We Asked and You Responded

We appreciate the responses received from many of you concerning resuming in-person gatherings for the ACFW Indiana Chapter. Based on your feedback, our July 17^th ACFW Indiana Chapter meeting will be in person. While it has been great to see your smiling faces via Zoom this past year, it will be even better to see you in person. We love that technology allowed us to stay connected and even grow our following this past year. Rest assured we will continue to utilize virtual technology, hosting some of our future meetings via Zoom while others will be held in person.

We are excited for the opportunity to be together at the MCL Cafeteria on the north side of Indianapolis for a 11:30 a.m. start time on Saturday, July 17. Plans are in the works to also offer the day’s presentation via Zoom OR to provide a recording of the presentation available for viewing after the 17th. More info will be shared in the coming weeks. 

We are in for a treat as author, speaker, and podcaster Michelle Weidenbenner will share with us on the topic of getting started with indie publishing. Michelle is an Amazon #1 Best-Selling and Award-Winning author and speaker. She’s spent years writing fiction, but when God called her to take guardianship of her grandkids due to addiction, she refocused her work to serving moms of addicted loved ones.

I know firsthand that Michelle is chock full of tips and advice on the ins-and-outs of indie publishing. So, mark your calendar and stay tuned for more details and the request for RSVPs.

 

 

 

Review of "Scattered Links"

In "Scattered Links" Michelle Weidenbenner creates a story of thirteen-year-old Oksana. Oksana lives in a tenement in Russia with her very pregnant alcoholic mother and an aunt who has wearied of supporting her sister’s children. When an American missionary offers her regular food and help, Oksana is suspicious. Hunger and a need to care for her mother drives her.

As she helps out at the mission and sees the kind of people these Christians are she begins to believe that the adoption they offer for her soon-to-be-born sibling would be a good thing. Far better than the state-run orphanage where the room full of babies are too quiet. When her mother goes into labor while the aunt is gone, Oksana must overcome her fears, prejudices, and dreams to make some very adult decisions.

Weidenbenner has done something very few authors have managed – to bring tears to my eyes. The situations Oksana is forced to deal with are very real and thought provoking. They allow a peek at life that is foreign to many American youth and far too familiar to others. Oksana’s courage and tenacity dictate her choices for survival. Trying to fit into the lifestyle of an ordinary American family after a childhood of fendimg for herself isn’t easy. Not for her and certainly not for the adoptive parents who cannot understand her.

I was glad I read this book. While it is considered Young Adult Fiction, I recommend it to adults and youth alike. It stirred a desire to read Weidenbenner’s other works. Michelle Weidenbenner was a 2011 Genesis semi-finalist for "Love is Just a Word" which tells the story of a Russian teenage girl with an attachment disorder. You can follow her Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/mweidenbenner?fref=ts&ref=br_tf

          Mary Allen

Ten Top Reasons to Enter GENESIS and FRASIER Contests

Is your goal to publish a novel, but you can’t land an agent or spark a publisher’s interest?

You’d really like to attend a writer’s conference to get feedback on your wip, but you can’t afford the time or the cash. There’s an easier and less-costly solution. Get your manuscript evaluated by entering the GENESIS contest for $35 per entry or the FRASIER contest for $30 per entry.

Below are ten top reasons to enter:

• To get a pro to read your story—You want readers, don’t you? Isn’t that your ultimate goal?
• To learn—How do you format a manuscript? What’s a page break?
• To improve—What do you need to do better? Did your readers care? Why/ why not?
• To compete—How do you compare with other writers? Are you in the top 25%?
• To show off—Frasier judges pick a favorite sentence from your ms. Find out which one rocks and why. It might not be the one you loved.
• To get feedback—Published judges typically know what sells.
• To work toward a deadline—Force yourself to enter before the deadline to improve your ability to make a goal and keep it. Once you’re working with a publisher, deadlines will be constant.
• To win—scholarships and prizes, but most of all, bragging rights that look good to an agent or publisher, and visibility in the market place.
• To identify your strengths and weaknesses—Find out if you nailed your dialogue or if your hook grabbed the reader. Was your story goal believable?
• To practice how to take criticism—Once you’re working with an agent you need to learn how to stay professional—even if it means killing parts of your baby. Can you take criticism without getting your panties in a ruffle or your undies in a wad? If you can’t, who’s going to want to work with you?

