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Half-Title
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Copyright
Dedication
Also By Leanne W. Smith
"There Is A Spirit In Every Home That Meets Us At The Door."
1 - A Story Begins With A Disruption To The Heroine’S Daily Life—A Major Disturbance In The Balance Of Things That Throws Her Off Her Footing And Sets Her On Her Rump.
2 - “Rustic Cabin. Built In The 1850s. Original Fireplace. New Windows. Only 70 Miles From Nashville. Perfect Writer’S Retreat.” Airbnb Description
3 - After The Inciting Incident Kicks The Heroine To The Ground, She Has To Decide Whether To Lie There Or Stand Up And Put One Foot In Front Of The Other. If She Can Rally The Reader Has Cause To Cheer.
4 - Nothing Can Remain As It First Appears. If It Does, The Reader Won’T Turn The Page. If The Reader Doesn’T Turn The Page…Well…What’S The Point?
5 - An Artist Must Prepare For The Unexpected. Entering A New Realm Is Frightening, A Risky Proposition With A Real Chance Of Failure, Including The Chance Of Harm And Damage To Your Soul.
6 - "Where Can I Go From Your Spirit? Where Can I Flee From Your Presence?... Search Me, God, And Know My Heart…Lead Me In The Way Everlasting." Excerpts From Psalm 139, Niv
7 - “It Is Not Death That A Man Should Fear, But He Should Fear Never Beginning To Live.” Marcus Aurelius
8 - There Is Something Sexy About A Man In Uniform. Prison Garb Does Not Count. Nor Does Clothing From The Eighties.
9 - Stephen King Said In Secret Windows That Writing Allows You To Step Into Another World, To “Be Someplace Else For A While.”
10 - The Shirelles First Asked The Question In 1960 And Women Have Been Wondering Ever Since: "Will You Still Love Me...Tomorrow?"
11 - There Can Be No Resurrection If There Is No Death. Conclusion Drawn From The Study Of Ezekiel In The Bible
12 - According To Sol Stein, The Fiction Writer's Job Is To Entertain—To Create Pleasure For The Reader.
13 - Twice In Act 2 There Should Be A Plot Twist, A Major Turning Point, Something The Reader Is Not Expecting. Often It Surprises The Writer, Too.
14 - “I Will Put My Spirit In You And You Will Live.” Ezekiel 37:14, Niv
15 - If A Story Comes To You And Takes Root, You Are The Keeper Of The Tale. You May Never Know How It Truly Sprang To Life, But Now Your Job Is To Feed It. See What Kind Of Fruit It Bears.
16 - “Where, O Death, Is Your Victory? Where, O Death, Is Your Sting?” 1 Corinthians 15:55, Niv
17 - “The Job Of The Artist Is Always To Deepen The Mystery.” Sir Francis Bacon
18 - "I Died On A Monday—Same Monday I Broke Out Of Prison. My Name Was Ezekiel Thompson. Everybody Called Me Zeke. I Killed Three People, But Only One From Hatred."
19 - A Writer Pries Open A Lot Of Lids Seeking Truth For A Story. Sometimes She Closes Them Fast, Knowing These Are The Contents That Need To Be Brought To Light, But Sorry To Be The One Given The Job.
20 - “Even Though I Walk Through The Darkest Valley, I Will Fear No Evil, For You Are With Me; Your Rod And Your Staff, They Comfort Me.” Psalm 23:4, Niv
21 - Thoreau Said The Regularity Of The News, In His Case A Daily Stroll To The Village To Hear The Gossip, Was “As Refreshing In Its Way As The Rustling Of Leaves And Peeping Of Frogs.”
22 - In The Artist’S Way, Julia Cameron Recommends Morning Pages. Three, Free-Flowing, Unedited Pages. Get The Toxins Out Of You And Onto The Paper—Fear, Worry—All That Stands In The Way Of The Story.
23 - When Your Heart Lies In Shards Around Your Feet You Think You’Ll Never Breathe Normally Again. Then One Day, You Feel The Vital Organ Pumping. Like The Soar Of A Hawk's Wings Lifting In The Air.
24 - If A Story Idea Comes Floating Down The Aisle And Jumps Inside Your Empty Head (Like J.K. Rowling Says A Boy Wizard Did For Her), Be The Fertile Mind Most Willing To Water It.
25 - One Day You Find Yourself Dancing In The Kitchen And You Know You’Re Going To Be Alright. Every Day Won’T Be For Dancing, But Those Few That Are? Those Few Are All You Need.
26 - Anne Lamott Said First Drafts Are Excrement. (She Used A Different Word.) The Trick Is Editing—Trying To Shape The Pile Into Something More Pleasing.
27 - "Prison Is Where I Finally Became Free." Former Student In The Life Program At Tennessee Prison For Women
28 - We Fall, We Get Up. We Lose, But We Gain Something In Return. We Love, In Spite Of The Risk. So Much Of Life Is Conquering Fear To Reach The Gifts That Lie On The Other Side.
29 - "Telling People You Are Writing A Book, Then Letting People Read It, Is Like Standing Naked On The High Dive." English Professor To A Budding Author
30 - We Spend A Lot Of Time With Our Oars In The Water. Every Now And Then—Exquisite And Brief—We Find Our Rhythm. And For That Moment We Are Perfectly In Tune With All That’S Shining In The Universe.
31 - Frederick Buechner Said “…Humanity Is Like An Enormous Spider Web, So That If You Touch It Anywhere, You Set The Whole Thing Trembling…
32 - “Those Who Cling To Worthless Idols Forfeit The Grace That Could Be Theirs.” Jonah 2:8, Some Niv Translations
33 - A Woman Goes To The Woods To Gain Clarity And Listen For A Story. She’S Alone But For A Ghost. Then A Second Man Shows Up With Several Ghosts Of His Own, Looking For Someone To Mend His Heart.
34 - And That’S How Story Comes. Like A Ghost. A Wisp. An Apparition. Like A Snippet On A Website. Love Seeped Into The Walls Of A Cabin.
Epilogue
Author's Note & Acknowledgements
About The Author
About The Chapter Headings
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