Category Archives: Writing

ARE YOU AFRAID TO FLY?

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ARE YOU AFRAID TO FLY?

by Rory C. Keel 

It’s amazing that so many people have a fear of flying. Several years ago, while on a plane from Saint Louis Missouri to Portland Oregon, I remember boarding and seeing a man who looked as pale as death. He took his seat across the aisle and immediately buckled the seat belt, grabbed the armrests and shook so violently I wondered if it was the engines or him shaking the plane. After sedating himself with a couple of adult beverages, he slept soundly to our destination.

While I have never been afraid to travel in an airplane, I have experienced a fear of flying. Realizing I would never pilot an F-16 fighter jet, I turned to the hobby of remote control airplanes.

After what my wife called “investing heavily” in a kit, I began to build my first R/C airplane. For days I trimmed every piece of wood with the skill of a surgeon to the exact specs. For weeks, I placed every drop of glue precisely in the correct spot, as to not change the balance of the plane. And after months of careful tune-ups on the engine and electronics, along with a few instructions from others to assure that my plane would soar with the eagles, fear took over.

What if it crashes? All that hard work and time will have been in vain.

On my first solo flight, I rolled the plane down the tarmac and lifted off. A feeling of accomplishment flooded over me as I made one pass, then another over the stands. Not wanting to run out of fuel and lose the plane, I made the approach to land. That day I witnessed the most horrific sight—in front of me laid splinters of wood, pieces of plastic and shards of metal. I crash-landed my plane.

In writing, there are moments when we are afraid to submit a piece of work, fearful of rejection. We work on a piece until it is perfect then, “WHAT IF” takes over. What if it’s rejected? What if it was a waste of time because no one likes it?

The good news is that my first plane did finally soar. I learned that my time wasn’t wasted at all. In all the hours of building I had learned how to repair the broken plane, and after adjusting the mistakes I made in the landing approach, confidence took control.

Yes, I have letters of rejection for my writing, however with repairs and a few adjustments, those same pieces have been published.

Don’t be afraid to fly!

Roryckeel.com

Inspiration

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 Inspiration

By Natalie Bright

for writers can come through a variety of venues, and I’ve learned to take what I can get. Don’t question. Write it down.

Inspiration can also come from hanging out with other writers; one of my favorite ways to ignite the muse. When you’re passionate about something, who doesn’t love to “talk shop”? The creative energy in a room full of writers is difficult to ignore. If you take the time to lunch, meet for coffee, attend a conference, you’ll be re-energized.

Alone Times

Of course, at some point we have to get back to work, and that means time alone. Lots of time alone. How do you get back into the writing groove?

It’s the most difficult part about writing, I think. To leave the hustle and bustle of the present day and disappear into the fictional world of your sub-conscious.

Journaling

  1. You do have a journal for your current work in progress don’t you? Fill the pages with research notes about locations, building details, town layouts, room floor plans, vegetation, yard descriptions. You may not used all of that information in your book, but it will make the setting even more alive in your mind.
  2. First person accounts in the point of view of your characters. Even minor characters can give you insight into your main characters. Free write the same scene from each character’s perspective.
  3. Character descriptions and character profiles. Describe your characters to the tiniest detail.

Having a hard time getting back into your story? Read through your WIP journal and before long your fingers will be flying over the keyboard. I’ve extended my WIP journals into Pinterest boards for visual inspiration.

What other kinds of information do you put in your WIP journals?

 

The Submit Button

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POST CARDS FROM THE MUSE

The Submit Button

By Nandy Ekle

I have one huge phobia, and that’s spiders. Yeah, that’s right. I openly admit this phobia. I always say that I am not ashamed and am actually very comfortable with my pet phobia.

There is one other thing that frightens me a little, and that is the submit button. This one little thing can paralyze me as completely as a single spider can. I can not count the times my hand has hovered over the button while my brain tries to talk me out of pushing it. “Don’t do it,” it says. “They’ll laugh.” It continues. Then the organ inside my head turns ugly. “You know the story still isn’t right. There’s gaping plot holes and unbelievable dialogue. And your grammar and punctuation are no better than a third grader.”

