Months ago I started work on the next installation of the Writer Mom comic.  I spent a few hours penciling and inking and was almost done and ready to post.  Then I did the unthinkable – I put it in a safe place until I could find time to finish. I had all intentions of finishing it and posting it today but, you guessed it, I can’t find it anywhere.

Boo.

So here is the next best thing to my somewhat shoddy original art, a photoshop mashup!

How many times has this happened? You’re in the zone, working on something that you think has some real power.  Your fingers can hardly keep up with the great images spilling out of your brain.  Then, an interruption.  In my case it’s almost always someone short and sweet that wants something hopefully equally short and sweet.

Not likely.

Two hours (or days, or weeks, in my case) later you return only to find that the magic is gone, the fire is out, and the muse has quit.  And you’ve forgotten where you’ve put your little scrap of paper as well.

I’d like to say I have advice for you.  Truth is whether you have kids or not there will be interruptions, you will lose your train of thought, and this whole writing business will get a bit tedious.  Keep going.  There is no substitution for constant, consistent, work.

Happy Writing!

It is my joy to announce the safe arrival of Baby Daniel into the world.  He is the reason I’ve taken the several month-long break from blogging, and I might add a very cute one at that.  It still amazes me that this tiny person grew inside me for these last few months.  We are all very happy that he is here and healthy!

Now that life is starting to stabilize it is my intention to return to regular blogging and work on the novel.  Both have been ever-present, nagging me from the back of my head.  With the change in the family I will not be working at the same breakneck speed as before but even a small amount of work done consistently will bring me closer to my goals.

I suppose I’ll need to go and change my Twitter blurb, it now reads:

“Aspiring novelist working on an epic fantasy and a suspense thriller. Also blogging about the art of writing and more. Hoping to impress an agent in 2011.”

No lack of ambition there!  There is no way that will happen this year, and at my current pace I’ll count myself lucky to be in a place to start querying agents by this time next year.  There is the possibility that by the time I’m ready to start the publication process that I might need to seriously consider the e-book market as well.

Until then I’ll keep posting updates on how things are going, interesting writing tidbits, and more – so stay tuned.

Wishing all a Merry Christmas and Happy Writing!

Earlier this year I had the chance to interview author and writing teacher Joni B. Cole about her book for writers, Toxic Feedback (click here if you missed it).  It received such a good response from readers here at My Literary Quest Joni has asked me to review her latest book; Another Bad-Dog Book, Tales of Life Love and Other Neurotic Human Behavior, which will officially hit the shelves this next Tuesday, October 4th.

Contrary to its title, this is not another personal narrative about the misadventures of a dog, thank heavens.  It is more an intimate look at the life of a woman who searches for the balance between her roles of professional writer, mother, dog owner, and trusted friend.  The book is written as a collection of short essays that range anywhere from giggle-inducing to tugging-at-the-heart-strings touching, making it perfect for those short getaway readings during busy days.

As a fellow writer, mom, and dog lover, reading this book was like stepping into a comfortable pair of shoes, welcoming and familiar.  I personally identified with many of the anecdotes shared and often found myself laughing along with Joni as she discovered new truths.  Although it would have deepened the reading experience had I known Joni personally,  I found it a pleasure to read and well written.

Joni can be found at her website http://www.jonibcole.com/ .

Another Bad Dog Book can be pre-ordered anywhere books are sold and at the following online retailers:

Indiebound

Amazon.com

Barnes and Noble

I’ve made a liar out of myself already, promising a weekly post and then letting almost a month slip by without a word.  Fear not, in addition to growing a new human I’ve been working on projects that have needed doing in regards to family organization and personal priorities.  Taking a break also made it very clear just how much stress I was under trying to keep to a fixed blogging schedule.

Anyway – here’s today’s topic!

Recently I had the privilege of listening to fantastic freelance editor Tristi Pinkston talk about the many pitfalls for writers to avoid during the revision/editing process.  Among many other great ideas and advice she shared with us the importance of making sure that we are ever vigilant in choosing the right word for the right effect.  Yes, denotation doesn’t always agree with connotation.

Lost?  Here’s a quick grammar lesson:

Denotation: the definition of a word, as found in a dictionary.

Connotation:  the meaning we give a word in a given situation, what it makes us feel.

Put simply, there are words that work in a phrase when the feeling of the word isn’t considered.  However those  words tend to change the intended feeling of the moment.  They might be negative when the thought was in fact positive.

