Brenda Whiteside's Blog, page 103

Monsoons, Mud and Muck

Potatoes in the distanceAfter whining about no moisture this year, other than a little snow in January, I'm sorry I complained. The monsoons were pretty much non-existent our first year, but they've made up for it this second year. Our fields have been ponds and our roads rivers at time. The rain has poured so hard we couldn't see to the end of our property. We need to take the RV in for some repairs but we've had to cancel twice because we can't get it out without fear of getting stuck.

SunriseThe cloudy, stormy skies do give us great sunrises and sunsets.

So far, the abundance of water has not damaged any of our crops. In fact, the potato rows are bushy. Of course weeds are bushy too. They aren't too bad in the fields since we've kept them pretty much cleared. But around the house, greenhouse and beyond our fences out front they've gone out of control.

We've been harvesting dill weed and various other herbs, cucumbers, zucchini, yellow squash, a few tomatoes, radishes, blackberries, jalapenos, peas, and broccoli. Also, all of our greens from chard to butterhead lettuce have been flourishing for well over a month.

My new favorite way to fix veggies is in the wok on the grill. This wok has holes in it and the veggies get grilled. So good.

TomatoFrank has a couple of cases of pickles already. Christie has been freezing blackberries and zucchini. Although I complain about harvesting the blackberries because I always get pricked, I do enjoy snacking as I go!

Will My Readers Believe It?

MUSE MONDAY
I've been mulling over, fretting and brainstorming my latest chapter of my current work in progress. I've asked critique partners and family members for advice, and I'm getting differing opinions. Southwest of Love and Murder is the second book in my Love and Murder series. In case you think you missed the first, The Art of Love and Murder, you haven't. I'm waiting to hear back from a publisher.

I don't want to give away the story, but let me say this, someone gets shot. The story necessitates that the shooter think he's killed his victim and the reader thinks he might be dead. I needed a wound to fit the story. After research both online and with a former trauma nurse, I chose a head wound - a gunshot to the head.

Here's my worry: will my readers buy it? Will they think there's no way he can get shot in the head, be dumped at an abandoned site for around twenty-four hours and live? Just because I've done my research and know it can happen doesn't mean a reader knows that. So they have to buy into the way I write it.

A big part of writing fiction is getting readers to believe whatever we write. How a character reacts to a situation might be fantastical in the real world, but if an author has done their job building his personality then a reader accepts it. If a love story is against all odds, it's that much sweeter if the author can present it to the reader so their cheering for the unlikely. But when it comes to a fact based event, I'm not sure what will take the reader to the right conclusion.

I tried rewriting the scene, but I can't. What happens has to happen the way it's supposed to happen. LOL I have to write it the way it feels right. Wish me luck!

By the way, I got a release date for my short, a Rosette, from The Wild Rose Press. Amanda in the Summer will be released in December. But look for it to be available on Kindle Select a couple of months before that. I'll be sure to announce it.


Three generations of women…and the secret that strengthens their love.
A line of women, all named Amanda, stretches back for generations. Each with her hopes, her joys, her pain—each pouring out her heart in correspondence with a dear family friend who shares their lives, understands their loves, and joins in their sorrows.
But within the correspondence lies a secret. And as the youngest of the Amandas retraces the journey through the years—beginning in post-war America and following through to modern day—the letters reveal, layer by layer, the Amandas who came before her. Soon, the truths and lies hidden in the letters lead her down a path of self-discovery that forges a bond between her past and future.

Wow! What Happened in 2 1/2 Weeks

Tortuga Thursday In 2012, on the plains of Northern Arizona, two families joined forces and began the trials and tribulations of building a small family farm with nothing in the bank but love.
Checking for cucumbersThere are twenty pictures I'd like to share with you, but loading that many would take more patience than I possess. The crops have shot up both inside and outside the greenhouse. Frank and I were gone two and a half weeks on our maiden RV voyage, and the rows of veggies filled out in our absence.

There are two phenomenons of farming that will probably never cease to amaze me. When the seed goes into the ground and pushes up to display the plant to come is amazing. But more amazing to me is a whole field of tiny little things that seem to blossom and bear fruit overnight. I'm not sure why it hits me that way - I obviously watch them grow. Now the work cannot be stalled. No more vacations from the farm until harvesting is over. We can't put the cucumbers on hold.
Dill before we left
Dill two and half weeks laterAfter complaining about no rain, we've had so much I can't get in the field to weed. It's making harvesting very messy. We skipped a day, but it rained again, so Lance and a friend slugged through the mud to get the cucumbers before they were too big to pickle. 

