tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-68759634628239184872024-02-18T19:16:29.954-07:00The Writing BlogBeth K. Vogthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04032849469366266791noreply@blogger.comBlogger553125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6875963462823918487.post-85585659462961697322010-11-26T00:01:00.000-07:002010-11-26T00:01:00.877-07:00Book Review: Nightingale by Susan May Warren & Contest<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLXRw84R9JVibSNlYPAqkrZzm0qLduvtXorgjeQ455-UyVxGLYk417lX4h1iyTFa8swfukL-GfOHElAAPRVA6_q8K_RFWEtJHGPLkpKl9wlG2KTnx2gxfpeUaZ1TEc6Z8XTebIWpHXG-Ar/s1600/Nightingalecover.jpeg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 202px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLXRw84R9JVibSNlYPAqkrZzm0qLduvtXorgjeQ455-UyVxGLYk417lX4h1iyTFa8swfukL-GfOHElAAPRVA6_q8K_RFWEtJHGPLkpKl9wlG2KTnx2gxfpeUaZ1TEc6Z8XTebIWpHXG-Ar/s320/Nightingalecover.jpeg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5543696943022804546" border="0" /></a><br /><br />I'll just say it right up front: I loved <span style="font-style: italic;">Nightingale.<a href="http://www.rwanational.org/cs/contests_and_awards/rita_awards"> </a></span><a href="http://www.rwanational.org/cs/contests_and_awards/rita_awards">RITA award</a>-winning author <a href="http://www.blogger.com/www.susanmaywarren.com">Susan May Warren's</a> writing improves with every book she publishes--and <span style="font-style: italic;">Nightingale </span>gripped me from the opening scene to the last page.<br /><br />As a writer, I've attended three of Susie's writing retreats where she challenges attendees to write breathtaking stories. With <span style="font-style: italic;">Nightingale</span>, and the previously published <a href="http://www.christianbook.com/sons-of-thunder-susan-warren/9781935416678/pd/416678?item_code=WW&netp_id=648104&event=ESRCN&view=details"><span style="font-style: italic;">Sons of Thunder</span></a>, Susie puts into practice what she teaches.<br /><br />The main characters in <span style="font-style: italic;">Nightingale</span>, Esther, a nurse, and Peter, a German POW, are complex and compelling. The challenges they face are daunting--and the choices they make sometimes aren't between right and wrong but rather two things of equal value.<br /><br />Sounds like real life, doesn't it?<br /><br />At one point while I was reading <span style="font-style: italic;">Nightingale</span>, I talked with Susie and said something like, "There better be a happy ending!" Susie smiled and said, "Well, I like happy endings too."<br /><br />But sometimes the happiness we're looking for--the love we long for--is a long-time coming. And Susie doesn't write fluff. She writes about characters facing disappointments and heartaches--and having to make the choice to live a life of faith or one of doubt.<br /><br /><a href="http://brothersinarmsbooks.blogspot.com/2007/12/share.html"> <img alt="Flip Nightingale" src="http://www.litfusegroup.com/images/stories/susan_warren/flip_banner.gif" width="200" height="200" /> </a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"></span> <p style="font-family: times new roman; font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">The Letters From Home Giveaway!</span></span></p> <p style="font-family: times new roman; font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Enter the Contest:</span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> <span style="font-style: italic;">Nightingale</span> is about letters, the power of written correspondence to convey thoughts and emotions to those far away. And sometimes near. Letters are forever, they are something we savor and pull out to read again and again. They are often cherished and kept in a special place.</span></span></p> <p style="font-family: times new roman; font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br />To celebrate the release of <i><span style="font-style: italic;">Nightingale</span></i>, Susan would like you to write a letter. One grand prize winner will receive a Flip HD Camcorder. Five runners-up winners will win a signed copy of<span style="font-style: italic;"> Nightingale</span>. There are two ways to enter the contest by writing letters:</span></span></p> <p style="font-family: times new roman; font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">1. Write a letter to a soldier. At the end of the contest we’ll print out and mail your letter for you.</span></span></p> <p style="font-family: times new roman; font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">2. Write a letter to a friend, loved one, family member, enemy. Tell them something you wished you’d told them before. Tell them you love them, or maybe how they touched your life. Perhaps an apology is in order or a thank you. Or perhaps you'd like to relate a funny tale or just share life. Whatever it is, submit it here along with your email address and we’ll send it for you. </span></span></p> <p style="font-family: times new roman; font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Enter <a href="http://brothersinarmsbooks.blogspot.com/2007/12/share.html" target="_blank">here</a> or at the SHARE page on the <a href="http://brothersinarmsbooks.blogspot.com/2007/12/share.html" target="_blank">Brothers in Arms website</a>. Or simply click on the button above.<br /></span></span></p> <p style="font-family: times new roman; font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span></p><p style="font-family: times new roman; font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Read what others are saying about <span style="font-style: italic;">Nightingale <a href="http://www.litfusegroup.com/Blog-Tours/nightingale-by-susan-may-warren.html">here</a>. </span></span><br /></span></span></p><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" ><br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;">*I received a copy of <span style="font-style: italic;">Nightingale t</span>o review, but was not compensated in any way to post a positive review of the book.*</span>Beth K. Vogthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04032849469366266791noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6875963462823918487.post-23864145768717984712010-11-24T00:01:00.009-07:002010-11-24T00:01:00.744-07:00Writing Letters of Thanks<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIC-2reBn6UBjQAR0HuTGpi6VYe2kMmNHvY4aEs9epegVEPKifR4InBcueTra9Z8rv-fTlN41V3wNXyB6CgWd3vFxkUKGSh70L7B9lp5w6Rj3m4iAEZkCqgvHO5aEBRZ1EhGWoSJrAqHM/s1600/indian_summer.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 199px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIC-2reBn6UBjQAR0HuTGpi6VYe2kMmNHvY4aEs9epegVEPKifR4InBcueTra9Z8rv-fTlN41V3wNXyB6CgWd3vFxkUKGSh70L7B9lp5w6Rj3m4iAEZkCqgvHO5aEBRZ1EhGWoSJrAqHM/s400/indian_summer.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5539583695330413426" border="0" /></a> <span style="font-style: italic;font-size:78%;" >Photo by chappy14</span><br /><br />Like many of you, I want to be a published novelist. November is <a href="http://www.nanowrimo.org/">National Novel Writing Month</a>, otherwise affectionately known as NaNoWriMo. Skimming the website’s history doesn’t reveal exactly why this month was chosen. Whoever heard of expecting anyone to write a complete, 50,000-word novel during November? Don’t they know how busy people are? Of course, it’s hard to say, in the twenty-first century, when we’d ever slow down with nothing left to do with our time except write a novel. None of the other months during the year seem to be lazy and carefree, either.<br /><br />But November is also the time when our hearts turn to thanking those people we are grateful for every month of the year.<br /><br />When my husband was alive, I’d periodically remind him about the “just-in-case” letters to our children (and one to my husband) that were stashed in my sock drawer. Every few years, I update the letters, mentioning current interests or skills and spiritual gifts I’d see in their lives. I hope to encourage them and remind them of my love if there is ever a time when I’m not here to do that.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH9CKCqn3gJInnVQN5wR6YB2LXBmynbPk_W9ijh7TTV7tOfftpFOObghopamhnsSsPI0b-NfKcKfZyrtE16qI7uhjByy_pEChcwCW-_qDckU0bdPVhEvhFJKyRSO6E1tAUA_rxFoRT0xQ/s1600/old_letters.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 100px; height: 64px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH9CKCqn3gJInnVQN5wR6YB2LXBmynbPk_W9ijh7TTV7tOfftpFOObghopamhnsSsPI0b-NfKcKfZyrtE16qI7uhjByy_pEChcwCW-_qDckU0bdPVhEvhFJKyRSO6E1tAUA_rxFoRT0xQ/s400/old_letters.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5539580433587126674" border="0" /></a> One trying school day, a math teacher, Franciscan Nun Sister Helen Mrosla, departed from the curriculum and asked students to list the nicest thing they could think about each classmate. She compiled the comments and gave a personal list to each student. Years later, after one of the students, Mark Eklund, died in Vietnam, the list was found, taped and re-taped, in his wallet. At the funeral, many of the other students also revealed they’d saved the list as one of their prized possessions. The inspirational tale of Sister Helen Mrosla, “the teacher who made a difference,” has been widely circulated all over the internet and featured in numerous books, like <span style="font-style: italic;">Chicken Soup for the Soul</span>. You can read about it <a href="http://www.snopes.com/glurge/allgood.asp">here</a>.<br /><br />Instead of worrying about reaching a self-imposed NaNo word count, I propose taking time to write a letter to at least one special person in your life telling how much he or she means to you. Who knows? Maybe your letter will be more meaningful to someone, more used by God, than the words in any novel you ever write.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);font-family:verdana;" >Roxanne Sherwood</span><br /><a href="http://thewritingroad.blogspot.com/">http://thewritingroad.blogspot.com/<br /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Taking time to be thankful: There are so many people who love and encourage me: seven wonderful children; a mother; siblings & their spouses; precious friends like the Ponderers; and a new man in my life. I love, appreciate and thank God for each of you!</span><br /><span style="font-size:78%;"><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Second photo by lusi</span></span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span> <span style="font-weight:bold;">Christmas Writing Contest!</span><br /><a href="http://janiceathompson.com/blog/">Janice Thompson</a>, along with <a href="http://www.freelancewritingcourses.com/">www.freelancewritingcourses.com</a> would like to announce a Christmas Writing Contest! For more information, click here: <a href="http://www.freelancewritingcourses.com/christmas-writing-contest">http://www.freelancewritingcourses.com/christmas-writing-contest</a>Roxanne Sherwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02755513071598516044noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6875963462823918487.post-51207117461442161002010-11-22T17:12:00.004-07:002011-10-27T16:57:52.180-06:00ThanksLiving<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVEr_Io96AhQ_wGZVSeIw02zp85VJqDhYTVOhxUyMF2B_7M8ePvUq44Opz8GbXp40tQnuEch4IR2_dtJYjoRronZl3F9KXnIDtMxvKdfK8rFqnPaE0qGf8A3FdzxpYqsjt0S7qmSd6Qq7d/s1600/ThanksLivingIsBetter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="163" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVEr_Io96AhQ_wGZVSeIw02zp85VJqDhYTVOhxUyMF2B_7M8ePvUq44Opz8GbXp40tQnuEch4IR2_dtJYjoRronZl3F9KXnIDtMxvKdfK8rFqnPaE0qGf8A3FdzxpYqsjt0S7qmSd6Qq7d/s200/ThanksLivingIsBetter.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"></div><blockquote><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">“Thanksgiving Day comes, by statute, once a year; to the honest man it comes as frequently as the heart of gratitude will allow.”—Edward Sandford Martin</span></span></i></blockquote><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">Do you celebrate Thanksgiving or ThanksLiving?</span></span></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">Recently, I hyperventilated myself into a near panic attack about living single for the rest of my life. And I came to this conclusion: Instead of allowing longings and worry about my future to crash on my today, I needed to live one thanksliving day at a time. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">When unfulfilled desires torpedo my heart and my day, I remember. I’m choosing to thankslive today. I’m thankful for today. I will have a great day.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">"Let the peace of Christ rule in your heart, since as members of one body you were called to peace. </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">And be thankful.