The Lead

When we hear the word "lead" in reference to a book, we tend to automatically think about the hero or heroine, aka the lead character.  However, it's not only them that lead a novel, so do some specific scenes.

Few scenes can be considered the lead, those are the ones that will keep you interested, the ones that may tie all the previous chapters together, or will bring something to light that may have escaped you, or maybe it will begin a whole new journey that may not make sense at that moment, but will gobsmack you when all the puzzle pieces fit together. These scenes can be as short as a paragraph or two and as long as two or three chapters, depending on which road our characters decide to take us on. Either way, it can set you up to wait for the next shoe to drop, or give you a shiver or even have you scream out loud, "Noooo!".

I bring this up because that's where I was this past weekend. Two days of writing and each was completely absorbed in this one scene.  Why? Because it is the biggest lead I've ever written, it has every emotion flowing through it (it was a very emotional weekend for me... I cried a lot), it pulls it all together up to that point, yet adds another incredible dynamic, leaving you wondering and wanting to find out "how the hell that could  happen to Rose and Michael."

Have a great day.
C. Elizabeth

The Author Article

Blogcritics has published another article I wrote.  Please take a peek and leave a comment;
The Author:  The Master of Mind Reading

Have a gret day.

Finally Comfortable Enough

Yesterday after work I went to have my photograph taken professionally for PR purposes -- how exciting is that for you?  You'll get to see what I look like.  You see, when this whole thing started, the idea of having my picture plastered all over the internet and in other places made me a bit nervous... Okay, a lot nervous, that's why you only see my cover everywhere, except one (and I'm not telling which one).  Why is that you ask?  I'm not sure, I think it was a combination of the fact that I was still shy about being an author, I take horrible pictures and I still wanted an air of mystery.

Well that's all about to change, I'm finally comfortable enough in the knowledge that it isn't just me who thinks Absolute Obsession is a good book and I'm proud to have my name and face attached to it -- look for it next week. Double yikes!

Have a great day and a great weekend.

Opening the Floodgates

As November, 2011, draws ever so near, I find myself thinking about November, 2009, and how it had changed my life.

At first, when my writing journey began, getting published wasn't even a twinkle in my mind's eye, the only thing that was in the forefront was their story, it being, at least at that moment, a onetime thing, how wrong was I?  Halfway through, Michael and Rose could be heard in two different places.  The first, of course, the continuation of Absolute Obsession, the second was a whispering from behind the curtain of the sequel, pretty much confirming what I had thought all along...I was crazy. Yikes!

Now when the third of the Absolute series was revealed, I thought for sure that would be the end of it, but nooooo!  It seems that Michael and Rose have opened the floodgates for other characters to appear and they wait in the wings to be heard.  So far, two more stories (not part of the Absolute trilogy), have come to light, needing  to be told and when they can get a word in edgewise, they tell it to me just as Rose and Michael have...backwards.

Two more endings with titles have been added to the mix and their characters  waiting patiently to take me on their journey, back to the beginning.  Hold on, I think we're in for a ride.

Have a great day.

http://www.celizabeth.ca/

 

Where Have all the Flowers Gone?

Well today I find myself somewhat melancholy because it's that time of year here in St. Albert, that we start to dump all the flower pots, cut down the flower beds and get everything ready for winter. I must admit I don't like Fall/Autumn, to me everything is dying, the orange, red, and burgundy leaves don't intrigue me, they are simply a reminder of what is yet to come...winter.  Snow, winds, learning to drive on ice again, trying to be patient with the drivers around me who think it's still summer. 

Sometimes I wonder why I live here, but then with the first snow fall, I'm quickly reminded.  There is nothing more beautiful than a landscape freshly dusted in white, making the nights sparkle, I love the fragrance of the crisp air as it wafts around my nose in the wee morning hours and I love watching my breath pass my lips to dance with the breeze, the days will grow shorter and we will all reconnect warming by the fire.  Besides it won't be too long before the buds of the trees and flowers, that lay cold under the snow, will be reborn again, our grass will turn green and stay that way as the sun shines for eighteen hours -- yes you heard me correctly, eighteen hours of daylight for us here in the summer -- that's when all our igloos melt.  We northern types may not like all of the seasons -- but we wouldn't have it any other way.

Have a great day.

Yielding to a Writer

There is probably only one thing that every writer has in common and that is, we find ourselves, quite often, torn between everyday life, family, events, etc. and our writing.

As you know, every writer has a different approach.  Some can set a chapter goal for each day and write it. Some won't go on to the next paragraph until the one their working on is perfect and no edits will be required. Then there's me, who has no set time, nor strategy to get it done, because I write when I hear voices (the good voices).

I bring this up because it's not only me that struggles with it, my family does as well, except they're on the other side. They now know when I nod and smile, it's simply to appease them, me not  really there at all.  Just last night my youngest daughter was asking me questions and I heard them, then answered -- she promptly came and kissed me on the cheek.  Now if you were to ask me what it was that we said, answering honestly, the only thing I can remember out of it all, is when she kissed me (and I'm not certain she did that either) she giggled and said "You're so in the zone, aren't you?" I remember nodding.

My family yields to me regardless of how I write, if they didn't, I  wouldn't be as successful as I am -- they are, by far, my biggest successes and they believe in me -- a writer couldn't ask for more than that.

Have a great day.
http://www.celizabeth.ca/

Another Lesson Learned

This weekend felt like nothing got accomplished, though I did get a lot done, it somehow feels like I didn't and I know exactly why -- not one paragraph was written and it's driving me crazy (yes a little more crazy than my usual).

The book signing on Saturday seemed, at first, not to go very well, having only sold one copy but something else happened that by rights I should have understood a long time ago and didn't, gaging the success of Absolute's signings by how many paperbacks I sold on the spot.  You see, prior to Saturday, I never gave much thought to how many bookmarks and business cards I had given away at those events and what effect they had on the sales, until someone asked me if my book was online and my response, of course, was yes.  It was then that I realized how silly it was for me to think of only the paperbacks sold at those events, when in reality the amount of books sold is almost impossible to decipher, because Rose and Michael will be coming to life in the minds of those who read from ereaders.  It was a lesson that made me smile.

Have a great day.
C. Elizabeth