Knowing how to let go…

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Good morning! It’s been a crazy couple of weeks, but I’m back at it. My current WIP is almost finished. Every book I write gets into my heart and it’s always hard to say goodbye. With each word I write, the end comes faster.

But, when you type that last word, how do you say goodbye to the characters that have filled your thoughts for months? How do you get them out of your head? When I finish a book, it’s like the characters are still there somewhere there, but I have to let them go. Every once in a while they come back to me and I wonder if they need to have more of their story written. Maybe a holiday special that brings all the characters together again.

Now that I’ve said that, some of the characters in my head are cheering, so maybe there will be something special coming for the holidays. Let’s just see which set of characters will win the coveted Christmas special. Keep watching for upcoming news on a release.

Oh, before I go, I want to let you in on a special post that will be coming tomorrow. The cover to Broken will be revealed tomorrow and a little snippet of the next book in the ‘In Harm’s Way’ series will be on the post too. So join me tomorrow for some exciting stuff.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Can we say, it’s almost the weekend…

It’s Friday afternoon and the weekend is staring at me. With tax season, I don’t take much time off. I’ve been trying to take at least Sunday afternoons to refresh, write, and nap. So, here’s to the hope of a little time on Sunday to recharge. Sending good vibes to all of you for a great weekend.

Friday Editing Thoughts…

Good Friday morning! It’s been a crazy week in the tax office. Between deadlines and paperwork, I’ve been swamp. My reprieve is my writing. Yesterday I was able to get lost in my words for a whole thirty minutes. And that was an accomplishment. But for those thirty minutes, I was somewhere else…

Now, with this new book, I’m trying something new. Although I started sending my editor two chapters at a time during my last book, this time I’m editing some before I send it. And yes, I normally edit as I go anyway, but this time is different. I’m delving into my words even deeper the first time around.

I’ve been really working on the words that I tend to use a little too often. It’s funny how we lean on some words more often than we should. So, I’m finding new, more colorful words to take their place. Take for instance the word ‘look’. I seem to have a love for that word, lol! That is one word that I’m having a hard time letting go. I am replacing it with gaze, glimpsed, focused, stared, gaped, etc. You get the picture.

With this new form of editing, I’m using the thesaurus a lot. It’s a tool that is most important to a writer. And they say you can’t teach old dogs new tricks, but this one is learning so much from viewing the thesaurus. See, I’m using a new word.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

What it takes to write…

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Good Wednesday! It’s chilly here in Georgia. My fingers are stiff and it makes writing difficult, but I’m forging on.

I hear people all the time say, ‘I can write a novel. How hard can it be?’. Sometimes I just let it blow over my shoulders, then other times I look at them and tell them what it takes to write that novel. Usually by the time I’m done, they have changed their mind. So, let’s go through some things it takes to put those words on the paper.

Now, don’t get me wrong, anyone can put words on a paper, but… Words on a paper… What a concept…

To write a novel that actually makes sense, you have to get it in the right order. Make sure that you don’t bust the bubble too early and lose the reader. You have to focus on the ebb and flow of the story line. If you write in a up and down motion, meaning there is constant conflict, then resolution, then more conflict and more resolution, the reader will grow tired. It’s important to have a story within the conflict and resolution. The reader needs to be pulled into your story. It needs a purpose.

And an important part of writing is patience. The words don’t write themselves. You have to be patient as you put your story together. If you just haphazardly write, then you’ll get the wrong result. The story needs to be polished and ready before you send it out. Believe me, I’ve been impatient before and the results were less than mediocre. I’ll never do that again.

So, when someone says they could write a novel, explain to them the process. And I’ve only touched on the many intricacies of getting a story completed that will sell and bring you joy. There are so many facets of the writing process that it would take many posts to accomplish.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Saturday Night Thoughts…

Description is key! What am I talking about? Well, if you want a reader to take the journey of your story with you, then you need to help kick their imagination in gear. So, take them there with words. If the walls are red, then tell them. Because the reader can’t read your mind. Show don’t tell… Just my thoughts…

Sweet dreams…

Clearing out; Cleaning up…

Good Saturday afternoon! It’s hard to believe that Christmas has come and gone. With everything this year has brought, we needed that reminder of good friends and family love. Now, on to the clearing out of the uneaten Christmas treats and cleaning up the decorations.

