Egad! I have NWS

Well, I've been working through some stuckness in  my novel writing and have discovered that I have a terrible disease.  I have NWS.  In case you aren't familiar, that's NICE WRITER SYNDROME.

Who knew that I'd have trouble killing off favorite characters?  I even have trouble torturing them!  Since I love to read whodunits and especially serial killer and forensics stuff, this just amazes me.  While I'm not diabolically evil, I'm no goody-two-shoes.  A little tasering, a few bullets; it's fiction. What could it hurt?  I should be able to do this.



Of course, the first character I was trying to off is based on a good friend.  Thinking that must be the issue, I moved on to the next character, who was purely fictitious.  But no, I had to go take a walk and several deep breaths before I could wreak havoc upon her.  And then I felt guilty.

There is definitely something wrong with me, and the prognosis isn't good.  Hmmmm...how to become more evil?  Ideas, anyone?  Please save me from a life of writing cookbooks!

Marianne M. Smith
Writer At The Ranch
Making You Look Brilliant One Word At A Time
http://www.writerattheranch.com
wordsmith@WriterAtTheRanch.com

My Morning As Professor Y

Back at work after Turkey Day and I'm having the best time with a new web resource: http://guru.com/. This site is a freelancer's dream, and it's also great if you need to hire a freelancer. And don't just think writing. The site hooks up employers and workers in technology, a myriad of creative arts, and business fields.



I spent my morning putting in a bid to write as a wacky professor for a sci-fi site for kids. Last week I applied to rename 750 works of art for an online art seller. This site is never dull!



Need a lawyer? A writer? A web designer? You can submit your proposal and receive multiple proposals and bids quickly.



Brain-stretching always results from my dances with guru.com. Check it out! Also, I'd love to hear about your favorite web resources. Feel free to post 'em!

Marianne M. Smith
Writer At The Ranch
http://writerattheranch.com/
wordsmith@writerattheranch.com
Making You Look Brilliant One Word At A Time

Writing or Rodeo?

Momma said there would be days like this. Got up in a great mood and went down to the barn to move my Belgian mare to her outside paddock. Seems she did not get up in a good mood and moving her 100 yards took well over an hour. And I thought I had horse whispering skills!

Back to the house to work on some personal writing and get some much needed coffee. Tried to focus on email first but my Newfoundland puppy kept barking nonstop, which is unusual. Checked his views but didn't see anything out of the ordinary. Back to email. More barking.

Finally gave up and went outside to see if I was missing something. The back yard was full of donkeys! Seems some fencing was damaged in last week's windstorm and I hadn't noticed. But the donkeys had. (Donkeys don't usually challenge fencing, but this was not turning out to be a usual day.) Back to the barn to get halters and tools to repair the fence. Then returned the back yard donkeys to the rest of their herd.

And let's see, about that writing...

Writer At The Ranch

Making You Look Brilliant One Word At A Time

http://www.writerattheranch.com/

Ok, It's Official

Ok, it's official! I'm back into writing again in a big way. Ya'll hold me to this: I am going to finish my novel by or before December 1, 2011. I've never put a completion date in writing before, and the novel keeps getting shifted to the back-burner. No more! I'm going to git 'er done.



And check out my updated web site: http://www.writerattheranch.com/. Would love to have feedback from you, whether it's good, bad, or ugly. I promise. You can email me at wordsmith@writerattheranch.com or just post it here on my blog. If you do see typos or outright goofs, please let me know. It's important to my commercial well-being.



More soon, ya'll. Time to do more word shuffling!



Writer At The Ranch
Making You Look Brilliant One Word At A Time