Word Wanderings

Beyondaries!

2012-01-25T00:56:00.000-06:00

The magnificent Chila Woychik, who has appeared here more than once, has been busy, starting a new e-zine through Port Yonder Press.

The first issue was released yesterday, and will be quarterly. Make way for Beyondaries! :) I haven't had a chance to explore it fully, but there will be articles of interest to writers and non-writers alike... including the quarterly results of the Team PYP short stories!

I should point out that my name is somewhere in the issue... can you find it? ;)

Back next week with who knows what... it'll be fun!

Until next time,

Liberty

Non-stereotypical

2012-01-23T07:30:00.010-06:00

You know you're an odd duck when your husband asks you when the Super Bowl is...

Such is life in my house. I am far more interested in football than my husband, although he seems to "get" the game more than I do.

Last night, we were eating dinner, and TMOTH looked at me (while I was stuffing my mouth with pizza) and said, "The Super Bowl is next week?"

I held up two fingers, and after I swallowed, told him, "Two weeks, Honey."

After thinking about it for a bit, it made me think about how much of the time, the characters I read about are a bit stereotypical. Sure, there's some exceptions, but most of the time, the girls are the shopping-freaks, and the guys can't understand anything else when anything with a ball is on the TV.

As a writer, I hope my characters are never cookie-cutters cut-outs. The main character in one of my projects absolutely HATES shopping, and is very likely to show up somewhere wearing a Kansas City Chiefs jersey (whether it's appropriate or not.) The hero in the same story is as comfortable cooking alongside his girl (the main character) as he is taking his car apart and changing its oil.

If you're a writer, do you find you rely on stereotypes of the genders a bit too much? If so, is there a legitimate reason you do?

If you're a reader, do you notice when characters are stereotypes?

Until next time,

P.S.--I drafted this last night... while I was watching the Giants/49ers go into overtime...

A Plea From the Dog

2012-01-16T07:30:00.001-06:00


Me and Mom

My name is Tucker. I am a 3--almost 4--year old Chocolate Labrador Retriever. I live with my mom, Liberty, and TMOTH. I have commandeered Mom's computer to beg for your help (and I am really good at begging.)

You have to stop Mom's obsession with this thing called "writing". It is really getting in the way of my quality dog time. When I first came to Mom's house, everything was confusing, and I did not know how completely obsessed she is with this activity.

First, it was writing a book. That was fine. She would sometimes stay up late while writing this book. This was nice because she would, if she remembered, be up to let me out to go chase opossums and other night-time animals I don't get to see in the daytime. I sure do love to chase them squirrels and rabbits... just wish I could catch one...

But, Mom has now decided this thing called a book needs to go into a contest. If that weren't enough, she is now writing these things called "reviews" and "short stories". I'm not really sure what these are, just that they are starting to encroach on my well-deserved walks. After all, I am the dog. I need these sorts of things. And, if Mom were to take me for my walks, she might not be so concerned about the size of jeans she is (or isn't) fitting into these days.

If that isn't enough for you to help me, maybe this will be. I sometimes hear Mom talking to herself. I think she's talking to me--after all, she using the word "bones" a lot--but when I come to see where the bones are, she barely notices I am there! I know I heard her right. Then she's started talking a lot about getting an "agent" and making lots of "queries". I'm not sure what these are, either, but they sound like a big problem if I'm going to get my dinner on time one of these days. Too many times, Mom can't remember whether she fed me or not. (That's why the kids give me scraps--to make sure I keep up my strength. Someone has to get the word out about Mom!)

Won't you help me? You may know how to talk to Mom about her addiction. I've tried, but apparently, Mom cannot understand me. I will keep you posted on my progress.

--Tucker the Labrador

It's Coming!

2012-01-09T13:50:00.000-06:00

... and I don't necessarily mean in a good way!

Since my son was diagnosed with Shwachman-Diamond Syndrome, we've known one of these days, he'd be having a bone marrow biopsy (BMB).

Well, it's official. He'll have one late next month.

This has left a lot of our family and friends with lots of questions, some of which we don't know how to answer (and are fumbling around trying to at least sound somewhat intelligent when we respond.) Why does he have to have a BMB? Will he have to have it multiple times? Will he be sedated? How long will he be in the hospital? What are they looking for?

I asked my online support group about it, and they pointed me to these two resources:

Bone Marrow Biopsy and Aspiration
Bone Marrow Biopsy Day

Am I glad I asked! I think both resources answer more questions than even I'd thought to ask. :)

Probably our next biggest question is how long it'll take to get the biopsy results--TMOTH has asked this, and I told him I had no idea, but we'd probably have results by Easter--let's hope sooner!

More on health: our son's doing better, and it's been 2 weeks since he's had a CBC (Complete Blood Count) run. We go back tomorrow for another CBC. We're watching his hemoglobin slowly rise, and I'm hopeful it's closer to the normal range. As an aside, our son isn't the only person I've learned of in the last few days with low hemoglobin levels--a friend's child was down to 6 last week (never heard for sure if the child had a transfusion or not) and a member of TMOTH's family also had their hemoglobin drop and had to have a transfusion. At least I can understand the worry when it happens now!

Next week, I'm going to try to get back to a post on writing or some such thing. Maybe an update on those resolutions I wrote about a few weeks ago. (Hint: I've lost some weight, but have no clue why! I'm not exercising like I know I should be...)

Until next time,

Liberty

It's the New Year! Will You Join Me...?

2012-01-04T13:13:00.001-06:00

Monday has come and gone... and Monday morning, I had NO clue what to write about. Today, I think I do.

I've decided I'm going to do whatever I can to read through the Bible in a year or less. (So far, the "less" part seems probable.) Using my handy-dandy Bible app from YouVersion.com, I've selected a Bible-reading plan, in my case, the Chronological version.

Photo by RudraMel

I've been using YouVersion for a while on my Android smartphone. Instead of taking my Bible with me to church, I've been using this handy (and free!) app. I can switch versions at will (a good thing when our pastor switches from NIV to NLT to ESV in the span of five minutes.) And, I can get a daily reminder to read my Bible that day.

The year is still new. Will you join me and commit to reading the Bible in a year? I've never done this before, and could use the support, encouragement, and accountability. You can join me at YouVersion--I'm user Righter1.

Have you ever tried to read the Bible through in a year--or less? Were you successful? Do you have any tips to stay firm on your commitment?

Until next time,

Follow up to Gifts of the Heart

2011-12-28T09:42:00.000-06:00

Just wanted to let everyone know that my son's hemoglobin level has come up to 7.8. Normal range is 12 - 18 for ANYONE, so he's still anemic. We're waiting on his hematologist to get back from vacation to give us any further instructions, but the nurse seemed pleased that it came up 1.5 points in a week.

Overall, we're pleased, but know he's still got problems. Still, it's enough to be encouraged.

Until next time,

Liberty

Gifts of the Heart

2011-12-26T06:30:00.000-06:00

Merry Christmas, a day late! Or, as our friends across the pond may say today, Happy Boxing Day!

I hope you've had a most blessed Christmas... and managed not to kill any of your family. ;) Or is it just me that struggles with those feelings sometimes? (tee hee hee, just kidding!)

Today is my regularly scheduled post for the ChristianWriters.com blog chain, and to be honest, the topic (Gifts of the Heart) kind of has me stumped. But, I shall charge on!

When I read the topic (admittedly, about 5 minutes before I started writing this post), I thought, huh.

So, rather than do a traditional post, I think I'll leave you with a few pictures of some of the things that warm my heart. I hope you'll find them as endearing as I do.

Obviously, these are my kids... and my dog. :) I'd put TMOTH's picture up, but I'm not sure if he'd be okay with it.

So, my family is my gift of the heart... I hope you can say the same for yours!

In a little sidenote, I want to give a brief update on our son's health. Last week, we thought everything was going well, and then we went in to see his dermatologist, who, on a whim, ordered some blood work. Our guy has been sick most of the time since Thanksgiving, and when they ran his hemoglobin, it was 6.3. Normal is between 12 and 18, so he's exceptionally anemic right now. We have his blood retested tomorrow, and his hematologist (blood doctor) is watching this closely. We've managed to get through Thanksgiving and Christmas without being admitted--and seeing as those were both spent at the hospital in 2010, this is a great thing. Hopefully, we'll make it through the remainder of 2011 without being admitted again! (Now, if we can make it through cold and flu season...)

If everything is okay, I guess you'll hear from me next in 2012... wow, can it really nearly be 2012? It barely seems like I was getting a handle on 2011! If for some reason things aren't as good as we hoped, I'll try to post a short update on Tuesday or Wednesday.

(But I'm hoping it'll be 2012 before you hear from me again!)

Happy New Year!

Until next time,

Liberty

Disappointment

2011-12-12T13:43:00.000-06:00

I've been debating today whether I should try to do a post. I neglected getting one up and ready last week, and here I am, procrastinating again.

I'm probably one of the worst procrastinators out there. Okay, not the worst... but still... And, TMOTH is just as bad as I am, which means we're both hopeless.

Really, we can both be motivated... when we want to be... But if I were so motivated, wouldn't I have at least been trying to get my novel out the door these past few years? Wouldn't I have been doing more to raise my writing credits from just this blog and CCBR in the last few years?

Sometimes, I can really disappoint myself.

Which is why I've been thinking about my 2012 New Years Resolutions already. Actually, since before Thanksgiving. I've narrowed it down to four:

Lose 10 - 15 pounds. While I don't want to get down to what I was when I got married, and I'm on the upper-end of the acceptable range of BMI, I don't want to let myself get out of hand.
Raise my writer profile from what it is now to the point where I'm under contract with an agent and have published short stories--and more than one or two. I'd like one for every month of the year, but that would mean I need ideas! :)
Learn how to quilt (which I'm already teaching myself.)
Learn how to can.

I think I can do all of these things... as long as TMOTH encourages me, and I stay on track. Honestly, I think the hardest thing for me will be to lose the weight since I'm happiest sitting at a computer!

There's 19 days left in 2011... Have you accomplished your 2011 goals? What are your 2012 goals?

Until next time,

Liberty

PERIL

2011-12-05T06:30:00.129-06:00

PERIL: A blog tour with Suzanne Hartmann and Lady Anne

Readers of Word Wanderings shouldn't be strangers to Suzanne Hartmann. She's guest blogged at least once, maybe twice. And today, I'm delighted to bring her back. She has just had her first novel debut! I couldn't be more excited for her. Peril: A Fast Track Thriller (Book 1) is now available.

A top secret agent with enhanced strength must use her extraordinary abilities during several high-profile assignments from the White House to NASCAR tracks. When unwanted publicity threatens to expose her, she herself becomes a terrorist target, with danger surrounding her on all sides.

“Plenty of action and unexpected twists.” -- Foreword by Jimmy Makar, General Manager of Joe Gibbs Racing

Suzanne and I have conspired a little treat. We've convinced her lead characters, Lady Anne and Stuart Jackson, to sit down and be interviewed--and it was no easy task, let me tell you!

A little about Lady Anne: She is King Ahmad’s beautiful, but mysterious bodyguard. While she appears to be all lady on the outside, she is not afraid to face terrorists and is capable of taking them down with her enhanced abilities. She is a woman full of secrets, and no one is able to trace her history or whereabouts.

A little about Stuart Jackson: he is a two-time NASCAR Champion at the peak of his career, yet finds his life lacking meaning. Although drawn to Lady Anne by her beauty, once he has a chance to get to know her, it is her contentment in an obviously difficult situation which makes him seek her.

WW: Thank you both for finally agreeing to this interview. I understand that you value your privacy and rarely make appearances.
STUART: Some of us make appearances so rarely that they’re almost impossible to find. (glances at Lady Anne)
LADY ANNE: (points at self and mouths "who me?") As the woman said, I value my privacy.

WW: Stuart, I hear that you and Lady Anne are an item.
STUART: (pulls at collar) Well…uh…no. Actually, the media started that rumor. She's might be the most beautiful and interesting woman I've ever met, but there are...ah...
issues...that keep us from having anything but a friendship.

WW: I see. Lady Anne, could you shed any light on these issues?
LADY ANNE: I cannot expound on them, but I can say that the way I dealt with these issues only encouraged Stuart to try to find me because he recognized in me the kind of peace he was seeking.

WW: Stuart, you're a NASCAR champion, and have the kind of fame and fortune most people can only dream about, and yet you're not content with your life?
STUART: I felt empty. Like I was missing something, but I didn’t know what. I was always looking for the next challenge—something bigger and better to look forward to: my first win, a championship, the next step up the racing ladder. But every time I got there, it was only a matter of time before I looked for what was next…until I ran out of challenges. I reached the pinnacle of my career, but when I looked down on the other side I saw nothing

Then I had two brushes with death in less than a month. I don’t know. It just stripped away everything that I valued, and the culmination of my dreams didn’t seem as important as it had been. I was still proud of my accomplishments, but I saw that something was missing.

WW: And you finally located Lady Anne to get answers?
STUART: It took quite a bit of finagling, but yes, I got my answers…and a whole lot more.

WW: Can you tell us how you first met?
LADY ANNE: Stuart attended the State Dinner at the White House in honor of King Ahmad, and I was the King's escort for the day.

WW: And you were the hero of the day--
STUART: And the hero when she escorted the King to the Talladega Superspeedway, and at the Famous Fifty Banquet.
LADY ANNE: (blushing) Yes, but I paid dearly because of the notoriety my actions brought. It threatened my personal life and eventually made me a terrorist target.

WW: Because you kept saving the first Muslim king to convert to Christianity?
LADY ANNE: Yes. But it was an honor to be given such an assignment. As difficult as it has made my life, much good has come of it, and I have come to realize that God is in control and has been leading me since the White House incident, even though I doubted Him.

WW: How do you deal with the stress of knowing that there are people out there who want to kill you?
LADY ANNE: It's hard. It worries me constantly, but I have a plan. It is very risky and I am not looking forward to implementing it, but if it works I should be safe from the threat of terrorists.

WW: I don't suppose you could share that plan with us?
STUART: Don't even go there. She'll never answer your questions about her plans. Trust me, I tried. She was polite, but wouldn’t give up any information she didn’t’ want to.

WW: As much as I would love to know more, I can understand that your plan requires secrecy, so I will simply wish you the best of luck. Thank your both for joining me today. It has been a pleasure to get to know you.

To celebrate the release of her debut novel, Suzanne is giving away a KINDLE!
Entries will be accepted until 12/16. For details, click here: WIN A KINDLE

Suzanne Hartmann is a homeschool mom of three and lives in the St. Louis area. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Composition & Linguistics from Western Illinois University. To relax, she enjoys scrapbooking, reading, and Bible study. She began writing fiction when her children were young, and four of her short stories were published in a Milliken Publishing reading workbook. PERIL: Fast Track Thriller Bk. #1 is her debut novel.

On the editorial side, Suzanne is a contributing editor with Port Yonder Press and operates the Write This Way Critique Service. Through her blog, Write This Way, she has become known as an author who can explain writing rules and techniques in easy-to-understand terms. Her popular Top 10 series of articles formed the basis for her e-book on the craft of writing, Write This Way: Take Your Writing to a New Level.

Peril is now available at Amazon.com in paperback for $16.95, as well as at ChristianBook.com for $12.99. I understand that while not available yet, it should be available on Kindle within the next couple of weeks.

If you're a writer, you should also check out Suzanne's e-book, Write This Way: Take Your Writing to a New Level, of which, I am pleased to be an endorser for.

Thanks so much for joining us today, Suzanne, Lady Anne, and Stuart! I honestly can't wait to read this book.

Until next time,

Scared Silly

2011-11-28T06:30:00.010-06:00

Ever get so focused on something, the whole world is just white noise?

Yeah, this happened to me in the last week.

Lesson: you should not get that so totally focused on something else when you have a 3-year-old and 16-month-old in the house.

I decided that I was going to get a head start on one of my four 2012 resolutions this past week: I'm going to learn how to quilt.

Over a year ago, I bought one of those "How to Quilt" books at my favorite crafts store. With everything going on, I hadn't cracked it open in, well, probably at least 9 months. But, with the wonders of PBS's CreateTV, I rediscovered that, hey, I wanted to learn how to quilt sometime in my lifetime. As if I don't have ENOUGH going on.

So, I dug my quilting book out of storage (i.e. my basement--and I knew exactly where said book was) and started reading a couple weeks ago. And, last weekend, I felt confident enough that I went out and bought supplies for a small, potholder-sized quilt.

And, last Monday, I decided that the kids were behaving well enough that I could setup for a quick "let's-learn-to-quilt" session.

Got all my prep done with kids underfoot, decided to babygate the kitchen door so they could see me, I could see them, but they couldn't knock over a hot iron or get into my sewing machine.

At some point, I got so focused on whatever I was working on--and I had my back turned to the kitchen door. My daughter dragged a kid-sized chair to the door, unbeknownst to me.

And she let out the loudest, "Hey, Mom!" that she possibly could.

I just about hit the ceiling. And let out a scream of my own.

Which caused my daughter to start crying.

I climbed over the gate, and hugged her, reassuring her I wasn't mad--just that she really had scared mom.

I think after that, we both had a cookie. We both needed one.

Later that morning, I did finish my quilting project. It didn't turn out too bad, even if I nearly had a heart attack in the process.

Hopefully, my daughter doesn't attempt anything similar when I learn how to can next year. ;) Fabric is one thing, glass and high pressure are a whole 'nother thing.

Until next time,

Liberty

Thanksgiving Blessings

2011-11-21T08:43:00.001-06:00

Okay, so I admit it... I forgot about writing this week's blog post.

But, I still want to wish everyone a most blessed Thanksgiving holiday. As we all begin the hecticness of this holiday season, I hope you take a few quiet moments to reflect on everything we have to be thankful for this year.

And in the spirit of Thanksgiving, I want to share with you this week's message from my church. The message is the "Thank God" message from our "Constant Contact" series. (But the previous message, "Ask God," is very good, too.)

Stay safe on the roads and in the air, enjoy time with family, try not to kill anyone. ;)

Until next time,

Things I Didn't Know

2011-11-14T06:30:00.031-06:00

Nine Things.

This month's topic for the ChristianWriters.com blog chain is another that sort of has me stumped.

Being that it's Thanksgiving season, I'd hazard a guess that many are writing of what they're thankful for.

But, the only thing I can think of is to write about Nine Things I Didn't Know at this time last year.

This last year has been trying, to say the least. And, I've learned a lot.

1. A year ago, I thought something was wrong with me when my son wouldn't gain weight.

2. A year ago, I'd never have thought my second home for most of the next year would become a hospital.

3. A year ago, I'd never have thought I'd ever live in an apartment again (and thankfully, we don't again!)

4. A year ago, I didn't know what lengths we could go to in order to find out what was wrong with our son.

5. A year ago, I looked at holidays as something that happened normally. After spending three holidays in the hospital, I'm grateful for the family and friends who assisted us through the holidays last year.

6. A year ago, I'd never heard of Shwachman-Diamond Syndrome. While I'm still learning about it, I know a heck of a lot more than a couple doctors on our son's team!

7. A year ago, I didn't realize just how much time would have to be invested in keeping our son healthy. It's more than you think, but less than I think is possible.

8. A year ago, I knew I'd have a book deal by now. Yeah, that hasn't happened. I've had to put off submissions again and again. :(

9. A year ago, I really didn't know how many people would rush to our side during a crisis. Today, I know. And I'm grateful for all of our friends.

I kind of wonder what I'll be learning next year.

What have you learned this year? How has it helped you?

Until next time,

Liberty

Winner: Deliver Me From Evil

2011-11-07T07:00:00.002-06:00

Well, a week later, and we have a winner!

I decided to relax the rules since we only had two entrants...

And the official winner is... Sherrie Speidel!

I should note that Sherrie is my mother-in-law. Normally, I won't enter family into giveaways, but due to the few entrants of the giveaway, and the fact I feel this is an important book for EVERYONE to read, I relaxed those rules.

Congratulations!

I'll be back next week with a post about who knows what. ;) It should be good, regardless!

Until next time,

Liberty

Deliver Me From Evil

2011-10-31T06:45:00.028-05:00

Recently, I "met" on Facebook with an author who was releasing a book that ran parallel in theme to one of my current projects. While my project is set in the year 2117 and mostly in space, and hers is set in present-day San Diego, they share the same topic: human trafficking for sexual slavery.

That author is Kathi Macias, and she graciously offered me a chance to read her book, Deliver Me From Evil, sending me a book to my new place before I'd even moved in last month. I'll be giving away my copy of this book to one lucky reader. See details at the end of this post.

Now, with boxes unpacked, and three fewer distractions in the house (my husband and kids were out of town over the weekend), I was able to finally sit down and read this book.

I will say up front that this is not an easy-to-read book. The fear from the girls in this book is real.

Mara was bought--by her uncle, no less--at the age of five or six, taken across the border into San Diego where she began her "training". Now eighteen, she's known no other life, and has no real hope of ever seeing a normal life. As the eldest of the slaves her uncle has obtained through the years, she's tasked with teaching them the ropes--or suffer the consequences from her uncle.

A chance encounter with almost-graduated-from-high-school Jonathan Flannery, who is delivering pizzas at the hotel Mara is working one evening, leads to an incredible series of events that changes not only their lives, but all the lives of those around them.

Honestly, I was a little trepidatious about reading this book. I've known about human trafficking for more than a decade. The former US Senator, now governor, from Kansas was an early voice throughout the late 90s and into the 21st Century about the topic. (Keep in mind, I'm not even 30 yet, so there may be other voices out there--but given my age, he was the first I really was aware of.) So, I've been aware of the horrors for a while. Even more, my church has formed a ministry to aid those stuck in slavery to get out--not just stateside, but abroad in Thailand and India (possibly South Africa) as well.

I shouldn't have feared.

Although the book was difficult to read, there were enough breathers between the tough scenes with Jonathan Flannery and his family that I was able to read it in four sittings. Ms. Macias is an extremely skillful writer, and while you don't see the violence and horrors "on screen" so-to-speak, it's insinuated. I'm not sure which would actually be worse--if it were spelled out, or with my imagination running away with me.

Anyway.

This book is not for the faint of heart. There is some real evil, some very despicable people. Even Mara, who I found myself rooting for throughout most of the book, was plotting to kill her uncle by the end of the book--if she ever got the chance, that is. And really, who could blame her?

If you're not content to read bonnet books, and are willing to tackle some difficult topics and get your eyes opened, this is definitely a book worth reading.

For my non-Christian readers: this is a Christian book. God is on almost every page. The characters talk about God, pray, attend church, etc. However, human trafficking and sexual slavery is a problem that needs to get dealt with, and the Church is on the frontlines of this battle. When kids--not just girls, boys too--are getting kidnapped in preschool to be placed in this line of "work", there's a problem, and whether you're a Christ-follower or not, you can't ignore it.

Because I feel so passionately about this topic, and I believe Deliver Me From Evil is such an important book to read, even as a work of fiction, I am going to give away my copy to one lucky reader. All that I ask is that you read it, then pass it on to someone else who will read it, who will then give it to someone else to read, and so on. This book should not remain on your bookshelf! Only through informing others about what's going on in our cities, in our country, will we be able to put a stop to this.

If you're interested, please leave a comment below with the first name and last initial of the person you think you'd give this book to. It doesn't have to be who you eventually give it to, just show me you're thinking along those lines already. I'll draw one winner after 6 PM Central Time next Sunday, and announce the winner bright and early Monday morning.

I should also note the fact that this book is the first in a trilogy. There are a few loose threads dangling at the end, so I am eagerly awaiting Freedom Series #2, Special Delivery, in January 2012, and #3, The Deliverer, in April 2012. You can visit Kathi's website to learn about these and other books.

Until next time,

A Few Thoughts on Parents of Special Needs Kids

2011-10-24T13:55:00.000-05:00

Before our little boy was diagnosed with Shwachman-Diamond Syndrome, I never really gave much thought to the needs of parents with kids with special needs. And while I would be the first to say that SDS isn't the worst possible diagnosis (and some would probably argue until the world ends that SDS makes him a true "special needs" kid), it also has given me a glimpse into the lives of other parents that do have truly special needs kiddos.

My Two Munchkins in a recent picture

With our daughter, if she had a cough or a sneeze, I never really had to worry it would turn into something more. (I did, of course, but she was never seriously sick.) If she missed being in the nursery at church one week, she'd be back the next week, maybe with the tiny tendrils left of a cold, but virtually all better.

Now, if my son coughs in the middle of the night--even if it's just once or twice--I wonder if he's coming down with a cold. Or the flu. Or worse. Will he have to be admitted to the hospital--again? How long will he stay?

And, it all runs through my brain in about one-half of a millisecond.

Every special needs kid is different. Whether the kid has SDS (like ours), leukemia, Downs Syndrome, or something else more rare like a muscle atrophy condition, there's an adjoining parent or two who struggles with the idiosyncrasies of their child's disease. With us, we've had to learn to accept the medications given daily (which I think is probably the same with most parents of kids with special needs) and the fact there will always be that "What If?" question in our brains. And the specialists that will have to be involved with his long-term care. And the fact he may not be as tall as his mom when he hits adulthood. (I really hope we're at least at eye-level. I'm a tall woman--5'8"--but I can't imagine having a child shorter than me when they're an adult!)

While most people tend to focus on the kids with special needs, sometimes the parents and sibling(s) get forgotten. If you're in this boat, maybe you should take a minute and give the mom or dad a call just to see how they're doing. Offer some babysitting time. Trust me--it's scary as a parent to hand your kid over to someone when you don't know what could go wrong--then you have the added concerns of medications, and it's nearly paralyzing. Since our son was diagnosed positively, I can count on two fingers how many times my husband and I have left both our kids with someone other than a family member. It's not that I don't trust anyone, it's that I personally feel it's probably overwhelming for someone to know what they need to do, even for something as "simple" as mealtime.

And, maybe I don't want to burden anyone else with the complexities. Who knows.

Question for you: do you know anyone with special needs kids? When was the last time you loved on the parents or siblings?

Until next time,

Harvest

2011-10-17T06:30:00.044-05:00

by Foto3116

I grew up in the heart of wheat country--south central Kansas. Harvest is not an uncommon thing for me to witness. I remember growing up, there would be days we'd have to close up the house on nice days because there was a field just south of us, and the farmer was harvesting (or tilling sometimes) and it would stir up dust. My mom is an asthmatic with allergies, so the dust being blown in always caused problems--even with the house closed up.

Still, I love watching the big machines doing their jobs, row upon row being eaten up by that whirling harvester, soon to be turned into flour... or whatever else wheat is used for. Corn, milo, soybeans, and countless other grains grew in my area of the world. I even occasionally saw a cotton field!

Now, when I think of harvest time, I think of not just the big fields with family or commercial farmers in big rigs, but I also think of the small harvest--the one in a backyard. I'm hardly a green-thumb--TMOTH swears I have the ability to kill nearly every plant. He's almost right.

My mom grew tomatoes almost every year for several years. In the height of summer, there would be several weeks go by where she'd can a few days a week. Spaghetti sauce was a big one. While my family isn't Italian, we ate a lot of spaghetti. There's nothing better than homemade spaghetti sauce--with homegrown tomatoes!

I hope one day I can outgrow my black-thumb tendencies. I'd love to learn how to can for myself, and to teach my daughter when she's older. I've gotten a lot of encouragement from several friends, I just need to bite the bullet, get the equipment... and actually grow something worth canning! Then maybe next time, I can have a happy harvest, too.

Today's post has been a part of the ChristianWriters.com blog chain. For links to the other blogger's posts, please go here.

Until next time,

Growing Pains

2011-10-10T11:50:00.001-05:00

If you've been around Word Wanderings very long, you know I've got two kids. My first, my daughter, just turned three. And in the last month or so, I've seen her grow up a lot. It's a little sad on one hand, but interesting to watch, too.

Being a typical three-year-old, my daughter is getting a bossy streak. She tries to boss TMOTH, me, the dog, and her little brother. She even tries to tell you where to go when driving. Talk about a backseat driver! There's nothing quite like a little girl going, "No, Mommy, that way! THAT WAY!" when you're out running errands. Usually, she just doesn't want to go home, or thinks we need to go somewhere else. Sonic is her favorite stop--and she knows where most of them in our normal areas of travel. (Of course, we just moved, so those normal areas are shifting.)

Having an independent streak can be dangerous. I've had to really work at stamping down on her independence lately. Not that I don't want her to be an independent woman one day, just not at the age of three! Running through Target or the grocery store is irresponsible and discourteous, and leaving the backyard--taking the dog with you--can lead to one or both getting hit by a car.

It makes me think about how God parents us. We make mistakes, He allows for punishment. It's kind of strange to think of a twenty-nine-year-old being parented (shouldn't I know what's going on by now?) but I've seen it happen. And, while I'm not necessarily sure every time what I'm supposed to learn, I can only hope I learn the lesson--as my daughter learns she can't run through Target or have that mini-Barbie that's in the checkout line.

Next week is my post for the ChristianWriters.com blog chain. The topic is "Harvest". I've been a little negligent about posting reminders about the blog chain, and I've since moved the list from my sidebar to a separate page. If you go here, you'll find the links for every post. We almost have a full month, and this next week is full! I hope you'll check out the posts.

Until next time,

Changes at Word Wanderings

2011-10-04T15:08:00.000-05:00

As I was reading the follow-ups to the ACFW (American Christian Fiction Writers) conference in St. Louis last month, I saw an interesting blog or tweet about how a writer's blog shouldn't necessarily be about writing since that doesn't always show off your writing to the best of its ability. Epiphany! So, while I think I'll continue writing periodically about writing, I'm opening up my repertoire. I'll still try to stay away from politics, but for the most part, anything else will be a possible topic in the future. Let's see how this goes. :)

This may mean shorter or longer blog posts, depending on my chosen topic of the day. If you have a suggestion for a topic, feel free to drop me a note. Thanks.

Until next time,

Liberty

Choosing the Right Point of View

2011-09-19T08:46:00.000-05:00

How many writers actively think about point of view and how they're going to tell their story?

If you as a writer, want to be successful, you'll give some thought to it before sitting down at your computer. It can make or break your story.

This became clear recently when I was critiquing stories by two of my fellow-members of the Port Yonder Press mentoring group I'm in this year.

I am most comfortable writing in 1st Person--i.e., I said, I did. And while I don't exclusively read first person stories, I am drawn to them more than their third person counterparts (i.e. he said, she did.)

This came across to at least one of my crit partners in a pretty obvious way--both of them got suggestions from me to switch from third to first person.

Why would I suggest this?

Because the story they were telling needed a more intimate experience, at least in my opinion.

There are a lot of reasons to take into account when you're choosing your point of view. Most authors and writing coaches indicate that scene-to-scene, you should write from the POV of the character who has the most to lose in any given scene. This works better when you're in 3rd Person, when it's more acceptable to switch from John's head to Mary's head, then pop into Peter's across three scenes.

But that's not always possible, especially if you're writing from a singular point of view, whether it be first person or a very tight third.

I ran into this problem when I was writing the first few drafts of Homebody. My problem? I'm a bit of a romantic at heart, and while Homebody is told in first person point of view, there were several scenes I needed to tell that would work best from a second person's perspective.

My solution?

A very unorthodox approach. I switched to 3rd person for several scenes so I could show things from MC Amanda's boyfriend's POV. Being able to work from Rick's (the boyfriend) perspective opened things up. I was able to show things that Amanda wouldn't know, including several scenes where Amanda wasn't even present. While he (Rick) doesn't show anything critical to the mystery in the story, it does open things up to the romantic side, one where Amanda has been cold far too long.

This is an approach I have seen infrequently in novels: the most notable example I can think of is a particular Alex Cross novel by James Patterson (although it's been several years since I've read any of James Patterson's work, so I can't recall which one.) But, it *is* out there, it's just used infrequently. The important thing to remember is you have to be a good storyteller before you start breaking the rules of storytelling. While I'm not sure I'm a great storyteller yet, this was what worked for me in how I tell this set of stories.

I'm hopeful an agent and an editor will agree.

Until next time,

Homecoming

2011-09-12T13:02:00.000-05:00

I must apologize first off for my lapse in the last two weeks of posts. I got caught up in preparations for my trip, then forgot to finish and post the one post I had started! Argh! Hopefully, I won't have such a lapse again. Anyway, I'm back, and that's the important part. Now, if I can just get my PCs to cooperate with me...

Today is my post for the ChristianWriters.com blog chain... and as is apt having just come off my vacation, I'm writing it today... that's how much I'm behind! The topic is "Coming Home".

I haven't had the benefit of even looking at anyone else's posts, so I have no idea where everyone has taken this.

But, I had a literal coming home experience last week, so I'll talk about that.

First, I should tell you that I have a love/hate relationship with traveling. I like being away from home, but I hate the inconveniences of being away--being in an unfamiliar area (so I don't sleep as well), having my kids way off schedule, and not having any time (or inclination) to write or read. The worst of these is usually having to sleep in a hotel (or even in a relative's home.) The mattress never feels right, and the surroundings are such that I sleep very lightly, awaking to every little sound, even if it's one that normally wouldn't bug me at home.


Chasm Falls, Rocky Mountain National Park

The drive home last week was lengthy. We were in NE Wyoming with family, and we left their home at 8:45 AM Mountain Time. TMOTH and I have done this drive in 12ish hours before, so I had hoped we'd be home by midnight (allowing for extra breaks.) By the time we'd been on the road for ten hours, we'd stopped 8 times. Yeesh.

It seemed the miles came slowly, driving across four states in order to get home. Stopping for the night wasn't an option: TMOTH had to be at work the next morning. When we stopped to pick up my dog from Grandma, it was 12:30 AM Central, and we had one more hour to go.

Getting home was great. I was so relieved when we pulled up. Even when we walked in and found the place smelled like the garbage can we'd forgotten to take out when we left. (Poopy diapers left for 8 days don't smell that great--let me tell you!) I was just so relieved to be home, to be able to drop into my own bed.

There were a lot of reasons to be relieved to be home. Our car had actually made it! In Colorado, we were climbing Pike's Peak, and the car was acting very strange. We had to stop because our toddler, who is potty training, needed to use the bathroom. While we were doing this, we left the car running (hubby was afraid to shut it off) and it was sputtering and just not acting right. With our little boy in the car (asleep) and hubby off utilizing the men's room, my daughter and I were standing outside, taking pictures and the car just died! That's a little scary, when you're halfway up a mountain, and you don't know how you're going to get back down.

Fortunately, TMOTH is a mechanic by trade. He recognized what the car was doing, and determined that we had to let the engine cool down. We ended up making it to the summit, but the next day was spent in Denver, locating parts to replace a part of the engine.

What a way to spend a vacation!

So you can see why I was most relieved on our home coming. Things could get back to normal. Our car wasn't in perilous danger due to altitude. And I could sleep in my own bed.

At least I had a break from writing--and I'd recently just finished writing "Cora's Song" before leaving. On the way home, I figured out my laptop's fan had gone dead. Which definitely puts a damper on the whole writing thing. But, I'd at least gotten a preliminary read of K.M. Weiland's new "Outline Your Novel" done. I'll be doing a review here in a few weeks once it's officially released. I'll say this: I'm actively outlining again. This is a good thing.

I know this is a pretty disjointed post, and I apologize. Hopefully you can make sense of my version of Coming Home.

Until next time,

Majesty

2011-08-22T04:30:00.095-05:00

It's August... and that means it's time for another post in the ChristianWriters.com blog chain.

Our theme is August.

From Dictionary.com:

au·gust [aw-guhst]
–adjective
1. inspiring reverence or admiration; of supreme dignity or grandeur; majestic: an august performance of a religious drama.

I must admit this theme was a little harder than ones in past months to wrap my mind around.

For me, August has always been a month, and I rarely think of using the other meaning in a sentence.

But, as I've thought about the alternative definition--majesty--I think of my visits to the Rocky Mountains. How august are they, when you're driving across the plains of eastern Colorado, and they finally come into view as you're traveling across I-70, coming into Denver? I have yet to be more taken with a sight, although the Flint Hills of Kansas around sunrise or sunset in fall or mid-spring can take my breath away as well.

The first time I saw the Rockies, I was 20, traveling to Wyoming from Wichita with my new-fiancé who would eventually become TMOTH a few months later. I was awestruck. Especially when days later, we returned to visit first Rocky Mountain National Park, then Colorado Springs' Pike's Peak.

Ever since then, I've been smitten with the Rockies in general, and Colorado in particular. In the next few weeks, we'll travel there for the first time since having children. I can't wait.

When I'm in the Rockies especially, I experience a relaxation I don't get anywhere else--even when on a vacation elsewhere. Perhaps it's the higher altitudes and less oxygen. But, I honestly think it's the august beauty of the countryside.

While there, I get more reflective. Gazing at the beauty, you can't but help but marvel and acknowledge the wonderful craftsmanship of our Creator. Sure, some people subscribe to the notion our world was formed over millions of years.

I usually have a big eye-roll for that one.

You can't look at Creation if you've got any sense in your brain and not see how things had to be formed by a loving and masterful Creator. Sure, changes to occur. But, He was the one who formed the rivers, chose their paths, and made them for us to drink from and enjoy. He's the one who shoved the rock out of the ground to form majestic mountains, covered in aspens, pines, snow, and curious creatures.

His whole Creation is truly august, and worthy of our awe, from the far, far deserts that stretch thousands of square miles, to the tiny forget-me-not you find on a mountainous hike.

Take a minute to look around with wonder next time you're enjoying nature and think of how awesome it is--and how truly awe-inspiring the Master of the Universe is for taking the time to create our world, right down to the ants crawling around in the blades of grass between our toes.

All of today's photo's were taken by either myself or TMOTH during a vacation to Colorado in July 2007, which was the last time we were in my (current) favorite state. Given a detailed map, I can approximate all three locations, and the one with the river I know for a fact was near 11 Mile Reservoir along the S. Platte River. TMOTH is pictured in this WAY down the river if you've got a big enough copy to spot him. :)

Until next time,

P.S. Tomorrow is my wedding anniversary with TMOTH! 9 years together... and we haven't killed each other yet. ;) Seriously, love this guy more each year, and excited to have at least another 59 with him, Lord willing. -- L.S.

It Seems Like It Took Forever To Get To This Point...

2011-08-15T06:30:00.060-05:00

You might remember several months ago, I did a blog post about my son's battle with a disease called Shwachman-Diamond Syndrome. You may also remember the fact that he'd been on a feeding tube since Christmas.

My little boy, hiding

Well, we've had some pretty decent progress in the last couple of months.

My little boy has gone from baby nearly completely dependent on his feeding tube to a toddler who had the gumption to practically insist on having it removed. Permanently.

As of a week ago today, we haven't been using the feeding tube.

This may seem like a strange post to do on a writing blog, but let me tell you--this is something I'm rejoicing about. For 7.5 months he's had this stupid thing. When he first got it just before Christmas last year, they told me it would probably be three, maybe four months.

Before we knew it, spring, then summer was here. Do you realize he's spent more time with it in than out in his short life?? He'll be 13 months old in a week or so, and we'll still have another two months to go before he'll equal out the time!

So, let me finish updating you on his health.

On Friday, we had what we call a combined clinic. Three departments who are following his progress at the hospital we go to all came in for different parts of the same appointment and discussed his health with TMOTH and me. They said he looks good overall, and are so pleased with his progress, they don't want us to come back for 6 months.

6 MONTHS!!!

This is absolutely huge for us, especially since we've gotten used to seeing almost all our doctors once every 4 - 6 weeks. We will, of course, continue to follow up with our personal doctor, and keep one of the doctors updated on illnesses, weight gains/losses, and call with questions. And, when we go back, our little guy will be having his first bone marrow biopsy. That'll be the sucky part, but we'll hope/pray that it'll just be one thing we have to live with and nothing bad will come of it.

For the time being, if you want to pray for our little guy, just pray we can get into and through cold/flu season unscathed. The theory is the fewer times he's sick, the less hits his bone marrow will take, and the less stressed it will be, which may reduce the likelihood he'll develop leukemia in his lifetime. Everyone in our family will be getting a flu shot, and he'll be getting a pneumonia shot as well. If you're family or friends and reading this, we beg you to get a flu shot--not only for your health, but his.

** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **

I usually don't do a two-topic post, but will today, just for the sake of getting it off my chest.

My writing has been coming along beautifully. While I'm still behind on my CCBR reviews (sorry Kristina and Tanya!), I'm attempting to catch up there. Too bad the short books are the easiest to read and review... I've just got the longer, chapter books to work on now!

But, more importantly, I took the plunge and signed up for the Port Yonder Press mentorship program for the 2011-2012 season. So far, I've written my first story (of the four required) and it came out rather well, if I do say so myself. The goal is to get it worked into a publishable/saleable shape. So, right now, my goal is to sit down and figure out who would be the likely takers for this short project (under 1000 words.) Then, I need to work on my next project, which will be longer. My exclusively-novel-trained brain is definitely getting its exercise working on these shorter projects.

And, finally, I have been once again actively working on the 2nd Draft of "Cora's Song." Have I mentioned how much I really love this story? Well, I really love this story. :) I'm nowhere near done, and have already written about 85K (as of Friday last week) on the project. My first draft? 70K. As I said on my author page, I see a lot of editing in my future, since I think this could easily clock in around 110 - maybe even 120K. The really awesome thing is that even though I'm actively outlining, staying about 10 chapters ahead, I'm coming up with some cool ideas to incorporate when I go back to edit further.

Now if I can just get all my notes in one place...

Until next time,

An Interview

2011-08-09T08:30:00.003-05:00

NOTE: I made an error and sent everyone to the Blogger.com homepage earlier with my link. I have corrected this, and the link is correctly placed for TheWriteChris blog now. Thanks!

Some projects got in the way of me doing a blog post this week, but one of those projects was the interview I did with Christine Henderson over at TheWriteChris. Please head over there and check it out--my first interview!! :D

Plan to be back next week with a post on what's been keeping me busy...

Until next time,

Liberty

Writing Lessons from the Movies: "The Band Wagon"

2011-08-01T05:30:00.001-05:00

As writers, we all know the kind of story we want to write. As well we should! If we don't know, then what are we doing with an open Word document in front of us, trying to string words together? Having a vision for our story is important.

In the 1950s musical classic The Band Wagon, we get a great lesson about not letting go of that vision, nor allowing someone to so skew your story that it's barely recognizable when they're through with it.

If you're not familiar with the movie, here's a brief run-down. Tony Hunter (Fred Astaire) is a washed-up movie actor in the twilight of his career, looking to go back to his Broadway roots and return to the stage. His friends, playwrights Lester and Lily Martin (Oscar Levant and Nanette Fabray), have what they feel is the perfect vehicle, and persuade him to return to New York City. Upon Tony's arrival, they take him to meet the person who they want to direct their venture, Jeffrey Cordova (James Buchanan).

Fred Astaire & Cyd Charise "Dancing in the Dark"
Picture from Wikipedia

Cordova, however, has a very different plan for Les & Lily's upbeat musical, turning it into a musical drama that doesn't leave the audience with a smile on their face. The show is a flop.

As the cast is commiserating and saying their goodbyes, Tony takes things into his own hands, tells Cordova that they're going to revamp and take things back to the original show the Martin's had planned. When they do this, The Band Wagon becomes a hit.

You can probably tell where I'm headed with this (hey, you're smart!) but the important lesson for us writers is this: don't let others tinker with your story unless you're sure about the changes they're suggesting, if it really, truly improves things. Take everything your crit partners say and look at it thoroughly and with a cautious eye. Don't just take their suggestions as gospel truth.

When you get notes back from critters, agents, or editors (though mostly, the critters), take things in, try to see what they're saying, then let it steep in your brain for a while. I've gotten some of my best ideas when I let things sit rather than making the jump into editing immediately. I'll start thinking about one point, mull over possible changes, then sometimes, particularly if it's major, I'll call up the critter or meet them for coffee and have a brainstorming session. I actually have one critter from my local writer's group that we do this nearly every time I see him. He'll walk me to my car and we'll stand there and talk and brainstorm.

Some of my best ideas come while we're talking. I make a mental note, or, lately, pull up the voice recorder on my phone and make some notes as I'm driving home.

Just remember: keep in mind the vision you've got for your book. Not everyone is going to be pulling for you--or even see what you can see in your book's rough form.

My question for you: Have you ever received constructive criticism from someone where their vision for your book was polar opposite from yours? If so, how did you handle it? Did it end up being helpful?

