Andra's Blog

When "So You Think You Can Dance?" first came out I avoided it. One more reality show where people sign up to get their fifteen minutes of fame, do we really need it?

I try not to miss an episode now, especially after the top 20 were picked. What drives these dancers, how did they make it to the top?

Technique is part of it, as is the ability and willingness to learn multiple dancing genres. The judges, however, place passion at the top of the list.

Passion is what made the dancers the top in the nation, it's what drives their willingness to learn from multiple choreographers, and listen intently to the advice of the judges.

I've allowed my passion to flounder of late. Many a subject scream to be written here, but I reign them in and they lose their voice, never to be heard.

How sad is that?

If that continues, then my passion will leave me. Like a loyal pet, if it's not fed, it will find another owner who will feed it.

Time to feed my passions.

This morning Dave, Thomas and I went to the city's Independence Day parade. Thomas spent most of the time flirting with the women, young and old, and running after people who brought along their dogs.

My favorite part of the parade was the National Guard. It wasn't the big truck with the boat on the trailer, or even the articulated guns swiveling about on its base in every direction imaginable (I want one of those). What struck me is how every single person stood, clapped and screamed out "Thank you" and "We love you!"

Thomas Jefferson once said: "God forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion. The people cannot be all, and always, well informed. The part which is wrong will be discontented, in proportion to the importance of the facts they misconceive. If they remain quiet under such misconceptions, it is lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty. ... And what country can preserve its liberties, if it's rulers are not warned from time to time, that this people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to the facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure."

My thanks go to every member of our 100% volunteer armed forces who are willing to feed the tree of liberty with their blood and bones. My thanks to those who take every opportunity to show their gratitude.

As for the rest of Jefferson's warning, I need not say more.

Let us never forget the importance of our liberties and freedoms, on this day and all others.

Posted by andra at 02:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Gone are the days when an author built up calluses on the fingers from pounding on a stiff, loud typewriter, having to replace the tape and tearing apart paper with those sandpaper like erasers (you remember those, the ones that were light blue, and had a small brush on the end).

Now most of us type everything on a little screen. If we need to erase something, there's always the delete key. The keyboard is so light, we only have to worry about carpal tunnel syndrome or some other repetitive disorder.

When we need to rewrite something, all we have to do is open up the original document and cut, paste, move, remove, add and subtract.

Though it may kill our eyesight, we're at least saving a few trees.

However, I'm more old-school when it comes to editing, especially if it's a major edit.

I start from scratch, and type every word of my manuscript over again. For some reason, I see it more fresh that way, and I see things I would otherwise miss if I merely skimmed through my manuscript to address the problems I'm aware of.

One downside to that is the likelihood of additional misspellings and grammar errors. I'll need at least two people read through it (my husband, poor guy who's now on his second read, I will ask for a third) before I submit to an agent/publisher.

To keep ahead of my mid-August deadline, I need to write 11 pages tonight. Good thing I'm a fast typer, and can stay up until 11:30 without morning difficulties tomorrow. I should get it done.

Question for you: What is your process of rewriting?

Posted by andra at 08:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Even if it requires stooping to bribery.

My edits are going slower than I want. So, to motivate me I decided on a small bribe.

I need a new camera. Okay, I don't really need it. I want a new camera, one that can zoom out more than my little Fuji Finepix, has a higher MP (mega-pixel), and more automatic and manual features.

I can't buy it until I complete my edits, and it must be done prior to my birthday in August. That gives me two months. If I don't make the deadline, no camera.

How's that for motivation, eh? I'll let you know if I make it.

A few weeks ago I finished Donald Maass' "Writing the Breakout Novel." Excellent book. He gives excellent advice along with examples of recent (since the book's publication in 2000) breakout novels. He shows what they each have in common, and I gotta admit, it's fairly simple.

In theory. In practice it's something else.

When I purchased the book, I also bought the companion workbook.

Here I ran into a snag.

In each chapter such as creating a multidimensional character and establishing inner conflict, we're supposed to go through and change certain parts of our work in progress.

The snag came when I couldn't find good examples to modify. It's not that because my book is in dire need of so much help, but that it already had the well-rounded characters, oodles of inner conflict, and even parts where the character does something unexpected.

I decided the workbook needs to be shelved until I tackle a less-refined novel - one in it's first or second draft.

The realization boosted me quite a bit. My novel doesn't need as much work as I feared. I won't claim it's of breakout caliber, but I will certainly continue to work toward that goal, and dream it's possible.

A question for you. When you lack motivation to complete a writing project, how do you push yourself to finish?

Posted by andra at 08:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Nothing God creates is a waste.

That includes the people who enter your life, for good or ill. Even the ill we endure is never wasted, because it gives us an opportunity to learn and grow.

So says someone who's not endured many ill relationships in her life. Sure, there have been a few with almost deadly consequences, but those are mere hiccups compared to what others have gone through.

I met a gal a few months ago at my church. I was thrilled to meet her -- another writer! Finally, someone else who's also writing from a Christian perspective.

Julianna is writing her life story -- and reading only three sections up to the 4th grade, it's a doozy. How she survived, and even thrived is nothing short of a miracle.

When I first met her, I saw a quiet, unassuming confidence and contagious joy. I never would have guessed she hated herself growing up, and was abused in ways I can't describe even with an 18+ rating.

"I'm not a writer," she said once. "God's merely telling me to write my story."

Not a writer. Ha!

Anyone who can tell a story simultaneously passionate yet with clinical precision, and at the same time describe what a young girl experienced without interjecting adult understanding, that's a gift only God can give. It must take a tremendous amount of strength to revisit all those memories as well. I don't know if I could do it, but then again, God never asks us to do something without giving us the means to accomplish it.

Why did God place her in my path? No idea, but I'm not going to question it. I have an opportunity to learn about a life foreign to mine, yet be able to understand and even empathize with it.

I get to see God's handiwork in a damaged soul.

Now it's your turn. Either as a comment here, or in your blog, describe to me a person who entered your life that left an indelible mark -- for good or ill.

Posted by andra at 03:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

This last Saturday I uploaded the thirteenth and final chapter of "A Reason to Hope." Sunday I drew the winner of the contest.

As I packaged up the book to send off, I pondered the other copies sitting in the box they came in and thought, "It's time for another sale."

Whether you participated in the project or not, no matter.

From now until May 31st I'm offering "A Reason to Hope" at a 25% discount.

You can find out more at www.almarquardt.com/sale.

Forgive my lax in writing entries and visiting you. I've been concentrating on my reading and writing. After going through the comments Andrea from www.povbootcamp.com gave me, and reading Donald Maass's book, "Writing the Breakout Novel," I'm not just editing my novel, but rewriting it. Much of the story won't change except the beginning, but sometimes writing it from scratch instead of cutting and pasting gives me a fresher perspective.

Plus my husband's uncle passed away on Tuesday (he'd been sick for a while, so it's more a relief than anything. I like to believe he's fishing with Jesus right now), and we have to prepare for family before the funeral on the 23rd. Considering I'm a total slob, it'll take a lot of work to whip this house into shape.  I'm glad the funeral is so far away, because I have time to clean, and so family and friends spread all throughout the United States have time to make the trip.

Anyway, I'll try to stop by when I can steal a moment (or procrastinate further in cleaning), and if you buy a book, I promise to toss it in the mail the next day.

Thanks muchly, and I'll see you when I see you!

Posted by andra at 08:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)