Wednesday's Writer's Tip - Writing Chapter 1 #MFRWauthor #amwriting

I'm not sure about you but for me starting the first chapter takes a long time.  There are so many things to consider making sure they're there. There's that first line designed to lure the reader into the world you've created, the world of today, yesterday or tomorrow or an invented world. Let's look at some things that need to be included in the first chapter. There are a number.

The first thing to consider is the triggering moment. This had little to do with the characters goals and motivations. This is usually something happening outside the character that triggers a change. Looking at the story I'm working on right now. The decision by the chief wizard to have a competition for a council seat between two young men, one his son and one an adoptee. This decision effects the heroine since she is to be given as the reward to the young man who wins. This sets off the story and needs to be in the first chapter. Maybe not in the opening scene but before the chapter ends. This sets off a number of situations for all the main characters of the story including an ancient hibernating dragon.

Then comes the setting for the story. Where does the action take place? The story could take place mainly in the city, the country, a foreign world but the reader needs to get a sense of the where. In the story I'm working on there are several settings but the opening scene takes place in the strongholdof the wizards and the hareem where all the women live. Other places to be visited in the story are touched upon in the story giving the reader a taste of the where so when the scene takes place, they can visualize without an entire lengthy explanation of the where.

Tuesday's Inspiration - Thoughts on A Bit From Bird by Bird - Anne Lamott #MFRWauthor

"It's a matter of persistence, faith and hard work," This little bit sums a great part of being an author. Having this displayed above the computer might be a good idea for those time when you're wishing for those words to come or when you hit a spot where you're not sure you can work yourself out of that spot you've placed your characters in and you can't see the way out.

Persistence is doing what you want to do every day, The sun is out but you haven't reached your word goal of the day. Do you allow yourself to take off and hope the words will be there tomorrow? You could but the words may or may not appear. Set your goal for something you can easily obtain. Surpassing your goal will give you a boost.

Faith is believing in yourself. Do you sit and think I can do this or do those doubts creep in. I can't do this may soon become I won't do this.  Instead of thinking, Maybe someday I'll sell a story, it's taking away the maybe and the someday. I will sell a story. Taking the iffy thoughts and making them positive is a good way to think. So have a bit of faith in yourself.

Hard work - Writing isn't digging ditches or any other physical kind of job. Writing is hard work. Mentally hard work. It's also the kind of hard work that makes you master all those elements of what makes a story. This has happened to me. Someone says "You're writer. I wish I could just sit and put words on paper. Such an easy job." Not necessarily so. All you can do is shrug. You'll never convince anyone that what you do is hard work.

So you add persistence and faith to the hard work and you will sell a story.

Meandering On Monday with Janet Lane Walters #MFRWauthor #Poem #writing

Meander 1 - This week's poem is a trip into childhood memories

Call The Kids For Dinner, Dear

Summer sidewalks shimmer heat.
The men come home from the mills.
Black lunch boxes - thermoses rattle
Against the empty sides.
Dinner's cooking - smells in the air
Cabbage, spaghetti, meatloar, noodles.
Call the kids for dinner, dear.

My father, bald, hawk beaked
Walks to the wooden porch.
Tee shirt, scooped nexk
Pittsburgy gray
Beats his chest in a Tarzan cry
Calling his kids for dinner.

Why does he have to yortle so?
Flushed, red, and not from sun
I slink to the backyard door
So no one knows he's my old man.

Meader 2 - A complaint - Why do men never listen when they come to do some work on the house. The basement was flooded si I needed the drain snaked out. I took them to the basement and shwoed them the drain. "This is the one where there's always a problem." I left them to work. They said they couldn't get through the one I showed them but they did another drain. "It's fine now." Their assessment so I paid them. The next day the basement was still flooded. They had to come back and clear the drain I first pointed out. Fortunately they didn't charge but left with warnings.

Meander 3 - Writing is going well. Typing not so good. I must pick up the pace there since I'll soon have another draft done. I really want to finish this story but it's rather complicated. I have to make sure all the pieces fit. Wizards will be finished before the end of the year. That's the goal.

My Book Sunday - A Marriage Takes Two #MFRWauthor #Medical #romance

1. 

A Marriage Takes Two, https://www.allromanceebooks.com/storeSearch.html, http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-marriage-takes-two-janet-lane-walters/1122509453?ean=2940152087734, https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/567742, 
https://www.overdrive.com/media/2352125/a-marriage-takes-two

latisha kennington rated it 5 of 5 stars

” This is medieval.” That’s Carrie’s response to the reading of her grandfather’s will. The money will allow her to provide for her ill mother and give her the chance to give up one of her full time jobs as a nurse. The money won’t be hers until she marries. This creates a dilemma. She has no time for dating and doesn’t know who would marry her until she thinks of her former best friend, Tony. But can she ask him? Two months later time is running out and she decides to take the plunge.

