Merry Christmas to all

Just sending holiday greetings and good wishes to everyone. I'm taking these glorious days off to write, daydream, read, and write more. Hope the season gives you oodles of inspiration!.

!!!!. is all i can manage at the moment. :):):) whew!

In which I come up for air

It's been..well..a while since I've blogged. So this is a short and sweet post while in between life, kids, reading...and writing. Ive come to the point in my manuscript that I'm tearing it apart like an animal left without food for months. I'm being merciless and it's both gratifying and sobering. My outline, (which I believe has saved me numerous times from veering away from the story), and my synopsis are in the process of being completed. What a task......But worth every minute I spend doing it. I can picture my book on the shelf at the BAM store up the road. I can see myself signing it, talking about it to strangers..you know...be the ball and all that. So, that's the progress update. I have all the good intentions of paying more attention to my blog, but you know what they say about good intentions.....



Keep writing, its what your meant to do.

Crafting the flow of a story

I recently read a book that sat with me for days after I closed the cover. I realized that the flow of the story was so eloquent, so streamlined, that I was pulled in and followed along without any 'hesitation. I didn't even skim...(which I'm guilty of doing). I recall some great advice from Elmore Leonard, his "10 Rules For Good Writing."

1. Never open a book with weather.
2. Avoid prologues.
3. Never use a verb other than "said" to carry dialogue.
4. Never use an adverb to modify the verb "said”…he admonished gravely.
5. Keep your exclamation points under control. You are allowed no more than two or three per 100,000 words of prose.
6. Never use the words "suddenly" or "all hell broke loose."
7. Use regional dialect, patois, sparingly.
8. Avoid detailed descriptions of characters.
9. Don't go into great detail describing places and things.
10. Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip.

"My most important rule is one that sums up the 10," he wrote. "If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it."

*Excerpted from the New York Times article, “Easy on the Adverbs, Exclamation Points and Especially Hooptedoodle”

So i sit at my keyboard today with that advice in mind. A story can only be as good as the writing allows. Allow it to flow, smooth and effortless to the reader, all the way to the end.

--SC

The art of preparation

The art of writing is not just sitting at the keyboard or writing in a journal. It's daydreaming, staring into an open sky, or your surroundings. Listening to music, watching a really really good movie. Its all these things. Inspiration has come to me while watching commercials on tv...yes, it has. So feed your brain, give it more and more. Look at everything in a different way, the trees around you, interactions of passersby. All of this observation and inner reflection is fuel for your writing muse.

What i find helps me is sitting outside in the evening, listening to the wrapping up of the day around me. And watching the light dim as the minutes tick past. Then the night comes, which brings the mind to a different and more introspective place. You'd be amazed what you can think of, and work out sitting alone and letting go of logical thought.

Try it, you might surprise yourself. :)

WRITE every day, READ just as much, WRITE more.

An excerpt..Sharing Sunday

I'm in the middle of revising...2nd time around. And thought I would let a snippet of a passage that still sits with me days after I read it. So, as I nibble on my tortured nail bed, I open my palm and let it fly into the world..thoughts and feedback are most certainly welcome.

The musty smell in my cage wafted around me like a thick smoke. Others had been held inside. I spotted hints of aged blood and hair in the crease of the window bars, someone had put up a fight, good for them. My eyes roamed the sizable cell and when they reached the corner to my left, a shadow of something took up the otherwise empty space. That's when I drew in a sharp breath and regretted making a sound.

      “Staring is rude, hasn't anyone ever told you that? Or has the orphanage fell short these last few years on teaching manner and etiquette?”

      The boys’ voice sounded amused, but held an underlying irritation to it. I was still shaky from the surprise of not being alone in the gypsy’s wagon, and a new concern sat with me, I was locked up inside the cell with him. I chose my words wisely.

      “I wouldn’t call it teaching. Obedience is the main subject there, the only subject. I’ve found that their beliefs on human treatment and mine don’t mesh, being that I’m not an animal. And as for manners, I’ve yet to meet someone who deserves the effort.”

     I'd never been good at filtering myself, I just spoke what I thought. Hence the scar gracing my neck. So I should have expected what came after. I heard the quick movement, the slide of fabric over the floorboard, but he was quicker and I hadn't the privilege of knowing my surroundings as well. The burn of a needle prick flooded my veins and I felt a moment of calm, a black shroud covered my vision and before I lost consciousness I swear I felt the brush of a delicate breath across my cheek.

