The Power of Constructive Criticism

Posted: September 1, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Writing | Tags: , , , | 3 Comments

Being in the classroom setting amongst other writers, some very accomplished, at first made me feel quite insignificant. It made me wonder what I was doing there, or if I really belonged in a group with such talented people. I have always felt that my work was good enough for publication, but sitting in the midst of others, many of whom have already been published, and who all seemed so knowledgeable about the business of writing was a little bit intimidating. Suddenly, I found myself questioning the value of my writing, although I had never doubted my abilities before. There was nothing to do, except jump right in and hope for the best.
The assignments were challenging and that is how I approached them. My first assignment was to write an excerpt from a Western novel. Those that follow me know that short stories have been my forte in the past. I had never written an excerpt from a novel, because I have not yet written a novel. However, I had written a short story that was in the Western genre, which hadn’t turned out too bad, so I was confident that I could pull it off. In fact, I turned out a piece that I was pleased with, but turning it in to be critiqued by my writing peers made me more than a little nervous.
The challenge for me in this assignment was that I only had nine days in which to write it. I saw flashbacks of my horrible NaNoWriMo failure of two years ago. I didn’t have to produce a completed novel within that time frame, but I did have to form some idea of where the story was going. I had to have at least a vague idea of what the plot might be, and how it might turn out.
The piece I turned in received mostly positive responses from my writing peers, and the instructor’s feedback was encouraging, as well. It is amazing what constructive criticism can do to boost your sense of confidence. My fears of inadequacy were unfounded and my confidence regained. I used to do the critique thing online, but I got nervous about having my work out there where it could so easily be stolen, copyrights be damned, that I stopped posting on those sites. I had forgotten how much feedback can motivate you. Even criticism of your work can be motivating, when you can look at the suggestions of others and play with them to see what works. Having a set of peers, whether in the classroom, in a critique group or via online feedback can be quite valuable in keeping you focused and on track, providing motivation and other points of view, as well as in providing a sharper awareness and improving editing skills. When my schooling is completed, I think I will think seriously about finding a critique group.
Since, the summer semester ended, I have continued working to develop Delilah into more than just an excerpt. The eleven pages that I originally turned in have grown to twenty-five. Considering the small amounts of time that busy life has allowed me lately for writing, I think that I have made good progress and I am pleased with my content, as well. The challenge that I have set for myself now, is to turn this material into a full-fledged novel. I still have a long way to go, but the work shows promise, and I am hopeful for the results of my labor. I’ll let you know how it turns out.

The Power of Words

Posted: August 12, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Stories, Writing | Tags: , , , | Leave a comment

Recently, I was told, “it’s all about the story”. If you believe that – and I do – that makes the writer’s job a very important one. It is the job of the writer to get the story out. More importantly, it is the writer’s job to tell the story the way that it wants to be told, and that is no small task. Without the right words, we don’t stand a chance.

English teachers and editors can tell you the rules. They can make sure that you have proper sentence structure and syntax; that your grammar and punctuation are correct in every way. But, writers know that the real trick is in knowing when the rules apply, and when it might be better to overlook them.

Writers are challenged with word choices every day, and it is a challenge to have to select just the right words. Writers must choose words that will state what we want to say in a clear or concise manner, while at the same time drawing readers in and compelling them to read on. Above and beyond that though, we are charged with the task of putting words to page that will stir emotion within readers – touching, inspiring, shocking, or tantalizing.

We are challenged to not only find the words, but also to put them in an order that will set the right tone and pace, and present a clear picture for the reader. The words we choose portray our characters and settings in a manner that allows readers to form a mental picture of what we are describing, thus bringing the reader into the story with us. Our words and the way we put them to the page also set the tone and mood, intensifying reader experience. The point is, that as writers we make choices every day that affect the shape of the story, as well as the outcome, and a gazillion events that occur as the plot unfolds. Without words, there is no story, and the writers are the ones that choose the words.

