It's been almost a year...

It's been almost a year since my darling boy, Danny, went missing. If you don't know the story you can read about it in the blog archives for June 2007.

I still miss him, a lot.

I still look at the empty armchair where he loved to sit [see above].

I know in my heart he's not coming back but there's a small part of me that hopes he is going to return on June 1st, 2008, exactly a year to the date he went missing.

I realised quite quickly [well within a few weeks] that I had to let go. It wasn't healthy for me to keep checking the missing dog website. We had done all we could do when he initially went missing with regards to reporting it to the police, online at various missing dog websites, contacted the local dog warden and those in surrounding areas, the country ranger, put up posters etc. My hubby even took some posters to the local school and the headmaster asked the children in assembly if anyone had seen Danny.

The problem I found with the missing dog website was that if I wasn't careful it could become an obsession for me. There were many well-meaning people who checked it and desired to help but some bordered on the fanatic. One day I got a call from three different people claiming to have seen Danny in three totally different areas miles apart. When I asked the people did they notice anything about his ears, none had, which was very strange. They were the first thing anyone would notice about him. They were extremely long and pointed and one was damaged. So one pointed up and one pointed down. He looked more like an Australian Kelpie really than a Border Collie.

What happened to him the night he went missing I shall never know, that's what haunts me the most. I think it would have been easier if I had known, even if I had to live with the fact that he got run over or shot by a farmer. But then again, maybe nothing like that happened and it's possible he is having the time of his life living with some other family -- I do hope that's the case.

Writer's Stasis?

I don't believe in writer's block [not unless the writer is ill or suffering from depression that is]. However, I do believe in Writer's Stasis? What is this strange condition you might well ask.

It's when the writer [you or me] comes to a standstill. Not that they can't write but they won't write. This happens to me at least once or twice a year.

It's happening to me at the moment. I know I will write again but I have to recharge my batteries. My system is overloaded with words and unfinished manuscripts. How I wish I was the type of person who could start a task and finish it without going off at a tangent and starting yet another. If only it were so. Instead, I might start off very well writing three chapters of a novel and then go and start another! Yet, this process seems to work for me. All the manuscripts will get finished in time.

This is the best dictionary definition I can find to explain what I mean by the term 'Stasis':

Main Entry:

sta·sis

Pronunciation:

\ˈstā-səs, ˈsta-\

Function:

noun

Inflected Form(s):

plural sta·ses \ˈstā-ˌsēz, ˈsta-\

Etymology:

New Latin, from Greek, act or condition of standing, stopping, from histasthai to stand — more at stand

Date:

1745

2 a: a state of static balance or equilibrium : stagnation b: a state or period of stability during which little or no evolutionary change in a lineage occurs

So, in effect I am a stagnating writer, but I comfort myself with the thought that even people who stand still for a long time eventually have to move again, and perhaps I am doing that today by writing this post!

American Heritage Dictionary stag·nant

Not moving or flowing; motionless. Foul or stale from standing: stagnant ponds. Showing little or no sign of activity or advancement; not developing or progressing; inactive: a stagnant economy. Lacking vitality or briskness; sluggish or dull: a stagnant mind.

Murder, She Wrote

I hate to admit it but I'm hooked on re-runs of Murder, She Wrote, starring Angela Lansbury. The show which ran from 1984 to 1996 for twelve seasons -- that's no mean feat -- is addictive! Don't ask me why I never watched it at the time. I well remember when it aired that I'd see it coming on and thought it looked quaint and interesting, but it wasn't for me -- until now that is.

At the moment it's being shown on both BBC2 and UK Drama TV channels and I'm having a ball.

Mind you, would you want to be a friend of Jessica Fletcher? I mean every episode someone is killed [there's at least one corpse, sometimes more] and more often than not it's a friend's husband who gets it. Or if not, it's a friend of a close acquaintance. If I knew Jessica [or J.B.Fletcher as she's known in author-land] I'd be petrified to invite her to a dinner party at my home.

