Finding Time My husband was recently talking to someone about me, and I was in the vicinity. No, I wasn’t eavesdropping! It’s not considered eavesdropping if you’re in the same room talking to other guest, is it? He talked about what a “planner” I was. And it is true. I love to plan and to organize. Just ask my kids or close friends. Want a list? Alena has one. One for groceries One for cleaning the house, daily, weekly and quarterly. One for closet organization. A chore list by child, by day, by week. You name it, bet I’ve got it! Consequently when I want to set aside writing time I plan all morning or all afternoon. But often, life would intrude and I’d end up frustrated. So here are some […]
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Conversations: How to use Action to show emotions!
Sally is on vacation this week, so I had some reading time in the coffee shop this morning. Since we’re talking about Showing versus Telling this week month, I picked out one of my favorite passages in an old novel that I thought might help her understand this concept. I stressed last week the fact that Showing versus Telling centers around the Emotion of the story. You tell actions, of course, and you can tell backstory, (but it’s much better delivered in dialogue) but the rule “Show don’t Tell” deals specifically with the subject of emotions. You want to let the reader feel it, and the best way to do this is to bring them into the world and especially into the character’s skin. We’ll be covering emotional layering later […]
Read the RestEndless Summer, Part One: The Picnic
Many of you are preparing your works—in—progress to present at the fall writers conferences. This month, we’ll be looking at the fun and the responsibilities of being a writer at this time of year. So hang on and squeeze the last moments out of summer! Let me guess. By now you’ve probably had at least two family picnics, visited a theme park, met distant family members you forgot you had at a reunion. You’ve eaten enough potato salad to rid Idaho of its potato crop and have swatted enough flies to power the space shuttle. Ahhhh… summer time! You may also be in the picnicking phase of your work in progress. You remember it, don’t you? Yes, that one you’re dreaming will hit the New York Times Best Seller List. […]
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Copyright 101—Part One
Lately, I’ve seen a lot of discussion about copyright issues. Specifically, what is legal to use on a blog, website or in a book. Today, instead of giving you all the facts, I thought we’d have some fun and take a little quiz. We’ll do part one today, and part two in the next post. COPYRIGHT QUIZ—HOW FAMILIAR ARE YOU WITH THE LAW? All the answers are True or False, so let’s get on with the quiz! 1. I can legally post any picture on my blog if I link back to the place I got it. FALSE: photos, sketches, graphics, any kind—are covered by the same copyright law as our written words. Unfortunately, there is lots of sharing going on over the Internet and it’s not legal. When we borrow […]
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