My usual newsletter publication calendar is the first and third Wednesday of each month. Last week, I was suffering from an intestinal infection and couldn’t write anything. So for this month only, the newsletter will be out on the second and fourth Wednesdays. I’m 95% recovered from my infection, but I still have to watch what I eat.
Yesterday, I did two writing sprints and moved my Jill Quint short story further toward completion. I’ve called the story “Return to the Scene of the Crime.” Jill and Nathan are in Sydney - he’ll visit wine clients, she’s testifying in court for the serial killer/forensic expert that tried to kill her on her last visit Downunder. So it's a follow up to FORENSIC MURDER. I hope to have it ready for you to read by the end of the month.
In a different writing exercise, I worked with a friend on her speech for a memorial service for her best friend. I found myself telling her, “show, don’t tell.” This is creative writing 101. As authors we are reminded numerous times that we should show the qualities of a character through their actions and not give the reader a list of their sterling qualities.
Her: “She was my best friend that I met 54 years ago.”
Me: “Okay, what made her your best friend?”
Her: “We were honest with each other, we had boys the same age and we took turns being ‘bad cop’ to them. I dragged her to see a Chippendales show in the 1970s and that was wild back then.”
She had been awake at night writing comments, but couldn’t organize her thoughts so I got a phone call from her asking if I could help. Two hours later, she had her speech. She recognized that some of the writing she had been doing was her way of grieving the loss of this friend. She also wanted a speech from the heart that wasn’t repetitive, and wouldn’t make her cry during its delivery. She put enormous pressure on herself to say every positive thought about the friend, but do it in a brief and non-crying way. I think we achieved that. She has many more stories to tell about her friend, but her speech should bring comfort and smiles to her and her friend’s family.
I’m going to remove my other short story (THE AWAKENING AT LAKE TAHOE) from my website and post it for sale on Amazon. If you read it, please take a moment and review it sometime next week. Reviews are very important to authors.
On a final note, I have a BookBub special deal on August 26. BookBub is the biggest launcher of successful books. I’ve been applying to them for 8.5 years and 18 submissions and I finally got accepted for LONG DELAYED JUSTICE. Yahoo! The book will be free for a few days around August 26. If you have friends you’ve been urging to try my books, then a free book is as good as it gets.
If you’re in a part of the world that has been very hot recently, then you have my sympathies. We’ve had enough fog in the morning that I’ve only had to run my AC for less than ten days so far this summer. Now, I’ve probably jinxed myself.
Cheers,
Alec
Comments