Ink in the Book

Hi everyone :) I hope the holidays are treating everyone well! I just wanted to stop by really quick to wish everyone a Happy New Year. 2014 is closing in and I for one am happy to see 2013 go. I know Talynn and I both have great goals for 2014, but instead of listing ours, I wanted to hear yours! So tell me, what are your goals for 2014? Have a draft to finish? Are you ready to start querying? Tell us :) Happy New Year everyone! Jess

Hey beautiful guys and dolls! What's your favorite holiday traditions? I love this time of year, more than any other season. I love the snow the fireplace sweaters presents and gift wrap shopping cookies carols Christmas movies (yes, the cheesy ones too!) snowmen peppermints hot chocolate and marshmellows Christmas tress decorations church skits and school plays boots mittens warm, fuzzy socks Christmas books snowflakes EVERYTHING! What about you? Please let me know what you look forward to the most!

**I forgot to link to their website. The link for Wordle is http://www.wordle.net/ Hi everyone! Jess here J A few months back I did a post on Wordle and how I was using it for revising my WIP. I wanted to do a follow-up post regarding it now that I’ve finished revisions. Without going over everything from that old post, here’s a quick summary. Above is my Wordle pre-revisions. I highlighted my habit and telling words, and went to town on editing them out of my novel. I didn’t quite get all of them out. Of note: *”Just” was more commonly used than my mc’s first names. LEGIT! *said, didn’t, know, was, back Obviously I had my work set out for me. I present to you know my Wordle post-revisions: To make it easier to spot the words, here’s a highlighted version: I still have some issues with telling words, but the biggest, most important difference is that “just” is down to a more reasonable size, which means I’ve edited out a lot of instances of t...

It's an inside joke, but next time, I promise to: Look before I leap. Use an umbrella to soften the fall. Avoid all bridge jumpers. Are you doing #PitchWars? Thank you, FreeDigitalPhotos and By arztsamui PS. Anyone know how to post pictures on Twitter? I'm available for lessons:) Thank you beautiful guys and dolls!!

Hey beautiful guys and dolls! It's that time of week again, isn't:) I'm celebrating my family this week. I'm so thankful for my husband. It will soon be 25 years that we've been married and I love him more today than the day we married. I'm thankful for my children. They are the joy of my life and the reason I smile so much. I have SIX kiddo's and everyone of them are special. I can't wait for Christmas when we'll all be together to celebrate! I'm thankful for my grand baby. She's the apple of my eye. She's my apple dumpling. My sweetheart. My baby. Her personality grows in leaps and bounds and I'm so excited to watch her grow. I'm thankful for my parents, who have loved me and nurtured me through everything from sickness, to difficult times, to happy memories. I love you mom and dad. You are both my hero's. I love you.  What are you thankful for this week? Comment below!

Hey everyone. I'm celebrating life this week. I'm celebrating falling behind. I'm celebrating mistakes that make me stronger. I'm celebrating  news that I thought would be THE ANNOUNCEMENT but turned out to be not so. Hey! At least I"m not complaining. Have a great weekend, beautiful guys and dolls. Thank Vikki!

How's everyone doing with their NaNo project so far? I know, it's early in the race. You may be rolling along at high speed, not a bump in the road. If so Kudos to you! Keep at it and before long, you'll have a shiny new WIP ready to edit and revise:) Sometimes, even when things are going well and your writing is flowing from pen to paper, reading a good writing tip is just like icing on the cake. Today, I give you ICING! FreeDigitalPhotos.net By Marcus     Characters are the heart of any story. While plot may keep the pages turning and the atmosphere electric, it's the characters who bring the story to life. Readers want to get tangled in their heartbreak, their joys, their mistakes, their problems, their WORLD. We access a book and it's story by the characters we love. We relate to them. We love them. We hate them. We love to hate them. We identify with the feelings of the characters and that's why, when we finish a book, we sigh, and move it it to t...

Here's a quick tip to get your thoughts flowing on the very first page: Curiosity killed the cat. Am I right? You know I am. What I mean is this: Stay away from back story on the first page. It's boring. It's slow. It's unproductive. And there are many other reasons I could list. As a literary agent intern, this is something I read A LOT on first pages. But, it's something that should not be there! I want to be in the here and now. This isn't to say I want dropped right in the middle of action. This confuses me. I want to know what's going right now, at the very moment the MC is experiencing. No explanations, or why's or how comes. Just show the present. There's plenty of time for explanation later. See, if you write subtle hints and drop enticing clues as to what happens next, the reader will be turning the page to find out. Peak the reader's curiosity to find out why, or what, or who, and you've done a fabulous job on the f...

