I’m in the mountains and summer has finally hit. Steamy hot days with a thunderstorm or two between daylight and dark make for a sticky, hot mess. On days like these, you may find it difficult to meet all your goals and accomplish your to-do lists. So what? Will the world come to an end because you didn’t finish the seventeenth load of laundry? Contrary to what your teenage daughter might tell you, the answer would be no. Get as much done as you can. If you can’t get the rest completed, don’t sweat it. Chill out. Most likely, there’ll be tomorrow. Here are a few things that may help you get more done and have more time to chill out: Work during your most productive time. In Florida, I […]
Read the RestArchive | June, 2013
Stuck in the Quagmire of Editing?
Now that the joy of finishing my first draft has faded, the angst of editing the manuscript has begun. I completed the first draft, the rest should be a piece of cake. Right? Not. Even. Close. All of a sudden I had a multitude of questions and not enough answers. First I tried an easy approach. I purchased “Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing”. While it was an interesting read, it didn’t answer all the questions that arose while editing my manuscript. I also went to Chip MacGregor’s blog. He recently posted a huge list of resources to help writers. http://www.chipmacgregor.com/blog/career/150-resources-to-help-you-write-better-faster-and-more-persuasively/ Finally, I went to my friends Beth Vogt and Edie Melson for assistance. They suggested I look at the big picture and keep it simple. We […]
Read the RestSizzling Summer Success, Part 4: Expect the “Rain on Your Parade”
I love summers in the southeastern United States. Picnics, baseball, sliding down slick rocks in the river. And there are always the parades. Kicking off with Memorial Day, it seems summer is packed with an endless supply of them. Summer in the south also brings storms. Most any afternoon, you can look to the horizon and see some sort of storm brewing. And, most likely, it’s right in the middle of your parade route. Just like parades and storms sort of go hand in hand, so do summers and your manuscript. Your best laid plans for hammering out word count can easily wind up a soggy mess. So what is a diligent author to do? Here are just a few things you could do: 1) Buy an umbrella. Ok, maybe […]
Read the RestFairytale Code: Happily Ever After
At long last, I’m on the other wide of a rewrite deadline and I can conclude our fairytale code series. The ending is simple. Happy. A fairytale like story, a romance, a sisterhood, even a thriller has to end with some level of happiness and satisfaction. What do we really learn from fairytale endings? The boy gets the girl. The dragon is slayed. The castle is stormed. Evil is defeated. Good wins. Even in the most thrill driven stories, these elements must take place for a solid story ending and wrap up. Cinderella is the classic happy ending. In the Disney version, Cindy and Prince marry because “the shoe fit” and boy, let’s not go down that symbolic rabbit trail, but her dreams came true because she believed. In Snow […]
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