The Search by Meriam Wilhelm
November 20, 2019 by Meriam Wilhelm in category A Bit of Magic by Meriam WilhelmLately, whenever I sit down to write, a million extraneous thoughts begin to wheedle their way into my head. Some irrelevant, others more important, they all tangle together, creating a web of distraction that entraps my creativity, smothering it in disorganization. Priority be damned, I sadly seem to let every random thought overtake me, derailing me from my storytelling track.
Frustrated and struggling to find some much needed time to finish my next chapter, it suddenly occurred to me that my biggest stumbling block to success is me, myself and I!
Anxious to finish chapter thirteen in my new book, I sat down at my computer and constructed my opening paragraph. Yeah, I can do this. But then I remembered, I forgot to pay my Talbots bill. Struggling back to the story line, I was distracted by my rumbling stomach. Did I ever eat breakfast this morning? Oh yes, I had toast with peanut butter. My neighbor called asking to borrow something or other and my mind began to wander. I definitely need to take a trip to the market to get more something or others. Back on task again, I glanced at my calendar resting on my desk. Jeez, I forgot my dentist appointment was tomorrow. Noting the date, I panicked. My daughter’s wedding is in three weeks and I have a million more things to do. Where am I ever going to find a pair of shoes to go with my dress? The shoes need to be the right shade of blue, comfortable and not too pricey. Maybe I should check online.
Achh, I was doing it again! I needed to stop my wandering mind and get back to my chapter. But how was I ever going to tame my chaotic brain?
Afraid I might be losing my writing mojo; I called my good friend who suggested that I create a To Do list and make a check each time I finish a paragraph until I finish the entire chapter. Good idea, right? Wrong. At least wrong for me. I already know what I need to do, I ‘m just not doing it. So I rationalized, if a To Do list can bring success, how about a Not To Do list?
After some reflection, I grabbed a moment and created a short, but sturdy Not To Do list:
- I will not set up unreasonable time expectations. Instead, I will block off one hour at a time dedicated exclusively to writing, intent on training my mind to stay on task. If I do this right, one hour will eventually turn into two... I hope!
- I will not sit down to write on an empty stomach or in need of a cup of coffee. Oh, and a trip to the bathroom before hitting the keyboard might be wise.
- I will not leave my calendar in plain sight while writing. The brightly colored floral pages are really quite pretty and equally distracting.
- I will not answer the phone for a one hour block of time while writing. I get a lot of phone calls, so an hour seems like a doable amount of time to restrict my calls.
- I will not allow nagging tasks to tempt me to distraction. Should one pop into my head, I will work hard to deflect it. If it continues to pry its way in, I will jot it down on a sheet of paper and get back to writing. At the end of my hour, I can review my jotted thoughts and return phone calls, if I so desire.
It’s day three of my Not To Do list and it’s going okay… I guess. Unfortunately, chapter thirteen is still incomplete, but at least it’s a lot further along than it was.
I think I need to add a 6th item: I will neither panic nor give up if this doesn’t work right away.
Perhaps you too have faced these same struggles? If you have any strategies that have worked for you, I’d love to hear them.
Until then, Happy Writing!
An Editor’s Ingredients by Jenny Jensen
November 19, 2019 by Jenny Jensen in category On writing . . . by Jenny Jensen tagged as Editors, working together, writing
A perspective client and I were in the first stages; you know, where you get a feel for one another to be sure of a good fit. It was a great exchange. She was funny and literate and serious and we quickly decided to move forward (I passed muster too!). Before she sent her manuscript she had one last question: What are the five things a writer should bring to the editorial table. Great question!
