The Writer's Nook

Step Up To The Bat

2008-01-15T06:30:00.000-05:00

It is too easy to fall into a rut with your writing. Life gets busy, and things take over. It's time to stop letting them!

This is the first, of many more weekly challenges, to keep us moving in the write direction.

Write a 500 or less, no more, picture book story.

Rhyme or not, doesn't matter.

Your finish goal for this challenge is: January 22,2008

In Search of My Muse

2007-08-19T23:02:00.000-05:00

I took a trip to the beach today. My muse seemed to have taken an unauthorized vacation and I was hell bent on getting her back. With kids in tow, I headed to the beach. Rain and all! We arrived and there she was lounging on the beach! My Muse! Unfortunately first site of me and her friend the sea swifted her away!

Then and there I decided if the sea was in cahoots with my muse she might as well take the other stuff too. I gladly left my self doubt, which the sea quickly obliged.

My fear was better left behind. There was a momentary hesitation, after all the sea is mighty what would be done with that! Eventually the sea broke and took it away.

Procrastination! Now that's a biggy. There was no caving in on this one. Seems the Sea has more procrastination than it knows what to do with. After great hesitation it swiftly pulled half of it away and left the other half stranded on the beach. Of course I couldn't litter so it returned home with me.

I decided that while my muse is quite the escape artist I had more tricks up my sleeves. I snatched a fishing pole from an innocent bystander and reeled her back in.

Proud of my accomplishments I returned home. Kids in tow. Unfortunately there was so much arguing on the two hour drive my muse became irritated. She jumped out the darn window somewhere on I95. Please feel free to contact me if you happen to find her lying around.

Footnote: Credit given to LJ's thatgirlygirl for the beach writing inspiration...

crossposted to LJ and Goadingthepen.blogspot.com

Make it Right by Making it Tight

2007-07-06T10:56:00.000-05:00

Are you over wording? It is easy to do. If you want to have a manuscript that gets you noticed (for the right reasons). Make it right by making it tight!

I found this article by Eugie Foster.

The ABC's of Writing for Kids: Active, Brief, and Cut Cut Cut

I have been introduced to a wonderful tool. (How I missed this one is beyond me.)
FIND and REPLACE Who Knew?

When I want to target the areas in my MS that can be tightened I look for clues. Here are some of the words that are often indicators:

thing, felt, realized, managed, that, just, only, very, really, was, were, is, had, have, all, now, somehow, something, suddenly

This is where FIND and REPLACE comes in handy.

In WORD:
Go to Edit
Go to Find
Go to Replace

Now that you are here type the word to find in lower case.
Type the same word to replace in all caps.

Click replace all.

Once they are in caps, they are much easier to spot.

Happy Hunting!

When in Doubt Leave it OUT!

2007-06-20T07:12:00.001-05:00

There has been alot of talk around the boards and email groups about spacing after a period. Old school teaches two spaces. I, unfortunately, learned on a manual typewriter and can officially consider myself old school. I didn't realize I was doing myself such an injustice. Some editors actually state in their guidelines to single space after a period.

Fandangle Online Children's magazine states clearly in their guidelines:

Make sure that there is only one space between sentences.

It seems that the general feeling on this is to only use one space. I am going to take my official stand on the matter and say this:

When in doubt leave it out!

I Made The Finals!!!!

2007-05-29T20:27:00.000-05:00

I am excited to announce that I made the finals in the ABC Picture Book Competition! They will be posting the results on the site soon! For those of you who are unfamiliar with the competition the next step is to have the story matched with an illustrator. In September they will post the stories and the illustration on their website for an online voting competition. A Picture Book "American Idol". The story with the highest amount of votes will win a publishing contract! Keep your eyes open for "Spider and Fly"!!!

Limbo

2007-04-27T07:15:00.000-05:00

Have any of you heard of the online auction Limbo?
http://www.41414.com
You may wonder how this relates to writing...On this online auction, you have to be the lowest unique bidder to win. For example they are auctioning off a 42 inch TV. You can bid 20 times a day. So you start as low as you can and keep bidding until you get a number that noone else has gotten. You can bid as low as .01 or as high as 999.99. With every one bidding on this great item it isn't easy to get that unique bid. When you do though the reward is this amazing TV for a great price. One lady got a Mini Cooper for $50.43.

This isn't much different than writing. We are all bidding on the same thing. In this case it just happens to be a book contract. The ideas are like the prices on these auctions. Only we can use one through a million. The only problem is that every one bidding is pulling from the same resource pool we call life. The idea is not any different you want to get that unique bid. Not as easy as it might seem.

The idea, keep trying! That unique bid is out there and when you find it, it will be as exciting as getting a new car for $50.43!Remember the adage; to succeed you need 5% talent and 95% persistence!

Have A Great Writing Day!Sheri

Than vs. Then

2007-03-18T13:08:00.000-05:00

If I write then revise will it be better than it was before? Or maybe I am supposed to write than revise to make it better then it was before? Once I get my rejection letter do I accept it or except it? Is it Neither nor or Either or?

I get so confused! Do you? I found a great site that has some fantastic word notes.

http://www.sparknotes.com/writing/style/topic_69.html

It is definitely worth checking out for all those little word issues.

She Stold My Idea!

2007-03-09T08:17:00.000-05:00

Have you ever written something so brilliant that you beamed like a lighthouse? Just sure that you had written "the one". Only to happen on a story that is so similar you swear that your idea has been taken. Never mind the copyright for the similar story was given years sometimes decades before you wrote your first word!

Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary, 1984 Newberry Medal recipient, tells a story of a boy dealing with the separation of his parents through letters to his favorite author. His father, a trucker, used to talk about the shoes he would see on the highway. The family would play a game and make up songs about why the shoe was there.

Now, I haven’t written a story about a boy dealing with the separation of his parents through letters to his favorite author, however, the whole shoe thing was so totally my idea. (Please note the sarcasm in that last statement)

I pondered for days over a story about a boy who ate cinnamon on everything. (Inspired by my own son who insists cinnamon sugar belongs right next to the salt shaker) Surely this was an original idea; after all, how many kids eat cinnamon on their spaghetti? Well to my dismay at least one. While reading through Highlight’s Magazine short story collections I found a story: Cinnamon Spaghetti!

I guess the “moral” of the story is that there are a million stories out there. The chances of something being out there that is similar to yours are very likely. It is what you do to make yours original that will make you stand out above the rest.

Make it your own!

Have A Great Writing Day!

Writing Exercise

2007-03-04T10:12:00.000-05:00

Do you find yourself telling more than you do showing in your stories? Here is an exercise I use to practise up on the art of showing.

Write the words: Has, Had, Is, Was, and Were at the top of a page.

Write about anything but do NOT use these words. If you want to say something like:

Jimmy was standing in line because he had to wait for the bathroom.

Try this:

Jimmy pranced from foot to foot. The line for the bathroom reached out to the playground. "Geesh!" he sighed. "I don't think I can wait."

If you're training to run a marathon you run every day until you build yourself up for the big race. Writing is no different; train yourself and soon showing will be second nature.

Happy Writing!