It is all about the story and often, stories just don’t care about the rules. For instance, to write realistic dialog that will be believable for the reader, you may not always have complete sentences. When we talk, we do not always use complete sentences, and dialog that is written in complete sentences may come out sounding very stiff and formal. Unless your characters are members of nobility during the seventeenth century, the dialog may not seem natural. Your dialog needs to fit your character.

I recently discovered what it’s like to have one of my characters speak to me, something I had heard of, but didn’t really understand. Now I do, and let me tell you, my character, a woman of the old west, did not speak in complete sentences. In fact, she did not even pronounce some of her words properly. Because her background and upbringing, that is the way she talks, and to portray her on the page in any other way, would be dishonest to my readers, and disrespectful of my character’s essence.

In addition to choosing the right words for our characters, we must choose words that our readers will comprehend and relate to; words that are right for the setting of the story; words that express the true character of our characters. We must sequence them so that the story moves at a pace that is fast enough to keep the reader’s attention, but not so fast that we leave them behind.

It is obvious that words are powerful. As it happens, words are the tools of the writer’s trade.  Words are what gives us power. Just as the way a ruler welds his power determines whether he is loved or despised by his people, the way we weld ours determines whether we are good writers or bad, and whether anyone actually wants to read our writing. So, choose your words carefully and weld your power wisely.

Inside the Writing Process: Listening to Your Characters

Posted: August 5, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Fiction, Writing | Tags: , , , | Leave a comment

Rest and relaxation: that was the agenda for the day. After two intense weeks of me attending classes, while Greg sat in a dorm without even one working cable hook-up, and then a five-day work week, while we simultaneously tried to catch up on everything that had fallen behind while we were gone, we were due for some recreational activities. We were heading up the old stage road that runs on the north side of the Arkansas, from just east of Howard, all the way to Wellsville. We had chosen this route because a portion of this road is four-wheel drive, and we wanted to give our Jeep a little workout.
So, here we are, bumping along a particularly rocky patch, and I find myself thinking about the area terrain and how it might be worked into the western story that I began for class three weeks ago. It occurs to me that one of the changes that I made to the story last night is going to cause me a major plot flaw. Where an act of nature is my protagonist’s saving grace, it seems that, were it real, it would also cause her horse to kill her. I’m trying to work it out in my head, but I just can’t find any way around it. If lightning strikes, the horse is going to get scared and take off, dragging my character, Delilah, along by the noose around her neck, which happens to be attached to his saddle horn, and she will be helpless to stop it. I hardly notice the roughness of the terrain, as I am bumped and jostled, my thoughts overshadowing the external world.
The scene I’m trying to hash out follows the brutal beating and rape of my protagonist. After reading my first draft, my instructor felt a hesitation in my writing of this scene, and he was right. I was hesitant to write this scene. I knew that it was risky, and I might turn some readers off with it, but I felt that it is a crucial part of the story, which sets up everything that follows, so I had chosen to try to write it anyway. “If you are going to write it, don’t do it half-way,” he said, meaning that I should depict the horrendousness of the scene fully and not let my own hesitation show through in my writing. I thought about and decided that this scene really is integral to my story, so I must hurdle my own hesitancy, and write the scene, so my readers can buy into it.
