Hello to you this Friday and to Ashish Jansri, thank you,

I was wondering…how do you separate your book from the pack? Hundreds of books are published a year through traditional publishers and self-publishing. If you’re published with Scribner for instance, is it something done for you or only if you're John Grisham? Though I’ve read even getting a book deal with a major house doesn’t guarantee you’ll get a large book party or go on publicity junkets around the country to get the word out about your book.

What seems to propel books these days to great sales and possibly on to those bestseller lists is word of mouth, meaning its left up to the readers to decide, not the publishing houses or the lists but the reader who takes a chance on your novel. But what makes them take the chance word of mouth? I suspect it’s the chicken or the egg phenomenon with selling books too. The question then is how to get the word of mouth going for your novel. I think first and foremost you have to write a great story all readers will enjoy, the fantasy reader finding many things to like in your mystery novel.

In addition to writing an interesting thoughtful story with terrific stay-with-you-characters and riveting situations that charge at a pace that gives the reader only a few chances to catch their breath (my idea of a wonderful book and its what John Grisham does) you have to find ways to get the reader to realize your book is something special and it begins with you starting that positive word of mouth and backing it up by “showing”, by offering excerpts of your novel on your website or blog and asking readers to respond to it; getting positive blurbs or reviews of your book by writers you admire and post them out in the world, do interviews radio and in print touting your book, appear at book store signings, ask book clubs to read your book letting them know you’ll be happy to discuss the book with the group, those are just some of the ways to get that word of mouth running wild and if you come up with more inventive ways please let me know.

One half of the battle is writing a wonderful story you love and you know readers will love too; the other half is getting people to read that story but we’re all up to the challenge aren't we. Write well.

If you have any comments or suggestions please e-mail me at my new address: shabazzl@adasbcc.org.

Until next time, God willing,

Lori

Hello to you this Thursday instead of Friday,

I was eager to write to you so I’m submitting today. I found a great new website: http://crimesistahs.blogspot.com/. I don’t visit websites too often, the few I have are those of other writers and I’ve mentioned them in past entries so when I do come across one (it’s a blog on writing of course) especially one I hadn’t been looking for and find that it’s wonderful I have to let you know—let everyone know.

The Crime Sistahs can be found where I blog—blogspot which just made it better. One of the reasons why I like The Crime Sistahs is because it’s kept by crime and mystery novelists which of course gives me a new list of crime novels to fall in love with. I spent a lot of time reading on the site and was thrilled to discover it’s the kind of place that has everything and not just what a crime mystery writer would want, but any writer seeking advice, information, enthusiasm, a good laugh and encouragement. Reading the entries you get the sense these hard working successful writers want you to be successful too, they want you to make your writing dreams come true and are willing to do whatever they can to help you make it happen.

The site is low key and infused with the warm and engaging personalities of the writers. The entries began 10-23-2005 and just reading a few of them makes you want to read every one in the archive (I’m going to try) because you know you'll find something of use in just about every entry, for example: in the entry dated July 20, 2007 the writer Angela Henry, who writes the Kendra Clayton mystery series lets us know about the first annual St. Martins Minotaur/Mystery Writers of America First Crime Novel Competition being held right now and to send our novels out to them.

In the entry dated July 16, 2007 by Patricia Sargeant the writer of You Belong to Me, she imparts good advice on plotting she received from an editor at the Romance Writers of America conference and in another entry by Angela she tells what its like to have a book launch party and the scary anticipation of having another on a grander scale. As you can tell the entries are more than worth reading, more like essential.

So when you’re taking that momentary break from writing visit The Crime Sistahs site and do some reading keeping a lot of what they’ve written in mind. Think of it as just one more sturdy brick added to that solid foundation your writing is built upon.

If you have any comments or suggestions please e-mail me at my new address: shabazzl@adasbcc.org.

Until next time, God willing,

Lori

Hello, how are you?

Like most writers I read a lot of different novels: non-fiction and fiction of course: horror, science, literary. I’ve read many Stephen King novels so tried my hand at writing a couple of horror short stories, one titled The Eye and I enjoyed writing them realizing it was a stepping stone on to the road to finding my own niche and when I finally did there wasn’t a need to again write outside my chosen métier (one of my favorite words) of crime mystery fiction in all its forms.

Because I read urban fiction too and as a black woman supposedly familiar with the “black experience” should I want to write about it? No, no and no a thousand times. What I want to do is write with enthusiasm, joy and anticipation that wakes me each morning and that only happens when I write what I love and not what “I should” because of various silly reasons.

Writing is challenge enough and to write what you don’t enjoy or don’t love because it’s popular or worst yet, you think its going to make you rich, forget it; though rich does happen to some writers, the thing is, those writers keep on writing when they don’t have to because it’s just something special about writing well isn’t it? I believe it’s because it’s one of the few mostly solo occupations you truly can’t find personal fulfillment in if you don’t love to do it. So do it.

If you have any comments or suggestions please e-mail me at my new address: shabazzl@adasbcc.org.

Until next time, God willing,

Lori

Hello and happy Friday!

Are you writing today? I hope so, I’m writing a little mostly editing You Don’t Know Me. I got it back from the editing service the other day and though it’s a basic edit; making sure words are spelled correctly, punctuation is correct, use of the proper word, I still found some of the suggestions not to my liking so I kept the text as it was.

I wondered though if this had been an edit by a popular editor at Penguin Worldwide for instance would I have agreed immediately to all suggestions then done them at the speed of light with no back talk versus hesitating over them now ( and not making a number of them) as suggested by the editing person contracted with Lulu Publishing.

Because it was Penguin would I feel obligated to make all corrections and changes because it’s Penguin and I would feel so grateful they had a greed to publish my book I’d do whatever asked. I try not to think about it because I want to believe I would not make any changes I felt would tamper with the story or the characters or at the very least bring forth my own arguments why I would not make the changes; the problem is I’m not so sure. Deep deep deep deep down, I know I’d be open to any suggestions and probably make the changes. Yuck.

But for now I don’t have that problem to prey on my mind, I smile as I decide I won’t make this change or the next, that I’ll use my word instead of their’s and it feels good to be in control and know my story is going the way I want it to; the way I wrote it

If you have any comments or suggestions please e-mail me at my new address: shabazzl@adasbcc.org.

Until next time, God willing,

Lori

Hello,

Today I was taking care of the business of writing you know, sending out e-mails for blurbs, running to the post office, sending off packages of work to be read, all the stuff that comes in between the writing. I got it done so I'm back to the writing. Those things have to be done to get your projects known by readers and what I did isn't even half that has to be done: interviews (if you can get them) keeping your website up to date even writing articles, so since it has to be done, try your best to do it with a smile.

If you have any comments or suggestions please e-mail me at my new address: shabazzl@adasbcc.org.

Until next time, God willing,

Lori

Hello,

Sometimes it gets hard to write, the words will not flow, my story seems too hackneyed at best and uninteresting at worst and I have to ask myself why am I doing this? It happens to all writers once in a while. I have three ways to get out of this mindset that doesn’t plague me too often thank goodness. The first and best cure to getting myself out of the rut is to read the work of author’s I love. I just finished The Cloud of Unknowing by Thomas H. Cook and working on The March by E.L. Doctorow. Both novels are terrific and the writers make it look so easy and because they can it expires me to keep working on my project in an effort to someday get to where they are in their writing abilities: to get the reader to fall into the story and become entangled with it to their joy. And the only—only—way to do it is to write.

To keep writing is my second cure to the writing blues, just write. It can begin as bad stuff but as I go along a few good lines I can use end up on the page and even sometimes a couple of great ones form and really get me going. I just have to sweat through it and keep writing.

My last cure all for those impossible times is the dream I carry of writing a novel other people will love. We all have to work to make our dreams come true right? And the only way to get my novel out to the world is to write it, no way around it, so the blues, writer’s block, self-pity, lack of confidence, fear, whatever we want to call it; when it gets in the way (try and not let it) but when it does, try my cure alls and I promise you’ll feel much better and have your completed great novel to prove it.

If you have any comments or suggestions please e-mail me at my new address: shabazzl@adasbcc.org.

Until next time, God willing,

Hello and I missed writing to you last week, I really did,

I’m back from vacation, of course somewhat regretfully; and I did write while on vay-k. I spent—a lifetime it seems—standing in lines at Disney World waiting to catch a glimpse of Mickey Mouse and at Universal Studios waiting to be terrified during the Revenge of the Mummy thrill ride. So to pass the time I was lucky enough to write, I took a notebook along just for that purpose.

I was able to finish an outline for You Don’t Know Me while shuffling forward at baby steps. I was also able to write a few pages for the new Owen Story novel: Begin at the End, while I stood still in an endless line of bodies and sweated in the Florida heat. I was happy and surprised I got something completed it made all that waiting and sweating worth it though the rides were good too.

So I did have a great time with my family, a lot of fun with my kids. I saw a number of awesome sites, I ate a massive amount of great food, I met some nice people from not only around the country but from around the world and I wrote. No one could have had a better vacation than I did and oh, how I miss it.

If you have any comments or suggestions please e-mail me at my new address: shabazzl@adasbcc.org.

