2013 A to Z Challenge

Welcome to the 2013 A to Z Challenge!
First and foremost, a BIG thank you to A to Z founder, Arlee Bird.
Without you, none of this would be possible!

This year, I’m focusing on two themes:  Emotions and grammar,

depending on which letter we’re on each day.

I’ll be sharing mostly what I’ve learned about writing emotion into a novel, but I’ll also be throwing in a few key grammar lessons, pet peeves I’ve picked up while working as an editor.

Today’s an emotion day!

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A is for anger:  a strong feeling of annoyance, displeasure, hostility, or belligerence, typically aroused by a wrong.

There are many degrees of anger, and so, many ways in which to show it.  First you must figure out exactly how angry the character is.  And don’t overdo it.  Don’t use clichés such as “raging like a bull” or “angry as a wasp”.  And whatever you do, do not rely on exclamation points to get your emotion across!!!

First, try to use the character’s voice via dialogue, and I don’t mean screaming, but rather by the way he or she speaks, showing the movement from whatever emotion came prior then displaying the change, the difference in phrasing and tone in which they speak and the very words they use to do it.  This disparity will exemplify his turn in mood, as will adding certain traits we all exhibit when angered.

The obvious ones are a red face or gathering and lowering of the brow, a turned down mouth or stomping of the feet, or even a simple tensing of the body.  Using one of these with the proper words and tone is more than enough to display anger.  You can also describe a change in the eyes, how they tensed, glared, or seemed to turn hard.

Whatever physical traits and action the character models to show anger, it’s more effective to contrast it with whatever mood came before it.  And, as we all have typical ways in which we exhibit anger, be sure to be consistent with each character.

__________

Welcome to the 2013 A to Z Challenge!

This year, I’m focusing on two themes:  Emotions and grammar,

depending on which letter we’re on each day.

I’ll be sharing mostly what I’ve learned about writing emotion into a novel, but I’ll also be throwing in a few key grammar lessons, pet peeves I’ve picked up while working as an editor.

Today’s an emotion day!

__________

B is for boredom:  the state of being tired or distracted; to make weary by being dull, repetitious, or uninteresting; a pervasive lack of interest; an attentional lapse.

Boredom is a tough one because it’s more about what’s not being shown.  There is generally no engagement with a character who is bored.  They stare off into space with a blank face, doodle on a piece of paper, or keep checking the time.  They fidget, sigh heavily, and exhibit signs of tiredness such as slouching or yawning.  They drum their fingers and roll their eyes in impatience, because boredom is mostly about the limitation of energy, not having any way to satisfy the need to expend it.

Boredom is an emotion you want to use very sparingly as it will slow the action and tension in a scene, offering the reader a perfect place to put the book down.

__________

Welcome to the 2013 A to Z Challenge!

This year, I’m focusing on two themes:  Emotions and grammar,

depending on which letter we’re on each day.

I’ll be sharing mostly what I’ve learned about writing emotion into a novel, but I’ll also be throwing in a few key grammar lessons, pet peeves I’ve picked up while working as an editor.

Today’s a grammar day!

__________

C is for comma:  a mark of punctuation used for indicating a division in a sentence

As an editor, this is probably the one thing I see used incorrectly most often, or, more accurately, not used effectively or even at all.  A comma is used to set off words, phrases, or clauses from the rest of the sentence, especially where there needs to be a slight pause.  When we speak, we do so in fragments or clauses, and we naturally include small pauses in between these clauses.  Every where there is a pause, imagine a comma, as well.  And did you see how I added a comma before as well in the last sentence?  Well, ditto when you use the word too, too.       

They’re also used to separate items in a series or list of three items or more, even with the use of the word “and” in between.  This way, each item is given equal purpose and is not meant to be combined with the item before it.  Many do not think it’s necessary to use a comma between the second-to-last item in a list and the last, that a conjunction such as “and”, “but”, or ‘or” are all that is required.  While this is common, it’s also incorrect, as not using the comma between is like making the last two items one in conjunction with each other instead of being separate but equal.

Another place people often forget to include a comma is when two complete sentences are joined together, most often by the word “and”.  If each segment of the sentence can stand alone, then use a comma to separate them.  Also, as in this sentence, use a comma to separate or attach words in the beginning or end to the rest of the sentence.  You often see this with the use of time such as “Now” or “Later” or “Today”, but also with adverbs like “Frequently” or “Certainly” or words like “Nevertheless”.

Lastly, if you stick a dependent clause in the middle of an independent one or complete sentence, you divide it with commas on both ends. 

Commas aren’t properly taught in school these days, and we seem to have entire generations of writers who don’t understand the proper placement of commas, but if you listen to the way you speak and hear the pauses in between the clauses, then you know where to put a comma.  A good trick to find missing commas is to use the text-to-speech feature included in most word processing software.

__________

 

Welcome to the 2013 A to Z Challenge!

This year, I’m focusing on two themes:  Emotions and grammar,

depending on which letter we’re on each day.

I’ll be sharing mostly what I’ve learned about writing emotion into a novel, but I’ll also be throwing in a few key grammar lessons, pet peeves I’ve picked up while working as an editor.

Today’s an emotion day!

__________

D is for despair:  the loss of hope; hopelessness; to lose, give up, or be without hope

There is probably no worse feeling than despair.  It comes in all shapes and sizes and is relative to our life experience.  I’ve certainly experienced it, but I’m sure it was nowhere near as bad as what some people live through.  Regardless, it affected me just as adversely as it would anyone else in any situation.  When hope is lost, no matter the reason, nothing else matters.

When writing about despair, which I did extensively in my novel, The Mistaken, it’s best to tackle it gradually, building it up over time, day after day, like weight being added to the character’s shoulders until he eventually breaks under the pressure.  That’s part of what makes despair so debilitating.  Everyday, you wake up realizing nothing has changed, or it’s only gotten worse, and that’s one more brick you have to carry.

You have to be concrete when writing about despair, no clichés or heavy-handed melodrama.  I found comparison works well.  Have the character reflect back on a time when life was good, when he had expectations, then show how it’s changed, what he’s lost, and how nothing will ever be the same.  Below are two short passages from my novel:

At first, it gave me some relief to savor the vision of retribution. Yet, I always woke up the next day with the realization that Erin Anderson was still alive and well, walking the earth, enjoying her life, enjoying her family, while my wife was not, while my child lay eternally buried in Jillian’s cold womb six feet beneath the heavy earth, a tiny speck of immeasurable possibility heartlessly quashed into nothingness...

