Jacqui Murray's Blog, page 168
May 14, 2013
Tech Tip for Writers #49: The Fifteen Second Slideshow
Tech Tips for Writers is an (almost) weekly post on overcoming Tech Dread. I’ll cover issues that friends, both real-time and virtual, have shared. Feel free to post a comment about a question you have. I’ll cover it in a future Tip.
Q: What’s an easy way to create a digital slideshow that takes no time?
A: The books we-all write traditionally are words, but that’s changing. With digital interactive books, you can share images of your characters, settings, events. I’ve done that for a book I wrote on paleo-historic man. I saw you glaze over. That’s what I mean. For some topics, it’s hard to visualize the ideas and if you can’t see it in your mind, you probably won’t want to read it. I decided to include images of what my characters look like, where they lived, how they carried out their daily activities.
Sure, you know how to do that in WordPress, but what about Windows? Here’s all you do:
Go to the start button
Go to Computer in the right column
Select the folder with the pictures you want displayed as a slideshow
Double click any of the pictures
At the bottom center, there’s a ‘slideshow’ button. Press that and the fun begins.
Occasionally, double clicking the picture takes you to Paints (who knows? Ask Bill). Here’s what you do:
Select Slideshow from the toolbar
In the highly unlikely event the Universe has conspired against you to prevent the slideshow playing, I can still solve that:
Right-click on the folder with the pictures you want displayed as a slideshow
Select the last tab– Customize
Select Pictures from the drop-down menu
Say OK
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Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular Building a Midshipman , the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy. She is webmaster for six blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for Examiner.com and TeachHUB, CSG Master Teacher, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, Cisco guest blogger, Technology in Education featured blogger, and IMS tech expert. She is the editor of a K-6 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-6 Digital Citizenship curriculum, creator of technology training books for middle school and ebooks on technology in education. Currently, she’s editing a thriller that should be out to publishers next summer. Contact Jacqui at her writing office or her tech lab, Ask a Tech Teacher.
Filed under: tech tips for writers Tagged: Slideshow, tech tips, writers tips
May 13, 2013
Writers Tip #48: Have a Web Presence
When you read your story, does it sound off, maybe you can’t quite put your finger on it, but you know you’ve done something wrong? Sometimes–maybe even lots of times–there are simple fixes. These writer’s tips will come at you once a week, giving you plenty of time to go through your story and make the adjustments.
Today’s tip: Writers must have a web presence.
A web presence is your reach beyond the realtime world into cybersphere. Why is a web presence so important for today’s writers? Here are three reasons:
If you have a contract with a publisher, s/he is too busy marketing books for popular, well-known authors to worry about you. That means sales and marketing is up to you. The worst situation I can imagine is after you give away the rights to your baby (maybe you sold them–no matter the price, it doesn’t compensate for the hours or years of labor that went into writing your book), the guy who bought them (the publisher) allows your story to languish–selling a couple of books a month. That’s not uncommon. The only way to fix that is you marketing your books.
If you’re self-published, you are the go-to guy/gal for marketing your novel. You can attend conferences, give speeches, have book signings, but another tried-and-true method that can reach exponentially more potential buyers is the internet. More on that later.
If you’re in between–sending queries out seeking an agent, trying to attract the attention of the person who will love your writing as you do–what better way than for them to see how well you write and how many people follow you. Today’s agents want to see your web presence as a precursor to giving you a chance. It helps them decide how serious you are as a writer.
There are many ways to make your presence known on the internet:
A blog showcases your writing skills and allows you to interact with readers and potential readers. It gets them excited about your writing so they spread the word and you go viral (I’m still waiting on that step).
A website on your book (or a page on your publisher’s website) tells readers everything you want them to know about your book, including the location of your blog, twitter account, Facebook. The downside is it’s static. Readers can’t ask questions and you can’t respond to a trend or personalize it to the uniqueness of individual readers.
A Twitter account gets you out there in real time, chatting with readers as well as other writers, spreading your good word in a personal, down-to-earth way that appeals to many. Each tweet is a quick insight to your readers, having a mandatory limit of 140 characters.
A Facebook account is similar, but has more depth. You can post pictures, blogs, other reader comments.
There are a few books to help you through the steps required to get live on the internet:
Red Hot Internet Publicity: An Insider’s Guide to Promoting Your Book on the Internet!
