Tag Archives: WORDSMITH SIX

Point of View

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TRAILS END – The novel

Point of View

When I first attempted writing, I knew what every character was thinking and doing, how they felt, and why. I simply told the reader all they needed to know. Learning to write from one character’s point of view and letting them show the reader the story, became intimidating. For a while I became stifled, unable to make any progress with my story.

With the help of my good friends in Wordsmith Six, and attending the Jodi Thomas Writers Academy at WTAM, I’m learning. There is, however, a POV I still struggle with. Trails End is a main character in my novel, and I really want to incorporate the horse’s POV a few times through out the story. I just finished such a chapter, and I have no idea if it will fly. My Wordsmith Six group might have to fix it.

Have you seen the movie “War Horse”? The book was loaned to me by Natalie Bright because it’s written entirely from the horse’s POV. What a great story. So at least I know it can be done. I can only hope my novel will be as compelling.

Thanks for reading,

Joe

 

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

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ACKNOWLEDGMENT

by Sharon Stevens

Recently I took a story back to my critique group. My words had been posted in a blog, but I knew from the moment I clicked it into cyber-space to our facilitator that it wasn’t quite right. It may not have been terrible per se, or even wrong, it just needed work, and I looked to my fellow writers to listen to the story and help me “fix it”.

I think they were relieved. They had been confused by the story and didn’t quite know how to tell me. It didn’t connect and not only that, it was filled with many words leading nowhere. The main focus, the heart of the story got lost somewhere in all the jumble.

Our facilitator told me to rework it and bring it back, and he would repost it. No one would ever know.

I left that night even more confused than before. None-the-less I took it back home and worked and reworked the story, following the advice of my fellow writers until it was perfect with a capital P. If I do say so myself it was my finest masterpiece. Granted the word count was over a thousand words, but strong, connected and glowing. Every thought matched to the next. Each paragraph connected together in one sweeping saga linked heart and soul. All my facts were checked and rechecked. All the names honored and placed within the body of the piece. I made sure the story was grammatically correct with every word in its place. I took out all the “wases”, found the echoes, edited the errors and streamlined the focus.

After I had read this saga over for the millionth time I felt it was ready to resubmit. I highlighted to copy and save and then paste to the facilitator. (He would be so proud of me.) And then I clicked a key, I’m still not sure which one, and my work was gone. Not gone to my blog post, or gone to my file folder but gone gone…never to be retrieved again.

I stared at the screen before me not comprehending what had just happened. I pushed paste and paste again, and the computer still glowed empty.

And that is when it hit me. I realized what I had written and what I had initially taken to my critique group and what they had tried to get me to see, was nothing more than an acknowledgment. My story wasn’t a story after all, it was simply a dedication, a Pulitzer prize winning entry to a story not yet written aimed at all those who had paved the way for me in Heaven as well as here on earth.

This is who I am and who I will always be, but it provided a revelation. I worked so hard honoring the people and memories close to my heart who inspired me to put words on paper. I guess I just wanted them to know how much they touched my life and lifted me up and encouraged me to dream. As one of the members of my writing group explained that my heart was so full that it spilled over into my writing.

When my blog disappeared I was hurt. Not only that, I was devastated, dumbfounded, depressed, discouraged and any other “dis” in the dictionary. But I truly wasn’t that upset. There was no gnashing of teeth or ripping of clothes or tearing of hair. There were tears, but no sobbing. It was all just so perfect and I didn’t think I could retrieve it from my memory word for word.

It wasn’t until I found Jennifer Archer’s book, “Once Upon A Dream” at our bookstore, and read her acknowledgment to her friends and fellow writers that I came to my “aha” moment.

There was no question the fault of loosing my written work lay with my stupidity, for not saving it first before taking any other action. That’s a given and one of the first rules in writing!

When I clicked on that key that wiped out my tale it was if the Angels above were admonishing me. “Get past this, go further, reach higher, GET OFF THE FIRST PAGE! We know what we have done and we are proud of what we accomplished while there on earth. You don’t need to acknowledge us any more. You have a glowing, empty screen before you. Now go and write your story.

And so I did, with one last acknowledgment.

Jennifer Archer will be the guest speaker at the Panhandle Professional Writers meeting on September 17, 2011. She will be at the east campus of the St. Stephen’s Methodist Church, 4600 S. Western from 10-3 speaking on the “5 Senses: How to Capture the Magic & Bring Your Story Alive.”

PPW was founded by two women, Laura V. Hamner and Phebe Warner who not only encouraged writing, but were involved in the entire community way beyond the pages of a story. They along with Loula Grace Erdman and the many members of PPW down through the years, have made it all possible for those of us who love to share a story with each other, and in a tangible medium with a printed page.

Jennifer will be speaking on how to make your writing glow for a reader using all your senses and theirs. She should know, she knows how to write a great story.

But I can’t leave without honoring HER acknowledgments, as I think she said it best. But with doing so I want to honor MY Wordsmith Six critique group, Natalie Bright, Nandy Ekle, Barbara Propst, Joe Nichols and Craig Keel.

In Jennifer‘s words…“Many thanks to my Thursday night critique group: Karen Smith, DeWanna Pace, Jodi Koumalats, Bruce Edwards, Kim Cambell and Judy Andrew. Each week you challenge me, encourage me and teach me something new.

Thanks also to Ronda Thompson, Kimberly Willis Holt and Charlotte Goebel for giving me their time, suggestions and friendship.

And, as always, to Jeff for making it possible for me to chase a dream.”

Sharon Stevens

HAMILTONIAN

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HAMILTONIAN

by Sharon Stevens

Author Jennifer Archer encouraged us to celebrate National Book Week by choosing a book close at hand, turning to page 56, reading the fifth sentence, then posting it without listing the title of the book or author.

