To Curmudgeons by Julie Christen

Here's to all the curmudgeons in my life, including the one you will meet in Nokota Voices coming in April.

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Julie Christen Author Page

To Curmudgeons by Julie Christen

I know a man who’s not what he seems.

On the outside, in fact, he looks downright mean.

His brow is all crinkled in the shape of a V.

His mouth is a grimace. He sure acts cranky.

Hands crammed in his pockets or crossed over his chest.

Stand-offish. Skeptical. Unimpressed.

Mad at the world? Just mad at you?

Mad about change and politics too.

A crabby old man, just mean to the bone.

Wishing that we would all leave him alone.

But …

Hidden in shadowy depths unseen

Lie stories of pain and places he’s been.

He loves with his whole heart. Mourns those he’s lost.

He’ll fight to the death for you - damn the cost.

His hands are gnarled, tender and strong

To pray, caress and work all day long.

Wisdom courses through his veins.

So much knowledge. Zero fame.

He’s been there, done that. Got the t-shirt and then some.

He’s a man with a story, not just a curmudgeon.

So next time you see him, maybe give him a chance 

To prove he’s much more than you see at first glance.

Editing essentials by donalee Moulton

 Editing essentials
Revising, reworking, revitalizing

Great writers don’t need an editor. They demand one. What first-rate writers understand is that another pair of eyes or a fresh pair of eyes are essential to successful communication. This second looks brings a new perspective, the distance that only time (even a little time) can offer, and renewed energy to improve content.

Let’s try this exercise. You’ll need a piece of paper, 8.5” x 11” if possible. Now transform that flat piece of paper into the world’s most wonderful flying machine. The goal is to fly as far as possible. Take a few minutes to play with different designs, then stand up and launch your creation. How far did it go?

Now let’s rethink, or edit, the exercise. What did your flying machine look like? Something similar to a paper airplane?

Let’s review the instructions, the language. Nowhere did it say to build a paper airplane. It said a flying machine. The goal was distance. What would be an easier way to build a flying machine? What would get us great distance?

Crumpling the paper into a ball would.

That’s what editing does. As we write, whether for a reader or a listener, we dive in. Ideas flow. We create content. We think about our audience. We identify important points to make. We’re in the midst of our content, our characters, and our creativity.

When we edit, we take a step back. We come up for air. We have a different perspective – and a draft on which to overlay a fresh set of eyes. Even short pieces of writing should be edited. We need to think before we walk away. We need to give ourselves time to review and revise. To take one last read through (or think through). You’ll be surprised at what you missed or decide to revise.

Editing is essential to clear, concise, compelling writing. But editing isn’t just one thing. Just as pizza isn’t just one thing. There is deep dish pizza with red carnival spinach. Thin crust pepperoni and Bloomsdale spinach. New York-style pizza with Tyee spinach. Notice though that although the type of pizza is different there are common elements.

That’s also true when it comes to editing. There are three broad types: substantive editing, stylistic editing, and copyediting.

I thought we could spend a little time exploring these different types of editing in future blogs. Until then, I’d love to hear from you about your editing process, what drives you nuts, what makes your heart sing.

Happy New Year from BWL Publishing Inc.

 Wishing all of you health, happiness and prosperity in 2023.

Our new releases for 2023 reflect the optimism we at BWL feel about a brand new year.

Click here to purchase

A champion barrel racer disappears from her trailer on the eve of the Black Hills Roundup. Two hundred miles away, female remains are discovered at the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument. Doug and Jill Fletcher, assigned to investigate the crime at the national monument, quickly determine that the remains are the missing rodeo champion. Thrust into the unfamiliar world of calf ropers, bull riders, and barrel racers, they team up with the Belle Fourche police to investigate the murder.

A trucker reports seeing a ghost driving the victim’s pickup across Montana the night of the murder. Other witnesses report seeing a rodeo clown near her trailer. Fletchers locate the victim’s stolen pickup and horse trailer, but not her horse. The evidence seems to point to horse theft as the motive, but the complicated reports of ghosts and rodeo clowns leaves them feeling that there’s more to the crime than a simple horse theft.

Click here to purchase

The North Country Series invites the reader into the wilds of Canada’s Yukon Territory, with its men and their loyal sled dogs, both as rugged as the mountains in which they live. Strong-willed women bring a softer touch to the long, snowy nights under the grandiose spectacular northern lights.

Brooke faces challenges every day as the only vet in a Yukon town, where sled dogs outnumber people. Life becomes even more complicated when her husband is murdered and she finds he has emptied her bank account and racked up a mountain of debt.

Veterinary medicine was not her first career choice. On the verge of her becoming a physician, a hospital tragedy derailed her plans. She turned to treating animals, her next love.

The loss of her husband uncovers a web of intrigue that she had no idea existed all around her. Her new neighbor, Dexter Weiman, appears to know more than he lets on. She is attracted to the handsome stranger, but she cannot trust him, especially when he appears unexpectedly on the Iditarod Race trail, where she is acting as a volunteer vet.

