Goals for the New Year

"So often we dwell on the things that seem impossible rather than on the things that are possible."
Marian Wright Edelman

As the new year begins, this is the perfect time for setting your goals; whether it is for the week, the month or the coming year! As writers, we need to have goals in order to accomplish them. A lot of writers make plans by spelling out their goals; they make a list, either on white board or in a document, so they can visually SEE the goals and once they’re achieved it gets marked off.

Say for example:
January’s Goals
write story
revise story
edit story
find market
query
send

Or maybe the goals are simpler in that it’s a time line for your novel. You’ll need to follow each character created so the consistency remains solid throughout the novel. Or maybe executing goals was your problem in 2011? Whatever it was for you, goals were made to be broken. It seems like thousands, no, millions of people make resolutions when the year ends and the very next day, they break them like an egg into a frying pan. There goes your goals, all fried to bits.

You need to set realistic goals, ones that are possible to accomplish and carry out. How many people say, “I’m going to start going to Church! Every week in the new year!” or “I’m going to quit smoking!” or my favorite resolution across the country, is, “I’m going to lose weight.”

You’re setting yourself up to fail. I’m setting myself goals that I aspire to keep. But when you’re addicted to things it is not easy to just say, goodbye addiction. Some people are in the throes of social addiction. They NEED the sites, so they feel a part of something solid and whole, even though it is a virtual, temporary, blissful world. Maybe it is what completes them as a human being, maybe it fulfills the empty aches in their heart? I don’t know, but I realized that while the internet is a voice-box to the world, I also realize it can suck the oxygen right out of your lungs! Some know where to draw the line, some can’t draw the line, and some have no desire to draw the line. I’ve decided to draw the line and work on my writing, not the social ins, outs, gizmos, apps and gadgets. A danger to computers and lives, everywhere!

Networking is an entirely different use of the net, that as a writer, is necessary. But is it all about pics and ‘like’ing? Networking is connecting, it is not a social popularity contest. Suffering from low self esteem is an entirely different blog!

As we enter into a new year, goals are all a part of feeling as if you have something to reach for in the year, and maybe accomplish them too. And when next year ends you can look back and say, “I set goals, AND I followed through!”

My goals for the new year:

1. Use facebook to network with other writing sites/writers.
2. Focus on MY writing!!!
3. Focus on my health and not being a Socialite
4. Remain focused on my Lord and Savior.
5. Be strong, endure the pain, chin up and move on!

Basically I’ve set pretty achievable goals for myself, so I don’t set myself up for failure. The tie that binds my goals? FOCUS!!!

authors note: Please keep in mind the views on this blog are entirely mine and not targeted at anyone. I’m entitled to an opinion too, I’m a writer! 

addendum: My Lord and Savior has and always will be first on any list in my life, it's a given. 
 
 Happy New Year! 

Genre

Have you gotten a genre all picked out that you like to write for? The lines are sometimes blurred but publishers accept many along the blurred lines because the genres mix and match. I think sometimes people make up their own genre then the publisher says, "Hey, we accept horror and fantasy, why not publish mystical spiritual?"
 
Are you writing to entertain? To inform? To persuade? Setting the purpose for writing is just as important as setting the purpose for reading, because purpose influences decisions you make about the shape and form your writing will take on. And this is why we have a genre to categorize our writing.
 
When researching GENREs, I never got a clear picture; that was so strange because I thought genre meant: Mystery, Horror, fiction, historical fiction, non -fiction, poetry, etc. but I kept running into list like:
 
The different genres of writing include descriptive, expository, narrative, persuasive, poetry and technical writing, and a combination of these are usually used for any given body of writing.
 
The National Writers Union bases its organizational structure on three very broad genre groups: the book division, for both fiction and non-fiction writers, the journalism division, for magazine and newspaper writers, and the biz-tech division, for business and technology writers. In addition, they include a special caucus for those who write prose and poetry.
 
