Why Write?

Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self.
~ Cyril Connolly

Why? Because it’s in your blood.

As you can tell, I haven’t written much in the past few months as I was off healing. My back issues, my dental issues have all been taken care of and I’m on the road to healing. I’ve taken away my dream of writing and as such I’ve even lost Alexandria Virginia in the process. Sorry, Alexandria, I have forgiven you and the others that attacked me but they have all harbored ill will towards me to this very day.

I’ve lost many friends in the past few months and I see who really cares for me and calls me friend. I’ve been in solitude and as the school year ended on a high note for my son, my life is slowly returning to normal again. So why write?

Around October, I slowly got sick and the attacks began. I lost my love of writing but soon realized it is all I live for. Sure I belt out a poem here and there, but writing, helping people, guiding new writers; that was something I loved, and I let many people down along  the way just because of a few bad seeds in the garden of my writing life. I trained most of the very people who attacked me, and this is how they repay me? With friends like that... you get my meaning.

If you’re a writer, no one can squelch your dream but you. Oh they might try, but the kindling fire is still there burning inside just awaiting to have a little wind touch it, and here in Nebraska, I’ve got plenty of wind to stoke my fire. As I heal, I return to my gift and will share with you my 1000th post! Like it or not bubble poppers, I’m here to stay and as I regain my strength, so does my fire.

So why write, you might ask? Because writing is in the blood of you. You can not, and I mean can not, put it out just because of a few party poopers who live in the realm of ‘you go, I’ll stay and hone MY skills’. Fine, I’ve left but my writing will go on and on and on, and I like it that way. I no longer feel like the writing site, that was once my ‘home within my home’ will ever be the same to me again as it will never be the same without me again. Sure people will go on day to day, thinking they are going someplace but really they are dormant seeds to me, nothing more.

My writing is MINE and it was my dream long before the naysayers came and pooped on my party, and will once again be the flourishing garden of words that I’ve come to know and love. No one can take away your dream but you! If you allow a person or people to define the craft, then you my friend are in the wrong business. There will always be a negative ion in the bunch, and it is up to you, my writing friends, to stand firm in what you believe in and take the bull by the horn and move on to a better place, alone or with your true friends holding you up, the choice is yours.

Write on and Write Right. It’s YOUR dream, what are you waiting for?

Come on 100th Follower !!!

Let me be your Inspirational Blog...

I began this blog in 2005, deleted 2006 and it wasn’t until 2008 I took it to a more serious level. I started this blog with the intention of writing about the paranoia in this society, then after becoming a mentor and not having much down to earth  assistance out there in the writing world, I decided to make my blog about writing. By down to earth, I mean writing pages that are targeted to the novice. Always plenty of pages on the technical stuff, but the small stuff that we as writers need to know and are eager to learn? I wanted to reach those writers.

Then the followers began marching in like soldiers, and I was well on my way to happy in seeing all the folk enjoying my blog. I care for and appreciate each and every follower, even if I don’t get comments, I know they are there, reading behind their screens, drinking coffee perhaps, and *I* being their morning paper. (wow, can someone say run on sentence here?)

That’s a good feeling of being read. Now I know what drives all those popular published authors onto bigger and better writing days, readers! I wrote a post about me one time and I saw comments appear. My readers were enjoying my writing posts but they also were enjoying hearing about me and my life. I began having post about Writing, but also about Me. This combination drove my followers up, because I think deep down, we all want to know what really makes a writer tick. Even if they themselves were writers, closet writers, they were more about writing, not divulging personal issues about themselves.

I think my followers realized that Joni was a complex writer, spilling her guts about herself, and spreading light through scripture,  love through my heart and soul, and giving some pretty good advice on writing, while sharing very informative writing links.  It was then that One Voice ~Write Right began moving along into a new era. Poetry, Quotations, personal issues and plausible Writing Assistance became a virtual  must read. Okay maybe that is pushing it; Must Read? But it has become an endearing read, and a Good Read, so much so, my hits are up, my visitors are up, I have flags from all the different countries that visit, and with the change of my layout, people are liking what they are seeing!

As my dental woes mount, the needed thousands of dollars for the amount of work necessary, along with the damage to my body and health that the dental woes are causing all the way down to not taking care of myself, will all fall on me in avalanche fashion as the year ends. But I am here, a living testament of true faith, I stand as the miracle of sight was brought into this realm of mine, and I hold my head high and push onto the next leg of this interesting journey God has placed me on.

