Barbies, Cartoons and Mad Libs, oh my! Oh, yeah, and a book.

I was a child of the 80’s. Thus, Saturday mornings found me and my sister crowding in front of our TV, sneaking our hands into the bag of powder sugar donuts and watching cartoons. One we always watched together was Jem and the Holograms. On one particular episode…I can’t remember which one…Jem’s boyfriend, Rio shouts to another man, “Que pasa, Louis!”

My sister and I thought this sounded so funny, as we were not used to hearing people speak Spanish, and for days afterward we would shout right out of the blue, “Que pasa, Louis!”

What could this have to do with homeschool, writing, books or any of the other things on this blog? Well…ahem, probably nothing. Except, when I remembered I hadn’t talked about my writing, lately, I remembered hearing that while watching Jem.

Speaking of watching TV with my sister, I also remember taking turns. If I would watch He Man with her, she would watch one of my favorite’s with me. There was no such thing as more than one TV in the house. We shared it. The best part was if one of us didn’t like the cartoon on at the time, we could still enjoy the confections from the donut bag.

Again, what does this have to do with anything? Answer: I don’t know yet.

When TV got boring, my sister and I would either go outside to play in the yard or pull out all our barbies. And, lemme tell y’all, we had barbies. Lots of them. Nurse Barbie, astronaut Barbie, Barbie of Barbie and the Rockers, lots of Ken dolls who always lost their shorts, and let’s not forget the Jem and the Hologram dolls. We had a barbie waterbed, barbie mansion, barbie cars barbie clothes galore and imaginations that kept us busy for hours. As we grew older, our friends would come over and play barbies with us. I remember staying up all night during a sleep over, because we were still playing barbies.

Today, when my youngest asks me to play pretend with her Shopkins or My Little Pony, she always wants me to start the game. She doesn’t like to play with her sister, because she says I have a better imagination. I can’t help but think that it all stems from those days of playing pretend with my own sister. Comes in handy when I need ideas for my stories, too.

Finally, I got to the topic of this blog. Or, have I?

One of the things my children and I love to do is Mad Libs. It teaches those essential language arts skills, builds vocabulary, stretches imaginations and provides afternoons filled with laughter. The other day, we put the books away and did Mad Libs almost all afternoon. One of them stuck with me, as it was just that funny.

“Part of the body, Mom,” my daughter said.

“Lip,” I replied.

“Okay, Sis, now a noun.”

“Cat,” my other daughter said.

When it was all said and done, the sentence read like this: “The prince took her by the lip and said, ‘May I have this cat?’”

Another Mad Lib, which was a shortened version of The Night Before Christmas, had St. Faith instead of St. Nick, ‘up the chimney he fell’, and…my favorite…1,229 tiny unicorns, instead of 8 tiny reindeer.

I suppose my point to all this, is a love of words and an active imagination are necessary when writing fiction. They also help get me through some tough days as a stay-at-home mom who homeschools her children.

So, as February comes to a close, get your barbies out. Then, grab a bag of Donuts and a video of Jem and the Holograms, and let your imagination run wild. After that, find someone to do Mad Libs with, because it’s no fun doing them alone. Smile often, but laugh even more, and be sure to check out my friend’s new book, “A Brother’s Love” now available on Amazon.

When Cody finds out his brother, Joey is going to be sent away to a camp for blind kids, he does everything in his power to stop it. Then, he realizes his brother is going to be okay without him, and that it’s okay to learn new things.

This book is funny and teaches a lesson at the same time. There is nothing quite like a brother's love, and Anita's book is one you won't want to miss.

And God Said...

Remember the account of creation in Genesis? “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth,” verse 1 says. Verses 2 and 3 go on to say, “And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.”

If you keep on reading that chapter, you will find that God said a lot of things. He spoke light into existence, He spoke and dry land appeared. He spoke and the water brought forth living creatures after its kind, and so on.

Why do I bring this up? Do I not know that many disagree? I bring it up, because it reminds me, I do have something to blog about. I do have something to say.

