Are you ready to wrap up summer? No!
So let’s party and stock up on our TBR pile before we ‘fall’ short. Ha! Join me and a ton of authors at the Romance Studio Party site August 21-25 2019.
End of Summer Bash -Prizes
Time is Priceless – Use it Wisely
What is Writer’s Block? The inability to move your story plot forward.
Why is Writer’s Block? You know… Everything else gets in the way of Story. You forget who your characters really are. Where they’re going or why. Life is a lot like that too.
Clutter can be as bad as a blank page or canvas. Start somewhere. Clear the path to open your mind. Have no preconceived notions. Allow no no obstacles to prevent you from advancing.
This is my advice to me. You’re welcome to look over my shoulder…
You can’t write or live if you can’t pause and open your senses first. Find your inner space where the story grows and mentally become a time traveler. Ask questions. What happened before ? What caused the action? What would happen next if something changed. Get out the telescope or microscope and zoom in–zoom out. The view is different from different perspectives or angles. Pay attention to details. Make every word count. Make every second count.
You only do this life once (I think) so do it well and thoroughly. Appreciate a sunrise or a sunset. Watch the moon rise. Laugh at the squirrels.
Take a moment to be still. Be observant. It will make you wiser.
Prioritize.
Make a plan. Follow it. Break it. Only deter if the outcome may be worth it or unavoidable. Adjust.
Breathe. Inhale, but don’t forget to exhale. Expel the bad and keep the good.
Listen with your brain turned on high. React with your heart and soul. Write one word. OPEN. Add another. OPEN. UP. NOW. LIFE. IS. WAITING. For you…
Smile at one person. Then two…
Today, I’m talking about editing…polishing…beta readers
Not really a secret: I’ve been an editor for an electronic press for almost twelve years. I was fortunate to have an excellent trainer and supervising editors who helped along the way, and as I look back, I’m very proud of the books I acquired and published. I’ve worked with a variety of award winning authors who began as newbies to Rita finalists and New York Times best sellers. One thing is always the same…no one can edit their own books. The flaws in our own work seem to blend into the fabric we’ve woven, making it nearly impossible for us to identify until we have been away from the subject for awhile. (Thank goodness for spell check or I couldn’t write a note without typos.)
My editing specialty is actually content editing, or developmental editing, and finding repetitions and holes in the story lines. Once an author has the manuscript written, I’m the first reader who recommends how to tighten up the Plot, point out where the characters’ personalities and behaviors need more Development and Depth, and check to make certain the Pacing and Hooks keep the reader interested to the very end…and beyond. I want that book to stay in the reader’s head long after they finish reading it. I want it to be one they’d like to read again and again.
But as an author, I find it hard to duplicate this ability for myself. Why is that? At the time it looks okay when I send it to my beta readers. They pick up on a few things but editors pick up everything!
Oh, I easily identify what it needs, long after it’s published, but if left to my devices, I’d rewrite my books every two years, just to make sure. Well not totally rewrite, but I’d re-polish them, dust them off, at the very least. And then, I also believe I should leave them alone. Sometimes that initial wording isn’t the most grammatically correct way of putting it, but it’s the most honest interpretation of what’s going on in the author’s head. The wording is slightly uncomfortable, but the feeling is accurate. So when editing, it’s important to allow the character’s voice to reveal itself in dialogue while the author’s voice comes out in narrative as well as in the way the style of the story is put together.
My author voice is more than one style, depending upon what I’m writing. It’s one way in my serious plots, but something entirely different in my romantic humor. One is an example of my dream state writing, and the other is full of my internal thoughts, a process I don’t dare speak. In any case, they are both different from my style here on my blog, which is my more informative voice. So, it’s important that wording and sentence style belong to the author, as long as the structure is somewhat accurate; no dangling participles or misplaced modifiers, split infinitives and so on…
Everyone worries about the comma, but as long as the pause is in the right place, and the reader can make sense out of the sentence, then all is well. Different grammar rules allow for some flexibility. Take fiction versus non fiction: fiction has more lenient rules often because like poetry the author controls the meaning of dialogue and narrative using sentence length and rhythm to determine pace. Pace helps drive a story. During action, danger, or suspense scenes the reader is tied to the scene (no breaks) until the conclusion. Sometimes, I find myself holding my breath so I read faster to catch my breath before moving on to the next scene. If the author has been paying attention, he/she will give the reader a change of pace–some down time to recuperate–before going on to another breath holding scene.
