For the Writers Among Us: Writing Fiction for Dummies by Randy Ingermanson and Peter Economy

I'm re-reading Writing Fiction for Dummies by Randy Ingermanson and Peter Economy. While I think I have a pretty good handle on fiction when I'm editing and reading the fiction written by others, all bets are off when it comes to my own fiction. I think the title itself speaks to me. 

But even if you are not a dummy, there are gems in this book for you. With five parts, nineteen chapters and 345 pages if you can't figure out your own writing, then you're just not paying attention! Right now I'm working through the questions (again) where I think about what I love to write. You're told to take a sheet of paper (I did, it's called MS Word...) and answer six questions. I'm considering doing this on my Pinterest page--make it more visual. This exercise is on page 40 if you have the book. 

Here's an example of something said in this book that I have only NOW absorbed: 

"Write the kind of book that you're best suited to write." (If I could I would put this in neon letters.)

I always thought I should be writing what I most liked to read. These guys say this isn't necessarily true. It took a load off my shoulders. I've been trying really hard and nothing has worked for me. I've felt depressed about it in the last six months. I've been on writing teams and been rejected. I've struggled with manuscripts and themes, and nothing ever lined up. I've watched many people I've helped to get published seemingly breeze through this thing, while I still sit in the starting blocks. I know what I love to read. Now, to find what I love to write. 

Another part that is just penetrating my skull is to "stay out of the editing mode." 

You think, "Well, duh, Crystal!" 

I think, "Eureka!" 

I have never really given myself permission to write. I have written tons of scenes and given myself permission to do that, but never the entire story. Short stories seem to work fine for me. I have yet to find my "sweet spot" with longer fiction.  

Then, on page 68 is a table showing the various Creative Paradigms. I always thought that I was a "seat-of-the-pants" writer. I'm pretty sure I'm not when it comes to fiction. For nonfiction I can jet off in a speed boat when it comes time to write. Not so with fiction. It drives me crazy not to know the big picture first. I need an outline. I can change around scenes if I want, but I have to have that road map and a view from above in the plane--not open water and no clue at what is coming around the bend.  

With this kind of insight at this stage of my life and writing, I am hoping that I finally will find my place in the writing world. 

I highly recommend this book--even if you think you're far down the fiction road, or have already read it. See yourself with new eyes through the mindset of this book. 

What's Your Path for 2013?

A new year has us all thinking about goals and how we'd like to spend the coming year. When you get to my age, you've already spent a lot of time. I've done some amazing things! I admit, I haven't always been purposeful about what kinds of things I do, but I've been happy with much of it. (Not all, but much.) I'm a seat-of-my-pants kind of gal. How do you make sense of everything to move on?

My photograph (taken this summer) from underneath of Cloud Gate. It was sculpted by Indian-born British artist Anish Kapoor and is in Millennium Park, Chicago. 

This past year I was semi-purposeful about my reading. I read through the Bible (again) with a certain eye on how it came to be and with my faith path in mind. I coordinate the ACFW Book Club, so I tried to keep up with the books (2 a month) in that forum. (You can email me with questions. If you're an ACFW member with published books, your book could be eligible for the polls.) 

I read over 50 books having to do with my spiritual path/faith. I read a set of books (fiction) that were poignant/hilarious that I wish I could've written (but I'd have to have a completely different life. Not in my realm of knowledge. LOL.)

My photograph of a chapel steeple in St. Louis from The Arch area.(Also taken this year.)

This year I've seen some very beautiful sights, but experienced a lot of physical pain, too. I've explored my ancestors and their stories. I've blogged very little. 

I've also put my own writing sort-of-aside as I just didn't know what I really wanted to write, but I continued to help some people get published. I took some writing classes just for me this year and was able to see what I could do in writing (she was the best/most encouraging-to-me writing teacher I've ever had.) I still couldn't move past all those children's' stories this year that I have in some file from the time when Diann Hunt and I were in Doc Hensley's classes.  In the new year, however, I've overcome the genre block and because of that teacher, I am moving on and not writing any more children's stories.

This is what been used on me this year by well-meaning people. Lectures tend to suck the life out of me--how about you?? (Photo taken in the Old Capitol in St. Louis, this year.)

With that teacher's help, I saw that I could write anything I wanted, and she showed me that I could be confident about it. I got some really encouraging words from an agent with a kick in the pants, too, so maybe this year will be different for me. I will move on to stories that are wanted and not hang on to the past stories I've written that I wanted, but because of those novels I read this year that had humor and passion in them, I saw that I could make what I wanted combine with what readers want. 

My photograph from my car window near Effingham, Illinois from a trip to St. Louis this year.

Questions, Questions What kinds of things have you been doing? Are you working on a bucket list? Did you find a purpose and goal for this year? Are you entering contests? Do you have a certain type of book you're writing? What highway path are you on for the year? And will you take an exit from that path if opportunity presents itself for a side path? Who has encouraged you the most this year? (And hasn't "lectured/preached" at you?)

My photograph of the sky lift at Natural Bridge, Kentucky. I took the hard, narrow path up to Natural Bridge, but even so, I wish some with me had taken this sky lift so we could've seen the view together at the top. Instead, all they got was my lousy photos and my descriptions.There is something profound in that...

Blogging at Hoosier Ink

I'm blogging today at Hoosier Ink on the building blocks of good writing and finding your own passion in writing. Come leave a comment!

Hoosier Ink

To Market, to Market, to Buy a Fat Pig....

"...Home again, home again, jiggedty-jig!"

How many times did we sing that song as kids? Well, about every time we'd been to town. Back in the day, you went to town if you lived in the country, and that only happened about once a week. And you knew where to go for each thing, trying to get everything in one-stop shopping. There was a jingle for every kind of product on our 3-channels-only TV. You sang them without thinking and looked for those things when you went to town. 

Well, guess what? Authors have to market their product, too. And I have been asked about this aspect so many times this past month that it was time to give out a few links to help you on that road.

You may have to lick a few stamps to get results!

