to read on the go AND I feel like a contributing consumer.

Not all e-book prices are reasonable though--you have to search for the best deals. For me, anything over $10 is immediately off the table, but I'm willing to consider books in the $6-8 range and, for something I desperately want, I'd go the $9.99 route, and you can find a lot of books with the $9.99 sticker.

The big question mark for me is non-fiction. On the one hand, I'd love to see offerings from the University of Oklahoma Press, and others who specialize in the kind of research books I love, make their books available on Kindle for the portability. The only problem is that with these types of books, you don't read them cover to cover--you flip to the pages you need. That would be hard to do with an e-reader. Perhaps they'll find a way to make this easier with future generations of e-readers.

All I know is that I adore my Kindle. To my sisters, if you should ever happen to visit this blog, THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART for opening this new opportunity for me.

The Dangers of Looking For/Taking Advice On Writing, Part II

2011-02-25T06:57:00.003-07:00

Here is one example of how listening to the Ironclad Rules of Writing can be dangerous:

In the last week, I read a blog post where the blog's author summarized the openings of 3 manuscripts they had received. In essence, she was using those openings as examples of books that opened in an action/high stakes moment but did not allow the reader an opportunity to get to know or care about the characters before launching into that action/high stake. In other words, these openings did not work for her.

Like a doctor who is reading abnormal lab results and immediately zeroes in on the diagnosis behind the readings, I knew instantly what had happened to these three writers. The probable cause of a less-than-satisfactory opening was very likely that these writers had been crushed under the weight of the Ironclad Rules of Writing.

I was very grieved by this. Now I must be clear on this. I do not know the writers (they and their writings were anonymous). I do not know their writing journey, if this was their first manuscript or their fifth, published or unpublished. But it seemed crystal clear to me that these writers had been stamped by the rules of writing.

Specifically, they'd been crushed under the hammer of the rule that is taught everywhere that "you must begin your book in the middle of the action." This is taught so often that we've come to take it, pardon the term, as gospel.

That blog post and the assessment of those writers' openings impacted me very deeply. I was grieved for the authors of those works and for myself and other writers they represented. I was reminded of the times and countless hours I have spent arguing and going rounds with myself on the best opening for a book, and most often succumbing to this "start in the middle of the action" rule.

How would I feel, if I wrote and rewrote a manuscript, designing it to the consistent instruction of the industry, only to then be told my opening starts too far in the action and that it doesn't allow us to get to know or care about the characters? It would be annoying to say the least.

These authors represent the masses of writers who probably spend months and years on a hamster wheel because they were steam-rolled by the Ironclad Rules of Writing.

Think of it for a moment--what is the one comment you hear most often from writers who submit their work? Aside from complaints of how long it takes to get a response from the agent, editor, etc., probably the other thing you will hear them say is "they gave editor or agent X what they wanted, and STILL they were rejected." There are a whole host of very valid reasons for being rejected, and we can't digress to discuss them here. But in our example, these writers listened to the well-meaning advice of literally tons of people in the business, both online and in craft books, and get a "opening doesn't work, I need to care about the characters" type rejection of the opening. From there, they either spend more months and years writing and rewriting their openings or, sad to say, throw in the towel and give up.

Don't get me wrong. "The buck stops here" applies to writers. Ultimately, we are responsible for the quality or lack of quality of our stories. And the real kicker? We NEED to study our craft to improve, including listening and screening vast amounts of writerly advice.

But if there is one piece of advice I'd give new writers (there's that dreaded advice again), I would say listen, learn, absorb. But above all--

DO NOT ALLOW THESE MASSIVE RESOURCES AND ADVICE TO CRUSH YOUR WRITING INSTINCT!

This gets back to the idea that writing is extremely personal. We know our stories better than anyone. And while we must always be receptive to feedback from others, we must also listen very carefully to our own instincts. After all, isn't one of the reasons we write due to an innate desire to be heard? So isn't it counter-productive to ignore our own deepest instincts about our story?

