3 Bits of Advice

Over at Writer's Ink, it's the W.ink Wednesday blog.  I'm sharing 3 Bits of Advice about how we writers can keep writing when everything else is trying to get in the way.

I'll borrow Edie Roones' mantra:

~ Burning the Candle at Both Ends ~

Hopes Up.

Head High.

Pen Ready.

Laptop Open.

Monster Monday: Be WIS

Grammar Monster:  a few grammar helps for those in need:

Grammar Monster

Becoming a Pro Writer

Changing your mindset to become a professional writer after years of hobby writing can be daunting.

Remi Black has 10 bits of string to wind into a ball.  That ball will help you safely navigate as you venture deep "Into the Labyrinth" of writing.

The Key to Secrets, released 2018

When Constable Hector Evans returns to Chalmsley Court, he doesn’t expect the violent crime to be the murder of one of Lord Chalmsley’s guests.

His lordship wants a quick resolution, before gossip about the crime’s salacious nature and trap-like

Constable Hector Evans.  He looks intense, doesn't he?

killing becomes widespread.  With no murder weapon, no identifiable clues, and no eyewitnesses, Hector has little to build a case.  He has plenty of suspects, even when he realizes the murderer must be a woman.

Even though other guests could have killed the man, Hector finds himself focusing on the Chalmsley family.  Was it compulsive Cordelia?  Obsessive Portia?  Mad Aunt Beth, who gives him riddling clues as snippets of ballads.  Hector would blame George, who grew up tormenting his sisters and torturing small animals, but George left two years ago for a rest-cure in Vienna.  He can’t have returned, can he?

Bee Seddars, the girl who broke his heart, is a distraction he doesn’t need, especially as she and her cousins are among those celebrating recent engagements.  Bee is as lovely as he once thought her and seemingly the most rational member of the Chalmsley family, but he wonders if a few brief months so many summers ago could possibly give him an understanding of who she is.  Hector can’t get her to open up about the Chalmsley family secrets.  Unlocking those, he believes, is key to solving the murder.  Yet Bee seems to mistrust him—while he thought she was the one who broke the trust between them, since she refused to write him after he was sent away to join the Bow Street Runners.

In his first twelve hours on the case, the murder scene is torched and the victim’s journal is burned.  

In his second twelve hours, a second fiancé is murdered with the missing weapon.  And Hector’s suspect lists remains an ell long and a grief wide.

With madness looking like the strongest motive and only circumstantial evidence to build his case, will Hector find the murderess before she strikes again?  Or will he discover his lost love is causing bloody death?

He needs The Key to Secrets at Chalmsley Court.

A cozy mystery of 66,000 words, The Key to Secrets is the seventh entry in the Hearts to Hazard series of Regency mysteries.  Each book is a standalone novel, complete unto itself, with loose interconnections of characters.

Constable Hector Evans was first introduced in The Danger to Hearts, the sixth Hearts in Hazards.

Monster Monday: MisMods and DangMods

Those pesky trolls are back.

This time we're battling MisMods and DangMods. 

Join us!

Teatime with 2*0*4

Here's a first look at the Teatime version of the 2 * 0 * 4 Lifestyle planner.

21 days to break a habit.

66 days to make a habit.

I've always envied the English their afternoon tea.

It's not the tea and the biscuits (cookies in American) and savory little sandwiches with the crusts cut off.

No, it's the "institution" of a quiet break before we must re-gird ourselves for the remains of the day.

The Spanish have their siesta, another wise institution, especially in hotter climates.

But afternoon tea draws me in.

Some might liken this afternoon break to stopping at the local bar before heading home.  I don't think so.  Stopping at the local is only grabbing something before heading off to consider the day done and over.

Teatime is not really the end of the day.  We still have a couple of hours of work still to do.  Tea--or coffee if that's your preference--keeps us perfectly sober, in our selves and the world but stepped back a little.  Our bodies have time to relax; our minds have time to de-stress; our hearts, time to consider those around us, and our souls, time for quiet contemplation.

