My Time

The joy of books

2012-02-20T15:51:00.000-05:00

This video brought me joy. I know if you love books it will do the same for you.

Back Up your work!

2012-01-31T14:08:00.000-05:00

Hey guys the other day someone stole my purse. The worst news is that my novel was loaded on a jump drive that was in there. I thought I had backed it up on another jump drive but turns out, I didn't transfer all of the files. So as a result I had all the chapters' titles and notes but none of the content. Fortunately however, being a writer from ole skool, I printed the most of the book because I read better when it's in print as opposed to on the screen. Yea!

Someone tells me to back up all your document on http://www.google.docs/. So I've been doing that and it's really good. I also suggest print things out and putting them in a safety box somewhere where you will remember where they are. Maybe even give a copy to a trusted friend or your mother. You know mothers tend to keep things safe for you. Whatever way you choose, back up your documents is the word for today.

New Book

2011-11-03T17:33:00.000-04:00

Yea!!! My book is finally coming out at the end of this year! It has been a long time birthing this baby. But here it comes. So I hope you, whoever you are are listening? We are going to par-ty. To God Be All The Praise!!!

Trucking Along

2011-06-07T11:34:00.000-04:00

It's June and I'm working on the second draft of my novel,"Fire Sisters". Hooray! Truth be known it's much hard work. The first draft is romantic. You have to tell the story quickly. It doesn't matter if you don't know what comes next or if the thing you've written doesn't make a lot of sense right then, JUST KEEP WRITING. The more you write, the more you learn. But this second draft is where you have to make sense. I found so many inconsistencies like in one chapter a character has long hair and a beard. Then I found I had described that same character later as clean shaven. Of course he could've shaved after, but that's not what happened.

It helps also if you can read what you have written out loud after a week or two of writing and rest. Rest? Yes. You want to put the writing away for a short spell so when you return to read it, you will read with a clean sense of understanding- like any other reader. This prevents your natural editor from kicking in and righting the wrongs and supplying information as you read. My children bought a Kindle reader as a present for Mother's Day and I was able to upload my entire novel in progress on it. So it reads to me. I get to hear my words as I had written them, faux pas and all. Its great work if you truly love the writing process. Theme for today: Keep Writing!

Celebration is in Order

2011-05-16T22:50:00.000-04:00

I have just celebrated completing the first draft of my first novel. After attempting to write this novel or almost twenty years, I'm ecstatic about my progress. Don't get me wrong the novel is far from finished. I have two more rewrites at the least before I can turn it loose to publishers. But I am shopping for publishers now, am activity I couldn't seriously think about before.

Why am I blogging about this? Because I want everybody to think about celebrating every successful step in their journey to God's purpose in them. We had a blast together. But besides having a good time together, this event also made a statement to the world that I am a writer. It is the gift God gave me. It is part of the work He began in me. According to the Word of God He will complete it. Somewhere in between those failures, God gave me understanding to continue.

This event not only blessed me in seeing others happy for my success but it gave others encouragement to go forward and never look back. If I could do it after such a long time of misses, anybody can. To God be the glory!

I'm Still Here!

2011-04-28T17:50:00.000-04:00

It's been a while since I've posted on this blog but nothing has changed. I'm still a writer. Lately I've been searching for ways to earn extra income. Well.. let's just say income. We haven't gotten to the extra part yet. LOL. I stumbled onto a site called Suite101.com. It seems as if this site is open to writers like myself who needs to write, but not too sure of the article thing. It provides a little training and coaching to bring those articles up to par and ready to make money. Granted it's commission but like anything else, if you work hard it will pay off. So like it is said, nothing ventured nothing gained, I am venturing into the Suite 101.
On another writing note, my novel is almost completed. I have been following a novel writing guide whose focus is to get readers to write their novels in thirty days. Well after several attempts, and many fits and falls, I'm almost there. In short the novel is about three African American ladies who are trying to keep their jobs in a corporate high tech day care center but stumbles head first into ministries that will change their lives forever.

