Robin Caroll: Up Close and Personal

Good morning Seekerville!

This is Pam, and I've asked Robin Caroll to share some tips on prepping for a writing marathon. I've seen her go dark and resurface a few weeks later with a 90K book. It's an amazing thing to watch.

So, let's turn this show over to Robin. Welcome to Seekerville, girl!

Let me first say that I am so not a plotter. But I'm not a total pantster either. Let me explain.

I do very thorough character sheets on the protagonists and antagonists. I get pictures of them, do their history...everything. Here's an example of what I do: Madeline "Maddie" Baxter character sheet. That is just the first page of that character's information. I do this for my 3-4 main characters.

As far as plotting goes....I know the basics: Basic plot, setting....then I have my "open" areas: alibis, research, etc.

When I'm ready for a writing marathon, here are some tips that I've found helpful to me:

(Before starting, make sure you have someone else watching your children, doing whatever household stuff you normally do, etc. so you can spend some serious time focusing and being creative)

1. Neurologists have reported you can only concentrate on a subject for 42 minutes before you fade, if even for a moment. I get the scene I need to write in my head, set my timer to 45 minutes, and just write.

2. No editing allowed in your 45 minutes.

3. When the timer goes off, get up and stretch. Get a glass of water. Splash water on face. Whatever. Get out of your chair for at least 5 minutes.

4. It's ok to check email or text messages, but ONLY for 5 minutes. If you have to set a timer to make sure you don't get distracted, do that.

5. Take 5 minutes and read what you wrote in those 45 minutes. You can do minor editing here-but ONLY for 5 minutes.

6. Set timer and do it all over again. And again. And again.

7. STAY OFF FACEBOOK.

8. It's ok to send a quick tweet in your 5 minutes instead of checking email.

9. If you need to research something, make a note of the page # and just what you need (ex: pg 12-how do they answer the phone?) and keep going...don't stop to look it up. It's MUCH easier to do all those little research bits at once when you aren't writing.

10. After 4 sets of the 45 minutes, take 45mins to an hour and go for a walk, eat lunch (or any meal you might've skipped), do anything else except watch tv, check email, edit, get on facebook or twitter....the point is to keep your subconscious working on the next several scenes you're going to write.

11. Go through steps 1-10 again. Then, if you're still able and can, do them again. Remember to eat for energy. Fruits are great. Okay, so is chocolate. :)

I've written 65K words in 7 days doing this. 15K in one 24 hour period, but I don't recommend this unless you're up to it as it can be DRAINING. Some additional warnings: let your family/roommates know you're doing this. You will snap if someone interrupts your 45 min sessions and breaks your concentration. Turn the ringers off your phones. Lock yourself where you aren't tempted to even think about turning on the tv, "just to catch the news headlines." If you can totally turn off your internet and not check email, twitter, facebook, even better. (I can't-I just can't make myself). Let people encourage you. Tell them what you're doing. I send tweets (ok, it feeds into my facebook too when I'm doing it via my stupid-phone) of my word count goal percentage met every couple of hours.

Most importantly, reward yourself when you're done. If you hit your goal, woohoo-chocolate is in order! If you didn't, you still made progress! If you totally failed...well, hmm....try again later?

Pam again. What Robin didn't tell you is that her manuscripts are squeaky clean when she gets to the end of this process. Obviously, this isn't the way to write day after day, week after week, but if you're on a tight deadline, it gets the job done.

Or if you work a day job and find your creativity drained at the end of the day, or your day starts too early to get in the groove for writing, maybe carving out a few days to do a marathon would get a major chunk of the story out of your head and into the computer. Then you can concentrate on cleaning it up.

Another excellent Seekerville article is Cheryl Wyatt's Productivity. How to get the editor off your Shoulder to spit out the first draft. She gives some great pointers, and shows how getting up close and intimite with your story ramps up the word count the longer you stay imbedded with it.

So, there you have it. Robin's (and Cheryl's!) tips for churning out a lot of words quickly.And, if you want to see the final product of one of Robin's marathon writing sessions, throw your name in the hat with a comment for a chance to win a copy of Robin's latest release from B&H, Injustice for All, print or ebook, your choice.

Oh, and I just had an aha moment. Injustice for All is the 1st book in Robin's Justice SEEKERS series. Highly appropriate, wouldn't you say?