I'm celebrating the happy return of regularly scheduled blogging! I've missed my blog, and the blogs I follow, but this summer was just too busy. Not to mention the traveling, no Internet, the Internet, the wedding preparations, no Internet. Wait. Does anyone else hear an echo? ( echo , echo , echo ...) To kick off my happy return to blog world, I'll be posting daily tips and writing prompts for... DRUM ROLL PLEASE... NaNoWriMo!!  (waits for applause to die down...) First post goes live this evening. Y'all come back now, ya hear? Happy Friday, beautiful guys and dolls!! What are you celebrating today?

My son is getting married on Saturday!!!!!! What are you celebrating this week? Also, by November, my life will be somewhat normal again, and I'll be be back to my daily posting. Thanks for your patience, beautiful guys and dolls!   

Celebrate the small things blog hop! I'm celebrating 1. A new coat. 2. Beautiful new boots I can't wait to wear! And... 3. Chilly weather:) What are you celebrating this week? Sorry I can't add pics or links on my phone:(

Hey beautiful guys and doll! My life is moving me in a new direction and I'm being pulled along for the ride. Rather than fight against the tide, I'm going with the flow. This summer, we've lived in a camper. No, not camping and having marshmallows and campfires. It's been our life. My husband's work put us on the road and unfortunately, we've lived in places that are still in the ancient days of "Internet? What's that?"  Believe me, it's true. So this summer has been an adventure! My writing career is also going places I've dreamed of going for a long tone. I can't share everything with you yet, but I've got sone good news pending I hope to let you in on soon Happy writing, my friends. I wouldn't be here without you:) PS. Typos courtesy of my phone!!

WIP Wednesday on Friday… Sorry it's late! I found this the other day and couldn't wait until next week to share it.   Wordle.  Have you ever used one? You paste a body of text into their form, and the website will spit back out a Wordle, which shows you which words are used the most. You can use this site for pretty much anything, but I’ve taken to using it for revising. Want to know why? Because it shows you which words you use the most, and it does so in context of every other word in your novel. Let’s take a look at an example. Here’s my Wordle for my current draft of GYRE:   Now, let me go through and kind of dissect what we have here. I’ve color-coded the image in MS Paint. Yellow highlighted words are my “habit words”, like just, probably, didn’t, and something. Green highlighted words are “telling” words. Want to know what jumps out at me first? It’s not that I have A LOT of yellow and green. It’s not even that I have four main characters as big words in here. It’s...

I miss you beautiful guys and dolls. I don't know what else to say. Thank you EVERYONE for your faithfulness to visit and cheer me and make me smile:) Why have I disappeared? I'm still here, it's just Internet in my camper is only available on my phone and its tough writing blog posts on my phone. And visiting all my friends blogs and leaving comments only to have blogger eat them is soooo frustrating:( I'll be back. Soon I hope. In the mean time, stay beautiful!

In this thrilling sequel, Ever Van Ruysdael's race to beat the odds—and the clock—begins with the introduction of an integral part of her past. As secrets are revealed, and truths uncovered, she learns her imminent death is the least of her problems: Ariadne did more than just put an expiration date on her life; she marked Ever's soul by upping its value for greedy collectors looking to buy their freedom. Condemned by the countdown on her life, and hunted by hired Seekers, Ever’s journey leads her to question everything she’s known and everyone she’s trusted, while growing closer to the one person from her past she was determined to avoid—and the one guy she never could—Toby James. With her ex-boyfriend by her side, and the countdown clock rapidly ticking away, Ever tries thwarting fate’s plans. But as her nineteenth birthday approaches, and desperate Seekers follow her every move, she may be too late. A marked soul is hard to come by … and eve...

Why are you so drawn to sci fi? I like the possibilities, the unknown. Anyone who has stared at the night sky knows there is something magical, that life and worlds beyond our imagination could exist out there somewhere. It provokes a sense of adventure. That and I really wish lasers were real, because I want to mount one on the hood of my car and shoot all of the slow drivers in front of me… CassaStorm By Alex J Cavanaugh From the Amazon Best Selling Series! A storm gathers across the galaxy… Commanding the Cassan base on Tgren, Byron thought he’d put the days of battle behind him. As a galaxy-wide war encroaches upon the desert planet, Byron’s ideal life is threatened and he’s caught between the Tgrens and the Cassans. After enemy ships attack the desert planet, Byron discovers another battle within his own family. The declaration of war between all ten races triggers nightmares in his son, threatening to destroy the boy’s mind. Meanwhil...

