Tuesday, April 14, 2020
Writing in a changed world...by Sheila Claydon
In my book Miss Locatelli, Arabella has to up her game very swiftly to help save the family jewellery business when her grandfather becomes gravely ill. I wonder how many of us will have to step in to do something similar, if not as dramatic, as Covid 19 continues to sweep across the globe.
Certainly here, where I live in the North West of the UK, many people are already working very differently as they search for ways to keep their businesses going. Local stores that once could rely on the footfall of regular customers for income, have introduced delivery services. Yoga and Pilates teachers now stream classes online. Childcare nurseries and pre-schools are doing the same with singalongs and fun activities. Bridge clubs are playing online, and, for the less experienced, also providing lessons. All banking is done online and doctors are carrying out most of their consultations online, except to the very vulnerable. Restaurants are now delivering meals to those people isolated at home and providing takeaway for others. Taxi drivers are delivering food. Shop assistants from high end department stores are stacking shelves in supermarkets, while security men have moved from nightclubs to the supermarket carparks to ensure that everyone follows the strict social distancing rules imposed on us all.
Of course we adapt and one of the British ways of adapting is to resort to gallows humour, so dark jokes abound, as do amusing home made videos of whole families singing coronavirus themed songs to well known tunes. And we are surprisingly obedient. Very few people are flouting the guidelines put in place by government as it tries its best to manage the pandemic. Instead we cross the path when we see neighbours approaching on our daily dog walk, and conduct our conversations across a 2-3 meter gap. We socialise online too. Nearly everyone I know speaks to friends and family daily, mostly on Skype or similar, and share meals and drinks across the ether as they chat. My own granddaughter will be 18 next week and plans are already in place for an online all day party where family and friends can check in at any time on a digital platform that will allow them to speak to one another as well as the birthday girl. It won't be the same, but it will still be fun, and thanks to the wonderful delivery drivers who have kept working throughout, she has a lot of presents to open too.
There are so many other ways in which we are all adapting, from downloading newspapers online instead of looking forward to the ubiquitous daily delivery that was so much part of British life, to young families spending a lot more time with their children, and throughout it all we wonder what will happen when this is all over. Will we revert to our old ways or will some things have changed forever? Only time will tell but I do have a separate question of my own.
Will books change? Will writers find that they are adapting their stories to an altered existence. We have all read stories written in the past century that appear very outdated, where the characters appear less than realistic in both their attitudes and speech. Neither historical fiction nor contemporary, they no longer seem to fit our mindset. Of course fantasy and futuristic novels will still resonate but what about family sagas, contemporary fiction, even crime novels. How will the global pandemic affect them? Will writers be able to produce stories that ignore our changed world...should they? It's a philosophical question that only time can answer.
In the meantime, stay safe everyone.
Monday, April 13, 2020
Book Launch in the Time of Pandemic
With bookstores and libraries closed and book tours canceled, authors with books coming out face the challenge of connecting with potential readers.
But during these times, we also turn to books to raise our spirits and give us comfort. My new novel Mercies of the Fallen is set in another perilous time in America’s history — the Civil War. Ursula and Rowan are both fallen people, plagued with traumatic pasts but facing their troubled times with courage and heart. I hope you’ll find their story uplifting.
And I hope you'll lift a socially distanced virtual glass with me in celebration of publication!
Sunday, April 12, 2020
Music Soothes Troubled Times
This winter, a friend coaxed me to join her choir. This wasn't something I'd thought of doing since high school. During my childhood and teens, I belonged to choirs at school and church. I enjoyed them and continued to like singing alone or at occasional public events, despite my diminishing vocal quality. No longer able to hit the high notes, my range became limited to about five notes. My voice cracked and stained by end of each song. The tones fell flat, to my own ears.
My friend got into choir for something to do after she retired. Before then, she'd had no interest in singing and, unlike me, hadn't taken piano lessons as a kid. She explained that some choirs required auditions. Others don't, including Shout Sister, her all-female choir.
She gave me printouts of lyrics to her group's current roster of songs. Leonard Cohen., Simon & Garfunkel, The Beatles; my long-time favourites. I had spare time and was looking for activities this winter, since I was away from home in Ottawa, helping a relative through medical treatment.
"I've arranged for you to try out the choir this week," my friend said. She'd also convinced the administrator to give me a special rate if I decided to stay, since I'd only be there for part of the year.She gave me printouts of lyrics to her group's current roster of songs. Leonard Cohen., Simon & Garfunkel, The Beatles; my long-time favourites. I had spare time and was looking for activities this winter, since I was away from home in Ottawa, helping a relative through medical treatment.
"Okay," I said, because she'd gone to all this trouble.
Wednesday afternoon, we drove to her choir practice at a local church. About seventy women, mostly seniors like us, stood in a horseshoe shape facing the choir leader. No sheet music. The notes rose and fell with the leader's hand, a method of music reading I found easy to follow.
The meeting brought back memories of my youthful choirs. "Don't interrupt the line of music by taking a breath." The director echoed my earlier choir leaders. "Sustain the last note." The large group sang harmonies that sounded lovely to me. I found myself able to sing all the notes. Either the organizer selected songs suited to amateurs or she arranged them for unpracticed female voices.
Best of all, for those two hours of song I forgot my worries about my family member's health challenges. The choir had me hooked.
I looked forward to the weekly sessions. After two months, a woman I talked to during the break convinced me to participate in the next week's concert at a retirement home. Performing with the group was fun and gave a new dimension to choir practice. Our concert ended with the 1970s O'Jay's anthem, Love Train, which urges people around the world to join hands and form a train of love. At the rousing finish, we were supposed to join hands with the person beside us. Some of us did; others refrained.
The following week our choir session was cancelled due to COVID-19. It soon became clear we wouldn't be singing for weeks and months. Then the organizers set up practices on Zoom, a virtual meeting site that has taken off in this time of home isolation.
