How much is too much?

I love to read. I always have. But am finding now that I'm writing, that we tend to get caught up in word count.
Yes you need to describe your characters and set your scenes, but do you really need to describe the mole on the right hip of her third cousin? Unless there's a certain significance to it.  Do you have to have their agenda minute by minute, hour by hour, and day by day? How much is too much? And how much is not enough?
When you pick up a book and it drones on and on, do you lose your interest, thinking to yourself, "They really didn't need all that" Can your story be told in 25,000 words compared to 50,000? How much is lost when you cut back, or add more? I guess the big question is, "How much do you put out there vs. how much you let your reader's imagination work?"
And once they read it will they remember it, or at least a part of it?

I used to read Romance novels when I was younger, now I write them and read other genres, but I can remember this one novel (I read it like 20 years ago) well the basic outline of it, as if I read it last week.
It was a Harlequin novel, I have no idea who wrote it (and that's the sad part, but I have always been terrible with names) but it has stuck in my head and I wanted to share just the basic plot of it with you and we will see if I can keep it short, I don't know I get kind of wordy sometimes.

This is what I remember;

There was a count, duke, whatever (See, what he was didn't make an impression on me) He lived in a big castle. (Where? I don't remember) He had been injured and had lost his sight temporarily or at least they hoped it was only temporarily. So a young, overweight, plain looking woman was hired to take care of him. All the mirrors had been removed and placed in the basement. (Still don't know why, because his eyes were bandaged and he couldn't look in them anyway) She had low self esteem and he was a cranky person with the attitude of "Why me?" Kind of like "Beauty and the Beast" Anyway, every night after he fell asleep she went down and went skinny dipping in the pool and over time she had to take in her clothes so they would fit. Now remember there are no mirrors to look into. Over the course of let's say six months, he was falling in love with her. She was kind and caring. Something he had never experienced before. So on the day the bandages were to be removed she didn't want him to see her, in her mind she was fat and ugly. So when they removed the bandages and he could see, she wasn't in the room and he went searching through the castle looking for her. Finding her, she told him he didn't want to see her, because she was ugly and not good enough for him and he took her down to the basement where the mirrors were and made her look in the mirror at her own reflection and she was beautiful. She was in great shape from the nightly swims, and her hair and skin glowed from eating right and on and on...

 I am looking at this from a reader's point of view and not the writer's point of view.
Put yourself in your reader's shoes for a minute...
How much is too much and what will they remember?
Hopefully they won't be like me and forget who wrote the book.

Just a last note check out http://www.genreality.net/its-all-about-the-details, I think their blog post works well with mine today!

Love to Read!

Good Morning and Happy New Year! I was supposed to have posted this blog post 3 days ago, but... And it was supposed to be about New Year Resolutions and Goals, but...So I thought I'd combine them into one post today.
First, I don't make resolutions. To me they are like "Promises" and "Rules"
"Never make a promise you can't keep."
                  And
"Rules were made to be broken"
So no resolutions here! For me they are just a way to set myself up for failure. But I want to share some other blogger's posts with you this morning on their resolutions and goals.

http://nepheletempest.wordpress.com/2011/12/31/as-the-year-fades-to-memory/
http://www.rachellegardner.com/2011/12/goals-resolutions-words/
http://www.ericaluckedean.com/the-daily-blog/2012/1/2/theres-nothing-like-a-good-book.html?lastPage=true#comment16431943


http://clairejdeboer.com/2012/01/the-difference-between-a-new-years-resolution-and-a-goal

But wait! I do have some goals for 2012!

1. I want to read more books by new authors. I'm a big Stephen King fan, but since I started writing in 2011, I decided to start reading books by new authors and giving them support. (And I'm doing good so far. I have read two books since Christmas by new authors. Richard C Hale and Carolyn Arnold.)
2. To get better at writing reviews. I tend to be short and to the point!
3. To improve my query writing. Here I also tend to be short and to the point. 
4. To keep learning new things.
5. Finish writing the middle two books for my series, "Chris' Journey Turning Different Corners"
6. And last, but not least, to reconnect with family and friends that I seem to have been neglecting since I started writing. I've heard being a writer is a lonely life and boy they weren't kidding!

