Jacqui Murray's Blog, page 170
April 12, 2013
Book Review: An Affair of Deceit
An Affair of Deceit
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Jamie Michele’s latest novel, An Affair of Deceit (Montlake Romance 2013) is as much thriller as a romance novel–and that’s a compliment. In fact, she does such a good job of weaving the two genres together, you will consider it pretty close to real-life.
Let me provide some backstory. After two decades, Abigail Mason no longer hopes her father will return to the daughter he abandoned. She has become a top-notch criminal attorney and uses whatever anger she holds against the man she barely remembers against opposing lawyers. She would have left life to follow that path–hard-working, focused, few if any friends–except for the arrival of (here’s the romance part) tall dark and handsome CIA agent James Riley. From their first encounter, in true romance fashion, she feels an unusual tingle of emotion, one which she resolutely ignores because it is not on her agenda. Events intervene and she finds herself chasing the shadows of her past side-by-side with this man she can’t quite ignore, right up to the dramatic life-threatening ending (which, of course, includes a harrowing rescue).
Michele is a good writer. The plot is well-paced and keeps me interested without the constant intrusive references to love and lust found in most romance novels. The characters are well-drawn, though a bit flat. Abigail is logical to a fault, not unlike Temperance Brennan in Bones, but Michele does get a bit carried away with the caricature of Ice Princess Abigail who imposes her will on everyone–including the CIA (really? Would they buckle to her forceful approach?). Abigail isn’t particularly likable, always thinking of herself, her approach, with little consideration for others.
James is drawn as her exact opposite–charming, warm, empathetic (with unruly, sandy hair, a crooked smile, and slightly wrinkled suit). He’s almost bumbling, despite being described as brilliant, as he constantly is out-thought by the untrained civilian Abigail. The latter pushes credibility. I kept waiting to hear that she was undercover, but instead, the author vaguely explained it by saying Abigail had been on the CIA ‘recruit’ list since high school because of these very traits.
Despite the occasional over-review of information we the reader already know (Michele has some trust issues with her audience), this is a good book from a new author. I look forward to her future stories.
Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular Building a Midshipman , the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy. She is webmaster for six blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for Examiner.com and TeachHUB, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, Cisco guest blog,Technology in Education featured blogger, IMS tech expert, and a bi-monthly contributor to Today’s Author. In her free time, s he is the editor of a K-8 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-8 Digital Citizenship curriculum, and creator of technology training books for how to integrate technology in education. Currently, she’s editing a thriller that should be out to publishers next summer. Contact Jacqui at her writing office or her tech lab, Ask a Tech Teacher.
Filed under: book reviews Tagged: book review
April 11, 2013
You Might be a Blogger if…
Not sure? I can help you. If you’re:
male
25-34
have a college degree
are employed
have a household income close to $75,000
aren’t a parent
…it’s in you. You may not know it yet, but hold on. You’ll b e blogging soon. Here’s the statistics according to Technorati:
You might be a blogger if…
Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular Building a Midshipman , the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy. She is webmaster for six blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for Examiner.com and TeachHUB, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, Cisco guest blog,Technology in Education featured blogger, IMS tech expert, and a bi-monthly contributor to Today’s Author. In her free time, s he is the editor of a K-8 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-8 Digital Citizenship curriculum, and creator of technology training books for how to integrate technology in education. Currently, she’s editing a thriller that should be out to publishers next summer. Contact Jacqui at her writing office or her tech lab, Ask a Tech Teacher.
Filed under: blogs, teacher resources, writing Tagged: blogger, blogs, homeschool, strategies, teaching resources, writing
April 10, 2013
Eight Favorite Words–Part III
These are wonderful words that roll off your tongue. They feel good to say–and hear. Who can hear ‘zeitgeist’ and not feel the fullness of time wrap around them? Or ‘tintinnabulation’–can’t you just hear the tiny bells calling out? Tell me which is your #1 favorite:
Sesquipedalian–use overly long words. Like polysyllabic, but I love the way the word commits its definition
shingled–can’t you just see those cucumbers slapped on a serving tray like shingles on a roof
Sitzfleisch–ability to sit patiently for hours doing one thing when you could be doing a million others. Story of my life
tarradiddle–pretentious nonsense. Another of those words that sounds like its def.
tintinnabulation–tinkling sound. I hear the tintinnabulation of bells–let’s just call it the ‘tintin’
triskaidekaphobia–who would know there’s a word for the fear of the number ’13′. I love English
verbolatry–it’s what this list does–worships words
Zeitgeist–the spirit of the time. Writers: this must be captured for an effective historic novel.