</span></b></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"> Let the word of Christ dwell in your richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><i><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">giving thanks to God</span></b></i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><i><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;"> </span></b></i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><i><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">the Father</span></b></i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><i><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;"> through him</span></b></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">.</span>" Colossians 3:15–17</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">Happy ThanksLiving!</span></span></b></span></div></div></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15538173852886506658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6875963462823918487.post-63983392051967037092010-11-19T08:47:00.004-07:002010-11-19T09:06:39.947-07:00Take Five: A Dose of Writers Quotes<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRkVdPPIRDT0adgf0FU0lTK5K5AmknTL31zWP0PNEO5rLqXbTuPRy2-MAEKxnHIS9d8xg64c3bGVUmt1dLUZ0vLqBmURZ0KPyPg4yCJDmujTkb_tL6US1-qv-L9VIzqF5bq5RD1nmdQJH5/s1600/penandbook.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRkVdPPIRDT0adgf0FU0lTK5K5AmknTL31zWP0PNEO5rLqXbTuPRy2-MAEKxnHIS9d8xg64c3bGVUmt1dLUZ0vLqBmURZ0KPyPg4yCJDmujTkb_tL6US1-qv-L9VIzqF5bq5RD1nmdQJH5/s400/penandbook.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5541288148466943586" border="0" /></a>"A writer should concern himself with whatever absorbs his fancy, stirs his heart, and unlimbers his typewriter . . . . A writer has the duty to be good, not lousy, true, not false, lively, not dull; accurate, not full of error. He should tend to lift people up, not lower them down." ~ <a href="http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/ebwhite.htm">E. B. White</a>, American writer<br /><br /><br />"You must keep sending work out; you must never let a manuscript do nothing but eat its head off in a drawer. You send that work out again and again, while you're working on another. If you have talent, you will receive some measure of success--but only if you persist." ~<a href="http://www.asimovonline.com/asimov_home_page.html">Isaac Asimov</a>, author<br /><br /><br /><br />"Writing comes more easily if you have something to say." ~Sholem Asch, novelist and playwright<br /><br />"Sit down, and put down everything that comes into your head and then you're a writer. But an author is one who can judge his own stuff's worth, without pity, and destroy most of it." ~<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colette">Colette</a>, French novelist<br /><br />"Nothing you write, if you hope to be good, will ever come out as you first hoped." ~<a href="http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/episodes/lillian-hellman/about-lillian-hellman/628/">Lillian Hellman</a>, writerBeth K. Vogthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04032849469366266791noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6875963462823918487.post-61814868182405208582010-11-15T02:01:00.007-07:002011-10-27T16:59:43.324-06:00Living, Breathing and Writing Sustainability<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgCUkSBfItoCda_bcUpCEW9A81nCnyCv8tYwIfr8ELIEUlJOJMRJ3ib4gveKglB_0CC06q9J_xsOxOCSrST7vWkbZ8T1wr-1mEBkRHqw9rVWn1wkd8muAcA8iJHmw170eHzC3SVuOQninz/s1600/ice.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgCUkSBfItoCda_bcUpCEW9A81nCnyCv8tYwIfr8ELIEUlJOJMRJ3ib4gveKglB_0CC06q9J_xsOxOCSrST7vWkbZ8T1wr-1mEBkRHqw9rVWn1wkd8muAcA8iJHmw170eHzC3SVuOQninz/s320/ice.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">“A book must be the axe for the frozen sea within us.”—Franz Kafka</span></i></blockquote><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">In ecology, sustainability—the capacity to endure—describes how biological systems remain diverse and productive over time. In the Greek, the definition of perseverance means "a hopeful looking towards the future without regard to the circumstances" </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">Yet, daunting circumstances—the changing publishing industry, finding time to write, receiving honest feedback from a critique group, securing an agent, developing a platform—can discourage an eager, bright-eyed writer. Some stop writing before they even start. Other writers just quit.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">As a writer sustainability makes me ask myself these questions. Am I:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">inhaling God’s Word, His written gift to me, to nourish and replenish my inner life? </span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">using God’s insights and words in my writing?</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">pursuing the gifts God embedded in my creative DNA?</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">willing to learn, practice and hone those skills?</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">teachable enough to receive critiques that improve my WIP?</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">productive when publishing prospects seem dim?</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">asking God for the capacity to endure?</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">writing about significant issues?</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">choosing to encourage, stimulate, challenge, strengthen, inspire or confront through words?</span></li>
</ul><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">William Shakespeare observed, “No legacy is so rich as honesty.” Like an axe, the truthfulness of the Bible breaks through the frozen soul within. Just as I reached back to my spiritual forerunners who shaped my fundamental values, will the sustainability of my writing life and legacy reach out to my children and their children?</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">Has writing so gripped you that you feel like Isaac Asimov who said, “I write for the same reason I breathe—because if I didn’t, I would die"? What oxygen of the soul does God want to breathe out through your writing?</span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15538173852886506658noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6875963462823918487.post-86797126999919231082010-11-12T08:35:00.000-07:002010-11-12T08:36:31.312-07:00Take Five: A Dose of Writers Quotes<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoJx-TJCV7fx0GBnjKNLgNLP2hSYoixnzacS81gp8BtVMvcpE7cEk1c1mlQNHROg-EDM5kwNBQRe6rtJOc-fyinXw7ziSn0QiQeZSfDNFXCsaelFSZ78kvmGIAw8PAkjjcv_Be7sfL3fPj/s1600/penandbook.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoJx-TJCV7fx0GBnjKNLgNLP2hSYoixnzacS81gp8BtVMvcpE7cEk1c1mlQNHROg-EDM5kwNBQRe6rtJOc-fyinXw7ziSn0QiQeZSfDNFXCsaelFSZ78kvmGIAw8PAkjjcv_Be7sfL3fPj/s400/penandbook.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5538687302668144834" border="0" /></a><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} </style> <![endif]-->"It's the writer's job to stage confrontations, so the characters will say surprising and revealing things, and educate and entertain us all." ~<a href="http://www.vonnegut.com/">Kurt Vonnegut</a>, author<br /><p class="MsoNormal"><br />"The great wisdom for writers, perhaps for everybody, is to come to understand to be at one with their own tempo." ~<a href="http://www.contemporarywriters.com/authors/?p=auth48">Alan Hollinghurst</a>, English novelist<br /><br />"To me, poetry is somebody standing up, so to speak, and saying, with as little concealment as possible, what it is for him or her to be on earth at this moment." ~<a href="http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/212">Galway Kinnell</a>, poet<br /><br />"So long as you write what you wish to write, that is all that matters; and whether it matters for ages or only for hours, nobody can say. But to sacrifice a hair of the head of your vision, a shade of its colour, in deference to some Headmaster with a silver pot in his hand or to some professor with a measuring-rod up his sleeve, is the most abject treachery, and the sacrifice of wealth and chastity, which used to be said the greatest of human disasters, a mere flea-bite in comparison." ~<a href="http://www.online-literature.com/virginia_woolf/">Virginia Woolf</a>, in her essay on women and literature, "A Room of One's Own," (1929)<br /><br />"Go to the edge of the cliff and jump off. Build your wings on the way down." ~<a href="http://www.raybradbury.com/">Ray Bradbury</a>, author<br /><br />(With thanks to my delightful friend, Pennie, who shared her list of quotes and also the link to <a href="http://www.elabs7.com/functions/message_view.html?mid=1117570&mlid=499&siteid=20130&uid=270efbfd12">The Writer's Almanac</a>.)</p>Beth K. Vogthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04032849469366266791noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6875963462823918487.post-86166160134292869552010-11-07T03:01:00.002-07:002010-11-07T03:01:00.426-07:00Amazon's Top 100 Books for 2010<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXO4REGCtGycAtv2o9uNY7r6Wg5vUkhiwYYuuPkq5XYA6nfniHowEWhIR9KYmKiieVMw7zWRoI_s5ceaA3m9icTyqbe9MaKIsAP_sQ-eWut1lSR9LKLfNEA45UpKaJu6CORRFVNeBdJ_yB/s1600/book+hugging+a+woman.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXO4REGCtGycAtv2o9uNY7r6Wg5vUkhiwYYuuPkq5XYA6nfniHowEWhIR9KYmKiieVMw7zWRoI_s5ceaA3m9icTyqbe9MaKIsAP_sQ-eWut1lSR9LKLfNEA45UpKaJu6CORRFVNeBdJ_yB/s200/book+hugging+a+woman.jpg" width="155" /></a></div><blockquote><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“Reading surrounds us, labels us, defines us.”—Rich Gold</span></i></blockquote><div class="MsoPlainText"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Editors</span></span></b><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">’ </span></span></b><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Picks and Customers’ Favorites </span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoPlainText"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">What books do you recommend to friends and family? The editors at Amazon.com chose their top 100 books for 2010 just in time for Christmas. The list is based on:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoPlainText"></div><ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"Is this a keeper?</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“Is this book worth telling people about?"</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“Is this what we</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">tell each other to read?”</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“Is this what our customers talk about too?</span></li>
</ul><br />
<div class="MsoPlainText"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This list contains books for all ages and interests from nearly two dozen categories. Below you will find the top 25. To peruse the entire list, </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=amb_link_354383522_32?ie=UTF8&docId=1000628621&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-4&pf_rd_r=1JHB814DNZCB16NNHF93&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=1279123442&pf_rd_i=2486012011"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">click here</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. </span></div><div class="MsoPlainText"></div><ol><li><b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks</span></i></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> by Rebecca Skloot. Amazon Best Books of the Month, February 2010.</span></li>
<li><b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Faithful Place: A Novel</span></i></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> by Tana French. Amazon Best Books of the Month, July 2010.</span></li>
<li><b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War</span></i></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> by Karl Marlantes. Amazon Best Books of the Month, March 2010.</span></li>
<li><b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption</span></i></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> by Laura Hillenbrand. Amazon Best Books of the Month, November 2010.</span></li>
<li><b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration</span></i></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> by Isabel Wilkerson</span></li>
<li><b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Freedom: A Novel</span></i></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> (Oprah's Book Club) by Jonathan Franzen. Amazon Best of the Month, August 2010.</span></li>
