Category Archives: Blog Stuff

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Research, revision, and redecorating

I don’t know everything, and sometimes, I realize I don’t really know what I thought I knew. So if I want to write believable fiction, I have to research. A recent blog post by Christi Craig started me thinking about what I’ve researched lately.

  • Common sayings using the phrase quicker than or faster than. I didn’t want to use a cliché, but I hoped reading some would help me come up with something original. Still hoping.
  • Modern techniques for inscribing grave markers. I did this late at night after I saw the movie Woman in Black and had to stop because I started imagining ghostly sounds in my house.
  • How alcoholism affects the kidneys. I need to know if a man only two years sober can donate a kidney to a family member.
  • The tobacco growing process in the 1960s. I eventually found my way to YouTube where I listened to people talk about how the process has changed since they were young(er).

Those topics were research for three different projects, but now I’m looking at them and see that I could fit them all in one work. But no. I do not need the distraction of another story idea.

I’ve finally wrangled a few people into giving me feedback on some short stories I want to include in a collection. Then I’ll have to revise/edit them. Sometimes that’s easy, but other times my brain refuses to deal with it and I have to back away for a while. I know I could ruin the story if I force it, so I’ll trust my Muse to sort it out and get back to me.

A non-writing note. I don’t know how you other WordPress bloggers respond to your comments, but I use my Dashboard exclusively. I try to avoid looking at my blog too much because when I do, I want to fiddle with it. In the early days of this blog, I changed themes every couple of weeks, which I’m sure was a bit disconcerting to my new followers. Then I realized that if I didn’t actually see my blog’s “face”, I left it alone. Recently, when I uploaded my new book cover and saw it on my blog, I got that old urge to give it a whole new look.

The problem is, even with dozens of theme choices, none of them is quite what I want. So I’m using one of my private unused blogs to audition each possible choice to see what comes closest. Anyway, don’t be surprised if you come here and fail to recognize the place one day soon.

Hmmm, I guess that’s a kind of research too. What about you? Have you researched anything lately?

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I have to tell you seven things

I’ve been a rather lazy blogger lately, haven’t I? I wish I could say it’s because the Muse graced me with 50,000 words on my WIP, but such is not the case. Among other things, I’ve been busy with the Super Secret Project, researching book marketing options, and dealing with cell phone problems. Only one of those was enjoyable.

A couple of weeks ago, Lynn Davidson honored me by giving me the Versatile Blogger award. I’m sure she thought I forgot about it, but I didn’t. At that time, I had just blogged about two other blog awards and thought I should wait awhile to announce another one. So, thank you for the Versatile Blogger award, Lynn!

One condition of this award is that I’m to pass it along to 15 other bloggers, but since I so recently passed awards on to 13 bloggers, I’m not going to honor that condition this time. The other rule is that I have to reveal 7 things about myself.

It seems I have no trouble talking about myself on this blog, so it was hard to think of seven things I’d not already revealed. Never fear. I’d done this before, and most of you weren’t following this blog then, so I’m recycling.

1. I hate the taste of coffee … in any form. A bad experience with a coffee cream is why I have to break open every chocolate in my box before I put it in my mouth.

2. I get anxious and irritable when I sweat. Seriously, you wouldn’t want to be my workout partner.

3.  I tend to read magazines from back to front. I’ve always done this, but I don’t know why. It’s somewhat confusing. I never do this with books.

4.  I have only one lung. When I was thirteen, I had a pneumonectomy.

5.  Lukewarm food disgusts me. Hot food should be served hot. I’ve even been known to pre-heat the dinner plates.

6.  I gave my very important final report for sixth grade social studies on Atlantis. I had a tolerant teacher; she gave me an A.

7.  I’ve come this close to choking to death two times. The first time, I was about six and lingering at the breakfast table with my father and grandfather. I choked on a piece of bacon. I remember being surprised that I couldn’t breathe, then scared, but I didn’t alert either of them. My world started going black around the edges. The next thing I knew, the room was bright again, the bacon was gone, and my father and grandfather were still carrying on their conversation, oblivious to my close call.

The second time, I was in my late twenties and eating pizza with my husband and another couple. Suddenly, I couldn’t breathe. They all looked at me when I jumped out of my chair, and I recall seeing the moment they realized I was choking, but I also saw their panic and knew they had no idea what to do. I had one clear thought: I’m going to die. Then, acting purely on mother’s instinct, my friend Karen jumped up and jerked my arm straight up. The force ejected the bit of pizza crust and I breathed again.

There you go. I can imagine how thrilled you are that you took time to read my blog today. Why don’t you tell me something I might not know about you?

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Today is a good stuff day!

First up today, we have a winner in the Invisibility Cloak Contest. Congratulations to Cristina Trapani-Scott! You have won a signed copy of The Brevity of Roses. I will contact you by email to get your mailing address. I hope you enjoy the read.

Thank you all for your support. Those of you who didn’t win today, stay tuned because I’ll be giving away another signed copy in a few weeks. You might be interested in Helen Ginger’s review of The Brevity of Roses at her blog today. And don’t skip her hilarious FTC disclaimer at the end.

Next, I’d like to point you to more free books. My friend, Christa Polkinhorn says: On Thursday and Friday (Jan. 26 and 27) my novels (ebook versions) about love, art, and family are available for free on Amazon. The freebie lasts ONLY TWO DAYS, so grab them while you can. Curl up on your favorite sofa and travel to Switzerland, Peru, Italy, New York, and Guadalajara, Mexico!

 An Uncommon Family

Love of a Stonemason

Remember, if you don’t have a Kindle, you can get the free Kindle app for your computer, smart phone, or tablet.

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Have you entered the Invisibility Cloak Contest?

