A short farewell

Upon finishing the first major edit of my manuscript, Inevitable, I’ve been taking a break from blogging. This break wasn’t intentional—just sort of happened. I’d become wrapped up in editing, or I expend my brain to the point where it was only in Inevitable mode. Unfortunately for my blog readers, this is still where my brain is. My mind is gripping the manuscript so much it’s difficult to read books without wandering to my own. So with my tunnel vision, I’ve opted out of blogging for a little while. When I feel Inevitable is finally done, I will come back to blogger and to all of you.

-ST

The stream of conscious blogger

I vacillated on what to blog about today. I thought I'd blog about the latest book I'm reading, which isn't "latest" at all, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. But I hadn't finished it yet, so then I made a list of books I've read recently (way too many considering I'm still not done editing my book) and thought I'd do mini reviews of each of them. Then I got to playing on the internet as I'm known to do, and ran across a thread about the VT school shooting.

So I said my piece known about that and caught myself repeating lines from F451 in my head. So I wrote this long thing about how he's right and it's amazing how clear his vision of the future was etc... etc... Then I copy and pasted it into my "Create Blog" box and stared at it. It didn't say everything I wanted to say about the book, hell I wasn't even done reading it yet. Was I doing the book justice by making commentary on it when I was only 1/3 of the way through. The fact that I felt lead to discuss when it wasn't even finished made my decision for me. I had to respect the book and author that affected my that much with only part of his book. So I closed the lid to my laptop and finished the damn book.

Here I sit, done with the book and a rash of thoughts swirling in my head. I'm looking over what I wrote from before and still agree with everything I wrote, but there's so much more I want to say. It's almost 5 pm my time and I'm feeling guilty for not blogging already and I haven't even attempted to look for a video yet and with my shoddy internet connection, that's going to take awhile.

My conclusion to this small dilemma I have today? I will not post my thoughts on F451 and Ray Bradbury's genius today. I have too much respect to lay down immortal internet words about his work when I don't have the time, nor presence of mind to do them justice.

Handling Self Doubt

Is thinking your work isn’t good self doubt? Or is it recognizing your failings and fixing them? Aka editing

I’ve been editing quite a bit lately, in fact I’ve done about 80 pages in the last few days. I went back to read chapter one of my book and it wasn’t flowing for me. That’s a problem… or is it? Am I being too hard on myself? Am I not in the reading mood? Are the problems I’m seeing really problems, or just me doubting myself?

There’s really no way to be sure when you are in a mood. So I’m forcing myself to sit back and take a break. Not from editing all together, but from looking back at chapter one. Knowing myself, it’s all too possible that I’m just in some mind funk where nothing is good enough. So I’m waiting it out until I’m in a better frame of mind.

So what to do when you are in the crazy brain place where you hate your work…

- First thing you do is come up with specific questions on what you think is wrong with the passage. If you aren’t being nutty about it, the questions will help you revise later.

- Take a break from the part you are disliking—move on to a different part

-Write something new, different than what you are editing or writing before, perhaps you are just bored

- If you are dead set on figuring this out right away (not advisable) go to one of our beta readers and ask them what they think, but be forewarned, you must have specific questions, not just “does this suck?” But more like, does this part flow well, does it match the rest of the story? Is it lacking excitement?

- When you are in a better frame of mind, compare the part in question with a part that you do like, what are the differences?

Just know that it is entirely possible that you are being neurotic about it. We’re writers after all and have characters speaking to us in our heads, being neurotic isn’t too far behind. BUT, it is also possible that you are simply observing your work with a neutral eye… not an easy task. So make your notes, come back when your head is on straight and realize you are a genius, either in waiting it out so you didn’t destroy your work, or having the awareness of self to look upon your work with a discerning, critical eye. Either way you win.

Mermaid part 2

Hands tied behind my back, he hefted me over his shoulder and dumped me in the back of, what I’m guessing is a van—the industrial kind that don’t have seats or windows in the back. I bounced against the hard metal floor, wondering if I’d bump into high tech listening equipment that seemed factory installed with this type of vehicle—at least according to movies, and I didn’t have much experience with dry land excepting motion pictures, both the making of and the watching.

“Watch it, you’ll bruise me.”

“I’ll do more than that by the time I’m done, as I’m sure you’ll remember.”

Unfortunately I did remember, and I could picture his sly smile as he said it. So smug.

“And what will my father say about that?” There, that ought to put the fear of God into him, no one messed with Poseidon or his children and got away with it.

“Ahh, but he sent me after you my lady. Got yourself into a bit of trouble up here on land it seems.”

He what! Oh that was just like something Papa would do, send this cretin after me when he knows our history. Possibly Daddy thought I’d come back easily if what’s his name over there came for me.

