WELCOME AUTHOR GAIL KITTLESON

WELCOME AUTHOR GAIL KITTLESON
Thursday, October 16, 2014 by Patti Shene

Featured book: Catching Up With Daylight

Author: Gail Kittleson

Publisher: WhiteFire Publishing

Genre: Redemptive Memoir

Stand alone or series: stand alone

Target audience: boomers/women 40+

I’M PLEASED TO WELCOME AUTHOR GAIL KITTLESON. SHE SHARES INSIGHT INTO SECRETS OF GOOD EDITING IN A UNIQUE MANNER.

GAIL IS OFFERING A GIVEAWAY OF AN EBOOK DOWNLOAD OF CATCHING UP WITH DAYLIGHT. CHECK BELOW TO SEE HOW TO ENTER TO WIN.

SAYING GOOD-BYE

"How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives." Annie Dillard

Recent days have been spent editing my post-World War II story of Dottie, a mid-western gold star mother and widow. Dottie and I have been together about three years now, and an interested editor made some suggestions for the manuscript.

So, last week I deleted fifteen thousand extra words. Yep. I seem to need to say things twice in my first drafts. If I count only this edit (and I’ve completed approximately ten more on this story), that’s about 150,000 deletions, averaging eight letters per word. And spaces.

Last week, morning frost appeared at our house, too, so I’ve been saying good-bye to my dianthus, impatiens, and other flowers. Of course, I moved as many as possible in under the dining room window—pots of rosemary, oregano, chocolate peppermint, and thyme. They’re settling in for the winter, and hopefully the perennials will survive out in our courtyard.

Both gardening and writing fiction teach me lessons in saying good-bye and the results of that difficult task. As Paulo Coehlo writes, “If you’re brave enough to say ‘goodbye’, life will reward you with a new ‘hello.’

I used to give fond farewells to my excess verbiage, too. After all, I worked hard over those babies, and hated to see them go. But not any longer—I’ve learned a lot this past six years since the fiction-writing bug bit me.

By the time this book comes out (my first fiction one), the story will boast stronger, more compact, easier to read sentences and a deeper, more coherent plot. I’ll be thrilled if it finds a crowd of raving fans to adore it.

But I can’t waste time adoring the multitude of words that flows from my fingers. Nope—those delightful, heartfelt phrases I toiled over become an obstacle if an editor doesn’t like them.

I think being codependant helps a writer, in some ways. We’re used to banging our heads on granite, thinking we’ll get different results by trying one more time. After all, somebody has to live out the truth of Einstein’s quote, right?

That’s what it’s taken for me to come to this point—trying, failing, trying, failing, etc.—along with the resilience to bounce back from rejections and continue to study the craft.

Next spring, my crocus, violets, johnny jump-ups, daylilies, lavender and creeping thyme will poke through the earth, ready for the glory of summer. I’ll re-plant whatever hung on in the house through the cold months, and what joy my garden will bring.

By then, if all goes well, I’ll have my first novel in hand and be hard at work on one of the six others I’ve penned to learn the process. Or maybe a new character will pop up this winter, with a story that simply has to be told. Either way, I’ll know that there’ll be plenty of good-byes waiting for me, and hopefully some new hellos.

LEAVE A COMMENT TO BE PLACED IN THE DRAWING TO WIN A COPY OF CATCHING UP WITH DAYLIGHT BETWEEN NOW AND WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 29TH AT MIDNIGHT MST. DON’T FORGET TO LEAVE YOUR CONTACT EMAIL SO YOU CAN BE NOTIFIED IF YOU WIN!

Gail Kittleson lives in north central Iowa with her husband Lance. She enjoys gardening and grandchildren and finally becoming a late-blooming writer, after instructing expository writing and ESL at Eastern Oregon University and community colleges. Facilitating women's retreats and loss and transition workshops occupied her for about a decade, along with her caregiver resource company, The Sometimes Line. Gail writes in January-March from Arizona's incredibly beautiful ponderosa forest. (There's an adverb in that sentence, but she loves the word.)

Catching up with Daylight can be found at Whitefire publishing and Amazon. Visit Gail at her website.

Comments

gail kittleson From Iowa At 10/29/2014 6:34:39 PM

Hey, JoVeta, Thanks for taking the time to stop by - just remember, even though you're not gardening in the earth right now, you're still sowing seeds in folks' lives?don't I know it!!?!

