No Room for Excuses.

I reached 10,000 words in my WIP today, guys! I’m so excited. It’s going well, and that’s all I can say about that. Since I had a repetitive strain injury from too much typing in July, I am thankful that my wrists and back feel great, and that it’s going so well.

I’m also thankful that both Kindle and paperback sales have been up since early August, and that so many people worldwide are beginning to discover my poetry books, as well as my romance books. Thanks for reading.

We (or should I be honest and say, HE, my fabulous husband, who has been working at this around the clock since late August) are painting the house, and there are plastic drop sheets everywhere and items where they don’t belong, which drives me kinda crazy. This morning, before my coffee, I was looking around and I thought, ‘there’s no way I can write with the state this house is in,” but then I remembered my mantra for the next few months: No excuses regarding getting writing done each day, and no excuses when it comes to exercise. A little bit every day except weekends. That’s the plan, and so far, since Sept. 1, I’ve been good!

I’ve been enjoying many cups of hot tea again while writing (can’t believe it’s already too cool for iced tea), especially my favourite Buddha’s Blend. Tomorrow night is splurge night: Friday nights mean dessert and a glass of wine! I’m looking forward to going out with some girlfriends to celebrate a long-awaited birthday.

I also have news for my friend and reader Susan Bailey: your signed books for your event are on the way! I’m shipping them tomorrow. And for reader Jasmin Lewis in the UK, I’ve made bookplates to sign and ship for the four books you bought. I’ll add in some The Ticket bookmarks and possibly another small surprise. I’m going to use the remaining bookplates for other readers who request signed books.

Don’t forget to join my Readers Club at http://atomic-temporary-2589064.wpcomstaging.com/ (just click on the red Yes! Sign Me Up! button on the front page) so that you can be entered in my monthly $25 AMAZON GIFT CARD DRAW, get my first ebook free, and learn about various ebook bundle giveaways.

Have a wonderful weekend!

xox Heather

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Five Fast Tips for Writing Dialogue

Hey! This year, I’ve been doing weekly live Q&A videos Tuesdays at 2 on my Facebook Page, where you readers can interact and ask me questions (you can also throw out questions to me anytime on Twitter @hgracestewart and I’ll try to answer them within 24 hours). To help you narrow your questions to a topic, I’ve decided to offer mini-lectures whenever I can. Writing dialogue was my February 28th topic. You can watch the video (or videos, there are several archived at the top of the page) read the tips here, or both.

 

FIVE FAST TIPS FOR WRITING DIALOGUE

1. DON’T OVERTHINK IT. Just write, and let your thoughts flow. You can go back and edit later. The best dialogue is natural, not forced.
2. TALK IT OUT. Good dialogue reads like it would be spoken. So, after you have written at least a full page of dialogue, speak it out loud. You’ll find yourself editing lots once you realize just how many phrases don’t sound right when you speak them.
3. ACT IT OUT. Go on, no one is watching you, except maybe your pets. So, stand up and try to act out what you’ve written. Play both characters. Does your scene ring true to life? Does it flow naturally? The more you try acting out your dialogue, over time, the more you’ll find that writing dialogue becomes an easier task.
4. LOSE SOME WORDS, LOSE THE NAMES. When we speak to friends and family, we usually cut off a few words, like “went to the store,” instead of “I went to the store,” or if our spouse is calling us, we call back, “down in a sec!”  instead of “I will be there in a second.” Watch for this in the sentences you write so you can stay as true to real life speech as possible. You should also lose NAMES as much as possible in your speech. People don’t use eachother’s names very often in real speech. Have you ever thought about that? We usually only use names when we’re feeling very angry, very loving, or when we need to get a person’s attention and not very often in between.
5. AVOID ACCENTS. Dialects and accents, when done as part of a character’s entire speech, are confusing to readers and often break the flow of reading. Don’t try to chop and change English words to make someone sound Australian or German. Very few writers can do this well. Instead, drop in an actual French or Scottish or Japanese —whichever language you are trying to achieve—word or two into that person’s speech and italicize it. Be sure you fact-check several times and get it right. This is where good, professional, paid editors are vital.

