How to Write Degree

Writing is a learning process. As the world advances writing changes. With the Internet writing has changed a lot. How we write has changed, how we publish has changed, and how we publicize has change.

My college is now offering a degree in Creative Writing. Sounds like a dream. Could I really do something with that degree? Would all those ads for content writers and editors want that kind of writing degree or would they pass it over for an English or Journalism degree.

When I was young and they asked me what I wanted to be I said, "I want to be an artist." My mother, a depression baby, said, "No, artist make no money. You need a trade that makes money." Then I thought I'd go to college. My mom said, since I didn't know what I wanted to be I should figure that out first. (but I wanted to be an artist!) Friends were taking a dental assistant course. Since I couldn't become an artist, college was discouraged, I became a dental assistant. I hated it. I got married too young, had kids and life zipped by at the speed of light. Through the years I've been a dental assistant, waitress, bartender, retail manager, office manager, office clerk, admin assistant and the list goes on. I've sold my art and my writing on and off through the years between raising kids and random jobs. Now the kids are out of the house and I don't want to do another mind numbing job. So now I'm back in school taking English, Journalism, Creative Writing and not sure where I'm going with this stuff. Would a Creative Writing degree generate a good job?

This afternoon there's a seminar on what a Creative Writing degree can do for you. I'll let you know what they say. Should be interesting.

The picture is Hemingway's bathroom down in Key West. I don't know why I took that picture, but I took photos of everything in his house. Even his kitty graveyard.

Writer to Runner

Insanity has struck. I'm thinking of running the Color Run this year. It comes to New Jersey on my birthday so I'm thinking this is an omen...or a challenge?

I feel I need something to shake me up. Since losing my job I've had a bit of depression and find myself hanging by the fridge. I think most of this depression comes from fear of getting another job I absolutely hate. I want something that's busy and challenging. If I get another job where I have so much down time I end up staring at the walls again I think I might go crazy. The last two jobs I had, had too much down time. I spent hours trying to look busy because there just wasn't enough work to do. I haven't had a job I loved since I left the Student Exchange company. That job was interesting and crazy busy. I loved it.

Back to the Color Run, if I want to do this I'm going to have to start some serious training since I never run. I used to walk a lot, but it's been a while. You can walk the color run. It's not really a race but more of a fun run. They throw color at you, you dance in the rainbows and run at your own pace. But I really want to run this all the way.

Any runners in the crowd? Advice?

Tomorrow is day one of training. Tomorrow night I'll be collapsed on the couch. See you then!

Writer Meet Chair

Writing is simple: writer meets chair. You have to just sit down and write. Carve out your time and just do it.

To which I reply; HA!

If it were truly that easy I'd have more than one book up on Amazon. Those five or ten books that I've actually finished would have more than one draft. I wouldn't be stressing over the cube thing interview I have this afternoon.

So yesterday I locked myself in my newly finished writer's cave, determined not to leave for the whole day. Outcome? I went from page 100 to 195 of my rewrite for No Apologies.

I'm keeping a log book next to my computer of date/time/page numbers of work done. When I got up this morning and looked at my book it felt good. I actually accomplished something yesterday. How the hell did that happen?

It wasn't easy. At times it was hard to keep my butt in the chair. The ghosts of Facebook and Twitter called. My email begged to be opened. The house called out to be cleaned. These were real creatures reaching into my cave and trying to pry me out of my chair. It almost felt like I was beating them off with that Louie-ville slugger I keep next to my night stand.

This morning I'm here again in my writing cave. Space heater cooking, trying to out work the cold February wind that's leaking through my windows, coffee at my side and dogs at my feet. The old calico cat is curled up on the towel I folded on the edge of my desk. I think she wants me to write. She looks so content as I hit the keys.
That's a picture of Hemmingway's desk down in Key West. When we went I took pictures of every room in his house. Tomorrow we'll visit his bathroom. ;)
See you tomorrow.....

Cubes, Writers, and Work

I fear the cube. I did it for a while, sat in the cube processing papers and managing nonsense for others.

And it ate my soul.

I know we need day jobs. I know the day job supports the real joy of our souls but I think it also works to stop the flow of creativity.

I think the brains of writers and artists are wired differently. These brains need space. They need room to breathe creativity in and out like most need oxygen.

Cubicles suck the creativity out of the brain. Its like the cube is a crushing box pushing and shoving the brain into a cramped square where no words can escape. No art can flow. It's where the voices in your head stop talking.

I have an interview tomorrow. I fear the outcome but not for the reasons most would think. Does this make me crazy?

Writing Time and Motivation

Even when I have time to write I'm getting little done. I'm scattered. I need a kick in the pants to get going. Unemployment is a weird state to be in. Although I make sure I'm up and ready to face the world early every morning, I get very little done.