Me, weeding potatoes before RVingTwo more purchases - another canning pot and a bag freezer. We're doing so many pickles this year, one pot is not going to cut it. We also learned that no matter how careful we were, grocery freezer bags do not prevent freezer burn. My tip for the day: spend the money on a proper bag freezer. It will save you on your food bill.

Organic farming is not only hard work (as all farming is) but it also requires the farmer to be on his toes and one step ahead of - if possible - of Mother Nature. Lance bought and released bugs that eat bugs in the greenhouse. I have to think they're doing their job by the looks of the plants. His vigilance this year before the plants began bearing in the fields has been successful. Last year, we lost plants due to nasty pests or had small veggies in some cases because of pest problems. He
Cucumbers and tomatoes flourish
sprayed early on with a natural spray of neem oil.

Just a note: Our trip was great fun and we discovered all kinds of things about RVing. I posted some pictures on Facebook if you'd like to check them out. Thanks to our lifestyle, multiple generations living under one roof who share the workload, we are able to do what we've always wanted - on a smaller scale but rich with fun.


Chamomile ready to dry West Indian Gherkin plants


Ready to harvest at 1 1/2 inch

Smoking Dells, Crazy Dill and Austrian Delight

2012 On the plains in Northern Arizona, two families joined forces and began the trials and tribulations of building a small family farm with nothing in the bank but love.
This has been quite a week.

The first signs of the fireNear Prescott, which is about thirty miles south of us, a forest fire broke out. From here it looked like it was in the dells, but no. This area is so dry. We had a little snow in January and that's been the extent of our precipitation. A couple of mornings ago, we saw a strange cloud rise up over the property across the street. We realized it was smoke. The smoke turned the  whole sky gray until the wind changed. On Wednesday, we went to a baseball game in
Wednesday going toward Chino ValleyPhoenix and although the sky looked smoke free toward Prescott, one mountain closer to us (but still a long ways off) had flames near the bottom. It looked pretty small. As we came back into the area that evening, we could see the fire had gained speed again.



Rote Riesen carrotsWe finished the first major pull-the-weeds-fest. The veggies seemed to love it. You could practically watch them grow - especially the
Austrian carrots and Austrian garden peas. Our good friends, the Rainers, sent Lance and Christie a box of various seeds as a wedding gift. The peas and carrots
Wonderfully sweet garden peasare out-growing the American varieties.

The greenhouse is practically overrun with greens. We're doing salads every night. The dill is really going crazy but  we like that. We need a lot of seed for canning. Most of the dill will be left to go to seed but we'll pinch some for cooking now and then. Like tonight we had lemon and dill covered catfish. I'll also dry some to get us through the winter.

"My" garlicWe harvested our first ever crop of garlic. We didn't grow any last year. This was my one crop that I planted last October. They like to go in the ground and chill over the winter. Now that I know how easy it is, I plan to grow more next time.




A better netting system this year for the blackberries Greenhouse from the dill end



Greenhouse from the broccoli end

























We leave on our first RV trip on Monday. I'll probably not have any firsthand news from Tortuga Flats Farm to report so I'm taking a couple of weeks off.
 
If you follow me on Facebook, I'm sure I'll have reports and pictures from the road. www.facebook.com/BrendaWhitesideAuthor

Everyone have a safe and fun 4th!

The List of Words To Jump Start My Editing or I Have To Read It Again?

MUSE MONDAY
By the end of this month I should be receiving the final galley from my publisher for my next publication. If you don't write, you probably have no idea how many times an author reads her own work. Not only do we read it several times to make edits before sending it off to a publisher, but if it's contracted we have to read it several more times. First my editor reads it and marks it up for everything from typos to plot glitches. Then I read it a few more times. And believe it or not, I always find something.


Once I have a completed manuscript and I'm happy with the story, I then begin the arduous task of technical editing. I say arduous because editing is not my favorite thing. So I have a cheat sheet to get me going. This is part of the list I use to check my work against.

Over used or weak words:
ItFelt                  Was for me, at her, to him, etc.                   WereAnd                  JustSimplyEvenThatClearlyBesidesWellUp, downStartedBeganTriedTryingSawNoticedKnow or thought (he knew, she thought, etc) 
I don't mean to say the above words can never be used, but often a better word is, well...better. Or you can delete them all together.

