IWSG & Happy Thanksgiving

 

Due to a death in the family, I am unable to participate in November's IWSG blog post.

May you all be safe and have an enjoyable Thanksgiving.

I look forward to posting again in December.

WRITERS NEED TO LAUGH AT THEIR OWN MIS-STEAKS

  Be sure to visit the
Insecure Writer’s Support Group Website!!!

 

Editing a manuscript after spending months writing enough words to call it a novel might not sound like a fun project. But think of the ego booster when you come across a word, a paragraph, or a scene that makes you gasp, "Wow, did I really write that?"

 

As you can see, I am now in the editing phase of my WIP. While there may be a few of those "Wow" moments, I expect more morments of, "Huh, what the heck did I mean by that?" I've marked one such area already in an early chapter and still haven't figured out what I was trying to say. I do suspect it sounded brilliant when I first wrote the words.

 

Another problem that pops up, often, is repeated words. I guess they sound so good the first time, I want to keep using them. Not the typing error: He went went to the store. More on the order of: Sally decided to make soup for lunch. Deciding she would probably enjoy a grilled cheese sandwich, also, she took out the bread. A decision about whether to have hot chocolate with the meal would have to wait.

 

Of course, it is your responsibility as a writer to laugh at your own mistakes, taking pleasure in actually spotting errors before the Beta readers get their hands on the MS and really embarrass you!

 

What kind of mistakes do you chuckle about when you're editing your first draft?

 

(I'm leaving for the airport in one hour for a three-week vacation on the mainland, so I'm not able to add the names of the co-hosts for September, but I will check in and visit blog sites.)

 

 



BAGS of BONES Mini-Reviews

Mini-reviews for my A-to-Z BLUES, PUPUS, and REVIEWS theme

appear on Monday and Wednesday.

This Wednesday is also #IWSG day!

 

Often I get stuck in my writing or start to feel less than confident with a current WIP. That’s when I like to pick up a book that will entertain me without making me feel guilty for not working on my own project. I am a sucker for any book with the word “bones” in the title. 

Admittedly, Kathy Reichs cornered the market with the television series BONES, and her novel Flash and Bones is high on my reading list. At the top of that list is Keri Hulme’s The Bone People, but several other authors with “bones” novels have also entertained me over the years. 

 

My A-list of “bones” books includes

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold,

heralded by the Chicago Tribune as saying

“. . . there are more important things in life than retribution.

Like forgiveness, like love.” 

Jan Burke’s Bones: An Irene Kelly Mystery offers a controversial story that moves forward at a steady pace. The Bone Collector: The First Lincoln Rhyme Novel made best-seller Jeffrey Deaver a favorite on many lists. The kindle edition is scheduled for release in May, 2014. Winter’s Bone by Daniel Woodrell offers a look at poverty in the Ozarks that gives me a chill even now. 

Other guilt-free favorites are:

Bag of Bones by Stephen King

City of Bones (A Harry Bosch Novel) by Michael Connelly

The Bone Garden by Tess Gerritsen 

At a book sale, I came across Bones: A Forensic Detective’s Casebook by Dr. Douglas Uberlaker that demonstrates how bones can speak for the dead. It is a good reference book for mystery writers.

What is your favorite “BONES” title?