The number 11 has been associated with transition. You know, when you look at your clock, and you see 11:11, whether it’s a.m. or p.m. It’s transition time. Synonyms for transition are change, changeover, evolution, conversion, and shift. We’re always in some sort of transition. Every day is a new day. New mercies, new opportunities, another day to breathe. It’s how we respond in transition, to the things of life that we go through that will determine our future. @donnalhsmith #transition #refreshingstreams #amwriting TWEETABLE
Tag: process
Stepping Out — Of Your Comfort Zone
It’s not too often that something just “comes” to me, like my literary agent recently did. But I’m convinced it was because a year ago, I stepped out of my comfort zone and started the process. Stepping out of our comfort zone can feel like walk off a cliff, doesn’t it? #comfortzone #walkingoffacliff Click to Tweet.
Surprise Post
Sometimes I love surprises. How about you? I was surprised by a birthday party last summer. This blog celebrates it’s first anniversary this week – on Wednesday.
I had a blurry rose picture for my first post last year. I changed it to this group of roses.
I talked about process. There are processes to everything we do. This blog is about my writing process to publication, and about my spiritual growth processes and life processes.
Tomorrow, a short post about what you liked and read the most this past year. Here’s the link to my first post.
Writing Emotional Pain – without bleeding too much on your readers
“Please reject.” The email was from a complete stranger. I almost didn’t open it because I thought it was junk mail.
Then I thought, oh. Oh. A reject letter. I might as well see who this is really from.
I was once told that writing one’s pain makes a compelling read. It’s deep and people can identify. My pain is rejection. I don’t do well with it. I never have. I think I was born with it. It’s called Avoidant Personality Disorder (APD). In other circles, it’s called Root of Rejection. Healing comes in stages with me.
I promise not to bleed all over you, but show you a bit about how my thinking is skewed. Ridiculous thoughts of self-condemnation and diminished self-worth keep running through my mind.
Continue reading “Writing Emotional Pain – without bleeding too much on your readers”
Just When You Think You’re Done – Part II
It seems to me that writing is a never-ending process. Some friends of mine recently moaned about “line edits.” And they’re not published yet. Neither do they have an agent or an editor. So what are they doing? Making their manuscript the best they can to give their story the best chance to get published. They have critique partners and beta readers who are helping them edit their work.
I don’t have a critique partner or beta readers, but I had my manuscript professionally edited twice. And still, I’m revising. I think I mentioned that after my meetings in St. Louis, I could expand my manuscript from the shortened version I’d had to make it in order to enter a contest.
But like these doors and covered walks in Old City Jerusalem, it never seems to end. I’m working with two versions of my manuscript, the shorter and the longer – to make them both longer. The longer needed to reach 100,000 + words. I made it yesterday, but I decided to tweak it again. Add richness.
Continue reading “Just When You Think You’re Done – Part II”
Trust the Peace
There’s just something peaceful about a body of water. This is my background photo – the Sea of Galilee at the dawn of a new day.
I’ve had some tumult this year, both bad and good. You’ve heard about the ‘bad’ – the broken wrist, the l-o-n-g rehab. It’s all part of the process.
Now – life gets busy.
New Look, New Focus, Yet Still the Same
This week’s theme is changing your mind. I’ve been changing mine about several things lately.
Changing My Mind
What have I been changing my mind about? It’s a woman’s prerogative, isn’t it?
Last week, I entered my novel in another contest. To do that, I had to chop 14,000 words. I didn’t think I could do it, but I did. I thought more, then thought some more.
First, I changed my mind about cutting another 10,000 words from my novel, Meghan’s Choice. Soon, I’ll post a scene from my unpublished novel for you all to look at and tell me what you think.
Second, I changed the look of this blog. I love the color blue. It’s always been one of my favorite colors. Because I stepped out and am going to be attending the American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) national conference in St. Louis in two weeks (eeek!), I felt I needed to upgrade my web image to a bit more professional, and I got business cards that are blue, too. Continue reading “New Look, New Focus, Yet Still the Same”
