Category: Uncategorized

I’ve gotten a lot more comfortable leaving my comfort zones in the last couple of years (especially concerning public speaking, signings, appearances, etc.) And then I just got satisfied with where I was. No more growth for me!

I’ve noticed several other bloggers who’ve been interested in personal growth via shaking up their routines a little.

I always enjoy visiting Karen Walker’s Following the Whispers blog. She provides a great oasis of reflection..something I ordinarily don’t schedule much time for.

In the link above, Karen posts on several ways that she’s stepped outside her comfort zone…for the month of December. Wow. That’s very inspiring to me.

Marvin Wilson, The Old Silly, made one of his pontifications on stepping outside our comfort zones. He calls it:

“A fundamental element in the path of self discovery and personal growth..”

On Eye Feathers, Tara McClendon’s blog, Tara mentions that many of the best things in her life resulted from big changes. She, like me, is still conservative toward change and acknowledges it sometimes results in loss.

Have you stepped outside your comfort zone lately personally or with your writing? Queried? Tried writing a different genre? Joined a critique group or other writing organization? Tried public speaking? How did you prepare yourself for taking the leap?

Someone wrote a wonderful post on gift wish lists and what our characters might want for Christmas. I hunted through blogs on my Google reader, but couldn’t find the link. (Getting even foggier than usual as Christmas approaches and the busy factor goes up!) If it was your post, please leave a link in the comments.

I thought it was an interesting post. We always think about what our characters want in the big picture. What do they want and how can we keep them from it? We’re all about creating conflict!

But what about the day to day little things? What does our character value? If they could compile a wish list for Christmas or a birthday, what kinds of things would be on there? What does their wish-list say about them?

My character, Myrtle? She values her independence most of all. Her most prized possession is her driver’s license. Her wish list? It wouldn’t have a thing on it. She’s self-sufficient, thank you, and doesn’t need a thing.

My character Lulu would love a set of knives. She loves spending time in the kitchen…and may also need some knives to deal effectively with all the killers that are suddenly lurking around her.

What would your characters put on their wish list?

Somewhere in the Southeast I am being unusually low tech. And probably feeling a little anxious.

I’m on the Christmas tour—seeing friends and family before heading back home for the big day.

My cell phone? It’s broken. Verizon Wireless has ordered a part for it. I won’t be able to get this part until Christmas Eve. I have a feeling that the Verizon Wireless store is going to be nuts on Christmas Eve, but I will be there, broken cell phone in hand.

I hate phones. But I love texting. I’m much better with words than I am in conversation…and texting means that I’ve avoided having a phone conversation.

On my Christmas tour I will frequently be internet-free.

It’ll be an adjustment. :)

It’s amazing how quickly technology has become important to me. I still remember the old typewriter days (I typed papers in college, even.)

Writing can be low-tech. That’s the amazing thing about it. You can write on old notebooks or even receipts (I’ve done that when really desperate before.)

But high-tech stuff for writers is fun, too. My favorite tools for writing:

Google: I love Google. I may love Google too much—I can get distracted when researching something. Nowadays I just mark the spot in my manuscript that needs researching and keep on writing.

Check out the Google Guide. Here are some of the more-useful search tips (excerpted right from the guide):

salsa –dance
the word salsa but NOT the word dance (that’s a minus sign before the ‘dance.’)

castle ~glossary
glossaries about castles, as well as dictionaries, lists of terms, terminology

define:imbroglio
definitions of the word imbroglio (or whatever word you’re looking up) from the Web

site:
Search only one website or domain.
Halloween site:www.census.gov
(Search for information on Halloween gathered by the US Census Bureau.)

link:
Find linked pages, i.e., show pages that point to the URL.
link:warriorlibrarian.com
(Find pages that link to Warrior Librarian‘s website.)

phonebook:
Show all phonebook listings.
phonebook: Disney CA
(Search for Disney’s phone numbers in California – CA.)

info:
(or id:)
Find info about a page.
info:www.theonion.com
(Find information about The Onion website.)

related:
List web pages that are similar or related to the URL.
related:www.healthfinder.gov
(Find websites related to the Healthfinder website.)

intitle:
The terms must appear in the title of the page.
movies comedy intitle:top ten
(Search for pages with the words movie and comedy that include top ten in the title of the page.)

