HEART 2 HEART ~ "Let's give `em something to blog about!"

Hi guys,

"Let's give `em something to blog about!" heh heh

Not that I don't think each and every thing that any of us blog isn't `tre importante ... but I do think some blogs are, of course, far more interesting than others. I'm not forgetting, too, that blogs come in all shapes and sizes now: Group Blogs, Individual Blogs, Blogs linked to other Blogs, Blogs representing a specific organization, Blogs about Blogs ... ya da ya da ya da ... and so it goes on the Big Bad Net!

I do think of the old saying when blogging, however, that goes something like," If a tree falls in the woods and no one is there to see it, to hear it, did it really fall?" I think of this saying because many blogs go unread, except by their author. Many blogs go unnoticed, likely considered not `tre importante enough for the busy Internet Surfer, hungry for the latest and greatest and most important this and that. Fine and completely understandable and acceptable. Who doesn't want to chime in to the biggest authors, the biggest stars, the best singers, the most noteworthy politicos, et al ... in all the land? We all do, of course. But, and there's always a but in life, isn't there?

But ... there IS another side to blogging, a private side that comes out of each and every unique one of us. There are things we reveal in blogs, half of the time unaware we've even done so, our need to vent our feelings and thoughts outweighing any concern over exactly "what" we might be saying. We might be in the middle of writing a book, coming in and out of a personal trauma, stirred up over something we heard or read on the news, suffering from empty nest syndrome, hating hitting menopause, wishing we were younger and thinner and smarter ... and blogged about it, unaware we'd even done so until we're ready to press "publish."

You know, writing is a solitary endeavor, is it not? And short of going to every conference we can register for, every author "gig" we can sign up for, taking advantage of socially networking with every new "friend" on MySpace, we often find ourselves alone at our computers, in our pj's, the family cat draped over our keyboard, our coffee cup needing constant replenishing, being totally disoriented as to time, place, and person until something interrupts our solitary reverie. At just such moments ... when a noise from the outside world breaks through our psyche ... sometimes at just such moments, when we find ourselves so alone, it's like a breath of much-needed air, to be able to go to our little, individual blog sites, and "talk to all the folks our there in Big Bad Internet Land."

We know there are folks there, however few, even if they don't always comment. We know there are folks there waiting to read, to hear what we're thinking, to connect with us ... waiting for us to cut down our tree and hear it fall, wanting to be there with us as we work. "Let's give `em something to blog about" never rings more true than at this moment ... this connection.

Whether we blog individually or are connected with a hundred other blogs in a hundred different groups, we're connected and that's all that matters. We're not alone in our writing world, but join together with others ... starting with one comment, then two, then more ... linking with the outside world ...

... and oh ... What a Wonderful World!

L,

Jo(anne) Gregg Sundell
www.joannesundell.com
author@joannesundell.com

MATCHMAKER, MATCHMAKER
A...MY NAME'S AMELIA
THE PARLOR HOUSE DAUGHTER
MEGGIE'S REMAINS

HEART 2 HEART ~ "Mind Your Writing Manners"

Hi all,

I'ts been my melancholy observation that some of us, most of us writers, do not always "mind our writing manners." Many of us do, yet some do not.

As a writer, any and all communication is important. Now most of our communication seems to be over the Internet, snail-mail reserved only for obligatory messaging. Some of us old fogies have had to be dragged, kicking and screaming, to the Net! Ouch! Anyway, once there, most of us have managed to learn the basics and try to respectfully network, ever struggling to transer our "writing manners" from pen and paper to the Net.

I suppose all writers have a touch of narcissim, as this seems to develop over time and comes with the territory. I suppose too, that all writers are pretty much always busy, with little extra time (an oxymoron in our case). I've discovered that there is a wonderful rhythm when communicating with some writers and editors, all busy all of the time. You ask them a question. They answer. They ask you a question. You answer. You need help. They help. They need help. You help. Back and forth ... nice and easy ... like a smooth country western tune.

The bottom line is that everyone takes valuable time out of their writing day to socially network, et al, which often includes answering e-mails, sometimes in great detail, and is often about securing author quotes or how to get a kink worked out in their book or what's the best way to market this and that, etc. I'm amazed when some do not bother to get back, once you've helped them in some way. To me it's sad and very telling.

