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Angela M Caldwell

~ Author

Angela M Caldwell

Category Archives: writing

My Writing Process Blog Hop

19 Tuesday Aug 2014

Posted by Maiden Ink in writing

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

#authors, #bloghop #angleacalwell #paigeran, #writers, #writetip, #writing, #writingproces

I was tagged by J. Davidson to attempt to explain my writing process to you. Please check out his blog post as well at: aboyandhisdreams.com 

Let’s get right to the questions.

 

  1. What are you working on right now?

A magician never tells her secrets. But I can say, I have two projects going on. I am focusing on the YA one. And you won’t believe I met a girl who is going through what my MC is going through, and I’m going to be her wedding photographer. That just blows my mind. You don’t even know. I told her about the story and she was so excited.

rabbits

 

  1. How does my work differ from others in the genre?

I don’t do surface level stuff. I want to dig deep into the emotional lives of my characters. I worry maybe they come across too raw at times. I remind myself to be fearless every time I write.

stephen-king-writing-quote-fear

  1. Why do I write?

Writing is my passion and I can’t allow that to ever be taken away from me again. I write the stories inside that claw their way out. I also write for the people who will love my stories, not the ones who won’t get it. Reading is a form of entertainment. And I write to entertain not only myself, but the reader. My goal is to hook the reader and take them on a journey that will keep them wanting more. I go with my convictions and write what I, as a reader, would want to read.

quotable-maya-angelou-quotes-on-writing

  1. How does my writing process work?

I grew up on movies of all kinds, and film influences my storytelling as much as books. My stories start with an idea or a scene I visualize in my head. I know the beginning and ending of the story and my writing process takes me on the journey. I constantly work on the plot of the story in my head before I sit down to write. I only know so far ahead at times, but things really get moving when the characters take over.

I don’t believe in writer’s block. Gasps. If I’m stuck, it’s because I don’t know my characters well enough or I haven’t broke the story. So, I’ll stop writing and do more thinking until it clicks. If that doesn’t work, I’ll print out what I’ve written and start reading and editing from the beginning. This helps me bond with my characters, and my writing will start moving forward again. I could probably edit my book once it’s finished and in print. I have no problem editing, because I’m a perfectionist. If it doesn’t work I’ll do what is needed.

perfection

 

I’ve tagged Paige Randall read about her process by clicking here.

I also invited Susan Kicklighter to join the blog hop. Click here to read about her writing process.

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Guest Post

14 Thursday Aug 2014

Posted by Maiden Ink in writing

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

#dontgiveup #growing #author #lorenneal #angelacaldwell #feedback, #writing

Iamawriter-large

Writers who have given up cite many reasons for why they stopped writing. Fear, struggles, embarrassment, discouragement, lack of time, etc., are a few examples. For me, the biggest struggle I had to work through in order to keep doing what I love was rejection and negative critiques. The thing is, I assumed that because I did not excel immediately, it must have meant I was a terrible writer. But my eyes have been opened from some great people who have recently come into my life, and I have moved past it.

I’m sharing a quick version of my story in hopes that I can encourage fellow discouraged writers to keep going and not give up.

I have written stories my whole life. In fact, my first story was written in Kindergarten using terribly drawn pictures and horribly misspelled words. I always wanted to be an author, and all of my teachers told me that not only could I be an author, I should be one. Still, I never took my writing seriously enough to actually finish a book, until recently.

In school, I was always the teacher’s favorite student, which was true even in some of my college courses. I am a very compliant person, always followed the rules and always went above and beyond in my assignments. School came easy to me. My jobs have come easy to me. Even parenting has come easy to me, (which surprised even my parents). When I finally decided to go for my dream of being a published author, as you can imagine, I assumed this would come easy to me also. It didn’t.

I finished my first book and submitted it to agents. I received many rejections and each time, my confidence was a little more deflated. The truth is, although I excel on paper at many things, I lack confidence in my abilities. Therefore, if something I worked on is not well-received, it is not hard for me to feel like a failure. I am the type of person to believe the few negative things said about me than the hundred positive things. Being rejected could only mean I was a terrible writer and should quit now.

Many other writers out there who face rejection may have experienced the same things I did. I felt like giving up, deleting my whole book, erasing everyone’s memory of me declaring I would one day be an author, then digging a hole to hide out in.

