Justified

Isa. 28:12 “To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear.”

Justified

Do you want to know how I come up with my blog topics? Believe it or not, I pray. I wake in the morning and pray for all the sick on my prayer list, then I ask God’s guidance on what to write for the day. I don’t always get a reply on what I’m to write about so I might skip that day as I wait, patiently!

After prayer, I open the news of the day, open facebook also, to find a plethora of topics but usually one topic will stand out a few times and God lets me know, write about THIS!

I so wanted to write about my niece getting her purse returned, after losing it somewhere sometime during her day, by a young black gentleman after he had found the purse on his way work, and returned it to my niece at ten thirty in the evening when he returned home.

My niece cried because she was so happy to not have to renew her license and cancel all her credit cards and she thanked the young man profusely! She even gave him twenty dollars of the fifty that had been inside. I’d also like to add that this was in Baltimore, Maryland. The place you only hear bad stuff about and never the good stuff. 

As I continued searching for a blog  post, a few things stuck out and THAT is what God wanted me to write about, while my nieces story is a beautiful one God wanted me to know that there is something more important to write about at this time and maybe, all of the stories will mesh together? I’ll have to finish this before I know. 

Getting it right with God is a struggle all Christians go through and at times I never feel worthy enough of His love. I’ve already blogged about that one in a feeling unworthy post. But let me say this first and foremost, I AM WORTHY of God and that is all that matters to me. 

I loosely call myself Christian because all Christians are not the same. These days they are drinkers, self-righteous, judges of all. I do understand that we are ALL different and on different paths. Jesus (NT) himself didn’t choose perfect people to carry his ministry, and God (OT) certainly didn’t pick perfect people that He created to do His work. Nope, He picked the most imperfect people He could find; maybe that is why He chose ME to be a writer. For some reason He had faith in me and that I’d carry my testimony/His ministry to His people. 

Ecc. 9:7 “Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; for God now accepteth thy works.” 

Ephesians 5:18 ESV “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit,”

Proverbs 20:1 ESV “Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler, and whoever is led astray by it is not wise.”

You see, God has called us ALL to carry His ministry. Not to drink, get drunk, whoop it up and praise God or claim to be His all in the same stinking drunken breath. 

We justify what we do so we don’t feel so bad but the only one who is going to judge us for allowing ourselves to be led astray is our One and Only Savior. We ALL walk a dimly lit path, we find the Light but then get led astray by all the inhumanity in the world that gets us unsettled so we turn to drink to justify the reason we’re sitting alone in the dark with a bottle in our hand. Some find the Lighted path only to continue on struggling to stay on the very straight and extremely narrow path.

As I walk the path, for ME, I do not believe in the drink and be merry babble. For one, you’re not drinking to be merry, you’re drinking to get drunk, bottom line. It makes you feel good, it unfurls your twisted tongue, it has you allowing your loose lips to sink ships. Thoughts are free to roam the wilderness and usually, the wild is not a place to be alone because you’re bound to get bit.

When a person comes to Christ, he (or she) is new to Christ and struggles daily to get it right with God. I understand that they’ll still drink it up, curse like a sailor, call themselves Christian just so they fit into a society over running with Christians but they have yet to learn the true meaning of the word, Christ-like. Christ was not a drunk, and I think He knew the right words to use so as not to come across as a liar and hypocrite. 

I often think about what it must have been like back in Jesus’ day. Here He was gathered around a table with His twelve chosen, knowing He was going to His death. When they took a drink of wine, did they all yell out, “Let’s finish off the bottle.”??? I seriously don’t think so; it was not a merry event to celebrate.

In the course of the Last Supper, Jesus divides up some bread, says a prayer, and hands the pieces of bread to his disciples, saying "this is my body."[metaphor] He then takes a cup of wine, offers another prayer, and hands it around, saying "this is my blood [metaphor] of the everlasting covenant, which is poured for many." ~ source Wikipedia

The church is the way it is today because people divided up what was right and what was wrong; what was/is acceptable and what is not acceptable. Some churches look down on the homeless and only reach out to the parishioners in need, not everyone in need. Some churches look down on homosexuals by judging them and letting them know they are not right with God because you know, God made them judge and jury of the people. Divided the churches are.

