Tag Archives: Writing

November 2, 2015 · 5:31 pm

NaNoWriMo time again

The first of November is a day that I circle on the calendar whenever I get a brand new one for the upcoming year. 11/1 represents the beginning of not only another month, a countdown to Thanksgiving and Christmas, but the beginning of the yearly NaNoWriMo challenge for writers across the globe.

nanowrimo

For those of you in the know ( and those of you who aren’t) NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month, The challenge is to compose a 50,000 word novel  ( or greater than 50,000 words if you are so inclined) from 11/1- until 11/30. You catalog your daily word count on the NaNo site and complete tasks for “badges” of honor along the way. Once the end of the month comes, your total is tallied and if you reach the 50,000 word, you “Win” the challenge.

People who know me know I love an individual challenge. I’m not into team sports, don’t like to compete with others for anything. I would be one of those who would be eaten during the zombie apocalypse because I wouldn’t fight back! But when the challenge is just between me and myself, well, then I say, “bring it on!” I lovelovelove  a challenge myself with writing and NaNo is one of the best ways to do that.

Prior to the challenge, I usually think about what I’m going to write, plot out a few key points, put together rough sketches of my characters and then start, raring to go, on day 1. For the past 2 years, the nano books I’ve done have been sequels, so I knew where I was going with the plot, had already met the characters, a had a defined path. This year is no different. I am penning the 5th book in my MacQuire Women series.  This will be Serena MacQuire’s story and it is a tear jerker in my imagination. Hope I can get that emotion on the page for the reader to jive with.

Anyway, off I go. Day 2 is looming. Day one was a corker with over 3500 words down. Now I have 46,500 left to go…

So, do you NaNo? Let’s discuss…

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August 30, 2015 · 10:11 am

Is writing all you do?

Snarky question, right? I was asked this a few weeks ago when I was getting my nails done (yes, I’m spoiled, deal with it.) and a fringe acquaintance who happens to know I’ve had 2 books come out this year already, asked this. I could describe the tone in her voice as snotty or condescending, but it wasn’t. She was truly asking honestly because she couldn’t believe a person could spend hours daily at a laptop, writing. That’s exactly what she told me.

No, I didn’t hit her – wet nails, remember? I dealt with the question and then had a come-to-Jesus-moment when I realized several other people where listening to our conversation. Listening intently, I’ll add. So I didn’t reply in a snarky, rude way to her question. I took the opportunity to lay out my daily writing life.

 

typewriter

But it got me to thinking afterward how many non-writing people must think the same way this chick does. I put up a post question on my facebook page asking my writing friends to tell me the nasty, little diggy things people have said to them about being writers over the years. Here are a few of the replies I received: (  my thoughts are in the ( ) )

  •  “Oh, isn’t writing a nice little hobby.” (No. Stamp collecting is a hobby. Writing in a calling.)
  •  ” I wish I had time to sit around and write stories.” ( What’s stopping you? Oh, yeah…no talent.)
  • “You must have too much time on your hands.”  (Sure, like the house cleans itself, the laundry puts itself into the dryer, and the food materializes out of the cabinets  by magic.)
  • One of my former English teacher’s said, “You write smut.” She claims she didn’t mean it “that” way, but it still annoyed me.  ( Really? She didn’t mean it that way?  In what other context is the word “smut” a good thing?? Bad English  teacher.)

Here are some I’ve heard from other writers as well:

  • “Print is dead. You’ll never be able to support yourself.” (This chick was TSTL – for those of you who don’t read romance that stands for Too Stupid To Live
  • “Is there any money in that?”(Rude, much?)
  • “I could write a book if someone paid me to do it.” (No, you couldn’t.)
  • “Aren’t you bored out of your mind at home all day?” (No. I’m bored talking to you about this topic.)
  • “You must be able to catch up on all your tv watching now.” ( Really?)
  • “It’s a good thing your husband works.” (This one was said to me!!) (( In reply, I smiled serenely and said, “Yes. And he’s a doctor, too. Bitchy, much?))

