Thoughts on Writing

My Writing Life

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Okay, so I am working on an historical romance story that takes place in the old west.  I have ideas for at least two more books, possibly three, to create a series.

I’m part of several writing groups that offer critiques or are strictly critique groups.  Also, a couple of weeks ago I attended a writers’ conference where I had two appointments for one-on-one conferences with published authors to get input on part of my story.  Of course, I have things I need to work on and am very grateful for the two writers who were kind enough to give me advice.

Being a visual learner, one of the writers, my friend, Mike Dellosso, gave me some great advice that he worded in a way that created a picture in my mind, which I know I will not forget and will be able to apply to my writing.  You see, I am struggling with setting the scenes because I’ve been told not to write too much description.  Therefore I had swung to the opposite extreme and wasn’t writing enough description.  Mike told me to put myself in my character’s shoes and use my five senses and describe what my character is seeing, hearing, smelling, etc. as he walks down the street in that old, dusty western town.  He also gave me some examples which made this advice come alive for me.

A few days after that, I shared a piece of this same story with the critique group I recently joined.  I was extremely nervous and afraid of what might happen in this group.  I was pleasantly surprised that there were many positive things said (One lady really likes my main character) and they also offered some great advice.

Therefore, on Thursday night when I met with my weekly writers’ group, I was feeling overwhelmed about how to go about sorting through all of the advice and applying the needed changes to my story.  I just didn’t know where to begin.  My friend, Laura, who just finished edits on her first novel had great words to help me.  She suggested that I get rid of any advice that I didn’t believe was helpful, which I had already done.  Then she said to go through the ones who offered the least amount of changes and work toward the one who offered the greatest amount of changes.  She said that by the time I get to the one with the greatest amount of changes, I probably will be surprised to find that I’ve already taken care of many of those changes from things the others suggested.  Ahh, thank you, Laura, you gave me a workable plan that I can handle.

I am so thankful to have met and made connections with writers who have gone before me who are willing to help me on my journey.  As writers, we spend a lot of time alone working on our craft, but we need each other.  We need the help and encouragement of others and then we need to pass that on to those who come behind us.

How about you?  Who’s been helping you on your writing journey?

 

Checking In

/ kellyfbarr / 5 Comments

Wow, I can not believe I didn’t get a single post done last week.  That’s quite frustrating and disappointing to me.  I enjoy blogging and I like to keep all of my readers reading!  Unfortunately, sometimes life gets in the way and other things take precedence.

I wear many hats.  I am wife, mother, taxi driver, homeschool mom and writer, and currently contest judge.  We will be finishing our homeschool year at the end of this week!  Then I have to prepare for our end of the year evaluations, which will take place on May 11th.  Next will be my middle son’s homeschool high school graduation — there are three activities planned for this on three different days.  We will have a private graduation ceremony at our church on May 29th with family and friends, and my son will be a graduating class of one.

I am planning on decluttering my house during our homeschool break as well as making some items to put in the freezer to make dinner on busy evenings easier and some of our other favorite items that I don’t have time to make more regularly.  I also plan to create a schedule that will include a schedule for all of my writing and writing related things that I hope to put into place and into use before the new school year begins.  I hope to have become disciplined and successful at it so that when the new school year begins, I will be able to keep it flowing.  I will only have one student in my homeschool this year, our youngest son, which should make having the time for writing easier as well.

I have made some wonderful writing contacts/friends over the past three years as I have been writing, some online and some in real life and I appreciate each and every one of them/you.  I completed a novel in November, but am not happy with it and have no intention of publishing it.  However, I will not throw it away because I have learned that a writer should never throw away or delete any writing, no matter how bad they think it to be because you can always go back and fix it, change it or use part of it in another writing project.

I began a new novel in January 2016.  I am still working on this one and am very excited about it.  I have enough ideas to write at least two more books following it that will create a trilogy or series.  I have completed five chapters and recently had the first chapter and part of the second chapter read by some people whose opinions are important to me, and I need to take some time to go back and edit these five chapters before writing more, so that is my new goal on my novel.  In addition to that, I hope to be posting regularly here on my blog again, and looking for some shorter writing projects that I can do in hopes of bringing some earnings into my writing life.

