Category Archives: Books

July 22, 2013 · 2:11 pm

One small word; one large demon-spawn of heck for author-kind

over used words - scrn prntWhee!!! I am merrily spinning through my mental universe, spewing my thoughts onto the keyboard when suddenly I am brought up short by none other than the dreaded Over Used Word.

Somebody shoot me now!  But at least I have that magic tool “Control-F’ to help me search for words that seem to come up too frequently. By clicking the down arrow on the menu on the left, I can navigate easily to each instance of the word and decide whether to keep it or remove it.  Many times, removing it is the solution, and often you don’t have to replace it with anything at all.  The sentence can be stronger for not having the word at all.

When I look back on my work I can see where my mind seemed to run out of options and I developed a ‘fall-back’ habit, which in turn, leads to a stale narrative.  Some of my favorite fall-back words?

Scrnprnt over used words part 2As. This word can be useful, but insidious. Like bamboo in an unwary gardener’s first garden, ‘As’ creeps into every paragraph if not kept in containers. To search for it, hit control-F. When the navigation box pops up on the left, key a space before and a space after to isolate only the two-letter word as, or every instance of any word containing those letters together will pop up. ( as )

prnt scn 3 over used wordsThat. Many times, removing it is  ideal the solution, and often you don’t have to replace it with anything at all.  Once again, the sentence will be stronger for not having the word at all.

Searching for these words and others like them in our precious manuscript can seem to be a daunting task, but with this tool it is much less trouble to do than it seems like it will be at first. It must be done on a word by word basis, because Global changes can inadvertently  wreak unimaginable havoc with your manuscript! Think of how many words in the English language have the two letters ‘a’ and ‘s’ next to each other in them?  Was, Assign, Bass–you see the problem with global changes.  Never click ‘Replace All’!

For small words that are frequently found inside of larger words, use the ‘space word space’ trick and you will have much better results.

And now here is my list of handy-dandy overused and the alternatives that I fall back on:

Overused Words and some alternatives

about – approximately, nearly, almost, approaching, close to

absolutely – unconditionally, perfectly, completely, ideally, purely

activity – action, movement, operation, labor, exertion, enterprise, project, pursuit, endeavor, job, assignment, pastime, scheme, task

add – attach, affix, join, unite, append, increase, amplify

affect – adjust, influence, transform, moderate, incline, motivate, prompt

amazing – overwhelming, astonishing, startling, unexpected, stunning, dazzling, remarkable

awesome – impressive, stupendous, fabulous, astonishing, outstanding

bad – defective, inadequate, poor, unsatisfactory, disagreeable, offensive, repulsive, corrupt, wicked, naughty, harmful, injurious, unfavorable

basic – essential, necessary, indispensable, vital, fundamental, elementary

beautiful – attractive, appealing, alluring, exquisite, gorgeous, handsome, stunning

begin – commence, found, initiate, introduce, launch, originate

better – preferable, superior, worthier

big – enormous, extensive, huge, immense, massive

boring – commonplace, monotonous, tedious, tiresome

bring – accompany, cause, convey, create, conduct, deliver, produce

cause – origin, stimulus, inspiration, motive

certain –  sure, unquestionable, incontrovertible, unmistakable, indubitable, assured, confident

change – alter, transform, vary, replace, diversify

choose – select, elect, nominate, prefer, identify

decent – respectable, adequate, fair, suitable

definitely – unquestionably, clearly, precisely, positively, inescapably

easy – effortless, natural, comfortable, undemanding, pleasant, relaxed

effective – powerful, successful, efficient

emphasize – underscore, feature, accentuate

end – limit, boundary, finish, conclusion, finale, resolution

energy – vitality, vigor, force, dynamism

enjoy – savor, relish, revel, benefit

entire – complete, inclusive, unbroken, integral

excellent – superior, remarkable, splendid, unsurpassed, superb, magnificent

exciting – thrilling, stirring, rousing, dramatic

far – distant, remote

fast – swift, quick, fleet, hasty, instant, accelerated

fill – occupy, suffuse, pervade, saturate, inflate, stock

finish – complete, conclude, cease, achieve, exhaust, deplete, consume

funny – comical, ludicrous, amusing, droll, entertaining, bizarre, unusual, uncommon

get – obtain, receive, acquire, procure, achieve

give – bestow, donate, supply, deliver, distribute, impart

go – proceed, progress, advance, move

good – satisfactory, serviceable, functional, competent, virtuous, striking

great – tremendous, superior, remarkable, eminent, proficient, expert

happy – pleased, joyous, elated, jubilant, cheerful, delighted

hard – arduous, formidable, complex, complicated, rigorous, harsh

help – assist, aid, support, sustain, serve

hurt – injure, harm, damage, wound, impair

immense – huge, vast, enormous, massive, gigantic, mammoth, colossal

important – significant, substantial, weighty, meaningful, critical, vital, notable

interesting – absorbing, appealing, entertaining, fascinating, thought-provoking

job – task, work, business, undertaking, occupation, vocation, chore, duty, assignment

keep – retain, control, possess

kind – type, variety, sort, form

know – comprehend, understand, realize, perceive, discern

like – similar, equivalent, parallel

like– enjoy, relish, appreciate

main – primary, foremost, dominant

make – build, construct, produce, assemble, fashion, manufacture

mean – plan, intend, suggest, propose, indicate

mean – small, cheap, hurtful

more – supplementary, additional, replenishment

need – essential, necessity, want, require, requirement, prerequisite, basic, must, requisite

