When a rope is not a rope, by J.C. Kavanagh

The Twisted Climb - Darkness Descends, 

Short-listed for Best Young Adult Book, The Word Guild

It's that time of year again when we haul off the canvas tarps, fire up the buffer, and prepare our sailboat, Escape Route II, for the sailing season. I do so love prepping, but it always involves the purchase of: 
Compound ($50)
Wax ($60)
Cleaning solutions ($50)
VC17 keel paint ($100 per can and we need two cans)
Varathane ($50)
Cetol ($50)
And the list goes on.....
Everyone knows what the acronym for BOAT is, right? 
It's Bring Out Another Thousand.
Yes, sailing and owning a boat is an expensive undertaking. The price for material used for 'marine' purpose is at least quadruple what you'd pay for another purpose. Example: the cost of a marine water pump is $800. The cost for the same item, used in a motor vehicle, is $100.
However, the pure joy of harnessing the wind to bring you from Point A to Point B, is - priceless. 
And anchoring? Pure bliss.
But back to spring fitting. 
Our spring fitting (the terms used for prepping the boat for the sailing season), usually involves four or five weekends of hard, physical work. First, we remove the canvas tarps and dismantle the winter structure. This takes one full weekend.

Then we spend two more weekends cleaning the interior of the boat (the interior is referred to as 'down below'), applying compound to the hull, waxing the hull, buffing the hull, washing the decks. I also bring back all my reading materials, cushions, spices for the 'galley' (kitchen), materials for the 'head' (bathroom), sunscreen and insect repellents. (All liquids are removed for the winter and returned in the spring.)

'Down below'

Then another weekend is dedicated to hooking up batteries, changing oil and water filters, testing the engine, and painting the bottom. The mast also needs to be cleaned and the rigging inspected (that's the steel cables, chains and turnbuckles that connect the mast to the body of the boat, as well as the spreaders, shrouds and halyards).

FACT: The ropes from the foresail, aka Genoa, aka Genny, are called 'sheets.'
FACT: Ropes are not referred to as ropes on a sailboat. They are 'lines,' 'sheets' or 'halyards.'
FACT: 'Halyards' are the ropes from the top of the mast leading to the foresail and the mainsail.

When everything has been inspected, cleaned and waxed, then it's time to paint the bottom of the boat and the keel. The keel on our 36' Catalina sailboat is made of lead and weighs approximately 6,600 lbs. The boat when empty, weighs over 14,000 lbs. My partner likes to joke and say when I provision the boat, it weighs 20,000 pounds. NOT TRUE, but funny. Provisioning means I've provided food, water and important materials to survive on the sailboat.

FACT: The lighter the boat, the faster it sails. 

Finally, it's time to launch the boat. A large and powerful wheeled transport 'lifts' the boat from its cradle (the metal structure that holds the boat while it's out of the water. A sailboat sitting on the cradle is referred to as being 'on the hard.')

FACT: the main part of the boat consists of the dining area which is 'down below.' This is referred to as the 'main salon.'

FACT: Bedrooms are called 'staterooms.' Our boat has two staterooms: the v-berth in the forward section of the boat (which is called the 'bow'), and the aft cabin, which is in the stern or 'aft' section of the boat.
FACT: the left side of the boat is called 'port.' The right side of the boat is called 'starboard.'

Last, we use the mast crane to lift and position the 54' mast into place. The shrouds and turnbuckles are attached to the decks; the forestay is locked into place along with the backstay. These 'stays' hold and prevent the mast from falling forward/back. The shrouds maintain the mast's centre position. Then the sails are hoisted into place.

There's one last check to ensure the rigging is not too tight and not too loose.

Then.... the sailing season begins!

Some exciting news to share.... The Twisted Climb - Darkness Descends has been short-listed by The Word Guild in the Young Adult Book, General market category. The winner will be announced at their awards/gala event in June. I'll keep you posted!

Take a few moments today to enjoy nature.

J.C. Kavanagh

The Twisted Climb - Darkness Descends (Book 2)

voted BEST Young Adult Book 2018, Critters Readers Poll

AND

The Twisted Climb,

voted BEST Young Adult Book 2016, P&E Readers Poll

Novels for teens, young adults and adults young at heart

Email: author.j.c.kavanagh@gmail.com

www.facebook.com/J.C.Kavanagh

www.amazon.com/author/jckavanagh

Twitter @JCKavanagh1 (Author J.C. Kavanagh)

How to frighten away prospective writers

Fellow authors will recognize the following: Upon first meeting someone who discovers we’re writers, the conversations are quite predictable. First comes flattery: I’ve never met a writer before, or, It must be so exciting, and my favorite, You must be making so much money!

Many conversations end at this point, with people regarding us with admiration while we bite our lower lips, studiously avoiding correcting their exaggerations of any literary or other successes.

But some conversations turn serious, with questions on how to become a writer, an author’s lifestyle, or the craft itself.  These require actual honest answers, but a struggle ensues on how to gently deflate the wild expectations of bright-eyed individuals eager to set off on a journey of artistic expression and personal self-fulfillment.

For these people, I have compiled a list of quotes from well-known authors, which I submit for all to use:

Harper Lee

On how to become a writer:

 “I would advise anyone who aspires to a writing career that before developing his talent he would be wise to develop a thick hide.”

—Harper Lee, WD

“It’s none of their business that you have to learn to write. Let them think you were born that way.”
—Ernest Hemingway

Ray Bradbury

Upon the Author’s lifestyle:

“When I say work I only mean writing. Everything else is just odd jobs.”
—Margaret Laurence

“...I have this one nasty habit. Makes me hard to live with. I write...” – Robert Heinlen

“You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you.”
― Ray Bradbury

William Carlos Williams

On the craft of writing:

“I think all writing is a disease. You can’t stop it.”
—William Carlos Williams

“Writing a book is a horrible, exhausting struggle, like a long bout of some painful illness. One would never undertake such a thing if one were not driven by some demon whom one can neither resist nor understand.”

—George Orwell

“I get up in the morning, torture a typewriter until it screams, then stop.” 
― Clarence Budington Kelland

Finally, if the individual has not run away screaming, we know he or she is ready to take the plunge. Now is the time to give the best piece of advice yet: “Start writing!”

Mohan Ashtakala is the author of "Karma Nation," published by Books We Love.

www.mohanashtakala.com

www.bookswelove.net

Characters or friends?..by Sheila Claydon

Click this link for book and purchase information

I'm taking a break from writing at the moment despite having a half finished manuscript on my computer...the second book of my Mapleby Memories Series. I don't have writer's block, nor am I struggling with my characters, it's just that this year the needs of family and friends have had to come first, and will continue to do so for a while yet.

A few years ago I would have struggled to deal with this. Writing had become an obsession. The need to type words on a page a daily necessity. So what changed? Well having 12 books published, mainly by Books We love, but a couple by other publishers too, made me realise I really was a writer. I had nothing left to prove. I could do it. I could write stories that other people wanted to read. A trickle of fan mail helped too, making my earlier efforts and disappointments all the more worthwhile.

More than that though, and mad as it might seem to a non-writer, it's the stories I've written that have calmed me down. Now, if I choose to, I can live in a world inhabited by a whole lot of characters who, at times, are almost as real as the flesh and blood people around me. I have never been able to start writing until I can see the main protagonists in my mind's eye. I don't draw up astrological charts for them as some writers do, or create detailed past histories for reference, I just need to see them.  And once I can do that, then they start to develop the story all by themselves.

It's not always easy because sometimes they won't follow my plan no matter how hard I try to make it work. Instead they go their own merry way as if they were a real person with ideas of their own, and that's what I mean about my world. I might not have the time to write at the moment but I can still see all those characters from my books, and sometimes, when I visit a place where I've set a story, or I make the same journey a character  made in one of my books, then I can imagine them there with me all over again.

In my experience writing a book expands my world. Sitting in front of a computer for hours might seem lonely to the onlooker, but then they can't see the host of new friends I've created who will always be with me.

One of my favourite characters is Rachel in Remembering Rose, the first Mapleby Memory, and Daniel in Reluctant Date is to die for!

Click this link for book and purchase information

Hidden Women, Hidden History by Eileen Charbonneau

 For details and purchase information click to visit Eileen Charbonneau's BWL author page

I’m delighted to be blogging with my fellow BWL authors.  

By way of introduction, allow me to share my passion for researching the nooks and crannies of history.  My new historical novel Seven Aprils details seven years (1860-1866) in the life of Tess Barton, during which she disguises herself as a man and serves in the Union medical corps during the American Civil War.