BIAW Weekend Edition

Today and tomorrow mark the end of the Seekerville BIAW.

We hope yours was successful.


When your SBIAW ends please post a closing comment on Sunday or Monday and be sure to come back to take the Seekerville BIAW/Birthday Survey which can be found on the right hand column of Seekerville. Survey ends October 18. Once again, posting a word count is not a requirement.

Everyone who registered and followed up with a post BIAW comment will be entered into a drawing for BIAW birthday prizes.


We'll announce the winners in the Saturday October 17, Week End Edition

We have winners.

Starbucks Via winners from last Sunday's Fantabulous Weekend Edition:

Walt

Lori

Renee


The winner from Cheryl Wyatt's BIAW Day 2, Productivity post is Vince. He's won a copy of Noah Lukeman's, The First Five Pages.


BIAW Day 3, Glynna Kaye' winner from her post, Writing, the Day Job, and You, is Leigh Delozier. Leigh is the winner of a copy of Victoria Lynn Schmidt’s Book in a Month: The Fool-proof System for Writing a Novel in 30 days.


Myra Johnson posted, Your Face is Familiar, but... on BIAW 4. Winner of her debut release, One Imperfect Christmas is Jen Chandler.




Next Week In Seekerville:

Monday: Join us for (a Seekerville secret,) Plan B. (How to Get Off the Island.)

Tuesday: Genesis Winner, Lacy Williams is our guest.

Wednesday: Seeker and Revell author Julie Lessman shares The Write Word.

Thursday: Multiple Golden Heart finalist, Pam Hillman is your hostess.

Friday: Tina Russo posts on, Writing Guy ... with a little help from her Seeker pals.

Save The Date:

Tina James, Senior Editor of Steeple Hill Love Inspired Suspense and Love Inspired Historical, is coming to Seekerville!!!

Tina will join us on November 12, hosted by cub reporter Ruth "Jimmy Olsen" Herne.

Send your questions, thoughts, or things you'd like Ruth to ask Tina (thereby removing the onus from YOU) to loganherne@gmail.com

Let's give Tina a rock-your-socks Seekerville welcome of great food, great fun and totally awesome conversation! We've also got some great giveaways in the works, so stay tuned.

Debby Giusti, Tina James, Missy Tippens, Janet Dean and Glynna Kaye

And There's More!

October 20, Margie Lawson, counselor, speaker, and writer with many hats is in Seekerville.


October 23, Erica Vetsch, and The Bartered Bride are with us.


October 29, Daddy, Needs Decaf, Walt Mussell will be with us.


October 30, Genesis Winner, Christy LaShea, visits.


November 2, Pièce de Résistance, Sandra Byrd is coming!


November 10, Revell author, Dan Walsh, The Unfinished Gift, will be here.


November 11, Judy Gann, author and speaker appears in Seekerville.


November 13, NCIS aficionado, Lisa Jordan is our special guest.

Seeker Sightings:

Camy Tang will be at Girls, God, and the Good Life on the 14th of October.












Next week, Oct. 14th, Mary Connealy is on Inkwell Inspirations talking about One Sentence Pitches. Stop by for a chance to win Cowboy Christmas.

You can also win a copy of Cowboy Christmas through Monday on Trish Perry's blog.







Julie Lessman can be found, October 16-22 -- Bad Boys Gone Good, at A Sequence of Continuous Delights Blog. Vote for your favorite Daughters of Boston hero and leave a comment to be entered into a book giveaway for your choice of signed book in the Daughters of Boston series OR a signed copy of Katie's story when it releases Sept. 2010.








Friday October 16, you can find Glynna Kaye at, Much Cheaper Than Therapy.











Tina Russo will be blogging at Nobody Writes It Better on Tuesday, October 13th. Join her for Do What You Are, a discussion on the balancing act of life.

Random News:

From Cindi Myers Market News: (Anyone can sign up for the newsletter by sending a blank email to CynthiaSterling-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

• Pocket Books will now focus solely on mass market paperback titles. Pocket Books staff will now acquire for both Gallery and Pocket. Jennifer Bergstrom, an editor formerly with Simon Spotlight, will be editorial director of the new group. Lauren McKenna will be executive editor and Mitchell Ivers senior editor. The group also includes editors Patrick Price, Kathy Sagan, Micki Nuding, Jennifer Heddle, Abby Zidle, Ed Schlesinger, Emily Westlake, Jaime Costas, and Megan McKeever.
  

