C.D. Hersh's Blog, page 15
October 7, 2024
Tell Again Tuesday Eternity Symbols
When Did We Start Giving Each Other Wedding Rings?By Nicole Villeneuve
In weddings around the world, exchanging rings is a crucial part of the ceremony, a moment in which a couple’s promises are sealed with a tangible token. This simple piece of jewelry does a lot of heavy lifting: It acts as a symbol of love, unity, and eternity, while also making our relationship status clear to the world. Various cultures have contributed to the history of the wedding ring, from its ancient beginnings to . . .
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October 3, 2024
Friday Features Pigskins and Plot Twists
Written by the C.(Catherine) of C.D. Hersh
My writing partner (The D in C.D. Hersh & my husband) and I were talking about the Super Bowl over dinner and he commented to me that the game of football was a lot like writing a book.
“How so?” I asked.
“Football is a series of scripted plays set within the rules of the game,” he said, “with the object being to win. Writers have a scripted set of plays to work within too—the basic structure of a plot—with the goal being a satisfying ending. Certain plays are designed to fool the defense. The team that does this the best, with twists in the plays the opposition doesn’t expect, ends up with the big score and wins the game. The writers who come up with the best plot twists, the ones that make you go ‘whoa, I didn’t see that coming’ are the writers who often succeed in the business. The ones who score big and win the game.”
I admit I hadn’t thought much about comparing football to writing, but after thinking about what he’d said, I can see the connection. For example, last night we watched the romantic comedy When in Rome that had plot twists that made us both say, “Didn’t see that coming.” And believe me, as writers we are always dissecting the movies we watch. See if you can figure out the plot twists in this fun movie.
When in RomeWhile in Rome, Italy, at her sister’s wedding, Beth, who doesn’t believe in love, meets the best man Nick and discovers she’s attracted to him. During the reception the priest comes by and asks Nick if he’ll come play some more poker with him, explaining to a shocked Beth that he’s new to the priesthood and is still working on getting a handle on some temptations. Nick declines, saying the padre cleaned him out already and whisks Beth off to dance.
Later, giving into her attraction, Beth follows Nick outside with a bottle of champagne and sees him kiss another woman. Disillusioned, and drunk, Beth picks up four coins and a poker chip from a lover’s wishing fountain in the town square. Legend says those who throw their coins in the fountain will have their wishes come true. Love has never worked for Beth, and she decides to save the wishers from ill fated love by removing their coins.
When she returns home to the States, the men who threw the coins in the fountain begin appearing, professing their love. One of the guys is Nick, the best man at her sister’s wedding. As her relationship with Nick grows, Beth discovers the lovesick men stalking her have fallen under a spell cast by the fountain when she removed their coins. To remove the spell she must return the coins to each of the men.
While at Nick’s apartment one night she sees a poker chip on the table that is identical to the one she removed from the fountain. She breaks up with him, believing he is under the spell too. Beth returns the coins to the men and, as she does, they snap out of the spell, everyone that is but Nick, who professes his forever love for her.
At this point, any romance reader knows that Nick isn’t under the spell. It’s too contrary to the rules of romance. True love always wins out. But the writer hasn’t shown us who the poker chip belongs too. All along we are lead to believe the chip belongs to Nick. We’ve seen a poker game at his home using the same chips. He’s acted with the same lovesick impulses the other four men displayed. There’s a plot twist in the wings, but we haven’t quite figured it out yet.
A year later Beth and Nick are back in Rome, preparing for their wedding when one of the lovesick men, a magician who played sleight of hand with Nick’s poker chip, comes to her and says he gave her the wrong chip back. Beth now believes Nick is still under the fountain’s spell.
As the wedding scene plays out, it’s obvious the priest is having trouble with the wedding sermon. He draws out the invitation to object to the marriage. He gives the bride inappropriate compliments. He changes the vows to “will you have this woman as your awful wedded wife?” He’s clearly under duress performing this wedding. When he asks Beth, “Will you have this man as your awful wedded husband?” she presses the poker chip into Nick’s hand and runs out of the church. Nick follows and she confesses to him that he’s under the spell of the fountain because she removed his poker chip from the water. He doesn’t really love her.
