April 15, 2009

On TV recently (April, 2009), Robert Gordon a Trauma Psychologist, said about the fire victims that those who hold on to blaming others and do not move on have more trouble overcoming their grief than those who move on (or words to that affect).

This got me to thinking about life in general. I know that I have blamed others for certain things that have happened in my life and regarding those facts, I didn’t move on, or gain the success that I had desired as a consequence to attributing the blame to someone else. Blame is easy. ‘It wasn’t my fault, so and so didn’t…’ When you blame someone else, you are off the hook. I mean, because the blame has been attributed to someone else or something else, ‘I’ or you can feel good about yourself because, after all, ‘It wasn’t my fault.’

You know what though! Success is limited. In fact, success can be very elusive since ‘It wasn’t my fault that I didn’t make it. Nobody told me.’  When you play the blame game, you become a master of excuse making. And, it’s never your fault. it is always someone else who contributes to your lack of success.

Ah! The art of blaming is alive and well. I suppose, over a long period of time I might become depressed, or procrastinate more, but? I mean, ‘It’s not my fault that I feel this way. I can’t help putting things off because others don’t…’  You fill in the rest.

Do you know where blame is alive and well? In the classroom. ‘My teachers are stupid,’  ‘my math teacher can’t teach,’  ‘The teachers don’t listen to me,’  ‘I wasn’t told to hand my work in,’ and so it goes on. With many students, they are never at fault. Failure is defined as being caused by the teachers, ‘why else would a good kid like me fail?’  Again, blaming the teacher, or others in the class is easy, so, failing comes easily.

Isn’t it time to get serious about the blame game? Stop playing! You’ll get know where while you see others as being the cause for your inabilities.

April 12, 2009

In the last blog, I began with the idea of keeping the writing going. “Don’t procrastinate,” I said. Huh! look who’s talking. I have procrastinated for two months now on getting this, my next blog up and going. But I still believe that if you want to get published, you have to keep writing. At least with regards to my book, I am keeping up to date and writing regularly. Well, that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it.

Now that you are writing, keep an accurate record of events, character names, place names and so on. If you don’t, you will be forced to scroll through the pages in search of a name or spelling. Let this record be in writing and on paper. This way, you will always have essential information at hand. And while your busy writing, stay true to the character. Don’t change their behaviour or the way they think- unless you have a plan.

If you use abbreviations, use the same abbreviation style throughout the book. For instance, doctor can be written as: doctor, Dr, dr or Doctor. If you create an abbreviation for your novel, stick to this rule. You might understand the reason for a change in abbreviation, but your readers will get confused.

While we’re on a bit of a spelling thing here, don’t rely solely on the word processor spell check, or grammar check for that matter. Your word processor can be set using a wide variety of ‘English’ styles. There is British-English, Australian_English, US-English and so on. If you are planning to publish in US, set the spell checker to US-English, but check the spelling with a dictionary, and do not rely on the word processors grammar check. It can be wrong very often. Go back to your old English text books, or go on line to check your grammar.

Remember, you are in charge of your book, but poor grammar and spelling errors will not help to get you published. Keep the ideas flowing and stay mentally fit. Your book idea is worth the effort. Keep it up. Write to me if you get confused or if you need a push. Go for it.