Life in the First Draft

A New Year, A New Draft

2010-12-28T11:17:00.001+11:00

I began this blog as a way of hoping that I could get that certain piece of information I needed to finish the elusive first draft. Starting novels had been easy in 2009, but finishing them turned into something else completely. I began wondering what it was about first drafts that had me so perplexed.

From there, I figured there had to be plenty of aspiring writers out there who were struggling with the same thing. So I began this blog and called out for guest posts to all my author friends.

This year of reading all the wonderful posts about life in the first draft has been inspiring, educational, amusing and so much more.

And, partially thanks to the advice held in these posts, 2010 is the year I completed a novel for the first time in over four years.

Now I have a new focus in mind, though I know there will be plenty of first drafts to come. I need to revise the novel I have written, polish and shape it into the novel I know it can be.

Because of that and all of the other callings in my life, I am afraid that this blog must cease - at least for the moment. I simply don't have the time to be able to do this blog any sort of justice, let alone post guest posts on it. I do hope to take it up once more in the future, but for now things are just too hectic.

So I leave you with an index of wonderful posts full of gems that just might be the answer for the question you have been asking. Read, enjoy and be inspired. Until I can come back to this blog...

Thank you to all the authors who contributed to this blog over the past year:

Richard Arneson
*Inspiration
*Writing Humor

Kim Baccellia
*Life in the First Draft

Cheryl Bannerman
*Life in the First Draft

Shobhan Bantwal
*By the Seat of My Pants
*Mining My Heritage

MM Bennetts
*When the Story Truly Starts

Les Berman
*The Power of the Blue Medallion

Bob and Kaye
*Where We Write: Why Where We Write Is the Heart of the Matter
*Why We Write
*Why We Write What We Write

Cherish D'Angelo
*Lancelot's Lady and Life in the First Draft

DCS
*Chaos on Paper
*Heart First, Head Second
*What to Do When Writer's Block Hits

VS Grenier
*Tips to Writing a First Draft
*How Do You Begin Your First Draft

Kristy Haile
*Santa Inspired Me!

Susan Haller
*Writing the Music

T.D. Hawke
*One Cup of Inspiration, Please

Lisa Heidke
*Writing Through the Malaise!

Sam Hilliard
*Fire Your Distractions
*Finding the Time for Writing Your Novel

Dr. Barbara Becker Holstein
*Writing a First Draft, Torture Anyone?
*History of a Bad First Draft

Rebecca James
*Life in the First Draft

Jackie M. Johnson
*Write First, Edit Later
*Writing is Like Building a House

Tinisha Nicole Johnson
*Life

Daisy Jordan
*Want to know what’s going to happen in my next book? Don’t ask me…because I don’t know either!
*Jello, Lancelot, Friends, Art, Tennis, and My Gray Hoodie

Sandy Kastel
*Finding Inspiration: Delve into your Dreams

Lisa Lipkind Leibow
*My New Year’s Resolution – A Home Office Solution!
*Finding Time to Write int the Midst of Happy Chaos
*First Drafts: Write Drunk

Garasamo Maccagnone
*Writing a First Draft
*Being Unconstrained

Kathi Macias
*Fiction with a Mission
*Keep Your List Uncompromising…but Short

Mary Maddox
*That Magic Moment
*On Inspiration

Cheryl Malandrinos
*Those First Drafts
*From First Draft to Published
*Writing for Children

Mike Manos
*Writing the First Draft

Cilla McCain
*Researching Your Nonfiction Book
*Writing Controversial Books

Brian McClure
*Book Design

Lurlene McDaniel
*Starting Over

Fleur McDonald
*My Outdoor Office
*My Juggling Act

Jaime McDougall
*Finding Time To Write
*It's Okay to Stop
*Avoidance Tactics

Marilyn Meredith
*Beginning a Book
*My Advice About Writing the First Draft of Your Novel

Judi Moreo
*My Funky Little Writer Habits

Gary Morgenstein
*Guilt, Guilt, Guilt

Sandra Gore Nielsen
*Getting in the Mood

Fiona Palmer
*Once Upon a Time?
*Typing Time

George Earl Parker
*Rhythm

Sarah Parker
*Learning to Plan, Planning to Learn

Stephen Parrish
*The Art of Language

Soren Paul Petrek
*The Race

Gillian Polack
*The Halfway Mark
*Writing Blocks

Leonora Pruner
*Getting Started
*Cross the First Hurdle

Marilyn Randall
*Getting Rid of All the Clutter

Dr. Harry J. Saranchak
*The Writer's Life

Sherry D. Shumard
*Completing the First Draft

Hazel Statham
*Pantsers and Plotters
*Characters Taking Over

Shiela Stewart
*Never Stop Dreaming
*Office Space Wanted

Phillip Stott
*First Drafts Part One
*First Drafts Part Two

Nancy Thayer
*Life in the First Draft

Nicole Townsend
*New Kid on the Block

Steven Verrier
*Life in the First Draft
*Writing Longhand

Anne Vincent
*The Importance of Place
*The Long Road

Tom Weston
*To Outline or Not to Outline, That is the Question
*Building the Perfect Beast

Jonathan Williams
*Just Build the House Already!
*The Red Pen and Purposeful Writing

Susan Wingate
*How My Kitchen Gets Clean

Helene Young
*Finding Inspiration

Vincent Zandri
*The Bedroom (s): Where the Magic Happens!

Best Wishes

2010-12-25T20:01:00.001+11:00

The Art of Language by Stephen Parrish

2010-12-17T15:00:00.000+11:00

Stephen Parrish’s story “Bridget” was the inspiration for Saying Goodbye, an anthology of thirty-one true stories about “saying goodbye” to the people, places and things in our lives. For more information, visit goodbyebook.com

The Art of Language by Stephen Parrish

I grew up among artists who encouraged me to draw and paint; my room always smelled of turpentine and linseed oil and my pants were often streaked with charcoal dust. Since I write visually—I first see the scenes in my head and attempt to record them faithfully—it was only natural that I come up with an approach to writing that paid tribute to all those canvases I sacrificed.

First I “scribble” the scene by brainstorming, by slapping words and expressions down and trying to empty the vision from my head:

start with where she lived
then the train station at the end of her street
it was where you last saw her alive
something about the dirtiness of the place, for contrast
cigarette butts, old newspapers
the train emerging from the fog
after a pregnant pause, you’re in each other’s arms
(this can go on for pages)

An advantage of scribbling is that I ensure my purposes are comprehensively addressed; I vent everything that comes to mind. Another is that I get to fill up blank paper at little creative cost. After scribbling I “sketch” the scene, placing elements in the right order, fleshing out, filling gaps:

you start with the street she lived on, how it wound around obstacles long since removed, how the remaining buildings seemed tired, seemed to lean over the sidewalk. at the end of the street was the train station where you last saw her alive. the floor of the platform was covered with cigarette butts, old newspapers, and grime.

as the train approached the station you saw only its distant headlamp through the fog. when she stepped onto the platform the two of you paused as though waiting for enough joy to fill your eyes. finally the joy overflowed and you were in each other’s arms. one last time, you felt her skin beneath your hands.

only time is inaccessible, never place. you can always go back to the place. you write to preserve moments in time.

I write only in lower case, and I use no indentations or quotation marks. Consequently the piece feels like a draft and I don’t have to worry about how it sounds. If you’re a perfectionist like me, this will spare you obsessive tooling. Finally I “draw” the scene; I go final.

I keep a journal. I think everyone should: a journal is to language what a sketchbook is to art. The scribble-sketch-draw analogy has helped me fill quite a lot of empty paper.

But that’s not what this post is really about.

A painting is a window to a world the artist has created. Likewise when we write a scene we attempt to describe a world in a way readers can grasp. The writer needs to provide just enough detail for readers to draw the lines and paint the colors in their imagination. Some details the writer will insist on: the scar was on the left side of the bad guy’s face. It was rain rather than crickets the lovers heard, or rather didn’t hear.

Most of the details, however, the readers must decide for themselves. I have little patience with writers who want to show me exactly what a character looks like, by inventorying traits and dimensions, by scanning figures from head to toe. If you tell me the bad guy has a scar, I’ll fill in the rest. Likewise, if you tell me the lovers don’t even know it’s raining, don’t even notice they’re getting wet, I can pretty much guess what’s on their minds. A visual artist who skimps on detail risks failing to achieve his goal. A writer who is heavy on detail stands little chance of achieving it; the reader doesn’t even make an attempt to engage.

When I paint, I fill my canvas with color. I leave no spot untouched. When I write, I provide as little information as I can get away with; less is more.

Still, that’s not what this post is really about, either.

Anyone who has been moved by a great poem knows the art of language has as much to do with sound and rhythm as visual detail. With rhyme and alliteration. With contrast, the foundation of all beauty. When it comes time to draw, after you’ve scribbled and sketched, there should be only one thought in mind: to push your work beyond what you’ve visualized; to take chances; to wrestle with the fear that no one will understand you, no one will be moved by your words or will share your vision of light and shadow:

You start with the street she lived on, how it wound narrowly around obstacles long since leveled by bankruptcy and wood saw; how it shouldered stayed and acquitted buildings that retained most of their dignity, except now they seemed to cant forward slightly, like opposing rows of aging chess players.

You describe the train station where you last saw her alive. The paint was yellow with age and smoke and the sour smell of unclean men. It peeled in the damp air and fell to join the cigarette butts, the empty bottles, and the foot-trodden newspapers; litter that clothed the cement floor no better than the rags on the men who drank and dreamed there.

The first you saw of the train was its headlamp, floating ghost-like over the fog, then the engine broke from the mist and rumbled into the station where, here, the sun had burned the valley clean and the trunks of the Bruchweide were amber columns of light. When she stepped onto the platform the two of you stood apart at first and let the smile fill your eyes. Like spring-fed wells. Until the wells overflowed and you were in each other’s arms.

The first time was outdoors, as all first times should be. You felt her flesh beneath your hands, soft, pliable, giving, welcoming. The pine needles against your back. Her voice, the rhythm of her chatter, a tonic, the day washed of its drabness. The smell of cut grass, of burning leaves, of moss and humus and primeval soil. A visceral sense of early and distant rain. It’s only the time that’s inaccessible, not the place, not even the person. You write to preserve moments in time. That’s what art is for. You write to capture the love you felt before it broke something inside of you. The volume set too high, yet never high enough. A timeline, a Cartesian grid, curved space, a forest of stars, darkness at night, and an abacus in the hands of a man gone mad.

That’s what this post is about.

***

Stephen Parrish is one of the contributors of Mike O’Mary and Julie Rembers’ literary collection, Saying Goodbye, by Dream of Things.

Santa Inspired Me! by Kristy Haile

2010-12-16T14:55:00.003+11:00

Writing had always been simply a fun and relaxing hobby to me. I have always enjoyed writing short stories and journal entries about different events that have taken place in my life. None of which had ever inspired me enough to write a book. In fact, writing a book had never even crossed my mind. Being a dental hygienist was my career and I left it at that. I went to work every day, cleaned teeth and every two weeks collected a solid paycheck.

Then came the day my son became Santa Claus. He brought me back to the place of dreaming, imagining and truly believing anything is possible. His stories about the North Pole, the elves and even the reindeers were so imaginative and full of life. I so wanted to keep his stories alive and I knew he couldn’t even write, which is why I began a journal about my little Santa Claus.

My pint-sized Santa had touched so many people’s lives as well as mine. I wanted the opportunity to touch more lives with his story and one day my husband suggested I write a book. At first I laughed, but I looked at him realizing he was serious and writing bug came over me, so I agreed. I kept a picture of my son Ty in his Santa suit with me as I wrote the outline and through the entire first draft of ‘I AM SANTA!’

The picture kept me going, all I had to do was look at it and I knew I could do it. It is faded, creased and looks as if it went through a storm which is all okay. For all I still see when a look at the picture is inspiration to continue believing and dreaming. My little Santa in his suit with a big smile on his face is all it takes.

Because of my Santa, I look at life in a completely different way. Life is about being positive, living life to the fullest and knowing that anything is possible if you imagine and dream. Therefore, my suggestion to all authors is look for what inspires you. When one finds, which inspires them, so many things are possible. You can live a life in which you had never before been able to imagine was possible.

***

Californian Kristy Haile earned an Associate’s degree in Dental Hygiene from Northeastern University in Boston and then worked as a hygienist in Massachusetts and California. She moved from her hometown of Turlock, CA to Los Angeles, where her two children became actors on TV (The Office, Criminal Minds, Desperate Housewives), movies (Chihuahua: The Movie) and in commercials. At age 4, son Ty came to believe he was Santa Claus. Haile kept a journal of the funny and unusual things her son said and did over the next two years, as well as of people’s reactions to his self-identification as the “new real Santa Claus.” That journal was the basis for her latest book, I Am Santa.
You can visit the ‘I AM SANTA!’ website at www.iamsantabook.com to connect with Kristy.

When the Story Truly Starts by MM Bennetts

2010-12-15T15:29:00.001+11:00

To be honest, a novel starts for me well before I get anywhere near that first draft. It starts life as a series of unconnected scenes and passages of descriptive writing in a notebook or in several notebooks.

I don't write when I feel I have nothing to say. Instead, I allow the first ideas of character, of plot and of 'what-ifs' to develop in my head, to grow there, to ferment.

During this period of time, I'll also be doing large amounts of historical research, and all that I'm discovering will be going into this fictional synthesis in my head.

I always carry a notebook with me. Always. Because I find that walking with the iPod or driving or spending time on a train or in a museum will really get those ideas knocking about--and at that point, scenes and conversations will start pouring out. As and when they pour, I write--long-hand. Rather like a scribe just taking it all down.

So long before I sit down at the iMac to write that first draft, I have a great deal of the action, much of the dialogue, and certainly a strong sense of my characters, very firmly in my head and on the pages of my notebooks.

I create a novel scene by scene and chapter by chapter. Yes, I have the idea of where I want the novel to go, what ideas I want to cover, perhaps a couple of sub-themes which I wish to pursue, but from the moment I start writing at the computer, it's all allowed to grow organically.

So I get writing. First draft will be generally be absolute rubbish.

But I print it out, leave it for a couple of hours or even overnight, read it, take the red pen to it (lots of red pen), cross out, write over, write notes all along the margins, then incorporate all of that into the text. Then I rip those printed pages, throw them over my shoulder, and the piles on the floor begin.

Only when I've got that chapter to the state that I believe is as near perfect as I can make it (and that might be fourteen or fifteen rewrites later), only then do I move onto the first draft of the next scene or chapter.

It's probably not the most efficient way to work, but I suspect that it's down to all those years as a book critic that I don't feel able to allow anything out of my hands that isn't ready for publication at that moment. And it works for me.

***

***
Educated at Boston University and St Andrews, M.M. Bennetts is a specialist in the economic, social and military history of Napoleonic Europe. The author is a keen cross-country and dressage rider, as well as an accomplished pianist, regularly performing music of the era as both a soloist and accompanist. Bennetts is a long-standing book critic for The Christian Science Monitor.

The author is married and lives in England.

Bennetts’ latest book is Of Honest Fame.

You can visit the author’s website at www.mmbennetts.com.

How My Kitchen Gets Clean by Susan Wingate

2010-12-14T15:46:00.005+11:00

When I look at my kitchen after dinner--the pots and spoons, knives and plates, measuring cups and spatulas, all lining my countertop and falling off into the sink--I think "first draft." It takes me a while to scrape off the food into the compost bin and to rinse off all the dishes and utensils but finally, after a good deal of parsing out the mess and then wiping down the counter, my kitchen looks tidy, is back to its original organized state and I can take a deep breath in. It's done. And, isn't it appropriate that I'm writing this article with a kitchen analogy while I'm completing the final book in the Bobby's Diner Series?

But, really, that's what a first draft of a novel looks like to me, a messy kitchen. You know the story is underneath the mess and after a little scraping, wiping and cleaning, it will look polished, it will look clean. So it is with writing. We must clean our novels before we let anyone read our stories.

For my latest release, EASY AS PIE AT BOBBY'S DINER, I had help with cleaning my novel. I would like to call her a maid but I don't think my editor would appreciate that. But, boy oh boy, did she ever work that kitchen! When she finished, she sent me the story with all editions in tow, and together we re-organized the mess. As with any job, it's always good to have help and writing the novel is no different, especially at the end.

Look. Here's what it's like around my house. Everyday I write. Everyday I cook. Everyday I edit. Everyday I clean my kitchen. If you're starting to see a lack of glamour in the writing biz, then bully for you. It's all work, all of the time. Then, after working you have to shop, vacuum the floors and cook dinner... again!

I have found myself getting up earlier and earlier just to get everything done. Writing comes first. After knocking out a couple thousand words, I check my email, check Facebook and any other pressing business that needs attention and then I go back to my writing and look at that first draft mess. Pull out my dusting rags, my scissors and my eraser and get to work scouring my first draft writing.

Do I sound tired to you? I'm thinking I might sound it, but I'm really not. I wouldn't have it any other way. I love my job as a writer. I love being in love with a job! So, excuse me a sec, but I have to leave before my ink dries. It's so much harder to scrub out stains than to simply wipe off a spill.

***

***

Award-winning author, Susan Wingate, gets a monthly column about writing and the publishing industry in her local newspaper, The Journal of the San Juan Islands. She will also be posting weekly discussions about the writing industry for the regional online newspaper, the PNWLocalNews.com site.

You can view Wingate’s discussions by clicking on the “Entertainment” tab and then finding Wingate’s discussions under the “Blogs” section of the Entertainment Page.

Born in Phoenix, Arizona to James & Amie Ajamie (a writer and an artist, respectively), Susan Wingate tried to fly, at age five off the roof of their family house using newspaper, wire hangers and scotch tape. She’s been dreaming of flying ever since. Oh, by the way, she never jumped. Her mother ran out in the nick of time to stop her from take-off.

Wingate realized her dreams when she entered the world of writing. At first, she only wrote songs and poetry but then her writing blossomed when she tried her hand at fiction. In 1997, she devoted her days to writing and in 2004, she began writing full-time. Since then, Susan has written several plays, one screenplay, one short story collection and seven novels with two more scheduled to be written in 2010. In 2008, she started writing a memoir.

A lover of the arts, Susan draws and paints abstracts using oil as her favored medium. She has taken up playing the violin (it’s been a squeakly start) and she loves the theatre. Susan lives in Washington State.

To date, Wingate has written seven novels, two short story collections, a memoir, hundreds of poems, a few plays for theatre and one screenplay.

Her books can be found online and in bookstores across the country and her articles, short stories and poetry can be found in magazines, journals and reviews.

Locally, Wingate volunteers with the San Juan Island Library. She offers workshops, readings and presentations at writing conferences, bookstores and libraries throughout the country.

You can visit her website at www.susanwingate.com.

How Do You Begin Your First Draft with VS Grenier

2010-12-07T20:53:00.001+11:00

New writers starting out have asked me this very question and I often share with them that there is no right or wrong way when it comes to writing your first draft or writing in general. What writers must do is find what fits their life and writing style. My writing schedule may not be another writer's ideal schedule. Let’s face it . . . I don’t get to block out hours of writing time. I tend to write in short bursts throughout the day. And each day is very different from the day before.

For some reason, I work better under stress. If I do not have a deadline, then I will put off the task. Therefore, I have to set deadlines to keep myself writing. With that said, the first draft typically takes me about a couple of weeks to type up. First, I do any research if needed. Then I type a loose outline and throw a few thoughts on paper. After all that, it’s time to sit down and write. I have children so I don’t get the opportunity to sit for an hour or more just letting my thoughts flow to the computer screen. I typically get a few minutes here and there. When I do have to get up, take care of the house, and run my children around, I record any additional ideas on my phone voice recorder to type up later.

If maintaining a daily writing schedule has worked for you, then don’t switch to another’s writing habit just because you think theirs might be better. Their writing schedule might not be for you. What I mean by this is I know writers who can type out two to four picture book manuscripts in a day. Others can write a novel in a month. Then there are others who take months and even years to write just one book. My recent book Babysitting SugarPaw first started out as a short story. I wrote the first draft in about a week. Did some revisions and then had a fellow writer/illustrator look it over. It was his suggestion after reading my story to turn it into a picture book. I spent a couple of months trying to write the first manuscript before doing revisions and feeling it was ready to submit to a publisher as a picture book. However, I have other picture book manuscripts where I only spent a week or two writing my first draft. Then there are others still waiting for me on my voice recorder.

The point is . . . one writer’s way is not better than mine, and vice versa. In the end, we both come out with something we are proud of and hope to see published, like my picture book Babysitting SugarPaw.

***

VS Grenier is an award-winning author and editor who learned how to hone her writing skills at the Institute of Children’s Literature, and has been a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writer’s and Illustrators (SCBWI), the National Association of Professional Women (NAPW), the League of Utah Writers (HWG chapter), and Musing Our Children. Her works include Babysitting SugarPaw, the Best of Stories for Children Magazine Volume 1 anthology and over 30 short stories, articles, and crafts for children along with newsletter articles for writers.

“Having others read what you have written and giving feedback not only makes you a better writer, but you start to understand how a well written story’s voice captures the reader . . . drawing them into your world of ink,” states VS Grenier.

She is the Founder & Owner of Stories for Children Publishing LLC., and also is a freelance editor for Halo Publishing; in addition, to running her own editorial and critique services. A California girl at heart, she currently lives in Utah with her husband, their three children, and the family’s big fat cat Speed Bump and miniature schnauzer Taz.

