Writing Happenings

Hi everyone, it has been busy here in the Blackberry Patch and I haven't had much time to post.
Spring is here! I just hope that winter doesn't decide to poke his dreary head in on us again. (But we all know he will)

My husband got spring fever a few days ago and tilled our garden. Nothing is planted yet, but it might not be too early to put out a few onions.

I have my manuscripts ready to mail out to the WVWriters annual contest! Whew! Now I can get back to normal around here.

There is a great call for submissions over at Write From the Heart. Go check it out. Linda is a funny lady and a great writer.

I won a pre-release copy of The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer's Guide To Character Expression!
I am so excited. Angela and Becca have a great blog called, The Bookshelf Muse. If you haven't visited their site before, go check it out. You will not be disappointed.

I am also reading Vada Faith, a book by my friend Barbara Whittington. Go check out her site, Writing - the ups and downs. 

 As you can see, there is a lot going on in the writing world. We had our weekly writing meeting yesterday. I took my synopsis of my MG and we tweaked it a little. I don't know what I would do without my writing friends.

Writing Tip: Instead of using adjectives like beautiful, pretty and handsome, get more specific. Describe their features that show why you think they are beautiful, pretty or handsome.


What's happening in your world?


Happy writing.

Posted by Janet Smart at Creative Writing in the Blackberry Patch.
©Janet F. Smart

Out of Place

Have you ever been reading one of your manuscripts and found words or sentences that were out of place and did not need to be there?

I bet you have.

Sometimes it takes someone else reading your writing to point this out to you and sometimes you find them yourself. Words and sentences are sometimes hard to cut, but it makes for a better story.

Just like this robin, your words may be pretty, but they do not belong in the picture. This robin would be right at home in the yard pulling  out worms, but I am not used to seeing them sitting on a snow covered branch.

At our last meeting, there were a couple of places in my manuscript that I was not sure about. I wondered if those sentences could be worded differently or completely removed. When my writing friends also pointed out the same areas to me, that told me something had to be done. A few sentences were deleted and others changed around a little to fit in.

You can do a perfectly good paragraph of describing and showing something, then that pesky little last sentence goes and tells what you just got through describing. Strike that pesky little 'out of place' sentence from your manuscript. It is not needed!

The calender is catching up with me. Only ten more days until the deadline to submit my stories to the West Virginia Writer's Conference Writing Contest.

Are you facing any writing deadlines?
I like deadlines! They keep me writing and keep me moving forward.

Happy Writing!

Posted by Janet Smart at Creative Writing in the Blackberry Patch
©Janet F. Smart

To The Post Office. . . Again

Tomorrow I'll be mailing out my submissions to the
WVWriter's 2009 Annual Writing Competition.

I will fill out the form and enclose my entries.

I will put them all inside the envelop and mail it in.

Now everyone cross your fingers, find a four leaf clover
and grab your rabbit's foot and wish me luck.

But most of all, teach me how to write a synopsis and how to write a picture book without describing too much. It's so hard to leave that creative work to the illustrator.

I'm tired of editing. I'm going to force myself not to look at the stories any more, for fear of finding something else to change.

Well, maybe I'll peek just one more time.