<li><b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest</span></i></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> by Stieg Larsson. Amazon Best Books of the Month, May 2010.</span></li>
<li><b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">To the End of the Land</span></i></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> by David Grossman. Amazon Best of the Month, September 2010.</span></li>
<li><b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Just Kids </span></i></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">by Patti Smith. Amazon Best Books of the Month, January 2010.</span></li>
<li><b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine</span></i></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> by Michael Lewis</span></li>
<li><b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Imperfectionists: A Novel</span></i></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> by Tom Rachman. Amazon Best Books of the Month, April 2010.</span></li>
<li><b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Will Grayson, Will Grayson</span></i></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> by John Green. Amazon Best Books of the Month, April 2010.</span></li>
<li><b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Major Pettigrew's Last Stand: A Novel</span></i></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> by Helen Simonson. Amazon Best Books of the Month, March 2010.</span></li>
<li><b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Operation Mincemeat: How a Dead Man and a Bizarre Plan Fooled the Nazis and Assured an Allied Victory</span></i></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> by Ben Macintyre</span></li>
<li><b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Memory Chalet</span></i></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> by Tony Judt. Amazon Best Books of the Month, November 2010.</span></li>
<li><b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Passage</span></i></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> by Justin Cronin. Amazon Best Books of the Month, June 2010.</span></li>
<li><b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Hand That First Held Mine</span></i></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> by Maggie O'Farrell. Amazon Best Books of the Month, April 2010.</span></li>
<li><b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Let's Take the Long Way Home: A Memoir of Friendship</span></i></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> by Gail Caldwell. Amazon Best Books of the Month, August 2010.</span></li>
<li><b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Worth Dying For </span></i></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">by Lee Child. Amazon Best Books of the Month, October 2010.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">WAR by Sebastian Junger</span></li>
<li><b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Skippy Dies: A Novel</span></i></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> by Paul Murray. Amazon Best Books of the Month, September 2010.</span></li>
<li><b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe: A Nove</span></i></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">l by Charles Yu</span></li>
<li><b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">One Day</span></i></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> (Vintage Contemporaries Original) by David Nicholls</span></li>
<li><b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Country Driving: A Journey Through China from Farm to Factory</span></i></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> by Peter Hessler. Amazon Best Books of the Month, February 2010.</span></li>
<li><b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Full Dark, No Stars</span></i></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> by Stephen King. Amazon Best Books of the Month, November 2010.</span></li>
</ol><br />
<div class="MsoPlainText"><o:p></o:p></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15538173852886506658noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6875963462823918487.post-18724260944412837732010-11-05T06:34:00.004-06:002010-11-05T06:55:34.487-06:00Take Five: A Dose of Writers Quotes<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl3cQdij2lk_VPvwUFAU5SM0fGCSDYF-v-yx7iX4TG7TmmamUrlirEzcu_BmKM6fKBcPHeiFPHKzwtJKeC1lw7kw-Pa81vDsqAzBFmvUif05p9woxReihyJ1ELtrcnMYGPMxFDNaoiHkxC/s1600/penandbook.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl3cQdij2lk_VPvwUFAU5SM0fGCSDYF-v-yx7iX4TG7TmmamUrlirEzcu_BmKM6fKBcPHeiFPHKzwtJKeC1lw7kw-Pa81vDsqAzBFmvUif05p9woxReihyJ1ELtrcnMYGPMxFDNaoiHkxC/s400/penandbook.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5536044631894361730" border="0" /></a>"If there's a book you really want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it." ~ <a href="http://www.biography.com/articles/Toni-Morrison-9415590">Toni Morrison</a>, winner of the 1993 Nobel Prize for Literature<br /><br />"The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt." ~<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia_Plath">Sylvia Plath, </a>American poet, novelist and short story writer<br /><br />"How vain it is to sit down and write when you have not stood up to live." <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_David_Thoreau">Henry David Thoreau</a>, American author and poet<br /><br />"You have to learn how to use your energy and not squander it. In the writing process, the more a thing cooks, the better. The brain works for you even when you are at rest." ~<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doris_Lessing">Doris Lessing</a>, British author<br /><br />"Only amateurs say that they write for their own amusement. Writing is not an amusing occupation. It is a combination of ditch-digging, mountain-climbing, treadmill and childbirth. Writing may be interesting, absorbing, exhilarating, racking, relieving. But amusing? Never!" ~<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edna_Ferber">Edna Ferber</a>, Pulitzer prize winning American novelistBeth K. Vogthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04032849469366266791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6875963462823918487.post-44986564488381457012010-11-03T12:24:00.005-06:002010-11-03T13:05:41.232-06:00Finding Your Voice--The FundamentalsAt the <a href=""><a href="http://www.mybooktherapy.com/">My Book Therapy</a></a> <a href=""><a href="http://www.mybooktherapy.com/index2.php/book-therapy-retreats/">Storycrafters Retreat</a></a>, Best-selling Author <a href=""><a href="http://www.susanmaywarren.com/">Susan May Warren</a> </a>shared the fundamentals for finding your voice. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeE-9BGdafHnroeoM2sfF9_8AcJX7NFyJLc04rySmE1rNFG2qlFBk8kKy_EBkrNlUZ38DlLLBX_6EdNzSfMa5bGfr4Y92ZxHgGFuJPtGvGMDEnKj0ReimElfKyEoE6a_3VuhdAIxA_jTXv/s1600/Susan+May+Warren.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 227px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeE-9BGdafHnroeoM2sfF9_8AcJX7NFyJLc04rySmE1rNFG2qlFBk8kKy_EBkrNlUZ38DlLLBX_6EdNzSfMa5bGfr4Y92ZxHgGFuJPtGvGMDEnKj0ReimElfKyEoE6a_3VuhdAIxA_jTXv/s400/Susan+May+Warren.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5532533833168566706" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Clarity.</span> Don't try to make your manuscript more valuable by filling it with million-dollar words. <br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />No overwriting.</span> Avoid redundancy whether it's restating an idea, words, or sentences. <br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />Simple sentences</span> create impact.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />Use active voice </span>and delete <span style="font-style:italic;">was</span> in your writing. <br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />Use specific nouns.</span> Choose details and specifics that matter. This will reduce multiple adjectives and <span style="font-style:italic;">-ly</span> adverbs. <br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />Write positively.</span> Show what you want the reader to see, not what you don't want them to see. For example, <span style="font-style:italic;">"There was no light inside the cave"</span> negatively shows there isn't light in the cave. Here's a stronger, more positive sentence: <span style="font-style:italic;">"The darkness in the cave seeped inside her." </span><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />Avoid cliches</span> like the plague. ;-) They are for people who are too lazy or tired to reach deep.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />Use 5 senses.</span> Show how a POV character feels by building the 5 senses though the character's perspective. <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Put punch words</span> at the <span style="font-style:italic;">end</span> of a sentence. <br /><br />If you follow these fundamentals, you'll soon be on your way to creating your own voice. <br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />~ Roxanne Sherwood </span>Roxanne Sherwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02755513071598516044noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6875963462823918487.post-69423616737795789382010-10-31T00:01:00.006-06:002011-10-27T17:01:06.330-06:00Save Time. Get Organized to Write<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLHxkbpQrpYZ5_pguIYdmZmsh3-S_5b9L-q-ORdxWmeFtCyOtYxA-sfXwdTCQf_AJTPdRIsN4IFtQg3odHt3p2fXuuNhLSwfUIaw4xehexflqfPwwfE1u3LM3FzhTfpOPmjWOsv6d-JMLY/s1600/file.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLHxkbpQrpYZ5_pguIYdmZmsh3-S_5b9L-q-ORdxWmeFtCyOtYxA-sfXwdTCQf_AJTPdRIsN4IFtQg3odHt3p2fXuuNhLSwfUIaw4xehexflqfPwwfE1u3LM3FzhTfpOPmjWOsv6d-JMLY/s200/file.jpg" width="200" /></span></a></div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">“Information is a source of learning. But unless it is organized, processed, and available to the right people in a format for decision making, it is a burden, not a benefit.”—William Pollard</span></i></blockquote><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">I decided to finish a book I’m writing. However, I felt frustrated. Years of writing compost—research, documentation, word pictures, illustrations, biblical word studies—plus every version of every WIP chapter and every critiquer’s document with their feedback littered one main folder titled with the book’s working title. Umpteen folders and miscellaneous documents filled the main folder. I even had another “main” folder containing everything recovered from a hard drive that crashed. I didn’t know if the recovered documents were duplicate files.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">At one time I knew why I’d created every folder and oodles of documents and which chapter the information went with. But I no longer knew why I’d saved some of the information or what chapter I was thinking about when I saved the file. No longer a benefit, my writing compost pile was a burden.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">I surveyed the confusing electronic folders and documents. When I wanted to write, I couldn’t find what I needed. Every time I started a new chapter, I opened and searched document after document trying to find the research or illustration that I knew I’d saved. When I wanted to polish a chapter, I wasn’t sure of the latest version of the WIP. I like to make the most of my precious writing hours. Trying to find specific information amidst the jumble of documents seemed like such a waste of time.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">I’d completed a first draft for a new chapter and received critique feedback, except for a three or four paragraph illustration from Saint Augustine’s life that I still needed to write. To make sure the context from Augustine’s life worked, I wanted to re-read his book </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">Confessions.</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"> When I discovered that I’d already downloaded Augustine’s book, but forgot</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"> Confessions</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"> sat in my unorganized folders, I decided it was time to bring order to disorder.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">Before cranking out any more chapters, I ignored the urge to finish the Augustine chapter to spend a week organizing every file. I created folders for:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><ul><li><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">“stuff.”</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"> I dumped every folder and document into the stuff file, and then systematically opened every file to decide which chapter that information went with. If I wasn’t sure where to dump a document, it stayed in the stuff folder until recapturing my original vision.</span></li>
