pam stebbins (author)

Stray Thoughts

2012-01-22T19:17:00.000-08:00

Don't check the date on your hot fudge sauce after you've poured it on your sundae.

What an Eizabeth thing to think. Writing JustMe: and being in Elizabeth's head was great fun. I wrote every funny stray thought that came to me without worrying about being polite, politically correct, or hurtful. Then I published JustMe: and started to worry. Elizabeth isn't all sweetness. Would readers like her? Would they get her sense of humor?

According to Elizabeth:

"I've learned I can't get by with my charm. My father would probably charge me rent."
"Women talk to think. it's how we understand what we're thinking-- we have to hear it said."
"My mother has been complaining of her so-called invisibility for years, if she was quieter Dad and I might have chance at ignoring her into nonexistence."
"Civility is easier to achieve if you eat first."

Why read JustMe:?

2012-01-04T16:32:00.000-08:00

For the characters.
While JustMe: is Elizabeth's story, she is surrounded by people as quirky (and more so) than your own friends and family. So who do readers like best?
No surprise to Melanie and me, Jessie is getting the majority of the votes. We love Jessie too. Jessie, a hermaphrodite, is first a work acquantance of Elizabeth's and then a friend and for a short time, an apartment mate. Like Elizabeth she tries to fit in by being what people expect her to be, but this means hiding who she is. She tries on different guises -- a woman, a lesbian, an homosexual, a cross-dresser, a man. But as she says she doesn't belong to any team. Like Elizabeth, she is searching for who she is. Jessie's caring and sensitive nature has won readers's hearts. And we root for her.

By the way, the picture is from the 2010 Blobfest.

Merry Christmas

2011-12-22T20:10:00.000-08:00

Yes, I have a tree decorated to match my book. After thirty or so trees, I do start running out of themes and color schemes. I like to decorate trees as much as I like to write. But since Christmas comes but once a year, isn't it lucky I have more than one passion. Also great has been the comments I've been getting from people who have read my book. Usually they laugh, repeat a line from the book, and tell me how true it is. It seems we all have the same wicked thoughts we're too polite to speak aloud.

Who is Elizabeth?

2011-12-19T17:45:00.000-08:00

I wrote JustMe: thinking that Elizabeth was like my daughter Melanie--not the same but of like mind. The mom in the book was based on me. Readers who know me say Elizabeth's not so sweet, but hopefully humorous asides sound more like me. But believe me, I'm far from my twenties and Elizabeth's energy and urgent dreams. Melanie has assured me that she could (sometimes) see herself in Elizabeth but it was through the author's (mine) filter. That would make Elizabeth Melanie with an overlay of Pam. Yikes! According to Melanie the mom in the book is nicer than me. For me she is like looking in a rear view mirror. The image is recognizable but not quite right. How do people write autobiograghies? At least fiction is truthful about being a set of lies.

The Orginal Shoes

2011-12-12T18:23:00.000-08:00

This was the first idea for the cover. The original shoes were red so the color had to be changed. Then I found the pink shoes. Happy coincidence! The writing process is full of such coincidences. Just as a character needs defining you notice someone at the mall with a distinctive walk or hair style. Stray comments overheard, half remembered stories, and even jokes can fuel a scene. The trick is to keep open to possibilities. Perhaps that's the trick to life too.

Food for thought

2011-12-09T20:08:00.000-08:00

Food can be an important part of a book--or not. Some book groups like to cater their meetings with foods from the month's selection. Forget that with JustMe:! Canned cream of mushroom soup casseroles (green bean casserole may be a must for Thanksgiving, but not as a staple), stale mall cookies (they are good microwaved--for about a minute) and bacteria laden egg salad -- now food poisoning is just not fun. So I suggest cookies with pink and green frosting when serving up JustMe:.It's what I'm bringing to my book signing. You could add Elizabeth's favorite drink of cranberry and vodka to the party. It matches the cookies well.

Book Signing Dec. 10th At Kennett Resale Book Shoppe

2011-12-05T15:40:00.000-08:00

*My first Book Signing is Sat., Dec. 10, 11 am-3 pm at the Kennett Resale Book Shoppe, 113 South Union, Kennett Square, PA.

I dressed up my book and flyer with a coordinated Christmas tree. Again is there anything better than a custom color scheme? A well known fact --I love Christmas trees. I'll be putting pictures of my other ( 30 or so) trees on Facebook. About the Kennett Resale Book Shoppe--it's a used book store manned by volunteers. The store's profits go to the Kennett Square Area Senior Center. For the past four years I've been a volunteer. My title is "Queen of SciFi, Horror, and Fantasy" as those are the areas I'm responsible. My family may find me a horror at times, and I've been known to live in a fantasy world, but I'm most interested in Science Fiction. (I have and will wear Star Trek uniforms.) My book signing is a perfect excuse to visit this gem of a used book store. It's large collection is well organized and reasonably priced. Parking is free on Saturdays. And everyone is always glad to help customers--we love fellow readers!

Why a green cover?

2011-12-01T16:32:00.000-08:00

Green goes well with pink. Lime green is a hot color now. --Good reasons, sure but the real reason is that I love the color green. For me lime green is neutral. What doesn't go with a bright green purse? Or hat? Or shoes? Perhaps I'm becoming obessive about shades of green of a yellow hue.

Why pink?

