Deep Point Of View

I'm constantly working on improving my writing. One of my downfalls is deep point of view. I'm better than I use to be, but I want to get better. So the things I've learned is this.

1) Pretend you're the character (whoever's POV) and you're looking around. Describe what you see in regards to action including dialogue. E.g., Lisa traced the scar on Rick's chest. "Did the other man live?"
2) Be sure to SHOW emotions. E.g., Lisa kicked the garbage can and then shook her fist in the air. "My stupid boyfriend better not break another date with me!"
3) Avoid TELLING how the character feels. E.g., Lisa was hungry. Instead SHOW. E.g., Lisa's gaze followed the spoon as it traveled to the man's mouth and back to the bowl.
4) Don't forget to include the result of that emotion. E.g., Lisa's stomach growled. She wiped the corner of her mouth on her sleeve.
5) Be sure to avoid wherever possible words such as she saw, watched, thought, decided and so on. Remember that you wouldn't think "I'm thinking..." instead you think it. E.g., Lisa wiggled her fingers. Every swell and muscle on Rick's chest would be like well-sanded oak, warm to the touch and rock hard.

Thankful Friday

I'm thankful for my friend Sherrlyn Kenyon. Not only does she write wonderful entertaining books, but she put together a book I use quite often. THE WRITER'S DIGEST CHARACTER NAMING SOURCEBOOK.

Plus without hesitation she accepted my invite to be Southern Magic's keynote speaker at the 2011 Romance In The Magic City conference. She's such a sweet, giving, kind, talented woman.

I Still Want To Be Published

I was talking with a buddy of mine of how J.K. Rowling is being sued for plagiarism. Click here to read about it. It's a shame a person can’t become successful without everyone trying to get a piece of the pie by any means. Of course, even big authors mess up, but from the way the article reads, the reporter had doubts. Plus the article mentions "plagiarised themes" and as far as I know, a theme(s) cannot be copyrighted. Then again, I'm not a lawyer.

Then my buddy said something I hadn’t thought about. She wants to buy the other book to see if it was true. At that point, she turned to me and asked, "What if part of the reason for the lawsuit is to beef up sales for the accuser’s book?" Whoa! I’m usually the cynical one but she out did me this time. Good one, girlfriend!

Love Nature...From The Other Side of Glass

In Mary's blog yesterday, she mentioned she hates camping. Me too! I've tried it twice and I can tell you it left a lot to be desired.

My dad loves the outdoors. He use to hunt (rifle & bow) and fish. He loved driving his boat, pulling skiers or just checking out the scenery. I never got the guts up as a kid to try water skiing. In my twenties I tried it and I never could get my butt up out of the water. It was the strangest enema I ever had. Yeah, yeah, TMI.

But thankfully Dad never acted like he was interested in camping. His idea of roughing it was in an double wide mobile home next to a huge lake or in a RV.

After my hubby and I got married, his friends asked us to go to Talledega (NASCAR race) and camp out. Since we were poor and barely could afford the tickets, there was no way we could buy a deluxe tent or rent a RV (I can't remember if you could do that back in the 70's). So he bought us a pup tent. Yep. The type you crawl into and have to back out of because it was so small.

The evening was sort of fun. There were about ten of us and we cooked out, talked and drank (sodas for me) and laughed a lot. One of my hubby's friends owned a chopper (fancy motorcycle - think EASY RIDER) and we rode it around, enjoying the feel of being young, free, and hippies. Hey, it WAS the 70's.

Then bedtime came. I like to brush my teeth, wash my face and...uh..."use" the bathroom. The area we were camped at didn't have restrooms or port-a-potties. Nothing. Someone in the group nailed a tarp on a tree and worked the edges out to make a makeshift teepee. (Get it?) Yep. You guessed it. That was our restroom. Yuck! It was stinky and grossing. I hated it.

Well, that night as we snuggled in our little pup tent (everyone else had deluxe fancy ones), it rained. I woke to a cold snap. Not freezing, thank goodness, but it wasn't pleasant. Damp, cold everything. Double yuck! I felt dirty all day long. In fact, I didn't go back to Talledega for twenty-something years and I can promise you, no camping out.

Now you would think that was enough, but noooo, I let my hubby talk me into going out camping again a year later. Once again, we had the ugly, smelly pup tent and the other couple had the luxury suite tent. But my hubby thoughtfully brought along two air mattresses. How sweet, huh? Wait for it.

We had a pretty good time. We cooked out, laughed, joked around, drank (I had sodas) and we even had a restroom just up the hill from our camp about 20 yards from the lake. That's much better.

When we stretched out on the air mattresses that night, it felt so good. No hard ground. Even when it started to rain, I was okay with it as I was dry and it was summer, so no worry of it getting cold. Wait for it.

