I'm finally home from a one-week vacation! And I'm proud to say this pregnant mama survived a 6-hour drive (maybe even more than that with all the potty breaks we had to stop for) both going to our destination and coming back. Plus the baby did NOT come out during the vacation so hooray! hooray! I did make a deal with him, you know. You stay put in there, little mister, but after vacation is over you can come out anytime you want to and we will be ready for you. His first order from mommy and he obeyed! I think this kid is a keeper. :D

Anyway, I missed all of you. But at the same time, I was glad to be mostly unplugged during the entirety of our much needed R&R. I say mostly because apparently, I didn't have the willpower to stay totally unconnected (must check email...just a peek, I swear). We had a very pleasant time and the best part was I didn't feel overwhelmed. It was all about relaxation and family bonding. And I got to take naps, read two books and a friend's manuscript, and eat yummy, yummy food without cooking! WIN!

The kids' favorite activity was swimming. No surprise there, right? Actually, for both my 8-year-old and 4-year-old, this was a vast improvement from last year. They had taken swimming lessons prior to our vacation, and while my 8-year-old girl can now swim on her own, my 4-year-old boy only THINKS he can swim on his own. Last summer, they were both afraid to put their faces in the water or to stray too far from the shallow end. This summer, they were diving off to retrieve dive toys from the bottom of the pool.

That's all fine and dandy, especially when daddy's nearby to rescue them if they needed help. But my little boy is overly confident. He thinks he can swim without any help. No wait, he BELIEVES he can swim on his own. So all of a sudden, we had a slippery fish on our hands (well, I didn't go swimming, so poor daddy had to handle the boy by himself). Which meant, we had to watch him EVERY. DARN. SECOND. You couldn't take your eyes off him because he would just jump off without warning--arms scooping water wildly, legs kicking, his chin tilting briefly to breathe and then he'd go under again...only he couldn't keep it up for very long so he'd end up sinking in a matter of seconds. My boy knows the basics of swimming--unfortunately, what he's lacking is proper execution. But you know, he's only 4, and he's only had two summers of swimming lessons. He'll get it by next year. Or the year after that.

Still, I was both amazed and scared by his abundance of CONFIDENCE. Or was it FOOLISHNESS? Maybe it's a mixture of both. It kinda reminded me of my days as a newbie writer. We probably have similar stories to tell. You know, that first instance when you decided you wanted to write a book. There was probably a little apprehension, but that was quickly swallowed by enthusiasm. Oh yeah, this story idea is the most epic ever! Then you wrote with abandon--places and characters coming to life on your computer screen. Never mind that you started with a prologue that had nothing to do with the beginning of the story. Never mind that every dialogue tag was a synonym of "said" and duly accompanied by an adverb to reinforce what the character was feeling at the moment. Never mind that you were info-dumping left and right.

This was your story, and 150,000 words later, you knew you were a writer. No, you believed it. So much so that you immediately decided to send it off to a literary agent or a publishing house.

Okay, so this is a bit exaggerated. I didn't write 150K, nor did I send the first draft to any agent or publisher. It was the SECOND draft, and I mailed them a query letter, not the manuscript. Even I wasn't as stupid as that back then. Thankfully for me, I learned quickly. I only sent 3 queries before realizing my first manuscript was total crap. My query was crap, too. Heh.

Like my 4-year-old boy who fearlessly threw himself in the water, we writers need to have confidence, but not too much so we don't drown. We may know the basics, but it takes time and effort to master execution. And lots of drafts and revisions.

My boy will learn how to swim, and how to do it well. So what if it doesn't happen right away? As long as he continues to love the water, and keeps up with his lessons, I have no doubt he'll make it. After all, the very first day of vacation he came up to me and declared: Mommy, I'm going to be a great swimmer. I believe him.

And you can be a great writer, too. Just keep on writing.

Photo by ~ezs'

If you're a writer and you tweet, chances are, you've already seen the hilarious and informative hashtag #BadQueryingTips trending on Twitter. Basically, it's a what-not-to-do sort of guide for querying writers.

A few gems...

#BadQueryTips Always include attachments. The agents are sure to open them.
— Lynn(e) Schmidt (@LynneSchmidt) June 25, 2012

Once you've queried, call the agent every day to check up on your submission. Shows dedication. We LOVE that. #BadQueryingTips
— Julia A. Weber(@jawlitagent) June 25, 2012

Mention how much your mom loves your book and how she thinks you're better than that woman who wrote about vampires. #BadQueryingTips
— Rebekah Crane (@RebekahCrane) June 25, 2012

Fun, right? There's also #BadWritingTips :

Try to use a different synonym for "said" every time someone talks. It will show people that you know lots of words. #badwritingtips
— Leigh Ann Kopans (@LeighAnnKopans) June 23, 2012

Show AND tell. Your reader is simple minded. #BadWritingTips
— Julie Murphy (@andimjulie) June 23, 2012

Use the word "just" as much as possible. And "suddenly." #BadWritingTips
— Megan Whitmer (@MeganWhitmer) June 23, 2012

Anyway, what bad query or writing tips have you encountered before? Please share so we can all have a laugh (and secretly fix our mistakes when no one's looking. :D )

I'm not generalizing here...I'm only referring to myself.