2011-11-29T16:24:00.000-08:00

In my first conversation with Melanie about the book we thought an aversion to pink would be funny. For years Melanie would not wear pink. I only wear fuchsia and bright pink. We just aren't pastel people. In JustMe: I kept throwing pink at Elizabeth--pink work shirts, a pink dog, pink bridesmaid dresses, pink boots until she gives in and buys pink shoes. The original title for the book was "How I Learned to Live, Love, and Wear the Color Pink." It was decided by my first readers and other writers that the title was perhaps too long. The title does describe the book. Which title do you like?

JustMe cover

2011-11-28T04:04:00.001-08:00

Wow look at that!

Seeing the book printed makes it real. But the cover means I have a color scheme. And for someone who color codes her towels to each bathroom (yes, I'm like the mom in the book--at least in that detail. She's nicer than me.) knowing my colors reassures me that I can market the book. So yes I'll be the crazy woman dressed in lime and pink selling her book. Hint: There will be no avoiding me!

2011-11-01T17:13:00.000-07:00

The Perfect Shoes

JustMe:
by Pam Stebbins with Melanie Stebbins

Don't you love these shoes? I'm close to finishing the process of putting a book "JustMe:"on Amazon and the cover needed a pink shoe, a great high heeled shoe. These are perfection, I can wear them without falling over and they are ruffled--a detail I had imagined but not dared to put on the page. The shoes have to be be an omen, right? My book cover is going to be as great as it is inside. See I am learning about marketing in between trying on shoes and crossing my fingers.

The original shoes were red. They were described by a friend over 60 as F**me shoes. A term my mother and I had heard before, but not my daughter Melanie.

2011-01-26T16:58:00.000-08:00

Writing advice from Humpty Dumpty by way of the "Through the Looking Glass."

"When I use a word." Humpty Dumpy said, in a rather a scornful tone," it means just what I choose it to mean- neither more nor less"

Writers they can use words inventively and even make up words, but only if they have command over their prose. Wrangling words means knowing their current means, how context can change meaning, (think-gay) as well how they sound so that reading flows. Although science fiction and fantasy writers often make up words, they still have to worry about how they sound and fit in the worlds they create.

Humpty Dumpty on about words: "They've a temper, some of them - particularly verbs: they're proudly - adjectives you can anything with,but not verbs-however I can manage the whole lot of them!"

Yes, verbs are exacting, that is the action ones. Passive verbs should be left in first drafts and replaced. Action verbs (are you walking, running, skipping?) puts the reader into the story. Reliance on easy adjectives and especially adverbs puts flab on your writing. Instead look past the easy to find the unique phasing that will make your writing memorable.

2011-01-17T16:13:00.000-08:00

Lately I've been reading children's books. Besides all the Oz books that come my way, I found Hugh Lofting's Doctor Dolittle on the Moon. As a child I wanted to read the book but my library didn't have it. And yes, I enjoyed it. And no, I'm not saying how long I've waited to read to the book.

Why read children's books?

Besides being fast, fun reads, children's books remind writers what clear, streamlined writing is and sweeps away the clutter of convoluted sentences and overcomplicated plots. Secondly books from twenty, fifty, ninety years are more than nostalgic jaunts, they are insights into the society and time of the author. Lastly juvenile nonfiction is a quick and painless way to get an overview of a topic. So pick up Alice in Wonderland, settle in with Lemony Snicket or build a cathedral with David Macaulay. Being an adult doesn't mean you can't have fun or that you have to do research the hard way.

2010-12-16T17:24:00.000-08:00

Remember silver trees and Jetson cartoons?

They were so modern.

Now?--not so much.

I love old science fiction. While the stories are set in the future, they are written with the sensibilities of the writer's time. Golly Gee.

It's like straddling two time lines. How cool is that?

2010-12-13T16:15:00.000-08:00

The Pink Tree
******
Not every tree is green,
some are pink with a
mermaid!!
Not every book is great literature, some are for the beach. There's a place for both on my book shelve.
All books are divisible into two classes: the books of the hour and the books of all Time.
John Ruskin

2010-12-11T16:21:00.000-08:00

Butterfly Christmas Tree

Butterflies capture our imagination because of their fleeting beauty, easy grace and easy freedom. Good writing should release us from the reality that grounds our lives.

One writes to make a home for oneself, on paper, in time, in others' minds.

Alfred Kazin

2010-12-07T16:11:00.000-08:00

Lime tree with purple ornaments.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Sometimes simple is best as in this tree. The same is true for writers. Consider these editing reminders. Long, convoluted sentences lose the readers (and the writer). The 'said' conversation tag does the job without startling the reader. Don't string prepositional phrases, they bore the reader. Cut out unnecessary words -- lazy adverbs, empty adjectives and overused favorites.

Editing cuts away fuzzy writing laying bare the story.

2010-12-06T16:31:00.000-08:00

Four trees of red.

These trees are red--red poinsettia, green with red berry lights and red wooden toys, red and white tinsel with red lights and decorated with cookie and sweets ornaments, red tinsel with red lights decorated with walnut shell babies and candy ornaments. The color and the theme of childish delights tie the decorated trees together and yet each tree is unique.

A writer uses what experiences he or she has. It's the translating, though that makes the difference.

John Irving

2010-12-05T15:38:00.000-08:00

^^^^^^^^^^^^^

It's that time again:

Christmas trees all over my house!
^^^^^^^^^^^^^

This tree is decorated with my favorite things--books. No surprise there. I read, write, collect and even craft with books--notice the paper chain and book ornaments.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

A writer is, after all, only half of his book the other half is the reader and from the reader the writer learns.

