Hello all,
Today I am wondering, do you have a go to word?
I am finding that when writing there are a few words that always sneak their way into our writing. For example the word, extremely. I have recently noticed that extremely is a cancerous adverb in our writing. I don't know why, but it always pops as a word to use.
What about you? Do you have a word or several words that always creep their way into your sentences?
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Rainbows
The sun blistered skin of his forearms was glistening in sweat. His arms were tense, pounding, and shaking from the constant motion of the sledge hammer against the stone.
Despite the constant barrage of blows, the stone seemed to show no signs of fatigue or wear.
Exhaustion was burning through his limbs and thirst was tearing apart his throat, but he knew that he had to continue.
The destination, the goal, the coveted treasure was buried just below the surface of the rock. He had been told of it his entire life and knew that it was just within his reach.
The map that his grandfather’s, grandfather’s, grandfather had made was folded up gently in his pocket. He had followed it to the tee and now he was where he had wanted to be his entire life.
The sweat on his forehead was streaming down into his eyes, past his eyebrows, and burning as it meshed with his tears. Eventually it would all be worth it and he would have his life’s goal, the thing his father hadn’t been able to find, or his father before him.
The sledge continued to swing with his arms and crash into the solid rock and as the dusk approached the sky, he worried. Would he ever be able to reach it?
Then, just as the sun began to dance with the horizon, a crack formed in the rock’s surface. Excitement filled his heart and he pounded stronger then he had the entire day. He hit and enlarged the crack, until it was a full hole.
Glee touched his heart and with every ounce of excitement in check, he reached down into the stone crevice that he had created.
His hand felt, touched, and then found what he had searched for. He pulled out a small, worn box that appeared to hold jewelry and held it up to his eye level. He was going to be sure to get a close look at his new found fortune.
With fingers shaking and tears flowing from the corners of his eyes, he opened the box. But instead of finding money or jewels, he found a piece of paper. He kept his hopes up and figured it may be some sort of stock or deed.
Like it was a Cracker Jack prize, he unraveled the paper and began to read, “Don’t spend your life chasing rainbows without realizing the ones that you already have.”
Despite the constant barrage of blows, the stone seemed to show no signs of fatigue or wear.
Exhaustion was burning through his limbs and thirst was tearing apart his throat, but he knew that he had to continue.
The destination, the goal, the coveted treasure was buried just below the surface of the rock. He had been told of it his entire life and knew that it was just within his reach.
The map that his grandfather’s, grandfather’s, grandfather had made was folded up gently in his pocket. He had followed it to the tee and now he was where he had wanted to be his entire life.
The sweat on his forehead was streaming down into his eyes, past his eyebrows, and burning as it meshed with his tears. Eventually it would all be worth it and he would have his life’s goal, the thing his father hadn’t been able to find, or his father before him.
The sledge continued to swing with his arms and crash into the solid rock and as the dusk approached the sky, he worried. Would he ever be able to reach it?
Then, just as the sun began to dance with the horizon, a crack formed in the rock’s surface. Excitement filled his heart and he pounded stronger then he had the entire day. He hit and enlarged the crack, until it was a full hole.
Glee touched his heart and with every ounce of excitement in check, he reached down into the stone crevice that he had created.
His hand felt, touched, and then found what he had searched for. He pulled out a small, worn box that appeared to hold jewelry and held it up to his eye level. He was going to be sure to get a close look at his new found fortune.
With fingers shaking and tears flowing from the corners of his eyes, he opened the box. But instead of finding money or jewels, he found a piece of paper. He kept his hopes up and figured it may be some sort of stock or deed.
Like it was a Cracker Jack prize, he unraveled the paper and began to read, “Don’t spend your life chasing rainbows without realizing the ones that you already have.”
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
M. Shifted Writing Time
Hello out there to anybody that may still be listening on the other end of the Internet. I apologize for the major lapse in time between posts, but life has been interesting lately to say the least.
I won't get into details, but with regular life + now going back to work, I am trying to figure out how to make this work.
From the bottoms of my toes to the top of my head, which if you've met me isn't far, I am sorry. As soon as we figure out how and what the schedule is going to be, then we will work it out.
Otherwise, I hope you have been well and are still getting your writing done. I know in our case, we are doing it to candle light and tired eyes, every night.
How do you truly balance work, life, & writing? Do you see that one gives when the other flourishes? Are you able to teeter everything on a perfect triangle or are we not alone?
Please, if you are still reading, let me know what you have been doing to make the time for writing.
I won't get into details, but with regular life + now going back to work, I am trying to figure out how to make this work.
From the bottoms of my toes to the top of my head, which if you've met me isn't far, I am sorry. As soon as we figure out how and what the schedule is going to be, then we will work it out.
Otherwise, I hope you have been well and are still getting your writing done. I know in our case, we are doing it to candle light and tired eyes, every night.
How do you truly balance work, life, & writing? Do you see that one gives when the other flourishes? Are you able to teeter everything on a perfect triangle or are we not alone?
Please, if you are still reading, let me know what you have been doing to make the time for writing.
Friday, April 29, 2011
M. Do You Love Your Characters?
When we had the Question and Answer session at the kids school the other day we were asked several great questions. One that made me think was; how do you create the people in your story?
We thought about it for a minute and then answered together in turns. The best way that I can describe it is that you need to love them like you would your own child. You create them, you mold them, even more then your own children.
