Go Placidly Amidst the Noise of Christmas . . .

Every year after Christmas Eve dinner and before we unwrapped presents from the family, Grandpa read the story in Luke about the birth of Christ. This old man with chiseled features from years of manual labor; hands gnarled from sculpting in wood and steel became himself filled with wonderment. The image of him holding the Bible with such tenderness made me imagine him cradling the holy infant in his hands as well as his heart. At that moment, I understood how this child who changed the world could bring the rich and powerful, the poor and needy, the young, the old, the strong and frail to their knees.

There is nothing selfish or haughty or hateful or cynical in the message of Christmas and when hearts do become burdened by flicks of id (produced and scattered by a godless society), individually, we silently yearn for the peace that comes from love. The message of Christmas is an invitation delivered in the form of a child. What is more needy or trusting than a baby? What fills the human heart with more unconditional love than a head-bobbing snuggle from a newborn? Humanity, now more than ever, needs this type of intimacy.

Christmas, if we let it, brings nourishment to strengthen the soul and humble the spirit. With that thought in mind, I wish you and your loved ones a very, MERRY CHRISTMAS

To all the men and women serving our country, to those who are grieving the loss of a loved one during this holiday season, to those who are searching for meaning in their lives, to those suffering from addictions, and to all my friends, family and loved ones, I wish you all peace, love, safety, and the blessings of Christmas throughout the new year.

IMPORTANT - I received this notice and wanted to pass it on to you. I am so grateful to have you as a friend and hope you feel the same. There are changes coming and the following notice will explain what they are. I hope you'll take the time to update so we will still be friends in the new year.

An update on Google Friend Connect

16 hours ago by A Googler

In 2011, we announced the retirement of Google Friend Connect for all non-Blogger sites. We made an exception for Blogger to give readers an easy way to follow blogs using a variety of accounts. Yet over time, we’ve seen that most people sign into Friend Connect with a Google Account. So, in an effort to streamline, in the next few weeks we’ll be making some changes that will eventually require readers to have a Google Account to sign into Friend Connect and follow blogs.

As part of this plan, starting the week of January 11, we’ll remove the ability for people with Twitter, Yahoo, Orkut or other OpenId providers to sign in to Google Friend Connect and follow blogs. At the same time, we’ll remove non-Google Account profiles so you may see a decrease in your blog follower count.

We encourage you to tell affected readers (perhaps via a blog post), that if they use a non-Google Account to follow your blog, they need to sign up for a Google Account, and re-follow your blog. With a Google Account, they’ll get blogs added to their Reading List, making it easier for them to see the latest posts and activity of the blogs they follow.

We know how important followers are to all bloggers, but we believe this change will improve the experience for both you and your readers.

Posted by Michael Goddard, Software Engineer

THE BIG PICTURE

Pictures, renderings, graphs, charts, all increase interest in a book, however, there are subtle choices an author can make to enhance the project. Much of it has to do with personal style. These choices add to the polished look of a product. For example:

• POSITIONING:
• Arrange pictures on a page with the subjects looking toward the gutter (in-seam) or looking at an object blocking the edge of the page. Otherwise, the subject looks as though it's trying to escape.
• When taking new pictures for the book, think of the light source as though the reader is looking through an open window (referring to the open pages of the book). Study a table near a window (filled with food, a lamp or vase). Where is the light source at different times during the day? How do the shadows fall? Which is more pleasing to your eye? Does one portray the message and theme of the project better?  
• Try different techniques. Set a mood with a large block of color behind the picture. Use a soft focus. Add unexpected elements. Whatever you choose, make sure it adds to the story and doesn't over power the page.
• Unless it's a picture book, visuals are there to compliment the writing. Place a photo on a page by itself, cluster them around a theme or timeline, or add at the end of the book as a photo diary. Let your imagination and creativity blossom. 
• B&W or COLOR or BOTH
• There is something very dramatic and edgy about a photo taken in current times and developed in B&W or (with the help of special settings on some cameras)  highlighting one color, for example: a red rose with a B&W backdrop.
• Older photos are a challenge. Some are washed out or scratched from age. My suggestion is to handle as little as possible. Take a picture of the picture or take it to a professional for restoration. There is beauty in the markings on a photo if writing a memoir, especially if there's a family memory attached.
• Use different tones to establish a timeline or age of a photo. Sepia for the 1800s, B&W before 1945 and color for modern.
• IDENTIFICATION 
• If you're submitting an article to a magazine or news source, or working with a publisher, check their specifications and follow them . . . exactly.
• The most widely used formats in identifying photographs are:
• PEOPLE                            LOCATION
• (l-r) seated: add names  Subject: animal/plant/person
• first row: add names       Location: park, museum, etc
• standing: add names      Where: city/state/country
• Photo credit                    Photo credit
• Double check the spelling of all names.

