No Attachments

Please send your entries for my prompt contest in the body of an email. Thanks and enjoy the prompt.

Squirrel

ONE MORE DETAIL:

How to submit:

Send entry (Up to but not exceeding 500 words) to cheryl@cherylwyatt.com for judging.

Squirrel

THIS MONTH'S PROMPT CONTEST

In case you can't find it scrolling, I'll post it again:

NEW CONTEST:
The winner will recieve their choice between one of the new releases from the Steeple Hill Women's Fiction books. Brand new.

Deadline for entry is Mar. 20th, 2005. Winner announced by March 28th, 2005.

Here's the prompt:
Write a 500 word or less scene involving these things:
A lost puppy.
A mysterious business owner who lives in a mansion at the end of a secluded road just off the interstate.
A frantic single mother whose six year old son is heartbroken.

That's it....Happy writing!!!!!!!!!

TWO SCENES!!!

WHAT"S NEW WITH MY WRITING:
I'm two scenes away from finishing the story I'm currently working on. Woohoo! Then I'm going to dive in to another series that's been floating around my head for awhile.
=========
BOOK REVIEWS:
I've changed my format for book reviews. Instead of typing the roses out, I'm just going to say how many roses it gets. Thw way I was doing it before strikes me as cheezy. No comments from the peanut gallery. Or, I guess that would be "Acorn Gallery" here.
=========
BLUSH AND CRINGE:
The other day one of my kids came in with a toy iron and started running it over my face as if it were a car. I'm like, "What ARE you doing?" Looking intent, with tongue hanging out in concentration and vaguely annoyed at being interrupted with her task, she replies, "Don't interrrupt me. You have lines around your eyes and mouth and I'm trying to help you out here." I ran to the mirror and sure enough, WRINKLES. Bleck.
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VERSE: God shall suppy all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Phil 4:19

Even someone to help you iron out all your wrinkles :-)
=========

BORROWED PRAYER:
Help us trust You at all times. When things get tough, and when they are fine. Help us exude the kind of childlike faith that points others to You. You are always faithful. Always. You never fail. In every circumstance, help us to believe that.
=========

TIPS FOR NEW WRITERS:
Capitalize the first letter of the first, last, and each important word in the title of a book, play, article, etc.
"The Mystery of the Green Ghost"
A Night at the Opera
(Source: Webster's New World Pocket Style Guide by MacMillan.)

When submitting a manuscript, most authors capitalize each letter of the title of their book on the cover page and sometimes the header.

JADED HEART by Cheryl Wyatt.

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DONT FORGET ABOUT MY MONTHLY WRITING PROMPT CONTEST!!! I HOLD ONE PER MONTH. SCROLL DOWN FOR DETAILS, or email me at cheryl@cherylwyatt.com
Prize is usually your choice of a new book valued between $5.00-$25.00 and entry is fun and free!!!

===========

I'm going to be putting out a newsletter a few times a year. I don't believe in spamming, so if you want to recieve it, send me an email letting me know that.

Visit my website:
www.cherylwyatt.com
Bookmark it if you enjoy my blog: there's a link to my Treehouse there.

Thanks for stopping by!


Your friendly neighborhood Squirrel

BOOK REVIEWS

(1 rose) @->-- =Downright Disturbing. (Was the author conscious when they wrote the story?)
(2 roses) @->-- @->--= Dangerously Dissapointing. (Author is not writing up to their potential. )
(3 roses) @->-- @->-- @->-- = Delightfully engaging. (Great read.)
(4 roses) @->-- @->-- @->-- @->-- = Darn near perfect. (One for the keeper shelf, a can't-put-it-down-kind of book. )

BOOK: "Woven Hearts" Novella
Publisher: Barbour
ISBN:1-58660-510-0
Authors: Susan Downs, Cathy Marie Hake, Kelly Eileen Hake, Kathleen Paul
Genre: Inspirational Romantic Historical-Novella collection of four interwoven stories.

