2023: Year of the Robins

Posted on May 28, 2023 by peggylchambers

I posted on Facebook this week that our backyard had become a robin maternity ward.  And my little beagle dog was no longer allowed in her own backyard.  That was her yard (and her bathroom) and she wasn’t allowed to go there anymore. The robins said so.

I don’t know how long it takes to make a nest, lay eggs, hatch them, feed the hungry little critters, and teach them to fly but I think we’ve been dealing with the robin nest for about a month. There are two flood lights on the back porch by the dining room window and we didn’t pay close attention to the robin who built the nest there.  We will next time.  Soon we saw the mother sitting on the nest and then later we watched her feed them. 

A few days ago I heard a ruckus and ran to the door to see my husband dragging the dog inside. There was a baby robin in the grass outback.  Evidently the dog did no damage and the little guy hopped and cheeped all over the backyard finally landing in the mostly dead bush by the fence. 

Today my husband announced he HAD to mow the grass. He put on a hat expecting to be bombarded by adult robins. I took the dog for her second walk of the day.  She can’t do everything she needs to do in the front yard with the neighbors watching. That is reserved for the backyard or a neighbor’s yard as we walk. She is certain someone will clean up after her no matter where it lands.

The mowing went smoothly.  The robin parents seem unconcerned now. And in just a short time there are no longer four little heads poking out of the nest, but only two!  My kids didn’t leave home that quickly. The robin parents may be somewhere resting.  The last babies are on their own, not fed as often.  I don’t know if it will fly soon, but my dog wishes it would. We’re hoping this fiasco is over this week and my little dog can have her backyard to herself.

We will be cleaning out a nest shortly and keeping a closer eye on other potential nests in the future.

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2023: One Hundred-Year-Old Treasure

Posted on May 21, 2023 by peggylchambers

When I was young, when I got tired of a room, I’d run to the hardware store, buy a bucket of paint, change the color of the room, and move the furniture around. I’d peruse the Sears or Penney’s catalogue for new curtains and presto/chango, new room. None of that is possible anymore.

I’ve been wanting to paint my kitchen.  I’ve been in this house for 27 years and I’ve re-wallpapered the kitchen once, painted the walls and cabinets once, and it is time once again. It’s the main room of the house next to the living room. But I’m not as young as I once was. I’m hiring it done this time.

Before my husband and I were married, we visited a used furniture store and spent $75 on the table and chairs in the picture.  My mom came up with the buffet later.  A friend refinished them. We raised our kids on them and we are about to have our 51st anniversary.  They’ve been around awhile.  They’ve been in the kitchen and dining room.  I’ve worn out countless tablecloths trying to keep the table in good condition and I’m so tired of tablecloths. 

I thought about painting the dining set. Just the tops and then putting a glaze over the paint so it was waterproof and I wouldn’t have to keep the tablecloth clean.  I know my husband would have hated it. Instead, I took pictures of them and put them through Google Lens to see what they were worth. I found they are 100 years old.  They were made in the early 1900s. 100 years!  A century! That deserves respect.  That deserves a new tablecloth and some furniture polish.

Okay, I won’t paint them. But I will hire someone to get rid of my florescent lights in the kitchen and paint the walls a new color.  I’ll move some art around (I have plenty), buy some new curtains, and change things up a little.

Change is good.  But a century old piece of furniture that has been well loved and well used—that is a treasure.

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2023: Being a Mother

Posted on May 14, 2023 by peggylchambers

It’s Mother’s Day once again. I looked back and I have been writing this blog for over 10 years. By now you should know all about me. I got married young, had my children young, and then quit having children at a young age. I only had two, my grandmother had eight! But the two I had were just enough. Enough to love and enough to keep me busy. I would do it all over again. They are still the light of my life.

I looked for pictures of me when I was pregnant. I remember thinking I was as big as a battleship. I wasn’t. But it seemed that way at the time.

And in what seemed like just a few years, I became a grandmother. Just one at first, then five more in quick succession. I loved kids when I was young and that has never ended, though like most mothers, I needed a break now and then.

I taught half of the City of Enid how to swim at the YMCA and Champlin pool. My kids often went to work with me and they are both excellent swimmers. I taught some private lessons at home pools and also the Campfire girls and other organizations. I also helped with Bible School and was the local Kool aid mom in the neighborhood. Our yard was the meeting place. My husband was a Scout leader and baseball coach. We were the youngest parents in the P.T.A. We were very involved parents and I’m sure our kids wished we’d go away sometimes. But we had the type of jobs that made us available during the day.