First, do get a web presence, if possible even before you ever shop your manuscript, or as soon as possible. Whether it is blogging, website, commenting on other blogs, guest/interview or group blogs, book review sites, Facebook, Twitter and other forms of social networks, being an expert about your main mission  or topics (topic blogs,) whatever works, or all the above. 

Please, please, puhlease, do not flood your readers or networks with constant marketing. What I mean is when the only thing you contact people with is to beg people to read your book, that's not cool. It's a delicate balance,I know, because yes, you want people to be aware of your book, and yes, they want to know. But sometimes talk about things that just interest them (or you) or get to know your faithful followers.

Two of my favorite author group blogs are Seekerville and Girls Write Out. Both are group blogs where they take turns blogging about a topic on their mind. We always know when they have a book coming out, true. But most of the time they are blogging about things that just interest us. It's like a conversation with best friends. (Seekerville dishes out virtual buffets! Yum. No calories!) You're just chatting with them in the comments (they are good to comment back) and next thing you know, you're checking on their latest book. 

Indiana's Own Denise Hunter has one of the best author pages on Facebook. She doesn't just upload her book covers and link to her website. She has conversations with us. (And she's introverted, like most of us.) Another Hoosier, Diann Hunt ,also has started an author blog that is engaging and fun.

Since I love the group blog that I'm on, I have to mention The Barn Door, too. These are Midwest writers (some fiction, some nonfiction) blogging about life in the midwest. And there's a whole section on books, too, but it's not just the books of those authors. 

But if you're looking for marketing advice, I have four links this week to help you with that all-illusive platform. 

1. I can't tell you how many of Michael Hyatt's blogs I've copied to put into my file. (Yes, I keep a file to refer to for just this sort of thing.) Some have to do with your life mission and life goals. Some on writing. But he is a master of marketing, too. He has so much information.

Why You Need to Be Building Your Platform Now by Michael Hyatt

While you're there, you may get lost for awhile on a multitude of topics if this is your first visit.

2. I caught this blog entry on the Word Serve Agency's client blog on what you can be doing for marketing at Word Serve Water Cooler:

Creative Marketing: Try Something New by Karen Witemeyer

3. The CAN Marketing gurus are always talking shop on this blog. I get their blog by email. I can click on their link if I want to go there to comment.

4. Finally, Terry Whalin has built a website that has more information than you can go through in a day. He's built it over years and has articles from some of the best in publishing in layer-upon-layer. Definitely worth sifting through there. The September 30, 2011 guest blog is called, "10 Rules of Social Marketing (Guerrilla) Engagement" by Wendy Montes de Oca, MBA

Do not forget our national website where there is more information than you will ever absorb. Like eating an elephant; take one small bite at a time.

http://www.acfw.com 

You may have gone to town to buy a pig, but with good marketing in advance, you could come home with a cow, a chicken and few magic beans, too. That's why we do what we do. There's a master plan in that organized chaos!

Lemme Know: What's the best marketing tip you've seen for a fiction book?

Crystal Laine Miller

Catch Me At:

http://www.facebook.com/Crystallainemiller

http://www.twitter.com/CrystalLaine

http://www.crystalwarrenmiller.com

http://www.thebarndoor.net 

Drawing from Your Everyday Life

This is a tree in our backyard. I know it's hard to see, but it's carved with "T 'heart symbol' D." When we first moved here fifteen years ago, I imagined all kinds of scenarios because I knew the names of all the people who lived in this house before us, and none of them were a T or D. Also, they bought the land from farmers to build this house--the house had only been there for two years. I figured I would never know the "rest of the story" of the romantic tree.

Then, one day, a man stopped by. He seemed a little embarrassed and said to me, "Several years ago I was dating a woman and we came to this land and carved our initials on a tree in your backyard. Is it still there?"

I assured him the tree was still there and the initials were still visible. 

He smiled and said, "Let me explain. I asked her to marry me there and we carved that into the tree. At the time no one lived here, and there were more trees on this lot. We asked the owner to sell us this land to build a house. He wouldn't sell. Then, years later he did sell it to a couple, not us. We bought land over the ridge there and built a house there. We're actually your neighbors now. I'm Tim. My wife, Debbie, is in the car. We were wondering...could we go back there, take a photo by the tree? It's our anniversary." 

Well, what would you say?

I didn't even peek, though my extreme curious nature wanted to take notes, ask more questions and yes, take a photo. It was a private moment for them and I wasn't going to spoil the moment. I later got to know them better and they are a nice couple. But how often do you actually get to know the rest of the story? A love story! 

I make up stories, have friends who make up stories. Do you ever take one of those true life moments and make up a story from it? If you are a writer, you will use everything from your life that intrigues you. Things like this can launch a novel.

This week I decided I needed to look around me more for things like this, so I took this photo--almost too late, as it's getting rather grown out. I'm going to be a lot more aware of these interesting little tidbits that would fire my imagination. My little life right here in Bird's Nest, Indiana. My life. It's what I know best but tend to take for granted. No more.

By the way, my real home is not Bird's Nest. I made that up. But it really looks like Bird's Nest, Indiana here. The town has sprung up around that tree. That very romantic tree. Can you see it?

Do you have a true life tidbit that has launched a story for you? What sort of prompts do you use?

First Lines and How They Get Your Readers

My latest WIP and opening line

First lines. Who loves them? Sometimes we've been told to wait until you've written the whole book before writing that opening.And yes, it could mean the difference between a rejection from an editor or agent, or a request for a whole manuscript. So, I think about this often for not just my manuscripts, but also anyone's manuscript that comes across my desk.

Noah Lukeman has a whole chapter about adjectives/adverbs in his book, The First Five Pages: A Writer's Guide to Staying Out of the Rejection Pile.He talks about overuse and how you do not want to pepper your manuscript with them. He says just cut them. But he also says to replace common ones with unusual ones. Get ones that draw attention. Strengthen your nouns and verbs. Or substitute a comparison, analogy or metaphor. Use this advice for your opening lines, too.

I decided to look at some books I pulled off my shelf. Try it with your favorite authors, too. Mary Connealy is one of my favorite authors and here are some openings of her books:

Montana Rose: "Cassie wanted to scream, Put down that shovel!"