You can learn more about VS Grenier at her author website http://vsgrenier.com or her company website http://storiesforchildrenpublishing.com. You can also follow her on The Writing Mama at http://thewritingmama.blogspot.com.

Tips to Writing a First Draft by VS Grenier

2010-12-06T09:17:00.000+11:00

Writing a first draft for a book, short story, article or even this guest post has always been the most grueling part of writing for me. Why? Well, it’s not because I don’t have any ideas floating around in my head. I can also tell you it’s not because I can’t find anything to say. The trouble I find with writing a first draft is where to begin and/or which idea to start with. You would think the first draft would be the easiest part of writing; however, I find it requires the clearest mindset in order to finish—making it one of the hardest parts of writing.

With this in mind, the question is where do I begin in order to write my first draft? The answer is simple. First, I do research on the topic I plan to write about. Once I have the research finished I outline (loosely outline) my thoughts and information. From here, the first draft should be a simple creation of the words that convey the ideas I wish to express.

It sounds simple, but the truth is this is only the beginning. I still need to choose viewpoint, tense (past or present), develop subplots or additional ideas/topics for nonfiction and clarify my theme. I find the best way to do this is by brainstorming or doing some free writing until an idea, event, a piece of dialogue, character interview or a setting sparks my muse. These first glimpses of story elements help to stimulate my imagination. Now I am ready to start writing the first draft.

I’m a huge fan of finishing a first draft as fast as possible. The main reason, I want to get my ideas and thoughts down before I forget them. I do not spend time editing as I write my first draft. I do that later and I may need to write a number of drafts in order to get to my final polished manuscript, but the first draft isn’t about that and it is best not to expect too much or too little from it.

Once I have written my first draft, I make notes of possible themes and any universal elements that may appeal to a readership. I also note my reasons for writing the story. This may help me find a hidden theme or even subplot I can develop later in my revision stage. It is very important at this time I don’t make any changes or do any editing. Why? Because it’s time to give myself a break. I let my first draft sit for at least a few days and preferably for a few weeks. This way, when I come back to it and begin the second draft, I will have a fresh eyes, more understanding and control over my story.

The thing to remember about writing your first draft is the word "first". Don’t make the mistake in thinking that once a first draft is written, the manuscript is done. The first draft is only one part of the whole writing process that leads to a finished, presentable and hopefully published book.

***

Characters Taking Over by Hazel Statham

2010-11-23T15:09:00.001+11:00

If anyone had told me that a character could take over a book and make it his own, I would not have believed them. However, I would now have to admit that this did indeed happen. Dominic, Earl of Vale was a very strong character who just strode onto the page and more or less wrote the book himself. He was a fun character to write and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

Dominic was so determined to tell his story that even though we vacationed in Orlando, he insisted I pay attention and continue with his story. It was hurricane season, the rain came in torrents and the trees outside our hotel room were horizontal. My husband slept and I wrote.

His is a fun story about an unconventional courtship and unbelievably needed little more than tweaking after the first draft. I have never been so fortunate again. THE PORTRAIT came very close to it, however, and again, the first draft proved quite satisfying with only minor changes being made thereafter.

I have been lucky and the stories continue to come. All my characters are dear to me and I have great pleasure in telling their stories. If some never get past the first draft, then so be it; they have been a joy to write.

***

Hazel Statham lives in England and has been writing on and off since she was fifteen. Initially she was influenced by Austen, the Brontës, and Sabatini but when she turned seventeen, Georgette Heyer opened up the romance and elegance of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. She immediately knew she had found her eras and wanted nothing more than to re-create them in her work.

Her latest book is the Regency romance novel, The Portrait, released by Avalon Books in August 2010.

Hazel lives with her husband, Terry, and a beautiful Labrador named Mollie. Apart from writing, her other ruling passion is animals, and until recently she acted as treasurer for an organization that raised money for animal charities.

You can visit her online at www.hazel-statham.co.uk and her blog at http://hazelstatham.blogspot.com/

Pantsers and Plotters by Hazel Statham

2010-11-22T15:00:00.003+11:00

Authors are divided into two groups, the planners and the pansters. Me? I’m definitely a panster. Of course, I know in which direction I want the story to go but, apart from a vague idea, I just go with the flow. For me, it’s like listening in on private conversations and just watching as the story unfolds before me. Quite often, I hear words coming out of my characters’ mouths that I never even dreamed of and frequently the story takes a completely different direction. This doesn’t cause a problem and, on the whole, usually enriches the plot.

An example of this is that I never knew Stephan, a character in MY DEAREST FRIEND, had an illegitimate daughter until the sergeant confided it to Stephan’s brother. It came as quite a surprise but added yet another element to the story. I write, primarily, for my own amusement and don’t write to a formula so my characters are allowed to do or say anything they wish. Luckily, this usually works and adds to the enjoyment of writing the book.

The first draft is where I develop the story and characters. Refinement comes later. I am never completely satisfied with the first, second or indeed, third draft, but there has to come a point when you let it go and, for good or bad, allow it to fly.

***

Her latest book is the Regency romance novel, The Portrait, released by Avalon Books in August 2010.

You can visit her online at www.hazel-statham.co.uk and her blog at http://hazelstatham.blogspot.com/

Writing for Children by Cheryl Malandrinos

2010-11-19T22:58:00.001+11:00

I’m afraid after my first two posts you might start thinking writing for children is a cake walk compared to writing for adults. It’s not. In some ways, it can be harder.

I don’t know how it is for you, but I haven’t physically been a child for many years. Writing Little Shepherd required me to think like a five-year-old boy. Just in case you’re wondering, I’ve never been a boy.

Luckily, fear and anxiety is something I am familiar with. I could go over my long list of phobias, but that would be boring. Suffice to say, imagining how frightened and anxious Obed would get at the thought of leaving his flock of sheep alone when he could hear wolves howling in the distance, isn’t a stretch. I won’t go into my backyard at night for fear I might disturb one of our many wild creatures enjoying a late snack.

What challenged me was how to present the story to a young audience so they could relate to Obed, while giving them an understanding of the true meaning of Christmas.

In order to do that, Obed’s father got added into the story. Father is full of wisdom; he understands Obed’s fears and he knows something Obed doesn’t. He doesn’t share what he knows with Obed, but Father’s sense of security provides Obed with what he needs to decide to join the others on the journey. Certainly his father wouldn’t mislead him. Children expect their parents to guide them. Obed is no different.

Next I needed to bring in that sense of awe Obed felt when meeting the Holy Family. It’s like the animals expected the shepherds, and then when Obed finds everything is just as the angel had told them, he’s not sure what to make of it, but he feels reassured. His anxiety over his sheep, however, is still there.

Most important, when Little Shepherd ends, Obed reflects on what has happened that night, and especially on what he discovers when he returns to his flock. Children need to decipher things for themselves. They are individuals who may end up seeing things differently than we do. It’s what makes us all so special.

Since this is a children’s picture book, the need not to over-describe everything and to allow the artwork to visually share that part of the story is important. It’s the one area where I feel I could have done better.

See, that perfectionist is never happy.

***

I hope that one of your first drafts becomes that first book you are proud of. It’s an amazing journey. With practice and perseverance, you can find out how amazing it is too!

Cheryl Malandrinos is a freelance writer and editor. A regular contributor for Writer2Writer, her articles focus on increasing productivity through time management and organization. A founding member of Musing Our Children, Ms. Malandrinos is also Editor in Chief of the group’s quarterly newsletter, Pages & Pens.

Cheryl is a Tour Coordinator for Pump Up Your Book, a book reviewer, and blogger. Little Shepherd is her first children’s book. Ms. Malandrinos lives in Western Massachusetts with her husband and two young daughters. She also has a son who is married.

You can visit Cheryl online at http://ccmalandrinos.com or the Little Shepherd blog at http://littleshepherdchildrensbook.blogspot.com/.

From First Draft to Published by Cheryl Malandrinos

2010-11-18T16:05:00.003+11:00

I’m back. I figured if I didn’t depress you so much yesterday that you gave up writing altogether, I could try again today.

Just kidding. Today we’re going to talk about the fun kind of first drafts—those that end up being published.

When my mind decided to change focus from writing for adults to writing for children, I knew exactly what I was going to write. Actually, I was seven chapters into what I was writing when my pastor came up with this crazy notion that I wasn’t writing a novel, I was writing a kid’s book.

Say what? Here I am killing myself to come up with 50,000 words—did I mention this was my NaNoWriMo project for that year—and my pastor comes along and says it’s a kid’s book!

I considered an unChristian, I’m a writer and you’re not, kind of response. Then I got to thinking: Hmmm, maybe it could be a kid’s book.

What would become, Little Shepherd, was born.

This first draft came easier than I thought, but that’s because I had the idea in my head for years before plotting it out. Granted, in the form it originally took—a Christian adult novel—I struggled with it; but as the story of a young shepherd in the fields outside of Bethlehem on the night of Christ’s birth, from beginning to end didn’t take long. It might have been a few weeks before I was ready to show it to my critique group.

Most of them liked it, but an author friend pointed out to me that it lacked conflict. It was nice that the young shepherd named Obed got a chance to see the newborn King, but wasn’t there more to his story?

This is where “what if?” works nicely. What if Obed just got entrusted with his first flock? Would his sense of responsibility for those sheep be heightened? What if he heard wolves howling in the distance? Would he be as eager to leave his sheep if he thought the wolves would race in and eat them? Despite his desire to do exactly as the angel had told him, wouldn’t Obed be juggling his flock’s safety against going to Bethlehem?

Once that conflict was added in, the story was ready to be seen by the eyes of a publisher. I feel blessed that Guardian Angel Publishing decided to contract it.

This time, the first draft made it to the right end.

***

You can visit Cheryl online at http://ccmalandrinos.com or the Little Shepherd blog at http://littleshepherdchildrensbook.blogspot.com/.

Those First Drafts by Cheryl Malandrinos

2010-11-17T21:42:00.002+11:00

I think everyone has one of those first drafts. You know the one I’m talking about. It’s the idea that you got all hyped up about because it was going to be your breakout novel. You sweated over it; fed your family with fast food and frozen dinners for months just so you could finish it, and as soon as “The End” was typed, a huge sigh of relief flowed out from in between your lips.

Then you did what all the professionals tell you do with your first draft—tuck it away for a bit so you can look at it with fresh eyes.

Problem is during that time you realize maybe it isn’t that great of an idea. You get a chance to think about how weak the plot is and how your characters are nothing more than stereotypes. You start thinking how stupid it is that you even attempted to write anything in the first place. You stink. Why would anyone want to read the drivel you tossed together and dare to call a manuscript?

I have one of those first drafts too. I didn’t spend months working on it. It took years. I can still remember the happy dance I did when I typed, “The End.” That was five years ago and I’m still not hot to work on it.

Why?

I guess my mind changed focus. I felt called to write for children instead of an adult market. I got so far as to pull out the old manuscript this September to consider sending in the first page to be critiqued by an agent panel at a writers conference I was planning to attend. I read that first page and I saw all the weaknesses and none of the strengths; didn’t even consider that I had revised that portion over six times to make it perfect and got a thumbs-up from my own critique group.

A writing friend of mine attended the same writers conference. He had a face-to-face meeting with an agent who requested 100 consecutive pages of his manuscript. I asked him about it at church on Sunday. Guess what he’s doing?

Going over 100 pages and finding only weakness and no strengths. He’s ready to start over and revise the whole darn thing.

Is it any wonder we don’t always make it past that first draft?

***

You can visit Cheryl online at http://ccmalandrinos.com or the Little Shepherd blog at http://littleshepherdchildrensbook.blogspot.com/.

On Inspiration by Mary Maddox

2010-11-09T16:42:00.000+11:00

Take the word inspiration back to its roots: to breathe in. Writers ought to find inspiration as easy and automatic as breathing. Instead they sometimes gasp for it, a feeling that can be as terrifying as smothering – though fortunately less fatal. I have no profound secret for finding inspiration. I just know that when a story is alive inside me, the inspiration comes.

While writing the thriller that became Talion, I sometimes struggled with the character of Rad, a serial killer with a Ph.D. What kind of stuff would he think about when he wasn’t intent on stalking and killing people? One afternoon I took a break from my desk and strolled through my neighbourhood. I looked at the steep-roofed houses, pompous and silly, and thought of party hats on businessmen. Exactly the kind of snarky observation Rad might make. That detail made his character more real to me.

Another time I walked into the school where the polling station in my district was located, gazed down the drab, institutional hallways lined with doorways and lockers, and recognized the school where my hero Lu dreads coming every day. The smell of the place filled my imagination and showed me the way into Lu’s memories.

During the summer I interrupted my writing to fly to Utah and help my mother move to Charleston, Illinois, where my husband and I live. It was a hectic trip fraught with her anxiety about the move. As the movers were packing up her things, I asked one of them to borrow a roll of packing tape. The guy handed it to me and said in an offhanded, joking way, “Watch out, that stuff can rip the skin right off you.” I knew immediately the tape would have a place in Rad’s killing ritual, that he would enjoy the challenge of using it without leaving fingerprints. I could hardly wait to get home and back to writing my novel.

Inspiration is everywhere. For me the trick is keeping the story inside me alive – and breathing.

***

***

Mary Maddox grew up in Utah and California. A graduate of Knox College and the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop, she now teaches composition and literature at Eastern Illinois University.

She lives in Charleston, Illinois with her husband, film scholar Joe Heumann. Her interests include riding her horse, Tucker, and playing club and tournament Scrabble. Mary’s short stories have appeared in a number of magazines including Farmer’s Market, Yellow Silk, and The Scream Online. Her writing has been honored with awards from the Illinois Arts Council.

Talion, her debut novel, is available at Barnesandnoble.com as a trade paperback and at Amazon.com as both a paperback and a Kindle book. You can visit her at her Web site www.marymaddox.com and follow her blog at http://blog.marymaddox.com.

That Magic Moment by Mary Maddox

2010-11-08T17:20:00.003+11:00

I get too many ideas for stories, more than I have time to write. How to choose among them? I take the ones that call to both my head and my heart.

An unusual premise might interest me, but unless it comes with a character I care about or moves toward some kind of emotional unfolding, I’ll probably let it go. For instance, I wonder what would happen if an unreasonable customer managed to get a department store clerk fired, and the desperate clerk set out for revenge. A premise like that could be developed into a story humorous or horrifying – maybe both. But neither the customer nor the clerk exists as a character in my imagination. They are little more than vehicles for malevolent motives. With effort I could make them characters, but I don’t feel compelled.

Sometimes I see people whose situation moves or intrigues me, a pair of elderly men sitting on a bench at the local mall, chatting with one another. I wonder what their lives are like. I imagine one man’s modest house and the other man’s dead wife whom he still mourns. But I don’t have a story for them. Again, I could invent a story, but I’m occupied with the stories and characters that command my imagination.

They come to me in a flash – a moment when I see the character and her journey from beginning to end and feel the overwhelming emotion that gives them meaning. I experienced a moment like that with my short story “Yubi” about a woman who falls in love with her parakeet. I knew the story would end “[ ] would love [ ] as long as she lived.” Although I hadn’t yet named her or the bird or constructed the events that would bring her to the realization. I felt its humour and pathos and love. It was a story I had to write.

The story that became my thriller Talion began with a flash – a moment when two girls make a bond of friendship, when all the distrust and blame and preconceptions that separate them give way to understanding. Despite all the room he occupies in the novel, the serial killer Rad first entered the story as a way of getting Lu and Lisa to that moment. It’s there in the last chapter of Talion, just as I imagined in that first moment.

c

Writing the First Draft by Mike Manos

2010-11-03T13:00:00.002+11:00

The first draft of my book, GOD’S POOR, was really a very difficult job, if you can imagine that it took me four years to complete it after many re-writes. The final version for the contemporary scene was everything I hoped it would be and satisfied most of my colleagues who reviewed it.

It took me such a long time to complete the book because a lot of research was necessary. Although I am a scholar of history and archaeology, I confess the era of the first centuries of Christianity isn’t my expertise.

First, I needed the help of a Bishop, and then I had to research in murky and deep waters, a faith long ago forgotten. Legends and facts were mixed and questions aroused everywhere. The track of the great heresy of the Paulicians through the centuries was indeed unbelievably difficult. They survived till our days using different names in different countries under constant persecution by Emperors, Sultans, Patriarchs and Popes. They always pretended to have another faith. The ancestors of today’s known Bosnian Muslims were all Bogomils, a sect of the heresy of Paulicians. Even certain sects of Calvinists have been influenced by the Bogomils. As you know, Calvin was the founder of the Presbyterian Church.

I had to trace Paulicians back through the centuries in order to find their origin. Then I discovered Marcion and his teachings which give another dimension to faith. I also had to read the “Apocryfa”, the other “Gospels.” The Gospel of Thomas, which was particularly used by the sect of GOD’S POOR, is entirely different from any other. Dualistic and under the influence of Gnostics, it gives the reader excellent food for thought. What about the “blasphemy”stating that Apostle Thomas was the twin brother of Jesus?

If the heresy was capable of finding its way till our days and their leader was capable of doing miracles, then you have a story. And if you add Jerusalem, you have an extraordinary novel that mixes reality with legend. And don’t forget HAARP, the end is never certain.

I am almost sure that the reader will never be the same person, same that happened to me I confess.

***

***

Mike Manos is professor of Economics and a scholar of History and archaeology. He is also a poet and a freelance writer.

God’s Poor is his first novel.

2010-11-01T14:37:00.001+11:00

About Jon Katz

Jon Katz has written nineteen books—seven novels and twelve works of nonfiction—including Soul of a Dog, Izzy & Lenore, Dog Days, A Good Dog, and The Dogs of Bedlam Farm. He has written for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Slate, Rolling Stone, Wired, and the AKC Gazette. He has worked for CBS News, The Boston Globe, The Washington Post, and The Philadelphia Inquirer. Katz is also a photographer and the author of a children’s book, Meet the Dogs of Bedlam Farm. He lives on Bedlam Farm in upstate New York with the artist Maria Heinrich; his dogs, Rose, Izzy, Lenore, and Frieda; and his barn cats, Mother and Minnie. Rose in a Storm is his latest book. You can visit Jon Katz’s site at www.bedlamfarm.com.

About Rose in a Storm

From New York Times bestselling author Jon Katz comes a moving and powerful novel, the first one inspired by life on his celebrated Bedlam Farm—and perceptively told from the point of view of Rose, a dedicated working dog.

Rose is determined and focused, keeping the sheep out of danger and protecting the other creatures on the farm she calls home. But of all those she’s looked after since coming to the farm as a puppy, it is Sam, the farmer, whom she watches most carefully.

Awoken one cold midwinter night during lambing season, Rose and Sam struggle into the snowy dark to do their work. The ever observant Rose has seen a change in her master of late, ever since Sam’s wife disappeared one day. She senses something else in the air as well: A storm is coming, but not like any of the ones she’s seen over the years. This storm feels different, bigger, more foreboding.

When an epic blizzard hits the region, it will take all of Rose’s resolve, resourcefulness, and courage to help Sam save the farm and the creatures who live there.

Jon Katz consulted with animal behavior scientists to create his unique and convincing vision of the world as seen through the eyes of a dog. Poignant, thrilling, and beautifully wrought, Rose in a Storm is a wonderfully original and powerful tale from a gifted storyteller.

Read an Excerpt!

Chapter One

Inside the farmhouse Rose lifted her head and pricked up her ears. She heard the troubled wheezing of a ewe. From the window, through the dark, she could see mist, mud, and the reddish shadows of the barns. She pictured the herd of sheep lying still, spread out behind the feeder.

Raising her nose toward the pasture, she smelled the rich, sticky scent of birth, of lamb. She smelled manure and fear.

She heard a gasp, the sound of death or desperation, and then one ewe calling to the others in alarm. She stood and padded quickly from the window to the side of the farmer’s bed, then looked up at his sleeping face. She barked once, insistently and loudly.

Sam, the farmer, startled awake from a dream of Katie in the dark January night. He muttered, “Are you sure?” and mumbled something about a night’s sleep, but got out of bed, pulling on pants and a shirt.

He knew better than to ignore Rose, especially at lambing time. She seemed to have a sort of map of the farm inside her head, a picture of how things ought to be. Whenever something was wrong or out of place—an animal sick, a fence down, an unwelcome intruder—she knew it instantly, and called attention to it, sniffing, barking, circling. She constantly updated the map, it seemed to Sam.

Occasionally her map failed or confused her—but that was rare. Sam saw to it that Rose was always with him, that she was apprised of everything that came and went—every animal, every machine—so she could keep her mental inventory.

Among his friends, Sam called Rose his farm manager. They had been together for six years, ever since he had driven over to the Clark farm in Easton and seen a litter of border collie/shepherd mix pups. He had still been debating with himself about whether to get a herding dog—he had no idea how to train one, and no time to do it, anyway.

But, perhaps picking up the scent of sheep, Rose ran right over to him, looking so eager to get to work, even at eight weeks old, that he brought her home. A few weeks after she arrived, some sheep had wandered through an unlatched gate and across the road, and Rose shot out of the house through the newly installed dog door, corralled them, and marched them back, working on instinct alone. She certainly had no help from Sam, who wasn’t even aware that the sheep were at liberty. The two had been working side by side ever since.

