writing - a learning process

Like so many other things, writing is a learning process.   I am constantly discovering things I didn't know.  Although I haven't taken any writing classes recently, I have taken quite a few in the past.  I still read books and articles on writing and probably always will.  Occasionally I'll reread a book, sort of like a refresher course; when I do I usually come across something I've forgotten, or at least a reminder of something that I should reconsider.  I find myself thinking more critically about the books I read and the movies I watch, analyzing why the author handled the characters or the plot a certain way.  Talking to my fans about writing also helps.  It makes me think about things I haven't consciously considered for a while. 

At a recent book signing, a fan asked about tips to make a description seem more real.  Since then I've thought about my response and what else I could have told her.  I'm going to add my thoughts to my tips for writers page.  I'll continue to add to the page as I learn or rediscover more.  (These are all things that I wish someone had told me when I first started writing.) 

horses in winter

And yet another horse day.  We have a lot of them in the winter.  More horses are in stalls now, which means more stalls to clean.  The hoses freeze, so we have to thaw them before we can fill the buckets and tubs.  The water in the tubs freezes, so we have to break the ice.  We're just hoping that we don't have all the snow we had last year.  Slogging around in snow higher than your knees makes everything harder as well as take a whole lot longer.

Of course there is an up-side to winter.  Everything looks beautiful when the snow is fresh.   The horses and the dogs love to play in it.  (Some of the horses even like to make horse angels in the snow!)  No, I wouldn't say that I hate winter, but I sure do like spring!

discussion questions

I realized recently that I haven't written discussion questions for many of my books, so I've started rereading some of them.  I just finished writing the questions for The Salamander Spell.  The Dragon Princess is next.  It feels odd rereading my older books.  I almost always find something that I would change if I could.  Small details mostly - nothing major.  I might have tweaked the dialogue a bit for The Salamander Spell, but that was about it.  In addition to rereading books and writing discussionn questions, I'm working on the outline for the sequel to The Wide Awake Princess.  I looks as if it's going to be a lot of fun to write.  I'm going to include some of the old classic fairy tales, just like I did for the first book.  Once I finish the discussion questions for the older books, I'll be able to work on the new one full time.  I'm already looking forward to it!

progress report

I finished my first regular round of revisions for the sequel to Wings today.  (This is the second version of the book.  I finished the first version in June, then the second in October.  This is the final version, except for regular revisions.)   It's 248 pages, more than before I started the revisions; I added to some of the chapters plus wrote a whole new chapter.

After you work on a story long enough, you begin to get really tired of it. I feel that way now.  I sent the manuscript to my editor so she can look it over, which means I'll have a short break from that particular story until she sends it back to me. That works out well, because in a week or two I'll be ready to look at it again.  In the meantime, I'm going to start the pre-writing for my next book.   I'm also going to work on updating my website.  Always lots to do. 

a writing day

Today was an all day writing day.  Some days are horse days - we do horse related things all day.  Some days we run errands and I don't get much else done.  I've had a lot of writing days lately which means that I'm actually getting a lot done.  I love writing days because I love writing.  Spending a day doing what I love is like giving myself a special treat.  Unfortunately, I lose track of time when I'm writing.  I was supposed to take a break to go buy the turkeys for Thanksgiving.  (I say turkeys - plural - because we are having so many people over that we need two this year.)  I kept writing, not noticing the time, and had to go shopping this evening.  We got the turkeys and then had to clean out the fridge to fit both birds.  When all that was done, I went back to writing.   Did I mention that I love to write?  

PS I'm working on the sequel to Wings: A Fairy Tale.  I'm almost finished and am enjoying it tremendously! 

my latest book signing

I had another book signing today.  There were a few people there when I arrived and more came as I gave my talk.  We had a nice group and a good signing.  I hope that everyone there enjoyed my talk or at least learned a little more about writing.  I certainly enjoyed meeting them!  Thank you to Emma who helped by getting the books ready for me to sign. 

Every signing is different.  As I mentioned in my last blog entry, sometimes no one shows up and sometimes a lot of people come.  I think any signing is a good one when people come who are actually interested in my books.  I especially love meeting my fans, and enjoy any chance to do so.   

