Struggles with Edits

Waters of Mormon
By Walter Rane

I am in the throes of editing my Book of Mormon novel, Soulfire. My amazing editor believes in my story, I believe in my story, and my friends who have read it believe in my story. 


The writing SUCKS! 


Okay, maybe that's being a little harsh. I wrote this book over twenty years ago while I was a beginning writer. In fact it started out as a short story. I let it sit for a couple of years. Then the bug to write a novel hit me, but I didn't know about what.

While I was struggling, it came to me that I should turn my short story into a novel--it certainly had the potential for a longer version. It took me seven years to write it. During that time I experimented with different writing styles, never being able to quite find my voice. 

So now as I look back at this story, I'm having to really hard time editing it. Sometimes I think I just want to start over and rewrite the whole thing. So what keeps me from doing just that?


What do you do when you're stuck? When you're revising and you don't enjoy the process? What helps you? 

ANWA Writer's Retreat-or why have I been so silent?

Our gorgeous cabin

Last week was amazing to say the least! What happens when you get 32 women together in 5000+ square foot cabin, loaded with plenty of snacks, and great classes on writing and creativity? You get a retreat to die for.

Did I mention snacks?

You'd think that putting that many women together would be nothing but chatter. But what if those women are writers? What if they have a passion for the story? They ignore each other during quiet writing times and only the sound of laptop keys clicking away and pens scratching on paper is heard.

The kitchen-darling, huh?

For me it was an incredibly productive week. During that time I managed to pump out over ten thousand words, and that was in only 3 days. Imagine what I could do if I was on retreat every week. Alas my dear family needs me. (Yes, I did come home to a yucky house).

The Gals!

But with all said, I came away with a great grip on my new story. I advanced the plot, and got to know the characters better. 

Too Busy to Blog

What happens when you're in the middle of final edits, galley's and all the amazing happenings when a brand new author gets a book published? I'll tell you, the blog goes to pot. But I am truly excited. Today I got to see my cover for the first time. I stared at it for almost a full two minutes. Then I did this really weird thing. I walked into the bathroom, looked at myself in the mirror walked back to the computer, continued to stare at it for another minute. Then as calm as could be I went to my son in the other room and said, "I have something I want you to see." I think I was in shock. As we both stood there looking at it, I started crying. Then I started giggling, then I started dancing around the room! This was MY book cover. My honest to goodness book cover. And soon my words will be inside of it and sitting on a shelf in a book store!!!!!!! (I know better than to use that many exclamation points, but hey, I can...that's how excited I am.) So here is my book cover.

Shared from Peggy Urry's Blog

Peggy Urry posted on her blog today something that struck me. In her blog she discusses the power of words. As a writer, I have the power to heal, the power to hurt, the power to demean, or the power to build up.

One of the most powerful phrases comes from John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Think about it for a moment. What are words? What impact do they have in your everyday life? Since my greatest desire is to write using words, let them be the kind that will bring joy, will edify, will build character. I hope you enjoy this very short video about the power of words.

Thanks, Peggy, for sharing. To see Peggy's blog click here.

Short Story Characters

by Betsy Love

Round or flat, static or dynamic. What does that mean in terms of characters?

Round ones, not fat ones, are the characters that we know something about, okay we know more about them than we do other ones. Round characters are never stereotyped. They have personalities, struggles, values. How they react to any given situation is a result of their roundedness. On the other hand a flat character is almost never the main character. A flat character might make a brief appearance in the story--the cab driver, the waitress, the nosy neighbor next door.

A dynamic character is one who changes as a result of the situations in the story. He is the one who realizes something important about himself. Or she finds herself doing something she might not have done. We grow with this character and feel what he/she feels. Whereas a static character is one that does not change through out the story. Villains are often portrayed as static characters.

The most interesting characters are the ones we care about. Give me a reason to buy into why your character (good or evil) does what he/she does, and you'll have a great story.

I hope you'll take some time and write a short story and then submit it to my contest. You can read about the submission guidelines at:

Short Story Contest-Deadline May 31

Oh, and by the way, everything I just told you about short story characters applies to characters in all genres of fiction.

Happy Writing!

Writer's Ramblings

Why am I still up at 1:27AM. A very long Sunday nap, that's why. I'm so glad that tomorrow is Monday. What? Are you nuts? You may ask. My secret is that it's fall break and I can sleep in...well for a little bit anyway.

How long has it been since I blogged? I check the date of the last one....Are you kidding? That long? What happened to my resolve to blog? So much for my 12 step program. I still love Facebook. I guess that's an addiction I'm not willing to give up yet. But what am I doing with my writing? At the moment, quite a bit. I'm editing Identity for the hundredth time. I hear Leatherwood is looking for mystery/romances. I think I'll send it to Valor first. Tristi Pinkston read it and made some great suggestions on how to make it better. I've taken a good look at my main character and decided she really wasn't as nasty as she should be. So I made her selfish and self absorbed. I really love to hate her. But that's what we like about a character, right...watch her grow and change.

In the meantime, I'm also working on my fantasy. It's finally finished and ready for revisions. As soon as I get my other novel done, I'll work on this one. That's two of my books under construction. I have two more begging for attention as well. What is it about writing that is so gratifying? For me at least, it's a way of living vicariously through someone else. It's also a way to get to name "children" without having to raise them in the same way you raise the ones you give birth to. The ones we mentally give birth to are so much easier to train...or are they. Sometimes those kiddos take on their own personalities and opinions, just like your own children. At least with a character, if they get to out of hand, you can shelve them until you're ready to whip them into shape.

Writer's Block--or 12 step Facebook program

There are some times when you know you just have nothing to write about. Like a dry well, the bucket keeps bringing up dust. What do you do in a moment like that? Do you get wrapped up in Facebook? Find yourself lost in Twitter? Or abandoning those two pastimes for something really mundane like Shockwave.com, playing hours of endless, mindless, unproductive games? Yup, that’s me lately. I’ve become the shell of a writer that I used to be. So what do I do now? What about the numerous novels I’ve started? Or how about the ones that are finished, in need of some severe rewriting?

It’s serious time to kick myself in the proverbial britches and write. Did you hear that? I said, “I’m going to write.” I will not play Farmville. I will resist the urge to see how many pointless words I can create on Text Twist. From today, I commit to writing 250 words per day on any work in progress. And should I stray from this less than lofty goal, I will spend that time editing. Either way…Good bye computer…at least in the sense of unproductivity.

I heard once that if you want the muse to inspire you, she better find you hard at work.

It’s now 8:12PM. I figure for the next hour my fingers shall be flying across the keyboard in gross absorption of the literary kind, and maybe, just maybe my muse will tickle my brain.