Category Archives: General

Writing Perspective – Day 10 of 31

By Valerie Routhieaux

Day 10: Plotting

Today, I will discuss plotting your novel, short story, article, or poem. What is the main theme of your work? Are you writing fiction or non-fiction? Is your work mainstream or sweet? Mainstream is what most people read, filled with every kind of vulgarity and or sexual content the author can dream up. Sweet being the opposite and often spiritually based. Even poetry needs a plot when you consider the many ballads written by those famous authors – Shakespeare for instance.

When plotting your novel, you need to know the basic elements—setting/location; historical, present, future; characters, your main characters, hero, and heroine plus your secondary characters. How many characters will you have? What is your genre? There are many genres to choose from—romance, historical romance, contemporary romance, historical, mystery, science fiction, western, chiller/horror and the list goes on interminably.

With the new series I’m working on, I started plotting my story in Excel to keep it organized. Which also brings up another plot point—will it be a single novel or a series?

Plotting takes place before you start work on your novel. If it’s a non-fiction work, you also need to outline and know how many chapters it will be. The chapters define the essence of the book. For instance, you can have several parts to your non-fiction book, and within each part several chapters to explain each section.

If you’re a pantser, as I mentioned on day one, plotting doesn’t always work well. You are either a plotter or pantser. Most authors or writers can’t be both. I don’t know any who are.

Once you have your plot, it’s time to start writing. If you’re a plotter, tell me how you plot your work. Thanks for reading.

Tomorrow’s Perspective: Pantser

Writing Perspective – Day 2 of 31

By Valerie Routhieaux

Day Two – Ideas

Today, I’m going to focus on ideas. One of the most frequently asked questions is how do I get my ideas? I’d like to say I think a long time about what to write. I don’t. Thoughts are always there and spawn ideas I can write about.

You can get ideas from news stories, books, movies or something that happens. The way it happened brings forth a great idea for a book.

Talking to people and something they say, or how it’s said, can be a good plot for a story.

There are so many places you can find stories, they’re endless. Even dreams can evolve into a book. For non-fiction books, there might be something that happened–such as a mystery–that hasn’t been solved or a memoir from your childhood could make a good book. History is full of people who did something other people would want to know about.

Think about every book you’ve ever read. Which was your favorite and why? That book started as an idea in the author’s imagination. They took that idea and made a story from it, and that story became the book you read. It might have been a best-seller and it might not. However, you read it, reviewed it and others have done the same.

Jerry B. Jenkins, author of the Left Behind series was on a plane and had the idea to write about the tribulation from the viewpoint of an airline pilot. The series became a reality, which he co-authored with Tim LaHaye. One book led to twelve and then four prequels.

Don’t discount the ideas you have. They all lead somewhere, whether it’s a blog post or a best-selling novel.

You might wonder how a person can take an idea from a book. I read an article once that said, there are no new stories, and someone will always come along and write the story better than you did. Find a nugget in a book and you have an idea, a seed, and a new story comes forth. What are your ideas? Let them germinate the seed for a story.

It’s time to write.

Tomorrow’s perspective: Join a Writer’s Group.

Writing Perspective – Day 1 of 31

By Valerie Routhieaux

Day One – Just Write

Write. Don’t edit. Don’t worry about your grammar and punctuation.

Write. When you start a new project, the idea is to get the story down. This is your rough draft, and believe me, it’s rough. I guarantee you probably broke every rule of good writing. You’ll have typos and even words that don’t look like typos called homophones. Those are the trickiest typos of all. You’ll also have punctuation and grammatical errors.

Leave your editing for the finished project.

When the story is finished, it’s time to start polishing it. Everyone writes differently. Some people use index cards and map out their book from beginning to end. Some use a storyboard. Some outline. And some just write.

There are two kinds of writers. Plotters and Pantsers. The plotters are the ones who use the index cards, storyboard, and outline. Pantsers are those who plant themselves in the chair and write.

I’m a pantser. I don’t know what my characters are going to do until I put fingers to keyboard.

If this is day one for you, decide what kind of writer you are and get started. The book won’t write itself, though some days you will feel like it is, especially if you’re a pantser, like me.

What kind of writing do you do? If you’re an author, what genre do you write in? If you haven’t published yet, what are your interests when you sit down to write? If you’re thinking about writing, what genre interests you? Is it fiction or non-fiction?

Write!

Tomorrow’s perspective: Ideas

The Trials of Writing in the Summer Time

By Rhonda Strehlow

The sun is shining. The birds are singing. The road is calling. The lounge chair beacons me.

The garden needs hoeing.

The day is so beautiful the sheets should be hung on the clothes line.

Is it time to drive to Door County to pick cherries?

My desk is a mess. There are birthday cards to be sent. The neighbor wants to go on a ten-mile bike ride.

We only have a few real summer days in Wisconsin. I’ll write when it’s raining.

Re-seal the deck. Trim back the trees. And, now the peas should be picked. And shelled. And frozen.

I’ll write when it’s raining.

The dog needs a walk. The cat needs a treat. The bird feeders are empty.

It’s time to weed the flower garden again. Who ordered three yards of mulch?

