At Least It's Not Sideways

So I wanted to share a video and a tip from me today and I went to my file of flip videos and remembered - most of them are sideways. I didn't know the camera only really works in one direction. So, that limited my options and I picked this one of a very friendly dog in Oregon. I didn't even preview it. It was one of two that would work so I picked the dog. What's the point? Sometime you sit down to write and everything comes out sideways or backwards, or worst, there's so little coming out of your head that you feel ridiculous. How can I be a writer when this is what I produce, you might say? Well, we all have those times and that's when you get a soda or a cup of coffee or whatever you require, look again, and find some little kernel works. Dump the rest, and work with the one sentence, one idea, one metaphor that speaks to you. That new beginning should really help.



So what about the dog? That was about my only choice for this blog but we can work with that. This is the kind of scene I like to put right before something terrible happens. Someone is outside throwing a ball to their two very cool dogs. Rusty takes off with the ball. What happens next? Does someone scare your character? Does a mountain lion show up? Does the character get bad news? Try writing a scene that starts out perfectly normal and ends up with your character having a huge problem. The more everyday the scene, the bigger surprise the problem will be. So, now, what happens to Rusty and Lizzy? You figure it out.