In all the episodes I've seen so far, although there is mention of her being a famous author, I've yet to see her write anything, except when the show starts and the credits roll. She types on an old-fashioned typewriter, okay, I don't think lap taps were around then, but computers and word processers were, so her writing should be very time consuming. All that carbon copying and use of the Tippex bottle! So, how does she get the time to solve all these mysteries when her editor wants the proofs of her latest novel on his desk?

I edited three books last year and I have to tell you I had little time for anything else, except sleeping and eating maybe, let alone running around after strangers to find out if they are the murderer, and often times on foreign shores from her native Cabot Cove. So far, I've seen her solve crimes in New York, London, Hong Kong, The Caribbean as well as Cabot Cove.

My favourite episode, thus far is

Episode # 19
Mar. 17--Murder Takes the Bus
Guests: Linda Blair, Michael Constantine, Rue McClanahan
Synopsis: Jessica's bus trip to Portland, Maine, takes a dismal turn when a passenger is murdered.

Tom Bosley [who played Mr. Cunningham in Happy Days], features as the Sheriff and do you detect another well known face from the guest list? None other than Linda Blair, the girl from the Exorcist! Imagine her sitting next to you on the bus! If you tried to look out the window you'd probably see her head violently spinning around and imagine the dry cleaning bills from all that green gunk she'd spew over your clothes!

I love Murder, She Wrote for all it's daftness. It's of it's time, and that I think, is part of its charm.

Inspector Lynley Mysteries

The BBC have recently started to repeat the excellent Inspector Lynley Mysteries, penned by the fabulous Elizabeth George. You can read last year's interview published in The Writer Magazine, here:


I was very surprised when I first discovered that Ms. George is an American. I would have sworn that the author was very much a true Brit. What she does as it explains in the interview is to never write about a place she has not been to first. That's what sets this drama apart, the realism. She gets under the skin of each character and the settings are places she knows.

It's very helpful of course that the lead, Inspector Lynley, happens to be played by handsome actor, Nathaniel Parker.

Parker is very easy on the eye and I'm sure, like the romantic lead in a romance novel, women fall in love with him.

So, it's very strange that the BBC should stop making a successful series like this. Over the Easter holidays, I noticed that a lot of TV programmes shown on both terrestrial and Sky TV, were of a crime related nature. For example, Murder She Wrote, Midsomer Murders, NCIS, Criminal Minds, Damages and Bones, etc.


People will always enjoy a good murder mystery to scare the living daylights out of them!

Top Ten Grammatical Irks

Okay, you've had my top ten hates of a grumpy woman, so how about my top ten grammatical irks? Not even sure if that is grammatically correct!

10. The misuse of the word of instead of have. You must of known. This should of course be: You must have known. Soap opera scriptwriters seem to be guilty of this error, especially Eastenders. It could be that the actors themselves are changing things and not the script writers but it's something I'm hearing more and more these days.

9. Whenever I see the word 'I' [as in myself] written with a small i instead of a capital I, I go ballistic! It might sound petty but it looks bad in my book.

8. Who's instead of Whose. These are commonly mixed up by people. Who's refers to who is and whose should refer in this context: Whose baby is it?

7. Bear versus Bare. For example, He has a bear behind, instead of: He has a bare behind. Of course the former might be perfectly correct if a large Grizzly standing happened to be standing behind him!

6. Whether versus Weather. Should be: Whether you decide to weather the storm...etc.

5. It's versus Its: 'It's is short for 'it is' or 'it has ('it's snowing'), whereas 'its' is a possessive pronoun, as in 'its coat.'

4. Ensure versus Insure. Ensure means to make sure or certain, whereas insure means to guarantee against loss or harm.

3. Me and I. People are afraid to use the word 'Me' in its correct context and will often say something like: 'Give John and I a ring.' To find out if this is correct use of the word 'I' just remove John from the sentence. You would never say 'Give I a ring', would you? It's 'Give me a ring.' Don’t be afraid of me.

