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Category: Kat’s Writing Tales

Does Your Need Motivate You to Write?

There is no school for caregivers. So where does the caregiver turn for help? I struggled through the first year of my husband’s “No Hope” rare cancer diagnosis in 2003. Through that time, I developed a new strength and a new title, The Lionhearted Kat.

I also created a lionhearted motto to keep me going and to share:

“Be Bold! Stay Strong! Spring to action!”

My husband survived the rare cancer, Pseudomyxoma Peritonei (PMP). He lived seven years from the day he first saw a doctor and then died suddenly of a heart attack.

That first near-death experience brought reality to our home.

Gary often said, “Life is short and then you die. It is what you do with the minutes in between that count.” He used those last seven years to help make a difference in the lives of others. He also encouraged me to write, write, write.

At the beginning of Gary’s illness, I searched libraries and bookstores for help. I can still feel my desperation in a Barnes and Noble store when I said to the teen clerk, “I need a book for caregivers.”

“I’m not sure what that is, maybe try self-help.”

I found nothing. Later I wrote and published, “Capsules of Hope: Survival Guide for Caregivers.”

A rare cancer moved me to supply a need for others.

Not all of life is death and dying—today I’m determined to find something ridiculous to write about. A tidbit of laughter to share with others.

Above all I know this:

Nothing I write will be read by others and possibly make a difference in their lives, help them to find help and hope unless I share it or submit it.

online writers meeting

There are those who want to leave behind a legacy. They are happy to write the family history or their memoir. In the past, our grandparents were the story tellers. They didn’t write the family history, they shared it. And we listened. Sometimes we learned life lessons from what we heard.

But today, too much of the family is split apart. Often, we learn from a short snippet we read in a magazine. Maybe an “Upper Room” devotional in the doctor’s office.

At the last conference I attended a woman I’d never met before sat across from me.

“I’ve been writing my memoir for twenty years,” she said.

For two seconds I thought I’d choke on my bite of salad—twenty years is a long time to wait to share the pain or joys of life with others.

I am encouraging my new friend to write her book. Still, there is a part of me wants to scream. I wanted to say,

“Write one article at a time. Help others now. Don’t wait. A memoir might sell if you have a giant platform on which to reach out to the masses, but what about writing for a Sunday School handout? Or shape your story into a devotional for ‘Upper Room.’”

Today I’m encouraging myself and other writers I come in contact with to remember:

Your words are nothing more than scratches on a paper until you have a reader—one who is changed because you took the time to share what God has done in your life.

Don’t Just Write Something–Submit It Without Delay..

 

Don't Leave Your Readers Dangling
Don't Leave Your Readers Dangling

An Editing Tip from Kat Crawford

My sister and I watched a movie. At the end, Karen said to me, “But what happened to the dog?” The writer and producer portrayed a great story with the human cast, but they introduced a dog. They finished the romance, but what about the injured animal?

Years ago, an editor emailed me. “I’d like to use your story, but you’ve left me hanging. If I want to know what happened, so will the reader.”

The good news is, the editor liked my material enough to give me the opportunity to rewrite and answer all questions. I’ve learned since then to let my manuscript sit for a day or two before editing.

Want to see holes in your story? Join a critique group. When one of the group reads your story aloud you may hear where changes are needed. 

Remember: No matter if you are writing a short devotional or a novel, your reader will feel cheated if you don’t solve the problem before the end of your post or story.

Leave no question unanswered.

Stronger Verbs Stronger Writing
Stronger Verbs Stronger Writing

After writing about caregiving and such tough places in life, I searched out a fun teaching tool I wrote myself years ago. My critique partner at that time, Audrey, pushed me to learn a stronger vocabulary. Instead of studying, (see the ing word) I played (yep, an ed word.) I shared (an ed word) my fun poetry with my writer friends and we laughed (see another ed word.)

This writing exercise and lots of practice taught me to write with stronger verbs.

ED, YOU SAID?

