Novel Writing: Scandals and Credible Characters

Backups and Blessings

2010 has come and gone and 2011 has arrived.  With it comes opportunities.  Ones for fresh starts.  For doing the things we intended to do last year, but didn’t.  Opportunities to review our pasts and set our eyes on our futures.

Change is hard for us.  We get comfortable and when things upset our apple carts, we typically first react with annoyance or, in some cases, despair.  A few weeks ago, my domain file corrupted.  I had over 79,000 things on that site, and 4 other sites that corrupted as well.
I’ve been faithful about making backups.  So much so that my “non-corrupt” copy was overwritten by my corrupt copy–a fact possible, I learned, after the overwrite and corruption occurred.  My safekeeping copy was also corrupted and the disk safe-safekeeping backup copy.

They all got zapped.

And so the reality of having to redo and recreate set in.  I promised myself a good attitude.  Focus on the solution, not the problem.  And I worked exclusively on this from arising to konking out for over a week.  But tonight, it’s done.

I have a uniform, clean site.  I have a separate book site.  I have recreated the additional sites.  And I’ve diversified segments on them so that never again will I have to recreate everything–even if backups do corrupt.

There were low points.  Like when I discovered that I couldn’t import a blog because I couldn’t get it in the right format.  After a little muttering, I set out recreating.  And after I’d done the last of them–days of work–I discovered that the file in the correct format could have been had, though everyone I asked said it couldn’t.  But in doing all this work, I discovered a way that I now can share with others.

So I’ve learned a lot and gotten new sites and diversified.  Not a painless task.  Not an easy one without sacrifice, as this happened during the holidays when I was supposed to finally have some time off.  But good has come from it.

In addition to the new sites all cleaned up and shiny, I gained a few new skills.  But maybe the best thing I discovered is that faced with calm and focused on the solution, not the problem, forcing myself to slow down and think before acting, I didn’t lose any of the 79,000 plus documents/tidbits/graphics, and I didn’t make myself sick with tension.  There was no tension.  Just nose down determination and lots of prayers that nothing else corrupted and wiped things out before I could get them.

Calm prevailed.  And won.

So I start the new year a wee bit tired, but also excited.  What was viewed as a bad thing actually turned out to be a good thing–a fresh start.  Learning lessons come all throughout our lives.  We can’t avoid them.  But it’s nice to know that sometimes they’re good things–proverbial blessings in disguise.  So I guess that makes it a blessing too that sometimes there just aren’t enough backups.
Seize your fresh start this 1/1/11 day and remember the solutions focus holds the key to calm.

Remember that even when there aren’t enough backups, you’re being given the opportunity for a fresh start.

Blessings,
Vicki
©2011, Vicki Hinze
www.vickihinze.com
www.vickihinzebooks.com

Very Best Writing Advice

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Lessons Learned: When's Enough Enough?

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P R I O R I T I E S

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Priorities, creative writing, writers, authors, novelists, conflict,characters, writing life, writers library, library, vicki hinze, career strategy

Contest & Call-In Radio Q & A for Writers/Readers

Contest Drawing:
Enter a drawing for a $25 gift card and an autographed copy of KILL ZONE, Vicki's new release. Enter here




TONIGHT, SAT. 8/1/2009 @ 7-9 PM CST

MPR LIVE RADIO SHOW

Call in with your questions on publishing and writing--craft, business, or the writing life.

I’ll be on from 8-9 PM CST with Hope Tarr.

Heather Graham, Cherif Fortin and Lynn Sanders will be on from 7-8 PM CST.

There’s a drawing for Heather’s new book.


Link to the show:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/medallionpress

Talk Radio, writing, authors, novels, novelists, publishing, creative writing, Medallion Press, MPR radio, Vicki Hinze, Heather Graham, Cherif Fortin, Lynn Sanders, Hope Tarr

Writing: Is It Worth It?

IS WRITING WORTH IT?

Yes, When You Write from the Heart


As writers, we often ask ourselves if writing is worth the sacrifices it takes. We often wonder if we should keep writing or stop. We often wonder if we’re going to get to the end of our life and look back with regret that we spent it as we did.

If you’re like most writers, you’ve wondered these things and more. And if you’re a people person you’ve no doubt asked yourself this type of thing even more because writing requires you to spend so much time alone.

For many writers, it’s a dilemma. But it’s one I’d like to solve for writers today through two examples . . . READ MORE


Creative Writing, writing, authors, novelists, writers, writers library, vicki hinze

Mistakes Writers Make: Part 11

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MISTAKES WE MAKE #8

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Mistakes We Make: Part 7 of 13

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Self-Sabotage, errors, mistakes, discretion, human relations, vicki hinze, writers library, authors, writers, novelists, creative writing, author/editor relations

MISTAKES WRITERS MAKE #4

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MISTAKES WE MAKE: PART 2 OF 8

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MISTAKES WE MAKE, PART 1

This is Part 1 of 8.


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Tags: authors, writers, novelists, mistakes writers make, creative writing, writers library, vicki hinze

Author Sues Reviewer--and Wins!