new– recent, modern, current, novel

next – subsequently, thereafter, successively

nice – pleasant, satisfying, gracious, charming

old – aged, mature, experienced, used, worn, former, previous

open – unobstructed, accessible

part – section, portion, segment, detail, element, component

perfect – flawless, faultless, ideal, consummate

plan – scheme, design, system, plot

pleasant – agreeable, gratifying, refreshing, welcome

prove – demonstrate, confirm, validate, verify, corroborate

quick – brisk, prompt, responsive, rapid, nimble, hasty

really – truly, genuinely, extremely, undeniably

regular – standard, routine, customary, habitual

see – regard, behold, witness, gaze, realize, notice

small – diminutive, miniature, minor, insignificant, slight, trivial, mean

sometimes – occasionally, intermittently, sporadically, periodically

take – grasp, capture, choose, select, tolerate, endure

terrific – extraordinary, magnificent, marvelous

think – conceive, imagine, ponder, reflect, contemplate

try – attempt, endeavor, venture, test

use – employ, operate, utilize

very – unusually, extremely, deeply, exceedingly, profoundly

want – desire, crave, yearn, long

It is strange how these words seem to crop up all the time in the rough draft of my work and I have to stay on top of them, using my wide vocabulary!  The point is, you must make a list of words YOU use too often, and find alternatives or eliminate them if they are not necessary.  Believe me, this list of words to watch for and solutions for expressing that thought without being repetitive grows and evolves all the time, just as my writing does.

Many of these first draft bloopers are descriptors -‘ly’ words.  Like salt and pepper, they are usually not required in too large of quantities so closely examine your ms to make sure it isn’t so thick with description your reader’s teeth hurt from the sweetness!

Happy writing, and may the over-used words of heck NOT bloop in your manuscript!

250px-Eastern_Bluebird-27527-2

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July 20, 2013 · 2:10 pm

‘Like’ me

Frustrated Woman at Computer With Stack of PaperThis weekend my professional Facebook page was suddenly ‘liked’ by 6 people in the space of 5 minutes.   I was sort of wondering what was going on, as it was a little unusual. It gets a few likes each week  under normal circumstances but this was different.

A few minutes later I got a fb personal message from an author I met through Goodreads.  It read:

“This LIKE is being sent along with another like from J***, on behalf of our friend, M*******. She left for a 6 week writing vacation, so we are wanting to surprise her with hopefully 25 more page likes. If you’ll like her page, you’ll get 2 fer 1, and possibly 3 likes for your one to her page. 

**PS. Please remember to like from your personal page as likes from fan page to fan page do NOT roll the counter.

>Thank you in advance, especially if you’ve already liked her page. Best of Luck with your writing:) 
M***”

I felt like I had just been shaken down for my lunch money.  But then I thought, “This is a kind gesture on the part of her friends, but the wrong way to go about it.”

Don’t get me wrong, I like M*******, and while she writes romances, which usually don’t attract me, she writes well enough.

I just don’t like being coerced, and that is what I felt her friends did. It’s all about manners, in this business.

Office Workers Clapping at Office PartySO – how do we encourage people to ‘like’ our professional Facebook page?  After all, we are all trying to get exposure for our books.

In my opinion, people will look you up and like your page as they become fans of your work. You will gain followers, just not real rapidly.

Identify your target market.  Are you trying to sell books only to other authors?  That is what you are doing when the only place you post the link to your page is in a page-swap forum.  If the only people who are ‘liking’ your fan-page are authors, you are shooting yourself in the foot. You are limiting your visibility to a small number of people who most likely won’t buy your book, as they’ve books of their own to write, and you don’t write in their genre.

You need to make it easy for your fans to like your page by posting the link on your blog, and on your Goodreads or Smashwords profile.  Have the link on your Amazon author page too!  Those places are where people who buy your books will look, and that is how fans will find you.

Identify who your target audience is.  Make sure your Facebook link is prominently displayed and let it do its thing.

We live in a society where instant gratification is the norm, and everything wonderful has to happen right now. I wondered, “Do we get some sort of award for having a lot of likes on our fan page?” Not that I am aware of–it’s only a number. The higher your number, the more likely fb will boost your visibility in the news feeds.  You earn that visibility gradually.

But for those who are too impatient to wait, they can join a Goodreads page-swapping event, where the participants all go out and like each others’ pages.  This is voluntary and I’ve been involved with that.  I liked about 50 authors and 15 liked me back. 6 of them used their fan page despite being asked to use their personal page, and their likes didn’t raise my count.

So, that didn’t go as well as I thought it would.

Portrait of Vsevolod Mikhailovich Garshin by Ilya RepinAnd don’t even get me started about the inconsiderate authors who posted links to their books and pages smack dab in the middle of MY fan-page.

Delete.

Delete. Delete. Delete.

(Die! Die! Die!)

Most of the indie authors I know are lovely people, polite and sensitive. They have a basic understanding of manners. They are a joy to work with, and I would do anything for them because of that. They make up 98% of the authors I have met.

