Envision Publishing

Robin Lee Hatcher's Write Thinking: Things Novelists Do While Their Books Remain ... Unwritten

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 01:30:59 -0500

Robin Lee Hatcher's Write Thinking: Things Novelists Do While Their Books Remain ... Unwritten:

This video is adorable. If you’re doing NANOWRIMO this month (National Novel Writing Month) you have to watch it! If you’re like me and revising that novel for the zillionth time — you need to watch it! Love the ladies who write!

Mayans, like everybody else, wrong about predicting end of the world | The News-Sentinel - Fort Wayne IN

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:46:08 -0500

Mayans, like everybody else, wrong about predicting end of the world | The News-Sentinel - Fort Wayne IN:

karlaakins:

My professor wrote this! It is his freelance writing class I’m taking on Tues. nights. He keeps us entranced with his stories. He has so many of them and he tells them so well. I’m privileged to be one of his students. I go away every single night after class just in awe and feeling like my head is going to explode from the knowledge he shares. Way to go, Doc!

Click to Read: Advice to First-Time Authors by Michael Hyatt

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 22:33:25 -0500

Click to Read: Advice to First-Time Authors by Michael Hyatt

Click to Read: Using Social Media to Build Your Author Brand

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 23:11:18 -0400

Click to Read: Using Social Media to Build Your Author Brand:

Best Selling Author, Colleen Coble, shares her success with online Social Media and connecting to her readers. Writers are no longer able to hide in their writing caves. If they want to sell books they need to love their readers and connect with them. Read and learn!

What It Takes to Become a Master Writer

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 22:09:10 -0400

What It Takes to Become a Master Writer

THIS IS YOUR BRAIN ON JOY

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 15:51:00 -0400

THIS IS YOUR BRAIN ON JOY: A Revolutionary Program for Balancing Mood, Restoring Brain Health, and Nurturing Spiritual Growth by Dr. Earl Henslin is one of the best books I’ve read in many years about brain health.

Did you know your brain is plastic? That it can actually change with time from what you feed it, say to it, and think? Dr. Henslin, a licensed counselor has worked for years with Daniel G. Amen, MD a pioneer in brain imaging research. In this book he shares what he has learned about “Joy Boosters.” These are activities that literally create joy in the brain in ways that change the way the brain physically looks. He breaks these activities into three categories: Creating a joyful brain-stimulating environment, feeding your mind and soul with nourishing thoughts, and feeding it through movement and good food.

Dr. Henslin writes in an easy-to-understand format, and his light-hearted humor shines through. But this is a serious book and an excellent reference for parents, teachers, doctors, counselors, pastors and anyone wanting to learn more about their brain and ways they can “mold” it to literally be full of joy. You can read it cover to cover or simply turn to a section that applies to you or the people you are working with.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to know more about helping people with ADD, ADHD, depression, narcissism, OCD, PTSD and more. Any psychological struggle you can think of is addressed in this book and ways to recognize and treat it. This book helped me understand myself and my son who suffers with bipolar. I have several friends who struggle with clinical depression and I am looking forward to sharing what I have learned about this book with them.

BOOK REVIEW: FIND YOUR STRONGEST LIFE by Marcus Buckingham

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 04:34:24 -0400

FIND YOUR STRONGEST LIFE: What the Happiest and Most Successful Women do DifferentLy by Marcus Buckingham is a brilliant self-help book for any woman trying to succeed. Hailed as a visionary by Toyata, Coca-Cola, Microsoft and Disney, Buckingham is in demand as a consultant for people and organizations wanting to discover and exploit their strengths. With more than 3.7 million books in print, Buckingham’s wisdom is not only sought after, but doable.

In this book, Buckingham guides the reader on a journey to discover her strongest moments. As a hard-working mother, grandmother, pastor’s wife, freelancer and teacher, I have found myself juggling far too many responsibilities, and am worn out and overwhelmed by all the hats I have to wear. According to Buckingham, juggling isn’t what I’m supposed to be doing. Juggling isn’t catching but throwing. We need to catch our strong moments and cradle them.

