Friday, September 28, 2012

Discussion Staion Opens!

Well I can finally reveal the project I and several  friends have been working on for a long time! A new discussion friendly web site for "Books, Films, TV shows and More"! It is called Discussion Station and can be found at Discussionstation.com ! We are opening in the discussion area with  The Casual Vacancy by JK Rowling. You will also find other book talk, as well as news reports, the funny Quibbler magazine and much more. We are hoping to come the place to go to feed your need to talk about literature, films and TV shows. Please take a look and join in the fun!  Have fun posting and make sure to leave comments here about your experience!

Saturday, September 8, 2012

E-Readers - The Other Side

As promised, I come today to discuss what I don't like about my e-reader - specifically my Kindle. Let's start with trying to find the book that you bought a month ago when you were in the throes of another book and didn't want to read the new book at that time. When you finally remember - somewhere back there in your mind that you bought the book - you can't remember the tittle. That makes you do the rounds of all the books on your home page and beyond. You hunt and hunt and have to bring up every book or if your savvy enough find the right button to bring up the book description. Finally you have found the right book! Then your not so sure that you want to read that book at the moment and you start again on your hunt for an appropriate book to fit your mood. Seems a whole lot easier to just run one's finger across books on a shelf, and in picking up a book, to read the blurb on the back of the cover to know what it is about.

Let's say you do finally find the book you wish to read. As I really get into the prose, I invariably want to physically turn the page! That is, I start to turn over the e-reader rather than punch the forward button! It seems to happen a lot to me and I am grateful that no one but me seems to notice! Then there is the quest for a name or fact that was seamlessly bypassed pages ago. You come across something on the page you are on and think, "Who is this character?" "Is this the city he was born in, or is this the city he is now in?" To find out the fact that you know you read somewhere back a few pages - the hunt begins. You flip the back-button several times - maybe a lot of times - and finally find the answer! Then you have to punch the  forward-button again and find where you left off. It's quite the pain as compared to easily flipping back a page or two with your fingers maintaining your place where you were with your other hand.

And don't get me started about using a book on your e-reader for a book club discussion. Goodness! Trying to keep characters straight and find your favorite passage or a fact that you want to present to the group is torture! Same thing goes if you wish to do research from an e-book. All that punching of buttons to find what you want is ridiculous. One can't even get page numbers to track where things are in the book!

Then there is the inconvenience of sharing a book. You have discovered the best book ever and after you have read it, you want to make sure your friends read it. But it is on you Kindle! In the old fashion realm of hard copy books, one just popped the book into your purse and took it to the person to read. You lent it too them. Ha! Try doing that with a book on your e-reader! It's one thing to lend a book to someone and another to lend your entire library including the current book you are now reading to a friend! You can only gush about the book and have no way to share it, on a practical basis,  with another person unless you physically give them your e-reader - Fat Chance!

Sigh! I really do enjoy my Kindle, but I certainly do have 'issues' with it that I haven't been able to resolve completely. Please feel free to share your 'issues' with e-readers. I'd love to hear from you!


Thursday, August 9, 2012

The Advantages of An E-Reader

When I retired not so long ago, my cohorts, as a retirement gift, set up a money tree (actually a rose bush which is now flourishing in my garden). My friends gave generously and there was just enough on the tree for me to buy a Kindle. It was the rage at the time so I thought it would be a practical gift to myself. It languished  for awhile as I was fast friends with hard copy books. That is until I redid my floors ... Now what might you ask was the connection there? Well I have at least 10 bookcases in my house and everyone of them was heavy with books - chocked to the hilt with books, books, books! In order to put down the wood floors I had to be able to move those bookcases! So I sat about to box  up all the books and eventually I parted with 16 very stuffed boxes of books! Please don't feel sorry for me as I still had plenty left over and I got  my wood floors too!

I soon found a great use for Kindle books. It was easy to carry! I normally carry a large purse so stuffing it in there wasn't a problem. That way when I sat waiting at the doctor's office or when I was out to eat at a restaurant, I had a book handy all the time. It was certainly easier than hunting down the latest book I was reading and dragging it along every time I went out. And isn't it great that you never lose your place when you open up the e-reader! No more hunting about for a bookmark!

Another positive I found was that I could indulge in books that I wanted to read but knew I wouldn't want to keep the hard copy. So I didn't have the problem of  what to do with all those hard copies. (Not that I still don't have a zillion books in this house!) Oh and all those deals of $.99 and zero dollar books were very tempting to get me to buy fun books that I normally wouldn't explore.

Stay tuned folks as in a future post I will also talk about the disadvantages I find with an e-reader!

Have you an e-reader? What advantages have you noticed? Can't wait to hear your comments!

Thursday, July 26, 2012

In My In-Box

When you declare yourself a writer and are nosing about the internet on writer's websites, you invariably end up with an onslaught of emails in your in-box from writer websites. Some of it is not so interesting but others come up with gems that help to get you over the humps. Here is one that I caught today. "Fear of failure/success equals procrastination." (Dave Trotlier) As I have been putting off doing another round of queries,  I realize this is right up my alley. I thought about this and came to the conclusion that failure or success realy wasn't in the cards as this journey has an abundance of learning all along the way. And how can this not be a win-win journey if you are learning things? So it's off to polish the query and the synopsis and try again to send off my Peacock to another group of agents to see if they will have need of such a project.

