Standing Strong

Prov. 24:10 "If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small."

Standing Strong 

Without even being aware of what tension would rise I thought a writing course would be a good soothing exercise. I thought wrong. I love writing for my blog as much as I can and it feels therapeutic. I’ve been moving along at a nice pace as healing is taking place. Feeling good about myself I wanted a distraction via a fiction-writing course from all the illness talk. I realized I don’t know how to separate my fact from fiction.

The writing course claims that you should have a completed fictional SHORT STORY by the end of six lessons. I’ve taken this course many times over the years so I knew what to expect, expect the unexpected I thought heading into the course. What I didn’t expect was a classroom of five to seven people working on their novels in progress. Writers are awesome people, as diverse as a bag of Skittles even more diverse when they’re mixed with a bag of M&M’s! 

I decided to center my SHORT STORY on Faith and Hope, characters of a fictional tale but too close to my nonfiction story for my taste. I realized I didn’t like writing fiction at all. I do have an entire novel sitting in my files untouched for years, still nestled in the first draft stages. I also have a couple of short stories in my files that I won’t take the time to send them through the rigors of being picked apart by critique. I did learn a lot this round of taking this course. Everything I taught at one time being a mentor was dismantled, I watched my work being shredded not guided in any way. I wound up rewriting my short story for a final revision and it lost all the poetic substance of the entire tale. To me, my story became do-do on a shoe.

Tension, that only I knew was taking place, began about the third week. I wanted to drop the course but I also really wanted to complete the beloved class where I originally met so many of my current dear friends thirteen years ago. I continued on being the trooper that I am until I finally completed the sixth lesson of my short story.

I wondered why I set myself up for this adversity but it’s not much unlike when I post something on facebook to get a reaction when it’s the reaction I don’t like, I tend to tense up completely. Why do I bother? That is exactly what I felt like by lesson six, why did I bother? Let me give you a bit of advice, when taking a trip down memory lane don’t expect the same sensation you felt originally. The memory is in the past for a reason, it is over and done with and cannot be recreated in any way, shape or form. Lesson learned.

I was taught that if you’re going to say something negative about someone’s work, reinforce it with something positive. I didn’t feel much of anything positive coming through my screen. The feeling may have just been my tension build-up and I, not wanting to continue, reflected the negativity I saw. In other words, it was more than likely just my irritated mind arousing the tension.

What did I learn from this session of the writing course? Anything goes. You can work on your novel in progress and you’ll receive pats on the back for defying what the true intention of the SHORT STORY course is about. You’ll be rewarded for going against the grain. You’ll be held accountable for not understanding proper punctuation and you might even feel shamed into taking a punctuation course so your writing can get better. Your words will be pulled apart like shredded cheese and tossed on the floor for you to pick up the pieces and put back together.

So basically my writing sucks. THIS is why I’m sticking to my blog writing! Fiction is not for me at this juncture in my life. Nonfiction writing whether misspelled or punctuated wrong on my blog is MY journal style writing that releases my tension and saves me days and weeks of unnecessary pressure. I thought I was ready for open criticism but I think I still have a way to go.

"Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds." 

~ Albert Einstein

Yesterday to release a ton of tension I went shopping. As anyone who knows me knows that I’m not a person who splurges on things. These past ten months my main purchases were vitamins, organic vegetables, three pairs of pants from the Goodwill and that’s about it. I’ve never acquired a taste for spending money. I wouldn’t say I’m a miser, I just like to purchase necessities over extravagances.

My mother sent me a Christmas gift back in October and she told me to buy myself something nice. You also know that my mother has no idea I’m fighting this illness. My first thought was to use the money in my fight of this disease but yesterday I woke, putting on my twenty-five-year-old winter shoes, I realized I never splurge and buy myself anything. With hubby off of work, I asked him if he wanted to go shopping and off we went. I bought two pairs of winter shoes/boots and eight nonfiction books all for sixty bucks! I’m a frugal shopper. Yay, me!

Shopping, reading nonfiction, and coloring in my adult-aged coloring books I received last Christmas released much of my tension. I am now once again on a recovering path. I think I’ll just stick to my journal style writing for a while. Just so you know, I’ve had diaries all of my life and not once did I concern myself with restructuring, grammar etiquette or revisions. I wrote to release tension and that is what I’m going to continue on my blog. Thanks for any and all understanding.