How about you?  Do you find life getting in the way of your blogging at times?  What are your current goals?

Winter Writers’ Retreat

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Several months ago, I received an email from my writing friend, Lisa at Lisa’s Musings, talking about the possibility of having a Winter Writers’ Retreat.  She asked me for ideas and she shared her ideas with me.  Then we talked about what the schedule might look like and how we could keep it very low cost by simply having a simple lunch of sandwiches and salads and a dessert, with drinks and snacks available throughout the day, and the lunch would be all that each person would have to pay for.  Lisa also ran the idea by our friend, Donna at Donna L. H. Smith, who helped with some activity planning, getting the word out and registration.

So, this past Saturday, February 27th, seven (counting Lisa) of us got together at Lisa’s house for this retreat.  Donna asked us to introduce ourselves and share what type of writing we do and how long we’ve been married and how many children we have.  Then she opened with a devotion and prayer.

Lisa had asked me, during the planning, if I would be willing to lead an activity.  She gave me two choices and I chose the one I felt was the less daunting of the two.  🙂

Therefore, after the opening devotion and prayer, I led a creative writing exercise.  I was relieved when everyone found the exercise to be so much fun.

After the creative exercise, Lisa gave us two characterization exercises and two setting exercises and we spread out around the downstairs of Lisa’s beautiful home to spend some time writing, using at least one of these exercises.  I actually used a combination of one of the characterization and one of the setting exercises and I applied them to my current work in progress.  I think the creative writing exercise we started with helped to get my brain into writing mode.  (Of course that was the purpose.)

The next thing we did was break into two groups and we each shared about something we are currently struggling with in our work in progress, whether it was a plot problem, problem with a character or with the setting, or something else.  Then the others in the group helped to brainstorm to come up with ideas to work the problem out.

During lunch we had conversation about upcoming writers’ conferences, what we thought of the retreat up to that point, self-publishing and the possible challenges that would include, flash fiction and blog writing.

After lunch we had a critique group, where Lisa shared the critiquing process — a way to help and encourage the writer, not rip their work to shreds — to begin with a positive, then point out something that could use some work or fixing up with an idea or suggestion for that, and concluding with another positive.  These things need to be specific to be of any real help to the writer and the people doing the critiquing need to consider the Big Picture.

We ended with another prayer and an excerpt from a book that Lisa recommended for encouragement.

I cannot speak for any of the other ladies, but I found this day so very helpful.  I was able to leave there with a fresh excitement about writing, especially working on my work in progress.  I had been struggling with something before that and so the brainstorming for story problems was a huge help with that.  I also really enjoy being able to share with other writers because they understand me and I understand them.  We can help and encourage one another and that is so valuable.

Everyone left with a desire to do another retreat in the future.

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This was the great group of ladies who attended, minus Donna, who took the photo.

I encourage all of you who write to find a group of writers you can spend time with talking, sharing, brainstorming, problem solving, and encouraging one another.  You may even want to consider starting your own small writers’ group or hold your own small simple retreat like the one we just had.  Writing is a solitary activity and can be stressful.  It’s good to step out of your writing closet and breathe some fresh air and spend time with others who understand your struggles and the way your mind works (you know, that you talk to your characters and stuff).

Have you been to a writers’ retreat?  Do you belong to a writers’ group?

Metaphor Monday

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I don’t have a book review to post today, so I thought I’d do something different.  Do you like metaphors?  Do you use metaphors in your writing?

Here are just a few metaphors that came across my mind today:

“He is a tall, thin reed of a man.”

“A book is a ship to sail a thousand seas.”

“Her tender kiss is sugary sweet.”

“His voice is music to my very soul.”

Feel free some of your own metaphors in the comments.

Three Books Every Writer Should Have

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If you are a writer and you don’t have these three books:  The Emotion Thesaurus:  A Writer’s Guide to Character Expression, The Negative Trait Thesaurus:  A Writer’s Guide to  Character Flaws, and The Positive Trait Thesaurus:  A Writer’s Guide to Character Attributes all by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi, I highly recommend that you get them.

