Friday Field Trip - CO Wolf and Wildlife Rescue Center

Since I'm still mired in edits, I'm rerunning an older post (April of 2010). These images were taken by Jason at the Colorado Wolf and Wildlife Rescue Center. Although it's close enough to our home so that we occasionally hear the wolves howling, we have yet to get there ourselves. Thanks to Jason, again, for sharing. 

Welcome to my new followers. I'll be giving away more books soon, I'm sure. Only a few more clicks of the like button on the sidebar, and a few more followers will do it. 


And it's Veteran's Day, 11/11/11. Take a moment to thank someone who's served his or her country. I don't normally do promotions here, but I'm making an exception. If you're looking for something to read, with all proceeds donated to the Veteran's Research Corporation, you might want to check out the SEAL of my Dreams anthology. I know many of the contributing authors, and I've already pre-ordered my copy. Or just enjoy the cover! 

And now, away from Seals and onto Wolves. (And a fox)

Digital Publishing Workshop Recap

What I'm reading: The Reversal, by Michael Connelly

I'm closing in on another giveaway.  I need a few more likes and follows (see the sidebar).

I'm continuing with recaps of workshops from the Emerald City Conference. Since I'm working on getting my next book, DEADLY SECRETS, ready for digital publication, I thought I'd share another workshop given by Angela James. She spoke about digital publishing, and gave a fascinating overview of the topic. This is a short post, and more like bullet points, because I'm working on edits! But I've got a prize for anyone who can answer my questions, which I hope makes up for it. Quiz at the end of the post.

Digital publishing has a North American focus. We tend to think that everyone has the same options and opportunities, but that's not the case. But today, almost everything is available in digital format. More and more authors are taking advantage of being able to publish their own books, be they original or previously published titles. As she put it, "Self publishing is the new black."

What's Cooking Wednesday - Karen C's Crab or Shrimp Muffins

Frequent visitor and commenter, Karen C, has accepted my invitation to share a recipe, and I thank her (and I know you will, too). Plus, this gives her an extra entry in my contest...hint, hint.

Crab or Shrimp Muffins

1 Pkg. English Muffins (I use Thomas’)
½ cup butter or margarine, softened (1 stick)
5 oz. Kraft Old English Cheese (I use Cheddar)
7 oz can Crab or Shrimp
1 Tbsp. Minced Onion (I use dehydrated)
½ Tsp. Garlic Powder
½ Tsp. Salt
¼ Tsp. Pepper
Paprika

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Cut muffins in half. Beat butter and cheese; add spices. Drain crab or shrimp and pat dry (on paper towel). Add to mixture and mix thoroughly. Spread on muffins and sprinkle with Paprika.

Bake on cookie sheet for 12 - 15 minutes. Cut into halves or quarters and serve immediately.

The muffins can be served as appetizers or for breakfast.

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Finding Inspiration

Today I'm welcoming back author, photographer, and pilot Mark Danielson to Terry's Place.

Sometimes it’s easier to find Nemo than it is inspiration. You sit down to write and then mindlessly stare at the silent keyboard and blank screen. The closer you are to a deadline, the more difficult it is to find the words. Authors refer to this as writer’s block. As a pun, Writer’s Block is also the title to my next murder mystery, which happened to be one of the easiest novels to write. Since my characters led me through this story, I never had to search for words and it was fun learning from them. Now they are leading me through its sequel.

People often ask, “Where do you get your ideas?” Honestly, most have been fermenting for some time, and when some event triggers my brain, suddenly I’m delving into the new story. But sometimes my ideas come out of the blue, perhaps in a dream. This was the case for the sequel to Writer’s Block while I was well into a different one. I ended up postponing that story to write the new sequel based on a true haunting in Fort Worth. Both stories are fun.

The problem with subconscious thoughts is they are so transient they may be lost if not immediately written down. Later, I’ll create a Word document to keep these ideas for future use. Thankfully a few key words mind can usually take me back to the story behind the thought. Assuming I don’t lose that document, I probably have enough ideas to last decades.

Writing With Triggers

What I'm reading: An Invitation to Sin, by Jo Beverley, Sally Mackenzie, Vanessa Kelly & Katilin O'Riley; Island Nights, by P.J. Mellor

Only 5 more likes and 12 more followers before I give away more books. And don't forget to sign up for my newsletter on my website, which also enters you in the giveaway. Details on the Deals and Steals tab.

Today it's another recap of an Emerald City Writers Conference workshop, this one given by Bernadette Pajer. She called her approach "Trigger Writing" and she made some interesting points, giving another way to look at the "show don't tell" rule.

