Troubleshooting Tips for Problem Plots

Good morning, Everyone! Audra here. Plot is the most difficult aspect of writing I've encountered. How much of this? How much of that? And what was I supposed to throw in a pinch of? OMG, starting a book always has me trembling in my boots. And then one day, the good Lord took pity on me. I discovered Rock Your Plot and haven't looked at plotting the same since. I've invited Cathy Yardley to join us in Seekerville and give us some plotting tips. 

Are you having trouble getting the plot for your novel worked out? I’ve worked with people in various stages of their novels, and the thing I hear most of all is – well, “Help!” 

Sometimes, you have a great picture of a hero or heroine.  Maybe you’ve got a sense of the opening.  Perhaps you can clearly picture several scenes, some action, a fantastic setting.

Then, that whole pesky plot thing gets in the way.  You might know how it ends, but you’re not quite sure what happens in that vast wasteland of the middle.  Or you sense that your pacing is slow, repetitive… but you’re not sure how to speed things up and fix the problem.  Scenes may not seem to flow well.  You may have too many characters – or maybe you suspect you don’t have enough.  Should you add a sub-plot?  Condense a few secondaries? How do you decide?

Here are a few troubleshooting tips to help you hone in on what might need fixing, and how to repair it.

1.       Check your protagonist(s). 

Who is this story about, and why will the reader care?  If you’re writing romance, that generally means you have a hero and a heroine.  You’re going to want to write plot points for both of them, to weave together into the story.  You’ll also want to make sure that the reader cares enough about them to follow them along on the novel’s journey.  It doesn’t mean that they have to be likeable, necessarily.  It does mean that they need to be interesting, or empathetic, or larger than life.  Think of some of your favorite protagonists by your favorite authors if you’re looking for inspiration.

2.      What does your protagonist want?

This is the “goal” portion of the “GMC” equation, and it’s crucial.  Look at any back cover blurb or book description, and the goal of the book is clearly stated. 

-  “Jack Ryan needs to stop the terrorist.” 
-  “Lucy Smith just wanted to make her cupcake store successful.” 
-  “Darla Kaine returns to her old home town to bury her past.”

Whatever the goal, it needs to be something tangible, something where you know when the character has achieved it.  “Bury her past” is, admittedly, a bit murky.  But if you then clarify in the story itself that Darla’s goal is to prevent a specific secret from coming out, and that means convincing a reporter who has followed her to bury a story, then her goal is clear:  convince the reporter.  Can you think of what your protagonist clearly wants?

3.      Why is your protagonist’s goal important? 

If you’re having trouble figuring out what to do with your plot, it may be because you haven’t set a large enough goal to begin with.  Let’s say your protagonist’s goal is to win a pie baking contest. That could be cute, or interesting, but it’s not necessarily enough to turn pages.  An easy way to test this is to ask:  if my protagonist does not get her goal, what is the consequence?  If there isn’t a consequence – or if your protagonist simply won’t be very happy – you might not have enough at stake.  With the pie baking, if your heroine made a deathbed promise to her mother, that would be much higher stakes and a much stronger reason for winning the contest than “because she likes pies.” 

4.      What’s standing in the way?

Conflict is one of the biggest challenges for writers, new or experienced.  We love our characters, which can mean we don’t want to see them go through a lot of pain!  But conflict is crucial.  It’s the tempering process, the catalyst that helps your protagonists grow and develop their way through their character arcs.  No pain, no growth!  A handy tip:  write a list of twenty things that can make your character’s goal even harder.  The first ten things tend to be cliché.  That next ten? That’s where you’ll strike gold.  Finally, don’t just threaten bad things – actually have bad things happen to the character.  The threat is often not enough.

5.      Is your ending satisfying?

If you’ve been ramping up the conflict and the pacing, delivering a satisfying ending is crucial.  But maybe you’re not sure how the story is supposed to end.  Or you might find yourself forcing situations or relying on coincidence or luck to get your protagonist out of his/her problems.  For a satisfying ending, you want the character to use what she’s learned on the journey of the novel to get to the ending.  Ask yourself:  how do I want my protagonist to be different at the end of the novel, as a result of the conflicts she’s been through?  Make sure that the protagonist has a hand in the resolution.