“Ed, it’s said, is a stronger verb than ING.
I smote my head and said, “For me, ING sings.
Try like I might, Ed leaves me befuddled.
My mind sifted ED’s and ended up jumbled.
I smote my head and said, “For me, ING sings.


Try like I might, Ed leaves me befuddled.
My mind sifted ED’s and ended up jumbled.
So, I jumped and bounced and ED words compiled.
I dabbled and drizzled till my lips really smiled.
I hurled and furled and agonized, too.
I bristled and blundered and bandied my way through.


Skewered, slithered, sniveled, and sniped
Whacked, wallowed, warbled, and wiped.
Yawned, yoweled, yodeled, and yipped.
I gasped for air as I giggled and gripped.


Yes, I clicked my tongue and chimed delighted,
“Look at those ED’s they promenade as if benighted.”
My tongue relished the sound of a toughed end.
Words that rippled, rolled and even I comprehend.


I’ve weathered, and warmed. Trounced and trashed.
I’ve screamed and squirreled. Hobbled and hashed.
And what, you ask, was accomplished by this?
Why, I raised my knowledge, at my editor’s wish?


I smote my head and said, “For me, ING sings.
Try like I might, Ed leaves me befuddled.
My mind sifted ED’s and ended up jumbled.
So, I jumped and bounced and ED words compiled.
I dabbled and drizzled till my lips really smiled.


I hurled and furled and agonized, too.
I bristled and blundered and bandied my way through.
Skewered, slithered, sniveled, and sniped
Whacked, wallowed, warbled, and wiped.


Yawned, yoweled, yodeled, and yipped.
I gasped for air as I giggled and gripped.
Yes, I clicked my tongue and chimed delighted,
“Look at those ED’s they promenade as if benighted.”


My tongue relished the sound of a toughed end.
Words that rippled, rolled and even I comprehend.
I’ve weathered, and warmed. Trounced and trashed.
I’ve screamed and squirreled. Hobbled and hashed.


And what, you ask, was accomplished by this?
Why, I raised my knowledge, at my editor’s wish?
“Ed, it’s said, is a stronger verb than ING.
I smote my head and said, “For me, ING sings.


Try like I might, Ed leaves me befuddled.
My mind sifted ED’s and ended up jumbled.
So, I jumped and bounced and ED words compiled.
I dabbled and drizzled till my lips really smiled.


I hurled and furled and agonized, too.
I bristled and blundered and bandied my way through.
Skewered, slithered, sniveled, and sniped
Whacked, wallowed, warbled, and wiped.


Yawned, yoweled, yodeled, and yipped.
I gasped for air as I giggled and gripped.
Yes, I clicked my tongue and chimed delighted,
“Look at those ED’s they promenade as if benighted.”


My tongue relished the sound of a toughed end.
Words that rippled, rolled and even I comprehend.
I’ve weathered, and warmed. Trounced and trashed.
I’ve screamed and squirreled. Hobbled and hashed.


And what, you ask, was accomplished by this?
Why, I raised my knowledge, at my editor’s wish?
“Ed, it’s said, is a stronger verb than ING.
I smote my head and said, “For me, ING sings.


Try like I might, Ed leaves me befuddled.
My mind sifted ED’s and ended up jumbled.
So, I jumped and bounced and ED words compiled.
I dabbled and drizzled till my lips really smiled.


I hurled and furled and agonized, too.
I bristled and blundered and bandied my way through.
Skewered, slithered, sniveled, and sniped
Whacked, wallowed, warbled, and wiped.


Yawned, yoweled, yodeled, and yipped.
I gasped for air as I giggled and gripped.
Yes, I clicked my tongue and chimed delighted,
“Look at those ED’s they promenade as if benighted.”


My tongue relished the sound of a toughed end.
Words that rippled, rolled and even I comprehend.
I’ve weathered, and warmed. Trounced and trashed.
I’ve screamed and squirreled. Hobbled and hashed.


And what, you ask, was accomplished by this?
Why, I raised my knowledge, at my editor’s wish?
“Ed, it’s said, is a stronger verb than ING.
Try like I might, Ed leaves me befuddled.
I smote my head and said, “For me, ING sings.
My mind sifted ED’s and ended up jumbled.