Pajer defined a trigger as a carefully crafted description, rich in innuendo or emotional responses. She said the beauty of triggers is that they engage readers by allowing them to be an active participant in the story.

When you use triggers, you're using implications and connotations rather than denotations, or strict definitions of the words. You're trusting that the reader will have the same associations with the word that you're trying to get across in your prose.

For example, if you put a Dumpster in a scene, odds are your readers are going to see and smell the scene, even if you don't go into details about what it actually looks like or smells like.

Friday Field Trip - My Hard Drive

No theme today. I was just poking around my hard drive and randomly selected some images to share. I'd love others to share theirs.

Don't forget the contests. I'm only 5 "likes" and 12 follows away from another giveaway.

Branding Is For More Than Cattle

What I'm reading: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin (don't laugh; I never read it). And I'm reading it primarily because I won a copy of Pride and Prejudice: The Jewess and the Gentile by Lev Raphael, and figured I needed to read the original before the mashup.

I picked up more books at the Emerald City conference, and many of them are going into my Giveaway stack. Be sure you check the Deals and Steals tab for all the different ways you can enter the contest. I'm very close to Giveaway #2 with my "likes"

I hope you'll read through today's post, because I'd like some opinions, and I've asked a few questions at the end.

At Emerald City, I went to Angela James's workshop on Branding. She's an editor for Carina Press, which is part of Harlequin, and she made some excellent points. She also spoke about digital publishing in another workshop, which I'll save for another post.

As to Branding: it's more than a tag line. Branding is how you become known to readers.

1. Branding is a promise. She used the example of McDonald's. When you go into a McDonald's, you have expectations, because they have a very strong brand. If tomorrow, they said, "we're going to become a vegetarian restaurant", consumers would feel cheated.

2. Branding is how you stand out from the crowd. JD Robb makes a different promise to her readers than she does as Nora Roberts. Branding creates marketing opportunities.

3. Branding draws consumers in. Angela spoke of seeing a store in a shopping center called, "Wine Anthology." It immediately called to her, and she thought it would be a great place to shop. Then she noticed that there was a sign saying, "Clark Circle Liquors is now Wine Anthology." The image of Clark Circle Liquors was totally different from Wine Anthology, calling up images of seedy men carrying open bottles in brown paper bags.

What's Cooking Wednesday - Joy's Eazy Peazy Meat Dish

Thanks to Elizabeth for her post yesterday, and showing us how to use our darkest memories to enrich our writing.

Today, I'd like to welcome Joy Isley to Terry's Place. She's sharing a recipe that's perfect for those days when you don't really feel much like cooking, or don't have a lot of time to assemble ingredients. I hope more of you will follow with favorites of your own. Remember, if you share a recipe, you get an additional contest entry.

Joy says: "When I don't have time this is what I fix, and my family often requests it."

Joy's EAZY PEAZY MEAT DISH

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

In a baking dish, place a round steak that has been cut into 4 sections. Pour over it 1 can of Campbell's Golden Mushroom soup and 1 can of Campbell's French Onion soup. Pour over that 1/2 a can of cold water.

Cover and bake for an hour or until fork tender.

Serve with cooked rice.

YUMMY

Thanks, Joy

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Giveaway #1 Winner

Thanks to everyone who entered. My random number generation has spoken. The winner of a selection of books from my overflow shelf is Dee Bibb. Dee, your prize will be on its way to you.

Don't forget - there will be more giveaways, so tell your friends to follow the blog, like the blog, sign up for my newsletter on my website, and share photos and recipes.

Dirt Yields Gold

Today I'm pleased to welcome Elizabeth C. Main to Terry's Place. A Central Oregon author who writes mystery, romance, and young adult fiction, Elizabeth has discovered that writers shouldn't bury painful memories. Dredging up traumatic episodes from the past often produces the best writing.

“The flowers that bloom in the spring,Tra la,Breathe promise of merry sunshine--”

Do those lyrics from The Mikado make me long to hear the rest of the song? Not really, though I have nothing against flowers or spring, especially with sunshine to follow.

But beauty and warmth don’t cut it in chapter one, though they have their place. Something bad has to happen fast to snap the reader to attention, so skip the sunshine and muck around in the dirt.

Discover a dismembered body under the blooming flowers and you have the beginning of a mystery. Unearth a moldy stack of letters from the soil and a long-concealed romance emerges. A half-rotted sign pried from beneath your garden could provide words that lead to a poem.

An even more productive location to find dirt, metaphorically speaking, is in the sifting of your own memories. I’m talking about the distressing memories we all harbor, sometimes shielded even from ourselves. Those memories, though painful or humiliating, deliver the best stories . . . the gold we seek as writers.