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I've chatted a lot about beginnings on my blog. I've done the nuts and bolts of them. Go back to this link and read my five part series on Beginnings.

I had someone put a bee a bonnet this week about taking to time to figure out what kind of learner you are. This website has a good test to help you discover the way you learn. I was actually very surprised by what this test revealed. I am a naturalistic learner. No wonder I spent most of my years in school baffled and wondering why I couldn't figure this out this school thing. I remember only one teacher in all my years of school that ever took me outside. I can remember every moment of that class. Interpersonal learning is at the bottom of my list. Logical is right above that. Most of school was that and I had a hard time connecting.

Throw me into the natural world, and I will see what few see and find what few find. There is not a moment of my life that I don't feel this vast universe: from atoms, to ants, to weather, to planets, to stars and then the galaxies. I feel connections everywhere. I am so curious. The way I learn weaves it way into the way I write. So I thought I'd spend some time explaining how the beginnings in nature feed the beginnings of books for me. I know how plants grow.

They start with some good old plant sex, cross pollination. An idea is not enough to fuel a book. It's got to get mixed up with an equally provocative and compatible idea. So go after the stuff that interests you. Keep at it, and I guarantee some cross pollination is going to happen and that is going to lead to....(no, not a book yet)...a seed! A seed has the blue print to make a plant in it, but a seed is not a plant. A germinated idea is not a book either. An idea has to be watered. Like a plant needs lots of sunlight, needs good soil, needs room to grow, books -- they need time and they needs lots of nutrients: critique, plotting, character studies, etc. This growing a booking is hard work, and you're going to have to tend it or the thing will die.

One thing that really makes me laugh, is when people are stressing over the beginning of a book without writing to the end. It's like having a little tiny sprout and wondering if those leaves are the best ones. I mean those leaves are going to fall off and new stuff is going to take their place. I think if you begin with a true seed of a book idea, and you continue to feed that book through the seasons. Yes, winters will come and then springs again. You will someday have an awesome book.

I'm going to continue next week with more about nature and beginnings. Hope to ya here.


This week's doodle: What if a kid met a dinosaur?



Remember: ©Molly Blaisdell, all rights reserved. If you want to use my cool doodles, ask permission first. It is so wrong to take people's doodles without permission!

So here it is the quote of quotes on beginnings:

There will come a time when you believe everything is finished. That will be the beginning. ~ Louis L'Amour

Hi folks. Happy New Year. 2010. Who knew it would come so quickly? I'm currently in the middle of a cross country move to Texas so my posts are going to be short and sweet for a while.

I'll spend the rest of month writing about how to create an interesting beginning to a novel, but today I will share about how to launch the year.

I think it is important that we have goals. So my first question, "What do you plan to achieve this year?" My next question, "How do you plan to achieve that?" And last, "Who will you get on your team to help make your goal happen?" I'm calling these three questions the mythic questions of goal setting. BTW, you have to WRITE down the answers to these questions to really do any good. Noodling is not goal setting. This is my driving strategy to get it done, and it works.

I hope that you achieve most of the goals that you formulate this year, and give yourself a break for the ones you don't achieve. See ya next week.

Today's doodle is "A Face".



Remember: ©Molly Blaisdell, all rights reserved. If you want to use my cool doodles, ask permission first. It is so wrong to take people's doodles without permission!

Now these quotes from some favorite characters come to me over and over and really help me move forward in life. "Marilla, isn't it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet?" from Anne Shirley. Next, "I can't think about that right now. If I do, I'll go crazy. I'll think about that tomorrow." from Scarlett O'Hara. And last, "We can still hop." by Lyddie (she misspelled hope).

I'm continuing my series about synopsis writing. I build an arsenal of synopses for each project. I write the "one line sound byte" version. I write the one paragraph "single piece of fine chocolate" version. I write the one page "slice of cake" version. I write the three page "full course version". And I write the "I'm not counting calories" ten page version.

I usually start with at big version. I write a short one to five line description of each chapter. Then I stick them all together. This has added benefits because you might notice that there is something fishy or messed up about your plot. So yay! Bonus. My next job is to half that document. I stick to the main plot points and leave out most of the sub-plots unless it's big and important. Then I look at each sentence and ask, "Can I say this with fewer words?" I almost always can.

Here's is an example:

The Iblis is a raving madness that destroys all order and ultimately brings death.
becomes
The Iblis, a raving madness, destroys order and brings death. (See, shorter!)

Today's doodle is "Fish soon to be out of water".



Remember: ©Molly Blaisdell, all rights reserved. If you want to use my cool doodles, ask permission first. It is so wrong to take people's doodles without permission!

And this week's playlist is an oldie and goodie and also my theme song. 'Seize the Day' by Carolyn Arrends. Please check her out.



My quote of the week:

You can't stay in your corner of the Forest waiting for others to come to you. You have to go to them sometimes. Pooh. (aka A.A. Milne)