Ellen Gable's Blog, page 91

7 Quick Takes Friday – Volume 60

It’s time to join with other Catholic bloggers at Conversion Diary for 7 Quick Takes Friday.

1. Proactive Lent

Lent has begun in earnest. One of the things I do every year during Lent is “de-clutter.” I tend to let stacks of books, papers and other paraphernalia pile up without sorting properly. The end result is my house tends to be cluttered. I still give up a few things, but since I’ve already given up wheat, that takes care of most “goodies.” Since the beginning of Lent, I’ve sorted through books and a few large stacks of paper.

2. Popular Name from 1871-1880

In researching names for my fifth book, A Subtle Grace, I was surprised to discover “Ellen” was the 6th most popular girl’s name in that period. Can you guess one of the names that was more popular?(In the top five of this period). Comment below to be entered to win a print copy of God Moments III: True Love Leads to Life (I contributed three stories to this book).

3. Pope Leo XIII

I discovered this cool video of Pope Leo XIII in 1896 on youtube. There is a short audio clip of Pope Leo XII at the end. If you’re wondering why I have been doing research on this Pope, it’s because he makes a guest appearance in my upcoming novel, A Subtle Grace. To find out more about this Pope, click here.

4. Fan Mail

I’ve received more than the usual amount of fan mail this week and it’s been very humbling. It’s still hard to imagine or believe that I have “fans.”

5. Simultaneous Bestsellers!

Earlier this week, for the first time ever, all six of my company’s books, including my four, have simultaneously been on at least one bestsellers’ list.

6. Antique Books

Another thing I found this week while doing research was that many antique books from the 19th century are available FREE online. This book, entitled “The Science of a New Life” by John Cowan is a fascinating journey into Victorian attitudes, biases and religious overtones. What was so refreshing was the author does not attempt to hide his horror for “abortion” which at the time was called “Feticide.”

7. Texted Cartoon

Image copyright James & Ellen Hrkach

Don’t forget! Let me know one of the names you think might have been in the top five in the period 1871 to 1880 to be entered to win a free copy of God Moments III: True Love Leads to Life. You’ll get one entry for each name you guess correctly. Comment before Monday, February 25th @ eight p.m. to be eligible to enter!

Copyright 2013 Ellen Gable Hrkach

All Six of Full Quiver’s Books on Bestsellers’ Lists!

For the first time ever, all SIX of my company’s books (including my four) are on at least one Kindle bestseller list simultaneously!

In Name Only (Ellen Gable) #2 RL Drama

Stealing Jenny (Ellen Gable) #8 RL Drama

Angela’s Song (AnnMarie Creedon) #11 RL Drama

Emily’s Hope (Gable) #14 RL Drama

Growing Up in God’s Image (Carolyn J. Smith) #14 Parent Participation

Come My Beloved (Ellen Gable, Kathy Cassanto) #82 Catholicism

Sunday Snippets – February 17

Image copyright Ellen Gable Hrkach

It’s the weekend and time for Catholic bloggers to share their week’s posts at RAnn’s Place for Sunday Snippets.

Improving Your Fiction Manuscript – Common Errors to Avoid (Latest Catholic Writers Guild post)

Intimate Preparations (Latest post at Amazing Catechists and Catholic Mom) And a chance to win a FREE print book!

7 Quick Takes Friday – Volume 59 (a free book, Valentine’s Day, a cartoon and news of the Pope’s resignation)

Copyright 2013 Ellen Gable Hrkach

7 Quick Takes Friday – Volume 59

It’s time to connect with other Catholic bloggers over at Jen’s Conversion Diary.

1. Come My Beloved FREE on Kindle

The Kindle edition of my book, Come My Beloved: Inspiring Stories of Catholic Courtship is FREE today and tomorrow. Come My Beloved is a celebration of faith and enduring love. This compilation contains 12 courtship/dating stories which will inspire, captivate and entertain readers. Some of the stories include: a widow with eight children meets a widower with six children; a man asks his live-in girlfriend “what if we stopped having sex,” and is greeted with tears of joy; an atheist falls in love with her Catholic Prince Charming; a woman prays to God for a husband and years later finds herself falling in love with a seminarian; a sailor prays a novena to marry the right girl. What these and all the stories illustrate is that God is the ideal matchmaker. To download a free Kindle copy, click here.

2. Valentine’s Day – Our Courtship Story

James and I just celebrated our 34th Valentine’s Day together. To read an excerpt of how we met, click here.

image copyright Ellen Hrkach

3. The Pope’s Retirement

I posted the early news of the Pope’s resignation on my blog, but there are many other updates at the Vatican’s News website.

4. Daisy Bell

While recently researching popular songs of the late 1890′s, I came across this Wikipedia entry that also has an actual recording from 1894 of “Bicycle Built For Two,” (formerly known as Daisy Bell.) It’s incredible to think this recording (however scratchy it sounds) was made in 1894.