I'm not swift with technology and worried I wouldn't figure out Zoom, but with a little advice, Zoom worked easily and well. Now, I follow the leader on my computer screen, while thumbnail pictures of choir members appear along the top or side. During breaks, I switch to gallery view, with thumbnails filling the screen. The first two weeks, over fifty members signed in each time. I'll miss week three since I'll be driving from Ottawa, west across Canada to my home in Calgary .
At the virtual Zoom session, the director puts us all on mute, since the system can't co-ordinate our voices. I discovered my voice doesn't sound as good alone as I sounded to myself with the group. It still cracks and strains for those high notes.
I wouldn't want to start with choir online, but virtually continuing with familiar faces and songs was more satisfying than I'd expected. Again, for those two hours, choir brought me out my despondent mood. For the first time since this mass isolation began, I felt that most of us won't be permanently damaged and we'll return to our humankind.
Shout Sister operates in numerous Ontario locations. Ottawa has three branches, with our afternoon group the most recent sister. Here's a YouTube video of one of our older sister groups performing Ben E. King's Stand By Me, a song our newer group learned this year.
I have several friends in Calgary who belong to choirs. A year ago, I asked one of them what he gained from being in a choir. He said, "When you sing together, you make each other so much more." I agree.
Labels:
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#anxiety,
#choir,
#COVID19,
#dealingwithstress,
#Music,
#musicforhealing,
#Ottawa,
#ShoutSister,
#socialdistancing
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.
Friday, April 10, 2020
Words of Our Times
Find my books here
Quarantine, pandemic, social distancing, shelter in
place – not all new words, but phrases that have become part of our lives
because of the COVID-19 and which will long be associated with 2020.
Throughout the centuries, there have always been
phrases that have earmarked a generation. I say “For Pete’s sake” all the time
and every time I do, my grandkids ask, “Who’s Pete?” This particular phrase comes from the expression for Christ’s sake. Some people, for religious reasons, don’t want
to use the word Christ
in a negative way, and, instead, use Pete
as an alternative. It originated around 1900. According to the Oxford
English Dictionary, "for Pete's
sake" expresses frustration or annoyance and prompted similar sayings such
as "for the love of Pete" in 1906.
Very often, the expressions or
sayings don’t make sense literally. I can remember my aunt saying “it’s the cat’s
pajamas”. That always made me laugh because of course, cats don’t wear pajamas.
That phrase became popular in the U.S. in the 1920s, along with “bee’s knees”
and “the cat’s whiskers.” In the 1920s, the word cat was used as a term to
describe the unconventional flappers from the jazz era. This was combined with
the word pajamas (a relatively new fashion in the 1920s) to form a phrase used
to describe something that is the best at what it does, thus making it highly
sought and desirable.
I never really thought about pajamas
being a fairly modern word as versus nightgown, or nightrail. I do recall once
an editor telling me that “shirtwaist” wasn’t the appropriate term for a blouse
in the time period I was writing. I’m not sure every reader would catch
individual words but as an author I want to be as authentic as possible.
When I was researching “An
Interlude”, I wanted a few words that would have been appropriate and used
during the roaring twenties. I loved finding “my main squeeze” to indicate a
loved one; “hard boiled” to indicate a mean or ruthless man, and the still usable
“don’t take any wooden nickels.”
Words and phrases help the reader
understand the time period of the novel. For example, when writing historical,
an author must be very careful to use phrases that were part of a particular
century. You don’t “turn on a light” back in the Middle Ages when candles were
used. Simple words also indicate time and place. Does your villain steal an
SUV, jalopy, roadster, barouche or wagon? Does “Alexis” turn on the lights when
you enter a room, or does your butler? (Although I suppose that is not mutually
exclusive.)
All of this is just part of the fascinating
research I like to do before I start writing. Having a vocabulary that creates
a sense of time for my stories is just as important as knowing what color their
hair and eyes are. For a chuckle and to recall some fun phrases from your
childhood, visit https://www.bustle.com/articles/25318-88-hilarious-slang-terms-from-the-20th-century-to-sprinkle-through-your-writing-like-youre-putting.
I invite you to explore Books We
Love and see how I and other authors use words and phrases in our stories. And
in this new time of needing to maintain our personal space and boundaries, know
that Books We Love is trying to help by offering a FREE download book every day
of the pandemic. Check their website at http://www.bookswelove.com/.
They’re also having an April contest, which actually deals with the blog, so
check it out.
Barbara Baldwin
|
I love to travel and would gladly roam from place to place.
Wednesday, April 8, 2020
9-1-1 by J. S. Marlo
Aside from staying home and eating too much, I've been painting my bathrooms and babysitting my five-year old granddaughter whose parents need to work. Every day, my granddaughter gets virtual homework from her kindergarten teacher, which is really cool, but I've also been teaching her other things, among them how or when to call 9-1-1.
She's known for years how to unlock my phone, so I told her there was a special number to call in case of emergency. Then, I made sure she understood what an emergency was:
- Grand-maman dropping a full gallon of paint from the top of her ladder is a catastrophe, but NOT an emergency.
- Grand-maman falling from the top of her ladder and not being able to get up is an emergency.
So, what's the first question she asked me: why did they pick THAT number, grand-maman?
Good question, I thought. I did some research and stumbled on an article written on February 16, 2017 in the Smithsonian Magazine about a 9-1-1 festival.
So, why 9-1-1? These are the major reasons why AT&T chose the number 9-1-1 in 1968:
- because it was short & simple
- because it was easy to remember
- because it was quick & easy to dial
- because of the middle 1, which indicated a special number that worked well with the phone systems in place at the time.
That being said, 9-1-1 is an emergency number used mostly in North America (Canada, USA, Mexico). In Europe, you would dial 1-1-2 in case of emergency. And in Australia, 0-0-0.
Here are some funny and disturbing (and hopefully false) 9-1-1 calls:
Female caller: There are alligators in the river.
9-1-1 operator: Yes ma’am, this is Florida.
Female caller: But my kids play and swim in that river.
9-1-1 operator: Why do you let your kids play and swim in alligator infested waters?
