The Canadian Prairie Multitasker

PURCHASE FROM BWL STORE - BOGO

My name is Killarney Sheffield. I am a mother, rancher, horse breeder, trainer, coach, farrier, ranch hand, equine and bovine midwife, assistant farm hand, counsellor, maid, chauffer tutor, gardener, chef, and gopher. It is a mouthful isn’t it? If I were to apply for a job in town the application would not be big enough to include at the things I am, can do and accomplish in an average day. It is all just part of being a Canadian prairie wife and mother. On top of all that I am an award winning, multi-published historical romantic adventure author. I hear the gasps, how do you manage to fit that into raising five kids and a ranch? I am the ultimate multitasker. Yes, I can burn dinner, haggle with book editors on the phone, let the dog out and the cat in, all while tugging on my boots to go chase the cattle who have gotten out on the road again. But, you know, when you live in the great Canadian prairies you have to be part super woman and the support in a small prairie community is like nothing you will ever experience anywhere else in Canada. Prairie residents are always willing to lend a hand and their support when needed. There is nowhere else you can walk down the street and everyone greets you by first name and sincerely cares how you are today. And if your cow goes down in the middle of the night and your medicine bag of tricks is empty you don’t call the vet, you ring the neighbour because he has the medicine you need and is more than happy to come over in his pajamas to help save the day. That is just the way we roll out here.

For me writing gives me that little corner of the world that is truly mine. It doesn’t require anything from me and I can create a world of my own, where burned dinner, loose cattle and kids howling that the dog ate their favorite shoe again can’t intrude. Does my everyday life end up in some of my historical romantic adventures? You bet! Some things haven’t changed in the last 200 years! The methods may have changed, but the desire for love and adventure are still there. Of course when you are tied to a ranch 24-7 it is a little harder to explore the jungles of Brazil, sail across the English Channel or gallop across Russia. Writing allows me to go where I wish, explore many different places and cultures, with the help of my computer and the internet that is. I guess you could call me an armchair traveller. And I wouldn’t trade it for a thing! 

So what made me decide to become a writer you’re wondering? Well, it all started innocently enough. I write the occasional article for a local paper or two and one day after requesting one on horse slaughter in Canada an editor mentioned in passing that he enjoyed my articles and he was impressed they needed so little in the way or edits or revisions. He said I should think about writing a novel one day. I in returned laughed because at that time I had three historical romantic adventures in my computer that I had written over the years that I was sure would never see the light of day, never mind make it from a publishing house ‘slush pile’ to across a publisher’s desk. Encouraged by his praise I screwed up my courage and tossed out a manuscript to one of the big three in romance, Harlequin. BAM! Rejection was swift and brutal. I discovered that without any writing credits to my name I would never get a novel in front of the eyes of a publisher in the big six publishing houses. Then I discovered small press. Small press are committed to finding and show casing new authors. I submitted my first novel to a small Quebec press and was thrilled when they came back with a yes and a request for more manuscripts. I went on to publish seven titles with them but began to wonder if I really was good enough to warrant being published. After winning a few awards I was feeling a little more confident but still not completely convinced my calling was as an author. I ventured to submit to a few other publishers and landed with another Canadian house and two American publishers, and I haven’t looked back. 

Are there more books and awards in my future? I surely hope so, but one thing is certain, I will always be proud to be a Canadian prairie woman. There is nowhere on earth better to live, even when I’m cussing the -40C of a harsh winter, the deer eating my freshly planted garden or the my horse suddenly deciding he’s terrified of the cattle he just helped me sort yesterday. Only in Canada is it possible to be the world’s best multitasker.

Books We Love Special Release - The Californios

AMAZON EXCLUSIVE

In cooperation with the Estate of Jane Toombs, Books We Love is thrilled to release and updated and edited version of her Golden series.  The Californios, an outstanding Saga of two powerful families, one Mexican and on Anglo, in the years following the Mexican American war.





Following his father's death young Cameron Maguire's land is stolen by The MacLeods, and his home is burned to the ground. Determined to make his way in the new world and amass his own land, Cameron traveled to America, where he settled in California at a time when the wounds from the Mexican-American war had yet to heal. Through a series of chances and mishaps Cameron acquires his land -- a Golden Valley between Los Angeles and San Diego. But at what cost?

This is the first in a series of five novellas that make up Jane Toomb's saga of Mexican and Anglo families responsible for shaping the Golden State. These novellas will be released in two week intervals through November and December. Released for the Estate of Jane Toombs.

Available as an Amazon exclusive.  Volume 1 is now Free for 5 days. 

“Grandmother, What Long Arms You Have.” Or “Excuse Me? But, Who Are You, Really?” by Tia Dani

This month we'd like to talk about characterization.

In 1916, author Charles Perrault may have inadvertently given a writing lesson when he penned his fairy tale, Little Red Riding-Hood. Listen as we hear the wolf’s answer to Little Red Riding-Hood’s statement of having long arms. “All the better to hug you with, my little girl.”




