Learning to write well...by reading

I have been stumbling along writing the best that I can. I've purchased quite a few books on writing. They line the bookshelf next to my bed right next to the unread novels that arrive in the mail. 

I have taken a course in writing at UCLA extention online, I have attended RWA conferences and workshops, I enrolled in several workshop via savvyauthors.com. I still haven't been able to "get it."

Recently I began participating in an online critique group. I received some wonderful feedback and realized that I have much more work to do. It's not just about the grammar. It's not just about the punctuation. It's not even just about the story. It's really about how you put it all together.

There are so many elements to a story. I want someone to just spell it out. First, do this. Then do this, then introduce this. I became very frustrated with the saavyauthors.com workshop on writing romantic suspense because the first assignment was to take apart a suspenseful story that we enjoyed chapter by chapter. I hate homework and I told the teacher that. I didn't do the homework but I read the lessons.

A few weeks later, I read a fantastic story from The Wild Roses Press and there it was. All the elements of a FANTASTIC romantic suspense. The elements were spelled out right there for me.

I haven't had a chance to go back and deconstruct the story but it is there when I get ready to. I've heard  these messages several times at RWA workshops, read what you like, read what the publishers that you are interested in are buying and selling,  read what the agents you are querying are selling and representing. 

Initially, I thought that it was just a way of trying to sell more books (it probably is) but it is also a perfect lesson on writing if you do the homework and deconstruct the story.

So there you go. I will continue to purchase and read stories from the lines that I am targeting because they will help me become a better writer and eventually become published. I learn the most from reading good well written stories.

Pam

Just a little eye candy for today!

I have a fondness for cowboy hats this week.
Check out the exotic erotic e-cards available on runduecards.com. Yum!

I love e-publishers and stories

I love Harlequin category series novels. I love the Kimani line, the Steeple Hill Love Inspired line, and the SPICE line. I invest in books.  I am one of those people who subscribe to the monthly series and review the websites for works from my favorite authors. When I can find a copy of Romantic Times, I carefully study it and then pick out which books I will order from Amazon. I can spend anywhere from $20-$40+ dollars a month on books.

I recently won a membership to SavvyAuthors.com and began reading the wonderful blogs of the authors there. The stories that they were promoting looked fantastic and so I took the plunge and purchased a few short stories that sounded good. The price was right. $2.00-$3.00 for a short story. I fell in love. The stories are just the right length,  are very well written and entertaining. I like them better than some of the Harlequin stories.

I have found that I am purchasing $10-20  a month on e-published short stories a month. There are some great e publishers out there. I am really disappointed that one publisher didn't let me save the story to a disc and I could only download it twice. Huh! It was a super erotic short story from Breathless Press that wasn't very good anyway but I would have liked to have a copy since I purchased it.

The second reason that I love the epublished short stories is because I don't have a lot of time to read just for entertainment. I work, I have a family and I am trying to write. I have a limited amount of time to get into a story. These e published stories allow me to read a variety of authors. I am also participating in a critique group which requires me to review work of others. An e-reader which allows me to read .rtf or .pdf would be useful when reviewing the work of others in my critique group.

Finally, ebooks save space. I don't mind collecting and or building a library of ebooks because it saves so much space. I have a e bookshelf full of paperback books next to my bed. Recently, I donated a large box of my favorite books to the local library. I hated to part with them. I just wanted to read and re-read them but after watching a few episodes of Horders: Buried Alive, I decided that I would pass them on to the library. I can't wait to start a new collection of ebooks.

As I wrote in my post  yesterday, I am looking into purchasing an e-reader. I want to buy some of the longer length stories but I don't think that I could sit at my laptop to read the story.

I posted a message on several blogs that I participate in asking for recommendations. I only received a few replys. I am wondering if authors or aspiring authors are actually investing in e-readers or are they reading on their laptops only?

Let me know who your favorite e-published authors are? What e-readers do you use? I love comments.

Which e reader?

I have decided to take the plunge and purchase an e reader. I have been purchasing short stories online from a variety of e-publishers and I would like to be able to read a novel online without being tied to the laptop. 

My favorite epublishers ( publishers who primarily publish electronic books) are the wild rose press, cobblestone press, breathless press, red rose press, and ellora's cave. I have found their short stories well written and entertaining. I would be honored and priviledged to have any one of them purchase and publish one of my short stories or one my novels.

Anyway, I am trying to figure out which type of e-book reader I should purchase. I am really interested in the ipad but I am afraid that it is too much like a laptop and I will be distracted by all the other things that I am able to do with it instead of reading. The entry level price of $499 is reasonable for a small laptop but since I already have full sized laptop and a netbook purse sized laptop I can't really justify another. Can I? It would be cool to be able to watch movies but I really want to focus on reading so it does seem a bit much.

The Kindle from Amazon seems to be the industry standard but I don't want to have to buy books from Amazon. I ususally do but I don't want to have to.

The Nook from Barnes and Noble seems to be a good option and from what I hear you can order books from other publishers. It also has some expandable sD card which may prove helpful in the future. I think that I heard the Nook has wifi capability which would be useful if I am inside the Barnes and Nobles store or at home. Unfortunately, they closed the huge Barnes and Nobles at Hilltop Mall. Sigh....so I will have to drive to El Cerrito or Emeryville to play with one before buying.

My mom has the Sony reader that she got free with her American Express points. So far she has been only reading the free books that came with the thing so she hasn't been able to tell me whether or not she can purchase books from online publishers or anything else about the thing. They have a good price on the Sony at Best Buy. It is really small and portable so that could be a plus.

I just don't know. Recommendations?

RWA Chapter Meeting 3 page read TODAY

I had a great time at the Black Diamond RWA chapter meeting this morning. A small group of 8 people attended and we sat on the patio while we waited for the restaurant to open. I am so impressed with the successes and professionalism of the group.

This was my first regular meeting this year as the Black Diamonds have been very busy co-hosting conferences (Donald Maass Fire in the Fiction), retreats (Alexandra Sokolov) and special guests (Diamond and Roses Event- Bigger Book).

The three page read was fun and I think that we all were able to get some great feedback on the beginning 3 pages of our novels. I am so blessed to have been able to attend and to have people to motivate me.

Oh, I entered a contest where  I pledge $5 towards my goal for the month. This month, I pledge that I would finish my short story. If I finish the story then I get the entire pot of money. If not, it rolls over into the next month. I think that is how it works.

Anyway, I've started a new romantic suspense short story, its called Collision. I got some great feedback today. People thought that I had a great opening and it was suspenseful so "so far so good".

I haven't completely abandoned my other romantic suspense story, it is just that I am in the middle and it is sagging a little bit.

Fun Times!

Hubby and I had a great time learning salsa dance at the school last night. Salsa was a little harder than we thought. It's funny because my husband loves to watch Dancing with the Stars and I had a feeling that he secretly wanted to learn ballroom dancing. Our kid's school had a fund raiser where they hired a professional Latin dance coach for a big group lesson in the schools multipurpose room. It was fabulous. Each couple paid $20 and we danced the night away.

I want to send a shot out to my hairstylist Adrienne C.  She finally cut my hair the way that I like it. Thanks sweetie. Good luck with your business.

Woo Hoo!

Woo Hoo! I just won a one year subscription to SavvyAuthors.com from author Virna DePaul just for registering at her site. Check out her book and her website. Thanks for the great gift.