Now if I could just get that 100th follower, my new year would begin on a high note!

Chess anyone?

It is impossible to win gracefully at chess. No man has yet said "Mate!" in a voice which failed to sound to his opponent bitter, boastful and malicious. ~A.A. Milne
***

So you were anticipating a blog post about the correlation between writing and chess? Well let me tell you, I can give a really good analogy of a chess/life scenario but I’ve really got to work on the writing/chess scenario.

Okay where do I begin? I’ll start with the white side. This is the team I always go for in playing chess. It reminds me of purity and all that that entails. Strength,wisdom, knowledge,etc.

In writing, the white team can be visualized as the protagonist, or the good guy. The dudley-do-right, the main character of the story. Then we have the black team and they are the antagonist, the bad guys, the dark force, the one or ones that will be causing all kinds of trouble in the story.

We have pawns on both sides, correct? The same powerful pieces standing behind the pawns on both sides too. The pawns can be seen as the disposable characters, if you will. Now you have all of these characters standing behind you vying for a place so lets give them a place.

The rook will be the homestead or the solid foundation of your story, the dark side has an ominous looking castle which probably houses Count Dracula or some other dark figure.

The knight will be the character in your story that does all the fighting for you. They don’t call it the Knight in shining armor for no reason at all. He just might save, your damsel in distress. The dark fights for the light, the light normally wins IN THE END, hopefully, with fingers crossed, the Light will win. (emphasis on WILL win)

Then we have the bishops. They can be your moral compass. The bishop can stand for our values, beliefs, hope, faith and promise. The good seed buried in all of us that sometimes we call a conscious. Now the dark bishop is who in your story? Well it’s the dark force or the bad seed that will not and can not take root because you’ve given him/it no fertile soil in which to grow. He is going to be the turmoil around every corner in your story.

Ah, now we have the king and queen. This will be the strong lead characters in your story who eventually are left standing with the dark side (king and queen) all alone on that big checkered board, or white paged palette we call a storyboard.

What do we do in this position? We do what any good writer would do and that is knock the pants off of the Dark Force and we have our main characters all full of light left standing in a triumphant glow of completion. Check Mate!

Does any of this make sense? Well to my demented writers brain it does. Look out Stephen King, I figured you out! Now lets see if I can see what gardening and writing have in common. Okay, I’m kidding! (not really)

Now we know what makes a story so what are you waiting for? Why are you sitting here reading, shouldn’t you be writing? 

***

'Tis all a chequer board of nights and days,
Where destiny with men for pieces plays;
Hither and thither, and mates, and slays.
~Edward Fitzgerald

Resolution

“Resolution One: I will live for God. Resolution Two: If no one else does, I still will. ~ Jonathan Edwards
***

Yesterday we spoke of the conflict in a story. Some folks think that is the height of the story but really you find solace in the resolution more than the conflict, don’t you? When you’re reading a story and your heroine is tossed into a conflict, do you not find yourself rooting for her and anticipating a resolution as the story ends?

Take for example, a young woman who has decided to get out of a troubled relationship, where conflict is heightened, where her child and her are endangered. You see her on a dusty road heading off to the sunset with a small child's hand in hers and a backpack on her back. Leaving behind everything precious; ornaments, nic-nacs, photographs, even her very first Teddy bear.

You watched the conflict build in this relationship and you pulled for her and as she is walking down the road, sun in front of her, shadows of her past behind her; you read the conclusion. Or did you?

Picked up on the road to nowhere the child and her are tossed into another relationship. Thinking it was for the best but then it happened, the same old circle of the past came running around; the relationship grew, the same resentment and pain that was left behind brewed and here she was back in the mirrored image of the life that she left behind.

Once again, you felt the joy in her resolution only to find she was smack dab in the middle of conflict once again. In writing, this is the crux of the story that you’re writing. We like to call it the inverted check mark. The conflict rises, rises, peaks, then resolves. Whew! But then it confronts the heroine again and the vicious cycle comes back and before the final chapter, either your heroine dies, or she succeeds in finding a way out of the circle that has haunted her life and held her captive for so many years.

