Kick, Dance, Shoot

Kick, Dance, Shoot

On the dedication page of my newest release, A Seminar on Murder, I wrote 'Kick, Dance, Shoot' as a message for my children and grandchildren. These were the one word cheers of a mother sitting in the bleachers encouraging her child to victory. My daughter was a swimmer and my son was basketball player, so kick and shoot are obvious usages. Dance was taken from a country western song. The longer phrase was “if you get a chance to sit it out or dance, dance.”

Occasionally, I need to add some self to my encouragement. I need to dig deep into my personal reserves in order to write one more chapter, query one more agent or submit my manuscript to one more publisher. When I hesitate, I tell myself to Kick, Dance, Shoot.

When my daughter graduated from law school, she presented our family gathering with a heartfelt speech. She mentioned that when her studies became overwhelming she would think back to her swimming days and remember my shouts to Kick. She would dig a little deeper and find the extra thrust to keep her head above water. I didn’t think she had heard me.

The role of the author is no longer limited to sitting in front of the computer. It requires social media, author talks, blogging, creating bookmarks, editing. All of this can be overwhelming. A writer needs to Kick to keep from drowning.

The second term, Dance, as I mentioned, was from a country song by Lee Ann Womack titled I Hope You Dance. I wanted my children to get out of their comfort zones once in a while and try new things. Enrich their lives with new experiences. Fortunately they made wise choices and I never had to go to the police station.

I took my elderly mother to the local amusement park. She looked up at the bungee jump attraction and with a wisp of regret in her voice, she said, “If I was ten years younger I would do that.” I don’t want to grow old and wish I had done something. I want those experiences to enrich my writing.

As writers, we need to experience the world with all of our senses and when we have a chance to sit it out or dance, we need to dance.

Shoot was for my basketball playing son, who was a better player than he believed. It was magic watching him fend off other players and scoring baskets. The only problem was that when he got the ball, he passed it to one of the other players rather than taking the shot himself. It drove me crazy.

I draw the parallel between his playing and the opportunities that I pass up to promote my books. Recently I was asked who my favorite author was. I should have said without any regard for modesty that I was my own favorite author. I love my characters and the situations in which they find themselves. I still laugh when I read some of the sillier passages.

To experienced writers and those new to the craft, I have three words of advice: Kick, Dance, Shoot.

Lois Lamanna, proud author of

Matrimony and Murder

Murder on a Park Bench
A Seminar on Murder
Facets of Murder
Clarity of Murder

PEOPLE WHO INSPIRE AND PEOPLE WHO DON'T

by Zelda Benjamin

"Pain is Temporary. Quitting lasts Forever."

Lance Armstrong

Almost every morning my husband and I ride a 5 mile loop on our bikes. We stop at Dunkin Donuts for coffee and tea before circling back. The other morning as we rode by the drive-thru I heard a man say to the lady next to him,  "I should go home and ride my bike."

Wow - I had just inspired someone to go out and exercise. Little did he know he inspired this blog post.

In nursing (my day job) there is a generalization that nurses eat their young.

It's true that many seasoned nurses believe intimidation toughens new nurses when in reality it decreases confidence.  I can vividly remember when as a new nurse I was initiated by fire. I also remember the nurse who took me under her wing and helped me develop my skills and confidence. The kind nurse is the one I have tried to emulate. 

When I started to take my writing career seriously, I took the advice of a writer friend and joined writing groups. First I joined Romance Writers of America (RWA). At my first conference, I was amazed by the people I met. Strangers openly shared their experiences, encouraged my aspirations, and offered advice on everything from the start of my story to being published.

The other group I joined was my local chapter, Florida Romance Writers (FRW). 

To this day the group has been wonderful. We share each others accomplishments, no matter how small. Rejections are dealt with with chocolate and inspiration to move on. 

On a smaller scale, my critique group is made up of a group of kind and talented writers. I would have given up writing a long time ago if not for them. 

Alyssa Maxwell, CynthiaThomason, Karen Kendall, Nancy Cohen, and Sharon Hartley 

We continue to celebrate events, share our knowledge, and inspire each other.

Wishing you inspiration, love, and chocolate.

www.zeldabenjamin.com

Stories, stories everywhere

by Jean C. Gordon

Readers often ask, "Where do you get your story ideas? "My short answer is "Life." Maybe I should refine that to "Ordinary Life."

For instance the idea for my first published book, a sweet romance from Avalon Books, came from the experience of another family that was adopting a Korean baby from the same agency we used to adopt our son. The Korean agency had a strict rule of allowing only married couples to adopt its children. Sadly, after a child was placed with a local family, the mother died before the adoption was finalized. Initially, the agency wanted to take the child back. I don't know what actually happened, but the resolution in my story is a happy one--naturally.

An article I read at work in The Wall Street Journal  planted the seed of my second Avalon book. It was about a financial planner who scammed older people. In my book, the hero's grandmother was scammed. My heroine works for the practice that scammed her. Of course, she knows nothing about it. But the hero doesn't know that.

