Thoughts About How to Write A Novel by Rosemary Morris

 

To discover more about Rosemary please click on the image above.

Thoughts About How to Write a Novel

 

I can’t remember how many times people have told me they would write a novel if they had time. Serious authors, published or unpublished, find time. It is important to establish a routine. I recommend an achievable schedule, fifteen minutes or more a day, a fixed period at the weekends, or writing a set number of words every day.

If you have an idea, don’t dream about writing. Begin with the first sentence and continue to the end. Then revise and edit the drafts until the final one, in the correct format, is ready to submit to an agent or publisher. If your novel is rejected, don’t be discouraged, either polish your novel or begin a new one.

I wrote eight novels before one was accepted. By then, I knew more about how to write. I revised five of my earlier novels. Each year, I submitted one to the Romantic Novelists Association for a reader’s report. Subsequently, each novel was accepted for publication.

Whatever you write requires self-discipline and determination. Suppose you aim to write a novel which is 75,000 words. If you write 1,000 words a day you will finish the first draft in 75 days. If you write 500 words a day you will finish it in 150 days.

No matter how good our ideas are, we need to master the art of writing.  Showing the reader what happens instead of telling is important.

 For example, the following tells the reader what happened, but it is not interesting.

‘Zoe was crying because she fell over and scraped her knees.’ 

The revised sentence shows what happened.

‘Zoe raced down the hill after her ball. She ran faster, slipped, and scraped her knees on the pavement. Blood poured down her legs. She burst into tears.”

Our first drafts require revision in which we show instead of telling. Also, we must check the spelling and grammar, and, to avoid repetition, Use the following words, which tell instead of showing, with caution. As, as if, has, has been, had, had been, very, was, said, was and were.

Check to make sure words or phrases are not frequently repeated. For example, when editing a final draft, I realised my characters cleared their throats too often before they spoke, that I frequently described the expressions in their eyes, and the hero and heroine smiled repeatedly.

Research is important. We shouldn’t take anything for granted. If we get a fact wrong a reader might lose faith in us. If we write fantasy or science fiction, the world we create must be believable.

Books on How to Write, Writing Magazines, Courses and Workshops for Writers, a Writer’s Circle, which meets regularly and offers constructive criticism, and an online critique group can helpful.

It isn’t enough for us to have a good idea for an article, non-fiction book, a poem, a short story, novella, or a novel, we must write to the best of our ability.

 

To read my classical historical romances with twists in the tale, set in Edward II’s reign, Queen Anne Stuart’s reign, and the Regency era, please visit my website to read the first three chapters

 

www.rosemarymorris.co.uk

 

Rosemary’s novels are available from Amazon and Books We Love Publishers:

https://bookswelove.net/morris-rosemary/

Meet the BWL Authors - Introducing Dean L. Hovey and Jay Lang

 Introducing Dean Hovey

Dean is a BWL Author from Minnesota

 Dean Hovey is a Minnesota-based author with three mystery series. He lives with his wife south of Duluth.

 

Dean’s award-winning* Pine County series follows sheriff’s deputies Floyd Swenson and Pam Ryan through this police procedural series.

 

Dean’s Whistling Pines books are humorous cozy mysteries centered on the residents of the Whistling Pines senior residence. The protagonist is Peter Rogers, the Whistling Pines recreation director.

 

In Dean’s latest series, the Doug Fletcher Mystery Series, his protagonist, a retired Minnesota policeman, is drafted into service as a National Park Service Investigator after a murder at a National Monument.  The Doug Fletcher series follows Doug and his wife Jill, investigators for the U.S. Park Service as they’re assigned to investigate mysterious deaths in national parks and monuments across the United States.

 

* “Family Trees: A Pine County Mystery” won the 2018 NEMBA award for best fiction.

Find our more about Dean and his book by visiting his Author Page

 https://bookswelove.net/hovey-dean/

 

 

Visit Dean's Author Page: https://bookswelove.net/hovey-dean/

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Introducing Jay Lang

Jay is a BWL Author from British Columbia 

Jay Lang grew up on the ocean, splitting her time between Read Island and Vancouver Island before moving to Vancouver to work as a TV, film and commercial actress. Eventually she left the industry for a quieter life on a live-a-board boat, where she worked as a clothing designer for rock bands. Five years later she moved to Abbotsford to attend university. There, she fell in love with creative writing.  Hush is her first published novel.  She spends her days hiking and drawing inspiration for her writing from nature. 