From then on, Sam would shake his head whenever he saw the elaborate, highly choreographed herding trials on television. Rose grew into the role on her own; she simply seemed to know what to do. The farm, he told his friends, was the world’s greatest trainer. And the sheep did what she told them to, which was all Sam really cared about. Get them from one place to another. Didn’t have to be pretty, though sometimes it was beautiful.

The relationship had grown way beyond anything Sam understood at first, or even imagined. It was more like a partnership, he had told Katie, an understanding subtler than words. It was something he lived, not something he thought much about.

I think you love that dog more than me, Katie would sometimes joke. Sam would blush and stammer. She’s just a dog, he would say, because he could not say what Rose truly meant to him.

Now he could tell from the urgency of Rose’s bark that something was wrong. She kept tilting her ears to the pasture, agitated, eager to get outside.

So on this cold and windswept night, Sam, a tall, thin man with what had once been a ready smile and a full head of reddish-brown hair, went downstairs and got a flashlight, pulled on a jacket and boots, and he and Rose walked out the back door and into the night. Even in the dark, in the reflected light of the moon, he could see the glow of her fiercely bright-blue eyes.

The farmhouse sat at the bottom of a gentle, rolling pasture. By the back door, there were two paths. The one to the left led out into the woods, and the one to the right ran toward the two barns and the pasture gates.

The first barn was big, filled with hay up in the loft and tractors, and sometimes cows, down below. A shed was attached to the big barn, which housed equipment and supplies, as well as some feed. Farther up the hill was a large pole barn. A three-sided structure with the fourth side open to the air, it allowed the sheep to be outside, which they preferred, while still offering some shelter from the elements. When they were kept inside a closed barn, they got fearful, claustrophobic, bleated day and night. Anyway, it was the way Sam’s father had done it. The three buildings formed a triangle: the farmhouse at the bottom, the big barn off to one side nearby, the pole barn a hundred yards up the hill. The cows were in the other pasture on the far side of the barn.

A few hundred feet from the farmhouse, the path led to a gate that connected to a fence encircling all of the pastures and barns. Sam was proud of that fence. He’d spent years shoring and patching it, and in the past year or so, no animal had slipped out, or in.

As they neared the barn, Sam finally saw in the beam of light from his flashlight what Rose had heard and sensed, up behind the building. He moved faster, opening the pasture gate. Rose raced through and ran to the struggling ewe. Sam retrieved his sack of medical equipment from the barn and hurried behind the dog up a path well worn by the animals, marked by manure and ice-encrusted mud, pungent even in winter. The big barn was on the right, looming like a great battleship, its lights sending small beams out into the dark, foggy pasture. That old barn had a lot of stories to tell.

The lambing shed where Sam had put this pregnant ewe a few days earlier was also open on one side, though protected from the snow and wind. An open hatchway led from the lambing shed inside the barn to an area warmed by heat lamps and lined with hay and straw, where the ewes could take their newborn lambs. With this arrangement, they were outside when they went into labor, so they could be near the other sheep, and Sam could still see and hear them from the house. Or at least Rose could.

He trained his light on the sick ewe, number 89. Her wheezing had calmed, which was an ominous sign, and she lay still, on her side, in the corner of the pen in a bed of hay.

Rose waited for Sam to open the birthing pen gate, then rushed in to the mother and attempted to rouse her, nipping at her nose and chest.

Sam opened his bag and pulled out scissors, forceps, bandages, syringes, a jar of iodine, antibiotics, and some rope and salve. He was serious and calm as he followed Rose’s lead, this small black and white dog, with those piercing eyes, moving with speed and confidence.

The other sheep gathered in the pole barn up the hill, watching, intent and anxious. Rose glanced up at the crowd of ewes, and at the Blackface, their leader, who had appeared at the front of the flock. Rose’s eyes and posture gave clear instructions—stay back, stay away from Sam—and they obeyed.

If necessary, she would use her teeth, pulling some wool to get things moving, or to stop things from moving. She rarely needed to do that. But tonight, particularly since there was no food around the lambing area, Rose knew they would keep their distance. The sheep wanted no part of a human or a dog in the middle of the night.

It was black and cold, and the ground was icy. Rose saw and smelled the amniotic fluid puddling under the ewe. Rose could see the almost imperceptible movement of the ewe’s stomach, hear the faint breath, see the moisture in her eyes, the stream from her nostrils. She could hear the faintest of heartbeats.

She could smell the ewe’s struggle.

Rose and Sam had done this before, many times.

Having failed to get the ewe to her feet, Rose backed up while Sam set up his light, kneeled down, rolled up his sleeves. She watched him rub salve on his hands before turning the ewe and plunging his arm into the dying mother, finding the lamb stuck in the uterine canal.

The smell was intense, and troubling. This was a bad sign. Lambs didn’t last very long after the water had broken.

Sam muttered and cursed. He turned the lamb’s feet until they were pointed in the right direction, then he grunted, pulled, and pulled again. Finally, Rose saw him draw out his hand, and with it, the lamb. The small, matted creature was not moving.

Sam dipped his pocketknife in a bottle and then used it to cut the umbilical cord. Then he stood, lifted the lamb by its feet, and swung it, left and right, in the cold air, to get its heart beating. The lamb was slick with fluids, and the air was frigid. Lambs can die quickly in these conditions. If they’re healthy, their mothers will usually guide them through the hatchway to the warmth of the heat lamps.

Rose barked, excited. The lamb suddenly coughed and wheezed. It was alive. Rose ran around to the ewe’s face and began nipping at her nose, urging her to her feet.

The dog and the farmer worked with urgency. The cold was biting and Rose felt the sting of it in her paws. Her whiskers were covered in ice. She needed to get the ewe up quickly, had to get her to clean her lamb. And the lamb needed nourishment.

Sam pulled out a plastic bottle with sheep’s milk that he had stored in the freezer and thawed, putting it gently in the lamb’s mouth. He pulled a syringe from his other pocket—a vitamin booster, for strength and energy—and gave the lamb a shot. Rose kept working to get the mother up, so she and her lamb could bond by smell and know each other.

The ewe began to stir, looking at Rose. The dog did not waver or back off, but barked and lunged, nipped and kept her eyes locked on the ewe’s.

The ewe closed her eyes, reopened them. She was suddenly alarmed, breathing more heavily now, as she struggled to get to her feet. Afterbirth trailed from under her tail.

Sam carefully put the lamb down and came over to help, pulling the ewe up gently. She was disoriented, panicky, and as soon as she was upright she tried to bolt. Rose headed her off. She and Sam knew all too well that when ewes ran, they could forget the smell of their lambs and abandon them entirely. That was not going to happen, had never happened when Rose was there.

Rose held the ewe to the spot while Sam positioned the lamb beside her. Then he ran into the barn and came back with some water laced with molasses syrup for the ewe. She lapped it up greedily while the lamb searched for its mother’s nipple. The ewe seemed to gain strength, returning to the world, becoming aware of her baby.

The ewe began to call out to her lamb. Now protective, she turned, lowered her head at Rose, and charged, butting her, and catching her off guard.

“Head’s up, Rose!” said Sam.

Rose was sometimes unprepared for how powerful the mothering instinct was in ewes once it kicked in and they bonded with their babies. It was a testing time for her, as the formerly compliant ewes changed, and she was suddenly, sometimes violently, challenged. She always regained control, with her body, her eyes, her teeth, and her ferocious determination, which eventually wore down even the most maternal ewe, even though it sometimes left Rose bruised or limping. After a time, they became sheep again, doing what they were supposed to do.

The vet once told Sam that Rose weighed thirty-seven pounds, and that any one of those two- and three-hundred-pound ewes or rams could have stomped or butted her senseless, but they didn’t know they could. Rose had to make sure they never knew.

Sam looked up and saw that it had begun snowing lightly, and the wind was picking up. He was huffing hard on his hands, looking up at the sky. Rose looked up, too, and felt a stirring in all of her senses.

Sam appeared different to Rose than he used to, quieter, not as strong, not as clear-headed. A lot of things were different since the night Katie had been taken from the house.

The very map of the farm had changed.

She watched Sam as he worked silently, purposefully, toweling off the lamb. Once he was sure the mother had the smell of the lamb, he picked it up in a cloth sling. It was time to get it under the heat lamps and onto a pile of straw. There the mother would finish cleaning her baby, and the baby would find her teats and drink some more, getting warm and dry, and the ewe could bond with him—it was a ram—and know his cry. The two would nestle up together and talk to each other in a language all their own.

Sam was now backing up to the hatchway, and the ewe looked around frantically. Rose kept her distance, a bit away and behind her, so that she wouldn’t panic and head for the other sheep, who were still watching from the pole barn.

The ewe darted a few feet up the hill. Rose dashed ahead of her and brought her back. They repeated this two or three times, Rose and the ewe, in a kind of a dance, Rose anticipating where the ewe would go and blocking that route. Even though her lamb was being carried in that direction, it was unnatu- ral for the ewe to move away from her flock, and toward the barn, especially with a human and a dog. Only the ewe’s intensifying mothering instincts kept her from running off. That and Rose in her face, whenever she looked or turned to go up the hill.

Finally at the hatchway entrance to the barn, the ewe froze. Rose watched her look up the hill, then toward her lamb. Rose saw that she was still thinking of bolting up to the pole barn, to the Blackface, to the safety and comfort of the other sheep.

Sam backed into the barn, making sure the ewe could see him and the lamb in his arms. He opened the lambing pen gate, then turned on the heat lamps and put the baby down in the warming glow. The lamb bleated, and the ewe bleated in response, rushing through the hatchway and into the pen.

Rose kept the mother in until she settled down there. The ewe eventually forgot Rose, and nosed the lamb under the lamp and onto the hay. She began licking him. Sam closed and tied the plastic fencing of the makeshift pen. The ewe, exhausted, would let her baby feed, and then the two of them would sleep.

Sam turned away to check the wiring of the heat lamp and bring some fresh hay. Rose sat down, calming also. Her job was done. But in less than a minute she stood again and turned away, limping slightly from the butting of her shoulder.

“Okay, girl,” Sam said to Rose as he shone the flashlight around to see if the other pregnant ewes were up to anything. Rose did not understand his words but understood the tone of voice, his approval. And she also understood it as the end of this work.

Rose smelled the warm, rich mother’s milk, heard the sound of suckling. The timeless map, a compilation of countless memories and experiences and images, was as it should be, and now updated to include one new creature.

Sam slid the door shut.

Rose followed him to the gate and then trotted toward the house. Sam walked on ahead of her, but on the stoop, she paused for a moment. Something made her look up again at the predawn slate sky.

Rose felt the storm coming, smelled snow and heavy air. She remembered other storms, the snow and wind and killing cold. She felt a flash of deep alarm run through her like a bolt of lightning. The hair on her back and neck came up. Sam called for her, but she waited a moment longer before following him inside.

Here’s what reviewers are saying about Rose in a Storm!

“I felt as if in writing a novel Katz told me more clearly and more fully what the world looks like to a dog than all the animal behavior books I’ve ever read.”

–Janet Perry, author of Needlepoint Trade Secrets and Bargello Revisited

“…I highly recommend this to anyone who loves dogs or life on the farm.”

–Philip R. Heath, Gadgets, Music, & Books

What To do When Writers Block Hits by DCS

2010-10-22T15:07:00.000+11:00

You’re excited. You’re up early (or late), you’ve got time, you’re workspace is a perfect harmony of creative energy. You sit down at your computer, open up your word processor, put your fingers on the keys and…. nothing happens. Suddenly all those ideas have disappeared. Before you know it you realize you’ve been staring at a blank screen for the last thirty minutes.

Don’t fall into the trap of beating yourself up for this sudden case of writers block. My advice? Do something else! As writers there is always something we could be doing that will benefit our creation. Writing is also a business and unless you can afford a publicist, and a business manger there are lot of things you’re going to have to do on your own. So, instead of wasting time being frustrated your muses have taken a coffee break, engage your brain in another way.

Go do some research. This could be anything to the topic of your story, to ways to improve your writing.

Tackle some marketing. You can update your Facebook fan page and twitter accounts or, create them if you’ve been procrastinating. Then hit up the internet for the thousands of articles on how to really leverage social media to your benefit. Understanding SEO and keywords are very important.

Research internet radio stations on blog talk radio or anywhere else that you’re going to pitch when you’re novel is finished.

Create, or update your blog page. Now would be a great time to put up a post about how writers block sucks and encourage your fan base into a conversation.

Who knows, any of these things could jumpstart your creativity back into focus. Even if it doesn’t, you haven’t wasted your time. You still worked on your masterpiece, just in another way. And that totally counts.

***

DCS was born in Alexandria, Virginia. She graduated high school in Huntersville, NC and attended the University of North Carolina at Charlotte intent on earning a degree in Political Science and becoming a lawyer.

She instead eventually turned to writing. DCS is currently attending the American Institute of Holistic Theology to earn her PhD in Metaphysical Spirituality.

You can also hear her live every Saturday evening on BlogTalkRadio’s In the Mind of DCS. Show starts at 7pm Central Standard Time.

Synarchy Book 2: The Ascension is her second novel, and four more are scheduled for release.

Synarchy Book 3: SVT and Synarchy Book 4: The Black Widow are the next in the series due out in 2011.

You can visit her website at TheMindofDCS.com

Heart First, Head Second by DCS

2010-10-21T15:05:00.000+11:00

A famous writer once said, “First write with your heart, then write with your head.” I completely agree. I’m a stickler for research. I have some pretty deep concepts in the pages of my fiction, so I absolutely love delving into those topics. The problem is I don’t always remember the exact details of what I’ve read. So when I’m locked in the flow of writing I have taught myself not to interrupt myself. Instead of stopping I’ll just write or some variation. I have found that that little trick is sooo helpful. I will admit though, it took some getting use too.

I think some writers can relate to having that urge to fill in that important detail now, right now! But then we’ve lost our train of thought, and that fantastic rhythm we had going. My advice, don’t stop. Not until you run out of gas. Grit your teeth and bare the bumps. There’s no harm in coming back and filling in that random notation as soon as you’re done with your current paragraph or pages of pure creative genius. Just get them out first. And I’d recommend what I call, “fillers” entertaining and witty. Such as; or, .

It’s a neat little trick I tell you. And you can use it to “fill” names, dates, things you know suck right now that you want to make sure you come back to later, whatever. The point is that you’re letting your heart and your imagination have free reign first. Then turn on your inner editor and critic and turn it into sheer perfection. Heart first. Head second.

***

Chaos on Paper by DCS

2010-10-20T14:57:00.002+11:00

Outlines? Forget it. Pre-planning a novel? Not my thing. Writing the first draft, no sweat. Going back to edit it? While sometimes fun, it’s a whole lot of work. My first drafts are extremely rough compilations of run on sentences, bad grammar (the voices in my head don’t always agree on tenses), and “wow, I can’t spell”, realizations. Ever left yourself a note, but thought you’d be clever and abbreviate the point you wanted to expand upon, then come back to your book a day later and have absolutely no clue what the heck that abbreviation stands for? I’m still trying to figure one out.

When I sit down to write, I have an idea in my head of where I want the story to go. Then I just let it go. Literally, it takes off. Sometimes I stop at red lights, sometimes I’ll make a few u-turns, but the joy of creation when I’m in my flow takes over and that’s just that. I see things play out in my head like a movie. I have to have a visual of what I’m writing. Sometimes I’ll glance at pictures of things, other times I let my imagination craft the image I’m looking for. And what’s most fun for me when all is said and done is your interpretation of my vision.

But you’re never getting your hands on my first draft. Nu uh. Even my dog looks at it funny and he can’t read.

***

First Drafts Part 2 by Philip Stott

2010-10-15T02:10:00.000+11:00

One aspect of the first draft that can be a snare is the way ideas get fixed in one's mind. A character or an incident, key to the original concept, becomes so much part of your creation that it is untouchable. But a story can develop so far beyond the first draft that some king-pin, perhaps the very thought which put you on the road to writing the story in the first place, can need changing - or even leaving out altogether.

I am brought face-to-face with this whenever I listen to “Still Waters” (well, that would be its title if it were in English). It is my favourite work of my favourite song-writer, Chris Torr. Most of his songs are based on a clever idea around which he crafts thought-provoking poetry. Perhaps his best known is “Hot Gates” which is largely a list of conflict centres strung skilfully together. It was almost certainly inspired by T.S.Elliot's poem “Gerontion”. Torr's “The Falcon” seems to flow from the idea in the line “In my dreams I sing to you, can I sing in your dream too”. In “The Flying Dutchman” it is the urge to refute advice that a seagull cannot be part of a song! But to my mind his best is this Afrikaans love song. The finest love song ever written as far as I am concerned. The only song I have ever heard which tells the truth - the undiluted, sober truth about that most amazing and enigmatic part of human life, the love between a man and a woman.

But it has one flaw. Torr's first draft was sacrosanct.

His stimulus for writing the song was the Afrikaans equivalent of the English proverb “Still waters run deep” (the Afrikaans version is longer and more explicit). But the muse led him from there to such poignancy and beauty that the proverb became totally irrelevant. I have two renderings of that song by his wife, Laurika Rauch. The out-of place section has to be given special treatment to try and make it fit in with the remainder, but, sad to say, those valiant efforts do not quite succeed. That section should have been deleted after the first draft had developed into a work of art. Just as Melvile should have deleted Bulkington when Moby Dick matured into a masterpiece, rather than making him fall overboard after the story had departed from the original plan.

So that first draft, the foundation of everything that becomes your story, that labour of love which demands so much of your creative effort, may – perhaps must - end up a very far cry from the finished product. But without putting your very life-blood into it there is not much chance of a worthwhile finished product at all.

***

***

Philip Stott was born in England in 1943. He studied at Manchester University, where he obtained B.S. (with honours) and M.S. degrees in Civil Engineering. He lectured at universities in Nigeria and South Africa and carried out research in the analysis of geometrically nonlinear structures. He shared the Henry Adams Award for outstanding research in 1969. While lecturing at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, he studied biology.

After leaving Wits he joined an engineering consulting firm. His ongoing interest in all aspects of science led to studies in mathematics and astronomy with the University of South Africa and, later, to four years of part-time research with the Applied Mathematics Department of the University of the Orange Free State in Bloemfontein, South Africa.

After many years as a firm atheist, he was converted to Christianity in 1976. Following several years of studying the conflicting claims of secular science and Scripture, he actively entered the Creation/Evolution debate in 1989.

In 1992, he was invited to address a conference in Russia and since then has lectured, addressed conferences, and taken part in debates in eastern and western Europe, America, Canada, and southern Africa. Venues have included the European Centre for Nuclear Research (CERN), a UNESCO International Conference on the Teaching of Physics, and the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Philip Stott is married to Margaret (born Lloyd). They have two children, Robert and Angela; and two grandchildren, Sean and Julie. They live in Bloemfontein, South Africa.

You can read more about Philip and his novel, Another World at http://nordskogpublishing.com/book-another-world.shtml

First Drafts Part 1 by Philip Stott

2010-10-14T02:07:00.000+11:00

I don't think I am alone in finding the first draft the most challenging part of writing. Perhaps this is because it is the smallest part of a finished work in terms of time spent, so it gets the least practice. Once there is something in front of me to work on there is the clear and obvious job of polishing and honing it, looking for weaknesses, pulling it to pieces, applying the keen scrutiny of the copy-smith. And, more exciting than that, working through the copy can open my eyes to new ideas. It can show up inconsistencies in the characters and force me to think them afresh. The characters themselves can lead me in directions not thought of. The work can become exhilarating.

But first those initial ideas, fluid and jumbled together inside the head, need putting down on paper, - or to be more precise these days, on a computer screen.

The sound instructions given in school about writing an outline - noting down headings for each topic and then deciding on the best order for them before starting to write – used to work well for me when I wrote with a pen or a typewriter. But with a word processor I rarely seem to discipline myself to follow that route. I close my eyes and type.

That leads to plenty of work later, cutting and pasting to get everything into a logical order, but it gets me out of a rut that is all too easy to get stuck in – thinking too much and writing too little.

I work best early in the morning, getting up at about four o'clock and writing in the stillness before anyone else is awake. For me it is definitely the best time for first drafts. I wake up and grope my way to consciousness while mulling over the plot. Ideas start to jostle each other, I smile at a new revelation, or a clever remark that one of my characters comes out with, and suddenly I'm wide awake and heading for the study to get it down before it fades.

One thing that needs disciplining against is editing too early. As soon as there is a paragraph in front of me the temptation is to start tweaking it. Cutting out the verbiage, looking for more interesting vocabulary – getting into the main part of the writer's craft in fact. But when I do this too soon the ideas I wanted to get down tend to get lost before they ever make it to the page. So I like to just close my eyes and type. I end up with a mess to sort out, but that is relatively easy. Making sense of half-baked ideas is a major part of writing and I have plenty of practice. It can be done piecemeal at any time of the day, whenever there is free time and new ideas are not flowing.

***

***

Philip Stott was born in England in 1943. He studied at Manchester University, where he obtained B.S. (with honours) and M.S. degrees in Civil Engineering. He lectured at universities in Nigeria and South Africa and carried out research in the analysis of geometrically nonlinear structures. He shared the Henry Adams Award for outstanding research in 1969. While lecturing at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, he studied biology.