Ever had one of those days? Y’all know I homeschool. Well, today was one of those days. Struggled to get the girls out of bed, struggled to get them to get finished with breakfast and brush their teeth. Swam upstream just to get them to pay attention during Bible reading. Threatened to keep their electronics unless they worked to complete the math assignment. No, I wouldn’t let them do language arts in their dad’s recliner. Yes, handwriting matters. Yes, you have to take a shower, whether you go to youth tonight or not. Talk about an uphill battle. With all that going on, plus writing on my book and obsessing over how my document looks, I kept thinking, “What on earth do I have to blog about? I might be passionate about writing, reading and homeschooling, but I felt empty. How can I entertain or inspire you, when I need inspired?

Then, the Lord reminded me how He spoke and light was created. Reading His word speaks life into me. All I need to do is be a vessel He can work through.

My children managed to get themselves ready for youth this evening. The laundry is all done and put away. The 11-year-old washed the dishes without complaining. The school day is over, and we manage to keep from yelling at one another. The man of the house came home early from work and said he would cook the dinner. To all this I have only one thing to say: “The Lord is good. His mercy endureth for ever and ever through all generations. So, I will stand up and sing praise hallelujah, for I know the Lord is good.”

Okay, so it was more than one thing, but this day was successful, because He spoke life into it. Miracles still happen, and I am living proof.

Next time you start thinking you have nothing you could possibly give, remember how the first day of creation began. God said, “Let there be light.” And, there was light. Amen?

Did you know I am on Facebook? Yep. Come on over to facebook.com/sjwellsauthor and like my page.

God bless, and be sure to come back, as I try and post once a week. See you next time. Same bat time, same bat channel. LOL 

Random Thoughts on a Valentine's Day

Okay, so I tried to think of something profound to say about love. After all, it is Valentine's Day and social media is buzzing with pics of lovy-dovey sayings and gifts. Nothing came to me, though. I started to feel discouraged, but then I remembered all that has been accomplished so far today in my home. I worked on my book I am writing, both girls have had their showers, we read Bible together, both girls finished their math assignments and got all correct, the laundry is clean and dry, Valentine cards are ready for the party at youth tonight, and the Lord reminded me through His word this morning, He will never leave me nor forsake me. So, instead of profound thoughts on love, here is a list of random thoughts running around in my head today.

1. I really need to come up with a title for this WIP I’m working on. Calling it by the hero and heroine’s names doesn’t quite fit, especially when their are 2 heroes and 2 heroines.
2. The only reason I wish I could go out to eat or have dinner delivered to me is so I won’t have to clean up afterward.
3. I’m thankful for naps, and I’m hoping I get time for one this afternoon before my man comes home from work.
4. Proud homeschool mom moment: When my girls found out they needed 40 Valentine’s Day cards for their party this evening and only had 32 in their boxes, they got creative and made extras using their imaginations. Who needs money for extra cards, when you have creativity?
5. The clean laundry on my bed won’t put itself away.
6. No greater joy than laughing with your children and giving and receiving hugs and kisses.
7. Haagen Dazs chocolate peanut butter ice cream would be an excellent Valentine’s present.
8. The Lord is gracious and merciful and better to me than I deserve.
9. Wondering if 103,421 words and counting is too much for one book.
10. Love is sharing your power cord, so the 9-year-old can play on her laptop.
11. Too much Facebook makes me stupid.
12. I really need to post this article so I won’t miss my nap.
13. So blessed to have such good friends.
14. Stepping out of one’s comfort zone is hard but so worth it.

Happy Valentine's Day. See you next Tuesday. <3

The Power of the Written Word

While working on a blog post for my other blog, adkinsandwells.blogspot.com, I realized, anew, just how important words can be. They can bring life. They can tare down. They can change your mood. They can hurt your feelings. Words are powerful.

The subject of that blog post is homeschool. Why do I, obstacles I face and how I overcome. I knew what I wanted to say, but when it came time to write my reasons down, I struggled. It’s one thing to think something; clearly another to put it into words. Now that the article is written, my thoughts, beliefs and values concerning homeschooling seem more solid, valid, real. Before, they were just ideas. Now, they are facts. Which brings me to another writing subject.

