KristinaStanley

Dogs and Toys Continued

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 2 Comments

#Dogs

Mother nature can provide free toys. This lab, retriever and rottweiler have figured out how to play nice together.

Even when we gave Chica, Henna and Murphy one stick each, they all wanted the same one. And aren’t they proud.

My only caution about this toy nature gave us. They are sharp and can hurt the dog. Be careful when throwing a stick. It can land with one end in the ground and the other pointing into the air. The pointy end can stab the dog.

Having said that, have fun and play hard! 🙂

Public Versus Private Writing

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 6 Comments

#writetip

To write well, you must experiment. There might be those who can write genius without practice, but who really believes that?

I get nervous when I present new work for the first time to readers. The advanced readers copy is a special piece of work. It means the first comments from someone who doesn’t live in my head. The work becomes public.

So I started thinking about public versus private writing. Private writing stays hidden in the basement of my computer. A room where only I have the key. Okay so it’s a password, but what the hey.

This is the place where I can write whatever I want without worrying about whether someone else will like it. I love this place. It’s a fun place to be where the imagination can soar.

Without private writing, I don’t think I would ever have finished a novel.

Do you have secret writing?

Dogs and Toys

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 2 Comments

#dogs

Do you let your dog play with stuffed toys?

Clearly we do. But there are some drawbacks.

If the toy contains stuffing, then the dog might eat it when it rips the seams apart. That can’t be good for the dogs stomach. To solve this, we’ve found stuffed toys at pet stores that don’t contain stuffing. That probably means they aren’t called stuffed toys 🙂 We also look for toys that don’t have buttons, eyes, or anything else Farley, my wheaten terrier, could swallow.

Chica at 8 weeks old with her favourite toy.

Farley doesn’t have this issue, but our Yellow Lab, Chica did. She thought all stuffed toys belonged to her. That meant, the unsuspecting child walking down the street would innocently hand Chica the toy. Chica consistently ran away with it. The child would cry. Not a good scene. We had to learn to get Chica under control when kids were around playing with stuffed toys. Lucky for us, we returned every toy unharmed and convinced each child Chica was only playing with them.

Any thoughts on toys for dogs?

Discoveries

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 2 Comments

#writetip Blogger and writer Kirsten (Blog: Write a Book with me)  got me thinking about where ideas come from. She wrote the following in a comment on my blog about themes:

In my current revision, I began by exploring secrets we keep and what it might be like to really see what is inside the minds of those we love, and ended up writing about how everyone has a talent, whether hidden or explored, that is unique to them and no one else.

Two things jumped out at me.

First: Everywhere you look someone is asking: Where do ideas come from?

For me, it happens when I sit down and start writing. I don’t mean thinking about writing, plotting, or researching – although ideas pop up during any of these activities – I mean actually typing in words. I think this is what happened to Kirsten. Time in the seat and all that.

Second: The more I write, the more ideas I have. A minor character in my first three novels made his way into my heart. Ten thousand words into my fourth novel, I discovered he was going to be the main love interest. The fourth novel takes place in a different setting and with different characters than my first three, but there he was waiting to appear.  He needed his own book. 🙂

Theme For Your Novel

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 13 Comments

Can having a theme for your novel help you write it well?

I think so. I’m halfway through my fourth novel and a theme helped my name it –

Look The Other Way

 The theme: Is it murder if you look the other way?

What I mean by this is: Say a character could stop a death by taking some action but doesn’t. By the character’s inaction, the person dies. Is this murder?

Does the character . . .

  • Believe he’s committed a murder?
  • Suffer for his own inaction?
  • Alter his future behaviour to make up for his inaction?
  • Think that his inaction was justified? The right thing to do?

By focussing on the theme, I have lots to think about when developing not only the character that let a death happen, but the other characters who are affected by the death.

The name reminds me to think of the theme when I write each scene. That’s gotta be a good thing. 🙂

Is It Ever Too Early To Socialize Your Pup?

~ Kristina Stanley ~ Leave a comment

We didn’t think so with Farley

We picked up Farley, our wheaten terrier, when he was 8 weeks old. My sister-in-law picked up Piper, 8 week old border terrier, the same day.

On our 2 hour ride home, the pups decided to sleep together. Pretty cute. When they arrived home they were greeted by Murphy, a rottweiler, whose home they  entered. Just to be on the safe side, we introduced the dogs outside. Poor Murphy was invaded by puppies for a week. Piper stayed with him, and Farley came home with us.

My only caution is not to leave the dogs alone when they are that young and new to each other. At one point, Farley grabbed Piper by the neck. Quick action by brother prevented any harm from being done, but it did remind us to be careful.

Now look how they get along. Farley looks like he wants to hold hand with Murphy . . .

How do you socialize your dog?

How Often Do you Back Up Your Manuscript?

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 10 Comments

So I woke up one day and my computer didn’t turn on.

Nothing.

No satisfying noises, no flashy colours. Nothing.

Before I started to cry, I thought about when I’d last made a backup of my work.

Three days. Three days of irreplaceable words. Could I find them in my mind again? Maybe. Maybe they would even be better, but maybe not. Now I’m wondering why I don’t print anything.

Three days is too long. What was I thinking? Lucky for me, I think my computer got damp from dew. A day later, after I hadn’t touched it – and that was hard – it worked. All my writing was there.

What did I learn?

  • I back up every night now.
  • I back up onto a separate hard drive.
  • In case we take a lightning strike on our boat, I also back up off site. I use a server somewhere out there on the Internet and put my work there once a week.

How often do you back up? Enough to keep you 🙂 ?

Don’t Feel Like Writing?

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 14 Comments

Sometimes getting motivated to do something, even something you want to do, is hard.

I recently checked out the Sisters In Crime website on the members only, promoting yourself page and watched a video by Meg Gardiner, author of the Evan Delaney and Jo Beckett mysteries, and now I hear her voice in my head. I paraphrased the following from her video.

A neighbour asked her how often she wrote.

She said, “Every day.”

With a look of horror in her eyes, the neighbour asked “Even when you don’t feel like it?”

“Especially when I don’t feel like it,” Meg said.

I don’t know why, but when I am having a hard time getting settled in front of my computer, I repeat this in my head, and it gets me going. Maybe it’s nice to know there are others who love to write, but sometimes have trouble getting to it.

How to you get motivated?

Related articles

Dogs and Shoes

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 6 Comments

Farley, my wheaten terrier, has decided it’s time to empty the closet. Guess boredom got the better of him, or he really likes shoes. He ‘dug’ the shoes out of the closet while laying on his side. When he was happy with the results, he gave me a look that said, “So what are you going to do a about.

And then made himself comfortable. At least he didn’t chew my shoes . . . This time.