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Times of Conflict, Times of Peace

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  Times of conflict, Times of Peace So, you want to play some Football? Ever feel conflicted? You know…you wish you could have everything turn out right for all sides? But of course, that can’t always happen. When I’m reading a book or writing one, I can become so invested in my characters, I want the story to end “happily ever after” for everyone. For all the “good guys” anyway. And I secretly harbor the notion that the villains in my stories learn from their mistakes and change their evil ways. Of course that’s not always true to life. After church this past Sunday, Mike I and tuned into an NFL game. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Ohio playing against the Cincinnati Bengals. I remember going door to door in my college years at the University of South Florida gaining signatures for Tampa to get an NFL team. I remember living through those first few years of losing game after game. It was tough.  When Tom and I moved to Cincinnati, we were still Buccaneer fans. At least for the f...
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MY TAKE  ON EDITING I’m working on a new book. I actually have at least four other books outlined and several children’s books I’ve never published, but the one I’m crafting now is moving along. The issue my main character is facing is one of stolen identity. I’ll share more later, but the topic of the day is EDITING.  Editing is a big issue. I broach it for two reasons. First, I’ve met a few people of late who think editing is merely a matter of spelling and punctuation.  AS A FORMER AGENT I MET SAYS, "This is why the world needs editors!" I actually had someone say, “Spell check or something will fix it. That’s what I do. If the word is red or something, I find the right spelling.”  That’s only part of it. Proofreading usually catches those errors if your computer didn’t.  Then…there’s also developmental editing. That’s when you discover there are holes in your plot that need to be addressed.  And there is fact checking. I write fiction, but I am always f...
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Writers Roost Part 2

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  Don’t Ask Me! I came to Writer’s Roost to work. (If you missed that story about my new writing getaway, click HERE )  Anyway, I’ve been sitting here looking at the lake and being tempted by the pool as I’m trying to make a “book trailer” for my latest book,  Corners and Straight Edges.  I watched a YouTube video on Canva on how to make a book trailer. I wrote the script. I chose the background and all the elements. I started putting the thing together and for some reason, they came out in a different order. And the background disappeared. Don’t ask me how I did that.  I have no clue. So… I started over. I watched another tutorial and thought I had it nailed.  Nope. The one victory is…  I did not cry. This time.  While I embrace most technology…well,  some  technology, I struggle learning new ways to use it. I don’t dare ask for help. The answer always seems to start with…“All you have to do is…” Still, it is a part of today’s...
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Life is a Puzzle

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  Life is a Puzzle In this case it is an actual puzzle. My third novel,  Corners and Straight Edges , will officially release mid-September. The release of a new book is something akin to the first day of school.  There is this feeling of excitement in the air and the anticipation of meeting new friends. Or in this case, new readers. The timing is perfect. School is starting and the book is about a first-grade teacher named Katharine Gilmore. Every Sunday, Katharine and her husband spend the afternoon with her widowed mother, Mimi. Together they work jigsaw puzzles. As they piece the puzzle together, Mimi shares sage advice on life. “Life is like a puzzle. You have to find the corners and straight edges first. Then everything else will fall into place.” So…I took the cover of the novel and turned it into a jigsaw puzzle. A five-hundred piece puzzle. It sounded like a great idea at the time.  But when you dump five hundred puzzle pieces on the dining room table and th...
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Writer's Roost

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  Writer’s Roost… a Newfangled Place to Find Rest…and Words Mike and I started a new venture this past week. We found a place I can call my writer’s retreat. Most of the time. We will likely have snowbirds who would rather wait out the cold here with a beautiful lake and a great pool than to see it through up north.  The house is small, but well appointed. We decided to take the plunge (not in the pool…the financial plunge) and invest in the property.  Yep...the Pool Calls "Take the Plunge!" We thought we were being smart. But… for a minute I thought the house was maybe a bit smarter than us. Mike and I are from a different era. So was our inspector. When he tried to test the stove that is actually new and gorgeous, he couldn’t get it to turn on. Someone said something about it was the newfangled kind …wow I sound old using a word like “newfangled.”  Anyway, the thought was that maybe it had to have a pan on it to turn on. I ran home and brought back a pan....
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The smell of fresh crayons

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  The Smell of Fresh Crayons I walked into a local store the other day to a barrage of school supplies. When you’ve been a teacher almost half of your life and a student of some sort all your life, the smell of fresh crayons and the colorful notebooks lining the store shelves feel like something akin to Christmas.  My husband would disagree.  But I loved school. I loved it so much I spent most of my life as either a student, a teacher, or a professor in a college preparing teachers to serve. When each of my daughters started school, I was thrilled. I knew what an exciting adventure was ahead of them.  While I was in college, I taught preschool part-time.  I did my student teaching shortly after my second daughter was born (Thank you Kathie Fuller for being our “nanny” of sorts.) When we moved to Ohio, I signed up to substitute teach. It was the best way to get to know the community and determine where we would purchase a house. One of my first jobs as a substitu...
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Of This and That

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  Of This and That The Umbrella Factor : Last week I posted about our drought. I shared how old timers often said, “What we need is a good hurricane.” (That is, a hurricane that brings a lot of water without much destruction.) I even posted pictures showing the low water table we’re experiencing. (If you missed that post, you can find it  HERE .)  Mike and I have been praying for rain. I’ve often felt like God’s favorite… but this week? Wow! We’ve had rain! Lots of it. It is beautiful! This is one of those weeks when I can honestly say “When it rains it pours.” Our water table is rising. Slowly, but steadily. The Media Kit : My new novel,  Corners and Straight Edges  will be released September 25 th .  I’m really excited about it, but writing the book is only part of the work. My publishers have a publicist, so now I have been putting my “media kit” together.  I had my new “headshots” taken and chose the ones I’ll need for various uses…like the ba...
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