What do you want to see?

I'm considering something here....I've been visiting other writers' blogs and one thing I've seen that has captured my interest is some of their writings. Actually, not just some of their writings. I've done that here a bit. What I'm talking about is them posting an actual book online, bit by bit, chapter or section by section. Is that something you think would be of interest? Would it give you an opportunity to sample my writing? Would you find that more interesting than simply bits and pieces of what's on my mind? I could, of course, still interject those bits and pieces.... Let me know what you think.

No lack of ideas here…

I have been inundated with ideas. That’s a good thing, right? Well, yes and no. I remember when I wrote my first novel…as yet unpublished (as well as still mostly in handwritten form secured within the folds of one of my notebooks). I wrote the whole thing over Christmas break. That’s right! A whole novel in a two week time period. Is it any good? I don’t know. At the time I thought it was the best thing I’d ever done. Pride gushed from every pore of my body. Again, I don’t know if it’s any good. It’s about the Phantom of the Opera of all things! But, the important thing about that novel was that it revived a dream within me; one I’d buried many years ago. I LOVED the process from conception of the idea to the writing and rewriting. I practically worked day and night on the thing. Obsessed, I would say.

As I wrote I thought “this is what I want to do when I grow up.” Keep in mind I was just a few months shy of my 45th birthday! Nearing completion I began to consider a “career” change. I’ve done many things though the last 15 years have been devoted to being a mother and wife as well as volunteering with my local no-kill animal shelter. I also became card maker extraordinaire and designed custom specialty greeting cards. Awesome Cards for Awesome People was my slogan. I loved doing that too, although it barely paid for itself. I actually still do cards by request and have my “regulars” who email or call…regularly!

But, my youngest was getting ready to start school. I realized I would be alone for 5 whole hours every single day. What did I most want to do with that 5 hour time span? I knew. I wanted to write. And, as with anything we undertake…or at least it is this way for me…I began to doubt myself. What if I couldn’t think of anything else to write about? What if I wrote one or two books and then…nothing!

That didn’t happen. In fact, it has been quite the reverse for me. I have idea upon idea and each new story brings with it a whole slew of new ideas…so if you’re lacking, let me know!  Before I finish one, a new one is waiting (and usually I begin before the other is finished). That’s happening as I write A Marriage of Necessity. I have two ideas, in fact. Surprisingly they are both a bit different from anything I’ve done before. One was inspired by this flash of a vision I keep getting every time I walk out into the garage and get into my vehicle. It’s a bit frightening. The other inspiration came from the profile picture of a FaceBook Fan. I then read her story and knew why that picture was calling me.

It’s exciting to know the ideas are forthcoming. I could run out of them today and have enough in my file cabinet to support my writing efforts for the rest of my life. At the same time, it’s a bit frustrating because I want to share them NOW! I also have a job to do as I edit and format and help others achieve their writing dreams through my www.OneStopPublisher.com.

On a positive note….I have finally handed over some of my handwritten manuscripts for transcription. The day I watched the first one walk out the door I thought I would cry. I had to remind myself that she’d come back to me in a format ready to share with the world. Let her go! It’s the only way to do what I want to do…share NOW. And may the ideas be forever forthcoming….

WRITING IS FANTASTIC!

Author Melinda Richarz Lyons creatively explains why she thinks writing is
F-A-N-T-A-S-T-I-C as she shares some of the things she thinks are important when it comes to writing using her latest book—a young readers book entitled Murder at the Oaklands Mansion --as an example.

F—The “F” in fantastic stands for fun! Writing is fun! When you write fiction—just think about it. It is the only time in your life that you can make things up and get away with it. You can make up a story that is not true when you write fiction. Now it is important to remember even if you make a story up you still need to write about what you know. Like the murder in my story is made up, but the facts concerning the Civil War that are in the book are true and the things about Murfreesboro, where the story takes place, are true. Because first of all, I lived in Murfreesboro, and second, I did a lot of research on the Civil War before writing the book. So write about what or where you know and then do research if you need to. Your story can be made up but your background information has to be believable. It is also fun to create characters out of thin air. Like in my book, I needed a bad character and thought, “what do I want him to be like? How do I want him to look?” So I just made up a name and started creating this murderer. I decided to make him older. Then I decided to make him an aging hippie and decided he would have a long gray ponytail and he would drive an old flowered bus. I pictured him as scruffy and it was fun to dress him and put words into his mouth that made him sound mean. So remember, writing is fun because you get to use your imagination.

