Turn the light on…

Inspiration… Such an intricate word. How do you get? How do you keep it? Is it the right inspiration?

1: How do you get it? – Well this can happen in lots of ways. Inspiration can come in many shapes and sizes. Sometimes I’ll be just simply watching people going about their normal lives and bam! I’m inspired to write about it. Daydreaming can inspire you. Use past experiences and expand on them, change them around and in some instances make them fly. Listen to music. I get inspired by certain types of music. It’s according to what mood I’m in.

2: How do you keep it? – Ok, so you’re inspired, but can you keep the inspiration going all the way to the words, ‘The End’? Well, make notes, extremely descriptive notes of what inspired you, the feelings, the sights, the sounds. Every time the inspiration starts to flee, pull out the notes and read them. Close your eyes and picture it. If it’s music that inspired you, replay the same song or songs and get lost in it.

3: Is it the right inspiration? – Have you ever been inspired to do something, but then realized it was not what you wanted to do in the first place? It happens all the time. Maybe the inspiration is coming from the wrong source. You may be saying, what? I’m talking about when you’re writing a book and it’s going a certain way and then you get the inspiration to take the book into another realm. Is that what your book needs to do? I was working on one of my published books and had a sudden inspiration to change the middle and ending completely from my original plan. Now sometimes this can work out, but as I neared the ending I realized that I’d totally messed up the whole meaning of the book by going with the new inspiration. Just go with your gut and usually your original inspiration is right.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

If it goes to your head, you could lose!

If you’re a writer you know how hard it is to get you ideas on paper or in the computer. Then to get it edited and polished. Then you have to get it published and make a sale. It’s hard work.

The joy of a writer is getting published, but don’t let that joy get to your head. It’s really hard not to sit back and say, ‘Oh my goodness, I’m a published writer’. Then you make your first sale and your mind goes crazy. Well, keep a level head. Don’t push yourself past what you can handle. Take it slow and enjoy the time.

It’s the same way in any kind of leadership, goal achieved or book sale. If you let the power go to your head, then you could easily make a bad decision that could cost you a lot. If you use the power to manipulate others for your own cause, then you can easily lose that power. It’s the same with book sales and goals. Don’t manipulate the power you have.

As you know I own a business and I could easily let it go to my head. I’m proud of my accomplishments, but I also know that it could easily hit rock bottom and go under. I have to keep working hard to keep it alive. I treat it like a start up business daily.

I also treat my writing business like that. Sales can be up today and crash tomorrow. Never over look down falls. They can happen at the drop of a hat.

Leadership is the same way. If you overstep your authority it can trickle down the line and then your leadership is worthless. Keep a level head and don’t use your authority to get your own agenda up front. Use leadership as an honor and use it for good. Use your leadership whether its in your business, writing, or any other place as a way to teach, not to let it go to your head.

As always, this is just thoughts running through my head. I’ve seen so many writers let their success go to their heads, then it takes over. I’ve seen it happen to business owners. They let the success of their business make them soft, then they let the business slip through their fingers and then they’re out of business.

Good writing friends and May God Bless You…

Do you find excitement in what you do?

It’s a simple question. Do you find excitement in what you do? Whether it’s your job, your writing or more importantly your faith. What excites you?

I try to find excitement in everything I do. If I find excitement, I find happiness and it means I’m enjoying myself. Life should be enjoyed as much as possible.

As a Christian I find so much excitement in my faith. I think that’s one of the reasons I enjoy being a children’s ministry leader so much. I enjoy teaching children about faith and our Savior. I get so excited when they get it and get saved. It’s just awesome and inspiring.

I get very excited being a parent. Every new thing my son does I get smile of pure pleasure. It’s exciting watching him grow up which is happening way too fast… Sometimes I just sit back and smile. I’m so proud of him.

With my job as an accountant I get excited when things go well, when I get that account balanced or when I get a new client.

With my writing it’s a up and down excitement. There’s the new sale, the new book, the new blog friend or just the new idea that takes over your day.

