Friday, May 1, 2015

How to Quit our Job and Move to Paradise...





I can't leave my laptop for a minute...






Well, I have put my stake in the ground as the best Damn Writer's Blog on the Block, and so far no one has challenged me.

So, if you are into blogging as I am, I have an absolute wonderful inspiring must read:

“How to Quit Your Job, Move to Paradise and Get paid to Change the World,” by Jon Morrows.


While I quit my job (oh, I had a home job, I took it with me) and moved to paradise—it  sucked.

Jon's happy in his paradise, and his blog went viral.

You have to read his post—all of it.

Also, I found, after reading Morrows ebook, 52 Headline Hacks a “Cheat Sheet” for writing Blog Posts That Go Viral, I learned that “HOW TO” headlines are king. Another thing I learned, I suck at is headlines. Practice, says Morrow. Okay dokey. His ebook was free…I will pass it on and share the link on my next post.


First, read this one

Monday, April 27, 2015

The Disney Dance


 Time for coffee again...
                         Oh my gosh, I'm having hallucinations...



Having recovered from that above coffee, I decided to to get on with the blog I intended to write. 

I said, on my other site http://wishonawhitehorse.blogspot.com that I would not talk anymore about the book I am writing. I did not want to inundate people… But here…here you guys are writers. You will understand.

And you will get this:  “Why is it that a character in your book named Alex on page 5 appears on page 122 named Susan?”

Publishers and agents say that 70% of the work they sell in nonfiction, but I have decided to write a novel. For years I could not bring myself to complete a work I began some 30 years ago.  I wasn’t a good enough, I thought. (This could not be familiar to you could it?) Then it dawned on me. I can do it. I love fiction. Fiction is a way to portray a message without beating a reader over the head with it. It is story. We love story. I can write it.

Last week my daughter and I grieved bitterly when the television show Grey’s Anatomy (fiction) killed Derek one of the main and most loved characters. That’s what fiction can do to you.

So, here’s where I am:

I sent a query stating that the manuscript was 90,000 words in length (the sweet zone so they say) when it was only 38,000.  However they will take 75,000.  Okay, 75,000.  I can do that. What if they say yes, I thought, I will be stuck.

They said yes. Send the first three chapters—I have that. And a synopsis. I can do that. The trouble was while I couldn’t get the manuscript from 38,000 up to 75,000, I had trouble getting the synopsis down to 5 pages. They said they will take a month to three, to answer. Okay, I have time.

All along I was taking the Disney Imagineers approach.  When asked to do a project, even if they have no inkling as to how to do it, the Imagineer says, “Yes.” Then they sit down at their desk, beat their heads against it and do it.

The amazing thing is, something happened after that week of beating my head against the desk. I began reading, writing, researching, I added new scenes, I wondered how to write dialogue, how to stop my cryptic explanations, how to flow down the street into the people’s minds, hearts, their concerns, cares… I watched them, I listened to them, I told their secrets. It was a dance.

And I am still dancing.

What the heck?!  I still have 25,000 words to go…no wonder my coffee is winking at me.