By C. Michelle Jefferies

photo from jungsumartialarts.com

Thanks for the Welcome! I am so excited to be here.


My name is C. Michelle Jefferies. I’m the mother of seven, mostly boys, and 8 chickens. We live in rural southeast Utah where it’s not odd to see two of our neighbors saddling their
horses in the middle of the road to chase some errant cows. Maybe that is why I
am thinking of writing a futuristic western-y style story, maybe I’m insane and
think that it’ll be a challenge. I am a red belt in Tang Soo Do a Korean style od Karate. I'm half way to black belt. I love to go thrift store shopping and collect bags that I never use, and teapots cups and saucers. I am learning to knit and also love to sew when I have uninterupted time which is never.

I love to write and for a long time thought I wrote science fiction which was my first love. Now I find that I actually write Suspense style with some futuristic influences that some people call “Tech Suspense”. I also love the gritty-ness of Urban Fantasy, not necessarily the romance side. While I have a huge list of characters demanding that I tell their suspense story, I
dabble here and there in Urban Fantasy, YA scifi, and Middle Grade non fiction. I’m
going to need a lot of pseudo-names if I get all of these published eventually.


I decided I wanted to write somewhere between 5th grade and middle school. My friends and I loved to create and act out stories and some of them were good enough that we started to write them down. From then on, the love of writing has never left me. In high school I met a friend who had written a whole novel and typed it out. That was back before everyone had computers and printers. She challenged me to write a whole book and chucking my sanity aside, I accepted. That hand written 198 page book took me a year to write and was finished just before the end of my Junior year.


I revised that book, again by hand, after I graduated from high school but quickly put it on a back burner when I met my future husband, attended college, married, and started a family. While I never forgot about my story I honestly had no time to do anything about it. While I never attempted anything epic in those years, I was constantly telling my kids stories and
wishing I had a way to record them and transcribe them onto paper.


After my 5th child was born a friend lent me Harry Potter books #4 and 5. I love to read and quickly fell in love with the series. After finishing #5 I was one of those who were eagerly awaiting the arrival of #6. One evening as I was bored, having read everything in my house I decided to pull out the small bag of writing I had saved from back when and give it a read. About fifteen minutes into it I decided that those ideas I’d had so long ago were actually pretty
decent and I sat down at my ancient computer opened a word document and started
to re-write one of them.

The next year I wrote with a happy abandon and cranked out quite a few rough drafts. I want to empathize ROUGH. While I may have learned grammar and other things in high school I had forgotten or been taught wrong on most of them. About this time I met a neighbor who also turned out to be a writer. Between the two of us we actively searched out and found resources such as ANWA and LDStorymakers, and AI.


The next many years I re-learned almost everything, revised many manuscripts, and intimately experienced the try/fail cycle myself. Each year has been a learning process and with the help of many, many friends who have taken time out of their busy schedules and hours of help that they could have been paid for. I have learned how to be a real writer. You know the saying that you need to do something so many times before getting it right? Yeah, I have written over a million words in the last seven years.


I am now at the point where I am receiving full requests, winning contests and feeling like those years of hard work are about to pay off.


To those friends and acquaintances who have been there with me or have been my personal cheerleaders I thank you. This would not have been possible without you. I hope to have
good news soon.

Introducing, Another New Writer

by Keith N Fisher

We'd like to welcome another new blogger to the group. Filling out our week, and posting on Tuesdays, will be C Michelle Jefferies.

Michelle writes from SouthEast Utah and she's excited to join our team. give her a warm welcome.

Introductions - James Duckett

Hi, my name is James Duckett and I'm super excited to be here. I've noticed that my blog posts become more consistent when asked to have them done by a certain day. Being required to come up with something every Monday is going to be a huge motivator for me.

Since I'm the new kid on the blogck, I just wanted to introduce myself and reserve topics of writing to future posts. Spoiler alert: This is going to be long, and most likely the longest post I ever do. You get bonus points if you get through it all without falling asleep.

