Surviving The Labor of Writing

Most of you know that two months ago, I had a beautiful baby boy. While pregnant, my husband and I took childbirth classes that came in handy when the time rolled around to have my baby. The whole experience of labor made me realize there are a lot of similarities between having a real baby and a fictional one! So today, let's talk about how to survive (and cope with) the labor of writing.

It's no secret that CBA is in changing times, and scoring a publishing deal can be a challenge for a first time author. But that doesn't mean we should despair, for God has called us to such a time as this (Esther 4:14). What can we do when the pains of the process come along?

• Surrender control. One of the first things you learn in childbirth class is that you can't control the process, so rather than tensing up in an attempt to take over, you have to just let things roll. The same is true for the publication journey. You can try everything in your power to make things happen a certain way, but at the end of the day, you have to surrender to the process and roll with the punches, so to speak. If you can learn how to do that well, flexibility will give you a long career in the industry.
• Breathe. This one speaks for itself. Sometimes you just need to take a deep breath and relax.
• Let go of preconceived notions of what you think your publishing life will look like. Otherwise, you're bound for disappointment. If you're attempting a natural childbirth, you'll learn to visualize your ideal birth and shoot for that, but not expect it. I think the same is true for writing. You should set goals and work toward them; otherwise, you'll never make progress. But don't expect everything to go exactly according to plan, or else you'll have a hard time adjusting when it doesn't. 
• Keep the end goal in mind. When you're having a baby, everyone will tell you it's pain with a purpose. Let me just say, when you're in the middle of a contraction, you don't really care if it's pain with a purpose. ;) But truly, if you keep the end goal in mind, it's much easier to keep each setback in perspective. Your baby--your story--will eventually get there. Each disappointment brings lessons that take you closer to your goals.
• When you do finally get that contract, rejoice! It's so easy to get caught up in a new set of expectations and deadlines that you forget the big picture... you sold your story! Don't let the exhaustion of the process keep you from the magic of that moment.

Your turn! What strategies do you use to cope with the pains and setbacks of the writing process?

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Ashley Clark writes romance with southern grace. She's dreamed of being a writer ever since the thumbprint-cookie-days of library story hour. Ashley has an M.A. in English and enjoys teaching literature courses at her local university. She's an active member of ACFW and runs their newcomer's loop. When she's not writing, Ashley's usually busy rescuing stray animals and finding charming new towns. You can find Ashley on her personal blog, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. She is represented by Karen Solem.

Get It Done or Get It Right?

In college, I was one of those weird architecture students who would stay up til 4 in the morning at

www.freedigitalphotos.net by toa55

the studio, grab some breakfast at IHOP, take a quick two hour nap at my apartment, then get back up to the studio to present my baby--a project slaved over until the VERY. LAST. MINUTE.

Yep, I like to think that my architecture degree is good for something now--creating in me a work ethic of at least optimizing the wee morning hours for productivity. Eh.

Guess it helped when I was a new mother and those late night feedings.

Oh, and  it helps now, as I write this blog post at the VERY.LAST.MINUTE before it's to be published.

But in all seriousness, I have realized that my degree earned some decade and a half ago, might not be used as it was intended, but in hindsight, I've learned from it as I try and apply it now as a writer. It's not in a way that I would expect. Because I look back on those days and what I did WRONG is what I need to remember NOW to get my writing...RIGHT... 

www.freedigitalphotos.net by Stuart Miles

In that competitive studio atmosphere, it was always pretty exciting to come up with ideas and run with them. Yeah, think Cutthroat Kitchen with t-squares and vellum rolls. My classmates would still be brainstorming with chicken scratch and thoughtful conversation, while I'd whip up a first draft master plan within a day of the assignment. I'd get my final materials at Hobby Lobby, plop down at my desk, and start to work while my classmates were just nailing down their concepts.

You may wonder why I was working at the very last second before the project was due as I stated at first? 

It's the exact same reason I feel like many of my stories fall short. I crank out the story before I even let it mature. I pluck those first ideas from my brain and don't question the "insteads", "what ifs", "better thans", and "howevers".

Back then, I was so focused on getting the project complete, I didn't allow myself to grow the project along the way. So those last seconds of work were my frantic band-aiding the presentation to force maturation of a pre-mature idea. And many of my classmates had gone to that next level...even if it took them longer to get there. 