2. Alright or All right? Although most people seem to favour 'Alright' it should be two words: 'All right'.

1. Definately or Definitely? It's definitely definitely!

When should you call yourself a writer?

It wasn't until I received my first pay cheque that I actually said: "Now I'm a real writer!" The cheque was for an article I had published on an American website a few years ago.

How wrong I was.

I have been paid for my writing quite a few times since then, not just for my novels but for articles in magazines too. Yet, I always was a writer -- even if I didn't call myself one.

The first person who put any value on my writing was one of my school teachers, Mrs Robinson. Mrs Robinson was young and trendy and she spoke about controversial issues: "Do you know we could all be blown up by an atomic bomb at any time!" I was fourteen and she worried me to death.

Yet, I loved her lessons. At night I read magazines like 'Loving' and 'Love Affair' under the bedcovers by torchlight. The stories were written in the first person and obviously meant for grown ups, although they were pretty tame.

So, in English lessons I wrote my own stories. It's no wonder I love TV programmes like The Sopranos today and films like The Godfather, because back then I remember writing a story about a man who killed his wife, chopped her up into little pieces and disposed of her body in a hay baling machine! I don't know if any other teacher would have read out my story to the class but Mrs Robinson did!

When she read my stories and the bell went before the end, some of the girls would gather around outside the classroom door while one of them read the story through to the end. So I was a natural story teller way back then, although I didn't realise it. Didn't think I had any particular talent.

It wasn't until around 1999 that I joined a creative writing class at a local library, by then I was nearing forty, and feared the rest of the group would be very high brow: men wearing dicky bows who smoked pipes and women in tweed suits! How wrong I was. Despite being the 'baby of the group', some were as old as 80+, I learned a lot from them and realised they were just ordinary people like myself.

Attending that writing group gave me a good grounding as we critiqued one another's stories and poems, but I still didn't feel able to call myself a writer.

Receiving that cheque and contract in the post a few years back didn't make me a writer either. You see, I always was a writer practically from the moment I was able to write -- I just didn't know it.

Hope

As today is Good Friday, the beginning of the Easter weekend, I would like to share a poem. I don't write poetry that often as I have to be in the mood. However, my mother, who goes to the Salvation Army over 60 meetings on a weekly basis, said they were looking for poems on the theme of HOPE. So I picked up a pen and paper this morning and this poem flew from my pen.

Hope

~ Lynette Rees ~

Hope is expectation of the unseen

Hope is having faith to believe

Hope is found in the name of one man

Hope is a gift from God

Hope is a burning candle in the night

Hope is a belief that things will turn out right

Hope is eternal – it never fades away

Hope is a gift from God

Hope is here today – right now with you

Hope is within and without ever true

Hope is all – both Alpha and Omega

Hope is a gift from God

Hope is one man who has a blessed name

Hope fills an empty space where despair has been

Hope gives meaning to our lives full of care

Jesus is that gift from God

Jesus is our hope, diminishing despair

Jesus is our light in the darkness out there

Jesus is our precious gift from Him

Jesus is our hope, our eternal King.

What I Learned about Writing from 'The Sopranos'

In my humble opinion, The Sopranos was the best show aired on TV for ages. In fact I enjoyed it so much that I went out and bought each series and watched them four times over! Every time I watched it, I learned something new.

So what is it about the programme that appeals to me?

Well for a start, the characters are believable and their situations interesting. Who would have thought that a show about a mob boss who suffers from anxiety attacks would get such massive ratings? Or that the final ending would cause so much controversy?

