Declutter

This is my post for Day 11 of the 15 Habits of Great Writers challenge.

The challenge

So let’s declutter today, shall we? In every sense of the word. I want you to do two things:

1. Clean up your space. Spend some time (at least five minutes, but no more than 30) doing the following: clear off the desk, sharpen your pencils, put your files in order, take out the trash, wash the dishes, whatever. Do what you need to do to feel better about the place where you do your work.
2. Cut your writing down to its purest essence. Turn a 500-word article into 250 words. If you’re brave, convert 1000 words into 300. Take away everything but exactly what you want to say. Eliminate weak, lazy words like “that” and “things” and anything you don’t absolutely need. Then say what you have to say and be done with it.

I would love to clean up my writing space, but I don't have a writing space. I use my laptop, in my lap, while sitting on the couch. That's where I write. Most of my house, I will admit, is very cluttered. But my couch isn't. I keep most of my notes on the computer, and I have already "cleaned" those notes up into folders. I am debating using a program like Scrivener to keep my notes for each writing project in a more easily searchable place. If anyone reading this uses Scrivener (or another program), I would love to hear what you think of it and in what ways it has helped you organize, if it has helped.


Cutting my writing down to its purest essence was something I used to really struggle with in the past. But then I started entering flash fiction contests. Believe me, when you have to write a story, with a beginning, middle and end, within 300 words, you learn very quickly how to clean up any unnecessary clutter from your writing! Finding a way to write a complete story in 300 words or 500 words while still making it something gripping and magical to the reader is not easy but well worth the time, as it is an invaluable means for practice in writing clean.


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Share

This is my post for Day 10 of the 15 Habits of Great Writers challenge.

The challenge

Find someone whose message we need to hear and share it on your blog or via Twitter or Facebook. Wherever people are listening to you (even just a few), use that opportunity to talk about someone else.

This is another challenge that I already do regularly. When I find a blog post with a strong message that I feel should be shared, or when one of my friends writes and publishes another book, I share it on Facebook and Twitter and sometimes blog about it too.


One of those friends is Barbara Mack (also known as Barbara Rose).  I met Barbara many years ago when we were both on-line shopkeepers and designers with a print-on-demand company. (We both still are on-line shopkeepers and designers.) She has been a faithful friend and I am constantly amazed by her intelligence, her writing ability and her generous heart. She has cookbooks, historical romance novels, a vampire novel and a YA novel available on Amazon.

A newer friend of mine is Jo Michaels. Jo and I met through the Author Blog Challenge. She is one of those giving people who has been commenting on not just all of my blog posts during the challenge, but other blog posts by me not related to the challenge and others' blog posts for the challenge as well. She has written a children's chapter book called The Abigale Chronicles. She has also written a historical fiction novel called Yassa.


I have several friends who have recently seen their way into publication. Justin Bogdonovitch (aka Justin Bog) has published his collection of short stories called Sandcastle and Other Stories.  Not only is he a terrific writer, but he is also a generous soul who always has kind things to say about everyone. He has the most gorgeous dogs, and you can see more of them and other posts by Justin on his blog.


Tonya Cannariato recently published her book Dust to Blood. She is also a blogger and I love reading her posts. She reviews books and she has a really funny sense of humor. I recommend having a read through her blog. She's also a generous soul who is willing to help out her friends and never ask for anything in return. (There's a theme to my friends in that way; they are all clever, talented and kind-hearted.)


I know this is getting a little long-winded for a blog post. I have so many friends who are talented, creative, clever and sweet. (Lucky me, right?) So I will just briefly name a few more. There's Jane Isaac and her book An Unfamiliar Murder. There's Nicole Cook who is constantly tantalizing me with delicious recipes on her blog The Daily Dish Recipes. There's Erica Lucke Dean who is blogging her book Tales of the DayWalkers. There's Kelly Stone Gamble who is writing her historical novels, The Hoover Dam Trilogy. There's Dionne Lister and her novel Shadows of the Realm. There's Kriss Morton who has recently had her short story published in an anthology, and shares awesome recipes (usually involving bacon), Alaskan photography and book reviews. There's also Jeff Bennington who does Kindle Book Reviews and has many books to his name already.


