Becky Lower's Blog, page 15
February 24, 2019
Thinking About Words
I just finished reading Julia Quinn's latest endeavor, The Other Miss Bridgerton. Her heroine, Poppy Bridgerton, had a thing for words. Specifically words that sounded like their meaning. One of her examples in the book was the word devoid.
Which got me to thinking about other words that sound like their meaning. Here's my short list:
OozeFizzSwishShaggyWispRaindropFreezeKillPhlegm
I'll add another to the list. The other day, I was wearing my slippers when I slipped on my wet floor and took a tumble. Does that count?
How about you? Do you have any favorite words that sound like their meaning? Or are Julia Quinn and I the only ones who ponder things like this? And is this type of word called onomatopoeia or ideophone?
Which got me to thinking about other words that sound like their meaning. Here's my short list:
OozeFizzSwishShaggyWispRaindropFreezeKillPhlegm
I'll add another to the list. The other day, I was wearing my slippers when I slipped on my wet floor and took a tumble. Does that count?
How about you? Do you have any favorite words that sound like their meaning? Or are Julia Quinn and I the only ones who ponder things like this? And is this type of word called onomatopoeia or ideophone?
February 16, 2019
Creating Your Tribe
Every writer working today has heard you need a tribe to get a book from concept to reality. A tribe is a support system in this lonely world of fiction writing. You need critique partners to let you know when you've run your book's story line off into a ditch. You need a coach, mentor, agent, whatever your want to call the person or persons you lean on for advice. Throw in editors, web designers, proofreaders, reviewers who write glowing reviews of your books, publishers, all the people who operate blogs where you can introduce your book to a new audience, and, of course, your family.
Never has this concept of tribalism come into play than this past week. My website is one of the most consistent of the elements of my social media, and I keep track of the daily hits. The consistency tapered off around Valentine's Day, and had trickled to one or two visitors a day instead of the usual 100 or so. I watched it for a couple days, but didn't think to check the link. One of my favorite fellow authors with whom I share the History Imagined blog brought it to my attention. What to do? Since I know next to nothing about how to fashion a website, I emailed my tribe member who takes care of that. It only took her a few minutes on the phone with the company who hosts my site to determine they had tried to send an authentication notice to me at my Ohio email address and when I didn't respond, they shut the site down. It has since been fixed and updated. Problem solved, but not without help.
On a more personal note, I now have my grown nephew living with me. Since I've never married, it's been nice to be able to share my home with my siblings and/or their children over the years. He's working at a grocery chain and has to be there by 6 am. Normally, I never hear him, but last night was different. I got sick at about 3 am, and was awake when he left the house. I texted him to please pick up some Pepto for me before he came home. Not only did he bring the medicine, he brought hot soup and yogurt for my delicate stomach. Then, he walked my dog!
Mary
So this week has taught me that, while some parts of my tribe need to be shored up and expanded, the core group is to be trusted. Not only with my writing process but also with my health. I'm eternally grateful to each of you.
Never has this concept of tribalism come into play than this past week. My website is one of the most consistent of the elements of my social media, and I keep track of the daily hits. The consistency tapered off around Valentine's Day, and had trickled to one or two visitors a day instead of the usual 100 or so. I watched it for a couple days, but didn't think to check the link. One of my favorite fellow authors with whom I share the History Imagined blog brought it to my attention. What to do? Since I know next to nothing about how to fashion a website, I emailed my tribe member who takes care of that. It only took her a few minutes on the phone with the company who hosts my site to determine they had tried to send an authentication notice to me at my Ohio email address and when I didn't respond, they shut the site down. It has since been fixed and updated. Problem solved, but not without help.
On a more personal note, I now have my grown nephew living with me. Since I've never married, it's been nice to be able to share my home with my siblings and/or their children over the years. He's working at a grocery chain and has to be there by 6 am. Normally, I never hear him, but last night was different. I got sick at about 3 am, and was awake when he left the house. I texted him to please pick up some Pepto for me before he came home. Not only did he bring the medicine, he brought hot soup and yogurt for my delicate stomach. Then, he walked my dog!
MarySo this week has taught me that, while some parts of my tribe need to be shored up and expanded, the core group is to be trusted. Not only with my writing process but also with my health. I'm eternally grateful to each of you.
