Writers' Wednesday: How To Make the Most of Writing Contests

Welcome to Writers' Wednesday! Remember, to be entered into a drawing for a $5 Amazon gift certificate, all you have to do is post a comment!

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Have you ever entered a writing contest? Have you ever placed in the top 3? Or won the whole contest outright? Maybe you’ve thought about entering a contests but been too afraid to try. Or maybe you didn’t know where to start looking.

Well, writing contests can be a valuable tool for aspiring writers. They can be a great way to get feedback on your writing from external readers /judges /editors /agents. And they can be an equally great way to start building a writing resume, to begin promoting one’s name as a published author.

But where to start? How to choose the right contest for you? How to prepare the perfect entry?

Here are a few things to keep in mind, both before you enter a contest and after you receive the judges’ final decision.

1. Choose contests based upon their end results. Consider what you’re hoping to get out of entering a contest. Is it prize money? Is it publication? Is it the chance to get your work in front of an editor or agent? Or is it simply the chance to have an external reader review your work? Think about your end goal, and choose your contests appropriately. The Writing Show First Chapter Contest awards 750 words of feedback from industry professionals. The FirstGlance Films Screenplay Competition sends its top 3 winners to be read by Hollywood producers. The 2007 Marjorie Wilson Best Poem Contest awards $2500.00 to its top winner. You get the idea.

2. Choose contests for which your work qualifies. This seems like a no-brainer, but you might be surprised. Don’t enter a 10K word short story into a flash fiction contest. Don’t enter a novel into a screenplay writing contest. Don’t enter your paranormal erotica opening into a contest run by Avalon (a “sweet” publisher) just because you see the word “romance” in their guidelines.

3. Choose contests for which the odds are in your favor. This one’s a little harder to figure out, but if you do a little digging, you can uncover contests for which either the number of entries is limited, improving your odds, or the number of prizes given includes more than the top 3. The Short Story Award for New Writers, for example, is a contest open only to writers whose fiction has never appeared in a publication with a circulation over 5,000. The WOW-Women on Writing Quarterly Contest names 3 top winners, 7 runners-up, and 25 honorable mentions…and every one of those writers receives a prize and a mention on the WOW website.

Once you’ve chosen a contest to enter, how do you increase your chances of winning or placing?

1. Follow all the rules. Carefully. If they want 3 copies of your opening chapters, make sure to include 3. If they ask you to secure the pages using a binder clip, don’t use a rubber band. Make sure you’ve put the information they want into the header or footer of each page. If they ask for a SASE, make sure to include enough postage to cover the costs of returning your entries. Also, check their rules for deadlines: most will say the entry must be postmarked by a certain date, but others will say the entry must be received by a certain date. There’s a difference!

2. Revise, revise, revise. Before submitting your entry, make sure it’s your best work. Read over as many times as it takes. Share with your writers’ groups or critique partners to get objective feedback. Don’t let careless errors undermine your chances of winning.

3. Read prior winning entries. Many organizations will include the top winners on their websites. A winning entry in one short story contest might look very different from a winning entry in another.

A few last thoughts on writing contests:

Consider the judges’ feedback carefully. If you can expect comments from the contest judges, be careful how you read those comments. Don’t just take the positive ones that praise your brilliance as a writer and disregard the rest. Sometimes the negative/constructive criticism can be just as helpful in revealing areas of our writing that need work. However, if 3 or 4 judges from a couple different contests tell you that your dialogue is fresh and realistic, and 1 judge tells you that your dialogue is stilted and untrue, you may want to take that single comment with a grain of salt. Most of all, don’t let contest feedback get you down. Remember that these judges are people, with their own values and biases and opinions, just like you. And speaking of that…

Sign up to judge a contest. Really! Many local writers’ groups run contests, with their members doing first-reads on entries. You do not necessarily need to be a published author, or past winner, to judge. All you have to do is read with a careful eye and open mind. By judging, you get a glimpse of the other side. You learn about how other writers put entries together. You discover how difficult it is to put a number on certain elements of a creative endeavor. And ultimately, you become a better writer yourself for the experience.

Don’t let contests keep you from finishing your work. Many novel-writing contests, especially in the romance genre, ask for the first 3 chapters. As a result, it becomes easy to polish those first 3 chapters over and over again, until you have a near-perfect entry. But what happens to the rest of the novel? What if you win a contest, and the final judge, your dream agent, requests the full manuscript for review? What if all you have are the first 3 chapters? Unfortunately, I know a few authors who have turned into “contest junkies.” They become obsessed with the idea of entering as many contests as they can, and they often final or win because they’ve put so much time into their entry. However, they have no complete works to speak of. Ideally, writing contests are a means to an end, a way to motivate you to keep writing while giving you some feedback along the way.

Good luck, and if you know of any writing contests you‘d like to praise or recommend, leave a comment and let me know!

Adventures in Arkansas

If you live north of the Mason-Dixon Line or west of the Mississippi, there’s a good chance you might not know much about Hot Springs, Arkansas. You may not ever have heard of the place, despite its claim to fame as the boyhood home of Bill Clinton or the site of some of the most healing waters in the country.



But when hubby and I decided to explore someplace different over spring break, that’s where we headed. Turns out that Hot Springs, located 60 miles from Little Rock, 200 miles from Memphis, 300 miles from Oklahoma City, and a stone’s throw from the Texas border, is a pretty neat place to visit.

First of all, it’s the oldest and smallest park in the National Park Service and home to 47 hot springs. Although most of the bathhouses originally established on the famous Bathhouse Row are now closed, visitors can still enjoy a traditional bath at Buckstaff Bathhouse. There, you’ll be treated to a whirlpool bath in the mineral-rich waters, a stay in the steam room, a needle shower, and if you’d like, a massage to finish it off. Decadent!

Then horse racing enthusiasts can head over to the Oaklawn Racetrack (we didn’t), or tourists can take in any number of sights on Central Avenue, downtown. The first Friday of every month features a “Gallery Walk,” too, which we were lucky enough to enjoy. Arkansas has some great local talent, that’s for sure! And with crystal and diamond mines nearby, you can find some terrific jewelry made of native stones and minerals.

Speaking of the diamond mines, since its featured appearance on the Travel Channel, Crater of Diamonds State Park in nearby Murfreesboro has seen an upswing in visitors, all hoping to find the next big sparkler and head to early retirement. We followed the crowd, purchasing our tickets to dig and renting shovels and screens to sift through the dirt along with the rest of them. Beautiful day - but no diamonds for us! The soil is pretty sticky and clay-like, tough to sift and challenging to work through. Still, we had fun and found a lot of cool rocks. You can take home whatever you find.

Finally, since Little Rock is only an hour away, and since we flew in and out of that airport anyway, our trip wouldn’t have been complete without a visit to the Clinton Presidential Library. Established in 2004, it’s a beautiful, environmentally friendly building with a huge collection of artifacts, documents, and video clips about the Clinton Presidency. Whatever your political beliefs, it’s still great to see a slice of history, up close. The Library is situated right on the Arkansas River and the Riverwalk area, too, with a wide variety of restaurants within walking distance.

If only the weather had cooperated more (it was the middle of that cold front that swept the country over Easter weekend) - or if only we’d packed more long-sleeved shirts and fewer pairs of shorts. Still, it was neat to visit a state we’d never been to before. We enjoyed our 4 days in Hot Springs thoroughly!

Unplugged and Loving It

“I want young people to see not only what I did with my life, but what they can do with their lives.”
~Bill Clinton

First my good news: I opened up my email inbox Easter Sunday to find a contract offer from The Wild Rose Press to publish Lost in Paradise in their Champagne Rose line! Very, very exciting news, especially since this was the novel I pulled from Virtual Tales a few months ago because I wanted to find a different home for it. It’s always nice when you take a gamble and it pays off.

TWRP publishes everything longer than 55K words in print, so this one should be available from Amazon sometime in 2008, I’m guessing. Stay tuned for the details!

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Well, as those of you who visit my blog regularly know, I was away for a few days last week. I was away in Hot Springs, Arkansas, to be specific, for a Spring Break getaway with hubby.