Believe it or not, I could go on with even more friends to list who are just as talented, intelligent and wonderful as the ones I have already listed, but I know this blog post is already getting too long. So I may just have to share the rest at a later date. Please do go and check out all of these people and their books and blogs. They are all so talented that I promise it will be worth your time.


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Writing: Traditional or Indie Publishing?

This is my post for Day 16 of the Author Blog Challenge.


 
 Did you publish your book as a traditionally printed book, an eBook, or both? How did you come to your decision? Which company(ies) did you use for printing and distribution? How did you select them?

I haven't published my books yet. I have some calendars for sale on Lulu.com and my children have books for sale as both ebooks and print books in the book shop there.

I am planning on using Amazon for my books which will be available as traditionally printed books and Kindle books. Amazon has the widest distribution of all of the different self-publishing firms I have checke dout so far, and the cost is minimal. However, I will only use them if I decide to go the self-publishing route. I haven't decided yet whether I want to go the traditional publishing route or not yet.

I may have to when it comes to my children's picture books, but that is because I have no skill at all when it comes to drawing and am not capable of illustrating my own books. I tried to teach myself to draw, but the best I was able to do just wasn't good enough for the way I want my picture books represented. You can see my attempts at drawing on Designing Doodles. I still have fun trying to draw though.

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Connect

This is my post for Day 9 of the 15 Habits of Great Writers challenge.

"The challenge

Find a potential fan, friend, and patron (one of each) and reach out to them. Today. Don’t ask for anything but this person’s time. Don’t say no for them or apologize. Just ask. Make it an invitation to coffee (if a local connection) or to Skype. Do it and do it now before you lose the desire.

Then tell us how it went."


I am finding that sometimes these challenges are difficult for me, not because they are outside of the norm for me but because they are things I am already doing. I already make an effort to connect with others through Twitter, Facebook, within my community and in other ways. I have "fans" (although Facebook has now changed those to "likes." I have friends who share their thoughts with me and spend time with me, who listen to me and who I listen to. I also have friends who are not only successful authors, but generous authors willing to help with beta reading, with advice and just generally with their time. (Does that qualify them as patrons, since Jeff Goins described patrons as "These people — leaders and influencers in your industry — will help you grow your platform and get your message heard.") 

I am a member of two groups of writers on Triberr; most of my colleagues on Triberr are published authors. All of them are willing to help out with growing my platform and getting my message heard; that's kind of what Triberr is all about. Through those groups, my on-line reach has expanded by tens of thousands of people.


I've even reached out to writers in my locality by starting a Facebook group for writers in my county. It started by an idea formed when I became a minicipal liaison for my region on NaNoWriMo. Since then, my co-ML started a critique group for those of us in our region, and we meet once a month.


So I can safely say that I am already doing this challenge, and I don't feel the need to go do it extra just for the challenge. Seriously, I think I do pretty well at getting myself known, at socializing and meeting the right people. I find it easy as people, both on-line and off-line, are usually easy to like and more than helpful to a friend. I naturally help my friends out too, sometimes taking on more than I should, because I care about them. It's a mutual exchange and it works.


I find this whole concept of "connecting" to be a fairly simple and natural thing to do. The biggest challenge, for me, is to complete my books and get them published. I still haven't decided whether the traditional publishing method appeals to me or the indie publishing route appeals more to me. I guess (and hope) I'll figure it out by the time I have completed my manuscripts.


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Writing: Barbara Mack - my bibliophile friend

This is my post for Day 15 of the Author Blog Challenge.

Find someone you know, either online or in the real world, who is a true bibliophile and interview them about their reading habits. Ask questions such as:

• How many books do they buy per month?
• How many do they actually read?
• What do they read?
• Where do they buy their books?
• Who is their favorite author (do not take offense if it is not you – that’s not the point here).
• What do they like about the author?
• How often do they attend signings/readings? What do they enjoy about them?
• If they could ask their favorite author any question, what would it be?
• Which book has most recently surprised or delighted them?
• Of everything they’ve read so far this year, what would they most recommend?

photo by PS Dooley Photography

Barbara Mack, a personal friend of mine and godmother to my youngest son has offered to answer my questions. Barbara is also a published author and you can find her books under the names Barbara Mack and Barbara Rose (YA) on Amazon. She also happens to run a blog and forum of which the focus is primarily based on her love of books. It's called Barb's Bookshelf.

