It's a Monday Miracle

Words! Glorious, wonderful, beautiful words!

The drought has ended.

The words are flowing again. After eleven horrible, terrible, awful, painful, frustrating months, the scenes and characters and conflicts have stopped jumbling between my brain and my keyboard.

If my recent surge of creativity was a landscape, I'd paint it to look something like this: Cue the Hallelujah Chorus.

Blog Chain: A matter of priority

It's blog chain time again. Laura asked: Regarding your writing career, what’s the best mistake you’ve ever made and why?

Several months ago, I probably would have said my best mistake involved querying my first ms too soon. Not only did it lead to the realization that my first drafts aren't bricks of gold, it lead me to a great group of writing peers that would provide valuable knowledge and feedback.

But many changes have occurred in the past several months. Those changes have made me re-evaulate the priorities in my life. In that re-evaluation I discovered the worst mistake in my writing career has been focusing so heavily on the fictional characters that in my head that I've missed some great moments with the main characters in my life -- my daughters.

I hear you. You're saying, "But the question was what has been the best mistake -- regarding your writing career -- you've ever made and why?"

Well, the best mistake could not be happening without having made the worst mistake.

In case you haven't noticed, my blog posts have been few and far between lately. It's not just my blog that has been neglected. I've turned my computer on in the past few weeks only to access my music collection (and there were those two interviews I did for work). I haven't typed or sent a query or a synopsis. I haven't built a world. I haven't even cracked into the mind of a character in months. The only writing I've managed to squeeze in has been done with a ballpoint pen in my journal at the end of the day.

Sometimes it feels wrong. Sometimes I hear that voice in the back of my mind nagging me to get back to my computer. Sometimes it feels like a big mistake to put writing on the back burner. Some people might even call my recent acts of neglect a form of writerly career suicide.

Then I think about how rewarding it has been to live my life for real instead of vicariously through characters, and I realize it's been the best mistake so far.

I mean, fictional characters will be there forever, but my daughters will only be young once.

Michelle posted before me. Find out what Christine has to say about her mistakes tomorrow.

Blog Chain: Tell me where it hurts (so I can make it hurt more)

Shannon brought up this blog chain topic:

Imagine this: when you are gone, readers will remember your writing most for just one of these things: your characters, your plots, your settings, or your style. Which (only one!) would you prefer over the rest? Why?

Fascinating question.

I've spent a lot of time thinking about it. I've gone so far as to examine my favorite aspects of the authors I believe I will remember most when they are gone.

But I hit a dead end because I like different authors for different reasons, and I don't read and write for the same reasons.

So I started thinking about why I started writing in the first place.

I accomplished the initial goal I'd set for my writing -- to have my words touch someone so deeply they'd cry -- by creating a character whose emotional pain was so great readers felt it in their gut.

I got a kick out of having that control over people's emotions. (Yeah. Go ahead. Call me a bully.)

So I figure if I can't get out of life alive it would be cool if my characters could stick around in people's heads for awhile after I'm gone to do my bidding. (Insert evil laugh here.)

What would you choose and why?

Find out what Michelle said yesterday. Tune in at Christine's place tomorrow to see if her plan is as diabolical as mine.

Blog Chain: Where did that come from?

Margie started this blog chain with a two-part question: How did you come to write your YA genre (e.g. contemp, fantasy, etc.)? AND (yep, it’s a 2 parter), if you weren’t writing that, what genre would you be interested in exploring?

I write women's fiction. I think it's because I've never been the kind of girl to live in the moment. In fact, up until about two years ago, I lived about 20 years ahead of my age.

When my cousins and I were very young, we'd get together at my grandparents house, where the daily routine included a healthy dose of Days of Our Lives and Another World. (Grandma calls them "her stories.") We probably weren't supposed to watch, but as young girls, it's very easy to get sucked into such drama.

When the parents or grandparents finally shooed us outside to play, my cousins and I would come up with an elaborate make believe soap-opera type story to play out. My grandparents lived on a farm with huge orchards, pastures and gardens, so we'd lose ourselves in whatever make believe world we had created.

It was awesome, and the stories we came up with evolved with our ages and crushes.

During my grade school and early junior high years, I'd visit my twin cousin (that's a cousin with whom you're so close you might as well be twin siblings) in Kansas, and we'd set up a make believe lounge called "Knights" in the basement.

