I think I know why I have such a hard time finishing anything. I either pick projects that are huge or I take on activities that don’t have a clear end. If there is no finish, how can I ever say I finished? Take parenting, for example. It’s a decades-long job. With every new milestone, there comes yet another area in which to grow. Even when the children are grown, the still need mentoring and sometimes hands-on help (although that should be given rarely!).

          While I’ve never considered my children a project, something for me to get out of the way or to complete, my life as a parent has been full of open-ended activities. Given my natural tendency to always be open to new ideas and experimentation, I’ve had a hard time bringing many activities to an end. The time(s) we spent longer on a homeschool unit because of all the fascinating material we were discovering; the elaborate homemade Christmas presents planned, of which only a fraction were actually made; the list of places to visit that grew faster than we could plan vacations.

          Sometimes, as in the case of the Christmas presents or a vacation, a non-negotiable deadline put parameters on my projects. I had to choose to not make certain things or to make the less elaborate version. Or I had to pick a place and plan the trip.

          In the same way, deadlines, like this blog, force me to choose what to write, when to write and how much to write. That’s why, with the rare exception, I’ve been able to write an entry for every Monday since this blog went live. It’s also why I struggle to finish many of my other projects. Even when I could stop and call it good, I don’t. I think of better ways of saying this or that, I decide a character needs more work or even that I need to add or delete a character from the story. With no one expecting a story from me, I can putter with these characters and their lives longer and longer. (That’s exactly what I’ve done with one project and have turned it into a mangled mess!)

          I need an intervention! LOL

          Okay. Maybe that’s a little extreme. Maybe.I have decided, however, that I do need to force myself to meet some deadlines. To do that, I need help. As always, my wonderful friends and blog mates are nearby to lend me support, encouragement and seat-of-the-pants kicking. We’ve set up my next deadline and I’d better have something to “hand in”. Or else.

          I’m organizing my projects, determining which ones can be finished quickest (probaby the Time Tracker manual) and developing a plan. I’ll be talking more on that process next month, but for now I have my plan in place. What about you?

          This addresses the issue of a deadline. Now if I could just figure out the ending of this one story . . .

          I’m a pantser, in life and in writing. When left with no structure imposed on me, I tend to go with the flow. Like a river meandering through a valley, my attention, be it on words, people or tasks is captivated by what is close at hand. There is so much good to be had in living (and writing) this way. Magical moments are discovered and enjoyed. The world can telescope in a moment to a tiny piece of ground shared with a child fascinated with the bugs crawling in the dirt or forming a mud pie. A scene can burst forth with raw emotion flowing from my fingertips through the keyboard into my story. I can easily shift focus and responsibilities to help care for a sick friend or entertain a visiting one.

          As with all personality traits, my live-in-the-moment personality has a darker side. Yes, it allows me to fully enjoy each moment, but it it can also cause me to miss even better or more important moments. A loved one is devastated because I was so absorbed in a project I forgot an important date. A writing deadline comes and goes and I miss out in many ways. A needy friend doesn’t call because she doesn’t want to impose, so I never pick up on the need.

          In order to make sure I spent my time and focus on those things that truly matter to me, I had to impose some structure into my life. As I’ve written in other places, particularly in Free Spirited Routines, when routines and structure are imposed on my schedule, my life becomes more enjoyable, productive and fulfilling.

          In the same way, I had to learn and impose some structure into my stories. I have intuitively suspected that for over a year. I’ve reread and restudied various authors on how to create a story. Chris Vogler, Blake Snyder, Michael Hague, and more. All good teachers, with good advice. I learned from them, but never quite enough. I never quite grasped how to create that structure they seemed to indicate was so simple. Or if I did, I wasn’t sure how to put it into my stories.

          Then I stumbled onto Larry Brooks, StoryFix and “Story Structure Demystified.” Larry, in a clear and concise manner, tore away the mystery of how to create a story. His instructions on the 4 parts of a story, the need for particular milestones and plot points and specifics for each one illuminated my understanding. Or at least lifted the blackout curtains a little more.

