Deborah Taylor-French's Blog: Dog Leader Mysteries Blog, page 4
January 25, 2019
Book Reviewers Wanted: Red Sky at Night: Dog Leader Mysteries
A book acts as the getaway car when you need to escape. Even when you’re the one writing it. Julie Wright
To Tweet or Not To Tweet?
I found this quote on Twitter. I know, I know, I am not going there much because of the masses of Russian bots, other bots, and fake accounts. Not to mention ignoble ignoramuses. One thing I still like about the tweet world comes as FAST search results and the general use of hashtags. Of course, I love the #amwriting, and #amreading tags as well as #dogs, #dogsarelove, and #dogsarefamily, too.
I enjoy mentions of #KINDNESS, and #AnimalRescue.
As a Writer, I Want to Either Be Writing or Be Reading.
Right now, I am reading Michelle Obama’s book, Becoming. Getting close to the final 25% of that memoir and have enjoyed it so much. Never dreamed her family paralleled many things my working-class family also went †hrough. Both our fathers’ worked at blue collar jobs, our mothers stayed at home to reason children. We both came from large extended families that gathered together often to share meals, holidays, and adventures. I found it funny that she revealed not liking politics as a girl. She also feels fiercely loyal to her family, and friends. Ditto for me, too.
[image error]Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com
Wanted Mystery Readers to trade
Red Sky at Night: Dog Leader Mysteries for Book Reviews
Please fill in our Contact Us page.
Put Book Review at top of the message box.
Also, if you know a mystery book or cozy mystery readers, please pass on my offer. Afterall we all need the kindness of friends and strangers.
[image error]In my hand, Red Sky at Night: Dog Leader Mysteries
January 15, 2019
Love Your Dog Valentines Contest
Enter our Red Sky at Night: Dog Leader Mysteries Contest
Enter your email address to join our mailing list and a chance to win prizes.
First Prize: Red Sky at Night: Dog Leader Mysteries paperback copy.
Second Prize: Your dog will be featured on our Dog Leader Mysteries blog as our first Dog of the Month.
Third Prize: Red Sky at Night: Dog Leader Mysteries as a Kindle version.
Also, enter our first Dog of the Month Contest.
Each Dog of the Month will be featured for 30 days, plus be entered in our Dog of the Year Contest.
Enter by filling out our blog’s Contact Me page.
Tell us the name of your dog
Give your dog’s age
Mention his or her breed or mixed breed
Adopted? yes or no
Skills or unusual talents
After we receive your entry, we will reply with an email address to send your dog’s photo or photos.
Submissions must be received no later than February 10th.
Winners announced on Valentine’s Day, February 14, 2019
[image error]Give healthy dog treats
January 8, 2019
Cut the Shout from Your Writing
“Cut out all these exclamation points. An exclamation point is like laughing at your own joke…” F. Scott Fitzgerald
Let your words and sentences make the point
Once a writer in a crítique group explained that his university professor kept a high grammar standard. Each of his students was allowed one exclamation mark per ten thousand words. Not sure if he inforced that as he graded short stories. Nor if it cut deeply into a college student’s grade. I do know different novel genres and editors hold other opinions on this topic. So, I want other grammar teachers and editors to chime in.
[image error]Photo by Melany Rochester on Unsplash
A Call for Grammar Teachers & Editors
What style guide you choose to guide the use of exclamation marks?
What advice or guidelines have helped you as a writer?
How do you limit the number of exclamation marks?
Do you insist an exclamation mark be used in every shouted sentence of dialogue?
What indicates the excessive or overuse?
What tips do you share with your students or writing clients?
Social Media Lacks Readable Grammar
New Authors & New Books Await in 2019
Yes or no? I’m always rewriting my blog posts to update or correct my grammar, clarity, and style. Yet even today as I read over one of my infrequent travel posts I corrected a half dozen of mistakes. Of course, I found I could rewrite several sentences to better depict the impressions I had while touring the north of France two years ago. Read my travel post at True Wealth in France’s Land and Forests.
New Authors & New Books Await in 2019
My goal in writing this blog goes beyond to attract readers for my Dog Leader Mystery series. My goal stands to become a better writer every day. A New Year’s resolution will not be needed for me to continue moving on that path. The mountain top may be reached. I may feel at times my prose pleases myself or readers. Or I find that it meets a higher standard in fiction or in nonfiction than achieved before. Yet all writers remain novices at a craft in which Hemingway deemed as ever expanding. Simply due to the invention of writers has been a long wave since Homer of fresh style, new takes on lyricism, diction, and power.