Until next time, God willing,

Lori

Hello,

It's Friday, yeah!!!

I will be going on vacation so may not blog next Friday though if I get a chance I certainly will. Will I write on vacation? Yes, of course and why not? I'lll do all the vacation things with my kids, see the sights, get a lot of sun, but I'll find time to write because it's what I do and I have to do it everyday to help keep me going. And what if I get a new idea or think of something that will move my current story forward? What? I jot down a note and keep playing volleyball? Maybe, but after the game I will sit and write for a while. Writing is a vacation to me, the freedom to express my thoughts and take the time to write them out without the clock ticking over my head. I work, have a family, other things to do to keep my life going so taking a vacation to do the things I love will always include writing.

You'll hear from me soon--whether you want to or not.

If you have questions or comments I’d love to read them and reply, so please email me at: shabazzl@adasbcc.org.

Until next time, God willing,

Lori

Hello and happy Friday,

I hope you’re getting a lot of writing done. I’m doing my best though some times the business of writing gets in the way and it can be humbling. For my book I’m sending out requests for blurbs or reviews from other writers and I hate to ask it of them, I know you understand. It’s tough to write as it is, to read and re-read a hundred times your own work, throw in the other things you must do to breath; to live, you have a headache, there are only so many hours in the day and to be asked by another writer you don’t know to take the time to read and review their work? Who needs it?

It’s understandable but we have no choice either. We need to ask those writers to read, to judge our work hoping, praying they will and give it a positive review because it can be the little push needed to get that one person to read our book; just one good word. We look at those blurbs when we pick up a book and if an author has more than one and they all are raving, well, we give that book more of a look don’t we? And most times we take it home with us. We want the same done of our novel and a back cover full of those positive reviews could be the push a reader needs to take our novel on.

I still dislike having to ask for a blurb but I do it anyway, I even ask for one from very popular authors like James Patterson. The writer can of course say no and probably will but as writer’s we’re used to “no” and rejects yet we move forward and keep trying, its wants makes us writers after all.

If you have any comments or suggestions please e-mail me at my new address: shabazzl@adasbcc.org.

Until next time, God willing,

Hello

I read this passage in the cover story in The Writer Magazine www.writermag.com, the story was titled “Writers and Money.” The passage is a quote by author Jason Shinder, “Don’t wait for things. Offer things. Think about what you can offer that’s different and try to create an organizational life around it.” I felt this to be such a profound comment and a generous guideline work on incorporating it into my life.

We’ve all heard the saying no story is original and because of this truth, as writers, we must make our stories, our novels original, and different so they get up and shout in an ocean of similar work: ‘ I’m different, I’m special and will make it more than worth your time to read me’. Sometimes this seems an impossible task doesn’t it? It’s not. There are tons of writers brave enough to complete projects and present them—their babies—to the world by any means necessary and we have to be part of that group of fearless souls. It takes perseverance and dedication and not just in writing but life too and sometimes I have to dig deep down to find them, yet I believe in my work so much that I know, as I know God is great, that readers will enjoy my novels and look forward to the next one. You must feel this way too and work it because if we don’t believe in our work, no one else will.

If you have any comments or suggestions please e-mail me at my new address: shabazzl@adasbcc.org.

Until next time, God willing,

Lori

Hello

Did I mention earlier that I submitted my novel to an editor to have it corrected for grammatical errors and character inconsistencies? I recently got the first two-thousand words back reviewed and I have to say, I didn’t like many of the suggestions I received, I actually felt my insides shout and rebel at some of the suggestions. I had no problem with some of the errors corrected for example, I forgot to put a question mark at the end of a question; it was great that the editor caught that one and others this was the reason why I wanted—needed—an edit.

My issue was the suggestions that would alter, in my opinion, the flow, the feeling of the novel. For instance I was told “Direct thoughts are better in italics”. The problem is that Owen has a lot of direct thoughts and to see all them in italics sounds unbearable, it would be the same as driving down a street of smooth pavement and running over unseen jolting road bumps making you crazy; not good at all. I believe reading a good novel—a great novel—happens when you don’t run over the words; aren’t even aware of them and just get story.

I feel so great about my novel the way it is;, have enough confidence in it that I’m just going to request the basic edit to alert me to put the question marks at the end of questions and nothing more. Am I taking a gamble not adhering to the deeper suggestions for change? (I didn’t forget the question mark here) Not at all because I’m wedded for life to the foundation, to the pull and tug of the story, to how it’s built. I won’t change the structure of the story because it makes the book and of course, You Don’t Know Me is a great book and that’s what I’m after.

If you have any comments or suggestions please e-mail me at my new address: shabazzl@adasbcc.org.

Until next time, God willing,

Lori

Hello

I hope you all are doing very well and of course writing a lot. I’m continuing to work on my second novel in the Owen Story trilogy and it’s going pretty well for me. I’m completing a page or two a day and for me that’s equivalent to another writer’s ten pages a day.

I believe the key is to just keep writing, whatever comes out, hell or high water; it’s the only way, the best way to write. Overcome all the daily obstacles and get those few precious pages done for the day; it’s worth it because the next time you look around you have a novel—yeah!!! Then the rewriting begins. Ha Ha.

If you have any comments or suggestions please e-mail me at my new address: shabazzl@adasbcc.org.

Until next time, God willing,

Lori

Hello

I was running on my treadmill this morning, you know how it is, a daunting leaded task to get started. I feel as if I can could do a million other things instead of getting on that treadmill including counting all the dust bunnies under the couch. I start out slow, plodding along until I awake fully, get the gears oiled and going, my legs and arm get warm and loose, I pick up a steady rhythm, get my breath under control and keep at it until time passes without me realizing it and I’m done.

Writing is like running (most of the time) isn’t it? When we first sit down in front of the blank page, its clean white looks as vast as the solar system. We put down the first word, our first thought and sometimes it takes a while to get that “first.” We struggle over a sentence, if it’s the right words, if the character is meant to take you this way. We get a few more sentences down, then a paragraph, plodding along, most times uneasily, sometimes at a pretty good pace.

We feel ourselves getting hot after a while, really sweating out the thoughts, the words, the sentences, finding it not as hard as it was in the beginning. We keep going, one page, two, five, ten and the time goes by until we have a story, a screenplay, the insides of a novel. We stop here, breath easier and feel good we’ve done our part for the day.

Yes, running can be like writing and for me both (writing more) is worth doing. What I gain in the end; a healthier me and great writing, I can’t live without.

If you have any comments or suggestions please e-mail me at my new address: shabazzl@adasbcc.org.

Until next time, God willing,

Lori

Hello

Have you copyrighted all your work? I hope you have. I’ve sent my book off to the United States copyright office, a forty-five dollar deal but worth every penny as you know. I of course have the right to the works I create and I don’t believe anyone would take my work as their own but I also believe in doing my part by copyrighting with the registry office just in case. I also submit my screenplays to be registered at the screenwriter’s guild.

I don’t believe sending your work to yourself through the mail is good enough anymore to be called “copyrighting” your work. With my work and yours too we just want to make sure we cross our t’s and dot our i’s when it comes to legally protecting our precious.

If you know of any other avenues of protection, please e-mail me and let me know the information will be appreciated.


If you have any other comments or suggestions please e-mail me at my new address: shabazzl@adasbcc.org.

Until next time, God willing,

Lori

Hello

I’m submitting my book, You Don’t Know Me next month to Lulu publishing and I’m excited about it and of course scared too. But I heard something on the Sopranos the other night (yes, I love writing crime fiction and watching it too) and the character Christopher said something like this—I paraphrase, “Face the fear and do it anyway"—do what you love to do or believe you were made to do. He’s a major mafia guy who happens to be absolutely above board on this one.

His comment really lessened my fear quotient about putting my book out in the world without agent back or a major book publisher behind me, his words made me realize those things don’t matter what’s important is following your dream (cliché though it may be) and making it a reality because life is so short its unbelievable so you want to make your life the best it can be; I do.

So there’s still a little fear there and it’s okay, its healthy natural but what’s not okay is not to do it, not to find any means I can to get my novel out because it’ll make me feel wonderful and because I know--know absolutely-- others will love the story and the characters.


If you have any comments or suggestions, please e-mail me at my new e-mail address: shabazzl@adasbcc.org.

Until next time, God willing,

Lori

Hello,

I read the other day in the Writer’s Magazine www.writermag.com how this writer loved having a day job as a teacher more than he loved being a full time writer. While reading the article I thought: he’s joking. How could he love having a day job as opposed to writing full time? I can understand him loving his job, teaching young minds to be great but still…

Then I thought about it. I like my day job, it pays the bill of course but one of the more important reasons why I like my job is that I feel when I do find the time to write while working, taking care of my family and other things, is that writing in between is like getting a special present or having a little holiday during my regular life. It’s such a joy to write so getting it in on those wonderful snatches of time: a day off to write, writing on a quiet Saturday afternoon or writing on my lunch hour or at four in the morning, makes the writing experience that much more precious and when its really going well—wow.