I never cease to be amazed by what comes out of peoples’ mouths. I’ve said this often in my life but it needs to be repeated: There’s a very thin line between saying something and thinking it. 99% of the stuff I think, I never give a voice to because I know it will either hurt someone’s feelings or be misconstrued. I have enough problems with impulse control issues without adding saying rude and inappropriate things to people who deserve to have rude and inappropriate things said to them into the mix.

So, back to my fingernail fandango. I explained to the woman sitting next to me that I treat my writing as my job. I get up each day just like she does; I get hubby off to work, do laundry, grocery shop, clean the house, pay bills and do a thousand other things before sitting down at my laptop for between 8-10 hours JUST LIKE A JOB I had to leave the house to do. Every two weeks I take a lunch hour break to get my nails done; once a month, an hour to visit my stylist so I can keep my bottle blonde hair coiffed. I told her I pen a blog 3-4 times a week, in addition to doing visit stops at other webpages, do my own marketing and promotion for my books and on any given day have 3-4 books in various rotations of edits, galleys and writing. I am not sitting on the couch in lounging pajamas eating Milano cookies and drinking Pomegranate Cosmos all day long. The television doesn’t go on until after dinner – if at all – and I make it a habit to try and get some sort of exercise 5 times a week. Plus, I cook a full meal from scratch every night for my husband and I. Once in a great while we will go out to eat on a weekend night.

bonbons

She stared at me, wide eyed and ( thankfully) speechless when I was done. The only sounds you could hear in the room were from the manicurists speaking in Vietnamese. And I sincerely hope they weren’t talking about me. But if they were,  I hope it was in a good way.

BTW my nails looked great when I sauntered out of the salon a half hour later.

manicure

 

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March 18, 2015 · 9:03 am

Why every one of us needs an Editor

Yesterday I was a guest blogger on writer Brenna Zinn’s blog. I talked about my love of figure skating and how I used this in my first romance novel Skater’s Waltz.  I mentioned Dorothy Hamill’s name several times and each time I spelled it incorrectly. So dumb! I know how to spell her name as well as my own and mine is much harder! Spell check doesn’t do names and I just glazed over it every time I read it in proofing. My Dartmouth grad English major daughter was the one who clued me into this mistake. Thank God for her.

This got me to thinking about why it is so imperative that we have editors.

Spell check was one of the best inventions ever and one of the worst. It has made us a writing nation of people who don’t bother to learn how to spell correctly and who don’t truly check our work, thinking our laptop programs will do it all and we will look like geniuses.

Na-ah. Doesn’t work that way.

I recently read a novel by a very famous and much published author who I happen to love. She mentioned colored contact lenses in the narrative of her story and even named the manufacturer. The only problem was that manufacturer doesn’t make colored contacts and never has. I know this because this is what I do for a paying job right now: I am a contact lens technician, so when I say I walk the walk and talk the talk of lenses, you can bank on it. Her editors and fact checkers paid her a huge disservice by not validating her statement and I think more people than just me noticed it.

So, back to editing. I learned a valuable lesson yesterday. When I write something I need to read it very very very slowly to make sure I have all the names correct, the i’s doted and the facts perfect. I don’t want to look like an idiot in print ( or in real life).

Lesson learned. Thank you, wise and learned daughter. And my sincere apologies to the fabulous Dorothy Hamill.

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March 10, 2015 · 1:36 pm

Time and media…

It’s been almost a week since my book Skater’s Waltz went live into the reading stratosphere. And what a week it’s been.

I’m new to this whole world of publishing and marketing, and I’ve never been on social media so much. I can truly see how being on Twitter, FB and the rest can be an addictive process. I hear the “tweet” sound on my phone signaling another twitter message I’m mentioned in and I automatically grab my phone. I get “pinged” whenever  a new email arrives and “whistled at” when Facebook updates. All this audio is doing a number on my ears and my ego.

One thing I remember other authors saying at numerous conferences and during chats is that you can get carried away by your media sites if you don’t keep a lid on it, and believe me, this week I’ve found that to be true. As nice as it is to interact with folks on social media, it’s nicer still just to sit and write. That is, after all, what got me started on this path.

