We're Having a Heat Wave

The south is not supposed to be cold! Last week we were three degrees and it was COLD! Today it is supposed to be close to sixty degrees. That is a big difference. I did find out one thing. When it is really, really cold, I can't write. It was warm in my house, but I think my brain was frozen.

I did whine a little to a friend in northern Ohio. She had no pity for me since she was living with a -25 degrees. For us in Tennessee three is cold.

My writing was slow yesterday due to another accident I had. I am accident prone and I tripped over a rug and fell into my kitchen. I landed on my bad knee and my shoulder. I also hit my mead on a coat rack. My head hurt most of the afternoon and my knee was swollen. Today I am sore, no bruises showing yet and I do have a headache. I've taken Tylenol and I should feel better in a few minutes.

In re-writing yesterday, I did find I was using a lot of the same words. I do try to watch, but then I get lazy and forget to catch everything. That is why you have critique partners and editors. 

I've tried to use those talking machines, but I am not technical and I can never get it to work. I put one on my computer and never could get the little fellow to read my novel. I must be doing something wrong. I do want to try again to see if I can get it to work. It will help with my writing.

I don't think I have written much about determination. I am a firm believer that if you are determined to do something and work hard to do it, that it will happen. Working in the right way is important.

I hear a lot of people say they have written several books, but none are published. They continue to get rejections. Rejections can be discouraging or they can be an encouragement. They are a learning tool. The letters tell you what you can do to improve. Determination comes next. Are you going to use all the tools you have available to make yours the best book ever, or are you going to wallow in your defeat? Personally, I'm going to use everything I can to make this the perfect book.

It's not cheap to succeed. We get nothing free in this world. If you want to succeed, you need to find a good editor to read your book and show you what you need to do to improve. I have found editors to be kinder than critique partners. I've laughed at some of the notes that my editor gives me. She shows me in a nice way what I can do to improve. I don't think she has ever said, "Don't do this" or "Don't do that." She has shown me in a positive way that I understand. Then comes the Flip Dictionary to find a better word. I don't know how anyone writes without a Flip Dictionary. It is so useful.

I need to make up for lost time and get busy. I'm still enjoying my "work." I don't think I can call this work. It is so much fun. I am praying that my book will be ready to send to a publisher before the end of this year. Then you can all read it.

Self-Edits

Right now I am in the middle of a self-edit. No, I am not editing myself, which would be a good idea, but I am going through my novel and making it stronger.

Yesterday I talked about characterizations and how we need to notice people. That has been brought home to me more than once. When you are writing, you also want to bring the reader into the book by using our senses. Did the character smell something, touch something, see something, hear something? Remember this is a real person to you.

That is what I am doing now. I have finished the first draft, so to say. With 79,500 words already written, I am able to add more words by giving more detail. This is wonderful and I am enjoying bringing them to life for the reader.

If you are writing, remember to put this in your book. I realize not everyone writes, but if you write a blog you want it to be interesting. If you blog as a scrapbooker, the feel of the paper is important. At lease it is for me if it has fibers in it or other things you can feel. There is more to say about things than we realize. 

I have learned so much in the last few weeks. Now I am anxious to finish with this edit. I have finished most of my house work today so I can write. The only thing I have to do is read the Bible for today and exercise. 

I have exercised for 23 days and more than that with daily Bible readings. Both exercises strengthen my mind and body. I have to make my body strong before we take our trip. I think there will be "hill walking" on the agenda. Also, strengthen my knowledge in God's Word is something I try to do daily. 

Things We do

There are several things we do each day that we don't realize. When I first started writing, I wrote more or less like I talked. As I wrote more, I realized there were several useless words I used to fill space in writing. You know about word count, don't you?

Word count is how we know how long or short our novel will be. On some programs on your computer, you can set your word count. To think about writing 90,000 to 100,000 thousand words can blow your mind. It did mine in the beginning. Now I set a number of words I want to write each day to finish a novel in a certain length of time.

Word fillers are like it sounds, words to fill a page. When I first started writing, my favorite word was "that" and I used it often. As I began to re-read my written word, I realized it was unnecessary to put so many "that" in my work. So I began going back and eliminating them.

Do you watch people? I have always loved to. When I was small, back in the 40's and 50's, we would spend some Sunday afternoons driving to town and sitting in the car on the side of the street watching people. Even now when I am out, I still watch people. A ballgame is a wonderful place to watch people. Do you really notice what they are doing? You can get some good notes for your novel if you do.

Are you conscious of what you do at different times? When I am nervous or bored, I pick my cuticles on my fingernails. A bad habit I know, but I am trying to break myself of it. I don't like scary movies. When I am home and it gets to the scary part, I leave the room. My family knows what I'm doing and I do get kidded a lot. 

Notice what you do each day and why you do it. It will amaze you.

What Is a Writer?

This morning I started to write my blog since my husband was painting in the basement. We have a huge basement filled with my mother's things. We are trying to clean up and make a large family room. Anyway, he was painting and I was on the computer. He dropped something connected to his computer and mixed some cords around and I had no computer upstairs. The wireless was dead. I tried not to lose my cool, but I'm afraid I did. That is one thing a writer or anyone else should not do. So here goes how I feel about writing.

A writer should be flexible with disappointments and with compliments. I can take the disappointments and learn from them, but compliments are something else. I don't want to seem proud and say, "I knew I could do that." Instead I feel I should be humble, but then when someone pays you a compliment about your writing, how humble do you go? I have been writing for three years and I feel I have made a lot of progress. I've been told that I am doing a good job and making a lot of progress. I am trying and it is paying off.

