Finding Your Voice

Did you ever wake up in the morning unable to speak? You drink some water, clear your throat, and voila your voice has come back to you after a long night’s rest. This is the problem that writer’s face daily. They need to find their voice and often times it has slithered away from them.

Your voice in a story is going to be the way that the character "speaks" to you as you read. The voice in first, second or third person will more than likely be the characters voice that you hear, but in non-fiction, the voice is usually that of the author.

You’re not going to speak in your own (author’s) voice when writing a story, you’re going to cross boundaries and give your character his or her very own uniquely developed voice. Say Martha is five, you will need to find the child within you and create around you a child’s world. It is through this world that you will be accustomed to her voice.

The voice is also going to give us a theme and a tone for our story. Through dialect you will also be giving your character a personality. One that you can refine as you go along or sculpt out of clay and make her/him a solid presence in your work. Do you remember Scout and Jem in To Kill a Mockingbird? What lovely characters they turned out to be. Without their unique voice would that book have been as successful as it was?

I like the first person stance for a character because I can make the reader feel as if I’m talking directly to them. Example: "Did I ever tell you about the time…" In this sentence the reader knows I am about to divulge some grand secret that I’ve kept hidden all of my life, but in essence it is my CHARACTERS voice who is going to do all of the divulging.

Grammar and spelling will tell a lot about your character too. Maybe she has a southern drawl and as such her voice is going to have maybe a slight twang to her words. In this case your perfect grammar and spelling goes out the window as you develop the girls voice.

You’ll only use the spelling and grammatical errors when the person is speaking right? Right! Or otherwise your book, novel, Short Story will come across as sloppy. And watch the overuse of many of your words. Sometimes "y’know," can become used so much we lose sight of the character as our temperatures rise and the anger builds from reading someone’s over-use of a word.

Now remember to find a voice and stick to it. Don’t jump around giving someone a Southern accent and then find your character later in the story has gone to eloquent etiquette school and didn’t tell YOU! You’re the author, you are the artist, the creator. You’re the one who will make your voice sing!

Poetry Sunday

The Revenge of the Sea

I set ‘asail a calming sea

it called to me one day.

I went to find a peace within

I knew would come my way.



I mellowed on the deck below

my tiny boat was swaying.

My mind was playing tricks on me

with thoughts that I was weighing.



The blackened sky whispered sounds,

a rumbling from afar

It sounded as if God Himself

had left the door ajar.



I rushed up top just in time

to see the clouds were rippling.

The thrashing of the eager waves

made guidance very crippling.



The squall was just above me now;

clouds seemed to descend

upon this tiny boat of mine,

On which I now depend.



Droplets of rain grazed my face

I began to sense a peace.

For in this shroud of turmoil.

The sea's revenge will cease.



A glimpse of golden streams I see.

A beacon to hold my stare.

All at once I realized,

The storm was never there.



Copyright © joni zipp

9 of The Best-Selling Books REJECTED

Here is nine of the Best-Selling books REPEATEDLY rejected by Publishers
By the editor’s of Publication International, Ltd.


Novelists spend years developing their craft, editing and reediting their work, agonizing over the smallest word, often to be rejected by publisher after publisher. The following famous books and authors were turned down by publishers at least 15 times before they became household names.

1. Auntie Mame by Patrick Dennis Based on his party-throwing, out-of-control aunt, Patrick Dennis's story defined in 1955 what Americans now know as "camp." However, before Vanguard Press picked it up, 15 other publishers rejected it. Within years, Auntie Mame would not only become a hit on Broadway but a popular film as well. Dennis became a millionaire and, in 1956, was the first author in history to have three books simultaneously ranked on The New York Times best-seller list.

2. Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach has always said that this story, told from the point of view of a young seagull, wasn't written but channeled. When he sent out the story, Bach received 18 rejection letters. Nobody thought a story about a seagull that flew not for survival but for the joy of flying itself would have an audience. Boy, were they wrong! Macmillan Publishers finally picked up Jonathan Livingston Seagull in 1972, and that year the book sold more than a million copies. A movie followed in 1973, with a sound track by Neil Diamond.

3. Chicken Soup for the Soul by Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen Within a month of submitting the first manuscript to publishing houses, the creative team behind this multimillion dollar series got turned down 33 consecutive times. Publishers claimed that "anthologies don't sell" and the book was "too positive." Total number of rejections? 140. Then, in 1993, the president of Health Communications took a chance on the collection of poems, stories, and tidbits of encouragement. Today, the 65-title series has sold more than 80 million copies in 37 languages.

