Author: ginny200

Too long away

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There are few excuses for neglecting a blog but here are mine.

2016 was a difficult year for us. My husband’s cousin, a youngish man of 64(young from our perspective) died in the late Spring, a shock to all his family. Late in the summer our beloved dog Charlie became ill and died of a small tumour in her great heart. Health issues, since partially resolved, both our own and those of close friends, occupied the rest of the year.

But we are in a new year, and the pain of those losses is receding. Not to say the world is comfortable with a man with a clear personality disorder in the White House, but one can carry on.

My plans to become a writer of non-fiction have faltered, mainly because I write fiction and that seems to be that. However, there is a good deal more to learn about writing fiction and I am looking forward to a retreat in April with the kind friends of Writescape. Before that, I  will travel to Bermuda to visit my sister and her family. One of my journeys there resulted in No Motive for Murder, the third in my Dangerous Journeys series.

Another book, currently titled Painting of Sorrow, is under consideration by an agent. Fingers crossed.

Bad news is that my long-time publisher, Arline Chase of Write Words Inc. has closed up shop. Soon I hope to republish the books under my own imprint. so many thanks due to Arline for taking a chance on a beginning writer when she published Murderous Roots. All best wishes to Arline going forward.

Because of Arline’s retirement, I’ve been studying self-publishing both at CreateSpace and at Smashwords, where my books currently have a home. When I’m ready, I’ll reissue all four plus in the fall, the fifth in the series.

Of course, I read. Today I finished a book by a writer friend, Crozier Green. His novel of the early days of the Cosa Nostra in Sicily, titled The Little Wagons, was a terrific read. Please see the review below.

Crozier Green has written an engrossing, action-filled novel of the beginnings of the Cosa Nostra in Italy, seen through the eyes of three men and the woman they all desired. Two of the men rose from sulphur mines, graduated to the prison of Palermo and battled for supremacy in the nascent crime families of nineteenth-century Sicily. The woman, a wild and wildly-intelligent daughter of one of the bosses, manipulates both men and the officer of the Carabinieri who loved her, to gain power of her own.

The Little Wagons is suspense-full, fast-paced, well-written book that deserves five stars for its vivid characterization. Even minor characters are well-described. I won’t forget any of them soon.

The plot, involving as it does the entwined lives of four different people, is handled well. The opening description of the sulphur mines brings the reader into a hellish, claustrophobic world. The setting alone is sufficient to explain why men would do anything, including murder to escape from it.

The Little Wagons is a great read and terrific history.

That’s about it for a sunny and warm Saturday in the Kawartha Lakes.

 

 

 

 

How to structure a novel

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I’ve neglected the blog for many months, mostly because of the pressure of work on my now-completed novel, titled Painting of Sorrow. It has started its journey to various agents.

Several years ago, I wrote a (unpublished) book titled  Stolen Children. Three books later—No Motive for Murder, The Child on the Terrace and now Painting of Sorrow—and needing to begin again, I resurrected the manuscript. The major problem with it for now,  is structural.

An interesting article on structure from Randy Ingarmanson appeared in his website. You may know him as the Snowflake Guy, from his method of writing a structured novel, called, yes, The Snowflake Method.

The current article, Writing the perfect scene, gives a quick overview the structure of scenes and sequels,  covered however, in more extensive detail in Elements of Fiction: Scene and Structure, by Jack M. Bickham. Randy’s article is useful as a quick reminder and I store it under research in my Scrivener binder for Stolen Children.

Cheryl Freedman, writing to me about the Bony Blithe min-com this coming Friday, suggested the books by Karen Elizabeth Gordon as “grammar with a twist…or perhaps, twisted grammar”. I took a brief look and thought hers would be a sound (and fun) addition to my library of craft books.

That’s it for Monday, May 23, 2016. Forty-six years ago this afternoon, George and I married in Kingston, On. Forty-six years of love, partnership and friendship.

 

New Directions

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WORK-IN-PROGRESS

My work-in-progress, a novel, occupies most of my time these days. I’m revising. Last fall, I won a prize at The Book Promoter: an editorial review by editor/agent Svetlana Pironko of the Author Rights Agency.

After talking with her and reviewing the changes she suggested, I began a revision, this time on paper. I’m eighty pages in.

BUSINESS WRITING

As well, I follow a course from Susan Anderson — Freelance Writers Bootcamp — on writing for business, either business to business or business to client. Some of the types of writing she teaches — blogging, content writing for web-sites, white papers — are interesting to me. Her course teaches how to do those and about 10 more.

WORDPRESS

Yes, I have a WordPress blog and even my own domain name at Wordpress —ginny200.com — but I set it all up with only rudimentary knowledge. An article on Mashable, 13 cheap(or free) online classes to boost your digital skills, led me to a course called WordPress for Beginners. I’m taking it now.

EDITING

I have an extensive library of books about editing, everything from Self-editing for Fiction Writers, by Rennie Browne and Dave King, to the most recent, The Frugal Editor by Carolyn  Howard-Johnson. A favourite is Revision and Self-Editing, by James Scott Bell.