Until next time,

P.S. My good friend and sometimes guest blogger Linda Yezak's novel is out on Kindle! When I bought it on Thursday, it was $0.99! I don't know if it's still that low, but I'd urge you to go buy Give the Lady a Ride. It would make her happy. -- LS

Under Construction!

2011-07-29T10:18:00.001-05:00

Just a note to let you know I'll be doing some upgrades over the course of the weekend, time permitting. So, if you come across some broken links or if things don't look quite right, that's the reason. I'm not a CSS or HTML expert, but am trying to learn. :)

Thanks for your patience.

--Liberty

The Meaning of Liberty

2011-07-25T13:34:00.000-05:00

I don't, as a rule, do two posts for the ChristianWriters.com blog chain in a month. And, technically, this isn't a part of the blog chain for July...

However, someone made a suggestion to me, and it was hard to resist.

You see, if you're new to Word Wanderings, my name is Liberty. It's kind of a strange name (although, I've learned my daughter's name is even less common. However, my name only gained significantly more popularity than hers after 2001.)

Upon learning of my name, I've gotten a variety of responses. As a young girl, I'd be called "Liberty Bell" or "Statue of Liberty" on the playground. I hated it, and still do to this day, although I will use both to illustrate how my name is spelled if someone's confused.

I also get questioned as to whether my parents were hippies (which is the funniest response I've ever received) and whether I was born on the 4th of July. Nope, I share a birthday with Elton John, Dannika Patrick, and Apollo 13 astronaut James Lovell. The last one, I'm happiest about.

Most people hear "Liberty" and think "Freedom" or "America" or "weirdo." (I may be making that last one up. That's only because they don't know how idiosyncratic I am!)

No, my name was given to me by my parents because of the Scripture verse 2 Corinthians 3:17, which says, in the New American Standard Bible: "Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is Liberty."

I always just thought it was a cool place for my name to come from. But, in recent days, I've been thinking about the verse some, especially in light of an online seminar I watched last week with Dave Ramsey about personal freedom and having an economic recovery. A lot of what he talked about wasn't just monetary, but spiritual as well.

Which goes back to my namesake verse.

There is an incredible freedom that comes from knowing Christ. That's what this verse talks about, that by knowing Christ, knowing His Spirit, you're free.

It's a different kind of freedom than one we normally celebrate every July 4th, or other days if you live in other regions of the world. It's one where we're free from the guilt of our past wrongdoings. We're free from burdens. The Spirit is there to take those from us, to make our paths as easy as possible. We're not guaranteed a life free from strife or trouble, but we can get through those trials easier when we have liberty in Christ.

I'm no theologian, and I don't pretend to be. But, this passage has become much more meaningful in recent weeks, especially as I observe the despondency in our country.

What kind of impact would be made on said despondency here and abroad if more of our people would turn to God instead of "almighty" government? What do you think that country and its citizens would look like?

Until next time,

Liberty

Where You Write

2011-07-18T05:30:00.028-05:00

I think I'm in a minority where writing is concerned.

I've trained myself to write anywhere. And, I do mean ANYWHERE.

Most writers I talk to have one, maybe two places where they tend to write. At a desk, maybe at their kitchen table.

While I've got no desk currently (we got rid of it prior to moving last year--thank goodness, it was a pretty heavy desk, and huge, too!) I do a lot of my writing at my dining room table. It allows me a good ear to hear my kids as they play and nap. I'm close to the kitchen if I'm cooking something (although, I do sometimes forget that I have something on the stove or in the oven... and that's when the smoke detector goes off!) If I print a draft, it's easy to get up and pull it off my printer, which, because of the size of our apartment, currently sits on top of a filing cabinet (out of little hands' reach) in the corner of our dining room. And, if someone comes to the door, I'm right there to hear the knock and answer.

But, while about half of my writing goes on at my table right now, I've found I'm just as productive--and sometimes more productive--in other places. In no particular order, here are some places I write:


Lake Kanopolis in Kansas... a place I could work at!

The Couch
The Recliner
In bed
In the front seat of the car while my husband is driving.
The driver's seat (while in park, of course!)
At a picnic table
At a coffee shop
At a library
During a political meeting or two (probably when I should have been paying attention, too!)
On a boat
On a beach

My current favorite spot is in bed, but I don't do that unless I'm actually ready to go to bed, and just waiting on TMOTH. But, if there are nights where TMOTH falls asleep in the recliner or on the couch, I can work for a while into the wee hours of the morning.

Where you write doesn't matter--as long as it's a place you're comfortable with, and where you have the things you need at your disposal. I'd be the first to admit that some of the places I write--the beach for instance--aren't the most productive, and I may only get a little editing done or write a few paragraphs.

I think it can be advantageous for a writer to be able to write anywhere, especially if they're frequently on the go or have constant interruptions. As I write this post, I've gotten up three times to check on cooking, tend to my potty-training daughter, and get my son up from his nap. The dog has been growling at strange noises in the apartment building, the TV is on with The Sound of Music (which I've been singing along with!), and the radio is on four feet from me with the talk radio station.

My question for you today:
Where do you write? Do you have to have one location devoted to writing, or are you more like me--you bounce from location to location with ease?

Until next time,

A Call For Freedom

2011-07-11T10:10:00.000-05:00

Freedom.

It's something many Americans celebrate during the month of July, usually corresponding with our Declaration of Independence Day, July 4. Many honor the real reason behind the day off from work, but many view it as a day to barbeque, go to the lake, get drunk, and maybe watch some fireworks.

As I watch many of our freedoms dissolve for a variety of reasons, I like to think the Founders--the Thomas Jeffersons, James Madisons, George Washingtons, John Hancocks--would be appalled at the state of American "freedom" in 2011. Our "freedom" allows millions of innocent babies to be murdered every year. Our "freedom" is being told we must purchase health insurance. Our "freedom" demands more than 25% of our paychecks every year.

I could go on.

Photo by JackieMBarr

I don't like to use my Word Wanderings blog as a platform to make a political statement. In fact, in the 2+ years I've been writing this blog, I've tried very hard to keep my political leanings OFF the blog. This is extremely hard as I approach my twentieth year of political involvement next year.

I'm not making an exception simply because the ChristianWriters.com blog chain topic is Freedom for July. I am continually bothered by the freedoms that are being encroached on day in and day out. Because I don't want to get legally groped at an airport, I don't fly any more. I've been threatening to get my private pilot's license for years, and if I had the dinero to do so, I'd have it.

Freedom is something to be treasured. It should be something honored, and others shouldn't trample on it, whether they be for so-called "good" reasons or not. As Americans, we should fight all efforts to thwart our freedoms, whether they be from Islamic terrorists or from members of congress. When freedom is gone, we perish. To thrive as a people, as a nation, we need to be free.

As a mother, I want to leave my kids freer than I feel I am now. It would be the greatest gift I can give to them.

I hope you'll check out the rest of this month's bloggers on the blog chain. I'm sure not all of them will be quite as partisan as mine. *grin*

7/1: Lynn Mosher, Heading Home

7/3: Brian Jones, Alambraidria

7/4: Traci Bonney, Tracings

7/5: Debra Ann Elliott, Sticks and Stepping Stones

7/6: Carol Peterson, From Carol's Quill

7/7: Cindee Snider Re, Breathe Deeply

7/10: Keith Wallis, wordsculptures

7/11: Liberty Speidel, Word Wanderings

7/12: Terrie Thorpe, Light for the Journey

7/13: Nona King, Word Obsession

7/14: Chris Vonada, I'm Just Thinkin'

7/16: Scott Fields, Dead Man Writing

7/18: Michael Galloway, Horizons

7/20: Victor Travison, Lightwalker's View

7/21: Edward Lewis, Sowing the Seeds

7/22: Sarah Grace, Write-Minded

7/23: Anita Estes, New Life Dialogue

7/25: Chris Depew, The Beulah Land Blog

7/27: Tracy Krauss, Expression Express

7/28: Marilyn, Life 101 Understanding It All

7/30: Chris Henderson, TheWriteChris

Until next time,

Hot Buttons: Giveaway Winner!

2011-06-27T06:30:00.013-05:00

I just want to thank Chila Woychik again for the bang-up interview last week! Have you swung by her blog? It's filled with awesome thoughts from her (of course). Last week, she covered how to handle sexuality in writing--very thought provoking!

And, I'd like to thank everyone for their participation in the giveaway! It's always great to get such great feedback from my readers.

Photo by ADoseofShipBoy

imladrisnine is our winner! Congratulations! Please use the
function to contact me by 5 PM Central on Wednesday, June 29, otherwise I'll be choosing another winner. I will need your e-mail address for the Amazon Gift Card as well as your mailing address for Chila to send you a book (although if you've got your heart set on an e-book, I'll pass along your e-mail address to her and the two of you can hash that out.)

Please continue to stay tuned. I'm hoping to have some more wonderful guests in the next few months, and maybe some more giveaways!

Until next time,

Hot Buttons: An Interview with Chila Woychik... and our 100th Post!

2011-06-20T05:30:00.056-05:00

Today is a momentous occasion here at Word Wanderings: it's our 100th Post! I've been blogging here for a little more than two years, and I want to thank each and every reader for sticking with me.

I have a special treat in store for you. For the third time, Chila (Maggie) Woychik has been gracious enough to join Word Wanderings. Today, she discussed her small press, Port Yonder Press (PYP) as well as the publishing industry in general. And, in celebration of #100, she's graciously agreed to participate in a giveaway! Details are at the end of the post.

Bio: Chila Woychik is a multi-published author, and the publisher/managing editor at Port Yonder Press, a small, multi-genre, traditional press. She lives with her husband in the lovely state of Iowa.

Liberty Speidel: Thank you so much, Chila, for joining us today. What prompted you to start Port Yonder Press?

Chila Woychik: A love of reading & writing, and a too quiet house. My son had left for college and I was in need of purpose—the result: a hobby that has since fluctuated between hobby and business. Right now it’s more of a business, but it’s a job I love, so I don’t really complain too frequently.

LS: How many imprints does PYP currently have? Are you planning to roll out any more in the foreseeable future?

CW: Four imprints: one general market (speculative fiction), two Christian (one youth, one adult), and one catch-all for everything else. I think we have quite enough at this time, with nary another in mind.

LS: What's the thing people would be most surprised to learn about during the publishing of a book?

CW: The sheer number of hours and hands involved in the process. Publishing is laborious, especially if a publisher has more than one book in the works at one time. A smaller press doesn’t equal a smaller outlay of time. It still takes us as much or more time than that a larger press to cover all the bases.

LS: What has surprised you most as you've taken the reins of a small press?

CW: I’m continually surprised at the almost daily commitment I have to have to keep this barge afloat. I’m surprised at the learning curve: I never quite catch up with all there is to learn and do. And I’m shocked at the difficulty small presses have in marketing their books.

LS: You've been pretty blunt about expecting excellence from writers of so-called "Christian Fiction". What direction would you like to see this aspect of the publishing world head?

CW: 1) I’d like to see the phrase “Christian fiction” dematerialize—undergo an implosion, a falling in on itself, due to its inherent lack of heart, soul, mind, and strength.
2) I’d like to see people with a Christian worldview dedicate themselves to becoming the best writers on the planet, writing across genres and for all audiences.
3) I’d like to see followers of Christ begin to work together to develop their skills and marketing tools, and help one another in new and never-before-experienced ways to truly integrate into the entire world of writing, not just the “Christian” writing world.

LS: How do you define "preachiness" in Christian Fiction and what would you prefer to see instead? Any examples you'd like to share?

CW: I had actually planned to give an example or two on a blog post about that at one point, but have delayed it due to other projects at hand.

I define preachiness as that which would make an unchurched reader uncomfortable in the same way a sex scene might make a churched person uncomfortable. I see the only real purpose of “Christian Fiction” as being Christians wanting to write for other Christians, and I balk at that. Sure, we have the right to do so, but the questions I must ask myself are, “Why? Why should I want to do that? Why not write for the larger world in general and have a potentially greater audience and impact?” But then that would mean I would have to actually know what it’s like “out there,” actually get “out there” and mix with real people, and actually risk getting a little “dirty” as I listen to “their” jokes and swearing and hard luck tales of broken relationships and their resultant despair. My God. Why would anyone want to do that? Maybe so we can love “them”? What an amazing and utterly foreign concept to most Christians.

What would I prefer to see? Real fiction with real characters acting out real scenes in believable ways (and yes, all that can be handled with grace; it shouldn’t have to red flag us with “smut”). And in that, I’d like to see occasional glimpses of how or why someone would choose Christianity while on a natural search for meaning—a genuine quest for truth that leads here and there before one character comes full circle and realizes Christianity is by far the most peaceful and productive and apologetically viable of all religions. But there’s the rub: few Christians nowadays can actually do that. It’s so much easier to have their character pray a prayer or indulge in a “salvation scene,” neither of which are honest biographies of who Christ really was—they don’t go far enough.
But most books can and should be written, I think, without a noticeable Christian element at all, while at the same time, most Christian lives should be lived with a strong Christian element. The difference is in the living of it vs the reading about it. The most powerful witness of all is Christians who love unconditionally, lived out in their daily lives. Quit writing about it and DO IT.

With the faux-genre of “Christian Fiction” out of the way, writers would be writing for everyone—a marvelous opportunity to let a non-preachy faith integrate into the very essence of one or more characters on the page.

LS: Many authors want to share their personal views in their writing. In your opinion, is this a good use of their energies? How should they go about doing so without being overly "preachy"?

CW: Great question. No, I think it’s a flagrant misuse of their energies. Just as you’d love to read a fantastic book without the intrusions of a preachy Islam or atheism or Eastern mysticism, or graphic sex scenes, so would others love to read great works by Christian authors without feeling they’re being “evangelized.” It happened in the past with a number of books which have since become “classics,” and it can be done today: strong stories with strong characters, and no preaching, no salvation scenes, no spiritual “thread” secretly woven throughout, though our society was strongly Christian at that time. So why didn’t we see more of the “preachiness” back then, though our society was so blatantly Christian? Why, indeed.

Throw in a few random “Christian” this and that’s and you might as well include a gospel tract free with each book—those sort of things are little more than cheap Hollywood sales efforts; true Christianity delves much deeper than that, into the very essence of a person’s character, lived out more than spoken. Writers of the past knew that inherently; they didn’t have to “preach.” What’s available today as “Christian Fiction” would have shocked and sickened them, I think.

My suggestion: get out in the real world among real people and notice how well preachiness flies. It doesn’t. Instead, learn what does, then emulate that in your writing. People hate being preached at; so do I. I despise it when writers think they can try to sneak “gospel tactics” into their books and then slap the label “Christian Fiction” on it, ostensibly to garner the Imprimatur of American Christian society—viola! Now the book is spiritual, and now both the author and readers are spiritual … God is pleased! Umm. I highly doubt that, though God is much more gracious than I am. I still believe, however, he’d like to see us rise above cheap Christianity cloaked in mediocre writing, and instead strive for the highest quality books available, books that will be read across audiences, and books that are written by, yes, Christians. Books of depth and beauty.

LS: How do you blend your job as an editor-in-chief with your role as an author published through your own press?

CW: How do I justify it, or how do I assure the same quality I demand of other writers? I justify it by not needing justification. I work hard at what I do, and am only taking advantage of some of the fruit of my labors. Other writer / press owners have done the same and if I strive to write as good or better than my own published authors, I feel I’m setting a positive example for all writers.

I subject my own personal work to at least 2 qualified editors. With “On Being a Rat,” I used 3 editors (2 not from PYP) and about a dozen readers. I laid that manuscript out to more scrutiny than anything PYP has done thus far. If it can be seen in the finished product, I owe much to my tremendous helpers. Where it has failed, I take full responsibility.

LS: Which project(s) are you most excited about right now?

CW: Just about everything coming up really: The elven anthology, the Christmas western collection, Mary Stewart’s vampire story and Cindy Smith’s King Arthur story, as well as Janalyn’s fantasy. Then there’s CathiLyn Dyck’s piece of nonfiction which has me more than a little psyched, and our writing groups starting in July. I’m sure I’m leaving something out, but not intentionally. I’m thrilled too about the great authors and manuscripts I hope to work with in the next few years. It’s a fascinating time to be a part of Port Yonder Press and publishing. And thank you, Liberty, for the good questions; I really do appreciate it! I’d love to return sometime.

Liberty: Thanks again, Chila, for joining Word Wanderings for the day. You've given us great insights and plenty to think about.

Now, the moment you've been waiting for: the giveaway! Chila and I put our heads together and we're both offering a prize each for one grand prize. From me, you'll receive a $10 gift card (via e-mail) to Amazon.com. And from Chila, you can choose any of the books currently offered on the PYP site, or any that will be released through December 31, 2011 (if you really want to wait, of course.)

Entry is pretty easy. You have one of two options: become a new follower to Word Wanderings, or leave a comment to this post. If you're a new follower *and* leave a comment, you get two chances! The winner will be selected at random Sunday, June 26th, 2011 after 8 PM Central, and announced Monday, June 27 first thing in the morning. I wish you luck!

Again, thank you, thank you, thank you to my readers for 2+ years of putting up with me, and the support you've shown as well. I wish I could hug each and every one of you personally.

I am hearing from several readers through the Port Yonder Press Facebook page that many people are having difficulty posting comments. If you are experiencing difficulty, please message me using the function with specifics so I can attempt to get this corrected. Thanks!

Until next time,

Mystery Writing from the Experts: Martha Grimes

2011-06-13T09:59:00.000-05:00

I got a little behind this week, so I'm late in posting, and derelict in writing. I'll blame it on actively writing the second draft of Cora's Song.

However, I do have a video for you, this from NYT Bestseller Martha Grimes on how she writes. I have to admit, I've never read her before (that I can recall) but her process sounds remarkably like mine, or at least how I've plotted in the past.

So, tell me. Do you have a process like Ms. Grimes'? Or are you a full-fledged, outline every single pointer? Somewhere in between?

Until next time,

Liberty

Take Some Time To Breathe

2011-06-06T04:00:00.013-05:00

This is a part of the monthly ChristianWriters.com blog chain. This month's topic is "Fresh Air."

"All good writing is like swimming underwater and holding your breath."
— F. Scott Fitzgerald

I feel like I just came up for air... again.

Last week, I finished some massive edits on Homebody, edits that had me seriously changing one of the storylines. I think (hope, pray) the edits make sense and actually make a stronger story. It's with one of my fellow CWer critters right now. I guess we'll see.

Photo by MaHidoodi

Whenever I finish a project, I feel like I've just come up from air after being underwater too long. With Homebody, it's been something where I've been coming back up for air over the last 5 or so years, only to be forced back under again. Then, I escape my captor, grab a breath, then get caught again. Sometimes, other captors grab me, giving Homebody a necessary break, but it's always something. I have to be working on something.

As much as I love the feeling of being able to say "It's done... for now," I feel restless without a project to work on. When I was younger, I'd just switch hobbies for a while. That's when I usually made something with some yarn and crochet hooks. Now, I feel completely unproductive unless I've got something to write. I sometimes wonder if I'll ever be able to crochet or sew again without feeling guilty about not writing. My craft storage box--where I keep a collection of crochet hooks, patterns, and candle-making supplies--hasn't been touched in well over a year.

I've already taken my gasp of breath and dived into the rewrite of my futuristic mystery/sci-fi Cora's Song--which is going to get renamed, to what, I'm not sure. Maybe I'll take suggestions.

But, I digress.

As much as I appreciate the ability for some artists to take lengthy breaks between projects, I'm not sure I could ever be one of them. Sure, I'm a sporadic writer right now. It kinda goes with the territory of having a 10-month old and an active preschooler. But, I can see myself being one of those über-productive writers who spend 6 - 8 hours a day writing, and publishing 4 - 6 books a year. I read an article about Nora Roberts a while back. This reflects some of her habits. Totally inspired me.

Until that happens and the kids are a little older, I'll keep at it, taking a quick burst of fresh air between projects, and diving back into it.

Today's Question: Do you take time to "breathe" between writing projects? If so, how long do you take?

Until next time,

In Memory

2011-05-30T00:01:00.002-05:00

Photo from isafmedia at Flickr.com

Today is Memorial Day.

From Wikipedia:

Memorial Day is a United States federal holiday that honors soldiers and is observed on the last Monday of May (May 30 in 2011). Formerly known as Decoration Day, it commemorates U.S. soldiers who died while in the military service.^[1] First enacted to honor Union and Confederate soldiers following the American Civil War,^[2] it was extended after World War I to honor Americans who have died in all wars.

I don't personally know anyone who has died during service, but I do know quite a few veterans, including both of my grandfathers, an uncle, a few cousins, and some friends' spouses.

If you get a chance today, please thank a veteran. Or, take the opportunity to remember one who didn't come back from war.

Until next time,

Liberty

Confession Time

2011-05-23T06:45:00.001-05:00

I have a confession to make today.

I, a woman who desires little more than to see her books in print form and to sign with an agent, has yet to attend any conference with any literary agents in attendance.

I'll pause while you pick yourself off the floor.

There's a bunch of reasons I haven't made it to any of these. The two primary ones: time and money.

In fact, the last time I went to any conference related to writing was probably at least ten years ago.

Now, I've been to multiple shorter events, usually Sisters in Crime talks, and an occasional book signing.

But to go to a convention, or even a weekend seminar? Hasn't really happened. At least not in person. I did attend parts of the Muse Convention online last year, just before the health mess with my son started getting rolling.

I've wanted to go to Bouchercon for years. This year, it's in St. Louis--which would be a very affordable train ride via Amtrak across the state of Missouri for me. But, I've also heard Bouchercon is more for readers rather than writers. *sigh* What's a girl to do?

I think ACFW (American Christian Fiction Writers) is also having their conference in St. Louis this year, just a couple weeks later. While I'd fit in theologically, my stories... well, they really won't fit with the ACFW or CBA "guidelines." Hmmm...

Getting TMOTH to sign off on any convention at this point is also pretty iffy, given our son's state and the "mommy" factor--he about panics whenever I leave him, even with Daddy for an hour or two.

Maybe a convention isn't in the cards this year.

But, I do know that I can't afford to keep ignoring this aspect of the writing game.

Today's Question: Have you ever attended a conference? If so, which one(s)? What did you find most beneficial? If you haven't attended a conference, what's holding you back?

Until next time,

Traveling on the Writer's Journey

2011-05-16T07:00:00.002-05:00

Photo by: Ed Coyle Photography on Flickr

This month with the ChristianWriters.com blog chain, the topic is "The Journey." It could be any type of journey, but I thought I'd share a bit of my writer's journey.

