August 13, 2024 Making Life Better by Traci Dowe/Kenworth

Aug.13, 2024

Making Life Better

Traci Dowe/Kenworth

I can’t help but use the words, “Life is funny,” again. “You think you have it figured out only to find that God throws a wrench in your plans.” Or maybe just laughs at your surety. Nothing is certain until it’s certain. And then, well. The point is, I’m at Start again.

I was here before but decided against going Indie. This time, I’m going to roll the dice and hope to make it to the other side of the board. I have a short story that goes with my worldbuilding for the book I’m working on that I’m considering putting out to just sort of “introduce myself.”

It might not get any hits.

But it might.

Lot of possibilities there.

I’ve got other stories I’m writing about this world as well that I may put out if they go nowhere in a bid for Writers of the Future contests. I figure I might as well bring them to readers’ attention and see where they go from there.

They’re sort of tests to learn a bit before I put the books out there. Yeah, you heard me right. I’m definitely going Indie once I get things set. I’m a bit shy on things but I’ll learn as much as I can and explore things until I learn more for the next time out. There will always be a next time.

Even if it’s just me reading.

Which I pray it isn’t, lol.

Some websites around that you might be interested in:

Entertaining Stories: Something a little different | Entertaining Stories (wordpress.com) About once per year, my wife and I allow ourselves to have a little fun. This was one of those weeks.

There are some great entertainers that stop by Ohio’s fairgrounds this time of year.

Kill Zone Blog: Deadlines Can Be Deadly | Killzoneblog.com Deadline. The very word strikes fear. It promises dire consequences if it’s missed. If your work isn’t finished by the boss’s deadline, you’re fired. If your past due payments aren’t received by the deadline, the bank repossesses your car. If you ignore the IRS tax deadline, your life becomes a living hell.

What are the origins of the dreaded word deadline?

According to WarHistoryOnline.com:

The earliest known uses date back to the 1800s, where the Oxford English Dictionary discovered the usage of “dead-line” in reference

I haven’t had to deal with deadlines in recent days. I wouldn’t want to rush though and turn out a bad job either like the author said.

Smorgasbord Magazine: Smorgasbord Blog Magazine Weekly Round Up – 22nd – 28th July 2024 – Chart hits 1970s, Iconic Duets, Country music, Relationships, Cuisine Croatia, Pet health, Stories, Book Reviews, Humour | Smorgasbord Blog Magazine (wordpress.com) hope your week has gone well. Not a great deal to report from this small part of the world but it is a lovely sunny day and I shall be out in the garden making the most of it.

I can’t believe we are heading into August already and I am looking forward to my trip at the end of the month to the UK with a mini-cruise with my sisters to Guernsey. Hopefully with the ferry crossing as well there will be sunshine and calm seas.

Time has flown since we moved in eight months, going on nine. I really am grateful for the move and the year.

Jane Friedman: Moving Characters Around in Your Story Space: Improve Your Choreography Skills | Jane Friedman One aspect of writing that writers have the most trouble with (and, ahem, so do I) is simply the physical presence and movement of characters—in both fiction and memoir—in imaginary spaces: indoors or out, public or private. In effect, choreography.

What do they do? Where are they and why? Which direction are they looking? Where do they move to? How big is the space?

When you start thinking about those things, it’s easy to tear your hair out about how many ways you can say “looking” or “walking.” But the words themselves are often secondary. What matters is the picture you paint in the reader’s mind so they can be in that space with your characters without distractions. They don’t have to see it exactly as you do, they just have to see it enough for it to make sense.

I hadn’t thought of moving characters in a scene with chorography but it’s a good notion to consider. What is in their way? What needs to bring them closer? Sometimes, it takes a bit of orchestra.

The Steve Laube Agency: How to Summon 135 Ghosts with a Single Email – (stevelaube.com) My office recently received a submission for a project that wouldn’t work for us. We were about to send the author a polite rejection when we noticed many other agencies’ addresses in the recipient field.

The list was long.

Dreadfully long.

We counted 135 addresses. We may have missed a few lines because counting from an onscreen listing is difficult. Who knows? Maybe the author tried 140 agents. Some addresses were “slushpile” or “submissions,” so we assume the author made no personal connection with anyone before hitting the SEND button.

Definitely a no, no. One agent at a time and research each, best advice.

Jane Friedman: How to Write a Story Retelling | Jane Friedman A retelling is a new spin on a classic story like a fairy tale, myth, or other piece of literature. The writer takes a pre-existing story to borrow some of the original elements while changing others.

Writers love retellings because the story framework is pre-made and there’s already a proven audience for the original tale. Retellings are also empowering because writers can bring fresh perspectives to age-old stories.

But aren’t retellings theft? Actually, no. Retellings essentially honor the original text by reopening the conversation the original author started. Instead of feeling like a thief, think of your adapted story as playing off of, countering, and contributing to that initial conversation.

