time to polish the words: IWSG

The long dark days of winter have, I think, come to an end. Spring is busy trying to catch up before summer arrives. Sunshine illuminates beautifully – showing to the jaded eye the dust in the corners, the film across the glass. Paintwork needing some loving care.In the garden of,soon to be delights, piles of last years leaves huddle, neglected from a sudden downfall of snow. Boughs bending under their own weight needing a drastic pruning.Across the earth, leapfrogging in undisciplined noisy jostling chaos weeds careless of weather. Beautiful fresh air filled with fragrance steals across all.

Spring is traditionally the time of cleaning and tiding. A time when there are possibilities of a new fresh beginning.

Time to dust down the files, the ideas. Consider the words and put a shine on them. Time to rejuvenate the whole. Sweep up those titbit’s of ideas , stir them together create a rich compost of new thought. Be ruthless cut, cut, cut, the tales will grow back stronger, healthier. Organise the words, discipline them into coherent play, stop the leapfrogging wildness.

‘Tis time to shake of the stale air and spring clean our writing.

The Dragon Shield: book 2 of Ian’s Realm

I am welcoming The Dragon Shield on this page today written by the multi talented Dianne Gardner.  Dragon Shield is the second in the YA series, Ian’s Realm.  We have an excerpt and details today with an interview with Dianne next week.

Previously in Deception Peak : the 1st of Ian’s Realm Saga

Teenage Ian Wilson follows his father through a portal into a deceptively beautiful Realm, where horses run free, the wind sings prophetic melodies, and their computer avatars come to life. But separation from his dad puts Ian in peril as he’s abducted by a tribe of dragon worshipers and forced to find his courage.  As he struggles for his freedom and embarks on a perilous search for his father he meets the true peacekeepers of the Realm, and learns of a greater purpose for his being there.

 and now In DRAGON SHIELD  Ian adventures back to the Realm

As a young man, Ian returns to the Realm to search for his father, and to fight against the tyranny that has befallen his friends. But the Realm is a different place, the forest is dying, the Kaermperns have lost the shield that protected them from the dragon, and Ian has a hard time proving his allegiance when trouble follows him through the portal. His struggle to do right buries him in confusion, and he must fight his own will to prove his integrity.

EXCERPT

Maybe it was anticipation that made his hands shake as he picked up the television remote from the coffee table. He would program the settings to mirror the monitor remote. That way, if he somehow got trapped inside the Realm–if his magic key were stolen–Abbi would have a way to launch the blue ring and rescue him. He’d leave the TV remote on the desktop with a note and specific instructions.

Ian inhaled deeply in an attempt to calm the dread that rattled his insides. He faced the hallway. The pendulum of the great, old, grandfather clock swayed silently.

He glanced at the door to his right. Not since he moved back had he entered his father’s room. He was living in this house as though that bedroom didn’t exist anymore, as though that door led to a black hole. Ian feared that the pain would be too great for him to bear should he open it. But now that he thought his father might still be alive inside the Realm, he decided to do what his dad would want him to. Accept the past, and boldly approach the future.

Today.

Ian stood in the hallway with the cold, brass doorknob in his hand; his shoulder leaned up against his father’s bedroom door. He closed his eyes tight, gathering his strength from within. With a deep breath, he gently pushed his way into the dimly lit room. The door creaked ever so slightly as he smelled the stale scent of time passed.

He opened his eyes.

A ray of ambient light shone through the curtains, spotlighting his father’s breastplate that hung on the mannequin across from the bed. A scabbard was strapped over it, and in the leather sheath was a sword. Ian was familiar with the blade. It was his father’s favorite weapon, one that he had used in several reenactment events and once as a movie extra.

Over the bed hung his father’s bow and a quiver full of arrows, weapons his father hunted with every fall. It was the same bow his father used to bring down the elk that hung mounted over their computer desk.

The room smelled musty. Cobwebs hung from the corners of the ceiling, and dust coated the dark mahogany bedposts, the bedspread, and the carpet. A photo of his mom and dad together on their wedding day rested neatly in an ornate silver frame on the dresser. Ian blew the dust away. Mom and Dad made such a handsome couple.

