October #wipmadness – Week 4

It’s the final check-in for the October edition of #wipmadness. And Friday is Halloween!!! You know what that means:

CANDY!!!

Nothing is sweeter than a handful (or two) of your favorite bite-size candy bar. Nothing except perhaps for writing that sentence or paragraph that makes you think, “I’m awesome. This story is awesome. Watch out world, here I come.” 

Halloween has always been a favorite holiday of mine, and not because of the free candy. I like seeing all the kids dressed up in costumes. For one day, everyone can dress up and experience being someone else for the night and collect candy or other goodies for doing so. In this way, Halloween is very much like the experience of reading (and writing) a book: you get to experience what life is like for someone else.

As writers, we get to step in the shoes of characters all the time and experience another’s life, struggles, and moments of joy and despair. As writers, we may like to think we know everything about our characters and what they might do in certain situations, but sometimes our own creations teach us something. Our math geek might confess she’s been flunking her algebra quizzes or our sports star might admit he really hates the sport and would rather play in the marching band. Their revelations might lead us to the story that we didn’t realize was possible, but that is the story that the character wants to tell. Sometimes we have to listen to a character to know what story is the right one.

Has this happened to you before? Have your characters balked at the story you’re writing and revealed something new about themselves and turned the story into something new?

Also as a Halloween treat, consider the following questions for one of your characters (or for you):

What was your favorite Halloween character as a kid?

Are you dressing up this year? If so, what are you going as?

What do you think makes the best costumes?

And now for the moment you've all been waiting for:

The winner of write bracelet giveaway is:

Kim B!!!!!

Congratulations, Kim!

Please send me your mailing address to my email: chris hingley 17 at gmail dot com.

Jenn can adjust the length of the bracelet for you and add the clasp of your choice.

Anyway it’s been a pleasure and an honor to be your host for the past two months of #wipmadness. Maybe I’ll stick around for another month if Denise can’t find another host, but for sure I’ll be commenting at check-ins.

Hope you all have a great Halloween, and even great writing sessions!

October #wipmadness – Week 3

Congratulations on the book releases to Denise, Shari, and LisaAnn. A new book is a truly amazing experience, and one that I sincerely hope each of us experiences one day.

Books like most works of art start with an idea. An idea can be big or it can be small. An idea is simply that: an idea. It is a spark to something more, something truly great, something truly yours. It is something that you take from your imagination and mind and combine it with hard work and dedication and sweat and maybe just a little too much caffeine. It’s amazing what a simple idea can become.

I spent Saturday rewatching the first two seasons of the web series, Video Game High School in order to prepare for the third and final season. (The second episode of the third season drops today: check YouTube.) As a backer of the final season, I received access to the entire season before the public release, so this afternoon I watched the first episode, and told myself I’d watch the second episode and then write this check-in post. I made myself stop after the fourth episode, because I wanted to say something about that fourth episode and ideas and art and creating something that is just wow worthy.

Without giving too much away, that fourth episode is a YA novel in itself. Now I feel what book reviewers must feel like when they open a package and find an ARC or a review copy to read and review. I just need someone to talk about that episode with. To talk about that moment and that moment. That scene and this one.

I've felt that many times while reading YA literature. I could tell you the page numbers of books that stopped me in my tracks. Moments where I had to stop reading to regroup, but at the same time wanting to turn the page and keep reading. Scenes where I wanted to stop and write the author a note declaring him or her to be an awesomely cool genius whose shopping lists should be published daily. (That so should be a genre!)

Moments and scenes like these are what drives me to create. They are also what truly makes storytelling such an amazingly awesome art. Recognizing these moments are important both as a reader and a writer.

As I glance at my bookcases that hold about 500 YA books, I can think of the moments and scenes within each book that made me want to keep or buy my own copy of it. (And in some cases, own multiple copies of. I have at least two copies of John Green’s Looking for Alaska and plan to buy the 10^th anniversary edition in January.) The same is with movies and specific TV show episodes.

There are scenes that I will never forget and there are scenes that I will never not react to. These are the scenes that I strive toward and the scenes I treasure. These are the scenes that make writing the epitome of art and craft.

To avoid spoilers, I’ll only list the titles of a few of these amazing moments and scenes, but I’m sure if you’ve read the book or watched the movie/episode, you’ll know which one I’m talking about.