Finally, nine years later, my anxiety to crank the story out is shoved aside by GET IT RIGHT! And my definition of RIGHT in writing is: fully grown in style, depth, and especially intrigue where the only question asked is, "How can we even consider passing this up?"

www.freedigitalphotos.net by khunaspix

I never thought I would put the brakes on getting a project submitted before. But it doesn't seem so crazy now. Because, what's the point on whipping something up and getting it out there, when there are "insteads", "what ifs", and "better thans" begging to be asked?

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Angie Dicken is a full-time mom and lives in the Midwest with her Texas Aggie sweetheart. An ACFW member since 2010, she has written five Historical Romance novels, has a Historical underway, and is represented by Tamela Hancock Murray of The Steve Laube Agency. Angie also spends her time designing one-sheets, selling Jamberry, and drinking good coffee with great friends. Check out her author page at www.facebook.com/dicken.angie and her personal blog at angiedicken.blogspot.com 

Tuning Into A Brainstorm: Exercising Your Mind's Eye

on freedigitalphotos.net by tiverylucky

During our annual twelve hour trek down south for Christmas, my husband turned to his typical entertainment, NPR (National Public Radio). I am NOT a talk radio fan. I absolutely am not. I'd much rather engage in conversation with good music in the background. But it was early and I was tired, and I did not protest his choice.

As we ventured into the plains of Kansas and Oklahoma, and watched the temps climb higher and higher, the radio took us to new places altogether. We stepped into the worlds of Northeastern fishermen, Mexican Corn farmers, British actresses, Christian musicians, and Oklahoma tornado victims.

on freedigitalphotos.net by James Barker

Opinions.

Conflict.

Personalities.

And....

Settings only developed in my mind's eye. 

Just like a book. Just like a newborn idea for a story. 

As I sat and listened to the the stories, strained my ear to hear the background noise on location, I realized I wasn't just hearing a good story, but I was experiencing new characters--trains of thought I might've never considered, scenarios that presented outpours of emotions in new  ways-- AND, an opportunity to imagine God's hand in each situation. 

What happens when a writer is exposed to a new perspective, a new setting, new conflict?

Perhaps, just perhaps, a wild rush of God-inspired breath stirs up our creative ocean and causes a storm of new ideas and untraveled waters for our characters to explore...or unique, fresh characters welcomed to our story world.

on freedigitalphotos.net by David Castillo Dominici

Studying the world around us is so much more broad than what authors of the past could've imagined. We have media that transports us to different places and cultures, and gives glimpses at the human condition in a vast amount of scenarios.

If you ever feel like your creative juices have dried up, and you are just writing the "same ol' same ol'", perhaps you aren't utilizing all the wonderful tools at your finger tips?

The mere turn of the dial on the car radio brought color and potential to my mind's eye, proving that I've hardly begun to fill my creative bank with ideas and study cases for new stories.

on freedigitalphotos.net by feel art

The most brilliant thing about exercising your minds eye is, once you allow the stories to transport you into the shoes of the particular person spotlighted on the radio [or t.v. or magazine....], you'll begin to tap into your own emotions and stir your own opinion...using  common human fibers to comprehend someone different than yourself. 

Exercise your mind's eye. Awaken your writer's heart to new passion that might drive you to your next brilliant story idea! 

Any good ideas lately? Any places or people you'd like to write a story about and experience life in their mind's eye?

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Angie Dicken first began writing fiction as a creative outlet during the monotonous, mothering days of diapers and temper tantrums. She is passionate to impress God's love on women regardless of their background or belief. This desire serves as a catalyst for Angie's fiction, which weaves salvation and grace themes across historical cultures and social boundaries. Angie is an ACFW member and is represented by Tamela Hancock Murray of the Steve Laube Agency.

A Writer's Ride Across the Pages

This past week, I went on a two day bike ride of 100 miles...Yeah, not usually my thing, but I had some friends that wanted to join in the tradition of RAGBRAI (an annual ride across Iowa). So I took the plunge.
As I forced myself to continue strong up hills, down hills, around curves and potholes, I couldn't help but relate my 100 mile bike ride to writing a 100k novel.

The Beginning:

For four months, my small group women and I planned to ride our bikes and prove to ourselves (and maybe our husbands) that we could do it! We had a vision and we were determined to see it through. It's that excitment you get when you are ready to venture into a new journey of story. You know it's a winner, and you're ready to prove to yourself (and maybe your husband) that you have what it takes to get all the way to "The End". As the week crept closer, I began to envision falling flat on my face on the roadway. What was I trying to do? Who was I trying to kid? I am certainly not qualified to ride a bike, let alone a trek like this one!