In my in-box I also found a very funny video contained in a blog by Brian Klems to share with any of you that have ever thought about writing a book. Have fun viewing this hilarious video! Psst ... be sure to leave comments if you liked it!

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Seven Things To Do On A HOT Summer Day

I don't know how it is where you live but OMG has it been hot here. So I figured I would check out some things to do on a hot summer's day. I polled several people I met today - like the waitress at Red Lobster and the guy at the gas station - but I also talked to some of my online friends. So here is what I found:

#7 Pack up the family and head for the mountains. In fact while you are there check out the Scottish Games and the Bagpipers. Ah .. nothing like piper music to cool you down.

#6 Grab the kids and run over to the nearest water park. Slip, slide and whoosh! Of course around here make sure you run for cover if there is any whisper of lightening - Central Florida is known as the lightning capital of the world!

#5 Gather a bunch of retired friends and play games like Mexican Train Dominoes or card games - like Hand and Foot at the local air conditioned Senior Center. Always a great way to stay out of hot weather.

#4 If you have the opportunity - go out to your local river and rent a canoe - a relaxing way to spend a hot day. (Of course watch out for those nasty gators!)

#3 Ring your neighbor's bell and ask to play in their pool. Not only is this a great way to cool down, but an excellent way to find out who your neighbors are!

#2 Take an afternoon nap in your nice comfy chair, then when it is dark (not at dusk as the mosquitoes love that time!) sit out in the backyard and observe the stars. I adore doing this. The skies are ever changing and it feels sooo good.

So now for the Number 1 thing to do to cool down on a hot day -

#1 Pick up a friend and proceed to your nearest fast food place and order great big luscious Ice Cream Cones! There is nothing that cools you down better than licking an ice cream cone! (And nothing better than having a friend to share the experience!)

OK so now it is your turn! What do you do to cool down on a hot summer day?

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

The Waiting Game

Well I continue to wait and hope that some agent will think The Peacock's Tale is a viable piece that can be presented to editors for publication. The waiting is getting to me. In my head I know these poor agents receive hundreds of queries, I just can only hope my colorful peacock hits a chord with one of them.

In the meantime I am reading and reading and reading all sorts of things. I find that I do like getting new books on my Kindle and am even thinking about e-book publication which may be the route for me. But for now I am still hanging in there with more queries. I currently have 9 viable queries still out there. This weekend I may gather up some further possibilities and see about putting out some further queries. I really have nothing to lose at this point so why not?

Friday, June 8, 2012

Looking For More Agents to Query

I think I have sent out a total of ten queries and have had 5 rejections, however the  time limit for actual responses are slowly running out. Some say wait six weeks and others say 8. So I am gathering up a second round of agents to query -- some are new agents and others are ones I skipped over last time because I didn't have a long synopsis, but I have done that now, so I can go back and try another round of agents!

I certainly have plenty of options still so I will keep up the process for awhile and see what happens. Wish me luck! The Peacock still lives!

Monday, May 21, 2012

No News is Good News?

So the count now is 3 rejections and 6 queries still out there in Cyber space. I am taking the time now to catch up on reading and doing some research for a possible new idea to write about! Things are 'fermenting' about in my mind for sure!

It seems that real life certainly gets in the way a lot! Home owner activities - not only my house - but the small HOA that I work as the Secretary-Treasurer seems to take up lots of my time right now. I am hoping that we will get things on the right track soon so I will have more time for writing!

Everyone take care and drop me a line with your thoughts about this blog!

 

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

First Rejection!

Yes, well, it had to happen right? I mean THE PEACOCK"S TALE can't be everyone's cup of tea? Right? But now that is over with, we move on to the next response... I did get one other response which was a "We got your query - we'll get back to you" response which is better than the "No, not my thing response." I'll keep you all informed! Thanks for all your support! It does make it lots more easy when others are invested in the progress of my book!

Sunday, May 6, 2012

The Baby (Peacock) is out in the World

Weird I know, but true. I have sent out to several agents, queries for The Peacock's Tale. This is exciting stuff  -- like sending off your little kid to the first day of school! Now you no longer can watch over the story; it's out there on someone's computer screen waiting with its little hand  ... er ... tail feather sticking up in the air, waving, and saying, "Me, me, me! Pick me!"  Keep your fingers crossed - someone calls on my Peacock!

Friday, April 20, 2012

Continuing Progess to Report

Oh my! It's been a while since I have posted here, but fear not! I have been very busy in working on and for the book. I completed a third draft and feel pretty comfortable that all it needs now is some editing. On to the query letter! That's where you try and sell the idea to an agent in a one page format! This has been a challenge but with some help from some friends I think it's beginning to shape up.

This whole process of book writing and then attempting to get it to the publishing stage is much more persistence than anything else. Some days I can't even face looking at this stuff and other days I wake up full of ideas and ready to roll! There was a day a week or so ago when I was beginning to hate the Tale! Now that I have gotten past the hump of trying to write the query letter, things have settled down again. I just have been making myself deal with each challenge as it comes up.