P. L. Travers

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

2010-11-23T16:37:00.000-08:00

There is time to write and to live your life. Don't ignore your writing or use it as an excuse to hide from your life. Emotions, experiences, friends, family...they all give your writing depth--as long as you do write!

About Character:
Give him a compulsion and turn him loose!
Ray Bradbury

2010-11-01T16:19:00.000-07:00

Why Write?

Our reasons for writing are the same reasons we have reading. Through writing we live other lives and explore places we can't go. We go alone, the journey is personal. If we do it right we discover something about ourselves. If we're lucky, our writings will find readers who appreciate the journey we have laid out for them.

By the way my Christmas trees are going up!

2010-10-18T16:38:00.000-07:00

The television made a great backdrop for my flowers.

Watching television can also improve your writing. Try these exercises while viewing a favorite show.

1.Whose story is being told? Does it stay with one point of view?

2.Close your eyes and listen to the dialogue--can you tell which character is speaking or do they sound alike?

3.Can you identify the arc of the story--the conflict, the complication, the solve--and when it happens? Long running shows fall into a set patterns. Genre fiction, such as mysteries and romance, also have predicable formulas.

4.Lastly, why do you watch your favorite show? Probably for the same reason someone would read your novel--interesting characters that you care about.

2010-10-11T17:26:00.000-07:00

Doorways into the past

Recently I read a book published in 1909. David P. Abbot's straightforward language was modern. His "Behind the Scenes with the Mediums" exposed tricks I had seen on television shows about psychic swindles. Except for a few word choices, the book could have been published anytime in the last thirty years. Yet the book I had in my hands had thick, stiff, cream-colored pages held together with strong threads, a constant reminder that these words came from the past. Near the end of his book David lamented about not finding an authentic medium. But at seventy-five he said that he would soon know what laid beyond death. Now Mr. Abbott, long dead, has spoken to me through his book in a way I doubt reading a modern reprint or by electronic means would have been possible.

2010-09-21T07:44:00.000-07:00

Help! I'm stuck in the middle of my novel and I'm drowning.

You start a novel with an idea and leap into the first scene, knowing that the beginning can be scrutinized, revised, or even changed later. You race to the imagined ending, the reason for your book, only to find it far away. Treading water isn't enough, you'll bore your reader. To keep a reader's interest, every scene needs to add depth to the characters as well as twist and carry the plot. The middle contains the adventures that take the reader from beginning to end. the story is the journey.

So here's to middles, make them strong, make them worthwhile, and never forget how important they are.

2010-09-14T18:11:00.000-07:00

Recipe for a Novel:

A story idea (plot)

A theme or two

A variety of characters.

Place story in a setting and stir in the characters. Allow characters to develop. Fold in themes.

Write and rewrite until novel is fully baked.

Frost with good grammar and spelling.

Serve to readers and hope they eat it up!

2010-06-23T17:08:00.000-07:00

Okay, where's that manuscript?

Even birds seem to be nagging me.

2010-06-13T16:37:00.000-07:00

To create means to reach for the moon. No story, no painting, sculpture or any handmade item can attain the perfection that its maker initially glimpses. With time, we learn and practice our craft, hoping to bring a concept seen in a fleeting moment into better focus--hoping to share our vision.

2010-05-25T18:28:00.000-07:00

Themes

............

I painted this when I was seventeen. It's been at my mother's for years and recently in my attic. While searching for a picture frame, I found the painting and when I turned it around, I was staring at the central motif, a Tree of Life, of my finished manuscript.

Writers have personal themes that they continue to return in their writing. Most write stories, finding the themes only after their books is nearly written. Without realizing it, writers explore themes important to their own search for meaning.

Themes are a writer's searches for meaning in his life.

2010-05-18T18:10:00.000-07:00

Readers connect with interesting characters, not stereotypes. So what is the difference? Think of flat characters as first impressions that went no further. Interesting characters have desires, faults, and quirks. Like your friends they're not always easy to understand. They may contradict themselves and change their minds, but they remain who they are.

Writing means spending time getting to know your characters. It goes beyond character charts and outlines. No computer or pen is necessary. You need to listen for their voices, ask them questions, and have them play scenes out in your head. Oddly, characters can only tell you what they know. Once I had to ask a secondary character what secret was being kept from the main character. Another time a character had to undergo some therapy before I could understood why she did what she did.

And in answer to your unasked question--Yes, writers are little crazy.

2010-05-04T16:17:00.000-07:00

Writing needs courage. Despite the best outline (which mine are not) a story unfolds as it must. The author has to trust his characters and experience each scene as it comes while looking down from his outline and planned outcomes. Often it means plodding along, worrying, stalling for days, when all you want is to rush to the ending. But the insights that come from this process will make the book a worthwhile read.

2010-04-22T16:07:00.000-07:00

Connecting Scenes

These scenes connect action A with B. If the character is physically going to another place, a break can serve the purpose, and the action begins anew with scene B. Overuse of this technique yields an effect similar to watching Sesame Street. Enter the chase scene, exciting for the reader-but an exacting task for the writer. But since we aim to please.... Other connecting scenes involve motivating people. Since people thinking can be as fascinating as ink drying, conversation is often employed--it reads faster. But unless the writer uses humor, exposes more about the characters, and keeps the dialogue on topic, these scenes read like bad amateur theater. Essentially every scene , even a connecting scene has to be enjoyable to read and is therefore as important as that final scene you are driving the book towards. A good novel isn't just a great opening idea rushing to fulfillment, it's all those scenes in between.