Why Hot Springs? Well, I’m not one to pass up the opportunity to bathe in 100-degree mineral water, en route to a steam bath and killer massage, in the tradition of men and women from centuries past. And hubby wasn’t about to let the chance to go diamond mining pass us by. After all, if it’s featured on the Travel Channel, it must be an adventure worth pursuing, right? And the Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock is an impressive collection, well worth seeing if you're ever down that way.

I have pictures that I'll post, hopefully tomorrow, because today Blogger doesn't seem to be cooperating.

Overall, it was an enjoyable trip. But here’s the interesting thing: I didn’t check email or voicemail the entire time. Nope, not once. First of all, I didn’t have any Internet access. There was one cafe in downtown Hot Springs where you could buy time online for $.10/minute, but I decided to spend my money on a latte instead. So for 4 days, I didn’t read blogs. I didn’t check my inbox. I didn’t follow the Samhain Yahoo group discussions. And I forgot the charger to my cell phone, so the battery died the first day and I couldn’t have checked my telephone messages anyway.

The first 24 hours were a little weird, I’ll be honest. I’m online just about every day. So to go 4 days without any electronic contact felt a little strange, at first. But by the last day? I didn’t miss it. In fact, I was home for almost 24 hours before I turned on the computer at all. And it made me wonder just how dependent we are on our electronic connections, after all.

[The best unintended effect of my unplugged 4 days? I got an idea for a brand new 24-hour novel. Love the concept. Love the characters. Love the complexities that kept popping into my head as the day went on. Only thing I did not love? Trying to scribble down the idea on my 2x3” notepad while a flight attendant spilled ginger ale on my lap.]

So anyway, how plugged in are you? C’mon, be honest. How much time do you spend on the computer each day or week? And how long would you be able to go without?

I'm Back!

"Easter is the demonstration...that life is essentially spiritual and timeless."
~Anonymous

Here's wishing everyone a peaceful and wonderful holiday season (even if you are looking at snow this Easter morning, as we are).

I'm back from a brief getaway to Hot Springs, Arkansas, and have news and pictures to share, though I'm saving that for tomorrow or the next day as we are off to celebrate Easter with friends today.

Thanks to everyone who stopped by for Writers' Wednesday, especially those who commented and ESPECIALLY those who played along by revising the sentences (check out Charity's revision, who turned one sentence into an entire scene).

Finally, congratulations to Jess, who is the winner of the $5 Amazon gift certificate! Make sure to stop by this coming Wednesday and post a comment, for another chance to win!

Writers' Wednesday: Showing vs. Telling

Welcome to Writers’ Wednesday!

I’ll be away for a few days, so you’ll have some extra time to post your comments. Remember: anyone who leaves me a comment will be entered into a drawing for a $5 Amazon gift certificate!
The winning name will be drawn and announced on Easter Sunday, April 8.

By the way, I’m always looking for guest bloggers, so if you have an idea for a Writers’ Wednesday post you’d like to write, email and let me know!

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We hear it time and time again, in all the writing advice books and columns: Show, don’t tell.

But sometimes that’s easier said than done, especially for new writers. So how do we identify the difference in our writing, and how can we spice up scenes to “show” the reader what we mean, rather than “tell” the reader? Let’s look at some examples…

Mary was spoiled rotten.

This is pure telling. How do we know she is spoiled? Why should we believe you?

Mary stomped her feet and screwed up her face as she wailed, “But I want the pony! You told me I could have whatever I wanted for my eighth birthday!”

Okay, much better. Here, we see Mary’s age, her behavior, and her demanding tone of voice. The author doesn’t need to tell us that Mary is spoiled. In fact, the author doesn’t use the word “spoiled” at all, yet we can figure it out easily enough through the child’s words and actions.

I was miserable after Edgar left me. All I thought about was him. All I dreamt about was him. I missed him so much that I thought I’d never be happy again.

Well, we get the general idea here that the narrator is sad. But all four sentences really say the same thing, and all four sentences tell much more than they show.

For a solid week after Edgar left, I didn’t get out of bed except to find more tissues to blow my nose and wipe away my tears. When I managed to sleep, I found myself in dreams with him, revisiting days long-gone when we ate dinner by candlelight and made love by moonlight. When I awoke alone, the agony that twisted my stomach inside out almost choked me. The telephone rang, and I ignored it. My mother stopped by with soup, and I told her to go away. The sun came up and went down again, and all I wanted to do was grab it by the throat and tell it to stop. If I couldn’t be happy, then time might as well stop altogether.

Notice that in the above revision, there is no one sentence that tells us the narrator is miserable. Rather, through her thoughts and actions, we deduce her feelings of despair. Trust that your reader is intelligent enough to figure this out.

Some Tips to Keep in Mind:

1. Use details that appeal to the five senses. Make the reader feel as if he or she is actually in the scene. Is your hero nervous because he’s just proposed to the heroine? Don’t tell us that. Instead, show us the weather outside, the wail of the wind that echoes the doubt inside his mind. Show us the food in the restaurant where they‘re eating - maybe it tastes like sawdust because nerves have dulled his tongue. Show us the rough fabric of the suit he bought to wear for the occasion, that brushes against his knee as he taps one anxious foot on the floor. Show us the quick pulse in his wrist as he waits for the heroine to make her decision.

2. Use dialogue. I’ve found this to be one of the best ways to get away from telling. When your characters speak for themselves, they naturally show us their temperament, opinion, even vocabulary level and method of communicating.

3. Use actions to show us the characters’ personalities. Have a neighbor who’s a busybody? Don’t tell us. Show us the ways in which she peers through her blinds, goes through her neighbors’ garbage, listens in on telephone conversations. The more active, interesting examples you can sprinkle through your plot, the better. Here’s a challenge for you: write down a list of the 3 adjectives that you think describe your protagonist or antagonist. Then go back through the scenes you’ve written and make sure those words never appear. Find other ways to reveal those character traits. Now you’re showing!

4. Trust your reader. When you create a scene, don’t give in to the urge to tell us how the characters are feeling. Show us instead, through their words and thoughts and actions.

5. Finally, consider using animals/pets to reveal something about your characters’ personalities. I won’t go into it on this post, but I wrote an article on this technique that you can access here. I’ve found that using animals in my storylines, no matter how briefly, can do wonders to show us something about the characters and move away from the boring habit of telling.

Sometimes it’s tough to get used to showing rather than telling in your writing, but once you get the hang of it, your work will come to life. And just for fun, here are 2 sentences you can use to practice. Can you change these both from telling to showing? Leave me your revisions in your comment, or link to your blog.

Good luck, and thanks for stopping by!

#1. Sherry was sick and tired of her boss’s advances, and she told him as much one night after work.

#2. Kendra and Bill took the path that led away from the house. They agreed that although it might be dangerous, they needed to investigate the child’s disappearance without the police following them.

Frustrations

"I work continuously within the shadow of failure. For every novel that makes it to my publisher's desk, there are at least five or six that died on the way."
~Gail Godwin

So yesterday I was working on my latest WIP, One Night in Memphis, and I had a realization.

My heroine is boring.

Really. She’s fairly one-dimensional. Predictable in behavior. And the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I didn’t know what her growth is supposed to be in the story. From the start, this novel was much more about the hero’s growth than the heroine’s. But that doesn’t really make for a great romance, so I had to rethink. A lot.

First I got frustrated. I thought about abandoning the project and starting something brand new. Still, I’m 37,000 words in, and I’d hate to throw it all away.

So I sat down and tried to work through who she is, where she’s going, what motivates her, and how I want her to change by the end. I finally got some decent ideas, though I have to admit that I’m still not crazy about her.

I went back through a lot of the earlier chapters and added some stuff, deleted other stuff, until it feels a little stronger. I’m still not sure. I don’t know if I’ll like this story or think it’s marketable when I finish it. I’d hate to think I spent well over a year on it, only to have it turn out a project that’s better shelved than living in the light of day.