What makes a good fiction writer? In my humble opinion, a good fiction writer is one who can make you believe what is not real. If you study history, you might know that the first woman to graduate medical school did so in the middle of the nineteenth century. If you aren’t a student of history, then a good writer could convince you that women have been practicing medicine for centuries before that. As an example, I read a book once whose characters had bionic implants. The author wrote like a scientist, and I’m still not convinced it all was fiction. :-)

The trick is to blur enough fact with fiction to create a whole new world. My novel, “A Moment in Time" is a work of fiction. The castle in the book, Glenrevan does not exist outside the pages of that story. I went online and looked up a few names of Scottish castles, played around with the spelling of things and settled on Glenrevan. Sounds authentic, doesn’t it? That’s what I think makes a good writer, someone who can use their words to create something new.

I keep a diary. When daily life gets a little too crazy, I go write in it. When my thoughts are all written down, I relax and can put those frustrations into perspective, because they are no longer in my head; they are real and on paper…figuratively, anyway.

Well, I’m slowing down, ideas aren’t coming to me as fast, and my mind is wandering. About time to stop all this writing and find something to eat. :-)

Happy Tuesday and be sure and come over to facebook.com/sjwellsauthor and like my page.

Do's and Don'ts in the Kitchen

There is an article floating around the internet that gives a list of do’s and don’ts when it comes to people who are blind. It made the rounds on Facebook a while back. So, in the spirit of that article, here are some important things to remember if you have a blind person who makes herself at home in your kitchen.

1. Do not leave pots and pans sitting on a stovetop with their handles sticking out. The blind person will not see them, and this could results in any number of messes and injuries.
2. Eat what she puts in front of you without asking why the box of pancake mix is on the stove. This could result in learning she thickened your beef stew with it instead of using cornstarch.
3. Do label everything, either in braille or using an electronic system, such as Digit Eyes, an app for iPhones. Failure to label items can result in some very interesting combinations, such as blueberry syrup instead of barbecue sauce on your ribs. Just FYI, this did not happen to me; it happened to a friend of mine.
4. Do inform the person who is blind when you leave an open cup with your drink still in it on their counter. Failure to inform them results in a sticky mess and lots of frustration on the blind person’s part. :-)
5. Do not leave sharp objects, such as knives with their points upward in the drainer. Bloody fingers usually aren’t welcome around food.
6. And, last, but certainly not least, do not move things from where the blind person usually keeps them. A person who is blind cannot rely on their sight to know whether the plastic jug contains milk or sweet tea. The funny part is the sighted child who took a bite of her Fruity Pebbles doused in tea, didn’t even realize it until she had tasted it. Ha! The other funny part was when the man of the house poured the contents of the jug into his gravy mixture, thinking it was milk. So, I suppose these are good do’s and don’ts for sighted folks as well as those who are blind. :)

The truth is mistakes and accidents happen to everyone, no matter if they have a disability or not. Best thing to do is laugh it off and try again. Stuffed peppers don’t come out first time you make them? Figure out what you did wrong and try again. When sweet tea and Fruity Pebbles don’t make a good combination, pour it out and get out a clean bowl and find the real milk jug. Your chocolate peanut butter no bake cookies didn’t set up right? Tell your hubby and kids it’s a chocolate blob and eat it anyway. LOL The kitchen sink is down because it needs worked on? Do your dishes in the bath tub. :-) You accidentally pour a bag of dried beans into your brownie mix instead of chocolate chips? Dump ‘em out and try again.

What ever happens, don’t give up. Never quit trying. Maybe, you’re afraid of the kitchen. Maybe, you think you’re a failure at something else. I still say, don’t give up. Laugh at your mistakes, and keep on keeping on. If you can’t see the humor in your situation, pray about it. Some things just aren’t funny. But, laugh about the ones that are, cry over the ones that aren’t, then get up and try again.

Happy Tuesday. :-)

On Reading

Last week we talked about a cure for writer's block. Writing. Practice was my theme. This week, I’m talking about reading. Reading for pleasure, reading to study the craft of writing, reading to find out what works and what doesn’t.

I have another blog that I haven’t been on since 2013. On that blog, which is a lot of venting my joys and frustrations of being a new homeschool mom, I used to interview new authors. One of the questions I used to ask them was “What’s your favorite kinds of books to read?” I was shocked when most of them replied, “I don’t like to read very much.”

What? Seriously? You don’t like books, but you think you’re a good writer? You don’t like to read, but you desperately want others to read what you’ve written?

Faithful readers, just for the record, I love books. I love to be read to, I love to read braille books, and if I could see, I’d love to read print books. I love to tell stories, write stories, hear stories; I love books.