The ear splitting noise of the metal doors slamming against one another marked his exit. The roar of the engine was followed by a lot of jarring bumps and turns. Was he going off roading? Knowing him, he probably did this to rattle me. He was always doing this sort of thing back home—anything to get a rise out of me. One would think that with Akheilos as his father, he would’ve learned a bit more self restraint, but not my Strix, no he always had to make his own mistakes and I was still waiting for them to come back and bite him on the ass.

After a long time of grueling bouncing back and forth causing my breasts to ache like they were used for punching bags, Strix stopped the van. Dragging me out by one ankle and tossing me over his shoulder again, he carried me into a building. Dumped onto a soft surface, the bag was taken off my head.

“Triton will get you back for this. You know how protective of me he gets.”

“Ah yes, the infamous brother. Protective of you, Khary? He just tried calming you when you had your little hissy fits, which was often by the way, so you wouldn’t cause ships to crash. Triton likes his humans almost as much as he likes his calm seas and that damned horn of his. You were just a means to an end.”

Pursed lips, I refused to take Strix’s bait. Making me angry and frustrated was only going to make me puke again, and knowing him, he wouldn’t let me make it to a bathroom and force me to lay in the mess. After turning to my human form, I still had to puke the prescribed once a day, although controlling the tides had nothing to do with it, just force of habit I guess. I mean, what did my people expect? I grew up my whole life throwing up every morning, bulimia was the next most logical step when I took on my human form, so I fit in perfectly in Hollywood where bingeing and purging is the name of the game.

After much hmpfing and general fidgeting, Strix untied my arms and laid me back on the bed. His eyes turned the shiny onyx they always did before he… ah hem well maybe I should’ve kept still and not drawn attention to myself.

“You need to rest up, for I’ll be back to tire you out shortly.”

Dragging his eyes from my body, I felt every place they touched. Now hot from head to toe, it was going to be a bitch getting some sleep, and knowing him, I’d need it.

Slippery Slope

The past few days I’ve been quite busy. Not with writing, but preparing for writing, and no not even research. I’ve been rearranging furniture. I moved my bedroom outfit around (the bedroom doubles as my office) I cleared my old computer desk off and the newer one (the nice big one) and am swapping. I made room for it and bought a new bookcase, which is delightfully full of novels. Oh how I love looking at the books I own.

So then its all set up, organized, even partially decorated. Then I get onto to my writing and editing. That is when I take the step that is invariably leading me down a very slippery steep slope. Now that I have the room, I’ve started making notes to myself on sticky pads then sticking the notes to the wall. So far I’ve managed to have only three on the wall, but I feel the desire to place more, to vary the color depending upon the note. I feel the need to make maps and place them on the wall, to find pictures out of magazines for my locations and to print out my character pictures and push pin them to the wall as well.

In fact, I’m even looking forward to gazing at those items on my wall as much as I like looking at the books on my shelf. I anticipate feeling like a general of my own world. There I am, standing near my wall, dressed to the nines, with a long pointer indicating certain areas on the wall size map of the city my book is placed in. I point out the suspects and their most likely hiding place. I give the run down of what’s happened so far in the plot then look into my non existent audience to field questions. Except all that stares back at me is the bed I forgot to make when I woke up that morning. But nonetheless I am inspired by this daydream and now I’m off to search for maps on ebay.

Mermaid Short

The water was clear blue, just like every other day. Well today perhaps there was a slight greenish tint to it and that ladies and gentleman, is the extent of excitement in my life.

It wasn’t always like this. I used to have excitement. Hell, I even miss the days when people would constantly ask me how I went to the bathroom. I was kind of like “duh!” but when the lower half of your body is all scales and one big tail fin, I guess it’s okay for humans to wonder. Now when we got to the how do I have sex question, which invariably included a lecherous leer, that’s when my patience ran out. Oh there were a few times when the man asking the question was cute enough, and asked in such a way that I showed him, but those days are over. Now, I’m all washed up.

I have performance anxiety. It isn’t supposed to happen, ya know. I’m kind of like a werewolf who turns with the full moon. When the tide is high, I’m a mermaid, but for some reason I can’t turn anymore. So here I sit, on the rocks near the ocean longing to be somewhere I can’t. Everyday I make note of the color of the sea and what happened to me on days when the sea was that color.

I’m a has-been, never will be again. My body is still amazing by human standards, but people recognize my face and then I’m no longer a female with a hot body, but a mermaid with an ordinary set of legs.

I’d like to blame it on the Lubriderm commercial I was in. You know the one, an alligator walks around all slow like and a chick with a great pair of sticks rubs lotion all over them. Yeah well, take that commercial but combine the gator and the chick into one person, a scaly hot chick—that’s me. I’d be in a Mer form then rub lotion on my tail and viola, I’d be ordinary again, albeit with silky smooth, evenly tanned legs.

