Category Archives: Writing

Writing Brains & Scrivener

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Writing Brains & Scrivener

Natalie Bright

Scrivener software totally gets my writing brain. The more I work in this software, the more I’m amazed at all it can do.

For example, this morning the opening scene for the second book of my Texas Frontier Series popped in my head. BAM! There it was. I am almost 10,000 words into the first draft and the opening chapter I’ve already written is absolutely wrong. Does this ever happen to you? I kept replaying the new scene in my head, over and over until I could get to the keyboard.

Here’s where Scrivener makes your life easy: Within the file that you designate as chapter, you can add a new text file. The chapters will autromatically renumber when you compile the final document. No renumbering pages or worrying about chapter numbers. No cutting and pasting to shift the work. I have a seperate text file for each scene and these scenes can be moved easily around within the manuscript document. That first scene may not be the opeing by the time I reach 30,000 words. No problem. The ‘scene’ file can be shifted to any order within the project file.

For more explaination, here’s the link to watch a great video from the creator of Scrivener:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdwnHo23Ub8

I also recommend the online class, LearnScrivenerFast.com

Stay tuned for more tidbits about this powerful writing tool. Are you using Scrivener? What has been your experience with Scrivener?

The Saturday Morning Blogger – Lady Eagles state championship run

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The Saturday Morning Blogger – Lady Eagles state championship run

James Barrington

During five years with the Canyon News, I attended three girls’ state championship basketball game in my official capacity. The Lady Eagles won all three. Since leaving the newspaper, they won their third in a row in 2016 and are looking for a four-peat this year. Friday night they overwhelmed Mont Belvieu Barbers Hill by a score of 66-39 in the semi-final. Saturday (March 4) afternoon at 3 p.m., they will play for their fourth consecutive state championship, this time against Mansfield Timberview.

There are some amazing young athletes on this year’s team, just as on the last three, but the common factors binding them all together is head coach Joe Lombard and two-time state tournament MVP Angel Hayden who has been a varsity starter since her freshman year.

As this is being written, we have no idea what the final score of that game will be, but Canyon’s Lady Eagles have every incentive to play their best. If past history is any predictor, their best is likely to produce some amazing results in the history of Texas UIL sports.

Tom Clancy has been quoted as saying that fiction is harder to write than non-fiction, because fiction has to be believable. When the New England Patriots recovered from a stumbling season in 2001 to win their first Super Bowl championship with a second-string quarterback in the aftermath of the attack on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, it was “storybook” writing. The Patriots bringing the nation to its feet after such a terrible blow was something that many would have blown off if it had been a fictional story.

There have been times when real sports news has played out in life like a fairy tale. By Saturday evening, March 4, 2017, we’ll know if the 2016-2017 basketball season will add another fairy tale ending to the illustrious history of Canyon’s Lady Eagles, Coach Joe Lombard, and senior Angel Hayden.

The fact that this season is coming to an end during the middle of crises for the Lombard family adds to the drama, and perhaps gives extra incentive to the team in what is shaping up to be quite a game in the Alamodome.

Writing Prompt

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POST CARDS FROM THE MUSE

Writing Prompt

By Nandy Ekle

 

 

“Write about a time you were surprised.

On Monday I was sitting at my desk at the office, I had my earphones on listening to the radio. The DJ announced he was holding the last pair of tickets to the Eagles concert that Friday night.

“I’ve been told these are the last two tickets on the face of the earth. All you have to do for a chance to win them is to put your name and phone number on a piece of paper and drop it in the box at the car lot.”

I have never in my life won a raffle. If there are only names in the bag for the drawing, mine will not be drawn. However, The Eagles are the number one band on my list of favorites. Besides that, if you never put your name in, there will not even a chance at all, no matter how infinitesimal. So every day the week I left the office during my lunch hour and drove across town to put my name the box. My husband put his name in the box, and even my son entered for a chance to win the tickets.

Friday morning I was sitting at my desk at the office. I had my earphone on listening to the radio. The DJ announced he was about to draw a name for the winner of the last existing pair of tickets to the Eagles concert.

“My hand is going inside the box.”

I heard paper mixing around.

