Amber Ravatsaas, Writer

⁣So instead of coming up with a word for the new year, I have set a purpose or plan that I aim to accomplish. My intention this year is to be more intentional. I want to deliberately spend more time with the Lord, my husband, children, family and friends, and less on social media. I want to live in the moment and be with them taking the time to have deep, meaningful conversations, one on one time getting to know them better, and have more experiences than things.⁣⁣
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⁣⁣Have you come up with a word or intention for the new year? I’d love to hear it, drop a comment below!

It’s that time of the year once again, time to roll up your sleeves and pull out that manuscript you need to hunker down and finish or start something new. If you’re anything like me, you love a challenge, and NaNo excites and terrifies you. I’m trying something new this year and will be writing in Dropbox instead of Scrivener. The reason for this change is mainly that I am not computer savvy, and I cannot figure out how to sync my computer with my tablet.

I have set up dropbox to reflect the fifteen beats from Save the Cat and will be writing whenever and wherever I can. If you need a buddy I would love for you to add me, my username is Amberrav.
Will you be participating in NaNo this year?

July is our busy month we celebrate three birthday’s in the family and my uncle usually appears in our neck of the woods for the celebrations. July is also Camp NaNoWriMo and you better believe I will take part! One of the nice parts about Camp Nano is that you don’t have to set a 50k goal, it can be anything you want. I’ll be reaching for that 50k goal but have learned over the last two years that it’s more about quality than quantity. I may get all the words in but sometimes rereading what I wrote gives me a headache. My sweet husband likes to tell me that’s a good thing because it shows you’re improving in your craft. 

If I break my goal down into manageable pieces, it’s easier for me to feel like it’s attainable. So, all I have to do is write 1,613 words every single day. Sounds challenging? No, it means that my computer will come with me wherever I go and I’ll use my spare moments wisely. Time management- something I stink at but am desperately trying to improve. 

What are your writing goals for July? 

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As a writer, I have these thoughts often, am I good enough? Will I ever be good enough? There are amazing writers, I will never be that good. First, I need to stop striving to be someone that I am not and second; they didn’t get there overnight. Practice makes progress, not perfect because none of us will ever be perfect. God has me on the path I am on and I need to stop listening to the voices around me telling me otherwise. 

“Do you need someone to make you a paper badge with the word ‘WRITER’ on it before you can believe you are one?”

–Stephen King

All writers, I have realized, have these same thoughts running through their minds. We all feel as if someone will find out what a fraud we are and our “fake it until you make it” attitude will be exposed for what it truly is. The truth of the matter is we aren’t fake at all. We love the craft of writing and forming words into sentences and pages and books.

“We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master.”

–Ernest Hemingway

Fiction writing is subjective. It’s based upon our thoughts and the things WE imagine and come up with. No one else can delve into your brain and write what you do. We need your voice in the Christian community, your ideas, your thoughts. Don’t hide that creative spark and passion that the Lord gave you.

“Bad writers tend to have self-confidence, while the good ones tend to have self-doubt.”

-Charles Bukowski

I went back the other day and read over my first novel that I wrote; it was awful, and I am not being hard on myself- it was awful. Now I look at my recent work and can see the improvements over the years and areas that still need work. So we work on those areas and we do our best! I’m in a large critique group as a member of the ACFW and it was difficult getting back that first critique from my WIP, but you do not understand how helpful their advice was. I want to put something out into the world that I did my best at, something that I can be proud of. There will be people that don’t like it and I am ok with that because I didn’t write my novel for them. 

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As a mom of three littles and a homeschooler on top of it things get chaotic and busy. My writing life is in the evening when the kids have gone to bed, but that’s also the time that I spend with my husband, clean the house, you get where I am going with this.I’ve been pondering the reasons I haven’t finished my novel yet. One of those being, I haven’t treated my work as a job. To me, it was more like a hobby, something I did in my spare time. 