The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won’t
We Are Not Alone: Writer’s Guide to Social Media, by Kristen Lamb (review coming soon–so far it’s great)
In my case, here’s what I do on the web:
I host several blogs, WordDreams on writing and one on my field of interest and a few more
I contribute weekly columns to several ezines, online newspapers, blogs, to reach people my blogs don’t
I have a Twitter account, a Facebook account, a LinkedIn account (a discussion for a later post) and a few more aggregators and social media personalized to my interests
I have seven marketing outlets for my books, most with their own ‘about the author’ page
I have a Goodreads account, highlighting my writing expertise
I’ve gone on a bit too long, but I want to motivate you to set up a web presence. Now get going!
–Click to have Writer’s Tips delivered to your email.
Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular Building a Midshipman , the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy. She is webmaster for six blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for Examiner.com and TeachHUB, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, Cisco guest blog,Technology in Education featured blogger, IMS tech expert, and a bi-monthly contributor to Today’s Author. In her free time, she is editor of a K-8 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-8 Digital Citizenship curriculum, and creator of technology training books for how to integrate technology in education. Currently, she’s editing a thriller that should be out to publishers next summer. Contact Jacqui at her writing office or her tech lab, Ask a Tech Teacher.
Filed under: authors, business, marketing, social networks, writers, writers resources, writers tips, writing Tagged: marketing, twitter, web presence
May 10, 2013
Book Review: Silent Joe
Silent Joe
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I know of no author who writes such unique characters as does T. Jefferson Parker. Joe Trona (the protagonist in Silent Joe) is yet another in Parker’s stable of main characters that I loved getting to know. He is the 23-year-old adopted son of a politician who spends his entire life thankful to the father who saved him from a family-less life–picked Joe from among all other children in the Home despite the acid burns that covered half of Joe’s face. From that day forward, Trona hones his body to a level of strength that will defend him from future attacks and trains his mind to seek out danger to his father. But, early in the story, he fails and his father dies. Joe makes it his job to find the killers and bring them to justice.
Throughout the story, Parker’s characterization of Joe is creative, fascinating, unique. I am entertained by his take on events and enthralled by his ability to puzzle out solutions. Joe is the only fully-fleshed character in the book, but where usually that results in a flat story, in this case, Joe’s quirks are more than enough. Highly recommended to anyone doing character studies or writers working on developing their skills at portraying the actors in their own novels.
Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular Building a Midshipman , the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy. She is webmaster for six blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for Examiner.com and TeachHUB, CSG Master Teacher, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, Cisco guest blogger, Technology in Education featured blogger, and IMS tech expert. She is the editor of a K-6 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-6 Digital Citizenship curriculum, creator of technology training books for middle school and ebooks on technology in education. Currently, she’s editing a thriller that should be out to publishers next summer. Contact Jacqui at her writing office or her tech lab, Ask a Tech Teacher.
Filed under: book reviews, characters, thrillers, writers Tagged: silent joe, T. Jefferson Parker, unique characters
May 9, 2013
Ten Favorite Geek Words–Part I
I write techno-thrillers, so I’m always reading about computers, technology, the Latest Stuff. Here are some of my
Geeks come in all sizes
favorite Geek Speak words (Computer nerds are so neologistic):
alpha geek–the most technologically savvy dude in the company
amazonned–amazonized, means you’ve lost a chunk of your business to a dot-com.
back hack–when you get hacked, you return the favor
beta baby–child born to a high-tech pro after 1995
code 18–Used by tech support to disguise when they’re calling a technical issue user-caused. They’re so PC
cyberterrorism–terror on a computer
digital jewelry–any hi-tech stuff you wear around your neck–ipods, phones, etc.
edress–an electronic address (IP, IM, email, etc.)
idea hampster–Someone who always has his/her idea generator running
inner geek–the techie deep within each of us
Want more? I’ll be posting Part II, or try NetLingo. You’ll find a clever term for everything techie, to satisfy your inner geek (see above).
More?
