Thursday, February 22, 2018

Why My Novel Is The Number One Squirrel Hors D’oeuvre

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Why My Novel Is The Number One Squirrel Hors D’oeuvre

Who has ever read the classic ‘Winds of Change’ by Henry P. Samuels? The literary classic that has spanned the realm of the last century, won the Pulitzer prize, generated numerous spinoff series, made into movies and TV series, like ‘The Changing Winds,’ or ‘The Breeze Blows In Another Direction Today.’ The author wrote fifteen sequels, although none were as great as the original. That book alone has outsold all of the Harry Potter novels and made the author a net worth value of over four hundred million dollars. US or otherwise, doesn’t really matter in this universe or the alternate that Henry P. Samuels was published in.
            So you meekly ask; who the eff Is he talking about?
Well, in this world he gave up on himself and pitched that novel into the dumpster, took a job as an insurance agent, had three kids and liver failure at 58 due to drinking too much. His regrets in life: huge for giving up.

Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success
when they gave up.
Thomas Edison


Ask one of our great fiction writers, Stephen King. Those of you who regularly read this blog will already know this story, and with apologies to you for the repetition,  I am repeating myself because it is probably the best example of the word “perseverance” that I am aware of. The story goes that he gave up after “Carrie” came back from its umpteenth potential publisher with the usual standard letter that began “Thank you for your submission. However...” Thankfully his wife didn’t.  She took it out of the garbage can it had been unceremoniously pitched in and slammed it on his desk. “You tell me you’re a writer, now put it out there, again.” As you have probably guessed (or else this is not a very uplifting story) the very next publisher accepted it. That is why King fans everywhere now sleep with one eye open at night after reading one of his novels.  Thanks Stephen.
To be honest we’ll never know how many great literary classics have been pitched into rubbish bins, since they all became squirrel hors d’oeuvres or used as fuel to keep hands warm on the last camping trip of the summer (or maybe even toast the marshmallow for s’mores!).
So why do I continue to write?
Because it keeps firing the passion in my soul.
Just ask young nineteen year old Godwin’e M Luther living in Jinja Bugiri, Uganda.   He contacted me on Facebook, an orphan, no father, has nothing and asks for nothing, yet he continues to write, struggling to go to university. Has three novels written on notebooks, can’t afford a computer. His words evoke sheer eloquence. Ask him what fires his soul. And if so inclined, send him some money to support his authorship. Yes, this is a real person.
Some people are born storytellers.





I remember telling my son Rory bedtime stories. He’d give me two or three characters and off I’d go, usually leaving him in stitches laughing, instead of going to sleep. Maybe where some of my off the wall humour came from. 

“Come to the edge,” he said.
They said, “We are afraid.”
“Come to the edge,” he said.
They came.
He pushed them…
And they flew.
Guillaume Apollinaire



You gain strength, courage and confidence
By every experience
In which you really stop to look fear in the face.
“I lived through this horror.
I can take the next thing that comes along.”
You must do the thing you think you cannot do.
Eleanor Roosevelt


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Tuesday, February 20, 2018

Have You Played Pickleball? by J.Q. Rose



Terror on Sunshine Boulevard by J.Q. Rose
Mystery, paranormal
Click here to find mysteries by JQ Rose at BWL Publishing

Hello and welcome to the Books We Love Insiders Blog. My name is J.Q.Rose.

BWL Publishing released my latest mystery,Terror on Sunshine Boulevard, in December. I've been hopping around cyberspace introducing the book on my Blog Tour this winter. I enjoy visiting other bloggers and meeting their readers. The most-asked question I have received on this journey is,"What is pickleball?"

Terror on Sunshine Boulevard Winter Warm-Up
2018 Blog tour
Terror on Sunshine Boulevard takes place in Florida at a senior retirement community and golf resort. My main characters, Jim and Gloria Hart, participate in the fun winter activities that take place at the community like golfing, swimming, dancing, game-playing such as horseshoes, shuffleboard, tennis, and pickleball.

Several readers were not familiar with the game, Pickleball. It's similar to tennis, but played on a smaller court usually laid out within a tennis court. Pickleball can also be played indoors, but there are different balls for indoor and outdoor. Both are plastic balls with holes in them like a “nerf” ball.The rackets are basically ping pong paddles on steroids.

The game caught on with seniors because it’s a bit slower than playing tennis and less area to cover. But now, even young folks are playing and enjoying the game.


Take a peek at the video below to see how the game is played. 


Youtube VIDEO: Pickleball Rules | The Definitive Beginner's Resource to How to Play Pickleball from Playpickleball.com
How to Play Pickleball Video


Have you heard of Pickleball? Have you tried your hand at playing the game?  Let us know about your experience with Pickleball in a comment below.
BWL Author J.Q. Rose
Click here to connect online with J.Q. Rose at her blog, Focused on Story.  

Monday, February 19, 2018

The Smell of Romance by Stuart R. West


Something smells very, VERY funny. Click to explore that scent.

“The Smell of Romance.” Hmm…

Let’s consider that for a moment. Doesn’t really evoke love, does it?

Yet as a writer, I stubbornly—stupidly?—keep striving to incorporate all five senses into my tales while my characters grapple and rassle in the name of romance. 

Sight? Easy-peezy, lemon-squeezy. Sound? Sure: heavy breathing, groans, moans, and hands ruffling over corsets and what have you. Taste and touch I’ll leave to the erotica writers.

But the sense of smell’s a curious quandary, a puzzle for this writer. Generally (and without trying to sound sexist, gotta be careful these days), women writers are more successful in describing the scent of love than men, I think. Yet—and I see this constantly—most female writers who dare to venture into olfactory romantic territory, tend to comment on the male partner’s scent of “musk.”

Well, I dunno from “musk,” but I’ve been in more than my fair share of men’s locker rooms and the only scent that comes to mind would be dirty socks (and that’s putting it politely). I looked up the definition of “musk.” Ms. Google says “musk is a pungent and greasy secretion from a gland in the male musk deer.”

Go figure. Even if men could secrete such an odor, I wouldn’t think it’d be an attractive one. I don’t see a lot of musk-scented air fresheners hanging in cars. Yet I read about this masculine scent... All. The. TIME.

Sometimes I even see men’s odors described in books as “musty.” Again, my assistant, Ms. Google helped me out. “Must” is even worse than “musk.” The definition reads “having a stale, moldy, or damp smell.” Ever so eloquent, Urban Dictionary goes on to add “the smell of armpits.” Clearly, you ladies don’t like the smell of us men. (Psst…you would be right).

Male writers, on the other hand, stumble around, attempting to describe how female characters smell. A lack of male vision keeps the scents narrowed to two options: some kinda floral arrangement or food. Which says A LOT about where men are coming from: their stomachs. I’m guilty of it, too. “She smelled of vanilla, touched with a dash of cinnamon.” (Apparently my character's ready to eat the female character. Just toss in some fava beans and a nice chianti and we're set.)

So, class, the takeaway from this lecture is men smell like armpits and women smell like food. There’s gotta be more to it than that. And as a writer, I vow to go on olfactory high alert until I’ve upset the clichรฉ cart and created some new scents.

In Peculiar County, everything smells fishy...

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