She's known for years how to unlock my phone, so I told her there was a special number to call in case of emergency. Then, I made sure she understood what an emergency was:
- Grand-maman dropping a full gallon of paint from the top of her ladder is a catastrophe, but NOT an emergency.
- Grand-maman falling from the top of her ladder and not being able to get up is an emergency.
So, what's the first question she asked me: why did they pick THAT number, grand-maman?
Good question, I thought. I did some research and stumbled on an article written on February 16, 2017 in the Smithsonian Magazine about a 9-1-1 festival.
"On this day in 1968, a phone rang in the
police station of Haleyville, Alabama. But unlike all the days before, the
caller—Alabama Speaker of the House Rankin Fite, who was not in an emergency
situation—didn’t dial the local police number.
He dialed 911, a three-digit number that
would go down in local and national history.
The idea for a universal emergency phone
number didn’t start in Haleyville, a town of fewer than 5,000 inhabitants that
was dry until 2010. It started with a 1957 recommendation from the National
Association of Fire Chiefs, writes Carla Davis for the Alabama News Center.
Their recommendation was prompted by a
serious problem, she writes: before 911, anyone who needed emergency help had
to figure out if they needed the fire department, the police, or medical help,
and then call the appropriate local number. Not easy to do when someone is
bleeding, a baby is being born, or the building’s on fire.
It took more than a decade before the
fire chiefs’ recommendation was put into effect, Davis writes. Haleyville came
into the picture when the president of the Alabama Telephone Co., an
independent telephone company, fought to have his company launch the new
system.
The call was picked up at the police
station on a special red phone, wrote Hoyt Harwell for the Associated Press on
911’s 25th anniversary in 1993. At the receiving end of the call was
Congressman Tom Bevill, Alabama’s longest-serving congressman—who was still in
office when Harwell interviewed him 25 years after that first call.
Haleyville still celebrates the event
that put it on the map with an annual 911 Festival."
So, why 9-1-1? These are the major reasons why AT&T chose the number 9-1-1 in 1968:
- because it was short & simple
- because it was easy to remember
- because it was quick & easy to dial
- because of the middle 1, which indicated a special number that worked well with the phone systems in place at the time.
That being said, 9-1-1 is an emergency number used mostly in North America (Canada, USA, Mexico). In Europe, you would dial 1-1-2 in case of emergency. And in Australia, 0-0-0.
Here are some funny and disturbing (and hopefully false) 9-1-1 calls:
Female caller: There are alligators in the river.
9-1-1 operator: Yes ma’am, this is Florida.
Female caller: But my kids play and swim in that river.
9-1-1 operator: Why do you let your kids play and swim in alligator infested waters?
Stay safe. Hugs!
JS
I grew up in Shawinigan, a small French Canadian town, attended military college, married a young officer, and raised three spirited children. Over the years, I enjoyed many wonderful postings in many different regions of Canada.
After my children left the nest, I began writing. Three years later, I captured my dream of becoming a published author with my underwater novel “Salvaged”.
Many of my romantic suspense novels are set in Canada or feature Canadian characters. One of my latest series also involves time travel.
I'm not sure where time flew, but decades later, I ended up writing under the Northern Lights in Alberta while spoiling a gorgeous little granddaughter.
Tuesday, April 7, 2020
Virtual Brainstorming by Eileen O'Finlan
COVID-19
has shut down a lot of things, but our imaginations needn't be one of
them. In fact, recent personal events show that they may be more
active than ever.
Before
this virus hit, a group of writers met at my house every Wednesday
evening to work on writing projects and offer feedback. For several
in the group, those Wednesday nights provided a writing lifeline. I
hated having to send out the group text announcing the cancellation
of our group until further notice. Even though we're not a huge group
(on the rare occasion that everyone is present on the same evening,
we total seven), with my 93 year old mother in the house, I couldn't
take any chances.
Of
course, everyone understood. Several had made the painful decision to
stay away even before receiving my text. Being a resilient,
resourceful, and most of all, imaginative group it took
less than an hour for one member to come up with the idea of a
writing round robin. One person would write one page of a story,
email it to the next person who would add another page then forward
it to the next and so on. After two rounds the story would be
complete. It might not add up to something publishable, but it
promised to be fun and keep those writing muscles toned. I had to bow
out as all my writing time is, of necessity, being devoted to the
completion of Erin's Children, the sequel to Kelegeen,
though I do look forward to reading the finished product.
My
non-involvement in the round robin did not mean complete detachment
for me, however. In less than a week, I jumped onto a Zoom meeting
with fellow writing group member, Jane Willan. Jane is the author of
two cozy mysteries, The Shadow of Death and The Hour of
Death, the first two books in her Sister Agatha and Father Selwyn
Mystery Series. She's currently working on the third in the series as well as a
thriller.
Jane
and I are searching for both "tried and true" and "unique and new" methods of marketing our writing, so we decided to focus our Zoom
session on brainstorming ideas. (For anyone unfamiliar with Zoom, it
is similar to Skype). We started by naming what we're already doing:
Twitter and Facebook posts, website, newsletter, blogging, in-person
talks and book signings, partaking in giveaways, interviews with
bloggers and local papers. Currently, I'm working with an organizer
on setting up a blog tour.
Then
we started thinking about what we could do that we haven't done yet.
Podcasts were the first thing to come to mind. It turns out that if
you google podcasts along with your genre, you'll find a plethora
from which to choose. We both committed to being interviewed on
podcasts.
But
why stop there? Jane's husband has a vast supply of audio/visual
equipment. Why not start our own podcast? Fellow BWL author, Eileen Charbonneau, and I have been discussing creating a podcast. So the three of us connected on Zoom for our first podcast planning meeting. Fortunately, through the wonders of technology it doesn't matter that Jane and I live in Massachusetts and Eileen Charbonneau lives in Vermont. We don't have to be in the same state or even in the same house to make it happen.