I remember writing stories as early as around 2nd Grade. My favorite TV show at the time was Disney's Rescue Rangers. I was fascinated by the main characters: two chipmunks and two mice, especially the female mouse, Gadget. I even named a hamster after her. *grin*

My stories weren't sophisticated by any means. Although, looking back, I have found that some of my obsessions were clear even at that early age. (I have a hard time writing a novel-length story without a female side character being pregnant. Go figure that one out.) I was also already obsessed with right and wrong, even though my introduction to the mystery genre wouldn't happen until I was ten.

Enter: Nancy Drew and her cohorts, the Hardy Boys.

Sidenote: I still have a crush on Ned Nickerson and Frank Hardy. Though, admittedly, I think I've got it worse for Tony Stark these days... Don't tell TMOTH. ;)

After reading almost every book in the multiple series I could get my hands on, I decided to try my hand at writing again--mostly because it was pretty much the only thing I would read and the publisher wasn't putting them out fast enough.

Long story short: started writing fan fiction, which eventually evolved into writing my own stories with new characters (although there were a lot of similarities to Nancy, Frank and Joe, as well as people in my own life.) Finished writing a novel, thought it was terrific. Sent it out to a couple of publishers (including some of the bigger ones.)

Ohhhhh Boy.

I ran across the notebook with some of that original draft in it a few years ago.

I am so glad I got rejected! Talk about embarrassing.

I was so blessed as a writer to start going to a Sister's in Crime chapter near my hometown in my late teens. And, though it was extremely painful, I attended the critique group that met separately almost religiously (until I met TMOTH, that is.) The ladies in the group were tough, yet kind, and really helped me see where I could mature as a writer. I still remember being so angry, mostly with myself, the first time I got an honest critique. It was very painful, but words I needed to hear.

That first group pointed out my flaws, and encouraged me to keep working. Slowly but surely, I improved.

But, then I moved away and got married.

For about a two-year period around the time I was dating, then after I married TMOTH, I did little to no writing, despite the fact I held a journalism degree. Slowly, I started writing again. I wrote one novel which I'm not sure will ever see the light of day to get the blood flowing again. Started a few more, then I caught an idea that wouldn't let go. Off I went, writing.

And writing.

And rewriting.

And having a baby or two.

And editing.

And tweaking.

And getting critiqued.

And editing some more.

And adding new scenes.

And now, that story is Homebody. Which I'm hoping to start getting into agents' hands this summer or early fall.

There's something to be said for those early attempts--and my first critique group. I wouldn't be half the writer I am today without early encouragement and constructive criticism. I've given out some tough critiques to people before, so I know it's not easy to give out hard words that need to be heard, but am I forever grateful to the five women who took time to help mold me into the writer I am today. So, thank you: Anne, Lori, Laurie, Janet and Nancy. I don't know where you are today as I lost touch after I got married, but I hope you have all gotten closer to your publishing dreams.

Photo by: Laurentzziu on Flickr

Before I go, let me remind you to check out everyone's posts this month:

5/1: Keith Wallis, wordsculptures
5/4: Chris Vonada, I'm Just Thinkin'
5/5: Jan Christiansen, Refreshed By the Word
5/6: Scott Fields, Dead Man Writing
5/7: Cindee Snider Re, Breathe Deeply
5/8: Traci Bonney, Tracings
5/10: Janna Dyck, Writing for Life
5/13: Chris Henderson, TheWriteChris
5/14: Nona King, Word Obsession
5/16: Liberty Speidel, Word Wanderings
5/18: Victor Travison, Lightwalker's View
5/19: Tracy Krauss, Expression Express
5/20: Carol Peterson, From Carol's Quill
5/21: Edward Lewis, Sowing the Seeds
5/23: Debra Ann Elliott, Writing with Debra
5/24: Lynn Mosher, Heading Home
5/25: Chris Perdue: The Bible Stop
5/26: Sarah Grace Write-Minded
5/30: Sheila Hollinghead, A Spring of Living Water

Until next time,

My Book Is Done... Now What?

2011-05-02T07:30:00.014-05:00

Photo by Liberty Speidel

So, you've finished your novel. Congratulations! What an amazing step.

After you've been through many revisions, pulled your hair out, and agonized over every line, character, and location setting, you may think you're ready to send out your novel.

Close. Have you formatted it correctly, though?

What's this, you say? What's formatting??

I'll give my heart a moment to calm down.

In order to be taken seriously as a professional writer, you need to put your best foot forward. This means making sure you present yourself (i.e. your manuscript) in its best light. Sure, having your book in purple cursive font with every third word underlined and printed on Princess Pink paper may look good to you, but an agent or editor may think differently--and could result in your otherwise carefully prepared manuscript ending up in the slush pile.

When I started writing about 15 years ago, and thought I was ready for publication, the industry standard was just that--standard.

Nowadays, though, standard has become a more fluid term, especially with e-mail coming into play with more and more agents and editors accepting only online submissions.

You can find "how-to" guides for novel formatting almost everywhere. I did a search, and got more than 3 million hits. Holy cow! (Now, once you've read this post, it'll be 3,000,001.)

As a general rule of thumb, here's some basics:

Keep your formatting the same throughout. Use a readable (and, if doing an e-submission, common) font in 12-point. And make sure you double-space everything manuscript-related. (Synopsis and query letters can be single-spaced, though the synopsis may depend on required length.) Indent every new paragraph, don't indicate it with extra space.

Once you have those in mind, things become a bit more free-form. I've seen guidelines that indicate to still use the "old" system of 25 lines a page, with a width wide enough to average 10 words a line (so each page is estimated around 250 words.) Others say to use a more rigid guideline of either 1 or 1.5 inch margins all around.

My general rule of thumb is to scour the websites of the agents I'm going to submit to and see if they have any special requirements. If so, I modify my manuscript to suit, but if not, I use the following template:

1-inch margins throughout.
Times New Roman or Courier New 12-point font (this is usually a judgement call as to which I think looks better, and presents my story in the fewest number of pages. Right now, Roman is winning that battle.)
Double-spaced with Widow/Orphan Control ON.
First line indentation of one-half inch for new paragraphs. Paragraphs should also not have any additional space between them.
Each new chapter heading should be in all caps and begin on the 4th double-spaced line by hitting return 3 times.
A header that reads in the format of: LAST NAME / TITLE / PAGE NUMBER.
No header on the first page.

These are the basics I pulled from former agent and new author Nathan Bransford's site. I think they look the cleanest, and are the easiest to manage.

If you haven't formatted you novel in this manner, it's pretty easy to change, as long as everything is in one file. Presuming you're using Microsoft Word, you can alter all of these settings on a relatively speedy machine in under 5 minutes.

Of all of these items listed above, I've found that the trickiest for me to setup is the "no header" part and have it number everything correctly. These instructions apply to Word 2003; if you have an older or newer version, they may not be applicable.

On the View menu, click "Header and Footer."
On the "Header and Footer" toolbar (which should pop up automatically), select the Page Setup button. (Hint, on my version, it looks like an open manuscript with the first page opened.)
Select the Layout tab.
Click in the box for Different First Page and click OK.
Leaving the first page blank, insert your desired text on any of the subsequent pages. As long as you have no section breaks, your first page number will start at 2, unless you instruct it otherwise.

There! That's it!! Your manuscript is ready to be sent out to an agent. Keep in mind that most agents will delete any unrequested attachments, so while this may look pretty if you copy and paste your first 5 or 10 pages into the body of an e-mail, some e-mail programs will turn it into virtually unreadable gibberish, so always send yourself the e-mail first to make sure everything will look appropriate before making a fool of yourself in front of that agent you want to sign with.

Until next time,

(Re)Readable

2011-04-18T07:00:00.006-05:00

When you started writing your novel (short story, poem, how-to book), did you give any consideration whether what you were writing down would be rereadable?

Most of us think about making a book enticing enough to get a reader to read it once, to choose it over all the other offerings on the Barnes & Noble shelf or Amazon.com page view. But, shouldn't we, as authors, want to make a book rereadable?

I have a confession:

I've reread J.D. Robb's Conspiracy in Death upwards of 20 - 30 times. In my adult life, it's
probably my most reread book, though a couple other books in the series, or possibly Eleven on Top by Janet Evanovich come in pretty close on its heels.

Why do I reread books? I know a lot of people who don't. Surely it's not because there's nothing good out there to read. I have a list of books I want to read longer than my arm, so I know there's new material out there.

I have several reasons why. First, there's something about the character(s) I really love. This is why I typically read a lot of series in the first place. I sort of know what I can expect, and there's not a steep learning curve where new characters are concerned. I already am familiar with them.

The story offers something that not just every other story does. For instance, in Conspiracy in Death, I almost always come to tears when, near the middle of the book, the main character, Eve Dallas, is ordered to turn in her badge by her superior. In another favorite reread, Portrait in Death, I get a huge kick out of a scene where Eve gives her husband, Roarke, a sedative (which is a bit that is done a lot in the early books in the series, just usually in reverse--Roarke gives it to Eve.)

With both of these things, I'm usually observing things a little more closely than I did on the first read or two, which means I am honing in on details and learning something I can use in my own writing. Sometimes, I just catch things I didn't notice before. This happened on my most recent reread a couple weeks ago of Portrait in Death, when I spotted something I'd never noticed before (which I can't recall at the moment.)

Then, there's the lazy me. The part that is tired, weary, or maybe even sick. I need something to distract my brain, but reading something new doesn't appeal to me. That's when I go for an old favorite. I may even start reading a book a few chapters in. (I've skipped the first 50 or so pages in Conspiracy several times.)

I just hope right now that when Homebody, Cora's Song, or Beyond Dead are on the shelves, some of my readers will want to reread them.

A brief aside...

I managed to find the stats section of my dashboard for Word Wanderings this week... I was a little stunned to see some of the countries where I've had visitors this from in the last week. So, to my readers in Iran, Slovenia, Russia, China, Brazil and the rest of the places I've spotted, I thank you wholeheartedly for stopping in. (And, of course, I thank those that stop in from the good ol' U.S. of A., too.)

Question of the week:

My question for you is two-fold: Where are you reading Word Wanderings from? And, do you reread books? If so, what are your top rereads?

Until next time,

What Is That?

2011-04-11T06:45:00.003-05:00

As I said in my last post, I was toying with doing an update on my son's health for this post.

Because of the rareness of his condition, I've thought about it and decided to share.


Chances of a child getting SDS from carrier parents

While my husband and I are still awaiting genetic confirmation, it is believed my son has an autosomal disorder called Schwachman-Diamond Syndrome. While related to cystic fibrosis, it's not the same. Schwachman-Diamond Syndrome (or SDS) mainly affects the pancreas, bone marrow, and skeleton. While we're not sure about our little guy's marrow, we know it's affecting the pancreas and skeleton.

In a normal person, the pancreas excretes enzymes to help process foods. In an SDS person, the enzymes necessary to process fat (at least in our case) aren't present. These must be supplemented, which we've been doing for approximately a month. This is apparently part of the reason our son hasn't been putting on weight, and at 8 1/2 months old, has just barely doubled his birth weight (something that normally happens by the 4th month.) If you can't process half of what's in breastmilk, you can't grow. :/

As for his skeleton, we know that our son's ribcage is misshapen. I haven't had it fully explained to me, but there are other markers in his skeletal x-rays that are consistent with a percentage of SDS cases.

SDS is extremely rare. Our doctors say it occurs in about 1 in 75,000 people, which puts the numbers in America in the 4,000 - 4,500 range. One of my son's doctors has about five patients in our metro area (around 2 million people.)

More information about SDS can be found at the SDS Foundation website and Wikipedia.

So, what's this mean for us right now? Well, our little guy is getting intensive treatment from his doctors. He's seeing three specialists and we fully expect to get at least one more in the next month or so. Medications are being added to his regimen on a regular basis. And, after being on a feeding tube since Christmas, we had one doctor tell us he wants X-man (our son's nickname) off the tube. After thinking about this, I can see the reasoning. It wasn't necessarily that X-man wasn't getting sufficient amounts of food, it was the fact he couldn't process up to 1/2 of what he was receiving!

Obviously, this isn't going to be a walk in the park. He's at a higher risk for severe infections (like when he landed in the hospital in February with pneumonia,) leukemia, type-1 diabetes, and the need for a bone marrow transplant in the future. Whatever comes, though, I know I have support from our friends, family, and church, as well as a spring of strength from God.

Until next time,

Liberty

April is for Easter

2011-04-04T07:30:00.001-05:00

Hello, lovely readers!

I know many of my readers are from ChristianWriters.com, but many aren't. As such, I wanted to draw your attention to this month's blog chain. I won't be participating this month--hey, I've got a lot on my plate, more than I can handle--but I don't want my readers to miss out.

The topic this month is Easter, and I know everyone involved in this month's chain won't disappoint. I urge you to check out as many of these posts as you can as they pop up through the month. And, be sure to check my side-bar for last minute changes and updates.

The schedule--as of April 1-- is as follows:

April 1: Chris Henderson, TheWriteChris
April 2: Jan Christiansen, Refreshed by The Word
April 4: Adam Collings, The Collings Zone
April 6: Sheila Hollinghead,A Spring of Living Water
April 7: Cindee Snider Re, Breathe Deeply
April 9: Scott Fields, Dead Man Writing
April 11: Nona King, Word Obsession
April 13: Tracy Krauss, Expression Express
April 17: Keith Wallis, wordsculptures
April 20: Victor Travison, Lightwalker's View
April 22: Lynn Mosher, Heading Home
April 23: Traci Bonney, Tracings
April 24: Debra Ann Elliott, Writing with Debra
April 25: Chris Perdue: The Bible Stop
April 26: Chris Depew: The Beulah Land Blog
April 27: Edward Lewis, Sowing the Seeds
April 29: Carol Peterson, From Carol's Quill

As for me, April seems to be a regrouping month. This week, we're expecting my son's diagnosis, so once we know for sure (hopefully!) what's going on, I should be able to figure out, at least for the short term, what my schedule is likely to be like. Which means I may be able to fit in some writing time. I desperately need to start writing daily again. My brain feels like it's filled with kid's movies, medications, and medical research, when I'd rather it be filled with agent searches, plots, and characters. (Well, how about all 6 items.)

Please go check out the blog chain and chime in at my friends' blogs. I'll try to be back next week with either an update on my son or a blog on writing.

Until next time,

I'm Covered

2011-03-29T17:11:00.000-05:00

My lovely friend, Holly Heisey, artist and author extraordinaire, recently requested some of her author friends to let her do mockups of their unpublished projects. Just for fun, and because I've been working on Homebody for such a long time, I quickly volunteered.

And did she do a marvelous job!

After a little back and forth and heavy discussion on the image I wanted to convey, this was the result:

So, what do you think? I know people say you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but based on this alone (and maybe the little blurb on the right hand side of my blog), would you pick it up?

Until next time,

Hiking = Writing

2011-03-21T07:00:00.001-05:00

Yesterday, Sunday, TMOTH and I took my daughter, son, and Labrador Retriever for a hike at a nearby lake.

A photo from a trail I frequent... yes, this *is* Kansas!

Upon reflection, I learned a lot on that hike... about writing.

The trail we chose started out flat, across grass in a wide-open field. As we approached the woods, it got muddy, then rocky, and had a steep slope down to the lake. Once on the shore, we trudged over driftwood, rocks, and, again, mud until we decided to turn around and head back the way we came.

The flat, open part of the hike reminded me of how I usually start out on a writing project: good initial progress, seeing a portion of where I'm going, but not clearly the whole trail (even when I've outlined.) I usually hit some point where I've got a good feel for where I'm headed, but the writing gets rocky, and I slow down, carefully finding my next step.

Then, I get to the middle. Fits and starts, I'll progress in quick bursts, then find something I have to climb over, go under, or around. (In the actual hike yesterday, this was difficult since my son was in a carrier, pulling me off balance!) My daughter taught me a few things in this portion, as she forced us to take breaks (allowing for reflection, possible changes, or redirection in my writing analogy) and look at bobbers, shells, rocks, or throwing sticks and stones into the water.

Sometimes, in these sections of my writing, I get hurt, as I did on the hike (it wasn't bad--a scrape on my shin when my foot slipped as I was climbing over a large, fallen tree.) I have to backtrack, rethink what I'm doing. Often, these instances happen when I'm editing. On my most recent edit of Homebody, I had several major changes, some of which I'm still tweaking. When I started writing this story, now going on five years ago, I wouldn't have imagined some of these types of twists in my story.

On the way back up the hill, I'm starting to pick up steam. While I'm watching my footing carefully, I know I'm headed for the climax: I'm about to write "The End" soon. I may have to take a breather now and again--after all, it is a steep climb!--I'm moving steadily upward, and know how far I've got to go.

Then, I crest that hill.

I can see the end!

For me, this is often the fastest part of the hike--and the writing. Renewed energy hits. Frequently, I can write a 30 or 40 page section in first draft mode in a single evening, especially the closer to the climax I get.

Then I reach the car--or write my last lines. Relief! My characters are out of danger, my feet can rest (and I can get another cool bottle of water from the cooler and turn on the A/C!)

Do you have a favorite analogy on how you write? How has that taught you about your writing?

Also, I want to extend my hearty congratulations to Linda Yezak, who guest posted for me last summer, on the publication of her debut novel, Give the Lady a Ride. I can't wait to get it (hopefully on my Kindle!) and read it!

Until next time,

Swirls In My Brain

2011-03-14T00:25:00.003-05:00

It's nearly midnight, the night before this post is scheduled to post. One that I should have written weeks ago, since this is part of the ChristianWriters.com blog chain, and I've known the topic for a while.

The topic this month is swirling, and quite honestly, the only swirling I can think about is the swirling of the things going on in my head, most of which do not involve writing, sadly.

Loose prayers echo through my skull, sometimes forming sentences I voice to God.
Thoughts of the things I need to do tomorrow.
Hopes that one of these days, my life will resume some semblance of "normal."
Concerns over new tests ordered for my son and what the results could mean in the long term.
Wondering when I may be able to resume a regular writing schedule.

The first item there is key. I can take the swirls in my head and voice them to God, and help calm all the confusion and chaos lurking inside my brain. I've been doing that a lot lately, a lot more than I used to, even a month or so ago. Praying can be very calming.

With the level of stress in my house right now, calm is in short supply, but I find if I can pray things out, even if it's just asking God to give my little boy another good day--usually meaning one in which vomit is not on the game plan for the day--I can be more calm, which helps keep my stress factor down.

Though, for some reason, my hair isn't reflecting this. I have about three times as many gray's as I did a year ago, and I haven't even hit the big 3-0 yet!

Hey, at least I still have my sense of humor.

"Cold Prayer" by Keith Riley-Whittingham

As a side note, due to the extreme craziness in my house right now, I may not be posting as regularly for a while. I intend to still strive for posts twice a month, and I'll try to continue on my regular weekly schedule, though some of these may be filled by guests.

By the way, if you are a writer or a reader and would like to be a guest blogger, whether to discuss a topic you've longed to have voiced, or to promote your upcoming book, please send me a note using the Contact Me button to the right of this post. I'd love to hear from you, and am always open to new bloggers, though I do prefer to keep the topic to writing and books.

Until next time,

Why It's Important to Read Other Blogs

2011-03-10T16:04:00.000-06:00

Due to couple of technical glitches on my end of things, this post apparently didn't run on Monday as I'd intended. Enjoy!

________________

If you're like me, you watch your fair share of crime dramas on TV. I love Bones, Castle, and NCIS immensely.

But, if I'm not careful, I can allow them to color what I interpret as correct where police procedure is concerned.

This is why it's important that I--and you as a writer--read non-fiction, whether in blog form or in book form.

I love Lee Lofland's book, Police Procedure and Investigation, and his blog, The Graveyard Shift. With Castle in particular, he blogs about what the writers/actors did wrong where police procedure is concerned, and praises them when they get it correct. By reading this blog, I learn a lot, and that colors my view of other shows when I watch them. TMOTH is probably getting a little tired of hearing me go "They wouldn't really do that in real life" or "Oh, boy, I can't wait to see what Lee Lofland has to say about that tomorrow."

The same holds true for reading blogs by writers and agents. Lately, with having a little one in and out of the hospital, and being a busy mom, I don't have a lot of time to read lengthy books on the topic of writing. Truth be told, since I got my Kindle a couple months ago, I haven't cracked open a real book other than review copies for Christian Children's Book Review. So, for the writer in me, blogs are the best way to stay current with my craft.

I almost always try to stay up with three blogs a week: AuthorCulture, Wordplay, and Rants & Ramblings. If I have time, I usually like to check in with several others, but these are the ones I'll read while eating breakfast or lunch, or if I have a quick ten minutes where the kids are being good.

Sure, the four I've mentioned today are probably not the most comprehensive, although I feel they're pretty good. Heck, Rants & Ramblings has been on the Writer's Digest list of best sites for writers several years in a row. But, the important thing for me is that I stay connected. If I were to say "Chuck it. I've got too many irons in the fire. I'll pick my writing back up when the baby's better," I'd lose my grip on the market, on what's good writing, on my passion for doing what I want to do.

By staying active on the blogs, I'm also keeping my name out there. I don't comment on every post, but I comment frequently enough. And that, as a writer desiring to be published, is an important thing.

So, you tell me: What blogs do you make sure you read frequently? Maybe I'll have to add a few more to my "must read" list.

Until next time,

What Questions Do You Have?

2011-02-28T13:34:00.000-06:00

Due to some crazy-ness and sickness in my house this last week, I never got a chance to write this week's blog post. I remembered it around 1 o'clock this morning.

Ugh.

I hate weeks like this.

How about we do this: what kinds of questions do you have for me? Ask, and I'll try to answer them this week in this post or a second post. They can be anything, though I reserve the right to limit personal-type questions if they're too personal. :)

Though, I really can't guarantee an answer if the question regards the founding of the universe. ;)

Until next time,

Living Research

2011-02-21T07:30:00.004-06:00

How many times have you been in the middle of something major in your life, and thought to yourself, "Gee, this would make an interesting story"? How often do you act on that and go sit down and write your story?

While I'm no memoirist, and have actually yet to read a memoir (I've got one on my Kindle--I think,) there are times when odd things happen to me and I think it would may make an interesting addition to a story, or a story in and of itself.

With my son having been in and out of the hospital so much in the last few months (we had #4 admission last week), I find myself pondering what I've learned by being at the hospital.