So, I jumped and bounced and ED words compiled.
I dabbled and drizzled till my lips really smiled.
I hurled and furled and agonized, too.
I bristled and blundered and bandied my way through.


Skewered, slithered, sniveled, and sniped
Whacked, wallowed, warbled, and wiped.
Yawned, yoweled, yodeled, and yipped.
I gasped for air as I giggled and gripped.


Yes, I clicked my tongue and chimed delighted,
“Look at those ED’s they promenade as if benighted.”
My tongue relished the sound of a toughed end.
Words that rippled, rolled and even I comprehend.


I’ve weathered, and warmed. Trounced and trashed.
I’ve screamed and squirreled. Hobbled and hashed.
And what, you ask, was accomplished by this?
Why, I raised my knowledge, at my editor’s wish?

© 2003 by the Lionhearted Kat

It’s not too late to join us!

Attending a conference is a commitment. You have to reserve the block of time (which gets harder and harder with today’s busy lifestyle). You have to pay the conference fees. You have to prepare a pitch in case you run into the perfect editor or agent. And the list goes on. Sometimes it feels like too much! So why should you attend? Here are just a few reasons.

 

Reason#1: You’ll learn

It doesn’t matter if you’ve been writing professionally for years or if you just scratched out your first short story last night, you WILL learn something at a conference. It might be something little or something huge or a bunch of little things in between. There’s no walking away from a writer’s conference without new knowledge.

 

Reason#2: You’ll meet others like you

There’s something about writers being around other writers. You understand each other! Finally, someone who gets why you can’t stop writing a story until it’s finished because the voices in your head won’t leave you alone. Finally, someone who has been through the same struggles to get published as you. Writers understand writers! And it’s just plain fun to be around others who enjoy the craft.

 

Reason#3: You never know what will come of your attendance

When you attend a writer’s conference, you’re surrounded by opportunity. There are editors there waiting to hear your pitch. There are agents there hungry for just the right story. There are professionals ready to give you advice on what to do and how to do it. You never know what will come out of your time at the conference. You might make a connection that leads to publication. You might get inspiration for the next great American novel. You might meet a new best writing friend. You never know what you’re going to get, but it’s going to be great!

Under each of these reasons you’ll find a dozen or more others just like them; 101 reasons, or more, depending on how you count them. Sign up! Go! You won’t regret it!

It’s not too late to join us!

Click HERE to get more information about our 2017 conference and to register now.

Use #Wordsowers2017 when you share with your friends.

Have you ever attended a writer’s conference? You probably expect to get things out of the guest speakers and special sessions, but what about the other authors? There are a number of items you could easily receive simply by networking with other authors. Here are just a few:

Ideas

Authors are brimming with ideas at all times. Now, you aren’t going to go around grabbing other people’s ideas, but one author’s ideas could easily spark something in you. You might bounce something off another author only to have them come up with a perfect solution for your quandary. There are ideas everywhere, just waiting for you to have them!

Inspiration

Talking to authors who are “getting it done” can really inspire you to get back on your projects yourself. You might be inspired to write something new, pick up something old, or persevere until you get that one item you really felt drawn to out into the published world. Inspiration hits when authors are together!

Resources

Do you need help editing? Don’t know where to go in order to have a book cover created? There are authors out there that have the answers and the resources YOU need. All you have to do is find the right fellow author and you can walk away with a wealth of information and connections to the resources you need.

These are just a few of the items you can get from networking with other authors. Conferences are great because speakers give you a lot of intriguing information. But the other authors attending can give you just as much!

Click HERE to get more information about our 2017 conference and to register now.

Share with your friends:

critique submissionsWhen you read your manuscript, you read what you think you wrote, not what’s actually there. It’s nearly impossible to read your own work! What if you could have a professional writer read it and tell you what they thought? They might have just the right suggestions to make it really shine! Oh, but that would be expensive. That would clean you out, right? Wrong!

