Tricks of the Trade

I'm mad at Erynn because she listed all the best writing "help" books in her list and now I have nothing to post! (wink)

First of all, let me say, hear hear. My fellow Chicks have given you great information this week, and I second all of their tools.

I suppose my best writing tool is a selfish one, because I refuse to share it. Share her, that is - my bestie, Lori Chally. I can be working on a WIP, give myself a headache by beating my forehead against the computer keys, wail and gnash my teeth, convinced this story "pothole" (plothole!) is the end of my career as I know it, call Lori to mourn the loss of my talent, and....in five minutes, she's got all my problems sewn up, and has usually given me a new sideplot to chase that makes the story even better.

I hang up exhausted, humbled, and thoroughly grateful for a fellow writing bud who understands, doesn't think I'm crazy for saying things like "my hero and heroine refuse to kiss! I've been trying for three chapters!) and who is so great at brainstorming.

All that to back up what Erynn said about never underestimating the power of family and friends with your writing. Be careful not to take TOO much advice, because if you listen to every single thing every single person in your life suggested, you would lose your story. But writing doesn't have to be a solitary adventure. Sometimes its good to come out of our caffienated caves and get HELP. =)

Speaking of caffeine, that's my other favorite too - chocolate and Diet Coke. Usually the three of us can put something together, but when we can't, its off to call Lori. Here's a pic of us from the 2009 ACFW Conference, during the awards banquet night.

Who has been there for you in your writing career? Who is your "Lori"? Who do you call when you are so stuck in your story that you want to throw your computer out the window and take up scrapbooking instead? Who is the person in your life that encourages you, prays for you and with you, and is always there?

Give a shout out in the comments section!

Where Are We Going, Anyway?

Sometimes I wonder how it will feel to get in the car and drive with no destination in mind.

I wonder if my skin will tingle as the wind brushes against it.

I wonder if my eyes will sting as I catch a glimpse of my blindingly white teeth in the rearview mirror.

Wait a second. Reality check.

Fuel is expensive. And my teeth are not blindingly white. Both good reasons to stay home. Or worse yet… plan my destination. (Dentist, anyone?)

You probably see where I’m headed with this. Many of us start down Writing Road with no destination in mind. We write because it awakens something inside of us. It stirs our passions. It compels us to adventure.

About 30,000 miles down the road we wake up broke, tired, alone, and worse yet – with our coffee-stained teeth smiling back at us in the rearview mirror.

Nothing’s changed… except the scenery. We ended up in Plano when we’d hoped for the Rocky Mountains.

The adventurers out there are angry with me right now. What’s wrong with a good road trip? they ask. Don’t you know that planning takes all the fun out of it?

I’m not asking you to plan every detail of your writing-trip. In fact, I’m not even asking you to take the GPS. I’m only asking you to glance at the map. Because whether or not you know it, you have a destination in mind:

You want to be the crazy-best writer you can be.

So whaddya say? You can wind your way aimlessly around the continental writing world and hope that maybe – just maybe – you’ll arrive at that place.

Or you can use the tools of people who have already traveled this road. (I’ll post several of my favorite "maps" for non-fiction writing at the end of this post.)

Come on. Grab your passions.

Your awakenings.

Your adventures.

And your map.

We’re going on a road trip.

Oh… and don’t forget the Crest white strips.

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Writing "maps" that have put me somewhere between Plano and the Rocky Mountains:

Book Proposals that $ell

Writer to Writer

www.wannabepublished.blogspot.com

www.noveldoctor.com

The Bestest Tools In the World!

I hope you had a fabulous weekend! Mine was absolutely, positively, INSANE but that story is for another post on another blog. :)

I'm SO excited about the blog topic this week and last week! I loved seeing everyone's favorite books - it appears that I'm overdue for a trip to the bookstore!

This week, we wanted to share a few of our favorite writing tools. Be it a blog (umm...hint, hint :) ), a book, a reference guide or a website. Maybe even a laptop or a computer program or whatever. For example, I have always wanted to know if those plot creator programs are actually helpful. I always see them when I'm in Best Buy (this makes it sound like I'm in Best Buy a lot. Okay, I've seen the program the three times I've been in there).

So, without further delay, here are my bestest friends when it comes to writing!

When it comes to naming characters:

The Name Book by Dorothy Astoria - This book is so great - my copy is ragged from so many years of usage. If you read my personal blog, you know already know about this book. It's amazing. I get inspired for stories by just reading some of the names in it!

SSA.gov - This website has a list of all of the most popular baby names by each year. So, say you have a character who was born in 1930 and you need a name that would have been common back then? Type 1930 in the year box and there you have it - the top twenty names (Mary is #1, in case you were curious!).