One illustration is the phrase, “They might live in a house, but I live in a home.”

The words “house” and “home” have the same meanings but the feelings associated with each are very distinct.  A home is generally thought of as a place of warmth and caring where a house is merely a structure where one might live.  With this in mind the above phrase comes across as condescending and judgmental.

Here are other examples:

• The skinny boy won the race.
• The slender boy won the race.

• A pushy woman badgered the cashier about coupon policy.
• An aggressive woman badgered the cashier about coupon policy.

• The spelling bee champion wore a smug grin as he exited the stage with his trophy.
• The spelling bee champion wore a proud grin as he exited the stage with his trophy.

In each example there is a clear difference between the feelings generated by the describing word.  One word choice in each pair is clearly more negative than the other.  The word “skinny” conjures up the image of an underfed boy who is possibly neglected.  “Aggressive” makes the woman seem as if she were about to physically attack the cashier.  “Smug” makes us wonder if the champion had somehow cheated.

Depending on the context either might be correct.  Perhaps the story was about a neglected skinny boy who finally had something to be proud about.  However, if you get it wrong, it will break the connection between reader and writer.

Choose those words carefully!

Happy writing!

One of the perks of having a writing blog is the chance to read and review fresh new fiction from début authors.  These stories never fail to entertain and I feel privileged to be among the first to read to the work of these talented writers.

Today’s book “The Trust” is the creative work of lawyer, musician, and now writer Sean Keefer.  Although built around a series of legal actions, this book isn’t your typical legal thriller.  There are no heated courtroom battles or long sequences of complicated “who done it” while the main character explains himself.  In fact, the story centers around an area of legal work that I wasn’t familiar, the generally uneventful arena of probate court.

In the book, attorney Noah Parks finds himself in a unique position when a strange gentleman enters his office informing him that he is the chosen representative for the estate of the rich and eccentric Leonardo Xavier Cross, a man he has never heard of.  Part of his legal fee are the contents of a mysterious safe deposit box.  What he finds there leads him from one place to another in a manner reminiscent of the Da Vinci Code.  Through the course of the book the reader is pulled down a path of the unlikely and surprising, where no one is what they seem and the body count keeps rising.  Will Noah find all the answers before he’s next?  Is he trusting the right people?

Sean has done a wonderful job creating a sense of place in his writing.  In The Trust he captures the feel of Charleston, South Carolina with a deft hand, allowing the reader to feel as if they were walking with the main character through his adventures.  Sean also shows care in crafting characters that are both well-rounded and interesting.

I would recommend The Trust to anyone who enjoys books that center around the legal system, adventure, and intrigue.

 

And now a word from the lovely folks at Novel Publicity -

Tour Notes:

Please vote for my blog (My Literary Quest) in the traffic-breaker poll for this tour. The blogger with the most votes wins a free promotional twitterview and a special winner’s badge. I want that to be me! You can vote in the poll by visiting The Trust’s official blog tour page and scrolling all the way to the bottom.

You can also enter to win a free paperback copy of this novel on The Trust’s official blog tour page. The winner of the give-away will be announced on Wednesday, August 10 – be sure to enter before then!

Book Trailer for The Trust:

Learn more about this author by visiting his website, blog, Facebook or GoodReads pages or by connecting with him on Twitter.

As wonderful loyal followers you might be wondering why my posts have become increasingly more sporadic week after week. I assure you that there is a really good reason, and it has nothing to do with writer burnout.  Well, nearly nothing.  Those who have have read My Literary Quest for any length of time know about my alter ego as a stay at home mom to two very active kiddos.  Well, there is going to be a change to that.  In November we are looking forward to a new baby boy in the family.

Yep, one of these.

As much fun as it is to grow a new human, it tends to take more energy than I have during the day.  This has cut out most if not all available writing time.  With that said, I still plan on posting at least once a week. The rest of my limited writing time will be used to hopefully get my WIP closer to finished.  Needless to say, I think NaNoWriMo is out this year!

Thanks to all for your support, keep in touch!

Meet Caillou

In recent weeks my children have decided that their favorite TV show is the cartoon Caillou.  This isn’t a problem, the show tries hard to teach life lessons to preschool and younger children. These lessons have included thrilling topics such as the ever vague, “Use your imagination”, the slightly less vague, “Sometimes the cat gets lost”, and the ever popular “Wheel thrown pottery is fun for young kids.”  No, I am not making any of these up.

