S.K. Nicholls's Blog, page 61
January 22, 2014
Canned
I was in the grocery store yesterday and browsing the local produce…much of it not so local, being shipped from Chile, Spain, Costa Rica, California, and Mexico, but fresh nonetheless. Fresh watermelon and cantaloupes year around!
It is January and there were fresh beans, peas, broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, asparagus, squash, cucumbers, cabbages, snow peas, avocados, apples, pears, oranges, tomatoes. We take so very much for granted in this global economy. I am not talking smartphones, computers, and tablets, but simple luxuries, like fresh food.
My grandparents had a huge farm, and they had a garden that covered three acres. They taught me about gardening and harvesting.
When my own children were growing up, we had an acre and a half that was garden space.
I can’t say that we grew organic, because pesticides and herbicides were used. I can’t say it was better or worse for us, but it was fresh and local. There will never be anything tastier than that which comes right out of the garden.
We also had fruit trees and grape vines. Blackberries, blueberries and muscadines grew wild.
When my grandmother was a child, they only had whatever was in season unless they stored it during harvest time. Meat was salted and smoked, chickens were fresh killed, some foods were dried, and some were canned…not in tin cans, but glass jars.
I remember my grandmother canning vegetables, fruits, jellies and preserves. She washed the mason jars and set them in the bath to sterilize them, removed them, filled them meticulously, as this was an art form, capped them with lids, screwed on the rings, and returned them to the steaming bath to seal them. She worked for hours preparing and canning over the stove in the hot, humid kitchen all summer and into the fall. She taught me how to process foods and I did the same on our farm.
One year, we had a bumper crop of tomatoes and we canned 175 quarts of tomato sauce.
These colorful jars of vegetables, fruits, jellies, jams, pickles and relishes would sit on the shelves in the pantry, sometimes for years. Some, she would show in the county fairs to win ribbons and prizes. Some were opened and consumed before the next harvest season.
All through the winter, when there was no fresh produce to be found, we had canned veggies and fruits.
They tasted so much better and fresher than what you could get in tin cans from the store, when you could get to the store. They lived far out in the country and went into town about once a month, where they could buy staples like flour, sugar, grits, meal, and fruits and vegetables that were in season that they did not grow on the farm.
Grandmother got an upright freezer in the early 1970s, and learned to freeze most of the produce. Frozen was better than canned, both in flavor and nutrition. She still made canned pears, tomatoes and peaches, other things that did not freeze well.
Now, we can go to the store on any day of the year and get whatever we need fresh. How convenient is that? There are things that are in or out of season, flown in from all over the world, if need be. It is a lot easier to eat fresh everyday than it was back then. It is more costly than frozen or canned, but it is available.
This year, my daughter put together homemade cookies in a mason jar.
Now that is just too convenient!
Filed under: The Grandmother Journal Tagged: canning, cookies in a mason jar, farm life, fresh produce, mason jars, seasons
January 20, 2014
Psychiatrist, Writing, Religion, and Dr. Who
Today I had an appointment with my psychiatrist. I only see him for about fifteen minutes every three months. So I told him that I am writing another book and he gave me his blessings. But he did advise me to stop staying up until 2 am writing, so I will be calling it quits at midnight.
He’s Hindu of some sort, an Indian man.
I told him also about the progress with my first book.
So he says to me, “Why don’t you write Christian stuff? My patients bring it in here all the time. It must really sell. Everybody is trying to get in touch with their spirituality. How to be a better Christian. Christian romance, Christian fiction.”
Now I would think he should know me better, so that started a long conversation about why I didn’t feel qualified to interpret the word of God through the Christian belief system, being as I am agnostic and the primary reason I am not Buddhist is because I like to kill stuff….especially stuff before I eat it.
That’s on a spiritual plane, on a physical plane, I have entirely different thoughts. Evolution has some holes in it. I am pretty well convinced that there is a planet out there with the rest of my relatives on it.
I told him more about “Melody of Madness”.
He assured me that with my family history, personal history, and experience in psychiatric and forensic nursing, (I used to work with him) I am highly qualified to write this book.
I told him it was fiction, but he refuses to believe me.
Claudette, one of the main characters, has a relationship with God during her life, so it will have some spiritual undertones, as she was “born again” a few times, and Christianity is explored through the characters and how they lived their lives in that era. She also plays the piano in her church.
I don’t make any claims to know what it is like to believe that Jesus died to save my soul from hell, to cleanse my sins away, or to open the pathway to heaven.
Jesus was a kind, generous, loving individual who was miraculously gifted and deeply disturbed.
Filed under: Spirituality, Writing Process/WIPs Tagged: Dr. Who, Jesus, psychiatrist, qualifications, religion, writing
January 19, 2014
Sunday Synopsis
Missed my Sunday Synopsis last week. As late as it is getting to be, I almost missed this one and this week I have no excuse. (Guess I did miss it. It was before midnight when I started writing this.)
