Month: May 2024

BRINGING CHARACTERS TO LIFE

by Miko Johnston

We can plot our stories well, describe settings vividly, and touch on all the senses, but the heart of any story is its characters, and they need more than a heart to make them come alive.

I began writing fiction, or more accurately, learning how to write fiction, while working in a library. It gave me access to numerous books and magazines for self-study. One book in the collection devoted a chapter to creating characters, complete with a checklist of traits and their opposites – outgoing vs shy; scholarly vs uneducated – from which the prospective writer could choose and assemble. I found the idea silly and worse, useless. Whether in my writing or my reading, I want characters to resemble real human beings, only more interesting than the average person. You can’t achieve that by compiling random parts. Just ask Dr. Frankenstein.

We’re told to have our characters want something and then keep it from them, make them fight for it. Good advice, crucial for plot. We must describe them with enough detail so the reader can visualize them; again, good advice. Backstories and bios, family and friends, strengths and flaws, jobs and hobbies or interests. How they dress. What and who they like or dislike. The dark secret in their past that drives them forward or holds them back. These big picture details lay a foundation for characters. However, it takes more to breathe life into them. Whether you call them quirks, idiosyncrasies or eccentricities, these subtle differences add a realistic quality to them.

Although our individual quirks may differ, we all have them, which makes this a commonality. In other words, a human trait.

Think of Robert Crais’ Elvis Cole and his affection for cartoon characters, the dry humor of Nelson DeMille’s John Corey, or the fussy Inspector Poirot and his eggs in Agatha Christie’s mystery series. Master art restorer Gabriel Allon inherited his talent, as well as trauma, from his Holocaust survivor mother. And while we naturally empathize with a blind girl like Marie-Laure in “All The Light We Cannot See”, the way she copes with it makes her mesmerizing.

There are two general types of quirks – nature and nurture. Nature includes those the character was born with, such as personality types or bio-physical traits like an intellectual disability or a club foot. A life experience, whether an acquired taste or an emotionally painful experience, would fall under the nurture category. In all cases, how the character has internalized the trait leads to the quirk.

Quirks have to be worked organically into the story. They shouldn’t be unrooted in the character’s history or biology. They should play a role in the character’s thoughts, emotions or actions. They need to be noticeable, but not too blatant; subtle, but not too vague. Readers need to discover them on their own by being shown the behaviors rather than being told about them.

A character’s quirks can be related to their physicality, the way they dress or groom themselves, their behavior or personality, or they can be completely random. Here’s one example: money. Most everyone I’ve met has a philosophy, or criteria, about what they’re willing to spend on something. They’ll be tight-fisted about some things and looser, even extravagant about others. What does it say about a character who’ll spend hundreds of dollars on tickets to the opera, a Broadway play, or the Superbowl, but won’t pay two dollars for a can of tuna in the supermarket unless they get a double-off coupon? Or worse, not buy it at all because they can remember when it cost thirty-nine cents? It says they’re “human”.

Ultimately, it’s not so much a matter of “what” a character does or doesn’t do, what they like or dislike, that makes them full-fledged humans. It’s the “why” that makes it interesting and brings them to life. Always listen to your character, for they’ll often tell you what’s right for them. For hints on this, see Gayle’s earlier post.

When treading the fine line between character and caricature, here’s what to avoid:

  • Cliched or overused idiosyncrasies. If I had a dollar for every alcoholic PI, or divorced or widowed detective, I could pay my cable bill for a year. If you’ve seen it before, add a new twist. If you’ve seen it over and over again, avoid it like the plague (humor intended).
  • An assemblage of unrelated quirks, as if selected from a list found in a book (jab intended). Author Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe tends his orchids, reads voraciously, and feasts on gourmet food from the comfort of his luxurious home. The genius of his character is how all his passions connect.
  • Limit the number of quirks, or else – well, just ask Dr. Frankenstein.
  • Don’t overdo the ones you use. Quirks are like seasoning – you need enough to enhance the flavor without overpowering it.

If you found this post helpful, leave a comment, and feel free to contribute your suggestions for making characters come to life. Frankly, my ulterior motive in writing this comes as much from my goal to write books with believable and engrossing characters as my desire to read them.