And this leads to my second bit of advice for new writers:

Industry blogs and books will become addictive (the writer's drug of choice), so learn to limit your intake FROM THE START.

There is much valuable information on craft, marketing, business, trends, and a million other topics pertinent to writers out there on the Internet or in books. Go into your writing career keeping your reading of these sources at a manageable level. Set limits. In addition to being bogged down by rules, you can easily spend hours a day keeping up with the industry. You will provide plenty of time for yourself to craft the best novel possible if you don't allow your industry reading to become a monster in your life.

As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, I really do wish I had written several manuscripts first and THEN gotten immersed in studying the craft. That way my own instincts would have been honed to a much deeper level and I would have been better prepared to mesh my instincts with the rules. All I can do from this day forward is be bold. I need to be teachable, but I also need to trust my instincts. That takes boldness.

Two more posts to come on this subject. Next we'll look at some of the most annoying Ironclad Rules of Writing and then we'll look at ways we as critiquers can challenge ourselves when evaluating another writer's work.

The Dangers of Looking For/Taking Advice On Writing, Part I

2011-02-24T07:42:00.003-07:00

If I had my writing journey to do all over again, I would write a bunch of manuscripts first and THEN study the craft, once my own personal writing instincts were deeply entrenched.

That is a comment I made on another writer's blog recently.

I can't speak for other writers, but I think anyone who strives to take what's inside them and craft it into a fictional narrative of novel length is taking a big risk. We have to take the business end of publishing impersonally, but writing is very personal. As a result, we want it to be the best it can be and are insecure in how to achieve our best writing.

So what do we do? We troll for knowledge; for help on crafting the best story we can; we try to synethesize the craft of writing into some basic formula we can apply to that mass of words churning in our gut.

And it is about this time, if we are not careful, that our own instinct begins to wilt in the face of that overpowering synthesis.

Writing is art. Writing is subjective. Even if we took two best-selling novels and distilled common successful elements of both and proclaimed them to be standards of good writing, you are just as likely to find two more novels that have a completely different set of successful "standards."

But writers are voracious in their quest for "good writing" parameters and there are many who are eager to please and honestly striving to help writers improve. In fact, on the whole, I have found all people in the publishing industry, whether agents, editors, or authors, to be very gracious and giving of their time and knowledge to help writers. In fact, the only time I hear anyone in the industry being less than gracious is the occasional comment from a writer about how every Tom, Dick and Harry is out to write a book and is cluttering up the slush pile--as if people aspiring to write books is a bad thing!

But overall, people are very willing to help writers and this is very admirable.

Until the help leads to what are touted to be "The Ironclad Rules of Writing." Innately those who dispense writing advice know there are multiple ways to write a great story, but for sake of a standard framework, the same rules are quoted repeatedly and, since there are a million blogs and books on the writing craft, these rules are repeated and amplified and kept thrumming in your head until the average insecure writer can no longer hear their own instinct calling out to them about their story. It reminds me of the old stamp mills used in mining where the huge iron cylinder would thunder down on top of unsuspecting rock and crush it.

I'll say again, industry people who offer advice are not out to crush writers with rules. They are trying to provide what we want--a magical formula or set of standards. But our writer's brains don't usually properly screen this freighter full of rules and it leads to trouble.

That's why, though you will occasionally find "how to" posts at Arizona Inspiration, my focus is on the writer's journey, not the rules.

Tomorrow I'll give you an example of why listening to the Ironclad Rules of Writing can be dangerous.

Don't Read Mark Twain at the Bookstore Cafe

2011-02-19T23:42:00.002-07:00

In the midst of running errands today, I took some time to swing by the bookstore for a browse and to sit in the cafe and download some Zane Grey titles to my Kindle, along with a few pieces by Mark Twain.