Beautiful Words
Ten Favorite Words (Part I)
Ten Favorite Words (Part II)
Eight Favorite Words (Part III)
Ten Favorite Geek Words (Part II)
Seven More Favorite Geek Words
Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular Building a Midshipman , the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy. She is webmaster for six blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for Examiner.com and TeachHUB, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, Cisco guest blogger, Technology in Education featured blogger, and IMS tech expert. She is the editor of a K-6 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-6 Digital Citizenship curriculum, creator of technology training books for middle school and ebooks on technology in education. Currently, she’s editing a thriller that should be out to publishers next summer. Contact Jacqui at her writing office or her tech lab, Ask a Tech Teacher.
Filed under: Amazon, geeks, words, writing Tagged: homeschool, netlingo, teaching, twitter-friendly
May 8, 2013
How To Describe Noses, Mouths, Legs, and more
Can you describe body parts without being boring?
I got a lot of feedback on my post on for characters, A Nose by Any Other Name. Here are a few more that will jog your inspiration:
Face
Brush of make-up and light touch of lipstick
Mouth, neck and chin
Square chin
Strong chin
hanging jowls
slack, hanging mouth
long neck
Adam’s apple
Neck muscles were drumhead tight
Beard gone to white
Thick brown mustache gone to gray
Legs, feet
bowlegged
twig-like calves
Pink toenails
lateral displacement of the big toe bunions
nails bitten and dirty
thickened yellow nails
Hands, fingers
fingers as thick as sausage—sausage fingers
lighter patch of skin on third finger
nicotine stains between the first and second finger of his left hand
wrist cords bulged like roots of oak
Head
Bald spot on top
Bushy eyebrows
eyebrows of white steel wool
wore a ballcap
a single bushy bar above the eyes
Hair
Corn silk hair
Blue-black hair
shoulder-length silver hair with a jaunty clip, dark rimmed glasses, smooth unlined face
Blonde hair trimmed close to the scalp
Shaggy white hair
Teased platinum hair
Hair in a neat ponytail
Unruly shock of prematurely white hair
Cowlick
bad case of dandruff
light brushcut hair
clipped her hair back in its usual twist
salt-and-pepper hair was wet and freshly combed
Hair tied in a severe school-marmish bun
Hair a light sandy brown
Skin
rashes
Beauty marks
tattoo of…
lentigo
Leathery skin
Spongy skin
Steroidal with bad skin
Walnut dark skin that glowed
Brush of make-up and light touch of lipstick
Dimple
Multiple
The pale curve of her slender neck and the way her long dark hair draped down her back
looked like hell—purple bags under her eyes, fingernails bitten to the nub
Body
Thickening at the waist
Shoulders, chest
Big slope-shouldered man
Wide sloping shoulders
broad shouldered
Plump shoulders
Bowed back
Burly man with shoulders like a ledge
Ramrod straight and rock-jawed, with gunmetal eyes and shoulders that seemed mitered at perfect ninety-degree angles
Tall and thin and wearing her hair shorter than the last time I’d seen her
Miscellaneous
Comfortable looking 60
lissome body
Wolfish boy
Solidly built
Chubby, pear-shaped man
Rail thin
Muscle-bound
lean muscular build
Almost fat, always slovenly dressed
he was taller than he looked and bigger
Nearly mythic ugliness
Imposing nearly to the point of intimidation
A hundred pounds overweight with an orange streak in her hair
handsome but certainly not memorable
Pushing seventy
Fit looking man in a tattered straw cowboy hat jammed atop his sun-bleached blond hair
Heavy-boned farm boy
Short, overweight black woman
Big guy, white, maybe forty. Black hair. Wide neck
Thick man with shabby hair
Talk, spike-straight guy with a pinched face
Medium height, pale, stick-thin and leggy with a gamin face under a layered mass of long black hair
Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular Building a Midshipman , the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy. She is webmaster for six blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for Examiner.com and TeachHUB, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, Cisco guest blogger, Technology in Education featured blogger, and IMS tech expert. She is the editor of a K-6 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-6 Digital Citizenship curriculum, creator of technology training books for middle school and ebooks on technology in education. Currently, she’s editing a thriller that should be out to publishers next summer. Contact Jacqui at her writing office or her tech lab, Ask a Tech Teacher.
