Thursday, March 31, 2022

Prepping for my next Writer's Retreat

During my last Writer's Retreat, I made a post mortem list of things to do the next time. One of the biggest items on the list was a full-size keyboard for my Surface Pro. 

I settled on the Arteck Universal Bluetooth Keyboard.

Here are the features that helped me decide
  • Full-size and good key action
  • Bluetooth and wireless
  • Works with my Surface Pro, iPhone, and PC
  • Lightweight and durable
  • Rechargeable via USB, even a car charger
  • Long battery life
  • Great Price!  $29.99
The other thing I will be taking to the Writer's Retreat will be the chair from my office. Gotta keep my butt from falling asleep!

--Getting excited!



Wednesday, March 30, 2022

Quotes of the Week


When I get an idea for a song it would gel in my mind for weeks or months, and then one day just like that, Ill write it. 
—Johnny Cash

I don't want life to imitate art. I want life to be art.  
—Carrie Fisher

And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.
—Friedrich Nietzsche

The writer’s, duty is to help man endure by lifting his heart.
—William Faulkner

A writer, like an athlete, must “train” every day. What did I do today to keep in “form”?
—Susan Sontag

A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one.
—George RR Martin

There is no friend as loyal as a book.
—Ernest Hemingway

The man who does not read has no advantage over the man who cannot read.
—Mark Twain

Don't write what you think people want to read. Find your voice and write about what's in your heart.
—Quentin Tarantino

Description begins in the writer’s imagination, but should finish in the reader's.
—Stephen King

Tuesday, March 29, 2022

Seven Years ago today...

Seven years ago today, my first novel, STILL FALLING, was released. I had no idea then how much it would change my life.

I was just drinking coffee and making stuff up.

I kept writing. I will as long as it's fun. I'm still a two-finger typist and it pains people I know who have seen me typing. I still suck at spelling and punctuation but I have software and excellent editors that make me look good.

Mostly I have stories in my mind. It's getting them on paper that is harder than you can imagine. Some parts of that process are pure joy. Other parts require discipline and coffee to make it happen.

The parts no one warned me about were all the things I'd have to do that were not writing at all. The business side.  The production side. Now all my books are published in Kindle, Paperback, Hardback, and Audio editions. Each edition type is a separate project with its own checklist. Add cover and interior design, editing, reviewing, formatting, publishing, and marketing to those lists.

I love being an Indie Author as well. It allows me to keep control of my Intellectual Property. But I am responsible for everything getting done. It works for me as I am also a control freak.

I don't do it alone either. That's another thing I didn't expect seven years ago. Here is a partial list of the people who all work for me now: Editors, Illustrators, Cover Designers, Producers, Narrators, Accountants, Lawyers, Proof Readers, Translators, Web Developers, Beta Readers, and Marketers.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention my writer's group, The Hourlings. Without them, none of this would have happened.

Here's to the next seven years. Drink Coffee. Make Stuff Up.





Wednesday, March 23, 2022

Quote of the Week

There is no friend as loyal as a book.
—Ernest Hemingway

The man who does not read has no advantage over the man who cannot read.
—Mark Twain

Don't write what you think people want to read. Find your voice and write about what's in your heart.
—Quentin Tarantino

A professional writer is an amateur who didn't quit.
—Richard Bach

Remember we are mortal, but poetry is not.
—Patti Smith

Style is a very simple matter; it is all rhythm. Once you get that, you can’t use the wrong words.
—Virginia Woolf

Description begins in the writer’s imagination, but should finish in the reader's.
—Stephen King

Wednesday, March 16, 2022

Quotes of the Week

There is no rule on how to write. Sometimes it comes easily and perfectly; sometimes it's like drilling rock and then blasting it out with charges.
—Ernest Hemingway

Writing comes from reading, and reading is the finest teacher of how to write.
—Annie Proulx

Getting the first draft done is like pushing a peanut with your nose across a very dirty floor.
—Joyce Carol Oates