Next morning I woke up and realized the air was out of my mattress. Then I noticed my back and arms were wet. I WAS IN AN INCH OF WATER! I kicked my hubby and told him I had been SLEEPING IN WATER! When all he did was grumble and turn over to go back to sleep (his AIR MATTRESS WAS FLOATING!!), I unzipped the tent and stepped out into the lake. Yes, the frigging LAKE! **There it is.*** It had rain so much that night the lake had overtaken our campground. By the way, the other couple's tent didn't leak and they were dry.

After I did some stomping around and screaming...yes, I don't take well to waking up in water in the middle of the frigging LAKE! I got into the car and refused to get out. I wanted to go home and that's exactly what we did. Yes. I wasn't pleasant. I'm not a morning person, but this was beyond crazy.

That was the last time I ever camped. RV's, hotels, and cabins are for me. Everyone else can keep the tents...pup or super luxury. I don't care. Stupid frigging camping.

You Said What?

I know sometimes on my blog I'll fuss about contests or even the odd book that comes out I'm disappointed in, but thankfully I never mention names unless in a positive light. It's so important if you have a blog to keep all of that in mind. Whenever I read someone else's blog and the author gives names, publishing houses and uses the foulest of language, I cringe.

An editor with Ellora's Cave talks about such behavior and I'm not surprised by what she tells us.

Hmm, maybe I need to go back and check on my old posts and see if something should be deleted or modified. :-)

Funny Commercial

I posted this commercial over on the Romance Magicians' blog, but wanted to share it here too.



I can't help but laugh everytime I watch it.

Being a Fan

I'm a fan of a good many authors. Almost all of them you're heard me mention on my blog. Just for the heck of it, I'll see if I can list those who are automatic buys for me without missing too many: Anne Stuart (Love her bad men heroes. She teeters on that dark edge so well.), Susan Elizabeth Phillips (New author to me I've been going on and on about. I never loved football before, but she's making me reconsider.), Victoria Dahl (My goodness I love her sense of humor and her books are hot! The latest hero has tattoos that just make you melt.), Jenna Black (I don't usually like demons as good guys, but hers are hard to resist.), Kresley Cole (Ditto what I said about Jenna's, plus her books are so fast pace, I have to remember to put the book down to breathe), Shannon McKenna (Hers is like crack sex and her men are so alpha male.), Debra Webb (Her single title books are my favorite. She gets on the gritty side with those and I love that.), and Christy Reece (I love spy/undercover books and she does them right).

There are others but I don't read everything they write, mainly because they write such diverse books, the stories don't alway hit the spot with me. Some of these authors I've read for more than twenty years. Maybe they've changed and I've changed and we've kind of gone our separate ways. I do still keep an eye out for their books but costs of books being what they are, I've learned to look at the story first.

Snow In The South

We rarely get snow in the South. But we did Friday. Thankfully, the ground was warm enough for it not to cover the street. It was pretty. The stuff fell all day Friday. The pictures below start from my job (top of my car) and continue through downtown on the interstate, down a highway and then the street I live on. I live 20 miles from work. In the picture of downtown Birmingham, the foggy looking picture, there was so much snow falling it appeared to be smokey.

Cutting Up

Nearly every second Thursday is my time for a trim and touch up of my gray roots. Yes. Gray. I use to look in the mirror and see dark roots but no longer.

I love the lady who fixes my hair. (In the South, we use the word fix a lot. E.g., I'm fixing to go to the store. I'm fixing supper now. I'm fixing to shoot you if you don't get out of my yard.) Anyway, not only do I love this woman because she's so talented, but because she jokes with me and never acts surprised or embarrassed when I say something risqué. She's so much fun and I'm lucky my friend, Sande, introduced me to her.

Side note about the blog: I guess you noticed I'm not blogging every day. I still have a lot to say, but I decided to not push myself in blogging that often. If I have something to say, good. If I don't, I'm not beating up myself. I'll probably still blog most days than not. I just figured I place enough pressures on myself and this one isn't as important.

Duh!

I've mentioned before I play Scrabble during lunch. It's been almost three years now and I believe my lunch/Scrabble buddies was getting tired of it. I know I was mainly because I got frustrated with not winning often. No. I'm not being a poor loser, but I'm a writer. Words will one day be the way I make a living. Even if it is just for a supplement to my retirement check. I probably only win maybe 15% of the time. My daughter wins 4o%. My friend wins 10% and our only male lunch buddy 35%. Drives me nuts.

So we started playing Boggle. I thought for sure I could do better wth this one. Nope!

Geez, Louise! I'm beginning to worry about my brain. But I keep telling myself knowing a lot of obscure and three and four letter words aren't important. Hey! It works for me. Makes me feel better.