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…

Tax talk… It’s almost that time!

Photo by Karolina Grabowska on Pexels.com

I know, the dreaded TAX word. As an Accountant, this is the time to gear up for the new season that is coming in only two weeks. 2020 was a crazy tax season with extended deadlines, call meetings and lots of questions. Let’s hope 2021 goes smoother.

But, as a author, there are many things to think about. If you’ve earned royalties, then you’ll need to file that. I do have some light at the end of that tunnel though, expenses…

Here are some of the expenses that an author can claim:

Writing Programs
Educational courses to help with writing
Office supplies – pens, paper, ink, notebooks, etc.
Subscriptions to writing sites or programs
Fees for book signings (Hopefully you were able to get some in before things changed)
Advertising
Computers (Remember to delegate the percentage you use it for writing.)

That’s just a small list. But, hopefully you did great this year and need to claim some expenses.

So, good writing and May God Bless You…

It’s So Simple… Just Write!

Good morning! Many writers worry about losing their writer mind. Not in a crazy loss of sense, but the loss of the words that flow from their mind. Well, I have good news.

Just Write!!! Write a little bit everyday. Even if it’s just a few words, write! Writing is like riding a bike, get back on when you fall off and keep going. You’ve got this!

Ok, now do you get it.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Bucket List… What’s on yours?

Wow, it’s already Thursday. Not to mention I turned 52 today. When did that happen? Since I’m talking about time flying, my bucket list is getting yellow and foggy. Let’s see what is left on that old list.

1: Go to Montana – Still working on that one. But one day I’ll make that dream come true…

2: Become a published author – I made this dream come true in 2012 and have never looked back!

3: Own a horse ranch – Look, a girl can dream. This may never happen, but it will stay on this list.

4: Own a Baby Grand piano – I spent 8 years learning classical piano, so yeah, it’s still on the list.

5: Own a business – Checked this one off in 1996! Started an accounting business and it’s been awesome.

6: Take a trip to Tuscany – Well, I haven’t physically been to Tuscany, but in my writing, I feel like I’ve been there. One day!

7: Marry the man of my dreams – I accomplished this in 1994 when I married my wonderful, handsome husband.

8: Have children – This came true in 1999 when I was blessed with an amazing son.

Well, I could go on and on, but my list is pretty long. I add to it every year. As you can see, I’ve made some come to life, and others will come one day. Or so I hope. But it never hurts to dream… Dreams can come true if you truly believe!

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

PS – Here’s how I went to Tuscany!

On the first day of December…

It’s the first day of December and I can’t believe it. In a year that’s been nothing short of crazy, beginning the official Christmas season is truly needed.

I’ve been a little off the grid for the last couple of days. Between holiday madness, online shopping, and a writing deadline, my brain was stretched. But, I’m back. And no, I’m not done with my Christmas shopping, but I’ve made the delivery guys really happy, just saying.

On Saturday, our family did our annual trip to the Christmas tree farm. And this year, well, I went big. Yep, I got a 10 foot tree and it’s almost that wide. It didn’t look that big in the middle of the tree farm. But once we got it home… My hubby and son just shook their heads. They knew… I didn’t…

Anyway, after many trips up and down the ladder, I got it decorated. Which is another reason I’ve been missing in action. I’ll share pictures of the finished project tomorrow once I finish putting out all of my treasured decorations. But for now, I’ll sip my coffee and watch the lights twinkle.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

If your story falls apart, use Duct Tape!

Duct tape is a house staple, just as salt, sugar and flour are food staples. For many years people have fixed almost everything with duct tape. At Church we even fixed a broken Christmas tree with duct tape, no really we did. It’s strong and durable. Also you can get it in any width and color so it’s versatile.

What if your story is falling apart? We all have those manuscripts that start out really good and we have a phenomenal ending planned, but the middle has so many holes and fractures that it puts a real stink on the beginning and ending. Well, put a little duct tape on it. What am I talking about? Well, here goes the answer in a nutshell.