Pebbles cascaded down the rocky path and bounced their way by me to plummet into the crashing waves. Oh great, he was here again.

“I don’t want any, don’t have any, don’t need any.”

“That might matter if I gave a shit what you thought.”

Turning around, I saw a face I never wanted to see again for as long as I loved… er…lived. I caught a glimpse of his onyx black eyes and slicked back hair before he threw the burlap bag over my head.

In my prime no one would’ve kidnapped me with a potato sack. Silk, it definitely would’ve been silk. I thought I would at least warrant a poly-cotton blend—oh how the mighty have fallen.


In russian???

A writer on writing

Writing is easy isn't it? The hard part is coming up with the story, right?

Um... wrong. I have ideas coming out my ass, but not the time to write them all. No, the writing itself is the hard part. Just telling a story in person is easy, telling it well and with interest is more difficult... now writing down that story and making it interesting is something else all together.

When you tell a story in person, you have inflection in your voice, hand motions, facial expressions, you set the pacing. All of those things come naturally, but when you write a story down, you have to implement those into your work with interest. Just saying, Her voice was sing songy as she said "You'll never catch me" Isn't as interesting as it could be. You can't write *insert suspense* or *dramatic pause* Hell you can't even write *pause* the most you can do is put in a comma--ooh how interesting.

So then, how do you make it interesting? Hmm, beats me, you just do. Ha.

No, all of those things I've been listing throughout the past few months are what you can do to make your story interesting. Keep the action fast, show, not tell, watch how passive your tense is. Keep things written in the proper order unless you are obviously telling the story out of order and it all comes together in the end. But of course all these things only work if you have a good story to begin with.

All of these writing techniques are called the Craft, the writing craft. To quote Susan Elizabeth Phillips, Good Craft won't get you published, but lack of good craft will prevent it.

It takes more than a good story to make a good writer, but lucky for us, for the most part, craft can be taught. If the writer has a natural feel for how a story is supposed to be told, the rest is just gravy. If the writer doesn't have a natural feel for how a story is supposed to be told, they should read more books, watch more movies until they figure it out. If they can't? Well maybe they aren't writers.

Not that, as writers, we are some elitest group who don't accept all members. No, being a writer is just something you are or you aren't.

Born that way? Possibly.

The only way to determine if someone is a writer or not is the person themselves. No one can tell you, you aren't a writer. Only your self doubt can do that. If you feel the desire, no the need to tell a story, then you are either a storyteller (actor) a screen writer or a writer. You make that decision. But like any other talent/art, it takes practice.

Bellies so many

Tara ran her hand over her stomach. Hard, ripped, defined lines, everything a stomach should be.

Suzanne ran a hand over her belly, her pot, her bringer of life. Her belly was done, the timer had popped up and it was time to take it out.

Janis ran a hand over her stomach, her gut, her pooch. Soft, yielding, everything a stomach shouldn't be. But her daughter loves the feeling of safety it provides when someone she doesn't know tries to talk to her. It is a place to hide her face when she feels shy, it is her sanctuary.

Rose ran a hand over her stomach, troubled again. Would food ever sit well with her again or would the sickness take her long before that?

Nayla ran a hand over her distended stomach. Pushed out in starvation, it was misleading. Her insides were swollen from malnutrition, not from being overfed.

Angie ran a hand over her stomach, or the few rolls that made up a stomach. Would the faint red lines ever fade away? Would she ever find the time, the drive, to work her rolls away? Would she ever accept that this is how she looks and go out in public again? She'd love to see her daughter's play in person.

Kathryn ran a shaky hand over her stomach. Flat, but flappy. She'd lost too much weight, the doctors weren't going to like that, her children weren't going to like that. They'd try to make her eat again. More it's always one more, one more bite of jello, one more roll, one more chunk of chicken. One more appointment, just give us one more year with her.

Julia ran a hand over her belly and gave it one loud smack. Giggling, she showed her younger brother what she could do. He tried to do it too, but her bigger belly made the louder noise. The whole beach, her favorite place, could hear her belly smacks.

Common mistakes of fiction writers

1. Passive writing: If you don’t know what this means, chances are, you’re doing it.

Passive: Susie had mentioned that to me before.
Active: Susie mentioned that to me.

Passive: We started to walk to the store.
Active: We walked to the store.

Passive: I’d been contemplating this for awhile.
Active: I contemplated this for awhile.

Passive: There was a rainbow in the sky.
Active: A rainbow decorated the sky.

2. Either too long complex sentences or too many short ones. Long sentences go on and on and by the time the reader has gotten to the end, they have no idea what the hell you are talking about. Too many short sentences make the reader feel stilted. It’d be like reading in a strobe light—jarring.

3. Infamous telling as opposed to showing.

Telling: Tasha was confused and frustrated
Showing: Tasha fisted her hands against her sides as her brows drew together.

