Congratulations, this is just a quick notice to let you know that your poem The Garden is one of the poems being featured on the PoetrySoup home page this week.
I wander my garden
the morning sun barely peeking
above the distant hills
dew drops wet my toes
and the damp earth seeps between them
cool and wet
my flowers nod their heads to me
as if to say ‘good morning’
their colors soft and muted without
the rays of the sun to spike their flagrant color
the over-achieving bee dips into the golden nectar
a bird trills a celebration to the new day
from the book of poetry
Moths and Machetes
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My weekly BLOG features INTERVIEWS with best-selling AUTHORS! October: George Scott, November: Ella Quinn, December: Lauren Willig, January: Madeline Hunter, February: Mike Lupica To receive my weekly posts sign up for my
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In this exercise, featured in my Journal, “How To Write a Play’, I have started a play for you to continue writing. It can be a 10
minute play, a full one act play, or a full length play. I have left the story plot ‘threads’ dangling in order for you to choose where the plot goes.
Tip: If you choose to write a longer play you might want to consider writing something in front of these few lines to get more ‘back story’.
Remember the best plays begin, early on, with some tension.
(JASON and ROBIN stand next to some lockers away from the flow of students
hurrying to their classes.)
ROBIN (Hissing.)
You better not hurt my friend.
JASON
What are you talking about?
ROBIN
I know your rep….luv ‘em and leave ‘em.
JASON
Naw. Not me.
ROBIN
Yes, you. Just be careful. Do not start dating Sara, coming on strong like she’s the only girl in the world. Then dumping her.
JASON
I wouldn’t.
ROBIN
You would. I’m just sayin’, if you plan on doing something like that, you’ll have to go through me to get to Sara.
JASON (Smirked.)
What if I’m planning on going through Sara to get to you?
ROBIN
What? You’re crazy.
JASON
That doesn’t answer my question.
ROBIN
You don’t even like me.
(Now try continue writing this play. Make your own choices about where it goes and who does what.)
Want to read more about Playwriting?
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My weekly BLOG features INTERVIEWS with best-selling AUTHORS! October: George Scott, November: Ella Quinn, December: Lauren Willig, January: Madeline Hunter, February: Mike Lupica To receive my weekly posts sign up for my
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TS. Expat and author now living in Germany, Ella Quinn is one of my favorite authors. Good solid stories, with plenty of story plot twists, and wonderful protagonists. I love escaping with a Quinn historic (Regency) romance. After reading (in our interview) she cruised the Caribbean and North America, she then completed a transatlantic crossing from St. Martin to Southern Europe (Lagos, Portugal) aboard her beloved, Silver Penny (Yikes!)..well…my admiration knows no bounds. I’m an old ex-sailor and the thought of crossing the Atlantic in a sailboat terrifies the hair right off my head! Taking a knockdown, while under spinnaker was enough terror to last me forever.
Q. Where/when do you first discover your characters?
The cockpit of Ella’s catamaran, the Silver Penny (where she writes)
EQ. My characters discover me! It started with my first book. I’ve followed my characters ever since. They literally come up and introduce themselves to me.
Q. What first inspired you to write?
EQ. I should say that I never in my life expected to write fiction. But I was 58, tired of practicing law, and looking for something else to do. Suddenly, I had a video playing in my head about an angry Regency lady, and I had to write it down. One month later I had a finished book, The Seduction of Lady Phoebe, and had to figure out what to do with it.
Q. What comes first to you? The Characters or the Situation?
EQ. Definitely the characters.
Q. Do you ‘get lost’ in your writing?
Ella with her hound, Lillibet
EQ. I do. There are times that I can write for hours and never get up.
Q. Are you working on something now? If so tell us about it.
EQ. I’m starting a new Trevor novella for a multi-author box-set that will release next summer. My Trevor series is about a horrible old duke who wants to control the lives of his children. This mainly consists of arranging matches that are good for the dukedom, but not for them. So, all the books are about his kids finding their love and their own spouses with help from friends and other family members.
Q. When did you begin to write seriously?
EQ. When I first started to write. I’m very goal oriented. When I finished my first book, I knew I wanted to be traditionally published. I was very fortunate. Eight months after I started writing I had an excellent agent, and eight months after that I got my first contract. A friend who had been in publishing for years told me it would take 5 years to get published. I decided I didn’t have that amount of time. Fortunately, the month before my 60th birthday my first book released.