There are those few who are as delicate as battering-rams, and they ruin it for everyone. They are the same people professionally that they are in the real world–immature, selfish, and rude. They meet other aspiring authors in forums and then make all sorts of small requests, expecting that you will drop everything and go out of your way for them, because they are so damned important.

If you choose to be kind to them, don’t expect anything in return, because it’s just not going to happen. The next time you see them will be when they need some other small service from you. “Tweet my book.” “Interview me.” “I just need five more likes….”

The Facebook Fan-page is a thing we have to do in this modern world of self promotion, but it sucks.

I have one and I am keeping it, but I am feeling quite rebellious about it just now.

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July 16, 2013 · 10:56 am

Thoughts on Internal Monologues

Young Woman Sitting Looking at Laptop ScreenI had a conversation with a friend in my writing group the other day. He paid for an expensive edit, but was not pleased with the results. The editor gave his ms only one fairly good look, and gave him a report with suggestions and ideas, but he was left more confused than ever. She has not worked with him to help him resolve those issues, and wants to be paid for a second look. This was more of a beta read than an edit, and that fact should have been disclosed when he hired her.

The professional editors I know do expect to be paid for their work, but they also work closely with the authors to help their clients turn out books that are finished to the best of their ability, thus giving the author their money’s worth. This involves many revisions of entire sections and lots of back and forth communication between the editor and the author.

When I looked at his ms, I could see one thing that stood out immediately.  His characters have a lot of internal dialogue. The editor told him not to set it off with italics, and technically she was correct, but she offered no insight to him on how to correctly portray his character’s thoughts. Unfortunately, with no way of distinguishing it, I found it difficult to differentiate the internal dialogue.

Now don’t get me wrong, the editor was technically correct. The  Chicago Manual of Style agrees with her, and in some ways, so do I.  As a reader, a wall of italics is daunting, and causes the eyes to get tired. If she was truly acting in his best interest, she could have shown him ways to get around the whole issue of internal dialogue, instead of just saying don’t use italics.

But I do use italics to set off certain thoughts in my own work, so how do I balance this apparent hypocrisy?  I have learned to use less internal dialogue, trying to only use it now when it is natural in the context of the scene.

As I look at my body of work, I can see it evolving toward a leaner style of writing, and less emphasis on idle thoughts is key to that style. My early work is rife with internal dialogue. In my recent work there is some internal dialogue, but not as much. The context of the story determines whether it is necessary or not.

IBM_SelectricIn the days before computerized word processing and desktop publishing, the publishing process began with a manuscript and/or a typescript that was sent to a print shop where it would be prepared for publication and printed. In order to show emphasis—to highlight the title of a book, to refer to a word itself as a word, or to indicate a foreign word or phrase—the writer would use underlining in the typescript, which would signal the typesetter at the print shop to use italic font for those words.

Nowadays we have word-processors.  Authors can italicize to their hearts’ content and the ms will not be full of underlined words that distract the editor.  This has lead to some authors being a bit too free with italics, and I have been guilty of that.

The important thing to remember is that everything your  main characters think does not have to be written. When it is necessary, there are ways to get it across without resorting to italics except in the most important instances.

Indie author Karen Fox has an awesome post on common mistakes made by authors.  She says, (and I am directly quoting from http://www.karenafox.com/commonmistakes.htm,)

“(Interior Monologues are) very important in writing. Reveals parts of the story not available through dialogue. A powerful way to establish character, but often overwritten. Again don’t explain if emotions or details are already shown through dialogue or action. This should be unobtrusive. Long passages of internal monologue often become ways of telling the reader information instead of showing.

One way to do this is to get rid of speaker attributions. Instead of Why had she said that? Because he drove her crazy, she thought, use Why had she said that? Because he drove her crazy.  He wondered what he’d done to make her leave can be transformed  to What had he done to make her leave?

Interior monologue helps set point of view. It is not the same thing as description, though the two can blend together.  Use impressions obtained through the POV character’s senses.  We use our sight, hearing, smell without thinking about it.   Your character will, too.

You can use italics to show a character’s thought, but use sparingly. Too many italics are irritating, but they can be a good way to set off a more important thought in the middle of a monologue.”

MP900321209Internal dialogue is necessary, but not if it is a crutch.  Authors tend to be lazy. Once we find an easy way to get a point across it becomes our go-to tool when a particularly tough scene is refusing to unravel for us. We tell ourselves it is “our voice” and therefore it is our style.

Yes, that can be true, but we must never rely on easy tricks to tell our stories.  Readers always notice, and it makes our work less enjoyable for them.

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July 8, 2013 · 12:09 pm

The Curse of The Indie Author, and the Cure

BIF Blog Print ScreenYou all know I write, and you all know I read.  You may not know that I read 2 to 6 books a week and I blog about the ones I really like on a book review blog called Best in Fantasy. I try to write a new post for every Friday.

I began that blog two years ago, with an eye to promoting the books I loved, books that moved me.  As it progressed, I began seeking out and promoting the books of indie authors. I do not accept free manuscripts, as I want to feel NO pressure to say nice things about a book. I always buy the downloads for this blog.

DR 3 Prism Ross M KitsonI have read some incredible, amazing work over the last 2 years–work I would never have been exposed to if not for the Kindle and the fact most indie downloads range in price from .99 to 4.99 and many can be found for free during promotional days.