“This isn’t my chip,” Nick say and throws it back in the fountain.
Have you figured out yet who the chip belongs to?
A throwaway line in the first half hour of the movie set this plot twist up. A line that meant nothing at the time. A line that makes you go, “Oh, yeah, now I see it.” A plot twist that makes this movie fun, memorable, and a winner.
The owner of the poker chip is the priest.
In the background, behind Beth and Nick kissing in front of the fountain, you see the priest whirling around on the square shouting, “I’m free from temptation!”
The second twist? The owner of the chip didn’t wish for love, but to be free of it.
Just like the defensive back is fooled by a play action pass, we have to admit—we didn’t see that one coming.
Do you have some memorable plot twists in stories that you consider winners? We’d love to hear them.
October 1, 2024
Wednesday Special Spotlight Talking with a Publisher
In March of 2013, we had the best editor pitch in our careers—the one that sold our book The Turning Stone Chronicles—The Promised One to Soul Mate Publishing. It wasn’t the first time we had pitched this book, or others, and it probably won’t be the last time we have to pitch. Pitching is a constant for any writer and that face-to-face contact goes a long way. Along our journey we’ve picked up a lot of tips. Here are twelve pointers we hope you’ll find helpful.
• Dress for success. Whether you realize it or not, this is a job interview. Even though you might type in your PJs, you want to make a good first impression on the editor.
• Make a cheat sheet note card (small enough to fit discreetly in your hand) with your title, subgenre, book length, hook, your blurb and any contests the book finaled in. These are notes for you, not for the editor. We all get nervous and forget the simplest things. A cheat sheet comes in handy when this happens.
• Smile. It makes you look confident.
• Keep eye contact with the editor. This also helps you look confident.
• Give her your business card. Make sure all your contact information is on your card: website, email, telephone, and any other contact information you’d like to add. We put our book blurb on the back of our business card so it’s available for her to read (should she choose) after we’ve left. It’s also a great way to keep your story in front of her since most editors don’t accept one-sheets or other papers at a conference, but they will accept your business cards. Remember, they have to carry anything they accept back with them on the plane.
• Take a deep breath and talk distinctly and slowly. It’s natural to speak quickly when you’re nervous, but in a room with several other editors and writers giving their pitches it’s easy to miss words that are said too fast.
• Start your pitch with your book title and book cover blurb. Don’t read it—memorize it. Do your best to make it sound like you’re telling a friend about your book, not reeling off a commercial. Practice makes perfect on this hint. After you hooked her, hopefully, with your great blurb, let her know the subgenre, length, contest wins, or other pertinent information about the book.
• Be enthusiastic about your book. She’ll notice your passion and it could spark her interest.
• Keep your initial presentation to about half the time allotted for the pitch. This leaves time for her to ask questions.
• If you see she’s not interested, or she says she just bought something like it, or you have extra time, have another book ready to pitch. Just make sure it’s in a genre she’s accepting. Catherine actually pitched three books in one session because her initial pitch went so fast. The editor asked to see all three!
• Ask her how to submit. Make sure you get her business card with contact information. There’s nothing worse than leaving the interview and realizing you didn’t find out where to send your manuscript. And, yes, Catherine has been so nervous and excited that an editor asked for her book that she walked out without her contact information.
• Don’t forget to say, “Thanks” as you leave. This may seem like a given, but in tense situations it’s easy for things slip your mind, as noted by Catherine’s mistake in the hint above. If she doesn’t ask for your book, be sure to thank her for her time. You don’t want to burn any bridges. You might have another book later you’ll want to pitch to the same editor or house.
Our chance came, not at a scheduled meeting, but at the breakfast table. When you’re at a conference you need to be ready to give your pitch at any time. Just keep it short and to the point.
Do you have any tips to add to this? Please insert them in the comments.
September 30, 2024
Tell Again Tuesday Early writers were women
Women wrote nearly all early Japanese literatureBy Michael Nordine
There’s a good chance you already knew that The Tale of Genji was the world’s first novel, but it’s less likely that you knew it was written by a woman. Murasaki Shikibu, a lady-in-waiting at the imperial Japanese court, was the author in question, and she began a trend that lasted for centuries: women penning nearly all early literature that was written in the Japanese language. Aristocratic men eschewed their native tongue in favor of Chinese during the Heian period (794–1185), leaving women who were denied a formal education to rely on Japanese for personal and creative expression. The hiragana script, one of the language’s three syllabaries, was even referred to as . . .