•How many books do you buy per month?Approximately 10, though it has gone as high as 30 before (when I was sick and could do nothing more strenuous than read).

•How many do you actually read?Everything I buy - occasionally I forget one or someone moves one and I can't find it, but if I buy it, I read it.

•What do you read?Absolutely everything. If it's well written and interesting, I read and enjoy, regardless of the genre.

•Where do you buy your books?Used book stores, Amazon (kindle and paper), and regular price bookstores.

•Who is your favorite author?Some of my favorites are James Lee Burke - a poet disguised as a mystery novelist - Mary Balogh, historical romance, and Joe Hill is one of my most recent faves.

•What do you like about the author?Their style and the way their words make me feel.

•How often do you attend signings/readings? What do you enjoy about them?Very occasionally - we don't get a lot of authors here.

•If you could ask your favorite author any question, what would it be?Well, it wouldn't be 'where do you get your ideas' or 'will you write my story for me'. ;)

•Which book has most recently surprised or delighted you?
Joe Hill's Heart Shaped Box.

 •Of everything you’ve read so far this year, what would you most recommend?
I don't think I could answer that, really. I could give you a list, but it would take too long to write out...


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Build

This is my post for Day 8 of the 15 Habits of Great Writers challenge.

"The challenge:

So let’s build something. You don’t need to start another project you’ll never finish. You already probably have enough of those. Instead, I want you to do something truly creative:

I want you to finish something. Anything, really. Just pick a project — an essay, a blog post, maybe even a book — and finish it. Not tomorrow. Today.

It should never take longer than 30 minutes to finish anything. If it does, you’re not breaking the project up into enough chunks. Which will lead to stalling, your worst enemy."

I just completed a blog post for the Author Blog Challenge, so I started and finished something today already. I start and finish writing goals every day, really. I blog frequently. I write short stories. I write chapters of my books. If I set out to write three chapters of whichever book I am currently working on, I will manage to finish those three chapters.

If I set my mind to do something, I get it done. I just need to be setting my mind towards writing more frequently when it come to my novels and my non-fiction book. Between this challenge and the Author Blog Challenge, along with the occasional short story I write, I am writing between 500 to 2,000 words a day. When these challenges are over, I am going to set my writing goal to write a minimum of 500 words a day and see where that takes me,

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Writing: Surprise and Memories

This is my post for Day 14 of the Author Blog Challenge.

"What has been the biggest surprise about writing/publishing your book? What has been the most enjoyable or most memorable aspect?"

I love the stories I am creating. While the writing of them, at times, can feel like work, it is usually, instead, very fun. I never know what idea will come out next. I start my stories by sitting and writing whatever story pops into my mind at the time and it is always enjoyable to see what comes out of it.

I'm surprised by how many ideas are swimming around in my head. When I write one story, another story idea will arrive while I'm still writing. It's both frustrating and wonderful at the same time.

The most enjoyable is when I bring a chapter to my critique group and they can't find anything wrong with it. It doesn't happen often, mind you, but when it does, it feels terrific!

The most memorable would be when I wrote 50,000 words in 14 days. I never knew I could achieve that high of a word count in such a short amount of time; never knew it, that is, until I did it. Now I try and believe that I can achieve anything I want to achieve through my writing.


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Start

This is my post for Day 7 of the 15 Habits of Great Writers challenge.


  

"The challenge

Everything starts ugly. You have to start. Make something ugly. And leave it ugly (temporarily). Be okay with it. Then share it with a few people you trust (feel free to use the comments here, if you like) and look for feedback. Find stuff you can improve and slowly move it towards beautiful."

Starting with something ugly. Hmmm. Yah, I'm already pretty good at this part of the challenge.


