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Posted on November 13, 2013 by Nita

on November 13th…

Just Sayin’…

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I’ve been on a bit of a book-buying binge. This

I’ve been on a bit of a book-buying binge. This is only one stack. Which one should I read first? #amreading #literaryfiction #bookstagram #bookcoaches #amwriting #amwritingfiction #amwritingliteraryfiction

To write strong characters: “You’ve got to sel

To write strong characters: “You’ve got to sell your heart, your strongest reactions, not the little minor things that only touch you lightly, the little experiences that you might tell at dinner.” F. Scott Fitzgerald.

It’s hard personal work, but very worth it. Don’t be afraid to go to the dark places. Don’t pull back. Your story will be so much stronger.

#amwriting #amwritingfiction #amwritingsciencefiction #amwritingwomensfiction #writingtips #writinglife #bookcoach #bookcoaching

It isn’t always the most productive use of my ti

It isn’t always the most productive use of my time to rework chapters that are written in the wrong voice and/or what sounds and feels like a different genre than I intend. How do you spell inconsistency? Lol.

The problem is with one or two of my characters and with me and the way I pulled back from an issue when I should have pressed forward with it. More on this in another post, I promise!

Anyway, the wisest thing for me to do at this point is to give it a good think and look myself in the eye and stop trying to make something fit that obviously just doesn’t.

Does it sting? You bet! It’s actually more like an agony. So much work to put in the drawer! Happily, though, I am experienced enough to know that there is no such thing as wasted writing.

My consolation to myself (and to any of you who find yourselves in a similar position when it comes to “darlings”) is that in the end, I’ll have a much stronger story for doing so.

I’m grateful to have learned the blueprint for a book method when I did my #authoraccerlator training and it’s going to stand me in good stead as I take a good hard look at what I need to do to turn this novel around.

I am also forever grateful to my own book coach & writing partner @lidijahilje for gently leading me to this realization so early in the game. Think how much worse it would be if I had 80,000 words instead of “only” 30,000.

Funny, how I can spot these things in everyone else’s work except my own, eh? Even coaches need coaches.

What about you? Have you felt the sting of cutting multiple chapters in order to do a full-on from-scratch rewrite? Tell me in the comments how you consoled yourself!

#amwritingliteraryfiction #amwritingfiction #amwritingwomensfiction #amwritingsciencefiction #amediting #writingtips #writinglife #bookcoach #bookcoaching #writersofinstagram #blueprintforabook

The computer is off! A huge developmental edit for

The computer is off! A huge developmental edit for a client is done! What’s next? Today I’m going to tidy my studio, put my reference materials back on the shelf, find a place for all the yarn purchases I brought back from my summer in the Yukon, dust, mop, & polish until the room is shiny and inviting again. While I’m doing this, I’ll be releasing my client’s story from the front of my mind to make room for my own. Because Tomorrow! Nanowrimo starts and I’m determined to finish 2022 with a full working draft of my next novel. I’ve piddled around with it long enough. For me, cleaning my living and working environment is a way of preparing both mentally and physically for what comes next, and November will be an emotionally consuming time for writing. How do you transition between projects? Do you have processes or rituals that move you through life?

I wrote a new scene in the novel yesterday. A flas

I wrote a new scene in the novel yesterday. A flashback. But this morning I realized I put it in the wrong place. It belongs somewhere else, only I don't know exactly where, yet. It's like most of this novel so far…I feel like I have the picture on the puzzle box in my mind, but before I can put the puzzle together I have to create the pieces. Of course this means that my scene isn't finished, after all. It will need to be adjusted once I know where it belongs. But I do know that it needs to exist. Of that I'm certain. It’s kind of exciting. I feel like I want to work on it some more today. 💕 What are you working on today?

I’m the kind of writer who has trouble producing

I’m the kind of writer who has trouble producing a shitty draft. I could spend months - years! perfecting chapter one, never getting to ‘the end.’ But since I’ve been sick, I’ve sort of just been doodling with words , writing vignettes instead of scenes and suddenly the story feels very clear to me. I don’t know, maybe it’s the fever talking...or maybe somehow being sick has forced me to let go of all those expectations for perfection. I mean...look at me, lol. Do you write when you’re sick?

I read Beartown by Fredrick Backman over the summe

I read Beartown by Fredrick Backman over the summer and I couldn’t put it down. In Beartown, Fredrick Backman examines courage vs fear, loyalty vs betrayal, right vs wrong, and individual responsibility vs groupthink, all against the backdrop of a junior hockey team and the town that has hung it’s future on the team’s success.

I read this book because I’m deep in the thick of writing my next novel. I’m reading everything I can get my hands on where community was the writer’s focus. Why? Because that’s the focus of my next novel. Does it matter that my community exists in a science fiction world on another planet? Not at all. How people behave is universal theme in stories. In fact, how people behave in this or that situation is ALL story is about, in a very broad sense.

I was interested to see how Backman used POV, how he showed the town as a unified being comprised of unique individuals. I was fascinated by the humanness of this book and I wanted to study just how he did it.

Instead, I found myself caught up in the characters and the story to the point where I was no longer “reading” - I was living in Beartown.

Of course this means that now I have to read the book again, this time with a yellow highlighter and a pencil to take marginal notes. Ha!

Beartown is an outstanding work of literary fiction…and that’s exactly the review I would absolutely die for to receive on my own novel someday.

So…read widely in your genre. Study how the true greats did it and let it rub off on you.