But Ian didn’t enter this room to reminisce, nor did he come here to mourn. He came in here for the sword, the bow and the arrows. He would go into the Realm armed, without having to rely on the cache in Elysian Fields. He suspected he would confront trouble before he was able to travel that far.

With great care, Ian removed the breastplate from the mannequin and lowered it over his head. It fits—well—maybe it’s a little loose, but it would protect him. Ian drew the sword before he strapped the sheath around his waist, and admired its steel blade, untarnished, shining, smooth and perfect, its edge still sharp. He remembered how heavy this sword felt to his little arms ten years ago when his father let him hold it for the first time. Today it was weightless. He was ready to wield it. The sound of metal sliding back into its leather sheath whispered a sweet confidence in his heart.

He looked up. A soldier stood in the mirror.

Standing straight, his jaw set, Ian pulled his hair behind his ears and realized how much he resembled Dad. It was his only hope that, when tested, he would embrace his father’s courage as well.

Ian took the bow and quiver from its bracket on the wall above the bed, swung them over his shoulder and stepped out, quietly closing the door behind him.

Dianne Gardner

Dianne Gardner is both an author and illustrator living in the Pacific Northwest, USA.

She’s been a painter all her life having started at the age of 12 under her mother’s supervision. Her first private art lesson was with a sculptress in California. Excelling in art in school and on to college, her portfolio includes portraits, inspirational works, and plein air landscapes. She was the portrait painter for the Washington Renaissance Fantasy Fair for several years painting 20 minute oil paintings during the fair. She has just recently started illustrating books, beginning this endeavor with a 9′ triptych of Stenhjaert the Dragon, the antagonist in Ian’s Realm

Dianne is an active member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, and the National League of American Pen Women. Besides the Ian’s Realm Saga (Deception Peak, The Dragon Shield, and Rubies and Robbers which will be released in 2013) she boasts authorship to four short stories titled A Tale of the Four Wizards Series which interweaves with the Saga. She writes for middle grade and young adults targeting boys and adventure loving girls, but adults are some of her most zealous fans of all Her writing definitely falls under the ‘family friendly’ category!

Ian’s Realm Trilogy

by Dianne Gardner

Hydra Publications

If you want to be involved in the series, Dianne and Ian’s Realm are involved in a kickstart project, details can be found here

Do I have no rights here:)

I had to think of themes this week for a memoir workshop. What was I basing my memoir on?  I found this difficult.  I am using my blogs as the main part and they cover such a variety of subjects it just seemed like mishmash.  I settled down with my mind mapping programme and a few hours. Finally concentrated it all down to ‘words’.  Not what I expected, however that is where all my experiences/ interests/essence of moi appear to connect to each other.  Sorted.  Can now erect a structure to wrap it around.  In the other workshop we have to go back with a character study of ourselves.  Wow.  I don’t even do this on my characters.  Pin myself on an exhibition board, a captive butterfly:( this one took even longer but I have a list of me ready for the morrow.  Personal looks, interests, fears, ambitions, strengths weakness, irritations, anger etc.  not a bad specimen, a little tattered on the wing:)

 On a different track but still memory bound how does someone break a wrist and not know it?  I was at doctors this week about something else and because my ankle has been bothering me a lot this week I asked to see the letter about my joints from last year. At the time I had been ill, gone to the doctors for something else entirely and taken little notice except to have arthritis confirmed.  The left wrist and ankle with the right wrist had been x-rayed (they had been really bad before I was ill last year. I knew the left side had been smashed badly a few years ago, can still feel the pain in my dreams:( However apparently the right wrist has been broken at some time in my life!!  I’m right handed – how did I miss that event. Puzzling all weekend over that.  Could have felt like a really bad sprain the doctor said.  Ah well easy then.  Not.  I was a ‘clumsy child’ and ‘clumsy adult’. I have dyspraxia; I am always falling over, bumping into things –cutting, spraining, twisting and occasionally breaking – which of those sprains was a break?  How can a person not know?  Last year my right ankle was fine, this year it is more painful than the other – if it was x-rayed would they find evidence of another unknown break.  I consider it sneaky of the body to be hiding these things from me – do I have no rights here:)

 ROW80: This week

 Writing:  The Ancestor’s Tale has grown by a further 8469 words this week. I have finished the two sections of the story giving me the most trouble.  I have almost finished a third section, maybe will be tonight. I can see I won’t have the entire book finished by Friday, when I planned to start editing, but hopefully by next Sunday I will.

