House Moving by T. L. Wiens

This might sound an odd title for a post on writing. However, having spent days moving a house, I see a lot of similarities between writing a novel and moving and renovating a house. (And when I say moving a house, I mean my husband, myself, our children and a family friend moved the house—no professional movers involved.)

1. Mapping out the plot

• Moving a house requires a lot of planning. There are many factors to consider, some that just aren’t run of the mill every day things. Every tree, power line, the width of the road, the material used to build the house, the competency of the builder comes under scrutiny. The list is endless.
   
• A novel requires very much the same amount of planning. You have to keep characters realistic, situations plausible. There are many obstacles to the author as they manoeuvre their way from start to finish.

2. Be ready for adjustments

• No matter how well you lay out a plan, it doesn’t take much to thwart the efforts. With house moving, there are things like weather, surprises when you lift the house like joists not running where they should. A power line may be lower than thought or the house higher once loaded on the beams.

• Plots are very similar. As the author, you may feel you have the right to manipulate events but sometimes, characters just won’t co-operate. or as you write, the flow takes on a life of its own.

3. This is a marathon, not a dash

• You don’t want to rush a house move. That’s when bad things happen.

• Novels take time. You need to get to know the characters intimately and no relationship is built overnight.

4. End result lies in your attention to detail from foundation to decoration

• There is no step in taking a house from one location and making it a home in another that can be ignored. If you don’t take the time to prepare a proper foundation, the house will collapse. If you take no thought into the way you’ll be using rooms and what you’ll need where, it won’t be a pleasant home.

• A story is the same way. You have to do the legwork to start with a strong foundation. Setting, characters, conflict—they need to be carefully considered. But that isn’t enough. You’ll have to decorate your story with details that paint the picture for the audience.

In the end, I’ve enjoyed the process involved with moving a house. It’s been a good reminder of the steps I need to take to produce good writing. And an even better reminder that hard work pays off in the end whether it’s a book or a home you get to enjoy in the end.

I am a Noob. Is that buzzworthy? by Connie Inglis

I must be honest at the start of this post; I struggled with knowing how to respond to the prompt for this month. As one who just started writing seriously, I have no, 'How To' tips to share and no new resource that I wish I had when I first started out. But then yesterday I got a brainwave when I thought about selecting three words I didn't know (which I believe was the Holy Spirit helping me when I couldn't help myself).

It has only been in the past four or five years that I've started to intentionally write, so I decided to look at new words that have appeared in the dictionary in the past five years and implement a number of them in a piece of writing. What fun this has been. It also helped me realize that resources in technology have definitely advanced opportunity in the writing world--exciting but also a little scary.

The following piece of writing is also an example of the genre I love to write in: poetry. And in a continuation of my focus on writing sonnets over the summer, I have taken the sonnet, "How do I love thee? Let me count the ways" by Elizabeth Barrett Browning and tweaked it to reflect life and relationships in today's day and age. (This is meant to be fun so I hope no one is offended by my use of this poem.)

How do I meet thee? Let me count the ways

How do I meet thee? Let me count the ways.
I browse the web, its depth and breadth and height
With laptop, smartphone, phablet all in sight
The infomania shocks my mind--no grace.
My drive to meet thee haunteth every day's
Femtosecond, by wifi day or night.
I scroll on facebook, as men strive for right;
Looking for selfies, photos tagged in praise.
I question friends with passion put to use
From past loves and with ebullient faith.
I tweet, twitter, retweet yet seem to lose
All hope. Then bestie texts--I hold my breath,
And laugh for lost is found; now I must choose,
Courage to connect or dream unto death.

Moving Forward with Words and Ideas by Sharon Espeseth

I enjoy when someone uses a common word, but gives it a different twist.

At the beginning of my year at Covenant Bible Institute decades ago, then President Rev. Wendell Anderson was introducing the new Dean of Women, Clara Mae Adamson to the students and members of the local Evangelical Covenant Church. "Miss Adamson," he said, "is a young woman pregnant. . . (significant pause) with ideas." The collective holding of breath was audible at the use of the word "pregnant," but more audible was the burst of laughter that followed his completed sentence. We all enjoyed Rev. Anderson's speaking skills, his sense of humour and wit, for he too was a man pregnant with ideas.

