Quote of the Day

more Quotes

Saturday, July 28, 2012

Write To Done's Fifty Quotes for Writers

As a quotations lover, this article by Cheryl Craigie, Contributing Editor at Write to Done, sings to my soul. Read the fifty wise sayings for us authors, found here: http://writetodone.com/2012/07/27/where-to-find-inspiration/.

I particularly like the Mike Rich quote (#27).

Denise Barker, author + blogger +
Freelance Copy Editor, http://bit.ly/freelanceCE
Good Ole Boys, a love story at http://amzn.to/GoodOleBoys
http://bit.ly/DownSouthaShortStory

Friday, July 27, 2012

Accountability

My newest CP group is strictly romance--my main genre among the labels most often used to identify books and group them within a physical bookstore.

But this practice integrated in that CP group works no matter what kind of book you write, even nonfiction.

It is called accountability.

Basically, we share our writing To Do list with each other via e-mail daily. In theory, we end our day showing what is done and not done. While I may not consistently share my results recap with them, I know in my heart and my mind where I fell short, where I excelled. That is what is important.

I propose that this would work if you just send e-mails to yourself. Try it and see.

This simple tool astounds me. If you choose wisely--items that most deeply affect your biggest goals--you will be amazed at how much more you get done.

Shortly after implementing this eye-opener, I saw where I was asking too much from each day. Life gets in the way, my projects inevitably take longer, perfectionism kicks in, maybe a little procrastination too.

Plus you need to listen to your body. After the Aurora event, my mind was too polluted and distracted to be effectively applied to my future goals. It shut down. And I personally knew none of the victims yet was moved in a profound way.

In the Bible, God allowed his people to mourn the passing of Moses for thirty days (Deut. 34:8). Give yourself time.

My daily routine seeks to encourage mind, soul and body health which can only help me in reaching my goals. Like eating well, sleeping fully, being inspired.

So, if you just put two key items on your daily action list, think what you could accomplish in a week, a month, a year.

I maintain even fifteen minutes well spent will yield maximum results when repeatedly acted upon.

Can you spare a quarter of an hour for each square on a calendar to make your life better, more aligned with your dreams?

What if you carved out three-quarters of one single sixty-minute period in your daily allotment of time?

One for health (fifteen minutes of weight lifting or a walk or yoga).

One for organizing your residence (start with your home office and declutter--think about how you can transform your own place into that of a five-star hotel, with no guilt-inducing reminders of things to be done and a streamlined proficiency of function).

One for baby steps toward your highest, biggest, maybe scariest goal. I find whatever fear (doubt, worry, anxiety) is trying to hinder me will actually dissipate once I step closer, take action, no matter how small.

The consistent and persistent practice of doing something EACH DAY is magical--like compound interest.

This is what The Daffodil Principle teaches (my previous post), what FLYlady teaches (FLYlady.net), what Margie Lawson teaches (MargieLawson.com) and what John Assaraf spoke of in a short video on procrastination (see his link in my post of http://livingthedreampublishing.blogspot.com/2012/07/great-two-and-half-minute-video-re.html).

Experiment with accountability in your life and watch for the results.

Denise Barker, author + blogger +
Freelance Copy Editor, http://bit.ly/freelanceCE
Good Ole Boys, a love story at http://amzn.to/GoodOleBoys
http://bit.ly/DownSouthaShortStory

The Daffodil Principle

After my two latest posts regarding the recent evil done in Aurora, Colorado, I needed my next posting to be "just right" to follow that horror. I needed something with the powerful ability to wash away the ugliness. I found it in this true story written by Jaroldeen Asplund Edwards.

As a copy editor I see numerous errors in the typewritten tale. Regardless, the beauty and wisdom shines through. If I could change only one thing it would be to replace "Start tomorrow" with "Start today--now" to combat procrastination.

I LOVE this article. It is sent out at least yearly, via Bob Proctor's Insight of the Day. It is well worth the time investment to read it through. Proves that a small daily act of kindness or intention can go a long, long way. Even if we do not yet see the harvest with each day's effort, keep on planting hope, faith and love, in whatever shapes your life creates.

http://www.insightoftheday.com/quotetext.asp?msgid=2132

~ ~ ~

If you enjoy reading uplifting and encouraging articles, here are more:

Inspiration for all who have dreams to live:
  • http://livingthedreampublishing.blogspot.com/2011/06/intrinsic-value.html 
  • http://livingthedreampublishing.blogspot.com/2012/06/new-favorite-career-quote.html
  • http://livingthedreampublishing.blogspot.com/2011/07/notes-from-universe-movie.html
  • http://livingthedreampublishing.blogspot.com/2011/07/those-what-i-did-over-summer-school.html
  • http://livingthedreampublishing.blogspot.com/2011/07/wealth.html
  • http://livingthedreampublishing.blogspot.com/2011/07/define-who-you-are.html
  • http://livingthedreampublishing.blogspot.com/2011/07/success-what-does-it-mean-to-you.html
  • http://livingthedreampublishing.blogspot.com/2011/06/three-bullies-worry-self-doubt-and-fear.html
  • http://livingthedreampublishing.blogspot.com/2011/05/at-heart-of-it-all.html
  • http://livingthedreampublishing.blogspot.com/2012/02/like-you-are-on-vacation.html
  • http://livingthedreampublishing.blogspot.com/2012/03/authors-need-some-inspiration.html
  • http://livingthedreampublishing.blogspot.com/2012/03/take-job-that-fills-your-heart-not-your.html
  • http://livingthedreampublishing.blogspot.com/2012/03/first-love-yourself.html
  • http://livingthedreampublishing.blogspot.com/2012/04/so-dont-quit-today.html
  • http://livingthedreampublishing.blogspot.com/2012/04/you-are-your-greatest-asset.html
  • http://livingthedreampublishing.blogspot.com/2012/04/two-life-altering-quotations.html
  • http://livingthedreampublishing.blogspot.com/2012/05/face-your-fears.html
  • http://livingthedreampublishing.blogspot.com/2012/05/neil-gaiman-commencement-speech.html
  • http://livingthedreampublishing.blogspot.com/2012/07/great-two-and-half-minute-video-re.html
  • http://livingthedreampublishing.blogspot.com/2012/07/life-is-short-live-it-full-out.html
  • http://livingthedreampublishing.blogspot.com/2012/07/happiness.html
Denise Barker, author + blogger +
Freelance Copy Editor, http://bit.ly/freelanceCE
Good Ole Boys, a love story at http://amzn.to/GoodOleBoys
http://bit.ly/DownSouthaShortStory

