C.D. Hersh's Blog, page 44
November 21, 2022
Tell Again Tuesday Who best to see error in your writing?
Writer, Edit Thyself!By Liza Nash Taylor
In my last post about revising a novel draft, I offered up some primo advice from four successful and wise author friends. I’m still revising my own draft, so, being totally self-serving, I thought I’d stay with this theme and tell you about a fabulous program I found for self-editing. Then, I’ll fangirl for a bit over two gifted authors who don’t follow the rules, and finally, I’ll wrap up with a short rant about style. If you’re up for it, read on. . . .
For the rest of the blog go to:
November 17, 2022
Friday Feature Down Home Thanksgiving Dressing
We’re from the South so my family loves corn bread stuffing with a variety of meals. Below is our family’s favorite recipe that is only served at Thanksgiving. Make your holiday dinner complete by serving giblet gravy with sliced turkey and cranberry sauce, steamed broccoli, and dinner rolls. Don’t forget the pumpkin pie with dollop of whipped cream for dessert!
Corn Bread Stuffing
1 box Jiffy Corn Bread Mix2 tbsp. butter1 celery stalk, chopped1 med. onion, chopped2 cups chicken stock2 eggs, beaten1½ tbsp. dried sage½ tsp. dried rosemary 3 whole walnuts, optionalPreheat oven 350° F.
Bake corn bread mix according to box directions. Allow to cool then crumble.
Melt butter in a medium size frying pan. Sauté celery and onion to opaque stage, about 7 minutes.
Combine all ingredients in bowl. Turn mixture into a greased pan.
Bake 30 minutes.
Place three whole walnuts on top for garnish.
Happy Thanksgiving,
Emma and Family
Here is a brief intro to the cozy mystery series Emma writes as Janis Lane.
MURDER in the JUNKYARD sees the demise of a man no one likes, a romance, and plans for a wedding as Detective Fowler and his friends keep their small-town America free from danger.
Detective Kevin Fowler is furious that low life has targeted his town where people live in blissful safety. Brenda Bryant is out junkn’ for good things when she stumbles over the grotesque body of a man beloved by no one. Suspense heats up when large sums of money are found in two different places. Drug money is suspected, and Brenda targeted by someone who wants the money returned. Detective Fowler faces surprise after surprise as he peels back the surface of Hubbard, New York and deals with its shocking underbelly. Meanwhile romance infiltrates the group of friends with a wedding in the making.
AMAZON BUY LINK
Emma Lane is a gifted author who writes cozy mysteries as Janis Lane, Regency as Emma Lane, and spice as Sunny Lane.
She lives in Western New York where winter is snowy, spring arrives with rave reviews, summer days are long and velvet, and fall leaves are riotous in color. At long last she enjoys the perfect bow window for her desk where she is treated to a year-round panoramic view of nature. Her computer opens up a fourth fascinating window to the world. Her patient husband is always available to help with a plot twist and encourage Emma to never quit. Her day job is working with flowers at Herbtique and Plant Nursery, the nursery she and her son own.
Look for information about writing and plants on Emma’s new website. Leave a comment or a gardening question and put a smile on Emma’s face.
Stay connected to Emma on Facebook and Twitter. Be sure to check out the things that make Emma smile on Pinterest.
November 15, 2022
Wednesday Special Spotlight You might be Addicted to Books if…
We came across the following quote that made us pause and reflect. Let’s see if you have the same reaction.
An ordinary man can…surround himself with two thousand books… and thenceforward have at least one place in the world in which it is possible to be happy. Augustine Birrell
We don’t know about you, but the thought of surrounding ourselves with two thousand books makes us very happy. We love to read, we love books, and we love to surround ourselves with books of all kinds. If you could see into our offices, we definitely have two thousand books and that’s not including the library of paper backs in the basement that we’ve mentioned before. (See our post of November 9th) This obsessiveness extends to books we haven’t read. We can rarely bear to part with a book. This was especially hard when we closed up Donald’s parents’ things and their various books. Dad’s were textbooks on music and electronics with Mom’s being about music and cooking. The cookbooks were kept but the textbooks got passed on to Goodwill.
What about you? Does your passion for books border on the obsessive?
You might be addicted to books if…
• You never sign off your Kindle/Nook without downloading a book.• You never leave a bookstore without buying a book.• You read multiple books at any given time.• There’s a book—or more—in every bathroom, by every easy chair, and on your nightstand or you carry your Kindle/Nook from place to place.• You have a reading app on your phone to fill in time while you wait in line for that special cup of coffee.• There’s no such thing as taking out only ONE book at a time from the library.• The librarian and bookstore clerks know you by name.• Your paperbacks are stacked two deep on your shelves.• You had to buy a Kindle AND a Nook because you’ve run out of shelf and floor space in your office.• Your friends think you are their personal lending library.• You get so lost in a book that you don’t hear your name being called.• You get so engrossed in the book you don’t hear the oven timer and burn a meal.• You read while walking down the street. (Don’t laugh, Catherine did this as a teenager)• You’ve actually created furniture using your books.• You have every book your favorite authors have ever written and eagerly await their next releases.We have done all these things at one time or another and must admit …. we’re addicted to books. How about you?
Now kick back, relax and pick up a good book to read. You might even try one of ours that you can find over on our book page, under the menu at the top of the page or on our Amazon Author Page
November 14, 2022
Tell Again Tuesday Character Inspiration
For The Love Of…Character Questions Part 1 by Artemis CrowBy Leslie Bird Nuccio
I recently read a Kindlepreneur article by Dave Chesson about building a character questions by asking questions; an interview, if you will. It’s lengthy so I’m breaking it into two posts: The most important questions, then a long list of other questions that you can use fully or pick and choose.
I do always ask and answer the four most important questions as they go to the great plot triangle, goal, motivation, and conflict. The longer list I utilize at times. I hope this helps you build the characters for your next story. November’s National Novel Writing Month perhaps?
* * *
The Most Important Questions By Dave Chesson
That list can be a bit overwhelming. So . . .
For the rest of the blog go to:November 10, 2022
Friday Feature Uncle George’s Story
We’d like to thank Liz Lemon for this. As with many WWII veterans Uncle George didn’t want to talk to us, family, about what went on. In fact, it wasn’t until going through my father’s papers after he died that I learned he had received the Asiatic-Pacific Theater Ribbon with 3 Bronze Stars and the Philippine Liberation Ribbon with Bronze Star. He never told me anything about these awards but at least we have some of my uncle’s story.
Here’s the story for this Memorial Day.
Today, I used my ears.
I met a fascinating person a couple of weeks ago, and today I asked his permission to blog about him: He agreed and seemed slightly flattered, even though I had to explain what a blog was. 
Anyway, I’m not going to use his name, but here are fragments of his “life story,” as told to me this afternoon before Bingo.
{Pardon the way it’s written. I tried to write everything exactly as he said it, and I was using a pen and paper trying to get as much down as I possibly could.}
“G,” as I’ll call him, is 92 years old, born in 1919.
He started out like this:
“My opinion is that our wars since World War II were unnecessary wars. We had the equipment and the people for them, and we found it necessary to have a war. Then we just kept going, finding little countries that weren’t living how we wanted them to live. I don’t think that’s necessary at all, but that’s my opinion. World War II had a definite reason for getting involved, because we were physically attacked by Japan. But we needed to fight another enemy at the same time. We fought for people that were denied their freedoms.
What part did I play in it? (He chuckles.) I tried to enlist in the Aviation Cadets– that was even before World War II. I could never get in because of my eyes. There was an eye test you had to go through and I always failed. I went to Butler and enrolled in Butler University.
I grew up in Greentown, Indiana. I took twelve years of schooling. I liked my school. We had interesting things. I’m a very small man. We didn’t have a football team, but I got to play on the basketball team and that’s what I liked. Our court was in the basement of this two story building.
Anyway, I enrolled at Butler University and my folks didn’t have much money; they couldn’t help me. So I got a job at school and one job paid my meals. I’d get other part-time jobs out of school that helped me pay my tuition and books, and so forth. Nevertheless, I got through one year alright. I went back to Butler a second year; I’ll never forget that.
They’d call your enrollment list and at the end I’d stand up and say that I was also going to attend but didn’t have the money. However, I eventually got it. How much was tuition in those days, do you know? Fifty dollars a semester. Can you believe that?
I’ll have to speed this up a bit. The bank and local church gave me some money and I got through one semester with that. Then the war came along. I got a job at an airplane factory at night. I went to work at night and school in the daytime. I got tired of that. So I got a draft card.
I could be a glider pilot. You’d be pulled by another plane. That could at least get me in the air, and that’s what I wanted to do.
So I went to Kentucky and enlisted in the army and volunteered for glider pilot school and got in. They sent me to two different single-engine pilot schools to learn how to glide. This one school they put an “X” on the runway and then they put you in the air, stopped the engine, and told you to hit the “X.” You hit the left rudder and the right aileron. That takes lift out from under the plane. You just drop like a rock. You just relax control and that little plane would just glide on down.