Eph. 2:10 “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”

I myself CHOSE to get my life right with God and follow His Son to the cross and weep prayerfully at His feet. We are not called to judge others because we feel they are beneath us, we should judge ourselves, our actions, our ways, our character, and virtues, only then should we call ourselves Christ-like. 

This post didn’t end the way I intended but it did help me see that there are good people out in the world trying to do what is right, whether FOR God or because of God. Goodness is all around and as soon as we stop justifying our negative actions and living the way WE want, we’ll see the good in the world or the world will never change.

God bless you all!

God In Me

John 16:33 “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”

When people meet me for the first time they look past my outer beauty and see something they might have never known or seen in someone before; they see God in me. To a non-believer they’re seen scratching their heads in wonder, wondering what it is about me that makes me different. Then I speak, if I did not carry God with me, I will leave those people scratching their heads but as soon as I speak they see it, that thing that makes me different, they see God in me. 

Eph. 4:22-24 “That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;
And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;
And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.”

When attending Church, people have a tendency to walk out the door still the same person who went through those doors. If we have an ounce of faith in what was said behind those doors we will walk out renewed and wear a different layer of clothing; a new man.

We can read and believe until we’re blue in the face but if putting on a new spirit does not renew you then you have missed the gift that God has given you of being a new person in Christ. We’re not the same, we’re different and non-believers can see Christ in you.

If you walk out of those church doors and are the same beer drinking, hate spewing, judgmental person then you are missing the message being delivered and not learning to live with Christ in you. People will then see you as a non-Christian and as such you contort the very meaning of deliverance that Christ brings to the world. You’re setting up shop of becoming known as a hypocrite who knows the Word but doesn’t know Christ. 

Phil. 2:1-5 If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies,
Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.
Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.
Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:

We can’t live like we know Him if we don’t make an effort to get to know Him. Reading the bible is not getting to know Him, attending church is not getting to know Him; living with him in us is the only way we can feel the personal connection to Him that causes us to be renewed in the spirit. 

Here’s an example of what I mean. When you read To Kill a Mockingbird, do you know Atticus, do you know Gem and Boo Radley? No, you read about them but you don’t KNOW them, they can’t live vicariously through you by just reading about them. Let’s say you went to Harper Lee’s house, does that mean you know her? You read her book, visited her house so does that make you an all-knowing friend of hers? Not at all, you have to have years and years of a relationship with her to even KNOW her. 

When we go to our mother and father’s house we know them. We know where they put the forks and spoons, we know where the spice rack is, we know which bedroom is theirs; we know because we lived with them throughout our life and have taken all that we learned from them with us out into the world. 

If our father has passed away, we still carry him with us and we still see him in little things like an old hammer he used or an old song he used to listen to; we smell him in different foods and colognes because he is living in us because he is with us in spirit.

This is the difference in reading the bible, going to church and saying we KNOW God. We cannot know God unless we live WITH Him. We carry Him with us out into the world because He defines our world; He IS our world. 

If we read, believe and go to church we cannot in all good conscience come out and spread the word saying we KNOW Christ, we have to LIVE with Christ to say we know Him. In all we say and all we do with all that our Father has taught us over the years can we carry Him to the world.

It would be very vain of me to say, I am God; it would be smug of me to say, I am Jesus; but it would be truth to say that God is IN me because I’ve known Him my whole life and the Spirit of my Father dwells within my soul.

Rom. 12:1-2 “I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”

The Truth Hurts

Pss. 86: 11 Teach me thy way, O LORD; I will walk in thy truth: unite my heart to fear thy name.

Yes it does.  I still remember being told that Santa Claus was not real. Yeah, I had mean brothers and a sister who didn’t want to see me happy, so when I proclaimed Santa got it for me, they made sure they said loud and clear, “Santa ain’t real!” (Yeah they used the word ain’t)

I didn’t want to believe it. My mother wouldn’t lie to me, would she? Well sure enough, she wasn’t happy with my brothers' way of telling me but she did sit me down and tell me the truth. Santa, the tooth fairy and the Easter bunny all lies concocted by some age old myth. Great, my entire life was a lie. Granted I was only six but to me, my life was all a lie. I grew to form my own beliefs, never, and I mean never counting on man to feed me the truth!