YA Books

See You at Harry’s by Jo Knowles

Boy Toy by Barry Lyga

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

Winger by Andrew Smith (I haven’t read an Andrew Smith book yet that doesn't include such an impactful scene, but the one in Winger is king.)

Movies/TV Show episodes

Abyssinia, Henry (M*A*S*H, Season 3, Episode 24.)

The Body (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 5, Episode 16.)

Toy Story 3

The Shawshank Redemption

Up

What are some of yours? Those scenes and moments that made you realize that “this is a really good book/movie/episode?” In order to avoid spoilers, please just include the title.

Oh, BTW: If you want to be entered into the giveaway of the bracelet (see pictures on the final September #wipmadness post), please include these words in your comment: “This is my contest entry.” I just want to make sure everyone who wants a chance to win Jenn's awesome bracelet has a chance to win.

See you next week for the final edition of October #wipmadness!!!

Have a great writing week!

October #wipmadness – Week 2

Between helping my nephew with the final touches of his science project that is due tomorrow (I am so over Styrofoam and felt. And glue that doesn't bond with either) and trying to set up online payments for bills, I am completely without ideas for a good check-in post.

But sitcom idea #1 made an appearance late Saturday night as I was trying to fall asleep. The entire first scene of the show appeared to me and the main character spoke the intro to the show. I made myself turn my light back on and typed up the scene the best I could. (Note to self: Try the voice memo also, so there’s less intrusive light from the electronics.)

I think it’s a good start, so now I might have to figure out which idea to focus on. 

I guess there are worst problems to have. Like craft glue that won’t stick to craft items. J

I think there is a metaphor there somewhere about ineffective glue and the storytelling process, perhaps something like if one way doesn’t work, then try another way. And if that way doesn’t work, it might be time to try another way or ask for help. Hey, I found the metaphor!

Anyway, I hope your writing is going well. And if you are like me and have ran into bad glue, take a step back and think, “what else can I do?”

Happy Thanksgiving to our Canadian wipmadnessers.

Pie. I think we all need a big piece of pie. Or chocolate.

See you next week!

Welcome to October #wipmadness

My nephew has a short research essay due on Thursday, so I’m walking him through the steps of researching, prewriting, and writing. After reading Number the Stars in class, he decided to do his essay on Anne Frank. Saturday we went to the library and I showed him how to look up information in the encyclopedia. (Or as I explained to him the old school Internet.) We also checked out three books. Tonight we’ll work on organizing the information into three paragraphs: before hiding, hiding, and after hiding. I’m hoping we’ll get the first paragraph done tonight.

Helping my nephew has made me realize how innate the writing process has become to me. Perhaps I even take it for granted at times. Working with him and my other seventh grade student makes me re-examine the writing process: how this step leads to this step and how vital it is to take a few moments to organize your thoughts and even do the dreaded O word: outline.  

I've never liked outlining. But I've learned that it’s a necessity at some point in the writing process, and that the earlier it occurs, the better or/and easier a project becomes. You have to know what you want to write about before you can write about it.

I think I get lost in this step. Trying to figure out what the story is about before writing the story. Wanting my prewriting to look all cool and organized complete with cross referencing. (Yes, I am that anal retentive. I wonder if there’s a club for that?)

My question for you this week is this:

Do you have a tricky spot in the writing process? A place where you get stuck or in a rut?

Any advice on helping a seventh grader write a five-paragraph essay about Anne Frank? (I really thought that the five-paragraph essay was a relic of the past, but I guess not.) Any advice or suggestions about helping seventh-grade boys write would be greatly appreciated.

See you next week. Don’t forget to list your October goals!

My October goal:

Write a working outline for the pilot episode to sitcom idea #2.

Write a working outline for the YA WIP.

Make weekly progress toward these goals.

September #wipmadness – Week Five

Since today is the last day of September, I thought it would be fitting to wrap the September 2014 edition of #wipmadness today instead of yesterday. (That and after a weekend of helping my nephew catch up on missing math assignments and complete a study guide for the novel they read exhausted much of my energy Sunday night. I truly don’t know how you parents do it, especially those who homeschool. You are truly heroes in my book.)

As I look at my goal for September, I remind myself that a new month begins tomorrow. And that there is less (fewer?) than 100 days left of 2014. 100 days (about 92 remaining if you like exact numbers) is plenty of time to devote to a WIP. I've been waffling back and forth about whether to write a page a day for the next 92 days or to write for an hour a day for the next 92 days. I’m not quite at the drafting stage for either TV show idea. And my novel has been on the shelf so long, I think my characters have already graduated college. But nonetheless October means I still have three months to squeeze as much writing time out of 2014 as I can and be able to start 2015 with plenty of steam and all that pesky prewriting done, prepped, and organized.