February 9, 2019
Sailing Away
My River Cruise got cancelled. It was probably the only time I'd ever get to use my passport. I've always wanted to explore other countries, but it never quite materialized for me. I have been to 46 of the 50 states and have lived in 7 of them, but I've never 'crossed the pond.'
I would probably be more disappointed had I not just begun working on a new story line. I sorted out the details last week and put together a beat sheet. My heroine is 'crossing the pond,' in reverse of what I would have done. She's sailing from England to America at the height of the Revolutionary War. Not on a luxury liner, but on a small clipper ship loaded with supplies for the British troops in America.
Once I figured out the hook of the story, I got really excited about writing it. The Revolutionary War is one of my favorite time periods. Even though I spent much of my adult life in Virginia and toured numerous Civil War battlefields, the Civil War never held the same appeal as the Revolutionary period does. I can't wait to have my heroine land in unruly America and try to make her way.
Right now, she's masquerading as a boy, stowed away on the ship bound for Boston. So, in my own way, I'm sailing along even without my River Cruise. I may throw in a storm at sea just to keep things lively during their trip, especially since my heroine has never learned to swim. We'll see. I'm sailing away with my idea.
So, what story line are you working on, either in your WIP or in your life? Inquiring minds want to know.
I would probably be more disappointed had I not just begun working on a new story line. I sorted out the details last week and put together a beat sheet. My heroine is 'crossing the pond,' in reverse of what I would have done. She's sailing from England to America at the height of the Revolutionary War. Not on a luxury liner, but on a small clipper ship loaded with supplies for the British troops in America.
Once I figured out the hook of the story, I got really excited about writing it. The Revolutionary War is one of my favorite time periods. Even though I spent much of my adult life in Virginia and toured numerous Civil War battlefields, the Civil War never held the same appeal as the Revolutionary period does. I can't wait to have my heroine land in unruly America and try to make her way.
Right now, she's masquerading as a boy, stowed away on the ship bound for Boston. So, in my own way, I'm sailing along even without my River Cruise. I may throw in a storm at sea just to keep things lively during their trip, especially since my heroine has never learned to swim. We'll see. I'm sailing away with my idea.
So, what story line are you working on, either in your WIP or in your life? Inquiring minds want to know.
February 2, 2019
Electricity
I've been thinking a lot about electricity lately. Maybe it's because my furnace has been blasting 24/7 for days now. Or maybe it's because most of the midwest had to experience record cold temps this past week. Fortunately, things are about to heat up for all of us, as the polar vortex recedes. My latest History Imagined blog tells of a big freeze that took place in Europe in 1709. Just think how much harder our polar vortex would have been without electricity and you can understand how so many lost their lives during the freeze, either from hypothermia or starvation. Here's a link to the whole story: https://historyimagined.wordpress.com/2019/02/01/the-big-chill/I've been working on the next book in my Regency series, too, while I wait for spring to come. There's electricity there, too, between my hero and heroine. A different kind of electricity, to be sure, but the current is there, even though both of them try to fight it. All it takes is a glance, a touch, and the spark is ignited.
While I wait, somewhat impatiently, for my hands to thaw so I can type better, I can get lost in my story and feel the electricity as my couple falls in love.
Stay warm, everyone!
January 26, 2019
Telling A Story
Last week, I took a break from my writing and did the more mundane things in life, like housework. A couple loads of laundry later and I was wrestling with my mattress, trying to put the fitted sheet back on the bed. I was at an awkward angle, and my shoulder let me know I'd tried to turn it in a way it was never meant to go. I relayed what had happened to one of my writing buddies and there was dead silence on the phone. Then she said, "That's it? You're a writer, Becky, and that's the best you could come up with? How about you were practicing your trapeze act and Hans didn't catch you properly?"
We shared a laugh about it, I put a heating pad on my shoulder, and took a couple days off from the gym. A few days later, I was back at the gym, going through the Easy Line weight circuit. When I got to the Fly machine, I couldn't go through the whole 90 seconds. My arm, not my shoulder, but the inside of my arm, began to hurt. The next day, I noticed a bit of a bruise on my arm, and I was experiencing pain. So, when the bruising got worse I went to the walk-in clinic. The nurse who took my vitals asked me what happened, so I told her the truth. When she didn't react, I told her the embellished version my friend had come up with and the nurse began laughing. When she finished her note taking, she stood and said "We'll get you back on that trapeze in no time!"