Set in Massachesetts, mid-1800's, four stories about a group of men with the last name of Steadman, and the women who weave their ways into these men's hearts.
====================================
Ribbon of Gold by Cathy Marie Hake: (Four Roses) @->-- @->-- @->-- @->--

Carter inherits a weaving mill and discovers the women are working under cruel conditions. He looks to Isabel Shaw, one of the weavers, for information and gets more than he bargained for as he falls in love with her.

This story is a "keep you up all night" kind. I fell in love with Cathy's characters from page one. The depth of emotion kept me rooting for these two to get together. Well-crafted scenes, delightful dialogue and careful attention to historical detail made me feel as if I lived in the weaving room with those women. Excellent read. Sweet story.
=====
Run of the Mill by Susan Downs (Three Roses) @->-- @->-- @->--

Maxwell Steadman has a tiny problem with tradition: He doesn't think women should be placed in positions of authority over men. So why is he so strongly considering Kathleen McKenna to fill the overseer's post for his shipping company? Maybe it has something to do with the fact that she's smart, hardworking, honest, and kind. Kathleen soon realizes he thinks she's also qualified to fill the vacancy of "wife" in his life.

This story has strong conflict, especially Maxwell and his traditional views. Susan does a wonderful job showing his struggles without making him out to be a chouvinistic creep. He is a likeable character. Kathleen weaved her way into my heart as one of the most memorable heroines I've ever had the privelage of meeting in a story. This story will tug at your heartstrings and pull tight.
============
A Second Glance by Kathleen Paul (Three Roses) @->-- @->-- @->--

Ginger Finnegan, nearly blind and raised in an orphanage, doesn't think there's a man out there who would want her for a wife, but her heart won't seem to listen to reason when Lucas Steadman, a new, young doctor comes to town and gives her not only the gift of sight through special glasses, but his stubborn heart as well.

I had a hard time warming up to Lucas at first, but the rest of the story was so good, I kept reading. I'm glad I did because the rest was worth grinding my teeth over not being able to sympathize with the rude and aloof doctor. Kathleen masterfully redeems him and makes her heroine's dreams come true. This story is packed with emotional "umph" and there were some pretty tense moments when I didn't think everything would be alright. Good read.
======================

The Caretaker by Kelly Eileen Hake (4 roses) @->-- @->-- @->-- @->--

Widow Amy Ross runs an orhpanage and has a heart as big as Massachesetts. As if she doesn't have enough trouble with her late husband's mother threatening to close the orphanage, rendering homeless the children she's grown to love, her new neighbor seem to be working against her as well. When he sees her true heart, Tyler Samuels fights for the orphanage. . .and Amy's heart and hand in marriage. There should be more *real* people in the world like this hero and heroine.

I kept reading the bio of this author, saying to myself, "no way is she this young, no way." Watch this one. Though she's young in years, she knows her craft and how to weave a wonderful, story with engaging characters and a hole-proof plot that will leave you inspired and longing to read more.

I highly recommend this book. Well worth your money.

Squirrel

FINALLY!!!!!!!!!

No, I didn't get published yet. I finally got a post to go through. For some reason, this blogger thingamajig kept bouncing my posts. Or maybe it was my computer acting up. Anyway, this month's contest has ended and the winner of the Kaylee's Bagel prompt is.........

(Drum roll please......)

Tracie P.!!!!!!!!!!

NEW CONTEST:

The winner will recieve their choice between one of the new releases from the Steeple Hill Women's Fiction books. Brand new. Deadline for entry is Mar. 20th, 2005. Winner announced by March 28th, 2005. Here's the prompt:

Write a 500 word or less scene involving these things:

A lost puppy.

A mysterious business owner who lives in a mansion at the end of a secluded road just off the interstate.

A frantic single mother whose six year old son is heartbroken.


That's it....Happy writing!!!!!!!!!


VERSE: Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Hebrews 13:8 NIV

Did you know the Bible isn't really a book?
It's actually a library...full of the most wonderful books known to man. A library of promise and of covenant, given to us by the kindest being in the universe...God Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.

