Need FREE Images for your writing?

I know I’m always looking for free clipart or appropriate pics I can use in my posts and various other writing.  When I received an email from Writer’s Relief, I found a link I wanted to share with all of you.  There are thirty sites listed on the Blue Glass blog for royalty free images.  Have fun browsing around.  Maybe you’ll find something useful.

 Blue Glass

 I’m taking a few days off, so will post again when I can.

Going Crazy with a Project I Shouldn’t have Taken on



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I’m talking about the family book I’m writing in collaboration with my little sister.  I’ve been gabbing on the cell a lot lately with three of my sisters trying to tie up loose ends on the book, then re-read and edit it.  I’m sending to my little sister for the second set of eyes I need.  I have no idea how many cell minutes I’ve used this month.

 I finally finished the printing phase and now have to start the binding phase.  I’m using a comb-binding machine for this project, which turned out to be 324 pages.  Yikes!  But there are many B/W photos we’ve managed to round up over the last ten years, as well as some family recipes.

 I mainly wanted to post to let my followers know where I’ve been.  I want this whole thing finished by Monday at the latest.

 Happy writing everyone

Life goes on and the Days are flying

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I’m behind in posting here, but there is honestly nothing worthy to post about now.  The days are ticking by faster than they should.  We’ve had a lot of rain causing it to be sticky and humid, very unlike the desert.  Everyone’s allergies are running rampant right now, even one of my poor cats that has never had allergies before.

 The writing group we started is going okay and is a nice distraction every two weeks as it’s always good to get together with other writers and discuss the craft of writing.

 I’m working almost daily trying to get the family book finished so that I can take it with me on my trip in two weeks and two days.  There is still much to do and I’m sure I’ll run out of time, as I usually do with everything.  It is like pulling teeth to get anything I need out of my family.  I hope that I’m not the only one who feels this way.  Everyone is too busy doing their thing and not in any hurry about getting me tidbits to finish this book.  I may have to do without their add-ons and get on with it.  There is a time to put your foot down because of time constraints.

 I still have to format this thing, add family pictures and print the thing out.  I intend to bind it myself with a binding machine I have.  I doubt anyone on Amazon would want to read our family history and childhood escapades.  I haven’t really used the binder yet for any big project like this, so I’m hoping that won’t be a major ordeal since I have to make about eight copies to take with me.  This thing is not tiny either.  We’re talking about 150 pages so far.  I guess my siblings must think I have all the time in the world to work on this.

 Other than that, there are just the main housekeeping duties going on in my life and trying to organize everything for this trip.

 The county fair will be going on shortly after I arrive, so my sisters and I are going to that, which should be fun.  I haven’t been since I was in my teens.  I’m sure my family will shuffle me back and forth from house to house, but that’s fine to live out of a suitcase for a while.  It’s all in good fun and something I won’t be able to do again for a long while.  I intend to relish every moment although I’ll probably eat too much, drink too much, and stay up half the night most of the time.

 I’m still undecided as to whether I’ll take the laptop with me or not.  I have trouble with my balance when I fly because of an inner ear problem I have with altitude, so it may be wise to leave it at home and not have to worry about keeping track of it.  I have to sip on OJ or water the entire plane trip anyway, coming and going, so as not to get dizzy.  It’s quite an ordeal, but I won’t let that keep me from going.  On the other hand, I could tell you some tales about past plane trips which were less than ideal.  Because of this situation, I didn’t fly for more than twenty years at one stretch.  I had to resort to the train or bus, which I would probably never do again for any type of long distance travel.

 Despite all this, I’m really looking forward to it because my family and I have such a blast when we get together.  It will be fun going to all the old haunts.  There is only one problem once I arrive and that is one of my brothers, but then there is someone like him in everyone’s family I bet.

BOOK REVIEW - Homecoming Ranch by Julie London



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Enjoyed this more than I thought I would

 I’m not a romance genre reader, but this was a good book and kept me interested.  Madeleine has no idea that she has two other sisters until her father dies in Colorado and leaves the three girls his ranch because he had nothing else left to give them.  Grant Tyler felt like he needed to do something because he was a terrible father.  That right there was enough to intrigue me to want to read this book and see how the girls reacted to each other and what would happen in their lives, which would turn upside down by this event.  I wasn’t disappointed.

 Madeleine never even knew her father and only saw him once while growing up.  He was a sperm-donor for her mother who wasn’t a good role model.  The girl grows up with many issues.

 When Madeleine leaves Florida, where she works in real estate, she is out of her element.  She is having trouble finding the ranch she has never been to.  She stops on the side of the road when she gets a flat tire and is standing there with a map and a highlighter to mark the route when Luke sees her as he’s driving by and pulls over to help.  Luke isn’t happy when he finds out that she now owns the ranch, along with her two new sisters.  Luke used to own the ranch and was looking forward to living on it one day, but while he was in Durango starting his business, his father sold it to Madeleine’s father in order to get money for Leo’s (Luke’s brother) medical treatments.

 Madeleine usually has her life in order, but that changes once she’s in Colorado where her life turns to total chaos.  There is a lot of animosity between Madeleine and her new sisters.  One of them leaves in a huff soon after arriving to go back to California.  The other, Libby, attempts to work out a relationship with Madeleine who really wants no part of it.  She just wants to sell the ranch and get back to her structured life in Florida.

 There are several twists and turns along the way, but that only added to everything that was going on.  Luke and Madeleine fall into a romantic relationship, but the reader doesn’t know where this is going yet because Madeleine doesn’t want to stay in Colorado and Luke does.

