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Like the Hummingbird

July 22, 2020 by Veronica Jorge in category Write From the Heart by Veronica Jorge

When you love someone, you want to know everything about them. That someone, in this case, was my maternal grandmother. We shared a close bond, but there was a wrinkle on the face-map of her life that I could not trace. I wish I had asked her my questions while she was still with me.

Interviewing relatives would, I hoped, complete my connection to this woman I dearly loved, and terribly missed. But to find the remaining pieces, I did what writers do best—research in order to build a world.

So like the hummingbird that can fly backward, I went back in time to Grandma’s world.

Historical records, genealogies, news media archives, the library, and the internet supplied a wealth of factual information. But it was the literature of my grandmother’s generation that proved invaluable. These books transformed into photo albums before my eyes, showing me beginnings, goals accomplished and milestones reached: footprints on the path of life. Preserved intact on the pages of novels and poems were the tears, sorrows, dreams, humiliations, and losses of real people; experiences true to their time and place.

Stories, I realized, are essential to our lives. They preserve the knowledge of who we are. They alone have the power to travel unfettered bridging cultural gaps, producing empathy, and transforming strangers into friends. Stories too serve as mirrors. By them, we view and measure our growth and change, or lack thereof.

I started out seeking missing facts about my grandmother’s life. I found so much more: a living reminder of the hopes and sacrifices of my ancestors that paved the way for me to be born happy, healthy and free. Lives and experiences that I want to always remember and never forget.

May these novels and poems never pass away for my Granny lives enshrined therein forever.

See you next time on August 22nd.

Veronica Jorge

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PORTMANTEAUS*

July 19, 2020 by Jenny Jensen in category On writing . . . by Jenny Jensen, Writing tagged as #writing, editing, words

Portmanteau | Jenny Jensen | A Slice of Orange

We’re so lucky. The English language is like play dough.

Oh yes, we have strict rules of grammar, tense, POV, all the way to the minutia of intransitive verbs. We can choose from a number of eminent grammar and style guides to ensure conformity. We have stalwart English teachers to drill those rules into our heads so that we are all on the same page. (And bless them all – there is nothing better than order over chaos). But despite those rules a writer has so much freedom to shape our mother tongue into forms wry, brittle, silly, heartbreaking, snarky or just plain mad.

I don’t have much command of any other language; a smatter of German, a soupçon of French, about a third cup of Latin and a healthy plateful of Spanish. But I do know that the rules of those languages are not as forgiving as English — not as much room to roam before you run afoul of the language police. English allows us to mangle all the rules of spelling, meaning, and sentence structure to reflect dialect, or character traits, add color, shift perceptions or mood and anyone with a good command of English can understand — and only pedants ever complain. Of course, you have to use the rules of punctuation. Gotta have those traffic signs.

Anthony Burgess used bits and pieces of Russian mixed with Shakespearian English and other tongues to give us Nadsat, the terrifyingly unique argot of his dark characters in A Clockwork Orange. The reader may have had to work at it a bit, but it was intelligible and colored the story with an unforgettable feel. Fantasy and Sci Fi from J.K. Rowling to Ursula K. Le Guin play with all sorts of mixed up language that become magical words and when you’re reading in those worlds you understand.

Dialect and special vocabulary enrich a tale on many levels and I’m in awe of those writers who do them well, but my favorite form of play dough English is the portmanteau. Anybody can create one of these inventive combinations, and everybody does — usually with something faintly deprecating or ironically funny in mind. And with just one word a portmanteau can ooze with meaning. Frenemy speaks volumes — we’ve all had one and it’s exhilarating to give ‘em a proper name. Craptacular very neatly wraps up the verdict on so much of our over-hyped media. And then there’s pompidity, my own invention from University days when I struggled to describe the quality of politicians.

All writers love words. Words are paint, chisel, fabric, and clay for our creativity. If you can’t find that one word that perfectly reflects your intent, try cobbling a new one together — no one will take points away. Blog is a portmanteau (web log) so if you’re lucky enough to have your portmanteau go viral, you might wind up in the OED.

With a BA in Anthropology and English Jenny pursued a career in advertising and writing and segued into developmental editing. She has worked on nearly 400 books during her career. Her clients include both traditionally published and indie authors. She has worked in every genre from romance to horror and thrillers as well as edited Air Force manuals, commercial communications and memoirs. She offers every service from copyediting to developmental coaching.

*This blog is an oldie but goodie, originally published in March, 2018

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Signs and Dart Guns

July 18, 2020 by Kidd Wadsworth in category Writing tagged as humor

You know those signs on doors? One says “In” and one says “Out”? But exactly half of the time, I think those signs are wrong. Stay with me here. Aren’t you always going “In”? If you’re always going thru the door, and you can’t go thru something unless you’re “In” it, you should always be going “In”. I mean, theoretically, you could be going “Out” once you’ve passed the halfway point. But unless we want the signs to electronically change when we pass exactly halfway over the threshold, we should always go “In” the “In” door, regardless of whether we are entering or leaving a building because we are always going “In” the door itself. These subtleties appear to be lost on sign makers. Many times I’ve been inside a building and I’ve tried to exit by the “In” door. Nope, won’t budge. Inevitably, a bunch of well-meaning people will point to the “In” sign over my head. Yeah, like I didn’t see it!

