Tony Horton is the king of getting a body into shape. His methods work. His Ab Ripper X routine is fifteen minutes of 339 core moves. Half way into the routine, you want to quit. But you know you can’t, so you cheat. Instead of doing all the reps in a series, you do it half heartedly or only half the move. Fine. As long as you keep going. Work harder the next time. That’s they way you build up endurance. The way you build your abs. Doing all of the reps all of the time. It’s the same with a middle of the novel. You have to “work out” the middle of you book. Rip it! Get it lean and mean. A lot of times the middle of a book […]
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About Rachel Hauck
Author Archive | Rachel Hauck
Today I Pulled 2,254 Teeth
Okay, not teeth, actually, but words. This was THE slowest writing day EVER. Usually I hit a spot where the words just flow while time seems to slow. Next think I know, I hit 1K+ words in more than an hour. Not today. Letter by letter, word by word, I eeked out a couple of crappy scenes. See, it’s okay to stink up the page on the first draft. It’s key to get the story down. Pantser or plotter, you have to eventually type words. I’m confused about folk who can write a great scene the first time. I must have missed that “talent” line in heaven when they called it out. I have to write, then rewrite and rewrite one more time. If I’m lucky, one more time before […]
Read the RestRecognizing Symbols In Your Work
I’m writing a novella. I’ve only written one other novella so I’m mindful this is new territory for me. Must keep the plot short and to the point. I don’t have a lot of lead time to develop the problems and setting, or the characters! My hero and heroine are Nathaniel and Susanna from Once Upon A Prince. At the opening of the novella, their wedding is four weeks away. So I decide instead of some silly argument or da-da-da-da tension to end the chapter, I had Nathaniel pull a gift out of his pocket. A single pearl pendant. It felt so perfect. So romantic. It made me want to keep writing AND reading. The I stopped. Wait! Can the pearl bring more to the table than a romantic gesture […]
Read the RestWrite Who You Are
Years ago my dad told me, “Write What You Know.” He was right. For that season. I was up against a school deadline and had no idea what to write. His advice prompted me to write about something familiar. So I told a hilarious and come to find out, poignant tale, of driving to school over south Florida dirt roads in the back of my brother’s ’69 Barracuda. But years later, writing what I knew came up short. Yes, I can research and write about any topic! But writing what you know cannot fuel a writer for very long. Then I read a line for Sol Stein’s book that basically said, “Write something only you can say.” Huh? How? What kind of story would that be? Anyone can say what I […]
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