Right brain or left brain

cj Sez: As the year's end races closer and closer, I find that keeping on track with meeting my appointments is getting harder and harder. I could alibi that I've bitten off more than I can chew in terms of volunteering in the midst of necessary stuff, but that'd be an untruth. The truth is, I need to pay better attention and keep a better appointment calendar, as in just one. Right now, I have at least two and occasionally three.

I'll note an appointment (or paperclip a card) on the calendar hanging on the kitchen door and then forget to write it in my planner . . . or vice versa. That wouldn't be much of a problem if I would just check both places every morning . . . which, of course, I don't. The third "occasional calendar" I mentioned is simply the collection of all those little scraps of paper and back-of-business-card notes that I shove into my jeans pockets or bottom of my purse. Who I'm supposed to meet when and where just disappears.

Out of sight, out of mind is the term.

I'm more of a visual person (is that a right brain or a left brain thing?), and that shows up in my writing. Scenes are the least complicated for me to write. I enjoy creating the details that permit my readers to visualize where the characters are and what they are seeing. But I tend to keep my details sparse and incorporated into the flow of the scene's action. I don't tell the reader the office is small and crowded. I like to let my character do that by having her desk chair bump against the wall when she stands up and then walks the five or so steps it takes to open the door for a client to enter her office. This lets the reader imagine the scene as well.

Dealing with personal introspection/emotions/internal dialogue is more difficult for me since I "see" the action in my stories as movies in my head. Narrative without dialogue doesn't exist in movies unless there's a voice-over, so I tend to use very little. I've been told and I do understand I need more narrative in my novels, so I'm working on expanding my use of internal dialogue. I'm sure it'll be sparse, but I'm also sure it will bring more depth and realism to my characters.

Okay, I've confessed. Your turn. What is your writing strength or weakness?

That's all for now. You-all guys keep on keeping on, and I'll try to do the same.


cj . . . sending ghostly, ghastly Halloween vibes your way.

PS: Halloween craft ideas from Facebook

Contest Winner: October

Pamela Hill sent in the winning entry for the month of October and won Ralph Fletcher's book, What a Writer Needs.  Congratulations to Pamela and her story which many single parents will relate to. If you don't smile at the end, I'd like to know.

Mahala

Single Mom

By Pamela Hill

Another Halloween conquered. Ghostly Jared and Stevie were sitting at the dinner table, drinking red punch and eating fish sticks while their mother, Sandy, studied for a physics exam. Birds in the cage across the room were squawking. Sandy looked up from her book and watched the birds, forgetting about three-dimensional particle dynamics. The mother parakeet seemed agitated as her chicks fluttered around her in the cage.

Jared and Stevie squealed and giggled. Red punch spewed from Jared’s mouth into his salad and macaroni and cheese.

“Bedtime.” Sandy jumped out of her chair. She gave the boys a bath then read Good Night Moon.

“Bathroom,” Jared said.

Sandy sighed, smoothed his sheets and fluffed his pillow while she waited for him. She thought about the physics exam she wasn’t prepared for and yawned. She had to study or she’d never pass that test. She’d have her degree soon.

Jared ran back into the bedroom and jumped on the bed. “I’m thirsty.”

Sandy heard sirens outside and shuddered. "Ask not for whom the bell tolls."

“Mommy, I’m thirsty.”

“I’m going,” she said.

Jared jumped off the bed and followed her to the kitchen. The birds were still squawking. She gave Jared a glass of water and rushed him back to bed.

Stevie started crying and threw up on his blankets. “My stomach hurts.”

Sandy cried too and cleaned up the mess. Stevie felt warm, so Sandy found the thermometer in the medicine cabinet and took his temperature. He had a slight fever. She tucked him under the cover and held a cool cloth on his forehead until he fell asleep.

She then cleaned the grubby kitchen, made a cup of instant coffee and picked up her physics book. The birds were squawking again. Sandy took the mother bird out of the cage. “You need a break.”

She picked up her physics book and reread the same paragraph. The birds were still squawking, and Sandy looked at the mother bird perched on the curtain and wondered.

She opened the front door, and the mother bird flew away.

Charles McIinnis, Author

This week, cj and I welcome Charles Riley McInnis. Charles grew up Clio, Alabama, a small rural town populated with about a thousand Scots-Irish descendants. He earned his B.A. from Huntingdon College and his M.S. in Physics from Auburn University. He lives in Fairhope, Alabama where he devotes his time to writing with the Five Rivers Writers' Group, teaching computer courses, and traveling. Charles is a member of the Baldwin Writers Group, Mobile Writers Guild, Gulf Coast Writers Association, and the Alabama Writer's Forum. His fiction has won numerous awards including first place in the Gulf Coast Writers Association's winter writing contest, and he was their featured writer for February 2012. His short story, "Mim's Ensign" was published in the April 2012 edition of the Magnolia Quarterly. He won second place in two of the Baldwin Writers Group's 2011 writing contests and is published in their anthology, Collected Words: From Writers of the Southern Coast,


And if all that wasn’t enough Charles made it as a finalist in not one, but two categories in the 2012 Faulkner contests—was a short list finalist for the 2012 poetry competition and his short story was a semi-finalist! You have the opportunity to read some of Charles work online in the Southern Delta Literary Magazine. https://sites.google.com/site/southerndeltamagazine. Keep an eye on this guy. He's going places in the literary world.

Five Things to Consider If You Self-Publish

By

Charles Riley McInnis

The line between traditional brick-and-mortar publishing and self-publishing is fading. Writers are learning how to use online publishers to produce and market quality work effectively. After studying the status of the publishing world for the past year, I have found the following five items to be important if you are considering self-publishing.

1. A book should be regarded as a product designed to provide entertainment or information to an adequate segment of the reading population. Beginning writers see themselves as artists. They fail to think of writing and publishing as a business. Publishers must make a profit to stay in business. If the publishers do not believe that your book will turn an acceptable profit, there is no reason for them to publish it.

2. If your work was rejected for publication, it did not fit the publisher’s current economic model. Your work may be well written and contain entertainment or information, but does it contain entertainment or information for which readers will pay? The traditional publisher must provide a capital outlay to publish your book. Your self-publishing and economic plan will be different and should require less capital outlay. In addition, you have control and can work on your time table.

3. After completing your work, subject it to quality control. Have it reviewed and edited. Publish your book so that it meets the highest standards of comparable books. Do not place a substandard product on the market. Your reputation as writer and publisher is at stake.

4. When preparing to self-publish, don't be a jack-of-all-trades. Find a master to do those things that you don't do well, especially the items critical to success. Book cover design and a professional editing are essential to success. Be sure to format your book properly before publishing it. Engage a competent editor.

5. Start early with a marketing plan. Put your best business suit on early and draw up a plan that includes marketing. Target your readers and keep them in mind as you write. Develop an interesting author profile and include it on your book cover. Learn to use social media effectively to market your product.

Success in self-publishing comes from producing a quality product that is attractive to a sizable portion of the public. Produce a well-designed product that fills a need of the readers. Produce such a product and market it vigorously, and you will be successful. The cream always rises to the top, regardless of the container. Got milk?

I'm with Charles. Get the bolts and bits and pieces of your new creation wrapped tightly before sending it  into the unsuspecting world to be published, no matter who does the dirty work.

Mahala