Changes

A friend who has been blogging for longer than I have gave me some gentle hints about some changes she thought I should make. One of the suggestions was to put up a less depressing Gravatar picture. She thought the picture of the crypt might scare away many of my younger readers and creep out some of the older ones! The problem is, I can’t decide what photo I should use instead. Perhaps some of you could help me with that decision. Here are my choices:

Number 1 – a Klingon and me, taken at The Star Trek Experience in Las Vegas in 2004. This is the picture I used when I started my Blogpost last year and the blog identity I have to use when commenting on some of the Blogpost sites, since my WordPress ID doesn’t always work. It might be good to have a consistent picture for both sites. Do you agree?

 

Number 2 – a portion of the cover from my second book ‘Spirit Quest’. I think that Relish Design Studios did a wonderful job on the cover and thought it might be a good idea to show it off.

 

Number 3 – I was going through some old pictures, wondering if there were any that I could use and found a couple if interesting ones First, there was this picture of me when I was about 3 taken at Halloween. Great disguise, don’t you think?

 

Number 4 – Or maybe this one of me at around age 5 suits me better! lol

 

 

 

Number 5 is a picture of one of the bells from the St. Boniface Cathedral, which figures strongly in my next book. Perhaps this would be more appropriate than the sarcophagus containing the remains of Archbishop Cochrane, who rescued Michelle in the first book.

 

 

Number 6 – and finally, the cutest of all, in my opinion, is this pic of my grandson taken last weekend. Mind you, I’m not so sure I should plaster his face all over the internet, but for those who are visiting my blog, it is a rare treat for you!

So, of the first five pictures I have posted, which do you think would make the best Gravatar picture to replace the creepy old crypt? I will make my decision on Friday, I think.

 

One change that I have already made is I added an email address to my About page. I should have done this from the beginning so that people can contact me directly, especially if they are too shy to have their comments posted publicly or their comments are too personal for others to read. One of my readers recently pointed this out to me, as well as my friend, so I replied to her comment and added the email address into the REPLY on the About page.

Well, I think that’s about it for now. I look forward to reading your comments.

Flash Fiction Campaigner Challenge

Well, I think I lived up to the challenge Rachel gave us Writer’s Platform-Building Campaigners. The rules she set up are:

Write a short story/flash fiction story in 200 words or less, excluding the title. It can be in any format, including a poem. Begin the story with the words, “Shadows crept across the wall”. These five words will be included in the word count.

If you want to give yourself an added challenge (optional), do one or more of these:

• end the story with the words: “everything faded.” (also included in the word count)

• include the word “orange” in the story

• write in the same genre you normally write

• make your story 200 words exactly!

I decided to make this piece of flash fiction something I could add into my next story, so here it is:

Shadows crept across the wall, wavering strangely, not flickering across the straight flat edge of my bedroom wall, but the sloped whitened skin of a tepee painted with the orange design of a bison. It took a moment for my brain to grasp the significance of that. Then I remembered the withershins, the ritual that had landed me here in 1869.

A familiar snore roared from the man on the other side of the fire. I glanced over at him – the man with my father’s face, the man whose spirit had been reborn into the man my mother loved in the future. Bear stirred but did not awaken.

The various-sized mounds of his children slept around me. One of them would be my great-great-great-great-whatever grandmother or grandfather. I tried hard to wrap my mind around the fact that I had travelled over a hundred and forty years back in time. Why was I here?  When Mom came back, she’d had a destiny. I wondered what mine was.

It was too much.

I yawned, still weary from the long horseback ride from Fort Garry to Bear’s village near what would be Netley Creek. As I drifted back to sleep, everything faded.

Check out Rachel’s site here, where there is a list of other participants and their stories. I’ve already read some of them and they are very good. It’s fun to see how everyone has a different take on those first five words – Shadows crept across the wall…

Kick The Can

Kick The Can was one of my favourite games growing up. We had a five-yard playing area and all the kids on the block would participate. For those of you who have never played it, here’s kind of how it worked: Of course, someone was IT. An empty can was placed in the middle of the yard in plain sight. The other players scattered, while IT counted, usually to one hundred. The rules were kind of like Hide-And-Seek. IT would spot someone and call, “One, two, three on (So-and-so), then race back to touch the can. Those who were caught would have to sit on the front steps until a fellow player snuck up behind IT, kicked the can as far as they could, and ALL the players would scatter, again. If no one was able to free the other players, the person who was caught first would become IT.