 Find out more about Jay and her books by visiting her author page

 https://bookswelove.net/lang-jay/

Visit Jay's author page https://bookswelove.net/lang-jay/

How Do You Come Up With All Those Book Ideas? by Diane Bator

 

Find me at http://bookswelove.net/bator-diane/

Studies tell us that the average human being has more than 6,000 thoughts per day. As writers, it can seem as though we have at least double that since our thoughts are conjoined with those of our characters.

Most writers are constantly taking in, processing, and developing new work whether consciously or not. Even when we’re doing something “mindless” like jigsaw puzzles or online games, there is a part of our brains that just never slow down or become distracted. They’re always working on plot holes and great sentences.

My significant other has grown used to seeing my vacant stare when I have an idea percolating. Or when I suddenly run from the room searching for pen, paper, or laptop then disappear down the proverbial rabbit hole for a while and he’s unable to get my attention even with bacon, wine, or cheesecake. A writer’s mind is a funny thing. We can be swayed by food or drink, but even that might cause sudden fits of writing as we insist, “I have a great idea!” It doesn’t always mean we actually do, but sometime those bursts of creativity can lead to something bigger. A scene, a chapter, or an entire novel.

What I find interesting is having people tell me I think differently than they do, which I used to take as a bit of a slight and wondered what was wrong with me. Recently, I spent a week with my mom who came to visit from across Canada. More than once she gushed, “I have no idea how you keep all those books and ideas straight.”

I suppose it’s the same way you get to Carnegie Hall. Practice! Pen to paper is the best way. Going with the flow of head to heart to hand. While most writers use computers these days, nothing beats the old school sound of a pen scratching paper. If you ever had writers block, give it a try!

So how do writers actually come up with the ideas they write for readers to become absorbed in for hours on end? Truth is, no one really knows. Not yet. The following is borrowed from a great article called The Science Behind What Writing Does to Your Brain - CraftYour Content. (The article is from 2017, but an interesting read!!)

“Expert athletes have trained their muscles to perform certain functions, and expert creatives can do the same with their brain.

Lotze and his team of researchers discovered that, while writing down their stories, the expert writers used an additional part of their brain — the caudate nucleus.

The caudate nucleus is the region of the brain that handles automatic functions, or functions that are practiced over time. For example, the act of handwriting letters on a page. You learned the letters when you were a toddler, traced them, and learned how to write them yourself. After years of practice, it’s now an automatic function. When that region is active, it means there is some form of memory involved.

What kind of memories are expert writers pulling from? It’s kind of hard to know what someone is thinking when their brain is cycling through ideas, sentences, and the many automatic functions it takes to write. Our technology is advanced, but not that advanced.

We could hypothesize that they are pulling memories from sentences they’ve formulated in the past, stories they’ve thought up before, or maybe even techniques they’ve learned about storytelling. But we may never know.

They also discovered that, in the expert writer’s brain, the regions that deal with speech and word formation (known as Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas) are used more frequently in the brainstorming stage compared to novice writers, who tend to visualize in pictures more. This could mean that, before even putting pen to paper, expert writers are already thinking about words or phrases they are going to use to tell their story.

It could also mean that expert writers have trained their brain to see things differently, to be more language oriented, and to visualize not just with the occipital lobe.”

Experiments and lobes aside, I’ve always found it fascinating—from a writer’s perspective—how other people DON’T see stories in everything. How things I find intriguing and inspiring, can be meaningless to the next person. While science keeps trying to explain what makes some of us writers, we just have to keep plugging along to create the stories and the worlds we love.

Intrigued? Here are a few more rabbit holes to dive down and find out more:

·       The Science Behind a Writer's Mind - Craft Your Content

·       Scientists study brains of writers,attempt to make creativity boring » MobyLives (mhpbooks.com)

·       How Writing Benefits Mental Health - NeuroScientia

 Happy Web Surfing!

Diane

http://bookswelove.net/bator-diane/

Meet BWL Publishing Authors - Eileen Charbonneau and H. Paul Doucette

 

Introducing Eileen Charbonneau

 

Eileen Charbonneau writes historical novels that the Washington Post has called “provocative…

well told, extremely entertaining tales.” and Publisher's Weekly says shows impressive command of the elements of historical romance..."). 