You can see why it’s important to have a fresh eye on the manuscript. If you’re the one writing the story, you know what’s coming. You’ve edited this a few times and certainly read it enough that you aren’t holding your breath or sobbing at the scenes this time around. It’s beginning to make it more difficult to be objective…more difficult to see where you need speed or a break…more difficult to identify what could make your book the best it could be. If the editor has been in the trenches with the author helping rewrites maybe they both need an objective eye, a fresh point of view. The answer is an educated beta reader–someone who can answer your list of concerns and point out anything else they might come across.
You can find more on this website by clicking on the Writing Tab.
Maximum Impact the Writers’ Notebook by Editor, Maureen F. Sevilla
Available from these stores:
You can’t help who you love… A Witch’s Tale
So I’m writing this fantasy salon and spa series and the characters feel like family. Strange family but who doesn’t have a strange family member or two…or more? They’ve become co- workers and family to me.
Teamwork! It doesn’t matter if they’re shifters or faeries or gargoyles, when it comes to getting the demon bridal party from hell presentable for humans…literally…it’s all about teamwork and respect!
My husband and I went out to dinner and observed the dance of the staff, and we commented to each other about their seamless grace in getting their jobs done and working together. Tall, short, slow, quick…each did their one-step or two-step to the right or left, trays high, drinks low, swaying or dodging–doing the dance.
I see this same team work in my story characters when the stakes are high and the chips are down!
Yesterday, Frankie was late. The Halfling twins, Rolf and Dolf, weren’t there on time either… I had to create the salon dance until the Calvary arrived.
What happens if and when the system breaks down? This is what sets up this story…Delia’s goal to fix Frankie!
Sick of juggling schedules because of Frankie’s curse, Delia spends her time in the next Luna de la Mar adventure with her best friends Carrie and Jen hunting down the witch who was dumb enough to trust the alpha Werewolf with her heart. While Delia struggles with answers to her own dilemma: What is she? She re-discovers, beneath the scales, fur, and fangs of her friends and foes, everyone suffers the same great pain when loving and losing. You love who you love! Even if you know from the start it will cause you pain. Is that what awaits our heroine?
#shifters #fairies #werewolves #romantic #comedy #witches #charms #magic #love #ghost #mermaid #siren #dragon #vampires #atlantis #poseidon #comingofage #soulmates
Scattered? I know what you mean.
Every day I get up with a list of stuff I’m going to blog about…and every day I get slammed when I open my email or turn on the news. I should probably tackle the blog before my good thoughts are tsunamied. Today was one of those days when one thing led to another and another until I was so far away from my immediate goals I couldn’t see or recall them…I think I’ve caught up and actually managed to do a bunch of other things in the process…I haven’t gotten dressed yet, and may not at this rate.
In any case I have a very busy schedule. Three of my back list books are with a new publisher. That’s exciting! And I’m adding a new pseudonym to this website and separating my super erotic romance from my other romance writing. To use an example, Hot Highland Fling is a romance but the story is about the sexual journey of the heroine. I’m going to publish those under author name E.L. March so you know what to expect. they don’t come with a warning but I don’t want my erotic romance disappointed if the book they pick up with my name on the cover is on the tamer side. Eliza March will still write sizzling romance, but the story won’t revolve around the sex, like Witch of Air and Fire where the lives of the characters depend on the consummation to break a spell.
Next week, if I can get back here, I’d like to share a few new works coming up this year. The work in progress is A Witch’s Tale from the As the Chair Turns series. Frankie and Delia are still trading quips while Aelric is just trying to keep his intended alive. I’m hoping for a late spring release … a cover will be coming soon! Read the some Hair of the WERE reviews. One click to all sites: Hair of the WERE
You Need a Laugh
Don’t we all? Surprise below. Wait for it. here’s some information on where to buy and follow the books if you like them. All three books are sequential in the Luna de la Mar Salon & Spa series, so it’s best if you read them in order but these are shown below, left to right as #3, #2, #1
If you do happen to read them out of sequence, I tried to keep each story mildly independent of the others. My recommendation? Read them in order. Also follow this blog and my special Luna de la Mar page on Facebook
As the Chair Turns is a location on Facebook where you can meet all the authors who will be joining the writing team thi coming year. be the first to hang out with us and stay up to date on the latest characters in our Fantasy town in Florida.
Click HERE to go to my author page on Amazon and if you follow me, they will update you when my next book is released.
This salon and spa is more than you bargained for. . . not to mention the town.
All my books are also at most online retail locations and in most formats. If you can’t find them, contact me and I’ll find a link for you.
Drumroll please . . .
Now . . . A Holiday EXCLUSIVE excerpt:
When Social Media Isn’t Your Sole Purpose In Life
FB page, if you haven’t heard from me then it’s because I’m writing, which is what I’m supposed to do. Instagram, I love you but my productivity is gaged by words I write in a book not about what I’m eating. Twitter, hello did anyone notice when I stopped by? Nope… gone in a blink of an eye, right?
I blog when I have something to say or share because it’s so much more personal. You can read it whenever you want or not… Sometimes social media is entertainment and sometimes it’s connecting with the world because I’ve been writing alone in an empty house with no human contact. Not entirely true. My husband comes by and asks me where the bread is, my son wants to know where his keys are, the tv keeps telling me what’s going on in the world in spite of my reluctance to participate. I use social media to watch animals and comedy and happy stories about heroes and heroines who are kind to others. I write romance the ultimate escapism in books and movies.
Social media, you are adding too much realism into my fantasy life. Commercials, politics, news, weather, education, shopping… the list goes on. Too much everything!
If y’all don’t mind, I’m going to go write a book. Why don’t you go read one of mine and I won’t have to remind you on FB that I’ve just published the third book in my series. Many people are reading it and liking it. You too can escape into an unrealistic, impossibly funny, fantasy world for a few hours.
Mayhem, Magic, and Mistletoe by me, Eliza March.
You know where to find my books?
Right! On Amazon, Nook, Kobo, Apple Book, just about anywhere you want.
The Draft2Digital universal link below will take you there.
https://www.books2read.com/u/bxZl8J
This will help you find my recent book.
My Quick Stuffed Peppers
After working all my life with five children and a husband who liked to eat but had no imagination for cooking I came up with necessary ways around tedious meal preps without skimping on taste or appeal.
This is one of those meals.
Ingredients:
- 6 sweet peppers (red, green, or yellow…or all or any combination thereof)
- 16 oz. tomato sauce (Italian style)
- 3 clove minced garlic
- 1 medium onion
- 1 tsp basil
- 1 tsp oregano
- 1 lb package of mozzarella cheese cut into 1 inch squares
- Chinese cooked white rice
- 1 lb. chopped meat
- 2 eggs
I don’t know about you but I don’t eat the Chinese white rice I get with my Chinese food order. I love fried rice so I usually order that. What can you do with the white rice? I began freezing it. One day I was out of rice when I thought to make stuffed peppers, then I remembered my stash in the freezer. I defrosted it and mixed it with my chopped meat, added two eggs, seasonings (oregano, basil, pepper, sauteed onions and garlic), four ounces of the canned tomato sauce, and a little parmesan cheese…blending well. Wash and cut the peppers in half, lengthwise, and clean out the seeds then stuff them with the meat mixture. Put them in a glass casserole dish and press a chunk or two of mozzarella cheese into the middle of the meat and rice mixture. Finally, pour the rest of the tomato sauce over the top of them., cover with aluminum foil and cook in a preheated 350 degree oven for forty-five minutes. Between prep and cook time this one dish meal is ready to eat with a red or white wine in under an hour.
