If you don't ask

Growing up I was encouraged to ask questions. Learning that, If you don't ask, you may never know.
I am new to writing and am working on my first novel. It's an exciting process of putting everything down on paper, seeing how the characters develop, and the story twists and turns. I was about 1/3 of the way through when I told myself, "You have got to do some research!" So I have been reading blogs on writing tips, publishing, editing, second person viewpoint, just about everything I can get my hands on, but as usual, I still have questions and some of them might be silly to you, but to me every detail is a major detail....so here goes today's topic questions...

Which paper do you use for your final print?
What font do you use and what size?
Is there a preference that literary agents and/or publishers prefer?

I know these might seem insignificant, but presentation is a big thing to me as I am sure it is to all of you.

Love to hear all your comments, opinions, and advice.
Have a beautiful and productive day!

Monday Update

Good morning! On my last post I was telling you about how I was at a very crucial part of the story line, knowing exactly what was supposed to be happening and yet could not get just the right words to convey the thoughts, feelings and emotions. Well I am happy to report that as of yesterday the channels to those words have opened back up and are flowing freely! Yay! It is hard when those things happen. What do you do? Keep trudging ahead? Stop and hope you can work it out in your mind. Skip it and come back? I do a little of all three I guess. But mainly the first two seem to work out better for me.

Crucial part

I have been working on my book off and on today. I am at a crucial part of the story and know what's supposed to happen, but getting just the right wording is driving me crazy! Anyway I am up to 57,888 words typed, but probably have another 30,000 on paper still.
Q4U.... What do you do when you come to the point of "The words just don't flow!" Do you keep hammering away? Do you stop and take a break? Or do you sleep on it?

Ahhh Friday!

What is the big deal about Friday? For the 9 to 5'ers it's "Yes! The weekend is finally here! For the work at home person, Friday's are just another day. As a writer do you put down that pen and paper, or close up that laptop, at 5p.m. Friday, not opening it again until Monday morning? No you don't. The work time of a writer is so different. Being a writer you find that your work is going through your head constantly until you put that final period on the last page of your current novel. Having that novel in your head 24/7 can be extremely stressful and exhilarating, but we all need some down time. Time to relax and spend quality time with family and friends. How do you pull yourself away to give yourself some "Friday" time?

Thursday Thoughts

   Good morning and happy Thursday! Today I want to talk about inspiration. What inspired you to write that new novel and keeps you writing and plugging along to reach that "Happily ever after" ending? Was it a song or combination of songs that you heard and you had an "Aha" moment? Or maybe an actor or TV character that you adore? Or did it start with just a fantasy and then the other elements came into play to give it a life all it's own?
 
 

 
 

Happy Hump Day!

Well we all know what hump day stands for and can't wait to get over it to the downhill slide! But do you have those humps when it comes to your writing? I am having one of those now. I really have not paid too much attention to my novel in the past few days, except to revise, edit and do some proofreading. I am stuck up on top of that hump! I have come to a very significant part that needs to be just right and can not find the words to express it in the way it needs to be expressed! The entire scene plays out in my head, but I don't want the "he said, she said....." Just need to find the words to make it flow and come together. What do you do to get over that hump?

Styles of Writing

  I am writing an erotic romance novel and it's been years since I've read one. I prefer Stephen King for my reading pleasure now. I love his style of writing, how he draws you in and keeps you mesmerized till the very end. That is my goal for my first novel and all others that follow is to give you a story that you just can't put down. Hopefully pulling you in and keeping you mesmerized to the very end.

Reader's Digest Contest

I entered a contest at Reader's Digest if you get a chance stop by and check it out and make sure you check out all the other great stories too and don't forget to vote for your favorite!
http://apps.facebook.com/yourlifecontest/node/737

Questions, Questions, Questions!

I started writing my first novel a couple of months ago, so the world of writing and publishing is all new to me. I have been doing my research, checking out other blogs for helpful tips and tricks on everything from publishing to writing styles, but I still have questions.

   E-Books or paperbacks? Personally I prefer the old fashioned way of curling up by the fire on a cold winter's night with a Stephen King paperback in my hand! I spend enough time with electronics, computers, TV, cellphones, so give me a good old fashioned paper back book that I can fold down the corner on. But in this day and age of electronics people seem to want to go with the new age gadgets. So do you publish in one or the other or both?

   Publisher or Literary Agent? Everyone has their own preference, but for someone just starting out, what would you suggest to them?

Different Corners In My Life: Be Healthy and Happy While Writing

Different Corners In My Life: Be Healthy and Happy While Writing: "I don't care what anyone says, writing a book is hard work. People who have never attempted to write a book will tell you, 'All you're doing..."