Before graduation, the colonel said this, ‘… lost gliders, lost men, lost equipment: no more gliders. We’re going back to parachutes. We’re canceling the program.’
I wanted to become a pilot, so I went to pilot school. That was six months. They threw out the eye test I always failed and replaced it with a new one. You know what? I passed with flying colors!
They took the smallest pilot (me) and put him in the biggest plane: a flying fortress, B-17 Bomber. And I became a bomber pilot. I was fortunate. I completed my thirty bombing missions with fifteen as the lead pilot.
B-17 bomber planes had crews of ten men of which there was a pilot, co-pilot, bombardier and navigator. The engineer also operated a machine gun. We had to wear oxygen masks on our missions. The worst target to go to was Berlin. Because Hitler had pulled all of his anti-air craft gunners back from wherever they were to save Berlin. My last briefing was for Berlin. I made it through.
452nd Bomb Group over Berlin on March 22, 1944
Maybe I’ll have to brag again. I was awarded the air medal five times. The air force did not exist, so the highest award was “The Distinguished Flying Cross,” and I was awarded that.
Distinguished Flying Cross
I’ve chosen to be buried in my uniform with my awards on me. People won’t know what they are, but that’s alright. I’ll take them with me.
A flying fortress could carry two, 500 pound bombs. They were heavy dudes. They’d call that, ‘mass bombing.’ One day I saw an airplane catch fire. He was almost instantly a ball of fire. We never saw a parachute leave. Ten men were lost.
I counted ninety holes on my side of the airplane one time, and none of them ever damaged anything inside.”
I interrupted him to ask him a little bit more about how he felt about the war, and he reiterated his distaste with what he knew was happening in Germany/Poland, at the time.
I asked him if he ever questioned the morals behind what he was doing, referring to the fact that he was a bomber pilot.
He said, “No. I did what I was ordered to do.”
I then asked him if he thought that people back home realized what was going on in Nazi Germany.
His response: “I often wonder.”
“I stayed in the service the whole time but I came back to the United States after thirty missions. I took a short time off and when to Indiana to get married. I was twenty-seven years old.
When the war ended I stayed in service until I retired. I wanted to do something different. I thought I knew everything, being a Lieutenant Colonel in the service. So, I took my retirement. I found out something. I didn’t know how to do a damn thing except fly an airplane.
So I went back to school and got a degree in business administration. I got a degree in Cleveland, Ohio, and I worked for almost two years, but I didn’t like it. So one day I threw away everything and went back to school.
I was in school at Southwest Missouri State and the dean of the school of business called me into his office and said he knew a group of doctors that needed a good business administrator. He asked if I would care to apply for the job. So I did. I applied for the job and I was hired. Do you know who hired me? The women’s clinic. That’s all they do– deliver babies and perform surgeries on women…. Every two years I’d ask for a raise and I’d get it.”
I asked him about his wife:
“I liked her and she liked me. So it was fit that we get married. ”
Personally, this was my favorite line. I wish it were that easy!
I know that this may not seem very important, and this accidental “interview” is sort of sporadic and without purpose, per se, but I spent a good amount of time with this man, and honestly, he’s way more interesting than any textbook I’ve ever read.
Whether you read this or not, I felt that it needed sharing.
I hope that someday I have interesting to share with whoever takes the time to listen.
Oh. Did I mention that he is now blind?
Cheers,
Liz
NOTE: If you haven’t figured it out this was recorded in 2011. Uncle George has now moved on to heaven where we believe he can once again see the blue sky he loved to fly. And yes, he was buried in his uniform, with his metals and with full military honors.
On this Veterans Day be sure to thank a veteran. They are who keep us free.
November 8, 2022
Wednesday Special Spotlight A Booklover’s Dream
It started like this
and ended …
like this.
Are you wondering what you’re looking at?
It’s paperback stud cubby bookshelves, made by Donald, the carpenter-handy half of C.D. Hersh, to store Catherine’s romance novels and other paperback book collections, which were layered two deep in her office shelves. They now adorn the ‘library’ section of our basement family room.
Wall studs are the perfect depth for holding 4-inch wide mass market paperbacks. Donald installed an adjustable shelving system on the sides of the studs by dadoing a recess so the metal shelving system was even with the wooden studs. Then he cut the shelves to fit, nailed trim around the openings, painted and stained the surrounding wood and … instant bookshelves! Well, maybe not instant, but certainly a clever storage method.
