Wednesday, April 10, 2024
Some Old Technology Still Works
Wednesday, April 03, 2024
I'm Achieving
I received an Achievement Award for a painting I finished many, many years ago. The Art Society of Monmouth County held their Oldies But Goodies show last month. It's one of my favorite shows because I have a lot of old paintings. I worked on the painting using a photograph of my youngest daughter reaching up to play the piano. My youngest daughter is all grown up now. Many people at the reception thought I had painted a picture of my granddaughter. Still, the painting received quite a bit of attention, which was nice. Perhaps many folks have watched a little one reach up to try a make music. I think I struck a chord with the subject. 😅
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Thursday, March 21, 2024
Sea of Hope for #99cents!
After being assaulted in the city, Doria Hanrahan returns to her hometown, jobless, paranoid, and expecting to cash in on her father's fishing trawler. When she discovers the trawler has been willed to Murray Santoro, who cared for her father during his final illness, she is filled with anger and guilt. Desperate for cash she joins the crew of the Merrichase. On the ocean, far from land, she learns Murray is not only a doctor, but suspected of murder and awaiting trial. She cannot comprehend how her father trusted Murray. She suspects Murray coerced her father to change his will.Murray finds Doria a true test of his new faith with her stubborn attitude and lack of trust. As challenges mount on their voyage, he struggles with his Christian principles. He can't assume he has a future and his hope falters. Yet, it is Doria's surprising strength and compassion which inspire him to be a better disciple. Then his past returns and threatens to destroy everything.
There are many good reviews for it, too.
Kobo
And many other book distributors.
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Thursday, March 14, 2024
Where Did That Idea Come From?
Most interesting to me was the town of East Durham, an Irish enclave. In the evenings, hubby and I would drive to East Durham and enjoy the entertainment at the Shamrock House. During the daytime, we browsed through the small Irish shops where I found books on Irish legends.
That's where the idea came to me for PRINCE OF THE MIST, which is set in the Catskills of upstate NY. In Ireland, the Sidhe are the human-sized fairies of legend, but there are other countries in the world with similar legends. Why couldn't human-sized fairies live in upstate NY?
The misty Catskill mountains made the perfect setting for my story and Wildon became THE PRINCE OF THE MIST. I had a great time writing this story. It makes me long to go back to the Catskills! :-)
Thursday, March 07, 2024
The World Is Your Oyster
Yesterday, when the world outside our door was filled with rain clouds, I cheerfully told hubby, "The world is your oyster."
Hubby had never heard that expression but he grew up in Greenpoint so maybe that's the problem. 😅
However, there are many, many expressions we still use today that came from Shakespeare as you can see in the image above.
As far as the oyster quote goes, you can find the entire explanation here: https://nosweatshakespeare.com/quotes/famous/the-worlds-your-oyster/
Shakespeare was not only ahead of his time, much of his genius is still with us.
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Friday, March 01, 2024
I’m a Winner!
I made it! I typed out 30,000 words during the month of February for the JeRoWriMo Challenge. What I have now is the rough draft of a novella, which I have to edit—a lot. I had an idea of where I was going with this short book as far as naming characters, giving the story a setting, a timeline, and a loose plot. However, most of it was written pantster style, which is definitely a fun way to write for me. Some people have a very detailed outline when they write. I don’t. I have a flexible idea of what I want. So, things can change as I go along.
While I was writing with such determination during the month, my house got very dusty. Sigh. But having written 30,000 words was so much better than dusting. Now off to editing!
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Tuesday, February 20, 2024
Writing and Writing and Writing
I've passed the 20,000 word mark for JeRoWriMo's 30,000 word challenge for this month. Only 10,000 more words to go. Having a group challenge like this really helps. There have been days when I do not feel like writing, but I push myself and I have managed to type out more words than I thought I could.
Several of the NJ Romance Writers are cheerleaders for the challenge. They respond to every writer's count for the day--whether it's 0 or 4,000--and offer encouragement. There are also tabulators to keep track of everyone's word count. As the old saying goes, "Many hands make light work."
The main thing is that my story is coming together. Of course, it is a rough draft and will need plenty of editing. But there are plenty of words to edit. It is always exciting to see the whole idea coming together.
I love the JeRoWriMo Challenge!