Deadline for the GENESIS is March 4^th and the FRASIER is March 31^st. There’s time to enter both.

Click below for contest guidelines:

http://www.acfw.com/genesis

http://www.mybooktherapy.com/index2.php/the-frasier-contest/

How many of you have entered in the past or will enter this year? What were your experiences?

Movie Biology

Want to improve your writing? Watch a movie.

Analyze it. Dissect it. Identify its parts.

Why? For one, it’ll give you a break from your usual writing, but it might also help feed your creativity and teach you how to plot your novel.

For the past few weeks, I’ve attended My Book Therapy’s Monday night online chat session with Susan May Warren and other voices. During these sessions, Susan has shown us how to dissect movies into acts and relate them to our writing. That’s when I discovered I was movie illiterate. What I mean is: I’d never watched movies to dissect them and identify their parts. Sure, I knew they had a beginning, middle, and end, but I’d never scrutinized what happened in each act.

Until now.

So, last week, I allowed myself to watch movies—lots of them—just to analyze the acts. What a blast! Have you done this? If not, you might want to try this creative approach.

I’ll show you what I mean. Have you seen the movie, Home Alone? (I think I’ve watched it a hundred times with my granddaughter.) Hopefully you have, but if you haven’t you still might be able to follow this illustration. I will separate the events that belong in each act.

Here we go. (Remember, I’m new at this.)

Act One: We see Kevin in his ordinary world with his siblings, in his home (setting), and we feel the dynamics of the family. Then everything changes. This is the inciting incident. Kevin wakes to find his family gone. Every one of them. He’s totally alone. He’s in his usual home environment, but it’s all changed. He’s never been on his own before. Something has happened TO him to change his ordinary world.

When Kevin realizes what’s at stake, he’s ecstatic. This is his dream! He can do anything he wants and no one is there to tell him he can’t. Total freedom. Since his inciting incident is a positive experience, Kevin wants to increase his enjoyment. He jumps on the beds, plays with his older brother’s toys, eats whatever he wants, stays up late watching movies, and basically does anything he wants to do.

(Note: if the inciting incident had been a negative experience the quest would be to return to the ordinary world.)

In this act, we also get a glimpse of how Kevin fears the basement and the old man living across the street. This is a foreshadowing of the fear he’ll face in Act Two.


Act Two: This is where Kevin will encounter obstacles and conflicts. For example, he has to do the laundry—which means he has to go to the basement and face his greatest fear. And he has to face it alone.

In this movie, the biggest conflict comes from outside forces—the robbers. When Kevin realizes the robbers are going to come to the house he knows he only has himself to rely on. Yes, it’s great getting to do anything he wants, but it also means he has to face everything alone. But he has a choice. He could fight or hide. He chooses to fight and lures the robbers into the house. Once he does this Kevin has reached the point of no return. There is no turning back. His choice has consequences. What’s at stake? The worse case scenario: Kevin could get captured and die.

But Kevin learns something new about himself—he’s good at playing games and tricking people. He uses this skill to keep the robbers at bay and it works—until Act Three.


Act Three: This is the final challenge, the climax, or the Black Moment as Warren calls it. It’s when everything that can go wrong does. In Home Alone this is when the robbers capture Kevin and hang him on the hook. Nothing could get worse. There’s no hope. Or, is there? Just when we think this is the end, the old man, whom Kevin used to fear, rescues him.

In this act, after the robbers are caught, we see the change in Kevin. He no longer wants what he wanted in act one—freedom to do whatever he wants. Now he wants his family. He wants to return to his ordinary world because he’s lonesome. It’s Christmas morning and the only important thing to him is having his family back.

He’s redefined as a result of his journey.

In the end, all the loose ends are tied up in a bow. The perfect ending. His family returns. They see the change in Kevin in how he did the laundry, decorated the Christmas tree, and shopped for his groceries while they were gone.


Now you try. Watch a movie. Get out pen and paper. Take notes. You might have to skip the popcorn, but it’ll be worth it. If you watch (visual), listen (auditory), and take notes (kinesthetic) you might be more apt to remember—which in turn will help you apply it to your novel. Also, as you’re writing that short one page synopsis for GENESIS or FRASIER keep these acts in mind. It’ll help you tighten your manuscript and focus on good story mechanics.

And, if you’d like to delve deeper into these mechanics, please become a voice with us at Susan May Warren’s My Book Therapy. You won’t be sorry you did.