What has that to do with anything, you might ask? Well, it’s a game I played when I was younger (and fitter). Another game we used to play was TAG. It seems that TAG is a game that no one outgrows, since I was tagged three times, yesterday! Sorry, I wasn’t able to play before this as I was out most of yesterday and by the time I read my messages, it was late and my brain was too fried to think of how to answer all those questions, let alone think of new ones and to whom to send them.

So, without further ado, here is my response to C. B. Wentworth‘s questions:

1) What book have you always wanted to read, but still haven’t gotten around to it?

Lord of the Rings. I read The Hobbit years ago, bought the series, but never actually sat down to read them (I know, that’s shameful!)

2) What classic book do you feel is overrated? Why?

Don Quiote. I really tried to read it but lost interest pretty quickly.

3) What is your favorite movie adaptation of a book?  Least favorite?

My favourite is the most recent version of C. S. Lewis’ ‘The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe’. Least favourite would probably be the movie based on Frank Hubert’s ‘Dune’. They tried to fit too much into too short of a time. The series was able to fit more in, although I wasn’t crazy about that, either.

4) Where is your favorite place to write?

I used to use the old computer downstairs until it crashed and hasn’t been fixed or upgraded. It was a great space to write with no distractions. All my resources were there for research, which was convenient. Since the decline of that computer, I have taken over that space with my crafting supplies, so I can’t write there any more. I now have a laptop that I can take anywhere, but haven’t found a really good spot other than in my big comfy recliner. If I am doing research, I will use the huge antique dining table where I can spread out all my resources. The only problem with that is when company comes and I have to pack everything up and put it away! I might try taking it to a coffee house and see how I like that setting.

5) Pen or pencil?

Pencil. I like being able to erase my mistakes (because I make a LOT of them!)

6) What was your favorite toy as a child?

A stuffed donkey. I carried it everywhere with me.

7) What is the greatest accomplishment of your life?

Besides raising my two wonderful young adult children, getting published.

8) If you could wake up tomorrow having gained any one ability or quality, what would it be?

The ability to clean my house in the blink of an eye!

9) What are five songs you hate to admit you love?

Close To You by the Carpenters, anything by John Denver or Barry Manilow.

10) Where is your dream destination, (or place you’ve always wanted to go)?

There are so many places I want to go. One of them is Australia. A friend lived in Waroonga, New South Wales. I love the sound of that name and want to visit more places that sound like that! I also like a lot of TV series (Blue Heelers, Water Rats, Sea Patrol) and I’d like to see some of the places where the shows were set.

11) What are the top five things on your bucket list?

Most of my bucket list involves travel. I wish I could afford to do all of these things:

1. Visit my distant cousins in Britain and then go to Stonehendge, while we’re there

2. Visit my hubby’s cousins in France who own a winery and while we’re in the neighbourhood, I’d like to see the Eiffel Tower

3. See the pyramids and Sphynx up close.

4. See the heads on Easter Island.

5. Take a train trip through Europe and see a lot of castles.

Now, let’s answer Sarah Robertson‘s questions:

1) What do you like to eat for breakfast? 

When I am working, I will usually have orange juice and a bowl of oatmeal with fresh fruit, usually bananas. On weekends, I’ll make bacon & eggs or pancakes.

2) Shakespeare: yay or nay?

Yay

3) Do you have any guilty pleasures? 

Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate!

4) What is your favorite thing to write about? 

I don’t have a favourite. I like to write SciFi, Fantasy, time travel – I like the opportunity to create my own worlds, or walk my character through historical places.

5) Choice of the century: cake or pie? 

cake

6) Got any non-writing hobbies?

I like scrapbooking, either cards or pages

7) If you had a theme song, what would it be?

I have no idea. I racked my brain, trying to think of a song that would suit me, but came up blank

8) What’s your favorite writing snack?

I rarely eat while I am writing. I usually write until my stomach growls, then I’ll go to the fridge. I’ll eat away from the computer and come back to it when I’m finished. I will have a cup of tea or coffee or water within reach, though.