A writer should have an open mind about writing. Writing changes each day or year. Things we were doing five years ago are not done today. Life changes, our jobs changes, our families change, so there are changes in writing. Be able to adapt to those changes and look at things positive. 

Writing is a constant learning curve. I sure don't know anything much about writing. Those who have wrote for years know so much more than I do. That is why I network with those people. They can teach me so much. I read a lot of books on writing and people. I am reading a book on body language by Tonya Reiman now. That book is helping me with my characters. When I want one to be shifty, I know they won't look anyone in the eye. Why do they look at their feet? They are guilty of something, shy or don't want to give you an answer. There is so much to learn. I'm also reading Donald Maas, The Breakout Novel. There is so much to do and learn.

Writing is for enjoyment. If I want someone to enjoy my novel, I have to love it also. If my characters are to be liked, I have to like them when I write them. I feel I have to enjoy what I do. I've worked jobs where I hated to go into work, but I had to for money. Now that I am retired, I can enjoy my work and I can sit in my pajamas and work all I want to.

A writer has to find time for play. Playing is very important in life. Whether you go for a walk, scrapbook or play a game with children, playing relaxes your body and mind. When I exercise, I relax and have fun. Yes, it can be fun. Then when I am through, I go back to writing and my mind is fresher.

All of that said, I need to exercise and then work. Have a good afternoon and evening.

Writing Friends

The most wonderful thing to me is friends. My most cherished friends are writing friends. If you have read my web site, www.kattanderson.com, you know that I am a member of the church of Christ. We have a group of writers, some published and some unpublished who keep in touch with each other. It is a very friendly, loving group of women.

Over the week-end we have been trying to put something together to promote us as members of the church of Christ. By putting all of our heads together, we have an idea. 

We are contributing bio's, pictures of ourselves or our book covers, recipes and other things. I am so excited to be doing this. Although I am not published, I will be included because things are moving along so good with me. These will be on a CD.

One of the published authors will distribute these at Freed-Hardeman University the first week in February. So, everyone has to get a move on and get this finished. I am so happy that we are doing this because there will be a chance for us to advertise within the church.

I am so proud of my Sister authors. A couple have published with small publishers and their books are not so widely known. Our exception is Christine Lynxwiler who is published with Barbour. All of the ladies are great authors and I hope soon to be a part of them.

In the next few weeks, I plan of having interviews with these ladies, plus some of my writing friends that I work closely with. I have enjoyed interviewing so much and I plan to do more in the future.

It's snowing here in East Tennessee. The ground is white and more snow is to fall today. I love the snow better than the cold weather. When it was three degrees, I could not motivate myself to do anything. I wanted to curl up in a blanket and stay warm. Snow is different. It energizes me.

If anyone would like a CD, let me know and I will be glad to send one to you. Reply on the comments and I will be in touch with you privately to get your snail mail address.

The Red Siren

Last night around midnight, I finished The Red Siren, by M.L. Tyndall. I knew I could not go to bed until I finished it. I never even thought of reading the last page, but that ruins the story when you do that.

A couple of years ago I read the first of Mary Lu's books, The Redemption. I never in my wildest dreams ever imagine I would love pirate stories so much. 

Several years ago I worked for a company that rewarded us with paid trips. One of these trips was to Barbados. I did not even know where the island was, much less know anything about it. We stayed at a resort called Sam Lord Castle. I had no idea what it was, except I had seen a picture of the castle. 

The first thing I remember was the heat. At midnight, it was smothering and that was the cool part of the day. For some reason, I went to the castle, I think just to see it. One of the employees took my friends and I through part of the castle and told us the story of the pirate, Sam Lord. I was hooked a little on pirate stories, but it was just history to me.

Later we went to Okracoke Island and there you hear more pirate stories. I was more interested in the lighthouses than the pirates, but it made chills run down my spine hearing about them.

The Red Siren is about a lady pirate, Fath Westcott. She was not a blood thirsty pirate and never killed anyone, just took their merchandise. She states in one place that she is like a Robin Hood. She is so angry with God and I got so frustrated with her that I wanted to shake her several times and tell her to wake up. 

Then there is Dajon Waite, who falls in love with her, but he is there to capture pirates, especially the Red Siren. How interesting! The twists and turns are so exciting. I cannot say that I never put the book down. I did several times. I would become so furious with Faith that I could not read for a while. When I cooled off, I would go back to it. Maybe that is why my blood pressure has risen lately.

I do highly recommend this book. This history of Charles Towne is interesting. Mary Lu, you did a fantastic job with this book. The next in the series will be out this fall. Can't wait.

Getting Behind

It is so easy to get behind in anything. I find if I don't write in the mornings, I don't write at all. I am a morning person. By afternoon, I am not interested in completing any job. That was until yesterday.

Yesterday was an early morning appointment with the doctor. That threw everything behind. My check-up went well, but it didn't help the rest of my day. My day went haywire from there on.

I teach a teen-age girls class on Wednesday nights. The lessons are very good and the girls are very interested, but I could not get motivated at all. I hate doing that. I tried to study more, but I kept going to sleep. Finally, I slept and after that I could get the studying completed. We had a good class.

After church, I had work to do on my WIP. I think it was 11:30 p.m. when I became so tired I had to stop. The words were blurring together and the eye drops did not help at all. So, it was not the dry eyes, just the tired eyes. 

Now, I have to pull double time today to do get my goals completed. That's all right because I know I can do it. It does take time to write. I do set goals for myself to complete so much each day. 

Today, I have a lot to do. I want to re-submit my proposal to several more agents and publishers as soon as I can. This is one thing that is important to me. I know it will take a while to get everything finished, but I am sure I can do it.