Lynn Cahoon's Blog, page 39

Vacation blog week continues

I’ve had a busy week – Walking the Mississippi river on the Chain of Rocks bridge and then Saturday, heading north to Springfield Illinois for the State Fair.  Next week, back to the business of writing.

I’m heading out this week to visit several blogs   – I hope you join me.

August 14th – I’ll be at Laurie’s Thoughts and Reviews non-paranormal (and I’ll have a giveaway…)

http://lauries-interviews.blogspot.com/

Tuesday is also my first posting for Make Mine Mystery – so come find out about the ‘other’ Lynn

http://makeminemystery.blogspot.com/

August 16th – I’ll be at Manic Readers -

http://manicreaders.com/blog/index.php/guest-authors/

And Friday, we’ll continue talking about setting up blog tours at New Kids

http://www.newkidonthewritersblock.blogspot.com/

See you soon…

Lynn

Summer schedule this week – Only two guest blog posts…

Demon – 10 lbs of buff fluff sleeping on the coffee table

The dog days of August must have gotten to me.  I’ve only scheduled two guest stops this week.

 

But wait – next week I start a new twice a month blog with Make Mine Mystery.  So excited to be part of this mystery group. So stay tuned for more details.

 

Tomorrow – Thursday August 9th – I’ll be visiting fellow Crimson Romance author Peggy Bird’s blog.  Peggy lives in the Pacific Northwest – with eagles, and bigfoot, and Seattle’s Pike Market.

Stop by and see me at - http://www.peggybirdwrites.com/#!/blog/

 

Then Sunday – August 12th – I’m taking the stage  at Fresh Fiction.   Love to see you there…

http://freshfiction.com/blog/

Lynn

 

The power of words

Robert Burns considering a word choice.

First an update… 1400 words a day?  No.  But words every day.  And I’ve been editing on a manuscript for a revise and resubmit request.  14% done.  The resubmit will be off my whiteboard this month.  Yay.

I sent the second paranormal novella to my editor.  Keep your fingers crossed for me.

And I started my valentine’s day novella.  I’m really having fun with this idea.

On the diet/exercise front?  Don’t ask. Next week.  I’ll be better next week.

Since I’ve been editing, words and word choices are on my mind.

Like can an author ever use the word ‘was’?  The editor on this manuscript seems to think the answer is no.  Probably, hell no.

And looked.  What’s wrong with looked.  People do it all the time.  (Okay, so I agree with her on that one.)

And just.  Is it just me, or do women use that word more than men?  At the day job, we got an article called, You are woman, hear you roar.  Okay, so I can’t remember the real title.  Anyway, the author mentioned using ‘just’ takes away your credibility.

I was just checking… Just a reminder….Or even I was just looking at that… (Ha!)

I think the author’s right.  I”m working on taking the word out of my daily communications.  I might write it, but then I edit the word out before I send the email.

Have you noticed filler words creeping into your manuscripts or your language? What’s your favorite filler word?

 

Switching Gears

I just wrote the two most important words in a writer’s arsenal.  The End.  I finished a paranormal novella this morning.  My muse has been focused on a reluctant witch, her hot, witch hunter boyfriend, and a homicidal cousin.

Tomorrow I start the read and edit process for the paranormal and start writing a new story.

The new story will be a contemporary romance with a Valentine’s Day focus.  Not a witch or fairy or elf in the cast of characters.

I have to settle myself into my new character’s world.  My heroine runs a cottage business creating gourmet jams and jellies.

The good news is the project after this is my culinary cozy mystery so I’ll go from a foodie romance to a foodie mystery.  Then back to my Shawnee Rodeo Series.

So anyone have some ideas for me?  How do I stop thinking about magic and focus on food?

Life – A Balancing Act (And This Weeks – Guest Blog Stops.)

Sigh – I’m out of balance.  I know it. I feel it.

Last year I lost 25 pounds. How?  Baby steps.  I increased my fruits and veggies and exercise.  I had 25 ish pounds to go.  Piece of cake, right?

This year, I lost 9 and have been at this same weight for months.  I feel like I’ve been dieting forever.  But I’ve lost my focus.

And it’s showing up in my writing too.

So I’m back to baby steps.  I’m finding my pedometer.  Strapping it on.  And exercising every day – no excuses.

And with my writing – 1400 words a day.  No excuses there either.

Two things I’m going to do for myself this week.  - What are you doing for you?

 

I’m doing three guest blogs this week -

On Tuesday, July 24th, at the Ladies in Red, I’m whining about not going to Nat’ls. Who’s with me?

http://crimsonromanceauthors.com/ladies-in-red-blog/

Crimson Romance Author Galen Rose interviews me at her blog on Wednesday, July 25th

http://galenrose.com/posts/

And Thursday, July 26th,  I’ll be teaching how to get that 25th hour each day to focus on your writing on Savvy authors.

http://www.savvyauthors.com/vb/content.php

Stop by if you have a chance. And ask me how I’m doing on my baby steps.  Hold me accountable.