If you don’t have any bare studs in your house you can still create these fantastic book cubbies by removing a section of drywall and installing the shelving systems between the studs. (Donald note: Use interior wall not extirior or you loose insilation.) The shelving system can also be attached to the stud without recessing it. You’ll lose a couple of inches in storage, but won’t have to mess with power tools. Find your studs with a studfinder tool, make sure the space you’ve chosen is hollow, and be careful when you cut the drywall to insure you don’t hit any hidden wiring or pipes. Adding trim around the opening makes for a neater looking opening.
We’ve had these clever bookshelves in several of the homes we’ve lived in. They’re handy for books and other small items you want to display. Put a door on the surface and you’ve got some covered storage. We happen to like our book cubbies open; it’s easier to read the titles and adds color to the wall. Not only are they handy, but they make a great conversation piece when your guests visit. But watch out … with all your books visible you may become their favorite lending library!
There are quite a few empty stud cubby shelves downstair since Donald created two whole walls using this creative storage idea. I guess that means a few more trips to the bookstore! Yeah!
What clever ideas do you have to create bookshelves in your home or office?
Now kick back, relax and pick up a good book to read. You might even try one of ours that you can find over on our book page, under the menu at the top of the page or on our Amazon Author Page
November 7, 2022
Tell Again Tuesday How characters speak
Are We Speaking the Same Language?By Julie Benson
Soon after having my first son (I now have three), I realized how males and females possess dissimilar views the world. We also speak and communicate differently. This realization and my sons have helped me be a better writer and create more realistic heroes. At least, I hope so!
When my heroes talk, I keep in mind there are phrases that guys just don’t say. Here’s the ever-growing list . . .
For the rest of the blog go to:November 3, 2022
Friday Feature a Three Season Room
Opening onto the sliding glass doors of the bedroom of my previous house was a three-season room. I called it my solarium because it was a space of windows more than of walls, a lovely and light-filled area facing due south—ideal for potted plants tucked among wicker chairs and wrought-iron pieces in warm weather but scorching hot for human beings and other mammals. The windows were single-paned, drafty, and ill-fitting, and the walls and roof were slabs of Styrofoam clad in aluminum sheets. In winter it was a freezing space suitable only for hanging slabs of beef, if I had been of a mind to use it for such a purpose. In fact, the months of April and October were the only times of year during which it was fit for living beings of any species. All the other months of the year, it was either too cold or too hot to be functional.
Despite its negative aspects, my solarium had a vital redeeming quality: it gained me access to the rain. Actually, the inspiration for much of my writing came from the sound of rain that washed the sides and battered the roof of my metal solarium. As I stretched out on my bed with my laptop astraddle my thighs, the sliding glass doors were open to my solarium, open to the sound of the rain, a sound that carried me back to the rains of my childhood, rains that are the source of my love of rain, and one of the most enduring connections to my past.
The sound of rain on the metal roof of the porch below the window of my room in our West Second Avenue house in Columbus, Ohio often pulled me to a joyful waking when I was a child. If it happened to be a Saturday morning, my family and I would pile into our car and drive eighty-five miles south to the farm of my maternal grandparents for the weekend. Featuring a red barn, whitewashed chicken houses, and raw-wood pigpens, the saltbox farmhouse rose to two-stories within its whitewashed clapboard sides and pitched metal roof.
The farmhouse sat on the south rim of the star-wound crater in Peebles, Adams County, Ohio, which is the bedrock of the world famous “Great Serpent Mound.” The metal-roofed front porch of the farmhouse offered an unfettered view of the crater as well as its backdrop of the Appalachian Mountain foothills, preferably taken in while sitting in the front porch swing.
From the porch one stepped into the parlor of the farmhouse, its focal point a chugging wood-burning stove in winter. Adjacent to this central room were two bedrooms, a kitchen, and at the back, a summer kitchen. A door from the summer kitchen opened to a long path that terminated at a gelid in winter and malodorous in summer outhouse.
Tucked behind the front entrance of the farmhouse was the door to the steep staircase to the upper floor, and at the head of the stairs was a small bedroom that housed a full-sized bed and a mirror-topped chest of drawers. I recall some of my younger cousins being folded cozily into the spacious bottom drawer of that chest in lieu of a bassinette when they were babies. A doorway in this first bedroom opened to the largest room in the house, a sleeping room set up with several beds in dormitory fashion, all of them topped with feather-stuffed mattresses. The enormous collection of feathers had been plucked over the years from the farm’s chickens before they were fried to a crisp in my grandmother’s enormous iron skillet. In that dormitory bedroom, my mother, my aunts, my brother, my baby sisters, our young cousins and I were crooned to sleep to the sound of rain dancing on the metal-capped roof of the farmhouse.