So get excited today. It makes your day go better when you’re excited about something. If you can’t think of anything to be excited about, then just be excited to be alive.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

How’s your writing attitude?

In life we show a lot of different attitudes. Bad or good is up to you. As a writer I’ve noticed a lot about my writing that goes along with my attitude. Here are a couple of things I’ve noticed.

When I’m in a really good mood and my attitude is peppy and upbeat I do a lot of writing. It seems to pump me up and get me going with ideas. When my mood is not so good I notice that I’m not as into my writing as I need to be. When I’m in a thoughtful mood I can really put words on screen. It’s amazing how our attitude or mood can affect the writing we do.

I had a bad attitude not long ago, which is not usual for me. I usually have a good attitude, but that day I was just not a happy camper. I sat down with my laptop and re wrote the same line three times. Nothing sounded good and I almost gave in to the bad attitude. Then I noticed the list of my works in progress and one of the titles caught my eye. I opened the file and read the couple of paragraphs that had been hastily written a couple of months ago. Something in my attitude slipped. My mind suddenly went to a new plateau.

The point I’m trying to get at is this. In my little world, sometimes my writing can bring me out of the bad attitude or help to conquer a low attitude. It’s like therapy in a laptop or story. Usually it takes a new manuscript. Especially if I’ve been at a loss on another manuscript that I’ve been steadily working on. Just going into something new and fresh helps. So next time you are stuck in a bad or low attitude try opening a newer manuscript and refreshing your mind. It could help out and you may even finish the new one.

So as always good writing and May God Bless You…

When the bloom makes way for the leaf

As most of you know, I’m an accountant. This is my busy time of the year with tax season in full swing. My office is beside my house which is great. I have a flower bed nestled among the trees in front of the office. The big draw to the flower bed is a forsythia bush or yellow bell to most. I raised it from a cutting that my grandmother gave me of hers back when we first moved in our new home around 19 years ago. The bush has been in her yard for more years than she could count.

When I look at this bush I think of her. She’s been in Heaven for over 12 years but every year when the bush blooms I think of her. I think of the precious heirloom in it’s full beauty.

As I watched the bush flowing lightly in the breeze yesterday I marveled at the tiny yellow blooms that were still hanging on among the vibrant green leaves. It made me smile as I thought about how this process is similar to writing.

You may be saying what? Think about it. As writers we start with the bare limbs, then as the bud of a story blooms forth we get the story started. Then comes the full bloom of the work, the beauty. But the final is the nurtured green leaf that is the finished product, which holds on. But a lot of the time the bloom holds on for dear life, not letting us get to the finished product completed until it’s the right time.

As always good writing and May God Bless You…

Good Memory and Writing…

Do you have a good memory? Me, not hardly 🙂 Sometimes I really think I’m losing my memory skills. Our memory is an integral part of writing. Why? Well here are my top 5 reasons memory is important to writers:

1: You have to remember the main characters biography. If you have a woman with blonde hair for the main character and all of a sudden in the middle of the book you write they have dark hair, well you’ve just lost the character all together. I’ve actually read a book before that the main character changed all together. It’s a story breaker!

2: Book Setting – This is important to the story. If you’re story is based in the snowy mountains, then midway through the book it becomes the desert, then you’ve lost the objective completely.

3: Character backgrounds – When you start a book always keep a notebook beside you as you write. As you develop a character write down their characteristics. Keep up with amount of siblings, hometown, etc.

4: Love background – You may have to ask yourself what I mean. Well it’s quite simply this, if your main couple has a history, then keep it straight. Make sure that if they’ve been in a relationship before the book starts, then don’t make it sound like first love. Let the past lead you to the present.

5: Don’t forget the main objective of your book. Don’t let it stray far off the mark without a good reason or sub plot.

This is just my opinion and the way I write. It may not work for you, but it helps me to keep things straight.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Clearing the Monday morning fog.