Where do you have the most trouble when creating your story’s plot?  Leave a comment, and get the chance to win a one hour “plot session” phone call with me, complete with recording and notes! 

Audra here. I can't help but raise my hand and say, "Pick me! Pick me!" LOL. Cathy's method of plotting turned my writing world around!! As an extra bonus today, I'm adding 3 additional ebook copies of Rock Your Plot! Check the WE to see who gets to work out their plot with Cathy and who gets her ebook : )

I also want to let you know that Cathy and a number of other writers are raising funds to help mothers with young children attend a writing conference. The full bundle of what they're offering can be found here:  http://www.writermamas.com.  Having an 8 year old son herself, she understands how difficult finding the money and juggling the responsibility can be. Don't we all! Check out the website, the bundled offer is phenomenal!

Cathy Yardley is the author of seventeen novels, published with Harlequin, St. Martin’s, Entangled, and Avon. She is also a teacher, editor, and writing coach at her website, RockYourWriting.com. Sign up for her free e-course Jump-start Your Writing Career, and check out her e-books on plotting, revising, and writing every day!  

Our Second Annual Beach Retreat!

Missy, here, coming to you with a little more tan and a lot more freckles! Our family just returned from a vacation on the beautiful Alabama coast. Spent a glorious week at the beach with my husband and three kids. Once again, I thought I'd share! Today, you can have your very own mini-writing retreat. :)

First, though, some business. I've found a wonderful app for my iPhone that's a huge help in tracking my work. It's called HoursTracker. ($3.99 in the app store.) I love this for tracking time spent on individual projects. You can easily clock in and out. You can even clock in or out later if you forgot to do it at the actual start time. You can set up multiple jobs (I have one for each manuscript, for blogging, for social media, for critiquing, for judging contests, for time spent on various offices for my RWA and ACFW chapters...)

I'd love to hear of any apps you might know of for keeping track of your work time. Please share!

Now...on to your very own beach retreat...

Good morning! Time to get up and spend some peaceful time on the balcony. A nice cup of coffee, your Bible and a deserted, quiet beach await.

Once you finish breakfast and your devotional, it's time to write! The sound of the ocean waves hitting the shore is the perfect white noise for me. I hope it speaks to you like it does to me! Here's your morning soundtrack.




And a special treat! We saw a double rainbow one morning!

So after a session of writing, the beach is filling and the kids at the pool are starting in on a game of Marco-Polo. It's difficult to concentrate now, so it's probably time to break for lunch on the balcony and a little time at the pool or beach yourself. Here's your afternoon soundtrack...





After lunch, head down for digging your toes in the sand...

...and setting up to read under your beach umbrella! Because remember how much we learn about writing from reading. :)

If you'd like to work for a while down on the beach, here's your afternoon beach soundtrack...




Once you're done, it's time to quit for the day and spend time with the family. Time for a beautiful dinner at your favorite restaurant on the bay, where you can look at all the yachts and dream about how it might feel to own one.

Then back to the condo to watch the glorious sunset...

So do you feel rested? Did you get a lot accomplished on your retreat? :) What's your favorite place to write?

***************
Visit Missy at www.missytippens.com

Or join her on Facebook and Twitter:

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https://twitter.com/MissyTippens

What's On Your Shelf?

Hi everyone, Audra here. Can you believe it's May already?? Wow. Colorado is known for it's snowstorms in May, but with the hot winds and no moisture along the Front Range, I doubt we have to worry about that. This is more like wildfire weather. Ahhh, I digress, but really, it's nice to finally leave winter behind.

And speaking of winter, I'm sure we all enjoyed our share of reading as we took breaks from writing during cold snaps, right? What other profession can you pursue where your free time is engulfed with the joy of "researching?" I've never heard of an author who didn't voraciously read.

