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There’s a drive-thru Starbucks in my town with a line of cars wrapped around the building. The wait will take longer than finding a parking spot and ordering inside, but the car is warm and I’m only interested in shortcuts.

I want hassle-free. At my fingertips.

I think the publishing world was misnamed. It should have been the Delayed Gratification Industry. The wait is the hardest piece to endure. The art of perfecting a manuscript feels, at times, like a black hole with many boxes to check. First draft, second and third reviews.

Beta Readers. Social media presence. Query letters. More re-writing.

Revisions–they make me wonder how there are books on shelves or in the hands of digital readers. It can take months, even years, to get the story just right, and even then, there are no guarantees. Those who reach their goals with a seemingly magic bullet leave me wondering if there’s another drive-thru option I’m missing. I feel like I’m stuck in a vehicle behind everyone else. Then, I think about the actual process of from pen to publication. It’s time-consuming and slow for a reason. The hot drink I order at Starbucks always requires that I take the lid off for a few minutes. The liquid needs to breathe to be ready for consumption.

Manuscript preparation is no different. Some personal space is required. It’s time to get out of the car. When I look up the words ‘Sit’ and ‘Sit Tight,’ I find these variations according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary: • Verb – Lie, Rest, to have a location.

• (a) To maintain one’s position without change. (b) To remain quiet in or as if in hiding. What no one told me when I began writing is the time required for doing just that. Sitting. No, not literally in a chair (although that comes with the job). I’m talking about the difficult period from an almost finished manuscript to actually completed. About there can be the most challenging place to be.

This is when I want to run out and throw my work at anyone calling for submissions. Tempting as it is to skip ahead, I pull back. I find a way to give the novel space and air, just like the steaming latte. Put the work away. Let someone else have a read. Take the foot off the gas instead of driving the manuscript until the writing is forced, broken, and disjointed. A literary agent I follow recently wrote the number one reason she rejects a submission is due to the lack of quality in the work.

I’m going to say that again. The lack of quality in the work. There’s a call to action to any writer worried about speeding ahead. The thing about taking the long way is I’m forced to leave my writing idling in the car. I’m reminded that the book life isn’t the only world. Opening the door with the intention to get my favorite peppermint mocha this time of year and finding a table and chairs is resting. I can see friends reuniting.

That couple occupying the same chairs with their books and papers in front of the fireplace. Laptops are open. Headphones are on. A woman checks her phone at the corner table.

Business meetings and morning coffee dates are in full swing. These are people living their lives. They aren’t thinking about word counts or editors or Did I forget to revise that one scene in the middle of chapter nineteen? When the book is truly ready, there will still be agents accepting talent, book launches and Twitter parties, and a right time to show-off a beautiful cover and catching blurb. Most of us in this business are avid readers, and for me, I forget ninety-percent of the stories and I move onto the next.

Be the type of writer who wants people to remember their stories. Where are my waiting writers? This one is for you.

Get your Grande Latte. Create a novel worth the wait. Some other writer will soon look at you, seated in the first position in the drive-thru. The Frederick Coffee Club They are the Frederick Coffee Club. For the last twelve years, five mornings a week, they meet here, although the club itself is more than forty-years old. They have incredible backgrounds (including a former Director for Camp David and a pioneer in Maryland School for the Deaf). They show up, they talk, and there’s a plaque on the wall where their names get added when they pass away.

They could meet anywhere, but they choose here. Each day they are welcome. Their coffee goes beyond a hot drink. A morning in those chairs is meaningful.

Their group identifies with the city, with the changes, but they remain loyal. They, have a table. A writer also needs a table. A dependable place to hash out a story line. Many elements are beyond a writer’s control.

These are similar to those a coffee shop experiences. Disruption in trends, the economy, over saturation of a fierce market. Staying true to a brand goes a long way.

Riding out shifts of the industry. There’s a reason a reader selects the same author again and again: quality, constancy, and reacting to the writing.