YouTube was another marketing option open for discussion. I have a YouTube channel, though so far I've only put up one clip of me reading an excerpt from Kelegeen. Jane and I decided we could make some more YouTube clips. They don't all have to be book excerpts. The writing life offers plenty of topics for discussion. With my sequel being set in Worcester, a video tour showing the sections of the city where much of the story takes place seems another likely possibility. Jane also has some trailers for her two mysteries. Eileen and I would like to follow her lead and make some for our book(s).
YouTube was another marketing option open for discussion. I have a YouTube channel, though so far I've only put up one clip of me reading an excerpt from Kelegeen. Jane and I decided we could make some more YouTube clips. They don't all have to be book excerpts. The writing life offers plenty of topics for discussion. With my sequel being set in Worcester, a video tour showing the sections of the city where much of the story takes place seems another likely possibility. Jane also has some trailers for her two mysteries. Eileen and I would like to follow her lead and make some for our book(s).
Our
brainstorming session didn't end there. We talked about the 19th
century coterie of writers that formed the literati in Concord,
Massachusetts – Emerson, Thoreau, Alcott, Hawthorne - to name a few.
Then we widened the circle of our thoughts to include 19th
century authors throughout New England. Such an abundance! Our region
still boasts literary luminaries today. Some, like Steven King, are
household names.
We
got to thinking about the other authors in our area that we both know
personally. Published, yes. Famous, no. This led to a discussion
about what it is, besides the obvious (great writing), that
makes some authors successful and others whose writing may be just as
good or even better, virtually unknown beyond their small circle.
The
answer – marketing! We have to do it ourselves and for most of us
it is not our field of expertise. Not even close. If it was we'd be
marketers, not authors. Yet in today's world we have no choice. We
have to climb that steep learning curve to figure out how to let the
world know we're here and we've written awesome books that deserve to
be widely read.
But
how? This is a question I've been struggling with since the
publication of Kelegeen. I sunk a lot of money into an
advertising company that has been helping me climb that learning
curve for almost two years. “Learn to think like a CEO.” “You
are not only an author. You are the CEO of Eileen O'Finlan.” These
are mantras they've driven into my brain. They are also concepts
completely alien to the way I think. A huge learning curve, indeed.
But I am not alone and that gives me great hope. Eileen Charbonneau remains an amazing mentor for me. Our joint in-person appearances may be on hold for a while, but we are excited about embarking on a new virtual adventure through podcasting.
Jane and I have committed to working together, mastering the art of branding, learing the ins and outs of marketing, pulling each other up and over that daunting curve so that we can come out on the other side, if not as household names, at least with successful authorial careers. We fully realize it will be a marathon, not a sprint, but we are willing to give it all we've got. If it doesn't happen (but it will – think positive!) it won't be for lack of trying.
Jane and I have committed to working together, mastering the art of branding, learing the ins and outs of marketing, pulling each other up and over that daunting curve so that we can come out on the other side, if not as household names, at least with successful authorial careers. We fully realize it will be a marathon, not a sprint, but we are willing to give it all we've got. If it doesn't happen (but it will – think positive!) it won't be for lack of trying.
Eileen O'Finlan |
Jane Willan |
Eileen Charbonneau |
Labels:
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#cozy mystery,
#Eileen Charbonneau,
authors,
Eileen O'Finlan,
historical fiction,
Jane Willan,
Kelegeen,
marketing,
mystery,
podcasts,
The Hour of Death,
The Shadow of Death,
writing groups
Eileen O’Finlan was a member of the Worcester Writers Workshop for many years and now hosts a writing group at her home in Holden.
Kelegeen, published by BWL Publishing, is her debut novel. She is currently working on the sequel to be titled Erin's Children set in Worcester, Massachusetts.
Eileen is a holds a Bachelor’s Degree in history and a Master’s Degree in pastoral ministry.
When not writing or working her full-time job, Eileen facilitates online courses for the University of Dayton, Ohio.
Sunday, April 5, 2020
Baroness Orczy by Rosemary Morris
To learn more about Rosemary's work please click on the cover.
Best remembered for her hero, Percy Blakeney, the elusive scarlet pimpernel, Baroness Orczy was born in Tarna Ors, Hungary, on September twenty-third, eighteen hundred and sixty-five to Countess Emma Wass and her Baron Felix Orczy. Her parents frequented the magnificent court of the Austrian Hungarian Empire where the baron was well known as a composer, conductor and friend of famous composers such as Liszt and Wagner.
Until the age of five, when a mob of peasants fired the barn, stables and fields destroying the crops, Emma Magdolna Rozália Mária Jozefa Borbála “Emmuska” Orczy, enjoyed every luxury in her father’s magnificent, ancestral chateaux, which she later described as a rambling farmhouse on the banks of the River Tarna. The baron and his family lived there in magnificent ‘medieval style’. Throughout her life; the exuberant parties, the dancing and the haunting gypsy music lived on in Emmuska’s memory.
After leaving Tarna Ors forever, the Orczys went to Budapest. Subsequently, in fear of a national uprising, the baron moved his family from Hungary to Belgium. Emmuska attended convent schools in Brussels and Paris until, in 1880, the baron settled his family in Wimpole Street, London.
At fifteen years of age, Emmuska not only learned English within six months, but also won a special prize for doing so. Later, she first attended the West London School of Art and then Heatherby’s School of Art, where she met her future husband, Montague Barstow, an illustrator.
Emmuska fell in love with England and regarded it as her spiritual birthplace, her true home. When people referred to her as a foreigner, and said there was nothing English about her, she replied her love was all English, for she loved the country.
Baron Orczy tried hard to develop his daughter’s musical talent but Emmuska chose art, and had the satisfaction of her work being exhibited at The Royal Academy. Later, she turned to writing.
In 1894 Emmuska married Montague and, in her own words, the marriage was ‘happy and joyful’.
The newlyweds enjoyed opera, art exhibitions, concerts and the theatre. Emmuska’s bridegroom was supportive of her and encouraged her to write. In 1895 her translations of Old Hungarian Fairy Tales: The Enchanted Cat, Fairyland’s Beauty and Uletka and The White Lizard, edited with Montague’s help, were published.
Inspired by thrillers she watched on stage, Emmuska wrote mystery and detective stories. The first featured The Old Man in the Corner. For the generous payment of sixty pounds the Royal Magazine published it in 1901. Her stories were an instant hit. Yet, although the public could not get enough of them, she remained dissatisfied.
In her autobiography Emmuska wrote: ‘I felt inside my heart a kind of stirring that the writing of sensational stuff for magazines would not and should not, be the end and aim of my ambition. I wanted to do something more than that. Something big.’
Montague and Emmuska spent 1900 in Paris that, in her ears, echoed with the violence of the French Revolution. Surely, she had found the setting for a magnificent hero to champion the victims of “The Terror”. Unexpectedly, after she and her husband returned to England, it was while waiting for the train that Emmuska saw her most famous hero, Sir Percival Blakeney, dressed in exquisite clothes. She noted the monocle held up in his slender hand, heard both his lazy drawl and his quaint laugh. Emmuska told her husband about the incident and within five weeks had written The Scarlet Pimpernel.
Often, although the first did not apply to Emmuska and Montague, it is as difficult to find true love as it is to get published. A dozen publishers or more rejected The Scarlet Pimpernel. The publishing houses wanted modern, true-life novels. The Scarlet Pimpernel was rejected. Undeterred Emmuska and Montague turned the novel into a play.
The critics did not care for the play, which opened at the New Theatre, London in 1904, but the audiences loved it and it ran for 2,000 performances. As a result, The Scarlet Pimpernel was published and became the blockbuster of its era making it possible for Emmuska and Montague to live in an estate in Kent, have a bustling London home and buy a luxurious villa in Monte Carlo.
A lasting tribute to the baroness is the enduring affection the public has for her brave, romantic hero, Sir Percival Blakeney, master of disguise.
Classic Historical Romances by Rosemary Morris
Early 18th Century novels: Tangled Love, Far Beyond Rubies, The Captain and The Countess
Regency Novels False Pretences.
Heroines Born on Different Days of the Week Books One to Six, Sunday’s Child, Monday’s Child, Tuesday’s Child, Wednesday’s Child, Thursday’s Child and Friday’s Child.
(The novels in the series are not dependent on each other, although events in previous novels are referred to and characters reappear.)
Mediaeval Novel Yvonne Lady of Cassio. The Lovages of Cassio Book One
www.rosemarymorris.co.uk
http://bookswelove.net/authors/morris-rosemary
Saturday, April 4, 2020
Daddy Long-Legs by Katherine Pym
~*~*~*~
Daddy long-legs cluster |
My
primary time frame is 17th century London. It’s difficult to write
of it and not go textbook, something I hated as a kid in school. What I’ve
learned over my career is to fill a story that resonates with human interest. History
does not change, only the names and circumstances, although even then, too much
of the past rings the same in the present these days.
But I
digress. Spring has sprung and so have the spiders...
Take
idiocy as a human interest story. Most people don’t like to admit to this, but
it happens on an almost daily basis. Husband and I had one of those occasions
this last week.
Close Look at Cluster |
We have
daddy long-legs spiders. Lots of them. Hundreds of them, maybe a thousand
(kidding, but not far from). They don’t build cobwebs of gossamer that spread
across the house facade as if we were in a terrible fairy tale. No, they cluster
in the eaves above our sliding glass door. They foul the clapboard with their
poop, fall on our heads as we come and go. It’s creepy and annoying. We can’t sit
on the patio because of them. People from miles around hear my screams, night
and day as I take our pup out for her potty rituals.
Last
week, Husband wearied of my constant screeches, my jumping about and shaking
the bugs from my hair and down my collar. He marched outside and grabbed the
garden hose. Like a soldier ready to forge into battle, he sprayed the spider clusters
with steady jets of water.
They
plopped like giant, wet shaggy balls onto our patio and lay there stunned. In
an angry zest of nature, they freaked out, separated into thousands of crawly
things with unnatural long legs. They ran up the wall, the sliding glass doors
on both sides of the screen, stalked into a window corner and stayed there. Now,
no one could come or go at all. Should we open the slider, an arachnid cluster
would scurry into our house.
On that
note, many did find their way into our house, (I know not how because it is a
tightly built structure), and settled on the walls of our bedroom. Outside, the
entire wall was covered with them, all vibrating up and down as if in a macabre
dance.
Macabre dance all over our wall |
As the
days blurred by, they took to their clusters again, but not just one gigantic
one. In their mindless fervor for revenge, several clusters evolved, from over
the sliding glass door and down the underside of the eaves of our house and
patio.
Now, we’ll
have poop paths that run the full backside of our house.
Nightmare!
As a
human interest story, I hope you felt what I felt, panicked when I did. That’s
what I learned from years of writing. Don’t tell these things. Show them so
that the reader stands with you, witnesses the horrific skin crawling insect
moments that I did.
PS… No
spiders were harmed in the telling of this tale.
~*~*~*~*~
Many thanks to Wikicommons Public domain for the pics.
Labels:
ArmyOfSpiders,
BWLAuthorsBlog,
Daddy long-legs,
Swarms
Author of historical novels set in 1660's London with one novel of the French Revolution.
Friday, April 3, 2020
BWL PUBLISHING APRIL NEW RELEASES
BWL PUBLISHING INC. APRIL NEW RELEASES
Maryland plantation heiress Ursula Martin is content with her secluded life in a convent. Until the bloodiest day of the Civil War brings a downed soldier into her care.
Blinded Rowan Buckley only knows he’s in deep love with the woman who pulled him off the battlefield. His superiors claim she’s a spy. He knows she’s full of secrets, but he’s out to prove that treason is not one of them.
The two negotiate the crucial times of the Battle of Antietam, Gettysburg, and the New York City Draft Riots. Treachery meets them at every crossroad. Will their love survive?
Lady Sophie Harrington is not one to abide by society’s strictures. If there’s one thing she knows, it’s that she will not be paraded on the London marriage market in hopes of finding a suitable husband. When a handsome bachelor moves into the neighboring country estate, she thinks her wedding woes are solved - all she has to do is make the man fall in love with her and convince her parents he would make a good match.
