Author: Brenda Poulos

What A Character!

Posted on by Brenda Poulos

The following is a reprint of a post I made today on the website I share with four members of my critique group http://www.5scribesandtheirstories.com:

I like my characters for different reasons. In Runaways, I like Charlie because of his quirky grammar and mannerisms; I like the way Claire, Charlie’s wife, reacts like a mother hen to those around her; I love Jake for his bravery and the fact that he is an overcomer; I appreciate Hound because he is always loyal and protective of Jake.

So, that leaves the villain of the story, Ethan. For two-thirds of the way through the book, I didn’t like him. After all, he is a liar, a murderer, and abusive to his son. But, then something happened. Ethan started to come alive. He forced me to take a look, not at his outward actions, but at his very soul. He forced me to dig deep.

Ethan challenged me to tell the story of his own past in such a way that it could be woven together with the present, making him a character deserving of the reader’s empathy. He showed me that he was redeemable—that he was, in fact, someone my reading audience would end up cheering on in his struggle.

Yes, I like Ethan because he forced me to take a look at all of his ugliness and, yet, find within myself the desire and power to forgive him. If, as a writer, I could offer him unconditional love, then I could write his storyline in such a way that readers could, too.

Through the power of story, characters evolve and the life lessons they learn are sometimes ones we find that we need to learn, too. Jake, Ethan, and Charlie take us on a journey through their struggles and bring us all to a place of hope for the future.

Author’s Note: God willing, Runaways, will reach publication sometime in 2015!

Brenda

Sharpening the Ax

Posted on by Brenda Poulos

When reading my friend Dee Kincade’s blog a few days ago, I decided to ask her if I could have her permission to reprint it on my site this week. She has hit the nail on the head with her ideas on the importance of time spent in preparation for writing. Thanks, Dee!

A quote from Abraham Lincoln “Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the ax.” 

The first time I read this quote by Abraham Lincoln I thought about the mountains of Colorado where my husband spend many hours each summer getting wood for the winter.

Picture
When we decided to use wood as our only source of heat, my husband talked to friends, researched the best chainsaws, and studied the different types of axes. Before he went out for the first time, he had to learn the art of where to cut the trees—uphill side or downhill. Do you notch the tree on the side of its lean, or does it matter.
I took the liberty to change President Lincoln’s famous quote to fit authors: “Give me six months to write and I will spend the first four learning how to do it.” Though it doesn’t quite fit, there are some basics that we all need to know before we sit down to write. What about the following? I didn’t know about ALL of them when I started writing.
Genres?
Age group?
Three acts?
Point of view?
Show vs. Telling?
Manuscript set-up
What is acceptable in the current market?
I’ve seen people who’ve decided to write for the first time sit down and do just that. Later, after spending several hundred hours and dollars they have their book line edited. Only to have the manuscript rejected because they hadn’t taken the time to learn before they went out to chop the keys of their keyboard. Now they had to do back and learn the skills.
After the first year, my husband would spend a weekend each summer filling the gas cans, cleaning out the stove and flue, and sweeping up the wood chips from the previous year.  Next, he’d oil the chain saw, and sharpen the chainsaw and ax. Then he was finally ready to go to the forest and cut down the dead trees. The preparation, took as much time as it did to chop the trees. However, it was time was well spent.
As writers, not only do we have to learn the craft, but we need to continue learning, stay up to date with changes in the market, and study new techniques.
How do you stay current with new trends and stay in learning mode?
 A note from Dee:  I write Christian fantasy books for Young Adults and the young at heart. If you’d like to
find out more go to www.deekincade.com   I hope to see you there!

Revisit, Rethink, Revise, Rewrite

Posted on by Brenda Poulos

A lot can happen between January and April. A writing plan that is made at the beginning of the year, without revision, will simply not take us past spring, into summer and beyond. It’s time to revisit, update and, if necessary, rewrite.

Let’s ask ourselves these questions: Is my plan still working? Is it still realistic? What has changed in my life since the plan was written? Do those changes affect my being able to carry out the plan? If so, what needs to be adjusted?

Here is what I have found. The culprit in my efforts to keep to plan is time. When I wrote my plan in January, I failed to factor in time necessary for research, webinars, and writing-related reading. I hadn’t allowed for the hours necessary for completing submissions. And finally, I had scheduled so many hours of writing, that I hadn’t left enough time available for my personal life—attending family dinners, movies with my husband, walking the dog.

So, perhaps I need to write a life plan that includes devotions, writing, exercise, volunteering, family/friends activities, housework, and leisure. Writing can be a large part of that plan, but I need to allow for the unplanned, too—that surprise visit from Aunt Martha, an unexpected phone call, a refrigerator on the fritz.