4. Kon-Tiki by Thor Heyerdahl With a name like Thor, adventure on the high seas is sort of a given, isn't it? In 1947, Heyerdahl took a crew of six men on a 4,300-mile journey across the Pacific Ocean. But not on a cruise ship -- their vessel was a reproduction of a prehistoric balsa wood raft, and the only modern equipment they carried was a radio. Heyerdahl wrote the true story of his journey from Peru to Polynesia, but when he tried to get it published, he couldn't. One publisher asked him if anyone had drowned. When Heyerdahl said no, they rejected him on the grounds that the story wouldn't be very interesting. In 1953, after 20 rejections, Kon-Tiki finally found a publisher -- and an audience. The book is now available in 66 languages.

5. The Peter Principle by Laurence Peter In 1969, after 16 reported rejections, Canadian professor Laurence Peter's business book about bad management finally got a green light from Bantam Books. Within one year, the hardcover version of The Peter Principle was in its 15th reprint. Peter went on to write The Peter Prescription, The Peter Plan, and the unintentionally amusing The Peter Pyramid: Will We Ever Get to the Point? None of Peter's follow-up books did as well as the original, but no one can deny the book's impact on business publishing.

6. Dubliners by James Joyce It took 22 rejections before a publisher took a chance on a young James Joyce in 1914. They didn't take too big of a chance -- only 1,250 copies of Dubliners were initially published. Joyce's popularity didn't hit right away; out of the 379 copies that sold in the first year, Joyce himself purchased 120 of them. Joyce would go on to be regarded as one of the most influential writers of the 20th century. Dubliners, a collection of short stories, is among the most popular of Joyce's titles, which include A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Finnegans Wake, and Ulysses.

7. Lorna Doone by Richard Doddridge Blackmore You know you've done well when you've got a cookie named after your novel's heroine. Not only does Nabisco's Lorna Doone cookie remind us of Blackmore's classic, but there are nearly a dozen big-screen or TV versions of the story as well. This Devonshire-set romance of rivalry and revenge was turned down 18 times before being published in 1889. Today, Blackmore is considered one of the greatest British authors of the 19th century, though his popularity has waned over time.

8. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig Pirsig's manuscript attempts to understand the true meaning of life. By the time it was finally published in 1974, the book had been turned down 121 times. The editor who finally published Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance said of Pirsig's book, "It forced me to decide what I was in publishing for." Indeed, Zen has given millions of readers an accessible, enjoyable book for seeking insight into their own lives.

9. M*A*S*H by Richard Hooker Before the television series, there was the film. Before the film, there was the novel. Richard Hooker's unforgettable book about a medical unit serving in the Korean War was rejected by 21 publishers before eventually seeing the light of day. It remains a story of courage and friendship that connects with audiences around the world in times of war and peace.

* * * * * *

You might ask why I am sharing this with you? Well, because this is proof that persistence pays off!

Hang in there writer's of the 21st century! Keep writing and keep submitting!

Grammar Slammer

Grammar and Punctuation is the ROOT of your writing!

As much as I hate punctuation, it is an important part of the writing process. In workshops, people tend to become lazy in checking for grammatical errors or spelling errors, thinking that the reader knows that they are either typos or just minimal errors.

When you become so comfortable in one environment, you tend to overlook things. It isn’t consciously done, usually it is unconsciously done because you’re all snug and comfy with your writing friends.

I’m not saying I don’t make typos, everyone makes typos. But when you want people to take you seriously as a writer, the first thing you need to do is put your best word forward, check and re-check and give them a story on a silver platter.

I’m making errors in punctuation all of the time. So what can I do to remedy it? I am studying grammar like a child who first learns how to walk. The child is eager as he crawls over to the table, then he grabs the table and pulls himself up.

This is what writers need to do, they need to make mistakes in the crawling stages so they can learn to walk and become writers of a strong caliber. The crawling stages were in school! In GRADE school. In high school you mastered grammar and punctuation and walked through the graduation ceremony with your head held high knowing that you did your best in achieving your goal.

Sometimes as years pass and we lose sight of our grammar and punctuation skills we need a refresher course. This is not an embarrassing situation because the time lapse between high school and when you’ve decided to become a serious writer (maybe)has laid you up for a few years in between.

When joining a writer’s workshop, this would be the perfect time for your refresher course. You want to present to the world your work, bring it to the reading public like a professional and display it in the best light possible.

I see so many people ignoring rules and guidelines because this is "just a workshop" and it isn’t a "serious submission." I like to say, "WHAT?" This is your peer’s and they are the ones who are going to point out every wrong you’ve made in your story.

Even well published author’s need editors to "fix" their work, but they have followed all of the guidelines, sent in the EXACT word count, followed the directions to the tee, and this is why editor’s are accepting what they’ve sent. They’re willing to work with the writer, but they are NOT willing to rewrite, check for hundreds of spelling errors, and punctuation faux pas.

Usually the editor takes one glance sees the first and second, okay, THIRD error? And well, all your hard work gets tossed in the bin! The best advice I can give is to check your work before clicking that "post" or "submit" button.

