A Matter of Time...

Fictional Time

While reading "Writing Fiction" by Janet Burroway and Elizabeth Stuckey-French, I came upon the chapter about writing fictional time.

This really clicked with me because I recently rewrote my story and started it right in the middle of the action.

"Checkov advised his fellow writers to tear the story in half and begin in the middle..."- Writing Fiction (p.226)

And that's what I did!

Hook 'Em

I changed my approach because I wanted to hook my readers into the story as soon as possible. My story is YA Fiction and most readers in this target audience do not want paragraphs of detailed narrative right at the beginning.

No.

They want action...immediately!

YA Fiction is immediate. Most adult fiction is considered nostalgic in that the reader spends most of the time in flashbacks or reading how the main character remembers.

However, in YA Fiction, the target audience lives in the immediate and wants the immediate.

So, I had to change my approach and set my reader right in the middle of the action in the first paragraph.

It's not an easy task for me usually, but with this story is made more sense.

That first scene provides your reader with the point-of-view, the establishment of the world they will be in, and the reality of that world you've created.

That's what's so fun about writing!


Concluding it All

Now, just because you may have an incredible beginning...full of action and intrigue....doesn't always mean you'll have an incredible ending.

Sometimes writers struggle with that crisis moment at the end.

 I know I do.

I struggle with visualizing that big confrontation scene that must happen between my protagonist and antagonist. I worked all weekend trying to write it out as a scene.

I finally finished the crisis moment, but that final climax really stumped me. I had to take a few moments and visualize it.

Burroway and Stuckey-French even write about acting the scene out if it helps you! I suppose I could.

But I was able to get the scene down and will review it for clarity later.

Failure to include these climactic scenes will result in an unsatisfying ending and leave your reader disappointed. And a disappointed reader will not want to pick up your next book!

"Just as in a poem, the first lines has a lot to do with the last line, even though you didn't know it was going to be."  - Doris Betts


A Matter of Time

So give yourself permission to start your story with action or start it right in the middle and hook readers in with that first line.

Then, really visualize that crisis moment that leads to your final climactic ending. Tie it into that intriguing first line you gave the reader up front.

Try it and see what happens!

Your turn: How does your story hook in the reader? How do you keep them reading to discover what happens next? 


Blessings,
Ruth

The Working Mother

I find it hilarious when Liberals give the public a glimpse of who they really are right on cable television! Oops!





The Working Mother


What Ms. Rosen fails to realize is that ALL mothers are working mothers whether they work inside the home, outside the home, or both.

ALL mothers are working mothers.

What our Dear Leader, Mr. Obama, fails to realize when he said he and his wife didn't have the "luxury" for her to stay home, is that many couples do not enter lightly when making the decision for the mom to stay home with the kids. Most do not consider it a luxury, but more of a sacrifice.

Catch-22

In 2008, Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin was excoriated by the Liberals for not being a stay-at-home mom of five kids. She was belittled for, *gasp*, having a professional career outside the home!

Flash forward to 2012. Now Ann Romney, wife of GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney,  is excoriated by the Liberals for being a stay-at-home mom of five kids.

???

Can you see why people are getting dizzy with all this?

All we ask for is a little consistency!  But Ms. Rosen took off her mask for a bit and gave the general public a glimpse of the Liberal. She showed us how they all think and what they all think.


A Privilege...a Blessing

I thank God I had the chance to stay home with our son. I was able to attend every class party, field trip (until he told me I couldn't go anymore...7th grade, I think it was), and drive him to and from school most everyday for nine years.

Money was tight, but it was well worth it. I have all those memories to cherish! Memories of picking him up at the bus stop and walking him home. Memories of Christmas concerts and Valentine's Day parties. Class pictures. Being there when the nurse called to say he was sick. Playing "Alien Spaceship" or "Pokemon" battles with him in the living room day after day after day. Sigh.

Going without life's luxuries was well worth it. I would gladly do it again.

So, hats off to all you stay-at-home moms who deal with the everyday issues of grocery shopping, coupon cutting, meal planning, illnesses, lesson plans, carpooling, play dates, etc.

And hats off to all you moms who work outside the home and all the issues you deal with too. I know, I've been in BOTH situations and it isn't easy.

Being a mom is WORK!

Blessings,
Ruth

The Power of Prayer

One of the best books I have ever read was The Power of a Praying Wife by Stormie Omartian.

This book was recommended to me by my mentor when my husband and I were having some marital problems. We had been married almost fifteen years and had hit rock bottom.

How do I know we hit rock bottom? We had a HUGE argument in front of our young son and he took it upon himself to stop us by reminding us that we were a family. 

Sigh.

I don't ever want to go through that dark time again. Ever.

Praying for Your Husband

So, when I started reading this book, my heart was full of resentment. I truly did NOT want to pray for my husband. I was angry at him and I knew he wasn't praying for me. 

But I also didn't want to divorce, so I sat on a picnic bench during my lunch hour and started reading. In the pages, Omartian seemed to be speaking to me. She wrote about how easy it is to pray for your children, but a husband is different. He can hurt your feelings, be inconsiderate, uncaring, or negligent. 