 The characters are all believable.  Luke’s brother, Leo, is a very good role model because he’s determined and doesn’t let his handicap get him down, even though his disease is incurable.  This is the first in a trilogy, so I think the future two books will be about the other two sisters and a climax to Madeleine’s relationship with Luke.

 This book was very easy to read and entertaining as well.  I recommend it.

 

Great Points to Keep in Mind when Doing your Rewrite



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This is what I’m working on right now with my first mystery book, so I’m making an effort to cover all my bases by reading a lot of good hints about “do’s” and “don’ts.  I came across a good blog by an author living in the England, Mike Wells.  Reading this interesting post may help you avoid the pitfalls you can plunge into while revising your book.

 This post is specifically about why books are rejected by agents and set aside by readers, but I think it’s also useful if you’re self publishing your work.  The same thing would still apply because, of course, we don’t want our book set aside by readers.

 A brief summary:

 Story starts too slowly.

Story is not as advertised.

Too many characters introduced too quickly.

No clear-cut point of view.

Story has no distinct main character.

Too much bio/back-story info is presented.

Flashbacks used too often and/or too early.

Opening scenes lack enough tension to pull the reader along.

One or more scenes do not advance the plot.

Reader cannot emotionally connect with the main character.

Too many seemingly unrelated plot threads.

Narrative is description-heavy.

Description is loaded with “purple prose,” particularly the opening paragraphs.

Dialogue is not interactive enough.

Story starts too quickly.

 All of these are such good points to think about and sometimes I wonder why I can pick up traditionally published books and experience one or more things on this list.  I’ve been looking at my WIP to see how many of these things I’m guilty of doing.  Mr. Wells goes into this a lot more in his well-written post that you can find here:

The Green Water blog by Mike Wells

A Writing Quest



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It’s amazing to me how I find myself always reading about writing if I’m not writing.  I’m not sure why that is.  You’d think that you’d eventually reach a burnout stage.  However, my quest for knowledge goes on even if I’ve read about the same writing topic numerous times before.  That is one way of getting something through my thick skull, repeat and repeat.  I think maybe that all this reading will eventually make me a better writer.

 I do know my imagination goes wild when I’m working on a story and my characters always seem to take over and take me places that I didn’t have in mind when I got started.  I guess that’s a good thing.  It’s entertaining for me to see what they will be up to next and keeps me writing to find out.  In fact, I find it hard to shut my mind off and that isn’t a good thing because it leads to a lot of sleep deprivation.

 My characters, although fiction, become real people to me as I go on with my story.  I think of them as actual people that I know and it’s almost sad to finish a book and close them away within the pages.  Do any of you form a personal attachment to your characters?

Are real writers delusional and irrationally optimistic?

I think the answer to this is YES.  It helps to have a little insanity.  Why else would we keep writing, always staying positive even when we hit the low spots?  Real writers keep writing and never seem to give up no matter how many times we meet rejection.

 I read an article by someone awhile back and I was thinking ‘boy, does this hit the nail on the head’.  I’m definitely like this, always thinking my current work is better than the last one and THIS ONE IS IT, the one that will sell more copies than any other will.  I’m always eternally optimistic like this.

 Of course, these days, not as many of us send off queries to publishers, or at least I think this is getting to be less common with self-publishing becoming more popular.  We have to face the facts that the chances are slim that any of us will end up with a publishing contract with a big publishing house.  Meanwhile, we’re all getting older as we wait for a response from the bog boys that may take months, and will probably be an adamant no, in which case we start the process all over again.  I can go on and on with dozens of reasons to abandon the query process and self-publish your book.

 Aside from all the previous problems I mentioned, if you self-publish you could keep more of your royalties.  Today, we have to do our own marketing regardless.

 But, even if we choose this route, what keeps us writing even if we know we won’t sell a single book?  Way down deep, I always have that impulse to keep going when all seems bleak and useless.  There is always that spark that says ‘I won’t give up’ and ‘I feel so good about this, it doesn’t really matter if anyone else likes it as much as I do’.  This is the way I am.  There’s no denying that.  I never really get discouraged because it seems to be enough to get my story out there.  I have never planned to make a living writing anyway.  If I ever do, that will just be icing on the cake because I really love what I do.

 When a ‘normal’ person looks at this, I’m sure they think I’m irrational and delusional.  I know my partner does because he tells me I live in a fantasy world several times a day.  I’ve heard this so much that I almost believe it myself, although I know this isn’t true  I have a vivid imagination and a lot of drive to do my best and keep striving toward that goal, which is writing, even if it’s against all odds.

 With so many writers out there, it is almost impossible for anyone to find me on the internet.  It’s a case of constant marketing, which I’m not very good at in any way.  I’d rather be writing my next book, which I know will be the ONE, and better than all the rest so far.  I rewrite and polish, and publish, and then start the process all over again.  Many times, I’m doing this before I have entirely finished the last masterpiece.

 It’s a writer’s life and I like it quite a bit, and hope I live long enough to write at least another dozen books, as I always have stories flooding my mind.

 “The ones who have been published are the ones who don’t quit.”  I’ve seen this quote in several places and I agree with this, whether you’re waiting on the traditional publisher or self-publishing your work.  It all takes endless determination to make it through the process.

 I think I’ll always have this disease called ‘irrational optimism’ because it seems to filter into all areas of my life, not just in my writing world where I spend most of my day  When I’m on a deadline, I always feel I can do it, no problem.  I even tell myself that I’ll get it done somehow, even if I know deep down that I won’t.  Those thoughts keep me going to the end I guess, with anything I do.

 It’s time to get off my unicorn now and join real life for a while.  Until next time, enjoy the journey we’re on and keep writing.