December 31, 2018
Happy New EARS Eve
[image error]Don’t call our curious house rabbit a funny bunny.
Our House Rabbit, Tuxedo
Surely not our funny bunny. When Tuxedo wants something, he goes after it with his whole body. Even been known to nudge an ankle or untie shoelaces. He loves being active in the early morning. We have had him for over six years, and he has got us well trained. Also, he will come to his name or anytime the refrigerator opens.
[image error]Tuxedo after any food that hit the kitchen floor.
Healthy Dog Ears!
[image error]After years of ear infections, our boy lets us touch near his ears.
Sydney has had a few illnesses this year. For a dog of sixteen years, he continues to play with toys, go for walks, and love a good rub. He keeps us laughing and is an excellent companion to Winnie. Never thought this shelter dog would settle down, but he has.
Indoor cat, Yoda, loves to explore
[image error]All cats love to climb.
Staying Home New Year’s Eve With Pets
If you would like, please read our blog, full of solid tips for socializing dogs, playing with house rabbits, and keeping inside pets entertained.
Sign up for our newsletter and blog updates. We never share or sell your information. Your email sign up makes you eligible for free stuff and free books. We will be drawing the winners in mid-January.
December 15, 2018
The Point to Point of View
Storytelling is still alive and well in 2018, Storytelling continues as an art form and also a competition. The best storytellers know that selecting the main character for a tale and choosing a narrator are sometimes different actions. The main character may not be the best voice to tell a story from.
Choice of a Narrator Makes or Breaks a Story
Instead of an abstract summary, I give two examples of novels in which a narrator introduces and sets the stage for the main character. Both the following narrators mentioned they made all the difference in the tone and excitement in each novel. Below I refer to two authors who have used POV well. Both have chosen other to not use their main character to tell their fictional stories.
A Study in Scarlet, the first Sherlock Holmes book written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, published in July 1888. Doctor Watson, our narrator, tells the reader of the numerous fantastic feats of intelligence shown by Holmes. Thus respect, admiration, and anticipation build for the reader. Holmes could not narrate his story without being suspected of being a liar or delusional.
The Book Thief is a 2005 historical novel by Australian author Markus Zusak. Set in Nazi Germany during World War II, the narrator is none other than Death himself. Death does his rounds taking both the innocent and the guilty, the children and the adults, the soldiers, and civilians. On a train, Death spies a young girl. He takes her brother. The train stops so the boy can be buried. That’s when Death witnesses the girl steal a book. Later, we find that the girl can’t read.
[image error]Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com
A Challenge for Fiction Writers
What are my choices?
First Person POV
Second Person POV
Third Person POV
Who should tell my story and how does my choice limit my writing?
This depends on how you want your story to be received.
This is often influenced by the genre you write in. Most memoirs are written in the first person.
Often folk tales or myths are told in the Third Person.
What feeling do I want to leave my readers with?
Does your story end well or happily?
Is your story a mystery where the bad guy is caught?
Do you want your readers to empathize with more than one character? This third section needs to be discussed on a book by book basis.
Why I Switched POV for My First Mystery
I wrote my entire first novel in a close third-person point of view but after ten revisions the book still lacked something. So, I envisioned my story told from the first person point of view. After I had revised my first chapter into first person POV–Voilà!
My story acquire the ZING I thought it needed.
Facing revising book number two in my series, Dog Leader Mysteries, I want to get it right earlier. I believe the best POV will be to tell the story from two or three character points of view. My secondary characters will set out on solo investigation scenes. That means I must learn to shift from to one character’s first-person POV to another character’s viewpoint. Wish me luck.
[image error]Local Author’s Shelf on Copperfield’s Books in Santa Rosa
Do you love dogs? Like to learn about dogs? Like to read mysteries?
Sign up for our email list and be entered in our book contest to win one of three copies of Red Sky at Night: Dog Leader Mysteries.
December 7, 2018
What You Do Matters
“Act as if what you do makes a difference.” William James
[image error]Reading Red Sky at Night: Dog Leader Mysteries
Do you love dogs?
