Ideas

by Marsha Ward

Yesterday I enjoyed another holiday cookout held by my church congregation. Since I have a responsibility to record events in our church, I took several pictures (still in the camera, sorry) of the heavily laden food tables, the barbecues grilling the steaks, and the line of people extending from the food tables down the sidewalk and around the corner. When I had finished that task, I got in line.

Once I had made it through the long wait, got my food and water, and sat down to eat, I looked up, and guess what? The line was nearly as long as it had been when I joined it. Lots of people came.

Our church congregation isn't as numerous as the people who attended the barbecue. A lot of them were holiday campers, but not a few were neighborhood people who had been invited to come, people not of our religious faith. It was awesome!

Instead of what first pops into the LDS mind about hosting a community event, I want to liken this event and its numerous attendees to ideas. Curious folk ask where writers get their ideas for a story. Writers having a struggle wonder if they'll ever have a good idea again.

The truth is that ideas are everywhere around us. Once we use one up and carry out a project to its conclusion, if we search out a few resources, we will have an unending supply of ideas. A new story might be sparked by a magazine article, an online blog, or a news report. Sometimes a story may come from a blend of various resources, as we ask ourselves "What if?" A wonderful fount of ideas can come from the practice of people watching. And listening. Not to eavesdrop, necessarily, but to "get" the cadence of language patterns, phrases, and figures of speech.

Now let's ask the writers who come here: Where do you get your ideas?

Inspirational Quotes

by Cindy R. Williams

The following quotes can be tweaked to fit most areas, but please read them with your writing in mind.

"If it is to be, it is up to me." Many people

"Procrastination is like a credit card; it's a lot of fun until you get the bill."  Christopher Parker

"Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier."  Colin Powell

"Quality is not an act. It is a habit." Arisotle

"Tis better to be silent and thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt." Abraham Lincoln

"Whatever you are, be a good one." Abraham Lincoln

"Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. That is why it is called the present." Eleanor Roosevelt

"You don't get harmony when everyone sings the same note." Doug Floyd

These last three resonate with me big time. How about you?

"Some succeed because they are destined to, but most succeed because they are determined to." Source unknown.

"You miss 100% of the shots you don't take." Wayne Gretsky

"Life is either a daring adventure or nothing." Hellen Keller

If you find one or two of these that fit where you are right now, please print them and place them on your mirror or somewhere to remind you that you CAN DO IT!

Update on Writing Software

by Tanya Parker Mills

I promised an update and I hope it's not too late for those of you who might have been swayed toward StoryMill by my posting two weeks ago. If not, then I hope it has worked better for you than it did for me. The day after I'd downloaded it, gone through the brief tutorial, and then wrote my first chapter...it crashed!

I lost my first chapter (which I had really liked, by the way). Not a happy moment. As I looked into the whole program further in an attempt to figure out how to retrieve my chapter, if not the whole program, I found this had happened to a lot of other people. Hmmm. I sent off a quick email, pleading for help and then waited a day, two days...as it got to three days and I still hadn't had a reply from the people at StoryMill, I began to reconsider. Besides, I had all these ideas for my series bubbling in my head and needed to get back to writing!

I remembered Luisa Perkins had sworn by Scrivener, so I decided to give it a second chance. (Thanks, Luisa!) As soon as I pulled it up, I was notified I needed to download the free updated version. Gulping (and hoping this wouldn't bring about another crash), I did. Once I was all updated, I opened the tutorial and was so relieved to see that not only was it a very thorough and easily understood and interactive tutorial (I think they've really improved upon it in this updated version), but any document you are working on automatically saves every 2 seconds!

Long story short, I'm a Scrivener fan now just like Luisa! It basically has everything StoryMill offered (in fact, I suspect that StoryMill got lots of its ideas from this program), except the timeline, but I can work around that.

I paused after the Tutorial and thought, "Well, I'm ready to write. But since this is going to be a series, do I treat it all as one project, using a different folder within the project for each book...or do I treat each book as a separate project?" Unsure how to proceed, I googled "using Scrivener to write a series" and it led me to this helpful posting by a successful author who is in the middle of producing her series using Scrivener. Basically, she creates a "Series Bible," containing all her research and ideas for the whole series as one project, and then starts a new project for each of the books. I liked that idea, so I've adopted that approach.

I've rewritten my first chapter (naturally, it's even better the second time) and am into the second, while fleshing out all my characters as they appear in the story. For any of you with a Mac, I highly recommend Scrivener! For those of you without a Mac and using Windows, there's now a free Beta version of Scrivener for Windows, plus very informative postings about the program here and here.

Oh, and I did finally hear from StoryMill, asking me to send them a copy of my project so they could figure out what went wrong. Hello? I don't have a copy. That's the problem. I'll just be asking for my money back, thank you.

Transformations

by Susan G. Haws

I wish I had a magic wand. So many tasks I could complete with just a wave and a spell. With mundane tasks out of the way I could spend more time on activities such as writing. Don't get me wrong I am thankful for washers and dryers and all the other devices that have been invented to make life easier, and I love, love, love the air conditioners and my computer.

If I had a wand I wouldn't just mop the floor, pull the weeds or cook dinner I would also wave away pounds and pounds of fat. I would also help out others and maybe take a trip to the Caribbean. But let's go back to the house work and the fat. They are obstacles I must eliminate on my path to my goals. But I have no wand. Really, this is why I want to build my own fantasy worlds and move into a sea side mansion in one of them.

I read somewhere that a person must learn from his enemies. Fat is definitely my enemy. I must need to learn from it. Otherwise it would be easy to transform myself physically into a fit person.

Mundane chores that take time and effort like lawn mowing and laundry also feel like obstacles or enemies. I need to get control over them and my time. I need to  focus what time I have and apply lessons from successful authors and I hope my writing will improve.  I wish I could magically remove my challenges, but transformation into the  accomplished writer I want to become is learned and earned.

What are some of the first things you would use a wand on if you had one? What are some of your obstacles to writing time?