This quarter, I am going to tackle this time problem, once and for all. First, I am not answering the door or the phone during my scheduled writing time. I’m going to take advantage of voicemail, email, and texting by answering once my writing time is completed.  Secondly, I am building in an hour of flex time into my day—time for the previously unexpected, which I am now going to dub the “expected interruptions.” I don’t know exactly when they will come, but I do know with a fair degree of certainty that they will come. And when they do, I’ll be ready.

I am hoping this new daily plan will keep me from getting frazzled and help me meet my husband at the door with a smile, rather than the wild-eyed look I have been famous for these last few months. And, oh yes, I am setting up a reward system. I am giving myself a little reward at the end of each day that I actually keep to my plan. Time to pleasure read, calling a friend and chatting (yes, a real conversation, not a text), enjoying lemonade on the patio, and watching a favorite television show are on my short list.

Your problem may not be time. Yours may be self-motivation or organization. No matter what they are, problems will remain problems, unless we meet them head on.

It all starts with a plan. A plan that is tweaked often so that we can better reach our writing goals. A plan that is rewarded in increments so that we are encouraged to keep on writing on a daily basis.

Someone will write words that will inspire others for generations to come. Will they be yours?

Brenda

Happy Landing!

Posted on by Brenda Poulos

I’d like to tell you about Ben De Rienzo’s Booklaunch. This is especially good information for those of you who are nearing completion of your book or even those who have already completed your book and beginning your marketing. It just may be a game changer for all of us because we must be active in promoting our books if we are going to be successful in the marketplace. This is true for those who are self-publishing as well as those who are going the traditional publishing route.

In a nutshell, this is all about a landing page, which is a single, dedicated, permanent page on the internet used to promote your book. It is a template for a page which shows the book cover, has space for a great headline and welcome copy, a brightly-colored “Buy Now” button, purchase links to vendors, space for your bio and contact information, offers a “Sneak Peek”  (the first chapter or two), space for credible endorsements, responsive web design (for those who shop via their smart phones, etc.), capability of running your video book trailer, allows for page customization/optimization to support your overall brand, and….

I think you get the idea.

I watched his webinar, last Thursday, and the above information is taken from my notes. I am pretty certain that what I have said is accurate, but please check everything out on his website to verify. His website address is: www.booklaunch.io

If you are like me, I want to write—not necessarily spend all of my time on publicity and marketing—and so I appreciate any tools I can use to make this process easier for me. The fact that his company offers unlimited help via phone, chat, and so on makes me doubly interested in getting started. Did I mention you can use a plug-in to put this on your WordPress site?

So for those of you who have a passion for writing, but whose computer skills are minimal, or those who find yourselves in a time crunch, checking out Ben’s Booklaunch may be yet another tool to get your self-promotion off in the write direction.

By the way, I know Joel Friedlander also has a landing page out there. He is another amazing guy whose many products you may want to consider!

The WOW Factor

Posted on by Brenda Poulos

Ross Perot said, “There are but two things worth living for: to do what is worthy of being written and to write what is worthy of being read.”

I just finished reading a book that had been on my “must read” stack for quite some time. It was written by one of my favorite authors and I had really been looking forward to reading it.

It started out pretty well. It met all of my expectations. It was a page turner.

However, about the middle of the book things started getting bogged down. Plot problems, character problems, difficulties with point of view. There were even errors in grammar and spelling.

I considered giving up on the book because the author just wasn’t delivering the goods. I was disappointed. I had spent about twelve hours reading the book so far, and was at the point where I would either have to cut my losses or keep reading in hopes that the author would be able to pull it all together in the end. It might not be a total loss…

Whether the author is well-known or new like some of us, all readers ask is that we deliver on our promises. Right? Before buying a book, the back cover, reviews, advertising and friends’ recommendations help make for a somewhat informed decision. After the purchase, readers settle into that comfortable chair and expect to be wowed.

So, I write this to encourage each of us to write each the best we can. If you are a well-known writer with a huge following, it is just as important as for those of us who are yet to be published.

We all know that it’s no fun doing rewrites, throwing out a chapter or two, or saying good-bye to a character that just never quite comes to life the way we’d hoped. Having to do these things may disappoint us as writers—especially new ones like myself who are excited to be nearing the end of our first book—but the fact is that we should enjoy writing for writing’s sake—fulfilling our creative passions. Beyond that comes the satisfaction of having our books read and appreciated by our audience and, of course, earning an income from what we do from our hearts.

It may take a little longer before that next book comes to the marketplace, but it will be more satisfying if we know that our readers are getting the “good read” they expect—and deserve.

If you recognized this as a major vent, thanks for reading on to the end. I feel a lot better now.

Brenda

Speak Up!