Has that ever happened to you? Have you ever given up on a story halfway through, or tried to resurrect it only to find you couldn’t? Do you have manuscripts hidden away that will probably never make it into a query letter? Or do you have tips for performing major surgery on a story to save it from that fate?

I suppose it’s a learning process. But it’s still frustrating. Sigh.

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In other, much better news, the Cleveland Indians won their season opener! Those of you who are observant will notice that, yes, I do live roughly an hour from Yankee Stadium. And no, I do not cheer for the Yankees. I didn't discover pro baseball until I was in graduate school and living in Cleveland, and so for better or for worse, I'm an Indians fan for life.

Thank goodness for brand new seasons!

Finding Ideas

"If you wrote from experience, you'd get maybe one book, maybe three poems. Writers write from empathy."
~Nikki Giovanni




It’s BAFAB Week!

Go out and buy a friend a book…for no good reason other than to share the love and the power of the written word. And if you have any favorites you plan on buying, let me know! I’m always up for a new recommendation.

Speaking of books, it’s always amazed me that some people have no trouble at all thinking of plotlines. They churn out short stories and/or novels with fresh, interesting characters and conflict on a regular basis.

Me? Well, it’s a little harder for me. When I first began writing, I figured I had about 2-3 good ideas. After that, I was stumped.

Well, not anymore. I don’t know if it became easier as I wrote, or I honed my senses for sniffing out good ideas in the world, but now there seems to be no shortage of ideas running through my head.

Some come to me in dreams. Some in the shower. Some while I’m running. Others still come straight from the headlines, like these (all from the last 7 days):

Husband Kills Wife's Lover; Wife Charged

Leave Me Be, 98-Year Old Woman Tells Young Admirer

Hired Killer Warns, 'Your Husband Wants You Dead'

Shower Reveals Inmate is Really a Woman

Truth is stranger than fiction, indeed.

What about you? Where do your ideas come from?

Happy April Fool's Day!

Well, I was never a big one for "celebrating" this day - I'm not really a prankster by nature, and I can't remember a time when someone really got me.

Still, in honor of this day, you might be interested in reading the History of April Fool's Day.

If you're feeling smart, take this April Fool's Day Quiz.

And here's an interesting site to peruse: The Top 100 April Fool's Day Hoaxes of All Time.

Finally, here's a good April Fool's gag on Hollywood Squares host Tom Bergeron:

Why The Rush?

"The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen all at once."
~Albert Einstein

I guess it isn’t news to anyone that we live in a fast-paced, high-tech world that only seems to get faster with time.

Yesterday, I read an article about a mother who admits to cheating at Candy Land and Disney Monopoly with her daughter so the games will be over faster. And apparently, she’s not the only one.

Hasbro has announced it will release a “streamlined” version of the game of Life that includes a Visa card rather than cash and a “LifePod” that keeps track of points so players don’t have to. They’re also creating “Express” games: Scrabble Express, Monopoly Express, and Sorry Express, so players can have a “quick resolution” to the games.

What?

Have we really gotten to the point where we have to rush through the very activities that are supposed to make up our leisure time? Why? Where are we off to? Why are we rushing through games, for God’s sake?

Is it because no one has the attention span to devote to an activity that lasts longer than ten minutes? Or no one has the free time?

I’m all for convenience: I like drive-through banking, and I’ll pick up a pre-cooked meal for dinner sometimes. I have an automatic hot drink maker that brews a latte in under a minute, and I don’t know what I’d do if I had to go back to a dial-up Internet connection.

But games? Really? Isn’t there a point where we should slow down? Isn’t there still pleasure in devoting the time to creating or enjoying the languorous unfolding of something?

Because honestly, we Americans move faster through life than any other citizens in this world, and yet I wouldn’t say we’re much happier (or wealthier or healthier) than people in many other countries.

Plus, if we’re raising children who don’t have the time or attention to focus on a complete board game that might last up to 30 minutes or more, than why on earth would we expect them to sit down and read for an hour? Why would we expect them, when they become middle and high schoolers, to devote multiple hours each week to learning schoolwork? And why, then, are we surprised when American children fall behind on test scores and suffer from an inability to master knowledge that, sometimes, requires more than an “express” memorization of facts?

What do you think? Have we become too fast-paced as a society? Would you be able to sit through an entire game of original Scrabble or Monopoly, even if it lasted over an hour? Are you able to enjoy a leisure activity without looking at the clock or thinking about what you’re going to do next?

Or is that kind of lifestyle something we’ve lost?

TGIF!!!

Today, since it’s been a long week, a Friday Feast:

Appetizer
What are you proud of?
Probably my professional accomplishments as a teacher. It's that time of year when, though I want to strangle some of my students for their senioritis and spring fever, I also love how much they've grown. I love watching them discover the power of writing. I love watching them discover the power of *themselves.*

Soup
What is the best thing you’ve ever won as a prize?
Two things tie here, both related: First, tickets to a baseball game during the years that the Cleveland Indians sold out their home games ALL THE TIME and finding tickets was like winning the lottery. And second, at said game, my friends and I won a prize given by some contact lens company to "improve your view" and we were moved from the bleachers to behind home plate. Very cool.

Salad
Name something you do that is a waste of time.
Ooh, lately, play Goldminer.

Main Course
In what year of your life did you change the most?
Hmm...I'm going to say 26, only because that's when I left Cleveland and moved to my current hometown. Started my current job and met my future husband.

Dessert
Where is a place you consider to be very tranquil?
A lake in the middle of rural Ontario, Canada, that fewer than 100 or so people know about. My family used to vacation there every summer when I was growing up. Most peaceful place ever. It's the place I go back to in my mind whenever I'm stressed beyond belief.

Want to play? Leave me a comment if you do...

And the Winner Is...

“The beautiful part of writing is that you don't have to get it right the first time, unlike, say, a brain surgeon.”
~Robert Cormier

Congratulations to the winner of yesterday’s drawing: Pam! Enjoy your Amazon gift certificate :)

Tune in next Wednesday for another chance to win (yeah, it’s going to be a weekly thing…)

Today, I’m blogging over at Samhain. Come take a look!

Writers' Wednesday: How To Deal With Rejection

Welcome to Writers' Wednesday! Today I'll be entering the name of everyone who comments into a drawing to win a $5 Amazon gift certificate. I look forward to hearing from you!

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If you’re a writer, and if you dream of someday publishing a short story/novel/article/best-seller that will lead you straight to The Oprah Winfrey show, you’ve probably received a rejection letter from an agent/publisher/editor.

And if you haven’t, you will.

Sorry. Didn’t mean to dash your hopes. But the chances of having your work contracted by the first person you query are small. Not impossible, of course. Just small. And even if you’ve had the joy of hearing that first “Yes, we love it, here’s a contract,” your next work may not be as well received.

So how do you deal with rejection in the writing world, and how do you use it to make your next effort better?

1. Don’t take the rejection personally. Except in very, very few cases, you will not know the person to whom you are addressing your query letter. Nor does that person know you. The agent/editor/first reader is not rejecting you as a person. He or she is not telling you that you will never amount to anything in the publishing world. Or in any world, for that matter. He or she is simply saying that, for whatever reason, the work is not right. Not for them. Not now. That’s all.

2. Send out another query. Soon. This is crucial. Continue to query until you’ve exhausted your list. If you’re querying agents, http://www.agentquery.com/ is a good place to start, along with http://www.publishersmarketplace.com/. The annually published Writer’s Market is a nearly exhaustive list of agents, publishers, and other markets for your writing. Make a list of your top targets and work your way through to the end. Then make another list.

3. Read your rejection letters carefully to see if there’s anything you can take away and use to improve your manuscript. Most people will receive a form letter. If you manage to glean a personal comment on your work, that’s good! “I would have liked a better reason for Sally to return to her hometown” can help you take another look at your heroine‘s motivation. “I have two teenagers, and they don’t talk like that” can help you refine your dialogue. “Paul and Perry meeting in chapter twenty was too predictable” can help you amp up your conflict. Even “Sorry, not right for us” can encourage you take a more careful look at submission guidelines.