BLUSH AND CRINGE:
I can't believe I'm admitting this to the world...but when one of my kids turned a year old, they got into my nightstand and sort of, kind of...opened a brand new bottle of KY jelly someone had given us as a wedding gift gag...and ate the whole entire thing. I had to call poison control and they told me to notify the child's doctor who was also one of the doctors I'd worked with for years. I was mortified and begged the poison control operator to call him for me but to no avail. Besides, why would my kid's pediatrician care if I own KY?

By the way: They said it wouldn't kill the kid...just make it have diahrrea for about three days.


BORROWED PRAYERS:
Dear God, please continue to help the victims of the tsunami and especially be with the little children who watched their parents be washed out and swallowed by the sea. Please comfort them and let them know You, know that You love them and are close to them. You've promised not to leave us as orphans. Be a father to those children and make sure they're taken care of here on earth: spiritually, physically, emotionally and mentally. Heal the devastation in their shattered land and hearts, Dear Lord.

GRAMMAR CENTRAL/TIPS FOR NEW WRITERS
(Uh...by the way...I'm still a newbie myself. The more I learn, the more I learn there is to learn.)

Who's or whose?
Use who's anytime you actually mean "who is."

Whose means "of whom"

Whose blog is this?
Who's laughing at my blush and cringe?

Get it? Good. Because I STILL have to consult my grammar book everytime I revise. I'm not good at remembering all those rules, which brings me to my next point:

TIPS FOR NEW WRITERS:
Spend the dough on a GOOD PUGS book. (Punctuation, Usage, Grammar, Spelling)
Kathy Ide's is excellent. Here's her website: www.kathyide.com
and her book is called, "Polishing the PUGS."

Later alligators,

Squirrel

ACK! TYPOS!!!!!!!!

Speaking of "it's".......... in my "tag" post, I used the wrong one! Whoa! Did u see that apostrophy jump in there when I wasn't looking?

OKAY, I'll admit, I have a hard time proofreading (yes, I DO proofread these things before I hit "send.") by computer monitor. I'm better at catching mistakes on paper.

BUT...since I have this problem, I'm going to use it to your advantage and it will sharpen your editorial skills. For every person who finds a typo or an error, whether it be spelling, grammatical or punctuation, I'll enter your name in a drawing for a book each week.


Squirrel

Its a Beat...or is it?

Did you catch it?

To its or not to it's.

When do you apostrophize it? (made up a new word..hehehehe)

When you're saying "it is" use the apostrophy.
Correct:
It's fun in Squirrel's Treehouse.
Incorrect:
Its a pleasure to have you here.

When "it" is possessive, do not add an apostrophy.
Correct:
Its tail is bushy.
Incorrect:
It's acorns are hidden.


BLUSH AND CRINGE
That same friend of my husband's went to a bowling alley one day and thought he saw a friend from his church, so he sneaks up behind the guy and starts rubbing the back of his bald head...and saying, "rub the budha, rub the budha" until the guy turns around annoyed and it's not his friend but a stranger. Snicker.

BEATS
A beat is a sentence of action placed before or after dialogue in the place of a tag.

Example of a sentence with a tag:
"Bessie? Bessie! I can't believe you ran my pick up truck into our best milk cow, " Farmer haystack yelled loudly to his wife.

Same sentence with a beat instead:
Farmer Haystack flung his old straw hat off and tromped around the dusty yard with his weathered hands chopping the air as he glared at his wife. "Bessie? Bessie! I can't believe you ran my pick up truck into our best milk cow."


VERSE OF THE DAY:
"Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you." Psalms 63:3 NIV

Time is running out to enter my contest. Scroll back and see Kaylee's Bagel and come up with a scene. The best one wins their choice of a $5.00 gift certificate to Lifeway Christian stores or a new release from the Steeple Hill Women's fiction line.

Later Taters

Squirrel

TAG...You're it!!!!!

