Sheila's Guests and Reviews

I did it, and this time I mean it too! I retyped the last sentence (ah, those final sentences--almost as important as the first), re-edited the whole manuscript, didn't rewrite any scenes (which means I really think I'm finished), edited for the dreaded and, but, still, till, however, then and was (etc), made sure my characters' eye-colors didn't change and the backpack left in one room wasn't suddenly found in another, renamed the file, re-saved it, and sent it off. Love on a Transfer is busily transferring itself from my computer to the computers at Willow Moon Publishing where I desperately hope they'll like the changes I've made. The amazing thing is, I really enjoyed the story as I reread it. That's got to be a good sign hasn't it?

It's time for football (soccer) and the guys are glued to the European matches on TV. I'm even learning to recognize names, and I have to admit a shared delight in those goals where skill takes precedence over failure to defend. Yes, there really is something about football--it even distracts me from reading books sometimes. But here are last week's book reviews, just to prove football can't distract me all the time. One of them's even a translation from the German, which proves I might try to follow other teams. So choose your coffee, sit back and enjoy the read. Starting in Germany, Vertigo by Kristina Dunker tells the tale of a sixteen-year-old girl's romantic weekend gone wrong. Not that I'm sure why anyone would let a sixteen-year-old go off on a romantic weekend with a boy she only met six weeks ago, but the story's fun, filled with teenagers, dark nights and rising tension in the forests around the small town of Munkelbach. Enjoy with a 5-sta...

I'm so lucky to have another great guest author on my blog today with another fascinating historical post about the joys of England--specifically the joys of researching English history to create an authentic historical novel. Meet Anne Brear, author of The Gentle Wind's Caress, just released by Knox Robinson. And thank you Anne for visiting my blog!  Over to you...    For any historical author, and most contemporary set writers, too, researching has to be done to make the book read as authentic as possible. The smallest item can seem suddenly very interesting, and also extremely difficult to find the history about! Hours can be spent pouring over library books and the Internet searching for the right answer. We tear our hair out wondering if a certain item was invented and widely used in our period, etc. It can be terribly frightening, but also very rewarding when we do find the correct answer. I think it is very important for historical authors to ge...

One of the best things about reading quickly is I get to be part of so many fun blog tours. Today I'm celebrating the release of Breeana Puttroff's Seeds of Discovery as part of her Lightning Book Promotions tour . Read my review of Seeds of Discovery here, and read on to find out more about the book. Nobody at Bristlecone High School has ever paid attention to William Rose. Since the day he arrived in the small, mountain town years ago, he's blended into the background. Quinn Robbins never noticed William at all, until the icy Friday night he suddenly appeared directly in the path of her car, and just as suddenly vanished. After that, she found herself noticing him constantly, seeing for the first time just how different he was.   First were the books he always had his nose buried in. Why would a senior in high school always be reading medical journals? Then there were his habitual appearances down by the river every Friday night, just like the ...

J. G. Harlond's historical novel The Chosen Man is scheduled for release tomorrow by Knox Robinson Publishing. But the author's been reading my blog while I read about her book. She's sent me this wonderful guests post with her tale of Uninvited Characters, so, over to you Jane... I was amused and sympathetic to Sheila’s argy-bargy with her characters on her blog the other day, characters do get bossy. I was particularly struck by her exchange with Tom because members of a reading club had been asking me about my characters. Where, they wanted to know, did my characters come from? Well, the truth is I see things : that is I see people doing things . The other truth is I didn’t know this wasn’t normal: I grew up knowing my great-grandmother was ‘fey’; odd things in our family are ‘known’ and just taken for granted. I assumed most families were like that. Let me explain what this has to do with Sheila’s bossy characters. My new novel was something of an acci...

Okay, I know, it's probably not Monday morning anymore, but it's still morning here and it's definitely time I posted some of those book reviews I've been writing, so here goes. Enjoy coffee, follow the links to longer reviews, and read.... Oh, and don't forget, those ratings apply to the recommended coffee style, not my ratings of the read--I hate turning carefully considered reviews into random number generators. Starting with my favorite book of last week, One Day by David Nicholls was a thoroughly enjoyable read, proving yet again that my husband knows exactly what sort of books will please me. I've not seen the movie, but the book is a wonderfully drawn tapestry of life with all the threads beautifully combined--love, modern life, ambition, humor and pathos all in perfect balance. Enjoy with a 3-star perfectly balanced full-flavored coffee. Next comes Lazarus Barnhill's Medicine People , a thoroughly enjoyable mystery/police procedural/romance/fa...

It's not the real cover, of course, just the picture I had in mind while writing my novel. But I thought I'd post it to celebrate typing those magical words "The End!" Yes, it's finished, except it's not. I'm sharpening my editor's pencil now, or my finger-ends as they tap against the keys. One of my protagonist is threatening to sharpen other things and complains over my shoulder. "How dare you make me out to be a wimp," says Tom. "I'm not some shy retiring Englishman like Eric. I've got style." My feeble defense makes me the real wimp I suppose. "I just wrote what you said" But Tom complains I only ever talked to him when he was down. Which is true. He only ever noticed me when he was down. Still, I promise I'll work on fixing his scenes if he'll just let me know what to change. "Why should I?" He storms away, throwing words over his shoulder. "You're the writer. You get it ...