Filed under: characters, descriptors, writers resources, writing Tagged: characteristics, characterization, descriptors, physical characteristics, physical descriptions
May 7, 2013
Tech Tip for Writers #48: Quickly Switch Between Windows
Tech Tips for Writers is an (almost) weekly post on overcoming Tech Dread. I’ll cover issues that friends, both real-time and virtual, have shared. Feel free to post a comment about a question you have. I’ll cover it in a future Tip.
Q: I’m copy-pasting between a Word doc and an Excel doc on my computer. I know how to do that, but here’s the problem: I have three Word docs open. I don’t want to close the other two because I’ll need them soon. It takes a lot of time to click down to the taskbar, bring up the Word group and find the correct Word doc. Is there an easier way?
A: Oh yes, Much easier. Use Alt+tab. That takes you to the last window you visited. If you’re toggling between two windows, this is the perfect solution. I use it a lot for grading and report cards.
Question you want answered? Send it to Kali at kali.delamagente@structuredlearning.net
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Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular Building a Midshipman , the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy. She is webmaster for six blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for Examiner.com and TeachHUB, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, Cisco guest blog, Technology in Education featured blogger, IMS tech expert, and a bi-monthly contributor to Today’s Author. In her free time, s he is the editor of a K-8 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-8 Digital Citizenship curriculum, and creator of technology training books for how to integrate technology in education. Currently, she’s editing a thriller that should be out to publishers next summer. Contact Jacqui at her writing office or her tech lab, Ask a Tech Teacher.
Filed under: tech tips for writers Tagged: tech tips, tech tips for writers
May 6, 2013
Writers Tip #47: Finish What You Start
When you read your story, does it sound off, maybe you can’t quite put your finger on it, but you know you’ve done something wrong? Sometimes–maybe even lots of times–there are simple fixes. These writer’s tips will come at you once a week, giving you plenty of time to go through your story and make the adjustments.
Today’s tip: Finish what you start
Source: 70 Solutions to Common Writing Mistakes by Bob Mayer from The Writer’s Digest Writing Kit:
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Why this is a mistake: Kind of obvious, isn’t it? But starting a project is so much more interesting than slugging through the entire thing. The middle section of any piece of writing, whether it be a novel, narrative nonfiction, a magazine article, even a short story, is almost always kind of hard to work on. The excitement of generating the idea—the lure of the beginning, writing something new—isn’t there, and the lure of the finishing line is as far away as the shiver of the beginning. It’s always easy to get sidetracked by a new idea while you’re in the midst of working on something. It’s also easy for a writer to do just about anything other than write. Check e-mail, go out and walk the dog, do laundry, take a nap, research, market—anything. I’ve always said the hardest aspect of the job of being a writer is writing.
The Myers-Briggs personality test classifies people as either process oriented or result oriented. If you are a process person, you might have a problem getting to the end of a project.
The solution: Suck it up. Keep those new ideas and exciting other projects at bay. For the professional writer who is under contract this is a bit easier because you know your paycheck hangs in the balance, but even then, I know many authors who have a hell of a time bringing a project in on deadline.
For the writer who isn’t under contract this isn’t quite the case. But understand you won’t ever get that contract if you don’t finish a project.
If you are one of those people focused on the process and not the end result, figure out a system whereby you can reward yourself by getting to the end.
The bottom line is simply forcing yourself to sit down and plug away at it. Knocking out words regardless of how you feel. A one-hundred-thousand-word novel might take a year or several years, and then you just come to “The End” one day. But it takes hundreds of days to get to “The End.” As a writer you have to put in those hundreds of days.
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Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular Building a Midshipman , the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy. She is webmaster for six blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for Examiner.com and TeachHUB, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, Cisco guest blog,Technology in Education featured blogger, IMS tech expert, and a bi-monthly contributor to Today’s Author. In her free time, she is editor of a K-8 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-8 Digital Citizenship curriculum, and creator of technology training books for how to integrate technology in education. Currently, she’s editing a thriller that should be out to publishers next summer. Contact Jacqui at her writing office or her tech lab, Ask a Tech Teacher.
Filed under: writers resources, writers tips, writing Tagged: writers resources, writers tips, writing
May 3, 2013
Book Review: A Catskill Eagle
A Catskill Eagle
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
It doesn’t matter which Spenser novel you read–I suggest you start with the first one, Godwulf Manuscript. They all draw you into the fascinating, quick-moving world of Spenser, the PI. They’re all short, easily read in a few days (in no small part because you won’t want to stop). The early books introduce we the reader to the world of Spenser the PI, where he makes the rules, is honest and caring, but razor-edge sharp, where he was kicked out of the police force because he didn’t take direction well, but as a PI, gets along well with his local police.