Speaking of which, I find I am enjoying trying to pick a likely agent/agency to query. I have gone through the entire 2012 Guide to Literary Agents and marked possible agencies. Now I have started a spread sheet to ferret out within the possible agency, who might be the agent to query and what is the criteria for querying that agent.  It's sort of fun going on the agency's web site and seeing what they offer and which authors they represent. Most of the web sites give a little bio on the agent so I make sure to read those to see if anyone happened to go to Rollins College or Indiana University or had any other possible tie in with the book. One agent was into college level rowing ... I wondered if that might be something that she would click with the story even though it's only a small mention in the Tale. Of course just querying an agent doesn't mean they will be interested in your story ...

Stayed tuned all to see how many agents I pick to send off my terrific query letter!

Saturday, April 7, 2012

Second Draft

I completed the second draft  of the Peacocks Tale last night. I am now in the waiting mode so that I can get some distance from the manuscript before I take a last look at it. I really want to get the process of querying agents on the road, but I think that the manuscript needs to be tip top before I do that. I listened to feedback from first draft readers and changed parts of the story - not a great amount, but enough to sort of make it clearer what my intent for the characters were. It was good to do that second draft, as it was important to clean up the mistakes in the manuscript plus add to the manuscript to make (hopefully) a better story. I'll tell you what I think of the completed story later this week!

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Writing With An Accent

One of my characters has supposedly come from Scotland, so I tried to write his dialog in a Scottish accent. I'm not so sure I did that well. I remember when I was in Edinburgh I had a difficult time understanding the taxi drivers and sometimes the waiters, but most everyone else I could figure things out. It was clear from that experience that like any place, some people had 'thicker' accents than others! Also I noticed the Sottish spoken word was lyrical with a lovely rhythm to it, but finding a way to implant that rhythm into dialog is very difficult. I'm afraid I had to resort to saying "he said with the sing-song rhythm of his native tongue" or some such contrived notation. However in my quest to rewrite this character better, I did find a lovely web site that featured a Glossary of Scots Dialect which helped a great deal. Another web site had short audio inserts that allowed you to listen to the accent, which again I found some people to be very difficult to understand, but others much easier. I am hoping that by listening once again to the rhythm of Scots speech patterns and knowing some of the writing substitutions used by Scots, my character will sound more authentic. Good luck to you if you wish to write dialog with an accent! I hope these links will be helpful for you!

Thursday, March 22, 2012

And Another Reader is Made!

I had the pleasure of running into a young man yesterday who opened a door for me at the recreation center. Of course I recognized at once that he had put down his Harry Potter book to do so. I pounced on that. "So is that the fourth or sixth book you are reading?" (The cover was green - I know my Potter books!)

"It's the sixth one." He replied with a shy smile as if he couldn't believe a woman who was using a cane could know anything about a Harry Potter book!

"Oh ... well ... has Harry started his lessons with Dumbledore yet? " I asked, hoping I had regained my credibility.

This time he had a genuine smile. "Yeah."

"Well enjoy the book!"

I was out the door but his mother, finding out from the secretary that I was a writer, ran out after me. She turned to her boy and said "This lady is a writer!" Then his Mother turned to me and said."You know he's only 10 but he's read all of them up to this one! He never liked reading until he began reading the Potter books." She tousled his hair and they both had very proud looks on their faces.

That made my heart sing as I've heard that more than once about JK Rowling's Potter saga. And anything that makes more readers has to be a good thing. I saw my chance to talk about the opening of PotterMore next month and how The Leaky Cauldron would have a Reading Group open to make the journey through PotterMore even more fun. I told them about dueling and making potions and invited them to join the fun.

The mother thanked me and then said, "You know, I've been thinking about reading the Potter books myself!"

Ah, I loved that response! "Oh you really should! They are for all ages. It's just great literature."

I wondered later if that mom would take the plunge to read " a children's series." I truly hope so because reading good literature is just too much of a kick! Besides good readers make good book buyers!

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Rewriting

Due to all the feedback I have gotten from my first draft readers, (Which again, I can't thank you enough for your input!) I have begun the rewriting process. I have gotten through about three fourths of the book. Rewriting is tricky. It is one thing to add a few clarifying words here and there and to clean up the typos, but it's quite another to rewrite the content. I think to myself, "Oops, the readers don't know that about the character!", or I realize that I really should give the readers a bit more to go on without giving too much away about the plot. When the words just pour out of you in the throes of the first writing, you have a rhythm to the way it comes out, but when you do the rewriting of a scene or perhaps add a scene, it's much more difficult to maintain the  flow of the writing. 

It's sort of a two edged sword -- I want to polish the book as much as I can so it does have a chance of being picked up by an agent and a publishing house --  but I find I need to be careful not to 'screw up' what I already have written. In all my reading about the writing process, the art of rewriting is the least talked about subject. I wonder why that is? Do you suppose it is because the author at this point should know what the book is about and therefore should realize what will make the book more clear or enticing to the reader?  I certainly don't feel that way! I second guess almost every word I add. Taking out words seems to be easier, as I often will read out the words aloud and that helps a great deal to make things clear. Adding a scene is the most difficult for me. As a writer you have to get back into the character's 'skin' and remember where you are at that point in the story. Then you have to decide what new knowledge would help the reader understand the story or character better or what might facilitate the plot more.  Then again over-thinking can be dangerous! That's why after all this rewriting is done, I will again have to put the book aside for awhile and  get some distance from it before I decide if it is ready to be sent off. Stay tuned the journey is still on-going! 

