Can You Really Teach an Old Dog New Tricks?



It's been nearly two hours since I started my search for the meaning (and purpose) of an RSS feed.  I know, I know...I can see your eyes roll.  But for this old lady, RSS was just as foreign as FLK or AFK would be to anyone outside of an ER.  (Oye, the acronyms!)  Finally, my head is wrapped around the concept.  However, the process still eludes me. 



Finding a safe place in the ever-evolving cyber world of online communication and information exchange is daunting to say the least.  I realize that I'm not the first to blog about this issue - just the first in my own household. 

Writing the book(s) is easy.  Marketing and getting them "out there" is not.  Research and becoming savvy to the processes required to market a product in this era can be a full time job.  Personally, I'd rather hire someone else to do it.  Alas, finances doesn't allow this.  Fortunately, there are resources for people like me who struggle with understanding just what the "next step" would be. 

Create Space (Amazon's publishing house) has provided amazing resources to those of us who seek assistance with our marketing plans.  Their free assistance to marking for fiction is invaluable - providing links to everything from website design to website analysis to retail wholesale companies (the people we market to). 

My past few years has been focused on target audiences that center around my series genre:  Paranormal Historical Romance, Fiction and PIRATES.  The efforts have been rewarding , fun and eventful bringing in profits which have been notable.  However, these avenues are limiting.

Finding time to learn "new tricks" necessary to succeed in current markets is a key element to sharing the amazing story found in the Deja vu Chronicles.  I supposed, with the prospect of "getting it out there" through cyber tactics, learning a new trick or two won't hurt this old gal!

How To - Writing, Step 3

Your notebook is gapes open with scores of ideas scribbled in no particular order - organized chaos speaking volumes to the author.  An outline beckons you to fill in the gaps and fatten its skeletal framed entity into a fat, juicy story.

...Now for the fun part....

Today is a day of genesis - the birth of your characters.  In stillness, take your mind and spirit to sit with the main character of your story.  What does he/she/it look like?  What is their scent?  What does this character eat?  How do they cry and what do they laugh over?  (or can that character laugh?).  Describe every single detail as if you were living that character's existence.  Experience in completeness the very being of the character.

Write it down.  Write and write and write until each and every nuance of that character is recorded.

Then do it again...with the next character and the next.  Be sure to leave space to include detail that may inadvertently crop up as the manuscript unfolds.  Keep intricate notes and know these characters intimately.  It's imperative!

There is very little that will be as rewarding as the actual creation of the characters in your story.  You assume great responsibility, almost altruistic in nature, when you create these beings.  You are meant to relish the experience, savor creation at its fullest.  Enjoy!

Now...go create.....

 

 

Full Moon

Last night the moon shone full, brightly illuminating the clear starlit sky. It was fabulous! My son, Brett pulled me outside to look at it and I was in awe.

Night is such an amazing time. There is mystery and anticipation surrounding the midnight moon. Full and bright, the promise of good things to come. A good omen, if you will.

Tonight, take a moment and appreciate the full moon. Feel its energy drizzle down over you in the darkness. Allow your heart to swell at the promise of good things to come. Bask in its joy.

I will. I'll be out there tonight, joining you so think of me...