Day 11 Prompt – Write A story where the characters go without power for a day.
Author Archives: Linda G. Hill
Summer Camp
You never know what you’ve got until you lose it. It’s a saying we hear all the time; sometimes in moments of profound loss, sometimes it’s trivial. In my case, in many ways it’s the latter.
There’s no summer camp for my youngest son this week. I used to think it was a luxury to have the time to write. Now, however, my luxuries include sitting for more than two minutes at the table to eat a meal without being interrupted, showering, and going to the washroom.
The latter of these I believe, falls into the profound category.
So if you see a woman walking around the grocery store buying finger foods, with stringy hair and smudges of dirt on her face and with eyes bulging out of her sockets and her legs crossed, try not to point and laugh. It’s probably just a woman who’s missing summer camp.
Day 9 Prompt – My Favourite…
Day 9 Prompt – Write a Story in 250 words or less about your favourite City
Reading and Writing – is it ‘Rithmatic?
It all started with my romance writing course. The course was a requisite to acquiring the college certificate I’m after and I thought it would be fun to do anyway. Just to get a feel for the genre I went in search of novels to read that would cost me little or no money. Enter the freebies on my e-reader. Out of the ten or so I downloaded, two were well written – the rest, not so much. But I read them anyway. It was the general feeling I was going after, not the quality of writing.
At the same time I was finishing up the rough draft of my novel. That done, I started the editing process. In the meantime, the romance course finished and I went back to reading what I normally read. Well. I tell you.
After reading Stephen King (who, no matter whether you enjoy his stories or not, you must admit is a master of the craft of writing) I realised that my novel was right on par with the free romance crap I had been reading! Granted, I’m taking a grammar course now, so I’m finding mistakes I didn’t know were mistakes. But I still want to rewrite my entire manuscript.
I was amazed at how much influence what I read had on what I wrote. The time I spent describing things in minute detail instead of simply relating how my characters were reacting to things; the extra word count that came from blathering on about things that don’t matter is astounding.
I still have to cut down my word count by about 40,000 words in order for it to fit into even the most generous publisher’s limits, but I’m hoping with Stephen King’s influence I’ll be able to accomplish that. And from now on I must remember to keep away from authors I’m not interested in emulating whilst I write.
On Sale Now! Legends of Windemere: Prodigy of Rainbow Tower for .99 Cents!
The new novel by Charles E. Yallowitz is out now! Buy it today!
The day has come, everyone! Legends of Windemere: Prodigy of Rainbow Tower is live on Amazon.com! See the adventure that Luke Callindor and his friends have found themselves in now. Meet the hot-tempered, magic-hurling Nyx and her cunning rival Trinity the Chaos Elf Queen. Filled with more humor, action, drama, and adventure than Legends of Windemere: Beginning of a Hero, this book is already being praised on Goodreads.
Anyone that received preview copies, feel free to write up reviews for the Amazon and Goodreads site.
For the month of August, Legends of Windemere: Prodigy of Rainbow Towerwill be .99 cents. After that, it goes up to $2.99.
Thank you to everyone that has helped me and supported me. I couldn’t have gotten this far without you and a big thank you post is coming soon.
Some Friends Are Publishing Tonight…
A brilliant post by one amazing writer about two more great writers who are about to publish their novels. Please check them out and support them. 🙂
It’s ever amazing – to this one, at least – how quickly and how strong the bonds become within my small circle of WordPress friends. The support offered and received is such a grace in my life. With this in mind, I would ask you to keep in your thoughts (and visit the blogs of) two such wonderful people. Both are releasing – as I type – their novels!!! Please visit their blogs and support them…
http://whenibecameanauthor.wordpress.com/ …Briana Vedsted is releasing her new book, A Girl Named Cord.
http://legendsofwindemere.com/ …Charles Yallowitz is releasing another in his Windemere series,
Legends of Windemere: Prodigy of Rainbow Tower
I’m sending hopeful and positive thoughts in their direction. I am acknowledging their dedication and hard work. My very best wishes to both of you dear, dear friends.
Ellespeth
I mean, seriously
Who invented fruit flies? What are they good for except invading our kitchens and eating our fruit? Would they fill up the belly of a bird? No. And I refuse to let a bird into my kitchen to test the theory. How many tiny fruit fly bodies do I have to pick out of my wine? I get enough protein, thanks.
Every year it’s the same thing. You go into the grocery store and see them swarming around the onions and you think to yourself, the strawberries are far enough away from the onions that they shouldn’t have got into them, right?
Ha!
And so every year my kitchen is either on the wing, or littered with fruit fly traps. The home made ones are the best. A jar with a small piece of banana peel inside and cling wrap over top with a tiny hole. They can get in, but they can’t find their way out.
They are still and always will be a bloody nuisance though!
My Quote of the Day
“Wine is good. Fruit flies are a nuisance.”
Me.
Cows are rarely wrong
Back when I was five years old, I remember being on vacation with my mother in England. On this particular day that so clearly comes to mind, we were driving to the seaside. My uncle, who was driving, told me that it was a good sign that the cows were standing up in the pastures as we drove by.
“Why?” I asked in a perfectly five year old fashion.
“Because when the cows lay down it means it’s going to rain,” he explained.
Since that time I’ve taken predictive cow thing to the next level – to a degree of percentages. So for instance, if three quarters of the cows in a field are standing up, there is a potential for a 25% chance of rain.
So today I was driving to where my son was at camp. It was out in the middle of nowhere and inevitably I passed a field where there were horses and only one cow. It was bright and sunny, but the cow was laying down.
Shit, it’s going to rain, thought I.
When I passed the same cow on my way home, my windshield wipers going as fast as they could, I nodded to the cow.