Be Healthy and Happy While Writing

I don't care what anyone says, writing a book is hard work. People who have never attempted to write a book will tell you, "All you're doing is sitting at a computer typing. How hard can that be?" A dedicated writer, someone who loves what they are doing, will put in more hours writing and sitting at that computer, then the person with a normal 9 to 5 job. They will wake up at 3 in the morning and have to run in to their computer because they just came up with the perfect line or the happily ever after ending that they have been struggling with.
 But writing is hard on your body and your relationships. Yes, it is just so much more comfortable sitting at the computer in your pajamas or boxers. Or you haven't shaved in a week (If your a guy), or bothered with your hair or makeup (If you're a woman). Who cares, right? It's not like anyone's going to see you.Yes there are times we are up at 6 a.m. we grab our coffee and turn on our computer and for the next six hours we don't move. We haven't been out of the house in 3 days and the only reason we went out then was to pick up more coffee.  But you should care. You need to take the time to get up and stretch, call a friend you haven't talked to in months, go out and get some sunshine and fresh air. Your body will thank you and your mind will be much clearer, letting your ideas come more easily.
Yes, I did get up at 6 a.m. this morning, and have been up for 4 hours now, but instead of turning on my little laptop that holds my creation, I stretched, did leg lifts, deep knee bends, and squats. Then I gave myself a facial. I don't want to do a book signing looking like a 90 year old lady when I am only in my early fifties. From there I washed my hair, ate a banana to keep my potassium up and made me a very healthy smoothie with soy milk, non fat yogurt, honey, and some wheat germ! I've also taken some time the past few days to catch up with family. But alas, my sweet little laptop has been screaming at me for the past 4 hours saying, "What are you doing? You are supposed to be over here pounding on my keyboard" or in my case hunting and pecking with my 2 fingers. I am almost to my 50,000 mark and am very happy with what I've accomplished so far, so it's time to hit the keyboard and get to work! Have a Happy and Healthy writing day! And to coin a phrase remember to, "Stop and Smell the Roses.

Ghosts written February 2001

I originally wrote this in my English Composition Class in college in 2001 three weeks after my brother had passed away. January 31, 2012 marks the 11th anniversary of his death.                                                                              
 

   Do you believe in Ghosts? How about the supernatural? I've always felt that just because you can't see them doesn't neccessarily mean they don't exist. I have always believed that the spirit stays with the body for three days after a person dies. Where it goes after that I'm not sure. I do know I have mixed feelings about it.
     My brother Bruce passed away three weeks ago. Since that time I have had this picture in my head that as they were taking the gurney through my front hallway, his spirit left his body. I can picture it so clearly. I see his spirit standing there, watching the paramedics push the gurney out the front door. Maybe it's my imagination or just wishful thinking on my part, I don't know. What I do know is that strange things have been happening ever since.
   The morning after Bruce died, as I was lying in bed, I heard someone (or something) walk through the kitchen into the front bathroom and yet everyone was still in bed. A few days later, my sixteen year old son swears he heard the same footsteps and heard Bruce's door close, but once again, everyone was in bed.
   Then there was the chimes of the clock.  I was sleeping so good and the clock started chiming. It was midnight, but the chimes aren't supposed to ring after 10 p.m. It scared me like it does when the phone rings in the middle of the night. I jumped out of bed, because in my mind I believed Bruce was telling me to check and make sure everyone was alright. I've heard it said that every time a bell rings another angel gets its wings. Maybe that was the message I was to receive. Three mornings in a row we have found the freezer door open. Bruce kept his water jug in there and every morning he would get up, add more water to it and get a drink. Then there's the smell of someone smoking a cigarette when I'm home by myself. Bruce used to sit in his room, watching TV, his window would be open and the smoke would go out his window and drift in through the kitchen window.
   But I think the real clincher came tonight. I was sitting at the computer, my oldest son was standing by the refrigerator  and my youngest son was standing in the dining room, when all of a sudden the kitchen light came on. No one had touched the switch. None of us were even near it and yet the light had come on. Strange? Weird?

   And once again I cannot give you an ending :-( I was scanning this story into my printer which is set up in what used to be my brother's bedroom and can not find the other page with the ending that I had written. I have looked high and low and yet there is no sign of it.

I finally found the last page the other day and For the most part, I had all the story here except for the final summing up paragraph. Here it is...

These are just a few of the things we have experienced over the last few weeks.
Do we believe in ghosts? Maybe. We can never explain the things that have happened.
I don't even know if I really want to. I do know that if my brother's spirit wants to be here,
 it will always be welcomed with open arms.