Telling: Bob’s head was cut off by Bobbette.
Showing: Sword swinging in an arc, the blade cut cleanly through the already bruised skin of her throat.

You tell me which one is more interesting?

4. Preaching. Pretty self explanatory but as a writer, you may not even know you are doing it.

Preaching: Justin watched as the teens tripped over their pants and blared loud rap music. What was it with kids today? Fashion was one thing, but pants that long, and showing boxer shorts? It just didn’t make any sense—common sense. And the music, ugh, the music. Didn’t old people have a hard enough time hearing without the music blowing out their eardrums?

Not Preaching: ................*crickets chirping*............


Yup that’s right, nothing. Cut out all preaching unless it is essential to your character. Chances are with fiction, you aren’t writing your thoughts about the world down in some philosophical manifesto that will change the world. You want everyone to know that kids with baggy pants are stupid? Make them trip over them. Music too loud? They are criminals and get caught because their music covered up the sirens wailing to come pick them up. It basically comes down to show, not telling again. Show us why these things are bad, or good, don’t just spout your opinion about it and expect the reader to swallow it. I wouldn’t.

5. And last but not least for now. Over use of the exclamation point. It tends to leave the reader feeling like whoever is saying or thinking stuff with !!!! after it is ditzy. Like, oh my god! Everything is so exciting, I can’t contain myself! Typically the exclamation point serves one purpose in fiction: when someone is yelling. Thoughts should not have ! Excited statements, unless screamed, should not have ! Show us the character is excited, don’t show us they’re dumb by making them seem like excited puppies about ready to pee on your floor. No one I know like a pissed on floor and chances are, your reader won’t either.

Til next time…

-ST

And now time for Keith Moon, is really IS excited by everything.

Character Profiles

Profiles of a few characters from the Sam series.














WHO are you?

I'm bringing back shorts

stories that is.

You won’t want to hear this, but we rarely do when the truth is concerned, do we? We put our proverbial fingers in our ears and scream “Lalala” at the top of our lungs. We focus on what the beautiful people are doing. We listen to the gossip, watch our TV shows, listen to our packaged music and try desperately to shut out what I’m trying to tell you. And what pray tell, is it that we are so afraid of? The answer is quite simple really—ourselves.

Mr. Rail is just like you and me. He has the same thoughts, the same everyday problems. Stress headaches form where his head meets his neck and heartburn relief always is elusive. He is Everyday Joe, your neighbor, your kid’s teacher or worse yet, their guidance counselor. He is exactly what we are—except he’s been pushed to his limit. He shows us what we are capable of when push comes to shove. However, instead of comforting us, our means of survival are frightening. The lengths Mr. Rail is willing to go to stay alive far exceeded anyone’s expectations—far exceeded anyone’s horror.

Has Mr. Rail done these things to save another—his children perhaps? A parent driven to the brink would certainly do anything…right? No, he is not saving his children, his wife, his mother, his countrymen or even a starving child in Africa for a few cents a day. No, Raymond is saving his own hide. Pure and simple—Mr. Raymond Rail is willing to do whatever it takes to keep his own life. Some call it instinct. I call it greed, conceit, sin.

I call it normal.

******************

Lame haha.

Movie Review: Borat

I am not a “politically correct” person. Do I go around flaunting that? No. It’s just too damn hard to keep up. I mean what do I call Islanders from let’s say Jamaica who are now Americans? They aren’t African Americans because they were never African. I can understand calling people that who immigrated here from Africa. But those who have been here for generations? Doesn’t make sense to me. I have no problem being called white, in fact at one point being called an Irish American would’ve been an insult, and not so long ago, German American would’ve been.

I know a white guy who was born in Ethiopia. Is he African American? Technically yes. What about all of the South African whites? Needlessly to say, the term is too broad. And these are just examples of one term—imagine all the thousands out there.

That being said, I don’t get sensitive over crude rumor. In fact, I can normally find myself laughing at it. If a joke is funny, it’s funny, period.

So… based on all that… what is my opinion on Borat?

I can honestly say it was one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen. Not only was it not funny, but it was insulting. Ahh yes, you think, all of the anti-Semitism in it. No, that’s not the problem. Sacha Baron Cohen, the actor playing Borat, is jewish. No, his stance on the stereotypical person from Kazakhstan was appalling.

I was looking forward to watching this movie very much. Having a degree in film, I like seeing its boundaries pushed. I like controversy. I like different. I like films that challenge the norm. I really wanted to like Borat, but I just found myself sick to my stomach over Cohen’s actions. How he played upon people, lured them into thinking he was something he wasn’t. Taking advantage of people’s hospitality—our country’s hospitality.

And my personal favorite… selective cutting. Cutting to applause at something he’s said when the people did not react that way. Putting scenes into a context that wasn’t there. It is like a lie. I know this was a mockumentary. But the only thing mocking here was the fact that he wasn’t who he said he was. Everyone else was themselves.

