Meet my old friend, Thesaurus

Have you ever asked the question "what's another word for....?"

Yes?  I thought so.

Whether spoken aloud or just in thought, this is probably the most common question asked by (and of) writers.  Just the other day my hubby asked me this very question.  Our conversation went like this:

Hubby:  What is another word for <insert random word here>?
Me:  Um, I don't know.  Do you want me to look it up for you?
Hubby:  You're a writer.  Shouldn't you know these things?
Me:  I know how to look it up.  In the thesaurus.

It is not possible for a non-genius-type person to know synonyms for every word in the english language.  Though, I have to admit, the more you write the more synonyms you know.  Searching for the perfect word is par for the course and so the thesaurus has long been a valuable writing companion of mine.

So how do you use a thesaurus?  Well, this part is easy.  Read on...

Imagine you've just finished writing a very rough first draft of your latest novel.  In revising, you've found that you used the word "suddenly" sixteen times in the first three pages.

What do you do?  Delete the pages?

Maybe, but not yet.  Let's try to fix them first.

Step one: open up your thesaurus to the word "suddenly."  If you use an online thesaurus you should see something like this:

I use reference.com for all my word-smithing needs.  The dictionary and thesaurus are both excellent writing tools.

Step two: read through every synonym until you find one that works as good as (or better than) the word "suddenly."  The best word will depend on the sentence in which it is used.  Read the sentence aloud, replacing "suddenly" with an alternative word.  Continue this until you've found the perfect word.

You'll know when you've found the perfect word (I usually exclaim YES! when I've found it).  If you don't find the perfect word, most likely the whole sentence needs to be rewritten.

It doesn't get any easier than that!

Happy word-smithing!

Self-Doubt and the Naked Writer

Today is the deadline for the Writer's Digest Competition.  I submitted my short story at approximately 8:30 pm.  But I have to say I'm a little surprised that I submitted it at all.  Even yesterday my self-doubt reared its head and I started thinking it wasn't good enough.  So I revised.  And I revised.  And finally I was done.  Want to know how I knew it was ready?

I hated the thought of reading it again.

I revised so much that I didn't care if I ever saw it again.  And so it was submitted to the competition.  Now someone else gets to decide if it's good enough.

I'm a little nervous.  This is the first time (in my adult life) that my writing will be seen by someone other than me.  I feel naked.  Vulnerable.

I don't like it.  But, like eating your vegetables, sometimes you have to suck it up and do what's necessary if you want to get somewhere in life.

So, kids, eat your vegetables.

Writing, Betrayal and Weeping Books

Life has been busy since my last post.  Between the norovirus (shared by the whole family) and baby boy's first birthday I have been almost useless when it comes to writing.

Despite all of that, I managed to finish the third draft of my short story for the Writers Digest Competition.  I believe it is almost ready to be read by someone other than me.  I am trying to decide if I want to do a fourth draft but I feel like I'll be beating a dead horse at that point.  I could potentially keep revising it forever because I'm pretty sure I'll never think it's good enough.  One of my many flaws...

I've been reading Stephen King's 11/22/63 and as I previously stated on twitter: The man is a genius!  This book (like all King books) is about the size of Texas and I have a difficult time putting it down.  This is evident by the fact that it jumped to the front of my very long reading list.  I can practically hear my other books weeping from the betrayal!

Titles...Chicken or Egg?

I've been thinking about titles lately.  When do you title?  Before the book is written or after?  (Get it?  Chicken or Egg?)

With my novel, the title was one of the first things that came to me.  Though lately I've been considering using that as the title of the series and renaming my first novel.  I haven't even outlined my second but I'm already considering titles for that one as well (I have done some minor brainstorming though).

I have my short story written except for the VERY end.  Seriously, I'm literally lines away from finishing.  I just can't quite figure it out.  But I have no title.  I thought I would come up with something by the time I was done with the first draft but I've had no such luck.  Maybe the second draft will provide some inspiration.  Maybe...

I've been noticing titles of TV show episodes for years now.  The Big Bang Theory and Two and a Half Men are the ones that stick with me the most.  Episodes of Two and a Half Men are usually a line from the show which make no sense until you see the episode.  Big Bang episode titles are usually scientific wit.

I actually thought about titling this blog post "The Titular Quandry" in honor of Big Bang.  But, the Chicken or Egg thing made me laugh so I went with that.  What?  You didn't laugh?  That's ok.  I'm sure I laughed enough for all of us :-)

Quick Update on Competition and Reading

It does not feel like it's been two weeks since my last blog post.  Time flies, I guess...

I am still working on my short story for the Writer's Digest Competition.  I have just under 3000 words right now.  So, 75% done.  I have not touched my novel in many moons.  I am ashamed.  But, I'll get right back to it after I get the short story done.  It helps that my short story is a prequel to my novel so I get to write in the same world.

In all of my "spare" time that I should have used for writing, I was reading.  I finished all four books in Larissa Ione's Lord's of Deliverance series.  I assume that's all for the series.  Four Horsemen = four books....but I may be wrong.  This was a great series.  Very hard to put down these books.  I would totally read this series again.  And I might do just that.

That's all for now.  Sleep beckons...

Writing: A Study in Time Management

I ran across a blog on Writer's Digest several days ago entitled How to Write While Managing a Full-Time Job: 5 Ways to Maximize your time.  If you follow me on Twitter you might have seen me retweet it.  Anyway, as I was reading this I kept thinking to myself "I DO THIS!"  It is so very similar to what I have written in my previous blogs that either this guy is stalking me or he is a fellow genius. :-)

So, here are his 5 Ways to maximizing writing time (abbreviated) and how they relate to me (and my blog):

1) Never ever ever leave the house without a way to record your ideas.  I can't find where I have specifically mentioned this in a previous blog but I carry my MacBook, iPad and iPhone with me everywhere I go (as well as a notebook and pencil).  Yes, it's probably overkill but I have used them all for note taking purposes.

2) Take advantage of small moments.  I talked about this in my blog post "What can you do in twenty minutes?"  I often write in short spurts now.  I feel like I get more done this way than trying to write for hours at a time.

3) If you can’t give it your best, then give it what you can.  I talked about this in my blog post "Take the good with the bad."  I'm sure that's not the only time I've mentioned this since it is a common occurrence.  Good writing doesn't come all the time.  Sometimes you're lucky to walk away with anything useful.

4) Train your mind to think like a writer.  This one I mentioned very recently in the blog post "So you want to be a writer."  Actually, this particular blog post mentions most of these points.  Anyway, once you train yourself to think like a writer you start seeing plots in everything!  This is very helpful for getting new story ideas.

5) Make writing a priority.  I have talked about this many times, I believe, but my favorite was in the blog post "How bad do you want it?"  I actually don't still get up that early to write (which I discussed in a more recent blog entry) because caring for an infant is exhausting and I just cannot get up that early anymore.  Maybe one day...but for now, I do most of my writing at night.

All true.  I can vouch for it.

Let the Games Begin!!!

Ok, so I gave in and decided to write the short story for the Writer's Digest Competition.  I don't think I really ever had a choice.  This character's story has been in my mind for about a year and a half now just itching to get out.  I actually feel a sense of relief that I'm getting it on paper.

I managed to write over 1300 words (out of the 4000 max) in what totaled to be about an hour and a half this weekend.  I'm doing fairly well but I'm sure I will have to pare it down when I finish.

I can say that I have learned something from this experience though.  I've never before written while trying to use as few words as possible.  Writing a short story is certainly an exercise in brevity.

Assuming I have something worth submitting on May 6th, I will be entering the competition.

Game on.