Archive for the ‘On writing’ Category
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Connecting with symbolism
Friday, April 16th, 2010
My language arts class is reading We Were Not Alone by Patricia Reece Roper and Karola Hilbert Reece. The students are writing stories from their lives containing symbolism and showing a time they were courageous. We are discussing the elements of story such as character, description using the five senses, and discovering the main character's [...]
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A high from submitting
Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010
I get such a high from submitting, even querying. You would think after almost 100 rejections, I wouldn’t like submitting. But each time I submit, I think, this could be the one. This could be it. This agent and/or editor could love my story. I’m working on my 22nd revision of A Kiss and a [...]
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I’m alive and well
Wednesday, February 17th, 2010
I’m making another commitment to blog regularly. I haven’t decided if that’s once a month or once a week. As a “writer” I feel a lot of pressure to come up with something brilliant and profound and have it sound perfect. Oh, that’s because I’m a perfectionist. Until I come up with brilliant, profound, and [...]
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Don’t you wish you could write a book like “Twilight”?
Monday, November 23rd, 2009
Then include characters who respect each other and wait until marriage to have sex. Include characters who desire to improve. And include a female in distress who is rescued and fought over between to very attractive and worthy opponents. A study from the University of Missouri found that teen girls desire abstinence and romance. Here’s [...]
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Connections
Tuesday, September 29th, 2009
We read and write to make connections. C.S. Lewis said, “We read to know we are not alone.” This is one of my favorite quotes. I’d like to add that we also write to know we are not alone and to discover ourselves. In a book I love the moment when I realize the character/author [...]
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Revision or creation
Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009
I prefer revision to creating the first draft. But I can’t revise a story I haven’t created. I’m struggling with spitting out another draft of the Robbers’ Rhyme story. It’s almost like creating another first draft because I created a new outline and changed the plot. When creating the first draft I need a word [...]
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“Literature Is My Utopia” Helen Keller
Monday, September 14th, 2009
This weekend, I attended an SCBWI conference in Boise titled, “Literature Is My Utopia.” I assisted in planning and arranging and then presented at the conference. It was awesome. Like Lin Oliver said, “SCBWI is my utopia.” I love visiting with other writers. Association with all those great literary people helps me to take myself [...]
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Your girlfriend may not wait…
Thursday, April 9th, 2009
“Your girlfriend may not wait, but your wife will.” That’s advice from my husband as I’ve received rejections sprinkled with bits of encouragement. It’s the same advice he received when he went on a mission. The agent and editor are still out there, waiting to be found. Here’s what I’m looking for in an agent [...]
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Love at first sight
Friday, March 13th, 2009
Love at first sight, rags to riches, a best-selling novel dug out of the slush pile. These ideas are the stuff of dreams and legend, but rarely reality. Or at least that’s my hope. I fell in love with my husband over time, we work hard for an income and try to spend it wisely, [...]
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Writing a synopsis
Friday, February 27th, 2009
I’ve heard that writing a synopsis can be harder that writing a novel. While that is obviously not true (writing and revising A Kiss and a Curse took over a year and the synopsis has taken a couple of days), it was difficult to condense the book into two pages of the best words to [...]