Today I am invited to my grandson’s college graduation party. That can’t be possible. I am in awe of him and his perseverance. I have five grandchildren and they are all equally awesome. None of them are children anymore. But they make me happy and make me realize I have a life well-lived.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers out there. May your day be as wonderful as mine.

What are you reading/writing this week?

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2023: External Conflict in Your Plot

Posted on May 7, 2023 by peggylchambers

As a writer for The Wild Rose Press, I attend their Tuesday night chats (http://chat.thewildrosepress.com/) and have learned a lot from editors and other speakers. Lately the Tuesday topic was conflict in stories by Eilidh MacKenzie, a 15-year veteran editing for The Wild Rose Press. With permission, I am going to share some of what I learned. It made me stop and think about my latest WIP and how the conflict was working itself out in the novel.

Last week we discussed internal conflict so this week we will give equal time to external conflict.

EXTERNAL conflict comes from a NEW problem or dilemma or a danger from OUTSIDE of the character’s normal life that requires ACTION.

Example: My boss assigns me to lead a mixed team of human and vampire employees.

The CONFLICT ARC is about change, from one settled state that is disrupted by a new problem… The external conflict arc shows change in the character’s outside world.

Example: My job is boring but secure until my boss assigns me to a mixed team of humans and vampires. In trying to fix this problem through various actions, I discover skullduggery going on in the company’s upper management. I have to cooperate with my vampire coworkers to track down the evidence to take to the company’s president.

The story starts when the outside problem first affects the character strongly enough that her life becomes intolerable or unmanageable without fixing the issue.

The bulk of the book is about her efforts to resolve or overcome the problem.

The external conflict arc is the main plot. The internal conflict arc adds richness to the reading experience, but it’s a subplot. The struggles the character goes through in the main plot affect the subplot by helping her to realize the flaw in her false belief and develop a healthier belief. Ideally, the growth in the character’s internal understanding of the world (or of her relationships or of herself) will give her new insight into how to resolve her external problem in the main plot.

The external conflict is the engine of the narrative; it creates the narrative drive. Without a strong external conflict arc, the pace is slow or nonexistent.

If you want to read more about conflict arcs, I recommend Deborah Dixon’s book on goal, motivation, and conflict, and Janice Hardy’s blog, Fiction University. She has years of short articles there on various writing topics including conflict (http://blog.janicehardy.com/2008/02/lack-of-conflict.html). Jenny Crusie’s frequently hilarious writing blog (https://arghink.com) is packed with mini seminars on writing technique, along with musings on TV and movie plots, her dogs, deep thoughts, etc.

If you’re working on writing a short story, novel, screenplay, etc. conflict drives any story. Check out these ideas to help you make the most of your story.

What are you reading/writing this week?

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2023: Internal Conflict in Your Plot

Posted on April 30, 2023 by peggylchambers

As a writer for The Wild Rose Press, I attend their Tuesday night chats (http://chat.thewildrosepress.com/) and have learned a lot from editors and other speakers. This last Tuesday the topic was conflict in stories by Eilidh MacKenzie, a 15-year veteran editing for The Wild Rose Press. With permission, I am going to share some of what I learned last week. It made me stop and think about my latest WIP and how the conflict was working itself out in the novel.

We’re going to divide this blog up into two parts: one for internal conflict of your characters within the story and then next week, external conflict.  Both are important in story telling to keep the story fresh and vibrant.

Eilidh said the following about conflict:

Conflict is the Engine of Your Narrative Drive. Internal conflict alone is never enough. You need the external conflict as well.

INTERNAL conflict derives from the thoughts, beliefs, and emotions of the characters.

Example: I believe all vampires are evil creatures and must be exterminated.

EXTERNAL conflict comes from a NEW problem or dilemma or a danger from OUTSIDE of the character’s normal life that requires ACTION.

Example: My boss assigns me to lead a mixed team of human and vampire employees.

The CONFLICT ARC is about change, from one settled state that is disrupted by a new problem… through efforts to deal with the disruption with escalating tension… to a climax that resolves into a final new settled state different from the original state.

The internal conflict arc shows changes in the character’s thought, beliefs, or emotions.

Example: I believe all vampires are evil creatures and must be exterminated. I get to know several vampires and find some are helpful and caring. My belief changes to acknowledge that vampires are like the rest of us: good, bad, and indifferent.

