The Gift of Writing for Fun

The Gift of Writing for Fun

By Terri Weldon

 



Terri Weldon

This year the holiday decorating theme for my office at work was Gingerbread men. Each of us were given two felt Gingerbread men and told to create a scene. Now I had the entire door to my office to decorate and these two little guys didn’t come close to filling up the space.

 

I’m not the least bit crafty. So I stared at the blank door and my two little people without a clue what to do. After a good while I decided to see how the others in the office were progressing. So I looked at the scenes on the walls and admired their creativity. My mind, as it often does, remained blank. Finally one of the gals in the office suggested I make a Westie to go with my people.

That simple suggestion jump started my brain. I went back to my desk and created a Gingerbread woman. I won’t bore you with the details of her cute little outfit, but it was quite fun. Next I whipped out my IPhone and searched for Gingerbread men. I found a man in a red and green outfit and busied myself with dressing the hero in my story in a similar fashion. Yep, you heard me, the hero.

From the minute I decided to make a Gingerbread couple the romance writer in me began formulating a story. So the one page novelette A Gingerbread Romance was birthed. And yes, I actually wrote it. The story became the inspiration for my door. My decorations played out the story and I even went so far as to cut the dialog out and attach it to the door in the appropriate places. I had a blast. In fact I received an unexpected gift – at work of all places – the gift of writing for fun.

This wasn’t written for publication and while I did the best job possible on the story I didn’t have to worry about pleasing a publisher, agent, or reader. A Gingerbread Romance was designed for my enjoyment and mine alone. As silly as this may sound, it was liberating. Reminded me of my love of writing and creating.

 

When was the last time you wrote something just for fun? Probably too long. I hope you’ll take a few minutes today and write a quick holiday story of your own. Let my Christmas gift to you be the gift of writing just for fun.

Merry Christmas!

 

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Misty Winslow is determined to find her prince, and she meets the man of her dreams through an Internet dating service. Or is he, because the new dentist in town also sets her heart aflutter.

It's love at first sight for Tyler Davenport, but before he can finish his first root canal, Misty is involved in an exclusive online romance with Wes99—Tyler’s online persona. How can he tell her he’s the man she’s been waiting to meet, and how rational is it for him to be jealous of Wes99! Soon Tyler's pulling out all the stops to woo Misty.

As Christmas approaches, Wes99 and Tyler both ask her to meet them under the mistletoe. Which man will she choose?

Terri is a lead analyst by day and an author by night. She enjoys gardening, reading, and playing in the hand bell choir. One of her favorite pastimes is volunteering as the librarian at her church. It allows her to shop for books and spend someone else’s money! Plus, she has the great joy of introducing people to Christian fiction.

She lives with her family in Oklahoma. Terri has three dogs – a lovable mutt and two adorable Westies.

Terri is a member of ACFW and OCFW, a local chapter of ACFW. Her dream of becoming a published novelist came true in November 2013 when Mistletoe Magic released from White Rose Publishing. To learn more about Terri visit her website at www.TerriWeldon.com.

It’s all In the Packaging by Linda Wood Rondeau

Linda Wood Rondeau

If at first you don’t succeed, don’t give up. Take a bubble bath.

~ Linda Wood Rondeau, from
I Prayed for Patience God Gave Me Children

I couldn’t understand it. I had mimicked her stance to perfection. Yet, when I swung at the golf ball, it sailed far to the right or far to the left, never the fairway where her drives landed nearly every time.

I contemplated quitting golf until I realized I’d been standing wrong. Kathryn stood five-foot two. I was five-foot eight. Her swing worked best for her short stature but was wrong for a taller person like me. With the help of a golf pro, I adjusted by stance and began to see more successful drives. What was golden for one became lead for another.

Paul had a message to give the world. “Jesus saves.” Yet, he changed his stance depending on where he was and to whom he delivered the message. For the jailer, he’d forego the opportunity of escape. For the tempest tossed seaman, he endured shipwreck. For the Greeks, he appealed to their belief in an unknown God. For the Hebrews, he reminded them of their heritage. He truly was all things to all men that he might win some.

As writers, we have a message to drive home. Some of us write romance. Some of us write humor. And still others use imagination as a platform to dispel myths and bring home truth. Whatever genre we choose, the next step to sending our message is in the marketing. As in all other areas of our lives, the technique we use is dependent upon the person we want to reach. Some are speakers, some send out postcards, some advertise on-line, and some spread the word through the voice of others. In most cases, the writer will choose a variety of marketing avenues to get the message of his/her product to as many people as possible.