*Hangs head in shame* Yes, I'm still here.  Why have I been missing? It's a long, long, list and one you probably aren't interested in reading about, so I'll just say: I've been busy. I hope you haven't forgotten who I am.... On to brighter things!! What am I celebrating today???????? 1. My niece is getting married today! 2. Cooler weather:) 3. All my laundry is caught up for today! What are YOU celebrating?? Check out all the blogs who have things to celebrate! The one who started it all...Vikki! http://viklit.blogspot.com/

Hey beautiful guys and dolls!! I've been looking forward to this months post for several days. I'm sorry I missed last month. My daughter had her baby and I'll be honest. I forgot to post. Sorry friends! This month, I had planned a nice long post talking about my experiences with several awesome contests and WriteOnCon. But alas! I'm traveling today and posting thus on my phone. It's been a crazy busy month. I'm living in our camper and my Internet AND phone reception has been almost zero. Today's post will be missing graphics and links. I hope that is okay. I have been so close to breaking from the writing world. Every time I throw away my own and paper, I get sick. Physically and emotionally sick. I. Can't. Do. It. I can't stop. And then I read so, so many success stories from my writer friends and at first, I must confess, it makes me sad I'm so far behind them. But in the end, I always smile and cheer them on because it GIVES ME HOPE. ...

Happy Release Day, EVER! To celebrate EVER's   rebirth , and Jessa Russo’s first step into the indie self-publishing world, she is giving you the first chapter of EVER for FREE! Yup! FREE! You can read along, decide if you want more, then click on one of the buy links below to grab a copy for yourself! *Paperbacks available soon! Check out the FREE first chapter   HERE .  We're also having some fun on Twitter (details below), and Jessa has also compiled TWO   prize packs of super awesome stuff!   There will be one (1) lucky winner in the US, and one (1) lucky winner Internationally! Want to know what we’re giving away?  ***GIVEAWAY FUN!*** The winner(s) will receive the following items: US ONLY Prize Pack (ONE winner): Set of 4: custom Frankie4Ever / Toby4Ever Coasters (2 of each) + Signed EVER bookmarks + Signed paperback copy of   EVER   by Jessa Russo (YA) Complete set* of   The...

I don’t know about you, but I come up with some ridiculous ideas between projects. Seriously wacky. Recently I’ve come across a number of lesser-known myths and urban legends from around the world and think, how I can put a spin on them? Note: other countries have much,   much   creepier urban legends than the Moth Man and Big Foot, which make for great horror stories.             Do you ever wonder how much is too much? Or, how crazy is this idea?             I have. All the time. I blogged about it in  this post  on my personal blog, but I wanted to mention it on a WIP Wednesday here because this sign stared me down in my room this morning:               I honestly forgot I had that sign. I bought it at tiny crafts festival some number of years ago, and placed it above my desk as a reminder to alwa...

Hi everyone! So, WriteOnCon just ended and, as a closet con geek, I am once again afflicted by Post-Con-Depression (PCD). Granted, my PCD usually comes after anime and videogame conventions (ConnectiCon anyone?), but the feeling is just the same. I spent 48 hours with a bunch of really great writers, all huddled over their Internet connections, learning from and critiquing each other with abandon. It. Was. Fun. Were you there, too? If you weren't, why weren't you? WriteOnCon is a free, two-day writing convention held annually on over message boards, Google Hangouts, blog posts, and live chats. This year, they had agents and editors taking pitches on Twitter, then reacting live to them over Google Hangouts. This was my favorite event, because it allowed you to see exactly how agents and editors react to pitches, what they don't really want to see any more of, and what really excites  them. For instance, pitches were going slowly until someone pitched a Back to the Fu...

See my celebration below!!!!! Meet Haivyn Asheleigh Keim, born Aug 4, 2013 weighing in at 6 pounds, 4 ounces and 20 inches long. Yes, it's okay if you google over her. She's perfect, isn't she! What are you celebrating this week?

I'm celebrating today. I'm on my way back to North Dakota. My daughter is due any day now to deliver my fist grand daughter. I know, I say it every week, I guess you can tell I'm excited!!! School starts next week. We always love the first few months of school. I had garden fresh tomatoes and corn on the cob. It doesn't get much better than that! What are you celebrating today? Let me hear about it in the comments below!

Submissions are now closed. Any comment , unless for a request from an editor or agent, will be deleted.  Thank you for participating!! Can you believe today is already here? I can't! The last thing we will discuss is in our scene workshop is the decision. We've got the setting already established, gave the MC a goal he/she wants to accomplish, slipped in the motivation, snared him with some conflict and tension, labored on the emotions to add some drama, and now, it's decision time. Whatever the decision your MC makes, it must follow through with the actions to accomplish that decision. This is the key element of tying up all the loose ends of the scene and finalizing the readers satisfaction. If done correctly, the reader will turn the page to find out what happens next. I'm not talking about exploding bombs, car crashes, police arrests, and chasing the villain and such. The action can be as subtle as deciding to walk away from a relationship, heading off to ...