He’s like a dog with a bone when he sinks his prodigious will into a case. Nothing stops him. The client may fire him, stop paying him. Bad guys can threaten him, but he won’t stop until he’s ready to stop. He’s funny, clever, full of one-liners I had to write down. For example: “Pearl loped around my apartment, alert for something to chew.” Pearl’s his dog. “Pearl ran to the couch and got a pillow and shook it violently until it was dead, and came back to show us.”
The early part of the series was pre-Susan (his forever girlfriend) and Hawk (his erstwhile sidekick). I didn’t miss them until I met them, and then, for several of the books that I read out of order, the story was a little flat without their involvement.
Parker’s Spenser has been called “the toughest funniest, wisest private eye in the field these days” and “one of the most engaging characters in contemporary American fiction.” It’s true. Read any of them–or all–and you’ll agree.
Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular Building a Midshipman , the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy. She is webmaster for six blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for Examiner.com and TeachHUB, CSG Master Teacher, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, Cisco guest blogger, Technology in Education featured blogger, and IMS tech expert. She is the editor of a K-6 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-6 Digital Citizenship curriculum, creator of technology training books for middle school and ebooks on technology in education. Currently, she’s editing a thriller that should be out to publishers next summer. Contact Jacqui at her writing office or her tech lab, Ask a Tech Teacher.
Filed under: book reviews, thrillers Tagged: action thriller, catskill eagle, pictures, Robert Parker, Spenser, spenser for hire
May 2, 2013
How to Kickstart Your Writing Career
You want to be a writer–have lusted after this golden ring since … forever. You took writing classes, attended seminars and conferences, read a whole bunch of books. You did NaNoWriMo, NaNoBloMo, entered contests. You finished a novel, sent it out–and nothing. It’s like the Void. No answer. No fireworks. No welcoming arms, lauding your achievement. No excitement over the fulfillment of a decade of work.
No biggy. You know from talking to friends that it’ll be up to you to write, market, sell, and write some more.
But how do you do that?
You build a brand. You create a name so when people see you’ve written a book, they rush out to buy it–or at least, check it out.
How do you do this? By writing. A lot.
I have 110 published non-fiction books. You’d think by shear weight, I’d be famous. Anyone who’s published that much must be. Truth? No one would know me if I didn’t (constantly) work the marketing. Because I do, if you Google ‘tech teacher’, I’m on the first page (often above the fold). If you Google ‘Ask a tech teacher’ even without the quotes, I’m above the fold on the first page. If you Google ‘KidPix’ (a popular drawing software for K-5, one that gets tens of thousands of daily hits), I’m on the first page.
Why? Because I do the following:
blog. Constantly. I have 6 blogs and each focuses on one topic. I write 2-5 posts a week on each. I don’t mix posts (except for the rare crossover). I don’t do the ‘journal’ type blog, the one that tells readers everything you did with your day. I don’t believe those are as effective in branding you as addressing a single topic and making yourself the expert on it. And, I avoid politics. That’s incendiary. People get mean.
participate in social media like Twitter, G . A few rules to making your social media presence effective:
be positive
be supportive
be up-beat
be helpful
be free
be focused. Follow people with your interests. Don’t follow others. This means I have 4 Twitter accounts, one for each of my interest areas.
don’t be commercial or sales-y. It doesn’t go over well in social media.
participate in what’s trending on the internet. I keep an open mind for new socialization methods. Who knew Pinterest would become the go-to place for spreading the word? Today, I get about 15% of my blog hits from this still-new networking approach. And how about Instagram? I never heard of it before my students mentioned it–over and over.
network. Join LinkedIn for business, FB and G for pleasure (although there’s a lot of crossover with G . I’m now doing business hang-outs there)
join book groups like Goodreads, LibraryThing. If you love reading and writing, you need a presence there. I post all of my reviews on Goodreads and–much to my surprise–often hear from the authors. We chat, like normal people. Who knew they were so approachable?
