Here's a post on writing tips I did with Fresh Fiction twelve years ago, but it still makes sense today.

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WHAT INSPIRES US TO WRITE?

What happens inside a writer to get him to sit down and type out a manuscript of five hundred plus pages? If that is not enough to accomplish, then edit the book multiple times, and further, do the work to get it published.

I understand that there are a few traits that are common with those able to finish a writing project. First, the book should be appealing enough that you can’t not write it. That is why it is so hard to write a book that your publishing house suggests you write instead because the genre will sell. To me, that would be like telling me to write a fantasy. Given it is a very popular genre that’s widely read, I don’t read them. I have written enough to know that I would have a very hard time writing a book that isn’t a book I’d love to write. I know I am not alone in this.

Certainly, you may be excited about your topic to the point of passion. After all, they are the book of our hearts. It’s just love. Love of telling your story. This love and desire can overcome all the problems and risks that come with writing a book. Simply, will power may be weak but love is strong. The love gives you the idea that it’s what we’re put on earth to do. What do you care about so much that you will talk about it anytime?

Also, maybe you’ve had someone encourage you, helped with, or liked, your writing. For me, a retired English teacher was the first person that looked over my very first chapter. She became so important in my life because I was so vulnerable and needed someone to say my dream was possible. If she’d been negative, I may have stopped writing, I was that unsure. Who has encouraged your writing?

Have you ever been to a writer’s workshop or listened to an author share what he or she has learned (and later apply the information to your writing)? Perhaps you have read a book on the writing craft that has inspired you. Sometimes, I hear a line in a song that inspires my story. Also, I met a writer who lives on her royalties. I heard an agent speak. I have talked to two people who have treated their writing as a successful business by having an hourly/daily schedule and then abides by it. All of this helps me write with pleasure and purpose. All these things can keep you inspired and on track as well. Where can you go to find writing inspiration?

In 2002, I joined my first in-person writing group. I found two critique partners that fine combed through my manuscript, Maya’s Gold. They gave me suggested changes as far as grammar and let me know what needed changing in the plot. Frankly, this help was how I was able to attract a publisher.

This past weekend I met up with two writers, one published and one seeking, or working, to be. The beginning writer was feeling disheartened because he’d had a critique that didn’t leave him with much hope of ever being published. The other writer I was with spent time telling him to keep what he had written, put it aside and sprinkle the information into your chapters instead of all at once. He left us visibly encouraged and wondering how he could fit writing into his daily schedule. Therefore, be careful how you critique someone’s work. Give them helpful ideas and be vigilant not to destroy the writer’s dream. Some writers may want to prove the naysayers wrong, but others will be distraught and overwhelmed enough to quit.

When something happens to us in our lives (or we see it happening to someone else), it leaves us upset and even angry. Writers can express those emotions through their words. Or show some injustice in the world through their writing. Author Paty Jager grew up hearing about the Native Americans that had lived in the area she’d grown up in, but didn’t think too much about it until she was an adult. Her book research on the area upset her enough that she wanted to express what happened, the unfairness to the native people, in some of her fiction western books. What upsets you so much that you what to include it in your book?

Sadly, in life a person can be hurt emotionally and rejected. We can make bad choices with consequences. Sometimes hitting bottom is an interesting thing as far as writing is concerned, that is if you can get back up. A strong reason to write can come from being wounded or upset.

Is there a need for such a book as yours? Will it relate to others? You may not have personal injury, but righteous indignation can rise from political affairs or social injustice, for example. Perhaps you can prove someone wrong, or perhaps it can drive your writing in another way. Still you’re walking a fine line so be careful that you don’t make your reader mad enough to throw your book across the room.

People seem to look for reasons as to why tragedy happens. We know we might never know, still we wonder. Should I write about this event? Will it help others in some way? You certainly would understand the grief that a character is going through if you’ve lost someone. In a different light, author Ann Rice lost a daughter and through her grief she created a book with a young girl that could never die.

Finally, the reason I write children’s books is because there are certain things I want my grandchildren to know long after I’m gone, things I’ve learned through my many years of living, working and watching God work in lives. Things that I deem are important enough for me to pass along. It’s as simple as that.

What inspires you to write?

Idaho Creative Authors Network (ICAN) November Gray Saturday Cyber Sale!