• Editor Diana Ventimiglia has left Silhouette Books.

Check out Harlequin's Vintage Collection and the 2010 Romance Report.



More on the FTC ruling at PRNewser: FTC Clarifies Blogger Guidelines: 'We've Never Brought a Case Against Somebody Simply for Failure to Disclose'



Writing a story set in Canada? You ought to know the Top 5 Canadian Slang Words. Check it out here.

Pedal to the Metal—or—Slow and Steady Wins the Race

Day one 3500

Day two 4000

Day three 3000

Day four 3800

Day five…oops that's today. And I'm writing this before…today. So, assuming I continue on tomorrow at my current pace (Saturday is going to be tough-busy day-but I'm going to try) I'll have 17,500 words written on my book by the end of BIAW. Normally, I'd have 5,000 total.

That's me. Slow and Steady Wins the Race. Yeah, I know, the tortoise, same body type as me. Yeesh.

But this week, I've been trying it a different way. Volume, volume, volume. No, I can't quite manage to turn off my internal editor. I just can't. In that I seem to be The Little Train That Couldn't.

Another fairy tale reference. Maybe I'll get to Sleeping Beauty eventually.

It's that kind of week I guess, I'm everything that is literary thanks to my glut of writing.

So what's the RIGHT way to write? The longer I'm in this writing game, the more I finding out that there are a LOT of ways to write a book. I talked to a lady once who wrote her book from the middle out. I know lots of authors who write scenes then switching those scenes until they’ve got a story laid out. This amazes me.

I start at the beginning and write through to the end. How dull. How linear. I am mostly a SOTPs author (seat of the pants) but I think a lot of the terms we have for writing styles is an attempt to put into words something that's really HARD to put into words. We're always trying to teach classes or write books on the craft.

But how do we explain exactly how to set a scene?

How do we explain why we picked a character for a POV scene?

It's just hard to explain is all, because there are so many different ways to do it, and a lot of times I think the WORDS we use to explain are different but the meaning is the same. So we get in these little debates about Seat of the Pants versus Plotting. But honestly, I think most people plot their books out at least somewhat beforehand. And I think most plotters often abandon their plots and follow the story if it leads elsewhere. So plotters or pansters? More alike than we want to admit.

Is your book character driven or story driven. Well, to me, the two are so intertwined you’ve just got to have both. So it’s BOTH driven. No one is teaching that class.

Internal and external conflict. Your story needs to have both. But to me internal conflict is character. External conflict is story. So those words aren’t exactly accurate either.

So this week on Seekerville, we've been trying to encourage everyone to go along for a wild ride and really WRITE THAT BOOK. We’re not talking about HOW to do it. The CRAFT of doing it. We’re just saying DO IT. WRITE!

And in the end, that's what it all boils down to. Write and keep writing. If you want to be a writer…write. I heard someone say once that of the people who say they're writers, only about 20% ever actually finish a book. None of that here at Seekerville of course. We've got serious writers hanging around here.
Well, except I write comedy, but serious except for the jokes.

But if that statistic is true, then just writing, hitting those keyboards, finishing that book, puts you ahead of 80% of the crowd. YAY!

I can't tell you how many people come up to me and say, "I think I've got a book in me." "I want to write a book someday." Or some variation on that. I had someone—an older man, tell me once he had this great story he always told to his kids at bedtime. And he was going to write it one of these days and it'd fund his retirement. No, I did NOT laugh in his face. I said, "Write it and let me have a look. I can tell you where it fits in the market and where you could send it. Get some addresses for you."

He said he would. I don't think he will.

A writer writes and this week, all you wonderful Seekervillians, all you gung ho SBIAW participants, have been writers.

THANK YOU FOR BEING PART OF SBIAW.

Now, don't let up. All this writing…we want to hear how it came out. The books you've pushed toward completion, the books you've started, let us know. Let us cheer lead. Tell us today in the comment section what you've gotten done this week… YOU ARE ALL A BUNCH OF BIG SHOT WRITERS, YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://www.maryconnealy.com/

"Your face is familiar, but . . . "

So you’re four days into your book-in-a-week challenge and you’re tooling along great. Except you get to page 97 and you suddenly can’t remember if your hero has green eyes or blue eyes.