If my finger still aims at that little button, my gray matter turns mean and hateful. “Who are you kidding? You can’t write a story. Just listen to your so-called style. This is just a silly waste of time and paper. Are you sure you want to bear your soul to strangers so they can laugh at you and point at you? You’re nothing but a useless blob behind a computer keyboard with delusions of grandeur.”

Sometimes I believe the whole spiel. I let all that bullying talk freeze my hand and stop my breathing. Just like seeing a giant spider, my fingers curl back into my hand and I close the computer lid and do something else.

But sometimes I turn on some music and remember the promise I made to my characters to find them a home. Then I close my eyes and . . . push submit. Air rushes into my lungs and my arms feel as though they could lift a house. That’s when I know my success is not whether or not my work is accepted. My success is in squashing the monster.

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

My Sister’s Critique

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Outtakes 169

My Sister’s Critique

By Cait Collins

 

I received a package from my older sister today. She returned the manuscript I asked her to read. I realize a family member is not always objective when reading our work, but my sisters have no problems telling me a piece is not up to standard. In fact I can count on them to put me in my place. My older sister has reviewed other manuscripts and has always provided valuable critiques.

Sis did not want to mark up the manuscript, so she sent eight hand-written pages of errors she’d found. Her notes cited page number, paragraph, and the sentence. The corrections ranged from misspellings, to missed punctuation, to tense issues. I proof read the manuscript three times before sending it and would have sworn I’d caught everything. It’s amazing what a fresh pair of eyes can see. Her changes are easy to make and will help polish the work.

Since she is reading the book cover-to-cover instead of one chapter at a time, she is in a better position to see inconsistencies in tense, setting, and descriptions. My sister helps prevent a character having blue eyes in chapter one and brown eyes in chapter six.

As much as I appreciate her catching the grammar and punctuation problems, I value her take on the memoir. When she told me she could see our dad holding my hand and walking the ship’s deck, I wanted to cry. She was with me in the last chapter when I again, in dreams, return to Maine. But when she told me the memoir made her think, I realized my recollections were more than revisiting the past. Maybe my story could help someone else struggling to journey from heartache to contentment. Her encouragement will compel me continue to submit First Love; Forever Love to agents and editors. Thanks, Sis. You helped me more than you know.

Introducing…

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Introducing…

By Rory C. Keel

  

At one end of the street three bodies lay in the dirt, at the other end smoke drifted from the barrel of a pistol that a man in a trench coat held in his hand.

Who were these three dead men? Why did they challenge the man in the trench coat? What was this gunfight about?

The first few sentences of a piece of work should draw the reader into the story and cause them to read further. A good introduction may tell the reader what kind of story it will be and help them decide if it’s their kind of story.

Listed below are five basic opening techniques

  1. Picture or unusual image
  2. Dialogue
  3. Action
  4. Question
  5. Interesting fact

Try using each of these in your writing and see which one creates the greatest interest in your opening paragraph.

www.roryckeel.com

Hooray for Banned Books

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Hooray for Banned Books

By Natalie Bright

Children’s Literature celebrated Banned Books Week Sept. 21-27. Hooray for that because I’ve discovered many wonderful books from these types of lists. Take for example the news that a large school district in Texas has banned The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie.

Written in first-person “diary” format, it’s the inner thoughts of a teen so it’s raw, realistic, inappropriate; just like teenagers. The main character faces bullies, alcoholic parents, racism, abusive adults, sex, cuss words; just like life.

It’s written for YA (young adult) audience which means this is a story for older teenagers. As the mother of two teenaged boys, I absolutely believe in the power of parents to control the materials our children have access to. (What parent hasn’t cringed at the mention of internet?) I understand how inappropriate teenagers can be and how shocking some of their questions are, but they’re also funny, charming, and crazy smart. Kids today continually amaze me. It doesn’t mean every teenager is into any of the topics covered in a YA novel. Sherman Alexie’s book doesn’t promote a certain kind of life style. These topics exist in our world, in a teens world. This book is for high school aged teens and, in my opinion, should not be in grade school or Jr. High libraries.

