And here we are in April already. The Coronavirus has kept us locked away for several weeks now. Staying in is not my cup of tea. I'm a people person. I love people, love being around them, talking to them, and really miss them. I especially miss going to church on Sunday and Bible Study on Tuesday. I miss the fellowship of the ladies and studying God's Word. Not that I can't study it at home, I can and I do, but it's not quite the same as sharing with the group, hearing different views and praising God in singing at the end of our study. But we will get through this, and maybe we'll all be better off for it. People are learning what's really important in life. At least I hope they are.
It's a shame so many decided to hoard items - toilet paper of all things - it's not even that kind of virus. Then it was meat and just about everything in the store. I ran in one day and most of the shelves were empty. I couldn't believe it, I actually got the last bag of flour.  Seriously!  Now I understand they're hoarding eggs. Even though we've been told there's plenty of groceries. Yet every day items are flying off the shelves. Oh and don't forget hand sanitizer and alcohol, Clorox Wipes and just about any other cleaning product. Those of us who couldn't get to the stores in the early days were out of luck. Heck, I couldn't even find a loaf of bread yesterday. Barely found one today. And it's not going to get better any time soon. We're shut-in for the month of April.
But enough about people and the virus. As my mother used to say, "This, too, shall pass."
 Time sure has a way of flying by. Easter is just around the corner and before we know it summer will be upon us. That's fine with me. I love summer and hopefully we'll be back to normal by then.
I love all the outdoor activity - cookouts - games - camping.
Well we don't do camping much anymore, Sold our camper when we bought our house, but I really miss it. I know I can borrow one of the kids' tents since they all have campers now. But we're not into tent camping.  Sleeping on the ground isn't for us. Besides, once we get down - no easy feat - getting back up is almost impossible without a solid piece of furniture or something to hold on to.
My son offered us his camper, unfortunately, we don't have a vehicle strong enough to pull it or I'd take it in a heartbeat. Just the right size for us. Although I loved our 36' motor home. But for a weekend camping trip, it would do me just fine.
But there's still plenty of cookouts to enjoy.  Hubby is into smoking meat on the grill and that's always fun, even if it's just the two of us. I look forward to the day we can cookout with our family again.

Entangled Minds: Strange, realistic visions and dreams invade Rebecca Brennan’s mind. When she experiences someone’s pain, she’s determined to find out who shares her mind. Her search leads to a small town filled with Victorian homes and interesting people and puts her life in danger.

Review of Entangled Minds:

Rochelle Weber, Roses & Thorns Reviews

Hooking a reader on the first page is an important tool for a reader, and Ms. Dowell really pulls you in with Becca’s rude awakening in Entangled Minds. Is she linked to a cop? A civilian? Or a killer? Or is she linked to both the shooting victim and the shooter? You’ll have to read the book to find out, because it’s too good to give away any of the plot, except to say Rebecca searches for the town in which this mystery takes place and finds it full of Victorian homes, quirky people, and plenty of suspects—enough to keep even me guessing until the very end. I really did not have the perpetrator anywhere on my list of suspects! If you’ve read my reviews, you know how difficult I usually am to fool. Brava Ms. Dowell.

BWL PUBLISHING INC. APRIL NEW RELEASES

Find them all at https://bookswelove.net

Maryland plantation heiress Ursula Martin is content with her secluded life in a convent.  Until the bloodiest day of the Civil War brings a downed soldier into her care.
Blinded Rowan Buckley only knows he’s in deep love with the woman who pulled him off the battlefield. His superiors claim she’s a spy. He knows she’s full of secrets, but he’s out to prove that treason is not one of them.
The two negotiate the crucial times of the Battle of Antietam, Gettysburg, and the New York City Draft Riots. Treachery meets them at every crossroad. Will their love survive?

---

Lady Sophie Harrington is not one to abide by society’s strictures. If there’s one thing she knows, it’s that she will not be paraded on the London marriage market in hopes of finding a suitable husband. When a handsome bachelor moves into the neighboring country estate, she thinks her wedding woes are solved - all she has to do is make the man fall in love with her and convince her parents he would make a good match.

Successful barrister Lord Bryce Langdon escapes London to begin a new legal practice in the idylls of Cornwall. However, being the object of desire for two beautiful sisters disrupts his life and distracts him from his true purpose for being there – infiltrate a local smuggler’s ring.

Can Sophie win Bryce’s love? What will she do when she discovers Bryce is not the honorable man he appears to be?

