Category Archives: General

Competitive Writing

By Terry C. Misfeldt

Writers of every genre should consider competing for recognition by entering contests. Competitive writing stretches a writer’s composition skills and earns them credibility when they win. Of course, not every entry is a winner but it is worth trying.

The first step is awareness. There are many sites online promoting various writing contests. Your job is to find one that falls within your bailiwick and gives you a chance to win, place, or show to use a gambling term.

Second, learn the nuances. Who are the judges and do they review every entry, or is there a screener who eliminates some of the entries to make the judging less taxing on the final judge? How many words (please stay within the guidelines)? What is the deadline? What format must your entry be in? Is there an entry fee?

Third, if you can, review previous winning entries. There is no guarantee that writing something similar will increase your odds because the judges are likely different, but it gives you a sense of what wins.

Fourth, choose if you want to participate and start writing. You want enough time to finish your piece and edit it before submitting. You might also want to research the judge to know what he or she has written. That gives you an idea of what might appeal to them.

Last, finish your piece and submit it. Make sure you follow all the rules and guidelines, then wait to find out if you came out on top. And do not worry. If you win, great! If you don’t, consider it a learning experience and try again.

Writers Are Readers

By Terry C. Misfeldt

Writers have a tendency to also be avid readers. Yes, folks, writers are readers!

We read to explore new worlds without leaving the comfort of our favorite chair. We can cross the plains of America in a covered wagon with a cup of coffee and a doughnut in our hands. We can be enthralled in a steamy romance while lying on a beach blanket.

Why do we read? We get ideas for writing from reading what others have written. We can study character development. We can create exotic worlds from seeing how other authors develop their fantasy planets. We consider sentence length, grammar, punctuation, and style from the words in those published works.

Sure, we read for entertainment or knowledge and sometimes just for something to do. We find authors we love and crave their next book. For me those are writers like Kevin J. Anderson, Brian Herbert, James Lee Burke, and Jeff Shaara…each of whom writes for a different audience. Their work can be inspiring, and writers need to be inspired!

As writers, we also read to learn how other writers grab your attention and keep it as they develop a plot through various crises to a climax. Part of why we read involves a never-ending search for new authors whose work we will either love or despise. Those we dislike usually have but a chapter or two before they lose us.

And no writer wants to lose their readers…for whatever reason! So we read.

Basics for Describing Wind in Your Writing

By Terry C. Misfeldt

Here are some Basics for describing the wind in your writing. Pardon the fact each describing element begins with the letter B:

Blizzard: Common during winter months in northern latitudes, the wind during a blizzard is strong and can create white-out conditions. Snow drifts into at times impassable piles. Roads are covered in the white stuff and temperatures plummet.

Blow: The wind blows in situations such as hurricanes, tornadoes, n’or-easters and similar bad conditions that can be deadly. One can expect a blow — blowing wind (it always blows in some form) to cause extensive damage and be life-threatening.

Breeze: When the wind is a breeze, it can be pleasant or a bit tempestuous. A pleasant breeze cools you off during a warm summer evening while one with a stronger front can fill your sails or make walking into it a challenge.

Balmy: Most people, especially northern climate writers, think of balmy wind as a soft, tropical wind that makes living in warmer climates bearable. It’s t-shirts, shorts and flip-flop weather with warm sunshine and slight currents.

Blustery: If you live in an area where the weather change between autumn and winter can be unpredictable, you know what blustery wind means. Leaves are blowing across the yard and clouds bear the threat of snow as temperatures go from warm to cool.

Biting: Much like a blustery wind, a biting wind carries the harbingers of winter with it. Bits of frozen rain, or sleet, pummel the side of your house and chip into your clothing as you face a biting wind and shiver in the cold.

Becalmed: If you spend much time on the water sailing, a becalmed wind is the bane of the sailor. You’re stranded in the ocean with no wind because it has gone quiet. On land it often bodes a change in the weather akin to the eye of the storm.