Let's get one thing straight: I absolutely HATE hospitals. Up until I was 25, I'd never been admitted to one. The only reason why I ever have been is due to having babies (or complications thereof). I avoided hospitals like the plague.

Maybe not the best strategy for a mystery writer. Look at all the research I missed out on.

My son's condition doesn't necessarily mean that my experiences lend themselves to mystery writing. He's hardly been rushed to the hospital, a victim of a stabbing, shooting, poisoning (and let's hope he never is!) But, the anxiety of not knowing what's going on, the waiting, hoping that my son will get better... that's something I can draw on as a writer. Even though I try to take everything one day--sometimes one hour--at a time, and I don't worry in the traditional sense of the word, I understand.

He's never been in serious enough condition that his life is hanging by a thread, but I can understand better now how the parents of a child with leukemia may feel. And, even though I have no plans anytime in the future to write about something of that nature as a topic (at least, not in a novel format), I do feel that the experiences I've had as of late will make me a better writer.

When you get right down to it, all writers draw on their own experiences. You have to. Especially when you're writing fiction. Fiction is about an experience, whether bad, good, or ugly.

You tell me: what was the last real life experience you used to draw on for your writing? It may only be related by a smidge, but did it help you write a more believable scene?

Until next time,

Love, True Love

2011-02-14T07:30:00.010-06:00

Image from azzriel666 on DeviantArt.com

Ah... Valentine's Day. The day we celebrate romance.

Who doesn't love a good romance? The warm-fuzzy feelings, the tender looks, knowing that one special person adores you.

This month for the ChristianWriters.com blog chain, the topic is--you guessed it!--Love.

I've only been in one romantic relationship in my life. I married him. But, I've been "in love" many times. Growing up, I had crushes on male friends, convinced there would never be anyone else I could ever possibly love. Even a month before my now-husband asked me to marry him, someone asked me about my future college plans and my boyfriend (I was preparing to graduate from community college and looking to go to a state university that fall.) I said I'd try to keep up a long-distance relationship. They asked about another guy whom I still had a crush on. I said if that person was interested in pursuing a relationship, I had no qualms about dating both of them.

Then I got engaged, and I didn't pursue my four year degree.

Sometimes, I still wonder how my life would have been different if I'd waited to get my four-year degree. Would I still have married my husband? Would that other guy have approached me? I don't regret the decisions I made... but I wonder.

While I love my husband and our children, there's Someone I love more, and He loves me more than my husband and children ever could. His love is perfect. He doesn't care if I slip up sometimes and do something like forget to tell TMOTH about something I broke during the day that he discovers when he gets home. Jesus cares when I'm having a bad day, a good day, or a somewhere-in-between day.

He's the greatest Lover of all. He knows me and my strengths and weaknesses better than I know them myself. I love that about Him. He knows and understands how much I try, and sometimes feel like a failure no matter what I attempt. I love that, too. He doesn't care when I can't put two sentences together in a logical manner--or two words. When I have no words, I can go to Him and He understands, even if I don't quite yet.

God is awesome like that.

On this Valentine's Day, while you're telling those around you how much you love them, why don't you take a few minutes to tell God how much you love Him and let Him tell you how much He loves you.

Until next time,

A Rant on a Recent Read

2011-02-07T07:30:00.007-06:00

The Kindle and its free books have been a boon; I'm reading genres I normally don't, by authors (and publishers) I usually don't have time for.

However, I recently read one freebie book which left me with mixed feelings.

Generally, I enjoy the books I read. If I don't, I usually continue reading them because I'm interested in the topic (these are typically non-fiction books.)

I just had that experience with a fiction book.

The book? Deeper Water by Robert Whitlow. Publisher: Thomas Nelson.

The premise: a 24-year-old, second year law student goes from her home in rural Georgia to Savannah for the summer to clerk for a large law firm and gets a practice case for a man who knows something about a 40-year-old murder.

Sounded interesting to me.

When I started the book, I was interested because the main character, Tami, turned out to be homeschooled. Huh. I hadn't seen that in a novel before. Since I was homeschooled for a time, I was interested.

Soon it became clear that her homeschooling experience and mine were vastly different.

I'm fairly conservative, however Tami and her family took that to an unknown extreme. She had to get permission to take the job from her parents, where to live, etc.

While I finished reading the book, I walked away dissatisfied. For the first time in recent memory, I hadn't liked the main character for a wide variety of reasons: Her family's beliefs were leaving her completely unprepared for life, and as an aspiring attorney, I didn't feel the premise was realistic. If this family was so straight-laced as they put on, I couldn't see them allowing their daughter to go to law school, let alone pursuing a career of any kind.

I also didn't appreciate the fact the family was judgmental towards others. It seemed to me that if you didn't fully agree with their religious perspectives, it didn't matter whether you claimed to be a Christian--you needed conversion of some sort. This probably bothers me because I do feel like I deal with this on a relatively frequent basis from some of those in my circle.

From a writer's perspective, I actually learned a bit from this book--unfortunately, mostly on a "what-not-to-do" level. First, it reinforced for me the novelists theory (especially for mystery/suspense writers) you must not start the book to early or too late. I honestly felt this book started too early, and a great deal of what was covered could have effectively been handled in little chunks of back story. Of course, this would have dramatically shortened the book (which probably would have been a good thing.)

Having sympathetic characters was another important thing. While I realize not everyone will like or sympathize with every character (and this one definitely met my criteria), it's important you can relate to them if you want to keep readers. Other than the homeschooling factoid, I found it extremely difficult to care about Tami. She seemed weak in most areas because she was leaning too hard on her parents as a 24-year-old young woman. From my perspective, her parents were doing her a disservice. But that's neither here nor there.

Anyway, here's my question for you: Have you hung in with a book where you didn't like the story or characters? If you have, why did you? What, if anything, did you learn from the book? In the end, did you like the book or were you more like me--dissatisfied and very unlikely to read anything more from the author?

Until next time,

Life Gets In the Way

2011-01-31T07:30:00.049-06:00

Over the last few months, I've found life getting more and more in the way of my writing. Yeah, I've kept up with my blog posts. I've sort-of kept up with my book reviews.

But my books? My plans to do freelancing? Eh, not so much.

Photo by ~in-door (not an actual representation of my bathroom)

This is frustrating for me. I hate feeling like I'm behind, even if it's in my own mind. Yet, I look around my apartment, and see the floor that needs vacuuming, the boxes that still need unpacking (or better yet, taken to Goodwill or our storage facility), the bathrooms that need cleaning, and then I feel behind in my housework.

Yes, I realize I'm a mom.

Yes, I realize I'm a mom of a little boy who has some special needs. And a mom to a toddler. And a mom to a chocolate Labrador. And a wife to TMOTH.

But I still feel behind. Okay, I am behind.

Oy.

Let's face it right now: life will try to get in the way of your best laid plans. I didn't think this time last year when I was newly pregnant with my son that my new home-away-from-home now would become the hospital. To date, my son has been admitted three times since November, the shortest stay being one night, the longest being seven days.

Yuck.

But in the midst of it all, I can still see my other priorities.

Sure, it would help if I got more cooperation from TMOTH. I'm not complaining; he's as frustrated by everything as I am.

Photo by ~underawartorsky

But, it sure does help if I plan my day and try to work some of my priorities around the family priorities. For instance, I'm writing this blog post at 8:15 in the morning a couple weeks before it's supposed to post. My husband's at work, my kids are asleep. It's going to snow later today, so we'll be stuck inside. When I'm done with this, I've got another post to write, then~~, hopefully,~~ I'll get to do some editing on Homebody.

I'm having to train myself to be more of a morning person so I can get things done. Dr. Pepper helps tremendously!

Have you had to make changes in your own life to get done your goals? How has that worked for you? Do you regret it, or are you resigned to the fact that this is how it will be for a while?

Until next time,

Like It Or Not: The Kindle

2011-01-24T07:30:00.079-06:00

For many, many months now, I've been following the dawn of the digital age of the book world. While music had theirs many moons ago and digital is now the norm (when was the last time you bought a CD?), the book/literary arena had been trying for a long time.

Probably more than 10 years ago, I watched as e-books tried to get a foothold. The devices were large, clunky, heavy, and the options for books were, shall we say, limited. Rarely could one find a mid-list author, and it was doubtful you'd find a bestseller. I watched and waited as the technology improved, but the quality of the books you could get didn't.

Those days are now behind us.

I'm sure many of you know the history of the Kindle and its competitors. If you don't, it's an easy enough thing to learn about through Google or Wikipedia. The original Kindle was released a few years ago, and has gone through many advents since then.

I held out, waiting for the technology to improve to my standards.

And did it ever!

In the last six months, I decided it was time for me to jump on the e-reader bandwagon. The iPad was too expensive, plus it was backlit, so I didn't want that--it makes eyestrain much worse. The Sony e-reader, while good technology, didn't have all the bells and whistles I wanted. The Nook by Barnes & Noble, well, there was one I could get behind. But it sadly lacked a couple of options I desperately needed: primarily the ability to read .doc or .rtf files (those used by Microsoft Word.)

And there was the Kindle by Amazon. No backlit screen. Hundreds of thousands of books at the ready. Could handle, if a little clunkily, the .doc files I needed to take with me. One of the few drawbacks was the fact I couldn't have removable storage. But, with storage for about 3500 books, I didn't think that would be an immediate concern.

So, with gift money from Christmas, I ordered a Kindle.

My first purchase: a free copy of Emma by Jane Austen. I can't believe the number of free books I can get through the Kindle store! Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde, Mark Twain, L.M. Montgomery, even Winston Churchill and some interesting-looking documents put out by the OSS (the precursor to the CIA.)

My first two books read on my Kindle: Sweet Revenge by Diane Mott Davidson and A Man Called Outlaw by K.M. Weiland.

While reading, I made a few observations, and thought I'd share them with you in case you're considering taking the digital plunge as I did.

First, the reading experience. You'd think holding a book would be preferable to holding a piece of technology. But, really, I've found the experience is natural with a Kindle. I don't have to try to keep a book open, or worry about accidentally dropping the book and losing my place. I can lay my Kindle down while I'm folding clothes or cooking dinner and only occasionally press the little page turn button to advance. Unless you've got a well-worn book, that's probably not going to happen.

It's pretty easy to get your books from Amazon. I bought the Wi-Fi version, and as long as I'm within range of a hotspot, I'm good to go. So, next time I'm in the hospital with my son (hopefully a very, very long time!) I won't be without fresh reading material. For an extra $50, you can get the 3G version, so you can get books pretty much wherever you've got a cell signal.

On the not-so-hot side of things, I like the fact I can send my .doc files to my Kindle, but the formatting sometimes is strange--paragraphs or indents where there shouldn't be. Also, I haven't figured out whether I can send the file back to my computer in a usable way.

I purchased a Bible version shortly before my Kindle arrived. I love the fact I can take my Kindle to church and take notes on it, but the search function is a little clunky, at least for my version (I think I got the free ESV version. I'm looking for another version to get as well, but checking the reviews.) If the pastor is doing rapid-fire changes in passages/books, I may not be able to keep up. Fortunately, the one time I've tried this so far, there's been notes to follow and the changes have taken a few minutes to happen, giving me a chance to make whatever notes I want, then go to the Table of Contents, find the next book I need to go to, get there, then select the chapter I want.

Overall, I've really liked using my Kindle so far. My daughter thinks it's a big phone and frequently puts it up to her ear to jabber. Fortunately, I figured out real quick I could password protect the device so now she can't change my page when I'm not paying close attention.

Money-saving tip: definitely get a cover for your e-reader if you choose to get one. It'll protect it and keep the screen clean. But, be sure to check around. I ended up getting my cover at Best Buy. They had some of the same ones as Amazon, and since they sell the Nook, and the Nook and the Kindle are approximately the same size, you can purchase Nook covers for your Kindle. They ran about $5 cheaper than the Kindle ones, and the same manufacturer produces both.

In the future, I'd really like to see the functionality improve between the Kindle and other types of documents, like the .doc. As a writer, it'd be nice to be able to make notes to put onto my computer while I'm out, or when my husband's working on our computer. Also, I'd like to see the web browser and MP3 player (both of which are considered "experimental") improve. To browse Facebook, for instance, takes a lot of time, and it's almost not worth it, especially on that small a screen.

I'm actually quite glad I purchased the Kindle. I'm looking forward to catching up on my classics (I've read very, very few) and the opportunity to try new authors/books for little or nothing is something I'm ready to take advantage of.

Have you taken the digital reading plunge? Which device do you have? What are things you like? Things you'd change?

Until next time,

New Beginnings

2011-01-17T07:30:00.045-06:00

This month, the ChristianWriters.com blog chain's topic is New Beginnings.

This got me thinking about all the "new beginnings" in my own life. I'll be 29 in a few months, and over the last decade or so, I've seen a lot of them:

Photo by *Jaymz-86 at DeviantArt.

Learning to deal with life after my parents' divorce.
Getting married and moving away from my dad and sister.
Starting new jobs.
Failing at projects.
Becoming a mother.
Writing new stories.

That's just to name a few. I've left out several that are more private that I don't care to share today.

New beginnings, like a new year, give us a chance to change things about ourselves or our situations that need to be altered, or you want to stop or start doing in your life. Sometimes it's in the form of a rude awakening: a job loss, financial difficulty, the loss of a close loved one. Sometimes, it's just a situational change, a new baby, for instance.

How you face your new beginnings tells others a great deal about you. Are you bitter about what's happened, or do you accept it with grace?

Many people don't get the chance to start over; many choose not to do so even when given the opportunity. There's many things in my life right now that I feel like I'm back to square one on. They're out of my control (as so many things in life are--that's a really important lesson to learn) so I have to accept them, deal with them as best I know how to, and move forward.

I'm blessed that my new beginnings are easier by having Jesus with me every step of the way, as well as TMOTH (The Man Of The House--my husband).

"For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." -- Jesus in Matthew 11:30

No matter what new beginnings I have month to month, year to year, I find great comfort in this passage, knowing my Lord and Savior is right there with me.

How about you? How have you handled the new beginnings in your life? Are you faced with any new things right now?

Until next time,

Pet Peeves: Yea vs Yeah

2011-01-10T07:30:00.040-06:00

Photo by ~Seizen at DeviantArt.

This has been bugging me for a while.

So, today, I'm going to bring you one of my biggest pet peeves, educate you a little, and see whether you share the same pet peeve, or if it's something else.

I see the terms 'yea' and 'yeah' used interchangeably ALL THE TIME. It drives me up the wall. Their definitions are similar, but not the same, and for me, there is a difference. There's definitely a difference in pronunciation. Since when I'm reading I "hear" the words, this can drive me nuts: on Twitter, on FB posts, in an IM conversation like Skype...

"Yea" is an older term. It's used a lot in formal voting situations, like in Congress. In the political meetings I go to, we typically use the form "aye" but that's neither here nor there. It's pronounced like "yay" and can also be used in place of "hurray" or other similar words.

"Yeah" is also a form of yes, but it's more a slang term. You say "yeah" when you're in agreement. "Yeah, I'm coming." "Yeah, I agree with you." It's pronounced more like "yah".

See, a little letter "h" can make a huge difference!

So, next time you're writing, whether a conversation in a book, a FB post, or a text message to your mom, try to get this one little thing right.

And educate others whom you see misusing these words. Without some education, we're going to lose our unique language!

Until next time,

Newbie Novel Writing

2011-01-06T07:00:00.000-06:00

In case your New Year's resolution is to write a novel, here's a friendly wakeup call for ya. :) Enjoy!

Until next time,

Reflections on 2010, Looking Ahead at 2011

2011-01-03T07:00:00.007-06:00

Photo by ~chalee-80 at DeviantArt.

New years is here, and quite frankly, it couldn't have come soon enough. There's plenty of things I'm glad are in my past that came and went with 2010. Hopefully, they'll stay in the past, and won't be back to haunt me, either in memories or by those backward looking souls who choose to bring them up.

The biggest blessing of 2010 was the birth of my son. No matter what else happened, I can still look back and say 2010 may have been a bad year for a whole bunch of reasons, but at least I got my little boy out of it.

I was also blessed in 2010 to have three folks read the manuscript of Homebody in its entirety. Micah, Julia, and Nina all have helped me get this book into shape. Holly is going to take one last look at it in the next couple months, then I'll be sending out updates on submissions! :D

2011 looks like it'll be an interesting year to come. I have a handful of goals, the top one being to attempt to land an agent. Ideally, I'd like to have signed by this time last year. Sooner would be awesome. The feedback on my novel so far has been encouraging, so I'm hopeful my final edits put just the right touch on it to entice an agent to offer me representation.

I'm also hoping to expand things here at Word Wanderings. Tell me what you'd like to see more of. Personal items? Certain aspects of writing? Guest bloggers? I'm finding that I enjoy sharing certain aspects of my life with everyone, though I don't want this blog to become a mundane repository on how my son's weight is coming along or whether my daughter is finally potty trained.

I think I may be trying my hand at freelancing in 2011 as well. Every time I read an article on freelancing in The Writer or Writer's Digest, I find myself thinking, "why am I not doing this? It sounds perfect for me! I could so do freelancing!" I've been batting around some ideas for stories, including some opinion pieces. (I do have lots of opinions. A lot. I mean seriously. My name is Liberty. Shouldn't I have opinions--and lots of them?)

So, that's the plan for the next 363 days or so. And, I'll be using this clip to prod me into following through:

So, how about you? What are your goals for this year, writing or otherwise? Tell me. And, share what changes or improvements you'd like to see over the next year here at W.W.

Until next time,

Should I Hire a Freelance Editor

2010-12-27T07:30:00.000-06:00

Today's post was originally posted at Lit Agent Rachelle Gardner's blog, Rants & Ramblings (March 25, 2010). Enjoy!

Lately more and more people have been asking me if they should hire an editor prior to submitting to agents. Here's my take:

Using a freelance editor can be a great idea - if you use it as a learning experience. You need to do most of the work yourself. I think it's wasted money if you're counting on someone to fix your manuscript for you. The point is to get an experienced set of eyes on it to help you identify problems and figure out how to fix them.

Prior to being represented or having a contracted book, the best way to work with an editor is to have them give you notes on your book, but not make changes themselves in the manuscript. Then you can go back to your manuscript, grasp the reasons for the changes they're suggesting, and implement them, all the while learning how to make your book stronger. Hopefully you're going to take that new knowledge with you into writing the next book.

It can be very helpful for an editor to give you an evaluation of your first few chapters, so that you can then rework the entire manuscript according to what you learned. It's a terrific learning experience and can help you grow as a writer. It's almost like having a writing tutor.

If you get an agent and/or sell your first book based on a manuscript that has been heavily edited by others (or is the product of intense critique group feedback), plan to do the same thing with your second book before submitting to your agent or publisher. And your third book, etc. Over time you'll grow as a writer and become less dependent on outside help.

Many agents and editors are uncomfortable with writers having too much outside editorial help prior to being contracted, because it can mask a writer's true abilities. I'd hate to get you a 3-book contract with a publisher based on that stellar first book, only to find out that you had a ton of help with it and are not able to deliver that quality of book a second time.

Q4U: Have you hired an editor? Have you considered it? Do you think it's a good idea?

Rachelle Gardner is an agent with WordServe Literary Group based in Denver, Colorado. She live with her firefighter husband, two middle school-aged daughters and a fun-loving yellow lab at the breathtaking elevation of 7,000 feet in the shadow of the Rocky Mountains. When she's not reading, you can usually find her out running, hiking, skiing, or having coffee with her girlfriends.

Until next time,

December's Update

2010-12-20T07:30:00.024-06:00

I'm writing this a few days early, as I usually do. Today, Monday the 20th, is probably taking my family out of town on a job interview for my husband. (At the time of this writing, we're debating on the whole family going, or just TMOTH.) I'm also about to move (finally!) so I'll probably be brain-dead by Sunday night (the 19th.)

So.

My life has tried very hard to get in the way of my writing. What should have been an obstacle--my son landing in the hospital Thanksgiving week--actually turned into a blessing writing-wise. With him stuck in the hospital for observation, and me with him, I had plenty of nearly-uninterrupted hours to write (and watch the Burn Notice marathon on USA Thanksgiving Day.) This at least got me jump-started, so now, most of the scenes I needed to work on with Homebody are down on paper. I'm hopeful that if I'm in the car today (Monday), I'll be able to spend some time cleaning things up. As long as my brain's not too dead. We'll have to see about that one. ;)

When I have this all done, I'll be sending the draft off to one last crit partner in Pennsylvania, and then working on tweaking/perfecting my query letter. Yea!

What's up next after that? I haven't decided yet. I need to do some editing on my other projects, however, I'm kind of burnt out on editing. I really need to do some writing again--a fresh project, whether it's with new or old characters. I don't care which, I just want something new. I've got several unfinished projects I could choose from, and some new ideas I'm playing around with, so I've got a lot to pick from!

So, how about you? How are your current projects coming along? Have the holidays or life gotten in the way, or are you persisting through everything?

Christmas Isn't What It Used To Be

2010-12-13T07:00:00.004-06:00

Photo by DreAminginDigITal via DeviantArt.

I'm finding it harder as an adult to get into the Christmas spirit than it was when I was a kid. As a child, I couldn't wait to decorate the tree, start playing Christmas tunes, and of course there was Christmas morning. I have vivid memories of mornings where my parents had artfully arranged the gifts around the tree the night before. Every Christmas morning was magical.

Now, with divorced parents plus in-laws who want to see us, Christmas is, quite honestly, an energy drainer for me. I actually have begun to loathe the holiday season because it means that I don't get recharged and get through it feeling more exhausted than before.

I've tried to explain this to TMOTH (The Man of The House), but I'm not sure he really gets it. And while I understand his wanting to see family, I'm getting to be of the opinion that that's what family reunions are for. It's a drain to watch people open gifts, gorge themselves on too much food, and spend too little time honoring what the season is really supposed to be about: the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Maybe that's why the season is such a problem for me: we're focused on the wrong things. Instead of attending a church service together, we gorge ourselves on turkey with the trimmings. Of course none of us visit each others churches since none of us can agree on a church. (My church tends to close down for Christmas anyway, so there are Christmas Eve services--on three nights no less!--but nothing Christmas day.)