More?
Beautiful Words
Ten Favorite Words (Part I)
Ten Favorite Words (Part II)
Eight Favorite Words (Part III)
Ten Favorite Geek Words (Part I)
Ten Favorite Geek Words (Part II)
Seven More Favorite Geek Words
Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular Building a Midshipman , the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy. She is webmaster for six blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for Examiner.com and TeachHUB, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, Cisco guest blog,Technology in Education featured blogger, IMS tech expert, and a bi-monthly contributor to Today’s Author. In her free time, s he is the editor of a K-8 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-8 Digital Citizenship curriculum, and creator of technology training books for how to integrate technology in education. Currently, she’s editing a thriller that should be out to publishers next summer. Contact Jacqui at her writing office or her tech lab, Ask a Tech Teacher.
Filed under: teacher resources, words, writing Tagged: homeschool, teaching
April 9, 2013
Tech Tips for Writers #103: Need Email Accounts for Registration? Here’s a Fix
Tech Tips for Writers is an (almost) weekly post on overcoming Tech Dread. I’ll cover issues that friends, both real-time and virtual, have shared. Feel free to post a comment about a question you have. I’ll cover it in a future Tip.
Q: A lot of web-based tools require email verification. You may need multiples for a writing class you’re teaching. What do you do?
A: I was so excited to find a solution to this problem. Here’s how TILT solves it:
There are many excellent web 2.0 tools that can enhance learning and allow students to communicate what they know, such as Animoto.com/education, Prezi.com, and GoAnimate.com. One of the issues for teachers, however, is that some of these tools require unique email addresses for each user. In this episode, you’ll learn how to create numerous unique email addresses for web 2.0 account registrations instantly using a single Gmail account.
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Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular Building a Midshipman , the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy. She is webmaster for six blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for Examiner.com and TeachHUB, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, Cisco guest blog,Technology in Education featured blogger, IMS tech expert, and a bi-weekly contributor to Today’s Author. In her free time, s he is the editor of a K-8 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-8 Digital Citizenship curriculum, and creator of technology training books for how to integrate technology in education. Currently, she’s editing a thriller that should be out to publishers next summer. Contact Jacqui at her writing office or her tech lab, Ask a Tech Teacher.
Filed under: problem-solving, tech tips for writers, writers tips, writing Tagged: tech tips for writers, writers tips
April 8, 2013
Writers Tip #43: Is Your Timeline Accurate?
When you read your story, does it sound off, maybe you can’t quite put your finger on it, but you know you’ve done something wrong? Sometimes–maybe even lots of times–there are simple fixes. These writer’s tips will come at you once a week, giving you plenty of time to go through your story and make the adjustments.
Today’s Tip: Make sure your timeline is correct.
Does time track correctly in your story? This is one of the most annoying features of a story–when characters jump around the timeline. Even if the author announces it with a chapter title–I don’t always read chapter titles, so it’s easy to miss that the main character moved from present to past, from six years ago to three months ago to the here and now. I’m reading Brad Meltzer’s latest novel, Fifth Assassin. He writes great thrillers. That’s why I picked him from my Vine list. In this latest novel, he does this time jumping constantly. I’ll get into a chapter, integrating the new information into what I know about the plot and characters. I’ll be pages into the chapter when I finally figure out this is about the child, not the adult. The chapters are titled with variously 1) a chapter number, 2) a location, or 3) a location and time frame. Some are ten years in the past, some four days. I almost feel tricked when I eventually realize what I’m reading is a flashback. If Meltzer weren’t such a good writer, I’d throw the book across the yard, maybe dig a big hole and bury it.