Petticoat Ranch: "Sophie heard God in every explosion of thunder as she listened to the awesome power of the approaching storm."

Petticoat Ranch was one of her early books. Montana Rose came later. Can you see a difference in the openings?

This is from Gingham Mountain: "Martha had an iron rod where most people had a backbone."

She sure can tell a story and she pulls me in every time. I'm anxious to get into some I haven't been able to read yet because I've been doing a lot of judging and book reviews for magazines.

Can you choose a book to share from the opening? I think writers often choose books differently than just straight readers. We have a whole set of criteria that intrudes into our selection process. So tell me, does a first line or opening scene clench the choice? Or is it something else? Here are some others I pulled from the shelf. Do any of these grab you or would it be the author or genre that would be your first criteria?

By Darkness Hid by Jill Williamson (Blood of Kings Book 1):
"Achan stumbled through the darkness toward the barn. The morning cold sent shivers through his threadbare orange tunic."

Missing Max by Karen Young:
" They say people have a premonition about calamity before it strikes. But Jane Madison felt only irritation when her cell phone rang as she waited in the Mardi Gras crowd to order shrimp po' boys."

She Walks in Beauty by Siri Mitchell:
"'Get dressed, Clara. In your visiting costume. We are going out.' My aunt's words were at once both commanding and precise--as precise as her posture: a series of ninety-degree angles, seated upon one of my bedroom chairs."

Almost Forever by Deborah Raney:
"Bryn drew the queen of diamonds from the stack of playing cards on the wobbly table between her and Charlie Branson. The grizzled Vietnam vet eyed her from his wheelchair as she discarded an ace."

A Woman Called Sage by DiAnn Mills:
"Life didn't get any better than having the love of a good man and his baby kicking against her ribs. Add a summer breeze to cool the heart of a southern Colorado sun and a bed of soft green grass tickling her feet, and Sage felt a slice of heaven had come to earth."

Lukeman points out these things that could draw a rejection for your manuscript: (And realize that he is speaking about the first five pages:)
1. A weak opening hook.
2. Overuse of adjectives and adverbs.
3. Flat or forced metaphors or similes.
4. Melodramatic, commonplace or confusing dialogue.
5. Uneven pacing and lack of progression.

While openings are only one portion of the entire manuscript, you usually only get one shot at the first few pages to attract attention. Here's the other thing we didn't talk about yet--sometimes the opening which caught the agent/editor's eye to start will get changed before it's published. (Yeah, it happens. Go figure!)

All this isn't written in stone, but seeing many openings of published books shows you how it has been done by those who are published. When you pick up a book in the bookstore, Steve Laube, a bookstore manager-turned-editor-turned agent, says you only have a scant few seconds to capture that reader before he puts down your book and picks up the next one. There is something to writing that opening paragraph. Once you've written your book, go back and look over your opening with fresh eyes before sending it out. Get Lukeman's book and work on his exercises. Run your opening past a few people who know nothing about your book to test it.

Are you trying to pick your next book to read? Want to entice us with your own book (published or unpublished?) Throw out a few sentences to let us pick!Throw us the opening sentence or especially if you're trying to decide.

The First Five Pages: A Writer's Guide to Staying Out of the Rejection Pile by Noah Lukeman is a book for every writer's shelf, so be sure to get a copy.

See my posts at Hoosier Ink, along with other Hoosier Writers.

Those Opening Lines

Win One for the Gipper

I'm posting today over at Hoosier Ink, THE official blog of the ACFW Indiana Chapter. Go over and check out the many great writers there.

Who is your most inspiring writing coach and what's the hardest lesson he/she's taught you on the field? 

Ellie Kay once asked this question and it was tough question and memory-producer by the sheer act of posing a question. Most inspiring? Sigh. Many inspiring coaches. Hardest lesson?? Ack! Who wants to recall the “agony of defeat?” But that comes along with “the thrill of victory” (you have to be old to know where I got all of these quotes…)

I’ve played sports most of my life. Not very well, mind you, and I’ve also coached teams (and was paid.) I coached one team that won the girls' city track and field championships. One of my girls I worked with in physical education classes later went on be a state HS and college women’s standout in basketball. (But she was good, and all I did was encourage her, even though I teased it was all of those basketball scrimmages I played with her.) 

I have my favorite teams and sports to watch and play, and get this, I wanted to be a sports newspaper writer when I graduated from college. In fact in high school I was the sports editor—the first female sports editor—of my high school newspaper, The Clan Courier. It was my sports writing that won me a journalism scholarship to Ball State University.

I also wrote the copy for a two page-sports spread in our high school yearbook. It was all about girls getting into organized sports, something that was new to our high school and the state, and about sweating. So, when you think of a coach, you might think I would say my best coach was some sports coach I had.

I can name one coach in sports who motivated and inspired me. But this question was about my best coaches in writing, and I have two standouts in this field who coached me and taught me the tough lessons. They taught me to pick my mouse up, get my fingers back on the keyboard, rewrite, and go on (wiping all that blood off the monitor.)The hardest fought and learned lessons for me seem to be echoed in the words from a golf coach: “Wipe the blood off--and continue.” Didn’t know golf could be bloody, huh? Well, yeah, even golf can leave a scar.

Dr. Dennis E. Hensley was my first official writing coach, when at age 40 I decided I wanted to try writing again and get back into the game professionally. He not only taught us about writing, but made us critique in the circle of doom with our classmates. (Ooooo. Scary. Ask Diann Hunt about it.) He also made us submit our work for publication as part of the class assignments (professional writing course.) It is one thing to turn in a paper for a grade, but it is quite an experience submitting your work to an editor. And critique is tough, but Doc taught me how to take critique. And from whom to take it, which is just as important.

Fiction is my first love and that was my first class with “Doc.” We experimented with all sorts of fiction assignments, and in one assignment, it wasn’t in the classroom where I got my first major critique, but on a break in the hallway early on in the semester course. On that now-burned-into-my-emotional-memory-banks evening, I chatted with classmates trying to get to know them in the 7th-inning stretch of the class. I got a drink of water from the fountain, and was strolling back to the classroom, when Doc stopped me in the hallway. He moved into my “personal space” and came within inches of my face.

