The Pen of a Ready Writer

     Last night, I watched a BBC movie based on Wuthering Heights...well, most of it.  I fast-forwarded a few scenes.      I started the movie with absolutely no idea of the plot.  I only knew that it was a famous "classic" by a famous author -- perhaps like Jane Eyre or a book by Austin or Dickens.      *****If you don't want spoilers, don't read on.*****      I wish people had been nice to Heathcliff.  How different might he have turned out if people poured good things into him instead of telling him how he was destined for badness?  He had so much potential at the beginning and it shrivelled smaller and smaller as the story went on.      But you know, Heathcliff did have at least two people who loved him and stood up for him.  Maybe even three or four.  He didn't have to turn dark and vengeful.      I wish Heathcliff and Cathy ha...

  Earlier this week, I was perfectly content with the idea that the winners' announcement (for the Rooglewood contest) was 4 1/2 weeks away. Now, it is almost unbearable that it is a day and a half away.  Why must it be the day AFTER tomorrow?  Why not tomorrow morning? Isn't that funny?  The time to wait has been shortened drastically and I only wish it were even shorter? Sigh.  There are things about humans that defy logic.  And sometimes even logical humans experience them. On a different note, do you know what makes me even more excited about this contest?  The fact that I know several friends who entered!  It makes the anticipation even better for I am not only looking to see if my name is on the list but also to see if one of theirs is.  I feel like, if any of us makes it into the collection, I will be thrilled.  And if any of us don't, we can share our hopes for next time.  See?  It just makes it better....

No.  I am not writing a new sci-fi novel. Rather, I just found out some news that caught me completely by surprise and sent my excitement level through the roof. Rooglewood Press (host to the contest I entered) moved the winners' announcement date from March 1st to February 1st.  In other words, I will get to hear about the winners in 3 days!!!!!! Woahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!  (the sound of my excitement throwing me ridiculously high...was that the moon I just passed???) I can hardly wait to see if I or anyone I know made it into Rooglewood's next anthology.  Join me early next week to find out!

Hello, friends!      I thought I would pop in to give you a quick update.  I hope you don't mind.      First of all, Broken Clouds is back in full swing.  This story is a bit of a learning curve for me, full of new things that I haven't tried before.  And I've added yet another new thing: I am now writing it with two POV characters.  So far, so good.  I am now on Chapter 19, more or less, but some of my chapters are really short and may need to be fleshed out later.  Also, I sent the first 5 chapters to a reader to get her initial reactions and received positive feedback.  So I am happy with the way things are coming -- at least for a first draft.      In reading lately, I devoured Jill Williamson's Safe Lands trilogy.  It had pros and cons to it, but I did learn some useful things for writing.  And her multiple POVs gave me the courage to write with two POVs in Broken Clo...

     I've had a slight shift in my writing this month.  Experiences -- real life experiences -- are coming thick and fast.  I am journaling like crazy, trying to explore and record this strange new world I find myself falling into.  But fiction writing has been put on hold.      It's a worthy reason, and one that I am proud of.  I do hold real life in higher esteem than my imaginary ones, plus I have dim hopes of being able to use these experiences in future fiction.  And if I may hand out advice to writers, I would encourage them to live as well as write.     I hope your own writing projects and life are flourishing. Sincerely, E.

Hey, guys.  Not to worry.  I will be back on here very soon, probably within the next week.  Thanks for being around!

In the course of the book, there are seven main girls (all between the ages of 12 and 18) whom Kelsey interacts with.  For fun, I sat down and wrote philosphy statements for each of them.  :) Darla:      Pretty girls get what they want.      If I don't have a devoted following, there is something wrong with me.      Second place in popularity is not good enough.      Nobody gets in my way. Trudy:      Sports are my life.      Practice and committment equal winning.      Nothing matters but the team and the game.      Everything I do ties back to the game.  Everything affects my performance -- for good or bad.      True friends will push each other to higher athletic achievements. April:      Someday I will be as cool as everybody else.  ...

Okay, so I have a question about hooks and loglines and other such things.  How do you grab somebody's attention without spoiling the story?

     I'm not much on New Year's Resolutions.  I don't know many people who stick with their resolutions so it seems kind of pointless to me.      But sometimes they are fun to look back on -- kind of a "where I was and what was important to me back then" kind of thing.      So here are a few writing-related things that I would like to do this year: 1).  Work with editors at Rooglewood and publish The Gardener's Ransom in their Five Enchanted Roses book.  (This is dependent on me winning their contest, the results of which I will find out in March). 2).  Finish Broken Clouds.  That means first draft and editing and final draft and everything. 3). Write ToP.  Or at least get over halfway through with the first draft. 4).  Maybe rewrite Dungeon...? 5).  Get more followers on my blog.  I currently have 11 followers.