July Blog Stops –The Fun Continues

I had so much fun guesting on blogs in June, I thought I’d continue visiting.

This week I’ll be stopping by two plus my regular every other Friday on New Kids.

Wednesday I’ll be at chapter mate Jennifer Jake’s blog – talking about the modern western

http://authorjenniferjakes.blogspot.com

Friday I’ll be at New Kids

http://newkidonthewritersblock.blogspot.com/

Also Friday, I’ll be part of Crimson Romance Day at Coffee Time Romance.  So excited to be part of this celebration with several other CR authors.

Publisher day with Crimson Romance – Moriah Densley, Lynn Cahoon, Micah Persell, Mary K. Norris, Traci McDonald

http://coffeetimeromance.com/CoffeeThoughts/

I hope to see you at one or more of the stops.

Living in the Jetson’s World

On the phone with my  mother the other day and she asks, who’s with me?.  She’d heard someone else talking.  Since no one was there, we joked that her land line must still be a party line, like it was when I was growing up.   The government might be bugging your cell or listening in by computer (ala – Person of Interest) but back then, it was your neighbor, or your little brother on the other extension.  No secrets in our house.

The subject came up again at a business lunch yesterday.  A mother was lamenting the fact that her teens text-ed their friends, making ease dropping on the conversation virtually impossible.  When we wanted privacy we had to stretch the phone cord and hide in the closet behind a closed door.

We’re more accessible than ever.  Smart phones allow you access to your social media sites 24/7.  At the last training I attended seven  out of the ten people attending, had their cells on the table.   My new car has a phone and a phone number.  Unfortunately, the number used to belong to a woman who didn’t pay her debts (probably why she lost the phone) so the only calls I’ve received so far are from On-Star and a bill collector.  (Victoria – If your reading this?  Pay your bill please.)

When did we become indispensable for even the time it takes to commute home from work?  Don’t get me wrong, I love checking my email when I’m standing in line at the grocery store.  (I almost said bank, but realized most of my banking is automated too.)  I even get a kick out of calling my husband and announcing, “This is your car calling.”

But maybe we’re missing out on something that’s hard to find these days.  Quiet. Time to think.  Time alone to ponder the mystery that is this earth, this life.

Chime in here.  What piece of technology couldn’t you do without?

(That’s my mom, pretty in her blue sweatshirt.)

 

 

 

 

 

Keeping Secrets

I’ll admit it. I’m a Harry Potter groupie.  I’ve been re-watching the movies these last weeks as my ‘got things done’ reward.  Today it was more like the “it’s Sunday’ reward.

As I’m watching, I’m struck at the times where the author and the character’s hold back information from the reader and the other characters.

When Hagrid first comes home from his travels in The Order of the Phoenix, he has a black eye.  When they ask if the giants did that to him, he kind of hedges.

For most of the movie/book, Dumbledore ignores Harry, not the actions of a man who used to be Harry’s mentor.

These actions from the characters make us wonder why.  And make us keep turning the page.

Today, I’m wondering how to keep secrets in my own writing.   How to hold back what’s not important to reveal at a better time.

Sometimes the characters do it for me. I’ll be writing a story, and all of a sudden, they’ll reveal something that changes the story.  That makes it better.  And when I go back into the story to make sure the  background is there, and I’d already written the bones.  I was the only one that didn’t know where the story was going.  My characters had known all alone.

Just like Hagrid, keeping the secret of his giant brother.  And Dumbledore trying to protect Harry, by keeping his distance.  We won’t even start on the complexity of Snape.

So have you ever had your character surprise you?  Telling you a secret about himself or another character in your story?

 

UPDATE – The Bullrider’s Brother is available at Amazon.uk.  I’ve never been to England, but now my characters have.  LOL

 

 

 

Reporting in From the Trenches

How do you manage promoting and writing new stuff? Stop by http://www.newkidonthewritersblock.blogspot.com/

July – Hot as a Firecracker

Literally.

The weather here in St. Louis has been summer hot.  100 degree summer hot.  Which keeps me indoors, because, yes, I will melt.

But besides working on my sequel story for A Member of the Council (Lyrical, November 2012), I’ve had some time for reading.  Right now I’m deep into Hearse and Buggy, an Amish cozy mystery written by my good friend, and amazing writer, Laura Bradford.

I’m heading to the library today to fill up on books on cd for my drive to the day job.  Really digging Heather Graham right now.  A nice mix of romance, suspense, and supernatural elements to keep me guessing, although I did know the bad guy way before the end on the last one.  That’s just because I would have written him as the murderer too.  It was just too perfect of a choice. LOL

So what are your reading?  Does your summer reading choices change from your normal TBR pile?  Lighter? Funnier?

And can anyone point me to a modern gothic like The Demon Lover (by Juliet Dark)  or something like A Discovery of Witches (Deborah Harkness)?

Read on!

Lynn