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
Friday, March 30, 2007
Friday, March 23, 2007
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
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
Friday, March 16, 2007
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
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
Friday, March 09, 2007
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
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
Friday, March 02, 2007
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
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
Friday, February 23, 2007
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
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
Friday, February 16, 2007
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
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
Friday, February 09, 2007
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
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
Friday, February 02, 2007
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
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
Friday, January 26, 2007
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
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
Friday, January 19, 2007
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
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
Friday, January 12, 2007
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
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
Friday, January 05, 2007
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
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
Friday, December 29, 2006
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
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
Thursday, December 21, 2006
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
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
Friday, December 15, 2006
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
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
Friday, December 08, 2006
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
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
Friday, December 01, 2006
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
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
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
Friday, November 17, 2006
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
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
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