My current dilemma is that I’ve chosen to scrap the scene that follows and start over, so I have to figure out a way for Delilah to survive the horrendous scene and go on, without the handsome stranger riding in to save her, (after all, it is a western, not a romance), because I wrote him out when I scrapped it, so he no longer exists. From out of nowhere, I hear a voice, “Why do I have ta be so damn passive?”
It startles me out of my thoughts about the book. I look around to see where the voice had come from, but we are still rocking and bouncing along, and even if we weren’t, there’s not a soul for miles along this little used trail. Greg didn’t appear to have heard anything unusual, and I wasn’t about to say anything. After living with me for thirty years, he knows I’m a little crazy, but I don’t see the need to remind him of this.
“Do ya really think I’m just gonna lie down and take it? Yer instructor told you that I was too passive, and yer peers agreed, so why won’t ya listen to ‘em?” The voice piped up again. It is a distinctly female voice, and now I recognize it. It is the voice of Delilah.
Another one of my instructors had talked about letting your characters speak to you, because they’re the only ones that know what is supposed to happen in the story. You see, it’s not really your story. She said that it’s their story, and if you listen, the characters will tell you what is supposed to happen next, because they know, even when you don’t. I had never created a character that was real enough to talk to me, so I don’t think I really got it at the time. Now, here is Delilah, talking in my head, telling me how to fix what’s not right in my story! I can really hear her, even if my husband doesn’t. Now, I get it!
“Okay.” I say in my head, (again, no need to alarm my poor husband). “But what can you do? Your hands are tied behind your back, and the noose is around your neck. Can you really do anything but be passive at this point?”
“What if my hands weren’t tied?” she asks.
“But, your hands are tied,” I say.
“What if they weren’t?” she counters.
I sigh. “Okay. If your hands weren’t tied, you might be able to save yourself, assuming the impact of the fall doesn’t knock you out cold.” I had assumed that it would, but perhaps Delilah is tougher than I had, at first, believed.
“So I’ll ask ya again. Why are ya making me so damn passive?”
“Well you certainly aren’t passive when it comes to giving me advice on the story,” I reply, with more than a little indignity. “But if your hands weren’t tied, you wouldn’t be in this situation in the first place. You are only passive because you have no choice, given the situation.”
“Exactly!” she says. “So, allow me to change the situation.”
By now, my mind is shifting gears. If her hands were freed somehow, at the end of the scene, she might still be dragged by her horse, but she might be able to prevent him strangling her to death. “So, you’re saying that your character wouldn’t just lie there passively? That you would be working to free yourself, even as he is beating you?”
“Now yer using yer head,” she says and, I swear, I felt her wink at me. Then, she was gone. Her exit left a vacuum of space where my mind had been focused. She had only come and stayed long enough to get me back on track, so the story could go where it was supposed to.
“Where do you want to stop?” Greg asked, bringing me back to the rocky trail of reality.
I smile. When we do stop, I will have my pen and paper ready, because now I know what happens in my story. My character told me. Now, all I have to do is write it down.

