Taking My Own Advice!

Eye of the Peacock continues to evolve.

Currently, I am trying to mold several characters. Frankly, they are giving me trouble. Sometimes it takes me a while to realize I need to follow my own advice!

I turned to research.

Many of my writing group collegues are very good a choosing names that give insight into the character. So I visited some name websites. The characters will be imigrants to this country at the turn of the century, so I looked for European names and specifically looked for meanings that fit their role in the story. This won’t mean much to my readers – unless they are looking for hidden meanings, but it will help keep me on track with their personalities.

I also started looking for photographs for inspiration. These characters are working-class men and boys, so that’s what I looked for. I came up with a few that will help me pinpoint facial features and clothing. I even hit pay dirt and found a video of turn-of-the-century workers walking down the street. I can see their movements and their clothing. This will be very helpful!

 

Ready for Proofing!

The final cover of Relic has arrived!

I think it is absolutely fantastic! So many thanks to talented graphic designer Aaron La Porta for capturing the setting and mood of my first middle grade novel.

You can’t see the back of the cover, but here is the text:

      For twelve-year-old Samantha Whitaker, her parents’ dream of running an inn in the country, which she calls “the Ick,” is pure torture.

     After purchasing a strange item in an antique shop just to annoy her mother, Samantha makes a desperate attempt to flee the small village by stealing her parents’ car—only to crash it when an odd village girl darts in front of her…then disappears.

     Despite Samantha’s resistance, a local girl named Twyla befriends her and aids her in looking for the missing girl. Her search leads Samantha to learn about a famous former occupant—village benefactor, patron of the arts, and suffragette Olivia Ainsley Wagner Roth—who, according to the previous owner, still haunts the inn.

     An unusual relic, a hidden diary, an unfinished letter. Will Samantha’s supernatural sleuthing bring answers to a village mystery that has strange parallels to her own life?

I’m hoping it all piques your interest in Samantha Whitaker and her experiences.

I’m learning it takes time and patience for all the pieces of a book to pull together. The next step is ordering proofs to be red-penned in a final read before publication.

Soon after, Relic will be available on Amazon. Several book signings are already in the planning stage, so stay tuned!

Out and About

While I wait for my final proof of the cover for Relic, and as summer wanes, my family decided to take a day-cation to Letchworth State Park in New York. Located along the Genesee River, there are beautiful vistas of the gorge and three waterfalls.

The hikes in the woods and along the gorge reminded me that there is a calmness of the soul that I experience when I am able to enjoy nature. Maybe it was that clear mind that just made my imagination leap. Everywhere I looked I saw settings for my writing. I was clicking away on my camera recording unusual trees, rocks, buildings and landscapes for future reference.

Nature is important for a writer to experience. Note the lighting at different times of day, the smells, the sounds. The better a writer can describe a setting, the more completely readers will be transported.

Sneak Peek

So much in life is worth waiting for.

I had an awesome surprise Monday morning when I opened my email and found the first draft of my cover for Relic! I am only giving you a sneak peek because it is just a draft, but I am so excited! What you see is only a teeny piece of the whole cover.

It really is more than I could have hoped for. The artwork of the mansion perfectly depicts the setting of the novel. I love the color scheme and the dramatic lighting – and, according to my cover designer, Aaron La Porta, there are possibly more dramatic effects to come if I approve them.

On my end, the map to supplement the text is done, and the floor plans of the mansion are about half done.

This baby may be out by the end of August, yet!

 

More on Writer's Block

Writing Tip #4

I found another reason why I am not a believer in writer’s block:

I am sitting on my back porch. It’s about 85 degrees. At least that’s what it was. It might be cooling off a bit. Storm clouds are creeping across the sky just starting to blot out the pinks and golds of the sun setting behind the trees. A large bird – a Great Blue Heron, now that I look closer – is lumbering westward. I remember someone saying once that birds don’t fly at night. He must be looking for a place to roost for the night. The clouds are a slate blue and turning inky at the edges. I don’t care what the forecasters say, it is going to rain tonight.

Okay? I had nothing to write. But I did.

Look around! Write something! It may not be the something you intended to write, but it might be useful at some point!

I remember seeing a video about Basho once. If you don’t know who he was, he was probably the most revered haikuist ever. He said that if you stood in one place you were supposed to be able to write something like 200 haiku just from looking around yourself. Then, he added, if you ran out of things to write about, you should look down at your feet and write about that!

Find Your Writing Process

As a writer, you have to find your own writing process.

I never knew about the writing process. When I went to school – back in the day -- we outlined and then wrote. My mind didn’t work that way, so I usually wrote and then crafted my outline from what was written. I got As, so it wasn’t a big deal.

Then I became a newspaper reporter. Lead paragraphs had to be a suscinct 20 to 28 words. That was a problem for me. How did I know where I was going until I was there? So I’d sit at the keyboard and type the story – beginning with the second paragraph. Undoubtedly, by the time I was about halfway done with the story, I’d realize what the lead needed to be. I’d go back and add it in – thank Heaven for computers. Unbeknownst to me, I’d taught myself to write using the writing process.

The writing process is described as cyclical – you brainstorm, draft, rewrite, edit, and publish. Some writers believe that any of these steps can be repeated as necessary until the publishing step. I’m one of those writers. I brainstorm, draft, rewrite, draft, rewrite the whole thing, edit, rewrite some more. Then more brainstorming might happen, which results in more drafting and rewriting.

It doesn’t matter how it is done, just do it!

 

The Mythical Writer's Block

Writing Tip #3:  I truly don't mean to brag, but I rarely suffer from writer’s block.

Maybe I don’t understand writer’s block. I feel like it's a myth -- I always have something to say.

Sometimes I don’t know how to get from this point of the story to that point of the story, but eventually it happens. I usually just concentrate on the part of the story I can see at that moment. I end up with lots of pieces I then put into an order. Then I work to bridge the pieces. Sometimes the pieces don’t fit, and I reorganize. Sometimes pieces don’t fit, and I either ditch them or rewrite them.

Some writers don’t write this way – they write straight through from beginning to end. But this is the process that works for me.

You have to find your own process.