Saturday, July 21, 2012

Gun Control

Okay, my mind cannot stop processing all this insanity of the shootings in Aurora, Colorado.  I should be working on my freelance projects. Earning money. And don't need to spend today researching stuff I do not know on this subject. Which would be a lot.

Maybe writing them down will calm my frustrations.

Somewhat.

If I mention something below that is already in operation, okay. Good to know. But obviously it ain't working and needs fixing.

I hope someone else out there--who also shares my shame, my stupor, my sense of rage at how something like this could happen in our United States--has the answers.

Or the wherewithal to get these matters addressed.

President Obama, senators, representatives, are you listening?

Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, I beg you to use both your monies and your influence to start and fund private agencies, working in tandem with whatever governmental ones.

If you have already, thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you. But hire more people. Begin with a Colorado office. You can have as much of the eighty-one cents in my one and only checking account as you desire.

These are knee-jerk questions. I know they deal only with "authorized" purchases and not the illegal buys. Gotta start somewhere. My rational mind has shut down. My core emotions are coming through.
  1. Isn't there a federal gun registration center? There should be. How many mass murders need to happen in Colorado before this takes effect? Ten more? Fifty total? Three-hundred-ninety-one?
  2. Does no agency (ATF?) study/profile gun-buying patterns? They need to. There are plenty of unemployed people who, given a computer and an internet connection and working electricity, could help research this for various agencies while earning something for themselves, their families. Provide an office and the tools for those without said items. Plus I'm a freelancer in need of money to pay my bills. Add me to that list. I could work from home and provide at least one hour daily even with three other projects all under deadline. This issue means that much to me.
  3. Seems to me one person buying four guns in a couple months would ping on a radar somewhere. Each sales invoice or daily batches of them need to be faxed/emailed to a clearinghouse and/or directly to ATF. Need that data to be required, shared and gathered on city, state and federal levels. That way, hopefully, if there is a failure in the process, another double check kicks in to cover it.
  4. Seems to me also that one person suddenly buying guns--at four different locales, no less--is screaming into the ether "I'm hiding something and about to commit a heinous act." If not mandated to by some government agency on some level, do the vendors, on an informal basis, scope out the buyers for red flags? Do they converse with other vendors about a "strange guy"? Or equally valid, a "plain-vanilla guy maybe with no social skills"? Just wondering . . .
  5. Add all that to someone who has no social media (SM) presence whatsoever, who may be indeed termed a "loner," would ring a dozen bells. Is no one in his life paying attention? Again, use freelancers whose only job is to take each gun purchaser and match them to some SM so we can check them off as "not a loner." Far from perfect, I admit.  But a helluva lot better than what's not working now.
  6. How did he even gain access to the theater without passing someone? The government should hire unemployed people as freelance security there and elsewhere and pay them what unemployment would have otherwise. We get a twofer--the same government funds, but a great service is done too. Additionally these businesses could kick in supplemental contract wages. They get more for less. Being "contract," these theaters and such do not have to pay them minimum wage--just extra to go along with their government earnings. Win-win-win on all three sides.
  7. Do we need to install metal detectors at movie theaters? As an avid moviegoer, I vote yes.
  8. Yes, he was "an adult," but does the college notify the parents when a student drops out? Seems to be a good double check, a monitoring of college students, since dropping out can be a sign of depression, not being able to cope.
  9. Even as a parent, I cannot fathom the despair his parents must feel. I have nothing but pride for my wonderful and gifted son. Still, as perfect as he is, we are not identical. His actions are a result of his choices. I know I would not want to be held responsible for the actions of everyone related to me by blood--sharing a basic genetic soup does not mean every relative of mine entails the same conscience or morals or tenets. That's where the input from the school would have been helpful. The notice from the four gun shops that informed some agency and/or some family member, as a double check again, that hey, he purchased a firearm from us.  And us over here, too.  Plus this third and fourth vendor.
  10. Maybe set up gun vendors somehow queued to the GPS in the buyers' cars, cells and computers to link to some enforcement agency and give notice of each purchase--whereas multiple purchases would cause the lights to blink red and the sirens to blow. Whatever it takes to get someone to notice.
  11. None of the above is to be taken as everybody else is to blame for this one guy's actions. In my mind, he knew exactly what he was doing and had a premeditated plan. Not only that, he warned the authorities of the bomb set up in his apartment. He didn't want to add the (capital) deaths of any officers and agents to his kill tally. That is not the action of a crazy person, but someone protecting himself from the very thing he caused to so many others--death.
  12. I'd much rather Big Brother watch over all of us a little more than to ever have to read about this happening again.
Oh, dear God.  Help us.

Denise Barker

Why?

My heart, my thoughts, my prayers, my confusion, my sorrow goes out to the Aurora, Colorado community.

Even without cable, even without electricity for six hours yesterday, this horrible news reached me.

Friday, July 20, 2012

Happiness

Happiness. We all seek it. It is written into our Declaration of Independence. And my heart just melts--no matter how often I watch the movie--when Hub asks Walter in the cornfield if he is happy (Secondhand Lions, 2003).

I started reading a great article just this week about happiness and the writer had me with his premise in the opening paragraph.  Then I was interrupted, otherwise distracted, and have yet to finish it. (Note to self:  find, read in full.)

