BOOK A TRIP
June 20, 2018 by Meriam Wilhelm in category A Bit of Magic by Meriam Wilhelm tagged as books, bookstores, summer trips, traveling with children
Book A Trip
Summer is just around the corner and many of us have already started planning our family vacations. If you too are in the midst of gathering travel ideas, don’t forget to include your kids in the process.
Not sure how to start? It’s as simple as a trip to Amazon, Barnes & Noble or your local library. Find a book or two about the places you plan to visit. A well selected storybook or child focused travel book can be an invaluable tool when it comes to building enthusiasm, sparking curiosity and planting important destination facts.
Get your kids excited about where they are going and what they’ll see. Introduce them to some of the town’s historical characters, artwork, curious facts or interesting folklore. By providing them with an engaging preview of the places they’ll see, you’re more apt to get their buy in.
But don’t stop there. There are two more things you can do to make your trip all the more memorable for your child.
While on your trip, collect an age appropriate book or two at each of the sites you visit.
These books are sure to capture kid friendly info about:
• The people who live or lived there
• The geography & ecosystem
• How the state or country came to be?
• Important historical figures
• The culture
• Language
• Flowers & animal life
• Curious facts, legends & folklore
Make sure that you or your child write down on the back cover, the date and place where you bought the book. Add one thing your child found most interesting about the place. And if time allows, take a moment to read a little something from the book while you are still there. By doing so, you might just find another place of interest close by that you’s like to visit.
If the book happens to mention that Lupines fill the hillsides just outside of town, go looking for them. If the story mentions a historical site or local birds, make a point to check them out. And once you’re home, read the stories together. Encourage your kids to compare and contrasts the places you’ve been and the things you’ve all seen as a family.
Finally, consider having your child keep a travel diary. They don’t need to write a novel and this isn’t even something in which you’ll want to correct spelling or sentence structure. Just let this be a chance for your child to capture a few of their own personal memories of what they found most exciting about their trip.
Looking for something to do on a rainy afternoon next winter? Have your kids take out their books and journals, make some popcorn and sit down and share recollections of your exciting family vacation.
READ LIKE A WRITER, EDIT LIKE A SURGEON
June 18, 2018 by Jenny Jensen in category On writing . . . by Jenny Jensen tagged as editing, reading, writing
READ LIKE A WRITER, EDIT LIKE A SURGEON
It isn’t a novel yet. First draft is complete, now the next step – the self edit. Shiver! It’s a herculean chore to turn a critical eye on a manuscript you’ve labored over so long and lovingly, but you know it’s imperative. You’ve got standards; you know you have to meet those standards before you turn your work over to the scrutiny of fresh eyes — editor or beta reader. You’ve lived with your story a long time. You know every character, each plot twist, every setting and every detail of conflict. Now you have to see the whole forest, not just each single tree.
The most common advice is to step away for a bit and let go. A week, a month, however long so the words to are new to you. I agree completely. The longest I’ve let work set is one year. On re-reading the manuscript, face flushing, teeth grinding at the lame ending, I placed it firmly in the back of my file cabinet. And I didn’t look back. I’m either a coward or I used the writer side of my reader’s brain to realize and accept all 92K words as well-intentioned practice. It was a good exercise, something to hone my skills. That’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it.
I don’t think there’s a book written that when read with a writer’s eye, doesn’t contain lessons. You have an ear for good writing – you’re a reader after all, so when you self-edit consider what you’ve learned to turn a laser eye on your own work. What is it that made a story grip and hold you? If the book bored you, why? Those stories that delighted you contain elements of craft you want to see in your own work. Those bad books contain pitfalls to avoid.
For me the not so good books hold the most obvious lessons. The tedious information dump, more information than the reader needs to know — makes you wish for some lively dialog to impart the stuff we do need to know. Setting descriptions so detailed you wonder if the book wasn’t produced by a Chamber of Commerce. Scenes, no matter how well written, that add nothing to the story. Dialog tags that tell us what emotions to feel. The dialog itself should do that. Repeated phrases, worm words, and worst of all, unlikeable characters we are meant to root for. I have to be shown a reason to care.