As I thought about these techniques, I am reminded that God treats us the same way. He will use whatever method he can to reach us with his Truth. Sometimes he whispers gently in our ear. Sometimes he takes the hard-line approach, slapping our rigid behinds with a proverbial two by four. He will be all things to us.

To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel that I may share in its blessings
(1 Corinthians 9:21-23 NIV).

So what unique "stance" do you use to share your story? Leave a comment and let us know.

About the Author

I Prayed for Patience
by Linda Wood Rondeau 

Winner of the 2012 Selah Award for best first novel, The Other Side of Darkness (Harborlight), Linda Wood Rondeau writes stories of God’s mercies. Walk with her unforgettable characters as they journey paths not unlike our own. After a long career in human services, Linda now resides in Jacksonville, Florida.

Linda’s best-selling Adirondack romance,  It Really IS a Wonderful Life, is published by Lighthouse of the Carolinas and is available wherever books are sold.

These books are also available in ebook format along with her other ebooks by Helping Hands Press: I Prayed for Patience/God Gave Me Children and Days of Vines and Roses. Songs in the Valley is scheduled for release this fall by Helping Hands Press.

Readers may visit her web site at www.lindarondeau.com or email her at lindarondeau@gmail.com  or find her on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Goodreads.  

Days of Vines and Roses
by Linda Wood Rondeau

About I Prayed for Patience: God Gave Me Children

Parenting is the hardest job in the world. God knows we are frail and forgives our mistakes. What’s more, He stands in the gap, making up for our deficiencies. “I believe God invented parenting to show us His wisdom, grace, and mercy as our Father,” says Rondeau. Parents are also God’s children, experiencing the same chaos, misadventure, and heartache as their charges, humorously demonstrated through a compilation of vignettes, quotes, illustrations, and witticisms.  

From Pantser to Plotter by Dora Hiers

Happy New Year!

I’m not one for New Year’s resolutions. If there's something in my personal life that needs to change, why wait? Why should my writing life be any different?

In September 2012, I resolved to evolve from pantser to plotter. For those of you unfamiliar with the terms: 

A pantser sits down in front of their laptop and starts typing, with only a few rough ideas for either characters or story floating around in their head. 

A plotter uses an outline and finds their rhythm by organizing their thoughts prior to any actual writing. 

Usually, a writer falls naturally into one category. Trying to do the opposite of what comes natural is like writing left-handed when you normally use your right. Early on, I tried both methods, but plotting frustrated me so much that I considered inflicting serious damage to my laptop.

But as I celebrated with writer friends over their multi-book contracts, I knew that I'd never be able to accomplish this if I couldn't learn to plot. A key component of the proposal is the synopsis. No synopsis=No proposal.

I started my transition by writing two proposals encompassing five books total, which meant writing books from a synopsis instead of the reverse. I’m thrilled to report that my first book is complete, and the second, roughly thirty percent. Woo-hoo!

Want to know how I transitioned from pantser to plotter? I'll share my secrets. :-)

Pray. 

Characters. I'm a visual person. I need pictures, so I started by finding my hero/heroine online and getting to know them. Then, I asked my character (whichever one you connect with first) these questions.

What do you want? (Goal)

Why do you want it? (Motivation)

Why can't you have it? (Conflict) 

Develop the story idea/premise. What terrible thing happened in my character's past to make them how they are today? Keep asking "what if?" until you come up with a story idea.

Write a few pages. Writing backstory helped me flesh out the characters more, so that I could go back and fill in some of the blanks. Just write a bit and let words flow. It's OK. You’ll delete them. The goal is for the story to reveal itself. You may need to tweak the premise after doing this.

Picture the story sequence in your head. Do what it takes to find your zone. Close your eyes. Throw in a CD. Let your dog walk you around the park. Record the chapter number, the date, point-of-view, and what you expect to happen in that chapter/scene. If you know how you want the book to end, you can skip down and work backward.

Implement a schedule. You must map out a timeline for the completion of your books. I’ll share more on this next week.

It’s your turn.

If you're a pantser, how do you write proposals?

Do you ever see yourself evolving into a plotter? Why or why not?