I’ve had a love/hate relationship with signs most of my adult life. Take those diamond signs that classify chemicals. You know, the ones that say things like hazardous or oxidizer. I love those signs. I think we should use those signs to classify people. The friend who whispers about you behind your back—Toxic. The boss that plays video games on his computer all day. Obviously, an inert substance. How about the person that keeps nagging and nagging until you give in? Corrosive. Then there’s my neighbor—Irritant. Know anyone that’s explosive? I think we should abolish the entire field of psychology and just hire those sign guys to observe people and stick colored diamonds on everyone’s forehead.

But more than bad signage I detest bad drivers. That’s why, in addition to changing half of the “In” and “Out” signs, and hiring thousands of chemists to observe and classify the population, I believe every licensed driver should be issued a traffic dart gun. Here’s my idea. When you get your driver’s license, the state would give you a dart gun with three darts. These darts would have super strong suction cups on the end. When you see someone committing an obviously stupid, illegal, driving maneuver, you’d pull out the ole dart gun and stick one to the offender’s car. Three darts; automatic ticket. See a car with fifteen darts on it? Hey, it’s time to pull over, get out of the way, and let that dude drive on by. I’d even be willing to pay for my dart gun. Wow, a new source of revenue for the state. Need more darts? Make your check out to the IRS.

Why am I telling you all these things? Haven’t you guessed? November is coming up. I’m running for office. Yes, you too can have correct signage and dart guns! Vote for Kidd Wadsworth.

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Unexpected Third Quarter Reset

July 17, 2020 by Tracy Reed in category Writing

Happy July.

It’s hard to believe we are in the middle of July. This really isn’t the summer I planned. What’s that saying, “If you want to know if God has a sense of humor, make plans.”

This has been a year unlike any other and that is pretty much how it will be described. We will tell future generations how we survived 2020.

I sympathize with all who have suffered any type of loss during this time.

I have elected not to dwell on the negatives. Instead, I’m focusing on what I can do to update my writer life. I made a list of things I wanted to get done. I was surprised at the length of the list. Here’s a sampling of my tasks…some are still WIP:

Update website – In my defense I do this about once a year. As my writing style evolves, so does my site.
Re-read my own books [I really suggest doing this. It’s good to see how you’ve progressed as a writer. It’s also good to see what might need to be changed or tweaked. I’m currently re-reading my series The Good Girl, because I’m working on the third book. I need to make sure there’s a cohesive storyline across all three books. To my surprise I discovered a few format glitches I missed.]
Refilled my print inventory – I’m doing this a couple of titles at a time.
Moved books to Ingram Spark – this one is taking a little longer than I expected.
Started a street team
Did my first review session with Hidden Gems. I don’t know about you, but it’s been difficult getting my list to post reviews. I heard good things about the service and thought I’d try it. Needless to say I was nervous about the reviews, but so far it’s been good.
Ordered swag samples. I want something in addition to book marks and pens. If there are signing events next year, I want to be prepared.
Participated in a newsletter building giveaway.
Edited a book and started another one.
Judged a contest
Read for pleasure
Rebranded a series – this one is still in the works. This was my first series…my first born, so I’m a lot protective. I have to break the attachment and do what’s right for the series. That means new covers and if necessary, new titles. I’ve been testing the covers and have yet to make a decision. I’m pretty sure it’s going to be man chest. I’ve been studying my sales and two of my best selling books have man chest covers.
Created a new logo, that I like
Set a regular newsletter schedule – I really needed help with one. I realized I was putting pressure on myself to send out a weekly newsletter. I stepped back and looked at this like a reader. Based on my open results, my readers really don’t want to hear from me every week. I’m now on a twice a month newsletter schedule.
Re-instated my book box. I really like subscription boxes. I realized something very valuable, whatever I push energy to will succeed. In order for this one to work, I have to promote it. And that might mean getting help with this one.

I have yet to master a regular social media schedule. I got close earlier this year, but fell off the wagon. I heard about two planning apps: Planoly and Plann. I’m trying them out on my lingerie site. Once I complete a month of use, I’ll share the results. I will share this. On my lingerie Instagram page, I did the pre-planning and it yielded sales and a couple of new followers. Again, If I’d placed a little more energy into it, I believe the results would have been better.

What new or different thing have you done for your writing career?

Stay safe.