This kind of doubt also creeps in at this point in the writing process. Is my story going to be a marketable idea? Does it have the hook it needs to succeed? Can I even write such a story?

And like we all find a way to push away those doubts and delve into the love of our story, I pushed doubts of the ride aside, began to pedal, and joy met me on the ride. I grew excited when I began to meet others on the ride, just as I enjoy discovering new characters and learning from them in my writing. The landscape took my breath away as I pushed up hills and coasted down them, just as exploring the setting of my story fills my spirit with worship of the Creator.

Every once in a while on my bike, I'd glance ahead and see the hills and potholes waiting to throw me off, and I would find myself pushing down the fear, ignoring the challenge ahead and focusing on the moment. As a writer, I also do this when I try to keep my momentum...my inner editor clicks on and tries to drag me to the mire of the tangled web that I am creating in my plot or character development. I must turn it off to press on, knowing that the journey has just begun.


The Middle:

Round and round I pedaled, and at one point, I thought, what am I doing??? How in the world did I get myself into this? I am tired, and annoyed, and ready to quit. I could only dwell on the negative of the ride behind me, those bikers passing me...even if it was more "their" sport than mine, (yeah, I am competitive!) and I focused on all the hills, hills, and more hills ahead.
If you've ever felt like this once your energy for starting a new novel fizzles, and your adrenaline sputters to a low, then you have reached the middle of your novel where it threatens to sag like a big ol' flat tire. This is the part where you try to switch gears, try to pedal harder, try to reach for that water bottle and find refreshment somewhere, anywhere, for your characters and your story.
I just had to push through on my ride. Lean on the God who gives the ultimate refresher, and find a new hope in the journey.
When you get to this part in the writing process, PRAY. God's given you the story, He'll help you find resilience to master that middle.

The Strong Finish:

My body was sore and tired, I had many miles behind me, many people along the path, many, many, many hills conquered. But the ride wasn't over. I had another day ahead. And after a good night's rest, I set out to finish up this goal of mine.
Sometimes we are worn out after the struggle of that "middle ground" in our novel. Sometimes we've put the brakes on, and begun to brainstorm all over again, drawing new flow charts in the roadside gravel. But when you allow yourself time and rest, the finish sometimes comes faster than you expect.
I knew that it would be a shorter day on that second day. And with the way my body felt, I hoped the finish line would come quickly. There were still hills, potholes, rude bikers, slow bikers, FAST bikers, that tried to knock me down, but the finish line was creeping closer and closer. The last town met me before I knew I was there. And before I could really understand it...I was done.
As writers, when we begin to complete the words needed to tell the story, the plotline, the character arc, all the elements that draw out one long stretched out finish line, we pick up momentum and energy to make that final push. Don't quit now! You've worked too much to leave the road and get lost in the cornfields of defeat.:)

 

Have you had a life journey that is similar to your writing journey? Would love to hear about it!

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Angie Dicken first began writing fiction as a creative outlet during the monotonous, mothering days of diapers and temper tantrums. She is passionate to impress God's love on women regardless of their background or belief. This desire serves as a catalyst for Angie's fiction, which weaves salvation and grace themes across historical cultures and social boundaries. Angie is an ACFW member and is represented by Tamela Hancock Murray of the Steve Laube Agency.

Excuses, Excuses! What's Stopping You From That Rewrite?

 I pushed forward, consuming my first draft in edit mode. I rekindled my love for my story, characters, and setting. A few tweaks here, a few deletes there. All the while, there was a tug in the back of my mind, trying to slow me down. It was coming, and coming fast. The sleeping monster's snore was getting louder, reminding me of what lay ahead.

It can't be that bad, I kept telling myself.

After all, I didn't have any major problems, just adding a few scenes for punch. Surely my memory failed me. I didn't really have a tangled mess in chapter twenty four. I probably just needed to erase and replace, brush away that old plot thread, and weave in the one I intended.

No problem. Piece of cake.

Eh. Not so much.

That sleeping monster: the not-so-great chapter....opened its lazy eyes, and began to stretch its arms, shoving away all my attempts to avoid picking him up and plopping him in the trash. It would be a struggle, wouldn't it? Too much time to try and fill in the giant gap his absence would leave. Perhaps I can just dress him up, so he “looks” good. Maybe, just maybe, he's not so bad after all.

And the little girl inside of me fell to the floor kicking and screaming:

"Please, please, please don't make me start over!"

Today, from my own experience, I want to suggest three excuses that may try and distract you from that task at hand, that inevitable step to truly polishing your manuscript before submission...even if it means that horrible word: REWRITE.