Amen, sister! I thought. And I put the book down and didn't go any further. 

Later, I heard her on the radio talking about her book. In the interview, she said, "Imagine a friend calling you to pray for her son. How many of you would say no? Now imagine God Himself asking you to pray for his child—your husband—and you refuse!"

Boy, when I heard her say that, my heart broke. 

At that time in our marriage, my husband probably had no one praying for him. Neither of his parents were saved and now his own wife was refusing to pray for him. Can you imagine walking through this life with no one praying for you? I saw my husband for the first time as a child of God alone in the world trying to do the best that he could. 

I cried and asked God to forgive me. Then, I picked up the book and started reading.

The POWER of Prayer

I prayed like I had never prayed before. I was specific in my prayers. 

Omartian goes through a list for wives to cover:

His Finances

His Work

His Sexuality

His Health

His Affection

His Temptations

His Fears

His Choices

His Mind

His Health

His Spiritual walk

I prayed every morning for my husband. I poured out all my concerns to the Lord. You see, we had been foolish with our money and had many financial problems. At fifteen years of marriage we had to sell our house, pay off debt, and live in an apartment. I never pictured myself in that position after fifteen years. 

I blamed my husband, of course. But as I began to pray, my heart began to heal. My heart began to go from stone to flesh again. 

Omartian uses scripture throughout and teaches a wife how to pray scripture over her husband. 

I learned that nothing brings a wife more comfort than praying God's word over her husband and her children.

Healed

And now, nine years later, my husband and I are happier and have more joy and peace than ever before. I truly believe it is because we both pray for each other regularly and the Lord honors our prayers. 

Now, I love looking back at those times in our marriage even though they were bad years. I enjoy looking back because I can see how God worked in our lives. He had to take some things away from us to get us to stop and really look at each other. Then, He began to give back to us tenfold.

Not only did I see my husband transform into the man I dreamed about, but I saw him become the father our son needs. My son is so blessed to have such a wonderful father. 

Most importantly, I saw the Lord change me into the woman, wife, and mother I am supposed to be.

It was a painful transformation, but well worth it.

I cannot tell you enough how much this book has helped this wife pray for her husband. I recommend it for any wife who longs for change in her man....and in herself!

Get ready! You will see change!

Blessings,

Ruth

Integration

"Writing is a friend whose shoulder we can cry on..."

Page 109

Integrate

Julia Cameron, in her book The Right to Write, discussed how writers take life experiences and integrate them into their writing.

Have you used your writing to heal from life experiences? Have you used your writing to work through some issues? Has writing become a conduit for your emotions?

Should it be?

So what is integrating anyway?

Cameron calls it slowing down and allowing our life experiences to move or flow through us like movements in a symphony (p. 108).

I can see that happening.

Writing about teens battling the supernatural may not seem like a way to integrate my life experiences into my writing, but it can be. I find myself revisiting my high school years when I was strong in the Lord as well as my college years when I wasn't so strong in the Lord. I am working through those emotions to add attributes to my characters.

I can see how writing can allow healing and how it can cause pain.

Writing about loss, grief, and suffering can cause the writer to regress into those emotion once sealed off. But Cameron writes about how she used her writing to heal from the loss of a relationship. Writing can be that shoulder to cry on!

Self Expression

As in art, writing can be used to express oneself. I never did this with my art until I was in my late thirties. Art was always just a chance for me to escape, and not relive or dwell on life experiences.

My art teacher changed all that. He forced me to look back and revisit painful memories and express my feelings in my art. 

This painting is the result:

"Regarding Clouds"

 Instead of painting the chaos that was around me when I was younger (my parent's second divorce from each other...) I chose to ignore it and just paint and draw "happy" things.

This painting is my way of using my art to integrate my life experiences. 

Writing What You Feel

So, when I read what Cameron wrote in her book, I knew what she was talking about. We can use our writing to do the work of integrating. We can use it to create that wholeness. 

Write out what you feel.

Write out what you wish for.

Write out how you've changed.

Write out what you cannot change. 

Write out what you accept.

Yes, writing can be about integrating our life experiences to create that Gestalt...or that unified whole. 

But most importantly...just write!

Your turn: How have you used writing to do the work of integrating your life experiences?

Blessings,

Ruth

Remember Me

"...do this in remembrance of me." 

1 Corinthians 11: 24

In Genesis 1:27 we are told that God created us in His image.

As a result, we are a people who love to remember. 

It's no accident that in the early 2000's memory scrapbooks were the craze! Every mom out there created album after album of photographs and memorabilia dedicated to loved ones.

It's no accident that we have memorials erected in every city dedicated to those who died defending our nation. Memorials to important men and women who accomplished great things.

It's no accident that we have monuments erected in Washington D.C dedicated to our Presidents. 

It's no accident that we love to remember.

We were created in the image of a God who loves to remember as well. 

In Genesis 8, we are told God remembered Noah.

In Genesis 9, we are told He remembers His covenant...

In Genesis 19 we read that He remembered Abraham...

