Adventures in Writing wins the Liebster Award!

Thank you so much for the Liebster Blogging Award, Raimey. You really made my day. I am truly honored! Blogging can sometimes feel like a lonely gig. However, Raimey Gallant’s brilliant Author Toolbox Blog Hop helps writers of all stripes connect and support one another. Thank you for this too, Raimey!

Readers and nominees, here are the rules for being nominated as a Liebster:

Liebster Award Rules and Nominees:
Rule 1: Thank the person who nominated you for the award.

Rule 2: Answer the 11 questions the person asked you.
Rule 3: Nominate 11 people (comment on their blog to let them know)
Rule 4: Ask the people you have nominated 11 questions (My questions are at the bottom of this post.)

Here are my answers to Raimey’s questions. I must admit. Some of them were tough.

1. Who is your favourite author that you haven’t listed as a password backup for a financial institution.  

Mary Higgins Clark

2. Invent a hashtag that you would like to see gain traction.

#ContemporaryYAAventurestory

3. The wackiest writing prompt you can think of on the fly.

A parrot led a boy into a cave to find a treasure chest. When the boy broke the lock and opened the chest, he discovered…

4. What genre(s) do you write in, and what subgenre(s) do you spice in?

Adventure and Mystery,    Subgenre- throw in romance

5. What does your plotting/pantsing technique involve? Please describe using morse code. Kidding. You can use letters. 

I always need to know where I’m going in story. Scene cards are very helpful with this. In other words – I only wear pants, not write by them.

6. Using only three-word sentences, tell us about your childhood (i.e. I hated hockey. Mom re-married dad. Toaster broke window.)

School was tough. Helped at home. Watched little sister. I prepared dinner. Was not popular. I loved mysteries. I wrote stories. I loved music. Acted in plays. I loved hiking. Sea shore adventures. Work, no college.

7. Write the eulogy for one of your characters in less than 100 words.

Yikes! I don’t want to kill my characters. [OK, so that’s one of my problems!]

He was famous for his wood carvings, at least the family thought so. And when he tapped danced in the living room, all the children’s card houses collapsed. He made his world laugh. He held them with his voice. He was a protector. No one cared more for his family.

8. Tell us something quirky about you.

Each summer, I journey and explore the United States and parts of Canada, from coast to coast, in a small conversion van with 5 noisy kids, camping in a tiny pop-up trailer that sleeps 7 in three beds. …And having the time of my life. I think the children are too!

9. I’m gonna need you to dig deep for this one. If chances are slim, how can something be fat about it (fat chance)?

Wow! Good point. A literal person, I’m going to ignore the sarcasm in this question and assume it’s psychological. Humans are usually positive creatures. I know I try to be. It’s hard when writing, though. We are always looking for the big—or fat—chances in life. At least we should try, for how can we better ourselves if we never attempt difficult endeavors?

10. If you could change one thing about a social media site, what would it be?

New comments, posts, or pop-ups continually surfacing when I’m trying to read or comment. My husband says I take too much time to think about what I want to say. True! But I want to say something pithy—or at least not embarrass myself.

11. How many plots do you have in your head on any given day?

A full plot? Only 2 or 3. Possible various threads or themes to plots? Oh…maybe about 50 or 60.

Here are 11 more wonderful bloggers who deserve the Liebster Blogging Award and what they write about. Congratulations, everyone!

http://gilbertcuriosities.blogspot.com Marie Gilbert writes about life, family, and her sci-fi series.

http://www.obligatorytraveler.com/ Sarah is a world traveler and recounts her adventures here with gorgeous photos.

www.miriamdiazgilbert.com Miriam writes about the running life. She offers tips and experiences.  

https://lorettasisco.com/ Loretta writes about pets and animals and life.

http://dawnbyrne.blogspot.com/ Dawn writes about the writing life and family.

http://positiveletters.blogspot.com/ Hilary Melton Butcher writes fascinating posts on English culture, food, and history.

https://ematimar.com/posts/ Erika writes about social media, writing, and technology.

http://jenniferrhubbard.blogspot.com/ Jennifer writes YA literary fiction and ponders the writing life on her blog.

http://taratylertalks.blogspot.com/ Tara blogs about the writer’s life and her fantasy and sci-fi books.

http://christianediting.co.nz/blog/ Iola writes about technology and social media and Christian topics.

https://onceuponatimeinhaz.blogspot.com/ Morgan talks about her camping fun with the family.