While sipping Dr Pepper (yeah, I know people go to these places for coffee, but I hate coffee) and munching on an oatmeal raisin cookie, I was reading a couple short pieces of Mark Twain's. Oh my goodness. I'd forgotten how funny he was. It's a dangerous thing to sit alone at Barnes & Noble reading Mark Twain. I'm quite certain both patrons and employees alike thought the chick in the horse shirt hunched over her e-reader and giggling was NUTS! 8-)

Too much funny stuff to quote but let me excerpt here from On The Decay Of The Art Of Lying:

If a stranger called and interrupted you, you said with your hearty tongue, "I'm glad to see you," and said with your heartier soul, "I wish you were with the cannibals and it was dinner-time."

Humor is one of the most difficult things to write. To be able to write it consistently is remarkable. Mark Twain was certainly a master at it.

It's good to laugh!

It's Official--My Local Borders Is Closing

2011-02-19T08:31:00.004-07:00

As we've discussed on this blog, some bookstores are struggling. Borders in particular has been struggling for quite a while, in part because it waited too long to enter the e-reader market and diversify itself.

The last few times I've been in my local Borders it was a shell of its former self.

Well I woke up to an email this morning stating that this particular store will be closing. It's not a surprise, but it is sad. I've had Arizona Screenwriters meetings there in the past. And my local crit group spent some time meeting there years ago as well.

My hopes and prayers are that the displaced workers at Borders will find alternate employment quickly.

And it's not just the Borders employees who are affected. Borders has massive debt, which includes debt to publishers. Which means debt to authors. In other words, the whole thing is a mess.

I do hope that the big two-story Borders in the Phoenix Camelback corridor will survive the axe. That is a huge Borders store (the one where I went to Dr. Stanley's book signing) and probably has better survivor potential than a lot of the other stores. We'll see.

ADDENDUM 8:49 a.m.: Unfortunately I just checked the Borders website and the Borders on the Camelback Corridor did not make the cut either. That is so sad.

Against The Rules

2011-02-17T07:43:00.002-07:00

For writers who get a little overwhelmed by all the "rules" of writing, I encourage a look at today's refreshing blog post over at novel journey by Athol Dickson (February 17th):

http://www.noveljourney.blogspot.com

Do You Know Your State's Statehood Date?

2011-02-16T20:22:00.003-07:00

As I've been doing the jig celebrating Arizona's anniversary all week (February 14th, 1912 in case you didn't see the post a couple days ago), I have been astonished to learn that hardly anyone knows it was Arizona's anniversary this week.

So I assume from this that only history nuts like me who are passionate about their state pay attention to such things. Now Arizona's is the ONLY state I know this info on. I can at least tell you that California achieved statehood in 1850, but not the exact date. I can tell you Delaware was the first state but not the exact date. But Arizona's anniversary is engraved in my mind. I can't remember my family members exact birthdates (and if you don't believe me, ask them!) but I can remember Arizona's.

So what about you? Do you know your state's statehood date? Or does anyone you know?

The Power of the Book Not Yet Written

2011-02-15T20:09:00.002-07:00

While preparing a newsletter this weekend, I came across a writer's quote that resonated deeply with me:

If there is a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, you must be the one to write it. - Toni Morrison

Celebrating Arizona's Statehood

2011-02-14T01:59:00.005-07:00

While men and women are busy buying last minute gifts, their minds focused on Valentine's Day, my heart goes in a completely different direction every February 14th.

Arizona's Statehood Anniversary. 99 years ago, on February 14, 1912.

Technically, my heart isn't going a different direction because I am absolutely elated to live in Arizona every single day of my life. I wish with all my heart I'd been raised here, but I've lived here for just shy of 14 years so I consider myself a native.

Perhaps this doesn't make sense to others. But I grew up in Maryland, the flattest, most feature-free topography in the contiguous United States. And Maryland is fine if you like flat and featureless. But I was genetically programmed from before birth to love the mountains. I knew even as a little kid that I would move west one day, but it wasn't until the 1990's that I knew it would be Arizona.