          I’m still reading and rereading, studying and absorbing the lessons from his book “Story Structure Demystified” and his blog. His most recent blogs have been deconstructing “Shutter Island.” I learned much from reading “Story Structure Demystified,” but this deconstruction is helping me to understand on a much deeper level how to build a good story. The next step is to transfer this understanding to my own languishing novel.

          And that’s my focus for the last weeks of Anti-Procrastination Month. Rearrange, reassesses and reorganize the meandering events, characters and plot of my most troublesome fiction project. As I disassemble, rebuild and wrestle my own monstrosity of a novel into a Story, I’m sure I will grasp Larry’s lessons on an even deeper level. My personality and learning style being what it is, that hands-on experimenting is really the only way I can actually learn these lessons. Once I do, though, I expect that knowledge of Story Structure will be just the framework I need to keep my meandering, pantser self writing stories others want to read.

          As I wrote in a recent post, I rediscovered the need to backup my work regularly. I was fortunate. I didn’t lose anything of substance. That was because I had already learned (Yes,the hard way. ) years and years ago how important it is to do backups. I’d become lax, letting weeks go between full backups. Even my daily work didn’t get backed up much more often that that.

          When my computer started acting wonky, though, I got concerned. I backed up everything. Then I ran a restore on my computer, restoring it to what it had been when I first bought it. I got it restored and running and had a wonderfully productive week, working on multiple home and business and personal projects. After almost a week, I downloaded and installed the backup program we use, planning to run it the next day. When I tried to start my computer, though, it would not boot. Fortunately, as I said in that previous post, I was able to salvage the files of these projects I worked on. (All but a couple that I completely forgot. I was able to reproduce the work I did on them, though.)

          It was forcibly impressed on me that I really did need to back up daily. I needed to establish a system (routine!) that enabled me to do that. Enter Hubby, the Man with a Plan. My husband had realized the same thing. He already kept all his important files in one set of folders and backed up that one file regularly. He decided it was time to automate that process. He created a command file that, when run, copies that folder to a thumb drive and shuts down the computer. He showed me how to make one and now I’m going to tell you.

          These instructions are not difficult, but if you are not computer-literate, they are sure to seem complicated and hard to understand. If you are unsure, you should run them by someone familiar with DOS command codes. Don’t do anything you feel unsure about. If you are feeling adventurous, read on.

          A command file is basic computer programming. It must be written at at what is called a DOS prompt. To get to a DOS window, also called a command prompt, go to Start > Accessories > Command Prompt. (If it isn’t there on your computer, I have no idea how to find it. )

          My instructions from this point might seem complicated. Read through them a few times, though, and you should be able to reproduce your own command file.

          My husband’s command file looks like this.

xcopy d:\gpg g:\ /Y
shutdown /s /t 30

          Mine is a bit more complicated.

xcopy “c:\Documents and Settings\stephanie\My Documents\Current\Writing\” /m /y /e G:\Documents\Writing\

shutdown /s /t 30

          The first line is composed of four sections.

• xcopy is the command to copy folders.
• Next is the path to the source folder, the folder you want to copy. (His in on his d drive and titled gpg; Mine is “C:\Documents and Settings\stephanie\My Documents\Writing\Test”)
• The next instruction is the destination folder, where you want the folder copied to. (His is on his g drive; Mine is F:\Documents\Writing\)
• The last instruction, “/Y” tells the computer to overwrite any files with identical names. (A list of the the possible commands and a more specific rendering of what they do will be included in the detailed instruction page.)

          There are several different variations you can choose for the xcopy command and the shutdown command. To find them, you would go to the command prompt (Start > Accessories > Command Prompt) and type

help xcopy

          This is what will appear.

Copies files and directory trees.