But the gist of it was this: Better to focus on what we find interesting.

I agree.

Foremost because it personalizes the term. Thereafter because happiness is ephemeral and ethereal. Undefined as to our ever-changing particulars.

As authors and as individuals with goals to attain, we need to use concrete nouns. "Car" will not place in your reader's mind or your own garage either Mooch's yellow Corvette or Stephanie's repoed red Miata from One for the Money.

Be clear.

An abstract like "happiness" you cannot hold in your hand. But "read fifty classics this year" is not only a time limit (encouraged in goal setting), but also contains the measurable element, which is the indicator of success. You either hit the mark of fifty or you didn't.  Kinda harsh, for I believe reading forty-nine would still count. For that matter, reading one classic is always a good step forward.

I love this comment made by someone long ago that goes something like this: "Don't ask for more money. Here's a nickel. Done. You have more money."  Sometimes the example of what you do not want is more effective than an sampling of how to get what you seek. Odd how that works.

Remember also happiness's mutability. Today it might entail "money for all my bills." Tomorrow it might be "want an aspirin and want it now!" Another week, "I want to be married," followed later by "I want a divorce." See?  Changes.

As we grow and evolve, so do our likes, our hobbies, how we spend our time. So should our happiness factor.

And I heartily believe we should all seek more happiness in our lives. It is one of our inalienable rights.

Start exercising yours this instant.

~ ~ ~ ~

If you enjoyed this post, you may find these to your liking, too:

Further inspiration for all who have dreams to live:

  • http://livingthedreampublishing.blogspot.com/2011/06/intrinsic-value.html 
  • http://livingthedreampublishing.blogspot.com/2012/06/new-favorite-career-quote.html
  • http://livingthedreampublishing.blogspot.com/2011/07/notes-from-universe-movie.html
  • http://livingthedreampublishing.blogspot.com/2011/07/those-what-i-did-over-summer-school.html
  • http://livingthedreampublishing.blogspot.com/2011/07/wealth.html
  • http://livingthedreampublishing.blogspot.com/2011/07/define-who-you-are.html
  • http://livingthedreampublishing.blogspot.com/2011/07/success-what-does-it-mean-to-you.html
  • http://livingthedreampublishing.blogspot.com/2011/06/three-bullies-worry-self-doubt-and-fear.html
  • http://livingthedreampublishing.blogspot.com/2011/05/at-heart-of-it-all.html
  • http://livingthedreampublishing.blogspot.com/2012/02/like-you-are-on-vacation.html
  • http://livingthedreampublishing.blogspot.com/2012/03/authors-need-some-inspiration.html
  • http://livingthedreampublishing.blogspot.com/2012/03/take-job-that-fills-your-heart-not-your.html
  • http://livingthedreampublishing.blogspot.com/2012/03/first-love-yourself.html
  • http://livingthedreampublishing.blogspot.com/2012/04/so-dont-quit-today.html
  • http://livingthedreampublishing.blogspot.com/2012/04/you-are-your-greatest-asset.html
  • http://livingthedreampublishing.blogspot.com/2012/04/two-life-altering-quotations.html
  • http://livingthedreampublishing.blogspot.com/2012/05/face-your-fears.html
  • http://livingthedreampublishing.blogspot.com/2012/05/neil-gaiman-commencement-speech.html
  • http://livingthedreampublishing.blogspot.com/2012/07/great-two-and-half-minute-video-re.html
  • http://livingthedreampublishing.blogspot.com/2012/07/life-is-short-live-it-full-out.html

Denise Barker, author + blogger +
Freelance Copy Editor, http://bit.ly/freelanceCE
Good Ole Boys, a love story at http://amzn.to/GoodOleBoys
http://bit.ly/DownSouthaShortStory

Monday, July 16, 2012

Emotions in Writing

Two research projects intersected into a wonderful revelation for me. While I was studying one of Nora Roberts's free short stories downloaded from her official website--to search for why her writing so mesmerizes me--I also made a list of some of my fave movies to look for the similarities--to see what I both sought and found in those books and films--as that is most likely my writing niche.

But I was looking at genre and situation and plot and other such elements trying to find that unifying cord that screamed, "Denise, this is your (one) true place, theme, genre."

I know. Seems I should already be aware of this as I understand me best, right? Not so much here with this specific insight. Plus, I wanted the clarity. All the goal-setting tips say so and, as an author, it helps to have a guiding principle. Both for writing in general and for each special project. I read somewhere that a problem with a story is either tied to the author or the tale (or maybe a little of each). Having a target in mind should clear the way from both angles.

Yes, I write romantic suspense novels with some wry humor thrown in for good measure--although one of my CPs just the other week described my writing as more mainstream and not strictly romance. Good! After all, Nora Roberts is my mentor, my hero, my benchmark. She changed the landscape of the romance genre, expanding it, incorporating elements from the other categories.

Plus she elevates her imaginings from the superficiality of sight-based-only romances to dig deeper, sharing beautiful insights into humanity and psychological glimpses into her characters' minds. It is not about who is merely beautiful and rich; Nora adds layers fully fleshing out her characters to become alive and yet real with foibles and insecurities and fears as well as goals and dreams.

I believe she's covered all basic genre themes while under the romance umbrella writing as Nora Roberts, or under the futuristic police procedurals writing as J.D. Robb. Luckily for me, her brand of horror is lightly handled and swept away fast (the child incest/molestation, the graphic murders), which allows me to keep reading her stuff over these speed bumps of utter disgust.

More than one of her stories has magic, paranormal elements, mystery, women's fiction, action, adventure, glitz, police procedure, murder, mainstream psychological insight, comedy/humor, love and some horror; appearing in contemporary, future, western and historical time frames; from domestic settings to foreign; on land or on sea or on another planet.  Did I miss anything?

Which brings me to this post about my revelation.

