Terri Tiffany Inspirational Writer

A pause

2012-01-18T14:07:00.000-08:00

I learned a lot from all of you last week after I wrote the previous post. I learned that I need to LET GO and LET GOD.

So that’s what I’m going to do for a pause.

Slow down. Learn my new life here in Texas. Read books. Draw closer to God. Write if the urge comes. Don’t write if it doesn't.

I’ve been blogging almost six years and in that time I have written six books. Some I’m proud of, some not so. They were each a learning experience. I don’t think I would throw away any of them as each carries a part of me and a part of my life at that time.

That’s what I love about writing. We get to add in a little bit of us in everything we write.

But now, I need to sit back and put some of this change together without the pressure I tend to put on myself.

So I’m pausing in my blogging but not in my writing or my friendships on Facebook or Twitter or dropping by your blogs.

And when I finally think I can take a go at this with renewed energy, I’ll be back. Thank you!

The Great Hope Gone Sour

2012-01-12T11:12:00.000-08:00

I have been struggling.

Not just with this move to Texas, or making new friends here, or deciding whether to buy a home or build or rent longer . . . I’ve been struggling with the whole publication thing.

Honestly, if I ever get a book accepted, I’m not so sure I can do everything that is required today of a new author. I’ve watched so many of my friends become overwhelmed with setting up release parties and book signings and new websites and then to have to start it all over again if they get a second book published.

When I started writing, I never dreamed of what the other side of getting published would entail.

Probably just writing about this is dooming me. And that brings me to my next point. I’ve been blogging for a long time—six years this summer. If you’ve noticed, I’m not as consistent as I used to be. That’s partially because my life isn’t consistent right now. But what bothers me the most is that underlying voice that says, “Terri, you have to keep blogging in case you ever get a book accepted by an agent. They are going to want to see what kind of presence you have out there.”

Let me say, UGH.

I 'm not sure I can jump through all the hoops that rightly need to be jumped through to get to that part of writing.

I’m not sure where that leaves me in the whole process then. I’ve always been the kind of person who follows along and does what they have to do but really…I’m not sure this parade of self-promoting is for me. I can’t imagine the day I have to pump my book out on Twitter and Facebook and pray my friends don’t get bored or irritated by me doing it.

So maybe I’m crazy. Maybe I’ve seen too much. Or maybe I need to accept that all that stuff is part of the process these days and just go with it.

I don’t know anymore and that’s where my thoughts have been. Honestly, I’ve come so far in the system and I’m not sure I like what I see. So I don’t have this great hope to see my name in print anymore and all that goes with it.

I only want to write a great book.

Finding that something this year

2012-01-04T06:22:00.001-08:00

It’s a new year. Bloggers are sharing their writing goals. Everyone hopes to write a better book this year than they did last year.

I’m still not sure where I am with writing.

I finished my romance—the one I felt I needed to write for a friend and I do plan to write a good query (hopefully) and send it out this spring.

Beyond that I’m stuck. Six novels later and I haven’t found or written the story I want to write. Three of my novels were written as therapy as I went through the past four years of darkness. Now that I see hope on my horizon I wonder what direction my writing will take.

But for now, I’m still doing that U-Turn and waiting on the direction God leads.

Something is lacking in my writing and I haven’t quite figured out what it is or how to correct it. A depth, an emotion…something. I think that’s why writers rarely give up. We want to find that answer and put it on paper.

Hoping this will be your year! Let’s see where it leads.

My Writing U-Turn

2011-12-06T06:14:00.000-08:00

I’ve been debating what to write for days now—thinking about it for months. Five years ago I decided to move from non-fiction to fiction. I wanted to write a novel. I was not involved with any writing groups, or had attended any conferences or used any social media.

But as time went on, I began to connect with other writers. As months and years passed, I wrote novel after novel, garnishing maybe a partial or full request. I actively participated in every way I could in the writer’s world. Soon, the writers I began bonding with were being offered representation and book deals. Their success pushed me to continue in my own quest.

Someday, I told myself.

More and more, the quest became about the ability to pump out a book as fast as I could and send it in.

It’s no wonder I’m where I am today.

Overwhelmed. Let down. Discouraged. Ready to call it a day.

This is totally not me. And therein lies the problem.

I have allowed myself to join in the rush to the altar of publishing so deeply that I have lost my way. The joy I once felt about writing has disappeared. I don’t even have anything worthwhile to blog about writing. And that part frustrates me.

What does this mean? For one thing, it means the book I’m currently editing might take awhile. Then I will reevaluate what I’ve done to my goals before I do anything else.

When I think back to the first book I ever wrote and the excitement that came with it—I want to cry. I didn’t have a clue how hard it is to write a good novel back then. I just had a story burning to be told.

So today I’m telling this story. Someone once said Life is not about the destination, it’s about the journey.

I’m going back to the beginning to find that joy. How about you? Have you ever had to stop to do a U Turn in life?

Thankful

2011-11-28T06:27:00.000-08:00

I watched Sixty Minutes last night where they aired a special report on Central Florida. Of course I took note since I just moved away two months ago. The reporter said that 1/3 of all the homeless people in the country live in that area.

I turned to my husband, memories choking my words.”That could have been us in another year.”

Hard fact to accept as we set up our lives in a new state with a new job and new dreams.

On Saturday we discovered two thrift stores and were thrilled to buy books for seventy-five cents apiece and a pair of jeans for me for a dollar. My daughter doesn’t know what to think about our new found thriftiness.

She remembers us in a different life.

Before my husband lost his job, I spent hundreds of dollars a month on clothing and household accessories, ate out when we wanted and set up vacations while my husband worked long hours at a job he loved. We could. We thought our future was fixed. We had saved for our retirement but also enjoyed the present. The thought of buying used clothing was beyond me. I wasn’t a snob; I just never had to do that before.

Life can change when we least expect it to. For good or for bad. We’ve all experienced it—a family death, an inheritance, a new job, a loss.

For the past four years I have dreaded the holidays—being alone, away from friends and family, no money to travel or presents to buy and worry about our future. My husband and I spent the day alone again this year but not with the usual sadness of previous years.

Yes, we were thankful for my husband’s fulltime job and that God saw us through this difficult time in our lives. But mostly we were thankful for the way we look at life now.

I take nothing for granted. Nothing. Not our income, our blessings, our daughter and her family and our good friends who were there for us each day while we waited for a change.

Nor you—cyber friends. You’ve been here every week on my journey—encouraging me and supporting me and sharing your own trials with me. I’m forever grateful, blessed and changed because of you. Thank you.

Finding your story

2011-11-14T04:56:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago, I finished writing my sixth novel. I wrote a romance this time instead of my usual women’s fiction because I heard a friend’s story and wanted to write it.

Yesterday I spent hours revising. Not my favorite part but necessary. I have hours and hours to go after my critique partners send me the rest of their thoughts.

So where I am I mentally in this process? Do I have any more books in me?

With my last book, I received a few partial requests and a full but no requests for representation. I queried about twenty-five agents and then moved on to a new book.

I know the stories about authors who have had to write dozens of books and submit to hundreds of agents before someone took a chance on them. I know that. But I also know that selling a book comes down to story.

I’m not sure I’ve found that story yet.

I’ve improved my writing skills, read all the craft books I can get my hands on and have attended conferences and taken advice. You won’t find many badly crafted sentences in my work. That part is all good.

What I think I still lack is finding and crafting a story that keeps a reader’s interest all the way through from cover to cover.

I love the romance I just wrote. Note I said I love the story. Will anyone else? Are my characters memorable? Will I make a reader turn the page again and again?

I hope so but honestly I can’t say for certain. What I hope is one agent will love it and believe in it. That’s what it will take.

How about you as a writer? Do you have that one story in you and have you written it yet?

Are you making a difference?

2011-11-07T04:00:00.000-08:00

I left the church when I was fourteen.

It took me twenty years to return.

When my daughter was born, I was blessed to find a sitter who lived nearby and who was also someone I met in labor class. Kathy was a new mom too and soon I found out she was a Christian as well.

When my daughter hit the terrible twos, she handed me a book by Dr. Dobson. I didn’t have a clue who he was but read it anyways. It wasn’t long before I was invited to mother and daughter banquets and special events at her church.

I cooperated, but felt uncomfortable back in this strange environment. My husband and I had never discussed the need for religion or even our personal beliefs. I wasn’t sure how to act or dress.

Then they invited my daughter to Awanas. Of course, we agreed but when it came to fulfilling the parents’ part, we balked. Take her to Sunday School and stay for church just so she could earn a badge?

I remember that Sunday well. How could I forget? The preacher talked about everything in our lives as though he’d peered through our windows that week before. My husband and I looked at each other in amazement.

What just happened?

We finally had our first conversation about religion on the trip home. Somehow God had paired two wayward Christians with similar backgrounds—we hadn’t thought it important enough to discuss until then.

I still regret those lost years. But I’m thankful for the found ones.

We never know how certain people will impact our lives. One chance meeting in a labor class changed me forever. Kathy never gave up. She saw a person in need and reached out.

I think of her today as I meet so many new people in my life here in Texas. What will be their impact on my life? What will be my impact on them?

So tell me, who has impacted your life most?

Remembering Why I Blog

2011-10-31T04:40:00.000-07:00

I used to love blogging.

Five years ago when I started, it was a way to connect—to build online relationships. I went months without one comment and then it happened. I connected.

Somewhere along the way, blogging has become a marketing tool for writers and anyone else with a product to promote.

A few weeks ago I attended my ACFW writers group. The speaker’s topic was about using your blog as a means to market yourself. Most of the advice she offered went over my head.

Sure I get it. If I want to sell books, I need to sell myself. Over the years, I have watched plenty of my writer friends gain agents and publishing deals and then turn their blogs into huge marketing tools.

I understand advertising. I used to do it when I owned a store. It works.

But somewhere too along the way during the past four years, I’ve decided that having the money to pay my mortgage or my health insurance policy takes more precedence than about how many people comment on my latest post.

I also care about the friends I have and how to be the best friend I can be to them. I care that my husband is happy on his job and that we are attending a church that doesn’t care about entertaining but sharing God’s word. I care that I haven’t seen my only child for more than ten months and that my father is dying alone in a nursing home and I probably won’t attend his funeral.

I care about the people who are kind enough to continue this online relationship with me because someday we just might meet in real life or help each other along the way.

I want to love blogging again. I want to write about what really counts in our lives even if it means hard topics. Even if it means my numbers decline. That’s who I am.

Okay, maybe I better go eat my fruit and oatmeal now.

Why do you blog?

Is your life an amusement ride?

2011-10-24T06:33:00.000-07:00

I’m on a roller coaster. Pass me the barf bag.

I remember the days I wrote full-time, lounging in my pajamas until noon, no worries about my future, financial situation, friends or family.

Not so now. I wake at 4:30 before the grackles in the park next door and contemplate how my adjustment to Texas will play out today.

Will the drugstore take my prescription? Will I figure out the route to the post office? Will I meet anyone nice in the checkout line to talk with for five minutes? (Will they actually listen to my rambling?)

I wonder how long this transition will linger? Three months? A year? Longer? I’m ready to move on but my life isn’t.

So I turn back to my writing—something that still offers comfort. And I am surprised how much my writing style has changed. Over the past four years, I wrote about grief, death, broken dreams, sadness—my poor critique partners. My whole dismal life spilled out on the pages.

Not good.

My current WIP is a romance—an upbeat romance and when I read through it, I discovered the old me. I like that. Makes me think maybe there’s more to this move than I can see.

Wounds heal. Life churns on. God surprises. Maybe I’ll get used to this roller coaster yet.

How has God surprised you recently?

Are you a risk taker with your relationships?

2011-10-17T04:00:00.000-07:00

A few months ago, my daughter and her husband jumped off a building in Las Vegas for the thrill of it. Oh they were safe enough, harnessed and all. But not safe enough for Mom and Dad.

Her decision to participate in this kind of activity is partially our fault. We raised her to take risks--getting on stage at an amusement park at age five, trying out for softball even when she thought she was no good, getting a job at a camp at aged fourteen, and moving to Florida to finish her final years of school.

I'm not so much of a risk taker although I've done my share--marrying a man with wanderlust, quitting a stable job of seventeen years to buy a store, driving across country to Texas. You've probably done similar things.

But when it comes to people and relationships I'm much more cautious.

In the past four years of trying to keep afloat in the recession in Florida, many of our friends moved away for jobs or pulled away because we couldn't spend time with them like we had before. Some family members grew distant because of misunderstandings, others just didn't care that we were living on next to nothing and trying to survive.

So perhaps the hardest part of this move to Texas is putting my trust in people back on the table. My husband and I have made a deal--if anyone reaches out to us--we reach back. We want the fellowship we used to have.

But it's not so easy. Connecting with people isn't always that easy.

Last week a couple exchanged phone numbers with us in front of a Walgreen's Red box and invited us to their church.I've looked at the scrap of paper all week wondering if I should really call them. Wondering if they meant to be so friendly--and if we responded would it amount to anything?

My next step is to attend their church without calling first. Who knows? They just might remember us.

What risks in relationships have you taken recently?

PS We did attend the church on Sunday and they did remember us:) Step one --Check!

Coming Back

2011-10-11T08:22:00.001-07:00

I promised to start blogging again when I finished writing my romance. What I didn’t anticipate was my life turning upside down and me ending up smack in the middle of Texas.

I did finish the rough draft of my book and during the trials of trying to set up life in a place I had never set foot in, the writing kept me sane. What would I do without it?

Many of you kept up with my journey on Facebook. I really appreciated your support. When my husband got the call for a new job, I had two weeks myself to pack my 2300 sq foot home, and then drive across the country for two twelve hour days following the U-Haul. Then he went back to work and I stared out at my temporary neighborhood wondering if I would be able to find my way to Wal-Mart for much needed groceries.

I’ve cried and whined and praised God for this opportunity. Setting down roots isn’t as easy this time as it was when we moved to Florida ten years ago. I had my daughter with me and I’d been there before.

But Texas and her fine people have not let me down. I love it. Yes, I still need to find my church home, some friends I can call for lunch dates and a home that is ours, not to mention a paying job.

You’ve told me to take it one day at a time.

Wise advice. And as with writing, I find that not looking too far ahead really does help.

Coming back to blogging is like unearthing the missing quilt I packed weeks ago and wrapping it around my legs. Warm and comforting.

