Kimberly A. Cook

Military Romance Author

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How De We Really See Ourselves And Others?

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by Kimberly A. Cook                      (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

Writers build worlds, fantasies and complicated stories with people, places and animals. We use details to bring a location or emotional event alive. One way we build our characters is by describing their physical characteristics and values through their actions.

This past week I watched a video done by Dove which illustrates how we see ourselves as individuals and how others see us differently. This is a fascinating video clip. The forensic artist does an amazing job. He mentioned in another video clip on the DoveUnitedStates YouTube channel that he could tell when women didn’t like part of their appearance, they lightly touched on it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpaOjMXyJGk&feature=share&list=PL0BRaXBPJ6iZMJoRM9TFRc2Mq4d0KmKqZ

Watch this wonderful piece of work and see what you think. How we describe our characters and ourselves may not be how the world sees either of us. Women have a particular challenge with this with the fashion and advertising industries. What’s important is each writer’s and character’s heart. What do you think?

Got A Writer Pit Crew? Or Three?

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by Kimberly A. Cook                  (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

This past Friday I met with my author buddy and editor, Cindy Hiday, (www.cindyhiday.com) for one of our frequent staff meetings. We call them that because we write alone and need another carbon-based life form for creative support. These days I joke(?) it takes at least three NASCAR pit crews to keep me together, but one of those pit crews is full of writer and author buddies.

Bleeding Heart blooming in my garden today after surviving this weekend's thunder, rain and wind storms.
Bleeding Heart blooming in my garden today after surviving this weekend’s thunder, rain and wind storms.

Then on Saturday I met with my writer support group, a bunch of five authors and writers who talk about what is going on with our writing and our lives. We don’t critique each other’s writing, but we each get thirty minutes to tell what is happening with our life and art.

Turns out three of us had been through some pretty tough challenges in the last two months and the other two had been decompressing at the beach for seven months after moving to their dream location. We all support and help each other out. Writing is a craft we fit in around our pesky regular lives which keep intruding on our work. Personal and weather storms of all kinds don’t stop because we want to write our stories.

In these days of crazy news and even wackier odd things on tv, there is nothing like sitting with writer friends and really listening to each other. We unplug and open our ears to hear each others life stories. It always inspires and recharges me; like a camp fire without the smoke, flying embers and bats.

Writers need writer friends who support and encourage our work, plus hopefully bring snacks. If you don’t belong to a group like this, create one. That is how our group started, I needed one so I asked writers I was compatible with if they were interested. Now, several years later we are still at it meeting every other month for a couple hours.

No one understands a writer like a fellow writer. Let’s face facts, we can be an odd bunch at the best of times. Non-writers think we are in charge of our fiction characters and know what is going to happen. Ha! They also think we just whip out those non-fiction books and articles in no time flat. Nada.

One of my favorite sayings applies to writing, “If it was easy, anybody could do it.” True for both writers and Special Operations personnel; not everybody is cut out for the long gut grinding haul of these two professions. So whether you need a “staff meeting” or a “writer support group,” make sure you have writer friends and buddies to help you along the way.

It’s always a good idea to come out of our writer caves and interact with real people instead of screens and keyboards. Build your writer pit crew today!

How Do We Grow Fiction?

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by Kimberly A. Cook         (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

Saturday I ventured out into the garden for the first time this year to weed, clean and organize. Going about my tasks it struck me this is a lot like what I do when it’s time to edit my fiction first drafts. As I plow through the pages there are things which are fine and then passages which must be weeded, transplanted and some put in the yard debris cart.

Wreath wire or fiction book structure?
Wreath wire or fiction book structure?

A rare gorgeous 77 degree sunny day, I made sure to work my two hours and then save time to read in the lawn swing. First I had to assemble the lawn swing, always fun. One final chore before book break time involved recycling my Christmas wreath from the front door. Don’t judge. Wanted to make sure it was dry, okay?

