Giveaway of the Day

Hey,
I have a new item. Giveaway of the day. Yes, I am participating with them to spread the word about programs you can get for FREE. Check out the link to the right. Each day there will be a new program you can try completely free. No strings attached.

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In other news....
I have been writing a lot lately and neglecting my blog. I'm in the revision stage with my chapter book. Once I complete the grammar edits and slight revisions I will be working closely with an illustrator to get exactly what I want for the cover and the six or seven illustrations needed to complete the book. I also need a photograph for the back cover so I have a lot of work to do in the next couple of months. I had no idea there were so many decisions to make. Yikes.
It is a lot of fun and a ton of work to get the book from my mind to the shelves of a bookstore.

Ebook coming out soon as well. I will try to update this blog in the next few days with some organization tips for revising and editing. Look for those!

Ta ta for now.

Reading, Writing and Snow.

Where Things Stand :

1. I put the novel on the back burner and have been doing some ghostwriting.
2. If anyone ever asks me to write 20 keyword articles on one subject again...
   remind me to SAY No. (or just shoot myself and put myself out of misery fast)
3. I've been reading more aricles, ebooks and resources on "how to" write, flesh out characters, plot and get writing accomplished.... Funny thing. I'm not writing much.
   
4. I need to snap out of this Depression. (the pills aren't working)
5. Ick, I have a colonoscopy on Thursday. More information than you wanted eh?

Anyone else feel like a snowball fight?
I wanna go Christmas shopping. Kinda hard to do when you have less than $63 to your name.
Humbug.

Technorati Tags:update, depression, snowball fight, flat broke

Does Spam Flood Your Email?

Yikes, my computer spit tons of emails out and I almost got lost under the pile. I keep resetting the filters and yet the spam persists. What is the deal? Who keeps sending all this JUNK EMAIL?

Wading through email wastes time and keeps me from my creative process, yet is also kept me from thinking about my novel for a few hours. For that I guess I am grateful.

One a lighter note, I spent time today working on a new assignment. I am writing 20 artilces I've been commissioned to write as a ghostwriter. The pay is decent since it comes right before Christmas and my son will be coming soon and then my father.

I also got my Christmas cards out today... I will spend tomorrow getting those ready to mail.
So, all in all I am getting past the depression of ditching my novel. Thanks for the feedback folks It helps.

Technorati Tags:anti spam, novel, WIP

Blog Browsing for fun

When your nose is stuffed up and you just ditched the novel you've been working on for several years, what do you do? Go Blog browsing of course! Yep. I spent the day browsing funny blogs and vegging out on the couch.
I bought something from a Yahoo auction and organized my folders. Pretty sad eh?
Perhaps I'll be back on track soon.
Look for my resource section to be beefed up soon now that I am more organized.

Technorati Tags:Blog browsing

Novel Changes may be in order.

I've been thinking of changing my novel into a novella or even a series of short stories. This is a serious decision. Reading up on characters and plot has lead me in this direction. My main character is based a little too much on ME. Everyone says NOT to do this. The realization of my mistake has brought with it a huge rush of depression and great doubts. Do all authors feel this way? I've been sick with this horrid cold for over a week and I wonder if my brain is just too muddled to make a decision right now.

Oh, and my blog went wacky on me yesterday. So life is kindy screwy right now. I think I'll just go back to bed.

Technorati Tags:psychological thriller, novel, WIP, depression

More conflict

After the initial conflict I got stuck. The rising tension is where I'm struggling. Beth isn't experiencing enough trouble. Yes, she is stressed out, but she needs to have one bad thing happen after another. See the graph.
[Materials from Pedar Hill's site again]
I realized I needed more catastrophes. I need to raise the stakes. Beth has to be near the end of her rope or my readers won't route for her. I need them to be praying for her to be hoping she wont give in to the darkness. I need my readers to identify with her and hope for her. Her goal has to seem unreachable at this point. She has to seem beaten. Then, and only then can I introduce the denoument. The Black moment. The instance where Beth will draw upon all her inner strength....all she has learned up until then and then she will use it to defeat (ooops....no telling) Well you get the idea.

