Marian Allen's Blog, page 381

Friday Girls on Monday

I just told you about my internet friend Cathy Olliffe-Webster’s novel, GREEN EGGS AND WEEZIE. Well, the crazy thing has gone and done another book, this one a set of short stories. It was her short stories that made me fall in love with her writing, so I’m looking forward to reading these. They’re only $0.99 for Kindle. Wheeeeeee!

When I was trying to come up a name for my short story collection I just fell in love with “Friday Girls.” The very idea conjured up images of kick-ass women, confident in their abilities but all too human, kicking up their high heels and heading brashly into the weekend. But the name was also practical. Most of the stories were, after all, written about “girls” of all ages, and most were written for #FridayFlash, the Internet meme that transformed me from a journalist who wrote just-the-facts-ma’am into a bonafide fiction writer.

I think you’ll like these stories. I’m hoping they make you smile, or make you cry, or at least make you think. These are my girls, the daughters I never had, my friends, my relatives, and they’re as special to me as the women in my real life.

Hurry over to Amazon and download FRIDAY GIRLS. She’s wonderful, wonderful, and I have great expectations for these stories.

A WRITING PROMPT FOR YOU: Write about a real woman in your life.

MA

#SampleSunday A Little Romance

This book I’m working on for NaNoWriMo is supposed to be a Romance, and every now and then I remember to chuck some in. I’m actually starting to enjoy writing the Romance bits, and I’m looking forward to the edits, when I can chuck more in.

Here’s a bit, where Parma, my main female character is thinking about Del, my main male character. I’m kinda thinking Pierce Brosnan for Del. Sandra Bullock for Parma? I like Sandra Bullock.

Anyway, here’s the bit I just wrote yesterday:

WORSE THAN HIS BARK – excerpt
by Marian Allen

Parma spent the afternoon checking the hen yard fence for holes and the ground around it for the beginnings of excavations by predators, then finishing up some furniture repairs in the work shed. She wanted to clear the space of as much as possible before she started on the play sets and props.

She would be working on a play with Delaware Worthington! It was funny to think of Del as Delaware Worthington, now, but he was that guy. She felt a little bit like Lois Lane, with a major crush on a larger-than-life figure who was secretly the regular person she knew and liked.

Or, in this case, maybe more than liked.

Del’s firm friendship with his cousin and care for damaged animals were more charming than his smooth manners and easy smile. He looked better for a few wrinkles. Those crinkles at the corners of his eyes and mouth were – no getting around it – cute and sweet. The touch of gray in his hair, and especially his not trying to cover it up, made her want to run her fingers through his curls. She wondered what his ears would feel like under her palms as she drew his face closer.

She hit her thumb with her hammer, and her sweet daydream exploded into profanity.

#Caturday Out and In With Katya

Katya Graymalkin here.

I used to go meow at the door to be let out, and Mom or Charlie would stop what they were doing and let me out. When I was ready to come in, I would sit on the porch swing and meow in the window, or I would stand on my back legs and bounce against the storm door so it would make a terrible noise.

But there’s no fun in it, once they’re trained. Now, my favorite thing is to pretend I’m going the other way when Mom goes toward the door. Then, when she opens it, I streak out like a bullet! Sure, we both know she would let me out if I asked her to, but it’s more fun to play Escape. Charlie even calls me Bullet sometimes. Or Slick.

You should try it. It’s fun! Here’s a picture of me, pretending I’m ready to bolt if Mom tries to recapture me. But here’s a picture of me in my natural habitat. No, Mom, I wasn’t going to say, “Hogging the covers!” I was going to say, “Waiting for Mom to sit down so I can snuggle up to her.” Apology accepted.

A WRITING PROMPT FOR ANIMALS: What’s your favorite game to play with your humans?

KG

Knitting Cheesy Holes In The Wide Earth

You would think, if you could see my knitting up close, that making holes in my work is one thing I don’t need help doing. But you’d be wrong. Well, you’d be right, actually, but there’s a difference between a deliberate hole (laciness) and an inadvertent hole (laziness). My friend Bonnie is trying to school me in yarn-overs. As an aid, I’ve found this How To Make A Knitted Yarn-Over For Dummies page.

Another friend (yes, I have two — Indeed, I have more than two) recommended this page on cheese-making, which reminds me why I don’t make cheese. I adore this woman’s nickname: The Procraftinator. Wonderful stuff!

Finally, I highly recommend this beautiful, insightful, chilling, inspiring, wonderful blog: The Wide Earth Smallholding. From Yemen to the US, from gardening to animals to homeschooling to parenting in places/times of crisis, this blog hums quietly through the world and makes me calm.

It also makes me want to make cheese and knit.

A WRITING PROMPT FOR YOU: A character gets all excited about a do-it-yourself project that grows into more than intended.