This year I’m clearing out some old decorations that haven’t been used in years. As my hubby says, I’m purging. He’s glad because it makes the Christmas bins lighter for him and our son to haul back up to the attic. But what about our everyday things? Do we need to do some clearing out and cleaning up there too?

What do I mean you might be saying? Well, as I sat around with family and friends during Christmas, I thought about all of the things that we have that are not even used. There are so many what not’s just lying around, collecting dust. So, I’ve decided to clear some out and make room for some minimalism.

And what about our writing. Should we go through our works and clean out some unnecessary words? It’s so hard sometimes to get just 50k words down, but to think about clearing some of those out just makes a writer’s head hurt. I’m not talking about the meat of the story or the descriptions that help to carry the reader into another time or place. I’m talking about the unnecessary filler words. Or as I like to call them, fluff.

Now, all writers have a tendancy to use too many fluff words. It’s those words that add some extra words to the count. They don’t need to be there to make the story work, but they are just there to up the word count. Why not just clean them up, clear them out, and let the manuscript breathe without all of that added weight.

You will be surprised at how much better it sounds once you get rid of the fluff. I’ve done some fluff removing lately and the wording actually zips along without hinderance.

As always, Good writing and May God Bless You…

Setting music to your work…

Good morning! It’s been a while, but I have a great reason… Tax Season. But, I’m on the last leg of the first part.

So, as I was working last night, my Pandora was playing movie love songs. I tried to name the movie for each score that played. Then I thought about how powerful each song was to the movie. Actually, in my opinion, some of the music made the movies seem better. The music gave the parts so much power, more inspiring or just more emotionally charged.

Maybe you’re wondering why I’m talking about this, well, wouldn’t it be cool if we could input music into our manuscripts? Of course, like most of you, I have music playing in the background as I write, but if we could put music into our audio books, wouldn’t that be something?

And yes, we put music into our book trailers, which adds that pull. Think about how it would be added to our ebooks in certain spots? It would be amazing…

Ok, so that’s my crazy rambling for this cool, southern Monday. Since I only have two more days left in tax season, I’ll be back to regular posting soon.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Happy New Year!

Wow, it’s 2018! As we say goodbye to the old year and hello to the new, remember to make this new year even better than the last year. Let’s strive to do something for ourselves and others every day.

The last year held some great times, but also many sad times. My writing evolved and I managed to publish 8 books in 2017. I’m excited about all the projects that I have coming up in 2018 and can’t wait to tell you about them, but that will come later.

So, here’s to wishing all of you a Happy, healthy, and prosperous New Year!

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

A little Monday Motivation…

monday

Good morning all! Yeah, I know, it’s Monday… I’m not ready to start the day yet, but my office won’t run itself, so…

Ok, so, you need some Monday Motivation. Here goes… As a writer, you have a story to tell. It fills your head and makes you crazy. The story wreaks havoc on every other part of your day, but, I have good news. Even if you can’t figure out the whole story just yet, it helps to just go ahead and put it on paper. If you at least let the characters talk for a little while, they’ll leave you alone for a few minutes.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

A crisp, cool morning…

Good morning! Here in Georgia, it’s finally feeling like fall. I love this time of year. And the fun part is, my writer’s brain goes into overdrive. Which gives my fingers a workout and my computer a heart attack.

I’m working on the 2nd book in the Wishful Harbor series. It’s actually based at this time of year, so I feel the cool, crisp bite in the air as I write the words. I can see the landscape around me. The leaves are turning and the sky is bluebird blue. As my characters walk up the sidewalk, I can smell the fresh crisp clean air. Yes, I get lost in the world of my characters everytime I work. It’s amazing the world’s I’ve seen through the eyes of my characters.

So, when’s your favorite time of the year to write?

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…