So, that's my sharing for today, i hope you enjoy the excerpt. I'm in love with my story, and I believe that nothing out there has covered the premise. What  passages  in your manuscript send goosebumps across your skin? Im happy to say that i feel that often when reading what I still cant believe comes out of me sometimes.

I wish that for you writer, dreamer, temporary inhabitant of a fantastical world. Because if you don't love your story, most likely no one else will either. Get lost in silliness, playful childhood, that's where all the secret kingdoms lie waiting for you to return and discover their magic.

WRITE every day, READ just as much, then WRITE more.

And a funny on Tuesday

This, yes indeed.

The weekend seems so far away...

My take on Scrivener

A few months back I decided to try out Scrivener. My WIP was getting somewhat large and I thought maybe the software would organize things better than my gazillion post its and pages of notes.

And to my surprise it did. Now, don't get me wrong, it took about a week to get used to the program, but since then Ive worked with it exclusively, so i decided to purchase.

Pros:

Organization of characters, scenes, world building & background.

Research folder at my fingertips, I'm able to highlight something and refer to it instantly no matter where it is on the manuscript. Which I do a lot....

Cons:

I kind of have to be at my laptop to add new writing, i think there is a way to have the program on my usb drive,I've yet to figure out how. But im okay with that. Id be bringing it to work...and we know how that would go, I'd get no work done.

I haven't explored the whole of the program yet, and im sure there are many options available to me that I haven't explored, but as a whole, I like it. And I've written more words per day since Ive used it...i don't know if that's all in my head, but i feel good. And if I feel good, my writing takes on that mojo, and its clear skies.

So, in my opinion it is a good program and worth a look into at least. The price is fair ($40.00), but there are discounts available online if you search around. The 30 day trial gives you the chance to try it out. Now I by no means am trying to promote the program, it just works for me. And if something is working with your writing, its always a good thing.

Keep imagining, its our writing fuel.

 

 

New approach to writing

Most of last week i was in kind of a ho-hum writing mind state. I was putting the time in, but the quality wasn't there. So, after coming home mid-week to find that i couldn't use my laptop, (its purpose that day was to entertain the kids), which kind of threw a wrench in my writing schedule. But, I had to write, so what to do, what to do...Ah, yes!, I could actually WRITE....in my notebook. Funny how some simple things fade in time, due to our busy lives and electronic equipment. I hadn't written in my journal or used my notebooks for anything substantial other than note taking. But boy what a difference once I found a comfortable spot and put pen to page. The writing was intimate, completely different than typing away and hearing the click clack of the keyboard. (Which don't get me wrong, is a huge time saver), but parts of the story I hadn't even thought of yet were coming faster than I could write, and this was exhilarating!

To widdle this long-winded post down to a nugget of useful info, change things up now and then. It might surprise you what you've got stored in that creative head of yours. ;)

Movie Friday <3

I take a break every Friday after getting home from a long week of work, phones, work, phones etc. etc. And I watch a movie, or read the dog-eared book on my nightstand. Mostly we all watch movies, get pizza and settle in for the night. The best part is knowing I wont have to hear the alarm in the A.M....unless of course I want to get some uninterrupted writing in and need to wake up before the dawn. Which might be the case this week. My oldest is going to the beach and my youngest is oblivious to the ping of time. So...tonight we, or mostly I, will be watching one of my fav's (Pan's Labryinth). And most likely will be opening my Scrivener to work on that new idea flicking the back of my head for the last week. So here's to Friday's, endless possibilities and potential for writing a masterpiece or reconnecting with inspiration. Every good ending usually starts with a bumpy beginning ;).

Just a moment of inspiration...

 

It's the truth. I just takes that one word or sentence to get you past that awkward ..."Uh, Ive written myself into a corner", moment. And when that one page starts flowing, it's..magic. ;)

 

Keep writing, no matter what you do, how bad your day is, how tired you are, keep writing, even its if terrible. And it will be sometimes. But in the middle of all the rambling words on the page is a gem, that one phrase or action or spoken word, its there. It just needs a little polishing around the edges to smooth it out so it flows like a free flowing stream. Writing...it's what you wish you were doing when you aren't. The story is in your veins, flowing to your mind, inpatient to get out, we all just have to untangle the crowded conversations in our heads and weave them altogether to create something spectacular. SO..if today is a bad writing day for you, picture the pages you haven't written, the pages that bring you farther toward that time that you hold it all in your hands, the finished product, and can say with pride..I did this, I wrote this, this story...all from my extraordinary mind.