Successful barrister Lord Bryce Langdon escapes London to begin a new legal practice in the idylls of Cornwall. However, being the object of desire for two beautiful sisters disrupts his life and distracts him from his true purpose for being there – infiltrate a local smuggler’s ring.
Can Sophie win Bryce’s love? What will she do when she discovers Bryce is not the honorable man he appears to be?
Fire Captain Gerry Ormond is launched to national prominence and receives the prestigious Governor General’s Medal of Valor. He visits his hometown after a twenty-year absence and unwittingly unleashes a killer--a vengeful arsonist with ties to an old murder and theft of a Philippine treasure by a teenage fraternity. Gerry was one of the frat members.
Karen, his high school sweetheart, ignites a dangerous obsession. Her husband looks good for a recent arson/murder. Nick Modano, ex-fraternity president, now ruthless drug dealer, is the only other participant in the old crime. Nick never forgets or forgives Gerry for running out on him during their old crime.
Samantha ‘Sam’ Markham, a crack fire investigator, begins to hound Gerry, believing his past is connected to the present crime wave. For Gerry, the almost forgotten past has risen from the ooze and taken on a life of its own. As a man used to chaos control, he is powerless to close the door to his evil past and haunted by a fire dream. Confessing his old crime will help track down the arsonist but it could destroy him. It’s a tightrope he walks in a town where old friends are now enemies.
Martin Parker is a very happily married man, so when his first love, Diane Branden, blows back into town – still a force to be reckoned with – he is not prepared for the fallout. Drawn unwittingly into her carefully spun web, upheaval quickly follows as his world immediately begins to skid sideways.
Newlyweds Kane and Jessica Davidson also feel the roll of thunder as storm clouds continue to gather menacingly over Emerald Valley, heralding a season of trial, turbulence and challenges in this suspense-filled emotional drama.
Storms in the Valley is a cautionary tale, a grim reminder that nothing in life should be taken for granted, and to never underestimate the enduring power of love, personal strength – or trust.
Find them all at https://bookswelove.net
Maryland plantation heiress Ursula Martin is content with her secluded life in a convent. Until the bloodiest day of the Civil War brings a downed soldier into her care.
Blinded Rowan Buckley only knows he’s in deep love with the woman who pulled him off the battlefield. His superiors claim she’s a spy. He knows she’s full of secrets, but he’s out to prove that treason is not one of them.
The two negotiate the crucial times of the Battle of Antietam, Gettysburg, and the New York City Draft Riots. Treachery meets them at every crossroad. Will their love survive?
Lady Sophie Harrington is not one to abide by society’s strictures. If there’s one thing she knows, it’s that she will not be paraded on the London marriage market in hopes of finding a suitable husband. When a handsome bachelor moves into the neighboring country estate, she thinks her wedding woes are solved - all she has to do is make the man fall in love with her and convince her parents he would make a good match.
Successful barrister Lord Bryce Langdon escapes London to begin a new legal practice in the idylls of Cornwall. However, being the object of desire for two beautiful sisters disrupts his life and distracts him from his true purpose for being there – infiltrate a local smuggler’s ring.
Can Sophie win Bryce’s love? What will she do when she discovers Bryce is not the honorable man he appears to be?
Fire Captain Gerry Ormond is launched to national prominence and receives the prestigious Governor General’s Medal of Valor. He visits his hometown after a twenty-year absence and unwittingly unleashes a killer--a vengeful arsonist with ties to an old murder and theft of a Philippine treasure by a teenage fraternity. Gerry was one of the frat members.
Karen, his high school sweetheart, ignites a dangerous obsession. Her husband looks good for a recent arson/murder. Nick Modano, ex-fraternity president, now ruthless drug dealer, is the only other participant in the old crime. Nick never forgets or forgives Gerry for running out on him during their old crime.
Samantha ‘Sam’ Markham, a crack fire investigator, begins to hound Gerry, believing his past is connected to the present crime wave. For Gerry, the almost forgotten past has risen from the ooze and taken on a life of its own. As a man used to chaos control, he is powerless to close the door to his evil past and haunted by a fire dream. Confessing his old crime will help track down the arsonist but it could destroy him. It’s a tightrope he walks in a town where old friends are now enemies.
Martin Parker is a very happily married man, so when his first love, Diane Branden, blows back into town – still a force to be reckoned with – he is not prepared for the fallout. Drawn unwittingly into her carefully spun web, upheaval quickly follows as his world immediately begins to skid sideways.
Newlyweds Kane and Jessica Davidson also feel the roll of thunder as storm clouds continue to gather menacingly over Emerald Valley, heralding a season of trial, turbulence and challenges in this suspense-filled emotional drama.
Storms in the Valley is a cautionary tale, a grim reminder that nothing in life should be taken for granted, and to never underestimate the enduring power of love, personal strength – or trust.
Life is tough for a widow with three kids trying to farm on
the drought striken 1930’s Manitoba prairie. Even with pressing Mariah’s two
young sons, Jonathan and Seth, into helping, the ends never seem to quite meet.
Still grieving for her dead husband, Mariah is unprepared for her reaction to a
weary man who shows up unexpectedly asking for a drink of water.
One thing leads to another, and soon Jonas becomes a fixture
in their lives. At first, Mariah isn’t sure if that’s a good thing or a bad
thing. Only time would tell.
Thursday, April 2, 2020
And here we are in April already. The Coronavirus has kept us locked away for several weeks now. Staying in is not my cup of tea. I'm a people person. I love people, love being around them, talking to them, and really miss them. I especially miss going to church on Sunday and Bible Study on Tuesday. I miss the fellowship of the ladies and studying God's Word. Not that I can't study it at home, I can and I do, but it's not quite the same as sharing with the group, hearing different views and praising God in singing at the end of our study. But we will get through this, and maybe we'll all be better off for it. People are learning what's really important in life. At least I hope they are.
