Kelley Heckart's Blog, page 19

Weird Word Wednesday

Diapasonnoun  di·a·pa·son a  :  a burst of sound <diapasons of laughter> b  :  the principal foundation stop in the organ extending through the complete range of the instrumentc (1) :  the entire compass of musical tones (2) :  range, scope diapason of her responses — Mindy Aloff> a  :  tuning fork    b  :  a standard of pitch
Middle English, from Latin, from Greek (hē) dia pasōn (chordōn symphōnia), literally, the concord through all the notes, from dia through + pasōn, genitive feminine plural of pas all — more at dia-, pan-

First Known Use: circa 1501
Kelley HeckartOtherworldly tales steeped in myth, magic & romance.http://www.kelleyheckart.comhttp://kelleysrealm.blogspot.com/http://twitter.com/CelticChickhttps://www.facebook.com/kelleyheckartauthor http://www.goodreads.com/kheckart

Monday Musings: Arizona sunset photos

Kelley HeckartOtherworldly tales steeped in myth, magic & romance.http://www.kelleyheckart.comhttp://kelleysrealm.blogspot.com/http://twitter.com/CelticChickhttps://www.facebook.com/kelleyheckartauthorhttp://www.goodreads.com/kheckart Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Kelley-Heckart/e/B002BMOQ3C

Weird Word Wednesday

Diakinesisnoun  dia·ki·ne·sis:  the final stage of the meiotic prophase marked by contraction of the bivalentsNew Latin

First Known Use: circa 1902
Kelley HeckartOtherworldly tales steeped in myth, magic & romance.http://www.kelleyheckart.comhttp://kelleysrealm.blogspot.com/http://twitter.com/CelticChickhttps://www.facebook.com/kelleyheckartauthor http://www.goodreads.com/kheckart

Monday Musings: New Release by Kelley Heckart--The Crow Maiden (Greek myths, shapeshifters, romance)

New book release! The Crow Maiden, Greek myths/fantasy/shapeshifters/romanceIn Print and Kindle on amazon.com