This amazing access to great, innovative writing has created an entire sub-culture in the writing industry.  People like me, bloggers who regularly read and love to discuss what they read are springing up everywhere and they are talking about what they read. And let me tell you, I have read some truly well-crafted books that stayed with me.

Authors are also springing up everywhere.  Nearly everyone I meet is either a self-published author or a close relative of one. How humorous it is to find that we once-exalted tellers of tales are no longer special–everyone has a book in them or at least thinks they do, and they are publishing them.

This rapid expansion of the self-publishing industry has come with a price, however, and it is a huge one.

The ease with which anyone possessing the ability to read, access  a computer and use the internet can publish their work independently has sparked a revolution. If you have read your American history, revolutions are NOT easy nor are they bloodless and pain-free.

For every book by an indie (or indeed by a traditionally published author) that I can feel good about recommending on Best in Fantasy, I see on average 6 that are just plain awful. These are books that would never make past the intake editor or an agent.

Some indie books are so abysmally edited it is apparent the author is the only person who has ever seen the manuscript. Some are moderately edited but not very well or professionally, and the author (as in my case with The Last Good Knight) gives way too much back-story up front and in huge info-dumps. This loses the attention of all but the most determined reader immediately, people who would ignore most typos and slight inconsistencies for a really good tale. This is where the unbiased eye of the editor can make a great novel out of a promising tale.

There are an incredible number of people writing books who have absolutely no concept of how to tell a coherent story. Not only is the book over-the top with descriptions (which take all the fun out the book) the whole thing can sometime feel like one long ego-stroking, autobiographical trip through the personal fantasies of the author, with him as the main character.  Those books have what I think of as the ‘creepy-voyeur’ factor built into them, and I just can’t get too far into them before barfing.

the Book of Ruth - jane HamiltonOthers start with a great idea, but the author leaves you wondering what happened to that kernel of brilliance, as the story sort of dies at the end and you are left wishing you had quit reading at page fifty.   This happens with just as MANY traditionally published books as with the indies, folks! Take “The Book of Ruth” for example.  How it made the Oprah Book Club I will never know, but it is one of the most depressing and abysmal books I have ever read, and I have read quite a few bad books. It totally turned me off of The Oprah Book Club.

The big 6 traditional publishers pretend that much of the crap they publish is all sheer magic, while loudly pointing out the faults inherent in self-publishing.  And, while it makes me angry that they decry us as worthless but leap to publish us the minute we show any sign of real success, there are hard truths here we indies who are committed to the CRAFT of writing must face.

What this ability to publish any piece of garbage that falls out of your head does for us as indies is to tar us all with the same brush. THIS is the curse of the indie author.

The cure for this curse is as follows:

1. Learn how to write in your native language. Grammar and Punctuation are essential, even in modern literature.

2. Join a writing group and meet other authors, either in your local area or on-line. This will help you with steps 3 and 4. Enter writing contests such as Amazon’s Breakthrough Novel Awards and participate in the boards and threads. Ignore the trolls, they pop-up everywhere (usually with badly written ego-stroking crap to their publishing credit.)

3. Develop a thick hide, and find an unbiased eye among your trusted acquaintances to read your work as you are writing it, so you can make changes more effectively and not be overwhelmed at the prospect of rewriting an entire manuscript from scratch.

4. Lose your ego. Your ego gets in the way of your writing.  Are you writing for yourself or for others to read and enjoy your work?

5. Find a good professional editor. Check their references, and when you do engage their services, do not take their criticisms personally. This editor must be someone you can work closely with, who makes suggestions and lets YOU make the changes on your masterpiece yourself. They must understand it is your work and you have the right to disagree with any suggested changes. If you have this symbiotic relationship, you will turn out a good final product.

This blog-post today has been inspired by the fact that over the last three weeks, I cracked open a total of 19 books, both indie AND mainstream, and was only able to find one book that I enjoyed and gave four stars to because of editing issues, and one AWESOME, amazing book that will get 5 stars from me.

Traditional publishers are failing us as readers by pushing their successful authors to spew a book or even two a year,  beating dead horses and creating long-winded series that go nowhere and have no entertainment value.

Some of the worst books I read over the last two years were written by two authors who have also written books I really enjoyed, but their best books were written in the early days, when these authors were not book-producing machines.

I expect more from a traditionally published book than a boring info-dump at the beginning, and lackluster characters you don’t give a hoot about.  I hold every book I read to that standard, and I am willing to forego some editing bloopers, which with the rush to publish nowadays, they ALL have, traditional or non-traditional.

A Lesson for the Cyclops Jeffrey Getzin

I just want to read a good story!

I want to be swept away to new lands and people I want to know and meet.

I want to be challenged and entertained.

Books are my drug and my addiction, and I am compelled to talk about them, to share them and re-read them.  That is why I blog every Friday on what I enjoyed reading that week.  Stop by this coming Friday afternoon and see what I am reviewing this week on Best in Fantasy. There will be a new review posted by 7:00 a.m. PDT.

In the meantime you can checkout the review for A Lesson for the Cyclops, a wonderful novella written by indie Author Jeffrey Getzin.