Yes, me. The quiet, inconspicuous person you don't see behind the online persona. In real life, when people talk, I'm the one who listens. I'm not the loud, obnoxious Uncle in the family reunion party, regaling everyone with his incredible tale of escaping the deadly bite of the garter snake he found in his garden (I'd be the one chuckling to myself because garter snakes are not deadly, nor particularly poisonous to humans).

In other words, I don't live for the spotlight. Instead, I make sure everything goes smoothly backstage.

That is who I am. And as I learn more and more about the publishing biz, frankly, I'm afraid.

Too often we hear how we as writers are expected to MARKET OURSELVES.

Hey, hey, my beautiful people!

Are those tumbleweeds and cobwebs you see on my blog?

Source: Wikimedia Commons

Why, yes. Yes, they are.


This month is almost over (yeah, 'cause we all know that after Thanksgiving day, the rest of the month goes by like this: FRISATSUNMONTUEWED and then Voila! It's Christmas! Ok, ok, not right away). And with my first ever NaNoWriMo participation, it's been crazy-busy...THOUGH I found that it's been actually DOABLE for me (surprise! surprise!). I am normally a slow writer who likes to take her time, but if you give me a challenge, I get that wild look in my eyes and go into sessions of word vomit.

For instance, one day I wrote 4,200 words--which, for all you superhero writers is nothing! But for me, that's like my brain was split open by a mad, evil scientist, and shaken around to  make the words spill out.

*what is with all the morbid imagery? I'm sorry. Will try to tone it down.

And then I would go through periods of hardly-any-writing, which I guess is not as bad as no-writing-at-all days. As of yesterday, I hit the big 40K, which means I have the rest of the month to come up with 10K words.

Hooray for NaNo!

For all you NaNo-ers out there, I hope you're meeting your goal/s. Keep on writing!

So, I am surviving and doing well. And since THANKSGIVING is practically knocking at our doorsteps, I'd like to take the time to say THANK YOU...

...for YOU, wonderful people, who take the time to come and visit my blog (and leave comments), even when it was gathering dust and spider babies.

...for my FRIENDS, both personal and virtual. You guys keep me going! Your stories, your lives, your beauty, your kindnesses...I will be forever grateful for your friendship.

...for BOOKS and ART and MUSIC, because they make life extra-beautiful.

...for my FAMILY, who's always been there for me, even when I'm bordering on stepping over Insanityville, and for understanding my long periods of silence because I'm thinking, plotting, and hacking away at the keyboard for many, many hours.

Today I've been cleaning and sorting through drawers and art stuff and all kinds of school work that get shoved in corners and plastic bins. Stuff like these always takes longer than I anticipate in the beginning. But afterwards, it feels good to have four trash bags full of things I may never use or look at again in the future.

Clean house = peace of mind. (Until it gets dirty again--the house, not my mind. Yeesh.)

It's amazing how much clutter we can accumulate in a matter of weeks, or even days. Lots of unnecessary things we don't need or won't ever use again. (Wait for it--an editing metaphor is heading your way. You knew it, didn't you?) Just like in your beloved manuscript, you'll have to sort and weed the bad, unnecessary "darlings" (those words or phrases you're absolutely in love with but they don't progress the plot or they weigh down the pace). It will be a painstaking job but in the end, you know it'll make for a better and shinier novel.

A couple days ago I asked for editing tips from YOU, brilliant readers, and I must say I am glad I did because I gleaned a TON of helpful stuff.

For instance:

~Let the manuscript sit and simmer for a loooong time.

~ PURPLE pens are prettier, more creative, and less harsh than RED pens. (Green is acceptable, too. Right, Phresh?)

~ Read it OUT LOUD.

~Print it out and edit with a pen (instead of editing on the screen). Highlighters are useful when doing line edits.

~Use BETA READERS or CRIT PARTNERS.

~Edit, rinse, repeat.

~Chapter map in a grid, with columns for page numbers, brief chapter summaries, and potential plot problems and questions. (I like this one!)

~Do NOT over-edit.

~Cupcakes are okay during editing. And lastly, don't be afraid to write BOOYAH! at the end of your ms. Have faith in yourself and in your writing.

So. The metaphor? Editing = cleaning = happy me. The process may be tedious and physically laborious, and really, who likes cleaning houses, right? (Except for my mom.) BUT! The end result is something to look forward to.

Confession: I haven't done any EXTENSIVE editing before in any of my mss. So I consider myself a newbie at editing. When I write my first draft, I occasionally make notes in my Word doc. (If you don't know this: You simply highlight the word or words and click on Review located in the top bar, then New Comment.) I'm a slow writer because I don't merely pump out words--I review them as I go along. Yeah, blame my internal editor. It doesn't mean my first draft is clean and error-less. It just means I'm a neurotic writer who second-guesses herself a LOT.

This is my BIG book of notes. Ha! Yeah, I write EVERYTHING down--from chapter outlines, ideas, character names, phooey queries, synopsis attempts, grocery lists, TBR lists, and anything that catches my eye while surfing the net.

Here are some helpful links I've been perusing lately:

I, Editor by Robert K. Lewis via From the Write Angle blog

Editing Your MS in 30 Days or Less by Elana Johnson, YA Author of Possession

Over-Editing and Self-Esteem by Joyce Alton, Yesternight's Voyage blog

As you may (or may not) have noticed, my blogging has been all over the place lately. :D And now that it's October, which is one month closer to NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), it's not going to get any normal.

