In Which I Squee Like a Fangirl

My son, Connor. The weird thing next to his face is his arm.

So I am now armed with pictures of the little parasite inside my uterus. He's still got some growing to do, mostly his lungs and brain, but in two weeks (I am 35 weeks today) he will be considered completely developed. Which mean the time he spends in the womb afterwards is him just straight up free loading (seriously, I know they are putting on more weight to prepare for life outside, etc, etc). I really can't blame him since he's got a good thing going on in there. I wish I could lay around all day and get feed via a tube. I mean, I do the first part a lot, but I have to get off the couch to get food. How unfair is that?

Moving on from my laziness!

Did you know that James Scott Bell came out with a new book on writing? I know! It's like a belated Christmas present! It's called "Conflict and Suspense". I have his other three books on writing, Plot and Structure, Revision and Self Editing, and the Art of War for Writers. I highly recommend all three books. My copies have tons of little scraps of paper bookmarks in them.

Ergo my agonized debate whether or not I should buy a ebook copy or a hard copy. On one hand, the ebook is a little cheaper and I would get it RIGHT NOW. Let me stress to you the importance of RIGHT NOW. I know it's bad in the digital age we don't want to wait for things, but seriously guys. James Scott Bell. New book on writing, coinciding with me revamping my writing process and analyzing what's working and what's not.

In the end, the little scraps of paper won out and I ordered a hard copy. I now have an estimated delivery date of this Wednesday, or January 17-24th. I have Amazon Prime, which is supossed to give me free two day shipping. But for some reason Amazon says this book doesn't release until the 12th of January, even though it also appears you can buy it right now (RIGHT NOW). So it's currently in limbo and I wait anxiously to see when it will arrive. I downloaded the sample chapters on my kindle, but that just left me wanting more.

While I am waiting, why don't you guys tell me what you prefer out of your reference books, ebook or hard copy? And why? Am I the only one who saw this as a huge dilemma?

The Character Therapist

So I was going to post today about writing the book that is awesome, but that's going to have to wait for tomorrow (you're on the edge of your seats, aren't you? That's right you are.).

Today on Elizabeth Spann Craig's blog she has a guest post. Jeannie Campbell, LMFT, talks about how to use a character as a red herring in a mystery plot. This post itself is fantastic, but I checked out Jeannie's blog and it's chock full of writing goodness.

She's a licensed marriage and family therapist, so she looks at fictional characters from a psychological bent. The results are amazing, especially if you're writing something really character driven. Considering how messed up I usually make my characters, this is a treasure trove of information for me. 

Even if you're writing something less character oriented, I think having a good idea of your character's emotional state as you push him through the gauntlet of your plot helps the reader connect with your character better. 

As Jeannie says on her blog, "Understanding the character’s driving goals and motivation in relation to their emotional state will help you figure out what plot points need to occur to maximize the character’s arc to its fullest potential."