As in my fictional account, women were so eager to fight for the cause that they cross-dressed to enlist as soldiers. But both the Union and Confederate armies forbade the enlistment of women. But by estimates ranging from 400 to 800, women shed their bonnets and dresses for a cap and trousers, passed a cursory medical exam, and went off to war. And most succeeded in their deception.

Much of this history is ignored, suppressed, hidden. It is still being discovered in family stories and letters in attics. I found it fascinating.

Here are some of the women Seven Aprils was inspired by.

One was Kate Warne, part of the team that uncovered an alleged plot to assassinate Lincoln en route to his inauguration. She was so good at keeping her secrets that there are no verified images of her…male or female!

Is this Kate?

Kate in a Union cavalryman disguise?

Another was Sarah Edmonds, who, like Seven Aprils' Tess, escaped parental abuse and a forced marriage in male disguise, served as a soldier, then mustered out on her own terms, marrying the man of her choice and starting a family after the war.  

Sarah as a man..

Sarah after the war

Some who served may not have been women at all, but transgendered men.  Here’s Albert Cashier, who was born Jennie Hodgers, loved as "one of the boys" and the shortest member of the 95th Illinois infantry. 

He continued to live as a man until 1910 when in hospital for a broken leg. The doctors tried to make him wear a dress, but his old soldier comrades came to his defense, and got the decision reversed. Here's his grave, still lovingly kept...

What extraordinary lives!  I hope my Tess Barton and her journey through Seven Aprils honor them all.

A Tale of Two Writing Conferences

                                         Click this link for book and purchase information

Every August I attend When Words Collide Festival for Readers and Writers here in my home city of Calgary. I don't need to travel far. The weekend festival takes place at a hotel a fifteen walk from my home. In February, I travelled farther, to Lethbridge, a two-hour drive south of Calgary, to take part in Wordbridge, Lethbridge's first writers' conference.

Since the Lethbridge panels were only scheduled for Saturday, I initially planned to make it a day trip. But the conference also included keynote speakers at a snack and chat in the evening. To take full advantage of the event, I decided to stay overnight. My husband Will agreed to go with me and spend the day and evening walking outside if the weather was nice, reading, playing computer games and watching TV. We booked a motel room not far from the downtown venue using our credit card points.        

Me in Lethbridge, Sept 2015 - The coulee park in downtown Lethbridge is a cool place to walk

The weekend turned out to be brutally cold. Will spent most of Saturday inside with his computer, while I stayed warm inside the Lethbridge library. 

At the conference, I sat on an editing panel and shared my experiences of working with editors. One of my tidbits of advice was to suggest that writers early in the process of a writing a book get a manuscript evaluation, which can provide insight into a story's larger issues that will need to be solved before an expensive edit. The Writers' Guild of Alberta offers this service to members for a reasonable price. I might take advantage of it for my next novel. 

Panel on Working With an Editor 

  
Seventy-eight people attended the Lethbridge conference. We met together in a basement room in the central library for panels that took place on the hour. I enjoyed the intimate atmosphere. The organizers were so pleased with Wordbridge's success that they have already scheduled a second conference for Feb 7-8, 2020, adding a day of pre-conference activities and another room for two tracks of panels.

Wordbridge attendees at a panel

Wordbridge still has a long away to go to match the activity of Calgary's When Words Collide, which anticipates 800 attendees this summer and 10 tracks of panels, presentations, blue pencil cafes, pitch sessions and more, over a three day period. I expect to participate in a few panels and spend a lot of time in the Merchants' Room helping with the BWL book sale table.  

Nancy Bell and Jude Pittman at 2017 When Words Collide

But it's not a competition between Lethbridge and Calgary. Wordbridge and When Words Collide complement each other. I'm sure this is why the Lethbridge organizers scheduled their conference for the dead of February, the opposite time of year of August's When Words Collide. A writer friend suggested that we go to Wordbridge next year with a few other writers and make it a girls' getaway weekend. That sounds like fun, especially if next February is a tad warmer than it was this year. 

Downtown Lethbridge in winter

When Has a Series Run Its Course? by Karla Stover

For Details and Purchase Information Visit Karla Stover's BWL Author Page

Let me preface this by saying it's an opinion piece. Others, and I hope they weight in, will have different ideas but as a writer, I'm always evaluating what I read and why I like or weary of something.

Let the comments begin.

I was sad when Sue Grafton died because after 25 books, I never got tired of her protagonist, Kinsey Milhoune. However, the Stephanie Plum books quickly wore thin. I have thoroughly enjoyed all the Flavia de Luce books but no longer care for the Maise Dobbs books. Why, or is it just me?