So I can understand that guy loving his day job—many people do—I like mine too and mostly because I’m blessed to be able to add actual writer to my resume, its the gift that keeps on giving as long as I keep putting pen to paper between the report to my boss or helping my kids with their homework the writing always fits in somewhere.

If you have any comments or suggestions, please e-mail me at my new e-mail address: shabazzl@adasbcc.org.

Until next time, God willing,

Lori

Hello and Happy Holidays,

The other day I received an e-mail from this person who saw a message I left on Fodors the travel site asking for information on the Western Sahara for my novel The Geography of Love. The person opened the letter with a question: Are you the Lori who is a writer? The question made me smile “the writer”. I said yes with all my heart I am “the writer” because if I don’t believe it and prove it to my self again and again, no one else will believe it either.

My belief in myself as “a writer” can wax and wane depending on how the writing is going. If it’s not going well because I hadn’t researched enough, don't feel smart enough to write this story or didn’t complete more pages I wanted for the day, then I feel less a writer and more a failure. But when my writing is sailing along, every word the right word, filled pages are flying one after the other (though rare for me) I know then I’m the best writer I can be.

If I had to list who I am, my qualities, no matter how my writing is going, “writer” would make one of the top three defining myself. It was nice to get that message asking if I am the writer; of course I am and always will be.

If you have any comments or suggestions, please e-mail me at: matwrite1@hotmail. com. I’ll love to hear from you.

Until next time God willing,

Lori

Hello,

Right now I’m listening to a book on tape as I edit my novel. First, I’m always a little uncomfortable at editing my own writing though I’ve read a number of books on the subject I believe I’ll read one more as I complete the editing to make sure I don’t miss anything. It sounds all well and good yet no matter how many books I read or techniques I try I’ll miss something, it’s natural for writers to do so—to miss a lot I know this by experience—whether I go over my novel ten or one hundred times. I will be sending it out for editing, I’m not arrogant enough to believe my techniques are good enough; I need a professional editor whose job is to see all the mistakes keeping my novel from being the best it can be.

Back to the book on tape; it’s not very good though it has a few moments not great ones, you’re not at all surprised at what’s coming but it makes me think what you’ve probably thought time and time again as you’ve read someone else’s work—or listened to it—how did this person ever get published? I used to think it was a mystery, its not. Novel’s get published all the time whether good or bad. The writer happens to be at the right place at the right time, catch the eye of the right agent or editor or know someone who is willing to mentor and help get the writer where he wants to be and failing all this write something so great, like J.K. Rowlings does, no one can pass it up.

I suggest going for the latter it seems easier and not something everyone else seems to be writing about—serial killers for instance, a serial killer story on every corner—but writing about what you love whether popular or even heard of but you love and think is great. I believe this way the rewards will follow and to me it doesn’t mean just a book deal or having your book at number one on every booklist in the country but being satisfied in the work you produced, you love every character you created, you had a good time writing the novel and look forward to writing the next; those things are what gets me up every day to open my notebook, take up the pen and write; it makes me feel special and I know it does the same for you.

If you have any comments or suggestions, please e-mail me at: matwrite1@hotmail. com. I’ll love to hear from you.

Until next time, God willing,

Lori

Hello everyone,

We’ve made it to another Friday. Have you been writing? I hope so because I have and it’s been going well though slowly, I write slowly but I'm trying to work on it. One of the reasons I write so slow is because I think I need to get it right the first(the first time for me is ten rewrites) time though that’s not possible and I don’t know why I worry about it.

I love when I’m able to just go for it, write all that’s flowing through my head get it down then go back later on with the red pencil. This frees up my writing and it doesn’t take from the story, the story is still there and I’ve gotten down the gist of what I think and feel at the moment and that's what’s important; a great thing.

Because I’m writing the second novel in the Owen Story trilogy I want to get it done in a timely fashion and I feel that I know so much of the story I can get it down and it won’t take me forever. So I’m going to do just that, get the entire book down and not worry around the first write up, just run for i, then go back later and streamline it. I’m going to try anyway. Wish me luck.

If you have any comments or suggestions, please e-mail me at: matwrite1@hotmail. com. I’ll love to hear from you.

Until next time, God willing,

Lori

Hello,

I’m working on the second novel in the Owen Story series or trilogy. I’ve finished the first You Don’t Know Me and will try my best not to “tinker” with it again, I’ve been “tinkering” with it for four of five years and its past the time to move on. As some writer’s know it’s hard to move on to the new novel because of a host of issues including fear but it has to be done and the kicker is, the new novel in the series has to be--in my opinion--better than the first which is a huge challenge but I’m up for it.

I keep thinking of the movie trilogy The Lord of the Rings. I enjoyed the Fellowship of the Ring it was good, but I loved the second, The Two Towers which made me look forward to the Return of the King which I liked. But the key for me was the second story(movie) it cemented me to the first, to the characters and the storyline making the third movie a couldn’t miss for me and for millions others too. I looked forward to it with anticipation and regret because it was the last. I want people who read my Owen Story novels to feel the exact same way.

So I will give one-hundred and twenty percent into the writing of Begin at the End (working title I think) and that means research, rewrites, evaluation by others (I can’t see the forest for the trees) rewrites, recording, what ever needs to be done to make the second novel terrific, to adhere Owen and the other characters to the reader’s hearts so they tell everyone they know to read the novels as they look forward to, can’t wait, to read the last in the Owen Story trilogy.

If you have any comments or suggestions, please e-mail me at: matwrite1@hotmail. com. I’ll love to hear from you.

Until next time, God willing,

Lori

Hello,

A lot of us want to be very successful writers but you know there are millions of people who don’t, who want to be just as successful at the thing they love. I hadn’t thought about this until my best friend, Kim Henderson, opened her own bakery selling her specialty cupcakes, cookies and all the yummy treats you can imagine. Opening the bakery was her dream while mine is becoming a successful writer and a dream is a dream. My friend’s making her’s come true motivates me to do the same for mine; it puts fire under my pen.

Everyone knows someone doing exactly what they are made for in life, I believe in using this as my push, my inducement to write my books believing that my writing may inspire others not just to create their novel but to do whatever’s necessary to make their dream lives real even if its to create food people love; to paint like Picasso, to make exotic jewelry or buy a farm growing organic vegetables, its all love for dreams.

If you have any comments or suggestions, please e-mail me at: matwrite1@hotmail. com. I’ll love to hear from you.

Until next time, God willing,

Lori

Hello,

I was reading in The Writer magazine yesterday a story about dialogue. I love dialogue don’t you? My problem-- and it may be yours too-- is I don’t use enough of it. I was re-reading one of my stories and realized I had too much to read and not enough being said by the characters. I realized the information being read could be said—and briefly—by the characters getting rid of a number of unnecessary lines allowing the reader to get to the meat of the story, into the lives of the characters I want the readers to love.

I’m nixing many of the excess paragraphs or useless passages in my Owen Story novels (in all my work) to make sure the stories move at a fast pace and to show and not tell; anything to improve my novels so readers will love them right?

If you have any comments or suggestions, please e-mail me at: matwrite1@hotmail. com. I’ll love to hear from you.

Until next time, God willing,

Lori

Hello,

Do you sometimes believe everyone in the world is writing a book? I occasionally believe it, yet what I seem to believe more is that just about everyone has written a book and some of them have written five or more and not just written books but had them published and read by millions. There are of course authors such as James Patterson—though not many—who are so prolific it’s amazing. He has more than one writing project-soon-to-be-published novel going at one time in addition to a new novel of his that's in book stores at the moment.

When I’m reading an article about a writer they all seem to have written ten novels. Or when I listen to public radio everyone interviewed seems to have several published books to their credit and I think, sheesh, why does it take me so long to write one novel let alone two? I don’t believe in writer’s block or any other roadblocks to writing for me those are excuses for me not writing; I can always find ten minutes here or there between laundry loads or before my children get up in the morning to write a line or two, a paragraph or even a chapter. All those lines and paragraphs do eventually add up to a novel and hopefully a good one.

But why does it take me so long to create this novel though I’m steadily writing it? Other writers can write two or even three books at a time or at least a book a year so why am I not a faster writer? I thought about this and researched it a little and came up with a few writers who I believe have the same complexity I’ll call it and it hasn’t hurt them one bit: Donna Tartt author of the wonderful ‘The Secret History” began that novel in the 1980’s, it was published in 1992 and her next novel ‘The Little Friend’ wasn’t published until 2002, ten years later; just two great works to her credit. Then there’s Thomas Harris the creator of Dr. Lecter. Mr. Harris has written five novels, and its more than six years between each novel. I've stopped beating myself up about how long it takes me to create a novel.

There really shouldn’t be any time constraints on creating a novel because quality is the key here. I try to make every word count in the story and get rid of the useless ones so that every word matters to the novel's progress. I try and flesh out each character, erase all the strings so the reader gets story and not just words, a story and characters they can believe in one-hundred percent; it takes so much time to get this right or as close as I can get it.

My first Owen Story novel has taken me six years to get it where I don’t sweat every page and can even smile a little when I read it. The second novel in the trilogy will take me at least another year and a half if not longer to get it manageable. Do I wish I could write faster? Sometimes I do but if it means tossing in any old character, overlooking the bumps and creating a so-so work; then I’ll always take it slow. Writing a novel is hard enough so why not go the extra one-hundred miles and make it worth while, make it stand out from the rest, a work you’ll always be proud of even if it’s the only novel in you.