My response:
- An open mind
It’s understood that a writer’s work, partial or finished, represents an enormous personal investment. A lot is at stake here. As an editor I respect that. It’s my job to fully grasp the story’s intent and help the writer realize their vision. To make use of that the writer must have the clarity of thought to look beyond their own words and consider a different, well considered perspective. If I interpret a scene as night when the writer intended day it isn’t because I am too dim to get the intention. It’s because the scene as written did not convey the intent. And it’s likely that I will not be the only one who reads it as night. The writer must be aware and open enough to consider and appreciate input outside their box. - Flexibility
Change is likely required. If some aspect – character, setting, plot point etc. – isn’t right then it requires change and change requires flexibility. My job is to point out what doesn’t work and why. I suggest options, which is often the best way to illustrate why something doesn’t work. Sometimes my suggestion resonates with the author and they use it – always with their own spin. That’s grand and they are welcome to the suggestion but more often than not a writer understands the need for change and does so in a direction I never considered, and it works beautifully. That’s when I’m certain I’ve done my job – I’ve highlighted a weak point and the author sees the breach and jumps in with writerly eyes and fixes it. - A thick skin
Editing isn’t personal. I’m not afraid that my input might hurt feelings. I’m not viewing the manuscript through a friend’s eyes. I’m concerned only with the voice and vision of the work I’m reading. I, as with any good editor, will not hesitate to point out any and all flaws I see. Derisive criticism is a waste of energy and is never constructive. I don’t use it so the author must be able to view the criticism within the context of the story and not as a personal attack. We’re not in this to become BFFs. We’re in it to make the work fantastic. (Though it’s lovely to note that many clients have become warm friends.) - A working disposal system
Every writer has lovingly crafted passages they feel are superb. The words flow like melted chocolate, the character is brilliant, the setting is ripe with atmosphere. It reflects the best of your talents. But what if it doesn’t fit the rhythm of the story? It has to go. Same with all that carefully researched data. If it isn’t useful, if it doesn’t add to the tale, dump it. A writer has to have a ready and willing disposal system. Of course, it doesn’t impact the story to keep a file where all those brilliant bits can be held for future use. - Gumption
With writerly eyes wide open, a brain elastic enough to entertain new possibilities, a skin thick enough to repel the personal and a fully charged ability to delete any detritus, all the writer needs is the passion, the discipline…the gumption to implement the editor’s input. Rewrites are always part of the mix – sometimes just a few scenes, sometimes entire portions. Often it’s the small tweaks that need careful handling to improve the story. Unless the writer has the gumption to go that last mile our efforts are wasted. My edits aren’t meant to discourage but to invigorate, to jazz the writer to make the story shine.
And I love doing just that.
The Winking Book by Kidd Wadsworth
November 18, 2019 by Kidd Wadsworth in category Infused with Meaning by Kidd Wadsworth tagged as forgiveness, healing, Pain, regret
The book winked at me; the title something like Curing Your Back Pain Without Medication. I was desperate. I couldn’t stand up straight, couldn’t walk without pain, couldn’t get out of bed without pain, couldn’t sit without pain…for twenty years I’d been in pain…
Sitting in the library—the wooden chairs were without cushions; I’d be able to stand back up—I read…
Most back pain wasn’t caused by disks or bulges but by one or more strong negative emotions. The author listed five: Regret, Shame, Rage…
I stopped reading.
Rage.
I’d gone to a back-specialist years before. He’d shown me my x-rays. Pointed out my problem. Then he’d said something very curious, “I’ve seen patients with x-rays far worse than yours who are pain free.”
Was it possible that my rage was causing my pain? Years before I would’ve “raged” at that idea. Me? I’m not the cause of this! This is physical! See, look at the x-rays! But so many doctors later, I wanted the cure to be within my own grasp. You see, if I was causing my pain, I could also stop it.
I followed the author’s recommended procedure. I journaled about my rage. I mentally imagined going down into my rage basement and cleaning it out. I opened the basement windows, let in the fresh air.
Nothing worked.
Why would it? I’d been wronged by another person. Horribly wronged. I tore up the journal. Returned the book to the library. It had only made me angrier.
I began to walk along a well populated trail not far from my home. As I walked, I raged at God. After all, he, being the ultimate authority, was responsible for the hurt I had suffered at the hands of another. I don’t know what the other people along the trail thought of me, shouting up at heaven—I do not rage silently—but I am now quite well known by those who walk there.
After three months of this raging, as I returned from the trail to my truck, I recalled an incident where I had hurt the person who was responsible for my rage—the person who had hurt me.
Tired from my walk, on that wonderfully crisp fall day with the dead leaves crunching under my feet, I realized how terrible my words had been, how much pain they must have caused. I also realized that I never wanted to hurt another person as badly as I’d been hurt. I returned home and wrote a letter apology. Of course, that letter was quite difficult to write. I tended to digress…
“I am sorry, but you did this to me!”
Many crumpled sheets of paper later, I finally had a letter which only said “I’m sorry.” It did not blame the other person, or call to mind any other incidents—of which there were many. It did not speak of my pain, only the pain I may have caused. I sealed the letter, mailed it, and forgot it. After all, I knew this awful person I was apologizing to. I knew not to expect anything.
