A quick update...

 

Well, I'm back with a quick update... the anniversary of my sister's death just passed on May 3rd, and in concert with that, I'd like to announce that the first scholarship from her scholarship fund (The Patricia A. Getch Memorial Scholarship) is being awarded this year to a worthy recipient at Massasoit Community College where Patti served as Dean of the Business and Technology Division. These scholarships are being partially funded from profits from "Fiona . the Lighthouse Firefly" and "Fiona the Firefly - LOST!" Both children's books are available on Amazon.com.

My heartfelt thanks to all of you who have supported my efforts to remember Patti in a lasting way and in doing so, further the education of worthy students at the College.

Contributions can be made directly at https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/massasoit At the bottom at the page, please select Patricia A. Getch Memorial Scholarship.

At this point, I can only say that my efforts to write stories about her beloved firefly have provided double blessings, for me, therapy as I deal with her death and funds for her scholarship fund.

In the meantime, my writing of my newest novel is progressing and I'll be back to talk about that as soon as I unpack from my latest trip.

Hope you are still writing...
Till.
Judi

You have to start somewhere....

"Irish rocks and mushrooms" watercolor painting copyrighted by Judi Getch Brodman

I thought that I could illustrate what I'm suffering through with my writing right now by quickly describing my painting process.  Directly above is a photograph of a mishmash of leaves, rocks, ferns and mushrooms that were outside my girlfriend's back door in Ireland.   She just walked by it, but I said, "Hey, look at those mushrooms!"  It was the seed for a wonderful painting... keeping those mushrooms in mind, I threw a lot of color in the background... always keeping those mushrooms in mind.  Eventually everything fell together and those mushrooms, oh those mushrooms danced.  Believe it or not, it is one of my favorite paintings and one that people always ask how I saw something beautiful in that scene.

It's not so different from the writing process I'm going through now... I found the "mushroom" that I loved for a story, a news report that intrigued me, but how was I going to find the "rocks" to showcase that mushroom?  It's a beautiful mushroom, but only something around which to build the story.  I wrote before that the first two or three chapters came easily and then?  Nothing... where was the story going?  Slowly, with the help of my on-line course, Heidi, my teacher, had me think about what my characters were like, answer some interesting questions about them, like what were their regrets, what had they saved, what memory stood out from their childhood, and voila,  a story line appeared.  Slowly, one by one, the rocks appeared and I'm finding my characters' flaws and strengths, regrets and secrets - like the rocks in the painting. As with the rocks, I have to make the story nuggets fit in with the color and shapes and the mushroom.

I'm writing Chapter 10 and it's still hard work, and I know that even when I've colored in all the rocks, there will be many revisions before the story is publishable.  But I'm finding a rhythm and enjoying it.

My advice from my experience this winter is to take a GOOD writing workshop if you can find one... at a local college, a writers group, or an on-line course like the one I took.  It will up your writing skills if the leader is a good one with good insight.  Mine was taught by an author I loved and I worked hard every day for eight weeks.

Well, back to crafting the rocks of my story...

Till,
Judi

Revving your writing engine...

Thoor Ballylee Tower - Yeats summer home  copyrighted Judi Getch

Well, I said that I'd be back after my workshop was over, and here I am!  This was my first time taking an on-line writing workshop and it worked out great.  A bit weird introducing yourself to the others in the group digitally, but we all worked real hard for eight weeks. 

We started the first week with writing exercises which were fun. These were partially so our leader, Heidi, could get a feel for the writing capabilities of the group.  Then we submitted a piece, could be a chapter or a few pages, and the group as well as Heidi would comment on the posting.  About week four or five, she asked us to choose one of our characters and answer a set of questions about him or her, questions like what were they ashamed of or if they had a small wooden box what would be in it. You absolutely can't imagine what you can learn about your characters by answering a bunch of questions about them.  After I did it for my primary character, she asked me to do it for another... this was eye-popping for her and for me.  I discovered my plot through that exercise.  Characters are her thing... making them real, being inside them as the author, placing them in a scene that you the reader can sense.  My writing took a giant leap from studying with her... she can pinpoint problems and light them up for you like a laser beam.  

I'm continuing my writing journey on my own now, but I have so much more to offer a reader after this workshop.  It felt so good to have her say at the end..."you are making real characters, real scenes, real conversations here. Her French returns in a very natural way, and the reader follows along, seeing the scene spread out before him, with interest and pleasure."

I am rewriting my novel that I thought was ready to go and my new novel is moving so fast that even I can't keep up with those darn characters!  

If you need to restart your writing engines... find a group, take a workshop, read a good book by an author you love.  Trust me, your engines will be revving in no time at all!   

Back to my writing so I can see what my characters have been up to since I've been away!

Till,
Judi

An Epiphany...

Castelnaud By Judi ©

Ah yes, I'm writing from my castle turret!!  Quill in hand and parchment near... I have been working on a manuscript that I had a perfect beginning to, and then?  After two chapters, I found myself with nothing... nowhere to go which is unusual for me.  I figuratively placed it in the drawer and moved onto another manuscript, which I was able to draft relatively quickly.

As I started this on-line workshop though, I posted chapters from a mystery which I was pretty sure was ready to go to print.  Well, not so fast.  Heidi's questions were probing and intriguing and my story didn't have the answers.  As the weeks have gone by, her guidance, questions and comments have made me return to my characters and become them... so I see, feel and hear everything they do.

