Holiday Traditions

My favorite holiday tradition is the advent chain I make for my kids. I cut twenty-four pieces of construction paper, write a holiday activity on each one, and then staple them together into a chain. Each morning the kids take turns tearing off a piece of the chain and that's our activity for the day.

Weekdays are pretty busy around here, so I keep the activities short: do a treasure hunt, read the nativity story together, or put candy canes on the Christmas tree. Weekends we can do more time-consuming activities like making Christmas cookies or having a family game day. We've been doing this since my kids were little. I figured they'd get tired of it eventually, but now they're teenagers and they're still excited to pull off the chain every morning.

What traditions do you share with your family during the holiday season - whichever holiday you celebrate?

I'm going to take the rest of the year off blogging to spend time with my kids over their break from school, so happy holidays to you all! See you in January!

An Outline is Born

Over the past few weeks, I've been outlining my new idea and shaping it into a story.

I started by identifying the different layers and subplots and then making an outline of each one on my computer. When I was happy with the outlines, I printed them out, cut them into pieces, and arranged each event in chronological order.

Then, when I had them arranged how I wanted them, I made a color-coded chart. I use a different color for each plotline so I can trace each plot and make sure I have a good mix of the different storylines. I just finished this last night and I'm glad to have it done - it was a lot of work getting to this point! This is just a starting point and it will evolve from here, but at least I've got a basic game plan.

Whew! So that's how I develop my outline. How about you? Are you a plotter or a pantser? If you're a plotter, does your outline or your method look anything like mine? And what have you been working on this past week?

Baby Faces Blogfest

Trisha at WORD + STUFF is hosting the Baby Faces blogfest today, where we're supposed to post a picture of ourself as a baby. This was taken right after I started being able to sit up on my own. My mom said I was really proud of myself, hence the big smile.

Someone gave me this picture a few years ago. My sister and I were trying to figure out who it was (our mother was able to identify it, though I was already pretty sure it was me), and my sister at first thought it was my aunt but then said this baby was too "funny looking" to be my aunt. I was highly offended! I think I'm pretty adorable, actually. :)

Do you keep any baby pictures of yourself? Being the youngest of five kids, I'm always pretty excited when I find one of me (especially one where my older siblings aren't making me scream or cry!)

Don't forget to stop by Trisha's for the list of other participants!

Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook

I hope you all had a great week last week! We had a very nice (and delicious!) Thanksgiving with two of my sisters and their families. Now the last of the pumpkin pie is gone and it's time to get back to work. :)

As I mentioned before, I sent my latest manuscript out to critique partners recently. While I'm waiting to hear back, of course I'm starting the next book. A couple of weeks ago, when I started this project, I had just a glimmer of an idea. It's a mystery, so at that point I knew the murderer's identity and motive, and that was about it. Then I went to one of my all-time favorite books, the Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook by Donald Maass. I spent the past couple of weeks working through the exercises and ended today with writing the skeleton of my outline using the step-by-step guide in Appendix A.

I'm a compulsive planner, and I still have plenty of prep work left to do before I start the actual writing. But by working through this book, my glimmer of an idea has grown into a full-fledged story with layers and subplots and complications and steadily rising stakes. I've discovered new suspects and symbols and even my theme. I'm sure much of this will change as I continue to play with the storyline, but it's a great start with plenty of substance and details and original ideas I'm sure I wouldn't have thought of had the exercises in the book not forced me to dig deeper than my initial, easy surface ideas.

So, are you starting a new project soon? Or do you have an old project that needs new life? Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook has two thumbs up from me! Have you read it? If so, what did you think?

Happy Thanksgiving

Image courtesy of Simon Howden / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

 

 

 

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

 

And thanks to everyone for your good wishes on my new adventure in studying nursing! I hope those of you who celebrate Thanksgiving have a wonderful holiday week, and for those who don't - I hope you have a just plain wonderful week. :)

 

I'm going to be celebrating with family and eating lots of turkey and pumpkin pie - see you next week!





 





Change is in the Air

First of all, I apologize for my unexplained absence. I was trying to get my latest manuscript out to beta readers, and I finally did late last week - hooray! While I'm waiting to hear back, I decided to give my blog a new look that better represents the kind of writing I do - mysteries with a touch of creepy.

You may have noticed another change if you read my "About Me" section - I'm starting nursing school! I've been accepted to an Accelerated BSN program which means I can get my BSN in one year since I already have a BS in engineering. I'll need a year of prerequisites (mostly biology) before I can start the program, though, so it will actually be two years. I start my prerequisites in January 2013 and, if all goes according to plan, I'll start the BSN in January 2014. I'm still debating whether I'll do that BSN option or get an Associates nursing degree at a school much closer to home, but either way I'll need the year of prerequisites.

So, that may mean more unexplained absences in the future. Since I started my blog I've been a stay-at-home mom and writer, which allowed me a lot of free time. I'm sure going to school will put a serious cramp in that, but I'll do my best to keep a regular blogging schedule, though there will undoubtedly be times when I fall behind. I hope you'll all understand!

So, big changes happening here. Any changes in your life lately?

Sensory Details

I'm still working on the revision suggestions I learned in Darcy Pattison's Revision Retreat Weekend last month. I've spent the past several days making sure my manuscript has plenty of sensory details to bring the story to life. My goal is to engage at least three senses in every chapter. I've been going through my manuscript chapter by chapter and recording which senses I've included on the spreadsheet that I talked about in my previous post (another great use for spreadsheet plotting!)

I've learned a lot by doing this. I was pleasantly surprised by how many sensory details I've already included. However, these details were mostly visual and auditory. I really need to pay more attention to taste, smell, and feel. By including three senses in each chapter, I've had to stretch out of my norm and look for these extra details I don't normally think about. It's been a great exercise that I think will benefit all my future writing, hopefully making me pay more attention to these details up front, rather than waiting for the revision stage.

How about you? Does using sensory details come naturally to you, or is it something you have to pay special attention to? Which senses are you most likely to include?