Zan Marie Steadham's Blog: In the Shade of the Cherry Tree, page 18

Back Story and Flashbacks

What's the difference? That's a good question. One all writers need to understand. My writing buddy Claire defined the difference in the following way:
A flashback puts you in the head of the POV character at the time of the memory they're recalling; back story exposition keeps you in the head of the POV character now, as they look back and remember. Or as I like to think of it: flashbacks are active, they show an event from the past. Back story tells about the past. She's on to something that...

Snip Week--a poem and an update on FRIENDLY FIRE

It's the first week of the month and I promised you some snips, poetry, or something of the sort. I thought I'd share a "found poem". The rules are to read anything and collect phrases and then try to construct a poem from them. This is an exercise from Sara Crawford's THIRTY DAY WRITING CHALLENGE.

I used a review of the recent movie remake of Godzilla. Really. ;-) The not-so-good review turned into a commentary on a bad marriage. Yep, you read that right. Here goes. The found phrases are in I...

Author Interview Updates: Where Are They Now?

I'll be interviewing Elle Druskin the last Tuesday in June, and thought it was a good time to catch up with the five authors I interviewed in 2013. They all have some wonderful news to share. ;-)
Amara Royce(Check out Amara's interview HERE.)


"It's hard to believe that it's been a year since my debut historical novel NEVER TOO LATE was released by eKensington, and I'm so fortunate to have such wonderfully supportive Forumites like Zan Marie cheering me on! This has been quite a busy and eye-op...

The Return of the Mini Book Reviews!

And here we go. It's the third Tuesday of the month and I wanted to start with a bang. Here are five books that I've read recently. Enjoy!





THE ART OF FALLING Kathryn Craft--Literary Women's Fiction Wow! If I could give Craft's THE ART OF FALLING ten stars, it might be enough. This is a spectacular story of one woman's struggle with her body and is told through her connection to dance. I have no experience with dance, but I understood every nuance of the story told through movement. Lovely...

New! Improved! Take a Look at the Shade!

The Shade has had a make over and I hope you'll enjoy it. All of the pages are have had a major renovation. Here's the guided tour.
About--This page was serious, earnest, and (I'll admit it) a bit dull. Now it's got a bit of humor and a few photos. Though you might wish you didn't know some of those things about me. ;-)Blog--I'll go into more detail below.Books--Check them out. They're all there! ;-)Works in Progress--I've mapped out the Cherry Hill Trilogy. This is my main focus right now. W...

Getting It In Gear--Write Club and Thirty-Day Challenge

All of the writers I know want to get better at their craft and to get feedback. I certainly do. If not for the wonderful feedback at the Books and Writers Forum and my truly special Facebook writing buddies group, I'd still be stuck with a simple two-dimensional story.

Thank goodness, there are craft books galore to help out with the first desire. I love them! When I can get one for free, I'm over the moon. If you're interested, try this free book: The Thirty-Day Challenge.


Here's the Amazon d...

Hard Nut Scenes

We've all struggled with them. Hit them with all the brain power we can muster. And still, they just lay on the page, mocking us. You know you've had one, or twenty. (That's being conservative. ;-)

You know those scenes that are just not quite right. It's a scene you know you have to have to tell the story you're writing. So, what do you do about it? 

Check out this discussion on the Books and Writers Forum.
Here's a list of the suggestions made by the various writers. 
change the ven...

Rewarding Award

Sometimes life hands you a beautiful award. Today is one of those days. ;-)

I've known Jo Murphy for years. We met at the Books and Writers Forum when I joined in late 2008. Jo became a fast friend and trusted critiquer. I followed a link to her blog and I've been an avid reader ever since. After Jo's stroke, I realized that there was more than just friendship here. Jo makes me try harder, accept challenges with greater grace, and makes me laugh! I can't imagine my experience of the blogospher...

Blurbing, and how to do it...

Many readers think that writers just tell stories. Writing books takes a lot of time, effort, diligence, and craft to get the story down on paper so that readers can enjoy it.

But writing doesn't stop there. Once a book is written and polished, a writer has to sell it to agents and publishers, not to mention to readers. ;-) Doing all that requires many hours of painstaking work writing in very different forms. Query letters must be constructed to catch agents' attention. Synopses are written t...

Happy Birthday!

Today is our doggy Doodle Poodles' fifth brithday and after all the hours they've watched me type, they demanded a turn. ;-)

Hurry up, Mommy!

 It's our birthday and we'll bark if we want to! ;-)
We won the Golden Ticket five years ago when we got to come home together with Daddy and Mommy.
Worn out on our first day
Yum, Mommy!









And though we fight over our toys... Tag-Team Fetch
And worry when our family is gone... On duty
We know we've got it good... Max in Mommy's lap
Casey and Daddy's arm








King...