So don't give up.

God's Words

2010-05-28T11:22:00.000-04:00

It was during a time when I struggled with my finances that I decided to trust God with a special offering to the church. I followed the Word of God when it said in Luke 6:38, "Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." I desperately needed God to work in my finances and help me get out of the trouble I had gotten myself into. Now don't allow your imaginations to run away with you. I didn't do anything crazy, except I have inadvertently over written what my check book said I could write. When I balanced out, the totals along with fees were much more than I had in my account. So I did what any God-fearing, God- loving Christian would do. I ran to my Daddy God for HELP!

As I stood in the line to give my offering, the call went out for givers to give an amount of $100.00. I didn't care what the amount was, if I had it I was going to give it. $100.00 was a far cry from what I needed. Even though I had never given that large an offering before, I said within my heart that I was going to trust God in whatever He required from me. That's how bad I needed His help.

I prepared my offering to give and as I waited for my turn, I heard the voice of God say very strongly within my heart, "I'm going to bless your writing." Well my heart went all mushy and I almost allowed myself to cry in public. Writing is my boo, the ultimate dream of mine. Temporarily I forgot about my money problems and stood in line like I was this kid with a delicious secret, beaming on the inside. I didn't see where it related to what I was trusting God for but It reached way above my present problem, it was wonderful to me.

Two days later, during my time talking to God, He reminded me of what He had told me that Sunday. That's when I made the connection. Oh! Writing Equals Money! Duh.

Now the rest is up to me. I have to write. I hadn't trusted God for my writing like I did for the checking account until now. It's me and I know it. But now that I have, God is a man of His word. He has been blessing my efforts. I'm still at the beginning but watch my progress. It'll blow you and me away, I'm sure. Oh and by the way, God moved on my financial issues. Somehow, the bank merged with another bank and by Monday had deleted all of my outstanding fees. They only transferred the credits. I was able to balance out and pay all of my debts. How about that! Praise God! AMEN

My Book Signing Pictures

2010-05-25T19:25:00.000-04:00

Losing Focus

2010-04-29T18:08:00.000-04:00

It's amazing how life creeps up and clutter your writing time if you aren't paying attention. But I'm still here and going forward.

I'm So Excited

2010-04-16T23:35:00.000-04:00

I have to tell someone about my great writing news. It mighr as well be you. Ok, so I've writing this inspirational book since three years ago and every time I think its finished, God takes it to another level and blows my mind and gets me to the meat of the thing. Its a most satisfying experience.

Today was one of those days. As I edited, this time for development, I found that my editor was right. Areas that were ambiguous became so clear. Illuminations of God's message designed for the book shone bright in my mind and before my eyes I saw meaning. Meaning I've struggled trying to relate verbally came forth as easily as water flowing at the beach.

I am trully inspited. Infact I'm going to make a quote:"Dig below the surface until your shovel hits gold."

"DUH"

2010-04-05T12:52:00.000-04:00

I've been working with a novel writing program called "Book in a Month a fool-proof system for writing a novel in 30 days," by Victoria Lynn Schmidt, PH.D. Of course it has been at least seven months of me trying to complete my novel. I kept getting stuck on day two which tells us to write ten essential scenes. Well that threw me for a loop. I am one of those people that write to discover. I kept asking how can I write essential scenes when I haven't a clue what will happen in my story? Today I figured it out. I asked myself what do I know about my story? I know about ten things I want to happen. It didn't hit me until now that those are my ten scenes. Duh! There will be other scenes that will lead up to the ten but the ten provides the framework of the story. I now understand on other times why I would get to a point and get stuck for years. With this method. it forces me to think out the story to the end. I'm sure that lots of material will end up on the editing floor but at least my story will be written- finally.