9) Do you have any pets?

I inherited my daughter’s Polydactyl (six-toed) Tuxedo cat when she moved out because she couldn’t take him with her due to medical reasons. I feel a little like Hemmingway, with my six-toed cat!

10) If you could live anywhere, where would it be?

A quaint little cottage in Britain with a beautiful garden – but I would have to be able to hire a gardener as I have a brown thumb!

11) Got any book recommendations?

Anything by Anne McCaffrey or Clive Cussler, but my favourite of all time was ‘Shogun’ by James Clavell.

And finally (whew!) those questions posed by WChaser:

1.  If you could be any fictional baddie who would you be and why?

It’s really hard to imagine myself as a bad person. I rarely even raise my voice or get angry so to imagine me doing anything as bad as a fictional villain is too foreign to me.

2. If you could go back in time and stop someone being born who would it be?

The obvious choice would be Hitler, but I’ve read about all the horrible experiments that Mengela did, so I think the world would be better if he’d never been born.

3. When do you get your most inspirational ideas?

In that moment just before I wake up.

4.  If you had to live without either books or music, which would it be?

Stories can be told without books, so I guess I could live without them. Music, on the other hand, is the universal language. It is a way for me to connect with many of my special needs students.

5.  Who provides the most encouragement for your writing?

My family

6.  If you could have one wish, what would it be?

It would have been nice for my parents to have lived long enough to meet my daughter’s son, so I think my wish would be to live long enough to see my first grandchild born.

7.  Do you remember your dreams and do they influence your writing?

All the time and yes! Many of my stories started off as a dream segment.

8.  What word do you frequently misspell?

One of those ‘i’ before ‘e’ words that has the ‘e’ first, like ‘receive’. When spell check underlines it as a mistake, then I remember to reverse the letters.

9.  How much influence in your writing do you take from other people’s opinions?

I take criticism from my writer’s group very seriously and will often listen to their advice because I trust their judgment.

10. If there is one book you wish you’d written, what is it?

Harry Potter, because it became such an overnight success!

11. Starter or Dessert?

If I’m at a restaurant, I will usually share an appetizer, but then not have room for dessert. At home, I definitely leave room for dessert!

Now is the time when I have to TAG somebody and pose another 11 questions. I tried to pick people from my Campaign that did not seem to have been tagged yet, so here they are:

The Literary Mom

Arresting Developments

Callie Kingston

Jon Yang

Skin and Paper

Unsettled

Journey in Writing

Weaving Colors

Seventh Story Studios

I hope they want to play. Check out their blogs to see if they answered the following questions:

1. What was your favourite book you had to read in school (if you had one)? Least favourite?

2. If you could be any animal on Earth or from a fictional world, what would it be?

3. Who is your favourite villain? Why?

4. What genres do you write? Do you have a favourite?

5. Have you ever taken part in NaNoWriMo? Why or why not?

6. Have you ever written fan fiction? Why or why not?

7. What was the first story you ever wrote? Please describe it in a sentence or two.

8. How long have you been writing?

9. Why did you start blogging?

10. If you could get writing advice from anyone, past or present,who would you ask?

11. What is your favourite food? Least favourite?

All right then, everybody! The ball’s in your court, so to speak!

Thanks!

Late last night I was catching up on all the blogs in my mailbox that I am following and read something that totally amazed me. I was nominated for the Kreativ Blogger and the Versatile Blogger Awards! I am so chuffed! Thanks to fellow blogger eternal Domnation for nominating me.

Now, from what I understand, I am supposed to thank the person who nominated me (check!), drag the pics of the awards to my site (check!), share 10 random facts about me (will do!) and nominate other blogs I find worthy (that will be hard because there are so many!)

Ok, here are the facts most people, not even close friends, might not know about me:

1. I am a TV star! Well, I was for one brief week back in 1962 when I was on the Canadian kids show Romper Room. I don’t remember much about it except for movie clips my Dad took from off-stage and comments Mom made about my performance. I was apparently quite precocious, telling Miss Whoever-it-was-that week that everything she talked about I had done or had in my possession.

2. When I was 12, I had an operation to shave off a few centimeters from a bone overgrowth on my right foot. Now, that might seem like a senseless operation, but for me it was a painful growth that made it difficult to find shoes that didn’t rub or hurt. Since they peeled back the skin to perform the operation, I now have no nerve endings to be affected by shoes anymore.

