4 great books to help you in your writing adventures

The following is a list of great novel writing books that can help you to write that novel.
No plot no problem - Chris Baty
Synopsis
Chris Baty, motivator extraordinaire and instigator of a wildly successful writing revolution, spells out the secrets of writing — and finishing — a novel. Every fall, thousands of people sign up for National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), which Baty founded, determined to (a) write that novel or (b) finish that novel in — kid you not — 30 days.

The Marshall plan for novel writing – Even Marshall
Synopsis
Evan Marshall draws on his years of experience as a literary agent, editor and published novelist to perfect this methodical, effective approach to planning, plotting, writing - and most importantly - finishing a truly great novel.

Writing the breakout novel – Donald Maass
Synopsis
A breakout novel is one that rises out of its category and hits the best-seller lists. Maass explains the elements that all breakout novels share and shows readers how to write a novel that has a good chance of succeeding in a crowded marketplace.

On Writing : A Memoir of the craft – Stephen King
Synopsis
In this master class on the craft of writing, Stephen King reveals the origins of his vocation and shares essential habits and rules that every writer can apply. A truly unique volume, it begins with a series of telling memories from youth and the struggling years leading up to publication of King's first novel. Offering readers a fresh and often funny perspective on the formation of a writer's character, King lays out the tools of writer's craft and takes the reader through aspects of the writer's art and life, offering practical and inspiring advice on everything from plot and character to work habits and rejection. Brilliantly structured and chock-full of master's experience and advice, On Writing will enable the work of writers around the globe.

These are some of the best books on writing that I have personally read and used, check them out, it will help, have a great day,
Jamie

The top 10 easy tips to help you write

So I was thinking today, what can I do to help new writer to get the flame going and to get the inspiration to get writing, well here it is the 10 tips to help you get your butt into the chair and start writing.
Tip #1
Just get your butt in the chair and just stare at the screen until you come up with something. I know it sounds funny, but it works.
Tip #2
Turn off the TV, and any other distraction that you may have blocking you from getting into the chair. I personally don’t have a problem with the TV going as I write, but there are people out there that it a major distraction. Instead of getting there butt in to the chair, and writing, they are flipping through channels and not doing what are suppose to be doing
Tip #3
Reading, read a novel in the target genre, Steven King once said “you can’t be a writer unless you are a reader, I truly believe this. Go to your local library, or go to your local book store, and join a reading circle/club.
Tip #4
Go to your local community college and take some classes on creative writing. This can help you to learn the things that you need to know to work in this business.
Tip #5
Work on something else, like start a blog, or write another article or novel, the most important thing is to be writing, and getting those words on the page.
Tip #6
Change your environment, if you normally write at home, try going to a coffee shop, or a park, or try sitting at the bus stop, or a bar, the list can go on and on.
Tip #7
Read the news paper, magazines, there is a wealth of inspiration out there, use it to your advantage.
Tip # 8
Try writing exercises go to Writer’s Digest and use some of their writing props.
Tip 9#
Don’t be hard on yourself, allow yourself to be a bad writer, never go back and edit, just keep trucking along, and fix it in the second draft.
Tip #10
The most important tip is just keep writing, if you have nothing to write about, just continue to type “I don’t have anything to write about, until you have reached your goal for the day. All else keep writing, and putting words on the page.
That is about it hope this article has helped you
Jamie