Check Out My New Edition. Great for Mother's Day

2010-03-19T22:11:00.000-04:00

When Mom Gets The Oil by Gwen'net Rhymer Henry

Talking It Out

2010-03-04T15:41:00.000-05:00

The other day on beginning to write more on my novel, I took a minute and read what I had already written. I was delighted to see how much I enjoyed the story that far. I was so excited about the story that I exclaimed to my husband how wonderful a story it was. At that point I began to relate the story to him with the relish of relating a day time story. I was surprised to get much more clarity on the story. You know how you may not have the complete vision and may not know whare or how to continue? Usually, we are told by writing professionals not to talk the story out for fear of using up the passion needed to write it. So you could imagine my surprise as I related my story to see the vision of it lay in front of me.

Areas I didn't even think about yet became very clear. Characters that were one dimensional grew rounder through my talk. Connections between charcters and intentions were made when I didn't realized there were connections. In short it caused me to go running to complete my beloved novel. So if you're having trouble charting out your novel, try talking it out with a great listener and see how it works.

Focusing

2010-02-13T11:59:00.000-05:00

Focusing is a neccessary ingredient for successful writing. OK I know you know this, I do also. So why was I spending so much time belly aching (southern term) about my future as a writer? I had trouble getting past life's junk that fell in my path. That hindered my progress, which caused me to be blocked, which frustrated me further, which made me fear the future of my dream to be a fulltime SUCCESSFUL writer. But during one of those faltering times, God spoke to my heart and said, your focus is off. You are focusing on the wrong things. The scripture came to me from Romans 8:10. It says, "The word is near thee, even in your mouth, that is the word of faith that we preach." I realized that I had to focus on what God had said about my writing and trusting Him for that word. I realized that as long as I focused on the negative, my outcome would be negative. So I decided to agree with God and speak out in the atmosphere those things. Doing that brings good things to me. The Words says Life and Death is in the power of the tongue. So here goes...

I will not die but life to declare the works of the Lord.(that includes my writing dying) Psalms 118:17
He who began a good work in me will complete it until the day when Christ returns Philippians 1:6
If I acknowledge Him in all my ways, He will direct my path. Proverbs 3:6
I can do all things through Christ which strengthened me. Philippians 4:13

There are so many more scripture available that you can focus on that will give you the strength to leap over writer's block, grammatical darkness, creativity freeze and other hindrances. Find them and place them in places where you can be reminded on what to focus. Happy writing!

Freedom to Dream

2010-02-06T22:22:00.000-05:00

Years ago while in the middle of another of my great projects for church, I wished for the freedom to write without having to stop to feed babies, pick up groceries, work a nine to five, cook dinner for hungry mouths, and a million other chores that take away from my writing time. I dreamt of waking up, and after a few neccessary routines, enter into my writer's world and not emerge until several hours had pass and my muse was licking her lips full and satisfied.

Well I got the time. Five years ago, I left my job and decided I would write for my life. A dream? Of course. But no one told me that my writing would have to be proven by the masses that be. I found myself terrified wondering if I had what it took to make it in the real writer's world. My fears brought on a terrific case of writer's block in which took at least a year to get over. Secondly, my dream didn't work because, I now found myself worrying about money. Oh yes I had a husband who was caring for me but I had a desire to pull my own weight. Thirdly, I needed a better computer. Mine was ancient. Fourthly, I needed another car. My husband and I shared one and that hindered me from taking my afternoon brouse through the bookstores to clear my head after the writing stinct. In short, it wasn't the lack of time that hindered me from writing, it was the decision to write or the lack of.

Now six years later, I look back and realize that dreaming is a lot easier than living for real. I still love writing and am committed to it but without placing butt in chair and hammering out words with some sense of consistency, its only a dream. Dreams don't pay, work does.

So if you have a dream and you also have lots of reasons why you can't find time and space to write now, you probably won't write when you have plenty of time either.

