L.M. Nelson's Blog, page 20
February 9, 2018
Box-O-Books
This is a beautiful sight. My box of books has arrived!
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February 6, 2018
Writer’s Mind
“You don’t have to be crazy to be a writer. But it helps.
There’s a reason most writers are a little unhinged. Einstein is often quoted for saying insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting a different result. I wonder if he realised he was describing a typical day for a writer.” See the original article to read more.
You don’t have to be crazy to be a writer. But it helps.
There’s a reason most writers are a little unhinged. Einstein is often quoted for saying insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting a different result. I wonder if he realised he was describing a typical day for a writer. Every day we wake up and think to ourselves that today is going to be the day; the day the words flow freely; the day we have a breakthrough; maybe, just maybe, today is the day we feel vindicated in chasing this outrageous idea.
We spend our days alone staring at an empty screen, a blank page, an uncapped pen. We are our biggest critics, we give ourselves hell and nothing is ever good enough. But we keep doing it. We’re never satisfied and that’s why we keep writing. We write to quiet our monkey minds. We…
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Two Writing Tips That Every Writer Needs to See
Useful tips, especially love the first one.
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Writing is, in its own way, very similar to the journey of life as a whole: it’s tough and rough, there are no shortcuts, it leaves you with very little time to truly relax, and most importantly, it should never be something that is faced alone.
I guess the only upside at least, is that with writing, finding that help isn’t so difficult. Writers can hire people to help them in their quest. They have access to boatloads of fantastic freelance editors (including yours truly,) coaches and illustrators, and with all of them combined, it makes the task of writing a little less difficult.
In life, you’re all alone for the most part, and not all of that time can be spent farting loudly and laughing about it – sadly.
Of course, there are potential pitfalls to seeking help with your writing. Like what if you hire a…
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February 5, 2018
Things I Wish Someone Had Told Me
I had to share this, as we so often forget. It speaks of art, but writing is an art.
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February 4, 2018
What I Learned Writing My First Book
As writers, all of us have made mistakes along the way, but we’ve learned from mistakes and have become better writers because of them. Here’s a great article on some of the many things writers learn from writing their first novel.
Writing a novel is hard. That’s what I learned. The end.
Thanks for reading, everyone!
Okay I may have figured out a few other things. It’s a laborious and thankless job with a remote chance of payoff in the end. Still, it’s better than the alternative, which is not writing a book.
In Feb, 2017, I completed the final sentence of the first draft of my book. It clocks in at about 80,000 words and took about 7 months to write. It was my first attempt at writing a novel, and I’m pretty proud of myself for finishing.
1. I LEARNED HOW TO BE FINE WITH BEING TERRIBLE.
I put this first because it was the hardest lesson to learn and slowed me down the most. The first draft does not need to be perfect. For my first two months of writing, I was unable to move past a chapter…
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The First Draft – A Handy Pie Chart
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All writers go through this. But your first draft is supposed to be crap. It’s where you get your ideas on paper. Too many writers dwell on perfection with the first draft and never finish the story. Just finish it. You can clean it up later.
February 3, 2018
16 Things You (Probably) Didn’t Know About…L.M. Nelson, Author.
Here’s part two of my interview with Rachael Ritchey. This was a fun interview to do. Thanks, Rachael!
We’re here with L.M. Nelson, but before I finish off this fun interview we started on Monday, here are the most important links of the day:
The Guardian as well as L.M. Nelson’s other titles can be purchased on
Amazon
Smashwords
Please support indie authors and get a copy today!
Now on to the weird, the odd, the fun that is today’s interview!
Sixteen things you (probably) didn’t know about author L.M. Nelson
My first job was…highlighting petition signatures at the Oregon Secretary of States’ Office.
If I wasn’t a teacher, I would likely be…in the medical field or doing something with photography. I’d love to be a full time writer too.
I collect…Ok. Don’t laugh. I collect cows, you know the knick-knacky, plushy, black and white kitchen cows. I also collect shot glasses (although I’m not much of a drinker), Minions, and Futurama figurines.
My favorite…
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Author Spotlight – K.M. Pohlkamp
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Author Spotlight
For this week’s author spotlight, I’d like to introduce you to historical thriller author, K.M. Pohlkamp.
K.M. Pohlkamp is a blessed wife, proud mother of two young children, and an aerospace[image error] engineer who works in Mission Control. She operated guidance, navigation and control systems on the Space Shuttle and is currently involved in development of upcoming manned-space vehicles. A Cheesehead by birth, she now resides in Texas for her day job and writes to maintain her sanity. Her other hobbies include ballet and piano. K.M. has come a long way from the wallpaper and cardboard books she created as a child. Her historical fiction thriller, Apricots and Wolfsbane, was published by Filles Vertes Publishing in October and she is currently drafting the sequel. This spring, K.M. will also be publishing her short story, Physicists and Petticoats, about a female physicist at Harvard in 1906.
Let’s take a look at her thriller, Apricots and Wolfsbane.
Synopsis: Lavinia Maud craves the moment the last wisps of life leave her victim’s bodies, to behold the effects of her own poison creations. Her morbid desires are balanced with faith since she believes confession erases the sin of murder, though she could never justify her skill to the magistrate she loves.
