American Entitlement
Since the 4th of July is this weekend, I think I’ll deviate from a book-writing blog and type up some of my thoughts on this holiday/my country. I am proud to be an American. Do we have problems? Oh, yes. We absolutely do. Too often, I hear people say our problem is a sense of entitlement. I don’t think that this is true. It’s not that we feel entitled, it’s what we feel entitled to. We feel entitled to a nation that will provide for us. To a government who will make the tough decisions for us. To lifestyles we can’t afford. To absolute,...
read moreCrazy Worth
It had been a long time. Way too long. But, for the first time in three years, I spent a couple of days working on the ranch. Now, I’ve mentioned in the past that my first draft of my first book was written/plotted as I plodded along behind a dusty trail of cows. Being literally and figuratively ‘back in the saddle’ I realize the ranch is even more of an inspiration than I originally thought. Working there I experience so many things that make my writing better. Like: A plethora of near death experiences. I don’t know a single rancher that...
read moreThe Latest
Hey, everyone! Since it’s the first day of summer break—and party time—today’s post will be short and news-like. *First things first! I’m waiting until the end of the summer to hear back from a few agents/publishers. So, by September I will have set news on representation or will be moving forward with self-publishing. *In the meantime, I am working on a sequel to The Convergence. The first draft for this should be done by fall as well. *Also, there’s going to be some changes to the website in the next...
read moreA Character Like Me
An author is not her main character. Seriously. Before, I started writing I assumed that most authors were like their main characters—that they were an extension of themselves. This isn’t always the case. I remember the first time I realized my main character (Desiree) was nothing like me—especially me at seventeen. I was entertained by the idea…..then I was a little concerned, then confused, and then—ultimately—really happy about the whole thing. I figured that by creating a character unlike myself, I’d let her take on a life of her own. If...
read moreFor the Love
Since my anniversary was yesterday (11 years!!), I think love would be a fitting topic for today’s post. Mostly I want to talk about why romance is so prevalent in media. Really I can think of very few books or movies I like that don’t have at least a small, background romance. Why all the love? There are probably a million answers to this question, but I’m going to settle for one. This reason is why I put a romantic relationship in my book. I’m sure it motivates other romantic scenarios too. So what is it? The simple...
read moreJust a little bit…
I was having a hard time trying to decide what to blog about today then I remembered this cool blog one of my writer friends did. It was called the 7/7/7 challenge and she posted seven lines from her page seven, starting seven lines down. Now, since this is my blog and I can do whatever I dang well please, I’m going to post a larger excerpt and it starts somewhere around page six in my book. Enjoy! I scoot back on the tailgate hoping the conversation is over, but Blake’s stare is unending. Evaluating. It puts me on edge. The...
read moreThe Challenge
I attended a literature night at my boys’ school last night where they were challenged to read at least four books this summer. Yeah, I didn’t mistype that. Four. I was shocked. These kids are going into first and third grade. The books my youngest son reads can be finished in around five minutes. Now, I’ve been thinking of this a lot today and decided that the challenge was probably intended for older kids and chapter books, but it still surprises me that statistically many kids won’t even pick up a book for three...
read moreWriter’s Block
Someone asked me the other day about writer’s block and I thought hmmm, not really a problem for me. I have lots of ideas. But there is still a lot of screen staring going on. Ideas come, but they’re simply not good. I could bang out 1,000 words at one time, but the words wouldn’t be great. They wouldn’t even be good. The dialogue would be corny, the descriptions generic, the prose dragging. I’d have to rewrite everything. In my first book, I did this a lot. And I rewrote a lot. Now, I’m trying to get it...
read moreMy Writing Process
(My writing process is evolving, so this is not how I write now, but it is how I wrote The Convergence). I’ve mentioned before that I wrote The Convergence first by reworking the story in my head. When I started actual writing, I first wrote a few scenes that were really vivid and pivotal, but this made it hard keep continuity. So…I went to the beginning and started there. The first draft of the fist half was rough. Really rough. Mostly dialogue without a lot of description. I would write a scene with all dialogue first and then...
read moreBecause I Want To
Now that summer is over, two of my three kiddos are in school, and a schedule can once again reign supreme, it’s time to get serious about book number two. There is something odd about writing another book when the first is hanging out there in limbo, waiting to be snatched up–especially since this is a sequel. But I want to write right now and I want to write this, the next part of Desiree’s story. I don’t always want to write. Sometimes I absolutely do not want to write. I know many authors will be shocked to hear...
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