What's Your Hook?

What do the following quotes have in common?

“Physicist Leonardo Vetra smelled burning flesh, and he knew it was his own.” Dan Brown, Angels and Demons

“Whoosh. That was the sound of another high profile prisoner being sent into eternity.” John Burke, Empress Hunter: 2010

“The snow in the mountains was melting and Bunny had been dead for several weeks before we came to understand the gravity of our situation.” Donna Tartt, The Secret History

“I’m what you call an orphan, I guess. Officially, I’m a ward of the state of Texas.” Jenny B. Jones, In Between

“It was bitter cold, the air electric with all that had not happened yet.” Robert Goolrick, A Reliable Wife

“Outside the village there is a fire ring, blackening the thawing snow.” Elizabeth Kostova, Swan Thieves

“PJ Sugar would never escape trouble.” Susan May Warren, Nothing but Trouble

“I wasn’t surprised when Mama asked me to save her life.” Randy Susan Meyers, The Murderer’s Daughters

“Some people are born with extraordinary abilities.” Michelle Weidenbenner, Willow (working title)

These are the first sentences in each novel.

When I’m at a bookstore—or surfing at Amazon.com—I look through at least ten prospective books and read the first sentence in each one. Why? It’s fun. It’s a game I play. I try to determine the story’s plot, the genre, and whether the lead sentence hooks me. If it does, I study it. Why does it get my attention? How does it set the tone for the entire novel?

Sometimes I can tell by the first sentence if the book is literature—something thought-provoking, or if it’s mind-candy—something that will merely entertain me, and not make me think too hard.

It also tells me something about the writing. I’ve noticed that the more recently published novels have much better hooks than novels with an older copyright date. I often wonder if it’s because more and more publishers are demanding better writing from their authors. I think they are.

In my first novel, Oksana, the first sentences were, “Stealing is common here. It’s survival.” When I entered that book in the Genesis and Frasier contests, one judge valued that sentence as her favorite, while another judge thought it should be eliminated because it was telling and not showing. This clearly illustrates that what works for one person won’t necessarily work for another. Fortunately, God made us all different with different opinions, but one thing that most publishers will probably agree upon is that your first sentence definitely matters.

Don’t be discouraged if you can’t flesh out your hook sentence the first time you sit down to write your book. You may need to write your entire novel before you find it. Sometimes it’s buried in your first chapter, or your last one. In Oksana, author and teen leader Bryan Davis found my hook about three-quarters of the way down my first page during a critique session at the Florida Christian Writer’s Conference.

Is your hook sentence good enough to pass my test? Is it good enough to pass yours? I don’t know, but make it good enough to make your publisher happy and my guess is that it’ll be good enough for the majority of your readers, too.

What’s your hook? Do you have a personal favorite? Please share!

Putting Passion into Fiction

Undercover Officer Cole side-stepped piles of dirty clothes, plastic bottles with green tubes, boxes of Sudafed, acetone, Drano, liquid fire and other meth paraphernalia in the run-down trailer on his way to Ryan’s crib—the two-year old who lay crying hysterically in another room. Cole found him in a soiled diaper on a mattress cluttered with the powder of his parent’s meth lab. Red oozing sores covered his once chubby legs as the toddler reached up for Cole to hold him.

Officer Cole lifted Ryan and squeezed him to his chest, soothing his hiccuped sobs, and fighting his own tears. The stench of rotting flesh, garbage and human feces surrounded him as he walked into the boy’s mother’s bedroom. He found her sitting on her filthy bed bone-thin, with rotting teeth, and her hair limp around her hallowed face. She gripped a knife gouging at the bloodied sore on her arm seemingly determined to extract the bug that she thought had invaded her body.

The excerpt above is fiction based on facts I learned at a public awareness meeting I attended in our county last night. This type of scenario is happening all over America, but our state—Indiana—is the second leading state in the production of meth labs. (California is the first.)

Can you believe that? I couldn’t, but I do now.