Excuse #1: Tweak what you have to fit your new plot line. So, in my case, I needed to readjust the plot. During that first draft, I had gone down a rabbit hole, and while it might have been an intriguing story line, it really was for a whole different book altogether. But, I really liked my set up, my language, the whole “feel” of the scene. There is a major problem though, when you try and fit a new scene into an old one...your characters throw a fit.

Consider your arc: would your character really do that, say that, or find themselves in that place on this new journey you've invented?

You can't just peel away the top layer and slap a new layer on it. You've got to consider the whole onion (as one particularly green monster would say. Any guesses?).

Excuse #2: Ignore your gut, it is good enough. But is it? You've written a whole manuscript. Certainly that tucks some more-refined skills in your writer's pocket? Each page you write, gives you the chance to get better. Why else do you edit, anyway? So, when you get to that scene you may have written a couple months ago, don't settle for last month's “good” when this month's good might have reached a whole new level.

Consider your own growth as a writer: Is this scene truly reflecting your best creativity, your strongest representation of the story in your head? Or does it have a hand-me-down feel, a poorly sewn patchwork of character motives?

Excuse #3: After excuse #1 and excuse #2 wasted away my time, I heaved that ugly monster and tossed him in the trash. But then came something that has not visited me for a long time: 

Writer's block.

Yeah, my plot was off, and what I thought would help was a good ol' fashion tweaking. That obviously didn't work. So now what? How can I make this worth reading to, reading thru, and hooking the reader for what's to come?

I found three things that sparked my creativity, choose one or more: 
 Crit partner brainstorming session: This is my favorite. My crit partner knows my story and my characters almost as good as me. And she also knows me. When I ask for her advice on a new plot thread, or keeping an old one, she can see through my laziness in not wanting the change, or she comes up with questions that dig deeper than the plot that's blinding me from what my characters want and need. It's always nice to have a second pair of eyes no matter what part of the process you are in, but when writing block hits, crit partners can be huge in breaking down that wall!

Research: No matter if you write historical or suspense, sci-fi or women's fiction, research doesn't just happen before you write. Sometimes you need to tap into research to spur on what's going to happen next. Since I write historical, I can look at events of that time, and decide how would my character react to them? Or perhaps there are other people's stories you come across that spur an idea? Would this be good to include in your plot to push your story forward? Even if it's a tid bit of research, if it gets you into your character's head and on to paper (or screen) then you can write yourself out of writer's block.

Take a break and read: Let your writer's mind rest. Step away from the story and jump into someone else's world for a while. Sometimes we focus so much on our own story's jagged edges, that we can't remove ourself from the snag to see the bigger picture. And sometimes, your creative juice bank needs to be filled up...which usually always happens when you dive into someone else's art for a while!

Do any of these stop you from moving forward in your rewrites? What other excuses have you told yourself to keep from writing the best for your story?
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Angie Dicken first began writing fiction as a creative outlet during the monotonous days of diapers and temper tantrums. She is passionate to impress God's love on women regardless of their background or belief. This desire serves as a catalyst for Angie's fiction, which weaves salvation and grace themes across cultures. She is an ACFW member and CEO of a family of six.

 

When To Hit Send?

Photo in Flickr Creative Commons by Horia Varlan

 A few weeks back, I wrote a post on After You Hit Send. After working on sending out my full, I have come to realize the big question... 

When to Hit Send? 

I sat there, with my finger poised on the mouse...one small touch would send off my manuscript into cyberspace all by its lonesome...with no assurance that it would be of any interest at all. I quickly texted my fabulous crit partner (Alleycat Ashley) and asked her,

"When do you know when you are ready to submit?" 

It felt weird to say that it was ready. Like I was being too rash...too presumptuous that it was polished enough. Ashley wrote back:

"Do you feel at peace about where it is?

 If the recipient were to reject you, would you feel good about it, like you gave it your best shot?" 