My list goes on and on but this gives you an idea of the editing process.

By the way, I'll be traveling for a couple of weeks and will more than likely miss posting Muse Mondays. Hope you all have a good rest of June!

Eye Wear Eating Roses and Strawberries for Looks

2012 On the plains in Northern Arizona, two families joined forces and began the trials and tribulations of building a small family farm with nothing in the bank but love.Tortuga Thursday   A shape of his ownA quick trip across Tortuga Flats Farm...part of it anyway. In the front yard, I tend to the decorative vegetation. Not only are the hollyhocks blooming, but roses do amazingly well here. At least the climbing kind and the miniature varieties. This one in the picture wasn't put to a trellis until this year so  he's growing rather oddly. I planted strawberry plants in the front garden last year Strawberry plantsbecause I like the way they look and send out runners. Once in awhile I get a strawberry off of them before the bugs chow down. Out in the main vegetable area we've had some halts in weeding. By this time next week, all vegetable rows will be clear and then maintenance should be easier. I'll get a picture of the whole area then. You can see from the first picture of the cucumbers all the weeds pulled and waiting between the rows for the rake. The other picture is of another variety of cucumbers and the style of trellis Lance put up. The red caps are protection on the ends of the wire.  Dead weeds wait to be raked Cucumbers and trellisTwo unrelated events this week that have nothing to do with farming. I lost my favorite/best pair of glasses. Fortunately, I have two back up pairs. Where could they be? I'm guessing somewhere outside - orchard? vegetable main area? blackberries? lost in the weird rose bush? If I didn't know better Xena might have eaten them. I searched but they didn't turn up. The back up pairs will have to do. We don't have health insurance, much less eye care insurance. Secondly, Rusty had to have his teeth cleaned. This was some major procedure to the tune of $300 +. It required him being put under and spending most of the day at the vet. On the positive side, he didn't have to have any extractions and he did fine with the drugs. We'll be doing without a couple of non-essentials for the next month or so to pay for it. He's worth it. After all, he is the smartest dog in the world! 

Writing in Layers

MUSE MONDAY

At a book club the other night, one of the readers asked me "what is your process when you write?" That's a huge question, so after we talked a moment I understood what she wanted to know had more to do with how I build a scene than with my whole process. Which is an easy question for me to answer.

I layer. Every scene has layers - dialogue, setting descriptions, sound, smell, conflict, action and so on. Not every scene has it all, but has to have enough layers to carry the story forward. Where I begin depends on what comes to me first. I have to say dialogue comes the easiest to me and many scenes start there. I'll give an example of layering in a scene from The Morning After . First, I might write:

“You taste as good as honey to a bee. Just like last night. But you should eat before we go any further.” Speechless, she stared at his back. This man had her ready to kick him out one moment, and limp with desire the next.“I hope you use my name, but if you insist, you can keep your own name. Course, since you’ve never been married and told me you’re aware of the old ticking clock, I would think you might want to shout the news out over the rooftops.”“What’s that suppose to mean?”“Hey, calm down. You’d think you’re the redhead. You’re the love of my life.”“And you’re the ambiguity of mine.”“I hope that means you love me. You do, don’t you?”“What makes you think we have a future? We don’t even have a present. I was impulsive, rash and careless last night. I’m quite sure whatever we did can be undone.”“What you were was splendid and spirited. Look at us here; we have a present. And a beautiful future.” He thumped a fist over his heart. “It was definitely love at first sight this time.”“What do you mean this time?”
Then I might add a little more action (in red):


“You taste as good as honey to a bee. Just like last night. But you should eat before we go any further.” He walked to the coffee pot to refill their cups.Speechless, she stared at his back. This man had her ready to kick him out one moment, and limp with desire the next.“I hope you use my name, but if you insist, you can keep your own name. Course, since you’ve never been married and told me you’re aware of the old ticking clock, I would think you might want to shout the news out over the rooftops.”“What’s that suppose to mean?”“Hey, calm down. You’d think you’re the redhead. You’re the love of my life.”“And you’re the ambiguity of mine.”He put plates of crepes, three to a plate, and mugs of coffee on each side of the table before sitting in the chair opposite her. “I hope that means you love me. You do, don’t you?”“What makes you think we have a future? We don’t even have a present. I was impulsive, rash and careless last night. I’m quite sure whatever we did can be undone.”“What you were was splendid and spirited. Look at us here; we have a present. And a beautiful future.” He thumped a fist over his heart. “It was definitely love at first sight this time.”She lifted her coffee cup but froze before it reached her mouth. “What do you mean this time?” Over the rim of her cup, she studied him through narrowed eyes.
 And finally, I would add another layer with some more emotion and sensory elements:

“You taste as good as honey to a bee. Just like last night. But you should eat before we go any further.” He walked to the coffee pot to refill their cups.Speechless, she stared at his back. This man had her ready to kick him out one moment, and limp with desire the next.“I hope you use my name, but if you insist, you can keep your own name. Course, since you’ve never been married and told me you’re aware of the old ticking clock, I would think you might want to shout the news out over the rooftops.”His kiss still burned, but his words instantly doused the flame. “What’s that suppose to mean?”“Hey, calm down. You’d think you’re the redhead. You’re the love of my life.”“And you’re the ambiguity of mine.”He put plates of crepes, three to a plate, and mugs of coffee on each side of the table before sitting in the chair opposite her. “I hope that means you love me. You do, don’t you?”“What makes you think we have a future? We don’t even have a present.” The warm cinnamon smell drifted up, and she had to look away from her plate to concentrate on the handsome madman making wild suppositions. “I was impulsive, rash and careless last night. I’m quite sure whatever we did can be undone.”“What you were was splendid and spirited. Look at us here; we have a present. And a beautiful future.” He thumped a fist over his heart. “It was definitely love at first sight this time.”She lifted her coffee cup but froze before it reached her mouth. “What do you mean this time?” Over the rim of her cup, she studied him through narrowed eyes.
Some scenes are really skeletal and need many more passes. Others seem to write themselves. But I always look at a scene a couple of times, put myself in the characters point of view and layer in what she sees, feels and maybe tastes and touches.
Scene layering is part of my "process".

A Drip, a Trip and a Silent Owl.

2012 On the plains in Northern Arizona, two families joined forces and began the trials and tribulations of building a small family farm with nothing in the bank but love.Tortuga Thursday

Can't help thinking he'd do his job better if he could hoot.This week flew by. My to-do list barely took a hit. I've been doing a lot of weeding. I know. I know. You heard me complain about this task last year. It's a bit different this year. Since we no longer flood between rows, we aren't over come with weeds in between. Good thing. The ground is harder between the rows and tougher to weed. The new drip system on the rows targets the plants. The weeds love it too. Unfortunately, one of the lessons we learned last year, we forgot. Some of the rows should be covered after the seeds are sowed and until the vegetables are established. That cuts down on the those air born weed seeds. Next year - well, third time's the charm. We'll remember. So, we had to wait until the plants were big enough to distinguish from the weeds. Which means lots of weeds. Lance has been spending more hours than I have. Once we get the whole field done, upkeep will be easier on the bigger plants.

The radishes are big enough to pick. Those guys are fast producers. The new sweet potato slips arrived and
Peas and the drip tapethey were beautiful. Lance got them in the ground the day they arrived. In the green house, we have leafy greens that can start showing up on our table this week. Yea!

First trip - to the dealer for service.Two pieces of bad news this week and one is already fixed. The RV had a propane leak. Frank hooked it up and took it for the first time on the road to the dealer. They supposedly fixed it and sent him home. Within a couple of hours I smelled it worse than before. This time Frank took the hoses apart and found the real problem. Fixed. My faith in that dealership continues to dive. Second piece of bad news is the vet says Rusty needs $300 worth of dental work. I'm balking on this one. Yes, I can see his gums are red in the back but he eats anything and everything. Wouldn't he be having trouble if they're that bad? Can't we brush and water pick his teeth to health? We'll have this debate for a couple of days. I need to find the time to do some doggy teeth research.


Sadi Belle has learned what her hands are for and grabs at things with some accuracy. She pulled her bear over on top of herself and that registered surprise. So much fun to watch her grow.


It's been mighty hot on Tortuga Flats. I'm usually out of the sun by 10:00. I don't know how Lance does it for so many hours a day. But then I remember when he was not yet two years old, and we left our cement surrounded apartment for a trip to Yosemite. The first thing he did was plop down in the dirt with a big grin on his face and said "I love
Hollyhocks are bloomingdirt!"