So, the important question I pose today is: What's on your shelf?

(Ha, I kinda feel like the barbarian for Capital One asking "What's in your wallet?" hee)

Take a look at your nightstand, your livingroom table, your keeper shelf and tell me -- besides the cup of coffee and assorted magazines -- what do you see?

A book? Lots of books?
What kind of book? Well-read or hot-off-the-press?
A romance? An adventure? A thriller?

Chances are you have a central theme in the books you hoard, covet, and collect. Now, compare them to your current WIP (work in progress). Are they the same genre? They should be. The old adage remains true: write what you know. And if you've spent years reading and consistently coming back to the same genre, that's the genre of book you should be writing, polishing and working up a killer spiel to present an editor or agent at this year's ACFW conference.

Why?

Because it's obvious you enjoy that genre. It brings you comfort in your rewards. You look forward to carving out moments in your day to follow the characters you love on the adventures you yearn for.

If that's the kind of book you love to read, chances are it's the kind of book you'd write well yourself.

You've got to love what your writing or the enthusiasm will not come through, the emotions will be forced and the research to make it feel real will be just this side of daunting. If you love romance, for example, don't be ashamed of it. Embrace it and put all your passion behind it. Don't try to write a scifi fantasy if that's not the section of the bookstore you camp in. The deadliest mistake an author can make is to write to a market you have no interest in just because it's hot.

If you wouldn't read it, you will not be able to write it.

By writing what you read, you're giving yourself a huge advantage. You've studied the masters, the authors who have engaged your interest enough to have you come back and buy a second book. The rhythm of the genre beats in your heart and the cadence of the words flow from your fingertips. You've studied the characterization; you anticipate the excitement of the plot points. It's a part of you and what better way to channel your emotions and the inner story of your heart that's just dying to come out?

Every kind of writing has it's own expectations and conventions. You can't have a great romance without the hints of passion and purpose (Julie described it best); great Western wouldn't be the same without a shoot'em up scene or two (no one is better than Mary); a great sci-fi has to engage the reader and introduce them to a new world that's different enough to create, yet familar enough for us to identify with (I believe we have a closet sci-fi writing Seeker thinking about this).

Readers expect a certain amount of convention in the genre and they'll expect it from your books, too. Don't overlook all those years of reading romances or mysteries or Amish-time traveling-werewolves as just whiling away the time. Consider all that effort as pre-pub research. Put it to use.

Write a book you want sitting on your nightstand or kitchen table waiting for you to steal a couple minutes and indulge in a few pages. Put your passion to work and write that book that others will want sitting on their tables and chairs just waiting "to take them away."

Hmmm, I started with a credit card slogan and ended with Calgon. There's got to be significance in that somewhere, LOL!

Now for the fun stuff : )

I've implored the Seekers to share their keeper shelves, bedside tables, and all-round places in their homes. They've done a great job of revealing their reading passion. Now it's up to you to guess which photo goes to which Seeker. I'll be giving away prizes to three lucky winners who guess all of them correctly.

What you have to keep in mind is the PERSONALITY of the Seeker, the life they give their books, and consider where their inspiration might come from. I won't lie, a few of the pics are real stumpers, but don't worry, there'll be clues along the way. And oh yeah, you can think out loud all you want, hypothesize to high heaven, work together! I can't wait to see what y'all come up with, LOL!

Match up the photo with the appropriate Seeker: Audra, Debby, Glynna, Janet, Julie, Mary, Missy, Myra, Pam, Ruthy, Sandra, Tina.

I'll have a drawing for three prize packages for three winners! C'mon, time to get creative!!

I'll even start us off with a hint: I'm published with LI, writing contemporary cowboy themes, but before I got The Call, I finaled in both the Contemporary and Historical categories of the Genesis in the same year...and won the Historical Romance category with my Regency era manuscript. NOW can you tell which pic is mine?

Maybe the other Seekers will drop hints about themselves throughout the day...you never know...