I’ve missed you and hope to finally catch up. So tell me, what’s the most important happening in your life since August?

The news I've been waiting to give for four years

2011-08-15T04:00:00.000-07:00

On August 29, 2007, I promised God that when He delivered us from our trial, I would tell the world. Today I’m keeping that promise.

Many of you know the situation I’m talking about. My husband lost not only his job but his career on that day and like millions of other Americans, we were thrust into the Great Recession, in fear of our survival.

For four long years, we prayed, hoped and waited, watched our savings dwindle, laid awake nights in worry and anger and kept each other alive with the promise that we would make it through this together.

I faced more fears in these past years than I have in my entire life. I’ve lost friends, family and our faith took a huge beating. But I didn’t stop praying to God who I knew held our fate in His hands.

Finally, this July, I told my husband I thought we needed to move to Texas because I’d read that jobs prevailed there. On July 4^th, the man who had dug his heels into Florida for the last ten years told me he was ready to leave all this behind.

Days later the first phone call interview came—the first call in over two years.

I think maybe God was waiting for us to follow.

Last week, after almost a month of more waiting, my husband was flown to Austin for a face-to-face interview and a job offer in his field. To begin four years to the day he lost his job.

Our journey isn’t over. We still have a hard road ahead of us, faced with selling a home in a horrible market, moving to a strange city alone and starting life over. But God has given me the one answer to prayer I begged Him so long to give me: direction.

He opened the doors wide—the only doors— giving us no other choice—but to move to Texas. If we stay here in Florida, working PT jobs, sucking our remaining savings, we would have to lose our home to survive.

Our faith has been tested severely. Thank goodness God understands. Thank goodness He is faithful in His own timing, not ours.

So there’s my story. I’m sorry my news isn’t about an agent or a book deal, but I think it’s something better. It’s about hope.

Give me a break

2011-07-06T11:49:00.000-07:00

I've decided to take a break from blogging to finish this new book I'm working on. I mentioned in my last post how excited I am about it and since I like to procrastinate with any and everything, I'm limiting my options to do just that.

If you want to chat with me during this time, friend me on Facebook or find me on Twitter.

I hope when I come back, I can report good news that I still like my work and it's done!

Girl-talk

2011-06-28T09:07:00.000-07:00

Girl-talk.

I can’t get enough of it.

That’s why a few weeks ago when a good friend invited me to accompany her to Tallahassee for her job, I jumped at the opportunity.

That first evening, as we sat across from each other at a booth in Panera’s, we shared pockets of memories from our past. Even though we’d known each other for nine years, I was surprised to learn new information about my friend, Peggy.

Like a romance that made my jaw drop open. As her story unfolded, excitement built inside of me.

Is this the one? Would this story affect others as it does me?

I haven’t been writing for over two months, waiting for a direction. Waiting to know whether or not I should even continue writing fiction.

A week later, I awoke at 5 am with my synopsis written in my head. A Romance. Of all things.

I write women’s fiction. Or so I thought. Unfortunately, this story would not loosen its grip on me. I wrangled with how I would develop it, how I would bring the characters to life, how I would lay this story out differently that my previous ones.

But once I did, the words came.

After all, writing is about story above all else. I want to give Peggy’s story the momentum it deserves. The ending it needs.

Have you ever written in a genre that you’ve not wanted to write in?

Letting Go

2011-06-21T10:20:00.000-07:00

Five years ago, my daughter, my only child, married and moved across the country to Seattle.

Today she shared with me that she didn’t miss us as much as she used to since meeting other women in her church group. Missing me wasn’t as all consuming as it used to be for her.

“That’s good,” I said.

So why did her proclamation make me want to cry?

Because she’s now moved another foot away. And it’s supposed to be that way.

Part of me hasn’t yet fully dealt with this empty nest I live in now. Part of me foolishly dreams that soon she’ll live near me and I’ll be an active part of her life again.

Today’s conversation was a gentle reminder from God that I’d done my job well. I’d raised a woman to stand on her own feet and create a life where she lives—apart from me.

He forgot to tell me how hard this really is.

Remember back to that day you dropped your first child off at kindergarten? It was all I could do to rush to my car without weeping.

And her first overnight away? Her first date? And then that wedding day. I thought I was used to her being gone.

My mother once told me I stopped holding her hand when she walked me to school when I was in the fourth grade. She said it hurt her feelings.

Maybe I needed to be independent, I told her.

Maybe I do.

Have you let go of someone lately?

Choosing to Believe (again)

2011-06-13T05:32:00.000-07:00

Sometimes we meet people for a reason and a season.

I work Sundays. That means I miss church. But fortunately for me, another Christian who works in my adjoining office brings in her gospel music and I listen sing the inspiring words. Good for us, we are the only two in there.

Yesterday, we had one of those conversations. The kind you know God has orchestrated. This woman went through a terrible financial time but is coming out on the other side. I'm not sure how her words started but somewhere in this conversation, the Lord tugged at my heart.

Maybe it was when she said she declared God's victory over her struggles during her battle. She let go of her doubts and believed that God had a better plan for her and she would get there.

I thought about my own spiritual condition. Yeah, doubt after doubt rules my days. I was good for the first year after my husband lost his job but at the beginning of year four, I sometimes think maybe this is what life will be for us. Forever. I've given up on God's promises. I'm not claiming victory over the trials that are tormenting us.

Because it's hard.And because it is easier to give up.

Someone on my last post commented that I had to trust my readers. So today I am by writing this.

I'm declaring that God has already won this battle in my life and I am choosing to believe it today. And tomorrow. And the next. When I fall again, (oh I will) I want to be able to come back to this post and be reminded of my words.

So how's your spiritual meter today? Are you declaring him the Victor in all things?

Is your writing keeping you awake?

2011-06-08T04:37:00.000-07:00

588 posts. Five years of blogging this July 6th. So why did I wake up at 4am this morning wondering why I can no longer think of anything to post?

That's when I decided to write what my tag line says--a story from my heart.

Over the past few years, I've written novel after novel. Even started number six and each day the story haunts me begging to be written. But there is a problem.

Here's my promo line for it: Four Women. Four Hearts. Four Separate Dreams. Winner Takes All.

What that means to me is I need to write in four separate POV. Not something I've tried before but I believe it is the best way to bring the story to life.

But I'm not there yet.

When I think back to my 588 posts, I wonder how I've written so many without falling apart on the pages. Many of you know, a year after I started blogging, my world crashed. Since then, it's been like a silent movie where I am slowing bleeding to death, screaming out and no one hears.

Welcome to our life.

The problem for me comes in how to share encouraging posts about what God is doing in my life without letting my down days influence my tone. I have not been always successful and unfortunately, I see that the biggest problem with my writing is that my problems in life carry over into my work--too many bad things happen to my characters!

So I'm stuck right now--wanting to write uplifting posts but worrying that my life will taint them.
Let me say this though, God has been faithful to my husband and I through this all. My prayer is that I will be able to show that side of my story and not the down sides.

Same in my books.

Are the events in your life overrunning your writing? Have you considered where most of your ideas come from?

What I'm Learning from my Writing Break

2011-05-31T11:53:00.000-07:00

1. 1. The guilt isn’t real.

I’ll I'll be honest, Guilt is the main reason I couldn't stop writing when I knew I needed to. How will it look? Will I still be a writer? Is it copping out?

You know the doubts. They deluge us when we take a day or so and do anything but write. The same guilt that eats at us when we aren’t as far along as our friends. It’s very real and it weighs on my heart. But..

2. 2. Not writing for awhile is very freeing. Yes, freeing. My mind is free to think about all sorts of things—yes some writing things too. But also to really discover what stories do draw me.

3. 3. The support is amazing.

I feared stopping awhile would put me on the outside—one of those want-to-be writers who can’t go the distance. But many of you shared how you did the same thing—took a break and let God speak to you about what to write. I’ve shared my doubts about writing fiction or non-fiction, finding more success in non-fiction but after having written five novels, I struggle with writing another and having it languish in my desk drawer.

4. I can focus on what I need to focus on now. Like looking for full-time employment and knowing that if I do get it, I won’t be sad that I won’t be writing as much. I feel as though I’m preparing myself for a situation that can’t be helped.

5. 4. Finally, I’m learning to Be Still and not write just to be published. Stepping out of the race to find the words I really need to write is much more satisfying.

So tell me, do you write to keep in the race? How are you doing with it?

When your writing stops

2011-05-20T11:06:00.000-07:00

I’ve been travelling in circles lately. Both with my writing and with my life. Back and forth, deciding and praying about what the best options are for my future. I leave no stone unturned. Trust me.

But sometimes you come up against a wall. We’re talking huge wall, here. That’s when I’ve prayed God will show me an open door, an open window, anything to get me past it.

Well it isn’t happening.

I’m stuck. We’re stuck.

When I think about the amount of time I’ve invested not only in my writing but in my life and career choices, I want to crawl in a hole and give up.

Right now, I don’t know what genre I should write in, whether I should go back to articles only, clean up old work or start something new. That’s how confused I am. I’ve been averaging about two rejections a week from my queries and I can take that, but along with job rejections for both my husband and I, it tends to add up—draining a lot of emotion, energy and hope.

So as I started to say, I’m travelling in circles now—waiting on God and His wisdom and His plan because I’m about done with all my own.

So for the time being, my writing has come to a halt. Not sure if that is for a day, a week or a month but certainly until I get a clearer idea of a direction.

I know—it goes against all the rules, doesn’t it? Not writing every day. But so have my circumstances.

If I ask any question on this post it would be this: Please, will you have patience with me as I sort out my life? Thank you.

Open arms or not?

2011-05-16T04:00:00.000-07:00

I enjoy the friendship and comradeship we share in Blog land. When I read the list of Genesis finalists, I loved spotting a few familiar names--writers I have watched learn the craft.

It's like that you know, this natural growth of closeness, even though many of us have never met before.

Another truth about these blog friendships is that some will fade out, through no fault of their own. Life might take over or another direction pulls.

It happens.

Some of us will know each other for a season and be blessed for those life moments. I can count many good times of meeting blogging friends or watching my online relationships grow.

One of those times will occur again this week in Orlando when I meet another friend.

What about you--do you willingly embrace those meeting times or do you shy away from them?

Where the past meets the present

2011-05-06T04:00:00.000-07:00

I study my favorite authors’ works.

I’m one of those people who underline in the books I own, trying to find a pattern in the style to how the book comes together.

I’ve been doing that this week. And I’ve found something.

Much of what I admire in my writers is their depth of layers and where they take their characters.

Deep into their head.

Memories filled with details that mingle with their thoughts and actions in the present.

Today I read where the character collected Bazooka bubblegum wrappers to order glasses that she would let her see through people and items. Fast forward, she remembered this childhood detail when she wished for that same ability in her current relationship.

Yeah, I love those snippets because they shoot me back into my own memories. Like the time I found a fifty cent piece frozen in a snow bank in my neighbor’s front yard. I saved that coin in my glass bear bank, pulling it out and feeling the cool metal in my hand.

For me, the coin was a gift, a promise that God would provide.

Our childhood memories and beliefs often stick with us, shaping us into who we are today.

I haven’t found any fifty cent pieces lately in any snow banks but I have been blessed in many other ways.

What memories still play a huge part in your life today?

Secular or Christian

2011-04-30T15:29:00.000-07:00

I know. I know. I haven’t been around like I usually am. I can blame it on visiting family for two weeks but I won’t.

I’m at that fork in the road. Again.

This time I’m trying to decide if closed doors and this deep desire to write the way I want to is telling me something. You see, I used to sell Christian books. For five years. And I loved it and them.

But as hard as I try to write one, I fall short when it comes to the Christian aspect. It feels too forced. Well, it is too forced.

And when I look back to see the kind of work I’ve sold, it isn’t necessarily Christian but inspirational instead.

Here’s the problem.

I want a book published in the CBA market. I love those publishers. Barbour, and Bethany House. . .

So am I coveting places because I used to go to the shows and meet the writers who wrote for them?

Maybe.

And I know that’s not right.

So I’m at a fork, here at the beginning of my next novel. Praying.

So—Christian or Secular. And how did you know for sure?

The thing you cannot do . . .

2011-04-14T04:00:00.000-07:00

“You must do the thing you think you cannot do.” Eleanor Roosevelt

These words hang on my refrigerator, a handmade sign written by my husband to encourage both of us. I look at it when I’m feeling at a loss and the urge hits me to give up. Not just on writing but on life.

Maybe it’s the word MUST that draws me. Maybe it’s the concept that it’s only my negative thoughts that keep me from taking that next step.

Either way, the sign works. I don’t give up on life or on my writing.

But I was really close to giving up on both not long ago.

I don’t like to admit that but it’s true. In life, too many disappointments can make going on as hard as holding my breath when my lungs are about to burst. The edge of the pool is so close, within an arm’s reach but my air is depleted. I contemplate letting go and sinking to the bottom. So easy. Giving up.

In writing, I run out of ideas, I run out of places to query, I run out of hope.

You Must . . .

Do the thing you THINK you cannot do . . .

I think I can’t write a worthy book.

I think I can’t live another day in fear of loss.

I think my words don’t matter.

I think my existence doesn’t matter.

Funny how our thoughts trip us.

Or encourage us.

You MUST do the thing you THINK you cannot do . . . and see what happens next.

Have your thoughts tripped you or encouraged you lately?

What if . . .

2011-04-11T04:00:00.000-07:00

Breaks aren’t really breaks.

Because life doesn’t care that you took a break from answering a ton of blogs or emails. It goes on. I went from a great high this week from finishing my revisions on my manuscript and shipping it off to my critique partners to a one-day low when the phone didn’t ring because of contest results.

Yes, it’s really true what everyone says about this profession. It’s a roller coaster ride.

But one I won’t get off. And I know you won’t either.

So I’ve started the obvious next step. A new outline for another book. My sixth but am I counting? Yes, I am. I keep wondering if this will be the one. You probably wonder about your own list, too.

What is a blogging blessing this time around is I have found a wonderful artist, Susan Roux and blogger friend to act as my consultant. Although I write, I don’t paint and I needed an artist to help me out with my plot. Actually I was intrigued by an artist’s retreat she set up and it started me thinking. What if ….

So breaks aren’t really breaks.

Because life doesn’t stop nor my brain from working churning onward.