Reflections on a young writing career by an old lady

Posted: August 3, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Writing | Tags: , , , , | 2 Comments

Poetry by Kaye Lynne Booth

My regular readers know that I just spent the last two weeks taking the first classes toward earning my MFA in Creative Writing at Western State Colorado University, in Gunnison. It was an intense two weeks. The first week and a half I put in time in the classroom, making my brain explore uncharted territory in order to learn about my own writing style and process, as well as reinforcing and renewing my knowledge of writing basics, such as dialog punctuation, story structure, plot and character. When not in class, I spent my time actually writing and reading the writing of my peers for critique the following day. The last three days, I attended the 2012 Writing the Rockies conference, as a part of my college credits. How cool is that? The intense pace didn’t really bother me until after I had returned home and gone back to work, but let me assure you that it did catch up to me. I have been exhausted all week, twice actually falling asleep with my laptop in my lap. I was that tired.
While considering whether or not to enroll in Western’s MFA program, there were many things to consider. Could I fit a two week residency in Gunnison each summer into my already bustling schedule? Could I commit the time that it would require to get my master’s degree and still fulfillment my obligations to my family as I have for the past thirty years? And what, exactly, did I hope to accomplish through seeking this degree? Did I think I would be magically transformed into a professional writer once I have that degree in my hand?
I had to do some sincere soul searching to find the answers to all my concerns. While I will surely have to do some rearrangement of my schedule to accommodate residency classes each summer, and I will have to forfeit certain activities that I enjoy in order to study and practice my craft and complete assignments, to me it will be worth it. My hope is that I will come away from this experience with credentials that will demonstrate that I’m not just someone who dabbles as a writer, but a serious author with at least one published book. I don’t expect this to happen through a magical transformation, but through hard work and lots of practice. In the end, it came down to one thing: I want to be a writer more than anything else in the world, so it would be worth whatever sacrifices I had to make to achieve that status. It is how I want to make my living, and I have played around enough at it. It is time to get serious and do what I aspire to do.
Now, with the first classes finished, I have to look at whether my expectations have been met, what I’ve already had to sacrifice, and whether it was worth it. In order to analyze all of this, I also need to examine what I actually learned, and evaluate its value to determine if the payoff is what I had expected. To that end, I thought I might share my thoughts and insights with you, my readers.
By looking at my current resume, you will see that I’ve already taken many steps toward my goal. I have written as the Southern Colorado Literature Examiner for the past three years, as well as keeping up this blog, Writing to be Read, for about five. In addition, I wrote gardening how-to articles for Demand Studios for over a year and a half, had two short stories published in Static Motion, an online publication, and a poem published in Dusk and Dawn magazine, where I made my first $5.00 as a writer, back in 1996. Another of my poems was featured by artist Mitch Barrett, in one of his paintings, Intimacy, which was displayed and sold at Kaleidoscope Gallery, in Batter Sea Park, London. My first children’s book, Heather Hummingbird Makes a New Friend, is scheduled to be released in October of 2012, by 4RV Publishing, as well. So, you see, I have a little bit of a head start on this writing thing, although none of it has paid enough for me to give up my day job.
So, did I come away with from these first classes with anything of value? I believe I did. For one thing, I gained insight into myself as a writer, aspects that I had never examined closely before. For instance, I discovered that I am a closet binge writer. I knew that I wasn’t much for planning, which is probably why I have not been able to make it beyond the short story format. Novels require planning and you have to truly know your characters to make your readers believe in them. Binge writers take an idea and run with it, and that is what I do a lot of the time. It seems that when I try to plan out what I’m going to write, it comes out flat and lifeless, as if the work were forced. So, this is one area that I definitely have to work on. That’s one thing that I learned.
I also learned many basic concepts that are sure to improve my writing style. In fact, they already have. Our assignment to write a novel excerpt in the western genre produced the beginnings of a story narrative, the likes of which, I did not realize that I was capable of. The class might be over, but my work to develop this story is only beginning. Two paragraphs in a genre we had never before written in lead to an epiphany about a YA story that I had written four or five years ago, which was missing something that I couldn’t put my finger on, so I had never done anything with it. The challenge to write in a new genre prompted me to try my hand at mystery, and it suddenly dawned on me that this story should have been a mystery to begin with. That’s what had been missing! The resulting two paragraphs featured the characters from the YA novel and read well enough to convince me it could work.
I gained knowledge about the writing business, as well. Some of the writing activities that I had engaged in, such as publishing with online sites that don’t pay, were cheating both myself and my profession. While I was glad just to have the writing credit, I could be setting myself up to have my work stolen, because it is out there where anyone can grab it. It may have been a mistake, but as a self-taught writer, I launched my writing career the only way that I knew how. I also learned that you really do need an agent, all the professional writers that we heard during class and conference agreed. The agent handles all the legalities of contract, which most writers are not qualified to do, unless prolific in contract law. The how of finding an agent promises to be revealed at a later date. And, I learned the differences between the large publishing houses and the smaller presses, and when to try for each.
In some ways, I had been doing the right things. I have always parked my butt in the chair and wrote, (a theme that had been reiterated over and over again during my brief educational introduction to the world of writing), blocking out the world around me for the sake of putting words to page. I found that although my dialog may set off alarms with spell check, it rings true and encourages reader “buy in”. I discovered that I had ability in areas that were previously untried for me, warranting continued exploration.
Above all, I learned how much I really don’t know. I look forward to exploring and discovering all that I still have left to learn, through Western’s MFA program. I can’t wait for my online classes to begin this fall. I think the payoff will be more than worth it.

