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#amwriting: Three Great Writing Prompts

09/23/2016 / / 0 Comments

Have you ever tried writing prompts? They can be helpful in all sorts of ways, from writing your way out of writer’s block to keeping your writing sharp when you are between projects. If you like to have everything planned out when you write, using prompts might help you loosen up and become more spontaneous. Plus, you never know where an idea might take you.

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Today I’d like to share the writing prompts I used with a writing group at our local library.

Prompt 1. “I Am From…”

The first writing prompt came from Writing to Change the World: An Inspiring Guide for Transforming the World with Words by Mary Pipher (around page 33, depending on the edition).

 

Mary Pipher describes a project to write a poem by starting each new phrase with “I am from…” Although designed to be a project to reveal things about yourself, it would also be equally useful to write from one of your character’s point of view, for a character study.

Example:

I am from New England stock, hardworking and stoic,
All about ideas and problem solving
Emotions hidden, feelings invisible.

I am from Lois and Kent,
Sheldon and Beulah,
James and Mabel.

I am from pancakes and eggs,
Fried chicken and mashed potatoes,
Garden fresh tomatoes and green peas.

I am from trees, forests, deer, and lakes,
Winding two lane roads,
Weather and seasons,
Dairy farms and vineyards.

I am from New England Stock,
Deep roots, cut free.

Prompt 2. Found Words

For the second writing exercise I read a bit of Elizabeth Berg’s section about plotting from Escaping into the Open: The Art of Writing True.

Elizabeth Berg is a “pantser,” that is she doesn’t plan out her books in detail beforehand. As part of the process, she collects objects, photographs, and sayings to spark her work. She keeps these “found objects” in a special project folder.

Inspired by her system, I collected one word from each participant and the challenge was to incorporate all the words in a story. Our “found words” included: open, ecstatic, confused, cat, amazement. We had 12 minutes to write. Much to my “amazement,” some of the participants were able to incorporate the words into nonfiction stories.

Prompt 3. Fall

Since it was the first day of fall yesterday, I suggested we write about fall and try to use as many senses as possible.

Some results:

  • The smell of burning leaves, Halloween candy, and pumpkin pie.
  • The taste of cider donuts.
  • The sound of children laughing as they jumped into piles of leaves.
  • The feel of the cold water while bobbing for apples.
  • Descriptions of the colors of leaves.

If you use one the prompts and post your work, feel free to tell us about it and leave a link in the comments.

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#Thriller: Duet in Beirut

09/21/2016 / / 0 Comments

Have you ever used a novel as research for a writing project? This week we have Duet in Beirut: A Thriller by Mishka Ben-David and translated by Evan Fallenberg. It is so informative that at times it reads like nonfiction.

 

Summary:

In Duet in Beirut a Mossad commander, Gadi, is trying to prevent an ex-operative named Ronen from carrying out a rogue mission. In a catch-22 situation worthy of Camus, Ronen had been disgraced because he had been assigned to assassinate a member of Hezbollah in Lebanon and failed. Now Gadi must prevent him from killing the same target.

Review:

Author Mishka Ben-David served in the Mossad (Israel’s intelligence agency) for 12 years, so you know the details of the story are authentic. Not only does he give the reader insight into the politics within the Mossad organization, but he also reveals what it is like to be a Mossad operative. For example, his main character Gadi is nervous when he approaches the border and he takes off his tie when he observes other airplane passengers are not wearing them so he can blend in.

Ben-David also describes the communities of Beirut in such a way that the reader feels like an insider. He says, “In a police state the path from suspicion to arrest is short, and in the extraterritorial Hezbollah area the path from suspicion to being kidnapped or murdered is even shorter.”

In fact, the book has quite a few lines that are memorable. My favorite quote from the book is on page 263:

“He lacked the ability to continue living in that dark, deceptive, treacherous world in which you can never really know what is good and what is evil, in which the permissible is forbidden and the forbidden permitted.”

Doesn’t that eloquently capture the uncertainty of being an operative?

The most interesting flaw in the book? Someone misspelled Israel in the first line of the blurb on the dust jacket as “Isreal.”