So tell me, what if you took a break and couldn’t get back on Blogger, what would you do?

Catch up time

2011-03-30T15:09:00.000-07:00

I'm not a fan of blog breaks--too easy to lose your momentum but I have found myself so behind since flying out to Washington last week, that I must.

I pushed myself yesterday and today and did complete my first revisions on my WIP. But now that I've started-- I want to finish. I need to get it out to my critique partners some time.

I also feel like I have been lax in my visiting you so instead of a blog break, I'll be taking a visiting tour to catch up on all of your lives while I review my book again.

Be back soon!Write hard!

What's your cliff?

2011-03-23T13:43:00.000-07:00

Jim Rubart, keynote speaker at the Spokane writer’s conference, challenged us: “What’s your flip?

The amazing part of his talk last Saturday morning was how God orchestrated it for me. Of course, everyone else in that room would say the same thing, too.

Jim asked us what cliff we were prepared to flip off, as he did and were we willing to take a chance for the Lord.

My flip occurred at 2:25 that afternoon.

I’d had months to prepare my workshop and months to prepare my fears. Fainting was not an option. When I first heard my class was scheduled for later in the day, I was not happy at all. Too much time to worry. But God had other plans. He brought person after person to my side to encourage me. People I had never met before took a moment in their day and prayed with me.

Yes, God took care of all the details.

At 2:23, I made one last trip to the restroom and then made my way to the front of the classroom.

Gulp.

But this story isn’t about me. It’s a story about how God can knock on your heart time again until finally you answer his call. I’d turned him down before; I wasn’t going to now.

I pulled out my folder and adjusted it on the podium. Twenty five sets of eyes met mine. A deep breath and I began.

My talk? How to use your emotions to write a selling story. Unfortunately my emotions weren’t cooperating. My voice shook. I paused several more times until finally, I felt it happen. The connection with those who’d come to hear me speak and support my efforts.

So I didn’t faint and by the time I finished my talk, I had accomplished what God had been asking me to do. I shared what I knew.

We don’t always get second chances in life to leap, I’m grateful I did. Will I do it again? I don’t know. I probably won’t seek out an opportunity but if that knock on my heart raps as loud as it did this time, I’ll hold my breath and leap into the air again.

Thank you Jim, for inspiring me. Thank you God for being faithful.

What’s your cliff?

Is your Dream becoming a Reality?

2011-03-14T04:00:00.000-07:00

It’s time.

As a writer, we get to a point in our journey where we need to take the next step. Maybe it’s entering a major contest, maybe it's attending a writers’ group or maybe it's joining a critique group.

But there is always another new step.

My next step is teaching at the writer’s conference in Spokane this next Saturday. On Friday, after a week of activity, I board a plane and fly to the west side of the country where I will be staying with an awesome blogger friend and the director of the conference—Jan Cline.

In a previous post, I mentioned how a few years ago, I turned down a similar speaking opportunity. I was too afraid. Too worried about not being good enough. Too worried about fainting or dying in front of a room full of people.

Amazingly, I don’t have that same intensity of fear today. Yeah, I’m nervous that I will bore everyone or that my voice will disappear, or I’ll get a migraine or I’ll blank out. I have fears like anyone trying a new experience.

But I also have this undeniable assurance that this is God’s plan and not mine.

If it was mine, I’d be staying home in my comfortable routine, still dreaming about possibilities.

Dreaming--not doing.

What have you been dreaming about but the doing is coming harder?

PS--I would appreciate prayers for this conference and that all the writers attending would be blessed beyond measure!

Does Sharing Make You Unprofessional?

2011-03-07T05:22:00.000-08:00

It’s something I’ve wondered about, maybe even worried about time and again.

Does sharing too much about yourself make you appear unprofessional?

You probably know by now, that every few posts, I write about what God is doing in my life. I share because I feel that more than being a writer, I’m supposed to minister to others.

For me, ministry means writing about how God pulls us through those times when all seems hopeless. It also means sharing my struggles and my insecurities and my triumphs so that others going through similar experiences might be encouraged.

But is it too much?

Could it be considered unprofessional?

Okay, I’m going to say I hope not.

But that’s just me. It’s my form of ministry and isn’t that what a Christian writer should do?

What about you? I would love to hear your thoughts on this topic.

A different path

2011-02-28T04:00:00.000-08:00

Three books by three different authors. All women’s fiction.

Ann Tatlock, Patti Lacy, and C.S. Lakin.

A new direction.

I chose these books as part of my revision plan. I hope to read them within the next two week period to boost my awareness of what makes a great book.

Yes, I’m going to study them for structure and plot and conflict and even how many times they use a familiar phrase. But mostly I hope I get sucked so deeply into them that I forget to analyze each page.

That’s my first desire.

My second desire is to apply what I learn to my own work.

I’m not talking voice here or copying any of their techniques. I’m only talking about finding that overall thing that makes a story one you can’t put down.

I hope each of these books will do that for me.

So this is only one of many steps I’m taking in this revision process. It might help—it might not. But it’s a shot.

What new direction have you taken recently?

Share with me

2011-02-21T04:00:00.000-08:00

Hello revisions.

I’m in that awkward stage where I’m trying to read my MS as though I didn’t write it. Just to see what a reader might feel.

I got to about chapter 11 and said, “Whoa, what on earth were you doing here?” Not my best work for sure.

So I drew a big sad face and marked the spot. For later. When I go back through and fix and fix until I can actually say I’m proud of it.

It’s a process—coming up with a piece of work that will hold up to the test when I send it to my critique partners, beta readers and maybe an editor BEFORE I query it.

It’s a process that can’t be rushed.

I’m trying to think of everything I’ve learned and put it all together even if it takes forever.

I know—sounds like a song. But in a way, my book should sing when it’s done.

It should sing like a Hallelujah choir.

So that’s where I’m at in this fifth novel process.

Where are you with your writing today?

What's your Safety Net?

2011-02-15T04:00:00.000-08:00

(Warning, I might bleed on the paper today.)

What’s your safety net?

In the past three and a half years, I’ve lost about every one of mine. A steady income, jobs, savings, retirement accounts, friends, family members, church family, pride, dreams, hope, confidence and more. Some losses are of my own doing; most a direct effect from the poor economy.

Yes, I was a good Christian. I attended church faithfully, prayed, read my Bible, and tithed. I thanked God for everything I enjoyed. I might have even patted myself on the back a few times because my faith was so strong.

Look at me. I owned a Christian bookstore. I wrote Christian articles. I sent my daughter to a Christian college. I witnessed to people in the grocery line. You know the list. You probably have your own.

But as the losses piled up, and I had more in common with Job than I wanted, my faith wavered. Took a huge hit. I cried a lot. I got angry. Friends began to avoid me. I hopped around churches. And I prayed for someone to reach out and set my life right again.

Three and a half years later: that someone hasn’t come.

Because He was already there.

I needed to learn how to trust God even during the bad times. The times when life doesn’t feel worth living anymore. The times when I wake up and wonder why on earth am I still breathing? The times when the ache and pain of my losses weigh me down so that I can’t see anything good in the beyond.

My safety nets were full of holes.

I don’t know when I will ever have a normal life again. But God does and it isn’t my place to second guess His timing. If ever.

I might even need to endure more losses—my home, my health, my entire future. I hope not. I pray not.

So why write all this? Not an upbeat post, I know. Remember the warning?

I wrote it because maybe someone out there is depending on those same safety nets as I did. It’s easy when life is good. It’s easy to think we’ll always have work, money in the bank, a career, friends and family to support us. A person to bail us out when we can’t see straight.

I thought so too. But I was wrong.

Jesus is teaching me otherwise. Today, I’m hanging on to Him a little bit tighter. Are you?

How often do your rush through posts?

2011-02-09T09:08:00.000-08:00

I read so many wonderful posts, posts where bloggers pour a part of their selves out on the page and share a depth of their hearts for the entire world to read.

Then I click on to the next.

How often do you rush through a blog post so you can answer everyone who posted on yours? Maybe skim it to be polite?

If you’re honest, and like me, you might have to admit you have. I know I have many times.

And if you’ve noticed, I’ve cut back my blog posts. Sometimes I write two a week, other weeks I write only one.

The reason?

I want to spend more time lingering and savoring your posts. You’ve taken a huge part of your life and posted it for my enjoyment. I’m cheating myself if I don’t pull from them what I can. I’m cheating you. My whole point in blogging isn’t for you to ooh and aaah over my brilliance.

I’ve said it before. It’s about the connections I make here.

Do you ever wonder if a commenter actually reads all of what you wrote?

How do you know when you’re ready to offer advice?

2011-02-07T04:00:00.000-08:00

My husband will soon graduate with his degree in Golf Management. During the course of his studies, he learned how to give golf lessons using all kinds of techniques including video analysis. This year, he must bring in people who want to learn the game and instruct them in front of his teacher for his grade.

Yet still he feels inadequate teaching anyone golf. One reason could be because his own game isn’t quite where he wants it yet. Maybe it’s because he’s only been golfing for three years. (BUT seems like Forever!)

As writers, when are we ready to offer writing advice?

Is it as soon as we are published? Is it as soon as we call ourselves writers?

I read a lot of blogs that give advice on all kinds of subjects. Usually I look at the blogger’s credentials and then determine if I will take what they say wholeheartedly or not. Sometimes, I’m surprised at how soon advice is given out and the depth of it.

When it comes to my blog, I try to share the mistakes I’ve made along the way and those I learned from. They won’t be the same as yours. You also won’t see me giving out a lot of technical writing advice like plot and structure because I know the books out there can do a much better job than I can. And besides that, I’m still learning.

I’m on my fifth novel and I’ve finally just developed a good working plan for my revisions. But ask me how to write a good non-fiction story and I’ll jump right in.

So tell me, how soon do you feel comfortable offering advice to others?

What makes your writing a stand-out piece?

2011-02-01T04:00:00.000-08:00

I’ve got a new bad habit.

When I watch movies, I point out the motivation and conflicts for the main actor. My husband has begun doing it too. In fact, it’s almost a race between us until the plot sucks us in.

But there is one part of the craft, I’m not sure I can pick up a how-to book to learn from.

How do you come up with an engaging plot?

Yesterday, I sent in my entry to ACFW for their Genesis contest. I think my chapter is polished as it can be as to the grammar, the GMC, and the detail in the scenes. I even love my MC.

But I’m worried.

What if my story despite all of that, is down-right boring? What if there is no meat to it? What if what sounds interesting to me causes another reader to snooze?

Here’s where you think you’ll read on and get a good answer.

Wrong.

After learning all the tricks to good writing, it still comes down to story. I don’t care how well-written a work is, if it doesn’t hold my attention, pace or no pace, I put the story down.

Story trumps everything.

So I ask you, how do you know if your creation is heart gripping, eye-opening fiction?

Shhhhhhh

2011-01-27T04:00:00.000-08:00

I found a corner seat, a fake leather couch, propped next to a window offering a view to the hospital. A few yards away, another woman sat curled onto a similar couch, her laptop beside her. I couldn’t help but wonder if she was writing or editing her latest project as I was.

I tend to spin whole scenarios in my head when I’m out in public, given the opportunity to watch people like I was yesterday at my local library.

I imagined getting out of my seat and closing the distance between us, dropping into the chair opposite her and asking if she was a writer too. You know, sharing our stories and comparing our journeys.

Then I told myself how stupid I would feel if she wasn’t a fellow writer.

I flipped through more of my pages and looked back up. Yeah, she was a writer for sure. She kept looking around the room and daydreaming like I was. What else could she be?

When an older gentleman chose the chair next to me to read his magazine, it was all I could do not to start chatting. But I was in a library where I'm supposed to be quiet, not start up conversations with everyone nearby.

I forced my eyes back to my work. Then my phone vibrated. Three times.

My hand wavered.

Okay. So I’m needy.

I packed up my markers and manuscript and made for the exit door.

Since you aren’t in the same room with me, talk to me: How much time do you spend in your head or using your mouth?

A different approach

2011-01-24T04:00:00.000-08:00

FedEx and I are meeting again today. It's okay. My husband knows.

My rough draft waits, all neatly coiled together, ready for my colored markers to begin their work.

I’m trying something different this time around—I’m headed to the library to find a quiet corner where I can read through my WIP without the usual distractions around me.

Hopefully I’ll look at the storyline from a different viewpoint. Maybe I’ll discover areas that need improvement that I wouldn’t have caught sitting in my usual chair at home.

It’s a new approach.

What have you tried to do differently lately?

There really is another way, Terri

2011-01-20T04:00:00.000-08:00

Don’t roll your eyes, please.

But I think I’ve finally gotten it.

What’s that? you ask.

Or don’t.

Books on the writing craft.

Yeah, you read that correctly. I haven’t always understood what other writers have written about writing fiction.

I feel like Virginia. Yes, Terri, there really is a better way to learn how to write. Try it. Cut the shortcuts. Study the pros. Realize you won’t get it by osmosis.

I’ve been reading another good book on writing this week and as I go through it, I’m seeing the pieces come together. It IS important to understand pacing, and plot structure, and characterization. The list goes on and on.

So no more shortcuts here. I’m done being lazy or lax or someone who thinks it will come any other way. It won’t. At least not in my lifetime.

What shortcuts have you taken in hopes of getting published?

Comfort

2011-01-15T11:36:00.000-08:00

It was only a tooth. A molar. One I’ve carried around in my mouth for decades.

When the dentist gave me the choice of saving it for $2200 or extracting it without anesthesia for $220, I had no choice.

“Pull it," I said, and then bit my lip, trying not to cry, all the way home.

My husband agreed to wait for me in the outer office on the day of the appointment.

The assistant called my name and led me to the room in the far corner of the building, put a show on the computer TV about abused dogs and left me to wait.

An hour later, shaking from some ingredient in the Novocain, I smiled as the dentist returned.

“A few tugs, and you’ll be done,” he promised.

He then began what I can only describe as medieval torture.

“We’ll need to cut the tooth in half first.”

No, he hadn’t mentioned that part at the consult.

Soon I smelled the odor of burnt hair. Only it was bone.

When four hands found my mouth and the tugging began in earnest, I tried to clear my mind by praying.

Then I thought of the unexpected letter that had arrived in my mailbox only minutes before I left home.

My heart beat slowed.