The book also has a website and test you can take at http://stronglifetest.com . I took the test, and the first time I took it, I was perplexed because the two strengths listed were nothing like me. So I took the test a second time and this time I was completely honest. The first time, I think I may have answered questions based on what I felt I should do, not on what I actually would do if I trusted my gut. So, the second time, I was brutally honest, and sure enough, the results of the test were spot on. I am one of the more fortunate ones, in that I knew these were my strengths and have known this for most of my life. However, this book gave me permission to embrace these strengths and look for them in all areas of my life, not just in my career.

This book also gives women permission to admit that there are just some things in our life we aren’t going to be good at no matter how much we think we should be. I like that about the book. And I am looking forward to going through the next few weeks focusing my attention on my strengths and not feeling guilty about my weaknesses. Armed with the information in FIND YOUR STRONGEST LIFE, I will be able to assess my life in the next few weeks and discover for myself what areas of my life bring me joy and ways I can focus on them.

I am looking forward to using the practical and life-changing advice I’ve learned from this book. I highly recommend it to women because women today are less happy than ever. And life is just too short not to find happiness in every single day. If you’re someone who doesn’t look forward to every single day – get this book. Just reading it will give you hope. Doing what it says, will help you find the strength and happiness you so desperately need.

So You Wanna Be a Travel Writer?

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 16:27:19 -0400

So You Wanna Be a Travel Writer?:

READ AND LEARN, PEOPLE!!

karlaakins: I am quite certain I was born to wear this...

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 01:01:05 -0400

karlaakins:

I am quite certain I was born to wear this dress.

justbesplendid:

whoa..nice dress

I dare you to put this in a story or...

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 00:51:23 -0400

I dare you to put this in a story or book…anyone???

emilygracethinks:

WOW.

karlaakins: I am so here right now with my college homework....

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 00:50:03 -0400

karlaakins:

I am so here right now with my college homework. And not feeling well doesn’t help matters.

(via audreyhepburncomplex)

An Advertising Shift Helps Blogs Survive as Businesses - NYTimes.com

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 00:48:34 -0400

An Advertising Shift Helps Blogs Survive as Businesses - NYTimes.com

Max Lucado is the reason hard copies of books may never go out...

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 03:39:10 -0400

Max Lucado is the reason hard copies of books may never go out of style. When I read his books, I always want to read with a highlighter because I don’t want to forget anything he has to say. I want to savor every morsel because his words feed my soul in ways no other living author has. Lucado is certainly an important voice of our day, a prophet of our times, and I enjoy letting his words pour like smooth melted chocolate into my hungry soul.

Not that the wisdom in the pages of this book is candy. It’s not. I’ve been a Christian for nearly 40 years, and by reading this book, I realized there are pockets of fear in my life that I’ve failed to recognize. These words are meat, milk and honey to a weary soul living in troubled times.

Besides being a great messenger, Lucado has a beautiful voice as a writer, and every Christian writer should read his work.

I give this book five stars because it fed me, and it made me laugh and cry. I give it five stars because it challenged me to get to a better place in my faith walk with Jesus. It is full of hope, and I could use some of that right now!

via www.thomasnelson.com

This week this granny went back to college just so she could be...

Sun, 06 Sep 2009 00:49:13 -0400

This week this granny went back to college just so she could be taught by this man, Dr. Hensley. If I can manage to practice one thimbleful of what this man teaches, I will die a successful writer.

Dr. Hensley iis the author of more than 50 books and 3,000 newspaper and magazine articles.

If you have ever seen the Christian movie, THE BRIDGE (also titled, THE MOST) — Dr. Hensley wrote the story that this was based on. And he was only 19 at the time.

http://www.turnbacktogod.com/movie-most-the-bridge/

But it isn’t talent alone that has made him such a great success. It’s also his work ethic and his passion for the craft.