VERSE:
Let your gentleness be evident to all. Phil. 4:5a NIV

BLUSH AND CRINGE:
This isn't something I did, but I have to tell the story. My husband's friend was a chaperone on a youth ski trip. At the hotel one evening, he came through the lobby and caught site of two couples (what he thought was a group of high shoolers) getting a tad too cozy in the hot tub. Being the faithful chaperone that he is, he gets a running start across the floor, leaps in the air, lands in the middle of the hot tub screaming, "Jacuzzi invasion!" Jacuzzi invasion!" and splashes around wildly until he opens his eyes to discover four complete strangers (all adults) staring at him as if he's just grown three heads.

BORROWED PRAYERS
Help me to see people as You see them, God. Even myself.


TIPS FOR NEW WRITERS
Let's chat about writing trends. Just like clothing styles, what was "in" ten years ago may not be "in" today. What prompted me to talk about this is an article I read encouraging writers to use dialogue tags. What is that? A Dialogue tag is the word at the end of a stream of dialogue such as "said."

For example:
"You silly cat, stop chasing the bird," she purred.
"Look at the owl!" Thomas hooted.
"He wanted those eggs over-easy," the waitress waffled.
"How 'bout ya take five dollars for that instead of eight?" he haggled.

Okay, okay. I know those were extreme examples but really, it seems to me that most editors today are veering AGAINST the use of dilogue tags other than plain ol' "said."

So, only in rare cases and very sparingly should you use anything other than that and if you do, have a very good reason, to set tone of story, etc.

Example:
Helena cowered in the closet with the cordless phone, willing someone to answer.

"911, what is your emergency?"

"Someone is in my house," she whispered.

See? "whispered" helps to set the suspensful tone because she doesn't want the intruder to know where she is. So I don't leave you with the icky feeling of looking over your shoulder, feeling like someone is behind you, I'll finish the story. By the way: I ALWAYS write happy endings. Always.

"Where are you?" the dispatcher asked.

"Bedroom closet," she whispered. "Oh, no! My bedroom door creaked open. Can't talk."

"We have a unit on it's way. Stay on the phone."

"RUFUS! What are you doing?"

"Ma'am?" the dispatcher said.

"Ugh. I'm like, so sorry. My dumb dog crawled through the opening in the screen. How positively embarrassing."

"So, there's no one in your house?"

"No. No one besides one in-trouble dog and its very blonde owner," Helena said.
==========================

Clear as mud?

Next time I'll talk about beats. The actions characters do, sometimes to replace tags.

Until next time,

Bye!

Squirrel

My Website is almost up

Howdy doody!

Misty is almost done with my website. It's got an ameteur sleuth feel to it. Pretty cool. I'll link to the blog after it's up.

VERSE:
Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for a friends. John 15:13

This freaks me out because it struck me today that Jesus considered us His friends before we were even born. His was the greatest love. If you ever doubt someone out there loves you....talk a good, hard, long look at the cross before He came off of it. Now that is love.



Prompt:

Write a scene about a middle class female parasailer in her mid thirties caught in the tree of a forty something grumpy but gorgeous millionaire.


Time is short so I'm off. Talk to you later, Taters.

Squirrel

Major Plot Failure

Well, there are two kinds of fiction writers. Pansters and Plotters. Pansters just fly by the seat of their pants and usually have no organized method of arranging the story prior to writing it. They just sit down and it flows. Plotters on the other hand, meticulously plot, usually from beginning to end. Apparently I'm a panster because I tried to follow my plot but neither I or my characters stuck with it. Oh well. I give up trying to do that. So the moral of the story is: Don't try to write like someone else no matter how succesful they are. Just do it like you do it and be who you are.

BORROWED PRAYER
Dear God, I want to fulfull the destiny that you have prepared for me. Keep me close to You.

SCRIPTURE
...His compassions never fail. They are new every morning..." Lamentations 3:22-23 NIV


PROMPT
Write a short story using all of these words. Notice they can be used as nouns or verbs. Have fun!!!

Pitch
Trash
Bark
Stitch
Train


BLUSH AND CRINGE
This isn't a blush, just a cringe. I was putting on deodorant today and one of my charges comes in the bathroom and says, "Oh. I forgot to tell you, That dropped in the toilet the other day." Suddenly, I didn't feel so *fresh*.