The author knows how to draw you back in, to make you sit a little longer, to finish the story. Because you want to connect. Readers long for a story they know themselves. Chapters full of real emotion, dialogue, struggles, mistakes. These characteristics are central to the story.

A writer can’t write for everybody. Braudel Capitalism And Material Life Pdf Editor there. A coffee shop can’t cater to one crowd. I set the tone and I go forward. Eventually, readers move towards books by the same authors.

Then they will recommend them. Word-of-mouth is a powerful force. That’s the art of creating something bigger than a book. Something set apart from a cup of coffee. The challenge is to figure out what is worth your time. Everyone won’t love every author. Everyone won’t enjoy every coffee shop.

The key is to understand when something is right, it’s right. Here’s to the —you get it right. There’s a bakery in Monrovia that has my attention. Have you heard of this place?

Correction: How have you not heard of this place? The words at First Sight come to mind. Three simple words implying an instant reaction. But there’s more to them. There’s more to this bakery than what you see. There’s all the ingredients for making a good story. Our senses include sight, sound, taste, touch, and smell.

They evoke emotion. They help us make decisions about whether we like something or not. They are also powerful tools writers use. Senses can take a reader from scanning the text to experiencing a story.

They make a reader cry, laugh, cringe, and get angry. How does a writer do this? Begin with sight—the most straightforward of the senses to describe a scene. A character draws from objects around her. What does she see upon entering The Buzz?

Witty signs posted on the walls. I don’t have a problem with caffeine, I have a problem without it. Mugs hang from racks.

Cookbooks stacked on the counter. Chairs seated with customers. Trinkets of mini fudge brownies next to the register. A chalkboard sign showcasing specialty custom cakes like Coconut Pineapple with Pina Colada or Carrot Spice with Cream Cheese. A display case full of baked goods drizzled with icing and nuts. A line of guilty pleasure pastries and muffins sit on the counter next to the triple berry scones. Paper menus are printed bi-weekly as the food options change.

Tables are full except for the one in the corner. You see the environment. You form a picture of what this place looks like. The Buzz is all about pleasing the eye with catchy decor and food to match.

But what does our character hear? What does she smell? Background noise, music, uneasy silence?

A visual description alone won’t give the reader the full image. Which is why sound and smell are critical to building a scene. What our character smells will impact her level of hunger and her mood.

She breathes in hints of sugar and spices. The smell triggers another time she was here with that guy who ended up breaking her heart.

Her stomach rumbles. A crack forms in her heart. The noise helps her to refocus. People engrossed in conversations. A group of three men laugh like they’ve known each other forever. Pots and pans clang in the kitchen. The employee behind the counter finalizes a sale and the cash register drawer opens and closes with a thud.

We haven’t tasted the food but our senses are expanding. What does she order?

Build on the story with taste. She orders two scones. Strawberry-banana and walnut. She overhears the owner telling someone to try the Hot Chocolate Bundt Cake and she thinks, Why not? She orders a slice for herself. One might be tempted to write her reaction like this: • The Bundt cake is a sweet and delicious mix of chocolate and marshmallow topping. The flavors are wonderful.

The cake is warm and melts in her mouth. That’s not going to leave the reader panting for a piece of cake. So let’s step this up. Elevate these sentences to something more.

A reader should close the book and run to her kitchen to find something equally as satisfying. Second take: • The enormous slice of Hot Chocolate Bundt cake is big enough for two, maybe even three. Rich and gooey doesn’t begin to do this mass of chocolate indulgence justice. Warm, toasted marshmallow topping mixed with chocolate coats the top.

She sticks her fork into the moist cake and brings it to her lips. She’s salivating before the sugary, sticky, decadent, moist cake greets her mouth like a kiss. Is all she can say. She immediately inhales the next bite. A scene transforms by adding touch. The character isn’t just reading the menu.

Her palm touches the smooth paper. She runs her hand over the stack of cookbooks on the counter. Their spines are smooth and hard. She goes to her table. The manager brings her a cup of coffee with cream on the side. The handle of the small pitcher is smooth against her fingers. Methodically, she stirs her coffee.

