Posts

The Writers Journey

-
Image
 The Journey I am in the editing phase of my novel. These are my edits before I even attempt to find an agent or publisher. I will not send a first draft out to anyone. No one should. You may think your darling piece of work is perfect, but it's not. I've harped on this before, and I can harp on it for years.  Edit. Edit. And edit again. I can honestly say I have spent months on one chapter to make sure it is as close to perfect as possible. I do line edits first. I read each line out loud. I read it backward. I go through the whole chapter and mark what stands out. Then I go to the beginning of the chapter and fix those issues. I go back through it and check for continuity. Does my character take off a hat and then still have it on? I need to catch these things. Continuity is a big thing for me. The story has to ring true. I can't have a blood spatter on a jacket on one page and then have it in a different spot on the next page. I just caught one error in the chapter I am ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Crossroads

-
Image
 Crossroads Do you ever look back at your life and wonder what would have happened if you had made a different choice?  Where would you be now? I don't wonder this often because I have learned to live with my choices. I weighed them, I pondered them, and I threw the dice and went with them. But what if ... the dice had landed a different way?  My first big crossroads happened the year I graduated from High School. I was dating a man who was a year younger than me. His parents weren't too happy with that and offered my parents an ultimatum: either your daughter breaks up with him, or we ship him to his cousins. I weighed this one out. I loved the guy. He was smart, wonderful, handsome, and funny. Why should I break up with him? It wasn't my fault that his parents couldn't handle the fact that we were in love. But then again, it was young love. Puppy love. First love. If I stayed, they would send him away. Could I live with that? No. I broke up with him and went to colleg...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Alphabet Book Challenge "Z"

-
Image
 The Z Books We have made it! The final two books in the challenge! I will tell you, I honestly didn't think there would be much of a choice with the letter Z. I found two books written by authors I will most definitely read. Book 1: "Eye of Cat" by Roger Zelazny I don't read a lot of science fiction, but this one intrigued me when I picked it up.  William Blackhorse Singer is the last Navajo on a future earth. He is a tracker and hunter of alien species, hired to protect an alien diplomat. To succeed, he must enlist the help of a dangerous, telepathic shapeshifter he previously tracked and captured. One of Singer's secrets, and his greatest guilt, is his suspicion that Cat is an intelligent life form. The creature, known as "Cat," agrees to assist Singer on one condition: when the deed is done, Cat can hunt Singer down and kill him. The God's powers and monsters of Navajo legend provide the backdrop for the Singer's fate. The chase is as much fo...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Alphabet Book Challenge "Y"

-
Image
 The "Y" Books "The Bark Of Zorro" by Kathleen Y' Barbo A Cozy mystery, about a woman who works for a veterinarian and a dog rescue group. On a dark and stormy night, Cassidy Carter is called out to pick up a stray dog with a Z painted on its side. This is not the first dog in the area to be running around Brenham, Texas, with a Z painted on it. Cassidy is a huge fan of the Scooby Doo series, torn between wanting to be Daphne yet feeling more like Velma. She sets out to track down the mysterious person spray painting dogs. The case is complicated by a handsome, single Texas game warden and a viral social media crew filming a segment featuring him.  Cozy mysteries are great when you just want to chill with something fun. This is a nice light-hearted one, but like most cozies, it was torn between the mystery and the romance. Which one gets more play? Maybe it's a formula the cozy-writer has to follow? Hmmm. But if you are looking for something to read when you...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Alphabet Books "X"

-
Image
 The "X" Books Books written by authors whose last names start with an X are hard to find. Lucky for me, I have a fellow author friend who writes under the name Scarlett Zavier. The Celtic Men Series by Scarlett Xavier. Irish Fire and Forbidden Love Maeve Quinn is not just a business owner; she's a force to be reckoned with. She is the co-owner of a bar in Galway. When Rory shows up, sparks fly between the two. Rory is there to buy the bar, but how can he take away the business Maeve has given her heart and soul to? How can he tell her why he is really there when all he wants to do is drown in her intoxicating scent? The two are falling hard and fast for each other when the truth comes out.  Scottish Legends and Lost Love Lachlan is a troubled landowner who is contemplating selling his ancestral estate in the highlands to a developer when he meets Fiona, a dedicated historian. Fiona is there to research the hidden runes on the property. She drags Lachlan along for the rid...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Unnamed W book

-
Image
The Unnamed W book Or  Why Editing is Important  There was a third "W" book I read for the alphabet challenge. I have chosen not to mention the title or the author's name. The reason for this is the many editing and formatting issues in the book. It was not self-published. But it did go through a small press. The issues were so bad that I started marking them, circling them, and making notes as I read the story. They distracted me to the point that the story suffered, and, really, it's too bad, because it had potential to be good.  I will create my own examples of the errors to give you an idea of what NOT to do and what to look for when you are going through the Galley Proofs. Issue one: Punctuation. Jack and Jill are talking.       "Hi, Jack," Jill said. "Hi, Jill, where are you going?" "To the store."      When you read this, who is talking? Jill. Now, why would Jill talk to herself? Is she carrying on a conversation with Jack, becaus...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Alphabet Books "W"

-
Image
 The "W" Books The "W" books were all about mysteries, written by two of my favorite authors, Johnny Worthen and Nina Wright. Book 1: Thicker Than Water by Johnny Worthen. A Tony Flaner mystery. If you have not read any of Johnny Worthen's books and you love a quirky, fun whodunit, this series is a great one to check out. Tony Flaner, the sarcastic sleuth, has given up being a good detective and taken up pet sitting a pampered, untrained dog for a high-strung family. Naturally, the dog is kidnapped right under Tony's nose. Tony tries to care, but he really doesn't. He has other things to worry about, like the sudden death of his neglected aunt Vicky in Moab.  Tony travels from Salt Lake to Moab to figure out who killed his aunt and why. Along the way, he deals with the local police, tourists, small town politics, an ex-girlfriend's recently released, psychotic former husband, Nordic Indians, tabloid slanderers, elves, goblins, wine connoisseurs, hate...
Post a Comment
Read more