Do you like to read mysteries?
Sign up for our email list and be entered in our book contest to win one of three copies of Red Sky at Night: Dog Leader Mysteries.
December 1, 2018
Take Your Child to a Bookstore Day
[image error]Take Your Child to a Bookstore Day
None of the bookshops in Sonoma County seem to be doing this event. The online site offers an interesting map, so using it I found Book Passage in Marin County is hosting this event today, December 1, 2018. If you take a child to a bookshop today, please leave us a note about how that went for you.
Thanks, Deborah Taylor-French
November 30, 2018
Blog Milestone 8 Years on WordPress
As I logged into WordPress, a notice popped up. According to WordPress, Dog Leader Mysteries blog hit our eight-year anniversary mark today.
8 Years of Blogging?
Yet this notice comes as rather startling, where did those years go? I wonder why time seems not only to fly, but it also disappears into thin air. Some days my writing time rockets off into personal outer space. Not always leaving much writing behind on the page.
A Chinese Saying about Life
The space between my ears does not seem to grow. I wonder if my earlobes look longer? One tradition I noticed, about thirty years ago, that the Chinese believe that red is the color of happiness because red represents blood. Blood moving in our bodies keeps us alive and therefore being alive means we are happy. If you find or think I’m wrong about this, please comment. So, this day contains happiness and wonder for me. Alive and with red blood moving I can imagine (a bit) and wonder.
[image error]Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com
Have I been writing this blog for eight years?
Something sounds fishy here. Not sure what. Perhaps this looks like a big chunk of time? Maybe I never imagined liking this thing called blogging? Yet today I signed up to review more books on this blog for. Today, I discovered a book site I love. So, on Shelf Awareness, I signed up to blog about little-known books. Hope they get some paperback or Kindle-friendly books to me to review. In the meantime, I continue to read as many dog books and mystery books as I can. As I explore the three main headling tabs (menu) on Self Awareness, I wonder what took me so long.
As my Uncle Buzz would say, “What took you so long? Are you slow?”
He also liked to say, “Your dog doesn’t know sic’em.” Of course, there still are those young people who have never heard of sic’em.
[image error]
Perhaps I find myself behind the times, all the TIME?
Stay tuned to as Deborah turns. I have got the rotating desk chair, which adds to the suspense. Meanwhile, you can read one of my book reviews here. Want Fame, Fortune, or Freedom?
Signing off,
November 23, 2018
Gratitude for Our Four-legged Pals
On this American Thanksgiving holiday, I find myself grateful for hundreds of blessings great and small.
I’m grateful to be alive.
Grateful for my family, my mother, my sister, my cousins, our daughter, and my husband. Also delighted and thankful for our loving friends. I feel wealthy regarding family, friends, and in addition, I continue to be blessed with fruitful connections to dozens and dozens of productive, skillful and inspiring writers.
Our Gratitude for Firefighters in California
This is the second year of wildfires, which have devastated Northern California.
My family and friends experience and express gratitude for all the firefighters both local and those that came from out-of-state. All bravely saved lives and rescued pets and wild animals while striving to contain the blazes. In October of 2017, a firestorm struck Napa and Sonoma County. The speed and size of the conflagration wiped out Santa Rosa neighborhoods, burned ranches, farms, historic buildings, and killed over forty residents.
This year, 2018 we suffered the worst wildfire in California history. The “Camp Fire” wiped out the forest town of Paradise. At last count, the total identified persons who died hit close to ninety. Fire officials have a list of five hundred missing persons. After two weeks of toxic smoke covering Sonoma County, and a majority of the San Francisco Bay Area, we rejoiced in three days of rain. Even found myself basking in hours of sunshine and blue skies.
Like most people, I’m especially grateful for those who bring me joy. At the top of my list continue to be our daughter and our furry kids.
Happily, we are multi-species home.
When our daughter was seven, we adopted a pet rabbit named, Paris. When our daughter turned twelve, we choose a young dog — a one-year-old Cocker spaniel-poodle mix named Sydney. He had lived in two buyers homes and had resided in the Petaluma Animal Shelter for three weeks. He had multiple issues and did not know understand what his families had wanted from him.
Four-legged Friends
One-year-old Sydney was not fully house trained!