I have been a bad blogger this week, but it is not because I am not writing, to the contrary, I have vested a good 5000 words into this new project this week and that is half as far as I got into the last one in four months. The crime novel is parked and this new work is spilling over from my brain. I have a rough outline and the chapters have already formed in my brain from beginning to end. Now, it is a matter of getting the words down on paper.
I can’t do the NaNoWriMo style of writing a thin story from beginning to end, then going back to heavily edit. I finish a chapter and then I have to go over and over it until I get it just right. I want the researched details there. I want the voice of the characters established without too many words. Personality is what I work with as the plot develops so I don’t want to wait four chapters in to flesh out character profiles. There is some history to develop these personalities, but the bulk of the back story will come out as the story unfolds.
The point is, I am writing. It is flowing well and I like where it is going. I had to add some physical violence to my gunshot scene to make it more realistic and believable. I had not intended for things to get that dark in the beginning but that is where it needed to go.
Enough about that.
In 1952, I learned from my research, Milledgeville State Hospital, a gigantic institution, the largest in the world, housed more than 11,000 patients committed from every section of the state of Georgia. A facility designed to care for “idiots, lunatics, epileptics, and the insane.” To put that into perspective, there were 36 counties in GA with a smaller total population in 2010, and over 100 in 1950 with a smaller population. Milledgeville was one of three state run facilities.
That speaks volumes to the society’s level of intolerance.
Removed.
Carted away.
Institutionalized.
Locked up.
To be cared for by, “People more capable.” To be treated, medicated, mistreated, and possibly “restored.” Electrocuted and lobotomized without consent. Possibly returned to their communities “restored,” months, years later, or never. There is a cemetery there that literally thousands of “unclaimed” are buried in.
We haven’t found all of the solutions yet, but we have come a long way from where we were.
I would most likely fit into the lunatic category.
Are we more or less humane?
Filed under: Sunday Synopsis Tagged: epileptics, idiots, insane, lunatics, Sunday Synopsis, writing
January 17, 2014
Cover Reveal: Falling for You by Danielle Taylor
Reblogged from Legends of Windemere:
Blurb:
Julia Burns can’t remember a day in her life when she didn’t have to work. So the ad in the paper sounds perfect to her – even if she does have to marry a complete stranger.Nicholas Steele isn’t used to being around people since the accident that left him disfigured. Having a permanent house guest isn’t his idea of fun, however, the press would have a field day if they found he and his new wife weren’t residing together.On paper, their ‘fake’ marriage fits both their needs, giving Nicholas a wife and Julia the security she's always dreamed of having.
Author Danielle Taylor has presented a cover for her newest book, "Falling For You"
January 16, 2014
Free Book
I am pleased to announce the release of my Anthology of Poetry. To celebrate I am offering "Liars, Hypocrites & the Development of Human Emotion" for free for a limited time. Get your copy now before the price goes up to $4.99.
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view...
A poetry anthology...not a thin one either, and FREE for a limited time.
Poetry, Fables, Fallacies & Short Form Fiction of T. J. Therien
Readers, Writers and Editors: Need Help and Thoughts on Attribution and Dialog Tags
I have some questions about attribution or dialog tags.
When I wrote the first manuscript of “Red Clay and Roses”, I used very few attribution tags in dialog. Often the action was stated and a comma indicated the quote, followed by the quote, and the end quote.
When the work was edited, the editor told me that I needed more attribution tags throughout the manuscript.
It was a lot of work to go back and add these. The work seemed chopped up to me. There seemed much greater pauses in the action than I had intended. It was also a challenge to come up with unique and original tags for such a long manuscript. The flow was affected, but I left them. The editor said it read better, but I felt I lost some of the writing style.
Now, I am working on a new manuscript. Again, the only time I have been using attribution tags is when I want to indicate a certain tone of voice, or a thought the character is having.
I don’t really want to go back and edit these into the entire manuscript, so I am asking for thoughts on this. Is it a style issue or am I clearly wrong to write so much dialog without attribution tags.
******************************SPOILER ALERT***********************************
Here is an example from my new WIP:
Original
Snatching open the screened door, Claudette found her mother writhing on the living room floor in front of the piano. Blood oozed from a wound on her head. Her limbs twitched and jerked violently and her eyes rolled back. Her jaw was locked. Claudette saw her daddy standing in the kitchen, gun in hand. “I didn’t shoot her! But maybe I should have! She’s having an epileptic fit. I think she hit her head on the piano bench when she fell.”
Claudette looked mildly reassured and knelt beside her mother, “Hand me a cold rag.”
