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	<title>Writing Well</title>
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	<description>On the Road to Writing Excellence</description>
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		<title>A Year in the Life, Week of February 13, 2012</title>
		<link>http://writing-well.carrie-lewis.com/the-writing-process/a-year-in-the-life-week-of-february-13-2012/</link>
		<comments>http://writing-well.carrie-lewis.com/the-writing-process/a-year-in-the-life-week-of-february-13-2012/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 22 Feb 2012 06:00:54 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Carrie</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[The Writing Process]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Random Musings]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Things You May Enjoy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Writing]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[I accidentally got a couple days off this past week. Accidentally because they were the result of injury incurred in a brief altercation with a juice glass and the resulting cut to the heel of my right hand. Much bleeding, &#8230; <a href="http://writing-well.carrie-lewis.com/the-writing-process/a-year-in-the-life-week-of-february-13-2012/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I accidentally got a couple days off this past week.</p>
<p>Accidentally because they were the result of injury incurred in a brief altercation with a juice glass and the resulting cut to the heel of my right hand. Much bleeding, but no lasting damage and everything is fine, now.</p>
<p>But it was nearly impossible to type in any fashion but the two finger Hunt &amp; Peck method, so I set aside writing for that day and the next.</p>
<p>The good news is that the cut didn&#8217;t keep me from reading and I made the most of the time by reading Chaim Potok&#8217;s <em>The Chosen</em>.</p>
<p><em>The Chosen</em> was first published in 1967 and republished twenty-five years later. According to the foreword by Mr. Potok, it was assigned reading in classrooms across the country for many years. I can see why. It&#8217;s a great story about family expectations and the choices of fathers and sons. A great read.</p>
<p>When I finished the book, I took time to analyze it by breaking it down into acts and act parts. That has been helpful in figuring out my own manuscripts and it seemed like a good thing to practice analytical skills with other novels. In fact, this is the second novel I&#8217;ve done this with and I plan to continue the exercise with every novel I read, time permitting. What better way to learn than by studying the work of those who have gone before.</p>
<p>My mid-week injury doesn&#8217;t mean I got nothing done in the writing department. Before taking up juice glass wrestling, I worked on idea generation and developing story summaries for something that could be either an epic novel or a pretty good series, and writing random scenes as they came to mind.</p>
<p>When I got back to typing Thursday night, I wrote the book study I mentioned above, then spent Friday and Saturday alternately reading and working on new summaries or fresh ideas.</p>
<p>I also took some time to try out a new look for this blog. I hope you&#8217;ll let me know what you think.</p>
<p>So it wasn&#8217;t a bad week. It just wasn&#8217;t the week I had planned!</p>
<p>Until next week,</p>
<p><img src="http://www.carrie-lewis.com/blog/carrie-green.png" alt="Carrie" /></p>

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		<title>COTT Almost Kiss Clash &#8211; And The Winner Is&#8230;.</title>
		<link>http://writing-well.carrie-lewis.com/guest-blogger/cott-almost-kiss-clash-and-the-winner-is/</link>
		<comments>http://writing-well.carrie-lewis.com/guest-blogger/cott-almost-kiss-clash-and-the-winner-is/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 20 Feb 2012 06:00:49 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Carrie</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Clash of the Titles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Guest Blogger]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[COTT]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Raquel Byrnes]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[*guest post by Raquel Byrnes The Almost Kiss clash has been a whirlwind of romance, breathless moments, and possibilities! Your responses to the excerpts were amazing.Both books were great examples of riveting Christian Fiction available out there, but there can &#8230; <a href="http://writing-well.carrie-lewis.com/guest-blogger/cott-almost-kiss-clash-and-the-winner-is/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>*guest post by <a href="http://nitewriter6.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Raquel Byrnes</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.clashofthetitles.com/"><img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wXA6sCThB6c/Tz1yeYviEbI/AAAAAAAAHr0/1f4hD0VjiCE/s320/Blog+Alliance.jpg" alt="" width="320" height="68" border="0" /></a></p>
<p><strong>The Almost Kiss clash</strong> has been a whirlwind of romance, breathless moments, and possibilities! Your responses to the excerpts were amazing.Both books were great examples of riveting Christian Fiction available out there, but there can be only one winner and I am happy to announce that book is&#8230;</p>
<p><strong>A Thyme for Love by Pamela S. Meyers!</strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Thyme-Love-Pamela-S-Meyers/dp/1602903026/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1329426959&amp;sr=1-1"><img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YESCa8OCPqA/Tz1lIkOwO-I/AAAAAAAAIFY/H40wDU_AcCg/s1600/COVER+ART+Thyme+for+Love_frontcov.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p>
<p>Pamela&#8217;s winning <strong>Almost Kiss</strong> excerpt was full of sparks and surprises.</p>
<p>Here&#8217;s a small snippet of the great scene:</p>
<blockquote><p>&#8230;Marc tipped my chin up with his index finger. “April, you’re sweating.” He pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and dabbed my forehead. I had nowhere to look but into his eyes and, once there, I couldn’t pull my gaze away. Good thing I didn’t want to. His eyes went to my mouth and he leaned closer. I lifted my chin in anticipation. So much for the boss’s orders&#8230;</p>
