Heather McCubbin's Blog, page 33

{WR} Stymied For Writing Ideas? How Do You Find Your Muse? {A to Z Blogging Challenge}

If you have written, or are writing, books or stories how did those ideas come to you? I have a few full stories written and saved on my computer. I have let them sit for months, almost a year at one point, because I had hit a wall. I didn't know where to go...until a song came on the radio (Imagine Dragons "Demons") and the flood gates opened...see #3 below!

--One came when I couldn't find anyone to go to a football game with me and my mother said I should sell my one ticket on EBAY and see who buys it.

--Another one came when a friend said my "Draco" in my Harry Potter fanfic was so far removed from canon, I needed to write an original fiction...thus "Lane Changes" was born.

--A third when a friend had a dream and I thought it'd make a great story, but I couldn't figure out the personality of the main character, until I heard a song. Now,  my friend and I are working on it together.

--A fourth just brewed in my head for NaNoWriMo a few years ago and I just wrote it out/brainstormed and came out with a 30K story that still isn't finished.

How do you find your muse if you lost it/or how do your story lines come to you?

{WR}, Ready? Read...What Are Your Must Reads? {Blogging from A to Z Challenge}

Reading...a great way to pass the time. To live vicariously through others. To take a break from reality, to learn, to experience.

What books do you tell people they must read? What books do you have multiple copies of so you can loan them out to your friends and family?

I read a wide variety of books, from Children's to Romance, from Fiction to New Adult. I recently discovered Penelope Ward in the 17+ series. I've loaned a few of hers out via my Kindle.

In my previous post I mentioned the Stephanie Plum series, plus "Outlander" but I also like "The Burned" series by Karen Moning, "A Certain Slant of Light"...I loved Harry Potter, also.

I cried when I read "A Dogs Purpose" and "Racing in the Rain." I am not a fantasy or sci fi fan but my children are; I don't really read biographies or non-fiction (except Malcolm Gladwell) but as my children were growing up I skimmed different books on child rearing just to see what theories were out there. I read "A Girlfriends Guide to Pregnancy" and cracked up through the entire thing. I'm sure I am missing a million more great reads out there.

So many books...so little time!

A to Z Blogging Challenge

{WR} Quality, Not Quantity: How Many Books In A Series Is Too Much? {A to Z Blogging Challenge}

Climb into my time machine, or the Delorean I don't have, and type in the date Summer 1985. "Sweet Valley High" series. I LOVED THEM! I was in middle and high school when I read these. I used my allowance on the newest book and waited anxiously for it to come out. When I grew up, I wanted twins. Jessica and Elizabeth were now my favorite girl names. Then either I matured, or the storyline got old (or both) and I stopped reading them. And, I don't have twins...

Currently: I love the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich. The books before #12 were "Laugh aloud on the plane and have people stare at you funny." I looked forward to seeing how Stephanie's car was going to blow up this time, what trouble and shenanigans Grandma was going to pull...then the books went on. And on. And Stephanie hasn't made a decision between two men, she still has her hamster from book #1 and even though she has upgraded from a pager to a cell phone there hasn't been any movement towards a finale in the life of The Plums. I feel about this series as I feel about the tv show The Simpsons. It's time. I know it's not a chronological book, but it's time for her to make a decision and move on.

"Outlander" by Diana Gabaldon is one of my favorite books. I watch the STARZ tv series. I read the first four over and over again. Then, when the characters' children grew up and had children of their own and their stories came into play, I gave it one more book...and then I gave up. I got tired of being bounced back and forth from country to country, time period to time period. Lord John seems to be one of Diana's favorite character's and he begins to trickle in and out. He even has his own series which soldified the fact to me the "Outlander" series is done and it was time to move on.

My series "Lane Changes" will have two books published, the third is written and the fourth and fifth (final one with the main character) are done but not edited. For fun, I began writing from Lane's oldest's POV moving forward and it's fun to write. Will it ever get published? I don't know. I just know writing it brings me enjoyment; I'm not ready for Lane's saga to end. So, I can see why Diana did it...and it does keep me out of trouble. But I'm not a world famous author.

And these are just my opinions. How about you? Have you come across a series of books that you think should just end because the author has exhausted the storyline?

