Elizabeth Spann Craig's Blog, page 246

Out Visiting

Hi everybody!

I somehow double-booked myself today with guest posts. :) I'm both at Deb's Powered by Books blog where I'm posting on the pros and cons of our characters coming to life, and at Inkspot where I've written about the trouble we get into when we don't think things through when we're writing.

Hope you can pop by for a visit. :)

Freaking Myself Out

So y'all know my philosophy toward writing a first draft—get the thing thrown on paper. Don't stop to edit. Don't stop to research. Don't stop to think up last names for these characters, just mark them *** to make later. Just get the first draft done.

So five or six weeks into the process, I have a first draft.

And boy, does it need revising!

I'm now revising my first draft of the Memphis Barbeque series book two. And I'm reading along, thinking that actually, it's pretty...

Links for Writers

I've gotten to the crazy point in my association with Twitter that I think everybody is on Twitter. It's amazing how quickly the application messes with your mind.

I thought I'd post some writing links that I've come across lately that I thought were helpful or interesting. I've posted all of these on Twitter, so my apologies to my Twitter followers for the repost:

10 mistakes writers don't see (but can easily fix when they do): http://tinyurl.com/5e7apa

5 guaranteed ways to hate your own...

Bookless

Do you know how you have so much going on and there are small things that you mean to check on, but they slip through the cracks? Then you remember them again…then you forget them again…then you finally act on them.

I'm going to be vague here because I don't want anyone losing their job over this.

My daughter goes to a particular activity that I drop her off for. At one point during this activity, she goes to a cafeteria for a snack. I do also pack a snack, but there are other...

Pre-Writing-Tart Style—by Hart Johnson

Today, I'm welcoming Hart Johnson to the blog. Hart is currently working on the third book of her Conspiracy trilogy and blogs at Confessions of a Watery Tart on writing, digressions, and her road to publication.

For those of you who don't know me, I go by the Watery Tart in several areas of my life, and it's true that I have trouble behaving myself, so why should my writing plans be any different? A few weeks ago when Elizabeth asked for volunteers to guest blog, though, I thought.....

Thoughts on Blogging

Blogging is one of my favorite activities. Whether I'm reading blogs or writing them, or tweeting about them, I feel like I'm learning an incredible amount from the process.

I blogged daily from last May until late January (when I started opening up the blog to guest posts). So now I'm blogging on average about 6 days a week.

The good thing about blogging daily, if you can swing it, is:

It's a good writing exercise.
It's a great way to establish a writing discipline.
It's excellent ...

What's Unique about the Writer's Lens

I've noticed that many people I know view life through a lens.

Some of them use a political lens—they look at everything in relation to politics.

Many use religious lenses.

There are some that use a financial lens: everything boils down in terms of money.

There are egocentric lenses…how everything in life affects them.

There's even a motherhood lens—how life's hardships and joys affect their children or the raising of them.

The big thing that seems to set writers apart, to me, is...

What's Scary

My now eight year old daughter was in preschool for a couple of days a week to give me a break—and some time to do some writing. This always seemed to work out well for both of us.

Except when she was two. That's when separation anxiety kicked into high gear. Her poor teacher that year was a sunny, small, smiling, blonde mother of two. Mrs. Heinz would greet my daughter in a cheerful voice. My daughter would scream bloody murder and cling to me in a way that necessitated her being pulled ...

Reactions

Sunday morning I woke up with a stiff neck. Since Sunday was really busy for me, I just ignored it. I continued ignoring it the entire day…until I sat down to write this post and started thinking about it again.

But what if I weren't a busy mom? What if I were an Olympic athlete? I'd be devoting some time trying to resolve the problem. Maybe I'd take some ibuprofen (or maybe not—not sure about the drug testing there.) Maybe I'd put ice, then a heating pad on it. I'd be talking to my...

Indicators

I took a quick trip to South Carolina Friday and Saturday to see my folks and talk to Mama's book club.

On the way back home Saturday morning, I suddenly realized I needed to get gasoline…and was hungry. I pulled off the next highway exit into a small town that I'd passed on the interstate for years and never been to.

The highway sign had been misleading—yes, there was a Chick-fil-A fast food place there…three miles in. So I ended up driving through a good amount of the town's main...