 Blogs: One written and sent off to The Indie Exchange for my monthly slot on the 26^th of each month.

  I have had two guests on the Red Carpet this week  Jo Linsdell and Terrie Morgan. Both showcasing their books.  Take a look, although completely different they are both good books.

 Workshops: Both the memoir workshops, in cyberspace and down here in the real world started well. Looking forward to the new week.

 The scrivener workshop has already taught me a lot about the programme.  Not least the relationship the programme has with the rest of my computer.  After I thought it had all vanished, ‘twas just playing hide and seek:)

 So quite a lot of homework for the three, and is all done and up to date.

 Trailer: the music for Jack’s Tale is beginning to take shape, have started on the storyboard but it’s proving elusive at the moment. Ah well.

 Reading:  still reading my childhood books finished 2 more of them and begun the first of what I guess would be called YA now or. . . never sure what age group YA is supposed to be. Have quite a few to go before April and the A-Z.

 Already I am able to trace some themes and clusters for the challenge.  I don’t want it just to be a list of authors and titles the overall theme for me this year was to be the impact that books have had on me over 6+decades.  And to extent how the books themselves have changed over that time..  Frankly I have read too many books to confine them into 26 blogs even if could remember them all.  Think I am almost at the point when I could start writing some pre challenge blogs.

 Exercise: My sister training continues 2x a week and I am finding the distance easier to do heart wise but more painful arthritis wise – falling apart moi:) but that’s what pain killers are for.  There is no doubt I feel better overall for the fresh air and exercise.

 Networking: Yes

 Next Week: It is a non writing week so although more of the same for Ancestor’s and workshops, there wont be much time for large word counts, never mind. I would like to write at least one blog.

 I hope everyone is still smiling and that life goes well.  All the best for the coming week.

Thank you Blake Charlton

‘The grammarian was choking to death on her own words.’  (Spellwright by Blake Charlton 2010)

 Blake Charlton has become ‘The Man’ for moi this month.  Maybe you don’t know who he is.  Why should this old lady have elected him, her man of not just this month- but every month for all my time?  He wrote a book just for me! Well, no, maybe not just for me – I do know for a fact he has never in his life heard of me, and probably never will. Stop wittering you old fool, maybe you are saying now – I will explain.

 When I was young, back in the 40s, I was told I was stupid. Stupid? Well I took their word for it although frustratingly I couldn’t see why I was.  We are talking about a dim distant past when the nearest the school got to my problems was to say I had clumsy child syndrome, and was backward and naughty.  Other fancy labels were not there.  No-one’s fault.  Just was.

 I couldn’t spell, forgot the rules of grammar and don’t even mention punctuation.  Some days I could, the next I couldn’t – not just stupid but wilful as well! It wasn’t from lack of trying, endless lists of words at school and at home.  To no avail.  You, to whom spelling and grammar are like breathing and movement, I have no way to explain what it is like not to posses the knowledge, the skill.  No way to explain the depressing frustration of yet again getting it wrong.  The humiliation attendant on not being able to control my own language.  I write too often these days to ask my friend from forever/editor to check everything I write, only my books.  I have to chance it elsewhere.  The words need to come.

 I have always been able to read well and understand what I read.  With thoughts of dazzlingly clarity and sparkle up there in my head.  Words, I loved them.  Somewhere between thought and mouth there appeared to be a marshland of sudden potholes, rank undergrowth and small slippery word eating monsters.  What was in my head didn’t necessarily come out of my mouth.  Words would twist and jump into the wrong order, random thoughts unrelated to the matter in hand could unexpectedly intervene and worst of all the clarity became turgid and cloudy.  I could never explain to people what I knew. The insults were just words twisted in the journey, as too was the apparent rudeness.  I was only  asked once to give the vote of thanks to a visiting judge at our photographic club – never again, as somehow(still don’t know what I said) I managed to say he was rubbish!!!