Now imagine me as a grown Christian woman, someone telling me that the Bible has ‘some lies’ or untruths in it (lies; untruths, same thing), but ‘most’ of it is true. Well slap me upside the head and color me stupid!

My faith has been built on these truths, or what I have known and been SHOWN to be truths and after being told that, all of my biblical beliefs came crashing down around me and I began digging through the rubble reassessing my ‘beliefs’.

The truth hurts. Have you ever been lied to? It sure doesn’t feel good, nor does it feel good when you find out the truth.

Pss. 32: 8 I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.

Instead of doubting my faith, I went to God himself and asked for clarification so that I might respond clearly to the attack, as I saw it, of lies about Him and His truth. He guided me to truths about Him and when shown to the person, undoubtedly the person became angry. Mind you they were not MY truths, they were God’s truths.

I didn’t dig for scientific proof, I didn’t sling words to say 'Believe this', I slung it to say, you’ve showed me what YOU believe to be truth, and here is what I believe to be truth.

Truth hurts. I also got a quite intelligent answer from a kid, almost 18 years old. He said, “There are only opinions of one truth.”

“What?” I said.

“Truth is like a tree root, it grows and grows, the branches are the opinions formed from that truth.”

Wow, what a smart kid, I say!

Eph. 3: 17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,

Imagine a strong wind coming in and breaking those branches leaving all leaves on it to wither and die. No, I won’t be a branch, I won’t pretend to be a leaf. I choose to be the root and the Son being the Light in which I find my strength to grow.

THAT is my truth. THAT is who I am. I won’t be swayed by science; I won’t be molded by words of men. Science is just an opinion formed by men with supposed intelligence. Remember, science once stated that Pluto was a planet, only for years to pass and then to say it isn’t a planet. What IS the truth?

I tell you this writers, the reader WILL find out for themselves. If you mislead them or try to fool them, they WILL find out. And the truth hurts.

Do Readers Write?

In yesterdays post, I stated that writers read. We flip through the leaves of a book, go sailing on an ocean, climb into a characters head, and enjoy the journey we’re taken on. What is also true is that not all readers write. My dad was an avid reader. He could always be seen, sitting in his recliner, blanket over his legs, and a book in his hand. Lots of people in my family liked to read, educate themselves, drink from the fountain of knowledge, but none of them aspired to be an actual writer.
 
That’s not saying that they couldn’t write, but none ever went the distance of pursuing a writing career. I sometimes thought that with the proper support, they might have journeyed out into the unknown world of writing, but as it was in my family, support was not to be had. We were lost kids seeking approval of something, anything, and it was not to be. Just as I had to find my way to Christ (or He found me) I had to lead the way down my own path in life.
 
I’ve seen people who’ve read all their lives who never ever wanted to write. “That is just not for me.” they say, but then after retirement sets in, and they want something different to do, they try out their hand at writing. And I’ve seen some success from that leap in life. They’ve gone on to be published writers!
 
What is the difference in a reader and a writer? A writer WRITES!
 
A story is told of a famous writer who was invited to address a group of aspiring authors. He arrived at the venue, walked onto the stage, and looked down at the upturned faces of his admiring audience. "Ya wanna be a writer?" he said. "Then go home and write."
 
With that, he pocketed his check, and left.
 
So you wanna be a writer? Here’s some interesting tidbits for you:
 
1. Do you write almost every day? Journal, snippets, 500 words or less. Or more?
 
Then you’re not a writer
 
2.  Do you allow yourself to think of YOU?
 
Writing requires that you spend a fair bit of time in your own, totally isolated zone, oblivious to the demands of others, no matter how reasonable their demands might be.
 