If you live in Indiana or any of the surrounding states, and you’ve always dreamed of becoming a writer, do everything you can to take a class with this man.

I met Dr. Hensley at an American Christian Writers Conference in April 2009. I was extremely nervous to show him my work, and while he did make a lot of marks on my paper, I was grateful because he is passionate about making his students better. You can just tell he cares.

I hope his head is better, though. Right before class an overhead projector fell on his noggin. Ouch.

“Should I get you an ice pack?” I asked.

“Nah,” he said. “I went through worse in Nam.”

photo via www3.delta.edu

karlaakins: Today we rode through Salamonie State Forest on our...

Sun, 06 Sep 2009 00:31:44 -0400

karlaakins:

Today we rode through Salamonie State Forest on our motorcycles. I love this ride and can’t wait to get back there for fall. My camera was running low on batteries, I think, because it usually takes much better video. I hope to go back when the trees turn color and video it again. It is such a beautiful place and one of my favorite places to go for nature study with students.

Ways to Reward a Reader

Fri, 24 Jul 2009 15:24:41 -0400

Some Ways to Reward a Reader

1. Give the reader new experiences. Take the reader to places she has never been. Treat the reader to smells, foods, and sights she is not likely to otherwise encounter. (For example, try a new coffee, tea, or other product. Perhaps show a new way to make coffee. The point here is that whatever your plot may dictate, you should still be thinking of ways to give the reader new experiences.)
2. Five-sense your copy. Involve odor, taste and touch as often as it makes sense within the storyline. Use hot, cold, hunger, and thirst. Five-sensing can be used to provide ‘new’ experiences and also used to enhance the vicarious experience your story provides the reader. Nora Roberts is very proficient with 5-sensing her copy.

3. Make the reader ‘feel’ an expanded array of emotions. The phenomena of ‘vicarious experience’ allows readers to feel what your characters are feeling – or at least what your heroine is feeling. These feelings can include: being loved, desired, envied, jealous, victorious, cherished, prideful, fearful, beautiful, approved of, angry, sorrowful, in doubt, joyous, hateful, and feeling betrayed. Janet Dean makes exceptional use of emotions in her first book, “Courting Miss Adelaide”.

4. Anticipatory Events (AEs): create situations in which the reader looks forward to finding the resolution. Secrets work well as AEs. Other AEs include ‘going to a big event—like a dance’, ‘who will win an award’, ‘who will get the job’, ‘what will happen when Mary finally meets her ex?’, Julie Lessman uses AEs skillfully in her “Daughters of Boston” series.

5. Make AEs happen sooner in the story than the reader expects. This is a reward in itself. (Nora Roberts is an expert at rewarding the reader sooner than the reader expects it to happen.)

6. Factoids: facts make the reader feel smarter. Lucy Gordon does this often in her Italian stories. Factoids can include ‘how-to’ items. (Like how an Italian cook might handle a cooking problem such as too much spice in a soup.) Factoids are so popular that the term ‘factoid’ is now in general usage. (As strong as factoids are, a writer must be very careful to seamlessly work them into her writing. Factoids cannot be there simply because the author wants to reward a reader.)

7. Sparkles: the poetic use of words; fresh and unique ways of expression – a selection of words the reader has never heard or seen of before. Sparkles include new terms to take the place of worn-out romance phrases like ‘toes curled’, ‘knees turns to jelly’, ‘took her to where she had never been before’, etc. Camy Tang demonstrates this ability in her new book: “Deadly Intent”.

8. Quips, quotes, and wisecracks. These cover a lot of ground. Ideally these are sayings that the reader can enjoy and perhaps use herself in the right situation. Janet Evanovich’s books are plum full of wisecracks and are a joy to read. In an interview Janet once said that she considered herself to be an entertainer more than a writer. Wow! This goes right to the heart of writing to the ‘reading experience’.