Oh No! When Did I Become a Plotter?!

MUSE MONDAY
A couple of weekends ago, I attended an all day workshop hosted by one of the RWA chapters I belong to, Valley of the Sun RWA. Larry Brooks presented the Six Core Competencies of Successful Writing. I don't intend to give you a summary of the workshop, but I came away with a discovery about myself. (Remember my blog is called Discover Yourself.)

Until I heard Larry speak, I thought I was a pantser. I learned early on, way back in BBP (before being published) that there are two kinds of writers - plotters and pantsers. As you might guess, pantsers write by the seat of their pants, no planning or plotting involved. My first published book came about as an idea for a short story inspired by my sister who was between marriages at the time. I began writing, and it just kept going until it was a book. I certainly didn't plot it. I didn't even know three of the characters were going to be in the book until they showed up in their first scenes. And I had so much fun writing it that way that I tagged myself a definite pantser.

Plotting is so boring. Making outlines and sculpting each scene seemed dry, lacking in knee-jerk creativity and so organized! Then I heard Larry rail on about pantsers. He really had some valid points. And it kind of ticked me off. Until I realized, I'm not a true pantser. In fact, I'm not a pantser at all. Being a plotter doesn't mean you HAVE to do an outline or the other boring things I THOUGHT plotters do. He spoke of storyboards, post it notes, character research, knowing your ending, keeping track of events and on and on.

Ah-oh...all the things I have done or used in one form or another. And I do know how my book will end when I begin. I might have new characters walk into the story unplanned or new scenes come to mind as I write, but I do have a plan. My characters each have their own files with all kinds of information that might not even make it into the book. I do keep a chapter by chapter time line. I do a rough synopsis. Oh my gosh! I actually do plan and plot.

Discovering what kind of writer I am isn't the only thing I took away from the class. The rest is technical and should help me from now on. But crossing over from pantser to plotter was the biggest wow!

Finding The Way To Living It Up

2012 On the plains in Northern Arizona, two families joined forces and began the trials and tribulations of building a small family farm with nothing in the bank but love.
View from our windowThe end of May seems like the end of spring to me. June always marks summer. As I write, I'm in a hotel room in Laughlin, Nevada. Summer comes early to this part of the country. One word - hot. Before you think we're crazy gambling when we barely have enough to afford the necessities, let me tell you we don't. Oh, we might put $5 in once or twice in a three day period. But if you've read any prior posts, you'll know the reason Frank comes is to fish Lake Mohave and the Colorado River while I hole up in the room to write. This might be the last time we do this since we now have the RV and the truck. Next week we'll get a hitch to use the home on wheels.

The financial side of this - I did promise to let you know how we were managing (with nothing in the bank but love) back when I started this blog.

More view from our windowI think I explained the free hotel rooms but here it is again. The first couple of times we came to Laughlin, we found which casinos had rooms for around $20 a night, during the week only. Weekends are always more expensive. After staying a couple of times, they started sending us free nights. At first, they would send us two free nights a month. Now, we get three. Some times we get coupons for dollars off food but not often. The days of cheap meals in casinos are in the past. Once in a while you can find breakfast specials or buffet specials. But honestly, $8 for a crappy buffet is not a deal to me. If we spend three nights a month here, we can't afford to eat even for that. So we wheel in our ice chest. I make dinners up ahead of time and we bring the fixings for sandwiches and snacks. We also bring a coffee pot. These are no longer provided in the room. This time we did receive six coupons for free coffee.

Lance putting nets on blackberriesNow as for the RV and truck, that's a matter of credit and our living arrangements. Even though Frank was out of work three of the last five years before he retired, and I also lost my job that last year, we managed to keep our credit rating. Yes, we lost what we had in the bank to retire on, but we never missed any payments. And the second part of that is how we now live. Sharing a home, a farm and all the expenses that go with it with another family enables us to make ends meet. We're managing to live on social security supplemented with my small royalties thanks to my son and his family. It's a symbiotic relationship that is suiting us all for varied reasons.

So, summer is coming to the farm. The only farm problem right now is the sweet potatoes. Our slips came but only half as many as I understood we were getting. Of those, two thirds are dead. The company is replacing that whole order and sending two
Summer comes to the farmmore orders via free shipping, but it might be too late. If they don't grow fast before fall arrives with cooler temps, we won't have sweet potatoes for the winter. Maybe we'll have an extra long warm summer.