Got to go do the dishes since there is some rather interesting green, fuzzy stuff growing on whatever it is that got left in the sink. Ugh. The attrocities of housework. What I really need is a biohazard suit. Oh! Oh! My mother in law got one of those robot vacuum cleaners. It really works! It even senses when it needs to be charged and goes back to it's base and attaches itself to its charger! How cool is that!!!! Now, if someone will just invent one that loads the dishwasher and folds laundry....

As Porky would say,

"T-t-t-tt-t-that's all folks!!!

Squirrel

I lasted a week

Okay, so I tried to take a two week hiatus (did I spell that right?) from writing to get caught up on my TBR pile and I lasted 6 days. I wrote a synopsis for my newest wip today so I could enter it in a contest. I did get a couple books read this week though. Woven Hearts by Barbour and Paper Moon by Linda Windsor, I highly recommend both. Woven Hearts is a sweet, feel good set of four historical novellas about four Steadman boys who are related. Linda Windsor writes romantic comedy and I bet I laughed out loud at least every third page. She writes just like she talks. Linda is one of the most amazing people I've ever had the privelage of meeting. I'm hooked on her stuff.

Novella: A shorter story than a Novel. Barbour does alot of them.
Anthology: a group of stories, usually novellas.

Blush and Cringe:
Okay, this isn't something I did, but a bit of advice for you married folks: Don't leave the baby monitor on when you're having a *moment* with your husband. No telling who in the neighborhood (or the house) is listening.

Site of interest:
Check out www.Steeplehill.com
I practically live there when I'm online.

VERSE:
These were the clans of Reuben;those numbered were 43, 730. Numbers 26: 7

(Just Kidding. Here's the *real* verse. Not that that one wasn't real, but I was trying to make a funny. )

REAL VERSE: WHich is also the BORROWED PRAYER. Just ask God to do this in you.
I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. Ezekiel 36: 26


My contest is still open but not for long. Scroll back through messages to find Kaylee's Bagel. I've even given you a prompt to get you started.

New Prompt:

Write a historical scene set in New Mexico in 1866 using a soldier who survived a confederate prison camp who has lost his faith in God and the faith-filled daughter of the man who took him on as a ranch hand.


That's all for now.

Squirrel

GRRRRR!

ADVICE FOR BEGINNING WRITERS

Ummm....Don't do what I just did. Send a requested manuscript to a publisher without putting "Requested Material" on the outside of the envelope. My poor baby may be headed for the slush piles. Then again, maybe not. Dana Corbit, a wonderful author and encourager who I met on the Steeple Hill Message Boards, told me the editors usually log the packets in when they arrive, so hopefully, they'll read my cover letter and see that it is a requested ms.



WRITERLY DEFINITIONS AND TERMS

ms-Initials for "Manuscript."
mss- Initials for "Manuscripts."
Slush Pile-Stack of unsolicited ms in a publishing house. Unsolicited means the person sent the ms without asking for permission to do so. While some houses do accept unsolicited ms, definitely know the guidelines of the house you're targeting. You wouldn't want to make a bad impression right off the bat with an editor by sending in a full or parital ms when their guidelines clearly say, "No unsolicited ms." Most of them prefer a one page query letter and partial Synopsis. To follow guidelines shows professionalism.


BLUSH AND CRINGE

My husband is a talker. That's fine as long as I'm not in a hurry. We were getting ready to leave a restaurant a couple days ago. The room lights were low and I forgot to wear my glasses and I don't see well without them. As we were leaving, I sensed my husband stop behind me (we can't go anywhere that he doesn't see someone he knows) so, without turning around, I swing my arm in an arch behind me to "tap" his shoulder with the back of my hand and say, "C'mon, we need to get goin'." Okay, so it was more than a little tap. As I "tapped" him, I also clutched his shirt with my fingers...you know, to tug him along toward the door. He follows me, so it's all good, right?