Prov. 19: 25 "Smite a scorner, and the simple will beware: and reprove one that hath understanding, and he will understand knowledge."

Book worthy Blog?

Writing is a lot easier if you have something to say
~ Sholem Asch

We live in an era where mostly everyone has a blog. Whether its about food, raising kids, knitting or you pick a subject, more than likely, there is a blog about it. But is it book worthy?


Blogging is a nice comfortable place to share my writing skills while I wait for that big moment in time where a publisher accepts my work. In the meantime, I write my blog to share things about the craft that I’ve learned along the way. This isn’t an easy task, this blogging route, but it is a nice distraction from many mundane circumstances that life throws at you.


Again, is your blog book worthy? There is actually a book titled How to Blog a Book, that will take you through the steps of turning your blog into a book! A book worthy blog.


First let me say, no I haven’t bought the book and second, when I began this blog I had no intention of turning it into a book. But now with this newer technology buzzing around the internet, the possibilities are there. Yesterdays self publishing post was more aimed at the novel you’ve written. I don’t think self publishing is a route for the budding writer. It’s an easy out of taking away all the rejection so you can feel secure. Writers know, there is nothing about this business that’s comfy and secure. It’s hard work, day in and day out of honing a craft, marketing your work, and promoting yourself.


If you have a target audience for your followers, chances are you have a book in the making. If your posts are consistent about one subject, is aimed at a certain group (photography, writing, knitters, etc.) then more than likely you have a book worthy blog. Now it is time to find out.


For me, I have close to one thousand posts. There has to be a book in there somewhere! My main topics are the writing craft, poetry and quotes. Now I know my quotations are not book worthy, but one never knows. What I’m going to do is take all the posts and separate and organize them. Poetry in one file, writing another and quotations yet another. My life posts will go in my life story I’m penning. I might be able to use something there.


If your blog is not post specific, meaning all over the place in topics, chances are slim that you have book worthy content amid the rubble. You might just blog for fun and that is all well and good, but to a writer, we’re always thinking books! As I said, I’ll organize my posts first and see what I have. Then onto editing it to make sure the post was sufficient and all the right info was given to the reader.


Once all this is compiled, I’ll add a few unpublished works. Editors love new material and sending them already published work may discourage them from taking on your project. Add new material! And make sure you inform them that there is newly added material! Persistence pays off.

Writers Read

The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.

~Eleanor Roosevelt

As a writer, it is essential to read, and I don’t mean every book On Writing that you can get your hands on, because I’m from the old school, you can not ‘learn’ to be a writer. And this is true, if you think you can write just because you want to, you are on the wrong path. Jump off and join a circus, better odds of success there. You can learn the basic elements of writing, but to be a writer, you need to READ and to WRITE! All writers are avid readers. You’d be hard pressed to find a writer who says, “I don’t read books.” 

Are you kidding me? Why does one become a writer to begin with?  It is because you were little once and climbed into a book and chapter after chapter you were swept away into a fantasy land. You then thought things like, “I could do that! Take people to another world of imagination.” And the dream of becoming a writer was born. What were you, a month, two months old when your first book was ever read to you?
 
I didn’t become a writer, I’ve been a writer all my life, and you’ll hear that a lot too in the writing community, “I was born to write!” We began our life being read to, then we began reading all on our own, then we saw something that was like a small spark of fire in the dry timbers of the pages. We knew we could write a story like this or that, and so we started with an essay, then it grew to a short story and maybe poetry, then we were well on our way to driving the train into the writing world.
 
I used to read anything and everything I could. I began diving into books of fiction then moved onto philosophy, then psychology, then I got into reading about the many different religions, physics, quantum physics; I just got wrapped up in those books educating myself for who knows what purpose, then I returned to fiction. All the while growing, I was writing poetry and stories on a typewriter until about ten years ago I got a computer and began joining writing sites and poetry sites, posting my work for all the world to see.
 
Being the most popular will not make you a good writer, popularity and over eagerness will NOT make your writing appear better! My family never supported me then and doesn’t support me now. In my physical realm, it is just me. In my virtual world I have an over abundance of support! How did you become such a good writer, you ask? Well, it was through the encouragement of the many writing communities, a two year writing course, and being wrapped up in words like a blanket to my soul. It was due to the fact that I have read thousands upon thousands of books. To be a writer, one must be a reader first and foremost, then writing comes almost as natural as brushing your teeth in the morning.  