Sometimes I feel full of ideas, but sometimes I let those ideas get rusty and dusty, or they escape from my mind completely as other activities, events and distractions crowd into their space. I must keep that notebook for ideas handy and give these thoughts the time and attention they deserve.

I like a good phrase that is new to me. I had never heard the term "deficiency list," until my husband and I, unaccustomed to being renters, had a meeting with our new landlord. We had presented him with a list of things that needed repair. The gentleman said he didn't like a "deficiency list." This was a new term for both Hank and me, so we were both frustrated with his response and amused with this new term. How were we to get things repaired to a suitable standard without a list of what needed to be taken care of? I'm happy to report that some of the items on that list are getting looked after even if our landlord isn't working from the written list.

I'm glad God doesn't make a deficiency list for us, because I don't think we'd like that either. Our Heavenly Father loves us as we are, but he also loves us enough to want us to grow in faith. We can't be spiritual infants all our lives. Like the psalmist, I pray,

"Investigate my life, O God,
find out everything about me;
Cross-examine and test me,
get a clear picture of what I'm about;
See for yourself whether I've done anything wrong--
then guide me on the road to eternal life."
(The Message)

I get annoyed by phrases that are overused in the media, but maybe there's a reason. Nowadays we often hear broadcasters say things like, "Moving forward," or the double speak of, "At this point in time," when the speaker could say, "At this point" or "At this time." Is there anything wrong with saying, "Now"? Apparently these phrases are used to stress the immediacy of the "news" being given while it is still new.

The writer of Ecclesiastes begins the third chapter by saying, "There's an opportune time to do things, a right time for everything on earth." (The Message) But speaking "at this point in time," I need to write and get thoughts and ideas that have been laid on my heart out there.

It's good to read, to listen to sermons and motivational speakers, to feel that our cups have been filled by God speaking to us through his word, through daily events, and through other people. Then it is our responsibility to use the inspiration that comes to us and share it in the public space.

We don't know who is in need of the message we've been given to share. For some person or persons today might be the appointed time when that missive needs to be delivered. At this point in time, I need to move in a forwardly direction with my writing.

Three Witty Words - Shirley S. Tye

While reading novels, I come across words that I either do not know or haven’t seen or heard in a long time. I jot them down into a little notebook and later search my dictionary to discover their meaning. Since my vocabulary is small, I keep the list thinking that I just might use some of those words in one of my stories.

Some words that I come across make me smile. I don’t know why, perhaps they ring with a comical melody in my ears or they conjure up a humorous scene in my imagination. Here’s three that make me smile; highfalutin, tatty, and shenanigans. Highfalutin, an adjective, means absurdly pretentious according to the Oxford Canadian Dictionary. That same dictionary describes tatty, an adjective, to mean inferior, tawdry, or worn. It explains shenanigans, a noun, to mean high-spirited behaviour, nonsense, trickery, or dubious manoeuvres. Ah, there’s another funny sounding word; dubious. I like that one.

At least, I can pronounce dubious unlike shenanigans. Somehow I manage to twist the letters with my tongue so that the word doesn’t come out quite right. In one play that I was in, that word was in a couple of my lines. During rehearsals, I slaughtered it which made the other actors, director, and stage manager laugh. Fortunately, by opening night I finally had the word down pat; if I spoke it slowly.

Well, let’s see what nonsense I can write with those three funny words. Our shenanigans came to an abrupt halt when the highfalutin Mrs. White stepped into the room. She glared at our little group who had stopped in mid stream of their actions like a paused video. Slowly she closed the door behind her and found me cowering in the shadows. She sniffed once as she stared down her long skinny nose at me and my tatty outfit. I know my jeans were ripped at the knees and my tee-shirt was stained; a vast difference from her satin dress and string of real pearls about her long thin wrinkled neck. But I hadn’t been aware of any foul odour about me. I was sure I had applied underarm deodorant that morning. So why the sniff?

There are so many words in the English language; some witty ones and some tongue twisters. What fun!