A Good Book is Hard to Find

English: Girl Reading a Wikpedia-Book from PediaPress (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This post by Jennifer Flaten

As you know, I am an avid reader. I like nothing better than reading (okay, maybe I like cupcakes more), but I do really enjoy reading. In fact, if I have a good book, I will ignore my children, put off work or going to bed until I finish the book.

I enjoy a wide variety of genres and writing styles, but (and it is a big one) I don’t have a lot of patience. If the book doesn’t hold my attention or I dislike the characters, I stop reading it. Most of the time, I know within a few pages whether I will see the book to the end or not. Still, there is the occasional book that starts out strong, but somewhere in the middle loses steam.

At that point, I will either give up entirely or if the “hook” is interesting enough and I really have to know “who done it” I will skip to the end of the book and read it backwards until I satisfy my curiosity.

I do this with movies too. Just the other night I gave up on the movie Dream House with Daniel Craig. It just wasn’t a very good movie, yet I was curious enough about the ending that I used IMDB (that’s internet movie database to you) to read the plot synopsis.

I don’t want to spoil it for anyone thinking about watching the movie, I will just say that the big reveal actually made the flaws in the storytelling seem all that more annoying.

So, let me know do you hang on to the bitter end in a book even if you don’t like it or are you like me and you ditch it?

Also, what is the worst book (or movie) you ever watched to the end (maybe because you had to write a book report on it)?

Follow me on Facebook
Visit my website Dragon and Butterfly Design
Check out my shop on Etsy

A Fresh Start

This Post by Gayle M. Irwin

Although we may not agree based upon where we live, the calendar states spring is only 10 days away. I love spring – colorful flowers protruding from the ground, tree buds breaking forth, the ground and air refreshed after a rain (or spring snow). Spring is all about fresh starts.

Our blind dog, Sage, passed away nearly a year ago. My husband and I had to have a fresh start in life without her. The sudden realization of her cancer and her ultimate passing gave us quite a jolt; not only had she been part of our family for more than a decade, she had also been the catalyst to my book endeavors, and she traveled with me to schools, libraries and bookstores: we had a partnership in many ways. No one ever “replaces” someone or something they love, but one’s life must go on – new starts can be found.

Sage and Gayle at Barnes and Noble in Billings MT.

A fresh start came our way about a month ago when we adopted Mary, a half-springer/half-cocker we found through a dog rescue organization we support. My husband and I had been thinking of adopting again, but we needed to find “just the right dog”: we have two cats and a 15-year-old male cocker. Also, I had been toying with the idea of participating in pet therapy, taking a new dog we’d adopt to nursing homes, hospice, libraries, children’s hospitals, etc., so our “needs” in a dog were pretty stringent. Mary had already gone through the therapy training, she had been raised with cats, and she was good with other dogs. Her demeanor was noted as “calm”, and she was a bit older, middle-aged actually. Her owner died unexpectedly, and the family, in shock, wasn’t sure what to do, so they contacted the rescue group. Mary’s life, similar to ours a year ago, was in turmoil; we offered her a fresh start, and she has given that to us as well.

I’ve already taken Mary to a bookstore, and this week she and I will be tested as pet therapy partners. Already the “freshness” of life together is bursting forth, much like the buds on my apple trees or the daffodils rising in the front flower beds.

We all need fresh starts, whether it’s simply from winter to spring in nature’s seasons or from the cold, windy times of our lives to sunny, more smiling days. I’ve smiled a lot more in the past three weeks after adopting Mary than I have since losing Sage. We have a new beginning, with the pet therapy program and through the cozy snuggle Mary gives us while sitting in our recliners; I even see a renewed spring in our old cocker spaniel’s step since Mary has come to live with us.

Writers often need a fresh start. Perhaps it’s pruning chapters or characters, or maybe it’s trimming dialogue… it may even include starting over and beginning the book with a different setting. Three years ago I started a story about dog rescue; it’s geared for middle readers and families, teaching them about the selfless volunteers who serve homeless pets through rescue organizations and the startling statistics of those animals. This spring I started fresh – a writing class I took at the college gave me opportunity to refresh the manuscript, just like spring renews the landscape. I completely re-wrote the beginning; my first draft was “a downer”… I needed the beginning to be more upbeat to keep readers reading. Yes, the story will have sadness because dogs (and cats) that are rescued usually have a sorrowful backstory. But, the ending is positive, and I needed the start of the story to reflect the positive that will happen in the end. My manuscript, like my own life now, has a fresh start… just as spring tantalizes its arrival in my part of the world.