4. Keep writing. If you must, put the work that you queried away for a while. Sometimes it’s too tough to go back through and think about revising. That’s OK. Have another project in the wings. Maybe it’s your next novel. Maybe it’s an article for that gardening e-zine you’ve had your eye on. Maybe it’s a fun short story in a different voice or genre than you usually target. Maybe it’s a letter in longhand to your niece who just went away to college. Remind yourself why you write in the first place: because it’s a creative itch that just won’t go away. And it’s fun. It is, right?

5. Find a creative place, or way, to store your rejection letters. Stephen King used to hang his from a nail (later replaced by a spike, to hold the weight) hammered into his bedroom wall. Another author I know uses hers to make papier-mâché bowls. After they’ve dried into place, she paints them bright colors, and they make great additions to her living room décor! I’ve kept every rejection letter I’ve received. Right now, they’re just stored in a big (BIG) folder, but I plan to turn them into a giant display the day I become a NY Times best-seller and do a book-signing that draws a crowd of hundreds.

6. Comfort yourself. Really. Allow yourself the candy bar you usually don’t. Bake something delicious. Sleep in. Leave the laundry for another day. Go shopping. Play tag with your kids. You are a valuable being, and in writing and submitting your work, you’re living the dream that many people talk about but never achieve.

7. Find inspiration from these famous authors, all of whom were rejected multiple times before publishing:

Richard Bach, “Jonathan Livingston Seagull" (26 rejections)
John Grisham, “A Time to Kill” (28 rejections)
Mark Victor Hansen and Jack Canfield, Chicken Soup for the Soul Series (31 rejections)
Robert M. Pirsig, "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" (121 rejections)

Rejection is tough. But it does not mean the end of the world for you as a writer. Just the opposite: it means that you have the guts to send your work, your baby, out into the world for strangers to review. Think of how many people never even take the chance!

The Mid-Way Blues

"The easiest thing to do on earth is not write."
~William Goldman

Well, it’s happened. I’ve officially hit the mid-point of my latest WIP, One Night in Memphis, and I want to be anywhere but there.

I’m just about half-way, and I’m at that point where my characters are starting to bother me, and I see an uphill climb of plot ahead of me. I’m bored. I can’t believe I ever thought this was a good story to begin with. I have about 3 other stories percolating in the back of my brain, wanting attention. Now.

One of the pieces of advice I always give to new writers is to soldier on, to finish what you start, because we all know there are oceans of aspiring authors who don’t.

But what happens when it’s hard to take your own advice?

I procrastinate. I work on promotional ideas for One Night in Boston. I blog-surf. I play games. And then, when I’ve killed as much time as I possibly can, I turn back to the manuscript. I sigh. I curse. I mess with the formatting or change the characters’ names.

Eventually, I do slog on. I muddle through another scene. I produce a decent word count (though not as much as I should), and I hope that the end is somewhere in sight. You know the one I’m talking about: that shiny, happy resolution where suddenly, you like your characters again, you believe in your story, and you’re sorry to see it end.

I have to believe that it’s out there. I have to believe that my characters will get me there.

But man, those mid-way blues are hard to beat sometimes. Anyone have a remedy or two they’d like to offer up?

P.S. Tomorrow is Writers’ Wednesday, and I’ll be blogging about how to deal with rejection in the publishing world. Make sure to stop back and comment (there’s an incentive…)!

Monday's Movie Meme

"I dream for a living."
~Steven Spielberg

Snagged this movie meme from Marianne:

1. Name a movie you have seen more than 10 times. Probably The Sound of Music - you know, the annual Thanksgiving Day broadcast. Other than that, I don’t watch repeats that often.

2. Name a movie you’ve seen multiple times in the theater. The English Patient, Schindler’s List, Brokeback Mountain. Hmm…why do I go back for all the heavy, depressing ones? Catharsis?

3. Name an actor who would make you more inclined to see a movie. I don’t know of anyone who’d be a HUGE draw. I like Mark Wahlberg and Jake Gyllenhaal, Reese Witherspoon and Cameron Diaz too.

4. Name an actor who would make you less likely to see a movie. Jim Carrey. Can’t stand him. Sorry!

5. Name a movie you can and do quote from. When Harry Met Sally.

6. Name a movie musical in which you know all of the lyrics to all of the songs. Many, thanks to growing up with parents who owned umpteen movie musical records. Oklahoma, Kiss Me Kate, The Robber Bridegroom, West Side Story, The King and I, Carousel, Bye Bye Birdie…

7. Name a movie you have been known to sing along with. See above!

8. Name a movie you would recommend everyone see. The recent animated film Cars. Perfect for any age.

9. Name a movie you own. Lots. Without looking at my collection, I know there’s American Graffitti, Cars, Brokeback Mountain, The Lake House, Austin Powers, Dodgeball. At school, I have a stack of teacher movies, including Radio, Hoosiers, Mean Girls, Coach Carter, Music of the Heart, Stand and Deliver.

10. Name an actor who launched his/her entertainment career in another medium but who has surprised you with his/her acting chops. Mark Wahlberg (see yesterday’s post).

11. Have you ever seen a movie in a drive-in? If so, what? Yes, though not ‘til I was in my 20’s. There weren’t any around where I lived as a child. Last summer, we saw Pirates of the Caribbean 2 at a drive-in.

12. Ever made out in a movie? Um…yes. C’mon, I was a teenager once!

13. Name a movie you keep meaning to see but you just haven’t gotten around to yet. The Pursuit of Happyness.

14. Ever walked out of a movie? No.

15. Name a movie that made you cry in the theater. Oh, many. I’m a softy when it comes to that. Most recently, The Lake House.

16. Popcorn? Depends. Sometimes.

17. How often do you go to the movies (as opposed to renting them or watching them at home)? Maybe every couple of months. Too expensive!

18. What’s the last movie you saw in the theater? Actually, hubby and I just saw Shooter over the weekend.

19. What’s your favorite/preferred genre of movie? Romantic comedy, though I will take in a scary movie (with someone other than hubby…he refuses to watch them!)

20. What’s the first movie you remember seeing in the theater? Can’t recall.

21. What movie do you wish you had never seen? Point Break, with Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze. Not good and went on for far too long.

22. What is the weirdest movie you enjoyed? What constitutes weird?

23. What is the scariest movie you’ve seen? Nightmare on Elm Street - it was the first R-rated movie I saw in the theater (I was a pre-teen), and I couldn’t sleep for days afterwards.

24. What is the funniest movie you’ve seen? Hmm…probably the Austin Powers series: Mike Myers at his best.

Want to play? Turns out you can tell a lot about a person by the movies they like...

Shooter

"The eyes say a lot more than anything."
~Mark Wahlberg

So last night, hubby and I went to see the movie "Shooter" - it was his turn to choose, since lately we've been watching A LOT of romantic comedies (my choice, of course).

And while the body count was too high for my taste, the plotline, a government conspiracy story, was pretty good.

The best part, of course, was Mark Wahlberg. Anyone else find him as yummy as I do? He seems to be everywhere in the movies these days: we've watched him in "Invincible" (terrific, by the way), "Four Brothers" (again, too violent for me), and I know he was in "The Departed" as well (haven't seen it).

So for a lazy Sunday afternoon, let's pay a little homage to this good-looking guy who has great acting chops and also fought his way to stardom from a really troubled adolescence and a modeling/music career that could have faded. Hey, I'm all for rehabilitation!

Goodies for You

Happy Saturday!

Thought instead of posting any writing news or pearls of wisdom ;) today, I'd let you in on a few freebies that are out there for the taking:

1. Julie Cohen is giving away a copy of her newest release, Driving Him Wild.

2. Carly Phillips is sending bookmarks and autographed bookplates for her 2 upcoming releases to anyone who mails her an SASE.

3. And while you're at the above link filling out Carly's information, check out the blog space for rent that Alison Kent is offering. She claims to get 1000 visitors/day, so if you have anything to blog about or promote, that's a great opportunity!

