Potential start of a story

Hello to all!
             Can't get ideas for your books or short stories? Look around you. On your way to work or to drop the kids off at school, check out the other people you meet or see. Don't do this so obviously that they think you are staring at them. Just take a glance or two. This doesn't look out of place, and, combined with imagination, can start you on a new story or even a short story. Just do not make it blatantly staring. Choose a promising study and apply the five questions to them: How, When, Why, What and Which. You'll be amazed what your brain can do with those questions.

Of course, it is always better if some little thing also catches your eye as you glance quickly. A spot on the nose or face of a perfectly dressed and made-up lady? Was she distracted about something when she put her makeup on? Now what could that have been? And you can go on from there. You do not have to know what the problem was, where she is going or anything else. She has served her purpose, simply by being there. You can build on just the look of her.

See how you can build up a story from a quick glance? A second glance may add to the story, if she wearing obviously imported clothes or shoes. Or she has a dark-toned face? Is she from a different country? Here to find someone or something very important? Possibly a lover or something else? And where is she going to start her search? Has she any clue where to start?

This is where mind maps come into the equation. Be as outrageous as you can when you first start. Use free flow with your thinking and just go with it. A great story can be partially developed using this method. After you have finished, do NOT just continue to let your brain whirl or go blank. Get up, walk around, and DO NOT think about what you are trying to do. Put it totally out of your mind, preferably for the rest of the day.

The next day, come back and look at your notes, or scribblings, if you prefer. Follow the main word out on each line you have written and find if you can go any further. I will be very surprised if one line cannot be continued. Take that out, but don't throw the rest of the map away. Please, DO NOT THROW ANY MIND MAPS AWAY. Instead, put them into a shoe box or some storage device and keep them. Often, if you take one or two out weeks, months or even years later, you will have yet another one to start a story with. Sometimes the premise in the first place seemed impossible or ridiculous, but with the speed technology is moving, science has expanded, and the globe has seemed to shrink, it may not be any of those in the not-to-distant future. Make a set date each year to throw or at least go through all these cards or bits of paper, or at least go through them.

  

Food, glorious food.

Hello to all!

Food, glorious food! Necessary for all functions of a writer or a human being. But how much notice do writers take of their eating habits? Not too much, I'll bet. Some of the more savvy of us do keep a good check on what and when we eat, but far too many of us do not.

Then there is the other side of the fence, whereby we eat everything not nailed down, usually on the fly, just simply stuffing some type of food or drink or some very dodgy protein drink down our gullets and hope for the best.

At the risk of getting slammed up against the wall hard, this is NOT a good idea. The five minutes it gives you to make a cheese sandwich and a cup of tea or coffee is more valuable than you think. In this time, you can refresh your eyes by being away from the computer screen, move your body, think of something else and allow the tension in your shoulders and elsewhere to dissipate somewhat.

And, whether you think you are working on the next War and Peace or a headline that will grab everybody's eyeballs, you need both the food and the change. Even if it is only three steps to the sink and the fridge, take them. Anyone who has spent hours and hours staring at a computer screen at work, only to go home and stare at either another computer screen or the television and still not make an effort to eat properly is doing themselves no good whatever.

Whether you like it or not, even if you are very young, or middle-aged and feel a little saggy, you must take care of what you have. And that means taking the time to eat something nutritious. Fast food, on the whole, is not. Nine times out of ten, it is filled with a 'quick-fix' of either fat or sugar and will leave you starving again in an hour or so. Perfect recipe for eating yourself silly when you can get away for a while.

I have nothing against protein drinks or shakes. I just would like to see more people at least give themselves one good feed per day. Real protein, like fish, eggs, red meat, chicken, etc. Tofu or bean paste if you are a vegetarian. Plenty of fruit and vegetables, raw or cooked. Swap one lot of cappuccino for  one big glass of water. At the end of the week, your wallet and waistline will thank you. And your progress rate should have improved considerably.

Shiny new objects

Hello to all!

Are any of you out there suffering the same thing as I am? Information overload? Come on, don't be shy. I'm sure there are far more than me in this leaky rowboat. The worst part about it is: I am not sure if I can break this nasty cycle. I have a great deal of writing tools and lessons on my hard drive, but, every time there is a new one released, then I fall right in and buy it.