<p>He brought his mouth closer, and the tiny elevator started to spin. Then everything went black.</p></blockquote>
<p>If you missed it, drop by Clash of the Titles to take a peek at <strong><a href="http://www.clashofthetitles.com/2012/02/one-breathless-moment.html" target="_blank">One Breathless Moment&#8230;</a>.</strong></p>
<p>We received positive reader response for this spunky romance.</p>
<p><em>&#8220;Great tension! I was riveted to every word!&#8221;</em></p>
<p><em>&#8220;Love the anticipation and butterflies in the almost kiss scene&#8230;&#8221;</em></p>
<p><em>&#8220;The setting was marvelous, the tension leaped off the pages.&#8221;</em></p>
<p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Thyme-Love-Pamela-S-Meyers/dp/1602903026" target="_blank"><strong><span style="color: black;">A Thyme for Love</span></strong></a> is a wonderful example of the awesome Christian fiction available.</p>
<p>This week, an exciting new <strong><a href="http://www.clashofthetitles.com/">Unpublished Novel Clash</a></strong> begins. It&#8217;s hosted by our very own April Gardner! Make sure you come by for another chance to vote and WIN a free book!</p>

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		<title>A Generous and Benevolent God</title>
		<link>http://writing-well.carrie-lewis.com/devotionals/a-generous-and-benevolent-god/</link>
		<comments>http://writing-well.carrie-lewis.com/devotionals/a-generous-and-benevolent-god/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 18 Feb 2012 06:00:28 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Carrie</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Devotional]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Guest Blogger]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Food For Thought]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Neal Lewis]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[Guest Blogger: Neal Lewis Psalm 20, focusing on verses 4 and 5 The Psalm starts with a plea that the LORD answer you when you are in distress. It ends with trusting in the LORD instead of anything else. But &#8230; <a href="http://writing-well.carrie-lewis.com/devotionals/a-generous-and-benevolent-god/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Guest Blogger: Neal Lewis</p>
<p>Psalm 20, focusing on verses 4 and 5</p>
<p>The Psalm starts with a plea that the LORD answer you when you are in distress. It ends with trusting in the LORD instead of anything else.</p>
<p>But in verses 4 and 5 it talks about making plans and the rejoicing that will take place among all of God&#8217;s Saints when those plans succeed.</p>
<p><em>May He give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed. We will shout for joy when you are victorious and will lift up our banners in the name of our God. May the LORD grant all your requests.</em> NIV</p>
<p>Since it is a general plea by David on behalf of the Saints, it is trustworthy and true for all of the Saints, for all time. We know that God hears and answers the requests of the righteous &#8211; and David was righteous; a man after God&#8217;s own heart.</p>
<p>The idea that is present here is that God is a very generous and benevolent God. He wants to lavish gifts and good things on us.</p>
<p>Those who say this life is intended to be drudgery and oppression, are not reading their Bible. Those who focus on the pessimistic side of things, and say those things (pessimism and cynicism) are the true reality, are lying deliberately. They want to believe those attitudes relieve them of being responsible for the talents God has given them.</p>
<p>God gives not only talents, but also dreams and hopes. The pessimist and cynic says, “What&#8217;s the use? I followed that dream and just got a broken heart.” Nothing could be farther from the truth than that attitude.</p>
<p>This Psalm does not speak of cheap joys. It speaks rather to the joys and desires that are only reached through struggle and battle. But it says something more than even that. People are watching us in our struggles.</p>
<p>When we win through God, we give them hope to trust in God as well. Those around us rejoice. So gaining victory is used by God to advance His causes in others, as well as ourselves.</p>
<p>Now we are not supposed to just go on “blind faith”. Those who advocate that are misrepresenting God. We are made in the image of God. Therefore, we are to plan, to consider.</p>
<p>We are to pray, yes. But many Christians hide behind, “Well, I just need to pray about this.” At some point, and it should usually be sooner than later, we need to plan and take action on the dreams God gives us.</p>
<p>So this Psalm uplifts both planning and gaining the desires of our heart. This must all be done for the glory of God, but when it is done for His glory, He does reward. Amen.</p>

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		<title>A Year in the Life, Week of February 6, 2012</title>
		<link>http://writing-well.carrie-lewis.com/the-writing-process/a-year-in-the-life-week-of-february-6-2012/</link>
		<comments>http://writing-well.carrie-lewis.com/the-writing-process/a-year-in-the-life-week-of-february-6-2012/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 15 Feb 2012 06:00:12 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Carrie</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[The Writing Process]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Random Musings]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Things You May Enjoy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Writing]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[I spent most of this week working on idea generation. Random scenes, sketching new characters or developing existing characters, story summaries, and identifying themes. While no one story advanced much, several new possibilities were explored. Writing scene sequences was especially &#8230; <a href="http://writing-well.carrie-lewis.com/the-writing-process/a-year-in-the-life-week-of-february-6-2012/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I spent most of this week working on idea generation. Random scenes, sketching new characters or developing existing characters, story summaries, and identifying themes. While no one story advanced much, several new possibilities were explored.</p>
<p>Writing scene sequences was especially productive. Three of the six working days had word counts over 2,000 with scenes alone and one day was over 3,000. Most of that writing was dedicated to a new idea with a lot of potential, but not much direction at the moment.</p>