... Alone now, I sat back in my chair with a full bottle of tequila and drank. With my mobile phone in hand, I played Jill’s last voicemail message on an endless loop, over and over, until I could recite it perfectly, word for word in pitch and tone...

There are many physical characteristics to show despair—rocking back and forth, hugging the body, scrubbing hands down the face, the list is endless—but one of the best ways is to have the character act out in ways he never would have otherwise, pushing him over the line. Desperation often drives people to do things they later deeply regret.

__________

Welcome to the 2013 A to Z Challenge!

This year, I’m focusing on two themes:  Emotions and grammar,

depending on which letter we’re on each day.

I’ll be sharing mostly what I’ve learned about writing emotion into a novel, but I’ll also be throwing in a few key grammar lessons, pet peeves I’ve picked up while working as an editor.

Today’s an emotion day!

__________

E is for excitement:  the state of being stirred emotionally, agitated, aroused; stirred to action; a feeling of great enthusiasm or eagerness.

Excitement is the elevation of energy above what is normal, and is typically short term.  Quite simply, it’s all about anticipation, waiting for something to happen, big or small, good or bad, sexual or otherwise.  The expectation can be thrilling or dreadful. 

We generally think of excitement in positive terms, the promise of something that will no doubt lead to extreme happiness, or satisfaction at the very least.  But even so, it can lead to disappointment.  The other end of the spectrum is fear, which causes the same physical manifestations: a racing heart, constant motion, sweating, and trembling.

While it might seem relatively easy to convey excitement in a character, it’s more of a challenge to be original and avoid the cliché, like butterflies in the stomach or jumping up and down.  And simply adding exclamation points will not do the job!!!!!

You must show tangible expression of the emotion:  pacing, speed-talking, breathlessness, giddiness, hyperactivity, and the inability to calm down.  Show how the character’s face lights up, the way it affects his eyes and mouth, how his posture changes and body moves.  Most importantly, express how the outcome might change the life of the character forever.

__________

Welcome to the 2013 A to Z Challenge!

This year, I’m focusing on two themes:  Emotions and grammar,

depending on which letter we’re on each day.

I’ll be sharing mostly what I’ve learned about writing emotion into a novel, but I’ll also be throwing in a few key grammar lessons, pet peeves I’ve picked up while working as an editor.

Today’s an emotion day!

__________

F is for forgiveness:  the act of giving pardon for or remission of an offense or debt; to absolve.

I was going to take the easy way out today and discuss the emotion of fear, but when I completed my first novel, The Mistaken, a strong and undeniable theme emerged, and that theme was forgiveness.  Seems I have a real issue with it, having quite a few people in my life who’ve hurt me in unspeakable ways.  And I’ve had to deal with not being forgiven myself, something which has plagued me for over twenty-eight years.  So I think I have a keen understanding of it.

It’s not an easily believable emotion to write about.  Forgiveness is something that typically comes slowly, over a relatively extended period of time.  In my novel, the protagonist cannot come to terms with the egregious consequences a stranger’s reckless act has had upon his life—the death of his pregnant wife.  He spends a great deal of time conspiring to get even.  He doesn’t begin to heal until he realizes that many of the consequences he’s suffered are due to his own shortcomings, but by that point, it’s too late, and he’s set into motion a horrifying chain of events.

And that, it seems, is the key to forgiveness, to understand not only what instigated the perpetrator to offend, but that she, the offender, is like anybody else, and, most especially, that she is like us.  So writing about forgiveness must include the entire process:  knowing all the facts and how they unfolded, understanding the motivation behind it, and acknowledging the victim's own culpability. 

This doesn’t happen easily or quickly.  People must be allowed their anger and resentment first.  Then they can be made to see that things are not always as they appear, or are as simple as black and white.  When the victim can see the enemy as human, with all the frailties that encompasses, only then can he forgive.  There must be an earnest sensitivity to the very offense she committed, as well as the offender, and her victim.  Otherwise, the act of forgiving feels far-fetched and unbelievable.

  

The act of forgiveness, or his inability to do so, often reveals qualities about the character, his substance, his deficiencies, his level of sincerity, and authenticity, all things the character must eventually be attuned to himself before he can ever move forward..

__________

Welcome to the 2013 A to Z Challenge!

This year, I’m focusing on two themes:  Emotions and grammar,

depending on which letter we’re on each day.

I’ll be sharing mostly what I’ve learned about writing emotion into a novel, but I’ll also be throwing in a few key grammar lessons, pet peeves I’ve picked up while working as an editor.

Today’s an emotion day!

__________

G is for grief:  keen mental suffering or distress over affliction or loss; sharp sorrow; painful regret.

Grief is a powerful emotion, and, when done well, is palpable for the reader.  I used it extensively in my novel, The Mistaken.  It was the perfect vehicle for moving my plot forward: 

Tyler’s wife is killed.  In unbearable pain, he seeks revenge and uses that as a means to free his brother from the Russian mafia.  He makes poor choices, things go very wrong, and all hell breaks loose. 

The key to sharing the character’s grief is making the reader care about him first.  That requires time, building a relationship, creating depth and layers, making him happy, learning what and whom he cares about most.  Then when that’s all taken away—bam!—we actually feel his pain.

At this point, all he wants is to be left alone, but that won’t work.  You have to stir the pot, have another character confront him with his grief, pulling it out for all to see and feel.  But even then, you have to make his suffering worse, hit him while he’s down, not allow him the time or space to heal.  It’s a low blow, but tragedy is unpredictable and often comes in multiples, and it’s in these multiple ways we see, feel, and experience the near-destruction of our character.

At his point, give him a way to deal with his pain, but not necessarily in a good way.  People often make poor choices when they’re at their lowest, so this is the perfect opportunity to add conflict and tension. 

While he tries to deal with all the turmoil of his grief and poor choices, he is bound to meet new people, folks with whom he can share his pain, who can offer a new perspective, shake things up, set him on a better path, and show him he can live again.  His life is different now, changed in ways he never wanted, but will make him feel glad that he’s alive.

__________

Welcome to the 2013 A to Z Challenge!

This year, I’m focusing on two themes:  Emotions and grammar,

depending on which letter we’re on each day.

I’ll be sharing mostly what I’ve learned about writing emotion into a novel, but I’ll also be throwing in a few key grammar lessons, pet peeves I’ve picked up while working as an editor.

