Essay Online

When the verdict was read my client smiled broadly and rapidly turned toward me and shook my hand vigorously and patted my shoulder at the same time. His quickness of movement surprised me and as I stared into his smiling eyes and I saw no relief, only gladness. He again reacted when he saw my look and darted his eyes upward as if to thank the ceiling. He brought his gaze back down as open eyed innocence.

“Thank you much, counselor, thanks to you very much!” This time he spoke his congratulations as he continued to shake my hand. “I knew you were a good one, from what I heard and could see you calculate. You got a very good start and this only proves your worth. You have my utmost gratitude and I’m forever thankful.” He grinned widely then spun around to move toward his wife only a few steps away behind the rail.

A couple of other court observers came over to me but I kept a sideways glance at my client. With narrow eyes I could see their blank look at each other then a slight eye movement toward me from him to her that caused her to smile more yet unmoving her glance. They hugged one another as I turned my attention back to who was talking to me.

“For a youngster like yourself you did a meticulous job drawing the reasonable doubt. This was all circumstantial, and they knew it, but it was all they had. Just think they don’t like the couple, they’re kind of liberal with the kids. Nothing but bias, though a tragedy that kid got taken from their school. Good job, Hank.”

“Thanks, Ben; I really appreciate your opinion. It means a lot to me.” I told the older attorney. I figured he was here mostly to watch the proceedings.

As I gathered my paperwork I glanced over to the exit doors and they were already gone. They didn’t stay around for anyone else. They had just left.

The prosecutor nodded at me as he turned to head for the exit but said nothing. I went back to finish up when I noticed the detective standing at my table.

“At least we got them noticed. They’ll probably end up leaving the city to go further away. We’ll keep that trace on them, through the network, wherever they will land. These kind of people, once they got that taste they’ll have to do it again.” He kept his stare at me. “That kid was molested enough to have caused torture. Then they suffocated him. If we find the DNA match it’ll probably be a drifter they hired to ‘walk’ in around the same time. Then all he could say for the money he was paid they told him to pilfer through the living room to look for more cash and take pocket valuables. Just for an insurance claim, they would have told him. Too bad the living room led to the kitchen where the boy supposedly was making a snack. Holding the kid so hard to keep him quiet must of somehow cut off his air. Then to find the kid in the woods clubbed mercilessly with a log to create a messy distraction could have been anyone that carried him that mile. But it wasn’t.” He looked at the exit. “Didn’t you notice how they responded to the not guilty, counselor? It wasn’t with the stress of the falsely accused. You could see that, couldn’t you?”

“No sir,” I told him, “It was a random act. This city is dangerous.”

“They are,” he replied. Then he left.

As I left there was a couple more handshakes from people. Outside the courtroom I sat down on a bench after the court officer refused to look directly at me. I was young but sharp as I had been told and willing to dig through the details until I could make a point. But this was the first time my gut had started to react. And my observance has become keener. Yes, now I know there is something wrong with their story. Everything too pat in their telling and everything too smooth in what must have happened. I am getting better.

I got up to go back to my office for I know there will be more offers. This will help gain wider notice; these people had money and influence. This case will help me in the long run. What matters is the win.

Whether you’re an author publishing through traditional means or delving into self-publishing, you are going to want the feedback of a good editor or perhaps more than one. The difficulty for authors, especially those choosing self-publishing is when do you take an editor’s advice and make changes and when do you determine you’ve gotten enough feedback? This can be a tough call, and it often comes down to the author finding a happy medium.

The first thing writers need to consider is how many editors are too many? In writing and researching Shades of Darkness, Shades of Grace, over the duration of the project seven editors reviewed the manuscript. Some of them were extremely helpful, taking an objective approach and offering suggestions that made for a better book. Others seemed to check objectivity at the door, letting their personal likes and dislikes influence how they felt the story should develop. By the time the book was completed, I felt as though I had let too many cooks into the kitchen, all fussing over the same pot, either adding spices or removing them.

What I learned from the editors I consulted were two simple things. One, you cannot make everyone happy. It’s just not possible, so you write the best work you can, one that as many reader’s as possible can relate to. Number two, as an author you ultimately have to decide if the suggestions editors make are enhancing your work, or turning it into the work of someone else. Again, it goes back to the idea of authors finding a happy medium that improves the work, but is still your own.

The first editor I contacted was probably the most beneficial. Prudy loved the book, but thought it should begin with the wedding because she believed this was where the story truly started. She also suggested plotting the story on a calendar over the specific number of years the novel took place. In this way, real life events could be woven throughout the narrative, giving the reader not only a sense of place and time, but information that might arouse their interest in other areas related to the story.

