Ten Things I Love -or Hate - About Being A Writer

 

Ten Things I Love -or Hate - About Being A Writer

Ah, writing, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways......

Well, number one has got to be the freedom.
2)Thinking up neat ideas and following where they lead
3) The rush of seeing my name in print - or online
4) Job satisfaction
5) Always being able to play with imaginary friends
6) The buzz of being 'in the zone'
7) Being able to meet all kinds of people and ask questions that might not be considered polite outside of an interview situation :-)
8) When people know you're a writer, they tell you things
9) Everyone expects writers to be a little weird
10) Learning so much about so many things.....

Of course, there's always a flipside....
1) the freedom - tempered by Real Life and Bills and Deadlines
2) So many ideas, so little time...
3) Knowing that everyone else sees your name, too, so there' s no hiding if you've put your foot in your mouth.
4) Job satisfaction - and all the many frustrations of rejections, edits, proposals, kill fees.....
5) When those imaginary friends become a little TOO real - like when you start sending your protagonists birthday presents....
6) The Zone is great, except when there are deadlines for other projects, kids to be fed and ferried to their activities, Real Life events, etc.
7) Not all interviews are fun. Like the ones I did in the high security wing of a prison, for example...sometimes you have to be careful what questions you ask....:-(
8) When people know you're a writer, they tell you things
9) People do expect writers to be a little weird...
10) Needing to know so much about so many things....

I'm kidding, of course - but if you're a writer, I'd love to hear your loves and hates about your chosen career... 

 

 

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Ten Things I Love -or Hate - About Being A Writer

 

Ten Things I Love -or Hate - About Being A Writer

Ah, writing, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways......

Well, number one has got to be the freedom.
2)Thinking up neat ideas and following where they lead
3) The rush of seeing my name in print - or online
4) Job satisfaction
5) Always being able to play with imaginary friends
6) The buzz of being 'in the zone'
7) Being able to meet all kinds of people and ask questions that might not be considered polite outside of an interview situation :-)
8) When people know you're a writer, they tell you things
9) Everyone expects writers to be a little weird
10) Learning so much about so many things.....

Of course, there's always a flipside....
1) the freedom - tempered by Real Life and Bills and Deadlines
2) So many ideas, so little time...
3) Knowing that everyone else sees your name, too, so there' s no hiding if you've put your foot in your mouth.
4) Job satisfaction - and all the many frustrations of rejections, edits, proposals, kill fees.....
5) When those imaginary friends become a little TOO real - like when you start sending your imaginary protagonists birthday presents....
6) The Zone is great, except when there are deadlines for other projects, kids to be fed and ferried to their activities, Real Life events, etc.
7) Not all interviews are fun. Like the ones I did in the high security wing of a prison, for example...sometimes you have to be careful what questions you ask....:-(
8) When people know you're a writer, they tell you things
9) People do expect writers to be a little weird...
10) Needing to know so much about so many things....

I'm kidding, of course - but if you're a writer, I'd love to hear your loves and hates about your chosen career...

  I just love this pretty layout for The Bride's Curse, Book One in The Wedding Bliss series.

Here's the blurb: Kelly Andrew's store, Wedding Bliss, is the one-stop for all a bride's needs. Abandoned by her own fiancé, she hopes to make it easier for brides by planning their ceremonies down to the last detail. But one little problem keeps her from being successful. Three brides have brought back the same vintage gown saying it was responsible for dashing their dreams. Brett, the nephew of the original owner of the dress, needs to get the gown back. Impossible since Kelly sold the garment and claims the gown is cursed. Brett's confusion at her words deepens when he discovers she communes with ghosts. Yet, when a contrite spirit comes forward, with a message, Brett goes along on a wild-bridegroom chase. Passions flare as they work to break the wedding hex before another bride's dreams goes up in flames.

Many Thanks to The Wild Rose Press and to Renee Johnson!

My Writer's Life: Rise and Fall & Rise Again!

 

That's pretty much the story of my life as a writer. Rise & Fall and Rise...

I knew I was a writer when I was four years old, and the need - yes, it's a need - never quite left me. My patient father had taught me to read and write when I was about three, but he didn't expect the course of those events. Like when my first essay was a challenge to my Sunday School teacher's insistence that God would send bad people to suffer in Hell. At four, I nearly became the youngest person to be thrown out of Sunday School in disgrace...

So, as time went by, I decided I was going to start my writing life working as a journalist. It seemed to fit, somehow. When I was about ten I wrote to one of the biggest daily newspapers in the UK, asking for a job. I must have pleaded my case quite well, because I got a letter back from a senior editor telling me I wrote well, but perhaps I should wait until I was about 18 and reapply...

But jobs were in short supply. I got out of school at 16, needing to make a living. I went to work for the National Health Service...and that didn't last long. Seems I had a bit of a problem questioning procedures I thought could be done more efficiently.

Ditto for the auto parts service I worked at for a while...until I finally irritated the managing editor of another newspaper by calling him every week to ask for a job.

"We don't really employ women," he told me.

Ooh, yes, that was like waving a red flag to a bull. Persistence ran high. I had a job with his newspaper within two months...and he hired more women after me.

I loved being a journalist, worked for a variety of big newspapers and will always look back fondly on the people I worked with and (most) of the people I interviewed.

But something was missing.

I realized I needed to write fiction (no snide remarks about newspapers, please!)

So I wrote my first & second books, contracted to a small company at the very birth of ebooks.

That company scammed its authors. All the signs were there, but I was an innocent in the cut throat world of publishing.

Still, on to another publisher...and another...until I finally reached one of the Big Five. Simon & Schuster.

I was soo very happy there...until they closed down the division that published my books - and those of about100 other authors. With less than a couple of hours notice.