In an old used paperback I had culled from the shelves, next to my writing space (Natalie Bright, August 8, 2011) I found, “They ain’t nothing but animals, they really ain’t.” (1)

What fun! Intrigued I then took it one step further. My husband and I were stocking college textbooks on the shelves of our Buffalo Bookstore getting ready for the fall semester at WTAMU and I came across the words “In addition, some youngsters got involved painting artistic travel posters to decorate the area.”(2)

In another book I found “As if they were spiritual consumers, young adults are shopping around among a wide range of religious traditions, in the process they are finding new ways to incorporate religion into their daily lives:”(3) Last but not least I read in still another book, “Explain why the tour ABCFECDBA is not a Hamiltonian circuit for the graph below.”(4)

A journalist remarked that of all the generations this was the best time to be a reader, that with libraries, Kindles, Nooks, bookstores as well as Google and Bing you can read any time and any place. Since we own a bookstore filled with used paperbacks, local authors and college textbooks, and with being a living American and breathing free, I wholeheartedly agree! I can go anywhere and pick up whatever suits my fancy at any moment to coincide with my mood at the time. I am then free to put it back down if it doesn’t suit my fancy, (as in studying about the Hamiltonian Circuit) and pursue my passion somewhere else.

Each book to me is a treasure shared from the author directly to my heart. I celebrate each letter, sentence and chapter. Being involved in a writers critique group and a member of Panhandle Professional Writers I know what it takes to put words down on paper and pursue ideas to publication.

I found a chapter on literacy for children, “Many people seem to think that reading is pronouncing the sounds of letters and that writing is about copying print or putting sounds together. These people have forgotten that the purpose of reading is to make meaning.”

And I guess this is what I treasure the most in reading is to “make meaning”. Everything I read connects to some part of my life, my heart, and my soul. I read for pleasure, I read to learn, I read to relish, but I also read to share. What else is a good book for but to pass on to others. On that note, it is amazing how one of my favorite authors always seems to put words together meant just for me, “The silence seemed to stretch miles between them.”(5)

I have a Webster’s Dictionary from 1890, and the fifth sentence down on page 56 is written, “ANTIQUITIES-The remains of ancient times. In this sense it is usually plural.”

The next sentence goes on to relate that “Antiquities comprehend all the remains of ancient times; all the monuments, coins, inscriptions, edifices, history, and fragments of literature, offices, habiliments, weapons, manners, ceremonies; in short whatever respects any of the ancient nations of the earth.”

Thanks Jennifer Archer, as an author, for reminding me to celebrate everything I hold most dear. I couldn’t have written it better myself.

Sharon Stevens

1. Royal Stud, by Stuart Jason

2. Let’s Begin Reading Right,by Marjorie Fields, Lois A. Groth, Katherine L. Spangler

3. Sociology The New Millennium, by Jenifer Kunz & Claudia Stuart professors at WTAMU

4. For All Practical Purposes, Mathematical Literacy in Today’s World by Comap

5. Texas Blue by Jodi Thomas

“I AM,” I SAID

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“I am,” I said 

I often find myself wondering who am I, or what am I? With the stress of the daily grind, I lose sight of my identity and my purpose. As I begin this new adventure in writing a blog, I’ve decided it’s time to set the record straight. I am Barbara Propst aka Cait Collins. I am a widow, a daughter, a sister, an aunt, and a friend. Above all, I am a writer.

Why do I write? I ask myself this question quite a bit; especially when my characters take me in a direction I did not intend for the story. The truth is I write because I must. If I do not write something every day, all those crazy characters invading my mind will zip in and demand to know what my problem is. Have I forgotten I left them clinging to a ledge facing starvation?  Where’s the white knight? So you don’t know how I get out of this mess!  Oh, yeah, these fictous monsters drive me crazy and keep me up at night.

While this scenario might be a bit of a stretch, there is a grain of truth in it. I write because I have stories tell. I write because I believe I have something to say. I write because it’s cheaper than a therapist.

Yes, writing is good therapy. Think how many of your enemies you can kill off in a story. You get out the bad stuff and remain free from a prison term.

Seriously, I invite you to explore creative adventures with me. I don’t have great pearls of wisdom, just simple thoughts on a craft I love. There’s no theme to my Outtakes. I’ll write whatever I take out of my mind.

– Cait Collins

Click on the author page above to connect with Cait.

WRITING HORSES

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WRITING HORSES – Joe Nichols

After several days of 100+ degrees in my home in the Texas panhandle, I head south to Fredericksburg where it’s really hot. I do have a good reason to be here for sure. I hauled a horse owned by my wife and I to the Gillespie County Fairgrounds to run him in a Quarter Horse race.

My whole life has been involved with fast horses, rodeo broncs, and cow horses. Cow horse? A cow horse is used to handle and work cattle, such as gathering and driving them to different pastures, or to a corral to be sorted, doctored, branded, or shipped to market. Modern times will never replace this valuable tool still used on today’s ranches, feedlots, and livestock auctions.

A working cow horse provides the nucleus for my current novel and the reason for this blog. I would like people from all walks of life to enjoy my story. If I can help the folks not familiar with the western lifestyle to understand it better, the story of Donnie Williams will relate to anyone.

In chapter one of TRAILS END, the prominent aging rancher, Robert Jarrett, learns that sixteen-year-old Donnie is in jail. When Robert decides to go to the police station, it begins the transformation of Donnie’s life.

Next Wednesday, we’ll talk more about the story and some “cowboy terms”. Also, I’ll give you the results about “Rare but Special” in his race.

Click on the author page above to connect with Joe.