Finally, open your rough-cut copy of the finished book and quickly flip-fan the pages. This quick, overview of all the pages will help you see the color balance of the pictures. Is one more intense than another? The goal is to balance. This is something that can be easily corrected in the printing process.

Whatever your style or story, I wish you much success in your writing career.

BUY ONCE - GIFT TWICE

We're happy to announce that a portion of the proceeds from the sale of "Begotten With Love" supports the A.C.M.E. Scholarship fund. This fund helps students whose education is in financial jeopardy due to the death of a sibling or parent. If you're looking for a present for the reader in your life and want to help another, visit our website www.BEGOTTENtheBook.com

To learn more about award-winning author, Jo Ann V. Glim:

VISIT: www.BEGOTTENtheBook.com

LIKE: on Facebook 

AVAILABLE ON: Amazon.com/author/joannglim

BOOK TRAILER on YouTube

SETTING THE SCENE

MACRO EDITING - Part 3 in a 5 Part Series

It doesn't take a chapter or even a paragraph to write the perfect scene opener. 'It was a dark and stormy night,' comes to mind. All the senses are heightened and the reader is hooked. But then 1830 English novelist Edward Buler-Lytton (in his novel Paul Clifford) continued the sentence. It was a dark and stormy night: the rain fell in torrents - except at occasional intervals . . . (and the sentence didn't stop there). In fact, there are now contests dedicated to writing the longest and most convoluted sentence possible; not quite the tact an aspiring novelist wants to emulate. 


The goal as a writer is to convey a story that transports the reader from their world into ours with enough dialogue, narrative, and description to guide them on that journey. It's our goal to foster their imagination so they identify with the story and characters . . . but how much is too much?

When reading your manuscript on this go-around of macro-edits, stop and think. If you're thoughts become:

DISTRACTED   Is it because the description is too long? If a wandering mind happens to you, it will surely happen for the reader. 

• Try shorter sentences or blending descriptions into the dialogue. For example: Little Red Riding Hood said as she ran through the woods to her grandmother's house. 
• Intersperse scene descriptions throughout the chapter instead of writing a litany at the beginning. 
• Think like a camera. Movie scripts begin with an establishing shot. Who could forget the space ship in the opening scene from Star Wars? The most popular beginning is either a panoramic or extreme close-up.  These set the tone for a movie and can do the same for a book.

CONFUSED      When we become too familiar with a topic, town, or personality, it's easy to omit information because we think everyone is viewing it from the same base.

• If the story line falters or the scene feels vague, you may have more explaining to do. Read the script out loud. What you hear sounds totally different than what you see on the printed page. If your tongue takes you down a new path, continue the thought. Write it down. We talked about searching for musicality when writing in the post, "Music in Words." This is one way to find it. 
• A scene description is "visual" dialogue that may:
• enhance emotion, 
• reveal a plot twist, 
• move the story forward.

SKEPTICAL  A story is not an essay or thesis. There are times that proper English may slow the action or discredit a character's personality. Part of setting a scene is being true to the cast that makes your story real.

• Contract words where possible. 
• Avoid cliche's . . . unless you are clever enough to form an original. 
• Add a little spice to the 'script, y'all. The operative word is little. 

Whatever your style or story, I wish you much success in your writing career.

To learn more about award-winning author, Jo Ann V. Glim:

VISIT: www.BEGOTTENtheBook.com

LIKE: on Facebook 

AVAILABLE ON: Amazon.com/author/joannglim

BOOK TRAILER on YouTube

MUSIC in WORDS

MACRO EDITING - Part 2 in a 5 Part Series

Poets and songwriters seem gifted with sensing the melody in words. With the stroke of a pen, they infuse our senses with emotion. We're willingly captivated by the masters. However, the rest of the writing pool (myself included) sometimes struggle with untangling descant chords in even simple sentences!

These thoughts roiled through my mind as I began formulating this post.  A quick bite of lunch and a listen to one of my favorite Sunday radio programs, Radio Lab hosted by Jad Abumerad on NPR, then down to it.  The topic of his show focused on: Music - Language - Touch. Right in line with this week's post!

Even though the guests talked about the spoken word, their theories brilliantly applied to the written word as well. They've documented the fact that speech has four tones universal in all languages. As  Stanford University Director of Infant Studies Professor Ann Fernald discovered, speech follows four tonal patterns: happy (with a rise in voice); command (short and to the point); comfort (the awww factor); and warning (call to attention). It doesn't matter which language, the patterns match perfectly in all of them.