BUT!

Life is a lot more fun when it's unpredictable, right? Right? Oh okay, not for you guys who crave routines. ;D

So. I FINISHED writing my first draft of HIDDEN. Mind you, this is probably the 4th start-from-scratch-again revision draft, so it's not exactly my first ever novel to finish. Just the one I am satisfied...FOR NOW. For lo and behold, just when you think you've finally written fin or the end or booyah! at the end of your manuscript, and you're finally stuffing yourself with cupcakes in celebration of your GREAT accomplishment, the doorbell rings and the red pen is at your doorstep saying, "Hello, how may I EDIT you?"

If you are smart (like me), you'd slam the door on its face and say, "Not today, buddy! Come back in a couple of weeks."

And then you go back to your happy dancing and cupcake eating, and never mind the red pen eyeing you balefully from outside the kitchen window. You'd better celebrate now because once the two weeks are up, YO! NO CUPCAKES FOR YOU AND YOU MIGHT AS WELL GET SLASHER-CRAZY AND WIELD A HATCHET BECAUSE YOUR FIRST DRAFT WILL BE NEEDING SOME MAJOR SURGERY!

Ahem. It's one of the truths in the universe, unfortunately. No first rough draft turns out to magically be a bestseller. It's just not happenin', dude. Okay? EDITING is part of the process. No shortcuts, no way around it. So tell me, since I need my head back on pretty soon-- HOW DO YOU EDIT YOUR MS?

Please share 'cause I need ideas that are not as torturous as what I'm planning to do with my beloved manuscript. On Wednesday, I'll share with you my process and a few linkages to awesome editing advice. 

While you're here, enjoy this Monday Funny to start off your week right!

By Debbie Ridpath Ohi Sigh. How I wish...

I know most of you have seen The Breakfast Club, an 80's film by the late John Hughes (apparently, according to rookieriter, I'm the only person who hadn't seen any of John Hughes movies. If that assumption is correct, then you'd all should be able to follow this post with no deer-in-the-headlights moment.)

Five teens found themselves serving detention together on a Saturday for doing stupid things: Claire Standish "The Princess" for skipping school to go shopping; Andrew Clark "The Athlete" for playing a prank on one of his teammates; Brian Johnson "The Brain" for keeping a flare gun in his locker; John Bender "The Criminal" for setting off a false fire alarm; and Allison Reynolds "The Basketcase" who actually didn't do anything to be sent to detention--she came because she had nothing better to do. They are all separated by their stereotypes, their cliques, but by the show's end, they come to realize they're not all that different after all.

This is YA in a nutshell. I know it seems cliché when we talk about stereotyping in high school, but even though this movie is more than two decades old there is some truth to this story, a truth that still exists in our society today.

Labels. We're all fond of putting labels on each other.

I've read a lot of YA books--not as extensive as I would like, but enough to know that writers often box their characters into cliched labels. We have the girl who is beautiful but clueless, and is the quintessential damsel in distress albeit in modern surroundings. The brooding, unapproachable hero who has magical powers. The sidekick who buoys the hero's or heroine's self-esteem--a sort of comic relief at times, or possibly a foil for the main character. A villain who exists for the purpose of creating conflict. And many, many more....

In The Breakfast Club, these labels were clearly printed on these teens' foreheads, at least that's how they were seen by the principal who gave them detention. The kids themselves lived by these labels because it was what expected of them. When Brian asked the question (me paraphrasing it), After today, what happens next? Will you say hi to me if we see each other in the hallway? And the heartbreaking truth was that, neither one of them would. Claire aka the popular, rich girl responded: You don't understand. It's not that easy.

And why not? Why is it so hard to break the social barrier?

It's because real life is the way it is. We are simply too fond of labeling each other.

So you read a YA book and you see the peppy blond cheerleader giving the heroine a hard time...yes, it does happen. You see the good-looking quarterback going for the flat-chested nerdy sophomore...yes, it can happen.

The thing is, if we're going to write cliche characters, it's okay AS LONG AS THERE'S A REASON FOR IT. Why is peppy blond cheerleader mean to the heroine? What's in her background, her life story that accounts for the meanness?

Why is John Bender aka The Criminal so hateful? Because he's been physically abused by his father.


Why is Allison Reynolds a basketcase? Because her family ignores her.

How come nerdy Brian Johnson had a flare gun in his locker in the first place? Because he had contemplated suicide.

And so on, and so forth.

Give your characters depth because cliché or not, no one is one-dimensional. Do not put cheerleader in the path of your heroine just because. There has to be a reason for everything.

At the end of the movie, they all left Mr. Vernon, the principal, a letter or an essay, and it says:

Brian Johnson: Dear Mr. Vernon, we accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole Saturday in detention for whatever it was we did wrong...but we think you're crazy to make us write an essay telling you who (sic) we think we are. You see us as you want to see us... In the simplest terms and the most convenient definitions. But what we found out is that each one of us is a brain...

Andrew Clarke: ...and an athlete...

Allison Reynolds: ...and a basket case...

Claire Standish: ...a princess...

John Bender: ...and a criminal...

Brian Johnson: Does that answer your question?

Sincerely yours, the Breakfast Club.  (Source: Wikipedia)

Don't be a Mr. Vernon.

As a writer, we all know it's our job to untangle words, re-invent them, and string them together to create a story. But the story started in our heads first, a lovely vision of painted scenes, heroic characters, and emotions. Much like an artist takes out his easel and paintbrush to capture the image before him, we take out our pen and paper (or our trusty Word doc) to transfer the story from our brains into paragraphs so that others may read of our brilliant inventions.

Most of the time we succeed, and it's a glorious feeling to have someone read our work and say, "Yes, I understand completely what is going on, or what you're saying here." Bravo! Pat yourself on the back. That is all very well, and if you find yourself having this kind of success in your writing career, you can stop reading here.

But for us struggling few, perceptions vary between ourselves and the audience we aim to please--our readers. The story is fresh and vibrant in our minds, so real we could almost touch it, taste it. However, when we deliver it to our readers--say, our crit pals, or crit groups--questions begin to rise: Why is Character Schmuck saying that to Character Schmick? What do you mean by this line? Where are we supposed to be? Whose crummy head are we in? What's for dinner?...oh wait, sorry, that last one was from my little boy. And we find ourselves EXPLAINING our story away.

I always say: when I have to explain something in my work, it means I didn't do my job as a writer. The writing should explain for itself. Always. If something isn't clear and is confusing my readers, then it means I need to look at that particular passage and consider rewriting.

Our vision may be grand and beautiful, but if we can't properly paint it for the masses then we're not utilizing our full potential...or at least the potential of the story. I know perception can vary from one reader to another, but the context of your novel should be coherent enough that it doesn't stop a reader cold in the middle of the plot.

As a writer, your job is to build that bridge between your pretty vision (the one dancing in your head) and the reader's eyes. Let it connect. Patch up plot holes. Give your characters backbone. Tighten your prose. And edit, edit, edit.

You don't want your readers to tread on this, do you?



Source

As a writer, we are constantly told to "write what we know". I have a habit of tossing out such advices because if I were to write ONLY what I KNOW, then in the grand scheme of the universe (which is very GRAND indeed), the extent of my knowledge would be smaller than a quark.

And what the heck is Google for anyway?

So. RESEARCH. A writer's semi-bestfriend. Or maybe it's our frenemy, I'm not sure. Anyway, here we are, flushed from the adrenaline of a new sparkling and uber-shiny IDEA, and we let our thumbs and fingers fly on the keyboard...tap, tap, tap. We're practically bouncing off our seats--this is going to be the best book ever! Eat your heart out, JK Rowling--when suddenly. SUDDENLY. We realize we have NO idea how to kill off a manticore-dragon hybrid. Okay, maybe no one does except JK Rowling if we let her.

Let's try that again. So, you're writing, writing, then WHACK! The next scene calls for medical expertise, and though you were very handy with the scalpel and the dead frog in high school, you have no idea what your teenage vampire-werewolf hybrid/superhero should do when his human girlfriend suffers from a heat stroke in the middle of the desert because she tried to follow him even when he said to stay away from him since he's mega-dangerous during the new moon. But oh, she just couldn't. Teen angst and all that jazz, ya know.

So you lug down your dusty medical encyclopedia your mom bought for you as a hint, er, gift back when you were still trying to decide what to do with your life (college applications spread out on table next to you). And the adrenaline plummets down. Next thing you know, you are staring at the white screen, and oh, ice cream sounds really good right now.... Click Save, turn power OFF. Goodbye.

Hey, don't go. I'm not done here. Research may get a bad rep because it stops us cold from our euphoric writing high, but it can be fun too. Medical mumbo-jumbo twisting your brain in knots? Check out Lydia Kang's blog The Word Is My Oyster. This chick is a bona fide doctor and an excellent writer. You can even ask her your own medical questions and she will answer them! Yeah, 'cause she's cool like that.

Writing a psychological thriller? Sarah Fine is a practicing child psychologist and talented writer who blogs at The Strangest Situation.  And she's also super awesome because you can ask her your own questions too!

Want to find out about animal behavior? Lisa Ann is your girl--she's a writer, an animal trainer, a zookeeper, an environmental educator. She blogs at Kicked, Cornered, Bitten and Chased. Man, I have the coolest friends. ;)

I've said this before (I think) that GOOGLE is my BFF. When in doubt, Google it. Or else you will find yourself at the end of a reader's rant like this one about faulty research. And yes, Michelle Simkins is called Greenwoman for a reason. She knows her herbs and her plants, so if you're venturing into botanical fields in your ms, go check her blog out!

Here are some other golden finds:

Cosmic Log by MSNBC.com Science Editor Alan Boyle. This one is a mishmash of anything cosmic--from science to space and society. Even Mars and dinosaurs. What I like about this blog is that you see all these articles and they can spark your writerly imagination (New species of sea slugs found? Whoa, that's a story right there. Kraken hybrid, anyone?).

Cocktail Party Physics. Yeah, the blog name alone delivers, doesn't it?

Symmetry Breaking. More on Physics but a whole lot serious than the one above. So this is for you nerds out there. I'm not nerdy enough for this blog. (Plus, I hated Physics in high school. Gahhh!)

Mythical Realm for all things mythical such as magical creatures and legends. Yes, this one's a handy resource for Fantasy writers.

Monstrous.com for the not-so-pretty side of Fantasy.

Sacred Texts An archive of religion, mythology, folklore, and the esoteric.

Going prehistoric? DinoDictionary.com

Ghosts, Aliens, and UFOs. Visit Unknown Explorers.