As a writer, who pens both fiction and non fiction, here's what I learned from The Sopranos:

1. Not to make my villains all bad

There's no doubt about it, mob boss Tony Soprano is a bad guy, after all, if you cross him you're liable to end up six foot under. Now if he was an out and out hit man with no redeeming features, he would not be such a likable character. Likable? Tony Soprano? I hear you cry. Yes. The guy does have some redeeming features. He likes animals. Remember how he got upset when he found out that the family dog had not 'gone to a farm' as he thought, but was given away to his father's mistress and son? Or the time, the race horse, Pie-0-My, bought by his cousin, Ralph Cifaretto, gets sick. Tony rushes over to the stables and pays the bill. The vet has been withholding treatment because Ralph hasn't been paying him. Tony stays and comforts the horse. Tony is absolutely devastated when the horse eventually dies in an insurance-fiddle fire at the stables.

So Tony cares about animals but does he care about people? Yeah, sure he does. He cares about his children. He wants them both to have good lives. Whether he truly cares about his wife, Carmela, is of course debatable because of his constant affairs. He also shows kindness to his mother even though she plotted against him and to Uncle Junior in some respects, even though he shot Tony.

So, he's not all bad. He has a vulnerable side and that's what we like about him. We laugh with him and we cry with him.

2. My plots need to be character led

Plot evolves from character. Have you noticed how if Tony has a bad day then everyone else is going to know it and his actions have a ripple-on effect? He might shout at his son, AJ, for example, let his wife Carmela down by sleeping with another woman, walk out on his shrink Dr. Melfi in the middle of a session, or even worse, put a bullet in the back of someone's head!

I have learned that character drives plot. Not only that, but character is plot and even certain settings can become characters in themselves. For example, The Bada Bing club can evoke feelings of menace at times when something sinister is afoot, or equally, it can feel a light hearted place depending on the mood of the plot. Or what about Tony's swimming pool at home? Look at the time the ducks arrived. The pool and the ducks seemed to represent how he felt at that particular time coinciding with his mood. When the ducks left he became depressed.

3. Not to sleep with the fishes

Okay, not many of us want to end up sleeping with the fishes in the ocean like Big Pussy Bonpensiero. He was like the older brother, Tony never had, but of course Tony felt justified in getting him bumped off having found out he was an FBI informant. Tony's haunted by it later of course. But that aside, 'not sleeping with the fishes' here, with regards to writing, I'm talking about is not letting my manuscript gather dust in the drawer or languish on disc. If it never sees the light of day then I've little chance of seeing it published. I need to take a chance and send it out somewhere and if it gets rejected, then back out it goes again and again until it finds a suitable home. Some times it might need some revision to make it publishable but that's not always such a bad thing if it makes my story even stronger. I need to be in it to win it!

4. Keep the reader guessing

The ending of The Sopranos has to be one of the most controversial endings of all time. There are those who felt cheated by it and those, like myself, who have read something else into it and feel in retrospect that it was a brilliant ending.

Many fans anticipated a bloody massacre for emotionally tortured New Jersey captain, Tony Soprano, his mob, and even his family.

David Chase, the show's creator, who wrote and directed the finale, chose to cut to a blank screen which left many viewers wondering if the connection to their television sets had somehow worked loose. As the ending is ambiguous, there is another way to look at it of course, that maybe Tony and his family just had an uneventful evening at the diner after all and that the suspicious looking man who left to go the gentleman's room [a scene reminiscent of The Godfather] did just that, went to relieve himself and did not go there to grab a gun hidden in the cistern to shoot Tony and co while they were in the middle of eating a plate of onion rings! This scene gave the viewer the impression that Tony would be forever looking over his shoulder in the future.

We shall never know for certain of course. I prefer to think of Tony, Carmela and the kids still alive and living somewhere in a parallel universe. But that's the beauty of David Chase's ending, he left the reader guessing. There's nothing worse than a predictable ending and that one was anything but! So in summary, the things I've learned are that villains shouldn't be all bad, character drives plot, manuscripts need to get sent out and to keep the reader guessing!

And the winner is...

The winner of the recent competition I held on this blog is Sarah Elizabeth Rose. Congratulations!! A copy of A Taste of Honey will be winging its way towards you as soon as you send me your e-mail address!

You can send it to peaceful_writer@yahoo.com if you haven't already contacted me!