If you have any comments or suggestions, please e-mail me at: matwrite1@hotmail. com. I’ll love to hear from you.

Until next time, God willing,

Lori

Hello,

I have completed one stage of the rewrites for my crime/mystery You Don’t Know Me and now the work really begins. The stages. I’ve completed the preliminary rewrite where I reread what I’ve saved on the computer. I take out as many of those “ly and ing” words as I can, toss out the junk readers don’t read and tighten up the story as much as I can. Next I’ll print off the pages and read them into my recorder. I don’t trust very much what my eyes see on the computer, I believe they miss more than they should. I feel the most comfortable reading off the printed page anyway; I think I catch more mistakes that way. And by using the recorder I know I hear them, they blare at me, I can’t help tripping over them. When I listen it enables me to make the changes and smooth out the story so that it flows; it feels wonderful not to stumble over story as I go along-- to just enjoy it and I imagine the reader will appreciate this too.

After I record its back to edit the changes into the computer copy and more reading. It's a long process isn’t it? Yet it works for me. Of course I wonder if it’s just a form of procrastination because I fear getting my story out so I go through all these forms of rewriting. I’ve thought about this quite a bit and decided that yes, it’s 5 percent all that but the 95 percent left is my determination to give those who choose to read my work a great story they can't put down, a terrific adventure, genuine characters they love and want to visit with again and all this takes so much time, effort, many mistakes along the way, fixes, so many rewrites—it’s the only way.

If you have any comments or suggestions, please e-mail me at: matwrite1@hotmail. com. I’ll love to hear from you.

Until next time, God willing,

Lori

Hello,

I’m working on two pieces, a children’s book—don’t let anyone tell you it’s easy writing children’s books; its not—and a flash fiction story. Both projects have been critiqued by professional editors and did they do their jobs well; it would've brought tears to your eyes. The children’s book editor wrote a four page critique that was so far from glowing it took me two days to read because every negative made me wince. He took every element of the story apart and examined it in every direction. The flash fiction editor did the same and this piece is less than three-hundred words. Was I upset at the deconstruction of my work? Of course, because I thought I was a better writer than that (see how much I know) but my greatest emotions were humility, gratefulness, acceptance and eagerness. I’m going to do exactly what both editors suggested; there is no question I will follow their guidelines, why? Because they know better than I do--you already know how much I know.

I’m too close to my work, all writers are and if I get someone who knows how to edit and who is willing to look at my work dispassionately and let me know what works and what doesn’t I’m happy about it. How many chances do we writers get to connect with those who genuinely want to help make our work the best it can be, who take the time and effort to help us succeed? It’s about as many chances we get to see a rainbow.

So, I’m going to follow all the suggestions I’ve been given for both stories because they will only make the stories even better, maybe even wonderful and in the end isn’t that our only true goal.

If you have any comments or suggestions, please e-mail me at: matwrite1@hotmail. com. I’ll love to hear from you.

Until next time, God willing,

Lori

Hello,

We writers write all the time though it’s not always putting pen to paper, at these times we ruminate over how to write, what to write or over some thing interesting we’ve heard, seen or learned; we read and we even watch television, something like the Discovery Channel or not, regardless of what we do, we are at all times writing; we can’t help it. We writers of course have good days and bad days like every one else where it’s almost impossible to get out of bed, but we do and what propels us writers is the possibility of writing well; starting a new story, finally completing the project or novel we’re working on; coming across a new idea we cannot get out of our heads that compels us to write right now or even reading the work of one of our favorite writers that motivates us to do all we can to join that auspicious group.

It’s time for me to get back to my writing---prompted by just writing today’s blog—and the book-on disc I’m listening to: The Interpretation of Murder by Jed Rubenfeld; so that someday soon someone will read my work and be inspired to get on with their own so others will someday read theirs, keeping the continous circle of loving to write and read forever alive.

If you have any comments or suggestions, please e-mail me at: matwrite1@hotmail. com. I’ll love to hear from you.

Until next time, God willing,

Lori

Hello,

I read the other day from an on-line newsletter I receive about writing, that to get better at my writing I should read everything I can, fiction, non-fiction, magazines, medical journals, most everything I can get my hands on and I agree with this recommendation, its one of the best ways to learn to write next to writing. The writer went on to advise that I should also imitate the writing style of the writers I love to read so that I can grow my own style; I don't agree with this recommendation. It sounds more like copying to me and it takes up time that I could be using to create my own style. Though I don’t believe in imitating other writers, I do adhere to the advice of writers I love to read and utilize there suggestions in my own work. For instance: Elmore Leonard‘s number 10 rule for writers is “Try to leave out the part readers tend to skip”. This piece of Dutch wisdom I try my best to do even if it means kicking out parts of a story I thought I loved and enjoyed writing , if I get the feeling its just taking up space, its gone.

Stephen King and Elmore Leonard suggest avoiding the use of too many adverds in my stories especially the “ly” ones, they don't move a story and waste space. They also suggest I try my best to use only the verb “said” to carry dialogue and let the character and the story tell you what is going on and how the character is feeling. These two pieces of advice from writers I admire, I incorporate into my own writing and don’t have a problem doing it because it makes my writing better, it gets rid of the junk, smooth’s my stories out and allows them to shine with my style with out unnecessary distractions (useless adverbs, description and details readers most often skip) getting in the way of the story.

So I don’t believe in imitating other writers and I try not to do it in my writing, but I do believe in incorporating their advice on writing well into my own novels because it works for some of our most well-loved writers (John Steinbeck, Larry McMurtry, Annie Proulx, Ernest Hemingway, Margaret Atwood) and it works for me.

If you have any comments or suggestions, please e-mail me at: matwrite1@hotmail. com. I’ll love to hear from you.

Until next time, God willing,

Lori

Hello,

I will be self-publishing my crime mystery novel: You Don’t Know Me, featuring Detective Owen Story in March. On the one hand I am thrilled by my taking my career in my own hands and publishing the work I love, but on the other hand it’s scary but not so much as I would’ve imagined and you know why? Because I girded myself against the fear; put on my writer’s armor and went for it. What's this writer’s armor? It’s making sure you give your readers the best book you can make it; putting time, energy and attention into its every detail.

When working on my book I not only do the research, try and make sure the details are right but the ascetics of the story, how it flows, how it sounds, has to be spot on as well. After the third re-write, I record the story so that I can play it back and listen to it’s flow, catch awkward words which believe me, stick out like an orange cone in the snow as you're listening. I try to make each word count and get rid of ones, even entire passages, that aren't necessary, that don’t move the story or makes it clunky. I make sure the story is consistent, it makes since, there are no continuity mistakes and the characters are outstanding and believable. I keep working on the book until I believe it’s a page turner the reader can't put down and long after they do, they remember and love the characters and want to visit some of them in again in a next novel. A tall order I know, but its done by writer’s all the time so there’s no reason for my novel to be any different; its just up to me to write it that way and once I feel I have it there—no fear. Voila!

So, I’m publishing my first crime mystery novel and I’m looking forward to it because I believe it has all the elements for a great story readers will enjoy. Of course there’s a chance I could be wrong but I have faith in my novel and all its elements, faith in my writing and in the end that’s all we need.

If you have any comments or suggestions, please e-mail me at: matwrite1@hotmail. com. I’ll love to hear from you.

Until next time, God willing,

Lori

Hello

As you might be able to tell I believe writing, creating pieces of written work, whether its fiction or non-fiction is beyond important, it can be the reason some of us get up in the morning; the reason we keep our sanity knowing that we are creating a different world from our great imaginations, enhance the world we live in or put a damming spotlight on it, but writing can do more than this, much more.

Npr.org did a feature story on a professor of Renaissance Literature from Smith College, his name is Eric Reeves and what makes Mr. Reeves so special is not that he teaches but that he writes to change the world. Mr. Reeves is an authority on the conflict in Darfur, Sudan. After learning of the mass killings of Non-Arab civilians in Darfur and realizing the international community not only refused to acknowledge the killings were crimes against humanity but hesitated to do anything to stop the crisis, he became angry and began writing. So far Mr. Reeves has written and published more than one-hundred articles and opinion pieces on the genocide and he also writes a weekly 6,000 word analysis that is read on-line by not only ordinary citizens who care but by activists and policy makers who are working to stop the genocide. He has become an expert and world renowned advocate for stopping the crisis. He isn’t personally compensated for his writing and speaking activities instead any monies received go to a Sudanese charity.

Mr. Reeves says that his writing will create a historical record people can go back to read that will detail such a horrendous, devastating siege on our fellow human beings, what we did about it and hopefully put at end.

As writers we enjoy what we write, labor over it, laugh and love, simple things but the undeniable fact about writing is that it doesn’t just shape and change the world it can save lives.

If you have any questions or comments feel free to contact me at:matwrite1@aol.com, I’ll love to hear from you.

