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Judythe Morgan and her latest, Promises to Keep
Award-winning author Judythe Morgan was an Air Force daughter then an Army wife and a one time-Department of Army Civilian employee. She's seen a lot of the world.An antiques dealer, teacher, former mayor's wife, and sometimes-church pianist, who recently added Sacred Harp singing to her resume, she's had some wild experiences.Finnegan MacCool, an Old English sheepdog named after the legendary Irish character, and a Maltese named Buster are her constant companions. Together they’ve had some crazy adventures.Beverley: Which genre or genres do you write or prefer to write? And why?Judythe: I write what I call love stories because I slide between straight contemporary romance and women’s fiction with a more literary, than contemporary voice.Beverley: Who influenced you the most in deciding to become a writer?Judythe: Rather than a who my decision to become a writer grew from my love of reading and storytelling. Along the journey, I’ve been greatly influenced by teachers like Donald Maass, Margie Lawson, Mary Buckham, and so many other great writer/teachers.Beverley: What gets your creative juices flowing?Judythe: So many things churn my creative juices – hearing snippets of conversations, new stories, personal life experiences. Just about everything that happens gets stored in my writer’s mill and flows forward into my stories.Beverley: Do you have a favorite cartoon character? Why?Judythe: I love most cartoon characters. In fact, I buy a Sunday paper so I can read the Sunday funnies. I have always loved Peanuts cartoons and lately The Family Circus have made me laugh and smile.Beverley: Who...
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Check Out Seelie Kay and Her New Book - Cult
Seelie Kay is a nom de plume for a writer, editor, and author with more than 30 years of experience in law, journalism, marketing, and public relations. When she writes about love and lust in the legal world, something kinky is bound to happen! In possession of a wicked pen and an overly inquisitive mind, Ms. Kay is the author of multiple works of fiction, including the Kinky Briefs series, the Feisty Lawyers series, The Garage Dweller, A Touchdown to Remember, The President’s Wife, and The President’s Daughter. When not spinning her kinky tales, Ms. Kay ghostwrites nonfiction for lawyers and other professionals. She resides in a bucolic exurb outside Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where she shares a home with her son and enjoys opera, gourmet cooking, organic gardening, and an occasional bottle of red wine. Ms. Kay is an MS warrior and ruthlessly battles the disease on a daily basis. Her message to those diagnosed with MS: Never give up. You define MS, it does not define you! An Interview with
Seelie Kay: Beverley: Why do you write romance?Seelie: Because I am fascinated by the games people play to find and secure a lasting relationship, which is not always love. There’s the chase, the courtship, the falling, the surrender. That’s what I try to capture in my stories.Beverley: Do you prefer a certain type of romantic hero?Seelie: I adore smart, dashing gentlemen who aren’t afraid to live on the edge. They can be a bad boy, a billionaire, a prince, or a secret...
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Check Out Iris Bloebel and her Latest - Journey to Her Dreams
Iris Blobel was born and raised in Germany and only immigrated to Australia in the late 1990s. Having had the travel bug most of her life, Iris spent quite some time living in Scotland, London, as well as Canada where she met her husband. Her love for putting her stories onto paper only emerged a few years back, but now her laptop is a constant companion.Iris resides west of Melbourne with her husband and her beautiful two daughters as well as their dog. Next to her job at a private school, she also presents a German Program at the local Community Radio.Character InterviewBeverley: What’s your name? Hollie: Hollie AndersonBeverley: Where did you grow up? Hollie: On a farm about 20 kms from Launceston, TasmaniaBeverley: During what time period does your story take place? Hollie: Current timeBeverley: What’s your story/back story? Why would someone come up with a story about you? Hollie: I have those dreams about another woman who is being hurt and it hurts me at the same time. To figure out who this woman is and why on earth I’m dreaming about her, my friends give me a ticket to Ireland for my birthday. And so my journey begins …Beverley: What’s your goal in this story? Hollie: To figure out who this woman is that I’m dreaming off and why I do dream of her.Beverley: What conflicts are you facing? Hollie: Not only do I travel to the other side of the world, but I’m supposed to find one...
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Newsletters
Do you do newsletters? Do you think they are worth the effort?Do you enjoy getting newsletters? Do you read them? I just finished doing my newsletter for June.I’ve only just started sending out newsletters. So far not many people have unsubscribed. Hopefully that’s a good sign.I did research newsletter but there are so many different kinds. I decided to start my newsletter with what I did (or didn’t) do last month. Then I tell the readers what I’m doing and where I’ll be this month and include the links. This month I included a few paragraphs from my work in progress, the fourth book in a series. And for the first time I’m giving away a copy of the first book in the series. To enter people have to give a short critique of the draft paragraphs.I have a guest author each time and a simple recipe I hope people enjoy.I try to use lots of photos.If you’d like to get my newsletter, let me know.And I’d love to hear your thoughts on newsletter and maybe what you do in your newsletter.
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The Purpose of Your Novel
I love our group blog and the questions Rhobin manages to come up with. This month it’s ‘what would you like to tell your readers to take from your novels and their purpose?’It would be so easy to say the purpose is to entertain the reader, take them out of their world and into mine. And that is actually one of the things I do want to do.I started writing because I have all the stories in my head and I wanted to share them. I wanted to tell stories people would want to read, but I also wanted readers to learn something from my writing. I hope my readers learn about life and death situations they might not otherwise think about. Or have them learn about people and things they might not otherwise consider, like what makes a serial killer. It would be nice if a reader learned something from each book. And if a reader, or maybe someone they know, is ever involved in one of those situations maybe they’ll consider how they might escape from that situation.In The Foundation series women help to save other women. While you might not be trained in ways the heroines are, if you’re aware of some of the situations maybe you can help by telling someone your concerns or offering to help someone. Women being physically or mentally abuse is a theme that often occurs in my stories. Here’s an excerpt from Gabe’s Story in the Hawkins Ranch series.The front door...
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Does Your Book Need Tightening?
When you’re editing your book and trying to make it tighter, you should be checking for “crutch words”, among many other things. These are words clutter up our book with stuff that doesn’t matter. They are the words and phrases that don’t add anything to your book. We all know about them.Some common “crutch words” are; went, quite, is/was/were, very, actually, really, have/had, so anyway could/should/would, and almost. Often these words are also repeated throughout the book.Not sure if you’re using them?Do a word check, or when editing read your draft or read it out loud, you’ll notice those that keep showing up. You may find after reading them several times they become irritating to you, much like they would to your readers.Once you become aware of the “crutch words” go through the book and look at each one. Are they adding anything to the meaning of the sentence? Do they enhance the story? Can you remove the word without changing the story? Can you replace it with an active verb? In most cases, for me, I find I can delete it and nothing in the story changes. Or I may be able to replace it with a more descriptive word, something that might add to a description or an action.
When you’re finished your book should be a few words shorter and a little tighter.I’d love to hear if you use “crutch words”and how you handle them.
