Why You Should Cheer for Khatuna Lorig

Who is she, you ask?

Quite the talented lady it turns out. She’s an amazing archer, a past Olympic medalist (bronze in 1992), and she taught Jennifer Lawrence her bow skills for the Hunger Games movie.

See, haven’t we been saying writing and the Olympics are tied together all along? :)

Here’s a great article about Khatuna and her love of the sport.

I share a love of shooting my bow, too, so I’ll be watching the Women’s Individual scores over the next few days and cheering for Khatuna!

How about you?

Tomorrow's "Coach:" Leigh Covington!

Today's Torchbearer: Michael Pierce

Our first coach, teammate and all-around writing Olympian is Michael Pierce. Take it away, Michael!


Thank you, Nicole, for letting me guest post on your blog! I’m so glad to be here. The Olympics are two weeks of pure magic. All of these athletes, the best in their respective classes, inspire me to be the best I can be. There are many “steps to success” lists out there, and from my readings of Napoleon Hill, Anthony Robbins, Jack Canfield, and Wayne Dyer, I’ve compiled my own simplified list. It doesn’t take complicated ideas to bring about great change. A simple idea you’re willing to act upon will work just fine. 

Destined for Greatness

The vision.
It all starts with a vision. Every major success and accomplishment begins with a vision, whether it is starting a company, writing a novel, or striving for athletic greatness. See it, feel it, experience it, and know it is yours to accomplish. Envision yourself at that endpoint, clear and colorful, and know that future pull is inevitable if you move toward it.

The burning desire to make it a reality.
That future pull takes hold once you ignite the burning desire to make your vision a reality. You can dream about a great many things, but a truly burning desire reins you in to a singular purpose. You wake up with that burning desire. It dictates your actions throughout the day, and it’s the last thing you think about before going to sleep. It’s an obsession—a healthy obsession for achievement. Thinking about it is not enough, it is time to…

Take massive action.
This is not dipping your toe in the water, it is taking a running leap and diving in. If you can swim, then you swim like you’ve never swam before. And if you can’t, you tread water until you can. Learn everything you can about what you want to accomplish and take action toward its attainment every day. Some days you may not feel like it, and those are the days that your action is most important. Those are the days you build momentum.

Try until.
There will be setbacks, obstacles, roadblocks—things standing between you and your goal. But they are not failures, which are only products of giving up. Instead, they are undesired outcomes. These barriers are there to stop those who aren’t driven by a burning desire. They are there to see if you will push through fear or allow it to paralyze you. You will find a way through. How many undesired outcomes will you endure before deciding your goal is unreasonable? How many times will you try before quitting and accepting mediocrity? You will try until. That’s the magic step that sets your course for greatness.

Thank you reading. I hope you enjoy the rest of the Olympics. How do they inspire you?

Michael Pierce
www.michaelpiercebooks.blogspot.com
Author of Provex City

That's some awesome advice, Michael. Thank YOU!

Standing Outside the Fire

It all comes down to courage, doesn’t it? Courage to keep writing, to finish, to query, to hold your breath and watch as your dreams become reality. To pick yourself up when the going gets tough, not just in writing, but in life.

I don't know if any of you have seen Garth Brooks' "Standing Outside the Fire" video, but it says this far better than I can.

"Life is not tried, it is merely survived, if we're standing outside the fire."

We all fall now and then. It’s how we get back up that matters. Next time you hit a challenge, ask yourself where you stand.

Tomorrow, Our First Torch Hand-off: Michael Pierce

The Day Eastern Europe Adopted Me

At the Salt Lake City games in 2002, my family went to the Russia vs. Belarus hockey game. I’d never been to either country, but I was about to get a lot closer to each.

As we were cheering about the latest face-smashed-on-glass move, I heard chanting to our right. It sounded like children’s voices. I turned to see three boys, probably about 10 years old, proudly bare-chested with “Bel,” “A,” “Rus” painted across their stomachs in bright red. They clapped and screamed for their team with reckless abandon like the game was the greatest triumph of their young lives.

I have no idea if they lived in the States or somehow flew in for the game, but standing near a trio of kids with ties to half-way around the world put a huge grin on my face! I couldn’t help but get caught up and shout a cheer for Belarus myself.

Later, I turned a few rows behind us and discovered a woman with a Russian flag wrapped ‘round her shoulders. Turns out, she was a journalist in Russia and, since I was studying journalism at the time, we struck up a conversation as fellow writers. It was one of those amazing, uplifting experiences that makes the world seem like a much smaller place.

Plus, now I was really conflicted about who to cheer for! Russia won the game and took the bronze overall, but Belarus went on to win a huge upset game and became a mini-Cinderella story itself.

