Writing styles

Developing Understanding when Reading (Photo credit: Ken Whytock)

Since I got my Kindle, I’ve been reading a lot of books that are not necessarily best-sellers.  Some of them are firsts for the author, others are from previously published authors.  I always try to pay attention to writing styles when I’m reading.  Of course, we all notice spelling or grammatical errors.  I also notice editing or publishing errors that distract from the joy of reading.

But lately, I’ve really been paying attention to dialogue styles.  It seems that some authors write their dialogue in proper grammatical form (those are probably the folks who paid the most attention in English class!).  My issue with writing (and reading) dialogue written in this manner is that it’s not really how most of us speak in our everyday lives.  I suppose, if we’re highfalutin’,  hoity-toity, upper crust, tea and scones in the afternoon types, then that could be how we actually talk.  I don’t know about you, but I don’t know anyone like that in my life…and I sure don’t talk like that.  So I tend to write dialogue as I imagine my characters speak.  In my opinion, that allows the reader to better know and understand the characters.

I have to admit, I get distracted when I’m reading a book and the writing style is such that I get the feeling that English is a second language for the author.  I find myself constantly telling myself it would have been easier to understand had it been written this way, or had they not hesitated to use contractions.  Am I being overly picky?

As I throw my hands in the air in admission that I completely understand that I am by no means the most accomplished writer, and that anyone who has ever written anything at all can either take or leave my criticisms, I must stress that I’ve been an avid reader since I first learned to read.  And I know what I like to read as well as what doesn’t appeal to me at all.  Really, aren’t we all like that?

What distracts you from the joy of reading?

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She’s baaack!

Before you say anything…I know I’ve been MIA for much too long. April has been an extremely hectic month! I went back to work after being sick for two months…believe me, that wasn’t (isn’t) easy. I’m still not at 100%, but I’m getting there…slowly…

And, being the crazy chick that I am, I decided to do another Camp NaNo during April…yep, you read that right…writing 50,000 words over the course of the month. I managed to hit 50,378 today…early, well, at least a little early. Some of it’s good, most of it’s not…but the whole point of NaNo is to simply write…and I did do that. And I think I may come up with, you know, maybe 10,000 publishable words from this month’s writing…maybe.

Now it’s time to focus on my health…I’ve got a big, several-hours-long pulmonary test coming up on the 9th and maybe then we can figure out what to do to make it a bit easier to breathe and do something else at the same time…in the meantime, I’m trying to eat healthier and exercise as much as I can without negatively affecting my breathing.

And speaking of eating healthier…let me ask you all, do you use a juicer? If so, what brand? Pros and cons? I’m trying to eat more organic foods and working diligently to avoid GMOs and making my own juices would be another step in that direction.

650 Posts…who would have thunk it?

Writing (Photo credit: courosa)

Haha…650 posts published…that’s with several months of daily writing and a few months of very little writing, guess it all averages out, huh?    I’ve been at this for a while…not sure it’s helped anyone else, but I’m pretty sure I’ve received the equivalent of several months of therapy sessions from my writing…not going to complain about that…didn’t cost me anything and didn’t have to turn anything in to my insurance…not too shabby, huh?

I think writing about whatever is going on in my life, or whatever has happened in the past (and how it still affects me), or my hopes and dreams, well…writing about anything enables me to step back and view things from a different perspective.  You know how everything seems to be in crisis mode when we’re in the midst of it?  Well, taking the time to think it through enough to write about it let’s me take a deep breath and understand that most things aren’t as dire as they seem at the time.

Combine the benefits of writing with the “wisdom” of getting older (stop laughing, this grey-underneath-the-hair-color has to count for something) and I think life is somehow smoother now than it was 20 years ago, the waves aren’t quite as choppy…or maybe I’ve just figured out how to ride them out a little better without fearing for my life.

So I figure I’ll keep writing…for my own well-being, for fun, for a way to reach out to others and share a little corner of my world, and maybe I’ll eventually get around to getting those books published.  Set those goals and work toward them.  You can’t do it all at once, but you can do a little every day.

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My January many mini challenges

Naruto Doing Sit-Ups (Photo credit: lyk3_0n3_tym3)

How’s that for a title? Okay, okay, I know it’s a bit lame, but I really just wanted to say many mini…

Anyhow, I’ve eased into the resolution thing this year…thought I’d take a different path.  Instead of jumping in head first, I’m just sticking my big toe in for the month of January…working to re-establish healthy habits.