Let’s shake up the mid-season blahs with a contest! Do you recognize this book cover? Unfortunately not a lot of people do. If you’re a new author, particularly a non-genre fiction writer not backed by a publicity department, it’s hard to get your target readers to notice your book. Maybe you didn’t realize that. Today, I’m asking you to help make The Brevity of Roses more visible.

(If you want to know more about the book or read the first two chapters free, just click the cover image, one of the red title links, or the tab at the top of the page.)

You probably reach more people online than you realize. Certainly, you each connect to people I don’t know. Some of those people would love reading my novel—if only they knew it existed. I want to tell them. How can you help, you ask? Promote my contest.

I’m giving someone a chance to read The Brevity of Roses absolutely FREE by giving away an autographed print copy! I need your help to get the word out about my giveaway. First, you may enter the contest yourself. Then, do your best to get as many other people as possible to enter. You can do that by announcing the giveaway on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Tumblr, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon, or anywhere else you can.

How do you enter? It’s simple. Just leave a comment on this post. Want to increase your chances? Get one extra entry for each place you mention this contest, but you’ll have to let me know where I can see your comment, tweet, status update, etc. and give you credit. For instance, if you leave a comment here, Tweet about the contest three times during its run, mention it on your blog once, and post a link in your Facebook status once, that’s SIX contest entries for you.

The contest will run for 10 days. Random.org will select the winner at 7am PST on Wednesday, January 26,2012. Good luck to all!

C’mon, help me lift this cloak of invisibility off The Brevity of Roses!

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The MOST of what comes Out of My Mind

As I said on Tuesday, I received two blog awards, so now I’ll thank Robin Hawke for the second one. Go check out her blog.

By the rules of the 7×7 Link Award first I’m to post links to seven of my previous blog posts, under the following categories of MOST: Beautiful; Helpful; Popular; Controversial; Surprisingly Successful; Underrated; and Pride Worthy.

Well, I’ve written over 500 posts, so to do it well, that task would have required more time than I could devote. My most popular post (judging by the number of page hits and comments) was only so because WordPress decided to Freshly Press that one. And when I sorted my posts by number of comments, I had to eliminate some that were only heavily commented on because I was doing a book giveaway or some such.

And another thing, who’s doing the judging? Is a post considered underrated only because it has few comments or because it didn’t get many hits? Hmmm … I’m doing that over-thinking thing again, aren’t I?

Anyway, I picked out seven posts that might represent the MOSTs. The “most” of what, you decide.

Unmasking the Muse

Passion

My perfect day … and then some

Ten writing rules I obey … and you should too!

Words You Don’t Need

Oops … I embarrassed my mother!

So, what’s the deal with Facebook Pages?

For the second part of this award, I’m supposed to pass it on to seven other bloggers. This part took some thought too, but I decided to choose some I haven’t linked to recently or ever. As usual, it’s up to my awardees to post their 7 Mosts and pass the award on to 7 others or not. Their call. But I’m proud to list my 7. Read their blogs (and books if they’re published), follow them on Twitter or Facebook or wherever. Say hello and tell them Linda sent you.

Go!

Christa Polkinhorn

Kathryn Magendie

E. Victoria Flynn

L.S. Engler

Mary Jean Rivera

Marcia Clarke

Fivecats

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From me to you and you and you and ….

Two fellow bloggers cited me for awards this past week, so I’m taking time to say thank you and pass them on. First up, Jennifer Neri, who gave me the Liebster Blog Award. Liebster is German for dearest or beloved and carries the sense of “favorite”.

The rules say to pass it along to five favorite blogs with the stipulation they’re to have less than 200 followers. Unfortunately, I don’t know how many followers most blogs have, so I’ll just bring to your attention some blogs I’ve never cited before, but enjoy reading.

Recipients, do what you will with your award. Feel free to obey or disobey the “rules” of reciprocation or passing along.

At Judith Baxter’s blog Growing Younger Each Day she rages against growing older with humor and great insight.

Chris King‘s blog is named bridgesburning, but I don’t know why. I do know she says a lot of interesting things there.

Victoria, Lisa, and Christi at Writing Up An Appetite combine writing and food, two of my favorite things!

Darlene Foster blogs often about her travels, so it’s probably no surprise that she’s the author of a series of children’s books featuring world travel.

Kate Cardon Parish‘s blog kateschannel is what it sounds like, her show. So go tune into her thoughts on life.

Jessica Luton shares some uplifiting advice on her Serenity Writer blog. And if you follow her on Twitter she’ll inspire your day too.

Hmmm … that’s six, not five. Oh well, I gave you one to grow on. :-)

I was going to cover both awards today, but that’s a lot of links to throw at you in one sitting, so I’ll leave the second award for the next post. Enjoy the links.

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I’m back … sort of

Just dropping in from the longest break I’ve ever taken to let you know I haven’t given up blogging. I didn’t plan to leave the same post up for ten days. I just couldn’t find enough quiet moments to sit down and write something new. I’m rushing now to get this written and take a shower before the crowd returns again.

I hope your year is wrapping up well. This year was certainly the worst of times and best of times for me. This time last year, I was struggling with a choice between continuing to seek a traditional publishing career and going the self-publishing route. I chose the latter, of course.

Because I only have one book out there, it’s too soon to tell if I made the right choice. It’s certainly been a learning experience though, and that’s never a bad thing. Now, I’m reevaluating everything concerned with writing, so I can make better progress in 2012.

Right now, 2012 is set to start on a positive note concerning my work, so I’ll claim that as a good sign. I guess I should start working on something for February. Goal setting has never been my strength, but I’m determined to “hit the gym” on that this next year.

Your turn: Let’s end on a positive note. How was 2011 a good year for you?