• Sixty-six percent of our jails house meth-related inmates. These aren’t bad people. They’re your brothers, cousins, sisters and parents who range in age from 18 – 62.
• Eighty-eight percent of our county’s recovery homes are filled with families affected by meth costing tax-payers huge dollars.
• Ninety percent of first-time users (both rich and poor, male and female) become addicted after their first use.
• Meth’s feel-good affect triggers five times more endorphins in the brain than sex, eating chocolate or watching Notre Dame beat Michigan. So, no wonder they want more. No wonder addicts will steal, neglect their children and lose their jobs for it.
• The best solution to the problem is to get pseudoephedrine off the shelves and make it a prescription drug. That’s all. Oregon did this and their meth labs are now almost non-existent

Why am I telling you this? What does this have to do with fiction?

Because…

As writers it’s our responsibility to put REAL current events into our fiction to make people aware, to make them care, to motivate them to help—to elicit emotions. Look around your community for the stories to base your fiction on.

God gave us the gift of writing. It’s our responsibility to write about life’s real problems, things happening all around us that affect our community. Why? Because we can… because we know how to show readers the world using word illustrations.

Yes, there will always be someone who can write a story better than you or me, but I believe if we’re writing about those things we’re passionate about we’ll sell our stories. We’ll move others, persuade them and in the process feel like we matter… like we’re making a difference.

Are you putting your passions into your fiction?

PS. Please write or call your state legislature to take pseudoephedrine off the shelves. www.killingacommunity.com

'Fess Up

What’s your lie?

Don’t hold back. ‘Fess up. We all have at least one. Really. Dig deep.

It might be buried under the surface of your busy life, but a year from now, or maybe a month from now you’ll have an “aha” moment and realize that your lie was just that—a lie; that somewhere, hidden beneath the junk in your trunk, is a truth that contradicts your lie. That’s your character arc. That’s your story.

Get it?

Let me explain.

Think back to when you were a teenager. Remember thinking that your parents didn’t know a thing, or that love would conquer all, or maybe you thought that the key to success was making large sums of money? But over a period of time you realized that your parents actually knew more than you, that love didn’t conquer all, and that success wasn’t measured by the amount of money you made. These truths weren’t learned in a day and didn’t drop out of the sky. There were specific life events that contributed to your aha moments.

Let’s pretend. What if we wrote a story about Crystal—a young teenager who had few friends, walked with her hair in her face and her shoulders slumped. She talked in a whisper and had poor eye contact. At first glance we might think she’s shy, and has low self-esteem, but buried beneath the surface is a girl who’s ashamed because she believes that she’s unworthy of anyone’s love or attention—a lie. Somehow something in Crystal’s past has made her believe this lie.

It’s our job as storytellers to take Crystal on a journey for the truth. She needs to change by the end of our story, but how? By taking her through a sequence of events that prove to her and our readers that what she thought was the truth was really a lie. Unfortunately, just like in real life, this transformation doesn't happen over night. It takes time and positive influences for this change to happen. This change is the character arc.

Many months ago my writing buddy referred me to Susan May Warren’s website www.mybooktherapy.com. One of the many things I’ve learned from this site is defining my story lie. Before I visited this website I’d never thought of my characters having a lie.

When I interviewed Susan May Warren I asked her, “How has each of your books allowed God to pour truth into your life?”

I loved her answer:

“In the spiritual journey of each one of my books, there is some sort of “lie” a character believes…so, as I research the elements of this lie, I always then counter it with the truth. And I believe the truth can only be found in God’s word. So, I spend a lot of time digging into His word and unearthing that truth for my character…and for me! My faith grows with every story – not only seeing God provide, but as God speaks His truth into my life, for my characters.”

So, take a minute. Think. What is your character’s lie? If she doesn’t have one maybe you could dig deep through your own personal junk in your trunk and find one. Give that lie to your character. Let her work through the scenes in her life as if they’re your own to find the truth. Chances are pretty good that if you’re struggling, so are many of your readers. They’ll be able to identify with your protagonist and relate—and that’s a good thing. Not?

And, if you’re personally struggling with a lie, search for ways to counter that lie through prayer and meditation, so you may find the truth that sets you free and gives you the character arc of wisdom.

Not 'til Death Will I Part

Do you know how many authors died before they became famous?

I don’t either, but there are probably more than I can count. (We won’t talk about how many committed suicide.)

Jane Austen’s work brought her little personal fame and few positive reviews while she was living. John Kennedy Toole, died at age 31 and was posthumously awarded the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. Very few of Emily Dickinson’s poems were published while she was alive. And wouldn’t Anne Frank be astounded by how the world has changed because of her work?