XCOPY source [destination] [/A | /M] [/D[:date]] [/P] [/S [/E]] [/V] [/W]
[/C] [/I] [/Q] [/F] [/L] [/G] [/H] [/R] [/T] [/U]
[/K] [/N] [/O] [/X] [/Y] [/-Y] [/Z]
[/EXCLUDE:file1[+file2][+file3]…]

source Specifies the file(s) to copy.
destination Specifies the location and/or name of new files.
/A Copies only files with the archive attribute set, doesn’t change the attribute.
/M Copies only files with the archive attribute set, turns off the archive attribute.
/D:m-d-y Copies files changed on or after the specified date. If no date is given, copies only those files whose source time is newer than the destination time.
/EXCLUDE:file1[+file2][+file3]…
Specifies a list of files containing strings. Each string should be in a separate line in the files. When any of the strings match any part of the absolute path of the file to be copied, that file will be excluded from being copied. For example, specifying a string like \obj\ or .obj will exclude all files underneath the directory obj or all files with the .obj extension respectively.
/P Prompts you before creating each destination file.
/S Copies directories and subdirectories except empty ones.
/E Copies directories and subdirectories, including empty ones. Same as /S /E. May be used to modify /T.
/V Verifies each new file.
/W Prompts you to press a key before copying.
/C Continues copying even if errors occur.
/I If destination does not exist and copying more than one file, assumes that destination must be a directory.
/Q Does not display file names while copying.
/F Displays full source and destination file names while copying.
/L Displays files that would be copied.
/G Allows the copying of encrypted files to destination that does not support encryption.
/H Copies hidden and system files also.
/R Overwrites read-only files.
/T Creates directory structure, but does not copy files. Does not include empty directories or subdirectories. /T /E includes empty directories and subdirectories.
/U Copies only files that already exist in destination.
/K Copies attributes. Normal Xcopy will reset read-only attributes.
/N Copies using the generated short names.
/O Copies file ownership and ACL information.
/X Copies file audit settings (implies /O).
/Y Suppresses prompting to confirm you want to overwrite an existing destination file.
/-Y Causes prompting to confirm you want to overwrite an existing destination file.
/Z Copies networked files in restartable mode.

The switch /Y may be preset in the COPYCMD environment variable.
This may be overridden with /-Y on the command line.

          Unless you are very computer-literate, this probably looks like nonsense to you. If it still looks like gibberish after you read how I composed my own command file, it’s probably better if you do not attempt to create your own command file. Take this article to a computer-savvy friend and get them to help you create one. If, after reading my instructions, you understand what to do, try your hand at making your own command file to copy files and shutdown your computer.

          To start, open a text editor, such as wordpad or notepad. Save the file as a .txt for now. When you have the file the way you want it, you will change it to a .cmd extension. Until you are ready, though, you don’t want to accidentally run the file instead of opening it to edit it. You will also need a command prompt window open to test your code. (Don’t you feel like a big shot now? Using computer code? )

          My command file looks like this:

xcopy “c:\Documents and Settings\stephanie\My Documents\Writing\” /m /y /s
shutdown /s /t 30

          There is a space between xcopy and the path of the file I want to copy. Because the path of the folder I want to copy includes spaces in the names, I must enclose the entire path with double quotes. Navigate to the folder you want to copy. Select and copy the path name in the address bar at the top of the folder window. (If the full path is not in that bar, go to tools > folder options > view and select “show full path in the address bar.”)

          The next few commands are a slash mark (/) and a letter, with a space after the letter.

          The /m tells the computer to only copy those files with the archive attribute set and resets the archive attribute. (If I didn’t want to reset the archive attribute, I’d use /a). Archive attribute means those files that have been edited. I do this so that only those files I’ve actually changed since the previous backup are copied. This save time since I have a lot of files I want to keep backed up.

          The /y suppresses prompting when a file is about to be overwritten. Since my hard drive has the latest version, I want the copy to overwrite anything with the same name on the thumbdrive. By suppressing the prompt, I don’t need to remain at the computer after starting this command.