At the start of the 16th century in Tudor England, Lavinia’s marks grow from tavern drunks to nobility, but rising prestige brings increased risk. When the magistrate suspects her ruse, he pressures the priest into breaking her confessional seal, pitting Lavinia’s instincts as an assassin against the tenets of love and faith. She balances revenge against her struggle to develop a tasteless poison and avoid the wrath of her ruthless patron.
With her ideals in conflict, Lavinia must decide which will satisfy her heart: love, faith, or murder, but the betrayals are just beginning.
Apricots and Wolfsbane is shortlisted for the 2017 Chaucer Historical Fiction awards. The novel also includes a book club guide with discussions in the back. K.M. is available to Skype with book clubs and be contacted through her website, www.kmpohlkamp.com
Excerpt:
The violent display of convulsions lasted longer than I anticipated.
With my boots propped on the table, I remember watching beads of wax roll down the candle, marking time between my victim’s spasms. The brothel room was sparse, and the bed in the corner remained undisturbed. I had assumed the role of temptress that evening, but delivered a different climax.
I savored the fear on my victim’s face as much as my own unlaced mead. The sweetness of both danced on my palate. His repulsive gagging, however, I endured with patience.
My target focused upon me. His hand shook, reaching out in a misplaced plea for aid. Instead, I raised my goblet in a final toast while he turned purple. He glanced towards his spilled glass, and then studied my face with new understanding. With his last remnants of life, he pieced together what I had done. Those little moments made the act so delicious. And as his body collapsed upon the floor, I added one more success to my mental tally.
Murder just never got old.
The scratching of my chair sliding across the uneven floor broke the sudden, serene silence of the room. Driven by curiosity, my boots echoed with each step towards my victim.
The man’s eyes contained a lingering remnant of vibrancy despite the departure of the soul they once served. White froth percolated from his open mouth, overflowing the orifice to trail down his neck. It was not an honorable death, but my client had paid for certainty, not dignity.
Curious, I examined the large ruby on the victim’s pointer finger which matched the client’s description — an ornate setting with a coat of arms on one side of the gem and a mare’s head on the opposite. The worked piece of silver did not seem important enough to procure my service, but as a professional, I had not asked for justification, only payment. Material significance so often motivated patrons to fill my coffers. I recognized the inherent sin, but I never judged a client’s reason. I was not qualified to cast the first stone.
I did admire my victim. After all, he was a fellow criminal. I believed his talents as a thief must have been remarkable to pilfer the ring unnoticed from the finger of its owner. I often boasted of my own sleight of hand, but admittedly, I could not accomplish such a feat. Though in my defense, assassin clearly trumped thief.
After donning the black leather gloves concealed within the lacings of my bodice, I returned to business. I pushed the tipped chair out of the way and pulled on the ring, but my motion abruptly halted.
Caught at the knuckle, the gem did not budge.
I stared at his limp hand, dumbfounded, before a flame of focus burst through my body. How I craved and savored that rush. That high, and the feeling of power, motivated my ghastly craft all those years. Despite the stress, I never lost control of my emotions on the job. No matter the circumstance, I learned to remain calm and reason through any dilemma. That night was no different.
Grabbing the corpse’s wrist in one hand, I pulled on the metal band with all my strength. Still, the damn ring did not move, even with my heel braced against his chest. But through the sound of my grunting, the unexpected scratching of a nearby rat interrupted my efforts.
The rodent stood tall on his hind legs, observing the entertainment outside his hole in the floorboard. What else could I do except laugh in amusement? There was something poetic about the meager creature being the singular witness to the growing farce, while beyond the chamber door, an entire brothel remained unaware.
But their ignorance would not last for long.
By God’s nails, I was not going to degrade myself to play tug of war with a corpse, nor disgrace my spit to serve as lubrication. I retrieved the dagger from my boot and sawed through the bone of the blasted digit. In contrast, his purse strings cut with ease and the contained sum gave me confidence the proprietor would retain his promised discretion. Eager to depart, I cleansed the ring with the pure decanter of mead and left the contaminated gloves on the table.
I threw the finger to the rat.
[image error]Apricots and Wolfsbane is available through GoodReads, Amazon/Kindle and FVPub
You can connect with K.M. Pohlkamp through her website, Twitter, and Facebook.
Odd Expressions
My husband laughs at me when I do this. 
January 31, 2018
Writing Scintillating Scenes––Part I
This blogger wrote multiple posts about writing scintillating scenes. Here’s the first one. It’s a worthwhile read with helpful information. Enjoy!
I read somewhere that scenes are the “guts” of your novel. They are powerful and intense, they engage readers and help them to keep on reading. What is a scene? It is the most vivid and immediate part of the story, emotionally involved, their minds are filled with images and memories of actions. Click to Tweet #amwriting #scintillatingscenes
Simply put, a scene is action! Scenes are text passages, including narrative, meant to focus on an event in the story, sometimes slowing it down, so that the reader is “in the moment.” The readers join in the scene along with the characters in action.
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