Oooh, good questions, don't you think? I pondered them, and looked back on all the steps I took to get to these final two questions. There were quite a few steps, and some were lengthy, but these steps helped inch that manuscript closer to cyberspace in the long run:

Photo in Flickr Creative Commons by goXunuReviews

1. POLISH: After typing 'The End', you most certainly are not at the end, really. It's only the beginning of the next phase...Editing. Typos, sentence restructure, plot inconsistencies, character arcs...don't get too dizzy. Alleycat Sarah wrote a great series on the Self-Editing Checklist to help with this step.
2. SEND IT: Not to agents or editors..but to friends and colleagues. Find some friends who read, preferably your genre, as well as professionals (that you know!) and/or crit partners. Get their overall feedback, suggestions...and wear thick skin!
3. POLISH once more, according to their feedback...at least the feedback you want to listen too. One of my friends told me a major plot point wasn't believable, but I didn't agree. Fortunately, the Alley Cats are a great sounding board and confirmed my hunch. Checks and balances are important when it comes to your story and your voice. If you feel strongly about why you wrote it, how you wrote it, and get some resistance from readers at this step, make sure you are honest with yourself, but also stand your ground if it's important. (It's always nice to have a crit partner at this point, because then you have someone who knows how you write, your story, and about the writing craft.)
4. FORMATTING is sometimes an afterthought, but SO important to make your piece really shine. Be sure you have the chapters numbered correctly (I have found this mistake more than once in my own manuscript), and that your margins are 1", a readable font through out, and proper spacing for chapter breaks, scene breaks... all that fun technical stuff. (Blah!)
5.  STEP BACK and marvel at your shiny piece. You have accomplished a great feat. It's something to smile about!
6. SLEEP ON IT. 2 a.m. is not a good time to hit that button. You'll want to skim through any new parts you've added and be sure you've gotten all those pesky typos. Tired eyes aren't trustworthy.
7. TEXT your crit partner for final encouragement....and move to the next step:
8. ASHLEY'S QUESTIONS: Yes, friends, they are from the mouth of a very trustworthy friend and crit partner, and I suggest you ask yourself also:

•   Do you feel at peace about where it is? 
•  If the recipient were to reject it, would you feel good about it, like you gave it your best shot?

If you can honestly say yes to both of these, then you are ready!

Now to tackle that query! Here's an older post to give you a start.

Any other steps you take to make your manuscript shine?

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Angie Dicken first began writing fiction as a creative outlet during the monotonous days of diapers and temper tantrums. She is passionate to impress God's love on women regardless of their background or belief. This desire serves as a catalyst for Angie's fiction, which weaves salvation and grace themes across cultures. She is an ACFW member and CEO of a family of six.

Take A Walk In Their Shoes: Secondary Characters

There are times in our lives where we have to walk in someone else's shoes for a bit. Our eyes see life from their perspective for those moments, and we feel like we know them deeper, or we empathize with them more.

An example in the life of a stay-at-home mom:
Mama takes a much needed weekend, and Daddy gets the kids!

All three of the rug rats' energy levels are busting the shingles off the roof one by one.

Daddy gets to wipe noses, make breakfast, clean up messes, entertain, discipline, wipe more noses, and administer the daunting task of bedtime...all...by...himself!

What happens when refreshed Mama walks through the door on Sunday?

“Wow, I know why you needed that break, Mama. Can I have one?”

Daddy is exhausted!

It's always nice to have someone understand what your life is like, and appreciate your time. And the same thing goes for characters in your wips...if you walk in their shoes a bit, then you get to know them better.

This happened to me on accident. The other night, I began to write from my hero's perspective...thinking I might actually use it in my wip. I had written a whole 165 pages in my heroine's perspective...first person, and then had a not-so-great idea to switch pov's... Even though I didn't stick with it, I realized it would seriously hurt my story, it did give me a chance to step into the shoes of my hero. I learned more about him, and even found a way to step up the tension in my novel, after learning about his own fears.

Even though writing time is precious and, sometimes rare for some of us, step into your secondary characters shoes every once in a while...it will open your eyes to a whole new perspective.

What are your favorite “oops” moments in writing, that have enlightened your writing journey? Several of the Alley Cats have mentioned techniques to develop your characters like interviews, journal entries...do you have a sure way to develop your characters?

Self-Editing Checklist: Intro and Some Ground Rules

Does the word edit make you shudder like a mom with a pet snake on the loose? Or does the process of moving words around excite you?

It seems like most writers fall into one of two camps: We're either creators or we're editors.

I'll admit I've got a little bit of both in me. But when I'm creating, I usually have to smack my internal editor back into hiding. It's always itching to come out and spruce up the drivel I've created.

Like any good writer, I started out my first self-editing venture using the awesome book Self-Editing for Fiction Writers. I opened it up and went to the end of each chapter, using the questions to guide me through my edits.

The problem with this approach was that I kept learning new things on blogs, in books, and in classes that I wanted to add to the list. My solution? Create my own self-editing checklist. Over the next several posts, I'll share with you my 4-page checklist, piece by piece.
First, a couple ground rules.

