November 15 is the middle. It is the midpoint of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). The middle of November is when sports teams begin assessing their players. Mid November is when teachers prepare tests and look at grades. November 15 promises that Oreo cookie fans may customize packages online (you can Google that). So much happens at the middle. Just ask the “middle” child.

The middle always annoys us.

• “Can I call you back? I’m in the middle of something…”
• “I don’t know what happens! I’m only in the middle of the book.”
• “The middle of the race is brutal. Get ready to hit ‘the wall.’ “

We speak of being in the middle of a mess, the middle child, the middle class, the middle mind, middle age, middle school, middle income, and we always meet up in the middle.

That’s why it’s interesting when writers speak about the – with homage to Jim Butcher – the Great Swampy Middle of their novels. The GSM (for short) is where plots get lost, characters wander off course, the bones of dead and confused are left behind and writers almost always give up. And that is the challenge, to make your way through the Great Swampy Middle and do so without losing the point.

Whether it is your life, or your novel, the GSM can be scary. It’s expansive and full of darkness. Lots of potholes and cliffs. Mountains to climb and sharp things to be avoided. And there are a few simple things that get you through it, safely.

1. Focus. Do not deviate from your path. Whether you are in middle age, middle of the book, middle of the race, you must keep your focus. Otherwise you will veer off course and lose your way, like so many before you.
2. Understand. The middle is necessary. Nothing is achieved by starting and finishing without something happening in the middle. Simply accept that this is how things go and don’t fear it. Necessary means ordinary. Make it less scary that way.
3. Believe. In yourself. Don’t make excuses. Don’t look for a way out. The best way is always through, said Robert Frost (shortest too). Know that you will succeed and you will. It is a self-fulfilling prophecy. When you believe you can, obstacles are smaller. And so is that Great Swampy Middle that looked so immense when you initially began your project, your life, your race, your novel.

I’m participating in NaNoWriMo and I’m deep in the GSM. It feels a bit daunting to be here in a new story but I’m making the trek with purpose and having fun along the way. I have moments of self-doubt and then I ask myself, why? I didn’t doubt when I hit middle age. I’ve never flinched in the middle of anything. So why would I in the middle of writing a novel?

One answer explains it all – fear of failure. Racing, writing, reading, working, living. We fear failing.

Want the truth? The only true failure is the quitter. And that’s not you. And it’s not me. So, Keep Pushing on (Thanks REO Speedwagon) and the GSM will become a memory.

To all the middle children out there, I empathize. I’m first born. Failure is not an option. I’m an Aries, I barrel through. I’m a person, I perservere. I’m a writer.

Do I blanche? No! I am fearless.

Be fearless. Welcome to the Middle. Follow me….

Yours Between the Lines,
Sherry

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****The following items will always appear to keep you posted on activities.*****

WIP (Works in Progress): 
– first novel in the Evening Bower series, about vampires and other supernatural creatures
– fictional memoir
– four-part fairy story

On the Desk: (next reading): Second Olympus by K.A. Stewart

Off the Desk (book just finished): Rogue by Karen Lynch

Coming Soon:  Book Recs, Thanksgiving Musings, and a new Guest Editorial

I’m honored to have met many talented authors from social media and I’m especially delighted when I read an Indie author. That’s why I asked Margie Miklas, experienced and award-wining travel writer, blogger and author to do a guest editorial for you.

Marge and I have not met in person but I’ve come to know her a little from online interactions through Twitter and Facebook. Margie and I shared – and share – a love of Italy (those who know me, know I lived there for several years while I was in the military), a love of good Italian wines and food, and love of travel. When I found out that Margie had Italian roots, traveled to Italy often and wrote about her adventures, well, as has been said, “I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.” We also share a love of photography.

Margie has written two books about her adventures (see below), is an award-winning travel blogger and just recently published a beautiful, coffee table book full of the most gorgeous photographs of Italy you might imagine. She offers perspective, detail,  and her love and enthusiasm for Italy ooze from her.

But she is like the rest of us, too, in that she is learning her way through the publishing quagmire and all the oddities that go with becoming an Indie author. Unlike so many of us, however, Margie has been successful. So I wanted her to talk to you about her journey and experiences.  Thank you, Margie, for honoring me with a visit and I look forward to reading about your continuing adventures!

Margie, take it away…

Some Thoughts on Becoming a Travel Writer

by Margie Miklas

I am honored that my friend and award-winning author, Sherry Rentschler, has invited me to guest post on her brand new site. Thank you so much Sherry. I really appreciate this opportunity.

I believe we can do many things in our lives, no matter the age we might be. A year ago I retired from a satisfying career as a critical-care nurse, and I love the fact that I now have more time to devote to my passions. If you are familiar with my blog or my books, you know that Italy is very close to my heart. I can never seem to get enough of Bella Italia, and I travel there as often as I the opportunity arises. So, of course, writing about my Italy experiences and all things Italian is my passion in life.

I had no idea writing limericks as a child, and creating and editing headlines for our high school newspaper, would foreshadow my future as a travel blogger and a published author. My letters to the editor and my satirical hospital newsletters I wrote were just warm-ups, I guess.

Five years ago I started a travel blog because I wanted a way for my family and friends to be able to follow me while I traveled through Italy alone for three months. The blog was a great way to detail my adventures in word and photos. I found that I enjoyed the comments left by my readers, and the engagement created a way for me to feel connected while I was traveling solo.

Social media was also a way to update my friends, and at that time, Facebook was it. I had no idea about Twitter, Instagram, or Pinterest. Since then, it has become another story, and an important one as far as networking and engaging others with similar interests. But that is another entire post.

After I returned from Italy, I realized that I had a lot more to say, and I decided to write a book based on my travel blog. And that led to a second book, and a third.