A—The “A” in fantastic stands for action and activity. Nobody wants to read something boring. Think about the books you like to read. They have action in them, don’t they? And you have to create action and activity. Let me give you an example. In my book, I have the main character, Brooks, witness a murder. Okay—I could have just written something like “Brooks heard a loud noise that sounded like a gunshot. Then somebody fell down.” That tells what happened but it isn’t very exciting. So instead I wrote, “Brooks heard several loud crackles and then he felt something fall against him. It was the man who had been standing right next to him. The man was just lying there on the ground bleeding! Brooks stood there frozen and then he heard someone scream, “Call 911!” Both those passages basically say the same thing, but the second one adds a lot more action and activity. Don’t just tell your reader what is happening. Make your reader hear the gun, see the man fall, and use details. It is a lot more effective to say the man was bleeding. That makes you see the fact that he really is hurt. So make your writing have that A in it for action and activity.

N—The N in fantastic stands for never. You never need anything but your mind and your English skills to write. You can write anywhere anytime and it doesn’t cost anything. You can use a computer or just a pencil and a piece of paper. Writing never has a time limit, either. You can write for fifteen minutes or you can write for five hours. That is one of the things I love about writing. Like with my book, I would think of something I wanted to add to it or change, and I would sit down and write. I never had to write in a certain time period or in a certain place. And you almost never have any limits on your writing. By that I mean you can go wild with your imagination. You can create a character and a situation right out of your head. And think about this--you are almost never too old or too young too write. I was 11-years-old, the first time I got paid for my writing. So remember, the N stands for never.

T—The first T in fantastic stands for teach because writing teaches you so much. You know when I was talking about the fact that you need to try to stick with what you know, even if you write fiction so your background information will be accurate. Like with my book, I started with what I knew—my town of Murfreesboro, TN, and I did know quite a bit about the Civil War. But I wanted to make sure all my facts were correct, so I did a lot of research at the library and on the internet. Doing the research took a lot of time but it was really fun. And just think how much that research taught me. I learned all kinds of things about the Civil War. Also each time you write, it teaches you to be a better writer. Remember when you learned how to swim or skate, or ride a bicycle. At first you weren’t very good. You feel off your bicycle a lot. But then with practice you got better and better. Writing is like that. The more you write, the better you get. So the T stands for teach as writing teaches a lot of different things.

A—The A in fantastic is for accomplishment. When you finish writing something, you feel like you have really accomplished something. Your words are on paper. What was in your head is there for anyone to read. There is no better feeling than when you write something and it touches someone else. Like if you write a poem for your Mom and she reads it and cries. How great is that? Writing is very powerful. You can make people cry or laugh or get angry—just with your words. One time I wrote something and a woman who read it sent me flowers. I felt so very accomplished. Like I had done something important and touched someone with my words. What I wrote meant something to someone else. So the A stands for the accomplishment you feel when you put your words down on paper. It feels like you have done something important and you have!

S—The S in fantastic stands for success. But becoming a successful writing involves a lot. First, writing is very hard work and takes a lot of time. I often say that the word writing may be spelled with one r and no e’s. But actually when you think about it writing has two r’s and by that I mean writing involves rewriting or revision and rejection. You don’t just jot something down and you are done with it. Like with my book, I spent more time on the rewriting and revision than I did actually writing the book. I think many authors spend a lot of time making their writing as good as it can be. Now the other r that is involved in writing is rejection. If you write much at all, at some point you will face rejection. I have enough rejection letters from publishers to paper a room. Honestly! But what you have to do is take rejection as part of writing and try to learn from it. Just like when you teacher corrects something on your paper. Most of the time, if you change it, your paper will be better. And the e’s that are actually part of the word writing go along with this—edit and effort. You have to spend a lot of time on those revisions and rewriting. You have to edit your work and then it will be edited by others, like your publisher. It takes a lot of effort to be a writer. But to be a success at anything in life, you have to work hard. Now if you decide that writing is what you want to do for a living, there are many different ways you can do that. You can write fiction or non fiction books, or be a journalist. You can work for a newspaper, a magazine, or a tv or radio station as a writer. You can also find success writing speeches for a congressman, or writing commercials for an advertising agency. Or you can teach writing! So remember, S is for success and that takes a lot of time, rewriting, revision, rejection, editing and effort.

T—The second t in fantastic stands for tools. This is very important. You have to have the right tools to write! Learning grammar is vital. Proper use of the English language is very necessary for any writer. I know sometimes that seems kind of boring, but if you don’t have the basic tools, your reader might not understand what you are trying to say. Writing is about communication, and without the basics you can’t communicate your thoughts on paper to anyone else. It is just like building a house. You couldn’t just start building a house, without having some education about how to do it. And you would have to have the proper tools to build your house. You couldn’t even put up a wall if you didn’t know how to use a hammer. So you have to learn basic rules about grammar and sentence structure and things like that, to be able to write. And it doesn’t matter if you ever want to make your living as a writer. Everyone needs to know how to write because good communication skills are the key to success in any job or career. No matter what you do, you need to be able to communicate. And that takes education and tools. So remember your T is for tools.

I—Inspiration. I am often asked where I get my inspiration. The answer is simple. All around me! I see someone who looks or acts interesting and I think about how I could use that to build a character. Or I see something happen and it inspires me to write. Sit outside some day and just look around. Do you see an old man walking across the street? What do you think he is like? What if you made up a story about him? What would it be? Imagine a story built around something you see right in front of you. For my book, I got my inspiration from a real situation. My neighbor across the street had a little boy. He and I started doing things together and that is where I came up with the idea for the book. I decided that the little boy could be the main character in Murder at the Oaklands Mansion. Then I made the woman across the street from him his aunt. Then I took some of the things we really did do and put them in the book. For example, we really did go see the ice sculptures at the Opryland Hotel and we really did go to a movie audition. And—we really did go visit the Oaklands Mansion. I started with those things and then I thought, well that wouldn’t be very interesting. What could I have these characters do that would be interesting? Oh—how about getting them involved in a murder? So you can get inspiration from things all around you and again—it sometimes goes back to what you know. Your inspiration is often right in your own backyard. Sometimes writers can get inspiration from an event. Like in the movie “The Perfect Storm” that was about a boat sinking. The storm really did happen and the boat really did sink, but the writer who wrote the book made up the things that happened at the end. He wasn’t on the boat and everyone went down with the ship, so he really had to make up what they said and did right before the boat sank. So he was inspired by a real event. Or sometimes a writer is inspired by something that he feels strongly about or is upset about. Or a writer can even be inspired by another person. That is how biographies get written. So the I in fantastic stands for inspiration.

C—The C in fantastic—our last letter—stands for construction in creation. It is important to have a plan when you write, just like when I was talking about having the proper tools. Think of it like building a house again. You have to have the proper tools and education to build a house, but you also would not start building a house without a plan or a blueprint. Writing is the same. Most writers, including me, start by brainstorming. Before you can create, you have to construct. That is what brainstorming is all about. I sit down and think about what I want to say. What is this book or story about? Where I want to start and how I want to end my story? What kind of characters do I want? How do I want to develop them as I go along? You can always change things when you rewrite. But you have to have a basic plan about what your goals are with each piece of writing. For example, what is your purpose? Like with my book, I first wanted to write a book that kids would enjoy reading. I wanted it to have some funny things in it, some action, some suspense and some mystery. I also wanted it to be informative about the Civil War. I always thought history was boring, because when I was growing up, history in school was just memorizing dates and names. History is much more than that and I wanted to make it exciting to learn about the history of the civil war. So I tried to include as many interesting and sometimes scary or even funny things about the civil war in my book. As I went along, I did change some of my original plans as I was writing the book. But I started with a basic construction plan so that I could create. So C is for construction in creation.


Melinda Richarz Lyons, an amazing author and individual, earned a B.A. in Journalism from the University of North Texas, and has been a free lance writer for over forty years. Her work has appeared in many publications, including True West, Cats Magazine, Nashville Parent, Frontier Times, Cincinnati Family Magazine, Kids, Etc. and The Fort Worth Star-Telegram. She is a co-author of WOOF: Women Only Over Fifty (Echelon Press). Ms. Lyons’ story “Twice in a Lifetime” was published in Chicken Soup for the Soul: True Love (2009). Her current book is Murder at the Oaklands Mansion. For more about the author and her writing: http://www.melindalyons.com/

How many stories do you work on at a time?

I often scratch my head when I see the pile of books on my daughter's bedside table, not because it's messy but because she will read 4 and 5 books at a time! That just doesn't make sense to me although I am finding more and more people who partake in the activity of multiple-book-at-a-time reading. As I pondered how she does it, I heard that little voice inside asking me one of those questions in that tone that I know is going to make me say "duh" to myself. The voice simply said "what about you writing more than one story at a time?" Well, of course I had to counter that my multiple story writing is somehow different. Not exactly able to pinpoint how it is different, I decided to drop the whole questioning of the multiple book reading issue. Instead I began to focus on why/how I often work on more than one story at a time.

We all know I am working on my novel A Marriage of Necessity, which is somewhat the focus of this blog...or the process and thoughts that go along with writing a book anyway. But, you may not know that I do additional writing at the same time. I write this blog for one thing. I do website content writing. I have to answer the never ending stream of emails that come in every day and that is writing as far as I'm concerned. I often answer a simple email with the return of an email the length of a small book. Although I have not taken the challenge in a few weeks, I almost always enter the weekly writing challenge on FaithWriters.com which requires a work of 750 words or less in response to a simple prompt. Their prompt for this week is "shhh" which I have not yet decided if I will do.

I'm also working on additional books of short stories. I have my Love With A Twist Of Lime that was to be a trilogy of stories (actually, it started out as all short stories and has continued to evolve). The "story" with the same name as the book title (handwritten :( at the moment, of course) ended up being too long for a short and then was to be the anchor of the trilogy. The other two that were to go with it then ended up being too long; one being A Marriage of Necessity! I let my stories tell themselves. I CAN force them into a certain word count but I prefer not to. So, I continued to write these twisty lovey limey stories (as co-writer Pat likes to call them) but they will mostly be hosted in a book titled Echoed Heartbeats: when you feel his heart beat next to yours. I've already designed the cover for that one even! I'm excited about those stories because they are love stories and we all know that's right up my alley. The difference is they all have a twist or something unexpected thrown in. They've been fun to write and I'm pretty sure that comes through. Sometime I'll have to post a couple here on the blog to give you a feel of what they will be like.

So now back to multistory writing....I REALLY want to get finished with A Marriage of Necessity. Thankfully, as a self-publisher, I have the luxury of changing my timelines though one must be careful about not following through with self-mandated goals....another blog entry idea, perhaps? I will say I have actually written the ending of Marriage and am now writing to that ending from where I left off when the ending demanded to be written. I'm anxious in a good way for everyone to read it. Considering the fact that this story was to be part of the Twisty Lovey Limey stories, the ending is unexpected but good. I love happy ever after. Is that too much to give away? I hope not! Scroll down and read my profile. It says, in part, "Her stories almost always have a happy-ever-after ending and leave you feeling satisfied that the characters have had or are walking into a life of complete fulfillment." A Marriage of Necessity will be no different. I don't like sad....or sad endings, I should say. There are certainly sad parts in many of my stories. And I am constantly reminded by my husband that I did, in fact, have the dog die in my first children's book. BUT Sadie has a wonderful life and the book concentrates on the good aspects of her life as well as educating on the benefits of rescue organizations. Her death is also depicted as a wonderful reunion with her friend Sami as she crosses the Rainbow Bridge to meet her. (How Sadie Learned to SMILE).