The fish are biting. The fair is next week.  I need a haircut. And, so does the dog.

So now it’s been raining for three days. No more excuses. I open the laptop with a sigh. I re-read the first three chapters. Not too bad. The characters talk to me. I get lost in the drama of another life, another time.

Ten p.m. and 3,512 words! Where did the time go? I’m just getting started. I’m sure I can get in a few more chapters before midnight. Who needs to sleep?

Travel for Inspiration

By L.E. Aronis

I recently bought a t-shirt that reads “Love Where You Are,” which is completely the opposite of my usual life-view. I’ve lived in Wisconsin all my life, and while there are many things I love about the state, there are increasingly more and more things I’m growing to dislike each year. I love the natural beauty and friendliness of most people, but the long winters have me longing for a more temperate climate.

I have been to several different countries, including Canada, Israel, Ireland, and Great Britain, as well as Puerto Rico, which is an American territory but feels like a different country. I’ve flown on many planes and taken a passenger train between Edinburgh and Glasgow, Scotland. I’ve taken a ferry from Wales to Ireland, spent a whole week exploring the amazing city of Edinburgh by city bus, and my two feet. I’ve spent way too much money to rent a car, driving along the Jurassic Coast of Southern Dorset, England, as well as County Cork, Ireland. I’ve harvested grapes in a vineyard for a winery in Israel and tasted the wine that those before me worked so hard to help produce.

I’ve taken chances and not always been very wise in my decisions when it comes to travel, but it’s all worked out, and I’ve learned quite a lot from it. Those experiences and the places I’ve traveled to have enriched my writing, as well as my life. I can draw on so many amazing things in order to create characters and situations that I’d never have thought of if I’d stayed put in Wisconsin. I’ve written about people living in large manor homes in Edinburgh, Amazing townhomes in London, beach houses near the sea in Dorset, as well as a normal, middle-income home in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

Through travel, I’ve become a better writer and I think, a better person who sees things in a different, less narrow way. If you want variety and something different to write about, I’d recommend travel; you never know the things you’ll come up with, having gleaned inspiration through the people you’ll meet and places you’ll see.

Writing for Publication

By Valerie Routhieaux

I’m not a best-selling author, though that is my goal. I’m here to give you pointers on how to write for publication, not blogs. Blogs are a different kind of writing, more relaxed and you can break every rule, and I’m sure I do too.

Day 1

Write. Don’t edit. Don’t worry about your grammar and punctuation.

Write. When you start a new project, the idea is to get the story down. This is your rough draft, and believe me, it’s rough. I guarantee you probably broke every rule of good writing. You’ll have typos and even words that don’t look like typos called homophones. Those are the trickiest typos of all. You’ll also have punctuation and grammatical errors.

Leave your editing for the finished project.

When the story is finished, it’s time to start polishing it. Everyone writes differently. Some people use index cards and map out their book from beginning to end. Some use a storyboard. Some outline. And some just write.

There are two kinds of writers. Plotters and Pantsers. The plotters are the ones who use the index cards, storyboard, and outline. Pantsers are those who plant themselves in the chair and write.

I’m a pantser. I don’t know what my characters are going to do until I put fingers to keyboard.

If this is day one for you, decide what kind of writer you are and get started. The book won’t write itself, though some days you will feel like it is, especially if you’re a pantser, like me.

What kind of writing do you do? If you’re an author, what genre do you write in? If you haven’t published yet, what are your interests when you sit down to write? If you’re thinking about writing, what genre interests you? Is it fiction or non-fiction?

Write!

Why Writing Groups

By Ruth Wellens

            Writing groups are much like family. Some groups are larger than others, but each person in the group will have a definite personality that will come through and need to be interacted with. Then there is the unique writing each author in the group possesses.  Once again, some writing you will have more in common with than others depending on genre, subject matter, audience and simply style.  Don’t we find more in common with certain siblings or cousins than others?  It is human nature and the nature of a family. 

            What is the glue that binds us together?  Families have history; writing groups have language. The language of writing and the writing process is unique to English teachers and authors. Who really considers point of view? How many people do you discuss verb tense with besides your writing group? Who responds about whether a group of words contain a definite subject? Who cares (or even understands) if there is a clear antecedent for the pronoun that is written?  Exactly what I mean. 

            Besides the technical side of writing, who else can really understand having all the stars aligned, a whole day ahead of you reserved just for writing, and sitting down to the computer only to have no ideas come to you to write about.   Who else knows what it’s like to feel the euphoria of being accepted by a publisher and then the depression because of the pressure of an editing deadline?  Writing is a solitary endeavor, no doubt, so it is very special, and some would say necessary, to have a group-like family to meet with on a regular basis – to have a writing group.      

If You Had 168 Football Fields

By Dorothy Seehausen

After a long, snowy Wisconsin winter, it was time to take up my daughter’s invitation to visit my granddaughter, the anthropology major, at Augustana University in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. It was her 20th birthday and they promised me an hour on my own to do research. Her dorm is within walking distance of the Krause Research Library at the Center for Western Studies (CWS), so while they took a stroll around the campus enjoying the warmish spring-like weather I headed over to the CWS for a frolic of my own – piecing together the awesome story of our pioneer ancestors.