The game taught me an important lesson. People love someone to cheer for. We crave it on some basic level. If we’re really honest, I think that’s what we’re all looking for in stories, too.

We want to be those screaming fans in the stands. We want to fall in love with the characters, have our hearts broken during hard-fought battles and oh-so-close defeats, and feel on top of the world when the sweet taste of victory finally comes.

It doesn’t matter who you get us to cheer for, as long as we’re cheering!

Me, cheering just about everywhere I could during the '02 Games

Olympic Blog Relay: Opening Ceremonies

The Olympic flame is a powerful beacon. It’s been around since the early Greek ages. Think about that. How many other things have captivated the attention and emotion of humankind for multiple millennia?

The Olympic flame in Atlanta '96 (left) and Salt Lake City '02

In ancient times, Olympic athletes were awarded safe passage through warring territories. Today, more than 10,000 of the world’s best athletes will walk into London’s Olympic Stadium, proudly carrying the flags of their countries. All their dreams and possibilities are before them. And the script has yet to be written.

It’s the same feeling I get when I crack open a new book – I’m excited to learn about these new characters. What will they face? Will they succeed?

I don’t know yet what the ups and downs of this Olympics will be, but I know they’ll come and I know they’ll sweep me up into them.

You can’t ask for a better story than that.

Starting next week, we’ve got some amazing folks to help us harness our inspiration and motivation on this Olympic Blog Relay:

• Michael Pierce
• Leigh Covington
• Misha Gericke
• DL Hammons
• Chris Fries
• Mark Koopmans
• Alex Cavanaugh

I’ll be back tomorrow to kick us off! In the meantime, what are you most looking forward to during this year’s Games?

Coloring the Page: White

Back to the color wheel of synonyms! Today’s spin landed on WHITE. These entries are based on one of my favorite writing tools — a descriptive kaleidoscope of color synonyms created by a gentleman who is blind but had his sight until he was 11.

Check out the details of the tool and previous color entries here.

Alabaster: Translucent or tinted white
Albescent: A moderately white color, fair
Caucasian: White, but generally used as a generic description of white
Chalky: Pale or dull white; can be a light grayish yellow
Creamy: Pale yellow or off-white
Dove: Soft shade of white; often with a hint of warmth
Egg Shell: An off white with yellowish undertones
Ivory: Creamy or off-white; can also be a very pale yellowish white
Lily: Pure white
Milky: Off white
Mother of Pearl: Yellowish white, grayish or silvery white
Pale: Less than pure white
Platinum White: A metallic form of white
Sallow: Sickly yellowish white, pallid
Snow White: Pure white
Vanilla: Strong creamy white with undertones of yellow
Wan: Pale white

How Low Can You Go?

I'm off to vacation in the heartland this week, so I thought I'd leave you with a fun exercise. It’s never an easy feat to reduce a novel’s word count. I’ve learned the best way to do it is through lots of practice. It helps me hone in on exactly what's most important in a scene.

Try your hand at this example from The Hunger Games. Read the original paragraph and see if you can cut it down to 100 words.

Then 75.

And finally 50.

Original Word Count: 181

Sixty seconds. That’s how long we’re required to stand on our metal circles before the sound of a gong releases us. Step off before the minute is up, and land mines blow your leg off. Sixty seconds to take in the ring of tributes all equi-distant from the Cornucopia, a giant golden horn shaped like a cone with a curved tail, the mouth of which is at least twenty feet high, spilling over with the things that will give us life here in the arena. Food, containers of water, weapons, medicine, garments, fire starters. Strewn around the Cornucopia are other supplies, their value decreasing the farther they are from the horn. For instance, only a few steps from my feet lies a three-foot square of plastic. Certainly it could be of some use in a downpour. But there in the mouth, I can see a tent pack that would protect from almost any sort of weather. If I had the guts to go in and fight for it against the other twenty-three tributes. Which I have been instructed not to do.

From The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins


Check out how I attempted it below.

100 words

Sixty seconds until the gong releases us from our metal circles. Step off sooner, and mines blow your leg off. Sixty seconds to take in the ring of equi-distant tributes around the giant golden Cornucopia, which spills over with the supplies. Food, water, weapons, medicine, garments, fire starters, their value decreasing the farther they are from the horn. Only a few steps away lies a square of plastic that could help in a downpour. In the mouth, I see a tent. If I had the guts to fight for it. Which I have been instructed not to.

 75 words

Sixty seconds until the gong releases us from metal circles. Step off sooner, mines blow. Sixty seconds to eye the ring of tributes around the giant supply Cornucopia. Food, water, weapons, medicine, garments, fire starters. Their value decreases the farther they are from the horn. A few steps away, a plastic square could help in a downpour, and in the Cornucopia’s mouth, a tent. If I fight for it. Which I’m not supposed to.