In Genesis 30, God remembered Rachel...

We read that God commands us to remember the Sabbath.

He commands His people to erect monuments to His faithfulness to them.

He is a God Who Remembers

Do we remember Him?

The Apostle Paul instructs in his first letter to the believers in Corinth to take the Lord's supper seriously. He commands that we examine ourselves before approaching the table of the Lord.

"Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup."  1 Cor 11:28

Paul urges believers to stop....examine yourselves. Are you coming to the Lord's table with the right heart? Paul urges us to stop and remember what Christ has done for you.

Do This In Remembrance

This Good Friday, take time and remember all that God has done for you. Remember how He has kept His promises and honored His covenant. 

Remember how He has remained faithful even when you have been unfaithful.

Remember His sacrifice.

Remember His love.

Remember His death.

Remember.

Your Turn: How will you remember what Jesus did for you this Good Friday?

Blessings,

Ruth

For This Purpose...

"Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? 'Father 

save me from this hour?' But for this purpose I have come to this hour."

John 12:27

As we contemplate the Passion of the Christ this week, my family has been reading scripture each night and asking ourselves some questions about worshiping God and who He is.

We read John 12:27 and it really spoke to me.

I thought about how Jesus could have easily asked His Father to spare Him the agony of the death on the cross. He could have easily departed right then and there.

But He carefully explains that for this purpose He came: to die for the sins of the world.

And why?

Because the wages of sin is death.

This is what Paul wrote. But notice he didn't write that the wages of our sin results in our death.

No. 

He wrote that the wages of all sin equals DEATH. 

What was earned by our sinning was the death of an innocent man...God in the flesh....Jesus Christ. 

He was 33 years old and at the height of His ministry. 

And what if He decided not to be the perfect sacrifice? Then what?

We would all still be in our sins. Hopeless. Helpless.

"But for this purpose I have come..."

And that is why my family is taking a few minutes each evening together contemplating who God is and how to worship Him.

We are grateful that He came for this purpose.

Your turn:  After reading John 12:27, what does God reveal to you about who He is and what He has done for you?  How will you worship Him this week?

Blessings,

Ruth

Bad Writing

"And so, in order to be a good writer, I have to be willing to be a bad writer..."
Julia Cameron, page 23






*************

One thing I have learned on this journey to becoming a writer, is that there seems to be a right way and a wrong way to writing. 

I don't like that.

With art, I always found comfort when my instructors would say, "And there is no right or wrong...just create art, understand?"

Yes! I definitely found comfort in those words. So much so, I found myself telling my students the same thing. Art is subjective...well, at least when you get past the foundations. 

But I am learning that with writing, there is a right way and a wrong way to do it. Because of this fact, there is more pressure to get it "right", you know what I mean?

"Writing doesn't always have to know where it's going..." page 22

So you can imagine how I just loved this book by Julia Cameron where she has a chapter dedicated to bad writing. 

In this chapter, she pretty much gives permission to the writer to just write. She advises the writer to put down on paper all your thoughts, the plot, the images, the crisis, and the ending in order to get it all out. 

And, yes, she realizes that this first draft will be bad. 

And that's okay!

"In other words, let it all in—every little detail that catches your fancy. You can sort it all out later—

if it needs sorting."  page 23

And with that permission, I found freedom! I found the same freedom I found with painting:  Just put paint brush to paper or canvas and see what happens. If you make a mistake, who cares? Start over if you need to but keep going.

Get it all out! Write out all those thoughts, plot lines, characters, dialogue, rising actions, scene after scene...and see what happens. I can sort it all out later. Yes!

This is the type of writing I can do. 

But that monster known as Perfectionism still creeps in.

"Perfectionism is a primary writer's block..."  page 25

All of us have read that book. You know the one: the one where the characters are amazing, the plot is unforgettable, and the action just draws you in?

Well, after reading that book then trying to write your book...you can see why so many writers just quit from the pressure of "getting it right." 

That longing for perfectionism is what keeps us from actually writing. The little voice in our heads can be our worst enemy.

Cameron's book has helped me move past this pressure I can put on myself. By explaining that it's okay to write badly if it means getting those ideas on paper, she gave me that permission to be creative again.

I can't tell you how many times I have sat at the typewriter (yes, I have been trying to write since before computers..) or computer keyboard wanting to write my story but couldn't because I felt the pressure to be perfect. 

You know, find that perfect word. Write that perfect sentence that just leaves people in awe. Or construct that incredible scene that leaves the reader wanting more....

So I gave up. 

But now I am learning my own writing process. Just get it all in! And sort it all out later. I write and write and finish the book. Then, I go back and rewrite along the way. 

I highly recommend this book. Cameron goes on to write about the writing life and debunks the myths, she writes about integrating life experiences into our stories, about writing daily, etc.

She covers it all!

I suppose the main point I got from this book is to remember why I ever bought that typewriter in 1991, sat down at my little dining table, and began typing away: because I had a story in my head that I just had to tell. 

And that's why I write today. I have a story to tell.

Blessings,

Ruth