I think, after being a stay at home mom for a lot of years before taking a full time job, I viewed the house as my job. When the kids were in school I'd clean, cook, wash, scrub and make sure everything was running like a well oiled clock. Then the kids grew up and I got  a job and life went on. Now back at home full time I find myself falling back into the stay at home mom job. Instead of looking at writing opportunities I'm cleaning! WTF!

I must be insane.

I've begged the universe to give me writing time and here it's handed to me and I blew it. Sheesh!

And today I got an interview. An opportunity to return to the real world. Why am I so bummed at the prospect of going back to 9 to 5?  Did I miss something I should have done? Am I subconsciously sabotaging myself?

Maybe.

But hey, an interview is no guarantee of a job. Perhaps this is my kick in the pants?

Free Book, Soul Mates

Love dogs? And FREE ebooks?

My book, Soul Mates (A different kind of love story) is now available FREE on Amazon. 

When a deal with God goes terribly wrong a woman is reincarnated as one of the smallest dogs on the planet. Follow the adventure as she seeks her place in a world where she has little control.

Soul Mates (A different kind of love story) is free on Amazon for the weekend. Enjoy a story about a dog that who's spirit never gives up.

I wrote this book on the idea that maybe our Soul Mate isn't a lover or spouse but someone we connect with on a more spiritual level. When soul meets soul and people do the right thing, they can find the thing they've been searching for; unconditional love.

If you like it, leave a review on Amazon. I'd love to hear from you. To find out more about the writing of Soul Mates visit my website.
I hope you enjoy reading Soul Mates as much as I enjoyed writing it.
Happy Reading!

Movie Review; Die Hard 5

Die Hard 5, or A Good Day to Die Hard is a high action film where John McClane comes back, but this time its his son, John Jr.or Jack, who is in the heart of the action. McClane goes to Moscow to find his son who happens to be there on assignment. McClane is dragged into a world of spies and crooked Russian politicians. If you like car chases, major crashes and bombs exploding this might be the movie for you. If you like a good plot? Eh.

There were a few weak points in plotting that had me questioning things from the start. I don't want to give away the plot here but in one assassination attempt a man walks in and is fairly close to the subject and tags the guy in the shoulder? Really? So right away we knew there was something off here.The movie maker may have thought he was setting up a twist, but this action was so blatantly staged we were waiting for reveal instead of being surprised when it happened.

During the scene when father and son first encounter each other, Jr. simply drives away leaving Daddy in the street. What was weird about this scene is that Jr. was being chased by bad guys so he was really leaving  Daddy in the line of fire.

Jr. shows dislike for this father throughout but its never really explained why he feels this way. In one scene John Sr. says something to someone else about working too much and not being there for his kids but never do we hear Jr explain why he's being such a jerk to his father. I thought this was a weak plot point. If you're going to put this in the story, we need Jr's reason from Jr. Not some two minute remark from Dad to another person. Without Jr's point of view he comes across as a jerk. Main characters should be someone we connect with, not someone we think is being a jerk.

Car chases and fight scenes: although action filled with flipping cars, mega crashes, high powered gun fights and fist fights, these weren't filmed from the best angles and sometimes it was hard to keep track of where everyone was in the scene. Some of the explosions had father and son falling from the top floor of a building, crashing through scaffolding and walking away almost unscathed. Kinda unbelievable. In all the other Die Hard's the injuries kinda matched the accidents. Here the disbelief factor was high, another detractor to the movie.

Good point throughout the movie; Explosions were big and lit up the whole screen. There were times during the movie where I cringed, closed my eyes, and almost jumped out of my seat. There was a major twist at the end that really made the movie and did kinda surprise me.

In spite of the weak plotting points this movie was a pretty good action film. It had all the right ingredients but when I left the theater I felt it could have been better. As we walked out I wasn't left with that feeling you get from a really great film. The one where the characters stay with you for a while and you don't want to let the go.

The film has the potential to be great so what happened? I didn't get one Yippie Ki Yay.

I give it 3 and a half stars out of 5. Sorry Bruce.

Writing as an Indie Author

Writing consumes me. I write much better now that I'm unemployed. It doesn't have much to do with the job factor but more for the fact that the job I had clouded my mind. To be able to write, I need to be ...content? Happy? Not spend every day absolutely aggravated?

But I'm drifting here. My point is writing, writing tools, reading about writers is how I spend a lot of time when I'm not actually writing. I work on 4 blogs and send an occasional article to Patch.com. Oh yeah, and that job search thing. (If only I could make my job writing = Dream job!)

But look what I found this morning! There is an Alliance of Independent Authors. A place where Indie's support each other and share information. The site looks good, but since I only have one Indie book, and it's more of  a novella, I'm not sure I'm eligible to join yet. I understand they have standards I might not meet yet but this is a site I'm going to watch. I think there's going to be lots of valuable information here. The membership fee is $99 for the year. Not too bad a fee, right? I've paid more for other writer organizations.
They also have a blog.