When you attend the Wordsowers Christian Writer’s Conference, you get a workshop leader manuscript critique for $25! There are so many things you get from that, like…

One-on-one guidance: You get to meet with the writing professional who reviewed your work. They will tell you what they think face to face. Don’t worry, they’ll be kind! They’ll point out ways to make your work better. They might show you something you hadn’t seen before. In the end, your writing will be better for it.

Help with errors: Every writer makes errors, but it’s hard to see where you’ve gone wrong. The workshop leader will spot things that got past you, spell check, and the friends you’ve had read it. When you correct errors, your work is much more ready for editors and agents.

Encouragement: The workshop leaders have been in your seat. It’s taken all of them time, effort, blood, sweat, and tears to become professional writers. They know what it’s like to be starting out. Hearing from them, including where they’ve been and what they’ve been through, can help you realize that your dream can be reached as well. You’ll leave the session with ideas for your piece and excitement for your writing future.

Submit something you’re really excited about, then sit down for a one-on-one and find out how to make it better! $25 is a small price to pay for one critique. You get so much more than red ink on a page! Click HERE for details. Order and send in your manuscript asap to make the most of this opportunity!

Click HERE to get more information about our 2017 conference and to register now.

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Seek Twice as Many Rejections

Gladys Merek and Kat
My neighbor’s 90th birthday. Her daughter brought her to my book signing at Barnes and Nobles

In January 2007 I reviewed my writing credits. In the past year I had sold a few Sunday School handout articles, wrote for a newspaper for free (great experience) and sold my stories to several compilations. Of course, I also wrote for my blog, the church blog, a church drama and designed cards. None of the latter brought in income.

My first goal for 2007:  Receive twice as many rejections in that year as I did in 2006.

YOU CANNOT SELL WHAT YOU DON’T SUBMIT

I hung the above on my desk in large letters.

At the end of 2007 I recorded more rejections, but on the positive side, I made more money than I had in the past three years combined.

For the next few weeks I will post lessons I learned about writing, marketing, and getting acquainted with other writers, editors and publishers. .

To begin, at a writers conference I heard about an anthology called “A Cup of Comfort.” I sold them many stories and devotionals until they quit their publications. “The Cup of Comfort” publisher was the only anthology producer I ever knew who paid the author to hold book signings.

The idea of extra money pushed me to find sales locations in Nebraska and Oregon. …

Read More Read More

Mind Mapping works for me:
My Mind Map 
In a critique group I asked the writers to list the people they’d rubbed shoulders with that day or that week. I also took the challenge and drew out my diagram. Each of us were amazed at the lives we touched.

 

Joyce, Karen, Audrey
The same happens with our fiction characters. If I want my main character to amount to anything, the reader needs to see them connecting with others:
Hiding Goals?
  • Those who appreciate them and those who don’t.
  • The people they choose to ignore.
  • The neighbor they haven’t spoken to in years.
  • The childhood friend who disappointed them.
We also need to see their dreams and goals.
  • Will they see the dream come to pass?
  • How will they respond if they never see the dream fulfilled?
  • Are their goals realistic?
  • Do they share their goals or hide them, afraid others won’t understand?
I’ve written and sold non-fiction, but last November I took the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) challenge to write 50,000 words in one month. I managed to first draft over 68,000. What a great reminder on character building. One of my big problems—I have a couple faultless characters.
New goal—create flawed humans!
Not Necessarily Physically Flawed 
I Dreamed Big!
The dreams came to pass.
Now I can say I’ve taught at
and several times at
 
(HACWN) in Kansas. 
 
I also teach for our local 
 
Does that make me an expert?
 No, silly, an expert is simply a drip under pressure. 
 
I am a writer who loves to share the bit of knowledge 
I have and continue to glean with others. 
 
What about you? 
Share your writing dreams.
For the month of January I think about what I can possibly do in one year. I post notes in my Bible, my Jesus Calling book, and on the walls in my office.
Not everyone works with written goals. Charles Schultz, otherwise known as Sparky, said he knew his deadline. He mapped out the cartoon squares he needed to fill on large paper. Then he looked out the window. He said he did some of his best work while doing what others would call nothing.