Another editor’s feedback was more helpful regarding ways to improve my writing, rather than this particular story. She pointed out little tics in my style &ndash for example using the same word too often, advice which I didn’t just apply to the novel, but every other piece I’ve written. Her observation helped me expand my vocabulary and fine-tune my work. Two suggestions I took issue with was the fact that in the novel Kay and Tim don’t have any children, and that as a minister’s wife, this editor felt Kay should be shown in church more. I thought both points had nothing to do with the story and verged on stereotyping. I made this decision from my own experience of knowing childless couples where a spouse works in ministry.

One positive aspect of consulting multiple editors is that enough voices may convince an author to make a significant change. Out of seven editors, six wanted to see the ending beefed up providing the reader with an enhanced sense of satisfaction and closure. The one holdout was a good friend and her argument was that by expanding the ending, the author was taking the reader by the hand, when she felt their imagination could do the rest. Of all the decisions I made regarding Shades of Darkness, this was by far the toughest. Eventually I relented and significantly revised the ending.

Authors may also find themselves confronted with one editor who changes something, only to encounter another who changed it back. This was particularly true when dealing with the grammatical aspects of the book. The second editor was an old-school English major, so her placement of commas was more extensive. The fifth editor removed what she believed were too many commas and thus we had a full-scale “Comma War.” When the last editor reviewed the manuscript, edited commas were being replaced. What I strongly recommend is authors select a specific grammatical style (such as the Chicago Manual of Style or Modern Language Association) and stick to it.

Ultimately, regardless of what an editor suggests, as the author you need to remember this is a subjective process. The final editor made a suggestion that would have entailed rewriting the entire manuscript in a way that I felt was not beneficial to the story. But because I thought the suggestion had some merit, I compromised and trimmed the scene to a point where I felt comfortable, thereby finding a happy medium.

Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all. - Dale Carnegie

Some of the special skills discussed in writing may have you feeling as if there is really no room for expressing your own personality in your writing. However, there is always a misunderstood need for personal innovation in storytelling. There will always be intriguing stories that defy conventional wisdom.

Children’s author Pamela Jane struggled with the advice she was receiving from others in the field of children’s literature. The suggestion was that Pamela should write about the subjects she knew. She was advised to avoid stories about dolls, fantasy and seasonal titles.

As it turns out, Pamela had just written a story about a doll she had owned as a child and the imagination she used to convey a fantasy Christmas story.

Pamela angrily accepted the advise of her writing friends and set the story aside. However, another friend encouraged her to at least explore the possibility of publishing the story.

“I decided to send it to an obscure regional publisher who might not have heard that seasonal doll fantasies were pass

Few people understand the importance of a ROUTINE when making a pittance…er, I meant a living…as a writer. Where do you work? How do you work? When do you work? These are all questions a selling writer fields with every interview.

Here is the usual answer: I work wherever I am, as diligently as possible, as often as possible. This is my job and I must treat it as such or I will end up eating Oreos while watching Gilmore Girls.

Here is the real answer: Whenever I can’t think of something else to do…including watching Gilmore Girls.

Therefore, in order to write, I must create a routine&ndashaka, RUT&ndashso deep, so intractable, so unforgiving that I have no choice but to write. Sucks, but it’s true. No one (except maybe people whom I despise) actually LOVE writing. I love thinking about writing. I love having written. But the act of putting words to paper is a royal pain in the butt.

Therefore, I must create an environment where a royal pain in the butt is BETTER than the alternatives. In this way, writing is much like exercise. I mean I like the results, but do I really want to lift weights or run on a treadmill? Do I really want to find a new ways to write perky, kick-butt or find the right dialogue for scary villain guy? Heck, no. But I don’t get paid unless I write.

It takes three weeks to establish a habit. Therefore, the initial creation of aforementioned RUT begins with SET A DAILY TIME to create the groove. Write at the same time every day for three weeks. Could be for twenty minutes, could be for ten hours&ndashwhatever works for you.

Though I should say RUTS are really hard to create for ten hours. That’d be like waking up one day and saying, it’s time to run a 10k or put a wall around China. Possible, but do you really want to do that? Every day for three weeks?

Step two is to CREATE A DAILY GOAL. I choose a page count goal. I don’t get to nap or get a pedicure until I’ve written seven pages. One book it took me four months to have enough time for that spa visit. By the way, I recommend starting with a small daily goal then adding up. That’s much better than the way I did it of counting how many pages I need to write daily to make my contract. Panic also works wonders as an incentive, but I digress.