Now, I had heard all kinds of stories about Doc Hensley. One was that he hated it if you were late, and would lock you out of the class. Another was that he had fought in and survived Vietnam. So, here he was within inches of my face, and all I had at that point were hearsays about him. It was a tense moment--wannabe writer eyeball-to-eyeball with the legendary Doc Hensley. I decided to stand my ground and not move. Good grief, I had survived worse, I reasoned in my mind. Being raised up with boys, having my own 4 boys and marrying into a family with mostly males, being the first female sports editor, first female on an all-male school board...plus, being a trapshooter, when it was still male-dominated, amongst other heinous acts of survival. I had learned to never give up an inch of ground when confronted.

“I haaaaate you," he said. Yeah. Right in my face. I'm sure I blinked.

Whoa.

Well, I couldn’t help it, even though I hesitated a second. I laughed. Right out loud.

“Ok, Dr. Hensley…why do you hate me--exactly?” I thought I saw a glint of humor in his eye.

“For what you did to me in that story. You tricked me.”

I was thrilled. He actually knew my story and that I wrote it! I didn’t even think he knew my name. But he sure knew my story.

“What do you think I should do differently?”

And so he coached me through what was wrong. He showed me how I could do it right, and he let me rewrite. And I did it again until he, as the reader/editor, was satisfied with it. I learned a lot about critique in that first personal reader confrontation.

A good coach not only makes you get up again, but makes you do it right. He finds a way to jolt you into reality and then, makes you do it again until you can do it. It’s not enough to just tell you something is wrong. It’s not enough to make you do it over and over, or punish you, because you could just be repeating the same wrong move again and again. A good coach MOTIVATES you to do it beyond of which you even think you are capable. 

Since that early meeting on the playing field with Doc Hensley, I have learned so many things from him in writing and perseverence. But that first shock and awe of meeting face-to-face and toe-to-toe with one of the best coaches I’ve ever had was memorable—and we laugh about it even years later.

I really cannot leave this question without acknowledging another coach who has taught me many lessons in writing, and some really tough lessons, too. Terry Whalin was one of the first editors I ever "faced" at a writer's conference. I had written a few articles and had a nonfiction women's humor book I was hoping to sell. That manuscript met with a lot of rejections, but not so much because it was bad, as I didn't have the credentials or the platform from which to write it. 

Essentially, Terry Whalin was the first to sit me down on the bench. Even though he rejected the manuscript,he's not the kind of editor, writer, teacher, coach who leaves writers without good, solid advice and plenty of encouragement to continue on.Get back in the game, Crystal!

Most importantly, he taught me that just because an editor rejects your work, (pretty hard lesson, even for the toughest among us,)this doesn't mean that's the end of the road for either the editor/writer relationship, or the manuscript.

Years later he encouraged me to break up that rejected manuscript into articles, other types of pieces, and send it out some more, and that was after I'd placed it into some long-ago-pushed-to-the-back file. Because I continued to listen to editors and their comments, and even an agent who rejected me (on that same manuscript,) I still have relationships with these people and have even done work for them. That is mostly due to Terry Whalin, who continues to ask about my writing and to encourage my work. (And I'm not the only one by a long shot.)

These people and so many more now, show me how to deal with rejection and losses and how important relationships are.  

Never give up. Keep knocking on doors. Onward. 

Writing is a very tough business. Even the best need help with their manuscripts, and even the most published continue to get rejections. I know this now.

These two coaches are effective in their coaching because they've been through almost every kind of playing situation that can be thrown at a writer. And what makes their coaching inspirational is that they care about the players (writers)and know how to motivate and teach. 

While they aren't afraid to call a player out and deal with him, they also care about the player so much that they push him to the best that he can be. That's what your next editor, or if you're looking for an agent, the next agent who reads your proposal can be. Or maybe it will be that published author who takes interest in your work or a really good critique partner.

Tough lessons. Tough coaches. I count many now among my friends, and as well as count them as my mentors.

So, who is your most inspiring coach, and what hard lesson did he/she teach you?

Bring Your Emotions to Your Reading and Writing

What kind of emotion does this cover show? 

Stars in the Night by Cara C. Putman

Let's do a little exercise. I like making lists. List your favorite fiction stories. For our purposes here try listing the top 3 books you've read so far this year. Next to the title, write down the genre. Then, brainstorm about it. What did you like about the book? The main character? The theme?Write down the emotions you felt as you read the book? Happy? Sadness? Anger? Fear? Think about the overall mood of the book.

Now let's move just a little further to bring this all to your own writing. Make two columns--Negative and Positive. On each side list people who fit into each category from your own life--find relatives, nemesis or friend, teachers, a boss, co-worker, classmate, someone in the service industry or restaurants/stores, judge in a writing contest--anyone that once evoked a strong reaction in you. Why did you feel that way about that person? What made the experience negative? What made it positive? Here's the tricky part--even if you felt sad/angry/upset about that person--was it really a negative experience, or did it turn positive once you unpacked it?

A friend of mine says she keeps a writer's journal. It's totally private and she uses it to get herself to think about what she really wants to write about. You could even do a password-protected journal on your computer. Anyone else out there who does this?

Give us the name of one book you've read this year (nonfiction or fiction) which really caused you to react. What was so powerful about it and what emotions did you feel while reading it?

Writing Rules

I have no idea where I found this poster. If you know, let me know. But it is cool.

On one of my writer lists we are talking about writing rules--mostly to do with grammar. Like, do you use their or there? Its or it's? My husband and I or my husband and me? I don't think about these things too much because I think I had so many English classes, it was beaten into my brain. Most of the time I can even spell. My biggest hang up in writing is leaving out words (I just read right over the missing word.)

I am not a primary visual learner like most writers. I process by auditory or kinesthetics most of the time. I have to say stuff out loud to understand some things. Or go through the motions--feel it. When doctoring a manuscript, I have actually laid it out, chapter-by-chapter, on my dining room floor and walked and talked through it. (Works for me.)

I have hundreds of writing books on craft. Of course, I have my favorites that I pull out whenever I want. I think my favorite advice on writing came from Stephen King's On Writing: "If God gives you something you can do, why in God's name wouldn't you do it?"