“I have one name in my hand.”

I wasn’t paying close attention because I knew it wasn’t my name.

“I’m dialing the phone number.”

I heard beeps and boops of numbers being pressed on the phone. But I kept working.

“The phone is now ringing.”

I heard the phone ring over the radio waves. Then something extraordinary happened. My phone lit up and the caller ID said “radio station.” I stared at it as it rang a second time.

“Is that your phone?” The lady sitting next to me asked.

“Yeah.” It rang a third time.

“You should answer it. I think it’s the radio station.”

“Yeah.” I picked up my phone and pushed the button. “Hello?” I said.

“Is this Nandy?”

“Yes?” I still felt like I was in a dream.

“Did you put your name in the box at the car lot for Eagles tickets?”

“Yes, I did.”

“Well, I pulled your name out of the box. You’re going to see the Eagles!”

I have no memory of what my answer was.

The concert was as fantastic as I knew it would be. But the most incredible thing was the fact that I won those tickets in a raffle. 🙂

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

Writing Prompts

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Writing Prompts

by Adam Huddleston

 

As writers, we sometimes suffer that dreaded phenomenon known as, gasp, writers block. One of the best ways of breaking through that block is to work on a project outside of the main piece that you are trying to finish. It’s funny, but sometimes just getting the words flowing is enough to help you with your main work. But where, pray tell, do you get ideas quickly and conveniently? I’ve found a great resource!

The forum website reddit.com is a very valuable tool. There is a metric ton of subreddits that you can “subscribe” to and converse with folks from around the world about any number of topics. The resource of which I speak is the /r/WritingPrompts site. It is constantly being updated and you can reply with your work, or submit your own prompt. Most are sci-fi/fantasy related, but almost all are entertaining in some way.

Happy writing!

Speech. Speech.

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Outtakes 280

Speech. Speech.

By Cait Collins

 

Tonight I listened to the President’s first speech before a joint session of Congress. Don’t worry; I’m not going to discuss politics. Truth is, I kept thinking about the person who wrote the speech. It’s not easy to match another person’s thoughts and emotions and dreams into words that will create a response in the listener. Word choice, examples, cites; and quotes used will incite a reaction in those in the audience. Some will be inspired. Others will be thoughtful. And others could be moved to hate and violence.

Think of the great speeches across the ages. Patrick Henry’s “Give me liberty or give me death” oration inspired rebels to demand their freedom from England. Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address…”Fourscore and seven years ago our father’s brought forth on this continent a new nation” sought to bring healing to a war weary nation. What about Hitler’s rantings that incited a nation to hate and murder.

Ministers are wonderful examples of speech writers. Every Sunday they present a message designed to encourage the congregation to seek a better life. Some preach love and forgiveness, and others spew hell fire and damnation. The audience responds to each speaker. Many with joyful acceptance, while others shrink in fear. And some with sit is self-righteous piety thinking they are better than the sinners.

Like writing a story or a novel, a speech has three parts…a beginning, a middle, and an end. The beginning is a call to inspire, inflame, or inform. The middle fleshes out the details. And the end is a call to action. It requires mastery of language arts skills, a deep understanding of human nature, and strong insights into the one who will be delivering the address. Above all it demands impeccable research in appropriate statistics, facts, and examples. Truly a speech writer is a master at his craft. And while some would not consider the speech writer as a professional writer, this craftsman does have a place in alongside novelists, tech writers, copy writers, and text book writers. After all, he earns his living by writing.

Jump Start Your Writing Challenge – A trivial event

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Jump Start Your Writing Challenge – A trivial event

 Rory C. Keel

 

Yesterday the old man wore a red-checkered flannel shirt accented by cream-colored suspenders. Every day as regular as a clock ticks, he sat on the south end of the forest-green bench in the park across the street from the café.

The day before, he shuffled in a slower pace than usual toward his regular sitting place and wiped the seat with a handkerchief, which he pulled from the back pocket of his wrinkled tan pants. After he stuffed the rag back into his pocket he turned and eased himself onto the bench and watched the children play.

Two days earlier, he wiped his seat and opened a small brown paper sack and produced a peanut to befriend a gray bushy tailed squirrel.

