Two I Read for the Competition

Several years ago I was asked to take on the chore of helping to judge the novels of many of the members of the Houston Writer's Guild. It's not a tough task and worthwhile. It's also illustrative in terms of that favorite series of mine (see HERE) on the first lines. The contestants only have that first chapter or so to get the judge's interest. I can usually tell within the first few paragraphs how things are going to go. 

I read two military thrillers the other day, and boy they just about killed me. 

Why? 

Lost in a Good Book

I had a chance to read Lost in Shangri-La the other day and it was so fun to read, for many reasons. First, it was written about an era I love to read about. Secondly, it reminded me of the time I was in Panama. And third, it reminded me about how crazy life can be. 

It’s a great book, although I might not trust the author again. The first few pages read like the story will be an epic adventure on the scale of Shackleton, or The Kingdom of Ice. I wrote about The Kingdom of Ice a few months back, and wow, talk about an epic. The arctic explorers get trapped on their boat in the arctic ice for two years then have to make their way to Siberia then walk to civilization! That’s not this book. 

Frustration? Challenges? Frustrations with Challenges?

I broke up with a gal once, I didn't do it well. I was rather harsh. But I was frustrated and I let my frustrations out on her. What's funny is that she always thought I was mad or angry . . . but I wasn't. And she made it worse by thinking that I was mad. She would come back tentatively. 

That was what made me most frustrated. I wasn't upset until she thought I was upset. 

Need vs Want

I've written about this before, . . . probably many times. . . but it's a huge part of my life, and a major theme in the novel I'm currently pecking away on in my Reedsy account. I have a good clip going, got some momentum, and Reedsy hooks you up with an editor, so hopefully, this time, I won't get reviews that say "could really use a professional editor."

But I'm writing about Need vs Want. I wrote earlier that men want to be needed and women need to be wanted. I think I wrote about this in terms of Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus. The way that men and women communicate, and fail to communicate and the challenges and problems that grow from that. 

Describing Millions of Enlisted with the First Line

Anyone who knows me and this blog knows that I love this series on First Lines (see HERE) even more so than any of these other series that I post about (HERE, HERE, and HERE). So, this one, from WEB Griffin resonated with me. 

It's bit of a doozey, longish, but ultimately worth it. Plus the book itself is a long one so why shouldn't the first line be too. 

Hoover Article and Tips

I ran across this article (see HERE) about Colleen Hoover and her "CoHort." I really enjoyed reading it and got a lot out of it. It could be that have just gone a long time without reading or writing with the aim toward novel writing or publishing (we can blame this PhD on that), but it was refreshing to read this and dream about writing more creatively again. 

There is nothing too revolutionary in this article or in what the author outlines about Colleen Hoover's methods and techniques, but what is there is worthwhile to remember for any writer. 

More On Priorities

A while back, I wrote about priorities… And I think I want to expand on that just a bit more.

Terms of self-authorship one of the more important things I've learned is about ill-structured problems. The world is filled with ill-structured problems. And earlier I also wrote about ill-structured people. Basically what I meant by that was there are people out there who create  . . . by their very nature . . . ill-structured problems. I coined the term ill-structured people and I hope I can trade the market and make some money off of it very soon.

I've also authored the terms . . . "complifiers" and "complify." A play on the word simplify that I'm still stunned hasn't gone viral yet. 

Leave No Man Behind . . . (But leave 8 if you have to)

Last month I wrote about the somewhat abbreviated ending of the first book in the WEB Griffin’s The Corps series of books. Well I just finished Call to Arms, the second in the series, and the ending was vastly different. 

First, the end is not abbreviated. In fact the entire book leads up to the climactic ending quite well. So from a story and book point of view, this second was far better paced and set up than the first. 

Down Time

So I have a bit of down time. Not a ton, but just a bit. What do I mean by that? I mean my classes are over and I have about a month before my next two or three classes begin. So, what am I doing with this little bit of extra time?

I’m reading.

Another First Line and Series

I won’t go through it again, except to say I like the first lines series (see HERE). It’s one of my favorite to keep in these posts, but they’re also, at the moment 

I like to read these books to allow my mind to rest and to enjoy reading again. They're fun and they're easy and quick. They're also a bit of a formula.