Is there a site or a blog that you go to in times of writerly needs? Please share with us! We'd love to get educated.

Kayeleen Hamblin from Kayeleen's Creation Corner is hosting her first ever blogfest, yay! So of course I had to jump in and join ('cause I'm crazy like that, but also to support her). All I need to do is share why I write. What is it that makes me clock in less than the recommended 8 hours of sleep just so I can write? Why suffer carpal tunnel syndrome at the keyboard? Why do I get glassy-eyed in mid-conversation with someone because an idea had gripped my brain vise-like and wouldn't let go?

I was a reader first before I became a writer. But I've always had a penchant for writing, even early on in my childhood. Or at least I liked telling stories. My audience? A bunch of sniffly cousins all younger than I was (it's all about hierarchy among cousins, of course. Haha!). They'd sit around me and I remember spinning tales off the books I've read, mostly from the Arabian tales (Scheherazade copycat). Later on, my sister and I would write down short fiction that were very melodramatic and made us cry (forbidden love and death...very Romeo and Juliet).


High school came with a lot of teen angst and insecurity. I wrote poem after poem to deal with my inner drama. They weren't anything grand or exceptional, but they comforted me. Needless to say, English was my best subject at school. My teachers would borrow my pieces to be shown as examples.

All through the years, I've always found time to read. While I was carrying my second child, it came to me that I'm capable of writing a freaking entire book if I'd put my mind to it. Why not, right? Others have certainly done it, and I could do it too. So I wrote. Feverishly, I might add. My sister (the same one who used to write Romeo and Juliet spinoffs) read my 400-page ms and loved it. Thank heaven for wonderful sisters!

I would later chopped this beloved first draft until I had to concede and put it to rest in a folder. Other ideas would come and go, and that exhilarating feeling of writing would slap me happy. I do write for pure enjoyment--whether I get published or not, as long as I'm happy slaving away at my PC, I keep on writing. I know people snort when they hear a writer say, "I'm not doing this for the money". But I'm not. I'm blessed enough to enjoy being a stay-at-home mom and being able to pursue writing as a creative outlet. To get published would be a bonus, certainly, but the money is not my ultimate goal. (You can throw rocks if you want to, but this is my truth.)

Thanks Kayeleen, for this opportunity to share. Check out the other responses by clicking on the picture:

Today I'm excited to have my wonderfully talented blogger friend, Michelle Simkins of Greenwoman guest post for us (and in turn, I'm a guest poster at her blog). She's a writer, knitter, gardener, radical homemaker, and friend extraordinaire. I think we're in for a really cool treat. So sit back, relax, and enjoy. I give you, Ms. Simkins.


So I've been thinking of my dad this week. Of course I have--Sunday was Father's day.
My dad was a good guy. Kind of quiet and a little bit of a hermit, but clever and steady and responsible. He worked his whole life to support his family, and he couldn't wait to retire and live the life he wanted.

He never made it that far. He died of a heart attack in his early 60's, too young, too soon, too sad.

In the years since his death, I've often thought about how unfair it is that he gave so much of his life to take care of us, but didn't really get to do all the things he wanted to do. He didn't like his job--it sucked the life out of him. He was holding out for a some day that never came.

The tragedy of his death drove home a major lesson for me.

You should do what you love right now, because you might not be here tomorrow.

You hear it all the time. Carpe diem, etc. etc. But it's TRUE people. It is so true. Life is brief. Make sure it's full of what you love.

I'm not saying you have to quit your day job--though if you can swing it, I highly recommend it. What I'm saying is make room for your passions. How do you do that? Well, as I so often do, I have a LIST for you.

No Means No

There's this word. It has only two letters. The word is "No."

Say it with me now: "NO".

You can use "no" whenever you want to do the thing you love, and someone else wants you to do something else.

Practice in front of the mirror.

If you can't bring yourself to do it? Record someone else saying no. Carry the recording around with you. When someone tries to interrupt the thing you love, play the recording. Make yourself a sign and hold it up. I don't care how you do it. Just do it--and stick to it.

Be Selfish

You don't have to be as selfish as me. You don't have to be selfish all the time. But for the sake of that thing you love, you must be selfish. You must find your time and place to do that thing you love, and then you must guard it more jealously than any dragon ever guarded it's hoard of treasure. The strategic use of no will help you with this. Also, turning off the damn phone. You don't have to answer it just because it rings. You don't have to answer your door, either, and you don't have to go to that all afternoon Candlelight Party when you'd rather stay home and bake a souffle. Guard your love selfishly, or others will trample it into the dust.

Permission Granted

Give yourself permission--officially--to have what you love in your life. Write yourself a permission slip and hang it on the wall if you have to.

Need someone else's permission? Fine.

I, Michelle Simkins, being, according to at least one person on Twitter, the Queen of All, hereby grant (insert your name here) permission to do what (s)he loves. Furthermore, I forbid the placement of guilt upon his/her shoulders by herself or any other individual, living or dead, henceforth now and forever.

There. Feel better now?

Make a List

Make a list of reasons you should do what you love. Here, I will get you started.
If you give yourself what you need, even in small doses, you will be a nicer person.

You will enjoy greater mental health.

You will probably also enjoy greater physical health.

It's easier to get out of bed in the morning when you have a good reason--like getting to do that thing you love.