Small-Town Sweethearts, my first Love Inspired Romance grew from a comment a family member made about how she liked their new church because it was more formal, and she could worship privately there. In contrast, I really like our church because of the fellowship the congregation shares. I started thinking about the value of Christian fellowship and how different people perceive it, and the story unfolded.

An incident my daughter experienced as a midwife inspired my latest Love Inspired, Small-Town Midwife. I thought, what if Autumn, my midwife heroine, no longer has the confidence to catch babies. Then, I brought in Dr. Jon Hanlon who exudes nothing but confidence in his technical app roach to delivering babies. How could a romance not develop?

Think about your life. How many story ideas do you see?

What's Your Cup of Tea?

By Sandra Wilkins

            The other day I came across a popular cop show.  The story centered around the atrocities two brothers committed against women and each other.  It wasn’t my cup of tea.  I couldn’t stomach it, and I had to stop watching it.  I don’t live under a rock.  I know these kinds of terrible things happen in the world.  I see the news, but I don’t want those kinds of images to fill my head or my heart all the time.

          It really drove a point home to me.  This is why I write “clean” novels.  I don’t want to fill my mind or anyone else’s with sickeningly violent or overtly sexual images.  I’ve seen enough of that to last me a lifetime.  When I read or write, I want to think upon fun things, lovely things, right and just things.  I want the bad guy to get caught and the girl to get the guy in the end.  Real life doesn’t always turn out that way, but in my imagination it can.  And, I think that is a comforting place to be. 

          Of course, I know everyone has their own opinion on the matter.  So…what’s your cup of tea?   

Sandra Wilkins is busy writing another series while home educating her two daughters.  Ada’s Heart, Rose’s Hope and Gwen’s Honor are her first three published wholesome historical romances.  Go to www.sandrawilkins.com to find out more about her and her books.  

What To Do About Unwanted Email

I’m known as the “computer guru” in the family since I spent twenty years as a computer programmer and have been running a web design/development business for the last ten years. That means I get asked all sorts of questions related to computer things. One recent question was about how to stop unwanted email.  This post is a slight expansion on my answer.

There are actually two different types of unwanted email and you need to respond differently to each.

If the unwanted emails are from a legitimate vendor you recognize, then you should use the unsubscribe link to get off the list.  Probably you signed up for the emails yourself and now, a few months and fifty unread messages later, you realize that was a mistake.  I get regular emails from a number of retailers where I’ve bought things and other groups where I’ve signed up for newsletters or notices about special offers.  You still need to be careful because there are spammers who make their messages look like they’re from legitimate groups.  Consider any message carefully before clicking on any link within it. But in general you’re okay clicking an unsubscribe link from those kinds of emails.

You shouldn’t even need to enter your email address if the system is set up properly; the email unsubscribe link should know who you are.  That doesn’t always happen, however, and you may have to enter the email address yourself. 

If it does ask you for an email address but doesn’t recognize it or it says you’re off and continues to send you email, then you should go to the site of the vendor, look up their “Contact” link (it’s usually buried at the bottom of the page) and find a customer service email.  Explain that you’ve tried to get off their email list and were unable to, then gently remind them that the CANSPAM act REQUIRES them to honor unsubscribe requests, and if you continue to receive unwanted emails you’ll have to report them as spammers.  Legitimate vendors DO NOT want to be reported as spammers. That should get their attention and some action.

The second group of unwanted email (and usually the larger group, unfortunately) is spam.  You should NEVER, NEVER, EVER click on ANY link in those (even what looks like an unsubscribe link).  NEVER open an attachment to an email if you don’t know what it is. At best it does nothing but confirm that yours is a valid email address that can be sold as part of email spam lists (yes, it is a big business!)  At worst, it can expose your computer to some very nasty malware.

I repeat: NEVER respond to spam in any way. Don’t reply to it and don’t click any links in the message. 

Spam is much harder to eradicate than unwanted newsletters, but there are some things you can do. Most email programs have a way to mark an email as spam and you should do that with any unwanted email that isn’t from a legitimate vendor.  Eventually your ISP or webmail provider should start to block those emails or divert them to a spam folder.

Most providers also have a “spam@”, “abuse@” or other similar email addresses.  If  you’re having a problem with a particular spammer, you should try to find the relevant email address for your email provider and forward the message to that address.

And as a hard line of defense against unwanted email and its sometimes dangerous payload, you should ALWAYS have virus protection on your computer if you’re on a PC, whether desktop or laptop.  There’s no excuse not to, since there are a number of good and effective free antivirus programs.  I’m not endorsing any of them, but here’s a link to a site that is constantly testing antivirus software.  Use it to evaluate your options: http://chart.av-comparatives.org/chart2.php   Here is PC Mag’s 2014 Antivirus recommendations.

I’ve used a couple of free antivirus programs that I’m very happy with – Malwarebytes (malwarebytes.org) and Avast (avast.com/). 

Your mileage may vary, of course; I’m not endorsing anything; and any other legal disclaimers needed are hereby invoked.

Author Bio:
Karen McCullough is a web designer by profession, and the author of a dozen published novels and novellas in the mystery, romantic suspense, and fantasy genres as well. She has won numerous awards, including an Eppie Award for fantasy, and has also been a four-time Eppie finalist, and a finalist in the Prism, Dream Realm, Rising Star, Lories, Scarlett Letter, and Vixen Awards contests. Her short fiction has appeared in several anthologies and numerous small press publications in the mystery, fantasy, science fiction, and romance genres. She has three children, four grandchildren and lives in Greensboro, NC, with her husband of many years. Her most recent release is the ebook version of A Gift for Murder, originally published in hardcover by Five Star/Cengage and mass market paperback by Harlequin Worldwide Mysteries.

Website: http://www.kmccullough.com
Blog: http://www.kmccullough/kblog
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KarenMcCulloughAuthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/kgmccullough

Zen and the Art of Doodling

It’s First Fridays, and thus, time to get creative… with zen doodling. It’s the latest rage! Okay, it’s not such a rage. More of a low murmur. And Okay, it’s not so new. In fact, it’s as old as the hills. But I’m “down with the kids”, and this is what they’re murmuring about this week: Zen Doodles.

What, you ask, is a zen doodle? (Pretend you asked.) Basically, it’s a doodle. It’s one big, complex, massive doodle. What’s the point of a zen doodle?

1. Meditative
2. Stress release
3. A plotting tool
4. Cool art to fill the pages of your journal.

It’s meditative, because it helps you to exercise moving from constraint to freedom. The only constraint is the page on which you’re doodling. Then you slowly add constraints – an outline of my hand was my constraint in this doodle (below). Then you free up again by doodling in one portion of it, then add constraint – a curve, a flower petal, a line – big and bold within the constraint of the hand, then within that constraint, you add another layer of free-form detail. (This, by the way, is a LOT like plotting a novel.)

It’s a stress release, because it requires very little attention. I did the hand while having coffee with the LWDC (Ladies Who Drink Coffee). As we chatted, I doodled.

It’s a plotting tool. I suffer (suffer?) from Attention Deficit Disorder or A.D.D. – an ugly, pejorative term that doesn’t really describe what it is to have ADD. I prefer to think of it as Attention Diversity Dilemma. Sure, one of its less pleasant side bars is the inability to focus – on stuff that other people want you to focus! I’m perfectly chill with focusing on what I want to focus. Sometimes I need to employ strategies… like zen-doodling. I write. My mind wanders. I doodle. I strum my banjo, (always close at hand), and then I turn back to writing. I have a goal of 1,000 words per day. That’s just four pages, approximately. I can do that – in and around Attention Diversity Dilemma. Would I be more productive without A.D.D.? Maybe. Who knows, but I’m certain I would be far less creative.

Here’s a little video book trailer I put together for one of my off-road books, (another hazard of A.D.D. – going off-track genre-wise). The entire book trailer is just one big giant zen-doodle! While writing the book, I created pictures – still shots of scenes that were playing in my head – then I used my words – a free-form expression of what I hoped to incorporate into the characters, the plot, etc., into the creation of the pictures. The zen doodle is the plot! I hope you enjoy the trailer, even if the book might not be exactly your cuppa tea. (Warning: It's young adult, paranormal, not cozy.) The book I'm writing now is a sweet romantic comedy loosely based on the play, Cyrano DeBergerac, by Edmund Rostand. I'll try to post some of the zen doodles on my blog at www.sofiecouch.blogspot.com as I journal the plot... soon. 

So, the next time you sit down to coffee with friends, pick up a pen, grab a piece of paper… and zen doodle. You never know where it may lead you.

Buzzing along with Elisabeth Rose

My car has an annoying little buzzing rattle. It’s on the passenger side so I can’t thump things and fiddle about trying to stop it while I’m driving. Of course, at traffic lights it stops so I can’t find it then either, and it stops when I go around a corner or a curve in the road.

It’s not the glove box cover or something inside the glove box. It’s not the trim along the dashboard although when my husband was a passenger he gave it an almighty thump and the noise stopped ( see February post about my husband’s solution to things that need fixing). Perhaps he temporarily frightened whatever it was because it was quiet for quite a long time after that attack.

It seems to come from the door or at least way across that side but it isn’t the blue collapsible umbrella in the side pocket on the door. Maybe it’s the air vent or the speaker for the radio.

Last summer I decided it was something in the seat because if I pulled on the side of the bit you sit on it stopped, so I shoved a glove down between the seat and the frame. Just the finger tips poked out and it looked as though someone was trapped under the seat trying to get out. When winter came I spent ages looking for the missing glove until I spied the little trapped person and remembered where it was.

This summer it seems worse but I haven’t remembered to shove the glove back into place until after I start on my way and then it’s too late.

I love Red Rover—my red VW Golf—but his rattle is very annoying. I think I need to get my husband back on board and drive about until we track this little pest down.  

Sweet contemporary romance from Escape and Montlake
Elisabeth's Amazon author page

www.elisabethrose.com.au