Until next time God willing,

Lori

Hello

I’ve mentioned that I’m writing a novel titled The Geography of Love. Part of the novel takes place in the Western Sahara which is approximately 4, 200 miles or 6,759 kilometers plus an ocean away; a place I’ve never had the privilege to visit—though I’ll love to get there someday.

Though my imagination has gathered it’s images of the Western Sahara: shifting wailing sand dunes, a fiery ball of a sun, scorpions walking leisurely across the cracked desert floor, rock formations that looked like they were crafted then tossed aside by long ago giants; it’s not enough, I had to do the obvious: research. I read everything I could find on the Western Sahara and spent hours over pictures of the desert and those people who called it home so that the pictures in my head would have more life, yet I knew to make my story breath the desert air, feel the burning sand, admire a glowing sunset and pray for a breeze filled sunrise I would need to communicate with someone who’d actually experienced all these things in the Sahara.

I posted a message on the Fodor travel site and received a reply from Sarah who posts her experience in Western Sahara on her website. She was able to clue me in on an aspect of traveling in this part of the world I hadn’t come across making the information a must part of the story in my effort to root the novel in authentic experiences, give it that life, make it breath. If you can check out Sarah’s site at: www.sarahandflo.com, it’s terrific and you’ll be amazed at her travels, she’s been to twenty-nine countries so far and writes a piece on each one. She has offered to answer any more questions I have on traveling in Western Sahara and that’s invaluable to me and wonderful of her.

If you want to bring more power to your story and need to crank up your imagination, most times you have to go to an expert or those who've experienced what your character is experiencing and these day’s its easier than ever to get to them especially through the Net where experts have their own websites and e-mail addresses. I think most people are glad to hear from writers and enjoy talking about what they do or know best. The most important aspect to all this for us writers is that we want to do whatever’s necessary to make our stories come alive and utilizing real details and knowledge not only breathes life into the work, it makes our stories outstanding and ones that everyone wants to read.

If you have any questions or comments feel free to contact me at:matwrite1@aol.com, I’ll love to hear from you.

Until next time God willing,

Lori

Hello

And a Happy Prosperous New Year to you all especially in the writing department.
I was offered a space in an on-line magazine to place a flash fiction story and the guy was generous to offer one of my stories a spot and I am of course thrilled, but get this, he was so great he told me to just write up the story and send it along for him to take a look. On the one hand I thought it was terrific but on the other, it was, boy he has a lot of confidence in me because the thought of just sending off a story a second after I write it makes me cringe because “Hi, I’m Lori and I am a re-writeaholic.”

I know this is suppose to be a good thing, even a great thing because no story is ever written once ( maybe some of those by Ernest Hemingway) but the other ninety-nine percent of them are re-written stories and mine are no exception, they may even be in the re-written-to-be-re-written-and-beyond category. My writing system goes along like this: I write the first draft in a spiral notebook and this seems to take forever but I cannot write any other way. After the spiral notebook I move on to clearing the story out on yellow legal pads. After the legal’s I move to the computer, get the story in there so that I can sit in front of it for a long time: turning, twisting, tweaking the story, ripping out parts (sounds so bloody doesn’t it but sometimes you have to be brutal) starting a chapter over or adding a new one, tossing out a character and growing another; I’m talking reams of time working to get one project just perfect which never happens but this is the way I write. So when told to “just write it up and send it in” I panicked then thought it over and to my surprise, wrote it up. Did I do it in one try? No way; I can't go without tossing it through a couple of re-writes but what got me to do it immediately was having an almost fully formed story idea; seeing the characters doing their thing and not peppering the story with too many of them in the first place and also knowing the story is bounded by a certain word length because it’s a flash-fiction piece; this was a kind of freedom.

I've written the story, I’m going to give it one more going over then submit it. Regardless if it’s accepted by the magazine or not, I’ll send it along to you and you tell me what you think.

Another holiday is upon us, enjoy it with those you love and if you can write up a couple of stories or is that re-write up a few. Best Wishes.

If you have any questions or comments feel free to contact me at:matwrite1@aol.com, I’ll love to hear from you.

Until next time God willing,

Lori

Hello and Happy Holidays to you,

I am having trouble coming up with an idea for a short piece of less than one-thousand words. Doesn’t it seem how you have ideas about stories coming out the wood work sometimes? That every time you turn around something comes across to you as a great idea for a story; it happens to me all the time too but my problem is that it works for longer stories and not for something less than a thousand but then I remembered that article I mentioned in a previous blog written by Ms. Oard Warner and how she takes “scraps” from a larger story and creates well-put together short stories with them. I thought okay, maybe I could try that but then I thought challenge myself, stretch my imagination and come up with something special, find a way to create a new out of the ordinary story and not something from drop offs of characters I already know, create new characters a new situation, move into unchartered territory with my writing and fill it with excitement, make it interesting, come up with well-rounded characters and do it in one-thousand words or less.

Writing should be as challenging to me as driving a race car is to Dale Earnhart Jr; I don’t believe he knows wants going to happen when he gets out on the track, every situation is different, heart pounding, exhilarating and I want to feel the same rush when I stare at that blank page and try my hand at a new kind of story.

My story is not due for a while so I’m going to read more this holiday season , books and articles I generally pass up; listen a little closer to those conversations that I try and tune out; pay more attention to the world around me that I dismiss in the every day grind and by doing all this I know I’m going to find that story even if I have to stumble across it or even fall face down on it and get my “ah” moment where I’ll pull out my notebook and start writing like a maniac and come up with a short piece I love.

So I’m going to write this holiday season and I hope you will too. Have a happy Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa and just a plain old good time with those you love.

If you have any comments or suggestions, please e-mail me at: matwrite1@hotmail. com. I’ll love to hear from you.

Until next time, God willing,

Lori

Hello,

When I write I make sure I have two special books at hand, they are: Writing the Breakout Novel by Donald Maass and On Writing by Stephen King. I know most writers always have “writing” books or books about writing in easy reach when they are getting it down. My reasons for having my favorite writing books around are many but I’ll only comment on a few: I love reading passages from On Writing over and over again and not just the chapters on the practical aspects of writing, the “Toolbox” section as Mr. King calls it where he advises on the important basics of writing, using adverbs, grammar, style, plot (or not how to develop one), to read, read and read some more, description, theme, all the mechanics of the writing process, what I love the most about On Writing is that it’s truly like reading one of your favorite novels its full of stories of Mr. King’s life that draw you in like one of his great novels and they fit into the book just like pieces of a puzzle so perfectly that moving from a few paragraphs on how to write dialogue to the story of how he started writing Misery is a smooth ride like eating your favorite ice cream sundae and someone adding more whip cream on top.

I learn something from every page of On Writing. I can open the book on page one hundred fourteen and fall right into it (page 114 discusses vocabulary as one of the best necessaries as a writer) any page and not only learn something important, I’m also entertained, enthralled and like always--inspired--by its great writing and how it moves me to write—just write—and to try and do a great job at it.

I keep Writing the Breakout Novel close by because to me it’s a blue print on how to construct the best book that I can; Mr. Maass tells you like it is and he does it with precise language and a truckload of helpful information such as examples of the kind of writing that adheres to his point, checklists at the end of each chapter that gives the highlights of that chapter and he has also added a workbook that compliments his writing book where you can construct your novel right in front of you and I’m using it now for my novel The Geography of Love so that I will not miss out on the essential ingredients needed to create a great story. I use the workbook (as well as the book itself) when writing each of my novels because it gives me confidence that I’m going in the right direction while I’m traveling that long writing road.

Whatever “writing books” you use to help bolster you through the writing process is a great thing because the tools we need to get us to keep up the writing is to our advantage and to the works advantage. The goal is always to do our best writing as much as we possibly can and that’s not easy, so anything to help us along in this process is a gift.

If you have any comments or suggestions, please e-mail me at: matwrite1@hotmail. com. I’ll love to hear from you.

Until next time, God willing,

Lori

Hello,

If we’re lucky we can write all type of things and sometimes I need to write something different especially when writing a long project, so I take a break from the longer novel by doing shorter ones, novellas and flash fiction or sudden fiction that doesn’t take long, doesn’t take too many words and straying from the longer piece to the shorter one can be the most liberating exercises you can do and I had forgotten this until I completed the first sudden fiction piece I had done in a long time and it was terrific. The story is called Ice Cream and Christmas Trees.

To me writing short stories occasionally is like being a mathematician who takes a break from the coldness of numbers to write poetry or a concert pianist who occasionally plays with a jazz quartet because its fun. Another great aspect about writing flash fiction when you have the chance is that you can write about anything and in anyway you like which is different from writing a novel that follows an order, a plan, that creates the novel from beginning to end. Flash fiction doesn’t have to have a beginning or end, doesn’t have to follow any order, it can stop in the middle, it can have poetry thrown in it, it can sound crazy, or plain one liners, it can be 200 words or a thousand, flash fiction can be anything you want it to be and that’s the greatness of it.

So write what you want, what you love, just remember there are so many different forms of writing we can do and should do if not only to help develop our skills so that we can write anything well, but because I have so many things I want to write about (and I know you do to) that getting my stories out in any form is a wonderful, wonderful thing.

If you have any comments or suggestions, please e-mail me at: matwrite1@hotmail. com. I’ll love to hear from you.