First came a long weekend trip to Tucson's White Stallion Ranch (http://www.wsranch.com/) in 1990--my first ever excursion into Arizona. I was smitten with the rare and beautiful sights of the desert, the unique and hardy plants that had adapted themselves to such a harsh climate. Then in 1996, I came out again and drove up and down the state, my jaw on the floor mat the whole time, in absolute awe of Arizona's breathtaking beauty. It was on that 1996 trip that my heart was stolen for good--not by a man, but by Arizona. I love her geographic wonders, her cactus and other unique plants, her animals, and the southwestern architecture. And oh, the awesomeness of studying her history!

So I will leave you with just a small sampling of photos of this awesome state that I am so very, very blessed to live in. THANK YOU, LORD!

War & Peace

2011-02-05T10:18:00.004-07:00

EUREKA!

I finally finished reading War and Peace. It took me a little over four months, but it's done! When I say reading, in this case I mean reading with my ears. It was a two-volume audio book comprising something like 52 audio CD's. They are narrated by Neville Jason who does an outstanding job (and what a marathon those recording sessions must have been for him!).

It takes considerable dedication and commitment on the part of the listener but I"m so glad I stuck it out. Yes, the style of writing is a lot different then what we see today, but that's what makes it so refreshing. Sometimes writers in this modern age can get a bit arrogant, feeling their ways of writing are superior to those of the writers in the past (and probably this happened to writers who were then current back in the day).

I would like to read this in actual book form at some point to reasborb the whole thing. My favorite thing about this book is that Tolstoy does a very fine job of capturing the workings of the human mind, perhaps capturing it better then anyone I've read. We humans are bizarre, manipulative creatures.

Oh yes, I know we don't like the word manipulative because the mere sound of the word has negative connotations. But as babies, when we learn that a smile or a cry can get us what we want, that's manipulation. It comes as naturally to us as breathing. And this is what Tolstoy, to me, expresses so well in War & Peace. Not just manipulation though. Humans are strange. After all, half the time, we don't even understand ourselves. So to watch an author bring those strange workings of the mind to the page is quite entertaining and I think it's a good lesson for all authors to learn.

I don't know how the original printing of the book was arranged, but in this audio version, a very very long epilogue follows the end of the story. I was ready and willing to listen to the epilogue. But it was too long to the point that I think the reader fails to absorb some of what he is saying because the info is clumped all together. I'm not quite sure why it was done that way since, throughout the book, he takes time to do epilogue-like pauses before picking back up with the actual story. Perhaps he just didn't feel the final epilogue information fit anywhere else.

At any rate, while I realize this book will be a very difficult challenge for today's attention deficit readers, I would still encourage you to give it a go and see what you get from the experience. To me, it was worth the four plus month investment.

Writer Essentials: Discipline & Word Count Goals

2011-02-03T22:06:00.003-07:00

Any of us who have even remotely considered writing a book wonder how in the world you take on such a ginormous task. There are as many ways to go about it as there are writers. But one thing essential to every method out there is the production words and the completion of a manuscript. To do that, you absolutely must exercise discipline.

For the first six years of my novel-writing life, I lacked discipline. Oh sure. I did finish one manuscript in that six years. I set a goal for how much of my non-day job time should be spent on writing. But I never demanded word count goals from myself. And the results speak for themselves.

For a whole host of reasons that exceed the scope of this particular post, I decided 2011 needed to be different. In 2011, I wanted measurable results. I wanted tangible progress. So I did the one thing I had failed to do each of the six previous years. Set strict word count goals for myself.

The result? I have already written more in 2011 than I did in the whole of 2010.

My recommendation? Set DAILY word count goals. And honor them at all costs. Yes, some people set weekly, or even monthly goals, so that if they miss a day here and there, that is fine, because they can make it up during that week or month. That's fine if you already possess an incredible amount of discipline. But if you are just starting out writing, or if you haven't established a track record for yourself, or even think you *might* fall off the wagon, I strongly recommend daily word count goals.