4. While this one isn't totally free, you can celebrate the up-coming Buy a Friend a Book week and share your love of books and reading. And hey, you might just get a book in return. Karma, you know. (Thanks, Judy, for the link!)

5. Visit Marianne's site for a few more freebies...

Okay, I'm off to write (and clean the house...in-laws coming this weekend).

Have a great one!

With Friends, or Going Solo?

"Everywhere I go, I'm asked if I think the universities stifle writers. My opinion is that they don't stifle enough of them. "
- Flannery O'Connor

Last night I met with a sub-group of my local RWA - basically 4 of us who live within the same 20 square miles. And it was nice. We exchanged sample pages, talked about the sample pages we’d shared last month, enjoyed some coffee (and beautiful weather outside - almost 60 yesterday!), and watched the Borders customers browse.

(Interesting side note: at one point, a couple who looked to be in their late 30s sat down in a chair in the lounge/coffee shop area, near our table. The woman hopped onto the man’s lap and began gyrating and kissing him. It lasted all of 30 seconds or so, still, the 4 of us were sort of left with our mouths hanging open. Never know what you’ll see when you head to the mall…)

Still, I left the evening thinking, well, it sure is nice to have fellow writers to sit down with. To talk about the industry and contests and conference news with. To share writing struggles and frustrations. To bemoan rejection together.

And yet.

It’s always a little frustrating for me when someone gives you a writing sample, asks for your feedback (which takes time), and then defends every comment or criticism you make. “Well, but that’s how I want the hero to behave.” “Well, I know people who talk that way.” “Well, many authors write from multiple characters’ POV.”

I sort of feel like, well, don’t ask if you’re not going to change anything or at least take suggestions under consideration. I like writers’ groups and critique partners for so many reasons. They are the reason my writing improved to publishable quality and the reason I picked myself up after so many rejections over the years. Still, occasionally, I’m reminded of why I go it alone as often as I share my work with others.

Anyone else ever experience frustration in working with other writers?

Dealing with Rejection

Thanks to everyone who stopped by to read Diane’s great post yesterday on Inspirational Romance. It’s always interesting to hear about the “rules” for a certain genre and then to see how authors manage to play by them (or not).

Speaking of which, one of my writing friends got back a short story she had submitted with a rejection note saying that her ending scene (2 older adults sharing a dinner that was originally meant for one) was not believable. Now, the plausibility of the comment and the scene aside, my friend gave a big cyber-sigh and said, basically, getting turned down time and time again takes a toll on you and your muse.

I tend to agree.

However, I also believe that those of us who submit our work are braver than those who write and want to submit but never do. At least we’re in the game, stepping up to the plate and giving it our best.

Still, that “no” stings. A lot. I’m planning on writing a Wednesday post that talks about how to deal with rejection…so for the record, how do you? Is it easy for you to shrug it off and move on? Do you assume a cavalier, “they don’t know what they’re missing” attitude? Or do you cry? Throw a tantrum? Pour a tall glass of wine and watch your favorite sappy movie? Stop writing altogether?

I’m interested to hear what people do, and more important, how they pick themselves up, dust themselves off, and dive into the process of writing and submitting all over again.

What do you do?

And for a little (addictive and time-consuming) fun, here’s a game I found for you to play. Go on, see if you can stop after you lose the first time...


Get Flash Games for your Blog

Writers' Wednesday: What Is Inspirational Romance?

Welcome to Writers' Wednesday! Today we have a guest blogger, Diane Craver, sharing her knowledge of the Inspirational Romance genre. Diane is a multi-published author with Samhain Publishing and has just released her newest work, Never the Same.

Sit back and enjoy - and make sure to leave her a comment when you're finished.

Thanks, Diane!

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What Is Inspirational Romance?

When I did a chat in December, I posted an excerpt of my inspirational romance, No Greater Loss. The excerpt dealt with a character’s near death experience and how she saw her loved ones in heaven. After reading this excerpt and entering my contest, a reader said, “I never read an Inspirational. Diane, does this mean they are related to religion or is that called something else?”

I thought this was an excellent question. I like RWA’s definition of Inspirational Romance which is “a romantic novel with religious faith as a significant element of the story.” I think it’s important to explain what Christian publishers want in their inspirational romances, but I want to add here that No Greater Loss doesn’t fit their guidelines. Publishers such as, Steeple Hill Love Inspired line, Barbour & Company, Zondervan, Bethany House, Multnomah, and Tyndale have strict requirements.

The following list is what the above publishers look for in their inspirational romances:

No foul language, taking the Lord's name in vain, euphemisms for curses (heck, darn, gosh) and no scenes containing violent content.

No dancing, no alcohol consumption by Christian characters.

No graphic love scenes. In an inspirational romance, they are non-existent and unacceptable. No staying overnight alone together. The characters should not make love unless they are married. Inspirationals are "sweet" romances. Any physical interactions (i.e., kissing, hugging) should emphasize emotional tenderness rather than sexual desire or sensuality.

Do not preach. An element of faith must be present in the books, and should be well-integrated into the plot. The conflict between the characters should be an emotional one. The hero and heroine might be struggling to accept the Christian faith or can be active church members. By the end of the story, hero and heroine must be both believers and members of a church community.

Okay, this is how my inspirational romance differs. I’ll start with the foul language because two secondary characters use a few swear words. The main characters never use any, but the young arsonist and his girlfriend swear when they’re fighting over a major life changing event. I couldn’t imagine their characters not swearing at two crucial points in the story line. However, a reviewer was offended that an inspirational would have any swear words in it at all. I understand her point of view. I asked several Christians what they thought of these two characters using foul language, and all of them gave me strange looks because they didn’t remember this language being used in my book. My editor was surprised at the reviewer’s comment because she said that Christians do use swear words.

In No Greater Loss, Luke and Jennifer spend a night together due to a blizzard. They don’t have sex but the scene between them wouldn’t be acceptable by Christian publishers. They also speak of their sexual desire for each other and think about it. This just seemed natural to me to write it this way.

However, my inspirational romance does have many things in common with the ones published by the Christian market. No Greater Loss is a sweet romance with faith playing a large part in the characters’ lives. Dr. Jennifer Hunter is a Christian psychologist with a Sunday radio show dealing with women's topics. Her Uncle Ryan is a Catholic priest. Jennifer turns to prayer throughout the book. She’s great at helping her patients with their problems, but she can’t help herself work through her own grief and guilt. After her husband and baby died, she thinks God must want her to remain single. Luke needs to learn to forgive his past wife for something she did during their marriage, so he can move on with his life. My inspirational romance is emotional with compelling characters who find inner peace.

Fortunately for me, Samhain accepted my inspirational romance without all the restrictions imposed by other publishers. They allowed me to tell my story the way I felt it needed to be told.

Do you enjoy reading inspirational romances? You don’t need to go to a Christian bookstore to buy them. I bought a Steeple Hill Love Inspired recently in a grocery store. Because of their popularity, they are sold in many secular stores.

Have you considered writing an inspirational romance? Writing about Christian characters facing challenges of love in today’s world is rewarding. Inspirational romances will always have a place in publishing because people are looking for the deeper meaning in life, and they want to read faith filled stories.

An Excerpt

"Sometimes a player's greatest challenge is coming to grips with his role on the team."
~Scottie Pippen

In honor of March Madness, here’s an excerpt from One Night in Memphis, my latest WIP (featuring the non-alpha hero I mentioned yesterday). Here, the H/H meet for the very first time, on a basketball court, appropriately enough.

[Dakota is our heroine, Sarah her best friend. Gunnar is Sarah’s neighbor and the reason they’re at the courts in the first place. And Ethan, well, Ethan is our lovable, wounded hero…]

“Far one,” Gunnar said to Sarah, motioning as they crossed the grass. He broke into a jog and headed for a group of guys huddled in the middle of a basketball court fifty yards away.

Dakota looked around the park. Six courts, five pick-up games going on. Lots of long legs and lanky arms and sweat-soaked t-shirts stuck to muscular backs. Lots of trash talking, too, from the comments she heard around her.

