June 16, 2012

Musings

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There is no secret. This infographic from Copyblogger tickled my fancy the other day, in part because it so eloquently speaks the truth.

10 Steps to Becoming a Better Writer
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Had I not written so many bad stories, I wouldn’t have the good ones to show for it now. The mistakes I’ve made have taught me how to … well, write better.

Practice really does make perfect. Okay, maybe not perfect, because no matter how many times you edit a story,  there’ll always be one more word to tweak here or a sentence to rewrite there.

But I firmly believe what I write today is better than what I wrote yesterday. I learn something new every day … and the words I commit to paper tomorrow just might be the ones that land me an agent or a publishing contract.

I was totally bummed to find out last Sunday’s Six Sentence Sunday link was broken. I’ll try not to let that happen again.

This week’s submission is again from “Diva in the Dugout.” Soon after Dave meets his daughter for the first time, the three of them head to Mel’s car. He’s under the mistaken impression that Mel drinks too much because someone else spilled beer on her at the first game, so he suggests that she let him drive.

My six:

Mel stared at Dave. First he wanted her baby girl and now her car? Who gave him the right to take over her life?

You did five years ago when you had unprotected sex with the guy.

She ignored her conscience’s dig. “Who says I trust you with my car?”

I had so much fun picking last week’s Six Sentence Sunday that I decided to do it again.

This week, I’m sharing a few sentences from the scene where Dave meets his daughter. Enjoy!

He looked down at the girl, who’d plastered herself to her mamma’s leg and was watching him with wide eyes —gulp — hazel eyes that looked a lot like his. He crouched down so he was on her level, hoping to put her at ease. “Hi, Tara. That’s a beautiful name.”

“Thank you.”  She popped her thumb in her mouth.

“You know who I am?”

 

This is a week for firsts — first guest blog post, first three-minute-straight run (as part of the Couch to 5K program). I might as well add another one to the list: My first Six Sentence Sunday post.

In my WIP, “Diva in the Dugout,” Dave and Mel had one wild night together before she snuck out in the gray light of morning while he was still sleeping. Since she insisted she didn’t want to know his name, she had no way to let him know she ended up pregnant — until they bump into each other at Dave’s baseball game five years later. This is the moment Mel confirms Dave’s suspicions about his fatherhood.

Enjoy the six sentences below:

Her daughter’s father arched an eyebrow. “Cat’s got your tongue, eh?”

Get it together, Mel, this isn’t brain surgery. She offered him her widest, flirtiest smile. Maybe the charms he’d fallen for once before would soften the blow of the bomb she was about to drop. “Welcome back to Texas, Daddy.”

P.S. I just want to say, it’s a lot harder to pick out six sentences than I thought it’d be.