Until next time, God willing,

Lori

Hello,

I hope you had a great Thanksgiving, ate grandly and wrote and wrote and wrote—good stuff. I did a lot of writing and I’m getting it done to my liking. I- as I do much of the time - was thinking about writing (though the key is doing it) and thought how much of it we really do and the different forms it takes. I start off my day writing out pages of my own work if I’m lucky or at least notes for a story or for a new idea.

From there I usually write notes to my children’s teachers, a line of two on their homework to let the teacher know I’m paying attention too or to comment on something the teacher sent me—those teachers send home a lot of information. Then at the office I write e-mails, more than I thought I did and for a number of reasons: one, because I seem to communicate better in writing than I do speaking to someone over the phone. Two, writing out something another person can read seems to me to clear up any beginning confusion; it’s in writing so quote me on it. Third, writing out a message is easier, cleaner; colder maybe but cleaner. And fourth, you can write out something beautiful, make something easier for the reader to take when its written out, you can pour your heart out in your writing something that sometimes cannot be easy to do over that instrument, the phone.

In the evening I write notes to my husband and those are my favorite. Writing to someone you love, even like a lot is special and I think it has always been since the birth of the printed word. How many times have reading the love letters of others: Catharine of Aragon to Henry VIII; Napoleon Bonaparte to Josephine; Theodore Roosevelt Jr. to Bunny (his second wife); F. Scott Fitzgerald to Zelda and Ronald Reagan to Nancy Reagan make us realize that only through the written word can the feelings and thoughts in the heart be expressed for all the world to see and rejoice in.

Writing is a constant isn't it? It can’t be avoided; shouldn’t be avoided, we can’t live without writing, putting all we want to do, need to be, want to be, who we love, what we love; the way we live; all of it, in to words. I know I can’t live without putting something into words everyday and I don’t think you can either.

If you have any comments or suggestions, please e-mail me at: matwrite1@hotmail. com. I’ll love to hear from you.

Until next time, God willing,

Lori

Hello,

I just wanted to say Happy Thanksgiving to you all and keep writing through the holidays, I will.

See you all next week God willing,

Lori

Hello,

I read recently in The Writer at writermag.com, an article titled “A ‘crazy-quilt’ approach to fiction” by Sharon Oard Warner. It was the first paragraph of the story that caught my attention, it told of going against the so called wisdom of writing a first draft non-stop and instead doing what Ms. Oard Warner called “premature revision” which sounds vaguely unpleasant yet it’s not, it’s her term for revising, rewriting, getting one section complete, done, as perfect as you feel you possibly can then moving onto the next part of the story and doing the same. Ms. Oard Warner goes on to write about how though while still writing the bigger picture out you can give birth to smaller, stand-alone stories from “scraps” off that larger picture or story.

I was taken though with what I’ll call “another way of writing” to Ms. Oard Warner’s “premature revision” and mostly because I’m writing a novel just that way and not because it’s an experiment or easier but because it’s the way the novel called “The Geography of Love” is developing. I started the work of course with an idea but pieces of the story didn’t come to me right away, I would be reading a book for research and a line would conjure up an entire scene, but one at the end of the book and I’ll write it out, put it aside then go back to writing the beginning of the novel; or I’ll write a short middle section or a long end section, hodge podge, back and forth depending on the inspiration I receive for whatever scene; it’s not the start-at-the-beginning-of-the-draft-and-keep-at-it-until-the-end; my novel is coming together piece meal yet in my mind its coming together as well as if I flamed through it as a first draft.

All of this sounds good, but the bottom line for me as well as for you I’m sure is just getting the work, the novel done, completed, by any means necessary; it’s the goal and if I had to stand on my head to finish my novel in the way that satisfies me—or as satisfied as I can get with my writing—then I’ll do it. So no matter how you write your novel or other writing projects, the point is that you’re writing it, finishing it and are as happy as you can be at that fact.

If you have any comments or suggestions, please e-mail me at: matwrite1@hotmail. com. I’ll love to hear from you.

Until next time, God willing,

Lori

Hello,

Surprised to hear from me on a Thursday instead of my usual Friday, well, I won’t be around tomorrow; well not by death; well at least not that I know of, but I won’t be able to write the blog out tomorrow and wanted to make sure it was done. It’s the writer in me of course, write everyday, write what you need to and steadily.

Though I won’t be writing my blog tomorrow I will be writing; I will be having a “fantasy writing day.” I know you know what I mean; it’s the kind writing day you imagine for yourself as a successful writer. A fantasy of course, well maybe more of a dream because you know you want to get there,for now though you work your day job, attend to your other responsibilities and write toward that kind of success.This is what my “fantasy writing day” will be like.

I’ll rise around six-thirty and have a cup of coffee at my kitchen table while I read a writing magazine or book on writing. An hour later I’ll get my sons ready for their day, breakfasted, dressed and off to school. After dropping them off I’ll go to the gym for an hour or maybe an hour and a half because I have to spend time in the sauna and a nice shower.

Afterwards, home to start another pot of coffee, eat a light breakfast and then go to my “writing room”. In my mind it would be a great office with a plush red divine for resting but in reality it’s my dining room table. At the table I’ll get out my writing notebooks and write until one o’clock, grab a quick lunch, maybe read a few pages in a novel by one of my favorite writers for further inspiration and strength or watch one of my favorite half-hour programs like I Love Lucy, the ones before the Ricardo’s move to Connecticut. Or All in the Family, the one’s before Mike and Gloria move to California.

After lunch and a show I’ll go back to writing until three thirty when I go pick up my sons. The rest of the day would be filled with family and end after the kids are in bed and I write for another hour; the perfect writing day. It’s amazing to me that there are writers out there who have “fantasy writing days” everyday and my goal is to join that club and I know it’s yours too and the only way to get there is to write; write well, keep submitting until you find the right people who love your work as much as you do and don’t get discouraged more than two minutes a day; but the only real way to make that dream reality is to of course: write.

If you have any questions or comments feel free to contact me at:matwrite1@aol.com, I’ll love to hear from you.

Until next time—next Friday God willing,

Lori

Hello,

Do you ever have those occasions when you don’t want to write, can’t write because you’re too tired, too sad, on brain freeze? Or when you believe you can’t write? That what you write is awful and you’re wasting your time and no one can possibly love what you wrote besides yourself. We feel this way some times we can’t help it.
The key though is that your mind may say those things and believe them at the time but down deep, down in the heart of you, you know its not true because there is that flame for writing ever present, you feel it like its second heart and it keeps burning no matter how you’re feeling or thinking; its our passion for writing. A flame that never goes out no matter what. I once read a comment by science fiction writer Ray Bradbury I’ll paraphrase here, he said, “Sometimes you worry about bills you can’t pay or other things that are on you mind, but eventually you get over those things but the writing never really stops.”

The writing never stops though you may not put things down right away on paper your mind and heart are always looking for a story, ruminating over a story idea even though we all have lives—some of us very busy lives—outside of putting pen to paper, writing is our calling, the thing we do even when we shouldn’t, when we instead should be mowing the grass or doing that report for work we still will do anything to put those lives aside for a moment, an hour, a day to write because there is nothing else in the world we want to do more because its our passion.

If you have any questions or comments feel free to contact me at:matwrite1@aol.com, I’ll love to hear from you.

Until next time God willing,

Lori

Hello,

I like ER and I watch the old shows when I can and one thing I like to see at the end of the show is the –C- for Consistency, it’s the logo for the production company owned by the author Michael Crichton at http://michaelcrichton.ne, who is the creator of the show. He is consistently writing not just books, screenplays and he even wrote episodes of the show. He consistently writes.

Each time the show ends and I see that confident “C” it's a consistent (I couldn’t help it) reminder how writing unfailingly, as much as possible, all the time, is the only way not just to learn to write well but to succeed at writing. And its not just writing everyday and writing all kinds of works that you enjoy, for instance writing mystery novels but one day writing a short horror story; it’s what I do and I can contest to the fact that over time my writing has improved using this technique and I mean to keep it up to make my writing the best it can be.

I remember reading the earlier fiction by Dr. Keith Ablow at www.keithablow.com and enjoying his work, but as he wrote further stories staring Dr. Clevenger they became better, the writing smoother, more texture to the characters and storylines, I know this may be rare and you have to throw some talent in but only writing and rewriting consistently makes that “some talent” blossom.

So write everyday if you can, write when it’s difficult, when you’re tired and it’s just plain hard to find the right words, it’s the best way, the only way to develop your talent and become the writer you’re meant to be; a great one.

If you have any questions or comments feel free to contact me at:matwrite1@aol.com, I’ll love to hear from you.

Until next time God willing,

Lori

Hello,

I’ve been reading a lot lately about character development and have decided I don’t much like that term—character development. To me, my characters are more than “developed” I feel they are born through blood, sweat and tears like any human though birthed out the mind of course and I know you feel that way too. We make our character’s hearts beat like our own, we add the joy of a good life or the pain of a bad one we may have known, they feel what we have felt, look like people we may have known or imagined knowing and we give them lives we wished we had or would never want and we do it all in minute detail. I believe a combination of those factors can make for unforgettable characters we love or hate: Captain Ahab, Holden Caulfield, Madame Bovary, the list is endless.