Miko Johnston, a founding member of The Writers in Residence, is the author of the historical fiction series, “A Petal in the Wind”, as well as a contributor to several anthologies including the about-t0-be-released “Whidbey Island: An Insider’s Guide”. Miko lives in Washington (the big one) with her rocket scientist husband. Contact her at mikojohnstonauthor@gmail.com

Teach A Writing Class?

by Jill Amadio

Teach a writing class? I have enough trouble getting myself to work on my next mystery, of which I only have one-third finished. However, I am working full-speed on my new career as a writing coach.

Westport, CT has more than its share of elderly, I was told at the town’s country-club-style senior center where I use their gym. The executive director figured many of the members would love to write their life story if only they knew how.

Interesting, I thought, because I have been looking for a paying job. I’ve written four biographies under my own name and a few as co-author. My greatest contribution to assist another person’s attempt to get their autobiography on the page has been as a ghostwriter. I’ve written 15 for clients. This is the kind of book you can write with no repercussions tied your own fragile persona. No one can take pot shots at you for you putting on the published page swipes or dislike for certain relatives, remembered experiences that showed others as fools, or perhaps an opportunity to lay bare your absolute hatred of your cousin’s prize poodle. I do, however, urge a client’s caution and I try to appeal to their good nature, if they have one.

So, did I want to take up the challenge of teaching some old fogies like myself how to write their memoir? The idea appealed to me. I had never taught anyone anything in my whole life. Well, maybe a few table manners to my kids.   So, yes, I accepted the challenge to help anyone over 65 jot down their life story in presentable and publishable form.

Creating a curriculum was my first worry. What would I teach? The elements of style came immediately to mind. I’d want to know how to structure a book, create my personal style, and how to write down my thoughts and feelings.  I’d want to know how to describe places and people, events and experiences that had made up my world since birth, and was still occupying my psyche both physically and mentally.

For the first class I asked my students to create a Timeline, a list of each year of their life with a significant note, a few words, to mark why it was memorable.

I decided that handouts were important because I had always loved receiving them at writers conferences, so I found Rudy Vallee’s timeline I’d created back in 1989, as well as a champion cowboy’s timeline that chronicled his trek across America from coast to coast on horseback. One handout was a list of 106 descriptive verbs I’ve used for years.

In addition to the Timeline, I also mapped out writing techniques and elements for the following classes. In addition to Structure, Style, and Context I added how to write Characters, Flashbacks, Settings, Cliffhangers, Editing, Beginnings and Endings, Publishing, and Marketing.  I became so enamored of my advice I began to inspect my own WIP and made changes. I dredged up a few tips and notes I’d taken at various conferences and thus was able to flesh out my curriculum.

An observation about the students. They were exreremely keen to learn how to write their memoirs. It was clear some of them had been thinking about writing such a tome for a few years but had no idea how to go about it. By the homework I gave them, i.e. the Timeline, they returned to class time and time again more enthusiastic than ever. I told them to always interrupt me any time with questions, hoping that my fear they’d forget them before the end of class was not apparent.

Among these senior students, limited to 12,  were a school bus driver, a poet, an attorney, an ad saleswoman, a lady from Germany who escaped the Nazis, a couple of teachers, a financier, and an accountant. One gentleman dropped out after lesson #2 because he said now that he was about to describe his life he found it too painful to do so. Another gentleman said he doubted he would continue because as a reporter he was trained to write lean, and that was the antithesis of writing a book. I told him I’d initially experienced the same hesitation when I was first approached about ghostwriting. My editor at the magazine I wrote for said that a CEO had called asking for a referral to a writer for his business book. Before calling him back with a recommendation she sked me if I’d be interested.

“A book? A whole book? No way!” I said.  “I enjoy writing the 3,000-word articles for the magazine but 70,000 words? Forget it.”

“Think of it this way,” the editor said. “Approach each chapter is an article. And the pay is really good.”

“Oh. Okay, I’ll do it.”

After that first book I received many referrals and became a ghostwriter, a few people contacting me through my website, www.ghostwritingpro.com.  One client, a banker, asked me to ghostwrite her novel about a financial fraud.

“Hmm,” I said. “Sounds a bit boring. How about we add a murder to spice it up?”

“Yes! How many murders can we have?”

The publishing of that book inspired me to create my own Tosca Trevant mystery series while I continued to ghostwrite as my main source of income.

Back to my seniors’ class. The atmosphere was informal, friendly, and focused. I showed them several of my memoirs, and said that although we only had eight hours in total with which to cover the subject, at least it would get them started thinking and planning.