When it comes to learning the ins and outs of writing:

Getting Into Character by Brandilyn Collins - Awesome, awesome reference on how to add layers and personality to your characters. If you're having problems giving your characters depth, check out this book.

Plot and Structure by James Scott Bell - I have had the ultimate privilege of sitting in on several of James Scott Bell's workshops and he definitely knows his way around a plot! His way of explaining how to craft a storyline is both complex and simple to understand. If you want to write well, this is a must-have in your bookshelf.

Guide to Getting Published by Sally Stuart - This book gives you the details on how to write a proposal, how to find a good agent, how to find a publisher to propose your story to and what happens behind closed doors. Fabulous reference!

And my #1 resource?

My mom and my sister. Never underestimate the power of having someone to tell you whether an idea is dumb or not! :) These two have talked through storylines with me, planned plots and helped climb over the incredible hurdle called "Writer's Block". Pretty much, they are awesome!

How about you guys? Any helpful resources you wouldn't mind sharing? :)

Have a great Monday!

Erynn :)

My Fave Novels

Because I love novels, I thought this post would be easy to write. But then I had to narrow down my list! Um, not so easy. I had to create a criteria for what would be listed here, and I finally decided to post a few of my favorite books that I've read more than once (and could still read again).

Piercing the Darkness
by Frank Peretti

I first read this novel when I was twelve or thirteen, and I was blown away. I'd never read anything like it. I credit Piercing the Darkness for inspiring me to write Christian fiction. I loved how Peretti created a compelling, suspenseful story ... and yet wasn't afraid to shine the light of truth. He wasn't ashamed to share the gospel in his novels either. I really admire that.

The main character in Piercing is Sally Beth Roe, an imperfect woman who's running for her life. Oh, and did I mention that angels and demons spend the book fighting over her (and others)?

I have read Piercing the Darkness at least five times, maybe more. It's probably time for me to pick it up again! If you haven't read it, you might consider reading the first book in the series This Present Darkness first. They can be read separately (I read Piercing first not knowing there was a book before it), but it's best to read them in order.

The Rivers Run Dry
by Sibella Giorello

Sibella is a new favorite author of mine. She was a reporter before turning to fiction, and she's even been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. Her first novel The Stones Cry Out won the Christy award for first novel.

The Rivers Run Dry is her second published novel, and it's been one of my favorite books to recommend these days. I love how she writes suspense that's character driven. The main character, Raleigh Harmon, is a woman who's strong but not to a fault. I wrote a book review of this novel that says in part:

The Rivers Run Dry is a rare gem in the suspense genre, paying as much attention to character development as to plot twists. Even minor characters are created with Giorello’s trademark attention to detail. Read the full review here.

Here's how much I enjoyed it. I read the book on a road trip, then as soon as I finished it I turned right around and read it out loud to my family. You can't read just any novel twice in a row and enjoy both times!

In Between
by Jenny B. Jones

I picked up this book and found myself laughing out loud (and I don't normally do that!) almost every chapter. It's that funny. And yet it isn't one of those fluffy YA novels you could take or leave. This one has depth and deals with some tough subjects.

Main character Katie Parker is a sixteen-year-old girl in foster care who's just been sent to live with a pastor and his wife in small town In Between. Her mom's in prison, and she's never really had parents who loved her. She's not all that sure about this God thing, either.

Every year my dad and sister take a camping trip to some remote area of the country where we can just veg out and not think about technology, work, or anything. All we do is sit around the campfire, eat and read. Lately our tradition has been to bring along a novel and read it out loud to each other. In Between was elected on our Idaho trip. I think the squirrels started wondering about us. We were all laughing really loud at times.

And the cool thing is, if you like In Between, it's the first book in the Katie Parker Production series. On the Loose and The Big Picture follow (and are also terrific).

Saving Sailor
by Renee Riva

Here's another one that came with us camping that we also loved. The main character's a ten-year-old, quirky girl who's kinda like Scout in To Kill A Mockingbird. She's an animal lover to a fault (her parents won't let her visit the pound ever again), has an animal cemetery where she gives proper burial to the various creatures she finds on her Idaho island home.

Her Italian family is also really quirky, but that's what makes us like them. They're eccentric yet love each other deeply.

I was so glad when Renee wrote a sequel to Saving Sailor in Taking Tuscany because I had fallen in love with the characters. I highly recommend both!

Well, you know I could go on and on talking about novels, so I better sign off now!

Chick Lit, Hemingway and Biographies, Oh My!

When I was a kid, getting a new book was a big deal in my world, and really, not much has changed since then.