It's a shame so many decided to hoard items - toilet paper of all things - it's not even that kind of virus. Then it was meat and just about everything in the store. I ran in one day and most of the shelves were empty. I couldn't believe it, I actually got the last bag of flour. Seriously! Now I understand they're hoarding eggs. Even though we've been told there's plenty of groceries. Yet every day items are flying off the shelves. Oh and don't forget hand sanitizer and alcohol, Clorox Wipes and just about any other cleaning product. Those of us who couldn't get to the stores in the early days were out of luck. Heck, I couldn't even find a loaf of bread yesterday. Barely found one today. And it's not going to get better any time soon. We're shut-in for the month of April.
But enough about people and the virus. As my mother used to say, "This, too, shall pass."
Time sure has a way of flying by. Easter is just around the corner and before we know it summer will be upon us. That's fine with me. I love summer and hopefully we'll be back to normal by then.
I love all the outdoor activity - cookouts - games - camping.
Well we don't do camping much anymore, Sold our camper when we bought our house, but I really miss it. I know I can borrow one of the kids' tents since they all have campers now. But we're not into tent camping. Sleeping on the ground isn't for us. Besides, once we get down - no easy feat - getting back up is almost impossible without a solid piece of furniture or something to hold on to.
My son offered us his camper, unfortunately, we don't have a vehicle strong enough to pull it or I'd take it in a heartbeat. Just the right size for us. Although I loved our 36' motor home. But for a weekend camping trip, it would do me just fine.
But there's still plenty of cookouts to enjoy. Hubby is into smoking meat on the grill and that's always fun, even if it's just the two of us. I look forward to the day we can cookout with our family again.
Entangled Minds: Strange, realistic visions and dreams invade Rebecca Brennan’s mind. When she experiences someone’s pain, she’s determined to find out who shares her mind. Her search leads to a small town filled with Victorian homes and interesting people and puts her life in danger.
Review of Entangled Minds:
Hooking a reader on the first page is an important tool for a reader, and Ms. Dowell really pulls you in with Becca’s rude awakening in Entangled Minds. Is she linked to a cop? A civilian? Or a killer? Or is she linked to both the shooting victim and the shooter? You’ll have to read the book to find out, because it’s too good to give away any of the plot, except to say Rebecca searches for the town in which this mystery takes place and finds it full of Victorian homes, quirky people, and plenty of suspects—enough to keep even me guessing until the very end. I really did not have the perpetrator anywhere on my list of suspects! If you’ve read my reviews, you know how difficult I usually am to fool. Brava Ms. Dowell.
As the second youngest of six children, I always had a vivid imagination and loved to make up stories. I often sat and daydreamed about imaginary characters and lost myself in books and make-believe worlds.
My love of writing began as a teenager, but only recently pursued it seriously. With encouragement from fellow book-club members, NEORWA and my husband, I began writing and submitting my work.
Although Satin Sheets was my first published novel, I have over forty articles and stories published in magazines such as Good Old Days, Nostalgia, and Ohio Writer along with several online publications.
Besides teaching three writing courses for Long Story School of Writing, I taught a writing course at Cuyahoga Community College.
In my spare time, I enjoys spending time with my six children, fourteen grandchildren and great grandchildren. My hobbies include ceramics, knitting, quilting, and jewelry making. But after my family, my first love is writing. I reside with my husband of forty-eight years in Northeast Ohio. You can visit my website at: http://www.roseannedowell.com
Wednesday, April 1, 2020
BWL PUBLISHING INC. APRIL NEW RELEASES
Maryland plantation heiress Ursula Martin is content with her secluded life in a convent. Until the bloodiest day of the Civil War brings a downed soldier into her care.
Blinded Rowan Buckley only knows he’s in deep love with the woman who pulled him off the battlefield. His superiors claim she’s a spy. He knows she’s full of secrets, but he’s out to prove that treason is not one of them.
The two negotiate the crucial times of the Battle of Antietam, Gettysburg, and the New York City Draft Riots. Treachery meets them at every crossroad. Will their love survive?
Lady Sophie Harrington is not one to abide by society’s strictures. If there’s one thing she knows, it’s that she will not be paraded on the London marriage market in hopes of finding a suitable husband. When a handsome bachelor moves into the neighboring country estate, she thinks her wedding woes are solved - all she has to do is make the man fall in love with her and convince her parents he would make a good match.
Successful barrister Lord Bryce Langdon escapes London to begin a new legal practice in the idylls of Cornwall. However, being the object of desire for two beautiful sisters disrupts his life and distracts him from his true purpose for being there – infiltrate a local smuggler’s ring.
Can Sophie win Bryce’s love? What will she do when she discovers Bryce is not the honorable man he appears to be?
Fire Captain Gerry Ormond is launched to national prominence and receives the prestigious Governor General’s Medal of Valor. He visits his hometown after a twenty-year absence and unwittingly unleashes a killer--a vengeful arsonist with ties to an old murder and theft of a Philippine treasure by a teenage fraternity. Gerry was one of the frat members.
Karen, his high school sweetheart, ignites a dangerous obsession. Her husband looks good for a recent arson/murder. Nick Modano, ex-fraternity president, now ruthless drug dealer, is the only other participant in the old crime. Nick never forgets or forgives Gerry for running out on him during their old crime.
Samantha ‘Sam’ Markham, a crack fire investigator, begins to hound Gerry, believing his past is connected to the present crime wave. For Gerry, the almost forgotten past has risen from the ooze and taken on a life of its own. As a man used to chaos control, he is powerless to close the door to his evil past and haunted by a fire dream. Confessing his old crime will help track down the arsonist but it could destroy him. It’s a tightrope he walks in a town where old friends are now enemies.
Martin Parker is a very happily married man, so when his first love, Diane Branden, blows back into town – still a force to be reckoned with – he is not prepared for the fallout. Drawn unwittingly into her carefully spun web, upheaval quickly follows as his world immediately begins to skid sideways.
Newlyweds Kane and Jessica Davidson also feel the roll of thunder as storm clouds continue to gather menacingly over Emerald Valley, heralding a season of trial, turbulence and challenges in this suspense-filled emotional drama.
