Ginger Simpson's Blog, page 78

Friday Freebits with Ginger Simpson #frifreebits #blogshare

Howdy.  It's Friday and time for another six from Discovery .  Remember, that's my collection of short stories in which every character discovers something they didn't know before?  This week, I'm sharing from
Joy's Revelation
The scenery whizzed by as Joy sped toward the bridal shop.  She kept her eyes on the road while driving, but her mind drifted to unpleasant places.  How could she marry Scott now?  Her knuckles whitened on the steering wheel.  Didn't he deserve to know everything about the person he was about to wed? How would she tell him, and worse, how would he react?
Hard to believe that for twenty-four years her parents had kept such an important secret from her.  More so, why?  She'd heard about babies born with the genitalia of both genders...hermaphrodites, she thought they were called, but...her?
Tears blurred her eyes.  She steered the car to the side of the road and stopped.  With the gearshift in park, she dipped her chin and massaged the tension headache growing between her eyes.  How could this be?  She'd always felt like a girl, and in her memory, had always been a girl.  In fact, people always commented on how feminine and delicate she was as a child. Evidently the doctor didn't see it that way when they filled out her birth certificate.
Lost in a sea of emotion, she wondered what to do.  Starting marriage with a lie...especially one this big, was not her choice.  She'd rather lose Scott than dishonor him.  Fishing in her purse for her cellphone, she found it and dialed the number for the bridal shop.
"Yes, this is Joy Garett.  I have an appointment with you today,but I'm not going to be able to keep it.  I'm sorry."
"Would you like to reschedule," a voice on the other end of the line asked?

So...does she reschedule...is she right?  Guess you'll have to read the rest of the story to find out.  Discovery is available on my amazon page.
Now, it's time to visit my fellow bloggers and see what exciting things they're sharing:
Jamie Hill
Tricia McGill
Juliet Waldron
Taryn Raye
Kathy Fischer-Brown
Rhobin Lee Courtright
Margaret Tanner

THE ALL IMPORTANT FIRST DRAFT BY RITA KARNOPP

People often talk about the all-important first draft.  After writing the past hundred or so years (a bit of an exaggeration there) I realized early on several important facts about writing.·         Set a daily writing routine.·         Set goals. ·         Period.
Daily writing routine – Let’s give this some thought.  We are by nature creatures of habit.  We generally get up around the same time every day (most times it’s because we have a JOB) and we get home around the same time.  We also eat and go to sleep about the same time every day.  So why not start and stop writing around the same time - unless you’re in a ‘writer’s surge’ and nothing – but nothing should stop or interfere with that wonderful experience.
What works for me?  I make deals with myself.  I finish the book by my deadline I’m treated to a night out with hubby to my favorite restaurant to celebrate.  He loves celebrating with me!  Okay, now if I finish early, which is generally my ‘internal goal,’ I am rewarded a new top or pants (I don’t remember the last time I wore a dress) along with dinner out with hubby.  J  You see, rewarding yourself not only makes you feel good about yourself, your accomplishments, and your confidence, it gets you ‘stuff!’  A win-win all the way around –LOL.
Setting Goals – Anyone who knows me – knows I’m a fanatic about setting goals.  I always think about the comment – if you’re going on a trip to - let’s say Glacier National Park in Montana -  wouldn’t you plan it out, maps, miles, costs, stops of interest along the way, hotels, etc.?  Of course you would – or you might end up in California or Alaska!
Same thing applies to writing.  You have an idea (general plot) you have a feeling for the beginning, middle, and even end (not that our characters always go in the direction or do what we want them to do).  We know how long we want the book to be, therefore, we know how many chapters.  You know your writing style and how long it takes you to write a chapter. (If you’re a beginner – just dive right in.  You’ll see a pattern forming after your first few books.) 
My chapters are almost always fifteen pages each, so I know I can write a chapter a weeks (give or take – I do work full-time and it’s summer).  So, twelve chapters will take me 12 weeks to write.  I give myself four extra weeks for life’s interruptions so I’m not stressing myself.  I write because I love to write – but I don’t plan on exhausting myself or ruining my health to do it.  So now I’ve committed to writing four books a year, unless life decides to interrupt with something serious (like cataract surgery or wrist surgery).  Not every year goes as planned – but it’s not about how many books I can write – it’s about writing and creating books that make me happy.
That rough draft – A writer is a fool to think they can write the perfect story from start to finish and never have to do a re-write.  There’s no such thing as the perfect first draft.  One can wish – but it’s just not going to happen.  A rough draft is meant to be exactly that, rough.  Give yourself permission to make mistakes and have flaws; they can be fixed later. 
When starting your book, as I mentioned before, you know about how many chapters your book will be and that also tells you the word count.  Today most adult fiction novels are between the 60,000 to 70,000 words (different genres have different word count requirements.  Be sure to check the requirements for your genre before plotting out your goals.)
Many writers shoot for ‘words a day,’ instead of ‘hours a day.’  I don’t write with the pressure of ‘words in a day’ because sometimes I write faster than other days.  Sometimes research interrupts my word count.  So I shoot for two hours of work on week nights and eight hours of writing over the weekend.
Keep a notebook – Early in my writing career I chose to jot down information on my characters in a pocket notebook.  It keeps me on track for eye and hair color.  Names and relationships.  I have pictures of geography where the story takes place.  Anything that could be significant in for my story is in this notebook.  I have sticky tabs that break my notebook into sections.·         Names/dates·         Geography·         Plot theories·         Random thoughts.
I might be at work and a plot change might occur to me … or even a scene – and I must jot it down.  Oh, I could put it on a piece of paper, but then I’d most likely lose it (that’s happened to me – and it’s extremely frustrating.)  Have a spot in your notebook for random thoughts. It doesn’t matter if they make sense or not. Pay attention to the world around you and heighten your powers of perception – then jot those ideas down.
Notebook and pen at bedside – A bit of advice. If you write – always keep a notebook and pen by your bedside.  Why?  Well once, just before truly falling asleep, I had an incredible story idea.  It was so fabulous I was beyond excited.  Since it was such a great idea – I knew I’d remember it. Wrong!  I only remembered it was the most exciting idea I’ve had in years, but not the idea.  I will never make that mistake again.