What more can we want?  A method to keep us on track.  To check our progress.  To remember all the parts of ourselves with the rapid pace of the world is clawing us into tattery shreds.

66 days to make a habit of quiet contemplation, to keep us de-stressed, to help us be considerate, and to relax before we tackle the last push of the day.

2 * 0 * 4 is designed for these 66 days.

Divided into 6-week and seasonal increments for re-setting your goals and activities.  An undated weekly layout so you can start anytime.  If life interferes, you can pick back up where you left off.

And a beautiful cover celebrating teatime, to remind you that a daily spark will save you from the mud of life.

Sit down.  Have some tea.  Think about your various spheres of life: heart and mind, soul and body.

$12.00 is all you need to spend to begin your transformation.

Recalculate your Life

It's Release Week for the 2 * 0 * 4 Planner.

How often do you change direction?  Jeep has a commercial about breaking society's expectations and pursuing your own.

That commercial looks great, doesn't it?  Here's the thing, though.  What will direct your re-calculation about what is important in your life?  What will direct your resolve to transform?

The 2 * 0 * 4 Lifestyle planner will NOT direct your transformation.  No one should.  That transformation is up to you.

But 2 * 0 * 4 can help you clarify your goals and remind you daily to focus on them.  Every six weeks, you can renew your focus or re-calculate your direction.

And that's what is important.  Living the life you want rather than following the rest of the sheep.

Here's a look at the urban Cityscape planner, a little blurry because it's a screenshot.  And there's the bridge (the Henley in Knoxville), a metaphor for the bridge you want to cross.

Get yourself a 2 * 0 * 4.  Decide the changes that you want to make.  Those exercise goals:  they're the easy ones.  Those intellectual pursuit you keep putting off:  again, easy to decide on, difficult to follow.

The hard goals:  the heart ones, the ones about your relationships.

Hardest of all:  the soul goals, the ones that change you deep inside.  They're hard because they require you to delve deep inside, to your essence.

You need time to consider the goals you wants.

$12.00 is all you need to aim you for that transforming bridge.

2 * 0 * 4 Lifestyle: Remember the Soul

C.S. Lewis is often credited with saying

"You don't have a soul.  You are a soul.  You have a body."

William Walsham, in 1876, wrote:

Now I think I am wrong, after all, in saying that you have a soul. Ought I not to say, you are a soul? Is not the soul really yourself? In truth, my children, it is the soul that has a body, not the body that has a soul; for the soul is greater surely than the body, and will last when the body is laid aside in death. 

The idea originated earlier than Walsham, all the way to Luke 10:27:  "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind."  A lawyer had asked Christ for the path to eternal life.

And Christ turned back the question with his own, a very important question, one that we need to remember.  "What is written in the Law?"  (In other words, know the Bible.)

The man answered referred with Deuteronomy 6:5:  "And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might."

Old Testament and New Testament, and most of us are still neglecting our soul.

For most of our lives, we're busy with our jobs (minds in use) while we concentrate on good things to eat and exercise to do (body in use).  We enjoy our time with our families and friends.  And we neglect the Soul--except for a little bit of time on Sunday, if then.

We have no trouble remembering our bodies.  It constantly reminds us of its needs:  Feed me.  Take me to the bathroom.  Let me sleep.  Get up and walk, you lazy bum.

We remember our minds, for it will chatter at us:  What do we do next?  Should we turn there?  Who on earth is that?  I've forgotten.  It's on the tip of your tongue.  Write that down so we'll remember.

Our hearts crave relationships:  husbands and wives, children and parents, sisters and brothers, grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles.  Friends, more friends, close friends, mere acquaintances.  Wish I knew how to keep my boss happy.  How can I help that homeless man?  My neighbor is sick;  I'll take her some soup.  And so on.  We build circles upon circles, ever expanding spheres of contact with others.