The farm featured in the above essay forms the backdrop of Guardians and Other Angels, multi-award-winning author, Linda Lee Greene’s novel that chronicles the story of two heroic families played out against the bad and the good of the early to mid-twentieth century, years of worldwide economic depression and war, as well as the spawning of the “Greatest Generation.” Firsthand accounts of the times in authentic letters written by members of the families are peppered throughout the book.
Available in paperback and eBook on Amazon
Multi-award-winning author and artist Linda Lee Greene describes her life as a telescope that when trained on her past reveals how each piece of it, whether good or bad or in-between, was necessary in the unfoldment of her fine art and literary paths.
Greene moved from farm-girl to city-girl; dance instructor to wife, mother, and homemaker; divorcee to single-working-mom and adult-college-student; and interior designer to multi-award-winning artist and author, essayist, and blogger. It was decades of challenging life experiences and debilitating, chronic illness that gave birth to her dormant flair for art and writing. Greene was three days shy of her fifty-seventh birthday when her creative spirit took a hold of her.
She found her way to her lonely easel soon thereafter. Since then Greene has accepted commissions and displayed her artwork in shows and galleries in and around the USA. She is also a member of artist and writer associations.
November 1, 2022
Wednesday Special Spotlight Banana Recipe
This is a wonderful recipe my family enjoys with breakfast or as a snack. Not only are the muffins nutritious, but they’re also easy to prepare, taste great, and freeze beautifully. I hope you enjoy these oven gems as much as we do.
Banana Coconut Muffins2 ripe bananas2 large eggs, or 3 small⅓ cup sugar⅓ cup oil (I use sunflower oil)1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut1 cup plain yogurt1 tbsp. vanillaPinch of salt1 tsp. baking powder2 cups almond flour1 cup chocolate chips, optional1 cup chopped nuts (any type), optionalPreheat oven to 350° F.
Mix eggs with sugar, then add all ingrediencies through baking powder.
Stir in almond flour. The mixture is supposed to be a consistency of sour cream. Add chocolate chips and nuts if you choose to use them.
Prepare a cookie sheet with lightly oiled baking cups. Spoon mixture into cups.
Bake 30-40 minutes, depending on your oven. Muffins are ready when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. You can also use this recipe in a loaf pan to make Banana Coconut Bread. Bake at the same temperature for approximately 55 – 60 minutes. Either way, cool completely then enjoy.
Here’s a little to intrigue you on Stell May’s latest time travel romance.
After months of working like a woman possessed, Nika Morris kept her promise. Coleman House is finished. It’s gorgeous. Spectacular. Brilliant.
It’s breaking her heart.
Because once the new owners move in, she’ll be cut off from the time portal to 1909, where she met and fell in love with Eli Coleman. Now stranded in her own time, she’s waited months for the key to reappear in its hiding place. Only it hasn’t. Which means Eli must have believed the terrible things she was accused of.
Back in 1909, Eli is stunned at his best friend’s deathbed confession of a shocking betrayal. Nika—his Daisy, his time-traveling wonder—was innocent. Once he finds the key, he wastes no time stepping through the portal, determined to make things right.
But the moment Eli stumbles into her shiny, noisy, confusing future, he realizes reconciliation won’t be simple. There is more than one emotional bridge to rebuild before he and Nika can return to the time their love was born—and live their destiny out to the fullest.
AMAZON BUY LINKStella 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.
October 31, 2022
Tell Again Tuesday querying and offers
Author Up Close: Mia Tsai’s Bitter MedicineBy Grace Wynter
Over the last few years, I’ve gained dozens of wonderful online author friends, but I’m fortunate to know today’s author personally. In fact, we have a standing monthly coffee date where we talk about writing, publishing, and everything in between. Mia’s an accomplished pianist, an orchid lover, and, of course, an author. Her debut novel, a xianxia-inspired contemporary fantasy titled BITTER MEDICINE, will be published by Tachyon Publications in 2023. In our Q&A, Mia provides insight into the rollercoaster ride that is querying and offers an important reminder about what drives publishing.
GW: One of my favorite parts of this series is learning about an author’s origin story: the thing that propelled the author from someone who only thought about writing their debut novel to someone who actually wrote and queried it. What’s your author origin story? . . .
For the rest of the blog go to:
