Author: Sheila McIntrye Good, Author

The Power of Words

/ Sheila McIntrye Good, Author / 1 Comment

A member of my writing group shared this with me and I want to share it with all of you. I’d seen it before, but it is a reminder for all of us who write : Words Matter. Words make a difference in people’s lives.

All of us working on projects strive to tell a story others want to read. Sometimes we struggle with what or how to say it. We get caught up, especially if you’re a new writer like myself, in all the rules of writing. We lose focus. Stop.

Don’t forget why you started writing. Words matter and when they are simple words of truth, they matter most, leaving the biggest impact You had a story to tell. Tell it.

Character Development

/ Sheila McIntrye Good, Author / 9 Comments

This past week I lead a discussion on LinkedIn. The topic was characters. “Where do your main characters come from?”

The most often cited method used to create characters included:people watching, a reflection of self, and family and friends. Some characters “just walked in,” and others were researched to the most minute detail. In each case the goal was always to create believable, full characters that leap off the page as story unfolds, whatever the genre.

Lillie Ammann, writer and editor has a done a great job discussing character development in her eight part series, Creating Fictional Characters. It’s worth checking out. Other resources you may find helpful include:
Holly Lisle’s, Character Workshop, and The Writer’s Resource, Motivation for Characters in Fiction.

Since last week I’ve given a second look to my own characters, making a few changes. The changes were improvements I think. However you choose to develop your characters, here’s to good, strong, full and believable characters that tell our story the way it was meant to be told.

Where Do Your Characters Come From?

/ Sheila McIntrye Good, Author / 5 Comments

I belong to two different writing groups and each time, I learn something new. The insight I gain isn’t always about writing. For example, when I worked I was respected as an excellent RN and later, an Administrator. I did my job well. The difference between me and most other women had to do with the delivery. The voice, the tone you might say. I was a very organized, focused, direct person, a strong, independent woman.

All of us bring a little something of ourselves and experiences into what we write. Whether it is in tone, voice, words or characters. I’ve discovered I bring that strong personality into my characters. I have other characters. Some with a sarcastic wit about them that bring a mischievous smile to my face. Others can be rather sexy, but by far it is the strong character that wants to take center stage. It is a challenge for me.

How do you tell your story? Is it with humor? Sarcasm? Bitterness?

When you tell a story are your characters funny? Magical? Strong? All powerful? Silly? or Loving?

Where do your characters come from? Do you tame them? Should you?

Tell me. Share. An aspiring writer would like to know.

The Susan G and Planned Parent Puppet Show

/ Sheila McIntrye Good, Author / 2 Comments

Melodrama –  defined as a sensational, dramatic piece with exaggerated characters and exciting  events meant to appeal to emotions.

I  watched with interest and then sadness this week the saga of the Susan G. Komen/Planned Parenthood puppet show. And the puppets? Hate to say it, but the public, more specifically, women. Now, I realize the blood pressure of some of you have just sky rocketed off the page,  but hear me out, please.

These two organizations are very different with very different missions. On the one hand you have Susan G. Komen Foundation. A not for profit foundation, founded in 1982 by the sister of Nancy Goodman Brinker. Nancy died at the young age of 36 from breast cancer. She and her sister believed had they found the cancer earlier, she would still be alive. The foundation was born out of  a promise she made to her sister. The philosophy simple, teach women how to do self breast exams, and encourage early screening to prevent breast cancer.

Today, it is the largest and most widely known breast cancer organization in the United States. It  raises over $35 million a year from 60 plus marketing partnerships, and sponsors the world’s largest fundraising event, the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. The organization invests more than $2 billion in breast cancer education, research, advocacy, health care services and social support. It awards more  than $180 million in grants for breast cancer research.

With more than 100,000 volunteers, you would be hard pressed to go anywhere and not see a pink ribbon tacked on something or someone in support of this great, inspiring organization. I believe her sister would be proud. What a legacy! On the other hand is the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. It has a long history, starting back as far as 1916. I won’t go back quite that far. Its mission is different, and important. I’m not here to argue for or against anything, simply stating facts.

It is the largest family planning service provider in  the United States with a federation of 85 independent affiliates operating more than 820 health centers in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. They serve five million patients a year, 26% are under the age of 19 and 75% at or below poverty level income.

In 2009 they provided contraceptives services; emergency contraception; screening for breast; cervical and testicular cancer related services; pregnancy testing, pregnancy options counseling; testing and treatment for sexually transmitted diseases; comprehensive sex education; menopause treatments; vasectomies, tubal ligations, and abortions. In addition, its doctors and nurses annually conduct 1 million screenings for cervical cancer and 830,000 breast exams.

Planned Parenthood’s funding is different. It doesn’t have pink ribbons or foot races to raise funds. No, It’s received federal funding since 1970 when President Richard Nixon signed into law the Family Planning Services and Population Research Act amending the Public Health Service Act. Title X of that law provides funding for family planning services, including contraception and family planning information.

A third of its money comes from  government grants and contracts, approximately $360 million, in 2009. Additional funds, about one quarter of its revenue, come from a very large and active, 700,000 membership base and private donors. Including Bill Gates, the Buffet Foundation and The Turner Foundation to name a few.

The intersection of these two, very different organizations came about because of money and boobs, but make no mistake about it Planned Parenthood is not about boobs. That isn’t their mission. Their mission is family planning and pro-choice. That is where their fight is, has always been, and continues to be, especially this election year. Breast exams is an ends to a means – money, more funds, and more grant money to keep their mission going. Why do I say this? Simple.

I worked in a clinic as an RN and anytime you do an evaluation, an exam to give a woman contraceptives, you are going to do a breast exam, and if you don’t I would question your practice. Period. In their own literature, Planned Parenthood states they provide breast exams. Mamograms are referred out, as they should be. That’s  always been their practice. So you have to ask – why the uproar?

If Planned Parenthood is not changing what they have always done in how they examine a patient, why did they try to crucify Susan G. Komen? I’ll tell you.

Spin-They wanted to create an unfavorable impression to present to the public. Poor women would not get breast exams and therefore breast cancer wouldn’t be detected early!  And since Planned Parenthood was the only place most of these poor women could go…..

No one stopped to consider these facts:The philosophy of the Komen foundation  is about women taking responsibility for their own self breast exams, and  given the resources Susan G. Komen Foundation has put in the hands of nearly everyone.

Free clinics, volunteers and a zillion other resources, women only have to ask, teach me. Instead, Planned Parenthood and their surrogates created emotional furor and fear, manipulating a public unfairly and unscrupulously forcing Susan G. Komen to cave in to their demands. Give us what we want or else. 

They were willing to let the Komen Foundation who works tirelessly to save millions of lives from breast cancer, lose any amount of funding in order for them to regain a grant for family planning and abortion. After all it’s a hot topic this election year. In addition,  “sympathy” donations started pouring in to Planned Parenthood. At least two donations of $250,000 each, one from Mayor Bloomberg himself, and six other donors have contributed $400,000 in just two days.

Don’t tell me it was ever about breast exams. I’m not that easily manipulated. Those who participated in this farce tarnished a promise, a memory, and a mission. For all the Susan G. Komen Foundation has done for so many of us and our loved ones, we should be ashamed. We should have stood arm in arm with them against this bully. This week the bully came for Susan G. Komen. Next week, who will it be?