I'm Alive, I'm pretty sure

I'm alive. I’ve been preoccupied with the living since that’s what funerals and memorials are truly for. I lost both grandparents within less than three weeks of each other. They made it to their 60th wedding anniversary which had been the goal my grandfather set. They loved each other very much, and God willing, in their beliefs, they will reawaken in a paradise together forever.


We had out of state relatives show up and we took them sightseeing to San Antonio, around Houston, and to Kemah where we all contracted a vicious stomach bug that I'm recovering from.

On a brighter note, I had really wild fever fueled dreams and have been writing like crazy. I probably should have joined in NaNoWriMo as much as I’ve been writing. I am no longer contagious and would like to participate with the living again, particularly the writers and readers.

Have a great week, and I wish every participating in NaNoWriMo speedy fingers and quick minds.

Discombobulated Thoughts on Life, Love, and Death

Dear Reader,

I’ve learned a few things about my family and life these last few weeks. My only remaining grandfather gave us a scare recently, which actually had the side benefit of forcing 30+ year old wounds to be addressed. During the tears, my grandfather recovered to the extent he wanted to get up in his chair, watch TV, and eat pie. The diabetic man loves pie. Pumpkin pie made with Splenda tastes good.

My grandparents recently had their 60th wedding anniversary. That was the goal given to him by my aunt, their caretaker. She once told my grandfather that he couldn’t die until the house was paid off, and he replied that he didn’t want to live that long. (My grandparents have been almost completely dependent for the last few years.) Their 60th anniversary which had seemed like a long ways off at the time was the agreed upon goal. Even my grandmother agreed in her end stages of Alzheimer’s and dementia during one of her extremely rare moments of lucidity.

The day after my grandfather made his recovery, he had a relapse and at the same time my grandmother slipped into the final stage of Alzheimer’s. Nearly the moment she slipped into the final stage, my grandfather asked us to check on her. We had left the room less than five minutes earlier, but checked anyways. He was so concerned we all knew something was wrong. She was nonresponsive. My grandfather has barely eaten since, and with both I think it is only a matter of time. This is hard, but you have to respect the man and the love he has for his wife.

Live well,


Carolyn

Writing Pointers from ArmadilloCon 32

Armadillo Con 32 in Austin, Texas, is where I spent my weekend gleaming knowledge from writers, editors, publishers, artists, musicians, scientists, game designers, and last but not least… critics. I had a fantastic time, and met some truly interesting people. There was not a dull conversation or panel within earshot. Information I received from the convention will help improve and shape my writing endeavors. Alas, I will not go into all the details; you’ll simply have to attend next year. I will, however, share my interpretation of some main points.


The number one and most emphasized point I received is to simply “write your story”. Put your story to paper/screen, and write it in your voice. Tell your story.

Secondly, accept criticism graciously, and as with all advice listen to the good and listen to the bad with only half an ear. You love to write, or you wouldn’t be doing this so keep writing.

Thirdly, if you feel your writing structure could use some help, take classes. Community colleges are wonderful places to learn how to become a better writer. This is not admitting failure, this is self improvement.

Regardless of where or when your story takes place, the facts should make sense. If they don’t, your story will not be believable to the reader.

Flawed characters are more relatable, more believable, and more likable. Ask yourself who is most important to the story, and work on making them perfect for your story rather than simply perfect. Ask how this person is important to the story and build on that. Characters do not have to be complex; they just need to make sense. Their actions, reactions, personalities, and appearance need to add up. Not everyone has to be tall, muscular, and incredibly sexy. For example: Someone who sits at a computer screen all day and doesn’t work out is not going to be this big, buff guy without some creative assistance.

Urban Fantasy needs connection to the real world since you are asking the reader to believe all the fantasy. Give the reader anchor points to reality. Choosing places the reader can Google are great examples of this.

In editing, ask yourself, “Is this needed for my story?” If you like, save your deleted “darlings” in a folder to look at later, that great line may be terrific in another story. Ask yourself if this is needed for the story, can you let the audience come to the conclusion, and is this consistent with the story. Let the reader draw conclusions for the really important points. An editor’s job is to suggest how to make a story better. Just because the spelling and grammar check on your computer is not showing you have errors does not mean there aren’t any, so read back over your work.

Keep your deadlines. Self imposed deadlines can be good practice for when your career takes off. Keeping your deadlines proves to the editor you are a reliable asset.

Critique groups can be wonderful once you’ve already found your own voice, and have revised your entire story at least once.

Writing groups can be an excellent way to structure your writing time.

Brainstorming groups can be terrific when you already have a voice and a general idea of where you want your story to go.

Find ways to inspire yourself to write.

Promote yourself via social networks, printed materials, giveaways, blogs, websites, interviews, press releases, and any other relevant, feasible way you can think up.

I hope this information helps. There are a few pictures posted on my Facebook site for everyone to enjoy.

Happy Writing,

Carolyn Haven

First Chapter

I found a wonderful group online, and have posted the first chapter rough draft of my novel to their site for everyone's enjoyment.  This site is particularly useful for those of us who are aspiring authors and Indie authors.  Also check out their sister site of Authors On Show accessible through Night Reading.  See links for other useful sites.

http://nightreading.ning.com/
 
Happy Reading,
Carolyn Haven

Carolyn Haven and Research

For those of you whom don’t know me yet, you soon will. My pen name is Carolyn Haven, and I am working on becoming a novelist. Over fifteen years ago is when my first written works were published; although my mother still has the first complete poem I wrote at age five framed and hanging on the wall. It actually rhymed. More recent published works I'm associated with include a few poems, short stories, and lyrics where I worked in collaboration with musicians to create songs as a vocal arranger. When I began this journey to become a published novelist, I had no idea how much research was required.