Isn’t your work worth more than a trash bin? Shouldn’t you try your best for your peers BEFORE sending it off to an editor?

Rule of thumb: Check, re-check, (DO NOT DEPEND ON MS TO SPELL CHECK FOR YOU) remember WORD COUNT as a habit! And most importantly: DO YOUR HOMEWORK!

The Plot Thickens

Now that you’ve worked on an outline of your characters, the high points, conflicts and climax, you’ll see your plot developing. Not all writers start with a plot in mind. A plot can be as flimsy as man meets woman, woman is on the run from the law, man falls in love, woman doesn’t feel the same, they both rob a bank together, fall in love just as they get nabbed by the police.

The plot is the reason behind things. 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?

As we discussed in the outline, you’ll need a beginning, middle and an end. Without these elements in a story whether a novel or short story, your words will float aimlessly onto the page, never being understood by your reader, and more than likely being rejected by publishers.

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.

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.

I hope this helps. Now write!

To Outline Or Not to Outline?

The outline usually begins with an idea that you have. You write it down then the thought flourishes as more and more is added to the idea. Outlining enhances the creative juices within you.

Outlining is just another term used for organizing. Through outlining you can see what you need to put where. If writing a story, you’ll need the basic idea, but as the story begins to flow, you’ll need to remember things about the character(s), home, place or year. With the outline you can logically place the facts, have them on hand as you do your research, then go about fleshing out your story.

All stories are created from one main source, your mind. A writer creates with words so it is vital to write those words down. If a story comes out of just one word, start jotting down the ideas so you can understand them better.

As in all writing, whether a story, article, essay or novel, you will have a beginning middle and end. With the outline you may want to take notes as to what you will have in the beginning, this is the ‘draw the reader in’ phase. You’ll set up the problem that will eventually be resolved. This is the foreplay.

Your middle will have what is keeping your reader reading, all the juicy surprises, arising conflicts, and climaxes. The outline will be a time-line of actions for you to remember.

The end will near and as you head back down the slope you will give the reader a resolution, the happyily (or not so happy) ever after.

With an outline you will be able to visually see what happens in Chapters 1-5 because you will note the high points and use them as guides. It will also help with consistency. You can have Bill die in chapter four, but you might accidentally mention him as being alive in chapter ten. The outline helps you in your consistency checks.

So what are we going to do writers? Are we going to free-write an entire novel and get lost and confused in the revision stages? Maybe, but it is much wiser to have an outline to lead you down the journey of completion.

Do Your Research!

Research ~ Research ~ Research

Research is what you are going to do when you stumble upon something of interest in your story. By interest I mean something disputable.

Let’s say your character is a doctor. You will need to do research in the field of medicine if you plan on using any of the terminology that doctor’s use. Maybe your character is a florist, you may want to look up the different species of flowers so you can name them in your work like a pro.

This is the basis of doing research. You’ll sound (read) educated in the field or at least your character will come off as a wonder of knowledge. If you’re a car repair person and your character is a chef, he can not test the throttle of his whipped up eggs. He is going to have to speak like a real chef so that your character comes alive to the reader.

Now research is not only used in the creation or broadening of a character, research may be used in eras. To write about the eighteenth century you will need to delve into the world of pioneers. Travel on horseback and always use the right lighting and tools for that era. Technological terms will not be found in this piece of writing.

Maybe it’s music that you need to research. If you plan on using songs from a certain period of time research the music and make sure you have the copyright laws researched before using ANY works.

I sometimes even research what styles of houses in cities and suburbs have, all the way down to names of counties that are in the area. Stephen King likes to make fictional towns around his home state of Maine. With a fictional town you get the freedom of naming streets and having anyone inhabit the land that you deem fit.

As I write this blog, I’m always seeking information to give you as I dig into this "info highway." There is an infinite amount of material to sift through here on the web. When I can’t find it here on the net, I go to the library and dig through books or micro-film.

Research can be as much work as writing itself. But rest assured it pays off in the end because your work comes off as polished and well structured. And we thought our homework days were over? Think again! If you’re a writer, your homework has only just begun.

Now keep in mind that you’re NOT writing a research paper, you are digging for authenticity. If your writing comes off as TOO MUCH research and not enough fiction, you will wind up with a piece of work that reads like a Kleenex left out in the rain. Wet, soggy, and very loosely based.

As much as I like to tell fellow writer’s to Write! Write! Write! It is just as important to

Research! Research! Research!

Poetry Sunday

SUN KISS

Oh how I want to feel the sun's... warm rays

To grace, my face.

drizzle me with its fingertips.

Dance along my body

until I am invigorated.

Trickling down, like rain, they fall.

Beads of sweat wash the pain.

The beams of light,bronze my skin.

I am now under the spell

of the blazing sun,

as it penetrates my body into a

perplexing pause of air…

I don't breathe…I sigh…

For it has taken me places in the mind.

