Facing Fears by Joan Donaldson-Yarmey

https://books2read.com/The-Art-of-Growing-Older

https://bwlpublishing.ca/donaldson-yarmey-joan/

Facing Fears

I have a fear of flying, a fear of heights, and a fear of falling from heights. My motto: I believe in terra firma. The more firma the less terra.

Because of those fears, it took years before I would fly and more years before I trusted the plane I was on not to crash. Even now I still worry each time I get on a plane. Recently, I was on vacation in Mazatlan with my son and daughter-in-law. Their timeshare is right on the beach so I would watch people parasailing out over the ocean and landing safely back on land. It is something I’ve watched before and thought I would like to try-someday. Well, that day arrived while I was there. I gathered up my courage and with my son at my side, went to talk with the men on the beach. I paid the money and was given a life jacket to put on. Then I was hooked up to the sail and a rope from the boat knotted to the equipment. I was told to sit and the boat started pulling me over the sand and soon I was rising up in the air.

My stomach clenched, I held on to the straps for dear life, and I started to hyperventilate. But I looked at the view and it was amazing: the ocean, the city, the mountains in the distance. However, each time the wind whipped at the sail and I went sideways I would gasp and may even have done some swearing. I had been told that once I was up in the air I could relax and let go of the straps. No %$&# way. I was taken in a loop over the water and eventually the boat slowed and I began to descend. I had a walkie talkie and was told to pull on the ropes of the sail to guide me towards the beach (I’d been given instructions how to do it) and I made a safe, stand-up landing. And I felt exhilarated. I had done it, faced my fears and had a new experience.

Fear is fear and many new writers face the fear of sitting down and writing the story they want to. Many don’t tell anyone about their writing aspirations. Part way through their manuscript they doubt their abilities as a writer and think about scraping the whole process. If they finish the manuscript, they worry that no one will like and are afraid to put their ‘baby’ out in the world where it risks rejection. If they do find someone to read it and get back some negative feedback, they are tempted to quit writing altogether. If they get far enough in the process where they think about trying to find an agent or publisher, all the worries surface again. Each of these is a big step in a writer’s life and fear and doubt rule them all. Even once a book is published the writer wonders how it will be received by the readers.

If I didn’t face my fears of flying and heights, I would never go beyond the oceans that surround Canada. As a writer, if I hadn’t overcome my fears of rejection I wouldn’t have over twenty books traditionally published.

Even if my first writing hadn’t been accepted, I would still consider myself a winner for I had been brave enough to try something new and different. Just like flying, and walking across bridges that span canyons and gorges, and parasailing, I have done something that scared me and won. So I advise every new writer to follow your dream and don't let fear stop you. Face it and overcome it and enjoy being a writer.

And never let age stop you from doing anything. I plan on skydiving when I am 90 years old. Gives me a few years to psych myself up.

Why I Write Romance by Victoria Chatham

 

AVAILABLE HERE

I have always enjoyed reading romance novels, from my first Georgette Heyer Regency romance to the latest contemporary romance. For me, they were and are pure escapism which is why I now write romance. Romance Writers of America defines it as ‘two basic elements comprise every romance novel: a central love story and an emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending.’

Over the years, many people I have met who discovered I am an author have told me they could write a romance as “It’s only a basic formula, after all.” And as one close friend, who should have known better, once said, “Two people meet, fall in love, get married, have two children and a dog. The end.” She had utterly ignored the times she had seen or heard me almost pulling my hair out while trying to determine the nuances of building my characters to make them not only unique but also plausible or deciding what subplot would best create confusion and conflict in their burgeoning relationship.

As with any genre, those subplots and conflict are necessary parts of the storytelling process to keep your reader engaged, but in a romance novel, the love story must be the main focus. Romance novels swing through a whole arc from sweet to super hot and in many subgenres, from historical and contemporary to fantasy, young adult, and paranormal, and more. At each end of the heat scale, they can swing from spiritual to sexy. Whatever the heat level, our romantic couple must risk everything for each other before they get their happy-ever-after or happy-for-now ending.

I love putting my very proper Regency heroines into unexpected and sometimes dangerous situations. They are not simpering sampler stitchers but real live flesh and blood up and at ‘em in your face type gals. As I have often been told, my heroines are far too out of the box for a traditional Regency romance, but those are the kinds of characters I like, so that’s what I write and make no apologies for.

My heroes, the guys who often raise their eyebrows at the shenanigans my gals become embroiled in, are, indeed, my heroes. No one is perfect, but they are perfect enough in my eyes to take centre stage and support, thwart, or otherwise involve themselves with these feisty, fearless females. They are usually aristocratic lords, the epitome of the English ton, who often have to step outside of their rigid social structure to deal with the uppity females in their lives.

My research into the historical facts for the Regency years (strictly 1811 – 1820) is in-depth and solid enough to create my characters’ worlds and costumes realistically. Visiting museums is a must and I had fun with the bonnets at the Costume Museum in Bath, UK.

 I was shocked when I discovered that novels set before 1950 are considered historical. My historical romances cover the years 1814 to 1818 (Regency), 1907 to 1918 (Edwardian), and 1935, the last being Book #1 in BWL Publishing Inc’s Canadian Historical Brides Collection.

I am currently working on a cozy mystery series, but I have no doubt that I will eventually return to where it all began and write romance

Victoria Chatham

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Where do you find the time to write?

 I can't tell you how many times I've been asked the question, "Where do you find time to write?" My facetious answer is, "I have no life." 

Every successful author finds writing time. In my case, the catalyst came from a New Year's resolution to stop watching television. After fixing every broken thing in the house and reading my entire TBR (to be read) pile, my wife suggested that I start the novel banging around inside my head. I wrote instead of watching television.

I saw a quote from a famous author, whose name I don't remember, and I'm mangling the quote, but his observation was "I have no more hours in the day, I still eat three meals, I sleep no less than you. The secret to finding writing time is simple, use some of the time you waste on other things on writing." I think of the hours people spend scouring the internet. The hours spent playing games on your computer. The time spent watching "The Price is Right." 

It's simple, if writing isn't more fulfilling and fun than playing computer games or watching talk shows, don't do it! Writing is an act of passion. I love writing a story, creating characters who become friends. Weaving plots and stumbling through a police investigation is fun. I enjoy talking to readers at libraries, book shows, and craft fairs. I enjoy research. I'm inspired by readers who tell me how much they enjoyed a particular story, character, or scene.

You don't need to take a month or year off to hide in a remote cabin with no disruptions other than the calling of birds and the rustling of leaves. Most published authors don't write in concentrated bursts like that. Nevada Barr told me she writes three pages a day, which yields a book a year. Another author told me he writes one page a day and has 365 pages at the end of a year. A third told me he writes two hours a day and promotes his books the same amount of time. When I had a day job, I used to write for 30 minutes every weeknight after my family went to bed. That produced a book a year.

The bottom line is: You have to love writing. If you do, develop discipline. Start by writing a paragraph a day. Start a journal to get in the habit of writing daily. Develop the discipline to skip some time-wasting activity and substitute a half hour of writing. You can find the time. But you have to love writing to make it a priority.

If you want to see how I spent last autumn, take a look at "Medora Murder", which was released on February 15th. I researched and wrote it in about three months. 

You can find it on Amazon or at other links found on my publisher's website. Doug and Jill Fletcher are dispatched to Theodore Roosevelt National Park to locate a missing skeleton and become entangled in so much more.

Hovey, Dean Doug Fletcher series - BWL Publishing Inc.

Further Adventures in Historic Canada by Diane Scott Lewis

 

After a long hiatus due to personal and health problems, I am excited by the new Canadian Historical Mystery series. I 'm posting a post about my Canadian historical On a Stormy Primeval Shore, the establishment of New Brunswick, mixed with danger and romance. Part of the Canadian Historical Brides series. 

I hope you enjoy this foray into the eighteenth century right after America's revolution chased the loyalists to Canada.

To purchase this novel, click HERE

Amelia: an 18th century Englishwoman in the wilderness of New Brunswick.

In writing my Canadian-based novel, On a Stormy Primeval Shore, I wanted not only a strong heroine, but not the usual ‘beautiful’ woman who strikes every man to his core with her ravishing looks. I wanted a woman not considered beautiful by traditional standards, but one who must struggle and fight her way to be taken seriously, and forge her own happiness.

Amelia Latimer arrives in New Brunswick in 1784, just as this western portion of the colony is breaking away from Nova Scotia. Her father is a captain in the British army stationed at Fort Howe. He’s requested her long journey from Plymouth, England, to betroth her to one of his officers, Lt. Harris.

           
                                    Fort Howe Blockhouse

Amelia, because she isn’t beautiful, at four and twenty years had few marriage prospects in England; but she still hated to leave her mother who is ill with consumption. She's also intelligent, spirited, and determined to find happiness and a purpose. Her first meeting with Harris doesn’t go well and deeply insulted, she plans to return to England.

