blogging – Page 33 – Linda Nelson

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I like Idioms. I always have. Before now I honestly never gave them much thought and never quite noticed how they can be difficult for a person not from our country to understand them. Some of them, if you took them word for word you would be left wondering, what’s that supposed to mean?

Have you ever twisted them up?

I’m a NCIS fan. I miss seeing Zeva David on the show. She used to mess up the idioms we use all the time in our country. Some might find it annoying, but I always got a big kick out of it. In fact, I like this more than Tony’s constant quotes of movies. These are quirks of character that I have found myself paying attention to more and more since I have begun writing. Some of the best character quarks can be found in the weekly TV series we watch.

For example, Zeva tried to use the haystack idiom. It didn’t come out quite right. This is an example of what she might have come up with; the cat lost its tongue?

When I want to add a little bit of humor to my stories, I try to switch up idioms with my characters. I believe I did this more so in Witch Book than any of my other stories.

In the future, I will be attempting to do this even more.

ROW80 Check in:

Kait is calling for us to look at our goals once again and adjust them if need be.

I think my goals are going to stay somewhat the same.

I need to write as much as possible. It does not matter as to whether it is my blog posts or my work in progress, just as long I am working on something that has to do with writing.

I’m not making word count goals this time around. Instead, I want to make writing time goals as in 90 minutes a day. This can be either plotting, writing, researching, or editing. My words per minute, when it comes to typing, has gotten pretty high since I began in 2010. So, if I’m spending the right amount of time working on the work in progress, I’m sure my word count will reflect this.

I will log my word count on my blog counter once a week instead of daily. This is so I will stop focusing on word count and more on the actual doing of the writing. I’m hoping for a longer novel this time around that will be slightly influenced by The Game of Thrones. Why?

Because I like how in that story, everyone wants something, they all have some sort of secret, and I want to use the secrets and wants for the coming book. Enough! I can’t tell you anymore, or it will spoil the story, besides the part where I will be trying to get most of the cast in this book, even if it is in the mode of a guest appearance.

As you can tell, the plot is pretty much set in motion. I have my inciting incident that has carried over from Witch Book and Aaron and Keja. I even made a rough draft of a map to help me out.

Witch Book was written in 90 days as a first draft. It had a strong plot outline for me to follow. This is one of the most crucial things I need to have in order to write fast.

What about you? How do you go about your writing? Do you plot or punster? Do you use maps or charts? Cast outline or Character sheets or both?

Please share, I’d love to hear about your writing habits.

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Original image via Bing Creative Commons, courtesy of laughingsquid.com

“If winter came every ten years, then half of my life would be filled with nonstop gardening.”

Cold… Winter is always too cold for me. This must be a sign of ageing. I remember when I was a kid I would spend hour after hour outside in the cold, it didn’t matter whether or not the temperature had dropped below zero. I still loved being outside, sledding and what not. I can’t help but think about how things seem to change the older one gets.

I’m counting down to the spring. Next month is maple sugaring time. March is the month of the seed catalogue. April – I live for April. That is the month where we set our seeds into the ground. Of course, I am guilty of planting too early.

I need a vacation to somewhere the warmth presides. Or, an indoor pool so I can at least pretend I’m there. Come May, I think a couple of trips to workshops and conferences may do the trick.

The RWA conference that is in TX this year would be an ultimate goal, but that won’t be happening for me. I think for starters, I will be staying close to home.

Deb Dixon will be at the Sheraton Tara in Nashua for our NHRWA Workshop. I’m absolutely going to that one. My spot has already been bought and paid for. All I need to do is rent a room for the weekend. My other half will accompany me to the hotel and see me off. I will supply him with my laptop and kindle while I am away learning how to write better.

During that same month, I hear that the New England RWA Chapter is also having an event. I have decided to attend that one too. And, once again my other half will accompany me on this trip of Vacation & Work. He has been extremely supportive of me ever since I began writing.

We haven’t had a true – stay at a hotel – vacation in almost 6 years. I can’t wait.

ROW80 Check In:

I didn’t actually do any work on my word count this week except for the blog posts. The block is still in place. It is plotting time. The plots have been too weak, and I seriously do need to do some world building, being exceptionally careful not to find myself in the world of the Game of Thrones – the next book series I honestly – absolutely need to read. It must hold a clue or some sort. I hear Martin writes in Multiple POV, which is a favorite style of mine. Anne McCaffery wrote Dragonrider’s of Pern in Multiple POV. I never noticed this when I read the series way back in the ’80s.

So, until further notice, I will be plotting and building.