Tag: Noon and Wilder

  • J Is For… Just – and Other Garbage Words

    We all use them.  They’re the little words that don’t really need to be there, like “really.”  They come from colloquial conversation and pepper our writing because it’s how we talk, but not necessarily how we write.

    Here are some examples of “garbage words” that I look for when I’m editing a manuscript:

    • So
    • That
    • Then
    • And then
    • Just
    • Really
    I literally use the “find” function in my word processing software to look for these words.  This helps me tighten up the writing.  So, you really just have to find the words that make your writing slow down, then remove them, and then you’ll really have something that’s just worth reading.
    See?  Easy as pie.
    What about you, Dear Reader?
    What is your favorite editing tip?

  • I Is For… Initiation

    When I attend prompt circles and other writerly groups, one question that keeps cropping up is, “How do I get started?”  It’s usually asked by someone that, to my eye, is quite ready to get onto the page, they just don’t know where the page is.  My answer is always the same:  open your journal and start writing.  Set a timer for ten minutes.  Write whatever’s in your mind.  If you totally can’t think of anything to write, then tell me how you got here, to this moment, today – start from the minute you woke up this morning.

    That’s it.  Start with where you are.  Right here.

    Now.

    What about you, Dear Reader?
    What’s the best advice you have for getting started (in anything, not just writing)?

  • F Is For… Fiction!

    I adore fiction.  I always have.  I wrote my first story at the age of nine, and I devoured books upon books from the library, booksellers like B. Dalton and Waldenbooks, and when I discovered my first Barnes and Noble I thought they would have to drag me out of there kicking and screaming because I never wanted to leave.  ACRES of books.  I discovered the (sadly defunct) Brandeis Used Book Sale which was an annual event, SEVEN CIRCUS TENTS full of used books – paperbacks, hardbacks, rare books, sets, books, magazines, books, tapes, DVDs, and did I mention books?

    I love the smell of books.  I love the feel of them.  I love the novel as an art form.  But above all, I love fiction because fiction allows you to tell Truth.

    Which brings me to Professor Josip Novakovich.  If you are a writer, or want to be, I urge you to wander through his book Fiction Writer’s Workshop and add it to your personal library.  His pithy explanations of how to get to story will have you reaching for your pen.

    But my favorite quote from the whole book, which is full of quote-worthy material, is this:

    “You might want to become a non-fiction writer, and yet at every turn you distort things, exaggerate and embellish them, and even introduce characters, places and events that had nothing to do with the original material.  In that case, you are a born fiction writer, which is much nicer than saying you are a born liar.”

    Hoo-rah, baby.  Yeah.

    What about you, Dear Reader?
    What’s your favorite medium?  Novel? Poem? Non-fiction essay? What?

  • C Is For… Character

    So, I went to Google today to find a funny picture to use for today’s post.  So, I says, Google, give me funny character pictures.  And Google says,

    Well, I’m not actually sure what this says.  Isn’t he creepy?  🙂

    I totally lost my original train of thought.  It was going to be something magnificent, too.

    So, Dear Reader.  
    What has distracted you on the internet lately?

  • A Is For… The Artist’s Way

    By now, our regular readers have heard us talk about The Artist’s Way, by Julia Cameron.  If this is your first time, Dear Reader, hello, and welcome.  I’m A. Catherine Noon, one of your hosts here at the Writer’s Retreat, and I thought I’d kick off the A-Z Blog Challenge by talking about one of my favorite tools.

    I first encountered The Artist’s Way in 1995 while living on a sabbatical in Mount Shasta, California.  I had left my urban, corporate life behind in search of becoming a writer.  A client for whom I was doing some office work had the book and recommended I borrow it.

    I still have that original copy, well-loved and falling apart, filled with notes of two decades’ worth of experience.

    While there are many amazing things about The Artist’s Way, the part that most deeply changed my life, or at least the part I’m most aware of today, is that I’ve been journaling almost daily since I started.  I’d been a diarist before then, off and on, but never took it seriously.  Quite by accident, I’ve become a serious diarist who is never without a journal in which to think, relax, play, work, rest, rage, and write.

    Above all, write.

    I have learned that one does not become a writer, one is born one.  Sometimes, whether by childhood trauma, societal prohibition, or simple lack of awareness, one has to remember oneself and recover one’s creativity.  But we are, all of us, creative.

    What about you, Dear Reader?  What tool has helped you on your path to where you are today?

  • Day Two of the Keepsake Tour – Daylight Savings Time

    It’s the second day of the Keepsake Tour to celebrate the release of Emerald Keep and already, I’m pooped!  Of course, that may have more to do with the fact that it’s Daylight Savings Time and we’ve lost an hour of our day.

    Benjamin Franklin, inventor, politician, and writer, suggested that people could get more done if they got up an hour earlier.

    He should have kept this idea to himself!

    Tell me, Dear Reader, what other “Big Ideas” do you think should have been kept to their inventors and not foisted on the unsuspecting public?

  • Writer Wednesday – Fear

    We were having a discussion today on Romance Divas about fear and success, and it got me thinking.  One thing I’ve learned about fear is that conquering it doesn’t mean I don’t feel it.  I used to think that being brave meant that I wouldn’t feel fear, I’d somehow achieve this Zen state of serenity where I could do those things that frightened me without feeling any fear or anything scary.  Since that never happened, and I felt fear anyway, I never achieved that Zen state.