I also am a big Microsoft Word fan. Their word processing program beats the typewriter all to pieces.

Need some shortcuts to work through your manuscript quicker?

Useful Keyboard Shortcuts for Microsoft Word:

CTRL N :quickly opens a new document (great for those times you want to jot down a note, but keep writing on your current scene.)

CTRL end :moves the cursor to the end of a document (when you suddenly want to change your ending)

CTRL home :moves the cursor to the beginning of a document (when you suddenly want to change your beginning.)

CTRL E :Center a paragraph

CTRL Z : Undo (I use that one a LOT.)

CTRL 2 : Double space lines
CTRL 1 : Single space

These are shortcuts that I find the most useful for me, but there are many more. If you’re interested, there’s a shortcut list for Word and one for Windows in general. If you’re on a Mac, their website lists some helpful shortcuts, too.

Do you go through technology withdrawal? Have any techie tips and tricks for us?

I’d promised my daughter I’d take her to the mall, one of her favorite places. I wonder sometimes if the stork brought me the wrong baby; she and I are so different.

I only intended to buy one or two things for the couple of people I had left on my Christmas list. But then…

It was all so…pretty… in the mall. The lights sparkled, it was cheerful and happy. Everyone was loaded down with bags. The mall played determinedly cheerful Christmas music. My bags multiplied. My daughter told me, “It was the glamour! Deadly glamour.”

It was a setting that meant business. The mall owners had gotten their setting perfect. You felt like spending money at South Park Mall. And the mall owners wouldn’t have it any other way.

Since I’m not a setting fanatic, I’ve always been interested in prêt-à-porter, ready to wear settings.

Anytime I tell my children a fairy tale and the characters go into the woods, there are certain expectations. Nothing good ever happens in the woods in fairy tales. We have witches with houses made of candy, wolves who eat grannies and children, and bears who dislike trespassers.

So that type of thing is fun and easy. Readers have certain expectations regarding dark basements in spooky houses, amusement parks, church sanctuaries, graveyards, etc.

It’s also fun and fairly easy to turn the expectations around.

The happy meadow in Bambi is also the ideal place for hunters to take clear aim at deer, for instance.

You can take your reader’s expectations about a setting and turn them upside down—introduce the element of danger to a safe place. A depressing setting (crack house?) could be the location for a life-changing epiphany for your protagonist.

Maybe the next time we go into the woods, things will be a little different there.

I’m always looking for something for my 7th grade son to read. He gobbles books up instead of savoring them. And—he’s a picky reader. He’ll read 30 pages and, if he isn’t grabbed, he’ll look for something else to read.

I was relieved to discover there was a popular fantasy series, Discworld. And that there were 37 of these books (which are extremely popular in the UK.)

I decided to pick up the first title at the library to make sure my son liked it before investing a lot of money in the series.

It took a little while to work through the library system, but I picked up a copy a couple of days ago, told him I’d heard rave reviews, stuck it in his backpack, and sent him off to middle school with it.

He came home and said (only half-jokingly), “Did you want me to be laughed at all day in school?”

The book’s cover? It was pink.

This wasn’t something I’d even noticed, of course. But it was—hot pink. That might not bother a secure guy in college…but a 12 year old boy?

Which made me wonder. Why would a publisher’s art department sign off on a cover that would turn-off one segment of readers automatically? Aren’t many fantasy readers young men?

Looking online, I found other editions of the first title in the series in non-pink colors. :) I’m planning on getting one.

Authors don’t really have a say in their covers. I’ve felt really appreciative when I was asked my opinion on my last couple of covers. It’s a nice courtesy. And, fortunately, they were great.

No, we’re not supposed to judge a book by its cover. But do we? Are we influenced as buyers and library patrons by book covers? If we see a really standout cover, is there something inside us that assumes the story must be just as good?

And, Discworld fans—don’t worry. I know how awesome that series is supposed to be. He’ll try the book again.