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| Gina Welborn |
Like dirt in the wind
wanting...
waiting...
knowing...
knowing that one day they will be sucked in the
great vacuum cleaner of life.
Like dirt in the wind
reaching...
yearning...
striving...
striving to leave the oneness of themselves and
unify with others to become one large dirtball.
Are you a dirtball? How
many times do you “leave the oneness” of yourself to become just like your
friends or celebrities or other writers out there?
“A true breakout is not an imitation but a
break-through to a more profound individual expression. It demands that an
author reach deep inside to find what is truthful, original, important and
inspiring in his own world view.” ~Donald
Maass, WRITING THE BREAKOUT NOVEL
Knowconflict.com defines
worldview as “the way s/he sees the world and his/her place in it. In includes
the person's beliefs about how things are done and by whom, what is good and
bad, why things happen as they do, and who holds the reins of power. It also
includes the group or groups to which a person belongs or with which s/he identifies.”
Your worldview may contradict the mainstream, follow the mainstream, agree with
the majority, agree with the minority, may be liberal, conservative,
narrow-minded, open-minded, no minded. Everyone has a worldview. Everyone has a
voice.
A good writer learns to
hone her “voice.” How?
READ POETRY. Samuel
Taylor Coleridge once said, “Prose
consists of words in their best order. Poetry consists of the best words in the
best order.” Reading poetry will cause you to become more aware of the
dynamos of the correct word choice. Poetry helps you learn to hear grammatical
rhythm.
READ MORE OUTSIDE YOUR
GENRE THAN IN. What goes in, come out. If most of what you are reading is the
genre you are writing, then you will end up regurgi-writing what you read. My
two current voice-sharpeners are Let’s Be Brave by Annie Downs and Girl Meets God by Laura Winner.
PUT YOU IN YOUR STORY. Maass
writes, “It is from the unknowable
shadows of your subconscious that your stories will find their drive and from
which they will draw their meaning. No one can loan you that or teach you
that.” If a scene, chapter, story, character, scares you to write it, write
it.
Publishers want
something different. Publishers want something they can sell. That can seem
dichotomy. What makes it not is You the Writer. Hone your voice. The world already
has a ___(fill in name of your favorite author)___.
It’s just
wanting...waiting...hoping for a you.
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| About the Author |
Gina Welborn is the
author of three Barbour novellas, including one in the ECPA-bestselling Mistletoe Memories, and is contracted
for two more. The year 2014 ushers in the release of her novels: The Heiress's Courtship, The Marshal's Pursuit, and Masterpiece Marriage. A moderately
obsessive fan of Community, Once Upon a Time, and Chopped, Gina lives in Oklahoma
with her pastor husband, their five Okie-Hokie children, a box-lab, two
rabbits, four guinea pigs, and a fancy Russian dwarf hamster named Tom Bob
Deucalion. She is represented by the Steve Laube Agency. To learn more about
her writing or read excerpts, visit her website: www.GinaWelborn.com
Masterpiece Marriage
Mary Varrs
prefers botany to romance.
She thinks studying the
growth pattern of her tomato seedlings is more time-worthy than pursuing a
mate. When she needs illustrations of her prized plants, Mary turns to
Priscilla Dane Osbourne for help.
Zenus Dane also seeks
help from his Aunt Priscilla. In order to salvage his flooded textile mill, he
wants to sell her hand drawn quilt patterns alongside his repurposed fabric
scraps. No quilter had national name recognition like his aunt, but Priscilla
is fiercely protective of her patterns. Convincing her would not be easy.
It seems Priscilla is
the answer to both their prayers. But Priscilla would rather weave a
masterpiece marriage for her nephew than save his flooded business. Trouble is,
her plans don’t include Mary, whose own growing attraction for the textiler
could jeopardize Priscilla’s good will toward her. If faced with a decision
between love and ambition, will Mary be able to choose?