To learn more about my work, visit my website at Kaye’s Literary Corner

Getting in Shape for Writing

Posted: July 26, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Writing | Tags: , | 6 Comments

I didn’t even consider that I would be humping up the hills of Western State College carrying my back pack, filled with my laptop and all my books, and my small, but well packed purse. Had I known, I would have trained to get in shape before I headed off to class. Getting to class wasn’t so bad, it was all downhill. However, this was a case of what goes down must go up, and it was all uphill getting back to the dorm at least twice a day, if not more. That hike to the dorm made my unprepared calves moan with misery every time. By the second week, my shoulders burned by the time I arrived at either destination. Next year, I will definitely take steps to prepare me for this.
The classes I am taking are a preparation of another kind. They are designed to get me in shape to be a professional writer, and the writing exercises and assignments that we’re given are mostly painless. They are designed to help us limber up the writing muscles of the brain and expand our literary horizons. In that, they were successful. Thanks to my Patterns & Paradigms in Mainstream & Genre Fiction course, I now have the beginning chapters for a Western Novel, the start of a chapter that I can use to transform a small collection of stories about two young girls growing up in Massachusetts during the depression into a YA mystery novel, and I’m looking forward to experimenting more with the horror genre, even though my first attempt was absolutely awful. (You guessed it. My area of concentration is genre fiction.)
As with any type of training, you must tone up the basic muscles to be used before you try mastering the more difficult stances, or executing some of the more complex maneuvers. In the aforementioned course, I also toned up the basic writing muscles. My dialog punctuation was a little flabby, but learning the proper way to exercise this muscle group should have my character exchanges shaped up in no time. I learned the basic elements of the novel: plot, character and setting; methods to create character; and how the “mono-myth”, or hero’s journey works; and techniques to set the pace and tone which will help to create a tight, shapely narrative. And I learned that I often have a case of, what the course instructor calls, “adverb-itis” in my writing; using adverbs to describe things that don’t really need to be described. Flexing those stagnant writing muscles has already improved my writing.
Just as my calves will require continuous workout to remain toned and build more muscle, I must continue to work those writing muscles every single day. No doubt, I will be in better shape next summer, when it comes time to do this again. I will have a better idea of what lies ahead and will be better able to prepare. Certainly, I will need to exercise my muscles, both the writing ones and the physical ones, so they will be prepared for the extensive two week workout I now know to anticipate on both levels. I may not be ready to run the 10K by then, but perhaps I’ll at least be ready to start planning my thesis.

Back to School After All These Years

Posted: July 21, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Writing | Tags: , , | 2 Comments

Last week was the first week of classes for me, in my quest to obtain my MFA in Creative Writing at Western State College. It was an eye opening experience, to say the least. After thirty years, I found myself back behind a student’s desk, concentrating on the words of two extremely talented writers, whose job it is this semester to educate me and the others in my class. It was amazing! It was a little uncomfortable, being in this new element, so of course I was nervous and it took me awhile to get into my “zone”, as one of my fellow students is fond of saying, but once I settled in, awesome things began to happen.
My instructors, Barbara Chapaitis and Russell Davis are like the yin and yang of the writing spectrum, but both are just bursting with creative energy that I could feel transcending over to their students. Russell Davis is a very nuts and bolts kind of guy, whose job, for these two weeks, at least, is to teach us the basic elements of writing a novel, and that’s what he gets right down to business doing just that. His basic philosophy on writing is, “Sit your ass in the chair and write the damn book!” While Barbara Chapaitis, is a binge writing, free spirit, who is interested in the writing process and helping us to discover how that works for each individual writer. For her class, we sang, we howled, we meditated, we observed a spectacular lightning storm, and we did some free writing exercises to grease the writing wheels and get the ball rolling.
Russell believes that part of his job is to make his students as uncomfortable as possible. He writing assignments are aimed at getting us to write outside the genres that we are most comfortable with and experiment. To that end, last week I wrote a segment of a YA mystery, which I have plans to use to revive a book that has been dead in the water for about five years, and I started on a western piece, that isn’t turning out too bad. I also took a segment of that western and turned it into a horror story, but we won’t talk about that.
At first, I wondered what all the wild things Barbara had us doing had to do with writing. It soon became apparent that she was trying to get us to think about our own processes and be aware of what they are. She talked about the difference between being a planner, who outlines and plots out all the little details before sitting down to actually write the book, and being an organic writer, who gets an idea and just runs with it. Barbara is without doubt an organic writer, who locks herself in her writing space, allows no interruptions, and writes until it’s done. I wondered how she could do that. After all, life doesn’t just disappear while we are writing. She emphasized that the process is different for each one of us and encouraged us to explore our own. I discovered that for me, I’ve learned to write around life, grasping any time that makes itself available to write whenever and wherever I can. As our home is small and I have no closed door to lock myself behind, I have turned my recliner and a small coffee table into “my writing space”, and I have learned to block out the television and other distractions in my environment and immerse myself in the word that I am putting on the page. I have also learned to make whatever space I am in, “my writing space”. I can write on my breaks at work, sitting by my son’s grave, or in the car, while we are on the road, since I commute. (Thankfully, my husband does most of the driving.)
That’s my week in a nutshell. There is so much more that I learned and discovered over the past week, but I must keep this post short, because I have homework. That Western excerpt is due Tuesday; I have to critique the work of my peers, and I have to prepare for the Write the Rockies Conference next weekend, which I will also be covering as the Southern Colorado Literature Examiner. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Explorations in Uncharted Territory

