Thursday, March 14, 2024

Where Did That Idea Come From?

When hubby's parents first retired they left Brooklyn and moved to a home in Greenville, NY--upstate as New Yorkers say. Compared to Brooklyn, it was rather quiet. However, there were things to do. Next to them was a small resort complete with a small lake where we would go boating. Not far away, was the Catskill Game Farm where our daughters enjoyed feeding and petting the animals. (The Catskill Game Farm closed in 2006.)

Most interesting to me was the town of East Durham, an Irish enclave. In the evenings, hubby and I would drive to East Durham and enjoy the entertainment at the Shamrock House. During the daytime, we browsed through the small Irish shops where I found books on Irish legends.

That's where the idea came to me for PRINCE OF THE MIST, which is set in the Catskills of upstate NY. In Ireland, the Sidhe are the human-sized fairies of legend, but there are other countries in the world with similar legends. Why couldn't human-sized fairies live in upstate NY?

The misty Catskill mountains made the perfect setting for my story and Wildon became THE PRINCE OF THE MIST.  I had a great time writing this story. It makes me long to go back to the Catskills! :-)



Thursday, March 07, 2024

The World Is Your Oyster


 

Yesterday, when the world outside our door was filled with rain clouds, I cheerfully told hubby, "The world is your oyster."

Hubby had never heard that expression but he grew up in Greenpoint so maybe that's the problem. 😅

However, there are many, many expressions we still use today that came from Shakespeare as you can see in the image above. 

As far as the oyster quote goes, you can find the entire explanation here: https://nosweatshakespeare.com/quotes/famous/the-worlds-your-oyster/

Shakespeare was not only ahead of his time, much of his genius is still with us. 

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Friday, March 01, 2024

I’m a Winner!


 I made it! I typed out 30,000 words during the month of February for the JeRoWriMo Challenge. What I have now is the rough draft of a novella, which I have to edit—a lot. I had an idea of where I was going with this short book as far as naming characters, giving the story a setting, a timeline, and a loose plot. However, most of it was written pantster style, which is definitely a fun way to write for me. Some people have a very detailed outline when they write. I don’t. I have a flexible idea of what I want. So, things can change as I go along. 

While I was writing with such determination during the month, my house got very dusty. Sigh. But having written 30,000 words was so much better than dusting. Now off to editing!


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Tuesday, February 20, 2024

Writing and Writing and Writing

Design by penelopemarzec

 I've passed the 20,000 word mark for JeRoWriMo's 30,000 word challenge for this month. Only 10,000 more words to go. Having a group challenge like this really helps. There have been days when I do not feel like writing, but I push myself and I have managed to type out more words than I thought I could. 

Several of the NJ Romance Writers are cheerleaders for the challenge. They respond to every writer's count for the day--whether it's 0 or 4,000--and offer encouragement. There are also tabulators to keep track of everyone's word count. As the old saying goes, "Many hands make light work." 

The main thing is that my story is coming together. Of course, it is a rough draft and will need plenty of editing. But there are plenty of words to edit. It is always exciting to see the whole idea coming together. 

I love the JeRoWriMo Challenge! 

Thursday, February 08, 2024

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Thursday, January 25, 2024

Writing Challenge


Once again I am participating in JeRoWriMo, the New Jersey Romance Writers answer to NaNoWriMo. NaNoWriMo is held every year in November. I've never attempted it because Thanksgiving is in November, which always includes a big family dinner. In addition, with Christmas looming ahead and all the hoopla that holiday involves I know I would be doomed to fail if I set a plan in motion to focus on writing. There are too many distractions in November!

But February's big holiday is Valentine's Day, which need not involve much preparation. February is usually cold and sometimes snowy, the type of weather I consider perfect for writing. I’ve finished several books with the help of JeRoWriMo.. The goal is 30,000 words. I never know if I will make it that far. One year I didn’t. Still, I managed to write more words than I would have without the other members of NJRW cheering me on.

Nancy Herkness started NJRW's writing challenge years ago. It has helped so many writers to accomplish more than they every thought they could. The challenge is open to those who are members of NJRW.

I am looking forward to finishing my current WIP!

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Thursday, January 18, 2024

I Remember When the "Good Old Days" Weren't So Good

    My Dad, my sisters, my brother and I by my Grandpa's tractor in Pennsylvania during our usual summer visit to see my Pennsylvania relatives. We only saw my Mom's parents, her siblings, and our cousins when my father had a vacation from work. He drove us out to see all the relatives once a year. That was our vacation. Sometimes we went to the local amusement park in Keansburg. But that was the extent of our get aways. 

    Other than that, my mom wrote letters to her family. Once in a while, during a crisis, she would actually use the telephone to talk to them. But that was rare because back in the "good old days" a long distance phone call was very expensive. The price of a phone call is much, much lower nowadays. 

    We were fortunate since we lived within walking distance of the bay. We spent many days at the local beach. But then came the day when signs were posted at the beach and we were not allowed to swim there anymore due to the fear of getting hepatitis. Big corporations had been dumping chemicals in the water and sewage was spewed out into the water, too. That was before the EPA was created in 1970 by President Richard Nixon. It was designed to protect human health and the environment. And it has. The water is cleaner now. Lots of fish, whales, and seals have returned. (I love the seals.)

    Corporations need to be regulated. Otherwise, we'll go back to the "good old days" when you couldn't get in the water. 


    My father is on the right, working on the news. He worked for the Jersey Journal in Jersey City, NJ. He was an honest reporter and very concerned about the truth as were most newspapers in those days due to the Fairness Doctrine which was enforced by the Federal Communications Council. The Fairness Doctrine mandated broadcast networks devote time to contrasting views on issues of public importance. However, in 1987 President Ronald Reagan vetoed the act. In truth, the Fairness Doctrine didn't apply to cable news. There is NO regulation on cable networks. 

So there was something good about "the good old day." Back then reporters tried to be honest. 

Back in the "good old days" we didn't have vaccinations for most of the childhood illnesses--except for smallpox. Before we went to school, we all had to get the smallpox vaccination and we did. However, we didn't have vaccinations for anything else. Everyone got measles, chicken pox, German measles, and so on. We spent a lot of time out of the classroom due to illness. Some kids got really sick. My youngest sister got pneumonia when she had the measles. I spent time in the hospital at the age of three because the doctors thought I had polio since I suddenly couldn't walk. Fortunately for me, antibiotics had been invented at that point and whatever infection I had was cured. 

    But when the polio vaccine was handed out to children at school, everyone stood in line for it. 

    Covid killed way more than three million people in the world. Everyone in my family was more than willing to try the vaccine. Back in the "good old days" there was no way to combat diseases. I remember when I got the flu while on semester break in college. I spent a week in bed while my mother made me drink hot toddies--a combination of whatever liquor was available, tea, honey, and lemon. 

    I regularly get my flu shot nowadays. 

    I could go on and on about the difficulties of life when I was young. There was no Medicare. We didn't have healthcare except for hospital insurance. 

    I have no idea why people think things were terrific when they were young. There were big problems. There are STILL big problems. But if we work together, I'm sure we can fix them. 

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