Ink in the Book

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????"...