By lesson #4 we all felt comfortable with each other reading aloud the homework. One lady was writing her memoir only for her grandchildren and refused to share with us but everyone else was eager for everyone’s critique. The lawyer fella incorporated funny poems into his memoir, and someone else brought us to chuckles with her descriptions of working in a donut shop as a teenager. The German lady brought us to tears with her childhood memories of fleeing the Nazis

That first 8-hour course was popular enough to be repeated, and later in the spring I shall be teaching How to Write a Short Story or Essay. Luckily, when I lived in Laguna Woods, California, several of my stories were published in the community’s anthologies over the years although I can’t remember ever writing an essay. Tips for my seniors, anyone?

Teaching a Writing Class?

by Jill Amadio

Teach a writing class? I have enough trouble getting myself to work on my next mystery, of which I only have one-third finished. However, I am working full-speed on my new career as a writing coach.

Westport, CT, has more than its share of elderly, I was told at the town’s country-club-style senior center where I use their gym. The executive director figured many of the members would love to write their life story if only they knew how.

Interesting, I thought, because I have been looking for a paying job. I’ve written four biographies under my own name and a few as co-author. My greatest contribution to assisting another person’s attempt to get their autobiography on the page has been as a ghostwriter. I’ve written 15 for clients. This is the kind of book you can write with no repercussions tied to your own fragile persona. No one can take potshots at you for you putting on the published page swipes or dislikes for certain relatives, remembered experiences that showed others as fools, or perhaps an opportunity to lay bare your absolute hatred of your cousin’s prize poodle. I do, however, urge a client’s caution, and I try to appeal to their good nature if they have one.

So, did I want to take up the challenge of teaching some old fogies like myself how to write their memoirs? The idea appealed to me. I had never taught anyone anything in my whole life. Well, maybe a few table manners to my kids.  So, yes, I accepted the challenge to help anyone over 65 jot down their life story in presentable and publishable form.

Creating a curriculum was my first worry. What would I teach? The elements of style came immediately to mind. I’d want to know how to structure a book, create my personal style, and how to write down my thoughts and feelings.  I’d want to know how to describe places and people, events and experiences that had made up my world since birth and were still occupying my psyche both physically and mentally.

For the first class, I asked my students to create a Timeline, a list of each year of their life with a significant note, and a few words to mark why it was memorable.

 I decided that handouts were important because I had always loved receiving them at writers’ conferences, so I found Rudy Vallee’s timeline I’d created back in 1989, as well as a champion cowboy’s timeline that chronicled his trek across America from coast to coast on horseback. One handout was a list of 106 descriptive verbs I’ve used for years.

In addition to the Timeline, I also mapped out writing techniques and elements for the following classes. In addition to Structure, Style, and Context, I added how to write Characters, Flashbacks, Settings, Cliffhangers, Editing, Beginnings and Endings, Publishing, and Marketing.  I became so enamored of my advice I began to inspect my own WIP and make changes. I dredged up a few tips and notes I’d taken at various conferences and thus was able to flesh out my curriculum.

An observation about the students. They were extremely keen to learn how to write their memoirs. It was clear some of them had been thinking about writing such a tome for a few years but had no idea how to do it. By the homework I gave them, i.e. the Timeline, they returned to class time and time again more enthusiastic than ever. I told them to always interrupt me any time with questions, hoping that my fear they’d forget them before the end of class was not apparent.

Among these senior students, limited to 12,  were a school bus driver, a poet, an attorney, an ad saleswoman, a lady from Germany who escaped the Nazis, a couple of teachers, a financier, and an accountant. One gentleman dropped out after lesson #2 because he said now that he was about to describe his life, he found it too painful to do so. Another gentleman said he doubted he would continue because as a reporter, he was trained to write lean, and that was the antithesis of writing a book. I told him I’d initially experienced the same hesitation when I was first approached about ghostwriting. My editor at the magazine I wrote for said that a CEO had called asking for a referral to a writer for his business book. Before calling him back with a recommendation, she asked me if I’d be interested.

“A book? A whole book? No way!” I said.  “I enjoy writing the 3,000-word articles for the magazine, but 70,000 words? Forget it.”

“Think of it this way,” the editor said. “Approach each chapter as an article. And the pay is really good.”

“Oh. Okay, I’ll do it.”

After that first book, I received many referrals and became a ghostwriter. A few people contacted me through my website, www.ghostwritingpro.com.  One client, a banker, asked me to ghostwrite her novel about financial fraud.

