Over the last month, I’ve started to put together a life long dream. This is something I’ve tried many times to start, only to be overwhelmed by the size and scope of the project.
I’ve been well meaning and even set aside time, created an outline, did some research, but month after month and year after year the project has gone un-started.
That is until this labor day weekend.
I did something unthinkable.
I started writing.
And the words flowed and the first chapter came into being.
This became exciting and pictures started flowing in my mind, characters were created, and dialog was put on the written page.
My first book is on its way.
The interesting thing is it’s totally different than I thought it would be.
The story is created in my mind and the words just flow.
As the chapters have come together, I realized that I wanted to take this thing called writing to a higher level. I want my chapters to be more colorful, the characters more exciting, and the places more vivid.
I searched the bookstore for help and picked up a few books on writing. After buying a few of them I became frustrated. I knew what I wanted, but I just had trouble creating it. And these books really didn’t help.
Then I saw it, a simple little six dollar book called The Lively Art of Writing, written in 1965 by Lucile Vaughan Payne.
This book, in just a few hours has revolutionized how I write. It has taken my sentences, and made them more complete. It has opened up a vast world of active verbs that add color, action, and vivid description.
And it has given me a new confidence. A confidence that I can truly put on paper the vivid pictures and stories in my mind
Pick this little jewel up and add it to your library.
Soon your writing will shine like the spit shined shoe of a Marine!