Three years ago, Tony and his wife divorced. Last year he obtained custody or their child. When Carrie asks him to marry her he decides since this won’t be a real marriage, he can accept. Years ago, he loved Carrie but never said anything to her. Now burned, he doesn’t believe in love. To help her uncomplicate her life he agrees.

Can Tony and Carrie get past the reason for the marriage and find love and make a home for his son?

Saturday's Blurbs featuring books by Sherry Derr-Wille #MFRWauthor #mystery #romance #historical

MISTAKEN IDENTITY – CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE FROM CLASS ACT BOOKS BY SHERRY DERR-WILLE

Katelyn Devereaux needs a vacation. More than a vacation she needs to put Denver behind her, as well as the man who wants her as his wife, and the birth family who is insisting on finding her. A secluded cottage on a lake in Wisconsin sounds like the perfect spot to get away - or is it?

Seth Miller knows the reason he mistook Katelyn for Genean is his knowledge that his best friend’s wife is searching for the twin sister who was adopted by strangers at birth. Of course, he can’t change the facts that Genean and Katelyn are sisters, especially after he learns the company she wants to visit in Wisconsin is owned by Genean’s brother, Randy, and her husband, Brad.

HATTIE’S PREACHER – CHRISTIAN HISTORICAL ROMANCE FROM MELANGE BOOKS BY SHERRY DERR-WILLE

David Long gave up a promising law career when God called him to preach the word. Little did he know the red headed pianist at his church in Mortonville, Illinois would capture his heart.

Hattie Fairchild knew the only proper place for a proper maiden lady to play the piano was in church. Even though she didn’t believe, she found she could ignore the minister’s words by staying hidden away in the balcony and reading her novels during the sermons.

When David Long came to town not only did he move the piano from the balcony to the main floor of the sanctuary, he also decided to restore her faith in God. In the process she found herself falling for the man who looked more like a blacksmith than a preacher.

ROUND TREE – PARANORMAL ROMANCE FROM CLASS ACT BOOKS BY SHERRY DERR-WILLE

Anthropology professor, Jaicee Grant needs to trade academics for hands on research. When she arrives at Round Tree, she finds more than she bargained for. Not only does the flesh and blood archaeologist, Evan Clark, enamors her, but an ancient love, Sayo, has invaded her mind. They both want her to help them unearth the mysteries of the past, but one of them wants her as a woman as well.

Evan Clark is desperate for money for his dig. When Jaicee Grant makes a large donation, he is stunned. It isn’t until she arrives at Round Tree that he realizes she is a very desirable woman and one who could easily hold the key to unlock the secrets of the past. Once she does it could become the archaeological find of the new century.

WOMAN’S WORLD – FUTURISTIC EROTIC ROMANCE FROM WHISKEY CREEK PRESS TORRID BY SHARI DARE

On the planet Plazer, the remote kingdom of Telligan is run completely by women. With their own men castrated and turned into eunuchs, it is Regina’s job to search the galaxy for suitable breeders to perpetuate the female line.

Regina came to earth with two purposes. The first was to find a breeder for Princess Adrianne and the second to start a new life for herself. After one night with Mark, she knows she must return to Telligan and break this man to stud.

From the way the exotic beauty, Regina, checked out Mark’s package, he knew a night of great lovemaking was bound to follow. What he didn’t know was this conquest could take him on the sexual journey of his life.

MAN IN THE LAKE – MURDER MYSTERY FROM CLASS ACT BOOKS BY SHERRY DERR-WILLE

Jack Franks likes his position as Chief of Police in a small town until someone finds a man’s naked body floating in Storrs Lake. With a murder to investigate, he hardly knows where to start, but having to deal with the county sheriff’s office only complicates matters.

Rhonda Pohs, works for Chief Franks as an officer only because of her grief training. When he sends her to inform the wife of her husband’s untimely death, she must also inform the murder victim’s mistress as well.

Rhonda finds herself embroiled in one of the most baffling cases to ever hit the sleepy community. Suddenly, she becomes the lead detective and must put her own life in danger in order to find the murderers of the man everyone in town despised.

FAMILY SECRETS – A TRUE FAMILY EPIC FROM MELANGE BOOKS BY SHERRY DERR-WILLE

In the late 19^th century orphans became a ward of the county. When that happened to my grandmother, she was sold as a bond servant, setting the course of her life into motion. At the age of eighteen, the man who held her bond had taught her to read and write, be a good Christian woman, and the mysteries of housekeeping. Giving her a watch, a Bible, and ten dollars, she was on her own for the first time since she’d been bonded at the age of three and a half.

In the midst of the depression, my father found himself on his own at the age of twelve. His life was one of a little boy lost.

Last but not least, is the way in which my family impacted my life. This is our story and one that would not survive if I didn’t take the time to tell it.

Friday - Sherry Derr-Wille Talking About Heroes, Heroines and Villains #MFRWauthor

1. Do you write a single genre or do your fingers flow over the keys creating tales in many forms? I write romance, family epics, murder mysteries and erotica. In other words, I write what I want when I want.

Does your reading choices reflect your writing choices? Not really. I mostly enjoy reading historical romance, time travel and Native American. Although I write in all genres I also write many contemporary pieces.

Are there genres you wouldn’t attempt? Regency and Horror

2. Heroes, Heroines, Villains. Which are your favorite to write? I love to write them all. Heroines are sweet, heroes are handsome and well built, and villains are the most fun.

3. Heroes. How do you find them? They are all figments of my warped imagination, Do pictures, real life or plain imagination create the man you want every reader to love? They are all made up and products of my imagination. Do they come before the plot or after you have the idea for the story? The hero always comes first. My stories are all character driven. To be truthful, when I start the story I don't know where it will go or how it will end.

4. Heroines. How do you find them? Like my heroes they are figments of my imagination. Do pictures, real life or imagination create the woman you want the reader to root for? I usually have a picture in my mind of my heroines. Do they appear before the plot or after you have the idea for the story?  Like the heroes they come first and then they tell me what they want to do with the story.

5. Villains or villainesses or an antagonist, since they don’t always have to be the bad guy or girl. They can be a person opposed to the hero’s or heroine’s obtaining their goal. How do you choose one? How do you make them human? Just through the things they say and do.

6. What is your latest release? BLUE EAGLE FEATHER Who is the hero, heroine and or the villain? The hero is Jeffrey Cooper, the heroine Marie Turtle and for this one there really isn't a villain. This book came to me in a dream and I had to wait until I dreamed more of the plot.

 

7. What are you working on now? I just finished WHO KILLED BILLY ROLLER?  I'm also working on NEVER TOO LATE FOR LOVE and RETURN OF THE ANCIENTS.

8. How can people find you? Website of Author, Sherry Derr-Wille I am also on Facebook. I encourage readers to like my Sherry Derr-Wille author page.

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Thursday - My Heroes, Heroines and Villains - Pursuing Doctor West #MRWauthor #medical #romance

Pursuing Doctor West is a tongue in cheek medical romance. There is no villain, other than the hero and heroine.

Hero - Michael
       Though he wished for time to eat a hearty breakfast, on the way to the hospital, he stopped at a deli for an egg and cheese bagel and a huge coffee. Ten minutes later, he sat in the doctor’s parking lot and ate like a starving man

After stuffing the remains in the take-out bag, he slid from the sedan and brushed crumbs from his clothes. He scanned the lot. New car added to his list of wants. His fuel-economy sedan looked like a waif among the luxury sedans and sporty models. He strode toward the entrance.

“Michael, slow down.” The senior partner of the surgical practice waved.

Michael waited for Dr. Probst. “Good morning, sir. I didn’t expect to see you here so early.”

The gray-haired man smiled. “Always the first. Good to see you’ve the same habit. Three cases on the schedule. First one’s at nine.”

“Will I assist?”

“Eager to get your hands in?”

Michael grinned. “Sure am, sir.”

Dr. Probst chuckled. “How well I remember those days. Before we head to the OR, we’ll make rounds. I’ll show you the surgical unit.”

“Sounds good.” Though he had visited the hospital when he’d been recruited, he hadn’t been impressed with the unit.

“We’ve a new nurse manager. Young, efficient. Has performed miracles during her five months in charge. She’s cracked down on the staff. You’ll like her.”

Michael studied the older man. Was he being set up? Not going to happen. Casual affairs were his speed. He thought about the nurse manager he’d met when the guys in the practice had wined and dined him. She’d been old, steely-eyed, with a thin-lipped smile, making him think young doctors were to be trained like puppies. Young might mean any woman under sixty. If the new nurse manager was attractive and would be interested in a fling in the company of a man with a five year plan, he might give her a try.

They rode the elevator from the basement to the second floor. When he saw the nurse at the counter with a phone in her left hand and her right poised over a keyboard, he halted and fought the urge to run.

“No.” He groaned. “Impossible.”

