It Won’t Be Long Now

I know a lot of you are waiting patiently for Book 3 in the Grounded Series to hit the shelves. I assure you it’s almost ready. The manuscript ended up being a lot more pages than I’d anticipated and the drafting stage took much longer than I thought it was going to. But, rest assured it is finished and in the editor’s hands. I’m as anxious as you at this point.

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Who Would Play You In the Movie? (Part Un)

I think it’s fairly safe to say that every writer at one point or another has imagined one of their books becoming a movie. I know lots of authors already have experienced this on small “made-for-TV” stations, like the Hallmark Channel, etc. and those are always fantastic. In fact, Harlequin has created their own television network specifically for producing movies based on the millions of Harlequin books already in existence. They are also looking for new script writers I hear.

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Help – I’m Stuck In A Rut And I Can’t Get Out!

Okay, the title is a little misleading. I’m not really in a rut so much as I’ve been focusing on the same thing for too long that now I can’t see the forest for the trees. Have you ever been there? It’s kind of frustrating. Here’s my problem: I need to come up with a book cover for my next book and I’ve got nothing.

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Good Things Happen in Springtime

Spring is finally here with warm gentle breezes and blooming flowers everywhere. While the Mighty Mississippi River is still REALLY high here in Vicksburg, things are starting to feel cheery and optimistic. The winter doldrums are waning. Birds are building nests, bees are pollinating and life in general looks bright.

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A Land and Sea Adventure

As you may remember, I mentioned earlier that I traveled not too long ago and, for subscribers to my newsletter, I also mentioned that I’d be blogging about my journey. At the very end of January we spent 3 days at Disney World (yes – again) followed by a 7-night Disney cruise.

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Firsts and Lasts – Part One

As a writer, it’s important to know where to start your story. “You start at the beginning,” is the obvious answer, but as all writers know, it’s not that simple. You see, stories always “start” way before the real story starts. Characters have lives before you meet them on the page.

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Sometimes You Just Have To Kill ‘Em

Recently Northern California has received some much needed rain. Along with the rain came some pretty serious thunder and lightning. I’m not a huge fan of these kinds of storms, lightning in particular.

Photo courtesy Google Images

One night last week, as thunder rumbled closer and closer, lightning decided to zap us with a thrilling zing of electricity. Our satellite receiver was fried, but fortunately the tv was spared. We did lose a lot of recorded tv shows and movies, much to our dismay.

During the brief – and quiet – period of time between satellite receivers, the hubs and I spent a lot of time reading. A couple of nights ago, he finished a new book by one of his favorite authors and upon completion, he snapped the book shut and said, “I can’t believe it. He killed him off!”

Photo courtesy Google Images

Being a writer, this comes as no surprise to me, so I respond with a casual, “Well, sometimes you have to do that.”

“No you don’t,” replied my husband. “He was a main character. Now the series is over. I liked Cody.”

I looked up from my book with a shrug. “Sometimes you have to make a sacrifice for the greater good.”

I went on to explain that sometimes in an author’s made up world, if a character has already served his or her purpose you have to get rid of them somehow. You can’t just stop writing about them; readers will wonder where they’ve wandered off to.

He frowned then said, “You don’t kill off your characters.”

‘Yes, I do,” I said. “You just don’t know because you don’t read my stories.”

He stomped off in a huff to find another book to read.

Photo courtesy Google Images

As fiction authors we’ve got to do what we’ve got to do. Sometimes our characters just don’t talk to us, or sometimes they go a different direction that we see them going. It happens. And if a character is screaming to be killed, well, as a good and proper author, we must make it happen. It’s our way of saving the world one story at a time.

So how about you – do you kill off your characters? Do you hate it when your favorite author takes an unexpected turn with their characters? Inquiring minds, and my husband, want to know.

Oh, and if for some unexpected, yet delightfully surprising reason CJ Box happens to read this post, please stop killing your characters. It makes my husband really grumpy.

Word of the day:  Cozenage

Fun fact about me: I just learned (thanks to Jenny Hansen) that I am neither predominately left or right handed. I have what is known as mixed-handedness. Check out Jenny’s post here: http://jennyhansenauthor.wordpress.com/2014/03/06/lefty-or-righty-are-you-the-hand-you-think-you-are/

Original post by Jansen Schmidt, March 2014. Photos courtesy Google Images.

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