But soon New Brunswick, with its startling beauty, rugged shoreline and pastoral interior, charms her.

Captain Latimer wants her to return home on the next ship since she’s refused his choice of a husband, but after hearing of her mother’s death, Amelia has ideas of her own.

The remote colony is a mixture of many cultures. The aboriginals, mainly the Mi’kmaq and Maliseet tribes, who settled the land first. The French Acadians, in what was once New France, who were expelled—even slaughtered—when the English took over, then slowly allowed to return. And the Loyalists who fled north after the American Revolution, and now flood the country in need of land, food and occupation.

                          Saint John harbor from Fort Howe's hill.

Amelia wants to cultivate herbs for medicinal purposes, but can she survive the harsh Canadian winter, and will a most unsuitable man steal her heart?

Gilbert is an Acadian trader, one of the original French settlers. He is fighting to keep his and his mother's land. Land the incoming Loyalists want to appropriate. Then he saves a young woman from a marauding bear. Her bold spirit sparks his interest, but she is off-limits being the daughter of an English soldier. Does he dare meet her in private as his feelings grow?

Diane lives in western Pennsylvania with one naughty dachshund.

10, 20, 30, 40 and counting...and counting!...by Sheila Claydon

 Find my books here

Saving Katy Gray is Book 3 of my When Paths Meet trilogy. All three books are about love and the messiness of family. Book 3 is especially pertinent to me at the moment, however, because two of the characters are growing old. Initially without the support and understanding they need. Katy Gray, who has already lost the older people in her family, is determined they will live well until their last breath. 

* * *

They happen to all of us if we are lucky. The big birthdays that arrive once every decade. The birthdays that bring squeals of delight at 10, partying at 20, a quiet satisfaction that we are now really and truly adults at 30...and on and on it goes. 40, 50, 60, 70...I wonder how many of us will make it to 100. Do we even want to? If we are still active and healthy, then probably. If not, then probably not. As I said, we need to be lucky. And if we know someone like Katy Gray then we are doubly lucky.

Well one of my big birthdays is coming up. Another 10 years has flown by since the last one and yet it seems like yesterday. That's another problem with growing older, time shrinks! 

I celebrated the last one in Australia with our son and family, and because Australia is sunny and hot in March, we ate in a very relaxed restaurant near the beach. Then I had another 3 separate celebrations with Australian friends, all of whom seemed to be vying to give me the best time. I remember Oysters Kilpatrick, fine Australian wines, a surprise fish and chip picnic at the end of a fabulous boat trip, a concert at the Sydney Opera House...that birthday seemed to go on and on and I cherish the memories.

This one will be in the UK with daughter and family. It will be a far more formal affair I'm told. Glad rags are the order of the day although I still don't know where I'm going. When I was given the choice between a party or a family meal it didn't take more than a moment to choose the meal. There were a couple of reasons. The first is that I don't really enjoy being the centre of attention (it's an only child thing!) The second is, however, far more serious. I don't want to look like a 'Billy no mates!'

Because we have travelled a great deal so many of our very dear friends live in different countries. Once that would not have been a problem but now we are all so much older, it is. Even those who live in the UK, friends and family alike, have mostly stopped travelling. Too many cars on the road, too many old age ailments, preferring to sleep in their own beds, the list is a long one. There will be Zoom calls and WhatsApps. There will be smiling faces on FaceTime. I'll still get to see or hear from all of them without putting them through the pressure of travelling or having to say no. Again, how lucky are we to grow old in a world where we can talk to friends across the world at the click of a button. I remember so clearly my grandmother waiting and waiting for those tissue thin airmail letters that were the only thing that kept her in touch with her sons when they lived and worked overseas. 

I believe there will also be a small celebration with neighbours but as they are all within walking distance I won't feel bad about that:) And there is one other positive to look forward to. Shortly after the birthday celebrations are over, we'll be travelling to visit our son and family again. Now they live in Singapore we are looking forward to warming our cold English winter bones while we still can. And my decade birthday present from them is an en-famille long weekend in Indonesia (a short ferry trip away) so I'm still travelling...just. But then a son and daughter-in-law and, ten years on, a nearly 11 year old granddaughter, is a great pull. I might not be able to travel on my next decade's birthday though, so I'd better make the most of this one.

Happy birthday to anyone else out there who will have a decade birthday in March.