Your kids have free will and can truly decide to choose their own path, but your characters will only follow the path you set before them. They will face the blockades that you set up. When they hurt, you hurt. You really have to love the characters in the stories that you write to make them come to life. Life in the absence of love is worthless. Everybody loves something and knows what love can feel like.
Channel true love into the heart of your characters and words on a page will take form and gasps of breath.
We thought about it for a minute and then answered together in turns. The best way that I can describe it is that you need to love them like you would your own child. You create them, you mold them, even more then your own children.
Your kids have free will and can truly decide to choose their own path, but your characters will only follow the path you set before them. They will face the blockades that you set up. When they hurt, you hurt. You really have to love the characters in the stories that you write to make them come to life. Life in the absence of love is worthless. Everybody loves something and knows what love can feel like.
Channel true love into the heart of your characters and words on a page will take form and gasps of breath.
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Friday, April 22, 2011
Our Eyes Opened in a Time of Darkness
Everything happens for a reason. It really does.
This past year has been nothing but a freefall for my family and I. It all started not too much longer than a year ago.
I woke one morning with a strange feeling, it was like stepping on the floor of a rocking ship. Then my world went blurry and my vision was doubled. Along with all of that I had trouble with speech and motor skills. There were several other symptoms that came with the issues, but that isn't really that important. What happened next is.
I went to the doctors and then another doctor and another. The symptoms and possible diagnosis came for about a year and just recently, the problem has been fixed and I am "normal" again. The medication that I take fixes it and thankfully I am finally able to drive again and allowed to return to work.
The stupid medical issue isn't really the story though. What happened to my wife and I is really the amazing thing. We rekindled an old passion for writing and given the time together, we were able to complete a few manuscripts (Self publish one of them), have a few that are half-way there, and several others outlined for the future.
What we are starting to realize is that maybe the last year of hell was something we had to go through. If life had gone the way it was going (Before I got sick), would we have started writing again? I really don't think we would have, at least not for the next twenty years.
If anything came from this last year it was a reawakening to our passion, writing. Maybe, just maybe it had been worth it and now the biggest problem that we will have is finding a way to juggle our day jobs with hours of writing, review, and rewriting.
Our friend, Mary Jane always told my wife, "Life happens when you're making plans." I find this to be one of the truest statements I ever heard.
This past year has been nothing but a freefall for my family and I. It all started not too much longer than a year ago.
I woke one morning with a strange feeling, it was like stepping on the floor of a rocking ship. Then my world went blurry and my vision was doubled. Along with all of that I had trouble with speech and motor skills. There were several other symptoms that came with the issues, but that isn't really that important. What happened next is.
I went to the doctors and then another doctor and another. The symptoms and possible diagnosis came for about a year and just recently, the problem has been fixed and I am "normal" again. The medication that I take fixes it and thankfully I am finally able to drive again and allowed to return to work.
The stupid medical issue isn't really the story though. What happened to my wife and I is really the amazing thing. We rekindled an old passion for writing and given the time together, we were able to complete a few manuscripts (Self publish one of them), have a few that are half-way there, and several others outlined for the future.
What we are starting to realize is that maybe the last year of hell was something we had to go through. If life had gone the way it was going (Before I got sick), would we have started writing again? I really don't think we would have, at least not for the next twenty years.
If anything came from this last year it was a reawakening to our passion, writing. Maybe, just maybe it had been worth it and now the biggest problem that we will have is finding a way to juggle our day jobs with hours of writing, review, and rewriting.
Our friend, Mary Jane always told my wife, "Life happens when you're making plans." I find this to be one of the truest statements I ever heard.
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
School Q&A
Today we went for our very first Q&A session at a school and it was amazing. I really had no idea what to expect or what to do, but it turned out fine.
We were introduced to the 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th graders at our kid's school and even though we knew some of them it was unnerving.
To start, we had the 5th and 6th grade classes together and we started by reading to them. They sat silently until we finished and then we opened up to some questions, which were amazing. Then we did the 4th grade and finally the 3rd grade, which is our son's class.
Every one of the kids that asked a question, which was most of them, made our lives easier. They were interested in every facet of writing and what is entailed in the journey. They asked questions about the book itself and also wanted to know about the sequel. There wasn't a kid in the place that didn't have an interesting and sometimes difficult question to answer.
My personal favorite question of the day was, "How old do you have to be to start writing a book and get it published?" To that we said, "There is no age limit, if you have an idea that you want to write, then write it and never think you are too old or young."
Even though we started the day with intense nausea and anxiety, now that it is done I can say it was amazing. Thank you to the kids at CTC, your questions were amazing. See some of the example questions at www.facebook.com/tristenmagicshop.
We were introduced to the 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th graders at our kid's school and even though we knew some of them it was unnerving.
To start, we had the 5th and 6th grade classes together and we started by reading to them. They sat silently until we finished and then we opened up to some questions, which were amazing. Then we did the 4th grade and finally the 3rd grade, which is our son's class.
Every one of the kids that asked a question, which was most of them, made our lives easier. They were interested in every facet of writing and what is entailed in the journey. They asked questions about the book itself and also wanted to know about the sequel. There wasn't a kid in the place that didn't have an interesting and sometimes difficult question to answer.
My personal favorite question of the day was, "How old do you have to be to start writing a book and get it published?" To that we said, "There is no age limit, if you have an idea that you want to write, then write it and never think you are too old or young."
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