By duct tape I mean sit down with your beginning and ending. Then really look at it. Where is the character headed? The middle needs some suspense or issue that needs to carry the reader over the hump to the end. It needs something that only the ending can shed some light on. This is where the duct tape comes in.

As I said above, duct tape is strong and durable with lots of versatility, so the middle of the book needs to be taped up neatly. But be careful not to just add fluffy filler that makes the reader fall asleep with boredom. If the first of the book is power packed, then make the middle explode with tension. This is the strong duct tape. Add an element of complete surprise. Let the main character have a major problem that needs solving, or maybe a secret that is threatening to come out, but the secret has to be life altering.

But make sure that it can mesh with your great ending. I did this one time and a book that started out being only around 30,000 words went over 50,000 words with a little duct tape application. Crazy, but true. I had this really great beginning that pulled you in and the ending left you breathless, but the middle was just a bunch of fluff. As I did my first read through I was almost dozing and that’s not good. I sat down and spread out the beginning and ending, then totally restructured my characters. I added a whole new dimension to them that took them on an adventure that meshed well with the ending and soon I had a complete story that I was proud to hit the publish button on.

So, get you some duct tape and pull that story together. If you use the right duct tape it will hold together nicely.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

In the Right Order…Or NOT!

Happy Thanksgiving week! It’s Monday, so forgive me if I ramble a bit. After a busy weekend, I need multiple cups of coffee just to get my eyes open. But, for now, let’s talk writing.

Do you have to do things in the right order? Well, it’s according to what you’re doing. You can’t bake a cake before you make the batter. You can’t ice a cake before you bake it.

With writing, you can write the ending before you write the beginning. How? For some writers, they have to get the last scene written in order to get a grip on the first three fourths.

I’ve posted several things on outlines and writing technique. And I’ve always said, put your ideas together, so that you know where you’re headed. Before you ask, yes, I’ve written the last scene of a book first. Of course, when I did, the ending changed slightly as the first parts were written and put in place.

Since I write in Scrivener, sometimes I go ahead and put in the Chapter heads that go with my outline first. That way I can write different scenes ahead of time. If I get stuck on a certain part, sometimes skipping ahead helps to beat writers block.

The goal of the post is to let you know, it’s alright to write your book in the wrong order. Just make sure that it fits together like a puzzle. The pieces need to fit, but not forced.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Podcast coming…

Yes, you heard me right. I took the Podcast plunge. The Coffee & A Good Book podcast will be up and going soon. I’ll keep all of you updated. I’m excited and nervous, all at the same time. Being in front of the camera is out of my comfort zone, way out of it. But in front of the microphone, I feel a little less intimidated. We’ll see how it goes.

The podcast will feature author interviews, book reviews, lots of coffee talk, NO POLITICS, romance talks, writing talk, and more book talk than you can get through a short podcast… If you’ve followed my blog for very long, you know how much I love writing, books and coffee. So, this made me want to keep the talk going, but this time in a different format.

Keep watching for the release date. I can’t wait to connect with everyone.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Step out of your comfort zone…

Alright, every writer knows what I’m talking about when I say, to publish your manuscript, you have to step out of your comfort zone. It’s that moment that you hit submit… Your body trembles… You begin to sweat… You rethink everything in your manuscript… Did I change that dialogue? Did I correct that misspelled word? Did I send it to the right place?

We’ve all felt it and for me, every time I hit submit, I still go through all of these feelings. Even after over 45 romances published, it never gets easier. But it starts to get more satisfying.

So, if you have a manuscript that you’re just holding on to, put it out there. It can’t soar if you don’t. Let your book step out in the light and breathe.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Wednesday giggles…

Have you ever been writing and went back to read over what you’d written? Sometimes you have to sit back and go, what the heck was I thinking…

I had one of those moments just now. It was a LOL moment. I have no clue what I was trying to say, but I had to delete almost a whole paragraph.

That’s why we edit, edit, and edit some more. Then we send to an editor, then edit some more. Sometimes I really think I’m drunk when I write some of my words. But, as I’ve said a thousand times, it’s a rough draft people.

So, happy Wednesday people…

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

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