In Case You Missed My Vlog on Facebook ...

On Monday evening, my son, made a vlog in which I talked a little bit about Perfection, the new adult novel to be released on Saturday. If you have a Facebook account, you're invited and can drop in on us here between 10:00 a.m. and noon or 8:00 p.m. - 10:00 pm. You may also drop in to say hello during the day. Without further ado…

Excerpt of Perfection being read by moi ...

I'm humbled by the fact that people have pre-ordered the novel. Sure, I'm writing for those who like my stories, but it's still amazing that readers have enough faith to shell out their pennies for one of my novels before its due date. Readers do provide a huge dash of motivation whether they know it or not.

Here's to another interesting journey!

Scrooge-Without-A-Cause

Remember how last time I said I wanted to edit four short stories. I’ve printed them out, got them bound and I’m on the first go round. I’ve noticed a disturbing trend about the women in my stories. They’re hard nuts to crack. In a word, unforgiving. They’ve been though tough situations and had choices made for them, but eventually they stood tall and took control of their lives. 

Source

When I come across a difficult character in a book, he/she has to have some redeeming quality. Reading about a Scrooge-without-a-reason will turn me off quicker than you can say ‘turn-the-page’.  Show me why your character is acting the way he/she does and early enough so that I don’t get to the point where I want to wring somebody’s neck. 

Voracious

Valerie Drake's artwork

If publication is your ultimate goal, the word voracious should be in your vocabulary.  The word not only means to consume or crave huge amounts of food, it also refers to someone who is exceedingly eager or avid, according to dictionary.com. My workshop attendance has so far been limited to a year long session on Saturdays, however, I have read hundreds of articles on writing. I’ve also read books on the craft and I’m a member of a writing workshop, which is the best thing I ever did to advance my writing career.

Writers who want to be published should not only write voraciously, they should be avid readers. Admittedly, I haven’t been reading as much as in the past, but I’ve been a reader as far back as I can remember, thanks to my mother who put me into school before I was three years old and encouraged me by buying books. I now do the same for my son.

Fact is, reading expands our horizons, knowledge and vocabulary and goes hand-in-hand with writing. I know there are writers who swear by conferences and I understand the value of these, although they are out of my reach. Are there any other ways that you feed your reading/writing habit?

Verbena leaves

There aren’t many foods I can think of that start with V.  We don’t eat a lot of veal here, but we do have vervain and verbena, which are herbs that we use to make tea. Verbena is reputedly good for the nervous system, for easing colic and cough, among other things.

Vervain is good for stress and nervous conditions. It also acts as a relaxant and is reputedly good for treating coughs, asthmatic and nerve conditions. Of course, unless you know what you’re doing, I wouldn’t recommend preparing and trying this stuff at home. These herbs and dried, packaged and sold in local supermarkets. 

Dried Vervain

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