I’ve found the easiest and best way to breathe a life into my characters is to sketch out their life from beginning to end. The main character Owen Story of my novel, You Don’t Know Me, was born in Catchem Hospital on January 23, 1969 in Long Island, New York. He moved to the small town of Grange and lived in the working class neighborhood of Straw Martin with his parents who were careless people without meaning to be. He was an only child. He was quiet, tried not to be too noticed, but was noticed any way. Owen wasn’t an outstanding student though he finished high school and the local college. The two most notable occurrences in his young life was his father leaving him his mother for good never to return and his meeting his life long friend, Robert Giordano, the son of a low-key mafia don when Giordano helped him fight off a couple of bullies who were going to turn the thin but suicidally brave Owen to mush.

You get the idea. Owens’s life story builds until he becomes as real as a made up person can be; we create our characters with this goal in mind so they can become like those we love: Hamlet, Ebenezer Scrooge, Don Quixote, Huckleberry Finn, Cinderella; all unforgettable.

If you have any questions or comments feel free to contact me at:matwrite1@hotmail.com. I’ll love to hear from you.

Until next time God willing,

Lori

Hello,

Words: As writers words are it for us. They make magic but they are more than that aren’t they? For instance: Provenance, a great word. It’s defined as “the origin of source from which something comes.” Say it out loud, it weaves through your vocal cords and moves across your tongue like the world's greatest chocolate. Or say one of my favorites: aberrant, it sounds so important, special. Or antiquities, salivary, disturbance; words; we can think of thousands of them and many are our favorites; words; as writers they mean much more to us.

Finding the right word and fitting it in just the right place is a joy because doing so can make a world of difference in our story. I toil over words, sweat them, are afraid of approaching them sometimes because I need to be positive I’m choosing the right word because there can only be that right one for that part of the story and if I don’t have it, I’m done for. It’s amazing, maddening, a treasure hunt and the found treasure is a great story where every word counts, worth its weight in gold.

You love words, you love to write, keep at it because whether your stories are published or not, read by two million or two, the power is with you because you do the hard work, you do the creating with words alone and that makes it and you in a word: wonderful.

If you have any comments or suggestions, please e-mail me at: matwrite1@hotmail. com. I’ll love to hear from you.

Until next time, God willing,

Lori

Hello,

I received a letter last month from a literary agent, Annie Hawkins of John Hawkins and Associates, Inc. She’d responded to the first three chapters of You Don’t Know Me, my mystery/crime novel featuring New York City detective Owen Story. She wrote only a few lines, I’ll quote them, “Dear Lori Mathews-Shabazz. Thank you for giving me the chance to read sample materials from YOU DON’T KNOW ME. (I’m not sure why that was capitalized) While I liked your writing and concept I’m afraid I didn’t FALL IN LOVE (this capitalization I did for emphasis) with the overall story line. I’m sorry we didn’t connect on this project, but I wish you well for its success. Very truly yours, Anne Hawkins.”

It was not the worst response I could’ve received, but what continues to play in my mind is that one word: LOVE. “I didn’t fall in love with…” Ms. Hawkins was the second agent who’d reviewed You Don’t Know Me—or at least the first three chapters—and informed me he “didn’t fall in love with it”. The literary agent Sheree Bykofsky of Sheree Bykofsky Associates Inc., writes in her introduction section on her website: www.sherebee.com, “I don’t limit myself to particular genres because I’m always surprised by what appeals to me. If I love it, then I’ll take it on.”
Or this passage from Building A Buzz For Elephants from the April 24, 2006 issue of Publisher’s Weekly. Margie Scott Tucker, co-owner of the northern California-based 10-store Books Inc. mini-chain, heard Popelars Elephants (Water for Elephants by Sara Grue) pitch at the institute. ‘…back home, Tucker started passing around galleys to the staff—“Everybody loves it,” she said.”
That LOVE again and again. But how do I get readers to love my writing? Is there is a recipe I can follow that would create this love for my writing? Is there a recipe any one can follow for any kind of love, that ephemeral, overwhelming feeling that’s as elusive as well, happiness?

Though I don’t believe there is a recipe I can concoct to get the readers to love my writing, I do believe there are elements I can create in my stories that may get people to apply that word to my stories. First, the story must be intriguing, inventive, exciting even if it’s about baking muffins, something different has to be made of it. The story has to show the reader something by use of the best words, smooth language that doesn’t get in the way of the story. The characters must be real to the reader and live a life that seems different from my experiences even if they’re the same. It must be characters I can feel something for love, hate, understanding.

I’m reading The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean and I LOVEd the story because I knew nothing about orchid growers and that world. The story about an orchid thief was so interesting you had to keep reading and as well as the characters being original, the main character John Larouche was outstanding.

So there maybe a recipe to get readers to love my stories; though a caveat here: realistically not everybody is going to love my stories, not everybody loves me or you for that matter in life so why should what I write go by a set of different rules. And getting and agent to love your work is a bit different because they have an agenda that’s tosses your work at the bottom of their lists, the top spots going to: profit; books similar to mine (or yours) already on their list; the agent may love your book but the others in the agency do not; a full booklist; a need for writers with track records only; all this. But—and a big but too—if an agent loves your work all those top spots become unimportant and the agent will fight for your work so that others will read it and love it too.

So, I guess LOVE is the key word here after all. LOVE the stories you write. Find an agent if you can that LOVEs your story or stories—DO NOT settle for less. And keep writing the stories you LOVE. It really is a simple recipe isn’t it.

If you have questions or comments I’d love to read them and reply, so please email me at: matwrite1@hotmail.com.

Until next time, God willing,

Lori

Hello,

I’m going to blog this one in a few paragraphs I hope and not because I don’t have enough to say (for some of you I have too much) but because I it’s about what I write, have written and is working on now.
I talk-write-about writing so you may ask, “Okay then, what have you written other than shopping lists? Since you have so much to say on the writing life.”
I do have a list of projects I’ve written believe me; I didn’t say all of them were Hemingwayesk, but they were written, then rewritten, rewritten, rewritten….I started off more than twenty years now beginning with short stories; one of them was titled, Never Eat a Dead Lobster, which was part comedy and part action/adventure story, a fun read if I say so myself. I wrote all kinds of short stories from humorous, to crime, to horror. The lobster story was even accepted for publication by a now defunct magazine I can’t remember the name of though I kept the acceptance letter for years.
I gave in to the need to jump from short stories to novels for two reasons: first my short stories were getting longer and secondly, those long short stories were getting to be mostly about crime and mystery with action tossed in. My first full length novel was called White God and I mentioned it in my first blog. It’s the story about DEA agent Jack Abrams who’s sent to the jungles of Peru to bring back his former partner Elvy Wyatt who’d been exiled there. Wyatt does a Captain Kurtz (Apocalypse Now) among Peruvian cocoa leaves growers. This novel was all action and adventure that included traitorous agents sent to kill, a terrifying jungle, crazed drug lords, chases and shoot-outs; it was so much fun to write and to read even now, though I find a thousand things that I can improve in the novel I couldn’t see as a beginning writer all those years ago. After White God I wrote a novel introducing a Boston police detective. Both novels and all the stories I’ve written for that matter, involve a lot of research which I do enjoy and it of course makes the work immediate, real, just better so no story can really do without it these days or at any time I believe.
Now, I’m writing the second novel in a mystery/crime trilogy featuring New York City detective Owen Story. The first novel is titled White God and the second is titled Beyond the End. I wrote a short story that featured Owen that appeared in the on-line magazine 3rd Degree.
Have I had any of my projects officially published so that if you by any chance wanted to could go out and buy it at Barnes and Nobles? One answer: no, you can’t. A better answer; I keep trying to get them published (never give up) and I could self-publish: the best answer; I keep writing what I love regardless of it all because I love the characters and stories I’ve created. I don’t wake up at 4:00 a.m. for nothing I do it because for an hour I can fall into that magical hole of a life that is Detective Owen Story’s world that’s full of adventure, trials, tribulations, interesting and outrageous situations, death-defying feats, mind-blowing circumstances in his world so far removed from my everyday world (thank goodness) but it's one I created, it’s the one thing I can do and I wouldn’t give it up. I feel terrifically blessed to be able to write for myself sometimes it’s all I can ask for.

If you have any thing you would like to tell me or ask, I’ll really appreciate it so please e-mail me at my new e-mail address: matwrite1@hotmail.com.

Until the next time God willing,

Lori

Hello,

When you need to write, write, whenever and wherever you can.

I woke at 4:00 a.m. to write and so did Dan Brown of The-You-Know-What so I’m in good company. As a matter of fact at his official website: www.danbrown.com, he is quoted as saying “If I'm not at my desk by 4:00 A.M., I feel like I'm missing my most productive hours”. We’re all grateful he’s so productive, it eventually creates great reading for us, for me though, I feel tired at this time yet I know it’s the best time for me too. So I sit on the couch with the house silent except for the house sounds and I manage a page and half before its time to exercise, get the kids up and get on with the rest of my day.