In our pretend world there, Duran Duran would stop in for a guest appearance. She'd fall in love with one band member; I'd fall for another. Then they'd whisk us off to happily-ever-after land. (After seeing this in black and white, my twin cousin may never talk to me again.)

Unfortunately, I came to a fork in the road of life. One direction allowed me to continue playing out such elaborate fantasies but included funny looks from strangers and a padded cell at the local asylum. The other direction allowed me to continue thinking about elaborate soap opera-type stories and living them out on paper.

That choice was easy.

Voila! A writer of women's fiction was born.

As for Part II of Margie's question, if I wasn't writing women's fiction, I'd be writing paranormal stories. Oddly enough, a good ghost story was one of the only things that could distract me and my cousins from playing make-believe. (Well, that and our parents.)

Don't miss the response Michelle H. answered yesterday.

Check out Christine's response tomorrow.

Writerly Wednesday: A strange place to find inspiration

My youngest daughter's school delayed the start of classes by more than a week this year. Since my oldest daughter's school started on time, I ended up with a slight day care dilemma.

To make a long story short, I turned to the woman who looked after my oldest daughter until she started first grade.

It had been about nine years since I'd been to her house, and I'd nearly forgotten about the source of inspiration I'd once found between her neighborhood and the downtown area where I work.
My husband calls it one of the strangest sources of inspiration ever.

It consists of three run-down, cookie cutter shacks. They sit one-after-another just feet from the street, boards covering the windows.

A steel railroad bridge rises behind them, allowing passage for the trains moving from one steelyard to another.

Across the street, an empty warehouse waits for someone to take ownership. I used to wonder what kind of people had lived there.

As I drove past that place day after day -- so many years ago -- the picture of its occupants came into view.

In my mind, I saw a woman sitting on the front steps, stroking her pregnant belly as she sought relief from the summer heat with a glass of iced tea. I saw her mate, a hard worker but a hard partier, too. He cared about her, but his distractions didn't allow him to pay much attention to her.

Maybe that was why she seemed so distant. Maybe not.

Whatever the reason, I knew it was my own twisted, romanticized vision of life at the bottom, shaped by the way I perceived the world.
Imagination is a funny thing, shaped by how we have experienced the world and how we think the world should be. We each find inspiration and interpret it in our own unique way. The one-of-a-kind world view allows infinite creative possibilities.

I'm okay that my husband thinks that area of town is a strange place to find inspiration.
That's not the way I see it.

What has been the strangest source of inspiration for you?

Blog Chain: Why does this have to be so hard?

Eric started the blog chain this time with the awesome topic: What do you find to be the most challenging aspect of being a writer? What is your greatest reward from writing?

My mom always told me, "Be careful what you wish for because you just might get it."

It's true. I'm living proof that a wish can come back to bite you in the butt. (I'll spare you the teethmarks.)

When I was younger, I only wanted to write.

That's it.

I loved writing so much as a pastime that I wanted a day job that involved writing, too.

So that's what I yearned for, prayed for, wished for.

And that's what I got.

I'm a news writer by day, fiction writer by night.

I don't mean to be a Negative Nelly, but sometimes it sucks.

Don't get me wrong. I love my job and I love my hobby. And I'd be lying if I said one doesn't compliment the other.

But it's really easy to burn out.

In fact, I've been struggling with that issue for almost a year now, and sometimes the temptation to give up the fiction aspect of writing nearly overwhelms me.

Thankfully, the voice of reason has always stepped in to remind me how much I like daydreaming about characters and exploring what-ifs. I love the feeling of finding just the right word. I especially love it when a phrase turns in a such a way that I have to catch my breath.

So far, those rewards have made the struggle with burnout worthwhile.

What are your biggest struggles and rewards?

Check out what Michelle said before me. Don't forget to visit Christine's blog tomorrow to see what she says about challenges and rewards.

Writerly Wednesday: Or not

Disclaimer: The following blog post is one of the most insanely idiotic things you will ever read. At no point in my rambling, incoherent writing am I even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in who reads this will be dumber for having read it. Feel free to award me no points, and may God have mercy on my soul.

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Due to unforeseen circumstances (Of course it's unforeseen. What do you think I am? One of Dionne Warwick's psychic friends.), I will not be posting a Writerly Wednesday blog.

Unless, of course, you consider it a post that I posted I'm not going to post.

Then there is a Writerly Wednesday blog post. It's just not about being writerly. Well, I did include that thing about the unnecessary usage of the word "unforeseen."

When you think about it, it's not even unnecessary usage.