Today’s an emotion day!

__________

H is for hatred:  the feeling of disliking intensely or passionately; to feel extreme aversion for or hostility toward; to detest.

In order to experience hatred, we must first experience love.  The two go hand in hand.  Each are felt at the most visceral level possible.  But, as we age, the intensity of each mellows as we come to understand the complexity of what drives these feelings.  The two become less black and white and more varying shades of grey.  Therefore, hatred expressed in a Young Adult novel will seem more extreme than in an adult genre.

But, no matter the degree to which we feel hatred, it is still consuming.  It festers like a virus, growing, mutating, destroying the good that surrounds it.  Considering how inherent hatred is, it seems like it should be an easy emotion to write, to show, but I’ve found many authors fall back on overused, flat descriptions, or by simply having their character spew the words, “I hate you!”

Thing is, people don’t like to be caught hating.  It comes off as childish and undisciplined for an adult to shake their fist at someone, to spit while screaming, their nostrils flaring and their teeth snarling.  I prefer a more subtle approach. 

If the target of the character’s hatred is present, then, as his heart thrashes and his breathing quickens, only to be caught painfully in his chest, have him stare fiercely with hooded eyes, his jaw clenched, his shoulders rigid, and his neck knotted with tension.  Maybe have him mumble an insult or clearly word something then stomp off without giving his enemy the opportunity to engage.

And in the background, as common sense wanes and senseless contempt grows, show the character’s fixation as he works passively against his enemy.  Have him spread rumors, turn his friends against him, or sabotage him at work, school, or in a social situation, bringing humiliation, shame, and ridicule from all sides, all of which bring his enemy a sense of excitement, especially if he understands all that’s at stake.

__________

Welcome to the 2013 A to Z Challenge!

This year, I’m focusing on two themes:  Emotions and grammar,

depending on which letter we’re on each day.

I’ll be sharing mostly what I’ve learned about writing emotion into a novel, but I’ll also be throwing in a few key grammar lessons, pet peeves I’ve picked up while working as an editor.

Today’s a grammar day...well, sorta.

__________

I is for incidental action:  in fiction, an action happening in connection with or resulting from something more important;

While every novel should be filled with action, what often makes the story come alive and feel real—like we’re watching a movie in our heads—is the incidental action.  If there is no incidental action, the story feels flat and jerky as the narration moves from one big sequence to another.

Incidental action is the small movements typically shown between lines of dialogue.  Take this short clip from a scene in my novel, The Mistaken, for example:

Tyler stared at him for a moment before raising his chin in understanding.  He was instantly in Nick’s face, pointing his finger in warning.

“You stay of it, Nick.  I mean it. This is none of your business or your concern,”

Nick pushed his brother’s hand away.  “I’d be careful if I were you, brother.  I’m no longer that weak boy who followed you around like a lost puppy.”

Tyler reacted swiftly, surging forward and pushing Nick back against the wall.  His lips were pressed together in an angry line and he spoke through clenched teeth.

“You stay the hell out of my affairs, you hear me?  And stay away from my wife!  She doesn’t need your kind of help.”

They stood facing each other, nose-to-nose.  Ty’s face twisted in anger, but Nick looked unfazed, even amused, a smirk pulling up along one side of his mouth.

The staring, the pointing, the pushing, along with all the facial expressions, bring the scene to life.  If all you had was the dialogue, it would feel rather bland and passive. The reader needs all the small movements to see the story progress physically in their mind.  

If there were no incidental action, the progression within and between each scene would feel abrupt and jarring without any way to visualize what the characters are doing as they speak or how they move from place to place.   

Incidental action also helps the reader keep track of who’s speaking without a boat load of dialogue tags to slow it all down.  BUT—and this is big but—do NOT use incidental action as a dialogue tag.  That is, each action must be a complete sentence with the first word capped and punctuation at the end—a period, exclamation point, or question mark.  No exceptions.  Dialogue tags are he said, she replied, they screamed, we moaned, etc., and are also meant to help the reader keep track of who’s speaking, but they are not incidental action.

__________

Welcome to the 2013 A to Z Challenge!

This year, I’m focusing on two themes:  Emotions and grammar,

depending on which letter we’re on each day.

I’ll be sharing mostly what I’ve learned about writing emotion into a novel, but I’ll also be throwing in a few key grammar lessons, pet peeves I’ve picked up while working as an editor.

Today’s an emotion day!

__________

J is for jealousy:  a feeling of resentment against someone because of that person’s rivalry, success, or advantage, or against that success or advantage itself; mental uneasiness or fear of rivalry or unfaithfulness.

Jealousy is based in insecurity.  We fear losing something, or not having something someone else has.  Jealousy is unhealthy and all-consuming.  It makes people irrational and ill-content.  It’s different from envy, in that envy is all about coveting, whereas jealously is about fear and animosity. 

When showing a character’s jealousy, it’s best to rely on concrete details, focusing not just on what she is jealous of, but why.  So instead of simply telling the reader that Karen is jealous of her boyfriend’s old girlfriends, show why they threaten her, what exactly it is she fears, her own insecurities and confusion about herself, and how she believes the other women outweigh her in ways she might be lacking.  It’s all about comparison.

Having said that, most people don’t want others to know when they’re jealous, so the character has to exhibit physical signs that show her hostility to the reader.  Because jealousy is a defensive mechanism, use the character’s body language to express that, like crossing her arms over her chest, or scowling and sneering as she puckers her lips, swearing ugly insults or criticisms.  But inside, her stomach is tied in knots or filled with anxious foreboding, so she vows to get even and somehow make her rival appear ugly or obscene.

No matter what the character is jealous of, it’s her fear that should be concentrated on and how that fear diminishes herself in her own eyes.

__________

Welcome to the 2013 A to Z Challenge!

This year, I’m focusing on two themes:  Emotions and grammar,

depending on which letter we’re on each day.

I’ll be sharing mostly what I’ve learned about writing emotion into a novel, but I’ll also be throwing in a few key grammar lessons, pet peeves I’ve picked up while working as an editor.

Here’s the thing: I couldn’t figure out a topic for emotion or grammar that began with K,

so I thought I’d go a little off course.  But if that’s not good enough, you could always go to my

K post from last year.  Either way, I appreciate your indulgence. 

__________

K is for Kidnapped:  to steal, carry off, or abduct by force or fraud, especially for use as a hostage or to extract ransom.

