Today is a new day on the calender...all fresh and clean. I hope I make the best choices on each and every thing that God lays in my path today. Isn't it a great feeling when you've made the right choices? The good thing is, when we mess up, which we all do, God gives us another chance. He is always ready and willing to forgive us, if we only ask. So like Him, we too, should be ready and willing to forgive those who hurt us.
Can you tell my morning reading was in Matthew chapters 16-18. How could a man be so foolish to beg for forgiveness of a major debt, AND GET IT, and then turn around and not grant someone release of a debt owed him? I know the scripture means even more than debts owed. I know God's telling me, He forgave me, so be sure and forgive others for anything they say or do against me. It's definitely easier to let go of a hurt than to hold on to it. When you hold on to what someone does against you, it becomes more of a burden. BUT when you forgive and let go, you get to have the peace that only comes from God. He not only gives you peace but He blesses you in so many ways.
Well let's enjoy the new day.
I've had a busy, but productive week these past 7 days. Like I stated in my tweet, it's only 3 days until my son's wedding. His little bride is such a sweetheart and we are so blessed to see our son soooo happy. Yesterday we made candles for the centerpieces on the tables. It was so much fun. Her grandmother, Ginny (Nanna to the grand kids), organized us. It was Ginny, Edie (Rosie's mom), Rachael (my oldest daughter), Rosie, and myself. We made a hundred centerpieces. Once we got started and got going we improved with each and every one. And they were beautiful. The layers of the all natural things from God's earth holding the candles in place and then a label applied to the front announcing the wedding came out beautifully. Hard work. But Edie and Rachael kept us laughing. And we don't want to forget the men folk, Anthony and Mike, (Rosie's Uncle and Father) who made a run to buy more of the natural things we used to stabalize the candles and make them special. They did great. The first 25 look a little different from the last 75 because they came back with such rich things like dark, coffee, brown flax seed. Talk about beautiful...and the brown rice...What color was that you ask? Not brown. It was more of a wheat. Some little chick peas (I think they were called) were olive green, and corn yellow, and a sandy beach tan. There were other things brought, but those of you that make the wedding will see. You others, use your imagination and think earth. My daughter-in-law thinks green before almost anything else.
I'm going to work backwards this time. Sunday of course, the day God gave us to rest, we spent the afternoon watching the Saints beat Tampa Bay, 27-16. It was a fun afternoon. You know it has to be hard on the coach watching from the press box above. A couple games back his knee was injured on the sidelines when a tackle rolled out, hitting him. By sitting up there, he still gets to see and participate in each game. Sean Payton is pressing on in a bad situation...what we should always do and trust God will see us through, if we are following His will.
Saturday was a great day for us. That was when Rachael flew in from California. We are blessed to have her staying with us for almost two weeks. All you mommas know, it's great when all your kids are around. I love mine so much, words can not express.
Earlier Saturday the public library in Livingston had a free writer's workshop that had several authors (Including myself) share something to help writers of the future over some of the speed bumps ahead...things we learned the hard way which hopefully will make their writing path a little smoother. It was a great several hours of helpful hints and tips.
Sad to say, I can't remember what happened Tuesday afternoon through Friday, but I know my life has been busy but in a wonderful way. I'm loving every minute of it. Oh, one thing I almost forgot to say, I am now up to having lost 21 pounds. I still have a ways to go, but that 1200 calorie a day thing has been working well for me.
One thing I haven't had yet is my coffee. I'm going to go fix a cup and will be right back to share some writing tips.
Aaahh. Yes. I'm back and had my first sip. Louisiana's coffee, Community Coffee, is probably the best brew made. I don't drink mine dark like most southerners. International, sugar free, Hazelnut mixes with my coffee making it even better. I love it.
NOW FOR THE WRITING TIPS TODAY:
I can't take credit for them, because I'm going to share with you what one of the authors shared with the new writers (and us oldies that were sitting in the back). By the way, this is a tip from me -- you NEVER stop learning how to grow your writing gift as long as you keep your ears, mind, and heart open to hear how other people do it. Truth is there is no right or wrong way. You have to find what works for you to write the best you can, so much so that others will want to read your stuff.
Now, for what Stephen Brunet, a professional technical writer, shared with us. I don't have time to share it all with you, but I do want to give you a few tips that will help you in your rewriting, your editing of your MS. He covered so much more, and even though he is a technical writer, everything he shared we could use to improve our own writing.
Stephen shared how his editorial crew, edit in layers. Each one has a different aspect of the writing that they look at/for as they are searching the text. Language, grammar, typos, structure, format, layout, & content.
When it's all said and done, you want to make sure your novel, no matter the genre, does the following:
1. answers the questions (who, what, where, when, how, why),
2. there are NO typos in your MS
3. you made the right choice of words when writing (nouns-to paint the picture & verbs to keep it active)
4. Clarity, using proper sentence structure
5. content -- make sure it flows and readers understand
I have to say, that is the basic way my two critique partners and I usually edit my MS. Right now we are working on the editing layers of the 2nd book in The Samantha Cain Series -- Testimony of Innocence. After listening to Stephen, I feel we will do an even better job than we did on the last 4 published ms. Thanks Stephen for your wonderful talk Saturday.
As writer you never want to stop learning, growing. So keep up the good work...and keep on writing.
No comments:
Post a Comment