So, as I enter the second week of my book’s marketing plan – complete with interviews, a Twitter-purge,  blog posts, and GoodReads questions- I’m turning my phone down when I’m writing. I’ll check it periodically because there are some emails and texts I can’t ignore – like those from family – but for the rest, I’ll let the Twitter-verse and Facebook bloggers have their say and then respond at a later time.

Who new being social was so exhausting??!! But really uplifting as well.

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February 19, 2015 · 2:06 pm

Titles…

Someone asked me the other day how I come up with the titles to my stories and novels.  They are all different and don’t really follow a common thread. Book titles, I feel, are like your children’s names: you want them to be unique, but not so unique they become albatrosses or points of ridicule. I discovered through research  (okay, through Google!) there is an entire industry devoted just to this: how to pick the correct words to capture a reader from the get-go; the word combinations never to use in a title; the words that have the most impact on sales.

I know some writers who use song titles for their books and expound on them in the story.  I love this idea. I know another author who writes down every combination of a phrase based on what the book is about until the perfect title presents itself. I also love this idea.  Some experts say never to have more than one word or two at the most in the title so that it grabs the reader’s attention.  Long winded names can be turn offs to people glancing at the book rack in Barnes and Noble. The key, advertising executives always say, is “short, punchy, and memorable.”The original working titles for my favorite all time book, Gone With The Wind, were Tomorrow is another day and Ba! Ba! Black Sheep.

Now would GWTW have been such a mega hit if it had one of those titles? Who knows. I certainly don’t think the movie would have done as well with the sheep title, do you?

To Kill a Mockingbird was called Atticus before Harper Lee – thankfully – changed it.

And my favorite title change – more about why in a bit – was Pride and Prejudice. Austen originally called it First Impressions.

Now my titles are usually the first thing that pops into my head when I’m working a new plot through. I don’t try to be cute or fancy or erudite. I just “see” the title in my head, and that’s it for me. I’ve never had an editor or even a reader tell me the work was mis-named or would have been better suited to some other title. Maybe this is arrogant on my part, and okay, I’ll agree with that. They are, after all, MY titles. But again, just like when  you name a child, you want the title/name to be a reflection of your thought and love. You want it to be able to convey something of what the book is about when you are trying to capture a potential reader’s attention. Skater’s Waltz has two words and is actually a piece of music. There’s No place Like Home, has 5 and it’s a sentence in one of my favorite movies, The Wizard of Oz. My third book, which I am thrilled to announce just went to contract, is First Impressions. See now why I like that Austen changed her title?

Titles are like names. They should be individual, coherent, and special. They should capture a reader’s attention and their desire to want to read more. Think of your favorite book titles. Do they fit in with this thought? I know mine do.

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January 21, 2015 · 12:30 am

In defense of being a hermit…

I could so easily be a bear. They eat five times their caloric needs just so they won’t starve when they hibernate during the winter season. They stay, cloistered, somewhere solitary and warm, sequestered away from the frigid temps, sleeping up to 23 hours a day.

I could so be a bear! I hate, HATE the winter. On my days off now from my paying job I find myself at my writing desk in my loft, typing away, day dreaming, coming up with plot twists and turns and looking out the window at my forest filled with snow. And I never go out.

I have friends who like to go for walks during subzero temps, claiming it’s invigorating and endorphin producing.

Uh, no, it’s not. Not to me anyway.

I like nothing more than to stay in my flannel pjs, my ugly and falling apart Elmo slippers on my feet, my hair in a knot and my glasses on my face, and just typing away… and away…

I can write an entire novel or two during the winter if I don’t go out. That’s very productive, don’t you think? My friends worry about me not interacting with other humans, not getting any socialization or camaraderie. They think I’ve turned into this antisocial hermit who shuns society.

I don’t shun society. I shun the cold! Big difference there.

I tell them not to worry. Come the spring they will see me again.

