October 2005 Newsletter

BLUE MOUNTAIN BACKROADS

       October is one of my favorite months of the whole year. It's also one of the most colorful. Here in the Ozarks the leaves are starting to change and the sassafras trees are dripping orange. Blue stars of late blooming chicory dot the roadside.  Sumacs flame from the fencerows and the grapevine leaves are tarnished gold. And October has the bluest skies. You can almost drown in them. What a beautiful world God has created for us.

       The last Saturday this month I will help out at the Children's Harvest Party, the Barry County Baptist churches' answer to Halloween. We will have a carnival at a community center known as The Ark. Lots of games, food and fun, and a real workout for the volunteers. We'll have a large tub full of wrapped candy, and since Inever buy that for myself, I can sample old favorites like Bit `O Honey and new varieties I've never seen before--a real sugar surge. We start in at ten in the morning and will finish at nine that night. Everyone will be worn out but we'll also be ready to volunteer again for next year.

WRITING NEWS OF THE MONTH

Brenda Minton has sold her first book, "The Strongest Cord" to Five Star Publishing. We'll have more about it when she has additional information.

Shirlee McCoy has just signed a three-book contract with Steeple Hill. Details will follow.

Judy Miller has signed a three-book series contract and a stand-alone book with Bethany House. More about that later too.

Jeanie Smith Cash has signed a contract with Barbour for a Christmas Anthology titled. An Ozark Family Christmas. Other authors in the anthology are Janet Lee Barton, Christine Lynxwiler, and Kathleen Y'Barbo.

Lynette Sowell has a contract for two new novellas with Barbour Anthology: Bayou Brides and Anthology: Brothers of the Outlaw Trail.

Sharon Hinck has a brand new website. Visit Sharon at www.sharonhinck.com

Hope Wilbanks has a neat new website, and did all the work herself. Hope designs websites and you'll find her at http://www.hopewilbanks.com

(NEWS ITEMS NEEDED FOR THIS SPACE.) If you have anything you want to share, send it to me and I'll post it. Get the news out and give the rest of us a chance to rejoice with you. We're all in this together.

NEW INFORMATION ON MY WEBSITE,
http://barbarawarrenbluemountainedit.com

I am adding a new page to the website called  BARBARA'S BULLETIN BOARD. It will feature author sales, similar to the Writing News of the Month in the newsletter, but with more details. If you want your book information listed on the Bulletin Board please contact me at barbarawarren@mo-net.com. There will be additional information about the sales listed in this newsletter on the Bulletin Board, as soon as we can get it posted.

WACKY NEWS OF THE MONTH

(News too Weird to make up)

It seems in a town in Kansas the police thought they'd found marijuana plants growing in a former mayor's backyard. They took pictures, got a search warrant, and went back for a closer look. At least ten officers went through the house, checking drawers and closets and videotaping everything.

They found . . . . .are you ready for this?. . . . .Sunflowers.

To make the matter worse, Kansas is known as the Sunflower State. The plant is their state flower and is even pictured on the state flag. It grows wild there. You'd think cops who live in Kansas would know the difference between a sunflower and a marijuana plant.

It is rumored, or maybe I made this up, that the ten officers are now enrolled in a class called Sunflowers 101.

WRITING TIP OF THE MONTH

CONFLICT

Conflict is the driving force in your story. In fact, without conflict, you don't have a story. But some writers have trouble writing conflict, and that's understandable. We create this marvelous hunk of a male character, all brain and brawn, more handsome than Adonis, and the answer to every maiden's prayer. We're half in love with him ourselves. Why would we want anything bad to happen to him?

So we smooth the way. If he's in the desert dying from thirst, we have him crawl into an oasis, complete with spring fed pools, date palms and dancing girls. If he needs money we kill off a rich uncle. Bad guys may threaten but one look at our hero and they turn tail and run.

And our heroine is the woman we've always dreamed of being, kind, compassionate, beautiful and more or less holy. These two charmed creatures deserve a wonderful life together so we give them minor problems, something they can solve without breaking into a serious sweat.

And yet conflict isn't just another ingredient in our manuscript like plot or pacing. Conflict is something we all have to deal with on a daily basis. It's a very real part of life. Therefore, if your characters are to appear real they need difficult obstacles to overcome. Without conflict we couldn't grow emotionally, mentally or spiritually. Your characters need conflict to grow too.

If you're writing a romance you need a strong reason to keep the hero and heroine apart, not just a problem that exists in her mind and will be resolved as soon as she stops acting like an idiot and begins behaving like an adult. If you're writing a mystery there should be a problem that seems impossible to solve. The main character must struggle until the final big scene when good triumphs over evil.

Conflict can come from many sources. Internal conflict arises when the character must choose between doing what is right, regardless of the personal cost, or turn his back on all he believes. Give him a difficult choice to make where the final result will change the world, or at least his part of the world.

Then there is conflict from an outside source. The city council wants to take his family farm using eminent domain. The serial killer preying on young girls never leaves a clue behind. The flamboyant hussy plans to steal the heroine's one true love.

Characters need to struggle against overwhelming odds. Win a little, lose a little. Take one step toward the goal and slide back two until they reach the final third of the book where they gradually move closer to the desired outcome. He finds a loophole that might block the city council in court. A clue is left behind that just may lead to the capture of the killer. The hero wakes up and realizes the heroine is worth a dozen of `the other woman'.

Then in the final chapters build to a climax and let your characters savor a well-earned victory. Do that and you'll have a story that will leave your reader satisfied and begging for more.

NEED TO READ:  BOOK OF THE MONTH

In The Midst Of Deceit by Deborah Piccurelli

As a partner in a financial management firm, Slade Mitchell has discovered a mysterious computer file that makes him wonder about the company's integrity. A few days later he is in a sky diving accident that almost kills him and leaves him in a wheelchair.

Slade feels abandoned by his partners and friends and plunges into a deep sea of insecurity and loneliness. Stasi Courtland, his neighbor offers friendship and encouragement, but Stasi is a Christian and Slade long ago rejected that lifestyle. As Slade, who suffered a mental lapse from his injuries, starts to regain his memory, he realizes the sky diving incident might not have been an accident.

Now he and Stasi must work together to quickly find the people who are attempting to kill him before it is too late. An entertaining and spiritually uplifting story.

A good book for your "need to read" list.

In The Midst of Deceit  is available at http://amazon.com,from Jireh Publishing Company http://www.jirehpublishing.com, from bookstores and from www.barnesandnoble.com

QUOTE OF THE MONTH

God loves us just as we are, but He loves us too much to leave us
just as we are.

RECIPE OF THE MONTH

(The recipe that made me famous)

BLACK OLIVE DIP

1 medium size jar Pace Picante Sauce
2 small cans chopped black olives,
2 bunches of green onions
2 tomatoes

Chop onions and tomatoes. Add olives and picante sauce, stir well.
Serve with tortilla chips. (be prepared for people to ask for the recipe)

 

 

But they that wait upon the lord shall renew their strength: they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary: and they shall walk, and not faint.

    - Isaiah 40:31 KJV

 

 

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