If you aren’t as good a writer as Brad Meltzer, don’t do that! It makes readers angry. Flashbacks are fine, but make them obvious. I’ve seen two timelines work, where the story leaps between the protagonist and antagonist and their timelines aren’t synced. I can’t remember a plot relaying events from multiple timelines with no apparent order–well, I suppose the ‘order’ is to serve the as-yet undisclosed plot.
These flitty flashbacks are one side of my plot progression point. The other is a focus on when you as the author make mistakes in the timeline. This includes things like:
the character does a thirty-minute drive in five minutes
the character shows up in different clothing than what she left in
the setting is ambivalent of seasons–fall in one scene and summer in another
the plot visits multiple nations without attention to their varied time zones
An easy solution is to make a table showing when sections take place. You’ll immediately determine if there isn’t enough time–or if the timing is wrong–between events.
What do you think of a plot that flits frivolously through time? Does it bother you? How do you make sure you don’t do this?
Questions you want answered? Leave a comment here and I’ll answer it within the next thirty days.
Click to have Writer’s Tips delivered to your email box
Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular Building a Midshipman , the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy. She is webmaster for six blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for Examiner.com and TeachHUB, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, Cisco guest blog,Technology in Education featured blogger, IMS tech expert, and a bi-monthly contributor to Today’s Author. In her free time, she is editor of a K-8 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-8 Digital Citizenship curriculum, and creator of technology training books for how to integrate technology in education. Currently, she’s editing a thriller that should be out to publishers next summer. Contact Jacqui at her writing office or her tech lab, Ask a Tech Teacher.
Filed under: plot, writers resources, writers tips, writing Tagged: timeline, writers, writers resources, writers tips
April 5, 2013
Book Review: The Doll
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Taylor Stevens gets better with each book. This–“The Doll” (Crown 2013)–is her third in the Vanessa Michael Munroe series, and in my estimation, the best. Her Munroe character is unlike any other out there in the thriller genre. She is severely damaged by events in her life, but uses those scars to thrive as an informationist–finding information and sometimes people for others. With spot-on instincts, the ability to connect the dots even when she can’t see them, and a facility with both mental and physical weapons, she is not someone you want to anger.
In this third book, she has found a level of peace with Miles Bradford, a man who cherishes her for what she is, watches her back, and understands her needs. That is shattered when she is kidnapped by the Doll Maker, an international human trafficker, to deliver another kidnapped woman into the hands of a psychotic misogynist. The Doll Maker knows threatening Munroe’s life won’t work for she cares little whether she lives or dies, so instead, dangles the life of one of her few friends, promising to release them both once she has succeeded in her mission. She complies, hoping Bradford will rescue her friend while she figures out how to save the second kidnapped woman. Munroe uses the full gamut of mental and physical tricks in an impossible quest to bring everyone out alive, barely maintaining control of the voices in her mind insisting she solve the problem with extreme violence, not mental canny.
And then the Doll Maker makes a mistake. He kills Noah, the rare man Munroe allowed into her life. The last man she loved, if she let herself admit that. Now, Munroe will not be satisfied with simply escaping with the life of her charge. Now, she must destroy the Doll Maker, his organization, and everyone around them.
Stevens is a unique writer, with an almost stream of consciousness approach to the life-and-death plot. When the reader is with Munroe, we feel her pain, her battle to do what must be done while tamping down the demons that constantly lurk below the surface of her consciousness. Every minute of the day, she struggles to control her self-conscious, her addictions, the fury at injustice that becomes a visceral presence trying to control her thoughts and actions. Where the story could be considered a fairly typical plot, Vanessa Michael Munroe make it anything but.
If you haven’t read the first two books, read those before Doll Maker. Then, sign up with Crown to be notified every time Stevens publishes a new book.
Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular Building a Midshipman , the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy. She is webmaster for six blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for Examiner.com and TeachHUB, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, Cisco guest blog,Technology in Education featured blogger, IMS tech expert, and a bi-monthly contributor to Today’s Author. In her free time, s he is the editor of a K-8 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-8 Digital Citizenship curriculum, and creator of technology training books for how to integrate technology in education. Currently, she’s editing a thriller that should be out to publishers next summer. Contact Jacqui at her writing office or her tech lab, Ask a Tech Teacher.