Free rein – So you have a nice synopsis of your story.  Great.  Never – never – never try to control your characters.  Give them free rein to behave as themselves.  Let them come alive on the page.  If they swear- let them swear.  If they want to take a left at the stop sign, turn left . . . surely something more exiting is going to happen in that direction – I promise you.

That first draft isn’t about perfectly spelled words or making sure there are no dangling participles.  It’s about getting the excitement, the flow, the characterizations, and the plot.  Get it all down in your first draft and then fine-tune it into a well written, exciting, emotional, book you can be proud of.

A Page Straight from Candy Paull - #apagestraightfrom

Finding Serenity in Seasons of Stress byCandy Paull

Think of a moment when you felt exquisitely alive--the kind of moment you wished would last forever: standing by a magnificent waterfall, trembling on the edge of a first kiss, sleeping under the stars, being immersed in a project or sport, gazing out on an expansive horizon from a mountaintop, soaking in the glory of a red and purple and gold sunset. Contrast that to moments when you're caught in the insanity of rush hour traffic, a workday morning when you're running late, a hurried lunch so you can get a dozen papers off your desk, and a frazzled evening doing laundry and paying bills. Serenity comes when you stop and give undivided attention to what is, allowing you to experience an exquisite deep peace that helps you relax inside and move into harmony with your heart.

 The Difference Between Stress and Serenity

When you are relaxed and serene, your energy is focused, you can think more clearly, and you are able to organize your thoughts more effectively. You live harmoniously in body, mind, and spirit. Like a cloudless sky reflected in a limpid pool, even the very air you breathe imparts a soothing atmosphere. But most days feel more like stormy seas, with stress and emotional upheaval, swinging moods, and clamoring deadlines. Financial issues, upsetting headlines, and stress at work or school can rob you of serenity, leaving you exhausted and drained. Relationships get tangled, nerves get jangled, and the serene clarity you experienced in a morning's meditation gets overwhelmed by an afternoon of crisis and calamity. And this may be on a good day!

