The Befores and Afters

It's always been like that.

Think of marriage. BEFORE, it's courtship,
a time of getting to know the person with
whom you hope to spend the rest of your life. The special dates, flowers, then the ring and marriage.

Now, AFTER where you discover the real
person you are now living with for the rest of your life. And hopefully you have made a wise choice! (Happily I did. After many years we are really in sync with each other in every way)

Now what about the BEFORE of a holiday. The anticipation of spending a time of true relaxation in that special somewhere you've always wanted to visit. First buying the air tickets, checking your luggage can withstand mishandling. Insurance in case things go awry. Maybe some new clothes?

And the AFTER? No matter the weather, I can read for hours without bothering about cooking, cleaning or washing. Oh, joy! I soak up the freedom. The exhilaration of new sights, new experiences. I feel refreshed and ready to face my everyday life at home.

Now take the BEFORE of a book. It starts with with a thought, a premise. Add more thoughts, the plot. Then the delving into the protagonists' characters. Now the writing which could have already begun.The editing. Beta readers. The proof reading.  And finally .... da-dah! THE BOOK! 

But now comes the AFTER. Oh, it's well and truly been completed, and its author can enjoy the pride and satisfaction of all that hard work, the sacrifice of other pleasant outings, late nights etc.
Then comes the hunt for a publisher ..... And eventual publication!

I thought of the Lord God  BEFORE creation. Behind each day of creation week He had planned the reason and the order of things that would come into being. If we as mere humans plan and reason, it's because our dear Lord made us that way. Life never generates from nothing spontaneously. Even the most brilliant of scientists admit they do not understand where LIFE came from. Yet our God, Ex Nihilo, formed the universes, our planet and our humankind from nothing that ever was. And so we live, and breathe and experience our being.

And the AFTER? I am so looking forward to being with HIM forever. To see my Saviour, Jesus, face-to-face! And what a marvellous reunion that will be! As the hymn writer wrote;

When the trumpet of the lord shall sound and time shall be no more
When the morning breaks Eternal, bright and fair,
When the saints on earth shall gather over on the other shore,
When the roll is called up yonder, I'll be there!     

BIO:

Indie Publisher, Rita Stella Galieh, has written a trilogy of historical novels & also contributed to several US anthologies. She is now completing a third historical romance series. Besides her weekly blog, she can be found on Facebook and www.ritastellapress.com  

 After their marriage, she and her husband attended Emmaus Bible College, and were also involved with Christian Television on Sydney’s Channel Nine. Currently she co-presents Vantage Point, an Australia-wide Christian FM radio program. She enjoys giving her fun-filled presentations of ‘Etiquette of the Victorian Era’ in costume.

When should we stop writing?

Two family members spurred this post, which I shared on my own blog a little while back.

1) My sister sent me a photograph of her thesis, which she'd finished at last, and said, "Here's the result of 5 years of hard work, handed in today!"

2) My son walked in on the last day of Uni holidays and announced that he was about to pull an all-nighter, since he had a 2000 word essay due by midnight the following day and hadn't even chosen a topic! I said, "How can you leave it this late and still be so chilled?" His reply was, "I refuse to work over my holidays." He's used to my horrified reactions and usually manages to pull something off.

So how long is a reasonable time to spend on whatever you're writing? Different projects take different lengths of time to complete, of course. I usually take about twelve to eighteen months to work on a book of my own, but when I worked on The Greenfield Legacy with three co-authors, we took about a quarter of that time. But how do we ever know when we've put in enough work? When do we come to the point where we can confidently state, "This is the best I have to offer"?

It's not necessarily accurate for everyone to say something like, "It should be two hours for a book review, six weeks for an essay, 1.5 years for a novel and 5 years for a major thesis." We're all way different from others. My son thinks he works best under pressure, while I hate the feeling of deadlines looming over my head. Other variables include how familiar we feel with the subject, how much research will be involved, and what else is going on in our lives at the same time. Rather than setting fixed time estimates, I believe there's another, more foolproof way of figuring out when to stop.

