Category: writing

Today was my Monadnock Writers’ Group Meeting. I have missed several of the meetings this year along with these posts to go with them. But anyways, here goes… This post is full of great stuff!

Our speaker for this month was Lisa Luedeke. She is a Teen/YA Contemporary Writer like myself. Last August she published her first work, Smashed, with Simon & Schuster/Margaret K. McElderry Books. She was a former English teacher turned Professional Editor/Publisher for literacy imprints at Corwin. Her original dream was to be a writer.

Smashed is a stand-alone novel about addiction, secrets, lies and hope as a Teen Field Hockey star hooks up with a bad boy putting her hockey scholarship on the line. A must read for teens.

I would like to welcome Lisa to our writing world and may others look forward to reading her works as I do.

 

Last week was the NHRWA Chapter meeting in Bow, NH.

Our speaker was none other than Cathryn Parry. She talked to us about how important hooks are to our writing. She was very informative and named a good source book to look up about Hooks. It was Got High Concept by Lori Wilde. I quickly got my Kindle copy and found that she was right. It is full of all that hook information all us writers are looking for. Everything in this book touches on what she talked about during our meeting.

Unfortunately I didn’t take very good notes during this meeting. I was too busy listening to her. But that is okay. This source book took the place of my notes.

 

Future News:

I hear that the NHRWA chapter has successfully book Deb Dixon for a Workshop Weekend in NH next spring. I will keep you all updated. I hear that this event is something I really should be looking forward to. And after taking a quick peek at her site, I kind of can’t wait. They have booked so many great speakers so far this year and if they are getting so excited about this gal then it must be something really great.

 

ROW80 Update:

Last week I found my very first critique partner. Yea J

I added 1k words last weekend to Along Came Neil and so far, as of last night there was another 500 words done. I am now at the Burning down the House scene. I hope to make this scene funny and an ice breaker for the characters, not so much as a tragedy but more of an embarrassment than anything else.

So how are you doing with your writing this week? I would love to hear from you.

And don’t forget to check out the above mentioned books. I think you will really like them.

What do you do when your characters start doing the same thing over and over again and your story starts to sound repetitious because your antagonist and heroine just don’t get it?

Put them in a room together and let them duke it out?

But if they keep fighting will they ever start to change?

I have been stuck with Along Came Neil for almost a month. I have had a hard time moving forward with the story. The girls from my RWA chapter said I am suffering from the Sagging Middle Syndrome.

So how do you get past this point?

I have yelled at the screen, “Somebody do something!”

The words on the screen just stared back at me.

But today on our way to our NHRWA meeting my friend Linda Kepner said, “When in doubt blow something up.”

They’re only teens…

What can teens blow up?

By George – How about the kitchen?

Teens who do not know how to cook in the kitchen equals – disaster…

Excellent!!!

Thanks for the idea Linda K… Now to get busy setting the kitchen on fire so Karla and Ashley can finally, maybe – stop fighting and get on with the story.

NHRWA Chapter Writing Challenge

Oh I have a request for anyone who might be interested in helping me out. We have a monthly writing challenge in our NHRWA Chapter. This month we are to have one chapter of the manuscript we are currently working on read and critiqued by someone who has not read any of our works. So if anyone is willing to read a quick chapter of my Teen Contemporary Romance give me a holler. It would be most appreciated. You can tell me how much you hate the story if you would like. I am game and I have tough skin and I’m ready to learn to write better.

 

Stop in and cheer on other ROWer’s and if they are having a sagging middle, end or beginning like myself tell them to burn down the  noun of their choice. Just like Mad Libs. I always loved Mad Libs when I was a kid.

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