<p>I also dug up some old, moldering ideas and reviewed them, including two ideas I was working on a year ago this month.</p>
<p>On Friday, I was up in the middle of the night with an idea for a series I couldn&#8217;t ignore. Chunks of writing time on Friday and Saturday were devoted to getting as much of that idea on electronic paper as possible before the details drifted away.</p>
<p>Critiquing the works of one or two crit partners also factored into my writing work week.</p>
<p>Until next week,</p>
<p><img src="http://www.carrie-lewis.com/blog/carrie-green.png" alt="Carrie" /></p>

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		<title>Spotlight On Michelle Massaro</title>
		<link>http://writing-well.carrie-lewis.com/guest-blogger/spotlight-on-michelle-massaro/</link>
		<comments>http://writing-well.carrie-lewis.com/guest-blogger/spotlight-on-michelle-massaro/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 13 Feb 2012 06:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Carrie</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Clash of the Titles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Guest Blogger]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[April W. Gardner]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[COTT]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Michelle Massaro]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://writing-well.carrie-lewis.com/?p=5449</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[*guest post by April W Gardner &#8220;I often cry when I am in prayer for my children. When eternity breaks through the here and now and the only request left in me is please, God, bring my children into the &#8230; <a href="http://writing-well.carrie-lewis.com/guest-blogger/spotlight-on-michelle-massaro/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Weo76deGPos/TXkufbPFJAI/AAAAAAAAAHE/4AjjnmmrM7U/s1600/Blog_Alliance.jpg"><img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Weo76deGPos/TXkufbPFJAI/AAAAAAAAAHE/4AjjnmmrM7U/s320/Blog_Alliance.jpg" alt="" width="320" height="68" border="0" /></a></p>
<p>*guest post by <a href="http://www.aprilwgardner.com/">April W Gardner</a></p>
<p><strong>&#8220;I often cry when I am in prayer for my children. When eternity breaks through the here and now and the only request left in me is please, God, bring my children into the Kingdom.&#8221; -Michelle Massaro</strong></p>
<div style="text-align: center;"><strong>*****</strong></div>
<p><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wxMJPr_Vybc/TzAFt5TNX_I/AAAAAAAAHn8/Ng_dryTWg1A/s1600/MICHELLE-1.jpg"><img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wxMJPr_Vybc/TzAFt5TNX_I/AAAAAAAAHn8/Ng_dryTWg1A/s200/MICHELLE-1.jpg" alt="" width="157" height="200" border="0" /></a></p>
<p>It&#8217;s my immense pleasure to introduce a lovely woman to you today, and offer an opportunity to get to know her! Michelle Massaro is my right arm at Clash of the Titles. I&#8217;d be lost without her, but she&#8217;s so much more than just assistant editor at COTT.</p>
<p>Michelle married her high school honey, Mike, and they now have four amazing children. They are passionate Creationists and attend Living Truth Christian Fellowship in Corona, CA where they have taught Jr High studies and where Michelle is involved in the worship ministry. Michelle is also a homeschooling parent and an aspiring author of contemporary Christian fiction. She loves coffee, peanut butter M&amp;M&#8217;s, and new eyeshadow. Her blog hosts weekly Story Improvs, where readers are encouraged to jump in and add to the plot. Above all, she is a follower of Christ Jesus, unashamed to stand upon the Word of God from beginning to end.</p>
<p>Michelle, I love your blog&#8217;s sub-header. It says &#8220;Follow my journey toward publication. Laugh, cry, point and stare&#8211; it&#8217;s all good. I&#8217;ll leave a trail so that you, my fellow author, may have a straighter path to finding your own elusive publishing contract. Adventure awaits. Let&#8217;s travel together&#8230;&#8221;</p>
<p>Like they say in court, you&#8217;ve opened up a line of questioning. So!</p>
<p><strong>Regarding laughter&#8230;</strong><br />
Every time I watch <em>Forget Paris</em>, I laugh hysterically over Ellen driving down the road with a pigeon stuck to her head. Which movie makes you laugh hardest?</p>
<p><strong>Michelle</strong>: Wow. This was tough because I don&#8217;t belly-laugh often enough at all. But one movie that comes to mind is <em>Meet The Parents</em>. Some might be offended because there is some inappropriateness in there, but I can&#8217;t help it. It&#8217;s funny! There are so many quotes that get me going. Greg&#8217;s prayer at the dinner table for one: &#8220;and we thank you oh sweet sweet Lord of Hosts&#8230;for the &#8230;smorgasbord you have so aptly lain at our table this day and each day..by day&#8230;day by day by day&#8230;&#8221;.</p>
<p><strong>April</strong>: LOL, I&#8217;m laughing just remembering all the hysterical lines from that movie!</p>
<p>You have me laughing, too! Visualizing Greg milking a cat&#8230; LOL</p>
<p><strong>Regarding tears&#8230;</strong><br />
You and I are women. We&#8217;re allowed to cry anytime, anywhere. It&#8217;s our prerogative. I cried yesterday at the sight of traffic stopping for children exiting a school bus. It&#8217;s a touching scene&#8211;the world coming to a halt to protect our little ones. When was the last time you cried, and what was it over?</p>
<p><strong>Michelle</strong>: It <em>is</em> a touching scene! (Thank you! I feel better now.)</p>
<p>I cry all the time. Seriously. Usually nobody is around to see but I probably shed at least a couple tears nearly every day. I often cry when I am in prayer for my children. When eternity breaks through the here and now and the only request left in me is please, God, bring my children into the Kingdom. But I also cry over physical weaknesses, regrets, longings, and even Disney movies. In elementary school I bawled over the movie <em>Annie</em> and begged my mom to adopt some orphans. Today I teared up watching a scene from <em>Mulan</em> (when she resolves to take her father&#8217;s place in war), and my eyes stung listening to pianist Yiruma&#8217;s <em>Kiss The Rain</em> for the first time.</p>
