Inspired by Becoming Your Own Critique Partner - Theme, Symbols and Writer's Voice, Thanks Debra Dixon

Many of us have taken lit classes in high school and in college. Find the Theme is a game the instructors like to play. When they come to a conclusion, are they right or is theme something else? Last week I heard Debra Dixon speak on Voice and one of those ding ding moments occurred to me. Authors are always striving to find their voice as a writer. Voice is part of who you are. So is theme and I realized theme is part of voice.

Themes are often written in cliches and that's because they're universal. They can be a single word like love, hate, revenge, obsession. I'm not sure when I write I deliberately choose a theme, except once. Yet there are themes in many of my books. Good wins in the end. Love finds a way. Always dark before the dawn.

But while listening to what Debra said about a Writer's Voice and that moment I realized there were some perhaps not themes but symbols in my writing that were part of my voice as well as part of the themes in my books. I often use caves or other dark places in various ways. They can mean fear, despair or beauty. Jewels are another of the things I use and these jewels are used in different ways. I'll probably be spending a lot of time deciding what these underlying symbols mean to me as a writer and what do the themes have to do with my voice. Debra, thanks for giving me another way to look at what I do.

How about you? Are there themes and symbols that are found in most of the things you write? Do these themes and symbols impact your Voice as a writer.

My Writing Life -- Judging contests

Writing is going well, Part 3 of Confrontations is blocked in though there are some changes to be made. Part one is reaching the tinker phase and I'm working on Part 2.

Now about contests. I seldom enter contests. The EPIC awards are the only one and this year I didn't have one to enter except for an anthology entered by my publisher. This year I can read and judge just for fun. I've judged this contest since the very first one. I judge three other contests. The second is one for young writers -- New Voices and it's a great one and I enjoy giving advice to budding writers. Then there's Hook Line and Sinker, the HVRWA contest. This is fun in another way and giving advice to adults who want to write. The fourth is the RITA contest. I've already signed up for next year.

Here's what I look for when I'm judging full books. Do I like the characters, is the plot solid and would I want to read this book again. Being a re-reader that's important to me. In the Hook, Line and Sinker, to me the most important part of the score comes when I decide if I really want to read more. In whole book contests one is always seeking a new author to try and contests are a good way of doing this.

My Writing World -- Friends from the past

My week has been busy with trying to work on three mss in various stages of life. One is a revision of a spicy romance Heart Throbs, the second is the final draft of In Other Worlds -- Egypt -- Aries and the third is The Amber Tower in the rough draft stage. Sometimes I feel dizzy but that may be my nature.

The amazing things that happened to me this week had to do with friends, new and old. Did a reading at a local library with two rather new friends. An old friend who is one of my greatest supporters was unable to come but she wants to buy my book. That's the kind of support a writer needs. A second good thing came from this reading. I was able to make contact with the children's librarian and to talk about EPIC's New Voices contest. She has the flyer and I've volunteered to give a talk about the contest during the summer. I have plans to speak to the librarians in all the other libraries in the county.

The other was a friend on Facebook but a young woman I've known on line for perhaps ten years. She once was on a committee that awarded my Fantasy then called The Jewels of Erda second place in a contest. Stacey put a message on Facebook wanting to know where she could buy what has become a trilogy The Quest For The White Jewel, The Brotherhood of Mages, and The Secret of the Jewels. I sent her the information and she emailed me and asked for three book plates. This is another type of friend one wants to keep.