For the rest of the blog go to:September 26, 2024
Friday Feature new release for Stella May
Multi-published romance author Stella May is elated to announce the release of her latest novel New Life, Book Three in the Rostoff Family Saga! Here’s the blurb and an excerpt to pique your interest.
In a kingdom held together by secrets and lies, the truth could heal—or destroy.
The queen is dead. But the damage Elizabeth Rostoff leaves behind to lives, hopes, and relationships lives on.
Seven years ago, Peter Rostoff severed all ties with his family—including his sister, Kat.
But at his father’s insistence, he reluctantly returns for the funeral worn thin by his FBI position and burdened by a secret shame. But mostly by one haunting mystery—why the woman he loved like a mother disappeared…
All those years ago, Natasha Sokolova thought abandoning Dmitry Rostoff and the children she’d come to love as her own was the right thing, the only thing, to do. Resurfacing after Elizabeth’s death isn’t the healing experience she’d prayed for, but a gut-wrenching discovery of yet more secrets, and news that could destroy her for good.
Kat Rostoff lives in a bubble filled with her doting father and a mentor that helped mold her into a world-renowned artist. Yet nothing can fill the empty space, and a vague sense of guilt, left behind by the mother figure she barely remembers, and the brother who fled Paris seven years ago without looking back.
Four lives, set on diverging paths with only a glimmer of hope for reconciliation. But will the queen’s evil reach out from beyond the grave to destroy it for good?
EXCERPT
A candid snap of a teenage girl, beautiful in her budding femininity, smiling shyly in the camera. Hair of true platinum color, a rare Nordic shade, long and silky, and eyes the color of a sky before it rained. Katie… His beautiful princess, his baby sister… No, not a baby anymore. Peter sighed.
Ekaterina Rostoff, a famous artist, sculptor, celebrity.
His salvation. And curse.
Just thinking about her made his heart melt and sigh and stutter.
And burn with shame.
Peter lifted his hand, then dropped it down without touching her beautiful image. With a helpless oath, he turned away, pulled at his hair with both hands. Defeated, he dropped into a chair, and closed his eyes. As if conjured by his unruly imagination, her face swam before him. Peter fisted his hands.
Dammit.
Seeing Katie in Zolotoe Selo took a toll on him. For almost seven years, he deliberately stayed away from her, from California and his grandmother’s estate where they grew up. If not for Elizabeth’s funeral, he would never have returned to that place.
That estate and the monstrosity of the manor house repelled and attracted him at the same time. Two days ago, as soon as he saw it again after all these years, the memories ambushed him. Bittersweet and poignant and heartbreaking.
It made him feel again like a lost little boy from so long ago.
Or just yesterday? Two decades seemed to shrink to just two days. Or even minutes. His imagination played a nasty trick, as the painfully familiar face of a young woman swam before his eyes. Red curly hair, impossibly green eyes, petite frame. And the voice, deep and velvety, like raw honey drizzled over milk. Natasha. His first adolescent crush, his best friend, his second mother.
With an effort, he banished her image from his mind, shut a lid on his memories. Eighteen years ago, Natasha vanished into a thin air after accepting a hefty check from Elizabeth. She never reappeared again.
Her betrayal still hurt. It always will. He forced himself to stop wondering where she might be, or worrying if she was alright. No point to dwell on it. He wished her well.
But dammed if he was able to forget or forgive.
Even the vivid reminder of Natasha paled in comparison with meeting Katie.
She stole his breath the very first time he saw her. Just a tiny baby, to him she seemed the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. That moment etched into his memory forever. The gazebo in his grandmother’s estate, the small cradle, and the tiny baby with a mop of a silky hair. She slept with her cherubic mouth half-open, covered in a pink blanket. And when she opened her eyes, blinked, and smiled at him, she claimed his young heart. Forever.
Almost two decades later, she still remained the most beautiful thing under the sun. And still every time she aimed her pewter eyes at Peter, his heart broke.