I think the Law of Diminishing Returns might be handy here. We've all experienced how any given thing becomes less beneficial or satisfactory the longer we indulge. In terms of a block of chocolate, the first square is heavenly. We may close our eyes and sigh, while our taste buds and tummies are screaming at us to have some more. The second square is still delicious, so we keep nibbling away. If we don't stop at a crucial moment though, we'll get to the last square, and find ourselves feeling squeamish and bloated. By then, even the flavour may strike us as sickly sweet. There's a point at which we all should stop, and if we don't, we find ourselves on a downhill slope.

In terms of working on a written project, here are a few clues I've noticed to tell me I've passed that point, and it'll all be diminishing returns from now on.

1) My eyes start sliding over elementary mistakes that fresher proof-reading eyes would have picked up. Missing words in sentences, such as 'and' and 'the' get unnoticed. I'm so familiar with the work that I skim read the sentence as if they're present every single time.

2) I attempt to approach my story with the eyes of a new reader, but find I anticipate each new paragraph, and have accidentally memorised hefty chunks of dialogue by heart.

3) The whole thing now seems boring, heavy-handed, predictable and stale. Common sense tries to tell me that maybe my senses are just saturated with the thing, but another niggling voice asks, "What if it really is hopeless?" At this stage you're wandering around in a fog, because objective evaluation is way in the past.

4) I've noticed signs of diminishing returns in friends too, when they say, "I can't stand the sight of this manuscript any more," especially after they've made all their editing changes.

So those are the signs that we need to stop, or least put it aside for an extended period of time if we can (although in my son's case, that was no longer an option). If we don't distance ourselves from the work at this stage, fiddling around on it even more, making little syntax changes, rubbing out exclamation marks or changing a character's word choice, is no longer helping the quality of the work. It's more like stuffing empty calories of chocolate down our throats long after we've stopped enjoying them. Recognising that critical moment is one of the challenges we all face, but I think we can do it when we get sensitive to the signs.

My son received 70% for that overnight essay, and grumbled because he was sure another lecturer he prefers would have given him at least 75. Since it was such a rush effort, I thought he should be happy with 70, and he remembered that at the start of his degree when he was less confident, he used to say he'd be relieved with anything over 50, so he agreed with me. My sister's thesis has yet to be seen, but I'm sure it'll be great.

Paula Vince is a South Australian author of contemporary, inspirational fiction. She lives in the beautiful Adelaide Hills, with its four distinct seasons, and loves to use her environment as settings for her stories. Her novel, 'Picking up the Pieces' won the religious fiction section of the International Book Awards in 2011, and 'Best Forgotten' was winner of the CALEB prize the same year. She is also one of the four authors of 'The Greenfield Legacy', Australia's first and only collaborated Christian novel. Her most recent novel, 'Imogen's Chance' was published April 2014. 

Another Look at Conference Highlights

I've just returned from a lunch date at Picton where I filled in a host of details of our Omega16 conference, Mulgoa, to my sick friend who missed out. We've already had an excellent rundown from Meredith Resce, but this is entirely from my POV.

I loved our special welcome from Thomas. He meandered along the drive and approached our car then almost pushed his head through the window. I think he hoped for an apple or a carrot. Sorry Thomas...next time.

As we only live 45 minutes from the Edmond Rice Centre, we arrived early and met committee members setting up. I particularly enjoyed meeting our writers face-to-face. And everyone mixed well. That's important when some writers are attending for the first time. Staying in cliques can make a newbie feel 'out of it'.

Who could forget Hallee Bridgeman's passionate love scenes read by one very 'hot & bothered' lady? So much fun there. But so helpful. Surprised to find she's an extremely successful Indie Publisher with a huge fan base.

Every one of the presenters knew their topics well and were never stumped by questions. I really took in Cecily Thew Patterson's spot on Memoir Writing, as the idea of my unusual experiences as a travelling evangelist has been on my mind. I took a deeper look at my Beds I Have Slept In. Hm. Deeper than the humour I'd begun with.

Our Maori chef with his cheerful aides, presented such generous helpings. So delicious with seconds offered. And new table friends to interact with at many meals.

Narelle, Rose, Andrea, rudely photobombed by Raewyn and Heather!

And such a studious, quiet time as we pored over our writing ... NOT! It was a fabulous time of fun and fellowship. And that, my friend, (if you are thinking about attending next year) is a great atmosphere for learning everything you wanted to know about the writing, editing, social media, reviewing, writing technique - goals, motivation and conflict, understanding your characters & POV. Whew! 