Mothering Sunday [yesterday]

I had a lovely Sunday. It was Mother's Day here in the UK. My daughter and her boyfriend, Rob, turned up to cook me Sunday lunch. Honestly, I didn't have to do a thing all day -- it was all done for me!

Rob did all the cooking, although Leyna helped prepare the potatoes! The meal was gorgeous, even better than my own Sunday lunches -- Rob's roast potatoes were to die for. We also had chicken with stuffing, dumplings, and vegetables. Oh and Yorkshire pudding! This was followed by a toffee cheesecake. Leyna and Rob also brought me a bottle of bubbly.

The day couldn't have gone any better. They also bought me a real nice new skirt with a fancy belt -- should look nice with my boots, and a pink nightie with the words 'Yummy Mummy!' on the front.

Nathan, my son, brought me a bouquet of lilac and pink flowers and a box of chocolates. My mother joined us for lunch as well, as it was her Mother's Day too. I bought her a funny DVD called Keeping Mum, starring Rowan Atkinson, Kirstin Scott Thomas, Patrick Swayze and Maggie Smith, and a box of Belgian chocs. I also treated her to a meal in the Castle hotel the day before [see previous post].

My hubby came back from Ireland last night and brought me a take-away, so again I had no need to lift a finger, Leyna had even washed up for me!

I'm back to earth with a bump today though. The dish washer has blown up [no not my daughter, the real dishwasher], I shouldn't have ignored that burning smell of rubber lol.

By the way, now I know I'm really an author. I set up a Google alert to check on the progress of my latest book, A Taste of Honey. I just received an alert. It's being sold on e-bay and two people are bidding for it!

See here!

At least I know people are buying it. It also said on the Amazon.com site last night that there was only one copy left in stock. Is that a good sign or not? That's never happened with any of my other books, so I'll take it that it is!

St. David's Day!

Today, the first of March, is St. David's Day. We Welsh are a patriotic bunch!

I took my mother out for a meal lunch time as a precursor to Mother's Day tomorrow. We went to the Castle Hotel. They must have a new chef as the meals have been fantastic recently. Not just the taste but the presentation as well.

Then we did a little shopping as we always do around the town on a Saturday afternoon. As I came out of one shop I heard someone belting out 'Mama Told Me Not to Come' on the microphone at the bottom of the escalator. It turned out to be a Tom Jones impersonator, who sounded so good, for a split second I wondered if it was the old boyo himself! He did look a lot like him but unless Tom has been on a diet lately, then it couldn't have been him. Just kidding -- I've seen Tom Jones on stage a couple of times. Of course, I knew it wasn't him but there was a faint possibility as he was born just 12 miles away from here.

This week I joined a women's crime writing organisation called, Sisters in Crime. After my fiasco with the Crime Writers' Association, I was pleased to find somewhere that wasn't up it's own backside!

See previous post about my dealings with the CWA here:

Writing Association Snobbery!

The Sisters in Crime newsletter is very interesting.

I read a book this week written by a member [although I didn't realise she was a member when I read it]. The book is called Evan's Gate and the author, Rhys Bowen. I absolutely loved the book. I couldn't put it down and it had a special interest for me as it's set in Wales, so I knew most of the location and the protagonist has the same name as my great great grandfather, Evan Evans.

Isn't it great when you read a book and you don't want to put it down?

I also made one of my favourite Welsh meals this week, Leek and Potato Bake. It's so easy to make and very tasty too. There are lots of variations of this recipe and I suppose you can adapt it to suit yourself.

So, this has been a very Welsh week for me, which is pertinent really as it's St. David's Day today!

A bit of a buzz for me!

I was coming home from work this evening, waiting for a connecting bus at the bus station, when a lady from the village where I live shouted, "You've been on my mind this week!" I turned around expecting that she was speaking to someone behind me, but there was no one there.

Oh dear, I thought, what have I done?

"I couldn't remember your surname," she said enthusiastically, "I want to get your books from the library!"