Based on the author’s own experiences, THE ABSOLUTELY TRUE DIARY OF A PART-TIME INDIAN is about a main character who leaves his troubled school on the rez to attend an all-white high school 22 miles away. It’s a story about following your dreams, finding acceptance, facing adversity, and coming through as a winner. It’s a story with loads of HEART. I loved this book.

Opinions are subjective. For as many people who hate a book, you’ll find just as many who love it. I’ve discovered so many wonderful stories through these kinds of lists, so hooray for banned books! Let’s work together to promote the joys and privilege of reading a great story. Let’s broaden the world view for our children and open the dialogue. Let’s do more talking, reading, learning, and less judging.

Writers Take Action:

1) Post an online review of one of your favorite stories from childhood. Ask your kids what’s one of their favorites. Post an online review of that book too. By promoting each others work, we’re also promoting the joys of reading.

2) Choose one book from a Banned Books List and read it.

nataliebright.com

Post Cards

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POST CARDS FROM THE MUSE

Post Cards

By Nandy Ekle

 

The muse is traveling again. I’ve gotten several post cards that I will share with you, my readers.

  1. What if . . . you go inside your computer and live invisibly?
  1. What happens if . . . the clouds in the sky begin to spell out words, and those words begin to read like a message?
  1. What if . . . a young woman is the maid of honor at her best friend’s wedding, and she and the groom have been having a secret affair for a year?
  1. How about a family of serial killers?
  1. The girl behind the counter at the convenience store. She sits on a stool chewing a wad of gum and reading a romance book. She has a little bruise on her shoulder. What do we know about her?
  1. You look down at the carpet while praying at church and you see a skull in the knap. When you come back later, it’s gone.
  1. A spooky old house, a favorite book, and all the paper and pens in the world.
  1. You go see your doctor. He brings into his office and tells you that you have cancer.
  1. Driving to work one morning, you are rear-ended.

10. You are visiting a dear friend and he looks up into your eyes and says . . . what?

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

High-five’s and Hugs

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Outtakes 168

High-five’s and Hugs

By Cait Collins

 

Sometimes adults forget just how little it takes to make a kid feel like he’s worth a million bucks. Young people thrive on a little attention, mixed with encouragement, discipline, and appreciation. This was made apparent to me a couple of weeks ago when my congregation hosted the area-wide teen jam.

The jam is a monthly event with the congregations in the Texas Panhandle taking turns providing a meal, fellowship, and a youth-centered evening service. The ladies prepared a simple meal of Mexican Pile On and dessert. We were still cooking taco meat when 85-95 kids and their sponsors began filling their plates. As we were beginning the clean-up, a young man and his friends came up to me and asked if I had helped cook the meal.

“I did.”

“Give me a high-five. That was really good.”

His buddy hugged me. “Thanks for doing this for us. We really appreciate it.”

Other teens joined in expressing their appreciation to the all the ladies. The hugs and high-five’s and all the smiles made the two hours of standing over a hot stove, cooking taco meat seem like five minutes. Their joy was worth the efforts of our team.

I am not suggesting that writers should take on mentoring a group of 90 teens who want to be writers. But what about one young person? Would it be that difficult to read one person’s work, show him or her the good things in the story and tactfully show the weaknesses? What kind of impact could we have if each writer mentored a young lady or gentleman?

Think about the adults who listened to you, who gave a bit of their time to encourage your dreams. How did you feel when you were told how well you had done on your book report or history paper? Maybe the wow moment came from a short story or poem you wrote for English class. I remember the top of the world feeling. Do you?

There are young people out there who would appreciate an adult just telling them dreams can come true. Sure you have to work for it, but it can happen. Maybe we won’t make millions by helping a kid, but I kind of think we’d feel like a million from all those high-fives and hugs.