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Good Words

Today I was given two very nice feedback reviews from first draft readers. It was heartening to hear these words as I was getting a bit discouraged about the process needed to get this book even to an agent. What was doubly nice about these good words was that these were people that did not know me - in other words, they don't have any reason to be 'nice' about their words. The enthusiasm about the work was also part of their feedback. I have reason to believe that these are the very readers that should be the targeted market for the book, which again doubles the excitement over the feedback I was given.  Thanks to all who have been first draft readers! You can't know what your candid, critical and good words do for advancing the Tale!!! Thank you, Thank you and Thank you again!

Monday, March 5, 2012

On the Chase of a Tale

"Impede, restrain, suppress" - all synonyms of 'block" meaning "to stop or slow". I seem to have hit a barricade when it comes to writing. Believe me this doesn't happen often! Most the time I can just give myself a bit of a hint and my mind churns out words and thoughts. Sometimes my thoughts come out so fast it's hard to write quick enough, but this week the flow of thoughts, ideas and words seem to have trickled to a measly drip here and there.  It's maddening when this happens. Part of the reason that this is happening is that I am trying to flesh out a new tale and my Muse is not cooperating! I have a confirmed scene in my head as to where to start but I can't seem to get beyond that scene. 

Sometimes when I have trouble writing or gathering my thoughts, I use a technique known as "thought-patterning". I start out by drawing a circle in the middle of the page and I place within that circle a word which represents the idea I am trying to develop. Then I begin to spider out lines from that circle. On those lines I start putting down snippets of things relevant to that word. The drawback of this technique is that sometimes you run out of space, but it's easy enough to turn over the page and just keep going! It's sort of like brain-storming, but you end up with lots of possible paths that you might incorporate or follow in developing that idea.

I tried that today, but unfortunately I wasn't able to get very far as I was very distracted. I think I need to do this little task in a more quiet atmosphere than McDonald's when they are conducting job interviews! Besides now I think I just need to let some of these ideas percolate a bit.  I will then try again tomorrow! Anyway I thought I would share that little trick with you. (It also is a great way to take notes in school but it was odd that no one ever asked to read my notes or copy them whenever I wrote my notes that way!)

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

13 Things You Didn't Know About Peacocks

I have been researching peacocks for about 5 years, not just for the book that I have written -- The Peacocks Tale -- but also because I was intrigued by the phenomenon of the Peacock's Tail in Alchemy. So here are a 'bakers dozen' of  little known facts about Peacocks that I bet you didn't know!
1.   The Peacock is the male peafowl, the female is less adorned and is called a peahen.
2.   The Peacock is one of the largest flying birds in the world; they roost at night in trees to be protected from predators. Peahens nest on the ground in dense foliage.
3.   The Peacock's tail makes up to 60% of its body length.
4.   Groups of peafowl are called a party; a family of peafowls is called a bevy.
5.   Generally there are two species of peafowl: the blue of India and the green of Southeast Asia.
6.   A third species, which is found in the Congo,  has a red neck with shorter brilliant blue and black tail feathers.
7.   The train of feathers of the Peacock are actually the elongated feathers of the upper tail. Under that are shorter feathers, which can be lifted to 'show' the colors of the upper feathers to attract females. (When a male displays his tail to another male - he is not gay! This display is to warn off the aggressor male from his harem of females!) 
8.   Peahens are thought to choose their partners by the size, color and 'quality' of the Peacock's tail.
9.   The white Peacock is often mistaken as an albino, but it is actually a variation of the blue peacock of India.
10.  The Peacock is the national bird of India.
11.  Peacocks are associated with royalty because their screeching cries - especially at night - warned of the approach of enemies.
12.  Once a year Peacocks molt their feathers, but they soon grow back.
13. The alchemists of old thought the appearance of a show of iridescent colors on liquid metal indicated the end of the first of three alchemical stages of changing lead into gold. This show of colors was called 'Cauda Pavoris' -- the Peacock's Tail  -- and was considered the turning point of the alchemical transmutation.

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Jumping in Feet First

Sometimes I feel like this task I have taken on -- of getting a book published -- is foolish and just too big. However I think about people I admire and know that they didn't get to where they are just by sitting on the sidelines and waiting for the action to come to them. They jumped in feet first. Now this is important - that they went feet first. They didn't dive in head first because as anyone in the medical field will tell you, that's risking breaking your neck. When you dive in head first you don't use your head other than as a battering ram and the water maybe a whole lot more shallow than you thought.

When you jump in feet first you are taking the plunge with some foresight. You are able to test the depth and temperature of the water, but at the same you have gotten yourself wet! You are half way to to figuring out what your next move will be. Sometimes it is just moving forward that is called for and other times it is paddling like crazy to keep yourself afloat.  Right now I think I am making slow progress for the promised land, but goodness there is a long way to go!

I want to thank all those of you that have read the first draft of  'The Peacocks Tale'. Your comments have helped to buoy me up and keep me going. It's like a life preserver when someone says, " I really, really liked the story."  It seems unexpected to me to hear this, as I love my own story, but for others to appreciate it ... well that is sweet.  I also am appreciative of those that have given me lots of feedback as their suggestions act like targets to dive for - sometimes clearing up the muddy waters and at other times taking me down to an unexpected depth. Thanks all! Your comments are appreciated!

Sunday, February 26, 2012

"On Old Olympus Towering Tops ..."