The word itself is quite useless because, like I said, all things are unforeseen.

Technically.

Maybe I should have said, "Due to circumstances beyond my control..."

That's still off though.

I mean, no one is really in control. Control is an illusion.

We may think we have control. We can take control of plans. We can form an idea of what we'd like to have happen.

But something -- you know, like Mother Nature throwing a bowling ball-sized hailstone at your house or the pizza delivery man showing up at your door with anchovies when you ordered pepperoni but you ate the anchovies anyway and realized later that you're allergic to fish and ended up in the hospital being treated for anaphylactic shock -- can always mess up those plans.

By the way, that didn't really happen.

I am allergic to fish, but I'd send the pizza delivery boy back to get the pizza I ordered before I'd touch an anchovy.

And bowling ball-sized hailstones?

Yeah, that's not going to happen.

At least, I could never see that happening.

I guess that would be unforeseen. Maybe that word isn't so useless after all.

Writerly Wednesday: Lost in the middle of nowhere?

The road to Valentine can seem endless.

The town sits smack in the middle of Nebraska's Cherry County -- an area almost five times bigger than the state of Rhode Island and home to only 6,148 people.

You can drive for miles and miles without seeing another soul. Indeed, the roads through the "Nebraska Outback" are a desolate -- but beautiful -- place to be.

A couple of weeks ago, my husband and I spent the weekend there with some musician friends, who were scheduled to perform for a cancer benefit and then provide music at church the next day.

I had trouble falling asleep after the benefit, so I was a little groggy at Mass on Sunday morning when the priest mentioned his plans to travel west that afternoon.

But my ears perked up when he said: "The road out that way is long and desolate. Sometimes you have to stop to help other people along the way."

Although he said it in passing, his words struck me in a significant way.

When I named this blog, it had more to do with promoting a novel-length story I'd written called The Long Road to Heaven. Over time, it has become less about that story and more about my own journey to find peace. It has become somewhat of a personal chronicle on my road to find faith in myself, my writing, my God and the world around me.

Recently, I emerged from a very dark place spiritually and emotionally. I've spent the better part of time since then asking, "What was the purpose of this? How was this horrible experience supposed to make me a better person?"

The more time I've spent seeking answers to those questions, the more I've begun to realize it's not just about me. It's also about helping others who are in danger of breaking down on the journey to reach their dreams.

The road to publication can be a lonely journey.

As writers, we need a support system. We need people to criticize us when our heads grow too big. We need people to encourage us when our faith gets too small. We need people to squee with us and to cry with us. We need to recognize that sometimes it is OK to take a break.

We need people -- other writers and friends and family -- to help us.

And we need to be able to put aside the pride that keeps us from asking for help when the road gets too rough. (The same goes for the road of life, too.)

Really, it's OK. I've been there before. I've got the map.

Blog Chain: Do over

I feel rested after my time away, but it's so great to be back on the blog chain again.. This time around, Sarah asked:

How do you handle revisions? Do you revise as you're writing, or do you wait until you've gone through beta readers and crit partners to revise? How soon after you finish do you begin your revisions?
I don't know why, but this question kind of reminds me of one of the choices you have to make when buying a Powerball ticket.

Would you like your winnings in one lump sum or parceled out over a period of 30 years? I don't buy lottery tickets very often, but when I do, I choose the lump sum. (It's an instant gratification thing. Well, it would be if I ever won.)

I choose to handle my revisions in the same way -- one lump sum. But it has nothing to do with instant gratification. For me, it's about seeing the bigger picture as quickly and clearly as possible.

It also has a lot to do with the way my first drafts are born. I don't write consecutive chapters. I write whatever scene is most vivid in my head at the time, and then piece them together like a puzzle as I go.

It's not really as complicated as it might seem because I do frame the story before I begin writing. (So it's more like a kids puzzle than one of those 150,000,000-piece pains in the butt that my husband and kids leave scattered across the living room floor every once in awhile.)

As I'm writing, I'll let myself mull over other scenes that I've written. Most of the time, the scenes or characters need to be tweaked so they fit with the story. Once the tweakage (teehee I just made a word) has been completed, I'll put the hard copy aside for a few weeks while I think of ways to tighten the scenes, ramp up the tension and give the characters depth.

I usually don't let beta readers see my writing until I'm confident about the pacing and characterization. After it has been shredded by betas, I'll go back to the drawing board for another round of revisions.

How do you handle revisions?

Check out what the mah-velous Michelle Hickman said before me. The ever-cool Eric is up next.