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July 1, 2013 · 10:21 am

Life Goes On, Maybe

Office Workers Clapping at Office PartySometimes you are going along just fine, flying like the wind and living the dream. Everyone loves you–you are riding high. Then the gods of perversity decide you’ve been having way too much fun and decide you need another one of those little reminders of your own mortality.  Perhaps you said something that offended someone, perhaps you didn’t say something you should have.

Perhaps you were less than kind when you should have been generous.

It appears to be an unfortunate fact of life in our society that when someone in the public spotlight appears to enjoying their success too much (Paula Deen, Frank Gifford), the carrion-eaters gather about them, waiting for them to stumble, plotting their downfall, desperate to be part of the feeding frenzy that is sure to follow.  That which passes for ‘news’ at 6:00 is frequently little more than juicy gossip and holier-than-thou finger-pointing by people with something to gain from the debacle. To me, the personal failings of public figures is not news, it is a terrible glimpse into someone else’s life that I wish I had never seen. People do wrong all the time–how can that be news? It reminds me of my mother and my Aunt Jo gossiping at the kitchen table about some neighbor caught with their pants down.

Eye on Flat Panel MonitorTo me, the real news isn’t that even famous people do cringe-worthy things.  The real news is on a more global scale. The real news never gets any airtime, because the real news-makers have the power to see to it that the populace is spoon-fed pap like who used the ‘N’ word (which is most certainly NOT cool) or who has been cheating on his wife (also not cool.) While I agree these are not good things for anyone, much less respected public figures, to do, I simply feel it is gossip and not news. This is the sort of thing that better belongs in scandal-rags like People or The National Enquirer.

In the US we have a free-press.  This means what you see on the television is what the big corporations want you to see, since they own the press, and it ‘s a free country, after all. We hear little of the real news, mentioned only in passing, such as the recent proposal for a  regulation by the European Parliament and of the Council. This proposal regulates the production and availability on the market of plant reproductive material (plant reproductive material law.) (Seeds.)

What this proposed law says (quoted from The Real Seed Catalogue):

“The law starts from the premise that all vegetables, fruit and trees must be officially registered before they can be reproduced or distributed. This obviously is a major restriction on seed availability, as there are all sorts of costs in both time and money dealing with the bureaucracy of a central Plant Variety Agency. Then, after making that the basic rule, there are some exceptions made in limited cases:

  • Home gardeners will be permitted to save and swap unregistered seed without breaking the law.
  • Small organisations can grow and supply unregistered vegetable seed – but only if they have less than 10 employees
  • Seedbanks can grow unregistered seed without breaking the law (but they cannot give it to the public)
  • There might be easier (in an unspecified way) rules for large producers of seeds suitable for organic agriculture etc, in some (unspecified) future legislation – maybe.

There are also clauses that mean the above concessions could be removed or reduced at any time in the future without coming back to the Parliament for a vote.”

MH900438728Who benefits from this law? Only the ten largest seed companies in the world, who also just happen to be the largest pesticide producers in the world.

1.Monsanto (US)
2.DuPont (US)
3.Syngenta (Switzerland)
4.Groupe Limagrain (France)
5.Land O’ Lakes (US)
6.KWS AG (Germany)
7.Bayer Crop Science (Germany)
8.Sakata (Japan)
9.DLF-Trifolium (Denmark)
10.Takii (Japan)

Source: ETC Group

Variety in our seed crops is an absolute must, if we are to have strong, healthy sources of food. Genetically modifying crops so they are resistant to certain chemicals (patented, produced and sold only by these companies) and creating a monoculture food chain is not beneficial to the world, no matter how these companies proclaim their charitable desire to feed the world.  If they truly did care about that, they would not be trying to put the small farmer out of business. If their motives were truly as benevolent as their propaganda declares them to be they would be supporting and encouraging small farms, not putting them out of business and destroying entire cultures.

I leave you with this quote from the Daily Mirror–oddly enough I did find ‘news’ in a newspaper!

MH900438718“The social impacts of large-scale monocultures are often disastrous for communities who continue to grow local foods using sustainable practices. Small-scale farmers often cultivate local species which not only contain important minerals for the soils and for human health, but also have adapted to the local environment over many years.

When small-scale farmers are confronted with industrial large-scale monocultures in their area, they are faced with water and other resources shortages, contamination from pesticide spraying and from GMO crops.

The takeover of land by monocultures also causes rural depopulation, destroying local community life and local economies. Monoculture plantations usually provide only temporary labour, for which workers are often hired from outside the region. Land grabbing and forced evictions of local populations are strongly linked to the expansion of monocultures.”

This, to me, is the real news.

I leave the gossip to the corporate news giants who cultivate it as a way to divert our attention from the true threats to our existence, and to those who find pleasure in watching others fall from grace.

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June 24, 2013 · 10:20 am

Pub Crawling at Billy’s Revenge

800px-Southampton_Medieval_Merchants_House_kitchenOne of the things I find most entertaining about writing is putting myself mentally into the environment of the tale.   Currently in the works are 3 tales that take place, for the most part, in a wayside inn called Billy’s Revenge.

I love this place!  Billy Ninefingers, tall, genial and a bit dangerous runs a well-oiled machine. (Who doesn’t love a gorgeous man with an air hinting of danger about him?) Billy keeps the place running like a top and keeps his mercenaries, the Rowdies, working. Without Billy Ninefingers, there would be no town of Limpwater.