<p><strong>April</strong>: Raise your hand if you teared up during that little speech! Must move on to happier thoughts before I drip on the keyboard.</p>
<p><strong>Regarding pointing and staring&#8230;.</strong><br />
Our lives are so much more exposed now with Facebook, blogs, Twitter, and all the rest. It seems we can hardly say or do anything privately any more, which can be a blessing. And a curse. What&#8217;s the funniest social networking faux pas you&#8217;ve committed to date?</p>
<p><strong>Michelle</strong>: This was hard too. (Great questions, April!) The closest thing would be when a secular writer I know posted about her new release on Facebook. She had some trouble with Amazon tagging because of the somewhat offensive cover image and turned to her FB friends for input on its appropriateness. I commented with a gentle opinion on why I thought Amazon might have tagged it the way they did, hoping to speak for the conservatives out there without being abrasive. What I hadn&#8217;t considered, was that by commenting, her book image would appear on my wall in my &#8220;recent activities&#8221; and moments later my MOM left a scathing comment below mine asking why on earth I was posting this image. I messaged her privately to adamantly explain that I wasn&#8217;t the poster, I was weighing in on the matter. I deleted my comment and told my mom she should do the same because obviously it was then going to be on her wall too. Oy vey! Lucky for me, the incident was small-scale and rather private. I suppose I&#8217;ve gotten off easy so far. But it&#8217;s never easy being &#8220;caught&#8221; by Mom.</p>
<p><strong>April</strong>: That&#8217;s too funny! Mom&#8217;s are great at catching us with our hands in the cookie jar, no matter our age!</p>
<p>Tell us about that trail you&#8217;re leaving for other writers. What was the last thing you posted about on Fiction Fridays?</p>
<p><strong>Michelle</strong>: I&#8217;ve always posted things I learn and experiences I gain whether that&#8217;s contest feedback, craft techniques, social networking (a lot of that with COTT), or opportunities to pursue. I sometimes use Fiction Fridays for hosting Story Improvs where readers get involved and write a story together one line at a time. Last week I posted an update on where I&#8217;ve been and what I expect in 2012 and I ended with a story prompt. This one is a little different than the Improvs. In this one, I challenged readers to take the prompt and expand it on their own blog, then send me the link. I don&#8217;t know how many will join the challenge and play the game, but it would be fun to see what different authors do with the same prompt. Wanna play? You can check it out right now: <a href="http://michellemassaro.blogspot.com/2012/02/fiction-friday.html">http://michellemassaro.blogspot.com/2012/02/fiction-friday.html</a></p>
<p><strong>April</strong>: Oh! Sounds like fun. Y&#8217;all make sure you head over there and jump in on the action. You&#8217;ve been with COTT since the beginning as a vital staff member, but looking through the eyes of a reader/voter (which you also are!), which part of COTT do you enjoy the most?</p>
<p><strong>Michelle</strong>: I&#8217;d have to say I most enjoy getting that slice of a story I&#8217;ve often never heard of, and then getting to hear how it came together from the author. It&#8217;s more personal and more focused than scanning amazon for sample chapters. And I can vote! Most of us love having a say in things and I&#8217;m no exception, lol. Being able to interact with the authors of the books I&#8217;m voting for makes me feel like I&#8217;m stepping into an elite circle of friends and as a reader, that&#8217;s huge.</p>
<p><strong>April</strong>: I heartily agree! Thanks, Michelle, for being so gracious to open your world to us for a little peek. It&#8217;s been a blast! And now you must excuse me while I go dig through my DVDs for Meet the Parents. LOL</p>
<p><strong>Michelle</strong>: April, thank you so much for this opportunity. I value your friendship and admire your work so much. I&#8217;m truly honored to be a part of Clash of the Titles.</p>
<p><strong>April</strong>: We couldn&#8217;t do it without ya!</p>
<p>Readers, do you have a question for Michelle? And don&#8217;t forget, you can still comment on the Almost Kiss clash going on right now at <a href="http://www.clashofthetitles.com/">Clash of the Titles</a>!</p>

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		<title>Tactics of the Winning Novelist</title>
		<link>http://writing-well.carrie-lewis.com/guest-blogger/tactics-of-the-winning-novelist/</link>
		<comments>http://writing-well.carrie-lewis.com/guest-blogger/tactics-of-the-winning-novelist/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 11 Feb 2012 06:00:54 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Carrie</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Guest Blogger]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Randy Ingermanson]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://writing-well.carrie-lewis.com/?p=5433</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Today, I&#8217;m posting an article from the latest issue of Randy Ingermanson&#8217;s free publication, Advanced Fiction Writing E-zine (which you can sign up for at no cost here). It&#8217;s a follow up on a series of articles from the same &#8230; <a href="http://writing-well.carrie-lewis.com/guest-blogger/tactics-of-the-winning-novelist/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Today, I&#8217;m posting an article from the latest issue of Randy Ingermanson&#8217;s free publication, Advanced Fiction Writing E-zine (which you can sign up for at no cost <a href="http://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/ezine/" target="_blank"><strong>here</strong></a>). It&#8217;s a follow up on a series of articles from the same source.</p>
<p>A moment for a shameless promotion. I recommend this e-zine very highly and not only because I enjoy it. There is valuable writing and business information in Randy&#8217;s e-zine every month. Even the things I don&#8217;t publish will help you advance your writing career and each one of them is worth more than the price of subscription (did I mention the e-zine is free?).</p>
<p>End of shameless promotion and on to the real story.</p>
<h2>Organizing: Tactics of the Winning Novelist</h2>
<p><strong><em>By Randy Ingermanson</em></strong></p>
<p>In my November column, I talked about the three essential skills you need if you want to succeed in the writing business &#8212; Vision, Strategy, and Tactics.</p>