“Hmm,” I said. “Sounds a bit boring. How about we add a murder to spice it up?”

“Yes! How many murders can we have?”

The publishing of that book inspired me to create my own Tosca Trevant mystery series while I continued to ghostwrite as my main source of income.

Back to my seniors’ class. The atmosphere was informal, friendly, and focused. I showed them several of my memoirs and said that although we only had eight hours in total with which to cover the subject, it at least would get them started thinking and planning.

By lesson #4, we all felt comfortable with each other reading aloud the homework. One lady was writing her memoir only for her grandchildren and refused to share it with us. But everyone else was eager for everyone’s critique. The lawyer fella incorporated funny poems into his memoir, and someone else brought us to chuckles with her descriptions of working in a donut shop as a teenager. The German lady brought us to tears with her childhood memories of fleeing the Nazis

That first 8-hour course was popular enough to be repeated, and later in the spring, I shall be teaching How to Write a Short Story or Essay. Luckily, when I lived in Laguna Woods, CA several of my stories were published in the community’s anthologies over the years, although I can’t remember ever writing an essay. Tips for my seniors, anyone?  

.

Jill’s article was posted by Jackie Houchin

Writing About Bloodhounds & Pet Detection

Guest post by Landa Coldiron

I’m a Bloodhound Handler. I’ve been using my bloodhounds to find lost pets for 18 years.

I recently had a book published by Austin Macauley about my work as a pet detective. It is a work of ‘faction,’ as I like to call it. Some stories are true, some are fiction, and some are combined (real and made up).

It is titled ‘The Bloodhound Handler—Book One: Adventures of a Real-life Pet Detective.’ Like people, in search and rescue, search dogs are used for a direction of travel that can locate the pet, provide evidence, clues, and eyewitnesses, and /or target a search area where resources can be deployed.  In my book, I wrote about these abilities in stories, using the character Kalinda Dark as me.

My book is currently available on Amazon as a paperback or Kindle. It is a great action adventure with some mystery and has had many positive reviews. It has also been featured at Barnes & Noble.

I wrote the book a few years ago after my first bloodhound, Ellie Mae, died. She was young, and it took me by surprise. I knew I had to write about her and our life together.  Ella Mae won the 2011 California Veterinary Medical Association Animal Hall of Fame award for her work in finding lost pets.

Writing The Bloodhound Handler book took me three years of writing every day and another two years of rejections. Finally, I got an offer from a publisher!

The book also contains stories about Glory, my second bloodhound. She won the American Humane Search Dog of the Year in 2015. It was a national award over a weekend at the Beverly Hilton. Many celebrities were in attendance. Glory won over 500 other dogs in the category.

We were also flown to Washington, DC, to speak in front of a small congressional hearing on the lost pet problem in America. You can search her name on YouTube under American Humane, and you will find her story. It is really something. Glory has a Facebook following of over 16,000 people!

Thanks to anyone who supports my book. If you are an avid Kindle reader it is only $4.50 and even has colored pictures.

#

Landa Coldiron is a two-time award-winning bloodhound handler in Los Angeles. Her website and Facebook are Lost Pet Detection, and her Instagram is @thebloodhoundhandler.

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NOTE from Jackie: I knew and wrote about Landa for a newspaper when I lived only blocks from her in Shadow Hills. I was privileged to watch Ellie Mae in action and learn about what pet owners can do when their pet goes missing. (The book covers this too.) 

Landa has also owned and trained Cadaver Dogs for her work. 

The Bloodhound Handler book is a fascinating read. It follows cases of lost (or stolen) pets from the first panicked telephone call through the process to the ending, which is sometimes joyous and thrilling and sometimes disheartening. One case toward the end of the book involves a missing dog and little girl and reads like it was “ripped from the headlines.” I enjoyed it very much.