The diagnosis was a slightly torn bicep and the recommendation was to skip the weight circuit for a few days and then ease back into things. But the moral of the story is: When life throws you a setback, rewrite the script find a way to laugh about it. You'll get back on your own trapeze faster.
So, what have you laughed about lately?
We shared a laugh about it, I put a heating pad on my shoulder, and took a couple days off from the gym. A few days later, I was back at the gym, going through the Easy Line weight circuit. When I got to the Fly machine, I couldn't go through the whole 90 seconds. My arm, not my shoulder, but the inside of my arm, began to hurt. The next day, I noticed a bit of a bruise on my arm, and I was experiencing pain. So, when the bruising got worse I went to the walk-in clinic. The nurse who took my vitals asked me what happened, so I told her the truth. When she didn't react, I told her the embellished version my friend had come up with and the nurse began laughing. When she finished her note taking, she stood and said "We'll get you back on that trapeze in no time!"
The diagnosis was a slightly torn bicep and the recommendation was to skip the weight circuit for a few days and then ease back into things. But the moral of the story is: When life throws you a setback, rewrite the script find a way to laugh about it. You'll get back on your own trapeze faster.
So, what have you laughed about lately?
January 19, 2019
Buying Daydreams
People sometimes ask me why I write. My usual response is to quiet the voices in my head, but I like this quote from John Dos Passos better.
"A novel is a commodity that fulfills a certain need; people need to buy daydreams like they need to buy ice cream or aspirin or gin. They even need to buy a pinch of intellectual catnip now and then to liven up their thoughts, a few drops of poetry to stimulate their feelings."
The thought of providing daydreams for people appeals to me.
It takes a lot of intestinal fortitude to write a novel. In fact, studies have shown that 97% of those who start a novel never finish. Some of the best authors I've bumped up against are still working on their first book, which will probably never see the light of day. Such a shame that those daydreams will only ever exist in the minds of the writers.If writing a novel is a daunting challenge, knowing how to market it, how to reach new readers, is a slippery slope and the ground keeps shifting. So, next time you're at the grocery and are reaching for the aspirin or gin, stroll by the paperback book section and pick up a novel by a new-to-you author instead. As for ice cream? Well, everyone needs that in their cart.
My new-to-me author is Callie Hutton. I've known of her for quite some time, since she's another historical author, but have never taken the time to read her work. I'm now into her mail-order bride series and wonder why I waited so long to get acquainted with Ms. Hutton.
Who is your next new-to-me author?
January 12, 2019
Growth
With each new year, one of the ideas that gets tossed around is, instead of making resolutions, to pick a word the embodies what you want to accomplish in the coming twelve months and figure out how to accomplish it. So, in the spirit of things, I've selected my word–GROWTH–and have begun to set things in motion.
The first item to take care of was to take inventory of what I want to apply the word to. Certainly not to my body. We don't need any more growth there. I'm continuing my three-times-a-week workouts at the health club to keep growth from happening. No, what I want to apply the word to is my writing career. I took a workshop last week that helps in that regard and am wrapping up the filling in the blanks and gaining perspective on where the career has been. Now, I need to implement a plan for where the career is headed.
To help with my forward progress, I hired an author coach to help me strategize. Already, I can see a way forward. When I regain the rights to Winning Violet, the first book in my Regency Flower Girl series, I will have books two and three finished and be able to present them as a package to a publisher. And, as a kind of offshoot on these stories, I am working on another story that takes place in the same time period, but in America. I'd like to work in some of the culture of my new home state, North Carolina. If for no other reason than an excuse to take some road trips.
And speaking of road trips–providing things move forward during the year, I am poised to take my first-ever European vacation late in the year. Can't believe it's taken me this long to cross the pond, but fingers crossed, this will be just the beginning of my growth there. You can do all the research you want, but nothing will add spice to your story line more than actually walking the streets you are describing, visiting the battlefields, or, for that matter, being on a ship in the middle of a vast ocean.
Stay tuned!
The first item to take care of was to take inventory of what I want to apply the word to. Certainly not to my body. We don't need any more growth there. I'm continuing my three-times-a-week workouts at the health club to keep growth from happening. No, what I want to apply the word to is my writing career. I took a workshop last week that helps in that regard and am wrapping up the filling in the blanks and gaining perspective on where the career has been. Now, I need to implement a plan for where the career is headed.