Filed under: book reviews Tagged: book review, thriller
April 4, 2013
Ten Favorite Words–Part II
I love reading, but I’m particularly drawn to books that use beautiful words. Eliabeth Goerge is one of those authors. I’ll forgive a lot of literay mistakes to learn a new word or two.
I have 468 books on my Goodreads list–only a small portion of what I’ve read. I cover 1-2 books a week, including many for my Amazon Vine gig. Here are ten more of the beautiful words I’ve collected (see the first ten here):
eolian–borne, deposited, eroded by wind. Gives you the sense of timelessness, of Nature’s power.
feral–wild, unchained. A look, a scent, a scense. When you run into something ‘feral’, you’re definitely not in Kansas anymore.
Heteroscedasticity–different variance in statistics. Doesn’t it sound smart? One word and you’ve convinced you’re readers the character is brilliant.
Hobson’s choice–choice without alternative; thing offered or nothing. This is the resolution to every crisis in writing
neologism: the use or creation of new words or expressions. I use them. Geeks (see ‘Ten Favorite Geek Words) create them. A synonym for ‘fun’.
pablum–dumbed-down language or ideas, i.e., for the ‘masses’. None of the words on this list qualify
philistine–smug or or hostile to artistic and cultural values. The opposite of Renaissance Man
precarious purchase. Doesn’t that sound frightening? Like hanging one-handed from a crumbling cliff?
presbyopia–blindness. Worse than myopia. Applies to sight and ability to see the solutions to problems.
schadenfreude–malicious satisfaction from the misfortunes of others. Use this, most of your readers won’t get it. Maybe that’s the plan…
More?
Beautiful Words
Ten Favorite Words (Part I)
Ten Favorite Words (Part II)
Eight Favorite Words (Part III)
Ten Favorite Geek Words (Part I)
Ten Favorite Geek Words (Part II)
Seven More Favorite Geek Words
Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular Building a Midshipman , the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy. She is webmaster for six blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for Examiner.com and TeachHUB, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, Cisco guest blog,Technology in Education featured blogger, IMS tech expert, and a bi-monthly contributor to Today’s Author. In her free time, s he is the editor of a K-8 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-8 Digital Citizenship curriculum, and creator of technology training books for how to integrate technology in education. Currently, she’s editing a thriller that should be out to publishers next summer. Contact Jacqui at her writing office or her tech lab, Ask a Tech Teacher.
Filed under: decision making, editing, problem-solving, words, writing Tagged: beautiful words, homeschool, lexicon, teaching, twitter-friendly words, words
April 3, 2013
6 Ways to Find Time for Everything
Writers tend toward the Energizer Bunny approach to living. We do everything from writing to research to marketing, sales, and media because we have no choice. No matter it doesn’t all fit in a day. We must get it done because no one else will.
I constantly hear how I do too much (usually from someone at a restaurant or relaxing in the teachers lounge between classes). My friends don’t know how I teach full time, webmaster five blogs, write non-fiction tech books as well as my thriller series (which I haven’t touched in a while), pen weekly/monthly columns for at least five blogs and ezines, write reviews/etc for clients–and market my 110 books/ebooks (no one has a publisher anymore who does that job).
I do get it done and I decided to analyze how that is and share it with you. I realize there are steps I take that make it work:
If one of my writing activities is no longer working for me, I stop doing it. I’ve written columns for a variety of ezines and blogs. I’m always happy to do one, but more than that, maybe not. I have to see the benefit to my craft. If it’s not there, no matter how much I personally like the people involved, I have to cut the cord and move on. Does that sound harsh? Maybe, but I’m a one-woman show and there’s only twenty-four hours in a day.
I don’t waste time. If there’s ten minutes free between dinner and my favorite TV show, I draft an article, edit one, review a scene in my WIP. The point is, I use that time. It’s amazing how it all mounts up. I had a thirty-two lesson textbook that I edited pretty much one lesson at a time. First I went through the whole book to be sure consistency was there, and then I reviewed the lessons.
I give myself deadlines. It’s tempting to review and re-review an article to be sure it’s perfect, but I trust myself. I know how long it usually takes to write a piece. I budget that much time and don’t obsess over tweaking.