This is the premise of so many novels so I don’t believe I’m releasing anything new to the reader and this is why my life story has been put on hold for a spell. It seems ‘done before’ even though it is unique to me, to readers, they might not find it interesting enough to pick up and scale through thirty or forty chapters of this same thing happening over and over. Maybe the title should be Karma- What goes around-comes around.

Now remember, it is all in the resolution where the reader finds reward. So as you embark on learning the ropes of conflict, no matter where they may be in your story, resolution is what the reader is REALLY looking for! 

Congratulations to me on my 700th post!

The Making of a Story

Matt: 25:15 And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey.
***

Here’s the Long and Short of it:

You may want an outline if this is a novel, this will be the foundation of your story, a framework on which you are going to build a solid, cohesive tale. Without it, your story could crumble down around you midway through your first draft. Outlining first may make the difference between a powerful story with depth or a mediocre tale. Which will boil down to an accepted submission or a rejection.

An outline will force us to think through our story piece by piece. It shows us quickly and precisely: (1) the depth of our principal character's problem; (2) if our story sufficiently resolves that problem; and (3) whether our plot logically takes the character from his problem to the eventual resolution.

So start by jotting down the kind of conflict that concerns your main character. With this information in front of you, you're ready to begin your outline.

Using an outline to discover the character's innermost conflict can lead you to a very rich story. A shallow story about a loser who throws away his gifted life after one mishap may leave the reader with an empty experience.

Let's look at the outline:

Plot example:
a) josie finds God (spiritual guidance)
b) josie needs attention (inner struggle)
c) josie uses drugs and alcohol (the dark force)

Theme: Man against himself (or woman) in other words, the conflict
Problem: The affects of drug use
Resolution: Leaning on God to help
Conclusion: healing through diverse measures

Outlines don’t need be lengthy epistles, nor should they take long to complete. If you can't seem to finish your outline, this may be a sign that all is not well with your story idea. If you're stuck, ask yourself: does your character have a compelling enough problems around which to build a story? Does your resolution solve your character's problem? Do your plot developments logically take the character from his problem to his resolution? If not, can you come up with a series of events that do?

I hope I’m not confusing you with the term OUTLINE. The outline is like a short story (500-1500 words) basically giving us all kinds of tidbits into one crammed piece of work. This is your story in a nutshell.

You may choose to write a short story instead, using all of the elements identified here:

1. An opening conflict
2. Complication 1
3. Complication 2
4. Complication 3 (optional)
5. Complication 4 (optional)
6. Crisis
7. Falling action (optional) -this is where the crisis tries and resolves itself.
8. Resolution - this is where the crisis DOES get resolved.

Think outside the box and start being the creator of a masterpiece. Build your story like a pair of marble steps, then let the rain wash over your words and slide down and conclude your completed story!

Most of all, Write Right!

Rom. 1:10 Making request, if by any means now at length I might have a prosperous journey by the will of God to come unto you.

Ten Tips to Keep on Writing

Prov.1:5 A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:
***

1. Free-write without stopping
This is where you pick a word, picture, idea, and start writing about the subject without stopping. You can write about your day, your mother or sister, your dog or pet, anything, just to write something. Give yourself thirty minutes and if the keys are tapping so much you can’t stop, then DON’T!

2.Don’t make plans ahead of time
Just write the first thing that comes into your mind. Don’t debate whether it is a good topic or whether you’ll have enough to say, just keep writing.

3. Always keep tapping the keys on the keyboard. (Or keep the pen moving on the paper)
Don’t glance up to see if you’re making mistakes. (Or stop writing when you catch a mistake on paper.) Turn the internal editor OFF. There will be plenty of time for editing when you’ve written a few thousand words.

4.Sometimes it is helpful to have classical (or what ever you prefer) music to help you along.
If it becomes a distraction, turn it off and find whatever puts YOU in the mood. Is it complete silence? Is it background noise that helps? Maybe its rock & roll? Lit candles?
The ambiance setting is up to you.

5.Make your workspace fun and enlightening.
Having yourself surrounded in tranquility can help those stressful days of no-writing and turn them into productive days of key tapping.

6. Write with confidence.
If you are a writer, then having the confidence of a writer means that you will accomplish something on any given day. We, as writer’s, can not say, “I’m not good enough.” That shows lack of confidence in your writing. When you sit down in front of the keyboard, repeat after me, “I AM a WRITER!” Then write your heart out!