What goes in to writing a great novel

Today I was thinking about how one goes about writing a novel? Well that is a great question. There are lots of schools of thought on the process, one being the write your book in 30 days type. Then there is the Snowflake Method, there are a lot of great websites out there, and I will go over a few of them in this post. The first would be National Novel Writing Month, also known as NANOWRIMO; you can go to their website by clicking here.
NANOWRIMO is a great website for information about the contest, and they have a lot of great resources if you don’t want to join the contest. So what is National Novel Writing Month? Well it is a contest held every year in November. The contest starts on November 1st, and goes until November 31st. during these months you are challenged to write 50,000 words of fiction in the 30 days between the beginning of November and November 31st.
The basic idea is to write until you get to 50,000 words, pressing on no matter what you write, and just allowing yourself to be a bad writer. I believe in this philosophy because one must allow one’s self to be a bad writer first, in order to be a good writer. So what you want to do is to continue to write no matter what it looks like, and always keep in mind that y can always edit it out in your second draft.
Now let’s talk about the snow flake method. The basic idea for this method is to start small and then begin building up your story until it is large. I personally don’t like this method, and I will tell you why. First, you start out writing your synopsis before the book is written. I think that you can’t write the synopsis until the book is written, beside things change as you are writing, and then you will have to go back and rewrite the synopsis with all the new information that was added in the book, that was not there to begin with.
The way I go about doing this is first I start with an idea for a book. Like say I want to write a mystery novel. Well what are mysteries, usually there has been a crime committed, and your faithful sleuth will have to go in and solve the problem. So that is where you start. What is the crime? Is it a murder, or arson, or rape, or maybe it is of a political nature, the sky it the limit here.
Next I take a clean sheet of paper or if you use the computer, your word processor, and I would write out Chapter 1, chapter 2, chapter 3…. On and on, I would do this leaving room me to go back and write in a sentence, or a paragraph or something. And I do this until I get to some sort of resolution this is what I use as my outline for the book, that I might be working on at the moment. I might have 3 or 4 of these, or more going on at one time. These are similar to the out lines that you wrote for book reports when you were in grade school, or college.
Basically the same thing, accept instead of outlining a book that has already been written you are using your creative side to write something new.
The next step in the process from there is to grab your outline and start writing that is the hard part. To plant your butt in the chair and commit to write every day and to finish the project that you are currently working on. We all have jobs; we all have families, friends, and all sorts of distractions in our lives, but the most important thing to do if you are going to be a writer is to commit to it no matter what. Commit yourself to writing a certain amount each day, it could be 500 words, or maybe 3 pages a day, but you do it each and every day. You sit yourself in front of your computer and you don’t get up until you have reached the days quota, no matter if it takes you 30 minutes, or 3 hours to complete. The most important thing is you complete it each day. And little by little, it will build up and you will finish that novel that you always wanted to write. Here is a list of some great books to get you started, suggested reading.
No Plot, No Problem by Chris Baty
On writing by Steven King
Those is about it for now, has a great day, and get your but in the chair and finishes your quota, or you outline for the day.
Jamie

Great book by Tess Gerritsen that I have been Reading

The latest book I read would be Tess Gerritsen’s Body Double.

This is the fourth book in a series about medical examiner Maura Isles, and Jane Rizzoli. The books deal with problems that happen to the two, in their daily work, and social workings in Boston Massachusetts. In this particular book, Dr Isles is coming home from a conference, to find a woman that is her doppelganger, and she has revelations that shock her to her core, and brings up deadly secrets to her past. If you want a good read, I finished the book in about 2 days, I just could not put down, and then I suggest that you check it out here Body Double (Jane Rizzoli, Book 4).
`I have to warn you though to not read this one with the lights off, and have you honey there next you, because you are going to be scared. A great read, here is a link to the books, and if you like them then you may want to check out the other titles from her. Especially if you like thrillers, and a good mystery, then these books would be a good choice for you. She is at the top of my list always. Also she has a new book coming out in June, and also this summer there is a TV series based on the books coming out on TNT, hope to see it I’m sure it is going to be great.
Jamie

A great video with celbs talking about the gays

Obama, the economy, and the illegal aliens

I was wondering the other day, what is up with all the people in this country having problems with people having different life styles? You see in the news that president Obama just passed immigration reform. I am a great advocate for this. I feel if you enter this country legally then great, but if you enter illegally then we should throw them out.
The problem is that those people that are in this country illegally they are drawing down the economy, and taking jobs away from those in this country that need jobs. It draws down the wages, because these people will work for wages way below what anyone else will work for. Also they bring crime in the form of gangs, and also, they have problems gaining employment, and so they have to do illegal activities to support their families.
I also have a problem with the whole gay thing, I believe that if you are not hurting anyone than you should be able do whatever you want to. The religious people try to throw this in your face that you are being offensive to their religion if we allow gay marriage. I raise my hand to president Obama on all the new polices that he has enacted toward this issue, but I think we are still a little slow on the issue, and I think it boils down to a constitutional right. I believe that the gay, lesbian, and transgendered people are being treated like second class citizens. I believe these needs to change for us to progress as a country. We need to make gay marriage a federal law, and not allow the states to take care of this issue, we can see how that has worked, and it is not getting done. Thanks for reading, and have a nice day.
Jamie

What to write about, San Antonio, healthcare, and Writing

So what should I write about here? I guess if it is a writing blog, and a crime blog, that is what I should be blogging about. So a little about be, I am a certified nurse aide, I work in those nasty places called hospitals, and nasty is what they are. The stories I could tell you about those places would make you cringe. That is one of the reasons I got in to writing. The things that could go on in those secret places called hospitals. The fear of the unknown and what is scarier than the unknown, right.

Oh I also live in the wonderful little town of San Antonio, the weather down here can really get too you especially during the summer when the heat starts to rise. It can get in the triple digits and stay there. Though the town is a great place, it is those hot summer nights that just wants to send you screaming for indoors to sit in front of the air conditioner.

What the perfect time to pick up the laptop, and work your way to the end of the chapter, or sentence, or paragraph that you may be working on. All I know, being a new writer is that the way to the end is to write and never look back. Keep going until you get to the end, don’t go back and edit your first draft until you have finished it. That is about it for this time, talk to ya all later.

Jamie