Monthly Archives: October 2015

THE HASHTAG

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THE HASHTAG

Since opening an Instagram account, I’ve become fascinated by the power of the hashtags.

Hashtags are words preceded by the pound symbol (without spaces). These key words or phrases categorize posts. For example I use #TexasPanhandle on every one of my Instragram pictures. Through the use these key words and phrases, you can follow anything of interest including places, people, hobbies, food, fashion, special interest groups, companies, TV shows, movies, etc.

The birthplace of the hashtag symbol first happened on Twitter. Discussions became trackable and content can be organized using hashtags. Twitter hashtags allows for “trends”, or specific topics in conversation that you’d like to follow or become engaged by posting comments.

So how can writers benefit from using hashtags?

Create hashtags for your book titles, character names, author events, or use key topics that relate to your books when you post something.

Social media sites such as Facebook, Google+, Tumblr, Pinterest, Vine utilize hashtags to maximize shareability. Popular hashtags will help you pick up followers who are interested in the same things, and will help you discover new accounts. So what’s popular or trending now, you might ask. Go to hashtags.org to find out.

Follow me on Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram! Links are located on the home page of my website at www.nataliebright.com

#havefun #write

Sunday Writings – STORIES SET IN THE WEST

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STORIES SET IN THE WEST

Several of my author friends have deals for new series set in small-town America or on ranches, with cowboys and horses and great characters. An important component to these type of books is the wide open places, endless sky, and the decent, hard-working people of the west. I don’t think westerns are dead. They’ve been repackaged into stories that are smarter, action packed and more vivid for today’s readers.

Western Writers of America is a group devoted to promoting the genre. Members include not only novelists, but song writers, historians, screenwriters, musicians, living history re-enactors, and fans of everything western.

WWA members receive a copy of the Roundup Magazine, the official bi-monthly publication of the group. The October 2015 edition just happens to include two of my articles: “Researching West Texas” is a summary of the panel of museum archivists who spoke at the WWA Convention in Lubbock this past summer. “Texas Rangers: Then and Now” is a summary of the keynote given by historian and author, Robert M. Utley.

As a member, you’ll benefit greatly from being a part of this organization. Members can have one entry in WWA’s online catalog, one entry on the WWA app, a WWA Star Speakers Listing, and be included on the WWA Facebook Page and WWA Twitter links—all for FREE!

Whether you’re a history buff, writer, or just a fan of great stories set in the west, you’ll love being a part of this group. Here’s the website:

www.westernwriters.org

Mark your calendar right now for the next WWA Convention dates:

June 21-25, 2016: Cheyenne, Wyoming

June 20-24, 2017: Kansas City, Missouri

As the World Turns 

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POST CARDS FROM THE MUSE  

As the World Turns 

 

By Nandy Ekle 

 

The alarm rings early in the morning. Our character turns over and sees the colors glowing through the bedroom curtain. The pinks and oranges overriding the blues and purples in the sky take her breath away. She grabs a pencil and jots some notes. 

 She steps in the shower under the scalding hot water. The pressure makes each drop of water feel like tiny little scrub brushes on her skin. Amazing, delicious, and energizing. She cherishes each pinpoint of heat that lands on her body. After she dries off she takes her pencil and paper and makes a few more notes. 

 Driving to her office she passed by a strip mall. In the parking lot a police car and a silver car were stopped. The officer stood next to open window of the car.  

Our character also passes a group of teenagers as they wait for the school bus. They all wear jeans and jackets, carry stacks of books, and peck at cell phones. One girl has jet black hair, piercings, and a tattoo on her hand. 

As our character enters her office, she takes out the pencil and paper and writes a few more notes.  

A normal person watching our character’s day on the job would think it was an average day. But she sees more. As she studies each case she is assigned, she sees potential. She sees red flags and life stories, and she sees endings. She takes out her pencil and paper and jots a few more notes, always keeping confidential matters confidential.  

During her lunch hour she turns on her audiobook and works on her craft project. As she cross-stitches, her mind tunes into the story on the I-pad. The story, of course is intriguing and one part of her mind follows closely. But another part of her mind concentrates on the style of the writer. She marvels at his words and how they unfold the tale with so much grace that even after 25 hours of listening, she is still enthralled. At the end of her lunch break, she makes a few more notes on her notepad.  