Certain emotions are tied to certain genres: such as fright with horror, HEA love with romance, wonder with fantasy, humor with comedy, etc. But with new crossover books and universal authors like Nora, we have blending going on, such as paranormal romantic suspense and chick lit and steampunk and new combos brewing even now.

Here's my latest light-bulb moment: We seek more than just one emotion in our movies, in our reading. The particular films and fiction we choose--and still like after viewing and reading--hit those spots we want to have stirred up. Those "bad" selections are simply markers of entertainment focusing on another set of feelings we do not wish to relive.

For me, it is horror in the strictest sense. I do not like to be surprised or scared. Yet, The Mummy (movie remake with Brendan Fraser) doesn't frighten me in the least, no matter being branded as a horror. But I refuse to see The Silence of the Lambs or Hitchcock's Psycho--even though I already know both punch lines.

Another particular taboo is sad movies that make me cry. And cry. And cry some more. I'm not a crybaby. Life can cause enough tears and sadness which we cannot control. Who needs more of our own election?

Still, one of my favorite movies is P.S. I Love You which is a real tearjerker. Somehow I can occasionally rewatch that flick. Maybe because the love overshadows the grief by a tad? Yet, there is another big-name author whose books have been made into movies and the sadness is to such an intense level that I cannot handle it.

Death is another element I avoid. Yet I love Murder, She Wrote and J.D. Robb's In Death series. Probably because we don't even know the dead guy.  I'm emotionally separated enough from the deceased stranger to care only about justice, a theme, instead of knowing the victim and harboring personal thoughts of revenge for the death of my best friend, my lover, my family.

It is okay if I learn more about the unknown person as long as it is in dribbles throughout the tale, well after the initial murder, as in the case of J.D. Robb's books.

But my same CP mentioned above said I should do more with the characters who die in my books. No. Not my main genre. Not my style. Not my forte. I am not so equipped. I'll leave it for others to handle artfully.

So the death of one of my major characters in a current WIP is a footnote basically.  I've led my readers through two hundred pages getting to know this person and they will be hit hard by the death, even though we all know it is coming.  But is in the background.

My psyche can only process it that way.

Therefore, if you are looking for gory deaths--with chapters full of details on how the villains tortured and mutilated their victims, the bad guys' anger increasing after they pushed their punishments too far, causing their playthings to die, bringing to an abrupt end all the other wonderful pain and misery the evil ones had planned to inflict--you won't find that in my books.

However, if you are like me and crave love and action and adventure and suspense and comedy and wonder and mysteries--whether regarding murder or learning something (think House, M.D. or Numb3rs or the Discovery Channel)--then that is what you should write as an author and read as a fan.

Incorporate all those elements you seek in your entertainment within your own creations.

It is not about one genre, even a crossover.

It is about emotions. In multiples.

Once I made that link, I'm now seeing it vividly as I again enjoy, yet like a first timer, my beloved TV shows, fave movies, endearing books.

My empirical data proves my own theory.

This new praxis frees me from the rather restrictive genre definitions or even various plotlines. Too narrow. My focus is on a higher level. A universal bond. Through emotions.

I can now easily dissect Nora Roberts aka J.D. Robb while remaining within her storytelling spell.  She evokes sympathy, empathy, love, jealousy, anger, while stirring up themes of justice, love conquers all, the good guys win at the end. Right in line with my own thinking.

It shouldn't amaze me, but it does.  Something this elegant, this . . . simple, yet grand--well, it boggles my brain. As discussed on this blog before, a mind once opened to a new distinction, a nouveau idea, has had its boundaries stretched, never to go back again.

Wow!  What a wonderful discovery . . . To my readers, this may seem like a "Well, duh!" moment.  And they usually are. What seems complex is simple. Our answers are hidden in plain sight.

Wow.

Denise Barker, author + blogger +
Freelance Copy Editor, http://bit.ly/freelanceCE
Good Ole Boys, a love story at http://amzn.to/GoodOleBoys
http://bit.ly/DownSouthaShortStory

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Fifty-Three Ways to Strengthen Your Writing

I found a similar article of fifty-two ways to change your life, torn from a 1996 magazine and, although all but one had already been incorporated into my years, I kept that single page on my desk.  Tempting me.  Calling me.

So this post is where it led me. At first, while only at item twentyish, I was wondering if I would make a full list of fifty-two points so that my readers could take one to focus on weekly--even out of order or repeating a beloved one for several weeks.  But, being the novelist that I am and not a flash-fiction author, I made it one beyond, to number fifty-three.  Enjoy!

