Writing, Teaching, Raising 3 kids...doing it all

If you want to get started writing and generating an audience for your work, check out WattPad. I have just started using it. This site enables you to connect with other published and non-published authors as well as allows you to read works for free. It also helps you to create covers for your unpublished works. https://www.wattpad.com/

A member of my writing group sent this out to all of us:  http://www.shunn.net/format/story.html  This article goes over how to format your manuscript, thus potentially saving it from an early rejection.

While at the beach, I had a chance to catch up on Netflix. I found two little gems that I couldn't get enough of. 1.) Shannara Chronicles:  https://youtu.be/rCr3z_sTSNU 2.) Good Morning Call.  https://youtu.be/1mh-khp4X8Q This one was in Japanese with English subtitles. And even though I had to read, I couldn't get enough of this RomCom and am hoping the next season is released soon.

Short Fiction Contest

The Internal Struggle...It's a Good Hook Another character/plot tip. Don't let your protagonist get too happy. Maybe I am a glutton for sadness, but I seem to be more drawn to characters that are unhappy. Those characters are working on themselves, and I enjoy sharing the journey with them. I don't want them to resolve whatever internal problems they have until the very end of the story. Their internal struggle keeps me hooked and invested in the character. However, I still like the main character to be strong, someone who in spite of this internal war, doesn't ever seem to fall apart. He or she finds away to stay strong and to keep fighting, to keep trying to help others. A good example of this is The Glass Sword by Victoria Aveyard 

Here's an excerpt from The Gliesians , a book that I hope to try and get published: PROLOGUE: JACE             It was early, way before sunrise. My room was pitch black. I rolled across the bed, to the opposite side, and propped my head up on my hand. I stayed there like that, twisted in the sheets, watching Keeley get dressed.             She found her shirt discarded on the ground where we’d left it in frantic hurry last night. I watched her slip her arms into the straps, pull it over her head, and wrestle with it a few minutes longer, making sure the thin cloth covered her smooth back. If I was her boyfriend, someone in love with her, I might have taken the opportunity to skim my fingers across the warm, brown flesh in attempt to get her to reverse the action—take the shirt off and crawl back underneath the covers. But that’s not who we were to each other. We weren’t in...

What Keeps You Up At Night Reading? The other night I was reading a book. I try to read every night, and I used to read even more, but lately I haven't found the motivation to read more than once a day. However, something powerful happened in the book I was reading, causing me to wish it wasn't so late and that I could continue reading and find out what happens next. This got me thinking about writing...about GOOD writing. For me, what makes a book good, is emotion. If the author can make me feel, I am hooked. This is something I strive to do as well. I try really hard to make my characters evoke emotions in the people reading them.

How to write while living a busy life A while ago a friend of mine said that I needed to start a blog if I someday wanted to get published, so I started this one. I set it up a few months ago, but have never gotten around to actually making a post; I wasn't sure what I wanted to say. But today I decided to actually get started. First, I am not a published writer. I am just a mother of three who works full time, teaching at a community college, who needs an escape from it all--writing. Writing has given me that escape. But I know as a working mother that it is difficult to find time to write. So, here's my advice. Just do it. I don't have a lot of time, but you don't need a lot of time to write. I try and write 30 minutes every other day. I do this, sitting in a rocking chair in my youngest child's room while waiting for him to fall asleep. It isn't much, but I never get tired of writing. I've written three books this way. I think just having that routine ...