Yes, there's more to writing a novel, memoir, nonfiction,             

Aussie and Kiwi friends

devotional than perhaps you ever thought. And as a writer who has been at it for some years now, I know there's always something new to learn.

And that's where a beta reader and an editor willing to assess your work is so important to you. 

I got a big kick meeting Iola Goulton. She has worked with me on my Victorian trilogy and also a couple of other stories which are still in the pipeline. You have to have a soft spot for someone with whom you share your precious words. Someone who cares enough to help you sharpen your mind processes enough to make your novels sparkle. And sharing a wry sense of humour helps big time!

Glad to see Meredith Resce accepting the position of Omega's president. A job with huge responsibility. Just as well she's a competent girl who knows the value of delegating. And I appreciate the idea of incorporating an afternoon nap. Our brains can only take in so much. :)

Currently Rita co-presents a Christian radio program with her husband, George. This is broadcast Australia-wide on local FM stations. As an author, she has written five historicals & contributed to several US anthologies.

Each year Rita and her husband minister for a month in Thailand at Buddhist schools, prisons, hospitals, orphanages and Christian churches.  see www.ritastellapress.com

Writing Process

Writing Process. 

Everyone has one.

Some writers are fantastically organized, with meticulous plotting, spreadsheets galore, a fabulous title, months of research at their fingertips. Plonk them in a seat and they can emerge six hours later with five thousand quality words.

Others are ‘pants-ers’, going with the flow, waiting for those moments of inspiration to hit, happy to see the different pieces fit together, like a quilt sewn of patches.

Others of us are a mix, finding benefit from structure (or at least an idea of what the end might look like!), whilst seeing the positives of keeping things a little ‘loose’ as our characters come to life and beg to say something other than what was planned.

I’ve written eight novels now, and find my writing process varies. Some projects have been amazingly straightforward (strangely enough, these tend to be NaNoWriMo projects). Other stories have proved amazingly coy, resulting in twiddling of thumbs amidst mild panic.

The story that wrote fastest (and I think was one of the best!) was a NaNo project, written only a few weeks after I’d finished the main character’s sister’s story. This meant I had a great grasp on storyworld, and together with a few weeks dreaming and planning (‘stewing’ I like to call it), meant I had both a basic chapter outline and whole scenes ready to roll when the time came to ‘piece’ it into my story. I could write fast, leaving asterisks for the tricky research questions I hadn’t been able to learn prior to commencing, like whether vermilion really was a colour accessible to the average amateur artist in 1819 England. (Yes, is the answer, though it was both toxic and expensive!) 

I recently started another project, typing up my first chapter from a burst of scribbled inspiration, typing with a smile as I'm thinking how fun it is to begin something new, with all the possibilities ahead. I enjoy the start. Most of the time I enjoy writing the middle, even if it feels like I'm slapping words out I just know will need editing later. There's something exciting about seeing strands of storyline weave together, sometimes in surprising ways, resulting in prayers of thankfulness as it seems the story has been shaped by a hand far greater than mine. I even enjoy mining those wells of emotion, tears trickling down my cheeks as I draw on experiences of pain or loss, seeing true things transformed to a greater truth. Writing as catharsis. Writing that heals. Writing that offers hope.

When I think about my writing process, I realise I usually enjoy the editing, too: tweaking words, culling repetitions, going for a(nother) cup of tea as I mull over phrasing, often aloud, which make me very glad when I've got the house to myself! And then there's rereading, where sometimes I'm taken by surprise by what I've written, and I'm brought to tears - in a good way! Moments of gold in the sometimes painful journey of bringing what once were vague stirrings of an idea into something tangible and real.

Over to you. What’s your writing process? What's your favourite part about writing? 

Carolyn Miller lives in the beautiful Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia, with her husband and four children. A longtime lover of romance, especially that of the Regency era, Carolyn holds a BA in English Literature, and loves drawing readers into fictional worlds that show the truth of God’s grace in our lives. Her Regency novel 'The Elusive Miss Ellison' will be published in the US by Kregel in February 2017. She is represented by Tamela Hancock Murray of the Steve Laube Agency.