One of the available episodes is supposed to be focused on words and vocabulary.  In the intro segment Caillou’s trio of favorite toys (reincarnated as puppets) do a brief sketch to emphasize the theme.  In this episode they decide that they will learn a new word everyday.  So far so good.  The teddy bear cracks open the dictionary and chooses the word “plethora”.  Again I can’t complain, I like the word plethora.  Then the dinosaur chooses his word.

Pulchritudinous.

Not kidding.  This is a preschool show.

If my child used this word in public people would think that they were speaking in tongues.  For those interested, pulchritudinous means beautiful – although it sounds an awful lot like a skin disease.

There are times where having a bounteous vocabulary can serve a writer very well.  A hefty multi-syllabic word might be just the thing to add needed interest or intellectualism to a written work.  However – and this is a big however – know that sending readers to consult a dictionary is not a way to win friends or influence people.  Most don’t have the time or interest to do so anyway.  This means readers lost, and we all know that is never a good thing.

So before you are tempted to hit that handy thesaurus up for a whopper of a word, think twice.  Your clever attempt might be stultified.

Image credit: hongkiat.com

If you’ve been at the blogging game for any amount of time chances are that you have run across the acronym of SEO.  Search Engine Optimization can greatly if not drastically improve traffic flow to your site and is a must for anyone ready to transition from blog hobbyist to serious blogger.

Sad thing is, I only know the bare bones basics of how to optimize my blog for to make them accessible to major search engines.  Here are the few things I know do help:

1. Blog on a schedule -When a search engine looks at your blog it notes the time and day of the week.  The more times it finds new material posted at that same time slot, say every Tuesday at 9 AM, the higher up your page will be rated.  Translated into English, your page will be closer to the top of the results list if any of your topics are searched.
2. Tell big search engines that you are there – WordPress and other blogging sites have a verification key you can tie into the tools section of your blog.   That way they know you are out there are and they can send out their bots and whatnot. I could get really technical on this point, but that would be really boring reading.
3. Links are good – Everytime a different blog or website or whatever links to your content it tells the search people that someone likes what you write.  This is a good thing.  Actually getting people to link to you is a different story.  Having good content is a must, so is marketing yourself through various means.

Lately I’ve been messing around with posting schedules, meaning I’ve been a general lazy pants and can’t seem to write anything on a schedule without a whole lot of prior planning.  Planning that I haven’t been doing.  With the irregular posting schedule I have noticed a drop in hits to the site.  I also haven’t been putting in as much thought and effort into the material that does make it to the blog, so there has been less commenting and interest. Trust me, it hasn’t helped either.

If you are willing to put in the time and effort with working with the search engines in mind it can pay off with higher hits.  I can’t promise that it will bring more regular readers, or better commenting. If you want that, be prepared to comment regularly on blogs with similar topics to yours.  You’d be surprised at how well it works.

As promised, here are the answers to Wednesday’s Name That Book Challenge.  A big congratulations to Paula for getting them all right, even the tricky one at the end – way to go!

My favorite book from this list

If you missed the quotes, don’t peek ahead – click here instead!

 

1. Animal Farm, George Orwell

2. 1984,  George Orwell

3. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley

4. Ender’s Game, Orson Scott Card

5. The Giver, Lois Lowry

 

For the original Name That Book Challenge, go here.

Today’s Name that Book Challenge comes from the required reading list for many schools.  These were selected from books I was personally subjected to during my formative years.  Two of the books are on my top 50 favorite  book list, or at least they would be if I ever sat down to create one.  Here are your quotes:

1. “Four legs good, two legs bad.”

2. “How can I help seeing what is in front of my eyes? Two and two are four.”

“Sometimes, Winston. Sometimes they are five. Sometimes they are three. Sometimes they are all of them at once. You must try harder. It is not easy to become sane.”

3. “Cleanliness is next to fordliness.”

4. “I need you to be clever, Bean. I need you to think of solutions to problems we haven’t seen yet. I want you to try things that no one has ever tried because they’re absolutely stupid.”

5.  “There’s much more. There’s all that goes beyond- all that is Elsewhere- and all that goes back, and back, and back. I received all of those, when I was selected. And here in this room, all alone, I re-experience them again and again. It is how wisdom comes. And how we shape our future.”

Answers will be posted this Friday as well as a big congratulations to whomever gets the most right.  Have fun and good luck!

Quotes found at http://en.wikiquote.org