Posted on by Brenda Poulos

A friend of mine at church has been after me to join Toastmasters. He knows that I struggle with public speaking and how that hinders some of my involvement in church. He also is aware of something that I hadn’t thought about until very recently: in order to be a recognized name in the field of writing, one also must be a decent public speaker.

Self-promotion is the name of the game. Yes, even though we writers may say it is about the message in our writing (which, of course, it is) no one will “get it” if they don’t hear about us.

Blogs, Facebook, Twitter—these are certainly tools to accomplish the same thing. But none of these, alone, will accomplish what “in person”, face-to-face contact will do. Whether it is speaking at a critique group, local writing club or writing conference, our spoken words are powerful ways to connect to others.

There’s just nothing like seeing—and hearing—a confident speaker in person. It starts with the self-confidence from within. That self-confidence is built by years of experience in snatching up speaking opportunities wherever, and whenever, they come along. If we don’t, we may very well be giving up our opportunity to be heard via our writing, also.

So, we have to get over our insecurities and fear of public speaking by building our confidence in doing exactly the very thing we are most afraid of. If a public speaking group like Toastmasters can help, then I’m going to give it a try. Go out on a limb. Push myself to my most uncomfortable limit.

The problem is, even while I write these words, I can feel my heart rate escalating. I feel the all-too-familiar hives creeping up toward my neck—and I haven’t even left the house, yet!

In one of my earlier blogs I stated that this fear of public speaking could be circumvented by writing, instead. That was so naive on my part. You can run, but you can’t hide. You can avoid it for years, but if we are honest with ourselves, it can actually feel good to face our fears. I suggest we get out there and do something about it.

There’s a Toastmaster’s group that meets twice a month at our community clubhouse. I know this because I jotted down the place and time on my desk calendar a few months ago. My note to myself to contact them stares me in the face each time I sit down at the computer. I want to call, but…

There are opportunities to speak at schools, public libraries, even bookstores. I am missing out on them because I haven’t taken the first step toward facing my fear of public speaking. I need to get started by taking the first step, in a series of steps, and call the number I scribbled down months ago.

I can start. So can you. We cannot make a difference in the world if we are not able to articulate our message, both in written and spoken speech.

We’ve come too far to quit, now. We still have so much to say!

Let’s blurt it out—shout it out!

This time, don’t pick up the pen. Grab your telephone, instead, and dial the number for a public speaking self-help group in your area. After that, send a comment sharing what you’ve found helpful in your own life.

 

Brenda

Did you lose your voice, or just have a “scratchy throat”?

Posted on by Brenda Poulos

I woke with a scratchy throat. An hour or so later, that was followed by chills and a fever. My energy was zapped and my strength gone by the middle of the day. I called for a substitute and went home to bed at 1:00 p.m.

I remained at home for the next 48 hours, but felt better by the middle of the week. I decided to try to go back to work.  I was able to maintain control of the class (if you’ve ever been a classroom teacher, you know what I mean…kids can sniff out a teacher who doesn’t feel quite up to par…) until shortly before noon when the unthinkable happened: I lost my voice.

That was when I lost control. When no one is listening, the effect can be devastating.

What happens to us, as writers, when we lose our “voice”? After all, let’s be honest, our voice is our writing and if we lose that, well, how does that affect our performance? And, is it possible to regain our voice after a brief lapse in technique, or a period of time when our creativity lags? When we just don’t feel we are quite hitting the mark with our words?

I think there are days, in any profession, when we are just “off”. For whatever the reason— illness, distractions, catastrophic events, difficulties in our interpersonal relationships, even changes in the weather—we just don’t perform to our expectations. We become disappointed in ourselves. We may even feel that we’ve let others down.

May I suggest that it may not be realistic to expect ourselves to function at optimal levels every day—each time the door opens, each time the bell rings?

God grants us grace, so why not follow His example and extend a measure of the same to ourselves? Remind ourselves that it’s o.k.  That although we may strive for perfection, it’s just not realistic to expect it of ourselves in each and every circumstance.

Let’s tell ourselves that things WILL get better because, you know what? They WILL!

You WILL find your niche, again. You WILL discover more hidden talents. You WILL reconnect with those creative ideas!

The computer keys will once again be pounded by a person ignited by the next great thought. That article or book will be completed by someone who was gentle enough with themselves to allow for days when ideas germinated, rather that came easily onto the page… days when they thought they’d lost their voice, only to find out that it was just resting a little…until their heart healed, until the things of life settled down once more, until they learned a difficult life lesson, until they took a break in the middle of the afternoon and went home to bed.

Brenda

Balancing Act

Posted on by Brenda Poulos

If you’re anything like me, you have a stack of books somewhere in your house that keeps getting taller. It seems like every book you read is replaced by one or two more!