          The /s tells the computer to copy all directories (folders) and supdirectories (more folders) except empty ones. If I wanted to copy the empty ones, I’d use /e. This ensures that if I create a new folder and save documents in it, it will be backed up.

          After these commands, I put another space and write the path to the place where I want to save the folders

          That is the first line of the command code. Check to see if it works at the DOS prompt/command prompt. If it does, and if you don’t want to shutdown after executing the copy command, you are finished. Save the text file one last time and close the window. Navigate to the file and rename (right click on the file, select rename) it, giving it a .cmd extension. (My husband says you should probably not name it backup as that is another kind of command code and it might confuse the computer. The last thing we want is a confused computer. Right? ) Now all you need do is “open” that command file to run it. It will execute those instructions.

          The next line of my command code (shutdown /s /t 30) tells the computer to shutdown. It is comprised of three sections.

• Shutdown is exactly what it sounds like, a command for the computer to enter the shutdown sequence.
• /s is the command to shutdown (as opposed to l for log off, r for restart and other options).
• /t 30 tells the computer to wait 30 seconds before starting the shutdown sequence.

          As before, test this command at the DOS prompt/command prompt. If it works, save it in your .txt file. (After restarting the computer, of course, since it will be shutdown if the command worked. ) Rename your text file to a .cmd file.

          Create a shortcut to the command file on your desktop (right-click and drag it to the desktop and choose “create shortcut here.” Now every day, when you are ready to shutdown your computer, run this command file. (Make sure your thumbdrive is in place!) You’ll never lose another day’s work!

          I spent almost three hours on Saturday writing today’s blog. In fact, I had most of next week’s blog written, too. I only had to do some final polishing and format it for posting. I would have uploaded it then, but I was running late for an appointment. I shut down my computer and went to the appointment.

         That night, I turned on my computer, planning to upload the blog and do a few other writing-related tasks. The computer would not start! I got a “file corrupted” message and instructions on what to do. Didn’t work. My computer’s shot. According to my computer-guru (aka as Hubby), it’s the hard drive. I might be able to recover the data if I’m willing to pay some high-priced geek to try to retrieve it. Most likely, I’ll be buying a new hard drive or computer in a few days.

          I thought about trying to reproduce what I wrote. I could try, but it might not be as good. (Or it might be better.) Instead, I think I’ll just ask some questions. See what our readers think. (Nothing like getting someone else to do my work. )

          We just finished with our month-long Author Crush guest blogs. Which blogs were your favorite? Why?

          The authors I particularly related to were the ones who professed little or no routines. Zilpha Keatley Snyder, who writes when she wants; Tosca Lee, with her nocturnal writing habits; Sarah Prineas, who claims to binge-write after what she calls pre-writing; and Karen Cushman, who does the same pre-writing type activities, but confesses they are really procrastination routines. Every one of these authors affirmed my own style of procrastination/daydreaming/writing, giving me much-needed encouragement to trust my own process.

          That isn’t to say I didn’t like the others. I thoroughly enjoyed every guest blog we posted. Given enough space, I could say something about each post. My goal, though, is not to rehash all those blogs. My goal is to start a conversation. Let us know which authors stirred a chord in your heart, taught you something you didn’t know (thanks Pamela, for the link to FreelanceWritingGigs.com) or just plain entertained you. (Next time I need to figure out a plot point, I’m going to go bake some cookies, like Julie Garwood.)

          Your thoughts?