At the end of the day she drives out of the parking lot. Nothing unusual happens, until she approaches the highway. She notices the traffic backed up and slowed to a crawl, so instead of getting on the entrance ramp, she continues to drive on the access road next to the highway. 

Looking over the guardrail she notices flashing lights and orange cones. A little further down the road the EMT loads a victim into the back of the ambulance. Several twisted cars are stopped amid a ton of broken glass.  

When our character reaches her home, she pulls out her computer and begins to write.  

Congratulations. You have just received a post card from the muse. 

Sports in Writing

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Sports in Writing

by Adam Huddleston

 

With football season in full force (Go Cowboys), the topic of sports is on the majority of American minds. For the writer, there may be instances when you include sports in your work. Whether you are writing fiction, blogging, or reporting, there are a few rules that need to be adhered to:

  1. Make sure you know your sport! This may sound like a no-brainer, but nothing will turn away a sports reader faster than referring to runs in baseball as points or referring to Wrigley Field as Wrigley Stadium. Unless you are creating a brand new game, have a firm understanding of the rules and scoring system.
  2. Use plenty of vibrant action verbs and try to avoid repeating them. “Joe Bob ran” will only work for so long before the reader falls asleep. Strengthen your repertoire and use terms appropriate for the sport.
  3. If you are blogging, blog often. Serious sports fans like to keep up-to-date on their favorite teams and players. They look forward to reading about their most recent exploits, not how they lost a game in double-overtime five days ago.

With some study and a little practice, writing about sports can be a lot of fun and very rewarding.

Reality

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Outtakes 217

Reality

by Cait Collins

I was working on the final edits of my memoir, First Love, Forever Love, when I realized the book was not finished. It needed something else. The last two chapters were entitled The Promise and the Dream. But what about the reality? There had to be a resolution; a return to Maine and the sea.

The problem with reality is the fear of disappointment, or the fear of the real thing not measuring up to the dream and the memories. .In the ten months of planning for the return trip I never lost a sense of foreboding. I refused to get too excited because I didn’t want something to happen that would derail my return north. I wanted to go, but what if it wasn’t everything I had hoped for?

I arrived to beautiful weather, but not fall color. A warm, dry summer delayed the turning of the leaves. Although disappointed, I had to admit the varying shades of green were beautiful. We had good sailing weather and good winds. The Mary Day cut the water like a champ. It was invigorating. And there were those spectacular sunrises and sunsets. Nothing could be more glorious. Disappointed? Not on your life. The reality was every bit as good as the dream.

And now I get to write the final chapter of the memoir. I just hope I do justice to reality.

ENDLESS POSSIBILITIES

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Reasons to Write

     Why do I write? Is it because throngs of fans demand it, anticipating every word of my next masterpiece? Is it because I honestly expect to make millions of dollars on a bestseller, or desire to be famous? No.

This week I will share with you the 5th reason of why I write                                                                                                                                                                                   

Reason #5 – Endless Possibilities                                                    

On a recent business trip to the west coast, I noticed something amazing. Traveling along the highway, I read the billboards. Some of them knew I was reading them and said things like, “Caught you looking!” or “You’re so good. You read me like a book!” As spots on a connect-the-dots drawing, these towering advertisements had information about the grandest hotels, motels and the cleanest restrooms. They pointed the way to the best buffets and restaurants. Some revealed the places to go for the nightlife, and what it will cost if you drink too much of the highlife and turn into a lowlife while driving.

Occasionally we pulled into roadside rest-stops for short breaks and “free coffee,” and then we would load up on all the local vacation magazines, free maps and tourist information to read along the way. One visitor’s guide said that Arizona has more boats per capita than any other state in the nation—and they’re a land locked desert!

My point is that the possibilities for writers are endless because writing is everywhere. From billboards along the American road to epic novels, behind everything you read is a writer.

