Category: A Writer’s Take……

Cursive Writing. A Thing of the Past?

My brother, Jack, (84) recently reprimanded his great grandson for his terrible penmanship. He complained that he couldn’t read what the boy had hand written. Jason’s reply was, “Paw-Paw, I don’t need to know how to write, everything iscursive.hand done on the computer. My brother was outraged. But, it got me to thinking, is cursive writing a thing of the past?

If you are over forty, you remember you had classes in penmanship and spelling.  Those are not classes offered or required in many schools. It’s hard to get my head around this. A beautiful ‘hand’ (penmanship) was the benchmark of a well educated person, a refined person. And it doesn’t matter anymore. Okay, I can’t remember when I last received a hand written letter, I’ll admit.
Educator Weston Kincade, English teacher at the Akron Digital Academy, weighs in on the cursive writing debate to offer his opinion on why such instruction is not needed in the classrooms of today’s society. To Kincade, cursive writing instruction is outdated and therefore a waste of time. “The technological revolution that started in the 1970s and ’80s brought many new types of written communication: email, texting, Continue reading “Cursive Writing. A Thing of the Past?”

Writers, What To Do When You Get a Bad Review?

book.reviewWhat you don’t do is contact the Reviewer to debate with them why.  No matter how much the review stings, no matter how much you disagree with it, NEVER, NEVER contact the Reviewer.  Put your big-person panties on and DEAL with IT! When you do respond to a review; complaining about the unfairness of the review, how the Reviewer got it wrong, and how you are the best writer since sliced bread, YOU simply come across as an AMATEUR!

What you should do is learn from the critique.  Take the criticism to heart and see how the Reviewer’s points can make YOU a better writer.  Sure, we’d all like only rave reviews all of the time, a couple of best sellers and loads of money.  But that just ain’t how it works, folks.  As writers we must be open to suggestions, criticism, and growth no matter how painful.

I recently interviewed a very interesting writer and following the interview I reviewed her book.  An honest opinion (by me) about how the book could be better.  Here is her response in an email: Continue reading “Writers, What To Do When You Get a Bad Review?”

Pack Saddles & Gunpowder by Susie Drougas ** A Review

PackSaddles.scanwriting, creating, reviews,fiction, children's books, fiction for adults, women's fictionwriting, creating, reviews,fiction, children's books, fiction for adults, women's fiction                                       2 out of 5 quills
Pack Saddles & Gunpowder  ** A Review

This book has potential.  But it’s a trilogy…and unfortunately not in a good way. It is:  1) A mountain horse packing guide book.  2) A treatise about the ongoing struggle between the environmentalists and horsemen with regard to how the high country wilderness should be used and protected.  And finally: 3) an underdeveloped mystery. The story is not moved forward by the first two. It would have been much more interesting to weave the trails and lakes more into the story, almost as an after thought. There was a missed opportunity to write a chapter where the environmentalists and horsemen debate the issue with some scintillating dialogue.

More research should have been done with regard to crime scene investigation.  When the helicopter arrives to pick up the surviving victim and perps, a detective would have been on board. They would have insisted on interviewing everyone right away, even the young girl, traumatized or not. They would hardly have allowed Cassie to ‘ride off into the sunset’ just because she was an attorney in the city.  She was after all the one who shot one of the perps to death. The investigator would also have wanted to see the site of the shooting (a potential crime scene; lawyers kill too) and preserve all evidence until justifiable homicide or homicide was determined.  This would also have provided an interesting investigative/forensics chapter.

It barely affected me that the nice all-American family had been hunted and attacked.  A chapter with the family back at home with Mom, perhaps, getting ready for the hiking trip,would have helped invest the reader and, once again, was sadly missing. Continue reading “Pack Saddles & Gunpowder by Susie Drougas ** A Review”

Edit Thyself, Writers!

char.analysisI just finished reviewing a poorly written book and it demonstrated the fact that writing a book is not all glory and self satisfaction at seeing your name on a book, as its author.

Far from it!  It’s grueling, damn hard work. Any one of you out there can write, the trick is writing well. It’s being willing to rewrite and rewrite some more. And then edit: does this word, sentence, chapter move my story forward?  Would my character say this? Sound like this? Behave like this?

Then there’s the delete anxnst.mousekey. Horrors!  Delete some of my brilliant writing?  Yes.  You better be willing to give up some of those self-proclaimed brilliant words and be happy about it.  Because when it’s said and done your book will be better for it.