1.

 2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

BUT WAIT, there's more!! After this first set of book collections, I have 3 pics left over that really hit the heart of the soul of 3 Seekers. Can you guess who they are???

How well do you know your Seekers???

 A.

B.

C.

 We'll have three winners here, too.

I'll be a mystery to the winner just which Seeker is sending you their book

All winners will be announced in the Weekend Edition. Stop by and see who won this week and check out all the new stuff for next week!!

The Great Spatula Hunt

The Great Spatula Hunt

by Missy Tippens

Missy, here. I love a good omelet. I have an egg white, veggies and cheese omelet a couple of times a week. (Used to eat one every day.) And all the while, my spatulas drove me crazy with the melted cheese sticking to them, getting stuck in the grooves of the slotted ones or just gluing to the edges of solid ones. So I went on The Great Spatula Hunt.

I wanted one that was silicone to be stick-proof. I finally found a nice one by Oxo that I liked at Kohl’s. Brought it home and made my omelet without problem. Yes! No messy cleanup. Then one night, I used it for grilling burgers, since it can be used up to 600 degrees. I went to serve a burger to my daughter, and the non-stick surface was so non-stick that when I slid the burger toward her bun, it went flying about 90 mph into her lap!

As the laughter died down (because she made a great catch and saved the day), I realized that maybe my specialized spatula was better used in certain situations instead of for everyday use.

Like favorite writing tools we need for certain situations. (Were you hoping I’d get beyond the Food Network moment to talk about writing? :)) So, I polled the Seekers about their favorite writing tools (and not one spatula was mentioned!).

My favorite writing tools:

When I’m writing a synopsis…Randy Ingermanson’s Snowflake method.

When I’m doing a read-through to check to see if my romance thread (or other plot threads) are consistent…Sticky Notes!

The two favorite writing tools of Love Inspired author, Tina Radcliffe are:

--Michael Hague's Six Stage Plot Structure diagram

--And Vince Mooney's Rewards-Per-Page post.

Love Inspired Suspense author, Debby Giusti, says, “My AlphaSmart gets words on the page. Then I can rewrite and transform rough into something much, much better. Also, I rely on Google to find pictures and information on objects, machines, cars, whatever, that I'm using in my story. Seeing a photo helps me to be more accurate when I describe the object.”

Janet Dean, Love Inspired Historical author, has several tools that are important to her. She says:

--As an historical writer, I value my Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary that dates when words came into usage and the American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms that dates expressions.

--I rely on my reproduction Sears Roebuck Catalogue that reveals what anyone in the country could own in 1897 and better yet what it looks like.

--My favorite plotting tool is a resource Missy suggested, The Story Within Guidebook by Alicia Rasley.

--Add the comfort of Debby’s The Writer’s Prayer and the additional backup of a zip drive and Dropbox on the Internet and I’m covered.

--Oh, and Post-It notes. Whatever did we do without them?

Ruth Logan Herne, also an LI author, has a favorite tool. And it’s not something you can buy. It’s one of her traits: ferret-like annoying nosiness, delving into people's lives with little or no compensation so that they'll help her. :) (I promise I’m not being mean, here. It’s how she described it herself!) Here’s what she says…

“Well, I pretend to be off the cuff, but I'm totally dorky about research. I can 'feel' the character's angst and emotion, but if I can't nail down their physical presence with their job and home, with their profession, with the ins and outs that don't make it sound made up or manufactured, then I can't write the book. So I immerse myself into the job/profession/situation as much as I can. I used a restaurant in Reunited Hearts because I spent eleven years in a Greek restaurant, so that was a walk in the park. But for the hero's role I contacted a Lt. Colonel at MIT who went to West Point. And yes, I found him on the Internet and approached him with my project and he said yes. :)

"Gotta ask!

 "And then I contacted a military man who went into an electronics firm to help design military devices to help me create Trent's transition from military hero to home-town hero. If I don't feel like the person's background and situation is done right, I can't feel good about the book's emotion because each thing feeds off the other. So research into the characters is huge to me.”

