This has been one eventful week; following the heels of the tornado Tuesday the 14th in Ohio and the terrible mess the storms left us to clean up, ending with Roe vs Wade being overturned today the 24th, and an actual federal gun law being passed in both houses and sent to Biden. Sometimes it makes this author’s head spin.
Of course, we are ending the week with bad colds in the family, so we had to cancel out both studies and church so we don’t give the crud to anyone. (And no it’s not Covid; it’s head colds. The achy, sneezy, coughing, you don’t feel good, kind of head colds. I should have bought stock in the kleenix company when I had a chance.)
The powwow we went to the 16th through 20th was good; the folks had a good spirit, we had a hoop dancer come, perform and give free lessons to any and all comers, a nice, young traditional man. Dan and I managed to get all through our garden once weeding and hoeing it; he is irrigating it all right now from our spring.
I was all set to go get a shower and head to bed when I remembered I had not sent along this week’s writing tip: well, two, one from last week and one for this week: the first is that any good author knows to read, and read widely, not just in your genre, although that’s very good, but in many genre’s. It helps to get new words and new vocabulary in your head; it shows you how dialects look written down; it helps you get a feeling for words you won’t get any other way. You need to see what other writers who are published are writing and how they write; you aren’t going to copy them, but you are going to learn from them. The library is your friend.
The second hint (as you recall, the first is to simply start writing down all the ideas that come into your head and flesh them out later, some will become books, some won’t but all are worth the simple act of writing them down. The second tip was to just get out a little each day to relax and let thoughts flow easily. The third is to read. And now (short drum roll here) our fourth tip is to find your main character and describe that person, place, or thing. I’ve had books where the main person was a personified dog. I’ve not written anything about talking to thinking kitchen appliances yet…however, find your main character, give them a name and age; describe them in a paragraph to yourself and then think of how to introduce them to someone else, that is, your readers. All that you do is with the reader in mind. You write for yourself, yes, but if you want to be successful, you read with them in mind as well. So this week, find a character, name them, and describe them. If you want to send me your character, just send it to the comment section below and let me see how you’re doing. I love to hear from my readers.
Now in the meantime, the sun has gone down and the Sabbath is finally here and I am looking forward to quiet time. I do hope next week is quieter for everyone, no riots and protests near you, no angry mobs or weird weather, just normal life for you and your writing and that you are blessed-remember, look for the special gift God has sent for you for Sabbath-He always sends us something to remind us He’s been watching-I have green tomatoes in our garden, for instance, and we saw the first praying mantis. I’m sharing some pictures from the powwow; hope you enjoy them! Blessings and a peaceful weekend to you all.