{WR} Pants, Jeans, Khakis-Synonyms! {A to Z Blogging Challenge}

I ran an elementary school spelling bee years ago and one of the words for the third grade was "dungarees" and I wondered how many kids knew what they were? Answer was zero. I ended up taking it out as I had to cut the list down.
In writing the thesaurus is my best friend. One can only wear "jeans" so often and I can only use/type the word "said" a few times in a conversation. It is so easy to use in Word. Put the cursor next to the word, hit TOOLS then THESAURUS and Bam! Synonym and Antonym are listed. I feel it is one of my most valuable assets for writing that is on my computer. Besides the SAVE AS :-)

{WR} O is for Orioles and Other Sports Teams {Blogging From A to Z}

I was born and raised in Maryland and am an Orioles (baseball):

 Redskins (football):


and Capitals (hockey) fan.


I currently live outside of Boston so I am in the minority.

To bring a bit of home to me, when I write, I always talk about one of those three sports teams. I may mention them only once, while the main character may really be a fan of a different team, but it's my homage to Maryland and my teams. In "Lane Changes" she mentions the Redskins in passing as she isn't really into any professional sports. However, her boyfriend is a Pittsburgh Pirates (baseball) and Steelers (football) fan as that is where he was born. I am neither but since the characters are not me, I don't really have a problem with them liking these teams.

When you write, do you use real names of teams or places or even gadgets?

 I read awhile ago that you shouldn't reference things like music groups, certain fads or movies as that will date the book. Though, I dont't think you can really get around it anymore. I remember reading the original "Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing" by Judy Blume to my children and Peter in the book had a tape player. Fast forward a bit and I'm reading the book to a 3rd grade class, a different version that I didn't know was updated until Peter suddenly had a CD player. But, how was Blume SUPPOSED to reference the music Peter was listening to back in the 80s? How am I supposed to reference the music that my characters listen to without using the words MP3 player or even iPod? I can only be so vague.

Just wondering what your thoughts on using brand names etc are in your writing and if you do it at all!

Have a fantastic weekend!

Blogging from A to Z

{WR} Nine Things That Scare Me About Writing {Blogging From A to Z}

1) That the characters I write, who are so very alive and dimensional to me, will fall flat with readers.

2) That certain scenes in the story: sex scenes, a wedding, difficult to write ones like abuse, death, drinking etc, readers will think is a reflection on my life when it 99% is not.


3) That I get so involved I think about the story when I am not writing it. Driving, working, a lull in conversation with friends. I wonder if I am a bit obsessed and the only one?

4) My story will become published and people will begin reading it and the reviews will come in...and they'll be negative.

5) The flipside: my story will become published and people will begin reading it and the reviews will come in...and they'll be positive and I won't know how to react.

6) My family will read it and hate it.

7) That my computer will shut down in the middle of working on the story and I will not be able to recover it. Even though, every couple of days I back up onto an external hard drive, I can't imagine the pain of people who have dealt with computers crashing!

8) That some random published author out there will read my story and find something so similar to their story, they will think I plagiarized them and I will have to prove I didn't.

9) One day I won't be able to write, meaning something drastic happens and I can't see, can't use an arm, I think my writing is awful. Any number of things...


What are your fears?

Blogging From A to Z

{WR} Marketing Your Manuscript/Book {Blogging From A to Z}

I started my current series in 2006. When I finished the first book and edited the hell out of it myself and with help, I formatted it to the Manuscript (MS) settings and sent it to at least 20 different agencies.

70% were rejections.
20% didn't answer at all.
8% wanted a few more pages.
2% wanted the whole thing...

...and it still didn't get taken. I was okay with that because I was so happy I was asked to print off the entire MS, send it off and get some valuable feedback. After I edited it and decided to do a sequel, then another, then make it a series that brings us to...today. (I also took a two year break in there to work a 'real, paying' job!)

Nowadays, I feel so much has changed in the way we market our MS or our books. Back in 2006, I don't think there were e-readers, or if so it was a clunky device that I didn't want in my hands. I hadn't really heard of 'self publishing' back then either and now it's all the rage. You can write anything and have anyone in the world read it if you put it up on certain sites. It's an amazing concept.

For "Lane Changes" I have a friend who told me she thinks I should self publish it, and not use the small publisher that currently has it. I told her I don't know anything about marketing a book besides talking about it on Facebook, Twitter, other social media, this Blog and by word of mouth. I don't know enough to build a website (though in this day and age it seems simple enough) and I don't know what blogs or authors to contact in order to read and review it. That's why I want this company to do the first few books.

I don't mind the concept of self publishing, Indie publishing or small starts-ups publishing books. I have come across so many great stories that way and I have come across pieces of crap that make me cringe. I could probably teach a whole class off those books: "What NOT to do!"

What are your thoughts on marketing your MS or book and is there one particular avenue you would take or have taken?