The morning before that he sat and tossed small pieces of bread from his sandwich to the pigeons that flocked around him.

Earlier in the week, a young girl pushing a stroller stopped to rest and sat on the other end of the bench. The old man removed his hat, revealing a gray head, a gesture of politeness long forgotten by a youthful generation. She opened the hood of the stroller to show the gentleman its precious cargo. He smiled.

Today, the south end of the forest green bench in the park across the street from the café is empty.

 

Responses to My Amazon Question

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Responses to My Amazon Question

Natalie Bright

In last week’s post, I blogged about concerns I had with the sales report for my new nonfiction picture book series, RESCUE ANIMALS. I have been promoting this book like crazy on a local level and was concerned with the reportedly 10 sales. All four books were enrolled into KDP Select, but the number of free downloads is not available on the reports. Here is what I posted on the Amazon Community Board:

“Specifically regarding ASIN: B01M0K6F6G FLASH, The True Story of a Rescue Horse. I have been promoting this eBook heavily in our local area. With just two events I reached close to 1000 people in the first month of release. At one school of 700, we know of at least 300 kids who had FLASH on their phones before they went home that day. I can count at least 50+ friends and family who ordered it as well. Total sales for that time period according to Amazon: TEN. In the meantime I’ve suspended all promo ads and local events, until I can figure out what is going on with my account. Maybe I missed something on the banking information or the pricing page? Can anyone think of something I might have set-up wrong? Thanks in advance for your time and expertise.”

I have since learned that Amazon had a major crash during the week I released FLASH. That might explain some of the reporting issues. Also below are the responses to the Community Forum question above, which is an open forum where KDP authors post their questions and concerns. Rather than joing the storm of accusations about how Amazon is ripping authors off, my first concern was that it might be a problem on my part. As I noted in the previous blog post, the sales ranking for FLASH made it to #5 under the sub-category Children’s eBooks/nonfiction/Farms and Ranch, but still only 10 total sales.

To date, I’ve had four responses to my question:

Amazon Community Forum Response #1:
The grade range for the book is P-5. I don’t know any kids 10 and under who have credit card privileges to shop at will online without parental approval (or parents thereof who would appreciate their kids coming home from school with purchases urged during a school-sponsored marketing pitch—what were you doing checking their phones?). Perhaps 300 small children downloaded the sample to appease the adults applying pressure. Unless friends and family can produce receipts for their purchases, they may also be being polite for the sake of appeasement.
If your Prior Months’ Royalties reports and Payments table show you’re owed money that you haven’t received, there may be a problem with your banking or tax information.

If they say you’ve gotten only 10 sales… you’ve gotten only 10 sales. The sales rank of nearly 1.3 million is consistent with that level of activity.

Response #2 & #3 from the same person:
Quando vai sair os pagamentos de janeiro e fevereiro ? Which translates to: When you are going out payments in January and February?
Hoje já é 18 de fevereiro – Today is February 18th.

Response #4
On the Reports Tab, what do the ORDERS total for that time period?
It is the blue line.

Response #1 was surprising and way out of left field. I’m not going to spark a debate in the forum, but I do want to address that here, specifically to make the point that I did not check kids phones. The point I was trying to make was that the promotion was concentrated to our local area because the horse is well known. The editor and horses’ owner is a music teacher, and everyone at her school, including the kids, parents and her coworkers, are very excited about this book. Each kid got bookmark. The kids probably showed their phone to their music teacher because they were excited and wanted her to see that they had the story. I’m assuming that some of those families have Amazon Prime memberships and hopefully took advantage of the free download.

My two boys were allowed to purchase things online with their phones by middle school age. It was part of their allowance for chores. They had a set amount each month and could purchase music on iTunes. (They did not want the Kindle App, although I really pushed it.) I thought it was a good way for them to learn money management and how to stick to a budget. If they went over budget, they had to do extra work for that month. Strange to me how a question about book pricing set-up shifted to parenting. Such is the world we live in today.

The Amazon Giant we Love

There is a book published on Amazon every five minutes. That’s great news for readers. Obviously, there will be glitches on a world wide scale. It is amazing that we can publish our work with ease and find the books we need, with delivery in a few days.