I put a coma in this morning, took it out this afternoon.
—Oscar Wilde

There is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it.
—Alfred Hitchcock

Anything that gets your blood raging is probably worth writing.
—Hunter Thompson

Play around. Dive into absurdity and write. Take chances. You will succeed if you are fearless of failure. 
—Natalie Goldberg

Get it down. Take chances. It may be bad, but it’s the only way you can write anything good.
—William Faulkner

A good writer is basically a storyteller, not a scholar or a redeemer of mankind.
—Isaac B. Singer


Tuesday, March 15, 2022

Pixar Tips

These rules were originally tweeted by Emma Coates, Pixar’s Story Artist. Number 9 on the list - When you’re stuck, make a list of what wouldn’t happen next – is a great one and can apply to writers in all genres.

1. You admire a character for trying more than for their successes.

2. You gotta keep in mind what’s interesting to you as an audience, not what’s fun to do as a writer. They can be very different.

3. Trying for a theme is important, but you won’t see what the story is actually about til you’re at the end of it. Now rewrite.

4. Once upon a time there was ___. Every day, ___. One day ___. Because of that, ___. Because of that, ___. Until finally ___.

5. Simplify. Focus. Combine characters. Hop over detours. You’ll feel like you’re losing valuable stuff but it sets you free.

6. What is your character good at, comfortable with? Throw the polar opposite at them. Challenge them. How do they deal?

7. Come up with your ending before you figure out your middle. Seriously. Endings are hard, get yours working upfront.

8. Finish your story, let go even if it’s not perfect. In an ideal world you have both, but move on. Do better next time.

9. When you’re stuck, make a list of what WOULDN’T happen next. Lots of times the material to get you unstuck will show up.

10. Pull apart the stories you like. What you like in them is a part of you; you’ve got to recognize it before you can use it.

11. Putting it on paper lets you start fixing it. If it stays in your head, a perfect idea, you’ll never share it with anyone.

12. Discount the 1st thing that comes to mind. And the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th – get the obvious out of the way. Surprise yourself.

13. Give your character's opinions. Passive/malleable might seem likable to you as you write, but it’s poison to the audience.

14. Why must you tell THIS story? What’s the belief burning within you that your story feeds off of? That’s the heart of it.

15. If you were your character, in this situation, how would you feel? Honesty lends credibility to unbelievable situations.

16. What are the stakes? Give us a reason to root for the character. What happens if they don’t succeed? Stack the odds against.

17.No work is ever wasted. If it’s not working, let go and move on – it’ll come back around to be useful later.

18. You have to know yourself: the difference between doing your best & fussing. The story is testing, not refining.

19. Coincidences to get characters into trouble are great; coincidences to get them out of it are cheating.

20. Exercise: take the building blocks of a movie you dislike. How d’you rearrange them into what you DO like?

21. You gotta identify with your situation/characters, can’t just write ‘cool’. What would make YOU act that way?

22. What’s the essence of your story? Most economical telling of it? If you know that, you can build out from there.

Wednesday, March 9, 2022

Quotes of the Week

I can shake off everything as I write; my sorrows disappear, my courage is reborn.
—Anne Frank

Don't be seduced into thinking that that which does not make a profit is without value.
—Arthur Miller

The purpose of art is to lay bare the questions that have been hidden by the answers.
—James Baldwin

Nothing will stop you being creative so effectively as the fear of making a mistake.
—John Cleese

It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation.
—Herman Melville



 

Wednesday, March 2, 2022

Quotes of the Week


The purpose of art is to lay bare the questions that have been hidden by the answers.
—James Baldwin

Nothing will stop you being creative so effectively as the fear of making a mistake.
—John Cleese

It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation.
—Herman Melville

Remember you love writing. It wouldn't be worth it if you didn't. If the love fades, do what you need to and get it back.
—A.L. Kennedy

Women want love to be a novel, men a short story.
—Daphne Du Maurier

Write freely and as rapidly as possible and throw the whole thing on paper. Never correct or rewrite until the whole thing is down.
—John Steinbeck