Camy Tang (Love Inspired Suspense, Guideposts and Zondervan) says:

“For character creation, I start with 45 Master Characters by Victoria Lynn Schmidt. I use the archetypes as a jumping off point for my own characters, starting me on "what if" questions. For example, for Sushi for One, I started with the Amazon archetype, and asked, What if an Amazon, who would be devastated by any type of sexual violation, had already been date-raped before the story began? And Lex was born. (jumping full grown out of her father's head ...)

For the manuscript, Camy also goes with the AlphaSmart. “Hands down. I can't revise while I'm on the AlphaSmart and it forces me into full-on creative right brain mode, and the words I write are just better.”

Thomas Nelson author Cara Lynn James says:

--I always have a glass of iced tea

--my flip dictionary (This was new to me, and very cool!)

--Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary which dates when words came into common usage

--The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms.

--I also have my cell phone.

Love Inspired author Audra Harders says she totally agrees with Debby and Camy on the AlphaSmart! She said her rough draft stays rough and flowing when she works on the AlphaSmart.

She also loves using WriteWayPro as her novel writing program rather than Word. It’s very user friendly. She had to pay for the download, but she loves it. It lets her develop characters, keeps her research organized (“For that alone it’s worth millions.”), and it's very easy to navigate. Then when she finishes a book, she just imports the file into an rtf file, saves as Word and voila! She can print and read.

And speaking of writing programs…Myra Johnson (Barbour and Abingdon), who is a Mac user like I am, inspired me with her favorite tool (now I’m ready to really jump in and finally learn this program!). Myra says:

“I LOVE Scrivener. It's great for keeping research organized and easily accessible while I work on my wip. Also I can save pix of my characters along with their bios as well as setting details etc. You can even save actual web pages right into the research section. There's also a feature that lets you set a project word count goal and a daily word count goal, and it tracks your progress on both.”

(I can’t believe there are so many features I haven’t been using. I’ll be correcting that soon! Also, I discovered there's now a beta version for PC.) 

When I asked this question about tools of the Seekers, Mary Connealy (Barbour and Bethany House) first said: “I just use my computer, that's it.”

But then she added a couple of more items:

--The Internet for searches, especially using Dictionary.com, Biblegateway.com and Wikipedia. When she does a Google search, she always types “wiki” at the end to see what pops up.

--Then she added, “Honestly, my best tools are reading great books, novels, not how-to books. I think I learn from them more than anywhere else.”

Amen to that, Mary!

What about you? We want to hear about your favorite tools! And while you’re sharing, help yourself to some extra-bold coffee, hazelnut creamer and…a nice cheesy omelet!! You eat. I’ll do the cleanup. :)

******
Missy's most recent book from Love Inspired, A Family for Faith, is still available...
Amazon
e-Harlequin
Christian Book
B&N

Visit Missy at www.missytippens.com

Finding (and Managing) Story Ideas

Where are the best places to find story ideas?

And once you get an idea, how do you make sure it doesn’t float away into the ether?

The simple answer to question number one is that ideas are everywhere. If you subscribe to a daily or weekly newspaper, you’ve got a potential goldmine of ideas right in your hands:

• In the front-page headline news.
• In the troubled lives of people who write to advice columnists.
• In the obituaries.
• In special-interest articles.
• In the op-ed pages.
• In the odd little one-paragraph news items that never make page one.

When traveling, or even in your hometown, look for interesting current or historical events that might inspire a story idea. Collect brochures and maps. Take lots of photos, including informational signs (a trick Mary Connealy has mentioned before).

Become an eavesdropper (politely, of course). I’m not much of a conversationalist, but it’s amazing what you can learn simply by listening to other people talk. Practice the fine art of nodding and smiling and occasionally asking questions to prompt further explanation. One of my acquaintances is heavy into dog shows and obedience training. Another friend is a professional potter. One of my husband’s buddies is a midlife marathoner. Interesting stuff!