<p>In December, I discussed Vision and gave you some simple tips to help you define the Vision for your career and for each book.</p>
<p>In January, we tackled Strategy and I gave you a long term strategic plan for managing your writing business.</p>
<p>This month, let&#8217;s talk Tactics.</p>
<p>Tactics are the little things, the specific actions you take to build your skills as a novelist and then to write your novel.</p>
<p>Let&#8217;s be clear that those are separate tasks: building your skills and writing a novel. An analogy might help:</p>
<p>Being a novelist is a lot like being a marathon runner. Before you can actually RUN a marathon, you need to first TRAIN for it. Typically, that takes a long time &#8212; months of training to build the fitness and endurance to run an entire marathon.</p>
<p>But once you&#8217;ve reached that level, you can run more marathons with ease.</p>
<p>Of course, you&#8217;ll continue to train between races, but now your training will be aimed at helping you run BETTER, rather than merely helping you FINISH.</p>
<p>In the same way, before you can write a novel, you need to develop your skills as a fiction writer.</p>
<p>But once you&#8217;ve got the skills to write one novel, you can write as many as you want with ease.</p>
<p>You&#8217;ll always be improving your skills, but after you&#8217;ve written your first novel, you&#8217;ll be working to write BETTER, not merely to FINISH.</p>
<p>I&#8217;ve identified five tactics you can use to build your skills as a novelist to the point where you&#8217;re ready to write your first one.</p>
<p>These tactics are simple. In fact, they&#8217;re &#8220;obvious.&#8221; Success in life can be as simple as doing the obvious. You&#8217;d be amazed how many writers ignore all these tactics. You&#8217;d be amazed how fast you improve, once you start doing all five.</p>
<p>Here they are:</p>
<p>Tactic #1: Write on a consistent schedule.</p>
<p>Writing a novel is a marathon. A sprint here and a dash there won&#8217;t get you to the finish line. Writing consistently for weeks and months WILL get you there.</p>
<p>Decide how many hours per week you can dedicate to writing. If you&#8217;re a beginner, this might be only one or two. I recommend that beginners make it a goal to get up to five hours per week by the end of the first year of writing.</p>
<p>Your writing schedule is for WRITING. Not for research of your story world. Not for studying how to write. Not for reading magazines about writing. Not for reading blogs or hanging out on e-mail loops for writers. Not for going to writing conferences.</p>
<p>All of those are fine things, but they aren&#8217;t WRITING.</p>
<p>You get better at running by running. You get better at writing by writing.</p>
<p>Tactic #2: Keep a log of your writing time and word count.</p>
<p>This sounds too simple (or possibly too anal) for words. It isn&#8217;t.</p>
<p>Writing fiction is a JOB, at least for professional novelists. Someday, you&#8217;ll be working with a publisher who has a publication schedule mapped out for two years in advance. You&#8217;ll sign a contract with that publisher to deliver X amount of words on a particular date.</p>
<p>That date is not a fantasy. That date is reality. If you miss that date, it costs your publisher money. Yes, they build in some slack in the schedule. No, you don&#8217;t ever want to use any of it. Not one minute. Your publishers will love you if they know they can trust you to meet your deadlines.</p>
<p>But you can&#8217;t sign a contract to deliver X words on a particular date unless you know how fast you can write. You need to know how many words of output you can create in each hour of working time.</p>
<p>Good runners know what pace they can run each mile.</p>
<p>Professional writers know what pace they can write.</p>
<p>If you want to be a professional writer someday, then start acting like one today.</p>
<p>Tactic #3: Give yourself a weekly quota.</p>
<p>You can&#8217;t do this until you&#8217;ve done #1 and #2 above. In order to create a meaningful quota, you have to know how many hours you can write each week, and you have to know how many words you can produce each hour. (They don&#8217;t have to be GOOD words. Goodness comes later.)</p>
<p>Virtually all the successful writers I know assign themselves a quota of some sort for creating their first draft. While some writers use a daily quota and some use a monthly quota, most of them seem to set a weekly word count. I recommend weekly.</p>
<p>Your quota will be useless unless you actually meet it. Assign yourself a penalty for failing to reach your quota. Find an accountability partner who can check that you hit your quota and can make you pay the penalty if you fail.</p>
<p>Important: Make your quota possible. Never miss it.</p>
<p>Tactic #4: Find a critique group or critique buddy.</p>
<p>Most writers believe their work is either unutterably brilliant or wretchedly awful.</p>
<p>Generally, they&#8217;re wrong on both counts. All writers are delusional. That&#8217;s part of the job description.</p>
<p>There is only one way to know whether your work is any good or not.</p>
<p>You need somebody else to read your work and tell you.</p>
<p>You need a critique of your work regularly. I recommend that you get a critique monthly. Find one or more people with all of these qualities:<br />
* They understand fiction<br />
* They will be honest<br />
* They will be kind</p>
<p>If your critiquers lack any of these, then drop them like a burning porcupine because they&#8217;re useless to you.</p>
<p>Tactic #5: Constantly study the craft of fiction.</p>
<p>It is not your critiquers&#8217; problem to tell you HOW to write better. Their job is to point out what you&#8217;re doing well and what you&#8217;re doing poorly.</p>
<p>Your job is to find ways to improve your strong points so they&#8217;re world-class (your strong points will make editors say yes someday).</p>
<p>Your job is also to find ways to improve your weak points so they&#8217;re at least adequate (your weak points will make editors say no right now).</p>
<p>Generally, critiquers don&#8217;t actually know how to teach you how to improve your craft. They may think they do, but they usually don&#8217;t. Skill in critiquing is not the same as skill in teaching.</p>
<p>You have plenty of sources for teaching you the craft:<br />
* Books<br />
* Magazines and e-zines<br />