7. Study the craft
Make sure you have studied long and hard the craft that you are about to embark on. Roads have been paved for you, sure you can make your own paths, but if you lack the confidence of ever becoming a writer, it is for certain that you will NEVER become a published writer.

8. Step out of the box
You need to find a place where you fit in comfortably. Maybe you like non-fiction, spiritual tales, horror tales or sci-fi. Whatever the case may be. Don’t be afraid of stepping out of that comfort zone and trying on new clothes. Sometimes you might find a comfortable fit in sweats and a tee, but never be afraid of trying on that little black dress.
But as much as I say this, I won’t write or read outside of what my faith calls for.

9. Show determination
If you are not determined to be a writer, how will you expect to ever become a published writer? Writing for family can be rewarding, but are they hearing what editor’s are reading? No, editors expect professionalism from you and it is your determination to strive for the best that will make the editor stand up and say, “Now THIS shows promise!” Give them your best!

10.NEVER GIVE UP!
I say this because there will come a time when you just feel like throwing your work in the trash, times when you wish you could curl up in a ball and wish this talent away. But I’m afraid to tell you, that if it is a true talent, it will haunt your days and nights like the ghost of Christmas past, present and future all rolled into one!

Plot! Plot! Fizz! Fizz!

Gen. 1: 1 "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth."
The very first plot was born

Yesterday we talked about theme and today we’re going to talk about plot. What, you thought they were one and the same? Well they differ slightly.

You see, the theme is what is carried throughout your story. Let say, good vs. evil and the good triumphs. (always does doesn’t it?) This struggle between good and evil is an underlying force swerving in and out of the lanes, around the bend and sometimes flies right off the edge of the cliff!

The plot is the reason behind the story. Why does the man fall in love, why doesn’t the woman fall for him, why on earth do they rob a bank? Why does the woman suddenly fall in love? What happens to their lives while on the run before getting nabbed?

A lot of times as you’re writing, the plot changes. Maybe you had in mind the above scenario of man meets woman, but then he finds that she has a child that she’s been hiding from her estranged ex-husband. They no longer want to rob a bank, they want to both see the child safely across the border into another country. These are the kind of conflicts that are going to keep the reader turning the pages.

You see? The plot isn’t a set of rules that you play by. Sure someone can say “plan your plot THEN write the story,” but as a writer (and as a human being) I find that plans never go the way they are intended. Unintentionally, they go somewhere you hadn’t planned at all. This is where the creative writer expands his/her imagination and delves into the unknown.

Breeding familiarity is not a place for your plot. Your story needs to be UNIQUE, something that ISN’T out there on the shelf right now. A lot of writers try the backward method. And that is writing the last scene first and backtracking to the beginning. Seeing it from this angle, you’re in the midst of creating a plot.

In essence the plot is the WHY your story is taking place (character’s etc.) You character is what’s going to shape your plot. Create a good character, give him/her their own profile, (what color eyes, hair, faults, vices, benefits etc.) With each part of the character’s development, the plot will surface. Always ask WHY and the next paragraph will form itself (in your mind’s eye.) Write your heart out without even thinking of a plot.

Allow the plot to become a mirage way off down the road, the closer you get to it, the clearer the whole picture becomes.

And whatever you do folks, WRITE RIGHT!

Conflict in Writing

Numbers 31: 53 (For the men of war had taken spoil, every man for himself.)
***

Now we’re dipping into the good stuff, not that f2k isn’t wrought with good stuff but this week we’re going to learn how conflict added to a story can carry many chapters into a great novel.

Conflict isn’t about writing a scene where two people argue, or buildings blow up, people getting hit by a train, or other death defying fetes, conflict in a story can be as simple as Margo deciding what color dress to wear or which date is the better choice; the long ago high-school crush or the recent guy she met at the library.

All of this lends to the conflict in your story. On a broader level conflict can be a simple choice of whether the doctor gave the right diagnosis, whether the character wants to live or die, or maybe even he/she wants to become a monk and live a life of isolation. Inner conflict is as exciting in a story as are the knock down drag out fights.

Without conflict in a story, we would have pretty boring novels. Just think, had Frodo never found the ring. Would Lord of the Rings been as appetizing as it was? How about Harry Potter? Had he never had those disagreeing adults wanting to run his life, would the door have been open for the people at Hogwarts to come riding in (literally) to save little Harry?