I started a new werewolf story. It's only about 3,000 words long so far and it's very, very rough. It needs a lot more detail and mood spun into it, as, right now, it is still very basic. It's almost like a slightly-more-detailed-than-average outline.


Despite this, I have shared it with some select friends and family members. I know it's far from perfect right now. But I wanted to let them get a feel for the type of story it will be, the type of story it is becoming.


Even in the ugliest sight, one can find traces of beauty.


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Writing: The Challenges

This is my post for Day 13 of the Author Blog Challenge.




What has been the most challenging part of your book process: writing, building the book, printing, distributing, marketing, etc.? What do you wish you’d known before you began?

My books are not at the printing and distributing stages yet, so I cannot accurately discuss how difficult or easy those stages might be. However, I can discuss other aspects of the book process.


Writing the book is not the most difficult part. I can say this even though I have not finished any of my books yet, because I love the writing part of the process. I enjoy creating something from nothing. I enjoy letting my imagination run free and creating people, creatures and entire worlds that have never before existed yet come to life as I write them.


"Building the book" is a process I associate more with non-fiction books. With my nonfiction book, I feel more like I am buiulding it and putting it together than imagining it into being. And I am finding it very difficult. But maybe, in the context of the question for the writing prompt above, building the book has more to do with having it bound and creating the Kindle and epub versions of it. I admit that I have not yet created a Kindle file and don't know anything about the process yet.


This post is a bit rambling, but I am not finding any of the processes mentioned in the question difficult, not really. I think the hardest thing about writing a book is believing in yourself enough to know that you can do it.


P.S. Yes, I already know that the above picture has nothing to do with this post topic, but it's cute, isn't it?

 
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Writing: Book Covers

This is my post for Day 12 of the Author Blog Challenge.

Describe your process for choosing and designing your book cover. Who created your cover? How did you find him/her? What do you love about your cover? What might you do differently next time?

This doesn't really apply to me as I don't have a cover for any of my books yet. Just for fun though, I took a photo from one of my husband's Fairy Magic photo manipulations and gave it the title of one of my short stories. (No, I do not intend to create my own book covers, but my books aren't finished yet, so it doesn't hurt for me to play.)

I do not know yet who I will have creating my book cover and, to be honest, I haven't even started looking for someone yet. My main goal right now is to get my books finished, edited and ready. Organizing a book cover for each of them will come later.

(P.S. The fairy above is one of my daughters, Angelica.)


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Steal

This is my post for Day 6 of the 15 Habits of Great Writers challenge.



  

"The challenge

Find a quote or a painting or some form of inspiration — and steal it. Make it your own. Attribute it — give credit where it’s due — but don’t be afraid to use it. Let someone else’s work springboard you into your own.


Give up on your pursuit of originality and genius and just find something that inspires you. Borrow from your friends and heroes and mash it all up into something that looks, feels, and sounds like you.


So let’s hear from you: What’s something you’ve stolen recently? Where did you find the inspiration?"

I don't know if this is what is intended by today's challenge, but I often use art to inspire the stories I write. For example, a beautiful drawing of a sad mermaid inspired me to write a sad mermaid story to match the picture (picture not shown).  And a sculpture of a wood sprite inspired a story about one.

I also read a lot of vampire, fairy and werewolf fiction which is why vampires, fairies and werewolves (along with other mythical and paranormal creatures) turn up so frequently in my writing. I'm sure that I draw on knowledge gleaned while reading these stories in order to write my own. It's impossible not to.

It was only after I wrote most of a YA novel of mine about a girl who can see through dimensions and has to fight creatures that come through to her dimension that I started to notice the similarities in the story to the show "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." In no way is it the same story; however, my main character is a girl who fights all sorts of creatures and demons, she has a group of friends who help her and she frequently has to save the world, even though she is just a youthful teenager. (That's pretty much where the similarities end though.)

I think it is virtually impossible to not have the things we read and watch on tv or at the movies influence our imaginaton when we write. And that isn't a bad thing. As long as our stories are still our own and are written in our own voices, as long as we don't take too much from what we read and watch, then we can let our imaginations play with the inspiration we gather from it all.