Now, some of you may be offended by his use of "in God's name," but overlooking that--what is he saying? (You know I'm going to 'splain it in my own way, Lucy.)He's saying if God gives you something you CAN do, it is incredulous to him that you'd tell God that He didn't know what He was doing when He gave it to you to do. Whoa. A little jolt of conviction, huh? Can I get an amen from the choir?

I hope you can see the writing rules above. They are the only rules you should be paying attention to for now. Yes, learn to know when to use their or there. That comes with time and study, or having a good editor or a really good crit partner who is strong in such things. But be writing every day. Stephen just wrote because that is what he was given to do. He wrote in a dark place, sticking his reject letters on a nail, using a crummy desk (when he could afford a great big nice one, he had trouble using it!)

Of course, you know I'm talking to myself here, not just to you.

Writing in the Danger Zone

(High School Sports Editor, Cris Warren)


Everyday I hear from some struggling writer--some published, some not. They tell me stuff about the struggle, but sometimes I think they forget just how much they have already overcome. Reminds me of my bootcamp class I took a few years back. We had an ex-Navy S.E.A.L.-trained instructor and he would actually turn red telling us what he wanted us to accomplish. He took it as a personal affront anytime we said, "I can't," or in his view, "I won't." So far, no one is holding a gun to our heads here to write something. Where did we get that feeling that someone is? But I understand better these days why Instructor Brown turned red a lot. I feel like him sometimes.

How did you come into writing? Who encouraged you? (I hope some of you feel that I have encouraged you.)I'll tell you about some of my story in writing. Maybe you can encourage me by telling me what seems to be my best path in this business? I still haven't quite figured it out. I think in encouraging others, we often figure it for ourselves, so maybe this is how. (That giving-out-comes-back-to-you.)One thing I've noticed since starting this blog is that I see how the writer came to be by examining their past. My turn. Maybe it'll help you, too.

I probably had the most negative experiences in writing before high school. In elementary school I was a fabulous actress(I was also voted best actress of my high school,) good in art, an "A" student. I was often picked to tutor other kids or to monitor/encourage other kids to "be good." Something about my presence evidently was a good influence on other kids. I will never forget Mr. Rosen making me sit in the nest of bad boys of our class. There was Gene Cohen, Gene (why were all the "bad boys" named Gene?) Black and Miles Kendall*.(I'm sure they grew up to be model citizens.) Well, maybe this is another story. The point was, teachers recognized many things in me and I had much encouragement for those traits/gifts, but writing didn't seem to be one of them.

I was a great(you might can see why I'm not a successful writer--if I were judging this piece, great would have to go! That, and exclamation points) English student, but I was rejected over and over for writing "jobs." In junior high, though my English teachers adored me, even inviting me to their homes, I wasn't picked for the school newspaper or told "You should be a writer." I got so-so comments for everything I wrote except my "journal." And I held back in my journal. You should've seen my personal journal I kept at home! (You can't; I burned it just before going off to college in case I died.)My biggest gift was being a reader, summing up and criticizing already written stuff. And I could explain it to other kids.

My freshman year I wrote a poem that was published in a book. I can't even remember it except what it was about--something about God and the sea and how God commands the sea to toss waves that kill. Sheesh. I was a dark kid.


But finally, my big break came.


Mrs. Bragg, my teacher in my junior year HS journalism class picked me to be the sports editor for the weekly school newspaper (also the art editor--my main interest was art, but I was interested in teaching P.E., too.)No girl had ever been the sports editor before and she said I could handle it, because I was tenacious,stubborn and good at English.(Ha.) Lots of tough under that transparent skin and long blonde hair. I don't think she chose me for my writing skills. I think it was because I still had a way of controlling behaviors of other kids--especially boys.(All that previous experience with the Genes.)

So, I interviewed and wrote under major criticism from the guys and the male coaches,"she can't write about sports--she's a girl!" (This was back in the day.I also played on the first girls basketball team as that was the year they started organized girls basketball in Indiana.)

The football coach, "Crazy Joe" Gallo (really, his name was Paul)
probably was the worst.I can't even remember what he taught. Maybe auto shop or something. I kept up his scrapbook for him, too, in the library where I also worked in HS, and he never once said thank you.He did growl at me--a lot! (I didn't have him for class, however.)He would squint those black eyes at me and something gutteral would come out. His wife was the business teacher and our sponsor in booster club--and I was president. I figured if she was married to him, I was somewhat safe because I figured she was the only one keeping him from running amuck on kids.

About half-way through my senior year Mrs. Bragg came in with guidelines for a journalism scholarship at the university in the next county over. I had to take all of my articles and compile them into a portfolio to try out for the scholarship. I won the scholarship and that determined where I went to college, being a kid with no money.

Though Mrs. Bragg was the one who encouraged me to write(and write "under fire,") it was really those harsh critics (the coaches and the guys of my high school) who taught me the most about writing.I not only wrote, but was the only one who wrote under extreme criticism. I was breaking new ground, and I probably deserved some of the criticism (though not for being a girl writing about sports.)Criticism,as anyone who has spent any time churning out words for public consumption, is the main thing in writing. You can be Hemingway and still get criticism. (Gene Hemingway was probably mean. Thus, Mean Gene being a common nickname and if Ernie was named Gene, he probably changed to his pseudonym.)


That time as sports editor, however, cemented in me a "no fear" attitude. I used to think, "Hey,what can you do--kill me?" (And if not, I wrote and tried to prove to them I could do ok at it.)As a kid, I was always concerned about getting killed since every weekend I somehow survived my dad's down days. Getting to Monday alive was a major accomplishment for me. Maybe that was how I got so good at keeping mean boys in line--I already had practice every weekend. Writing a stupid article in a newspaper was non-threatening to me as I had already had a whole weekend of being told how worthless I was, but still seeing the truth was, I was not as bad as I was told.

I did wonder if Crazy Joe might smash me like a grape, though, when
I'd ask him what happened after a game. That year they had a 2-8
season, so I was probably flirting with the edges of his patience.Mrs. Gallo always smiled at me and even gave me a silver I.D. bracelet with my name on it. How bad could Crazy Joe be if he was married to an angel?