It was 55 degrees and sunny Thursday and Friday last week; a skiff of snow lay on the ground Saturday morning. Welcome to springtime in the Rockies! I still smiled for our landscape needs the moisture, and those flowers and trees will be soaking that layer of wet through their roots, giving themselves a refreshing drink and producing vibrancy in just a few weeks.

Are you like those flowers, needing refreshment in your life? Where do you need a fresh start? Does your writing need some pruning or perhaps a total re-write? Does something in your personal life need renewal? My book Walking in Trust: Lessons Learned with My Blind Dog reflects refreshment, through faith, rest, joy, love, loyalty and other topics. Sage reflected all of those traits, and she helped me to “see” where I needed to implement them more diligently. I look forward to what Mary will teach me as well. It’s wonderful to have a fresh start! May this spring be a time of renewal for you, too!

A “renewal” of sorts has also come for Walking in Trust… – which was released last October – in the form of a review from Midwest Book Reviewers; a review will also appear in the April edition of WREN, Wyoming’s electric cooperative magazine, a publication that periodically reviews books written by Wyoming authors.

Gayle M. Irwin is the author of Walking in Trust: Lessons Learned with My Blind Dog and other books about her dogs, including stories for children. Learn more about her writing and speaking at www.gaylemirwin.com.

Happy New Year – Be of Good Cheer – By Sherry Hartzler

This post by Sherry Hartzler

 

 

 

Okay, it’s a new year. My resolutions are already half-way out the door, waving bye-bye. So, for the rest of the year I’ve decided to be just myself: write, read, and enjoy life to best of my abililty. In other words, I vow to enjoy life and open my eyes to new possibilities. Due to the super media frenzy of letting us know all the horribleness of the world, it’s darn lucky anyone can hold their heads up and have a positive attitude about anything.

The trick to KISS is to simply dive into our inner lives and produce what’s hiding behind all the “emotions” of what’s going on in the outside world. Remember though, it’s important that every so often, break to the surface and take in a good breath of reallity, and then drop back below the surface and use what you’ve learned to write the best story ever. Writers inject fear, hope, inspiration, humor, adventure and romance into their stories to create an end that justifies the beginning. We are writers who must write and the new year is always a new “Chapter One.”

Ground rules: January 1st, 2013

1.  Clear your desk of anything that distracts. That also means staying off of FB, games, and email;

2.  Don’t crowd the desk with the entire project. Give yourself space and a sense of accomplishment by breaking the project into workable portions that don’t overwhelm you.;

3.  Realize that recurrent disruptions are part of life, i.e. housework, phone calls, grocery shopping, day-job, kids, grandchildren, and all the other little things that take up time in a writer’s daily existence. We aren’t superhuman, we are human beings who write about human beings. Remember these little disruptions are the very things that often inspire our writing;

4.  Eat well. Don’t even think about taking a bag of potato chips or cookies to your work area and calling it lunch. Break for lunch, just as you would on your regular job site. Now this next suggestion might seem silly to some, but not to me. Be kind to yourself and go to the bathroom when you feel the urge and not “hold it in” for hours, thinking  you can get in at least another paragraph. Not a good thing for  your bladder;

5.  Remember to stay connected with friends and family. They tend to think you are avoiding them. Writing is a lonesome task and it can easily be interpreted as being selfish and self-centered. (Who, me?) You betcha. I’m guilty of that. It’s imperative we stay connected with those we love. Again, we are human beings who need the love and support of those we love;

6.   Negativity is poison. Meditation is good for draining this poison from your ego;

7.  Know when to separate yourself from the story. Like bread dough, let it ferment for a while before punching it down and reshaping the dough into it’s final form;

8.  Opinions are like an AA meeting: “Take what you want and leave the rest”;

9.  A good attitude is like gold to the soul;

10. Believe in yourself. Anything outside of your POV, doesn’t really count. In other words, don’t worry about what you think others think of you. It’s a waste of time and energy. In other words, be yourself. And that brings me back to my new year’s resolution.