Okay everyone; here are my 11 questions for you to answer. Don’t get lost in details. Just have fun!

1.     You are thrown into a favorite story. [Not your own.] Which story and who would you be?

2.     What is the hardest part of writing for you? Why?

3.     When and where do you write? How did you discover that was best for you?

4.     If you could be anybody or anything, who or what would you be and why?

5.     How do you push forward when the inner critic won’t shut up?

6.     Do you need to write inside a bubble or library [like me] or do like to listen to music or other inspiring background sounds or “white” noise to write?  

7.     How do you keep the wolves…ahem…I mean convince your children or other people to leave you alone to write? Does it work? Provide tips—please!

8.     Who was your favorite author as a child? Who is your favorite author now?

9.     If you could have a superpower, what would it be? Why that?

10.  How do you find inspiration?

11.  What book or movie or writing workshop or blog post has affected your work the most? Why?

Once again, thank you, Raimey, for nominating my Adventures in Writing blog for the

Liebster Blogging Award. It is appreciated more than you realize. Thanks for stopping by, everyone!

Memoir Made Easy: What to Remember When Starting Out #AuthorToolboxBlogHop

Hello and welcome, everyone, to Adventures in Writing and my first Author Toolbox Blog Hop post. Please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Victoria Marie Lees and I write YA short story adventures, poetry, and memoir.

            Memoir is a story—yes, even though it’s about the writer’s life, it is a story. “Just the facts, Ma’am,” is autobiography. Memoir is usually about one specific time period in the writer’s life, a period where discoveries are made. Memoir interprets the events for the reader. Occasionally, the timeline of memoir may be scattered throughout the writer’s lifetime, but the focus will be narrowed to one topic.

My memoir is about the ten-year journey I took through academia to acquire a bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania while still being a mother to my five children during their growing-up years. It encompasses the trials a parent needs to face and understand when attempting such an endeavor and how to survive it successfully.    

Memoir needs to be true. You must include the fiction elements of:

protagonist vs. antagonist[s], even if the antagonist is a concept like time or academic understanding;

tension and problem resolution;

an overall-story ticking clock;

setting and pacing;

the creation of believable characters out of real people.

This is what makes memoir so difficult to write. You are telling a story about yourself with all these fiction elements in place.

Then you need to consider that memoir is not all about you. Memoir needs to offer critical insight for the reader.

So how do you do this?

By looking inside yourself to understand why you did what you did at that time, why you thought what you thought at that time.

Remember. Just like in fiction, the reader needs to be in the scene, understanding your every move. Everything from why you think it’s best to drop a course, as in my memoir, to why any parent would ever attempt an Ivy League education after starting her education at a community college close to home.

            The often misunderstood “Show, don’t tell” helps with this. “Show, don’t tell” means to show the reader why what’s happening matters to the protagonist. Fiction or memoir, you need to show how the protagonist came to that decision—internally. Inner thoughts are at the heart of any story or memoir. In other words, to borrow from Hemingway, to write a memoir, you need to “bleed” on the page.

            Readers want to be in the head of the protagonist, hearing the inner thoughts and understanding any logic for decisions made, no matter how flawed that logic may be.

            Remember, the protagonist is flawed. This is the most difficult part for memoirists.

Now you’re thinking: “Me? Flawed?”

Okay, so I don’t know about you, but I’m greatly flawed. Just ask my children.

As in all creative writing, the writer must decide what to put in the story or essay and what to leave out—especially in memoir. Memoir is not your whole life. That’s autobiography. Memoir is only a small piece of it.

For me to choose which flaw to showcase in my college memoir, I needed to consider the flaw that would resonate most with the story question of why I waited until I had five children to attend college. My youngest, twins, started second grade and the oldest, who is learning-disabled, started high school when I began my college journey.

            To dramatize that moment in the memoir, I needed to consider my own personal backstory, my past, my growing up years to discover the origin scene for the flaw in my own logic.  

            There is so much to consider when creating a memoir. This should get you started if you plan to write one in the future. I’d like to continue this topic for next month’s Author Toolbox blog hop.