And did you describe your heroine’s hair as ash brown or dishwater blond?

Oh, and what about the klutzy neighbor you introduced on page 36? What was his name again?

Myra’s handy-dandy character spreadsheet to the rescue!

Some of our visitors may remember my Novel Planning Excel Workbook from last summer.
Since then, I’ve added one more spreadsheet, this one for tracking character information. (See download instructions at the end of this post.)


One way to use the chart is to fill most of it out before you begin writing, but you can also add to it as you discover more about your characters--or add new characters--during the writing process. If you need a different row heading to keep up with details specific to this book, or additional character columns, just use Excel’s “insert row” or “insert column” commands wherever you need them.

And the really cool part is that your character descriptions are now all right here in one convenient file, along with all the other vital information about your work-in-progress.

Having your important character descriptions listed side by side helps you see at a glance if too many characters look alike, sound alike, or otherwise cry out for greater variety. It may even help you brainstorm opposites (backgrounds, beliefs, quirks, secrets) to more effectively portray your hero/heroine or protagonist/antagonist conflicts.

Remember, any writing tool is only effective if it helps you write. And every writer is different. The more you write, the more you’ll learn about your personal organizational style--which methods help you get the book written, and which methods make you want to bang your head against your keyboard and scream.

So don’t get bogged down by the details or the pressure to fill out endless forms. If a system isn’t working for you, modify it to suit your personal style and needs. Or abandon it altogether and try something else.

Now get back to that WIP! It’s Thursday already, and you’re burnin’ daylight!

You can download Myra’s entire Novel Planning Excel Workbook here. Each time you start a new workbook for a WIP, be sure to use the “save as” command and rename the workbook to match your WIP title. That way, you’ll always have a clean master workbook for beginning the next project.

And don’t forget, Myra will be giving away a copy of One Imperfect Christmas to one of today’s Seekerville visitors!

Productivity. How to get the editor off your shoulder to spit out the first draft

This week we declare war.



Cheryl here. This is one week when it is OKAY to ignore an editor. I’m talking that internal editor (IE) in your head who mercilessly pokes your brain with the business end of an imaginary red pen at all the mistakes in your manuscript. That perfectionist creature in you who (rightfully) aims for excellence in fiction. Said editor will be a wonderful, crucial asset at the self-editing stage. But for now, for the purpose of attempting to double-handedly type an entire book in a week, ignore it.

Read: your IE is hereby deemed The Enemy. For one week fight it.

Great links to articles on disabling your IE:


Turn Off Your Internal Editor and Write Your First Draft Faster



Use Three Words To Bypass Your Internal Editor



How To Bypass Your Internal Editor



Internal Editor


My added advice for BIAW:

Be brutal with time management

Abolish perfectionism.

Break the bonds of your backspace key. Deem it off limits.

Unshackle your ability to free write. Use prompts if needed.

Wipe out weapons of mass distraction. Stay offline.

Seek and destroy incoming schedule missiles. Tell everyone you’re unavailable for a week and then do not answer the door or phone.

Tell your family to call ONLY in the case of a life-threatening emergency. Tell your teenager the fact that they forgot their PE clothes is NOT an emergency. If they have to run their mile in flip-flops, they’ll remember their tennis shoes next time, guaranteed.

Eat and sleep right.

Schedule the upcoming week’s blog posts in advance. Send message explaining you’ll be MIA for a week in order to do BIAW.

Type in the dark. I’m serious. Then you won’t see what it is you feel the compulsion to fix. LOL.

Write on an Alphasmart if you have one or borrow if able.

Type with noise-cancelling headphones on to drown outside distractions.

Type with music on to block IE’s voice unless music distracts you.

Think forward. Type forward. No looking back. No going back over the work either mentally or by reading/proofreading. Push the forward momentum. Watch your work snowball into a story you never thought you could write that fast.

Writing well will happen after you complete your mess draft.

Give yourself a strenuous daily word count. For instance, to write a 70k BIAW, you need to write 10K words a day. Figure your necessary daily word count and meet or exceed it.

Sound impossible?