Writerz Blok: You're OK, but your MC is a jackwagon

This is probably the most embarrassing aspect of my life to which I'll ever confess.

But I'm a fan of the show Judge Judy.

I can't help it. I like guessing which person the judge will believe.

It's usually not hard. Not if you look for the telltale signs of insincerity. Fidgeting. Eye rolling. Arm crossing. Stuttering and stammering. People give away a lot about themselves through speech, body language and facial expressions.

First impressions are made very quickly.

And you know what Momma always said about getting a second chance to make a first impression. . .

It doesn't happen. Truly.

Studies have shown that people form their first impressions of strangers in less than five seconds.

Five seconds!

And it's hard to overcome a negative first impression. Most people -- even the ones who've displayed a poor judge of character in the past -- believe their first impression is right on.

So what does that have to do with being a writer?

Everything . . . when your main character is the one who needs to do the dazzling.

That's part of the reason why the first page is so important.

(insert groan here)

I know. I know. I'd be the first person to say there's way too much emphasis put on the first page of a story.

But maybe it should be looked at like this: The first 250 words of a manuscript are like those five seconds your MC has to leave a good first impression on a reader.

The reader has to be sympathetic to your MC.

But your MC can't come across as pathetic.

Your MC has to display some sort of trait that makes him attractive to the reader.

But he has to have flaws because readers won't relate to a character who is perfect.

Your main character has to give a little bit of himself away so the reader can form a bond with him.

But your MC can't "tell" too much or give away the farm. After all, a little intrigue goes a long way.

Of course, it's all subjective.

I don't like everyone I meet. In fact, I'd rather chew off my left foot than spend too much time with certain people I know. But very few people go through life completely unloved; almost everyone has at least one redeeming quality

As long as your main character has a likeable trait from the getgo, someone will love him, too.

What do you like about your main character?

Wordly Wednesday: INCONCEIVABLE!

"You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."

In my opinion, that's one of the best movie quotes of all time.

It's spoken by the character Inigo Montoya in "The Princess Bride" after hearing his gang's leader, Vizzinni, shout the word, "Inconceivable!" on several occassions.

I crack up whenever I hear it. It reminds me of all of the times I've misused or heard other people misuse those pesky little words that sound like other words or sound like they should mean something else.

Words like:

Hubris
As a newspaper reporter, I see this word in headlines quite often. The actual definition is overbearing pride or presumption. To me, it sounds like something that should be growing in the garden next to my hostas.

Mortify

I'll never forget my high school American Lit teacher going over (and over and over) this word while reading Mark Twain in class. The misuse of this word was one of his biggest pet peeves. So imagine my amusement the other night when a narrator on The Travel Channel mentioned some place in haunted American that would leave its visitors moritfied.

While mortified can mean death of living tissue, it's more common definition is humiliate. I pretty sure the narrator meant terrified.


And finally ...

Cavalry
As in, now we're safe because the cavalry is coming?

Uh, not quite.

I've seen the misuse of this word in my former role as an obit writer. People often said "cavalry" (troops trained to fight on horseback) when they really meant "Calvary" (the hill near Jerusalem where Jesus Christ was crucified).

I don't think we were talking about military funerals.

Are there any word misuses that you find amusing or annoying?

Writerly Wednesday: It doesn't get any worse than this

It's hard to believe more than 60 days have passed.

In some ways it feels like it's been years since the last time I wrote a true blog post. In other ways, it feels like I've merely blinked.

I'm not exaggerating when I say I've traveled the hardest road of my life during the past nine weeks.

If only I'd quit asking how life could get any worse.

I don't remember the first time that question popped into my head. It was probably about 13 years ago, when I dropped my daughter off at daycare and, as I headed to work, I seriously contemplated missing the turn and disappearing from my life.

It wasn't that I didn't love my daughter and husband. I just didn't love anything about me.

Fortunately, I realized that you can't run away from yourself.

Instead of missing the turn in to work that day, I turned to God and prayed. He led me out of that dark place, right into a job that helped me become a better writer. He led me to a place where I could chase my dream.

And things were good. For awhile. Until the realization of my husband's alcohol addiction and depression settled upon me.

As he went through withdrawal, I started asking myself: "How can it get any worse than this?"

As he struggled through med changes, I thought: "It can't get any worse than this."

And when he was prescribed one med a few years ago that nearly destroyed him, I let myself wonder: "Really? How could it possibly get any worse than this?"