How often do we allow ourselves time to connect to our souls.

"But I go to church," you retort.

Is that enough?  Don't you feel a yearning for more?

The 2 * 0 * 4 Lifestyle can give you more.  It focuses on the mind and the body and the heart AND the soul.

Set goals for all four parts of your life.  Motivate yourself with daily check-offs.  Use progress meters to evaluate shifts of focus or new changes to make.

How can one planner help me with this?

Come back tomorrow for more information in our week of promos.  We have seven different covers to highlight.  Or head over to Amazon.  Currently priced at $12.00, this planner is a bargain for a year's worth of guidance.

And you will have a beautiful cover to spark joy every time you see it.

By the way, many dispute that Lewis said the opening quotation;  however, he did say that we have an organic unity.  Since he came to know his scripture very well (after J.R.R. Tolkien showed him Christ), I will guarantee that he was familiar Luke 10:27:  "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind."

Find the floral 2 * 0 * 4 here, exclusively on Amazon.

Free Fiction: Fantasy by Edie Roones

Over a Writers Ink, it's Free Fiction for W.Ink Wednesday.  This month W.Ink promotes Edie Roones' first novel, Summer Sieges.

Get a taste of this alternate medieval fantasy here and find out more information here.  Her books are exclusively on Amazon.

Just Released: Meadow Version of the 2 * 0 * 4 Planner

A Planner for Life: That was the intent in the development of the 2 * 0 * 4 Planner.

Screenshot from cover designer at Deranged Doctor Design, showing front and back covers side-by-side

We were singing: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind and all your strength."

That's from Luke 10:27.  To place this verse in context:

25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”

27 He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’[c]; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[d]”

28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”

Heart.  Soul.  Strength.  Mind.

Too much in society tells us to focus on improving our bodies.  How many of your New Year's Resolutions are about diet and exercise, stress and sleep?  How many dream of vacations where all you do is sleep late then lay on the beach (and get sunburned)?

Society all tells us that our minds are very important.  We school our children for 12+ plus years.  We urge them to attend college for even more years, 2 or 4 or 6 or 8.  Many of us involve ourselves in Bible studies of some sort, or we read self-help articles, or we peruse magazines or take online courses.  We don't want our minds to stagnant.  Even when we're tired of work, we still pay attention to baseball standings or other sport scores.  Or we get involved in craft classes.  We constantly learn.  Often, improving our minds becomes one or two of those New Year's Resolutions.

Our hearts are our relationships, and many of our self-help readings or discussions involve ways to improve our relationships with family and friends.  Yet even though we intend this improvement of our heart circles, we don't think about turning these intentions into New Year's Resolutions.

And the thing that is consistently neglected on many people's New Year's Resolutions:  that's the Soul.

We ARE a Soul.  A soul with a beating heart for others, a curious mind, and a working body.  We think about improving heart, mind, and body.  We should work on soul improvements as well.

I'm preaching, aren't I?  Time for marketing.

And the 2 * 0 * 4 planner can help improve Heart and Soul, Mind and Body.

How can one planner do this?

Well, come back tomorrow for more information in our week of promos.  We have seven different covers to highlight.  Or head over to Amazon.  Currently priced at $12.00, this planner is a bargain for a year's worth of guidance.

And you will have a beautiful cover to spark joy every time you see it.

Monster Monday: Pesky Verb Trolls

Those pesky irregular verbs have tooken over.

Wait, that's not a word.  It's taken.

Oh, yes, it's Monster Monday.

Need more explanation?

Writer's Block doesn't Exist

In Think like a Pro, I offer a whole chapter of strategies to overcome Writer's Block.

As a matter of fact, I speak writers' world heresy because I believe that "Writer's Block doesn't exist."

Don't believe me?  Here's my blog and a link to my book on Amazon.  Two covers to choose from!

Check back with us on 9/20 for a link to a Diagnostic Quiz

to determine which problem is blocking your writing.