The average typist masters 2000 words per hour at leisure. If you work 5 hours a day without distraction, you’ll meet your goal. Or write 6 hours per day and take brief breaks.

If you work, getting a book out in a week would be worth taking a few vacation days. Just a thought. How desperate are you to publish?

I didn’t watch TV for three years before I sold. I gave TV time up and became brutal with my online time. I disabled IM and went “no mail” on most loops. What can you give up this week in order to have uninterrupted hours to write?

TIME IS YOUR MOST VALUABLE COMMODITY.

Spend it wisely. Don’t waste it on unproductive activities. I’m serious, people. Playing games on Facebook will NOT lead to a book contract.

If it makes you feel better, stick a note on the door that says, “Warning. Deadline house.” Then ignore laundry, dishes and cleaning chores screaming for attention. Learn the art of ignoring. At least for this week. Say no to everyone who tries to infringe on your time unless God taps you on the shoulder and tells you to pay attention or break free. Literally, clear your schedule and warn your friends and family that you are hibernating for a week and can’t be disturbed.

No exceptions. No procrastination. No excuses. I wrote three books in a two month time period with all the tendons injured in my hands after a car wreck when my hands went through the steering wheel but my fingers didn’t. I also had two surgeries in the midst of that. If I did it, you can too.

Give yourself permission to write messy. Aim for edit-free writing.

After you’ve been writing for about four hours straight, something begins to happen. The more you write, the faster the words will come. Here is a daily word count for the sixth book in Wings of Refuge:

4,218day 1 total

9,765 day 2 total

15,153 day 3 total

23,829 day4 total

36, 306 day 5 total

49,405 day 6 total

64,708 day 7 total

Cut to 58,900-final word count

So you see that the more days I wrote, the higher the word count happened each day. Don’t look back. Don’t look around you at everything that needs to be done. It can wait a week. Trust me. Don’t let anyone cut out in front of you as you race to the finish line for this BIAW.

Cook a week’s worth of meals for your family or clean your house top to bottom before you start if that helps ease your guilt factor. Secure safe childcare for your children and attend to anything they may need that week early. Free yourself up.

Those totals broken down by day:

Day 1 approx 4k

Day 2 approx 5k

Day 3 approx 6k

Day 4 approx 8-9k

Day 5 approx 12-13k

Day 6 approx 14k

Day 7 approx 15k

You can cut or add later.

My point in showing you this is to demonstrate how, once you’re immersed in your story for hours and then days, how your word count will snowball. Not only will you be upping your cumulative word count, but you will be upping your average daily count too. Stay immersed! Do. Not. Edit. No matter how tempted. Do not give in to internal or external distraction. Blow through the story and fix later. If your piling-up laundry or dishes bother you, get thee out of the house. Stay with a friend who will respect your writing time. Or check yourself into a hotel (with no Internet access!) for a week. Then come out with a completed book. I’m serious. You can do this! Knowing you finished a book in a week will be worth the time you set aside.

Focus on finishing. Don’t stop to edit for anything.

It’s possible to write 70k in a week. Once you get going and become immersed, you’ll be surprised at your productivity.

Happy writing!

Cheryl


Today I'll be giving away a copy of Noah Lukeman's, The First Five Pages to one Seekerville poster. Winner will be announced Sunday in the BIAW Weekend Edition.

BIAW day one! With Camy! Shift into Right Brain mode!

Ooooh, that’s a nice description. Oh no no no, that’s a terrible way to put it. Oops, I wrote a passive verb. Hey, I just laid down three adverbs in a row! The right word just isn’t coming to me . . .

Sound familiar?

That pesky internal editor. Most writers say to lay down a bad first draft and edit later. There’s actually scientific reasoning behind it.

Right brain is creative stuff like writing prose and brainstorming. Left brain is editing your prose and sifting through which brainstorm ideas you should keep or chuck.

It's often very difficult to switch between the two completely. Usually when you switch from analytical to creative, you're not 100% into your creative mode--there are vestiges of analytical thinking going on.

When you use both at once, the brain can't keep up with the switching back and forth. Most of the time, your creativity is what stalls.

That's why it's often difficult to be as creative or as efficient when writers switch between editing and writing, editing and writing. The analytical side--editing--doesn't fully relinquish brain energy to the creative side for writing.

