Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Ideas. Where do they come from?



For me, ideas come easily. While in college and taking marketing classes, I would get my greatest thoughts while driving back and forth to work or school.

I still get awesome ideas for new books while in the car, however they're not the entire story. They are usually just the preliminaries without the guts of the story. And that is the hard part. Numerous stories are started with enthusiasm and gusto because I know this book will be the one I finish.

Not so. Once past what I call the "honeymoon stage" my story falters and poops out. What the heck, I ask myself. Now what to do?

Back to the car and drive around to get my idea for a new book. That is what I used to do. I have fallen into the abyss of beginning numerous books with a sorry plot and no ending.

Remember the little engine that could? The train would go up the hill, plugging away, full steam ahead and get to the top of the tracks and teeter on the edge. Hanging there and stuck or waiting for a nudge.

My friend, Kim told me something very valuable--stop starting a new novel and just keep writing.

That nudge or idea needs to come from me with the help of my characters.

So now when I find myself lingering or stuck, I write several scenarios of the scene and practice WWMCD. What Would My Character Do?

I visualize several forks in the road or many forks. Or many closed doors and the character needs to choose either door number one, two, three, four and so on.

This is the tough part in obtaining ideas. Watching TV helps as I see something exciting, odd or wildly outlandish and model it to fit my character's situation. People-watching is helpful as well. Mannerisms can trigger something in my head and I'll shape it to my novel.

I have so many life experiences, especially with friends and family. I don't want to emulate a direct situation so I tweak it. Add some flare, a spark or something wildly different.

Writing prompts offer me a workout for my brain--getting my juices flowing.



There is also a way of planning or hatching new ideas by using the Snowflake Method. This process provides structure and a more defined way to clearly put your ideas in order and/or plot. A definite must for myself.

The above are just a few ways that I obtain ideas and where I go from here. In future blogs, I am going to follow-up with the snowflake writing methodology step-by-step. Stay tuned . . . .

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Why So Many Emails?

This blog is to focus on my utilization of numerous email accounts and the number of emails that I have in my inbox.

I believe I am normal when I proclaim that I have several email addresses. I have my main account which is Gmail and there is an amazing setting where I can have my other email accounts literally dump into one account.

I don't have to go out of the program, open another and wait for it to boot up. However, I have noticed that there is a lag time when emails are sent to my Cox account to come over from Gmail account.

Why Gmail? Besides taking over the world with Google Chrome which is my favorite search engine, Google Circles is a social medium and Google allows me to sign into YouTube easily and numerous other websites. And of course, as I mentioned the versatility of funneling my other accounts, not necessarily Gmail accounts, into one particular email account.

I have a personal affinity for my very first email address which is dee4huskers and that pretty much says it all as I am a die hard Nebraska football fan.

I created Yahoo email accounts so that I could join Yahoo groups and this account also dumps into one account. The downfall is that when I respond to a Yahoo Group email from my Gmail account, it comes back as undelivered.  I have done everything to correct this issue but Gmail and Yahoo do not play nice together.

I use the other emails for various reasons. One is for writing, one is for personal emails and another is for group emails.

As I was checking my emails this morning I looked at the number of emails I have in my email account.

I have 68,378 emails dating all the way back to 2008. Does this make me an email hoarder? Probably, but someday I may need that information. I go back through them every month or so and see emails from people that I haven't talked to in a while.

And I definitely keep all emails with account information such as login information and I keep all emails with writing tips and advice.

I have been doing really good lately by spending a few minutes a day deleting the junk email that rolls in daily.

This is definitely a work in progress and as of today (3/6/12) I've deleted all clutter emails back to February 22.  One day at a time.


Dee Ann W

Saturday, February 11, 2012

Motivation - Make a Difference

The irony of the story below is something that I have done the same thing several times.  


I too had walked on a beach and I found snails in their shell that had washed up on shore. The shells were the size of my first and I picked one up and found that there was someone or something inside. I too pitched it into the ocean.  I worried later did I do the right thing as -- did the snail die on impact or was this part of their life cyle?
 
I did think that I was doing the right thing. I was something that was living. 

IT IS THE LITTLE THINGS THAT MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE


There was a man taking a morning wa lk at or the beach. He saw that along with the morning tide came hundreds of starfish and when the tide receded, they were left behind and with the morning sun rays, they would die. The tide was fresh and the starfish were alive. The man took a few steps, picked one and threw it into the water. He did that repeatedly. Right behind him there was another person who couldn't understand what this man was doing. He caught up with him and asked, "What are you doing? There are hundreds of starfish. How many can you help? What difference does it make?" This man did not reply, took two more steps, picked up another one, threw it into the water, and said, "It makes a difference to this one."

What difference are we making? Big or small, it does not matter. If everyone made a small difference, we'd end up with a big difference, wouldn't we?