I’m working on eating a healthier diet…at least 3 fruits and veggies a day…no more than 1 fast food meal a week (haven’t had any yet)…at least a couple of vegetarian meals a week.

Then there’s the exercise thing…this little challenge involves doing sit-ups and push-ups every day, whatever day of the month, that’s how many of each you do on that day.  For example, today is the 8th, so I do 8 of each today…not much, I know.  But again, I’m working to make exercise a habit.  I’ll also be doing 3 days of cardio a week, although I haven’t done a lot since I’ve been so sick all month.  But tomorrow is another day.

I have my mini financial challenge…saving a certain amount of money each week for the entire year.  The first week was just $1, the second week will be $2, all the way up to the last week when I’ll save $52.  Kind of a fun little challenge.

I’ve also challenged myself to write publish a blog post every day this month.  I had to alter this challenge a bit as there are some days I end up writing two or three posts and others where I don’t write one at all.

So far, I’m making a little progress on my many mini challenges. Here’s to a successful January and beyond!

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Technically the last day of NaNo, 2012

…I mean it’s the official final day, hours, minutes, seconds of frenzied writing for a lot of people.  I’m glad I finished a couple days early.  As tired as I am tonight (worked 12 hours today and still didn’t come close to getting everything done) I think I would have been struggling to finish.  Woohoo!!  Maybe I’m finally learning some life lessons…like, oh I don’t know, don’t procrastinate?  I think part of the allure of procrastination is the big adrenaline rush you get when you’re faced with an emminent deadline…okay, okay…that’s not really why I’ve procrastinated in the past…yes, I’ll admit it…it was laziness.  There, are you happy?  It’s taken me a while, but I’ve learned to start on projects early (or at least on time), so I’m not so stressed out when faced with a deadline.

Oh, and Spook reminded me, in a very soft, reasonable voice, that I’d neglected to let everyone know that she’s also an IU fan…

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NaNo, day 26 and corporate visitors

hold-a-meeting (Photo credit: bettyx1138)

I’d only been home from work for a short period of time when the closing manager called me to tell me that our district manager had called him and said that he was picking up our zone vice president at the airport tomorrow morning and that they would most definitely be coming to our store…yikes!  Wish me luck, I need a good visit.

I was pacing back and forth, nervous…then decided to sit down and write anyhow.  I’m glad I did.  I somehow managed to write enough to get me over 44000 words!

I don’t really have a lot to say, very nervous about the visit tomorrow, ready to be finished with my NaNo challenge…going to try to get a little sleep tonight.  Hopefully I won’t be awake tossing and turning all night tonight.

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Just about made it through the Thanksgiving weekend and NaNo day 24

English: DC USA, Target, Black Friday (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Today was another wild and crazy day at work…ya just gotta love retail the weekend after Thanksgiving!!  But we’ve almost made it through the busiest weekend of the year.  Of course, next weekend will be busy too.  And the weekend after that…But I’m starting to get a glimpse of that light at the end of the tunnel…The district manager stopped by for a visit again today.  Thankfully, he said we looked good, everything is full and things are going well.  So, maybe just maybe, this will be a good thing for my future with the company.  Keep your fingers crossed, okay?

I was so tired when I got home last night that I couldn’t write one single word.  But I think I kind of made it up tonight…almost 3000 words…and some decent stuff, I think.  The  stomach-churning kind of good, if you know what I mean.  What I’m writing right now is really one of the biggest, most emotionally draining scenes in the entire book…I’ve thought about this for quite some time so it’s nice to actually get it underway.  It’s not finished, not by a long shot, but I’ve got it sounding the way I’ve imagined it…and that has put a smile on my face.

I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving.  Started your shopping yet???

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Happy Thanksgiving on this 22nd day of NaNo

Thanksgiving Day Greetings (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Thanksgiving is here.  I hope everyone is enjoying a peaceful day with family and friends, good food, maybe some football and parades.  As for me, I’ll be going in to work pretty soon…boo!  One good thing about it, the day will be so busy that it goes by quickly and I’ve got just the best crew working with me today, so that makes it much nicer…sure does help to be the one making out the schedule..heehee!!