53 Ways to Strengthen Your Writing
  1. Study poetry, Rumi, Mother Goose, Psalms, song lyrics, whatever your predilection. It teaches tight writing.
  2. Study Shakespeare.  He understood human failings. Great for plots, drama, conflict. Plus he had humor and fantasy woven in, to remind us about the lighter things in life.
  3. Study the Bible. I maintain all the plot variations are found therein. On the flip side, don't feel you have to steal from a soap opera and have every malady and mishap known to man happen to your poor heroine.  Look at Nora Roberts.  She writes about everyday people, living everyday lives, for the most part. Unless you ARE writing a soap opera.  Or a spoof of a soap opera.  Then go right ahead.
  4. Study the masters. Get out your old high-school recommended reading list and set out to read at least ten this year. Better yet, read one every week.
  5. Study your mentors, your heroes.  Nora Roberts aka J.D. Robb is one of mine. It is so very hard for me to disconnect from her storytelling long enough to study her art of writing behind it. I found two short stories of hers for free on her website and, since they are only four or five pages long, maybe I can be objective enough with them. For now, I'm just assigning emotions to each paragraph. How I feel when I read her words, and specifically which ones evoked which reaction.
  6. Study another language. Nothing gets your understanding of root words so well . . . rooted (sorry!) than a look at Latin.
  7. Subscribe to receive a word-of-the-day email.  Or just read a new one in the dictionary. It helps us authors with our fresh writing to find that unique word and implement it.  Gets us away from the stale and hackneyed.  The cliché.
  8. Study the thesaurus as well.  Granted those wonderful words I find other authors using are never found within synonyms in the dictionary or the thesaurus. 
  9. Keep a list of these great words.  Study them.  Are they nouns made into verbs?  Are they a great updated twist on an old phrase? Do you prefer similes and metaphors to other rhetorical devices? Find those literary tricks and locate your particular faves.
  10. Study rhetorical devices. I still do not know their names, but I know one when I see one. It adds a certain literary depth to the work.
  11. Take writing classes.  Online. At your local community college.  At FunEd.  Or just via reading one of the many good writing books (I've recommended several on this blog in earlier posts). Take good notes. Type them up.  Distill them to the Top 10. Keep them handy on your writing desk.
  12. Like Tony Robbins said, he tries to find one good thing from every seminar he attends, and I presume book he reads and people he meets.  Do the same.  Keep track of that one great thing you learned. Add it to your Best of the Best notebook.
  13. People-watch.  Wherever. The mall. The coffee shop.  In line at the market. I've overheard some great conversations that are stockpiled to be scenes in future books.  Plus you get exposed to the rhythm of different speakers.
  14. Speaking of rhythm, play one of your all-time favorite songs.  Close your eyes.  Without retyping the lyrics, write what you feel.  Define the emotions that song ignites.
  15. While your eyes are closed, sit, evaluate.  What do you smell? What do you hear? Underneath those layers, what else is there to smell and hear that you are so accustomed to that you overwrite those images as "old" and "already noted"? Touch the items on your desk. Note the feel of familiar items. Taste your coffee.  Really taste your water. Take notes.
  16. Change locations.  Maybe sit outside.  Note the main thing you see, hear, feel, taste, touch. What emotion pulls at you as you focus on these five things?  I'm a true believer of intuition. So be sure to add this sixth sense to your writing where needed, too.
  17. Make a list of foods that evoke "home" to you.
  18. Make a similar list of smells.  Like cinnamon on the peach cobbler in the oven.  Or the smell of potpourri simmering on the stove. Or maybe just a chicken roasting, or steaks on the grill. It could be the wonderful smells of coffee and bacon being cooked outside on a campfire.
  19. From memories or old pictures or magazine pages or Pinterest boards (yours and others), gather a selection of homes that immediately bring a story to your mind--one you feel compelled to share.
  20. Repeat the preceding item but focused on people--characters you want to live in your future books. They can be actors or famous people of old or that conglomeration in your mind.  Find pictures that best match your mental image. Name them. Set them up on a Pinterest board.
  21. Do nonwriting things you enjoy.  Gotta fill your reservoir with a variety of data to pull from as you write. Plus gives your life balance.
  22. Take a day trip.  Get out of your normal environment.  Mix things up.  Especially if you are butt-in-chair hours upon hours for days upon days.
  23. Enjoy other art forms.  Go to a museum. If you find a particular painting speaking to you, whispering a secret to be shared, go home, print it out to remind you.  Set it by your computer.
  24. Take a painting class. It gives you insight into how an artist would see a place, a person, a thing. Should help you, the author, in expressing same on the white page.
  25. Attend to the comfort of your workspace.  If you are at all like me, comfort does not rate high on your daily radar either.  Yet, again, if you are at all like me, and tied for hours to your computer, then we should address that matter.  I particularly like my keyboard tilted via the little prongs at the back and placed squarely in front of my screen.  Do y'all remember that cute scene in Crazy, Stupid, Love. where the son is at work with the mother and she's typing at a ninety-degree position away from her monitor?  Who does that?  Just seems weird to me.  But if it works for you, set up your station that way.  I'm just saying, pay attention.  Fix it.  You're the boss now. Don't do it the way it was always done back there at those corporate 9-to-5 jobs.  Do it better.  Do it personally.
  26. Do what you love. Write the genre you read on your days off or at night to unwind.
  27. I cannot work in a cluttered environment.  Or let me reword that:  I prefer not to work in a cluttered environment.  (I am tending to all that, just in fifteen-minute increments.) Make your office a haven, a place you feel relaxed and yet encouraged.  Soothed and still suffused.
  28. Research. Doesn't need to entail actual travel for those of us still money-challenged. This can be via books alone or simply the internet (just carefully choose the more authorized site to cull your intel from). Select topics that interest you.  Make a list.  Keep one by your computer.  Add a subject matter that smiles at your heart as you are reading through blogs during the day or your emails or from whatever source.
  29. Keep lists. Aside from Pinterest boards or dream boards or white boards or spreadsheets or software programs, I like hard-copy lists. A backup for when the internet is down or the electricity is off. Make one for people--list archetypes you prefer to write about. Further characterize them.  These adjectives will help you not only describe them in your next book, but can be used like pepper on white sauce to further enhance your story, to perpetuate your theme of the bad-boy-gone-good hero or the wrong-side-of-the-tracks misunderstood rebel.
  30. Still within the People subject, make a list of careers.  I am particularly bored with the lawyer and doctor themes still found in romances even today.  Since I'm a Nora fan, I love her use of unusual careers for her main characters in  her books.  Like in Chasing Fire, there is this one scene that is branded into my memory about "shake and bake." It will never be about hamburger anymore to me.