This is especially important this week during our Book In A Week at Seekerville! Your goal is to lay down those words, and you can't achieve quantity unless you go completely RIGHT BRAIN MODE.

This is why many writers recommend turning off your "internal editor" when writing the first draft. Don't correct, don't second-guess that word, don't fiddle with that phrase, don't decide that action is too bland, don't stop and do research--just make a note to yourself and move on. That editing is left-brain work, which would short-circuit your creative right-brain work if you stopped to indulge in it.

Can't remember the right phrase? Make a note to yourself: [FIGURE OUT THE PHRASE HERE] and then just keep writing.

Stuck on a research question? Write a note to yourself: [DID THEY WEAR CORSETS FOR EVERYDAY OR NOT?] and then just keep writing.

Got lots of typos or misspelled words? Just grit your teeth and keep writing, don't go back to fix them now! You'll fix them all next week!

Realize you made a mistake or that you want to change something? Just leave a note: [REMEMBER TO GO BACK AND HAVE JAKE ENTER AFTER THE SHERIFF LEAVES, NOT BEFORE] and then just keep writing!!!

One trick to try is closing your eyes. The senses of blind people sharpen to make up for loss of sight--your creativity might enhance when you remove your sense of sight. It can also remove the discouraging picture of the blank page. Block out distracting thoughts like work, housework, kids (although if you've prepared adequately for BIAW, you'll have already cleaned, cooked for a week, and either shipped the kids to Grandma's house or gotten some good earplugs for yourself). If you can, type or write with your eyes closed, forget about misspelled words or the pen writing on the desk--oops, well, I guess you kind of have to watch out for that.

Another trick is to try writing as fast as you can. This forces you to just go with your gut and stall your analytical side. Plus this is a necessity for BIAW writers with only a week to write an entire book!!!

Something magical happens when you go completely RIGHT BRAIN MODE. While at first, your words are complete and utter dreck, after a while, you start to suddenly come up with some really good stuff. You surprise yourself with the ideas that flow into your fingers and onto the page. It's as if a secret box inside you suddenly opens up and starts spilling all sorts of literary gems into your computer.

This is the nature of when your brain switches to complete right brain mode--your creativity is unleashed full force. You are no longer hampered by cliches and boring ideas--your creativity bubbles up from deep inside you to come up with wild and fantastic actions for your characters to do, witty or deeply emotional dialogue, unexpected turns in the plot.

This is also why you can write a book in a week! So work to get into that right brain mode today and start writing!

Camy Tang writes romance with a kick of wasabi. Her novels Single Sashimi and Deadly Intent are out now. She runs the Story Sensei critique service, is a staff worker for her church youth group, and leads one of the worship teams for Sunday service. On her blog, she gives away Christian novels every week and ponders frivolous things. Sign up for her newsletter YahooGroup for monthly giveaways!

Fantabulous Weekend Edition

Time to pre-empt this post with a Tina goof up. I forgot Myra's sightings!!

Myra Johnson will be appearing....

Wednesday, 10/7--Christian Authors Network blog

Thursday, 10/8--Relz Reviewz and of course Seekerville

Friday, 10/9--Inkwell Inspirations

AND . . . She's signing at Steve's Sundry, Books & Magazines, 2612 S. Harvard, Tulsa, OK on Saturday, 10/10, 2-4 p.m

BTW I used to live in Tulsa for 13 years and Steve's is my favorite book hangout. They used to serve food at the bar in the back and every week I'd come in hoping for a new Dixie Browning or Debbie Macomber book. ~~Tina

Not only is this a jam packed and fantabulous weekend edition, but....


Today is also the last day to register for the

Seekerville BIAW. Check out Friday's post for more details and the prize list.

The SBIAW starts tomorrow. We want to see your name on the BIAW list.

Next Week In Seekerville: It's BIAW!

Monday: BIAW Day 1, Camy Tang presents, Right Brain, Left Brain.


Tuesday: BIAW Day 2, Cheryl Wyatt presents, Productivity. How to get the editor off your shoulder to spit out the first draft. Cheryl will also be giving away a copy of Noah Lukeman's, The First Five Pages.


Wednesday: BIAW Day 3, Glynna Kaye presents, Writing, the Day Job and You. Glynna will also be giving away of Victoria Schmidt's Book in a Month.