<li><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">the finished book proposal and pitch sheets.</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"> I placed the latest versions of the book proposal and pitch sheets in their respective folders.</span></li>
<li><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">each chapter.</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"> I created a file for each chapter (Chapter 1: Working Title) and then dumped every document into the respective chapter folder, including critiques. For each unwritten chapter, I created a working document that includes the chapter summary, problem, solution, and value statements and placed it in its chapter folder.</span></li>
<li><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">endorsements.</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"> I dumped all the endorsements already received, sample endorsement request letter, plus names and contact information for those I intend to ask.</span></li>
</ul><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">What are some ways you organize your files, enabling you to find info fast while you write?</span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15538173852886506658noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6875963462823918487.post-24705722408182999232010-10-29T05:47:00.004-06:002010-10-29T06:02:04.452-06:00Take Five: A Dose of Writers Quotes<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOYMaFRQGWw1V1CvalwkBraneCH4NhZil2f-3tLCWepONtdRB_LSC9fqm00ZboRdZ-ytInFNHhYUG1Df5Wqlnc2v46ezrfEGhZ7T9xhvFNvqSqzzzOZ2SwlbjGRZ-TowwQeg1Hgput_16a/s1600/penandbook.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOYMaFRQGWw1V1CvalwkBraneCH4NhZil2f-3tLCWepONtdRB_LSC9fqm00ZboRdZ-ytInFNHhYUG1Df5Wqlnc2v46ezrfEGhZ7T9xhvFNvqSqzzzOZ2SwlbjGRZ-TowwQeg1Hgput_16a/s400/penandbook.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5533433745424669778" border="0" /></a><br />"Ambition is putting a ladder against the sky." ~ American proverb<br /><br />"Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly." ~<a href="http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=k000114">Robert F. Kennedy, U.S. Senator</a><br /><br />"The secret of success in life is for a man to be ready for his opportunity when it comes." ~<a href="http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/PRdisraeli.htm">Benjamin Disraeli, British author and politician</a><br /><br />"Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goals." <a href="http://www.hfmgv.org/exhibits/hf/">Henry Ford, founder of Ford Motors</a><br /><br />"If it were not for hope, the heart would break." <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Fuller">~Thomas Fuller, English churchman and historian</a>Beth K. Vogthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04032849469366266791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6875963462823918487.post-91153399268573959632010-10-27T00:01:00.002-06:002010-10-27T00:01:00.807-06:00Storycrafter Retreat and NaNoWriMo Time!I'm packing my suitcase with warm, comfy clothes, my laptop, and chocolate. (How can anyone expect me to write without chocolate?) I've got the nugget of an idea for a new novel, and I'm heading to the <a href="http://www.mybooktherapy.com/index2.php/book-therapy-retreats/">My Book Therapy Storycrafters Retreat</a> Friday through Sunday in Minnesota, where it's already a bit chilly for this Texan. <span style="font-weight:bold;">Storycrafters</span> is a working writing retreat where participants will arrive with an idea and leave with a story plotted out -- just in time for <a href="http://www.nanowrimo.org/">NaNoWriMo</a>! <br /><br />Have you registered for <span style="font-weight:bold;">NaNoWriMo</span> yet? Don't wait! There's only a few days left in October. <br /><br />After you register for <span style="font-weight:bold;">NaNoWriMo</span>, head over to the <a href="http://mybooktherapy.ning.com/forum/topics/2010-mbt-nanowrimo-celebration?xg_source=msg_mes_network">2010 MBT NaNoWriMo Celebration </a> where you'll get a ton of encouragement and be eligible for great prizes. <br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeE-9BGdafHnroeoM2sfF9_8AcJX7NFyJLc04rySmE1rNFG2qlFBk8kKy_EBkrNlUZ38DlLLBX_6EdNzSfMa5bGfr4Y92ZxHgGFuJPtGvGMDEnKj0ReimElfKyEoE6a_3VuhdAIxA_jTXv/s1600/Susan+May+Warren.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 227px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeE-9BGdafHnroeoM2sfF9_8AcJX7NFyJLc04rySmE1rNFG2qlFBk8kKy_EBkrNlUZ38DlLLBX_6EdNzSfMa5bGfr4Y92ZxHgGFuJPtGvGMDEnKj0ReimElfKyEoE6a_3VuhdAIxA_jTXv/s400/Susan+May+Warren.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5532533833168566706" border="0" /></a><br /><br />If you're not one of the lucky few registered for the <span style="font-weight:bold;">Storycrafter Retreat</span>, don't fret. <a href="http://www.susanmaywarren.com/">Susan May Warren</a> will teach a one-day <a href="http://us.mc813.mail.yahoo.com/mc/welcome?.partner=sbc&.gx=0&.tm=1264654551&.rand=ade553pmvhu1c#_pg=showMessage&sMid=18&&filterBy=&.rand=464146412&midIndex=18&mid=1_1689803_AHbHjkQAAVBMTMV%2FfwtPVkiQal8&fromId=info@mybooktherapy.com&m=1_1704142_AHnHjkQAADmNTMWrQQdRDHgmKC0,1_1699104_AHzHjkQAAHuGTMWZ9goNbSJb2s4,1_1698313_AHnHjkQAAM5KTMWXOAxo5RKNrD0,1_1697023_AHXHjkQAAMjwTMWQzwjYbEPQSNg,1_1691979_AHXHjkQAADxoTMWDXgSKAgOxFPQ,1_1689803_AHbHjkQAAVBMTMV%2FfwtPVkiQal8,1_1684187_AHvHjkQAAOEITMVqoAcI41%2BTX24,1_1682218_AHfHjkQAARkITMVn2AWYpQpHJco,1_1679357_AHrHjkQAAMeHTMVGrwpL%2BSnOTwE,1_1677041_AHbHjkQAAPjJTMUhlQ7L3wvelW4,1_1671463_AHfHjkQAATMiTMTzPwjtAUsOSWI,&sort=date&order=down&startMid=0&hash=ef7bec05cead2ffd041a5e3e96c92b3c&.jsrand=8846353">Storycrafter Seminar</a> on Saturday, November 13, 2010, near Denver, Colorado! Susie is packing in all the essentials of writing a novel, plus adding a hot, new class - <span style="font-style:italic;">Managing the Muddle</span> (middle!) - into this intensive, one-day seminar. Hurry, the registration deadline ends November 1st!<br /><br />What are you waiting for? There's never been a better time to write the story of your dreams! <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">~ Roxanne Sherwood</span>Roxanne Sherwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02755513071598516044noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6875963462823918487.post-50666983415817238642010-10-25T00:01:00.009-06:002010-10-25T00:01:00.253-06:00The Secret of Impressive Writing? Keep It Plain and Simple<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhliS29fxxAGFOMXUcuyW97WaUkhLWuPMHbgDH2WklRHGB850uHYLFHGa44oWnlZ_TiUE3XPeVDtrUjCbtUFptfqYvbeMvLZR0iKumZQa4afhGgPBIb5cblODOhpHMY2JKEUPAsKg5rhT5B/s1600/dictionary1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="207" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhliS29fxxAGFOMXUcuyW97WaUkhLWuPMHbgDH2WklRHGB850uHYLFHGa44oWnlZ_TiUE3XPeVDtrUjCbtUFptfqYvbeMvLZR0iKumZQa4afhGgPBIb5cblODOhpHMY2JKEUPAsKg5rhT5B/s320/dictionary1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><blockquote><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">"Contrary to what some people seem to believe, simple writing is not the product of simple minds. A simple, unpretentious style has both grace and power. By not calling attention to itself, it allows the reader to focus on the message"—Richard Lederer and Richards Dowis</span></i></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">Daniel M. Oppenheimer, an associate professor of psychology at Princeton University's Department of Psychology, won the 2006 Nobel Prize in Literature for his paper entitled </span><i><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/10/051031075447.htm"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">Consequences of Erudite Vernacular Utilized Irrespective of Necessity: Problems with using long words needlessly.</span></a></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"> Aren't you glad he added the subtitle? </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">I found the title of his paper laugh out loud hilarious. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">His paper argues that simple writing makes authors appear more intelligent than complex writing. His research found that those who stick with basic vocabulary and plain text are seen as less intelligent.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">Writers love learning new vocabulary, but if it sends your reader to the dictionary in the middle of a tense chase scene, it defeats your purpose to engage your reader. Smart writers use words their readers understand.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><br />
</span></b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Erudite Vernacular (a.k.a. gobblygook) </b></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">As writers, I thought you’d enjoy common clichés transformed into “erudite vernacular” (a.k.a. gobblygook.) In 1944, Texas Congressman Maury Maverick coined the word gobblygook in reference to prose of politicians that sounded like the senseless gobbling of turkeys. So if you enjoy using big words that others don’t know, see how many of these sayings you can figure out. Don’t peek at the answers below. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">And if you’re tired of dumbed-down silly games at wedding and baby showers, give your guests this entertaining list to decipher. The person who figures out the most sayings wins a dictionary.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<ol><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">Pulchritude possesses solely cutaneous profundity.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">A futile superfluity of culinary aid destroys nutritious liquids of osseous tissues made.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">Never enumerate ere fractured are the shells of bipeds gallinaceous, lest suddenly thy calculations prove utterly fallacious.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">Members of an avian species of identical plumage congregate.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">Selecting on the part of mendicants must be interdicted.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">Surveillance should precede saltation.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">That prudent avis that matutinally deserts the cosiness of its abode will ensnare a vermiculate creature.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">It is fruitless to become lachrymose over precipitously departed lacteal fluid. </span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">Freedom from incrustations of grime is contiguous to rectitude.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">The stylus is of greater potency than the claymore.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">It is fruitless to attempt to indoctrinate a superannuated canine with innovative maneuvers.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">Eschew the implement of correction and vitiate the scion.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">The temperature of the aqueous content of an unremittingly ogled saucepan does not reach 100 degrees Celsius.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">All articles that coruscate with resplendence are not truly auriferous.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">Where one detects visible vapors having their provenance in ignited carbonaceous material, one is certain also to find conflagration.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">A plethora of individuals with expertise in culinary techniques vitiate the potable concoction produced by steeping certain osseous tissues and comestible herbs and vegetables.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">Eleemosynary deeds have their incipience intramurally.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">Male cadavers are incapable of yielding testimony.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">Individuals who make their abode in vitreous edifices would be advised to refrain from catapulting petrous projectiles.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">Neophyte's serendipity.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">Exclusive dedication to necessitous chores without interludes of hedonistic diversion renders Jacques a hebetudinous fellow.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">Missiles of ligneous or lithoidal consistency have the potential of fracturing my osteal structure, but appellations will eternally remain innocuous.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">A revolving lithic conglomerate accumulates no congeries of a diminutive, verdant bryophitic plant.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">Elementary sartorial techniques intitially applied, preclude repetitious actions to the squares of three.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">Abstention from any aleatory undertakings precludes a potential escalation of a lucrative nature.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">Persons of imbecilic mentality navigate in parameters which cherubic entities approach with trepidation.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">A person presenting the ultimate cachinnation possesses thereby the optimal cachinnation.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">Scintillate, scintillate, asteroid minific. Fain do I fathom your nature specific. Exaltedly set on the aether capacious A reasonable facsimile of a gem carbonaceous. Scintillate, scintillate, asteroid minific. Fain do I fathom your nature specific.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">A research team proceeded towards the apex of a natural geologic protuberance, the purpose of their expedition being the procurement of a sample of fluid hydride of oxygen in a large vessel, the exact size of which was unspecified. One member of the team precipitously descended, sustaining severe damage to the upper cranial portion of his anatomical structure; subsequently the second member of the team performed a self rotational translation oriented in the same direction taken by the first team member.</span></li>