Kissed me with its sweet caress…

I do confess...

the sun's kiss is all I need...

to refresh,

my soul to bless.

copyright © joni zipp

Not your cup of tea? (a cliche)

The over-used cliché...

A cliché is "a phrase, expression, or idea that has been overused to the point of losing its intended force or novelty, especially when at some time it was considered distinctively forceful or novel. The term is most likely to be used in a negative context." from wikipedia.

The cliché hangs over your words like a wet paper towel. It drags your work down making it all soggy sounding. Writer’s have a tendency to over-use them but I know that with the millions of writer’s out in the world today penning millions of books there has to be a way to invent your own.

This is where the creativity in you will come alive. Often used unconsciously in everday speech, we need to be aware of the tried and true uses and misuses of the worn out little phrases.
I don’t want to say that if you use them, as a writer it seems like a laid back easy way out and lack of original thought. But as writers we need to avoid using the cliché. When we say the cliché out loud, we understand what is meant by "It is a tried and true method", when written it looks as though I can’t find anything new to say.

That takes me back to square one, maybe I’ll give you a taste of your own medicine. (I threw that in there to see if you recognized it as a cliche.) As writers we need to be aware of what we’re writing. Recognizing the old sayings for what they are, old sayings. Be creative, think new, spicy, living sayings that will carry onto the next generation where the kids of the future will be saying, "Oh, I’ve heard that one." Yes sir, it will be YOURS!

Is this post just what the doctor ordered? Did I hit the nail on the head? Do you bite off more than you can chew in your writing? Whatever the case may be, leave cliché’s for the street talk, the long telephone conversations, the gossip in the halls, not for novel and short story writing. I bet even publishers of Newspapers are tired of the old cliches.

But here’s the tricky part. New and "in the moment" words, "like" and "that’s fab" just don’t ring true to form either when writing. I remember a day when everything was "cool" and when I left a party I’d say "peace" holding up two fingers for a peace sign. The kids today still use the word "cool" which makes me a cool mom with my son, but I would never say, "Peace out".

Language can be fun to play with, but when read it can read better when it sounds like its own version of coffee grinds. (that’s mine) lol What I’m saying is be creative with your words, if you stumble over your work seeing a cliché in the mix, remove it promptly and think of something that YOU, the creative writer, has thought up all by yourself!

Creating a Sacred Space

It is essential as a writer to have a sacred place to write. When you’re writing with pen and paper, do you always find a calming place that relaxes you? Do you find yourself carrying your laptop to the park or out in the backyard so you can drink in all of the beauty surrounding you?

Maybe your husband loves you so much that he has went to work on building you a little writing niche. Whether it is a room set aside for your computer printer, paper and stuff, or a nice corner tucked away from the hubbub surrounding your family atmosphere.

Your sacred place to write should be inspiring. Encircling you should be the images that conjure creativity. Like a brew of culture, what surrounds you is the very thing that is going to feed your muse. If you have a bland room with no inspiration, get yourself to a thrift shop. There you can find the eccentric little picture, the bizarre statue, the curious painting.

Sometimes placing your desk beside a window is helpful as you can gaze out, whether over a parking lot or into an expansive meadow, or peering into your ample garden. Whatever your circumstance, you can make your writing space your sacred place.

The mindset of a writer takes you beyond the congested parking lot. Look over the cars, look towards the sky and embrace the white fluffy cotton-like clouds. Look for the one object that will inspire you to write. Maybe it’s a bird pecking at a tree trunk, or a plane soaring through the wispy clouds.

Whatever surrounds you is wrapping you in a warm embrace. Remember that it is YOU who can control what encompasses you and gives your brain a tight squeeze, inspiring you to write.

Why not gird yourself in a meditative mode? Place in your environment candles of different shapes, flowers of many fragrances, plants of various symmetry and sizes. Often times we don’t live in a wondrous palace where we can be outside with nature, that is when we need to bring nature on the inside to our world to enliven our mind to become a force of creativity.

To balance out your workspace with a small tabletop water fountain, (there are some great affordable ones out there) would complete the serenity you seek when writing. The trickle of mesmerizing water, the flicker of dancing candle’s, the sweet scent of flora and fauna will all spring you into the writing frenzy that you desire.

So what are you waiting for? Make your writing space your sacred place!

Get some Sense!

Creating a world that is richly laced with the senses is what your reader wants. Have you ever read a story with none of the senses used? I bet it was a pretty boring story, eh? Senses bring your story to life in ways generic writing never will.

When we talk, we use our senses don’t we? When we communicate what we saw today, or heard on the radio, or ate for lunch etc. etc., we use our senses also. So why when you write wouldn't you want to leave the reader with a rich frothy taste in his mouth and weave your images into his mind like a finely crocheted afghan?