2010-04-19T10:24:00.000-07:00

You see a photograph of a flower and understand the play of shadow and light. No one tells you the sun was shining or the day was warm. A novel should expand beyond the words on the page in an exchange between the writer and the reader.

2010-04-13T05:38:00.000-07:00

Flowers from Longwood Garden's Orchid show

Writing: I just read Robert J. Sawyers' "Flashforward." I have been watching the television show inspired by the book. And they do mean inspired. The book and the show are about an event that causes everyone to blackout and flash on what they are doing in the future. One character doesn't have a vision because he had been murdered. A single character makes the transition from the book to the small screen. Other than that the stories are different. The series follows FBI agents trying to figure out why people flashed ahead six months. Sawyers' book is from the scientists' point of view. They caused the flashforward and people see more than twenty years in the future.

Lesson for writers: When an author sells his book to another media, his story is no longer his.
Lesson for readers: Read the book! The book will add depth to your enjoyment of the story you saw on the screen.

2010-04-09T01:42:00.000-07:00

Another View

A writer needs to know if his words are portraying the meaning he is trying to convey. That's why it is necessary to have readers who can tell you what they need in the book, including good grammar. But a writer should also critique other writers' work. It's amazing how easy it is to spot your writing difficulties in another person's work. Think of it as another way to view your work.

2010-04-05T18:25:00.000-07:00

Odds and Ends

The computer isn't always our friend.

I lost my book in a file that didn't allow me to email it or copy it. Not sure what to do, I did as I have seen the computer literate do --I tried everything until I found something that worked.

Lesson: Don't be afraid of your computer.

Question: Why do some agents who represent science fiction ask you to mail your query rather send than sent your query via email?

2010-04-01T16:47:00.000-07:00

Science Fiction:

I wanted to learn about science fiction and lucked into a copy of David Pringle's "Science Fiction: The 100 Best Novels; An English-language Selection 1949-1984." Nearly three years in (I have read other books besides science fiction) I'm down to the last fifteen. I realize the shortcomings of this list and am taking suggestions as to what contemporary books to read. But I can say I have read your favorite golden oldie SF.

There is a subdivision in science fiction for utopia and dsytopia books. It seems to have been easier for writers in the past to imagine utopias. Dystopias have become much more common, perhaps they fit our sense of the world better

...Recently I read Edward Bellamy's "Looking Backwards 2000-1887, published in 1888. Then I read Mack Reynold"s "Looking Backward, From the Year 2000" published in 1973. A month ago I had read Ursula Le Guin's "Dispossesed." The last two books came from Pringle's list.

...In Bellamy's popular book (people loved it way back when), the hypnotized hero, Julian West, is awaken over hundred years later to a nationalist (socialist) utopia where everyone works according to their ability in the corporate army and all their needs are met. His hero happily falls in love with the descendant of his fiancee. The mechanized and steam-powered world Bellamy imagined speaks more to steam punk than to prophecy.

...Reynold's hero, cured of heart disease after thirty years in the cryogenic chamber, is a stranger in a highly advanced world that is run by computers. Energy is limitless (how good is that!). But people speak a universal language he doesn't know. They even use the metric system! Education, not work, occupies these people. In case the reader doesn't notice the similarity to Bellamy's title, Reynolds used the same names for his characters. Only in this case Julian West does not live happily ever after.

...Ursula Le Guin's "The Dispossessed" also depicts a egalitarian utopia set in the far future with aliens, who are very much like us. Anarres was settled as a result of a labor revolt. There everyone works and has equal housing, food, (what little there is on this improvised world). Problems still creep in: conformity replaces creativity, people playing favorites, some taking more than their share. Shevek, a math genius and our hero, travels to the home world, Urras to share his mathematical discovery and learn from other scientists. Urras is a corrupt capitalistic society of excesses that somehow encourages discovery and invention. Shevek discovers he belongs to neither world.

...Science fiction writers often build new worlds, whether in the future or on other planets, but to imagine a plausible utopia has to be daunting. Man's own psychology gets in the way. And oh, yeah, there's that limitless energy problem to crack.

2010-03-30T18:07:00.001-07:00

What is this? -- This is what remains of a concrete ship run aground at Sunset Beach, NJ.

writing: A writer observes and sees what others glimpse. He strips bare an idea to the emotions behind it. Sometimes, if he's lucky, there's monsters to expose.

2010-03-28T15:49:00.000-07:00

The rough draft of a novel is always ugly.

2010-03-24T17:41:00.000-07:00

Pigs on the Beach

There seems to be a story here.

Writing: A scene and a story is build in layers. There is what is seen and heard (think play), the second is what the characters feel and experience emotionally. And third, never to be forgotten is the plot (where the scene is going.)

2010-03-23T18:34:00.000-07:00

Writing projects need preparation. An Idea, Research, an Outline, an operational Computer, a Place to write, Time ...

I've cleaned my writing office today. I'm running out of excuses. Time to get going.

2010-03-14T11:05:00.000-07:00

Dreams of lofty goals send us on our journey. We follow these dreams of fame and fortune, long after we stop believing in them. In time, we realize the journey is the goal and dream the means.

On writing: Writing your best is the goal and the journey.