Every full-length novel you’ve loved has a voice pleasing enough to live with for a period of time — some books you just don’t want to end. The sentences flow smoothly, details are salted through out so they support the rise of the story arc. Settings come to life in way that makes place a solid, necessary character. If the plot is confusing at some point that confusion is cleared as the story unfolds – it’s that compelling voice that keeps us reading. There’s no unnecessary fat. The characters grow and develop in the course of their journey and while we might not always like them, we’re intrigued enough we must know what happens.
Read like a writer. Consider what makes a good story good and then use those characteristics like a scalpel when you sit down to your self-edit. Be unmerciful. You’ll thank yourself later.
Source Books for Historical Writers: A Partial List by @LyndiLamont #research
June 16, 2018 by Linda McLaughlin in category WritingSource Books for Historical Writers: A Partial List
Compiled by
Linda McLaughlin
Note: This post is excerpted from my website at https://lindalyndi.com
Several years ago, I did a talk on writing and researching historical romance, and as part of the handouts, I included a bibliography of sources. I call it a partial list because there are many, many sources available, depending on your setting and time period. These are a few of the ones I’ve found useful.
Central and Eastern European Wildlife, Gerard Gorman, Bradt Travel Guide, 2008. Available on Amazon.com as paperback & recommended by Janet Cornelow.
A Dictionary of First Names, Patrick Hanks and Flavia Hodges, 2nd ed., Oxford Paperback Reference, Oxford University Press, 2006. (Out of print)
Dover Books on Costume, Dover Publications – a series of books about costumes of different eras. Also paper dolls with costumes and descriptions. Various dates and authors. Available at Amazon.com
Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things by Charles Panati, Harper Collins, 2013. Available in paperback and Kindle editions.
Homes of Family Names in Great Britain by Henry Brougham Guppy, London, Harrison and Sons, 1890. Free e-book available from Google Books.
How to Write and Sell Historical Fiction by Persia Woolley, Writers Digest Books, 1997. An excellent guide, now apparently out of print but available used.
Medieval Underpants and Other Blunders: A Writer’s (& Editor’s) Guide to Keeping Historical Fiction Free of Common Anachronisms, Errors, & Myths, by Susanne Alleyn, Second Edition, Spyderwort Press, 2013, e-book.
Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 11th Edition, Merriam-Webster, 2003. Or any older edition. (The 2016 edition seems to have eliminated most of the dates.) 11th ed. gives dates of when words entered the English language. The only thing better is The Oxford English Dictionary, if you can afford it and have somewhere to store the multiple volumes. But that you can find at the library.
The Mirror of the Graces by A Lady of Distinction, first published in 1811. I have a paperback copy, but it’s available in e-book format format.
The New American Dictionary of Baby Names, Leslie Dunkling and William Gosling, Signet, 1985, 1991. Better than the average baby name book because it gives some historical context for names. (Out of print.)
North American Wildlife: An Illustrated Guide to 2,000 Plants and Animals, Reader’s Digest, 1982. Available in paperback.
The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names by E. G. Withycombe, Third Edition, Oxford University Press, 1977, now out of print. (First edition 1945)
The Penguin Dictionary of Historical Slang by Eric Partridge, Penguin Book, 1972. Now out of print except for a ridiculously over-priced e-book version. Buy used.
The Random House Dictionary of the English Language, Second Edition Unabridged, 1987. Out of print, but probably available at the local library.
Slang and Euphemism, Richard A. Spears, 3rd revised ed., Signet, 2001. Useful addition, esp. for writers of historical erotica. (Out of print)
The Old West series, Time-Life, out of print but can be found in libraries and some used bookstores.
The Victorian House Explained, Trevor York, Countryside Books, 2005. Part of the England’s Living History series which includes houses of various eras, the Industrial Revolution, steam railways, canals, etc.
What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew: From Fox Hunting to Whist-The Facts of Daily Life in Nineteenth-Century England, Daniel Pool, Touchstone, 1994. Still available in paperback and Kindle editions.
What Life Was Like… series, Time-Life.