 I was socially inept. I withdrew – I was stupid. I had the books.  They gave me my dreams.

 Years later – and I do mean years – around about the time I began to harbour the most ridiculous thought that I would like to go to university – a menopausal hiccup if ever there was:) I read an interesting article about a strange sounding disorder called Dyspraxia.  He!  All those symptoms sounded familiar.  Maybe.  Maybe. I tucked the thought into my mind and carried on with my ridiculous idea.  I gained a BSc Hons and an MA.  I wasn’t stupid!! Did this mean everything changed – not really I was still socially inept and linguistically unreliable.

 In the intervening years personally computers had thrived – the internet was up and buzzing and information was there for the plucking.  I grew more intrigued with dyspraxia and finally when I was 60+ asked the doctor, who confirmed it. A young friend of mine who also keeps my eyes in good order suggested that I was slightly dyslexic as well – I argued over this for a long time – I could read well and swiftly, what on earth was she on about?  We have proved her diagnosis between us.

 So now we come to Blake Charlton – a dyslexic – an author.  I didn’t know the first when I idly picked a book up from the village library the other day.  I am this year renewing my acquaintance with ‘fantasy’ after years away and I have joined a challenge to read new authors.  There was Spellwright shouting at me from the shelves.  The title alone would have drawn me – the blurb hooked me instantly.

 Nicodemus Weal cannot spell! In a world where magic spells are written in your muscles.  In a world where words have a concrete form, where they can literally choke you, can form tumours, shred your insides where they can form ropes and strangle and trip you.  Nicodemus wants to be a magician but his bad spelling can twist a spell into something else. Ah please, it was my book, mine.

  I had that book home so fast you couldn’t see me for churned up snow:)  Nothing got done as I read.  Nicodemus, a new hero of my life.  But the real hero of my life is his creator Blake Charlton. Not just a dyslexic author but a young man who has conquered his disability, one who has graduated from Yale, has taught English, gone through medical school and still remembers when words could choke you.  Remembered when words had a reality only those who cannot manage them appreciate.  A young man who could write a magic system to explain all this, and base it on science,  DNA and other stuff I love.

 Spellwright borrowed from the village library, now winging its way from Amazon to me.  Spellwright which was written for me and for anyone else who knew they could ‘do wondrous things’ if only they could corral those words.  Spellwright with the most imaginative magic system I have come across.  Smashing.

 Thank you Blake Charlton. You will never know the pleasure it has given me, because even if we met the words to explain would never behave:)

What Makes a Classic? Blog Hop 3-7 Jan 2013

Classic Reads 2013

This blog hop is sponsered by four great Indie authors be sure to scroll down and see their latest books.All worth a read:)

there is also a spread the word prize draw 

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/share-code/NmU5ZTZhNDFmZWNiZDM4ODVlZGE2NzM4YjI5ZWJmOjM2/)

What do we think is a ‘classic’? Between 1/3 to 1/7 you can share some of the thoughts on this subject. Do they have to be old, controversial, heartwarming – what are the things that catapult a book from a great read to a must read? Can any book be a classic.  Click on the classic reads picture above to see what other writers think.

26 letters

When I was a girl, and began my reading life, I knew, absolutely, what a classic was. I kept this knowledge over many decades. But the past two decades I find Imust re-evaluate what I thought of as a classic.

An important criteria, is that the book must have stood the test of time. On this basis I considered that a book published in my lifetime could not join the ranks Of course I was forgetting that I was no longer 27 years old! (the age my mind  still insists I am) and that in fact a great many of my favourites, published in my reading lifetime, have been in print for well over six decades, how much time do they have to stand!