I’m sure you’re wondering why I picked kidnapped.  Well, if you haven’t yet read my book, The Mistaken, then you might not know it’s a huge part of the story.  Funny thing is, the hard part of pulling that off was making the reader sympathize with a protagonist who commits such a heinous act, not to mention quite a few others.  But, I must have done a decent enough job because…

Not only is The Mistaken still loitering in Amazon’s Top Rated in Romantic Suspense, it’s also ranked fourth on Goodreads’ Kidnapped list, along with CJ Roberts’ Dark Duet Series and Lucy Christopher’s Stolen, all of which I enjoyed.

I’d love to have your support, too, so if you’re a Goodreads member, feel free to sign in and hit the "vote for this book" button.

Thank you!  Thank you verra much! 

__________

Welcome to the 2013 A to Z Challenge!

This year, I’m focusing on two themes:  Emotions and grammar,

depending on which letter we’re on each day.

I’ll be sharing mostly what I’ve learned about writing emotion into a novel, but I’ll also be throwing in a few key grammar lessons, pet peeves I’ve picked up while working as an editor.

Today’s an emotion day. 

__________

L is for Loneliness:  affected with, characterized by, or causing a depressing feeling of being alone; destitute of sympathetic or friendly companionship; isolated.

I had to write about this emotion a great deal in my own novel, The Mistaken.  The main character’s wife dies and he feels responsible.  Immediately after, he isolates himself, even when there are many people around him, his friends, his family.  No one can take the place of the one he loved most.  A lot of the time, that’s how loneliness works.  I wrote a short passage at the end that deals with this feeling: 

“It was disconcerting to be among all that was so familiar yet feel that the heart that beat within my chest was not actually my own.  I was lost, like a child separated from a parent in a large crowd.  Not alone, yet quintessentially lonely.”

And in the middle of the book, when the sight of another woman makes him miss the one he’s lost:

“I spent more than a small amount of time propped up against the wall, watching her, studying her face, so beautiful, so peaceful in sleep.  I knew I shouldn’t be watching her without her knowledge, but I missed having that kind of beauty near me.  Having it so close, yet knowing it was not mine, was a bitter pill, but I felt as if I’d been pulled back through time, back to when Jillian was still alive.  I was unbearably lonely, and, at that moment, Hannah filled me in ways Jillian once had.  It was difficult to turn away from something as alluring as that.”     

This shows how loneliness is not about solitude, but rather about isolation, feeling separate, emotionally divided from the whole.  A character can be in a room full of his friends and family while they festively celebrate a momentous occasion, a birthday, a wedding, yet even among all these people, who likely love and care for him, as the very symbols of happiness swirl around him, he feels the most lonely. 

This type of contrast in imagery and emotion can be very effective and relieve the writer from having to rely on clichéd and overused body language.

__________

Welcome to the 2013 A to Z Challenge!

This year, I’m focusing on two themes:  Emotions and grammar,

depending on which letter we’re on each day.

I’ll be sharing mostly what I’ve learned about writing emotion into a novel, but I’ll also be throwing in a few key grammar lessons, pet peeves I’ve picked up while working as an editor.

Okay, so today’s less a grammar day and more a writing day.  Sue me!   

__________

M is for Motivation:  the act or instance of causing or providing a reason for a person to perform in a certain way

When writing a novel, motivation is key to not only propelling the story forward, but to also drawing the reader into it.  It gives reason to why the character makes certain choices, and it is these choices that get him into trouble, and why the reader comes to care for him. 

For me, it was this choice, the character’s motivation, that drove me to write my book, The Mistaken.  I wondered what could make a good man choose to commit a violent crime.  The possibilities were endless, of course, but for me, it was personal.  I needed direct answers to my own questions, to explain why certain things had happened to me.

Motivation defines the character and molds the plot.  The author provides a situation that will stimulate the character’s response.  He imagines what he would do when put in their position.  If the motivation is realistic and fully fleshed out, it becomes understandable, and the character becomes believable and justified, no matter how poor his choices are.  

There are so many motivations typically used in literature—a noble goal, the desire to return home, glory, greed, to live out a dream or experience an adventure, freedom, justice.  In my novel, the motivation was two-fold—first revenge, then redemption. 

I had to make the reader understand why the protagonist would be willing to commit such a vicious offense in the name of revenge.  Then, after he’s crossed over to the dark side, I had to make the reader still care enough for him to see him through to his redemption.  Not an easy task, because he does a VERY bad thing. 

I think the writer needs to approach motivation like Method acting and essentially immerse themselves in the story and become the character.  In the end, understanding the motivation behind my character's deeds help me understand then accept experiences in my own life. 

__________

Welcome to the 2013 A to Z Challenge!

This year, I’m focusing on two themes:  Emotions and grammar,

depending on which letter we’re on each day.

I’ll be sharing mostly what I’ve learned about writing emotion into a novel, but I’ll also be throwing in a few key grammar lessons, pet peeves I’ve picked up while working as an editor.

Today’s an emotion day!   

__________

N is for Nervous:  highly excitable, unnaturally or acutely uneasy or apprehensive; anxious; unsettled.

We’ve all been here, so we know how it feels.  But we also each experience it in different ways, so, as writers, how do we show it?  I had to tackle this one a few times in The Mistaken, and found, along with showing the physical signs, it worked better, felt more tangible, when I focused on the reason behind the character’s nervousness. 

What did he fear?  What was he risking?  That’s what drives anxiety, right?—the repercussions of failure, of exposure, of our inadequacies, or perhaps just plain old fear, especially what is unknown.  So, if all of a sudden, your character is thrust into a situation in which he has no or very little control, have him ponder the consequences should he fail.

Will he die or suffer physically, or will someone else he cares about?  Will he lose something or someone he loves or values?  Will another judge him harshly, or worse, reject him, possibly subjecting him to ridicule?  Does he fear the world will find him lacking or someone he’s tried hard not to be?

If you exacerbate his anxiety with fallout should his fear be realized, the reader will moan and groan in protest or cringe in sympathy.  Of course, in addition to spelling out this potential aftermath, you should show the reader what is going on inside his head, inside his body, as he ponders his fate.  Think about how you act when you’re nervous.