In fact, my perfect day always involves a trip to the bookstore. Rain or shine, summer or winter, I absolutely love perusing the shelves of the local Barnes & Noble, Borders or Indie shop and finding something new to read—even if I don't end up buying it right away.

While I'd like to think my taste in books is more sophisticated and refined now that I'm all grown up, my choice of reading material, not to mention my list of favorites, is still all over the map. And that's exactly how I like it.

But instead of anything by Judy Blume, Robin Jones Gunn's "The Christy Miller series" and Dave Drevecky's sports memoir Comeback, my favorite, go-to books of my younger years, I've adopted a few new must-reads. So with no further adieu, here are five of them (in no particular order)...

Can You Keep a Secret? by Sophie Kinsella—Yes, like many gals, I adore chick lit. Or most of it, anyway. And yes, I'm fully aware it's not exactly rocket science or all deep and mysterious. But sometimes a girl needs a good laugh—and this book delivers them in spades as Emma Corrigan navigates those tricky waters between what's truth and, well, what's fantasy. If you haven't read anything by Kinsella, you'll adore her easy-breezy, witty style.

A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway—I have my hubby to thank for this particular introduction. Before reading A Moveable Feast, I wasn't necessarily a fan of Hemingway's often-depressing prose. Given all that he'd been through in his life, I really shouldn't have expected more, but it still wasn't easy plowing through The Sun Also Rises or The Old Man and the Sea. But A Moveable Feast? Well, that's a different matter entirely. From start to finish, the book is an absolute joy to read. Set in Paris (and trust me, Hemingway does such a great job of capturing all the sights, smells and stellar people watching), it's a moving (no pun intended) memoir of his time there with his first wife, his famous literary friends (F. Scott Fitzgerald, James Joyce, Gertrude Stein, etc.) and his pen.

U2: At the End of the World by Bill Flanagan—I love U2's music and a really good biography, so this book was definitely a highly anticipated read for me. And thanks to great storytelling, it didn't disappoint in the least. While some biographers fall in love with their subjects to the point where they can't write objectively about them, Flanagan never surrenders to this temptation. Instead, he writes about Bono and Co. in a warts-and-all way that makes you feel like you're really getting a behind-the-scenes glimpse, not the puff piece the band's publicist really wanted.

The Year of Living Biblically by A.J. Jacobs—Answering the question of "What if someone decided to follow the commands and customs of The Bible to the letter?" A.J. Jacobs' book has some intriguing insights about faith, even though he doesn't consider himself a Christian. Plus, it's laugh-out-loud funny from the first page. When my hubby was wrapping up his Master's degree and studying his theology in the other room, I remember routinely bursting out in giggles on several occasions (especially when Jacobs tried stoning someone in Central Park) and having to interrupt him, just so I could read him the funny parts. Needless to say, Will didn't get much work done, but I sure had fun reading.

On Writing Well by William Zinsser—Such fabulous insights on writing in an unpretentious package. I've read this on several occasions (especially in those moments when I really needed inspiration).

These are a few of my favorite things...

DUM Dummm DUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!

When Erynn suggested a week of featuring our favorite novels, I gulped, nodded bravely, and thought, surely I can narrow it down. And I have!

From 1,000 to 100.

Unfortunately, because I have other pressing needs (like book deadlines - yikes!) that don't apply to blogging, I can't list them all. Plus, you'd probably grow bored and start surfing. (web surfing, that is. Though if you're in Cali or somewhere else on the coast, then hey, go for the real thing. I'll interview you later if I ever write a surfing novel!)

So, I'll stick to two, and seriously, these are off the top of my head, as books that made an impression on me in some form.

First of all, is THE SHAPE OF MERCY by Susan Meissner. I agree with what Erynn said about her books and I hate to repeat an author this week, but maybe that just goes to show you how amazing a writer she truly is. I also enjoyed BLUE HEART BLESSED but this novel is different. This novel resonates for literally a year after you read it. It's been that long and I can't forget. I can't move on. That novel inspired me on so many levels, and I can't stop the ache inside that cries out for release to write my own story that is stuck inside. It's brewing, and it'll come out one day.

Be prepared =) And when it does, I'll probably have to thank Susan in the acknowledgments, even though I've never met her, for just doing what she does.