MA

Freakin’ Honkin’ Bambi

So I’m sitting here, minding my own business, watching my too-sick-to-go-to-school youngest grandson play Minecraft, when who should go by RIGHT OUTSIDE THE WINDOW BUT A DEER THE SIZE OF A PERCHERON. Seriously, a team of deer the size of this one could totally pull a truck full of Budweiser.

It just strolled on past the office window, raising its right front hoof long enough to give me the finger — in front of my young grandson, too — and trotted around the side of the house and down to the garden to see if anything was left after the deer and rabbit depredations of the summer.

relative sizes of horse and the deer outside my window

I haven’t had the heart — or the nerve — to go see if the blueberry bushes are still standing.

A WRITING PROMPT FOR YOU: A wild animal prowls around a house.

MA

Italian Food Speedy-Quick

So here’s what we had the other night.

I was in a hurry (read: I am lazy), so I knocked this together and, as my grandfather used to say, we were just as happy as if we’d had a full meal.

That’s penne pasta, bottled chunky garden spaghetti sauce, and shaved Italian cheese. Mixed olives in the bowl. Bread spread with garlic olive oil and toasted under the broiler.

I do love Italian men. Food. I meant food.

A WRITING PROMPT FOR YOU: A character has to knock together a meal in a hurry with what he or she has on hand. Does it work or not?

MA

#Knitting Project Finished

The votes are in on my knitting project. Although I thought fringe would look pretty, especially if I put fringe on both short ends and one long end, it turns out that this yarn unravels like the prosecution’s case at the end of an episode of Perry Mason.

So no fringe for me. Just as well, I suppose, since this shawl turned out to be big enough to double as a throw. Or a blanket. Or a tent.

Now, on to the next project! Maybe something small, for a change. I have something in mind…. No, Katya, not a pair of kitten britches!

A WRITING PROMPT FOR YOU: A character is unable to finish something as he or she anticipated.

MA

 

Repost from WEBLAHG: Why Know?

I hoped to have a guest post for today, but that didn’t happen. So I’m scraping this from my old, defunct WEBLAHG for your reading pleasure. Please note, EEL’S REVERENCE is no longer available (I think) until I rewrite it because people DID find errors and DID let me know.

I’ve had this discussion with people recently and I’ve read discussions in various fora (plural of forum is fora, not forums. You’re welcome.) lately.

YES, an engrossing story and compelling characters are important. Being able to tell a story with impact and heart cannot be taught, and is the soul of moving and memorable writing.

But that thing somebody told you about, “Don’t worry about the spelling and punctuation and stuff–that’s what editors are for”–you know, that thing? NOT! Let me put that another way: WAY NOT!!!!!

I’m currently doing line edits of EEL’S REVERENCE. That means, my children, that I have to go through the copy, embarrassed about how many technical errors I didn’t catch the first sebbenty-lebben times I went through it. Punctuation errors, spelling errors, words left out (or left in, after I changed part of a sentence)…. I’ve been SO irritated, when reading a published book, to find sloppy editing, and I’ve growled at the “editor” about it. Now I find that I’M supposed to be the one to catch those things!

So remember: If you should buy a copy of EEL’S REVERENCE, and if you should find any technical errors in it…. Um, yeah, um, BLAME MY EDITOR! Gosh, why didn’t he catch that stuff? Yeah, yeah, I have been ill served. Not my fault. Totally.

The good news is, spelling, punctuation, word choice, grammar–all the technical skills–CAN be taught.

Get yourself a good current style book or book about writing. Look on the internet. Here are some good sites I found in a few minutes of Googling:

http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/

http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/

http://dictionary.reference.com/writing/

http://www.grammarbook.com/

http://www.davidappleyard.com/english/spelling.htm

http://www.iscribe.org/english/spell.html

http://www.riggsinst.org/28rules.aspx

http://www.say-it-in-english.com/SpellHome.html

Do your best, but write with heart and clarity and you’ll carry most of your readers with you.

MA

A WRITING PROMPT FOR YOU: Have a character write another character a note which has a different meaning than intended because of a spelling, grammatical or punctuation error. The classic example might be a note from your wife, who has left to visit her mother: love you leaving you turkey. “Love you? Leaving you, Turkey!” is quite a bit different from “Love you! Leaving you turkey.”

#SampleSunday More Sekrit

I’ve had a couple of slow days on the NaNoWriMo book I’m writing under the name of Lois Meredith (since it’s so different than my usual work), but I’m still plugging along.

Katya is pleased to note that there is now a cat in it, although it doesn’t look like her. I looks more like Al, her late nemesis, but I gave him the white patch she has on her front, so she’s okay with it.

Here is the bit I just wrote yesterday with the first appearance of the cat. Please bear in mind that this is a rough draft, and don’t be judgey.

WORSE THAN HIS BARK – excerpt
by Marian Allen

“I’m getting too old for this,” Del said, when he had closed the theater’s front door behind them and snapped on the house lights.