Quotation Saturday

FRIENDSHIP ~

In everyone's life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit. 
~Albert Schweitzer

A loyal friend laughs at your jokes when they're not so good, and sympathizes with your problems when they're not so bad. ~Arnold H. Glasgow
 
If a friend is in trouble, don't annoy him by asking if there is anything you can do. Think up something appropriate and do it. ~Edgar Watson Howe

I don't need a friend who changes when I change and who nods when I nod; my shadow does that much better. 
~Plutarch

PHILOSOPHY ~
 
When he to whom one speaks does not understand, and he who speaks himself does not understand, that is metaphysics. ~Voltaire

My definition [of a philosopher] is of a man up in a balloon, with his family and friends holding the ropes which confine him to earth and trying to haul him down. ~Louisa May Alcott
All are lunatics, but he who can analyze his delusion is called a philosopher. 
~Ambrose Bierce, Epigrams

Upon the whole, I am inclined to think that the far greater part, if not all, of those difficulties which have hitherto amused philosophers, and blocked up the way to knowledge, are entirely owing to our selves. That we have first raised a dust, and then complain, we cannot see. 
~George Berkeley

DREAMS ~
 
Dreaming is an act of pure imagination, attesting in all men a creative power, which if it were available in waking, would make every man a Dante or Shakespeare. 
~H.F. Hedge
 
Dreams are illustrations... from the book your soul is writing about you. 
~Marsha Norman

I am accustomed to sleep and in my dreams to imagine the same things that lunatics imagine when awake. 
~Rene Descartes
 
Dreams are excursions into the limbo of things, a semi-deliverance from the human prison. 
~Henri Amiel

BOOKS ~
 
Except a living man there is nothing more wonderful than a book! A message to us from the dead, - from human souls whom we never saw, who lived perhaps thousands of miles away; and yet these, on those little sheets of paper, speak to us, teach us, comfort us, open their hearts to us as brothers. 
~Charles Kingsley

Let your bookcases and your shelves be your gardens and your pleasure-grounds. Pluck the fruit that grows therein, gather the roses, the spices, and the myrrh. 
~Judah Ibn Tibbon

Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested. 
~Francis Bacon

Books are a refuge, a sort of cloistral refuge, from the vulgarities of the actual world. 
~Walter Pater

LOVE ~
 
The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread. 
~Mother Teresa

There is no surprise more magical than the surprise of being loved. It is God's finger on man's shoulder. 
~Charles Morgan

Love has no desire but to fulfill itself. To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night. To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving. 
~Kahlil Gibran

Life has taught us that love does not consist in gazing at each other but in looking outward together in the same direction. ~Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Newspapers out ebooks in...

"Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths."

Proverbs 3:5-6
***

It’s kinda scary when you think about it, newspapers becoming obsolete? I remember back home in Baltimore there used to be a ‘News American” and ‘The Sun”, one went to the Poe graveyard and the other is still hanging by a thread.

What happened to make Newspapers so scarce. Oh the internet. By the time people read the newspaper, a new fact surfaces and the paper tries a retraction but too late, people already read the misinformation, and found the 'truth' on the internet.

What scares me as a writer is that there won’t be any print publications to submit to. Books can be published in ebook format, magazines can be read online, and newspapers are just shy of closing up the printing shop.

Have we become so obsessed with getting information and downloading and storing it on our computers that we don’t get the newspaper tossed on our front lawn anymore? Did we put all those young entrepreneurs out of business when this cyber world came into our reality?

I still love reading a book. I love holding it in my hand and flipping through the pages awaiting the next leaf that will carry me on an imaginary journey of someone’s created world. Fiction is an art, non-fiction is abstract art.

In a perfect world the internet would be obsolete. The printing of newspapers would come back in full force ready to reclaim their life on our shelves. In a perfect world, man would learn how to practice the human emotion of love, and never hate. In a perfect world, two would become one and never undone except through the hands of fate.

Fate, the all powerful flow of synchronicity riding a tidal wave of  energy, colliding, meshing, forming into something only two people can understand.

What is it that makes the world we live in imperfect? It isn’t the advent of the internet that’s for sure, it is man and man alone is to blame. All that we as humans can do is accept this causality, and hope for the best.

Where there is light, the darkness will reside also. Where there is love, a smidgen of hate lurks. Where there is man, there will always be a need of the woman to complete the cycle. Where there is print, there will be a wave coming across the internet like a tsunami waiting to wipe out the hard work of men before him.