To find the time—no--make the time to write, so that we create a work of physical heft, something of weight that can be read from top to bottom, paged through, used as a door stop if need be, content whatever you want, believe in, know (don’t know) love can be a tremendous undertaking in itself. As ninety-seven percent of us writers know becoming a full-time writer is not just a dream, but a fantasy and is the world of only three percent of published writers and we know who they are, yet even for full-time writer’s; life, dare I say it? Gets in the way and has to be attended to so you work the writing into your real life. J.K.Rowling at her official website: www.jkrowling.com was asked, “How many hours a day do you spend writing?” Ms. Rowling replied, “Anything from ten minutes (with a new baby…) to ten hours.” Those ten minutes can be all we’ll get to write that scene, flesh out the new character, it sometimes can be enough and in Ms. Rowling’s case, her ten minutes add up to great books.

So you’ll take that ten minutes to write and for me it can be while my kid is going over his spelling list or taking down a character note while I’m waiting at a red light. Sometimes I get more than ten minutes, an hour after I’ve done all my projects at work, twenty minutes to scribble a paragraph while my kids play ball in the park, write anywhere and everywhere. And writing is not just the physical act of putting pen to paper writing is also the thinking process, mind-mulling-process, ruminating that you must find the time to do and it’s just as important as putting pen to paper or fingers to computer keys. T.C. Boyle writer of Talk Talk at www.tcboyle.com puts it beautifully on his April 25, 2006 news posting, “The news is that I haven't yet begun the new novel. I'm still creeping through the indecipherable notes, brooding, tugging at my beard, awaiting the propitious moment and the infusion of my brain and soul with the radiant light of conception.”

Mary Higgins Clark said it pretty well: “When my children were young, I used to get up at five and write at the kitchen table until seven, when I had to get them ready for school. For me writing is a need.” It’s like that for us too, I know it is, so write whenever you can, make the time, five minutes, fifteen hours, find it, create it, steal it, just do it, feed that need—write.
If you’ll like to comment, I look forward to it or would like to e-mail me at: matwrite1@hotmail.com.

See you next time God willing,

Lori

Hello,

To write what you don’t know is essential for most writers, a joy and a pleasure it makes us get up at 4:00 in the morning to put pen to paper, but to write what you don’t know takes one essential ingredient and for me (you as well) is research and a lot of it. Research I can’t do without, it’s the bricks and mortar, the foundation that I build the beautiful, mysterious and sometimes bizarre-house-of-a-story upon.

I believe that to tell a great story today, research makes that possible, its sixty percent of the pie, twenty percent is having a wonderful story and the other twenty is being a great storyteller. Not only is research unavoidable, you can make doing it easier by welcoming it into your writing because it only aids in giving your story “believability” and real life, the hall marks of a story the reader cannot stop reading. We love a well meticulously researched story don’t we? Think Michael Crichtonhttp://www.crichton-official.com/ one of the best writers/researchers, whose novels consistently make the New York Time bestseller’s list. When reading his work for instance, Jurassic Park, the information that he presents is so viable at its scientific level it’s without a doubt the bedrock of the story that it makes you believe creating a dinosaur is so easy, we loved him for it and kept reading because he then tossed in his storyteller hat and gave us rampaging dinosaurs, children in peril and death defying rescues. Or think Brad Metzler http://www.bradmeltzer.com/ the author of The Tenth Justice. I listened to an interview Mr. Metzler did on http://www.npr.org/ regarding the research he compiled for his newest novel The Book of Fate. Mr. Metzler’s book features a former president, so not only did he interview a former president, George H. W. Bush, he shadowed him, watched him live his life after being the leader of the free world so that he could make sure his character in his novel was not only believable but real; now that’s doing research.

I enjoy research because I find that people can be very helpful, want to be helpful, especially police departments. When I began researching my novel You Don’t Know Me, I had to learn about the New York City Police Department http://www.ci.nyc.ny.us/html/nypd/home.html. The department has a very good website that lists its information, profiles of each bureau, the commissioners and even crime statistics and when I found I needed more information I contacted their Public Information service out of the office of the Deputy Commissioner and they are wonderful at answering questions or leading you to where you can get the answers you need.

Nothing of course beats a great story in itself but I don’t think any deeply developed story, a winning story, can be complete without a fair amount of research even a personal one about your dentist you’re going to describe the dentist office, the magazines he has scattered in the waiting room, the sounds of the drills, the smell of Novocain, when you add as much “real” as you can to a story the easier it is for the reader to relate to it and the characters. As readers, most times, we love the details it makes us fall into the world you’re creating and hopefully fall in love with your writing for a lifetime. If you want to e-mail me on Writing, please do at shabazzlm@hotmail.com.

See you next weekGod willing,

Lori

Write what you Know? Don’t You Dare.

If I wrote what I know, I’d never read what I’d written, it would be boring What I know is boring: how to put together an entertainment center: use a good set of pliers. How to set up a screenplay: use Final Draft. That Meryl Streep is a great actress: watch her movies. That Toni Morrison is an awesome writer: read. Some of the things I know.

What I don’t know and for the most part (for some of them) I don’t want to ever know but I’m eager to imagine and write about: how long it takes to dig a hole to bury a body in the winter’s old dirt of the Minnesota woods. What its like to ride in an armored car full of money; terrifying you think? How long does it take for the Macy’s Day parade to end? What it’s like being a spy. What it’s like living in New York City. What it feels like to almost drown in a lake or even in your own home; the living room for example. What its like being a DEA agent and going on a raid. What it’s like being a man. How many homicide detectives are assigned to a New York precinct house?

The list can go on for miles but the thing each has in common is that they’re not boring; at least not to me. They get my blood flowing. They put the ink on the yellow legal pad one page at a time, hopefully. I can’t imagine writing what I know, it takes no imagination to put together the place where my television will sit, but it takes great and colorful megawatts of brain power, a kaleidoscope of thoughts, suppositions, questions, what ifs, anything goes, nothing can’t be done, try this out, find this out, go for it, let it flow, just write it—a great big world-chewing-imagination to write what I love which is the stuff I don’t know. There is no other way for me; thank goodness

If you would like to give me your take on Writing please e-mail me at: shabazzlm@hotmail.com

Until next time,

Lori

Writer's Conference. Who was There? Who was Not?
Hi,
This pass weekend I attended my first Writer's Conference in two years. It was held in Columbus Ohio and you know, it was nice, better than I expected. The writers, agents and editors were the nicest people which was a surprise to me, as a matter of fact the attendees were so nice, it was commented on. Did I get a lot out of the conference, information I could use when submitting to agents or editors at publishing houses? Yes, I did. Was there the smell of desparation in the air? With a room full of dying-to-be-published writers? Of course. Did I make useful contacts in the business? Possibly; though I believe where the agents and editors are concerned they encourage every writer who consulted with them, who grabbed them in the bathroom or who sat next to them at dinner to take their card and submit their precious baby to them; it's one of the points of the conference after all. You don't get a no from any of them--it'll probably come later--this is understandable, even acceptable, but right then and there as you stand in front of that smiling agent who hands you his card, there's the hope.

So I came away from the conference feeling good about myself and my writing, motivated. Sounds all good right? Yet, there was one fly in the ointment. Just one. This fly, a large fly now that I think about it, was pointed out to me by Lyn Walden an African-American writer of interacial thrillers, as she befriended me during the conference's lunch offering of beef stroganoff and brownies. Ms. Walden pointed out that inspite of the fact that she enjoyed the good speakers and their interesting topics, everyone of them were white and most of the attendees were also with a few African-American faces breaking up the color scheme along with a few other people of Asian ethnicity that could be counted on one hand, two fingers. We discussed the possibilty that the price of the conference--which had gone up from the previous year--wasn't affordable for most people and this is of course a valid point. But what about the speakers, the presenters? Where was their diversity? When you think about it, there are so many agents, editors and pubishers out there who contribute to ethnic diversity by publishing or taking on a diverse list of writers especially in the face of today's small world, it seems backwards not to include those writers, their point of view, their advice, even wisdom at a writer's conference where writers come to confirm they are not alone at any time in the world. As I think about it now I imagine my conference holding a panel featuring Evelina Chao, the Chinese-American novelist and her point of view of getting published and if her background was a help or hindrance. Or a session on How to Promote Your Book by someone such as Colin Channer a writer from Jamaica and the techniques he finds useful depending on his audience or his need to grow an audience.

I know what you're thinking. If attendees of the conference with diverse backgrounds don't go to writer's conferences in the first place, why should you need a diverse group of speakers or presenters? Because 'we are writers ' is my answer. As a writer I want to know everything I possibly can, seeking knowledge is the key and the best knowledge comes from those who are different from me, who have lived a life differnt from mine, who've had wider range of experiences; some I can't imagine, and when I listen to these people tell their stories it's as if my writing muse writes them down and files them away to be pulled out, looked over and possibly use depending on the story "I have to write" when its time for the story to be born.

I can't imagine a better place than a writer's conference to find these different worlds as an encouragement to all writer's, to titilate their need to know and to expand their world of possible stories because isn't this what writing is all about?

Until next time,

Lori