Category: The write words at the write time

I caved

by Karen, posted in author, book reviews, books, Brave books, family, The write words at the write time, writing

Okay, fine; so I caved.

rosesWhen I first published my book, I was cocky. I did it! I wrote it! I put it out there and let other people read it!

Guess what? Other people have opinions. Some of which I don’t like.

Especially about the F word. Does an F word by any other name smell as sweet? Apparently not. Some people didn’t like it that I used poetic license and my self-proclaimed abilities as a wordsmith to come up with a spelling that I liked best for one particular F word. One person, of note because (s)he was the only negative review I received for my book on Amazon, decided to review it without actually reading it because of this.

That was back in March.

Fast forward to now, September. Another person declined to read my book because I used another F word. After consulting with the great literary minds in my household, I made the executive decision to change the spelling of one of the F words under dispute to the one in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary (full disclosure: the online one) instead of the one in the Urban Dictionary.

So, now if someone doesn’t like it, they can bitch to them.

The other F word though, that’s trickier. I don’t think there is more than one way to spell f*&k.

So f*&k it.

 

It’s called FICTION

by Karen, posted in The write words at the write time, writing
In case you haven’t heard, I’ve written a novel, One Brave Thing.  My novel is (of course, by definition) a work of fiction. BarneyIn case you haven’t heard, fiction is a work of the imagination. Like Barney the beloved dinosaur before her, Bebe is an imaginary character.
I have included a definition here for your reading pleasure (of fiction, not of Barney).
I hope you will also read–and enjoy!–my novel. 🙂
fic·tion
ˈfikSH(ə)n/
noun
literature in the form of prose, especially short stories and novels, that describes imaginary events and people.
  1. synonyms: novels, stories, (creative) writing, (prose) literature;

    informallit
    “the popularity of South American fiction”
    • invention or fabrication as opposed to fact.
      plural noun: fictions
      “he dismissed the allegation as absolute fiction”
      synonyms: fabrication, invention, lies, fibs, untruth, falsehood, fantasy, nonsense

      “the president dismissed the allegation as absolute fiction”

Poetic license, people! Heard of it?

by Karen, posted in author, books, quest for the best, The write words at the write time, writing

writers thesaurusI have been reading and reviewing books for years.

Years.

I haven’t loved all of them, but with only one (to my knowledge) notable exception*, I was not ever unkind to the author in my review. If I liked or loved a book, I said so. If I didn’t, then I moved on. Just because it wasn’t for me didn’t mean it was okay to ruin it for anybody else.

So, I was not prepared to deal with the negative feedback I got about one word that I chose to use in my book, One Brave Thing: ‘fleusy’. The first objection was to my repeating the word. Repetition is a tool that I use in my writing. I like to have my characters repeat words for emphasis. I am fairly sure that I am not the first writer in history to use this technique.

The second objection was to how I chose to spell ‘fleusy’. She wanted me to spell it ‘floozy’. I thought about spelling it that way, but I didn’t like how much it reminded me of ‘boozy’, so I decided to spell it differently. ‘Fleusy’ reminded me of ‘fleur‘ and I liked that better.

Hello? I am a wordsmith. If a word doesn’t work for me in my writing, then I change it up or make up a new word, if necessary, to get the feel that I want.

So, shut up. I can.

*The notable exception: Jodi Picoult’s My Sister’s Keeper. I wasn’t critical of her actual writing. I just hated how she chose to end the book. Just an artistic difference of opinion.

My one word, 2016 preview

by Karen, posted in friends, my one word, The write words at the write time, writing

January is coming fast. The past several years I have participated in the My One Word project. In a  nutshell, you choose breathea word that ‘will inspire you all year long’. It’s sort of like making New Year’s Resolutions, but simpler. And harder.

It’s not too early to start thinking about your word. You may already know what it is! A word may have sprung to mind the moment you read the phrase. If so, great. Go with it. Trust your gut. Otherwise, you can start paying attention. A word may present itself to you over and over, and then you will know. Yes. Yes, that’s my one word.

This year, my one word is Brave. I have to say that I have pushed myself to try things and go places that I never would have if I wasn’t being brave. Looking back, I am truly amazed! And there are still more than two months left to 2015!

You can keep your one word private, or you can tell some friends. I will say that having told my friend Sheila this year, she reminded me (when I needed to be reminded-you know, whenever I was trying to talk myself out of doing that hard thing? She reminded me I was Being Brave this year, so I had to do it).