Why? In the first place, it will shut your internal editor up. Your internal editor is a welcome fellow---on second and subsequent drafts. But during the process of writing a first draft, he is scum! To see a pictorial representation of this scum, click on this link: http://nymag.com/images/2/daily/entertainment/07/11/20_nottoenailmonst_lgl.jpg

(okay technically this is the Lamisil Monster but I say it's the spittin' image of the Inner Critic).

Second, daily word count goals will clamp down on your predilection to leave off on your writing under the guise of doing research. Yep, books need lots of research, but you still have to write the book, and instead of stopping and starting, you can insert notes in your manuscript for things you need to follow up and research later.

And third, writing to a daily word count keeps you in the flow of the story.

And I'll even throw in a fourth reason. For me, sticking to a daily word count goal makes me a happier person over all. Does that sound strange? Maybe it is. But I feel more joy in my life knowing I have committed and followed through on the page every day.

I know that some of you are thinking, "Well that's all fine and good, but I don't have time to write every day." I've repeated that mantra myself on more occasions then I care to count. But here's my challenge to you. Do you have 15 minutes a day? Do you spend 15 minutes checking email? Watching TV? Standing in line at Starbucks for your favorite exotic coffee? Then you have time to write.

It is absolutely amazing what you can write in 15 minutes. Thanks to my wonderful Lord who provided me with the ability to buy a laptop late this past summer, I now have a transportable computer. I get two 15 minute breaks at work and in those 2 fifteen minute breaks, I can usually rack up 600-700 words total. Sometimes more.

I challenge you. Set daily word count goals. Protect them fiercely. Honor them. And see what it does, not only in establishling a joyous daily habit, but in lifting your spirits when you see what is possible with discipline and commitment. You will be amazed. Then come back and post a reply here. I'd love to hear your story.

Celebrate! NovelTrack Goal Achieved!!!

2011-01-28T15:59:00.002-07:00

Short and sweet today...

LET'S PARTY!!!!!!!

I made my goal of 50,000 words for the month this morning. The new novel is well under way.

Fill up your glass with Dr Pepper, raise it up and let's celebrate!

YEEHAW!!!!!!!!!

NovelTrack: Status Update

2011-01-27T05:33:00.002-07:00

January is fast drawing to a close. So, too, are the number of days left for reaching my goal of writing 50,000 words by January 31st toward my next manuscript. Here's the stats:

Total Words To Date: 45,015 words
Words Remaining: 4,985
Percent Complete: 90%

I had hoped to complete my remaining word count by today, but after the beautiful day I had on Monday, life has resumed it's hectic pace.

Still, I believe I will meet my goal. I still have 4 writing days left in the month. This has been an awesome experience for me. I'll go into more detail in a future post.

Praise Report I Had To Share

2011-01-26T06:27:00.003-07:00

I just had to share with you a praise report that I sent to my prayer loop regarding this past Monday, January 24th. The post doesn't give details (it would take too many pages to explain that precious day) but I think it does summarize utter joy:

"This is a general praise report, not tied to a specific thing you have prayed for me but I just couldn't keep silent and had to pass on that yesterday (for reasons I won't try to explain and that probably won't make sense to someone else anyway) was the most joy-filled day I have experienced in a long, long time. I just had to come home and cry, it was such a nice day. The hand of God was definitely at work.

It's not about major things--I didn't win a million dollars, or land a new job. It's about how God orchestrated things in my life yesterday (January 24th) to give me as perfect a day as it is possible to have this side of heaven. THANK YOU, LORD!!!!!!!"

Writing Messy

2011-01-21T06:45:00.004-07:00

Writing is such a messy process.

And it's like hairstyles. People who have naturally curly hair wish it was straight and vice versa.

