Wow – I came home from vacation to an email telling me I won 3rd Place in the Inspriring Writers Contest!
I’ll have to write more about this later – I’m exhausted from the vacation 🙂 but so excited about the win!
Have you ever asked a few friends to read your latest manuscript and asked them for feedback? Did you get any? Whenever I have done this, I receive many enthusiastic comments. Which are lovely – because I have lovely friends! 🙂 But, they weren’t helpful. The things I needed to know, were not things they were trained to spot.
While it is nice to hear happy comments about your story, the most helpful comments fall under the category of ‘criticism.’
The words will bust out of you in one way or another – you might as well make a story from them. Do you have words hopping around in your head? Are you trying to grab hold of just one of them? Words are like bunnies – grab two and pretty soon you’ll have a whole book full.
You know what I mean. Sitting down to write and then writing are two different things.
I am participating in the Writing Contest: You Deserve to be Inspired. Hosted by Positive Writer.
I wanted to be a writer. I wanted to sit at my desk and write stories left and right, mailing them to publishers hot off my printer. I’m good enough to be able to do it too. (I told myself)
I’m also a quilter. I make quilts, design them and write the instructions.
There are some people who believe you can only do the things you have a talent for. I’m not one of them. If you have a desire to learn something, to learn how to do something – you can! I’ve proved it.
I wanted very much to draw, to paint with watercolors and to use colored pencils in art. Basically I like all kinds of art, and if I like it,
As writers and authors, we’ve all read many self-editing books and articles. We know about showing and not telling, and RUE, and formatting, and all kinds of other things. Today, let’s talk about the obvious.
Punctuation – is it in the proper place? Which sentence is correct?
- “Why didn’t you tell me”?
- “Why didn’t you tell me?”
The problem is, we know what it’s supposed to say,
Write with joy. You can paint pictures with words. Your words can make your reader laugh or cry.
Write from your heart. Reach deep into your emotions to touch your reader.
Write with diligence. If your words merit paper, they deserve the hard work to turn them into a story.
Write with commitment. If you’re going to be a writer – Be a Writer. Don’t waffle.
Write uninhibited.
Lots of us are writers. You may not think you’re a writer, but let’s consider if that’s true.
“A writer is not just someone who writes. In her head, it’s words all day.” Eliot Rose
Do words crowd your mind? Do you people-watch and find fragments of stories flying through your brain? Do you look longingly at fresh, clean paper and that fountain pen? Do you compose what you’re going to say in your mind,
Because – in my world – grammar is scary, I do what I can to make it friendly. Who can be afraid of these guys?
Comma’s seem to be the inspiration for many stressful sentences. Do we use a comma after But or too or to or not? Yes, sometimes. Therein lies the problem. When in doubt, we go to the source – the Chicago Manual of Style.
So,
I admit it – I’m afraid of grammar. It’s big and noisy, and it hardly ever makes sense. But, to play with words properly, I have to learn it. I didn’t say, ‘I had to learn it.’ No, I said, ‘I have to learn it.’
I have to learn it every day. I have to refresh my knowledge every day. And I still have to look things up when I’m working on a project.