Here’s a current example: Stieg Larsson. Who’s he? He’s a Swedish author whose murder-mystery triplets —The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played With Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest— hold three of the top four spots on USA TODAY's Best-Selling Books list.

According to USA TODAY, Mr. Larsson, “a chain-smoking investigative journalist, dropped dead of a heart attack at age 50 after climbing seven stories to his magazine's Stockholm office because the elevator was out of order. Larsson sold the first three novels of a proposed 10-book series. But he died before the first one ever saw print.”

How tragic.

I believe I have something in common with these writers—a passion to write. It’s the way I communicate, express myself. I write because I can, and when I do I lose all track of time and sometimes reality, but I love that. I love when I can take myself into the minds of my characters and see, feel, hear and taste far-away places from their point of view without leaving my home. If I didn’t love what I do, I wouldn’t be spending my time and money on my journey to master this craft.

It’s not about the fame. (Well, okay, I’d love to see one of my novels on the screen. I admit it.) But more importantly it’s because I really, really enjoy it.

Are there days when I ask myself why? Why am I doing this? Yes. Some days the doubt tugs at me, but when I stop and think of the alternatives, of sitting in Corporate America tied to a schedule that allows for no creativity, I cringe. Writing is what I do and if it takes me until I die to get published, so be it. But in the meantime, I’m going to have fun writing my stories.

Why do you write?

Finding the Song in My Voice

When eighth grader Bryce Lippe was born four months premature, he only had a 15% chance to live. But he did. He can’t see or walk or use his fingers to play a piano, but he has many other gifts. For one, he has a voice.

Several weeks ago, he shared his voice with me and the congregation at Warsaw Community Church. He sat in his wheelchair next to Pastor Denny at the podium, held the microphone in his bent hand, and sang, The Climb, by Miley Cyrus.*

By the time he finished the song, I had goose-bumps on my arms and two tear-drenched tissues in my hand.

Pastor Denny asked him if he had any words of wisdom for the congregation. He reiterated Denny’s message. It went something like this: We all have limitations, challenges, but don’t focus on those. Focus on your gifts, and the way you can become the person God created you to be. Be God’s best version of yourself.

Follow me here.

For the past month, I’ve been trying to find my writing voice. (I’ve looked everywhere for my singing one. It can’t be found.) I’ve read book after book about voice because every agent looks for a strong one. I want one. Do I have one? Can readers hear it in my writing? Does it sound forced?

Then Lisa Harman, my critique partner, recommended Les Edgerton’s book, Finding Your Voice, How to Put Personality in your Writing. Les’ book includes gobs of helpful advice, but the part I love the most is on page 101, and below:

“…no matter what you write, there’s a good chance that someone else may do the same thing better.

There’s only one thing another writer can’t do better than you.

And, it only happens to be the most important thing a writer can possess.

Yourself.

Your voice.

They can’t get your personality on their page. And, since a personal voice is the single most important component of writing and the single most important element leading to success, no matter how good the competition may be, you’ve got an edge on them by simply being you.”

Is that all I have to do? Is be me?

I thought of Bryce’s message. If I become God’s best version of me, than won’t my voice shine through my writing? Won’t my voice sing? I have to trust that it will because I can’t be anyone different than me, and I don’t want to be. I’m proud of who I am, even if someone else can write a better scene.

Thank you Les for giving me permission to let go of my obsession to find my voice, because in the process, I found my voice.

How have you found the song in your voice?

*Note: Here’s a link to The Climb lyrics in case you’re unfamiliar with the song:

http://www.lyricsty.com/lyrics/m/miley_cyrus/the_climb.html

Are You Stylin'?

Is your writing in style? Which one? There are several, you know. Or, didn’t you know? I’m not talking about font or letter style—I’m talking about grammatical and punctuation style. Yep. Crazy, isn’t it?

I thought there was only one way to punctuate. That’s what my primary and secondary teachers taught me—there was the right way and the wrong way. Right?

Wrong.

It wasn’t until I submitted a book proposal to a contest and received several judges conflicting comments that I realized this wasn’t true. One editor said I used too many commas. The other one said my grammar and punctuation were spot on and gave me a score of five out of five.

How can that be? How can the same work be both right and wrong?