After leaving Wits he joined an engineering consulting firm. His ongoing interest in all aspects of science led to studies in mathematics and astronomy with the University of South Africa and, later, to four years of part-time research with the Applied Mathematics Department of the University of the Orange Free State in Bloemfontein, South Africa.

After many years as a firm atheist, he was converted to Christianity in 1976. Following several years of studying the conflicting claims of secular science and Scripture, he actively entered the Creation/Evolution debate in 1989.

In 1992, he was invited to address a conference in Russia and since then has lectured, addressed conferences, and taken part in debates in eastern and western Europe, America, Canada, and southern Africa. Venues have included the European Centre for Nuclear Research (CERN), a UNESCO International Conference on the Teaching of Physics, and the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Philip Stott is married to Margaret (born Lloyd). They have two children, Robert and Angela; and two grandchildren, Sean and Julie. They live in Bloemfontein, South Africa.

You can read more about Philip and his novel, Another World at http://nordskogpublishing.com/book-another-world.shtml

Stephen Fry Kinetic Typography - Language

2010-10-12T11:26:00.001+11:00

Life in the First Draft by Cheryl Bannerman

2010-10-11T17:54:00.002+11:00

I found writing the first draft enlightening and refreshing, and almost like a spiritual cleansing. I was at my height of creativity. The contents of the book, meaning the experiences of me, family members and friends were documented over a period of 15 years, but putting it all together formally in one cohesive, spelling and grammar-checked document…about 5 months.

Everything came easily to me because I love to create stories that stir the imagination. When I was little I used to read all kinds of books that would take me away to faraway, fun places and just pretend I was someone else and somewhere else. My mother would buy me all kinds of expensive book collections of literature and poetry, from Little Women to Black Stallion and all of the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys series.

I thought of these memories as I wrote my first book, hoping to take readers away to another place and time…to feel what I felt…to become one with Tara, the main character, no matter what age she was at. I wanted them to feel what she felt and be shocked, amazed, emotional, and amused as they read her story, and I think I did it! So far, folks are so engrossed they are finishing it in a matter of days. Wow. It’s definitely been a dream come true.

***

***

Cheryl McNeil (pen name, Cheryl D. Bannerman, her birth name) is CEO of a small virtual training company based out of Central New Jersey. She works out of her home office and creates classroom training materials, e-Learning modules, job aides and much more for corporate employees and their clients. She holds a Bachelors Degree in Business Management and a Masters in Project Management. She is also the (divorced) single mother of a beautiful eleven year old girl.

In her spare time she loves to read murder mysteries, watch movies, try new restaurants and cuisines, shop with her daughter, and in the summer, walk the boardwalk and take in the sun on the beach. Although her works are fiction, she has incorporated many of her life’s experiences into her stories.

You can find Cheryl at www.bannermanbooks.com

Lancelot's Lady and Life in the First Draft by Cherish D'Angelo

2010-10-06T16:17:00.000+11:00

Thank you so much for hosting me during my Cherish the Romance Virtual Book Tour, which launches my contemporary romantic suspense, Lancelot's Lady. In 2002, I started writing a romance novel, rather than my normal suspense, and began what was titled Reflections.

Here's the original first draft opening:

A woman's naked body, wrapped only in a thin veil of mist, rose from the shimmering stillness of the lake. Her long legs, half-submerged in the water, were gracefully slender. Rich auburn hair cascaded down her shoulders swirling over the peaks of her firm breasts. Her jade-green eyes gleamed with such yearning and expectancy.

The mist rose from the lake in spiraling tendrils like fairy hands grasping at the woman's body. The wind whispered in hot, humid breaths. Water trickled from the falls above, showering the plants with glistening moisture. And from the depths of the lush green forest, a bird called to its mate, inviting her to share in nature's beauty.

The woman in the mist appeared to be waiting for something―or someone . . .

Though the imagery in the scene above is beautiful, it was confusing to early readers. So the scene was moved. As well, there were two other changes: the main character's name was changed from Jessi to Rhianna as her name was too close to a character in my thriller Divine Intervention and Reflections became Lancelot's Lady.

Here's the new opening:

Pacing in the expansive marble foyer of Lance Manor, Rhianna McLeod tried to calm her nerves as she waited for her life to change. One man’s decision would determine her fate. Would she have a new job and a place to call home? Or would she be sent packing?

A tall, thin man in a dark gray suit approached her.

“Are you Mr. Lance?” she asked, holding her breath.

The man smiled and fine lines crinkled the corners of his warm brown eyes. “I’m Higginson, Mr. Lance’s butler. He’s resting at the moment. Perhaps you can leave your name.”

Rhianna blinked back tears. She couldn’t be turned away. The trip to Florida had taken most of her savings and she didn’t have enough money to fly back to Maine. Besides, if it weren’t for Mr. Lance’s letter, she wouldn’t even be in this predicament.

Lancelot's Lady ~ A Bahamas holiday from dying billionaire JT Lance, a man with a dark secret, leads palliative nurse Rhianna McLeod to Jonathan, a man with his own troubled past, and Rhianna finds herself drawn to the handsome recluse, while unbeknownst to her, someone with a horrific plan is hunting her down.

Lancelot's Lady is available in ebook edition at KoboBooks, Amazon's Kindle Store, Smashwords and other ebook retailers. Help me celebrate by picking up a copy today and "Cherish the romance..."

You can learn more about Lancelot's Lady and Cherish D'Angelo (aka Cheryl Kaye Tardif) at http://www.cherishdangelo.com and http://www.cherylktardif.blogspot.com. Follow Cherish from September 27 to October 10 on her Cherish the Romance Virtual Book Tour and win prizes.

Leave a comment here, with email address, to be entered into the prize draws. You're guaranteed to receive at least 1 free ebook just for doing so. Plus you'll be entered to win a Kobo ereader. Winners will be announced after October 10th.

The Power of the Blue Medallion by Les Berman

2010-09-27T16:01:00.002+10:00

The first three chapters just seemed to flow off my fingers. Putting in math problems that related to the story took a lot of time. I actually gave up for a year. I then woke up one morning and decided to write the story and worry about the math afterwards. From that point, I guess it took me approximately three months to complete. Many of my ideas came up in the middle of the night. Half the time I was too lazy to get up and jot down a few words so I wouldn’t forget. Unfortunately, I forgot.

I really didn’t have much difficulty in coming up with ideas that kept the adventure and intrigue. Of course some parts were more complex then others and took a little more thought. But all in all it went pretty smoothly and was a fun adventure for me.

The first five characters in the story I had in mind before starting the novel, I just began to put them all together when I sat down at the computer and typed away. I really had no set plan or direction in the development of the story. I believe the ending was the most difficult for me. I was very satisfied with its conclusion.

***

***

Raised in Southern California, Les Berman earned his bachelor degree in Sociology with a minor in Math from Long Beach State University, and a Masters in Education from Pepperdine University. Currently retired from the ABC Unified School District, Les also volunteers his time coaching young track and field athletes for a private club in Long Beach California. Les has coached many International and Olympic Athletes over the past forty years, and has been selected as a United States International Coach four times throughout his career. The Power of the Blue Medallion , is the first book for this author.

You can find Les at www.novelwithmath.com

and www.thepowerofthebluemedallion.com

Mining my Heritage by Shobhan Bantwal

2010-09-22T06:51:00.000+10:00

Back when I was growing up in a small town in Southwestern India in the 1950s-60s, creative writing was the last thing on my mind. In fact, outside of the required school and college essays, I had not written a single creative word. But when I took up writing at the late age of 50, I naturally turned to my own heritage for inspiration.

It was amazing to wake up one day and realize that perhaps my ho-hum life would actually be of interest to others. Having had a strict Hindu upbringing at home and a parochial school education under the watchful eye of Catholic nuns, an arranged marriage was the only kind of marriage I knew and expected. But all those elements added up to a life that was unusual to others.

There is so much fodder for story ideas in my own culture that I rarely have to look beyond it. Consequently my books are essentially "Bollywood in a Book"—emotional stories about women who are fiercely loyal to their men despite their authoritarian ways, and hot-button social issues like dowry, female-fetus abortion, and the infamous caste system.

Sex outside marriage is taboo in India, divorce is frowned upon, girls are considered burdens, boys are adored, and falling in love used to be an unknown concept. Recently the trend has changed and young men and women fall in love and marry outside their caste and manage to live happily enough. But the basic tenets of family life still remain the same in my culture, providing me with an endless permutations of story ideas.

In my latest novel, THE UNEXPECTED SON, my protagonist as a teenager falls in love with the wrong man, a man who is notorious for womanizing. He dumps her after using her. But that single mistake comes back to torment her 30 years later, when she has finally managed to get over him and make a life for herself in the United States. She has to reconcile with her past at the risk of losing her family.

***

***

Shobhan Bantwal calls her writing “Bollywood in a Book,” romantic, colorful, action-packed tales, rich with elements of Indian culture. Born and raised in India and now an American citizen, Shobhan had an arranged marriage and writes about that topic and other controversial social topics unique to India. THE UNEXPECTED SON is her fourth book.

Shobhan’s articles and short stories have appeared in a variety of publications including The Writer magazine, Romantic Times, India Abroad, Little India, U.S. 1, India Currents, and New Woman. Her short stories have won honors and awards in fiction contests sponsored by Writer’s Digest, New York Stories and New Woman magazines. To read her stories, articles, favorite recipes, and more, go to her website: www.shobhanbantwal.com

By the Seat of my Pants by Shobhan Bantwal

2010-09-21T18:45:00.002+10:00

I have tried numerous time to discipline myself, but after four published novels and two more on contract, self-discipline still eludes me. My attention span is shorter than that of a three-year-old, and my ability to focus on a single project is notoriously weak.

My writing life would be so much easier if I could only organize my thoughts and write an outline before venturing into writing a novel. Nonetheless instead of coming up with an outline I plunge directly into the murky waters of crafting that opening chapter. From that point on it is lonely little me, going off on a long journey with no map, no directions, and certainly no GPS.

One of the drawbacks of being a pantster is that when I go off on a tangent late into the story, it often changes the entire plot, forcing me to go backwards and fix a lot of events to tie into this new element. It is not only a lot of extra work but the chances of getting the facts or sequence of events wrong are very high—not good for an author.

However, despite my grumbling I must admit that being a "pantster" has its advantages: my characters take me to places I had never dreamt of going; they reveal secrets to me that add interesting twists to the story; they make me smile, and cry, and sometimes clench my teeth in frustration. They keep me on my toes.

In my latest novel, THE UNEXPECTED SON, my heroine is a stubborn woman, very bright, but lacking in street smarts. She led me to narrate her story in two parts: her teenage years in India in the 1970s, and then her life as a middle-aged woman living happily in the United States. As a naive young girl in college, she makes one huge mistake, then keeps her secret buried. But 30 years later that secret is revealed and suddenly her life turns upside down, leading to a bizarre chain of events.

My website, www.shobhanbantwal.com lists all my books, short stories and articles, contests, video trailers, reviews, excerpts, recipes, photos, charities of my choice, and contact information. My books are available at all major bookstores and online booksellers.

***

***

Shobhan Bantwal calls her writing “Bollywood in a Book,” romantic, colorful, action-packed tales, rich with elements of Indian culture. Born and raised in India and now an American citizen, Shobhan had an arranged marriage and writes about that topic and other controversial social topics unique to India. THE UNEXPECTED SON is her fourth book.

Shobhan’s articles and short stories have appeared in a variety of publications including The Writer magazine, Romantic Times, India Abroad, Little India, U.S. 1, India Currents, and New Woman. Her short stories have won honors and awards in fiction contests sponsored by Writer’s Digest, New York Stories and New Woman magazines. To read her stories, articles, favorite recipes, and more, go to her website: www.shobhanbantwal.com

The Things We Say Wrong

2010-09-20T12:27:00.001+10:00

Jello, Lancelot, Friends, Art, Tennis, and My Gray Hoodie by Daisy Jordan

2010-09-17T13:19:00.003+10:00

I absolutely love my writing space, tucked in a corner of my apartment in Denver. It’s where I sit late into the night, totally submerged in the world of my books. It’s one of my favorite times of day and one of my favorite places.

The first thing I love about it is the fantastic city and mountain view from my huge window. Next is my computer desk. I’ve had the same desk for years, and it holds everything I could possibly need.

My desktop wallpaper on my computer screen is a collage I made of pictures of Gordon Beckham, my favorite baseball player. Hanging above the window (see photo below) is a picture of Friends, my favorite TV show. The six Friends are sitting on a beam above New York City, a location from which I draw much inspiration.

Also of utmost importance, to the left of my desk, you will see four sheets of paper taped to the wall. These are my current brackets for the US Open tennis tournament. One is mine and one is my brother’s. We fill out brackets for every Grand Slam, and my interest in tennis comes out quite a bit in my latest book, Love Means Zero! Above the brackets and the desk are two paintings, one of La Rambla in Barcelona and one of Samana in the Dominican Republic. I love art, and I buy paintings from local artists wherever I travel.

To the right of my monitor, there is a red and green object hanging from the shelf. This is an angel my aunt and uncle gave me with a quote from James Michener: “I love the swirl and swing of words as they tangle with human emotions.” Behind that, on a pink piece of paper, I have another quote about writing that I like. Under my mousepad is a third. Also to the right of the monitor, on a shelf near the top of the desk, are a couple blue books and a notebook. These are my French books! I am currently re-studying French (I took it in high school and college), and I use some French in one of my upcoming novels.

On the back of my computer chair (which is really comfy!) is my gray hoodie. It is my favorite piece of clothing, and I love having it right there to throw on whenever needed.

Finally, at the bottom of the picture, you can see my cat Lancelot, who is lying on my laptop. Lancelot and my other cat, Jello, are frequently near me when I am writing, and they add a sense of serenity to the scene in the room. And of course, when I’m not writing in this room, I use my laptop!

All the things in my writing corner inspire me in some way, and I feel relaxed and happy when I sit down there. For me, that’s what helps produce good stories!

***

***

Daisy Jordan is an obsessive tennis fan and wrote this book so she could live out her dream-job fantasy through Hilton. Before deciding to write a book about the tennis tour, she wrote six other books, including Everything Happens for a Reason…, the Spin the Bottle series, and All That Sparkles Isn’t Real Sapphire. Even before that, she grew up in Indiana watching tennis all summer every summer on TV, and even attended a few pro tournaments. She now lives in Denver and religiously fills out brackets for every Grand Slam with her brother Josh.

You can visit her website at DaisyJordan.com

Want to know what’s going to happen in my next book? Don’t ask me…because I don’t know either!

2010-09-16T21:47:00.004+10:00

My novels are cliffhangers. They’re all about the same characters, and until I’m finished writing about those characters, I have every intention of keeping readers guessing about their lives. :) But it’s not just the readers who are guessing and wondering. It’s me too. When I start a book, I rarely know what the ending point will be. I may know how far chronologically I want to take it, but I have no idea how the characters’ lives and relationships will have evolved by that point. And I don’t always end the book where I thought I would chronologically. This may be because an idea comes along and I absolutely have to keep going, or because I come to a point where I’m not ready to make a decision about what happens next for one or more characters.

The Spin the Bottle series has four books, one for each year of high school. When I started writing what would become Really Good Friends, the first book in the series, I intended for all four years of high school to be covered in one book. When I got about fifty pages in on Word and was still smack-dab in the middle of freshman year, I realized there was no way that was going to happen. In All That Sparkles Isn’t Real Sapphire, I knew it would end in the middle of junior year of college, right before Everything Happens for a Reason… starts. (I had already written Everything Happens for a Reason….) I had this great idea for a crazy shock-ending that included a wedding, but as I kept writing, it was clear Lorylyn, the main character, wasn’t in the right place emotionally for that shock-ending. So I still wrote about a wedding, but the very last pages have another surprise, and readers are left as torn and undecided as Lorylyn and I were.

In Love Means Zero, I had no planned chronological end point. Early in the book, Hilton celebrates her friends Hillary and Dirk’s engagement party, but it’s not a major focus. However, as a year went by and the wedding drew near, I realized it would be a perfect ending point for a couple reasons. It would bring together people who needed to see each other, and it was the perfect setup for my next book, another one about Lorylyn. While things are completely unresolved in Hilton’s life at the end of Love Means Zero, the biggest stunner for most readers, especially those who have read previous books, will be what happens to Lorylyn in the second-to-last scene. And for those dying to know what happens with Hilton – my mom and friends are always asking me, “Who is Hilton gonna end up with?!” – all I can say right now is, I’m publishing two other books before the next one about Hilton, and even if I wanted to tell you who she’s going to end up with – which I never would – I can’t, because I have no idea. :)

***

***

Daisy Jordan is an obsessive tennis fan and wrote this book so she could live out her dream-job fantasy through Hilton. Before deciding to write a book about the tennis tour, she wrote six other books, including Everything Happens for a Reason…, the Spin the Bottle series, and All That Sparkles Isn’t Real Sapphire. Even before that, she grew up in Indiana watching tennis all summer every summer on TV, and even attended a few pro tournaments. She now lives in Denver and religiously fills out brackets for every Grand Slam with her brother Josh.

You can visit her website at DaisyJordan.com

Holly Lisle and the Case of the Subtle Secret

2010-08-27T06:49:00.000+10:00

The Writer's Life by Dr. Harry J. Saranchak

2010-08-23T18:14:00.004+10:00

I do not have a picture of my space because napkins, pieces of paper, or a notebook anywhere or at any time is my office.

When I get back to the home office, I use the “jottings” as a place to start.

If I don’t want to write, I don’t, but then nothing gets done, so I wait until I feel guilty.

When the writing is done, it is done for the day or for the moment. I can always boot up the computer and write down what I need to. The best advice I ever got was to just write. Never worry about grammar, spelling or punctuation*

I balance my regular life (I love to play golf) with writing by using a notepad that I keep in the car. In this way I am always doing what I love to do.

Finding inspiration is easy. If one looks at the world, the events, and the people, one does need to go far for a theme.

Struggle is everywhere.

The character needs to be a real character, pardon the pun.

This personality study needs to posses what we do not want to look at in others, or can’t see. The dark side. The plot contains the juice. How does this main character behave within the space, and how do events and other personalities bring the issues to light.

I try to plan, but then something usually gets in the way.

The END is great to type, but then I go back, so the END is just another beginning. I type DONE.

***

***

Dr. Harry J. Saranchak earned a B.A. degree cum laude from Georgetown and followed it with an M.D. from University of Connecticut School of Medicine.

For 30 years he was a vascular and general surgeon in three Connecticut hospitals, and for 25 of those he was also educator and mentor to medical students, residents and colleagues—while receiving eight Golden Scalpel awards for teaching excellence. A Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, Dr. Saranchak co-authored seven medical journal articles from 1974 to 1984.

After retiring from his private practice at Grove Hill Medical Center in New Britain, CT, he wrote Betrayals of Hippocrates: Crimes Against Innocence.

You can visit his website at http://www.harryjsaranchak.com.

Author Kim Baccellia on Life in the First Draft

2010-08-18T17:26:00.005+10:00

Life In the First Draft

I have to admit, my writing loft is pretty cool. You go up a spiral staircase and it’s tucked away from everywhere. I have a nice view outside too.

My writing room has a desk we purchased at Ikea and was a pain to get up the stairs. On my desk are a collection of writing books, paper, an egg timer(which I use to time myself), iPod(filled with music that goes with my novels), pens, critique papers, and some items that go with my books too. I have some Egyptian incense, some Muslim prayer beads, copies of my own books, and my own rescuer doll complete with her cross necklace.

Of course my laptop is there too. I named her Angelina because she’s red which signifies passion and imagination. So far Angelina has been good to me.

To the far right I have a huge whiteboard that I swear by. I outline my stories on this. This outline is for Cross the Line, the tentative title to the sequel to Crossed Out.

Some other things in my room include photos of my covers. The sketch is from the fab author Jackie Dolamore who drew a picture of my character Jordan from No Goddesses Allowed.

And to the other side are photos of characters that inspire me. Buffy of course! And Holly Golightly!

I used to keep copies of all my rejections. **If you look closely at my whiteboard you’ll see a running tally of the rejections to No Goddesses Allowed. I found though that having all the rejections covering my writing room only made me feel depressed. So I ended up filing them away.

And I have a nice view. Yes, hanging by the window are some query letters plus a letter from my writing mentor Joyce Sweeney regarding the opening to No Goddesses Allowed.

Every morning I’m in my writing room for at least a couple hours. During this time I try to get some writing in. I admit I also go on Twitter, which is a great social networking tool but can take away from my writing.

I love my writing loft. It’s nice to be able to get away and just be able to write.

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Kim Baccellia has always been a sucker for the paranormal. She blames it on her families’ love for such things such as having picnics at cemeteries, visiting psychics, and reading her mother’s copies of the daily horoscope. She even had her own horoscope column in middle school, which was a big hit! Kim’s other works include the poem, “My Father”, which appears in the anthology Mind Mutations, published by The Sun Rising Press.

Her essay about the adoption of her son, Finally, Our Turn, appeared in Adoptive Families magazine. Her YA multicultural fantasy, Earrings of Ixtumea, is published by Virtual Tales and available now at Amazon. A member of SCBWI, Kim is currently writing the sequel to Crossed Out, her latest paranormal young adult fiction novel. She’s also putting the finishing touches on an upper MG fantasy No Goddesses Allowed. She lives in Southern California with her husband and son.

