Jump Start Your Writing Challenge – A casual remark
Rory C. Keel
Over the next two weeks Milton worked with the oxen. Starting early in the morning and working through most of the day, he could be heard in the field yelling “Gee” to turn them right, and “Haw” to turn them left, and somewhere in between he informed each one of them how dumb they really were.
POST CARDS FROM THE MUSE
Prompt Two
By Nandy Ekle
I am going to attempt something new each week here. I have a list of story prompts that I want to use for my blogs each week. These are not my original ideas, they are from several lists I have found.
So, here is Number Two. Not sure what to call it, but here goes.
AN UNEXPECTED EVENT.
Every day is the same routine. Get up in the early morning, go to bed late at night. Work at my desk job during the daylight hours, work at my home job during the nighttime hours. Gather documents from eight to twelve, eat lunch hour from twelve to one, write letters from one to five. Go home, eat dinner, surf the net, bed, start over.
But then something completely unexpected happened. When I got to my desk I noticed one of my shelf decorations had an altered look. When I saw this, I knew my life would never be the same.
I work in a small cubicle, a U-shaped desk, two filing cabinets, two shelves. One of the shelves, the one closest to my arm length, is covered with books and information I use to research my letters. The other shelf is covered with my personal decorations. I love skulls, sugar skulls, skeletons, all manner of Halloween type stuff. I have several pieces arranged in a tableau to looks like a dark corpse wedding. The centerpiece of my tableau is a bronze skull on a platform looking at a black bronze rose, as if in contemplation. I call him Horatio.
I greet Horatio every morning and he stares back at me with his hollow bronze eyes as if to say, “Good morning, Nandy. Today we will be writing a story about a bullfight.” “Good morning, Nandy. Today we are researching tarot cards.” “Good morning, Nancy. Today we are going to read a book to get ideas about how to handle your main character’s current situation.” But one morning when I came in, Horatio didn’t say a word. He didn’t need to.
Up until around four months ago a woman sat in the cubicle behind me. She had always been a woman woman who was know for being harsh. She had a strong personality, and usually came off as a hard nose. Her speech could be abrupt, and she used that to her advantage. It was a while before I felt comfortable with her, and she did not like my skulls and skeletons. So when I saw Horatio on this particular morning, my co-worker suddenly gained a huge amount of respect and love for her.
Horatio staid in his spot on the shelf. He didn’t say a single word, but he didn’t need to. a giant rainbow colored Afro wig was perched on his head, I laughed at him, and he laughed back. And i hear the voice of my co-worker behind me break out in a giant giggle. I looked over the cubicle wall and watched as my co-worker wiped the tears off her face.
“Is that your wig?” I asked her.
“Well, if it’s not, it should be.”
She didn’t answer, but together she and I took some awesome pictures. And Horatio has been more than just a pretty skull.
What I said on that day is, “So, we’re having some dark humor today?” Horatio just looked at his rose while grinning his bronze grin. Kay became a very good friend of mine and when she retired a few months later, I could almost swear the skull named Horotio blow me kisses when no one else is working.
Congratulations. You have just received a post card from the muse.
Inspirations
by Adam Huddleston
“Where do you get your ideas?”
It’s a question asked to authors of all shapes and sizes, levels of fame, and years of experience. The answers are as varied as the individuals being queried. If I may take a moment to surmise, I believe that most of the answers amount to the same thing: observation of the world around us.
Several of my story ideas, from themes to opening lines, originated from something my kids or wife said. I take those little quips and extrapolate them into something bigger and better. For example, one of the many stories that are in development (a particularly nasty from of writer’s purgatory), concerns an android whose battery is dying. The inspiration arose when my young daughter was reminded that daddy’s phone battery was low. I took the simple statement and ran with it.
The same offspring recently began explaining to me that a tiny door resided under her bed. Said door opened to a magical world. Suffice it to say, I jumped on the opportunity to encourage her to write down everything she saw, smelled, heard, tasted, or felt. The way I see it, the earlier I can instill a sense of wonder and love of literature in a child, the better that baby’s life could be.
So, if you are a writer, I repeat my question.
“Where do you get your ideas?”
Outtakes 275
Snow Day
By Cait Collins
The weekend weather was really something. We had rain, freezing drizzle, and snow. I don’t mind the rain as the Texas Panhandle is experiencing a drought. Again. We desperately needed the moisture to reduce the fire hazards. However, I’m not fond of freezing rain and ice. But the snow was magnificent.
I woke up about one in the morning and looked out the window. Over an inch of pristine white was on the ground, coating trees, and cars. I watched the falling snow for a while knowing that by early afternoon it would be gone. I returned to bed and slept peacefully for the rest of the night.
On Monday I woke refreshed and ready to write. I had an idea that it was time for Tyler to tell Sara he was her father. The story took another twist, and I really like it. I wrote ten pages in three hours. Now it’s time to edit draft.