Click here to purchase

Alone in Canada after her parents retire to Scotland, Sophie Grant is content to finish her degree without partaking in the rowdy university lifestyle. So it seems like Fate when at the single party her roommate Tessa forces her to attend, she meets the charming and chivalrous Brandon Chase. In a whirlwind, Sophie finds herself smitten and living with the man of her dreams.

Everything is perfect. Until Tessa is found dead.

Soon after, Sophie realizes her own studies have taken a backseat to Brandon’s strange lifestyle. She decides to escape from the web she’d not even noticed was entangling her. However, it isn’t until one horrific morning that she realizes how far he’d go to make her stay.

Our very best wishes for a wonderful 2023.

Party Time by Priscilla Brown

 

Australian journalist Jasmine, stuck on a small Scottish island after a difficult assignment, finds herself learning reel dances at the local  Hogmanay party.  New Year's Eve had never been...so, well...so sexy...and is this stylishly kilted guy really who he says he is?

 

Find this contemporary romance at

  https://books2read.com/Dancing-the-Reel 

💖

 As teenagers many years ago, my cousin Sally and I hated family parties. The worst were those at Christmas and New Year hosted alternately by my parents and by hers. Having survived the excesses of Christmas at one house, we metaphorically took deep breaths and braced the New Year scene at the other.

Our mothers would sit at the kitchen table, their gossiping accompanied by rapidly depleting bottles of white wine and quantities of strawberry jam tarts. If a reason had ever existed for these specific edibles, it was lost in the annals of long ago New Year's Eves. If we took our clothes off and danced on the table, we doubted they'd have noticed. Our fathers occupied the living room, hers thumping away on the piano and mine making excruciating noises on his violin. Lucky the houses in this street were detached, so unlikely the neighbours would have their ears assaulted, but even so, anyone outside would surely cringe at the volume of noise. But the 'oldies' were having fun. 

For our 'fun,' and I don't remember how old we were, one year at my house Sally and I took from the wine rack a bottle of red wine which the parents probably thought they had hidden in a shoe cupboard, two glasses, and the few leftover mince pies. In my bedroom, we sat on the bed, disappointed there were no more pies, testing the wine while wondering how people could drink this disgusting stuff but nevertheless sipping away, and giggling over stupid boys in our respective high school classes. Neither of us felt at our best the next morning.

Chatting with friends about previous New Year's celebrations, mid-summer here in Australia, one described how his parents had hired a jumping castle to be installed in their large backyard for their extended family of children. Aged about ten, he and his twin brother had a fight while jumping, both fell off and each broke an arm. Another recalled how when teenagers their family joined with two others for a picnic in a park. She and a boy from another family ran a contest to see who could catch the most cicadas in ten minutes. Children nil, cicadas safe.

May 2023 be kind to you, with lots of good books to read. Stay safe. Priscilla.

 https://bwlpublishing.ca

 

https://priscillabrownauthor.com 

Poodle Talk by Eden Monroe

 

For book details and purchase information visit Eden Monroe's BWL Author page.

The much-celebrated poodle is the beloved national dog of France, but that’s not where the breed originated. It all began in Germany, the name derived from the German word Pudel or Pudlen. Duck dog, or Caniche, is what the breed is called in France.

That’s right, despite their pampered, diva-like appearance, poodles were actually bred to be working dogs. They’re superbly suited for their job as waterfowl retrievers, and their famous puffball haircuts in fact serve a very important purpose for that type of work. Their tight curly hair is meant to insulate them in cold water, but to promote freedom of movement, the neck, legs and tail were shaved. Carefully crafted pompoms remained, designed to protect their joints and torso (vital organs) in often frigid water.

Nevertheless their iconic cutaway hairdos are perfect catwalk coiffures and have become synonymous with this handsome breed. There are three acceptable styles when appearing before discerning dog show judges: continental clip, modified continental clip and English saddle. There’s also the puppy clip for baby poodles debuting on the show circuit.

Snowflakes, the tiny star of the romantic suspense, Looking for Snowflakes, is a toy poodle who has a thing or two to say about the sturdy stuff that poodles are made of. She is a force to be reckoned with and her typically sweet personality not only touches lives, but makes the most of whatever situation she happens to find herself in:

“Just then the back door opened and Luke Barker snuck in. He slipped a small package onto the top shelf of the closet before announcing he was home early because the office had closed.

Snowflakes was the first one to the back door to greet him, her tiny pink tongue lolling in a dazzling smile. And since there was no food in the kitchen, maybe this good-looking young gentleman might have a treat or two up his sleeve. So she sat back on her paws and giving it everything she had, pranced with her front feet. To her bewilderment her performance didn’t seem to impress him, the man just stared at her as though he couldn’t believe his eyes.

Next to arrive was Sarah. ‘Daddy!’ she yelled as he picked her up and swung her around before setting her back on the floor. ‘Look at my new baby dog! Her name is Snowflakes.’