This year, let's try not to be so focused on having the "perfect" dinner, or finding the "perfect" gift for someone. In these rough economic times, it's best not to feel the added pressure that the season creates anyway. I know my own Christmas giving will be leaner this year. Focus instead on your immediate family. Be thankful--and express it!--to God for sending us His Son. Make a tradition you want to continue in your life. The pastor of my church, after the gift exchange, has a tradition of putting a discarded bow on his head, sitting under the tree, and reflecting on what God has given him as well as what he can give to God. Maybe that's something you could do as well.

I wish you the happiest of Christmases. I pray you find how truly blessed you are, regardless of how abundant or lean this year may be for you.

Please enjoy this Christmas tune. It's one of my favorites.

Until next time,

Crime Pays Better

2010-12-06T07:30:00.019-06:00

from Wikipedia.org

After being told by many, many people that I should watch ABC's Castle, I recently started catching it on Hulu. I love the line from the opening: "There are two kinds of folks who sit around planning how to kill people--psychopaths and mystery writers. I'm the kind that pays better."

That line alone drew me into the show.

From the time I became addicted to Nancy Drew, I've had a bit of a fascination with crime. Maybe that's why I tend to write mysteries over any other genre (even my science fiction stories are primarily mysteries, the setting puts them into the sci-fi category). I can spend hours reading the news about murders, robberies, carjackings. Sometimes, I come across a story that boggles my mind.

And despite the fact that I can, in theory, understand where the criminal is coming from as a writer, as a human being, I find myself wondering "how could they do that?"

Even though I write almost daily about murder and mayhem, I'm still relieved that I haven't been desensitized by my own research and can shake my head at what others do.

From =Falln-Stock at DeviantArt.com

For instance, a few years ago, there was a pregnant woman killed relatively nearby (within 100 miles of where I live). Her unborn baby was cut from the womb. The perpetrator had told her boyfriend or husband that she was pregnant, and after a while, needed a baby to "prove" things. As a writer, the story fascinated me. As a woman, it made me sick to my stomach, especially since it was around this time that my husband and I had started trying to have children.

Quite honestly, I think this split in my personality may make me a better writer. And I know for a fact it's led to some of my story ideas.

So even though crime may pay, I'm relieved that the only kind of crime I'll ever be paid for is the fictional kind. I'll just continue reading about the real-life crime, and leave the perpetrating to the ~~idiots~~ ~~psychopaths~~ criminals.

And because I love Castle's theme song so well, here's that ditty just for your own amusement. Enjoy!

Until next time,

Paranormalcy (a book review)

2010-11-29T08:00:00.068-06:00

I must admit right off the bat that I never read YA novels. Nor do I usually indulge in urban fantasy. (I have read a few books in that genre, but I won't mention them now.)

However, earlier this year, I was perusing the tweets of an agent I'm researching, and found she had a debut author with a book coming out this year. "Hmmm," I thought. That debut author is Kiersten White, and her book is Paranormalcy.


Photo from KierstenWhite.com

The blurb on the jacket reads:

"Evie’s always thought of herself as a normal teenager, even though she works for the International Paranormal Containment Agency, her ex-boyfriend is a faerie, she’s falling for a shape-shifter, and she’s the only person who can see through paranormals’ glamours.

But Evie’s about to realize that she may very well be at the center of a dark faerie prophecy promising destruction to all paranormal creatures.

So much for normal."

I really loved this book. Of course, being of a Christian persuasion, there were elements I fundamentally disagreed with, but for a pure entertainment value, I found this book fit the bill. When I set the book down, I pondered what was going to happen next, and ended up reading the last couple hundred pages in one sitting.

I could really identify with Evie. Since I was homeschooled, although not working for a paranormal containment agency, I felt the same emotions Evie did at that age by not having others her age around her, not being able to go to a prom, or have a "normal" life.

Evie has an awesome presence on the page. Her asides to the reader really add to her personality and realism.

If I would say there is one negative about this book is the fact that towards the end, it seems Evie doesn't grieve much for the loss of life (particularly for a friend). I'm not sure if this is just an oversight, or if this will be tackled more in the next book or not. (The next book, by the way is Supernaturally, due out next fall. I will be picking up a copy.)

You can pick up a copy of Paranormalcy pretty much anywhere, especially since it hit the New York Times Bestseller List for Children's Books. Amazon has it for $11.55, as well as a $9.99 Kindle version. It may be a good gift for your teen girl for Christmas, especially if she likes urban fantasy.

Until next time,

November's Update

2010-11-22T08:12:00.001-06:00

Okay, so I checked my blog to make sure today's post had been posted, and what do I find? I hadn't even written the blasted thing! So you're getting my freshest, pre-caffeine update here.

Long and the short of it: not much progress this month.

Sure, I've done my blog posts, both here and over at Christian Children's Book Review. And, I was able to get out one evening and work on a new scene in Homebody that needed to be added.

My Little Guy. Photo courtesy J. Smith Innovations

But quite honestly, since we found out about my son's illness, writing has come down off the priorities list from somewhere around #3 or #4 to maybe #6 or #7 (lower when I'm feeling pressure to find a new place to live.)

I know this is just a phase, and I'll eventually be able to pick up more steam, especially since I think we're seeing improvements with my son already, but it's still frustrating.

On the upside, a friend of mine and I had a conversation over the weekend that has me brainstorming on some freelance ideas that would merge my two passions: writing and politics. Maybe I'll be the next Michelle Malkin. (I'm not as bombastic as Ann Coulter.) So, those are good prospects. I'll have to see where that leads.

With the holidays coming up, I know I'll be in the car a bit more. Hopefully, that means I'll be able to spend some time on the trusty laptop and do some writing. (No, I don't get carsick.)

Anyway, there's my update. Please have a safe and happy Thanksgiving to all my American friends, and my out-of-the-country followers, enjoy your week.

Until next time,

What I'm Thankful For

2010-11-15T07:30:00.017-06:00

This month in the ChristianWriters.com blog chain, the theme is Thankfulness and Thanksgiving.

I had this post all ready to go a few weeks ago, and thought it was great, but now, I need to add this. I've left the rest of my original post below, but I need to get this first part off my chest.

This has been a very tough year for myself and my family. It seems we've had battle after battle, hurdle after hurdle since December last year. The most recent battles are coming on top of each other: selling our home/needing to move, and finding out our son has a condition called failure to thrive.

When days go like they've gone in the last week or so for me, it's tough to find much to be thankful for. Last Wednesday, my son was positively diagnosed with FTT (Failure to thrive). Tomorrow, we see a dermatologist about his problem eczema, the day after, back to his doctor to see if he's gaining weight. I've been so worried about my little guy that my daughter has started throwing more tantrums. *sigh* Makes writing a ~~difficult~~ impossible prospect.

For right now, I want to state I'm incredibly thankful for my doctor. She's calm, collected, and takes my concerns as a mom seriously. She's also proactive. I know where we're going with the treatment of my son, and as a mom, that's something I appreciate--I know what I can expect.

On days where things aren't going well, try to find the one bright spot in your life, no matter how dim it may be comparatively.

And now, my original post:

By ~NefaroStock at DeviantArt.com

First off, I'd like to remind folks that across America, there are falsehoods taught about the origins of Thanksgiving in public schools. Kids these days are often taught that the Pilgrims gave thanks to the Native Americans.

Nope. Nada. Uh-uh.

The Pilgrims gave thanks to Almighty God. My CW friend Tamera Lynn Kraft has a thumbnail sketch of the history at her blog. And, Rush Limbaugh has a chapter on it in his book, See, I Told You So. Both are accurate in their presentations.

This year, I have a lot to be thankful for. A year ago, I had one child. Today, I have two very beautiful children. At this time last year, I wasn't even aware I was pregnant. (This year, I'd better not be!) Both my children, though they can frustrate me to no end, bring a lot of joy to my life.

My husband and I celebrated eight years of wedded bliss this year. We've had our ups and downs, and this year has definitely been difficult for us, but I'm so thankful for my wonderful, sexy husband.

I'm very thankful that my elderly grandparents finally moved back to the city where they have family close by that can be over at their place in a matter of minutes rather than hours. My grandpa turned 90 this year, my grandma 87, and it's a blessing to have them closer--and that they can spend more time with their only great-grandchildren in this hemisphere. (They have a third in Asia, but that's another story.)

There's a lot more that I'm thankful for, but for now, I'll leave it at that. I hope over the next few weeks, you stop and ponder the meaning of thankfulness, and remember to thank God for the blessings in your life--even for the difficulties.

And be sure to tell those in your life how thankful you are for them. You never know--they may need to hear it.

Many Thanksgiving blessings.

Don't Label Your Characters

2010-11-08T07:30:00.003-06:00

In the last couple of years, I've been working hard on the rewrites of the novel I want to start pitching to agents in 2011. But, it wasn't until this summer that a crit partner pointed out that the way I described certain characters could, just possibly, border on racist.

When I read that, I was appalled. Me? A racist? Couldn't possibly be the case! But when I started looking at what he said and the areas he pointed it out in, the more I saw he could be right. How could I miss this?

In the October 2010 edition of The Writer, Lynn Capehart has an insightful piece just on this topic. In part, she states:

As fiction writers, we can show support for racial equality--or inequality--by the way we describe our characters, or, as is too often the case, the way we don't describe them. Many white writers, for instance, will be surprised to learn that they may be inadvertently supporting inequality by how they use race in describing people of color, as compared to white characters.

These writers, you see, will not mention race unless the character they are writing about isn't white.

The more I've pondered not just this statement, but the entire article, the more I think she's right. I can even think of some examples from books I've read by New York Times bestselling authors.

I've seen it in my own writing. In one of my projects, my main character's best friend as well as a business associate are black. Most of the rest of my cast are white (not all, but quite a bit.) Unless I mention how pale one of my characters is, I usually don't mention their race. I do, however, make note of those that aren't white.

There are white writers who let the reader figure out a character's race from subtle descriptive clues. Others don't bother with clues but still manage to convey the information. ... But as a rule, it would be nice if either everyone's race gets mentioned, or no one's does.

The last part of the statement rings out "pipe dream" to me. It would be nice if I had some chocolate to eat right now. But, the first part is what I'm honing in on. Subtle descriptive clues. What does that look like?

While Ms. Capehart didn't give an example in her article I would think of as good, I can think of a few of my own. For instance, in Homebody, I have a character named Tyrone. Some people have said that just by his name, they can tell he's African-American. But, I don't want to leave that to conjecture just based on his name, but I don't want to use labels either (more on that in a minute.) In one scene, I describe him as "NBA-sized". In another scene, he drags his hand through his close-cropped dark curls. While these descriptions could, possibly, be viewed as Caucasian, my bet is that won't be the case.

So, I've just illustrated descriptions (I hope!), what's a label and why shouldn't we use it? As Ms. Capehart relates, she was reading a story that originally ran in The New Yorker.

In the story, when two police officers enter a house, the white one is described without resorting to race, while the other is labeled "a Puerto Rican cop".

Can you see the difference? It's a crutch. How much ingenuity does it take to whip out a label? None. How much time would it take to describe the "Puerto Rican cop"? Maybe a minute. Wouldn't that minute be time well-invested in your story, and maybe, just maybe, help it stand out from the crowd? As Ms. Capehart states:

Writers are supposed to look at the world and blend their observations into their prose.

So, my challenge to you is to look closer at your characters (and the real-life people around you.) Don't give them short shrift. Give them the description they deserve--no matter their gender, race, color, or creed.

How can you improve your current work-in-progress to eliminate labels--both ethnic and non?

Until next time,

A Celebration of NaNo!

2010-11-01T07:30:00.016-05:00

National Novel Writing Month (or NaNoWriMo as it's affectionately called) has arrived!

Every November for the last decade or so, authors around the world have set aside the month to make a mad race at writing a 50,000 word novel. It's a lesson in tenacity, breaking rules, and, above all else, just writing. It's a way to break out of a writer's block routine. To just get your story down on paper (or in bytes.)

Last year, I wrote about 55,000 words on a novel called Beyond Dead. Since I'm still working on editing Homebody and Cora's Song, I haven't had a chance to do much more than clean up B.D. But I'm planning to work on it, probably in the second half of 2011.

I'm not planning to do NaNo this year. For some reason, every time I do NaNo (or something similar,) I end up getting pregnant. Can't take that risk this year!

However, I do wish those I know who are making that insane run at 50,000 the best. Know you can do it! I did it in 2009, finishing on Thanksgiving Day. Even being sick, and having several days where I didn't write. (Probably morning sickness, but I didn't find out I was pregnant until December. If I'd known, I'd probably have given up!)

Are you participating in NaNoWriMo?

Until next time,

For additional information, check out my post from last year. You can check out the NaNo website here.

Pitch It! (follow up)

2010-10-25T16:29:00.000-05:00

I redid my pitch based on some of the comments I received. I tried to add the changes in the body of my original post, but for some reason, Blogger doesn't like me today. So, here it is. Original first, then the redo.

Old:

Finding dead bodies is not what journalist-cum-real estate investor Amanda O'Flannigan had in mind when she changed careers. All she wanted was a distraction from the recent death of her fiancé. A man dying in her arms doesn't do much to help her grief.

As she investigates the man's death, she stumbles into a web of lies and half-truths. If anyone knows the full story behind the victim's life and death, they aren't sharing.

Rick Pierce has been in love with Amanda for a decade. A year and a half after the tragedy, Rick has worked up the nerve to tell Amanda how he feels. But with Amanda still lost in the past, how can he convince her he's the one she needs to be with?

The possibility of romance isn’t enough to erase the fact two convicts Amanda helped put away have escaped prison and are on a mission to find the woman who made their life hell. Intent on torturing and killing her, they're on a warpath to her doorstep. Are they responsible for the growing number of murders among Amanda's tenants?

As Amanda races to find the murderers and stop the men who want her dead, she must learn to look to her future. Rick will stop at nothing to make sure she sees that future realized.

New:

Finding dead bodies is not what journalist-turned-real estate investor Amanda O'Flannigan had in mind when she changed careers. All she wanted was a distraction from the recent death of her fiancé. A former tenant dying in her arms doesn't do much to help her grief. As she investigates the man's death, Amanda stumbles into a web of lies and half-truths.

Two convicts Amanda helped put away have escaped. Intent on torturing and killing her, they're on a warpath to her doorstep. Are they responsible for the growing number of murders among Amanda's tenants?

Enter Rick Pierce. He has been in love with Amanda for a decade. A year and a half after the tragedy, Rick has worked up the nerve to tell Amanda how he feels. With Amanda caught up in the past as she races to stop the men who want her dead, how will Rick make her see their future together?

So, what say you? Better? Worse?

Until next time,

Pitch It!

2010-10-25T06:00:00.005-05:00

For the October Christian Writers blog chain, we're pitching our novels! (Or doing a little tutorial on pitches.)

What is a pitch?

A pitch is basically a way to sell your novel. Think of it like the trailer to that movie you're going to go see because of the commercials you've seen on TV. It's a tease; it gives the reader an idea on what your book is about. Some authors now are making their own book videos (K.M. Weiland has an AWESOME one for her novel Behold the Dawn.) But, most readers aren't going to go track down your video; they're going to read the blurb on the jacket cover of your book at the bookstore.

Photo from DeviantArt's SixSecondsLess

That's essentially what a pitch is, something that a reader sees that whets their appetite to read your book. Or, as in my case, something to whet the appetite of an agent or editor.

This month, I'm sharing the pitch for my novel, Homebody. And, it's up to you, my lovely reader, to help me improve the pitch. Tell me if what I've written would make you want to read more. If it's sitting on the shelf next to Nora Roberts, would you choose mine or hers? (Or, name another of your favorite authors.)

I'm pulling this directly from the latest query I've drafted--so I need it to be good!

Homebody:

Finding dead bodies is not what journalist-cum-real estate investor Amanda O'Flannigan had in mind when she changed careers. All she wanted was a distraction from the recent death of her fiancé. A man dying in her arms doesn't do much to help her grief.

As she investigates the man's death, she stumbles into a web of lies and half-truths. If anyone knows the full story behind the victim's life and death, they aren't sharing.

Rick Pierce has been in love with Amanda for a decade. A year and a half after the tragedy, Rick has worked up the nerve to tell Amanda how he feels. But with Amanda still lost in the past, how can he convince her he's the one she needs to be with?

The possibility of romance isn’t enough to erase the fact two convicts Amanda helped put away have escaped prison and are on a mission to find the woman who made their life hell. Intent on torturing and killing her, they're on a warpath to her doorstep. Are they responsible for the growing number of murders among Amanda's tenants?

As Amanda races to find the murderers and stop the men who want her dead, she must learn to look to her future. Rick will stop at nothing to make sure she sees that future realized.

So, what do you think? Would you want to take this book home?

Until next time,

Writing Update: October

2010-10-18T07:00:00.050-05:00

By *NoCompletion on DeviantArt.com

I must admit that I started the last month with many good intentions. My goals included editing the entirety of Homebody and getting out to a friend via snail mail. As of this writing, I've gotten about 1/4 of the way through the editing, and haven't been able to send the draft out.

Part of the problem is my own laziness; I've been derelict in my duties as a writer.

But, part of the problem is the fact that my husband and I found out a few weeks ago that we'll be moving by the end of the year. We'd put our house on the market, and in late September, got a contract. So, now I'm packing and looking for a new place to live. Ugh. (This last comment comes from the part of me that hates any form of change.)

I have made some headway, I'll say that much. Just not as much as I wanted by this point. And my brain is working overtime coming up with ideas for plot and character changes. Unfortunately, thinking is not doing. I must start doing more. (Makes me think of Yoda: "Do. Or do not. There is no try." Yeah, I need more discipline from the Jedi Master.)

I have had the pleasure of attending the Muse Online Writers Conference last week. Man, did that kick my butt in gear! And it was a good diversion to potty training my daughter and wrangling three dogs (two more than normal since I was babysitting my mom's dogs.) At least I was able to refine my understanding of grammar, learn more about blogging and Facebook fan pages (did you notice the subtle change to the blog? And, I now have a fan page on FB!) All good things, but they didn't get me any editing done.

Anyway, despite the anticipated trials of the next few months (especially since we're gearing up for holiday season), I'm going to do what I can to set aside some time on a daily and/or weekly basis to work on my projects. I really want to be able to start submitting to agents come January 2011. And the only way that's going to happen is if I have a polished manuscript.

With that, I'd better get back to work.

Until next time,

Dissection: A Date You Can't Refuse

2010-10-11T07:00:00.055-05:00

Several years ago, I stumbled across the books by Harley Jane Kozak featuring sleuth Wollie Shelley. The books are only released about every two to three years, and I requested a copy of the latest, A Date You Can't Refuse, from my library before it released. That was in 2009. Early 2009.

Fortunately, I'm the patient sort, and I finally got my copy a few weeks ago, just before I went on vacation, which gave me ample time to devour the book.

In earlier books, it's made clear that Wollie (short for, I believe, Wollstonecraft) is a woman in her 30s, unmarried, and is feeling the pressure of a ticking biological clock. By the third book, she finally has gotten into a relationship with FBI agent Simon Alexander. This one seems to be lasting, except for the fact that he's on a long-term undercover assignment. Recipe for conflict!

Wollie, in the latest offering, has been offered a job by Yuri Milos, whom she knows because she sat on the jury of a trial in which he was the defendant. After the trial is over, she's offered the job, and shortly after that, one of Simon's associates approaches her about accepting the job in order to feed them information. Simon knows nothing of this. And when he finds out she accepted a job with the notorious Milos... well, let's just say he was less than happy.

Our heroine needs the money and some of the benefits that are being used to lure her into accepting the spying aspect by the FBI, however. And although she's not good at lying, she finds she must learn to do so in order to do her jobs.

Can't you see how this situation is ripe for conflict? I sure did! Even while I was in the middle of reading the book, I couldn't help but think that it would make a good book to use for a book dissection post. Of course, all fiction must have some conflict, but it seemed to me that Wollie was dogged by it every sentence of every page.

While the relationships in the book are important (it's a series--isn't that what most series are really about, the relationships?) the mystery holds its own. The two deaths in the book happen off screen, so to speak, starting with the woman who held Wollie's job previously, then her boyfriend, who was convinced that his girlfriend was murdered. Until the end of the book, you're never quite sure why the girlfriend was killed, and there were enough hints that while you may be able to put the puzzle together, you need quite a few pieces in order to do so.

What I learned:

Conflict, conflict, conflict. That was probably the key thing I learned in this book, that it needed to be EVERYWHERE. Okay, maybe not learned (I know this--I've been writing fiction for over 15 years.) But, it was definitely reinforced. From the time Wollie's approached by Yuri until she has her confrontation with the murderer, she's in conflict with someone. Simon, her brother, her friends, herself, Yuri, people she works with both in the civilian job and in the FBI--it's everywhere. And she needs to be able to lie, and feels physically incapable of pulling it off!

I also could see the value of having good resources to go to. Ms. Kozak obviously had to be speaking with a lot of people to pull this book off, and her acknowledgments page supports this. While she doesn't name everyone's role in helping her book, the names list is quite exhaustive. Looks like I'll be making some calls soon to do further interviews and tours! And tapping some of the online-human resources I've made over the years...

As a reader, I'd recommend this book if you enjoy works by Janet Evanovich. While not as crazy as the Stephanie Plum world, I'd say that Wollie's got quite a nutty world to live in.

Until next time,

Write What You DON'T Know

2010-10-04T07:00:00.007-05:00

My writing friend K.M. Weiland recently asked on Twitter what the worst piece of writing advice you've ever received is.

I had a prompt response:

Write what you know.

While this piece of advice is common in writer's circles, I'd have to say my stories would be pretty boring if I wrote about what I know. Who really wants to read about a stay-at-home mom nursing her infant son or trying to figure out how to get hand lotion out of her two-year-old's curly locks? Sounds pretty boring to me--and I've done both of these in the last 24 hours.

I write mystery and science fiction. Have I ever stumbled over a dead body? As long as you don't count the funerals I've gone to, no. Have I ever solved a crime? No. Have I ever flown in space? Okay, that one could get a varied response based on who you ask--some may say I'm a space cadet. Technically, the answer is no. (Not that I wouldn't if offered!)

I've done all these things while writing, yet I have no personal knowledge of any of them.

Research is the answer. Even a romance book requires some research. Unless a writer was raised in an Amish or closed community, how else are they going to know how to write so-called "bonnet romances"? Research. If I need to know the difference between a Glock G26 and a Saturday Night Special, what do I do? Research.

