Category Archives: Uncategorized

Site Revamp

Well. It has been a while since I’ve posted anything. Toward the latter half of 2018 things got really tough family wise with the decline in health and passing of my father, and then we also lost our old-man cat of sixteen.

It was a difficult time for the family and compounded by events at work and a loss in my husband’s family. 

I’d planned to start 2020 fresh, but then we all know how that turned out. So here we are in February 2021 and hopefully seeing a faint light at the end of the tunnel.

My day job sent most of us home in March 2020, and since then, I’ve been able to swap between work responsibilities and writing regularly. It feels good to be writing on a set schedule again, and I feel like my words are improving and things are heading in a good direction.

Which leads me back to the website. Most of the information here is out of date. After getting everything updated and rolling again, I plan to update and post a few times a week. I also plan on sharing some amusing stories about our overly energetic dog, who is always good for a laugh. And perhaps a few things here and there about cleaning up and organizing my stack of completed jigsaw puzzles. Something I have to complete before I can start working on a new puzzle.

It’s going to take a bit of time to get things organized so it might look rather empty for a while, but I’ll be back soon with more updates.

To outline or not

When starting a new project, short or long, an outline is usually the best method for me to get started off in a direction.

The question is always how much to outline. It’s easy to get caught up and outline to the smallest detail but then never actually write the story.  For me, I can’t get a feel for the characters in just an outline.

I find it much easier to build a general outline with some ‘key’ turning points and then jump right into the story. I see the early drafts as a way to get to know my characters and if I need a couple of revs to get the plot moving where and how I want it then I consider that time well spent.

If I get stuck or write myself in a corner I will go back and re-outline the story. In this case the visual helps see where I went wrong.

But then there are times that the story, or a few key scenes, are pushing me to write and I throw the whole outline out and just write – wherever it takes me.

Either way, it usually works out.