Katie. His princess. His greatest joy.
His worst nightmare.
AMAZON BUY LINK
Stella May is the penname for Marina Sardarova who has a fascinating history you should read on her website.
Stella writes fantasy romance as well as time travel romance. She is the author of ‘Till Time Do Us Part, Book 1 in her Upon a Time series, and the stand-alone book Rhapsody in Dreams. Love and family are two cornerstones of her stories and life. Stella’s books are available in e-book and paperback through all major vendors.
When not writing, Stella enjoys classical music, reading, and long walks along the ocean with her husband. She lives in Jacksonville, Florida with her husband Leo of 30 years and their son George. They are her two best friends and are all partners in their family business.
Follow Stella on her website and blog. Stay connected on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.
September 24, 2024
Wednesday Special Spotlight A Writer’s Fork in the Road
What happens when you get the notice that your publisher of 12 years is closing?
First you sit in a fog for a day—or maybe longer, if this is your first go-round on losing a publisher. You’ve been comfortable with this publisher’s editors, artists, and the whole process. So comfortable in fact, because the publisher is author friendly, that you’ve boldly asked for certain things and pushed back on edits you didn’t agree with. I mean, really, how many new authors are willing to do that and how many publishers would be willing to accommodate you?
As the fog of shock wears off, the questions begin to tumble in your mind: Am I getting my rights back? Will I have to create a new cover? What’s going to happen to my published book babies? How can I save my Amazon reviews? Can I even find a publisher to reprint my books? Or, should I look for an agent, or even self-publish? If I self-publish what is this going to cost me? And it will cost something, because, as a traditionally published author, your publisher takes on all those costs, and all the risks associated with books that don’t do well. Or is this the time to throw my hands up in the air, and give up writing because I don’t want all the hassles?
So many questions. So few answers.
We know, because we’re living through this dilemma.
Here are a few things we’ve learned as we searched for our path.
• Do you have network of fellow authors? If so, query as many as you can find, especially the ones who’ve be been through a publishing house closing. Ask if you can pick their brains, See if they can offer any advice or information about houses they know who might be open for submissions, or will do reprints.
• Talk to or email as many self-pubbed authors as you can find. They know about self publication. You’ll be surprised at the authors who are willing to share their experiences and expertise. I know we were.
• While you’re waiting for those colleagues to answer your call of desperation, start searching for any information you can about publishers you think might be a good fit for your books.
For us, taking what seemed to be the easy route, we decided do a search for a new publisher. After all, for many authors going the traditional route, where the publishing house does all the work, after you’ve written the book, and handles royalties and such is where you wanted to be originally. That was our goal when we first started out writing. And that’s where we started looking.
If you’re considering traditional publication, do you want to broaden your horizons by going international? A few days searching the internet for publishers revealed thousands of hits, at home in the USA and internationally. Every house has its own set of submission rules, and many houses only take submissions from agented authors. The query process starts all over again. If you want to be traditionally published this is something you need to take into consideration. It took us a long time to find our perfect, dream publisher. The thought of starting all over again gave us great pause.
The more we searched, the harder we discovered it might be to find a publisher willing to take on a reprinted version of our books. Most wanted information about our current book idea, not a reprint on a book. We weren’t ready yet to give up on the pre-published book babies.
Some of the houses we were interested for possible republication weren’t taking submissions at the time and had no future date when they would be open. That raised another question in our search: Did we want to wait indefinitely to get our books republished? Our answer was no, because we’d just had a new paranormal romance time travel book, Ghosts and Gardenias, published in April and didn’t want to lose any momentum. This publication search, along with some life issues, had already slowed work on the next book in the series.
Another publisher was interested but just had a year contract. By this time we’d discovered that any reprinted book had to be released as a 2nd edition. After consideration we decided that if the book was released to us in a year, we’d be back in the same spot, but this time with a third edition of the book. We gratefully declined the offer, explaining why.
By now, several self-pubbed authors had answered our plea for help. Their general consensus was self-publishing wasn’t as hard as you might think. Sure, it has costs. You need to find an editor to edit the book, pay for a professional cover, buy your ISBNs, copyrighting, pay for formatting (for both print and eBooks), and the ever present marketing costs.