Tangents....that seems to be the way my day is going. BACK to multi-story writing! I was NOT going to multi-story write while working on Marriage. I told myself I would buckle down and work on nothing else (hence the reason I have ignored FaithWriters and other challenges as of late). Last week, however.....you guessed it....another story began knocking. I tried, I REALLY tried to ignore it. It won and over the weekend I began writing on it. Good news.....I was having a bit of a block on Marriage. That was part of the reason I decided to give in to this new story. Guess what? The block went away and what is pouring forth is, in my opinion, better than what it would have been. Sometimes creativity frees one up for greater creativity. Bottling myself in and mandating a one-story regimen simply wasn't working....for me. Writers come in all different shapes and sizes and genres and styles. You may not be able to work on more than one or, like me, you may find that limiting yourself clogs your brain instead of focusing it.


How many books do you read at a time? How many stories do you write at a time? How does this affect your work? I'd love to read your side.....

Link over to A Place For Writers

I have stumbled upon a fantastic blog that will make my need for further postings unnecessary. I won't stop, of course, but I would like to encourage all of you to link over and read the posts at http://aplaceforwriters.wordpress.com/. The first couple actually hit upon topics I've discussed and I commented to her that I wish they'd been up when I wrote my articles. They weren't. We simply weren't synced and I have no idea why! Oh, yes. Because I just discovered the blog today. Still, I will say again....jump over and read them. I think you'll find them very worthwhile.

A Writer Simply MUST Write

I am a Fan of Wheatmark on FaceBook. Wheatmark is “a team of publishing and marketing professionals who teach authors about achieving publishing success.” (quoted directly from their FaceBook Page). I also follow Wheatmark on Twitter and peruse their website from time to time. They offer some great information.

An individual on Wheatmark’s FaceBook page posted a thought provoking comment after a posting from Wheatmark on a note titled Why Did You Write A Book? This individual more or less said you don’t become an author and that you can’t be stopped in your quest to write if you are. Wheatmark asked for clarification which was not given so I felt inclined to post (of course I did). I said perhaps the individual was saying that an author “is” and you don’t become one. You might recall my post on What is An Author from not so long ago.

Still, the commenter’s statement stuck in my head. It’s definitely one to ponder and Wheatmark reminds us to remember why we’re writing or wrote the book as much as how to market it and such. I thought it was a great reminder and one I needed to hear considering I've been making myself crazy with all the research on marketing.

I took a few days off….sort of. I pondered questions such as the one from the Wheatmark commenter and I still wrote because that’s what I do. I also played on the computer which is partially social marketing. And, drum roll please, I went to a movie! Yep! 15 years and only twice have I been inside a theater…..not for not wanting mind you. Life simply kept getting in the way. Well, I sucked it up, begged my husband to watch 3 of our 4 children, paid my $6.75 ticket price and bought the world’s largest coke for another $4.50 (I had birthday money in my pocket! – notice I said “had”). The movie was Dear John. I loved it. Of course I did….was it not a love story right up my alley with the twists and unexpecteds resolved into a happy ending? It was a perfect me movie and I thank my 12-year-old for dragging me along.

But what I loved most about it was the sense of hope it brought forth within me. Not the inspiration to be a better person because the female main character truly was good. I didn’t get the urge to join the army or collect coins or help people with autism. All great things….but for me, personally it was an inspirational revelation because of where the idea for the movie came from. It came from a novel! A novel by Nicholas Sparks….just one of many novels written by Nicholas Sparks and made into movies…..and basically, his novels are about everyday life and not so different from mine. Okay, they are different because his are actually typed in and turned into real hold-in-your-hand books instead of handwritten in notebooks (but that is changing!) and he is a multimillionaire because of them but overall, not so very different story-wise.

I came home intrigued and began to research Nicholas Sparks. He’s got a FaceBook Fan page that I’m pretty sure someone else mans. He has a website that’s very professionally done although it appears he wrote much of the content. I found out his first two novels went unpublished and he worked a string of odd jobs while writing The Notebook in his spare time. It was picked up from the slush pile of a new-to-the-business literary agent; a find that garnered him a million dollar advance and the book made the New York Times bestseller list in its first week of release.

