Tagged!

Greetings to everyone out there who survived the A-Z Blogging challenge with me. Whew! That was fun, but I am glad that it is over until next year.  I met some wonderful people on the challenge...two of which have Tagged me via blog post. The two wonderful people are: Jessica over at The Alliterative Allomorph and Rayna at Coffee Rings Everywhere.

For a "Tag" you answer 5 questions 5 times to share a bit about yourself. So here goes!

Question 1 - Where were you five years ago?
1. Living in the Inland Empire - dessert California.
2. Welcoming to our family two children my husband and I just adopted.
3. Packing up to move to our new home near Temecula.
4. Saying goodbye to my brother - he moved to Seattle.
5. Taking my first gun safety class...falling in love with the smell of gun oil.

Question 2 - Where would you like to be in five years?
1. In my cozy home.
2. On a book tour.
3. At my daughter's graduation from high school.
4. Starting my youngest's Kindergarten studies - homeschool style.
5. On a beach near azure water with a sweet umbrella drink in my hand, my hubby on the chaise lounge next to me.

Question 3 - What is on your to-do list today?
1. Take my daughter to her composition class.
2. Attack the Fed-Ex guy when he shows up with my Droid...finally!
3. Work on revisions and line edits for Ruby Dawn.
4. Get my post ready for tomorrow's Blogfest.
5. Pack for my writer's conference.

Question 4 - What snacks do you enjoy?
1. Froth-frappy-whip creamy coffe drinks.
2. Any form of chocolate, but especially in brownie form.
3. Egg drop soup...I know its weird.
4. Red vines.
5. Grapes.

Question 5 - What five things would you do if you were a billionare?
1. Pay all of my bills.
2. Take my husband and six kids on a tour of the world via jet.
3. Start an Adopiton Awareness campaign to show people how much of a blessing it is.
4. Start a Art and Humanities camp for underpriveledged children to discover what is out there other than  video games and television.
5. May secret donations to worthy causes just to see the encouragement change lives.

The rules are that I get to pass the Tag along to 5 Bloggers I admire....

Amalia T.
Alex J. Cavanaugh
Patricia Stoltey
Kierah Jane Reilly
Sarah Jayne Smythe - Writing in the Wilderness

Can't wait to read more about these great writers and bloggers.  Until next time...Go Write!
Photograph by TheOnlyAnla who is taking a break until her math t, Uploaded on August 23, 2009.

R is for Redirect

A few years ago, I took a writing class taught by a guy who wrote teleplays. He worked on cop dramas and was quite successful despite the grueling demand for 20-26 episodes all requiring a fully formed story.

One thing he used to say was that there was no such thing as 'Writer's Block', just wrong turns. He said that if you are stuck in a story, or novel, or play...that the best thing to do is to go back to the section where things were flowing. Redirect your thoughts from making it work…to finding out why its not.

When did the writing transition easily from head to hands to paper? What scene were you writing when you were in, 'The Zone'? Chances are, the very next section is where you went wrong.

I took his advice with a grain of salt. After all, he only wrote hour-long episodes and I wrote 400+ pages...yet I've found through several books, that his advice was sound. Whenever I get stuck I go back to when it was good, and I usually find a misstep right after.

Did the hero and heroine reconcile too quickly? Was the dialogue unfinished...or revealed too much too soon? Did the decision to kill off a character or push them into the background hurt the flow? How about the characters, did I write them against personality or motivation and their actions don’t ring true?

Another trick he gave to us was to redirect our thoughts by working on something completely different. I usually have two or more novels in varying stages going at the same time. Sometimes all it takes is to redirect my conscious gears on one thing so that my subconscious percolates.

What about you? Do you have any tricks for redirecting a project that is stuck or feels wrong? I’d love to hear about it. Until next time…Go Write!

Photograph by Dano, Uploaded on September 11, 2006.