Blogging From A to Z Challenge

{WR} Let's Take A Look At Our Bookshelves {Blogging from A to Z}

Chances are, if you have lived in your house for awhile, your bookshelf is overflowing. Or you need to go out and buy one.

Luckily, we have moved twice in the last three years and I have purged, stored and handed down many books. For staging purposes in our house, we had to get rid of seven bookshelves that were around the house. We are down to three and one is mine, with about 1/4 of the books I own. As I moved, I was forced to really think about the books I wanted to keep. I noticed I had books that were never read on my shelf and when I read the blurb, I wondered why I even had it...so I donated those. All the preschool and early elementary school ones I used in teaching went into storage and hopefully will come back out when I get back to teaching this fall.

From an early age, I organized my books alphabetically by author. Here is a photo of my one bookshelf in my office...until we move at the end of June. Then, I can put up my other four bookshelves and fill them back up again. What do you have on your shelf? (I wish we could put a photo in the comments section so I could see...feel free to add a link if you have a picture of your shelf/shelves).

For the stories I write, I always have a character who likes to read. I may mention certain classics in the story but rarely do I mention books by name. Maybe, one day, when I become famous (ha!) and my character is reading a book in a scene and a reader asks what was she reading I will tell them what was in my head at that moment :-)

{WR} Killing Off A Main Character--Yes? No? Maybe So? {Blogging from A to Z Challenge}

I was hopping around the blog verse on Saturday and came across someone who talked about Harry Potter and asked what our favorite scenes were. I couldn't pick just one, but the quote and scene she talked about was when Snape showed Dumbledore his patronus.

SPOILER ALERT for Harry Potter and the book "One Day" by David Nicholls.

This got me thinking about when Dumbledore died. How I cried at that scene but knew it had to happen. However, in my opinion,  JK Rowling did what she had to do and I could see the value in it especially when everything was revealed at the very end.

Now, we are to the letter "K" and I was thinking about the books where killing off a main character has worked and where it hasn't. One book in particular had me so pissed off if I didn't revere books, I would have hauled it across the room at the wall. "One Day" by David Nicholls was a pretty good read until the very end where Em, the main female character, gets hit by a car and dies. I could not believe it...what was he thinking? I couldn't see past the fog of my own sadness and anger as to why Nicholls chose to do end the book that way.  I will not be able to read it again and I didn't see the movie.

Another book, that I admittedly didn't read but my kids did, was the third book in the "Divergent"series. They told me who died in that one and all three of my kids were pretty angry and upset; I have no idea if it fit into the story line or not as I only read the first two.

"The Elegance of the Hedgehog" has a similar theme as well and I'm still trying to make up my mind about a main character dying in that book. And I read it over five years ago!

In my series, "Lane Changes", I was hit one day with the thought: "I have to kill off a character" and I tried to avoid it. I really did but in the end it had to happen. For three days I wrote this person's death scene to certain songs and I cried. I was slightly depressed I had to do this...so after I got the scene down I stopped writing for a few days to recover. Then I went back and each time I read that scene, the ones before and after it I realized..this is what has to happen! I don't cry, but I do tear up, when I read/edit it now. I wonder what my publisher will think when she gets to that part?

Have you ever come across a book where a major character was killed off? Do you think it worked? Why or why not?

{WR} Just In Case You Missed It...I Changed The Background Of The Blog...Why? (Blogging from A to Z Challenge}

I have thought about "J" for two days and kept coming up empty. And I can usually pull anything out and make it work (like the seven degrees of Kevin Bacon) but not this time.

So, I decided to see how many of you chose a background for your Blog that represents your current Work In Progress (WIP). Or, bring your WIP to life in other ways.

For over a year, I had a Gargoyle on my background. It represented the story I am working on with a friend entitled "Sticks and Stones". It's been on hold since said friend is in Nursing School and "Lane Changes" is actually going somewhere so I need to work on it more than the other one.

Finding a background that represented "Lane Changes" was hard. It's about teens, friendship, romance, heartache, tough decisions and that'd be weird to have a bunch of teenagers on my background. I couldn't even find good street signs that had the words LANE CHANGES on it to use. Then, I remembered the three main characters swim in high school and two swim in college. I went to a high school with an indoor pool; the only one in the county if I remember correctly. So, I looked under the images section of GOOGLE for "indoor high school pools" and really liked this photo mainly because of the reflection in the water itself.

Do you do anything to put you in a mood to write about your story? I talked about music in the last post. Do you change the theme of your Blog? Put up or draw pictures of your characters so you can refer to them when needed?

Blogging from A to Z Challenge