The best lesson I learned in writing was making use of the senses. It livened up my work like a fourth of July fireworks display and made my words dance to their own lively tune. This is what I want YOU to accomplish in YOUR writing.

When I was young, I remember my mother telling me to, "Act like you have some sense." If she only knew, I write like I have some sense, six of them to be exact.

Senses ~ Sight, sound, smell, touch, taste, and the unknown.

Sight ~ The light shone through the window. The rays danced on the floor. The mountains basked in the glory of the dappling sunshine.

Sound ~ The drumming of my heart was enough to keep me awake. The shrieking car peeled out of the parking lot. The church bells played a somber tune.

Smell ~ Ahh the fresh aroma of newly cut grass. The scent of grandma’s apple pie wafting through the open window has me wanting some. The tang of vinegar tickled my nose.

Touch ~ The hairbrush was rough on my scalp. The stucco wall left dimples in my hands when I fell into it. The cars hood was scorching hot!

Taste ~ The dill pickle was bitter after eating pretzels. The lemonade was sweet to my tongue’s palette. Grandma’s apple pie tasted delicious after it finally cooled down.

The Unknown ~ I wonder if the sun always does a pirouette across the waves? I’m wondering if Grandma is thinking about me up there in heaven.

The unknown is the tricky sense that we use to bring home our thoughts. The unknown can be as exciting as the rest of the senses if used wisely. Use it in your writing so the reader can touch base with you, the narrator. It gives the reader a glimpse into your thoughts.

Can you see what is in front of you right now? On your desk?

Can you smell the pans that you left on the stove from tonight’s dinner? Old coffee sitting in the coffeepot?

Can you taste the leftover spaghetti in your throat? A lit match might leave a sulfuric taste.

Can you hear your computer humming? A fire engine racing by?

Can you feel the stiffness of your chair and how it is making your butt hurt?

Do you ever wonder what it would be like if you won a million dollars? Can you imagine what life is like on other planets?

Bring it home for me. Take advantage of the six senses in your writing. Make your writing jump out and speak to me. Go ahead, I know you can do it.

Consistency

"Like the winding stream, writers need to know where to take the reader, down the consistent path." ~joni

Consistency is another attribute necessary to pulling off a story. We need to be consistent throughout our work so the reader doesn’t get confused. This isn’t the same as staying focused (although that helps a lot.) Consistency is where fact meets fact.

Say you’re writing a period piece of the roaring twenties. You will need to make sure that your scenes fit that era, and don’t accidentally toss in that, "She sat tapping on the keyboard all day." It is things like this that will have your reader doing a double take and say, "I thought this was 1925?"

You should never have cause to make your reader double back searching for birthdays and ages, and times of day. With consistency they will already know the time of the day that she had her first kiss, or the time his dad bought the young boy his first car.

These things might seem minor to you, but to your reader it is giving them a solid foundation of your character to hold onto. Flashbacks help a story, but if you miss the consistency check, you are certainly in trouble.

You need to be consistent in your language, consistent in terms, consistent in style. You can’t write short and to the point one-minute then lapse into a prose style the next. You can’t shift tenses or points of view; instead you need to be consistent throughout the piece.

Now long time published authors, I have witnessed, play with the tenses just to fool you, but they are masters at their trade. It is wise if you are new to the publishing world to write consistently so that your followers know your style, follow it compulsively, and look forward to the next installation of your work.

People have a tendency to like the ordinary and expecting you to write one way in one book and the same in the next and the next. They will become your followers and the ones that will promote you to "The most published author’s" list. Sure they expect the unexpected to happen in your spiritual novel or horror story, but they’ve come to love your consistent writing. That is what is going to carry you from one novel to the next.

When you read Stephen King and Dean Koontz, you know their style (although both are different, they are both extremely good at what they do.) They know what you want as writers. They feed off of knowing you, the reader, better than you know yourselves sometimes. They give you a tiny taste of what you can expect in the very first chapter and what happens, you pig out on the entire meal, over-indulge yourself into some hefty reading and wind up reading the whole book! (This is true of all novelists also, although I am a die hard King and Koontz fan.)

Know the reader; give them what they crave. Remember it is consistency that put the above authors where they are today. Without consistency they would have been shelved (pun intended) years ago.

STAY FOCUSED

Focus, Focus, Focus

Writer’s need focus. As much as we need all of the other elements in writing, focus is of major importance as we strive to become a better writer. Focus means to maintain a central idea throughout your work.

We also need to remain focused on what the idea is that we are trying to bring across to our reader. In an article, the focus needs to stay on the subject matter or your writing will become weakened and loose, appearing unstructured.

If your short story is about dogs, then there is no reason to go off topic and talk about the boarding of horses, or cat kennels. Veering off track loses your reader no matter how well you’ve portrayed your dog.