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Writing: The Editing Process

This is my post for Day 11 of the Author Blog Challenge.

Describe your editing process. Who edited your book? What was your relationship with your editor like? What could each of you have done to improve it? What might you do differently in the future?


This is going to be a short post by me. I don't have an editor. I have a critique group, but no actual editor. I would love ot have an editor to work on my books. A good editor is worth more than gold!

But, since I don't have an editor, I write a chapter or two of one of my novels and send it off to my local critique group. We then meet once a month and we all give each other our advice and notes that we took while critiquing each others' work.  Some of it is helpful. Some of it might not be helpful, but I usually am able to take something of use away from each meeting.

Then I go back to my novel, keeping the suggestions in mind, and start working on revising.

I've joined some on-line critique groups too. Even if I find an editor for my writing, I will probably go to my critique groups first.


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Prepare

This is my post for Day 5 of the 15 Habits of Great Writers challenge.

"The challenge

See #1. Ship it. Put something out there, anything. Don’t wait; move something forward.


You don’t need to know everything, just the next step. If it’s a big project, you don’t have to finish the whole thing; just finish part of it. But for crying out loud, do something.


Then tell us about it."

This is something I have been working on for most of the year. My novels are not finished yet, but I have started the process of getting what is written so far critiqued and revised.  I've done my best to start entering my short stories into competitions and challenges to see if anything will come of it and to improve on my writing through the practice.

My newest project is the non-fiction one that is really still in the idea stage right now. It will be written as something to complement my weight loss, fitness and healthy living blog Skinny Dreaming. I will happily take any suggestions anyone would like to leave me on how I should format the thing and on what types of content I should cover. My blog includes my weight loss story, inspirational stories about others' weight losses, informative articles on recent research into health and fitness, tips to aid with weight loss and healthy recipes.  Many people have suggested that I write this book, but writing a non-fiction book is a new experience for me, so I think I have been stuck in the planning stage for it for a little too long. And, as this is all about preparing and letting people know about what will be forthcoming from us, I will post about this project over on my Skinny Dreaming blog too.

The fiction book that is closest to completion is my children's chapter book, "The Magic Necklace." I wrote the book, realized it needed more story to it, so am adding in the finishing touches to the story before it goes into final edits. So, to move this forward, I will have the complete story, with the added in parts, done by the end of the weekend.


How are your writing projects coming along?


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Writing: Critique Groups

This is my post for Day 10 of the Author Blog Challenge.



NaNoWriMo 2011 group meet-up

Have you participated in a critique groups? If so, how did it work out for you? If not, why have you avoided them to this point?

It is only recently that I started seeking out critique groups. I've participated in NaNoWriMo for three years now and been a municiple liaison for my region for the last two of those years. In November of 2011, our meet-ups progressed into forming a critique group called Swindon Free Writers which meets up the first Saturday of every month. It has actually been very helpful for me in showing me where my weaknesses are in my writing and where my strengths are.

I also joined the 12 x 12 in 2012 picture book writing challenge this year, and through the Facebook group, joined a critique group of about 6 people. It has helped me immensely as it showed me just how little I knew about writing picture books and has really helped me to step up my game when it comes to writing picture books. I have learned so much through the challenge and the critique group.

Also, in the Chapter Book Challenge, a lot of us got together in the Facebook group and started sending our stories to one another for critique, ideas and general support. I'm happy to say that one of our members has signed her book series up with an agent now, and, having read her story, I know it is good and I have every belief that we will be seeing her book available to buy on the shelves very soon!

I do believe that, with all of the writing that I am trying to get done, I sometimes take too long to get to the critiques I owe the members of my critique groups. It takes time to give a decent critique of someone's writing. And you need to know enough on the genre they are writing in to be of any help with your critique.

You also need a thick skin. Some of the critiques you get back from people will not be what you want to hear. Most of the time though, I find that my critique partners tell me the things I expect to hear, things that I am already aware I need to work on in the story, so they help me to confirm my own writer-instincts.

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Practice

This is my post for Day 4 of the 15 Habits of Great Writers challenge.