Well, for starters, a new general practitioner's inexperience with bipolar and anxiety disorders could lead him through three med changes in four visits.

That GP could call me at work to tell me she's "worried about Dana."

I could snap at her and say, "I'm worried too. You need to quit screwing with his meds. Don't you realize what that does?"

She could lie to me about the course of treatment she wants to take, and then later have the nerve to write in her notes that I seemed "unconcerned" about my husband's well being.

The situation could actually get so bad I'd have trouble processing my anger several weeks later.

Still, within days I found myself asking: "How could life get any worse?"

Well, my gorgeous teenage daughter could date someone who doesn't respect her boundaries.

A 500-year flood could hit my hometown.

A raging river could rise to within 200 yards of my childhood home.

I could develop such a cynical attitude about writing that my eyes would roll back into my head when an agent would post something on Facebook or Twitter.

I could question whether or not I should let go of the dream I'd been chasing for years.

I could spiritually fall into a place so dark the very existence of God seemed laughable.

Sigh.

Yeah, it got that bad. But I now realize it could have been much, much worse.

I've read that writers aren't supposed to use their blogs as personal diaries.

It could be detrimental to your pursuit of publication.

Guess what? I've decided I don't give a damn.

I'm not bitter (except about the doctor thing). I just realized that I no longer enjoyed writing -- and living -- because I stopped writing and living from the heart.

I realized my heart was dying, and my body was becoming an empty shell.

Believe me. It won't get any worse than that. I won't let it.

It took a long time and I've traveled a long, hard road to bring you the most important (I believe) piece of writerly advice I can give.

That is: You'll go crazy writing what you think other people might want to read and living how you think other people might want you to live. Don't do it. Instead, write what you feel, and don't be afraid to let people see you are real.

Peace and happiness.

Writerly Wednesday: Stepping Off

I'm suffering from a severe case of creative dehydration.

My method of recovery involves taking a break from blogging for a couple of weeks. (That'll probably go over like a lead balloon.)

I'm on the schedule to do a blog chain post on Sunday, May 23, so I'll be back by then for sure.

In the meantime, I have a question for all of you, my awesome writerly friends.

Has there ever been a time when you've felt the need to take a break from writing? If so, how long? Do you think it helped you refresh your creativity?

Writerly Wednesday: When ripe fruit won't fall from the tree

I think it's ironic. Or maybe it's coincidence. (I always get those two confused.)

Someone can know a lot about a subject but still struggle a lot with it.

Take weight loss, for instance.

Personally, I'd never ask a person who was born to be skinny for advice on how to lose weight. I'd only get upset when they tell me to eat less and exercise more.

Obviously it's not that simple. There are hormones, stressors, genetics and sleep patterns that need to be taken into account.

If you want the skinny (pardon the pun) on weight loss, you need to talk to the people that know the struggle involved in dropping a few pounds.

It's in a similar vein that I'm offering this week's Writerly Wednesday advice.

I know a ton (again, pardon the pun) about writer's block because I struggle with it All.Of.The.Time.

The characters are there. The setting is there. The scene is ripe in my mind. But when I sit down at the computer the words jumble and jam before they make it to the screen.

What's a writer to do?

Force them? Nope. That only leads to frustration (which, incidentally, makes the weight loss struggle worse for me).

Give up? Nope. That would make me feel like the biggest loser. (Uh, wait a minute...)

Walk away from the computer and wait for inspiration to strike? Not exactly.

I definitely walk away from the computer, but then I go stalk my source of inspiration.

I return to the movie scene, the song, the place, the picture -- whatever it was -- that originally inspired me.

I allow myself several minutes to daydream with that source of inspiration.

After that, I return to the computer, take a deep breath and write whatever comes out.

I don't touch it. I don't edit as I go. And I don't worry about the rules.

I just write.

And if that doesn't work I take the dog for a walk. :-) At least then I'd be working on the weight-loss struggles, and it might jar loose a few of those words in the process.

What advice can you give about your writerly struggles?

Blog Chain: You're a bad, bad girl, Kat Harris

Sandra gaves us a choice of blog topics this time around. I chose this one:

Have you ever created a character different from yourself in some significant way, such as (but not limited to) different gender, race, ethnic group, religion, or sexual orientation? If so, what, if any, research did you do to portray these differences? Was this character a main character, secondary character, or walk-on? Did these differences have an impact on the story?