* Classes<br />
* Conferences<br />
* Recorded lectures<br />
* Mentors</p>
<p>When you know specifically what you want to improve, find some source of teaching on that exact topic and study it. Then apply what you learned to your writing and get critiqued again to see if you got it. Don&#8217;t quit studying until you get it.</p>
<p>That&#8217;s it. Five tactics that will turn a talented beginner into a professional writer, if you do them consistently for the rest of your life.</p>
<p>To summarize, &#8220;Write, write, write! Get critiqued. Study. Repeat forever.&#8221;</p>
<p>Simple? Yes.</p>
<p>Easy? No.</p>
<p>That&#8217;s why there are many more talented beginners than professional writers.</p>
<h3>Carrie&#8217;s Thoughts</h3>
<p>I&#8217;m going to be implementing the ideas Randy details in this post. Some of them have been part of my writing regimen for years. Monitoring word count, for example.</p>
<p>Others, I still need to work on.</p>
<p><strong>Q4U</strong>: What ideas look helpful to you?</p>
<p><img src="http://www.carrie-lewis.com/blog/carrie-green.png" alt="Carrie" /></p>
<h2>Credit Where Credit is Due</h2>
<p>This article is reprinted by permission of the author.</p>
<p>Award-winning novelist Randy Ingermanson, &#8220;the Snowflake Guy,&#8221; publishes the <a href="http://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/ezine/" target="_blank"><strong><em>Advanced Fiction Writing E-zine</em></strong></a>, with more than 29,000 readers, every month. If you want to learn the craft and marketing of fiction, AND make your writing more valuable to editors, AND have FUN doing it, visit <strong><a href="http://www.AdvancedFictionWriting.com" target="_blank">http://www.AdvancedFictionWriting.com</a></strong>.</p>

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		<title>A Year in the Life, Week of January 30, 2012</title>
		<link>http://writing-well.carrie-lewis.com/the-writing-process/a-year-in-the-life-week-of-january-30-2012/</link>
		<comments>http://writing-well.carrie-lewis.com/the-writing-process/a-year-in-the-life-week-of-january-30-2012/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 08 Feb 2012 06:00:20 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Carrie</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[The Writing Process]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Random Musings]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Things You May Enjoy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Writing]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[The most significant happening this week came right at the beginning of the week. Well, almost the beginning. I did idea generation first. At the end of the previous week, my brain storming and crit partner made me an offer &#8230; <a href="http://writing-well.carrie-lewis.com/the-writing-process/a-year-in-the-life-week-of-january-30-2012/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The most significant happening this week came right at the beginning of the week.</p>
<p>Well, almost the beginning. I did idea generation first.</p>
<p>At the end of the previous week, my brain storming and crit partner made me an offer I wasn&#8217;t sure what to do with. She&#8217;s been helping me brain storm ideas, develop ideas, and work on <em>Saving Grace</em> for over a year. The brain storming part is a lot of fun. Our emails get pretty crazy sometimes.</p>
<p><em>Saving Grace</em>, on the other hand&#8230;. What can I say? I am so much my own worst critic that I&#8217;m surprised she hasn&#8217;t told me I&#8217;m hopeless!</p>
<p>After counseling, cajoling, encouraging, and persuading, she suggested I let her work on the story a little bit. Since I had already vetoed most of the good ideas I&#8217;d come up with and had nothing else to offer, I told her I&#8217;d think about it. And pray about it.</p>
<p>That was on Friday. I promised myself that I&#8217;d make a decision on Monday. First thing.</p>
<p>Well, almost first thing.</p>
<p>As I said, I did idea generation first. It&#8217;s too easy to let that slip through the cracks if I don&#8217;t do it right away. There was no chance I&#8217;d forget that decision.</p>
<p>In the end, I decided to let go of <em>Saving Grace</em> for a while and see what happened. I had my crit partner&#8217;s permission to work on anything I wanted to. New ideas. Old ideas. Painting. Whatever, so long as it had nothing to do with <em>Saving Grace</em>.</p>
<p>After accepting her offer, I spent two days feeling like I&#8217;d been pushed out of  a moving car in the middle of nowhere, with no idea where I was and no idea how to get somewhere else. Of all the things I expected upon my release, that sense of becalming was not one.</p>
<p>Gradually, I begin plinking away on the keyboard and by the time all was said and done, it had been a good writing week. The free time resulting from having no specific story to work on allowed me to explore a number of potential ideas. While a good deal of that work revolved around new characters and summarizing new ideas, I also managed over a thousand words a day four of the five working days. Not a bad deal!</p>
<p>Saturday was a wash, but that&#8217;s okay. A full weekend off every once in a while is a good thing!</p>
<p>Until next week,</p>
<p><img src="http://www.carrie-lewis.com/blog/carrie-green.png" alt="Carrie" /></p>

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		<title>COTT: Amish Clash!</title>
		<link>http://writing-well.carrie-lewis.com/guest-blogger/cott-amish-clash/</link>
		<comments>http://writing-well.carrie-lewis.com/guest-blogger/cott-amish-clash/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 06 Feb 2012 06:00:42 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Carrie</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Clash of the Titles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Guest Blogger]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Beth Wiseman]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[COTT]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://writing-well.carrie-lewis.com/?p=5444</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[*guest post by Delia Latham It&#8217;s been an edge-of-the-seat, flashing-swords kind of Clash between Vannetta Chapman and Beth Wiseman. These gals elicited some genuine response! It is beyond clear that both authors are well loved, and that their writing touches &#8230; <a href="http://writing-well.carrie-lewis.com/guest-blogger/cott-amish-clash/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img src="http://www.carrie-lewis.com/blog/blog-alliance-logo.jpg" alt="Clash of the Titles Blog Alliance Logo" /></p>