The process of unwinding the florist wire from the small Douglas Fir branches and the pine cones took longer than I expected. In fact, I had to come up with a plan to corral all the wire. Started making a ball and away the unwinding process went.

As time wore on, it became apparent to me we should hire the folks who assemble these wreaths to rebuild our national infrastructure. With this type of workmanship, our roads and bridges would be good for eons. Thought about quitting at one point, but blast it all I needed to finish it.

When the last bit of wire was off the frame and I’d put the big circle in the metal recycling bin, the ball of wire was the size of a grapefruit. Kind of pretty, too. Took it over to the back porch step to take a couple photos; I never know what I might use in my blog or for a project.

After the wire ball’s Vogue fashion shoot, the above photo is my favorite, complete with wood knot holes on the steps to add character. Wandering over to the herb garden, I discovered the Apple Mint was sending up new shoots so I wouldn’t need to buy one this year. Another good garden surprise, like the life cycle of a writer; even if you try to stop writing, you can’t and you start composing again.

While I sat swinging on the lawn swing enjoying a Kate Carlisle mystery, it dawned on me. Not only does the garden mimic creating fiction, but so did the ball of wire. We fiction writers think we know where we’re going when we start a novel, but on the journey our fiction ball of wire takes a shape all its own.

Fiction becomes a collaboration of our imagination, muse, life history and divine guidance. Whether writing fiction or tending a garden, editing, weeding and keeping at it are skills needed to excel at both trades. Feeling stuck with your fiction writing? Get thee to the garden!

Are We Ready To Spring Clean Our Writing Minds?

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by Kimberly A. Cook             (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

Last Friday I spent seven hours in my home office cleaning and organizing. Actually, my real goal was to find the floor. Seems simple, but after piling different boxes and baskets and rearranging things, it had become a mess. Like the bees working hard in my backyard, spring is a time for new starts and saying goodbye to old projects and failed dreams.

Busy honey bee in my backyard on March 25th doing his pollen collecting job for Spring.
Busy honey bee in my backyard on March 25th doing his pollen collecting job for Spring.

It amazes me how much paper this can all entail. Not only do I hoard office supplies in case a meteor hit leaves me without OfficeMax, but my writer tendencies to squirrel away pieces of paper, brochures, newspaper articles and notes can overwhelm me. When my pile management system is at the point I can’t find anything, including the cat, it’s time for the big spring purge.

As a former journalist, I hold on tightly to what is called “source material.” For the digital natives of the Internet age, this means it is the actual document where something was first said, as opposed to being copied and remade in 8,000 versions by everybody on YouTube.  In other words, in a court of law or an IRS audit, you can pull out the source document and live to litigate again.

That is why one file cabinet drawer is full of all the source documents from the first edition of my book; those files are not going anywhere soon. But, the “this is interesting” and the “I should read this” and the “this would make a great romance story if I ever write about singing vampire cupcake makers” need to move on.

Our writing goals, dreams and desires change over time. That’s okay. I’m looking forward to finally getting my non-fiction work squared away this summer so I can get back to my first love, romance fiction. Military romance fiction that is, where there are storylines with veterans in every book.

But before that happens, all of us have to clean out our old, don’t like and ain’t never gonna happen projects so both our brains and surroundings are ready for new adventures and stories. A favorite de-cluttering book of mine says, “storage is sorrow.” So true.

Let the stories, clutter and paper which no longer work for your writing life loose into the cosmos so they can find the correct writer. We might all be amazed with what we find on our floors and in our minds. Happy Spring Cleaning!

Can Watching Movies Make Us Better Writers?

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by Kimberly A. Cook           (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

Over the holidays I spent a lot of time watching Hallmark Christmas movies while getting over a series of colds. After about 3,000 of those little gems, it was time for a change. Seems I’ve put myself on a tv diet. What we put in our head affects how our writer brains work and my imagination was sick and tired of bad news and grim times, including my favorite tv cop shows.