Please feel free to share any good memoirs you have read or leave any questions you may have about memoir or writing in the comments section. Again, thank you for visiting Adventures in Writing. Please follow my blog if you haven’t already and connect with me online. I’ll be sure to do the same for you. To continue hopping through more amazing blogs or to join our Author Toolbox blog hop, click here. 

Insecure Writers want to know: What is one valuable lesson you've learned since you started writing?

            So many valuable lessons, so much still to learn. I think the biggest lesson I’ve learned since beginning to write is to believe in myself enough to send a story out. And if it comes back, to brush it off, and send it out again. And again, and—yes—even again.

            Many times, writers are a fragile creature. I know I am. We try so hard to believe in ourselves, in our stories, in our writing. And in my case, I’m crushed again and again. To be able to pick yourself up and continue to believe is a power all writers have. It’s just difficult to find sometimes. 

            Where can we find this inner strength to continue calling ourselves writers, to actually be writers? Here are a few tips that help me.

            Safety in numbers. Writing groups help writers find confidence. I belong to South Jersey Writers Group, a friendly group of writers in many genres who support one another, critique one another’s work, and offer presentations about writing, publishing, social media, and other tools of the trade.

            Writers helping writers. When writers learn something new, they don’t keep it to themselves. The very nature of the writing beast is to share what they’ve learned with others in their number. I do this through South Jersey Writers Group and reading other Insecure Writers Support Group blogs and sharing information on my Adventures in Writing blog and through workshops I present.

            Here are a few excellent writers and bloggers that I have come across: Jennie Nash, Lisa Cron, Writers in the Storm, The Editor’s Blog. You might like to follow them as well.

            Finding a quiet space to think. We are a multi-tasking society, and writers are no different. I believe writers need a peaceful place to leave the world and all their obligations behind in order to look within and consider what’s working and what’s not in their writing in progress. Some writers attend writing conferences, which not only allow for the first two points in my post, but also some time for uninterrupted thinking and writing. I realize they are expensive and some writers don’t have the money or time to go away to write.

I find thinking time in chunks, a few hours lost among the stacks in a library—away from the five children and home obligations. But I also find quiet in a walk through the woods or around a local lake. Sometimes just a walk in my neighborhood gets me away from the computer screen and into my thoughts about story flow, pacing, and logic. Writers can’t be afraid to look within to find answers; both for their writing and in life.

If writers are lucky enough to share these three key pieces of the writerly life, then they can find the courage to let go and send their stories and essays out into the world time and again, whether through traditional publishing or self-publishing. No. It’s still not easy. But it can be done.

I wish you all a solid belief in what you are doing in your writing life. Thanks for stopping by Adventures in Writing and sharing any thoughts you might have about this or about writing. Writers sharing with other writers. It’s what the writing life’s about.

This post was written for the Insecure Writer’s SupportGroup. We post on the first Wednesday of every month.  To join us, or learn more about the group, click HERE.  

Story Genius Writing Course: The Origin Scene

Sometimes I feel so small in revision.

If you think about it, all stories begin with relevant backstory. For just as real people deal with the present based on their past, so too must our characters deal with the story problems based on their relevant past experiences. The key word here is “relevant” past experiences. Jennie Nash and Lisa Cron in my Story Genius course asked:

What was the pivotal moment in your character’s past that changed her outlook on life? This will be the “origin scene” that sets the character up for interpreting the present story problems. Even in memoir.

In my memoir about attending college as a mother of five, I felt highly inadequate for college—and amazingly so at the Ivy League level. Attending college is not something rational people do on the spur of the moment. Not even when the prospective college student is a mom challenged by an all-knowing educated person who determines that her child shouldn’t attend college because she’s not good enough.

In my mind, people who attend college spend years preparing for it. At the Ivy League level, students spend their entire lives in preparation for it. No, college isn’t something to take lightly. After all, I could fail out, proving that educated person and extended family members that I am, in fact, unable to succeed and therefore my child might be as well.

It all came back to me. The origin scene for my college memoir, that is.

It was early spring in 1973, and I was perusing the high school curriculum booklet given out by the counselors, dreaming of going away to college. At that time, I thought everyone who attended college went away to be able to concentrate solely on their college education. At least that’s what they did in movies and on television.