They took the long way around, past a stone fountain, cheering families, bikini-clad women. Past a set of swings and some slides. Past smooth cement ramps where kids in bandanas skateboarded. Over it all, the sun beat down, its yellow face sliding toward the western horizon.

Someone whistled close by, and she turned, startled. Ten feet away, ball propped on one hip, stood a stocky, redheaded guy. Thick freckles covered both arms like a tattoo. He winked at Dakota and gave her a once-over. “Hey, good-lookin’.”

“Hey yourself.”

Sarah tugged at her wrist. “Ignore him. He’s an ass. He’s here every weekend, hits on anything that walks by with boobs and a pulse.”

“Thanks a lot.”

“You know what I mean.”

“Got room for two more,” the guy called after them. “Or we’ll be over at Doc’s Pub later. You should come by.”

When Dakota looked back over her shoulder, he jerked his chin in her direction. For a moment, he looked as though he was about to say something else, when one of his friends jabbed a hand at the ball from behind him. It spurted from his grasp and rolled away.

Dakota giggled.

“Hey!” The guy turned around, hands fisting.

Dakota turned back and was about to follow Sarah when a basketball bounced near her feet. It slowed as it hit the grass.

“Can you get that?”

She stopped at the voice. Still masculine, though different. Not the obnoxious rasp of the redhead. Soft-spoken, almost. Polite. Kind.

She turned, and in that moment, the world tilted under Dakota’s feet. A guy she hadn’t noticed before stood at the edge of the pavement: medium height, dark brown hair, flushed cheeks. His chest heaved as he panted with the effort of the game. He smiled, sort of a crooked grin that lit up only half his face. Still, it worked its way under her skin, until she felt her cheeks burn. For God’s sake, stop staring at him, she told herself. He’s just a guy. Ordinary. Not even that tall, or good-looking, or built. She reached down and picked up the ball, rough and rubbery under her fingers.

“Thanks.”

Dakota took a few steps in his direction. Now she could see the color of his eyes, a greenish shade that reminded her of the lake back home, in early evening when the sun was right. Those would make a girl stop and stare, she thought, a second before she saw the sadness coloring the pupils. Sadness and distance and--what else is that? She tried to read the other emotion there and failed. Maybe he isn’t completely ordinary after all.

“No problem.” She bounced the ball over to him, and he caught it on the second hop. Strong fingers, she thought, even as she told herself not to look.

He smiled again, wider this time, and something inside her lit up. “You aren’t from around here.”

“You can tell?”

“It’s your voice.”

“Oh.” She felt herself redden. “No accent?”

“A northern accent.”

“Yeah, well, I flew in today. Just visiting a friend for the weekend.” She put one hand on a hip, liking the sound of his voice. Wanting it to continue. Wanting him to come closer.

“That’s too bad.”

“That I’m visiting a friend?”

“That you’re only in town for the weekend. Memphis deserves a week or two, at least.” He studied her for a moment longer. Then one of his buddies yelled something, and he glanced back at the court. “Well, have a good time while you’re here.”

“I’ll try.” Dakota dug her toes into the grass and waited a moment, watching the way his back flexed as he jogged away. I wonder if he’ll turn around.

He didn’t.

“D!” Sarah called. “Come on!”

Oh, well. She backed away, one slow step at a time. Good-looking, she thought, in a different way. Not the type I usually go for. But definitely good-looking. Maybe I ought to be watching that game instead of Gunnar’s…

Make sure to stop by tomorrow for Writers' Wednesday!!

Heroes

"Not the glittering weapon fights the fight, but rather the hero's heart."

Over the weekend I won Diane Craver’s March Madness contest – yippee! – and so I now have a free download of her new Samhain release, Never the Same.



Can’t wait to read it. Diane’s going to be appearing here in the future as a guest blogger for Writers’ Wednesday, too, so stay tuned for her post on writing inspirational romance!

Spent a lot of time on my laptop this weekend, in front of the television and various playoff games, but I did manage to get about 5000 words written over the last couple of days. I’m struggled a little with the development of my hero in One Night in Memphis. He’s not an alpha male (I know…gasp), but a guy who’s more on the quiet, sensitive side, a 30-year old widower who’s venturing reluctantly into the dating scene after a year of mourning his wife.

I know I can’t make him too tortured or broken – my critique groups have already told me this – and yet the story is as much about his journey back to emotional health as it is the heroine’s. Maybe more. He’s not a confident, brash guy. He’s not muscular and chiseled. He’s…sort of regular. Kind but not a pushover. Smart but not that talkative. Do you think that makes him uninteresting? I hope not. I really, really hope not.

It’s definitely harder to write this hero than others I’ve worked with in my novels. Alpha males, for all their flaws, are easier to create and easier to make the heroine (and the reader) fall in love with. For me, anyway.

We’ll see. I do like Ethan. And I think he’ll be both believable and likable. And sexy, of course, in his own way.

What about you? Do you ever have characters, in your writing, who simply spring to life with little effort? And then do you have others who drag your creative muse kicking and screaming the entire way?

And the Madness Begins...

Well, March Madness is upon us, and though it hasn't been a complete surprise, there have been a couple of upsets and some nail-biters of games:

VCU (who??) knocks out Duke, the name pretty much synonymous with NCAA Basketball Championships.

Winthrop (who??) takes down the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame.

Xavier, a little private school, forces #1 Ohio State (huge school with huger players) into overtime.

#6Vanderbilt sends #3 Washington State home after double overtime.

UNC's Tyler Hansbrough (what a cutie!) scores a season-high 33 points, playing without his face mask for the first time in weeks. His father was almost crying in the stands...

Hubby doesn't watch basketball at all, and I usually don't follow it much until the playoffs. But I always enter the March Madness pool at work, and I watch as many of the games as I can.

Why? Well, I like sports in general. I'm a competitive kind of girl. But I do like college hoops especially, because the players (for the most part) aren't yet jaded by the media spotlight or multi-million dollar contracts. They bleed the sport and their school colors, and you don't usually hear of a player transferring half-way through because he can get a better contract at another college. They love the game, pure and simple, and play their hearts out.

Just for kicks, let's watch the greatest moment in NCAA playoff history, Duke beating Kentucky at the buzzer in 1992:




What about you? Are you a sports fan? Follow March Madness? Enter the office pool? Or stay as far away as you possibly can??

There's a Certain Slant of Light

"There's a certain Slant of light, Winter Afternoons--
That oppresses, like the Heft Of Cathedral Tunes--"
-Emily Dickinson

This was the scene outside my kitchen window Friday around 8 am:



Notice, in case you didn't in the first pic, the daffodils that are beginning to show:

And this is the scene outside my kitchen window this morning around 8 am:

Sigh.

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And not that there's any connection (or is there??), if you're interested, head on over to this site and sign up to be on Al Gore's petition when he speaks to Congress about the dangers of global warming.

Have you seen "An Inconvenient Truth" yet? It might just change the way you think about a couple of things...

What Do You Read?

"I have always imagined that paradise will be a kind of library."
— Jorge Luis Borges

Good news! Samhain just found out that they’ve become an official RWA-recognized publisher! This means, among other things, that I’ll be able to apply for PAN status (which is the RWA published authors group) as well as enter my book in the RITA contest, if I choose. And to romance authors, those are pretty big buzz-words.

I have to give a big thumbs-up to Christina Brashear, Samhain’s publisher and founder. She’s a workaholic and a tremendous supporter of romance authors!

Stole this meme from Nicole - thanks!

Reading Interview

1. A book that's changed your life: Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. Powerful female protagonist and a scintillating look at the value (and risk) of not conforming to society. I read it in college and was floored.

2. A book you've read more than once: Oh, Gosh, many. The Little House series. Several of Stephen King's books. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.

3. A book you'd take onto a desert island: The Collected Works of Wm. Shakespeare (it would keep me busy for a while!).

4. A book that made you laugh: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. Mr. and Mrs. Bennett are terrifically hilarious.

5. A book that made you cry: The Pact by Jodi Picoult

6. A book you wish had never been written: Can't think of one. The written word has a lot of power, so I'd hate to say something should never have existed at all.