3. That same year, I wore braces to pull down my vampire-like eye teeth that grew above and in front of my other teeth. To look at me today, you would never know I had braces because the orthodontist back then left one of my front teeth crooked. He said there would not be room for my wisdom teeth to come in if he straightened it and he didn’t want to remove any more of my permanent teeth.

4. I nearly broke my nose playing catch with my best friend. I had such horrible eye-hand coordination that I thought I needed to jump up to catch the hard ball she threw at me. I caught it all right – right between the eyes!

5. I fell on my head when I was about nine. (Many friends say that explains a lot!) I was hanging upside down from the monkey bar on our swing set when I must have hit a nerve in the back of my knees. Both knees suddenly straightened and down I came. Bam! It took months of Chiropractic manipulation to get the bones back in place. As an older adult, my back always seems to hurt in some degree or another. Now, I cringe when I see kids in the playground hanging upside down.

6. I have a fear of ladders. It isn’t the superstitious kind of fear about walking under a ladder. This is a fear of climbing DOWN a ladder. Going up is fine. I think it’s a combination of looking down from a great height, which always makes me dizzy, and the fact that my hips don’t seem to work right (probably from my fall, mentioned above). My worst case of ladder phobia came while my husband and I were honeymooning in Hawaii. We were exploring the underground bunkers in Diamond Head. The last one ended with a ladder going up to the top of the crater. I hesitated, but went up and I’m glad I did because the view from up there is breathtaking. The problem arose as I looked down at our only way back to our car – the rickety (to me) old iron ladder. Hubby had to literally take my foot and place it on each rung in order to get me down. Phew!

7. In my early twenties, I had a real hang-up about looking so young for my age that I blew it when I went for a job interview. I blurted out that I’d had trouble in the past from people not taking me seriously because I looked about thirteen. The stunned looks on the interviewers’ faces let me know the error of my words. Oh, well, I didn’t want the job that much anyway!

8. I hate working retail. As a teen, I worked part-time in a Crafts Store and spent two summers working at the grocery store near the cottage. I’d have nightmares where I was working alone and couldn’t lock up the store at the end of the night because customers kept coming into the shop. I’d wake up suddenly and find myself sitting upright in bed, physically serving customers in my sleep! Since working with kids, I haven’t had any nightmares like that. I do have my non-verbal students speak to me in my dreams and the wheelchair-bound ones up and walking. Now THOSE dreams I LIKE!

9. I never had any cravings while pregnant. The ONE time I brought a pickle to work, everyone made a big deal out of it. My first pregnancy, though, I could eat anything – even soft-shelled tacos, which I LOVED. Second time around, everything seemed to bother me. Maybe it was because my son had a lot more hair at birth than my daughter.

10. Hmmm, I’m running out of secrets. This isn’t really a secret, but probably something my blogging followers don’t know. I am a magpie. I LOVE shiny things. I think I inherited this quality from my Mom because she had a large selection of shiny costume jewelry, which I inherited as well. I did give family members the chance to pick out their favourite pieces, but I ended up with the majority of it, much to my delight.

Now that that’s done, I will mention some of my favourite bloggers and nominate them for these prestigious awards. Some worthy bloggers have recently won them (C. B. Wentworth, wantoncreation, amyoung, Roshrulez Weblog, The Dreamweaver’s Cottage, Thypolar’s Life, ) so check them out too. Here are my nominees:

The Literary Mom

Ramblings

Tim Kane Books

Essi Tolling

commutinggirl

There are many others out there who have wonderful blogs. I will be sure to mention you all at some point in the future. Thanks again, eternal Domnation for nominating me. Happy blogging, everyone!

 

Chain Story Contest

One of the bloggers I am following is having a fun little contest called the Chain Story Contest. You can find the details at The DreamWeaver’s Cottage. It’s a bit like the Twitter Story my writer’s group and I did last year called Tweet Addaline, except it’s a YA story. It should be a lot of fun. If there’s any other YA writers out there who might like to play along, check out her blog.