Billy needs to find some way to remain captain of the Rowdies and he hits on the notion of building his inn out in the middle of nowhere, a full day’s ride from the nearest town. His old family farm just happens to sit at the perfect place on the main trade road, smack in the middle of the most dangerous stretch. Lackland tells Billy right after the incident that maims his right hand and costs him his finger that if he builds his inn, a town will grow around it, and of course, Lackland is right.

The_Victorian_Kitchen_at_DalgarvenWhen Billy Ninefingers’s tale begins, we find him cooking in an old traditional farmhouse kitchen exactly like the one in the above picture. Billy is already cooking for a large group of mercenaries and realizes that even with hired help it will be difficult to provide all the services he wants to in a traditional kitchen, so he and Gertie the Smith (who is pregnant with Billy’s late father’s child) design an efficient kitchen with all the most modern of conveniences, more like the one in this picture, only much larger.  Achieving that in rural Waldeyn, using the materials and skills available to them is costly and frequently hilarious.

When I get stuck for inspiration I go to Wikimedia Commons and look up images that might relate to my tale–architecture, clothing, how they picnicked pre-modern times, anything that might give some idea an emerging culture might use when they stand at the beginning of an industrial revolution, as renaissance Europe did in the sixteenth century.  It’s a lot of fun, and I’ve learned that the really wealthy Elizabethans had access to some things we consider modern, such as indoor plumbing and stoves that not only heated their food, but also heated a cistern so they could have hot water.  These technologies were in turn based on Roman technologies.

On the surface, Billy appears to be an ordinary, if extremely large, man, but still waters run deep, as we often say. Most people passing through Limpwater and stopping for the night at Billy’s Revenge think brewing ale and serving cider is all there is about Billy, but they couldn’t be more wrong.  Billy is like any other mercenary, full of secrets and things he wishes he’d never seen. One wonders what is behind the name he chose for his inn–there’s a tale there, and when I’ve finished with the rewrite of The Last Good Knight, Billy will have his own stand alone tale.  The basic tale is drawn out already, and I’ve written perhaps 40,000 words, outlining the whole story-arc.

472px-Judith_Leyster_Merry_TrioSprinkled throughout the common room at Billy’s Revenge are many well-dressed men and women, none better dressed than those who wear the armband of the Rowdies. After all, what does a mercenary have to spend gold on, if not clothes and jewelry? Bert the Tailor, a former Rowdy who lost his leg to a highwayman’s sword keeps the men of Limpwater in shirts and breeches, and fine surcoats. With his wife, he employs several men and women to  dress the town of Limpwater in style. He would never have had such an opportunity if not for Billy Ninefingers building his inn out in the middle of the forest.

379px-Gustave_Jean_Jacquet_Girl_in_a_riding_habitDesigning the clothes and armor for the Lady Rowdies was a great deal of fun.  I had Gertie Smith team up with Bert’s wife, Lovely Ethel, the local dressmaker and also a retired mercenary to make my ladies their clothes and their armor.  We women of Limpwater are the most stylish women in any alternate reality!

Full, divided ankle-length skirts over high-heeled riding boots show nothing a lady doesn’t want to show, and emphasizes everything she wishes to flaunt. Ethel makes their bodices specifically to be worn under mail or armor, and yet stylish and very flattering in every way when the lady was not armored. Her surcoats are to die for, completely hiding the fact the lady is armored, and each of the ladies owns at least two of the embroidered creations. The dressmakers at King Henri’s court blatantly copy Ethel’s designs, but her flair is evident despite their best efforts.

BrewCh1When you set a tale in a common room, such as at Billy’s Revenge, kitchens and clothing are a huge part of the story, even if they are only mentioned in passing.  Knowing the environment we are writing in is crucial, even if we are melding (as I am) the Renaissance, Victorian, and Medieval eras into one collage of a world, and throwing in a bit of Waldeynier majik and a few impossible creatures of monstrous proportions.

Along the way I’ve learned how to brew hard cider the way our forefathers and mothers brewed it, and I learned to appreciate just how amazing and clever people really are.

Reading is an adventure when the research doesn’t get in the way of the tale, when it is there as an indefinable part of the background. I hope that when  Lackland’s tale is finished, the flavors and scents of the first version of Billy’s Revenge will still be there, welcoming us and leading us to a warm corner for a mug of ale or cider, and a bowl of stew.

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June 20, 2013 · 8:25 am

June-uary Sucketh

clouds ms clipartHere on beautiful Puget Sound we are known for our depressing gray skies and eternally soggy weather. The lead up to the 4th of July is always hard for me, because it is cold and damp, and I find myself champing at the bit to see some sunshine. My husband and I have even been known to be so desperate for a little sunshine we jump in the car and drive to Eastern Washington, not stopping until we find the sun. That usually happens just as we arrive in Yakima, 3 hours later.

The patch of blue is a brief, cherished moment as that month known around here as June-uary gets into full swing. You plan a picnic, but only where there may be shelters.

weatherThe chance of sunshine is a chance we will take. We wear shorts and sandals with grim determination, convinced we can embarrass the sun into shining.

SocksIt probably won’t happen, no matter what color socks I wear with my sandals.