"On Old Olympus Towering Tops ..." If you have ever trekked your way through Anatomy 101, you will recognize that little rhyme - made up to remember the Cranial nerves: Olfactory, Optic, Occulomotor, Trochlear, Trigeminal, etc. The rhyme is called a mnemonic device, however, I could only recall four of the first five nerves this morning. I'm afraid the sing-song nature of the rhyme did little to jog my fuzzy memory. It seems that this isn't the only one of those mnemonic devices that went fuzzy in my brain. I received an urgent email from one of my more careful first draft readers. Up until this time no one had pointed this gigantic boo-boo out to me. It seems my main character, who is an art instructor, doesn't know the correct order of the colors of the rainbow! 

My mnemonic device for the colors of the rainbow, which I used several times in my book, was twisted! Roy G. Biv became Roy B. Giv!! So blue got turned around with green, making any art student sit up and smell that this author didn't know what she was talking about! The order is important because they are arranged according to the size of each color's wavelength. From now on I have vowed not to use Roy G. Biv and have instead decided to use this little ditty: "Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain." I don''t think I can get my wavelengths mixed about as long as I remember the right place Richard is from! Or for that matter what Richard's name is ...

Saturday, February 25, 2012

What is In A Name?

Names are often some of the most important parts of your story, but is a rose as deliciously scented if it was named otherwise? It's not just characters that need names but places and objects. I love naming as I write. Sometimes the names are very integral to the plot. When you name in that situation, you really have to fit the name to the person, object, or place. A lot of thought can go into a name. Sometimes I find writing down of list of names, then rolling them around on your tongue to see how they sound is helpful. If the name still is mystery to me, I check out those baby name web sites, like babynames.com  or behindthename.com. Those sites are instrumental if you want to have an underlying meaning to the name. Say you want to have a character that is evil, you could research names that mean devil. 'Lilith' pops up with this explanation:  "In Jewish tradition she was Adams first wife, sent out of Eden and replaced by Eve because she would not submit to him." So naming your mean, miserable, mother-in-law character in your story, Lilith, would be a great way to remind both you and the reader that this is not a nice person!

If the character is more inconsequential, or you just need a name 'out of the air', I love asking strangers I meet their name and then popping that name into the book. I often tell them I am writing a book and I needed a name for a character. They either look at me like I am crazy or become excited that their name was included. I remember being in McDonald's one day and striking up a conversation with a grandmother and her young granddaughter. Later, as I was writing and struggling to name a student in my story, I asked for the girl's name so I could name my character. I think it made her day - her grandmother certainly thought it was great!

As for places, sometimes a name just pops into my head, like the name I gave my main character's home town. But of course I had to make sure there was no real town named that! I find it fun to name places with family member names. Like using my sister's married name to name a diner in that fictional town!  Having a notebook full of interesting names can be a treasure trove for finding just the right name when you need one. That would be great - of course my list of names can be found on little pieces of paper -- now if I could just remember which clip it's squashed in ...

Friday, February 24, 2012

Time to Read

Today I had time to read. It seems like an entire week has gone by and I haven't had time to sit down and read more than a chapter or two at a time. However today I actually made some time to read! Unfortunately, the day started out with a visit to a funeral home for a 'Celebration of Life' event. A lovely woman I had met, not 3 or 4 months ago had died. We had found a lot in common and had gone out to dinner a few times. She was more than a casual acquaintance. I had even discussed with her some of my ideas for futures plots. This lady believed in angels and was a protector of children, so I identified with her.  It felt odd going into a funeral home and having a brunch; I wasn't comfortable eating as I 'celebrated' her life. After I told her brothers that I would miss her and that I was sorry for their loss, I left. Perhaps it was the sadness that I had that made me want to read.

So I went to a restaurant and was able to delve into the latest book I have been trying to read -- Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese. Verghese is the type of writer that builds and builds his scenes and then suddenly runs with his prose so you can hardly put it down. Then once that scene crescendos, he begins again to slowly build up another scene. If you have ever watched for a pot to boil, you would understand how his prose at first mesmerizes and then surprises by bursting into a boil! After one of these runs, I looked up and realized I had five minutes to get to my hairdresser. It was a good thing that I was close by!

After the hairdresser I ran into Micky D's for a plain ice cream sundae. I sat there nursing it and reading Verghese's tale until I was almost half way through the book. Satiated, I decided to run to the bank. It was more like a walk, as road construction showed down traffic to a crawl. That little errand took over an hour! I came home just before dark to the dogs and all the other distractions of the house. I haven't been able to get back to the book, but now that I understand Mr. Verghese's style of writing, I can't wait to dive back into the roiling pot!   

What are you reading right and how did it captivate you?

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Good News

This has been a red letter day! No, not about my book, but it is about a BOOK. For five long years the world has waited for this and finally it has been announced. A Scottish working mom with three kids has finally announced that she has signed on the dotted line with Little, Brown and Company to publish her 11th novel. Why is this such a big deal? Because that working mom is none other JK Rowling. Her seven part Harry Potter series with three companion books have sold millions all over the world, and in so many languages that I'm not sure anyone knows how many! Now she says she is writing a novel for adults. Other than her statement that "my next book will be very different to the Harry Potter series". There was no other mention as to what the book is about, or what the genre is, or when the release date will be.