Hershel wet a cloth and brought it to his daughter. “Laura Belle Barber, my own wife, pulled a gun on me, Claudette! She was angry about yesterday’s tips being too little to buy any groceries, she accused me of holding back money from the family to buy liquor, and she pulled a God damned gun on me! I didn’t even know she had a gun!”
Laura Belle relaxed and was snoring deeply in post convulsion slumber. Hershel laid the small pistol on the counter next to the sink, “She pointed the gun at my face, and I pushed her back, grabbing the gun, and that’s when it went off.” He pointed to the hole in the ceiling, “I guess we best check upstairs and make sure nobody got hurt.”
“You do that, Daddy. It’s a small scrape, nothing serious. I’ve got things here. Go on to work afterward. You’re going to be late. You don’t need to be here if someone has called the police. Check with the Marshes upstairs. Tell them you were cleaning the gun when it went off, and then go on to Chuck’s. Here’s your music, get going.” She passed him his briefcase from beside the piano.
Hershel took his briefcase from Claudette as she went back to tending her mother’s wound, “Where’s Carol?”
“I left her outside, just go, Daddy. Like I said, I have things here under control.”
After I added Tags:
Snatching open the screened door, Claudette found her mother writhing on the living room floor in front of the piano. Blood oozed from a wound on her head. Her limbs twitched and jerked violently and her eyes rolled back. Her jaw was locked. Claudette saw her daddy standing in the kitchen, gun in hand. He immediately began to defend himself, “I didn’t shoot her! But maybe I should have! She’s having an epileptic fit. I think she hit her head on the piano bench when she fell.”
Claudette looked mildly reassured and knelt beside her mother, “Hand me a cold rag,” she demanded.
Hershel wet a cloth and brought it to his daughter. “Laura Belle Barber, my own wife, pulled a gun on me, Claudette!” He explained, “She was angry about yesterday’s tips being too little to buy any groceries, she accused me of holding back money from the family to buy liquor, and she pulled a God damned gun on me! I didn’t even know she had a gun!”
Laura Belle relaxed and was snoring deeply in post convulsion slumber. Hershel laid the small pistol on the counter next to the sink, he continued, “She pointed the gun at my face, and I pushed her back, grabbing the gun, and that’s when it went off.” He pointed to the hole in the ceiling, “I guess we best check upstairs and make sure nobody got hurt.”
“You do that, Daddy. It’s a small scrape, nothing serious. I’ve got things here. Go on to work afterward. You’re going to be late. You don’t need to be here if someone has called the police. Check with the Marshes upstairs. Tell them you were cleaning the gun when it went off, and then go on to Chuck’s. Here’s your music,” she offered, “get going.” She passed him his briefcase from beside the piano.
Hershel took his briefcase from Claudette, as she went back to tending her mother’s wound, and asked, “Where’s Carol?”
“I left her outside, just go, Daddy. Like I said, I have things here under control.”
To me the attribution tags seem to slow down the action and steal the flow from the event. It seems too stifled.
What do you think? Does all speech need to be introduced or qualified?
Filed under: Writing Process/WIPs Tagged: action scenes, attribution tags, dialog tags, editors, flow, WIP, writing process
January 15, 2014
Limited Time Sale!
Reblogged from Legends of Windemere:
For a limited time Crashing Back Down (Crashing #1) is only $1.99
New Adult Romance by Kristen Hope Mazzola
**18+ for sexual situations, cursing, and adult content.***
Mags McManus has just become a war widow in her mid-twenties. Her late husband, Randy, left for the Army right after their wedding. Instead of celebrating his homecoming and living in marital bliss with her soulmate, Mags finds herself living in constant agony.
New author Kristen Hope Mazolla has first book on sale!
January 14, 2014
Papi Talk!... With Charles Yallowitz 2014
Reblogged from The Literary Syndicate:
Good morning my friends! Here we are with the very first Papi Talk of 2014, who better to kick off the new year than the man that did the inaugural Papi Talk? Yes, the hardest working man in the game today, Mr. Charles Yallowitz is on the couch once again. Let's see what we can discover by probing and prying, Papi Z Style!
Great interview with fantasy author!
January 13, 2014
The Insanity of Writing
In chapters one and two I built a world and then destroyed it.
Now I am building another one.
That’s what being a writer is about.
That’s what being insane is about.
Go figure.
Filed under: Writing Process/WIPs Tagged: building worlds, destruction, fictional worlds, insanity, rebuilding, writing
January 11, 2014
Featured on GoodKindles
“Red Clay and Roses” is featured on GoodKindles today here http://www.goodkindles.net/
I am going into Author Central today to make a note to readers concerning the true events and the fictional account of the story. It seems like that is necessary to clarify how this can be a true story and not be non-fiction, like a memoir.
Filed under: Marketing Tagged: fiction versus true story., Goodkindles, historical fiction, marketing