Many people set a timer for their daily goal&ndash30 minutes, two hours, whatever. Unfortunately, I’ve found that a timer only times the moments when I sit in my chair. It doesn’t actually encourage written pages because there’s lovely distractions like e-mail and internet blogs. And that leads to the next step.

Step 3 &ndash REMOVE DISTRACTIONS. I write in certain cafes specifically because they don’t have internet. I know people who have taken all games off their computer. Gasp! The alternative to this is to CREATE INCENTIVES. Bribery is alive and well in my rut-creation world. Finish two pages and then get CHOCOLATE! Whatever it takes. You may not be able to fit your hips into the author photo, but heck you’ll have published books that contain a lovely head shot!

Then finally&ndashCREATE A TRIGGER. You know that fabulous moment when the words flow and everything is right with your creative world? Well, me neither, but I swear we can prepare for those moments by creating a unique trigger to reinforce a writing zone. Scent is a powerful tool. During your three weeks, burn a beeswax candle.

Pretty soon, smelling beeswax will leap you into the creative zone. Not a candle fan or afraid you’ll accidentally set a contract on fire? Coffee works fabulous for me. Smell coffee, engage brain. Taste a soy latte&ndashyes, I really do drink those&ndashit’s time for serious writing! This works in the reverse, too. Taste Oreo? Get ready for Gilmore Girls. Feel sexy lingerie…well, you get the idea.

The ugly fact is that a writer’s life must be filled with self-discipline. If you’re short on that, then either give up on having a paying career as a writer or find a way to mire yourself deep in the writing rut. And who knows, sniff some caffeine and you might just end up on the best seller’s list.

When the verdict was read my client smiled broadly and rapidly turned toward me and shook my hand vigorously and patted my shoulder at the same time. His quickness of movement surprised me and as I stared into his smiling eyes and I saw no relief, only gladness. He again reacted when he saw my look and darted his eyes upward as if to thank the ceiling. He brought his gaze back down as open eyed innocence.

“Thank you much, counselor, thanks to you very much!” This time he spoke his congratulations as he continued to shake my hand. “I knew you were a good one, from what I heard and could see you calculate. You got a very good start and this only proves your worth. You have my utmost gratitude and I’m forever thankful.” He grinned widely then spun around to move toward his wife only a few steps away behind the rail.

A couple of other court observers came over to me but I kept a sideways glance at my client. With narrow eyes I could see their blank look at each other then a slight eye movement toward me from him to her that caused her to smile more yet unmoving her glance. They hugged one another as I turned my attention back to who was talking to me.

“For a youngster like yourself you did a meticulous job drawing the reasonable doubt. This was all circumstantial, and they knew it, but it was all they had. Just think they don’t like the couple, they’re kind of liberal with the kids. Nothing but bias, though a tragedy that kid got taken from their school. Good job, Hank.”

“Thanks, Ben; I really appreciate your opinion. It means a lot to me.” I told the older attorney. I figured he was here mostly to watch the proceedings.

As I gathered my paperwork I glanced over to the exit doors and they were already gone. They didn’t stay around for anyone else. They had just left.

The prosecutor nodded at me as he turned to head for the exit but said nothing. I went back to finish up when I noticed the detective standing at my table.

“At least we got them noticed. They’ll probably end up leaving the city to go further away. We’ll keep that trace on them, through the network, wherever they will land. These kind of people, once they got that taste they’ll have to do it again.” He kept his stare at me. “That kid was molested enough to have caused torture. Then they suffocated him. If we find the DNA match it’ll probably be a drifter they hired to ‘walk’ in around the same time. Then all he could say for the money he was paid they told him to pilfer through the living room to look for more cash and take pocket valuables. Just for an insurance claim, they would have told him. Too bad the living room led to the kitchen where the boy supposedly was making a snack. Holding the kid so hard to keep him quiet must of somehow cut off his air. Then to find the kid in the woods clubbed mercilessly with a log to create a messy distraction could have been anyone that carried him that mile. But it wasn’t.” He looked at the exit. “Didn’t you notice how they responded to the not guilty, counselor? It wasn’t with the stress of the falsely accused. You could see that, couldn’t you?”

“No sir,” I told him, “It was a random act. This city is dangerous.”

“They are,” he replied. Then he left.

As I left there was a couple more handshakes from people. Outside the courtroom I sat down on a bench after the court officer refused to look directly at me. I was young but sharp as I had been told and willing to dig through the details until I could make a point. But this was the first time my gut had started to react. And my observance has become keener. Yes, now I know there is something wrong with their story. Everything too pat in their telling and everything too smooth in what must have happened. I am getting better.

I got up to go back to my office for I know there will be more offers. This will help gain wider notice; these people had money and influence. This case will help me in the long run. What matters is the win.