  31. While still on the career angle, add an array of adjectives that describe the job.  The good.  The bad. The minute. You can use those descriptors to not only define the main character's workspace, but him and his life. Like Nora Roberts did with one of her books about a magician.  I detected the "magic" theme coloring a lot of her choices in adjectives.
  32. Character sheets.  I'm not into all that history-taking-notes mind-set about where they went to high school and their hobbies.  Unless this IS a story about them attending high school and their after-school hobbies further the plot. I'm more into emotions and themes, so I gravitate toward the mind-mapping exercise, labeling our characters with four/five words as to what archetype they represent, what major emotion they portray within this particular story, etc.  (See previous posting about Mind Mapping--it's just great.)
  33. Places.  Again, make a list of spots you'd love to see first-hand. Search the Net. Gather info, tidbits, details. Attach some wonderful scenes to a Pinterest board for handy reference. On your written sheet, maybe add in what words come to mind when you think of each place.  Like Paris may evoke love. Italy, food. France, wines, farmers' markets.  Whatever it is, spell it out.  Use it to add color and depth to your tale.
  34. Concrete nouns. Yes, use "Corvette" instead of "car" to seat the correct vision into your reader's mind.  If you use "car" but are thinking "Corvette" and your fan is thinking "sedan," miscommunications will follow.  Like for instance, why the hero cannot give a lift to two buddies.  It is not that he is rude or insensitive or uncaring or selfish.  There is simply no room for three grown men in a hardtop Vette. 
  35. Active verbs.  Make yourself a note to watch for is, was, and other forms of To Be verbs. Rework the sentence to delete them whenever possible.
  36. Watch for useless words.  Example: he strolled leisurely . . . 
  37. Watch for repetitive words.  You know what yours are.  (Two of mine are so, just.)
  38. Listen to your CP group.  Find your weak area and particularly watch for it.  Now this does NOT mean incorporating every change they suggest into your writing.  It is still YOUR writing and should reflect that.  Like me, for instance. I write conversationally. Therefore, a lot of my "sentences" are not fully formed but are truly phrases.  I'm not changing that.  Now I will change it when I start too many with "And" or "But." 
  39. Know when to break the rules--but not so that you lose your reader. With each story, you are in effect writing a term paper, selling your reader on following--and agreeing--with each progressive step. You make an illogical leap and your readers are no longer "your readers" but "your debaters" having put down your book to go consult an encyclopedia on a point or to rant to their spouse. Not that you cannot propose an alternate viewpoint.  You just better make dang sure that your point is both valid and believable, or you knock your reader so far out of  your story that they don't come back.  Have no desire to. Ever.
  40. KISS.  Yes.  Keep it simple, sweetie.  Make your sentences clear.  I'm not talking about writing to an eighth-grade level either.  I don't care what the statistics may show on that front.  Look at the J.K. Rowling fanatics.  In a news spot showing her readers waiting for one of her final releases in the Harry Potter saga, I saw three-year-olds reading her book.  So don't tell me to dumb-down my writing. You can use big words and even rarely used ones in such a way that, in context, you will effectively communicate with your reader.
  41. As both an author and a freelance copy editor, I know the difference between infer and imply.  As an author, you should too.  You are called a "wordsmith" for a reason.  Words are your tools.  Use them wisely.
  42. Grammar rules help your reader to fully receive the vision in your mind.  Follow them.  I find that most blog errors (yes, posted by authors) fail to properly communicate because the bloggers do not understand the why and how of punctuation marks. Each one serves a much-needed purpose.
  43. List of themes (like "love conquers all" and "good wins out over evil" or just standing up for the underdog or being honest, etc.). Decide on yours for each novel and as you create each scene. Again, go with what interests you.  You aren't out to make every person on the planet your reader.  I firmly believe that each author has their own following.  It's just a matter of waiting long enough for the two to connect.
  44. List of great first lines. Find them--at the library, at the bookstore, in your own personal collection. Write them down.  Study them.  See if there is a pattern to them that calls out to you.  Then take that pattern and tweak it for your use.  In your books.
  45. List of great hooks that ended chapters. Study them. See what would work in your particular chapter.  NO PLAGIARISM WHATSOEVER ALLOWED!
  46. List of taglines/loglines that move you.  This is my newest focus in the marketing arena.  It's free.  Surely us creative types can come up with a twenty-five-words-or-less slogan to describe our tome.
  47. List of all-time favorite movies.  Find out what they share in common.  That's your writing niche.
  48. Study favorite movies and make a list of the 120 beats, or 90 or however long corresponds with the length of the movie.  I find some movies are more cohesive than the books they started with.  Plus I'm a NaNoWriMo winner and I begin my process by basically writing down dialogue and actions--the mainstay of a screenplay.  With later versions, I add in a little description.  (I'm not a description fan.  In J.D. Robb's futuristic police series--where it is necessary that she detail this made-up world for us--she doesn't use a whole paragraph to describe her NYC of 2058.  I don't think she uses a whole sentence without adding in some activity. Atlas Shrugged, which has got to be my number one favorite novel of all time, has that forty-page-or-so monologue toward the end of the book.  With my ten readings or more, I have never read that portion completely. Never will. Now if you want to summarize it for me, giving me the highlights on one page or in one paragraph, I may read that.)
  49. Make a list of your favorite people.  Break them down into a series of qualities about them that you love.  Incorporate some into your hero/heroine.
  50. Conversely, make a list of the people who repeatedly push your hot buttons.  Jot down the qualities that irritate you endlessly, forever, without fail. Use a little of this for your contagonist.  Use a lot for your villain.
  51. Study archetypes. They can help you label your characters so each one has representation.  I read somewhere that we humans are all the eight archetypes combined in our various and unique ways.  Which explains why in some things/areas we'll take the lead, while in others we procrastinate.
  52. Study Campbell's twelve-step hero's journey.  I'm not a plotter.  But as my most recent CPs have convinced me, I may be a hybrid.  I have nothing written down, but yet I already have a scene in mind for probably six or seven of the main plot points.  Now, they may change as I begin to write.  But you gotta start somewhere, you know?  
  53. START.  I feel I write better today than in my twenties.  It is like anything.  You cook more, you are bound to become a better cook.  So . . . write.  Keep on writing.  Even J.K. Rowling's world-famous series is said to show a progression in her writing skills from book one to book seven.  You do the best you can at that moment.  Tell the story of your heart.  Write for you.  THAT you can control.  You cannot control your readers.  The people who don't like your stuff are not your intended audience.
As always, take what resonates, toss the rest and keep on writing! Love you, guys!