We need conflict in our writing, even in our blog writing. We need to expel all the conflict in our lives or teachings to know whether we are on the right path or not. I can’t say that teaching writing techniques has bunches of conflict in here, enough to make you come back over and over again. But my poetry has enough inner conflict to keep you reading and wondering what the next poem will bring.

And sure enough there is always enough conflict in my blog because it makes you wonder if you’re writing right, you think about the craft, you dive into the conflicting feelings you have about writing and spit them onto the page in hopes you have something worth reading.

So, all in all, conflict is what makes the world go round. Conflict is what’s going to make your story go from wimpy love story to an all out triangle of people’s loves and thoughts.
As Valentine’s Day approaches, can you think of any conflicting feelings you have about the day of supposed LOVE? Why not write about it and see where there might be a story hidden in there for you to give to your reader.

Don’t beat me up for this post, drink from the pool of conflict and get some good writing done!

*** Congratulations to me, I made it to my 400th post! Way to go Joni!

Editor Etiquette?

pic: A pinwheel of red and silver. the symbol of wheels going round and round
***

I remember early in my writing career I looked at publishers. A pretty hard knock on the door if I do say so myself. So I looked at editors. Did you know there are people who will take your money, tell you to fix your work, take more money, needs more work. You see the cycle here?

I was told you should never shell out money. If your work is good, should you have to pay someone to say it is good, or give them money and they will help you make it good? I’m sorry but something is wrong with that scenario.

Keep in mind that there are editing services out there that are legitimate. When you have a completed manuscript, you’ve revised it ten times and are ready to submit but you feel you need another eye to look at it, a professional eye that will pinpoint any kinks that are missing in the story.. This is when the editing services come into play.

Be ready to shell out money, but the benefits of an editor are when they read it and like it, they will suggest places to send your work, will help you get your foot in the door, stand behind you 100%. Remember they will only take you on if they feel you are worth it. They are more than likely with a publishing house, and often will either accept or reject your submission. Your story has to be good for them to even bother.

Some will take your money. There are so many scammers out there so you need to be sure you do your research of the place, person, credentials, etcetera before forking over one dollar.

In the writer’s world, I find it tacky to say, “My editor said this, or my editor said that.” Now when you say a friend said this, or a friend said that, it comes off as banter and not boasting. When in a writing group, of published authors, editors and the like, to me (notice I said to me because we all as individuals have preferences) tossing out my editor said this and that is undermining the board of trusted peers.

When you are published, be proud and let it soar where it may. But boast over and over again? As a writer, you need your ego in check because one day my friend, there will be someone to knock that ego through the roof. Patience as a writer, is your best friend. Respect for other writers is a MUST!

Here is an interesting question I felt compelled to share. “How do I find an Editor’s name for submission?” The answer is at Fiction Notes. Nowhere does it say brag your heart out once you connect!

Write Right people, and whatever you do, be original!

I must add that here is a link for an AWESOME writing coach!

Using the Flashback

Flashback Friday...

Flash back to a point in time. Last night? No, thanks anyway. The day is done we go on and we flashback to a place in time where we’re going to add to the story, enhance what you’ve written and give the reader more insight into your character.

We use flashbacks to reveal something in our characters, the antagonist or protagonist, that the reader doesn’t know about. I remember reading The Haunting of Hill House and being led down multiple parts of Eleanor’s personality through her flashbacks and insight to what she was experiencing in the here and now. (That’s an excellent book by the way.)

Some writer’s use the flashback tool without the reader even aware that they are using it. The flow is effortless, the flashback keeps the pace with the rest of the story, and it is never over-used to where you’re reading nothing but flashbacks.

Have you noticed in movies, the way flashbacks are used? They can be a tool for screenwriters too. How about in the movie The Sixth Sense, we get a glimpse of the character and through the use of Flashback we get a darned good ending to the whole story.

I understand that the flashback is sometimes necessary to the movement of the story, but over-done and you lose the reader. You need the FB like you need your morning coffee, and it will taste just as fresh and creative to the reader.

Writer’s Digest has an excellent article on the Flashback and how to use verb tenses, to shift the scene. Be careful though because you have to know the POV (Point of View) that you are in as a writer and which tense you began the book with.

