The Importance of Titles

Whether you claim it or not, everyone has a title.  Even the "I don't like to put a label on something" people have a title.  They're the "I don't like to use a label" people. One of my titles is that I'm a writer.  Most people only consider you a writer if you have something published.  Do you want to know what I would tell those idiots, I mean misinformed individuals?  Stick and stones can break my bones, but I write better words than you do!

Titles of books are just as important as the title you give yourself.  A title should have meaning and substance. Simply Flourful has a lot of background!  The obvious is that Sawyer is a baker, hence the flour.  Throughout the book, the bakery guests call Sawyer's pastries "magical," so instead Flourful is a play on the word magical.  However, Sawyer soon realizes that the only "magical" ingredient is simply having faith in God.

A title or label isn't always a negative thing in my opinion.  Christian, Daughter, Wife, Teacher, Writer, and Singer... these are my titles.  Do you have a label?

"We're all in this together..."

No, I didn't just watch High School Musical.  Although, would I lose "cool points" if I told you I knew every song?  The things you need to keep together are your characters.  Everyone in your book needs to tie up their loose ends.  The only objection to this rule is if you want to end on a cliffhanger or if you plan on writing another book that begins where you left off. 

P.S  I hate strongly dislike books that don't have a solid ending.
I began chapter 19 tonight and I'm currently in the process of making sure Sawyer ties up what she can in the book.  My readers are probably going to be upset with where I leave Vikki and James, but they'll have to read my next one to see how it continues.

 It's funny how we're taught to tie things up at such a young age (shoes, bows, string, neckties, trashbags), but yet when it comes to our personal lives we struggle with the thing we learned to do so early in life.

Why are we so afraid of things coming to an end?

Tonight as I finally found time to work on my book, a horrifying thought overwhelmed my body.
 "My book is almost finished!"  To the non-writer you might think this is a fabulous thing because all of your hard work will come to an end. HA!  The hard part has yet to come.  The next step in writing a book is the most daunting task.  You must send your time, sweat, tears, and soul to a publisher in hopes they won't laugh in your face.  After the second or third, "You're just not what we're looking for," you would think the sting would be less painful, but alas it is not!  It's getting picked last in dodgeball all over again.Perhaps this is why I seem to be taking my sweet, precious time to finish. 

Does anyone like to be rejected?  Rejections are like wedgies.  Everyone has to go through some eventually in their life, but the thing you have to remember is to just dig deep within to pick yourself back up again.

Blessings in Disguise

Before I begin this post I would just like to point out that the word "disguise" is the most awkward looking word.  It always looks incorrect to me.  It's not, I checked Mr. Webster.  He's the one man who is ALWAYS right but I digress...I finished chapter 18 this evening.  This was an extremely difficult chapter for me to write.  Why was it hard to write, Amanda?  Well, I'm glad you asked.  I had to incorporate romance, family, conflict/resolution, and the beginning of a tragedy  into chapter 18.

I actually found myself getting teary eyed while writing about the family expressing their blessings they had that year. This tradition was started by Granny Day after Sawyer's mother passed away.  Granny Day's blessing that first year was that she got to see her daughter grow into a strong Christian woman who never lost faith even after the chemo stopped working.

Man, that part really got to me.  It made me start thinking about my blessings.  The only conclusion that I could come up with was, "my cup runneth over."  What are you blessed for this year?