Would you join something like this? Do you know of any other Indie organizations?

Book Review: Moon Dance by J.R. Rain

I just finished Moon Dance by J.R.Rain and I'm gonna give it 5 stars. This book kept me engaged and cheering for our main character, Samantha Moon, who is a mom, private investigator and a vampire. The story follows her investigation of an attempted murder while trying to balance everyday mom things. Clues are artfully dropped along the way as to how she became a vampire and what she's done to blend in with her old life. A skin disease explains why she avoids sunlight and her husband helped manage the blood issue. The story takes us through her struggles to earn a living, trying to save her marriage and manage her vampire cravings. Best of all -- I never guessed who did it. Clues were dropped, Samantha moved smoothly though the investigation and kept me guessing all the way.

From a writing stand point I'd say this is very well crafted and executed story. Characters are well fleshed out and believable, scenes are vivid and the story flows so well you forget reality and get sucked right into the world of Samantha Moon.

I don't seek out vampire stories and I'm not sure how this ended up on my Kindle. I am a bit of an impulse buyer so I often find surprises in my menu. However this was an excellent story. I loved the writing and I loved Samantha Moon. I would often find myself rooting for her and then feeling her pain as she realizes the life she once loved can never be hers again.

If you're looking for a good read check out Moon Dance. For more great reads by J.R. Rain click on his name to find his author's page on Amazon. I'm going back for the next book in this series!

Writing Essays, Stories and More

Essay writing is a skill that can be honed like every other writing muscle. Whether you need an essay for school, a writing group or to use as a speech to honor someone. Essays written from the heart can inspire and move to action. They are found in magazines, newspapers and all over the Internet. Now that I'm taking classes in Journalism and Creative Writing I find myself writing lots of essays. Not my favorite but not something i struggle with at all. I think I've been writing essays all my life without knowing it. Here's what I learned along the way...


Is there a magic formula on how to write an essay? Yes and no. (Don't you love those kind of answers?)

Well, the answer depends for whom you're writing. College essays will be held to a higher level than an essay written for a newspaper. (I've heard newspapers are written on a 6th grade level. Is that true?) Essays to submit for publications in women's magazines will need to be directed at things held important by it's readership. Read and reread the magazine you're targeting so you get the rhythm of the writing.  Can't find the right venue for your essay, you might want to self publish a collection of essays on Amazon.

Segments of an Essay would include introduction, main point of the subject, and conclusion. 

Remember your audience. Are you writing a something for kids or will only adults be reading it? Are you targeting  certain age group? Does your audience have a work or hobby relationship that you're including in the article? I mention this because its easy to lose sight of your target audience and wander off your intended path. Including a personal story can help reach your audience as long as it doesn't distract from you main point.

One thing you must remember when writing your essay is to relax. Let the essay flow with a natural pace and write it all the way through. Once done go back and edit, edit, edit. Same as writing a book, short story or letter to mom, don't stress over the first draft. You'll have a chance to read through and correct later. Get all your information down on paper (or on the computer screen--save your work!) and then start rearranging your ideas. Editing can come later and will often make or break your essay.

And have fun! Essays are a creative way to express your views on subjects and you never know when you'll need a clip!
:)~
Do you know of any other venues for publishing essays? Do you write them on a regular basis? Advice?

The Evils of Punctuation

Commas confuse, Colons and Semi's introduce, Apostrophes are mine, Quotation marks are direct and indirect, periods put an end to it all. Dashes, parentheses and hyphens all have their places but the one that grinds my brain is the EXCLAMATION POINT!

I've been reading a short story magazine and one story that has exclamation points in every other sentence. I feel like I'm reading sentences that go like this, "He handed me ROSES!" and "I LIKED THEM!" "We went to DINNER!" "We came HOME!" "It was FUN!"
Honey, it you get that excited over the little stuff I fear for what will happen when something really exciting hits you.

Don't get me wrong. I used exclamation points, but only when the character is screaming. which isn't normal in every day conversation. Fore instance; "He's got a knife!" might earn one of those pesky points. Or even, "Help! The baby fell in the pool!"

It makes me wonder if the author of this short read her work out loud and how did she speak the exclamations!!!! Is she one of those over excited peppy individuals I'll never understand? Or did she write without realizing how excited this character would sound if you put an exclamation point in her mouth?

And why the heck did the editor not do something about this?

File this under pet peeve but too many exclamation points distract from the story. Unless you've got a caffeine hyper character who's been popping speed all day. Even then I might have the urge to shoot her.

Am I wrong?
So do you...! ?
What's your rule for the exclamation point?