In my office, I have a framed quote that constantly reminds me life is not the absence of challenges, disappointments and unexpected twists. Those who succeed don’t avoid those storms, but rather learn to find the good in them. They learn to dance in the rain. As a writer, you’ll be faced with all sorts of storms. What you do with those storms will determine your future more than the storms themselves. So how do you learn to dance? Let’s take a look. Dancing in the Rain in a choice. You have little or no control over most of the storms in life. But you do have complete control over how you react to them. It’s true. I’m writing this on the airplane while traveling to the […]
Read the RestTag Archives | my book therapy
Friday Fiction: Code Triage
I so appreciate the opportunity to meet with you here—thank you for hosting me. I love that Susie graciously offered an enthusiastic endorsement for Critical Care, my first exciting medical drama. The Mercy Hospital series now has three books. The third, featured today, is Code Triage. I’m still pinching myself that it is currently an ECPA best seller—love welcoming new readers to “scrub in” with my stories of hope! Sidelined by injuries from a vicious assault, nurse chaplain Riley Hale is determined to return to ER duties. But how can she show she’s competent when the hospital won’t let her attempt even simple tasks? Determined to prove herself, Riley volunteers at a controversial urban free clinic despite her fears about the maverick doctor in charge. Dr. Jack Travis defends […]
Read the RestAct 2: Jumping back into the suspense!
Yesterday, I addressed Scene Flow, and how in a romance scene, you might decide to develop it a bit more, making it longer. In a suspense, sometimes it’s nice to develop that before you jumpstart the action again. Today, we’re going to jump back into the suspense, drawing that element forward. Just to make sure I’m on the right track, I want to go back to my synopsis. It’s still my roadmap, even though I’ve been taking a few day trips… Luke wants his sister, who is a giant MacKenzie Grace fan to meet her, and the dinner out at the roadhouse seemed to go without a hitch…maybe no one will recognize her. But what Luke doesn’t know is that someone has recognized Kenzie – the reporter from the […]
Read the RestAct 2: Scene Flow..Suspense and Romance, what’s the difference?
Sceneflow: the difference between a suspense scene and a romance scene? If you read the last two weeks of posts and chapters about Limelight, you’ll notice that I took a bit more time in those chapters to develop the romance. (Read Chapter 5 & 6 Here Chapter 5 Luke Chapter 6 Kenzie) I could have split those chapters into shorter scenes/segments, but I wanted to really cement the romance between them before I launched more into the suspense. Note they were longer chapters– as the book starts to move faster, I’ll have shorter chapters, or perhaps two or three shorter scenes in a chapter. So, now that I’ve given them their first kiss, we’re about half-way through the story. (For the purposes of teaching, I’m keeping this novella at 12 chapters – […]
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