I bought the Emotion Thesaurus almost a year ago and have been using it a lot.  I keep it beside me as I write a novel, and I refer to it often.  I bought The Negative Trait Thesaurus and The Positive Trait Thesaurus with Christmas money and I am so glad I did.  They were my resources for helping to create the three main characters in my new WIP (work in progress).

If you find yourself overusing tags or struggling with how to “show” instead of “tell”, or are having problems creating characters with different personalities and having them express themselves appropriately for their personality, these books can lessen or take away the struggle.

The Negative and Positive Trait Thesaurus give you a personality trait with its definition, similar traits, the possible causes for that trait, behaviors associated with the trait, associated thoughts or emotions, positive and negative aspects, examples from film or literature, how your character can overcome a negative trait, traits in supporting characters that may cause conflict with this character, and challenging scenarios for a specific positive trait.

The Emotion Thesaurus gives you an emotion, its definition, physical signals that show that emotion, internal sensations caused by that emotion, mental responses to that emotion, cues of acute or long-term emotion with other things it could escalate to, as well as cues of suppressed emotion, and a writer’s tip.

I find these books helping me create richer, deeper characters, as well as better written stories that “show, don’t tell” what is going on in the story  — stories that will draw my readers in.

What are some of your favorite writing resources?  Please tell me in the comments, as I am always looking for great writing resources to learn from.  I believe it’s important to never stop learning our craft.

The Evolution of a Writer

/ kellyfbarr / 5 Comments

It’s been a little over three years since I re-entered the writing world.  The first year, I simply studied — reading books and magazine articles and blogs about the writing craft and what’s been happening in the writing world, as well as attending as many affordable, one-day writers’ conferences I could, and I joined a local writers’ group that meets once a month and I have been attending faithfully, for the most part, for these three plus years.

The second year, I began to write again, but I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to be writing.  I couldn’t decide on a genre.  I prayed for God to reveal his will for my writing.  Then, I got an idea and I started writing, but I wasn’t excited about it.  However, I wrote a bit, received some critiques, and then spoke with a writer and marketer at a conference, who offered me some great ideas/advice.  That gave me some excitement.  Unfortunately, the excitement was fleeting, and then I thought I’d finish the story and enter it into a contest.  Long story short, due to technical difficulties, I missed the contest deadline.  Being frustrated about missing the deadline and really just feeling “done” with the story, I let it sit for a month before picking it up and doing a read-through.  Ugh!  So glad I missed that deadline!  The ending is rushed.  The ending isn’t at all what I wanted it to be, and my timeline is a mess!  Some friends have/are read/reading it and offering me feedback, which I will read through carefully and make notes of the things they suggest that I think should be changed.  I will eventually edit, rework, and revise this story to create a, hopefully, better-than-good story.  I may even publish it someday.

However, I have evolved!  What do I mean by that? you may ask.  Well, I have finally found my genre — historical romantic fiction!  I’ve had a story brewing in my brain, even while working on the above-mentioned story, and I recently sat down to begin working on it.  What I first knew I must do, was to research the time period and the place.  I researched to choose appropriate names for my main characters, and as my plot line began to form in my brain, I researched a few other important details.  What do you think I found, in addition to what I was looking for, in all of this researching?  More great circumstances to add to my plot line!  I have completely fallen in love with this genre!

I know what you’re thinking, “So does this mean you’re not a pantser anymore?”  Well, let me just say, “I’m not a plotter, but I’m not a pantser either.”  I now fall somewhere in between, but I have found that while researching and building my plot line, then by creating my characters and their backstories, I have found a place that will allow me to plan enough for historical romantic fiction that gives me the historical facts I need but doesn’t require so much time and drudgery that it kills my creativity and my desire to write the story.  As a matter of fact, it has simply fueled my excitement and eagerness to write the story, and I am sure with the bit of research and planning I put in before beginning the actual story, I will write a much better first draft than the last one.

How about you?  How long have you been writing and how has what you have learned helped you to evolve into a better writer?  I’d love for you to leave a comment and share your story.

How Do I Know Who to Listen To?

/ kellyfbarr / 2 Comments

Have you ever shared the same piece of your writing with more than one critique group?  If so, what happened?

I shared the first chapter of my last manuscript with three different critique groups, and this was after sharing with a one-on-one consult with a writer/marketing person.  I changed the first chapter three times.

I also became frustrated because I didn’t know if making all those changes was really necessary.  Who were the right people or voices to listen to?  That’s what I asked the head of the local writers’ group that I am a part of, and this is what she told me.  “If the advice sounds like an opinion, ignore it.  This happens when the person reading the piece isn’t a fan of your particular genre or writing style.

If the advice is specific and the advice or changes make sense, and more than one person is offering that same advice, take it into consideration.  Those are probably the people who are really interested in what you are writing and want to help you improve it.”

This has been helpful, valuable advice, and has taken the frustration out of critique groups for me.

Maybe you haven’t shared the same piece of writing with multiple critique groups, but I like to get a lot of input and feedback on my writing because I want a lot of readers to want to read it when it is completed.

What do you think?  How much input and feedback do you seek for your writing?

A New Story

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Some of you may be disappointed to learn that I will not be looking for Beta readers for my completed manuscript nor will I be posting teasers here about it.  Why, you may ask?

Honestly, there are several reasons:

  1.  When I began writing this story, I wasn’t sure it was what I really wanted to write.  I wrote it because I had the idea and I liked my main characters.
  2. I was never really excited about writing this story.
  3. When I was almost finished with the story, I rushed to the end because I thought I wanted to submit it to a contest, but then I missed the deadline.  Then the holidays came and I was too busy to write or worry about that manuscript that I had completed, but wasn’t happy about completing.
  4. After letting the manuscript rest for a month, I went back and did a read through.  I found my timeline was a mess, there were holes and the ending was rushed and I didn’t like it because it wasn’t the ending I had originally planned because I had rushed it.
  5. I had given it to my closest writing friends for them to read and give me feedback.  I have only received feedback from one so far, and she pointed out that I misinterpreted a key piece of information to my story.

So, what am I going to do with this sad manuscript whose characters I still love?  I will finish going through my one friend’s edits and will also go over the feedback I may still receive from a few other friends, but for now I am content to chalk this manuscript up to what it is — my first completed manuscript since I was a teenager, a manuscript that will one day require a lot more hard work and time to make it something I will be happy with.

Why won’t I do that now?  Because while I was writing that story, I had a story inside me bursting to come out with characters who wouldn’t leave me alone, constantly wanting to know when I would begin working on their story.  This is a story I am excited about!  I already have other stories that can become a series from this story!  It is a different genre than the one I completed at the end of November, a genre that I think I will enjoy much more.

I have learned much by writing a complete manuscript, letting it rest and going back for a read through, as well as having someone edit it.  I have learned what NOT to do with this next manuscript, as well as some things to do that I didn’t do with the first one.

I began writing this new story last night after completing quite a bit of research.  I still have a bit of planning to do for my characters, but that won’t take too long.  I also have a pretty good plot outline to work from, and I am excited and I LOVE these characters and this story already!

What about you?  Have you ever finished a story and then decided you didn’t really like it enough to improve it and try to get it published?  Have you completed a story you like better and want to get in the hands of your fans?

The Controversy Regarding Book Reviews

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I thought it would be appropriate to follow my post about editors with a post about Book Reviews because I recently found out that a friend of mine, who writes, claims to only read for “entertainment”, and so doesn’t say anything about the writing of a book in a review.  This caused me to challenge the honesty of this friend’s reviews, and reviews are called into question in regard to their honesty over and over again.

After all, Amazon recently adopted new rules in regard to writing book reviews for them, some of which seem out of line like the one I recently read about and signed a petition against that says that if you are friends with a writer/author on Facebook or Twitter, they will not post your reviews of those writer/authors’ books.