A writer I haven’t seen in two years, who used to attend my group, mailed me a copy of her story that had been published. Her first published story. One I’d helped her edit. She wanted to say thank you. When I last saw her, she’d been diagnosed with cancer. Now she was a published writer, healthy.

My jaw relaxed.

As I pressed my head against the back of the chair, waiting for that moment when the dentist told me I could leave, I couldn’t help but be in awe of God’s timing again.

The Great Comforter.

When was the last time you felt God comforting you?

What are you waiting for?

2011-01-11T04:00:00.000-08:00

I can’t put it down. Every time I open my laptop, my WIP calls to me.

I have to wait two weeks.

Let it cool.

It’s my plan. Wait two weeks. Go to the library , take out the markers, do REVISIONS.

In the meantime, I want to thank you all for allowing me soapbox time on my last post. I rarely climb on it but sometimes it does happen.

I promise I’ll be quieter. (For awhile) And glide around the blogosphere (is that spelled right?) to read your latest and greatest news.

What are you waiting for today?

Social Media Suicide

2011-01-07T04:29:00.000-08:00

I’m not a rule breaker. I never got a ticket until I turned fifty. I never was sent to the principal’s office for mischief. But today I’m probably going to commit social media suicide by what I’m going to write.

In the past few weeks, I have read several blog posts from well-known bloggers on topics like, “How to comment correctly,” and “Why I don’t follow your blog anymore.”

What I want to know is who gets to be the Blog Police? Who gets to create this whole set of rules? And why do we choose to follow them?

I started blogging four years ago because I wanted to meet other like-minded people, build relationships and learn about writing and life. Somewhere along the line with the advance of social media networks, rules have been created and I’m trying to figure out by who and why all of us take it upon ourselves to follow them.

My thought is we follow the rules for the followers.

Well if you look at my numbers, it says I have 300 some followers. If I check the stats (which I don’t do often) they show that on any given day for a new post, rarely do all 300 plus people read it. They’re only numbers, friends. We’re jumping through hoops for numbers.

So what if a person only wants to leave a “good post!” comment on my blog. I meet all kinds of real people in the real world who aren’t talkers but I love them anyways. So what if someone wants to write a sermon on their blog and not many people prefer that kind of post. They still shouldn’t be made to feel guilty for doing so.

Posting has become a chore for many and shouldn’t be. We need to love this open form of communication and stop taking to heart the rules that someone out there is creating.

All I want to do is write a good book. I’m a nice person. If I don’t get representation because I worry about the bigger picture in life like getting a job and keeping my home out of foreclosure and writing a good book, so be it.

We have enough Big Brothers in our lives. Do we really need another?

Thanks, but this isn't for us

2011-01-04T04:35:00.000-08:00

Last year was a year of rejections. Not only with searching for a job but with my writing. I expected both as Florida is still reeling from the Great Recession and deep down I knew my first four books weren’t where they should be either.

So I bought the book THANKS, BUT THIS ISN’T FOR US by Jessica Page Morrell. I haven’t been able to put it down. Let me say this, she doesn’t pull any punches when she tells the writer what is a deal beaker in the publishing industry.

When I finished my rough draft on New Year’s Eve of my fifth book, I made a plan. Read this book and be sure I haven’t made any of those huge mistakes.

It’s a plan that will hopefully get me a foot in the door.

During 2010, I enjoyed reading about the many successes of my writer friends. One by one, agents picked them up and publishers gave out contracts.

I’m praying this is the year for many more of us—in both our personal lives and our professional lives.

We’ve all got areas where we fail miserably. What is great is there is always a way to pick ourselves back up and make changes.

What major changes are you making this year?

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-20T11:56:00.000-08:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Wishing all of my blogging friends a very Merry Christmas! I've enjoyed reading your posts this past year and making new friendships. It's been awesome seeing so many writers get contracts and agents. I'm praying more of you do this coming new year.

Have a safe and blessed holiday and time with your families. See you next year!

Everyone is a Critic

2010-12-13T16:31:00.000-08:00

Today I spent three hours perusing books in Barnes and Nobles, opening the first pages of a dozen books, asking myself if they were worth the money. (I had a gift card to use.) I ended up buying one book on writing.

How many books did I dismiss though? Because of their cheap covers? Their boring blurbs? The way the print hurt my eyes by being too bold or too light? The way there was too much dialogue and not enough description or the reverse? Or the dreadful first sentences.

The list goes on.

I rejected book after book.

And I’m not a qualified agent. I’m a buyer.

But today’s experience gave me that little nudge I need now and then.

It reminded me to Dream big but Dream realistically.

Books get published. But it doesn’t mean they will sell.

When browsing a bookstore, what’s your biggest reason for rejecting a book?

I get you

2010-12-09T04:00:00.000-08:00

Have you ever gone to a blog, read the post, and thought, “What on earth are they talking about? I don’t get them at all?”

Hopefully that doesn’t happen here too often. (okay, I know it does but play along.)

I do try hard to write for my readers, to make my posts easy to relate to. I don’t write about zoos or how to build a house because most of you could care less about those topics. You want to read about my latest rejection or a how I dumped all my metaphors or what I really think about my critique partners. (love you ladies!)

So where am I going with this?

I’ve been busy preparing for the workshop I’m presenting in Spokane on March 19th. I’ll be teaching on how to write a selling short story—Chicken Soup style. Yes, you may still sign up and watch me create an aha moment.

My opening point is this: In order to write a good story, you need to know who your reader is. You want him to be able to relate to your story. From the very first sentence.

Have you also ever noticed how you might love a blog for awhile and then drift away from it? The blogger probably changed his focus onto a subject you can’t relate to at all. It happens.

But when you’re choosing to write for a specific market, you need to know who will be reading it and then tailor the work to that reader.

Easy-peasy.

Are you writing relevant posts for your reader?

The Day Walmart Came to Town

2010-12-06T04:23:00.000-08:00

My bookstore consisted of three rooms. The front room, a book room and a childrens/ music room. The store was located right in the center of town next to a bakery that sold twenty-five cent doughnuts.

Life was good.

Then we heard the news. Walmart was building across the bridge.

Oh, the shop owners tried hard to convince the local board to deny the superstore from invading our small town. How would we compete with their prices? How would many of us survive? They were too big and we were so small.

It’s been more than fifteen years now since that happened. The bookstore I used to own is still there, churning out great gifts for the holidays, offering great customer service. The bakery closed and a few other shops went under but most everyone is still there serving the public like they always have even Wal-mart’s plans now to build an even bigger store across the bridge.

I share this story as a reminder to myself and other writers. There will always be bigger and better writers who come along—those who get great book deals or agents on their first try—those who make us feel weak in the knees that we’ll never be able to compete.

What does this mean for the writer? It isn’t about competition. Just like there was room for Walmart in my small town, there will always be room for someone who works hard at their craft.

Have you ever worried that your work won’t ever stand up to the competition? What are you doing to make sure it does?

Relating to your MC

2010-12-02T04:00:00.000-08:00

I like this woman, as crazy and neurotic as she is. She makes me smile and gives me hope to not give up when life gets tough. I watch her grow and change and overcome her fears and learn how to love herself and those around her again, despite the consequences.

The woman I’m talking about is my current MC. I know, it’s strange to like the person I’ve created so much. Maybe because part of her is me — yeah, I’m neurotic and a hypochondriac at times, checking out everything I can in a book.

But don’t all of our characters contain a little of ourselves?

And don’t we enjoy the adventures we put our characters in, and spend hours wondering how we might get ourselves out of them if we found ourselves there too?

It’s almost freeing.

You read that right. There are moments in my story where I feel as though I can let go of some of my own baggage when I read how the MC does. I’ll sit back and wonder why I didn’t think of that myself earlier on.

Writing has always been said to be good for you—good therapy. Putting our words on paper and seeing the process always helps us work out our problems.

So today my MC is losing what she wants most. Her business. I can’t wait to see how she’ll cope with this one. Or will she?

What one trait do you love most about your character? Do you have that same trait?

The Slower Plan

2010-11-29T04:00:00.000-08:00

I’ve always been on the two-year plan. Graduate college, meet a man and marry him. Get a good job in my career, work awhile, get pregnant and build a home.

Check. Check. Check. I accomplished each but not exactly in that time frame. The getting pregnant part took a few years longer. It was one of the first times in my life I was forced to slow down my expectations. Sort of like jumping off of the high speed train for the sailboat.

Sometimes God does that to teach me to be more appreciative.

Sometimes it is to teach me to be more humble—reminding me that it isn’t all about me.

I’ve learned that principle again with my writing. I’ve always written with a self-imposed deadline—certain that I needed to be fast to be a good writer. Pump a book out in six months, submit and start again.

As I work on this current project, I’ve found that fast is not the best way for me. The more I let my thoughts linger on the plot, the better it comes together.

My plans and intentions are not always from God. But I want this novel to be. And that means more time spent in prayer about it.

It feels good to be taking the slower route on this book. I’m actually liking the story more and making some major revisions as I go.

No. Two-year plans are a thing of the past. Today I’m waiting on God’s plan.

How about you? Are you on the train or sailing those waves?

A work in progress

2010-11-22T05:47:00.000-08:00

It’s Thanksgiving week and so I plan to be brief. I also know many of you are writing that 50000 word novel this month.

I’m at 35000 words in my 75000 WIP. I’m getting closer to bringing in a huge upset to the story. Not the black moment, but a change that will affect the MC in a big way.

Then the downhill slide begins to the end.

But this time, I’m taking my good old sweet time. You see, I’m hoping book number five is better than all the previous four. I’m hoping that I’ve learned something and I’ll put that knowledge into play in this one.

But I’m also more realistic now. More than I was maybe six months ago.
This book might show me new need areas to work on. Not be the one.

And that’s okay.

So here’s my brief post with my brief question to you: What did you learn from your last writing effort?

Happy Thanksgiving!

What are the benefits of a blogging break?

2010-11-17T14:46:00.000-08:00

I hesitated taking a blogging break. Hadn’t ever done it before in all the years I have been posting but I knew I would be unable to read or post anything for quite awhile, and I’m not one to write ahead. I go with the moment.

Anyways, was it worth it to break?

Oh yeah.

First, let me say I missed hearing all about your news and felt a little as though there was a party going on and I had stayed home instead.

But I found this out: It really isn’t so important in the scope of life if I ever get an agent or if I ever write a great query letter or ever write the best book ever.

Now don’t get me wrong . . . those are some of my goals with writing and I take it seriously but stepping back awhile gave me a whole fresh perspective.

I love to write. Sometimes being as immersed as I was, (it's easy to do in this online world) it's easy to forget the real world. We pin all our hopes and dreams on people we have never met, hoping this agent or that publishing house will give us the golden key.

During these past ten days, I spent hours climbing around a playground creating imaginary worlds with my three-year-old grandson. Can I tell you how refreshing it was? All I wanted to be was the best role model and loving grandmother I could be. I don’t get that chance often because we live on opposite sides of the country.

The other benefit of this short break? I need to be serious about my writing but not take myself so seriously. Who am I really? Just a person trying to put on paper words that fill my mind. And if along the way I meet some wonderful people, then that makes it all that more sweet.

Will I break again? Sure. My mind is refreshed and I’m ready to go.

How about you? Do you take blogging breaks?

Unplugging for Two Weeks

2010-11-01T06:20:00.000-07:00

In the three plus years I've been blogging, I've never unplugged but will be for the next couple of weeks. My daughter and three-year-old grandson are coming to visit from Seattle. I think I'll be pretty busy putting on my roles of mom and grandma, visiting Disney and learning how to play cars again.

You might see me popping into some blogs, because, yes, I'm addicted. But for the most part, I'll be unplugged and enjoying some real life. (I've got the coolest grandson.)

See you later!

Christian Writers Conference

2010-10-28T04:27:00.000-07:00

BUCKET LIST – Teaching at a Writers Conference
GREATEST FEAR - Standing up in front of a room full of people for more than five minutes

A few years ago, out of the blue, I received an email inviting me to speak at a conference in PA. I was thrilled but turned the offer down. Me? I have never spoken to anyone like that. I’d die.

Then regret at my own stupid fear ate away at me, and I admitted that speaking was one of my dreams. I actually started out as an elementary teacher in college and partly changed majors due to my fear of standing in front of a classroom.

So I signed up for Toastmasters and did about three speeches for three minutes each. Very long three minutes.

But I promised myself if I ever got the opportunity to talk to people about writing again, I would go for it despite my fears.

Guess what? I did and you are invited to come see me either faint, freeze or die as I overcome my fear and do what I feel God is leading me to do.

My very good blogging friend Jan Cline is hosting a Writers Conference in Spokane WA on March 19, 2011. You can read all about it here and I will be posting more as we get closer. Jim Rubart will be the key speaker and of course I’ll be doing my best to share what I’ve learned over the years.

Please check it out and if you are in the Northwest region, please put it on your calendar. It promises to be a great time of fellowship and learning. Besides all that, I want to meet you!

What's on your bucket list?

When do you cease writing your novel?

2010-10-25T04:00:00.000-07:00

Last week was a rough one. I received three agent rejections plus a tear-inducing edit. The reader told me they liked my antagonist more than my protagonist. That my characters were not acting like Christians at all.

Not a happy day.

But I didn’t blame the messenger.

It made me rethink this writing a novel thing. Obviously, I hadn’t presented my MC the way I’d hoped. What goes on in my brain isn’t coming out on paper. I might have improved my technical skills but my plot was full of holes.

Of course, I emailed my supportive critique partners, some writer friends and others who know how much I love to write. I prayed that God would show me what I was missing.

But the time comes when you wonder how many more times you can tell someone you are starting another new book without them asking,” What about the other ones you wrote…”

I tossed them.

Because their only worth to me are as learning tools, stepping stones to writing better. I also ordered a book on Goals, Motivation and Conflict and promised myself I would not finish another book until I have read and understood this aspect of writing fiction.

So when does a writer say this isn’t for me? I will never get it? I will quit wasting my time, money and efforts on something I will never get?

Is there a magic number of rejected books?

I’m writing book number five. Because that same day I pulled out a short story I’d written about six years ago for Faithwriters. Oh my goodness was I embarrassed. But I was also thrilled that today I know how to improve all those mistakes.

We’re growing every time we put our words down on paper. Is there a moment when it will all come together? Hopefully.

But in the meantime, how will you push yourself forward when you find yourself swirling in the muck and mire like I was? Do you have a scenerio in your head when you will call it quits or is that not an option?