Thursday: BIAW Day 4, Myra Johnson presents, Your face is familiar, but . . . Join Myra as she expands her novel planning Excel workbook into the area of characters. You learn how to keep track of character details and descriptions. She'll also be giving away of her current release from Abingdon Press, One Imperfect Christmas.


Friday: BIAW Day 5, Mary Connealy presents,

Pedal to the Metal-or-Slow and Steady Wins the Race.



Saturday: BIAW Day 6, Ruth Logan Herne presents, Persistence: Tapping Your Inner Moabite Princess


Sunday: BIAW Optional Day 7 and reporting day. Weekend Edition.


Monday: BIAW Conclusion and reporting day. Take the survey. Tina Russo presents Plan B.


We're excited to stretch our writing muscles and see what we can accomplish this week.


Write On!





Today is also the day Captain Jack Sparrow announces the winners of the Seekerville Treasure Hunt.

Jack will also be available for a limited time today to chat in Seekerville.


And now without further ado..

Born To Be Wild with Captain Jack, and .....our winners.





Winner of the $50.00 Christianbook.com gift card:



Connie Marquise



Ten Winners of Seeker book sets (two books per set):

1. Christy James
   


2. Edna Tollison
   


3. Lori Anne Smith
   


4. Rae Byuel
   


5. Cynthia Chow
   


6. Shelly Dixon
   


7. Robyn Lee
   


8. Renee Chaw
   


9. Cathy Shouse
   


10. Michelle V.

Winners of The Fire In Fiction by Donald Maass

1. Walt Mussel
   


2. Lisa Jordan
   


3. Susan Mason


4. Patricia W.

Congratulations and thanks for being friends and readers of Seekerville.

Please contact Tina at tina at tinarusso with your snail mail address asap unless she already has it.

Seeker Sightings

Join Mary Connealy at a booksigning at Parables in Omaha, NE on Saturday, October 3rd from 2 - 4.

She'll also be at Trish Perry's blog on Monday, October 5.

Mary be appearing on Dawn Kinzer's blog, Seriously Write, on Friday October 9.

Glynna Kaye can be found:

Monday, October 5 & Tuesday October 6 at Margaret Daley's Blogspot. Join her for a chance to receive a copy of Dreaming of Home.

Thursday, October 8, she'll be doing an interview and book giveaway at Romance Writers on the Journey.


Friday, October 9 Glynna will be posting with the eharlequin community.




Enter for a chance to win Missy Tippens upcoming release, A Forever Christmas, until Oct 18 in The Creative Madness Blogoversary Celebration!











Attention BelleBook winners. The mailings are still being compiled but expect to hear from Missy soon. Refer to our giveaway disclaimer for information on mailing parameters. Thanks for your patience!



Random News:

• Did you know that you can get a free download of Noah Lukeman's, How to Write a Great Query Letter, at Amazon Shorts?

The Love Inspired Historical authors now have four ways for you to keep in touch with them:
facebook: www.facebook.com/lih.authors
twitter: http://twitter.com/lihauthors
myspace: www.myspace.com/lihauthors
goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/24770.Love_Inspired_Historicals



Two romantic movies, one a drama, the other a comedy:

The Invention of Lying

Bright Star

• From The New York Times: Simon and Schuster introduces The Vook.

Don't forget about the little side challenge we have going on:

Hook, Line & Sinker. Postmark Deadline, November 1. The first three pages of your manuscript. Cash prizes. Final judge is Brenda Chin, Harlequin. Contest is limited to the first 125 entries received. No categories.

I dare you! This contest is only ten dollars. That means you forgo two and a half Starbucks latte's to enter. Do your first three pages have what it takes? Good writing is good writing, no matter what category you write for. Once again...I DARE YOU!

• Two amazing words: Starbucks VIA! Packs of 3 can be purchased for $2.95 at your local Starbucks. Currently decaf is not available. Stick them in your backpack and you have your favorite addiction, anytime, anywhere. Today I'm giving away a sample to three lucky posters. But you have to tell me you want it in your post. Winner announced next Sunday October 11 in the Weekend Edition.

The 11 Great Laws of Storytelling by Jeffrey Hirschberg. Excellent applications to novel writing.

• From Publisher's Weekly: Sourcebooks Adds Teen Imprint.