Research can be daunting. It's a good thing I'm a nurse and as such am well versed in the area of "look it up” otherwise I may not have completed my first novel. The research is worth it though, so much is out there now just for the reading, watching, and listening. The internet has been an inexhaustible resource of which I am very thankful. On the links page, you will find a list of several of the sites I utilize. This list will continuously be updated, and I hope you find these tools useful on your journey to becoming a published author.

Happy Writing,

Carolyn Haven

Ambiance Adds to the Reading Experience

This looks like a comfortable and interesting place to read a book.  A chair in the background could be in Amsterdam, Hungary, anywhere in the world could be right outside the window.  The ambiance adds to the enjoyment of that book you just can't put down.  So, set up your reading area.  Open a window, light a few candles, or sit outside to add to your reading pleasure.  The characters in your novel are taking in a day at the shore; join them.  Make a day of it, bring a picnic lunch, and enjoy the simple pleasure.

Happy Reading,
Carolyn Haven   

I Am Pleased

I am so blessed to have brilliant friends that love to read. I just received some great suggestions helping with the flow of my story. Once more, I am reading my novel for editing. Fortunately, I am finding very few spelling and grammar problems. I did however find some of my story a bit choppy, so I asked a dear friend of mine who has published some medical papers to take a look.

Her comment was, "This is really good." And yes, the incredulity was there, thickly. She does not read, "Supernatural stuff."

To say the least, I'm pleased. Her recommendation was simple, skip a line between jumps in action. For example, when your character goes to sleep then wakes up the next morning. 

The action may already be in a separate paragraph, but needs more pause. Skipping an extra line between these actions make the story flow more smoothly. So that's what I'm working on right now.

Connect With Me

I can now be found on Facebook,

http://www.facebook.com/Carolyn.Haven.author

on Twitter,

http://twitter.com/Carolyn_Haven

and MySpace.
www.myspace.com/carolynhaven

My next step is to figure out how to set up my own web site. Research on this topic is taking a while, but hopefully that just means mine will be good.


Happy Reading,

Carolyn Haven

Query Letters

I've read no less than six articles on writing query letters this morning, and fortunatly what I've written seems to fall into their recommendations.

Some helpful sites are:

Writer's Digest - http://writersdigest.com/

Agent Query - http://www.agentquery.com/

Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America - http://www.sfwa.org/

Some of these I found by looking at my favorite authors' websites, and to them I am greatful. This list is sure to grow as time goes on, so I'll add new blogs to update as well as add to the links page.  Well wishes to all of you out there in my shoes.

Finding an Agent

I'm waiting to hear from one agent now, but soon I hope to be waiting on others. I'm not a big wait type person, especially when I really want something. Yuck!!! Oh well, this will be worth the wait. Today I choose the three chapters I feel will grab an agent the most, and begin on more query letters. Cross your fingers for me and blow me a kiss of Pixie dust for luck.

Remember what they say about finding an agent.  Patience, patience, patience, and finally more patience.  I've heard the same thing about getting published.  The two main assests writers need are patience and persistence.

The Yellow Notebook

Current mood: eccentric


I had such a strange dream, though positive, I had this crazy sense I had to follow the dream. This nagging feeling was so bad that shortly after I awoke I proceeded to follow through as I’d seen in my weird dream.

First off, you have to understand, I’m nuts. Second off, you have to understand, I'm blonde, and well… that pretty much covers it. Oh yah, and with my first novel I learned to write my rough thoughts and ideas down in spiral notebooks. So now we have that out of the way, I'll tell you about my dream.

I dreamed I wrote the pirate novel I’ve had scattered on post it notes for months into this bright safety yellow spiral notebook. In the dream, I copied my novel from the notebook to the computer, sent it off to be published, and whamo, instant success.

I awoke with such an urgency to find this yellow notebook I immediately went in search of one among my old school supplies. Not a single yellow notebook, especially since yellow is not my favorite color. Later, I began looking for the post it notes regarding the book, but couldn't find them. Frantically, I began searching through the unpacked boxes left over from moving back into our home after repairs were completed following a near total loss from hurricane Ike.

Eventually, I found the post it notes bundled together in a coupon holder, and the frazzled, frenzy left me. I tried to be rationale and dismiss my dream, but it didn't work. Finally, I went to Wally World bought the bright school bus colored notebook, and suddenly the urgency lifted. One day, we'll find out if my dream really is a portent.

Happy Reading,

Carolyn Haven

Splitting My seemingly Endless Novel

Yet again reviewing seemingly endless pages for congruency, I realize my book is entirely too efling long. Miracles of all miraculous miracles about halfway down I find the perfect place to split my nearly two complete novels.

Writng, yah still happy.

Setting This Up

Fortunately, setting this up is easier than completing my first novel, which is actually getting closer and closer to completion all the time.  I'll work in pie scenarios for fractions of completion. Pie is easy. I am currently 7/8ths complete with the first novel in a series of at least seven and have begun outlines and even some scenes for the next few novels. This is exciting, and I'm loving every minute of it!!! Well, back to work.

By the way, I don't claim to be perfect and neither is spell check, so I apologize for any errors ahead of time.

Happy Reading And Writing,

Carolyn Haven