Denise Barker, author + blogger +
Freelance Copy Editor, http://bit.ly/freelanceCE
Good Ole Boys, a love story at http://amzn.to/GoodOleBoys
http://bit.ly/DownSouthaShortStory

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

God Has Something Better Planned

Long ago, I knew this wise woman who would let her young preteen children mope around for two days max when things didn't go their way--like not being invited to the party all the popular kids were going to, for example--but then they had to regroup and get on with their lives.  She was a babysitter for my infant son and I still like her outlook. For whatever age group we have become.

Yes, bemoan what looks like a great opportunity lost or missed.

But also remember:  God may have something even greater planned in the wings.  Waiting.

Do you think you'd see that opportunity if you were depressed, playing woe-is-me with yourself and others?  Probably not.

So, yes, share your initial disappointment.  But remember the old adage about a door shutting and yet a window pops open.  Watch for that window.

I'm reminded of a quote which I'll paraphrase here instead of looking for it and getting further sidetracked.  Essentially it states that your mind is enlarged with new information and can never shrink back to the previous unenlightened state.

That's where I am.  My view was enlarged with the possibility.  This particular opp may have passed me by, but my mind, my thoughts, my expectations are bigger for having run across it. So I still carry the grandness of it in my heart, mind and soul. It is on my radar.  My senses will seek it still.

One chance sidestepped me.  Is there only one such happening in the whole universe? Heavens, no.

So . . . Never give up hope . . . Ten years from now as you glance back a decade, you'll know more about the circumstances and why things went the way they did.  Hang tough.  Keep the faith. Hold fast to your dreams.

Denise Barker, author + blogger +
Freelance Copy Editor, http://bit.ly/freelanceCE
Good Ole Boys, a love story at http://amzn.to/GoodOleBoys
http://bit.ly/DownSouthaShortStory

DOWN SOUTH, a short story of romance and suspense

My short story, Down South, its tagline "Home is a feeling, not a place," is alive and well on Amazon, B&N and Smashwords--soon to be at Kobo. At about fifty pages long, my little $0.99 tale will amuse you for sixty minutes or so--whereas most movies nowadays are only ninety minutes long and the early-bird moviegoer's fare is $5.00--five times more than the cost of my e-book and lasts almost as long.  Plus you can read in the comfort of your home at your timing. And reread, if you so desire.

Don't get me wrong. I love watching movies in theaters. And one day, hopefully soon, I'll reward myself for all my hard work paying off by resuming that weekly treat. Just not yet.

This week I'm celebrating a great big thumbs-up to overcoming procrastination.  This short story, under various working titles, was birthed on paper eleven or so years ago.

ELEVEN years it nagged me to spend some time with it, finesse it, groom it.

Which I did, some hours being more fruitful than others.  Still, on the Fourth of July, this year, magic hit.  In the same eight hours some people would spend in a cubicle, I smoothed my short story--at home--into its presentable online version. On a national holiday even.

Yes, timing counts.  But I think my prior efforts were still much-needed stepping stones to lead me to that perfect timing on the Fourth.

Lately various events have motivated me.  Nora Ephron's death. The John Assaraf Procrastination video (see post below). The stark realization that I left my short story in limbo for over a decade.

So, now I have two other "finished" novels--one category, one mainstream.  The first 23 chapters and 285 pages.  The second 35 chapters and 392 pages.

But averaging basically short chapters of around ten pages each.

After today (it is sort of a day off), I plan to spend an hour or two Final Editing one chapter a day.  With no glitches, both books would be finished in fifty-eight days.  But then there are covers to consider and create.  Formatting, uploading. And life. And glitches.  So I'll be happy to have these two projects live online in three months. Or four.

Granted, with my short story, I needed the Internet and Amazon/B&N/Smashwords etc. and Indie publishing to all meet. And there is nothing wrong with having a backlist of already written fiction.  But I did need to tweak my ratio of "finished" to "published."

I'm happy to report I am handling that better now.

As always, take what resonates, toss the rest and keep on writing!

Denise Barker, author + blogger +
Freelance Copy Editor, http://bit.ly/freelanceCE
Good Ole Boys, a love story at http://amzn.to/GoodOleBoys
http://bit.ly/DownSouthaShortStory

Sunday, July 8, 2012

Great Two-and-a-half-Minute Video re Reaching Highest Goals

This video is courtesy of John Assaraf where he speaks on procrastinating less, giving our self-confidence a boost and instilling this daily habit:

Choose the high-income, high-impact, high-value activities toward our number one goal for today.  Select three. Commit to having them done by noon each day.

It hit home for me.  Enjoy!

Here is the link:

http://www.praxisnow.com/blog/why-do-we-procrastinate#utm_source=prospect-newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=money2

Denise Barker, author + blogger +
Freelance Copy Editor, http://bit.ly/freelanceCE
Good Ole Boys, a love story at http://amzn.to/GoodOleBoys
http://bit.ly/DownSouthaShortStory

Further Update on J. J. Virgin Elimination Diet

Lost another couple pounds this week--hooray!  I owe it to adding fiber-rich beans to at least one of my meals in a day.  The other trick may have been eating cottage cheese.  With a hectic schedule, it is a boon.

I have found eating dairy gives me a stopped-up nose during the night, causing me to sleep with my mouth open and wake up with the temporary sore throat and dry mouth because of all that.  I can still have some dairy, but it needs to be minimal amounts.  I choose between cheese on my meatless taco salad (with garbanzos) or cream in my coffee, for instance.  The taco salad is good even without the cheese.

