I have many of the books that you peiole suggest. The novelist's boot camp is a humerous approach to writing. I love it.

Any suggestions for someone who can't drive due to medical problems?

Charles thanks for the link. Btw-Mudge have you done that trick with a tape recorder? How did it work for you? I am asking because I am female and even for my biological age I have a young sounding voice that doesn't translate to tape well. (Yuck-hates voice on tape.)

very funny Mudge! OT- You wil be happy to know I started a writing excise yesterday I found in one of my books. Tha was easy so far.

Thanks mudge for your help. It also is called research. What I can tell you from personal experience is that my dad is a retired National Guardsman who worked on jeeps and stuff-and he still putters around the house with lawnmowers and snowblowers. (Ducktape and bublegum my friend-lol)

My idea for my main character''s father's profession was inspired by watching Enterprise because one of the characters job is cheif engineer. So I made the father in my story be an engineer. That is an example of how my mind works.

Hi Mudge-

Thanks for your suggestion. Do you keep a notebook at your bedside to jot stuff down? Btw that question goes for anyone as sure fire way to cure writer's block.

Hey pen I have another question for you. How do just go through the motion? My brain would really go crazy if I did what you did-no offense it is just an observation. I don't think I could just start by going through my brain to the keyboard and blank screen. I do that when I am workig with the prog...

Thanks everyone for all the advice and please keep it coming. :D I don't know if the problem is I have read so many books on the subject. Hmm-I do have an idea of how I want it to end but would it be too weird to work backword. I have two computer programs one is for character and the other is for p...

Used to love his stuff. But he's fallen into the trap of 'his voice has gotten repetitive'. And he just reads like a supermarket paper back. Reads like a supermarket paperback? I can think of other authors who are good but I always see them in the book area (Dean Koontz and Stuart Woods come to min...

Mudge-

I like Skipping Christmas a lot!I love how the husband is in that book and what happns to him as a result. I guess he got what he deserves in the end.

Your Friend,
Novelwriter

Hi- I am having a hard time with my novel. Right now I am suffering from writer's block or something like it and I want to know how do you recover? I have read sources that suggest writers to wite everything about their characters first and that in itself is another problem. What approach should I t...

Thaks people for the help! That is exactly what I had in mind. Btw-I agree with the caffeene comment. Straight jacket comment-now that was funny!

Maybe you could please post the pogression of ranks for me. It has been awhile since I posted on the boards so I forgot.
Thanks
Novelwriter

I like that for a former lawyer with a brilliant legal mind he doesn't manage to talk over you in his writing. It is more like he is telling you directly the story. IMHO I have read authors who do that and they are good and half the time I am thiking why are they using big words? Yay Grisham!

My favorite John Grisham novels are The Rainmaker and The Summons. In my opinion those are his best. I should mention that I do somewhat like the Audio of the Bleachers which I have on CD. My parents got me that one year for Christmas. It is special because he reads it and since I have the CD those ...

I think my two favorite John Grisham novels are The Rainmaker and The Summons. I have the audio CD of the Bleachers which he reads. Not bad, but not great. I am just glad that he kept that audio book affordable for his fans.
Novelwriter

Sorry-can't help you there. The only Ezra I know is a cute 6 year old Golden Retriever Seeing Eye Dog. (My husband is blind.)

Happy Writing
Melanie

Ok- Well I tried getting the sketches done by the weekend and it didn't work. I don't know if I am spending too much time on my characters and not on writing my novel....I did get a little more character work done lately. Btw-does anyone know when the are finished sketching and fleshing the characte...

Hello writers! Today so far was good for me because I was able to work on a little bit of characterization for my novel. I am going to try and work on some tonight after supper and tomorrow. My goal is to get three character sketches done by next weekend so that I can start on my character backstory...

charles-I did try downloading Open Office and had no success with it. I honestly don't think it works with my computer.

Your Friend,
Mel

Hi-

the program is abiword. It is completely free because the people who made this want you to share the wealth your friends. I don't have it on a disc right no except for the hard drive of my computer. Hope this helps.

Your Friend,
Melanie

Thanks everyone.

Hi gang,

If I remember correctly Stephen King wrote in the book On Writing about making a writer's toolbox. I agree with this idea. Just a thought how do you store your stuff? (I have a hard time organizing and would love the help.)

Your Friend,
Melanie

Thanks for the heads up! I wonder how this will affect my subscription to the magazine? I may have to e-mail them.

Thanks,
Melanlie