You will, very likely, love something in to being that has never been before. Something no one but you could ever create. It would be irresponsible of you to deny this needy world the fantastic fruits of your labor of love.

This list, of course, is secondary to the main thing--which is that you, by virtue of being alive, deserve to be happy. We all do.

Follow Your Bliss

So you don't think much of my authority to tell you what to do? Fine, ignore me. But you can't ignore Joseph Campbell, the amazing author of a whole mess of books on mythology. I'm going to leave you with this quote of his, from the interviews he did with Bill Moyers in the late 80's called "The Power of Myth". If you haven't seen the videos/DVD's of this series of interviews, you need to get your hot little hands on them right now and read. They are thought provoking, fascinating and inspiring.

Bill Moyers: Do you ever have this sense when you are following your bliss, as I have at moments, of being helped by hidden hands?

Joseph Campbell: All the time. It is miraculous. I even have a superstition that has grown on me as the result of invisible hands coming all the time--namely, that if you do follow your bliss, you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life you ought to be living is the one you are living. When you can see that, you begin to meet people who are in the field of your bliss, and they open the doors to you. I say, follow your bliss and don't be afraid, and doors will open where you didn't know they were going to be.

From Michelle's garden

*********

As this is the summer of bloggerly love, I am guest posting at Michelle's blog, so head on over there and check out my LOVE-ly post. ;) Have a wonderful day, everyone!

Here we are again with another post on Dialogue. We've tackled topics such as using comma splices in dialogue, using plain "said", and speaker attribution. This post talks about characterization, and while it seems like a no-brainer, I'd like to go ahead and discuss it anyway. =)

Characterization is defined as the process of conveying information about characters in narrative or dramatic works of art or everyday conversation. (Wikipedia)

So. How do we use characterization in dialogue?

The simple answer would be this: We write dialogue like the way our characters talk. For instance, we can't have a homeless man speak like the CEO of some big company. I'm pretty sure Mr. Hobo would not use words like "extrapolate" or "ramifications" in his conversations with the Taco vendor.

But you already know that, right? Pfft, you say. This is nothing. Well, I say, good to know we're in the same page here.

Now, let's take another look at this from another angle. Consider this passage:

    "Hang the boy, can't I never learn anything? Ain't he played me tricks enough like that for me to be looking out for him by this time? But old fools is the biggest fools there is. Can't learn an old dog new tricks, as the saying is. But my goodness, he never plays them alike, two days, and how is a body to know what's coming? He 'pears to know just how long he can torment me before I get my dander up, and he knows if he can make out to put me off for a minute or make me laugh, it's all down again and I can't hit him a lick. I ain't doing my duty by that boy, and that's the Lord's truth, goodness knows. Spare the rod and spile the child, as the Good Book says..."

(Aunt Polly in Mark Twain's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer) 

Slang and Dialect. Do we really need to utilize slang and dialect so we can SHOW what kind of a person our character is?

There's a great article by Todd Eastman found here on using slang and accents when writing fictional dialogue. He pointed out the following things to look for:

1. Be careful not to suggest racism. Be aware when you are using stereotypes.
2. If you're going to use regional speech patterns and accents, do it accurately and consistently.
3. When done correctly, using speech patterns and accents can be effective in fleshing out your character's voice.
4. Make it sound authentic. Tip: Listen to a speaker who comes from whatever background it is you're studying.
5. Consider terminology (or jargon) and use them appropriately.

I have a character in my WIP who talks in a folksy way. It's who she is and you can tell a lot (characterization) just by her dialogue. I've gotten feedback--both positive and negative--on this: One critiquer didn't care for this character's dialogue (and the character herself). She said my folksy lady was annoying and her conversations tiring. In my mind, I was thinking BINGO! I got it right! Because this woman IS indeed annoying--she likes to gossip, she goes off on tangents, and she is a talker. Mind you, she's only a minor character so I didn't feel the need to give her a make-over just because she annoyed one reader.

Another critiquer actually loved my annoying folksy lady. She told me she loves how my characters don't sound all alike. Their dialogue and conversations convey their individual voices. As you can see, there are differing opinions on this topic.

I'm pretty sure the days of Mark Twain's dialogue and writing dialect the way they sound (like spile and 'pear, for instance) are long gone. I know we had a discussion about this over at the old Agent Query Connect site, and there was a vehement, and quite unanimous vote on scratching slang and dialect altogether. Personally, I don't mind it when there's a little bit mixed in. When not overdone, or overused, it does give us readers a sense of a character's personality even when we're not told what or who they are.

What do you think? What's your take on this? Or is it so faux pas you're turning your nose up at me for even asking such a ridiculous question? ;)

By the way, here's an example of my annoying folksy lady's dialogue:

“You folks look like you came from the big city. Are you a kin of the Reverend? Nah, you can’t be. All his family got them big noses. You girls are pretty as lilies. My name’s Martha, by the way. But everyone calls me Mrs. Macey. You want to hear about the specials?” 

I'm not, by any means, a real poet. But...I do love words. I love poems and the way they sing to me. Sometimes, when I feel emotions bind me so tightly I can hardly breathe, I grab my notebook and jot down the words that come to me. It's my release, my silent reprieve. Today my soul is shaking, vulnerable, as I share with you a few of the poems I've written over the years.