“Something wrong?” Dr. Probst asked.

Michael cleared his throat. Don’t be an ass. “I never expected to see…” Help! His inner voice shouted the final word of his nightmare.

“Zelda, come and meet the new addition to our group.”

Michael sucked in a breath. The bane of his youthful existence left the computer and sauntered toward them.

His throat constricted. His gut churned. “You work here?” Duh. Could his foot fit any tighter in his mouth? Why else was she dressed in a white uniform? And the lab coat spelled administration. He took a second look. The uniform fit her slender body to perfection.

Dr. Probst beamed. “Guess you know each other. Zelda is our miracle nurse manager.”

Figured she’d find a way to plague him. He didn’t like the ideas swarming like gnats in his thoughts. He batted them away. Sure, Zelda was attractive and probably efficient, but she was a cyclone centered on destructing Michael West MD. Like visions seen by a drowning man, incidents flooded him. She had swamped his high school romance with Allie, and sent depth charges into his summer fling with Bette.

Every time Zelda entered his space strange events occurred. He tripped over invisible cracks in the sidewalk, dropped drinks and plates of food. In her presence, he was an accident primed to happen.

His gaze focused on her. Boy had she changed. Short curly brown hair, bright blue eyes, slender figure with tantalizing curves. An urge to taste her kissable lips made him take a step toward her.

Whoa. This is Zelda. Not a chance. He enjoyed living. His hands fisted and he tore his attention from her to his partner’s briefing on the recovering patients and the ones awaiting surgery.

Zelda added comments, reported changes in conditions and mentioned existing or pending problems. 

Michael realized she ignored him more effectively than he did her. Still, he knew plans for destructing his life stirred like a rising volcano in her head. They always had.

“Mrs. Greene’s going home today,” Dr. Probst said. “She’s to come to the office in a week for staple removal.” He turned to Michael. “Write a prescription for a pain med and antibiotics, same as she’s taking here. All the info is on her chart.”

Michael went to the computer and entered his password. He pulled up Mrs. Greene’s chart. He checked her meds and copied them to an electronic prescription. Once done, he sent the script to her listed pharmacy. He finished the instruction sheet and closed the chart.

Dr. Probst laughed. “Took you less than five minutes. One of the reasons we took you on. You can teach these old dogs some tricks.”

Zelda laughed. “Aren’t computers great? No more huge stacks of paper to worry about.”

No more paper airplanes. Where had that thought come from? Then he remembered, Zelda’s many missives sailing over the fence from her yard to his. He hid a smile as an idea of how to head her off and keep their interactions on a strictly professional level came to him.

Heroine - Zelda

Zelda Carter wanted to pinch herself, but she knew Michael’s arrival wasn’t a dream. She’d heard rumors, but hospital’s grapevine bred stories as fast as mold multiplied in a dungeon. She sat at the desk and stared at nothing. Co-workers bustled past. The loudspeaker crackled. The phone rang. She sighed. He had returned home to practice surgery. She would see him every day.

Maybe this time he would open his eyes to the possibilities. Perhaps the strange and awful occurrences wouldn’t happen. Could she find a crack in his stone heart and prove she was the right woman for him?

Never had.

You’re wrong.

This time she would find a lure he couldn’t resist. She sucked in a breath and swore the citrus scent of him overpowered the sharper hospital odors.

“Ms. Carter, lab on line one,” the unit clerk said.

Zelda grabbed the receiver and jotted some values she’d wanted checked. She turned to the clerk. 

“Karen, if anyone wants me I’ll be in my office.”

“I’ll let them know, boss lady. You need to call Nan.”

“Will do.” Zelda strode down the hall. She needed to let the staff recruiter know there would soon be an opening for a nurse on the unit.”

She shut the door, reached for the phone and punched her friend’s extension. After Nan answered, Zelda mentioned the opening. “Need someone with dynamite qualifications. I’ll email you the specifics.” A gasp burst free when she saw the paper airplane perched on the edge of her desk.

“Are you okay?”

“Yes.” Her heart hammered. What did he want? Visions of Michael filled her thoughts. She drifted into a dream. His green eyes glittered with interest. He asked for a date.

“Zelda, are you there.” Nan’s shout shredded the daydream.

“Just spaced out for a moment.”

“What’s he like?”

“Who?”

“The new surgeon. The house is buzzing with rumors and more. Thought I’d come to the one who has surely met him.”

Zelda laughed. “I have first dibs. Don’t you remember him?”

“If I knew his name I might.”

“Think four years ahead of us in school. Think red gold hair, though now it’s a dark auburn. Think broad shoulders, football, basketball, and baseball. Think handsome as sin.”