Why do I think this rule is out of line?  Because as a writer, I have been taught the importance of networking as well as the fact that many successful writers are willing to give advice to up-and-coming and wannabe writers, so these newbies seek to connect with them.  I am connected to many people on Facebook, Twitter and even here on this blog that are writers/authors, that I have never met face-to-face and do not know personally.  Therefore, to say that I cannot post a book review of their work is ridiculous.

Why is Amazon putting such ridiculous rules regarding Book Reviews in place?  Because of the many dishonest people who write raving 5-star Book Reviews for family members, close friends, or even, (and yes, sadly, this does happen), a writer/author who will pay them or give them some kind of reward for writing a positive Book Review.  I understand why Amazon would want to stop these types of reviews.  However, to assume that everyone falls into one of these categories just because they are connected to the writer/author through social media is wrong.

When my friend told me about her Book Reviews, I asked her why she doesn’t give an honest review mentioning the writing (because she said she doesn’t write anything about the writing in the review.  She simply focuses on the story line)?  Her response was she doesn’t want to seem harsh or hurt the writer’s feelings, to which I responded that it is quite possible to write an honest review without being harsh.  I told her I do it all the time.

Yes, as you know, if you visit here often, I write quite a few Book Reviews and not everything I say is in praise of the book.  If I think the writer needs to work on something, I say so.  If I don’t really like the story, I say so.  However, I always do it in the kindest words I can think of, and even if I struggle to find something positive to say, (which is rare, but did happen when I reviewed A Fine Piece of Chocolate), I find something to say to encourage the writer because as a writer myself, I hope that when I finally have something out there for review, that the reviewers will be kind and encouraging, but completely honest.  After all, I have been told by many writers who already reached a level of success, that to be a writer, you need to develop a “thick” skin, not only because of the many rejection slips you may receive, but also because of the many negative Book Reviews some people may write.

What do you think?  Do you write any Book Reviews?  Are your Book Reviews honest and do you review both the story line and the writing?

Time to Put My Nose Back to the Grindstone

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Well, after a month break from novel writing, I feel refreshed and ready to get back to some serious writing.  I finished my first novel at the end of November, and when I did, I had no desire to start editing it or really digging into another novel.

So what did I do for the past month?  I let my novel rest, although I did send it to my writing buddies that I meet with weekly, and the editor completed technical edits (you know, grammar, spelling, and such), which I have only recently begun to look at.

Did I feel guilty for taking a month off?  No, I felt like I needed the break.  It is a busy time of year.  Also, I have heard other authors repeatedly suggest taking a break after completing a novel.  Suggested time off ranges from two weeks to a month.  It allows you to approach the novel with fresh eyes and mind to edit and revise.

During my month break I did not stay away from writing completely.  I couldn’t do that.  If you follow this blog, you know that I wrote a short Christmas story that I read at our church Christmas service, because I posted the original on this blog.  I also did a couple of blog posts, did some planning and research for my next novel, and I read and studied the book Revision and Self-Editing for Publication by James Scott Bell.

I found Mr. Bell’s book extremely helpful, and it has given me great tips and advice and motivated me to begin the editing and revision process of my novel.

For the past two weeks, I’ve had no time to write as I prepared for our family Christmas celebration, and then came the celebration, but during this period, I was still studying Mr. Bell’s book.  I was also blessed the Sunday before Christmas, to be able to spend some time talking to our church’s associate pastor, who is also a writer.  He has never published anything traditionally, but has printed and assembled some of his poems and stories to share with friends and loved ones.  He is now 92 years old and still writing.  We have been talking a lot about writing over the past couple of weeks, and I have had the privilege of reading one of his short stories and offering him some writing tips, because, though he has been writing for years, he hasn’t really studied the craft and is not up-to-date on today’s publishing options and what editors are looking for.  I love talking writing with other writers.  I also love to encourage and help other writers in any way I can.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and I pray that God will bless you in the coming new year!  I hope that those of you who write, will enter the new year feeling refreshed and excited to write.

Look for glimpses into my novel in the new year.