Nadene R. Carter developed the concepts in this craft of writing book while creating her two novels, A Cobweb on the Soul and Echoes of Silence. She further polished the concepts while working with other writers as an editor and writing coach. She lives in northern Utah in a rural setting with her husband, Royce; two horses, two cats, and Rico--a rule-the-roost MinPin dog. Besides writing, she enjoys working with her hands: gardening, knitting, crocheting, spinning, and weaving.

I’ve edited other writers’ work since 1999. When I found an error in a manuscript, I made note of it to the author, along with what the author needed to do to correct that error. I also moved that entry to a folder I created especially for problems. As my editing work progressed, whenever I found an error, I checked that "problem folder" first. If I had already created verbiage about that error, I copied, pasted, and personalized it for this particular author.

Soon, it became time-consuming to locate an entry, so I created subfolders and organized the topics within the subfolders. In 2005 I recognized that the information I had saved in those subfolders might be worked into a Craft of Writing book. I worked on it occasionally when I had downtime from my other work. Then during the 2006 Christmas holidays, I had a good chunk of time to work on the book and realized that, with a bit of polishing, I could have the rough draft of the book completed quite soon. I made the work a priority, finished the rough draft, worked through three rewrites, and handed it off to my editor. I’m thrilled with the end result.

I completed the rough draft of the manuscript and sent it to my Editor in Chief, Margaret I. Carr, to see if I had included all the necessary information so a beginning writer could follow the process. Unbeknownst to me, my dominant sensory mode is visual, and I use the tactile to reinforce the visual mode. I had created all of the material from the perspective of the "visual learner".

On the other hand, Margaret is a strong auditory learner. None of the exercises that I’d created to reinforce the learning experience for the student included anything to help the auditory or tactile learner. Margaret suggested that I research the learning styles and sensory modes and revise the book to include that information.

I put the project on hold while I did the research. When I felt confident that I had a good understanding of the concepts, I started at the beginning of the book and incorporated additional text as well as exercises that target all of the learning styles/sensory modes.

Writing a novel is a process. The author must understand many interlinking concepts to write a novel. Simply reading my book will not make that happen; however, if a person is willing to take the time to study the concepts and work through the exercises, he can complete a novel.

Right now I’m working through the planning process to write a sequel to A Cobweb on the Soul. Abby Carlson is faced with a problem where she must find her birth parents. Will long-hidden secrets withstand the light of scrutiny? Will upstanding citizens see their reputations crumble if those secrets are revealed? Would someone be willing to kill to keep the secrets hidden? What if Abby’s birth mother thought the baby was stillborn? I’m working through the exercises in The Sense-ible Writer to build this novel.

A strong desire to write a novel is the first step. Without making a strong commitment that you will write your novel, it won’t happen. Next, learn the craft. Each chapter in The Sense-ible Writer presents a concept that the author must understand before he can write the whole of a novel. You learn to write by working through the process. Study, reread, do the exercises and do them again, if necessary, to learn the concepts and make them yours. Once you understand the process and can apply the concepts to your writing, then your writing will take on the vibrancy necessary to create something that will speak to the reader.