A Woman in Journalism – Nellie Bly

by Jackie Houchin

(Note to self: Use this article as a base – review two books written about her – “Ten Days In A Madhouse” and “Nellie Bly & Investigative Journalism for Kids.”  Fill in info from other sources, use the three photos (her in 1890 and the book jackets.) )

Eighteen-year-old Elizabeth Cochrane was living in Pittsburgh when the local newspaper published an article titled “What Girls are Good For” (having babies and keeping house was the answer, according to the article). The article displeased Elizabeth enough that she wrote an anonymous rebuttal, which in turned so impressed the paper’s editor that he ran an ad, asking the writer to identify herself.
When Elizabeth contacted him, he hired her on the spot. It was customary at the time for female reporters to use pen names, so the editor gave her one that he took from a Stephen Foster song. It was the name under which she would become famous—Nellie Bly.
Bly’s passion was investigative reporting, but the paper usually assigned her to more “feminine” subjects—such as theater and fashion. After penning a controversial series of articles uncovering the working conditions of female factory workers, and subsequently being assigned once more to cover society events and women’s pastimes, at the age of 21, Bly embarked on a hazardous and unprecedented (for a woman) mission to Mexico to report on the living conditions of the working-class individuals there.
After her reporting got her in trouble with the local authorities, she fled the country and later published her dispatches into a popular book.
At age 23, having established a reputation as a daring and provocative reporter, Bly was hired by Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World and there she began the undercover project that made her famous. In order to investigate the conditions inside New York’s “Women’s Lunatic Asylum,” Bly took on a fake identity, checked into a women’s boarding house, and faked insanity—so convincingly that she soon found herself committed to the asylum.
The report she published of her ten days there was a sensation and led to important reforms in the treatment of the mentally ill.
The following year Bly undertook her most sensational assignment yet: a solo trip around the world inspired by Jules Verne’s Around the World in 80 Days. With only two days’ notice, Bly set out on November 14, 1889, carrying a travel bag with her toiletries and a change of underwear, and her purse tied around her neck.
Pulitzer’s competitor, the New York Cosmopolitan, immediately sent out one of its reporters—Elizabeth Bisland—to race Bly, traveling in the opposite direction. As Pulitzer had hoped, the stunt was a publicity bonanza, as readers eagerly followed news on Bly’s journey and the paper sponsoring a contest for readers to guess the exact time of Bly’s return (with the correct guess winning an expense-paid trip to Europe).
Seventy-two days later, Bly made her triumphant return (four and half days ahead of Bisland), having circumnavigated the globe, traveling alone almost the entire time. It was the fastest any human had ever made the journey. Nellie Bly was an international celebrity.
At age 31 Bly married industrialist Robert Seaman, a 73-year-old millionaire, leaving behind her journalism career and her pen name. As Elizabeth Cochrane Seaman she helped run the family business. She patented two inventions during her time as an industrialist, but business was not her really in her skillset and under her leadership the company went bankrupt.
When World War I broke out, she returned to journalism, becoming one of the first women reporters to work in an active war zone.
Nellie Bly’s remarkable life ended on January 27, 1922,  when she died of pneumonia in New York at age 57.

SPRING INTO WRITING

by Miko Johnston

Ah, what a year it’s been, beginning with a harsh and, in some places, treacherous winter. So far, spring has not been much better or safer in many parts of the country. It took a long while to arrive and settle down on the West Coast. Hubby and I took a last-minute vacation to sunny Sicily to escape the cold and gloom for a few weeks and postponed our annual winter trip to LA for months until we could travel around by car instead of rowboat. Both escapes kept me away from writing for a while.

I’ve always enjoyed spring, a time of renewal, and probably more so this year after the winter we’ve been through. Thoughts turn from shoveling snow to shoveling dirt in the garden, from watching the overflowing rivers subside to marveling at the regeneration of fauna and flora.

Part of that rejoicing can include a return to writing.  Here are some suggestions to inspire you.

I           Change it up

If you’re finding it difficult to focus on your manuscript, or daunting to consider starting one, then don’t. Think about other things to write: short stories, flash fiction, a travel memoir, a chapter from your life. Perhaps a letter – yes, snail mail – to a long lost friend or relative. Buy (or make) some blank-inside cards and create your own birthday, anniversary, get well, and sympathy messages.

In short, forget about your WIP for now, but don’t stop putting words on the page. As we always say, writing is writing.

II         Revisit

If you’re writing in more than one point of view and your WIP isn’t going forward, you may have the wrong character in the driver’s seat.

I recently critiqued pages from a romantic suspense novel which had two protagonists. One chapter felt stodgy IMO, and the female came off as cold and unkind. The author had written the scenes in the male character’s point of view, so he only got to observe her behavior. I suggested redoing the chapter in the female’s POV, since she was undergoing the emotional upheaval. I felt if the reader understood what led to her bad behavior, they would find her more sympathetic.

If you get stuck, try rewriting the troublesome scene in another character’s POV.

