Writing and Reaction: A Turn of the Tide

It was a wonderful weekend, I hope you all had a good one as well.  My article was published on Blogcritics this past weekend, please have a look and leave a comment if you like, or like it on facebook. The link is below.

Writing and Reaction: A Turn of the Tide

Have a great day.
C. Elizabeth

Thanksgiving

Well it is thanksgiving this weekend for us Canadians so I'm taking today off from writing something inspirational or goofy or...well you know.  Have a safe and happy weekend.  I'll see you on Tuesday.

C. Elizabeth

When Things are put into Perspective

Yesterday, through inadvertence, an email that landed in my inbox reminded me of why I write. 

You've heard me say it before and I'm saying it again, the royalties are simply a bonus to this writing thing, no matter the denomination. It's the number of books sold, sitting beside that amount, that appeal to me.

For me, Michael and Rose being alive in your mind is, by far, the most exciting, you being in their world, in the way your mind's eye sees it. Yet in some scenes, you could quite possibly see it the same as I did when I wrote it. All I ask is that you don't ever forget that I'm there with you, in each word you read, each tear you cry, each angry outburst you throw out into the wind -- if you listen closely as you read, somewhere in the scene you might hear the scribbling of the words "I was here."

Have a great day.
C. Elizabeth

Feeling Lost

As of late I've been feeling a bit lost. No I don't mean lost in another world -- darn it! I'm lost in the real world, trying to find my way back to my other world. Only us writers can say that and not have the white coats take us away.

All kidding aside, that's how I have been feeling and even though there had been some good writing episodes this past summer, they were mostly for the second in the Absolute series, getting the rewrites into Wings ePress.  The third, I have to finally admit, didn't get a lot of attention these past months.  In my defence I tried, getting bits and pieces done, but never really able to sit down with it, uninterrupted and listen to them, life kept getting in the way.  I'm not complaining (well maybe I am a little bit), but my head was full of words, as were the feelings and truth be told, it was driving me nuts.  Never mind! I know you're asking "but isn't that the norm?"

Fingers and toes crossed that this past weekend was the turning point -- it feels like it. I've written some exceptionally solid things that I feel really good about (even though they took me through one heck of an emotional rollercoaster ride) and have managed to continue to stay focused. So much so, that I've walked through the dark patches and am now writing the outcome from that lead scene I was talking about. There's still heartache and pain, but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel now, when before, it was pitch black.

Have a great day.
C. Elizabeth

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.