My point is that instead of "writing what we know," the creative use of research allows us as writers to fill in the blanks that we don't know, sometimes with mundane, but most of the time with interesting facts we've discovered. It gives us a chance to get it right: talking to a homicide detective about how they solve a crime, for instance.

My local writing buddy, Juliet Kincaid, taught a lesson at a Sisters in Crime meeting a few years ago. I wish she had that lesson online so I could share it with you, but it basically shared some creative places to do your research. She writes primarily historical mysteries, so she makes good use of librarians--I would never have thought of asking a librarian before her talk!

For more on research, I highly recommend this post by K.M. Weiland.

So, going back to K.M.'s question, what's the worst piece of writing advice you've ever received?

Until next time,

P.S. K.M. Weiland covered this topic as well yesterday her blog. Check it out here.

Cast Your Novel!

2010-09-27T05:00:00.049-05:00

With the fact that one of my favorite book series' is finally being made into a movie (the Plum novels by Janet Evanovich), and everyone's been cast, I thought we'd discuss who we'd cast to play our main characters in our novels (published or unpublished) if they were made into a movie. I know this can be controversial if you're a well known author (they picked who to play XYZ character from that book? That's completely wrong! I didn't picture them like that!)

But, this is just for fun. I'll start off, then everyone can join in. Please share the name of your book (if you desire--this isn't required), the name (first only) of the character you're casting, and the person you'd like to play them. You can choose as many characters from as many of your books as you want.

And, if you want, for fun, you can cast the lead character of one of your favorite books. :) Have fun with this!

For Homebody, I'm going to cast Amanda and Rick, my lead characters. I actually haven't given much thought to my other projects, so for now, I'll just post for Homebody.

For Amanda, I picture her as Anne Hathaway. Ms. Hathaway has a down to earth appearance, though quite beautiful, and from what I've seen of her acting, could pull off the range of emotions I've put Amanda through in Homebody.

Photo of Ms. Hathaway from: http://annehathawayfan.com/images/albums/Events/2010/05%2023%20Drama%20Desk%20Awards/normal_hq_009.jpg

Rick is a bit of a different casting choice. This actor struck me as the perfect Rick the moment I saw him. No way around it, he'd be the perfect choice, and probably the only one I'd allow if I had a hand in the casting of my book. The actor is Jeffrey Donovan. While he currently stars in Burn Notice, which is a primarily an action series, I've spotted him in other roles since I started watching the show (Hitch, for instance, with Will Smith). I think he would have the versatility as an actor to portray Rick who, while he's not the most macho of men, has his moments in my book.

Photo of Mr. Donovan was procured from: http://jeffreydonovanfans.com/gallery/albums/userpics/normal_jeffrey-donovan.jpg

An aside, I also think that if Vince Flynn's Mitch Rapp series were cast, Mr. Donovan would make an awesome Mitch Rapp. He's shown an aptitude for action, so pulling off that role should be no sweat for him.

Okay, now it's your turn!

Until next time,

Writing Update: September

2010-09-20T06:45:00.032-05:00

I thought as a way to keep myself honest and to offer encouragement to others, I'd try to do a monthly update on my writing projects and what I'm attempting to accomplish. I'm going to plan to do this on the 3rd Monday of each month, but it may occasionally be more or less frequent.

Photo from: everRiviere via DeviantArt

Truth be told, lately I'm feeling a little discouraged. Everything I'm trying to do is taking a lot longer to do than it should. (It would help if I wouldn't get distracted by games--have you figured out how addictive Spider Solitaire and Soduku are??) In the winter, I'd hoped to have my book Homebody out to agents before I had my baby.

Little Xander was born in July. He'll be two months old tomorrow.

I'm still editing.

I was fortunate to finish reviewing a critique while on vacation at the beginning of the month and taking appropriate action on it, but as of this writing, I'm still working on the second critique. Then, I've got someone who's agreed to do a critique of it if I mail her a copy. *sigh* Maybe by Christmas, this book will be ready to go out to agents. Which may mean that a couple agents I'm wanting to target may be reopened to queries, so that could be a good thing.

In the interim, I've got two other projects that are sitting: Cora's Song and Beyond Dead. I've started the rewrite on Cora's Song, and it's coming along, though I stopped working on it for a while right before my son was born. Beyond Dead I thought I may be able to find time to whip into shape so it could go to Port Yonder Press in January when they open up submissions.

Right now, I'll feel lucky if it makes it there for 2012 submissions.

On the good front right now, I continue to write reviews for Christian Children's Book Review, and I feel that's going well. Getting back into the swing of things where that's concerned after having my son have been interesting, but I'm sure I'll get the hang of it before much longer.

Other than that, I can't think of anything. Just need to keep my nose to the grindstone and get things done--difficult when one is managing a household and raising two kids under two years of age!

Until next time,

School and the Impact on a Writer

2010-09-19T06:00:00.001-05:00

Okay, I did it again! I'm participating in the ChristianWriters.com blog chain (see links on the right for the full roll). This may turn into a regular thing, so stay tuned.

Photo from: LeoNn via DeviantArt

September's topic is "It's All About School".

I had what you'd call a "unique" school experience. From kindergarten through 5th grade, I went to public schools. After that, I was home-schooled until my parents split up, which happened to be in my senior year. Technically, I never finished high-school (there, I've said it publicly!) because my parents never ordered my final year's curriculum, and I don't have a diploma or GED. However, I did go to college and completed my degree in Journalism.

Having that "unique" experience has definitely shaped me. If I'm not careful, I revert to a hermit state, which is good for the writer, but not so hot for relationships. I hated being home-schooled, and spent much of that time as a hermit, leaving my house for the rare doctor's appointment, 4-H meetings, to go to the library, and when I was forced to leave by either of my parents. (That's probably an exaggeration, but not much.)

That alone time coupled with the fact that, since I was home-schooled, I had more time on my hands meant my imagination had a lot of room to roam. Most of my reading material consisted of Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys, thus feeding my mind with adventurous capers and mysteries, plus a little bit of romance thanks to Nancy and Ned, and occasionally Nancy and Frank Hardy in the so-called "Supermysteries" that were produced in the 1990s.

When the publisher began slowing down their output of the books, I had to do something! I turned to fan fiction. Shortly thereafter, when I realized what was happening and there wouldn't be any new books, I decided I'd create my own stories and characters. It was in my mid-teens that the character Amanda O'Flannigan was born, who stars in some of the stories I write now. While Amanda was most decidedly a clone of Nancy at the time, she's changed over the 12 - 15 years I've been working with her, becoming more sophisticated and complex. Other than physical looks, she's nothing like the original I wrote about all those years ago.

Photo from: IvanJS via DeviantArt

It's all because of school. Had I not been home-schooled, I may not have discovered my love of writing, at least not so early in my life. So while I still lambaste my own experiences, and I still wish some things had been different, I do have to acknowledge that I may not have become who I am now--a writer--had I not had those experiences.

And you know what? I don't think I'd change that one bit. Not even if it meant I'd been able to go to a prom, graduate with my peers, be able to go to a high school reunion (which my 10th reunion would have been this year, come to think of it.) I like who I've become.

Until next time,

Keep an Eye on the Stupid Things

2010-09-13T05:00:00.038-05:00

Through the experience of submitting work to agents/editors and having work submitted to me as a free-lance and PYP editor (and from having a friend/crit partner/mentor who knows all), I’ve learned some interesting points. Most of them you can find on any good blog or website, but few folks write about the “stupid things” that can trip you up.

Linda Yezak

I’m not going to say that these things can keep your manuscript from being accepted, but by the time your masterpiece hits the submission trail it should be spit-shine perfect. It should reflect not just your writing abilities, but also your professionalism. Finding too many of these unprofessional “stupid things” in someone’s piece can tip the scales of whether I will accept the work or not–and I’m just a newbie with few submissions. Can you imagine what it’s like for a seasoned pro with hundreds of submissions a week?

So, after you’ve perfected all the major stuff that makes up a great novel and before you pray over your piece and send it out, check for some of the stupid things:

Chapter Headings–make sure they’re uniform all the way through. That includes having them on same place on the page. If you type Chapter One on line sixteen, then all the chapters should be on line sixteen, too. If you type Chapter 1 on the first page, don’t have Chapter Thirty on page 385. If you have chapter titles, don’t have chapter one’s title Like This and chapter thirty’s title Like this. Uniform location, type, capitalization and font all the way through.

Numbers–in general, these should be spelled out. Of course, there are exceptions. No one expects you to type out seven hundred thirty-seven million, five hundred thousand fifty-three. I’m not even sure how to do it. Where do the commas go?

Generally, numbers under 101 should be spelled out. Different style manuals have different rules, so consult the manual preferred by the agent/publisher you’re submitting to. (Port Yonder Press prefers The Chicago Manual of Style, the heavy hitter of most publishing companies, while many Christian publishers prefer The Christian Writer’s Manual of Style. One or both of these should be on every writer’s desk–or at least a copy of Polishing the “PUGS” by Kathy Ide, which hits the high points of most major style manuals including Chicago and Christian Writer’s.)

Contemporary Jargon–until the powers that be recognize “alright,” it’s not all right to use. Spell it out in its two-word form. “Okay” is different. Sometimes it’s okay to use OK, but usually the preference is to spell it out. Again, check your style manual and the preference of the folks you’re submitting to.

Holy Pronouns–if you write Christian fiction and refer to our Savior and Lord, decide early whether you’re going to capitalize Him and stick with it. And not just “Him,” but You and His also. Jesus shouldn’t be the Messiah in one place and the messiah in another, Savior here and savior there. Check your manual; be consistent.

Only–this word can be an adverb, adjective or conjunction, but the placement can change a sentence’s meaning entirely. Watch how you’re using it; make sure you’re modifying the word you intend to modify.

Using the example I found on Dictionary.com (“I cook only on weekends”), I’ll show you the difference in meaning with different placements of “only.”

    Only I cook on weekends (no one else cooks on weekends).
    I only cook on weekends (I don’t do anything else but cook).
    I cook only on weekends (I don’t cook during the week).

Punctuation–this is a biggie. I’m going to assume you know how to punctuate a sentence, so let’s get to some of the annoying things.

Overuse–ellipses and dashes can be overused so easily, and when they are, they lose their effectiveness. In dialogue, ellipses are used when a thought tapers off, and dashes are used to illustrate an interruption. In prose, dashes are used to set off a thought, idea or something that would otherwise be parenthetical. Exclamation points should rarely be used. They illustrate shouting, anger, excitement, but overuse dilutes their power.

Quotation Marks–unless you use italics, full quotes should be used around “things” you want to set apart in your sentence in prose. Not partial ‘quotes’ but the “real deal.” Also, periods and commas go inside the quote. Other punctuation has different rules depending on whether they’re part of the quote or speaker’s dialogue. While we’re at it, keep an eye out for open quotes: In dialogue or any time you use quotation marks, be sure you close the quotes.

Apostrophe Direction–this is the one few ever pay attention to. I never did, until I read about it in one publisher’s submission instructions. This is obviously somebody’s pet peeve, and can be one of the stupid things that’ll trip you up. But I seriously doubt it’ll prevent acceptance.

You use the apostrophe when you’re leaving out a letter in a word or making a contraction, and usually it’s faced in the right direction. But when you’re omitting the first letter, the apostrophe is faced in the wrong direction. It’s a pain, but it’s not too difficult to change ‘nough said to ’nough said. Just type ‘’ together and delete the first one. Okay, okay, I know. Petty, picky, peevish. But now that you’ve read this, I bet it’ll drive you nuts too.

This micro-proof reading should be the last thing you do before you pray over your work so all the corrections you’ve made will be checked, too.

Good luck!

Linda Yezak is a two-time finalist in ACFW’s Genesis Contest as well as a two-time judge in the contest and a judge for smaller competitions. She has been published in Christian Romance Magazine and her review of Riven by Jerry Jenkins was published on the Tyndale website for the book (under the “Reviews” tab). Linda writes blog posts for several sites including AuthorCulture, 777 Peppermint Place, PeevishPenman and VibrantNation. Her first novel, Give the Lady a Ride is currently being considered for publication. She is an editor for Port Yonder Press, a small, traditional publishing company, and a free-lance editor.

Thanks so much for sharing your pet peeves, Linda! Apostrophe direction drives me insane, too, so I shut off "curly quotes" in Word when I'm writing--it keeps the direction neutral!

And for you, my delightful reader, I hope you've enjoyed this respite with our guest bloggers. I'll be back two weeks from now with a fun little post before I get back to the important business of harder-hitting posts. Thanks for your support and readership during these few months as my family and I have adjusted to having another child in the house!

Until next time,

Winner of "The Women in Jesus' Life"

2010-09-07T08:27:00.000-05:00

Hello, dear readers!

I want to thank Mindy again for being so gracious and agreeing to an interview, as well as the giveaway for her book. I apologize for the lateness of this winner announcement; I was on vacation last week, without easy access to the internet.

Anyway, my toddler did the honors this morning, and our winner is...

Tracy Krauss!

Tracy, please contact me through the "Contact Me" box on the right with your mailing address and we'll get your book out to you.

Thanks to everyone!

We've got one more guest post coming up from Linda Yezak this coming Monday (please make her feel welcome), then we'll resume whatever normalcy Word Wanderings has had in the past. I see a post reviewing the book "A Date You Can't Refuse" by Harley Jane Kozak in our future, and my thoughts on conflict with it.

Until next time,

The Women in Jesus' Life

2010-08-30T06:00:00.039-05:00

I was honored recently to receive a request to review a new Bible study: The Women in Jesus' Life by Mindy Ferguson. Mindy was gracious enough to agree to an interview in tandem with my review.

Liberty Speidel: Why did you decide to write “The Women in Jesus’ Life”?

Mindy Ferguson: I taught an evening women’s Bible class for about seven years. Most of the women worked and I noticed that they often struggled to finish their homework when we did in-depth Bible studies that required a lot of Bible reading and questions. I also noticed that the majority of the women felt like they couldn’t measure up to all of the expectations or meet the many needs of their families, employers, and friends. It was clear to me that a study with a lighter amount of homework that emphasized the depth of Jesus’ love for them was needed. As I prayed about that need, my attention was drawn to the compassionate and loving way Jesus treated the women He encountered during His life and ministry. Inspired, I wrote The Women in Jesus’ Life for the women in my class. I found the lessons generated rich, open discussion. Women came to class each week feeling affirmed and encouraged, anxious to share how they related to the women they had studied during the week. It was a special time with a special group of women.

LS: What kind of research did you do? How did the research impact how you decided to present this study?

MF: I did my best to step into the sandals of the women we studied each week. I researched the culture, as well as the attitudes of and about the women of the time. I imagined myself in each woman’s circumstance and attempted to feel the emotions she might have felt. Then I related those circumstances to the situations women face today. I wanted the study to stir women’s minds as well as their hearts. By keeping the lessons short, I was hoping the women in my class would be able to complete their lessons. They did. I was encouraged by what I learned and it blessed me greatly to see group feeling affirmed and excited about the material.

LS: Did anything you learned surprise you?

MF: What surprised me most is the important roles women served in Jesus’ ministry. Many of them supported Him by their own means. Jesus first spoke of Himself as the Messiah to the Woman at the Well. The first person to see the risen Christ was Mary Magdalene. Jesus always treated women with dignity and He enabled them to participate in His work while He walked this earth, just as He does today.

LS: What did writing this study teach you?

MF: I gained a greater sense of the depth of Jesus’ love and mercy.

LS: For the writers, how is writing a Bible study such as “The Women in Jesus’ Life” different from writing a different kind of book, whether it’s fiction or non-fiction.

MF: I’ve always considered myself more of a Bible student than a writer. I think it is important to allow God’s Word to teach His Word. Writing a Bible study is more like guiding a friend through Scripture and allowing her to discover the sweetness of God, the vastness of His power, and the consistency of His commands for herself. Rather than painting all of the details, like you might do as you develop characters and create scenarios when writing fiction, a Bible study writer paints a picture with broader strokes and allows the Word of God to bring out details that convict or encourage.

LS: What do you hope women gain most from this study?

MF: I hope that their hearts will be touched by Jesus’ lavish love for them and their minds would be engaged as they learn new information and read familiar passages of Scripture in this fresh context.

______

In reading and working through the Bible study, I've found it to be a study that not only teaches me about the women in the Gospels, but gives me a new perspective on Jesus. The passages utilized are typically ones I've never heard unpacked before, or ones I've never seen from such a point of view. But the questions asked in the study really make me as a woman dig deep into myself and further explore my own relationship with Christ. There were many points where I couldn't honestly answer a question without thinking about it for several minutes, hours, or even a day or two.

That said, this is a study I would love to do with a group of other women. It would also probably be a great study for a MOPS (Mothers of Pre-Schoolers) group. I recommend this book to any woman who wants to dig deeper into the lives of the women in the New Testament.

Mindy Ferguson

In a world that urges us to live for ourselves, Mindy Ferguson encourages women to live for Christ. She founded Fruitful Word Ministries in April 2003 and is passionate about encouraging women of all denominations to develop a more intimate and fruitful relationship with Jesus Christ through the study of God's Word.

Mindy stumbled her way into the arms of Christ at the age of twenty-six. She speaks nationally at women's events and at retreats as one who understands the tug of worldly passions and the emptiness of selfish ambition. Her writings have appeared in Christianity Today's Kyria.com, the P31 Woman magazine, Just Between Us magazine, Chicken Soup for the Mother of Preschooler's Soul, and the One Year Life Verse Devotional. Mindy is the author of the in-depth Bible study, Walking with God: From Slavery to Freedom; Living the Promised Life. Mindy latest book, Hugs Bible Reflections for Women, is now available in bookstores.

Mindy lives in a suburb of Houston, Texas with her husband of twenty-two years and their daughter. Their son is currently attending college in Bryan, Texas. You can find out more about Mindy at her website and blog.

Thanks, Mindy, for letting me review this book, and offering up a copy to one of my lucky readers.

Interested in a copy of The Women in Jesus' Life? Leave a comment in this post for a chance to win! You can also purchase a copy for $9.99 through Amazon.com. The giveaway will close midnight CDT on Labor Day (Sept. 6, 2010), and the winner will be announced sometime on Sept. 7.

Until next time,

HOW COULD YOU DO THAT?!?

2010-08-23T05:00:00.019-05:00

Tony Lavoie

"HOW COULD YOU DO THAT?!?"

"Do what?"

"You killed her! You killed my favorite character! I loved her and you killed her! How could you do that to me?"

"I had to. THE STORY demanded it."

"What do you mean, the story demanded it? You're the author, for Pete's sake! You could have killed off the other one. I like him too, but you killed off the character I loved most!"

"Not 'the story', 'THE STORY'. In capitals. Yes, I could have killed off a different character, but that wouldn't have been true to THE STORY. It would have broken it."

"You're cold. Cruel and cold."

"I'm not cold."

"You're cold and heartless and you're the author, for Pete's sake! You're writing the thing, so you can change anything you want!"

"I can't. I have to write THE STORY as it happens. I'd be a liar otherwise."

"I loved her and you killed her. How could you do that to me?"

"I didn't do it to you. I wrote it that way because--"

"I know I know! Because THE STORY demanded it. I get it. You can't change it because you'd break the story."

"Please don't mock me."

"I'm not. I'm sorry. I'm just hurting. It hurt to read that. A lot. You have no idea how much."

"I know how much it hurt."

"How could you? How can you even write something like that unless you don't feel it?"

"I do feel it. As much as it hurt you to read it, you only had to read it once. I had to write it. I had to live her death in my head over and over as I wrote it and re-wrote it and edited it and edited it again. When she died, I wept. I still shed tears every time I read the scene. Every time the orphanage is attacked, I weep for the children suddenly swept from their home. Every time my starfighter pilot blacks out and has those terrible, despairing visions, I feel her pain. Every time my pirate breaks his leg, I cry out silently. When Dumbledore falls, I fall. When the Galactica's back snapped, I cringed. When Obi-Wan's heart breaks over the loss of his brother Anakin, my heart breaks. I feel. Sometimes I think writers feel more than readers do, in general. Or maybe we just feel things more closely."

"How can you write things like that and not break down? You described every bit of her death, her pain, and his pain at losing her. It took three pages! Didn't that hurt to write?"

"Terribly. There were times I had to take a break from writing for a while because it hurt so much. It took a long time to write that one guy's despair over his loss in the previous book, because I had to put my pen down every now and then so I could regroup."

"Pen? You mean laptop."

"Figuratively speaking. I'm a writer...I'm allowed to use metaphors."

"I never saw you feeling down like that."

"It passes quickly. I make a decision before going into a dark or troubling scene to stop when it becomes too dark or intense, and come back to it later. I make sure I have bright and happy things to come out to, like my kids, or some time on the lake, or a good film or something. All of that helps me cope with the darkness."

"Darkness? Isn't that a bit melodramatic?"

"A bit. I'm a writer, remember?"

"So why write stuff like that if it hurts so much?"

"Because THE STORY demands it. We are creatures of emotion. If I had written the scene without emotion, you wouldn't have read it. Well, not with the same impact, anyway. It wouldn't have meant as much to you, therefore it would have been a broken story."

"Don't you mean STORY?"

"Heh. No. Because at that point it would have ceased to be THE STORY and would have become merely a story."

"I don't know. I think it could have been written a little less painfully."

"Finish reading it. Without bringing you to this low, the high that's coming wouldn't mean as much."

"It gets better?"

"Read on. I think you won't be disappointed. If THE STORY demanded this much pain and loss and despair, don't you think it might also demand an equal or even greater measure of joy and laughter and light?"

"Really? There's joy coming? I can't imagine feeling joy after her death."

"No, but THE STORY can. Give it a chance. Read the rest."

"Okay, I'll finish it. But you'd better not hurt me this much again in any other stories!"

"No promises. It all depends on what THE STORY demands."

"So if you feel pain while you write pain, you must also feel joy when you write joy, then."

"Yes, well, that's the theory anyway."

----

Tony Lavoie is a sometime writer of fiction--at least, in his own mind, which, admittedly, isn't always the most reliable of machines. After all, he also sometimes steps out of his door at night and gets lost in the stars.

When his feet are planted on the Earth, he can occasionally be found at http://papergizmo.com. If he's not there, just leave a message. He'll get back to you as soon as the stars let him go. While you're there, though, you should read his published stories.

Thanks for guest blogging, Tony!