As a writer, I keep wishing I wrote according to someone else's much neater, much more expedient methods. I keep trying to find the magic formula where writing is not a messy business.

And I'm not succeeding.

When I wrote my first novel, I plotted it out from start to finish then started writing. That was nice as far as it went but as I got into the writing, I realized that even though I plotted the novel out in the cold hard facts of scenes, there was no way by plotting for me to anticipate the emotional effects of the story's events on my characters. I had to learn that as I went. I struggled. And I rewrote. And rewrote. And rewrote.

Enter January 2011. Last year was a bust on the production of words and I had neither time nor motivation to do any plotting of my story in advance (the one I wanted to begin writing in January). I just knew basically how I wanted the story to end. My brain was further muddled because I was asking myself, as I often do when thinking of a story idea, "does this concept have the potential for two different novels, not just one?"

And so, muddled brain in hand, I began the huge task of working to get 50,000 words on computer by January 31, 2011 as a participant in ACFW's NovelTrack. I am slightly behind, but confident I will reach my goal. I just need to write 2050 words a day for the next 9 days, and the feat is achieved.

Here's the good side: If you have never participated in a group accountability setting for word count production, such as NovelTrack or Nanowrimo, you're missing out. It has worked wonderfully to instill in me the habit of writing daily. You'd think it wouldn't be hard for writers to write daily, but we are some of the best excuse-makers in any business. 8-) And the consistency has helped me keep better track of my story (although I still have problems remembering character names I've used, and I haven't yet taken time to jot down a character list yet).

The negative side? Writing ad hoc with no detailed plot in mind is just as messy as writing with a plot. I suspect that a good chunk of what I'm writing this month will not actually make it into the final cut of the novel--it will be background material to be tucked away inside the writer's brain to draw from for the rest of the story.

To sum up, just as writing from a detailed plot wasn't a magic bullet, so too, writing more from the seat of my pants is no magic bullet either.

I know what you're thinking: "Well, DUH! What fool thinks it's easy to write a book?"

Correctimundo, as Fonzie used to say (can't you just hear Henry Winkler's voice when you read that word?).

I know it will never be easy to write a book. But I keep shamelessly hoping for a way for it to become easier. You know, just a teensie weensie fraction of a bit easier. But so far I haven't answered the question in my mind about plotting vs. seat of the pants writing. They are both lengthy processes.

But the good news is, writing consistently has put the joy back in it for me. I look forward to chasing my story all over the map to see where it ends up---which probably won't be for a few months yet. There's no telling what these characters will get up to.

What methods have you implemented to make your writing a titch easier?

Closed Bookstores and the Death of Quiet Places To Congregate

2011-01-18T07:07:00.002-07:00

Many of us who love books and those who make a living from the printing and sale of books have our heads spinning with the ways in which technology is impacting the publishing world. One of the negative impacts is the decline of brick and mortar bookstores.

My local Barnes and Noble seems to be doing well so far, but our local Borders is slowly withering away. While I do not frequent any indie bookstores (none conveniently located), they are struggling too.

There has been much discussion about the terrible toll these changes have taken on bookstores and what change is still to come.

But there is one other aspect of this that I haven't heard mentioned. It is getting harder and harder for book-minded people to find quiet places to get together and talk. I have a local writers group that meets at Barnes & Noble in the cafe. It's not ideal because the cafe grows more and more crowded each time I go. The tables are little bitty round ones that are not conducive to people setting down their books. But at least it's quiet.

Restaurants are out of the question as an option for writers to gather together. Each restaurant is exceedingly noisy and very, very few have separate meeting rooms.

You'd think the library would be an option but no, the library keeps cutting back its hours. My local library has hours that are only convenient to the unemployed and those who work second or third shift.

Granted, not having a place to gather certainly isn't in the same realm of hardship as store owners and employees being displaced, but it is something to consider. And it is a new niche that some brave entrepreneur can take hold of to consider. Maybe it's time to consider an era of QUIET restaurants or cafes for a change.