It was a tradition at my high school. Every year, during prom, a couple of students would read the list of wills and prophecies the junior class had created for the seniors.

I dreaded thinking about what they had written for me. It was a small school. I was a bit of a wallflower. And even wallflowers stand out at small schools. At the time, the last thing I wanted to do was stand out.

So there I sat with my date, who was also my best friend's boyfriend (figure that one out), suppressing a panic attack as they read my will: "I, Kathryn Harris, bestow my lengthy criminal record to Ryan M."

It was brilliant. I didn't have a criminal record. I'd never had a detention. I probably hadn't even had a late assignment. On the other hand, Ryan M. had already had multiple run-ins with figures of authority.

As everyone laughed -- including myself -- I realized that the thing that stood out most about me was the fact that I did nothing to stand out.



Although this wallflower has blossomed a little bit over the years, not much has changed. I tend to live within the parameters established by my standards, my faith, my vows and my mom's guilt. (And that last one is like a brick wall.)

I'm pretty sure the everyday life of a suburban-dwelling, career-minded mother of two is not the stuff good books are made of. So, yes, my characters are significantly different from me.

One of my heroines comes from a trainwreck of a home, doesn't think twice about dropping the "F-bomb" and snorts coke like a celebrity at an after-party party. The other explodes out of her goody-two-shoes mold, has an affair that leads to attempted murder that leads to something much, much crazier. (But so much fun.)

There was not a lot of research involved in the creation of these characters. After living with an alcoholic for so many years, it wasn't difficult to get into the mindset of an addict. It was, however, uncomfortable the first time I realized that character's drug of choice was coke.

I'm also still trying to establish a comfort zone with the other heroine's promiscuity and to find a way of tactfully conveying that aspect of her life. I'm confident that eventually will happen.

I think, deep down, these two characters are the result of the years and years I've spent suppressing my bad-girl side. (Really? Did I just write that?) It's a way to get into trouble without actually breaking the law. It's a form of escapism and vicarious living.

And I suppose the differences between myself and my characters do have an impact on the story. But that's what makes the stories mine.

How are your characters different from you?

Check out what Michelle H. had to say about this topic before me. Also, don't miss what Christine has to say tomorrow.

Writerly Wednesday: Sailing the Polish Ocean

A surname can say a lot about a person.

By the surname on my birth certificate, for instance, a person could easily conclude that my ancestors are German.

They are. As a matter of fact, three of my grandparents are 100 percent German. The other grandparent is mostly German...and a little bit Dutch.

My father-in-law tells me that the only difference between the two is what side of the bed you roll out of in the morning. He's what you call a Heinz 57 -- a lot of Northern European, a little Scandinavian and a couple of fill-in-the-blanks.

His wife -- my mother-in-law -- is 100 percent Polish. Shortly after they married, my in-laws settled and raised their six children in the village where she grew up. Almost everyone there is of Polish descent. My in-law's last name sticks out like a sore thumb amongst all of the surnames ending in -ski in the phone book.

Harris

Jablonski

Jaworski

Kapowski

Kowalski

Maciejewski

You'd never guess my husband is half Polish. (Not by his name anyway.)

I spend a lot of time thinking about surnames and how they relate to characters.

I nearly drove myself mad coming up with good Italian names for two of the characters in Long Road. After a long, drawn-out search, one ended up with Vacanti and the other ended up with Tyler.

Not very Italian, I know. What can I say? His mom -- Gloria (nee Baldassare) Tyler -- married into it. Just like my mother-in-law married into hers.

I find myself wondering about how authors chose surnames for his/her characters. Are they named after someone? Are their characters' names a amalgums of the names of people the author knows in real life?

I'm very curious.

How do you come up with the last names for your characters?

Get your spouse on the couch

Kathi Lipp wants couples to spend couch time together.

She wants to see them turn up the heat with each other (in the kitchen).

And burn calories together (at the gym).

In her latest book from Harvest House Publishers, “The Marriage Project: 21 Days to More Love and Laughter,” author Kathi Lipp encourages couples to be intentional about the direction of their marriage and gives couples 21 projects to cultivate more love and laughter in their relationship.

The projects – which include having a date night with each other, exercising together, cooking together, and yes, even being intimate with one another – are simple and fun if both the husband and wife are willing to participate.

The book is an easy read that interweaves Christian values and the importance of intimacy in a marriage without being overly preachy or tawdry.

Fun anecdotes from the author’s own marriage and interesting snippets from other marriage-advice books and blogs make this book an enjoyable read.

