Sunday, December 26, 2010

NEW LAPTOP!

I am SOOO excited! My husband bought a laptop for me for Christmas. It's my first laptop in nearly ten years! And this one is for my writing only. Nothing else, but my writing. I won't be doing lesson plans or anything schoolwise on this one, unless I find something really cool to do on here. That's what the school-issued laptop is for. Anyway, my new laptop is an HP. I'm still getting used to the keyboard action. It's different from my Apple because the keys are kind of slippery, and I keep typing incorrect letters. The keyboard is also set up differently, and so is the tracker mouse. I may have to go into settings and modify the mouse just a bit, if I can. This will sure beat having to edit on my iPhone this summer.

Yes, I edited one of my novels twice using my iPhone. I could only read three lines at a time. Excruciatingly slow process that I hope never to have to do again. I still need to upload iTunes and all of my music to this computer, too. I like to be inspired when I write.

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Writing Gifts Part Two

Writing a personal letter which describes why a person is special to you and significant in your life can be a great gift idea. The more specific you write, the more the person you are giving this letter to will love it. Check out this video to find out how to write with specific details.


Thursday, December 9, 2010

Writing Gifts

A gift of writing is one of the most personal and cherished gifts you can give someone. This type of gift is not just reserved for elementary school children. On many occasions, I've given people I care about the gift of my writing.

These gifts could be in the form of writing a poem, creating a photo book with special memories written inside or writing a heart-felt letter. Mothers and grandmothers really love these types of gifts, especially if you put it in a frame with your picture. Girls really dig this, too, guys!

A couple of years ago, one of my students gave me a book of the poems she wrote in class complete with photos she had taken. It was one of the most wonderful things a student can give a teacher. Now whenever I read her book, I remember the different writing activities and specific classroom memories that each poem evokes for me. It's almost like listening to a song on the radio. Each poem takes me right back to that particular memory. (Let me just admit it. I cried when she gave it to me.)

So, if you're wondering what to give someone - give them the gift of time and give them the gift of shared memories.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

To Plan or Not To Plan

To Plan or Not to Plan? - that is the question that most beginning writers ask, including myself four years ago when my journey with Dreaming Dangerously began.

After writing three novels and planning novels 4 and 5, I've learned quite a lot about the way I work best. I'm the kind of writer who needs an idea I'm excited about, and then I have to plan. Writing 70,000 to 80,000 words is intimidating. Even more intimidating is revising and editing that much text.

What benefits me the most is following a plan. I don't really outline, per se. It's too rigid for me. However, I do know what I want to happen in each scene of my books. Each scene fits into the plot line like a puzzle piece. Some scenes I end up cutting, and some new scenes have to be added after the first three or ten revisions. (Yeah, I said ten revisions of 70,000 words - writing is hard work.) Other times, I just have to rearrange the scenes so the storyline makes more sense.

The benefit of the plan is that at least I have some sort of road map. I know the destination of my story before I begin writing it. I have to make sure it's worth the journey for the reader. I don't want to write 65,000 words and then not be able to end the story in a way that would satisfy my readers or myself.

One of the best ways to plan out a novel is using the Snowflake Method created by Randy Ingermanson on his website AdvancedFictionWriting.com. I had no clue how to plan out a novel, but his method makes a lot of sense. I also like his advice on writing scenes at Writing the Perfect Scene.