A Few Examples from Available Books:

“His Forever Love”, Missy Tippens, page 12

Her traitorous heart galloped underneath her rib cage. Stop it! I will not let my heart race over this man. This supposed friend.

(Example of ‘emotions’ and ‘sparkle’)

****

“Deadly Intent”, Camy Tang, page 8

“I need to speak to Jessica Ortiz.”
An involuntary spasm seized her throat. Of course, glamorous client Jessica Ortiz or plain massage therapist Naomi Grant – no comparison, really.
But something in his tone didn’t quite have the velvety sheen of a lover. He sounded almost…dangerous. And danger didn’t belong in the spa.”

(Notice in the above quote: 5-sense: ‘spasm’, Emotional: ‘envy’ of Jessica and ‘self-depreciation’ – she almost ‘feels’ sorry for herself, Sparkle: ‘velvety sheen of a lover’ . AE: ‘danger didn’t belong in the spa’ ).

***

“Deadly Intent”, Camy Tang, page 12

Back out in the central fountain area, the harsh smell seemed stronger, but she couldn’t pinpoint where it came from. Had a sewage pipe burst? No, it wasn’t that sort of smell. It didn’t smell rotten, just…had an edge to it.

(A good use of ‘smell’ – I can almost smell it myself. This detail enhances the reader’s vicarious experience.)

****

“Petticoat Ranch”, Mary Connealy, page 49

The man quit rubbing his head. He was staring at her and listening so intently, it was as if every word she spoke was coming straight from the mouth of God. “Earlier you asked me about a name.”
“Clifton Edwards.”
His eyes narrowed, and Sophie leaned closer along with the girls.
“Clifton Edwards, Cliff,” he muttered. “It means something to me.”

(AE: the author could have just revealed the information directly but instead the reader has to wonder: ‘Who is Clifton Edwards to this man? What happens when he remembers the name?’ Mary Connealy makes very good use of AEs in her books. By the way, the answer comes very soon.)

***

“Assignment: Baby”, Lynne Marshall, page 8

Amanda Dunlap prayed this wasn’t fate’s idea of a practical joke.
And there they were, the twenty carefully selected patients, each with three or four of the risk factors contributing to future heart disease – ticking time bombs, as her mentor had put it.

(Above quote is an example of an AE – will patients die, which ones, will the bombs go off?)

*****

Assignment: Baby, Lynne Marshall, page 8

Thank heavens the Mercy Hospital medical director had found a replacement for their satellite clinic. Only one problem remained.
Where was her hero?
While destiny snickered, Amanda checked her watch again – seven-ten.

(Example of AE. Who is hero? Will he show up? What will her reaction be? )

***

“Courting the Doctor’s Daughter”, Janet Dean, page 13

Opening the side door leading to her father’s office, Mary’s nostrils filled with the smell of disinfectant, a scent she’d grown as accustomed to as the honeysuckle fragrance she wore. The waiting room chairs sat empty. A stack of well-worn Farmers’ Home Journals and Ladies’ Journals cluttered the top of a small stand. She took a minute to clear out the old issues before the whole heap tumbled to the floor.

(Example: excellent use of smell and factoids – magazines of the times)

***

“A Passion Redeemed”, Julie Lessman, beginning of Chapter 4.

What was he doing here? Again? Mitch sucked in a deep breath, thick with the loamy scent of wet leaves and burning peat, and turned the ignition off. The car sputtered to silence. He sagged back in the seat, surrounded by stillness except for drizzle on the roof of his Model T, the distant yapping of a dog, and the pounding of his pulse in his ears.

(AEs and 5-sensing. Julie Lessman scores very high on RPP. )

****

“Sushi for One?” Camy Tang, page 310.