3. Do you know WHY you want to be a writer?
 
The urge to share is a primary driving force for writing. Whether it is to share an idea, a story, just a simple piece of information, you feel that people have a need to know. The main thing is, that what you write should matter to YOU and to your readers.
 
4. Do you think you’re a good writer?
Well there’s a problem. No one THINKS themselves a good writer! We ALL think we can use some work!

5. Do you read as many books, as much as you write?
Then you have a persistent road that needs grading, get to it!

Tidbits over, now a few thoughts to leave you with.
 
If you wanna be a writer, plan on reading A LOT!
Plan on WRITING a lot!
Plan on harsh criticism, mostly from yourself!
Plan on getting published!

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.  

Writing~ A home within my home ~

Pss.19:4 Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun,
***

A writer sits nestled behind the short wooden desk, a lamp that looks like a small crane reaches out its light to cast dreamy whiteness onto the keyboard. Fingers can be seen tapping on the keyboard as many words fill the page.

The image of the writer spending many days and nights in this very position of straight back, legs curled up under, possibly a warm fuzzy blanket wrapped around to take off any chill that might drift by, and silence. Silence fills the air except for the keys delivering a cabaret in the stillness of the morning.

The writers mind envelops many worlds, wired to fantasy outside of home. Clinging to thoughts that have passed over time and now adhering like a wet blanket to the mind waiting to be spilled onto the white page.

The roads are dark and treacherous, the clouds ominous, the sounds piercing, the people all held within a conflict of the world that spins around them. Material and immaterial presence is lurking around every page, stones skip in a river, boulders tumble down the side of a mountain, barely missing the few that have wandered this road.

This is the eclipse of the writer as she destroys families, rebuilds friendships, molds characters, misplaces words, only to find them resurfacing on another page, another chapter in time of the story, waiting to be used for the most poignant part of the clincher, the revealing of the truth that created this story to begin with.

Sentences all line up like soldiers, dark and mysterious, forming gripping paragraph after gripping paragraph. The reader is in the mesmerizing throes of the pages that have formed the story and the writer, the quiet, beautiful writer has cast a spell holding the one who reads the story in the palm of her hand.

Here before you lies a tale of the writer’s life. Sure if they’re making millions, they’re probably out having fun in between stories, but for us wannabe’s, we’re here living out this fantasy of putting meaningful words, compelling words, to a page. We can’t just tell you a simple story, with so-so words. We have to pack a powerful punch in each and every single word so that the meaning can carry on throughout an entire chapter, massive amounts of pages, to a finale of complete orgasmic quality!

My mentors always tell me to make every word count and as I scan my sentences I’m always making sure there isn’t a boring word, that will stop you in your tracks and cause you to toss my book/story into the heap of no-good reads of yesteryear.

Did I say orgasmic quality? What can I say. Writing is a euphoric high here in the pine scented confines of my humble abode. Without any inhibitions, writing is, my home within my home.

The Theme of Things

Theme ~~ what is it and why do writer’s need the haunting lure of it to reign in the reader?
***

It is good practice to carry a theme throughout your story. The theme of your story is usually implied through other elements, such as point of view, setting, imagery and the tone set throughout your piece of work. The theme becomes illuminated through these elements of style.

The theme is the underlying consciousness of your work. It is a central idea running like a stream throughout your work making it come together like cogs on a machine. Your theme will be the bonding of you and the reader, where he/she has a lightbulb moment, grasping what you have conveyed. If you have no theme, more than likely, you have no story that will glue the reader to your words and pages.

Sometimes the theme is not planned and often it changes in mid-writing. You had planned on your theme to be about the acceptance of death on humanity, but something happened along the typing path that had you (unconsciously) shifting to the beauty of mortality.

An idea is of the broader spectrum of the rainbow, where as the theme becomes subjective without limitations to you or your reader; over the rainbow so-to-speak. It is like feeding to your reader what he was thinking to be a lighthearted comedy, instead he received a thought-provoking piece of art that touched him profoundly.

If you’ve written 2500 words and haven’t a clue as to what your theme is, maybe go back and re-read, seeing if you missed something. It is possible that even you, the writer, missed the boat.

