You could win $150 to celebrate the release of my book!

You can register here to try for a $150 Visa card in celebration of the release of The Bare Naked Truth! Then join us at our celebratory Facebook party to find out if you won on Thursday, 6/20!

How to infuse humor into your writing

I love funny books.

I love to laugh, I love to giggle, I love to snicker as I'm reading. For me, it's what helps me relate to a story the most. Because life is funny. Even when you are in the worst season of your life, God still always has a way of putting fun into your circumstances - even if it's in the form of another person's story.

And that, friends, is why I love to write humor as well. It's so nice sometimes when life is so heavy to sit down with a light-hearted book and forget your troubles for a little bit.

So. How do you add funny scenes to your book?

I like to do these three things:

1. LISTEN to other people. When someone is telling you a funny story, listen to the way they tell it. Listen to the inflections, the timing, the order they put their words into. You can learn so much about writing by just listening to people. Find your funniest friend and take them out to coffee and just let them go for it with their stories.

2. PRACTICE your timing in your writing. Write a funny story down - something that happened to you or a friend. Now, hand it around. Do people laugh? Do people smile? Figure out the timing in your words. Writing is just like speaking - there is an ebb and flow to your words.

3. STAY away from exclamation points. As a little kid, you learn the best way to make a funny point or to show emotion is to use an exclamation point. After years of being over-used, most editors nowadays are chopping them all. Learn how to convey emotions through the words instead of through the punctuation. It's okay to use them every so often, just not after every funny comment.

And if worse comes to worse, just find a two year-old to hang out with for a while. My son keeps me rolling with his comments. ;)

Do you like to read books that make you laugh? Or are you more of a drama person?

Read Something!

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to read something this weekend. Not, like, the back of the cereal box either. ;) Really read something.

I believe that as people, we're shaped by all the other people we come in contact with. As writers, we're shaped by many, many things, but one of them is the books that we read. This doesn't mean if you read your favorite author enough, you'll sound exactly like them (which is good! The world already has their voice--let it have your own unique voice too!), but reading books that are wonderfully well written will spur on your own desire to craft stories like that. Reading books that are infused with God's love and grace so thick that you can feel it just from reading the book will make you want to make sure you're putting spiritual truth in your books.

So this lovely summer weekend (or rainy/stormy weekend, depending on where you are), that's my writing challenge for you. Find something to read.

Two of the books that have utterly inspired me in these last couple of weeks are Robin Jones Gunn's Victim of Grace (non-fiction) and Ronie Kendig's Talon. Go find a new book by an author you love (If you're stuck for who to read I can think of three authors *cough* Betsy, Bekah, and Erynn *cough* whose books you could start with... ;)  )

Happy Reading!

What punctuation mark are you?

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My post for today accidentally got posted on my other blog! LOL Oops. Please go over there and take the quiz ;)

Confessions

MYTH: You can tell you are supposed to be or are a writer because you cannot imagine living life without writing and you don't enjoy the time when you aren't writing.

TRUTH: There are definitely times when I greatly dislike writing. Usually it's when my deadline is creeping up on me and I have gotten myself backed into a wall in my story. There are often times during breaks in deadlines when I really wonder if I have another book in me. Or after I've gotten a contract when I stare at a blank Word document and I can't for the life of me figure out a good opening scene.


MYTH: Once your book gets published, you immediately get sent on a multi-city book tour and become a millionaire.

TRUTH: There's lots of truth to the words "starving writer". Very, very, very, very, very few authors sell so many books that they can live comfortably on that salary. And unless you are one of those authors, you likely will not be going on a multi-city book tour unless you plan and pay for it yourself.


MYTH: If I can just come up with a good idea, I can get my book published.

TRUTH: Not necessarily. Most first-time authors these days need to have a completed manuscript to show the publisher before any contract is even in place. And once you have written the book, then you'll need to either get an agent to represent you or meet with a publisher at a conference to get it even into their hands. And then, once it's in their hands, it really comes down to three things: 1) Is it a well-written book? 2) Is the timing right for your book? 3) Can the publisher afford to produce it?


What are some myths you've heard that have turned up false in your writing?

Knowing When to Take a Break

It's been said lots of times, by me and many other people. If you're really meant to be a writer, you won't be able to give it up. Sure, you might try quitting for a little while, maybe because of a bad rejection you received or because of time constraints, but you'll always come back to it. Or you'll be miserable.

Still, though, even as people who know we're supposed to be writing, how do we know when it's okay to take a break? I know different ones of y'all have been talking about this for different reasons lately. I actually haven't gotten much word count in for the last few weeks, because I've been working on other aspects of my story (just not the word count progress part). Here's a quick list of things I think might say that you should take a (quick!) break. But remember, this is temporary. I'm not giving anyone permission to give up on this. ;)

1. Pray about it. =) God really does care about things like your writing. Do you feel like He's asking you to take a break for one reason or another?

2. Think about your progress. Are you making any? Do you think you'd make more progress if you took a few days/weeks off to decompress?

3. Are you writing more life than you're living? Unless you're on deadline, evaluate your priorities here. Even for serious writers, "real" life should take precedence, especially in your relationships. Writing IS important, don't get me wrong, just not AS important.

4. You're out of ideas. In that case, just have some imagination fun time. Brainstorm plots and characters and file all of that away for the next time you really write.

5. You have something big in your life you need to focus on first. This could mean all kids of things.

6. Your current story needs more time to simmer in your mind. In this case, you're lucky! This means you're actually working on writing when you're doing dishes, folding laundry, or driving. ;) But it can feeeeel like taking a break, since there's not a lot of typing going on.

7. I'm sure there are other reasons. And I don't love six point lists. ;)

Progress Report time

I'm all thrown off this week because of the holiday! Don't have a clue what day it is. Hope everyone had a good long weekend! Happy Memorial Day! :)

So let's do a progress report real quick. Everyone check in. What are you working on? What's your word count stats and goal? Are you progressing as you had hoped or lagging behind a bit? (or a lot) What's the reason behind the goal you set or the deadline you gave yourself?

Sometimes talking about our progress and our goals and deadlines makes us strive harder to meet them. So share! Let's keep each other accountable.