 Over the years, I have collected many of these articles. I'm sure many of them would have been useful, if I had bothered to actually do anything with them at the time of purchase.

Have you found that a lot of these ' shiny new objects' have a core value that is taken from an even older one? Sure, they are written as if they are new, but a study of most of them will reveal old ideas wrapped in new descriptions, some very bad, some not so bad. Some are even actually rewrites of the original idea, but they still hold true to it.

What a waste of money, not to mention a disappointment. Of course, this scenario usually refers to some idea that was profitable in the first place and has been turned into evergreen for the consumers. The old-time merchants and writers didn't try to reinvent the wheel. They simply placed the idea in a new setting and continued with it. Why try to remake 'Romeo and Juliet" or the 'Taming of the Shrew'?

Agatha Christie and numerous other authors have mentioned that their best plots came from the Bible or Shakespeare's plays. Well, why not? Both of these have every scenario that anyone can imagine in them, and also the emotions as well as the five senses. Okay, it means returning to the days of actually reading a book made of paper at times, but it really is worth it.

Even if you are up to your ears in ideas and writing, take a few minutes out of the schedule to evaluate these old writings. Even if the language drives you nuts, you will pick up something extra. I'll bet on it.

Writing can be fun

Hello to all!
Nope, haven't died, got bone disease from that rotten goat's misdeeds, or anything else.

On the other hand, I have got something finally done that I have wanted to since, well, whenever.

I have written and got published a book. Yay!!! Okay, so what? Doesn't everyone do that these days? Well, yes, they probably do. I love reading and I have joined the Kindle Revolution. Bit late, I suppose, but, hey who is worried? Not me anyway. I am now back to being a voracious reader and a bit more: a published writer.

No, I didn't self-publish. I got a sweet man, Ron Kness, to do all that finicky stuff. otherwise the book might never have got to where it is. Thanks a lot, Ron. He set up all the small details, like an Amazon account and all the bits which I would probably messed up something shocking. And it didn't cost me and arm and a leg either.

So, one lesson during this exercise. Fine, self-publishing is great for those of us who know every function of every button on the computer and what exactly font and style is needed. Amazon is fantastic with this for most people, but not for someone as timid as I am where those things are concerned. Maybe I fluked a good publisher for me the first time, maybe the Fates felt sorry for me. Either way, paying someone to do all the down-and-dirty parts, including source a nice photo for the book, saved me a hell of a lot of worry. so, if you have a book you really want published, I can thoroughly recommend Ron. Polite, obliging, reasonably priced:  what more could you want?

But the main lesson I learnt was: I can do this. Not all the gritty, post-write stuff. No. Not that. Yet. The book, Opals Are Bad Luck by Cheryl Taylor, may not be everyone's cup of tea. I have no idea. I wrote it, so I'd be biased if I talked about it. great literature, it is not. Fifty Shades of Grey or Harry Potter it certainly is not, but I enjoyed writing it. Mind you, I ignored all of what I say( so what's new?) and wrote by the seat of my pants, a big no-no. You need to plan these things. But it worked okay. I think. 

So what is the excuse for all you others now? I will never be J.K.Rowling. Indeed I never want to be, in all truth. I certainly don't want to be E.L.James and be asked all those sorts of questions about my personal life, but I wish them nothing but the best.  Writing can be fun, as an old mentor of mine always maintained, no matter what it is. Whoever said paper would be obsolete when computers really took off wasn't watching the clouds right. Not that paper is needed these days, fair enough, but writing is. It is the life blood of our businesses online, for almost everything we do. So, if you want a third lesson: LEARN TO WRITE. Just look at all the free classes online that give you a bird's eye view on punctuation, spelling, grammar and just about anything else you could want, pick one which you know you are weak in and get on with it.

 Write your first book in draft, while you are picking up the bits you aren't wonderful on. That way, you have something at the end of it, and you can polish it with what you have learned. You don't have to be too smart, or too cute, when you write. Write in your style, not someone else's. You may have to fool around until you discover it, but usually the tale you are bursting to get out will show you the way it wants to be written. Opals Are Bad Luck did that to me, anyway. The  follow-up is on the way too.

So, get writing! Anything. You can always find something in free writing that you can build on.