Within each paragraph there should be a beginning, a middle and an end. Focus on making a point. The end of the story or article will tie paragraphs together like a ball of yarn. The entire piece will be rolled up into a neat little ball and your readers will understand what you’ve said, without doubling back to see if they missed something.

Not only do we need focus in our writing of words, sentences, paragraphs and stories we need to focus as writers in general. Once you’ve begun writing a story it is so easy to become sidetracked and begin another tale without ever finishing the one that you started.

I’ve found myself on occasion starting a story, and one word can trigger in my mind another story. Off I go like a horse at the starting line and I begin another story. What have I learned to do? I have found that writing that one word down helps me remember what I was thinking about. And whgat idea I had in mind.

I return to my work knowing the one word is tucked neatly away on it’s own little document ready to inspire me again when I get the chance to go back to it. I go to my WIP and focus on bringing the intended story to the reader’s eyes.

While this doesn’t always work, it is my tried and true method to help me persist in staying focused with what I’m working on at the time. Staying focused also helps in other areas of your writing career. While we focus on writing, that means we’ve spent time moving our creative juices, we have an inspired plan and can now focus on one particular story instead of trying to write ten different stories at a time.

I know some of you can handle writing many different stories and remain focused, but for the beginner, I think it is more important to focus on one story so that each word that forms a sentence becomes a plausible paragraph. As the paragraph shapes itself, like a fine wine it can only get better as it ages. (not ages as in months or years, but letting it rest for days before struggling with revisions.

Then you can focus on other parts of your life like keeping yourself healthy and fit. Writers need to be of healthy mind, body and soul. If you’re aligned, you become balanced, if you’re balanced, your writing will follow you like a puppy and all will fall neatly into place. (Did I just veer off topic?) So much for MY focus! ;-)

Poetry Sunday

Welcome once again to poetry Sunday. This is where I take a break and post my poetry from the Soul. Part of my Soul Storm WIP.

Within The Ethereal Night

Somber still is the ethereal night,

a sheltered home for inner flight.

Darkness embedding mystical light.

A flurry of bouncing spheres.

Cascading over inclement beams,

caressing colorful starlight seams.

Clustered into radiant teams.

Behold the glorious sky.

Beguiled by blistering thundering sound,

blatantly causing my heart to pound.

Cautiously savoring what I have found.

Transcending the sublime.

Whispering winds wash over me.

Whisking wisely to eternity.

I'm bathed amid the endless sea.

I touch the other realm.

Flawlessly floating back to earth.

Feasting on fruits of heaven’s birth.

Finding favor of my self worth.

I grasp the truth within.

Copyright ©joni zipp

Determination

Now that we’ve had our dose of inspiration to get us writing our fingers off, I think we need to put our writing into high gear and give a swift kick in the rear to DETERMINATION.

Determination (ie: fixed direction or tendency toward some object or end)
is another way of persevering. Perseverance means the steady persistence in a course of action, a purpose, a state, etc., esp. in spite of difficulties, obstacles, or discouragement.

Did you read that? In spite of difficulties; in spite of obstacles or discouragement you need to show the teeth of determination. You have been given a purpose, you’ve found your direction and now you need to jump full throttle into action to see your dream realized.

I know some writer’s who give up. Sometimes life throws a hardball at them, they have kids, and everything gets lost in the vortex of living. But writing isn’t about, leaving and coming back to it again. Maybe today I’ll write kind of attitude. Writing is about determination in seeing the dream that began as a seed inside, flourish. Don’t allow someone or something to discourage you!

When you wake up, live and breathe writing, you know you’re a writer. Sure there is time for walks, jogs, swims, dog playing and child rearing, but interlaced in the day has got to be a determination of allowing yourself to bloom. Writing, whether it is journaling or story telling, article writing or novel writing, if you are not determined to bring your words to life then the dream withers, the bud dies. All water will be drained from the dream and no persistence will carry you through this stage.

I say wake up, have that cup of coffee, tell the world your coming and drink in the sunshine as you tap on the keys. Be determined to succeed. Tell yourself you can do it, envision the picture, paint the picture and display it for the entire world to see.

If you can see the road ahead that you want to take, don’t allow the heat to cause a wavering mirage so that you lose sight of the road. Keep the picture of what you want to become clearly in focus, tell yourself over and over that YOU ARE A WRITER, be determined in seeing your words spill onto the page like liquefied dew.

Once you have a point A clearly in view, point B will follow with determination and perseverance. Whatever you do, don’t give up! Even if you write 100 words a day, keep at it, keep positive thoughts always front and center. Save the revisions for another time. Right now it is important for you to bring this dream to life and allow it to take hold of your being.

My son sees me write so much that he is now writing. He has three stories in the works and for some reason he is determined to be a published author. I keep telling him to keep at it. He is only twelve years old and new ideas spring in his head all the time. I try to explain that he needs to finish the ones he started before he can leap into another one, but at least he is writing the ideas down and getting them out if his system.