From Publishers WeeklyStarred Review: Meissner's newest novel is potentially life-changing, the kind of inspirational fiction that prompts readers to call up old friends, lost loves or fallen-away family members to tell them that all is forgiven and that life is too short for holding grudges. Achingly romantic, the novel features the legacy of Mercy Hayworth—a young woman convicted during the Salem witch trials—whose words reach out from the past to forever transform the lives of two present-day women. These book lovers—Abigail Boyles, elderly, bitter and frail, and Lauren Lars Durough, wealthy, earnest and young—become unlikely friends, drawn together over the untimely death of Mercy, whose precious diary is all that remains of her too short life. And what a diary! Mercy's words not only beguile but help Abigail and Lars together face life's hardest struggles about where true meaning is found, which dreams are worth chasing and which only lead to emptiness, and why faith and hope are essential on life's difficult path. Meissner's prose is exquisite and she is a stunning storyteller. This is a novel to be shared with friends. (Sept. 16) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Secondly in a totally different way, is LEAPER by Geoffrey Woods. It's unique. It's hilarious - seriously, I don't know when I've giggled more over a novel. If you don't laugh out loud, truly out loud, every ten pages or so, something is just wrong with your eyes =) This novel is just GOOD.

From Publishers Weekly: It's a bird...it's a plane...no, it's.... Leaper-man? In this quirky, kooky debut novel, Wood (himself a barista at Starbucks) imagines what it might be like if a 30-year-old, divorced, over-caffeinated coffeehouse barista were suddenly endowed with a superpower that allows him to leap through space. ("Like a butterfly in a bad breeze, I'm all over the place.") Narrated by "James" in first person, the story is littered with oddball behavior, hyper-anxiety ("you can never worry too soon"), and random musings, including a funny back-and-forth with a 911 operator. So, what's a superhero supposed to do? Does he need a costume? What about good deeds? A relationship with a fellow barista, Monica Oates, throws James into her family life, which resembles a sitcom. But even the sweet, longsuffering barista Monica finds a relationship with him difficult. Soon, James's bizarre power has cost him his job, his apartment, a potential love interest, and earned him some jail time. As James grapples with his God-given superpower, he decides he wants out. Wood is a funny, talented writer with a welcome, albeit unusual, voice in faith fiction. Readers will hope to hear more from him in the future. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

It didn't change my life or speak to me deeply or anything else dramatic like Susan's novel did, but when people ask me for book recommedations, I immediately suggest LEAPER. It's right there in the front of my head and ready on my lips as a book I think everyone would like, especially male readers. (and my new neighbor down the street agreed after I lent him my copy!)

So what are your favorites and why? I know we've been discussing that through comments on the other Chick's posts, but is there anything else you forgot to say? For me, discussing favorite books is like revealing a part of your soul. You're recommending someone else's work for evaluation and discussion, yet, a part of yourself is included in that because for you to recommend it is for you to say it meant something to you. That could be interpreted on many different levels. It's a pretty deep thing.

Now off to eat more candy corn and celebrate Fall and the early mail-in of my line edits. Take that, deadlines! haha. =)

Welcome to Book Club

I have a confession: my idea of a deep read is Dave Barry Is Not Taking This Sitting Down.

Every once in a while, however, I get duped into trying something that's a little less... hmm... how shall we say it... potty humoresque?

Here are a few of my favorite reads from the past several years:


Watching the Tree Limbs by Mary E. DeMuth

An acquaintance recommended this book and I thought I would read it a little at a time. (Haha.)

Unfortunately for me, I had dinner company the day I started reading it. So after 6 hours of reading and 3 hours of entertaining, I had to try to figure out a way to get the guests out the door.

(Was feigning the flu such a terrible thing? OK... I didn't. But I thought about it.)

When the company was finally gone, I stayed up until the early hours reading. There's a reason the pages were water-damaged when I was finished. (No -- it had nothing to do with the fact I couldn't take a bathroom break.)

I wept at Mara's story in relation to my own. That night, I started down the path toward healing from my own similar experiences. Mara gave me the courage to take that first step. Three years later, I'm so grateful for an author who was willing to write about the truly raw stuff.

Escape from Fred, by Brad Whittington

Escape from Fred started out as an escape from math class for me. I ended up passing the class... barely. Good thing for Brad Whittington, or I'd have had to sue him for keeping me awake with his dialogue.

(To me, that's the mark of a good book... it won't let me rest until I've devoured every bit. You may not accomplish anything else in life, but at least you've finished that book...)

****
Some day I want write like Mary DeMuth. I want to tell a story with such power and conviction and feeling that someone's heart is urged to do something life-altering.

Some day I want to write like Brad Whittington. I want to draw the reader in with such wonder and excitement they can't put the book down. (Oh, and sounding like PG Wodehouse doesn't hurt either.)

But for now, I guess I have to stick with the potty humor writing. I should master one thing before I try to move onto another...

****
BJ Hamrick is a proud Scribble chick and the editor of Real Teen Faith.