It seems like a small thing, but one that would be greatly appreciated. Peace and quiet is highly underrated and unappreciated.

January Writing Pogress

2011-01-16T16:23:00.005-07:00

As of yesterday, we are halfway through the first month of 2011.

Despite my Genesis win last year, 2010 did not produce much writing on my part. But Genesis was such a confidence builder, that despite various hardships, I decided to go into 2011 with a different mindset about creativity and my writing. They involved two things: 1) Being rested, not ragged, in 2011 and 2) Planting butt in chair and being responsible to myself for word count results (ie. production of manuscript(s)

As I mentioned in a previous blog post, I committed to participating in ACFW's NovelTrack-Writing in January, April, July and October of this year, and that I wanted to commit to 50,000 words each of those 4 months. The in-between months I would use for research and editing.

I am so very thankful and pleased to say that, while it took me till almost midnight last night, I am on target with 25,000 words (halfway to target) for the January goal of 50,000 words. Thank you, Lord!

It has been such a joy to write consistently every day (well, almost every day, my goal is writing 6 days a week). Such joy in fact, that I am modifying my 2011 plan. My original plan for 2011 involved doing the actual writing in January, April, July, and October then spend the off months on research and editing.

Obviously I still need to make time for research and editing, but my focus this year is the production of first draft manuscripts (I'd like two, and if I'm really fortunate, I'd like to start on a novella collection I have in mind). And I have also decided to set small word count goals for those other 8 months of the year---something small and manageable, say between 350-500 words a day.

The key to succeeding with my writing goals this year is adhering to what I have code named "Rested, Not Ragged." Last year I stayed exhausted. I over-committed myself in many areas and toward year's end, my zeal to spend time with the Lord had grown lukewarm. That's when I knew things had to change. Being "busy" serving doesn't equate to a close walk with the Lord or even an obedient walk with the Lord.

But I struggled. All those things I was doing I felt were very important. I still do. But I had to cut out all my church obligations except two. If you've ever wrestled with yourself, wondering if a decision you make is prompted by God or your own pep-talk to yourself, you'll understand how difficult it has been to cut back---wondering if I'm doing the right thing or the wrong thing (not to mention that people constantly approaching you and asking you to do this and that doesn't go away).

But thus far in the new year, I have felt a sense of peace I haven't had in ages. I'm not driving myself nuts trying to do ten million things, I'm stopping to smell the roses, to use the old cliche, and I'm getting a little more rest then I did last year. And all of that is absolutely essential to feeding my creativity this year. I need to be rested, I need to go do fun things to refill the creative well.

If I can do that consistently, 2011 should be a great creative year. I hope it will be for you, too.

E-Readers Give Me More Voice As Consumer

2011-01-13T07:53:00.002-07:00

I entered the world of e-books when my sisters gave me a Kindle for Christmas. It is going to change my life as a book buying consumer and I'm glad.

I don't buy that many books per year for two reasons.

1. Print books are very expensive and there are other costs vying for my time and attention (ie. rent, gas money, groceries, the usual). What books I typically do buy are non-fiction titles I purchase for research in association with my own writing.

2. Even in this world of tons of titles, it is hard to find historical fiction that is non-romance and male-protagonist driven in the CBA market (or even non-romance historical with female protag).

But my late arrival to the e-reader world gives me hope on both of those fronts. Here's why. I mentioned how hard it is to find non-romance historical fiction featuring male protags. As a result, I often have to look outside historical to find supsense or action/adventure books that at least have the non-romance, male protag part down.

I was able to make a book purchase this week that would not have been possible if it were not available in e-book format. I read a great review of John Robinson's book Heading Home. The reviewer and I have some similarities in book taste and I knew this was a book I had to read.