I’m writing this knowing full well that this is being read on the internet, coming to you via a satellite spiraling somewhere in the heavens of space. Maybe one day, you’ll be holding in your hand a book written by me, flipping through the pages and smelling the newness of the print publication. One can only hope that the written word will be around for centuries to come.

A girl can dream can’t she?

Talk-o Tuesday

First let me say that my Moody Monday turned into a Marvelous Monday! I worked out in the garden, planted flowers and had a wonderful time relishing the beauty that the color brought to the house.

Mom called and said, “I”m gonna bring Joni over a few flowers I had left over.” Okay, I was sitting at the window waiting her arrival. And there she was, yellows and orange, red and white. Marigolds, Petunias, and three Day lilies. With the proper spacing and arrangement, it filled the whole garden in front of my house!

Talk about gleeful? If anyone knows Joni, they know that she is a flower child. Not one from the sixties, one who was deprived of a garden in the ‘city life’ but always one with containers flourishing with beauty! As you can tell I’m still a wee bit excited and can’t wait to go check on my beautiful flowers and watch them grow. THANKS MOM!!!!

As I was working out in the garden I was thinking of what a nice thing it would be to have one of those MP3 players so I could listen to an audio book. (nice segue, eh?) Can you imaging just digging, planting, watering, pruning, mowing and tending all that stuff and listening to a great story the whole time? I can imagine how less back breaking the tasks might seem and how much more a person could get done.

Although I’m more of a “listen to nature” kinda gal, an audio book would be easy to carry around, volume set to high to get out all that bird chirping and mowing and I bet you could finish a book with one days chores.

New book reviews are popping up at Audio Book Heaven. So before I pop in a book, I might even check out this blog to see if there are any listed that I might be interested in reading. He gives good honest reviews. If he likes a book, or don’t like a book, he lets you know the pros and cons of the story and you can decide for yourself.

Sure you can go to the library and read the jacket cover, but I’m telling you, his reviews give you more than any cover. :) Okay enough talk, go click and enjoy your visit with the man behind, Audio Book Heaven!

Quotation Saturday

Happy Valentine’s Day to you who celebrate the day.
To me, everyday is celebrated in LOVE!
<3 <3 <3

I hope you don't mind, I hope you don't mind
That I put down in words
How wonderful life is while you're in the world.
Elton John ~ Your Song ~ Our Song
***

ON LOVE...

The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed.
~Carl Jung (1875 - 1961)

If love closes, the self contracts and hardens...
~Charles Horton Cooley

Love is more than a sentiment; it is a need, a hunger, a thirst which is perfectly natural... Love is the beginning and end, the one sentiment in nature that will not be denied.
~Ernest Holmes

Give me ears, I will listen. Give me fingers, I will touch. Give me eyes, I will see so much.
Give me a scent and I will know, Give me love...and my heart will grow.
~Joni Zipp

On Books...

"I suggest that the only books that influence us are those for which we are ready, and which have gone a little further down our particular path than we have gone ourselves."
~E. M. Forster

"I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book."
~Groucho Marx

"A library, to modify the famous metaphor of Socrates, should be the delivery room for the birth of ideas-a place where history comes to life."
~Norman Cousins


ON BELIEF...

"So great has been the endurance, so incredible the achievement, that, as long as the sun keeps a set course in heaven, it would be foolish to despair of the human race."
~Ernest L. Woodward

"Whether you believe you can do a thing or not, you are right."
~Henry Ford

"It is not so much what you believe in that matters, as the way in which you believe it and proceed to translate that belief into action."
~Lin Yutang

"Never talk defeat. Use words like hope, belief, faith, victory."
~Norman Vincent Peale


THE SMALL THINGS:

Small things can often make big things bearable.
~Kuki Gallmann, I Dreamed of Africa

Sometimes when I consider what tremendous consequences come from little things, I am tempted to think there are no little things.
~Bruce Barton

You lie the loudest when you lie to yourself.
~Author unknown

Your mind is like a parachute...it functions only when open.
~Author unknown

Quotation Saturday

Words cut like a knife across your heart; you either bleed...or smile.~joni

Humanity can be quite cold to those whose eyes see the world differently.
~Eric A. Burns, Gossamer Commons, 08-24-05

I started concentrating so hard on my vision that I lost sight.
~Robin Green, Northern Exposure, Burning Down the House, 1992