Eileen's work has won the Golden Medallion, Chatelaine Award and Phyllis A. Whitney Award. Finalist accolades include the Daphne duMaurier Award, Hearts of the West Award, Golden Leaf  and Laramie Award. 

Eileen lives in the brave little state of Vermont, where she and her husband run a small Bed and Breakfast in their 1886 Victorian home.  Eileen loves kayaking below the eagles on the Connecticut River and Maple Creemies. She loves hearing from readers. Her email is eileencharbonneau@gmail.com.  Visit Eileen's website at:   www.eileencharbonneau.com

Visit Eileen's Author Page:  https://bookswelove.net/charbonneau-eileen/

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Introducing H. Paul Doucette

Paul is a BWL Author from Nova Scotia 

I was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1948. I left home at age 16 and, after a brief stint in the army, I began a career as a merchant seaman (12 years). This took me to many places in the world. Following that, I entered into a professional career as a transportation /logistics specialist. Somewhere in there I took a few years off and ‘thumbed’ my way across North America and Mexico as part of the ‘Hippie’ counterculture movement. I was also active in the civil rights and anti-war movements.

 

I have lived and worked in many countries over the course of my life and have gained a knowledge and appreciation for the differences we share as humans. I like to think that this life experience has enabled me to apply a certain perspective to my characters and stories.

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Visit Paul's BWL author page  https://bookswelove.net/doucette-h-paul/

For details and purchase links on Paul's books click the book covers  

New Releases for August 2022 by BWL Publishing Inc.

 NEW RELEASES FOR AUGUST 2022

 

Check out these new releases at the following author pages

 Rushing the Klondike:  
https://bookswelove.net/donaldson-yarmey-joan/

 

Wounded Hearts:
https://bookswelove.net/marlo-j-s/

Parlor Girls:
https://bookswelove.net/stover-karla/

Sidelined:
https://bookswelove.net/monroe-eden/

The Bottom Drawer by Priscilla Brown

 

 Cassandra doesn't throw anything away. She operates on the premise that one day there may be a world shortage of safety pins. So she doesn't discard the shoes ruined when  she  tripped on a drain to avoid being run over by Alistair.

https://books2read.com/SilverLinings

During a recent major kitchen renovation, the three drawers fixed under the bench became surplus to requirements. Their contents needed to be re-housed or recycled or headed for the garbage bin. Drawers one and two contained cutlery and teatowels, all neatly packed and transferred to their updated location. But the bottom drawer had always been opened only to drop in items with nowhere else to go, or simply for the ease of a quick storage. Sunglasses mislaid last summer, a packet of nails but no hammer, a screwdriver but no screws, garden scissors with blunt blades, and more 'stuff'', most of which went into the garbage.

 

Having dealt with this bottom drawer, I was on a 'drawer roll' and examined the contents of the bottom drawer of my writing desk. Would I  find the hard copy of a best seller hiding here? No, no attempts at creative writing, but in a folder I found undated magazine clippings of advertisements featuring possible characters. As a writer of contemporary romance, I had to smile at these people wearing clothing and hairstyles from at least twenty years ago. More recycling bin fodder. 

 

In our mid- or late teens,  a girl friend and I started what we called our bottom drawer We stashed items we believed 

would be useful when we married, which we confidently expected to do before long. As far as I recall, we bought cheap items from discount stores and markets. Each of us had a  boyfriend whom we considered as 'steady'. My girlfriend made the mistake of telling hers about her bottom drawer. He took off, never to be heard from again. I didn't tell mine, but I did enrol in a Saturday machine sewing course using provided machines. With fabric supplied by the tutor,we made a cushion cover.  Unfortunately for me, my boyfriend's mother was also a participant. Big mouth me, I mentioned to her that I thought he'd like the colour. Obviously she told her son. End of boyfriend. So much for my teenage bottom drawer.

 

I now have pristine bottom drawers in the kitchen and on the writing desk. How long before they become receptacles for assorted 'stuff''?

Happy reading, best wishes, Priscilla

 

 

https://bwlpublishing.ca 

 

 

https://priscillabrownauthor.com 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ride Em Cowboy by Eden Monroe

 

Click here for details and purchase information on Eden Monroe's BWL Author Page

Bulls have long held a thrilling fascination for mankind.