Here's an illustration of what stress can do and how making a simple, subtle change can relieve stress and make life easier. Place a small rock in the open palm of your hand. Now clench your fist around that rock, holding it tightly, keeping your muscles rigid and tense. How long can you hold this position comfortably? Notice how quickly your hand tires. If you hold this position for too long, your hand becomes stiff and painful, and that rigidity spreads to your entire body. Now open your hand again, allowing the rock to lie comfortably in the center of your open palm. Hold it softly, open, still, and quiet. Do you think you could hold the rock more comfortably for a longer period of time in this open position?

How often have you clutched your life in a clenched fist, fighting the natural forces, trying to control and confine life within the small boundaries of your fears and expectations? It is as uncomfortable for the human heart to be clenched and closed as it is for the human hand. Stress is a hand grasping and clutching. Serenity is an open hand ready to receive the gifts life has to offer and to release that which no longer serves. Serenity is choosing to believe in Something Greater than the limits that our life conditions would indicate. Finding serenity is less about keeping your outer life under control and more about anchoring your reality in the unseen of the spiritual realm. There is a Higher Power and an inner wisdom that can offer you peace in the midst of a storm. Cultivating that interior life can transform you from the inside out.

Cultivating serenity allows you to experience the life force moving through you and to tap into the essence of your own being. When you are in a place of stillness and serenity, everything becomes clear and you gain a more detached and higher perspective of whatever situation you are experiencing. As muddy water in a glass settles and clears with patient waiting, so do your mind and emotions settle and clarify when you choose to practice inner stillness. Choosing to focus on each moment with quiet awareness, you are more able to respond appropriately and make fully conscious choices instead of allowing yourself to be driven by unconscious forces.
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BEGIN WITH ACTION BY RITA KARNOPP

Everyone says to begin at the beginning – but don’t forget – begin with action.  You must grab an editor or agent within the first two sentences of your manuscript, then within the first one thousand words.
Make the ‘reader’ care immediately about your character(s) giving them challenges, personality, temperament, a defect or two, and of course assets.
Present your character’s challenge and conflict(s) in the story.  Set the tone; is there danger, suspense, drama, heartbreak, treachery, or betrayal?  Give the reader a taste of what’s to come . . . so they’ll want to continue reading.

Don’t make it easy for the reader to guess the ending – give foreshadowing at the beginning, middle and end that might implicate several possible killers or accomplices.  I so want to be surprised, don’t you?

THE KEY TO SUCCESSFUL WRITING IS … HI-JACKED - BY JERRY B. JENKINS

 For those who are writers – we get it – writing is hard work.  For those who believe they could write the next best-seller, only if they had the time, are in for the surprise of their lives – if they ever gets courage enough to try writing.
The attached hi-jacked article by one of my favorite authors, Jerry B Jenkins, puts it rather well.  I’m sure you’ll be nodding your head when you read this one!  J Rita
Writing is hard work. Don’t agree so quickly. Wait till you’ve been dragged down the bumpy road toward publication a few times. For now, admit that you suspect you’re something special. The exceptional exception.For you, writing will be a breeze. Editors will clamor for your work. You foresee a bidding war over your next book, with your bank account the big winner. Is that Reader’s Digest on the phone?Not so fast. Guest column by Jerry B. Jenkins who is the author of more than 180 books with sales of more than 70 million copies, including the best-selling Left Behind series. Jerry’s writing has appeared in Time, Reader’s Digest, Parade, Guideposts, and dozens of Christian periodicals. Twenty of his books have reached The New York Times best-seller list (seven debuting number one). He owns the Christian Writers Guild (www.christianwritersguild.com) and Jenkins Entertainment, a filmmaking company. He is also a contributing editor to Writer’s Digest.I was talking with an editor friend, a veteran of many writers conferences, who has seen all levels of competency. “It’s rare that you find a first-timer who really gets it,” she said. Writing is not a hobby, a spare-time activity, or something to play at. It’s work.For me, writing is as exhausting as physical labor. After writing and publishing more than 180 books, that still surprises me.Sometimes, on deadline, I’ll sit at the keyboard for six, eight, ten hours or more. When I’m finished, I’m as spent as if I’ve been ditch-digging all day. I don’t understand it. Writing doesn’t seem physically taxing, but it is. I guess it’s a fact that you must be constantly thinking in order to write.Creativity will cost you, wear you out.Don’t ever get the idea writing is easy. If it is, you’re not working hard enough. The stuff that comes easy takes the most rewriting. And stuff that comes hard reads the easiest.A psychologist friend once asked if I would have lunch with him and give him a few tips. “I’m thinking about doing a little freelance writing in my spare time,” he said.“Interesting,” I said. “I’ve been thinking about doing a little psychological counseling in my spare time.”“I didn’t know you were trained for that.” “Gotcha,” I said.When you hang out your shingle as a writer, be prepared for unintended slights like that.People tell me all the time that they have a book in them, if they only had time to write.That would be like my saying I have a sermon in me, if only I had time to prepare it. Pulpit work is something a person is trained and set apart for. If people want to tell themselves they could be the one-in-a-thousand writer who could sell a manuscript to a book publisher, if they could only find the time, fine. They’ll learn the truth when they sit before the blank computer screen.So don’t be one of those who just talks about it or plays at it. Work at it.
Get more advice from Jerry B. Jenkins & other bestselling authors by picking up your copy of The Complete Handbook of Novel Writing, 2nd Edition .

