The Pleasure of Writing
Thursday, January 31, 2008
“There is more pleasure to building castles in the air than on the ground.” Edward Gibbon
Why do I Blog?
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Some agents say a blog or website will help you get noticed, some say it will make no difference at all. It doesn’t really matter to me which is the case. I got into blogging to get to know and learn from agents and other authors. If I get noticed because of it, then lucky for me, but that is not the reason I am doing it. I plan to go through the usual means of trying to find an agent, by going to conferences, sending out query letters and learning from agents and writers who blog.
I can’t imagine being a writer without the internet. What a useful thing it is for writers. I plan to use this valuable resource.
It is true you won’t see me rambling about my personal life, not that it’s a bad thing if you're one who does, some people need an outlet. Which is perfectly fine with me, I don't mind, really I don't. That's just not me....And you won’t see me blogging every day either. Writing comes first for me, only because I am slightly obsessed.
I can’t imagine being a writer without the internet. What a useful thing it is for writers. I plan to use this valuable resource.
It is true you won’t see me rambling about my personal life, not that it’s a bad thing if you're one who does, some people need an outlet. Which is perfectly fine with me, I don't mind, really I don't. That's just not me....And you won’t see me blogging every day either. Writing comes first for me, only because I am slightly obsessed.
How a novel came to life…
Friday, January 25, 2008
It seems I have always had several stories twirling about inside my head, but for reasons even I don’t understand, I never thought of actually writing them down.
I have always been involved in many sorts of creative outlets for my imagination: everything from painting watercolors to intense enhancement of photographs using Photoshop. I have sold my paintings successfully on eBay, and worked many years as a portrait photographer.
After many years of playing as an artist, I’ve realized I can write down all of those stories constantly playing through the stages of my mind. Stories that have been for my own personal entertainment, I now realize I should share them. It’s about time, really.
FATEFUL did haunt me more than the others dancing through my thoughts, and because of that, I finally got the idea that maybe I should be writing it down. Still, I was hesitant. At that point, I had a clear vision of the beginning of my book and a basic plot for the entire thing, but I didn’t have the big climactic ending. I knew if I didn’t have that, I had nothing.
So, strange as it may sound, I prayed for it to come to me. And even stranger, it came! Maybe those of you who are religious will understand…Anyway, after that point, I had the beginning and the end. And from there, it was just a matter of filling the space in between. I was actually quite surprised as to how easily it came to me. I never suffered a writer’s block, and I wrote a 115,000 word novel, and about a third of a sequel in the span of only two months. The story just came at me so fast and so hard, I couldn’t stop it.
That being said, it wasn’t really a piece of cake for me to write this novel. I was forced to type as fast as I could to get the ideas down that seemed to flying at me faster than I could actually type. Writing something that fast, pretty much guarantees that you’ve made a lot of mistakes. I knew there were a lot of typing errors, so I then took the next 3-5 months to edit, polish and finish the book. After about 5-6 months I had it done, along with a good 6-7 chapter start on the sequel.
The editing process was a great deal of work, but I was blessed to have help from friends, family, some experts (An English major/teacher, and a former editor from Covenant Publishing.) I even got help from members of the local book club. I was also lucky enough to get the honest input from people who didn’t know me personally, but had heard about the book and wanted to read it. I am grateful to all of my friends and family who didn’t hold back, and were willing to honestly tell me what they liked and didn’t like, and offer suggestions. I couldn’t take everyone’s advice but what I did incorporate, after putting my own spin on it, did help to strengthen my book.
I have always been involved in many sorts of creative outlets for my imagination: everything from painting watercolors to intense enhancement of photographs using Photoshop. I have sold my paintings successfully on eBay, and worked many years as a portrait photographer.
After many years of playing as an artist, I’ve realized I can write down all of those stories constantly playing through the stages of my mind. Stories that have been for my own personal entertainment, I now realize I should share them. It’s about time, really.
FATEFUL did haunt me more than the others dancing through my thoughts, and because of that, I finally got the idea that maybe I should be writing it down. Still, I was hesitant. At that point, I had a clear vision of the beginning of my book and a basic plot for the entire thing, but I didn’t have the big climactic ending. I knew if I didn’t have that, I had nothing.
So, strange as it may sound, I prayed for it to come to me. And even stranger, it came! Maybe those of you who are religious will understand…Anyway, after that point, I had the beginning and the end. And from there, it was just a matter of filling the space in between. I was actually quite surprised as to how easily it came to me. I never suffered a writer’s block, and I wrote a 115,000 word novel, and about a third of a sequel in the span of only two months. The story just came at me so fast and so hard, I couldn’t stop it.
That being said, it wasn’t really a piece of cake for me to write this novel. I was forced to type as fast as I could to get the ideas down that seemed to flying at me faster than I could actually type. Writing something that fast, pretty much guarantees that you’ve made a lot of mistakes. I knew there were a lot of typing errors, so I then took the next 3-5 months to edit, polish and finish the book. After about 5-6 months I had it done, along with a good 6-7 chapter start on the sequel.
The editing process was a great deal of work, but I was blessed to have help from friends, family, some experts (An English major/teacher, and a former editor from Covenant Publishing.) I even got help from members of the local book club. I was also lucky enough to get the honest input from people who didn’t know me personally, but had heard about the book and wanted to read it. I am grateful to all of my friends and family who didn’t hold back, and were willing to honestly tell me what they liked and didn’t like, and offer suggestions. I couldn’t take everyone’s advice but what I did incorporate, after putting my own spin on it, did help to strengthen my book.
The Right Word
Thursday, January 24, 2008
“The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.” ~ Mark Twain
Here's one I learned from Leslie Charteris, so maybe it's an old one, but I like it...
Untrammeled:
Not confined or limited (Dictionary.com)
or Not hampered or impeded; free (Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary)
What do you think? Is an untrammeled writer a good writer?
In art class, I was taught that I should be loose and free with my pencil. I'm finding that to be true with writing as well. At least for me it works that way. It flows better for me when I try to be unconfined and unlimited, or should I say untrammeled?
Here's one I learned from Leslie Charteris, so maybe it's an old one, but I like it...
Untrammeled:
Not confined or limited (Dictionary.com)
or Not hampered or impeded; free (Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary)
What do you think? Is an untrammeled writer a good writer?
In art class, I was taught that I should be loose and free with my pencil. I'm finding that to be true with writing as well. At least for me it works that way. It flows better for me when I try to be unconfined and unlimited, or should I say untrammeled?