I wanted to find something magical that told me why Nicholas Sparks and his books about everyday life were such a phenomenal success. Why is it they’re being made into successful movies at every turn? Why was he able to donate close to $10 million to help fund the start-up of a private Christian school? Why was he offered a million dollar advance for his first book? I didn’t find a magic formula except….to be a writer, you have to write. He has a section for writers on his website (NicholasSparks.com) where he pretty much says you can’t be a writer if you don’t write which might appear to be in contrast to the Wheatmark statement that authors “are” and don’t become. I’m thinking they’re actually saying the same thing but you decide that for yourself.

The main point is Nicholas Sparks never stopped. He didn’t give up when his first books weren’t published (I’m not actually sure he even tried with them but he kept writing….because he “had” to because writers write, perhaps?). He has a gift and he had a dream and he continued to write. I hate to admit it but I don’t think there’s a magic formula. I think there are a lot of Mr. Sparks out there who write fantastic books; myself included (okay, so I’d be a Mrs. and not a Sparks but you get the idea). We write because that’s what we do, whether we have an audience awaiting the latest release of our novel turned into a movie or not. We dream of life for our characters beyond the confines of our heads and, like Nicholas Sparks, we don’t give up on the dream that someday, just maybe, our books will be the chosen ones…..provided we continue to write.

Portrait of a Written Snapshot

Last night I had the honor of attending the play Picnic with my oldest daughter. I hadn't intended to go simply because the logistics of getting out of the house without my other 3 children is nearly unfathomable. However, when my oldest (15) explained to her dad that she wanted to take me as an early birthday present and that her drama teacher has specifically said I should come to see the performance, how could he resist? So, I got a "night out" with my daughter.

The play, written by William Inge in 1953 is set in a fictionalized town near Independence, KS. My family and I just happen to spend many Saturdays in Independence. It is a nice 45 minute drive North from Bartlesville and my husband's grandparents used to reside there so he has fond memories of the place. It's a nice town to visit. They have a lovely park, a free zoo, a little train that takes you around the track twice for a quarter and a carousel that offers rides for just a nickel! I have a deep fondness for the old buildings and the newer statues that garnish the city in different places. I like to make my children pose by them. They look awesome on our Christmas cards :)

The play? Oh yes, the play. It was the High School Drama production which, I have to say, was quite impressive. Under the molding of a teacher I believe to be exceptionally skilled at her profession, Ms. Susan Crabtree, the cast performed wonderfully (I don't have to say that either. My daughter has an A in the class!). Just as I was with their portrayal of the Helen Keller story in The Miracle Worker in the Fall, I watched in awe as the cast and crew unfolded the story with an ease that made the task seem simple. Undoubtedly they put in a lot of hard work which paid off and was greatly appreciated by those of us observing.

In 1955, the play was made into an Academy Award winning movie by the same name. According to Answers.com, the film is "sometimes cited as a richly detailed snapshot of life in the American Midwest during the 1950s"; a statement which got me to thinking....isn't that exactly what I'm trying to do in my books and stories? Am I not offering my readers a snapshot?

Sometimes writing feels more like a play-by-play and the little details seem mundane or unnecessary, like when it takes 3 lines to let the reader know Terry has a mass of curls that she tucks behind her ears when she's nervous. Just like a fluttering hand to the throat of the main female character in a play right before she smoothes her skirt, however, these details may seem small but they are very telling and oh so important in the sculpting of that character. Each detail goes into the building of that snapshot.

I'm very glad I went to see this play. It took place in a short amount of time; the morning and evening of Labor Day as well as the next morning. Yet in that short span of time the character of these characters were brought out, explored, and exposed for who and what they truly were. We saw their past, their present, and their future. Not only did I enjoy the performance through the laughter and the tears (yep, I admit it! I was one of the ones with my tissue in hand) I believe it helped me to refocus in my goal as a writer. I realize now more fully that I must define the snapshot I want to create and compose the details in a compelling fashion that will evoke emotion in my readers just as the play did in its audience. The words are important, however, it is the snapshot those words create in the minds of my readers that will truly make the book a success worth telling others about. Thank you Susan Crabtree and the Bartlesville High School students. Bravo!

What Is An Author?