Rory C. Keel

Quote

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Quote

An artist is typically a being that is filled with so much passion, love, or pain for certain lands, people, ideas, or images that all they can do with that overflow is bleed it out by creating. And with this type of art, the energy will be shifted from the depths of them and into the depths of the audience to be felt. It is a dance. A transference. An intimacy. It is to touch and awaken another human in a place they hadn’t know was aching, or sleeping. Both are opened. Both are nourished. Both are transformed.

–VICTORIA ERICKSON

#AMWRITING

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POST CARDS FROM THE MUSE

#AMWRITING

By Nandy Ekle

 

I will admit, I’ve been in a very dry spell. Even when I had a mood and an idea at the same time, my words sounded like something a toddler wrote. I was frustrated and afraid that after 50 some odd years, words had completely forsaken me.

And there was nothing I could do. I still had a line of characters waiting for me to tell their stories. Some of them have been in my head since I was a child in elementary school. There were also plenty new comers. They picketed through my head demanding to be brought to life on the paper.

So I would sit down and start listening to them, building their lives and the events they were so desperate to have put down on paper, only to watch the whole thing splat into a brick wall.

And I was back where I started.

So today, I decided to let it go. I started a story that is a huge cliché in a genre that’s been so saturated lately that I know my readers will roll their eyes and walk away from the pages saying, “Not another one of those!” And I completely understand. After all, that’s one of the reasons I kept putting this tale in the back corner. “Some day the genre will need to be restarted, and I will write it then,” I said over and over. But it refused to stay in the corner.

Something amazing happened when I finally turned my attention to my little cliché. Even though it’s the same old story – predictable, nothing new whatsoever – I realized the point of this average adventure is not the originality or the spectacular concept. The point of the whole entire exercise was I AM WRITING. And it felt good.

Don’t be afraid to write your worst writing ever. Whatever words you have, good, bad or, ugly—

JUST WRITE!

Congratulations. You have just received a post card from the muse.

 

Jury Duty

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Jury Duty

by Adam Huddleston

 

So, I have recently been summoned for jury duty. I’m one of those strange folk who have always wanted to perform my civic duty by serving on a jury, but circumstances have always conspired against me. I wanted to tie-in my summons with my weekly blog, so I began to think about the film “Twelve Angry Men.”

Written by Reginald Rose as a teleplay in 1954, “Twelve Angry Men” centers around a homicide trial and the jurors’ deliberation concerning the defendant’s fate. Each character is fleshed out and the dialogue is technical enough to make them believable.

I remember reading the play in high-school and both film versions are excellent, sporting all-star casts. The 1957 version stars Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb, and Jack Klugman. The 1997 edition features Jack Lemmon, Hume Cronyn, and George C. Scott. I highly recommend both.

Hopefully, my experiences won’t be quite as dynamic as those in this wonderful work!

Writing Muscles

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Outtakes 216

Writing Muscles

By Cait Collins

 

I learned a number of things during my vacation. I think the most telling was I don’t exercise enough. I did a lot of walking on less than level streets and climbed up and down ladders and stairs. By the end of the trip I was hurting. So I resolve to exercise more so that I don’t punish my body when I travel or have an adventure.

Just like our bodies deteriorate from a lack of exercise, our writing skills can suffer from a lack of use. Too often we use the same formula when we begin a new project? What if we changed the routine? Could the story be more exciting or could the different turn propel us to new avenues for our careers? Is the risk worth the potential results? Maybe the better question would be what if we never take a risk? Will the failure to explore possibilities actually be detrimental to success?

Work your voice. Not the one that verbally articulates your thoughts, but the voice that is uniquely you. Craig Johnson, author of the Longmire series has a style that advertises the author. You only have to read a few paragraphs to recognize the style and hand-picked word choices. That’s what we all need and want – – a voice that promotes our individual style and personality.

We must also exercise our basic skills of grammar, vocabulary, characterization, plot and description. We can not become lazy and complacent in these areas. When the primary elements become weak, the whole work suffers. For this reason, I play with lists, colors, unusual situations, and new characters. I recommend 642 Things to Write About and 712 More Things to Write About by the San Francisco Writers’ Grotto. The books provide fabulous exercises to stretch, mold, strengthen and sculpt our skills.

Just as flabby and weak muscles are not good for the body, underdeveloped skills do not make for good writing. Resolve now to work the skills that lead to better and more fulfilling work.