Unfortunately, part of what made this book enjoyable also was a distraction. As a reader whose 16 years of marriage has survived addiction recovery and severe bipolar disorder, I had a hard time letting Lipp -- who is divorced and is less than five years into her marriage with second husband, Roger -- establish credibility in my mind.

I give props to Lipp, however, because she is upfront about her marital history, and she admits honestly that the ideas in “The Marriage Project” were gleaned from advice given in the plethora of marriage books on her bookshelves.

I don’t think you can expect “The Marriage Project” to be a miracle cure for a marriage in crisis.

But this book would be perfect for church groups that want to begin a marriage-strengthening program.

“The Marriage Project” also would be a great tool to help rekindle old flames for the couple that is starting to lose that lovin’ feelin’, for the couple whose marriage has taken a backseat to child-rearing or for the couple that simply feels like spicing up their relationship.

And once again, I'm sharin' the love.

Become a follower of my blog AND leave a comment below, and I will include your name in a drawing to win my copy of Kathi Lipp's The Marriage Project: 21 Days to More Love and Laughter.

The winner will be drawn next Thursday.

Writerly Wednesday: Why the walls come crumbling down

Once there was an architect who set out to design the perfect building, one that would leave everyone awestruck.

When a rich developer heard about the architect's dream, he wanted to be part of it. So he hired the architect and told him not to spare any expense.

The architect went to work. He drew. He designed. He configured. Finally, he emerged from his office with the blueprint of what he believed was the most beautiful tower in the history of mankind, one that would leave everyone awestruck.

But when he took his plans to the developer, the developer grimaced and said, "This is good. But I don't like this archway. Can we change it?"

With a disappointed sigh, the architect returned to his drawing board and adjusted the blueprint to please the developer.

When he showed the revision to the developer, the developer exclaimed, "I love it!"

The developer's wife, who was standing nearby, agreed. "I, too, love it. But I'm not fond of the shape of this window. Can you change it?"

The architect was skeptical of her suggestion, but he returned to his drawing board and changed the shape of the window. After all, it wouldn't be the perfect building if someone didn't like it.

When the architect returned with the second revision, the developer and his wife praised the design.

But when the foreman of the construction crew saw it, he said, "This doorway is the wrong size. It needs to be changed."

So once again the architect returned to the drawing board and fixed the design.

Soon, construction on the tower began. Many onlookers marveled. Others weren't so thrilled.

Some complained the angles were too sharp.

Some complained about the color of the bricks.

Some simply complained that the new tower blocked their view.

And each time the architect heard another complaint, he ran back to his office and fixed it. After all, it wouldn't be the perfect building if someone didn't like it.

Then one day-- in the shadow of this half-built tower -- the developer and the architect began arguing. Even though the developer had said to spare no expense, he hadn't expected the all of the changes, and they were becoming costly.

Hearing the argument, the developer's wife approached and offered her two cents. Then the construction foreman got involved. So did several of the onlookers who had already expressed their opinions of the building.

Suddenly, a loud crack split through the air around them. The red beams that framed the building began to pull apart, and the tower collapsed, crushing the architect, the developer, his wife, the construction foreman and everyone else who had stood beneath.

They all died. The project went unfinished. The perfect building was never built.

What does this have to do with Writerly Wednesday?

Self-doubt is the child of perfectionism and the desire to please everyone. It can kill dreams before they have a chance to become reality.

When you're offered advice on a project, take time to gauge whether or not a change is necessary. After all, you can't please everyone.

Writerly Wednesday: 'Blood Ransom' & a Giveaway!

I received a copy of Lisa Harris’ new book “Blood Ransom” in the mail several weeks ago.

At first I thought someone was playing a joke on me.

Days earlier, I’d run across Harris’ name (no relation, by the way) and a mention of her new book someplace on the Web. Intrigued by the title, I searched for more information and found the synopsis on the publisher’s (Zondervan) Web site:

“Natalie Sinclair is working to eradicate the diseases decimating whole villages in the Republic of Dhambizao when she meets Dr. Chad Talcott, a surgeon on sabbatical from a lucrative medical practice now volunteering at a small clinic.Meanwhile, things are unraveling in Dhambizao.

Joseph Komboli returns to his village to discover rebel soldiers abducting his family and friends.

Those that were too old or weak to work lay motionless in the African soil. When Chad and Natalie decide to help Joseph expose this modern-day slave trade—and a high-ranking political figure involved in it—disaster nips at their heels.