Duet in Beirut is an enlightening look at a complex situation. If you are looking for pure entertainment, this book might not be for you. If you are looking for something instructive about the Middle East, however, and how the Mossad works, you may want to give it a try.

Paperback: 336 pages
Publisher: The Overlook Press (May 3, 2016)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1468313002
ISBN-13: 978-1468313000

 

duet-in-beirut-thriller-review

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#amwriting: Editing Your Manuscript (from an Editor’s Perspective)

09/19/2016 / / 0 Comments

Over the weekend, editor/author Ann Videan presented a workshop at Tempe Library. Ann calls herself a “book shepherd” and she gave 15 tips for editing based on her extensive experience preparing manuscripts for publication. Rather than simply repeating all her tips, I thought I would share some of the resources she mentioned, plus add a few of my own.

editing-tips

 

Active versus Passive

Her first tip was to use the active voice and active verbs, rather than passive ones. She has a post about passive versus active voice on her blog. By the way,  Ann Videan’s website is a treasure trove, especially if you are looking for local writing events in the Phoenix, AZ area.

Deep POV

Writing from a deep point of view (POV) is very popular right now. Writing in deep POV simply means writing as if you are inside the character’s body. She suggests reading Michelle Massaro’s deep POV tips and the her deep POV example.

Punctuation and Grammar

Puzzled by punctuation? Ann explained that most traditional book publishers use the The Chicago Manual of Style, 16th Edition by University of Chicago Press Staff as the standard. It pays to take a look at the copy to find out, for example, whether you should use the Oxford comma in your manuscript (yes.)

 

Publisher: University Of Chicago Press; 16 edition (August 1, 2010)
ISBN-10: 0226104206
ISBN-13: 978-0226104201

Take Out Words Lacking Impact

In a previous post about revisions, I mentioned using the “Find” feature in your word processing software to locate words such as “saw” and “thought” and reword the sentences you find them in. Ann has a whole list of what she calls “useless words” you should also search for and remove when possible:

  • Then
  • Got
  • Felt – only for touching, not for emotions
  • As if
  • Seemed to
  • Like (unless used in a metaphor or as a verb)

Find an Editor

Ann Videan’s best advice about editing, however, was to find fresh eyes to edit your work. Your brain has its own autocorrect when it comes to what you have written and it’s inevitable you will miss some obvious mistakes. Book Shepherd Ann Videan might just be the editor you need.

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#Bloggiesta Challenge: Bullet Journal for Your Blog

09/18/2016 / / 5 Comments

Andrea at The Overstuffed Bookcase has a wonderful mini-challenge for using a bullet journal to keep your blog organized.

I’m afraid I had to rush through this one a bit, because I’m due at a birthday party shortly. I highly recommend heading over to Andrea’s blog and reading more about the potential of bullet journals.

 

blog-post-list-2

 

Okay, I admit I’m totally weird, but I have a lot of blogs so I keep track of upcoming posts in vertical columns. How it works is each column is a blog, and each row is a day of the week. This way I can see all the posts scheduled for a given day and how they flow within a given blog. Sometimes posts on two blogs tie together.

Again, I was in a hurry, so it isn’t very neat and pretty. Hopefully you get the idea.

#Bloggista Challenge: Trying A Weekly Wrap-up

09/18/2016 / / 7 Comments

Jeanene at Got My Book blog has a Bloggiesta Mini-challenge to “Increase Readership & Engagement with a Wrap-up Post.” I’ve never done one before, so I decided to give it a try.

wrap-up-posts

Links to posts published this week:

This week has been a busy one, although I didn’t review any books. Instead, I

Upcoming posts:

  • Tips for editing manuscripts based on a workshop I attended yesterday
  • Review of a thriller Duet in Beirut

Reading update:

I am currently reading some nonfiction books as research for my upcoming NaNo writing project. I’m also hosting the Writer’s Studio this week, so I have out some of my favorite books about the craft of writing, such as Natalie Goldberg’s Writing Down the Bones, and Stephen King’s On Writing. For fun, I have Sue Grafton’s T is for Trespass (Yes, I’m behind).

Links to posts have read and enjoyed on other sites:

Mocha Girls Read has a great list of thrillers/suspense/mysteries to check out.

Oh, just found a list of new books coming out in all the different subgenres of suspense at View for My Books Blog.

Summary:

Wow, writing a wrap-up was actually fun. Jeanene suggests copying a template and starting the post at the beginning of the week, filling in links as you go. That sounds like a great idea!

She also suggests sharing your wrap-up post with a meme. Today I chose:

Sunday Post #231 Thunderstorms and crisp mornings

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Adding a Pinterest Board Widget to Your Blog Posts

09/16/2016 / / 0 Comments

adding-a-pinterest-board-widget-to-your-blog-posts

Having trouble adding a Pinterest board to blog posts? Here are some tips for including a Pinterest board widget for blogs on different platforms. See below for an example of what a widget looks like. (Note:  This is how it can be done in September 2016. As you well know, how to do these things can change rapidly.)

For blogs that will accept javascript:

  1. Sign into your Pinterest account.
  2. Click on the stylized person icon in the top right corner to get to your Pinterest boards.
  3. Choose the board you want to include in your blog page and select it. It should open up.
  4. At the top of the board should show three Pinterest icons. Click on the icon that is 3 dots (…). It is on the right.
  5. A pop up menu should show up. Choose “make a widget.” That should take you to the widget builder page.
  6. Pick the “board” widget option, edit it, and add the code to your blog post as instructed on the page.

Recently, javascript has been susceptible to security concerns. Some blog platforms no longer accept it readily.

For WordPress.com blogs:

If you have a free WordPress.com blog, as of today you can simply add the URL of your board to the content of your post (without linking it!) and it should convert to a widget when you publish.

Example:

Self-hosted WordPress blogs:

To bypass the need for javascript, download a WordPress.org plugin like Pinterest Widgets.

You can download a plugin two ways. Either go to the Pinterest Widget page, download the plugin and then upload it manually to your server,

or

  1. Go to the dashboard of your WordPress blog and select “Plugins.” When the menu pops up, elect “Add New.”
  2. Type “Pinterest” or “Pinterest Widget” into the keyword box.
  3. Select “Pinterest Widget” or another similar plugin of your choice.
  4. Activate the plugin.
  5. Click the settings link (either on installed plugin page or Pinterest Widgets under “settings”) and follow the instructions for editing and adding a board widget.

As of right now, you copy the code on the Pinterest Widget settings page, replace the example url with the url of your Pinterest board and paste it into the text version of your blog post. You should be able to see the board in Preview and once you publish.

And there you have it:

[pin_board url=”https://www.pinterest.com/sandverbena/its-a-mystery-blog/”]

 

Was this tutorial helpful?

Please let me know if you have any questions.

 

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#Bloggiesta Mini Challenge: Pinterest-Friendly Blogs

09/14/2016 / / 14 Comments

quick-tips-for-making-your-blog-pinterest-friendly

When it comes to Pinterest, don’t get caught napping! Spruce up your blog and join us for a Bloggiesta Mini Challenge for creating Pinterest-friendly blog posts.

As many of you probably already know, Pinterest is a popular social networking site that allows users to organize links, images, and videos by pinning them to virtual bulletin boards. Each link is represented by an image and a snippet of text.

example-pinterest-pin

Example Pinterest Pin

Pinning is a great way to keep track of and share information for projects, hobbies, and pastimes. It also helps you to attract followers for your blog and build your platform. Pins have a longer shelf life than other forms of social media. People may discover your links days, weeks, months or even years after you first pinned them.

Even if you don’t use Pinterest personally, many of your readers do and it pays to make it easy for them to share links to your work.

Here are some quick tips to get you started:

Tip I. Include Pinterest-Friendly Images in Blog Posts

Most bloggers know to include images in posts because they break up the text and increase page views (see a discussion why images are important at HubSpot). Because Pinterest users rely on images to identify interesting links, it is critical to pay attention to proportions, quality, and naming of the images in your posts. The good news is that Pinterest-friendly images look good on other social networking sites, too.

Step 1. Locate quality images appropriate for your topic.

If you like photography, you may want to take your own photographs for blog posts.

pinterest image poppy

 

Sometimes, however, you don’t have the luxury of taking your own photographs. If so, there are many places to find high quality images on the internet. Always make sure the image is either public domain or that you attribute the photographer properly if you use an image you download in a blog post.

