Choosing Charity Blog Tour and Giveaway

01 Aug, 2012 by in terri ferran 12 comments

Fire and Ice is excited to be today’s stop on the Choosing Charity Blog Tour. We have a guest post from the author and giveaway for those who read and comment!

Description of Book:
When Kit learns that her biological mother wants to meet her, it seems her perfect life is about to come tumbling down. With a new job, a husband she adores, and friends all around her, can Kit possibly be expected to risk everything for a woman who left her in a dumpster to die?

Of course, love comes in many forms. Now Kit’s about to learn that when faith and hope aren’t enough, charity can make things right.
Author Terri Ferran is here to give us a little bit of advice about the writing process in her exclusive author post…
“No thinking – that comes later. You must write your first draft with your heart. You rewrite with your head. The first key to writing is… to write, not to think!”(Finding Forrester, Dir. Gus Van Sant. Perf. Sean Connery. DVD. Columbia Pictures, 2000]

Finding Forrester is one of my favorite movies. It re-ignites my love for writing and reminds me of something critical: I can let my fears define me or my dreams inspire me.
But no matter how inspired I am—a cold, hard fact remains: In order to be a writer, I must write. My fingers must punch the keys; the ink must flow; my thoughts must be recorded.
I know this. I want this. Yet I still procrastinate.
Does this sound familiar? Today I want to share a few ways I deal with this problem:

– Open a document and jot down ideas as they come. It helps me empty my brain of the clutter that keeps popping up, and I record ideas before they die of loneliness. I carry a notebook with me for those times I can’t access a computer (and can sometimes even find a pen).

– Read (and edit) what I wrote the day before. This doesn’t work for everyone; some people work better when they completely separate editing and composing. For me, editing my prior day’s work gets me back in the flow of the story.

– When I finish writing for the day/session, I try to write down a sentence or two of the scene or chapter I want to write next. Getting started is usually the hardest part of writing for me, so leaving a next-day prompt is almost as good as an icy-cold Diet Coke.

– Find a routine that works. It might be early in the morning or late at night or bits here and there throughout the day. My routine changes based on the season and work/family demands. There is no one-size-fits-all, but a routine is crucial.

– Imagine I am the character I’m writing. I put myself in the scene and visualize what I would feel, think, and say.

– Set goals and focus solely on writing during that time. It may be 30 minutes, or 1,000 words. I ignore the phone, emails, and that jagged tooth where my crown broke off until I reach my goal.

– I try to think of myself more as a writer. When people ask me what I do for a living I usually say, “I’m a CPA.” I have years of training and experience as a bean counter. I once heard it takes 10,000 hours of practice to master something. Based on that, I’m a quadruple-master at accounting! In the case of writing, the 10,000 hours translates to a million words (roughly ten novels). I’ve only half-mastered the writing craft—no wonder I feel like a half-writ!

Advice I would give to other writers: Take a line from Finding Forrester and remember to write with your heart. That’s scary, because the heart is fragile. But the head is much tougher and perfect for rewrites. That may be why we’ve been given both.
 
Author Bio:  Terri Ferran grew up in a small Colorado town that offered little in the way of entertainment. She escaped through reading (and later on a Continental Trailways bus), and although the town didn’t have a library, she eagerly anticipated the coming of the Bookmobile and would check out stacks of books at a time.
She moved to Utah as a high school senior where she joined the LDS Church and met her husband, Tod. She dreamed of being a writer but took the safe route of becoming a CPA. She finally got brave enough to quit working in the world of numbers to pursue her dream of writing and also to spend more time with her children. Her first book, Finding Faith was published in 2007 and she is excited to be living her dream of writing in real life.
Terri still loves to read, but she can usually be found writing, doing laundry, dishes, running errands, napping, eating chocolate, or exercising (not necessarily in that order).
Find out more on her website
 
Launch Party Info: The official launch party for Choosing Charity will be held on August 11th from 3-7 PM at Seagull Book in The District in South Jordan. Terri will be joined by three other authors: Diony George, Carla Kelly, and Wendy Paul. Prizes and refreshments will be offered so come join the fun!

Grand Prize Giveaway Info: As part of the tour, Terri is generously offering a grand prize giveaway of the Faith, Hope, and Charity trilogy, including hard copies of Finding Faith, Having Hope, and Choosing Charity. All you have to do to enter is leave a comment on this post or any of the other stops on the tour. (Visit  the tour page for the full tour schedule.) The more stops you comment on, the more entries you have into the contest!

Fire and Ice Giveaway Info: Here at Fire and Ice you have the chance to win as well! Terri has offered a  hard copy of her non-fiction book, Life’s Alphabet Soup: When Your Children Make You Eat Your Words and an ebook ARC of Choosing Charity. One winner will be chose from the blog comments below.

12 Responses to “Choosing Charity Blog Tour and Giveaway”

  1. Marsha Ward

    Great advice, Terri! I like the point about imagining yourself as the character. It really helps to do that. Thanks for hosting the post, Heather.

    Reply
  2. Gayle

    I’m not a writer, but it’s interesting to read about some of the process. These books sound wonderful — I can’t wait to read them.

    Reply

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