Connect with her:    www.carolynmiller.org    

                                 http://www.pinterest.com/camillering

                                 https://www.facebook.com/carolynmiller 

  

Fun, Fresh, Feisty and Fierce! An Immersion with Margie Lawson Explained ... by Andrea Grigg

Margie ready to go!

I’d heard a lot of very good things about psychotherapist and editor, Margie Lawson. And after talking to friends who had signed up for an immersion being held in Melbourne, straight after the Romance Writers of Australia conference which I was already attending, I signed up too.

Best move ever!

Margie is a warm, funny, energetic, and inspiring lady. For five days, seven of us hunkered down with her in the home of our host, the lovely Dorothy Adamek. We arrived at 8:30 in the morning and didn’t leave most nights until 9:30 pm.

Sound intense? Well yes, it was, (hence our group name, 'Fun, Fresh, Feisty and Fierce!')  but there was endless encouragement, lots of laughter, constant ‘aha!’ moments, and an abundance of gourmet food (thank you Dotti!).

Each morning, Margie presented her fabulous, so this-is-what-my-writing’s-been-missing techniques and gave us exercises to work on. She also spent time with us one-on-one, going     over our manuscripts. What an invaluable daily half hour that was!

Elaine still working hard ...

 Four of us already knew each other, but it took no time at all for us to bond with the other two immersioners. Improving our writing was our goal and boy, were we given the Bunning’s Warehouse of tools to do it!

I love studying writing craft. I’m always keen to know how to improve my style, strengthen my structure and learn new strategies. I received all that and more from Margie. 

Here’s a quote from Catherine Hudson on the subject:  

'Many writing craft books tell you the dos and don'ts, a whole list of rules that in the end, make you feel confined, shut in.... and frankly, suffocated. Margie Lawson's lecture packets and her immersion have set my creativity free! She gives tools to make your writing fresh, fun, and marketable. Margie is a powerhouse of writing knowledge, creative energy and editing humour. I've never laughed so much as someone carved up my work to turn it into a thing of beauty. Love it! I plan to attend more of her courses soon.'

Was the immersion tiring? Exhausting? Overwhelming? Yes, but oh-so-worth-it. Here’s what Cassandra Shaw and Elaine Fraser had to say:

Cassandra: 'You’ll be excited. You’ll be exhausted. You’ll be near tears. You’ll be wondering why you did this. When it’s over, Margie will leave you inspired, driven, and confident you now have the tools to craft a novel beyond your biggest NYT dreams.' 

Elaine: 'On Monday, I was full of enthusiasm. On Tuesday, I was ready to quit. On Friday, I had the tools I needed to triumph.'

And this from Iola Goulton: 

'Dotti raved about her first Margie Lawson. And her second. After a week with Margie, I can see why. I now understand and can apply a huge range of power writing techniques and understand the effects of Velcro hands, thumbies, and choosing the right cookies. If you want to know what any of that means, you’ll have to ask me in person at the Christian Writers Conference in October … or attend a Margie Lawson immersion yourself. I guarantee Margie will show you how to be a better writer (or editor!).'

So, what preparation was involved?

Each of us brought five chapters of a manuscript to work on. We also purchased three specific ‘packets’, a group of printed out online lectures, (Deep Editing, Rhetorical Devices and More; Empowering Characters’ Emotions; Writing Body Language and Dialogue Cues like a Psychologist) and applied them to our chapters before the immersion. The packets are only $22 USD and FULL of amazing examples from ‘Margie-grads’, many of whom have gone on to write NYT best-sellers! I’ll be purchasing more of the packets in the very near future.

Will I sign up for another immersion?

You bet! But if Margie doesn’t make it back Down Under, (the immersions are held mostly in the U.S.) I will access more of the lecture packets or sign up for an online course.

I hope I’ve managed to whet your appetite concerning all things Margie Lawson. Check out her website http://www.margielawson.com/ and see which part appeals.  And if you ever get an opportunity to attend an immersion, go for it! You'll be so thankful you did.

Out to dinner on our last night. From L-R: Cassandra, Andrea, Catherine, Dotti, Iola, Lauren, Margie, Elaine