And this is my tarot card this morning. Sounds good to me!

"The Knight of Pentacles card suggests that my power today lies in practicality. I plan ahead and consider my options to set priorities or define goals that serve my long-term purpose. My values lay in the potential that often remains unseen by others. I am cautious, steady, optimistic and reliable and have earned the new trust or position that empowers me. My asset is accepting responsibility."

So I wish each and everyone of you, "An awesome new year, filled with success for all your resolutions and goals!"

My Book Review for "Near Death"

This is my first book review, so bear with me and let's see if I can do justice to
                                "Near Death" By Richard C Hale.

First off, I am a big fan of Stephen King and rarely do I read books by other authors, but I had read a portion of the first chapter of "Near Death" in November on Richard's blog, and it made me cry, so I put it on my Christmas wish list and my oldest son bought it for me.

"Near Death" Is about Jake, who loses his wife in an accident and he goes on to develop a special technology to record other's near death experiences. (That's the only thing I am going to tell you about the plot.)


I did find two small parts in the beginning that I'll call hiccups. One was where he introduced Frank and the other was the part about the plane and the war. I would have put at the beginning of the plane part, "In the meantime, in a desert somewhere in Afghanistan" But that's just my opinion.

I also found myself agreeing with Teri about Maddy (Both characters in the book) That I didn't like Maddy, but I am guessing that's a jealous female thing. :-))

Richard didn't give a physical description to all of his characters, which I liked, because it let's the reader use their imagination as to how they see them. Sometimes less is more when writing.

Overall I give "Near Death" five stars!
I found the book quite enjoyable. It pulled me in and hooked me to the point that I didn't want to put it down.
I look forward to reading more books by Richard. Watch out Stephen King you have competition.
Oh! And as a new writer myself, I read a lot of help blogs and one thing they tell you is proofread...
There is one typographical error on page 97, but if you want to know what it is, you'll have to buy the book, because I'm not telling!

If you want to buy "Near Death" You can find it here...
 http://www.amazon.com/Near-Death-Richard-C-Hale/dp/098477890X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1325022667&sr=8-1
and here for your nook
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/near-death-richard-c-hale/1107395403?ean=2940032835486&itm=1&usri=near+death+by+richard+c+hale

You can also follow Richard on twitter Richard_C_Hale
And find him on Facebook! https://www.facebook.com/pages/Author-Richard-C-Hale/165798456830067

Now quit reading my review and go out and buy his book!

How to write a book?

I have read 10,000 help blogs on "How to write a book." Well maybe only 500, but it feels like a heck of a lot more! And every single one of them tell you something different. Not only do help blogs tell you how to write books, but there's also the ones who tell you how to write queries and synopsis'. And then there are the submission processes of agents and publishers.
First you have people telling you, "No purple prose" If you don't know what that is you can find out about it here;
http://www.debstover.com/purple.html and yes, there is one small line in my book that has it, but in my defense, that part of my book took place in the '70's. And I didn't know what "purple prose" was until about 10 minutes ago!
Okay so now you are done writing and it's time to query.
First they tell you how to write a query and you would think it would be a simple process, but no it's not. It can be one of the hardest things you'll ever do and I think I just submitted the shortest query in history! Very short and to the point. Oh well. It was my first submission and let's hope I get better as I go along.
Second they tell you, "Don't query a series." So what if they are asking for series?

So here's the deal;
I've written my book. I wrote it the way the story played out in my head. I proofread it and did the edits and reread it. It's done! It might be only 55,000 words, but it is a tragic love story with closure and I cried through a major part as I was writing it. Hopefully that's because of the story and not my writing. No, it doesn't have a happily ever after. Not yet anyways, because it is the first book in a series of four books and then you get the happily ever after. Which, by the way, has been written also and is apprx. 93,000 words.

So the moral of this story is...
Write your way, in your own words. Take time to double check spelling. Make sure the story flows and comes together nicely and do your best on queries and the synopsis and if they like it.... Read the help blogs either before you begin writing or after finishing the first draft. And once you've submitted that book to the agents and publishers you want, take a deep breath and don't start stressing on what you think you did or did not do. It's been sent and it's up to the the people you queried now.

