Month: December 2022

Committed To Writing But Not To Deadlines #OpenBook Blog Hop

  By Open Book

 

Dec 26, 2022

Do you set monthly/yearly goals for your writing? What are your goals for the coming year?

I understand the concept of goals, really I do. I’ve had to make them for years for various jobs. But my goals for my writing are much looser. I want to enjoy the process and not stress about meeting deadlines.

Obviously, this blog is different. It’s a once a week commitment. That shouldn’t imply I don’t enjoy it, but I don’t feel pressure about making it an award-winning post, either.

I also don’t stress about writing my books. Well, that’s not totally true. My characters have caused me misery when they don’t behave themselves. But my deadlines for finishing a book are usually flexible. I’d rather get the story right than meet an artificial deadline.

If you ask me to state my goals, I’ll tell you I want to finish my current WIP (The Rise of Jake Hennessey) in time to have it at an event in June. It’s far enough away to allow me to enjoy the process of revisions. Then, I’ll start another story. Which one of the several that have been rattling around in the back of my brain, I’m not sure. What I won’t say is that I want to complete three books by the end if the year and give you dates for preorder and publication. Not gonna do it. Nor am I going to strive to increase my newsletter subscribers by 25%, like the gurus of publicity demand. (But if you’d like to subscribe, there’s a link over there —> I’d appreciate it.)

There are authors who plot a whole series of books before they start writing, and know the anticipated release dates for all of them. More power to them, but I won’t be joining their ranks. are there any authors on this hop in this group? You can follow the links below to find out. 

Hope y’all are staying warm, and, until next time, please stay safe.

 

Dec 26, 2022

Do you set monthly/yearly goals for your writing? What are your goals for the coming year?

Rules:
1. Link your blog to this hop.
2. Notify your following that you are participating in this blog hop.
3. Promise to visit/leave a comment on all participants’ blogs.
4. Tweet/or share each person’s blog post. Use #OpenBook when tweeting.
5. Put a banner on your blog that you are participating.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

 

Shopping by the Book #OpenBook Blog Hop

  By Open Book

Dec 19, 2022

What did you want for birthday/Christmas that you never got and might be bitter about? Have you bought it for yourself?

Back in the days of yore, companies like Sears and Montgomery Ward would send out “Christmas catalogs’ with toys, clothing, and gift items not available in their normal catalogs. Yes, those were the days before Amazon, when people shopped by flipping through massive paper catalogs to find clothes and other items they needed that couldn’t be found in the local stores. The Christmas books were smaller, but still held a world of dreams for us kids.

We’d spend hours flipping through the pages, picking out items for our lists for Santa. We knew he had a limited budget and many kids to take presents too, but we always put extra items on our lists in case he ran out of something.

One year, an item on my list was a Carrom board. This was a wooden toy that had a checkerboard, a backgammon board on the other side, and pockets in the corner for a miniature-type pool game. Well, Christmas came, and the board was under the tree – with my brother’s name on the gift tag. Turned out, he’d requested the same thing.

 

I was disappointed, of course, but he shared—sometimes. I won’t say I was bitter about it, but it hurt for a little while. When I became an adult and got married, our first Christmas together, my husband and I bought our own copy. We had it for many years.

By the way, I find it amusing that Amazon sends out paper catalogs. Yes, on-line ordering is convenient, but there’s a lot to be said for flipping through a small book you can hold in your hands.

Did any of our other authors not get a gift they really wanted? Find out by following the links below. 

As always, until next time, please stay safe.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Dec 19, 2022

What did you want for birthday/Christmas that you never got and might be bitter about? Have you bought it for yourself?

Rules:
1. Link your blog to this hop.
2. Notify your following that you are participating in this blog hop.
3. Promise to visit/leave a comment on all participants’ blogs.
4. Tweet/or share each person’s blog post. Use #OpenBook when tweeting.
5. Put a banner on your blog that you are participating.

 

Adding Local Flavor #OpenBook Blog Hop

  By Open Book

Dec 12, 2022

Tell us about something local to where you live. Have you ever made it part of your stories?

I use local scenery in my stories all the time. While the world my characters live in may be a figment of my imagination, the geography that they interact with is often real-world. A great example of this is the library where my character Harmony Duprie spends much of her time.

I’ve mentioned it before. It’s one of the Carnegie libraries, and based on the library in the town where I grew up. They aren’t exact matches, but close enough to count. It’s featured in most of the Harmony Duprie Mysteries. Make sense, since Harmony was a librarian there.

 

That’s not the only building I’ve used. My aunt and uncle owned a large Victorian-era house, and they rented the third floor to a lady. And there’s my inspiration for Harmony’s apartment. The area has plenty of true Victorian homes, and it was logical to include them when ‘building’ Oak Grove, the fictional city in the books.

I’ve had to eliminate some local lingo from my writing. Words that are part of everyday speech but not well-known outside of the area. (Check out this link if you’re interested – Pittsburghese )

One or two words may sneak in, but I work hard to replace them with standard US words. (when I spot them!)