The sound of rain sizzling as it hits the cover of the barbecue is the music that tells us sunshine is just around the corner. Of course, we know the chance of rain on our 4th of July celebration is great–75%–we still go blue-tarp camping and drag the miserable dog out for a day at the beach whether he wants to go or not.

Then magically, on the 5th of July, God “flips the switch” and summer arrives, with heat no northwesterner can bear. “Gawd it’s hot! It’s got to be 75 degrees! Poor Earl is melting, we have the fan going on him. He can’t take the heat, you know.”

SOCKS-AND-SHORTS-192x300For those of you civilized folks, 75 degrees Fahrenheit is about 24 degrees Celsius.

Yup.

We have a narrow comfort range here–68 degrees to 75 degrees is about the limit.

I’m not sure where I’m going with this post, but I’m going in style.

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June 10, 2013 · 7:40 am

Java and Imaginary Heroes

EspressoOnce again I am preparing to get in the car and trundle up the highway. Going north to Snohomish.  Gotta love that town!  They have a great new coffee shop, Rock City Cafe, where the owner roasts the day’s coffee every morning. I like to go there and write in the evenings.

As a true northwesterner, I love the artisan coffees we have available all up and down the Puget Sound.  When I am in Olympia, I go to Batdorf and Bronson coffee roasters for the ambiance and the brew.

The hard part of all this traveling is being away from my home and my husband. But, as with everything, we are committed to helping our kids as well as we can.

We have a Blended Family, three from my previous marriages and two from his. Together we have three daughters and two sons. Daughter 1 is 39, Daughter 2 is also 39, Son 3 is 37, Son 4 is 35, and Daughter 5 is 29. All but Son 4 have provided us with lovely grandchildren, two of whom are providing us with great-grandchildren.

Spike-wavesOur kids don’t need monetary help, but, as I have written before, two of them have epilepsy. The oldest by 3 months, Daughter 1, has seizures that have only once progressed to the Tonic Clonic stage.  Hers are more a matter of her going away for 3 to 4 minutes and then picking up right where she left off.  Her new meds are working perfectly with no allergic reactions, and if her EEG continues to look good, she will be able to resume driving in August. But right now, she needs help getting around as public transit does work well for where she needs to go. I go north every other week for 3 days and babysit her 6yr old and try not to be the pain-in-the-arse mother-in-law.

Son 4 is unmarried. He has seizures that manifest themselves in the Tonic Clonic form. Since his last episode he is doing really well.  The fact is, he doesn’t have them if he simply takes his meds. He has them if he doesn’t.

He is on board with his neurologist and is taking his meds.  His EEG looks good too! He has excellent public transportation where he lives, and is well enough employed he could take a cab to work if he chose to. I only need to drive him when it is something complicated.

We are fortunate to live in a time when the medical community has achieved some progress in both understanding this array of conditions we call epilepsy. My family is fortunate that there are effective medicines they can take that don’t turn them stupid, and that they aren’t allergic to.

We know this condition that two of my children share is from their father’s side, as our other 3 children don’t show any symptoms. Their father’s side of the family was quite secretive about some things, and with good reason. As a society we are only now emerging from the Dark Ages when it comes to epilepsy, just within the last 20 years.

Even though I hate the drive, I love being needed. Daughters 2 and 5 and Son 3 don’t need help, so my participation in their lives is by invitation only. I respect that, and encourage it, as I have my own life, and know what it is like. Nevertheless, when your children are well-grown and living productive adult lives it is easy to lose that feeling of being connected to them. That can devolve into a feeling of loneliness and self-pity.

I am so NOT that mama.

In my early twenties I dealt with in-laws who couldn’t let go, and who made my life a misery, so I could never do that to my sons-in-law.

My Coffee Cup © cjjasp 2013Fortunately for them, I have my imaginary friends, and my fantasy life so I don’t really have time to hang around moping and feeling neglected.  The minute someone comes home to take The Boy off grandma’s hands, I am out the door!

Grandma has a coffee bar to go to, and four hunky, although quite imaginary, men who need to be told what to do! Leave the door unlocked, she’ll be staggering in about the time they shut the place down for the night.

Yes.

I’m THAT kind of grandma.

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June 6, 2013 · 11:17 am

Facebook–A Squirrel Ran Through It

After looking at my Facebook page today I am overwhelmed. So many random thoughts are piled up in my forehead I don’t know where to begin.

41TxMnE1AjL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA278_PIkin4,BottomRight,-70,22_AA300_SH20_OU01_First, Dean Frank Lappi has rereleased his epic fantasy-horror, Black Numbers, along with a sequel, Blood Numbers.  The Aleph Null Chronicles has to be the most unique fantasy series ever written.  This book is not for the faint of heart, or for those who shy away from explicit and at times, violent sex. Yet the sex is not for prurient purposes–Lappi’s magic is created by melding high mathmatics (the sort that explain the universe) and that most powerful of human drives, sex. I have been waiting for more than a year for this, and I guess you know what’s on Grandma’s Kindle today!

Then, there was a hilarious post by a fellow Olympia area author, Elizabeth A.. It was a link to a blog called “Death and Taxes”, and the post is called “18 Obsolete Words Which Should Never Have Gone Out of Style.” 