Sacha Baron Cohen is an irresponsible filmmaker, a conman if you will. He preys upon the weak, the susceptible. Then he mocks them nationally. He does this not only at our nation’s expense but at Kazakhstan’s as well. I am so happy he’s being sued—may he go broke over this film.

HOW to think, not WHAT to think

Today I want to talk about not only research, but knowledge. I’ve said quite a few times that I want to teach my children HOW to think, not WHAT to think. I believe that is also true of adults.

Many individuals believe that learning ends when school does. There aren’t a whole lot of people checking out text books at the library, but there are some. Most of us read for pleasure (hey I’m not knocking it, because that’s exactly what I do) watch TV, movies, listen to music… but how many of us actively seek out knowledge? Fewer than I’d like I’m sure.

For a “civilian” (and in this sense I use that term to refer to someone who isn’t a writer) this is standard M.O. For a writer however, we need to write about what we know, consequently that means we need to know A LOT.

So, where do you start? Do we just learn about everything possible? Well, that may be taking it a bit too far, but I don’t think knowledge ever hurt anyone, unless of course you are writing an intrigue and those who are in the know are getting bumped off with a quickness. I’d say a good place to start is with topics that interest you. For me it’s witchcraft, mythology, archaeology, psychology, Vikings, Motocross, swords, martial arts, wolves etc… So I look up those things. I’m not a big fan of nonfiction reading, boy do I wish I was. So instead, I try to find documentaries about these topics. Or motion pictures that deal with the subjects.

Blockbuster Online and Netflix are great places to start looking. For Vikings: I watch 13th warrior, Beowulf and Grendel. Witchcraft: the Craft, Practical Magic. Wolves? I read Call of the Wind, perhaps watch White fang, and find documentaries dealing with their group dynamics. Archaeology? I purchased a subscription to an Arch. Zine. Swords? I have a friend who is interested in them and has helped me with authenticity in my book. I also went to a SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism) meeting and immersed myself in living history.

In home schooling we have something called Living Books. These books are used for teaching, but are not nonfiction. They are usually told like fiction, but have a great deal of historically accurate information in them. Nonfiction tends to be very dry—it’s like a rule or something. So why put yourself through that if you don’t have to? We are studying the Middle Ages this year, so I bought a book called “How would you survive in the Middle Ages.” Instead of a dry account of what life was like, it compares it to modern day and makes the child put themselves in the place of a peasant, a lord, a lady… submerging them in the culture, making it real for them, or alive—thus a living book.

When first trying to learn about a subject, I head for the children’s section. Not only are the books more colorful and entertaining, but they are also written for a novice. If I have no prior knowledge of something, why would I go to the adult section to get an adult book? I’d jut be torturing myself and not get anywhere. Whereas, if I start with a kid’s book, I lay a foundation of knowledge to build upon, instead of trying to build the second story on a foundation of muck.

Now, let’s say that I achieve a level of adult knowledge on a subject—where to go from there. How do I know what to learn about a subject? What is important?

Well it just so happens that I found an invaluable resource last night. Just so happens it’s FREE. MIT has most of the courses online for free. Granted, you won’t be getting a degree, but the reading lists, syllabi, lecture notes and assignments for classes are online. Check it out: http://ocw.mit.edu/index.html

Then we have my favorite resource of all time-the internet. I look up on average, a dozen things a day. I am a seeker of knowledge, I like knowing things. I love useless facts (which even if they seem useless I can typically entertain someone with my random facts, thus making their life richer by having me in it. HA!)

If you don't seek out knowledge, all you are left with is what you were taught in schools. If you went to public school, then you would be limiting yourself to knowledge that was boxed and stamped with approval. There isn't anything wrong with that, but the boxes are mass produced, why would you want to be just like everyone else? Why would you only want to have the knowledge that was approved? What about all the things that didn't get a Grade A Stamp? Do you know what they call teaching someone the information, and only in the information you want them to know?

Brainwashing.

This video is called Brainwash America: How to Brainwash a Nation. (It's just a video folks, not a political statement of mine)

Murphy's Law counterbalances my Irish Luck

I wanted to set up a pattern for my blogs.

Monday: Short story
Wednesday: Rant, random fact about me, recipe... basically Misc.
Friday: Something about writing, what I've learned, haven't learned, problems etc...

So on the first week I was going to try that and introduce it today, what happened? Well a short story didn't want to come to me that's what... freaking bastard. I should've known better than to try to schedule creativity.

I was writing something about a woman held captive in someone's basement. So I was going for suspense and terror here, but suspense and terror were elusive. Dry, boring, dull, cliche were in abundance however.