"The challenge

Find a way to practice in public. Here are a few ideas:

• Pitch a magazine you want to write for. Follow some of the templates in You Are a Writer. This article might help, too.
• Ask a friend (or stranger) to guest post on his/her blog. Here’s another useful post.
• Publish something on your blog you’ve never shared with anyone. Take a risk (we’ll be doing more of this soon).
• Submit that book proposal. Don’t “work on it.” Finish it. Send it off. And say a little prayer."

These suggestions aren't things I can do overnight. But here is the plan.


I haven't really been considering writing for magazines much lately. I already write for a monthly publication, but as that is only monthly, it wouldn't hurt for me to research which magazines would be a good fit for my writing style and pitch to them. I already have some ideas for topics.


Anyone want me to guest post on their blog? Give me a topic and I'll come up with something! (that would fulfill idea number 2 above, and I must admit, I like to guest post on others' blogs as it opens my writing style up to the scrutiny of a different segment of people.


I can not think of what I could share here that I have never shared with anyone. Those of you who know me on Twitter and Facebook may have noticed that I talk a lot. I am not really a very private person and have no problem sharing pretty much everything about my life. The only thing I really never talk about is my first marriage. (It was a disaster and feels like a different life now.)

My novels are not complete. I am writing daily in order to complete them, but they still have a long way to go. Only one of them was finished, and after sneding it off for edits, I have found that it needs a lot more writing done on it. I have researched a place that will let me submit the first five pages of my unfinished manuscript though and will be doing this as soon as I have completed the edits on those pages. (They have to be as good as I am capable of making them!)


And since this part of the challenge is supposed to be about practicing in public, I have decided to link to some older posts of mine that I believe are worth reading, even though many of them are from different blogs of mine.

Teaching Our Children to Have the Courage to Dream

Ten Ways to Inspire Your Child to Write

The Courage to Dream

Finding Magic In Everyday Life

Kick Self-Doubt to the Curb

Ten Things Children Can Teach Us About Staying Active

Number One Tip for Making Your Dreams Come True

How to Keep Fairy Magic Alive for Your Children

We Need to Be Healthy for our Kids

You Are Beautiful NOW!

Making Choices

Dads, How Are You Raising Your Princesses?

Prince Charming?

You've Lost Your Muchness

See the World Through Fairy Eyes

Why We Need to Believe In a Bit of Fairy Magic

Feel free to read one or all of the posts. They are posts found on my author blog, my health and fitness blog, my princess blog and my fairy blog. If you decide to read any of the posts, please leave me a comment!

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Writing: Alternate Realities and Fiction Verses Non-Fiction

This is my post for Day 9 of the Author Blog Challenge.



   If your book is fiction, how could you change it to make it a nonfiction book? If your book is nonfiction, what could you do to turn it into a story? Hollywood has done it (What to expect When You’re Expecting; He’s Just Not That Into You), so how could you do the same thing?

Several of the books I am writing are fiction. I really don't see how any of them could become nonfiction, unless we lived in an alternate reality where vampires, werewolves, fairies and other mythical creatures existed. I fn this were the case, I suppose I would be writing non-fiction book swith titles such as "How to avoid being eaten by vampires or turning into one" or "How to date a werewolf" or "How to begin living a magical life in the world of the fae."  But we don't live in that alternate reality, so my stories will continue to be fiction.

My non-fiction book about living a healthy lifestyle, titled Skinny Dreaming (after my blog of that name) could become a fiction story if it was based around a woman trying to lose weight and change her life, but I'd probably have to throw some humorous encounters and a romance in there somewhere to make it more interesting as a fiction piece. (And the character would have to be very different from me as I am not very funny.)

But the truth is, neither my fiction stories or my non-fiction book are meant to be anythign other than what they are. And that's how I like them.

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Initiative

This is my post for Day 3 of the 15 Habits of Great Writers challenge.



  The challenge: Choose yourself. Then, I want you to start something you’re scared of.

