Taking Time...isn't wasting time

 It's been awhile since I "took the time" to write a blog post. There always seemed to be other projects to
which I needed to bend my efforts. But then, this morning, I began mulling over the whole concept of taking the time to do something and knew it was time to write another post...aimed squarely at yours truly. (And if any of you see some benefit here, then...bonus!) 

I had a bit of a Eureka moment when I thought about what taking time means. It's not about taking precious time away from other things we deem more worthy. It's not losing time. It's taking ownership of time. We take it into our keeping. 

So with that notion in mind, I thought of a few things for which I need to take the time on a regular basis. Perhaps some will speak to you, as well.

Take the time to:

Listen. 

To people of all ages, even to those on opposite sides of the "fence," whatever fence it is that divides us. Perhaps, especially to them. It doesn't mean we condone their opinions, but it does mean we recognize them as fellow human beings. And, really, if we are arming ourselves for whatever social or political battles we see fit to engage in, then we sure better know what the other folks are saying. Not just saying, but feeling. And that, my friend, takes real listening. Not just listening with our ears, but with our hearts and minds.

To the sounds of nature. There is another world out there, beyond our human making, and it is alive with sound! I find the best time to plug into that world is early morning before so many of us fill the air with our vehicles, and lawnmowers, and radios, and words. It's a reminder that we share this planet with innumerable other beings, ones that live their lives alongside us and, if we listen, fill it with beautiful and fascinating song and chatter.

Read.

I'm aiming this specifically at my writer-side. Reading enlarges our world and allows us to live vicariously through a universe of characters, both fictional and historical, who go places and do deeds beyond our ken. As a writer, immersing myself in a well-written book helps inform my own writing for the better. ("Just look how effortlessly this author spins dialogue..." "Those short, punchy sentences really help build up the tension in this chapter..." etc) And even reading less than stellar material can be a literary object lesson. ("Whoa. I better watch out for these kind of run-on sentences in my manuscript...")

Practice Self-Care.

An especially difficult concept since this seems to be simultaneously time-wasting and self-serving. But, honestly, how well can we do the other more "important" things if our health suffers: mental, physical, or both? 

As a writer, hyper-focusing on the computer screen in front of me, this means I must set my alarm and get up and move around (particularly my stiff neck and shoulders) on a regular basis. My physical therapist, trying to help me alleviate my terrible neck stiffness and pain, is the source of this advice. He wants me to take a break every thirty minutes. Thirty minutes! I'm trying. 

Now, this next bit of self-care will surely bring out the scatological fifth-grade humorist in us, but it's important to take time to...poop. Yes, I said it. When I grew up, our family bathrooms were devoid of reading material. We were encouraged to spend as little time there as possible. It wasn't until I began visiting the bathrooms of friends that I discovered the whole "reading room" concept. ("What the heck are all these magazines doing in the bathroom?!") Needless to say, years of chronic constipation taught me that some things just can't be rushed. 

Take time to rest. If we grind ourselves down to the bone (again, mentally or physically,) there is nothing left with which to carry out that important work we are driving ourselves to perform.  And sleep. Oh my goodness, food of the gods. Science is now telling us that sleep isn't a waste of time; it's essential to our brain cells to regroup and revive and keep on ticking away.

Savor Food.

Think of this as a subset of Self-Care. Even the most humble of meals, deserves our attention. After all, without food, where would we be? Nowhere. And, I've been told that focusing on each bite we take, really tasting it, noticing its texture, is one way to slow down our consumption and actually eat less. Eat less, enjoy more. Mindful eating. Sounds reasonable to me. And, lucky for me, I'm married to a man who loves to cook! Win/win! (Time to pull this post together because I smell something delectable coming from the kitchen...)

-There are many more things for which I need to take the time, but this is a start. I welcome your own thoughts on taking time in the comments, below.

Thanks for stopping by. Y'all come back, now!

Kate

On Writing...just do it

("Foreword"— Please forgive any wonky formatting you see in this and future posts. I am still trying to get a handle on Blogger's new version! )               With my first traditionally published book, Zephyr Stone and the Moon Mist Ghost, being launched by Blue Ink Press, next month, I am in the midst of developing my author website. One of my pages will be a section "On Writing." And, so, I thought I'd give you a preview of my soon-to-be-published website by sharing this page with you, ahead of time.      When asked my advice on writing, my words are simple. Just do it. Set out a time each day (or each week,) pour yourself a cup or glass of your favorite beverage and set pen to paper or fingers to keyboard and start writing. This part of your writing is for your eyes only. You know that popular phrase, “Dance like nobody’s watching?” Well, write like nobody’s reading over your shoulder. Not your family, not your friends, and certainly not your former English teacher. It doesn’t have to be pretty and it probably won’t be. The procrastinator’s best friend is perfectionism. Trust me, I know this intimately. You can and will always go back and clean things up, hunt for that perfect word, run down that bit of research, and polish that diamond in the rough until it shines. But...if you don’t write something down, there will be nothing to polish. 