So I did something I normally don't do, looked for writing resources online. There is nothing wrong with this. I've done it a few times and it's helped. I try not to do it often and I only resort to that when I've already written something, not before. I try to get my creativity out, then try to fix it. So I came upon an article about writing suspense. And while it didn't help me with my short story, it made me think about Inevitable, book 1 and I see some improvements I could make. WOOHOO!

Everything happens for a reason.

Here's the article:
Michele Martinez on writing suspense

"What's my name b.." "Geez. Sandra Tuttle. Happy now?"

I woke up at 6 something this morning, groggy after only 4 hours of sleep. Laying there in a half awake stupor, I had a good idea for a blog today. Then I fell asleep and it went bye bye. I believe it had something to do with active and passive writing, as I commented on someone else's blog yesterday regarding that very same thing, but for the life of me I can't remember. Ugh! I'm sure whatever my idea was--it was groundbreaking, important, really entertaining stuff... so let's just pretend that's what this turns out to be.

Let's say, just for shits and giggles that I'm wildly successful come next summer when my 10 year high school class reunion is... I get whisked to the non existent stage and asked how I became so successful.

And here is my definition of success:

-Find something you love to do.
-Do it well.
-Pray that it's something you can make money at.

Then there's a clause. Find something that you'll love to do "forever" or at least a long time. For me, I like to do a lot of things. I like making movies, I like reading, quilting, listening to music, teaching, animals etc... But very few if any of those would I be able to do for a long time. I am a Jill of all trades, or I'd like to be. I like to know how to do something, and once I do, I move onto the next thing.

But for me, writing is different. I can picture myself doing this years from now, no small feat.

Was I born a writer? Hell no. To be honest, I always hated writing, but I've always had a very active imagination and always came up with stories. As far as the actual writing is concerned? Well I won a poetry contest in 3rd grade and had a poem published when I was a teenager... and that's the extent of my writing LOL *listens to all the oohs and ahhs of wonder*

I just never had the proper motivation to write my stories down. I am a fairly creative person, or at least someone who needs an outlet of the artistic variety. I've painted, drawn, sculpted, designed lighting for dramatic presentations, made movies, abstract video art, experimental installations, acted and now I'm writing.

In college, I'd spend my time in Script Writing class staring at a blank computer screen. Story Telling class on the other hand... a little spark started to ignite, surprising the hell out of everyone, especially myself. I normally tell my stories face to face, with sound effects and wild hand gestures--not to mention the facial expressions that really say it all. Come to find out, I was able to tell a pretty good story in first person, if it was from personal experience. Since I didn't want to make a movie about my life (I know that I'm not as interesting as I think I am) that still left me hanging with no scripts.

Then YEARS down the line, I started reading again. I didn't read for pleasure in college because frankly, I was too busy reading for torture. I starting reading YA books, because one of my sons is a big reader. He reads mostly fantasy. Then I started reading romance novels again. Then was introduced to paranormal fiction--and was blown away. That was the key that unlocked it all. I've always been fascinated in the occult, with witches, vampires--the dark things, but never reall thought about it much. But when I started to think about it...

Sandra Tuttle was born.

"What's my name b.." "Geez, Sandra Tuttle, happy now?"

I woke up at 6 something this morning, groggy after only 4 hours of sleep. Laying there in a half awake stupor, I had a good idea for a blog today. Then I fell asleep and it went bye bye. I believe it had something to do with active and passive writing, as I commented on someone else's blog yesterday regarding that very same thing, but for the life of me I can't remember. Ugh! I'm sure whatever my idea was--it was groundbreaking, important, really entertaining stuff... so let's just pretend that's what this turns out to be.

Let's say, just for shits and giggles that I'm wildly successful come next summer when my 10 year high school class reunion is... I get whisked to the non existent stage and asked how I became so successful.

And here is my definition of success:

-Find something you love to do.
-Do it well.
-Pray that it's something you can make money at.

Then there's a clause. Find something that you'll love to do "forever" or at least a long time. For me, I like to do a lot of things. I like making movies, I like reading, quilting, listening to music, teaching, animals etc... But very few if any of those would I be able to do for a long time. I am a Jill of all trades, or I'd like to be. I like to know how to do something, and once I do, I move onto the next thing.

But for me, writing is different. I can picture myself doing this years from now, no small feat.

Was I born a writer? Hell no. To be honest, I always hated writing, but I've always had a very active imagination and always came up with stories. As far as the actual writing is concerned? Well I won a poetry contest in 3rd grade and had a poem published when I was a teenager... and that's the extent of my writing LOL *listens to all the oohs and ahhs of wonder*

I just never had the proper motivation to write my stories down. I am a fairly creative person, or at least someone who needs an outlet of the artistic variety. I've painted, drawn, sculpted, designed lighting for dramatic presentations, made movies, abstract video art, experimental installations, acted and now I'm writing.