I can see why now, we as writers have a hard time organizing our work and the need to classify where to send out work if we don’t understand the many genres being accepted in today’s writing world.
 
The type of list I was going for was something like this:
Action-adventure -- features physical action; the knock down dragged out missions of take no prisoner--ALIVE. Many times set in forbidding locales such as jungles, deserts, or mountains. May be historical fiction, containing facts.
 
Crime -- centered on the criminal society; told from the point of view of the perpetrators. Ranges in tone from lighthearted "caper" stories to darker plots involving organized crime or incarcerated convicts.
 
Detective -- has become almost synonymous with mystery. These stories relate the solving of a crime, usually one or more murders, by a protagonist who may or may not be a professional investigator. This large, popular genre has many subgenres, reflecting differences in tone, character, and it always contains criminal and detective
 
Mystery -- Think ‘whodunit’ in this category. Technically involving stories in which characters try to discover a vital piece of information which is kept hidden until the climax. Keeping the reader enthralled throughout, I might add. I might also add spiritual Mystery to this. Not having the gore elements of horror. Also Paranormal fiction fits in here along with horror.
 
Fantasy -- Think Lord of the Rings;  unrealistic, make-believe things exist in imaginary worlds such as wizards, dragons, griffins etc
 
Horror -- Bloody, gut wrenching, spine tingling, gore.
 
Romance -- Love! A couple meet, fall apart, and in the end live happily ever after. Not to be confused with, Eroticism!
 
Science fiction -- Think of extrapolated, theoretical science and technology; A lot of new planets are in this genre
 
Western -- Primarily set in the American West in the second half of the 1800’s. Has romance, and cowboys!
 
Inspirational --  A term that refers to fictional or non fictional works with religious themes and aimed at a Christian audience.
 
There is also added categories :
Childrens -- targeted audience kids under 8
 
Young Adult (aka YA) -- young people from 10 and up because let’s be honest, many adults are readers of YA
 
Adult fiction  -- can get by with foul language and topics

I hope you enjoyed today's Genre piece. Categorized as  Informational!

Setting a Scene

Scene…setting

When I think of a scene I always think of a play. But not unlike the scene in a play our writing needs scenes to fill a novel or short story. A scene takes place with uninterrupted action.

Take for example two people in a restaurant. The scene calls for the pair to be intertwined in conversation. To set the scene you’ll need what it looks like, maybe add some clinking sounds from the table, kitchen and around the room. Aroma’s etc. can add to the scene. Why not give them a taste of pickle so they can scrunch their noses at the sour taste? Or bitter wine? Or maybe the woman tosses a glass of wine into the gentleman’s face and storms out of the restaurant.

The scene changes and new sights and sounds arrive to give the setting. It is possible for the character to change the view of her mind through a flashback, where she’ll set the scene of a past event.

The scene is going to set the stage for your plot (a separate blog.) Maybe it is a period piece and the cars have antiquity as they pass along the street. Maybe a horse and buggy is going to be the vehicle of choice. Whatever the case may be, your scenes and settings will carry your story as much as the plot will.

Brilliant scenes can have a lasting impression on your reader. When something significant happens, you know your are in the midst of building a great scene. A scene isn’t having a man walk to his car. Is that significant? No. The scene should advance the character or theme along. This is when you know you’ve made a powerful scene in your work.

When telling a story every element serves a specific purpose. The scene is going to set the stage for action to take place. It must be action that is pertinent to the story. Redundancy is unnecessary if you’ve made a scene strong enough in the reader’s mind.
You don’t need to take a scene of Mary tossing the wine in her man’s face and keep repeating her tendencies towards anger. Making a strong enough point the first time, the reader can clearly see an angry streak.

Make your scenes have a purpose. Have a functionality of the sbeautiful vista so it can carry the weight of the words, have room for your metaphors (sparingly) and like a spiders web the story will intricately be spun into a tale of the times.