Sheila McIntyre Good
Author, Writer and Lover of Books
Sheila is a fiction writer, essayist, and author of the Cow Pasture Chronicles, a blog dedicated to the art of writing. For more information on her publications, visit her website.
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Self-Editing Checklist
Check out the article, Self-Editing for Fiction Writers: A Quick-Start Checklist from the AutoCrit Blog for this quick and simple start to self-editing.
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Some Hard Truths About Blogging
When I began blogging, I will admit I had no idea what I was getting into. I just wanted to write.
I discovered a few things along the way:
Blogging is hard work.
It takes time, lots of time.
Blogging and writing my novel was a difficult balance.
P. S. Hoffman has written a great article on this very subject. 5 Ways an Author Blog Could Kill Your Writing (and What to Do Instead). Here are some highlights.
Blogging is a huge investment in time and effort.
It robs you of valuable writing time.
...
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Words Worth Repeating
“American traditions and the American ethic require us to be truthful, but the most important reason is that truth is the best propaganda and lies are the worst. To be persuasive we must be believable; to be believable we must be credible; to be credible we must be truthful. It is as simple as that.” Edward R. Murrow
I’d love to hear your comments. Talk to me. Tell me your story. I’m all ears and look for me on Facebook at SheilaMGood, Pinterest, Bloglovin, Twitter@sheilamgood, Contently, and...
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Grins and Giggles
I’d love to hear your comments. Talk to me. Tell me your story. I’m all ears and look for me on Facebook at SheilaMGood, Pinterest, Bloglovin, Twitter@sheilamgood, Contently, and Instagram. You can follow my reviews on Amazon and Goodreads.
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Look, Look, And Look
Before I send my manuscript to the editors, I’m doing my best to clean up my draft copy.
For those of you beginning this process, here are a few tips:
Print out a hard copy – It’s easier to spot errors, holes.
Make notes for obvious holes in the story, and correct grammar/punctuation, redundancies, and repetition.
Turn off autocorrect to avoid missing homonyms ( words with the same spelling but different meaning/ wrong word for the sentence, e.g., pole, pole. Or, the homophones ( words with t...
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Thanks for The Honor
It’s hard to believe it’s been almost a year since I participated in the ChapterBuzz 10K Social Writing Challenge to work on my novel, Hello Hell.
It’s been an honor to meet so many talented writers and read so many extraordinary books. Thanks to Timothy Pike for the lovely feature article on my participation. Read it here, As a writer, how do you overcome paralyzing self-doubt? This author knows how.
Then, get your pencils sharpened, your paper ready, and hop on over to sign up for the upcom...
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Communicating the Old-Fashion Way is So Much Better
If you read nothing else, read Duck-Face for the Deceased by kalanleitch.
A Friend and often guest blogger here in the Cow Pasture takes an honest look at how we communicate condolences on the day of tragedies, whether a local, state or worldwide event.
I realize people mean well, but so often we get caught up in the social media bombardment of the moment. We feel bad. We want to do something, offer our expressions of concern, sympathy, or comment on the “trending sentiments”.
But, stop for j...
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For Every Action
If you remember much from your school days (which is getting harder by the year for this fence jumper) you’re familiar with Newton’s Third Law of Motion – For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction (a force when an object interacts with another interaction).
For example, if I throw a rubber ball against the wall in anger, the wall is gonna push back and one of several things will happen: 1) I’ll catch it; 2) I will miss it and it will crash into my antique lamp; or 3) it will f...
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Man Tantrum
Photo Prompt: Friday Fictioneers @ rochellewisoff
Meg, angry for letting things get so heated, threw the dishcloth on the counter. She pulled the curtain aside and watched the intensity in which her husband attacked the tree; wielding his new chainsaw like a magic wand. Her heart softened as she watched the muscles in his back tighten and glistening beads of sweat plastered his shirt against chiseled features. A more hardheaded man didn’t exist, but then, there wasn’t another man alive who wo...
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This Too Shall Pass
Brutal, cold winds have blown across the Cow Pasture. Scattered patches of dry, brittle grass crunch beneath my feet of a once glorious green landscape. The cows, their heads bent linger underneath trees stripped bare of beautiful canopies, and drink from the trickling frozen stream. Strong and resolute they huddle together and wait patiently for a Spring they know will come.
It has been a difficult month for me. As one of the millions who suffer from a chronic disease, pain has been as much ...
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5 Quick and Dirty Tips on Sentence Structure
As someone working hard this month to complete a draft of my novel, I appreciate posts like this one from Sacha Black and Writers Helping Writers, Getting Jiggy with the Nitty Gritty, or, Improving Your Sentences.
This is a keeper and one I will use to start the editing process when ( notice I said when) I finish my novel. In the meantime, if you’re looking for some quick and dirty tips on sentence structure, check out Sacha’s post and these 5 Tips.
Filtering
Juxtapositions
‘Sense’-ational Se...
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Multiple Writers Personality Disorder
Well, it’s confirmed (sort of), I have a MWPD (Multiple Writers Personality Disorder).
Have you ever wondered what author influences your writing or who you write like? Now, you can find out.
I Write Like – checks which famous writer you write like by analyzing your word choice and writing style and comparing them with those of the famous writers. Analyze your text, here.
I ran my short story collection as well as my current novel in progress through the “I Write Like,” software for analysis ...
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I Believe
After years of writing and hiding my words by a stream in a cow pasture, I have found my voice, and I know what I believe.
I am a conservative, southern woman, a mother, grandmother, and a retired nurse, having served in the profession from 1972 until 1995. Reading, writing, family, and friends are my passion, not necessarily in that order.
I believe in God, that He is in control, even when I’m not.
I believe knowledge is power and investing in the future of our country is not only my duty bu...
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Deny All You Want
The Daily Post Prompt – Deny
There are times I get distracted. You know:
Going into one room to do something only to have another something catch your eye …
Bending down to pick up a cracker crumb from the kitchen floor and noticing the nasty baseboard …
Walking into Walmart for one item and coming out with a cart …
Searching for a document on your computer and spending the day re-organizing your entire file system …
Starting one story and getting highjacked by another …
I have a name for thi...
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Looking for Something Good to Read?
Welcome to this month’s, Stories to Share. Great stories that can be read on your coffee break. So, sit back and enjoy.
My Selection:
As always, let the authors know how much you enjoyed their work. I’d love to hear your thoughts on the subject. Join the conversation. Talk to me or tell me your story. I’m all ears.