If You Write It, They Will Come

One question I am often asked is “Where do you get your book ideas from?”

The answer is simple enough, but it may have a few authors shaking their heads. I write books that I can see myself starring in. Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Historical, and all of the other genres have their place but I could never see myself falling in love with someone whose main diet is O-Positive or living on a planet in a galaxy far, far away.

I met the man of my dreams in what many people would call a love at first sight scene straight out of a fairytale. From the moment our eyes met, we knew we would be together forever. We’ve had our ups and downs, stressed about things normal people stress over, and more than our share of arguments over stupid things. That’s the sort of story I like to write because reading is not always an escape from reality. Sometimes you have to read about the same sort of people as yourself and find out on the last page that everything will work out in the end.

Once you decide on the genre and the type of story you want to write – stick to your guns. As a newbie writer, I took the advice of editors, friends, even social media friends that I had never met. By the time my first book was published, I hardly recognized the story I had written. Now, I’m not saying that the advice of all these people is a bad thing. I am saying that every single suggestion does not need to be fretted over and your entire story rewritten. Take a few minutes to consider how each edit will change the tone and the voice of the story. If you make an edit, will it still sound like you wrote the book, will the flow of the story be changed from how you saw it in your head? If the answer to either of these questions is yes, think long and hard about making the change.

Case in point was the story that had lived in my heart from many years. The character seemed so alive that I felt I could meet her on the street at any time. By the time I edited and rewrote and changed the story line to suit what I thought was helpful advice, I hardly recognized the character and the story was written by someone else. It broke my heart. Older and wiser now, I have republished the book using my original manuscript. It will never make me a millionaire, but I am more proud of the book now than when it was first published.

So, as Toni Morrison says, if there is a book you really want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, the you must write it.

Write from the Soul

In a world where the type of books written is often dictated by publishers, it is sometimes best to break from the pack and go your own way.

 

For several years I dealt with an agent and a publisher, and it was a struggle each time I submitted a new manuscript. "It's not what's selling today," they told me. "Can't you write the type of novels everyone else is writing?" "You'll never make it onto a bestseller list writing this kind of story."

 

I could have taken the easy route, written the type of story they were looking for, and perhaps I would be on a bestseller list somewhere by now, but I have never been one to follow the pack. I have always gone my own way, both in my writing and in my life. So I bid the agent and publisher farewell and struck out on my own. it was the best move I ever made. No longer am I stressed when I sit before my computer to work, worrying if the story will be accepted because its plot it not mainstream, if the phrasing suits the editors rather than sounding as if I wrote it.

 

Every author has his own writing style. It may not always conform to the rules of formal grammar, but it is what distinguishes the writing from other authors. This has always been a prickly point between myself and my editors. One of my favorite authors whose books gave me the courage to write my first novel, threw in more than a few passive verbs and fragmented sentences in her writing. It made sense to use it to set a mood or make a point. Yet, when I submitted a manuscript using the same technique, it came back with editorial comments longer than the story itself. It made me wonder if my hero had the same problem with her editors. Probably not, since more than one of her books made it to the New York Times Bestseller list.

 

So, as I start work on my latest creation, a collection of short stories that will be entitled "So Close", do not look for me on the shelves of your local bookseller but rather in the hallowed cyberspace of eReaders.

 

A Thousand Words of Love

 

My Love, you know that I am not always clever with words. I have always relied on your easy, warm and understanding smile. But just this once I want to tell you that I love you like no one has ever told you before. There is a much greater motivation than simply my spoken words. For me, to love is to commit myself freely and without reservation. I am sincerely interested in your happiness and well-being. Whatever your needs are, I will try to fulfill them and will bend in my values depending upon the importance of your need. If you are lonely and need me, I will be there. If in that loneliness you need to talk, I will listen. If you need to listen, I will talk to you. If you need the strength of touch, I will touch you. If you need to be held, I will hold you. I will lie next to you if that is your need. If you need fulfillment of the flesh, I will give you that also. I will try to be constant with you so that you will understand the core of my personality and from that understanding gain the strength of security that I am acting as me. I, on occasion, may falter in my moods. I may project, at times, a strangeness that is alien to you, which may bewilder or even frighten you. There will be times when you may question my motives. But because people are never constant and are as changeable as the seasons, I will try to build up within you a faith in my fundamental attitude and show you that my inconsistency is only for a moment and is not a lasting part of me. I will show you love now. Each and every day, for every day is a lifetime. Every day that we live, we learn more how to love. I will not defer in my love, nor neglect it, for if I wait until tomorrow, tomorrow never comes. It is like a cloud in the sky, passing quickly by. If I give you kindness and understanding, then I receive your faith. If I give you hate and dishonesty, I will receive your distrust. If I give you fear and am afraid, you will become afraid and fear me. I will give you what you need to receive. To what degree I give my love is determined by my past and by my understanding of truth and love. My understanding is determined by my parents, friends, and places I have been. All experiences that have been fed into my mind from living. I will give you as much love as I can. If you show me how to give more, then I will give you more. I can only give as much love as you need to receive or allow me to give. If you receive all that I can give, then my love is endless and fulfilled. I must give all that I am capable of giving. Love is universal. Love is the movement of life. All things in life I find beautiful. No human being or society has the right to condemn any kind of love I feel or my way of expressing it. If I am sincere, sincerity being the honest realization of myself and there is no hurt or pain intentionally involved in my life or any life mine touches. I want to become a truly loving spirit. Let my words, when I speak, become a restoration of your soul. And when speech is silent, let my passion project a depth of sensitivity. When I touch you, when I kiss you, when I hold you, or when I love you, I am saying a thousand words.