Like I said, it's pretty cutthroat out there.

At the same time, I was undergoing treatment for stage three breast cancer.

Chemo fog had me in its grip. Couldn't think, couldn't write, didn't know what the future held.

Thought my writing days were over.

But apparently it wasn't so. The books that S & S abandoned were picked up by another successful publisher, and another great publisher took a couple of my other books.

I'm writing again, even though at times it's a struggle.

The up and down and up of a writer's career can really wear a person out.

But writing is like a virus in the blood - there's no cure.

You just keep on and on...

So, if you're a writer going through one of those down times, don't give up. Keep on writing! 

 Sure, you just put pen to paper, or open a computer file and start tapping away. Or, as a well known writer whose name slips my mind at the moment (happens a lot these days) said,"You just open up a vein."

 Take a Peek at The Bride's Curse!

 Delighted to announce that The Bride's Curse, Number One in the Wedding Bliss Series, is now published by The Wild Rose Press and available for pre-order! 

What do a Wedding Planner, a Jilted Bride, a Missing Groom, and a Ghost With a Bad Conscience have in Common?

https://tinyurl.com/yg6cq8fp

Here's the Blurb:

Kelly Andrew's store, Wedding Bliss, is the one-stop for all a bride's needs. Abandoned by her own fiancé, she hopes to make it easier for brides by planning their ceremonies down to the last detail. But one little problem keeps her from being successful. Three brides have brought back the same vintage gown saying it was responsible for dashing their dreams.

Brett, the nephew of the original owner of the dress, needs to get the gown back. Impossible since Kelly sold the garment and claims the gown is cursed. Brett's confusion at her words deepens when he discovers she communes with ghosts. Yet, when a contrite spirit comes forward, with a message, Brett goes along on a wild-bridegroom chase. Passions flare as they work to break the wedding hex before another bride's dreams goes up in flames.  

But all's well that ends well - the fun is in getting there!

 

 If a Kind Word Means So Much - Why Are We Afraid to Give One?

How do you react to being praised? How do you feel if you give a kind word or admiring comment to someone else?

An article in Psychology Today, reveals an interesting bit of research first published in the journal Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. They suggest that we tend to underestimate how well another person will feel about a compliment, and we overestimate the cost to us of giving one. The result is that we hold back the kind word or bit of praise we thought of uttering.

Yet praise or a kind word can mean so much to all of us at one time or another.

That could be anything like a comment of how well they looked, how well they'd done a job, through to how pretty their shirt was or how much their hairstyle suited them. You know, everyday compliments that we all give or think of giving - sometimes.

Following up on this, participants in research by a group of scientists were asked to offer a 'sincere' compliment to a stranger. The participants were asked how they felt about
approaching someone and giving them a compliment, what their own mood was like, and how they thought the stranger they were speaking to would react.
The researchers then looked at the results: The compliment recipients reported for the most part that they were happy, flattered, and pleased to receive the compliment.
It was a two-way street - the compliment givers reported that their own mood improved after giving the compliment or kind word, even though they had underestimated how pleased the people on the receiving end would be.
See? It was a win-win situation. Those who gave the sincere kind words or compliments felt in a much better mood, and those who received the compliments reacted positively.
So next time, when an opportunity comes up to say something nice about one of our fellow humans, maybe we should take a chance and not hold back.

So, thank you for being smart enough to read my blog :-)

 Uhmmm-Yum!  Traditional Irish Soda Bread.     The perfect accompaniment to your St Patrick's Day Meal!

I lived an worked in Ireland for a few years and saw a great change in the Irish culinary attitude, due in main to the membership of the European Union. Travel on the continent, and the influx of people from many different countries, led to an explosion of different cultural gastronomic delights. Even the small town I lived and worked in had one of the best Indian restaurants I have ever had the pleasure of dining at - and there've been a few!

 But on food item that still holds sway in the country is the traditional brown soda bread. This is how I was taught to make it, and it's perfect for St. Patrick's Day, whether you're going the whole way and having an Irish stew, or just enjoying slathering a home made jam on the bread as a simple tea.

Irish Brown Soda Bread:

250g wholemeal flour (sometimes known as wholewheat or brown flour)

100g plain flour

50g porridge oats

1 level tsp alt

1 heaped tsp of bread soda  (I sometimes used baking soda as a substitute)

200 -250 ml buttermilk (you can add a teaspoon of white vinegar or lemon juice to fresh milk if you don't have buttermilk!)

1) Preheat oven to 210C (approx 375 on most Canadian ovens)

2)Put wholemeal flour, oats, and sugar into a bowl, sieve in the white flour, salt & soda.

3) Mix well, using a wooden spoon or your hands.

4)Add buttermilk slowly and until a dough is formed. You may not use all the buttermilk.

5) You want a dough that is not very sticky and that you can form into a ball.

6) place on a floured surface and knead gently for a couple of minutes.

7)Form into a ball again, place on a greased, floured baking sheet, and press gently to flatten just a little into a round shape. 

8) brush lightly with milk, then with a sharp knife, cut the traditional cross deeply into the dough. Some people like to cut right through.

(9) Bake for about35 to 40 minutes. Enjoy the lovely scent of baking bread! 

Your soda bread is done when it looks risen and sounds a bit hollow when you tap the bottom.

Put on your table on a wooden bread board with a sharp knife. Cut slices as needed, slather them with butter for a stew or butter and jam for an afternoon treat! Enjoy!

And for a bit of Irish atmosphere, my Irish detective novel, Winters &Somers, is on a fantastic 99c sale at Smashwords from now until the 18th of March as a St Patrick's Day special. The Smashwords coupon code is MT29A and the link is https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/444879 if you want to take a peek!