Our daughter became an excellent dog trainer. In two weeks Sydney knew where to go and did his business on command at the spot we had picked for him in our backyard.
Our rabbit Paris was patient and yet firm with our newly adopted dog. If Sydney dared bug him, our bunny flipped a 180 then gave him a sharp stare. If I could put words in our bunny’s mouth, they would come out something like this.
“ I don’t know what you’re doing DOG, but do it somewhere else.”
Our Paris lived to the advanced old age of twelve. Most wild rabbits live only two or three years. House rabbits often live to eight or ten. So we were fortunate with him. His calm demeanor, dazzling jetés, and twerks brought much happiness.
Tokyo Tuxedo rules our kitchen and family room
About six years ago, we adopted a second rabbit from an animal shelter. He came with the name Tuxedo. He has white one white collar and one white paw. We added Tokyo in front of the name Tuxedo to keep with our tradition of naming pets after famous cities.
In contrast to Paris, Tokyo Tuxedo dislikes all other pets, even other rabbits. When our daughter’s cat Yoda walks into Tux’s territory, Tuxedo bristles. Our family room and kitchen are his domain. He can be quite grumpy and even nippy. Tux runs up to his fencing and grunts. Tux also shows dislike for Sydney who lives with our friends, Marc and Winnie, and visits infrequently.
So, a Dr. Doolittle I am not.
My animals don’t talk. In fact, they don’t even talk to each other. Each pet wants his way. Each wants all of our attention. So, it’s a good thing or daughter keeps her cat Yoda upstairs in her room. Yoda only occasionally visits the family room. By the way, we never chose all male pets; they happen to fit into our adoptive family. Also, we have kept each pet’s name from their animal shelters.
[image error]Red Sky at Night: Dog Leader Mysteries book, Local Author’s Shelf inside Copperfield’s, Santa Rosa
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November 18, 2018
Bummer Amazon Changes for Authors
Amazon Changes for Authors
Joanna Penn, The Creative Penn, on her recent podcast and the upcoming edition explains and offers guidance for authors. Amazon appears to be following Facebook. One time, authors could post their book updates and book announcements on FB. But now FB requires authors buy ads to reach their audience. Because of Amazon’s move to a ‘pay to play’ phase for sales, Penn offers indie and other authors ways to navigate the changing market. What I know of these changes feels ominous. I know I suffer from changes on both platforms. Of course, Amazon seems to have much more sway in book sales.
What comes as the biggest irk of all?
I bristle that for over a year I receive a message relating that I do not spend enough money. Amazon customer review options, user restrictions, and rules lock my book reviews out. I consider one of these restrictions sexist.
Amazon Limits Who Can Write Book Reviews
Why? Because my spouse enjoys buying online and makes most of OUR household purchases.
I read the majority of books about classical Greek an Roman myth. I also read nonfiction books on how to write, on history, and biography. I cannot review the books I read. At night, I read books on Kindle, which we buy on Amazon. But I am prevented from discussing on Amazon. If you have a spouse who does not buy online, he or she cannot review items you purchase from joint funds. Nor can he or she review products they use. If you have a teenager you buy books and other things, he or she will not be able to evaluate or recommend their items. So, I know I am not the only person in this boat.
Anyone who does not buy books directly from Amazon does not qualify as book or product reviewer. Don’t like to buy online? Forget writing a review on the giant Amazon. Yet I know I can remedy my problem. Start buying in my Amazon account.
It is no secret I prefer buying print books from my local independent bookshop.
My novel Red Sky at Night: Dog Leader Mysteries launched at a Redwood Writers Hot Summer Nights event this July. Currently, Copperfield’s Books in Santa Rosa, CA has two copies of my novel.
Amazon’s Shift to Paid Ads
November 15, 2018, Penn gave a webinar with Mark Dawson. Discussion included Amazon Ads. Penn took pages of notes.
Whether you have one book or many, you will not want to miss her next podcast. If you have not read blogs or listened to The Creative Penn Podcasts, use this link to learn her list of topics and see her site, The Creative Penn.
Stay tuned as I go through “Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes” with Amazon
In the meantime, you can read my thirty-two book reviews on Goodreads.
I also post book reviews on this blog. Fetch Move Over Miss Marple.
Dog Leader Mysteries Blog
My fiction and memoir have been selected for over a dozen volumes of Redwood Writers' ...more
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