Horse Country

There are approximately 50 of these horses all uniquley painted, scattered around Ocala. We love to discover where they are. They usually have some sort of theme. I always think of my friend Pat when I see one. I can't wait to show off our lovely city.

Seeing faces and new places

Ken and I are enjoying finding our way around Ocala and the surrounding area. This weekend there was a cattle drive though the middle of town. We found out that this used to be the norm here. We always enjoy going to the farmer's market and getting fresh fruits and vegetable and shrimp! I have found a vendor that makes the best pear jam. It reminds me of my great-aunt Mittie Lee's jam. I used to spend Friday night with her and in the morning we would eat bisquits and pear preserves for breakfast.

Later Saturday afternoon we went to Lake Weir and ate at Gator Joe's where this humongous alligator used to live until someone finally killed it.

It was also in the vicinity of Ma Barker and her gang. I just love finding bits of history and got to thinking...is there some loot still around? A treasure story? Maybe.

I guess the point is there is always something interesting going on somewhere that can inspire you to write.

Oh and we did call some friends to let them know that the weather is fine and come down for a visit when you get tired of that cold weather.

Saying good bye too soon

My friend has suffered a terrible tragedy. Her 17 year old nephew died in a car accident Thursday. I have met him at Pat's several times and the shock has numbed me. I can't imagine the pain they are going through now.

It seems there is way too much death. In the few short months I have said good-bye to two friends from cancer.

I know we will continue to go on. But our hearts will be a little heavier, the moments with friends and family, so much more precious.

Take care my friends. Love you all and you are all in my thoughts and my constant prayer for you to have strength.

God be with you.

Summers almost gone

Summer is almost gone and fall is in the air. With the fall comes fun things like writers and illustrators conferences. Midsouth conference is right around the corner in less than a month in fact.

Registration is closed but you can follow the blogs during the conference and few a days later, too.
http://www.scbwi-midsouth.org/

In October there's the Southern Breeze conference in Birmingham, AL. If you are interested check out their site: https://southern-breeze.net/Home_Page.php

They are also having a picture intensive on Friday.

Hope to you there!

Scene Cards

My next step in Book in a Month is to write out 10 scenes. I had the beginning and ending scenes but the middle was stumping me. I was having a real hard time with resistance too. Anything I could find to do other than keep my BIC I did. I'm glad to say that I finally bit the bullet and sat myself down. I can tell you that once I got started it didn't take me long. It was a simple and "then what happened?" sequence that saw me through.

I can't take all the credit though. Each scene has to have a certain thing in it and you always want to move the story forward.
Each scene of course needs characters and a setting. What are the characters doing and where and why?

If you keep asking why and answering you will get to the end.

Write out at least ten scenes with number one being the beginning and ten the end, then fill in the middle.
Good Luck!

upcoming conference and where I am now

What stories can you think of looking at this picture. This is from the cemetery at Sweetwater Mansion in Florence, AL.

I am still working on plotting my novel and I have started back to the plotting stage.
First things first.

Come up with a one sentence synopsis of my story.

I have read this in several different books and magazine articles. This takes practice and you may want to do this every so often just to make sure you are staying true the story and not going off on a tangent. (This is what I'm guilty of doing)

I am doing better and my sentence is tighter. Barbara Seuling in her book on writing for children suggests limiting the sentence to just 25 words. That's hard! But practice, practice, practice. You'll be glad you did.

Follow his website to find out about the exciting Midsouth Writers and Illustrators conference taking place in Nashville, TN in September.


http://www.scbwi-midsouth.org/

Resistance

On Thursday I met my goal of writing 1000 words but did not get anything written yesterday.

In the chapter titled "Resistance" Schmidt states that "resistance can ruin a career before it ever gets started."
She lists 10 things that can help you overcome this.
They are:
1. Create an outline
2. Break the writing down into small, doable tasks.
3. Know the next step
4. Hold yourself accountable
5. Gather support
6. Be specific
7. Visualize the entire goal from start to finish.
8. Create a deadline
9. Celebrate your successes.
10. Make it a habit.

She includes in the book steps and formats to reach each of these goals.

I'm blogging about my experience to keep me accountable and hopefully gain some support. Yesterday was not a total loss because Thursday a surprise character showed up when one decided to leave. He reminds me of Yosemite Sam without the gun. But I think of him and a hobbit and he is really unique and instead of being invisible to others, he is visible from he's from the past so he has a lot of catching up to do. Will he have the Key Jaxon needs? I'll have to get back to writing to find out.

Keep writing and post your successes here! See you next time.