Friday Freebits with Ginger Simpson #frifreebits #blogshare

Today, I'm going to start a new batch of shares.  I've recently released a collection of short stories that were once all published individually with another house.  I was always a fan of the condensed stories from Reader's Digest, and I love having something I can finish in one setting and feel satisfied.  I hope you enjoy six paragraphs from my first story in Discovery :

A Wing and a Prayer :

Set up:  Callie Corwin is a newbie airline attendant on her first flight.  Her discovery is what happens when you judge someone by their looks:

When she reached aisle nine, D seat was empty.  She tapped her toe and waited for the dark-haired man to return.  In less than a minute, he appeared from the bathroom, rubbing his hands as though they might still be damp from washing.  His stony expression didn't waiver when they exchanged glances.  Callie backed away to give him room to seat himself, and in the flurry of movement, his jacket parted enough to reveal what looked like a gun.  Her breath seized.

Remain calm. The number one safety motto drilled into her head.  But how had he gotten a weapon on board?  Though her hands trembled, she managed to finish serving the trays on her cart and returned to the galley.  Margo poured drinks in the corner.  Callie sidled up to her.  "I...I believe one of our passengers has a gun."

Margo's head bobbed up.  Her eyes widened.  "What makes you think that?"

Callie swallowed hard.  "The man in 9D--"

Margo sidestepped behind Callie and leaned around the corner.  Callie yanked her back.  "Don't look!  We don't want to make him suspicious."

Her friend's brow arched.  "Which man?"

If you want to find out more, you can get your copy of Discovery via my amazon page.  Next week, I'll
share six from the next short story.

Now it's time to visit my fellow bloggers and see what exciting things they are sharing today:

Jamie Hill
Tricia McGill
Juliet Waldron
Taryn Raye
Kathy Fischer-Brown
Rhobin Lee Courtright
Margaret Tanner

1000 MARBLES

For those who haven't heard the famous story of the 1,000 marbles, you're in for a treat...
The older I get, the more I enjoy Saturday mornings. Perhaps it's the quiet solitude that comes with being the first to rise, or maybe it's the unbounded joy of not having to be at work. Either way, the first few hours of a Saturday morning are most enjoyable.

A few weeks ago, I was shuffling toward the backyard patio with a steaming cup of coffee in one hand and the morning paper in the other. What began as a typical Saturday morning, turned into one of those lessons that life seems to hand you from time to time. Let me tell you about it.

I turned the dial up to listen to a Saturday morning talk show I heard an older sounding gentleman, with a golden voice. You know the kind, he sounded like he should be in the broadcasting business. He was telling whoever he was talking with something about "a thousand marbles."

I was intrigued and stopped to listen to what he had to say...

"Well, Tom, it sure sounds like you're busy with your job. I'm sure they pay you well but it's a shame you have to be away from home and your family so much. Hard to believe a young fellow should have to work sixty or seventy hours a week to make ends meet. Too bad you missed your daughter's dance recital."

He continued, "Let me tell you something, Tom, something that has helped me keep a good perspective on my own priorities."

And that's when he began to explain his theory of a "thousand marbles."

"You see, I sat down one day and did a little arithmetic. The average person lives about seventy-five years. I know, some live more and some live less, but on average, folks live about seventy-five years.