So I’m extending my September goal into October, but am adding weekly goals to kick my butt into shape. I’ll announce what those goals are next week, because guess what?

I’ll be hosting #wipmadness for October!!!

So how was your month? Did you reach your goal for the month? Are you extending your goal into October too? Or is it time for a new goal?

And now for the long awaited giveaway announcement:

My friend and sometimes writing partner, Jenn, graciously made this bracelet:

If skulls aren't your thing, she can replace them with different beads. She can also add an r to write to make it a writer bracelet. She will include the clasp of your choice: lobster clasp, toggle clasp or an adjustable clasp. (A toggle clasp is shown.) You can also select the length you'd like. I think this one is about 7.25 inches in length. If you have any questions about the bracelet, please let me know and I can forward any questions to Jenn.

If you would like to be entered into the giveaway, please include that in your check-in comment.

I’ll announce the giveaway winner by Friday on Twitter and here on the blog.

Hope you have a wonderful last day of September, and I’ll see you next week.

September #wipmadness – Week Four

It’s Monday, yay!

Why am I so happy about Monday?

Because we all know it’s the real first day of the week, the weekend is over, and it’s a great time to hit the road running, or rather to hit the keyboard typing, or hit the paper writing. (Okay I might have stretched out that metaphor a little too much.)

But in the interest of starting a new week: here’s an exercise for you to do right now:

Set a timer and just write for the next five minutes. Whatever comes to your mind, just write.

Now look at what you've written. Read it over. Is there anything you can use from it in your current WIP? Or perhaps it’s given you a morsel for something new, maybe something you've never tried before. Maybe it’s something you’ll put on a shelf for a while and let it marinate. (I’ll skip the marinade analogy for now.J)

But whatever you come up with, be proud of it even if you think it’s the worst thing that has ever been written in recorded and unrecorded history. Because you wrote it. You wrote. And that’s something to be proud of.

My question for you this week is:

Did anything surprise you about the five-minute writing exercise? Did you discover something new about a character or uncover a new plot detail? Did you add an idea to the ever growing story idea list? (Please tell me I’m not the only one who keeps such a list.)

See you next week for the final check in for September #wipmadness!

Giveaway Update: I’m still working out the specifics of the write bracelet with Jenn. I hope to be able to post a picture of it this week. 

September #wipmadness – Week Three

Congratulations! You’ve made it to the halfway point of the September edition of #wipmadness. If you’re on track with your monthly goals: Congrats! You’re awesome. And if you’re like me and are slightly off track with your goals, you are still awesome. There’s still plenty of time left in the month to cross those goals off your list.

So take a moment to celebrate the halfway mark. Reflect on what you have managed to accomplish and remember it is okay to reset your goals for the rest of the month. It’s also okay to take a day off to focus on yourself; your characters as well as your family and your future self will thank you.

My question for you this week is:

How do you celebrate? Do you only celebrate the end of a draft/project? Or do you celebrate throughout the process?

Pictures of prizes will be posted this week, so check back if you’re looking for a little motivation. I promise not to claim them all as hosting awards. J

September #wipmadness – Week Two

So how was your first week of September?

Mine was okay. I cashed in a bunch of loose change that I've earmarked for the purchase of an updated version of Syd Field’s Screenplay and other writing-related books. I also brainstormed ideas for one of my TV pilots. I even know the line of dialogue that ends the first act of the pilot episode. Now I just need to actually write these ideas down instead of keeping it in my head.

I think what I need most is to reestablish a writing routine.

Now I've never quite had the best writing routine. I tend to write in long spurts under tight deadlines. Paper due tomorrow afternoon? By all means, let’s start it at 10 the night before. Supposed to submit a story for fiction workshop on Tuesday night? It’s only Saturday, I can watch one more episode (or six) of Friends and still have something to pass out. Draft of thesis project? Um, let’s not go there. J

I’m not sure why I’m so reluctant to committing myself to a routine. Perhaps it’s because I’m so busy planning the forest and the surrounding areas; including the castle and the river, that I run into trees and shrubs that trip me up. Or I spend time constructing metaphors for the simple fact that I keep ignoring: To be a writer means you have to WRITE.

It’s such a novel idea. Writers write.