 

Happy Valentine's Day!

America's 2012 Fiscal Cliff

I don't usually write about politics; the topic opens up too many cans of worms on what is geared to be a laid-back blog. But as the American political system makes its way to a debacle better known as the Fiscal Cliff of 2012, I found a quote by Warren Buffet that I would like to share with you all.

"I could end the deficit in 5 minutes," Warren Buffet told CNBC. "You just pass a law that says that anytime there is a deficit of more than 3% of GDP, all sitting members of Congress are ineligible for re-election. The 26th amendment (granting the right to vote for 18 year-olds) took only 3 months & 8 days to be ratified! Why? Simple! The people demanded it. That was in 1971 - before computers, e-mail, cell phones, etc. Of the 27 amendments to the Constitution, seven took one year or less to become the law of the land - all because of public pressure."


Congressional Reform Act of 2013

1. No Tenure / No Pension. A Congressman/woman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they're out of office.

2. Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security. All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the American people. It may not be used for any other purpose.

3. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do.

4. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%



5. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people.

6. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people.

7. All contracts with past and present Congressmen/women are void effective 1/1/13. The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen/women.

Congress made all these contracts for themselves. Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their term(s), then go home and back to work.

Don't you think it's time we rethought American politics and its politicians?

Happy Holiday 2012

 

I wish you a day of ordinary miracles. 

A fresh pot of coffee you didn't have to make yourself. 

An unexpected phone call from an old friend.

Green traffic lights on your way to work or shopping.

I wish you a day of little things to rejoice in. 

The fastest line at the grocery store.

A good sing along song on the radio.

Your keys right where you look.

I wish you a day of happiness and perfection -

Little bite-size pieces of perfection that give you a wonderful feeling .  

But most of all, I wish you Peace, Happiness and Joy.

 

Judith

 

 

Back in My Day ...

Checking out at the store, the young cashier suggested to an older woman that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren't good for the environment.

The woman apologized and explained, "We didn't have this green thing back in my earlier days."
 

The young clerk responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations."

She was right -- our generation didn't have the green thing in its day.

Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were truly recycled.

But we didn't have the green thing back in our day.

Grocery stores bagged our groceries in brown paper bags, that we reused for numerous things, most memorable besides household garbage bags, was the use of brown paper bags as book covers for our schoolbooks. This was to ensure that public property, (the books provided for our use by the school) was not defaced by our scribblings. Then we were able to personalize our books on the brown paper bags.

But too bad we didn't do the green thing back then.

We walked up stairs, because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks.

But she was right. We didn't have the green thing in our day.

Back then, we washed the baby's diapers because we didn't have the throwaway kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy-gobbling machine burning up 220 volts -- wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing.

But that young lady is right; we didn't have the green thing back in our day.

Back then, we had one TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana. In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.

But she's right; we didn't have the green thing back then.

We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull.

But we didn't have the green thing back then.

Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service. We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 23,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest burger joint.

But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the green thing back then?

The Language of Crystals

I was reading a post from a Google+ friend yesterday who had just acquired a new crystal. It was quite beautiful, and reminded me of the paperweight my husband gave to me when we first began dating. Attached to the paperweight was a poem about the various crystals associated with birth months. I thought it would be fun to share it with you today.

By her who in this month (January) is born

No gem save garnets should be worn;

They will ensure her constancy,

True friendship, and fidelity. 

The February-born shall find

Sincerity and peace of mind,

Freedom from passion and from care,

If they an amethyst will wear. 

Who in this world of ours their eyes

In March first open shall be wise,

In days of peril firm and brave,

And wear a bloodstone to their grave. 

She who from April dates her years,

Diamonds shall wear, lest bitter tears

For vain repentance flow; this stone,

Emblem of innocence, is known. 

Who first beholds the light of day

In spring's sweet flowery month of May

And wears an emerald all her life

Shall be a loved and happy wife.

Who comes with summer to this earth,

And owes to June her hour of birth,

With ring of agate on her hand

Can health, wealth, and long life command. 

The glowing ruby shall adorn,

Those who in July are born;

Then they'll be exempt and free

From love's doubts and anxiety. 

Wear a sardonyx or for thee,

No conjugal felicity;

The August-born without this stone,

`Tis said, must live unloved and lone. 

A maiden born when September leaves

Are rustling in September's breeze,

A sapphire on her brow should bind

`Twill cure diseases of the mind. 

October's child is born for woe,

And life's vicissitudes must know,

But lay an opal on her breast,

And hope will lull those woes to rest. 

Who first comes to this world below

With drear November's fog and snow,

Should prize the topaz's amber hue,

Emblem of friends and lovers true. 

If cold December gave you birth,

The month of snow and ice and mirth,

Place on your hand a turquoise blue;

Success will bless whate'er you do.