You can visit her website at www.kim-baccellia.com.

Cross the First Hurdle by Leonora Pruner

2010-08-10T15:28:00.000+10:00

Writing is very personal, both in the way it is done and the choice of words. Of course, the first hurdle to be crossed is the initial draft. This is the beginning of the physical form of what has been brewing and stewing inside one’s head. At this time what was imagined becomes concrete. But, how to go about doing this? The answer varies from writer to writer and whether this is non-fiction, fiction, a poem, an essay, an article, or something else.

In simple terms, one must take paper and pen or pencil or sit in front of a useable computer and start. At this point, form is not important – emphasize the word “DRAFT”. It is going to be changed into something fine and beautiful—later. It may be rather like a volcanic eruption, spewed out with disorganized, creative force in random bits and pieces. The key thing at this point is to make the thoughts and ideas visible either on paper or a computer screen so they can be seen and refined. It is a very rare phenomenon for words to appear in a perfect, publishable form.

At this point, spelling doesn’t matter. Skip what is not known. When I come to a place requiring a description that doesn’t immediately come to mind, or needing research, or I am doubtful, I write the missing element in capitals surrounded by parentheses. Or leave an underlined space to call attention to the fact that something must be added. It is critical to get it down so the material can be work on and shaped and refined. Refuse to allow anything to deter this writing.

Until it is in a physical form, making the words tangible, it is an ephemeral idea which may well dissipate in the blink of an eye. Or, it may hover around like an invisible, irritating, buzzing fly, then suddenly vanish. Once gone, it is very difficult to retrieve it.

When it becomes a concrete, first draft, it can be shaped, cut, added to, or modified in countless ways. Then comes the task of transforming this jumble into something beautiful, readable, and understandable, bringing joy and information to future readers. Robert Frost once commented that after a poem was written down, then the real work began.

***

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Leonora Pruner was born in Dubuque, Iowa, but has lived most of her life in California. Writing has been an important activity since junior high. She graduated from Westmont College in 1953 and earned an MBA from Pepperdine University in 1981.

Fascination with a possible eighteenth-century English character led to five years of extensive research, which resulted in the 1981 and 1987 publication of two period novels. That time remains of great interest to the author, and she continues to use eighteenth-century England as a setting for her work.

Leonora married in 1953, and her family has expanded from two children to thirteen grandchildren and five great-grand-children.

She lived in the Republic of Maldives from 1987 to 1997, where she collected folklore and taught economics and computer science. While there she wrote the first drafts of this book.

Books by Leonora Pruner include Close to His Heart, Love’s Secret Storm and Love’s Silent Gift. The title of her next novel is The Aerie of the Wolf.

For more information please visit
http://nordskogpublishing.com/book-close-to-his-heart.shtml

Getting Started by Leonora Pruner

2010-08-09T09:42:00.002+10:00

Writing a first draft can be a bit scary, a relief, or a grueling task needing to be done. Sometimes the hardest part is simply getting started, in doing it. Once the actual writing starts whether it’s on paper or a computer screen, it can be like breaking a log-jam releasing a flood of words. It’s one thing if there is an idea welling up inside that must get out, and quite another if you have been asked (or required) to write something without that wonderful inspiration driving you to start. What to do lacking that compulsion or to get past that intimidating unmarked page?

There are probably as many ways to get over that “blank page/screen” syndrome as there are writers. Basically it is just to write something – anything will do. The process of writing seems to unlock more words. Describe the room you are in, the view from a window or the wall in front of you, some person you know, what you think about this assignment, or what you know about the subject. As the words come easier and your ideas begin to take shape, you will find you can cross out or delete large amounts that you have written as non-essentials. Ideas will take on a meaningful form and you will be getting into what you want to write or must write.

Once your mind latches onto the subject(s) at hand, just let the words come as they will, writing as quickly as possible. Leave underlined spaces for gaps you may need to fill in later. At this point it isn’t important to finish a paragraph or have all the details. This is only a draft. Get as many of your ideas as possible on paper or on the screen (be sure to save your work every little while so you don’t loose it accidentally).

When the “creative heat” dissipates, go back and improve what you have written, changing words, making one word do the work of a phrase, cutting out what does not contribute to what you want to say. Generally, if I am writing an article or short story with a given wordage and I must cut a third, I am in good shape. The process of cutting out excess verbiage, using more descriptive words that reduce the need for several others all sharpens and improves the end result.

Then let it rest at least a day, if possible, and work on something else. Go back to your first draft later and begin the real work developing it into the best you can make it. This is where all the skills you have learned about your craft come into play about shaping and pacing, avoiding redundancy (unless it is to make a point), adding more ideas to your original draft, perhaps cutting some old ones, and so forth.

Truly, good writing is a learned skill, a craft which can always be improved and expanded.

***

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Leonora Pruner was born in Dubuque, Iowa, but has lived most of her life in California. Writing has been an important activity since junior high. She graduated from Westmont College in 1953 and earned an MBA from Pepperdine University in 1981.

Fascination with a possible eighteenth-century English character led to five years of extensive research, which resulted in the 1981 and 1987 publication of two period novels. That time remains of great interest to the author, and she continues to use eighteenth-century England as a setting for her work.

Leonora married in 1953, and her family has expanded from two children to thirteen grandchildren and five great-grand-children.

She lived in the Republic of Maldives from 1987 to 1997, where she collected folklore and taught economics and computer science. While there she wrote the first drafts of this book.

Books by Leonora Pruner include Close to His Heart, Love’s Secret Storm and Love’s Silent Gift. The title of her next novel is The Aerie of the Wolf.

For more information please visit
http://nordskogpublishing.com/book-close-to-his-heart.shtml

The Red Pen and Purposeful Writing by Johnathan Williams

2010-08-06T15:39:00.001+10:00

I remember the first round of edits of my first novel. Painful.

I had finished the first draft just months before, entrusting the initial edits to my dad, a brilliant and unremitting editor. Many more edits would follow once my publisher and his team had their hands on the book, but I remember that first round most vividly. I sat across the table from my dad as he slid the rough manuscript of Jungle Sunrise back to the author.

It looked like a 2-year-old’s coloring book; the pages violently besieged by the ever-obtrusive red pen. Oh, the red pen. Some authors hate it. Some love it. Others fear it. As for me, well, I guess I was just surprised by it. I was surprised by the amount of changes that I agreed needed to be made to my book.

By the time we were finished, Jungle Sunrise had been rearranged, transformed, improved, and molded into the story it was originally meant to be. It was like driving an old truck through the car wash and flying a jet out the other end.

Most people, when they think of the dreaded red pen and editing, imagine a tedious task of correcting misspelled words and coma splices. This is not the case. The red pen allows the author to reexamine the drive of the characters, the believability of the dialogue, and even the purpose of the story. These big picture aspects of writing are what make editing such an invaluable part of the process.

Too often, books are written and even published with but a thin trace of purpose. With more than 100,000 books published each year and the average reader making it through only 8 books a year, an author must use the red pen time and time again to make sure that they communicate the purpose of the book in the most inspiring, intriguing, and creative way possible.

You only get one chance to capture the heart of a reader.

Whether the aim is to make someone laugh, teach a set of truths, enthrall with adventure, or move with emotion, writers must invest the time in writing, editing, rewriting, editing again, and going through more than a few red pens so that the book set on the shelves is, not perfect, but, ready. It is ready to engage new readers, ready to paint the right picture, and stir imaginations without the hiccups that didn’t survive the initial edits.

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Jonathan Williams served as a missionary with the International Mission Board’s Xtreme Team in the jungles of Peru for two years. It was there, lying under a mosquito net in a hut in the middle of the Amazon Jungle, that Williams began to write his first novel, Jungle Sunrise.

Williams, 30, writes and lives in North Texas with his beautiful wife, Jessica, where he pastors Body Life church and serves as the Campus Pastor for Trinity Christian Academy as he pursues a Master of Divinity degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. His passion and desire is to inspire readers with creativity and truth.

Find out more by visiting www.JungleSunrise.com.

Just Build the House Already! by Jonathan Williams

2010-08-05T20:32:00.004+10:00

You have to build your own house in the Amazon Jungle. There are no contractors, building companies, or realtors. If you want a place to live, a leaf roof to protect you from the persistent rainfall or a hut floor to keep your sleeping mat out of the soggy mud, then your only option is to trek through the humid, thorny, rainforest, cut down a tree, secure some leaves, and then build a hut somewhere in the village.

Until you build the hut, you sleep on the ground.

For a writer, the first draft is like building a hut.

It is tempting, when writing, to edit along the way. It’s easy to methodically scrutinize every paragraph, dissecting the dialogue of each chapter. If you give into these temptations, however, you’ll never get the house built and you’ll end up sleeping with your face in the mud and your multiple unfinished manuscripts by your side. Too many writers begin projects they never finish, quite simply because they refuse to write until all of the wrinkles are ironed out and all of the questions are answered.

Imagine applying this approach to the task of building a house.

You don’t wait until you know how you’re going to decorate before building a house. It would be imprudent to put a groundbreaking on hold until the perfect couch for the living room could be selected or until you were able to beautifully coordinate the drapes with the rug. The decorations come later. That’s the purpose of subsequent drafts.

The second draft may finally solidify the conflict that pushes the protagonist into motion, while the third draft allows the author to polish the main character’s triumphal moment. These are merely decorations in the guest room, fine trimming around the crown molding.

When writing my first novel, Jungle Sunrise, I knew the destination, but the route was up for grabs. I knew the characters, but their development remained somewhat hidden. Would Jonah Frost discover faith or just hope? Would his love interest pan out or fizzle out? Should Jonah’s brother play a more vial role in Jonah’s self-discovery, or should Jonah tackle this journey as a loner? Rather than try to figure all of this out before typing, I disciplined myself to press forward and finish the story. I had to get the whole thing on paper, and then, once the house was built, my hut standing strong by the village river, I was able to walk from room to room, chapter to chapter, rearranging, organizing, decorating, and editing.

The first draft should be a freeing exercise in writing. There are no mistakes yet, because not everything is decided. Just get the posts in the ground, put up some walls, lay the floor, and erect the roof. Don’t fill street after street with unfinished homes as you sit and stare at the computer screen pondering which surround sound to install downstairs. Write the book. Finish the first draft. Just build the house already.

***

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Jonathan Williams served as a missionary with the International Mission Board’s Xtreme Team in the jungles of Peru for two years. It was there, lying under a mosquito net in a hut in the middle of the Amazon Jungle, that Williams began to write his first novel, Jungle Sunrise.

Williams, 30, writes and lives in North Texas with his beautiful wife, Jessica, where he pastors Body Life church and serves as the Campus Pastor for Trinity Christian Academy as he pursues a Master of Divinity degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. His passion and desire is to inspire readers with creativity and truth.

Find out more by visiting www.JungleSunrise.com.

Finding the Time for Writing Your Novel by Sam Hilliard

2010-07-30T13:15:00.000+10:00

So you’ve fired all your distractions before starting a new novel. Now it’s time to actually write one. As with any great crime against nature, being successful takes both motive and opportunity. Why a writer does what they do varies based on the author. In the interest of space, let’s leave it at the writer actually wants to write a novel and move on to opportunity.

The most important component in opportunity is time. Writing can be done almost anywhere, but it takes time. Lots of it. Some novels are written piecemeal over years, others happen in bursts. The first draft of Fahrenheit 451 took Ray Bradbury 10 days, while Tom Wolfe spent more than 5 years working on a draft of Man in Full. It’s likely your project will fall somewhere in between the two.

More than ninety percent of writers have day jobs, thus their most creative efforts are relegated to hours either before or after work. Take away the commute, cooking, eating, bathing and some basic (but necessary) chores and there’s probably two free hours left. Perhaps this block is contiguous, perhaps not. It might mean getting up early for one hour before work, and then one hour after. Whatever the configuration, that sliver provides more than enough opportunity to get the project rolling.

A focused writer can get a lot of writing done in two hours a day, five sessions a week. Over the course of a month, those “tiny” increments will probably equal the amount of work done in one week at the day job. Toss in a full day session on Saturdays or Sundays, and that’s nearly two writing weeks for every four weeks dealing with the Boss man.

Keep that pace up for seven months and that’s more than 500 hours at the keyboard. Now that’s a decent amount. Especially since most professional novelists who only answer to an editor, rarely log more than five hours of writing per day. James Patterson spent years working at a marketing firm—long after a string of mega bestsellers—writing just two hours every weeknight. It can be done. So, what are you waiting for? Get started!

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Sam Hilliard arrived during a very scary period of the 1970s. Currently, Sam resides outside New York City with his girlfriend, and an army of four cats—one feline under the legal limit. His first book, The Last Track: A Mike Brody Novel, a mystery/thriller, released this year. When he’s not writing, he’s the Director of IT at an all-girl boarding school where he gets to observe world-class drama firsthand and that’s also the reason he studies Krav Maga and Tai Chi.

Website: http://www.samhilliard.com/wordpress
Twitter: http://twitter.com/samhilliard
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/thelasttrack
Book Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/user/buddhapussinkllc
Publisher’s site: http://www.buddhapussink.com

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Fire Your Distractions by Sam Hilliard

2010-07-29T15:08:00.000+10:00

Before word one of a first draft ever reaches the page, ideally one thing must happen: the writer must fire all their distractions. There will be plenty of moments along the way for introspection and hindsight, but this is not the time. Do right by the project and do it early on by recognizing there will be inevitable, unplanned diversions that might cause delays, sometimes permanent ones. Have a plan of attack before you begin.

Granted, some situations will always remain outside the writer’s control. Illness, a plumbing emergency, or the neighbors launching bottle rockets off the roof, will all likely impact a writing session. None of these events are really distractions, though. They are called life.

Acceptance is the answer to most situations of this type. Let them go rather than fighting them and with the possible exception of the plumbing emergency, they will generally work themselves out.

True distractions require a different approach and take more than just letting go. Distractions can be avoided, lessened or even eliminated. This is possible because the writer usually creates their own distractions. Let me repeat that. The writer is the single biggest manufacturer of predicaments that obstruct their own writing. They are grand masters of drama.

If writing is like setting sail on the ocean, the writer is not a good captain when distracted. No, the writer is playing the part of the Kraken, the beast who gnarls his octopus like legs around the ship, threatening to pull the whole works into the sea forever.

Minimizing distractions can take some preemptive action. For instance: scheduling automatic payment of bills (even ones not due for many weeks or months). Where applicable, load up on cat food, cat treats and litter (or dog/fish/ferret/lion goodies as the case may be). Just because Daddy has a book to write, doesn’t change the fact that the Cat Army has needs.

If a home improvement project can wait a few months, consider tabling it. Dealing with contractors hefting sheetrock and pneumatic drills up the stairs will severely curtail your attention span. For the same reason, avoid adopting a new pet until the first draft (no matter how primitive) is done. While pets love nibbling freshly edited pages, wait until you actually have something of consequence for them to chew. Mistah Kitteh will thank you. So will your editor.

And there are some minor office organization techniques that can help later on. It sounds silly, but deal with every piece of paper in sight from your seat at the typewriter or computer. If a letter wasted away beside the keyboard, unread for months, perhaps it wants to visit the shredder more than it wants to be ignored yet again.

Writing furniture should be comfortable, so if the chair or desk causes pain when seated for periods of longer than 90 minutes, a new one might save a few trips to the chiropractor. Make the workspace as functional as possible by reducing the clutter and keeping it clean—throughout the project.

Last, write an email to your innermost circle of friends. This missive is not an announcement of your plans to write a novel. No, it’s an admission of guilt and contrition, because you will be neglecting them—for quite awhile. Instead of groveling for forgiveness after the fact, why not do it in advance instead of when your mind is a million miles away with your characters? Then when friends do eventually complain about your absence (emotional, physical or otherwise), just hit send.

And get back to the writing.

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Sam Hilliard arrived during a very scary period of the 1970s. Currently, Sam resides outside New York City with his girlfriend, and an army of four cats—one feline under the legal limit. His first book, The Last Track: A Mike Brody Novel, a mystery/thriller, released this year. When he’s not writing, he’s the Director of IT at an all-girl boarding school where he gets to observe world-class drama firsthand and that’s also the reason he studies Krav Maga and Tai Chi.

Website: http://www.samhilliard.com/wordpress
Twitter: http://twitter.com/samhilliard
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/thelasttrack
Book Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/user/buddhapussinkllc
Publisher’s site: http://www.buddhapussink.com

***

The Race by Soren Paul Petrek

2010-07-28T15:30:00.003+10:00

I am an impatient writer and like to think of the completion of the first draft like the first leg of a race. I want to know what happens. My ideas come all at once and I have to get them down on paper. I’ve written two novels now and have yet to attempt an outline.

I know many other writers use detailed outlines, notebooks of ideas and even picture of individuals that give them inspiration when describing their characters. That’s all in my head or comes to me as the story develops. The process of discovering new characters as I go along is important to my style and method of writing. I try to tie characters and events together as my notion of ‘what happens next’ solidifies in my mind.

The emotional aspect of my writing depends on this happenstance style. I can appreciate how other writers might map out a particularly engaging or difficult scene, but the emotions are much more real when they happen to the writer as well. I’ve laughed, I’ve cried, been frightened, angered, a whole range of experiences. It is what compels me to write the way that I do.

I’m confident some of the mechanics suffer as I forge ahead, but these can be fixed during the ongoing rewrite process. The loss of a good idea or characterization might get lost while I focus too directly on form instead of content.

I write to entertain, not to impress any reader with literary prowess. I want to be the author readers turn to when they want to escape into worlds of excitement, danger, tragedy and triumph. When I finish reading books like that, I feel that tiny sense of loss at the story coming to an end. Everyone who loves to read knows what I mean. I selfishly want my readers to feel those emotions too, but know that I’m still in the race to bring them more.

For more information, please visit me at my blogspot at: coldlonelycourage.blogspot.com

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Soren Petrek is a practicing trial attorney with a passion for studying World War Two. He lived in France and England for years, listening to people's stories of personal sacrifice and struggle during the darkest years of the war. Cold Lonely Courage was inspired by the true story of a young Belgian woman who helped countless Jewish children escape from the terrors of the Nazi regime. Soren lives with his wife, Renee and sons, Max and Riley in central Minnesota.

The Bedroom (s): Where the Magic Happens! By Vincent Zandri

2010-07-20T17:01:00.003+10:00

Upon reading the title of his guest blog one might be easily fooled into thinking that what follows is an expose on my love-life, such as it is. While it does have a whole lot to do with one of my “loves” and passions, it hardly has anything to do with sex. Sorry!

Well, that’s not entirely true since at any given time I might be writing a love scene for one of my noir novels. In any case, this is about where I write, day in and day out. It’s about the four walls that enclose me while I try and put black typewritten words to a blank page. It’s about the place I do it in. Where the magic happens: the bedrooms of the world.

First of all, I didn’t choose my space. Because I live where I do, for most of the year, the space chose me. For the past five years, I’ve lived in a two bedroom apartment in upstate New York. While my teenage sons share one bedroom, I share mine with my writing studio.

It’s a plain space, with white plaster and lath walls, and two double-hung style windows. The windows look out onto well kept grounds and pre-war, vine-covered, brick buildings that remind me of a collegiate campus. Say Brown University or Princeton. It’s a quiet place, and if I want I can play some classical music while I write. Vaughn Williams is usually my preferred choice.

For a part of every year I write inside the bedroom of a five floor walk-up in Florence, Italy. The window beside my desk looks out onto the tile roofs of the city, and often I smell meats simmering and bread baking in the trattoria directly below me.

I have to be honest here. I haven’t always written inside a bedroom. When I was married I wrote inside a back porch that was enclosed, but had no heat, so that in the winter I wrote with gloves on with the fingers chopped off. Later I wrote at the dining room table while the kids were watching videos and television.

I wrote my early stories and the novella Permanence to the tunes of Thomas the Tank Engine. In the months following my graduation from writing school, I wrote As Catch Can inside a small, back office I rented from a dying insurance agency. Godchild, it’s follow up, I wrote in the basement of my new home, just prior to my divorce. I wrote the second and third drafts in a Gramercy Park Hotel Room in New York City. I was officially back in the bedroom.

Moonlight Falls took me years to write. Since I was picking up lots of work as a freelance correspondent, I never worked on it in the same place twice. Or so it seemed. Just a few of the places I worked on it were New York, Los Angeles, Boston and Key West. I also worked on it in Florence, Italy; Benin, West Africa; Paris, France; Moscow, Russia; Bilbao, Spain; London, England and other places too.

The Concrete Pearl, a novel which Stone Noir will be publishing in early 2011, was written almost entirely in a hotel room in Lake Placid, New York in between fly fishing for trout and hikes in the Adirondack mountains.

More recently, the new hardcore noir novel I’m working on, Dead Man, has been written in the upstate, New York apartment bedroom I wrote about earlier. I hope my four-walled environment gives it the kind of claustrophobic Hitchcock quality I’m going for.

I guess what it comes down to is that no matter where I am in the world, I always end up writing in the same place. The bedroom. There’s something very enticing about waking up and seeing my laptop ready to go on the desktop. I’m sure it’s the same hopeful feeling Hemingway got when he used to wake up and stare at his Smith Corona. The feeling that anything can and will happen today, as soon as I get up and get to work putting words on a page.