Mrs. Bragg, however, made me feel as if I could do anything,
and her confidence gave me a healthy check for my college education,
too. Bless her. She was short, but mighty. I always thought I won that writing scholarship for my writing. Years later, (like now) I have come to conclude that maybe it wasn't for my writing, afterall. Writing is a tough job and you can be a wonderful writer, but still not get published. So, how do you get published? You have to get tough.

I will have some posts on this topic in the coming days. Stay tuned.

*names have been slightly alterred

From My Eyeball View

Update: Peg Phifer tagged me for this same meme! So,this is my reply for that. See her blog with her answers to these questions over at the Pegboard/Foxy Works!


I regularly read fiction writer, Robin Lee Hatcher's blog, I Was Just Thinking. She's an author I enjoy reading, and her blog is entertaining with everything from how she writes to who she thinks is doing well on American Idol. She has spiritual insights and shares things from her life like moving or downsizing her home.

She didn't tag me for this meme, but she did say it was ok to take it from her. I'm going to tag some people, but I would love to read what other people have to say on these questions. If you don't have a blog, feel free to share an answer or comment in the comments section. If you do, I'll enter your name into a drawing to win a Love Inspired title, The Heart's Forgiveness by Merrilee Whren. (Go here to read an excerpt.)And check back here every Friday for my "Eyeball View" and a free book drawing.

Here are some questions and I'm at just the right time of my life to answer them.


1. What's the one book or writing project you haven't yet written but still hope to?
The one book (any book) that I hope to finish is a novel. I have played with the formula, plot, characters and still haven't felt I was telling "my" story--the story I should be writing. Everything I have come up with seems silly or not me or over my head.

When I started writing, I wrote children's stories--bunches of them. All of them were based on things from my own childhood. But children's stories "don't sell" and hardly anyone is buying them, and agents aren't taking them on. So, that's when I started to think about the perspective from which I could write in a women's fiction story--and looked at books with the perspective of a child, or else an adult who looks back. A Girl Called Zippy by Haven Kimmel was inspirational to me. This blog was born because of all this searching and writing and frustration.


2. If you had one entire day in which to do nothing but read, what book would you start with?

Like any other writer, I love to read. I read fast, I read everything. Because I'm a book reviewer and a book doctor/reader, I have taken the whole day to read.

But, I've given up almost all of my book reviewing since I'm working on my own fiction, so now I can choose anything I want, not something that is "assigned." For a while, this really baffled me. I mean, I didn't remember what I loved to read. I had forgotten the thrill of searching for a book that I just couldn't put down, because I wanted to read it--not because I needed to or had to.

Make suggestions. I will take a look at any nominations for my free day read. I'll let you know if I will take you up on it. I have a strong leaning to romances. The last book I read that I loved was In Her Shoes by Jennifer Weiner.Oh, and IF I DO read the book you suggest, I'll put it up for a drawing, if I like it.(How about that?)And I'll send the nominator a $5. gift certificate to Amazon.


3. What was your first writing "instrument" (besides pen and paper)?

A Royal portable typewriter that my mom had. You had to change the ribbon (messy) and try and use this correction stuff or start all over again. Or you could use correction paper that was super thin. You had a typewriter eraser with a little brush. It was a pain!

I learned to type in high school. My typing teacher was the business department teacher, Mr. Harbit, and he raced cars on the weekend. (He worked on them himself.) He would say, "Your typewriter is like a fine, racing machine." Mine was like a fine racing turtle with that analogy. But typing is the most useful classes I have ever taken, bar none.I'm much faster now, too.

4. What's your best guess as to how many books you read in a month?

Wow. Varies, but I have read up to 3-5 a week (so guesstimate of 20.) It depends on what I'm reading for, what deadlines I have. When I was doing my column, "On the Bookshelf" for Montgomery's Journey magazine each month, I'd need to read that many so I could pick 3-4 to write reviews on. I read both fiction and nonfiction, too, so I had to keep my hopper full.


5. What's your most favorite writing "machine" you've ever owned? By far the PC (my own computer.) I can't imagine doing writing without MS Word program. I got used to using MS Word 2003 and that was the best. This MS Word 2007 has me doing too much on the learning curve--it slows me down. Plus, a lot of people, including editors, haven't been able to open it, so I have to save it in Word 1997 just so they can. What a pain! (Notice that I like painless writing.)I prefer typing to writing by hand. If I can get away without writing by hand, I'm all for it.


6. Think historical fiction: what's your favorite time period in which to read? (And if you don't read historical fiction--shame on you.)

I adore historical fiction. Just when I think I have read a period I like the best, then some great author writes another book in some time period that I like, as well. It's really all about story. If you tell a good story, what difference does it make what historical period? I had never read anything about the tobacco brides in the 1700s early America, but Deeanne Gist changed all that with A Bride Most Begrudging. Siri Mitchell took me into two time zones (contemporary and medievel France) with her Chateau of Echoes. I loved Catherine Called Birdy by Karen Cushman set in 1290.

But I rarely have been disappointed when I've chosen Civil War and pre-Civil War periods. I also like Biblical fiction (or set in those time periods in those settings.) I really liked Robin Lee Hatcher's Coming to America series, which is late 1800s/early 1900, too.



7. What's the one book you remember most clearly from your youth (childhood or teens)?

Ahhh.One book. Hmmm.Well, as just a kid, I loved any animal story. There was one about this family who had a pet raccoon, who got into trouble, called, Looney Coon. I also devoured the biographical fiction about "real" kids (I read them all--from Abraham Lincoln to Annie Oakley and beyond.)I also loved reading Uncle Arthur's Bedtime Stories.

Mr. Rosen (in 6th grade)read to us Edgar Allan Poe stories and that was a pivotal year for me in reading books. I went from a very conservative Christian school setting(with many restrictions--I had never even heard of Nancy Drew!) to a rural public school--but here was Mr.Rosen reading Poe and he had a totally different worldview--he was Jewish. That was also the year we could buy cheap books from Scholastic and I was allowed one to two of those each time.(Something like 95 cents a book.) My favorite acquisition that year was My Life and Hard Times by James Thurber and I still own that copy. Love/loved it.