So my goal for this week is to:

1. Take a few minutes and write down the ideas.

2. Set up a mini routine for the week. Pick a time and write for at least ten minutes each day at that time. Start rebuilding the muscle memory of writing.

My question for you this week is:

What is your writing routine? When do you write? Where do you write? How long do you write for? Are you aiming for a certain number of words, pages, or minutes?

Do you have any advice for establishing a writing routine? What works? What doesn't work?

And what’s the best excuse you've used or heard for avoiding writing?

I have some very cool ideas for giveaway items including a WRITE bracelet and cool bookmarks. I’ll post pictures of the prototypes next week. My friend and sometimes writing partner, Jenn has graciously agreed to make these items.

Hope you have a great week full of fantastic writing sessions and amazing reads. I just finished reading my fifth Andrew Smith novel: 100 Sideways Miles.

Even though it’s been more than 1.7 million miles since I read the final line of the book, I’m still lost in its world, and wish there was an additional chapter hiding beyond the final blank page. I love it when books stick with you for hours, days, and even years after you read it. I hope someday a reader will feel that way about my own book or screenplay. 

Welcome to September #WIPMADNESS

Hello and welcome to my blog, Shortstop in the Sourdough. I’m honored to be your host for the September 2014 edition of #wipmadness.

I've always liked it when a new month begins on a Sunday or a Monday as it gives a double fresh start to the week as well as the month. And today being Labor Day in the U.S. (and Labour Day in Canada) makes today a triple fresh start to this month’s wipmadness. 

As you can tell from my older posts, I’m not the most prolific blogger, I’m pretty much the opposite of prolific. Let’s go with having a major case of being a blocked blogger slash writer. But a new month means a new start and this month I am jumpstarting my love and commitment to writing and to blogging.

My goal for this month is to select a writing project (or two) and actually make progress on it. I keep waffling (yum, waffles) between a few screenplay ideas, two TV pilot ideas, a short story, and a YA novel. So I figure I want to commit myself to working at least on one of the screenplay or pilot ideas as well as working on the novel.

So my question to you this week is:

What is your goal for this month?

Plus:

When you have several ideas, how do you choose which idea to work on first? If you have more than one WIP, how do you balance them?

                                 

I’m working on a bribing, I mean motivational giveaway of sorts. I just got my car back from its second major service of the summer, so money is a little tight, but I’ll figure something out. I’ll announce the bribes giveaways next week.

Hope you have an awesome week full of writing and discovery. And chocolate. Chocolate is good. And so are waffles.  

March Madness Goals 2013

Wipes off a year's worth of dust, hey, I do have a blog! Cool!

So it's that time of year again when the almond trees start blooming and my eyes start watering. The best time of the year since Saint Patrick's Day and my birthday are just around the corner. And it's time for March Madness, both the basketball version and the ubercool being accountable for your writing goals one started by Denise Jaden. 

This is my third year attempting March Madness, and this year I plan to make it past the first round. I posted my goals there, but am reposting them here for my own sake. 

Goals

1. With my writing partner, Jenn B; complete a rough draft of our screenplay. The hope is to have a rough draft by month’s end, revise in April, and submit to a few contests by May 1^st.

2. Examine TV pilot ideas and see if anything worth pursuing. Depending on my writing partner’s time and energy, we may tackle one together and try to submit a pilot script to a few contests by June 1. I figure we can use March as to prewrite and then start a draft in April. That way we aren’t in the same stage of two projects at once and can broaden our scope.

3. Create and maintain a master document including notes, research, and other information for the screenplay and possible TV pilot. Once I find a template that works, I plan to apply it to all other works in progress. I tend to get a little carried away with folders, subfolders, and sub sub folders.

4. Design a writing schedule for the rest of the year including daily, weekly, monthly and so on goals and deadlines. And implement said plan. I even have a special planner for keeping myself accountable.

5. Work on other writing. I have a long neglected novel to give some way overdue tender loving care to. I also should work on another TV spec, but I’m waiting for the network upfronts so I know if the shows I’m considering writing for will be renewed.

6. Remember to enjoy writing and not allow myself to be overwhelmed by deadlines.

7. Read, blog, and exercise. I mean a writer has to do something besides write, right?

So it looks like March is going to be a good writing month. I just need to figure out some rewards to offer myself so I don't get off track or distracted....