Posted: July 9, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Writing | Tags: , | Leave a comment

Writing to be Read

Note to Readers: Due to a lack in Internet access, it has been way more than a week since my last post. This post is one that I had written, but was unable to post in a timely manner. I apologize to readers for my extended absence, but things should get back on track now. I hope you will bear with me.
Those who have been following this blog recently know that I have been using Beth Barony’s Adventures in Writing to develop my own writing skills. While doing the exercises from her book, I have discovered that I am just not an outline type of writer. I began by trying to make an outline for a story that I’ve been rolling around in my head. It soon occurred to me that I really don’t know how to make an outline for a story. In my opinion, it is better to use a story arc or a timeline to illustrate how events will unfold. That’s not to say that I am particularly adept at making story arcs, but I think that I will probably learn to use that skill when I start working on my MFA in Creative Writing through Western State, in July.
To me, an outline is more appropriate for nonfiction, so I decided to start over and do an outline for a nonfiction book that I have been researching for, and have already begun writing. Before beginning my outline, I decided to go back and take a look at what I had previously written and I realized that I actually had some pretty good stuff that was mostly usable. I didn’t end up with an outline, but I did write a new introduction and rewrite my original introduction as a chapter, instead. In the midst of all this, I started thinking that perhaps what I needed wasn’t an outline, per se, but some basic organization. So, I also created a basic table of contents with what I have so far, (which is sort of like an outline), listing the chapter titles that I have so far. It turns out that I already have seven partial chapters and now I have them better organized both in my mind, and in print.
Thus, I chose to set aside the fiction story to work on as I earn my MFA and use Adventures in Writing to develop and hone my nonfiction book. It should be an interesting exploration into uncharted territory for me. It presents a good challenge, as Barony suggests allowing a year to completion for first book writers, and my timeline allows for about seven weeks, as I want to finish before I begin graduate school. She offers a Project Timeline Chart in the Appendix for those that wish to finish their books in 8-12 weeks, so I think it might be possible to accomplish this if I stick to the time and word count goals that I set for myself in the exercises. Rewriting makes it difficult to measure word count, but I have faithfully put in more than my minimum daily time that I set as my goal thus far. Barony also suggests listing five to twelve main events that happen, (or in my case points that I want to make), stating that if you can’t list at least five, that perhaps you should be writing an article or short story instead. To my surprise, (and pleasure), I found that my five points from the exercise, together with my seven chapter titles, and the subsections that I had already broken some of my chapters into, made up a book structure that actually resembles an outline. Huh? Maybe I am an outline writer after all.