So of course, I gave her the correct spelling of my full name and both books. Now you might think, what's the point of that because I'm not going to earn anything from it, but I think libraries are a good thing. I've taken out books by new authors and then gone on to purchase further copies of their books.

I know there are authors who don't like having their books sold in charity shops or passed around for others to read, but I'm not one of those. To be honest, I'm flattered when I'm told someone has enjoyed one of my books so much they've passed it on to their next door neighbour or posted it their daughter-in-law who lives on the other side of the world. As far as I'm concerned, my name is getting out there.

So, I hope that lady from the village manages to get both copies of my books and if she enjoys them, she'll tell others. After all, wasn't it Donald Maas that said: "It's not reviews that sell books but word-of-mouth."

Inspiration for A Taste of Honey

A reader asked me the other day where I got my inspiration from for my latest release, A Taste of Honey.

The concept came to me initially from a newspaper article I read in one of the national dailies, here in the UK. It was about a woman who worked for a private detective agency as a honey trapper. Now if you don't already know, a honey trapper is a woman who sets up men on behalf of their partners to see if they are capable of cheating or not.

Now I got to thinking: What would happen if one of these so-called honey trappers accidentally set up the wrong guy? And so, a germ of an idea for 'A Taste of Honey', my romantic comedy was born.

I knew that I wanted the hero, Travis O'Connell, to be a little different from the usual male Alpha hero with the bulging biceps and rippling six pack. For a start he's Irish and I've never written about an Irish man before, but I know some Irish people and I've read a lot of works by Irish author, Edna O'Brien. That aside, it's one of the accents I do best, but that would be debatable in some quarters!

Travis is a free spirit. He doesn't like to feel hemmed in. That's probably why he lives on a delapitated caravan park where his only friends are a stray dog named, Buster, and a neighbour called, Marge. Marge's lorry driving hubby ran off with a young bimbo from the bingo hall some years back leaving her to look after her brood of kids. 'The old woman who lived in a shoe' would be a good analogy for Marge.

In my eyes, I see her as someone looking and acting like, Janet Street Porter.

Someone who's forthright with her tongue, but beneath that steely exterior beats a heart of gold.

Fran Santini, I knew would be someone who loves life. She wouldn't be one of those skinny size zero women who loves to nibble on a lettuce leaf to keep her looks in check. Fran enjoys her food and working at the family Italian restaurant, she needs to. Of course, totally complicating matters is the fact that as a respectable Catholic girl, she moonlights as a honey trapper for The Peace of Mind Agency. If Mamma and Papa, and her brothers come to that, ever find out, there will be hell to pay.

I got the idea for the two elderly, cantankerous sisters at the restaurant from watching two old women who dine in the same hotel restaurant, where my mother and myself go from time to time. They always seem to order the same food!

I developed the character of Ronald Santini, restaurant owner and Fran's Papa, from an Italian restaurant I visited in Cardiff. As soon as my mother and myself went in through the door, the man I based him on was throwing his hands in mid air and shouting: "Beautiful ladies, please sit here." He made such a fuss over us that we ended up ordering a lot of food and wine and got quite a hefty bill because of it. Oh well, you live and learn. I would definitely return to that restaurant but only for special occasions.

So, there we have it, that's how my baby, A Taste of Honey was born!

COMPETITION: WIN A COPY OF A TASTE OF HONEY

I'm running a competition for you to win a free paperback copy of my romantic comedy, A Taste of Honey.

Here is the blurb:

Honey is not far from the sting.

Fran Santini has a secret she keeps from her family. During the day, she works as a waitress, but at night, she is a honey trapper for the Peace of Mind Agency, working for women who suspect their partners are cheating.

Travis O’Connell is minding his own business, enjoying a pint of Guinness at his local pub, when he is accosted by Fran who believes he is her intended target. After all, he has a goatee just as his “wife” described.