    But what did happen was far more magical:  after some experiments in feeling the fear but moving forward despite it, when I did the thing that frightened me, I felt a great surge of serenity.  Isn’t that ironic?  I had to go through the fear to get the serenity – nothing else worked.  I couldn’t avoid it, or not do the thing that made me afraid, or any of a dozen other avoidance tactics.  It was only by going through that I got through.

    What are some of your favorite coping mechanisms for dealing successfully with fear?

  • Writer Wednesday – NaNo’s Ovah!

    NaNoWriMo is over!  Holy cats, what do I do with my life NOW?

    Keep writing.

    Duh.

    No, seriously.  Keep up the discipline that you played with during the month of November.  Maybe you don’t set your goal as high, maybe it’s something more sustainable.  But it’s like going to the gym:  if you go full-bore for a week and then nothing, you’re not going to get into shape.  You get into shape by going on a regular basis, doing exercises and routines, and sticking with it.

    Okay, Squirrel moment here.

    I went to search for the bit in the first Harry Potter movie, where Hagrid says to Harry, “Stick to your ticket.”  It’s funny and fitting.  So I go to Google, my go-to for finding stuff, and the above picture is what I got as a result for the query, “hagrid stick to your ticket.”

    Hmm.

    Anyway.  Where was I?  Oh, yes.  Write.  Follow your muse.  Allow yourself to not make sense, and to chase down flights of fancy.

    After all, how else are you going to find a really odd looking Icelandic Viking ship from a travel site when looking for Harry Potter?


    — 

    “It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.”
    – E.E. Cummings

    **New** SEALED BY FIRE is available from LooseId LLC. An All Romance eBooks Bestseller!

    The Chicagoland Shifters series:
    Book 1 BURNING BRIGHT, available from Samhain Publishing.

    Book 2 TIGER TIGER, available from Samhain Publishing. An All Romance eBooks Bestseller!

    The Persis Chronicles:

    **Coming Soon!** Watch for EMERALD KEEP from Torquere Books, out April 2015!

    Check out EMERALD FIRE, available from Torquere Books.

    Check out COOK LIKE A WRITER , available from Barnes and Noble.

    My links: Blog | Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Amazon | LinkedIn | Pandora 

    Knoontime Knitting:  Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Ravelry
    Noon and Wilder links: Blog | Taurus and Taurus (NSFW) | Website | Facebook
    The Writer Zen Garden:  The Writers Retreat Blog | Forum | Facebook | Twitter | Meetup
    National Novel Writing Month: NaNoWriMo | ChiWriMo | Blog | Facebook | Twitter

  • Monday with Aunt Noony

    We’re ready for National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo, at our house.  Can you tell?  That’s Kolya, doing his best to give his inspiration to my inbox.  He’s a little over a year old and is fitting in well at the Noonypad, terrorizing his big sister Nadya and alternately loving on, and beating up, our eldest Boria.  He follows the dog, Coyote, around like she’s his nanny.

    Yes, we have a confused household.  My son thinks he’s half dog/cat too.

    But I digress.  It’s only October, even though it feels like NaNoWriMo has begun, and that’s because I am super excited to report that I’m a Municipal Liaison this year!  I finally did it, I threw my hat into the ring.  This year, there are four of us volunteering to wrangle ChiWriMo into shape.  We have a Facebook group, a Twitter feed, and even a blog.  We’ll be doing online write-ins, in person write-ins, a Kick-Off and Thank-Goodness-It’s-Over (or TGIO) party, and all sorts of stuff in between.  I’m so excited, I can’t stand myself!

    Write on!


    — 

    “It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.”
    – E.E. Cummings

    **New** SEALED BY FIRE is available from LooseId LLC. An All Romance eBooks Bestseller!

    The Chicagoland Shifters series:
    Book 1 BURNING BRIGHT, available from Samhain Publishing.

    Book 2 TIGER TIGER, available from Samhain Publishing. An All Romance eBooks Bestseller!

    The Persis Chronicles:

    **Coming Soon!** Watch for EMERALD KEEP from Torquere Books, out April 2015!

    Check out EMERALD FIRE, available from Torquere Books.

    Check out “Seeking Hearts“, available from Torquere Books.


    Check out COOK LIKE A WRITER , available from Barnes and Noble.
    Check out “Taking a Chance“, available from Torquere Books! An All Romance eBooks Bestseller!

    My links: Blog | Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Amazon | LinkedIn | Pandora 

    Knoontime Knitting:  Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Ravelry
    Noon and Wilder links: Blog | Taurus and Taurus (NSFW) | Website | Facebook
    The Writer Zen Garden:  The Writers Retreat Blog | Forum | Facebook | Twitter | Meetup

  • Writer Wednesday – Crazy Chicken Dance

    So, it’s Wednesday.  The first Wednesday of June.  This means it’s my day to write my Writer Wednesday post.

    Um…

    ~crickets~

    • Final line edits of Sealed by Fire are due Friday.
    • I teach class tomorrow night.
    • I have a meeting this morning at the regional sales office for my day job.
    • I should probably do laundry this millenium.
    • I need a vacation.
    But I have some super sekrit cover squee for you.  I haven’t even released this on the Noon and Wilder blog yet!  ~drum roll~
    Coming from LooseId June 24th!