To help with my forward progress, I hired an author coach to help me strategize. Already, I can see a way forward. When I regain the rights to Winning Violet, the first book in my Regency Flower Girl series, I will have books two and three finished and be able to present them as a package to a publisher. And, as a kind of offshoot on these stories, I am working on another story that takes place in the same time period, but in America. I'd like to work in some of the culture of my new home state, North Carolina. If for no other reason than an excuse to take some road trips.
And speaking of road trips–providing things move forward during the year, I am poised to take my first-ever European vacation late in the year. Can't believe it's taken me this long to cross the pond, but fingers crossed, this will be just the beginning of my growth there. You can do all the research you want, but nothing will add spice to your story line more than actually walking the streets you are describing, visiting the battlefields, or, for that matter, being on a ship in the middle of a vast ocean.Stay tuned!
January 5, 2019
Friends Keep You Grounded
I complained last week to a friend about having to manually clean my oven and how much bother it was. She asked if I didn't have a self-cleaning feature on the oven, and I said the oven was older than I am. She pointed out that it would have to have been a pot bellied stove in that case! Leave it to a friend to tell it like it is.But sometimes friends aren't the only ones to keep you grounded. I got a review from a stranger to me of Dance With Destiny, one of my books that was released a couple years ago. Here's a bit of the review: "My advice: Ignore the cheesy stock-picture cover (the same that appears on half the Native American romance books out there!) and make the plunge. You won't regret it." I appreciate every review I get, but this one made me laugh, and I love it.
https://www.amazon.com/Dance-Destiny-Becky-Lower-ebook/dp/B01MQQGGFJ/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1546621754&sr=8-11&keywords=becky+lower
It's a new year with new opportunities, and I'm eager to get started with everything. And I'm counting on my friends (and acquaintances who have taken the time to read one of my books) to keep me grounded.
December 29, 2018
A Matter of Perspective
As part of my new life here in North Carolina, I get to spend time with a sweet lady every other weekend. My duties involve giving her something to eat before she takes her pills and then we get to go to lunch. Shortly after I took over this duty, I devised a way for her to take her pills without complaining too much. We play rummy and each time she loses a hand, she has to take a pill. Sometimes that works like a charm. But she's still sharp with her card playing skills and there are times when she wins more than she loses. So I revise the rules and tell her as payment for being such a good player she has to take a pill. She rolls with my flexible rules just fine.Today we were talking about someone we both know who recently celebrated a life-changing event. My sweet lady had been told about the event months ago and was thrilled by the news, but today she said she was crossing her fingers that things would work out with this person. I love the fact that my sweet lady keeps getting excited about the same events time and again. Which brings me to my point.
I'm about to pick new covers for the re-release of two of my books in the Cotillion series which will come out early in 2019. I spoke to an author friend about this the other night as we talked about covers and we both were feeling as if it were a chore instead of the excitement we felt with our first book covers. Even though these books are not new, they are being spiffed up and presented to a new audience and need the same kind of care and dedication I put into the covers the first time around. I can get excited about the same events all over again, just like my friend. It's all a matter of perspective.
Be on the lookout for the new covers of Blinded By Grace and The Duplicitous Debutante, coming your way soon.
December 22, 2018
Happy Holidays!
Since this upcoming week contains the much-anticipated Christmas celebration, I'm taking this post to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanza, Happy Hanukkah, and Happy Holidays. Whatever traditions you incorporate this time of year, I wish you the best of all times, the creation of new memories and a prosperous 2019.
I have partnered over the last few years with two other authors on a blog called History Imagined. This week's post contains a list of Christmas murder mysteries for your reading pleasure during the season. You can view the entire list here:
https://historyimagined.wordpress.com/2018/12/21/from-our-homes-to-yours-2/
And, if murder under the Christmas tree is not to your liking, you might want to try one of my Christmas books. Love's In The Cards is a contemporary story, set in Lobster Cove, ME. And if Regency is more to your liking, try A Regency Yuletide. Here are the blurbs and buy links for each:
Penny Beedle’s outlook on Christmas, as her favorite holiday, was destroyed by a messy breakup years earlier and a botched wedding last year—both on Christmas Eve. But since she and her sister now own a greeting card store, and the holidays are their crazy selling season, she has to put on a happy face.