Boy was I naïve! We never heard of community college or college loans. My family had no money for college.

I sat at the kitchen table, selecting college prep courses from the curriculum booklet for high school. I was the second child of four in my blue-collar family, the first who wanted to attend college. Then my father, a machinist by trade, the realist in our family by necessity, took note of what I was doing.

“Vic,” he said. “What makes you so sure you can handle college?”

My hand went numb, the course selection form blurred on the kitchen table. Why couldn’t he forget about my earlier struggles in school? I tried to.

“Dad,” I choked out. “I’m on the honor roll now.”

“It takes more than that to succeed in college, Vic.”

The scene continues as my father hammers into my consciousness that our family goes to work after high school. As someone who struggled earlier in her education, I should accept that I wasn’t college material and move on in life.

Finally, Dad’s realism became my realism. I wasn’t cut out for college. I was inadequate to those attempting higher education. It ate away at my confidence to succeed in life. I needed to settle, not strive. This was my present, my future, my life.

This origin scene works in conjunction with a post on the ticking clock of a story.  

It wasn’t until I was a mother of five with a special needs daughter that I finally realized if you don’t take any risks in life, you have already failed.

I think the choosing of my high school curriculum scene was the first “relevant” past experience, the origin scene, that formed my belief of not being good enough for college. I also feel it shows the effect a significant adult can have on a child. It forced me to be sure not to do the same to my children.

Please offer any comments or questions regarding this scene or your own college preparation, for they truly help me to define the moment and improve the writing. Thanks again for stopping by Adventures in Writing and leaving a note. It’s greatly appreciated. 

Insecure Writers want to know: Did you ever say “I quit”? If so, what happened to make you come back to writing?

            Did I ever say “I quit” being a writer? All the time!

My logic always is:

There’s no one out there waiting to read the next Victoria Marie Lees story—or blog post for that matter.

No editor or publisher asking for another YA adventure story or camping anecdote or wondering where my memoir about attending college as a mother of five is.

I’m wasting my family’s hard-earned money taking courses and seminars and attending conferences.

I’d have so much more time with my family and friends, neighbors and co-workers, even for myself, if I wasn’t always writing.

My personal stress level would greatly diminish, and I could become that somewhat calm person I was before I started concentrating almost every waking minute on creating something saleable, or building my writer’s platform.

            But then my mind starts arguing with itself. Telling stories and family anecdotes live in my heart. They breathe in my soul. Will I always be able to sell what I create to the traditional market? Nope! Is that a reason not to try?

            To some, maybe. To me, I needed to search deep within myself to find the answer.

            Because I can’t hike the entire Appalachian Trail or Continental Divide Trail at one time, should I not try to hike portions of the trail when I can?

            Because we don’t have a lot of money, should we not create special moments with our children or tell them that they can’t go to college, can’t better themselves through education?

            Because we don’t have a fancy motor home—much to the children’s dismay—should we not take a vacation and camp with the children in a well-used, crank-up trailer or tent away from media distractions, spending precious time creating lifelong memories?  

                      

These questions come up whenever I try to convince myself that I'm better off not writing. Not trying. Writers need to believe in themselves, a difficult task for sure.

Life forever moves forward. Changing us in small ways and big every day. I can’t go back to when I wasn’t concentrating most of my time on creating stories. Story telling is a part of who I am. Hard work is a part of who I am. For profit or only peace of mind, I will always be a writer. My poor family will just have to deal with my moods and time constraints—and so will I.

I can’t wait to learn how many of you deal with this. Thanks so much for stopping by Adventures in Writing and offering a comment. Please follow my blog if you haven’t already. It’s greatly appreciated.  

This post was written for the Insecure Writer’s SupportGroup.  We post on the first Wednesday of every month.  To join us, or learn more about the group, click HERE.  

Insecure Writers want to know: What is the weirdest thing you ever had to research for your story?

I’m not exactly sure which was weirder, the actual research for this fact or the result of researching the fact the way I did. You decide.

I was writing a mystery novella back when the internet wasn’t so prolific. I’m still not sure if the workload was a bit easier for the writer without all the social media work necessary today to stay alive in the public arena. But this was back when most of the research of writers started in the library and then moved on to interviewing experts to share firsthand knowledge.