Storms in the Valley is a cautionary tale, a grim reminder that nothing in life should be taken for granted, and to never underestimate the enduring power of love, personal strength – or trust.
Find them all at https://bookswelove.net
Maryland plantation heiress Ursula Martin is content with her secluded life in a convent. Until the bloodiest day of the Civil War brings a downed soldier into her care.
Blinded Rowan Buckley only knows he’s in deep love with the woman who pulled him off the battlefield. His superiors claim she’s a spy. He knows she’s full of secrets, but he’s out to prove that treason is not one of them.
The two negotiate the crucial times of the Battle of Antietam, Gettysburg, and the New York City Draft Riots. Treachery meets them at every crossroad. Will their love survive?
Lady Sophie Harrington is not one to abide by society’s strictures. If there’s one thing she knows, it’s that she will not be paraded on the London marriage market in hopes of finding a suitable husband. When a handsome bachelor moves into the neighboring country estate, she thinks her wedding woes are solved - all she has to do is make the man fall in love with her and convince her parents he would make a good match.
Successful barrister Lord Bryce Langdon escapes London to begin a new legal practice in the idylls of Cornwall. However, being the object of desire for two beautiful sisters disrupts his life and distracts him from his true purpose for being there – infiltrate a local smuggler’s ring.
Can Sophie win Bryce’s love? What will she do when she discovers Bryce is not the honorable man he appears to be?
Fire Captain Gerry Ormond is launched to national prominence and receives the prestigious Governor General’s Medal of Valor. He visits his hometown after a twenty-year absence and unwittingly unleashes a killer--a vengeful arsonist with ties to an old murder and theft of a Philippine treasure by a teenage fraternity. Gerry was one of the frat members.
Karen, his high school sweetheart, ignites a dangerous obsession. Her husband looks good for a recent arson/murder. Nick Modano, ex-fraternity president, now ruthless drug dealer, is the only other participant in the old crime. Nick never forgets or forgives Gerry for running out on him during their old crime.
Samantha ‘Sam’ Markham, a crack fire investigator, begins to hound Gerry, believing his past is connected to the present crime wave. For Gerry, the almost forgotten past has risen from the ooze and taken on a life of its own. As a man used to chaos control, he is powerless to close the door to his evil past and haunted by a fire dream. Confessing his old crime will help track down the arsonist but it could destroy him. It’s a tightrope he walks in a town where old friends are now enemies.
Martin Parker is a very happily married man, so when his first love, Diane Branden, blows back into town – still a force to be reckoned with – he is not prepared for the fallout. Drawn unwittingly into her carefully spun web, upheaval quickly follows as his world immediately begins to skid sideways.
Newlyweds Kane and Jessica Davidson also feel the roll of thunder as storm clouds continue to gather menacingly over Emerald Valley, heralding a season of trial, turbulence and challenges in this suspense-filled emotional drama.
Storms in the Valley is a cautionary tale, a grim reminder that nothing in life should be taken for granted, and to never underestimate the enduring power of love, personal strength – or trust.
Tuesday, March 31, 2020
Putting the bits together by Priscilla Brown
Struggling with a tricky assignment on an island inhabited only by her employer
and a hundred sheep, journalist Jasmine's almost literal lifeline is the sexy ferry deckhand.
This contemporary romance set in the Scottish Hebridean islands is available from
Smashwords until 20 April 2020, at US$1.60
Smashwords until 20 April 2020, at US$1.60
As well as writing contemporary romantic fiction, my creative interests include working with textiles (knitting, hand and machine sewing, embroidery, felting). Recently I participated in a workshop creating new cloth by intermingling scraps of any colour, design and texture of fabrics, and adding embellishments such as buttons, ribbons and braids. We worked small on a background fabric of our choice, choosing fragments from a stash we had each brought and from that generously offered by the tutor. We cut and tore, fiddled with shapes and colours and designs, overlapped our pieces or covered a join with a ribbon. When we were satisfied, we carefully removed the bits so we could paste them back. Pasting is not firm enough to last, so we secured our work by embellishing with stitching and embroidery.
For me, writing a novel is rather like putting the bits together. These are a few of the "bits" collected in my notebook which eventually found their way into the above story...reversing a car onto a tiny ferry (I had to do this, somewhat daunting especially as it was a rental car, and this became the germ of the story idea)...a smuggler's tunnel (the eighteenth century one I saw was wide enough to roll a barrel through but a smuggler would have to be skinny to use it as a escape route)...an ancient curse (liking the idea of this, I made one up)...a ruined castle...someone dishing the dirt... a shared partiality for fruit and nut chocolate (this came from observing a couple on a train, he feeding her squares of chocolate from the wrapper which I could see).
And then there's the practicalities of building the story. I don't have a complete plot before I start novel, making much of it up as I go, and I like to check the technological "bits" on the way.
Choosing words: is this the most effective word for this situation? Does it convey the appropriate tone and the precise meaning? Is the spellchecker telling lies about my spelling?
Assembling words into sentences: are the grammar and punctuation correct? Do the words fit with their neighbour words? Does the word order carry an unambiguous message? Any extraneous or repetitious words lurking? Is there a rhythm to the sentence which makes it easy to read?
Combining sentences into paragraphs: sometimes one or only a few sentences are effective in a paragraph, to build tension, or emphasise a plot point, or introduce an important situation. Otherwise, are the sentences relevant to each other, and to the current circumstances? Does the paragraph move the story on?
Placing the paragraphs into chapters: each needs an attention-grabbing beginning and a cliffhanger ending.
Oh the satisfaction when the "bits" appear to have fitted together, reaching THE END! But of course they haven't all been cooperative. On checking the manuscript, it's likely to find some which don't fit--they may be redundant, at the wrong place in the story, out of character, failing to convey the overall tone of the writing, simply incorrect...and more. So the revision process begins, manipulating those "bits" until the writing is reader-friendly and the story can be finally wrapped up. (As I did with the fabric scraps, creating a pretty bangle.)
Stay safe, Priscilla
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