</ol><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">Answers:</span></b><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<ol><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">Beauty is only skin deep.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">Too many cooks spoil the broth.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">Don't count your chickens before they're hatched.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">Birds of the feather flock together.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">Beggars can't be choosers.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">Look before you leap.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">The early bird gets the worm.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">Don't cry over spilt milk.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">Cleanliness is next to godliness.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">The pen is mightier than the sword.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">You can't teach an old dog new tricks.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">Spare the rod and spoil the child.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">A watched pot never boils.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">All that glitters is not gold.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">Where there is smoke, there is fire.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">Too many cooks spoil the broth.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">Charity begins at home.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">Dead men tell no tales.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">People who live in glass houses should not throw stones.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">Beginner's luck.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">All work and no play makes Jack a very dull boy.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">A rolling stone gathers no moss.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">A stitch in time saves nine.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">Nothing ventured, nothing gained.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">He who laughs last laughs best.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><i>Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star</i> in gobblygook.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><i>Jack and Jill Went Up the Hill</i> in doublespeak.</span></li>
</ol>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15538173852886506658noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6875963462823918487.post-27901748918183725832010-10-22T00:01:00.000-06:002010-10-22T00:01:01.115-06:00When All Else Fails . . .<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxZxXXxbxTi1TPXPtbRkrmsDld1_5aEw2BZCfpFmJBsukrVsbvZm1Z5OwgK6KwtSnFgAZ9OUZW3EhuqiXFHQfQsHR7TQfel8kiCYX0r-sPwnQZHapvc1wNeoY4_7-djxHSbuyL2CdNK4sD/s1600/j0382674.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 286px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxZxXXxbxTi1TPXPtbRkrmsDld1_5aEw2BZCfpFmJBsukrVsbvZm1Z5OwgK6KwtSnFgAZ9OUZW3EhuqiXFHQfQsHR7TQfel8kiCYX0r-sPwnQZHapvc1wNeoY4_7-djxHSbuyL2CdNK4sD/s400/j0382674.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5530702125071980242" border="0" /></a><br />We all have those days when we don't know what to write about. Call it writer's block. Call it laziness. Call it boredom with the whole antagonist-protagonist-plot process. Whatever it is, nothing's showing up in either your brain or your work in progress.<br /><br />That's kind of how I felt about this blog post. Tired. The old "I've got nothing" feeling that hangs over you when a deadline's looming.<br /><br />So I did what any desperate writer does--I started surfing the Internet. And I stumbled upon a fun Web site: <a href="http://www.creativewritingprompts.com/">Creative Writing Prompts</a>, which was voted one of <a href="http://www.writersdigest.com/GeneralMenu/"><span style="font-style: italic;">Writer's Digest's </span></a>101 Best Web Sites for Writers in 2006 and 2007.<br /><br />Click on any one of the numbers 1 through 346 for a writing prompt or idea. Here's a couple of samples:<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">114:</span> Write about a time your pampered yourself. (Hhhm--could I do some research instead of writing about this from memory?)<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">254:</span> Why would an antiques dealer leave town?<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">311:</span> Use the following words in your story: photographer, needle, dormitory. bicycle<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">340: </span>Melinda Alcott and Dwayne Modderman meet in a bank. One of them is a loner. Describe how they meet. <br /><br />You can also subscribe to <a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://www.creativewritingprompts.com/sample.php">CreativeSparks!,</a> the e-zine of CreativeWritingPrompts.com and download a copy of the <span style="font-style: italic;">CreativeSparks!</span> E-book (volume 1) for free.<br /><br />Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to go figure out how Melinda and Dwayne meet. But first, which one of them is the loner?Beth K. Vogthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04032849469366266791noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6875963462823918487.post-71291068906422685242010-10-19T22:29:00.004-06:002010-10-20T08:54:31.333-06:00Just Do It!Fitness Guru <a href="http://tonyhorton.blogspot.com/">Tony Horton</a> is so dedicated that he plans his exercise schedule six months in advance. Horton, who has one of the most toned bodies for someone over 50, encourages others to plan their workouts. If you want to workout five times a week, he says, then plan which twenty days you'll workout this month. Then, commit to do it! <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-2Waqh7ZKj8xGLxskFz5YoX8H0ZefndrkrSB9OrJrU38m0K1C6pYENS6UhdydbCOVhmbBosDG4Ea_knR-pr0-du_0KLeTjbzBOF10c484VyhlKXDvGLXhsrcMRlJmnw4AR8SIUEzfFmpM/s1600/labelsblkc.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 336px; height: 378px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-2Waqh7ZKj8xGLxskFz5YoX8H0ZefndrkrSB9OrJrU38m0K1C6pYENS6UhdydbCOVhmbBosDG4Ea_knR-pr0-du_0KLeTjbzBOF10c484VyhlKXDvGLXhsrcMRlJmnw4AR8SIUEzfFmpM/s400/labelsblkc.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5529980709478092482" /></a><br /><br />A friend revealed her goal-setting strategy. She places round stickers--the kind you find in Walmart for pricing garage-sale items--on her calendar with her writing goals. So, sit down with your calendar, spread sheet, day planner, whatever (I've been accused lately of over-using that word), and write down your incremental plan to reach your writing goals. <br /><br />Then, just do it!Roxanne Sherwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02755513071598516044noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6875963462823918487.post-53183177677247943842010-10-19T10:58:00.007-06:002010-10-19T21:08:18.453-06:00On Writing and Dentists<link href="file://localhost/Users/scotidomeij/Library/Caches/TemporaryItems/msoclip/0/clip_filelist.xml" rel="File-List"></link> <style>
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<blockquote><div class="MsoNormal"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQtIO3jq9-bbxl0cmg22uEGx7TPPfi_VRApdgH9onKXYEk6l1pSP-ySo_Zu8rkoi3nbKh38YhjdzhtkjGPIVsaVJi69vuQ_BUd03juoOFfEwwEe9DddtffC-M6kGJT5rbYczFfv5eHyId8/s1600/Dentist.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQtIO3jq9-bbxl0cmg22uEGx7TPPfi_VRApdgH9onKXYEk6l1pSP-ySo_Zu8rkoi3nbKh38YhjdzhtkjGPIVsaVJi69vuQ_BUd03juoOFfEwwEe9DddtffC-M6kGJT5rbYczFfv5eHyId8/s320/Dentist.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>"I sometimes wonder when I read what even knowledgeable people say about writers and writing if they have any conception of what the life of a writer is like . . . . What they don't know might include: a visit to the dentist </i></span><span style="font-size: small;"><i>. . . </i></span><span style="font-size: small;"><i>”</i><o:p></o:p></span></div></div></blockquote><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p>My plans for Monday were to complete a chapter to send to my critique group. An aching unbearable tooth made other plans for me. I called the dentist office. His receptionist said they’d work me in, so come to the office ASAP. I printed out the compost for the chapter, packed up my computer, and headed off to the dentist. </span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> After analyzing the situation, the dentist could either give me antibiotics and I could come back on Thursday or he could work me in during the day. <o:p></o:p> Since I came prepared, I opted to stay and let him work me in. Antibiotics that disagree with my intestinal tract didn’t appeal to me. And after looking at the infection pocket on the X-rays, I felt anxious for it to be out of my body.</span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> Well…three paragraphs, four thousand dollars (I don’t have health insurance), a lot of gas at party level and five hours later…I was more than exhausted. I wanted to go home, crawl in bed and suck my thumb. Except the dental assistant said, “Don’t suck on a straw”, so I figured the thumb was out also. The pain of my dentist’s reparative replaced the cause of the pain. </span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Today I return with Ibuprofen in hand to work on the chapter. </span><o:p style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></o:p><i style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Ahhhh…the life of a writer.</i></span><o:p></o:p></span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15538173852886506658noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6875963462823918487.post-45536521922831189792010-10-15T07:11:00.002-06:002010-10-15T07:31:04.309-06:00Take Five: A Dose of Writers Quotes<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw21K4PEfpnj0zv9qT07HX0y7iioTTBxcaDcAHwoqy7icL_yGJCj0O6NMNevlhxseIYzaEECvnwiersM0Rq7jRdpgf3GvXscdYCUQ8IRoUKKDpuuKC5MCdcLwOwPOGQ5JTHvqmalHaFE5h/s1600/penandbook.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw21K4PEfpnj0zv9qT07HX0y7iioTTBxcaDcAHwoqy7icL_yGJCj0O6NMNevlhxseIYzaEECvnwiersM0Rq7jRdpgf3GvXscdYCUQ8IRoUKKDpuuKC5MCdcLwOwPOGQ5JTHvqmalHaFE5h/s400/penandbook.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5528264700707282322" border="0" /></a><br /><br />"You can't wait for inspiration to come. You have to hunt it down with a club." <a href="http://www.jacklondon.com/">Jack London</a>, author of <a href="http://london.sonoma.edu/Writings/CallOfTheWild/"><span style="font-style: italic;">Call of the Wild</span></a><br /><br />"Exercise the writing muscle every day, even if it is only a letter, notes, a title list, a character sketch, a journal entry. Writers are like dancers, like athletes. Without exercise, the muscles seize up." <a href="http://janeyolen.com/">Jane Yolen</a>, children's book author<br /><br />"I am always talking about the human condition--about what we can endure, dream, fail at and survive." <a href="http://mayaangelou.com/">Maya Angelou</a>, poet<br /><br />"Write while the heat is in you. The writer who postpones the recording of his thoughts uses an iron which has cooled to burn a hole with. He cannot inflame the minds of his audience."