I joined a classics reading challenge in 2012, which had different centuries in the challenge. My instinctive reaction on seeing the 20^th century in the list was to pooh-pooh the idea entirely, or to allow that maybe those written very early in the century (the first decade) could maybe sneak in. I looked the lists of suggestions, finding books that I had read as a child.  The Borrowers, a classic?  The Secret Garden?

One of the disadvantages of growing older, is that one has already set parameters in life decades previously and it takes a real effort sometimes to shake them loose and allow the new in. I like to think that I can do this but it does take a real effort. Certainty of one’s views is akin to a security blanket, and as we grow older we feel the chill more and enjoy our blankets!

My criteria for what constitutes a classic hasn’t really changed, but what I have done this last year’s widen the scope.

During the Second World War new books were rare because of the paper and author shortage. I was fortunate in that I was born into a family of pack-rat readers my parents, and later my grandmothers, who moved in with us, had substantial numbers of books. I was not aware of the shortage because I had thousands to browse through in my own home. I cut my reading teeth on the Victorian the Edwardian writers.

Young readers today maybe fight shy of reading Thackeray, Dickens and Elliott, maybe Gulliver, does not appeal, because of the sheer size, the style and the mistaken idea that they have no relevance to today’s reality. This is a pity, because they do.  I have read from others that Steinbeck is dull.  Dull? I confess I never have found him so.

Of all the tales that have been related to us, and printed, very few have stood the test of time. We can go back to the Iliad and Odyssey, we have Beowulf, then of course there’s Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales and Milton’s Paradise Lost, please we must not forget Shakespeare. These all tower in the classics list. But what made these particular books remain ever popular,  I think I must add that popularity in the case of classics is merely that enough people have wished to read them therefore keping them in print over the decades.

Another criterion which is necessary to produce a classic is the ability of the author to transform 26 letters, which constitutes our alphabet, and from which all our words are gleaned, into something magical. There were plenty of other writers around during all the centuries probably writing more popular books at the time. They have sunk with barely a ripple. But the few that survive are those in the main that have employed their words to ring clarion clear across time. Not always in high academic pleasure, the Canterbury Tales after all appeal to the high spirited vulgarity in us all. Paradise Lost and Dante’s Inferno, do not let us forget Dante, use language in such a magnificent way as to inspire awe, grandeur and terror still, centuries later. The writers of classic works, help to shape the language and thought not just in his time but more importantly for the readers and writers of the future.

Not all of them of course will invent hundreds of new words such as Shakespeare did! They will be the cutting edge of their time, they will be the writers that are experimental, innovative; those who are bold enough to break with traditional forms of style, those brave souls who seek and succeed in presenting radical newness. They will inspire and change the very creation of writing.

Another criteria I am certain makes a classic is the ability to write about universal truths is such a way they engage with the reader not just it their present but, transcending time, down through the ages, so that, although the style of writing and the language used, are different and maybe demands a little more effort in the reading, still resonates to each generation. There are many themes to do with the human condition many of them profound; love, loss, justice, society, race and politics. A classic author is able to discuss, portray and critique the social and political issues of their time but the spark which separates them from others of their generation is an uniqueness in their writing which renders the stories personal and relevant today.

Another criterion I believe is necessary to create a classic is the fact that the story becomes part of a cultural treasure, enriching the nation’s language, history and culture. And within the population enrich the individual. Enriching, because of its power, its beauty in the crafting, the plotting and the substance, in the richness of thought observation and invention. And in the ability to help the nation, and the individual to define itself.

When I look at different lists I find I have been lucky enough to read and enjoy a great many of the accepted classics. Especially as now I have enlarged my timescale to include the 20^th century as well. From the more recent books that I have read, and when I say recent I am actually talking about 50 years ago! I find many of my favourites such as the Fellowship of the Rings, To Kill a Mockingbird, Animal Farm and 1984.

I would like to think that  Lord of the Flies, Catch-22 and One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest will make the grade in another twenty-five years or so:) all of which I believe do fit the criteria. Of course that will depend on the public – will they see that spark and blow on the flames.