1) This checklist gets down to the nitty-gritty details of your manuscript. Before you apply these points, I suggest you give your work a read-through and make sure you've hammered as much of your plot and characterization as possible.

2) I don't claim to be the originator of the content I'll be sharing with you. I want to give credit where credit is due. And I'll also urge you to follow up on the resources I share to get the full reasoning behind the points I mention. In fact, I'll purposely keep some things more generic for copyrighted materials so I don't get sued. :) There are some amazing teachers out there who can provide more a-ha moments than I can, and they deserve the money behind their price tags.

With all that said, here's your homework for the next two weeks. What? Did I just say homework? Okay, okay. It's homework if you choose to accept it.

If you have a completed draft that needs self-editing, read through it with an eye solely for the story. Whether you're a plotter or a pantser, make sure you're working with a story that doesn't require complete rewrites. Of course, sometimes self-editing reveals an issue that requires rewrites...That's okay. But our goal is to work with a solid story that's ready for a micro edit.

Got it? Okay. Go!

Where do you put yourself on the creator/editor spectrum? How do you currently approach the self-editing process?

Come back in two weeks for the first official piece of the self-editing checklist!

*Camp photo from FreeDigitalPhotos.net

**Checklist photo by Rawich / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Good Ol' Fashion Writing

Photo by bingbing

So, I have a problem when I sit down to write—my social addictions:

                                                   

email * facebook * blogging

My computer conveniently “dings” when I get a new email, and since some blogs and facebook are connected to my email, I am usually inundated with “dinging” as I try to progress in my wip. (And even if I hit the mute button, my lovely “mac” dashboard conveniently SHOWS me when a new email arrives.)
Usually, my time to write is precious, so I frustrate myself when I waste it on “social” distractions.

Self-control is not my strong fruit!

Photo by samthomsa

The other day though, I was rushing out to drop off my 4 year old at preschool, and then return a book to the library. Usually, I lug my laptop along with me and set up shop at Barnes & Noble or Panera to get some uninterrupted writing done (besides all the dinging and people-watching).

Well, I just didn't feel like it, so I grabbed my journal instead.

And I sat down in a corner in the quiet library, surrounded by books (actually the nook I was in was right by all the historical novels...convenient inspiration for my current wip!) and pulled out my journal and pen, and fleshed out some good ol' fashion writing without the distraction that my laptop brings.

It was so freeing!

I didn't have to depend on technology to assist my creative juice flow, I could just write, write, write, and get scene upon scene out on the pages.

Some may say, “well, now you have to go type it all in...” but the best part of this “extra” step is, I can edit during transcribing, and...voila...I have a more polished scene freshly typed in my wip!

Photo by JamesRoseUK

Do you have any tips on getting rid of the distractions that come with instant communication...emails, phone calls, i.m.ing during your writing time?

This Mama's Writing Habits

During an over-excited attempt to get my wip out of my head onto paper (10,000 words in a weekend), I  noticed some habits adding to my wrestling match towards success.
It makes me laugh to see my same habits as a writer, appear in my other passion in life, motherhood.

The Mom: I can talk myself blue in the face as I reason with my little 8 year old lawyer when he is in trouble, and threaten him with consequences. I feel like a poorly educated psychologist sometimes. Instead of the long debate, I could just show him my stance- give him his consequence. I am the grown-up...right?
The Writer: The poorly educated psychologist creeps into my writing when I overly explain my character's motives. Instead, I could just show it in an active way. When I dissect their motive and their many possible thoughts, I find my head spin!
The Mom: “Why do you ALWAYS...”, “I have never...” and my most ashamed saying of all, “Gosh Almighty!”( Seriously how is that not the same as what it implies??)
 My effectiveness goes out the window...and worse off, my words get in the way of  my purpose as their mother, to let God's light shine through! I will say though, there are some things worth repeating... "Do unto others," "Keep your hands to yourself", "Don't sit on your brother's head..."

The Writer: 
My, my, I use the same sentence structure, adverbs (dun-dun-duuunn), and boring verbs an AWFUL lot! My writing's effectiveness decreases with one too many "howevers".
 Some words that give me fits are:

Just, really, seemed, surely, often...

Just as I thought it seemed necessary, my poor writing surely proved to hinder me, and I often found myself editing instead of really getting ahead in my wip.
Okay, for my own reputation...I never (ha) get this bad, but sometimes I find “just” at the beginning of too many sentences, I use “really” to emphasize a little too often, and “seemed” creeps its way in, especially when I write in first person and have to describe her view of other characters.