Today is Christmas and we at Routines for Writers are celebrating our Lord’s birth with family and friends. So in lieu of my regular blog, here are some of my favorite Bible verses that help bring special meaning to this time of year:

• And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said to them, “Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.  (Luke 2:9-11)

• So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.  (Luke 2:16-20 NIV)

• For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)

And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written.  Amen ( John 21:25 NIV)

          That month of frenzied, maniacal writing is almost upon us. Next Sunday marks the first day of November and the beginning of the mad rush to write 50,000 words in 30 days. Will you be joining Kitty, Shonna and me as we race toward the finish line? If so, we hope you’ll come by and be encouraged by what we’ll be sharing throughout the month. If you don’t plan to participate in NaNoWriMo, there will still be thoughts, encouragement and instruction available for you. Our posts and the guest blogs we have planned are sure to be helpful whether you are writing non-stop frenzied-style or merely starting a new project or developing an ongoing one.

          This year for NaNoWriMo I plan to rewrite a project that has haunted me for a decade or more. I write some, put it aside, come back and write some more, stop working on it until is lures me back into the story only to set it aside when I reach another impasse. This meandering way of writing has produced an octopus that needs taming! The characters have one motivation in one area of the manuscript and a totally different one in another area. The plot wanders all over the place. Lots of interesting things are happening to fascinating people, but it really isn’t a story. It’s a 800 page monstrosity.

          During the past couple weeks, I’ve been attempting to pull together a plot that will serve as a map as I write this year’s NaNoNovel. I’m having limited success. As usual, I get more of the plot by working with the characters. Even so, Come November, I may have to fall back on my tried and true method of discovering some of the missing parts by just writing. (Not really a big surprise to anyone who knows me.)

          One thing I am focusing on, though, is obtaining a firm grasp of each character’s story. As I told you last week, as I write a short paragraph or two detailing the known events from each character’s viewpoint, the entire story comes into sharper focus. I’ll be continuing that work this week. (During two, count them, two days spent at the coffee house.)

          I will also be experimenting with a literary technique that I only recently discovered. Chiastic structure. . Also called inverted parallelism, it is a reversal of structures to emphasize an overarching point. If you read the wikipedia explanation of it, you may come away more confused than enlightened. The easiest way I know to explain it is by example. The quote, “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country,” and “Don’t live to eat; eat to live,” are simple chiastic structures. This is what I will attempt to create for each of my characters, a chiastic theme sentence.

          Although I haven’t given it much thought, a possible example for my hero and heroine comes to mind. My heroine believes anyone able to work magic is selfish and uncaring, most likely even cruel. My hero, a powerful mage, must prove otherwise to her. He will be trying to convince my heroine that “magic does not create the relationship; the relationship creates the magic.

          I’m still mulling over this and several other possibilities. This week I plan to spend two days (Yes! Two! Yay!) at the coffee shop preparing for NaNo. Come Nov 1st I hope to be ready to madly throw words through the keyboard that will create a coherent, magical, fascinating storyline for my hero and heroine.

          Care to join me?

Happy Anniversary to us! Routines For Writers “went live” a year ago Tuesday, September 1, 2008. We are excited and thrilled to have reached this major milestone and want to share our excitement with you. With all the life changes and summertime activities of the three of us, we have not been able to talk about how to celebrate. Soon, though! When we decide, you are invited to the party!

Happy Anniversary!

          Life is getting away from me! Or more accurately, life is catching me, overrunning and running over me. I’m not complaining, but I am struggling to get any writing done. It seems like as soon as I take care of one pressing task, another is waiting in the wings for my attention. Only a few of them are the 9 tasks I listed out that I wanted to complete in 99 days and none of them are writing . . . except this blog.

          How do I get off this merry-go-round?

          I just now remembered something I’ve done in the past. Word points. A couple of years ago I was participating in a NaNo-like push to get writing done with Kitty and Shonna and a couple other writer friends. We all had different writing goals for the month, but wanted to have a friendly competition to generate motivation for all of us. Kitty suggested assigning word points to certain tasks, thereby turning all the tasks into “words”, making it easy to compare our progress to the others’.

