C.D. Hersh's Blog, page 23
April 1, 2024
Tell Again Tuesday Writing
Three Kinds of Story Fuel: Goal, Desire, and SearchBy Barbara Linn Probst
Goal. Desire. Search. Related, but different.
In fiction as in life, each can be a source of energy—the force behind our choices and actions, the fuel that sustains us as we grapple with unforeseen challenges.
And, in fiction as in life, sometimes all three are present. At other times, one or another is dominant.
What’s the difference? . . .
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March 28, 2024
Friday Feature Good Friday
March 26, 2024
Wednesday Special Spotlight Finding Out About Bud
Joseph “Bud” Richardville was not very different from the millions of other young men who served in the U.S. military in World War II. He came from rural Indiana, where his family lived in poverty, a hangover from the Great Depression. He knew little about the world outside of Vincennes, but as the inevitability of the coming conflict became clear, Bud moved to Michigan to work in the paper mills, an industry that was essential to the war effort and which kept him stateside until he was drafted in 1943.
When Bud boarded the train for Camp Warren, Wyoming that summer, he…
For the rest of the story go to: Author Anne Montgomery’s blogMarch 25, 2024
Tell Again Tuesday Editing
Write freely, then edit ruthlessly to enhance your gem. Part 1By Sally Brandle
Our drafted manuscripts are diamonds in the rough. The first step in cutting diamonds is planning, or determining the best shape for the stone. Does your story meet the general expectations of the genre? Overall, the story must contain . . .
For the rest of the blog go to:March 21, 2024
Friday Feature Dinner the Irish don’t cook
Presenting the traditional St. Patrick’s Day or anytime meal most North Americans will enjoy with a cold Harp Lager, Guinness Stout, Killian’s Irish Red Lager, or Smithwicks Ale. But here’s a newsflash, Boyo, except for the beer you’ll never find corned beef served anyway on the Old Sod. That’s right. Our Irish brethren look at us in amazement, but that’s never stopped us Yanks from creating traditions. So pour another wee dram and let’s get cooking.
Corned Beef
Cabbage
Carrots
Potatoes
Bakery Rye Bread
Horseradish Sauce
Mustard
Irish Beer and plenty of it
Corned Beef
1 5lb. corned beef brisket*
2 med. onions, peeled and quartered
4 peppercorns
1 bay leaf
3 bottles of beer
water to cover
Preheat oven to 300 F°.
Place beef in a Dutch oven. Add remaining ingredients, including spice packet that comes with the beef.
Bring to a boil on stovetop. Place in oven and roast for 3 hours or until meat is fork tender.
*Don’t stint on the beef. It cooks down to approximately half. I learned this lesson the hard way.
Here’s a tip from my butcher Raoul. Always buy corned beef flat cut. It has less fat than the point. Therefore you get more meat for your money.
Vegetables
6 med. red potatoes, peeled and quartered
6 carrots, scraped and cut into 2″ pieces
1 celery stalk, cut into 2″ pieces
1 med. green cabbage, cut into 8 wedges
1 cup corned beef cooking liquid
water
You can prep all the veggies and store in a large container covered by cold water until you’re ready to cook them. Refrigerate so vegetables remain crisp.
Place veggies in a large pot. Stir in corned beef cooking liquid. Add water to cover vegetables by 2 inches. Cover pot. Set cooking temp at medium. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat so the pot doesn’t cook over, but maintain a soft boil. Cook about 30 minutes or until veggies are fork tender.
Horseradish Sauce
1 cup sour cream
2 tbsp. prepared horseradish
1 tsp. fresh chives, snipped short
Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl. Stir well.
Transfer to a serving dish, cover, and refrigerate until ready to serve.
Dea Ithe!
Sloane
Sloane Taylor is an Award-Winning romance author with a passion that consumes her day and night. She is an avid cook and posts new recipes on her blog every Wednesday. The recipes are user friendly, meaning easy.
To learn more about Taylor go to her website. Stay in touch on Blogger, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
Taylor’s cookbooks, Hot Men Wear Aprons, Date Night Dinners, Date Night Dinners Italian Style, Sizzling Summer, and Recipes to Create Holidays Extraordinaire are released by Toque & Dagger Publishing and available on Amazon.
March 19, 2024
Wednesday Special Spotlight SIP & SCRIBBLE
Wine tasting and writing fiction may seem like two very different realms, but when you look closer, you’ll see that they share intriguing similarities. Both experiences involve sensory exploration and the art of storytelling.
I recently began a journey into wine tasting and am now studying for my level 2 certification (yes, the homework rocks). How wine tasting appeals to me was similar to how I feel about writing. After some research, I discovered there was a connection. Just as a wine taster engages their senses to explore the intricacies of a wine, a fiction writer harnesses the power of sensory details to bring their story to life.
A highly skilled winemaker tends to the grapes and the winemaking process to produce a wine like a Napa Cabernet that boasts flavors of ripe blackberries, velvety dark chocolate with subtle hints of cedar, culminating in a full-bodied magical experience on the palate. When I craft a story, I construct compelling plots, drawing on my sensory experiences to enhance them and then refine the work through editing and revision. In my first novel, Disenchanted, the story I created was filled with sensory details. I wanted to immerse the reader in the magic of Sophie’s world, her star-crossed romance, and the haunting history of Old Wethersfield.
Some writers through the centuries, such as Jane Austen, were known to imbibe on too much wine. Research from the University of Graz shows that drinking wine enhances creative thinking for writers. Of course, it does! Now winemakers are harnessing the art of storytelling to enhance their connection with consumers. Using a new phone app called Winerytale, the user can read the story about a wine of their choice and learn about the winemakers.
While wine tasting and writing fiction may seem unrelated, the parallels are undeniable. Both pursuits involve sensory exploration, layered complexity, subjective interpretation, storytelling, and a blend of artistry and craftsmanship. The next time you savor a glass of wine or dive into a captivating novel, take a moment to appreciate the shared essence of these two worlds, where sensory delights and imaginative tales intertwine.
Cheers!
Leigh Goff writes young adult fiction. She is a graduate from the University of Maryland and a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators (SCBWI).
Born and raised on the East Coast, she now lives in Maryland where she and her husband enjoy the area’s great history and culture.
Learn more about Leigh Goff on her website and blog. Stay connected on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Goodreads.
March 18, 2024
Tell Again Tuesday Editor Reading
Flog a Pro: Would You Turn the First Page of this Bestseller?By Ray Rhamey
Trained by reading hundreds of submissions, editors and agents often make their read/not-read decision on the first page. In a customarily formatted book manuscript with chapters starting about 1/3 of the way down the page (double-spaced, 1-inch margins, 12-point type), there are 16 or 17 lines on the first page.
Here’s the question:Would you pay good money to read the rest of the chapter? With 50 chapters in a book that costs $15, each chapter would be “worth” 30 cents.
So, before you read the excerpt . . .
For the rest of the blog go to:March 14, 2024
Friday Feature On Being A Biohazard
When I got Covid and subsequently broke my leg a few years back, I was labeled a biohazard.
Covid hit me hard in 2021. Hallucinations haunted me, especially the one where I was being attacked by words, which, à la Serena Williams, I batted away. But the more I repelled those words, the faster they came at me. The experience was akin to being inside a video game.
Later, I passed out and awoke with a severely broken leg, one that had to be surgically repaired and which kept me hobbling around for about eight months. I mention this because when I was hospitalized the fact that I still had Covid was problematic. The sign outside my room said Biohazard in big letters, underneath of which was my name, as well as those of the other Covid patients on the floor.
As a former sports official, an avocation I practiced for forty years, I’d been called a lot of unpleasant things, still Biohazard was a something new and rather sinister sounding. The medical staff coming in and out of my room in coveralls, hoods, and goggles lent an ominous tone, so as you can imagine I was happy when they released me to recover from the virus and wait for surgery at home.
Recently, I dealt with a similar issue. I have what is disturbingly called a degenerative spine, the result of too many falls and hits and lots of repetitive motion. So, my surgeon sent me off to the imaging people, where a nice lady stuck a needle in my arm and deposited a bit of radioactive material into my bloodstream. If the idea is making you squeamish, note that I was a bit queasy about the idea as well.
“Will I glow?” I asked the technician.
She smiled. “Maybe some sparkles.”
I waited several hours for the radioactive stuff to do its job, then I had to stay completely still for about a half an hour. The scanning machines hummed quietly, as they rolled over and around me. It wasn’t unpleasant, though my nose itched and I wasn’t allowed to scratch it. Still, in the grand scheme it was pretty painless.