Your heart twitters and speeds up and almost feels like it’s in your throat.  You pace and move around, biting your nails, fidgeting with your fingers, or anything else you can get your hands on.  You cover your eyes or pull at your hair, your breathing quickens, you shake and twitch, bounce and jerk all around, you sweat and flush and stutter, maybe laugh inappropriately, followed by speed-talking or an abrupt change in the subject.  Your stomach tenses and burns and roils in nausea.  And if it all becomes too much, too unbearable, you might become light-headed or even pass out, that is if you haven’t fled already.

How does your body react when you’re nervous?

  

__________

Welcome to the 2013 A to Z Challenge!

This year, I’m focusing on two themes:  Emotions and grammar,

depending on which letter we’re on each day.

I’ll be sharing mostly what I’ve learned about writing emotion into a novel, but I’ll also be throwing in a few key grammar lessons, pet peeves I’ve picked up while working as an editor.

Today’s an emotion day!   

__________

O is for Overwhelmed:  to be excessively or completely overcome or overpowered in mind, feeling, body, or spirit.

This is a widely used emotion in fiction.  After all, if a character is overwhelmed by his circumstances, he’s bound to experience tension and conflict, the key ingredients in every work of fiction.  But people react to this emotion in various ways. 

Some show no outward signs and keep their resulting emotions hidden, and that’s the key, really.  Being overwhelmed is not so much the emotion itself, but rather that which incites what overtakes us, like fear and anxiety or love and tranquility.

While there are many actions to show how a character physically experiences being overwhelmed, many feel cliché and overused like shaking all over or the character's arms curling his body.  I think, since the impact of this emotion is so internal and visceral, a more effective way to show it is to really get into the character’s head as they pace around, mumbling and contemplating the repercussions or circumstances that have overwhelmed them.

In my own novel, The Mistaken, the main character deliberates the serious ramifications of his violent actions.  (Edited for length.)

I paced the floor around me, unable—perhaps unwilling—to process the reality of what I had just done...the severity of the mistake I had made, and the dire consequences that now faced me, my brother, and the wounded woman cowering in fear and humiliation in the corner. The reality was that through the hazy cloud of alcohol and pills, I believed delivering a degrading punishment would somehow empower me, fulfill my need for revenge, and expunge the hate, grief, and rage that filled me. I thought my mind might be rewarded with a sense of balance, my soul a thread of justice, and my heart a measure of peace.

But I despised myself for the act...I could not have sunk any lower had I taken a human life with my bare hands...I was an abomination, a monster...

Whoever said vengeance is sweet was wrong. It’s the thought of vengeance—filtered through memories that haunt and torment—that is sweet. Not the act itself. The act is vile and bitter, and I felt physically ill as it filled me, as I realized...the pain, fear, and humiliation I had caused.

So while there is a vast array of ways to tangibly express being overwhelmed—scrubbing a hand down the face, staring and pacing, collapsing to the floor and squeezing the eyes tight, or pressing shaky fingers to the mouth—and these should be used to show a character’s physical response, consider the impact to his psyche, how he internalizes his emotion, because that is essentially where he’s experiencing the brunt of his overwhelming circumstances.

How do you react when you are overwhelmed?

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Welcome to the 2013 A to Z Challenge!

This year, I’m focusing on two themes:  Emotions and grammar,

depending on which letter we’re on each day.

Today’s a grammar day!

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P is for Present Participle Phrase:  in a sentence, a phrase using the –ing form of a verb as an adjective to modify a noun or noun phrase.  (This is different from a gerund, or an –ing verb that acts as a subjective or objective noun.)

Though this might sound confusing, it’s really simple.  When you write a phrase, using an –ing verb to describe a noun, (like I just did there,) that is a present participle phrase.  Did you recognize the one I just used in that last sentence?  I underlined it.  We use them all the time when speaking, and we use them even more when writing.  And that’s where the issue lies.

While there is nothing inherently wrong with this sentence structure, and I use it just like everyone else, the issue comes down to its frequency.  As an editor, as well as an experienced critique partner, I read a lot of manuscripts, especially debuts, but also experienced and previously published authors, as well, and undoubtedly, the one thing I see more than just about anything else—sans the missing comma, of course—is the overuse of the present participle phrase.

Sometimes, writers will use them in fifty to seventy-five percent of their sentences.  So what’s wrong with that, you ask?  Well, first off, it shows an inability to be creative with your writing, and it reads very sing-song-ish, which is distracting.  It also shows that the writer isn’t truly aware of his or her writing. 

Sentences within a paragraph need to be varied, in length, in rhythm, and in structure.  It’s boring and monotonous to read the same type of sentence structure over and over again.  After a first draft is completed, the author needs to read and analyze each separate sentence, each separate word, revising it so it’s different from the ones right before and right after.  While present participle phrases are fine every now and then, try to keep them down to three or less per page. 

I used to be a big PPP offender.  I never even noticed it until I critiqued with a college English professor.  She pointed it out, and I’ve become very sensitive to it ever since.  Even still, I tend to overuse it, and cringe when I read back over my work.  Thank God for the editing process! 

What about you?  Do you find yourself overusing this particular type of sentence structure?

__________

Welcome to the 2013 A to Z Challenge!

This year, I’m focusing on two themes:  Emotions and grammar,

depending on which letter we’re on each day.

Today’s a grammar day!

__________

Q is for Question mark:  the punctuation mark that replaces the full stop period of an interrogative sentence, often used in place of missing or unknown data.  (?)

The question mark?  Really?  What could I possibly have to say about the question mark?  Well, not much, actually.  Come on, it’s Friday.  I’ve had a long, tough week, and there’s not much that begins with the letter Q, so I’ll keep this brief.

There is one thing I sometimes see as an editor which really bugs me.  When writing dialogue, and the character is excitedly asking a question, do NOT use both a question mark AND an exclamation point.  You think this would be obvious, but I see it more often that I ever thought I would. 

“You do?!” she gasped.

Yes, I do.

Truth is, if your writing is strong, if you’re using the appropriate verbs and nouns—notice I didn’t say adjectives or adverbs—to convey whatever emotion your character is feeling, you don’t need an exclamation point, ever, but especially after a question mark.  And honestly, that’s just poor grammar. 

Use only ONE type of punctuation at the end of each sentence.  Always.  No exceptions.  Ever.

But wouldn't it be nice if we had one of these? 

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Welcome to the 2013 A to Z Challenge!

This year, I’m focusing on two themes:  Emotions and grammar,

depending on which letter we’re on each day.

Today’s an emotion day!

__________

R is for Revenge:  (noun or verb) to exact punishment or atonement for a wrong on behalf of, especially in a resentful or vindictive spirit; retaliation, vengeance. 