<p>*guest post by <a href="http://www.delialatham.com/" target="_blank">Delia Latham</a></p>
<p>It&#8217;s been an edge-of-the-seat, flashing-swords kind of Clash between Vannetta Chapman and Beth Wiseman. These gals elicited some genuine response! It is beyond clear that both authors are well loved, and that their writing touches hearts.</p>
<p>This was an Amish clash, and if you missed it, you&#8217;ll definitely want to <a href="http://www.clashofthetitles.com/2012/01/beauty-of-amish.html" target="_blank">check out the excerpts</a>, as both were excellent examples of <strong>GOOD</strong> Amish fiction.</p>
<p>Beth Wiseman&#8217;s <em><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Wonder-Your-Love-Canaan-Novel/dp/1595548866/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1328229001&amp;sr=8-1" target="_blank">The Wonder of Your Love</a></em> elicits a whole tangle of emotions, with a dreaded meeting between an Amish woman and her deceased husband&#8217;s <em>Englitscher</em> mistress.</p>
<p>If you missed <a href="http://www.clashofthetitles.com/2012/01/chatting-it-up-with-beth-wiseman.html" target="_blank"><strong>our interview with Beth</strong></a>, be sure to stop by and check it out.</p>
<p>Vannetta Chapman&#8217;s <strong><em><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Falling-Pieces-Shipshewana-Amish-Mystery/dp/0310330432/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1328229236&amp;sr=1-1" target="_blank">Falling to Pieces</a></em></strong>, on the other hand, paints a poignant picture of loss and confusion after the death of a loved one, all wrapped up in a stack of gorgeous Amish quilts.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Falling-Pieces-Shipshewana-Amish-Mystery/dp/0310330432/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1328229236&amp;sr=1-" target="_blank"><img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lu4bAGKwwWQ/TyOrNCRMyKI/AAAAAAAAC5s/-bqS9KGFYdw/s320/Falling+to+Pieces.jpg" alt="" width="205" height="320" border="0" /></a></p>
<p>And here&#8217;s <strong><a href="http://www.clashofthetitles.com/2012/02/chatting-it-up-with-vannetta-chapman.html" target="_blank">our interview with Vannetta</a></strong></p>
<p>I&#8217;d love to post every reader response, because I didn&#8217;t see a single negative one in the overwhelming number we received…but in the interest of space, I had to choose just a few:</p>
<blockquote><p>Please don&#8217;t stop writing&#8230;because your gift transports me to another place, away from all the stresses of life and encourages me!</p>
<p>I love Amish Fiction. Both of these excerpts make me want to dive into these ladies&#8217; lives.</p>
<p>Hearing an Amish story takes me back to my childhood in the mountains of Kentucky. We read by lamp, the Bible mostly. Everything we ate we grew in the garden and canned on a wood stove for winter. The outhouse was about fifty yards from the backdoor. Thanks to both of you for taking me back. God Bless.</p>
<p>I love the Amish Clash as I love to read Amish stories. Having been in the homes of Amish people and corresponding so many years, my home has a room with all Amish figurines and dolls. Keep writing Amish fiction.</p>
<p>Keep writing! We all need encouragement to live more simply like the Amish!</p>
<p>I was drawn into the stories immediately, and now those characters are going to be following me around all day!</p></blockquote>
<p>We are so grateful for this feedback from our readers! It&#8217;s your involvement that gives Clash of the Titles its purpose.</p>
<p>So, which sword-wielding author came out on top?</p>
<p>As much as I&#8217;d love to name both of them (since they&#8217;re so obviously both WINNERS!), we can only have one victor per clash. That victor, this time around, was:</p>
<p><strong>BETH WISEMAN</strong> and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Wonder-Your-Love-Canaan-Novel/dp/1595548866/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1328229001&amp;sr=8-1" target="_blank">The Wonder of Your Love</a></p>
<p>CONGRATULATIONS, BETH!</p>
<p>A brand new clash is now underway, and it&#8217;s the kind that will curl your toes. Head over to <a href="http://www.clashofthetitles.com/" target="_blank">Clash of the Titles</a> and vote for the best <strong>Almost Kiss</strong>!</p>

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		<title>Take Away Value</title>
		<link>http://writing-well.carrie-lewis.com/the-writing-process/take-away-value/</link>
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		<pubDate>Sat, 04 Feb 2012 06:00:44 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Carrie</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[The Writing Process]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Craft]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Story Element]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Writing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Writing Well]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://writing-well.carrie-lewis.com/?p=5457</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I admit it. I&#8217;m not always the sharpest knife in the drawer. What&#8217;s worse, it often takes repeated trips to the whet stone to sharpen me up. I was reminded of that fact yet again this week. I have never &#8230; <a href="http://writing-well.carrie-lewis.com/the-writing-process/take-away-value/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I admit it.</p>
<p>I&#8217;m not always the sharpest knife in the drawer.</p>
<p>What&#8217;s worse, it often takes repeated trips to the whet stone to sharpen me up.</p>
<p>I was reminded of that fact yet again this week.</p>
<p>I have never been a &#8216;big picture&#8217; sort of person. Details are where my interest lies.</p>
<p>So when I started hearing fellow writers talking about The Big Picture or <a href="http://www.moralpremise.com/" target="_blank"><strong>The Moral Premise</strong></a> or Take Away Value, I wasn&#8217;t sure exactly what they meant. Nor could I see why it was important if the details of the story were in place. I read the books and did the exercises and was still left scratching my head. <em>What are these guys talking about</em>?</p>