It’s all in the execution

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A poor plan properly executed, will work. It’s all in the execution.

By Rory C. Keel

As you step out on the stage of becoming a writer, there are many unknowns. Writers groups and conferences are helpful in learning the in’s and out’s of writing and publishing. However, unless this knowledge is put into a plan and executed, it is useless.

Develop a plan

Set short-term goals and long-term goals for your writing and put together a plan to reach them. Write them on paper or log them on a computer where you can physically see them every day to remind you of what you want to achieve.

Finding a topic or story to write about this week is a good example of a short-term goal. Set a daily, weekly, monthly word count to reach and a time management schedule in order to meet them.

Develop long-term goals such as setting a date to finish the first draft of your story or novel, research agents or publishers to pitch your book to or determine to submit your story to multiple markets until someone buys it.

Now execute the plan

You must execute your plan! Good or bad, no plan will work unless you carry it out. When you plan a vacation you use the knowledge you have available and make a plan. If you never move forward, you will never reach your destination.

What if your knowledge is limited or you realize your plan is not perfect? Move forward – adjust. Often we need to reread the map or take a detour to get to our destination, but we continue to move forward. Even a poor plan that is properly executed, will work, but it must be executed to reach the goal.

Roryckeel.com

The Power of Proof-Reading

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The Power of Proof-Reading

By Natalie Bright

A relative gave me a lovely picture book that his friend had self-published. The story is sweet and the illustrations absolutely blew me away which is not surprising since the author is an award winning artist. As I begin to read through the book again, with the intention of posting several online reviews, a typo on page one smacked me in the face. My heart sank.

Do You Tell Authors about Their Mistakes?

Do I contact the relative who gave me the gift? Or perhaps send a nice email to the author about the typo? It would be an easy fix, IF, and it’s a big if, a second print run is being planned. How can I recommend this book to the bookstore owners and gift shop managers in my area without damaging the professional relationship I have with them? What if one of their customers sees the typo and complains? Picture books don’t come cheap these days.

Proofread

Proofreading is an important step that seems to have been pushed aside in an effort to ‘become a published author in 72 hours’. Misprints and typos are not that uncommon in the eBooks I’ve purchased whether it’s by self-published or big name authors, although I understand that funky things happen in the digital process. That’s not to say how annoying it is after paying good money for what you assume will be a quality product. For print books from publishing houses, especially those priced on the high end with beautiful illustrations, typos are even worse but nonexistent. Professional copy-editors do good work.

Read Your Work Out Loud

There are things you can do to minimize typos. If I’m stuck on a chapter and it’s not flowing well, I’ll read it out loud. I also read the entire story out loud from beginning to end during the final revision process, after I’ve made edits based on critique group suggestions. Put your work aside and in a few days, or even longer, READ YOUR WORK OUT LOUD. You will be shocked at the typos and awkward sentences. They’re an easy fix at this stage in the game. Also, you’ll get a sense of how the story flows from chapter to chapter. Listening to dialogue as you read it out loud will help conversations ring true. And it’s not all bad. You might be surprised at how good some parts are. Prior to your work being officially ‘published’, the editor or publisher will send you a proof to look over. Read it aloud again. For me personally, every single time there have been typos whether it was a big-big-name anthology, freelance magazine article, self-pub novel or eBook. Regardless of the gazillion times I’d already gone over it, there are misspelled words, awkward sentences, missing pieces of chapters before final publication. Every. Single. Time.

Why Settle for Okay?

Many people have dreams and hopes of being a professional author. There are many opportunities today enabling you to realize that dream. And yet, is it so critical that the story be published by  the end of this week?   I’ve been a reader all of my life, and I get giddy buying books with only the click of a mouse. I really do want to discover a great story. I want to post five-star reviews on my GoodReads page so maybe someone I know can discover that good story too.   Help your readers be true to you as the professional author you are. Make it easy for them to become a fan.

Give your story the time and attention it deserves before you share it with the world.