Look something shiny. :-)

March Madness Goals 2012

It's that time of the year again for March Madness, but instead of hoops this March Madness is all about writing and reading and blogging. Thank you Denise for continuing to support writing and writers everywhere. I hope this is the year I actually achieve a goal or two. It's time to dust off my WIP and start working on my ultimate goal to be published (or under contract to be published) by the time I'm 40. (Which so happens to be a lot closer than I really want to admit, but that's a topic for a whole other blog entry.)

My Official March Madness 2012 Goals

Although this March is turning into one crazy busy month, I've decided to set some manageable goals for March Madness. So here goes:

1. Design a writing schedule for the rest of the year including daily, weekly, monthly and so on goals and deadlines.

2. Plan out structural bones of WIP novel and April’s Script Frenzy project. As a dedicated pantser I loath outlines, but I’ve found that if left to the ways of the pants I tend to not write. Decide if want to try more than these two projects. I’m leaning toward working on two screenplays at once – one with my writing partner and one solo effort.

3. Revisit the current draft of my WIP and see if there is anything salvageable. Thanks to my awesome writing partner and best friend, I was able to make the existing pages print out in book form.

4. Rein in my tendency to spend more time (okay most of my time) prewriting and filling in questionnaires about my characters and actual work on writing. And to that end, compile all my prewriting, research, and information into a single master document. I will try to not organize it in twenty different ways.

5. Try to blog at least once a week for the last three weeks of March, check in at least seven times at each check-in blog, and to make a decent dent in my to-read list. I’ve been meaning to read Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief for the last six years. (And this might just be my  manageable March Madness goal.



March Madness - Thanks Denise Jaden!



CEDA - Take Two

So CEDA (Create Every Day in April) was pretty much an epic fail, so let’s try CEDA v.2: Create Every Day in August.*

This CEDA is special in part because I can totally take part in Laurie Halse Anderson’s annual WFMAD in which one simply writes for fifteen minutes a day. I also like Laurie’s prompts so I plan to write on those in addition to dedicating fifteen minutes a day to one or more of my goals.

My goals for CEDA, v. 2

Write 1-2 chapters in my YA WIP.

Compile the bible for my YA WIP as well as the screenplay that Jenn and I started during Script Frenzy. (Just as soon as Jenn is done with her thesis, we plan on working on it as well as another screenplay.)

Work on prewriting of above two screenplays.

Write a short story. (Or a short film.) The goal is to write something from premise to a completed first draft.

Revisit previous story ideas and/or starts. See if there is anything that I want to work on now in addition to my YA WIP, the two screenplays, and the new short story. I probably should select a solo screenplay idea to work on in addition to the ones I’m co-writing with Jenn. Develop a writing plan for the rest of 2011 and perhaps for the next year or so. I’m still trying to figure out the ideal number of projects to be working on at any given time.

Respond to Laurie Halse Anderson’s daily prompts during her WFMAD challenge.

Write and post 10-15 blog entries.

Work on my new freelance writing career. (I suppose that means I need to finish working on the actual applications. I hate applications. (Note if you’re a fan of Left 4 Dead and Francis, you know he’d agree.))

And obviously writing for at least 15 minutes a day.

*Except for August 1^st, 2^nd, and most of the 3^rd, because my time machine is in the shop. Silly intergalactic travel—all planets need to agree to the Universal Driving Codes. And don’t get me started about the effects of wormholes, black holes, and solar storms, if you thought rush hour in LA was bad, you haven’t tried traveling in time and space during the Galaxy Games.

CEDA

Sorry, fellow Left 4 Dead fans, but this isn’t a post about the Civil Emergency and Defense Agency in the game. But eventually I’ll probably blog about the awesomeness that is Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2.

CEDA (Create Every Day in April) is simply my version of BEDA (Blog Every Day in April) that the awesome YA author Maureen Johnson started in 2009. You can check out Maureen’s initial post here.

Why Create and not Blog?

For starters, I’m still getting used to not cringing every time I see blog used as a verb. But I’m not the grammar police, because if I was I’d have already been picked up by Internal Affairs for my past abuse and misuse of commas.

Midway through the writing version of March Madness, I realized that I seriously needed to work on changing my writing habits. I’ve been a longtime spurter*, and it’s way past time for a change. Or at least, time to try a new approach.

