Columns Archives

But as I do every year, Iâ€™ve started 2011 optimistically. Itâ€™ll be a good one. Things wonâ€™t always go perfectly, but theyâ€™ll generally be fine.

A Fantasy Life by Janet Quinn Cornelow

December 28, 2010 by A Slice of Orange in category A Fantasy Life by Janet Cornelow tagged as Janet Cornelow, Janet Quinn

It is that time of year again. Time to take stock of what happened in the previous year and set goals for the New Year.

Last year seemed to fly by and I didnâ€™t get much done. My writing stalled for most of the year. The last part of the year I was busy helping to shut down the Sylvan Learning that I had worked for over the last 12 Â½ years. We were trying to cause as little disruption to the students as possible. I didnâ€™t really feel like writing during that time and pretty much didnâ€™t.

Now the new year is about to start and it is time to go back to writing as well as looking for employment. I am going to write the three books I had planned to write this year. One is a new one in my mystery series. One is an alternate universe romance. The third is fantasy book that will have a monster bounty hunter and the guard of the first monster. This will not really be a romance.

Seeing as I have two online schools that I am teaching for starting in January, I should have plenty of time to write.

I hope everyone has had a wonderful holiday and I wish everyone a Happy New Year.

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It’s Shapeshifter Time!

December 6, 2010 by Linda O. Johnston in category Pets, Romance & Lots of Suspense by Linda O. Johnston tagged as Harlequin Nocturne, Linda O. Johnston, Pet Rescuer Mysteries

By Linda O. Johnston

As people who know me are aware, I love to write about animals–both the real and fictional sort. This month, my focus is on shapeshifters. Werewolves. Theyâ€™re characters in my new Harlequin Nocturne, ALASKAN WOLF, which is a December release!

Would you like to be one? If so… what would you change into?

ALASKAN WOLF, another in the Alpha Force series from Harlequin Nocturne, is a December 2010 release.

Be sure to watch for the new Lauren Vancouver, Pet Rescuer series! The first book BEAGLE MANIA will be out in March 2011. It’s a spin-off from the Kendra series, and Lauren is introduced in HOWL DEADLY.

Linda O. Johnston
http://www.lindaojohnston.com/
http://www.killerhobbies.blogspot.com/

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Heck Yeah! Meeting Men on the Internet

December 2, 2010 by Rebecca Forster in category The Write Life by Rebecca Forster tagged as internet relationships, legal fiction, men readers, Rebecca Forster, Rebecca's Posts

I have been meeting a lot of men online lately and they all want one thing â€“ to talk about books.

Not what you were expecting? Well, I gotta tell you this is a new experience for me, too. Not meeting men, of course. Iâ€™ve known a couple in my life, I just donâ€™t remember them very well since Iâ€™ve been married like forever (think Romy and Michelleâ€™s High School Reunion and if you havenâ€™t seen it, stop reading this and get thee right now to Netflix).

Since marrying Iâ€™ve also met some neat guys. They repair my car, my plumbing and take care of my yard.

What makes these new guys so amazing is that they are (get ready) readers of fiction. Before the internet, I didnâ€™t believe they existed. I assumed all men were like my husband and read history (tons and tons of history) or magazines and newspapers and ownerâ€™s manuals. Of course, there were always the aberrations like the men who read Tom Clancy or David Morrell. But Iâ€™m a little suspect of those readers. I have it on good authority that the publisher lays down a thin layer of testosterone on each page during the printing process. Thatâ€™s tantamount to carrying a ham hock in your pocket to make a dog love you.

The men Iâ€™m talking about read MY fiction – and I’m a woman author. I think my books are pretty thrilling considering I write legal thrillers. Thereâ€™s always a good murder (and Iâ€™m talking really good). There are fight or flight scenes. There are sex scenes (okay, maybe not real sex scenes. My mom reads my books, after all. She loves a creative murder but sex? Not so much). There are bare-knuckled-intellectual smack downs in my fictional courtrooms that men would love. I could see how some of this would attract male readers but my books also feature women leads and emotional entanglements. I figured that took me and a whole lot of other authors off their radar.

The cool thing about all this is that these guys not only love to read fiction, they are like book mechanics now that Iâ€™m E-publishing. Not only do they point out a problem with a file, they happily help me fix it. Iâ€™m assuming they are happy to help since the dialogue between us continues over weeks and months and, in some cases, years. I know about their children and grandchildren, we swap travel stories and suggestions for good reads. I get a little jealous when they donâ€™t add â€˜but your work is so much betterâ€™ to their recommendations but I get over it.

So, hereâ€™s a big heck yeah! to all the guys who read fiction – my books and yours. Knowing they’re out there on the internet has sort of changed the way I write. Now I swipe a little more testosterone on those pages just to say thanks.

Rebecca Forster

As an advertising executive I marketed a world-class spa when it was still called a gym, did business in China before there were western toilettes and mucked around with sheep to find out how my client’s fine wool was made. Then I wrote my first book. . .visit me at http://www.rebeccaforster.com/

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How thankful are you? Thoughts on talking turkey from Isabel Swift

November 25, 2010 by Isabel Swift in category From Isabel Swift tagged as Thank you notes, Thanksgiving

Thank you notesâ€”the lack of themâ€”was one of the key complaints about children in a recent conversation with a remarkably varied series of mothers I’d been speaking to.

Mommie Dearest aside, you don’t have to be an abusive parent to expect a child (or anyone) to respond to a gift with appreciation. I wasn’t allowed to go out and play if I hadn’t finished my thank you notes for Christmas presents by the first week in January. While it was tedious, I really didn’t see it as an inappropriate expectation of my parents. Now I send my thank you notes as Valentine cardsâ€”a little late, but decorative!

And when I got old enough to actually send presents, it became very clear how nice getting a note wasâ€”if only to reassure you that your gift was actually received! With no response, one can spend months vacillating between resentment toward the recipient, concern that the package had been lost, and angst about whether one should contact the person & ask the embarrassing question:

“Did you get the present I sent months ago?”

“Oh, yeah. Sorry! I guess I should have said something…”

Yeah. That would have been nice.

Even as one mother was complaining of the effort she made to find her nephews and nieces things she thought they’d like and how ungrateful they were and unthanked she was, I was thinking of the presents I’d given her children for which I’d never gotten any thanks or acknowledgment. Funny how easy it is to notice failures in others and not in yourself, isn’t it?

I asked her if she’d written thank you notes herself as a child. She’d written some, but mentioned that her godmother used to give her beautiful treasures that she still cherished, but had never thanked her for.

Suddenly, after complaining about others, she realized she’d been just as guilty. She wondered if the statute of limitations had expired, but in my opinion thanks have no expiration date. You can send a thank you years later, and it will still be freshâ€”and possibly even more appreciated. Go for it. And she did.

In these days of endless communication options, there’s no excuse, but remarkably little activity. And really, not much is required: “Just got your lovely giftâ€”thank you so much for thinking of me!” is really all that is needed. Yes, it would be nice to reference the actual object & mention why it will be enjoyed (if indeed it is). But details are not required, and neither are falsehoods.

I believe in telling the truth, but not necessarily the whole truth. So if you hate the gift for whatever reason, all you need to do is thank the giver for the kind thought. Note, postcard, email, voice mail (hey, you can even call when you know they won’t be there!).

It was interesting to note that this issue of lack of acknowledgement has been the subject of articles with business interviews as well.

So just as we may wish for Christmas cheer to last beyond the holidays, it is worth asking…can you be thankful all year long?

Did you have to write thank you notes? Do you write them now? Did you raise your children to write thank you notes?

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