Maybe being a home school mom wasn’t such a bad idea. Everyone told me that he would never adjust to the world and here he is with the determination of a tiger hunting prey! That’s my boy! :-D

Be peristent! Be determined! Make your dream happen!

Words - so innocent and powerless as they are, as standing in a dictionary, how potent for good and evil they become in the hands of one who knows how to combine them. ~ Nathaniel Hawthorne

Creativity

Creativity is the bud within you waiting for water so it can bloom into a beautiful bouquet. It is in the far reaches of your imagination and it needs to be tapped in order for you to bring a story to fruition. The words you paint will come alive. The sentences you form will rupture into a full-blown story. The artist will be creative when he explodes on the scene.

Sometimes I can just see a picture of something and from there it spurns my imagination and as I look into the depths of my brain (albeit a small brain) I can write. There are times when one word can trigger my creativity. A lot of writing exercises uses this technique, and I know a popular blog that uses pictures to feed the muse. (Pumping Your Muse Prompts— link to the left)

Whatever you use to get the muses flowing, I mean juices, you can write a spellbinding piece of art. You need to craft a piece of writing that engages the reader, holds his/her interest, and entrances for the long haul.

You become the one-man band that everyone has come to see. You need many skills to perform this duty and you wouldn’t go on stage without the knowledge of how to play now would you? Of course not, you’d study long and hard to be the best you can be.

What is it that sets your creative juices aflutter? Is it the rushing sounds of a waterfall? The whispering wind as it blows through the trees? Is it the trickling rain that slaps into the puddle that makes your creativity take a stance?

Generating new ideas can be quite difficult if you’re not accustomed to feeding the flames. If you had a fire brewing in the fireplace what steps would you take to stoke the fire so that it stays lit for the entire evening to create a warm and cozy atmosphere? Keep adding wood to the flame. Or if you’re a writer, you will keep adding knowledge to learn a skill to feed the desire to fan the flame of creativity.

You my friend are an original piece of art, formed from creativity and there is no one else like you so from you should spew forth originality. Open up your senses, if you can see the trees blowing, smell the fire, taste the soil, hear the strumming of a guitar, feel the changing of the tides, all the bells and whistles in your brain ring out in-sync forcing you to create.

Read other writer’s, whether good or bad you will learn from them, study the craft intensely, fill the mind with fruitful knowledge as you embark on a wondrous journey. The journey of a lifetime will carry you into the world of creativity.

Writers are never in the world of five senses. We live in a world where six and seven senses peek out at us asking us to embrace what we’re shown. Through creativity, we bring you what the rest of the hurried world has hidden from them. Though we are many, we are few. As we seek, we more than likely find. We are the creative writer’s of the world whose work, if we’re lucky, will be carried into the next millenium.

Join the journey…embrace the art… live life creatively…become One with the One.

Creativity ~~~
"If we fail to nourish our souls, they wither, and without soul, life ceases to have meaning. The creative process shrivels in the absence of continual dialogue with the soul. And creativity is what makes life worth living." -- Marion Woodman

"Creativity is inventing, experimenting, growing, taking risks, breaking rules, making mistakes and having fun." -- Mary Lou Cook

"In order to have a real relationship with our creativity, we must take the time and care to cultivate it." -- Julia Cameron

Let the Sun Shine in...

Showing vs. Telling!

Joni’s going to write a blog.

Joni sits at her desk, pencils, paper, stapler and paper clips surrounding her. A deep sigh leaves her mouth as she sits contemplating, ready to tap on the keys preparing to write today’s blog.

Aha! I think I’ll write about SHOW vs. Tell! In the first sentence I told you what Joni was going to do. In the second sentence I SHOWED you.

Showing is more specific in terms as it lays out the picture for you. General terms are good when you need to tell when something is happening that is brief in the story. Whereas showing moves the story from point A to point B.

To tell a story one only needs to say, Mary went to the store. To help in getting the picture across to your reader you need to learn how to write and SHOW them the story.

Mary grabbed her purse, hurried out the front door to walk down to the corner store. The screen door slammed as her mother called from behind, "Don’t forget the bread."

Think of yourself reading a book. You don’t start at the end, you begin at the first page. You take it slowly and read one page at a time so you can grasp the entire picture.

Taken out of context, you can speed read a page here and there but do you fulfill your journey of enjoyment? Showing and telling can give you the same information. But with the showing the reader gets to savor each and every morsel.

Creating a mental picture for the reader is important if you care for them to read to the end. Children love fairy tales where they don’t need a lot of the baggage that comes with imagery, they get picture books. But novels or short stories need to tap into the mental cinema of the reader’s mind.

Telling is fine for trivial things like it was a stormy day. If the storm is essential to moving the story along or part of the immediate scene then showing should be done. Don’t over do it with the imagery so no one says you’re padding your work. Showing should come as a natural flow to you.

