Terry Odell's Blog, page 41
May 26, 2022
No Words
Sorry, everyone. There are just no words today. I’m still reeling from what is happening in our country, where children die, where they have to be identified by their DNA, and yet nobody takes action. It’s all about the money. Politicians who are more interested in party lines than doing what’s right. Thoughts and prayers aren’t the solution. We need change.
Talking about writing craft or sharing pictures seems out of place.
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May 25, 2022
Thoughts on Thoughts
Thoughts on Thoughts
A recent read dealing with the way a debut author dealt with characters’ thoughts triggered this post, which is my every-other-Wednesday contribution at The Kill Zone.
This author handled things differently from my preferences, which pulled me out of the story. Not to say the author was wrong, but it slowed my read. Here’s my take, which you can read at The Kill Zone Blog.
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May 22, 2022
Spring in Colorado
Spring in Colorado
After hitting “The End” of Cruising Undercover, I took some time off. For once, the meteorologists got it right when they said we were in for some snow over the weekend. Here’s what it looked like at my house.
What was your weather like?
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May 20, 2022
On To Building Sandcastles
Wednesday night, I reached The End of the “first draft” of Cruising Undercover. I use quotation marks around first draft because my writing process includes cursory edits of each chapter as I finish them, plus feedback from my critique partners. Thus, my first draft has already been looked at with revisions along the way.
The Stats
Official Start Date: December 29, 2021Unofficial Start Date: Feb 10, 2022Official End Date: May 18, 2022Average Word Count/Writing Day from Official Start: 961Av...May 18, 2022
Expect the Unexpected
Expect the Unexpected
My plan to release The Blackthorne, Inc. Novels, Volume 3 met an unexpected snag over the weekend. I’d spent Saturday morning uploading the manuscript to my usual channels: Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Amazon, and Draft2Digital for Apple. They’re all “same but different” as my yoga instructor likes to say. Nothing overly complicated, but the forms for entering the metadata, cover, and manuscript are laid out differently for each channel. Then, because I’m never organized enough,...
May 15, 2022
Croatian Sights. What Did Belinda and Dante See?
I’ve been busy working on the final chapters of Cruising Undercover. The book’s primary setting is Croatia, on a cruise very similar to the one I went on last year. Of course, my vacation lacked much of the excitement Dante and Belinda encountered.
In addition to seeing a part of the world I’d never visited, I took part in a photography workshop. While my photography skills don’t come close to the other serious photography buffs in the group, I w...
May 12, 2022
Are you Triskaidekaphobic?
Are you Triskaidekaphobic?
It seemed like the perfect day to rerun this post from last August.
Are you Triskaidekaphobic? Or just Paraskevidekatriaphobic?
The first refers to a fear of the number 13. It’s common enough, which is why hotels often don’t have a 13th floor (but of course they do, it’s simply labeled 14), and some airlines don’t have a 13th row. This isn’t a universal fear, however.
In Italy, 17 is supposed to be an unlucky number. Tetraphobia, fear of the number 4 — (phonetically ...
May 11, 2022
Where’s the Exit?
It’s my turn at The Kill Zone today, and I’m talking about getting out of scenes. I hope you’ll stop by.
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May 8, 2022
Approaching The Finish Line
Approaching The Finish Line
Blackthorne 11, now officially titled Cruising Undercover is approaching the point where it’s time to think about the finish line. As with any romantic suspense, there’s the romance and the mystery/suspense part that need to be brought to their satisfying conclusions. This is the time I’m more diligent about jotting notes on stickies and putting them on my foam core board. When a thought occurs to me, most of the time I don’t want to interrupt the flow, so I make the ...
May 5, 2022
Titles and Covers
Titles and CoversOne of the hardest parts of writing a new book is coming up with a title. Only once did I have one from the beginning, and it wasn’t intentional. I’d finished writing Finding Sarah and What’s in a Name? and was ready to start another one. I wasn’t sure what it would be about, but I created a folder called “Starting Over” which is what I was doing, writing wise. When I got into the book, which was about Colleen from Finding Sarah pulling up stakes and moving to Florida, the titl...