<a href="http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/transcendentalism/authors/thoreau/"> Henry David Thoreau</a>, author<br /><br />"I rewrote the ending of <span style="font-style: italic;">Farewell to Arms </span>39 times before I was satisfied." <a href="http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1954/hemingway-bio.html">Ernest Hemingway</a>, authorBeth K. Vogthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04032849469366266791noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6875963462823918487.post-88193652761691195562010-10-13T00:01:00.000-06:002010-10-13T00:01:00.688-06:00For Fiction Writers, Fall Means NaNoWriMo Time<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6k5BrFOS-Cvl6Mlksu7Xuzr94QIQSIfqLUC34od5laYI7TIaWcQtE_lW-5gsH9AS1fMDnzk4PHjoMaP74wHe0oiV9cHzVRKJ_ShSZQzKH0xCzObY6Qza3HlrwOcw5LY5dpW5cJYqy9ZWb/s1600/indian_summer_5.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 199px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6k5BrFOS-Cvl6Mlksu7Xuzr94QIQSIfqLUC34od5laYI7TIaWcQtE_lW-5gsH9AS1fMDnzk4PHjoMaP74wHe0oiV9cHzVRKJ_ShSZQzKH0xCzObY6Qza3HlrwOcw5LY5dpW5cJYqy9ZWb/s400/indian_summer_5.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5527208989063305986" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Fall.</span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br />God paints the landscape red, orange, gold, brown, and deep green. Grocery stores prominently display bright Indian corn, orange pumpkins, and decorative gourds in a variety of shapes and colors. Halloween costumes appear, fitting every imagination and personality. </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span> Crisp days and chilly nights put a bounce in our steps after summer's heat. </span><span style="font-size:100%;">Maybe, the season's first fire blazes at the hearth.</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span><span style="font-size:100%;">But, for fiction writers, fall brings <span style="font-weight: bold;">NaNoWriMo. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">What is NaNoWriMo?<br /></span>November is<span style="font-weight: bold;"> Na</span>tional <span style="font-weight: bold;">No</span>vel <span style="font-weight: bold;">Wri</span>ting <span style="font-weight: bold;">Mo</span>nth<span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span><a href="http://www.nanowrimo.org/">(NaNoWriMo)</a>. From November 1-30, writers attempt to complete one 50,000-word (175-page) novel. You may sign up at the website at any time, but the novel must be written in November.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Um . . . It's still October. Why post about NaNoWriMo now? </span><br />Though your novel must not be started before November 1, it's okay (and preferable) to begin thinking about the book. You may create character sketches, plan outlines, and research your story now. But you'd better hurry, you've only got two weeks. <br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">What's the big deal about NaNoWriMo? </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">I can write a novel anytime. </span></span><br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span>Sure, you can. And regular readers of this blog are writers. But so many people say they want to write a novel, yet few people actually do. NaNoWriMo encourages everyone from auto mechanics to zoologists to actually write the book of their dreams with a community of other writers all spurring one another to victory.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">How many people participate in NaNoWriMo?<br /></span>In 2009, over 165,000 ordinary people started to write a novel. By November 30, more than 30,000 individuals had become novelists. How cool is that!<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">What happens after November? What's next?<br /></span>First, do the Snoopy Dance and celebrate! Whether you crossed the finish line with a completed 50,000-word manuscript or only came close, your book is still a first draft. You'll need to continue reading this blog and others, like <a href="http://mbtponderers.blogspot.com/">The Ponderers</a> and <a href="http://mybooktherapy.com/">My Book Therapy</a>, and study books on the writing craft. Your novel will still need to be fleshed out--no one really buys a 50,000-word manuscript--then polished and edited. But that's really the easy part. You can fix any problem. But you can't fix a blank page.<br /><br />So, what are you waiting for? Begin <a href="http://mbtponderers.blogspot.com/2010/07/time-to-ponder.html">pondering</a> your story and get ready to <span style="font-weight: bold;">NaNoWriMo!</span><br /> <br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">~ Roxanne Sherwood</span><br /> </span>Roxanne Sherwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02755513071598516044noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6875963462823918487.post-92153517948565096482010-10-11T07:38:00.004-06:002010-10-11T08:53:12.327-06:00Book Review: Not Like Me<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif1qWBptunqtVE9e_yKbwEWOWN_A_LMtSFY7Y-0n3ibmaFnJ6b-eLOU2XjwKxjX-t6u4OfwizlKzie2hZjHyFwLNeeA8GfXmyFbjtmc6gFBmfvjgVDS7533gkdFoHofusR1_0tYNo2Xg1W/s1600/Not+Like+Me.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif1qWBptunqtVE9e_yKbwEWOWN_A_LMtSFY7Y-0n3ibmaFnJ6b-eLOU2XjwKxjX-t6u4OfwizlKzie2hZjHyFwLNeeA8GfXmyFbjtmc6gFBmfvjgVDS7533gkdFoHofusR1_0tYNo2Xg1W/s320/Not+Like+Me.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Book Review: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0310329965">Not Like Me</a><o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Author: Eric Michael Bryant. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Paperback: 256 pp.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Publisher: Zondervan</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ISBN: 0310329965</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Price: $14.99</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Finally.</span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></i></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A smart book that looks at those hard, emotional issues spawned by an uncivil religious war with reason, compassion, humor, plus a refreshing “love your neighbor as yourself” perspective.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Cohabitors. Gays. Muslims. Freaks. Homeless. Liberals. Unbelievers. </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Your neighbors. Your co-workers.</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i> Your family?</i> What stereotypical picture pops into your head preventing you from touching others-not-like-you with Christ’s love? </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Fear? Anger? Repulsion?</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">If you are wondering how to make ministry happen with others who make you feel uncomfortable, then this book is a must-read. Eric’s uncomfortable laugh-out-loud encounter with his wife’s fellow classmate’s lesbian partner is worth the price of the book.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I was provided a review copy of </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0310329965">Not Like Me</a></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> by Eric Michael Bryant.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 16pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">What’s This Book About<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">We live in a diverse world filled with unprecedented opportunity. According to author Eric Bryant in </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0310329965">Not Like Me</a></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, formerly titled </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Peppermint-Filled Piñatas</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, we can become agents of change creating genuine unity among people from a variety of backgrounds and belief systems through our relationships.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Through humorous stories and pointed insights gleaned from Eric’s own personal experiences and failures, the experiences of others and the life and teachings of Jesus, you will discover how to move beyond ethnic, racial, cultural or ideological barriers towards genuine friendship with others.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In addition, spiritual seekers will find that when stripped away from the religion created around him, Jesus’ dream for our world is remarkable and refreshing. In this new world, we can discover how to resolve conflict, overcome bitterness, create a better future, develop diverse communities and enjoy our diverse world.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0310329965">Not Like Me</a></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> includes a brief article after each chapter with practical applications and questions for small groups. For more small group or sermon resources, visit <a href="http://www.NotLikeMe.org/">www.NotLikeMe.org</a>.</span><br />
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 16pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Eric Bryant’s Bio<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Eric Bryant serves as an elder, speaker and navigator with the leadership team at <a href="http://www.mosaic.org/">Mosaic </a>in Los Angeles, a church known for its creativity and diversity. He is part of the core teams for the <a href="http://www.mosaicalliance.com/">Mosaic Alliance</a> and <a href="http://www.originsproject.org/">The Origins Projec</a>t. Bryant completed his Doctorate of Ministry in Entrepreneurial Leadership with Bethel Seminary. He lives with his wife, Debbie, and two children, Caleb and Trevi, in the middle of Los Angeles County.</span><br />
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://ericbryant.org/">Visit the author’s website.</a> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/ericmichaelbryant">Get to know Eric Bryant on Facebook.</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://twitter.com/ericbryant">Follow Eric on Twitter.</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://www.blogtourspot.com/notlikeme-tour/notlikeme-tour-stops/">Read what other bloggers are saying about Eric’s book.</a></span><br />
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_1685093995">Buy </a><i><a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_1685093995">Not Like Me</a></i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0310329965">.</a><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 16pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Inside the Life and Mind of the Author<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Tell me a little bit about your background and your family.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I was born in California while my dad was in the Air Force. From Kindergarten through college I grew up in Texas. I am fortunate to come from a Christian family, but I struggled to follow Jesus as a teenager. Just after college I got married to Debbie, and we moved to Seattle where we helped plant a church which had 4 senior pastors in the first 4 years. Twelve years ago we moved to Los Angeles to volunteer at Mosaic to experience a healthy church before planting our own. Instead of planting elsewhere, I was invited to help with the youth group, then college ministry, then starting new venues, and then about 5 years ago I became a navigator.</span><br />
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">What do you like to do in your spare time? Hobbies?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I love watching movies, playing Wii with my wife and kids, traveling, and performing stand-up comedy.</span><br />
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">If you could have any superpower, what would it be and why?</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I would want to have the same super power that Bruce Willis had in </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Unbreakable.</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> I want to be able to play basketball into my 70s.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">What has God been teaching you lately?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I have been reading through the prophets and have been reminded of God’s passion for people. Even as stubborn as they were (and they were really stubborn), he would continue to send messengers to warn them of the consequences of their continued rebelliousness. Ultimately, God loves people so much more than we do.</span><br />