All human actions have one or more of these seven causes: chance, nature, compulsion, habit, reason, passion, and desire.
~Aristotle (384 BC - 322 BC)

You cannot have a proud and chivalrous spirit if your conduct is mean and paltry; for whatever a man's actions are, such must be his spirit.
~Demosthenes (384 BC - 322 BC), Third Olynthiac

I have always thought the actions of men the best interpreters of their thoughts.
~John Locke (1632 - 1704)

Reading, after a certain age, diverts the mind too much from its creative pursuits. Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking.
~Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

Change has a considerable psychological impact on the human mind. To the fearful it is threatening because it means that things may get worse. To the hopeful it is encouraging because things may get better. To the confident it is inspiring because the challenge exists to make things better.
~King Whitney Jr.

They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself. ~Andy Warhol (1928 - 1987), The Philosophy of Andy Warhol

If you want changes to take place in the world, start with the man in the mirror.
~joni and MJ

Talk-o Tuesday

Luke 17:15 And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God,

Learn Out Loud...

Audiobooks are not just for the blind and visually impaired folks of society. Audiobooks are the new workout groove. People walk the treadmill, all the while delving deep into a book on tape and they get so lost in the book that they’ve forgotten that they have trudged a mile on the darned thing.Long hours in the doctors office are not so long with an audiobook. Or how about plane rides? Whew this little gadget will take the angst out of the flight for sure.

What I didn’t know about audiobooks and have learned since my beau went blind, (read his story on The Drums in the Deep) is that there is a difference in narrators. He tends to like the professionals in the business. Did you know there were professional narrators? Well you do now.

The free books that he gets from the Nebraska Commission for Blind are narrated by unprofessional’s and he notices the difference. Sometimes a pro narrator really makes a story come alive where a non-pro gives a bland telling of a story. I’m sure they do their best and hey, they are volunteers so we can’t knock their storytelling skills. Read reviews of some audiobooks on Reviews in the Deep, another of my beau’s blogs. What can I say, he’s a busy blind man.

There are also different venues to listening to the stories. MP3 players, podcasts, and you can even listen to them on your computer! Technology is relentless isn’t it? I’m not a fan of audiobooks but I imagine when the love of visually reading words is taken away from you, you’re happy that there is a venue that allows you to still hear the written word.

I’ve found some really cool sites that offer free audiobooks for download so if you’re interested in running a mile with a Stephen King novel blasting in your ear, or the classics of Robert Frost and his friends, click a few links, maybe you’ll find something. *Note- audiobooks are not just for the blind. I don’t know if these pages are blind friendly, so surf at your own risk. Screenreaders, get back to me and let me know if they are easy to access/follow.



learn out loud

open culture

audiobooksforfree

freeclassic audiobooks - Fair warning here, these are digitally narrated.

audiobookscorner

Quotation Saturday

But virtue, as it never will be moved,
Though lewdness court it in a shape of heaven,
So lust, though to a radiant angel linked,
Will sate itself in a celestial bed
And prey on garbage.
~William Shakespeare

On books:

"I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book."
~ Groucho Marx

"There is more treasure in books than in all the pirate’s loot on Treasure Island... and best of all, you can enjoy these riches every day of your life."
~ Walt Disney

"Everything you need for your better future and success has already been written. And guess what? It's all available."
~ Jim Rohn

"The things I want to know are in books; my best friend is the man who'll get me a book I ain't read."
~ Abraham Lincoln


On Writing:

If you read good books, when you write, good books will come out of you.
~ Natalie Goldberg

Writing a novel is like heading out over the open sea in a small boat. It helps, if you have a plan and a course laid out.
~ John Gardner

The ideal view for daily writing, hour for hour, is the blank brick wall of a cold-storage warehouse. Failing this, a stretch of sky will do, cloudless if possible.
~ Edna Ferber

I owe my success to having listened respectfully to the very best advice, and then going away and doing the exact opposite.
~ G. K. Chesterton

On Me:

There will never be another now -
I'll make the most of today.
There will never be another me -
I'll make the most of myself.
~ Helen Keller

Don't take life so serious. It ain't no-hows permanent.
~ Walt Kelly

Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It's the transition that's troublesome.
~ Isaac Asimov

Funny Funday Bookworm Friday!!!