Write, its what your meant to do.

Join in the fun here

Did you vote today?

The two new entries for Write Club 2014 have been posted and votes are rolling in, have you cast yours yet? If not, then sign in and read the two new entries here.

 

Good luck to both participants!

What's your muse for writing?

Although I can write amidst all the chaos at home--(toddlers and teens to be precise). My ideal environment is slapping on the headphones and blasting some great movie scores, along with Evanescence, Christina Perri..I could go on..Skyrim (though i don't play) also has a great soundtrack--as well as the classical composers. But I could spend hours listing all the inspirational music that sparks the flame in a writers mind, but I'd be writing this post for hours, and still wouldn't cover half of the options. What I really wanted to share is that when I'm in that mode, headphones and blasting music, I get lost in the story, especially if I really like the song playing. I picture the scenes in my head like I'm watching a film tick by, maybe I'm crazy. I've been known to talk about my characters as if they were real...I get the look, you know, the slight arch of the eyebrow from the boyfriend, or even worse, your teenage daughter.

My enthusiasm overcomes my mature responsible role as mother and  adult, especially if I think I nailed the last scene or had a revelation in the plot. I have, and probably will again, jumped up and down and eagerly tried to explain why everyone in the house should be as excited as me, that's when I usually get the look..I laugh as I'm writing this, because I honestly believe anyone that writes has those moments. Even if the excitement isn't shared by your victim - er family or friend, it's kind of like an acknowledgement, if i wasn't meant to do this, i wouldn't care what i just wrote, good or bad. And I care about both, it drives me to go further, excites me that at the end, I'll get to go back and untwine the story and mold it into what my mind sees. Here's to those wild moments of realization, and may they come often.

 

An excerpt of m...

An excerpt of my WIP. <-- Like it says there...Work In Progress, almost ready to revise...which is the best part of writing ;).

Scene - Tristan (MC) & Noelle (MC) after being thrust into each others lives.
     “What do you know of my soul?” he shouted as he walked up behind me and took my arm. “You know nothing of our people, of me, you're a mortal, polluting the world with your greed and lust. You have no idea what I carry inside me, and love? Ive loved so fierce that it tore me in two. Don’t speak of what I am little girl, you'll be wrong every time.”

     My heart hurt, like it had been torn out of me and replaced with a hollow center. I realized that I felt something for him, and I held back the tears that wanted to fall.

      “You're first mistake is letting your weaknesses control your emotions. What you feel for me is curiosity --nothing more." he said with a wave of his hand. "Not too long ago, a girl, like you, felt the same as you do. I made the mistake of showing myself to her and after that, I was as stricken by her as she was of me." he paused."But as you can see." he added with outstretched arms. "She isn’t with me now, she's rotting away somewhere in the ground.” He paused and I saw his eyes close, sorrow in his frown.

     “Save yourself the time of wasted thoughts on me, I can tell you with sincerity, I do not feel the same—and never will.” he added.

     Then I was angry.

     “For someone who is making it clear that you can't stand me, you sure do listen to my thoughts enough. Why don’t you stay out of my head and for that matter, away from me completely.” I said.

     “Surely—“ his grin took me off guard. “You don’t mean that? Your words are little lies spoken to protect your feelings. There's no need for that here, I know what your true thoughts are, and it is my kingdom, knowing the thoughts of my enemy is crucial to the safety of the people here.” He flicked his hand in the air toward the west of the forest. “We go there now, you'll be cared for, cleaned—“ he looked me over. “And dealt with when I see fit.”

Blog Blitz - Join in the Fun!

Join Blog Blitz here

Its a great way to get traffic to your blog and discover some amazing blogs out there as well!

Fresh and airy

As you can see, Ive updated my blog. I thought a fresh look was in order, though I do tend to go toward the darker side of images, I thought a good dose of pleasant would go easy on the eyes. So there you have it. I'm still working out the kinks with all of this, being a newbie to blogging. Ive seen some eye-catching pages that really draw me in and keep me on the page, I hope mine does that as well. On a side note: Have you voted today for Write Club 2014? If not, here's your chance to make your choice from the first two entries here .

We need your votes! Every one counts. And congrats to the two entries posted today!