How do you get from writing that first sentence to a finished book?  In my opinion, there is no right and wrong way to prepare.  I write my first draft from the seat of my pants; with just an idea that’s been rattling around in my head for days. No plot line, no story line, and in the case of my true crime series, I often don’t know who my killer is until later.  I will let my characters take me on their journey and the killer will always revel themselves to me.
I marinate, speculate and hibernate. Continue reading “Edit Thyself, Writers!”

Interview with Susie Drougas, Author (part 2)

Drougas.9.DSC03787Q. When did you begin to write seriously?

SD. I began my Dusty Rose series and published my first novel in 2014, Pack Saddles & Gunpowder. Over the years I have published several articles for the Back Country Horsemen state magazine, The Trailhead News. I worked on newsletters for our local chapter and I was told by a number of people that the only reason they joined our chapter was to get the newsletter and read my stories. That really made me start thinking about my book, and just maybe I could do it.

Q. How long after that were you published?

SD. I’m a pretty methodical person. When I make up my mind to do something, I put out maximum effort to see it through. I began writing in 2013 and finished and published my first novel in 2014.  As I mentioned, I am a freelance court reporter. I take depositions and have often found myself in a room with several accomplished, high-powered Seattle attorneys with several million dollars at stake—shouting and arguing over each other. I have to keep them in line to maintain the record. It is not for the faint of heart. But I will say, going the first time to my writer’s group and reading my work to other people was the scariest thing I have ever done. Beats anything else in the terror factor. Continue reading “Interview with Susie Drougas, Author (part 2)”

Interview with High Country Horsewoman/author, Susie Drougas

Drouglas.4.Me at White PassTS. This new author does her research ‘in the saddle’.  An experienced high country rider this horsewoman knows the trails her protagonists ride.

Q. Where do you write? Do you have a special room, shed, barn, special space for your writing? (please provide  photos of your shed, room, closet, barn….)  Or tell us about your ‘dream’ work space.

SD. We have a great room that I love to sit in. It’s decorated like a hunting lodge with deer mounts, a wood stove and huge windows. We live in a canyon with rugged hills surrounding it. Sitting in my chair in the early morning, the sun hits the tops of the peaks and lights them up in beautiful golds. The high desert sky is blue around it. That’s usually where I write.

My favorite place to write, however, is in our living quarters horse trailer aftertrailer.Susie a day’s ride in the high country. We take care of the horses, eat and sit by the campfire. Then I go into the trailer and write. Since my books take place on the trails, all the sights, sounds and smells are fresh in my mind. It flows out of my fingers. Continue reading “Interview with High Country Horsewoman/author, Susie Drougas”

Runaway by Peter May * A Review

writing, creating, reviews,fiction, children's books, fiction for adults, women's fictionwriting, creating, reviews,fiction, children's books, fiction for adults, women's fiction  writing, creating, reviews,fiction, children's books, fiction for adults, women's fiction writing, creating, reviews,fiction, children's books, fiction for adults, women's fiction  writing, creating, reviews,fiction, children's books, fiction for adults, women's fiction5 out of 5 quills      Runaway by Peter May ** A Reviewrunaway

I loved this new offering by Peter May.  It’s the story of young boys’ dreams and old men’s memories.  Set in 1965 and 2015 the story is unique as four old men retrace their boyhood travels, to London, seeking fame and fortune.

Jack, Maurie, Dave and Jeff have been friends for over fifty years.  As youths they were an obscure boy band from Glasgow, Scotland. They run away from home, certain that they are the next rock and roll phenomenon.  Maybe not the Beatles but certainly as good as The Replacements.  And from that moment on there is never a dull moment….that’s too bland a description…events on this journey change their lives forever. Muggings, free wheeling mental institutions, LSD, and Rock and Roll.

Old, sick, defeated the human spirit carries on. Now fifty years later the same quartet, now men in their seventies and eighties, repeat their harrowing adventure.

PeterMaySpainPort1Peter May never disappoints with his slightly off center view of the world.  I am a huge fan!!!  This is a ‘must read’ book.

Available now! Did you miss my Interview with this internationally acclaimed author? Click here.
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DON’T MISS BLOGS featuring INTERVIEWS with  best-selling AUTHORS!       Julia London, MJ Moores,  and actor/narrator Tavia Gilbert.  March’s featured author is Susie Drougas and a long awaited interview with Kathleen Grissom (The Kitchen House) in April.

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Curiosity Killed the Cat? The real Story!

Curosity.BookCoverPreview.do      Oddly, (I think) many searches/views on my web site contain  the phrase, ‘curiosity killed the cat’.  I thought it would be fun to tell my visitors where this story actually came from. (Part of my collection of 10 minute plays for the classroom)

By now you  know that I write frequently based on family stories….true ones.

This (short play) comedy is true which just goes to show, once again, that ‘truth is stranger than fiction’.

My auntie Ivah had been grubbing all day in the garden of her brick mansion in the Laurelhurst district in Seattle.  While she could afford a gardener or two, she was an avid gardener herself and could be found there, bare foot, in shorts and a sun hat every fair day.  Ivah wore shorts whenever she could because she had ‘Betty Grable legs’  (An actress circa 1940’s-1950’s whose legs were insured for a million dollars) and Ivah was quite vain about hers. She was eager to show them off at every opportunity…even if it was just to her flowers abounding in her gardens.

Around dinner time her husband, Arthur (an attorney) arrived home and announced that he had a client stopping by to sign some documents on his way to the airport.  Ivah, dirty and smelly from the garden said she’d hide in the kitchen, putting final touches on dinner, until the client was gone.  Continue reading “Curiosity Killed the Cat? The real Story!”

Rustler’s Moon by Jodi Thomas ~~A Review

reviews, authors, writingreviews, authors, writingreviews, authors, writingreviews, authors, writingreviews, authors, writing          Rating: 5 out 5 quills        A Review  Rustler’s Moon by Jodi ThomasEElf.2Rustler.Moon..Scan

It was great to return to Crossroads, Texas once again.  Thomas introduced a couple of quirky new characters to spice things up and blend with returning characters that we’ve all come to enjoy and even…yes I’ll say it…love.

The book has a great beginning when Angela receives a cryptic message: Run. Disappear. Vanish.  And she does. Grabbing just a few things, she flees Florida and ends up in Crossroads.  But is it far enough to hide in plain sight? I found myself wanting more story from Vern and Carter.  They enchanted me with their eccentric outlook and actions.  The love story within the tale is tender and sweet. This reviewer always appreciates an author’s restraint leaving much to the reader’s imagination, instead of laying it all out….as it were.

Rustler’s Moon was an excellent sequel to Ransom Canyon and I can’t wait to read book three, Winter’s Camp.

Did you miss my Interview with Jodi Thomas?  Click here

Excerpt from Rustler’s Moon

Crossroads, Texas
October
Angela

Dried weeds scratched against Angela Harold’s bare legs as she walked the neglected grounds behind the Ransom Canyon Museum near Crossroads, Texas. Rumbling gray clouds spotted the sky above. Wind raged as though trying to push her back to the East Coast. She decided any rain might blow all the way to Oklahoma before it could land on Texas soil. But the weather didn’t matter. She had made it here. She’d done exactly what her father told her. She’d vanished.

Angela had meant to stop long enough to clean up before she took her first look at the museum, but she could not wait. So, in sandals, shorts and a tank top, she explored the land behind the boarded-up building on the edge of Ransom Canyon.When she’d talked to the board president, Staten Kirkland, five days ago, he’d sounded excited. They’d had to close the museum when the last curator left and in six months she’d been the only one to call about the job opening. Before the phone call ended Kirkland offered her a three-month trial if she could answer one question.Angela thought it would be about her experience or her education, but it was pure Texas folk history. Continue reading “Rustler’s Moon by Jodi Thomas ~~A Review”

A Chat With Tavia Gilbert, Professional Voice (conclusion)

tavia.headshot.-400x266continued…… Can you tell us about your process when you begin to narrate a book?.
A. …….voicing the foreign language phrases the writer included in the book, listened to several bird calls to include in the book (a young boy is an expert at bird calls, so I have to approximate a cardinal, a blue jay, and more), learned the Welsh national anthem — in Welsh, reacquainted myself with several old hymns…I’m recording very slowly and carefully, while preserving a fresh sense of discovery and using the technology to make my many, many stops and starts sound seamless. That’s more than most books require, but it does offer a glimpse into the challenges of an audio book narration. I want my work to be excellent every time. Each project is different, but it’s great to really commit and make sure I’m doing everything I possibly can to make the most complete audio world I can. Once the recording of each chapter is complete, I upload it to my publisher. They edit and proof the recording, ensuring that my narration is word perfect to the script. They send a list of corrections, which I record and send, and then the book is ready to go out into the world!

Q. Do you have rituals before you begin?

A. I do. Donna Eden’s five-minute energy technique and a few other of her energy practices, which ground and settle me and get me in a good space to focus. I put some lavender on my fifth chakra (throat chakra). I make a quick shot of ginger, turmeric, coconut water, salt, lemon, and honey, and then I settle in with water with lemon and a kombucha. Continue reading “A Chat With Tavia Gilbert, Professional Voice (conclusion)”