          I loved that idea! In fact, I used it for months, long after our competition ended. Suddenly, I had a way to easily tell how I was progressing toward my stated goals. I assigned word points to things like editing (every 30 minutes=1000 wp) or researching (every hour=1000 wp) and added them up as I accomplished them. I even converted non-writing activities into word points, making it easier to monitor my entire life with that system.

          As with many things in my life, this one slipped out of use (and memory). Not because it wasn’t helpful. It was immensely helpful! I think my life just got way too overrun with non-writing activities (like moving cross-country and, soon after spending a month away from a still-unpacked home to care for my dad after heart surgery). I fell out of the habit of assigning word points to all those activities. By the time I returned home and settled into a routine, I’d forgotten all about that habit.

          I think, though, it is time to resurrect word-points. There are many things I need to do in the next month or two. I have several non-writing tasks of importance (like tutoring my young cousin), but I don’t want to neglect my writing. I have stories that need finishing and others that are clamoring to get out of my head. I want to make sure I stay on track, headed toward my dreams and long-term goals no matter how busy my life becomes.

          I’ll spend the first free moments I get today prioritizing all the tasks I need to finish this week and assigning word points to each. I’ll let you know how many word points I need to reach (and what percentage of those are actual writing tasks) as soon as I’m done. Would you like to join me?

         Each writer is influenced differently. We read books or attend classes, join critique groups or go to conferences. Some of us need time alone while others of us need lots of interaction with other writers to maintain our motivation and inspiration. Over the next month, you’ll get a glimpse into some of the things that motivate me and Kitty and Shonna. As you read what we have to say, I hope you get inspired and encouraged in your own writing life.

         Books have always been a major part of my life. I discovered the library very early and it is still one of my favorite places to hang. I have my own library of books I just can’t part with. While it would be impossible to list all the books that have influenced me as a writer, here are a few.

         “Discovering the Writer Within,” by Bruce Ballenger and Barry Lane and “The Creative Call,” by Janice Elsheimer are books I regularly return to for exercises and insights that focus and ignite my creativity. I especially like “The Creative Call.” This book is similar to the more well-known “The Artist’s Way,” by Julia Cameron, but with what I see as a significant difference. In my opinion, “The Artist’s Way” spent an inordinate amount of time delving into what hinders or has hindered creativity in an artist’s past. In contrast, “The Creative Call” focuses more on how an artist’s creativity is an expression of worship that grows out of a relationship with a Creator and the exercises are designed to foster that creative relationship.

         Other books in my library help me develop and hone the skills I need to craft interesting stories. “Techniques of a Selling Writer,” by Dwight Swain, Writing the Breakout Novel,” by Donald Maass (both book and workbook) and “Plot and Structure,” by James Scott Bell are my most used. These books help me focus on the intricate details of conflict and dialogue and action and all the little nuts and bolts and screws that make up a story. For the high-level structure of the story, I often refer to “The Writer’s Journey,” by Chris Vogler and, more recently, “Save the Cat,” by Blake Snyder. Both of these systems help me analyze and evaluate my stories for plot holes and weak motivation.

         Since I write a lot of fantasy, I often have a hard time coming up with names. “Character-Naming sourcebook,” produced by Writer’s Digest Books is a wonderful resource. I refer to it often.

         Another book I have read multiple times is “Time Management for the Creative Person,” by Lee Silber. While not necessarily a writing book, it has helped me discover creative ways to motivate myself and increase my productivity.

         Most people who know me know that I call myself a Christian. My definition of a Christian is one who lives by what is taught in the Bible. This is the one book that has influenced me more than any other. I find insights and guidance here for living my life. I find compelling stories of good and bad and the battle for both. I find inspiration and examples and all manner of fodder for my imagination.

         I know I’ve only scratched the surface of all the books that are and will be influential in my journey as a writer. I’m off to find more! Oh, before I go . . . what books do you recommend?