Now, I am not saying that all these things are necessarily bad, but if they aren't noticed by me, the writer, and I allow them to flood my story, the main theme and most importantly, the inspiration God gave me in the first place, would be diluted.

My boys and me...The crazy sunglass styles...what was I thinking?

And as a mother, if I also don't choose my words carefully, and limit my psycho-babble, I lose my children's respect and ultimately give them a poor impression of the God I am suppose to be representing in their lives!
Do you have any writing habits that are a constant challenge as you move forward in your wip?

Brainstorming - aka Finding your Story in a Christmas Song

Okay, so I was going to write about Happy Endings and all – but I’ll save that post for another day. Instead, I got hit with an idea on the way home from work on Friday, and it all stemmed from a Christmas song.


Ever had that happen?

Inspiration can come from the most unlikely places, but songs are great sources.

It can be funny too.

You wanna know which song inspired my latest premise? Santa Baby. Yeah, nuts!! If you want to hear the lyrics sung by Marilyn Monroe, check it out here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbbQwecCzo8

It’s in total opposition to the true meaning of Christmas – even the whole gift of giving idea. But as any good author knows, if an idea starts to jingle inside your head and you start asking the ‘what ifs’, you’re about to catch the fresh aroma of a story.

With Santa Baby, I started asking:

What kind of woman would sing a song like this?

What would happen if she didn’t get all of those things…or lost them all?

What if she was forced to learn the true meaning of Christmas? How might the song change? From singing about Santa Baby to singing about the Holy Baby? Ooo, it sparked a great premise, and one I will have to tuck away for later.

How about The Twelve Days of Christmas? You know, I have some Christian insights on that song, but it sparks my imagination in a fictional direction too. What unique gifts might my characters give to each other for Christmas? How could those gifts carry a secret or surprising message? A ring? A gown? A lost letter? Five gold rings? :-)

In the song, I’ll Be Home for Christmas, I ALWAYS think WWII. Why? A picture of a young woman’s Christmas wish being to see her sweetheart for Christmas. Perhaps he’d been wounded? Lost in action? Presumed dead? But with a glimmer of hope, she waits by the Christmas tree, praying that he’d come home. He doesn’t come, so she leaves to attend a Christmas party. At the party, a live string orchestra plays their song and….You GUESSED IT! – he walks through the crowd. Sigh.

Or the song, What Are you Doing New Year’s Eve. Oh – there are all sorts of visions that pop in my head for that one! The uncertain fellow, the sassy gal. Or what if the story begins on New Year’s Eve? Two souls who meet on New Years and it starts an entire chain of events.

Don’t you love brain storming?

So, what are some writer brainstorming tips? Here are a few:

1. Read, read often, and read like a writer who knows how :-) Some of the seeds of a story come from reading a good story. Perhaps it will inspire a time period, a certain character, or a similar plotline.

2. T.V. watching – characters, stories, followed by the ‘what if’ questions can jump from two-dimensional on a screen to three-dimensional heroes/heroines if you give them a little twist.

3. People watching – characters-in-the-making are everywhere

4. Taking good notes on family vacations. Some of my best story ideas come from trips. Setting can really inspire all kinds of wonderful ideas.

5. Family memories/family ancestry – I have no less than five story ideas inspired by my family history – and I mean family history going back five generations or more. As I’ve said before, Real Life can truly be Stranger than Fiction.

What are some brainstorming tips you have?

What’s one of your favorite Christmas songs?

Questions to Ask about Your Novel from Steven James

Well, it’s one thing to meet an author in the halls of ACFW, or in a workshop, but it’s a whole lot nicer to join an author for lunch. No surprise there. One on one attention and good food too.


Well last Wednesday I had the opportunity to join thriller writer, Steven James, for lunch at a nearby café. We don’t live too far away from each other, and though he’s in the middle of a deadline, he set up a lunch meeting at a wonderful little coffee house just down the street from where I live.

If you don’t know…

Steven James is a prolific writer of all sorts of books, both fiction and nonfiction, but he’s most well-known for his Patrick Bowers Files thriller novels. INTENSE. Books like The Pawn, The Rook, The Knight…all leading up to his most recent one, The Bishop. AHHHH! That book kept me up at night. Whew.

Besides that record, he’s also a charismatic presenter at Christian Writers conferences, as well as churches, universities, schools, and storytelling festivals. This guy stays busy. He has a great sense of humor and a heart for teaching. You can find out more about him at http://www.stevenjames.net/

So…back to MY story.