A Peek: Mayhem, MAGIC, & Mistletoe & Review: Hair of the WERE & Siren’s Tail
A SIREN”S Tale
Sit down with a glass of wine or a hot cup of cocoa and enjoy these quick short stories that will take you into the third book coming in time for Christmas: Mayhem, MAGIC, & Mistletoe. One reviewer had this to say after reading Hair of the WERE then hooked into A Siren’s TAIL…
REVIEW:
“I have just had the awesome pleasure of reading “Hair of the Were” and “Siren’s Tale” by a wonderful and gifted author. Eliza March blends in humor, sexual tension, and more in a can’t put it down book that will tantalize paranormal readers. This tale, pardon the pun, has it all. Think creatures of the night, creatures of the sea, Fae and water nymphs, and you would have the beginning of Adelaide’s journey in “As the Chair Turns” series. They all work in a totally cool hair and spa facility that caters to…you got it, paranormal creatures. And it doesn’t stop there, her best girlfriends ever are witches, and her best male friend is an alpha werewolf that would have her in his bed if she’d let him. Now, you would think with all of the above, that would be enough, but Delia as her friends call her has a chance at a rocking singing career. A career that could be forestalled by a sea-creature’s attack. Now if that don’t make you want to give up swimming, I don’t know what to tell you, but once you lay eyes on the Coast Guard hottie who makes Delia sing all the right notes, you might change your mind. The only other thing I can possible say is WHEN IS THE NEXT SAGA OF AS THE CHAIR TURNS COMING OUT?”
Coming before Christmas…Mayhem, MAGIC, & Mistletoe …More of Delia’s adventures.
Welcome to my world where magic and mayhem coexist. This installment of my ongoing series is about the Luna de la Mar Salon and Spa’s annual employee holiday party on the corporate yacht. Murder and mayhem run rampant when there’s an attempted mistletoe poisoning during dinner and a deadly stabbing before desert.
Kris the Christmas tree had reported that Perry the maître de was kissing the cook in the kitchen under the mistletoe when someone dropped the mistletoe berries in Delia’s salad. But the only witness, the Norwegian pine, is height challenged and claimed he couldn’t see anything above the suspect’s knees. And all would have been fine if someone hadn’t turned up dead.
The unidentified body, dressed in Delia’s red dress and shoes, wasn’t on the guest list. Who is she? And was Delia actually the target?
About Writing Dialogue
Dialogue Tags
I have a love/hate relationship with dialogue in general: 
I love reading it when it’s written well.
When I’m writing it, I don’t want to pause during the mental conversations that my characters are engaged in long enough to add tags or description. Hey, the conversation is in progress–no interruptions allowed, except from the characters. But without narrative something is lacking. Long dialogue passages frustrate and leave me unsatisfied. I’m frustrated reading scenes when I can’t figure out who is speaking, or being unable to identify where or when the dialogue is taking place.
When I’m reading scenes, including dialogue, I want to be in the moment, but it takes precise design to create clarity. Who is speaking? What sort of words do the characters use? How high pitched or deep is the character’s voice? Where are the characters? What does the location feel like? Look like? Smell like? Sound like? How are the characters moving? Acting? Gesturing? What is the point of view character thinking? When a scene can draw all that together…now that is a dialogue scene I want to read.
Things to check:
He saids/she saids may be necessary to keep from confusing the reader, especially when there are more than two characters. Name them or characterize them. Characterizing is a way of defining a character with an accent, favorite movement, affectation, or phrase. Always read through your dialogue to ensure the flow is clear, readable, understandable, and that it makes sense. Make certain a response isn’t too far from the original question or comment.
Mixing narrative with dialogue? Wonderful. Be careful not to interrupt too much of the interactive dialogue. Keep narrative limited to short descriptive actions until there is a natural breaking point to add more detailed narrative or deep point of view. Then when appropriate, begin interactive dialogue again.