Guest Interview: K.M. Weiland

2010-10-22T04:00:00.000-07:00

K.M. Weiland writes historical and speculative fiction from her home in the sandhills of western Nebraska. She enjoys mentoring other authors through her writing tips, editing services, workshops, and her recently released instructional CD Conquering Writer’s Block and Summoning Inspiration.

I rarely promote products and books on my blog but when Katie asked if she could share about her new CD, I said yes without hesitation. She offers so much help and information for the writer on her blog that I was excited to interview her.

1. What inspired you to create a CD about inspiration?
Over the last several years, I’ve been sharing tips and essays about the writing life on my blog Wordplay: Helping Writers Become Authors (http://wordplay-kmweiland.blogspot.com). Posts on inspiration and fighting writer’s block have always been some of my most popular posts. It’s ironic, really: Here we are, a bunch of people who discovered this whole writing business because one day we woke up inspired with an idea for a story—and yet consistent inspiration is something most of us struggle with on almost a daily basis. I wanted to put together a presentation that shared some of my own tricks for encouraging inspiration. Thanks to the Wordplay podcast, I already had some experience with audio productions and thought it would be an interesting adventure to create a CD that would be accessible and helpful to others.

2. What do you do on a daily basis to keep yourself inspired?
I read somewhere once that we can train our brains to be ready to write at certain time every day, if we apply ourselves consistently. I don’t know how much truth there is to that (I think it’s more likely that we’re training ourselves, rather than our creative subconscious, to be consistent), but it works for me. I write from four to six in the afternoon, five days a week, rain or shine. Unless there’s a national catastrophe, I’m always writing at four o’clock. It’s become habitual to the point the the lazy, whiny side of me doesn’t even try to backtalk anymore—usually!

3. Can you share one of the important tips from the CD
Never stop asking questions. On the CD, I talk about how the “5 Ws,” used by reporters, can be a writer’s best friend. Whenever you find yourself stumped for a way to continue with a scene, ask yourself the Ws: What? Where? When? Why? Who? “What if,” in particular, is brain revver. It’s often helpful ask yourself these questions on paper, since it forces your thoughts into a more concrete form, but don’t censure what comes out. The results can be powerful!

4. On your blog and in the CD you talk about how the arts feed off each other. Can you elaborate?
All our various avenues for artistic expression—writing, painting, singing, acting, etc.—are linked. They all come from the same deep creative well, that universal need to express, explain, and understand our human existence. Experiencing the arts opens our minds, shows us new horizons, helps us better understand ourselves and others, and gives us the opportunity to study how to make our own presentations more effective. In the CD, I particularly touch upon the importance of music. In my opinion, music represents the perfection of storytelling, since it is able to directly touch our emotional core, without even the interference of words. It can be a deep well of inspiration to writers.

5. Other than your CD, where else can writers go to find more inspiration and writing tips?
Along with the CD (which is available, this month only, in a great special offer (http://www.kmweiland.com/store.php#specialoffer)), I’m excited to announce the launch of my newly redesigned website (http://www.kmweiland.com). Other than the spiffy new look, it also features lots of goodies for helping writers along the road to publication and fulfillment in their writing. Probably the most exciting additions are the Helping Writers Become Authors Network (http://www.kmweiland.com/network.php), which offers an excellent package deal on some of my best writing programs and products, and the First Chapter Story Consultation (http://www.kmweiland.com/consultation.php) service. You can also find links to my blogs (http://www.kmweiland.com/blogs.php#blogs), podcast (http://www.kmweiland.com/blogs.php#podcast), monthly e-letter (http://www.kmweiland.com/mailing-list.php), and my free e-book Crafting Unforgettable Characters (http://www.kmweiland.com/free-ebook

Focus

2010-10-18T04:00:00.000-07:00

The most important chapters in any new book I write are of course chapters one through three.

Maybe they aren’t to you but these chapters are where I set up the tone, the setting, the main character’s personality and voice, the internal and external goal and some good old standby conflict. I also push for a unique opening sentence and I make sure I like my MC. No—love my MC. Cause if I don’t love her, I can be sure my Beta readers will hate her.

This process never used to happen until the past year.

Not until I was critiqued and edited and took some courses. I just sat down and wrote what my little heart desired without any organization or plan.

I never thought to study the way books were put together. Just read them for
content. (Don’t wag your finger at me. Did it already.)

But here is the problem. It’s all I do and it is driving me crazy.

I am so aware of technical aspects that quite often I have stopped partway through a book more than I have ever in my entire lifetime because of this or that but mostly because my attention span is much more difficult to maintain.

I hate it. I dread it.

I’m not sure how to overcome it or to focus.

There is a bright spot. It makes me aware that the next book I write better be so compelling that whoever reads it will also forget about those technical glitches too.

Is that possible?

So tell me, how to you separate your desire to read for pleasure with reading for technique and style?

How you can win through writing

2010-10-14T04:00:00.000-07:00

He worked for me and I trusted him. I treated him like everyone else. Back then, twenty years ago, I trusted most everyone. I lived in small town USA. That’s how we were. That’s how I was.

When I realized who I was dealing with, it was too late. So began a period of stalking lasting on and off for years. A spell in the county jail stopped his worst behaviors but not everything.

Even as I type this, I wonder if he’s found me.

Sometimes events in our life alter us for good and sometimes they just change us.

Every now and then, the emotions I experienced back then resurface. I taste the acid terror and remember the gut-wrenching panic when I realized he could destroy my family.

As a writer, I can use all of these emotions—I can channel them into a realistic story.

And that’s exactly what I try to do.

Not one moment in my life has been wasted. Not one. As a writer, we get to recycle, revise and reclaim everything we’ve gone through. Good and bad.

That’s how I win.

Are you using your life experiences to enhance your writing?

Writing is like. . .

2010-10-11T04:00:00.000-07:00

I started my fifth novel this weekend. Fifth full one as we all have some half-starts filed away. I am hoping this one won’t find its way to the never-gets-finished drawer.

I don’t think it will because I have spent too much time planning it out. And I don’t usually do that but I wanted to implement all that I’ve learned from the first four into this one.

If we work at it, our writing should improve.

Then one day—hopefully—someone besides my sweet husband will think the same way and offer me hope that my fiction might be good enough for more than a handful of people to read.

But until that moment happens, a new story has taken root in my brain and won’t let me go. I see the opening scene, I smell it, and I hear it.

I read in a book on writing by Elizabeth Berg that writing a novel should be like tying your shoes. Without thought—just sit down and let your story come out.

I think maybe I’m almost there. At least I can make a knot.

What is writing like to you?

Personal Pet Peeve with Social Media

2010-10-06T06:49:00.000-07:00

Saying this is probably taboo in the world of publishing. But I’m going to anyways.

I’m tired of all the self-promotion.

Now wait—before you get upset and remind me that as writers we need to do that—put our work out there across all the social networks—for everyone to see and buy our product.

I agree.

But not all the time. Without a real connection with anyone.

More and more I’m running into that. People want to be my friend on Facebook and then I never get a personal reply when I leave a note. People follow my blog but I can’t find a way to reply to them. Most all of the tweets are about a new book.

Come on. We’re humans here. We like to communicate with each other. We need to communicate with each other. (I watch enough commercials on TV.)

Sure, I post my latest blog posts. We all do. But if someone sends me a message, it means I expect some interaction. You’ll get it on my part. Always.

I don’t need the high numbers to make me feel good about myself.

Do you?

Let’s keep it real when we’re doing the social media thing.

Okay—now you can blast away. (covering my head)

My Reminder

2010-10-03T13:21:00.000-07:00

Ten years ago, I owned a Christian bookstore in rural PA. Part of that job meant I attended CBA each year. I not only purchased gifts but all the latest books.

Back then, CBA was a huge event. Aisles and aisles packed with product and companies. We received bags of promotional items and spent hours enjoying the concerts and shows.

But my favorite part of CBA was waking up each morning, rushing to the convention hall, and grabbing the morning paper put out for attendees. I would circle all the book signings for my favorite authors and make my schedule.

I still remember meeting Mary Hunt, author of Everyday Cheapskate. I had read her book before the show and put into practice many of her suggestions. When I shared my success with her, she gave me a hug and I could see how thrilled she was that I had a working Freedom account.

That was the beginning.

Someday, I told myself, I wanted to stand on the other side of the table and share the story God has placed on my heart and hopefully make a difference in someone else’s life.

So here I am, years later, learning to trust my instincts when I write. Learning to put down on paper those lessons God deems me worthy enough to learn or not to learn. It also means being honest with my words and digging deep inside of me when I reveal those experiences.

I’m sure I haven’t said anything that most of you don’t feel the same way about.

But every now and then, I need to remind myself why I’m doing this.

What do you remind yourself about why you write?

It's that time--Finding an Agent

2010-09-29T16:31:00.000-07:00

So you’ve finished your book. Your critique partners have given it their stamp of approval. You’ve paid for a professional editor to clean it up. Your Beta readers have given you their suggestions. You’ve read it out loud twice. You’ve begged your husband to read it to you. (He declines.) You create your synopsis and work out a great query with a hook.

You are ready.

Now what?

It’s time to select your agents.

You’ve read all their blogs, you’ve asked other agented writers for suggestions, you’ve searched all the Find an Agent Web sites.

Guess what?

The list isn’t that long.

I don’t know about you, but I can’t find all that many for the genre I want to submit. I also can’t find that many who seem like someone I would work well with.

Are you just too choosy, Terri?

I don’t think so. But from what I know, an agent and writer need to click or either might come to regret the union.

I don’t want to find myself in that situation just to have a book published.
So what’s a girl to do?

Here’s my solution: make sure my book is good and ready when I submit. I get one shot at it per person. That’s it.

That’s where I am now.

What’s your solution to finding a good agent? Or do you really care?

Celebrating Purpose

2010-09-26T11:13:00.000-07:00

My husband and I marked an anniversary last month.

It’s been three years since he lost his job and career. Construction Management died in Florida and pretty much throughout most of the country. Our life has been challenged, to say the least, to discover creative ways to survive until we can find new jobs.

But on that day, August 29th, 2010, we celebrated.

It was a first in three years. Do you wonder why I would want to?

The answer is simple-- Because we’re still here.

I’ve gotten pretty amazed at how God has sustained us, even through the darker days. And trust me, there have been many, and I know we have more ahead of us. Days when all I wanted to do was cry and stay in bed. Days when I thought the world has gone on and we were stuck in our hopeless situation. Yeah, there are dark days, but I’m trying to count the good ones instead now.

This week we finally dropped cable but have been blessed to discover free HD channels by using a cheap $75 satellite. We smile at each other over such a great picture for free. Last week we enjoyed a complimentary meal in Perkins by signing up on their website, and a free cookie at the mall from a cookie retailer.

My list goes on. I’m grateful now in ways I never thought I would be.

And through all of this, I write. Some days I write only as an escape from thinking about the day’s pressures. Some days I write because it gives me hope that maybe life can be different and I can show that through my characters.

Today, as I sat in church, and heard another sermon about counting it all joy when we go through trials, I was reminded again that God has this plan for me if I would look not at the trials but, instead, look through them. Maybe that plan is with my writing. Maybe it’s just being a wife and support.

Maybe it’s by coming on here and writing every now and then about how God is getting us through.

Because, He is. He does. He will.How are you celebrating today?

Choosing your genre

2010-09-22T15:41:00.000-07:00

A little back story: I’ve got a romance to query, a women’s fiction and this other book I finished last spring but am just now revising it.

My problem and one question for you - - what genre is it?

When I attended a writer’s conference last May, a freelance editor looked at the first two chapters and told me in order to qualify as women’s fiction, the first chapter needed to start in the woman’s POV. Mine starts in the husband’s POV and alternates between them—growing both characters throughout the book. (Although the woman definitly has a bigger role.)

So help me out here, please. In which genre should I list this story? General or Women's? (thank you!)

(Now wasn't today's post easy? I'm thick in revisions and the brain needs some help.)

Are you willing to Write until you get it Right?

2010-09-19T16:48:00.000-07:00

I wrote three posts, deleted them and this is now my fourth. I promised this blog would be a place where want-to-be writers could see what someone goes through to obtain their dream. You saw me send one of my books out for an edit. I then put myself through a grueling rewrite process.

I finally decided to test the waters, which in writer’s terms means: Query an Agent.

Within three days, I heard back.

The kind agent told me they didn’t need any more Florida-based stories or those dealing with past issues. If I had an out-of-the-box story, they would consider it.

I know, it wasn’t a form rejection letter. I was happy about that.

But the concern that rang loudest in my head was this: it was a rejection of the story I’d just paid to be edited with money lent to me from my mother.

And whose idea had it been anyways? I know. *She swallows hard.*

Of course there are other agents to send it out to, not a ton of them, but a few. I’m leery of querying just anyone. I did my research on who I thought I could work best with.

Then there is the little problem that I’m not sure my other book is out-of-the box enough.

When my husband got home, I cried that the story I’d edited had once been a Pennsylvania-based one and why had I ever changed it? Where was the humor in all of this? Did God really think I enjoyed doing all this work for nothing?

That’s when I got back to square one.

I’m a writer because it’s what I love to do. I write hoping my words might someday change someone’s life.

Is there a time limit?

No.

Do I want one?

Yes. No. *SIGH*

So this is the place in my post where I ask you a question. Trust me; I have a ton of them. But what I want to know today is this: are you willing to write until you get it right?

The #1 Reason Why I'd Pay Again for a Professional Edit

2010-09-14T04:00:00.000-07:00

If you've read any of my last two posts, you know what an ordeal it has been for me to review all the editor’s comments and suggestions. No longer do my characters tip, jump, twist, or gyrate all over the place. Nor do they put themselves into cliché scenes or forget to have a purpose and goal in walking into a new chapter. Yes, most all of those extra words are gone, too. In fact, I lost almost 2000 unnecessary words.

But as I dug through her suggestions, I discovered something else she was doing for me.

She was pointing me toward becoming the kind of writer I wanted to be. Yeah, the light went on.

Let me back up. When I wrote this MS three years ago, I wanted it to be a light, fluffy chick-lit kind of romance. Nothing too deep. Easy emotions. Frivolous words.

Once I saw where the editor was going with her comments, I understood how she was trying to pull more from me. She was trying to get me to write this book on a different level. A more realistic level. Like the kind of books I enjoy reading.