When a story is based on internal conflict, there’s a lot of sitting and thinking, musing, agonizing, and introspection. The character isn’t taking action, and neither is the book. The pace is dead.

Any conflict that can be resolved with an honest conversation is not enough to support a plot.

Make sure she’s not just sittin’ and thinkin’. Give her a scene goal relevant to the main conflict or the subplot conflict. Put her in action and make her overcome obstacles to that scene goal. Or not overcome the obstacle and make the situation worse.

Then, when I finally have my coworker chained with silver and under my stake, begging to know Why Are You Doing This??? and I tell her about the vampires who slaughtered my family, she says, “Yeah, I remember reading about that. But it wasn’t vampires. It was werewolves.”…  

All I can say is “Oh. Sorry about this.” The End.

Oops! That fell flat.  Maybe we needed a little external conflict here to round things out for the reader. Stories need both internal and external conflict. Be sure to give your characters plenty of both.

Next week, we’ll talk more about external conflict and how it makes your story better. Be sure to check out the other half of conflict in stories.

What are you reading/writing this week?

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2023: Finish What You Started: Tales From the Slush Pile

Posted on April 23, 2023 by peggylchambers

How many of you have at least three manuscripts on your computer or in a desk drawer unfinished? How many have six? 10? (okay you may have a problem).

As writers we all have brilliant ideas in the middle of the night, in the shower, I have them while I’m working out. (Maybe that is because of all the extra oxygen to the brain.) And in the thrill of the moment, we often begin a story based on that idea. Then what happens? It becomes a great novel, a New York Times Best Seller, a movie, and ultimately the author becomes a millionaire. Or maybe it ends up in a slush pile.

How many of us start a new project, gather the research—write the first three chapters or first three paragraphs—and then go back to your work in progress? Leaving your new manuscript to gather dust. We all do. I started to say, wither and die, but they don’t die. They can be revived with a little breath from the dust-blowing action.

We’re going to talk about those brilliant flashes of fiction or non-fiction that are gathering dust unfinished. We’re going to discuss how to drag them out and finish them. Then we’re going to talk about what to do with them afterwards.

We all have the slush piles. I’m not talking about the publishers who have a pile of discards they delegate someone else to send a form letter of rejection to, but writers have them too.

Writers are artists. And artists have souls which need to be nourished. We need to write just like musicians need to play or sing. And so, we do. Sometimes only to hide them in the back of the closet where the world will never see them. Would you do that to an opera or your signing voice?

Sometimes I look at the stories begun on my computer and make a list with a word count attached. And that is how I decide which one to start on again. Take the highest word count story and finish it. Read it again and see how brilliant it was. You don’t put out crap! It’s great! At least to you, and who knows, maybe to someone else too.

I TRY to put out one book a year. Sometimes that happens.

Once a year or so, after my latest book is published, I look at the slush pile, check the word count, read it again and make a list. I will work on these stories in the order of word count. I make myself finish (with the help of my critique group) one book and then go on to the next. These ideas were good once and they still are.

Give yourself deadlines when you look at your word counts.Writing 500 words per day or 2 pages, will get you 2 novels per year! 500 x 365 = 182,500 words/ 2 is 91,500 and most novels are 85,000 words. I realize that word count is a very small part of writing a novel, but without it, you have nowhere to start.

You need to set goals that are attainable to you. Don’t reinvent the wheel. Find that old story you started and make it work this time. You are already partially to your goal, and you will feel such accomplishment having finished what you started. Then as another flash of brilliance hits your brain, write that idea down so you don’t forget it. It will have its day.

I want you to make a pact with yourself today. Which one of those slush pile puppies will make it to the finished pile this year? They are all worthwhile.

Most important, remembers this: you can only finish what you start. Make them final this time and you will accomplish your goal.

What are you reading/writing this week?

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2023: Enid Author Fest

Posted on April 16, 2023 by peggylchambers

Yesterday I attended the Enid Public Library’s annual Author Fest.  I was in great company with around 40 of Oklahoma’s best authors.  I’ve done this every year since its inception but every year it just keeps getting better.  I sold a few books, talked to the public, but mostly rubbed shoulders with some incredible talent.