Technorati Tags:Pedar Hill, writing , WIP, protagonist

1st page of my novel

In the Silent Darkness January 1977 Suspended in a hazy place in time, eyelids heavy as the morning fog over the bay, senses not quite awake, the young girl stirred. Far from her comfortable warm bed, her bare foot scraped along a dirt floor. A damp, penetrating cold surrounded her, creeping deep into her bones. Her mind searched in those last frantic moments before waking. What’s going on here? Rubbing her eyes and moving around as she did most mornings, she found things were wrong. All wrong, in fact. Her sheets must have come off in the night. Moaning, with her first tenative movements, she fumbled for the blankets to cover her ice-cold arms. Finding none puzzled her only to a degree. As she shifted, every muscle cried out as if she fought evil spirits in her sleep. Perplexed at the dirt collecting under her fingernails, her eyes fluttered open again trying harder to shake the morning cobwebs loose. Then, a feeling of dread flooded her heart. Piecing together fragments of the previous day brought some clarity to her morning horror. She was not tucked safely in her bed having a nightmare. Oh God. It’s not my imagination. I’m really awake. It wasn’t a dream. Panic, oh I can’t panic. What do I do now? What mother could lock their eleven-year- old in the cellar? Why? Why me? Am I really so horrid? Does anyone know I am here? When will she let me out? Wont they miss me at school? Oh God, please let this be over soon. I’m afraid. Tripping and fumbling many times in the darkness, not a speck of light to guide her, she half-walked, half-crawled along the rough cement wall to connecting wall of the single car garage. In less than a moment, her elation over finding the rough, wooden doorway in her dark hell-hole, was replaced. A hurried examination of the padlocked door found it secure as expected. Turning around she’d almost stumbled over the bottom stair leading up to the kitchen. No chance she’d get out that route. She’d heard the lock engage last night. Right then, a biting cold set in every muscle and joint as if the warmth had been sucked up the stairs with Kathryn’s final slam of the door. Still the optimist, she’d crept toward the steps several times, only to stop on the first or second step, gasping for air, fear causing her to hyperventilate. The only other way out, through a side door, seemed miles away. Not a sliver of light illuminated her path to freedom. Shoving, kicking and pulling at the door proved fruitless. It had been blocked. Always thorough, her mother, Kathryn left nothing to chance. Unable to escape, Beth shifted her focus to lighting up her private hellhole. Finding the string to the only light in absolute darkness had been an achievement. Oh thank God. Light. The devastation nearly knocked her over when the peaceful yellow glow didn’t appear. Feeling around on her tiptoes she’d discovered the bulb missing. You rotten bitch! Each frantic beat of her heart pulsed above her right brow. Ker-thump. Ker-thump. Tears welled up in her eyes. Struggling to control her emotions she let her mind travel back to the last few words her mother screamed at her in those brief seconds before slamming the door. “I will not have a common criminal living in my house!” “But… but…” “Criminals regularly served time in dungeons. I sentence you to the dungeon. Remove your clothing. Everything but your panties and tee shirt.” Sobbing uncontrollably she’d stripped down to her underclothes. For the first hour she’d thought her mother would break down. No, not in Kathryn's world. She would open the door when she was good and ready and not before. After waiting for her mother for what seemed like hours, Beth gave up waiting, she slumped down on the ground, began talking to herself and ended up crying herself to sleep. No. Kathryn had been deadly serious. She’d carefully laid out rules for Beth as the resident criminal: Absolutely no noise, no attempts to escape and of course, Bethcould never mention this “punishment” to a living soul. Beth knew trying anything would yield nothing but serious regret. For now, with no plan to escape, and no idea how long she would be imprisoned in a darkness deeper than midnight, her heart and thoughts raced as it slowly sunk in. I need to go to the bathroom. I hurt everywhere. I’m starving. God, are you there? I’m so afraid. Please help me. Her empty stomach growled. Sitting as still as a stone monument, she heard noises above her. She strained to hear, yet could distinguish nothing more than mumbles. The silence began to work on her, stealing pieces of her soul, draining away her confidence, her strength, and her convictions. Frustration and rage erupted inside her. Terror and adrenaline coursed through her veins. Frantic and discouraged, she plunked onto the dirt floor. A peculiar musty smell wafting up as the dirt settled. A smell she already hated. Alone, she rocked and whimpered, her face buried in her hands. Warm salty tears slid down her scratched and tender skin. Trapped in the silent darkness, her body shuddered. end Technorati Tags:WIP, 1st page

In The Silent Darkness --My novel.

I'm excited. People are actually reading my blog. Okay, only a few, but it is a start and it makes me feel great when people send me notes telling me I have something to add to the writing world. (Can you say --Cloud 9)? Yipee!

Beth is the protagonist from my current WIP. She grew up in a highly abusive home. Now, she is a radio personality for a local radio station, is involved with an artist ( Patrick) she met at the Public Library and wants to become serious about this relationship. Old fears and feelings keep her from opening up about her past, her family and her life. After serious debate she decidedes to go to California (from Kansas) to face her past. The book meanders through her feelings and is done in flashback from the moment she steps on the plane. The reader experiences some of her worst moments since her adoption. They see her punishments, her struggles with being shy and different. The book cuts back and forth from the trip and checking in to a hotel, to being a child and teenager.

I''ve written the beginning of the story and the very climactic ending. Here's the rub.

I"M STUCK in the MIDDLE. GRRRR. I need Inspiration!

My initial plan was to have her confront her mother, have her mother lock her in the cellar as she had done once in Beth's past. This time, Beth has her purse over her shoulder and is able to call the police and FBI. There is a whole plot to rescue her going on outside while the mother, Kathryn disolves into madness inside the house, all the while threatening to kill her once estranged daughter Beth.

Some of those details are worked out. Sorta. My characters thus far are only these main characters and a few brief encounters with people at an airport counter. Can my book survive with these 3 main characters? I thought about and have tried adding a therapist without much success. Beth calls him from her hotel room and talks out some of her fears as she goes into a severe panic. I worry I have too much emphasis on her state of mind and her panic state for this to fly.

Do all author's feel this concerned when writing? Gosh I hope so.

Oh Dear I need more Characters!

I've known for a while I needed to add more characters to my current WIP. I really cannot work with only two main characters. Sure, I have around five other minor characters who appear for a page or two or even a scene here or there. In the scope of things my two main characters don't have enough supporting characters around them.

My protagonist has her therapist, but she only speaks to them on the phone. I need face-to-face characters.

She spends so much time alone in her hotel room, then alone in her car, and finally when she is kidnapped she will spend time alone in the cellar of the house. (thus the title "In the Silent Darkness")

How can I add more characters? So far she has only come in contact with people at the airport, and at her hotel. The people she sees are strangers and customer service type people.

The basic outline is that "she" is going home to face the ghosts of her past. Beth (she) must face her mother and find out why she abused her as a child? What had she done that was so wrong?

After 25 years away from home and any reminder of family she returns to the family home. Her abusive mother is now plump and grey. She no longer looks threatening. They reminisce and then her crazy mother ends up pushing her down the cellar stairs and bolting the door to her freedom as she locks her in the dark cellar.

I have the beginning written and the highly exciting ending written. I am STUCK trying to fill in the middle. Boy do I need advice and ideas.