Am I where I want to be yet?

Truthfully, I’d have to say no. But her edits have shown me a clearer path.

So for that reason alone, the money I spent on someone to clean up my words has been worth it. Good-bye fluff. Good-bye sappy romance. Hello me.

What is the main reason you’d pay someone to edit your work?(besides to get published)

When Your Goals Become Out of Reach

2010-09-09T04:34:00.000-07:00

Probably the biggest obstacle I’ve had to overcome since opening myself up to a professional edit is accepting that my personal writing goals must change. I’ll be honest. I had plans. I had hoped to query this book to an agent by the beginning of September and then work on my next book.

For over fifteen years, as a mental health counselor, I goal planned with adults about their lives. We set up specific tasks to complete on a monthly basis. Well, I do the same with my own life—always have.

When I came upon the comment about a third of the way through my MS that strongly (but kindly) suggested this would be a good place to start over after creating better character goals, motivations and conflict and then later work in the remaining good parts, my mouth dropped open.

You know what I thought, of course.

Sometimes we aren’t going to meet our writer goals. For me, letting them go felt like defeat. My ticking clock inside me screamed: But you have only so much time . . . you’ve wasted a whole year . . . maybe fixing this book is impossible. . . Toss it out and start something else.

Goals are meant to be adjusted and changed. This edit has opened my eyes that something good might come from it, if I allow it. Whether I'm happy or not.

Like my character, I’ve got a huge obstacle in front of me, and I need to find the motivation to see it through.

What seemingly impossible obstacle are you facing today in your writer world?

What I'm learning from a Professional Edit

2010-09-07T04:00:00.000-07:00

It’s brutal.

I have moments when I want to scream at the monitor (what do you mean Why again?) and give up writing forever. Going over edits and doing rewrites from a professional editor is not for the thin-skinned indeed.

I thought I had most of the biggies down. Come to find out—I don’t. So I thought I would share with you what I’ve learned thus far about writing. I warn you. It isn’t pretty.

1. Too many Similes. Oh and I thought I was writing pretty when I said his Adams apple bobbed like a yo-yo. I thought the more I used the more creative I was— like writing literary style. Wrong. They clutter the writing and sometimes don’t even go with the character and what they know.

2. Heavy on the stage directions. My characters like to tip their head, or lean closer or frown or raise their brows a little too much in some scenes rather than let the dialogue or action do it.

3. Put events in order as they happen. This should be an easy one—I’m logical, after all. But how many sentences did she point out where I said, “She smiled when she saw him coming across the yard.” Instead of—“When he came across the yard, she smiled at him.” Logical, right? Should be.

4. Fragments. Oh, I have pure romance with these. Love short fragments. My voice. My style. Me. Wrong. They get a little annoying when there are too many. And yeah, watch the repeating and rhyming words. My My.

5. Those crying blues. The Tears. My MC is quite the sobbing whiner and I didn’t even realize what a turn-off that is. Who wants to cheer her on when those tears shine and glitter and sparkle and roll down her cheeks so much?? Not me or the reader for sure. So I get that part now.

6. Let the reader see what the character sees. I’d have someone walk into a store, start talking to a clerk and the reader has no clue what they see—is it a man or a woman or an old lady or a hot looking creature. I didn’t give much of a clue and it is disorientating.

I’ve lost 1000 words already and I am not even half-way through. Is this fun? Ask my husband. Not. (so allow me this fragment please.)

But yes, I will grudgingly admit, my book is a whole lot better already.
Stay tuned. More to come. Hopefully, I will have a book left when I’m done.

So have I scared you away yet from taking that next step?
I hope not. Are you as guilty as me in any of these areas?

Are you taking shortcuts on the road to publication?

2010-09-02T04:00:00.000-07:00

I’ve quit taking shortcuts. Shortcuts on the road to publication. I’ve stopped being in a hurry to send out work that isn’t my best.

Sure I read craft books, used critique partners and Beta readers, attended conferences, took online courses but. . .

There was one step I skipped because part of me didn’t think I was good enough or that it would help.

I finally hired a professional editor.

Yeah. I did it and all I can say is WOW.

I’m not sure I will ever query another book without using one. It’s amazing what an editor picks up that I thought I had nailed down.

There are tons of great editors out there quoting all different prices. I shopped around for estimates first. I finally chose Tammy Barley because of what she did for me before I selected her. On her website, she offers a free two-page sample critique and then tells you what she would charge. She sold me with her example and sweet personality even before I got my edits back.

Another wow.

If you need more proof of the kind of feedback an editor can provide—go to her Website and let her show you herself.

I’ve been working on the changes and already I’ve learned so much. My book reads fresher and sounds more put together. But I’ve also encountered moments when I wonder if I can even make this book any good and then I stumble across one of her encouraging comments.

In the end, a great story is why we get the call—but for someone to even look at our story—we shouldn’t take shortcuts.

What shortcuts have you been taking?

You Just Never Know

2010-08-30T04:00:00.000-07:00

I wrote this whole post and found this cool phone to use as my picture. Then I waited an hour, came back onto Blogger and deleted the post. But I couldn't delete the phone.

It makes me think about most writers think about. You know. The Call.

I'm just as guilty. When that phone rings, I think, "Is this the one?" Foolishly, I hope and hope. Even though I know my chances are slim right now because I haven't done everything I can possibly do to make it happen.

But I'm working on it. And I'll share about what I'm doing in my next post.

What are you doing to get that call?

How to start a writer's group

2010-08-26T04:00:00.000-07:00

I’ve had several writers mention the need for a writer's group in their home town.

A few years ago, I ran into the same problem. Oh there was a group of very nice people already meeting but they spent most of their two hours reading their work out loud.

That didn’t work for me.

So how can you start a writing group?

Here’s what I did. I went to my local library and asked if I could schedule a room to use twice a month. I gave them a flyer telling a little bit about myself as a writer and what kind of group I wanted to start. They agreed to post it and put it in the newspaper for free. (That part helped a lot!)

Next I created an agenda to pass out:

1. Publishing Praises: A time to share your publication and contest praises with everyone to encourage others.

2. Individual Monthly Writing Goals: Be prepared to share your writing goals for the coming month and share what you have accomplished with your writing during the past month. Encourages accountability. ( I kept notes on goals.)

3. New Market Information: Please share any new writing markets you found this past month. Please share your market needs at this time.

4. Blog and Writing News: Have you found a good blog or writer’s site to share? Have you read a good writing article or book this month to share?

5. Critique Time: Bring something to share that meets the critique guidelines. Limit 1200 words.

6. Prayer Requests

I also made up guidelines for critiquing that would make it comfortable for everyone to share—with a time limit.

Then I waited alone in the room for someone to come. Thankfully they did. It was the first time in my life I’d ever done anything like this.

For over a year and a half we met and grew closer and closer. Just today, I received an email from one of the writers that he got accepted in Chicken Soup. It made my day.

Do you need a writers’ group? What’s stopping you from starting one?

What does your blog do for your Followers?

2010-08-23T09:52:00.000-07:00

In my last post, I shared why I won’t stop blogging. But what I mentioned were the benefits for me of blogging. Not how I could benefit the bloggers who visit me here. And really, isn’t that why we should also blog? To help each other?

So today I’m listing 10 things you can expect from this blog when you visit me.

1. I’ll tell you some of the best ways to start your writing career.

2. I’ll share with you what I know about querying, One-Sheets, and Synopsis.

3. I’ll commiserate with you when those rejections pile up.

4. I’ll gladly look over and critique a few pages for you for free if you want another eyeball.

5. I’ll always pray for your concerns.

6. I’ll cheer you on when you share your successes and visit your blog to tell you so.
7. I’ll teach you how to start your story with a good hook.

8. I’ll be honest with you about the way it really is with writing.

9. I’ll tell you what to expect at a conference, relax and have fun.

10. I’ll tell you how to start a writers’ group in your hometown.

So these are only TEN ways I hope I can be of service to those visiting here. Blogging is about giving as well as putting information about ourselves out there. I want to go to a blog and know that I can leave feeling as though I have been entertained, educated or encouraged.

So here is where it's your turn: What does your blog do for your followers?

10 reasons why I won't stop blogging

2010-08-19T04:00:00.000-07:00

There are times I want to stop blogging. Hey, I've written about 536 posts. Some days I think I have nothing of any worth left to say. But then . . . something happens like it did yesterday morning.

So here is why I will never stop blogging:

1. I met my critique group here.
2. I’ve made some wonderfully close friendships
3. I’ve gotten awesome recipes when I don’t know what to do with pinto beans
4. I’ve learned how to write a One Sheet
5. I’ve found out how to query and who some great agents are
6. I’ve learned more about writing than I ever have from books
7. I’ve been prayed for when I thought I was all alone
8. I’ve been cheered on when I wanted to quit
9. I’ve been pushed and pulled along in this journey
10. I’ve started writing fiction

So what about yesterday morning? Well, a blogger helped me move a little bit closer to my dream. Someday I will blog about that too.

What about you? Why won’t you ever stop blogging?

Connected

2010-08-16T04:00:00.000-07:00

I read a ton of blogs each day. Some I skim through. Some I read casually and some I am compelled to cry or laugh from the very first sentence.

I use my blogger dashboard much like I do the back of a book jacket. If the first few sentences catch my eye, I stop.

I write posts to hopefully encourage writers no matter what stage of writing they are in. But sometimes, I think, what more can I write about? I’ve done posts on almost everything connected with writing (except THE CALL). So has everyone else.

I wanted to keep this blog real and the reality is that the writing process can be slow. Extremely slow. Last week I wrote over 10,000 words on my new novel and read two books by Elizabeth Berg (my new favorite author).

You probably did the same.

We all get to similar crossroads in our writing. That’s the beauty of this journey. Should I query yet? Should I choose another agent to target? Should I get this book edited by a professional and hope it is worth it? Should I stick to short stories or non-fiction? Should I attend a conference?

We’ve all got so much in common.

But some days all I can write is this:
Just write. Just wait. Just keep trying. Just believe.

What are your writing plans this week?

Hello Inner Editor

2010-08-10T13:52:00.000-07:00

I wrote over 10,000 words last week and then yesterday deleted almost half. Reason? I’m changing my POV.

A long, long, time ago, when I first started to dabble in this writing world, I read someplace that it’s best to not write in first person because writing in third POV allows the writer more depth into the story through other characters' eyes.

So I changed a book I’d written in first to third person POV and have continued on that course since. (Sort of like the sheep that jump off the cliff with all the rest.)

Until this book.

We are also told to brush off that little editor that sits on our shoulder when we write our first draft. Not this time.

That’s right. My inner gut, voice, editor, call it what you want, is telling me to go with first person for this story or I might never get it right.

But wait! What about what I read a long, long time ago? What about digging into the brains of other characters?

Okay. Don't think those words aren't ringing around in my head. So this past month, I checked out a few books from my fancy new library here in town. (Come visit.) POV—first person.

Loved them. Loved them. Yes, I’ve read a few in the past year but this time I poured them into me and read them with an eye to see if I could still love the MC as much.

You guessed it. I changed my book all around (drove me a little nuts and my eyes are falling out of my sockets) BUT! I can hear my character and her woes so much better!

So yeah, sometimes you have to really listen to that voice that says go with it. No matter what the fears.

What has your voice told you to do recently? (Besides tell you that now you really need to make a trip to Florida to check out my new library here. I'll give you a tour.)

I'm embarrassed to admit . . .

2010-08-07T04:44:00.000-07:00

I’m driving my critique partners crazy. Well, at least I am myself.

Last month I took a course that opened my eyes to one of my writing habits.

Naming emotions. Like saying: Anger filled her features or embarrassment showed in her eyes, or doubt swirled in her chest.

We’ve all done it but it wasn’t until I was showed that by doing this I was pulling my writing out of a deeper POV. And that’s not what I’m aiming for.

Think of it this way. Instead of saying she was filled with embarrassment if I said instead; her eyes shifted to the ground while her cheeks turned red as the tulips behind her—isn't this showing the same emotion?

I just read two books and not once did I find this kind of writing. I hate to say this but when I name the emotions it is just plain easier. I’ll go as far as saying it's lazy writing on my part. Not what I want to do.

How about you? Have you picked up some good or bad writing habits you’ve seen others do?

When a miracle is named Mom

2010-08-03T08:43:00.000-07:00

She’s my biggest fan although she’s never read any of my books. But she believes in me and when you’re a writer—isn’t that what counts most?

A funny sensation tickled my chest yesterday morning. Something good might happen. I knew it but again after living three years in the recession without much hope, my mind often played tricks on me. Boosting me up when nothing really exciting would happen.

I stopped at my mailbox on my way home from the post office and Dollar Store. Three letters waited for me. I flipped through them and found my mother’s familiar handwriting.

Not again.

Last month she’d sent us $200 to help with expenses.

She lives in a senior high rise on a set income from Social Security. I’d called her and cried that she didn’t need to do this. That we still had some funds to make it. But she was adamant. She had enough she said to cover her medicine for her chemo treatments.

Not again.

Last month, I’d shared about my hope that somehow God would provide money so I could get my book professionally edited this time. That maybe I’d get a job to pay for it and not use our savings. I wanted to make this manuscript the best I could and thought this is the way while I have free time.

I tore open the envelope and a check fluttered out. A hundred dollars more than I need. The most she’s ever given me since I’ve been married. Hard times always followed my parents and so this amount of money is equivalent to thousands.

She wrote that I should use it however I wanted to but I know what she meant. I know what she did. I know how she believes in me and now she showed me again.

God gave me my miracle but did it have to be from my mother?

And now I have a choice to make and I don’t want to.

I rarely ask for prayer here but I could use it today. If this happened to you, what would you do?

What's your line in the sand?

2010-08-02T04:00:00.000-07:00

I actually dragged myself to the public library and took out some books recommended by some bloggers this past month. A variety of genre.

Then I sat down and read them all.

Do you know what I found out besides the knowledge that I need to read more?

I don’t like reading the style of writing I was trying to write. I love stories with some personal background woven in it, some memories filtered through the dialogue, some real emotions—not the heart pounding, lump in the throat kind of sentences with only action and very little else.

I love good women’s fiction with some threads of romance.

What did all this mean to me as a writer?