A doctor doesn’t go to school for several years just because there is nothing else to do; they go to learn. A musician doesn’t listen to music because they are bored; they listen to learn. A writer must read in order to learn.

I used to read solely for pleasure. Now, I often can’t finish a book because they are too predictable. I used to love romances, but now I like several genres. For a time, all I read were Westerns. Now, I’d rather watch Westerns on TV. My favorite authors have changed over the years, my favorite styles of writing have changed, but if there is one thing that has stayed the same, it is characters make the story. If I love your characters, I could care less if you are a terrible writer. :) 

Some favorite characters of mine include: Jamie and Clair from Diana Gabaldon’s “Outlander” series, Conner and Reese from Lori Wick’s “Just Above a Whisper”, Lavinia and Belle from Kathleen Grissom’s “The Kitchen House”, Julia and Phoebe from Lynn Austin’s “Fire by Night”, Cameron and Jade from Kristin Heitzmann’s “Free Fall”, Sam and Amy from Peggy Hoy’s “Classified”, Huck Finn from Mark Twain’s “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”, Laura Ingalls Wilder from the “Little House” books, Tarzan, who needs no further explanation, Clark and Marty from Janette Oke’s “Love Comes Softly” series and many, many more that will not come to mind just now.

As you can see, the characters are as different as night and day, but there is something about each one of them that leaps off the page. I don’t reread books because I forgot the ending. I reread to spend time with the characters once more. Sometimes, I just get in the mood to be with a particular character, and so I download the audio book and listen away. I have even been known to fast forward through parts of the book just to get to the parts where my characters are the most active.

The books that stick with me are the ones I cannot predict. Recently, I read “her One and Only” by Becky Wade, in which a big football player’s body guard happens to be a woman. It was unpredictable, and I finished it. Another unpredictable book that I would have never read if I had known what it was about before listening was “Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe”. But, I didn’t know anything about it before listening, and I found myself laughing and crying to the extent that I thought I was going to wake up my husband snoring beside me in bed. That book talks about lesbians, women’s issues, love, abuse, aging, crime, and it’s seemingly higgledy-piggledy way of jumping from one character’s head to another and one time period to another was what kept me reading. Heads up, faithful readers, you don’t have to agree with a character’s lifestyle in order to enjoy a story.

My point with all this is that the more one reads, the better one will write. Study your favorites. Don’t mimic them, but take from them what you can use. I try to tell how my characters are feeling through the world around them. Here is an example. This is from one of my current works in progress.

[ After saddling the horse, Cam mounted him and led him out into the fresh, morning air. He was leaning down to close the gate behind him, when he heard a voice from the shadows.

"Mr. Delaney? Uh…Cam?"

He paused and scanned the path to the house.

"Miss Rachel, is that you?"

"Yes. I'm sorry for disturbing you, but I was hoping to have a moment to speak with you in private."

Dismounting, he rested a hand on the top rail of the gate and waited as she approached.

Did Rob know she was out here?

"Where's Rob?"

"He hasn't awakened, yet, but I couldn't sleep, and like I said, I wanted a moment with you."

"What can I do for you?"

She reached the fence and gripped the wood, her hand not far from his. Her blue gaze was direct, but her fingers on the fence rail fidgeted.

"I was wondering if… Well, I hoped there might be a way you could…could talk Rob out of…going. You've known him longer than I, and perhaps he would listen to you if…"

Cam forced his eyes from her face…her oh so expressive face and concentrated on the strands of crimson and violet at the edge of the horizon. The tendrils of color would disappear when the sun rose, but for now they stretched between night and day, linking them, yet holding them back from ever touching.

When he looked back she was biting her lip and clasping her hands together at her waist.]

I am curious what you think I’m trying to say. Feel free to comment.

Another key factor in whether a book is good or not is if the reader can identify with the character. An author might have an excellent book, but if I don’t connect with the characters, I won’t read it. This is the reason there are many different authors in many different genres; people are different and so are characters. You have a voice, and I have a voice, and while those voices might be similar, they will never be the same. They weren’t meant to be the same. If you want to find your voice, read, read read, then pray, pray pray. After that, go write, write, write. :)

Do you want to be a good romance author? Read Romances. Do you want to be a good blogger? Read blogs. Journalist? Read news articles. Suspense? Read suspense. Then, take your own experiences, and use them in your next book.