Patti Shene From SE Colorado At 10/28/2014 10:47:03 PM

Hi JoVeta. You are ahead of me since I never had much of a garden to tend. Thank you for stopping by!

JoVeta Wescott From Wichita, KS At 10/28/2014 10:41:39 PM

Gail, I enjoyed your words. Wish you were here to help me garden . Achy bones and joints have robbed me if that joy, but not the memory! I am anxious to read your novel so keep working and saying good bye.

Gail Kittleson From Iowa At 10/27/2014 9:02:50 PM

Davalynn and Elaine, thanks for stopping by. The temp is supposed to be down in the 40's and decreasing in the next few days, so Mary, I needed that reminder of WHY it all has to decay and recycle!

Patti Shene From SE Colorado At 10/27/2014 1:41:24 PM

So glad to see you here, Elaine and Davalynn. Thanks so much for stopping by!

Davalynn Spencer From Colorado At 10/27/2014 11:12:14 AM

Saying goodbye - trimming, pruning, hacking away - the words of our heart is often painful. But it's oh so good for the story. Great post, Gail.

Elaine Stock From Upstate NY At 10/27/2014 10:44:06 AM

Gail, blessings on your current and all future releases.

Gail Kittleson From Iowa At 10/27/2014 8:45:31 AM

Lisa, Alice, and Normandie - Thanks for your comments. And June, I agree, it's nice to have an Over Fifty blog to visit. We still have bachelor buttons and some unnamed wonderful purple flowering bush sending out cheer here- last year we had standing snow a week ago, so this is a treat. gail

Mary From IA At 10/27/2014 8:25:17 AM

Remember, some plants we will receive a final 'goodbye'. Don't be sad. It was their time. This provides a new opportunity to research, select, and plant a new-then follows the anticipation of what is to come. Enjoyed your blog.

Patti Shene From SE Colorado At 10/26/2014 9:03:27 PM

Lisa and Alice, so good you stopped by!

Alice J. Wisler From Durham, NC At 10/26/2014 9:01:39 PM

Gail, I enjoyed your post. I tend to write too sparse and have to beef up my manuscripts or plump them up a bit. Funny, cuz when I talk, I know I use too many words.

Lisa Lickel From Wisconsin At 10/26/2014 7:46:56 PM

Good to see you here Gail. Congratulations on the book.

Patti Shene From SE Colorado At 10/26/2014 7:39:03 PM

Hi June and Normandie. Yes, I think Gail did a nice job of creating the analogy that she did. Thank you both for stopping by.

Normandie Fischer From North Carolina At 10/26/2014 5:26:27 PM

Hey, Gail and Patti. Such fun to read this, Gail. Endings, choppings, all the things that happen in life and in writing. Blessings, Normandie

June Foster From Alabama At 10/26/2014 5:24:41 PM

Gail, I think many are guilty of writing extra verbiage in those manuscripts. At least that was one of my main issues when I started writing. I'm so glad to discover this blog. I definitely belong here with the over 50 bunch. Blessings.

Patti Shene From SE Colorado At 10/26/2014 3:07:51 PM

Hi Gail. Glad you were able to stop by. There's only a few flowers left around here, but when I see one, I think of you!

Gail Kittleson From Iowa At 10/26/2014 2:29:12 PM

Hi Deanna and Patti, Sorry this last week has snowballed, and I'm finally getting here. Glad to know you resonate to my good-byes, too, Deanna. Gail

Patti Shene From SE Colorado At 10/24/2014 10:42:15 AM

Hi Deanna. I adore other people's flower gardens, but have never had the patience to tend my own. Thank you for stopping by!

Deanna From Nebraska At 10/24/2014 8:35:15 AM

Hello to you, yes there is a season, I love how you say goodbye to your flower gardern. If only it was so easy in other areas. Would enjoy reading your book :)

Patti Shene From SE Colorado At 10/18/2014 10:39:42 PM

My problem isn't so much wordiness as it is wanting to work in every scene I write, and some of them are just plain unnecessary!

Renee Blare From Newcastle, WY At 10/18/2014 10:34:04 PM

I can relate to this so much! My husband has always told me I talk too much. LOL Why should I be surprised I do it when I write? I slash a lot of words with my crit partners' and editor's help as well. It's nice to know I'm in good company. :)