In other news, I will be speaking to a group of seniors tomorrow about my books and a little bit about Manitoba’s history. I only hope my voice doesn’t fail me. It’s been over three weeks since this darn cold-turned-bronchitis started and although I feel better and have more energy, too much activity still has me coughing up a lung!

Here is the Valentine I made for my hubby:

front

inside

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The lace I used for this year’s Valentines was left over from when my neighbour made my wedding dress. I found it, along with some other lace leftovers, after my Mom passed away and I’ve been using bits and pieces of it to make extra special cards.

Hope you all had a lovely Valentine’s Day.

Happy Heart Day

Sorry you haven’t heard much from me over the past few days. I’ve  been busy traveling to many wonderful places, meeting many new people, reading many interesting blogs by other talented writers. It’s been a lot of fun, but a little time consuming. I finally got around to doing a little laundry and made a Valentine’s Day card for my grandson. He’s only 9 months old and probably could care less about it, but I made it anyway, even if it’s just a keepsake for his mom. So, here it is:

Front

Inside

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I still have to make one for the hubby, but wanted to post this first. Not that we do much for Valentine’s Day. We are of the mind that we should show our love every day, not just on the day specified by the Hallmark company! Well, I need to go start the card for hubby and make his favourite dish – lasagna. I hope the day brings you all good things. TTFN!

Something new – YAmore Blogfest

Something new I just came across is ‘That’s YAmore Blogfest’. Starting today, this site is inviting YA writers to post ’250 romantic, swoon-worthy words’ from their YA story. You will notice that, below the link picture, I have added a segment from ‘Spirit Quest’.

As the storm blasted away, the rain coursed off the waterproofed hide, pooling around the outer edges until water began seeping through cracks where the hides did not seal off the ground. A rivulet found the bareness of my leg, causing me to shiver.

Bear swivelled around so that we were practically nose-to-nose.

“Come closer. I’ll keep you warm.”

“I’ll bet you will,” I retorted, biting my lip when I felt him recoil. “I’m sorry. That was uncalled-for.”

Trying not to bump my arm, I wiggled over to him. I heard Bear adjust his body to snuggle up to me. As self-conscious as I felt about Bear’s proximity, I consoled myself by saying it was necessary, that people had to do things in extreme circumstances and these were certainly extreme. Soon, the heat from his body penetrated the chill of my bones, until bubbles of perspiration beaded up on my skin.

It didn’t help that Bear had taken it upon himself to wipe the sweat off me. His touch was as electrifying as the lightning that flashed down from the sky, causing tiny tingles to run the length of my spine. He blew gently, cooling my skin, alerting every nerve ending in my body. I was glad it was too dark for him to see my face. I felt as though I must be blushing from the tip of my nose to the ends of my toes.

“You can stop now,” I said. “I’m not scared anymore.”

“Just let me hold you,” he said. “I promise to do nothing more.”

“All right,” I agreed and nestled into the crook of his arm.

I soon relaxed, finding comfort in Bear’s embrace.

Writer’s Platform Building Campaign

Upon reading another bloggers information on the Writer’s Platform Building Campaign, I was intrigued so went to the site and signed up. As a writer, connecting with other writers is important because we need to support each other and help build a readership, spreading the word about each other’s work. Self promotion isn’t always easy, but having the support of others in the field makes it easier. It should be very interesting linking up with other writers in the same field, even writers of other things, since my reading tastes are eclectic, as I’ve mentioned before in My Bookshelf. I can’t wait to hop over to see the other sites and meet other blogging writers like myself. It should be a lot of fun.

Thanks to C. B. Wentworth for bringing this to my attention!

Hope some of you will join us!

Close To My Heart

I’ll bet the title for today’s post made you think about Valentine’s Day, didn’t it? Fooled you! Today, I want to talk about scrapbook layouts and the company that I’ve been supporting to do my layouts is . . . Close To My Heart. While Stampin’ Up seems to cater more to card-makers, CTMH caters more to those die-hard scrapbook makers who take the time to make their photo albums works of art.

