What strategies do you use to increase comfort in your daily life?
I start each day by doing a devotion of some sort. If negative happenings occur, I pray and at times talk to someone about it. The Lord’s peace is the best kind.
Author: L. M. Montes
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Hot Air Balloons and Stories
That moment when you start reading a book and the story lifts you up and carries you away.
Excitement for Future
What are you most excited about for the future?
Seeing Jesus face to face.
Rejection
Whatever remains your focus in life, whether it’s writing or something else, there is always going to be some kind of rejection. It’s part of life. How we work with that rejection is what makes or breaks us. I won’t lie, it won’t feel good at first. It’s human to be disappointed and hurt. The truth is, everyone’s likes are different, so it stands to reason that what you write, or do, will not be for everyone.
How to approach rejection:
- Take a deep breath and remind yourself it’s only one person who didn’t like it. You can’t please everybody.
- Ask yourself what you could do to make it better.
- Ask the person who didn’t like it, what was it they didn’t like?
- Use the rejection as a way to improve.
Back in 2019 another author read my first book that had just come out a month prior. He gave it 4 stars and a lengthy review. I was disappointed that I didn’t get 5 stars out of it, BUT in his review he stated what he liked about the book, then he went into what he didn’t like. He was very professional. As I read the ‘needs improvement’ part of his review, ideas began to formulate in my mind about what I needed to work on in my second book. Most of what he talked about had to do with one of my side characters. If I hadn’t had that authors negative feedback, I wouldn’t have known to make those fixes.
So turn your rejections into learning experiences. You will be glad you did.
Letting Go
What could you let go of, for the sake of harmony?
I could say past mistakes, but then I would not have had the chance to learn from them. I have moved on and have let go, so there is nothing left to let go of. I feel at peace in the Lord Jesus. Without Him I would never have been able to free myself from the past.
Favorite Music Genre
What is your favorite genre of music?
Most definitely Christian music.
Memorable Vacation
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, ha ha ha. No seriously, I was four years old, and we had a great time. We, me and my family, lived in Michigan at the time, and we took a two week vacation to Oregon to see my aunt and uncle. It was in the early ’70’s during more simple times. Well, in my four year old mind things weren’t that complicated. I was just focused on playing and having fun. Our two week excursion started out by train in Flint, Michigan and ended in Portland, Oregon. My mom packed snacks for my sisters and me in a suitcase, and all meals were eaten in the dining car.
At that age I sucked my thumb, and I remember one of the waiters enjoyed teasing me by saying he was going to put hot sauce on it. Aside from that, I remember the tables had white table cloths with fine silverware and white cloth napkins. The waiters wore tuxedos with a white linen cloth hung over one arm.
Then there was the observation deck on top, where my older sister and I liked to sit and watch the scenery as it passed by. The mountains in Montana burned such a beautiful impression on my four year old mind to such an extent that I want to make that trip again. Except now I live in Oregon and would travel to Michigan to visit my dad. I take an airplane normally, but next time it’s going to be the train.
While we were in Oregon, I ended up being homesick for a few days. But my mom was an expert at keeping us occupied so I didn’t think about home so much. One thing we did was pile into my uncle’s jeep and take a road trip down the Oregon coast south into Northern California. Along the way we stopped at the Paul Bunyan park (That’s not the official name, but there was a large statue of Paul Bunyan and the bull out front). While there, we walked along the trail through the woods. Along the trail there was a large gate ever so often, and my cousin and I would race to open each one. It amazes me what remains exciting to a four year old.
After we left Paul Bunyan, we stopped for a while at a section of beach. That was my first time seeing the ocean in person. It had such an impression on me that, now, I LOVE going to the ocean. The waves, the sand, the vast expanse of it all, fills me up and gives me peace. It’s an amazing God created beauty and one place where I feel His presence when I am there.
This trip to Oregon when I was four will be cherished always. It was family time well spent and something to look back on in a positive way.
Narrative
When reading a book, I enjoy the story’s visuals brought on by the author’s well crafted writing. Narration can be boring if it isn’t spiced up with words that get the readers attention. Believe me, I’ve read some books that were boring in parts because there wasn’t any ‘flavoring particles’ in the narration. It was just relaying information. I get that information must be conveyed to the reader somehow, but there’s a way to tell/show that entices the reader to keep reading. Make it interesting.
- Keep linking verbs to a minimum and use action verbs instead.
- Use words that depict feeling. Example: The hammering continued its incessant bang, bang, until I my teeth ground. I shot out of my chair, stomped to the window, and opened my mouth to scream at the culprit wielding the damn thing. But then it stopped. Everyday for the last week someone next door hammered like that all day. Yet, when asked what they were working on, the answer was “not a damn thing.”
Below is a paragraph taken from my second book entitled The Cross’s Key. The character’s name whose point of view this paragraph is from is Kyle. He’s in another realm called Between Time, and he’s looking for a particular cave.
‘As he walked, thoughts of his last conversation with Nadira haunted him. Didn’t she have confidence in him? What if something did happen to him here, and the Quivicar was out of reach? How would he get a message to her? He glanced at his left palm. The Quivicar sat nice and mesh with the inside of his hand, an anomaly that occurred when it was in use, so it was unlikely to move. The edges of the inner workings of the artifact glowed a feint golden light.’
However you make your narration interesting, whether using action verbs, words conveying emotion, or by any other means is up to you. But keep your reader turning pages.
Subjects
In my estimation, if one is an authority on a subject, it means they know everything about it. Maybe I’m wrong in that, but that is the how that statement grabs me. Therefore, is anyone, even experts, an authority on any one particular subject? There is always something to learn no matter how well we know it. Why is that? It’s because things change, and there is something else about it hidden around the corner somewhere.
Romantic
What’s your definition of romantic?
Sitting on the beach under the stars 🌟 ✨ talking and listening to the waves trickle toward shore.