Last, but not least, of our guest bloggers is up next in September: Linda Yezak. Stay tuned for her post, as well as another review in the next couple weeks.

Until next time,

Finding Time to Write

2010-08-09T05:00:00.040-05:00

A writer must make time to write every day. Even if she can only peck out a few words or sentences, it’s better than not writing at all.

What of the writer who, like me, has a day job? I come home tired, yet I have to fix dinner or risk starvation. The laundry monster roars, cats demand food, litter boxes need scooping and …

The list is endless.

Yet, I’m still supposed to write?

Absolutely!

True, those of us who work have less time than stay-at-home writers, but it can be done.

Carry a tape recorder with you. Record those ideas as they come and get them on paper later. Think about your manuscript while shopping for groceries, on your commute, or while you’re brushing your teeth. Sometimes my best ideas come to me while I’m in the shower.
If you have a laptop, take it to work with you. On your lunch break, find a private location and get busy. If you don’t own a laptop, print out the latest chapter and edit it while you eat your bologna sandwich.
One writer I met uses Documents To Go on her BlackBerry. The app has a Word document, and while her car’s getting an oil change, or when she’s waiting at the doctor’s office, she works on her manuscript. Once she gets home, she uploads to her desktop computer. Another writer takes her laptop to her kid’s soccer games.
Set a time every day and dedicate it to writing, even if you can only manage thirty minutes. If time is a problem, set a word count goal. You’d be surprised how fast 250 words a day (about one page, double spaced) can add up.
Turn off the TV.

If writing is important to you, you must make time for it. But it does call for dedication. Sometimes it requires a firm voice to family members, or a lock on your office door.

Billy Crystal’s character in Throw Mama from the Train said, “A writer writes. Always.” So, what are you waiting for? Shake the muse awake.

And start writing.

Lorna wrote her first story when she was twelve years old. In 1992 Country Extra magazine published one of her short stories. She writes a blog, Myriad Musings, and is working on a novel called Wounded Hearts.

Until next time,

Winner of "A Tidbit Romance"

2010-08-02T10:34:00.000-05:00

Okay, somehow last week got away from me. I completely forgot about the giveaway!

Better late than never, eh?

Well, our winner is none other than....

Cindy R. Wilson!!!

Congratulations, Cindy! Please contact me through the "Contact Me" link in the column to the right with your mailing address. I'll make sure you get a copy of this great devotional just as quick as can be.

Thanks so much! And, look for another review of a new Bible study on August 30.

Until next time,

Take Your Writing to the Next Level

2010-07-26T05:00:00.004-05:00

Learning to write fiction well is a process. There are so many details of grammar and style that trying to learn them all at once is overwhelming. Instead, consider it an ongoing “continuing education” class. No matter where you are in the process, there’s always something else you can learn or perfect.

LEVEL 1: The first step in taking your writing to the next level is to get your writing out there—let others read it. By that, I mean other writers. Friends and family can give you reader feedback, but they can’t give you the specifics about what you’re doing right and wrong.

The best place to get feedback when you’re beginning to write is a critique group (either local or on-line). I can’t say enough about how much they can offer. My first critique group practically taught me fiction style from the ground up. It was tough getting critiques back with all kinds of color marking errors and denoting long comments. But I took their teaching to heart and began applying it. It took a while—and many more tough critiques—but eventually they went from pointing out basic errors to asking me when I’d be sending the next chapter because they couldn’t wait to read more.

At this level, it’s also a good idea to read as many books on the craft of writing as you can get your hands on. Joining writing groups (both local and on-line) is also beneficial. There is a great wealth of knowledge available through other writers. Soak it up like a sponge!

LEVEL 2: When I reached a level where other writers began to enjoy my writing, that didn’t mean I had “arrived.” I still had much more to learn. I had another major revision to go through, along with some tweaking and a several complete rewrites of the first two chapters before my writing was good enough to catch the eye of an agent. During this time, the feedback from my critique group was still extremely important. Instead of pointing out basic stylistic and grammatical errors, however, they focused on deeper issues: goal/motivation/conflict, deep POV, motivation-reaction units, and character development, among others.

At this intermediate level, it’s also good to enter some contests to get feedback from professionals. It’s also an excellent time to find a mentor or hire a professional to critique your work. Either option connects you to someone who can help you navigate through these deeper issues.

LEVEL 3: Getting an agent is an awesome accomplishment, but isn’t the top level…neither is publishing your first book. There’s still more to learn. We need to work on the issues where we know we’re weak. We can polish our voice and our style. And anyone who has ever worked with an editor knows that they almost always suggest changes that will make your
novel even better. Learn from them and apply these lessons to your future novels.

Even at this level, being a part of a critique group or having several trusted critique partners can be very valuable. There are also a variety of editorial services available to help you polish your manuscript.

LEVEL 4: Even multi-published authors need to be open to learning. It never hurts to review the basics. A good way to do this is to work with newer authors in some way. Mentoring or critiquing or teaching are good options. It helps keeps you sharp. Also, the publishing industry is constantly changing. Styles come and go, and writers need to be aware of what the current trend is. If you’ve always written with omniscient POV, but the industry is moving towards third-person POV, you might find yourself left behind if you’re not willing to continue learning and growing.

AT ALL LEVELS there are good courses available. Most are short-term and focus on only one issue at a time, which makes them easier to digest. Attending writing conferences is also something good to do no matter what level you’re at. There’s something for everyone at these conferences. The key, no matter what level you’re at, is a willingness to keep learning.

Suzanne Hartmann is the author of the pre-published books, THE RACE THAT LIES BEFORE US and DISAPPEARING MOM. She is an editor with Port Yonder Press and offers her own critique service. She also blogs about the craft of writing at: http://suzanne-hartmann2.blogspot.com.

Thanks, Suzanne, for guest blogging today!

Until next time,

GIVEAWAY: A Tidbit Romance

2010-07-23T05:00:00.069-05:00

When Erin Coss contacted me and asked me to be an advance reader for A Tidbit Romance, I was a bit mystified, but thrilled to be asked. I usually don't do reviews for devotionals, and quite honestly, I don't read them very often. However, when the ARC came in the mail, I nearly jumped up and down in anticipation.

While my reading schedule is haphazard at best, what with doing kids' reviews over at CCBR, reading works for other writer's WIPs, and reading for my own enjoyment, I made time to read Romance, sometimes 3, 4, or even 10 devotions at a time.

All of Erin's chapters are between two and three pages, enough that it makes them a quick read--I love this, especially as a busy mother of 1.9 (unless there's been a notice that #2 has made it into this world! I'm writing this at the end of June and still pregnant.)

But, what I really like most of all about this book is the conversational style. I feel like I'm having a conversation with an old friend every time I open the book. Maybe that's why I haven't read too many other devotionals: because they all feel like they're beating me over the head with my inadequacies. Erin's approach to sharing Scripture and the things that have been revealed to her through its study makes me feel like I'm with my small group at church, and she's sharing just a tidbit of her thoughts with the group.

Most of the Scripture passages are familiar (the story of the prodigal son comes to mind), but I was pleasantly surprised to find several passages used that I was unfamiliar with, or had never delved deeper into. And what was said in response to the passages was relevant to my everyday life, and further substantiated with additional Scripture in many cases. Several of the devotions I've earmarked to go back and read with my husband.

If you never read devotionals, A Tidbit Romance would be a good start. If you do read them regularly, it would be a terrific addition to your library.

Thank you, Erin, for giving me the opportunity to read A Tidbit Romance!

Erin Coss – A.K.A. The Chicken Dance Mama, is a published author and speaker. She has published works in Revival Nation Magazine, and books, including First Conversations (Bethesda), My Surgery Journal and My Hospital Journal (k2e Books). Erin has also worked on the television series
The Directors (Encore) and the television documentary The Genocide Factor (PBS). Her high-energy, down-to-earth style is what drives the Chicken Dance Mama persona. Erin loves having fun relishing in God’s word and shares her insights in her book, A Tidbit Romance – Falling in Love with God’s Word One Devotion at a Time. She resides outside Columbus, Ohio, with her husband, Eric, and their three children.

If you'd like to win a copy of A Tidbit Romance, please either join my followers (if you're not already) and/or leave a comment below. I have a lovely copy to send to some lucky person. The winner will be announced Wednesday, July 28, 2010. By the way, this book would be a wonderful gift for some lucky person in your life!

Until next time,

Baby!

2010-07-21T20:42:00.001-05:00

Well, the baby's finally here! And, it's a boy!!!

I'm doing well, though eager to get out of the hospital. Baby's well too--and is such a sweetie!

Oh, you want to know specifics? Here ya are:

He's still got no name at this point (we're working on picking names still). He was born at 12:07 PM after two hours of "official" labor and like 4 minutes of pushing. His length is 19 inches, and weight 8 lbs 1 oz. Big sister is still not sure what to make of him, but I think she'll figure it out!

Thanks for checking in! I'm going to go back to recovering now and plotting my early exit from the wardens--err, nurses. Thanks again to all my guest bloggers who've helped ease my summer stress by stepping up to the plate!

Until next time,

The Discomfort Zone

2010-07-19T05:00:00.066-05:00

I just had to accept this challenge. Even being far pregnant, I can't turn down something like this. So, here I am, eight months pregnant, racking my brain to come up with what to say about writing outside of your comfort zone.

First, I do want to acknowledge my friend and critter Nina Rose who organized this blog chain. She's a wonderful writer, as are all of the writers who joined the chain. If you haven't had a chance to check out what they have to say about the Discomfort Zone, I've got links at the bottom of this post.

Getting outside ones comfort zone is something I feel is important if you want to be even remotely successful--whether that's in business, life, or, in our cases, writing. It takes guts to send your hard work out into the world, to be critiqued, criticized, pulled apart, and hopefully published. If you can come through all this and still stand with your head tall and planting one foot in front of the other, moving towards your goals, more power to you. Well done!

With writing, though, it can get pretty easy to get into a funk, especially if you write genre novels like I do. You follow a set pattern that's generally acceptable to the genre (dead body, red herrings, near-death scene when your hero discovers the bad guy) and push repeat, changing scenarios as needed, but basically write the same story five, ten, fifteen or more times.

How do you get out of that funk though, even if you're a multiple-published author?

Switch things up.

Change genres. Do something completely out of the ordinary.

For the better part of 15 years, I've been writing. For most of those years, I've written what most people would consider solid, traditional mysteries.

That is, until about two and a half years ago.

Having grown up on Star Wars movies and Star Trek television shows, my heart has always been in outer-space. I started wanting to write a book with a space setting. But, I had to have characters and plot to do that.

I've also been involved in politics for longer than I've been writing. I follow issues, politicians, and talk radio. For many years, one of my senators has given updates on human trafficking and ways he's been working to stop it. All it took was one of those writerly moments and, Bam! I had a plot, characters, setting.

This is where the discomfort zone kicks in. I write what could be called a cozy mystery--maybe some violence, but not a ton. Not a lot of overt sexuality. Other than my occasional use of swear words, I tend to write a fairly clean book.

I found, at least in my first draft, that in order to tell this story, I had to get out of my comfort zone and write scenes that were very uncomfortable for me. I wanted to show what was happening through my victim's eyes. It was almost impossible to accomplish without being graphic. Very different from what I usually write. There was more than one time that I wrote a scene that nearly turned my stomach.

But I pressed on. It was necessary for the story. While all of these scenes that turned my stomach in the first draft may not last the next round of edits and rewrites (when I can get them done with a toddler and an infant in the house!) I know that by writing these scenes, I've pushed my own bounds and, hopefully, made myself that much of a stronger writer.

So, what do you need to do to push your own boundaries? Do you need to take a certain risk in the story you're writing? I challenge you to take that risk--you never know how it may impact your writing later on.

Until next time,

The following writers either have been or will be participating in the blog chain. Please check out their websites to see their thoughts, join their followers, and generally chime in. Some of the writers you should recognize as part of my ongoing summer substitute teachers. Enjoy!

Ruth Rockafield -- July 1
Nina Rose -- July 4
Edward Lewis -- July 6
Tracy Kraus -- July 7
Kat Connolly -- July 8
Linda Yezak -- July 9
Lynn Mosher -- July 10
Nona King -- July 11
Victor Travison -- July 14
Janalyn Voigt -- July 15
Adam Collings -- July 17
Chris Solaas -- July 27
Suzanne Hartmann -- July 30

Science Fiction from a Christian Worldview

2010-07-12T05:00:00.018-05:00

My name is Victor Travison, and I have been a Christian for more than 45 years. During that time, I have learned almost as much about science fiction as I have about the Bible. The first is fiction, while the other is fact, and my final authority. My blog, Lightwalker’s View, is meant to be a lighthearted look at sci-fi and fantasy, mostly on TV and in the movies. These are the media which introduced me to the genre, the ones I can most readily access, but the thoughts I present can also be applied to books and other media.

My interest in science fiction started with Lost in Space, followed by Star Trek—two divergent series, to be sure, but I enjoyed both of them on their own merits. What passed as science fiction before almost always included some sort of monster. For a child and preteen, those images are hard to manage without having frequent nightmares. In trying to apply what I learned about the Bible to this genre, I began to discover marked differences.

As I grew older, especially as an adult, I became disturbed not only by the differences, but by the attitudes of some who shared my interest in sci-fi. I’ve learned non-Christians have an opposite view of the world than we do, and most of the sci-fi I saw reflected it. I looked for and found some Christian messages in the genre, but they tended to be isolated and nebulous. Then I discovered even some Christians who like science fiction have adopted the same opposing worldview.

This is why I wrote Savage Worlds, started my website, and maintain my blog. Through it, I’m not saying, “Because such-and-such is not true, or real, you should not enjoy science fiction stories about it.” I myself enjoy a lot of SF that’s either theologically off or not theological at all. I like Lost in Space, even though it can be scientifically abysmal in places. I like Star Trek, even though the emphasis on evolution means some stories could not be told without it. I like Battlestar Galactica (the classic one), even though the theology behind it doesn’t track. And on and on it goes.

What I am saying is, “Enjoy the stories as fantasies only, as one man’s perception of how things are. Never define your own reality by them.” That’s hard, because often a popular notion is held out as absolute truth, even though it’s entirely fiction. When the same item is handled the same way by various writers, one tends to believe it as truth without thinking twice about it. Some people just are not geared to go research everything they hear. Even Scripture can get a makeover from its true meaning when believers automatically read existential or evolutionary concepts into it, thereby generating belief in a half-truth.

This is the problem I seek to stave off in Lightwalker’s View. This is also why I’ve written science fiction of my own, which places God in a more prominent role than the average secular variety. In the blog, I explain things that trouble me about certain concepts. It’s not so much criticizing as it is explaining how I feel. You may or may not agree; it’s entirely between you and the Lord.

Paul told the Romans, “Each of us will give an account of himself to God. Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother’s way” (Romans 14:12-13). I’m trying to remove the stumbling blocks. I’ve made up my mind, you must make up yours, so long as there’s peace between you and our God.

However, there are at least five areas which, based on biblical standards, I find work against a living, dynamic faith. These I generally reject, even in fantasies, namely: 1) blatant sensuality, 2) cursing and vulgar language, 3) excessive violence, 4) clear Occultic themes, and 5) macabre images. If the plot is reasonable and the items seem to fit the action, I can accept these somewhat, but I’m talking about extremes. Sometimes elements in a story can appear to be Occultic when it’s really a fantasy version of it, such as the alien powers of telekinesis or shape-shifting. Sometimes grossness grows naturally out of a situation, such as when Han Solo sliced open a tauntaun and let its guts spill out, or the significant scene of Episode VI in Jabba the Hutt’s lair. But the more of these they put into a story, especially where they’re not needed, the less I will condone it.

I hope this helps explain why I say what I say. I don’t intend to be harsh, nor do I intend to condemn anyone for their viewing or reading choices. I simply want to present a perspective which, perhaps, hasn’t come to mind before. My prayer is that those who agree will find confirmation in my words, and those who don’t would have something new to think about. God bless you all.

Victor Travison is the author of Savage Worlds and The Justice Coalition. He writes from his home in the Denver area. You can visit his website here.

What Can the Movies Teach Us About Setting

2010-06-28T05:00:00.020-05:00

Often times setting is so integral to a story that it becomes a character in itself. Fantasy, science fiction, and historical stories all demand detailed and precise settings. Most mysteries will demand at least one scene set in a police station or morgue. Many thrillers and suspense stories have found great success by confining their boundaries to an airplane, island, or small town.

Setting is an inherent and vital part of all stories. Without a setting that immediately grounds him in the characters’ world, a reader is going to find himself floundering... and the author is, more than likely, going to find himself out of a job. Finding the right descriptive words to bring to life the Wyoming plains, a river in Syria, or the bombed-out streets of war-torn London, requires an excellent grip on the English language, a clear vision of color and space, and a vivid imagination.

In provoking the immediacy of setting, movies have a decided advantage over the lowly novelist. After all, a movie director hardly requires pages of evocative description when he has the ability to simply inundate his viewer with a minute’s worth of color and light and spectacle. In that regard, novelists are at a certain disadvantage compared to their brethren of the silver screen.

But there is one way in which all authors of fiction can share in the cinematographic grounding of setting. And that is in what I term “throwaway settings.” All stories, be they on the written page or the movie screen, possess two kinds of setting: the concrete and the “throwaway.”

Concrete scenes are those that demand a particular kind of setting. Allow me to use three movies as an example. In the 2005 movie Pride & Prejudice, the scene in which Elizabeth Bennett and Fitzwilliam Darcy are reunited after Lizzie’s refusal of his first proposal, could have taken place in no other setting than the sumptuous grounds of Darcy’s Pemberley estate. The Patriot (2000), which took place during the American Revolution, featured innumerable battle scenes that, to be true to historicity, could have taken place nowhere but South Carolina. Likewise, the majority of The Last of the Mohicans, which takes place during the French siege of the English Ft. William Henry, could not conceivably have been set elsewhere.

In these same movies, however, we find many throwaway scenes—scenes that do not demand a particular setting. For instance, the scene in Pride & Prejudice in which Elizabeth refuses Darcy’s proposal could have taken place almost anywhere. In Jane Austen’s book, upon which the movie is based, the scene is acted out in a drawing room. At first glance, nothing can be said against this choice of setting: it’s sensible and realistic. But how much better was the setting chosen by the director of the movie—the opulent monument, in a lush landscape, to which Elizabeth runs to escape the rain? Jane Austen’s original drawing room setting may have gotten across the scene’s point, but the movie’s version explored so many deeper levels of tension and beauty, simply by changing the setting.

In The Patriot, the hero, a militia captain, must select a hidden base camp, from which he can harass the enemy and then melt back into hiding. The writer and director of the movie could easily have gotten away with parking the camp in the middle of a forest. Instead, they chose to set it in a graveyard-cum-swamp, with the headstones lurking half-submerged in the water. In conveying tone, the swamp was far more effective than a simple forest setting could ever have been.

Finally, the splendid sense of setting we find throughout The Last of Mohicans is nowhere more evident than during the prolonged escape scene, in which the heroes launch their empty canoes over a waterfall, then seek a hiding place in the caverns behind the water. Not only does the idea work marvelously in the plot itself, it also manages to submerge the viewer in a mysterious world of mist, water, and shadow, thereby bringing an entirely new and exceptional tone to the scene.

The simple use of setting in all three of these movies proves how easy it is to transform a scene with a few keystrokes. In fact, as authors we are able to make these changes with far greater ease than that of movie producers and directors, who must hunt out strange and interesting locales.

The next time you sit down to write a scene with a throwaway setting—a scene in which the setting is not inherent—stop and think. Could you bring a new level to your scene by adding an interesting or unexpected setting? Changing the setting could add depth to your scene, heighten the tension, and even lead to story angles you never suspected were present. Consider your settings carefully, even those that initially seem unimportant. You never know when you may find an unexpected gem!

K.M. Weiland writes historical and speculative fiction from her home in the sandhills of western Nebraska. She is the author of the historical western A Man Called Outlaw and the recently released medieval epic Behold the Dawn. She blogs at Wordplay: Helping Writers Become Authors and AuthorCulture.

Word Wanderings

Beyondaries!

Non-stereotypical

A Plea From the Dog

It's Coming!

It's the New Year! Will You Join Me...?

Follow up to Gifts of the Heart

Gifts of the Heart

Disappointment

PERIL

Scared Silly

Thanksgiving Blessings

Things I Didn't Know

Winner: Deliver Me From Evil

Deliver Me From Evil

A Few Thoughts on Parents of Special Needs Kids

Harvest

Growing Pains

Changes at Word Wanderings

Choosing the Right Point of View

Homecoming

Majesty

au·gust [aw-guhst]

It Seems Like It Took Forever To Get To This Point...

An Interview

Writing Lessons from the Movies: "The Band Wagon"

Under Construction!

The Meaning of Liberty

Where You Write

A Call For Freedom

Hot Buttons: Giveaway Winner!

Hot Buttons: An Interview with Chila Woychik... and our 100th Post!

Mystery Writing from the Experts: Martha Grimes

Take Some Time To Breathe

"All good writing is like swimming underwater and holding your breath." — F. Scott Fitzgerald

In Memory

Confession Time

Traveling on the Writer's Journey

My Book Is Done... Now What?

(Re)Readable

A brief aside...

Question of the week:

What *Is* That?

April is for Easter

I'm Covered

Hiking = Writing

Swirls In My Brain

Why It's Important to Read Other Blogs

What Questions Do You Have?

Living Research

Love, True Love

A Rant on a Recent Read

Life Gets In the Way

Like It Or Not: The Kindle

New Beginnings

Pet Peeves: Yea vs Yeah

Newbie Novel Writing

Reflections on 2010, Looking Ahead at 2011

Should I Hire a Freelance Editor

December's Update

Christmas Isn't What It Used To Be

Crime Pays Better

Paranormalcy (a book review)

November's Update

What I'm Thankful For

Don't Label Your Characters

A Celebration of NaNo!

Pitch It! (follow up)

Pitch It!

Writing Update: October

Dissection: A Date You Can't Refuse

Write What You DON'T Know

Cast Your Novel!

Writing Update: September

School and the Impact on a Writer

Keep an Eye on the Stupid Things

Winner of "The Women in Jesus' Life"

The Women in Jesus' Life

HOW COULD YOU DO THAT?!?

Finding Time to Write

"All good writing is like swimming underwater and holding your breath."
— F. Scott Fitzgerald

What Is That?