By calling it CEDA instead of BEDA, I can continue my March Madness goals to keep working on my writing by actually writing; be it my YA WIP, the Script Frenzy project that I’m working on with my friend and writing partner, Jenn, my blog, or something else that just can’t wait to be written. (My characters from other works seem to like to make sudden appearances when I’m trying to fall asleep and rattle off epically awesome pieces of inner monologue, description, etc. I think I need to put new batteries in my tape recorder, because by the time I grab my cell or notebook, the words don’t appear so epically awesome. Well, most of the time they are still epically awesome, just epically awesome piles of crap.)

CEDA’s focus is to allow myself to focus on daily writing while not limiting myself to just one project. After all, writers actually write instead of just talking about writing. And I am a writer. I will write every day. I will get the words on paper. I will, in the words of the great Nike slogan; Just do it.

My goals for CEDA:

Write 1-2 chapters in my YA WIP.

Complete a 100 page screenplay with Jenn for Script Frenzy

Write and post 10-15 blog entries.

And because I'm such a geek for statistics, I made a spreadsheet to keep track of my total words/pages. Based on previous chapters, screenplays, and blogs; I estimate I'll see about 35,000 words. Now just to find someone willing to give me a dollar a word. I'd even settle for a penny a word.

* I should really get off my high horse about blog as a verb, because here I am using a rare noun form of the word spurt.

March Madness Goals

So a few days ago, on March 9th to be exact, I signed up for Denise Jaden's Awesome March Madness, I mean it's not the March Madness of basketball fame, but still it is very very cool. Plus it allowed me to set some goals:

So without further ado, here are my goals for March Madness:

1. Write at least one chapter in my current YA WIP.

2. Write and post at least 5 blog entries in my poor neglected Livejournal.

3. Write at least 500 words a day. So by the end of March I will have 15,500 new words. Of course, they'll be spread across a few different projects, but they'll still be new words.

4. Prepare for Script Frenzy. Get to know my characters - who they are and what do they want. Unless, of course, this is cheating.

5. Try to read at least half my current to-read pile.

6. Try to avoid overusing the phrase "at least."

7. Also I'm working on limiting my Pepsi intake to three can a day. (So far today, I've only had one.)

So without counting this sentence I am at 267 words. (Yes, I am ignoring the fact that I signed up for it on March 9, so I have eight days or 4,000 words to make up for.)

267 down, 15,233 to go.

Awesome Must-See Video

I have to admit that I've really never thought about making a nonnarrative short film, although I suppose one could argue that Youth is a narrative film. Nonetheless this is an awesome film and I wish I had been this talented when I was 16.

YOUTH from Tommy Petroni on Vimeo.

I absolutely love what Molly O'Neill said about this film over at 10 Block Walk: "Or, as you might also care to see it, it's essentially the heart of many a contemporary YA novel, in under five minutes."

I have to agree with Molly. And I loved the skateboarding bits, but that might because one of my MCs is a skater.

I love this film.

Thanks, Tommy for sharing this with us. I know we'll be seeing more of your work in the future.

Cross-posted from my livejournal

The Very Memorable First Post

Welcome to my new blog.

First posts are really hard to write. Okay, so I find posts, in general, very hard to write, because honestly while I've always liked the idea of keeping a diary/journal, I've never been really good at maintaining said diary/journal. But I love reading blogs/journals especially those by authors (both published and aspiring to be published), agents, editors, and the like.

Although I've been on livejournal for almost six years, I only have 47 entries. And until recently I pretty much had abandoned it. 2010 was going to be the year that I made a serious return to writing and blogging. That didn't happen. Then 2011 came and I decided not to even fool myself into thinking I'd make resolutions again.

Then last month, YA author L.K. (Lisa) Madigan passed away. Although I only knew L.K. from her often funny Drenched in Words, I felt part of her world. As the news spread, so did the tributes by those who knew her well and those, like me, who only knew her from her words. The following quote (from her advice on writing) often popped up, which coupled by the fact that L.K. knew she was going to die and that she wouldn't get a chance to write all the books she wanted made me decided it was time to actually sit down and be a writer.

The main thing is to WRITE. Some days it might be 2000 words. Some days you might tinker with two sentences until you get them just right. Both days belong in the writing life. Some days you may watch a “Doctor Who” marathon or become immersed a book that is so good you can’t stop reading. Some days you may be in love or in mourning. Those days belong in the writing life, too. Live them without guilt.

                                                                                                   -- L.K. Madigan


Thank you Lisa for your words and for inspiring me to get my butt in the chair and write. Thank you to all the authors whose blogs I read who keep sharing their stories and encouraging us all to achieve our dreams.