2010-03-05T15:54:00.000-08:00

The space to dream comes from inside.

2010-03-04T16:19:00.000-08:00

Dreams feed writers.

When writers sleep, their minds continue to work. Sometimes the ideas are shrouded in symbols and must be deciphered. Other times a story is given as a gift. Before becoming fully awake try to grasp your dreams and sift them for gold.

The picture was taken from the plane.

2010-03-03T13:42:00.000-08:00

Yes, I've been away from my computer a lot lately. I wish I could say it was warm and sunny while I was in Florida, still it's good to get away.

Writing: Sometimes getting away gives you a different perspective on your life. In writing, perspective --point of view character and the framework (the genre)-- drives the story. When the writing doesn't flow, you're telling the story from the wrong perspective. Because my book was not moving, I tried the story from another character's vantage point. I may have found a new protagonist. I'll let you know how it goes.

2010-02-17T05:22:00.000-08:00

Things not to say to a writer:

1. What have you published?

2. Have I seen any of your work? (this is the same question as the first.)

3. Why do you write? You should do (something else), you do that so well.

4. I called you because I know you were home and don't work.

5. Have you got an agent? Publisher?

6. When will your book be published?

7. Haven't you finished writing your book yet?

Writers write because they have to. Publishing is the business of agents and editors. Writers write, publishers print books. Please let us enjoy our obsession. We know the odds of getting published.

2010-02-13T17:22:00.000-08:00

My finished manuscript is in the hands of a friend I refer to as the Queen of Red Ink. Since she takes her duty seriously, stray commas will be dashed, new ones placed, word choices questioned and over used words banished. My beautiful novel will be bloodied.

Writing: I have several readers for my manuscripts. The first tell me if what they read is a novel or a near miss. The next get fussier. The last is the Queen of Red Ink. I take 95% of my readers' comments--I want people to understand and enjoy my book. I take 85% of the Queen's comments, claiming writing style differences.

Writers have to take criticism if they want their books read and if they want to write their best.

2010-02-11T15:20:00.000-08:00

A storm, a friend's story, any unexpected event can trigger a glimpse into something more.

Word dust drifted streets of broken music car horns and air hammers--The Word broken pounded twisted exploded in smoke--
--William S. Burroughs "Nova Express"

writers

2010-02-10T07:07:00.000-08:00

It's been snowing for days. I miss my Christmas trees.

Writers: They view the world from the inside out. While they move through the same world as everyone else, they are living an alternate internal life; experiencing the stories they imagine. Since they return to each scene over and over, writing and re-writing, is it a wonder that this life is so vivid for them?

2010-02-08T17:34:00.000-08:00

"We are an impossibility in an impossible universe." Ray Bradbury

Somehow this quote makes doing the impossible like writing (and publishing) a novel seem like a possibility.

2010-02-04T19:13:00.000-08:00

"Storytelling reveals meaning without committing the error of defining it" Hannah Arendt

2010-02-03T15:10:00.000-08:00

Four of my trees, all different colors, bagged and ready for the attic. I'll have to decorate them again next year once again.

Writing: Every novel is built sentence by sentence.

2010-02-01T14:59:00.000-08:00

My query letter is too short, my synopsis is too long, and my newest novel is stalled. I fear my brain is either empty or too full.

2010-01-31T15:19:00.000-08:00

Winter days seems so cold and drab after the Christmas decorations are stowed away.

Writing: First drafts make me wonder why I think I can write a novel. Just because I've done it before doesn't make the journey easier. Less than thirty pages in and I'm mired in drifts of words and images. If it weren't for the energy and encouragement I get from talking with friends and other writers, I couldn't continue this trip. Thanks again and again.

2010-01-27T16:05:00.000-08:00

An autobiography is self-indulgent. Daphne du Maurier

Writing: Writers don't need to pen memoirs, their past and views are in their writing. No one needs to know the specifics of a writer's life--memories can fuzz those--it's honesty that readers deserve.

There's nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and open a vein. Walter Wellesey "Red" Smith

2010-01-26T16:47:00.000-08:00

It takes time to grow a story.

Writing: It would be easy if a book could be written on a schedule of so many pages of day. But each story needs time to grow-- for the characters to become real, for the setting to gel, for plots to evolve-- for a novel to be born.

2010-01-25T14:06:00.000-08:00

Writing the first draft of a book is like looking at the wrong side of your side mirror and expecting to know where you're going.

2010-01-24T05:57:00.000-08:00

***

Why
should
writers
read?

* * *

1. To learn pacing
2. To appreciate good writing and improve their own writing
3. To keep up with book trends
4. To better understand their genre.
5. Research
6. Because they love books
Six should be the most obvious. It's the most important since the other five follow it.

2010-01-22T15:46:00.000-08:00

The difference between fiction and reality? Fiction has to make sense. Tom Clancy

Writing: Science fiction often requires the imagining of a world, whether alien or futuristic. But then again every novel inhabits a world imagined by its author. What is reality? Perhaps a figment of our imagination.

Okay, I still have to do my research and build my book's world.

2010-01-21T16:24:00.000-08:00

Getting it in focus.

Writing: As I write the first draft of my novel, the story keeps veering off into different directions and I have to take the time to research and think in order to find my way. I can't reject any paths yet, as I'm still trying to bring the story into focus. For now I will have to count ideas rather than pages.

2010-01-19T17:35:00.000-08:00

January: We take down decorations and clean--all to begin anew.