link all your online media. When I post a blog, it is cross-posted on Twitter, FB, G , LinkedIn, and any number of other social media locations of my choice. It makes me look busy, vibrant, alive, active–all good characteristics for a freelancer.
tell readers how to reach you and what you can do for them. Me, I created a separate gmail account so I wouldn’t have to share my personal one. I use it often in profiles, bios, and posts.
reblog your posts for six months ago to your Twitter stream. I use a cool widget that does it automatically for me. Early on, I realized I needed an inventory of articles to make my blog/etc look more robust, so I committed to writing every day for as long as I could stand that. Sure, it was a massive time drain, but eventually, I accomplished my goal of offering sufficient material that I looked experienced and knowledgeable. Currently, I have several thousand posts that my widget can draw on. Every four hours, it reposts one. Because I have many new followers, it’s new to them. I often see them retweeted and Scooped.
have Pillar Posts–a collection of your best writing that is easily accessible. Use it any time you are required to provide samples. I showcase twenty-four in the sidebar of my blog. This gives readers a taste of your writing skills. It gives prospective employers an idea of what they’ll get when they engage your journalistic skills.
write for free to spread the word. I got into a massive discussion about the wisdom of doing this. After many posts back and forth (and a large group of writers weighing in), even after being forced to delve into my reasons and understand the whys and whats, I remain convinced it is a good decision for me. I carefully select who gets my stuff for free, hoping they will get my name out to audiences who might not meet me otherwise, who I want to see me as knowledgeable in my area of expertise. I will write articles for my selected outlet for 6-12 months and then re-evaluate. Is it accomplishing my goals? Am I getting return hits? Does the splash back offset time requirements? I drop those who fail my test and add new ones.
attach a bio to each article you write. Mine includes a rundown on my expertise. I had trouble ‘bragging’ at first, but now I don’t even notice I’m doing it.
answer every contact you get. I take them all seriously because I appreciate the interest. I try to put myself in their shoes, consider their perspective as I address their question.
visit everyone who comments and/or ‘likes’ your posts. This is time consuming, but the best way to develop a network. I can’t tell until I’ve spent some time with new efriends whether there’s synergy, so I invest the time.
share your knowledge–as much as possible–for free. Sure, you can’t share everything because there’d be nothing to sell, but the internet is about building the whole. A rising tide raises all ships should be its motto. If you’re not willing to become part of the community, you won’t make it there.
Because I do these fourteen activities relentlessly, people do notice me. I get requests to write reviews, analyze new products, serve on committees and boards, write columns for other ezines (like Cisco), consult in my area of expertise, mentor.It’s not a fortune, but it’s a living. I know from talking to people on my blogs, social networks, some even in person, that the goal isn’t wealth, rather to make a living doing what we love.
Follow these ideas. You can do it.
Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular Building a Midshipman , the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy. She is webmaster for six blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for Examiner.com and TeachHUB, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, Cisco guest blog,Technology in Education featured blogger, IMS tech expert, and a bi-monthly contributor to Today’s Author. In her free time, s he is the editor of a K-8 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-8 Digital Citizenship curriculum, and creator of technology training books for how to integrate technology in education. Currently, she’s editing a thriller that should be out to publishers next summer. Contact Jacqui at her writing office or her tech lab, Ask a Tech Teacher.
Filed under: bloggers resources, blogs, business, writers, writing Tagged: freelance, journalism, writing
May 1, 2013
How to Describe Moving Body Parts
Are they dancing or fighting?
No, you can’t simply say mouth. When you look at someone’s face, their mouth (or eyes, or noses–you understand) do stuff. They twitch, glow, wrinkle, any number of movements that as an author, will add detail and intrigue to your story, as well as define your character. Here’s a list I’ve culled from books I read. As with all of these lists, don’t use them verbatim; adjust them with your author’s voice, to suit your situations.