7. A book you wish had been written: There's some great YA out now that I wish I'd been able to read when I was in HS, including Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky and Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson.

8. A book you're currently reading: I'm back and forth between The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama and Lisey's Story by Stephen King.

9. A book you've been meaning to read: 19 Minutes by Jodi Picoult.

10. Tag people you want to hear from: Anyone and everyone who reads!

Have a great weekend!

What Day Is It, Anyway??

"Are you Master of your Domain?"
"I am King of the County. You?"
"Lord of the Manor."
"I'm Queen of the castle!"
~from "The Contest" Seinfeld episode

Do you know that all day yesterday, I thought it was Thursday? I even dragged the recyclables to the bottom of the driveway when I got home after work, and hubby looked at me when I was finished and said, “You know it’s only Wednesday, right? They don’t pick up ‘til Friday.”

Of course I know that. I mean, we’ve lived in this house for over a year now. And yet still, somehow this week has felt as though it was 100 days long.

Anyway, I’m excited, because today after work I’m coming straight home and writing (this is definitely a treat, because usually I’m trying to squeeze some writing time in after dinner, past 8:00 or so). I finished all my little after-work errands, worked out extra hard at the gym all this week, so I could give myself today off.

So this afternoon, I’m settling in for a couple good hours’ work on One Night in Memphis, my next 24-hour novel and the latest WIP.

What about you? When do you find time to write? Early morning? Late at night? In fits and starts throughout the day? And do you ever “treat” yourself to extra writing time?

For a good laugh, here’s a remember-when from Seinfeld, one of my favorite shows from the 90s. Remember the “Master of my Domain” episode? Sure you do. And the brilliant thing about it is the way the viewer knows exactly what the characters are talking about, without them ever mentioning anything specifically. Enjoy!

Writers' Wednesday: How To Use Commas Without Going Crazy

Type “comma rules” into any search engine, and you’ll turn up a multitude of sites. Here are a couple I’ve found that are helpful without going overboard:

The Purdue University OWL (Online Writing Lab)
JPROF Journalism Site

For a quick guide, though, here are a few tips I've found most useful. Commas can be confusing, but if you print this out, tape it somewhere near your computer, and refer to it when you’re in a jam, it should help in many cases.

1. Use commas to set off introductory phrases. Many times, the placement of this comma will occur where you would draw a natural breath if reading the sentence aloud.

As soon as Jenny woke up that morning, she had a sense of foreboding.

After the horse dragged Cowboy Bob five hundred feet, the animal finally slowed to a stop.

Note: Sometimes the intro phrases are short. Use your discretion in those cases. Read the sentence aloud and see if a comma would clarify the sentence’s meaning.

Last night Jimmy snuck into my bedroom after my parents went to bed. (Comma would theoretically go after “night,” but is it needed? Probably not.)

After all wouldn’t everyone rather win a million dollars than drag themselves to a job they hated? (Comma would, and probably should, go after “all” to clarify a natural pause of emphasis in the sentence.)

2. Use commas to separate items in a series. A series equals three or more items, by the way.

Madeline packed a single change of clothes, a few toiletries, food for her pet rat, and enough money to get her across the border.

Note: Placement of the comma before the “and” of the final item has been debated. Some grammar guides will tell you it’s appropriate. Others will tell you it isn’t. My editor recently took out all commas before the “and” in sentences like this. My gut feeling is that it’s a personal preference that won’t make or break your manuscript either way.

3. Use commas to set off interrupting phrases (also called appositives or non-essential/non-restrictive clauses, if you want to get fancy). The test is to see whether the interrupting information is essential to understanding the sentence. Can you drop it out and retain the central thought of the sentence? If the answer is yes, put a comma before and after the interrupting phrase. If the answer is no--if taking out the interrupting phrase will change the sentence significantly or render the sentence grammatically unsound--then you cannot use commas around it.

Sarah Smith, my best friend since first grade, turned out to be the biggest liar I ever met. (The fact that Sarah is the speaker’s best friend might be interesting info, but dropping out the phrase between the commas does not significantly change the fact that she turned out to be a liar.)

The girl who had been my best friend since first grade turned out to be a liar. (Aha! Here, the phrase “who had been my best friend since first grade” is essential to the sentence, because if we take it out, the sentence changes completely, to “The girl turned out to be a liar.” Which girl?? Here, commas may not be used, because every single word is essential to the meaning of the sentence).

4. Use commas before a coordinating conjunction (and, but, or, for, nor, so, yet) when joining two complete thoughts in one sentence:

I wanted to see an actual cowboy who lived in the west, yet I feared flying more than anything else in the world. (The groups of words on both sides of the comma could also function as stand-alone sentences. Therefore, put a comma before the conjunction).

Bryan checked his appearance in the mirror one last time, but he was certain that no one would recognize him in the beard and fake glasses. (Same case as above).

5. Use commas to set off place-names when talking about cities/states/countries. Note that you must place a comma after both the city AND the state/country in the sentence.

Johnny grew up in Dublin, Ireland, but he moved to the United States and settled in Chicago, Illinois, after his mother passed away.

Common Misuses of the Comma - Be Careful!

1. DO NOT use a comma before a coordinating conjunction if it does not separate two complete thoughts.

Dr. Johnson tightened his collar against the wind, and was convinced that the cold would kill him this time. (The second half of this sentence cannot stand by itself, so you cannot put a comma before the coordinating conjunction “and.”)

2. DO NOT use a comma to separate a subject from its verb.
The baseball player, hit a home run in the bottom of the ninth. (Can’t do it! No reason for it! Don’t even try!!)

3. DO NOT use a comma to join together two complete thoughts in a sentence without the proper conjunction between them.

The country road wound along the edge of the woods, no one dared to walk it alone after dark.

(The groups of words before and after the comma could each stand alone and make sense. Therefore, you CANNOT join them with only a comma. You must add a conjunction, or change the comma to a semi-colon--more on this in another WW blog--or simply place a period and make them two sentences.)

The country road wound along the edge of the woods, BUT no one dared to walk it alone after dark.

The country road wound along the edge of the woods. No one dared to walk it alone after dark.

Note: If you are author Joyce Carol Oates, consider all of the above null and void, and use the comma with abandon. If you are not JCO, your agent/editor/publisher will be much happier if you submit a manuscript that does its best to adhere to the above guidelines.

Hope this was helpful to you. Good luck!

Fun Things That Have Nothing To Do With Writing

Since I have a busy day ahead of me, and since I’m hard at work on tomorrow’s Writers’ Wednesday post (make sure to stop back in 24 hours and see what I’m blogging about), I’ll leave you with a couple of fun things instead of any reports on my writing life (or lack thereof, these days)...

You Are A Good Friend

You're always willing to listen Or lend a shoulder to cry on You're there through thick and thin Many people consider you their "best friend"!

What Kind of Friend Are You?

Aw, well, that's refreshing to know. Sometimes I get so wrapped up in my life I wonder...

A, B, C, D, E, F . . .


Play along now!

A - Age: Somewhere over 30 :)

B - Band listening to right now: Rascal Flatts

C - Career future: Best-selling author??!!

D - Dad's name: David

E - Easiest person to talk to: My sister

F - Favorite song: Couldn't begin to guess. I love music too much!

G - Gummy Bears or Gummy Worms: Bears. Anything that resembles fish bait weirds me out.

H - Hometown: Tiny dot on the map in the Lower Hudson Valley.

I - Instruments: I play a mean piano. Really.

J - Job: Teacher!!

K - Kids: Um...I like them when they go home to someone else...

L - Longest car ride ever: Drove cross-country one summer, so probably the stretch between Wyoming and Washington.

M - Mom's name: Marilyn

N - Number of people you slept with: Last night? Hubby and 2 cats.

P - Phobia[s]: Small spaces

Q - Quote: Anything by Shakespeare or Dr. Seuss.

R - Reason to smile: That I woke up healthy this AM with an awesome job to go to!

S - Song you sang last: "Breathing" by Lifehouse. I love that band!