Many years ago, I didn’t know what it was called at the time, but I wanted to do a retelling. That story still haunts me. I was advised by a more well-known author to walk away from it as you shouldn’t base a story on someone else’s work but your own. Now, it’s become all the rage, lol.

Fiction Favorites: Thursday – A Little Personal – Twiggy and Tempeste Playtime | Fiction Favorites (johnwhowell.com) Hey Tempeste. Look at you.”

“I know. No cone. I feel free.”

Absolutely, adorable!

Writer Unboxed: Fake It ‘Til You Make It vs Imposter Syndrome: The Showdown – Writer Unboxed Me, walking into a cocktail party at a writer’s conference: I am confident in my writing ability. I have worked hard to improve my craft. I have insights and wisdom worthy of sharing. I deserve my seat at the publishing table.

Also me, walking into the same room: When is everyone going to figure out I’m a hack? I don’t deserve to be in this room.

Which one are you? Do you walk into a room full of writers and feel like you deserve to take up space in the publishing world? Or do fear being unmasked as an imposter?

Or maybe, like me, you do both.

I have suffered this greatly, no matter which plan to advance I choose. Traditional would be a “make it till you fake it.” Indie would be more of a “I wasn’t good enough for the trad world.” In truth, I’m good enough for either world, I just have to believe in myself and the book.

Jane Friedman: When It Comes to Characters We Love, Vulnerability, Not Likeability, Is Key | Jane Friedman Some writers believe that their protagonists must be likeable in order for readers to care about them.

And of course there’s some truth to that, which is why screenwriters adhere to a formula called Save the Cat: Having your protagonist do something kind or admirable or just generally awesome (like saving a cat who’s stuck up a tree) is indeed one path to your reader’s heart.

But the literary world is full of so-called unlikeable protagonists—the sort of people who not only fail to save the cat, but might have run it up the tree in the first place—that readers nevertheless care a whole lot about.

I’ve heard the same advice about the pet. Hmm. Seems the fear, the vulnerability, and the internal conflict do more to support the character’s likeability.

Jane Friedman: 4 Questions to Strengthen Lean Manuscripts | Jane Friedman I have a small confession to make: I’ve never been told I need to cut words from my manuscripts. In fact, I’m the author envious of anyone who needs to do so because I’m the one struggling to get my manuscript up to my target word count. And for a long time, I feared I was the only writer with this issue. So many writing articles and discussions focus on how to cut down an overly wordy novel to fit standard word counts, but I hadn’t seen much advice for how to bulk up a manuscript that fell below those expectations.

But over the years, I’ve found writers with similar struggles. I’m not the only one who starts with a lean first draft that needs to be built up to create a well-rounded story. Neither way of writing is right or wrong—it’s truly about what works for you and your process. The important thing is that you understand your genre’s word count expectations and why those expectations exist and that you put i

I usually do lean drafts first too. Each pass allows me to correct and add depth to the stories. I though I was the only one who did this, lol.

D.G. Kaye Writer: Sunday Book Review – Moments of Consequence – #shortstories by Thorne Moore – DGKayewriter.com A collection of short stories: comedies, tragedies and histories. What is the true value of an old tea pot? What happened on an uneventful day in Gloucestershire? Has anyone stopped to look at a monument in the middle of Haverfordwest? Can there be a perfect crime? What lies behind the torn wallpaper of an old cottage? What makes the best Christmas ever? And many more.

My 5 Star Review:

Book reviews help writers.

Roberta Writes: Roberta Writes – d’Verse: An Octameter for August #poetry #kudu #d’Verse (roberta-writes.com) Large, rounded ears twitch

Bright, glowing eyes stare

Creamy milk moustache

Lining upper lip

Bounding through bushes

With a hop and skip

The animals might look a bit strange but they’ve all common relations everywhere. Of course, antelope and mountain goats, I still find fascinating. The differences in the Africa version are as well.

Annette Rochelle Aben: Angel Messages Aug 11 2024 | Annette Rochelle Aben (wordpress.com)

Love these messages!

Smorgasbord Magazine: Smorgasbord – Sam, A Shaggy Dog Story Rewind – Chapter Seven- Snow and Favourite Things by Sally Cronin | Smorgasbord Blog Magazine (wordpress.com) Last time we had the sadness of new kittens who were not with us very long and it is now time to share some happiness with Sam’s favourite things…

Chapter Seven – Snow and Favourite Things

Enough depressing talk, time to introduce you to some of my favourite things.The first of course is sausages. A delicacy that was not as forthcoming as frequently as I would have liked, but I would have to say that over my lifetime, this juicy addition to my diet ranked number one on my favourites list.

What a wonderful story. I remember how Bear (my lab-mix) reacted to the snow. He was scarcely a puppy when he came home that Feb. But a BIG puppy. The paw’s on that one. He’s been gone for probably ten years now, buried at our old house, two houses before this one.