Save the Cat

At the recent Romance Writers of Australia conference I attended a workshop by Nina Bruhns (Entangled editor and author). She built on Blake Snyder's "Save the Cat", a book I'd heard about, but never read. This was one of those lightbulb moments and I left Nina's fab
workshop determined to get the book and learn more - including how to write a Beat Sheet.

I'm now halfway through and I am glad I spent the money. I've been slowly weeding out craft books I rarely refer to, or didn't find helpful, or are no longer relevant to the direction my writing is taking me (mostly to save my groaning bookshelf!). I'd promised myself no-more-craft-books. But this one was well worth it. It's a keeper.

All I want in the way of craft books are just 2 or 3 that resonate with me. That I can easily apply to my writing. That will move my writing forward. That I enjoyed reading. "Save the Cat" ticks all the boxes.

I still have some craft books I haven't yet opened *blush*. Not that I didn't buy them thinking they would be useful, or that I no longer want to read them. I do. It's just that time taken reading a craft book could be spent writing. But I think I need to start reading them and flushing out those that I don't want to keep.

Hmm, talking about my keeper-craft books might be a post for the future. But for now, I'm going to reaad another chapter of "Save the Cat".

Have you read "Save the Cat"?

Left Brain versus Right Brain

For years scientists have said there is a difference between the functions of our right and left hemisphere's in our brains. As the text in the image below says...

LEFT:
I am the left brain. I am a scientist. A mathematician. I love the familiar. I categorise. I am accurate. Linear. Analytical. Strategic. I am practical. Always in control. A master of words and language. Realistic. I calculate equations and play with numbers. I am order. I am logic. I know exactly who I am.

RIGHT:
I am the right brain. I am creativity. A free spirit. I am passion. Yearning. Sensuality. I am the sound of roaring laughter. I am taste. The feeling of sand beneath bare feet. I am movement. Vivid colours. I am the urge to paint on an empty canvas. I am boundless imagination. Art. Poetry. I sense. I feel. I am everything I wanted to be.

I am a scientist but I am also a writer. Because of this I've always found it hard to switch between the analytical and creative when writing for work versus writing fiction. So the explanation that the two hemispheres of our brain are wired differently has always made perfect sense to me.

However, a new study suggests this thinking is actually wrong. That the two hemisphere's are cross-wired and it is activity dependant and not wholistic as first thought.

If that's the case, I wonder why I struggle so much with the switch from the science to the creative? Does anyone else have this problem?

Bertolli Olive Oil Made Sexy

I've never linked olive oil and romance reading together, but Bertolli have certainly shown it's possible in this advertisement: