Tuesday, April 18, 2017
Sailing , Sailing.... By Nancy M Bell
His Brother's Bride Book 2 in the Canadian Historical Brides series. Click here for more info on this title.
When you all read this I will be sailing the ocean blue. At least it better be blue and sunny and hot. It's time for a break after a long winter of writing and researching. My contribution to Books We Love Canadian Historical Brides series released March 1. I'm excited about it and it has garnered some very nice reviews.
But back to the break, May 7 will be our 40th anniversary so Doug and I are taking a Panama Canal Cruise aboard the Coral Princess. A bit early, but that's okay. We leave April 16 to fly to Fort Lauderdale via Toronto, then the next day we board the ship at Port Everglades. We arrive in Los Angeles on May 2 and then fly home. We've done this cruise before with a bit of a different itinerary. The first time we went west to east, ending up in Fort Lauderdale. While it was a wonderful trip, going west to east means you lose three hours as you pass though the different time zones. SO....This time we are going east to west which means three more hours of sleep for me!
We start in Fort Lauderdale, then we stop in Aruba, Cartagena Columbia, then through the canal (which takes a full day and the captain turns the ship over to the canal pilot for the day), after we reach the Pacific the next port is Puntarenus Costa Rica (which means Sandy Spit), then San Juan del Sur Nicaragua, Huatulco Mexico and Puerto Vallarta Mexico before docking in LA.
Below are some photos from our last cruise through the canal...See you in May!
In the Canal headed east.
Costa Rica Mangrove Swamp
First two are Costa Rica, then Cartagena Columbia
Til next month, stay well stay happy!
Monday, April 17, 2017
My Writing Style - Janet Lane Walters - Panster or Plotter
Had some problem getting in this morning but problem solved. I've noticed people have been writing about their way of writing.
I'm always asked this question. Are you a Plotter or a Panster? I answer, I'm neither or maybe both. This puzzles people but it's the way I work. Let's look at my way.
I tell myself a story when I'm going to sleep each night. Some idea has caught me that I would like to explore. I create a title. I can't tell my story unless I have a title The nightly story telling continues until I can see my characters. Then I must give them names. Until I have the names puzzled out, I can't write the book. Then I look at the title and see if the title still works. Then I set down the story I've told myself on paper.
The story I've told myself now takes form but there are no details just the bare bones. It's sort of like those Dick and Jane stories we read as children or a fairytale only the structure is there. Then I sit down and write the story letting those ideas I've jotted down take form and towing me where I will go. But I know the ending I'm searching for, sometimes in full detail. This forms the rough draft which at times is a scrambled mess. I once wrote this out in about 40,000 words in forty-eight hours.
Now the story is there and I go through looking for Plot holes, Character Flaws, Setting Needs, Dialogue and Language. Then the book is done.
Can you tell me if I'm a Plotter or a Panster? I believe I'm both.
Sunday, April 16, 2017
The Writing Game, by J.C. Kavanagh
Best Young Adult Book, P&E Readers' Award, The Twisted Climb |
There are times when I sit in front of the computer impatiently waiting for the words to appear, my fingers hanging precariously over the keyboard. It's when the story and the characters get hung-up on, well - something - I guess it's - indecisiveness. Yes, it is. It's when the 'swings' in the playground of my mind move back and forth, back and forth, without rhythm and without harmony. Slowing..... stalling.
That's when I have to regroup and play 'The Writing Game.' Ever heard of it? Ever try it? My South Simcoe Writers' group plays it on a regular basis and this is how you play: Pick three things - a place, an action and a job title.
Then - write.
It's like lacing your fingers together and then cracking your knuckles before playing the piano. Except that you're bending the filaments of your imagination. Craaack.
Here's an example: hurricane; taxi; Private Detective.
My resulting story:
Caught
by J.C. Kavanagh
The air crackled around her, charged with the residue of the lingering storm. Streaks and ragged arrows of lightning flared in the sky, illuminating the 'Off Duty' sign on the roof of the taxi and giving the interior of the vehicle a ghostly glow.
This is going to be a long night, she thought, adjusting her position behind the wheel. Reaching upward, she angled the rear-view mirror and examined her face closely. The checkered cap was jauntily in place and the starched shirt collar completed the deception. Her pale face, devoid of makeup, was unremarkable. Even her mousey brown hair was bland.
I'm perfect.
She exhaled slowly, shifting the monster-lensed camera in her lap. Large droplets of rain fell on the windshield, heralding the onset of the Category 4 hurricane.
Her target should be arriving soon.
The trees surrounding the hotel began to bend in unison, as if bowing to the greater powers of the storm. The swinging neon sign hanging beside the front doors squealed in revolt and the "Welcome NASA" display blinked in a repetitive three-second pattern.
Nonetheless, the taxi driver kept her attention focused on the gaudy orange bus parked 50 metres ahead as it idled quietly in the rage of the storm, waiting for conference attendees to board. It seemed silently insolent, its painted orange glare a shiny bruise in front of the murderous blue storm clouds.
She raised the camera and focused the enormous telephoto lens on the door of the bus, preparing to shoot.
KNOCK KNOCK.
She jolted in surprise and quickly lowered the camera. The rear passenger door opened and a man slid in, holding a wet, folded newspaper above his head.
"This cab is out of service," she said curtly, glancing in the rear-view mirror.
"Not anymore," he replied.
She looked behind and gasped. It was him, her target.
He pulled a gun out from the fold of the newspaper and pointed it at her head.
"Drive."
***
Craaack!
A Kavanagh-clan castle, circa 1100 AD. |
In last month's blog, I wrote a wee bit about my Irish ancestry - the Kings of Leinster. I'm still going through reams of information on this fascinating family that I call my own (without the crown of course. Or the castles.) More to come in future blogs.
Have a wonderful and peaceful Easter weekend!
J.C. Kavanagh
The Twisted Climb
BEST Young Adult Book 2016, P&E Readers' Poll
A novel for teens, young adults and adults young at heart.
Email: author.j.c.kavanagh@gmail.com
www.facebook.com/J.C.Kavanagh
www.Amazon.ca/author/jckavanagh
Twitter @JCKavanagh1 (Author J.C. Kavanagh)
The Twisted Climb
BEST Young Adult Book 2016, P&E Readers' Poll
A novel for teens, young adults and adults young at heart.
Email: author.j.c.kavanagh@gmail.com
www.facebook.com/J.C.Kavanagh
www.Amazon.ca/author/jckavanagh
Twitter @JCKavanagh1 (Author J.C. Kavanagh)
Saturday, April 15, 2017
Lost Continents
An Early Map of Atlantis |
Most people are familiar with Atlantis, the sunken
continent, first written about by Plato. Supposedly situated in the
Mediterranean Sea and inhabited by a war-like people, they embarked on a naval siege of ancient Athens. Due to its
superior political system, ancient Athens, Plato’s “ideal state,” was able to
repel the invasion. The Gods, angered by the hubris of the Atlanteans, withdrew
their favor and Atlantis submerged into the sea. While Plato’s story centered
around an ideal political system and the arrogance of nations and their
eventual demise, the mythical aspects of the lost continent caught the public’s
imagination, and many attempts were made to locate this place. Fascination
continues to this day, with a continuing cottage industry of books, films and
comic books based on this legend.
Lost continents and civilizations have a long
history, with stories and legends appearing in many cultures and places. Often,
these catch the imagination of a people because they combine myth with national
identity. One of these is Kumari Kandam, a lost continent supposedly drowned in
the Indian Ocean, and the original home of the Tamil people of South India and
named after the Hindu goddess Kanya Kumari. While belief in Kumari Kandam was a
long history, it became more prominent in the twentieth century, as part of a
popular revival of Tamil culture, which coincided with the ending of colonial
rule in India. Supposedly ruled entirely by women who chose their husbands and
enjoyed full property rights, it is said to be the origin of Tamil ‘Sangams’,
or literary traditions, and seen as an ideal ancient civilization, excelling in
all arts and sciences and the cradle of Tamil culture.
La Morte D'Arthur by James Archer (1860) |
A similar idea forms the basis of Avalon, a lost
island west of England. Featured in the tales of King Arthur, it appeared first
in the Historia Regum Britanniae, Lord
Geoffrey Monmouth’s account of early British history. He mentioned it as the
place where King Arthur’s sword, Excalibur, was forged. This mythical island
was seen as a type of paradise, where fruits and flowers grew profusely, and
ideal human behavior was exhibited. For a long time, it was believed that
Avalon was the home of model and original English culture, no doubt inspired by
the ideals of chivalry, courage, romance and gallantry displayed by King Arthur
and his court, including his ideal wife Guinevere and the knight Lancelot.
Inspiring the imagination to this day, Camelot, the name of the King’s court,
and Merlin, the court magician, remain popular literary prototypes.
The Island of Thule (surrounded by whales) |
Further to the north lies Thule, an island variously
located near Shetland or Norway. Appropriately, it is a land of eternal
sunshine. First appearing in Greek epics, it supposedly exists in the frozen
seas well north of Britain. Inhabited by blue-painted people who are expert
warriors, it grows barley in the summer and provides honey, from which the
inhabitants make mead, an intoxicating liquor, evidently, a gift from the gods.
Maui holds up the Sky |
On the other side of the globe, in the Pacific, lies
the island of Hawai’iki (not to be confused with Hawai’i,) the legendary home
of the Maori people. Its actual location has never been confirmed, as
appropriately enough, it is seen as a physical as well as a spiritual place.
Greatly important to the Maoris, it is the subject of many of their songs,
stories and cultural lessons. As an indication of its significance, many Maoris
trace their genealogies, from the original man and woman to the current
generation, to that island. It is also the home of the Polynesian gods,
including the trickster demigod Maui, famous throughout the Pacific, and a
character in the Disney movie, Moana. Its central importance to Maori culture
can be appreciated by the understanding that it is the place from which every
person (soul) comes, and where each returns.
Finally, the lost continent of Lemuria actually has
a quasi-scientific background. When the
zoologist Phillip Sclater, in 1864, noticed similarities between mammals and
fossils in both Madagascar and India, he proposed a continent, now disappeared,
which once connected the two lands. He named it Lemuria, after the small
monkey-like mammals found in both countries. Strangely enough, there seems to be concrete
evidence for this theory. Plate tectonics, which describe the drift of
continents, posits that Africa and India were, at one point, part of a super
continent named Gondwana. Furthermore, in 1999,
drilling by a research vessel in
the Indian Ocean discovered evidence of
a large island which was submerged about 20 million years ago by rising sea
levels. In 2015, researchers from South Africa, studying the island of
Mauritius, came across geological formations that strongly suggest that the
island is the above-ocean part of a much-larger, now-sunken, land mass.
Culturally, the famous theosophist and mystic Helena Blavatsky of the
late eighteenth century, considered to be the mother of modern spirituality, provided
Lemuria with a mythical history as the
home of an ancient, highly-evolved people, after which it became popularized in
the public’s imagination.
Friday, April 14, 2017
Serendipity is a Book Club...by Sheila Claydon
Mending Jodie's Heart, Book 1 of my When Paths Meet trilogy, has just been chosen for next month's read by a local book club. It goes without saying that I am beyond excited. I'd like plaudits of course but even if I don't get them, just knowing a group of people are going to read it and discuss it is enough.
How did this happen?
Well Mending Jodie's Heart is a story woven around the countryside and the village where I live. This is unusual for me because the ideas for most of my books are triggered by other places. Maybe getting away from the humdrum of everyday life gives my imagination the freedom it needs to create. This wasn't the case with Jodie however. She didn't need creating. She arrived fully formed in my mind the way the best characters always do, and so did Marcus, the hero, and the other important characters in the book.
Why?
I know it started when I spent an evening listening to a jazz band with a fantastic pianist but how that segued into Jodie's story I have no idea. Maybe it was the closure of a local bridle path and the ensuing campaign to get it re-opened. Maybe it was the demolition of an old farmhouse. Maybe it was the sight of a pretty, dark-haired girl on horseback. I'll never know exactly what started the story, and what made me continue it into Books 2 and 3. What I do know, however, is that to write it I had to 'borrow' the old farmhouse and the new house that replaced it, the same as I had to 'borrow' the bridle path, and the local riding stables.
Once the book was published I moved on, as writers do, except that I always thought of the 'borrowed' house as Jodie's house whenever I walked past it. Then Books We Love decided to make its digital books available as paperbacks and that changed things. As soon as I received a print copy of Mending Jodie's Heart I crossed my fingers and wrote to the owners of the 'borrowed' house explaining what I had done, and offering them a copy.
I posted the note into their mailbox when I took my dog for a walk, and then turned into the adjoining woodland and set off down a narrow path between the trees...too narrow for dog walkers to pass one another without giving way. And this is where it gets weird but in a good way. I was halfway along the path when I saw a pretty blonde woman walking towards me with her dog...a dog I recognised as belonging to Jodie's house, even though I had never seen the owner. With no option but to stop I introduced myself and told her about the letter I had posted. After all if she did decide she wanted a copy of my book I was going to meet her anyway.
How was I to know that she was an avid reader who has run a book club for the past ten years? How was I to know that she would be thrilled beyond belief that I had written a story around the building of her home, and how was I to know that she would be unbelievably friendly and interested. She even joked that she was going to see how her husband scored in comparison with the hero.
So there you have it. I, in true writerly fashion, nosey around other people's lives watching their house being built, and my eventual reward is a new friend and a book in her book club. And what of the happy coincidence that took us down the same path on that windy morning when we had spent the previous 5 years never setting eyes on one another. Serendipity is a curious thing that might just be prompting me towards another book...the second of my Mapleby Memories, but that's another story!
And there's still another copy of Mending Jodie's Heart to give out...to the Riding School that let me watch the stable girls take their horses through their paces, so maybe some more friends too.
Thursday, April 13, 2017
Writing Historical Novels by Joan Donaldson-Yarmey
For more about Joan Donaldson-Yarmey's novels and to purchase visit her Books We Love author page
http://bookswelove.net/authors/donaldson-yarmey-joan/
www.joandonaldsonyarmey.com
To celebrate Canada’s 150th birthday Books We Love Ltd is publishing twelve historical novels, one for each of the ten provinces, one for the Yukon Territory, and one combining the Northwest Territories and Nunavut. We Canadian authors were asked to pick one of the provinces or territories to write about or to do the research on for a non-Canadian author. I chose the Yukon because I have been there twice and love the beauty and history of the territory. The following is a quick summary of how I write my historical novels.
When I was in school I was told that Canada was too young a country to have a history and what it di have was boring, so I learned the history of the United States, England, France, ancient Greece and many other countries. Since then I have read many historical, non-fiction books written about Canada and have found that my country does have a long and exciting history. I decided to write a series of historical novels about Canada. My first two novels in the series are: West to the Bay and West to Grande Portage.
Some writers have a historical period that they like to set their stories in. I don’t. I never really know what year or time period I am going to write about when I start to research a historical novel. So the first thing I do is begin reading non-fiction books looking for some historical event or person who grabs my attention. If it is an event, then I try to learn all I can about that occurrence: when it happened, what happened, who were the famous people involved, who were the ordinary people involved. Once I know that then I have to figure out who is going to be my main character and how that person is going to take part in that event.
Some writers have a historical period that they like to set their stories in. I don’t. I never really know what year or time period I am going to write about when I start to research a historical novel. So the first thing I do is begin reading non-fiction books looking for some historical event or person who grabs my attention. If it is an event, then I try to learn all I can about that occurrence: when it happened, what happened, who were the famous people involved, who were the ordinary people involved. Once I know that then I have to figure out who is going to be my main character and how that person is going to take part in that event.
If it is a legendary person I want to include
in my story, I have to decide how much action that person will have and how
that person will know or be related to the main character. I don’t write a
novel with a well-known person as my main character.
When I have decided on the event or person,
I read about the time period so that I make sure I have the food they ate, the
clothes they wore, their transportation, and their home and furnishings
correct. It also important to make sure that their speech is right for that
time. Words that were first used in the 1850’s cannot be spoken by people in
the 1750’s.
I don’t outline my novel but during my
research I write down all the details that I can find about the time period to
make sure I have the incidents that happen in order. Then I decide on my
characters and weave them through the history. If I include a well-known person,
I have to find out about their lives and their families and how I can weave
them into a story that does not suggest anything that will ruin their memory.
As the story progresses it is important to
keep track of the details that I am including or a secondary story line that I am
setting up. If I have a character thinking about something or starting
something or saying something at the beginning of the book that leaves the
reader hanging, I write it down on a piece of paper to make sure that I clear
it up before the story ends.
I enjoy researching the history and sometimes
spend more time on that then is necessary. But I don’t mind. I want to be sure my
account is as correct as I can make it.
I was born in New Westminster B.C. and raised in Edmonton.I have worked as a bartender, cashier, bank teller, bookkkeeper, printing press operator, meat wrapper, gold prospector, house renovator, and nursing attendant. I have had numerous travel and historical articles published and wrote seven travel books on Alberta, B.C. and the Yukon and Alaska that were published through Lone Pine Publishing in Edmonton.
One of my favourite pasttimes is reading especially mystery novels and I have now turned my writing skills to fiction. However, I have not ventured far from my writing roots. The main character in my Travelling Detective Series is a travel writer who somehow manages to get drawn into solving mysteries while she is researching her articles for travel magazines. This way, the reader is able to take the book on holidays and solve a mystery at the same time.
Illegally Dead is the first novel of the series and The Only Shadow In The House is the second. The third Whistler's Murder came out in August 2011 as an e-book through Books We Love. It can be purchased as an e-book and a paperback through Amazon.
i live on a small acreage in the Alberni Valley on Vancouver Island.
Wednesday, April 12, 2017
How I Start a Mystery Novel
People often ask, how do you write a mystery novel? The problem is that when I’ve finished a book, I’ve usually
forgotten how it all began. Right now I’m at the stage of forming my concept
for my next mystery, which makes it a good time to reflect on how this beginning
process works in my case.
I wouldn’t go that far and I doubt publishers
today would be as welcoming of unfinished books, but as I set out now to write
this next mystery I don’t know who my killer will be. Among the cast of
suspects I have in mind, there’s one I would like to be the killer, although
I’m missing a motive and am also keeping my options open for one of the others to have done
the deed.
This novel will be the third of my mystery
series set in Calgary and featuring insurance adjuster sleuth Paula Savard.
This means I have some character, setting and other details in place before
starting and I know that Paula needs to stumble upon this mystery through her
insurance adjusting job. In book two, she investigated a building fire. For her
next outing, I decided on a hit and run collision, mainly because my ten-year
insurance career specialized in automobile claims. I’m also making things
easier for myself by having the collision occur in my own neighbourhood, unlike
the murders in my previous books, which took place in parts of Calgary I had to
go out and
research. One character might even live in my
house.
Books
one and two were set, respectively, in fall and summer. I had decided the next
two in the series would be winter and spring, although the order didn’t matter. But hit and
run struck me as suited to winter’s icy roads and dark evenings. I also wanted this
next book to be the darkest of the series. So winter became the season for
novel number three. Since the first books, Deadly
Fall and Ten Days in Summer, contain
the season name in the title, I’d like the word ‘winter’ in the title of book
three, which is limiting. I came up with a title Dead of Winter, which I thought was great until my Amazon search
turned up seventeen books with this rather obvious mystery title. For now, I’ll
go with a working title.
Meanwhile, things are happening in Paula’s personal
life. Her mother is getting married, her brother visits from Montreal, her
daughter launches a restaurant business, her office has hired new staff and
Paula’s boyfriend stuns her with news that threatens to destroy their
relationship.
The novel’s second quarter will deal with the
fallout from these developments and, hopefully, lead to surprises and twists
that will keep things hopping through the last half of the story and propel it to a
thrilling climax and conclusion. That’s the goal.
Now I’m ready to go. All that’s left is the
hard part—writing.
I am the author of two mystery novels, Deadly Fall and Ten Days in Summer, both set in Calgary, AB, and featuring insurance adjuster sleuth Paula Savard. My short stories have won contests and appeared in magazines and anthologies, most recently in Writing Menopause, Long Lunch/Quick Reads and AB Negative. I belong to the Alexandra Writers Centre Society, Crime Writers of Canada and the Writers Guild of Alberta and serve on the board of When Words Collide Festival for Readers and Writers. A native of Montreal, I live in Calgary, where I love hiking in our nearby Rocky Mountains.
Tuesday, April 11, 2017
War Watch by Karla Stover
bwlauthors.blogspot.com karla stover
April 1917--on the 6th, to be exact, the United States entered World War I. As wars are want to do, this one gave us a number of new inventions: hydrophones, pilot- less drones, air traffic control, tanks, flame throwers, poison gas, tracer bullets, interpreter gear, depth charges, aircraft carriers, mobile x-ray machines, wrist watches, camouflage, tube socks, and sanitary napkins.
In 1914, the Kinberly-Clark Company used processed wood to create "an absorbent wadding. "It was five times as absorbent as cotton and cost only half was much to produce; the product was dubbed Cellucotton. Kimberly-Clark gave up its profits and made Cellucotton available to the War Department at cost. After the war (1919), and faced the question of what to do with Cellucotton, the company hit upon the notion of marketing disposable sanitary napkins.
However, this blog is about wrist watches.
A 1916 New York Times article went as follows: “Until recently, the bracelet watch has been looked upon by Americans as more or less of a joke. Vaudeville artists and moving-picture actors have utilized it as a fun maker, as a ‘silly ass’ fad.”
Americans may have been looking at wrist watches as a joke, but not so men who fought in the Boer War. Soldiers jerry-rigged pocket watches to their wrists, making it possible to synchronize military moves. Then the war ended and a watch on a wrist became a female accoutrement. In 1912, that observer of all-things-feminine, the Times wrote that “The wrist watch is the fashion of the hour in Paris. It is worn over here by women who have to work as well as those who play. Not only that, but “it is the most useful piece of jewelry that has been invented for many decades. …"
Less than two years after the above comments on ladies' fashions, World War I began and a new type of watch evolved — trench watches, also called tank watches or campaign watches. They had enamel dials, wide white numerals on a black background, and a luminescent hour hand. Like its ancestor, the pocket watch, the trench watch had hinged front and back covers. They eventually became the look of the day for men’s fashions.
The United States entered World War I on April 6, 1917, and telephone and signal services, which played important parts in modern warfare, made wearing a watch obligatory. By the time the Great Depression came on, wristwatch production had eclipsed pocket-watch production; by World War II, the pocket watch was obsolete. As one newspaper pointed out, “The Great War in 1919 made the world safe for men who wear wrist-watches.” For historical fiction writers like me, knowing little details such as these is imperative. My book, Murder, When One Isn't Enough should have included a bibliography. My bad. However, in my defense, my family has deep roots on Hood Canal where the book takes place. Many now-deceased family members who lived there had friends older than they, and who told stories of their days fishing and logging. We hiked all over the hills and fished in many of the lakes. My descriptions, observations, and dialogues are as accurate as possible. To me, historical accuracy is important. A recent article in the Guardian, a British daily newspaper, tackled the question. It quotes author Sarah Churchwell, who claimed that some historical novelists use "poetic license" as an excuse for sloppy or minimal research, and novelist Sarah Dunant, "who argued forcefully that authors have a responsibility to not present readers with deliberately false information about a historical character or period, and to make clear how much they have invented." However, S. J. Parris felt differently. "Although I do agree with Churchwell on the paramount importance of meticulous research," he told the Guardian, ."novelists are not history teachers. It's not our job to educate people, and if we start using words like "duty" and "responsibility" about historical fiction – or any fiction – we're in danger of leaching all the vigour (sic) out of it with a sense of worthiness." Apparently, historical accuracy is whether the writer wants to do the research and whether the book buyers care about accuracy. As an historian, that laissez faire attitude makes me crazy.
Monday, April 10, 2017
SPRING IS FOR LOVERS, BOOKS WE LOVE NEWEST CONTEST
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Sunday, April 9, 2017
Pucker UP
Last month on the blog I discussed the average attention span. Picking up on that theme, I heard another interesting statistic.
This one has me equally baffled. According to a survey, people are willing to watch a kissing scene for twelve seconds. Now granted, twelve seconds doesn't sound very long, but think about it.
This survey wasn't using a couple having short sweet kisses while talking or giggling. We are referring about a full blown, wet, get the heart pumping kiss.
I challenge you. Set a timer for twelve seconds.
Ready?
Now, imagine watching a couple go at it. Not a couple on the big screen, but an average couple.
One thousand…two thousand.
Keep watching that couple.
You're not even half way there yet.
When you've had enough, how many seconds area left on the timer?
There is a reason the camera angle changes during a 'Hollywood' kissing scene. You've watched the characters in that relationship grow and develop, but still, enough is enough. I think that is why the director uses sheer curtains, a fence, something, anything to add dimension to the scene. Even the character's hands get in the way of the lip lock.
As you can guess, twelve seconds, in my mind, is way too long to watch.
So, back to the 8.5 second attention span. I think during the kiss the viewers mind is wandering for at least 3.5 seconds.
Empowerment shatters traditions and lives. Greed and pride have devastating consequences. Sacrifices must be made. Written on multiple levels, the saga deals with hope, relationships, and giving, set against a background of conflicting values.
Through a series of dreams, modern day couple Keeghan and William follow the triumphs and tragedies of multiple generations of the Donovan family. A chance encounter changes Natasha’s life, forever. In her diary, Natasha writes of her dream, and her hope to escape a horrid dictated future.
Will Natasha's legacy survive an uncertain future?
Through a series of dreams, modern day couple Keeghan and William follow the triumphs and tragedies of multiple generations of the Donovan family. A chance encounter changes Natasha’s life, forever. In her diary, Natasha writes of her dream, and her hope to escape a horrid dictated future.
Will Natasha's legacy survive an uncertain future?
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Vanessa Hawkins Author Page Yes! You see correctly! I have finally included another cover amongst my books! Twice Hung i...
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AVAILABLE HERE I have a cousin in Australia who loves to travel. She and her husband are currently in Vietnam, and the photographs she share...
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Click here to purchase. Winner of Best Historical for 2023 How do I make a German officer during WWII sympathetic? I make him a real pers...