Have you ever woke up on Monday morning and felt like you were in a fog. It’s like Monday’s are just destined to be a groggy day. I don’t know why that is because I actually rested yesterday and even took a small nap, which was food induced 🙂 By that I mean that I ate way too much for Easter dinner and was almost comatose by the time I got home from dinner with family.

As I start my work week I sit down to organize my week. Like I’m going to stay with that plan, but at least I try. I hope to get some writing in this week. Tax season has been really rough this year, but hopefully my tax program is back to almost normal. It’s still really slow, but it doesn’t lock up on me as much.

Wishing everyone a great week and get inspired!

As always, great writing and May God Bless You…

Formal writing, What’s your style?

I’ve been told that some of my books are written a little too formally. I usually laugh because I’m a very southern speaking girl. For those that are not familiar with the Southern speech, usually I have clients that are not from here that call just to hear me speak. I laugh and tell them to get a life. So when someone says I write formally I have to laugh.

As for my writing, I don’t feel like it’s that formal. Sometimes I use ‘I could not’ instead of ‘I couldn’t’ but when I look back at it, that’s the only way it sounds right. I hear a lot of writers that send their work to editors and when it comes back certain parts no longer sound right. Well not right in the sense of the feel it originally had. You have certain ways you speak that gets points across and the wording is crucial. When you change even one word whether formal or not it changes the feel.

In my first couple of books I was so careful to use good English, but as I published more books I leaned more toward the down to earth style. When I relaxed a little, the reviews went from ‘written a tad formal’ to actually talking about the book.

So what’s your style? Do you watch your couldn’t and shouldn’t or do you just write from the seat of your pants and throw the English book out the door? I think that’s when you get through to the reader. You can even throw in some ‘yeah’s’ and ‘ain’t’. I know ain’t is not a word, but in the south it’s part of our vocabulary 🙂

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Does your cover reveal too much?

As with any writer I always struggle with my cover design. Sometimes I’ve got a picture in my mind of how I want the cover to look. During the writing of my books I’m constantly thinking of the cover. Some parts of the book inspire the cover.

It’s so discouraging to pick up a book and look at the cover expecting one thing and reading the book to find something totally different. I’ve done this several times as I know you have too. For example, the book has a vampire on the cover and the only thing about vampires in the book is a short part from a nightmare with a character. So why put a vampire on the cover when the book is not about vampires at all but about something totally different.

Then you get into the aspect of revealing too much with the cover. Let’s say that in the book there is a secret that will not be revealed until the middle or end of the book. You don’t want to put something about that on the cover if it will tell the reader what the secret is. This just spoils the whole suspense plot.

So in my opinion the cover has to be thought over quite a bit. The cover can reveal a lot about the book. When my assistant and I designed the first couple of covers it was so wrong. We quickly revised it until we were happy. I was careful not to reveal too much about the plot but I also made sure the cover was relevant.

Hope this helps if you’re working on your cover. It’s often one of the hardest things to me as a writer other than the dreaded description, but that’s a whole new blog post 🙂

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Are revisions sometimes a good thing?

I’ve been playing with the idea of revising two of my novels. Tender Flames and With All My Heart are two of my novels that I published last year.

Tender Flames was one of my first attempts at publishing and I’m proud of the results, but I feel like I need to listen to my readers. I’ve had several great reviews on this book but I’ve also had some good,but enlightening reviews. Some of the readers made suggestions that they thought would make this a novel to be reckoned with. So, I’m planning on doing a revision and then packing it with the second in the series “Rekindled Flames” which is doing great. I plan to sell the both together in a package deal.

Then there’s With All My Heart which is my Christian romance. I’ve had some great reviews on this one. So many have said they wished it was longer, well that good come to reality. As the release of the second book in this series is coming soon, I also plan to release the lengthened edition with the new book. The new book will also be released separately.

So, as I’ve seen several authors do this and have great success, I hope to make them even better. I’m actually excited about reliving these novels. As a writer you live the lives of your characters while your writing, so I get to revisit old friends and make them even better.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…