I think what determines a writer’s success is passion. When he or she writes from the heart and writes about something for which he or she feels a connection, that is passion. In my earlier writing days, before my blog, I wrote many articles for various online websites, basically content mills, and was happy to be paid a small sum for each article. Some of what I wrote about was related to health and the medical field. When I wrote about travel, and especially about Italy, I felt much more enthused. Frankly, I think the writing was better too, because my heart was in it. So my advice to writers is to write about what moves you. I enjoy reading stories from writers when they write about a personal experience. I find these stories to be inspiring and I have since followed these writers’ blogs and ordered their books.

Another aspect of my writing encompasses photography. I have always enjoyed capturing my experiences with my camera, and have posted thousands of photos on my blog. But in a book comprised mostly of text, photos do not look that great at all, especially in self-published books like my first two. The paper does not do justice to the photos and the formatting frequently gets messed up, with photos not aligned properly and a multitude of other problems.

That is why I was so thrilled to discover a printing company in Canada that made it possible for me to publish a photography book. It has been a dream of mine for more than ten years, and I must thank Sherry for her continued encouragement to finally make it happen. I needed to be assured that the printing quality would be high enough and that the cost could be maintained at an affordable rate. The answer is offset printing, which is different from print-on-demand. With offset printing I had to purchase a large quantity of books upfront, to enable the printing cost per book to be reduced to an affordable sale price.

The other aspect of this is that I needed to teach myself how to work with Adobe InDesign, since I had to format the book and lay out every photo on every page. I learned a lot during this time and the printing company offered wonderful technical support during the process. So if anyone believes the old saying, “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks,” I am here to tell you that is a myth. If you are determined and want something badly enough, you will make it happen.

As someone wrote in a review of my first book, “determination and open-mindedness will allow you to have experiences far beyond your expectations. Age does not matter.” The message is empowering and I would encourage all writers to make this part of your process. I remind myself of this on a daily basis.

–Margie Miklas Margie is an American writer and photographer with a passion for Italy. She writes the blog, margieinitaly. Follow her on Twitter, FaceBook , Instagram, and Pinterest. She is the author of the award-winning book, Memoirs of a Solo Traveler – My Love Affair with Italy and also My Love Affair with Sicily and the recently released Colors of Naples and the Amalfi Coast.

It’s hard to believe October is here. I love this time of year, with the snap-chill in the air, the skitter of drying leaves, the lengthening shadows as days surrender more to night. I’m an autumnal junkie, I guess. And it begins with pumpkins and scary things.

I don’t know how it happened but October means ghosts and pumpkin pie, hot chocolate and candy apples. Fall Harvest was a big event at my elementary school and there were scarecrows and hay bails, apple cider, and homemade fudge. My friends and I would gather together over Girl Scout campfires or over flashlights at slumber parties and tell the most frightening tales we could imagine. Thus, the writer, the storyteller began her early career.

That’s how I discovered Ray Bradbury. Ray wrote The Halloween Tree and I fell in love with it the moment I read it back in 1972. The story traces the history of Halloween and Samhain. A short synopsis:

A group of eight boys set out to go trick-or-treating on Halloween, only to discover that a ninth friend, Pipkin, has been whisked away on a journey that could determine whether he lives or dies. Through the help of a mysterious character named Carapace Clavicle Moundshroud, they pursue their friend across time and space through Ancient Egyptian, Ancient Greek, and Roman cultures, Celtic Druidism, Notre Dame Cathedral in Medieval Paris, and The Day of the Dead in Mexico. Along the way, they learn the origins of the holiday that they celebrate, and the role that the fear of death, spooks, and the haunts has played in shaping civilization. The Halloween Tree itself, with its many branches laden with jack-o’-lanterns, serves as a metaphor for the historical confluence of these traditions.

Though it was a “teaching” story, there was tremendous suspense and foreshadowing within the tale, a sense of dread that “we” (I identified with the friends) might not save Pipkin and the mysterious and somewhat evil Moundshroud would keep him forever.  When the story appeared on television in 1993, the sense of dread was made real with animation and music and Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Moundshroud (what a voice, what a laugh).

I learned the value of a good, scary story. How pacing and playing on emotions can help you draw a reader in. I learned that a tale that includes the reader can suspend reality and be fantastical if the reader connects and feels an emotional investment in the outcome.

And that’s what I want you to get from October. I want you to watch scary movies for fun, of course. But I want you to pay attention to when your heart beats faster, when you lean a little bit forward, when you hold your breath. I want you wrap yourself in the seasonal senses and know this holiday and the Autumn harvest surrounding it. Read short stories about things that go bump. About crimes and ghosts and dreams. You don’t have to celebrate Halloween to appreciate a good story, a delicious fright or believe in vampires to shiver at shadows. You don’t even have to be scared at all to dance in the moonlight or stare in wonder at the shifting stars in the heavens.

But this is a great time of year to hone your writing skills. There are tastes and sights, sounds and feelings galore. ‘Tis the season for fantasy, magic, hobgoblins and dreams. Let the writer in you begin to celebrate October — with pumpkins!

***

Tell me what you are reading? What celebrates this season for you?

I highly recommend The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury. Though the book is considered fantasy for ages 8-12 yrs, it is most definitely not written in a childish way. Adults will appreciate it.

Yours Between the Lines,

Sherry

****The following items will always appear to keep you posted on activities.*****

WIP (Works in Progress): 
– first novel in the Evening Bower series, about vampires and other supernatural creatures
– fictional memoir
– four-part fairy story (part one complete)

On the Desk: (next reading): Halfway Hexed by Kimberly Frost (book 3)

Off the Desk (book just finished): Barely Bewitched by Kimberly Frost

Coming Soon:  Guest Author: Margie Miklas!