Balancing life between raising my littles and working on my writing is difficult. Can I do the thing I love and desire without sacrificing my children, husband and relationship with the Lord? Looking at my schedule and the season of life I am in my husband and I have come up with something that works for our family! It will look different for everyone but there is no right way or wrong way to do this. We’ll start small and go from there, one day a week I will either go out or lock myself in the bedroom and write. Once I come home, or downstairs, my computer goes off and I spend my time with my family. It’s a simple change, but it’s a move toward making this more than a hobby.

I’ve learned to bring my laptop with me wherever I go and when I have a moment, I will write. I use the voice recorder on my apple watch to remember things when I am driving, the note app on my phone catches everything else, and my journal goes more into depth about the ins and outs of my day. This helps when I sit to write I can quickly scan my notes and begin writing. All of that to say, I don’t want to waste time when I should be writing. 

What does your writing schedule look like? How do you balance writing with littles?

One of my favorite books I reference multiple times while writing is, ‘Save the Cat! Writes a Novel’ by Jessica Brody. It has become a staple and I have sticky notes and highlighters to prove so. I’m not one for plotting but quickly realized that I needed to be as I rewrote my novel for the fifth time. Not exaggerating! I have put the beat sheets (plot points) outline into my scrivener workspace and followed it hoping and praying that this was it, that I would officially finish my first draft… side note; I’m not, but almost.

 
You may wonder why the book is titled ‘Save the cat’ and that’s a valid question. It comes from the late author Blake Snyder who wrote the original ‘Save the Cat!’ Book for screenwriters. It was a tip he used for avoiding common pitfalls of storytelling, “If your main character starts off somewhat unlikeable, then, in the early pages of your story they should save a cat (yes, like from a tree or a burning building or shelter), or do something comparable that immediately makes the reader root for them, regardless of their original likability.”

All right, so back to why you’re reading this post. Let’s talk about beat sheets and what they are. In the book, there are fifteen beats (3 acts) and Jessica goes over each one giving you examples from other books. She makes it easy to follow and complete each beat; it was the hand-holding I needed! 

ACT 1:

1. Opening Image: A “before” snapshot of your hero and their world.

2. Theme Stated: Briefly alludes to the transformative journey that your hero will take and the flaw or flaws they will eventually conquer

3. Setup: Sets up your hero’s life and their status quo world before everything changes.

4. Catalyst: Disrupts the status quo world with a life-changing event.

5. Debate: Shows how resistant your hero is to change and/or prepares your hero to break into act 2.

ACT 2:

 

6. Break Into 2: Brings the hero into the upside-down world of Act 2 where they will fix things the wrong way.

7. B Story: Introduces the character that who will somehow represent the B Story/spiritual story/theme and help your hero learn it.

8. Fun & Games: Deliver on the promise of the premise of the novel and shows us how your hero is faring in the new Act 2 world (either having fun or floundering.)

9. Midpoint: Marks the middle of the novel with either a false defeat or a false victory while raising the stakes of the story.

10. Bad Guys Close In: Provides a place for your hero to rebound after a false defeat Midpoint or fall down after a false victory Midpoint, all while the internal bad guys are closing in.

11. All Is Lost: Illustrates your hero’s rock bottom (lowest moment) of the story.

12. Dark Night Of The Soul: Shows how your hero reacts to the all is lost and how they eventually break through to a resolution. 

ACT 3:

13. Break Into 3: Brings the hero into the synthesis world of Act 3, where they will finally fix things the right way. 

14. Finale: Resolves all the problems created in Act 2 and proves that your hero has learned the theme and has been transformed.

15. Final Image: Provides and after snapshot of your hero and your hero’s life to show how much they’ve changed.

Detailed and what I was looking for, this book helped me when I direly needed revamping on my WIP. She also reveals the ten universal story genres which helped me nail down what direction would best suit my story. If you’re stuck and need a little extra help, or you’re looking for a new way to plot your story I highly recommend checking out this book!

 

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Anyone else feel this way? Anxiety is the worst, it makes you scared, almost as if paralyzed by doubts and fears. I’m tired of fearing everything, it takes a toll on my thoughts and emotions! Having scripture around my home and memorizing it are two ways that I have slowly started to combat anxiety. What are ways that you have found helpful to overcome it?