I delegate everything not in my core skillset. Sometimes it’s to my husband. Often, it’s to people I pay for their expertise. I don’t want to become expert at Adobe InDesign (Photoshop is enough of a learning curve) or CSS/HTML for websites, so I trust them to get their job done while I concentrate on the pieces I do better.
I don’t feel obligated to do things. Where I used to force myself to stay in touch with peripheral friends or attend events I didn’t want to because a friend of a friend wanted me to, I don’t anymore. I weigh them and decide if it works for me. You’d be surprised how much time that frees up.
Here’s one I haven’t done yet: Quit my day job. This is a desperation move, but I could consider it. Is it time to take a chance? Does what I get from my Day Job make up for what I don’t accomplish with my passion (writing)? Jury’s still out on that.
There you have it–my six point plan. How do you do it?
Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular Building a Midshipman , the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy. She is webmaster for six blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for Examiner.com and TeachHUB, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, Cisco guest blog,Technology in Education featured blogger, IMS tech expert, and a bi-weekly contributor to Today’s Author. In her free time, she is editor of a K-8 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-8 Digital Citizenship curriculum, and creator of technology training books for how to integrate technology in education. Currently, she’s editing a thriller that should be out to publishers next summer. Contact Jacqui at her writing office or her tech lab, Ask a Tech Teacher.
Filed under: writers, writing Tagged: busy, time, writing
April 2, 2013
Tech Tips for Writers #102: Doc Saved Over? No Problem
Tech Tips for Writers is an (almost) weekly post on overcoming Tech Dread. I’ll cover issues that friends, both real-time and virtual, have shared. Feel free to post a comment about a question you have. I’ll cover it in a future Tip.
Q: Friends sometimes save a blank document over their MS Word file. How? Instead of ‘file>open’, they use the menu command ‘file>save-as’ and then they lose all their work. Is there any way to retrieve the file?
A: Absolutely. I just found out about this recently. Bring the file folder up in Windows Explorer (I’m using Win 7). Right click on the file name for the lost Word file and select ‘Restore previous version’. Select the latest version that’s not today.
Every time I do this, I’m a hero for ten minutes.
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Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular Building a Midshipman , the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy. She is webmaster for six blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for Examiner.com and TeachHUB, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, Cisco guest blog,Technology in Education featured blogger, IMS tech expert, and a bi-monthly contributor to Today’s Author. In her free time, s he is the editor of a K-8 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-8 Digital Citizenship curriculum, and creator of technology training books for how to integrate technology in education. Currently, she’s editing a thriller that should be out to publishers next summer. Contact Jacqui at her writing office or her tech lab, Ask a Tech Teacher.
Filed under: problem-solving, tech tips for writers, writers tips, writing Tagged: tech tips for writers, writers tips
April 1, 2013
Writers Tip #42: Avoid Rhyming Fiction; Stick With Prose Diction
When you read your story, does it sound off, maybe you can’t quite put your finger on it, but you know you’ve done something wrong? Sometimes–maybe even lots of times–there are simple fixes. These writer’s tips will come at you once a week, giving you plenty of time to go through your story and make the adjustments.
Today’s tip: If you unknowingly rhyme words, rewrite it.
Readers get confused by rhyme. They wonder if that was your intent, and if so, why? Is it a character trait? I’ve seen that in at least one book–a supporting actor would rhyme everything. It was nice, but it was planned. It’s not the same if you do it by accident.
Questions you want answered? Leave a comment here and I’ll answer it within the next thirty days.
Click to have Writer’s Tips delivered to your email box
Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular Building a Midshipman , the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy. She is webmaster for six blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for Examiner.com and TeachHUB, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, Cisco guest blog,Technology in Education featured blogger, IMS tech expert, and a bi-monthly contributor to Today’s Author. In her free time, she is editor of a K-8 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-8 Digital Citizenship curriculum, and creator of technology training books for how to integrate technology in education. Currently, she’s editing a thriller that should be out to publishers next summer. Contact Jacqui at her writing office or her tech lab, Ask a Tech Teacher.
Filed under: communication, writers resources, writers tips, writing Tagged: love, romance, valentine day, write about love, writers, writers resources, writers tips