III        Revise

One of my favorite quotes about writing has always been: “Books aren’t written – they’re re-written”. Not everyone accepts or believes that.

Some writers tend to think it’s permanent once you’ve written something. We forget that until a manuscript is published, it can always be changed. In my last book, I introduced new characters whom I barely knew. I stopped writing when Covid hit before returning to the partial manuscript a year and a half later. As the story developed I got to “know” the new characters better. With my first draft complete, I went back to their first appearance to find vague conversations and a lack of detail. Using my more intimate knowledge of these characters, I sharpened their dialogue and expanded their descriptions.

If your characters are flat and generic, get to know them better. If your opening doesn’t grab the reader’s attention, your middle sags, or your ending falls flat, rework that section until you’ve solved the problem (for suggestions and tips, search through our archives, including my BACK TO BASICS: WRITER’S BOOT CAMP series).

IV        Forget about Perfection

The opposite problem is to get locked into revisions, snipping away or changing words, sometimes back and forth, all in an attempt to make the manuscript flawless. It won’t happen. It never happens. Finish it. Polish it. Then hire a good editor who will clean up your grammar as well as plot holes. Lastly, find a beta reader, or readers, to give you an unbiased opinion. Do the best work you can, and then let it go.

Trust me, I understand how difficult it can be to carve out time to write, especially if we have no pressing need (such as a deadline from our publisher) to do it. However, remember this: you can’t call yourself a writer if you don’t write.

Now please excuse me, I have a novel to finish.

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Miko Johnston, a founding member of The Writers in Residence, is the author of the historical fiction series, “A Petal in the Wind”, as well as a contributor to several anthologies including the about-t0-be-released “Whidbey Island: An Insider’s Guide”. Miko lives in Washington (the big one) with her rocket scientist husband. Contact her at mikojohnstonauthor@gmail.com

5 Famous Quotes About MOTHERS that Should Inspire Writers

Used by permission from The Write Conversation, May 1, 2023

By Kristen Hogrefe Parnell @khogrefeparnell

May brings more than rain showers and spring flowers. It brings the reminder to celebrate and thank our mothers. Beyond a day of gratitude, Mother’s Day should challenge us to sit at the feet of the wonderful women who have taught us so much—and still have so much to teach us.
As writers, we have much to learn from our mothers.
Five Famous Quotes about Mothers that Speak to Writing Pursuits
#1: Dare all things.
Agatha Christie wrote, “A mother’s love for her child is like nothing else in the world. It knows no law, no pity. It dares all things and crushes down remorselessly all that stands in its path.”
Dares all things.
We writers can be easily intimidated or even embarrassed that our gift isn’t good enough compared to someone else’s.
Hogwash, say our mothers. Although I realize some of you reading this post did not experience the unrelenting love most mothers have for their children—and I am truly sorry for that—as a rule, our mothers would do and dare anything for us. As a mom to a now nine-month-old, I can relate to this mama bear grit that loves fiercely and defends loyally.
Let that drive and daring inspire your writing.
#2: Give something worthwhile.
I love this sweet quote by George Washington: “My mother was the most beautiful woman I ever saw. All I am I owe to my mother. I attribute my success in life to the moral, intellectual and physical education I received from her.”
What have our mothers given us? More than words can record, that is for sure.
The challenge for us writers is to give generously and purposefully as well. What will leave behind for those who read our words? Will we inspire someone else in their “moral, intellectual, and physical” endeavors?
#3: Believe the best.
This quote by Roald Dahl made me laugh, but it is oh so true. “It’s a funny thing about mothers… Even when their own child is the most disgusting little blister you could ever imagine, they still think that he or she is wonderful.”
Did my baby just have the biggest blowout? Toss his spoon of sweet potatoes on the floor? Drool all over my Sunday outfit? Yep. Yep. Yep. Is he still the most darling baby ever? Absolutely.
Should not we writers learn to view that grimace-worthy first draft with similar faith? That even in the mess, we can find something wonderful? Let’s believe the best about the projects God has given us, even though we should also be willing to make them better.
#4: Be the truest friend.
Washington Irving wrote, “A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials heavy and sudden, fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine desert us; when trouble thickens around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts.”
Not only should we writers be true to ourselves and our calling, but we must also be true to our fellow writers on this journey with us. No one understands the creative life’s highs and lows, triumphs and blows like another writer does.
Celebrate your sister or brother who receives the award and recognition, even if you haven’t received yours yet. Also, be willing to encourage the fellow writer who has received yet another rejection letter or feels tempted to quit.
Be the truest friend.
#5: Dwell in hope.
“Youth fades; love droops; the leaves of friendship fall; A mother’s secret hope outlives them all.” So said Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
A mother’s hope, faith, and prayers have reinvigorated us when we would otherwise quit.
I don’t know how many poorly written stories or rough drafts my mother (and father) read for me when I started writing stories as a pre-teen. They could easily have rolled their eyes at my weak attempts. Instead, they gave me the hope to keep writing, pointed out the good that others might have overlooked, and challenged me to keep writing even when I didn’t know where the journey might lead me.
Even now, I can call my mom and share about my latest writing highs and lows, and I know she will never tell me to quit. She will encourage me to keep hoping and trusting God for the right opportunities. And for that, I am very thankful.
How will you thank your mother this Mother’s Day? What lesson has she taught you that has made you a better writer?