A few places to find high quality images:

Step 2. Choose an image-editing program.

Adobe Photoshop has been the reigning champ of photograph editing for so long that it is regularly used as a verb (She was photoshopped). Not everyone can afford it, though. Learning to use it can take time, too.

Looking for an alternative?

Step 3. Crop images to correct proportions

Vertical images (those taller than they are wide) work best for Pinterest. The current recommendation is 735 pixels wide by 1102 pixels tall or a ratio of 2:3. I created the top image in Canva using their Pinterest template at 735 by 1102 pixels and then reduced it to 300 by 450 pixels to place in the post.

Step 4. Add graphics and text.

its-a-mystery-blog-2

Remember to include your blog name and perhaps your URL, if the image isn’t too busy. I chose not to add it to the top image because it would have covered the adorable sleeping dog.

Name your image using keywords.

Step 5. Add the image to your post.

Encourage readers to pin your post right away by including the image at or near the top.

Once you have good, pinnable images in all your posts, go ahead and make sure the rest of your blog is optimized.

Tip II. Set up a Pinterest Board to Share Your Posts

Make your posts easy to share by setting up a Pinterest board for your blog and pinning posts to it regularly.

 

its-a-mystery-blog-pinterest-boardExample of a Pinterest Board

I’ve seen conflicting advice whether to give the Pinterest board the exact name of your blog. Common sense would suggest that if your blog title is self-evident and has a least a few keywords, the title should be fine. If you got creative with your blog title, however, you might want to add a keyword or two. For example, the blog title can be the board title if it is “Science Books for Kids,”  but “Wrapped in Foil blog” might be better as “Wrapped in Foil’s Children’s Book Reviews.”

Remember to add a board description using keywords and also categorize it. Most book blogs will go in the “Film, music and books” category.

Tip III. Include Pinterest Social Sharing Icons

You probably already have social sharing icons, but it won’t hurt to double-check them.

  1. Most bloggers have “follow me” social networking buttons on their blogs, often at the top of the sidebar. Once you have a Pinterest board for your blog, create a button and link it to your board so people can receive your posts as you pin them.
  2. Check your “share this” buttons to make sure Pinterest is included. Readers should be able to share your posts to their boards easily.
  3. Consider getting a Pinterest browser button for your browser tool bar.

Tip IV. Engage Your Followers

Some tips for attracting and keeping followers on Pinterest.

  1. Always pin good, relevant content and make sure the pins go to valid post links, not just to the blog home. Nothing is more frustrating than clicking on a promising pin and not being able to find the post. Take the extra minute and make sure the links work.
  2. Instead of simply re-pinning material added by others, mix in some original content.
  3. Pin regularly, at least once a week (rather than bingeing).
  4. Follow your followers. You don’t have to follow all their boards, but it is usually easy to find at least one board that you like.
  5. Re-pin their material (see number 1).

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Pinterest Bloggiesta Mini-Challenge

For this mini challenge:

  1. Either create a new blog post or re-vamp an old one.
  2. Add at least one Pinterest-friendly image using the steps in Tip I.
  3. Leave a comment that you did the Pinterest mini-challenge with link to your post.

For easy sharing, I will pin your posts to a Pinterest Bloggiesta Mini-Challenge Board. Can’t wait to see how they look.

[pin_board url=”https://www.pinterest.com/sandverbena/pinterest-bloggiesta-mini-challenge-board/”]

 

Please let me know if you have any questions. I’m learning how to do this, too.

 

Bloggiesta-Button

Now, back to Bloggiesta.

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#Bloggiesta: A Fall Tune-Up for Your Blog

09/12/2016 / / 18 Comments

Do you have a blog, particularly a book blog? Time to tune it up and get energized by participating in the Fall 2016 Bloggiesta, running from September 15-18.

Bloggiesta-Button

What is Bloggiesta?

Bloggiesta is a wonderful blog party where you can get your blog organized, take challenges to learn new things and, best of all, meet awesome new bloggers.

If you’d like to sign up to participate in this Bloggiesta event, make a to-do list/landing page like this one and then add the link to your post to the Bloggiesta sign-up page.