Here’s how. There are many different writing styles and guides. Here are a few:

• ACS Style Guide
• The Chicago Manual of style
• Turabian
• The Elements of Style
• The Elements of Typographic Style
• ISO 690
• MHRA Style Guide
• MLA Handbook
• MLA Style Manual
• The New York Times Manual
• The Associated Press Stylebook
• The Oxford Guide to Style/New Hart’s Rules
• The Publication Manual of the APA

These style guides each contain different sets of rules. Different publishing houses may use different style guides. Some are used by magazines and newspapers; others by universities. Most guides have new and old editions. The current CMS (Chicago Manual of Style) was updated in 2003 to include computer technology and internet information. This manual is the 15th edition and is said to be the biggest update in 20 years. My critique partner, Lisa Harman, says that styles are like different versions of WORD. There are upgrades, but some publishers prefer to keep their older versions—many times because they’re paid for.

So which style should you choose?

Ask. Most publishing houses have a preference and share style sheets with their writers. Sometimes you can find their preference in their guidelines. The style guides enable a standard of uniformity in writing regardless of how many different authors write for the publisher.

Preferred styles relate to things like grammar usage, whether to use ‘ise’ or ‘ize’ at the end of words, whether numbers should be spelled out, or digits used, etc. The New York Times Manual gives some whimsical entries, such as one for how to spell shh.

Here’s another example. Which one is correct?

Her worn Bible sits on the nightstand. I pick it up, run my fingers over its leather cover, and open it.

Her worn Bible sits on the nightstand. I pick it up, run my fingers over its leather cover and open it.

Both are correct. Whether you put the comma after the word cover depends on the style and edition you’re writing for.

But what if you don’t know who is going to be the lucky publisher of your WIP?

Which style do you use? Pick one and be consistent. I choose the Chicago Manual of Style because it’s the one I’m most comfortable with. I figure if I can successfully and consistently demonstrate that I can write within the parameters of the CMS rules, than a publisher will have the confidence in my ability to switch to their style if it’s different. Wouldn’t most of us do that for the sake of getting published?

Dr. Dennis Hensley, the director of the professional writing major at Taylor University, says, “When in doubt, reference my book, Teach Yourself Grammar and Style in 24 Hours.”

Don’t let style inhibit your writing. Just know that there’s a difference and the next time you read a novel, magazine, or newspaper stop and notice the style differences in punctuation. How are they different? And as you gather information about publishers, ask what their preferred style is.

The most important thing, though, is to keep writing because if you’re not writing, you’re not stylin’ at all.

Time Wasters

“I’m so frustrated. I didn’t get to write all day.” I complained to my husband.

“Who’s in charge of your time?” he asked.

“Ah… me…I think.” Wasn’t I? Didn’t I have the same amount of time everyone else did? Where did my time go? I knew there were other writers who were just as busy as me. How did they find time to write?

That was a year ago. Since then, I’ve taken charge. Things have changed. It all began at a writer’s conference when I met literary agent, Chip MacGregor, who recommended Carolyn See’s book, Making a Literary Life, Advice for Writers and Other Dreamers. Carolyn’s 8 hour chili method boosted my writing output. Her method is this: “Write a thousand words a day—or two hours of revision—five days a week for the rest of your life, and write a “charming note” (that does not ask for a favor) to a writer, editor, or agent you admire—five days a week for the rest of your life.” Since I established these goals I’ve written one book, started another, and am sketching a third. I’m amazed at how many people I’ve met by sending charming notes, too.

I found a writer friend who also follows Carolyn’s advice. We became accountability partners. Every Friday we send each other a list of what we’ve written that week. This helps me stay honest, and write more because I’m too proud to send her a big fat zero for the week. It also allows me to see my progress—which gives me the confidence to say, “I’m a writer.”

Do I still get in a funk? Yep. Last week I was running in place—making no headway. I needed a refresher course on time management. Couldn’t I do better? I searched for new ideas. Here are a few I found:

• Tiffany Colter, writing career coach, and recent interviewee at My Book Therapy’s Chat Session, said, “Time management begins with honesty. We need to identify our excuses.” What are your time wasters? Get a pen. Write them down. Pick one that you’re going to eliminate. Tape it to your computer.

• Learn to delegate. Even small children can carry their load. Tiffany designed a great reward system for her children. She shared it in the same chat session I mentioned above. “When my children were little I designed an accountability tool. To get them to let me write I came up with a color coded calendar. I wrote my daily word goal at the top. Red meant I didn't reach my word count. Green meant I did. Purple meant I blew it out of the water. My agreement with the girls was that they had to stay in bed at night so mommy could try for a green or purple day. Each morning they went to the fridge to see how good mommy did. When I reached the goal for 25+ days of the month we all celebrated with chocolate milk or something silly like that.”