"Now then, I multiplied 75 times 52 and I came up with 3,900, which is the number of Saturdays that the average person has in their entire lifetime.

"Now stick with me Tom, I'm getting to the important part.

"It took me until I was fifty-five years old to think about all this in any detail," he went on, "and by that time I had lived through over 2,800 Saturdays. I got to thinking that if I lived to be seventy-five, I only had about a thousand of them left to enjoy.

"So I went to a toy store and bought every single marble they had. I ended up having to visit three toy stores to round up 1,000 marbles. I took them home and put them inside of a large, clear plastic container right here in the shack next to my gear. Every Saturday since then, I have taken one marble out and thrown it away.

"I found that by watching the marbles diminish, I focused more on the really important things in life. There is nothing like watching your time here on this earth run out to help get your priorities straight.

"Now let me tell you one last thing before I sign off with you and take my lovely wife out for breakfast. This morning, I took the very last marble out of the container. I figure if I make it until next Saturday then I have been given a little extra time. And the one thing we can all use is a little more time.

"It was nice to meet you, Tom. I hope you spend more time with your family, and I hope to meet you again."

You could have heard a pin drop on the radio when this fellow signed off. I guess he gave us all a lot to think about. I had planned to work that morning. Instead, I went upstairs and woke my wife up with a kiss. "C'mon honey, I'm taking you and the kids to breakfast."
"What brought this on?" she asked with a smile. "Oh, nothing special. It's just been a while since we spent a Saturday together with the kids. Hey, can we stop at a toy store while we're out? I need to buy some marbles."

A Page Straight From Ralph Bland - #apagestraightfrom

Long Long Time byRalph Bland
Our first date was on a Friday night the next week. It was a week before Good Friday and the weather was as perfect a spring night as I could remember. Of course I was just getting to the age where I was starting to compare current moments with those of the past, and this sense of having a personal history was new and strange to me. I didn’t know it so much then, but it was like my first little foray into the land of middle age, and it was unique there at first to be able to say I’d known somebody thirty years or this or that happened to me a quarter of a century ago. I drove to Caroline’s house that night listening to “Light My Fire” by the Doors on the radio, and it occurred to me as a sudden enlightenment that Jim Morrison had been dead for seventeen years. It seemed like yesterday. I was walking around at Waters and everybody who wasn’t dead from the ankles up was in a state of shock.

She lived in the upstairs of a house owned by a preacher and his wife. The house was one of those 1930s barns of endless square feet and multiple bathrooms and balconies and a wide array of bedrooms where the Brady Bunch and their pals would all have a place to sleep. I had to climb a stairway already bursting with ivy and wisteria to make it to her door, which was connected to another balcony at the back of the house, which she assured me was private and peaceful and if it was taken away from her somehow she would never find a way to get over it. I stood at her door and looked for a moment at the wicker chairs and the cloth divan, felt the soft spring night breeze on my forehead and imagined myself here with this girl and the May stars somewhere out there behind the railing and the trellis, and before my knuckles grazed the door I was hooked.

“You’re either the slightest bit early or I’m my usual self who’s somewhat late no matter what circus is coming to town.”

She stood in her doorway wearing some form of jeans that were the deepest blue I could recall, like an octopus had risen from the deep and left its cloak on her, and a white silk blouse that clung to her in precisely the manner I hoped I would. She smelled of something far away, something to the west somewhere I’d never been, and I found myself leaning toward her just so I could breathe her in. Her eyes were green and tiny pearl earrings clung to her ears, and I looked at her and knew she was twenty-two, twenty-three, and I felt the curse of being thirty-eight and the idea that soon it would be all over, this standing here in the spring night breathing in all that was enchanted on a balcony laced with magic, this loveliness within my reach and the beating of what remained of my heart, and I knew if I did not try and catch this dream song and hold it in my head and balance it on the tip of my senses the spring would pass and the summer would wind away into Autumn, and I would look at forty and it would never be the same again. And I said no to the thought, because I looked past the stars and saw what that awful morning would have me be.