Until the time when black fly and mosquito season starts. Then I could so be a bear again.

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January 10, 2015 · 6:49 pm

Writing A.D.D.

My background in psychiatric nursing has given me  a solid base in psych disorders, diseases, signs, symptoms and treatments all concerning the mind. It is with the utmost confidence in my ability to diagnose these conditions, that I reveal  I am afflicted with one such disorder: Writing Attention Deficit Disorder.

Never heard of it? Don’t worry, no one  else has either. I made the diagnosis up myself to categorize a condition I’ve had for months.

Here are my symptoms:

  • I start working on my WIP when I suddenly get an idea for another story and I immediately start working on that instead
  • I wake up in the middle of the night with  plot lines and story arcs competing for my attention and I must get up and commit them to paper.
  • I can’t rest until I have completed a minimum word count every day and I get anxious if the day is almost done and I haven’t completed at least the minimum
  • Many days I will write nonstop for an hour or so, then move on to something else, only to find my way back to my original work in  progress.
  • I talk to myself, even in public, when I am thinking through a bit of dialogue for my characters. I even channel them and speak in their accents.
  • I find myself disengaging from a conversation with family/friends/patients if a plot point that needs care works itself into my head.

Does this sound like you? If it does, do not despair. This is the mark and mind of a very healthy and prolific writer, such as yourself!

The only treatment, the only cure, is to write. Often.

Oh, and eating some chocolate will help to some extent, too! All those endorphins that get released when you ingest chocolate will soothe your soul.

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January 8, 2015 · 12:59 pm

The times, they are a changing…NOT!

I went to High School in the 1970’s, a time of great political strife and social turmoil in our country. America was coming off the hippy highs of the sixties and the age of Aquarius, and social norms were being destroyed and rewritten at an alarming rate. We’d put a man on the moon, finally brought our Viet Nam vets home to a less than stellar homecoming embrace, seen a President disgraced while in office, and been confronted full in the face with racism, sexism, ageism and Wall Street greed.

I attended  a public high school where a New York City police office was stationed at the entrance to the school before this became the societal norm. My school was huge, with over 1500 students spread across grades 9-12. I entered in 1974 a scared, nervous, naïve, smart and shy 14 year old, and graduated in 1978 the same way.

As an only child, I’d been coddled and protected from what my mother called, “the cruelty of the world.” As a child of divorce, I was an anomaly in school. In my entire grade there were only 3 kids whose parents had divorced. Me and a set of twins who were habitually in the principal’s office. And since my mother had remarried, her last name was different from mine.

This made me a social oddity when the teenage world didn’t accept others who were different from them. Coupled with the fact that I was smart – really smart – and grossly overweight ( think killer Orca) from an emotional eating disorder, you can guess I wasn’t the most popular chick in the school.

I was the kid that the mean girls- who were simply called bullies in my time –picked on daily. I was the girl in class who wrecked the test curve by getting better grades than 99 % of the rest of the class. I was the girl teachers loved to call on because I always had the correct answer to a question, despite the fact I hated to be called on because it drew attention to me that I didn’t want.

I never had a boyfriend in high school, didn’t go to dances, never attended prom, and sat home nights with my mother and stepfather, watching All in the Family and The Carol Burnett Show. I was that socially awkward and isolated kid who could have turned to the dark side because no one would listen.

The difference between high school kids in the 1970’s and now isn’t that different. Bullies still bully; druggies still drug. The jocks rule the playground, smart kids lead the class and everyone else in the middle just tries to get by enough to graduate.

Two things that did make me different from my peers and which actually did keep me from going to the dark side, were my 4 wonderful English teachers and my love of writing. All helped me get through some tough years and even tougher social situations.

Teachers do not now, and have never in my mind, gotten the respect and appreciation they so richly deserve. Without that one teacher who told me I was made for great things, or the other who told me someday she would come to my book signing when I “made it big,” I would never have had the courage to show my work – my deepest, darkest secrets and thoughts – to others. I would have continued to hold my work hostage, never letting any prying eyes go through it for fear of ridicule and criticism.