All this to explain that I’ve been busy this winter.

Visiting Paris

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In my last post, I told about our visit to Paris, a Paris in which we walked, felt secure, visited monuments and museums, some guarded, some not, ate in restaurants, one of them in the Marais, and strolled in a soft evening along the Seine to Notre Dame. In a heartbeat all that changed for the people of Paris and for us too, watching the armed presence in the streets, the check-points, the searches, the bodies carried away on stretchers, so many of them young.

But Paris has seen carnage before, and lost her young before, in world wars, in revolution, and endured, recovered, and become Paris again, symbol of art and reason and enlightenment. So she shall this time.

In the remote past, Roman legions lived there, marched and conquered, and now old men play boules where gladiators fought. We walked across the arena when we visited Paris.

IMG_0445.jpg

IMG_0445 (1).jpg

The old men will play boules, the young will go to concerts and they will all sit in cafes and drink wine and laugh.

Paris will endure and so will what she stands for.

 

 

October

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October and the first (slight) frost. A perfect fall morning today: intense blue sky, leaves changing, especially the small shrubs, Euonymous scarlet.

We spent two weeks in France in September, the first week in Paris and the second in Honfleur. We stayed with our friend Nancy Pratt( read her blog and see her photos from around the world at https://nancyhereandthere.wordpress.com) in Paris. For a week we lived more like locals than tourists, shopping in the streets of the Jardin Des Plantes quarter and the market on Rue Mouffetard, walking, taking the bus, or the Batobus on the Seine. Our friends, Anne and Alan Simpson and Hazel Hamilton found a lovely apartment a twenty minutes walk away from Nancy’s and a block from the Seine at Notre Dame.

Notre Dame

Notre Dame

market on Rue Mouffetard, Paris

Rue Mouffetard

Paris at night IMG_0613

For the second week, we rented a car and drove to Honfleur, Normandy and stayed in The Stables at Le Fond de la Cour, a charming bed and breakfast with some self-catering apartments. All of historic Honfleur was within walking distance.

Many of the Impressionist artists and modern ones painted in Honfleur. Something about the quality of the light drew them to the little town, which is still very pretty, in spite of thousands of tourists who descend on it every day.

Le Fond de la Cour, Honfleur

Le Fond de la Cour, Honfleur

We took day trips from Honfleur. Bayeux and its famous tapestry and Juno beach were the most memorable for me.

Honfleur

Honfleur

Honfleur

Honfleur street

Juno Beach

Juno Beach

Now we’re back at home and I’m editing(still) my work-in-progress. I’m closing on the end, I think, or is it the end of the beginning!

August Thoughts

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August, 2015

August, 2015

Sunday morning, half way through summer. Lately we’ve been having a lovely stretch of weather, so hot the mosquitoes have packed it in and sadly, so have heat-sensitve roses. The day lilies are blooming though and so are the phlox.

I’m still working on my novel. Doing a long outline showed me where there were a few holes, not needing new material, but scenes moved and connections made.

Recently I’ve been reading Ursula K. Le Guin, Steering the Craft, an excellent short book on the craft of writing from a terrific writer and teacher.

The critiques arrived for the entries into the University of Winchester’s writing contest. My flash fiction piece, The Gulls Soared, placed third in its category and the reviewers had kind words to say and one piece of advice. The reviewers of The Empty Room, on the other hand, suggested a rewrite in first person. I have a first draft of that and may lengthen the story.

I also submitted the first three pages of a novel. The reviewer, a senior editor at Little, Brown in the UK, wrote, in part, “I’ve very much enjoyed reading this. You have a very assured writing voice”. 

Of course she also had areas of concern and advice but closed by saying, “I do think this is a very unique and interesting idea and hope you keep working on it”.

Encouraging to receive such kind words from someone whose business is evaluating writers. The novel in question is not my work-in -progress but one I have “in the drawer” for the next time.

Other news: George, my husband saw an Indigo Bunting in our back yard this week. In fact, it saw George, and hovered outside the window for a time before it flew off into the Sunburst Honey Locust. One of our few blue birds. I’m envious although I did see a flicker this week, although not well enough to tell if it was yellow or red-shafted.

Our plans for France are proceeding. We’ve been debating getting a Paris Pass vs a Museum Pass. All four of us loved the vaporetti in Venice and have almost decided to use the BatoBus on the Seine for most of our transport, that and walking.

That’s about it for this first Sunday in August.

Writing workshops and Contests

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The first day of summer will arrive at today, bringing with it the longest day of the year. So far, the garden is happy although a little confused with roses—outstanding for the first time in years—blooming with the peonies. My favourite blue clematis, struggling up from the depths of fern garden, climbs over the rock wall and up a support.Peonies and Clematis I’m a bit behind in planting. My terrace pots, most of them, are still empty. If the rain holds off, maybe I’ll get to them today.