New Publisher

2010-01-18T07:37:00.000-05:00

Hey Guys,
Just wanted to tell you that I am in the middle of working with a new publisher. If you are interested, it's WriteLife.com. They are a co-publisher that will get your materials out, marketng and all. You pay on the back end with some of the sales from your book. Plus they receive 50 percent of the profits. If you are short on money this is a publisher that will get you out. I thought it's a great first. Did I say, they will also get editors to edit you work. Yep.

Just Keep Goin'

2010-01-18T07:30:00.000-05:00

Today is Martin Luther King Day. One thing I get from MLK is the strong message of keep going even in the face of defeat. Defeat turns into victory. So that's the thought. Today I've decided to deem Mondays for querying. Objective is to send at least one query out every Monday. Get out of myself and spread out a bit. So I'll let you know as the journey continues....

Writing Environments

2010-01-11T23:49:00.000-05:00

Well, it's almost twelve midnight here and I've written a little bit on my novel today. I've tried to write all day but something keeps interrupting me. Could it be the environment I was in? Even though it was pretty quiet where I work I just couldn't really concentrate, I mean that deep zoning in concentration you get when you completely enter the novel's world.

I don't know what it is, but when I finally got to the Library, I was sucked in. And even though it only lasted about an hour because that's all the spare time I had, it was sheer bliss. Maybe it's the combination of the old moldy book smell and the dead silence. Whatever it is, I'm hooked. Where's your favorite place to write?

What Do I Have to Fear?

2010-01-09T08:23:00.000-05:00

The morning is such a great creativity time for me to write. It's almost the first thing of the day and my mind is open to any thought. Whatever comes to mind gets full attention. My job is to make sure I secure my mind for writing the assignment I gave myself. This is so cool because God says in the Bible that each day he give us brand new mercies for that day. So today I emerge with my sack bag of brand new mercies, creativity, thoughts, idea, and energy for writing.

The demon thoughts arrive too. Those are the what ifs. What if you never get this done? Then your life will be a mess, failure, depressed etc. What if nobody is interested in what you are saying, then you will not have worth.

Well the devil is a liar! God Word tells me that I am more than a conqueror. I am victorious! I realize that those bad thoughts are powered by fear. My job is to bust through that with truth. God said He didn't give me fear but POWER, the first ingredient of the list, followed with LOVE and a SOUND MIND. I only dwell on good thoughts. Whew, I feel stronger already.

All I need to do now is prepare more time for me to write. I have to go to work now and I have to delay my writing for later. I'm working on getting up earlier to get it done. My day is always better when I do.

Writing For My Life

2010-01-08T23:41:00.000-05:00

I wonder is there anyone out there? I need to share this blog with all of you who are trying to do something that you've never succeeded at before. Anyway, I will begin to write about my journey to finishing my book but more importantly, creating a writing career. It's now or never!

So here goes....Check you tomorrow.

It's Not Hard

2008-09-03T16:53:00.000-04:00

Wanting to write for a living was a pain to think about. I knew I didn't want to write magazine articles to sell. When I started that, I felt like I was in high school again and I needed to get a paper done or else. It didn't give me the good passionate feelings I wanted to have . Yet, making money is a neccessary thing. How do I do it? Then I found out that everything that happens in life- in a day, is worthy of comments. And I have a lot of comments about everything. Why not put those thoughts to pen and paper? I looked at several other prolific writers and guess what, that's exactly what they are writing about, stuff like: mowing the lawn, going to the supermarket, raising the children. It just didn't seemed like anybody would be interested in that, but I was. I laughed, and shook my head in familiar recognition. They were deligtful articles and I know I could do that too. So I'm off.

Life's Purpose

2008-07-15T19:56:00.000-04:00

Writing has been a life long desire of mine and I think I'm pretty good at it. But sometimes I still have my doubts.. Looking at all the great stuff that's out there make me wonder, what am I doing?. But I have no choice. My life without writing doesn't seem possible. If I'm not writing then I'm reading about writing or reading someone else's writing. So why fight it? Be what God has made you to be and you will be happier.

You might make a little money.