The fact is, writers like to read. Need to read.

I’m not just talking about pleasure reading, which is a “given”. Every writer I have ever met has told me that it was the love of reading that sparked within them the desire to write.

No, I’m talking about reading about writing. The craft. Punctuation and grammar to be sure, but also reading about genres, point-of-view, voice, character development, plot and hundreds of more things we need to consider—need to master—in pursuit of excellence.

Once I started writing, I quickly realized the necessity of erecting two stacks of books. One I dubbed “Pleasure”; the other, simply “About Writing”. I have a rule concerning these books: Read from both stacks, simultaneously, so that I fulfill my need for learning AND for enjoyment.

So, what’s next on my stacks? James Scott Bell’s How to Write Dazzling Dialogue and Steven Pressfield’s Turning Pro are on top of the “About Writing” stack. And for pleasure, next up is Chapel Springs Revival by Ane Mulligan.

So, whether you keep an actual physical stack of books, like I do, or simply a list of “Must Reads”, my suggestion is that you try to balance your reading. After all, didn’t you hear this expression as a child? “All work, and no play, makes Jack a dull boy.”

 

Please visit http://www.spiritual snippets.com and http://www.5scribesandtheirstories.com to see what is going on there.

Write or Rewrite?

Posted on by Brenda Poulos

Here’s what I think. Plain and simple. It’s a LOT more fun to write than to rewrite. In the case of writing, it’s the creative surge within—and as it flows out—onto the paper that makes it so enjoyable.

One moment the page is blank. Within a few minutes, the page is half-filled.

One moment, it is a small spark in the brain. The next, it is a living, breathing, growing organism.

A thought begets another thought. And that thought multiplies into a grouping of thoughts that are just begging to be a story. And that story is NOT GOING TO WAIT!

The ideas are coming so fast that there’s no time to check for grammar, spelling, or errors of any kind. They spill out and if they aren’t acknowledged right away, they fade, sneak, or even run away. It’s hard to recoup them. Often, it’s not possible.

So, like many of you, I have carry a pad of paper in my purse and a notebook in my car. If an idea comes into my head, I pull over and scribble it down. If I’m in a restaurant, a napkin may have to suffice. In the doctor’s office, I once wrote down an idea on the paper liner from the exam table. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

So what happens when you are in the middle of writing and someone calls you to say, partake of luscious ribs from the grill?

That’s what just happened to me. Seriously. In the middle of writing this blog, my husband announced that the ribs were ready a good hour earlier than I had expected.

Now, I couldn’t disappoint the chef (or my stomach) so I closed down my writing program and graced my husband with my presence at the table. The ribs were great and I wasn’t sorry I let them interrupt my writing, but now I am back in front of the computer and I’m stalling…

Why? Because I’ve lost my momentum, my train of thought. I’ve forgotten where I was headed with all of this. Things aren’t quite gelling the way I had hoped. Scratch that. The way I had planned.

So, what should I do? Sit here and wait for inspiration? Pray for instant recall?

I’m gonna give this what I call the “Fifteen Minute Rule.”  This means that if, within the space of fifteen minutes, nothing earth shaking or mind blowing has taken place, I’m shutting it down. That’s right. I’m powering off.

Why? Because it is much more fun to write. Not so much fun to rewrite. (Editing, well that’s just a necessary evil. But that’s not what I’m writing about.) It’s not as exciting when you’ve lost that edge, that quirky way of expressing something ordinary in a new and different way that makes us all sit up and take notice and say: “Wow! That’s sure a new twist” or “Hum, I never thought about it that way before.”

So, go ahead and have a plate of delicious ribs, if you want to. But, as for me, I think I’ll pass—next time.

GO FOR IT!

Posted on by Brenda Poulos

So, here it is. A brand new year. If you’re like me, you contemplate making a few resolutions—goals for your lives, for your writing. Rather than hear about mine, perhaps now is the time to spend a few minutes in reflection of the past year and set your face toward the future. Will you be content to let the days go by without a plan, or will you resolve, as I have, to attempt more control over your writing life?

I say make a plan. Put it out there for all to read and enjoy their encouragement along the way—every day of 2015. Spotlight your goals. Update often. Revise when necessary. Feel free at any time to scrap them, rethink them, rewrite them. Go for it.

If you don’t start out to achieve, I think it is dead certain that you won’t. I’ve never heard of an athlete, musician, or public figure that didn’t work toward their goal, on a daily basis. One step, one note, one idea at a time.

One stroke of a key can mean the difference between meeting that goal or forever wishing that you had. It’s all at the tip of your fingers.

That next broken record, sonata, or humanitarian act is just waiting for someone to achieve it. Will it be you?