It meant taking a harder look at what I have been trying to achieve. A book ago, I wrote a woman’s fiction and loved it. My heart fell into it and I wrote with a never ending desire. Then I found out contemporary women’s fiction isn’t selling. So I pulled out an old romance—what I thought I once liked to write—and revamped it.

What I did is called writing for the market. What I ended up with is a nice book but not one I’m convicted about. The kind of book that if someone stopped me in an elevator and asked me about it I’d not really know what to say. So I went back in and tried to add in the stuff I love. I tried to make it mine—not a generic romance.

It helped. But I still have this sinking sensation that it isn’t where it should be for me.

So I’ve drawn a line in the sand.

I started a new book and I’m forcing myself to write what I love. Or delete it all. When we don’t write for the market, it might mean a longer wait for publication. I finally accept that. But it also might mean more pride in my work.

What’s your line in the sand?

Exploding into the next story

2010-07-29T04:00:00.000-07:00

I’ve started writing my next book. Two chapters, in fact, even though I hadn’t planned to write any on it until September. After I had my current one edited. After I started querying it.

But some things won’t wait.

Like the character screaming for me to put her down on paper before I forget about her penchant for drawing paper or her hatred of a golf club.

Or before I forget everything I just learned in my online editing course about how to plot out the whole story first so I don’t end up tearing it apart like I did this last one.

Yeah—some things won’t wait.

Like my desire to write something much better than the previous one and throw away some of those stinking rules just for a little bit so I can let my voice go like it wants to!

Some things won’t wait. Will they?

What about you? What won't wait for you?

The Story God Has Given You

2010-07-26T06:12:00.000-07:00

Self-publishing. I shook my head. Not for me. I need affirmation from those experienced in the industry. From the people who have years of knowledge. Besides, I don’t have what it takes to market myself. I will need some help.

But my words of caution didn’t stop my good friend from pursuing her dream. A few years ago, she self-published the story she said God kept waking her up at night to write. Finally, with the support of her husband and family, she wrote and wrote. Over six hundred pages.

I made her cut at least a hundred.

Yeah, I read her book and I admit I groaned over her poor punctuation and her head-hopping and terrible clichés. She cleaned it up as well as a new writer could and sent it off.

Then she wrote book two and book three.

I won’t tell you all she had to do to market these books but I know her platform helped, her job helped and her prior contacts helped.

But what helped most was her story. Once I got past all my OC about her writing style—I loved the story.

And it seems others do too because her sales have been awesome.

But what made me want to cry with her this week was the news she gave me when she called.

A well-known publisher has contacted her about the book.

She’s realistic that they might not like her work at all. But someone did. Someone mentioned her book to this publisher and praised it enough that he hunted her down and asked to speak with her.

She received her affirmation that day to keep writing despite the outcomes. Something each of us needs almost daily.

Do I believe in self-publishing now? Would I do it?

Probably not, because my situation is different. But it makes me believe even more that if you’ve got a story to tell—a good one—God will help you get it out there.

How’s your story? Is it one God gave you?

Relationships--how they fuel your writing

2010-07-22T05:42:00.000-07:00

Nine years ago, when I relocated to Florida, I left behind a community of friendships I’d cultivated for twenty years. Great friendships. People I still call my friends and who I visit each year when I return home.

Nine years later, I can count on one hand how many close relationships I’ve built here. Orlando is a transient area made worse by the plunging economy. People I’ve met have moved away or broken off with their spouses or changed jobs. Neighbors rarely wave and most of the churches are so large, I never see the same people twice.

Relationships fuel my stories. And they fuel who I am.

Without them, I dry up. Without them, my writing becomes artificial.

So I've found creative ways to fuel my need to connect. I started a writer’s group. I teach senior citizens memoir writing. I ran a woman’s group in our church. Each has their season. But again, once that time ends, so do most of relationships. People move on. People live a distance apart. People enjoy busy lives.

(And trust me, I'm friendly. My dining room table has seen it's share of new faces.)

Would I love to live someplace else? Would I love to live where once again I knew everyone on the streets and enjoyed a little history with them? Of course. But for now, God has placed me here.

What does that mean for my writing? It means I'll have to dig a little deeper to write about those strings that connect, those moments we tuck away in our memories, and those characters who make us chuckle.

How do your relationships fuel your writing?

Cutting your scenes

2010-07-20T04:00:00.000-07:00

When I woke up yesterday, I planned this mental to-do list in my head. I wanted to iron clothes before the house got too hot. I wanted to research dental insurance and I wanted to read a new book.

Nothing earth shattering.

If I'd written about my day, the reader wouldn't see much purpose for that scene and might be temped to yawn through it. (Aren't you?) I mean, come on, it wasn't like I was going to drive downtown and pound on all the doors at the mall and beg for a job. Or it wasn't like I was going to buy a plane ticket and go see my father one more time before he dies.

No--my scene yesterday would be the kind you cut out of a book.

When I reread some of my manuscript this week, I found a few of those non-purpose scenes. The MC had no goals--had nothing to achieve of any worth in them.

I had a choice--find purpose or cut them. Sad to say a few found themselves looking up from the wastebasket.

Have you ever found yourself writing scenes as fillers? As a way to add word count or to tell about some small news item in the MC's life?

I'll loan you my shears.

Did your delete key get a workout this week?

Exposed—sharing your work with Beta readers

2010-07-16T04:00:00.000-07:00

Did you ever get acne as a teenager? Probably tried to hide it with all kinds of creams. You also probably begged your mother if you could stay home from school until it cleared up.

Imagine standing in front of your entire school with a huge pimple on your nose.

Pretty embarrassing. Right?

Well, this week I received my first feedback from my first beta readers. It was about as pretty as that scene. I felt even worse than I did as a teenager.

They didn’t like my MC. She was too spoiled and self-centered. UGH.

Sure, there was a list of other suggestions I could attack quite easily but not liking my MC? I clutched my heart and about gave up the ship. (I love those clichés.)

Risk. There’s risk involved with this growing into a writer thing. There’s risk that I might decide the hurt isn’t worth it.

But there’s also this thing called growth.

Hopefully that’s what happened to me after I took a deep breath and started my revisions. For the past three days I’ve been pushing myself harder than ever to get out the story that is buried inside of me.

Exposure is good. Yeah, it hurts but so does getting a rejection from an agent. This time I want to be sure I'm submitting my best, not a book full of pimples.

So when was the last time you felt exposed? Did it result in something better?

Take the snowflake test. Is your character unique?

2010-07-13T04:00:00.000-07:00

A lovesick coworker stalked me for six years. A close relative died in prison. I was sold a fully stocked bookstore for only one dollar.

Do these events make me unique? Maybe. Maybe not. It might be that I only drink tea on every third Monday and then it has to be a blend of green and rasberry. (Not really!)

But if a dozen books came out on the shelves about women who have been stalked— and I wanted to write another one—it might not matter how unique I made my character. Unless maybe I came up with a new twist.

In the self-editing course I’m taking this month with Author Camy Tang, she reminds us to create unique characters. Too many writers create unforgettable ones. Too many create characters that have been done a dozen times or lack that little spark of uniqueness.

I had difficulty thinking how the character in my current WIP is unique. I almost wanted to toss the entire book.

But then it struck me. The woman loves magnolias. Every summer when her father drops her off at his friend’s cottage, she rushes to pick the biggest blossoms to set on the dinner table that first night. She leans over her upper porch railing into the morning air to inhale their sweet fragrance. She loves the trees and what they symbolize for her—a family. When a tornado later destroys them, it nearly destroys her as well. I had to develop this theme and carry it throughout the entire book.

Think about a person you won’t ever forget. What about them makes them so different from other people you know?

Now think about the character you’re developing. What makes them unique?

What are your lies?

2010-07-10T06:16:00.000-07:00

We tell ourselves lies about who we are all the time. Every day. When I was about ten I tried singing with my sisters for my father. He laughed and said I couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket. Ever since then, I’ve believed that I am the worst singer in the world and dread having someone hear me sing in church as I stand next to them.

So maybe I can’t sing. (I think Dad was right.) But what if that lie had prevented me from becoming the next ------ (name your favorite singer here—I don’t want to date myself too much)? What if that lie had changed my future permanently and I could have excelled in an area that I should have?

In our writing, we need to give our characters a lie to believe about themselves so that they will have something to overcome throughout the book.

My main character in my WIP believes no one will ever love her and stay with her since both her parents abandoned her in her youth. That’s a lie. We know someone could love her forever but her believing the lie affects her choices and options.

I need to add here that Satan loves the lies we tell ourselves. Oh yeah—I tell myself all the time that maybe I really do stink at writing and will never ever write a book worthy of someone reading. Oh he loves that especially since I add a Christian element to my work and the days I get really frustrated, he is jumping for joy.

Our lies can control our lives if we let them. And that’s the challenge here.

So what lie does your main character believe about himself? More importantly, what lie do you believe about yourself and how are you overcoming it?

Do you feel like quitting?

2010-07-07T04:36:00.000-07:00

I'm visiting a fellow blogger, Susan, today at Writing Straight from the Heart.She was kind enough to invite me to guest blog about perseverance.

Pop over and say hello
here!

What's your ticking clock?

2010-07-05T04:00:00.000-07:00

Author Camy Tang is teaching an online class I’m in about the ticking clock. She says, “A deadline is a ticking clock, time pressure put on a character.” Not all stories need them. But I happen to have one in the book I’m writing and it helps push my MC towards her external goal. It heightens the tension and makes the reader wonder if she’ll get what she needs in time.

So that makes me think about my writing journey and my own ticking clock. Have I created one for myself or am I going with the flow?

I’m older than someone getting fresh out of college with a journalism degree and excited to put their newfound knowledge to work in the writing field.

I’ve been working hard at this craft for five years. I’ve planned some hard goals about what I want to reach in this field and that includes at least one complete book on a bookstore shelf.

Is my age my ticking clock? Ok. So I'm not so young anymore. I own a mirror.

Or is it my free time while I’m job hunting? I write all day trying to get my goals accomplished before I get another job and my time is limited. Besides that, my husband graduates in April and might be around days again.

Or is my writing dream my ticking clock where I fear I’ll get frustrated and watch it fade and give up?

What’s your ticking clock? Or do you even have one when it comes to writing?

Do you use Beta readers?

2010-07-01T04:00:00.000-07:00

Yeah. I’m afraid. I admit it. Taking this next step in my writing journey isn’t the easiest thing to do.

Yesterday, I posted on Facebook that I needed some volunteers to read my WIP—some non-writer volunteers or Beta readers I guess they are called.

I’m going to do this book right even if it means baring it all.

And if you knew me personally, you’d know how hard that is.

I’ve always been insecure. Well, maybe not always but near most of the time. The thought of someone besides another writer or an editor or a critique partner reading my work chills me to the core.

But I know it’s the way to go for more honest opinions rather than having my husband, mother or daughter plow through it and tell me how awesome it is.

Come on.

Do I want to write better or not?

I’m thinking yes. I’d like to query this romance by fall and that means doing what it takes to get it ready.

What have your experiences been with Beta readers?

5 Ways to Drive your Spouse Crazy with your Writing

2010-06-28T04:00:00.000-07:00

I've got an easy going husband and he seems to be my biggest supporter of my writing endeavors. But anyone, even me, can push it too far.

Here's the FIVE ways I do:

1. Read my WIP aloud during his favorite TV show. Can I help it if I hate Jeopardy?

2. Tell him not to call me during the day unless he was arrested or in an accident. I might be in the middle of writing a really good scene.

3. Borrow his stash of back-up discs and then forget to return them where I got them. I won the battle this week. He put them in my office.

4. Get up in the middle of the night to write something down that I know I won't remember later. I'm sorry he gets up at five AM and I don't.

5. Read him a portion from my romance WIP and then ignore his little love notes he leaves in my laptop the next morning.

So ok. Living with a writer takes some adjustment. But so does living with a golfer. I won't mention the clubs leaning in front of a bedroom mirror or the one in our TV room in case he needs to practice a shot or the buckets of golf balls cluttering my garage or the books on golf and magazines piled on the coffee table. We won't go there.

When was the last time your writing drove your family a little crazy?

Does your mood affect your writing?

2010-06-24T04:00:00.000-07:00

I learned something very important from the latest writing contest I entered.

So goeth my mood, so goeth my writing.

Literally.

Here’s what happened. I sent in three chapters from a book I worked on last year. Written during a year I was probably the most discouraged as neither my husband nor I could find work. We were at the end of our desperation rope. Depressed is a kind way of saying how freaked out we felt some days.

Anyways. It showed.

One judge remarked that my opening was good—set the mood—you know all that stuff. Then the second chapter moved along but by the time they got to the third chapter, they told me I needed to stop the depression for heaven’s sake. (that’s my interpretation) Enough already. My characters needed to move forward! Yeah—wish I could but hey, I’m not in my books.

So I waited awhile and went back to look at it. After my miffed attitude relented and let me.

You know something? They were right.

It shows. Our mood can affect our writing if we aren’t careful. Whether we’re feeling playful or down or really romantic. It shows.

So what to do? I don’t want my ups and downs to dilute every character I create!
Here’s what I’ve been doing.

Step back and wait awhile before submitting. Sound advice but something I don’t always do.
After this last eye-opener, I have become very conscious of it.

How does your mood affect your writing or your blog?

What is your Blogging Voice?

2010-06-21T05:21:00.000-07:00

If we met on the street today and I told you who I was, would you like me or have some other opinion of me?

Would I meet up to the expectations you’ve made about me from what I’ve written here on my blog?

Would I sound like I do here? And what is that sound?

Am I sweet, or blunt, shy or really gruff, funny?

Have you thought about your blog voice and the person it creates? I know I tend to write in short sentences and sometimes not even full ones. Doing that can make me sound any different a number of ways.

What kind of voice do you want to present to the world?

I’ve been fortunate to meet some bloggers in real life and the first thing I do is try to match up their mannerisms with their online presence. Usually—it’s pretty accurate. But I’ve already formed an opionion about them before we meet.

That means some people I might not want to meet. I might be intimidated by them already. And who knows who we'll meet at a conference?

And isn’t that a shame? Because I could be missing out.

What kind of voice do you want your blog to show?

Making your revisions the good ones

2010-06-17T04:00:00.000-07:00

At first she was a spoiled woman, used to spending money however she wanted. Pouting and flirting to gain attention from every male around her.

Then I stepped in.