I guess I should mention the one book that doesn’t take place in Western Pennsylvania/Ohio. Wolves’ Gambit was meant to start in Wyoming and move back east, but the move never happened. So, I sprinkled the story with references to that state, where there are more cattle than people. (A great place for wolf shifters to hang out.) evil’s Tower, Yellowstone, Gillette, Casper. I tried to work in Meeteetse and Chugwater, but they didn’t work out. Neither did Buford, a dot on the map that had a population of 1 for awhile. But I did mention tumbleweed!

That’s how I get local references into my stories. It’ll be interesting to see how the other authors do it. I’ll be checking out their posts by following the links below.

As always, until next time, please stay safe.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

 

Dec 12, 2022

Tell us about something local to where you live. Have you ever made it part of your stories?

Rules:
1. Link your blog to this hop.
2. Notify your following that you are participating in this blog hop.
3. Promise to visit/leave a comment on all participants’ blogs.
4. Tweet/or share each person’s blog post. Use #OpenBook when tweeting.
5. Put a banner on your blog that you are participating.

 

 

Catching Up on Goals #IWSG

  By IWSG

Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!

December 7 question – It’s holiday time! Are the holidays a time to catch up or fall behind on writer goals?

The awesome co-hosts for the December 7 posting of the IWSG are Joylene Nowell Butler, Chemist Ken, Natalie Aguirre, Nancy Gideon, and Cathrina Constantine!

I retired from my day job this past summer, and am slowly discovering the joys of not having deadlines—at least, not many of them. There are still bills to pay and doctors’ appointments to keep, but I can arrange my life so I don’t have to worry about three conflicting deadlines all on the same day. Shoot, sometimes my biggest concern is what day I’m going to the grocery store!

But I finished my first draft of my WIP last night, (The Redemption of Jake Hennessey) so now it’s time to consider some self-imposed goals. There’s a con I’ve been accepted to as a vender next June, and I’d like to have the book edited and ready to go by then. That’s six months away, but a lot of work has to happen between now and then.

Thankfully, I don’t have any catching up to do. Yes, I’ve been in the position where I used the holidays to catch up on my writing, but I no longer have to do that. If I can get a chapter a day edited, I’ll be ahead. It’s an amazing feeling. (and yes, I know I should let the story sit for a week or two before I start editing, but I won’t.)

I suspect most of the folks on this hop don’t enjoy the same benefit as I am enjoying. To find out if they write over the holidays, don’t forget to check out the posts below.

As always, until next time, please stay safe.

Going on a Binge #OpenBook Blog Hop

  By IWSG, Open Book

Dec 5, 2022

What TV show/or Movie, or book do you binge/return to/ re-watch the most?

If you’ve hung out here for any amount of time, you already know I don’t watch TV. Oh, I might stop and watch a few minutes of the news or whatever my husband is watching, but I rarely plan time to watch any show. Last time I did was over five years ago. 

Books are a different story. In the past few years, I’ve moved my go-to gift item from jewelry to books. (And since I retired, I rarely wear jewelry.) 

But I’m allowed to make exceptions, right? I stumbled across the now-ended series ‘Lucifer’. It seemed like fun. Best part was, I didn’t have to wait week after week for the next episode or the next season. It was all neatly wrapped up and waiting on Netflix. (I have to remember to close that account now!) So, I watched it. Sometimes three of four episodes in a day. It was my reward to me for making it through all the hard work and stress that came with moving halfway across the country. 

I haven’t picked up any new shows to watch. I got it out of my system.

I haven’t gotten binging on books out of my system. Hopefully, I never will. My latest binge was a dozen books in the Stephanie Plum series (and a few offshoots.) That put me up to book twenty-two of the series. Now, I’m taking a break, spending spare time on holiday preparations. (And binging on editing The Redemption of Jake Hennessey. I’ve never had the luxury of focusing on editing on of my books before because my day job required most of my attention.) 

What book/ series do I return to the most? At the moment, none. My taste in authors is changing. Or maybe it’s because so many authors have allowed their series to stretch out too long and the books come off as rehashing the same story. I’m more interested in discovering new (to me, at least) authors. (That goes for me, too. It’s time to start writing a new series of books.)

And I keep promising myself that I will read at least one book from each of the authors who contribute on regularly to this hop. I’m trying to develop new habits and make better use of my abundance of free time. The internet is a wonderful and terrible way to waste that time.

Do you have any suggestions that I should add to my to-be-read list? Leave them in the comments, please. 

Don’t forget to check out what the other authors on this hop are watching/reading by following the links below.

And, as always, until next time, please stay safe.

Dec 5, 2022

What TV show/or Movie, or book do you binge/return to/ re-watch the most?

Rules:
1. Link your blog to this hop.
2. Notify your following that you are participating in this blog hop.
3. Promise to visit/leave a comment on all participants’ blogs.
4. Tweet/or share each person’s blog post. Use #OpenBook when tweeting.
5. Put a banner on your blog that you are participating.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter