If something works, it works. By Diane Bator

Writers love words.

We love them so much, in fact, that we cram as many of them into one sentence, sometimes without really saying anything or being extraordinarily superfluous with our vocabulary to the point no one understands what we just said.

That's where a great editor comes in.

No matter how experienced the writer, everyone needs a second or even a third set of eyes to read through their work and clean up the extra words, the flow of the timelines, and even the typos spell check doesn't pick up. Sorry, writers, spell check isn't perfect either.

Many publishing houses have their own editors and a traditionally published author may go through several different edits before their work is published. Even Stephen King and J.K. Rowling have editors.

For a lot of beginning writers, especially those of us who do not have an English degree, and people who self-publish, editing is just as daunting and can create anxiety in our stomachs. Where do we start when there is no editor who will not cost us a mortgage on a small house?

Critique groups are a great place to start. Find an online forum. Find a Facebook group. Make connections. Before you trust anyone with your baby, aka your novel, be sure to read a sample of their work. Even if you're not a great editor, you should be able to read and understand their work as well as pick up on errors, grammatical and otherwise.

Writing groups can be local or online as well. Many of these groups offer critiques from group members. Just remember to take their input with the proverbial grain of salt. Not all the advice people give will be helpful, some will be more than willing to help hone your piece, some will be happy to simply tear it apart until you want to give up and crawl into a cave with something stronger than sugar in your coffee.

If you let several people read your work and several people make similar suggestions, be open to re-reading and editing. On the other hand, if only one or two people point something out, it may just be their own personal preference and making changes will be up to you and not vital.

Unless they're family.

Word of advice, don't give copies of your work to your entire family and expect a positive, good critique. Not unless Uncle Bill is an editor for a major daily or works for a publishing house. Expect kind words and to hear how great it is. That doesn't mean it is. A neutral third party is always best.

Good editors and critique providers abound on the internet. Just keep in mind, you not only get what you pay for, but you still have the final say about what you end up publishing.

Writing guru Natalie Goldberg gives the best advice on editing your work:  "Be willing to look at your work honestly. If something works, it works. If it doesn't, quit beating an old horse. Go on writing. Something else will come up."

Just never give up!

Diane

You can find my Wild Blue Mystery series on Amazon and through Books We Love. My books can also be ordered into any bookstore in Canada.

HOLIDAYS BY MARGARET TANNER

AN AUSSIE IN LAS VEGAS - MARGARET TANNER

What can I say?  All the razzle dazzle, flashing lights and excitement, we loved it.

We stayed in the older part of Las Vegas at a casino called the Four Queens in Fremont Street. Unbeknown to us there is what they call the Fremont Experience every night. A domed roof that was several hundred yards long was the venue for an incredibly colourful laser show. There was music, bands, performers and people walking around dressed as Elvis Presley, Batman, Superman, Mary Poppins, Dracula and heaps of other well known characters. Not forgetting the show girls, decked out in their skimpy costumes, fans and feathers. It was amazing, bus loads of tourist came down every night to see the display, but we were right in the thick of it, standing at our hotel door.

Many of the casinos on Las Vegas Boulevard - The Strip, have themes. We visited Paris Las Vegas which was very French with a giant Eiffel Tower as the main feature. You could actually take a ride right to the top, but for us unfortunately, it was too windy, so we missed out. Someone told us that the Eiffel tower here was exactly 1/3 the size of the Eiffel Tower in France, but it was still a huge structure. While we were there I bought the most decadent French pastry I have ever eaten. It was to die for.

New York New York, was another interesting casino, Circus Circus was actually like being at the circus, we were only there for a short time, but watched a world class juggling act. Hubby won $100 on the pokies so he was happy. I wanted to stay and keep trying our luck there because he was on a winning streak, but he grabbed his money and ran. Another very interesting themed casino was Treasure Island, and the name truly said it all. It really did look like an island from one of Robert Louis Stevenson’s books, pirate ship and all.

We went through the Bellagio, luxury personified. Unfortunately, this poor Aussie author didn’t have enough pennies in the piggy bank to be able to afford to stay there.

Did I mention the shopping? Wow. So cheap. We had to buy an extra suitcase to bring home all the goodies that we bought.

All in all we had a wonderful time. The only downside was the trip home, talk about the flight from hell. We were diverted to Sydney because the plane was running low on fuel, then after sitting on the tarmac for an hour, a passenger became ill and had to be rushed off in an ambulance, then security stepped in because the passenger’s luggage was on board and he no longer was.  Three hours later it was all sorted out, and we took off and headed home to Melbourne.

Website: http://www.margarettanner.com/

ADAM’S FRONTIER BRIDE (WESTERN ROMANCE)

Can a wealthy rancher ever hope to capture the heart of a beautiful English rose?