During our conversation, Steven gave me a few pointers. I thought you guys might benefit from them too. Questions to ask yourself while you create and write your novels. Here are a few of the first tips:

- In the beginning of your novel you are making promises – promises to alter the lives of your characters in some way.

- During the middle and end of your novel, you’re fulfilling those promises.

What does that mean? Well, what you set up in the first few chapters are your promises to the reader about ‘what’ is at stake, what do your characters want, what might keep them from getting what they want…those sorts of things.

Through the middle and the end of the book, we make those promises become reality.

Keeping that in mind, each scene should be a minor ‘alteration’…or altercation :-)

Scenes should not be written JUST to take up space in the book. For example, let’s take a REALLY popular movie scene…hmm….

Okay, sorry, but I’m going to use Pride and Prejudice. (STEVEN JAMES DID NOT USE THIS EXAMPLE) LOL.

And let’s take the ‘movie’ version – Kiera Knightley and Matthew McFadyen.

First scene: New neighbors, a rich, male, and (happily) single neighbor- of COURSE in want of a wife.

- Alteration? Sure. Women who had no prospects, suddenly DO.

A later scene – Lizzie and Mr. Darcy’s first meeting –

- Alteration? Oh yea! Lizzie’s somewhat indifference to Mr. Darcy turns into complete annoyance when he ‘slights’ her.

Readers want promises of danger and anticipation. Promises of CHANGE, and that’s what needs ot happen in each scene. A change inwardly or outwardly – but change that moves the story forward.

So what are some questions to ask yourself while you plot or write?

Here are a few Steven tossed out at lunch:

1. What is the reader thinking, hoping for, questioning, or feeling at this point in your story?

2. Have you ended the scene in a way that is unexpected but also inevitable?

3. Does your chapter/scene move the story forward?

4. Are the characters acting in a way that is believable for them?

5. Is there a way you can make your characters situation worse?

Last thing.

Steven made a GREAT point about NOT writing too many similar scenes. For example, since he writes thrillers, his books are filled with action – but too much of the ‘same’ type of scene will cause the reader to mentally yawn. So he doesn't overdo chase-scenes, because he wants the scene to really COUNT.

For us romance writers, we have to be careful not to have the SAME type of kissing scene, or ‘near’ kiss scene.

It’s kind of like this:

The first bite of chocolate is always the best – each consecutive one is more expected and less tantalizing – but the FIRST is the one that tingles the senses.

Same thing applies for scenes.

Have you made promises in the beginning of your novel?

Do things start out well, but then your characters’ lives alter?

Do you have some ‘screensaver’ scenes in your novel? Pretty to look at, but just take up empty space?

How a CPA Writes a Novel (Because I Know You're DYING to Know!)

Did you know it's entirely possible for a book to be written in an Excel spreadsheet? Okay, all you pantsers, stop snickering at me. I'm serious.

Since Pepper shared her writing process last week and Julia has been talking about storyboarding, I thought I'd share a little piece of my writing process today.

When I first started writing novels, I stumbled upon Randy Ingermanson's website Advanced Fiction Writing. At the time, it seemed like a coincidence. Now after meeting Randy, I know it was all part of his greater plan to take over the world. :)

He's known for this thing called the Snowflake Method of planning a novel. Since I like order in my life, I lapped it up like a thirsty dog, only without the loud slurping. When I got to the part where he talked about outlining scenes in Excel, I knew I'd found my place (can't help it...I'm a CPA).

From that point forward, I started outlining my books and scenes in an Excel spreadsheet. For each book, I have columns with the date of the scene, the chapter number, the POV character, a summary of the scene, the word count, the plots/subplots (more on that in a future post), and more. For every version of my manuscript, I have a separate tab in Excel.

I even created a tab where I track my daily progress. I have a line for each date and I log the time I spend drafting, editing, etc. Then I have a column where I track my scene goals for each day. So if I'm starting the editing process, I might have Scene 1a on Monday, Scene 1b on Tuesday and so on. I refer to my word counts on the other tab to help me gauge how many scenes I can complete each day.

Now I know this method wouldn't work for everyone (All you pantsers have glazed eyes right now. Am I right?), but I think it's important to track our goals and progress somehow. Before I started this process, I wandered aimlessly without a real target. But now that I treat my Daily Progress tab like a time clock, it helps me stay focused.

Does the idea of using a spreadsheet to plan a novel scare you? How do you stay focused on reaching your goals?

*Keyboard image: br3akthru / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

*Minutes image: Salvatore Vuono / FreeDigitalPhotos.net