Author Heather Grace Stewart with her poetry anthology CAGED during her Feb. 28, 2017 Live Q&A on Facebook. Heather will see you Tuesdays at 2 EST to discuss writing techniques and answer your questions.

I have a lot of writing to get done for my next novel, so I’m going to take a break from the social networking/videos, but I promise that I’ll be back discussing “How to find and develop your idea” on Tuesday, March 21st. I’ll be there at 2 EST, and it will be archived on the page, so if you miss it live, you can still  watch it later that day or that week. Of course, I’ll write a summary here for you, too.

Happy dialogue writing!
Love,
Heather

 

Sometimes You Write Crap Every Day.

One of the things I love most about my job is helping to encourage other authors. I’ve been writing for a living for 20 years now (wow!) and I’ve learned a few things along the way. I love passing them on to younger writers, in hopes that I motivate them the way I’ve been motivated by other writers in the past.

I clearly remember being a first-time newspaper reporter, guzzling ounces of coffee before 9 a.m.; so nervous about how to put a story together. Could I get it done in time? Then, when I began my first column and really put myself, my thoughts and opinions out there – – what if people laughed?

What got me through was the people who had been there before me. The editors, senior writers, and eventually, when I began writing books, other, more experienced authors and even a couple screenwriters. They gave me honest advice and cut the BS out on a lot of stuff I’d been fed BS on before. It helped me realize that I was going to make it in this business of writing, editing, and losing your mind marketing, because they’d made it, and still had the energy to tell stories and give me advice.

So, here I am now, offering some writing advice, and reminding you to take everything you read about the process with a grain of salt. Just like everybody’s story is going to be styled differently, so is the story of how you get from a blank page to a 70,000 word novel. It’s personal.

I’ve been working on this new novel, The Match, this past month, but not getting too far. Every morning, I’d tell myself the well-known mantra, “write every day,” and then I’d sit down at the computer, and I’d write total crap. Every day. For a whole week.

I mean, the stuff was nonsense like “I should put a paragraph about skinny jeans in here,” but then I’d be interrupted by my daughter, who was home with strep throat, asking for juice, and I’d forget all about skinny jeans.

Sometimes, life gets in the way of your writing, and if you aren’t working to an absolute deadline, it just doesn’t feel like it’s the right time to push yourself on it.  There were four “work to rule” strike days this month, and a Professional Day (essentially, another day off for my kid). I try not to work as many hours when she’s home off school, because these are precious days. I know she’ll soon have a boyfriend and want very little to do with me.

Strep throat, work to rule, I got sick, the cat got sick, we started painting the house, I had a couple of book signing events to attend and hours of marketing work to do for my novels, and then Strangely, Incredibly Good hit #1 in Time Travel Romance on Kindle, and suddenly, it was all about the OTHER books; no time to start a new one!

Besides, I was writing crap.

I’m still writing really rotten stuff, in my opinion, but it’s also starting to come together. I write something about the plot or a character every day, and then I go back to my marketing work, and these days, getting ready for Christmas.

I know The Match will come together when it’s good and ready. I’m also taking better care of myself so that when it comes in a steady stream as it often does, I’m rested and prepared to put in the hours!

Don’t worry if you don’t write beautiful prose every day. Do what you can, and don’t beat yourself up over that. If you’re truly a writer, the story won’t let you give up on it.

Heather

Spotlight on Canadian Author: Heather Grace Stewart

Thanks to writer Katherine Krige for featuring me on her beautiful blog, A Writer’s Take. It was a fun interview. Check it out here!

A Writer's Take

Signed with a smile by the author herself – Heather Grace Stewart (Kanata, ON, March 2015)

Have you met Heather Grace Stewart? She is a Canadian poet, speaker, and author of the newly released novel Strangely, Incredibly Good. I have had the pleasure of getting to know her on Facebook and Twitter, and was recently delighted to win a copy of her new book. Yeah for me! It was a lovely Valentine’s present to receive and I flew through the pages. You can find my book review over at A New Day.

As Heather is such a warm individual, I thought I would take a chance and ask her if she would be willing to answer a few questions about her writing. I was thrilled when she graciously agreed to share a few thoughts with me and my readers.

Without further ado, I would love to introduce you…

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