Q. Do you think we will see, in our lifetime, the total demise of paper books?
EQ. I don’t think so. Young people like paper books. If nothing else does, that will save the industry. On the other hand, most of my readers read in paper. It sometimes depends on the genre.
Q. What makes a writer great?
EQ. The ability to tell a compelling story that readers love.
Q. and the all-important: What does the process of going from “no book” to “finished book” look like for you?
Ella and hubby at TransAtlantic Yachting awards
EQ. It depends on the book. I’ve had books that I can write straight through from beginning to end, and books that I’ve skipped around writing scenes. For me it depends on how cooperative my characters are being. Twice I’ve had books where I’ve had to write the end before my heroine would tell me her story. She had to know she’d get a happy ending.
Q. How has your life experiences influenced your writing?
EQ. I’ve done a lot of things in my life. Most of which dealt with people. Men read my books because they say I nail male POV (point of view). That’s probably because I was the first woman assigned to an Army Special Forces battalion, and I’ve been around Alpha males all my adult life. My husband is retired SF. I practiced family law for 20 years. That gave me a lot of insight into the problems people have. I’m a mom. I don’t think anything more needs to be said about that. I’ve traveled most of my life so I easily understand different cultures, which is what the Regency is. And I’m a researcher.
Q. What’s your down time look like?
EQ. I read a lot, but I’m not a restful person. I bike and walk. I like to travel and see new things or visit places I love. During the winter I spend about 4 weeks skiing. In summer I’m on the boat when I can be. I also paddleboard.
Q. Have you or do you want to write in another genre`?
Winnie, helping with the writing
EQ. No. I’m happy writing Regencies. Although, at some point, I’ll have to write early Victorian.
Q. Note to Self: (a life lesson you’ve learned.)
EQ. Don’t take yourself too seriously. It’s important to be able to take risks.
My weekly BLOG features INTERVIEWS with best-selling AUTHORS! October: George Scott, November: Ella Quinn, December: Lauren Willig, January: Madeline Hunter, February: Mike Lupica To receive my weekly posts sign up for my
On the home page, enter your email address. Thanks!
TS. Bestselling author Ella Quinn’s studies and other jobs have always been on the serious side. Political science professor and lawyer. Reading historical romances, especially Regencies, were her escape. Eventually her love of historical novels led her to start writing them.
She is married to her wonderful husband of over thirty years. They have a son and two beautiful granddaughters, and a Great Dane named Lilibet, and a cat named Winnie. After living in the South Pacific, Central America, North Africa, England and Europe, she and her husband decided to make their dreams come true lived on sailboat for three years. After cruising the Caribbean and North America, she completed a transatlantic crossing from St. Martin to Southern Europe. (Yikes!) She’s currently living in Germany, happily writing while her husband is back at work, recovering from retirement. She expects to be back on the boat in 2022.
Q. Where do you write? Do you have a special room, shed, barn, special space for your writing? (please provide a photo of you at work in your shed, room, closet, barn, houseboat….Or tell us about your ‘dream’ work space.
Silver Penny
EQ. I have two places, one on my boat, Silver Penny. That’s my favorite place. The other is a room in our apartment that I’ve turned into an office. It’s also where the animals usually hang out during the day.
Q. Do you have any special rituals or quirks when you sit down to write? (a neat work space, sharpened #2 pencils, legal pad, cup of tea, glass of brandy, favorite pajamas, etc.)
EQ. My work space is pretty messy. Before I write, I have to either take a bike ride or a walk, clean up, eat breakfast, read the news, and take care of any emails that came in overnight.
Q. Could you tell us something about yourself that we might not already know?
EQ. I think my life has been an open book. You might not know that I’m a political nerd. I have an undergrad and masters in politics. I’ve also worked on political campaigns. So every two years around election day, I have sleepless nights watching voting results.
Q. What tools do you begin with? Legal pad, spiral notebook, pencils, fountain pen, or do you go right to your keyboard?
EQ. I go right to my keyboard. My handwriting is so bad these days that even I have trouble reading it.
Q. Do you have a set time each day (or night) to write?
EQ. I’m generally a daytime writer, unless I’m on deadline. Then I’ll be up until midnight and start early the next morning again. There are times when I like to write in the afternoons. But since coronavirus started, and my husband is home more, I’m trying to have more of a schedule. That means writing in the morning, adding about 45 minutes of exercise around 1pm, writing until around 4pm, then studying German for an hour. The election threw it off, but I’m starting the schedule again this week.
Q. What’s your best advice to other writers for overcoming procrastination?
EQ. Treat writing like a job. If you want to be successful, you have to do that. There’s just no other way.