So in that moment, on that balcony beneath a Southern spring circle of moonlight and stars, I willed myself to be in love with Caroline. I promised myself the salvation of love and youth and spring.Amen and farewell, I told myself, to all that had gone before.
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WRITER PITFALLS BY RITA KARNOPP

There are pitfalls in every career or job choice . . . so what are some pitfalls for the writer?
·         Do you have a vision of where you want your writing career to go?  You should have an idea of where you’re headed . . . otherwise it’s like taking a trip without looking at a map first.  You’ll never get there if you don’t know where you’re going.
·         That brings us to goals . . . which should be short term and long term.  With short term - schedule daily, weekly, and monthly goals.  o   Don’t limit them to just writing – personal and spiritual goals are also important.
·         Risk is the catalyst that makes you more productive.  This might sound strange and when I heard this in a conference – I thought really?  But it makes sense.  Risk makes you try harder and it also pushes you to grow. 
·        Are you organized?  Don’t waste time trying to find research notes, to whom and what you’ve already submitted, or even great story ideas.  You’re making it harder than it has to be.  Get yourself notebooks (one for story ideas, one for each book, one for research, etc.) and keep everything in one place, you’ll thank yourself for it!
·        Wasting time can keep you from accomplishing what you want out of life.  Take control of time by logging a two-week diary and take a look at where it's going.  You need to maximize time and make it work for you.
    Your first draft doesn’t have to be perfect.  Some writers naturally have to perfect a chapter before moving on – if that’s you – okay.  But if it’s not, you could be a perfectionist at work -and you’re hurting your chances of ever finishing that first book.  Why?  There’s no such thing as perfect.  Every writer learns from each book – and grows – each book getting better along the way.  Try going from start to finish, then do your edits.
·         Have you ever forced your writing?  I tried it a couple of times – it just doesn’t work.  The writing wasn’t any good.  You have to understand your own creative rhythm and trust it’s part of being a good writer.
    Don’t totally isolate yourself.  You truly need interaction with fellow writers and friends.  Without support – it’s easy to get discouraged and just quit.  Don’t let that happen to you.

·        And finally, stay positive even if your writing is screeching to a halt.  Focus on the positive and soon your fingers will by flying across the keyboard. 

10 Simple Things You Can Do Today That Will Make You Happier, Backed By Science by Belle Beth Cooper

This is a great article – and I felt compelled to share it with you.  It’s a bit long so I’ve spread it out to three blogs (22nd, 27th and the 29th).  I couldn’t stop reading . . . it’s all about ‘how to become happier.’  J  Rita  Posted on Tuesday, August 6th, 2013
Written by Belle Beth Cooper
Happiness is so interesting, because we all have different ideas about what it is and how to get it. It’s also no surprise that it’s the Nr.1 value for Buffer’s culture, if you see our slidedeck about it. So naturally we are obsessed with it.I would love to be happier, as I’m sure most people would, so I thought it would be interesting to find some ways to become a happier person that are actually backed up by science. Here are ten of the best ones I found.1. Exercise more – 7 minutes might be enoughYou might have seen some talk recently about the scientific 7 minute workout mentioned in The New York Times. So if you thought exercise was something you didn’t have time for, maybe you can fit it in after all.Exercise has such a profound effect on our happiness and well-being that it’s actually been proven to be an effective strategy for overcoming depression. In a study cited in Shawn Achor’s book, The Happiness Advantage, three groups of patients treated their depression with either medication, exercise, or a combination of the two. The results of this study really surprised me. Although all three groups experienced similar improvements in their happiness levels to begin with, the follow up assessments proved to be radically different:The groups were then tested six months later to assess their relapse rate. Of those who had taken the medication alone, 38 percent had slipped back into depression. Those in the combination group were doing only slightly better, with a 31 percent relapse rate. The biggest shock, though, came from the exercise group: Their relapse rate was only 9 percent!You don’t have to be depressed to gain benefit from exercise, though. It can help you to relax, increase your brain power and even improve your body image, even if you don’t lose any weight.A study in the Journal of Health Psychology found that people who exercised felt better about their bodies, even when they saw no physical changes:Body weight, shape and body image were assessed in 16 males and 18 females before and after both 6 × 40 mins exercise and 6 × 40 mins reading. Over both conditions, body weight and shape did not change. Various aspects of body image, however, improved after exercise compared to before.We’ve explored exercise in depth before, and looked at what it does to our brains, such as releasing proteins and endorphins that make us feel happier, as you can see in the image below.