I was lucky. I had four wonderful people guide me towards what made me most happy and fostered that love unconditionally.

If you’ve had a favorite teacher, now, at the beginning of this new and fresh year, maybe you should call them, Friend them, email or snail-mail them and remind them what they did for you.

It’s never too late to let someone know what they meant to you during what has to be the most difficult time in a person’s life: Adolescence!

 

 

 

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January 4, 2015 · 2:30 pm

just one piece of advice…

During an interview recently – and I can’t tell you how much I LOVELOVELOVE saying I was “interviewed!” – I was asked about the one piece of writing advice that has stuck with me and gotten me through publishing hurdles, humps and heartbreak. It was actually difficult to come up with just that one exclusive iota of writing  wisdom that has resonated with me.

My first thought is the one I received from a literary agent many moons ago which I’ve written about before. Although this agent didn’t accept me as a client, she wrote a handwritten note at the bottom of her letter (this was pre-email, folks) stating, “…you are an excellent writer and I have no doubt I will be reading your published works one day soon. It only takes one “yes” to make a difference in your writing career…” I have never forgotten those words.

Another piece of writing advice that comes to mind is when I heard Nora Roberts speak at the National RWA conference in 2014. She was asked how she can be so prolific a writer and what was her secret. She replied, “Put your butt in the chair, your fingers over the keyboard and write. That’s it and that’s all.”  Butt in seat, fingers on keyboard, write. Can it be any simpler than this?

I would guess the piece of writing advice I’ve learned to repeat daily to myself, is actually one I gave myself  many years ago and had nothing to do with writing at the time I came up with it. I call it THE TAO OF NGUNGI ( pronounced na-goo-na-guy). It means, NEVER GIVE UP AND NEVER GIVE IN. I was going through a difficult period of my life and the days ahead looked bleak and scary. But when I started saying this to myself, it resonated loudly and I was able to get through the period relatively emotionally unscathed.

Now, when I want to have a writing pity party for myself, I repeat the phrase as many times as I need to in order to dig myself out of my depressing black hole. By practicing the TAO Of NGUNGI, I have pushed onwards all this years and finally have a publishing contract.

Never Give up and Never give in. One piece of really good advice – for life and for writing.

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January 1, 2015 · 12:53 pm

A non-resolution resolution…

I’m not one to make New Year’s Resolutions. I’ve always believed that if you want to change something at any time – just pull a Nike and DO IT! There’s no real reason to wait until a monday to start a diet, or until the kids are out of the house to write, or anything else. If the thought occurs, put action behind it right then and there.

Can you tell I hate to wait for things??

This year, I’m changing it up a bit. While I’m not making tried and true resolutions, I do intend to change a few things to make my life and the lives of those around me better this year. I call these things INTENTIONS, not Resolutions.

First and foremost, I INTEND to devote a lot more time to blogging. I was on fire last year when I started this blog, but with the passing of the year, I waned a bit. I intend to document here at least 3 times weekly ( sometimes, hopefully, more).

I fully INTEND  to have at least one more book ready for publication by my birthday in May. I’ve got two out to the publisher now, and another one in consideration. I want my current WIP ready to go to the publisher, done and completely perfect ( or as close as I can get) by my 55th birthday.

I INTEND to do two brand new, totally non-Peggylike things this year. One of them will be trapezing, The other is a secret for now. I’ll revel it at the end of February.

I have the fullest INTENTION of being a calmer, less stressed wife and mother this year. I know: this intention is really a challenge, but hey, I’m up for it! With my retirement date set for April 30, I think I will be better able to do this since I won’t have healthcare work issues to occupy most of my time anymore.

I INTEND to live a less cluttered life – physically, emotionally and spiritually. There are many things in my life and surrounding me that I need to let go, get rid of, and not replace. More on those things in later blogs, but suffice it to say I am having a helluva garage sale this spring!

So, my intentions are now written in laptop stone so I won’t forget them or shove them to the back burner. What are your intentions for 2015?

 

 

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