I removed my stuck story out of the drawer, and with great courage, posted it for my three male counterparts and Heidi to read.  It so happened that this story started in Boston and moved to Paris.  Absolument!  Her first comment was "Is she...well, what is she, who is she?"  As I had written my character so far, she was like a paper doll, a cardboard cutout.  I had described her clothes, hair and eye color, her journey and arrival in Paris... my writing was great, but my character was flat. Who was she exactly?  "There's a tantalizing story here," Heidi said, "imagine the conversation between she and her boyfriend and make it crackle... ..... and I want (name) to be a character who really grabs my interest so I can follow this story." 

Okay... so I dug in, closed my eyes, sat with her boyfriend, argued with him, saw him as dismissive and arrogant.   And I said, why is she with this jerk?  I had no answer other than she was weak and weak was not what I was going for here.  So I went back and started a new revision.  I sat in the restaurant with him, told him what great things my character was doing, but he proceeded to still be dismissive of her accomplishments.  Okay, she had chosen this guy for a reason?  Well, this trip came up and now she was starting to expand her own life, I was getting to know her.  At the end of this revision, Heidi said, "You have really begun to bring this to life!   I love... and I love... and we still have all these questions yet to answer about her and her mother...."   I had actually made her into a woman that I and the others were getting to know.  I was thrilled.

So, I'm now into week six and working hard, but have expanded my writing so much.  I will miss this workshop when it ends but hopefully will not lose the energy and wisdom I have gained from Heidi.  

More as I  finish in a few weeks.

Till,
Judi

A different view... a different perspective!

Paris...

 

I thought I'd better check in.  Between traveling and writing, time is just flying by.

Well, I'm in the third week of my writing group/class and I can say that I can already see a difference in my writing.  Our leader has a laser sharp eye and can analyze our written words and show us where we could add more - descriptions, emotions, views from inside the characters head.  I thought writing was hard before, now I know just how much harder it can be to write really, really well.,

My manuscript that was just about complete is now shredded.  Just in these few weeks, Heidi has taught us to look at our work with a critical eye and stretch, to move into the heads of our characters and  look around and describe what they see and what they feel.   Easier said than done, I've learned, but I'm rewriting!!

Anyway, I'm not even half-way through this course, and everything is in flux.  But I know that when I put it all back together, I will love what I have done.  Somehow, I have to carry her in my head as I continue to write so I can live in my characters, think like them and act like them.

I'm taking a few writing hours off today to watch the Super Bowl.... I'll be cheering!!!

Till,
Judi

A new writing door opens....

Photograph copyrighted Judi Getch 2017

As my mother used to say, "When one door closes, another opens...."  And somehow, as I move through my life, her words always seems to prove true.  But as 2017 started, I decided not to wait for that door to open,  I grabbed that doorknob, yanked on it and opened my own door.

Last year, my writers group never started up and I missed it.  I missed writing pieces that I would never think to write, I wanted to read other's words and learn from them, and finally, I hoped to write with more feeling and sensory information,  A group forces me to put my work out there for other eyes to read and comment on. Sometimes I hold my breath, but for the most part, I'm pretty thick skinned and am looking for feedback that will make my writing stronger.  This year, it again appeared that my usual group was not coming to be.

Well, I wasn't going to have another year of no feedback.  If you remember, one of my posts last year talked about a book that I had read by Heidi Jon Schmidt, "the house on oyster creeke."  I sent her an email and told her how much I enjoyed the book and her writing.  She wrote back and in the course of back and forth conversations, she said that she conducts an on-line writers' group.  My ears went up, my eyes flew open... yup, I was interested.

So....  I'm now entering my second week with this group.  I've never exchanged comments and posted pieces on a blog, but I am now.  Quite interesting in that all communications between the writers and Heidi take place in posts.  There are only a few of us, so reading others' works isn't too time consuming.  We receive writing and reading exercises as well and so far, with one week down, it has been fun.  It's a group of writers so I'm hoping for more than a pat on the head and a good job.  I'm seeing glimpses of ... "What if you..." or "Can you tell me more about... here."  I want my writing to be stronger, express more, evoke the reader's feelings and senses.  And I'm thinking that this group will help me step up to this next level.

So that's what I'll be involved in for the next seven weeks.  What are you doing to improve your writing?  Find a class, find a group, find a way to make your writing better!

More updates as I move through this writers group.

Till,
Judi

On to a new year....

Copyrighted Mary Licata

Well, here we are starting a brand new shiny year, where anything is possible!  I know, it's hard to get motivated after having a wonderful fun filled holiday season, but do we have a choice?  Not if we want to be published this year.  And I certainly have a number of manuscripts that are almost ready to be published.

After Mary Licata, my illustrator, read the draft of "The Looking Glass Labyrinth," she generated a cover drawing - the one above.  The premise of my story is simple yet complex.  It's the tale of two women who lived over two centuries apart yet shared a common loss -- the men that they loved.  One  lost her sea captain in a gunfight inside the walls of her home two centuries ago and the other lost her fiance in a gunfight five years ago in Afghanistan.  Both women protected themselves against suffering the same hurt and heartache  by withdrawing from the world until... but if I told you the next part, it would spoil the surprise wouldn't it?  Is it a dream based on Lady Rachael's diary?  Or....

So, I'm finalizing the manuscript, hoping to have a publisher pick it up soon.  Final editing takes me forever because each time through the document, I find a sentence to smooth out or a paragraph that needs to be clearer.  I actually enjoy editing.  Most writers don't but I find it energizing.  

Okay, enough time spent not editing.  I'll about to start... maybe in a bit :-)

Keep writing... like anything else, if you don't use it, you lose it.

Till,
Judi