Revisions hurt, but I owed it to her. She needed to be likeable.

So okay, she could still run her fingers through her bleached hair a dozen times. I’ll even let her buy that cottage on the lake when it’s the last thing in the world she needs but after all . . .

It’s so she can have him.

Oh yeah, did I tell you I had to make him more likeable too? But still he wanted that edge. He wanted to call her Princess when she acted like that spoiled kid he used to know years before. He wanted to be his own man and not let her order him around, even though he kind of liked it.

But revisions take priority. Revisions hurt some of the innocent like the neighbor who interrupted their first kiss during the tornado.

He had to go. Not sharp enough to hang around.

But the good news?

I’m loving them. And isn’t that a whole lot better than likeable?

What did your revisions do today?

Battling the Writer Wars

2010-06-14T05:56:00.000-07:00

I’m a non-fiction writer struggling to write fiction. The battle continues.

Writing non-fiction short stories came easy to me. I can’t say the same about fiction. Last week, I had my sights on writing for a category publisher. After some discussion with my CPs, I’ve decided to push that romance into a full-length one meaning more revisions and more learning.

To help win this battle I signed up to take a self-editing course with Camy Tang. If you don’t know her, check out her site where she offers some very reasonably priced online courses a few times a year. The one I’m taking starts in July and she actually looks at my work as part of my homework assignments.

I next stumbled onto The Kill Zone where some very established and well-known writers like James Scott Bell not only write great posts but take the time to answer comments. Like mine. I’ve also been struggling with how much to change my characters from the chocolate sprinkled variety to plain vanilla. I appreciates his answer.

So the battle continues but it isn’t one I intend to lose. Fiction writing isn’t easy if I want to get it right and make it the best I can make it.

What particular writing battle are you fighting this week?

Another Reason to Write

2010-06-10T04:00:00.000-07:00

Six strangers encircled the doublewide table in the conference room. I found an empty seat and laid out my supplies. I'd brought a few handouts to pass out stuffed in my recycled real estate folder.

Memoirs.

I was going to teach retired missionaries how to write their memoirs.

How had I gotten here?

I took a deep breath. “Tell me about yourself."

One by one, they shared their facts. College, Spouses, Mission placement, and finally the date they retired to this compound in Florida.

Facts.

I’d never written a memoir—aren’t I still too young?---but I knew facts weren’t the way to go.

“How did you feel about these events? What happened to change you into who you are today?”

As a writer, I deal with emotions. I don’t want the facts, I want the feelings. I want the good stuff. And when we’re old or gone, I want my descendents to read about me and know why I made the choices I did.

As I explained my theory, something happened that hadn’t happened in a while.

First, my voice stopped shaking. But more importantly, a passion grew inside my heart again about how the writing of these stories could impact a coming generation.

And I get to be part of it.

I don’t know anything about memoirs but I do know people. And people love stories about the people they love.

But you have to write them down first. You have to feel them.

Are you doing that? Have you documented your personal stories?

Is your book the ONE?

2010-06-08T04:00:00.000-07:00

My husband, Curt, loves new shoes.

His love affair with New Balance sneakers almost borders on the obsessive/compulsive scale. Last Sunday, I lowered myself onto one of Penney's padded benches in the shore department and waited.

He needed a size 9 Wide with a price point of $39.99 or lower. By the time he'd dragged the twenty-something clerk to his side, I was ready to browse the cutlery display across the aisle.

"These are it. They fit perfectly," he said as he checked the shoebox.

"They look like your old ones."

He laced the shoe strings. "They are the same ones. They're a perfect fit." I shook my head and thought about the four novels I'd written.

A Perfect Fit. None of them felt like a perfect fit to me. Each one lacked something but I hadn't been able to put my finger on what it was.

How can I expect any of them to be a perfect fit for a publisher when they aren't to me?

I've got this perfect story simmering inside of me. I feel it. Somedays I hear it. But it hasn't come out yet. I'm not sure how many books I'll have to write before it does.

Sometimes that worries me. Sometimes it makes me wonder what I need to do differently.

After he paid for his footwear, my husband announced he'd wear them to the gym later that day.

Perfect.

Maybe it would give me free time to think about my story.

Have you written the one yet?

What is your next writing step?

2010-06-04T04:00:00.000-07:00

It's time. If I'm going to continue to climb the steps on this writing journey, I need to lift up my feet and plunge forward.

That means I'm hiring a professional editor.

Yeah. I've been putting this one off. Why? It costs of course, and if any of you know my situation, you are well award that every dollar I spend counts.

After my latest rejection, I debated how best to grow myself as a writer. Conference? Books on technique? Courses? Critique group? I've done them all and each has taken me up a few more steps.

But then it hit me that if I paid for a critique from an editor who writes in my genre, it might be the best use of my money.

So I've been doing a search and finding out that there are all kinds of people who edit, all depths of editing and last but very important: all kinds of costs.

I'm taking the next step because my writing is at that level where I need that extra oomph to push it upward. Who am I kidding thinking I can do it all myself? Published writers hire editors.

I think I'm worth it. I think my writing deserves it.

How about you? What's your next step on this journey?

Success is in the journey

2010-06-02T04:00:00.000-07:00

I fell into my own personal meltdown last week. I decided to quit writing fiction because of a rejection.

Pretty stupid huh? Especially since I'm the glass-is-half-full kind of person. I even expected this particular rejection. Knew it was coming. Not a surprise at all.

So what happened?

Fortunately I'm reading one of my husband's books for school called No Excuses. I wanted to keep up with him so I read another chapter. The point?

Our success is in the journey.

As long as I keep writing, I'm already a success.

Now back up. After a nice crying jag, I tried to imagine life without writing. Really tried. Thought about taking up something easier. Something that would fulfill me.

And you know what happened. I'm still here. Trying to remember that I am successful in my trying. In my journey. And what a journey it is.

When was the last time you wanted to quit? What turned you back on the path?

How to know if you're in the right critique group.

2010-05-27T04:00:00.000-07:00

I’m not sure how it happened but last year, online, four writers found each other. We had a common need and came from a common place in our writing.

When Jill, Wendy, Cindy and I agreed to be each other’s critique partners, I had reservations of course. But over the past year, I’ve discovered why I’m in the right group.

1. We set writing goals. Right now, we’ve agreed to critique each other’s books through the summer so each of us can have one ready to pitch by conference time.
2. We critique kindly yet with honesty. For my current WIP, one partner told me where I really needed to start it. Three chapters in. I remember not wanting to do that—I didn’t want to delete my work. But when later I heard the same exact advice from a judge, I knew that having a partner who remained honest with me to help me writer better was so important.
3. We support each other through more than our writing. Stuff happens. And when that stuff happens, our writing suffers. When our personal problems interfere with our work, it’s nice to know that a kind word or a prayer will help get us back on course.
4. We encourage each other to not give up. During the recent Genesis contest, we were able to bolster each other to work through the good and bad feedback and remind ourselves to do better.
5. We applaud each other’s accomplishments. Jealousy doesn’t have a foothold in our group. Recently, one of our members placed in a contest. I felt as though it was me.

Are you in a critique group? Do you know if it’s the best match for you? If you’ve got doubts, I encourage you to share them with each other. Share what you’re looking for and if your needs aren’t being met. You might be surprised how quickly that can change.

All of us want to see our work published. I’ve done it both ways, alone and with a group. Let me put it this way: I don’t want to be a Lone Ranger again.

How Prepared are you really?

2010-05-25T04:00:00.000-07:00

Headphones. Snacks. Book. I patted my back. I knew how to travel. The five hour flight to Phoenix would be nothing.

Then I looked across to my seatmate. A seventy-something-year-old gentleman.

With one minuscule magazine.

I said,”You travel light.”

That was my first mistake.

By hour three, I'd heard about his wife's death from ovarian cancer ten years before, his father's death from a car accident when he was one, his brother's suicide at thirty-five and his sister's death at twenty-four. When he shared how his granddaughter had died during the first days after his wife's funeral, and then he pulled out a snapshot of a beautiful blond-haired senior, I forgot about my reading and music plans and reached for a tissue.

That's when I made my second mistake.

"My wife’s in heaven, but will I ever get there?," he said through his tears.

The perfect storm. What every Christian prays for. An opportunity to give assurance.

But that’s when I blew it.

I mumbled something like, "If you believe, you'll get there and see her."

Yeah. Right. If you believe in what.

The entire next week I prayed we would be on the return flight together. When I rushed to my gate to board, I looked for him. I was seated a few rows up from where I'd sat before. Then I saw him coming toward me. His face lit up and he stopped to say hello.

Nothing more. I didn’t get a second chance.

I pray he will.

I've thought about this man often and how I let him down. I see his face, his tears and his pain.

I didn't speak when I should have but I promised myself the next time I will. In the meantime, until I get that opportunity again, I also promised myself I can do what I do best.

I can write about it.

Are you better prepared than I was?

Deleting your lovely words

2010-05-21T04:00:00.000-07:00

I hate to delete anything I've written because I'm one of those writers who write tight and struggle for my word count. Maybe a habit from writing so many short stories.

But I've gone through some tough stuff this week.

After some feedback from other writers, I've finally given in. If I want my work to shine, I need to be prepared to cut more than a word or a line here and there. I need to delete, yes, DELETE, whole chapters.

Let me pause here a second to catch my breath.

WHOLE CHAPTERS.

I need to be willing to cut the words I tried so hard to make beautiful. I need to slice out the parts that don't even move the story or are over dramatic. I need to most of all---

Start my story where it should start.

Yeah, that one was hard to swallow. But after reading a post on Twitter, I became convinced.

Look out. I'm finally slashing. Because in the end, we want our work to be the best it can be. Even if it means revising in ways we've avoided.

I'm a believer.

How long did it take you to cut huge chunks from your baby?

How right is your writing?

2010-05-18T05:09:00.000-07:00

She did everything wrong.

I wanted to cover my eyes and ears and sink down into my chair. I sat with four other writers in a circle around the agent as the lady next to me pitched her idea.

Hadn't she read any articles on what to say and do? She said God told her to write these stories; that they flowed from her heart to her mouth. Then she rattled off a dozen titles.

I groaned and watched for signs that the agent would stop her from embarrassing herself anymore.

But he didn't.

She offered to read something.

And he let her.

I dared a quick look at the others around me. A mirror of my own thoughts.

But then she opened her notebook and read. Sweet. Powerful. Amazing. Words.

With the strongest voice I've ever heard.

Yes, she did everything wrong. And the agent asked for more.

It's all about good writing in the end, isn't it?

Are you spending more time getting your presentation right or your writing right?

Stalking Editors with Finesse

2010-05-14T04:34:00.000-07:00

Whenever anyone goes to a conference, they are usually warned to not stalk the agents/editors in the bathroom. I have always heeded that advice. Who wants to be bothered all the time?

But I admit at this writer's conference, I did step out of my comfort zone a little.

Okay. I didn't really stalk anyone. Sort of.

After my disappointing appointment with the agent, I signed up the next day to see an editor of a publishing house I was really familiar with. These appointments were on a first-come one-on-one basis. What did I have to lose?

He waited for me in a corner set up with comfy chairs. I smiled and said I was Terri and that I was there to pitch my book. He had me sit next to him and chicken that I am, I handed him my One sheet to read. Then he asked to look over a few pages. Yeah, I carried some with me.

I breathed little as he read. Then he told me what I'd already been hearing for two days. "You write well, but unfortunately we are taking on only historicals right now." To soften the blow, he suggested I see another editor at the conference.

Well, I had pretty much given up by now. I don't read historicals. I can't write them. So I headed back to my band of friends at our table. One of them told me I should definitely see the editor suggested as she had and he asked for a partial from her. Um. She writes historicals.

But they urged and so I looked. She said he was going to be wandering the hallways in case someone wanted to meet with him.

That someone was me.

Now I'm not a nervy take-charge kind of person led to stalking editors in open hallways but this time I did. Walked right up to him, introduced myself and said, "Does your publishing house consider contemporaries?"

They did--if it had a romance theme. Fortunately, mine did, I recently learned a day earlier at my agent-who-wasn't-taking-on-clients meeting.

We sat and talked for over a half hour or more.

This acquisition editor put me at ease and shared so much about himself as well making me see him as a real person who was also a writer and loved what he did. He shared about his own rejections and encouraged me not be so realistic about my own.

Did he ask me for a partial? You bet.

But most of all, his final words provided a reminder I needed to hear about this writing journey. When I joked that it was okay to reject me; I know it's part of the whole process, he told me something I hadn't been doing at all.

Save a little room for the magic.

Are you doing that today with your writing? Are you believing even amidst all the rejections that maybe today could be the day?

Pitching isn't the pits afterall

2010-05-12T04:00:00.000-07:00

I had planned to pitch to one agent. My appointment was set for 3:45 on the first day of my conference. During the wait, I watched other friends go to their appointments and eagerly awaited the results. Some good, some not so good.

What I found out ahead of time was there would be five other writers and we would all sit around a round table. Whoever sat to the right or left of the agent or editor would go first. One could read her pitch, or wing it or wait for the agent/editor to ask the questions.

So okay. I checked my watch a lot and looked on the map provided to find the proper room. Lower lever--in the kids area.

I was the second person to enter. The agent left for a break as I passed through the doorway. Yeah--they looked like their blog picture. Check. I had the right room.

A few other writers filtered in and we exchanged pleasantries. I was freezing in my light weight blazer. Why hadn't I packed sweaters? I shivered and twisted my One Sheet in my hands.

The agent started with a young woman to her right. I sat somewhere dead center.

But then agent's next sentence took away my fears."I'm not looking to agent any new writers for about a year due to the economy."

Ugh. I wanted to pack up my paperwork and head upstairs. Why hadn't we been told this news? Why had I wasted my only pitch session on someone who I need not impress? I could see similar thoughts jump around the table. But instead of standing and excusing myself, I stayed like everyone else did and listened.

To some really good advice.

What I thought was a waste of my time turned out to be a moment of gaining some valuable advice about my work. The genre.

When I finished there, I headed back to the registration desk and managed to slip into a slot with Wordserve just because I wanted to meet another name I've read about and admired.

None of your time is a waste at a conference.

Check back to my next post where I share about my other appointments and the results.

Again--as you read this, I should be flying back over the country to sunny, WARM Florida where once I get my sleep back, I will be catching up with you all:)