Notes From the Author

I hope to use this blog as a diary of sorts, in order to document my quest of perfecting my skills. Areas that I am particularly fond of include: photography, gardening, cooking - baking -canning, painting - sketching and of course writing. Like so many others, the word 'perfection' haunts me. I strive to reach it daily not truly knowing what it is or how to achieve it. Yet, I won't settle for less. Here is my blog showing my struggles and my hopeful successes. I don't need to be perfect but I must try to ascertain it.

Sunday, August 24, 2014

Crafting a Story

I love writing.  Particularly, I love hunting for the perfect words and allowing their connotations to cast a tone upon my scene.  The fundamentals of style writing: dictation, sentence structure, imagery, and tone.

Like wise, aperture, ISO, and shutter speed are my fundamentals for telling a photographic story.  Lighting is key.

Feel free to use the following visual prompts to craft a scene.  Try using diction (word choice) to capture the lighting (life force) of the photo.  Use sentence structure to create the rhythm and tone to cast a mood. Sprinkle imagery into the scene and you've sparked your writing style.

Focus on color.
Do you hear it?

Feel the textured ground.

Light is life

What is the connection?

Light and texture






Sunday, August 17, 2014

Steps for Producing a Novel

Rewriting....Yuck.  I love to write but as it turns out I hate editing.  After setting my latest completed novel upon the figurative shelf, I've recently picked it back up again for the second rewrite and boy, it turns out that it's not as 'magical' as I remember it.  I have my work cut out for me.

My journey towards creating this novel seems to be following the most practical steps for producing a novel. So I just need to suck it up and keep editing.

Practical steps for producing a novel?  Yes, that is what I said.  I haven't found any statistical analysis to prove my belief but other writers seem to agree that there is a proper process to producing a novel.


  1. Step ONE:  Write  Write everyday - write total crap if you have to but push through and place the story which resides inside you into words.
  2. Step TWO:  Research This step might coincide with step one but don't get too carried away researching that you never complete step one.  Research, however, is important.  Even if you are writing fiction - the best fantasies are the ones that seem the most probable.  Plus, living in a world were everyone can Google a topic and become instant experts, writers need to try and keep their work credible. 
  3. Step THREE:  Shelf It  Upon completion, set your novel away.  After working so hard to finish your labor of love, you are emotionally attached to it and won't be able to give it the proper corrections.
  4. Step FOUR, FIVE, SIX and possibly SEVEN REWRITE....yuck
Ok, enough blogging. I need to go fix all the hole in my novel - I hope.