Was it good for you too?

Okay now that I have got your attention...Get your minds out of the gutter! I'm talking about NaNoWriMo.

I've been seeing blogs and posts on comment boards, or is that comments on post boards, (Shaking head) Hmmm...
Anyway whichever way you look at it, Some say they enjoyed NaNo and some say they didn't.
Personally I thought it was a lot of fun and I'm kind of sad to see it done.
It was my first time...
I wasn't sure I could do it, but I prevailed and look forward to next year.

I wrote my 50,000 plus words. I decided my book would only have 4 main chapters, so I finished the first, third, and final chapter. And got the beginning and end of the second chapter, but need to fill in the center.

The hardest part about nanowrimo for me is writing in a straight line...beginning to end. I tend to skip around some.

The book I wrote is actually the first book in a series of four books. I decided to write it, because I had just finished the fourth book. But on the plus side I have started on the first chapter of book too and have the ending chapter of book three done! Did I mention I skip around a lot?

Oh Well, I hope to see everyone back writing next year!

Here are a couple of blogs from fellow NaNo writers! Check them out!

Simon's Blog This was his first year too!
http://simontall.com/2011/11/30/november-a-novel-and-death-of-the-author/



And Cheryl captures the writers block/procrastinator in all of us with her short videos! http://www.cherylreif.com/2011/12/01/for-all-you-fellow-wrimos/#comment-3843

Happy Dec. 1st You survived, you may all get up from your chairs now! Take a bow and pat yourself on the back!

For those of you that like the comraderie that goes with NaNoWriMo here is a link on FB where you can continue writing your nano
https://www.facebook.com/pages/IE-After-NaNo-Writers-Group/218931721510267

Life! Isn't it Awesome!

I was really hoping two weeks ago to say, "YAY! Finished my first novel" But sometimes life gets in the way, which is a good thing!

The weekend I was hoping to have it finished I went down and spent two days in San Diego with my son and went to the Blue Angels air show, then last weekend my son came up here. His roommates grandmother had passed away and her funeral was that Saturday. My son also had a job up here in the area, and he brought his dogs and I got to puppy sit for three days! So with his two and my two wanting to run in and out, in and out, front door and back door, well lets just say there wasn't much time to write.

Well yesterday I finished up the "With this ring, I thee wed vows, and I can't tell you how happy I am with how they turned out! Yes it's an erotic romance, but to me it is a tender sweet love story, with some hot sensual sex thrown in :-)

This morning I stood in line at Barnes and Noble waiting to get my wristband for Ozzy Osbourne's book signing! Awesome!!!!!

And then this evening, I got my book signed and got to talk to Ozzy! I know he's not your regular type of author, but he's OZZY! Yes, I was excited, Did I tell you I got to talk to Ozzy! Okay enough, I'm sorry I tend to get excited, but I am a huge fan of Ozzy.

To Self Publish or Not

I have thought about Self Publishing, but to me it seems a little scary! I think for my first book, I want the help of an agent, then maybe on future work, if I have learned anything.... I was reading a friend's post on FB the other day and she has an agent, but her current book she has self published because she wants to enjoy the rewards now, and she's saving for a family vacation. Here's a blog I was reading this morning about another's viewpoint on self publishing. Check it out and let me know what you think.
http://www.thebookdesigner.com/2011/10/theres-something-odd-about-self-publishing-books/

Q4U... Have you self published or thought about it? What would be the scary part for you to do that?

Titles!

I will update my blog later today, but thought you might like to check out a couple of links while you are waiting.

Here is Rachelle's new blog post http://www.rachellegardner.com/2010/03/how-to-title-your-book/

And here is a fun link on analyzing your book title http://www.lulu.com/titlescorer/index.php

Have fun writing! And reading today!

If you have a great blog you'd like to share or would like me to follow post it here on my Facebook page!http://www.facebook.com/pages/Different-Corners/282985538382248?ref=ts

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?