The theme is the underlying canvas to which you place the paint. You pick up a paintbrush (that looks an awful lot like a pen) and in a whimsical spin you begin creating art with words. As you feel the artistic flow being created subconsciously you will be spilling part of your sight and wisdom onto the canvas creating …a theme.

1.Don’t force a theme ~ It can’t be done and will come off as preachy or forced.

2.Write what you know ~ Writing what you have experienced in life and the hardships is perfect for the theme setting to begin. In fiction embellish your heart out.

3.Use a psychological approach ~ Think depth when you write. Is there a deeper meaning than what you had anticipated?

4.Try subtlety ~ Being subtle makes the reader do the thinking on many levels.

5.Do NOT struggle ~ Struggling to find a theme or to make your theme work will also assist you in losing the personality of your characters. Writing should come naturally, the theme will surface without your realization. Accept the theme you have and don’t try to change it. Natural flow is best.

Write Right friends!

Are you the Type?

Fiction is a lie, and good fiction is the truth inside the lie.
Stephen King
***

I’m not the obsessive type. Sure I log into facebook to eavesdrop on my friends conversations, to post and play games, connect with people, spread the Word of the Lord and maybe it is quite an obsession but as for my writing? There is no obsessing there!

I’ve been reading/writing since I can remember and when I was a kid, I think I was obsessed with getting books, hanging out at the library, reading anything and everything I could get my hands on. Nowadays I’m more selective in what I read.

Just so you know, I won’t read anything that compromises my beliefs. Sure I can discern fiction from non-fiction, romance from science fiction, but does my mind decipher what is right and what is wrong. Well, I like to think it does. But books on demons and devil worship will not be on my bookshelf anytime soon.

As for my writing, I draw a line there too and this can become a hindrance in writing. As a writer we need to cross boundaries, we need to leap without looking below us to see where it is we’ll fall. We need to write and sometimes we need to write things we as individual human beings would never touch in a million years!

Take Stephen King for example. Sure he’s creepy and a little kooky but I would have him no other way. He is willing to go into the depths of hell just for make believe purposes and bring us a spellbinding story that wraps us so tight around his every word that we forget we’re reading fiction. We go into the zone! ha ha.

I’ve written a spiritual novel, wrote a short story ghost story, and my stories all tend to have a spiritual flair to them. All of the Light source mind you, the light being God and all his mysteries unraveling like a woven blanket. You know the kind, where you pull one string and it tends to let loose the entire blanket? That is what writing a story is all about, unraveling mysteries one word at a time.

Where do I get the inspiration for this type of writing? I was an avid Unsolved Mysteries fan. I always seek the unknown, read a lot of non-fiction in hopes that I will grasp the mystery and be able to shed light on the subject. But as for my ghost stories? Awww come on, they’re just fiction. *wink*

I like to think of myself as the fun and carefree throw-caution-to-the-wind type. So that is what I try to pull off in my writing. Instead of obsessing over the perfect sentence, correct word or phrase, I’ll just let my long blond tresses down and run naked through the cornfields and let my writing flow like the wind of time. Things change, people change but one thing that will never change, my love of writing!

godspeed...

Quotation Saturday~

In writing a series of stories about the same characters, plan the whole series in advance in some detail, to avoid contradictions and inconsistencies.
~L. Sprague de Camp

Good writing is supposed to evoke sensation in the reader. Not the fact that it is raining, but the feeling of being rained upon.
~E.L. Doctorow

Talent alone cannot make a writer. There must be a man behind the book.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Expansion, that is the idea the novelist must cling to, not completion, not rounding off, but opening out.
~E. M. Forster

All fiction is a process of imagining: whatever you write, in whatever genre or medium, your task is to make things up convincingly and interestingly and new.
~Neil Gaiman

Prose is architecture, not interior decoration.
~Ernest Hemingway

The two most engaging powers of an author are, to make new things familiar, and familiar things new.
~Samuel Johnson

You could compile the worst book in the world entirely out of selected passages from the best writers in the world.
~G.K. Chesterton

Without a pen I feel naked, but it's writing that is my exhibitionism.
~Carrie Latet

Hooking Your Reader

Hooking your reader…in the first sentence!