Attend classes and lectures. Stretch your brain. Learn something new. This month our church is offering a three-week series on veterans and traumatic brain injury. Who knows? Someday I may decide to write about a character with TBI and how the family copes.

Now we come to the hard part--preserving your ideas so you can access them when you need them.

Here are some methods I’ve tried:

• Notecards filed in a plastic file box by topic (People, Situations, Phrases, Dialogue, Names, Settings, Other Interesting Stuff).

• Hanging folders for newspaper clippings, handouts, maps, brochures, etc., sorted by topic or location.

• A spiral notebook for recording random ideas (I sometimes color-code the entries by type).

• A three-ring binder with dividers, labels, and tabs.
• Computer files and folders.

I’ve also tried keeping a small tape recorder handy in the car for capturing ideas that come to me while in traffic. Then I transcribe the idea into one of the above forms after I return home.

The problem with these methods is that I’ve ended up with masses of information--clippings, notecards, maps, scraps, files, folders, etc., that may never, ever, EVER see the light of day!

I don’t know why this is. I obviously thought the idea was worth saving, or I wouldn’t have gone to the trouble of sticking it into one of my collection spots. But then time passes, the initial excitement ebbs, and when I’m ready to begin a new story, I find myself thrashing about for newer, fresher ideas.

So . . . confession time . . . I’m not as proactive as I once was about capturing every random idea that comes along. Because if I were to ever actually mine the several and sundry stockpiles cluttering my office and computer hard drive, I would have enough material to write books into the next two millennia!

These days I mainly watch for interesting informational tidbits--as much for story ideas as for adding verisimilitude to ideas I may already be working with. Again, the problem is making sure the information is accessible when I need it. Often the filing cabinet drawer ends up being the best solution, but I try to make sure my tab labels are specific and logical. (Don’t ask me how that’s working.)

One tool that could prove quite handy for jotting and filing away story ideas is the Notebook View in Word for Mac (sorry, PC users). You can add, label, and color-code tabs just like a real notebook, and each tab attaches to a “page” that simply gets longer and longer as you fill it up. A big advantage for keeping an idea file on your computer is, of course, that you now have an easily searchable record by using keywords.

what the Word for Mac Notebook layout looks like

I have also used Word’s Notebook View on a project-by-project basis for character sketches, random details about my work-in-progress, etc. I can copy and paste photos and research info straight from the Internet as well as direct links to Web sites.

Addendum: As I was composing this post, I happened upon news about the latest release of Scrivener, software for the Mac specifically designed for writers (I understand a Windows version is in the works). I’d put off trying Scrivener in the past, but with so many respected authors raving about the new version, I was convinced to give it a try. It has some exciting features that, once I figure them all out, will easily replace most of my “homemade” novel planning and research management systems.

Let’s talk! What are some of your favorite sources for story ideas? What methods have you experimented with for tracking and saving your ideas? What works for you? What doesn’t?

Leave a comment with your e-mail address to be entered in a drawing for Jason Rekulak’s The Writer’s Block, a surefire way to jumpstart ideas, beat writer’s block, and get your story moving forward!

Myra: a day in the life . . .

Let’s see . . . how can I turn a really dull “day in the life” into something daring, dramatic, and devastatingly interesting?

Uh, not happenin’.

Because, seriously, I don’t have much of a life. There’s basically my husband and family, my pets, and the computer screen. Oh, and my Seeker sisters, whose cyber-chat keeps me entertained, encouraged, and motivated all day long.

And it all begins (weekdays, anyway) sometime around 7:00 a.m., when I pry at least one eye open and roll out of bed. I stumble to the--oops, you really don’t want the minute-by-minute version, do you?


I slip on my robe and fuzzy slippers and find hubby in the kitchen, where he’s feeding the doggies and starting the hot water for my morning pot of Earl Grey Green. (He’s such a sweetie!) We plop into our double recliner with our cereal bowls and one pesky but oh-so-affectionate overweight dog nestled between us and turn on Good Morning, America.