My Brother's Room

This was written in February 2001
It's been 2 1/2 weeks since you left. I have to describe your room, how it looks, smells, and what's still in place, because I know in the next few weeks I will slowly start removing most of your things. Not because I want to forget, but because when I look in there I still expect you to come home. I haven't made your bed. Your clean clothes are folded at the bottom just like always. There's half a cigarette in the ashtray. I look at the carpet on the floor and remember when you brought it home from Anthony's. You were so excited. Now you'd have carpeting in your room. Your wallet and keys on your dresser. The faint smell of cigarettes and your cologne. Earplugs here and there. The fishtank and mom's TV. The spider webs hanging from the ceiling. You said they were your air filters because the dust collected on them.Your alarm clock sitting on the bedpost, your fan taped to the other bedpost, so I wouldn't be tempted to move it. A paper bag with your micrometer and supplies, which I searched frantically for that day and yet there it was right under my nose.
We were doing some free writing and we were asked to describe something. This is all that I had written. So if you are looking for an ending to this there isn't one. Sorry

In Memory of Bruce

It was 10 years ago in January that my brother passed away. Tomorrow August 6th would have been his 43 birthday. I had just started a new semester at college a couple of weeks before he passed and was taking a English composition class so basically every assignment I had to do that semester, I wrote about my brother.
So today and tomorrow I will share a couple of things with you. Miss you Bruce every day.

Different Corners In My Life: Everyone Writes

Different Corners In My Life: Everyone Writes: "When we write, whether it be a novel, a grocery list, a letter to a friend, or posts on Facebook, it let's people have a glimpse into our pe..."

Everyone Writes

When we write, whether it be a novel, a grocery list, a letter to a friend, or posts on Facebook, it let's people have a glimpse into our personalities, our thoughts, and our feelings. Whether we print, write cursive, or type on our computers, our words shape who we are, where we want to be, and what we want to do. Our emotions can be felt and seen just from the stroke of the pen or the exclamation point at the end of a sentence. Not everyone can write a novel, but I'm trying. I can't say I will be successful at it, but then who can ever say they will be. Writers need people to want to read what they write, to hold their attention, to give them either something to hope for, or whisk them away from their everyday life, even if it's just for a few short hours. I am a big fan of Stephen King. Just like many others, I like his style of writing, how he keeps you on the edge of your seat, makes you afraid to turn off the lights and has you saying just one more chapter then I'll go to bed! He has a way of pulling you in and keeping you hooked. I wonder, once he starts writing a new novel, does he walk around and think of nothing else. Since I started thinking about my novel months ago, before I even put pen to paper, I find I am constantly in that world. When I'm having a writer's block, doesn't matter what I'm doing, all of a sudden a conversation will pop up in my head and I've got the next chapter working itself out. The novel seems to take over my entire being, my thoughts, my feelings, even the way I do things. And I am enjoying every minute of it.

Have a beautiful and  creative day everyone! I am off to write!

A New Corner

Well on my last post i was supposed to be telling you a little about me, so here goes. I like to be creative. I took a knitting class with my sister, Joyce, when I was 12 and from there I learned how to crochet from my sister, Linda, Which she couldn't teach me much more than your classic chain stitch because she was left handed and I  am right. I moved on from there to my favorite craft which is plastic canvas. I also have a passion for creating custom gift baskets, I have a new passion now though which brings me to a new corner in my life and that is writing. About 8 months ago I had a fantasy going around in my head. This isn't so unusual for me, but after about 5 months I decided I needed to put it down on paper and write a very sensuous, eroctic love story And that is very unusual for me.  I never realized how hard it is to write a love story or any book for that matter, but I find it is coming along quite nicely. I was reading a blog about writing and the writer mentioned, finishing up your story, getting to your happy ending and I stressed for two days wondering how was I going to finish off this story. I mean I hadn't even thought about an ending. And then I woke up on the third day and there it was, my happy ending, right there in me head. It was perfect! Now all I have to do is finish the first chapter, haha! I know, How do you move on if you can't even finish the first chapter. Well I have. I have finished writing the second, third, fourth, and fifth chapters and have the sixth chapter started. And the ending written! So I'm not your normal conventional writer, but then again who is. I will keep you updated as I move forward. Oh did I mention that this is actually the third and final book in a series. Yep! There are two books ahead of this one floating around in my head, but I think this one is the more powerful one out of the three. So stay tuned!

Welcome to a corner of my world

Hi!
Since this is my first post to this blog, I want to tell you a little about me and what my blog will be about.