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WHAT'S IN YOUR FUTURE (or present or past?) by Shirley Martin

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Fortune-telling is as old as civilization. You may recall the biblical story of Joseph (Book of Genesis, Chapter 37 and following chapters.) Sold into slavery by his resentful brothers, Joseph was taken to Egypt. There, he gained the Pharoah's attention because of his ability to interpret dreams. The Pharoah told Joseph of his dreams, and Joseph interpreted them to mean that Egypt would have seven fruitful years of harvest and seven years of famine. The Pharoah realized that he should store corn from the fruitful years so that he would have a supply of grain to distribute during the seven years of famine. (More on dreams later.)

Scrying is another form of prophecy. It's not necessary to have a crystal ball; any reflective surface will do. The scryer must have absolute silence and clear her/his mind of all distracting thoughts. If the scryer has a certain piece of information she is seeking, e.g., the location of a certain person, she should concentrate on that before beginning scrying, then put it out of her mind before focusing on the task at hand.

Now, I'm going to stick my neck out and say that I think there is validity to scrying. I can't give a reason for my belief but can only say that there may be logic connected with the skill.

In my fantasy romance, "Night Shadows," Fianna,the heroine, flees home to escape an unwanted suitor. She escapes to Moytura, the capital city of Avador.  Forced to support herself, she obtains a position as a fortune teller at a tavern. She has a magic mirror that enables her to look into the past, present, and future. She thus supports herself by the money she earns as a fortune teller.

Seances were probably more common during the Victorian period than they are today, although no doubt many seances are held during our time..The word "seance" means sitting. A group of people meet for a metaphysical purpose.  Usually six to eight people are involved in this gathering, and they usually sit with a medium who is the channel through which the spirit communicates. There may be a variety of reasons for holding a seance, but mostly the object is to contact the spirit of the dead. The majority of seances are held in the late evening.

Some seances meet solely to hold a "rescue," aimed to help those spirits that don't realize they are dead and enable them to cross over.

Tea leaves can be used as a means of prophecy. In my latest fantasy romance, "Magic Mountain"

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there is a scene in which the elven king reads the tea leaves of the human heroine, Princess Olwen. This method of prophecy was a favorite around the time of the last century and up to the 1930s and '40s. Gypsy Tea Rooms were popular at that time.

After the tea is drunk, there should be very little of the leaves left in the bottom of the cup. The client tips the cup and rotates it three times before upturning the cup in the saucer. Then the cup is turned right side up, and the diviner studies the pattern of the tea leaves as they are distributed about the inner surface of the saucer. How does this process reveal anything about the past, present, or future? This method of prophecy, called tasseography, has an elaborate interpretation system, so for both the client and the diviner, it apparently reveals the desired revelation.

Astrologers believe that there is a very real relationship between the heavens and the earth. They believe that every element of the cosmos influences the whole. Originating in Mesopotamia, this art has been practiced for 5,000 years. The sun signs are the names of the twelve main divisions of the zodiac: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces. One of my fellow authors, Janet Lane Walters, has done astrology forecasts in the past, along with a partner. Some day I'd like a forecast done for this most untypical Leo.

Known as the Sleeping Prophet, Edgar Cayce was an American mystic of the twentieth century. While in a trance, he answered questions ranging from healing, wars, Atlantis and future events. He used his mystical powers to heal people. While asleep, he was able to diagnose a person's sickness and pronounce the cure.

Not all of his prophecies have been realized. We have yet to discover Atlantis.

There are many more means of prophecy, enough to fill a book. But this list may give you and idea of how important fortune-telling is to people, and the different ways of achieving these revelations.

Now to return to the subject of dreams. There are four levels of sleep, and dreams usually occur in the theta level, and usually, too, with the REM (rapid eye movement) stage.

I believe we are all psychic to some extent; I know I am. And I believe that dreams can tell people about the past, present, and future.

Years and years ago, (more years than I care to count), my youngest son attended kindergarten. A neighbor friend had a son in kindergarten at the same time, so we walked our boys to school together. One morning, I told my friend about a dream I'd had the night before. It was a short dream but so vivid I woke up with tears in my eyes. I saw a small private plane crash to the ground and burst into flames. My friend and I discussed the dream for a few minutes, both of us saying we hadn't seen anything in the news about a plane crash. I forgot about the dream until about fifteen years later when my friend's retired husband was taking flying lessons. He crashed the plane and it burst into flames, killing him instantly.

Please check out my website at www.shirleymartinauthor.com

My books are sold at Amazon, Smashwords, Barnes and Noible, KOBO, the Apple 1Store and other sites where ebooks are available online.