Have you read, Embracing Your Inner Weird? by guest blogger Matt Mikalatos at Rants & Ramblings? I don't know about you, but in addition to my regular scribbles I am embracing my inner weird with a closet novel. GREAT POST, MATT!!

• Romance Writers of America welcomes the new Romantic Women’s Fiction Chapter. Members interested in joining this chapter may e-mail Therese Walsh at twalsh2@stny.rr.com.

Quest for...What?

My first direct view of Titanic lasted less than two minutes, but the stark sight of her immense black hull towering above the ocean floor will remain forever ingrained in my memory. My life long dream was to find this great ship, and during the past thirteen years the quest for her had dominated my life. Now, finally, the quest was over.

Robert Ballard penned his thoughts after discovering the RMS Titanic nearly two miles deep in the North Atlantic. His unwavering desire to accomplish his dream drove him to scan, search, and scour the route the ill-fated ocean liner had followed. He spent countless hours at the site of her demise and swam into the depths of the frigid waters more times than imagined.

He had a quest and would not stop until his quest was complete.

Merriam Webster’s 10th Collegiate Dictionary 10th edition, a volume after my own heart, describes a quest as 2b: a chivalrous enterprise in medieval romance usually involving an adventurous journey.

Have you striven after something thirteen years in the making?

Is there anything that stirs your passion until it becomes a very part of your being?

Does this sound like your writing journey?

Without a quest, our writing journey is reduced to a Milquetoast bland scribble on pages covered with a waste of ink. It makes us want to shop for office supplies rather than using them. We choose Solitaire over HEA every time.

A quest fuels our fire. It refuses to let us sit in front of the television, answer emails, read the tabloids. No longer are we floating down a river of indecision grabbing onto any debris of distraction that bumps into us. Quests make us settle down in our writing chairs, makes us press on.

A quest isn’t chosen; it is foisted upon us.

Did Robin Hood wake up one day and think, “hmm, wonder what Marian is up to?” No! The evil sheriff threatened Maid Marian’s life and Robin wouldn’t stand for it.

Did Jack Colton think Joan Wilder just another cute babe on the road to Cartagena? Nope. He wanted something she had. He wanted it badly. But along the way, he discovered he wanted her heart more than the gem. He fought for her, protected her, took her to safety. He risked it all to save the woman he loved.

Forrest Gump may have viewed life as a box of chocolates, going where ever fate and God led him, but watch out anyone who dared hurt his Jenny. His quest in life dictated he love Jenny. And he did all in his power to keep her foremost in his heart.

Do you have a quest that beats that strongly in your heart? Is writing so much a part of you that the thought of not writing down wayward thoughts and snippets of brilliance gives you the chills.

Can you set down your pen (or keyboard) and walk away from following the desire of your heart??

If you can, then do it.

The writing journey is filled with the deepest sink holes and blackest moments. It drives you to talk to your self and entertain figments of your imagination. It drives your family nuts.

Don’t walk away – RUN!! Save yourself. If the quest is not in your heart, your heart will not be in your quest.

But…the writing journey is filled with joy, too. Fellow writers applaud your successes and offer to help you over bumps in your road. Your characters encourage you with the greatest pride when you find your groove and create a tale taking them on an amazing journey worthy of Hallmark. You smile as you type The End.

To paraphrase John 15:16, You didn’t choose to write; writing chose you.

No, the quest isn’t for everyone, nor should it be. Robert Ballard strove for thirteen years to discover the resting place of the Titanic. THIRTEEN YEARS.

How many years are you willing to devote to your dream?

I’ll let you in on a secret…I’m past that thirteen year mark. I’m on my 7th computer, 4th printer and countless reams of paper. I’ve burned dinners, neglected housework, forgotten to walk the dog. I’ve written stories that make me laugh and cry.

I’ve forged lifelong friendships.

My family still loves me, even though they don’t always understand. By hey, this isn’t their quest.

The road to publication is not easy, but wow, what a ride!

So... have you heard the Seekers are planning a little Book In A Week challenge next week? How about putting your quest where your keyboard is. I challenge you to participate.

To push yourself.

To make your brain cells hurt.

Rise to the challenge and see what kind of grit you’re made of.

Prayers are with us all the way : )

Blessing to everyone!!

-audra