Fran, a hopeless honey trapper, fails to realize she has set up the wrong guy. What’s more, when the penny finally drops, she is forced into a compromising situation, begging the question: can Fran’s job stay a secret for much longer?

At the risk of incurring the wrath of Fran’s brother, Antonio, Travis finds himself attracted to sultry Fran Santini. Will the secret draw the couple together or drive them apart?

All you have to do is post here at my blog by telling me what your favourite romance novel is and why. Oh and don't forget to leave your e-mail address so I can contact you if you win. If you're uncomfortable about leaving your contact details here, then please also send a copy of your post here along with your e-mail address to:

peaceful_writer@yahoo.com

Lynette

Picture Board: A Spoonful of Sugar

This is Suzie's shop, All Things Nice. She creates special occasion cakes for weddings, birthdays and anniversaries.


I imagine Antonio Santini to look like the actor Mark Bannerman. This is probably subconsciously because the character of Antonio is a chef at The Vine Tree restaurant, which also featured in A Taste of Honey and Mark worked in his family's Italian restaurant in Eastenders.


Suzie Frampton, I pictures as a larger than life character. She's not a super skinny girl, but a well rounded size 16 wh enjoys her food and life!

The galley for WATCHING YOU

I received the galley this morning to check over for my latest book, Watching You. I'm really excited about it as it's my darkest novel yet. I go into the mind of a serial killer who is out there watching the heroine -- hence the title.

In my three published novels so far, I have only used the hero and heroine's point of view but in this book I also use the villain's pov which was interesting. This allowed me to be as nasty and evil as I could possibly be! I think authors put a little of themselves into their novels often without realising it, but I promise you I am not about to go around stalking or killing anyone.

A Taste of Honey goes into 801 Borders stores at the end of the month. I'm really over the moon about that!

A cautionary tale for authors

I was surfing the web last night when I ended up at the New York Times website and an article written about the recent so-called plagiarism by a well-known romance author, Cassie Edwards. Apparently, someone had posted a blog about this in January when they had discovered upon feeding some of Ms. Edwards text from her novels into Google, she had blatantly lifted text from the works of three different novels. If you want to read on further about this, here are the links:

A Romance Novelist is Accused of Copying

First Article about issue at Smart Bitches Blog

The PDF Document at Smart Bitches Blog that indicates the plagiarism

When I read the above my eyes widened with surprise that a well-known author of Ms. Edwards standing in the romance community and of course, the writing world, would do such a thing.

She was questioned about this issue but apparently made out it was 'historical research' and she had no idea what she was doing was wrong. Now come on, you don't have to be a rocket scientist to realise that if you lift someone's work almost word for word that you need to attribute it to the source. At least that's what I was taught in college. We used quotes and references. And if someone researches they don't normally write word for word.

I had to carry out research for a recent historical romance I've written. I just read widely on the subject and wrote things in my own words. In any case, most of the topics I researched were written by professors and the like and their writing voices would have sounded totally out of place with my own. And I definitely didn't go taking my research from other similar works of fiction. The books I used were local history books.

So far, Ms. Edwards publishers and the Romance Writers of America [she used to be a member] aren't committing themselves to saying she actually plagiarised stuff. Yet a magazine journalist has even found his own words in one of her books when he wrote about Meer cats.

This is a cautionary tale for authors. Big Brother is out there, watching and waiting, and this time he has a name -- Google!

What are you reading at the moment?

I have this habit of reading three books at the same time. No, I'm not an octopus, but I like variety. Downstairs on my coffee table is a copy of Shirley Jump's book, THE MARRIAGE MIRACLE, which I read when I get the time [I've almost finished it by the way!] On my bedside cabinet, the bedroom is where I read mostly, is a copy of Michael Winner's autobiography, WINNER TAKES ALL: A life of sorts, and INDESTRUCTIBLE SELF-BELIEF by Fiona Harrold [that came free with a magazine a couple of years ago!]