Good news from a contest in the UK: a piece of flash fiction that I have worked on from time to time for years, The Gulls Soared, placed third in the Winchester Writers’ Festival. The prize is a selection of books, but I don’t know which ones as yet.

Contests are a terrific way to get your name out, earn a little(sometimes) and receive feedback on your work. Aerogramme Writers Studio lists contests by closing date every two months.

June 6 and 7 I spent at Barbara Kyle’s workshop “The First Thirty Pages”. A terrific two days, sharing writing with only 8 others plus Barbara, allowing an in depth look at everyone’s work. A one on one with Barbara was the highlight for me although her advice has me working diligently on an outline for my all ready completed novel. That process is ongoing and should help me sharpen the focus. Check out Barbara’s website for news of a terrific Writer’s Symposium she’s organizing for the fall.

A tip for writers: A cheat sheet for writing body language can be found at Body Language, written by blogger Amanda Patterson.

That’s about it for this Sunday morning in June. I’m back to my outline.

Master Class

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Spring in Ontario—from a humid 29C to a rainy 7C this am.

A Rainy SundayThe burst of growth in May astonishes me, every year. In April I despair of ever seeing the ground again, and here it is, sprouting hosta and Korean lilac and early leaves of daylilies. What a country. The long, ice-riven winter gives way to this glory.

I’ve been working on some technical aspects of my booklaunch.io page for The Child on the Terrace, including adding a trailer. You can check it out at the link above. The trailer was produced by The Book Promoter group in Dublin, Eire.

Next weekend takes me Barbara Kyle’s First Thirty Pages Master Class. Preparation includes reading and critiquing the first 30 pages of all 9 other participants. 80-90 thousand words all together, a good-sized novel. I’m looking forward to spending the weekend with all these talented people and Barbara, who is an excellent teacher.

That’s about it for today. No blog next Sunday as I shall be away.

3 tips for editing

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Summer has almost arrived. One night of frost, but everything appears to have survived, including my tiny basil plants.

It’s 2 weeks until Barbary Kyle’s First 30 Pages workshop and I’ve sent off my partial and received those of the other participants. This week, I hope to review all 9 and leave next week for any second thoughts.

I submit short stories to contests, like the one hosted by Red Tuque Books. Occasionally a critique is offered with the fee, and if I can afford it I request one. It’s a great way to receive feedback from successful authors about my work. How to win is another question.

Dianna Thurban, in a guest post on Daily Writing Tips, details 20 ideas for winning contests. I quibble with #18. She advises choosing to send in paper if the contest gives a choice. I’ve read others who say that those that are sent on paper receive more favourable consideration than those that are sent via e-mail.

I think that is outdated advice. Most sites now are using Submittable or specifically request electronic submission. Paper requires the judge to receive, review and then shred or otherwise dispose of hundreds of pages. The environmental stress of all that paper and ink needs to be taken into account as well.

The Write Life published an editing tips checklist some time ago, that’s handy to have on your desk—yes, in paper—as you start the editing process. I use Autocrit, which identifies most of these problems, but I prefer to check as I go and use the programme nearer to the end of the process.

Another list appears on the Merriam-Webster site. Proofreaders’ marks were a mystery to me until I found this handy document.

Yesterday was our 45th wedding anniversary. The weather was much the same in Kingston that Saturday, a little cool, windy with gusts off the lake, but the tulips were blooming. We were twenty-four years old, a lifetime ago.

That’s about it for this Sunday in May.

Blogging and Evernote.

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Sunday, May 10, 2015

A warm, humid morning, more July than May. Another week of unseasonable weather has brought the Baltimore Orioles, white-crowned sparrows, and many more finches—American goldfinch, purple finch, house finch, both red and orange varieties. Tulips, daffodils and spirea are blooming. White blooms on the Serviceberry tell me it’s time to prune the roses.

I’ve finished the latest revision of my WIP. This time through I concentrated on plot, looking for holes and places where I had made it too easy for the protagonist. Tomorrow, I’m going to give description a hard look, to make sure my characters are grounded in time and place.

I’m trying a new piece of software, new to me that is, called Evernote, a way to store pieces of information, images, web-sites etc that come my way into a more coherent arrangement than bookmarks. My bookmark folder is unwieldy at best so I’m looking forward to using Evernote and Evernote Web-clipper.

One of the articles I found this week concerns blogging. The author, Philip Kleudgen, on the site Write to Done, gives 10 suggestions on giving a blog a title that will take it viral. He puts content that shines at number 5 with the following checkpoints:

S – Specificity
H – Helpfulness
I – Immediacy
N – Newsworthiness
E – Entertainment value

Number 1 talks about numbers, in headlines. We’ve all seen them and used them but apparently the numbers 10, 16, 21 and 25 are particularly good at seducing readers.

I suggest those of you who blog or are interested in blogging read the full article. Useful information, from Mr. Leudgen who blogs at  RestaurantCoverings.com. There are useful links in his bio as well and a pdf. of resources.

My garden this week.

My garden this week.