T - Time you wake up: With or without an alarm? Today: 5:30. Typical.

U - Unknown fact about me: Keep reading my blog, and maybe you'll find out!

V - Vegetable you hate: Asparagus, interestingly.

W - Worst habit: Stressing over things I can't control.

X - X-rays you've had: I broke my wrist the summer I was 8.

Y - Yummy food: Chocolate. Any kind. In any recipe.

Z - Zodiac sign: The fiery Sagittarius!

Make sure to check back tomorrow for Writers' Wednesday!!

Reading Recs and Baby Pics

"When I look back, I am so impressed again with the life-giving power of literature. If I were a young person today, trying to gain a sense ofmyself in the world, I would do that again by reading, just as I did when I was young."
~ Maya Angelou

Hope you had a nice weekend! I have 2 reading recommendations for you this morning:

1. Tickle Fights and Barbecues, a short story by Marianne Arkins. It’s a quick, heart-warming read. Plus it’s only $1.50 - probably less than you spent on your coffee and bagel today! And for those of you who aren’t yet converts to the whole e-publishing industry, this story is a nice introduction. You can download and read it immediately (either on-screen or printed out), and it’s only 11 pages long. Give it a try--and leave her a review when you’ve finished it!

2. The T-Zero E-zine published by Writers’ Village University.. I’m featured under the “Recognitions” column in the March issue. Very nice write up (thanks, Vivian!), even though it mentions my publication with Virtual Tales which of course is no longer happening (my choice, in case you hadn’t heard, not theirs).

And for a totally different kind of entertainment, here’s a picture of me at 9 months old, loving every minute of my bath in the kitchen sink (yes, really!). We’re having a contest at school right now to see how many people you can correctly guess from their baby pics…it’s amazing how some people look exactly the same, and some have changed completely.

What do you think? Would you be able to tell this is me??

TGIF

Substitute "damn" every time you're inclined to write "very;" your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be.
~Mark Twain

Boy, am I glad to see Friday! It’s been an incredibly busy week, mostly because I took Monday off for traveling and thus came back to a desk piled high with work…

I’m headed to my local RWA chapter meeting this weekend, which will make for good discussion as always, and possibly a home and garden show as well (hubby wants to go…somehow with a foot of snow still on the ground it’s hard to think about that!).

Oh, and did I mention that I joined Absolute Write last week? They have great forums with some terrific members who actively post on a regular basis. It’s easy to spend an awful lot of time there ~ but do check it out if you have the chance.

I also registered my blog with Google Analytics, which tracks my site traffic. It’s interesting to see how often and from where people are stopping by, how long they’re spending, which pages they’re visiting, etc. And again, it’s too easy to spend more time than I should studying my stats instead of writing.

Writing. Oh yeah. I should do some of that this weekend, too. One Night in Memphis is about 1/3 done and needs some attention. And I’ll probably be working on promotional stuff as well.

Okay, I’m off...be back on Monday!

Happy Weekend!!

The Day After the Debut

"Writing became such a process of discovery that I couldn't wait to get to work in the morning: I wanted to know what I was going to say. "
~Sharon O'Brien

By all accounts, yesterday’s Writers’ Wednesday debut was a hit, so I will definitely be continuing it in the future. Thanks to all for the content ideas, too! And remember: if you’d like to write a post as a guest blogger, I’d love to have you! Just leave me a comment here, or email me through my website (there’s a link over there, on the sidebar). Don’t be shy: you have more expertise than you might think!

Good news from The Wild Rose Press: they’ve read my partial of Lost in Paradise and requested the full manuscript. So that’s exciting. Still, no matter how many times I’ve sent out fulls, it remains more than a little nerve-wracking to send your baby out into the big bad publishing world for a stranger to review.

Cross your fingers for me, and I’ll keep you posted!

Welcome to Writers' Wednesdays!!

Welcome to the debut of Writers’ Wednesdays!

Each Wednesday, on my blog, I’ll be posting a brief article (and I mean brief: 300-600 words) on a “How To” aspect of the writing (and publishing) process. I’ve discovered, through much trial and error over the last few years, that I’ve gained a lot of experience that other writers might find valuable before they struggle through it themselves.

If you have a topic you’d like to see addressed in one of the “How To” blogs, let me know! Or even better, if you’d like to write one of the Writers’ Wednesday posts, contact me to be a guest blogger. Spread the word to your friends and fellow writers, too.

Without further ado, here’s Writers' Wednesdays #1: How To Write a Novel

Visit any library or search engine, and you’ll turn up hundreds (maybe even thousands) of resources that will give your advice on how to write a novel. Some of my favorites include Stephen King’s On Writing and Bob Mayer’s The Novel Writer’s Toolkit.

Definitely do your research; there's no substitute for solid advice from published pros. But to give you an idea of what's involved, before you read an entire book (or bookshelf) of guides, here in mini version are my top 5 tips for beginning a novel and working your way through from start to finish. Stay tuned for additional Writers’ Wednesdays blogs on all the details…

1. Devise your storyline. In one sentence, state what your story will be about. (This is also called a logline – a general statement that summarizes your entire story.)
Examples:
An alliance of cowardly deer hunters searches for treasure in a dungeon.
Or
The bohemian nephew of a timid politician’s ex-wife has only 1 hour to live.
Note: This sentence should excite you; it should be the one thing that will remind you why you loved the idea, when get frustrated halfway through the novel.

2. Brainstorm the details. Who are your main characters? What is their conflict? What are they searching for in the story, and how will they be different at the end than they were in the beginning? What are their names? Where is the story set? A fictional or factual location? What is the black moment in the story, and how does the story end? Some people like to outline all of this. Some write from scene to scene. You need to figure out what works for you, in putting all these pieces together. But you do need these pieces.

3. Set a schedule and workable goals. This is the most critical piece. Set a deadline for yourself. Really. Too many people start out strong and then lose steam as the weeks and months go by. Pull out a calendar and decide, realistically, how many words you can write in a day. Not sure? Start with 500 and go from there. How many days can you write in a week? Total up your days in a month, allowing a little bit of time for the unforeseen, and set a goal for yourself every month (I will have 5000 words written, or I will have finished three chapters).

4. Write everyday. Taking into account the demands of your daily life, commit yourself to writing X amount of days each week. Then do it. Don’t make excuses. Don’t find something else to do. Don’t say you’re too tired. Sit down at the keyboard (or the pad or paper, or the microphone), and compose. It’s too easy to lose focus when you take time off.

5. Reward yourself. Writing is hard work! Give yourself some incentive when you reach a milestone: that first 2000 words, or the halfway point, or the end (definitely the end!). Chocolate is good. Or a shopping spree. Or a Starbucks nonfat latte. Or a bubble bath. Or...you get the idea.

There’s more, of course, but this will get you started. You can write a complete novel, if you really want to. You can!

Scenes from the Beach

"One cannot collect all the beautiful shells on the beach; one can collect only a few, and they are more beautiful if they are few."
~Anne Morrow Lindbergh

A view of the Florida Gulf Coast shoreline:

and my mom and I on the beach:

(It was pretty cool and windy, but still warmer than NY, that's for sure!!)

My Sunday-Monday Blog

"My parents didn't want to move to Florida, but they turned sixty, and that's the law."

~Jerry Seinfeld

OK, those of you who visit on a regular basis know that I usually take the weekends off from posting.

But today I had to write, because tomorrow I probably won't, because...

Guess why?

Guess where I'm sitting right now?

In sunny Florida, about 60 miles south of Tampa and 5 miles from the Gulf Coast.

Seriously.

I took the weekend to visit my parents, who are newly retired and wintering down here, and I'm flying back tomorrow morning. (I really, really, do not enjoy flying, but I haven't figured out any other way to cover 1000 miles in less than 3 hours.)

It's been a wonderful respite from the cold and gray that is New York winters, and I know how lucky I am to be able to hop on a plane and leave that behind for 3 days.

So here's an interesting question for you: if you could go anywhere in the world, for just 3 days, where would you go, and why??