5. Intimate Preparations

Want to make the most of your intimate time together? My latest post at both Amazing Catechists and CatholicMom is entitled “Intimate Preparations.”

6. Reading Shelf

Flannery O’Connor: The Complete Stories

7. “Hotel” Cartoon

Image copyright Full Quiver Publishing, James and Ellen Hrkach

Copyright 2013 Ellen Gable Hrkach

Candle image purchased from iStock

Improving Your Fiction Manuscript – Common Errors to Avoid

My latest post from the Catholic Writers Guild blog:

A good novel begins with a great story, a compelling plot, interesting characters. But it doesn’t end there. A good novel also needs to be well written.

I’ve been editing other authors’ novels for two years and writing novels for ten years. What follows are the most common mistakes I see in fiction manuscripts and self-published novels. By finding and fixing these common errors, you can improve your manuscript before it gets to the editor.

1. Overuse of Adverbs

If you’re working on a manuscript right now, do a “find” or “search” for every word that ends with ly. Now remove half of them. Your manuscript is already better. Even without doing a search or find, read each sentence. Are there two adverbs in some sentences? Recent manuscripts I’ve read contain sentences with two or three adverbs.

2. Repetitive Wording

Just, so, very, some. It’s difficult for an author to see his/her own mistakes. Have someone else read through your manuscript to assist you with this. For me, I often can’t see that I often use the same word often in the same sentence (see what I mean?) Or…read your manuscript backwards. This helps to show you areas of repetitive wording and other common errors.

3. Show Don’t Tell

This is a big newbie mistake.

He was sad.

She was amazed.

The look on her face was happy.

Now go through your manuscript and pick out all the times an emotion is simply stated and not described. Instead of writing “He was sad,” try something like “his shoulders slumped” or “his eyes were etched in grief.” Instead of writing “She was amazed,” experiment with different descriptions. One of the most helpful resources I’ve found is The Emotion Thesaurus.

A seasoned reader can spot a badly written, amateur book a mile away and usually within the first two pages. And…it will be more interesting for your reader if you allow them to visualize what’s going on.

4. Too Much Interior Thought

When I presented the initial draft of my first novel to my editor, one of her biggest complaints was “too much interior thinking.” When a character’s italicized thoughts are on every page, twice a page, that’s too much. It’s almost as if the author is lazy and just wants to tell the reader exactly what the character is thinking. Interior thought is fine when used sparingly, but not several times a page. Describe how they’re feeling instead.

5. Comma Errors, Grammar Errors

A great book for helping fix comma errors is:Eats, Shoots and Leaves. As well, search on Amazon for good grammar books. There are many.

6. Exclamation Points!

First-time novelists tend to use too many exclamation points. Do a search and omit most of them (replacing them with descriptions of the tone or face).

7. Too Much Dialogue

My first novel, Emily’s Hope, is 60 percent dialogue and 40 percent narrative. As a beginner, I didn’t know any better. Quality novels tend to use dialogue to serve the narrative, not the other way around. Dialogue can also be a lazy way to show character development. Dialogue is important, but if it’s the mainstay of your book, write a screenplay instead.

8. Underestimating the Intelligence of the Reader (e.g. hitting the reader over the head)

Here’s an example: He was sad. He was depressed. It was hard for him because he seemed so sad. Okay, we get it. He’s sad. Once is enough…and even at that, it’s better to describe what he looks like and feels like.

9. Avoid Descriptive Clichés or Sayings

“She felt like a million bucks”

“Smoother than a baby’s bottom”

Well, you can think of many. Create your own descriptive metaphors and similes instead of using well-known cliches.

10. Point of View

Many first-time novelists tend to use omniscient point of view (POV), that is, in any given scene, the author shows what’s going on in everyone’s mind, even within the same paragraph. This is difficult to do well, even for the experienced, bestselling novelist. And…it can be confusing for the reader. If you want your readers to bond with the characters, try using third person (intimate) POV. For more information, check out my guest post for Savvy Authors.

Eliminating these common errors will improve your manuscript before it even gets to the editor.

Are you working on a fiction manuscript? Do you have any favorite writing books you’d like to share? Please feel free to comment below.

Image purchased from iStock.

Text copyright 2013 Ellen Gable Hrkach

Surprising News – Pope to Resign at the End of Month

This breaking news from the Vatican:

Pope Benedict XVI on Monday said he plans on resigning the papal office on February 28th. Below please find his announcement.