• Randy Ingermanson, aka the Snowflake Guy, recommended writing in chunks in his Advanced Writing e-zine this week. “I set aside a block of time dedicated solely to whatever I’m working on. During that time, I focus on what I’m doing. I don’t check e-mail. I don’t answer the phone. I’m surly to the cat. When the time’s up, I take a break. During the break I can check e-mail, listen to VM or pet the cat.” For 50 minutes he works straight through. “I learned this technique from Eben Pagan, a productivity guru. On your break, detach completely from your work. If you write one 50 minute chunk per day, five days per week, and you get three good pages, you’ll write a full-length novel of 90,000 words in 24 weeks.” Just think of what we could do if we work for two 50 minute chunks a day!

• Keep a writing pad handy at all times. If you’re waiting in the doctor’s office, at the bus stop, in the pick-up line at school, or while you’re waiting for a train to pass, you can write a description of what you see, feel, smell, and hear. Title it. Keep it. Refer back to it when you’re writing a scene from that location.

• Enter a writing contest. This will give you a deadline and force you to work toward a goal. If you win, you’ll get bragging rights. If you don’t, you’re still working toward your daily writing quota, and practicing.

My husband no longer asks me who’s in charge of my time. He knows. I am. He figured that out when I learned how to delegate. I have more time now because he takes out the garbage, helps with the cooking, and does the dishes.

What are your time-wasters? What time management tips work for you?

Michelle Weidenbenner

Exposed

I recently stepped out of my comfort zone for the sake of my writing career and felt exposed in front of strangers.

I attended the Florida Christian Writer’s Conference, flying hundreds of miles away from my familiar writing chair and my family who think my writing is wonderful, and took part in Eva Marie Everson’s mentoring clinic. I wanted her professional opinion about the good and bad of my writing. I didn’t realize I was going to get eight other opinions, too.

Eva’s clinic was modeled after her book, Word Weavers, The Story of a Successful Writers’ Critique Group, (co-authored with Janice Elsheimer). After I introduced myself, I passed copies of my work to eight other writers—strangers, people who weren’t going to say, “I like it,” because they were my friends. They were going to give me their honest opinion. Wasn’t that what I wanted? Could I face their criticism? Could I keep my mouth shut while they critiqued?

I could and I did, because that’s why I left my comfort zone—to learn if my audience cared, if they understood the plot, and if I used appropriate metaphors. I not only received important feedback, I learned the benefit and the skills necessary to form my own local critique group—the best way to improve my craft.

Here is a condensed version of a few of the operating instructions taken from the book:

• Assign a leader who reviews basic rules before the session.
• Person to be critiqued distributes 8 – 10 copies of his/her manuscript, 1500 words, double-spaced, and line-numbered.
• Writer explains the purpose of the piece, intended audience, and he critique expectations. Then, listens.
• The person to the left of the writer reads the writer’s entire piece aloud.
• While the piece is read aloud, other members jot positive and negative comments on their copies.
• Reviewers are given a two minute break to mentally form a critique. The person to the right of the writer begins, which allows the reader to comment last.
• Critiquers use the “sandwich technique” for remarks. They begin and end with specific positive comment. In between, they add what was lacking (pov, showing vs. telling, first impressions of protagonist, etc.) and more positives—keeping in mind the writer’s needs for the critique.
• Writer gets to take home all comment copies.
• Critiquers give suggestions for where the writer might submit her piece.

There are many other valuable topics in the book. They include: the leader’s role, preparing for meetings, questions to ask when critiquing, sample positive feedback comments, tips on membership, defining your group, group logo, publications, sister groups, legal issues, and more. I strongly recommend this book for writers considering forming a critique group, or improving a current one.

Leaving the comforts of home to travel to a conference, or a critique group, to share my work is intimidating, but for the sake of improving my writing career, I know that it’s worth the exposure. I’m interested in forming a Word Weavers group near Warsaw. If you’re interested in joining, please let me know.