Outline, Revise, Submit

Posted: May 16, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Writing | Leave a comment

Last week I began the first exercise in The Writer’s Adventure Guide: 12 stages to Writing Your Book, by Beth Barany. I posted the results for the first part of that writing exercise in my blog entry titled, An Adventure in Writing. The second part of the exercise involved discovering how my writing goals have changed over the past week and to begin your book, which for me, entails writing an outline, which is not one of my strong areas, but I gave it a shot.
I began the outline and took it partially into the second chapter, but it does not look the way that I learned that an outline should look. I think I might have gotten too detailed in some places, or maybe I just need to break it down more. It definitely needs work, but it’s a start, right? So, I’ll work more on that later. It is difficult for me to outline a fictional story. It almost seems as if a chronological timeline wouldn’t be a better fit. I have that nonfiction book that the outline thing would probably work better for. Would it be cheating to change books after the first week? I don’t think you really can cheat on something like this, but it would definitely signify a change in goals. Hmmmm.
I don’t think that my writing goals have changed much over the past week, but thinking about all of this has gotten me motivated to take steps toward achieving those goals from last week. The avenues I’ve chosen to pursue those goals is what changed, at least somewhat. I pulled up a juvenile chapter book, for upper elementary aged children that I wrote a few years back. The Adventures of Ann and Kinzi is about two young girls who befriend one another during the depression. I had never done anything with it, mostly because I wasn’t completely happy with the story line. I didn’t feel like it really had enough of a climax. It was a good story idea, but I felt that upon finishing it, readers might say, “So what?”. There just wasn’t enough happening and it didn’t all fit together as smooth as I would have liked. The reason that I dug this particular story up came from all the thinking that this exercise caused. I had been thinking about the Nancy Drew Mysteries and how I had enjoyed them as a girl, when I suddenly figured out how to make this story into something worthwhile, just as if a switch had been flipped in my head. Those were the elements that I had wanted for this story. The answer is to turn this story into a mystery, which will need quite a bit of rewriting, but I have already revised three chapters. While I am at it, I will add more period details, as this is another area where this story is weak.
I missed the deadline on the Writer’s Digest contest. Story of my life, I always seem to fall short of finances for these things. So, maybe that goal was forced to shift a bit, as well. Not much though. I will go ahead and submit that story, Timothy Turtle Discovers Jelly Beans, to my publisher and cross my fingers. I don’t see any reason for her not to accept it. I think that it is that good. I guess we’ll see.
Next week, I’ll talk about Stage 2 in Beth Barony’s book, so be sure and drop by to see what’s happening on Writing to be Read.

“The Demon Is In the Details”

Posted: May 14, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Book Review | Tags: , , , | Leave a comment

The Demon is in the Details, by Harris Channing, is a fast-moving paranormal romance. As part of The Immortal Protector series, Zane has been charged with the task of killing demons of all forms and protecting Stella, even at the cost of his own existence. A story of horrific childhood haunts Stella, but when she returns to scene of her years of abuse to face her fears, she discovers that she’s been blocking out many of the memories. Her abusive aunt wasn’t just crazy, but truly evil, bargaining with her niece’s soul to secure her own power and a promise of immortality. Now her aunt may be reaching from beyond the grave to finish what she started and calling up a hoard of demons to aid her in her quest. Together, Zane and Stella battle the demons of hell with lethal ferocity, but they aren’t strong enough to fight the draw of the love growing between them. When her therapist, who she believes she is in love with, shows up, things get really complicated. He learns that her memories were not a part of a psychosis and now his own life and soul are on the line, dependent on Stella and Zane’s triumph over an evil that is very real. The Demon is in the Details may not be your typical romance, but the supernatural action will keep the pages turning until the very end.

Adventures in Writing

Posted: May 2, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Fiction, Writing | Tags: , , , , , | 2 Comments

Last week I started reading The Writer’s Adventure Guide: 12 stages to Writing Your Book, by Beth Barany. The first stage that she outlines involves beginning where you are, but you must discover where that is first. The first exercise involves a 20 minute timed writing that discusses what writing means to you, what your goals are as a writer, and identifying your strengths and weaknesses which stand in your way or help you to meet those goals. She asked that you look at both the inner strengths and weaknesses, as well as those presented by the outer world around you. Part of the objective of this exercise is to help you begin viewing yourself as a writer, and although I’ve been doing that for a long time, I chose to do the exercise anyway. You never know when you may discover something unexpected by doing an exercise that you don’t think you really need. So, the following is the results of that first exercise for me, but I have great ambitions, so I didn’t stop at twenty minutes, but followed it through until I had covered all the areas suggested.