Wrong.

About ten steps later, I see my husband ALREADY AT THE DOOR waiting for me and he has a very strange look on his face. So it took all of 1.5 seconds for me to let go of whoever it was I had ahold of. I cut a glance up and sure enough....I had the wrong husband. Once in the car, my husband teased me relentlessly about how I have the tendency to bring home strays and how he'd overlook the animals, but he'd have to draw the line there.

Went to a wedding last evening. CONGRATS REBECCA and Joshua! It was lovely. Greg, the minister, was talking about the marriage relationship being likened to the relationship between sheep and their shepperd. How the shepperd(husband) needs to protect the marriage and watch over it with diligence. The analogy really impacted me. He also read a letter from the mother of the groom, which was written to the couple and she talked about how there is an enemy who would like to tear their marriage apart. Though that may seem like she used strong words, it's the truth and we have to be on guard to preseve and protect our marriages. Greg went on to say to the couple, "The reason the enemy doesn't want you to be together is because God wants you to be." That's such a simple truth, but it affected me profoundly.

If you are reading this, you know someone who has been affected by the devastation of divorce. It may even be you. If you've suffered through that, I'm sorry. Did you know the Bible says that God is very near to the broken hearted? (Psalms 34:18) I pray you take comfort in that.

I watched the couples, many of them from our church, dancing with one another at the wedding and it made me grateful to have a church family. I know a good one is hard to find for some of you. But I encourage you not to give up, though. We all need each other. There is a wonderful couple, Larry and Carol, pillars of our church really, who are like spiritual parents to many of the college students who are away from their parents. They are such a blessing. I know it's hard on them when their "kids" and "grandkids" end up moving away, but I know God will bless them a thousand fold for all the love they've lavished on us.

That's all for today.

PS: Even if you don't have a relationship with God, or if you read secular fiction, I want you to know you are welcome here. Just come exactly as you are. I'm really glad you stopped by. Comments are welcome.

Squirrel

Here's another prompt!!!

WRITING PROMPT
Write a scene involving an airline pilot, a female Air Marshall Officer, and a *situation* on the plane that requires an emergency landing.


WRITING TIP FOR BEGINNER
Did you notice the Air Marshall is female? Today's tip is this:
Find an unusual twist to make your story *different* than all the others. You could even try writing a story about a male Air Marshall and make the pilot female! Female pilots are unusual. So go for it. It's hard to come up with something fresh and as they say, "There's nothing new under the sun." But at least you can put your special touches on it and make it your own. Good luck! I'd like to see what everyone wrote so don't be shy. My emal is anavim4him@gmail.com

Don't forget, the contest is happening. Don't miss your chance to write a scene about Kaylee and her endangered bagel. Scroll down for details.

Have a great day!


BORROWED PRAYERS
Father, I commit this day to You. May I be in tune with what You're doing in the lives of the people I meet today. Help me be a blessing to someone who desperately needs a touch from You. Make Yourself real to someone through me today. Thank You.

WRITING TIP/BLUSH & CRINGE
Uh.....well, that would have to be all my typos in the last few posts. *Blush* *Blush* *Blush* I really DO know it should have been heal and not heel. Tee hee. So the tip for the day: Proofread by paper. Some of us have a hard time seeing our mistakes on computer for some reason.

Bye for now.

Squirl

I mailed it!

EEEEEEK! I mailed my ms to a publisher today. I also have a proposal with an agent. That's what's new with me. How are all of you?

BORROWED PRAYERS
Dear Lord, I commit my works to you. Let your perfect will be done in every aspect of my life. My times are in Your hands and I trust You with everything that is in me. Bless You Father no matter what happens. Rejection or acceptance. You never change and You never forget your promises. Help me know my part. I love you. Help me love you more. I believe. Help me believe You more. I trust. Help me trust you more. In Jesus' name.