The caffeine flavor excites her taste buds. The place is warm. Her body responds to the physical objects around her. A romance-length novel is 80,000 words (in case you’re wondering).

There are many pages to fill.Write using all the senses. Don’t be tempted to create sentences based on only what you see. Step inside the mind of a character.

Try The Buzz. Order from their all-day breakfast and lunch menu.

You’ll find all the ingredients of a place worthy of our character’s time—and yours. 11801 Fingerboard Road Monrovia, MD 21770.

Gravel & Grind – 124 S Carroll St, Frederick, MD 21701 A bike shop + espresso bar. I don’t think a better combination exists. Yet, here I am, at the Gravel & Grind on Carroll Street, in the heart of downtown Frederick, trying to figure out how I didn’t know about this place before. Does the rest of Maryland know? If not, you should. My thoughts are that we have coffee and a bike.

How do they go together? A bike is a mode of transportation. The entire point of riding is to start at one place and end up at another. Coffee is the antithesis of all this movement. There’s a lot of sitting down, taking slow sips, and staying. Put the two together and you get friction.

The same can be true for writing a romance novel. The two main characters must work against each other in the beginning. They don’t immediately go together as a couple. One of them is at a stationary point in life (our coffee drinker). The other is moving in a different direction (our bike rider). A story is divided into three sections. The before, the in-between, and the after.

Characters each carry with them their own bag from the past. A heavy bag full of inner-struggles, faults, even lost dreams. As individuals, they can only avoid their problems for so long. Until the location forces them to meet. A setting is pivotal to the story.

A coffee shop like Gravel & Grind, for example, is where one might start the story. A business man stands outside, debating whether to go inside. He’s never been here before. This isn’t his scene. His luxury car has broken down and he decides to go inside and grab a cup of coffee while waiting for the tow truck to arrive.

He’s in a bad mood. He walks up the stairs to the entrance, passing by the stacked tables and chairs—filled no doubt during better weather. He steps inside the all-brick building. The reader knows he will find something unexpected, as did I upon entering the shop. Immediately a row of bikes lined against the wall catches his attention.

The last time he rode a bike was? It sparks something in him. A reminder of long Saturdays meant for getting on a bike and going somewhere.

Touring the city. Mountain biking in the country. A lifetime ago. He narrows his eyes and sees there’s more than bike riding available.

There’s equipment he can rent for weekend camping. Bikes and camping. He loosens his tie. He wants to ditch his suit jacket and rent a bike. But he can’t. He looks around.

Bike gear and bike racks hang on the wall. Shelves are full of bike-related accessories, mugs, bags of coffee beans, water bottles. Candles are for sale. Camping gear for rent includes a two-person Nemo Tent, mummy bag, headlamp, cooking kits It’s been forever since I’ve camped.

The writer hints that the story might unfold if he would try something he used to do as a kid, something that brought him joy. Large white lights are strung from the ceiling. Around the corner he finds a large coffee bar with a chalkboard menu. The laid-back atmosphere isn’t his type of place, but he looks at the menu, checking out the latte, espresso, even breve (espresso with steamed half & half).

There’s food too, biscotti, bread from local artisan bakeries with a side of almond butter and jam. He orders a mocha with a shot of cayenne pepper, still thinking about how it would feel to rent one of these bikes and tour the city or the countryside, anywhere else—and get away. Mocha with a shot of cayenne pepper She is sitting at the counter off to the side with her laptop open.

Our heroine frequents the place. Cakephp Setup Windows. Her schedule has more time for sipping coffee. She’s trying to figure out how to do life. Maybe, she lives around the corner on Church Street.

This is her place. She bikes in the good weather and camps with friends. She sees him and he sees her.

That’s where a story begins, the moment two characters acknowledge each other. They are now in the same space. “Do you bike?” she says, knowing she’s never seen him here before. Their adventure might be just getting started, but for those of us looking for something in the real world, I’d recommend this place to anyone. Bikes, rental equipment, coffee, all you need is right there waiting for you.