You must read today’s guest blogger at the Writer’s Resource Center, Suzanne G. Fox!  Her post, “So Much in Common:  The Truth About Editing and Bull Riding,” is both entertaining and informative.  My favorite similarity of the several that she lists is that while technology helps, it’s talent and training that make the difference.  Here’s a clip from her post:

“Bull riding doesn’t require a lot of fancy equipment-a rider could probably get by with just a bull rope, a cowboy hat, and a set of spurs, and no amount of fiddling with these basics seems to make much difference in his performance. The great “Razor” Jim Sharp didn’t even wear chaps-he always rode in blue jeans. Likewise in editing-fast computers and access to the Chicago Manual of Style online may save some time, but in the end, it’s what you’ve learned and how you practice it, plus your innate command of the language, that determine your success.”

Now go and read the rest of her post by clicking here.

Another entertaining and informative post from a guest blogger at the Writer’s Resource Center: “A small sheik escaped” and other editing execises to energize your writing by L.A. Ramsey.  L.A. shares writing bloopers (AKA typographical errors) as well as the hilarious story of how she lost a sixth-grade spelling contest.  Her post is another fine example of blending just enough personal detail with professional knowledge to make for a fun read.  Here’s a teaser:  “Of all the things in human existence to be ignited by–a skylark, Picasso’s man strumming a blue guitar, a flapper wobbling to the tune of the Charleston, a kid’s gap-toothed grin–mine was a small sheik.”  Now click here and read the rest of her post.

John Hewitt of the Writer’s Resource Center is on hiatus for a few weeks and has engaged a great group of bloggers to fill in for him. One of that great group is . . . yours truly I am thrilled to be listed among some phenomenal bloggers. For a full list, click here. John has also challenged us to see who will generate the most comments, so please visit his blog every day and participate in our discussions about writing! (Of course, you should already be visiting his blog every day, but think of our challenge as giving you extra incentive.)

The month of guest bloggers is off to a great start with writer and editor Lillie Ammann’s post Get Rid of Ugly Wordiness: How to Cut Your Novel Down to Size. She provides five critical editing steps that apply to short stories as well as to novels.

Editing manuals are like potato chips: You can’t have just one. Not if you’re a writer or editor. One manual may be most effective in explaining the proper use of tenses; another is better at describing the pitfalls of poor punctuation. A third might be the most up-to-date on using web-based references. Very likely, all of your manuals are printed books of various sizes, and they often reside on a shelf or desk in your office or home.

Now add an ebook on editing to your collection: Audrey Owen’s Get Your Writing Fighting Fit (GYWFF). Many of you may already know Audrey Owen through her website, Writer’s Helper, where she offers editing services as well as advice and information on a wealth of writing topics. She has condensed her formidable breath of editing experience and knowledge into a 78-page ebook that you can carry with you everywhere that you take your computer.

I have shelves of editing and writing manuals at my home office, but I don’t always do my writing at home. I lug my 17-inch iBook G4 with me wherever I go, and that’s enough weight to carry in my backpack without adding in books, large or small. I also can’t always access the web when I might need a fast refresher of active voice. So it didn’t take me but a few seconds to decide to purchase Get Your Writing Fighting Fit when I first saw the advert.

I love GYWFF. I love that it is an ebook that I can save to my computer and have with me at all times. I love the entertaining yet authoritative style of Ms. Owens’ prose and how well she emulates her own advice. I love that I now always have an editing safety net, no matter how far I might be from my cherished printed manuals.

To learn more about GYWFF, click here.

Well, March is nearly over and I have zero hours toward editing my (Great American) horror novel. Initially, I felt shame for having publicized my intent to edit, only to be totally distracted by other (frankly, more important) things. But I got over it–the shame that is. And this “blog” needs to be more focused on writing and editing resources, its original intent. I have found some really good blogs on writing and editing that I’ll review and post here. Also, podcasts! I am an audiophile and frequently scour through the iTunes store for podcasts about or of books and stories. It’s a brave, new, fun world out there for those of us who love to listen to stories.

I finally read my first draft of The House — all 175 double-spaced pages. I think it has a bit of the page-turner quality to it, but, yep, it needs so much work! What I would like to do is periodically post parts of my novel on my blog and let you all have an opportunity to judge whether I have a viable novel or not. For a taste, let me start with the prologue and a brief summary.

PROLOGUE
This is a story about a house. Not just any kind of house, of course, but one that was built with so much love and so much happiness that it virtually took on a life of its own. Strange as it sounds, it is the only explanation for the wonderful and, later, horrific things that happened at that house until its final day of judgment. It is a sad tale, yes, but one that should be heard, for it warns of the excesses of jealousy, pride, and even love.

SUMMARY
The novel roughly covers the time period from the early 1800s to the present and takes place predominantly in the Town of Constance, located somewhere in the northeast. The Town of Constance is a tightly woven community that has managed to seclude itself from the outside world.

The house was built in the early 1800s by the Kindfellows and inhabited by them for almost 16 years. The house has something of a symbiotic relationship with the Kindfellows and protects them to the extent that they care for it. All this ends when the Kindfellows are brutally murdered by Mr. Kindfellow’s best and dearest friend.

The house, distraught over the loss of the family and the happiness it once knew, in turn murders the best and dearest friend. Decades later, as the house has grown increasingly bitter and become an object of curiosity among the town’s young people, it frightens anyone who makes sport of it and eventually kills again.

The house finds salvation in Jonas Buckthorn, a community member who volunteers to renovate the house and find a family to buy it. All this after a young man is found murdered in the house, and the young man’s mother has pleaded to have the house destroyed. Buckthorn prevails but not without learning about the evil spirit inhabiting the house. In order to protect the community, he acquiesces to the house’s demands and eventually chooses to live in the house himself. He and his bride are descendants of the Kindfellows and bare such a resemblance to the original Mr. & Mrs. Kindfellow, that the house comes to believe it can relieve those long-ago halcyon days.

However, the Buckthorns’ happiness is threatened by a jealous and disturbed young girl, who is eventually “dispatched” by the house on the Buckthorn’s wedding day. They take in the young girl’s sister for her convalescence after the young girl’s body is found months later. While both of the Buckthorns have become increasingly uneasy living in the house–Jonas because he suspects the house is guilty of killing the young girl and Mariah because she senses Jonah’s unease– they are resolved to live there until the young girl’s sister has such a terrifying experience that she refuses to sleep alone or stay in the house another day.

Separately, without any discussion, both Jonas and Mariah determine that they should vacate the house. Of course, the house will not let them leave.

March is National Novel Editing Month and I’ve signed up to spend at
least 50 hours editing my NaNoWriMo novel–The House. And I’m going
to somehow do that while working 50+ hours a week at two jobs and
without giving up my exercise routine. I gained a few pounds during
NaNoWriMo and they are only now starting to come off!

I haven’t even printed the tome yet and I’m not even sure how well my
printer will handle it. I guess I’ll just print a chapter at a time
and maybe buy some stock in HP ink cartridges.

This should be interesting …

John Hewitt has an amazing website at www.poewar.com. Every aspect of writing you can think of and, best of all for NaNoWriMos, a step-by-step approach for getting your jewel of a novel revised and ready for submission. Start here if you want to go directly to John’s novel-revising guide: http://www.poewar.com/firstdraft/

Of course, Chris Baty and team wouldn’t leave us aspiring novelists hanging after a grueling month of (almost) nonstop writing. Check out their tips at I Wrote a Novel, Now What?

Happy Holidays!