Monday, March 9, 2009

Write, Write, Write!

In order to accomplish your goal of becoming a writer, it's going to take a fair amount of commitment on your part. What that means in practical terms is that you're going to have to try to write something just about every day. You could start with a bite-size goal, such as writing a small description of each of the rooms in your apartment or house until you have completed describing each of the main rooms in your home. You could keep the descriptions in a folder for later use in one of your stories, if you want. Everything that you write in your life is useful at one time or another; it all goes toward making you become a better writer and is never wasted.

Next, you could take one of those rooms you have described and possibly describe something happening in it. Maybe the description will have inspired you, and you may have even thought of a short story or it could even be just a few short paragraphs. The point is that you need to be consistently writing, day after day, for several days in a row, so that you are keeping your commitment to yourself and others to become a writer. Do you see my point? Once the writing becomes a habit, you'll start looking forward to it, and it will actually become such an engrained part of your life, that it will be more difficult for you not to write than it would be to write. You will actually feel weird if you don't write, and that's what we're hoping for, because then, it'll be a full-fledged habit.

I know that the business of "life" tends to get in the way of our day-to-day existence, but we do owe it to ourselves to keep this commitment if we're ever going to become the writers that we want to become. I don't know about you, but I love writing and I need to write down these multiple stories that I have floating around in my head. Furthermore, it's fun writing and if I can actually make a living at it some day, I'll be the happiest girl on the planet.

Until next time...stay safe, stay well, and may God bless you all!

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Read, Read, Read!


I have come to the conclusion, after taking specific advice from several renowned and well thought-of writers, that in order to become a good writer yourself, you first must become devoted to the task of committing to read, read, read!

Within the Blogger community, I have found many published authors and aspiring writers that have "blogs" (please refer to my "Blog List," below - right and my "Complete Profile" for list of blogs that I follow) that are filled with excellent advice, guidance, stories, and just about anything in the line of writing, editing or even publishing information that a writer could ask for. All that information is free for the taking, and the only commitment they ask of you is that you glean by reading, then spread the word. In fact, that's all that any writer asks of a reader, except that maybe we purchase a book a two in the process, so they can continue to making us happy while they make a living doing what they love?

From what I have seen, I would have to say that writers are among the most giving of all the professions. Instead of charging for every little course that they write, many of them offer their courses free in their blogs and newsletters. They also explain to their fellow writers how to perfect their craft, knowing full well that this is a competitive market. I'm proud to be a part of this profession.

Now, I must get back to the business at hand. If I ever plan to attain my dream of becoming a published author, then I need to read, read, read!

Until next time...stay safe, stay well, and may God bless you all!

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Support--A Very Important Thing To Have!

I have decided that I must be the most blessed woman in the whole world. You see, I am disabled and have limited use of my hands and arms, which presents a problem for me since what I currently am endeavoring to do is to work on my very first crime-mystery type novel for young adults (YA). Yep, I'm a writer. So how is it that I am blessed, you may ask? That question is answered very simply: My husband supports me in every way he possibly can!

My husband, Dion, is an amazing man. He is so unselfish and giving. I don't think I've ever seen anything quite like it in all of my life. If I didn't live with him on a day-to-day basis, I may be tempted to think that he was too good to be true. Since I have actually seen him in action, I know that he is authentic. Furthermore, he's not even aware of how exceptional he is; he's a truly humble man. He's also one of the only genuinely sweet people that I have ever met in my life. Can you tell that I love this man more than life itself?


Dion and our youngest son, Jon, came in the door earlier this afternoon, bearing bags of groceries. I could see that Dion had something special for me behind his back. I was home, sick in bed with laryngitis, double earaches, and a terrible sore throat, so he was babying me, like he always does when I'm sick (he's such a sweetheart!) He knows I love surprises, and he brings me little presents quite often because I'm homebound, I think, so I couldn't wait to see what this gift might be.


"Close your eyes and hold out your hands, honey," he said, as he came closer.

I waited expectantly. Presently, I felt the familiar sensation of a book being placed into my hands. "Can I open my eyes yet? I asked.

"Go ahead!" he replied.

I was happily surprised to find that my hands had been filled with a 1969 copy of "The Short Story, An Introductory Anthology" written by Robert Rees and Barry Menikoff. Dion had purchased a book for me that delved into the areas of plot; setting; character; point of view; and tone, and I was totally thrilled! That's a man who pays attention to his wife, and knows what she's all about!

Not only that, but he listens to me endlessly when I read what I've written and need a sounding board; he gives me ideas when I'm stuck; he helps me work out plot problems; he has to shop for all of my supplies because I'm not able to; and he has to take care of me in ways that are above and beyond the call of duty. He does all that without complaining, too. Now that's what I call support!

Until next time...stay safe, stay well, and may God bless you all!