In writing a story, as you all know, the facts have to be genuine. This is true whether you are writing contemporary stories or building a fantasy world. I opened every conversation with the librarians with I was writing fiction.

The problem? I don’t think anyone believed me. I even offered to show them the manuscript in progress. No one took me up on that offer.

Okay, so I’m not Mary Higgins Clark. No, I’m not J.K. Rowling either.

Nope! I’m just plain ol’ Victoria Marie Lees.

Guess what? No one cared. All they cared about was that I had a question about the use of a hand gun.

Just a basic question. After all, I’ve never used a hand gun before.

So I couldn’t really find any information at the library. And I was running out of time. This novella was my final assignment for a course at the University of Pennsylvania, a writing seminar in fiction entitled “From Murder Most Foul to the Explicit Corpse.” I only had a week to complete it. And with all the workload for two courses, working outside the home, helping my five children with their own school work, not to mention trying to get ready for Christmas, I didn’t have much time for research.

So I called my town police station. Well, who else do you know uses hand guns regularly?

All I needed to know was which type of handgun expelled bullet shells. I needed them, I told the police officer, at my fictional crime site. They were key to discovering who the murderer was in my mystery.

There was silence on the phone.

“Officer?” I asked.

Nothing.

“Sir, this really is a fictional story about a murder that happens onstage during a performance. … Hello? Are you still there?”

After a few minutes, I heard muffled voices on the other side of the line.

“Guys, I can bring the manuscript in to show you if you want.”

Finally, the officer answered my question. But later that day, a town police cruiser drove past my home. Slowly. Peering into my living room windows. I guess they wanted to see where I hid the body.

In fact, the police drove by my home every day for several weeks.

However, after noticing all the foot traffic at my house what with five children playing outside, running in and out of the house, friends and people popping by, the police figured I must be a crazy writer and not a murderer. For how could I ever find time to murder anyone let alone hide a dead body? And then keep the body hidden from all the occupants and visitors at the house.

I can’t wait to read your stories. Thanks so much for stopping by Adventures in Writing and offering a comment. Please follow my blog if you haven’t already. It’s greatly appreciated.  

This post was written for the Insecure Writer’s SupportGroup. We post on the first Wednesday of every month.  To join us, or learn more about the group, click HERE.  

Insecure Writers want to know: Have you taken advantage of the annual A to Z Challenge in terms of marketing, networking, publicity for your book?

            Unfortunately, I have not. I’m still working on that memoir book about attending college as a mother of five. Crawling forward ever so slowly. And those five children—in addition to their father—still want the lion’s share of my time.

*Aren’t I the lucky one?*

It’s time to run to the library again, to turn off my cell phone. To hide among the stacks. But then I worry that something bad happens and no one can reach me.

*Sigh!*

            As for networking, I have some of you fellow IWSG bloggers. I read and follow your blogs hoping to form solid connections, connections where we can ask each other advice when necessary. I cherish each one of you who follow my blog and leave me notes. You keep my spirits up, so that when I finally do have that memoir in hand, I hope to be able to turn to you all for support and information on how to publicize and sell the memoir. I’ve learned so much just by reading all your blogs.

            I feel like I’m scattered to the winds with my facebook author page, google+, twitter @VictoriaMLees, Goodreads page, and 2 blogs. I have a Camping with Five Kids blog that I update at the beginning of the month as well as this writing blog.

I do have a few questions about your experience in platform building though:

Even though I have no book, should I create a webpage with my blogs and social media connected to it? I have nothing to sell. Do you have any suggestions for what I could put on the landing page?

What about an e-mail list? Do you have one?

How did you start it? Do you need to solicit e-mail addresses separately for list purposes?

I need to offer a newsletter to the e-mail list in regular mailings, right?

What do you write about in any newsletter you send to an e-mail list?

How difficult are the Email marketing services to use? Which one do you use?

Thanks so much for stopping by Adventures in Writing and offering any advice or experience you may have about these topics. Please follow my blog if you haven’t already. It’s greatly appreciated.  

This post was written for the Insecure Writer’s Support Group. We post on the first Wednesday of every month.  To join us, or learn more about the group, click HERE.