And then there was this food for thought about Amazon ranking:

According to John Skalzi: “a) if you don’t know how it works, you don’t know why you rank as you do, at any particular time, b) it’s foolish to be invested in a ranking whose mechanism is unknown to you, c) outside of Amazon, the ranking has no relevance.” Authors love validation and those rankings in subdivision categories is basically a “participation ribbon” as Mr. Skalzi explains. whatever.scalzi.com

“Every second you take to worry about your author ranking is every moment you’re not spending writing a book or promoting a book.” Jim Kukrel, sellmorebooksshow.com

In conclusion: I really believe the future is eBooks and as this evovles over the word wide stage there will be a great need for new and original content. As for FLASH, the numbers are the numbers and they’re not changing…just keep writing.

flash-true-story-cover_low

The Saturday Morning Blogger – Nandy Ekle’s reading challenge

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The Saturday Morning Blogger – Nandy Ekle’s reading challenge

James Barrington

Nandy Ekle’s “Reading Challenge” caught my attention this week. You can scroll down to find it if you missed it before. Having had limited time to write this week, it seemed like a good time to make some observations about reading.

We started reading to our daughters and grandchildren as soon as they came home from the hospital. Some of our earliest photos of our children and grandchildren are of them sitting in our laps looking at books as we read to them.

For a few years, my 15-year-old granddaughter and I greeted each other with the words, “What are you reading now? Usually a conversation would ensue about what we were reading. Often, we would exchange books when we finished and read what the other had been reading. I was introduced to Rick Riordan and his Percy Jackson books. My younger granddaughter is into those now. I am really glad that they have both discovered the great wealth within the pages of books.

Nandy’s reading list is not specific books, but books that fill specific categories. I’m sharing the list with my grandchildren, so they can delve into a variety of authors, styles, and genres. Some of the suggestions will be easy; others may be more difficult, especially with my grandchildren’s modern given names.

I have recently been reading some biblical apologetics by Hank Hanegraaff. I am finding them informative, thought-provoking, and entertaining.

One of my personal favorite fictional novels is A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving. I had named Slaughterhouse Five by Curt Vonnegut as my favorite before discovering Owen Meany. Both of those authors are graduates of Phillips Exeter Academy (PEA) in Exeter, NH. Having lived almost a decade in Hampton, a town neighboring Exeter, I came to appreciate the area and the Academy. I’m told that the Academy has a library in the reception area of their application office that is filled with books written by PEA graduates.

The Bible has to be my all-time favorite. To pick a single book within the Bible would be impossible. There is so much to choose from as well as so many genres. There is something new to be learned with each reading.

Thanks for looking in on wordsmithsix.com. If you don’t have time to write, by all means, read.

Writing Prompt

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POST CARDS FROM THE MUSE

Writing Prompt

By Nandy Ekle

 

“Write a story in which a broken coffee pot has a huge impact on the world around it.”

This is the coffee maker. This is the carafe that fits under the coffee maker.

This is the crack in the side of the carafe that fits under the coffee maker.

This is the man eyeing the crack in the side of the carafe that fits under the coffee maker.

This is the frown on the face of the man eyeing the crack in the side of the carafe that fits under the coffee maker.

This is the empty cup belonging to the frowny-faced mad eyeing the crack in the side of the carafe that fits under the coffee maker.

This is the black cloud floating above the frowny-faced man with the empty cup eyeing the crack in the side of the carafe that fits under the coffee maker.

This is the door slamming closed under the black cloud floating above the frowny-faced man eyeing the crack in the side of the carafe that fits under the coffee maker.

This the gas pedal getting stomped to the floor after the door slammed closed under the black cloud floating above the frowny-faced mad eyeing the crack in the side of the carafe that fits under the coffee maker.

Well, I’m sure you can see where this is going.

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

And be sure to drink your coffee first thing in the morning. *wink*

 

More Funny Pics About Writing

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More Funny Pics About Writing

by Adam Huddleston

 

This week, I have another installment of humorous cartoons about the craft we all love so much. Enjoy.

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