Category: Writing Fiction
Of course you can. You can write any kind of story and make it clean. Well, almost any kind. Definitely, sci-fi can be clean.
Fine Wine and Writing
I’m no expert on wine, but of course you know that fine wine just gets better with age (kind of like me, as I like to remind everyone I know!)
Nobody orders the freshest wine or the latest vintage, because it takes time for great wine to develop; It didn’t start great.
It reminds me a little bit of when I began writing. I had a great time and I treasure those early projects, but I like to think I’ve only gotten better since then.
(thanks MissouriQuiltCo.com)
The Devil and Details
As you may have noticed, I love surfing for interesting tidbits to pass along. Today’s is almost prescient so I had to mention it!
Here it is, as I read it:
Isn’t it weird that there is an old adage that says “The devil’s in the details” AND one that says “God is in the details”?
Which is it?
On the one hand, getting down to the nitty gritty can sometimes reveal that a project is harder, more complicated, and overall worse than you first imagined.
But on the other hand, it’s the details that bring richness and make something truly special.
(thanks MissouriQuiltCo.com)
Hmmmmm. I need to think on this one. Especially as I just finished my latest book in the Johns Falls series and today is the day to start going over it. The dreaded second draft. The editing. The spellchecking. (Is that a word? It should be.)
Yep, today I start with the details. I can only hope that I find richness and something special instead of worse than I could imagine.
But I expect I will because I loved the story from the moment it popped into my mind.
Hint, hint: I’ll soon (in the next few days) be looking for/needing reviews. Free PDF of The Christmas House sent to the email of anyone willing to post a review on Amazon. Or just send me the review if you don’t have an Amazon account and I’ll post them as ‘editorial reviews.’
The Christmas House
When I hear the word ‘parchment’ I think of those very official scrolls containing royal pronouncements. You know, the kind that start with “Hear ye, hear ye” followed by all kinds of important announcements like: “The prince is throwing a ball!”
So this seems like the time to announce that soon my next book will be published. September first is the date the manuscript (my baby) goes to the publisher and, if past performance is any indication, it’ll be on Amazon soon afterwards.
So go to Amazon during the first part of September, check out The Christmas House by Florence Witkop and make me the happiest woman in the world by writing a review. Hopefully a good review but any honest review will be welcome.
The Christmas House is the third and last book of the Johns Falls series of clean, small-town romances. It was originally going to be titled The Forest House because it’s about a young woman who goes to live in a house in the forest where her grandmother grew up and where she spent many summers. But since the story ends around Christmas, and since Christmas is a big part of the ending, I changed the title.
The heroine, Abby, must stay in the house for a year and live ‘in the old way’ as much as possible in order to meet the grandmother’s conditions for owning it. Of course, the first day there, she gets between a mother bear and its cubs. And meets a hunky guy. And the rest is history. And another good Johns Falls story.
It probably won’t be the last story set in Johns Falls because I already have another series in mind that will also be set there but will be different because the stories will be mysteries that will be told in the first person. I’m doing it that way because I love writing in the first person and it’s common for mysteries. I’ve never written a full-length mystery novel before. A few short stories, but never a truly long one. Will be interesting. Wish me luck.
What is some advice that you can give regarding plot development in writing?
1. Plot is story. So start with that. What story do you want to tell? Write it down in a sentence or two on a slip of paper.
Do you practice daily writing exercises to keep your writing flow active?
Personally, no I don’t.