Book signings

I had a lovely book signing last weekend.  We had a wonderful turnout and I met a lot of great fans.  I have another book signing coming up this weekend.  I'm hoping that it will be as good as the last one.  They aren't all as nice.  As most authors can tell you, sometimes very few fans come, sometimes none at all.  I was asked to do a signing in a town outside Philadelphia a few years ago.  We drove for two hours to find a nearly empty store.  The only people there were the employees and a few customers, none of whom had come for my signing.  It turned out that there was a big Eagle's game that afternoon.  The person who had invited me was new and hadn't known to look at the game schedule.  Fortunately that kind of signing doesn't happen very often. 

I have noticed something peculiar when at a not-as-well-attended event.  I call it the author avoidance look.  This is what happens when you are sitting at the store-supplied table, you look up, meet the curious eyes of a passing book store customer and  they quickly look away.  Or else they think you might make eye contact, and they are careful not to look at you at all.  Oh, my gosh!, they are probably thinking.  If I look at that author, she might think I'm interested in her book!  The horror of it all!  It's so predictable that it's actually kind of funny. 

Despite the poorly attended events, author book signings are still worthwhile simply because of the events like the one last weekend.  We always live in hope that we will have signings like that and are delighted when we actually do.





 

What book that I have written is my favorite so far?

This is another question that I am frequently asked and it's a hard one to answer.  I don't really have a favorite. They've all been fun to write and there are certain things about each one that I really like. I loved writing about Emma and Eadric, Millie and Audun.  I loved writing things that I thought were funny, creating the spells and the sea monsters in the troll's mountain, and the mermaids and the dragons. I really liked writing about Tobi in Wings and in its sequel.  I guess I'd have to say that The Wide Awake Princess was one of my favorites because I was able to include so many classic fairy tales. 

There are certain books that are special to me because of what was going on in my life when I was working on them.  Dragon's Breath will always be special because the advance reading copy came out shortly before my mother went into the hospital.  I read it out loud to her when I visited and finished it only a few days before she died.  Although some other books may make me smile, I guess I'd have to say the Dragon's Breath has meant the most to me.   

author mistakes

Yes, authors make mistakes.  Sometimes we forget something we have written earlier.  This is especially easy to do when we are writing a series.  Yes, I have made some mistakes in my tales of the Frog Princess.  I don't mind if you tell me about it either.  However I, like everyone else, take the criticism much more kindly if the critic is not rude.  I just received a very rude email telling me something that I had heard from dozens of my fans, all of whom had stated it in a much more polite fashion.  If you are going to be rude, I do not want to hear from you.  If you are going to be polite, please write! 

What made me want to become an author?

This is a very easy question to answer.  I love to write.  I love to create characters, settings, the plot - the whole thing.  I lose all track of time when I'm writing.  Being an author was my dream career when I was growing up and I'm thrilled that I'm able to spend my time writing now. 

How old was I when I started writing?

My fans often ask this question.  I began to write when I was in middle school (junior high to some of you.)    I was an avid reader and discovered that I enjoyed writing just as much.   I started to turn simple school assignments into stories whenever I could.  I wrote a short play that my friends and I performed for a Girl Scout badge.  I read mostly science fiction, mysteries and biographies, but most of the stories I wrote were science fiction.  When I went to college I stopped writing for a while.  I didn't start writing again until after my first two children were born.  I stayed with science fiction until I finally wrote my first fantasy story - The Frog Princess.  I've stayed with fantasy ever since. 

Are you going to write any more books in the Frog Princess series?

One of the questions that I'm most frequently asked of late is whether or not I'm going to write any more books in the tales of the Frog Princess.  No, although I haven't given it up completely.  A Prince Among Frogs is the last book in the series, but someday I'd like to write some spin-off books.  One would be about Zoe and Francis, another would be about the mermaid, Pearl.  I loved Emma and Eadric, Millie and Audin, but I've already told their stories.  Now it's time to tell someone else's.

Welcome to my new blog!

The purpose of this blog is for there to be a place that I can answer many of the questions that I receive in e-mails and fan letters. I receive so many well thought out questions that I felt as if I needed somewhere that I could share my answers where they would be helpful and informative to my fans. So please, feel free to email me any questions you may have about being a writer or specific questions you may have about any of my books and I will do my best to answer them.