Kristen Hogrefe Parnell writes suspenseful fiction from a faith perspective for women and young adults. Her own suspense story involved waiting on God into her thirties to meet her husband, and she desires to keep embracing God’s plan for her life when it’s not what she expects. Kristen’s books have won the Selah Award and the Grace Award, among others, and her inspirational romantic suspense novel, Take My Hand, is now available. An educator at heart, she also teaches English online, enjoys being a podcast guest, and blogs about biblical encouragement for mamas. Kristen lives in the Tampa, Florida area with her husband and baby boy. Connect with her at KristenHogrefeParnell.com.

Slipped my mind…

Oh, no!  I was so involved with my SELF this week, that I forgot my coveted place here in the rotation for The Writers in Residence. So, this is a quickie catch-up.

HOAG Cancer Center is where I’m now spending my days – like, EVERY day – after the breast cancer surgery I had back in March.  Now I’m going through 15 days of preventative Radiation, so (hopefully) that nasty cancer stuff doesn’t come back. (At least the chances are lessened.)

Meet ELEKTA.

She’s my partner for about 15 minutes every day. She circles me like a rising and setting sun four times, shooting the “anti” death ray at my left chest area. I hear a high-pitched “zinging” noise and feel a slight warmth, but nothing else.  I thought my skin would get “cooked,” but nothing yet, just a feeling of tightness.  I thought I would experience fatigue, but also not yet. (Of course, so many people are praying for me!!)

A woman who was scheduled after me yesterday, says she is on Day 12, and the fatigue has hit her.  My Radiologist talked to me today, and when I told him I was surprised at the lack of skin burning, he said. “The sunburn will come in week three. Just keep applying that radiation cream two to three times each day.”

Believe me, I do.

That funny crunched white glob under ELEKTA’s eye on the table is a molded pillow they made when I was “mapped” for radiation two weeks ago.  It holds my shoulders, head, and left arm stretched above and over my head in the exact same position. So there’s no messing around each time I come in. The molded pillow is situated. I lay back and fit my arm and shoulders in it. They expose my left breast, line up the machine over the markers on my chest, and tell me, “Don’t move.” (Yes, I have weird PLUS and MINUS signs semi-permanently pasted on me for ELEKTA to read.)

About now, you are thinking, “Wait, I thought this was a writing blog. What’s with all this medical stuff.”  Hey, have you ever heard of Robin Cook’s books? (Coma, Toxin, Fatal Cure),  Michael Palmer (Miracle Cure), Tess Gerritsen (The Surgeon), etc.  Yes, so I know I’m not an author like them, but I AM writing about my Cancer Journey, and reviewing books that pertain to it.  I’m writing my “Journey” on Substack, and on Friday, I’ll post the next weekly update, titled “RADIATION & ME.” (You guys get a mini-sneak peek here.)

If you want to read last week’s post, here is the link, VULNERABLE  & EXPOSED. 

If that doesn’t work for you, go on Substack and search for “Jackie’s Musings & Meanderings.”  I have about thirty I’ve been writing, but the last seven are on my cancer journey. You can subscribe (but no pressure), and it’s FREE. Don’t get tricked into paying. Not needed.

So, you see, I AM writing.  Each day, I quiz the technicians on something I want to know about so I can include it in next week’s Substack post.  (And maybe the following week too, as I finish up.)

Do you have any questions or comments? If you click on the title of this post—SLIPPED MY MIND—you can find the spot below to do that.