It’s believed that bulls were once part of the ancient Olympic Games, programs that included wrestlers carrying live bulls around the stadium on their shoulders. Bull leaping was a specialty of the ancient Minoans of Crete.

In the 16^th century, what would become rodeo as we know it today was putting down roots on Mexican haciendas, where equestrian events called charreadas were hosted, and an integral part of those charreadas was bull riding (jaripeo). Jaripeo was once part of bull fighting and unbelievably, riders would actually ride the bull to death during that event! Eventually that changed to the animal being ridden only until it stopped bucking.

During the 1850’s, the old charreada-style competitions were still very much alive and had expanded to areas of the US southwest. And to change things up a little, steer riding became a fad in the wild west shows of that era. Not only were steers much easier to ride, they were less difficult to handle while transporting them between venues.

It was in 1936 that rodeo cowboys organized themselves and established a standardized set of rules. The result was the Cowboy’s Turtle Association and it not only raised the profile of rodeo itself, but also bull riding. Nineteen forty-five saw that name change to Rodeo Cowboy’s Association, and in 1975 it became the PRCA (Professional Rodeo Cowboy’s Association). Then in 1992 bull riders created their own exclusive organization and governing rules: Professional Bull Riders (PBR), although bull riding is still one of the PRCA’s sanctioned events.

            Called the most dangerous eight seconds in sport and often with big bucks up for grabs, bull riding continues to soar in popularity. Forbes.com calls professional bull riding the “fastest growing sport in America,” but in fact it’s now a worldwide phenomenon (rules and histories vary). Canada and Mexico are at the top of that international list, but there’s also bull riding competition in Belize, The Dominican Republic, the Philippines, Japan and France, among the twenty-six other countries.

In the romantic suspense novel Sidelined, rodeo cowboy Tate McQuaid is a world champion bull rider, tough, sexy and daring. Always keen to best the rankest bulls on the circuit, nothing gets his adrenalin pumping like dynamite on four hooves, where the odds can shift in a heartbeat:

“After what seemed like far too long the loud buzzer sounded, indicating the completion of the mandatory eight-second ride and Tate was about to make his signature flying dismount when his right spur caught high in the flat braided bull rope tied around the bull’s belly. Thrown off balance, Tate was slammed into the arena dirt, now in the dangerous situation of being hung up as the bullfighters fought to cut him loose from the animal. And then in a sickening twist, Tate was slung forward, his head colliding with force against one of Gunpowder’s huge horns. At last he was cut free of the rope, but lay where he’d fallen, not moving.”

It’s not just the riders (both cowboys and cowgirls) who are in the spotlight, the bulls themselves are also rodeo stars. These bovine athletes are chosen for their strength, health, overall agility and age, and they are judged for their performance, power, speed, back leg kicks and front end drops; the harder the ride the higher the score. Even if the rider doesn’t make the full eight seconds, the bull will still be scored on his performance and that will affect his ability to make it to the finals. Consistently high scores just might earn him the title of bucking bull of the year.

Another integral part of the sport is bullfighters. In some rodeos or in other countries, protection and humour are combined in the rodeo clown, including the barrel man.  No matter the title though, they are agile athletes in their own right and routinely put themselves in harm’s way in the arena to come to the aid of the rider should help be needed. This work is now considered an art form and audiences enjoy the opportunity to see them showcase their skills. Nothing short of astonishing, their acrobatics are a definite throwback to the ancient Minoans. At the heart of it all though, the bullfighter’s job is to keep the bull from harming the rider; to distract the animal at the end of the ride so the rider can make a safe exit. Riders owe their life and wellbeing to these skilled rodeo protection athletes.

Aside from the safety of the rider, including protective glove, vest, helmet and mask, there is also the welfare of the rodeo animals, in this case, bulls. Some question the purpose of the flank strap. Americancowboy.com explains that the strap tied around the bull’s flank during the ride “… is a soft cotton rope at least 5/8” in diameter and is used without extra padding like sheepskin or neoprene. Contrary to popular belief, the flank strap is not tied around the bull’s testicles. This rope is to encourage the bull to use his hind legs more in a bucking motion, as this is the true test of a rider’s skill in maintaining the ride. If it is applied improperly a rider may request to ride again, as the bull will not buck well if the flank strap is too tight….”