Nan chuckled. “Michael West.”

“Yes.”

“Good luck.”

“Thanks.” Zelda hung up. She smoothed the paper airplane. He remembered the hundreds of notes she’d sailed over the back fence.

Must mean something.

Sure it does. Maybe.

The voice of doubt sounded again. She stared at the words he’d written and started the process of deciphering the scrawl. How could he? She’d loved him for years. Granted he’d ignored her years ago.

Professional. An order. As if she was anything but a professional here. A glance at the signature and she burst into uncontrollable laughter. Your former neighbor.

Tears rolled down her face and she gasped to catch a breath. She couldn’t wait to see his face when he learned she lived in the same building. Heavens, their bedrooms were separated by a very thin wall.

She folded her arms. Michael West, you’re in for a surprise. She brought the note to her nose and inhaled the citrus scent permeating the paper, or maybe her imagination. She tucked the note in her pocket. This belonged in her box of Michael mementos. Had he saved the notes and other items she’d given him over the years? Hope grew like bacteria in a Petrie dish. The missive proved his interest. So did the way he’d watched her this morning. His stares had ignited her body.

Michael, watch out. She would find a way to capture more than his sideways glances. She knew something he was too blind to see. She was his perfect mate.

Wednesday's Writer's Tip - The Final Four Ways to Show Characterization #MFRWauthor #amwriting

Exposition - This is the most direct way of showing characterization and is used when there's no other way. Two people could be talking about a third character and letting the reader see things from the views of other people,

Description - We all do this. Write a paragraph using the character's physical aspedts, how he looks, his hair, her body, her features. One problem here is allowing the description to go on so long the reader sees more than he can process at the time.

Narration - Simply telling to reveal how a character may act or plan to act.

Action - Showing the character in the middle of doing something. This can be a physical action scene or one where he perhaps eat. He sat with his head bent and pushed food into his mouth like he was starved. Or She ran as though being chased by a monster. Pale hair flowing behind her and a scream on her lips.

There are a multitude of ways to show characterization and by using more than one the story will be fresh and the reader will form a complete picture of the characters in your story.

Tuesday's Inspiration - More Thoughts on Word By Word

Ann Lamot has an interesting few paragraphs about answering the question I believe is "How do you write?" I've been asked this question and I'm not as funny as she is so if you have a chance read Birt by Bird.

She starts out by saying you sit down at approximately the same time every day." We all know how impossible this is. I've trained myself to write just about everywhere. If not on the paper I can write in my head. This isn't so cool when you're driving or when walking. There are crazy drivers out there and cracks in the sidewalks waiting to ambush you. I don't always write on the computer. Sometimes it's pen and paper.

There's also those people around you who don't understand you're working. They call on the phone or just drop in. Tune them out. An occasional uhum or a yes will let them believe you're listening. There's also the voice in your head that says this is a bunch of nonsense or sometimes in stronger words. I try to tell these voices, It's all right, I'll revise it later.

So I close with this try to set a schedule of time or number of words and just keep writing day after day and suddenly there's a story or a book.

Meandering On Monday with Janet Lane Walters #MFRWauthor #poetry #writing

Meander 1 - Thinking Outside the Box - As writers this is something we're often told to think outside the box when designing our stories. I've found crossword puzzles do this for me. Suddenly you need a word to fill in a block and the definition throws you. Then you kind of slip sideways in your thinking and the word is there. Other times you've filled in some of the letters and all of a sudden you realize what the definition means. I always think, why didn't I see that? We can do this in other parts of our life. And it's fun to think of solutions for ourselves or our characters that aren't expected in the path you've been following.

Meander 2 - A poem. I remember writing this for a friend and we chuckled over the emaning.

                                                      Coffee Grounds
In the morning I always wanted hot coffee.
You never did.
For twenty years alone I drank
And filled my cup with fresh perked brew.
You stayed in bed until I called.
Your aftershave blotted the fragrance
Of my coffee beans.
Our marriage simmered on the stove.
A tiny flame of twenty years.
The oils and essences losing strength.
Turning bitter in the pot.
Until today ---
I emptied the grounds.

Meander 3 - Working hard on Wizards and hopefully will finish before the end of the year. Am doing the draft where I'm filling in all those things I hate to write when I'm rushing through the rough draft. The pages of each chapter have scribbled directions in the margins. When I finish this re-write hopefully most of the chapters will be filled to perfection or to revision where I don't have to write entire chapters again. I know of at least one that will need written again since while going over it I had to reconfigure matters. The chapter is a bit rough but once I get to the end of the draft I'll know what to do.