Thankfully, it was available in Kindle format and at a price I could afford. I downloaded and read this apocalytic story in two days. WOOHOO!!! Male protagonists! Action and no lace! It was a good reading experience.

This gives me hope. First, the e-reader, based on this experience, is going to EXTEND my purchasing power. I will be able to buy more books per year then I could when my only option was expensive print books. Now don't get me wrong--my purchasing power isn't going to extend drastically. Some e-books are still priced rather high. But the point is, I will have more chances to afford books through e-readers.

Second, as a reader who has long been on the losing side of the entrenched cycle of publishing that says (naturally) we will sell those books the majority of the public wants to buy; and seeing as how my tastes do not fall in the majority, I think ultimately e-books will give me more voice, as a reader AND as a writer.

As a reader, I have more chances to flex my book buying muscles on those occasions that I finally stumble across a book that gives me more of the elements I want. It's a way for me to wave at the publishing industry and say "YOOHOO!!!! Book buying female who wants male protag driven action books standing over here! Can you throw me some historicals too?"

And I think e-books are ultimately going to give writers who are frustrated by lack of niches a way to get their work out there. And yes, that also gets into the whole realm of traditional vs. non-traditional publishing etc. But since authors have to do most of the marketing work even if they traditionally publish, the gap between traditional and other forms of publishing is shrinking rapidly.

I am very excited by the possibilities opened up by e-readers, both as a reader and as a writer.

NovelTrack: The 31 day, 50,000 word push

2011-01-09T01:56:00.003-07:00

Here we are, the first full week of 2011 safely tucked under our belts.

January is ACFW's NovelTrack-Writing Month (one of four, the others being April, July and October). The goal is to set a specific word count goal and report it, so that you are accountable to others for reaching your goal. The point is to help you as a writer push away your inner editor, your distractions, and just write. Each participant can set their own word count goal. 10,000 or 50,000, the choice is yours.

I chose an intentionally difficult word count, at 50,000 words.

Your first thought might be, "Are you nuts?" (hey, it's a fair statement. That was my first thought to myself!)

After all, I'm trying to juggle a full time job, church commitments, and the mundanes of daily living along with all this writing time. And pushing myself for 50,000 words hardly seems in keeping with my 2011 goal of being "Rested, not ragged," as I was for most of 2010.

But I have been feeling for a few months now that the time had come to push myself--hard--with my writing.

Why?

Well there may be underlying reasons that even I don't understand yet. But I've been thinking a lot about the process of writing my first novel, which took six years. Yep. Six. Too long.

Worse, probably the first 3 years of that time was spent writing my first draft, on again, off again. WIth many chances for the flow of the story to grow cold and have to be re-ignited again. I'm not talking about my passion for the story---that burned bright throughout. But having a passion for your story is not the same as keeping the nitty gritty detail of it burning in the forefront of your mind for 36 months.

I believe it was a mistake to allow myself to drag the first draft out for that long, and I do not want to make the same mistake with my 2nd novel. Whether in years or months, my first drafts are always going to be messy and need re-writing, so to me, it is better to hammer it out over a handful of months.

So how does that 50,000 word count goal shake out on a daily basis?

I will write 6 days a week. That gives me 26 days in January, divided by 50,000 is roughly 1,925 words a day. So by the close of January 8th, I should be at 13,475 words.

Actual? I'm 2,965 words behind, my word count standing for the moment at 10,510 words.

But still, not bad for my very first week of beginning to instill the habit of daily writing. Especially good considering I've been very much under the weather all week.

And today (Jan. 8th) was one of the best writing days I've had in a long, long time. It's hard when writing to totally disconnect from the mundane cares of everyday life and totally immerse yourself in your fictional world. But today I was able to do that for a good chunk of time and it felt wonderful!

That totally immersed and absorbed feeling of disappearing into that fictional world is one of the chief benefits of being a writer, aka escape artist.

I hope for many more such escape artist days during the month of January and beyond.

May your writing and your lives be blessed in 2011.