They are all just so awesome, it’s hard to pick my favorite! I do think “Snoutfair: A person with a handsome countenance — “The Word Museum: The Most Remarkable English Words Ever Forgotten” by Jeffrey Kacirk” is a real winner.

pickleupAlso there were the usual snarky, funny pictures that make the rounds.  So many posts by so many people, all intent on chatting…. If I’m Facebooking on my phone I’m in trouble. It takes me ten minutes to accurately text “On my way” so a readable post by me is out of the question. I do end up with some awesome auto-fill errors.

I love Facebook as much as I hate it.  It is a vast, time-sucking black-hole at the center of my universe, but some of the things I run across are just so hilarious.

Some things are really thought provoking. Today there was the blog post by Traci Tyne Hilton on being a writer and other people’s perceptions of you. It’s titled  “The Proof of the Writer is in the CV.”

“So the other day,when a friend called me a “new writer” my defensive nature kicked into high gear.

What did she mean by that? She just meant I hadn’t been writing long.

What did I hear when she said that? I heard: “You just picked up a pen for the first time, like, yesterday, and now look at you!” (She doesn’t talk like a Valley Girl, the voices in my head do.)”

James_Jefferys_-_Self-Portrait_-_Google_Art_Project Public DomainI think a lot of authors can relate to that feeling of “Whoa– what do you think I’ve been doing for the last 30 years?” but, just as Traci does, we realize it’s perception and semantics, and try not to feel that pang of instant outrage that we suppress and cover with a smile. Frankly, how many people actually know we’ve been holed up in a dark room with only Strunk & White and a typewriter or keyboard for companionship for all these years? Who of my coworkers knew I could wallpaper an outhouse with my letters of rejection? Failure to land a publisher for a novel you penned in your own blood and tears is a deeply personal failure, and is not something you chat about over lunch with the girls in the data-entry pool.

To be honest, before I published my first book, probably only my husband, my kids and my sister knew I had this dark secret, so it shouldn’t bother me to be called a new writer. In the eyes of the world, I am a new writer, so I’ll embrace it, and roll with it.

450px-Tamiasciurus_douglasii_37808I love all the off-the-wall, hilarious and thought provoking posts I find on my Facebook page. In fact, today I found enough to keep me from having to write for nearly 3 hours!  Woot! Now the morning is gone, I guess it’s time to sit on the back porch and read me some Dean Frank Lappi! Strange, how dark and scary he can make a summer’s day appear….

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June 3, 2013 · 8:13 am

Sustaining the Passion

MH900438728The first days of summer have arrived. I’m not sure where the winter went, it flew by so fast. I’m many months behind on a gazillion things I wanted to have ready by now. I realize that goes without saying, but I had to say it anyway.

On a positive note I’m making headway on all sorts of side projects I had no intention of working on until next year.

Of course, the sky is gray until about 10:00 or 11:00 here much of the time, as we are so close to the Pacific Ocean, so the early morning is good writing time with no gorgeous blue skies to distract my sun-starved northwest eyes.

It all balances out.

My Coffee Cup © cjjasp 2013I have this incredible urge to spend all day sitting on my back porch reading, instead of writing.

I’ve been working on several new vignettes for Lackland, for the new edition of The Last Good Knight.  The trick is to keep the feeling of being on a roller-coaster that is part and parcel of the original work, and inject that sense of wonder and newness into the expanded work.

From my point of view, one of the best tales in The Last Good Knight is“The Dragon and the Daisies.”  The  story takes place some seven or eight years after Julian joins the Rowdies. Julian Lackland and Lady Mags have hit a rough spot, and it looks like they have gone their separate ways. Somehow, they work it out, and one of the more hilarious moments in Julian Lackland’s life ensues.

In order to recapture that feeling, I’ve been rereading my original work, and seeing it through new eyes. It’s amazing how much I loved that tale, and I feel that love every time I read my old ms.

I think that is what makes good reading–when the author is able to convey the passion for the story.  That passion is apparent in Anne McCaffrey’s early works, such as Dragonflight, Dragonquest and The White Dragon. I felt that intensity of feeling also when reading Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game, to name a few right off the top of my head.

COTS Front CoverThe real trick is feeling that passion while you are writing so that your work is not flat, and yet keeping the story coherent so you don’t devolve into gibberish only you can relate to.

Sigh.

Rather than force it, I think I’ll clean house for a while, and then go read on my back porch.

The good news is, along with a new book in the Tower of Bones series and the two books in the Billy’s Revenge series, a book that I began writing in 1998, The Curse of the Stuarts, will be published early in 2014. This book has taken so long for two reasons. First, even though my sister Sherrie says it’s the most hilarious book I’ve ever written (and she would know,) it’s filled with every error a raw, newbie author can possibly make. I’ve been working on getting it straightened out off and on for two years. The second reason is I only work on this tale when I am between other projects, so it is inching toward publication.

Somehow when I revisit this old manuscript I once again feel that love of writing that is all-consuming, but sometimes eludes me!

Perhaps a relationship with your writing muse is like the most passionate relationship with a partner, filled with moments of absolute joy and abandon, and also with moments of intense struggle. Passion is, after all a two-sided coin–love on one side and hate on the other. Worrying about whether you’re feeling it or not it is a waste of time, because nothing ever remains the same and tomorrow will bring a different emotion.

Keeping the coin spinning is the key to keeping it interesting.

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