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I wanted to be a professional basketball player. At 5’8” I would have had a better shot at becoming a gymnast or jockey.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Where are you headed next?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">My passion remains communicating and catalyzing community for the mission of Jesus wherever I may be. Right now at Mosaic I am helping as the campus pastor at both the Pasadena and West Los Angeles campuses, but our roles are always changing according to what is needed.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">How did you get involved in writing?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I wrote my first book in 5th grade. It was an intergalactic adventure called “Thysar and the Benay.” It was never published. In college I wrote a devotional book which was also never published. Most of my writing has come in the form of my journal and my blog posts. Writing has always helped me to express better what I am going through, experiencing, and learning.</span><br />
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">What was the most difficult aspect of the writing process?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I am an extrovert to the highest degree, so sitting still to actually begin writing poses a challenge to me at times.</span><br />
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">What did you enjoy most about the writing process?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">By taking the time to sit still and reflect, I hear God’s voice more clearly than when I don’t do that. I learn from Him when I take the time to write.</span><br />
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">How do you find time to write?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I try to write a little bit each day, mostly in my journal, on my website, on twitter, or when working on a message. When writing a book or my dissertation, I would sneak away for longer periods of time to really make progress. At times I would pull together what I had written elsewhere to include in the book.</span><br />
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">What would you say to someone who wants to become a published author?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Learn to enjoy writing. I have written a great deal more that is not published than what has been published. Share what you are discovering with the people already in your community (family, church, friends, etc.). If they don’t find what you are writing helpful then other people probably won’t either. Give them permission to help you revise your work, and be willing to edit over and over. It took me 15 years and dozens of rejection letters or conversations before I had a book published, so I would also recommend perseverance as well.</span><br />
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Where did you get the idea for the book?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Erwin McManus, the lead pastor at our church in Los Angeles, encouraged me to write a book on diversity. What we have experienced here at Mosaic is quite unique in terms of the diversity of people we have reached and/or who have become leaders in our community. People come from such ethnically, spiritually, and socio-economically different places, yet for far too long, even in diverse cities, churches have remained homogenous. I have personally failed and seen some successes in reaching out to others not like me, so I wanted to be able to help others become more effective in their own mission fields.</span><br />
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">What are the major themes of the book?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In essence the book describes how to allow people to belong before they ever choose to believe. Too often Christians view those who do not follow Jesus as outsiders or as people to be avoided. My hope is that through this book, people of faith could become more known for their love of people no matter what they might believe, look like, or the choices they may make. In many ways, I am advocating for the rights of those who do not yet believe. In addition, the book helps people move from social conversations to spiritual ones.</span><br />
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">What kind of research did you have to do for the book?</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I share a great deal of personal stories from my experiences as a youth pastor in Texas, as a church planter in Seattle, and as part of the leadership team at Mosaic in Los Angeles. At the same time, I include insights from the Scriptures, seminary textbooks, and pop culture.</span><br />
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">With which character do you, personally, identify most and why? <o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The biggest issue is that we don’t even try to get past cultural barriers. Sometimes we confuse the ideas of being “set apart” and being “sent out.” We are supposed to be “set apart” in our behavior but “sent out” into our relationships. Sometimes we do the opposite. We become “set apart” from the very people God has brought into our lives to love, serve, and influence. It’s human nature to spend time with the people who are most like us because of our self-centered tendencies. Another big part of the problem would be our more consumeristic view of the church. At Mosaic, we strive to go against that. Our lead pastor Erwin McManus says: “The church is not here to meet our needs. We are the church here to meet the needs of the world.” If our relationship with God was all about me and Jesus, then my pastor should have just drowned me during my baptism so I could go straight into His presence. Instead, he brought me out of the water because there is much more for me to do. I now represent Jesus everywhere I go.</span><br />
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">What do you hope readers will take away from your book?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">My prayer is that those who read the book will be able to love, serve, and influence at least one person they had overlooked before reading the book. One of my favorite responses to the book is when I hear that someone who read the book went on to have a real breakthrough with a neighbor, co-worker, or friend. That is the best result possible!</span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15538173852886506658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6875963462823918487.post-75010791326915550312010-10-08T07:11:00.004-06:002010-10-08T07:34:59.112-06:00Read this . . . and this . . . and, oh yeah, this too!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQVYQElOfbKqPKgWZg61jFrM5XAXQ0gDt3UaWoK2qFK5P4Cs8u76y3ykeNgnhQDk6ZXOVh7ksUxF0hTzXaRYVFt418Ba9faa15dGISSXK3Q6KLYO8_BqtayBGU4yHy7MLOtA8Ypz7dlDL2/s1600/to+do+listrsz.jpeg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 249px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQVYQElOfbKqPKgWZg61jFrM5XAXQ0gDt3UaWoK2qFK5P4Cs8u76y3ykeNgnhQDk6ZXOVh7ksUxF0hTzXaRYVFt418Ba9faa15dGISSXK3Q6KLYO8_BqtayBGU4yHy7MLOtA8Ypz7dlDL2/s400/to+do+listrsz.jpeg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5525667553168000530" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br />Several different posts on the Internet worth your time this week:<br /><br />1. Literary agent <a href="http://chipmacgregor.com/">Chip MacGregor </a>posted <a href="http://chipmacgregor.com/">A Reading List for Writers</a>. Thanks, Chip! My <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Kindle-Wireless-Reader-Wifi-Graphite/dp/B002Y27P3M/ref=amb_link_354011342_2?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=right-csm-1&pf_rd_r=1G718FS1NRWX9A1EDV46&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=1276017662&pf_rd_i=507846">Kindle</a> is going to get quite a workout today as I start downloading some new reading material.<br /><br />2. My writing friend and fellow Ponderer,<a href="http://www.melissatagg.com/"> Melissa Tagg</a>, wrote a must-read column over at the MBT Ponderers' blog: <a href="http://mbtponderers.blogspot.com/2010/10/scary-prayers-and-patience.html">Scary Prayers and Patience</a>. I smile the minute I begin reading anything Melissa's written. I just love her voice! And FYI: Melissa, aka M-Tagg, was the first-ever winner of the <a href="http://mybooktherapy.ning.com/">MBT Frasier award</a>.<br /><br />3. I'm now a MBT Special Teams blogger, which means two things: a) I get to have a fun photo of me wearing a<a href="http://www.denverbroncos.com/"> Broncos</a> football jersey (thanks, Marty, for help with that!) and b) I'll be writing about editing. My other teammates are <a href="http://writingcareercoach.com/">Tiffany Colter</a> and<a href="http://thewriteconversation.blogspot.com/"> Edie Melson</a>. My first post is up today: <a href="http://www.mybooktherapy.com/index2.php/">Placing a Ban on the Writer vs. Editor Mentality</a>.Beth K. Vogthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04032849469366266791noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6875963462823918487.post-67530141217136821172010-10-06T00:01:00.001-06:002010-10-06T00:01:00.197-06:00The 2010 ACFW Conference -- One More Time!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3MbZ-lEYkf4Oo_AcVQNhjd8nDq5x91GW0NzJWjau1PANerxiyVQmirLZfqNnIehNM84G-Ld6kV6dDE-etM5Kvv496xR1H6RydagcP_hFER1XwWfGeB-aiBBJJpV8cSn7IpdXlLfYyCnpf/s1600/banner06affictionado.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 73px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3MbZ-lEYkf4Oo_AcVQNhjd8nDq5x91GW0NzJWjau1PANerxiyVQmirLZfqNnIehNM84G-Ld6kV6dDE-etM5Kvv496xR1H6RydagcP_hFER1XwWfGeB-aiBBJJpV8cSn7IpdXlLfYyCnpf/s400/banner06affictionado.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5524769439523722610" border="0" /></a><br />Writers talked about the <a href="http://www.acfw.com/conference/">2010 ACFW Conference</a> for months before 620 attendees descended on Indianapolis September 17-20 to eat, breathe and talk writing, writing, writing.<br /><br />Then we came home and talked about how the weekend went--how much sleep we (didn't) have, how many times we pitched our books, which agents or editors requested a proposal--and which ones didn't--and who wore what to the awards banquet. And, yes, we came home with a whole new way to do the writer's "Happy Dance," thanks to <a href="http://www.susanmaywarren.com//index.html">Susan May Warren</a> and her line dance finale at the MBT Pizza Party. (Check out the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNvFf7tQH0w">video on YouTube </a>to learn the steps!)<br /><br />Thanks to the October issue of ACFW's e-zine, <a href="http://www.acfw.com/ezine/"><span style="font-style: italic;">Afictionado</span></a>, you've got another chance to relive the conference. Or, if you didn't get to attend, here's your chance to glean insights from the different workshops and speakers.<br /><br />E-zine articles include:<br /><ul><li>Author <a href="http://www.timdowns.net/">Tim Downs'</a> two Keynote Addresses, <a href="http://www.acfw.com/cgi-bin/ezine/oct10.pl?record=5">one on Friday night</a> and <a href="http://www.acfw.com/cgi-bin/ezine/oct10.pl?record=17">one on Saturday</a></li><li><a href="http://www.writewithpurpose.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=68&Itemid=79">Dr. Dennis Hensley's</a> <a href="http://www.acfw.com/cgi-bin/ezine/oct10.pl?record=19">workshop on Mastering Structure, Symbols, 3-D Characters</a></li><li>Agents <a href="http://cba-ramblings.blogspot.com/2007/10/my-official-bio.html">Rachelle Gardner</a> & <a href="http://macgregorliterary.com/about/sandra.php">Sandra Bishop's</a> <a href="http://www.acfw.com/cgi-bin/ezine/oct10.pl?record=26">workshop on Selling Your Stuff</a></li><li>Author <a href="http://www.terriblackstock.com/">Terri Blackstock's </a>workshop on <a href="http://www.acfw.com/cgi-bin/ezine/oct10.pl?record=32">Writing Suspense</a></li><li><a href="http://www.wherethemapends.com/whoisjeff/whoisjeff.htm">Jeff Gerke's </a>workshop on <a href="http://www.acfw.com/cgi-bin/ezine/oct10.pl?record=46">The Last Show vs. Tell Class You'll Ever Need</a></li></ul>Many more articles on all the workshops and session offered at the conference are also in the e-zine. Considering I only managed to attend two of the classes I signed up for, I need to read through <span style="font-style: italic;">Afictionado</span> myself. It will hold me until my conference MP3s get here!Beth K. Vogthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04032849469366266791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6875963462823918487.post-24160062516881836652010-10-03T00:01:00.008-06:002010-10-04T08:41:54.168-06:00How Readable Are Your Sentences?<blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgM8HOENbEmhYLuGETCARla2lSdPdTWzf9hmse6mmj5LcVBdym2lt-IZeWgeYJvVlxBKrVbhohenR6kYrWokjRGbh2IEzUjGPUABZbMvqQu1C19XePztlNSSkSknMsExEZzJwGUizZWCxB/s1600/gettysburg10.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgM8HOENbEmhYLuGETCARla2lSdPdTWzf9hmse6mmj5LcVBdym2lt-IZeWgeYJvVlxBKrVbhohenR6kYrWokjRGbh2IEzUjGPUABZbMvqQu1C19XePztlNSSkSknMsExEZzJwGUizZWCxB/s320/gettysburg10.gif" width="320" /></a></div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"In general, shorter is better. If you can encapsulate your idea into a single captivating sentence, you're halfway home."—Len Wein</span></i></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">From beginning writers to highly-educated professionals, some people write inordinately long sentences, as in lose-my-interest-length. I worked for an organization that thought good writing was, “How many thoughts and ideas can I compress into one sentence?”</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">As trash-compactor writers, their jam-packed manuscripts often contained polysyllabic words and long, complex sentences. Three or four complete sentences and concepts packed into one sentence was not unusual—it was the norm. I recall one 63-word opening hook.</span><br />