I am already doing this. Joining a critique group was scary. Letting others read my stories (in the critique group and here on the blog) was scary.  Submitting my stories to competitions was scary. Letting my family read my stories was scary. (I have a lot of writers in my immediate family.) Letting my friends read my stories was scary.

I promised myself that I would spend this year writing, improving my writing and sharing my writing.  Until this year, I never shared my writing with anyone, with the exception of my blog posts. I was too afraid that my writing wasn't worthwhile and that people would think less of me because I wasn't good enough.  I still struggle with self-doubt. I still think, when someone makes a nice comment about something I wrote, that they might just be trying to be kind.

I know I still have a lot to learn when it comes to my writing. I want my novels published and out there already, but I know they aren't ready yet. That's why I have started writing short stories. Some of my short stories are better than others, but I am sharing them and finding out what people think, and, hopefully, learning something about my writing in the process.


And the best part about all of this writing and sharing of my writing is that I am starting to find my voice.

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Writing: Research Verses Imagination

This is my post for Day 8 of the Author Blog Challenge.


   Describe the research process for your book. Did you interview people? Travel? How prominent a role did the Internet play? If you didn’t do new research, how did you learn what you needed to know to write your book?

My books are fiction, and they are not set in the real world, although they are meant to seem as if they are, indeed, a part of the real world. They all have elements of the paranormal and magical in them, so instead of research, I have to rely very heavily on imagination. I do research fantasy creatures and myths, depending on the story I am writing. If I am writing a story with wiccans in it, I will research ingredients for spells and the different properties in those ingredients. If I am writing a story with a character who is a strict Catholic, I will research the religion in order to get my portrayal of the character right. If I am writing a story about vampires, I will research the folklore regarding vampires. But after the research is done, imagination takes over; otherwise my creatures would be just like everyone else's.

I do read a lot of novels in the genre I write. It helps to generate ideas. It helps me to see current trends in the genre. It helps me to see what works in the genre and what doesn't work. I don't think anyone should write in a genre that they rarely or never read. You have to have love for a subject to be able to write really passionately about it, and if your novel doesn't have passion, your readers won't feel moved by it.

In contrast, in the non-fiction book I am writing on health and weight loss, I am conducting a lot of research on the topic, along with interviewing others who, like me, have managed to lose a large amount of weight and keep it off. I am reading research papers and medical journals on the topic as well. If I want this book to be helpful and informative, then I need to make sure I know as much about the topic as I possibly can. I have lived a healthy lifestyle, lost over 145 lbs of excess fat and maintained the weight loss through a healthy diet and exercise regime, which accounts for part of my research - research through living it - but I owe it to my readers to keep them as informed as possible on not just my own knowledge of the subject, but on the current knowledge from the experts.

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Lise & Nat: The Sun & the Night - a flash fiction story for the Forbidden Love Blog Hop

This is written for the Forbidden Love Blog Hop. This flash fiction challenge is stated as:

The phrase 'star-crossed lovers' was coined in the prologue of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet:

"From forth the fatal loins of these two foes,
A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life"

We're leaving the term open to interpretation.

You can put your own spin on a classic story

Create a modern retelling

Craft your very own modern star-crossed lovers.

Plus, you can close your story with any ending you like. Give your lovers a set of matching tombstones or a running chance at Happily Ever After. Their fate is in your hands!

It has to be 300 words or less.

Lyse & Nat:
A Story of a Forbidden Love Between a Fairy of the Sun & a Creature of the Night

300 words

Lise was a child of the Sun.  Its warmth and radiance favored her species of fairy, and she reveled in its light. One day, she was so engrossed in dancing and playing that the night fell upon her before she even realized it was getting late. Startled by the darkness creeping up and weakened from the lack of the Sun’s rays, she turned for home but found her way blocked.

A tall figure stood before her. His skin was pale and his eyes were dark. He wore all black, shrouding himself in a cloak of shadows. He smiled at her and she stared at the fangs peeking out from his smile.

She knew about vampires. Just as her fae kind could enchant and ensnare humans, these blood-drinking dark counterparts could also capture human minds through enchantment. Lise tried to move past the vampire, but tripped on a stone and stumbled.