I am a writer. I live to write. Writing makes me feel free, because I can express myself through it. When I write, I can block out the outer world as I explore the inner world of the story or poem. My goal is to become a paid author, able to make enough to support my family and finance my writing career. I see myself 10 years from now traveling from place to place giving lectures, teaching workshops and signing books. I would also like to be attending conferences and workshop to increase my knowledge about writing, as I feel that writers must always continue to learn and grow and to develop their craft.
When I’m not writing, I am reading. I love being the Southern Colorado Literature Examiner and doing my blog, Writing to be Read, because I get to meet other authors and do book reviews. I also do book reviews for Webb Weavers. Doing book reviews puts me into both of the elements that I love. I get to read good books and then write the reviews for them. It’s the best of both worlds. Plus, by functioning in these capacities, I am able to increase my own visibility within the literary community.
Of course, this all revolves around the assumption that I will be a successful author by that time. I already have a children’s book being published, which I am waiting for with much anticipation. I have others written that will follow in the series, that are just lack polishing. Since I already have a publisher for the first book, I think that the chances are good that they will agree to publish the other in the series. I am waiting to submit the second story though, because I want to enter it in a Writer’s Digest writing contest. I truly feel this story is good enough to possibly win. I also have other children’s stories that wouldn’t fit into the series, but I think they might be good enough to stand alone.
In addition, I am planning to attend college this summer to get my MFA in creative writing, which will lend credibility for me as a teacher and help me to complete my novel. I have the story in my head, but I don’t know where to start to put it all in print. In the past I have written short stories and poetry. I have always just sat down and begun writing and the stories just have flowed out for me, but a novel length story presents a challenge, because it requires more detail and more than one or two characters be developed. Acquiring my MFA will help me to gain the skills that I need to overcome my weakness and write the novel that is now, only in my mind.
One day, I also plan to put together a collection of my best poetry, with illustrations. Publishers for poetry may be more difficult to find than they are for books or children’s stories, so I might consider self-publishing my poetry collection, maybe even as an E-book. E-books seem to be the rage these days. I wonder if poetry does well in the E-book format? I think that it might.
Also, in my head, there lies a memoir about my son Michael and his tragic death at the tender age of 19. I have begun many times to write such a book, but there are so many loose ends still, three and a half years later, that I don’t know how to end it. Even a memoir has to have an end to the story, does it not? Before one can see the tragedy of his death for what it is, they must understand who he was, which requires details about his childhood. I can remember details about his life as if they had occurred yesterday, but how much of this actually needs to be relayed to readers? No one will ever know Mike the way that I did, no matter how many words I put down on the page, or how eloquently I relay those details. That’s the problem. Because my words don’t seem to me to express what I want to say adequately, I always end up putting this project down only to start over at a later date, maybe from a different approach, but ultimately with the same results. I have been working on a nonfiction book, as well. It is still in the research stages, but I need to get a better idea of how I want to present the information. Again, I think an outline might help me to clarify my direction in my own mind.

As I said, I have thought of myself as a writer for many years. This exercise did make me look at my unfinished projects and evaluate the reasons why they are unfinished. I do fine with short stories, but longer books are intimidating to me. I think that outlining my story ideas might help in this area. As far as my memoir goes, I think I may still be too close to the story in real life. It isn’t over for me, and I don’t know if it ever will be truly. There are so many questions that I may never have the answers to. I think I need to let more time go by before I attempt to tackle that particular writing project.
So, I did come out with a better idea of my weaknesses and some ways to overcome them, or at least deal with them. I also was able to look at my strengths and the actions that I am taking that push me closer to my goal. My discoveries in this area pleased me. I think the things that I am already doing or have planned for the immediate future are a good start in the right direction.
The rest of the exercise consists of being aware of how my goals might change over the next week, now that I am more aware. Again I will follow through with the exercise, although I don’t think that they will change much. Barony instructs to start your book in this coming week, as well. For me, that will entail constructing an outline and exploring my characters. I’ll keep you posted on my progress, so be sure to drop back in for next week’s blog post.

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