Sherry Hartzler is the author of Three Moons Over Sedona and Island Passage – Available on Amazon.com

.  .http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=sherry+hartzler

 

Wiggly eyes and Chin Dropping Action

This Blog                                                                                                                                                                        by Cher’ley Grogg

Before you have your character perform a certain act, try it yourself. Her eyes rolled all the way back in her head as she thought.  He wiggled his eyes and raised one eyebrow, while dropping his jaw to his chest.

How many expressions can you find in this picture?

I see these expressions all the time and I try to do them. I know there are some things people can do that I can’t like wiggle their ears, raise one eyebrow, and touch their nose with their tongue, but I don’t know anyone who can wiggle their eyes or realistically drop their jaw to their chest.

Beauty Girl Surprise. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Using expressions is good, just be careful how you use them and when you use them.

Towards the end of chapter 13 in “The Secret in Grandma’s Trunk”, the Dickens children are talking about cookies. Two of them tend to be a little heavier and the third one, Jacob, is wiry and he’s chastising the other two. “I don’t think being skinny is a requisite for playing soccer.” She held her chin high in the air. “Besides, I’m losing.”

An exercise I did one time was to watch something happening, out of hearing distance, and put all the emotions into it that I could. It just so happened I was riding down the road in Ohio and a state trooper had pulled someone over. I had my husband slow way down so I could get a better look and I wrote down everything I saw. I don’t remember what I wrote for the assignment, but I remember the incident and the emotions. Emotions are what we are trying to get across, so that is what we should try to put into our writing.

Here’s a link to Center for Nonverbal Studies, it’s very interesting.

If you are a reader, I hope you will read “The Secret in Grandma’s Trunk” it is full of emotion, from very high anger to a satisfying feeling of belonging.

“Stamp Out Murder”.

“The Secret in Grandma’s Trunk” This is an especially good book for your Tween Children and Grandchildren.

And please join me on my Facebook Fanpage, that’s managed by one of my most faithful fans: Cindy Ferrell

I Shouldn’t Even Be Doing This

by Alethea Williams

Thanks to my friend Abbie Johnson Taylor and comedian Bob Newhart for the title of this blog post.  It comes from his book I Shouldn’t Even Be Doing This: And Other Things that Strike Me as Funny, which Abbie reviewed for her blog, Abbie’s Corner of the World.

Abbie is a writer.  She reviews books.  I am a writer, and I review books.  Call me crazy.  I’m probably wasting my time, as reviews by writers are being deleted by Amazon, so I shouldn’t even be doing reviews. But I have had my new Kindle for about a week and there are already 98 book selections in my library!  How could this happen?

by adamr at freedigitalphotos.net

First of all, I am an admitted book junkie.  I will read any genre, literary, and nonfiction. So when I run across the marketing promotions authors run on Facebook for free downloads of their books, I usually can’t resist.  What they’re looking for is a review in exchange for the free book – in addition to a bump in their book’s ranking which is supposed to develop buzz and help sales when the book is no longer free.

Amazon is in the process of deleting reviews of books by authors, claiming that writers somehow have a financial interest any book since it has been discovered that one author has pseudonymously written bad reviews for others’ books and good reviews for his own.

I only download free books I really think I would be interested in.  I haven’t read one yet that I think deserved only one or two stars, but if I can’t leave at least three stars I don’t rate the book.  I do leave reviews of books that I really like, stars for books that I merely like, and nothing at all for books that I don’t like.  Is this system dishonest?  Does my awareness of how bad reviews hurt writers’ feelings – if not actual sales figures – make my opinion biased?

by digital art at freedigitalphotos.net

For my own part, I don’t pay much attention to reviews.  I notice if a book has a bunch of five-star reviews and one or two outliers of one-stars.  I also notice if a book has no reviews or a lot of bad reviews.  It’s my experience that most one-star reviews result from people indiscriminately downloading books they wouldn’t ordinarily read, just because they’re free, and then being disappointed with their own mistake.  I don’t read every single review, and so I’m not sure if the hubbub over sock puppet and paid reviews is merited or whether Amazon’s decision to take down all reviews of books by writers isn’t hurting them as much as us.

What do you think?  Do you write books as well as review them?  Do you feel you’re doing your best to be honest when you review?  Have you had any of your reviews deleted?

The author of historical novel Willow Vale, available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Jargon Media. Alethea Williams blogs on Actually Alethea about writing, writers, and Wyoming history.  Follow on Twitter @actuallyalethea, or visit Alethea Williams, author on Facebook.  Comments and honest feedback always welcome!