I guess I'll start at the beginning. I was born. I don't remember much, but I'm told it was pretty exciting especially since I was in the wrong city. Oh well, a story for another time, but these things happen. I'm the oldest of four children but after paying for two kids to be born my father said, "Forget that, I'm joining the Army and Uncle Sam can start covering the delivery costs." Since then I've lived in four states and three countries.

I've never really had a city to call my own and I hate the question, "Where are you from?"

For the last seven years I've been calling St. George, UT home and love living here. Two more years and this will be the longest I've lived in one area. This is the longest I've lived in one house.

My hobbies include spending time with the family, running, cycling, skiing, photography, video production, and online gaming.

Oh, and I love writing!

My love of writing began in the 2nd grade. My teacher had challenged us to write a story and draw a picture to go with it. I called my story "The Ghost That Lived." Okay, don't laugh, I was only 7 years old. I'd tell you the story (I still remember it) but the absurdity would probably put you in stitches and remove any writing credibility I could ever possibly earn. I do remember drawing the ghost. Have you ever played the original Pac-Man? If so then you've seen what the ghost looks like.

Looking back I realize it was a train wreck, but at the time I thought I was a genius! And I knew then that some day I would write a book. Despite what I thought then I must inform you of the horrendous news: there will be no sequel to "The Ghost That Lives." I know, I know. It's hard to accept, but there is no denying the truth.

In junior high school I set out to write my first book. I carried a notebook everywhere I went and wrote every chance I got. I loved creating people that never existed with a few strokes of the pencil. I loved writing about places that didn't exist. I loved the entire experience.

And let me tell you how good it was! Well, it was longer than my 2nd grade masterpiece but I doubt it was any better. Okay, yes, it sucked rocks and it heavily pilfered from a book series I liked called Photon by David Peters. Before I could get it to the publisher and -- in my mind -- instantly top every bookseller list in the world, I got sidetracked (most likely by a computer game) and the book disappeared.

I lost some of the passion then but in talking to some English teachers they informed me of a few things.

1) Teenagers don't write best sellers.
2) If I did want to take writing seriously, I needed to read.

To each point:

1) Disproven by Christopher Paolini. But, sure enough, when I got to the library I did notice that no books were written by teenagers. This was disheartening, and, still today, true in 99.999% of cases.
2) I took this advise most seriously. So on that note...

By this time I was quite addicted to The Hardy Boys. But I noticed they weren't exactly topping out the New York Times Best Seller List. But somebody was, and his name was Stephen King. I then began my love affair with all of his books.

That affair lasted over a decade. I've not been thrilled with his recent writings so I've backed off a bit, but I hope -- and fear -- that some of his writing style rubs off on me. I love his voice. Maybe because I've read it for so long, I don't know, but I love the way he writes. I hope I can pick up a bit on his voice, while developing my own

I don't want to write strictly horror. I might have some elements of horror in my stories, but I hope my books don't find their way into the horror section. I also don't want the language, graphic violence, and graphic sex he usually has in his books. I don't want to feel guilty if my bishop or the young men in my ward decide to give it a read. Or, heaven forsake, MY MOTHER!!

As I started raising a family and went to college I decided to worked full time in hopes of graduating debt free. I had to sacrifice reading for pleasure and most writing until I got my Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration. After accomplishing this I then focused on my career to get me to a point where I could concentrate more on writing and less on climbing up the next ring in the corporate ladder.

I hit that point a couple of years ago, and I'm now ready to conquer writing. In studying the craft more closely I found out there is so much more to it than I realized as a teenager. It isn't as easy as I thought it would be back then. It sure isn't as easy as Stephen King made it look. The plotting. The outlining. BICHOK. The rewriting. More rewriting! Character development and arc. Story structure. Voice. Setting. CONFLICT! Rising action and tension. Maintaining a blog and networking with other writers. Plot points and pinches. Three acts. Seven parts! Active voice. Pacing. Point of View. Dialogue. Overcoming writer's block. Try/fail cycles. Proper grammar. Critique groups. The patience! Oh, why can't this be done? The patience!!!!

I laughed when my father said, "Why can't you just write the next Harry Potter series? How hard can it be?" If he only knew...

And to make matters worst, as hard as writing a book is, it is still the easiest part. Getting it noticed and published, now that is going to be the biggest challenge. And, I fear, the challenges don't stop there either.

All topics I hope to approach in this blog series.

So, that is me. I'm outlining a book now and hope to be finished by the end of March -- with the outlining, not the book. Some medical issues arose that slowed that down, but I think I'm still on track. I look forward to contributing and getting to know the readers of the Writer's Blogck. And a thank you to Keith Fisher for having me here.

Punctuation

Donna K. Weaver

Source

 So you're not sure punctuation is important?

Version 1

Dear John:

I want a man who knows what love is all about. You are generous, kind, thoughtful. People who are not like you admit to being useless and inferior. You have ruined me for other men. I yearn for you. I have no feelings whatsoever when we're apart. I can be forever happy--will you let me be yours?

Gloria

Version 2

Dear John:

I want a man who knows what love is. All about you are generous, kind, thoughtful people, who are not like you. Admit to being useless and inferior. You have ruined me. For other men, I yearn. For you, I have no feelings whatsoever. When we're apart, I can be forever happy. Will you let me be?

Yours,

Gloria

And the only difference is the punctuation.

***I wish I knew who to credit for this wonderful example to. I received it years ago in the body of an email. When I googled it, I got hits all over the place.***

What about you? Do you think punctuation has its place? Or are you one of the folks who'd like to get rid of it?

New Blood, New Opinions, Great Advice.

By Keith N Fisher

As you know, we’ve been short handed here at the Blogck. I want to thank our readers for staying with us, even though there are other writers who’ve started blogs like ours. I guess that’s what we did back in 2006, when Six Writers and a Frog, was the archetype. Since writers can use all the support they can get, we will continue to offer help in your writing struggle until those struggles exist no longer.

To that end, three writers, you might know, have decided to join our blog.

First up, is Donna K Weaver, who writes adventure romance, YA fantasy, and SCI FI, from Orem, Utah. Donna has agreed to post on Sundays.

Next, is T J Bronley. I’ll let him tell you about himself. Then there is James Duckett. He calls himself Danger Duckett on Facebook, and he writes from St. George, Utah.

Take a moment, comment, and welcome the new bloggers. Keep the faith.

Good luck with your writing---see you next week.

Wannabes

by G.Parker

I am feeling so conflicted today, that anything I have to share would probably be confusing, so this is the first subject that came to mind.

There are lot's of wannabes out there.  People who want to be something other than what they are.  Sometimes that's a good thing - such as a better writer, artist, singer, mother, parent, sibling, etc.  Then there are those that wish they could be someone else - such as a particular singer, actor/actress, celebrity figure.  That's usually how we term wannabe.  It's a phrase:  "Oh, that person's a wannabe."

Is that how you look at yourself?  Are you a wannabe?  I hope not in the negative sense.  I'm hoping that everyone who reads our blog is someone who wants to be better at their craft, better in their lives, relationships, etc.  A better them.  Not someone who is a wannabe - would only like to be better, but not put forth the real effort to become that which they so desire.

How are you doing on your goals?  Are you reaching them?  It's March, the middle of March (isn't there a time called the Ides of March from Shakespeare?) and that means almost three months have already gone by. There is no time to waste.

I love the statement from a Disney movie "Each day is a present, that's why we call it a gift."  I hope you are reaching toward eternity and those goals you've set each day.  I know I'm working on it.

Just don't be a wannabe.  Be the best you.

Keep Going

By Keith N Fisher

Several years ago, at Christmas time, my wife and I attended seven funerals or wakes. Wendy lost her brother, and we lost many other close friends and relatives. I remember repeating the joke that; the cemetery is a popular place---people are dying to get in there.

Kidding aside, it was a sad time for us. A chance to evaluate our lives and relationships. An opportunity for gratitude in the good memories we had.

A few years later, I lost both of my grand mothers within four months of each other. Again, it was a time for reflection and gratitude.