Writing: Sometimes you need to clear off your writing space to clear your mind. A fellow writer, Jeanne Klaver reminded me of this today. Thanks.

2010-01-19T06:53:00.000-08:00

"Are you writing about me?" friends ask.

You may think your writer friends are modeling a character after you-don't worry your secrets are safe. True, a mannerism, a quirk, the clothes you prefer may appear. But although the character has a cat and hates mushroom pizza, she isn't you. No one wants to knows a friend as thoroughly as he has have to know his characters.

2010-01-18T15:28:00.000-08:00

Everyone in the pool!

Writing: Either you write or you don't. Saying you have a great idea for novel doesn't count. Get wet. Get writing.

2010-01-17T15:48:00.000-08:00

Today I had to revise a section of my previous book.

Writing: Writers 'rest' their manuscripts before doing a final revision. That means putting the manuscript aside for awhile. When the writer returns he sees his novel through the eyes of a reader. Spell checks errors, remnants of deleted and awkward sentences become evident. no longer married to every word, the writer can tackle bigger problems like rearranging scenes, losing character, anything that doesn't work for the reader he is now.

2010-01-16T17:28:00.000-08:00

"Curiosity has its own reason for existence. The important thing is not stop questioning." Albert Einstein

Writing: We have to ask our characters not only what are you going to do but why. No one is all evil and everyone believes their actions are right.

2010-01-15T13:15:00.000-08:00

Writing: Once you start to write regularly the story moves step by step. The trick is to know where your going--the ending--and then be willing take it each step no matter how slow the writing gets.

2010-01-14T16:31:00.000-08:00

Writing: You throw everything in the first draft -- trying to flesh out the story and understand your characters. As order arises from this chaos, images and themes are discovered that will transform the writing in the later revisions.

2010-01-12T14:29:00.000-08:00

If science fiction is the mythology of of modern technology, then its myth is tragic. --Ursula K. Le Guin

Often works of literary science fiction are transformed into cinema. Can you guess who wrote the book or short story these movies came from:

1. Next

2. 2001, A Space Odyssey

3. 2010

4. Total Recall

5. Minority Report

6. I, Robot

7. Blade Runner

8. Destination Moon

9. Soylent Green

10 Starship Troopers

11. A Scanner Darkly

12. Screamers

13. The Puppet Masters

14. The Running Man

Answers:::

1. Not Micheal Crichton, Philip K. Dick " The Golden Man"

2. of course-Arthur c. Clarke

3. Gave you this one, Arthur C. Clarke, " 2010: the Year We Made Contact"

4. Philip K. Dick, "We Can Remember If for You Wholesale."

5. Philip K. Dick

6. Isaac Asimov

7. Philip K. Dick, "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?"

8. Robert A. Heinlein

9. Harry Harrison, "Make Room! Make Room!" (no cannibalism!)

10. Robert A. Heinlein

11. You just guessing-- Philip K.Dick

12. Philip K. Dick, "Second Variety"

13. Robert A. Heinlein

13. Richard Bachman (that's Stephen King)

Scoring:

1-4, You could have gotten 5 answering Dick every time!

5-9, Expand your horizons. Read more science fiction.

10-13, Smart, but did you know the titles of the works that spawn the movies?

14 , I bow to your knowlege.

2010-01-11T14:33:00.000-08:00

My office.

I miss it. Since this room is over the garage and expensive to heat I don't use it in the winter.

Writing: If you want to write, you can write anywhere. I'm at my laptop. For now my office is the den. Tomorrow it could be a bookstore or the kitchen. What's important is that I'm writing.

2010-01-10T03:43:00.000-08:00

Writing: As a reader I don't like vague endings. I don't want to put down a book and wonder what I read. A book needs to feel complete. Occasionally a book can be read from two levels and feel complete from both. "Life of Pi" is a clear, contemporary example. But a writer shouldn't confuse their own indecision and lack of conviction or skill with producing a multilevel book. Know what you're doing. The reader isn't going to figure it out for you.

2010-01-09T15:24:00.000-08:00

Science Fiction: The sequel to Arthur C. Clarke's 2001 is his 2010. Now might be an interesting time to read it, although we don't travel to Jupiter, know aliens, etc. Science fiction writers seem to be optimistic and ambitious, while humanity seems to move at a snail's space. Perhaps a re-read of 1984 would be a good idea.

2010-01-09T06:29:00.000-08:00

Writers need other writers.

Last night Jonathan Maberry spoke at my writers' group. His enthusiasm and encouragement has put my writing resolutions into gear. Check jonathanmaberry.com

Writing: Lucky for unpublished writers, successful writers want to share their love of the craft. They enjoy sharing tips and advice. It's all a part of the magic of books.

2010-01-07T15:09:00.000-08:00

Writing: Sometimes a story shines so brightly it's difficult to discern its elements, and delineate characters and even setting. Catching light would be easier.

2010-01-06T11:00:00.000-08:00

Writing: Don't be afraid to explore the depths of your plot and characters.

2010-01-05T13:25:00.000-08:00

Writers don't march in step with the rest of world--that's why they see what others miss.

2010-01-04T13:31:00.000-08:00

Visions of a trip to Florida are dancing in my head. I go for two weeks to visit my mother.