INSPIRATION
In Mark chapter nine, verse 24 A father has just asked Jesus to heal his son from an evil spirit. The man says, "Jesus, If you can, please heel him." Jesus says, "If I CAN?" I bet Jesus was smiling gently at the man. Jesus then said, "Everything is possible for him who believes." Immediately the boy's father exclaimed, "I do beleive, help me overcome my unbelief!"

What an honest, heartfelt prayer. I love to "borrow" prayers, such as that one, from the Bible.

PS: The boy was set free after Jesus prayed for him. Don't you just love happy endings? Me too.


CONTEST
A few posts back, I have a writing prompt and I'm offering a prize to the winner. Don't miss your chance to win a gift certificate to Lifeway Christan Stores. If you are chosen as the winner and do not have one of those near where you live, I will give you the option of choosing a book.

CONGRATULATIONS
To my friends Dave and Debbie Roberts. David just got a book contract! WOOO HOOO!

PRAYER REQUESTS
Post them here or send them to me privately at anavim4him@gmail.com and I'll intercede for you or the situation.

WRITING TERM/DEFINITION
Proposal: A partial submission vs a full one. Usually entails something like a synopsis(Summary of your story or article) and sample chapters.

WRITING TIPS FOR BEGINNERS
If you can afford it, buy the Writer's Market Guide. They have tips as well as contact info for agents, editors and publishers you've probably never even heard of before.

EDITING TIP
Did you know if you decide to change something major in your ms (like a character's name) that you can go in (for word) and click on find replace, type in the old name under find, type in the new name under replace, hit replace all, and it will change it throughout your document in about three seconds. I also found out you can use this function if you need to delete the extra space at the end of sentences if the publisher you're targeting prefers one space after sentences instead of two. You just type a period and hit space bar twice into the find box then under replace, you type in a period and hit space bar once then click Replace All and it does the entire document. You'll have to repeat this process again for question marks and exclamation marks with the quotations marks for dialogue.

BLUSH AND CRINGE
I put my sweater on in the dark this morning and ran to answer the doorbell. The UPS guy kept looking at me strangely. After I took the package, shut the door and looked down....and not only was my sweater on backwards....tag hanging under my chin and all...it was inside out....with all the strings hanging everywhere. How embarrassing.

Thanks for stopping by. That's all for now.

Squirrel

Happy Monday!

Hey friends!

Hope you're all doing fine on a Monday.

BLUSH AND CRINGE
I had a critique with a multi-published author at a writer's conference in September and one of her comments were that I had introduced too many characters at once. Halfway through the critique she said, "I like what you've done to display Diane's personality here,"
I gently interrupted her by placing my hand on her arm and said, "Um, actually, my heroined name is not Diane. It's Selena."
She blinked exactly four times, put her hand on my arm and said, "Precisely."
I said, "Huh?"
She said, "Hon, you have so many characters in here--you can't even keep up with them, AND YOU"RE THE AUTHOR! How do you expect readers to keep up with them all?"
(She was referring to a secondary character that I had forgotten I had even put in there!) LOL!
She knew my story better than I did! And yes, I got rid of some characters.

WRITING/EDITING TIP:
When trying to learn how to write blurbs, or sentence/paragraph pitches, study movie guides in the paper and in TV Guide. They can condense a two hour movie into one or two sentences.

DAILY DEFINITIONS:
Blurb: A short (and I mean very short) summary of your story line.

OOOOPS! I forgot!!!

How come you didn't remind me?

I forgot today's writing prompt! AND....it's a contest!!!!

Write a romantic comedy scene, using this sentence as the first line. You have a one month deadline. I'd like it to be between 100-500 words but if it's 50 or 600 I'm not giong to disqualify you this time.

Here's the prompt.

"Take your hands off that bagel, Sir. It's spoken for," Kaylee said.

I'd like to see what everyone wrote. My email addy is anavim4him@gmail.com if you want to email me your scene. I'll pick the funniest one and send the winner a $5.00 certificate to Lifeway Christian stores. So go for funny with this one, guys.

Writing term definitions:
manuscript-a written or typed book or article, usually referred to as such before publication

prompt -a challenge, something to get your creative juices flowing. Can be a scene, word, situation, dialogue, question, etc. that you can use as a springboard to write a scene.

