The Pen of a Ready Writer

    Mikaya watched him go.  Frustration and admiration wrestled for first place inside of her.  Justice was an idiot for thinking he could stand up to SPINDLE.  If he didn’t watch out, he was going to ruin something...or get killed….or both.  And she didn’t want that to happen.  Not to Justice.

What do you want to say? Have you thought about that?  About the lessons people will learn from reading your story? Some morals are written out plainly.  Maybe the writer wrote the whole story about forgiveness.  Or friendship.  Or God's mercy.  From beginning to end, the story winds its way through the highlights of it's theme. Some morals are more subtle.  What choices are rewarded in your story?  What choices gets the characters into trouble?  Who wins in the end?  Maybe not even the author knows what she is saying until it is all written.  That happens for me sometimes. I don't see a lot of inspiring lessons in the original Sleeping Beauty tales (do you?), but I think it provides an easy base for whatever you want to say. Which brings me back to my original question:  what do you want to say?

Hi, guys!  I just wanted to let you know that tonight on Facebook is the 5ER release party.  This is the second book resulting from Rooglewood's fairy tale contests.  The first was Five Glass Slippers, and it was released last year.  The third will be Five Magic Spindles, and it will be released next year (the stories are being written as we speak). There is a giveaway as well.  You can read more about it on Anne Elisabeth Stengl's blog, here .

     “Did you enjoy the dancing last night?” Cordula cinched Ilona’s laces firmly.      “I did.  I had more partners than I knew what to do with.”      “Any of them catch your fancy?”  She smoothed Ilona’s hem with a practiced hand.      Ilona leaned against her mahogany bedpost and played with the edge of the blue silk covers.  “Two…I think.”      “Two!”  Cordula scowled.  “Well, you cannot marry but one.”

Greetings, friends! I've had a delightful week, in a house by myself with a passel of cats for company. It's a writer's dream, really. Front porch overlooking the mountains (complete with a porch swing). Silence - an introvert's retreat. Long hours to write, or simply to think. A shelf of unread books. But now the week is ending and I'm bordering on ridiculous behavior. Seriously, you should see the string of texts I just sent. One poor recipient told me I was "punny" (which, while seeming to compliment my wit, is probably also a code for "cool it"). I don't know if I am merely overflowing with a refreshed brain or if I'm acting out to get attention due to my severe lack of human interaction over the past seven days. Either way, I thought the best cure would be to sit down at a keyboard. And so here I am, with a purring cat in my lap, letting the tiniest bit of steam off my proverbial engine in the form of the written wor...

         “And who is going to be here in an hundred years to greet her?” Justice murmured. ~SPINDLE

Hi, friends!      I'm just popping in to update you on my life.      First of all, I'm going to talk about my three ideas for the Rooglewood Contest.      The Caver's Kiss is being reviewed, piece by piece, by a couple critique partners of mine.  They are about halfway through the story.  And they are both giving me marvelous and helpful feedback.  If you have not yet let others critique your work, I highly recommend you try.  As an author, you can see the whole picture; but a critique partner will let you know if you sufficiently portrayed that picture to a reader.      I sent SPINDLE to a blogging friend of mine to have her read it -- not a piece by piece critique, but a whole-story, how-does-this-sound type of review.  It's the first time I've had somebody do that for me, and I'm eager to hear her feedback.  There are parts to the story that I hesitate over, and, if she falters over the sam...

“And so my royal duties call me away to dance with bald-headed men.”

    Justice slowly nodded.  “Be it fact or fiction, we all choose what to believe, don’t we?”         Azelle lifted her chin and her eyebrows at the same time. “And I don’t believe in SPINDLE.”

So I tagged The Aspiring Bard with my questions.  And she answered them!!  Her answers were fabulous and made me laugh.  :D  And then she posted questions for the next group to answer. Typically, you wouldn't immediately jump back into the rotation of questions, but she left it open to the public and I have nothing better to do.  So here are MY answers to HER questions: 1. What's one thing that you're good at? I can bend backwards and touch my forehead with my toes. 2. What color would you choose to describe your personality? Why?  This is a hard question.  I don't think of people in colors.  And don't colors change with mood?  Hmmm.  Let's say a dark, deep red color.  It's not flashy or in your face.  It's kind of warm and soothing.  It's the richer part of pink.  It blends in well with things and yet adds a bit of color.  It deepens frivolous colors and brightens dark colors.  How's that? 3. Dream jo...

Greetings, my blog friends!      I finished the first draft of SPINDLE, which is my sci-fi dystopian Sleeping Beauty retelling.  And I would love some feedback on whether or not it is worth pursuing with edits.  Are any of you interested in reading it for me?  It is only 13 pages long.   Leave me a comment below.      Or email me at 2012.es.2801@gmail.com.                                                                                   Thank you!

     Ilona pursed her lips, suddenly sober.  “I’m afraid I shall be dancing with a great many self-seeking princes over the next few days.”

I read a post today by K.M.Weiland about compounding conflict in your story, and it was brilliant.  (If you want to read it yourself, check out this link: http://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/compounding-conflict/ ).  She used the Jurassic Park movie to illustrate her point.      As a disclaimer, you should know that I have not seen this movie myself.  As a warning, you should know there are semi-spoilers written below.      We have all probably guessed that at some point in this movie, dinasaurs are on the loose trying to eat people.  But you probably also know that at the beginning of the movie, the dinasaurs are safely contained.  And we can surmise that something happens to set the dinos free.      The point that K.M.Weiland made in her post is that it is not ONE thing that sets the ball in motion.  There are multiple conflicts that coincide to make a big impact.  And we can create that i...

    “Is that all you live for here?” Justice looked from one face to another.  “Day to day, you can’t wait to get out of bed and go to the spa again?  Entertainment and comfort from one minute to the next?”