Perspectives

I had a lousy day yesterday. I won't go into details, other than to say that after a stressful, difficult day, I came home to find two rejections in my email. To say I was bummed would be an understatement.

Today didn't start much better.

Then I found out from a friend that her cousin is a "casualty of the war in Iraq."

It sort of puts things in perspective. Yes, my past two days have been stressful for me, but they are as nothing to what this young man's family is going through.

My thoughts and prayers to this family and to all the families who have lost a loved one.

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"Writing is a political instrument..." - James Baldwin

Words, words, words, words, words

In the classical musical "My Fair Lady", there is a song where Eliza is complaining about words. All she hears all day long is words until she is sick of them. She's so tired of words, what she wants is a little action. "Don't talk of love, show me."

It's the same in writing. We are always told to "show don't tell." But many people just starting out have no clue what this means. You go to conferences or take on-line classes where you are told "show me" the action, but how do you do that?

Take the following:
She was angry. So angry she could spit.

This is "telling." You are telling me she's angry. Show me her anger by giving her motion, as in:
She stomped the pillow until the seams ripped and stuffing leaked out, then grabbed it and pounded it on the chair.
Or: She ripped his picture into tiny pieces, tossed it in the sink and lit a match. "Take that you two-timing rat."
Or even: Finished with the doll, she picked up several pins and stabbed them in strategic spots. "This will teach you to take me lightly."

Okay, I didn't say they would be good examples. But, in each case, I am showing her anger through action, not telling you how she's feeling. And that's what showing is all about - action. Even if it's nothing more than sunlight reflecting off the snow and blinding the character, there is still something happening. Don't just tell us it's bright out. Show us the character squinting, shading his eyes from the dazzle.

By adding action to the scene, you will make your writing more immediate and more alive to the reader.

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"Read, read, read. Read everything-trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master." - William Faulkner

New Readers

Okay, proud grandma here - I talked a couple of days ago about new readers. Add one more to the list. My 4 month old granddaughter. :)

Oops

I have a manuscript I've been working on for several months. I finished it back in January and sent it off to my critique group. One thing you have to understand is that the members of my crit group are all published writers. Of the five of us, all but one are multi-published. Granted, most are with small presses, but one is a NYT best seller. So their crits mean a lot.

I got back comments from them - and they all thought this was my best book yet - I made changes according to their suggestions, did my own line edits and worked on the manuscript to make it the best I could.

Two days ago, my husband was looking for something to do so I gave him my ms. to read. Unlike my crit partners, my husband is neither a reader nor a writer. In the three decades we've been married, I can probably count the number of novels he's read on one hand. But he looked at my manuscript. And found a glaring mistake. One that is so obvious, anybody should have seen it. But nobody did. It has to do with cheese.

My heroine is from a group of people who are in hiding from the bad guy. They are constantly on the move. They don't have homes or domestic animals. Nor do they visit villages.

So where did they get the cheese they're eating?

Oops. So now I have to go back in and either give a reason for the cheese or give them another food to eat.

And all it took was one reader - who's not even really a reader - to find what five professional writers couldn't.

I think I'll finagle a way to get my hubby to read all my stuff.

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"I have rewritten - often several times - every word I have ever published. My pencils outlast their erasers." - Vladimir Nabokov

Creating a Reader

Last week, an acquaintance of my husband's stopped by along with her 12-year-old son. When he was introduced, I noted that his name was the same as a character in a book I'm working on. But that, unfortunately, he was a bad guy and gets killed off - which of course, the youngster thought was "cool."

As we chatted further, I discovered that he does not like to read. Or rather, he doesn't like to read fiction. He prefers biographies or even graphic books (similar to a comic book). But his school won't let him read what he wants for book reports - he must read fiction. So we continued to chat. Turns out, he likes Shakespeare, but finds it a little hard to read. And he kind of likes mysteries - but most of what he sees now he doesn't like.

So I asked him about Edgar Allen Poe. Turned out he'd never read the master of all mystery fiction. I suggested he try some.

Found out from my husband over the weekend that not only did the boy try Poe, but he discovered he really liked the stories and has devouring them. I may have created a monster - but at least he's reading.

And there's no better past time than that.