Sorry for my absence this week to all of my fans. You know who you are. Today I am combining three days into one post! Whew! (Coming up for air)

I hope you enjoy! ~~~ Joni

Funny Bone Friday

Scribbling scribblers getting paid….
Three boys are in the schoolyard bragging about their fathers. The first boy says, "My Dad scribbles a few words on a piece of paper, he calls it a poem, they give him $50."
The second boy says, "That's nothing. My Dad scribbles a few words on a piece of paper, he calls it a song, they give him $100."
The third boy says, "I got you both beat. My Dad scribbles a few words on a piece of paper, he calls it a sermon and it takes eight people to collect all the money!"

The beginning of sibling rivalry…
A mother was preparing pancakes for her sons, Kevin, 5, and Ryan, 3. The boys began to argue over who would get the first pancake. Their mother saw the opportunity for a moral lesson. "If Jesus were sitting here, He would say 'Let my brother have the first pancake, I can wait'". Kevin turned to his younger brother & said, "Ryan, you be Jesus!"

Growing pains…
At Sunday School they were teaching how God created everything, including human beings. Little Johnny, a child in the kindergarten class, seemed especially intent when they told him how Eve was created out of one of Adam's ribs. Later in the week his mother noticed him lying as though he was ill, & asked, "Johnny what is the matter?" Little Johnny responded, "I have a pain in my side. I think I'm going to have a wife!"

A storm erupts…
One summer evening during a violent thunderstorm a mother was tucking her small boy into bed. She was about to turn off the light when he asked with a tremor in his voice,"Mommy, will you sleep with me tonight?" The mother smiled and gave him a reassuring hug. "I can't dear," she said. "I have to sleep in Daddy's room." A long silence was broken at last by his shaky little voice:"The big sissy."

Bookworm Thursday…

From Where You Dream (The Process of Writing Fiction) by Robert Olen Butler and Janet Burroway

Description from: The Writer’s Store

Robert Olen Butler, winner of the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction, has been praised as the best living American writer. During his prestigious career, he has taught graduate fiction at Florida State University-his version of literary boot camp. Now Janet Burroway, author of the classic text Writing Fiction introduces her edited transcripts of Butler's thought-provoking lectures.

From Where You Dream re-imagines the process of writing as emotional rather than intellectual, and tells writers how to achieve the dream space necessary for composing honest, inspired fiction.
Proposing that fiction is the exploration of the human condition with yearning as its compass, Butler reinterprets the traditional tools of the craft using the dynamics of desire. He offers invaluable insights into the nature of voice and shows how to experience fiction as a sensual, cinematic series of takes and scenes. Offering a direct view into the mind and craft of a literary master, From Where You Dream is an invaluable tool for the novice and experienced writer alike.

testimonial:

" In his book, From Where You Dream, Robert Butler encourages writers to explore the motivation and inspiration behind the act of writing. He asks them to delve into the creation process and experience writing as both a discipline and an art. I really enjoyed this class because it enabled me to work through the preliminary process of dreamstorming a story before actually writing it. I also reaped the benefits of good feedback on my stories from fellow classmates and the class mentors."
--Laurel

Funday Monday Word day

idyllic -- (ahy-dil-ik)
1. suitable for or suggestive of an idyll; charmingly simple or rustic
2. of, pertaining to, or characteristic of an idyll

idyll -- (ahyd-l)
1. a poem or prose composition, usually describing pastoral scenes or events or any charmingly simple episode, appealing incident, or the like.
2. a simple descriptive or narrative piece in verse or prose.
3. Music. a composition, usually instrumental, of a pastoral or sentimental character.

ideal -- (ahy-dee-uhl)
1. a conception of something in its perfection.
2. a standard of perfection or excellence.
3. a person or thing conceived as embodying such a conception or conforming to such a standard, and taken as a model for imitation: Thomas Jefferson was his ideal.

Bookworm Thursday

Well here I am starting yet another named day for my blog.

This one is going to be called Bookworm Thursday!

What IS bookworm Thursday?

This is where I will list books for the craft of writing. Instead of just highlighting them in an individual blog. I thought I'd try this. They will all relate to ONE of my blog posts.

Here goes:

Books on Query writing is up first.

How To Write Attention Grabbing Query and Cover Leters by John Wood

How To Write Irresisible Query Letters by Lisa Collier Cool

The Sell Your Novel Tool kit (Paperback) by Elizabeth Lyon

Your Novel Proposal: From Creation to Contract : The Complete Guide to Writing Query Letters, Synopses and Proposals for Agents and Editors (Hardcover) by Blythe Camethson and Marshall J. Cook