-till next time

Muse Sunday :-)

Well, today I can say that I exceeded my word count goal! All day the words just flowed out of me. In addition to that I went and did some revising to early chapter, (because I just cant help myself :/). Now, I realize its 10 pm and I missed Game of Thrones :(. But, what that tells me is that there are good days and not so good days in writing. Today, was definitely a good day. And tomorrow, fingers crossed, is the Write Club 2014 post of the 32 contestants that made it past the submissions. Which I hope is also a good day. Good luck to everyone that entered and thank you to all the judges that took time out of their lives to read all of the entries.

To follow along with Write Club 2014 go here

Write Club 2014 - today is the day!

The 32 entries are posted today here Good luck to everyone, cant wait to see who made the cut for round 1. *butterflies*. Thanks to DL Hammons for making it all possible!

Write Club 2014 - today is the day!

today is the day - Write Club 2014

Good Luck to everyone that entered. I'm nervous myself, this being the 1st contest I've ever entered. Though I find myself more excited to read the entries and have the chance to vote along side everyone. All in all this is a great way to connect with other writers and hopefully get the chance for feedback and learn some things along the way. A big thank you to DL Hammons for making this possible. The first step is always the most difficult ;.

Write Club 2014 1st round posting is today!

I'm anxiously awaiting the post of the 32 entries that made the cut to round 1 of Write Club. Good luck to everyone that entered, I look forward to reading all the submissions.

Rainy Days and Writing Breaks

I usually love rainy days, the gloom outside my windows is suprisingly....inspirational. But the last week here in NE PA has been, to say the least...uninspirational to the 10th power :/. So today, I saved and closed my best friend for the last year (said word document containing a world that I imagine would scare the hell out of me if I was really there), and signed into my neglected blog. Ive been feeling guilty with myself really, sometimes the story im attempting to write consumes every thought in my head, and sometimes it refuses to come out, i imagine the story itself is stopping me from going any further....you see, it wants to go one way, and I of course, want it to go somewhere else entirely. So at the moment, we are at a standoff, silly as it sounds, eventually the story will gain its strength and push me to follow down its rabbit hole, instead of mine. My green must be showing as far as being a blogger, I dont know if anyone could relate to this, but when im not writing my manuscript (or giving it the stare of persuasion), I feel like any other writing I do could be better spent working on said manuscript. But I digress, any writing is good and as im filling in the blankk spaces here, it does feel good, connecting, sharing, telling, releasing.

I look at blogs probably daily and I've come to an opinion, we all want to share something that will inspire someone even for a brief moment, If you're reading this, then I hope you somehow connected with even a few words, and I think my therapeutic exercise in blogging has pulled me over a hump that I thought would last for days. Write, write, write -- if its all you can do but to sit and get words down, then you're meant to keep sitting down and getting those words down. I'm pulling for you, without ever knowing who you are, because in the end, anyone passionate enough to store a world not of their own inside their head, and spin that into a story to share with anyone who will read it. Is EXTRAORDINARY..til next time :)

Are you ready for Write Club?

Get your info here, submissions deadline is tonight at midnight!

Beginnings

Ive learned a lot in the 2 years...yes 2 whole years-- that I've been writing my manuscript. I've taken a lot of good advice and applied that to my writing. I get so excited about scenes that just pan out perfectly, other times I'm squeezing my forehead with my idle fingers...so many extremes. But I trudge on and  think I've laid my story out quite well, even though it still isn't finished....back to the blinking cursor...I swear sometimes it's mocking me. 

 

WRITE CLUB

Its time for Write Club! You can go here http://www.dlhammons.com/p/write-club-2014.html to get all the information if you decide to enter, and I highly recommend it ;). Good luck to everyone entering!

Revisions

My favorite part of writing my MS, is the revising. I tend to do this while writing, which I have to stop myself before it takes over and I never finish the MS to revise the end product. So..at this point, the initial writing is done and the revising has begun. This is a good place for me to be, ive taken extra time to write the MS for about a year and a half, life, work, kids, all factor into that. But I think in the end, it has made me take my time with the precious minutes I have to sit down and concentrate on what story is being spun. I feel good about the writing, ive reread the whole MS after letting it sit, and it still amazes me. Goosebumps, anger, tears all come when they are supposed to. Ive learned alot about storytelling on the querytracker site, the infomation there is invaluable. Though ive yet to write my final query letter, that is one exercise I am putting off until it needs to be addressed. Write, write write - the best advice ive taken from anyone offering the tools to great writing.

NanoWrimo

I just signed up for NanoWrimo and am hopeful that this step will give me the inspiration I need to venture farther into my MS. The words are there, they are fighting each other on the way out to my keyboard. Like a dozen toddlers on a simultaneous tantrum. :) onward