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The Remains author, Vincent Zandri, is an award-winning novelist, essayist and freelance photojournalist. His novel As Catch Can (Delacorte) was touted in two pre-publication articles by Publishers Weekly and was called “Brilliant” upon its publication by The New York Post. The Boston Herald attributed it as “The most arresting first crime novel to break into print this season.”

Other novels include the bestselling, Moonlight Falls,Godchild (Bantam/Dell) and Permanence (NPI). Translated into several languages including Japanese and the Dutch, Zandri’s novels have also been sought out by numerous major movie producers, including Heyday Productions and DreamWorks. Presently he is the author of the blogs, Dangerous Dispatches and Embedded in Africa for Russia Today TV (RT).

He also writes for other global publications, including Culture 11, Globalia and Globalspec. Zandri’s nonfiction has appeared in New York Newsday, Hudson Valley Magazine, Game and Fish Magazine and others, while his essays and short fiction have been featured in many journals including Fugue, Maryland Review and Orange Coast Magazine. He holds an M.F.A. in Writing from Vermont College and is a 2010 International Thriller Writer’s Awards panel judge.

Zandri currently divides his time between New York and Europe. He is the drummer for the Albany-based punk band to Blisterz.

You can visit his website at www.vincentzandri.com or his blog at www.vincentzandri.blogspot.com.

My Advice About Writing the First Draft of Your Novel by Marilyn Meredith

2010-07-19T15:23:00.000+10:00

Back when I was teaching writing I always told my students, “Vomit out the whole book then clean the mess up afterwards.” Kind of gross, but it got the point across.

Whether you are an outliner or a by-the-seat-of-your pants writer, once you know where you’re going with your novel, it’s best to just sit down in front of the computer and get started. Write one page, and then the next, and keep on going until you’re through.

I’ve heard of some writers who keep going back over that first chapter, trying to make it perfect, and never moving on to the second, and then third and so on. There are also writers who say they never edit, what they write the first time is exactly how it should be. Good for them—but I know that what I’ve written the first time is going to need work.

I follow my own advice and just keep on writing. I try to stop in the middle of a scene, so when I get back the next day, I know exactly what I want to write next. This is really helpful for preventing writer’s block.

Once I’m done, of course the book is far from perfect. That’s when the rewriting begins.

I belong to a critique group—one I’ve belonged to for thirty years—and I take each chapter, after I think I’ve got it in fairly good shape and read it to the group. I think of them as my first editor. They are pretty good at giving me good criticism, finding errors and inconsistencies. Often they point out things they don’t understand, or that might be missing.

In the case of Lingering Spirit I remember that my group pointed out a scene that went on far too long. They were right and I tightened it, only leaving in what needed to be there.

Because this particular book was actually published a long time ago as an e-book I think, though I’m not sure, it went through some sort of editing process before being published. This time around, the book has been edited once again, both by me and my publisher, Oak Tree Press.

Just remember, you can’t begin the rewriting process until you’ve finished that first draft.

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Marilyn Meredith is the author of nearly thirty published novels, including the award winning Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery series, the latest Dispel the Mist from Mundania Press. Under the name of F. M. Meredith she writes the Rocky Bluff P.D. crime series, An Axe to Grind is the latest from Oak Tree Press.

She is a member of EPIC, Four chapters of Sisters in Crime, including the Internet chapter, Mystery Writers of America, and on the board of the Public Safety Writers of America. Visit her at http://fictionforyou.com and her blog at http://marilymeredith.blogspot.com

Rebecca James Reads from her Novel "Beautiful Malice"

2010-07-16T15:11:00.001+10:00

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Rebecca James was born in Sydney and spent her twenties teaching English in Indonesia and Japan. She currently lives in Armidale, Australia, with her partner and their four sons.

You can visit Rebecca online at http://www.rebeccajamesbooks.com/

Life in the First Draft by Rebecca James

2010-07-15T21:05:00.002+10:00

Introduction: Hello! My name is Rebecca James and I am the author of Beautiful Malice, a psychological thriller which is due to be published by Bantam Dell in July. To my absolute amazement my book created a bit of a media sensation last year when it went to auction just prior to the Frankfurt book fair. It has since sold in over 37 territories. (I pinch myself daily).

I live in Australia with my partner, our four sons, two overly friendly dogs and an irritable cat.

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However differently we tackle the writing of the first draft, I think we can all agree that it is hard work. Not many of us sit down and write an entire book filled with the kind of glorious inspiration that keeps us effortlessly filling page after page with brilliant, sparkling prose.

In fact, in my book, Beautiful Malice, I think I could single out four or five individual pages out of three hundred that came to me in a rush of happy inspiration. The rest of it was a slow process, a kind of repetitive and tedious labour. Writing a book is often compared to climbing a mountain: it requires a great deal of determination to reach the goal - the top, a finished book - and it can often seem like an endless and pointless chore through the middle of it.

As George Orwell put it, "Writing a book is a horrible, exhausting struggle, like a long bout of some painful illness.'

So, yes, it's hard. And nice as it would be to have a definite formula or process to lay out - a reassuringly proper way to do it - it seems that each and every writer tackles their first draft differently. The good news about this is that writing is a pretty flexible thing - as many creative pursuits probably are - so, whatever you're doing, however you want to get those first words down on the page, at least nobody can say hey, you're doing that all wrong!.

When I started Beautiful Malice I had no clear picture of the story. I knew I wanted to write about a toxic friendship but that was all. I had no idea what was going to happen in the middle, let alone at the end. I didn't outline, or plan, or write a detailed analysis of each character - I sat down and wrote - from page one through to page three hundred - with no idea of what was going to happen next.

Every time I opened the manuscript I would read over whatever I'd written the day before and tidy it up, edit a little, let my head drift back into the story. In a way, writing a book in order like that can be a bit tedious - there's no leaving one scene to jump to another, more exciting one - but the fact that I didn't know what was going to happen next kept me intrigued enough to persevere. And, happily, the end result was a very neat first draft that didn't need a great deal of editing.

I've almost finished the second book in my contract (tentatively titled Cooper Bartholomew Is Dead) and I've written this one in an entirely different way. Before I even started it I had a much clearer idea of the shape of the story (although it has changed as I've written it, evolved) and only a short way into the book I had already figured out the ending. And strangely, I haven't written this novel in a linear, beginning to ending, way. Instead, I have jumped around all over the place, written scenes as they came to me, out of order - the most dramatic scenes first, the end before the middle.

Nobody else has read this second book yet, so I can't even say for sure whether I've succeeded or not - I think I have, I think it's alright (I certainly hope it's okay) - but what I do know is that this more random writing process has left me with a lot of tidying up to do, a lot of loose ends to tie up, a lot more editing to do than I had with Beautiful Malice.

I'm not sure why the process of writing Cooper Bartholomew has been so different to the way I wrote Beautiful Malice. I have wondered if my writing process has changed in response to the fact that I have a book deal - in the face of expectations... But perhaps it hasn't changed permanently, maybe I just wrote Cooper the way I needed to write it, perhaps I will write the next book in a different way altogether (standing on my head in the back of a moving car, for instance) ....Who knows?

I don't. And sometimes I'm scared that thinking about it too much will take all the joy out of it, kill any spontaneity.

And on that note, I'm going to stop.

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Rebecca James was born in Sydney and spent her twenties teaching English in Indonesia and Japan. She currently lives in Armidale, Australia, with her partner and their four sons.

You can visit Rebecca online at http://www.rebeccajamesbooks.com/

Beginning a Book by Marilyn Meredith

2010-07-14T15:11:00.000+10:00

One of the first things I do when beginning a book—after I know what I’m going to write about—is put down everything I know about the characters. Who they are, what they look like, what brought them to the place where the story begins, and what kind of changes I want for them. To make sure I don’t change someone’s eyes or hair color, I keep a 3 X 5 card on each one. I’m sure there is a way to do this on the computer, but this is how I’ve always done it, so know I won’t be changing.

In the case of Lingering Spirit, the story premise is based on something that actually happened—though much of the story is fictionalized. When creating the characters, they needed to be different from the actual people I planned to write about; different names, different physical descriptions and different personalities.

Picking names is something I enjoy. I keep lists of names, obits with interesting names, graduation programs and programs of plays with the cast of characters. Of course, I’d never use someone’s whole name, but it’s fun to put a first name with someone else’s last name. It’s important that the names fit the character; not giving a wimpy male name to a macho type guy. I also try not to use names that rhyme, start with the same letter, or all have the same number of syllables.

Once I’ve done that, I might write the first paragraph. I don’t outline my novels before I write, though I usually have a pretty good idea where I want to go with the story and what the outcome will be. (This might change as I really get into the book.)

I have ideas about scenes and I might jot down two or three words to remind me what I want to write about. Sometimes I’ll write several paragraphs of a particular scene. I do this with pen and paper.

Even after I’ve started writing the story on the computer, I’ll keep a notepad close by so I can scribble ideas that come to me that I want to be sure to include later on in the story. When I’m writing, that’s when the ideas really start to flow. If I don’t write them down I might forget.

For some this might detract from the actual writing, but I’ve spent my writing life being distracted and learned to go right back to whatever I am working on. I think it’s all part of really wanting to be a writer. If you want it enough, nothing will keep you from writing.

It’s important to have a specific time to write even if it’s only an hour before everyone else gets up. Years ago, when I worked outside the home, that’s how I first got started with my writing.

If you really want to get the first draft done of your novel, then it’s important that you write as often and as regularly as you can.

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Marilyn Meredith is the author of nearly thirty published novels, including the award winning Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery series, the latest Dispel the Mist from Mundania Press. Under the name of F. M. Meredith she writes the Rocky Bluff P.D. crime series, An Axe to Grind is the latest from Oak Tree Press.

She is a member of EPIC, Four chapters of Sisters in Crime, including the Internet chapter, Mystery Writers of America, and on the board of the Public Safety Writers of America. Visit her at http://fictionforyou.com and her blog at http://marilymeredith.blogspot.com

Nancy Thayer Reads From Her Novel 'Beachcombers'

2010-07-13T15:06:00.000+10:00

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Nancy Thayer is the New York Times bestselling author of Summer House, Moon Shell Beach, The Hot Flash Club, The Hot Flash Club Strikes Again, Hot Flash Holidays, The Hot Flash Club Chills Out, and Between Husbands and Friends. She lives on Nantucket. You can visit Nancy Thayer’s website at www.NancyThayer.com.

Life in the First Draft By Nancy Thayer

2010-07-12T15:01:00.002+10:00

I find writing a first draft can be a little bit like being alone in the house and trying to scratch that spot between your shoulder blades that you just can’t quite reach. You have to do it, you want to do it, but you can’t quite get there, and it drives you crazy.

Some writers, I know, write a one-sentence synopsis of each chapter on cards and tack them to a board so they can follow along, writing chronologically. I can’t do that.

I am an inefficient and intuitive writer. I can’t outline. I just can’t. I have to start writing, and what I start writing involves whoever has been walking around in my head saying things. It’s always been that way. Somehow I know something about my main character and her crisis—it’s usually a woman—and I “see” her. I “hear” her. So I write down what is there, waiting in my head like a blinking cursor, to write. Perhaps, the first day, five pages.

The next day, I wake up, grab my coffee, and read what I’ve written. Immediately, I know, “Oh, she doesn’t say that!” And I begin to edit and cross out and scribble in the margins and write five more pages. (I keep all the pages I write until I’m really finished writing the novel.) (Stacks of paper loom in my study!)

I work like this for perhaps a month, more or less, until I finally know what my novel is going to be about. At that point I can pull together a synopsis to present my editor. I know there will be changes, lots of changes, suggested by my editor and my agent and my husband. And myself.

An ad man, Dick Mercer, once said when we worked together on a library committee, that if you present a blank sheet of paper to a committee and say, “Give me five ideas,” the pages will stay blank. But if you give the committee a sheet of paper with five ideas on it, everyone will have lots of suggestions. I think that’s the way first drafts work. I can sit waiting for the perfect sentence, character or plot, and I can wait all day. But once I’ve written a sentence, I know if it’s right or wrong.

But right or wrong for how long? Once I’m in the middle of a book, I often realize a scene in the beginning is completely wrong. Sometimes I have to get rid of a character. I often finish a book, let it “cool,” reread it, and edit out entire scenes or people or action.

When I started writing Beachcombers, I was thinking about three young sisters who live on Nantucket and are working to grow up and away from a terrible loss in their lives. Why was I thinking this? Perhaps because I have a daughter in her thirties, and I know her friends who are in their thirties. Perhaps because I was seeing how what happens to us when we are young influences how we act even when we’re living adult lives. Probably I was walking along the beach, as I do almost every day, bending down to pick up a shell, lulled by the shimmer of the ocean—and a woman in my head started talking.

That, for me, is the best way to get started on a first draft: take a walk. Look at nature. Get away from the computer or pen and paper, move your body, and let your mind be free to receive whatever the mysterious dynamics of writing sends you. Then go home and write. Write, even if you know it’s wrong. After a while, it will be right.

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Nancy Thayer is the New York Times bestselling author of Summer House, Moon Shell Beach, The Hot Flash Club, The Hot Flash Club Strikes Again, Hot Flash Holidays, The Hot Flash Club Chills Out, and Between Husbands and Friends. She lives on Nantucket. You can visit Nancy Thayer’s website at www.NancyThayer.com.

Writing is Like Building a House By Jackie M. Johnson

2010-07-09T01:56:00.001+10:00

Writing, like building a new house, takes time and hard work. If you’ve ever had a house built, you know that there are several steps to the process: site selection, building the foundation, framing, finishing the interior and exterior, landscaping, and doing a final walk-through.

In the same way, when you follow the stages of creating a written piece, it will be solid and lasting. Here are some ideas to build your project from rough draft to finished piece:

1) Site selection. It’s important to begin with the basics. What do you want to write? Who is your audience? Ask yourself the essentials: who, what, when, where, why and how. Next, what kind of project will you create? Once you figure out the big idea, you’ll have a better idea of knowing if you have enough material for an entire book—or just enough for an article or blog post.

2) Building your foundation. Your outline—no matter how brief—will be your blueprint. Even if you’re an anti-outline person, at least put a few main points on paper and add to it as your idea develops. Like the gray cement blocks that form the foundation of a house, the structure of your writing will support the rest of the piece. Make sure it’s strong.

3) Framing is about creating your rough draft. Get your ideas on paper, one word at a time. Words turn into paragraphs, paragraphs turn into chapters, until you’ve got an entire book.

4) Finishing. Don’t forget the importance of rewriting and editing to make your piece both correct and content-rich.

5) Landscaping. When a house has been constructed, you stand back and look at the whole picture to see where you can put the final touches. The green grass, bushes, and colorful flowers add interest and beauty to the home. Likewise, let your writing sit for a few days. Then revisit it from a new perspective and add the final touches to your piece.

6) Final walk-through – Thought you were finished? No. Be sure to read through your manuscript one more time—a final edit—before you submit it to your agent, editor or publication.

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Jackie M. Johnson is an accomplished author and freelance writer who has a passion for helping people who’ve experienced brokenness. Her first book, Power Prayers for Women has sold almost 200,000 copies.

A Milwaukee native and graduate of Trinity International University, Jackie lives in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

You can visit Jackie online at http://whenloveends.com/ and at her blog http://anewdaycafe.blogspot.com/.

Write First, Edit Later By Jackie M. Johnson

2010-07-08T01:51:00.000+10:00

So, you want to write a book—or an article, or something else. Whatever your writer heart’s desire, it’s essential to get started and get some words on a page. Yet many writers and wanna-be writers get stuck in the first draft process. That’s because often they’ve fallen prey to the trap of perfectionism. Here are some ideas to help you get going—and finish your piece.

Just start. Instead of staring at a blank white piece of paper or screen, just start. Lift your fingers to the keyboard (or pen) and start writing words, any words, to build momentum. Think of it as a warm-up.

Free write. Start your new project by doing a “brain dump.” Let the ideas (even half-formed ones) flow out of you. It may be a sentence, a few paragraphs or an entire chapter; the amount of content is up to you. Remember, it’s a draft. At the draft stage, it doesn’t have to be perfect. It just has to be on paper.

Keep your crafts separate: writing and editing. Instead of trying to make the text perfect as it’s flowing from your fingers, realize that there is a process to the process. Bottom line: Don’t write and edit yourself at the same time. You will constantly start and stop, and become frustrated. It’s like trying to drive your car with one foot on the accelerator and one on the brake. The car would jerk so badly that you’d never get anywhere! Write first, edit later.

Clean it up. You have a body of unformed copy, now go back and edit the piece to clean up spelling, punctuation and grammar. Remove redundant ideas and excess verbiage. Less is more.

Capture your ideas. Finally, it’s important to realize that most writers don’t begin their project by sitting down to a blank white screen. Often they have notes or thoughts that have been marinating in their head for some time. Consider carrying a small notebook with you (in your purse, briefcase, car; whatever works for you) so you can capture ideas before they float away. Then, keep your notes in a file folder. When you sit down to write, pull out the file and you have some seeds of ideas to help you start writing.

Be okay with the process. Remember, your first draft is just that: a draft. Don’t let perfectionism creep in and freeze up your potential. A good writer has to be okay with the creative “mess” that’s all part of the beginning stage in the writing process. It’s like baking chocolate chip cookies. Imagine your completed project—your first novel, your non-fiction book, or article. Then imagine a plate of luscious, home-baked chocolate chip cookies. Both are results of a process.

But in order to get to the plate of cookies, you had to make a mess in the kitchen. Your guests didn’t see behind the closed kitchen doors as the stray chocolate chips rolled across the floor, or the flour streaked your forehead, or the dirty bowls piled up in the sink. But the process led to the result.

Likewise, your readers will never see the first draft jumble of words on your PC, or the outline you revised about 52 times. Eventually disorder leads to order. The clutter you began with gets sorted into creative goodness. In time, you find delight in the turn of a really good sentence—then another, and another. Until finally it’s finished, and your readers are presented with your final piece: your article or your book.

It’s time to get started on your masterpiece. Now go bake some cookies.

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Jackie M. Johnson is an accomplished author and freelance writer who has a passion for helping people who’ve experienced brokenness. Her first book, Power Prayers for Women has sold almost 200,000 copies.

A Milwaukee native and graduate of Trinity International University, Jackie lives in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

You can visit Jackie online at http://whenloveends.com/ and at her blog http://anewdaycafe.blogspot.com/.

Writing Longhand by Steven Verrier

2010-07-07T01:42:00.000+10:00

I don’t know how many writers like me are left – writing every first draft in longhand. Notebooks piled on my floor contain first drafts of recent efforts. I don’t know why I continue to write that way. It’s just the way I started years ago … and, well, you know what they say about old dogs.

But there may be more. Perhaps working with pen and paper just lends itself to the creative process in a way that tapping out words on a computer can’t. Maybe it’s because computers suggest speed and precision, while putting together the first draft of a story or book often rests on anything but speed and precision.

Or, again, maybe I’m just an old dog.

When you’re writing out a first draft in a notebook, you’re ready to work anytime, anywhere. On park benches, at the coffee shop, the library, on trains … there probably aren’t many places I haven’t worked on a first draft. One of my favorite places to open up a notebook and write a few pages when the opportunity presents itself is at work. A notebook is so inconspicuous – much more so than a laptop – and nobody has a clue what I’m jotting down when I open that notebook … well, until now, if they’re reading this.

The point here is that I’m ‘on call’ whenever I’m working on a first draft, and I like to have that notebook handy wherever I am and whatever I’m doing. Writing a first draft should be fun, unimpeded by too many concerns about getting it right. If getting through a first draft yields nothing more than a block of stone I can get serious about chiseling in the second, third, fourth, and fifth drafts, that’s good enough. And old-fashioned pens and notebooks seem to fit the bill just fine.

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Steven Verrier, born in the United States and raised in Canada, has spent much of his adult life living and traveling abroad. Publications include Plan B (Saga Books, 2010), Tough Love, Tender Heart (Saga Books, 2008), Raising a Child to be Bilingual and Bicultural (Hira-Tai Books of Japan), and several short dramatic works (Brooklyn Publishers, USA). Currently he is living with his wife, Motoko, and their five children in San Antonio, Texas.

You can visit his website at StevenVerrier.com

Life in the First Draft by Steven Verrier

2010-07-06T01:09:00.000+10:00

I’ve known people who’d labor over the first draft of a piece of writing to such a degree that they were defeated before they knew it. They were so excruciatingly meticulous in the early stages that they’d dread sitting down for another round of writing.

If that weren’t enough, they’d have that first draft planned out to the point where there wasn’t a lot of room for creativity to work its magic. The predictable result: that first draft wouldn’t be the inspired piece of work it might have been – or it might never even be completed.

I try to limit planning before I begin writing to what’s necessary to get the project underway. I may have only a key character or two in mind, an opening situation to fuel interest in the character or characters, and a sense of the conflict to follow.

Almost any setting can work, and when I think I’ve hit on the right combination … once I’ve got just enough to start the engine … that’s the time to start writing. Too many writers, unfortunately, miss that magical moment to begin – they wait for more and the engine stalls – and what could have been an enjoyable experience turns out to be a chore.

Just get it on paper. That’s my philosophy when it comes to writing a first draft. Let the characters lead you, the writer, not vice versa. When I write a first draft I don’t want my characters on leashes. I want them to develop minds of their own; after all, what makes writing a first draft so enjoyable is the unpredictability of it all.