And, add your own in the comment section. Share with the rest of the community:
Voice/Words
His voice trailed off; the conclusions was inescapable
Spoke in a hoarse whisper
Said with weary resignation
Hollow voice
Voice low and gravely
Voice thick with conviction, guilt, etc
She asked between bites of calamari
Voice cracked and raw
Speaking in quiet tones
Hadn’t realized she was holding her breath
Breathy explosion of words
Tone weary, but cheerful
He dropped into topics she cared passionately about, but she didn’t comment
He wondered briefly
Segued to a different topic,
Voice low, tone uncertain
Something like a sigh
Words were slurred and lisping
Mouth turned up a fraction of an inch
Spittle on his lips
his grammar and syntax were good
She digressed
His voice hardened as he spoke
Her words seemed to lead me close, in hopes I’d provide my own answers
The comment wasn’t a question
His thin voice took on a pedantic tone
The babble of talk died at his entry. He blinked as his eyes adjusted.
I sense a but coming
Meaningless gibberish
Breath came in ragged gasps
Anger crept into his voice
Bark out critical info in short sharp yelps
Tight-lipped
Looked left and right before starting
Sam waited until he grunted back
Elvis fished his name out of the fog of conversation
Eyes/Brows
brow puckered
Raised his right eyebrow
Deep-seated anxiety
General
gnawing at her soul like a rodent’s teeth
Heard little and cared less
Hovering over her shoulder
He waited for me to speak
Stomach heaved
Wave of nausea
her heartache had gone numb
Something nagged at the edge of his consciousness
waiting, he had time to decide that if
Some unconscious process forced him to shut down, let his mind go blank, and work on a problem
Waited through another lengthy silence, my mind flooding with questions
seemed about to speak, but the thread eluded him
Head
Practiced friendly nod
It occurred to him, in the last functioning part of his brain
Muscle in his right cheek flexed
temple twitched
Shook his head and turned back
Headaches (a favorite of mine)
It all made her head ache
A headache flared
The headache, a familiar electric pain behind his eyes
A throbbing headache was developing beneath his temples
Living with her headache
My headache had returned
Thrumming/buzzing/purring/vibrating/drumming headache behind her temples
She winced, brows furrowed tight with pain
A needling headache behind his right ear
The rhythm of blood throbbing in my temple
Skull pounding
Stick hot needles in her eyes
She finally got to the edge of her headache
Head felt like it was filled with straw
Hands/Arms
hands shaking in a palsy of rage
Hands clamped tightly together, leaning forward, knuckles white
His hands crossed in front of him
That fast-wave women do
shook like the wings of a hummingbird, fingers tightly intertwined
knuckle cracking
flapped a hand
Folded his arms across his chest
Soft handshake
Firm, manly handshakes
Steepled her fingers
elbows resting on his knees
locked arms
Face
Worry lines framed her mouth and tugged at her eyes
Forced a smile
her dead mother smiled across the gulf of time
Long face pensive and worried
His grimace that of a man who’s bitten into a moldy plum
Tears started again without sound or movement
Smile faded from his face
Tepid smile
Grit his teeth
Stubborn set of his jaw revealed that he was a dangerous man to cross
Scratched his cheek
His face hardened in concentration
Thinking about my conversation with the old detective
skin on the back of his neck puckered
muscles in his jaw bunched
muscles at the back of her neck tightened
fluffed the hair at the back of her neck when she was thinking
Eyes
Vision narrowed to a pinprick
eyes locked on like magnets
studied her with a predator’s unwavering attention
blinked a couple of times
Squinted out into the audience
eyes narrowed to slits
Narrowed his eyes
eyes locked in a shared understanding
yellow rimmed eyes narrowing
eyes turned inward
peer sightlessly at a wall
Staring sightlessly into the darkness
Stared into the distance
Fixed expression
Looked at a place somewhere over his shoulder
Their eyes met, but he broke it off
meaningful eye contact
risked a peek
she screwed her eyes shut
stared brazenly into her eyes
opened her eyes wide
dark eyes radiated a fierce, uncompromising intelligence
stared through him
focused on an empty space in the air between them
looked for a common theme, a thread of some sort
She frowned–couldn’t recall the incident
For more descriptors for characters and settings, click here.
Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular Building a Midshipman , the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy. She is webmaster for six blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for Examiner.com and TeachHUB, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, Cisco guest blogger, Technology in Education featured blogger, and IMS tech expert. She is the editor of a K-6 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-6 Digital Citizenship curriculum, creator of technology training books for middle school and ebooks on technology in education. Currently, she’s editing a thriller that should be out to publishers next summer. Contact Jacqui at her writing office or her tech lab, Ask a Tech Teacher.
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