Michelle Weidenbenner

Mental Empathy

Mental Empathy

I made up a new phrase or concept today. It’s called mental empathy. It sounds like mental telepathy and kind of works the same way only instead of knowing what someone else is thinking, I interpret what someone else is feeling. I use it when I’m writing. Do you? Maybe you do, but you’re unaware of it. Or maybe you’ve never made up a name for it like I have.

This is how it works. When I’m writing a scene I get into character and pretend that I’m the person I’m writing about. I put on their shoes and walk through their life and feel empathy for what they’re going through. I have the same back story and the same junk in my trunk. How does it feel? How do my past experiences impact my daily decisions, my motives and the way I perceive my world? Can my behavior be justified? How? Why? Would I want others to pity me or would I be too proud to complain? Would my junk make me a stronger person, more defensive, or bitter?

The way I get into character changes. Sometimes I have to close my eyes and listen to music and other times I need it real quiet. Maybe you need to get up off the sofa and walk through the motions. Do you have a limp? Are you old? Is it relevant to the story to mention how fast you move? What do you smell along the way? What do you hear? Do these affect your mood? Why? Maybe you have to dress up for the part. This can be productive, but be careful not to get too carried away—especially if you’re expecting dinner guests and your character is the opposite sex or a ballerina. If your guests arrive early they might think you’re, ah, quite a ‘different’ character.

After I feel empathy for my character’s predicament then I give her an out of the ordinary quirk—you know, a tic, a food fetish, something that makes her unique and identifiable—as an outlet for her feelings. For instance, a librarian who body builds, a cardiologist who smokes cigarettes or a little old grey-haired lady who loves to go to bloody boxing matches. You get the idea. It’s really fun to give them a quirk that’s not stereotypical. The unexpected is always refreshing.

So before you write, find some mental empathy and get into character. How many others do this, too? What are some of your character’s quirky behaviors that don’t fit personality stereotypes, but give your protagonist an outlet for the way she feels? Creative writers want to know.

Michelle Weidenbenner
www.RandomStoryGenerator.com

Get Physical

It’s January, which means it’s time to make new resolutions. Here’s mine: I’m going to get physical. That’s right. I’m going to get physical with my writing because according to Natalie Goldberg, writers have good figures and I want one!


Natalie Goldberg’s book, Writing Down the Bones, was recommended years ago by a writing buddy and it’s been my friend ever since. It’s one of those books I keep close by so I can reach for it when my writing tastes like stale bread. I smell its’ pages, pick a chapter (they’re all short) and focus on the lesson of that chapter. Reading this book has never failed to plunge my soul deeper into the minds of my characters so I feel, hear, smell and see their thoughts.

In Natalie’s chapter, “Writers Have Good Figures,” she says, “What people don’t realize is that writing is physical. It has to do with sight, smell, taste, feeling, with everything being alive and activated.”

I’ve heard many writing teachers recommend to get the story down first without stopping and then go back to edit the entire piece, bit by bit.

Here’s what Natalie says, “By not stopping you’ll physically break through your mental resistances and cut through the concept that writing is just about ideas and thinking. You are physically engaged with the pen, and your hand, connected to your arm, is pouring out the record of your senses. There is no separation between the mind and body; therefore, you can break through the mind barriers to writing through the physical act of writing, just as you can believe with your mind that that your hand won’t stop at the wood, so you can break a board in karate.”

Now I get it. If I stop every few sentences to add a comma, admire a phrase or add an action verb how can I stay focused on telling the story? Those interruptions will slow down the flow and diminish the energy which in turn will make my readers, well, I won’t have any readers.

This isn’t easy for me. I’m one of the worst offenders. I stop all the time to reread my work and chop, chop, chop before the story is finished. Heck, I cheat in my work out routine, too. I stop before the pain, fudge my repetitions and drool over the bag of chips in the pantry. But this year my goal is to let my writing energy flow without interruptions and hopefully I won’t feel the pain in making my daily quota and, when I succeed, I’m going to taste those chips in the pantry.

Natalie says that no matter how fat, thin, or flabby, writers have good figures because they’re always working out. “They are in tune, toned up, in rhythm with the hills, the highway, and can go for long stretches and many miles of paper. They move with grace in and out of many worlds.”

I believe her. I’m working toward that good figure right now. I’m headed for the hills swaying in rhythm to Jim Brickman’s song, “Devotion.” As I plod along to another world my fingers aren’t going to stop until I get there. So, the next time you see me, will you compliment me on my good writing figure?
Michelle Weidenbenner