Chasing Dreams

Hello!

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! As you may have noticed I haven't been able to post as frequently as I did.  I've recently been running in too many directions trying to accomplish a great deal, but in reality accomplishing very little.

I am an Independent Writing Consultant and am working to build my portfolio so that by the time I graduate, I will have some work waiting for me.  It's always a good idea to try and get work in your field of interest.  Somehow technical support did not seem to fit into those plans.  I also realized that this transition would require a tremendous change and an equal amount of risk.  With that thought in mind, I made the decision to try and focus on my "true" job.  Being a newbie is difficult.  There is no word-of-mouth; no one to give you references.  Everything hinges on the kindness or faith of someone unknown to you, someone to give you that first opportunity.  It is also a wonderful challenge because it fosters excellence. A person just starting out has everything to prove and much to lose if they don't succeed.

I am gradually updating my site (www.crampedwriting.com) to include my new job which entails a variety of duties:  proofreading, copyediting as well as substantive editing.   Eventually my site will have the details about the different tiers and the costs.  I'm also able to offer assistance with writing-related questions, and make suggestions when appropriate, for certain aspects of marketing.

This is a very exciting time, but as you can see, does not allow for the upkeep and maintenance of two blogs.  Therefore I will be discontinuing this blog and using strictly the www.crampedwriting.com one.  I apologize for any inconvenience this change creates, and I hope you will all continue to visit me at my "new home".  I prefer the variety of options for the wordpress blogs and look forward to being able to help and touch-base with everyone a bit more efficiently.

Thank you for all your patience and understanding!  I'll be running a promotion next month as well, so please don't forget to check out the new site.  I want to make sure as many people as possible have the opportunity to submit an entry.

Have a great day!

My Tips For Showing In My Writing

Whoops! Sorry, didn't quite get this in last week.  In all fairness I did start a lengthy post about showing instead of telling.  I think it's fairly easy to notice when you have a sample of one writing which "tells" versus a sample which "shows".  I think we can also agree that a lot of writing combines aspects of both showing and telling.  In essence they key is to know when to show instead of tell, in addition to be able to determine what "showing" will look like for your story.  Here are a few things that I'm using to try and help me deal with this aspect of writing:

1) If I can't think of a way to "show", I change my POV (point of view, sorry)
I either write it from the perspective of a completely different character, or change the actual POV to first    person, etc.  Even if this is only a temporary change, it has been well worth it in the end.

2) Vocabulary.  Let's face it, there is only so much one can do with "rippling muscles".  Those are the kinds of "cliches" that I want to avoid.  Use an odd comparison suitable to the tone, or look up a completely different word.  Variety adds spice.

3)  Try mildly mimicking some of the actions if you're having trouble and notice a few things, how your muscles feel when you clench your hand into a fist, how the tendons in your wrist stand out out.  Make a mental or regular note about that so you can include it in your writing.  (Note:  this does not mean you should grab a sword and jump into the street trying to engage in combat) Sure I may look like an idiot now and then, but it's no different than any other day really! :)

4) We take a lot for granted. As writers, it is up to us to make things "new" again.  The feeling of first love, unrequited love, anger.  Even just the wonder of waking up to a day that is so incredibly sunny you can't help but smile.  Maybe the way you stand almost on tiptoe when you stretch in the mornings. It's writing "alive".

Here's my new philosophy on the subject:  if we can feel our writing, and there is a sense that it lives and breathes on its own, then we've done a good job. Does that even make sense or is that just a horror story waiting to happen?  Eaten alive by my own manuscript...

Tell me what you think!  Agree?  Disagree?  Have an idea I left out (there should be lots)?

I'd love to hear from you!

"What If" Ponderings

What if the world as we know it, does not exist?  We might automatically think, The Matrix.  I, however, am not really thinking along those lines.

Yay! My Review of Alison Goodmans novel, "Eon"

Finally!  My long-awaited review of the book Eon, by Alison Goodman.

Multitasking in Writing

Not sure if multitasking is the greatest thing for a writer to do, it is like self-inflicted ADD.