The Writer’s Digest Character Naming Source Book, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Writer’s Digest Books, 1994. Available used on Amazon.com.
The Writer’s Guide to Everyday Life in the Middle Ages: The British Isles From 500-1500 by Sherilyn Kenyon, Writers Digest Books First Edition 1995; e-book 2014.
In the 1990’s, Writer’s Digest published numerous titles on Everyday Life in various historical periods, all of which are now out of print but available as used books. I wish the other authors would make them available as e-books like Sherilyn Kenyon has done.
What are your favorite research books?
Linda McLaughlin
It’s My Birthday . . . Again!
June 15, 2018 by Rebecca Forster in category The Write Life by Rebecca Forster, Writing tagged as birthday, gifts, giveaway, links, Memories, writing, writing craft
My birthday is June 16. I only know it’s my birthday because my husband keeps reminding me of the date, asking me what I want, and telling me we should celebrate. He has to do this because, in my family, I am legendary for not remembering birthdays. I forget my sister’s birthday even though we were born on the same day but fourteen years apart. My birthday piggybacks Father’s Day, too. I remember Father’s Day because there are lots of TV commercials for steaks, tools and aftershave. Rebecca’s birthday? Not so much.
There is also the matter of age. After the shock of the first AARP envelope at forty, the assisted living brochures at fifty and the burial at sea pitches when I turned sixty, I started taking birthdays in stride. Seriously, there isn’t much that can surprise me anymore on the aging score.
Lest you think me a birthday Scrooge, let me share the one thing I love about birthdays. I love the memory of them. When I was a little girl my mom threw awesome birthday parties for my brothers and sisters and me. I was number two in a six-pack and birthdays were celebrated with the neighborhood kids, balloons and a big homemade cake. In the backyard, we played tag, hide-and-seek and pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey. There were prizes for the winners but everyone went home with a gift bag. Even at my own birthday party it was that little gift bag I treasured most. I adored that there was always more than one thing: a couple pieces of candy, a silly toy that would break a day later, a paper crown. This bag was a treasure hunt, something unexpected, some thing that, in those lean days, mom would never buy just because. Those parties taught me that unexpected gifts can be the best things in the world.
So, in honor of my mother and the memories of those wonderful parties, I would like to give you a gift. Before Her Eyes is a thriller that will hopefully keep you up at night, but it’s also a very personal story, written when both my dad and my father-in-law were ill. It is a gift of my craft and a little bit of me thrown in to boot and it’s all wrapped up in the memory of a child’s party.
ClaimBefore Her Eyes here until July 1:
https://dl.bookfunnel.com/7tlkgv8nou
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Linda O. Johnston, Featured Author for June
June 14, 2018 by Linda O. Johnston in category Featured Author of the Month tagged as Featured Author of the Month, Linda O. Jhonston, mystery, Pets, Romance; suspense
Linda O. Johnston Featured Author for June
Linda O. Johnston started publishing fiction with a series of short stories for Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine. The first story, “Different Drummers” won the Robert L. Fish Memorial Award for best first mystery short story in 1988.
Her first novel published in 1995, A Glimpse of Forever was a time travel romance for Love Spell. Since then she has written over 40 novels . . . mysteries, paranormal romance, romantic suspense and more.
Pets and especially dogs frequently show up in Linda’s novels. She has written for Berkley Prime Crime, The Kendra Ballantyne Pet-Sitter Mysteries, which was a spin-off of the Pet Rescue Mysteries and for Midnight Ink The Superstition Mysteries.
She is currently writing three different series. Her most current releases are Pick and Chews, the fourth Barkery & Biscuits Mystery from Midnight Ink, Second Chance Soldier, in the K-9 Ranch Rescue series for Harlequin Romantic Suspense and Protector Wolf, a paranormal romance for Harlequin Nocturne.
In addition to blogging for A Slice of Orange on the 6th of every month, Linda blogs at Killer Hobbies, Killer Characters, the Midnight Ink authors blog, and Writerspace.
Linda enjoys hearing from readers. Visit her website at www.LindaOJohnston.com or friend her on Facebook.
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