You're heard of black Friday sales, well at Idaho Creative Authors Network (ICAN) there is a November Gray Saturday Cyber Sale! Multiple authors will be on hand! On Friday November 12, there will be previews throughout the day. The sale is on Saturday November 13, from 10:00 to 6:00 (Mountain Time). 

Come join us! Use this link:   November Gray Saturday Cyber Sale!

    Dragon Gilby by Mary Vine

New Time Travel Box Set by Mary Vine

 Amazon Link

I am happy to announce that I have my time travel books, otherwise known as Gold Club Series Books 1-3, are in a box set! And it's available now.

How fun it has been to see all the books in one set and with beautiful new covers. Thanks to Covers by Karen, Maggie McVay for formatting and to author Paty Jager for answering my questions pertaining to the new format.

Here's a condensed version of the blurb for the series:

A Nugget of Time

A Boise newspaper sent Dixie Lea to Oregon, to interview the owner of the largest gold nugget found in a century. While waiting, she steps into a cave, yet wakes up alone on a hill in a different era. Following the Civil War, retired Lieutenant Colonel James Brogan decided to try his hand at gold mining

and discovers Dixie lost and confused. An ethical man, James is at a complete loss of what to do with a spirited, eccentric woman alone in the woods with no knowledge of how to survive in a rough gold mining town. 

 Goldbrick

FBI Agent Crawford Stone expects to go hiking in Oregon but enters a cave and travels back in time to a rowdy gold mining town. He’s not the only one out of place as he finds a woman attempting to ward off men gathering around her.
School teacher Sarah Goldbrick travels to Cracker City, Oregon in search of who is responsible for the death of her husband. She finds the investigator she needs in a strangely dressed lawman with unusual expertise.

Summer Solstice

Teacher, Emily Stone had prepared for a journey back in time since middle school, when she received a tintype photograph and a letter sent by a relative from the 1870s. After traveling back in time through a cave, Emily opens a one room schoolhouse. Farmer Elijah Brady, a war veteran, has plenty to be sullen about and has no patience for a schoolmarm who teaches his sisters ultramodern ideas. Still, his interest in furthering his own education draws him to her.

Sumpter, Oregon Flea Market Memorial Day Weekend

 

I had a fun time with author Paty Jager at the Sumpter Flea Market on Memorial Day. Except for the Covid-19, 2020 flea market cancellation, we have had a booth there for years now. I think for a change, people were happy to get out of their houses this year and attend. We both had record book sales. We will be back on Labor Day. So stop on by and say hello! We will be up in the fair grounds.

QUE SERA SERA

 

Lately, I have been disappointed in myself for not using my time well. To be specific, my writing time. I started thinking about this one night as it took me a while to get to sleep. As happens in nights like these, several thoughts poured through my mind. One thought was centered on my grandson’s 13^th birthday. Where had the time gone? Looking back, I thought about how busy I was at that time. Two years back, 15 years ago, my husband and I had moved from Idaho to Oregon.  I found a full-time job and decided to further my education at the same time. I also received “the call” from a publisher requesting the fiction novel I had written after I’d written three published magazine articles. More time had gone by and I did a practicum, finished college, and got the job I really wanted.

 At 13 years, my grandson was born, a blessing we so needed about the time my husband was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. We moved back to Idaho (cheaper to live there) and I loved working there until I retired.

I now have twelve published works, in fiction and children’s books. I began helping new writers, started my own publishing company and became part of the Windtree Publishing group of writers. I have been trying to get two books out a year.

Just summing up the last fifteen years made me tired. Before I nodded off, I decided to not worry about getting two books out this year, maybe not even one. After all, I have worked very hard for a year off.  I may see more of my grandson, I may write something entirely different. Que sera sera, what will be will be in 2021.

Dragon Gilby 
Snake River Rendezvous

Famous in Murrayville

Authormaryvine@gmail.com
Authormaryvine.com

Author Mary Vine and Author Paty Jager will be at the Memorial and    Labor Day Weekends!!!        

SUMPTER’S OUTDOOR FLEA MARKETS

Sumpter, Oregon

2021 Dates

Memorial Day Weekend May 28, 29, 30 & 31

Fourth of July Weekend July 2, 3, 4, & 5

Labor Day Weekend Sept. 3, 4, 5 & 6

Food, Crafts, Art, Collectibles, New Merchandise, Books

 and More!

Sales 8 am till Dusk

Admission is Free!