The most absorbing of these three books has to be Michael Winner's. I love it. He hooked me from the first paragraph. His life has been so varied and interesting. As well as there being some extremely amusing parts, there are also some poignant ones. Like the way he describes how Burt Lancaster spent his last days following a stroke and how Oliver Reed had a smallish funeral in Ireland attended by ordinary folk [the type of friends he had in life] and how he, Michael Winner, was the only celebrity in attendance.

I can well believe this. I met Oliver Reed unexpectantly once at a friend's wedding. We arrived for the evening do and someone said that Mr Reed had turned up in the middle of the wedding with just a sheet wrapped around him. Then he picked up a drink, emptying it over his head, saying, "Here's a toast to the bride and groom!"

So, I wondered if he would show up for that evening as I heard he was staying for the week at the hotel. We hadn't been in the bar for more than a half hour when he showed up with his girlfriend, Josephine, who was later to become his wife and who stayed with him to the end. He was a marvellous character, he spoke to us in a normal way, as if he had always known us. I felt very comfortable in his presence. I asked him what he was doing at the hotel and he said that Josephine had always wanted to see Wales. Then he asked me if I wanted to see his tattoo--which I firmly declined--I knew it was on a certain part of his anatomy!

Anyhow, I digress, back to the books...which type of books do you like to read and what are you reading at the moment?

Writing Association Snobbery!

As I write mainly romantic suspense, so there are crime elements in my novels, I thought it might be an idea to join the Crime Writers Association

So I e-mailed someone at the website and was told to qualify for membership I would need to meet certain criteria. Fair enough. The main thing being that my book was not vanity published [that I should not have paid for publication.] I haven't. Also that I receive royalties, well I do. I thought my application would have been straightforward. Not so.

It was taken to some sort of committee and the upshot is that my publisher is not 'big enough', so I was told in so many words to come back when I have a more well known one. This really makes me mad. The reason I wanted to join in the first place is to network with other crime fiction authors and find out more about meetings etc.

Of course, my Samhain novel, A Taste of Honey, is with a much larger publisher as that book will retail at 801 Borders stores across the US, but that's a romantic comedy. My other books are with The Wild Rose Press. Why should TWRP get penalised because of petty minded individuals who only want their organisation to serve the elite few?

The upshot of all this is, I looked at some of the member pages at The Crime Writers Association and noticed that one of the members recently published, has self published both his books at Lulu! So it appears there is one rule for one and one for another! At least I know all my books have been properly edited and copy edited. Who knows about his.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not knocking Lulu. I think it's great. I've even self published there myself. The books look great and it's a reasonably priced publisher.

In the meantime, I've contacted The Mystery Writers of America
who informed me that I am welcome to join them as an affilate member because TWRP does not appear on their list of approved publishers at the moment. I'm happy with that as at least I will receive most member benefits.

The kind of attitude they have at the CWA reminds me of the kind of people who say they only read 'literary' novels. Surely, all novels are literary in some form or another.

Snobbish behaviour pi**es me off. At the end of the day we all break wind and excrete, but perhaps some people's faeces is 22 carat gold plated!

To outline or not outline, that is the question!

I was asked yesterday whether I outline when planning one of my books or not?

This is a very good question.

The answer is both yes and no.

Before you you shake your head with disapproval. I'll explain...

I'm a bit of an inbetweener. The only outline is in my head. I'll start off with a story idea, maybe something I've heard on the news or read in the paper. This leads me to a certain scenario, usually the moment something big is about to happen to the protagonist. I'll mull this around in my bonce for a few days and will also construct an ending.

Then I create a picture board. I cut out pictures from magazines or something I've seen online that gives me an impression of the characters and settings I wish to create [sometimes I take actual photographs of settings], and I stick the board up near my computer.

Then I write that first scene and work towards the ending I have planned.

This seems to work for me because I like to surprise myself. I'd hate to know too much about my novel before I started it. So some events are as much as a shock to me as they would be to the reader and I believe this helps when I want them to turn that page!

So, what do you do? Are you a plotter, a pantser, or an inbetweener like me?