I went in to work yesterday morning at 5 am, worked until 2:30.  Then I went home to try to get a little rest before going back in at 6 pm to help set the ad, at least I thought I was going to go in to help…kinda worked out a little differently than I’d planned…oh well, after Christmas we’ll be doing some major training of our associates so more people are capable of doing what needs to be done.  Just a little side note there…

Anyhow, after finishing the ad set and getting out the doorbusters for today, I finally made it out of the joint around 11:30ish…a 15 hour work day…wow!  That’s…I…oh my…that’s way too many hours for this old body to be working.  Now, I’ll be going in at 3 this afternoon.  As much as I hate to do it, I have to stop at Kroger to pick up bread and ice for my associates…can’t forget to take in the ham I baked…someone might like a nice juicy ham sandwich on their break tonight.  I know I will!

I wonder if customers will be lined up on the sidewalk when I get to work…there were a few out there last year when I went in…funny what people will do to get a bargain or two…Hey, I did do some shopping today…on Amazon!  Got a lightening deal watch for myself…I think that’ll be my Christmas present to myself.

I am so glad I did all of that extra writing earlier in the month.  My cushion has all but evaporated, but at least I’m still on schedule to finish on time.  I did sit down and write a little over 1000 words today.  I was actually on a roll when Chris called.  He was driving to the store where he’s filling in as manager so we chatted while he drove (I know, I know…distractions aren’t good while driving…).  So, as far as NaNo goes, I’m at 37,600 words now with a little over a week to go.  I’m going to have to force myself to sit down every evening for a while since I’ll only have one more day off work between now and the end of the month.  But I’ll get there…it may not be early, but I will reach 50,000 words by the end of November!

Hey, Happy Thanksgiving!!  Gobble, gobble!

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I’m thankful for day 20 of NaNo

nanowrimo, goal day 20 (Photo credit: paloetic)

Seriously, I had a good day of writing today.  It was one of those days when the writing is easy, words form without a lot of effort, you don’t have to give it a lot of thought.  And I ended up with a little over 2000 words, still have that little cushion to help me as I continue working toward that 50,000 word count.

Once I finally got out of bed today, I forced myself to make the trek to Kroger to purchase a few more things for our Thanksgiving work feast…bottled water, bottled tea, soda, chips, candy, snack cakes and crackers, and a big old spiral sliced ham (which I did bake this evening…the house sure smells good).  I dropped everything off at work where young Chris told me the district manager had called for me.  So I meandered toward the office, talking with customers on the way.  When I called Steve, he told me we had a conference call scheduled for this afternoon and wanted to know how things were going.  We chatted for a few minutes then parted ways, he to make the trip to Illinois, me to check on the schedule…another call-in to try to find a replacement for.  I got all of that taken care of, added a few more shifts to use up the hours that I had left over, gathered all of the requests-off and schedule info so I could work on the schedule at home later in the day.

Then I went back to Kroger, the one closest to where I live, to pick up a few things I needed for home.  I finally made my way home with half an hour to spare before the conference call got underway.  After participating in the 40 minute conference call, I got the ham in the oven, laundry in the washer, dish water run, and finally sat down to eat something.  After working on the schedule for a while, I did a couple more things around the house then decided to get down to the business of writing.

Whew! One of my work buddies told me I looked tired…hmm…I wonder why?!  What a great day off!  What did you do today?

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Twas the Saturday before Thanksgiving…

Thanksgiving Day Greetings (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

…and day 17 of NaNoWriMo.  And what a wild day it was.  We went in to work at 6 this morning.  Yes, that was kind of like sleeping in for me.  We got quite a bit done before opening, then it was nuts from the get-go (now where does that phrase come from?  Guess I’ll have to google that one.).  The good news is, I didn’t fall off of any ladders today!

After not writing at all yesterday, I knew I was going to have to spend a little time at it tonight.  I’m not sure I managed to write anything worthwhile…no, let me change that.  I’m pretty sure everything I wrote tonight was crap (that one’s for you, Simone).  Seemed like I was just going through the motions to add to my word count…and that’s not cool.

I’m so glad I had those few days of intense writing when I was able to get ahead on the word count, because I know, for the next week, it’s going to be difficult to find much time to devote to it.  But hey, that’s why I tried to jump out fast.  I knew what the month would be like.  I mean, after all, this isn’t my first rodeo.

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