In college, I'd spend my time in Script Writing class staring at a blank computer screen. Story Telling class on the other hand... a little spark started to ignite, surprising the hell out of everyone, especially myself. I normally tell my stories face to face, with sound effects and wild hand gestures--not to mention the facial expressions that really say it all. Come to find out, I was able to tell a pretty good story in first person, if it was from personal experience. Since I didn't want to make a movie about my life (I know that I'm not as interesting as I think I am) that still left me hanging with no scripts.

Then YEARS down the line, I started reading again. I didn't read for pleasure in college because frankly, I was too busy reading for torture. I starting reading YA books, because one of my sons is a big reader. He reads mostly fantasy. Then I started reading romance novels again. Then was introduced to paranormal fiction--and was blown away. That was the key that unlocked it all. I've always been fascinated in the occult, with witches, vampires--the dark things, but never reall thought about it much. But when I started to think about it...

Sandra Tuttle was born.

Recipe: Angel Chicken

Something a bit different today. I'm in the grips of AWESOME rewrites... I've found what was lacking in book one so I'm off and running trying to fix it, making it KICK ASS. It's like Christmas and I just found the Dread Pirate Rewrites to be my very own sweet farmboy, Wesley.

So here is the recipe (a very good one btw) that I'm making for dinner tonight. It's quick, yummy and great for those days when as a writer you don't have the time or the brain power to cook much.

Angel Chicken

6 boneless chicken breasts
1/2 cup butter
1 pkg dry italian salad dressing mix
1 can golden mushroom soup
1/2 cup white wine (cooking wine or regular drinking wine)
4oz. onion & chive cream cheese
pkg angel hair pasta (cook according to box directions)

Place chicken in crock pot. In sauce pan melt butter. Stir in italian salad dressing mix, soup, cream cheese & wine. Pour over chicken. Cook on low for 4-5 hours. Pour over cooked angel hair pasta or any kind of noodle you desire. (Rice works well also).

I like to use Penne for my pasta. When its done cooking, I take the chicken out, mix the cooked pasta in the with the sauce, lay the chicken on top then put the cover on. It stays warm for seconds or if, like my house, not everyone s hungry at the same time and wants to eat later.

Sandra’s Philosophy on Writing.

Yup that’s right, I haven’t even finished my first novel to completion (Still battling the Dread Pirate Rewrites) but I already have a writing philosophy… in fact, it is more like a philosophy on life.

Here she goes…

Picture this: A kindergartener, sitting on the floor of his classroom in his Osh Kibosh Goulash overalls with a pile of building blocks in front of him. He runs his pudgy fingers over them, beats them together. He messes them up, liking the noise they make when they hit each other. His teacher notices that he’s just sitting there with the blocks but he isn’t building anything. She winds her way through the maze of other children sitting on the floor and gently suggests to our kindergartener that he build a wall with his blocks. Seems harmless enough—a gentle push in a direction of learning, right? WRONG! She may have just squashed any creativity the child would ever have with building blocks. Now he associates them with building a wall, and he didn’t make this association himself, someone else gave it to him. It is very possible that the child would come up with building a wall all on his own, but maybe the blocks weren’t for building to him, maybe they were for making music, or creating art, like a mosaic.

Teach your children HOW to think, not WHAT to think.

And what, all powerful ranting author blogger lady, does this have to do with writing, you ask?

Everything.

I don’t want someone telling me that I need a plot point on a certain page of my book—then I will forever associate that page with a plot point, when it may very well be the case that my story doesn’t work with a plot point there. But it will be ruined forever. Which is why I don’t read rules to writing—grammar sure, you have to have grammar if you want anyone to understand what you write, let alone getting published. But I don’t let grammar slow me down. Grammar can be fixed after the fact, which is what I am currently doing.

Perhaps the process would’ve been quicker had I just learned grammar before hand. However, if I was spending my time thinking about grammar, and less about the story, it wouldn’t matter how great the grammar is, if the story sucks, it sucks, whether it’s written coherently or not. But if you have a great story with bad grammar, isn’t that a problem too? YES, but poor grammar is easy to fix, a broken story isn’t.

I don’t take any chances with my muse… okay I just lied there. In the beginning, I did take some chances, although I didn’t know that’s what I was doing. I sent some chapters out for critique before I had even finished the rough draft. A mistake in the long run, perhaps. I did get some helpful advice, like SHOW NOT TELL, but overall I think it made me a little neurotic and set me back. I know not to do that anymore. I know to trust my instincts as a story teller. It’s my story to tell, only I know how to tell it. Once I have the story down in black and white, then is time for me to take a step back and look at it with a discerning eye. Like I am currently doing. I am not opposed to criticism, in fact I welcome it, seek it out even. I know I am crippled by knowing what every character is thinking and where the story is headed, so I need someone who doesn’t.