Q. Where/when do you first discover your characters?
Join us next week for part 2
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My weekly BLOG features INTERVIEWS with best-selling AUTHORS! October: George Scott, November: Ella Quinn, December: Lauren Willig, January: Madeline Hunter, February: Mike Lupica To receive my weekly posts sign up for my
On the home page, enter your email address. Thanks!
This is a good story set in the gorgeous, stark landscape of the central Arizona desert. Unfortunately it has some formatting issues that were a huge distraction for this reviewer. Every two and a half pages the author started a new chapter. The chapter placement interfered with the story flow. By the time I finished the book I had counted 111 chapters within 323 pages. There didn’t seem to be any explanation for this, certainly not the two usual reasons for a new chapter; that is, the location of the story changed or the POV (point of view) had changed. Sagas that are well over 500 pages will only have 30-40 chapters.
When Becca the heroine runs from her abusive husband out into the desert; the story is abruptly interrupted by a history lesson of the wild horse. Instead of focusing on Becca’s feelings of being hunted by her abusive husband, trapped with nowhere to go, the diversion to the history of wild horses diluted, if not destroyed, the tension of her fleeing.
Early in the story a driver, unfamiliar with the roads and driving too fast, collides with a wild horse horse crossing the highway. He loses control of his car and goes into a ditch. He hits a Saguaro cactus which falls on the car trapping the driver. The reader is never told what happens to the man and if and when he was ever rescued. The author continues the story thread of the wounded stallion but leaves the driver in his car with no resolution. It is very important that the writer pulls every thread and finishes any subplots.
Another thread that was neglected was when the abusive husband suddenly turns up at the inn where Becca is hiding. How did he find her? Did he know she was there or was it an unbelievable coincidence? It’s never explained.
New chapters are usually begun when the pov (point of view), changes or the location in the story changes. A new chapter beginning every 2 and a 1/2 pages (as was the case with this book) was distracting and not supportive of the story flow. For example: Chapters 65-69 should have been one chapter. Chapter 53-55 should have been one chapter. Chapters 90-95, again, should have been one chapter. The location nor the POV had changed and one chapter ended in the middle of a conversation. These are just a few examples of this misguided chapter placement.
As I said, this was a good story concept but the frequent, (oh so frequent) chapter change badly interrupted the flow. And I am still left wondering why the choice was made for two and a half page chapters?
How To Format a Novel
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My weekly BLOG features INTERVIEWS with best-selling AUTHORS! October: George Scott, November: Ella Quinn, December: Lauren Willig, January: Madeline Hunter, February: Mike Lupica To receive my weekly posts sign up for my
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A lovely, thoughtful writing about our civil war as seen through the eyes of the citizenry of Charleston, South Carolina. Scott artfully draws the rich opulent life of high society and then, in the blink of an eye, plunks the reader onto a mule driven cart sitting amongst slaves, freedmen, and blue collared working white men. Amidst fetes, balls, parties and parades the attack on Fort Sumter was a weak, half-hearted skirmish when the South Carolina Militia artillery fired from shore on the Union garrison on April 12, 1861. It is generally taken as the beginning of the American Civil War even though Sumter fired on southern ships running the Union blockade months before. The bombardment continued, off and on, all day, watched by many happy civilians.
One note Scott hit perfectly was that the people who befriended Jonathan (from Boston) and took him in, were traitors to what he considered his country (the North). How would he be able to reconcile this? Yet, he lived most of his life in and around Charleston and all during the war years.
This book is touted as fiction but the historical accuracy was breathtaking, with wonderful little tidbits from the deep dive this author did with his research. I think my favorite was the tale (and forgive me if I don’t get it exact) of a young man who was a fan of a popular and very talented pianist. Their friendship went on for years until the piano man joined the Confederate Army. As a farewell gift to his acolyte, he scribbled some numbers on a snippet of paper and pressed it into the young man’s hand. The song found its way from hand to hand until someone was able to make sense of the numbers on the page…and the rest is history. It is what we now know as ‘Taps’, Played on military bases today and at military funerals.
I have one critique and that’s about the poor formatting. Writers! Find your ‘Justify’ (margins) key and use it! This will keep your right margin as crisp and clean as your left margin. This book had multi-syllable words that ended a line of text and hence defaulted to the next line of text. This left huge gaps in the right margin. The writer/editor should have taken the time to hyphenate these words rather than leave a ragged right margin. The ‘Section’ page should have appeared on an odd numbered page (right side) and the chapter following should have been placed on the next odd numbered page. (Format a Novel)
Readers do not need to be Civil War enthusiasts, or know much about it, to thoroughly enjoy this story. It is beautifully drawn with rich characters. I highly recommend this book.
Did you miss my Interview with George Scott?
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My weekly BLOG features INTERVIEWS with best-selling AUTHORS! October: George Scott, November: Ella Quinn, December: Lauren Willig, January: Madeline Hunter, February: Mike Lupica To receive my weekly posts sign up for my
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Jodi Thomas contributed a short story to this collection of cowboys and Christmas. With her fellow authors, Sharla Lovelace and Scarlett Dunn, they have written three stories capturing the spirit of Christmas amidst ranch life.
Father Goose by Jodi Thomas left this reviewer wanting more! I was disappointed this wonderful story was not developed into a cozy length novel or a full novel. The story line could have supported either. 93 pages was just a tease but still conveyed Thomas’ unique style of writing and a taste of life on a ranch. The children were well drawn and delightful.
Sharla Lovelace and Scarlett Dunn contributed the other two short stories. I wasn’t impressed. They seemed rushed and not developed. It was almost as if someone said to these two authors, ‘we’re publishing a trilogy of cowboys saving Christmas; your story needs to be 100 pages and your deadline is (date). Oh, yes and your story needs to have kids in it.’ And that’s exactly what they provided.
I wished the whole book had been filled with pages from Father Goose.
Goes on sale today. Click here
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My weekly BLOG features INTERVIEWS with best-selling AUTHORS! October: George Scott, December: Lauren Willig, February: Mike Lupica To receive my posts sign up for my
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Historical romances are fun reading and in the good ones, the reader learns a little history along the way. Second only to ‘sci-fi’, this genre is the most popular with the reading public. It is part of the ‘bodice ripper’ tradition that sex scenes range from vague titillation to down-right pornographic in their descriptions. In the well written ones, it’s a fine line between eroticism and blatant porn. Sometimes the most provocative is what is not said by the writer. As in the case of my two favorite authors in this genre, Grace Burrowes (early books) and Annie Grace, who are masters at this. They suggest, they titillate, they let you use your imagination. It is so much more satisfying than crude, blatant sex described in lurid detail which is porn written on paper and not to my taste. In the case of sex scenes, less is more.
5 out of 5 quills ~~ Book Review
Madeline Hunter deftly walks this line successfully in her earlier books. She seems to know when to stop and let her readers participate with their imagination. Lady of Sin was such a great story with many layers. Lady M. was a strong, independent woman. Nathaniel, our sexy hero was strong, confrontational and opinionated, but was a softie in love with Lady Charlotte. The plot had lots of twists and turns and led our reader around by the nose until the very last page.
The main thread of the plot is about divorce. Women of that era (1800’s), were lobbying for ‘divorce’ laws more favorable to and including women who were victims of domestic abuse. They were not allowed a position in the House of Lords or House of Commons (our Congress) so they had to petition through the influence of their fathers, husbands, or brothers.
Then add in a wonderful sub-plot about a ‘lost boy’ of aristocratic birth, if it can be proven. No spoiler alerts here. All I am saying is the plot is sophisticated and rich in layers. Excellent writing that never needs the crutch of flagrant sex scenes to prop it up.
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My weekly BLOG features INTERVIEWS with best-selling AUTHORS! October: George Scott, November: Ella Quinn, December: Lauren Willig, January: Madeline Hunter, February: Mike Lupica To receive my weekly posts sign up for my
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Haiku Journal acts as both an inspirational collection of diverse haiku by master writers such as Matsuo Basho and Masaoka Shiki and an encouragement for readers to fill in their own blank books with haiku creativity. It pairs lovely black and white drawings with examples of the diversity that can be incorporated into the traditional haiku form.
Where creative writing books might focus on the three-line stanza approach of its poetic structure, Trisha Sugarek provides a deeper interpretation of what makes a haiku piece stand out: “A haiku is a way of looking at the physical world and seeing something deeper, like the very nature of existence. It should leave the reader with a strong feeling or impression. Traditionally the natural world is mentioned.” She also includes works by master poets which didn’t always strictly adhere to the 5/7/5 haiku foundation because “They were too beautiful to ignore and not be included.”
