Digging Deep: Researching Your Novel
September 17, 2023 by marianne h donley in category Ages 2 Perfection Online Class, Online Classes
Presented by: Cynthia Owens
Date: October 1 – 31, 2023 (one month)
Registration Closes: October 16, 2023
Pricing: A2P Member fee: $20
Non-A2P Member fee: $30
About the Workshop:
Digging Deep: Researching Your Novel, will introduce you to various research methods, as well as different options for organizing your research.
We will cover:
• The Foundation—Examines various methods for organizing your research.
• The Inverted Triangle—A Writing Right Academy exclusive! Narrowing the focus of your research.
• The Written Word—Using books, magazine and newspaper articles, libraries, archives and the Internet to find what you’re looking for.
• The Media—Examines the various media that can help you research your novel.
• In Real Life—Explains the art of interviewing experts on your subjects.
• Bon Voyage—What you need to know before you take that research trip.
• Author’s Notes—Examines the types of author’s notes.
• All Together Now—Pulling your research together.
Included in the class is a workbook with resources, worksheets, checklists, and more.
About the Presenter:
I believe I was destined to be interested in history. One of my distant ancestors, Thomas Aubert, reportedly sailed up the St. Lawrence River to discover Canada some 26 years before Jacques Cartier’s 1534 voyage. Another relative was a 17thCentury “King’s Girl,” one of a group of young unmarried girls sent to New France (now the province of Quebec) as brides for the habitants (settlers) there.
My passion for reading made me long to write books like the ones I enjoyed, and I tried penning sequels to my favorite Nancy Drew mysteries. Later, fancying myself a female version of Andrew Lloyd Weber, I drafted a musical set in Paris during WWII.
A former journalist and lifelong Celtophile, I enjoyed a previous career as a reporter/editor for a small chain of community newspapers before returning to my first love, romantic fiction. My stories usually include an Irish setting, hero or heroine, and sometimes all three.
Places of Everyday Inspiration
September 15, 2023 by Renae Wrich in category Writing tagged as #writingIt’s fall!!! Well, kind of. My husband’s birthday is this weekend and he likes to remind me that technically his birthday is still in summer. But, it’s almost fall and it feels like fall – that counts, right? The leaves in Minnesota are starting to change, there’s pumpkin spice favoring everywhere you turn, kids are back in school, the stores are out of chili beans, and the temperatures are dropping.
One of my absolute favorite parts about fall is taking outdoor walks. I do this year-round, but let’s be honest, fall is definitely the most optimal time of the year. No need to wear extra bundles of clothing and worry about your face freezing off, or shed clothes like crazy and have sweat pour down your back.
I started walking outside during the pandemic as a way to escape the four walls of my house and keep my mental health in check. It’s since grown into one of my favorite pastimes. I queue up an audio book, grab the dog, and take a walk during my lunch. Sometimes my husband joins me and it has become a way for us to have meaningful, adult conversations without tiny voices interrupting us. I also find that this time has been a great source of inspiration to me as a writer. Very frequently an idea will come to me during my walk that requires me to stop and make a note in my phone.
Unfortunately, my “day job” company recently decided to adjust our hybrid work policy in a way that now requires us return to the office more often than not. This means that I need to say goodbye to my lunchtime walks. Side note – My office is not located in a place that is conducive to outdoor walking.
I find myself now mourning my midday outdoor walks and the everyday inspiration they’d bring me as a writer. I’m now leaning heavily on the other places that bring me inspiration. They are as follows:
1. The shower. It’s weird, but it works.
2. The car. Not so great for taking notes, but usually pretty effective for generating ideas.
3. Vacations. Doesn’t happen as often as I wish they would, but usually great writing time for me.
What are you favorite places and/or activities to spark creative thinking?
Linda O. Johnston Featured Author
September 14, 2023 by Linda O. Johnston in category Featured Author of the Month tagged as cozy mysteries, Dogs!, Harlequin Romantic Suspense, Linda O Johnston, mysteries, romance'
Linda O. Johnston enjoys writing, romance, puzzles, and dogs.
A former lawyer, Linda is now a full-time writer and has published 57 books so far, including mysteries and romantic novels. She has written several cozy mystery series including the Barkery & Biscuits Mysteries and Superstition Mysteries for Midnight Ink, and the Kendra Ballantyne, Pet-Sitter Mysteries and Pet Rescue Mysteries for Berkley Prime Crime. She also writes romances for Harlequin, including Harlequin Romantic Suspense. Writing as Lark O. Jensen, her latest release is Bear Witness from Crooked Lane Books. No matter what name she uses, nearly all Linda’s current stories involve dogs!
In addition to blogging for A Slice of Orange on the 6th of every month, Linda blogs at Killer Hobbies, Killer Characters, and Writerspace. Linda was interviewed by Jann Ryan, you can read all about it in Linda O. Johnston—Mysteries, Romantic Suspense and So Much More!
Linda enjoys hearing from readers. Visit her website at www.LindaOJohnston.com or friend her on Facebook.
A Few of Linda’s Many Books
Anticipation
September 13, 2023 by Bethlehem Writers Group in category From a Cabin in the Woods by Members of Bethlehem Writers Group tagged as autumn, Bethlehem Writers Group, Bethlehem Writers Roundtable, BWG, Carol L Wright
Okay, I know it isn’t officially Autumn until September 22, but the kids are back in school, pumpkin spice everything is available again, and I have even seen a few trees with leaves that are starting to turn. Close enough for me.