---

Fire Captain Gerry Ormond is launched to national prominence and receives the prestigious Governor General’s Medal of Valor.  He visits his hometown after a twenty-year absence and unwittingly unleashes a killer--a vengeful arsonist with ties to an old murder and theft of a Philippine treasure by a teenage fraternity.  Gerry was one of the frat members.
Karen, his high school sweetheart, ignites a dangerous obsession. Her husband looks good for a recent arson/murder.  Nick Modano, ex-fraternity president, now ruthless drug dealer, is the only other participant in the old crime.  Nick never forgets or forgives Gerry for running out on him during their old crime.
Samantha ‘Sam’ Markham, a crack fire investigator, begins to hound Gerry, believing his past is connected to the present crime wave.  For Gerry, the almost forgotten past has risen from the ooze and taken on a life of its own.  As a man used to chaos control, he is powerless to close the door to his evil past and haunted by a fire dream.  Confessing his old crime will help track down the arsonist but it could destroy him. It’s a tightrope he walks in a town where old friends are now enemies.

---

Martin Parker is a very happily married man, so when his first love, Diane Branden, blows back into town – still a force to be reckoned with – he is not prepared for the fallout. Drawn unwittingly into her carefully spun web, upheaval quickly follows as his world immediately begins to skid sideways.

Newlyweds Kane and Jessica Davidson also feel the roll of thunder as storm clouds continue to gather menacingly over Emerald Valley, heralding a season of trial, turbulence and challenges in this suspense-filled emotional drama.

Storms in the Valley is a cautionary tale, a grim reminder that nothing in life should be taken for granted, and to never underestimate the enduring power of love, personal strength – or trust.

Putting the bits together by Priscilla Brown

 

Struggling with a tricky assignment on an island inhabited only by her employer

and a hundred sheep, journalist Jasmine's almost literal lifeline is the sexy ferry deckhand.

 

This contemporary romance set in the Scottish Hebridean islands is available from
Smashwords until 20 April 2020, at US$1.60 

 

https.www.smashwords.com/books/view/1003445

 

 

As well as writing contemporary romantic fiction, my creative interests include working with textiles  (knitting, hand and machine sewing, embroidery, felting). Recently I participated in a workshop creating new cloth by intermingling scraps of any colour, design and texture of fabrics, and adding embellishments such as buttons, ribbons and braids. We worked small on a background fabric of our choice, choosing fragments from a stash we had each brought and from that generously offered by the tutor. We cut and tore, fiddled with shapes and colours and designs, overlapped our pieces or covered a join with a ribbon. When we were satisfied, we carefully removed the bits so we could paste them back. Pasting is not firm enough to last, so we secured our work by embellishing with stitching and embroidery.

 

For me, writing a novel is rather like putting the bits together. These are a few of the "bits" collected in my notebook which eventually found their way into the above story...reversing a car onto a tiny ferry (I had to do this, somewhat daunting especially as it was a rental car, and this became the germ of the story idea)...a smuggler's tunnel (the eighteenth century one I saw was wide enough to roll a barrel through but a smuggler would have to be skinny to use it as a escape route)...an ancient curse (liking the idea of this, I made one up)...a ruined castle...someone dishing the dirt... a shared partiality for fruit and nut chocolate (this came from observing a couple on a train, he feeding her squares of chocolate from the wrapper which I could see).

And then there's the practicalities of building the story. I don't have a complete plot before I start  novel, making much of it up as I go, and I like to check the technological "bits" on the way.

 

Choosing words: is this the most effective word for this situation? Does it convey the appropriate tone and the precise meaning? Is  the spellchecker telling lies about my spelling?

Assembling words into sentences: are the grammar and punctuation correct? Do the words fit with their neighbour words? Does the word order carry an unambiguous message? Any extraneous or repetitious words lurking? Is there a rhythm to the sentence which makes it easy to read?

Combining sentences into paragraphs: sometimes one or only a few sentences are effective in a paragraph, to build tension, or emphasise a plot point, or introduce an important situation. Otherwise, are the sentences relevant to each other, and to the current circumstances? Does the paragraph move the story on?

Placing the paragraphs into chapters:  each needs an attention-grabbing beginning and a cliffhanger ending.

Oh the satisfaction when the "bits" appear to have fitted together, reaching THE END! But of course they haven't all been cooperative. On checking the manuscript, it's likely to find some which don't fit--they may be redundant, at the wrong place in the story, out of character, failing to convey the  overall tone of the writing, simply incorrect...and more. So the revision process begins, manipulating those "bits" until the writing is reader-friendly and the story can be finally wrapped up.  (As I did with the fabric scraps, creating a pretty bangle.)

 

Stay safe, Priscilla

 

 

https://priscillabrownauthor.com

 

  

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