Hey you beautiful guys and dolls! This week has gone by so incredibly fast! I can't believe it's Thursday already!! So how you coming on your scenes? You got your setting and goal established? How about the motivation behind the goal? Put in some conflict and tension to hamper that goal? Today, we're talking EMOTION. Now this is not the drama kind of emotion. It doesn't have to be tears, screams, tantrums, or any such dramatic reaction. But it does need to be a reaction. Every scene needs to be completed with a response. Some type of response, whether good or bad. But the reader will feel cheated if there isn't a an emotional response from the MC. It's like when you're watching a movie and the MC is faced with something appalling, scary, funny, or any type of action. The character stands, emotionaless, no reaction whatsoever. And then, the credits roll across the screen. There was no reaction, no resolution, and the viewer is like, "What????"...

I've joined up with a group of writers running a writing marathon during the month of August. I love writing with others because it keeps me motivated. So each week, we are instructed to post a "this is where I am" post. There's a certain format we have to follow and this is my first one: Marathon Goal for the month: I've targeted my goal at 80,000. I'm using the Book in a Month guide. I plan to take Saturday's and Sunday's off. This means I need 4,000 each day. Stage of Writing: This will be 1st draft of a historical fantasy. No title yet. Only an idea, character and a very rough outline. What inspired this WIP: A my family tree. I've heard and gathered so many fascinating things about my family and ancestors and some of the things I've stood in amazement thinking about them! This one involves my Indian blood line. She was a Cherokee princess and I'm writing her story. Obviously with a little make believe. Kinda. What might...

I'm so thrilled to have a guest post to day by REUTS Editor Kisa Whipkey!! Not only is she offering to to help out with the workshop, she'll be critiquing scenes, answering questions, and participating in the pitch opportunity next week!! So without further ado, take it away, Kisa! **** First, I'd like to thank Talynn for hosting this wonderful workshop and for inviting me to help explain the inner workings of crafting a powerful scene. Today's lesson is Conflict & Tension. Thanks to the previous lessons, you've now got a scene that deftly describes the setting, has a reason for existing and is grounded by character motivations. But none of that is especially exciting, is it? Essential, yes. Gripping, page-turning excitement? No. For that, you need conflict and tension. What is conflict? Anything that stands between your character and achieving their goal. It can be large-scale, driving the entire story, or it can be small, affecting just a scen...

I can't believe we are already on workshop three! Hey beautiful guys and dolls! How's it going on your scene writing? Have you scene it yet? Today, I'm discussing MOTIVATION. So far, we've established the setting of your scene and goal of your scene. What motivates your character to accomplish the goal? why do they want to accomplish that goal? **Note: I realize a scene is generally longer than one paragraph. It can be several pages of a manuscript, I know. But for the sake of the workshop and trying to keep classes short, I've limited my examples to a few lines. Motivation is just as important as goal setting. Just like after you've read something and asked yourself, " What was the purpose of that?" you can do the same and ask, " Why did he do that?" It can be a subtle mention, which is usually the best method for weaving in motivation. You don't always have to spell it out: "I want revenge because he cheated on me!" ...

Hey beautiful guys and dolls! I hope our weekend was wonderful:) To add to everything else, I spent yesterday in bed and so far this morning, I wish I could crawl back under the covers! I don't take to being sick very well... So, today, let's get right to the lesson. We're talking MC goals today, and how important it is to make sure you have a goal for every scene. Now, it's not always about life or death. Goals drive the story forward. Have you ever read a story and been like, "What the point? Why?" If so, it's because the author had no driving goal for the MC. I'm not talking about the large picture goal. I'm talking the scene by scene goal. There should be one in every scene. Every one of them. Whether it's to find a missing book, wanting to look well dressed,needing to relax for the night, make dinner, go for a walk, sign on a new client, WHATEVER. There needs to be a goal. Let's take our established scene, and add a goal fo...

Hey all:) I'm taking today and this weekend off. A very, VERY dear, sweet, and close friend of my family passed away this week. And we just got word that his wife's brother, (whom I love like a mother) died last night. So she is dealing with the death of her husband and her brother. Enjoy your weekend, my friends, and hold those you love close. You never know when they will be gone. I will return on Monday, and will have workshop classes every day next week.

You have a pretty new idea, and new WIP you're dying to write. But you have no idea where to start. Hmmm. Or maybe you've written a chapter or two, or perhaps just a scene or two, and it F   a     l      l        s FLAT. What to do? How do you "make it better?" Let's start with an example. I've written a basic scene starter and will walk you through step by step and explain what I add and how I can make it stand out from all the other FLAT ones. The sun shined brightly down, burning my skin. I was alone for the moment, but Troy promised to return as fast as could. The day had been wonderful. There's no way I could have known it would be the last day my heart beat on it's own. If I had known, I'm sure I would have spent it the same exact way, with Troy and my best friends, and my family. Now, what can you tell me about this scene, just from what's written? I know, I know. It's not a full scene. It...