     The wolf was no fool.

He knew, in order to get close to the girl, he would have to act and talk exactly like Grandmother. If not, Little Red Riding-Hood wouldn't be tricked into undressing and climbing into bed with him.

Undressed? Climb into bed? Hmmm, do you suppose there’s the makings of a romance plot here? Granted, in Perrault’s story, the wolf’s objective was to eat Little Red Riding-Hood, but still, the possibilities are—

Wait! We digress. This article is supposed to be on characterization, not on Little Red Riding-Hood and the wolf’s hungry cravings.

Okay, let’s get back to characterization. Normally in fiction, there are male and female protagonists. And...the author’s gender is either male or female. So how can an author effectively portray a character’s gender opposite of their own?

Surprisingly the concept is not a contemporary one. Gender characterization was discussed in an 1898, New York periodical called The Munesy Magazine.

                                                                          

   In Wolf’s Clothing  

When women writers take to trousers and march through their novels as first person heroes—“I, George Wharton, a bachelor of thirty four”—it is amusing to see that every movement betrays the goddess. The more aggressively mannish the attitude, the more palpable the illusion. Their masculine valor, like that of a stage courtier, depends on the little outward signs, the swish of a stick, the crook of an elbow, or the angle of a knee. They smoke a cigarette and say “damn,” and think by that they have achieved masculinity. Yet the veriest hayseed in the top gallery grins at the masquerade.

It is the gait that betrays them. The average feminine mind trips lightly forward on pointed toes, with many little excursions and minute explorations to the right and left. The man, as a usual thing, stumps gravely along, leaving deep heel marks at wide intervals, and passing the details with blank indifference. Their respective ways of exchanging confidences show this better than anything. A woman tells what led up to an episode, just how it happened, and what he said, and what she had on, spinning a good hour of reminiscence out of a fifteen minute event. A man states the fact boldly, filling in the interstices with confidential silence and tobacco smoke. A genius can achieve this, rising superior to sex by the magic of intuition, but geniuses are rare among authors nowadays. The average woman rarely creates a man of men when she herself plays the title role. 

* * *

What is it with these 1800's men? Why is it that a woman can rarely create a man of men? What about a man creating a woman of women? Wouldn't he have the same problem?

Oh, never mind, we’re wandering again.

Characterization. We do understand Munesy’s point. If an author is female and she endeavors to write in a male character’s viewpoint, she must be absolutely certain that she doesn’t color it with her own feminine logic. The same, therefore, must go for a male author writing a female viewpoint.

One of the hardest tasks in writing is to write from a gender’s viewpoint opposite their own. And, get it right! An author would be wise to run his or her efforts by someone of the opposite gender. Ask if the character sounds like something a man (or woman) would say or do in that same situation. Also it’s best to keep some important things in mind when developing gender characters. Men tend to think in terms of hierarchies and women think in terms of groups. Men perceive a chain of command and the challenge for leadership. Women have a communal view. Everybody works together and everyone’s opinions should count.

Correct gender identification, however, isn't the only type of character development that is important. All fictional characters are normally human beings without a body, made entirely of words. You might say these characters live in a world of pure language or pure spirit. The trick is to make certain they come to life as believable, complex, living, human beings.

A successful author cam enter a character’s literary protoplasm skin and understand him. What makes realistic and memorable characters come alive, an author should define the character, master them, and, finally, create them. Though creating them is considered to be the most difficult, mastering is the most crucial. Mastering creditable personalities, sometimes means that an author has to step beyond the boundaries of what they perceive as normal, or believe what is right or wrong, especially if a character’s persona does not fit within a writer’s comfort level.

Unfortunately, an author can’t just snap his or her fingers and switch genders in order to understand what the other sex thinks, nor can they wave a magic wand over themselves and become a victim of abuse in one moment, and become a raving, psychopathic killer the next. To know either of those characters, an author might have to, as they say, walk the walk.

Granted, not everyone can, or is willing to, interact with a deranged killer, just so they can comprehend how a murderer thinks, or live daily with the life choices of an abuse victim. But what if you could? How far are you willing to go to understand your characters completely? Or, would it even be worth it?

It was for the wolf in Little Red Riding-Hood. And we all know how that story ended.

Happy writing!

                                                                   Graphics courtesy of  Ike's World

To find out more about the writing team Tia Dani and our books visit us at Books We Love: Tia Dani

Time's Enduring Love, our historical time-travel is a Books We Love Best Seller.

TIME'S ENDURING LOVE

                                                                                  CALL DOWN THE DARKNESS                                                                 

Tia Dani is the multi-published writing team made up of good friends Christine E. Jones and Beverly Petrone. Together they create endearing and realistic characters, humorous dialogue, and unusual settings. And…best of all…they're having the time of their lives.