“Lex, singles in the entire Bay Area are asking the same question.”
“But I used to succeed in everything whenever I gave my best. Why not in finding Mr. Right too? Or at the very least, a sponsor.”
“Let me get this straight. You’re complaining because you, like practically every woman in the United States of America, can’t find either Mr. Right or Mr. Rich? What planet are you living on?”

(Example of emotional desire to win and of snappy dialogue)

“Sushi for One?” Camy Tang, page 310.

Lex didn’t realize she’d been leaning against the car until the heat began toasting her buns. She scooted away.

(Good use of showing someone who is mentally preoccupied and also how hot it is outside without expressly saying either.)

*****

“A Passion Denied”, Julie Lessman

Brady frowned. “What’s wrong?”
Collin’s chest tightened as he thought of Lizzie and the secret Faith had sworn him to.
“Collin? Something’s wrong – what is it?”
Collin looked away and threaded his fingers though his hair. “Yeah, yeah, there is. I don’t think it’s anything serious yet, but—“

(Secrets are used many times in “A Passion Denied”. Will a character reveal the secret? Will grantor of secret find out? What will happen then? Lots of AEs can be generated by use of a single secret.)

*****

Important: The RPP approach does not supersede writing rules. You still need to know how to write well. Writing a bad book that has 20 rewards per page will only produce a more rewarding bad book. Increasing the RPP may not even merit you better reviews. The higher RPP is designed to enhance the total ‘reading experience’ in order to please readers and make fans more likely to buy your next book(s).

How you might choose to apply this information:

1. create your own RPP index with rewards that you find significant.

2. score your own work – then score an author you particularly like using your RPP system. Compare scores.

3. color code your manuscript in your word processor by giving different color highlights to the five sense words.

4. color code ‘emotions’ – show what characters are feeling on each page. You can use different color type for the different emotions.

5. scroll through your WIP file. Ask yourself – how colorful is my writing and how ‘rewarding’ is my writing? If you’re seeing very little color, you have work still to do.

6. try to increase your RPP score without making the writing seem stilted. (Think of this: ‘a high-concept’ movie is one that by its very nature provides many ways to reward the viewer. If you develop a ‘high-concept’ romance plot, then by its very nature, you’ll enjoy more opportunities to increase your RPP score.)

Questions:

Do you write to ‘the needs of the novel’ or do you write to the ‘reading experience”? Do you consider yourself an entertainer?

Can you suggest some additional ways to reward the reader?

Vince
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Vince is giving away a spankin’ new copy of Julie Lessman’s A Passion Most Pure to one person who leaves a comment here today.

If you’d like to read more about Vince’s philosophy of romance, check his blog at http://vmres.blogspot.com/

~

http://prairiechickswriteromance.blogspot.com/2009/07/welcome-vince-mooney.html

Prairie Chicks Write Romance: Welcome Vince Mooney

Fri, 24 Jul 2009 15:22:32 -0400

Prairie Chicks Write Romance: Welcome Vince Mooney:

karlaakins:

Ways to Reward a Reader

The Authors' Roundtable | Newsweek Books | Newsweek.com

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 10:34:26 -0400

The Authors' Roundtable | Newsweek Books | Newsweek.com:

“It feels difficult to me a lot. Which doesn’t mean I don’t love it and I’m not pulled to it on a daily, nightly, insomniac basis. Your point about it being very hard work is a good one. It’s tremendously hard work. Yes, I love arranging the words and having them fall on the ear the right way and you know you’re not quite there and you’re redoing it and redoing it and there’s a wonderful thrill to it. But it is hard. It’s a job of tremendous anxiety for me.”

—Elizabeth Strout

"The Lord gave the word: great was the company of those that published it."

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 06:36:32 -0400

“The Lord gave the word: great was the company of those that published it.”

- Psalm 68:11 (via karlaakins)

Laugh with MommaSaid - MommaSaid.net

Sat, 06 Jun 2009 23:04:22 -0400

Laugh with MommaSaid - MommaSaid.net:

Do your kids do funny things? Here’s a chance to write about it.