After browsing the morning paper, I work the daily crossword puzzles and maybe the SCRABBLEgram to jumpstart the brainwaves. Then I try to spend 30-45 minutes on devotional reading and journaling.


Next on my agenda--on a REALLY good day, that is--I do some Wii Fit or else check e-mail on my laptop while putting in a mile or so on the treadmill. As a writer I spend way too much time sitting on my you-know-what, unfortunately.



By now it’s around 10:00 a.m. and time to settle in at the computer. Every morning my inbox is usually clogged with a slew of e-mails that came overnight (doesn’t anyone ever sleep???), so (unless I did this on the treadmill) I zip through those (always with a keen eye for any speck of breaking news from my agent). Next I check in with Facebook, Twitter, Seekerville, and a few other blogs I try not to miss. Mornings are also when I take care of errands, necessary household chores, office organization, and other busy work.


Lunchtime means more hubby time (he’s semi-retired and has his own office downstairs from mine). If it’s a nice day, we take our lunch out to the deck and soak up some fresh air and sunshine with the doggies.


After lunch I get serious about writing. (After another quick e-mail check--you just never know when something urgently important is going to come through--like my next book going to auction or Reese Witherspoon begging to star in the movie version of Autumn Rains.)

I usually start by opening my wip and rereading the last chapter or so, doing minor edits along the way. This gets me back into the story and my brain cranking about what happens next. I also have my Novel Planning Excel Workbook open in the background so I can quickly access plot, character, setting, or timeline details already recorded or add new details on the fly.

When I get stuck in the middle of a scene and don’t know what to do with my characters, I take another few minutes to check e-mail or pop in at Facebook, Twitter, and (natch!) Seekerville. Some may argue that Internet hopping during writing time isn’t the best habit to cultivate, but I do find it helps me get unstuck. And I always limit these breaks to only five minutes or so.

My writing day ends somewhere between 5:00 and 6:00 p.m., when hubby pokes his head around the stair landing and quietly asks if I have anything planned for supper.


Which, of course, I usually don’t. I’ve been working for a few years now to train him to take on this chore himself, but his success rate leaves a lot to be desired. I do, however, give him TONS of brownie points for taking over most of the grocery shopping, which I loathe!

I rarely do any writing in the evening or on weekends. For one reason, by 6:00 my brain is usually fried. For another, that’s when hubby and I unwind together while watching favorite TV shows and/or playing a game of Cribbage or Scrabble. Saturdays are usually jam-packed with household chores--yard work, cleaning out a closet, doing minor repairs, running errands, etc. Sundays after church we try to kick back and relax, maybe play some Wii Resort, take in a movie, have dinner with friends, or window shop at the mall.

And there you have it--the thrilling life of a (more or less) full-time writer. I have nothing but admiration for my colleagues who manage both a writing career and full-time “real” jobs. They are surely much more disciplined and organized than I am!

Favorite place to write: My upstairs office, surrounded by all my tools of the trade. Second choice is a lounge chair on the deck out back on a perfectly gorgeous sunny afternoon.


Favorite computer: MacBook Pro 15” laptop

Favorite reference books & other helps:

• Chicago Manual of Style (15th edition)
• Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (11th edition)
• The Synonym Finder
• Flip Dictionary
• Grammatically Correct, by Anne Stilman
• notes from Margie Lawson’s online classes
• a variety of baby name books
• The Moral Premise, by Stanley D. Williams, PhD (he’ll be here Friday!)

Favorite writing snack: Peanut M&Ms and Diet Caffeine-Free Dr Pepper


Favorite writing companions: Gracie & Shadow











What are your favorites--people, places, pets, snacks, etc.--that help keep you writing? Leave a comment with your e-mail address to be entered in a drawing for an autographed copy of my debut novel, One Imperfect Christmas. It is mid-October already, and (at least according to shopping malls and catalog companies) Christmas is just around the corner!