I'm venting here but it's for a purpose, a good one I can only hope. We, all of us, need to "always" mind our writing manners and never forget, hell or high water, to get back to folks. It's just plain rude if we do not. It's disrespectful. Just like we try not to forget to dot our i's and cross out t's in our manuscripts, we must never forget that there's another person on the other end, waiting for a response.

Thank goodness for the writers and editors and loyal readers (readers always, always get back to us) that make sure and return e-calls and cell calls and everything else. Funny, but it's always the big name writers and important editors that get back to us, that always give us some of their time, no matter how busy. They don't know the meaning of the word "no." It isn't in their vocabulary.

It is these brave few that I hope to emulate. It is to these brave few that I raise my glass of chilled chardonnay on this lovely July evening ... these brave few who ever "mind their writing manners" and ever make us smile and feel light of heart!"

Salute!

Jo(anne) Gregg Sundell
www.joannesundell.com
author@joannesundell.com

MATCHMAKER, MATCHMAKER
A...MY NAME'S AMELIA
THE PARLOR HOUSE DAUGHTER
MEGGIE'S REMAINS

HEART 2 HEART ~ "Novel Beginnings"

Hi all,

Hope this day, this week, and this year to date ... are treating you nothing short of wonderful!

I'm at a "novel beginning" and am in a mood to "blog" about it. Interesting, isn't it, how we start a book we've thought about for months and months, not to mention collected so much research we can hardly find a seat in our little office chair!

I remember beginnings and endings, in books and poety ... at least of my favorites. I'm mad about Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte`, and Robert Frost, just so you'll know. Of course THE most memorable beginning to me is from Dickins' TALE OF TWO CITIES. "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times ..." is engrained in all our brains, no matter what we like to read. And of course most fairy tales of old end with "... and they lived happily ever after." Don't you just love "happily ever afters?" I sure do. But not all in life, love, and books has a fairy tale ending. Despite the fact that I write historical romance (usually requiring the wished-for "happily ever after" ending), my stories must be credible. I have to do the history homework and even see if a happy ending is a possibility.

If a writer DOES his/her history homework, there's a lot there from which the protagonists can choose. The characters have credible options, credible roads which they may or may not go down. Maybe it will be possible for the hero and heroine to make a life together ... or maybe not. It's all in the history. We as writers have to find it. Sometimes easily done, and sometimes not so easy.

I say this because my "novel beginnings," with each book I write, take on more and more importance. Yes, I want to hook any potential reader on the story to follow, but because I ever strive to write credible heroines of substance into my historical romances, the opening lines seem to matter more now. I've come up with a theory here. Tell me what you think.

I think it's possible that the first line of a story, long or short, just might be the "first thought" a writer has, albeit subconsciously, that led the writer to well ... write down the story in the first place. Put yourself to the test. Look back at some of your "first lines" and see if they reflect your "first thought" in penning the tale. I know that some of us angst over first lines and some of us just start writing. For me it's the latter, which leads me to think the line was floating around in my subconscience all the while. No matter whether you angst or "just do it" I think it's fascinating, not to mention telling (excuse the pun) to go back and study our Novel Beginnings.

I think we'll all find our beginnings take us right into the action of our stories, and right into that credible place where our story needs to be for readers. We want to hook our readers, but we find that what we really need is to find the pulse of our story and stay with it, eager to discover if there will be a happily ever after ... or not. What we also might discover, too, is that characters are born into our stories that we never planned on. How much fun is that!

"Willa, whaccha think bein' a free man means?"

This is the beginning of my next novel(s), THE QUAKER AND THE CONFEDERATE, Hearts Divided, Hearts Persuaded, set in Civil War, Virginia. I'd been researching a long time, planning things (which never stays the same with me) when I opened up my computer to start ??? and this first line came out. Of course, I had to set it down and begin following the story.

Happy Writing and Happy Reading everyone!

Jo(anne) Gregg Sundell
www.joannesundell.com
www.myspace.com/joannesundell

MATCHMAKER, MATCHMAKER
A...MY NAME'S AMELIA
THE PARLOR HOUSE DAUGHTER
MEGGIE'S REMAINS