Which brings me to this week's Macro Moment in editing the manuscript: listen for the music in the character's conversations. Are the tonal patterns similar? Stilted? Lax? Believable? Mix it up! Facial expressions and body gestures change temperament. Act it out as you read aloud. Let this round of editing bring you closer to the heart of the characters and the message of the story.

Building a dynamic and plausible narrative is a balancing act. What we compose sets the tone for the scene; gives the characters personality; moves the story forward; and imposes the will and style of the author (think of the famous staccato pattern of Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer). Whatever your style or story, I wish you much success in your writing career.

Listen to an archived copy at www.RadioLab.org. Professor Diana Deutsch, Psychologist at the University of California - San Diego studies the affects of language and musicality. Stanford Professor Ann Fernald, Director of Infant Studies discovered four distinct tones in which we communicate.


"Begotten With Love" Kindle eBook sale ends this Sunday. To order a copy today, http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IOOLUWQ 

To learn more about award-winning author, Jo Ann V. Glim:

VISIT: www.BEGOTTENtheBook.com

LIKE: on Facebook 

AVAILABLE ON: Amazon.com/author/joannglim

BOOK TRAILER on YouTube

The 5 LAYERS of MACRO EDITING - #1

Best selling author James Patterson sums it up when he tells writers . . . 'just write.' I have gladly joined the chorus

Let the Story Flow!

Published, unpublished or newbie, what difference does it make if we (as aspiring novelists) spend months working on an outline, developing characters with charms and flaws and/or scouting for locations, if the story isn't fully told? The difference is . . . your skills as a writer are on display. Your commitment to professionalism is tucked on every page. Even journalists who fly by the tips of their ink-stained fingers create a beginning, middle and end to the copy they write.

One of my first editors (RIP, Jerry) when I worked at the Bahamas News Bureau in Chicago would tell the staff, "Editing is not sleuthing for misspelled words or correcting grammar. That should come as second nature."

Which brings me to this point: of the two editing styles, which format do we use, Associated Press or Chicago?  Most of us were schooled using one form while our aspirations depend on the other. Knowing which style you need upfront can save hours of edit time. For example, one style uses two spaces between sentences, the other only one. If you're editing a 65,000 word manuscript with the wrong editing style (or no style at all), you're in for one looooooong edit session.

Google offers a number of resources from which to find the answers to your editing dilemma. As the adage goes, the longest distance between two points is the short cut.  So, take time to edit, rewrite, ponder and edit, again. The ones who persevere are the ones with a better chance to enter the one percent club of published authors. DON'T GIVE UP! I wish you much success on your writing journey.

October is Family History Month. What do you know about your heritage? Your family's journey to America? Their trials and triumphs? Leave your family the best gift of all . . . knowledge. 

To learn more about award-winning author, Jo Ann V. Glim:

VISIT: www.BEGOTTENtheBook.com

LIKE: on Facebook 

AVAILABLE ON: Amazon.com/author/joannglim

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CELEBRITY STATUS

Becoming a celebrity is not something you achieve. It's an honor, a title, a blessing and a curse, bestowed upon you by others. Not everyone who is famous is a celebrity. In fact, most are not. For example: the Rolling Stones are famous. Mick Jagger is a celebrity. What makes a celebrity a celebrity is the mercurial "it" factor. No one I've ever asked has been able to define exactly what that means, they just know "it" when they see it. 

Have you wondered what it would be like to be a celebrity? Jet setting around the world. On the "A" list. Smothered with love and adoration (sigh).

If you're a writer, artist, singer, actor, or sports star or involved with media, you're closer to recognition than you think. But as the saying goes, be careful what you pray for, you may get it. There is a dark side. One that we create when we elevate strangers to a position greater than their gifts. SPOILER ALERT: Everyone struggles with making sense of this complicated world in which we live. A celebrity is no closer to the truth than you or I and if, because of your talent, you become a celebrity, I pray you use your power and responsibility with compassion and wisdom to help the less fortunate.

A number of years ago when I was working in media, part of my job was attending rock concerts. Loved it. L-O-V-E-D it! Not only did I have a chance to hear amazing concerts but attended some of the best parties. These were gifted movers and shakers: Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young (and their pet rabbit, Late); Paul Revere and the Raiders; Janis Joplin; and Santana; to name a few.

I was standing back stage one night when a concert ended. The men in the band sprinted for the exits as the instruments they laid on the stage floor rang out the last note. One of the guitarists grabbed my hand and shouted, "Come on!"

We ran down two flights of back stairs to a waiting limo. The Sullivan Theatre in downtown Chicago is an impressive, city-block-long, brick building. At the far end of the alley, a mass of bobbing heads quickly approached the car. "Get in. GET IN," shouted the driver.

