MERRY CHRISTMAS & GOD'S BLESSINGS

'Tis the season to celebrate JESUS!

I pray

incredible joy

fills your soul

and

that

you and your loved ones

are warmed by

His presence

for Christmas

2007

Need One More Gift?

Some book stores are selling Chicken Soup for the Chocolate Lover's Soul packaged with a bar of Ghirardelli chocolate. Mmmmmm, good! If you prefer to buy a single copy you might want to take advantage of the buy one, get one half-price deals out there. Add a box of milk duds and reference my story on page 167. :) What a 'sweet' little gift for the mailman. ">

Can You Identify with these Movies?

This short take is too wonderful not to share. I found it at First Day Blog Alliance. Take a look:




Okay, I've heard "It's not bad, it's just not good enough." Have you? So how do we make our stories good enough?

In Memory of Lela

I went to a funeral last week. A very special writer friend/critique partner passed away. We used to sit around Lela's kitchen table--western/mystery writer Kent Conwell, novelist/travel writer Rogayle Franklin and me--munch popcorn and read each other's work. (Through the years, other writers came and went: Jane, Alice, Lauren and Chaney). We'd pass our chapters from right to left, writing comments in different colored ink. Every now and then, Lela would break the silence with, "Kent, I think this is the best thing you've ever written." She'd say it with such conviction we'd have no doubt it was Kent's best work. And then she'd say almost the same to us. Lela really meant what she said to each of us. There wasn't anything phony about her. We believed her, because Lela never lied.

Things I heard at the funeral:
"Lela was always upbeat."
"Lela was never in a rotten mood."
"Lela knew how to make people feel good."
"Lela was gracious, kind, never said anything bad about anyone."

It stands to reason that if everyone says the same thing, then it's true. Isn't that what they tell us about our contest entries? If more than one judge makes the same comment, then we need to take that comment to heart?

Lela was a genunine Southern lady, and a very good writer. She never seemed to get discouraged. She joyfully plugged away, writing, winning and placing in contests, and encouraging the rest of us. Maybe such contentment and professionalism came from being a successful journalist, interviewing handsome stars like Rock Hudson. She rubbed shoulders with the beautiful people. In her very special way, she was one of them.

I loved listening to Lela's writing and interviewing experiences, and seeing the yellowed newspaper clippings of her standing beside someone famous. She told me about interviewing one of the most beautiful women in the world. They were sitting at a table talking and Lela happened to look down at the woman's sandaled feet.
"That beautiful woman had the ugliest feet I've ever seen," Lela whispered to me. I can still hear the amazement in her voice. :)

I can't begin to describe the heaviness in my heart at losing this dear friend. Much to my surprise, her obit stated she was 86 years old. Not the Lela I knew. She was young and giggly and filled with dreams. She wanted everyone around her to be as happy as she was. She proved that by requesting we all leave the funeral home and grab a helium balloon on her behalf. They were waiting at the door for us:

And then we set them free with smiles on our faces. See the beginning of many as they floated into the sky.


I saw Lela a few months ago. I hugged her goodbye when I left her home, not knowing it would be my last time to see her. I can't remember if I told her I loved her. I never told her that out of all the fine ladies I know, she's the one I'd choose to be like. How does one become soft-spoken, kind, positive, continously happy and content? Maybe I should have asked her those questions instead of some of the writer-related questions I asked.

This is my friend. She was beautiful inside and out.
July 2, 1921 - November 24, 2007

This scripture reminds me of Lela.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. ~1 Corinthians 13:4-7

Short Stories, Anyone?

In my younger days, I loved short stories. Reading them and writing them. I remember racing home during my lunch hour to read Hemingway's Nick Adams stories over a tuna sandwich. Nice break from my secretarial position in the district attorney's office.

I enjoyed reading the short fiction in Cosmopolitian, Redbook, Alfred Hitchcock magazine and Ellery Queen. Literary magazines cluttered my coffee table. Sadly, and in spite of all my creative writing classes, I never mastered the beginning, middle and end of the short story. Most of my rejections came back with "nice slice of life but not a short story." At some point I gave up. Unfortunately, I gave up reading them too.

Recently, I stumbled across a fun little literary magazine that has whetted my appetite for short fiction again. Check out The First Line. This is no fly-by-night literary magazine. The First Line has been around for ten years, and their purpose is to jump start the imagination and help writers break through the block that is the blank page. Each issue contains short stories that stem from a common first line. Can't get much more fun and challenging than that. How many different directions can we take when we start from the same place?

I have my very own copy of the Fall issue of The First Line, and I'm impressed. Want to write short stories? Believe me, it's a nice break from the long stuff. Why not accept the challenge The First Line offers: Create a story using their following line:

Sometimes the name they give you is all wrong.

The Deadline is Feb. 1, 2008. Check out The First Line for details and submission requirements. In fact, go ahead and subscribe. You won't regret it.

Sometimes the name they give you is all wrong.

Works for me--I've never felt like a Jessica!

For Your Information

Here are a few quotes that also serve as writing tips:

The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and lightning bug. ~Mark Twain

There are a lot of ways to enjoy a civilized life while keeping your feelings hidden--but not at the typewriter. ~Bob Baker

Typewriter? what's that? :)

I divide all readers into two classes: those who read to remember and those who read to forget. ~William Lyon Phelps

Begin every story in the middle. The reader doesn't care how it begins, he wants to get on with it. ~Louis L'Amour

All writing is a form of prayer. ~John Keats

And my personal favorite:

A bad book is as much a labor to write as a good one; it comes as sincerely from the author's soul. ~Aldous Huxley

Plotter? Pantser? You Decide

My partipation in NaNoWriMo has been a learning experience. I had a very vague idea, made notes on the first three chapters then sat down and started writing something entirely different. So far I have little more than 10,000 words and I have no idea where they came from. :) I've never done this. I've never just sat with laptop in lap and pounded out a story. It's fun. I like my main character. She's a little ditsy but not unlike the rest of her family. I especially like the hero who's a pretty straight-forward kind of guy. :) I never did like (or trust) beat-around-the-bush, secretive people. Maybe that's why I have such a rough time with politicians, but we don't need to go there, do we? :-(

This spontaneous seat of the pants writing is teaching me that I can do it. More than that, it's showing me some bad habits and weaknesses I have. Funny how those things are jumping out at me now when I'm not supposed to be paying attention to anything but getting the story down. So, these 40+ pages I've typed are riddled with yellow and red highlights. I can't edit, but I can sure highlight where I want to go back and cut or flesh out. I guess that really does make me a plotter. I'm plotting my rewrites.

If you want to read more about plotting or seat of the pants writing, check out these sites. You can even take a quiz to learn who and what you are--writing-wise, that is.

And if you didn't participate in this year's NaNoWriMo, plot to participate next year. You won't regret it.

Check the following sites to learn more about Plotters and Pantsers:

Karen Story

The Writing Life: All Kinds of Writing

What kind of Writer are You?