Book Title: The Crow MaidenAuthor: Kelley HeckartAuthor website: http://www.kelleyheckart.comGenre: Greek myths/fantasy/paranormal/shapeshifters/romanceRelease date: 1/6/17Page Count: 180ISBN- 13:978-1541140615ISBN- 10:1541140613ASIN:  B01N1ZBAF1Kindle Buy Link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N1ZBAF1
Trade Paperback Buy Link on amazon.com: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1541140613/
Blurb
The Crow MaidenBook 3: The Arcadia Series(The Crow Maiden is a standalone story in the Arcadia Series)
She betrayed her goddess for him…He betrayed her.Plotting her revenge is her only solace. Until now.
Nahla is the Crow Maiden, an Arcadian, and once a priestess of Artemis. Now she is a captive, a being who lives in the shadows until her vile master the sorcerer-king Aramon summons her. Another releases her from the Shadowlands, and while he might be the champion she has waited for, the gods must be playing a cruel joke. Her champion is crippled.
An Achaean lord who once ruled a great city, Balin is a broken man. He has lost everything—his kingdom and his family. Revenge consumes him. Although wary of the mysterious, cold-eyed female who appears and claims he summoned her, she may be his only hope to exact vengeance on the king who ruined him, the same man Nahla seeks to destroy.
They are bound by revenge, and soon, both learn they are bound by much more, but the secrets she hides might tear them apart and ruin their only opportunity for vengeance—and their chance to love again.
“Ms. Heckart draws the reader into the pages and enchants them with her words.”Karen McGill, Coffee Time Romance
Excerpt (PG):Summoned from the Shadowlands, Nahla landed in a place of encircling darkness. Rays of light too weak to pierce the black shield glowed in the distance. Cold, damp air embraced her, penetrating her clothing and draping her body like a heavy winter cloak.Footsteps echoed all around. She struggled to come to her senses, fighting disorientation. Seized by a wave of dizziness, she steadied herself on the hard, rough ground beneath her feet. The footsteps grew louder. They approached from the direction of the faint light.He was coming.She staggered backward and banged into a hard wall. Her arms extended, she moved to her right. Cold rock scraped her knuckles. She lunged left and grimaced as another firm, unforgiving surface stopped her other hand. Bound there by more than the walls, she waited in the stygian blackness.Brandishing a torch, her summoner appeared and came toward her at a forceful pace. The fire blinded her, and she barely saw the glint of metal flashing in front of her.Before she could evade the thrusting weapon, a cold, heavy blade touched her neck. The unfamiliar feel of a sharp blade against her skin made her freeze out of instinct, not because she was afraid of death. Nahla had already died once.She waited for the weapon to slice through her flesh. A foreboding prickle raised the fine hairs of her nape. Something was different about this summoning. Her master would never kill her. He would never be that kind to her and set her free.The one who wielded the blade dropped the torch in order to hold the weapon with both hands. The flaming light burned low and sputtered behind him or her, though she sensed whoever had brought her here was male by his leather, un-flowery scent and by the strength he possessed holding the heavy, brutal blade. Shadows concealing her summoner remained, and his deep, ragged breaths spoke of anger and despair.“Who are you? How did you get in here?” he asked, his voice gruff.“You summoned me.” She remained guarded, the cold metal still caressing her neck, but excitement fluttered in her stomach at the significance of this unusual summoning.The silence was palpable, broken only by his now heavy and uneasy breathing. After a few moments, he growled, “If that is so, then you are not what I asked for.”Desperation, frustration, and anguish filled his voice. She was in the true place. All she knew was death and misery and sorrow.“I came because I was summoned.”“Just go away.” He removed the blade from her neck, picked up the fallen, smoking torch, and retreated through the low, narrow opening toward the beckoning glimmers of light from a far away chamber.She followed him and stepped forward toward the opening. Another dim chamber filled with dust and cobwebs greeted her. Glancing back at the black, unpleasantly cold space she’d landed in, she suppressed a shudder and then ducked into the other brighter, small chamber. Piles of dusty blankets, a war shield, and dull-looking bronze plate armor filled one corner. Nothing about the solemn room looked familiar to her. She walked past uneven rock walls like the ones found in caves. An earthy scent like that of dark, damp places permeated the air. Caves were for creatures like her that roamed in the shadows, the unseen realm between life and death, the place she called the Land of Sorrows, not for humans that had no need of darkness.This summoning wasn’t true. Only one man could call her forth from the Shadowlands. Was she finally free of her tormentor? No, the bond to her master remained, lingering like a loose tether, but she also sensed she couldn’t travel too far from this stranger. Did this unusual event have anything to do with her constant yearning for the life that had been stolen from her? She could reclaim all she’d lost if she found a champion to kill her creator and master. It had seemed impossible.Until now…
****
Multi-published author Kelley Heckart lives in Arizona with her musician husband, dog and a number of backyard “pets.” Her stories reflect her passion for ancient and medieval time periods, storytelling and the supernatural. Inspired by the ancient Celts, her tales are filled with fierce warriors, bold women, otherworldly creatures, magic, and romance. When not writing, she works as a freelance editor and practices target archery. She can be found online at http://www.kelleyheckart.com/
To sign up for my newsletter and receive special notices like new book releases and giveaways only for my subscribers: http://kelleyheckart.com/Contact_Kelley_Page.html
Kelley HeckartOtherworldly tales steeped in myth, magic & romance.http://www.kelleyheckart.comhttp://kelleysrealm.blogspot.com/http://twitter.com/CelticChickhttps://www.facebook.com/kelleyheckartauthorhttp://www.goodreads.com/kheckart