Writing: I make lists. Mundane items like picking up milk and making bread out of old bananas are written alongside of revising my query and research for the next book. Some chores take a minute while others take hours. I write best when I should be mopping the kitchen floor and vice versus. Perhaps that's the yin and the yang of writing. With the list, I get a sense of accomplishment when I check off routine chores while I'm pushed to write. Eventually it all gets done--the banana bread, the query, the next list...

2010-01-03T12:46:00.000-08:00

More than twenty years ago my husband planted a cane of the corn plant, or dracaena fragrans. I've had to dust it and pull off the dead leaves. Then a month ago the plant flowered. The blooms opened at night nearly suffocating me. If not moved or re-potted, I can look forward to the plant blooming annually.

Writing: After a year and half of work on a book, I have to compose a query letter and condense a three hundred page book to a two page synopsis only to have an agent read a sentence and decide he just didn't love my book or that it isn't the flavor of the month. Instead of wasting my time on some wild goose chase, I would rather write another novel, unraveling the mysteries of a new story. But since lightening does strike and old corn plants do occasionally blossom I will query agents with my science fiction book. (But I'm really excited about the next one.)

2009-12-31T11:19:00.000-08:00

Party on!

For tomorrow we must take up pen (or computer) and begin writing again.

2009-12-30T10:22:00.000-08:00

It's that time of year ---to leap into those New Year's resolutions.

Writing: Many writers set aside time each day to write. I give myself goals to reach: so many pages for my writers' group, a year to finish. I write twenty minutes, sometimes three hours and then none at all. But my novel is always with me. I mentally direct a scene until it's right, catch and hold interesting images and phrases, and play with new concepts and possible plot tangles. If you stay with your book and it will get written.

2009-12-29T13:41:00.000-08:00

Yeah! I wrote today.
Writing: With the holidays I haven't written any fiction. Oh, I have been going through scenes in my head but nothing made it into the computer. I even had a short story idea I didn't dare transfer into words. Stilted phrases choked my efforts. Luckily my creativity found another outlet, changing sad grapefruits into an elixir of juice, triple sec and vodka. Once I relaxed the short story wrote itself-its very raw self--but it's a start. Yeah! I'm a writer again.

2009-12-28T17:23:00.000-08:00

Writing: An idea for a novel is like an explosion of color. It bombards the senses. No wonder that first draft is so difficult to write. How do you explain color? How do you fall into a new world and have it make sense?

2009-12-27T16:05:00.000-08:00

The Pink Tree--my sister got this from Filene's when it became Macy's. Seems this tree didn't fit the new store's decor. The little girls in the neighborhood are envious though.

Writing: A good story is ruined if it's told from the wrong perspective. Is the right character telling the story? Should it be told in first person or third, present or past tense? Consider how many movies have retold the Christmas Carol. Do you want scary or cartoon ducks and mice?

2009-12-26T12:47:00.000-08:00

Yes there are more trees! This is my space tree.
Writing: I went to Philcon this year, (Philly's science fiction conference) and had a great time with people who love to read science fiction, physicists whose projects seem like science fiction, and writers. Then I had to go home and face my frozen Thanksgiving turkey.
Conference are a great way to learn about the writing profession and talk to other writers. They are physically exhausting, yet mentally energizing. But writing is still solitary: You and the words.

2009-12-25T10:07:00.000-08:00

Silver and Gold. Makes you think of the old girlscout song about friendship.

The Merry Christmas to new and old friends!

2009-12-24T20:03:00.000-08:00

Santa Tree and an almost traditional red and lime green tree.

May Santa bring you what you want.

Writing: I would love to have a book published, but I don't need that to write. I won't stop striving to tell my stories as they should be told. And to my friends and fellow writers --thanks for the encouragement, advice, and patience.

2009-12-23T18:17:00.000-08:00

Straw ornaments.

A friend's husband brought the boy ornaments from China. I like to imagine him searching through all the ornaments to get a set of every different one they had.

* * * * *

++++++

Writing: How many different ways can a person be described? Listing eye color, hair, and height sounds like a police report. A good exercise is to describe a person by an article of clothing or personal tick. It's a great way to pass time in waiting room or meeting.

2009-12-22T16:20:00.000-08:00

Sweets tree. It seemed a good idea at the beginning of the season to have this tree at the kitchen table but now, I've overdone the sweets and want salad!

Writing: There's overdone prose, hyperbole, saccharine sentiment--so many ways to overdo in writing. The opposite is as bad--telling instead of showing, lack of setting and characterization --offering the reader too little. Balance like a healthy diet is so hard to maintain!

2009-12-21T14:59:00.000-08:00

Purple and lime green tree.

This tree is a favorite for lots of people, despite how nontraditional the colors are.

Writing: I've heard agents and editors say that what they want is the "same old" done with a twist. I like to think readers are smarter. If my trees are any indication, people are open to variety and drawn to novelty. I decorated my trees to appease my artistic urge, it's the same reason I create with words.

2009-12-20T16:13:00.000-08:00

A little bit of heaven.

Writing: What would Heaven be like? The United States a hundred years from now? What about another planet or galaxy? Writing means creating worlds. While this is obvious in science fiction and fantasy, it's true of any work of fiction. Characters shape their reality through their perceptions and needs. Their story is their world.

2009-12-18T19:43:00.000-08:00

Snowman Tree. I thought this tree would be appreciate considering the weather.

Writing: I like the mood of this tree, it is the best of snow--the sparkle, the brightness, the fun, but not the cold. Think of all the ways you could write about snow. It could be beautiful, quiet, deadly, frigid, or dreary. How something is described tells the mood and more of a story.