Spurs are also controversial, although there are strict regulations today for both the type of spur used and how they’re used. It should be pointed out that spurs are used in several equestrian disciplines, not just rodeo.

The treatment of rodeo bulls was what reporter Parla Jankins tackled Sidelined’s Tate McQuaid about during a print media interview. More specifically, what makes bulls want to buck:

 “Rodeo bulls are bred to buck, they’re doing it on instinct,” Tate explained.

Parla laughed derisively. “On instinct.”

“Yes, on instinct, survival by tossing off predators if you go back far enough. We’re talking Texas Longhorns and Brahman cattle, but nowadays it’s their breeding. Rodeo bulls are bred to be aggressive and they have a lot of training on them before they ever see professional competition.

“The American Bucking Bull is an actual breed and is the result of an elite breeding program. Rodeo bulls have only one ride a night and that’s it. Then it’s back to their water and feed. Those bulls are treated well because they’re worth a lot of money and there’s always a vet on hand or on call in case of a problem.  Even their transportation is topnotch. Our bulls are treated like kings.”

“Like kings,” she said, again heavy on the sarcasm, as though still hoping to trip him up.

“Yes, like kings. They’re only allowed to travel so many hours a day in air-ride suspension trailers on thick bedding and they’re given plenty of rest. Their hay is the very highest quality; they get nutritional supplements and vitamins if necessary and some even have chiropractic and acupuncture care….”

 “And when bulls retire from competition?”

“They get busy siring more bucking babies.”

“So the bulls have a pretty good life is what you’re telling me?”

“A pretty good life for a bull.”

“A pretty good life for a bull,” she repeated. “How do you suppose they feel about having sharp spurs jabbed into them by cowboys using them to further their own gain? I suppose you’ll say that’s humane too.”

He sighed. “We do wear spurs because it helps riders get a grip on the animal, but the spur rowels are required to be dull and they don’t scratch the animal.”

“I fail to see how it couldn’t cut them if you’re doing it hard enough to get a grip.”

“It does not cut them because a bull’s skin is super thick compared to a human’s. We don’t beat the bull up, it’s the other way around….”

Rodeo, both past and present, is a huge subject, and this is only a very brief snapshot. With massive respect to all rodeo athletes, professional bull riding is in a class all by itself, according to shockmansion.com:

“The Toughest Sport on Dirt:  Bull riders are the rodeo’s rock stars. Modern day gladiators, challenging 2,000 pound beasts until one of them wins!”

 

Addiction Epidemic--Just a Symptom? by Juliet Waldron

Click cover to purchase

https://bookswelove.net/waldron-juliet/

http://www.julietwaldron.com
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B004HIX4GS

Everyone knows we are in the midst of an opioid epidemic. Recent figures (necessarily an estimate) show 16 million people are addicted to opiates world-wide; 3 million of those are here in the U.S. 500,000 in the U.S are addicted to heroin.

"Opioids are prescribed to treat pain. With prolonged use, pain-relieving effects may lessen and pain can become worse. In addition, the body can develop dependence. Opioid dependence causes withdrawal symptoms, which makes it difficult to stop taking them. Addiction occurs when dependence interferes with daily life. Taking more than the prescribed amount of licit drugs or using illegal opioids like heroin may result in death." 

"Symptoms of addiction include uncontrollable cravings and inability to control opioid use even though it's having negative effects on personal relationships or finances..."  www.hhs.gov/opioids

You may also become addicted to pharmaceuticals which are commonly used to treat mood disorders, such as anxiety. Valium and Xanax are two treatments doctors have become ever more wary of over-prescribing. These drugs can interfere with the workings of the autonomic system of the abuser to the point of the stopping the heart.

In western cultures, alcohol is the traditional mood-altering substance, but this, too, when abused, can have deadly consequences for users as well as for anyone who gets in the way of, say, a drunk driver, or someone's alcohol-fueled rage.

"Excessive alcohol use was responsible for more than 140,000 deaths in the United States each year during 2015–2019, or more than 380 deaths per day."  

Medical experts, however, now realize that substance addictions are not the only shape the  dysfunction takes. Addictions to cell phones, to video games or to social media are a few of the categories that are currently recognized. All of these behaviors are on display inside any shopping mall or grocery store--or inside your own home.

