Writing News

Status reports of my efforts and progress

the wolf is always at the door

Uncertainty, Trust, and Steadiness: March Status

by Cindy Rae

Trust, steadiness, and uncertainty have been hallmarks of my life in the past month. But, then, uncertainty is always part of life.

The wolf is always just outside the door.

During uncertainty, steady on
Water photo created by creativeart – www.freepik.com

Sometimes we conveniently forget in our comfortable American lives that calamity can strike at any moment. Whether a pandemic or cancer, an economic depression or a terrible car accident, bad things happen.

Good things happen, too.

Whether good or bad, I’m resting on the rock of my faith, my faith in the salvation of Jesus Christ. How about you?

During uncertainty, steadiness and trust at home in winter

God’s got this.

With my circumstances, I’ve always had quite a few responsibilities and issues that pull me away from writing. God has resolved two of the rocks and hard places in my life, for which I’m immeasurably grateful.

With a husband who works from home, with me home writing, homeschooling, and preparing to go back to work full-time remotely, our COVID impacts so far have not been extensive. But, surprisingly, for this introvert, I’m getting cabin fever.

Writing status?

I’m actually making progress — on the novel, on writing-as-a-business, and my writing ability. I still have a long way to go on honing my writing skills, but I can recognize that I’ve “leveled up” in my writing.

I’m drafting Salvage‘s final scenes. As I write the scenes I’ve planned, more aspects of the story come to light, and more is added to my when-I-revise list.

In this section our protagonist is (mostly) out of the action, so my secondary protagonist, Emmett, is full-front in the story. It’s through him the secondary plot thread of ship dangers is revealed. As his character will not be in the next two books of the series, and his part in book #1 isn’t predominant, I need to keep him a little more shallow than Kaylah.

It’s tricky enough to handle two protagonists, but I needed both. And there are good resources out there, like this one from Jerry Jenkins about Left Behind.

Uncertainty to Certainty

I’m not branching out to writing blogs or copywriting, although I toyed with the idea for awhile. I’m focusing on my novel and on refreshing my software skills to land that full-time remote job.

Quick Tips from the Writing Notes

by Cindy Rae

Hopefully these one-liners I’ve collected on the craft of writing will help you, and perhaps not just in writing.

  • DON’T TAKE YOURSELF TOO SERIOUSLY
  • Be true to your I.Q.
  • Embrace idiosyncrasies
  • Make them laugh and/or make them cry
  • “…a lot of times if you’re finding that you’re having to describe things with a lot of adverbs, find a stronger verb instead” – CJ Lyons interview
  • Go beyond the five senses
  • Forget about being pretty
  • Don’t fall into stereotypes
  • “Verbs are the foot soldiers of action-based description”

 

December Status

by Cindy Rae

I have my first critique partner!  So exciting!

My novel and children’s series continue on hold.  I’m working on a revision of my science fiction short story, incorporating feedback from online and from my critique partner.

It’s been interesting learning how to add more emotion beats to my write and learning that sometimes the subtlety I shoot for — well, sometimes it’s just too subtle for the reader.

Writing Status for November

by Cindy Rae

Writing Skill Development Takes Precedence

I’m not pushing to complete any of my works in progress at this point.  Instead, I’ve switched gears to improving my writing skills.  This involves incorporating feedback (thank you, Absolute Write Forums!) back into my stories and improving the way emotions are conveyed in my stories.  I’m using not only my works in progress but also snippets from my writing journal.   Stay posted for more before and after examples!

Being a Plotter

Entire arguments exist on the web about writing a book by the seat of your pants (pantsters) and writing by planning the structure in advance (plotter).  What I’ve found is that capturing my dreams and ideas is great as a pantster, but to write well I need to be a plotter.

So, my major ideas are now organized into a MS Word table identifying concept, premise, and M.I.C.E. quotient.  A few of these I’ve developed with a synopsis as well as major setup, conflict, climax, and resolution.  One or two now have heavily developed character charts.Digiprove sealCopyright secured by Digiprove © 2019 Cindy Rae Johnson

Big Surprise: Writing Flaws = Personal Quirks

by Cindy Rae

I’ve received feedback on my writing from the amazing folks over on Absolute Write.  I’ve submitted the first scene from Sfia and Peter and two thousand words of Out of the Blue 2.0 (see the Science Fiction section), as well as asking for feedback on Zeddy and Bubba as a concept.

Several people touched on the same things in their comments, and those things turn out to be related to what I’m working on in my personal life.  Why am I surprised?

  1. Over-explain.  I explain in too much depth and width.  Anyone who knows me well knows that!  And it clearly shows up in my writing
  2. Emotional Distance.  The readers don’t feel close to my characters.  Since I struggle to clearly identify and express my emotions to others, it’s not surprising this showed up in my writing.
  3. Timing.  My sense of timing, of when to go in greater depth with the settings versus the moment of tension, needs work.  Ha!  If you know me, you know my tendency to blurt, or to say the last thing first, etc.
  4. Lack of clarity.  Sometimes the readers are left wondering “Why?” too much, especially in regard to what the character’s motivations.

The comments were by no means all negative.  I’m just focusing on what’s wrong to make it better.  Stay tuned!