Tag: Mandy Webster

Novel Writing, Writing Prompts

Wednesday Writing Prompt: Setting

Mandy Webster
Art
Who is your main character? How did her hometown influence his or her growth leading up to page one of your novel? | Art (Photo credit: A.Currell)

I’ve recently made the decision to throw all of my writing focus into novel writing. This is something I should have done a long time ago, but for some reason paying the bills always seems to come first. Anyway, I’m working on a series of free-writes designed to work out the details of my novel as I am writing it. Over the next several weeks, I hope to post several writing prompts devoted to working out these details.

For this week’s Wednesday Writing Prompt, the focus is on setting. Specifically, the setting in which your main character grew up. Where we came from often has a major influence on who we become. It stands to reason that the setting where your character grew up will have a major impact on who she is in your story. Continue reading “Wednesday Writing Prompt: Setting” →

NaNoWriMo, Novel Writing

Who’s doing NaNoWriMo this year?

Mandy Webster
The setup for NaNoWriMo at home, if I need to ...
Are you ready for NaNoWriMo? | clickthing.blogspot.com/2008/10/tennish-anyone.html (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

November is nigh. It’s time to decide. Are you jumping into National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) this year?

Last year was my first shot at National Novel Writing Month. I didn’t get very far at 11,654 words, but I still found NaNo a valuable experience. As I mentioned in a previous post, last year’s NaNoWriMo really pushed me to look at my writing process and figure out this whole outlining of the novel business. Continue reading “Who’s doing NaNoWriMo this year?” →

Education, Writing Prompts, Written Communication

Wednesday Writing Prompt: The Greatest Longing

Mandy Webster
English: ink and charcoal on paper
What is the greatest longing of your main character’s soul? | English: ink and charcoal on paper (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Quite some time ago, I mentioned that I would be posting writing prompts for you on Wednesdays, but somehow I never managed to follow through. But, have I got a good one for you today!

One of the writing exercises I had to complete for my Advanced Novel Writing course this week included a free-write in which I had to answer the following question:

What is the GREATEST LONGING in this character’s soul? Continue reading “Wednesday Writing Prompt: The Greatest Longing” →

Random Writing Rants

I Need Chaos to Write

Mandy Webster
Reminiscing Summer
Summer might have been sensational if I’d managed to write something. (Photo credit: Lin Pernille Photography)

It’s hard to believe summer is over already. So much for all of that writing I meant to do this summer. I only taught one course over the summer semester, and that was online so I never actually had to BE anywhere. I did a bit of freelance writing, but the work was hard to get this summer for some reason. I had a lot of time to write, yet somehow couldn’t ever seem to get anything done. Now that I’m back to school with a full-time teaching schedule, I suddenly have all sorts of material begging to be written. It seems I need chaos in my life in order to write. Continue reading “I Need Chaos to Write” →

Essays, Novel Writing

Reading and writing a new project

Mandy Webster
Patrick Rothfuss is a sweetheart
“The Name of the Wind,” a novel by Patrick Rothfuss, helped put me in the right frame of mind to get started on my latest writing project.  (Photo credit: Rakka) 

I can’t seem to write without reading. And when I do read, I always end up writing in the same genre I’ve been reading. When I read a lot of poetry, I find myself writing a lot of poetry. If I’ve read a couple of good YA novels in a row, my brain wants to write a YA novel. So, it was no surprise that an idea for a fantasy novel popped into my head right as I was finishing Patrick Rothfuss’ The Name of the Wind a couple of weeks ago.

I was out for my almost-daily walk one morning when a couple of interesting characters began to have a conversation in my head. Normally when this happens, I reach for a pen and paper (or my laptop) and rush to capture these conversations word-for-word. What I usually end up with is a small bit of compelling dialogue that goes absolutely nowhere. Continue reading “Reading and writing a new project” →

Restaurants, Travel, Vacation Planning, Wisconsin

Eat outside at Mullin’s Drive In, Fox Lake, WI

Mandy Webster
Mullin's Drive In restaurant, Fox Lake, Wisconsin
The car hops at Mullin’s Drive In restaurant in Fox Lake, Wisconsin take your order at your picnic table and bring your food to you. No standing in line like most summer burger stands!