Then, the summer I turned 13, my mom gave me her hardbound copy of Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell.(Still have that, too, but it's a little worn.) I read that thing in less than 4 days (solid reading) because I was afraid she would take it away from me, thinking better of it. It was revolutionary for me. I was left breathless. Scandalous.

After that, she let me read To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. That was it. I read To Kill a Mockingbird no less than 20 times as a teen. I absorbed Harper Lee's tale as if it had happened to me and I was Scout. When I started writing in college, I had professors tell me that my stories sounded like To Kill a Mockingbird--the same voice. Well, duh. I had become Harper Lee!

So, to say that there was one book I remember is like saying,"Which of your children is your favorite?" Sheesh. But these are what I remember--they stand out.


So, now I tag Cara,Camy,Sabrina,Delia, Sarah and Nancy. If Karen and LeAnne want to do this, I would love it (though it might not fit your blogs.) Also, if one of you other readers wants to do this, I'd love it if you'd leave a note to let me know so I can read it.

Copy the questions above and fill in your own answers. Then, tag someone else!(Also, check these blogs for their answers. Cara and Delia have filled theirs out, already.

Check back on Tuesday,too, as you still time to enter my drawing for Lucy Adams' 52 Hymns book, closes Monday, July 23,2007. I'll announce the winner in the drawing for Lucy Adams' book, 52 Hymns on Tuesday. (Follow this link to find out how you can enter.)

Christian Women Online Blog Challenge

Today is a challenging kind of day. I have several writing projects and manuscripts to do. (If Christine is reading; I'm typing up all my notes!) My youngest boys have band contest tonight, and I'm a chaperone. There are details galore hanging over my head and I don't know where to begin. I've fallen so far off my exercise and eating-right wagon, I might have to wait for another one to come along.

But challenges make us richer. They give us something for which to breathe in and out.(At least I hope so.)

Over at Christian Women Online, they are always happening. I found them through my friends, Bonnie Bruno and Terry Whalin. CWO helped me to be thankful again. They talk about things that interest me, and they connect in a blogroll. It always amazes me how many talented and thoughtful people there really are in the world. The people with CWO are truly joyful and thankful. But I don't know that I would've been able to rejoice so much if I hadn't been able to share with you. Today they challenge me.They give me things to think about to write and to muster this stuff up from my soul. I'm answering a Blogroll Challenge.

Let me pause to tell you how I got into this: I started blogging in a hesitant, timid way. A friend of mine, who happens to have a fantastic blog, said I should think about blogging.(He's always helping someone.) He said it would keep me thinking along writerly paths and maybe help me sort out my passions in writing. So, I set up my account and for one year I couldn't think of what to do with it. Then, in July 2006 I was at a point in my life where I wanted to change directions in writing, and get back to my first love, fiction, or at least some sort of writing of my own. And there were other things going on, which made it difficult to change these gears.

But I had all of these words scrambling around in my brain and while I wrote in my Life Journal, no one was reading that (or would want to. Talk about a whiner.) A writer likes to be read. So one day, I opened my account and posted my first blog--about dieting. I had to have my friend put up my photo--I had no idea what I was doing.

But wow, as I went along, I grew in a lot of ways. Here are some of the many things I'm thankful for in blogging(how I'm blessed by blogging):

1. friendships (too many to link here)
2. topics I feel passionate about (that's another post!) and what I learn
3. writing regularly
4. pointing out places and people I like
5. discovering my roots
6. discovering how to write from my worldview
7. feedback from people I didn't know existed in the world (but now I do!)
8. Fun

You Are Western Boots

Your boots can sure walk a long mile - but they're still chic!

What Kind of Boots Are You?

9. sharing photos
10. sharing childhoods and showing how writers developed

I'm always learning something new. I like to think that I have the mind of a beginner, no matter how old I'm getting (I'm in my year leading up to my Jubilee.) And some of you have shared your thoughts with me--and that's something a writer doesn't get a chance to experience most of the time--feedback. I am absolutely delighted when I get a comment. I'm thrilled when someone emails me behind-the-scenes. I keep all of that stuff to bring out on my rainy days.

If I ever figure out what I'm doing with my fiction, I'll have you all to thank. You will have shaped me and helped me to discover where my own sweetspot in writing is.

Sometimes, I think, we see so many downers and sad faces, we think life is all about that. It's not. It's a joy to cherish. When a life is created, it is cause for rejoicing. When it goes out of the world, we grieve, but we also celebrate that life.

I'm no Pollyanna. I can tell you sad, sad stories and events, and of failures and angst and great grief. I have friends of many kinds of faiths, races and creeds. I delight in discovering who they are and where they came from. (That's another reason I love to read so much.) But there is something wonderful about sharing joy instead of wallowing in self-pity and suffering.

I'm a Christian, and while that certainly is the core of my worldview, I also am a human being, who delights in life.

This is my favorite part of the Bible. I cherish it no matter what happens to me:

"Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ...we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit whom he has given us...
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5: 1-5;8)

That may mean nothing to you. It may be some sort of philosophy that doesn't appeal to you or you aren't sure of all the other stuff that goes with it, but I'm just showing you how I think. It's how I tick, how I breathe in and out, and from where I pull those writerly thoughts.

There are several quotes I keep above my computer. Here are two of them--the two I use whenever I write to spur me on:

From Anne Morrow Lindbergh:
"I do not believe that sheer suffering teaches. If suffering alone taught, all the world would be wise. To suffering must be added mourning,understanding, patience, love, openness and the willingness to remain vulnerable."

I hope this quote demonstrates how I operate in this blog.

Then, Stephen King said in his book, On Writing:

"If God gives you something you can do, why in God's name wouldn't you do it?"

Now, Steve may say it in a way that offends some people, but I think it's a clever way to say it. I take it as something holy; like a commissioning of sorts.

What has God given you to do? What tools does He hand to you?