Increasingly, too, it appears that societies  too can suffer from addictions, and that these "macro-addictions" are might be the gravest of all. Exactly as in substance abuse, these societal addictions can cause many members of those societies  to suffer great emotional and physical damage. 

There is also another addiction, one to control, which appears to be an integral part of western civilization. Control, in and of itself, is not necessarily a bad thing in a world of 8 billion people (now straining our planet's resources to the breaking point), but that too is another subject too large for this small blog. 

 "Those who do not understand their past are doomed to repeat it" An apocryphal quote by now, but having a lifelong fascination with history/society, I have spent much of my life studying it . Although raised with a Euro-centric view, I have remained to open to changing my mind, to learning and expanding my understanding.

 When European colonists came to America, they met people who lived in completely unfamiliar social systems. Certainly, in the context of history, there was no way for Europeans to see those new people other than as "savages."  They did not share our traditions or our religious beliefs. Arriving on these shores having been born and raised within rigidly hierarchical systems of class--with Kings whose powers were still assumed to be God-given--and still carrying on brutal, atrocity filled wars of religion among Christian groups, Europeans could not see Indigenous people any other way. 


Fly Away Snow Goose, set among nomadic hunter-gatherers, was my attempt--alongside my co-author, John Wisdomkeeper--to address this brutal cultural collision between colonizers and colonized. The various religious groups who arrived in The Northeast Territory- what was then one of the last frontiers in North America--may have believed that they were bringing "the blessings of civilization" to their small pupils in those reservation schools, but that is not the story we hear from ever so many of those who were removed from their families and marooned in places with inadequate food and none of the familial warmth and affection into which they had been born. Siblings were separated, and the children all kept away from their famiy's home for most of the year, further disrupting family bonds and separating them from their culture.


If they were taught anything beyond religious formula, it was to perform tasks such as scrubbing, ironing, sewing, manual labor. They were taught that only European ways,--and people-- had value, that they belonged to a "lesser race" doomed to be always inferior, no matter what they learned or achieved. Their stories, myths, and especially their languages, were forbidden. The cold strange religion (with rites conducted in a foreign language) they were forced to accept offered little  solace. Unsurprising that in a few generations their heritage, their language and their stories vanished, leaving only broken souls behind. Alcoholism, domestic abuse, and violence plague today's reservations, and these are all symptoms of a vast cultural trauma and individual pain. 


And this pain seems to have become endemic in our modern world, and, as we know, this pain doesn't spare rich countries. We have more material comforts than we ever had, but we appear to be ever-more dissatisfied and greedy. 


Consider the words of the Wendat Philosopher and Statesman Kandiaronk, as related to future historians by an impoverished French aristocrat named Louis-Armand de Lom d'Arce, known to posterity as Lahontan who published several popular accounts of his many years in New France. Lahontan, who had become fluent in Algonkian, Wendat and other tribes 1703 book,titled:  Curious Dialogues with a Savage of Good Sense Who has Traveled) would become foundational to the later works of Rosseau and other Enlightenment and revolutinary thinkers. 

In the late 17th Century, Kandiaronk was a famous negotiator among the tribes--Mik'maq, Haudesaunee, Algonkian, and others, as well as with the French. He was frequently at the Governor of New France--the Comte de Frontenac-- table and attempted through reasonable discourse, oratory, and persistent negotiation to save his people and their way of life from the ever-encroaching, insatiable Europeans. His thoughts provoked revolutions and inspired political philosophers for the next 200 years. 

"For my part, I find it hard to imagine how you could be much more miserable than you already are....
I have spent six years reflecting on the state of European society and I still can't think of a single way they act that's not inhuman, and I genuinely think this can only be the case, as long as you stick to your distinction of "mine and thine"...
I affirm that what you call money is the devil of devils; the tyrant of the French, the source of all evils....
Can you seriously imagine that I would be happy to live like one of the inhabitants of Paris, to take two hours to put on my shirt and make-up, to bow and scrape before every obnoxious fool I meet on the streets who just happened to born with an inheiritance? Do you really imagine I could carry a purse full of coins and not immediately hand them over to people who are hungry; that I would carry a sword but not immediately draw it on the first band of thugs I see rounding up the destitute to press them into naval service?"

~~Juliet Waldron

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/fly-away-snow-goose-canadian-historical-brides-collection-book-8-juliet-waldron/1127581811?ean=2940158604010