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D.D. Croix: Storyteller, Tea Drinker, Magic Seeker

July 16, 2020 by Jann Ryan in category Writing tagged as Fantansy

D.D. Croix writes fantasy fiction filled with secret worlds, enchanting mysteries, and magical mischief. Under another pen name, she also writes award-winning contemporary romance and historical novels that have been translated into multiple languages and runs O.C. Writers, a support network for published and aspiring authors in Orange County, CA. She lives with her family in a quiet neighborhood beside a lake, where she drinks a lot of tea, plots mayhem, and counts her lucky stars.

Fantasy fiction writer, D.D. Croix is here with us today to talk about her new series, The Queen’s Fayte and the world of the Fayte Guardians.

Jann: What inspired you to write The Queen’s Fayte series?

D.D.:The Queen’s Fayte series combines the three things I love most in a story – magic, mystery, and history – but the idea for it really took hold after a long afternoon of binge-watching Downton Abbey. Those household servants saw and heard so much, but they were often unnoticed themselves. That set my imagination gears in motion: What if they were more than servants? What if they were part of a secret society that had been working behind-the-scenes for ages? What if they had magic? The Queen’s Fayte series characters and the rest of the story grew from there.

Jann: Tell us about your process for worldbuilding this fantasy series. How long did it take?

D.D.: The most challenging aspect of the worldbuilding was making sure the Fayte Guardians could believably exist as a secret footnote to the historical record. I didn’t want to change historical facts to accommodate them. Instead, I tried to find ways for them to plausibly keep their Fayte activities and magic a secret from outsiders. Deciding who the Fayte Guardians were going to be, what they could do, and how they would find themselves in trouble took a few months before the rest of the story could evolve.

Jann: In Dragonfly Maid, Book One, you introduce the readers to the Fayte Guardians and your heroine, Jane. Tell us about Book One.

D.D.: In Dragonfly Maid, Jane is an outcast maid haunted by visions who works in Queen Victoria’s Windsor Castle kitchen. When she’s summoned by the House Steward (her boss) and the kindly old cook who’s been mentoring her, Jane thinks she’s going to be fired, but instead her superiors reveal they’re Fayte Guardians. They tell her they not only know about her secret visions, but they need her to use those visions to save the empire. Jane soon finds herself hunting a killer and fending off otherworldly attacks.

Jann: Today, Book Two, Slivering Curse, makes its debut and continues Jane’s journey. What challenges did you set for her?

D.D.: In Slivering Curse, Jane travels to Balmoral Castle, the Queen’s Scottish retreat, where she’s settling into her new role as a full-fledged Fayte Guardian but soon discovers the battle she thought she won at Windsor isn’t over at all. An even greater evil is lurking in the Fayte’s Scottish stronghold, and Jane is drawn into a dangerous conspiracy that threatens everyone and everything she holds dear.

Jann: What would you like the readers to know about this story?

D.D.: I’d like readers to know that while Jane has magical abilities and faces some supernatural adversity, she’s ultimately facing the same challenges we all face: feeling like we don’t belong, feeling insecure about our place in the world, taking risks and learning to put our trust and faith in other people, and feeling the stirrings of romantic love.

Jann: Why did you choose this genre?

D.D.: It’s the genre I’ve been reading for pleasure for as long as I can remember, and – like I mentioned earlier — it’s the one that allows me to combine the things I most love in stories: magic, mystery, and history.

Jann: I see a third book is planned. Can you share anything about it? Will there be more books in this series?

D.D.: In the third book, Shadow Curse, Jane will visit the fae realm, where she’ll discover new secrets and fight against new and more powerful threats to her world and ours. There will be additional books in the series, but the trilogy will wrap up Jane’s story.

Jann: What do you want readers to come away with after writing this series?

D.D.: I hope readers root for Jane and enjoy being part of her journey to becoming a more mature and self-assured young woman in a world so full of magical possibilities, as well as watching her budding romance grow.

Jann: Do you have any writing rituals?

D.D.: I have a few writing rituals, but the one that seems to have the most consistently positive effect on my productivity is writing on my laptop with the lights out. The darkness helps me concentrate on the screen without distractions and to feel completely immersed in the story. Sometimes I joke that my novels are like mushrooms because they grow best in the dark.

Jann: Your book covers are so beautiful. Are you the designer?

D.D.: Thank you for the compliment! The cover designer is the fabulously talented Karri Klawiter.

Jann: Do you have a website, blog, twitter where fans might read more about you and your books?

D.D.: My website with a blog is at www.DDCroix.com, and I post at @DDCroixWrites on Twitter and Instagram.

Jann: What profession other than your own would you love to attempt?

D.D.: I would love to be an archeologist or anthropologist. I nearly went that direction in college, and I still get ridiculously excited about visiting natural history museums and viewing ancient history documentaries. I suppose it isn’t surprising that my favorite fantasy stories always have historical elements.

Jann: It’s been a real pleasure talking with you today and hearing about this wonderful fantasy series. Wishing you all the best with book two, Slivering Curse!

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