That's all for now......promise!

To Send or not to send...that is the question...

Hello folks.

What's new with you?

Here's what's new with me:

I am about 130 pages into my new WIP. YEEEEEEEEEEEE! I started it in December but have been hammering on it this month. Now, of course we're talking rough draft here. I write fast but the editing takes a little longer. I try to proofread for grammar, spelling and punctuation errors as I go, but for craft mistakes, I comb the tangles out (my term for self-editing) in layers.

Speaking of editing, I just found out the girl (Hi Jessica!!!, Squirrel waves frantically) who does childcare for the prayer group that meets in my home is not only an awesome babysitter, she's also a copy editor for the biggest newspaper in our area. YEEEEE!

So many people have been willing to help. Another woman from church (Hi Trish!!!!! I'm sending CY, promise!!!) helped proofread and critique my pitch and synopsis plus first page. She write a humor column (reminds me of the late Erma Bombeck, only better) for another small town paper around here and she called my stuff "gritty." (Can you see my cheezy grin right now?) Thanks Trish!!!!

Plus, it helps that my M.I.L. did proofreading for a living in college and has been an elementary school teacher for.....gobs and gobs of years.

Moving on.....

I'm adding some new features to my blog and on behalf of Camy, my sight has a new look.
I've gone from black to.....well...bright pink....LOL.

New features:

I'm going to add a "Writing Tip of the Day" for all you writerly types.
I'm going to add a "Blush and Cringe" section. You'll not want to miss that. I'm going to actually admit something really, really embarrassing about myself each entry. Feel free to send me entries and I'll add yours to the mix for the world to read, too. HA-HA! No?

Chicken. Fine...let's move on...Since God is the love of my life, and the most important thing and the reason I exist, I will be adding a "Borrowed Prayers" paragraph. I'll post a prayer that you can "borrow" and use as your own in case you're going through a dry spot in your relationship with God, or are still seeking.

Verse of the day: Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for good and not for evil, plans to give you a future and a hope." NLB The New Open Bible

BLUSH AND CRINGE
Did you know when I started writing seriously a year ago (novels) that I didn't even know what the term "manuscript" was? AAAAAND, since this is a new section, I'll post a second embarrassing thing: Another thing I did a year ago was place my periods and commas OUTSIDE of the quotation marks instead of inside. I also ALWAYS used periods instead of commas. Like this: "Hi." Squirrel said. Instead of "Hi," Squirrel said. LOL!!! Thanks to Mae Hanna (another proofreader who had the daunting task of reading through the entire story, first one I ever wrote. Poor Mae, I don't know how she survived it, honestly.)

Writing Tip for beginners:
Do a search and destroy...er...find of words that end in "ly" (Nevermind that I've used about twenty of them in my blog today. Grin.)
Those kind of adverbs are generally a No-No in polular fiction today.
This forces you to find stronger verbs.
Example: She leaned lazily in her chair. (Bad)
She slouched. (good)
Get it?

BORROWED PRAYERS
Dear God,
Make Yourself real to me. Show me who You really are. And show me who I am to You.

Squirrel must skitter away now. Until next time....

Bye.

I'm baaaaack!

Did ya miss me?

I've been busy writing....actually that's not the truth. I forgot where I put my blog! LOL. Thanks to a friend, who gave me my link...I found my way back to my blog.

I'm 116 words in to my newest WIP. That means Work In Progress in case you're a non-writerly type and have no idea what I'm talking about.

If you are a writerly type, I'm going to be giving prompts each time I post since most of us need a *swift kick* to get us going sometimes.

Today's Prompt: Write a scene involving a bridge, a storm, a lady named Petra and a handsome man from the coast guard crew. Happy writing!!!!!

Today's Inspiration: But seek first God and His kingdom and all these things will be added unto you. Matthew 6:33

Blessings!!

Squirrel

Encore

Here we go again....

Ignore me for a moment while I change my settings......


Squirrel