On our way home from Amish country Saturday, my SignifO and I decided we wanted to have lunch at some kind of small, family-owned restaurant rather than the usual boring chain. So, when we came across Mullin’s Drive In, located in Fox Lake, WI, we had to stop and eat.

Mullin’s sign boasts their car hops come to your car to take your order, but that’s not all. The property includes a large yard full of picnic tables where patrons can take a seat in the shade while car hops take their orders table-side. A car hop/waitress greeted us as we exited our vehicle and directed us to take any table we liked, and she would be right with us.

Just like at an indoor sit-down restaurant, the waitresses at Mullin’s Drive In will bring your food right to your table. Continue reading “Eat outside at Mullin’s Drive In, Fox Lake, WI” →

Travel, Vacation Planning, Wisconsin

Mt. Olympus water park at Wisconsin Dells

Mandy Webster
The entrance to Mt. Olympus Water & Theme Park...
The entrance to Mt. Olympus Water & Theme Park in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin, USA. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This summer, a gas station down the street is giving away free tickets to Mt. Olympus water park at Wisconsin Dells with every 10-gallon purchase of gas. I’m a part-time teacher/freelance writer, so of course I’m always broke. Deals like these are usually the only way I can take my kids on such extravagant outings, so of course I bit the hook on this one. Approximately 3 weeks and 40 gallons of gas after finding out about this special, I was ready to take my kids to Wisconsin Dells! Continue reading “Mt. Olympus water park at Wisconsin Dells” →

Communication Technologies, Parenting, Random Rants

Remember the phone book?

Mandy Webster
a phone / telephone book / directory Polski: k...
At least the phone book was right more often than not. | a phone / telephone book / directory Polski: książka telefoniczna (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Do you remember when we used to have to rely on the phone book to look up a phone number? Remember how much fun it was to play, “Guess what my friend, Jenny Johnson’s dad’s name is” to try to find the number that belonged to the correct Johnson in the book? I used to think it was a huge pain that the only person whose name showed up in the directory was the person who paid the bill, or at least the person who set up the phone account in the first place.

When I was a kid, I thought it totally sucked having to call down the list of Johnsons and bother a bunch of strangers until I figured out which number was Jenny’s (just kidding, I don’t really know anyone named Jenny Johnson.) But these days, I find myself longing for the days when you knew the phone number listed in the book belonged to the person who was paying the bill at that home the last time the phone book was updated. Continue reading “Remember the phone book?” →

Illinois, Lakes Rivers and Streams, Rivers, Travel

Traveling the Illinois River Road

Mandy Webster
Mandy Webster at Marshall State Fish and Wildlife Refuge near Lacon on the Illinois River
This is me at Marshall State Fish and Wildlife Refuge near Lacon, IL on the Illinois River

Today I am blogging to you from my sister’s kitchen table in Peoria, Illinois. We took the scenic route down from Wisconsin yesterday, straying from I-39 just south of the Abraham Lincoln Memorial Bridge at LaSalle-Peru. We headed west a few miles until we hit highway 26 and drove the Illinois River Road south the last several miles into Peoria.

We were in no hurry to arrive at our destination, as my sister and her boyfriend were working and wouldn’t be home until after 5:30, so we thought we’d take our time and look at some sights along the way. The Illinois River Road turned out to be a beautiful ride, although we didn’t get to see quite as much of the river along the way as I had hoped we would. Continue reading “Traveling the Illinois River Road” →

Random Writing Rants, Social Media

Spellcheck Public Service Announcement

Mandy Webster
Words
Words (Photo credit: Southernpixel Alby.us)

You may have noticed that, when updating your Facebook status, certain words might occasionally show up in the text box with a red squiggly line under them. This red squiggly line typically indicates that you have spelled a word incorrectly.

Whenever this happens, simply right click over the squiggled word and see if a correct spelling is available. Click on the correct spelling and proceed with your status update.

If the correct spelling is unavailable, you can usually google the word to find the correct spelling. Unless you have completely butchered the word, you should be able to easily find the correct spelling using the tools available right at your fingertips. Continue reading “Spellcheck Public Service Announcement” →