This sent our thoughts spinning in a direction we had not anticipated. We have some of the things we need to self-pub already. So, why not?
Stay tuned as our adventure continues: A Writer’s Fork in the Road
September 23, 2024
Tell Again Tuesday What’s on your bucket list?
Rethinking Your Bucket List AccomplishmentsBy Terah Shelton Harris
In my previous post for Writer Unboxed, I wrote about defining success, prompted by a friend’s question about my first book: Was your book successful?” I examined how success can be defined differently and how it varies from writer to writer. But since then, I’ve come to realize that my exploration of the topic wasn’t quite complete.
In the year since my debut, I’ve learned a hard truth: The metrics I once considered indicative of success didn’t turn out to be as significant as I originally thought. Despite not achieving many of the lofty goals I had envisioned, such as . . .
For the rest of the blog go to:September 19, 2024
Friday Feature Bad Writing
Top Ten Ways to Recognize Bad Writing (tongue in cheek)
10. When u lk at it u c something tht lks lke txt—I 
u 
.
9. there is no capitalization—anywhere.
7. The characters all laugh, comment, and argue their dialogue, when a simple said would suffice.
8. There are no tags—dialogue, identifying, or action—on any dialogue.
6. The page blooms with purple prose and author intrusion.
5. There’s no white space on the page.
4. There are very very long run-on sentences with very little punctuation in them to give the reader a break or clarify the meanings just a period at the end of the sentence and it looks a whole lot like this.
3. There is so, so, so, much punctuation, commas, semicolons, and, colons, on every line, and, or, every page, that, in a matter of only a few seconds of reading, you lose track of what’s being said, as well as your train of thought.
2. The word was appears 20 or more times on a page.
And the Number ONE way to recognize bad writing:
1. You didn’t write it.
Which one made you laugh? Let us know in the comments.
September 17, 2024
Wednesday Special Spotlight Writings Pleasures
Guilty Pleasures for Writers Who Work From Home
1. Your office is a tax deduction, as long as it’s just your office.
2. You can work in your pjs, or grunge clothes, or whatever you choose.
3. You don’t have to shower to come to work, although the family might appreciate it.
4. Office hours begin and end when you say so, or when the kiddos need an ambulance.
5. You don’t have to deal with a boss. You are the boss.
6. You don’t have to deal with coworkers, just a blinking cursor on a, hopefully, not blank page.
7. You don’t have to share your Godiva chocolates with the office chocoholics, but be sure to find a good hiding place from the bottomless pit called family.
8. There’s always an excuse for not doing the housework…deadlines, marketing, book sales (yeah!), those pages you owe the critique partners.
9. No one is watching to see how many breaks you have or how long a lunch you take.
10. No one cares if you eat or drink at your computer, unless you spill soda on the keys. Then you are probably a bit upset.
11. You don’t have to wear perfume, or make-up, or curl your hair. No one but the family is going to see you and they love you just the way you are.
12. You can exercise as you work by sitting on a balance ball while you type. That has to be easier than jogging, right?
13. You can keep your AC as cold as you want or the heat as high as you like. You can’t do that at the office.
14. You can claim your reading time as work time. After all, a well-read writer is a well-educated writer.
15. If you write 20 pages a day you can tell your spouse the family is going out for dinner since it took all day to write those pages.
16. You get to surf the internet and call it marketing research.
17. No one minds if you talk to yourself as you work. In fact, they figure the wild gesticulations and stream of comments means you are really getting into your story.
Agree or disagree? We’re sure it’s all dependent on the writer. Any other pleasures you can think of please share with us in the comments.
September 16, 2024
Tell Again Tuesday Shakespeare notoriety
How Famous was Shakespeare in his time?By Tony Dunnell[image error]
Credit: Edward Gooch Collection/ Hulton Archive via Getty Images
When we think of William Shakespeare today, we picture a literary colossus who is widely regarded as the greatest dramatist — and arguably the greatest writer — who ever lived. His works have shaped not only the literary world for centuries, but also the English language itself. But how famous was the “Bard of Avon” during his own lifetime, from 1564 . . .
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