Okay ladies and gents what is the most important thing (well almost) to your writing? That would be hooking your reader with the first sentence. We’re in an extremely competitive field where the editor is going to sit down with a good cup of coffee and take the time to read your work.

Remember that she (or he) has thousands of other manuscripts to feather through, so what is going to make YOUR work stand out? The very first sentences that she glances at. What is going to KEEP her reading? Well crafted paragraphs, that’s what. Your work must be compelling enough for her to sit through the entire cup of coffee, go and get another cup, while STILL reading your work.

Even if the middle of the story dances to a perfect tune, and your ending has the finality of a swirl and dip, it is the beginning that is going to get the editor to ask you to dance in the first place.

Let’s try opening with action, not necessarily one tracked dialogue of two people arguing. Set a scene with some form of action taking place. Example: The building has been sitting there on that hill for centuries and who knows what ghosts lurk in the hallowed walls. Jerry wants to go in and play around but I’ve heard the stories. I’ve seen things.

Right there SOMEONE wants to know what you’ve seen and heard. They want to know WHY has it been standing there. But we’ll give that to them later after the kids go exploring in the big convent that remains barren for some reason.

Dialogue in the opening scene is not such a good idea either. The reader doesn’t know these people or has had a chance to get to know them. They are strangers invading their homes at this point. You don’t want a lot of imagery and description of a dark and lonely haunted house. Build up the ACTION first, then lead your reader through the why’s and what have you’s until they are so interested they continue turning the page.

Give the reader what he or she wants. When they read the dust jacket they will either buy the book or put it down. Are you going to let them walk away because you bored them stiff? NO! You are going to give them a riveting beginning that makes them thirsty for more. They’ve read the first few paragraphs and now they’re drooling at the mouth wanting more, more and more!

GIVE THE READER WHAT THEY WANT!

Don’t get lazy midway through the book either. If it bores you and you feel it just isn’t juicy enough, re-write it until you yourself are frothing at the mouth, patting yourself on the back and ready to give yourself a big ol’ high five. You can do it, because you’ve done exemplary work on the first few pages, now give the readers something to talk about. Give the editors something to brag about, "Yes I was the one who discovered…" Your name could and WILL be there!

Write on people!

A Writer Reads...before he writes

Writer’s are adament readers before they become affluent writer's!

If you are a writer, you didn’t just stumble upon the idea one day and dream it into existence. You had to begin somewhere. More than likely you were young, took a liking to reading and thought that maybe YOU could be a writer too!

I started with poetry at a very young age. The passion inside never left as I waltzed through life trying on different fields of color, never coming up with anything of substance except my love of writing. I wrote in journals, in notebooks then I moved onto the computer.

My life took on a whole new world where my imagination not only lived but soared above the skies, floated through the clouds, landing gently on a piece of paper. Where I once had lived in the mind of Alice (in wonderland) or through Gem’s mischievous ways (To Kill a Mockingbird) or dappling into the unknown with Eleanor (Haunting of Hill House.) I was now writing stories of mystery and intrigue through a child’s eyes, (Jenny’s Plight) or through a ghost who loved her tenant, (The Haunting of Mrs. Willowby.)

Writing stemmed from many years of reading. Continuing in my reading I also interlocked with educating myself not only in the craft of writing but also the art of writing.
Writing as an art form should not be overlooked. Making words stream together like a gentle river or a rapid stream, you can form a story and make a masterpiece of something so simple as language.

Read, educate, write, produce; writing will then become to you all the doorways it holds for me. I can do your homework for you and list the many books out there to help you attain your dream but it is much more fun to dig and find them yourself. Amazon.com is loaded with Creating Fiction, Shaping the Story and many other books to start you on your lifelong journey with your love of writing. (or you can go to your local library and dig too.)

Come on, what are you afraid of? Become a writer. Read your heart out and gain knowledge and smell the sweet aroma of success. If not for anyone, do it for YOU!

Reading is to the writer, what the sun is to the earth, the sustenance of life. ~joni