Good Authors List

This is a random blog that is off schedule. I have a bit of time today, just finished reading a new book and was posting about it on a forum. So that makes me think of other books and be on the lookout for new ones. I'm always seeking new authors and it helps me decide to read someone if I get a good recommendation from someone who I know enjoys the same books I do.

So here is a list of authors that I enjoy. So if you like reading things similar check out the other authors:

In no particular order...

Paranormal Fiction:

LAURELL K HAMILTON dark and sexy books, she makes a great read no matter what she writes.

CHARLAINE HARRIS: I'm a fan of her Southern vampire series.. GO sookie!

KIM HARRISON Kim writes a different kind of book in a different kind of world, if you like vampires, weres, witches etc... check her out

SUNNY: I finished Mona Lisa Awakening a few weeks ago and was thoroughly entertained by it. It's dark, sexy intriguing and full of real characters.

KERI ARTHUR: sexy sexy sexy *raar* Check out her Riley Jenson series

KATIE MACALISTER: A fun author, her Aisling Grey series is both entertaining and lighthearted.

KELLEY ARMSTRONG: I would classify her books as those of a serious author. Mild humor thoroughout, but for the most part the plot is on the serious side.

LILITH SAINTCROW: Dante Valentine is a woman with issues and a kicking ass attitude.

CARRIE VAUGHN: Ahh, then we have Kitty, the werewolf, a late night radio show talk show host. Her books are full of humor, good music and weighty plot when it's required


Paranormal/Futuristic Romance:

MICHELLE BARDSLEY: Chick litty voice, books full of spunky moms turned vamp.

KRESLEY COLE: No Rest for the Wicked may be one of the best romances I've read this year. The romance aspect of the book was great... but the surrounding plot blew me away, quite a fertile imagination Cole has.

SHERRILYN KENYON: The Dark Hunter series--very original in idea and well written, the series should be read in order to get the most of it. Valerius and Wren are two of my faves.

SUSAN KEARNEY: The Challenge is my fave of hers--futuristic romance.

KAREN MARIE MONING: Paranormal historicals with time travel, faeries and lots of hot scottish guys!

LINNEA SINCLAIR: wonderful world building, especially in Finders Keepers.

JR WARD: Brotherhood of the Sword series has to be my favorite romance series to date. She writes warrior men extremely well... so well in fact that I'm jealous as hell at her amazing talent.


Romance:

SUSAN ELIZABETH PHILLIPS: key word here: quirky

KINLEY MACGREGOR: aka Sherrilyn Kenyon.

SUZANNE ENOCH: Historicals that have creative very individual heroines and progressive thinking males.

DEBORAH SIMMONS: The Devil Earl is my fave of hers.

TANYA ANNE CROSBY has the knack for writing in scottish dialect. I had a blast trying to sound out the words as I read.


Fiction:

JANET EVANOVICH is funny funny funny.

MICHAEL CRICHTON: Sphere was a fave as a teen.

CLIVE CUSSLER: Dirk Pitt is a throwback hero from another time. I adore the way Cussler interweaves archaeology, history with modern technology and social issues.

DAN BROWN: suspense and intrigue at its finest, yet another author whose mind I'm jealous I don't have.

GEORGE ORWELL: 1984--possibly favorite book of all time.


YA books:

JK ROWLING needs no introduction.

DIANE DUANE: The young wizard series (pre Potter thank you very much) is delightful and full of awe, especially book two of the series Deep Wizardry

EOIN COLFER- Author of the wacky, boy genius Artemis Fowl

CS LEWIS needs no introduction either

MELANIE GIDEON: The Map that Breathed is a wonderful book

TERRY PRATCHETT: Bromeliad Trilogy is great, YA books with adult themes told though a story that is easy for everyone to grasp--on par with Animal Farm by Orwell to me.

BRUCE COVILLE: An amazing author is so many different genres.

LOUIS SACHAR: A must read for children and adults with sense of humor. For anyone who has ever known, raised, or been a child with ADHD There's a Boy in the Girl's Bathroom is a must. Versatile author.

It's sucking my will to live!

Help!

My brain refuses to get into writing mode. I sit in front of my WIP and my eyes glaze over, my brain turns to fuzz and my fingers refuse to type anything. It isn’t writers block, I know where I'm going and I have things to write, I’m just not terribly sure on how the next scene will play out. I could do a writing prompt no problem, I could do some rewrties, but Book 2 or DeJa Vu is screwing me!

I open the file and it acts like the Suck and Cut from Wayne's World... "It's sucking my will to live!"

Last time this happened, I worked around it, but it took me about two weeks to trick my muse. I don't think my muse, Sam, is my problem this time. So what am I going to do about it? I'm going to go to Walmart and Barnes and Noble and spend money with frivolity. If that doesn't solve my problem, I don't know what will.