The band jumped in, jockeying for leg room. The driver locked the doors and slowly pulled forward. At that moment, the first wave of star-struck teens swarmed the car. I remember a pretty, young girl (couldn't be more than fourteen) threw herself against the limo. Her tears stained the car window as she screamed the name of the lead singer. Her look quickly turned to panic as the mob crushed her against the car. Somehow, the driver made it through and I saw the girl still waving and sobbing as  we zoomed into city traffic.

I thought about that long ago incident while I was on a research trip to Anacortes, Washington recently. What would I do if I were followed by the paparazzi? I laughed and groaned for being so silly and slid my card/key into the motel door while balancing a three-sectioned Styrofoam box containing left-over salad and prime rib. The treat slid snugly into the fridge and I settled in with copious notes from a day of research. It was going to be a long night and an early morning.

Sunday morning was spectacular; sunny and warm. Mass had just ended and I had twenty minutes before I met a friend and joined her for her church service . . . "Mass in the Grass," they called it. I headed back to the motel to change my clothes and finish the left-over prime rib.

My lower jaw had been tender this week. Dental work (finished the day before I flew across the continent). The need for tweaking my million dollar smile caused excruciating pain with every bite I took. I gladly removed the new partial and placed it in the empty section of the container.

Left overs can be as enjoyable as the initial dinner if you have fond memories of spending the meal with friends or loved ones. A quick look at my watch told me I was going to be late. I closed the lid on the box and threw it in the waste basket. Made a cursory sweep of the room and left.

It was great sitting next to Linda, after all these years; our voices blending on a familiar hymn. We hadn't done that since we were kids in junior choir. It was as though the world had rewound to a simpler time when all we had to worry about was . . . actually, nothing. It was summer.

I felt so alive! Even my jaw didn't hurt. An uncontrollable gasp rolled off my lips. MY TEETH!!! I shouted in a stage whisper in my friend's ear and ran from the gathering as though the devil asked me to dance.

The five minute car ride felt like an hour. When I flung the room door open, I saw what I feared most. The room was spotless! Bed made. Trash gone. Teeth, as well.

I was numb. "Now what, Ollie?" I asked myself as I tried to keep my thoughts under control. I opened the door a crack and saw the housekeepers cart two rooms away. A large, clear bag filled with used tissues and spent food wrappers hung from the side. 'Oh, I can't do this,' I thought, my stomach doing barrel rolls. 'You have to or explain a fifteen hundred dollar loss to your sweet hubby,' my alter ego whispered.

I looked down the walkways; no one around. Took a deep breath and pushed my hand into the partially filled bag. A smile crossed my face as my hand slid down the side of a Styrofoam box. I prayed it was mine as I opened the lid and jumped up and down when I saw my teeth.

"Thank you," I said as I looked toward heaven and then flushed as my eyes met those of a man on the second floor balcony. I quickly turned (with box in hand), hung my head to hide the fact that I was laughing hysterically, and smiled, grateful that I am not a celebrity.

To learn more about award-winning author, Jo Ann V. Glim:

VISIT: www.BEGOTTENtheBook.com

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AVAILABLE ON: Amazon.com/author/joannglim

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TRAVELLING THE ROAD of YOUR CHARACTERS

For the past six weeks, I've been doing research on my next book, catching up on much neglected reading and upgrading my computer and programs to make life more efficient. Grateful to be back and looking forward to a normal routine whatever that may be.

I wanted to share my thoughts on travelling before writing. I've always felt it necessary to visit a place that I plan to include in a book, even if I had the pleasure of living there. I was grateful to hear author Richard Paul Evans agree with this sentiment in a recent interview.  For me, it's important to capture the sights and sounds of each place. They all have their own personality, their unique perfume. For example, the shoreline on the Atlantic is totally different from that of the Pacific. The smell of the freshly turned fields in Iowa cannot compare to the smell of pineapple and plumeria in Hawaii.

As I sat on a driftwood log (toes buried in the sand) enjoying a sunset, a plot line never before imagined raced through my mind. In fact, it changed the whole 'who done it' character. As the author (the one in control), it was a great moment of surprise and revelation. I often remind myself that writing is like working a Sudoku puzzle. Once you figure out the logic, the rest falls into place. The trick is writing it so the reader is waiting for that revelation.



To learn more about award-winning author, Jo Ann V. Glim:

VISIT: www.BEGOTTENtheBook.com

LIKE: on Facebook 

AVAILABLE ON: Amazon.com/author/joannglim

BOOK TRAILER on YouTube