My time scale is not as furiously fast as many these days, and I still believe that under 50 years is too soon to declare a book a classic – ‘possible classics’ maybe:)

I’m not so sure about some of the very recent ‘must reads’, they feel like fads to me, but time will tell. I suspect that most of the classics that we except as classics were slow, rather than fast, burners in their day. By the very nature of their break with traditional writing, their innovation and radicalism they do not stand first in line to be accepted and understood. I probably won’t be around in another 25 years see if I am correct.

Our sponsers and their latest offering

Mark of the Loon – Molly Greene
Link: http://www.amazon.com/Mark-of-the-Loon-ebook/dp/B00838H1OY
Synopsis: What happens when a workaholic serial remodeler falls in love with an old stone cottage built by an ornithologist and his eccentric Irish wife? If you’re Madison Boone, you kick your budding romance with handsome Psych Professor Coleman Welles to the curb and lose yourself in a new project.

Madison renovates distressed homes in addition to her busy real estate sales career. When she hears about a quaint house on a private tract of land overlooking Lake Sonoma, she climbs in the window for a private tour and falls in love with the place. Good fortune enables her to purchase the Blackburne’s property, but far more than a new home and lush gardens await discovery during this renovation.

As Madison works on the remodel, she’s drawn into an old love story with dangerous consequences. She unearths buried secrets and discovers herself in the process. Good thing she has three wise, hilarious friends to advise her along the way! Mark of the Loon is the skillful combination of history, mystery, and romance in a novel that explores deep friendship, choices, and how individuals cope with loss.

In Leah’s Wake – Terri Giuliano Long
Link: http://www.amazon.com/In-Leahs-Wake-ebook/dp/B0044XV7PG
Synopsis: A Story of Love, Loss, Connection, and Grace

At the heart of the seemingly perfect Tyler family stands sixteen-year-old Leah. Her proud parents are happily married, successful professionals. Her adoring younger sister is wise and responsible beyond her years. And Leah herself is a talented athlete with a bright collegiate future. But living out her father’s lost dreams, and living up to her sister’s worshipful expectations, is no easy task for a teenager. And when temptation enters her life in the form of drugs, desire, and a dangerously exciting boy, Leah’s world turns on a dime from idyllic to chaotic to nearly tragic.

As Leah’s conflicted emotions take their toll on those she loves—turning them against each other and pushing them to destructive extremes—In Leah’s Wake powerfully explores one of fiction’s most enduring themes: the struggle of teenagers coming of age, and coming to terms with the overwhelming feelings that rule them and the demanding world that challenges them. Terri Giuliano Long’s skillfully styled and insightfully informed debut novel captures the intensely personal tragedies, victories, and revelations each new generation faces during those tumultuous transitional years.

Recipient of multiple awards and honors, In Leah’s Wake is a compelling and satisfying reading experience with important truths to share—by a new author with the voice of a natural storyteller and an unfailingly keen understanding of the human condition…at every age.

Second Chance Grill – Christine Nolfi
Link: http://www.amazon.com/Second-Chance-Liberty-Series-ebook/dp/B009Y4ZSFK
Synopsis: Dr. Mary Chance needs a sabbatical from medicine to grieve the loss of her closest friend. But when she inherits a struggling restaurant in Liberty, Ohio she isn’t prepared for Blossom Perini. Mary can’t resist falling for the precocious preteen—or the girl’s father. The bond they forge will transform all their lives and set in motion an outpouring of love that spreads across America.

Welcome back to Liberty, where the women surrounding the town’s only restaurant are as charming as they are eccentric.

Second Chance Grill is the prequel to Treasure Me, 2012 Next Generation Indie Awards Finalist, which The Midwest Book Review calls “A riveting read for those who enjoy adventure fiction, highly recommended.”

Broken Pieces – Rachel Thompson
Link: http://www.amazon.com/Broken-Pieces-ebook/dp/B00AR0T74S

Synopsis: Welcome to bestselling author Rachel Thompson’s newest work! Vastly different in tone from her previous essay collections A Walk In The Snark and The Mancode: Exposed, BROKEN PIECES is a collection of pieces inspired by life: love, loss, abuse, trust, grief, and ultimately, love again.