I am blessed to have two great critique partners who have given me excellent feedback on my manuscript (one of which is the author of this very blog!). However, when I first opened the Word document with Angela’s feedback, the feelings of failure hit me all over again. I read her feedback as “Wow, you really are a terrible writer.” “Maybe you should try something else instead.” “It is hilarious to me that you thought you could actually publish a book.”

Of course, she said NONE of these things! What I was reading as her feedback was really my own inner thoughts about myself. Because of my fear of failure, I could have missed out on everything Angela had to tell me by projecting my negative fears into her words.

I allowed myself to wallow in self-pity for one night and one night only. The next day, I opened her feedback again and I found treasure in her comments. She gave me such great resources, tips, and tricks to make my writing stronger.

One of the resources she gave me was a video on the elements all great stories should have. With a positive perception of feedback, I was able to see I did in fact have all of these elements; they were just out of order. Without approaching the feedback as a learning opportunity, I would have missed that, and continued to call myself a bad writer.

Writers have to approach this craft with a positive mindset. Each rejection teaches you a lesson. Feedback from a CP is going to make your writing stronger. You will not fail if you persevere and if you are willing to learn a lesson. Writing is about passion, but it is also about hard work, growth, effort, and subjectivity. Agents may not feel your work is for them, but it doesn’t mean it is not good for someone else.

Most importantly, you have to be able to know yourself and your work well enough to know what needs to be changed, and what needs to stay the same. You can’t hold onto every piece of your book because you like it. If it doesn’t work for your story, be willing to change it. Likewise, if someone doesn’t think that a character or plot point works for the story, but you know better, keep it, but rethink the flow of where the character or plot point comes in.

Find yourself a great CP like I did and never give up your dream. The best lesson I learned is that each rejection and negative comment brings me that much closer to my first published book. I turn the negative into a positive and improve each time.

I leave you with a list of lessons I learned in the process of trying to get published. I look at this list every time I feel like a failure, and it reminds me that I have not failed because I learned and grew as a person, and as a writer. (click the photo to view list)
Listloren

If any of you ever need encouragement, or someone who understands what you are going through, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me on Twitter (@lorenneal4). You can also contact me through my blog (www.lorenneal.com). I may not be the best authority on the subject, but I can offer you an ear to listen and some advice to help you get through your discouragement! Angela is also a great support system!

the_writers__gift__by_facelessjr-poniesPhoto Credit

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Why I stopped writing

12 Tuesday Aug 2014

Posted by Maiden Ink in writing

≈ 34 Comments

Tags

#author, #dyslexia, #dyslexic, #dyslexicwriter, #faliure, #grammar, #nevergiveup, #rejection, #writing

I had worked on this paper for weeks and today the verdict is in. We had done peer reviews and I had corrected everything they’d said. I’d gone to the library every day during lunch to worry over every word. This was going to be it; I had put tons of time and effort into to this one paper. I was going to get an A.

 

As my teacher returned the papers to us, I thought my heart would explode out of my chest. I knew my diligence would be rewarded. After all, I didn’t really try most of the time. I just showed up and received As and Bs; although, I did settle with the occasional C in extremely boring classes. Not this time. I had worked hard.

 

The paper landed on my desk with a thump. There on the front was a D-.

d-minus

That day I had believed a lie–that no matter how hard I tired, people would not see past my errors. Even worse, I could not see my own errors. I would never try that hard on my writing ever again.

 

I didn’t know it at the time, but my brain works differently. I can read a sentence or write a word, and believe it is on the page. I read words that are not actually on the page sometimes. I also miss words that are right on the page. This is a nightmare for a person who loves to tell stories.

 

You see, my mind plays tricks on me. I can go back to something I wrote, and it will be missing phases or words. My brain processes too fast for my eyes to keep up. There’s a wire loose.

 

In college, an English teacher realized it wasn’t just common grammar errors. She told me I most likely had Dyslexia. She wanted to help me, but I was diagnosed too late for help through the school. So, I avoided the written word, and studied video and photography instead.

 

steven-spielberg-dyslexia

 

After all these years of sloppy diaries, notebooks, pieces of stories, and a chapter here and there, I’ve chosen to write again. Will it be hard? Yes. Some people will never understand why I make so many mistakes. But, I am tired of being silent. I’ve found my passion: Writing.

book papers-small

Why did you stop writing?

 

 

Edited by Jessica Schmeidler

http://www.jessicaschmeidler.com/

 

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