If you choose a popular word, like BREATHE (this is NOT going to be my word for 2016; just an example!), you can find plenty of things to keep around you to remind you after January comes and goes that you are doing this.

Need some help choosing your word? Go to pick your word.

My soon to be published book

by Karen, posted in author, books, NaNoWriMo, no fear, The write words at the write time, writing

bestseller…soon to be published, as Blondie so fabulously put it, one way or another. The most important step, to FINISH it, is done!

My next step is to send out a query to an agent. Yep; I’m starting with just one. I’ll go from there. The one I am sending it to is with an agency that was recommended to me by someone who has read (and liked! and did I mention: liked?!) my book, which I am taking as a hopeful sign.

Since I finished the manuscript, you may be wondering what I am waiting for.

Here’s the thing: the planet Mercury has been retrograde all month and so I have been waiting for it to turn direct. Which it did today around 3pm.

I understand, however, from my extensive You Tube research :), that it can actually take a few days for Mercury to really, really be going direct again, to get it’s mojo back after being retrograde for so long.

Why not control what I can? Set myself up for success? The new moon is in Gemini (my sign!) on the sixteenth of June. I have decided that this is the most auspicious day to launch it.

Just for more good luck, I am putting the title out there:

Why Buy the Cow?

Fingers crossed.

My one word 2015

by Karen, posted in movies, my one word, NaNoWriMo2014, no fear, quest for the best, The write words at the write time, writing

IMG_0743I have written about My One Word (MOW) in the past. The premise is this: you pick just one word to inspire you all year long.

If you are a writer, the appeal of only writing ONE WORD in a writing session is seductive.

It is, however, also deceiving. It’s harder to choose just one word to write down than you might think. There’s actually an entire website devoted to this topic, with a section devoted to just choosing your word.

When you can only choose one, you want it to be the best word ever.

The contenders this year for me are, in no particular order:

Write Meditate Breathe Focus Declutter

I thought I had a good list from which to choose when I made the mistake of visiting the MOW website’s ‘Pick your word’ section and another word, a bright and shiny new and different word, popped out at me: BRAVE. This word, this BRAVE word, showed me that I had unconsciously been thinking that MOW must be a verb. Every word that I thought of was a verb.

But Brave? Brave can be an adjective or a verb! Or even a noun! And Brave is a big, important word. There’s an entire Disney Movie about that word! I have written other blog posts that contain that word!

Oh, I just thought of yet another (verb) word:  Decide.

I think maybe I just did. 🙂

What do you think about choosing One Word versus making New Year’s Resolutions?
What would YOW (Your One Word) be?

If you are BRAVE, please comment below with your choice!

 

Telling our story

by Karen, posted in Adult children, Angels, family, good grief, knitting, The write words at the write time

scarfI was at a craft show a couple of weekends ago. The weather was awful–freezing rain coating the icy snow on the ground that fell overnight. As soon as I got through the door, I stopped to shake it off of me. The first thing I saw was a table of scarves and hats, and the small dark-eyed woman standing behind it caught my eye.

I took a minute to look at the items on the table. I noticed a black and white scarf  that I knew would make a great gift for a number of the people on my list.

I asked, “How much is this?”

“Fifteen dollars,” she replied, “and you can pick a free cookbook from the box,” she added, hopeful, hands clasped in front of her.

I looked down. The ‘cookbooks’ were some old cooking magazines from 2008.

Well, all-righty then.

As she was wrapping it up, I was looking through my bag for my checkbook (note to self: Clean this damn thing out!).

I asked, “Did you make these?”

“Yes. Well, me and my daughter did. And then after she died, I made some more myself,” she told me.

What? Oh, no.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” I told her, and suddenly found myself hugging her. “Yes, it was hard,” she said, and proceeded to tell me about how her diabetic daughter who couldn’t feel her feel very well had a blood sugar drop that caused her to get into a car accident. “She went through the windshield and died instantly, the…the….” she trailed off.

“Medical examiner?” I offered.

“Yes! Yes, the medical examiner said. She didn’t feel anything, he said, and that made me feel a little better, but I was still pretty sad. Until my birthday,” she said.

This is what happened on her birthday: She and her husband were having lunch, feeling the feelings only parents who have lost their child feel. Suddenly, her glass of water slid across the table. About four inches. By itself. “I said, ‘Did you see that?’ to my husband. “‘That’s her wishing you a Happy Birthday,’ he told me, and we both teared up. Then I felt much better. I knew she was okay.”

Sometimes, people just need to tell their story.

Even if they aren’t writers.