Of course, I have an idea where the characters will go and how they’ll react in certain situations – just as I have an idea what a neighbor or colleague might do in a certain situation – but if my characters end up going in directions I didn’t foresee, so much the better. If I have a strong feeling they’ve made a wrong turn, we’ll have plenty of opportunity to work that out in the second draft.

That pretty much epitomizes the different approaches I take to working on first and second drafts. Anything from the second draft on … well, that’s the time to fret, to chop, to labor, to sculpt, to polish … and it can be torture. The first draft allows a writer to be creative. When I’m working on a first draft – though I’ll sketch details and take notes about where I think the story is going – I try not to look in any great detail more than a chapter or two ahead.

Similarly, I try not to look back in an overly critical way at what I’ve already written. Even polishing the previous day’s writing is out of the question. Just get it on paper. Write out the first draft, however it turns out. Enjoy the process; don’t let it torture you. There’ll be plenty of torture later.

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Steven Verrier, born in the United States and raised in Canada, has spent much of his adult life living and traveling abroad. Publications include Plan B (Saga Books, 2010), Tough Love, Tender Heart (Saga Books, 2008), Raising a Child to be Bilingual and Bicultural (Hira-Tai Books of Japan), and several short dramatic works (Brooklyn Publishers, USA). Currently he is living with his wife, Motoko, and their five children in San Antonio, Texas.

You can visit his website at StevenVerrier.com

Starting Over by Lurlene McDaniel

2010-06-30T02:31:00.000+10:00

The Basics of How to Write a Novel

2010-06-24T12:52:00.000+10:00

Creative Writing Story Structure- advanced Part 1/12

2010-06-22T14:34:00.001+10:00

You can view the rest by clicking here.

Completing the First Draft by Sherry D. Shumard

2010-06-18T14:00:00.000+10:00

Well, I started writing my first novel a long time ago. I had an idea for my book based on my experience when I ran away from home at the age of sixteen years old. I bought a one-way ticket to Jekyll Island hoping to escape my bad life and to live on an island. In my first book the main character Miranda Wainright does escape her heartbroken life and move to an island. She is carrying with her a secret that she eventually tells to her new love interest Jake.

He is heartbroken also because his wife and baby were killed in a plane crash. Miranda thought that moving to Jakes Island would solve all her problems but it can also create other problems like someone from Jake’s past trying to kill her. She isn’t safe on the island. Her heart is guarded from her heartache due to a cheating ex-boyfriend and she isn’t sure if she can trust him with her heart.

The book was just an idea that I had started on and didn’t finish right away. It sat unfinished for a few years. I was so busy with trying to juggle college and having a family that the book was a far away dream. I didn’t know that I would ever have time to finish the first book.

When my life finally settled down a little bit, I decided to write some more on the book. I tried to be as accurate as I could so I wouldn’t have so many rewrites of the chapters. This process doesn’t work for everyone. Some authors just write down their ideas randomly and it can work for them. Whichever way works. I’m sure there are many writing styles out there.

Well, I was very excited to finally finish the story and have it published. It was an exciting sight to see because the publisher did an awesome job on the cover of the book. It was also exciting to see my name on the cover of the book. It gave me a great sense of accomplishment.

Then I decided to continue the story from the first novel and go from there. I started writing the first draft of Heartbroken Promises 2. I created a plot with the sister of the first book’s main character. Vicky Wainright decides to move to Jake’s Island to be close to her sister Miranda and of course, the island isn’t as safe as she thinks.

She goes missing along with the child that she is babysitting. In addition to that, her heart is torn between two men. One is Noah, her sister’s butler and the other is Jordan the brother of her sister’s new husband.

My advice to new writers is to never give up on your dream of becoming an author. It may take awhile to see the reality of it but with hard work and patience it will become a dream come true. To see your book title and the name on the cover of the book is a very rewarding experience. Also, to have others read your book is an awesome experience knowing you have contributed your literary talent for others to enjoy. Good luck to all!

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I love to read and write books. I’m the published author of a series of books titled: Heartbroken Promises, Heartbroken Promises 2 and I’m currently working on Heartbroken Promises 3. The books are available on www.Amazon.com, www.booksamiilion.com, and www.bn.com just to name a few. I plan on writing many more books since I have a lot of ideas on what I want to write about. My dream is to someday soon see my books come to life as a movie or a television series-That would be great if it did happen. I’m married and have 3 children and 2 pets.

History of a Bad First Draft by Dr. Barbara Becker Holstein

2010-06-09T12:46:00.002+10:00

Looking through a pile of old, disorganized papers a memory slides into place. It is about a first draft I wrote 30 years ago. I wonder if it still exists. Should I pull apart the drawer I think it is resting in to find it? I might need my fact mask as there is sure to be so much dust in that drawer.

Wow. I was a young woman. I'm still a young woman...maybe not. Ok, I'm a lot older, but running home to type the next few pages on my electric typewriter still feels like yesterday.

I remember my excitement. This was going to be my first novel. The plot was part mystery, part psychological. The protagonist was an elderly woman who lived alone in a rooming house in Ocean Grove, New Jersey, along the Jersey Shore.

She had worked and was now retired. A spinster. The plot thickens. She is missing, but here's the twist. No one misses her, not even her landlord where she was paid up in rent many months ahead. Now the novel takes on more of a psychological cast. We have some deep societal issues of loneliness and not really belonging to anyone.

Was it a niece who finally came to look for her? I think it was about at this point in the story, maybe 30 pages in, that the book fell into a coma.

Quickly, with hardly a thought, I put the first draft away. No, it didn't have enough life to it, not even for me, its creator.

My zeal was gone. The best part of writing this first bad draft was walking along the ocean in Ocean Grove and imagining a great novel.

Still, every written endeavor leads to refining one's craft. And interestingly enough, when I wrote The Truth (I'm a girl, I'm smart and I know everything) 27 years later, I still was interested in mystery and psychology. So too, in Secrets: You Tell Me Yours and I'll Tell You Mine....maybe. But what a difference the years had made. Now I know what I want to say and I have the technique to say it. I will let the bad first draft rest, but I'll still thankful for the step along the way to becoming a fiction writer that it provided.

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Dr. Barbara Becker Holstein is the originator of The Enchanted Self(R). She has been a positive psychologist in private practice and licensed in the states of New Jersey and Massachusetts since 1981. She is currently in private practice in Long Branch, New Jersey with her husband, Dr. Russell M. Holstein.

Dr. Barbara is committed to bringing to the world the techniques she develops to help people access their Enchanted Selves. These core principles and techniques have brought insight and inspiration to many. Dr. Holstein believes that no one should be denied hope or a joyful life. Yes, happiness takes work, but no more work than living a life without hope, repeating negative thoughts and habits that lead to a life that feels less than inspiring.

Her book The Enchanted Self, A Positive Therapy was published in 1997 by Harwood Academic Publishers and is now in its second printing through Brunner-Routledge. This book is Dr. Holstein's pathfinder book where she outlines the best in Positive Psychology treatment techniques, two years before the term was coined!

Her second book Recipes for Enchantment, The Secret Ingredient is YOU! received rave reviews as a wonderful inspirational story book with space to journal.

There Comes A Time In Every Woman's Life for DELIGHT is Dr. Holstein's third book. This book takes the reader on a spiritual adventure with Dr. Holstein. Reader's love this book, getting to experience first hand celebrations and adventures that rekindle their own spirit of adventure. In two versions, paperback and a CD-rom version that includes music, art, and Dr. Holstein's voice, either is sure to be a 'Delight.'

Dr. Barbara speaks regularly on radio programs around the country, and appears on television in New York and New Jersey. Many of her inspiring audio shows and podcasts can be found on the web. Her articles and stories appear on the web on hundreds of sites. She also gives lectures, seminars, and tele-classes on happiness. Listen to archives of her e-radio shows, Happiness for Women Only on her website, www.enchantedself.com

Her book, The Truth, I'm Ten, I'm Smart and I Know Everything! is another first in positive psychology. A fictional book, written by a ten year old girl as a diary, Dr. Barbara has been able to imbed lots of positive truths that we all need to remember and live by, regardless of our age.

The girl's edition, titled: The Truth, (I'm a girl, I'm smart and I know everything) debuted February 2008 in bookstores nationwide.

Her newest book,is the second in The Truth Series It’s title is: SECRETS: You tell me yours, I’ll tell you mine…maybe!

This book continues the adventures of the ‘girl’ who is now 13.

Writing a First Draft, Torture Anyone? by Dr. Barbara Becker Holstein

2010-06-09T09:32:00.004+10:00

Writing a first draft can be one of the hardest tasks in the world. Here's a typical example:

You have a date set to begin to write your story and/or book. At first the date is at least a week off, or maybe even a couple of months, or a year, so all is wonderful. You banter in your head with ideas and brilliant glimpses of insights or descriptions that you will surely incorporate. If well trained in study skills you may have a notebook you keep with you at all times in which you write down some of these extremely amazing thoughts and plots.

Some of us may also be researching similar or identical themes, seeing what others have written along the way. This may mean reading other's books and/or articles and the feelings of being a great researcher, aside from a fiction writer may fill our heads.

Oh, this is a glorious time in the process. I remember researching the concept Enchantment for my first book, The Enchanted Self, A Positive Therapy. I was in heaven as I read how the word was used in old Nortic times in Scandinavia. Or was it Norway? Didn't it tie into rain deer somehow? Where are my notes!!!!

Ah, but too soon, the 'enchantment' of this pre first draft process passes and suddenly it is the morning of the day you have to begin your first draft. Oh, no, do I feel a cold coming on? I think I have a dentist's appointment. And it is a root canal. My daughter needs me to babysit and asked me to sleep over. She doesn't have a computer! Darn. And the excuses go on and on.

For most of us these successful excuses take us into many days, maybe months. For some, that first draft never does get written. And all I can say is remember you had some glorious days preparing to write! That isn't the worst thing. After all, we do live some of our lives in anticipation of wonderful things that don't happen.

Actually that was almost the case for Secrets: You Tell Me Yours and I'll Tell You Mine...maybe. I had written the first draft of most of the book and then just couldn't proceed. Once the girl had found out family secrets, visiting her aunt, and found out a secret about the boy's family that she had a crush on, the muse in my head went totally silent. I just couldn't get to an ending.

Actually, I had to wait about a year before the ending emerged as naturally as the first part of the book had. What was the difference? Why did it take so long? I'm still not really sure. Maybe I needed time with all those girls I got to know in schools and Girl Scout troops, as we went over The Truth (I'm a girl, I'm smart and I know everything). Maybe I just needed time. Or maybe I was just lazy. The point is I didn't panic and I kept believing in myself and my book and the rest is history! Now The Truth Series has two books!

For those of us who must get the first draft written, here is my advice:

· Expect garbage and don't evaluate.
· Sit down at your computer or put on your dictaphone and start to talk or write.
· Don't try to finish sentences. If you switch subjects, let it happen. If a new character or topic emerges let it.
· Write for at least 20 minutes or more if you desire.
· When you are ready to stop don't throw anything out.
· Go to sleep, or eat, etc.
· When you are ready to come back to the first draft do so. You can change things around and add stuff. But don't really throw things out. Just save for now.

When you are finally or almost done with your first draft take a break-whether that means an hour, a day, a month or longer.

When you come back NOW you can begin to clean, add, subtract, organize, see what you need to add, etc. I would still recommend saving in a file or word document all you have written, even if you are not using it. After all, you don't know. It may turn out that strange paragraph you wrote really late at night is the perfect opening for your next rough draft!

***

***

Dr. Barbara Becker Holstein is the originator of The Enchanted Self(R). She has been a positive psychologist in private practice and licensed in the states of New Jersey and Massachusetts since 1981. She is currently in private practice in Long Branch, New Jersey with her husband, Dr. Russell M. Holstein.

Dr. Barbara is committed to bringing to the world the techniques she develops to help people access their Enchanted Selves. These core principles and techniques have brought insight and inspiration to many. Dr. Holstein believes that no one should be denied hope or a joyful life. Yes, happiness takes work, but no more work than living a life without hope, repeating negative thoughts and habits that lead to a life that feels less than inspiring.

Her book The Enchanted Self, A Positive Therapy was published in 1997 by Harwood Academic Publishers and is now in its second printing through Brunner-Routledge. This book is Dr. Holstein's pathfinder book where she outlines the best in Positive Psychology treatment techniques, two years before the term was coined!

Her second book Recipes for Enchantment, The Secret Ingredient is YOU! received rave reviews as a wonderful inspirational story book with space to journal.

There Comes A Time In Every Woman's Life for DELIGHT is Dr. Holstein's third book. This book takes the reader on a spiritual adventure with Dr. Holstein. Reader's love this book, getting to experience first hand celebrations and adventures that rekindle their own spirit of adventure. In two versions, paperback and a CD-rom version that includes music, art, and Dr. Holstein's voice, either is sure to be a 'Delight.'

Dr. Barbara speaks regularly on radio programs around the country, and appears on television in New York and New Jersey. Many of her inspiring audio shows and podcasts can be found on the web. Her articles and stories appear on the web on hundreds of sites. She also gives lectures, seminars, and tele-classes on happiness. Listen to archives of her e-radio shows, Happiness for Women Only on her website, www.enchantedself.com

Her book, The Truth, I'm Ten, I'm Smart and I Know Everything! is another first in positive psychology. A fictional book, written by a ten year old girl as a diary, Dr. Barbara has been able to imbed lots of positive truths that we all need to remember and live by, regardless of our age.

The girl's edition, titled: The Truth, (I'm a girl, I'm smart and I know everything) debuted February 2008 in bookstores nationwide.

Her newest book,is the second in The Truth Series It’s title is: SECRETS: You tell me yours, I’ll tell you mine…maybe!

This book continues the adventures of the ‘girl’ who is now 13.

Being Unconstrained by Garasamo Maccagnone

2010-06-03T21:36:00.001+10:00

Although my intensity level while writing my first draft is somewhat alarming, and I’m sure my blood pressure is driven upward, it usually turns out to be the most memorable part of the process. Writing in an unconstrained manner is sort of like skinny-dipping during the afternoon in your suburban pool. (And yes, I do keep looking over my shoulder waiting to get caught). For some odd reason, I always get a visual of my tenth grade English teacher pointing her finger at me while saying, “You can’t do that. You can’t do that.”

Often times, the writing is illogical. Metaphors are mixed, punctuation is butchered, and sentences sometimes run on like Forest Gump going coast to coast. One must bear all, and it’s usually at this point that the best and worst of my writing is exposed.

More than anything, during the first draft, I focus on maintaining the right pace. Perhaps that’s why I like to write diligently once I start. It must be that I feel I can maintain the rhythm of the sentences once the pace is established in my mind. Fearing I might lose the voice and feel for the story, I rush on to the finish line.

Once you’re finished, even though you know you have a year of editing ahead of you, having the first draft finished comforts you in the sense that you know it’s just a matter of time before your work will come to fruition. Knowing you’re close gives you a reason to continue on.

***

***

Garasamo Maccagnone studied creative writing and literature under noted American writers Sam Astrachan and Stuart Dybek at Wayne State University and Western Michigan University. A college baseball player as well, Maccagnone met his wife Vicki as a junior at WMU. The following year, after injuring his throwing arm, Maccagnone left school and his baseball ambitions to marry Vicki.

After a two year stint at both W.B. Doner and BBDO advertising agencies, Maccagnone left the industry to apply his knowledge of marketing in a new venture in an up-and-coming industry. Maccagnone created a company called, “Crate and Fly,” and turned it from a store front in 1984 to a world-wide multi-million dollar shipping corporation by 1994.

In the mid 90’s Maccagnone decided to fulfill the promise of his writing career, by first penning the children’s book, The Suburban Dragon and then following up with a collection of short stories and poetry entitled, The Affliction of Dreams. His literary novel, St. John of the Midfield was published in 2007, followed by his For the Love of St. Nick, which was released in 2008. Maccagnone expanded the original version of For the Love of St. Nick and had the book illustrated for a new release in June 2009. My Dog Tim and Other Stories is a literary anthology of the author’s best work.

Garasamo “Gary” Maccagnone lives today in Shelby Township, Michigan, with his wife Vicki and three children. At this time, he is researching the location for his second novel, tentatively titled, He Lay Low.

You can visit Gary online at www.garasamomaccagnone.com

Writing a First Draft by Garasamo Maccagnone

2010-06-02T15:32:00.003+10:00

With me, prior to typing a word, a detailed chapter by chapter outline needs to be finished. Once that is done, my first draft is written in an unconstrained manner. Much like an artist applying washes across his canvas, I simply write scene after scene, sometimes in the most rudimentary way, just for the sake of getting the work out of me. The feeling is once it’s down, I can go back and fix it all.

From there, it’s all blue-collar, meat and potato writing, or any other cliché you want to throw at it. I don’t stop until the complete manuscript is finished and I have something of substance, or weight, in my hand. At the end of this process, though you don’t dare show the manuscript to a single soul, you feel good that you’ve strung a lot of words together.

After I leave the manuscript alone for a few weeks, I begin the process of fluffing up all the scenes. And yes, I do clean up the dialogue a little, and I do flush out scenes, but for the most part, the manuscript beefs up and adds a lot of weight. It’s not until I’m finished adding everything I can that I consider my first draft to be complete and ready to present to my first group of editors.

And of course, with an open mind, I listen carefully to all their advice and input, knowing I will have to sculpt the work down considerably by the presentation of my second draft.

***

***

Garasamo Maccagnone studied creative writing and literature under noted American writers Sam Astrachan and Stuart Dybek at Wayne State University and Western Michigan University. A college baseball player as well, Maccagnone met his wife Vicki as a junior at WMU. The following year, after injuring his throwing arm, Maccagnone left school and his baseball ambitions to marry Vicki.

After a two year stint at both W.B. Doner and BBDO advertising agencies, Maccagnone left the industry to apply his knowledge of marketing in a new venture in an up-and-coming industry. Maccagnone created a company called, “Crate and Fly,” and turned it from a store front in 1984 to a world-wide multi-million dollar shipping corporation by 1994.

In the mid 90’s Maccagnone decided to fulfill the promise of his writing career, by first penning the children’s book, The Suburban Dragon and then following up with a collection of short stories and poetry entitled, The Affliction of Dreams. His literary novel, St. John of the Midfield was published in 2007, followed by his For the Love of St. Nick, which was released in 2008. Maccagnone expanded the original version of For the Love of St. Nick and had the book illustrated for a new release in June 2009. My Dog Tim and Other Stories is a literary anthology of the author’s best work.

Garasamo “Gary” Maccagnone lives today in Shelby Township, Michigan, with his wife Vicki and three children. At this time, he is researching the location for his second novel, tentatively titled, He Lay Low.

You can visit Gary online at www.garasamomaccagnone.com

Building the Perfect Beast by Tom Weston

2010-05-14T13:01:00.000+10:00

Building the Perfect Beast

As I’ve said, my approach to writing is an iterative process. To those that say that outline is redundant, I offer the following explanation for my approach:

At the risk of sounding blasphemous, I would say that, for me, writing a novel is comparable to creating a life – For we authors are godlike in the power we wield over our characters and the events in their lives – and the creation starts with building a skeleton.

I have a three stage process, and the first stage is to build the skeleton – This is the outline, and my outline is generally about 20% of the finished novel in terms of word count, but more importantly, 100% of the ideas. When I have the skeleton, I can stand it up, take it for a walk and make it dance. I can see if the beast is complete. I can also see if the beast if flawed. Yes, next I have to put flesh on the beast (the actual writing) and to give it strength and intelligence (the editing), but without a sound underlying skeleton, it’s still not going to walk on its own legs.

My novels, which meld a number of disparate themes of fact, fiction, mystery, fantasy, history, and philosophy, can be quickly overwhelmed by the complexity of trying to fit all these themes together. The outline helps me to see that everything does indeed fit.

So much for redundancy.

Now to the second argument that such a mechanical approach to writing stifles artistry. I would content that having such a detailed outline actually gives me more freedom during the writing phase to express myself. I have my skeleton. I can now work on the flesh, and heart and lungs. I can now spend my time honing a witty piece of dialogue or a cutting-edge metaphor.

Artists such as Titian and Rembrandt always began by sketching an outline in charcoal on the canvas over which they would begin to paint, usually after several preparatory sketches. I don’t know of any artist that looked at a blank canvas and said, “Hmm, let’s improvise today” – not even the Impressionists. Rembrandt is praised for his use of light and economy of brushstroke – these things determine our opinion of him as a great artist – but it was still having that detailed outline to work from that freed his hand.

***

Originally from England, Tom now resides in Boston, Massachusetts. Before turning his hand to fiction, Tom had a successful career as the CEO of a consulting company, conference speaker and writer of industry articles and business books. His novel, First Night, set in Boston during the New Year’s Eve festival, introduced the unlikely heroines, Alex and Jackie, and the ghost of a 17th century Puritan named Sarah Pemberton.

First Night won an Honorable Mention in the Middle-Grade/Young Adult category, in the Writers Digest 17th Annual International Self-Published Book Awards. The sequel to First Night, called The Elf of Luxembourg, was published in January, 2010. As with First Night, The Elf of Luxembourg is also a supernatural mystery, with a blend of humor and history that has become Tom’s trademark.