Maybe it’s a byproduct of getting older, but since then, I’ve lost many more friends and relatives, even my father, in 2009. For some, death came suddenly. Others died of cancer, a couple of them killed themselves, which is never easy to deal with, but I’m grateful I had the chance to know them all.

I do, however, regret the death of one our pets. The cat didn’t really like me, but he was my daughter’s best friend. He gave her companionship he would never have given any other soul. She misses him, and I feel for her. Well, I guess I miss him, too.

Through all of this, I was drawn into contemplation and I’m learning a lesson. In most of the cases, the victim fought long and hard. They didn’t give in to those entities who would destroy them.

Leaving that for moment, I have a confession to make. I am a writer. It’s what I do, but because of health issues, and the struggle of earning a living in my day job, I’ve found it difficult to write lately. My work ethic forces me to ignore my health and keep going, but I admit to contemplating my own demise. Not suicide, but wondering how my loved ones will make it without me.

In the past, retreating into my writing has provided solace, but focussing has been difficult lately. Then I thought of the lessons learned from my late friends and family members. There is great power in fighting, never giving in to what I call the wrecking crew. (Those who would have me fail.) I vow to keep going. Writing for me has always been a personal thing. I can’t wait for the solace to return, and it will return. I’ve attached a poem that might help us all.

Good luck with your writing---see you next week.

KEEP A-GOIN’
By Frank L. Stanton (1857-1927)

If you strike a thorn or rose,
Keep a-goin'!
If it hails or if it snows,
Keep a-goin'!
'Taint no use to sit an' whine
When the fish ain't on your line;
Bait your hook an' keep a-tryin'--
Keep a-goin'!

When the weather kills your crop,
Keep a-goin'!
Though 'tis work to reach the top,
Keep a-goin'!
S'pose you're out o' ev'ry dime,
Gittin' broke ain't any crime;
Tell the world you're feelin' prime--
Keep a-goin'!

When it looks like all is up,
Keep a-goin'!
Drain the sweetness from the cup,
Keep a-goin'!
See the wild birds on the wing,
Hear the bells that sweetly ring,
When you feel like singin', sing--
Keep a-goin'!

Interpretations

by G.Parker

So.  My life has been one of interpretations all week.  For example:  Reading an add to buy 2 of something get 1 free and interpreting it in my brain to buy 1 get 1.  Sigh.

It's all in the interpretation.  How your brain reads it.  Did you ever notice how men and women's brains seem to be wired differently like that?  I saw a cartoon a while ago showing a man and a woman driving in a car with one of those freeway signs showing length of time to a destination.  The woman is asking the man, "So, when I see that, I'm thinking how long it's going to take to get there.  When you see that time you think..."  the man answers "I can get there faster."

It's easy to generalize or group the human condition in relation to gender.  The whole men are from Mars bit is not that far fetched.  However, it doesn't just stop there; there are teenagers, young adults, twenty somethings, thirty something, and so on.  When a writer is looking at targeting a specific group, they need to make sure what their audience is looking at and how things are going to be viewed or interpreted.

Books that I read when I was in elementary school are still being read, but generally by the younger grades.  Stuff I would have read in high school kids are reading in junior high and some in 6th grade.  It's a little frightening when you think of some of the content, coupled with the knowledge that some librarians are actually recommending them to young readers -- but that's another subject.

If you were to write a story about a young girl on a farm with a runt pig, adult readers are probably not going to be interested.  If you write about a woman who remembers back to when she was a child and lived on a farm and an amazing summer that had left an imprint on her, you'd have women readers.  If you were to write about a girl on a farm with a big where there's a big mystery or killing or buried treasure, you'd have the male population.  Get the idea?  It's all in how to turn the story to the audience you want to write for.

Having a great story idea is only great if you target the right reader.  If you are into writing romance, don't be thinking you're going to get a lot of male readers.  (Bruce Willis in the movie RED isn't your normal man.)  I know of several authors who have picked a pen name that won't identify them as female because it's been shown that the majority of men will not read a woman writer.  Go figure.

So if you are still in the exploratory stage of where you want to go with your story, think of the audience you want to target and figure out how they're going to interpret it.  It's all in the words, dude.