50 words

Sixty seconds until the gong releases us. Step off the circles sooner, mines blow. Sixty seconds to eye the other tributes ringing the supply Cornucopia. Food, water, weapons, decreasing in value farther from the horn. I see a tent. If I fight for it. Which I’m not supposed to.

Onscreen Authors We Love: Alexandra Rover

Next up in our onscreen authors series is Alexandra Rover (Jodie Foster) from Nim’s Island.
Seems like most people weren’t overly thrilled with this movie, but I loved her character in it. She plays a terrified, hypochondriac author who’s literally afraid to leave her house…and she writes adventure novels!

Across the world, a young girl who adores the novels writes to Alex thinking she’s the novel’s main character, who is first-of-all a guy and second-of-all a very Indiana Jones-esque guy portrayed by Gerard Butler. Not at all what Alexandra is in real life.

Alexandra wants to help but really, really doesn’t want to leave her house.

Enter, her main character.

She imagines him teasing her and chiding her to get out there and have a real adventure. Their imagined arguments are hilarious, because as authors, I think we've all had these conversations with characters.

It’s really fun to see this writing dynamic onscreen. And it supports my belief that, by creating our characters, we’re pushing ourselves to be better people in the real world too.

Drought!

Droughts can be powerful things. As usual, I started thinking about how we can use that in writing. What different types of droughts can we put our characters through or use in our plots?

The Classic Drought
This is a great one to use for epic worldbuilding. No rain means the crops fail, people start to go hungry. Are your characters the ones searching for food? Or the ones in charge of supplying it? Will previously warring nations have to negotiate a truce to ensure the food supply in the face of this natural disaster? Is there a fantasy component that can somehow bring the hope of rain? If you have a battle going on in the heat and drought, it brings in all sorts of challenges.

The Emotional Drought
Okay, yes, you can interpret this one in the strict romantic sense about – ahem – being in a dry spell. But it can also mean isolation, lack of friendship or the loss of a loved one. Sometimes, the emotion is still there, but it can’t be acted upon because of distance or a bishop's terrible curse.


The Skills Drought
This is another good one for fantasy writers. It happens when the main character’s magical talent runs dry. Maybe she has a mental block. Maybe daddy disowned him and tossed him out of the realm of demi-gods. Either way, it’s fun to see how your characters solve problems when they’re forced to do it without their greatest tool. It also creates an interesting dynamic with secondary characters. Will they stick with your hero, now that he or she is “human?” Or will they flee to a higher power?


The Rain!
Droughts in writing pack a double punch for readers. You pull them in through the trials of the drought, make them wonder how the characters will make it through, and then…just when things seem darkest…you bring in the rain for a swelling triumphant finish!

Now, if only someone could cue the rainclouds over my house.

How have you used droughts in your writing?

Celebrate "Indie"Pendence Day!

So, the folks over at Indelible Writers came up with the brilliant idea to celebrate “Independence Day” by paying tribute to our favorite “Indie” authors. 

How fantastic is that?!

Here’s my nomination. It’s a great one for anyone who loves historical fiction, especially with some dark undertones.

Title: First, There is a River
Author: Kathy Steffen
Publisher: Medallion Press

Review:
A few words about Kathy before we get into her book itself. She’s an incredible lady. I met her through my local writing studio, and she was one of the first in that group to have a novel published. I love talking with her because you can tell she absolutely loves what she does! She’s gracious, down-to-earth and truly enjoys sharing insights with other writers. I am so happy for all her success!

Okay, on to the book. What I like best about First, There is a River, is the way Kathy weaves together history, a little thriller and a little romance. The book takes place in the late 1800s, during the height of steamboat travel on America’s rivers. It follows Emma Perkins, who seeks refuge on her uncle’s riverboat to escape her abusive husband...and then hatches a plan of her own.

I enjoyed the characters a lot. They hearken back to the good old Mark Twain days, and yet each of them has a darkness, too. One of the most haunted is Emma’s new love interest, Gage, who is scarred in more ways than one by an old steamboat accident. I liked Emma and Gage’s relationship. It unfolds slowly, and it’s raw, imperfect and real.

Kathy’s voice does a wonderful job painting us back into the time period. (Plus, isn't the cover eerie and gorgeous?) If you have a chance, definitely give it a try!

You can learn more about Kathy, her advice to writers and her other two books at her website.

Happy “Indie"Pendence Day!

And if you haven't already signed up for the Olympic Blog Relay, check out the remaining dates here.