His strong arms caught her, keeping her from falling. She lifted her gaze to his. Instantly, they were both ensnared in each other’s enchanted gazes. They kissed and sat speaking for hours. Lise learned that the vampire’s name was Nat. Nat learned that Lise loved to dance. They soon fell in love.

Before long, the Sun began to rise and Lise realized that her  beloved Nat was suffering. He could not live in her sun-filled world and she, a creature of the Sun, could not live in his eternal night. She cried out to her beloved Sun to help her but the Sun refused.

The spirit of the Forest heard her pleas and took pity on her. The Forest transformed Lise and Nat into oak trees, with their roots and branches forever entwined.  They would be together forever as trees, nourished by the sunlight yet never harmed by the night.

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Believing

This is my post for Day 2 of the 15 Habits of Great Writers challenge.

 

The Day 2 challenge for the 15 Habits of Great Writers (Day 2) is to get up 2 hours earlier so I can spend the extra time writing. That's completely impractical for me, because I get up when my children do, which tends to be around 5:00am, but ion the rare occasions that I wake up before the children, the very instant they hear me up and about, they get up too. In fact, it doesn't matter how quiet I am as I step out of my room, my youngest seems to have a built-in sensor that alerts him the moment my eyes have opened.

 

So I've decided on a compromise. I rarely get time away from the children to write, and the whole point of getting up 2 hours earlier than normal would be to give me uninterrupted writing time. So, with that in mind, I am taking my eldest daughter's offer and letting her take me out to Starbuck's for coffee and a marathoin writing session. (She's participating in Camp NaNoWriMo right now.)


I'm sure I will be able to carve out two hours of quiet and concentrated writing time from this.


The thing is, I already believe in myself as a writer. Yes, I have moments of weakness and self-doubt, but even when I doubt myself, I know that, as long as I keep at it, I will eventually achieve my writing goals. So I have been regularly carving time out from each day to spend writing.


Sometimes, my children interrupt me. Sometimes my husband starts to feel left out because I spend my free time writing. Usually, my housework doesn't get completed. But I have a goal and I know, from the experience of losing over 145 pounds of excess fat, that as long as I keep working at my goal and keep it as a priority, I will succeed.


So yes, I believe.


Do you?

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A Siren's Tears - a flash fiction story for the Forbidden Love blog hop

This is written for the Forbidden Love Blog Hop. This flash fiction challenge is stated as:

The phrase 'star-crossed lovers' was coined in the prologue of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet:

"From forth the fatal loins of these two foes,
A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life"

We're leaving the term open to interpretation.

You can put your own spin on a classic story

Create a modern retelling

Craft your very own modern star-crossed lovers.

Plus, you can close your story with any ending you like. Give your lovers a set of matching tombstones or a running chance at Happily Ever After. Their fate is in your hands!

It has to be 300 words or less.

The Siren’s Tears

295 words

Princess Lenora often ventured near the ocean’s surface, rescuing sea creatures from fishing nets. One day fate intervened by placing him in her path. She had been tearing a fishing net apart, freeing the fish that were caught, when the net started rising to the surface.

She followed, completing her rescue just as she crested the surface of the ocean and that’s when she saw him.  He was one of the fishermen. His skin was bronzed from the sun and he had dark hair that fell loosely across his face, framing his warm brown eyes.

He didn’t move or call to the others, though, by the way he was staring, it was clear he could see her. She felt a strange warmth enter her heart and felt almost as if her heart would burst with the sudden feelings that filled it for this man before her.

She knew they were meant to be together, and, before she could even think about what she was doing, she began to sing. It was one of the old songs, one that had never been taught to her but had come to her now instinctually.

Unable to resist her charmed singing, her beautiful man climbed overboard, leaping from his tiny fishing vessel and into the water. She took him in her arms and, grabbing his hand, she led him below the surface. After a short while, she felt his grip in her hand go slack. She stopped swimming and turned to him.

His eyes stared unseeing into the distance. His breath had stopped moments ago and his heart had stopped beating along with it. Princess Lenora wept in sorrow at the loss of her love, and as her heart broke into pieces, she joined him in his watery death.

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