<p>I&#8217;ve studied the <strong><a href="http://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/art/snowflake.php" target="_blank">Snowflake method created by Randy Ingermanson</a></strong>. I&#8217;ve read about <strong><a href="http://storyfix.com/" target="_blank">story engineering by Larry Brooks</a></strong>. I&#8217;ve talked to other authors and to my husband, but a solid understanding of the &#8216;take away value&#8217; of a story has never gelled in my mind.</p>
<p>Until now and a series of lessons being led by <strong><a href="http://www.lindarondeau.com" target="_blank">Linda Rondeau</a></strong> and <a href="http://www.anemulligan.com/" target="_blank"><strong>Ane Mulligan</strong></a>.</p>
<p>Now, it&#8217;s so clear that I can&#8217;t believe I didn&#8217;t get it before. I just had to hear it and talk about it often enough to make sense of it.</p>
<p>What &#8216;take home value&#8217; means to me is this.</p>
<p>In <em>Saving Grace</em>, I have two lead characters who are dealing with forgiveness issues of self. Each one has done things for which they feel guilt. They both struggle with the idea that their sins could be forgiven by God and by themselves.</p>
<p>I have known that for some time. In fact, the characters almost came into being with that type of baggage.</p>
<p>I even wrote the story so that they have to come to the point of forgiving each other before they can succeed in the rest of the story.</p>
<p>But for the nearly three years I&#8217;ve worked on this story, I&#8217;ve had no clear idea of what the take away value is for the story. My attempts to manufacture something have, I believe, added to the normal confusion of writing a story. Those attempts may also be part of the reason I invariably end up with so many versions of each story idea.</p>
<p>I had to take those two parts of the story &#8211; Grace&#8217;s self-guilt and Anderson&#8217;s self-guilt &#8211; and lay them side-by-side to find the big picture or the take away value, which is: God is big enough to forgive all sin.</p>
<p>Imagine my surprise as I wrote those words the first time and realized one of my secondary characters actually tells the two lead characters that near the middle of the story!</p>
<p>It&#8217;s no surprise to me that the lesson had to be repeated so many times before I got it. This is not a new experience and has been duplicated in my personal life and the studio.</p>
<p>Nor is it a surprise that I finally grasped the lesson by coming at it from a different direction. From the back door, if you will. That, too, seems to be the pattern of my life.</p>
<p>It will also not surprise me if the lesson sticks, because that also seems to be the pattern. Difficult to get hold of, but easy to hang on to.</p>
<p>What I&#8217;m wondering is whether or not it will be easier or more difficult to identify the take away value for the next story.</p>
<p>Or maybe for those older stories like <em>Fine Lines</em> and <em>Perfect Opportunities</em>, for which I&#8217;ve never quite understood the take away value.</p>
<p>Here&#8217;s hoping!</p>
<p>The take away value for this post is not to give up. If at first you don&#8217;t succeed, try try again. Sooner or later, the pieces will fall into place and things will become clear.</p>
<p><img src="http://www.carrie-lewis.com/blog/carrie-green.png" alt="Carrie" /></p>

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		<title>A Year in the Life, Week of January 23, 2012</title>
		<link>http://writing-well.carrie-lewis.com/the-writing-process/a-year-in-the-life-week-of-january-23-2012/</link>
		<comments>http://writing-well.carrie-lewis.com/the-writing-process/a-year-in-the-life-week-of-january-23-2012/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 01 Feb 2012 06:00:40 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Carrie</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[The Writing Process]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Random Musings]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Things You May Enjoy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Writing]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://writing-well.carrie-lewis.com/?p=5347</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[A quick note&#8230;. The timing for the weekly writing updates is being changed. Beginning with this post, I&#8217;ll be publishing each week&#8217;s writing update the following Wednesday. That will give me a day or two to digest the week&#8217;s work &#8230; <a href="http://writing-well.carrie-lewis.com/the-writing-process/a-year-in-the-life-week-of-january-23-2012/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>A quick note&#8230;.</p>
<p>The timing for the weekly writing updates is being changed. Beginning with this post, I&#8217;ll be publishing each week&#8217;s writing update the following Wednesday. That will give me a day or two to digest the week&#8217;s work and will provide a less crowded publication schedule for you, my good reader.</p>
<p>Now, for the writing wrap-up.</p>
<p>In some ways, it was a very good week beginning with great idea generation on Monday morning. The weekly goal is to spend one hour coming up with new ideas. Last week, I wrote over four thousand words in such areas as story summaries, &#8216;what if&#8217; ideas, and title ideas. What a great way to start the week!</p>
<p>I continued to record new ideas or fresh thoughts on existing ideas throughout the rest of the week, but the focus of writing from Monday afternoon forward was <em>Saving Grace</em>.</p>
<p>The majority of that work revolved around building the most solid framework possible for the story. The first act was improved. I wrote second and third act chapter summaries for the third draft and prepared to connect all the dots for the fourth draft.</p>
<p>Since the first draft was written off the cuff in less than 30 days back in 2009, there are a lot of structural issues to address. I believe they have all been identified. Some of them have also been addressed, but I&#8217;m not happy with all of those solutions.</p>
<p>As for those issues that have yet to be addressed&#8230; well, there always seems to be one difficult issue in every story. At least I know what my &#8216;difficult issue&#8217; is, even if I have yet to figure out how best to deal with it.</p>
<p>Until next week,</p>
<p><img src="http://www.carrie-lewis.com/blog/carrie-green.png" alt="Carrie" /></p>

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