Sometime writing is frustrating. The words don’t come or the story seems stale. But then there are those wonderful days when it all goes right. It’s those days that thrill me and make me glad I’m a writer.
Jump Start Your Writing Challenge – A weather change
Rory C. Keel
One day this week the temperature drops to minus two degrees and then rises to peak at seventy the next day, and the week ended with three inches of rain topped by two inches of snow. Now that’s a weather change!
Perhaps that’s the kind of change that prompted ol’ timers to use sayings like,
“Whether it’s cold or whether it’s hot; we shall have weather, whether or not!”
To tell you the truth, sometimes the best way to forecast the weather is to look outside and see what’s happening at the moment.
Did you have a weather change this week?
Ten Steps to Crafting A Picture Book
Natalie Bright
The step by step process I used to create and publish a nonfiction photo-illustrated picture book for Amazon Kindle using PowerPoint.
1. Words. Write the words first. After slogging through various processes to create a kids’ book series, for me, it all begins with the words. Picture books are typically 1000 words or less, and have a solid beginning, middle and end. Edit your story until every word is an absolute essential jewel. Involve you critique group and BETA readers in this process. The owner of the animals featured in my books became the editor to ensure accuracy.
2. Images. Match the images to your words. While writing, envision what types of photos you need such as royalty free pictures, scanned art work, or graphics. If you use your own photographs, be aware that you may have to obtain releases from the recognizable people in those pics before you publish. Research any legals issues that might apply specific to your situation. I used a combination of my own photos, partnered with a professional photographer, and created clip art specific to the series.
3. Edit. You may have to adjust the text, swap out a few pictures or two, or stay on the hunt for the exact photo you need. You can find picture book templates online. A storyboard tacked to the wall or taped to a dry board can give you a whole new perspective. Stay with the theme and don’t rush the creative process. This is the fun part. Absolutely the words are important, but the pictures enhance the telling of the story.
4. PowerPoint. In my mind, an eBook is not a print book. A print picture book is not an eBook. Over the years, I’ve watched with great curiosity kids swiping through pages on their mother’s iPhones. This is a totally different experience than having a picture book laying across your lap. I kept this in mind as I thought about the animal stories I wanted to share with the world. After eight months and much trial and error with many different processes and multiple do-overs using various software options, I finally settled on Microsoft PowerPoint. The high def pictures are easy to insert, text boxes can be moved around, resizing is super easy, and graphics are a snap to add. Each slide would be one page in the eBook. The pictures I used in the Flash books were taken by a professional photographer because I wanted to capture those beautiful rescue horses in the best possible way.
5. Design. Now is the time to get serious about designing your cover and the pages of your book. I hired a graphic designer to design a professional cover and to provide guidance on compatible colors and layout. We purposely have a cover that looks like a regular thumb nail, but the inside of the book is landscape. Someone else helped with designing clip art and graphics, because honestly by the time I’d written the words and matched text with pics, my brain was fried. Having another pair of creative eyes speeds up the process. Compensation can be by the hour or a share of book sales. Make sure the creative team you’ve put together all share in your vision of the finished product. You are the conductor of this great
6. Facts. Work on front matter, back matter, bios of the contributors, a killer tag line and update all your social media sites. For kids books, I always like to include a glossary of terms and a fact section. Post a few teasers for a “book cover reveal” to Twitter and Facebook. Think about your target market and the key words you’ll need for Amazon. Add the book covers to your Amazon Author page.
7. Kindle Kids’ Book Creator. Here’s the best news: save your PowerPoint manuscript as a PDF and it opens right up into Kids Book Creator, which is a dream for indie authors. Book Creator is self-explanatory, but if you’re not sure about the how, there are several excellent help videos on YouTube (writers are such a giving lot!). After your book is in Creator and before you go live, be sure to use the review mode and view your book on all devices.
8. Launch. Yay, you did it!
9. Promote. There are so many options out there to promote Indie Authors, but readers can’t read the book unless they know about it. The Rescue Animal Series was launched in October 2016 with four books and more in the works for 2017. I know my little series will not be a runaway best seller at first, but I love these animals and I remain in awe of the people who care for them. I wanted to share their stories with the world, and hopefully we’ll reach the point where book sales can lend support to some of their efforts.
10. Holy Book Club, Batman, there’s a stinkin’ typo! Yep. That’s exactly what we found. After several people had read over that text many, many times, there it was. Ultimately, it’s me, the author who shoulders the blame. Thank goodness Amazon makes it easy to replace the previous manuscript. Go back to your PowerPoint file, make the changes, resave as a PDF 2nd version, re-upload to Kids’ Book Creator again to create a new Mobi file, and update the original manuscript in your Amazon KDP account.
You can do this! I hope this article saves you hours of trial and error. All the best for a creative 2017, and thanks for following WordsmithSix.
Natalie Bright is author of the Animal Rescue Series; true stories about animals with second chances.
POST CARDS FROM THE MUSE
Prompt One
By Nandy Ekle
I am going to attempt something new each week here. I have a list of story prompts that I want to use for my blogs each week. These are not my original ideas, they are from several lists I have found.
So, here is Number One. Not sure what to call it, but here goes.
THE FURTHEST AWAY FROM HOME YOU HAVE EVER BEEN.
I’m a person who loves to travel. Going different places to see new things is very thrilling to me. When I was a kid our family took the traditional vacations-two weeks on the road to to a destination for fun and relaxation. We stayed in hotels with swimming pools, we ate picnic lunches at roadside parks, we saw mountains and lakes, deserts and forests, beaches and cities. I have a lot of great memories; however, I am told that we actually went places and saw things and had experiences that I don’t remember at all because I was too young.
My husband and I have also been on several trips: Washington state, Oregon state, West Virginia, Missouri, Louisiana, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, California, Kansas, Arkansas, and Oklahoma. Not to mention all over our home state of Texas. We’ve even been on a couple of cruises, going actually leaving the U S of A and spending a day in Jamaica and a couple of days in different cities of Mexico.
I think one of my favorite places to visit is the Redwood Forest in Northern California. I love the mountains and I love the trees. These beautiful giants grow close and thick, the branches and leaves blocking the sun. Standing in a clearing surrounded by the ancient forest is a truly surreal experience. The fog comes in from the Pacific ocean, which is just through the woods that direction. You can smell the salt in the air and feel a cool breeze. When you look up to the sky, you only see so far up because the tree tops have trapped the mist. And as the branches shiver their leaves in the breeze, you could almost swear the mighty redwoods were whispering to heavens.
My second favorite place is the Rocky Mountains. Once we spent a weekend in Estes Park, Colorado. I have to say, the experience was just very nearly as wonderful as the time we spent in the Redwoods of California. We went to Colorado on a Friday in October, and on Saturday there was a light snow. The whole weekend was perfect.
My third favorite place to see is New Orleans. We went to New Orleans to do some research for a story I wanted to write. We weren’t able to stay long because of some problems, but while we were there we saw incredible things, learned some very interesting history, and ate fantastic food.
I could get very philosophical here and talk about my journey through life, but I’m not a philosopher. So I’ll just leave like this.
Congratulations. You have just received a post card from the muse.
Food for Thought
by Adam Huddleston
This week, I wanted to pose to you a simple question: What are the benefits (if any) of traditional paper-based literature over electronic?
You thought I was gonna blog about food, didn’t you?
Now, coming from a life-long lover of books, I can tell you what I prefer. To me, there is just something warm and inviting about actual paper. Paper books (both new and used) have their own scent. I would venture to guess that most book-a-holics can recall cuddling up in a comfortable chair and opening the pages of their newly found treasure. The smooth texture of the paper and its sound as the pages turn brings back memories. Also, you never have to worry about the battery dying on your traditionally formatted tomes.
I will admit though that electronic books (or e-books) do have some benefits. The most obvious is the amount of data that can be stored in a very limited space. A library that once used to fill an entire room can now be downloaded onto a device the size of a postcard (which is another antiquity the young folk may not be familiar with). E-books also allow access to your library quicker. A few finger-swipes and you can purchase literature that you used to have to travel to a store to buy.
What do you think? Paper vs. Virtual? The debate will rage on…for a while at least.
Outtakes 274
No Resolutions No Problem
By Cait Collins
I’m not ready for 2017. It seems like I didn’t have much of a chance to really enjoy 2016 and now the year’s gone and a new one is here ready to be explored. I really didn’t make New Year’s resolutions for 2017. Of course there’s the standard “I’m going to lose weight”. Already broke that one. There’s a carton of Braum’s peppermint ice cream in my freezer and it’s calling my name. So far so good on the saving money resolution. I haven’t been to the mall, the craft store or Barnes and Noble since Christmas Eve. And I’m not looking at new LL Bean catalogues. Me and LL Bean is a dangerous combination.
About my writing, well that’s coming along. I’m still far from having the new book finished, but I’m making progress. I’ve done some editing on my memoir and made a few changes on HOW DO YOU LIKE ME NOW. The truth is I hate editing. But I refuse to make a resolution to finish the new novel, the memoir. and the previous work. As long as I don’t resolve to do something, I can continue the work on the new novel and the work on the editing projects. But the minute I utter the words “I am resolved…”, the whole plan falls apart. So I’m just going work at it.
Working at it frees me. Without the goals and resolutions hanging around my neck I can breathe. And when I can breathe I can free my thoughts and write. You see, I working at it.
Wordsmith Six 