Nevertheless, the news has electrified the book world. David Shelley of  Little, Brown Book Group said, "She is one of the best storytellers in the world, and I am looking forward enormously to helping bring her new novel for adults to her fans and admirers, and to introducing her writing to new readers the world over." Well I can certainly attest to that statement! Having studied the Harry Potter series, chapter by chapter in each book, over and over  again since 2006 as a reading group leader with The Leaky Cauldron , I can certainly state that Ms Rowling is an amazingly brilliant writer. Her plots are extremely tight, well researched and very, very clever. What is so fascinating about her writing is what is underneath the obvious story. She is a master of literary allusions; look closely and you can find allusions to a load of classical writings (See John Granger's book Harry Potter's Bookshelf: The Great Books Behind the Hogwarts Adventures.) Her naming of characters, objects and places have well thought out backgrounds and underlying meanings. She pays particular attention to numbers - with most numbers she quotes adding up to, or reducing to, either 3 (#12 Grimwauld Place), or 7 (Snape insisting the class read Page 394 ). Then there is the alchemical framework in each book, as well as the series itself of the Black, White and Red Stages of Alchemy.

I am looking forward to how she is going to construct a plot in a different genre other than fantasy. I know that her writing is good, but whether she can continue to amaze readers with her underlying meanings, literary allusions and plots twists is a question I can't wait to find out!

In the meantime I will plod along trying to rewrite and spruce up the manuscript I have. It's with total truthfulness that I can say I am not in the same class as JK Rowling, but I too love to write and construct stories, so my hat (sorting hat?) comes off to her. And I will labor on trying to at least write something that  readers will enjoy and remember. Come join me in my endeavors! Just click the  Join This Site button and you can then follow along on my adventure!  

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

The Tale

Some of you know the Tale I have been chasing, but many of you don't, so I thought I would share the synopsis with you tonight. Priscilla Vickers is a young art professor living in Winter Park, Florida. On her return from a Fellowship in Edinburgh, Scotland, she begins to have some strange encounters with peacocks -- live ones, dream-induced ones and art inspired ones. As she encounters these pesky birds, she realizes that things about her past are being revealed to her. Secrets that her Aunt Clara hid are slowly surfacing. The reappearance of  a wavering Scottish boyfriend, complicates Prissy's search for what is locked in her past. A trip to her old Indiana home town is key to the remarkable peacock treasure hunt. A Peacocks Tale is Prissy's story of finding out about her past, as well as the family of her future aided by a parcel of peafowl.

Come follow me as I try to prefect this story and breath life into the idea of a published book called A Peacocks Tale.

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Seven Great Places to Read

I have to admit that being able to sit and read is one of my dearest activities. I seem to be able to read in many different places despite what is going on around me. I like having a noisy background or at least some nice elevator music. Even better is having an animal on my lap as I read -- preferably my own foo-foo dogs. They are half Bichon Frise and half poodles. I call them my hip huggers because they enjoy sitting on either side of me in my big comfy chair. As I began to think about this I realized that I have at least seven places that love to read the most. So today, I thought I would list my favorite places to read. Here goes:

1. McDonald's - Nothing like the noise and bustle of Micky D's to provide a great place to sit and read for chapter after chapter. No one cares that you sit and nurse a diet drink or slurp on a vanilla shake for hours at a time. They also happen to have Free WiFi.

2. Firehouse Subs - Besides having a great meal with unlimited diet drinks, one can sit and read in a sunny window seat for as long as you like. The staff soon knows you by name and if they don't, they at least remember you are the 'extra pickle lady'. The advantage of both McDonald's and Firehouse Subs is that there are several locations within easy reach of my house, so I  can vary my reading room location and not overstay my welcome in any one location!

3. Darden restaurants like Olive Garden, Red Lobster or Longhorn's - Again I can have a decent meal - a bit more expensive than 1 and 2, but you get waiter service to allow a truly uninterrupted reading time. Now I do prefer to go during lunch because towards nightfall they lower the lighting and unless you carry a book light with you (as I have been known to do) it's more difficult to read. You generally can't sit there for hours at a time like you can in the two aforementioned places. 

4. Ci-Ci Pizza - Cheap and noisy. Again they don't care if you stay there for long periods but you could  over-dose on all that  pizza.  The lighting there is always good. (Do you see  a trend here?)

5. The backyard - Now this is a tricky one. In Florida, the advantages are a nice warm, sunny place to sit and immerse yourself in a great book. However the disadvantages are - a stifling hot place, with the sun so bright you have to squint and go practically blind from the reflections on the pages. Then there are the bugs and other wildlife ( such as a snake who one day decided to take a short cut across the patio). If you have a nice shaded area, and the weather is warm but not raging hot, maybe a casual breeze, the backyard can become tolerable as a reading room. I, myself, find that I cannot remain in the backyard a long time as either  the sun, heat or bugs will put me off sitting out there. If you try it, make sure to wear plenty of sunscreen and a hat. Perhaps, I would feel a bit differently if I had a pool ...

6.  Doctor's offices - Yes, I know that's not very conventional, but I seem to be stuck in Doctor's waiting rooms for an inordinate amount of time. Reading there not only fills the time, but keeps your mind off of why you are there. The big problem with reading in this setting is that you have to be ready at the drop of a pin (or should I say needle?) to mark your place and gather your stuff so you can jump up and float into the doctor's exam room where you wait again! It makes for choppy reading. I find my Kindle is great for this type of setting.