A week later I received in the mail a handmade envelope. Inside was a letter, written in ink without a single mistake. It said many things, but mostly it said, “I’m sorry, too.”
As I read that letter my pain disappeared. Occasionally, I wrench my back. But then I rest and the pain goes away. The weeks and months of pain are gone. I’m free. I’ve been free now for ten years. The pain left with the rage. I’m writing this to you, because that winking library book helped to heal me. It set me on a path which gave me back my life. It was a non-fiction book, but fiction is the same. It heals, because the stories we tell enable others to learn, to navigate this difficult life. Write. I swear, inside you is the medicine for a thousand wounds.
Q: What Do You Say To Pushy Readers?
November 15, 2019 by Rebecca Forster in category The Write Life by Rebecca Forster tagged as Craft, gratitude, preorder, The Witness Series, writers block
A: Thank you .
Lost Witness is in preorder. It will publish December 1 and I am stunned that this book is a reality. To explain why we need to rewind five years.
In October 2014 Dark Witness, the seventh – and I thought last – book in The Witness Series was published. Originally the first book, Hostile Witness, was presented to publishers as a stand alone novel. When an editor at Penguin/Putnam offered a three-book contract I accepted even though I had never written a series.
Silent Witness and Privileged Witness followed. In the three years it took the publisher to bring those books to market editorial direction changed hands, the marketplace started shrinking and the series progressed no further. My rights to the three books were reverted and, after writing for twenty-five years, I thought that perhaps it was time for me to kick back and retire. That was when my husband said: “Have you heard of this thing called Kindle.”
Fast forward to a career second wind as an indie author. I republished the first three books of The Witness Series and they spent over two years on Amazon’s thriller bestseller lists in the U.S. and UK. Over 2 million copies of the series have been downloaded to date. I continued to add books and finally penned Dark Witness. Not one for bow endings, I left one character walking into the sunset assuming my readers would imagine an ending for him to finish the story.
For five years while I wrote two more series – The Bailey Devlin Trilogy and Finn O’Brien Crime Thrillers – I got emails from readers demanding to know when the next Josie Bates book would be published. They wanted me to write the ending or the next chapter in these characters’ lives. They wanted the adventure to come from my head, not theirs.
I wasn’t ignoring these pleas; I simply had a horrible case of writer’s block. I loved Josie and Hannah, Billy and Archer, but I was terrified of making a big decision about their lives. I was also afraid that I didn’t have the skill to reclaim their unique voices.
At the beginning of this year I received one more email about Josie and the reader convinced me that it was time to meet the challenge of the next book head on. At first the dialogue was creaky, and the plot meandered. One day inspiration hit. I suddenly knew how to begin the book. I knew the end of the story. I knew the last words that had to be spoken. I had been ‘lost’ and because of the readers insistence I found my voice. In doing so I reclaimed Josie’s wisdom, I heard Hannah’s compassion, Billy’s unwavering devotion, and Archer’s steady guidance. I was home again and it felt darn good.
I want to thank the readers who pushed, prodded and cajoled. I didn’t know that I was missing Josie Bates, but the readers did. This Thanksgiving I am thankful to them for making Lost Witness possible.
PREORDER LOST WITNESS now ($.99) and join over 2 million fans of The Witness Series.
Featuring Linda O Johnston Author of the Month
November 14, 2019 by A Slice of Orange in category Featured Author of the Month tagged as Barkery & Biscuits Mystery, Berkley Prime Crime, Harlequin Nocturne, Linda O Johnston, Pet Rescue Mysteries, Pet-Sitter Mysteries, Superstition Mysteries
Linda O. Johnston, a former lawyer who is now a full-time writer, has published 52 books so far, including mysteries and romantic novels. More than twenty-five of them are romances for Harlequin, including Harlequin Romantic Suspense and Harlequin Nocturne. Her latest release is Colton 911: Caught in the Crossfire, for Harlequin Romantic Suspense. She has also written several mystery series including the Barkery & Biscuits Mysteries and Superstition Mysteries for Midnight Ink, and the Kendra Ballantyne, Pet-Sitter Mysteries and Pet Rescue Mysteries for Berkley Prime Crime. Nearly all Linda’s current stories involve dogs.!