Del Madison has loved Penny since kindergarten. Commissioned by a big greeting card company for a line of Christmas and Valentine’s cards, he has to emerge from behind his alter ego and unveil himself to the public. He chooses Penny Beedle’s shop for the big reveal. If he plays his cards right, he just might gain Penny as part of his life.
https://www.amazon.com/Loves-Cards-Lobster-Becky-Lower-ebook/dp/B01M4J150Z/ref=sr_1_14?ie=UTF8&qid=1545485573&sr=8-14&keywords=becky+lower
After a disappointing season in London, Sophie Davenport returns home without a marriage proposal. No sooner does she settle back into her country life than she learns her uncle has arranged for her to marry the local vicar’s son, a respectable and utterly forgettable man. He’s returning home immediately after the Christmas holiday and they will wed. She sets about making this last Christmas with just she and her mother memorable.
Jeremy Wyatt hatches a plan to help his friend Thomas and his love, Emma, escape to Gretna Green and marry before her father comes after them. What he’s really doing is avoiding heading to his parents’ home, where he is the son who is always making the wrong choices. But their carriage becomes hopelessly mired in the mud from the incessant rains so Jeremy sets off to find shelter for them at the first house he comes to.
Sophie welcomes the wet and weary travelers, and her mother agrees to house them temporarily until they can free the carriage. Sophie forms a bond not only with Emma, but with Jeremy. However despite the sparks they ignite in each other, they have to maintain their separate paths.
But love and mistletoe have a way of upsetting even the best-laid plans.
https://www.amazon.com/Regency-Yuletide-Becky-Lower-ebook/dp/B01LY2MN0S/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&qid=1545485573&sr=8-12&keywords=becky+lower
I have partnered over the last few years with two other authors on a blog called History Imagined. This week's post contains a list of Christmas murder mysteries for your reading pleasure during the season. You can view the entire list here:
https://historyimagined.wordpress.com/2018/12/21/from-our-homes-to-yours-2/
And, if murder under the Christmas tree is not to your liking, you might want to try one of my Christmas books. Love's In The Cards is a contemporary story, set in Lobster Cove, ME. And if Regency is more to your liking, try A Regency Yuletide. Here are the blurbs and buy links for each:
Penny Beedle’s outlook on Christmas, as her favorite holiday, was destroyed by a messy breakup years earlier and a botched wedding last year—both on Christmas Eve. But since she and her sister now own a greeting card store, and the holidays are their crazy selling season, she has to put on a happy face.
Del Madison has loved Penny since kindergarten. Commissioned by a big greeting card company for a line of Christmas and Valentine’s cards, he has to emerge from behind his alter ego and unveil himself to the public. He chooses Penny Beedle’s shop for the big reveal. If he plays his cards right, he just might gain Penny as part of his life.
https://www.amazon.com/Loves-Cards-Lobster-Becky-Lower-ebook/dp/B01M4J150Z/ref=sr_1_14?ie=UTF8&qid=1545485573&sr=8-14&keywords=becky+lower
After a disappointing season in London, Sophie Davenport returns home without a marriage proposal. No sooner does she settle back into her country life than she learns her uncle has arranged for her to marry the local vicar’s son, a respectable and utterly forgettable man. He’s returning home immediately after the Christmas holiday and they will wed. She sets about making this last Christmas with just she and her mother memorable.
Jeremy Wyatt hatches a plan to help his friend Thomas and his love, Emma, escape to Gretna Green and marry before her father comes after them. What he’s really doing is avoiding heading to his parents’ home, where he is the son who is always making the wrong choices. But their carriage becomes hopelessly mired in the mud from the incessant rains so Jeremy sets off to find shelter for them at the first house he comes to.
Sophie welcomes the wet and weary travelers, and her mother agrees to house them temporarily until they can free the carriage. Sophie forms a bond not only with Emma, but with Jeremy. However despite the sparks they ignite in each other, they have to maintain their separate paths.
But love and mistletoe have a way of upsetting even the best-laid plans.
https://www.amazon.com/Regency-Yuletide-Becky-Lower-ebook/dp/B01LY2MN0S/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&qid=1545485573&sr=8-12&keywords=becky+lower