Janet is one of my oldest online friends, that growing number people whom I’ve only ever met online. I met her at least 6 or 7 years ago (a long time in Internet-land) on one of the writing loops we belong to. She’s a real go-getter. She has self-published more books than I can keep count of, has successfully seen them placed in many bookstores, works as Marketing Director of an ebook/POD company and I’m sure is involved in a whole lot more. I’m thrilled to introduce you to Janet Elaine Smith, author of “Pampas,” “Hello, Daddy!” and many more humorous and heartwarming stories!

         Routines for writers? You are kidding, right? Every time I think I can settle into a routine to write the phone rings. Or somebody knocks at the door. Or something else happens.

         Seriously, I try to spend at least an hour every evening writing. If things go really well I often get wrapped up and before I know it, two or three hours have passed. That is not, sadly, always on the book I am working on at the time. I write regularly for several magazines, too, so that is where a lot of my writing time is spent.

         During the daylight hours I spend a great deal of time marketing (I am the Marketing Director for Star Publish LLC), and if I am in need of doing some research, I do that then. I have found, judging from the e-mails and letters I get, that good research is an absolute must. I love hearing from somebody that they can’t tell which of my characters or what part of the story line is true and what is fictional. I have as much fun stumbling across some fact in a history book that changes the course of the story as I do in the actual writing of it.

         Even in writing a contemporary book, I feel that research is one of the most vital parts. For example, I love it when a geographical setting is so real and so much a part of the book that it almost becomes a character in its own right. Mary Higgins Clark is a genius at doing this.

         My latest book, Hi, Daddy! is a good example of making sure things work properly. My late husband and I ran a charitable organization for almost 40 years in the Red River Valley of North Dakota and Minnesota. Hi, Daddy! is the tale of a convoluted man who had four ex-wives, seven kids, and a whole closet full of secrets that he didn’t want exposed. What does research have to do with that mess? By working with numerous families that had “extended” branches I knew how the “system” worked in such matters as child support, joint custody, etc. That made it easy to write the book. I had already done the research, even though it wasn’t done intentionally.

         My next book will be a historical, Maiden Rock Mistress. It is set in Lake City, MN, in an area where my mother grew up. I had spent a lot of time there when I was growing up, so it was easy to draw on those memories for the book. In fact, my great grandfather William Ledra Bowen and his parents figure prominently in the book, blending in with the fictional characters.

         If I could pass on one hint it would be, especially if you are writing historicals, to have several sets of old encyclopedias. The new ones have left so much of the “good stuff” out of them to make room for all the new space explorations, medical discoveries, etc. If you are writing about Europe, Great Britain, or Asia, the Encyclopedia Britannica can’t be beat, but if you are writing about Colonial America you will find much more detailed information in the Encyclopedia Americana. If you keep your eyes open at rummage sales, thrift shops, used bookstores, etc. you can find these sets for just a few dollars. Also, watch for good children’s historical books. You can get a much better feeling for what life was like in a typical family from them than you can from a history book.

         Above all, when you write, remember to have fun with it. If it is hard work, it isn’t going to entertain the reader. Write a book that you would love to read. If you get stuck, set it aside for a few days and then go back and read what you have written so far to get a feeling for where you have been and where you are heading. To me, my ultimate test of whether it is “working” is if it makes me both laugh and cry, I’ve done a good job.

         Happy writing, and don’t forget to spend time reading. I can direct you to a website where you can find a few good books! My own. LOL! Come back anytime.

Janet Elaine Smith began writing after she and her late husband returned from Venezuela, where they were missionaries for 9 years. She wanted to write their experiences before she forgot them. By the time she had finished that, she was hooked on writing. She waited for over 20 years before her first book, Dunnottar, was published (in June 2000). She now has 19 published novels, with the 20th one, Maiden Rock Mistress, ready to be released this spring. Meanwhile, she found a niche in magazine writing, and she has had over 3000 articles published and she continues to write for several magazines, including Memories and Mysteries, Genealogical Helper and Writers’ Journal. She admits that she is living her dream life.