By Jason Barnes

I love my blogging buddies. They are talented, creative writers, and if you've been following the meme: Writing is NOT like a box of chocolates originated by the great Michelle Simkins of Greenwoman, you know what I mean.

Source: Wikimedia Commons

Since it's Friday, and I'm buried under my pile of To-Do lists (I have several), I will let you amuse yourselves by following the trail of memes scattered all over the blogosphere.

Here they are:

Writing is like...

...leading a double life. (Greenwoman)
...flying. (Inner Owlet)
...a river trip. (The Party Pony)
...jaywalking. (Creative Procrastination)
...a patchwork quilt. (In The Jungle,)
...a box of chocolates. (Creativity or Insanity? Straddling the Line...)
...a rose. (A Still and Quiet Madness)
...losing your virginity. (The Starving Novelist)
...being god. (My Inner Stillness)
...hiking. (A Book, A Girl, A Journey)
...an old hound dog. (Write Away)
...climbing a mountain. (It's All Fun and Games Until Someone Gets an Agent)
...the all 80's channel on Sirius/XM (Rookie Riter: Trying to Get it Write)
...a journey into/of the unknown. (Impact of Thoughts)
...my therapy. (Tracey Hansen Will Write for Food)
...planting the seeds of the future. (A Storyteller's Musings)
...sailing. (The Write Time)
...a business. (Decreed)
...a hiding place. (Ashley Nixon)
...a set of car keys. (The Wordsmith Apprentice)
...dumpster diving. (Eli Ashpence)
...telepathy/astral projection. (INK ROCK)
...baking a cake. (Tighty Writie)
...therapy. (Katie On Fiction)
...raising a child. (ROSE RED)
...a symphony. (Kayeleen's Creation Corner)
...a mountain. (MY JOURNEY)

And my own version: Writing is like a Tango dance.

This brick road of memes keeps forking every which way, and I'm sure I'm missing more wonderful metaphors. If you'd like to have yours added, just let me know.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Yesterday's post was about Branding, and I was ecstatic with the wonderful and thought-provoking comments my readers left for me. Now you know why I call my Followers "Super Cool People" because they truly are. :-)

We've talked about Voice being elusive or hard to define. It's like being told to draw a picture without using outlines. Doable? Yes. Hard? Extremely.

We've established that VOICE = BRAND. That's it. No gimmicks. Who you ARE is what your Voice looks like, if we must pin this down. Who you are--your personality, your quirks, your perceptions, how you interpret your environment, your experiences, your childhood, the influences you've come across or have given, your pain, sorrows, griefs, your happiness--all of these wonderful (and even the not-so-wonderful) things trickle into your writing, your thoughts, your interactions with other people whether you are conscious of this or not. It is, in essence, your VOICE.

Let's be visual. Take a look at this picture:

Source: Wikimedia Commons

I don't think I even need to tell you who drew this; you already know the answer. And then if you were to see this next piece of art, you'd immediately think that the artist who drew the first picture made this one too:

Source: Wikimedia Commons

Do you SEE now? Do you see how Voice inherently exists, that it is INDEED inside of us, and if we were all painters, we would reproduce works of art that are uniquely our own as Van Gogh did?

The bottom line is this: BE YOURSELF. Be true to who you are, for that is your Voice, my friend. We don't need to pretend to write like J.K Rowling in the hopes that we'll have her successful career. We don't need to be everything to everyone, just to please them. Trust me, it'll burn you out quickly.

Don't fret on trying to have a quantifiable voice. Let your voice come from within.

Any thoughts on this? I'd like to hear what you've got to say.

I've come across this word recently among writers. Branding. What does it mean for us? We're not, after all, a can of tuna needing a brand on grocery store shelves.

If you were to read a book without a cover and a title, or the author's name, would you know who wrote it? If you were to come across a single page of words, would you know where it came from?

Branding is unavoidably linked to Voice. Yikes, you say. Here we go again, talking about the undefinable, elusive, water-in-a-colander VOICE. Because it's true--if you read other writers' blogs, you're bound to find a post or two on Voice. You can find a good article on this subject here by Joyce Alton. Also here. And if that's not enough to whet or kill your appetite, here's one more.

So, you ask, are we really discussing Branding or Voice?

From The Write Angle's post asserted that Voice is no longer limited to the manuscript. The query letter has to have voice. And it's true--I've seen a few queries that are impeccably clean and follow the 3-paragraph rule, but are sadly lacking voice and therefore, become sterile. Flat. Unappealing. Then you have those jaw-dropping rule-breakers who get away with it because their BRAND, their VOICE showed through and caught the agent's attention.

I'd like to add to this and ask: Since our mss and query letters have to have Voice, does this mean our synopses should too? I'll let you mull on that one.

Back to our BRAND....

With all kinds of social media at our fingertips, getting our brand out there is easier than ever. The question is: What is YOUR brand? How do you portray yourself? How do you deliver your tuna goodness to the masses? If they see a page of your writing, will they recognize it as yours?

Think about it the next time you're shopping your ms.

From Creative Tools

Writing is like…a tango dance.

Big difference, actually. And it's not because one has an 'm' while the other sports an 'n'. LOL.