I was sad when my dog died.
This is me telling you how I felt.

I was miserable when my dog died. It hurt so much I could just spit. I never expected him to die and now he’s left me alone and lonely for companionship.
This is me padding the telling.

Today I was distracted when the puppies in the park were playing frisbee, it reminded me of my Skippy. My friend for life or so I thought, until he contracted a deadly virus that took him from me. No longer do I look at his bowl the same way as it still sits on the floor near the door.
This statement gives more specific details, without telling how I "felt". You can read in my words that I miss him.

The point of "showing" is not to drown the reader in a sea of details. Instead, you should pick out only those details that matter.

Give your reader something to hold onto.Let the sun shine down on your work and give them a tale of beauty. Save the telling for the hairdresser.

G,P,S

Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling

In a recent blog tour I had the pleasure of asking the author of The President’s Parasite, Jim Musgrave if there were any "secrets" that the newcomer to writing should know. "Learn your basics first, meaning grammar, punctuation and spelling." he offered.

And the second best kept secret, which I’m sure isn’t a secret to my fellow writing friends because I’ve said this over and over again, get a good manual of "technique". His suggestion? Telling Lies for Fun and Profit by Lawrence Block. Great advice!

I’ve given you blogs on Style, Theme, Ego, Inspiration, and even a blog titled Writer’s block. Today’s blog, I’d like to offer up to you the importance of Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling.

Many of us have learned our grammar techniques in grade school and more than likely we’ve become rusty over the years. Do you really remember was a present participle is? Did you ever think that later in life you would NEED to know?
The definition of the word grammar is interesting:
1.
a. The study of how words and their component parts combine to form sentences.
The study of structural relationships in language or in a language, sometimes including pronunciation, meaning, and linguistic history.
2.
The system of inflections, syntax, and word formation of a language.
The system of rules implicit in a language, viewed as a mechanism for generating all sentences possible in that language.
3.
a. A normative or prescriptive set of rules setting forth the current standard of usage for pedagogical or reference purposes.
b. Writing or speech judged with regard to such a set of rules.

This ties in the punctuation and spelling because we can not have one without the other. Notice how simple letters form words, we write our words and they are going to form sentences (hopefully logical ones.) We’ll need to add the proper punctuation and to finish it off we need to proofread what we’ve written to see if we have any typographical errors.

I know a lot of people depend on their MS Word for a spell check but it being a program and not human, the robotic nature will not pick up the differences in there and their. It will not discern by from buy. It will give you a red squiggly line for incorrect spellings and your eyes may be drawn to THAT. In the process you may miss an error and let it slip through your eyes. MS Word will not find errors in punctuation for you either. YOU need to do the work to make it comprehensible and legible to your reader.

The best thing to do as a writer is to get in the habit of proofreading your work BEFORE you click that little word, SEND. Know the rules, know the proper etiquette and by all means STUDY what you don’t know.

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.

Words in Time

Metaphorically speaking…

Metaphors are wrapped into our writing like a blanket of snow covering the front lawn. Brightly lit, soft-spoken and subtle the metaphor is going to be the hidden aspect of a well-written piece of work.

Your lips are as sweet as a rose bud on a rainy day. Do we really know how a rosebud would taste on a rainy day?

Metaphors are used as symbolism throughout our works of art. An artist graphically paints an image in his mind, brushes it onto the canvas and you perceive something that has burst forth for you with entirely different meaning. The intention grabbed you, the thought provoked you and the image made you cognizant of something deeper.

Metaphors are the colors to our words. They leap off the page at the reader and the reader realizes that he’s read something enlightening. Writers use metaphor’s to paint images in the reader’s mind. The poem below has lots of metaphorical colors added to it. How many times have you seen a "dancing dandelion running in a field?" or "lilting lilies leap from the earth?"

This is metaphoric play from a poet’s mind. I’ve read some engrossing work with metaphors playing in the football field of the page, they are all over the place basking in all the right places. But I have also been a witness to the over abundance of metaphoric use ruin an otherwise perfect piece of writing. Keeping them in the context of the piece you are writing will also keep you safe from over-indulging.

As a writer I want to convey the image I have in my mind and the only way to make that crystal clear is by giving them something they can see with the eyes of their mind. They need to hold a picture of my words front and center. A metaphor can do that for me and for any writer.

To emphasize what you are feeling, a metaphor will come in handy as well as a Kleenex when you sneeze. An important note, while metaphors can sound like "clichés" it is strongly advisable to be original and sparingly in their use.

Color your work with the spacious glow of metaphors as the light shines so bright that your work is illuminated in splendid originality. That is probably one of the hardest things to do as a writer is to come up with new and brilliant original metaphors that haven’t already been spun into the web of literature.

Give the reader clarity of images taken into his mind and he’ll reward you with continuing to the end of the story.