I remember a time in my childhood when things were simpler, I never worried about bills, actually I never worried about life, it flowed for me without me even being aware. Then the time came I ventured out on my own (at 17) because I was a big girl and then all hell broke loose. Life happened, spun out of control and segued into my future. Nuff said.

So what are you, writer, going to write about? Are you going to tell a story without a flashback? Making everything clear from word one? Or are you going to tease the reader a bit with a dangling piece of chocolate and carry him down memory lane so he/she can see where the character has come from, where they’ve been and where they’re going.

It’s all up to you. You are in the creative driver’s seat and you need to head down the highway of bringing a story alive! I only hope that I’ve helped in some way of getting the points across for you to begin!

Write on writers!

Worthwhile Newsletter?

One extends one's limits only by exceeding them.
M. Scott Peck

Thoughts for Thursday

Well today is going to be a long day. Is it Friday yet? I want this day to be over so I can move on and breathe again and maybe, just maybe, feel normal again. ha ha Me normal?

My thoughts for Thursday are about the writing industry. I receive tons of newsletters from the writing world and sometimes I wonder why I’m even subscribed. They’re chock full of tidbits on the industry, some have markets and some just go on and on.

I can tell you who my favorite Newsletter is from, Hope Clark. She has a website too and dagnammit, it is full of info too! And she doesn’t speak down to a writer, she speaks as if we’re all on the same page of our journey.

Some of the newsletters sound as if they are all speaking to well published authors in the industry. As if everyone has hopped on the publishing train and is going to ride off into the sunset while reading their newsletter on their laptop. Come on people, well published authors are off in some far away tropical location basking in the sun,frying and wrinkling their bodies while waiting for the next check to come in.

The reader who reads the newsletters are people who are still in the learning phases and the hunting for markets phase. Some writers don’t even bother with newletters (egads!) and they just make google their best friend.

My advice for the writer today is this: Peruse those Writing Newsletters. Make the most of them and allow them to become a valuable tool in your inbox. Don’t be inundated with spam, the newsletters are not the spam in the industry, they are the wielding tools in the biz. Remember that.

Funds for Writers ~ an extremely helpful site for the new writer and the old shoe.

Is today over yet?

*snap*

I’m off to drift through the day like a carpet out of the realm of Aladdin.

Thanks for dropping by...

Wordy Wednesday

The man with insight enough to admit his limitations comes nearest to perfection.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
***

Words are like a stream of tickertape spewing across the screen. They either become a sentence or they turn into jibberish.

Have you ever been listening to people, in a restaurant for example, and all the words seem to blend together like scrambled eggs? Jumbled and confused you can’t discern one conversation from the other?

We as writer’s have to listen and pick apart a conversation in our writing. We can’t jumble it all together and expect readers to get the point. Always try to remember a beginning, a middle and an end. Using this technique will make your words have a cognitive point.

If we start a paragraph, we should start with point A., move on to point B., and finish it up with point C. Tying it all in to point A. We can’t confuse the reader by giving them the whole alphabet and expecting them to put it all in order and make sense of what we write.

Our words are going to flow from one point to the next and the reader is going to be all the more enthralled in your story. Whether you blog, whether you’re telling a Short Story, or whether it is a Novel, you must always keep in mind the reader.

I know of some writer’s who try to over-explain, and in this sense, they lose the reader. It’s as if the writer is writing in desperation, trying to get the story out and all that they get from me is sympathy. This is where a lot of possibly good writer’s are left behind on the way to publishing success. I also note that while in the library, there are many writer’s who are published sitting on the shelf collecting dust because either the cover didn’t grab someone or the story synopsis was lame.

I’m going to pick up a book that has a little taste of what the writer has written. His style or her flair will pull me in and if it doesn’t, then onto my search for the next Shirley Jackson or Stephen King. They know how to streamline words. They know what the reader wants. The reader wants to get lost in some fantasy world, but wants you, the writer, to make sense of this fantasy world. Our words are going to keep them reading.

It seems my tickertape has run amuck and must end here. Remember, words are your friends. Take good care of the relationship and it will blossom.

The Blog

Some may say, “Life isn’t all about blogging.” I say *whack*! I’m kidding folks. Life isn’t all about blogging. Life is about, well, life, and living it.