This year I’m excited to announce I will be hosting a mini challenge:  Tips for making your blog Pinterest-friendly – Now live!

My Fall 2016 To Do List

✅ 1. Fix the links in the early posts that broke when I moved to this domain.

✅ 2. Write two reviews and schedule them. Include Pinterest-ready images.

3. Prepare a video Whodunit Challenge (#5).

4. Post older reviews to Goodreads.

5. Do three two Bloggiesta mini challenges

6. Figure out how to improve the link to RSS in the sidebar (so it doesn’t list a post?).

✅ 7. Add a contact page.
(I’m not sure I like the look, though.)

✅  8. Memes are a great way to keep motivated and meet new people. I plan to go to the Master List of Book Blogging Memes and find one or two to join.

Tried out The Sunday Post meme here.

✅ 9. Visit and comment on other Bloggiesta participants’ blogs.

10. Check out the mini challenges from previous years for even more ideas.

Are you participating in Bloggiesta this year? What is on your to do list?

 

tuning-up-your-blog

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#Suspense Author J.A. Jance: How A Brush With A Killer Launched Her Career

09/12/2016 / / 4 Comments

New York Times Bestselling suspense author J.A. Jance was in town this week signing her most recent book, Downfall: A Brady Novel of Suspense.

Judy Jance is an incredible storyteller. During her presentation she told some remarkable and emotionally-charged stories about events from her own life. She admits one particularly intense event was pivotal because it launched her career as a mystery/suspense writer.

One day in 1970, Jance’s husband was hitchhiking and accepted a ride from a man in a green car. She and her husband lived well outside of town in an isolated area, so her husband wasn’t suspicious when the man asked if his wife was often home alone. Her husband explained that they had dogs.

Within the next few days, Jance learned that there had been a brutal rape and murder nearby. The victim’s friend had spotted a green car at the scene. Putting two-and-two together, she and her husband contacted the police. They learned the man was a serial killer who had killed two other people on the twenty-second day of each month at 2:20 p.m. After realizing the man was dangerous and knew she was often home alone, Judy Jance began carrying a gun. It might have been a wise precaution because when the man was arrested on the 2oth day of the following month, Jance learned that he had intended to make her his next victim on the 22nd!

As one might expect, Judy Jance admitted that the experience changed her. It led her to write her first book, which was a fictionalized account of what happened. Although she found an agent and revised the book, she never sold it. She reported, however, that her second novel sold relatively quickly. It was solidly fiction.

Many things can be taken from this story. First of all, if the detective had taken a few more days to track down the killer, the world might not have J.A. Jance books. On the other hand, if the killer had never existed, she might not have been inspired to write, and if she had chosen to write, she likely would have written something besides police procedurals. Going deeper, you might conclude stories based on true events don’t always make good fiction, no matter how good the writer is.

Beginning writers may find comfort in the fact even bestselling authors may have a “trunk novel” that didn’t sell. Probably Jance’s best advice was that she didn’t fire her agent when her first book didn’t sell, but “fired the book” instead. She still has the same agent, one who has fully supported her career as a bestselling author. What a story!

What do you think?

(By the way, I’m not revealing anything that isn’t already in print. You can read a more about J.A. Jance in an article in the East Valley Tribune from 2004.)

Related posts:

WhoDunIt Challenge with J.A. Jance

Jance interview with Mark David Garrison

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Laura Gibson: Music to Write By

09/11/2016 / / 2 Comments

Do you listen to music when you are writing?

I don’t listen when I’m actually writing, but I do look for music to get me into a certain mood or to motivate me before I start for the day.

Laura Gibson (no relation) is not only a singer-songwriter, but also recently completed her MFA in creative writing. Maybe that’s why this song is so inspiring.

 

 

In case you aren’t familiar, the Empire Builder is a train route from Chicago to the Pacific Northwest.

Some of the lines are haunting. I like that you can see the lyrics so you don’t have to guess the words.

What line(s) do you like best? What kind of music inspires you to write?

foggy-road-writing-prompt

Related:

Pitchfork has more information about Laura Gibson’s Empire Builder album and a review.

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