A.M. Offenwanger's Blog, page 46
May 28, 2016
New Release – Hills And Valleys (Ambeth Chronicles #3)
Drumroll…. The great Helen Jones has published her third book! I’m off to Amazon to get my copy.
Yay! I’ve been a bit busy these past few weeks working on the final edit and formatting for Hills and Valleys, the third book in my Ambeth series. And now I can happily say…. drum roll… it’s published!
Available on Amazon and part of KDP Select (so you can read for free as a Kindle Unlimited member), Hills And Valleys continues Alma’s story:
‘Sometimes things call to us until we...
May 25, 2016
May 23, 2016
What I Came Home With
So Steve and I are back from the Writer’s Festival. We had a great time – well, I did; I think he did too (his favourite was a workshop on Bears In Poetry; he got to read one of his latest pieces). I came back with a bunch of new books, a small jar of iron gall ink (more on that below), and a ton of inspiration and encouragement.
I think the one main impression, the key idea, I took away from this conference is this: There is no one way to doing things as a writer. It came out over and over i...
May 20, 2016
Jaw Drop
I’m going to a Writer’s Conference this weekend, and as part of the conference registration you get to have a Blue Pencil (critique) session with a professional writer/editor. I sent in a short story I wrote a couple of years ago, an off-the-cuff piece about a girl who gets a marriage proposal she can’t refuse. I was feeling quite insecure about it – the blue-pencil presenter I’m having my session with judges short story competitions and is a professional editor, and, well, you know my rambli...
May 18, 2016
Wordless(ish) Wednesday: Villa Malta, Rome, in Paintings
Some pictures of pictures I took last summer at the Alte Pinakothek in Munich: paintings of the Villa Malta in Rome. The first is a set of four by Johann Christian Reinhart (1761 – 1847), showing the view from the villa to the East, South, West and North. They’re hung in a small room in the museum around the four walls, so you can pretend it’s 1831 and you’re standing on the parapet of the Villa, looking out over the city.
And this is what the villa looked like from the city, painted by Dome...
May 16, 2016
Random
Gadzooks, I haven’t posted anything here since last Sunday! Well, I been busy. Fact is, I’m still busy. It’s not that I haven’t had thoughts on stuff to write about, just didn’t get to writing it.
So, meanwhile, here’s a few pictures to tide you over:
My seedlings on the back steps, ready to be planted out. (Yes, the spuds went out too. They were sprouting in the cupboard, so I figured they may as well put those roots to good use).
The veg bed the seedlings went into. We call it the TIE fight...
May 8, 2016
Introducing: Molly
May I introduce Molly? Molly, Reader – Reader, Molly. Molly just arrived in our house by way of a Mother’s Day present from the Oldest Offspring, he who also gifted and named Steve some years ago. Molly came complete with name, as well.
She’s very soft and has extra-floppy ears, which, she tells me, are what makes her a music lover. Her favourite songs are in minor keys, and she was pleased when I told her that “Moll” is German for “minor”.
Steve is quite smitten with his new friend; at the...
May 6, 2016
The Editor Pontificates: Lies, All Lies
Here we go with some more editorial pontification, about another issue that I’ve noticed while editing: the pesky and much-confused issue of “lie” vs. “lay”. I’m not talking about “lie” as in “telling a falsehood” – you know, “He’s lying like a rug.” Though, wait – actually, that latter example, yes, we will be talking about that. But not in the “falsehood” sense.
What this is about is the verb “lie” as in “to be in a horizontal, recumbent, or prostrate position, as on a bed or the ground; re...
April 30, 2016
You Know You’re an Editor When…
…you’re trying to edit your dreams while you’re dreaming them. True story. Last night I was dreaming something about being in some woman’s house who didn’t like me (can’t remember why; I think I snuck into the house for some reason), and next thing you know, she was welcoming me and offering me something to eat. And I was thinking to myself, “That doesn’t make sense; it’s a character inconsistency! Better make a note of that.”
Maybe you need to send me your manuscripts to edit (more particul...