Dear Brothers,

I have convoked you to this Consistory, not only for the three canonizations, but also to communicate to you a decision of great importance for the life of the Church. After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry. I am well aware that this ministry, due to its essential spiritual nature, must be carried out not only with words and deeds, but no less with prayer and suffering. However, in today’s world, subject to so many rapid changes and shaken by questions of deep relevance for the life of faith, in order to govern the bark of Saint Peter and proclaim the Gospel, both strength of mind and body are necessary, strength which in the last few months, has deteriorated in me to the extent that I have had to recognize my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me. For this reason, and well aware of the seriousness of this act, with full freedom I declare that I renounce the ministry of Bishop of Rome, Successor of Saint Peter, entrusted to me by the Cardinals on 19 April 2005, in such a way, that as from 28 February 2013, at 20:00 hours, the See of Rome, the See of Saint Peter, will be vacant and a Conclave to elect the new Supreme Pontiff will have to be convoked by those whose competence it is.Dear Brothers, I thank you most sincerely for all the love and work with which you have supported me in my ministry and I ask pardon for all my defects. And now, let us entrust the Holy Church to the care of Our Supreme Pastor, Our Lord Jesus Christ, and implore his holy Mother Mary, so that she may assist the Cardinal Fathers with her maternal solicitude, in electing a new Supreme Pontiff. With regard to myself, I wish to also devotedly serve the Holy Church of God in the future through a life dedicated to prayer.

From the Vatican, 10 February 2013

BENEDICTUS PP XVI

Sunday Snippets – February 9

Image copyright Ellen Gable Hrkach

It’s time to join up again with other Catholic bloggers at RAnn’s Place for Sunday Snippets.

Just one post this week:

7 Quick Takes Friday Snow, a short Lent video, Ronald Reagan on abortion, a cartoon and other things…

7 Quick Takes Friday – Volume 58

It’s Friday again and time for 7 Quick Takes at Conversion Diary.

1. Another Snow Day

My two youngest sons are happily home from school (and still sleeping at last glance). Buses were canceled today since we’re in the midst of another snowstorm. Truth be told, I like both the fact that my boys are home AND the snowstorm (especially if I don’t have to drive in the snow!)

2. Lent is Coming!

In anticipation for Lent, I’d like to share a few of my favorite Lent books:

Welcome Risen Jesus by Sarah Reinhard

Bring Lent to Life by Kathleen Basi

Bringing Lent Home with Mother Teresa - Donna-Marie Cooper O’Boyle (New!)

3. Cool Two Minute Lent Video

Want to learn what Lent is all about in two minutes? Check this out. (The purple wording is hard to read, but otherwise a short and to the point video!)

4. Valentine’s Day!

Valentine’s Day is the second day of Lent this year. All next week (Feb. 12-16), my book Come My Beloved: Inspiring Stories of Catholic Courtship will be FREE on Kindle. Read about how some famous and not-so-famous Catholic couples met and fell in love.

5. Excellent Article

Excellent article by Jen entitled “Those Catholic Women Who Use Contraception.’

6. Ronald Reagan on Abortion

7. Intimate NFP Humor

Copyright 2013 Ellen Gable Hrkach

Cartoon image copyright James and Ellen Hrkach

In Name Only Free Today Through Thursday

My second gold-medal winning novel, , is FREE today through Thursday (February 5-7) on Amazon Kindle. In Name Only is a Catholic historical romance, and is not a formulaic or Harlequin-type romance.

Synopsis: Caroline Martin’s life has finally taken a turn for the better. After years of hard work, she has met a virtuous and wealthy man whose love seems to promise the kind of life realized only within the comforting novels she keeps on her night table. Tragedy, however, will teach Caroline of the complexity with which God Himself authors the lives of those who turn towards Him. Gold Medal Winner in Religious Fiction, 2010 IPPY Awards, Amazon Kindle #1 Bestseller (February-March 2012).

Reviews:

“If you love romance but hate smut, pick up this beautiful story and let it carry you away. The characters are believable, layered, human and humorous even in the midst of tragedy. The reader never loses hope and is rewarded on every page with little gems of character behavior, dialogue, plot twists and romantic intrigue. I was so very sorry when it ended!”

Lisa Mladinich, author, “Be An Amazing Catechist: Inspire the Faith of Children”

“This is the best book I’ve read in a long time. It has all the qualities that make for an outstanding memorable novel – and it’s Catholic as well. I highly recommend it!”

Therese Heckenkamp, author, Past Suspicion, Traditional Catholic Novels.com

“There aren’t too many historical romance novels that appeal equally to men and women, but Ellen Gable pulls it off admirably with In Name Only. It’s great to read a Catholic novel that’s not overly “sanitized,” realistic enough to make you wonder if it’s really fiction, and yet not at all offensive. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!” Gerard Webster, author, “In Sight”

“Gable has skillfully crafted this intriguing novel… which conveys the beautiful Catholic teachings on conjugal love, and shares both a pro-life story and a conversion story.”

Jean Heimann, Catholic Fire

To download the book for free on Kindle, click here:

Sunday Snippets – February 2

Image copyright Ellen Gable Hrkach

Today is the Feast of the Presentation, Candlemas! We just returned home from a beautiful candle-lit Mass.

It’s also the day we meet up at RAnn’s Place for Sunday Snippets.

I only posted once this week (still trying to finish the first draft of my fifth book!)

7 Quick Takes Friday – Volume 57 A cartoon, a recipe, thoughts on the March for Life, novel updates and more!