But as a blogger, I like to think that they are at least worthwhile. How many times have you googled something, only to be taken to a blog? Blogs are becoming the information of today and maybe tomorrow. They are enlightening, fun, and a virtual breeding ground of pain and angst, but also they are a tool for learning. Not only learning about a skill but learning about people, meeting others like yourself, writer’s and people who have the same interests as you.

When I first started blogging, over three-hundred posts ago, I never thought that I’d have anything worthwhile to add to the blogging world. I thought maybe this was a passing fancy and I’d lose interest after a while. Instead I’ve found that twenty-one followers later, that I do have something to say. My friends and family will say, “You can sure talk up a storm, why not blog up a storm?”

That’s the funny part, my family is non-supportive. Wait, I have my fiancé and my son who claim to follow me religiously. I mean my blood family. Do they even know I exist or that I am a writer? Who knows!

I have a family within my writing community who stands by me, supports me, and is very encouraging in all that I do. I think sometimes they are my family more than the blood people who claim to be related to me. When a writer friend from across the country can send me money because she read of the hardships that we’ve endured, while my blood family ignores me like I have the plague, I’d say my writing friends ARE my family.

Now don’t misunderstand me, my beau’s family is awesome beyond belief. They have been here for us every chance they get! They care! But then again, read my poem Nebraska and you’ll see why. These people rock!

My blogging days are far from over as I help along the writing community to become better writer’s. Maybe give them ideas that will grow into something promising, or maybe even post that market that will find their work a home and they will become the published writer that they dreamed of becoming.

All in all, no life isn’t about blogging, but life is about helping people and that is why I will help people until the day I rejoin my Father in heaven.

Angel Always...godspeed friends...

Writing Tips!

Some helpful tips to get those keys on the keyboard tapping (or pen rolling)

1. Free-write without stopping.

This is where you pick a word, picture, idea, and start writing about the subject without stopping. You can write about your day, your mother or sister, your dog or pet, anything, just to write something.

2. Don’t make plans ahead of time

Just write the first thing that comes into your mind. Don’t debate whether it is a good topic or whether you’ll have enough to say, just keep writing.

3. Always keep tapping the keys on the keyboard. (Or keep the pen moving on the paper)

Don’t glance up to see if you’re making mistakes. (Or stop writing when you catch a mistake on paper.) Turn the internal editor OFF. There will be plenty of time for editing when you’ve written a few thousand words.

4. Sometimes it is helpful to have classical (or what ever you prefer) music to help you along.

If it becomes a distraction, turn it off and find whatever puts YOU in the mood. Is it complete silence? Is it background noise that helps? Maybe its rock & roll? Lit candles?

5. Make your workspace fun and enlightening.

Having yourself surrounded in tranquility can help those stressful days of no-writing and turn them into productive days of key tapping.

6. Write with confidence.

If you are a writer, then having the confidence of a writer means that you will accomplish something on any given day. We, as writer’s can not say, “I’m not good enough.” That shows lack of confidence in your writing. When you sit down in front of the keyboard, repeat after me, “I AM a WRITER!” Then write your heart out!

7. Study the craft

Make sure you have studied long and hard the craft that you are about to embark on. Roads have been paved for you, sure you can make your own paths, but if you lack the confidence of ever becoming a writer, it is for certain that you will NEVER become a published writer.

8. Step out of the box

You need to find a place where you fit in comfortably. Maybe you like non-fiction, spiritual tales, horror tales or sci-fi. Whatever the case may be. Don’t be afraid of stepping out of that comfort zone and trying on new clothes. Sometimes you might find a comfortable fit in sweats and a tee, but never be afraid of trying on that little black dress. Meaning, write what is NOT in your box for a change!

9. Show determination

If you are not determined to be a writer, how will you expect to ever become a published writer? Writing for family can be rewarding, but are they hearing what editor’s are reading? No, editors expect professionalism from you and it is your determination to strive for the best that will make the editor stand up and say, “Now THIS shows promise!” Give them your best!

10. NEVER GIVE UP!

I say this because there will come a time when you just feel like throwing your work in the trash, times when you wish you could curl up in a ball and wish this talent away. But I’m afraid to tell you, that if it is a true talent, it will haunt your days and nights like the ghost of Christmas past, present and future all rolled into one!