On the coffee note, I can still have my cold coffee drink first thing in the morning using up yesterday's leftover brew.  I cannot find unsweetened Coconut Creme in my local markets, but I dilute it with unsweetened Almond milk--with a ratio usually a little heavier on the CC side than the AM portion, say three-fifths CC to two-fifths AM.  Just to get it to that certain caramel-like coloring.  I have a particular glass I drink it from so the proportions work when I fill in the rest with yesterday's coffee and add ice.

I even have a couple cups of hot coffee with one scant teaspoon of real cream in it.

So I'm happy.  But the elimination diet version you will need is as different as you and I are.  So experiment.

I am avoiding processed foods as much as possible as well as white foods--although I think rice is exempt.  I prefer Jasmine and had it a couple times this week with my Crock-Pot chicken dish and still saw the old numbers on the scale go down.

But it is a balancing act and a substitution process--taking out the bad carbs and replacing with the good.  For example, if I am craving old-fashioned potato chips, I can usually talk myself out of it with either ten-to-twelve smoked almonds or a whole avocado.  If it is sweets that I'm craving, I look first to a drink:  adding Stevia to my coffee or brewing some mint tea with honey or having some of the uberperfect Good Earth Sweet & Spicy Tea & Herb Blend just as is--no sugar needed, but I do add in an extra tea bag to make it good and strong and sweeter.

If I need something sugary-tasting to chew, I can have old-fashioned oatmeal with real maple syrup or a tablespoon of almond butter mixed with a little bit of honey.  Or I indulge in raw dark-chocolate chunks where one equals a carb and I can enjoy three to five.

I now automatically rethink dessert recipes to take out the crust for fruit pies and cobblers and such, doing without the pastry altogether or adding an oatmeal-based crumble along with almond flour and Stevia.

And the best part is:  It's working!

Denise Barker, author + blogger +
Freelance Copy Editor, http://bit.ly/freelanceCE
Good Ole Boys, a love story at http://amzn.to/GoodOleBoys
http://bit.ly/DownSouthaShortStory

Friday, July 6, 2012

Life is Short; Live It Full-Out

There are so many quotes that support going for your dreams. Here are just a few: 
  • Your wealth is hiding under the very thing you are afraid to do. Dr. Joe Vitale, motivational author and speaker
  • Trust your crazy ideas.  Dan Zadra
  • Find a job you like and you add five days to every week.  H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
  • Procrastination is attitude's natural assassin. There's nothing so fatiguing as an uncompleted task. William James
  • A year from now you will wish you had started today. Karen Lamb
  • If prayer is when we speak to God, then intuition is when God speaks to us. Wayne Dyer
  • Don’t ask yourself what the world needs—ask yourself what makes you come alive, and then go do it.  Because what the world needs is people who come alive.  Harold Thurman Whitman, philospher and theologian
  • Fear defeats more people than any other one thing in the world.  Ralph Waldo Emerson
  • Nothing is more important than reconnecting with your bliss. Nothing is as rich. Nothing is more real. Deepak Chopra, mind-body healing authority
  • Do not live your life by default, failing to decide and letting others choose.  Denise Barker
  • My doctors told me I would never walk again. My mother told me I would. I believed my mother. Wilma Rudolph (1940-1994), Olympic Gold Medalist
  • Drop the wrong thought and you lose the problem it creates. Vernon Howard 
  • Love is what we were born with. Fear is what we learned here. Marianne Williamson, spiritual activist, author, lecturer
  • The energy of the mind is the essence of life. Aristotle
  • When you make a choice, you change the future. Deepak Chopra, mind-body healing authority
  • Most people are not going after what they want. Even some of the most serious goal seekers and goal setters - they're going after what they think they can get. Bob Proctor, author, speaker
  • Some men have thousands of reasons why they cannot do what they want to; all they need is one reason why they can. Willis Whitney
  • Be who you are and be that well. Saint Francis de Sales
  • It's easy to avoid the things that frighten us if we wander around for a while. Stalling takes many forms, and one of them looks like a shortcut. Things that look like shortcuts are actually detours (disguised as less work).  Seth Godin
  • All great changes are preceded by chaos. Deepak Chopra
  • Adversity introduces a man to himself. Anonymous
  • Is your house organized?  Your car?  Your office?  Your purse or wallet?  One’s personal space is a reflection of their mind. Mary Morrissey
  • Encourage your children to express their enthusiasm and delight. Let them believe the world is full of wonderful things and they themselves full of splendid possibilities. They can learn self-repression in later years, but enthusiasm, once lost, can be lost forever. Bruce Barton
  • Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now. Goethe
  • The trouble with the rat race is that even if you win you're still a rat. Lily Tomlin
Yes, we need to make a living. But stop and consider: Could you be happier and still pay your bills on minimum wage? Less stress. If a guy, no tie. If a gal, no pantyhose. Short commute. (Go green!) Save on gas and gain more time to put toward fulfilling a heart-spun goal that benefits your mind, body and soul.

To some, their dreams are worth working sixty-hour weeks for a couple years to begin their dream during their "off hours" and, thereafter, have the full freedom of self-employment.

Maybe for others, it entails a roommate or moving back in with the folks.  Giving up a second car and using the one for a decade.

Brown-bagging it for lunch. Crock-Pot cooking that morning to negate the drive-thru habit that evening.

Sometimes the biggest boon to your life is what you do for free.

And are willing to do so for years, until the right audience for you locates you and your gift.

But your payday will come.

Don't believe me?  Check your Bible.  Proverbs 18:16 (KJV) - A man's gift maketh room for him, and bringeth him before great men.

For me, it is my creative career, my writing, copyediting. I get small royalty checks pretty much monthly, while my freelancing pays most of the bills. As more of my readers find me, I expect earnings from the royalties to exceed freelance earnings.

And now that I've made the blissful leap, I cannot fathom living any other way.
 
Denise Barker, author + blogger +
Freelance Copy Editor, http://bit.ly/freelanceCE
Good Ole Boys, a love story at http://amzn.to/GoodOleBoys
http://bit.ly/DownSouthaShortStory