Tom is currently working on Book 3 of the Alex and Jackie Adventures, and is researching the background material for the story, which will be set in Ireland. Tom has also written the screenplay, Fission, based on the true story of scientist, Lisa Meitner, and the race for the atomic bomb, and which was named a finalist at the London Independent Film Festival.

To Outline or Not to Outline – That is the Question by Tom Weston

2010-05-13T20:08:00.002+10:00

To Outline or Not to Outline – That is the Question

I read another writer’s opinion regarding the necessity of the outline – whether it was an asset or a hindrance to the creative process. This particular writer was of the opinion that it was a hindrance to his art; that he preferred a less structured approach which allowed him to express himself freely, that his art came from that freedom – and let the chips (and the story) fall as they may.

Well maybe I don’t have that level of confidence, but I have to say my style is the complete opposite. It may stem from my earlier work as a computer systems professional, where we had to be sure of the finished product before we began, and where mistakes were costly. It meant that before any code was written, the aims of the project were analyzed, and the process of getting from A to B was mapped out in ever increasing levels of detail. This approach, I bring to my work as a writer.

But, the argument goes, eventually one has to sit down and write – To get on with it - So why waste time and energy on an outline, when it could be applied to the real task. The answer is that the process, for me at least, is iterative – nothing is wasted. I’ve been asked whether I know the ending of a story before I start, and the answer is a categorical ‘yes’. If I don’t have an end in mind, then I don’t have a story to tell. So for me the process begins with knowing what my objectives are and then building the system (or novel) that meets those objectives.

On the face of it, my approach sounds rather mechanical, and it is easy to be swayed by the arguments that this approach stifles creativity and is redundant, but the arguments, for reasons I’ll expand on in the next segment, are fallacious.

***

GUILT, GUILT GUILT By Gary Morgenstein

2010-05-10T18:11:00.004+10:00

GUILT, GUILT GUILT
By Gary Morgenstein

Guilt works every time. No, I’m not talking about forgetting a loved one’s birthday. I’m talking about writing, confronting that most awful of foes – the blank page. Since I’ve launched my own radio show, co-hosting the weekly “Purple Haze” on blogtalkradio.com/media blvd, I’ve learned the different kinds of blank pages any creative person faces.

When you’re writing, you must drive yourself to write. Simple as that. No excuses. No prisoners. If you don’t have the drive and ambition, if the characters and the story and the dialogue and the visuals aren’t impelling you to whatever method of transcribing you use, then you aren’t an artist. Pure and simple. There are names for those who simply live in imaginary worlds and talk to themselves, but writer isn’t one of them. Not that writers don’t talk to themselves!

When you do radio, you confront a different kind of blank page – your audience. You see nothing. You have no feedback. You must create a world, as I do with my wonderful co-hosts Frederic, Kenn and Shaun, of controversy, insight, humor and personal chemistry. Of course, when you get a caller, you are making contact, reaching out.

Like when you write. You’re not writing for the masses. You’re writing for one person. You have no idea who that is. You can’t imagine them because the possibilities are endless. You have to hope, as you begin writing, that you can make a connection, touch someone emotionally. Nothing is as rewarding to a writer than when a reader says, I loved your book.

That is what transcending the first draft is all about. Not writing The End, though that is critical. Approach your art by conveying what you feel. I believe strongly in the words of Robert Heinlein, who wrote, Obfuscation is the last refuge of the incompetent.

Clarity is the most powerful writing tool of all.

***

***

Gary Morgenstein is co-host of the Purple Haze radio show, Thursdays at 9PM/ET at blogtalkradio.com/mediablvd. In addition to his dating and relationship book How to Find a Woman…Or Not, Morgenstein’s novels include Loving Rabbi Thalia Kleinman, about a divorced man who falls in love with a beautiful woman rabbi; Jesse’s Girl, a powerful story about a father’s search for his adopted teenage son, and Take Me Out to the Ballgame, a political baseball thriller, as well as the baseball Rocky The Man Who Wanted to Play Center Field for the New York Yankees. His prophetic play Ponzi Man played to sell-out crowds at the New York Fringe Festival. He lives in Brooklyn, New York, surrounded by lots of books and rock and roll CDs. He is Director, Communications, for the Syfy Channel.

Please visit him at gary.garymorgenstein.com.

Keep Your List Uncompromising…but Short by Kathi Macias

2010-05-04T12:42:00.001+10:00

About thirty-five years ago, just after I became a Christian, I received some of the best advice I ever heard. An old retired pastor took me aside after church one Sunday and said, “Kathi, if you want to be a Christian who makes a difference in this world, read your Bible with an eye toward making a list of those things you’re willing to go to war over, and then never compromise on that list. But keep it short.”

I didn’t really understand what he meant then, but I have come to appreciate his words over the three and a half decades since he spoke them to me.

First, he was telling me the importance of defining what I believe. Using the Scriptures as my guideline, I needed to isolate those issues that were of life-and-death importance—study them, meditate on them, pray over them, and be willing to live or die by them. That was no easy task.

I was already twenty-six years old when I became a believer and I hadn’t been raised in a Christian home, so I had a lot to learn! But I dug in and started reading, studying, and questioning, until I finally came to a place that I truly knew what tenets of the faith were black and white, do or die, no-compromise issues. At that point I had to make the commitment to stand for those issues at any cost.

Christians in other countries understand that. Many people around the world lay their very lives on the line by converting to Christianity. Public baptism is tantamount to waving a red flag in an angry bull’s face. But these heroic brothers and sisters make a decision to follow Christ, regardless of the consequences, and they don’t compromise.

That should be the mark of all believers, for if what we say we believe does not govern our actions, then perhaps we don’t truly believe it. Our list should be well thought-out—and then followed at every point, even if into the proverbial lions’ den.

But what about the second part of that old pastor’s advice? Not only did he instruct me to develop a do-or-die list based on the Scriptures, but he also cautioned me to keep the list short. What did he mean by that?

He didn’t explain himself, but I believe he was warning me not to become legalistic, to add rules and regulations that were actually based in personal choice rather than God’s Word. People whose lives are on the line for their faith understand this more clearly than we can imagine.

That excellent two-part piece of advice has served me well, and it helped to birth in me the desire to write The Extreme Devotion fiction series. I pray the reading of it will encourage you to come up with your own do-or-die list—if you haven’t already.

Remember: no compromise—but keep it short.

***

Kathi Macias is a multi-award winning writer and radio show host who has authored 30 books and ghostwritten several others. A former newspaper columnist and string reporter, Kathi has taught creative and business writing in various venues and has been a guest on many radio and television programs. Kathi is a popular speaker at churches, women’s clubs and retreats, and writers’ conferences, and recently won the prestigious 2008 member of the year award from AWSA (Advanced Writers and Speakers Association) at the annual Golden Scrolls award banquet. Kathi “Easy Writer” Macias lives in Homeland, CA, with her husband, Al, where the two of them spend their free time riding their Harley. You can find Kathi online at http://www.kathimacias.com/ and at her blog http://kathieasywritermacias.blogspot.com/

Fiction with a Mission by Kathi Macias

2010-05-03T10:30:00.004+10:00

He who has the Son has life;
he who does not have the Son of God does not have life (1 John 5:12).

I’ve been asked a lot of questions lately about how/why I came up with a new fiction genre that my publisher (New Hope) calls “fiction with a mission”. Let me answer that by telling you the name of the series: “Extreme Devotion”. This particular series has to do with Christians in other countries who often pay a great price for their faith, but the term “extreme devotion” applies to anyone, anywhere, who is so in love with Jesus that all else pales by comparison.

Now if we claim to have that level of love for Christ, that should mean that we are ready at a moment’s notice to lay down anything or everything to follow Him. Anything? Everything? Really? Words may come easy, but actions are a bit tougher, particularly when those actions include following a Savior who had little or no earthly possessions, always put the needs of others ahead of His own, and then willingly died an excruciating death to purchase freedom for those who hated Him.

Hmm. Sort of stops us in our tracks and makes us think a bit, doesn’t it? And yet we know that the very same Jesus who lived and died so selflessly then rose from the grave and ascended into heaven to rejoin His beloved Father for all eternity. If we are committed to following after Jesus in life and death, then we can be assured that we will follow Him right into eternity with the Father.

What on earth could possibly compare to that? What temporal gain is worth trading for that eternal promise? If the Son of God is truly our Savior, then we already have eternal life; if we reject Him, we are dead even before we breathe our last.

It’s all about extreme devotion, living each day with the reminder that He is all and everything, and we need nothing else. What freedom and joy that knowledge brings! May you increase in extreme devotion to Him today, dear friends.

***

Author Marilyn Randall on Getting Rid Of All The Clutter

2010-04-29T22:32:00.003+10:00

When my surroundings are cluttered and everything is in disarray, I have a terrible time trying to write or for that matter, do anything that makes sense. I have found that for me to be creative and be able to write without the stops and down times, my environment needs to be fairly neat and tidy. The more organized I am outside my head the more I am inside my head and the easier the material flows that I am working on.

To keep things organized I set aside a few hours each week to do nothing but clean and straighten up my surroundings so that when I sit down to write, my mind is also uncluttered and I can expect to have a far more productive day than I would have if I had tried to force it when I knew there were other things that needed to get done.

When I am deeply involved in writing and I am in a situation where I can’t take the needed break to get things cleaned, then I have been known to hire someone to come in and clean for me just so the environment stays neat and the worry of something being left undone is not nagging at the back of my mind. Once things are neat, organized and everything is back in it’s place, I can sit and write to my hearts content and the content always needs less adjusting and re-writing.

As I continue my writing career, it is important for me to know and understand this about myself so that I can continue to be as productive as I can be with the time I have to write. Getting rid of the clutter on the outside seems to get rid of the clutter on the inside as well and this little trick has saved me many hours of useless productivity over the years.

When writing the pieces for my book, My Heart And Soul, it was always important to follow this rule as the better work always came when my thoughts inside were as organized as my outside environment and surroundings. This rule of thumb for me has been true for each project I have started, including all of the children’s books, which I also illustrate. The more organized and clutter free the surroundings, the less cluttered and better the finished product.

***

***

Marilyn Randall has an extensive background in the graphic design industry. Her art background is varied, including business logo design, printing design, silk screened shirt design and miscellaneous mediums for her paintings and illustrating.

She published her first book of poetry and prose in 2009 titled My Heart And Soul, following soon after she published six children's books which she has both written and illustrated. Her newest book and first fiction novel is Quicksand. She is currently working on her seventh children's book which she plans to release in the summer of 2010. Originally from Medford, Oregon, she continues to write from the serene surroundings of her home on Whidbey Island in Washington State.

You can visit her website at www.marilynrandall.com.

Author Richard Arneson on Writing Humor

2010-04-23T18:23:00.002+10:00

I think when you write humor, you have to be careful not to self-edit too much. When I wrote Citizen Dick, oftentimes I couldn’t help but imagine my father-in-law, a strict Catholic and very straight-laced, reading it and wondering how his daughter could have married a person with such a dark, cynical—often sick--sense of humor. But then I’d write something and think, “I bet he’d think that’s funny.” But what I’m proud of is that I never left anything out of the book that I thought might be offensive to somebody. I stuck to my comedic guns—if I thought it was funny, I left it in. If it didn’t make me laugh and it was supposed to, I pulled it out.

Along those lines, you’ve got to write for yourself. Your writing has to be what you find funny, not what you think an audience would find funny. I love Albert Brooks movies, and his stuff isn’t for everybody, but I’ve always been impressed that he’s seemed to stick with what he finds funny (I’m guessing that’s what’s happening because each movie’s humor is very much the same). So often you read reviews about his movies, and they’re awful, but I’ll find the movie hysterical. Once you try to write for an audience that you don’t have a kinship with, I think you’re sunk.

If I tried to write a novel or screenplay that had a lot of action and/or suspense, it’d suck. I don’t find that genre interesting, so, in turn, if I wrote about it it wouldn’t be interesting. I wrote a screenplay a while back called The Turners Fraternal. A lot of production companies liked it, but most of them said that it wasn’t “big” enough. It could have easily been made for a few million dollars. What they meant was that it wasn’t Hollywood enough. But I can’t write that way—I don’t find it interesting. And if I was asked to write a romantic comedy, it’d be a disaster. I just don’t think—and find humor in—those types of situations that you see in that genre.

***

Richard Arneson’s thirteen years working in corporate America drove him up a tree—literally. Once he escaped the telecommunications industry after ten years of service, he built a tree house—ostensibly for his two young sons—installed electricity and cable TV, and set out to fix himself, deciding that dealing with the memories of working in the goofy-as-hell world of corporate America could only be accomplished by getting them down on paper. Citizen Dick is the result.

Arneson is currently working on his next novel, The Tree House, which, ironically, is not being written in his tree house but in the cab of his 1950 Chevy pickup truck. He lives in Dallas, Texas with his wife and their two sons. He has plans to build a second story on his tree house in early 2010, one large enough to accommodate a baby grand piano and two dental chairs.

Visit his website at: CitizenDick.com

Humor Author Richard Arneson on Inspiration

2010-04-22T20:55:00.003+10:00

It’s hard for me to talk about letting life inspire what you write, because it’s just always been so natural for me to have life inspire me to write. All the time I hear something that somebody says and I think, Boy, I’ll use that some day in my writing. I’ve just been so tuned in to that way of thinking for so long that it’s second nature.

Also, writing about something, whether painful or hysterical, is, for me, the very best way to deal with it. If something is painful, writing about it takes a lot of the pain and pressure out of the situation. It’s weird, and I can’t explain why it does, but it just softens it. Also, when I see the words down on paper, I often think I can handle this. It’s as if I’m reading about somebody else, and the events of their life don’t seem that tragic or life altering.

In terms of writing comedy, I’m sure there’s something I hear or see every day that inspires me to write it. I think it’s because I find humor in so many things that others might seem as depressing, dark. I think this has more to do with my childhood than anything else. I’m the youngest of five kids, and we never, ever had any money. My parents were always fighting—mainly about money—and my dad was an alcoholic, so often the fights were liquor-fueled.

Somehow, and I’m not how this all started, I became the clown of the house, the one who’d lighten things up. This made me really see things different than other people see them. There are certain things, of course, that’ll never be funny, like child molestation, something like that. But there have been a lot of comedies where death is a central theme…the funny stuff is all around; I see it clearly, maybe for others they have to look a little harder for it.

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Richard Arneson’s thirteen years working in corporate America drove him up a tree—literally. Once he escaped the telecommunications industry after ten years of service, he built a tree house—ostensibly for his two young sons—installed electricity and cable TV, and set out to fix himself, deciding that dealing with the memories of working in the goofy-as-hell world of corporate America could only be accomplished by getting them down on paper. Citizen Dick is the result.

Visit his website at: CitizenDick.com

Spotlight on Brian McClure - Author of The Raindrop

2010-04-20T20:32:00.002+10:00

Ohio born native Brian McClure is the Founder and President of The Universal Flag and its affiliate companies. He is an author, human rights advocate and messenger of the oneness of all. Inside of the Universal Flag Companies, he set up a Non Profit Foundation to help relieve the suffering which he has witnessed in third world countries, along with spreading the Universal Flags throughout the World. The flag was recently paraded and flown at The United Nations as part of World Peace Day.

Brian has been interviewed on countless national radio shows and has been in a number of publications including CNN, CBS & NBC TV. He is the host the hit radio show, “A Call To Consciousness” – which is heard weekly on KTLK 1150AM in Los Angeles and KFNX 110AM in Phoenix Arizona.

He has spoken at many organizations, churches and institutions including The Agape Spiritual Center, The Inside Edge and The Onion based at the Unity Spiritual movement Center. Brian’s humanitarian efforts have extended worldwide. Recently Brian took it upon himself to visit and document impoverished communities in Sierra Leone which had just ended an 11 year war several years before, and Uganda. Upon his return he has been very proactive creating awareness about the real conditions which go largely unreported in the US.

Brian once stated: ”The power of a symbol cannot be underestimated. Politicians use symbols to gather and mobilize support. Corporations use logos to create effective, profitable brand loyalties. Now, the world has a new symbol, the Universal Flag is one that calls forth promise and potential for all. It defines our interconnectedness and oneness with ALL.” As Brian has said many times, “the Universal Flag Symbol acts as a signpost reminding us of our deepest truths. The symbol represents a world filled with infinite possibilities.”

Brian has developed an awareness of equality among all people and nationalities. His primary goal is to help people remember that inside each of us we hold the higher truths that are transforming our world.

You can visit Brian online at www.universalflag.com and www.briandmcclure.com/mediablog.

Though the uplifting rhymes and profound messages of acceptance, respect and understanding, author Brian D. McClure educates and entertains children, parents and grandparents in the adventurous journey of The Raindrop. In this story, The Raindrop experiences many emotions as it travels from feelings of uselessness to the discovery of its importance and Interdependence of all things big and small.

The Raindrop like the other seven books in The Brian D. McClure Children’s book series offer universal life lessons that empower and educate the whole family.

Author Brian McClure on Book Design

2010-04-19T20:23:00.004+10:00

Writing a book is the easiest part! When you write a children’s book and you are not an artist, the next hurdle you face is finding an illustrator. Once you have found an illustrator, you need to have a legal document drawn up and signed in order to protect both parties. Once that is in place, if you are like me, you will want to have input on the page breakdown and pictures. This is not a quick process, as pictures are first conceptualized and then agreed upon. The final product can take months.

Prior to having the pictures drawn, you have to know what size your book is going to be, (7” x 10” or 10” x 11”) etc. in order to tell the artist what size to make the art. If you are finding your own sources to print or publish your books as I did, you will need to find a source to scan the finished artwork in HD and placed on discs. This company most likely will also be your source to pick out fonts, layout, text, etc. You need to figure out covers, inside flaps, pricing, additional writing on the inside flaps etc. You have to purchase ISBN numbers and assign one of them to your books. You will also have to know what price you are going to charge for your book in order to have the ISBN number printed correctly on your book.

Once you have made all of the necessary decisions, the book is put together on the computer and sent to you for proofing. This is where you make any and all corrections, from spelling to design. Once you sign off on the final proofs, your book is placed if print format on CD discs and given to you. You will then have to have an agreement with a printer covering paper quality and style, book cover quality and dust covers etc. Once you have signed off on all the decisions, they will print you a final proof for you to sign off on. If you have ordered thousands of books, you will have to have a place to have them shipped to, either a book distributor or wholesaler or warehouse, depending on your distribution system.

All in all, it can take anywhere from six months to a year to get a book to market. The thing you need the most after you have written a book, is patience!!!

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Ohio born native Brian McClure is the Founder and President of The Universal Flag and its affiliate companies. He is an author, human rights advocate and messenger of the oneness of all. Inside of the Universal Flag Companies, he set up a Non Profit Foundation to help relieve the suffering which he has witnessed in third world countries, along with spreading the Universal Flags throughout the World. The flag was recently paraded and flown at The United Nations as part of World Peace Day.

Brian has developed an awareness of equality among all people and nationalities. His primary goal is to help people remember that inside each of us we hold the higher truths that are transforming our world.
You can visit Brian online at www.universalflag.com and www.briandmcclure.com/mediablog

Author Tinisha Nicole Johnson on Life in the First Draft

2010-04-14T23:48:00.003+10:00

Life in the first draft can be exciting and fun, but for others, I can understand how it can be a drag. With five published books so far under my belt as of this posting, I’ve found that I pay more attention to the overall story while writing the first draft.

Once I get a story in mind, I write and I write, until I the ending is complete. I will usually write on a consistent and fast pace basis. I once heard that a writer should write for the wastebasket. I love that phrase. It basically means that you write from your heart. Don’t pay attention if others will like it, or what they may think of it. Write whatever you want to write, but write the best you can.

After you’ve finished writing your complete project, then go back over and critique it then. The analogy behind this is that you will have more fun and passion for what you write about if you write for the wastebasket.

I like to write in the mornings, because my mind is fresh and my house is quiet. I’ll spend anywhere from 1 hour to 3 hours writing depending on what project I’m working on. There are times I don’t feel like writing, although I do love writing in general. It’s sort of ironic. It doesn’t happen often, but at the times I do feel like that, I’ll set a timer for 30 minutes to an hour, and I’ll make myself write for that time period. I have found afterwards that I wrote quite a bit, and it keeps me on schedule.

My long-term goal is to get to page 300 if I’m writing a book, or close enough to it. My daily or short-term goal is to write for at least 1 hour Monday-Friday. After I get close to my specific page number, then I go back to page one and pay more attention to flow, style, sentence structure, and use of words and tone. With each book written, I’ve learned to write faster.

With the first draft, I do capture some details on a separate page along the way. If I don’t capture those details on another page that I can reference to, I’ve found myself in the middle of writing my book wondering if ‘Character - John’ had dark brown hair or medium brown hair earlier in the book.

I know some authors like to begin their stories without an outline of some sort. I did that with my first book and I vowed not to ever do that again. So, before I even write the first word to my draft, I make an outline. It’s not a very structured outline, it’s more of 1-page description of the overall story, similar to a synopsis.

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Tinisha Nicole Johnson is an author, writer, and poet. She resides in Denver, Colorado with her two children. Besides writing, Tinisha also hosts political and sports teleconferences as a profession. To date, Tinisha has written five books. She is also co-founder of Authors Supporting Authors (ASA) a non-profit group that provides support to other authors and promotes literacy. You can visit Tinisha’s website at:

You can visit Tinisha at www.tinishanicolejohnson.com