7. Last, but certainly not least, is my big comfy chair in the living room. The TV will be on low and tuned to the music channel - the light classical station. The dogs are on either side of me and there are no bugs or uninvited critters. The light is just right. The only disadvantage to this is the phone which I try to ignore most the time. I find doing late night reading at home is best when most people don't even attempt to call me. And if you happen to fall asleep reading, well all the better because you are in your big comfy chair which was made for naps!

Where is your favorite reading place? Feel free to comment below.

Monday, February 20, 2012

Scraps of Paper

I was talking to some friends the other day about how we organize those little things we want to remember. Some touted that they opened a file in their computer and stuck these niggly facts there. Others have various notebooks that serve as a haven for the minutia. I, however, stick to little notes squashed within a giant squeeze clip. You know the kind? Those spring loaded soft handled ones that close up your chip bags? I have several different crushing clips. Most of these have been garnered from various medical equipment or home health organizations from exhibition halls at  meetings for physical therapists. These enterprising companies must think therapists really need to have gigantic clips on their desks to remind them of the many exhibitors they walked past at the meeting.   'Revolutionary Rehab' screams one; University Hospital Las Vegas, cries another. My favorites are ones that can be stood up so the conventional notes take less space than those that lie flat. One - that has 'Health Services' written on it with a convenient 1-8oo number - instead of being a flat squishy clip - jams the notes up against a rounded buttress, so the whole clip lies flat but the notes stay upright. Quite clever - and although the notes placed in it are inconveniently permanently curled from that rounded buttress, it remains my 'go to' clip. I keep all the passwords, security key words and user names for the ever growing number of places I visit on the World Wide Web.

At some place in time, I was told by some computer nerd that keeping all these sacred words and numbers should never be kept in a notebook! What if you lost it? And keeping it on your computer was stupid too. What if your system was hacked? So I did the only thing my disorganized mind could think of - I chronicled these precious keys to the kingdoms on little slips of torn papers, sticky back notes and old business cards. Then I smashed all these slips of paper, in no particular order, between the jaws of all these clips. Thus they remain in one place - of course if I wish to discover - say the password to get into my yahoo account - it may take the same amount of time it would take for me to walk to Nevada where that hospital resides. 

In another of those delightful clasps I keep all my important business cards - doctors, therapy centers, the dog groomers, my hairdresser. I am not sure how I would ever call any of these people if I didn't have that clip. In a smaller clip I keep the phone numbers of the important people in my life. Others keep those numbers on their phone, but sadly my phone has disappeared more than once, while the undignified jaw clip sits on my messy desk securing those phone numbers and addresses just for me.

If I had a memory for these things at one time, it is long gone, but, thank goodness, my lowly clips remain faithfully fastening those bits of paper - tying me to people, places and things.  I can't imagine that a robber would look twice at those silly clips - if they could even locate them among the detritus on my desk!    

My writing process is similar to those raggedy slips of paper - bits and pieces of my life that are scrunched together within a story.  The story is like the clip that binds all those little thoughts together. I adore taking out one of those little paper scraps and building an imaginary scene around it, then pasting together a thread of imaginary scenes that becomes a story. That's what writing is like for me - binding ideas together in a clip! 

What's your method of sorting out and retaining your collection of VIS (Very Important Stuff)? I would love to hear from you! Comments are welcome!

 

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Passions

I have had many passions in my life. Mostly starting from the time when I was a little girl. Tennis was like that. My father used to watch loads of sports on TV. I hated baseball as it was so slow. Nothing ever seemed to happen. Football was too violent. And even though my grandmother loved to watch fights I thought they were savage. But tennis! Now that was another subject - I was mesmerized when I saw women playing competitively at Wimbledon. ( This of course was long before Tittle IX). My dad - bless him - seeing me have some interest in a sport, took me out and taught me the fundamentals of the tennis. I was hooked and played as much as I was able to well into my forties, but feet and back injuries slowly killed my joy of playing and I eventually had to give it up. I suddenly found myself with lots of extra time on my hands. I decided to go to grad school. As I took courses it became obvious to me that I still enjoyed writing even if it was for the purpose of term papers. The other benefits from taking grad courses was that I began to get proficient on the computer. Things were working out well until I changed jobs and the new company was not as generous with time-off and financial support of my further education.  So forced to quit, I once again I found I had plenty of time on my hands. I tried golf but striking that tiny ball just wasn't fun for me.

As someone working with children, I was always trying to keep up with the trends in what the kids enjoyed, so when all the hype about the Potter books by JK Rowling came out I began to read them. I soon realized these books were much more than children's tales, so I trolled the internet for information and luckily I came upon The Leaky Cauldron (LC). Eventually when they announced a reading group for exploring the books, I joined the forum and the reading group. I would write every night and found I really enjoyed the discussions. It wasn't long after that in 2006 that I was invited to come onto staff as a reading group leader. That pretty much turned the corner for me as far as writing and delving into books goes! Here was something I did well, really enjoyed, and as long as I didn't fall off my chair, I was in no danger of further injury to myself. 