Have you ever found yourself stuck in your writing like a child on a rocking horse? Rocking back and forth, writing and editing, and wondering why your story doesn’t take you anywhere?

As a writer for a local weekly newspaper, I couldn’t afford the luxury of writing and editing. I just had to write and worry about editing later; there’s something about a deadline that moves you along.

So how do you learn to move beyond the wooden horse, to the real horse, that story or article that will take you across vistas where the sun sets in marmalade skies and where the grass ripples like a green sea?

As a painter, I’ve learned the value of painting from the right side of your brain. The right brain paints what it sees, whereas the left paints what it thinks it should be. I wondered to myself if there were something for writers along these same lines. I discovered there was.

Our brains are divided into two hemispheres right and left and are joined by a strange piece of gray matter called the corpus collusum. The corpus collusum acts like a switching station. In right-brain driven individuals it tends to be larger. The right brain could be referred to as the feminine or creative side (the writer) whereas the left-brain (the editor) could be referred to as the male or logical side.

The left brain provides us with language, syntax, denotation, analytical thought, logic, math, etc. In the right brain, we discover creativity, patterns of sound, metaphor, ambiguities, and paradox.

In right-brain painting classes the teacher gets you to let go of the image of what you think you see, to seeing only what is there and consequently drawing it. This is done by taking a picture, placing it upside down, and covering up all but a little portion of the picture. You begin to draw only what you see on the page. As you move along, you uncover a little more of the picture as you draw. Practice this sometime to learn to free up your right brain.

You may be wondering - do you write upside down? No - you don’t. According to Gabrielle Lusser Rico, author of the book Writing The Natural Way, “if you can speak, form letters on the page, know the rudiments of sentence structure, take a telephone message, or write a thank-you note, you have sufficient language skills to learn to write the natural way.”

In her first chapter, “Releasing Your Inner Writer,” Rico describes the two different hemispheres of the brain as “Sign and Design” Mind. She describes the interplay between the two hemispheres and lets us know that any good solid writing is collaboration between these two talents of the two hemispheres.

In her second chapter lay the real gems. Here’s where we learn to “cluster” or “map” our creative thinking process. She calls clustering the “doorway to your design mind.” The method she utilizes begins with a “nucleus word” or short phrase that “acts as the stimulus for recording all the associations that spring to mind in a very brief period of time.”

You take your nucleus word or phrase and write it in the middle of a page, drawing a circle around it. Then you let yourself free associate. Every thought, feeling, or idea that comes from that word you write down in little bubbles away from that “nucleus word” but attached by a line. You keep going until you feel the shift in your mind to quit. You may have to do this several times before you recognize the feeling. It’s ok - tell yourself it’s just play.

She tells us that this methodology is not “merely the spilling of words and phrases at random, but something much more complex: for the Design mind, each association leads inexorably to the next with a logic of its own even though the Sign mind does not perceive the connection.” This is learning to write from the creative side of your brain.

This methodology of clustering is like throwing a rock into a pond, it unfolds from the center, each ripple, or thought moving outward. After the completion of the clustering, (and you will learn to know when this occurs), you write a vignette, a poem, whatever strikes you, using the words from your clustering spider web and whatever else comes out of you.

What you’ll find is an interesting piece, almost like poetry, with an undiscovered beauty emanating from within you. It’s a very rewarding experience.

With enough practice, you won’t even need to do the “clustering” approach, as you’ll be able to feel the shift internally into that hemisphere of the brain, not unlike shifting into high gear.

Peter Elbow, the author of “Writing with Power” says, “When we were little we had no difficulty sounding the way we felt; thus most little children speak and write with real voice.”

Read your writing aloud. Words are meant to be spoken aloud. When you hear it, you’ll hear those places where it doesn’t flow and you’ll feel it. They’ll stick out of your sentences and paragraphs like stickers in your socks.

As a writer - it’s also important that you allow yourself time. Time to practice, time to play, time to perfect. With time, you’ll discover yourself as a writer. You’ll find your voice. You’ll lift it to sing.

Try different things. Write poetry. Write a movie critique. Write a story. Try writing a newspaper article, a how-to. Try describing the indescribable. Challenge yourself. There’s nothing that says you have to show it to anybody. Most professional writers (and best-selling authors) have scads of journals they wouldn’t even show their best friends.

Writing doesn’t necessarily mean sculpting every word from your mind with a chisel. Your head is not a rock. Be gentle with yourself. Enjoy, kick back, let loose, try this clustering method, learn to relax that muscle between your ears, and who knows, one day, all of sudden, you just might find yourself writing.

Naturally.