What to do? Movie-therapy!

http://youtu.be/P1coDNUdV74

We all have our favorite movies, but I have a special group I call Kim’s Classics. These are movies I pull out like old friends to come visit; I know we’re going to have a great time. The trailer for “The Hallelujah Trail” above is one of my go to movie picks. It’s got comedy, romance, military strategy, Brian Keith, drinking, miners and Irish teamsters, just to name a few things.

When I first read Syd Field’s “The Screenwriter’s Workbook,” he made the three act screenplay structure so clear and understandable. When I discovered how Chris Vogler took the twelve steps of the Hero’s Journey and put it together with the three act screenplay structure in “The Writer’s Journey; Mythic Structure For Storytellers and Screenwriters,” First Edition, page 18 – I felt I’d discovered the Ark of the Covenant! “Raiders of the Lost Ark” – gang. (Vogler is up to the Third Edition now, I own all of them.)

Using Syd and Chris’s combined structure outline is how I plot my fiction books. It makes plotting very simple for me. I’m one of those “give me the framework pantsers” and let me run with it type of writers, but only after years of writing too freely in all directions and then having to do major rewrites. Not a big fan of major rewrites – my inner journalist gets quite testy. This way I get the turning points and the Hero’s Journey events outlined and then I know where I start, end and avoid the mush in the middle.

The screenwriting classes I took helped me write better dialogue and even more with book structure. Now when I watch movies I look for the turning points and how the Hero’s Journey propels the movie along. See, learning by watching movies can be fun and educational. If you’re having issues with structure, I recommend reading those two books and maybe tattooing parts of them on your body; they’re that good.

Not every writing tool works for every writer, we have to find what works for us by “Trial and Error,” another Kim Classic movie. So dust off those DVDs and VHS tapes and study! Make a batch of popcorn and fire up the remote. What are your favorite classic movies?

So You Want To Know How To Get Published?

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by Kimberly A. Cook           (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

It might be easier to explain how to build an Ark. From scratch. But since a friend asked for a writer friend, let me give this a shot. A long time ago in a galaxy far away before the Internet, traditional publishing lived in New York City and writers tried to get agents who then submitted their work to publishing companies who decided who would get published.

Then along came the Internet in the mid-1980s and web pages and writers were called content providers. (Always hated that title.) A new product called ebooks came into being in the early 2000s and soon a group of rebels (authors and writers) realized they could overcome the Death Star of New York publishing houses and authorpreneurs/publishers were born in the great Indie publishing skirmishes which continue today.

Are you a cookie, cupcake or pie writer?
Are you a cookie, cupcake or pie writer?

So one decision you need to make about getting published is whether you want to be with the traditionals or join the rebels. But wait! Before you make that decision first you need to figure out what kind of author or writer you want to be for the long haul. This is crucial. I wrote a blog post about this very topic in November 2011, so please read it here.     https://kimberlyacook.com/2011/11/01/which-dessert-would-you-choose/

To summarize the post, decide if you are a one book cookie, a two book cupcake or a career pie. Before you publish any book, please decide if this is a career, a hobby or a one time event. It makes a big difference on how you spend your time and book money.

If you want to go the traditional route, research is in order. Check out www.writersdigest.com and check the listings for agents and publishing houses and the genres they accept in the annual Writers Market, both online and in hard copy. If you want to publish a gift book or children’s book, research those markets. There is a real difference between wearing your writer/art cap and your business/marketing helmet. We have to be able to do both jobs when it comes to the world of publishing.

If you decide to go Print On Demand, self publishing or ebook only, read the blogs I list under Writizing Biz for some great advice and folks to follow. There are pirates and scallywags out there who will take a ton of your money and not deliver the finished product you hoped for, so be diligent in your research and ask advice from others. To thine own book and career path be true.

Don’t be a writer unicorn who gets left off the ark by playing silly games. Strap on your business gear and get ready to enter the publishing wars; power to writers and readers!