Located at 2001 S. Summit Avenue in Sioux Falls, the CWS houses a welcome center, gift shop, museum, and library. Most of its many offerings are free, and include the new permanent museum exhibits Voices of the Northern Plains, as well as the Krause Research Library which houses 40,000 volumes on the Great Plains/American West. Partnerships with the South Dakota State Historical Society, the South Dakota Archaeological Society and the University of Nebraska’s Center for Great Plains Studies aid the CWS in their goal to stimulate interest in the heritage of South Dakota. There is also online access to thousands of photos and documents in the library’s database Northern Plains Peoples & Places.

The Krause Research Library is upstairs, its walls appropriately decorated with long rows of books I wished I had time to get lost in. Off to the left at the top of the stairs an ample staff room awaits with staff to assist the researcher’s every whim. Open to the public, family historians either can browse the shelves themselves or hire a researcher to work with. Since my time and funds were limited, I decided to sit at the computer looking for books, articles, magazines – anything that contained the history of homesteading in South Dakota, my latest family history project.

My interest in South Dakota started when I married in 1961. My husband’s grandparents (my granddaughter’s great-greats), Thomas and Ida Mae Shanahan purchased 160 acres of homestead land for a filing fee of $18 in Lyman County, South Dakota in 1908. Their story is a microcosm of the lives of thousands of homesteaders who poured into Dakota Territory from 1860 to 1920, thanks to the homestead act of 1862.

Using “homesteading” and “South Dakota” as my search terms, a few minutes later I discovered “Drawn to the Land: Homesteading Dakota.” This guide is a 20-page booklet, digitized and available online, describing the South Dakota State Historical Society’s traveling exhibit to celebrate the state’s 125th anniversary. It includes an overview of the homesteading experience from the first purchase of 160 acres of land to proving it up and all the hardships, pitfalls and successes in between, including pictures of the one room sod huts many families had to live in.

I downloaded the guide on my flash drive, happy as great-great grandpa Shanahan must have been as he stood on his land for the first time, a land patent in his pocket and a dream in his heart.

So how big actually is 160 acres? The Mall of America is about 96 acres; Vatican City is about 110; Ellis Island is 27.40 acres; Buckingham Palace itself has 19 acres of floor space. Fort Knox is 109,054 acres.  And if you had 168 football fields? They would fit on your 160 acres of land.

Life in Wisconsin

Having lived in the Badger state most of my life, I have come to love Wisconsin. Life in Wisconsin can be harsh when inches, or feet, of snow fall and remain on the ground for months…or when wind chill factors drop into the 25 below category or colder. Life in Wisconsin can also be beautiful when spring blossoms and trillium spout up in the forests or in the fall when leaves turn gorgeous in colors of orange, red, and yellow.

Sure, Wisconsin has its tourist destinations such as Door County, Wisconsin Dells, and other attractions but it is her small farming communities, thousands of acres of forests, and clean running water which are most enticing. When I have the luxury of spending time in the woods or by a lake and marvel at the beauty of nature, I think this is what more people need to experience. Maybe our state should advertise these simple pleasures more.

It is then I realize the serenity, peace and quiet I am able to experience could be ruined, disturbed, and less enjoyable if it were inundated by hordes of visitors. Being selfish, I’d rather keep them to myself, family, and close friends.

If, however, we do encounter visitors from another planet, we must do our best to educate them about taking care of what they are able to enjoy. That means leaving wherever you are looking better and cleaner than you found it. Respect the rules and obey the laws. Treat the people who own the property–even if it’s the state or federal government–with respect. Ask permission before stepping onto what might be private property. Be courteous and you will be treated the same.

A good rule of thumb is to ask first. If you’re getting together for a picnic, ask the host what you can bring. And ask if you can bring someone else along instead of showing up with 10 other people and then wonder why there’s not enough food.

Keeping a Family History Journal

By Dorothy Seehausen

I believe if any of us Family Historians think back far enough we can remember the first time the genealogy bug took hold. It’s one of those unforgettable firsts, like your first kiss, or first car. For me, it was the day my mother invited me to tramp around City Cemetery in Farmer City Illinois taking rubbings of the Meliza family tombstones. I had a No. #2 pencil and a spiral notebook for writing names, dates and other pertinent information as my mother called them out to me. I was about 16, the age when kids begin to see their parents as the grown-ups they really are, when our toys and crayons and coloring books end up in a shoebox on the closet shelf, replaced by the trappings of pop culture and shopping trips to the mall. It was the thrill of the hunt, and the excitement of unraveling the mysteries of my family as these new adult curiosities began to take hold.

I felt rather like Dorothy pulling back the curtain on the Wizard of Oz. I was finally old enough to know the family secrets. Little did I know there would be so many. And how cleverly they would be hiding!

I look back fondly on the beginnings of my family history journey, not realizing at the time my mother was passing down the gift of her own curiosity and love of our family. She was what I would describe as an unassuming person, her vocation as a librarian very much personified in her simple manners and gentle way of approaching life.

Early beginnings are a great way to start a family history journal.