When it was over, I asked if I could see the results and what I saw was strangely beautiful. My spine was lit up in purple and turquoise and a bright yellow patch burst from my cervical spine.
“That’s the bad part,” I said pointing at the stary spot.
“I can see that,” she said.
The scans will go to the neurosurgeon, who will decipher all that light and decided how to fix me. I tried to understand what he might see, but like many body scans there was a Rorschach-test quality to the pictures that I couldn’t decode.
I thanked the woman for her help, and before I left she said, “Don’t hold any babies for a few hours. And don’t sit next to any pregnant women.”
I squinted.
“And you probably shouldn’t go to the airport. TSA might stop you.”
“I’m leaking radiation?”
She smiled.
Biohazard indeed.
Your Forgotten Sons
Inspired by a true story
Bud Richardville is inducted into the Army as the United States prepares for the invasion of Europe in 1943. A chance comment has Bud assigned to the Graves Registration Service where his unit is tasked with locating, identifying, and burying the dead. Bud ships out, leaving behind his new wife, Lorraine, a mysterious woman who has stolen his heart but whose secretive nature and shadowy past leave many unanswered questions. When Bud and his men hit the beach at Normandy, they are immediately thrust into the horrors of what working in a graves unit entails. Bud is beaten down by the gruesome demands of his job and losses in his personal life, but then he meets Eva, an optimistic soul who despite the war can see a positive future. Will Eva’s love be enough to save him?
Pre-Order your copy todayAnne Montgomery’s novels can be found wherever books are sold.
Anne Montgomery has worked as a television sportscaster, newspaper and magazine writer, teacher, amateur baseball umpire, and high school football referee. She worked at WRBL‐TV in Columbus, Georgia, WROC‐TV in Rochester, New York, KTSP‐TV in Phoenix, Arizona, ESPN in Bristol, Connecticut, where she anchored the Emmy and ACE award‐winning SportsCenter, and ASPN-TV as the studio host for the NBA’s Phoenix Suns. Montgomery has been a freelance and staff writer for six publications, writing sports, features, movie reviews, and archeological pieces.
When she can, Anne indulges in her passions: rock collecting, scuba diving, football refereeing, and playing her guitar.
Learn more about Anne Montgomery on her website and Wikipedia. Stay connected on Facebook, Linkedin, and Twitter.
March 12, 2024
Wednesday Special Spotlight NEW RELEASE for STELLA MAY
Love wasn’t part of their agreement.
Neither was being caught in a brutal web of lies.
International playboy and owner of a jewelry empire that spreads across three continents, Dmitry Rostoff holds a memory close to this heart that not even his best friend Vlad Albrecht knows. When Dmitry learns the Russian ballerina, he had a passionate affair with died in childbirth, bitterness and hate overrule all other emotions.
Taking the baby out of Russia is an impossible snarl of red tape, but Dmitry gets his way, even if he leaves a trail of chaos in his wake.
Natasha Sokolova planned to turn over the baby to Dmitry then walk away. Instead, she is on a plane to San Francisco with the baby and a cold, emotionless man who makes her heart pound with scorching attraction.
The family matriarch and evil to her core Elizabeth Rostoff plots to gain control of the baby, no matter what it costs or who it hurts, and will do anything to make that happen. She blackmails Marie Dubois, the manager of their elite Paris store, to seduce Dmitry. But Marie reneges on the deal when former Special Forces officer Vlad Albrecht storms into her life.
Once in America, Natasha finds herself entangled in a sticky web of lies created by the brutally calculating family matriarch. A web that forces Natasha to make a heartbreaking deal with the devil to protect the children—and man—she’s come to love.
AMAZON BUY LINK and OTHER SUPPLIERS
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 25 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.
March 11, 2024
Tell Again Tuesday Travel in 19th Century
Travel in Jane Austen’s Time IIBy Julie Klassen
This past Saturday, I spoke (via Zoom) to the New York Metropolitan chapter of the Jane Austen Society of North America. The topic was “The Pleasures and Perils of Travel in Jane Austen’s time.” I have not spoken on this topic in several years, so it was a good refresher to revisit all that research again.
I originally researched travel and coaching inns to write my series, Tales From Ivy Hill and especially Book One, The Innkeeper of Ivy Hill, which is set primarily in a coaching inn. After all, in almost all of my books, travel plays a part in one way or another.
I learned a few new things in reviewing and revising the talk, that I thought I would share with you today: . . .
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