When all else fails, trust in the Master Storyteller. His book is a bestseller, in case you didn’t know. Go read what He has to say. It will change your life.

A Cure for Writer's Block

A few months ago, a young lady asked me what to do about writer’s block. This was on Facebook, and my first thought was, “I have no idea.” LOL Reason I thought that was I didn’t have writer’s block, and my mind refused to think of what life without writing would look like. Since then, I have thought about it and experienced it, and I believe I have come up with an answer. Here goes. Ready?

I was twelve, and I had just started taking formal piano lessons. My teacher and my mom pushed me to “practice, practice, practice”. Figuring I was pretty good at piano already, I practiced my lesson once or twice, then went my own way and did something interesting. Just as an aside, why are we only interested in something when we feel like we don’t have to do it? In any case, the formal piano lessons stopped, and playing the instrument suddenly became something I wanted to learn. The same happened with the mandolin. I was in high school by this point, and thought if I could play the piano and harmonica, surely mandolin would be easy. Um…yeah, well, like I said, I was a teenager. After a few weeks of sore fingers, I put it away and didn’t pull out my mandolin until a couple of weeks ago. Twenty years makes a big difference.

So, what does this have to do with writing? Everything, because if I want to be good at anything, I have to practice. Baking, singing, playing instruments, writing, walking, crocheting, plug in your own skill. If we want to be good at it, we must put time into it. Time to “buckle down” as Mom used to say.

How does one practice writing? I don’t know about anyone else, but I just jump in with both feet. On January 10, 2016 I started a diary. I didn’t necessarily keep track of daily happenings, but I did write down whatever was on my mind. As the year progressed, I noticed I was writing more on my works of fiction. Then, everything stopped. It was November of 2016, a month when most writers intend to put 50 thousand words down on paper. But, I had nothing. No ideas, no characters talking to me, and I certainly couldn’t think of what to write in my diary. I put all my concentration on homeschooling my girls, spent time in reading my Bible and praying and waited.

Then, mid November, I woke up one day with characters jabbering away in my head. what surprised me was they weren’t the characters of my current work in progress. They were characters of a story I had started way back in 2010. I had fought with that story, writing scene after scene, trying to fit them together to no avail. Finally, in 2012, I gave up and began working on what is now my third published book, 'A Moment in Time'. So, to have these characters back in my head, I was ecstatic. For days I wrote and wrote, ending up with about 35 thousand words before I began to slow down. One particular day, I added over 3 thousand words, which is unheard of for me. I do good to get 15 hundred written in a day. Some time in the second or third week of December, the characters quieted down. They’re still in my head, whispering they have more to say. For now, though, for some unknown reason, they aren’t talking.

Just to set things straight, I am currently working on 2 different novels; one takes place in the Old West, the other takes place during the Civil War. Wait, that’s not quite right. Yes, the one takes place during a battle of the Civil War, but it’s one of those stories within a story, so the other part of it takes place in modern times. Clear as mud?

On top of all that, I’m keeping another diary this year, and working on a collaborative project with my friend, Anita Adkins. She asked me several months ago for any children’s fiction that I might have laying around. I sent her some stuff, and now we’re working together on a textbook for students grades 4 to 12 on Unified English braille. We have a blog that will go live on January 19, 2017, and I’d love it if you could go check us out.

There have been days when I would sit in front of my mac book and beg God for words for my works of fiction. I would put on music from the time period I was writing about, look up articles about what my characters would be doing or wearing or talking about, and do anything else I could think of just to try and make myself write. Let me tell ya, dear readers, nothing works. Only 2 things seem to get me to writing; keeping busy and more writing. Teaching my girls, listening to them read, working out math problems with them, doing the cooking, cleaning, shopping, laundry and writing on other things, something about these activities opens up my mind allowing characters to start jabbering. Crazy, I know, but I’ll take it, and I thank God for it all.

Next week, I plan to write about how to practice writing. In order to get good at something, we need to study it. Now, stop groaning and quit rolling your eyes; it's funner than it sounds. :) So, come back next Tuesday, when I'll talk about reading.

And, there you have it; my cure for writer’s block. Feel free to jump in with your comments, questions and tales of your own. God bless, and keep writing.