First, I would like to say I am thrilled to have heard from all three of the book authors I mentioned in the post on Saturday, January 30th. Thank you John R. Erickson, Robyn Harding and Steve Weber. All three of their books will be reviewed/discussed at some point on this blog in the near future. I did start Robyn's book during my bike riding yesterday and must admit I laughed out loud several times. I felt bad, of course, because the poor MC (main character) is going through a truly trying ordeal. However, Robyn tells it in such a manner that the reader can feel the pain yet laugh at the same time. I'm excited to read more!

Yesterday I posted a comment on my FaceBook page that I needed to "go type on my story or there won't be any reason for me to continue... That sounded a bit dramatic. I meant, I can't be an author without a book!!!" That is the exact comment. My friend, blogger and avid reader, Kristen commented back "hey, just exactly what IS an author? I mean does being published mean you are an author or does it just mean you are writing a book or story or what???" and added "Do you have to actually have completed something written to be an author?" I thought these were valid and thought-provoking questions and wanted to take a bit of time exploring the answer. Well, MY answer anyway :)

The Farlex Free Online Dictionary describes an author as follows:
1. a. The writer of a book, article, or other text.
1. b. One who practices writing as a profession.
2. One who writes or constructs an electronic document or system, such as a website.
3. An originator or creator, as of a theory or plan.


Merriam-Webster says an author is: 1 a : one that originates or creates b: the writer of a literary work (as a book)

So what does that mean? Let's push the other definitions away and concentrate on Book Authors. Do you have to be published to be an author? It doesn't say that. It merely says the writer of a book in both definitions. Does the book have to be completed? Good question. Is this an answerable question? Another good question!

Want to know what I think? Well, it's my blog so you have to listen or hit the X which I hope you will not do. I think an author is anyone who writers, regardless of what they write or whether it is finished. You may spend a lifetime working on a story that never gets finished. Does that make you any less an author? I don't think so. I love this quote by Jules Renard, author of "Diary". It says "The story I am writing exists, written in absolutely perfect fashion, some place, in the air. All I must do is find it, and copy it." Everyone has a story, therefore, might we say that everyone is an author? Perhaps in their own way. Perhaps...

Thank you Kristen for the journey of this frame of thought. My conclusion: I believe it is a question one must answer for oneself. Anyone care to give their 2 cents????

Everything Old Is New Again....writing the same story differently

I had a brilliant thought this morning concerning a missing zinger for the novel I'm working on. (I borrowed that "zinger" part from my friend Kristen who just so happens to be celebrating a birthday today...Happy Birthday!). I LOVE this book I am writing. I LOVE the characters, I LOVE where it's going...but, it needed a pop; that bit of the unexpected. There has been so much intensity from point A to point B. I didn't want to lose that for those who will read it as I head to point C. And I GOT IT! I won't tell you where I was when I got it. Okay, I will.....in the bathroom. That is the best place ever because, even if I'm not doing anything in there, I can shut the door and no one bothers me until I come out!!! I ALWAYS take my notebook with me to the bathroom :) Keep in mind I'm the mother of 4 children, with 2 cats, 2 dogs, and a husband. There's no such thing as privacy here!

Anyway, I can't share what "IT" is yet but hopefully your mind is flowing and you're beginning to wonder, especially if you have read the first part on my website (LindaBoulanger.com under Preview Page). Just know it's going to be worth the wait and then you'll be unable to put it down :) It's a hibernation book: find a comfy place and don't come out until you're done.

When I first got the idea for this book, A Marriage of Necessity, I was concerned because it's kind of a book about an arranged marriage. They didn't marry for love. In fact, they met for the first time and agreed to get married within a 30 minute time span, I would say. I loved the idea and the possibilities that began to spin in my head, but I wondered how I could make something that had been done before different enough to make people want to read it. In reality, and we've talked about this before, everything has been done before. Think about the books you've read and the movies you've seen. How many tackle something that's completely different?