Here are some of my tools:

1. a life that has spanned decades with tons of experience

2. a working knowledge of many things, including the Bible

3. a computer with an internet feed

4. a great husband and kids who encourage me to do things/inspire me

5. plenty of humor (you have to have that when either the computer crashes, you're on the phone with the techie guy or you lose your entire post or email...a sense of humor or irony helps.)

6. connections to many people

7. connection to God

Think about what it is you have been given to do. Do it. And be thankful for the blessings by counting them often. I think blogging has made me aware of all of these things.

Teena Stewart

Busy? Yeah, Me, Too






Crystal, out wrestling alligators









I am an introvert. In fact on the scale of introversion to extroversion, I am negative 5 to the introversion side. (Well, almost. I scored no extroversion points at all.) Lately I've been interacting a lot with people, whom I love, and I do LOVE to be with them, but then I have to recharge. Today I'm exhausted. Forgive me if I'm mumbling.
On top of that, I seem to be in the public eyeball in the last few days, which makes me nervous.I feel totally unworthy and like a nutcase whenever this happens and get gibberishly insecure with thoughts like, "People will really hate me now," to what I think others' are saying behind my back, "What makes her so special? I know her, and she's a drip!" But I'm finally getting enough years on me that my tune is finally changing to,"I've lived long enough to say what I want and suffer the consequences." I shudder to think of how I will be if I reach the age of my grandmother (92.)
But I still tend to want to withdraw after being highlighted somewhere. However, the people who took time to put me there are really great people, and I would be remiss if I did not point some of these things out.
Writer Teena Stewart has more energy than the sun, I think. She runs a ministry for pastors called Ministry in Motion, as well as has written 1000s of articles, and now is publishing a book on small groups (more on that as the book is closer to publication.) I have co-written parenting articles with her and she has been in my critique/SALT support group for years(in fact, she started it!) She is artistic (paints fabulous furniture pieces, as well as commissioned paintings) and she now is working on fiction. She likes writing suspenseful and macabe-type stories--and some of them are a little chilling! She's finished a few manuscripts and I think you will soon be able to buy her published fiction. Oh, yeah. She's a web master. She knows html and all that stuff.
She started a blog for suspense writers and is featuring a piece I wrote ( will appear over several days) about getting ready for fiction contests. With the American Christian Fiction Writers Genesis contest coming up, some of you may be interested in that. I don't have all the answers and I can't predict how a judge will react to your manuscript. I can tell you how I've judged manuscripts and a little of the criteria judges have to use. Of course, some of what I say, another judge may dispute, but hey, reading is subjective. Just ask an author who just got a scathing review! One of the main questions I hear writers asking is "To prologue or not to prologue. That is the question." If you need a prologue, write a prologue. But really need it if you do. My take on that. (How many prologues have you skimmed in your reading?)



Teena, wife to a pastor, busy mentor, prolific article writer, author, traveler,artist, speaker,webmaster,mom to 3, soon-to-be mom-to-the-bride and tough-love-critique-friend.









Next, I have to tell you--this blog was featured in a magazine called Savvy and the article will be up on the web site for the month of April, while the print magazine can be picked up in the Muncie area during that time. If you have come here because of that article, thanks for checking this place out! Go back into the archives for nostalgia. And do check out the links on the right.
This blog is mostly for nostalgia and things I am interested in telling you (or really, telling myself.) I do have a whole 'nuther persona who has professionally "fixed" fiction, done hundreds of published book reviews, and written client viabilities for agencies. I have some favorite authors/agents/editors who write about writing, and some you can check out at the right. But I do want to highlight author Tricia Goyer's new blog on writing called, My Writing Mentor. She called in some top guns to post for today and if you are a writer, you will want to check this out. One of her featured mentors, James Scott Bell ,has written one of the books I recommend all the time on writing, Write Great Fiction: Plot and Structure.
Be sure to come back here all month to check out the childhoods (with photos!) of various people I've interviewed. I was a little amazed that so many couldn't track down photos of themselves as a child. (They're not THAT old. Cameras go way back.) If you have left your parents' home, do be sure to ask for a few childhood photos. It's good to reflect on how you have grown and have a record of that.
Ok, back to hanging out in my cave. (Don't throw a can at me, Diann! I'm not really a bat.)

Almost Spring

Almost Spring

Spring usually comes in staggering steps around here in Hoosierland. Today it is 70, I have the windows thrown open, and I hear little birdies who have been absent for months. My daffodils are peeking out of the soil and the buds are beginning to swell. It looks like Mudlavia around here, but most of the snow has melted. Motorcycles are roaring around, taking advantage of the window of weather.

But come Friday we are supposed to plunge back into the 30s. Probably will freeze whatever has survived thus far. A few years ago I spent this time of year in Savannah, Georgia. I made my husband click a photo (though I hate photos) in front of this gorgeous azalea bush at a gun club where we were competing. It was just plain unbelievable to me that in the same world where we had left a blizzard and measurable feet of snow, this was blooming.

So it is in life. In one part of the world it is nice and happy, and in another place it is cold and dreary. I belong to a little group of writers who have kept in touch by email for many years now(and occasionally we have critiqued one another.) Two are in California, one in Illinois, one in Georgia, one in Alaska, one in Ohio and two of us are on opposite ends of Indiana. We share our lives, the weather, prayer requests, latest writing adventures or dreams. We've done makeovers, laughed with delight, and cried when one of us has hurt. We've celebrated a wedding, an honorary doctorate, a real estate license exam passing score, two graduations from college and getting a job, book contracts, selling articles, and buying a new home.But we've also mourned deaths, loss of jobs, marriage, illnesses with close family and ourselves, and disappointments of various natures in writing.

I live in the never-ending "almost spring" lately when it comes to writing. I know that there are plenty of others who have bloomed and are living their dreams in spring and summer. I've edited quite a few of those dreams that became realities. I'm not even sure what I'm doing anymore with my own writing. And I've been so ill recently, I can't even concentrate on editing. (Hopefully, this is going to pass soon as I have several waiting.)

They say spring is coming. I'll believe it when I see it!

(I know, I know--hang in there, Crystal! I am. I think.)

I have a new blonde joke up on my web site . Click on "Blonde."