This year prior to the festival, the library had a reception and unveiling of the Enid Writers Club’s fourth plaque.  I’ve talked about these plaques for the last few months.  They were made by noted artist, Nancy Russell and Nancy was in attendance. Mayor George Pankonin read the City of Enid’s proclamation they gave to the club for our 100th anniversary. The Friends of the Library hosted the event with a reception and I caught up with old friends.

The headlined author in attendance was Sheldon Russell who has won the Oklahoma Book Award and was named with a life-time achievement award this year by the Oklahoma Center for the Book. Sheldon is a great author, teacher, and mentor to newer authors. 

I will help with this festival forever and have always been honored to be involved in it.  Thank you Enid Public Library and all the great authors involved once again.

Now back to my writing.

What are you reading/writing this week?

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2023: Flatiron Death Grip

Posted on April 9, 2023 by peggylchambers

I may have had more fun than is legally allowed writing Flatiron Death Grip Flatiron Death Grip: Chambers, Peggy, Saenz, Gabriella: 9781953589101: Amazon.com: Books. It is a fun urban fantasy that was born from four of my short stories and it seemed the main characters needed to meet and create a novel of their own. As writers, we are allowed to create worlds where characters can meet. It’s called lying for a living, it’s what we do.

Teasy patrolled the streets at night wearing her lime green F. U. tee shirt from Flatiron University where she wished she could have attended. Like so many people in her neighborhood she’s tired of the criminals like the Gray Wolf gang who’d taken over. Gangs had killed her family and friends and she wanted her neighborhood back. She had the tools to put an end to the criminal activity, but the air pollution in the city was getting worse by the minute. And Teasy and her new gang may have found an answer to that.

The Civil Rights Act had once more been amended, and now included all life forms: humans, werewolves, vampires, and the most hideous, zombies. And suddenly the world was full of them. But could they save the world before everyone choked to death on the pollution?

A fun romp through a world where fantasy becomes reality and the answer to the world’s problems could be sitting in an abandoned subway tunnel just waiting to be discovered.

Teasy just wanted to save her neighborhood. She never guessed; she might also save the world. What are you reading/writing this week?

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2023: Keystone Lake Mysteries

Posted on April 2, 2023 by peggylchambers

My Keystone Lake mystery novels revolve around a young attorney who solves mysteries in her hometown of Mannford, Oklahoma. Local fiction is just more fun!

In the first book, Blooming Justice, https://books2read.com/u/mggv9D Erin helped bring a rapist to justice on the TU campus with the help of her aunt, an attorney in Tulsa. In the second book, Blooming Greed, https://books2read.com/u/men5al the property around the lake is flooding, people are disappearing, and a friend and avid fisherman has drowned on the lake.

Erin Shipley grew up on Keystone Lake before moving to Tulsa and becoming an associate attorney. Now, she’s back, representing a client who is concerned about the flooding and property values around the lake. Properties underwater are being bought and sold for pennies on the dollar by someone called T & H Realty. When her friend’s uncle, Jeff, dies mysteriously on the lake, Erin wonders if it has anything to do with the real estate scam and launches an investigation. The dam is old and zebra mussels are clogging it, not allowing enough water to flow out. If the dam breaks, it will flood downtown Tulsa and areas around it. But that’s not the only danger…whoever killed Jeff isn’t finished with their diabolical plan, and Erin and those she loves are at risk from more than just a dam break.

What are you reading/writing this week?

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2023: Spring Blooms

Posted on March 26, 2023 by peggylchambers

Spring has sprung. These pictures came from tiny grape hyacinths and forsythia in my yard. As I was taking the picture of the hyacinths, a bee buzzed me. I was unable to capture his likeness for posterity but it made me feel good that he felt welcome in my garden. The air has turned warms, some days, and sadly tornadoes filled the sky overnight east of our state. Oklahoma is used to being a target and we understand how you feel. I pray for those who were hit.

But the renewal of spring after a long cold winter is always welcome. As I sit and write in the living room, I watch a robin hopping around the yard, probably looking for a nice juicy worm. The thought is so enticing, his little beak waters. The worm doesn’t feel as excited.

I saw the four o’clocks peeking through the soil pushing the old dead leaves aside. I long to take a leisurely walk and see what else blooms in my neighborhood. There are still some Bradford Pear trees looking like a cloud. They will soon leaf out and turn green—and many things will follow.

My husband has already mowed the fescue once this year and it needs it again. With lawns come work. But thankfully, I have a little patch of green.

As the atmosphere warms and the breeze smells sweet, what are you reading/writing this week?

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