Tweaking the Plot and Story

I am about 30,000 words into my draft of Sunset Perfect. I'm really thinking this draft has a very good chance of being the final version that I take all the way to publication. I changed up the model by which I am introducing the story. Instead of the hero being involved in the first partner, he comes into the storyline with the second murder. I also like the fact that he is an outsider to the professional football team, which means he has heard about professional football with the reader.

I also like the fact that he is an outsider to the professional football team, which means he has heard about professional football with the reader.

Touching and Relatable is Good

I know there are many who get fed up with these, but the truth is, they’re one of the reasons that I love to keep writing and producing novels. They motivate me like few other things. It’s like a spike of adrenaline to an otherwise staid and steady job. 

This first one, where the reviewer says that my writing is “touching and relatable”, is short, quick, and yet still quite inspiring. 

A Duller Discount

Anyone who wants to purchase my novels, feel free to contact me HERE or to purchase them full price . . . you can go to Amazon, HERE.

For those of you new to this experience, I have four novels, all thrillers for sure . . . well, maybe not thrillers, but definitely not dullers!

Writing in Katy

Someone from another writer’s forum asked me where I write. They are much younger than I am and they were picking my brain for pointers on how to write more and write more effectively. 

One of the best and my favorite places to write is this Starbuck’s in Katy. 

Just 500

Right now I’m a word counter.

The other day I wrote that I’m flipping ole Sunset Perfect on it’s head. I’m simplifying a lot! Like a lot a a lot. Which is good. I think the story through the years had taken on a bit of a Frankenstein’s Monster look. It had become something it wasn’t. It was several stories lumped into one. Worst of all, it was boring. 

Now, I think it’s far sleeker, far more to the point. TOTALLY brand new characters who are all an amalgamation of the ones that were in the Frankenstein version, and the EXACT same plot and story, just told from a different, more appealing angle. 

Epiphanies

I love when inspiration strikes. 

One of the most memorable moments of inspiration for me was one day while I worked with that contractor organization and I was on a jog trying to figure out how I was going to design the craft certification training that Brad and Rick wanted to be completed. Now, I don't remember exactly what hit me, but I remember how it hit me and where. BOOM! I had been chewing on the problem, and it just hit me. It was almost like a dog worrying on a bone, and then POOF the problem was fixed when I least expected it. It was a great feeling. And the idea was a great one.

Well, it happened again. This time with my writing. 

Taking a Break (and Breaking Apart)

Loyal readers might notice that a very large subset of information on this blog is gone. Poof! 

Yep, I split the old blog up. There is now a NEW blog on just adult education posts and self-authorship journal entries. Why? Well, it’s a bit of mix isn’t it? I started posting on adult ed stuff here just so I had some place to put all the junk I was writing. Now that I’m done with my dissertation, I think it deserves it’s own place. So there ya have it. Wander over to the new blog if you like the adult ed posts. This one will go back to just writing and reading nonsense. - this is the “break apart” aspect of the title. 

What about the taking a break aspect? 

Wool Again

Watching Silo on Apple TV and my son and I really got into it. Usually he's not that into TV series, so this was unique. Some how I convinced him to read the book with me. I've read Wool at least once before, and I liked it, so it wasn't hard for me convince myself to read it again. 

I'm surprised that it's not quite as well-written as I thought. I remember Wool was one of the first to go the non-traditional publishing route and look for the e-reading, Amazon Kindle publishing route. It's easy to see why. It's good, but not tight as you might come to expect. 

The North Keep Em Coming

For a long time now, I’ve been storing and cataloging these lines that I think are so good, under the Evershade label, and I don’t feel like today will be the day that I stop. 

All of these are by way of my friend from up north, and she does such a great job moderating the content. First is this one from KARLA.

things end.

people change.

seasons come & go.

life goes on. 

Great one to hear and to think about. So true about so many things. 

Book Five, Line 1

Another for the first lines series. I've been adding some other series into my series reading quest. Right now I'm into Clear and Present Danger . . . Book 5 of the Clancy series. I have to admit, I love this book. I think I've read it four times. It's the quintessential techno-thriller if you ask me. 

It stands up too. I'm reading it now, it's 2023, and it was written in 1989, and it still stands up and is relevant. 25 years later and it's still awesome!

The first line, in fact the first 30% of the book doesn't even (or hardly doesn't) mention the main character . . . Jack Ryan. I think it's silly they've re-titled these as "the Jack Ryan series." I think they're just perfect military techno-thrillers.

First line? 

The room was still empty. The Oval Office is in the southeast corner of the White House West Wing. 

Three doors lead into it, one from the office of the President's personal secretary, another from a small kitchen which leads in turn to the President's study, and a third into a corridor, directly opposite the entrance to the Roosevelt Room. The room itself is of only medium size for a senior executive, and visitors always remark afterward that it seemed smaller than they expected. The President's desk, set just in front of thick windows of bullet-resistant polycarbonate that distort the view of the White House lawn, is made from wood of HMS Resolute, a British ship that sank in American waters during the 1850's. Americans salvaged and returned it to the United Kingdom, and a grateful Queen Victoria ordered a desk made from its oaken timbers by way of official thanks. Made in an age when men were shorter than today, the desk was increased somewhat in height during the Reagan presidency. The President's desk was laden with folders and position papers capped with a printout of his appointment schedule, plus an intercom box, a conventional push-button multiline telephone, and another ordinary-looking but highly sophisticated secure instrument for sensitive conversations. 

Very few authors could start a book like this. Writing just about office furniture, even the President's office furniture, could be a disaster. I think that Clancy has earned the right to start this way because the reader knows there will be pay off.