From Charles Schultz Images Online

Sometimes if someone entered his studio while Schultz looked out the window for fresh inspiration, he dashed to his desk in order to look busy. After all, we don’t want those looking on to think writers, illustrators and cartoonists do nothing,I liked Sparky’s idea. We all need to laugh at ourselves more.
So what are my writing goals for 2015?

1.      Finish my WIP “Unscheduled Life.” The novel I started in November’s National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo).
2.      Publish “Kat’s Lion Tales.”
3.      Write —“My Thirteen Husbands.” Non-fiction, full of fun and laughter.
4.      Begin novel: “The Oil Change Said it All.”
What are my impossible dreams?
1.      Find an all terrain vehicle for Enoch Stalcup.
Enoch Stalcup

My friend in Estcada, Oregon, who loves to fish and hunt…his wheel chair doesn’t give him freedom. (Enoch built the website for Creating Memories for DisabledChildren.)

2.      Raise money for Creating Memories for
DisabledChildren—(blog) CMFDC needs more dollars to  rebuild the cabins in Ashley’s Park and add more wheel chair accessible trails.
What about you?
Are you trusting God for the impossible?
Share your writers goals and your dreams.
May 2008 our oldest daughter called to ask what I wanted for Mother’s Day.

“How about a trip to Oregon.”

free digital Photo
“Mom, be real?”
“Well I need a new computer.”
“Mother, something attainable, please.”
“Honey, I don’t have a want list these days. I don’t really need anything and what I do need or desire are impossible to buy or attain.”
“Mom, that’s really sad. You are the one that taught me to dream big.”
After we discussed my lack of faith, I hung up, opened my Bible and wrote my list.
1.   I’d like to teach a workshop at a writer’s conference.
2.   I’d like a trip to Oregon to see our family

3.   I’d like a new computer.

Marcus, Karen, Me and Kaitlynn
4.   I’d like a tapestry banner with a lion.
(can’t remember #5 but received it)
The next week a virus hit my computer and killed it dead. Deader than dead.
I whined to the Lord, “I didn’t think we’d have to buy one—how will we pay for it?” Husband made sure I bought the best of the best desktop computers. We put it on a payment plan. (Sidenote: can you believe, in only three months an unexpected check arrived—we paid for the computer without interest.)
 

Three weeks after my conversation with my daughter a huge tapestry arrived. 

“Found this in the backroom where I work—it was on sale,” daughter said.
 
Wow. The lion and the lamb are beautifully woven into a huge tapestry. Much larger than I dreamed about.
 
Before long I found an airline ticket at half the usual price. I flew to Oregon and enjoyed family.
 
In the fall a friend I met online sent me an email. “Would you teach a workshop at our first IDAHope writers conference next year.” ‘
 
Can you see me? I jumped, yelled, hollered and called our daughter.
 
“Guess what? I’ve been asked to teach at a writer’s conference.”
 
Feeling blessed beyond belief I sent out emails to everyone I knew. Many friends congratulated me. Then I found out I needed to pay for an airline ticket from Omaha, Nebraska to Boise, Idaho.
 
I backtracked. 
 
Sent out another email saying, “It sounded too good to be true and I guess it is. I’m not going, but I’m thrilled with the invitation.”
 
But God wasn’t done.
 
The next day an email from a friend in Florida arrived.
 
“How much is the ticket? I’m sending the money in today’s mail?”
 
I did go to IDAHope.
 

I met many new authors—some are still in touch with me.

Author Carol Colson
 
I did spend three nights and four days with Carol Colson, a new precious friend whose book will come out soon.
 
I did teach, not one workshop, but two and critiqued twelve manuscripts in all genres’.
 
Now it’s 2015, time to set goals for the new year?
 
How big can I dream?
 
God is the God of the impossible.
 
If I can find it, pay for it, 
plan it in my budget—that isn’t dreaming big. 
I don’t need God if I can do it all myself.
More to come.