Danielle Barker had now come to the back door as well, walking into the unblinking stare of her husband, the look that said why is there a dog here? We didn’t discuss this!

He first stared at the dog and then at his daughter, before his gaze swung back to his wife. ‘Danielle, have you got a minute?’”

Soft, white and curly, Snowflakes is the star of the show although poodle lovers, unlike fanciers of most breeds, have four sizes to choose from: standard, miniature, toy and teacup, as well as a myriad of hypoallergenic coat colours.

Playful but dignified, these dogs are friendly, devoted and keenly protective of their people friends. Poodles of every size and colour have been the favourites of some very well known pet owners: Elvis Presley, Elizabeth Taylor, Jackie Kennedy, Lucille Ball, Marilyn Monroe, Katharine Hepburn, Walt Disney, Winston Churchill and more, and all knew the joys of friendship with these versatile animals.

Poodles are recognized as one of the most intelligent breeds in the world, and highly trainable. Just a few of their outstanding abilities include excelling at performance sports, working as guide and therapy dogs, and being natural entertainers are outstanding circus performers. Also adept at truffle foraging, they were often used together with Dachshunds who are low enough to the ground to easily dig out this prized edible fungus.

And they have proven themselves to have plenty of try too, a hallmark of their impressive ancestry over the roughly 400 years since the breed first appeared. Remarkably, a team that included standard poodles once competed in the grueling Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, an Alaskan event covering roughly 1,000 miles from Anchorage to Nome. The results were less than stellar for the poodles, but it was not the fault of those valiant animals. That annual competition now permits “only dogs suitable for arctic travel” (Alaskan Malamute, Siberian husky or a mixed breed like the Alaskan husky) to compete, because the icy climate can eventually overwhelm single-coated breeds like poodles who are not at all suited to such harsh northern conditions.

Poodles have distinguished themselves in other ways too, such as Montee from Idaho, the standard poodle who tipped the scales at an amazing one hundred pounds, and novelist John Steinbeck’s pal, Charles le Chien, was also a standard. Steinbeck and Charley were inseparable companions as they toured thirty-four states together in a pick-up truck on a 10,000 mile journey of discovery in 1960.

History also remembers outstanding poodles such as Sancho. Found on his master’s grave following the 1812 Battle of Salamanca in Spain (Peninsular war), he was adopted by Lord Worcester and taken to live in London. And Boye, also a standard poodle, was believed to belong to Prince Rupert of Rhine. During his Royalist master’s incarceration and later on the field of battle, Boye remained steadfast at Rupert’s side; a Royal mascot who held the honourary title of “Sergent-Major-General.”

There have also been famous miniature poodles: Aero, owned by Japanese figure skating star Mao Asada appeared in commercials with the popular Olympian, and Edward, a TV commercial celebrity and much-welcome fixture at A-list fashion shoots. Jinkee a toy poodle and red like Aero and Edward, is a social media magnet with more Instagram followers than her owner, food and travel journalist, Sofia Levin, according to knowyourdoodles.com.

Poodles have been featured on both the small and big screen; immortalized on canvas, and made their mark in cartoons, including Cleo Diller, Penelope Poodle and did you know the immortal Betty Boop was originally depicted as an anthropomorphic poodle?

And then of course little Snowflakes from Stoney Creek has also been blessed with a generous dusting of poodle magic in Looking for Snowflakes:

“It had been a long day for Bob and as he neared the end of his deliveries he was looking forward to his easy chair in the living room of the modest home he shared with Sue. A quiet Christmas Eve in front of their lovely decorated tree. However when he climbed in and pulled the last Christmas box toward him, he was dismayed to see that its corner was torn. The foil was partially ripped away, and some of the meal missing. He was perplexed. How on earth could such a thing have happened? He certainly couldn’t deliver it in its present condition. Had Sue dropped it by any chance when she was helping him carry their precious cargo out to the van this morning? No, she’d never allow it to be loaded in that condition.

He could see his easy chair getting a little further away because this meal would have to be replaced. He couldn’t disappoint the last senior on his list who was eagerly awaiting his arrival. Sue would have to make up a new plate, but she could easily do so because she’d simply take from their own Christmas dinner to replenish the one that had been damaged. Vandalized? Good lord, were their rats in here or something? And then he spied a little white curly leg protruding from the back of the passenger seat. A dog had to be stretched out in back of the seat, sleeping!

Climbing all the way inside was no easy feat considering his painful arthritic hip. He pushed the curtain that separated the cab from the cargo area, all the way to the side. Snowflakes raised her head lazily, her eyes winking as she tried to come awake from a most wonderful nap.

‘Well what do we have here?’ he asked kindly. ‘I do believe I’ve picked up a passenger somewhere along the line. Hungry were you girl?’

Snowflakes was fully awake now and she cocked her head sideways and smiled her adorable little smile. Her tiny pink tongue lolled as if to say I’m sorry I stole some of that meal, but I just couldn’t resist. It was really good too by the way, my compliments to the chef. You wouldn’t happen to have an extra sugar cookie would you?”