Come on, you knew I’d write about this, didn’t you?  After all, it’s front and center in my novel, The Mistaken, and what motivates the main character—normally a decent, upstanding man—to act out violently after the reckless death of his pregnant wife.  Frankly, I can’t think of anything more visceral than revenge. 

We’ve all had that aggravating feeling of wanting—even needing—to get even with someone who’s wronged us or someone we care about.  Most of the time, though, it’s just a fantasy, and that’s typically enough.  But what if it’s not?

And there’s the rub when you utilize revenge in fiction, at least with the story’s protagonist.  You want your reader to at least like your main character, but that could be difficult if he gives in to his vengeful fantasies. 

The trick, I think, is to get the reader to care about him first and foremost, then when he’s crossed, you feel his pain and resentment, and when he considers crossing over to the dark side, you can sympathize, even if you disagree.  But it’s important to show that transition, what’s provoking him and why fantasizing is not enough.

Here’s a passage from The Mistaken (edited for length):

 Whereas I once spoke to Nick about Jillian—my memories of her and our life together—I now shared my fantasies about gaining revenge on the woman who had provoked Jill into such reckless behavior... 

They started simple, as visions of setting her house on fire with her trapped inside, or perhaps I would run her car off the road and down into a steep ravine where she would lie immobilized, entangled in the wreckage, unseen from the roadway far above. I had an endless reservoir filled with pernicious scenarios. I found that when I fantasized about a long, tortuous death, I felt a greater sense of vengeance and a considerable awareness of relief, as sick as that was. And I knew it was sick. But I didn’t care anymore. I wanted Erin to suffer....

At first, it gave me some relief to savor the vision of retribution. Yet, I always woke up the next day with the realization that Erin Anderson was still alive and well, walking the earth, enjoying her life, enjoying her family, while my wife was not, while my child lay eternally buried in Jillian’s cold womb six feet beneath the heavy earth, a tiny speck of immeasurable possibility heartlessly quashed into nothingness. I spoke to Nick about... how utterly enraged I felt, powerless and impotent.

At this point, Nick tries to talk Tyler into getting even, but he balks at the idea.

“…Ty, she’s the reason your wife is dead. She’s the reason you drink yourself into unconsciousness every goddamn day of your pathetic life…Why you can’t get the image of Jillian’s broken body out of your head.

“Remember Jill on that hospital bed, brother, the way they pounded on her chest, shoved tubes down her throat, and needles into her arms. You said it yourself. She died alone and afraid…How can you not want to be brutal right back?...”

Alone now, I sat back in my chair with a full bottle of tequila and drank… I thought about what Nick had suggested...She’d be gone forever. She’d lose her freedom, her identity, and her humanity… The more I drank, the more reasonable it seemed.

God, I wanted to do it, but how could I live with the decision?  Wouldn’t I be compromising my own humanity, as well?  Jill would be ashamed and disappointed if she knew what I was thinking. But then again, she was gone. She would never have the opportunity to live out her dreams. She would never see our child born. Everything that ever gave me reason to live had been stripped away, carelessly ground under the heel of a ruthless stranger. My humanity seemed insignificant compared to that.

But vengeance is not sweet.  It’s bitter and vile.  So if your character goes through with his plans, like mine does, you have to scuttle hard to show how it was a grave mistake, how remorse and regret urge him forward in his need for redemption, to set everything right, if he can.  And that, my friends, is not easily done.

Have you ever loved a character who went too far?  Were you able to forgive him?

__________

 

Welcome to the 2013 A to Z Challenge!

This year, I’m focusing on two themes:  Emotions and grammar,

depending on which letter we’re on each day.

Today’s an emotion day!

__________

S is for Sympathy:  harmony of or agreement in feeling between persons; the fact or power of sharing feelings of another, especially in sorrow or trouble; compassion, commiseration.   

Sympathy and empathy are closely related, but the difference between them is this:  When you actually experience another person’s feelings within yourself, that is empathy.  When you do not feel it, yet still experience compassion for them, that is sympathy.  This is something I use a lot in my novel, The Mistaken.

The main male character commits a heinous offense against the main female one.  You’d think she’d despise him for it, but, after learning the reasons behind his actions, she actually feels sorry for him.  But if you think about it, sympathy is a difficult emotion to effectively convey without the character coming off as simply uncomfortable with the situation. 

When you come across someone who is suffering, you feel obligated to offer a hug or a rub along the back, to spew polite platitudes of sympathy, because you feel bad for them.  “I’m sorry.  I’m here for you.  It’s probably for the best.  How can I help?”  Sounds nice, but it’s hardly comforting and only serves to make the speaking character feel more at ease with the situation. 

I think one effective way to demonstrate sympathy is to attempt to bridge that gap toward empathy.  While it might be impossible for the character to truly feel what the other is feeling, she can certainly imagine herself in that position, say, if her husband had died in tragic circumstances.  True, her spouse is alive and well, but what if he were not?  How would she feel if something she had done had indirectly led to his death? 

In The Mistaken, the female character observes her attacker’s remorse and regret.  It’s plainly etched on his face.  She sees a level of fragility and vulnerability there and it makes the mother in her ache at what has caused it. 

But what makes her truly sympathize with him is how closely her own life has paralleled his, how her husband’s betrayal had made her feel so many of the same emotions, and how easy it would have been for her to give in and give herself over to revenge.  While she feared him, her heart held a degree of sympathy, telling her to be compassionate toward his tortured soul.  “There but for the grace of God,” she says to herself. 

And that, I think, is what sympathy is all about—There but for the grace of God.

__________

 

Welcome to the 2013 A to Z Challenge!

This year, I’m focusing on two themes:  Emotions and grammar,

depending on which letter we’re on each day.

Today’s a grammar day!

But first, check out this review by Literary Mania Reviews.
And please, give her a follow.
She’s an up and coming book blogger with LOTS of Facebook likers.  And if you know anything about the power of book bloggers on FB, you'll get why that's so important. ;)

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T is for Tense:  in grammar, a category of verbal inflection that serves chiefly to specify the time of the action or state expressed by the verb; a category that locates a situation in time: past, present, or future

Writers and readers alike have definite preferences in verb tense, typically past, which is the most common, or present, which is becoming ever more popular, especially in Middle Grade and Young Adult genres.  Keep in mind, these tenses can also be more specifically broken down into either simple or non-auxiliary verbs (I sit, I sat, or I will sit), perfect or auxiliary verbs (I have sat, I had sat, or I will have sat), or progressive or auxiliary gerund (I am sitting, I was sitting, or I will be sitting.)