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</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Untangling a difficult-to-read manuscript exhausts both the reader and editor. ‘Readability’ does not mean trying to impress others with a massive brain dump in one sentence or paragraph. Readability, the writing quality of your sentences, makes it easy (or difficult) to read and understand. </span><br />
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</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">How do you write easy-to-digest, understandable sentences on the first reading? The bottom line? Use simpler diction. Write short sentences. Like American writer, Janet Flanner said, “I keep going over a sentence. I nag it, gnaw it, pat and flatter it.” </span><br />
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</span><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Tips to Nag, Gnaw, Pat, and Flatter Your Sentences</span></span></b><br />
<b> </b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Write readable sentences.</span></b><br />
<ul><li><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Reader’s Digest</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> length sentences: 5-7 words.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The easiest sentence to read? 8 words.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1-20 words: easy to read.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">21-25 words: easy to understand.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">26-29: difficult to follow.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">30+ words: confusing.</span></li>
</ul><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Long and Short of Short Sentences</span></b><br />
<ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A string of short sentences often sound childish, choppy, tedious, and difficult to understand.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Use short, punchy sentence as a hook to stress one strong idea.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Maximize and emphasize crucial points and critical information.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Save for important statements.</span></li>
</ul><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Long and Short of Long Sentences</span></b><br />
<ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A string of long sentences often sounds boring or unclear. </span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Long sentences annoy readers.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Break a sentence of more than 20 words into two sentences.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Longer sentences can complicate the story in places where simplicity is more effective.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Long sentences incorporate information and coordinate ideas.</span></li>
</ul><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Promote pacing, rhythm, emphasis, and reader interest.</span></b><br />
<ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Vary sentence length and structure to create strong rhythm.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Vary sentence structure openings. Too many similar beginnings make reading tedious.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Write sentences in a logical or chronological progression of thought.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Begin each sentence with a different word. Don’t start two or more sentences with the same word. </span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Keep an eye out for missing periods, weird commas, closing quotes, and opening quotes.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Delete exclamation points.</span></li>
</ul>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15538173852886506658noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6875963462823918487.post-65981920108107882462010-10-01T00:01:00.000-06:002010-10-01T00:01:00.110-06:00Special offer for ACFW Members from The Editorial Department<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyKaBh82RjvIii6scUByUDWTIF_v4VouBql2SRZSy4g4OGVjJ8O5MCu2ZbAY7ezJqim5t72Y70JIWgLyC2CD7R_6ldl5j-4NBqA8EN0zHHQBk463Eb1wYm29tcxBWm084EJgAfYwNjLpNm/s1600/TED.jpeg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 73px; height: 73px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyKaBh82RjvIii6scUByUDWTIF_v4VouBql2SRZSy4g4OGVjJ8O5MCu2ZbAY7ezJqim5t72Y70JIWgLyC2CD7R_6ldl5j-4NBqA8EN0zHHQBk463Eb1wYm29tcxBWm084EJgAfYwNjLpNm/s400/TED.jpeg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5522904224339988882" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.editorialdepartment.com/">The Editorial Department (TED)</a>, one of the oldest full service editorial firms in the country, offers consultation, editing, and publishing support services for writers and screenwriters. <a href="http://www.editorialdepartment.com/renni-browne.html">Renni Browne</a>, co-author of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Self-Editing-Fiction-Writers-Second-Yourself/dp/0060545690/ref=sr_1_1?s=gateway&ie=UTF8&qid=1285901800&sr=8-1"><span style="font-style: italic;">Self-Editing for Fiction Writers</span></a>, started TED in 1980.<br /><br />Through October, TED is offering a <a href="http://www.editorialdepartment.com/acfw-promotion.html">special introductory promotion</a> to <a href="http://www.acfw.com/">ACFW </a>members: the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Read and React</span> evaluation, a shorter, more concise written review. An editor will help improve your story's plot, pacing, characterization and writing style. The review also includes a half-hour consultation via phone or e-mail.<br /><br />TED's <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.editorialdepartment.com/critique-a-evaluation.html">Manuscript Evaluation</a> is normally $2.00 per page. The ACFW special offer is priced at $1.25 per page--nearly half the cost!<br /><br />There's also the option of a $35 <a href="http://www.editorialdepartment.com/introductory-critique.html">Introductory Critique</a>, which evaluates your story's opening and provides guidance for the rest of the manuscript.<br /><br />Check out TED's list of <a href="http://www.editorialdepartment.com/acfw-promotion.html">suggested reading</a> too, as well as their article, <a href="http://www.editorialdepartment.com/what-editors-really-do.html">"What Editors (Really) Do: A Primer"</a> by Renni Browne.Beth K. Vogthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04032849469366266791noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6875963462823918487.post-22046716866145924072010-09-28T22:57:00.009-06:002010-09-29T06:47:52.850-06:00Discovering Motives<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyr7WguPlQevzIKtY7ikh2YQ_w_eam7qsZ_cTqfplWIv_tfEJzPyKxuX4alL9-OGJs-Q9t3CrgYxouKCA7hIZSCGlqQvlPNfUHGdjNFOIKsaIYhqaDZIf5Kr_NsNALElZtogqU3izuA7H-/s1600/campus_aerial.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 313px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyr7WguPlQevzIKtY7ikh2YQ_w_eam7qsZ_cTqfplWIv_tfEJzPyKxuX4alL9-OGJs-Q9t3CrgYxouKCA7hIZSCGlqQvlPNfUHGdjNFOIKsaIYhqaDZIf5Kr_NsNALElZtogqU3izuA7H-/s400/campus_aerial.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5522208724300104322" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">I live only an hour from the University of Texas in Austin</span>, so the shooting on Tuesday hit close to home. Police say UT Student Colton Tooley, 19, fired shots on campus with an AK-47 assault rifle, then killed himself inside the library. So far, no one has any idea why Tooley fired those shots. According to <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100928/ap_on_re_us/us_ut_gunman">the Associated Press in Yahoo! News,</a> those who knew Tooley say he was "intelligent and incapable of hurting anyone." A relative named Marcus described Tooley as "an excellent student who 'wouldn't or couldn't hurt a fly.'" Tooley's high school principal said teachers remembered him as "brilliant, meticulous and respectful." Yesterday, the young student acted completely out of character and no one knows why.<br /><br />I'm thinking, not many folks have assault rifles stashed under an old army blanket in their closets. At what point did this careful student decide to buy the AK-47? What caused his character to change so drastically? Yet, even as he carried out his plan, even as he fired the weapon, he failed to injure anyone but himself. Even if the campus was still waking up and not many students were around, even if Tooley had lousy aim, he fired an automatic weapon<br />toward people. Wouldn't he have hit someone if he were trying? In the end, the young man who "couldn't hurt a fly" only hurt himself.<br /><br />As writers, we always need to know what motivates our characters. Does their motivation make sense? If not, the lack of a proper motive will take the reader completely out of the story faster than almost anything. But with the proper back story, your villain can be believable, your story can be powerful. Your tragic young hero can make serious mistakes, yet your story will resonate with your readers and may change lives.<br /><br />In the days ahead, I'm sure investigators, psychologists, and profilers will draw a clear picture of what motivated Tooley. Meanwhile, my heart goes out to Tooley's distraught parents on the loss of their son. I'm thankful he didn't take any innocent lives during the shootings and his parents aren't dealing with that additional tragedy as well.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">~Roxanne Sherwood</span>Roxanne Sherwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02755513071598516044noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6875963462823918487.post-87899411671169911562010-09-27T08:50:00.003-06:002010-09-27T09:28:44.646-06:00Georgia O'Keeffe on Writing<blockquote style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>“I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn't say any other way</i> <link href="file://localhost/Users/scotidomeij/Library/Caches/TemporaryItems/msoclip/0/clip_filelist.xml" rel="File-List"></link> <style>
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</style> <span style="font-size: 12pt;">—</span> <i>things I had no words for.”—Georgia O'Keeffe </i></blockquote><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUPH830fECpxXeCuDQnZJE5VRwhHGWnYlqaVU6Roarjol5eGLeJm8EWZbIYcuEd_XxEPX4Ul69SZgZj9Mr3zRxkN2Oyo4Tqc_cM56Zo34I9yHmOkDSVxUjhTC2XbJRJ4zrHU4ac6oXbHJk/s1600/Georgia.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="235" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUPH830fECpxXeCuDQnZJE5VRwhHGWnYlqaVU6Roarjol5eGLeJm8EWZbIYcuEd_XxEPX4Ul69SZgZj9Mr3zRxkN2Oyo4Tqc_cM56Zo34I9yHmOkDSVxUjhTC2XbJRJ4zrHU4ac6oXbHJk/s320/Georgia.gif" width="320" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">You want to write. The kids demand your attention. What’s a writer momma to do? <a href="http://coloringpage.s-pl.us/">Coloring Pages</a>, a search engine for thousands of websites, provides online coloring pages to print out and hand to your child to color. </div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">As this quote from <a href="http://coloringpage.s-pl.us/">their website</a> states: “Educational and fun for your kids, peace and quite for you!” And yes they misspelled quiet. So when your words clamor to paint your page, print out a creative distraction to bring out your child’s inner Georgia O’Keeffe. </div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15538173852886506658noreply@blogger.com0