Carrie | November 1, 2011
Time to close the book on October. The sun has set on the last day of the month and on my October goals. Work on the second draft of Saving Grace is winding down, but not as quickly as I’d hoped. The second act was completed early in the final week of the month, but [...]
Carrie | October 22, 2011
I wouldn’t say this story is a train that’s left the station … yet … but the engines are revving and the whistle may be about to sound. The struggle to determine what stays on the platform and what leaves with the train as far as scenes, events, and locations continued throughout the week. Saving [...]
Carrie | October 15, 2011
Writing is a difficult business. Once a new writer gets past the novelty of novel writing, it doesn’t take them long to realize writing is hard work. Those adrenaline rushes that come with crafting a well-turned phrase or with writing a scene and discovering tears streaming down your face are offset by those days when [...]
Carrie | October 8, 2011
Last week, I wrote about my need for focus when it comes to writing and I used horse racing equipment as the analogy. Blinkers (or blinders) keep race horses from seeing what’s going on outside the track and keeps their attention focused on the race at hand and the competition. That’s where the focus needs [...]
Carrie | October 1, 2011
Harness horses wear them. Carriage horses wear them. Blinkers (also known as blinders). Those little squares of leather attached to the bridle and positioned near the eyes. The purpose of blinkers is to keep the horse from being distracted by everything but the task at hand. A race horse that pays more attention to what’s [...]
Carrie | September 11, 2010
This past week has been an excellent week for writing, with several days well over the daily writing goal and one day in which I wrote over ten thousand words in a single day. The only way it could have been better would have been to have all of those words be on the current [...]
Carrie | September 4, 2010
At the end of last week’s post, I invited readers to check in again this week to see how well Grace and I were getting along. I had finished last week ready to get serious about visiting with Grace, the lead character in Saving Grace. I had really hoped to have a lot of things [...]
Carrie | August 28, 2010
Last week I talked about taking the time to get to know and understand the character I thought was supposed to be the male lead in the story, Saving Grace. I spent a lot of time and words on Anderson and followed that up with more time and words this past week before finally writing [...]
Carrie | August 21, 2010
Writing can be very frustrating work (and, yes, I did chose the word “work” deliberately!). Last week’s weekly update post was all about finding the right story. You’ll recall I had several potential plots vying for my attention. All of them wanted to participate in Saving Grace. Most of them were strong enough to be [...]
Carrie | August 14, 2010
My current story went through quite a few contortions this week. Come to think of it, I did, too. I continued to combine work on the story with coursework and reading through Plot & Structure (James Scott Bell), but it didn’t take long to realize the reading was getting way ahead of where the story [...]
I've been an avid looker-at of books since I was old enough to sit on her lap and listen to the stories she read.
The oldest complete manuscript I have was written when I was in the eighth grade.
Throughout grade school and high school, I read every horse story I could get my hands on. Walter Farley was a huge favorite and I still enjoy reading the adventures of the Black Stallion and Flame and all the rest. But Marguerite Henry, C. W. Anderson, Thomas Hinkle and anyone else who wrote a story about a horse was on my to-read list. I couldn't get enough of them.
Then I found Agatha Christie and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and discovered another world; the world of mysteries!
More recently Dick Francis has combined my love of horse stories with my love of mysteries with his series of books.
In the early part of this century, I was introduced to the world of Christian fiction and in July of 2008, I took my first ever writing workshop. The workshop covered several aspects of writing from a Christian worldview and an entirely new vista opened before me.
I am, as yet, unpublished. I write every day, maintain painting and writing blogs, painting journals, writing journals and a number of other writing endeavors. Along with other members of my church family, I've written devotions for Advent and Lenten devotional booklets. For a time, I wrote a monthly column for the Newton Kansan newspaper.
I still enjoy a good horse story but I also enjoy a good mystery or cozy mystery, suspense and a little bit of action here and there, as well as literary works. I hope, Lord willing, to try my hand at each of those genres.
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