Some say present tense feels more immediate, more in the moment, and I can see the logic in that.  The narrator is telling the story as if it’s happening right then and there.  Personally, I find it distracting and that it actually has the opposite effect, taking me out of the story rather than pulling me in. 

I’m not sure why exactly.  Maybe because my logical brain is telling me that the action is obviously not happening right then and there.  I find it more believable that the narrator has just come from a harrowing event and is retelling it—in the past tense.  

This is probably why present tense is more convincing in MG and YA, because young minds don’t rely on this rationale.  Everything is in the moment for them.  With very little in their personal past, it’s all an adventure.  But for adults, it’s more about escape, and past tense seems to work better in that respect.  Still, like most aspects of literature, it’s very subjective, much the same way narration point-of-view is subjective.

But no matter what you prefer, if you’re a writer, you have to be careful to maintain verb tense consistency.  That is to say, don’t waffle back and forth between present and past.  I know that might seem obvious to most of you—it certainly does to me—but you’d be surprised how often I see it when editing manuscripts, sometimes within one sentence.  So perhaps it’s not obvious to everyone. 

Which tense do prefer to write and read in?  Do you ever have trouble maintaining tense?  If so, do you have any tricks you’d like to share?

Psst…don’t forget to check out the review!

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Welcome to the 2013 A to Z Challenge!

This year, I’m focusing on two themes:  Emotions and grammar,

depending on which letter we’re on each day.

I’ll be sharing mostly what I’ve learned about writing emotion into a novel, but I’ll also be throwing in a few key grammar lessons, pet peeves I’ve picked up while working as an editor.

Today’s a grammar day!  (Sort of.)

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U is for Unnecessary words:  words that are not essential or requisite; indispensable

Thomas Jefferson once said, “Don’t use two words when one will do.”  After missing commas and the overuse of present participle phrases, the use of unnecessary words is probably the third most common mistake I see as an editor. 

I think this is because, as writers, we love words—our words—and if we happen to compose a beautiful string of them, we loathe deleting a single one.  We believe it’s perfect just the way it is, so eloquent, so clever, so impressive.  But if you can remove one of those words and have the meaning remain intact, then it’s unnecessary. 

George Orwell once said, “If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.”  Less is always better, because words that don’t contribute meaning to a sentence actually weaken it instead. 

Orwell also said, “Never use a long word where a short one will do.”  When William Faulkner criticized Ernest Hemingway for his narrow use of words, Hemingway replied, “Poor Faulkner. Does he really think big emotions come from big words? He thinks I don’t know the ten-dollar words. I know them all right. But there are older and simpler and better words, and those are the ones I use.”

I could go on and on, but that would be counterintuitive, wouldn’t it?  So I’ll leave you with this:  Read each and every sentence you’ve written again and again.  If there is a simpler way to write it with shorter and fewer words, do it. 

Do you find you can often delete a certain amount of words in your own writing without altering the meaning?  Do you do it or leave them because you find them pretty or witty?

__________

Welcome to the 2013 A to Z Challenge!

This year, I’m focusing on two themes:  Emotions and grammar,

depending on which letter we’re on each day.

Today’s a grammar day!

__________

V is for Verb:  in language, a class of words that typically express action, state, or a relation between two things, and that which may be inflected for tense, aspect, voice, mood, and to show agreement with their subject or object.

There are a dozen topics I could discuss in regards to the almighty verb.  Just look at this list of verb types: Causative, copula, ditransitive, dynamnic, finite, inchoative, intransitive, irregular, modal, non-finite, performative, phrasl, regular, stative, and transitive.

I even hit on one type in my discussion of tense last Tuesday, but I think I’ll keep this limited to the issues I see most often when editing.  Primarily—and, as writers, we’ve all been warned against this—the biggest issue I see is the use of passive verbs versus active ones.  

First, allow me to show the difference. 

• Active:  I threw the ball.    The subject (I) performs the action (threw) on the object (the ball)
• Passive:  The ball was thrown by me.  The subject (ball) receives the action (was thrown) instead of performing it and is typically aided by a helping verb (is, was, been, are, were.)
• Inert:  The ball is round.  The verb “is” describes a state of being and is neither active nor passive.

Now, allow me to say one more thing—passive verbs are not necessarily wrong, but they do weaken the sentence.  And a sentence with a passive voice uses far more words than one with an active voice.  Compound this by every sentence in your manuscript, and you’ve got a lot of space taken up by wasted words, space where you could explore plot and character more deeply with active verbs.

There is another form of passive verb I see quite often.  And honestly, I use it myself.  Everyone does.  For the most part, it’s not too egregious, that is, if you don’t overuse it and if revising it to the more active form changes the meaning or doesn’t quite fit.  I’m talking about the use of gerunds or –ing verbs. 

Why say her shoulders were shaking when her shoulders shook will work?  But if you say her life was unraveling at the seams, it really doesn’t work to revise it to her life unraveled at the seams, because you’re trying to show something currently happening in the moment, not in the past, even though the story is told in the past.  Make sense?  I know, it’s confusing, and that’s why so many writers have a problem with it, including me.

Do you overuse passive verbs or have a hard time identifying them in your own writing? 

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Welcome to the 2013 A to Z Challenge!

This year, I’m focusing on two themes:  Emotions and grammar,

depending on which letter we’re on each day.

Today’s an emotion day!

__________

W is for Worry:  to torment oneself with or suffer from disturbing thoughts; to torment with cares or anxiety; plagued by fret.

We’ve all experienced that dreadful feeling of anxiety eating at our gut.  It’s kind of like fear, but more about what we don’t know, what might happen, expectation.  Anticipation.  When including it in our writing, I think it helps to show the entire process, from the first nagging thoughts to full-blown terror, if that’s where the situation leads. 

But try not to hit your reader over the head with it all at once.  Worry calls for a bit of subtlety, easing into it at first, antagonizing the anxiety with outside forces, then ratcheting it up until the character breaks into a more extreme emotion, like fear, or somehow finds relief. 

There is a plethora of ways in which to show the reader how a character experiences worry.  I bite my nails, chew on the inside of my cheeks, or pull my hair out, strand by stand.  Others pace or chain smoke, rub hands through their hair or scrub down their face, they blink and fidget, or just stare out into space with a furrowed brow, their lip drawn in between their teeth as they wring their hands or crack their knuckles. 