Fall is my favorite season of the year. I don’t much enjoy the heat of summer, so the cooler days and sometimes almost-nippy nights fill me with anticipation.
From now until the end of the year, there is one happy event after another: Halloween, Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, New Year’s Eve, and several family birthdays. These holidays and their traditions mark the passage of our annual orbit of the sun. Before I know it, that “holiday feeling” inspires me to start singing It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year. (Why did that allergy medicine have to use that as their advertising jingle?) No matter. For me it is the most wonderful time of the year.
Along with the change of seasons comes a spate of vendor fairs where I, along with some of my writing colleagues from the Bethlehem Writers Group, go to market our themed Sweet, Funny, and Strange® anthologies (including our award-winning first anthology: A Christmas Sampler: Sweet, Funny, and Strange Holiday Tales, and our award winning second anthology: Once Around the Sun: Sweet, Funny, and Strange Tales for All Seasons.) Meeting and talking with shoppers as they go from table to table picking up gifts for loved ones (while tasting traditional baked goods and beverages) adds to the fun of the season.
We even have some exciting news to share about our most recent title, An Element of Mystery: Sweet, Funny, and Strange Tales of Intrigue. It was named a finalist for two international book awards: the Next Generation Indie Book Award and the Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Award. We’re honored by the recognition and pleased to put these medals on our book cover.
I also have a new novelette to peddle this fall. It’s entitled Apple, Table, Penny . . . Murder and tells of recently widowed Suzy Kemp who decides to downsize to an independent-living apartment in a retirement community. But when she goes in for her final health screening, she becomes confused and is abruptly confined to a memory care unit . . . with no way out. What’s worse, she suspects the late-night departure of another resident has a sinister cause. No one takes her suspicions seriously, so she’s determined to investigate on her own, to uncover what happened to her neighbor and to prove she hasn’t lost her mind. (And it’s set around Thanksgiving!) It’s available at online retailers, for order through brick-and-mortar stores, and, of course, at our vendor fairs.
Another of our members, Emily P. W. Murphy, has also recently published a delightful children’s book about being true to yourself. It’s entitled The Princess of Booray and is available anywhere you can find Apple, Table, Penny . . . Murder.
One more thing I look forward to this fall is that in November, for the first time, my BWG colleague Marianne H. Donley and I will be teaching a class on “Writing a Holiday Story” through the Aged to Perfection Chapter of Romance Writers of America. We look forward to sharing the fun of writing stories about a variety of holidays in different genres.
Meanwhile, we’re preparing to start Bethlehem Writers Group’s annual Short Story Award competition at the beginning of 2024. And this year’s theme? Serendipitously, it’s Holiday Stories! We’re looking for stories of 2000 words or fewer that incorporate any holiday from Thanksgiving through New Year’s Day, inclusive. The holiday must be an important element of the story. The winner will receive $250 plus the publication in either our upcoming anthology, Season’s Readings: More Sweet, Funny, and Strange Holiday Tales, or in our literary journal, Bethlehem Writers Roundtable. Second and third place winners receive $100 or $50 respectively and an offer of publication in Roundtable. The competition opens on January 1 and runs through March 31. Check the Roundtable website for more information. We’re really looking forward to reading all those holiday-inspired stories.
Also, I’m writing my own holiday story for the anthology and wondering how long it will be before we see those first few snowflakes flutter to the ground. Anticipation? It’s the best thing about this season.
I hope you, too, anticipate a very pleasant Fall and holiday season.
Other Books from BWG
How My Life Changes Affect My Storytelling
September 12, 2023 by Denise M. Colby in category The Writing Journey by Denise Colby tagged as Denise M. Colby, Word of the year, writerslifeI have made the realization this year that as my life changes through the years, the way I view my original story has changed. Change being the central word here. And my word for 2023. So what type of changes in my life am I talking about?
Life is full of changes
I knew there would be several big life changes this year on a personal level. Two children graduating and one getting engaged being among the largest change. I also have been making strides in some health choices, adding in yoga daily and working with a doctor to heal specific areas of my body. And then the bonus life change was the addition of our puppy, Ace, in June.
But the other reason I chose the word change this year was for my writing. I wanted to change the way I edited my story. Change my phrasing. And not be afraid to change my characters. All for the better, of course. I felt focusing on the word change could help me mentally make significant changes in my story to make it stronger.
Age changes us
What I didn’t plan for was really thinking about my story from a different perspective. An age perspective. See, when I started writing my story over ten years, I was in a different time in my life. My kids were younger, I was younger and my relationships were younger.
Young love looked different to me. And I’m not as naive as I once was. Life changes over the years have exposed me to new perspectives.
But I’m not upset about all of this. I’m just more aware. And have to make decisions now based on this new awareness. Taking some time to figure out what I believe in, how I view the world, and what’s important to me will help me write better stories. My own life changes can help me develop stronger characters who go through their own life changes.
Change is important
I have enjoyed learning about the word change this year. Change allows us to move forward in life and experience new and exciting things. We all change and evolve daily, weekly, yearly.
I think our writing changes and evolves with us as well.
Do you think your writing changes as you grow older? I’d love to hear your thoughts on this.
Denise Colby loves to write about her word of the year and share quotes that include that specific word in them. Each word builds a new layer in her writing journey (and her life). In 2022, her word was Work. This year, her word is change.