This note advises readers that there is an attention to excellence, here, that goes beyond strict regimentation. Any poem that is uplifting, beautiful, and an example of unique expression is included, such as this: “Well, what must we think of it?/From the sky we came./Now we may go back again./That’s at least one point of view.” –Hôjô Ujimasa
These works appear alongside lined blank pages that encourage readers to become writers through example. The poems are juxtaposed
Haiku Poetry
with tips on how Sugarek chooses to write, including creative writing and history information that supports various approaches (i.e. producing a complete poem in three sets of three lines, known as Renku).
Sugarek’s own poetry is juxtaposed with verse and free verse from others, adding just the right blend of encouragement and a flavor of diversity to a haiku journal that serves as both an encouragement and an example.
Wannabe haiku writers looking for inspiration could not find a better wellspring of support than in Haiku Journal. Its format and presentation lend to not just inspiration, but creative effort. Purchase here
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My weekly BLOG features INTERVIEWS with best-selling AUTHORS! October: George Scott, November: Ella Quinn, December: Lauren Willig, February: Mike Lupica To receive my weekly posts sign up for my
On the home page, enter your email address. Thanks!
TS. George WB Scott is an East Tennessee video producer and videographer with a life-long interest in the causes and events of the Civil War. His years of research on this topic are the basis of a story of Jonathan’s personal journey through one of the most interesting and important regions of the South. Scott was born in Stuart, Florida, and is a cum laude graduate of Appalachian State University. He lives with his wife Mary Leidig in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Q. Where do you write? Do you have a special room, shed, barn, special space for your writing?
GS. I work in an office with many windows that looks out on our backyard. My wife shares the office with a desk next to mine. I write on an Apple Macbook Pro, which I use as a desktop computer. I have two large monitors and a wireless keyboard, which I also use for video editing as part of my business. Sometimes I take the laptop and keyboard to other locations when I need more privacy.
Q. Do you have any special rituals or quirks when you sit down to write? (a neat work space, sharpened #2 pencils, legal pad, cup of tea, glass of brandy, favorite pajamas, etc.)
GS. In the morning I drink at least three cups of coffee, and caffeinated like that I can burn up several pages in the morning. Sometimes when I am into a chapter or scene I write late into the night.
I keep a small notepad by my hand.
Q. Could you tell us something about yourself that we might not already know?
GS. I’ve always thought of myself as a writer, but until my book was edited I didn’t realize what I didn’t know. For years I have kept a small notebook of random thoughts and musings which I have dipped into for my last novel, and I expect I will for the next one.
Review: ”I know lots of people who call themselves writers who aren’t as good…Civil War Charleston, was a complex place of fiery secessionists and perplexed immigrants, African Americans both enslaved and free, sailors, soldiers, musicians and drunks, old veterans and young secessionists knew nothing of war but would learn about its horrors all too soon.” –Jack Neely, Executive Director of Knoxville History Project, journalist and author.
Q. What tools do you begin with? Legal pad, spiral notebook, pencils, fountain pen, or do you go right to your keyboard?
GS. I find I do much of my best thinking when I am doing some physical labor, such as yardwork or hiking. For my last novel I wrestled with how to craft a story into the historical timeline of the Civil War, and stressed over that for a long time. Finally I just sat at my computer and wrote one random scene, the chapter about the delivery of the CSS Hunley submarine. After that, I determined how the character came to that spot, and what happened afterwards.
Q. Do you have a set time each day (or night) to write?
GS. I like to get a start after a cup of coffee in the morning, and write until I either have to get up and move around a bit, or when I reach the end of an event in the book. Afternoons are not usually as productive.
Q. What’s your best advice to other writers for overcoming procrastination?
GS. It’s like I have always heard from every writer I ever asked: write! Just write something, even if it’s a letter to an old friend, or a review of a movie. It’s easier to direct your writing to a bigger project once you have some “writing momentum.”
Q. Where/when do you first discover your characters?
GS. Most characters are derived from people I know. Some I will sketch in as “placeholders,” until I can build a backstory that justifies the actions each is used for. In “I Jonathan,” for instance, I researched how Isabella could come to be where she was and in the condition she was in. The same goes for the policeman Kerry. William was a pretty stock character for Civil War books, but I have known people like him, and I enlarged him to be grander than reality, which was right for him.
Zeke is an adaptation from a man in an old Charles Kuralt “On the Road” episode.
Q. What first inspired you to write?
Part 2 of this wonderful interview will post Oct. 17th. Please join us.
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My weekly BLOG features INTERVIEWS with best-selling AUTHORS! October: George Scott, November: Ella Quinn, December: Lauren Willig, February: Mike Lupica To receive my weekly posts sign up for my
On the home page, enter your email address. Thanks!