The list is extensive, and I do think a few should be employed to reinforce the feeling, but since worry is such an internalized emotion, a lot of the wordplay might be better suited to the character’s internal monologue, the questions that plague him, what might happen, the consequences, and how he will handle it. 

But when the worry is being shared between two or more characters, the best way to express it is with dialogue that barks back and forth, snapping questions, demanding answers, challenging accountability, even to the point of quarreling or perhaps an awkward silence.

In The Mistaken, I have one scene where the main character anxiously awaits a call from his wife after a day of bickering. He answers every call, hoping it might be her.  When he discovers she’s been in a horrific accident, he barges into the emergency room, calling out her name in high-pitched hysteria.  Then, as he watches the medical team futilely attempt life-saving procedures on her, he reacts internally as if each maneuver is being performed on him instead.

The book is packed with anxiety-riddled scenes where the characters worry about who’s out to get them, how close they’re getting, and how they’ll ever manage to stay alive against unimaginable and insurmountable odds. 

Have you ever written a worry-filled scene?  What imagery did you depend on to bring that anxiety to life?

__________

Welcome to the 2013 A to Z Challenge!

This year, I’m focusing on two themes:  Emotions and grammar,

depending on which letter we’re on each day.

Today’s an emotion day!

__________

X is for Xenophobic:  Unreasonably fearful of or hating anyone or anything foreign; irrationally fearful of that which is strange; intolerant, prejudice

Oy—X!  What to do for X.  There are no grammar topics for X, and xenophobia is the only emotion word I could think of.  I’ve never had to deal with it myself in any of my own writing, but after last week’s bombings during the 2013 Boston Marathon and the revelations since, I thought it relevant.

Wikipedia says “Xenophobia can manifest itself in many ways involving the relations and perceptions of an ingroup towards an outgroup, including a fear of losing identity, suspicion of its activities, aggression, and desire to eliminate its presence to secure a presumed purity.”

I think this can be applied to both the young terrorists as well as those in this country who automatically jumped to conclusions about who they were and why they did what they did.  It’s about being conditioned, either by those we are closest to or by events that have somehow affected our lives and shaped our worldview.

Xenophobia is about mistrust and fear, anger and hatred, anxiety and worry.  It’s more than just being prejudiced.  It’s having a totally biased opinion of an entire culture and is a relatively new phenomena since the media has made our world a very small place. 

We are fully aware now, and that awareness sometimes makes us uncomfortable, because awareness does not mean we understand. In fact, this awareness makes many feel threatened because they do not understand; they do not agree with that culture’s way of life, whether that life is defined by race, creed, or sexuality. 

None of us like to think that we share or exhibit any form of xenophobia, but think about it for a moment.  When those bombings happened in Boston, did you instantly point to any one group as responsible?  Did you believe religion to be at the core?  Were you surprised by who the culprits really were and why they did it?  Truth is, it’s human nature to be suspicious of those we do not understand, because we are tribal and feel the most comfortable around those most like ourselves. 

I think what’s relevant here is what is reasonable, and while we all might exhibit tribal tendencies from time to time, we also know right from wrong, what is rational and what is unacceptable.  That’s the big difference between xenophobes and the rest of us.

__________

Welcome to the 2013 A to Z Challenge!

This year, I’m focusing on two themes:  Emotions and grammar,

depending on which letter we’re on each day.

Today’s an emotion day!

__________

Y is for Yearning:  a deep longing, especially when accompanied by tenderness or sadness

I think yearning is likely at the core of every plot ever imagined.  It’s what drives the characters, their yearning for whatever it is they want or need.  It’s at the heart of every human being.  We each have our own dreams, our own desires, and we yearn for them to come true, to be made whole, to be fully realized. 

The key to making your reader accept your character’s yearning is to not only have them sympathize with his underlying belief system, but fully empathize, as well.  That which makes us each unique also forms our personal mythos, and those internal principles define not only how we perceive the world, but how we react to it and the choices we make.

So the writer must indoctrinate the reader to a certain extent, temporarily instilling the character’s ideology into the mind of reader.  For that to happen, the yearning, his choice, his desires, must make sense, or at least the author has to make it seem like it makes sense. 

I believe a strong and very close POV helps with this difficult task.  It’s why I write in first person and not third.  I deal with some pretty horrific human flaws and frailties in my novels.  Hard for most people to comprehend and commiserate with.  But if I can get the reader to live in the protagonist’s head, she’s more likely to understand where he’s coming from, to accept that’s what’s best, to hope and pray he achieves it, even yearn for it herself.

How do you make your readers understand your characters’ yearnings?      

__________

Welcome to the 2013 A to Z Challenge!

This year, I’m focusing on two themes:  Emotions and grammar,

depending on which letter we’re on each day.

Today’s an emotion day!  Or, perhaps, more accurately, an EMOTIONAL day, ‘cause it’s over.

This is the end.  The letter Z.  The Omega.  And just like last year, I am tired.  Beyond tired.  So much so, I can barely think.  So have a little patience with my very last A to Z Challenge post.  Okay, here goes…

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Z is for Zeal:  fervor of a person, cause, or object; eager desire or endeavor; enthusiastic diligence; ardor       

Yesterday, I wrote about yearning and how to effectively convey a character’s yearning, no matter how despicable, in such a way as to make the reader not only sympathize with him, but empathize, as well, even going so far as to want the same thing.

One of the best attributes a character—and his author—can employ to indoctrinate the reader in this way is with zeal.  A character, and again, his author, must utilize their confidence and utter conviction in whatever cause or yearning they are fighting for. 

Of course, zeal requires knowledge, but knowledge without understanding can come off as madness.  Just look at the very definition of a zealot—one who is excessively enthusiastic, a fanatic.  It’s what we call those crazies who protest war by bombing the innocent. 

So while your characters, and you, as their creator, should express a certain amount of zeal in order to impress your reader with the characters’ cause, make sure you not only believe it, no matter how awful it is, but understand it, as well.  Readers can detect a writer who simply phones it in.

With that said, I hope you have enjoyed my A to Z Challenge series.  I think it will probably be my last one.  Thanks to all of you who dropped by for a visit and left a comment.  You are the reason I saw it through to the end.  I will be back tomorrow for another IWSG entry and next week for my A to Z Reflections post.  

Until then...Goodbye and God bless!