2009-12-17T18:53:00.000-08:00

I know there's something a little off about a lime tinsel tree with hand beaded Victorian like ornaments. Lime and pink aren't traditional Christmas colors but lime green is my favorite color.

Writing: Voice is nearly impossible to explain and so easy to recognize. A reader knows his favorite author's style but can't define it. While good writing can be taught, voice can't. A writer must be willing to expose his emotions, fears, ideas, the world inside his head.Once he does he can speak to his reader in his own unique voice.

2009-12-16T16:00:00.000-08:00

Two trees to remind us of the not-so attractive trees of our past. Tinsel over load and the silver and blue wonder!

Writing: These trees aren't exactly like the ones they represent. It's difficult to capture the past--or the future. Have you ever notice how a television show like "Buck Rogers" is stuck firmly in the 1980s (hair styles, makeup, attitude, language) while being set in the future? The same is true of old science fiction, but I love the nostalgic feel of Asimov and Simak and their concepts and themes continue to be valid--we are still people after all.

2009-12-14T14:50:00.000-08:00

Old-fashioned

Christmas

tree. The ornaments are a mix, some given to me, some old, some new, with the big lights.

........................................

Writing: There's magic in Christmas-- in the old ornaments that still catch the light and sparkle like new. It's a glimmer into the past and as delicate as the aged glass ball. When I write, I try to capture a moment, a feeling, and a mood. Too often as I'm translating that glimmer in my mind, it shatters into a clumsy heap of words.

2009-12-13T14:08:00.000-08:00

A tree with glitter ornaments and a gingerbread man tree skirt I made years ago.

Writing: The obvious thing to say is that "not all that glitters is gold." Same thing can be said of my writing especially the early drafts. But it seems no matter how many revisions I do there's still the stray comma, awkward phrase, and odd inconsistent fact, but I hope that if I give the reader a good story, interesting characters and a satisfying ending I will be forgiven.

2009-12-12T19:13:00.000-08:00

The first tree has family made ornaments. The one with hearts is my daughter's tree--the ornaments represent her childhood love of bears, her semester at sea, her time as a daycare teacher. The third with a woman on top is mine-teacups, books, high heel shoes, my children and home.

xxxx

xxxxxxx

Writing: These trees are character studies. Writers do them in different ways: charting, listing, filling out employment forms. I think about my main character until I can talk to him. That character usually tells me about the others. Once I had a character that the main character didn't understand and who wouldn't talk. Luckily her friend, another character spilled the beans. And people think writers are nuts!

2009-12-11T21:02:00.000-08:00

What a sad little tree. It's supposed to be look natural.

Writing: Writing isn't natural at all. It's grammer and plot and revision and more revision--all to sound effortless.

2009-12-10T15:16:00.000-08:00

The deep Blue Sea Tree.

I've done this sea theme on a green tree and it just didn't look right. But the same ornaments on a blue tree were perfect.

Writing: Nothing you write can be so precious that you're not willing to change it to improve your book. Early readers of my latest book felt that the same section didn't move as well as the rest of the novel. After some thought and a discussion with Jeanne, a fellow writer, I decided to remove a secondary character who only appears in the problematic section and revise, revise, until I get it right.

2009-12-09T15:05:00.000-08:00

A pair of purple trees

The smaller tree is in a bathroom. I can't leave a room undecorated, can I?

Writing: Purple as in purple prose should be avoided. According to Dictionary. com purple prose is that writing that calls attentions to itself because of its obvious use of certain effects, as exaggerated sentiment or pathos, esp. in a attempt to enlist or manipulate the reader's sympathies. Good writing is invisible. It wraps the reader and pulls him into the story.

2009-12-08T15:21:00.000-08:00

WV Tree

Many of the hand blown WV glass ornaments were gifts from my daughter. My son gave me the tree

We lived in WV for fifteen years. I visit annually, usually for Charleston's Book Festival in October. The mountains are breathtaking then.

Writing: A writer needs to collect images as well as words. Living in West Virgina meant fog lying in the mountains like cobwebs, roads that rose so steeply that they seem to end in the sky and learning to trust your tires will find the way down, fossils older than dinosaurs littering the creeks, ghost stories and small houses with a million dollar view of the capital's gold gilded dome. Like a crow collecting shiny bits, I've stored these and many more images.

2009-12-07T11:47:00.000-08:00

The Lady Tree

This is my mother's favorite tree, she refers to it as the Lady Tree. Angels and doll ornaments grace its branches.

Writing: A writer cannot be ladylike when writing. Characters must be portrayed with all their socially unacceptable thoughts and actions. Most readers appreciate the honesty because secretly they have thought or done the same things. Don't worry about the readers who might confuse your characters with you--these same people will try to re-write your book and question your sanity. They are not your friends and should be avoided.

2009-12-06T16:12:00.000-08:00

My husband was out of town when I put up this tree. When he returned he complained, "That tree was for outside." "No," I said, "the directions say indoors and outdoors." Unconvinced, my husband sees a gap in his outdoor light display and an ugly tree in our bedroom. I see a tree the Jetsons would have loved as much as I do.

Writing: Writing well means following grammar rules and and accepted writing practices. Can these rules be broken? Of course, but only very occasionally. You may break any rule as long as you know you are breaking it and why--and are able to defend yourself to your fellow writers. This rule, however, is never to be broken.