And on a second upside note, while visiting with the family yesterday, our 4-year-old grandson floored me by sitting down with me and reading the "Peanuts" cartoon from the paper - and mostly without prompting. The few words he stumbled over (imagination, monster), he sounded out and went on reading. Wow.

New readers are everywhere and that's a great thing.

Morning Pages

A few weeks ago, I once again started writing "morning pages." Anyone who has ever heard of "The Artist's Way" by Julia Cameron knows what these are. You roll out of bed, pick up your notebook and hand write three pages. And they must be handwritten - no computers allowed.

So I do. Well, sort of. The cat needs fed first or she won't let me do anything and will wake up my hubby with her meowing if I don't feed her. So I open the blinds (blinding me by the light), get her fed, then I sit down to write. I don't always get three pages - usually it's more like two - but I do write. It's a way to organize your thoughts, your day, yourself. Or it's a way to just let your mind go where it wants in writing. The results can be very interesting.

But I also find that when I'm doing morning pages, I don't blog as much. Maybe because the two are so similar - though I do get a tad more personal in my morning pages than I do here. Maybe it's this whole "journaling" thing. Since I do it in the morning, I don't have much else to say when I get here.

But we'll see what happens. I am determined to blog more than I have been. Maybe not every day as I have for the past year and a half, but more than once a month, or even weekly. I'll try to keep you all updated on my latest releases and what I'm working on. And in light of that...

I'm working on a rewrite/edit of a short novel based on the Lumaria myth. And for those who don't know - it was an island similar to Atlantis but with much less publicity. :) I'm working on a series of four books - the first is written and just needs reworked before I send it out. Unlike my other fantasy novels, this one is set in a contemporary urban setting. A fun change of pace as I didn't have to spend so much time creating a world. But I also was more constrained as I had to stick to what is actually in this world - well to some degree. It is a fantasy after all. :)

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"Writing and rewriting are a constant search for what it is one is saying." - John Updike

End of the Contest

The contest is over and the winners are being notified. Thank you for participating!

Thursday Three

Yes, I know, it's supposed to be "Thursday Thirteen," but I don't have the time to come up with thirteen things this morning so you get three. I figure this way I can build up to thirteen. :)

So, three things you don't know about me.

1. My first paying gig as a writer was in ninth grade. A boy I had a huge crush on paid me $2.00 to write his poem for our English lit class. Of course I did (then he went out with my best friend, but that's another story...). He got an "A". I got a "B" on mine. Sigh.

2. I earned money in college by typing papers - and making sure grammar and spelling were correct. This was before word processors so having an accurate typist who could spell was gold - and I knew it. :)

3. I was the first female DJ on our college radio station. But I was only allowed to play "Easy Listening" dinner music (basically Muzak). After all, girls weren't knowledgeable enough to know Top 40. Hah. By the time I left two years later, we had a female station manager and the guys had learned a valuable lesson.

So, there you have it. Three things about me.

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"...write in the kitchen, lock yourself up in the bathroom. Write on the bus or the welfare line, on the job or during meals...." Gloria Anzaldua

Contests and Promos and Blogging. Oh my!

As often happens, I had a brilliant idea for my blog last night - actually, about 2:30 this morning - but I was too tired to write it down.

And there it went. Oh well. But it was absolutely brilliant. Honest!

So this morning, you're stuck with what I can come up with off the cuff. (secret word edited out - for updates on the Cerridwen Press contest, see previous post).

Anyway, I'm currently working on edits for my new work in progress. I'm hoping to have them finished by the end of this week so I can start working on something new. I really love this new book and think it's my best yet - and so my crit partners have also said. And they should know since three of them are multi-published, best selling authors. I have a lot of hope for this book. Like my other books of the heart, it is a fantasy in that it is set in a medieval type world and involves people with "other world" abilities. There's a good vs. evil thread, and a love interest for the heroine. It's also about choices and acceptance. Of differences in ourselves and others. And it's a darned good story! :)

But then, I may be just a bit prejudiced.

I'll tell you more about it at another time. Today is supposed to be all about the contest. You can find out more information below in my last posting or on my website on the "contest" page or at any of the participants' pages. Join in the fun.

Cerridwen Press Contest!!!!!

The Cerridwen Press Spring Contest is now over.