When I reconnected with my friend and co-writer, Patrick Sipperly, he was very much in the throws of writing a screenplay. It's a great screenplay, by-the-way, and I have faith he will pitch it and it will get picked up and you'll get to enjoy it on the screen someday. I was blessed with a pre-read as well as a great lesson as Pat pointed me in the direction of a book by Blake Snyder called Save The Cat! This book deals with screenplay writing, however, I read it and found so very much of it pertains to novel writing as well. Blake devotes a whole chapter, 26 pages, to giving a twist to the same old theme. According to Blake, you can run right up to the same old same old but then you'd better give them something just a bit different. I've kept that in mind with everything I've written and tried to put that fresh spin on things. Not always easy when one is in the thick of inspired writing. Oftentimes, just as it happened today, I will be writing only to get that spark (perhaps the truly inspired part?) and know I've got IT!, that one bit that will make it the same only different.

So keep in mind that everything old can be made new again with the proper twist. Our job as writers is to create that tension and add the turns that will keep our readers interested all the way from A to C including the coast through B. Once this book is finished I'll expect feedback as to whether I've managed to accomplish that very thing. Not intending to be cocky here but I'm feeling pretty good about my success rate on this one :)

The Birth of a Book

I woke up one morning a couple of weeks ago with a new story idea in my head. It had to do with a woman having to marry this man with a bunch of kids. Now I’ve been working on what I thought would be a trilogy of stories that would go in a book called Love With A Twist Of Lime. The three stories (2 of which are already mostly written) were to have the common theme of each of the main female characters being unable to have children and it making them feel somehow unworthy to be a wife. Crazy idea perhaps but, hey, it was the one I had and they were turning out pretty good.

Now, as I said, two of the stories are pretty much done and now I have to decide what I will do with them because this third story quickly let me know it would not be told in 70 pages. It wanted full-length novel status. So what of the other two? I’ve considered lengthening them into their very own stand-alone books or, perhaps I’ll have to write another story that will go in the trilogy in place of my current project and the subject that led me to create this blog. (A bonus of being self-published; I can make those decision changes at whim.)

Back to the original line of this post…I sat down at my computer and began to type the story that was unfolding in my head. I hardly ever do that – type it directly into the computer. I almost always write longhand in a notebook and then transcribe, making changes as I go. But not this time. I started the story, got to a good stopping point and zipped it off to my mom and author/illustrator friend Christina Janzen. “Read it,” I pleaded (had to twist their arms, of course). Almost immediately they shot back requesting I get busy so they could read more which, of course, prompted me to continue.

The book is titled A Marriage of Necessity and is, of course, evolving into much more than just a woman having to marry a man with a bunch of kids. As the teaser says, there’s an unfortunate accident, the death of a spouse, a man in need of help, and the threat of a lost inheritance. If you’d like to read that first part I sent to them, it is available on the preview page of my author website: http://lindaboulanger.com/PreviewPage.aspx. I haven’t fixed the errors yet and a couple of things have changed. That always happens as the rest of the story is written, but hopefully it will be enough to bring you back to see how it’s going. I’ve managed to type in about 51 pages though I have a lot more handwritten ones (yes, I reverted back). The 51 typewritten pages equate to approximately 130 book pages. How many pages do I expect it to be? As many as it takes to tell the story to completion though 300 seems like a pretty good number to me….always subject to change. :)

Beginning To Write

I have begun to write my first novel. Well, that's not exactly true. I actually have about 17 in various stages. This one, however, will be the first one published and I'm very excited about it. I hope you will follow along with me on the journey through the writing process, publishing, book marketing...all of it. The book is titled A Marriage of Necessity and you may preview the cover and read a sample on the Preview Page of my author website (http://www.lindaboulanger.com/).

While you're there you might notice I have a couple more books out there. My first book, Time Out On A Roller Coaster, is a collection of fun and light short stories that I wrote with my dear friend Patrick Sipperly. It was my first-born as far as published books goes and I will share some of the ups and downs of that process as well.

How Sadie Learned To SMILE is my first children's book, illustrated by friend and awesome author Christina Janzen. Chris and I have another children's book in the works called Pistachio (he's a snowman). It's a lighthearted story of finding a way to keep those we love near and dear to our hearts.

Okay! Think that's enough for my first post to give you an idea of what I'll be doing here. I hope you'll either leave comments or email me (WritersShelfLife@gmail.com) to let me know a bit about you!