Where is God in the chaos? Will Chad, Natalie, and Joseph win their race against time?”

It seemed like a good story.

But I’m not the kind of person who usually goes for Christian romantic suspense set in Africa. So it didn’t pique my interest enough to pre-order it. (Hmm...that sounds an awful lot like a rejection letter, doesn't it?)

Oddly enough, I received an advance-review copy of “Blood Ransom” two days later in the mail at the Daily News.

Whoa! Wasn’t I just looking at this book?

After fighting off the dizzying aura of deja vu, I decided to give the story a whirl. I figured if book was going to pursue me in such a way, I’d better pay attention.

I’m glad I did.

This book kept me up into the wee hours of the morning, hooking me with a heart-hastening prologue, as young Joseph Komboli gets a firsthand glimpse of the legendary Ghost Soldiers and the brutality of which they are capable.

Harris’ descriptive prose and ability to ramp up tension kept me on the line throughout the story. And the suspense reeled me in to the very end – at about 1:15 a.m.

I found the characters – especially Joseph – easy to like, and I routed continuously for the good guys throughout the story.

The author – Lisa Harris – currently lives in Mozambique, Africa, where she works as a missionary, and her clear description of the landscape and culture have inspired me to be more open about reading books with more exotic settings.

The problems I had with the story were small. Although it is a tale of romantic suspense, I never quite felt convinced of the romantic attraction between Chad and Natalie. And I felt a small lull in the story’s pace at the beginning.

But I never once considered putting the story down, and I would recommend it for anyone looking for a non-threatening Christian tale of suspense.

“Blood Ransom” is being released today by Zondervan Books, but you can WIN MY COPY!

There are several ways to get in the drawing:

1. Become a follower (those already following are automatically entered once).

2. Leave me a comment.

3. Encourage your friends (I don't care how you do it -- Facebook, Twitter, Blogger) to become a follower.

Be sure to come back Friday when I announce the winner.

And check back next Thursday for another chance to win.

Writerly Wednesday: When your characters don't agree with you

Armed with the satellite remote, my husband sat down on the couch and began flipping through channels.

I entered the room as he settled on a rerun of CSI. "Hey, I love this episode," I said. "This is the one where the kid kills his college roommate because the roommate is having a homosexual affair with the kid's dad."

Exasperated, my hubby turned off the television and pushed himself up from the couch. "I guess I don't need to watch it now. Thanks for ruining it for me."

Scenarios like this are why my husband started watching Bones instead of CSI. I can't spoil the ending because I haven't seen every episode. In fact, I never really liked Bones.

Then a few weeks ago I caught an episode where the charred body of a man with devil horns was found on the altar of a Catholic church. That's when I discovered the main character -- Dr. "Bones" Brennan -- was an atheist.

At one point in the episode she said, "That would have great meaning to your superstitious followers."

I found the expression of her views on a higher power (and those who believe in one) to be irreverent, offensive and condescending.

I should have been saying, "Hey, wait a minute, jerky. Those are fightin' words."

But I didn't. Instead, I found myself more drawn to the show.

Why? Well, there were a few reasons.

First, Dr. Brennan's attitude fit her character. Second, it forced me to reassess why I believe what I believe, thereby strengthening my faith. And third, her partner -- Special Agent Booth -- balanced Dr. Brennan's lack of beliefs with his own take on faith.

There ended up being a lot of truth behind the message in that particular episode: "We all become angry with God sometimes." (Amen, brother. Amen.)

I mentioned my shift in attitude toward the show the other day to a friend. Surprisingly, the friend responded by telling me about a similar situation.

She had grown to love a character on a medical drama but, as someone who is pro-life, she felt conflicted when the character encouraged another (an unmarried teen) to have an abortion. In the end, the unmarried teen chose to have her baby and give it up for adoption.

My friend said the happy ending for all kind of balanced the message.

But not all endings are happy. Not all fiction -- whether in word or on screen -- adequately balances the pros and cons of controversial topics. Sometimes we become so wrapped up in the offense we feel to our personal beliefs that the greater message gets lost.

Creating a character who is vocal about a controversial topic is a tricky thing. There is a delicate line between potentially offending an entire group of people and broadening someone's view of the world.

My advice: Proceed with caution.

Have you encountered a character whose personal beliefs clashed with your own? Did you continue reading the book or watching the movie/television show? And have you created any characters who do not share your beliefs? If so, was it difficult to get into his/her head?