EM DASH: is roughly the size of an 'm', and sometimes called a double hyphen (--). It is used to indicate an added emphasis, interruption, or abrupt change of thought. It is also used (sparingly, I hope) to replace colons, semicolons, commas, and parentheses.

e.g. I like you—really like you—for being a good friend. [added emphasis]

      She dashed off to go to the party—but wait, she forgot her purse. [interruption]

      "I know, but—" The baron picked up his gloves. "—this plan of yours is sure to fail."  [interruption]

      I wish you would—oh, never mind. [abrupt change of thought]

In most Word documents, you can create an em dash by making a double hyphen (--) and pressing ENTER. Word automatically converts it for you. Also, there are no spaces in between the word prior to the em dash, and the word after it.

THIS: party—but
NOT: party — but

Em dashes also precede quotation attributions.

e.g. A professional writer is an amateur who didn't quit.
      —Richard Bach
    

EN DASH: is traditionally half the size of the em dash, or is roughly the size of an 'n'. It is technically wider than a hyphen (-). They're used to:

1. Connect a range (such as numbers).

e.g. 1–10
       pp. 35–40

Non-numerical range:

e.g. January–December

2.To contrast values, or illustrate a relationship between two things.

e.g. Father–daughter event
      Boston–Hartford route

3. When combining open compounds:

e.g. a high school–college conference
     

These are the simple definitions—we could probably get even more technical and discuss other aspects of the em dashes and en dashes, but unless you're writing formally, these will do.

You can find more about this topic here and here and here. Also, I found a wonderful blogpost by M.E. Summer of Sticking to the Story about hyphens. Check it out here.

Questions? Comments? Any info you'd like to share? Please use the comment section. Thanks!

I've decided to place all posts on writing mechanics under one place. So now you can find them in the page entitled Writing 101. It's under PAGES. Just right there--->

I'm the kind of gal who likes to make things easy. Simplify--one of my favorite words. When you are writing, editing, or exchanging crits with others, sometimes it is hard to process the feedback we get. Someone says, "Do this!", while others may say, "No, do this instead." From the comments I got from my previous post on Dialogue Mechanics and the "Said" Debate, one writer mentioned how she came across a blog/site telling writers to use creative writing tags, and even listed them as a writing resource. Yes, shocking I know. So what's a new writer to do when we're constantly bombarded with writing advices?

Three things: Read well-written published books, keep on writing, and listen to your gut.

Since "listening to your gut" doesn't come as easily for others, this is where I can help you. I give simplified advice based on my own experience as a writer and a reader.

So. Dialogue and Speaker Attribution. Since we're all about simplifying, I'm going to list the things we need to remember when attributing dialogue to a speaker:

1. Don't start a paragraph of dialogue with speaker attribution.

e.g. Mary said, "I don't know. I thought she was coming home with you."

Do this instead:

"I don't know," Mary said. "I thought she was coming home with you."

Why? Our goal here is to keep the speaker attributions transparent for smooth transitions between dialogue lines and the speaker. The reader gets to focus on the dialogue and at the same time know who's saying it, without getting pulled out of the story.

2. Place the character's name or pronoun first in a speaker attribution.

David said NOT said David

He said NOT said he.

3. Be consistent with how you refer to a character and stick with it for at least the length of a scene.

Consider this example:
       "I've lived here my whole life," said Martha. She handed him a beer can.
       "Is that so?"
       "Yes," said Mrs. Macey. "I've seen things happen around this neighborhood. Some pleasant, some not. I could tell you stories but I rather not."

(A page later...)
       "You reckon I should stay and give it a try?" he asked, standing up to leave.
       "If you want to keep your head straight, you better not," said the old woman.

"Martha", "Mrs. Macey", and the "old woman"--they're the same character. If you keep switching names in a scene, you'll end up confusing your reader. However, it doesn't mean that you are only allowed one form of address for your entire novel. If the viewpoint changes for one of your characters, say, the man in the example above gets to know Martha Macey more intimately and later on calls her by her first name or a nickname, then that's okay. Remember, we are talking about the length of a scene here.

4. Use beats to replace "said" or a dialogue tag, especially if you have three or more speakers.

Consider this:
e.g. "Let's go to the mall," Jessie said.
      "I'm tired of the mall. Why can't we do something else for a change?" May said.
      "Like what?" Ryan said.

The "said" is no longer transparent here. But if we use beats, we can break the said monotony:

      "Let's go to the mall," Jessie said.
      May crossed her arms. "I'm tired of the mall. Why can't we do something else for a change?
      "Like what?" Ryan said.

5. You can dispense with speaker attributions if it's clear from the dialogue who is speaking. BUT do not overdo it. You can break it up with beats if you need to, especially if it's long.

Ping-Pong dialogue:

"I just can't believe you said that to him!"
"Well I did. And I'm not sorry for it."
"I know he's a jerk and he probably deserved it, but that was harsh."

Breaking it up with a beat:

"I just can't believe you said that to him!"
Rachel plopped on the sofa. "Well I did. And I'm not sorry for it."
"I know he's a jerk and he probably deserved it, but that was harsh."

Questions? Comments? Rants? Feel free to discuss.

Reference: Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King (pp. 91-93)

P.S. I've just realized I have reached a 100 (and 1) followers. Hooray! A milestone worth celebrating for. So. I was thinking last night, wouldn't it be great to have a little contest to show my appreciation for these wonderful folks who stumbled their way here and probably didn't know what they signed up for? Hehehe. 

Tune in tomorrow for the details. It's nothing grand or pompous. But there will be prize/s...hopefully something worth your time. =)