PS: there are some wonderfully strong women in this book. Something else I’m paying close attention to. :)

Celebrating 42 years with the love of my life toda

Celebrating 42 years with the love of my life today ❤️

On the road again and setting the intention to dri

On the road again and setting the intention to drive the long hours with ease, allowing the story I'm working on to marinate without judgement until I'm in a physical and mental place to get it down on paper. What's your intention for today? #amwriting #bookcoach #bookwritingcoach

I loved everything about this beautiful story. The

I loved everything about this beautiful story. The haunting resemblance to Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes. The fierce and poignant relationship between the father & son reminiscent of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. The wonderfully rendered science, with astrobiology, neuroscience, environmental science, accurate and mystical at the same time. There’s grief, joy, love, wonder, and a warning. I had to keep reminding myself that it was fiction. I could not put it down. What are you reading right now? #amreading #bookstagram #literaryfiction #writerslife

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ The Annual Migr

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ The Annual Migration of Clouds is an absolutely gorgeous work of literary science fiction that I will read more than once, just for the language alone. Beautifully written, beautifully crafted. The theme explores the meaning of community: what we owe to each other and what we owe to ourselves, set in post-apocalyptic Alberta, Canada following global climate change disasters. As usual, #ecwpress has done an outstanding job with the cover and packaging of this novella. It does Premee Mohamed’s story proud. #amreading #amwritingliteraryfiction #sciencefiction #bookstagram

Sam has an excellent nose, and today he sniffed a

Sam has an excellent nose, and today he sniffed a spot on the pavement for what felt like forever. I waited, bent in half on the other end of the leash trying to make out what could possibly be holding his interest in that particular dusty bit of gravel. He sniffed intently at the tips of the rose bushes growing alongside the road, the newly opened leaves as tiny as a baby’s fingernail. He spent considerable time examining the remains of last fall’s Oregon grape, some of the leaves still reddish-green, though faded now. When we got to the bottom of the hill, he greeted Gary, who was trimming the park hedges … and then he wanted to go home. He didn’t want to continue down to the beach for a walk along the lake, even though the sand is full of old fish bones dropped by the eagles. He didn’t want to “get the mail” even though several of the resident dogs that live along the way leave regular messages for him. He didn’t want to go into the woods, even though the deer have recently been by. When we got home I cooked him up some eggs, rice and spinach for a special supper-time treat. He gobbled it right up, his usual gluttonous self. After that, he clickey click clicked around the house for awhile before jumping up onto the bed to stare intently out the window and woof at a crow. My old man, Sam is almost 14. My heart hurts to think of what lies ahead, the closing of the inevitable circle.

�Day 5, #creative walking tour @mariannedekleer. #amwriting #writing #writingcommunity #writersofinstagram #writingcommunity

Look here, my darling, A bridge once trod by fairi

Look here, my darling,
A bridge once trod by fairies,
Sinking into moss.

Day 4 Creative Walking Tour - take a picture of something and write a haiku about it. :)

#creativewalkingtour #creativewalkingtourchallenge #mindfulwalking #575 #haiku @mariannedekleer #writing #amwriting #writersofinstagram #writerscommunity #midlifecreative #creativeinspiration

Day 3 Creative Walking Tour The theme for day thr

Day 3 Creative Walking Tour

The theme for day three is small delights, and Sam is mine. This photo shows the delight he takes in simply being alive. The joyful freedom to run and run and run. To be pulled up short, attention caught by a new scent to explore, another story to read, another thread to puzzle out. Sam pivots and dodges and changes direction without fear, always moving forward. He experiences joy as a given, not as a thing to strive for.

Delight is Sam's gift to me. What small things delight you?
#creativewalkingtour #creativewalkingtourchallenge #mindfulwalking #smalldelights #amwriting #writingcommunity #writersofinstagram #writerscommunity #writer #creativeinspiration #creativeliving #midlifecreative #midlifewomen @mariannedekleer

My husband and I take in the world very differentl

My husband and I take in the world very differently. Where he walks with his eyes on the horizon, my gaze is usually in the very near distance. He’s looking at cloud formations and the snow on the hills while I’m looking at leaf buds, moss, and pebbles. In a way, it’s a reflection of the way we live our lives…he, outward looking; me, inward. It’s a nice balance and has served us well for over 40 years. Because of this, he is always able to point out wonderous big-picture things to me - the haze of a distant rain shower suspended mid-air, a rainbow, a lone goose sitting incongruously atop a telephone pole. I, on the other hand, am delighted to point out the small, often unseen or overlooked things to him. The first pussywillows, the reddish-brown buds protecting the newly-born aspen leaves, still sticky and smelling of resin, a single pebble amongst the millions on the beach. When we return home, his mind is full of what to do next, and my pockets are full of rocks.

Day 2 #creativewalkingtour #creativewalkingtourchallenge #mindfulwalking #unseenbeauty #amwriting #writingcommunity #writersofinstagram #writerscommunity #writer #creativeinspiration #creativeliving #midlifecreative #midlifewomen @mariannedekleer

#Day1 of the Creative Walking Tour. Sam and I stro

#Day1 of the Creative Walking Tour. Sam and I stroll along the beach and enjoy the blustery wind. The rumble of the train with its echoing tritone horn blows a warning as it rounds the point across the lake. The rushing waves chase each other to shore as the sun darts in and out from behind the clouds. The long trilling call of a flicker. A crow sitting on the tippy top of a swaying cedar tree. A dozen tiny gnats swarm around my head, their shadows like tiny polkadots playing a game of chase over my notebook as I try to hold a page steady against the breeze. The air carries the scent of fresh lake water and rain on the way. #creativewalkingtour #creativewalkingtourchallenge #mindfulwalking #5senseswalking #fivesenses #amwriting #writingcommunity #writersofinstagram #writerscommunity #writer #creativeinspiration #creativeliving #midlifecreative #midlifewomen

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