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Kelley-Heckart/e/B002BMOQ3C

Weird Word Wednesday

Diaeresisnoun  di·aer·e·sisDefinition of diaeresisplural diaereses\-ˌsēz\1:  a mark ¨ placed over a vowel to indicate that the vowel is pronounced in a separate syllable (as in naïve or Brontë) — compare umlaut2:  the break in a verse caused by the coincidence of the end of a foot with the end of a wordLate Latin diaeresis, from Greek diairesis,literally, division, from diairein to divide, from dia- + hairein to take
First Known Use: circa 1611
Kelley HeckartOtherworldly tales steeped in myth, magic & romance.http://www.kelleyheckart.comhttp://kelleysrealm.blogspot.com/http://twitter.com/CelticChickhttps://www.facebook.com/kelleyheckartauthor http://www.goodreads.com/kheckart

Monday Musings: Arizona Sunset Photos

Kelley HeckartOtherworldly tales steeped in myth, magic & romance.http://www.kelleyheckart.comhttp://kelleysrealm.blogspot.com/http://twitter.com/CelticChickhttps://www.facebook.com/kelleyheckartauthor
http://www.goodreads.com/kheckart

Weird Word Wednesday

Diadelphous adjective   di·adel·phous :  united by filaments into two fascicles —used of stamens
First Known Use: 1807
Kelley HeckartOtherworldly tales steeped in myth, magic & romance.http://www.kelleyheckart.comhttp://kelleysrealm.blogspot.com/ http://twitter.com/CelticChickhttps://www.facebook.com/kelleyheckartauthor http://www.goodreads.com/kheckart

Monday Musings: The allure of Christmas movies

The Hallmark Channel has been playing Christmas movies since just after Halloween. I used to make fun of Christmas movies. They were always too sappy for me. I’m more of a National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation kind of girl—making fun of the whole holiday festivities.However, lately I’ve been getting sucked into these Christmas movies. Have I finally softened on the holiday spirit of Christmas? Maybe. Just a little.


There is something about Christmas, how this time of year affects people, bringing them closer, and the Christmas movies add a touch of magic that is already in the air. I think I understand now why I keep watching them. Christmas movies make us feel better in a world where every day there is some disaster in the news.
Merry Christmas, everyone.
Kelley HeckartOtherworldly tales steeped in myth, magic & romance.http://www.kelleyheckart.comhttp://kelleysrealm.blogspot.com/http://twitter.com/CelticChickhttps://www.facebook.com/kelleyheckartauthor http://www.goodreads.com/kheckart

Weird Word Wednesday

Diachronic adjective   dia·chron·ic 
:  of, relating to, or dealing with phenomena (as of language or culture) as they occur or change over a period of time
Kelley HeckartOtherworldly tales steeped in myth, magic & romance.http://www.kelleyheckart.comhttp://kelleysrealm.blogspot.com/ http://twitter.com/CelticChickhttps://www.facebook.com/kelleyheckartauthor http://www.goodreads.com/kheckart

Monday Musings: The frustrations of formatting a book in Microsoft Word

I've been pulling my hair out trying to remember how to format my new book for publishing. The hardest part is putting the headers and page numbers on the right pages in Microsoft Word. None of the tutorials I found were helpful because my problem seemed to be unique. Most of them showed instructions on how to add headers and page numbers. I know how to add them. That's easy. I don't know how to add them to the right pages, how to skip the front matter and first page of a chapter. LOL

I think this tutorial was the most helpful because it focused on the importance of using section breaks correctly to get your headers and page numbers on the right pages.

This is how I spent the last few days and why I forgot all about a new post for today. Hopefully the above tutorial link might help another writer and keep them from being frustrated.

I guess what this taught me is that self-publishing is not easy. Unless you want to pay someone to do all the formatting, you have to learn how to do it yourself. If I did it more often, I'd remember how I did it before, but I don't, so every time I am ready to publish a new book I have to try and re-learn how to correctly add the headers and page numbers. Maybe I could take better notes for the future. LOL


Kelley HeckartOtherworldly tales steeped in myth, magic & romance.http://www.kelleyheckart.comhttp://kelleysrealm.blogspot.com/ http://twitter.com/CelticChickhttps://www.facebook.com/kelleyheckartauthor
http://www.goodreads.com/kheckart