Magic

One of the reasons I haven’t posted anything over the past couple of days is on Wednesday I went to my sister-in-law’s place (45 minutes out-of-town) to pick up the workshop packages I missed when I was sick. She showed me how to make four of the six pages they’d made those two days. (I will post pictures on my new page My Scrapbook Layouts. You might even get to see a shot or two of my grandson!) The thing I love about my CTMH Representative is her creativity. Colette Dunlop can take the ordinary page and make it super-special by adding unique elements like photo ‘waterfalls’, memento envelopes, slide-outs for photos & journaling and fold-out sections to add interest to the page. A lot of these moving elements can be found in the book Magic, by Jeanette R. Lynton. As you can see in the photo, there is a foldout segment that can hold more photos than just a standard photo page. The most interesting of these elements is the ‘waterfall’ that I mentioned earlier. Pull on the edge and the pictures unfold, much like a waterfall. Very cool! There is also another pull-out that I like. Pull on one edge to reveal two pictures, one from each side.

Another reason I didn’t get a chance to post anything yesterday is I was so exhausted from my ‘rampage’. Even though we took it pretty easy since my bronchitis doesn’t seem to be entirely cured, yet, it was a pretty full day – breakfast at Sal’s, a saunter through the mall where the Children’s Hospital was holding its spring used book sale, a stop at the new Scrapbook Cottage and finally cheesecake before heading home. While that may not seem like too stressful a day – which it wasn’t – it just took a lot of me, physically. On the bright side, I have a new series of books to read: The People series by Kathleen O’Neal Gear & W. Michael Gear. Has anyone else read them? They look like they will be similar to Jean Auel’s Clan of the Cave Bear series. I also picked up James Clavell’s Whirlwind, sequel to Noble House. I loved his other Asian saga books, including Shogun and Tai Pan. That should keep me busy for awhile (once I finish reading Kathy Reich’s book Spider Bones). Each of my ‘new’ books must be three inches thick! Well, I guess that’s it for now. I will hurry and post my scrapbook pages on my new page for your enjoyment.

Children’s Publishers in Canada

A friend of a friend asked me earlier today what she should do to get her children’s story published. This is what I told her:

To start you on the road to getting published, you will need to send in a portion of your manuscript (maybe the first couple of chapters) with a cover letter and a brief synopsis of your story. The cover letter is similar to what you would hand in to any prospective employer. It is an introduction to you, your education and writing background, a line or two about why you chose their publishing house, etc. The synopsis should be written in present tense. eg Sally walks to the store. She meets John there. etc. It should be no longer than a page or two and include the ending. Don’t think you are piquing their interest if you leave off that part. They will assume it’s unfinished. They have to know there is a satisfying conclusion in order to consider your manuscript over someone else’s. Above all else, it’s always a good idea to get someone to read over all the work you are submitting to make sure you haven’t missed any spelling or grammar mistakes. (I can read my manuscripts over a dozen times and still miss blatantly obvious mistakes because I am just too close to it!)

Now begins the hunt for a publisher. You can start by checking out the Writers Market books at the library. These come out each year with a list of publishers, what they publish and who to send your manuscript to, usually their acquisitions person. The books should tell you whether they are taking unsolicited manuscripts or authors without agents. You will probably be better off starting with the Canadian publishers because we don’t have a lot of literary agents in Canada. They are more likely to accept your work. The Manitoba Writer’s Guild has a newsletter that lists markets and contests where you might want to submit your manuscript. The internet has a list of Children’s Publishers. Each site also has submission guidelines, which you should follow. It’s a good idea to check out their book lists, too, to make sure that your story is the type of story they are looking for. Any publisher you send it to, make sure they are a legitimate company and not a ‘vanity press’, which will ask you to pay the printing costs.

As for copyright, the minute you put your ideas to paper, it is technically copyrighted. If you are worried that someone will steal your story, mail a copy of your manuscript to yourself but do not open it. The postmark acts as the copyright date. I’ve never bothered to do this because I have witnesses (my writer’s group) who read my work before I send it anywhere, but it is something to consider if you want to make sure that you had the ideas before any similar story ideas come into print.

To name a few reputable children’s publishers, I know of Orca Books, Raincoast Books, Second Story Press, to name but a few. If you are an aboriginal or Metis writer, Pemmican Press here in Winnipeg is your best bet. They do a lot of kids books and have a long line of illustrators to choose from. If your story is aimed at teens and has historical content, like my books, Great Plains Publications has really put a push on their teen labels and I have found them very approachable.

Hope you find this information helpful.