If you’re a writer, use this as a reference for describing the wind in your writing so you can avoid writing that “it was windy.”

The Spring of 2020

By Dorothy Seehausen

Fishing on the Fox

It seemed like a vacation from the classroom at first, this shelter in place thing, probably a couple of weeks at most. I was sure I’d have gobs more time to write while keeping up with the pandemic on news stations.

 So, I cleaned and organized; re-arranged and threw out. I stocked up on necessities. I binge watched “Arrested Development” and season 3 of “Ozark”. I created a Seehausen Genealogy Facebook Group and connected with several relatives in the Midwest.

Yet I could not help being drawn into what was happening to the American way of life and I found a new perspective.  Facebook became an addicting time capsule. Schools and churches closed. Sunday sermons were posted on YouTube, parents added teaching skills to their tool kits, and college students exchanged dorm life for home life.

Health care professionals became our new heroes; and everyone kept hope alive from one inspirational meme to the next.

For my husband and I, daily routines changed right away. We bought less at the grocery store so we could legitimately get out more. Instead of the mall, we walked in Voyager Park in De Pere. We developed a newfound appreciation for life as well as each other.

But alas. I had social distanced long enough from my characters. Did Stuart Hall solve the murder of FBI Agent Jones in “Paint Chips”? What really happened to the cat in “The Tale of Duke Humphries”?  Is Molly McBride going to be happy as a secondary character in “Fire Pit”?

Experts predict things will get worse before they get better. A teacher myself, I’ll be back to work next week with online classes. Until then, I will grab a cup of hot chocolate and get back to business.

Let’s see now.…where was Stuart Hall when I left him?

A Blank Canvas

By Ruth Wellens

It’s nearly spring so I was beginning to clean out the corner of my basement that has accumulated the mess of year’s past. My son is going to graduate from college this May but left behind numerous notebooks from his elementary and high school years. Somehow between us, we have gone through the notebooks and ripped out the instructive pages, but I just have a difficult time putting perfectly good notebook paper into the garbage which ends up in landfills. So – I end up with a lot of half-filled notebooks with crazy adolescent writing on the covers. 

Good news: I also ended up with ideas yet to be realized. Procuring all of the notebooks and paper together, I suddenly became inspired to write! Sure, as writers we have ideas rambling around our brains all the time, but this paper was tangible. Each piece meant my ideas could turn into reality with strokes from a pen.  Sure, I use my computer most of the time, but there is a visceral pleasure in putting pen to paper when writing.  Even if it is an outline or bullet points for your writing, it is visual proof of that idea when put on paper.

My broken down half notebooks are now stacked in my make-shift office, ready and waiting to turn into a story board, a story, a novel, an editorial, or maybe just random thoughts to be expounded on another day. The excitement is there. It feels like New Year’s Eve rife with resolutions! The first day of spring with all the promise of colorful flowers, warm sun and brilliant hues of green. The potential adventure of travelling to a new place! All of the paper ready and willing to serve my ideas.

I have heard some writers carry paper with them at all times in case an idea comes to them. With the advent of cell phones, some writers use the verbal choice of talking into them to retain their ideas until they can sit and think about them more. Yes, some of us get our best ideas in the shower, which, unfortunately, is not paper’s best friend. As for me, I have my half notebooks with lots and lots of blank pages to write on!  

Start Your Story in the Middle

By Rhonda Strehlow

We’ve been taught to be logical and chronological.  Starting your book in the middle is counter-intuitive. When your start a book it’s tempting to dump the whole backstory into the first few pages. If you’re like me, you just want to get on to the ‘real’ story.

However, that is not what readers are looking for. Readers want to get drawn into the story early on. They want to learn the specifics as they develop throughout the story.

Let me share why you should re-think your opening pages. Many readers will stop reading a book after two or three pages. If they’re not drawn in by then, they haven’t connected to the story line.

How do you make an immediate connection to your reader?  Surprise. Scare. Amaze. Intrigue. Draw in.

If you don’t lure him or her in immediately, they will make snap judgements about your book. Tedious. Boring. Repetitive. Ordinary. You are given surprisingly little time to prove yourself. There are billions of books available to readers, they don’t want to be bored for even a few minutes. Think instant gratification.

Dole out that backstory information throughout the book. Perhaps your protagonist is an introvert with limited social skills. Throughout the story you might drop hints that she is an only child. She was bullied in grade school. Her mother was a stay at home mom. Let your reader make associations. Slow unveiling draws the reader into your story. Let your reader share in those ‘aha’ moments.

What you want the reader to ask when she finishes your book is, “Where can I find other books by this author?”

What Do I Write About?

By Terry C. Misfeldt

If you have ever wanted to write but ask yourself: What do I write about?, here are eight tips:

  1. Write about what’s going on in your life. You may think your life is boring but other people may find what you do fascinating and of interest to them.
  2. Write about your area of expertise. You may be adept at crochet or solving crossword puzzles. Share your skills by writing about the steps you take to accomplish perfection.
  3. Write a book review. There are places on the web that offer you the opportunity to comment and share your thoughts about books you’ve read, like Good Reads. Writing reviews is a good place to start writing.
  4. Write about your family’s genealogy. You can write about your parents and what they went through when they were growing up. They can share storied about your grandparents, and maybe even your great grandparents if you ask. Don’t wait, though. You’ll regret avoiding those conversations if you wait too long.
  5. Write a poem about someone you love. It doesn’t matter if it rhymes or even makes sense; you’re writing to share your feelings with that special someone…and they’ll love it because it came from you.
  6. Write about a topic of interest to you, whether it’s hunting, the weather, science, gardening, tree planting, chemistry, or television programs. The idea is to write.
  7. Write about your childhood. Who were some of your friends when you were growing up, and what did you do that was memorable? Where did you play? What music did you listen to? What was your favorite TV program? Who did you admire?
  8. Keep a journal. Write down what happens in your life on a daily basis. What may seem mundane to you could prove to be the foundation of an interesting story.

Once you start writing, the ink bug will get you and you’ll want to put more words on paper or save them in a storage device. My, how times have changed from the days of pen and paper as our main method of communication. Yes, sending a letter to a relative, friend or loved one is another option for what to write. Think paper, envelope, and a First Class stamp. What?

Coping

Debbie Delvaux

Staring at his shoes, not looking up to the world around him, just looking down. There is an ache in his body and the only way to fix the ache is to look for what had first brought him here to begin with.

It all was a slow and easy way to escape the reality that was around him when he was young, but now he is 28 and feeling 100. Why did he start to do it?

It was as all young people do to try to fit in their surroundings.  Now he is alone and looking down at nothing.  A foot in his view, he looked up to the leg that it is attached and could hear a voice ask what the time is. He just stared at the leg and didn’t say a thing.  

“I ask if you have the time?” He still stared at the leg and didn’t say a thing. The voice asked if he was okay.  Still no sound from him. Then, as he still looked down, a feeling of a hand is now on his shoulder, holding him in a way that a friend would hold another friend when they are down and out. 

“It’s okay and you will be okay, I know because I see that you want to live and yet there is no other way to not live. Siting at rock bottom is where you are at and yet you still want to live as others before you have done the one thing that you can not do and that was to die for what has brought you to this place.”  

He heard this and slowly looked up to see not a body that the leg belonged to, but instead a light that shone bright and powerful. He stared in awe and a sudden awareness that he was now looking at a spirit in the form of an angel. Of all of his catholic upbringing in the church, he now realized that he was sitting at the gate to heaven. 

“You are not dead but you are alive in the new world that you do want to live in. I can help you. I just need you to ask for help and then you can live to help others.” 

He looked at the glow and then started to get a feeling of immeasurable sadness and yet a sense of happiness around him. The want and the need to be with his family was intense and yet the thought of going back to them for help was something that he didn’t want to do because he hurt them in so many ways. 

“Yes, your family is hurting for you and have been praying for you since you left.”

He didn’t know what to say and he again looked down. Just then he stood up and grabbed the light and cried till there was nothing left in him.  

“I will do whatever there is to do so I can live again. Help me to get better, I want to live and I want to breathe and I want to see the world for what it truly is, a wonderful place to live in that is full of your glory!” 

He felt a sudden tug at his back and then jolt to his body, suddenly as he felt all of these things, he looked down now to see he is floating in the air and not touching the ground at all. 
He is so happy and yet he is so scared that this wonderful feeling is just but a feeling.  

The voice is now telling him to let go and let the wonder he is in help him get better. He stands taller and then says “Let me live”. 

“I will let you live, but let go and you will be born again.” 

He cries in triumph and lets go of the pain he is in, then falls to the ground and slips forever to the power of the light around him.  He comes around and stands up to see that the whole time he is sitting on the steps of a church and now realizes that he had come home after all. 

God had sent an angel to him when he was contemplating killing himself so as to not have to live in the hell he had fallen into. This being the season of holy birth and the season to be with family and friends, when you are hurting and not able to heal on your own, just let go and let God in to heal what you cannot do alone.  

For what it is worth to those that cannot heal, he is and always will be the one to go to when you are in trouble. 

The Journey of Writing

By Ruth Granger-Wellens

I just arrived home from a journey of a lifetime – driving to Alaska from Wisconsin! Well, my husband drove. In fact, he planned the whole trip – each route, each hotel reservation, each small tour we took to see glaciers and wildlife and – I rode along.   He read, studied, and talked to people who had done a similar trip. In the months and weeks leading up to our departure date, I tried very hard to read about where we were going.  But I just couldn’t get a picture in my head. When we started out, and as I rode along – waiting, wondering, anticipating – I realized that this trip was a lot like the journey of writing. 

 First there is the idea – like going to Alaska. As we traveled the roads, I didn’t know what was around any corner or beyond the hill or in the next town. I trusted that my husband was going in the right direction. I did some reading about the area we were in or going to while in the car, and, of course, I did a lot of observing and thinking.  I was never disappointed.

When we write, we first come up with the idea.  This is true whether writing a short story, nonfiction, a blog or a book. Then we begin the journey of writing. We have a direction to go in, hopefully with a sense of what the outcome will be, but we don’t know with absolute certainty how we will get there.  What will the characters do?  Where will the plot go?  What words will make the most sense so the meaning is as clear as it can be?  Our writing will take turns and detours, go up and down roads, see exquisite pictures, hit road blocks, and be rewritten many times before it arrives at its conclusion. 

Alaska was amazing; with hard work and good editing, our writing can also be amazing.      

Questions & Tension

Here are excerpts a Guild member shared from a presentation about writing at the Wisconsin Writers Association (WWA) 2019 fall conference.

Good vs. Bad questions to ask while writing.

Good questions keep your reader reading.

            Why is this happening?

            What will happen next?

            What needs to happen to my point-of-view (POV) character(s)?

            What do my characters need, desire, fear, or hope for?

Bad questions cause your reader to give up, especially if they are confused.

            What’s selling?

            Will this get published?

            Why do I suck at this? (Always a bad question)

            What if I get something wrong?

            How do I sell this to an agent?

Maintaining Tension and Conflict in Dialogue

When a conversation needs to indicate conflict, keep in mind that it usually involves one of these types of adversarial relationships:

            Power struggle

            Outright argument

            Head games

            Passive-Aggressive exchange

To enhance and maintain tension when characters are locked in a war of words, use:

Terse dialog (curt, abrasive language)

Short sentences and fragments

Pithy, to the point statements

To ease the tension and diffuse a situation, consider using:

            Idle chit chat

            Information dumps

            Lengthy speeches