My years of writing in-depth discussion thread on everything from Alchemy to Xenophilia Lovegood for the Leaky Cauldron Reading Groups has stoked my passion for reading, writing and analyzing good writing. In addition I have found a wonderful community of like-minded individuals that I communicate with at least weekly if not daily via Skype. Eventually the fever for Harry Potter had began to settle, so seeking an outlet I tried NaNoWriMo first in 2009 when I was still working. The challenge of writing a novel in a month was great fun for me. I came away from that first effort with a long story with no ending. Discouraged, I didn't try in 2010, but then I retired in January of  2011. Writing for The LC Reading Group had become rather tame by that point, so I again was looking for an outlet for my need to write. I decided I had nothing to lose and tried again in November of 2011 to write a novel in a month. This time I planned a bit better and decided on my ending before I even wrote the beginning! And lo and behold at the end of that month I had a 50,000+ word manuscript for a book!

Now after two and a half months, I have rewritten the manuscript several times, formatted it into a 'first draft' and actually printed it off for a few select readers to read and comment on. The journey has really begun now. I need your support of feedback and encouragement to continue on. I will be updating you on all the ends and outs of the journey as we go along, so feel free to follow this blog. All you need to do is click the blue button on the top right hand corner of the page that says 'Join This Site'. Comments are always welcome.  

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Who I am and what am I doing here?

As a young child everyone in my family read. My father especially was always reading something - the newspaper, his beloved National Geographic (he had a lifetime subscription), Life Magazine - whatever was around. I don't recall him reading to us three girls other than perhaps Bible verses, but nonetheless I knew  reading was cherished in our house. My mother was a reader too, but she also wrote. She kept  diaries that to this day I have never read although my older sister has.

I remember the day of discovering my calling as if it was yesterday. I was too little to sit at a table and hold the newspaper as my wingspan wasn't wide enough to handle the pages. So I would sit crossed legged on the floor and spread the pages out in front of me and read whatever I could understand - mostly cartoons and the ads. I loved looking at the pictures of all sorts of places and people. I would wonder what it would be like to be in those places or be those people. One day when I was about 10,  I was turning the pages to our local newspaper The Fort Wayne Journal and as I turned the very last page my eyes drank in a scene which changed my life. It was a full page black and white picture - an ad from Easter Seals. This was the era of the last big polio epidemic and so this ad featured a young girl of four or five. She was beautiful, a cute-as-a-button blonde with her hair up in sausage pigtails. She was standing between a set of rails on metal uprights. She was obviously holding tight to the rails. On her legs were metal upright bars with white leather straps assisting her little legs to stand. But what caught my eye and my heart was the lady standing there beside her,  helping the child to manage this great feat of standing. The lady was rather plump as I recall, she had on a sparkling white uniform and on her shoulder was a triangular patch with writing on it. I could just make out the words: American Physical Therapy Association. It hit me like a neon sign - this was my destiny; this is what I wanted to do with my life. I wanted to help little kids to walk. I never changed my mind from that point forward.

Being a physical therapist is, and will always be, part of my identity, but now I am retired - a retired pediatric physical therapist. Reading and writing have always been a secondary passion to my first love of helping children. So now I find I actually have more time to indulge in those passions. This journey is just starting. This redefining of myself as a writer - an author -  is just beginning! And believe it or not, I am having a blast! Come with me and join my journey! Better yet, join my team to cheer me on as I pursue the Tale to tell! 

Friday, February 17, 2012

Sticking One's Toe into the Water

In January of 2011 I changed my life by retiring from the being a busy professional in the dynamic work force of a busy children's hospital, to the more sedate life of a retiree. Or so I thought! It seems that over a year after this momentous change, I can't say that I have slowed down a great deal. Yes, I no longer have to travel to work, or put in long hours, or heft up my body (or someone else) off mats on the floor. But I now do other things that fill my life to the brim. I find I am having more fun, and discovering again things that I have always loved to do.

Retiring seems to be a time of redefining oneself. You find that some of the things you have always wanted to do - you no longer crave. On the other hand things which you never had the time to refine before, you now you have time to explore. This happened to me when I decided to try again to write a novel in the month of November on the NaNoWriMo web site. I had tried in 2009 to concoct a story of 50,000 words and had written until I had more than the required amount of words - thus winning the challenge. But I didn't have a story! Just a beginning and lots of little incidents, but no ending at all. I put it all away as I realized writing a book and working was just crazy for me. Once I retired, I did some traveling (which I loved!); joined a senior group; as well as a book club and turned my thoughts again to writing good stories.

This time when November rolled around in 2011, I was armed with an idea and a muse!  I spied it when I was in an import store - A peacock necklace. There surely was a story behind that necklace somewhere ... Having had some encounters with peacocks and knowing the area where I live has a history of live peacocks, a story began to spring into my mind. When I say 'spring' I mean like a spring - at first a slow drizzle flowing out of the synapses of my brain. Then a steady flow of ideas that I had to make sure to write into a notebook or I would lose them. And finally the beginning, middle, and end gushed out onto the notebook pages. All I had to do was write it! Fifty thousand words in a month! How did I do?

I told all my friends what I was doing. I told my doctors, my hairdresser, my massage therapist! I told anyone that would listen, including waitresses and cashiers! Once I announced what I intended to do I found I had made my own cheer leading squad!  I found I truly enjoyed the process of writing a story - of putting down words on a computer screen. So that is what this blog is about. My journey of learning about the big scary world of putting together one word at a time to make a story. A story strong enough to be thought of as a novel; good enough to be a book. This Blog is also about redefining myself from a pediatric physical therapist - retired, to being an active author. I invite you to join me in my journey and be my online cheering section.