As I write, I've been puzzling over the issue of "when is it time to retire your protagonist?"

Let's consider the above using the 3-legged stool of writing, allotting 1/3 each to Place, Plot, and Protagonist.

In my humble opinion, Grafton did a good job, creating clever, believable plots, varying the locations enough to be interesting, but keeping Kinsey as an interesting working woman without too many changes to her life, friends, or personality. I'd say her books were, maybe, 40%, 40%, and 20% respectively.

On the other hand, the Evanovich books are weighted heavily toward Stephanie and her cohorts, almost 75%, none of who seem to learn and grow. I rarely have a sense of place, maybe 15%, and that leaves 10% for plot. After all 25 Stephanie Plum books, she should have been able to make up her mind between the Italian cop, Joe Morelli (played in the really awful movie by Irish-American actor Jason O"Mara )  and the bounty hunter, Ranger. Or, maybe she has. After book five, I just couldn't keep reading what was essentially the same story told in different words. To the author's credit, farces are to keep fresh.

I've read nine of the ten Flavia de Luce books and she is a delightful little girl. Yes, that's right, a little girl, 12, I think. She's kind, sensitive, and inquisitive. Flavia's hobby is experimenting in her deceased uncle's laboratory so science plays into the stories. I like the books because she grows just enough, has changes in her circumstances that are appropriate, and is likeable. Also, who doesn't love an
English countryside setting?

Which brings me to Maisie Dobbs. When Maisie, the groom's daughter, married the son of Lord and Lady Crompton and became titled and very rich, my interest in her experiences died. It seemed like a copout. Also, in one of the books, she picked up a clue which wasn't revealed to the reader---total dirty pool.

So, after considering my own words, I think I'm saying that I like Kinsey and Flavia because they feel like real people and don't like Stephanie and Maisie because they don't. I want real people even if the events are extraordinary, Harry Potter and his friends are good examples.

Enough said.

Fun Celebration and Recognition Days

Find my books here.here

Part of the setting for writing a novel is choosing a date or time period in which the story takes place. Sometimes it is a pivotal point for the story, where other times it is simply a way of letting your reader know there is a reason the main character is in a phone booth instead of talking on a cell phone.

In my writing, sometimes the climax of the story is a very particular date – the first Kentucky Derby in SPINNING THROUGH TIME; an Independence Day celebration (4^th of July) in PROSPECTING FOR LOVE, or the date a steamboat sank in HOLD ON TO THE PAST. There were very specific reasons for the dates I used.

Yet in other stories, I mentioned a particular event/date simply to enhance the setting. Referring to college basketball’s March Madness needs no explanation, but it was a way of introducing my readers to the time of year in a way other than simply saying “It was March.”

There have even been times when I made up a particular celebration day. After all, why shouldn’t there be a Mermaid Festival on the small island of Lockabee to celebrate the legend of mermaids saving a group of fishermen? (PRELUDE AND PROMISES)

If you want to add an interesting celebration or a fun recognition day, you don’t even have to make them up. Someone already did it for you. A complete list for every day of the year is located at https://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/fun/. It is only one of several lists I found in an easy internet search. The first thing I looked for was my birthday, July 13^th.  “Embrace Your Geekness Day”? Why couldn’t it have been National Margarita Day? 

Yesterday was Lost Sock Recognition Day, which reminded me of a conversation with my eight year old grandson. While visiting, I was helping sort socks from the laundry and with three children, there was always a pile of socks with no matches. My grandson suggested writing a story about the lost socks. I looked on line to see if I could find such a book for him and that’s when I came across May 9 as Lost Socks  National recognition Day, but since I couldn’t find an already published book, I wrote a short story which of course, included my grandson and his siblings.

The fun thing about being a writer is that not everything has to be written for publication. This little story was something fun that I put together with Microsoft Publisher and generic clip art, but after reading it, my grandson wanted to write a sequel, which we are working on now.

 For those of you who like writing exercises, pick a day and write a story, a poem or an essay. Why do we recognize this day? How did it come to be? What can be done to celebrate this special day? And if you don’t like the “recognition day” for your birthday, check out these other sites, or make up one of your own!
https://nationaltoday.com/national-day-calendar/
https://nationaldaycalendar.com/calendar-at-a-glance/

By the way, today, May 10^th, is “National Clean Your Room Day”. I can say for certain it’s not going to happen here.