We're living in a world that is rapidly changing--and not always changing for the better. Regardless of what your job is, but especially if you're an author or in the publishing industry, you need to keep an eye on this!

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authors, writers, novelists, publishing industry, film industry, music industry, publishing, civil legal action, reviewers, editors, agents, literary agents, lawsuits, beware, watch

SAGGING MIDDLES

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When You’re Up, You’re up and When You’re Down, You’re Down

There are patterns in life, and one of them I’ve tagged the Cluster Factor. I’m sure some scholar has tagged it something else, but my observation is merely an observation, not a theological or academic study. That doesn’t make it more or less true or real, just based on different criteria.

The first evidence of the cluster factor I noted was in writing ideas and pertains to thinking patterns. I don’t typically think a book, I think a series of books. Often, ideas come to me in threes. When I first noted this, I noted it but didn’t really deem it significant. Cluster novel ideas was just the way my mind worked.

Then, during a conversation with a relative who informed me there’d been a death in the extended family mentioned “deaths always come in threes.” Sure enough, two more deaths followed within a matter of a few months--and looking back, I noted that this had also been the case when my brother had died years earlier.

Intrigued, I talked to a few friends about the cluster factor and discovered that...
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Buying Books at Barnes & Noble?

EDGE
ELEMENTARY
SCHOOL






CODE #: 18391243



If you are buying books at Barnes & Noble online or in the store today,
please use the code number above.


BN will send a portion of the net proceeds to Edge Elementary School.

It costs you nothing, it can provide the resources to really help the little ones attending this school.

Thanks!

Blessings,


Vicki


Tags: Edge Elementary, Barnes & Noble, barnesandnoble.com, bn.com, fundraisers, books, authors, novelists, emerald coast writers, CREATIVE WRITING, childrens books, libraries, literacy, reading

EXPLOSIVE EMOTIONS

EMOTION EXPLOSION ©2000-2008, Vicki Hinze

WARNING: This is a no-edit zone...

Between a contentious election, the economic crisis and all of the additional challenges triggered by both, emotions are running high.

Doubt it?

Philadephia wins the World Series, and fans and supporters react by rocking cars, doing damage to a news van and setting fires in the street. This is not normal “we’re happy about this” behavior.

This morning, a San Francisco WGO radio talk show host called for the death of Joe the Plumber. A citizen whose only crime was to ask a question that some don’t like the way their candidate responded. This is not normal “we’re upset with our candidate’s answer” or “we wish you would never have asked” behavior.

A young woman “gets in the face” of a seventy-year-old woman because she didn’t like her political button. This behavior was urged by the candidate. “Get in their faces and....” This is not appropriate conduct, or being respectful for anyone’s freedom of choice. It was wrong for the confrontational woman. It was wrong for the candidate.

This morning, we’re waking up to news that one of the candidates’ plans, if implemented, will bankrupt the coal industry and for everyone energy costs will skyrocket. (The candidate’s words, not mine.) That’s got a lot of people erupting in an emotion explosion.

Everywhere we look, people are acting as if they’ve lost it, saying and doing things they would normally never do. It’s a time of hyper-stress. Hyper-emotion.

Characters endure times of hyper-stress and emotion, too. But I would be judicious in having a protagonist act in the unacceptable conduct ways that the individuals referenced above behaved. Why?
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Tags: emotional reactions, heroic behavior, emotion explosion, Vicki Hinze, writers library, authors, novelists, emerald coast writers, creative writing

Why Are So Many Ill and Dying?

WARNING: This is a no-edit zone...

Writers are in a sedentary profession. Most of us these days do the majority of our writing at a desk on a computer screen. In many professions, we spend a lot of time sitting. And, according to a physician who spoke on this yesterday, it’s contributing (about 75%) to making us sick and killing us. What exactly did he tag it? Inactivity.

We eat too much, eat the wrong things (those pumped full of sugar and chemicals) and we don’t exercise.

When I heard this, I wanted to groan. For a long time, I embraced a “never deliberately sweat” attitude, which is bad, but when you live in the south, remember that there are about five months a year when walking outside is like getting slapped in the face with a wet washcloth. If you live here, in the long summer, you stand still outside and you sweat bucketsful. It is in spite of this that I love the south, which has many wonderful qualities, but not sweating isn’t among them unless you play hermit and never go outside.

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Tags: illness, lifestyle, diet, fitness, inaction, sedentary lifestyle, authors, writing, novelists, writers, creative writing, reading, books, activity

MEDIA & AUTHORS: COMMON BONDS

WARNING: This is a no-edit zone...

When writing a novel, the author guides readers in their emotional responses and reactions to what is occurring in the events through multiple means. A few center around the details they choose to include. The way in which they include them, the character they select to include them, and both the character’s reaction and the other characters’ reactions to those details. The media is skilled in these things and offers much for writers to learn.

Many authors haven’t considered these bonds but they are significant and can be extremely useful to the author. For example: READ MORE

Tags: media, authors, writers, novelists, books, novels, creative writing, characterization