“No, you aren’t. You’re just tired of it.”

“That, too. It used to be exciting, blowing into a new town and helping fund some wonderful dream. Meeting new people, navigating theater politics, bringing order out of chaos. Now, all the chaos and infighting runs together.”

“Who’s fighting, other than you and Frank Nelson?”

He gave that some thought. “Frank isn’t fighting me. He’s helping.”

“So who’s fighting?”

Del scratched his head, rumpling his curls. “Damn if I know. But I feel like I’m fighting.”

Feisty sniffed at the floor, sneezed, lifted his head, and scented the air. Chirp-chirp! Chirp-chirp! He “barked” harder and harder, hopping himself off all four feet, then scrabbling against his leash. The lunge was so sudden, he pulled out of Waddy’s grip and disappeared into the gloom under the seating.

“Rats?” Waddy always expected rats in theaters, ever since the time he saw one outside a stage door in Chicago.

“Feisty! Come, boy! Leave it!”

The chirps and the rattle of the leash’s hardware passed to and fro and back and forth under the seats until they reached the orchestra pit. Then a hissing and yowling destroyed the specter of rats.

“Feisty!” Both men shouted and ran.

Del had never see Feisty tangle with a cat before, and didn’t care to see cat or dog – or both – torn and broken.

Chirps, hisses, and yowls ceased abruptly. The men stopped and stared at the scene frozen in the upper left corner of the depression where live musicians might play for performances.

Feisty had his mouth clamped around the neck of something furry – something that was almost as big as he was. Neither moved, although Feisty rolled desperate eyes up at them as if begging for direction.

Waddy whispered, “What is that?”

“I don’t know.” Del tried not to move his lips, afraid to upset the delicate balance. “Do they have opossums in this part of the country?”

“Opossums have hairless tails,” Waddy said. “That thing’s tail is bushy.”

“Oh, at least,” said Del, having identified the object that had appeared to be a dirty feather boa as a tail.

“It sounded like a cat.”

Feisty whined. The cat barely opened its mouth and gave forth a kittenish meep.

Del knew how it felt to find yourself deep in the middle of something you wish you had never started. He said, “I’m sorry, guys, but this one’s up to you.”

“Do they have animal control around here?”

Del was about to draw his phone and see if he had connectivity inside the theater, when Feisty moved.

Hesitantly, the beagle eased his mouth open and stepped away from his prisoner.

The cat stayed in exactly the same position he had been in with Feisty’s teeth around his throat, eyes blinking from closed to barely open. Without the warning of an indrawn breath, he sneezed explosively.

Feisty thumped into a crouch and chirped.

The cat turned its head and looked at him.

“Meep!” And a rumbly purr filled the air. The animal, now clearly a large, long-haired black cat with a white patch on its chest and a chocolate undercoat, bumped Feisty’s nose with its head, purring like a buzz-saw. Its fur stood out in spikes all over, revealing a skeletal frame.

Waddy reached down to pick up the end of Feisty’s leash. The cat’s tail puffed out and its tail went into an arch. Feisty licked Waddy’s hand.

“Meep?”

“Chirp.”

The cat relaxed, sauntered over, and licked Waddy’s hand, too.

“Huh,” said Del.

#Caturday Katya Shines On

Katya Graymalkin here.

Mom’s friend Jo Robinson of africolonialstories gave out a bunch of awards the other day.

Mom knows how much I like to get stuff, so she gave one to me. I usually ignore the stuff Mom gives me until the middle of the night, but Mom turns off the computer at night, so I have no choice but to play along now.

THE SHINE ON AWARD
Here are the rules of the award:
1. Visit and thank the blogger who nominated you.
2. Acknowledge that blogger on your blog, and link back.
3. Share seven random, interesting things about yourself.
4. Nominate up to 15 bloggers for the Shine On Award, provide a link to their blogs in your post, and notify them on their blogs.

EVERYTHING about me is interesting, but I’ll hold myself to seven.

I’m the prettiest cat in the world.I’m the smartest cat in the world.I ought to be the only cat in the world.It’s fun to pee on Charlie’s stuff.I have the best Mom in the world.Except when she gives me medicine.Chipmunks aren’t that hard to catch.

Now I’m supposed to nominate some other bloggers, but I don’t read anybody else’s blogs except Jo’s, and I only read that because she has birds on it sometimes.

Okay, here are a few that I know Mom likes. She likes about a million of them, though, which is why she doesn’t write as much as she should if she’s going to buy me as much stuff as I want.

Snap Out of it Jean! There’s Beading To Be DoneCold Lake CathyThe Diesel-Electric Elephant CompanyMagic Dog Press (dogs! yuck!)Matilda’s Journey (Oh, I do read this one, and I like these dogs. But not in Real Life.)

That’s enough.

A WRITING PROMPT FOR ANIMALS: Do you read any blogs? Which ones, and why?

KG