My second piece of advice is also simple. Read. Read, read, read. Read within your current genre, read outside of your current genre, read the classics, read the new, read the great, and read the not-so-great. We learn from it all. Read. Write. Repeat.                                                       

My third suggestion, is to find yourself a group of Kindred Spirits, either in person or online, in which you share your written work with one another and where each member reads and offers impressions of the writing. You will learn at least as much from the act of reading and thoughtfully considering the writing of others as you will from the insights they provide into your own writing. I am so very fortunate to be a member of a wonderful and supportive local writers group that meets twice monthly for this purpose. Even in the time of Covid 19, we continued to meet via Zoom. It has truly helped me stay sane and grounded!

I am often asked if I am a planner, creating thorough outlines and character sketches          before I write that first chapter, or am I a pantser, writing by the seat

of my pants without a safety net? Just like my car, I am a hybrid of the two. Long before I begin writing my new manuscript, I’ve thought in generalized terms about the plot, the setting, the characters and what they have at stake in the world I will be creating around them, as well as the genre, and the target audience. Then, as I consider the book as a whole, I write out a loose outline of the action. Opening, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution. I include my main characters, but leave them LOTS of leeway to expand upon themselves and introduce me to supporting characters I didn’t even know I needed. This flexibility allows my book to live and breathe as it takes on a life of its own. But the general outline makes sure my characters don’t lead me too far astray and down a rabbit hole that might take me weeks from which to dig back out. 

My favorite music to write by? The sound of a fire crackling in the fireplace (or a virtual one on my computer or TV,) the sounds of the natural outside world: birds, rain, wind, and waves.  When it comes to manmade music, it has to be purely instrumental. I am way too verbally-oriented to tune out lyrics. That goes for either vocal music or even tunes associated with lyrics known to me. I will hear the unsung words in my head and they interfere with my concentration. I enjoy movie soundtracks for background music, especially music from the Harry Potter films.

One more thought. I love to bake. (Check out my recipe Face Book page, Kate’s Giving Plate:
https://www.facebook.com/KatePlate15 ) And I see a direct correlation between baking and writing. Both take forethought, assembling the right ingredients, measuring them out into workable proportions, mixing them together, then allowing them enough time in the right environment to bake to delicious fruition. Food for thought, you might say! With that in mind, I look forward to meeting with school children as we step into my literary kitchen and “bake books” together. 

Thanks for stopping by. Y'all come back, now. (And "write on!")

Kate

Hard Road South and The King's Oracle...safe travel through books

"Books" photo via Pixabay.com

Reading is a way to travel through time and space and never leave the safe harbor of our homes. And even though our country is slowly reopening to the new normal of mask-wearing social distancing, the Covid 19 pandemic still ravages the planet, and the number of related deaths in the United States has risen by nearly 100,000 more than I noted in my blog post, just two months ago. Thank goodness for books to "take us away!"

So, today, I'd like to introduce you to two wonderful new books I've recently read, from my publisher, Blue Ink Press. (You may remember that Blue Ink Press will be publishing my middle grade book, Zephyr Stone and the Moon Mist Ghost, in 2021.) Before reading my reviews of each book, below, I think it’s important to note that although historical fiction, Hard Road South by Scott Gates, and young adult fantasy, The King’s Oracle by Sherry Torgent are from completely disparate genres and target readership age groups, they both excel at voice, pacing, world building, and character development. Both books succeed in making the reader care about the characters and become emotionally invested in the outcome of the story and how it affects those characters.

Another element they have in common is the theme of a journey. Journeys can be geographical or spiritual or a combination of the two. In the best stories, the physical journey leads to spiritual growth, as it does in these two novels. And when I speak of spiritual, I refer to the core of the person on the journey. That which is home to, and a reflection of, their true selves, regardless of the physical vessels in which they are housed. Following, are my reviews for each book in the order in which I read them.

Hard Road South by Scott Gates 

 (Published by Blue Ink Press and available through Amazon  and independent book stores listed at IndieBound )

Hard Road South is historical fiction set in the era just after the end of the

Hard Road South by Scott Gates

American Civil War. On an April morning in 1869, former union solider, Solomon Dykes, leaves his Connecticut home, of which he has little to hold him, and begins his journey to a place that caught his heart and imagination during the American Civil War—the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. He doesn’t make it quite that far, but settles in Loudoun County, near Middleburg, Virginia. There, his life becomes entangled with a South struggling to recover, both physically and spiritually, from the ravages of war and that which drove the nation to civil war.

Jeb Mosby is a farmer living with his wife and his elderly father, a father whose mind and body, both, tend to wander. On their farm, just outside of Middleburg, Mosby coaxes crops from the rocky ground as his lovingly tends to the needs of his home and family. It’s one of his Pappy’s wandering spells that brings Solomon Dykes into Mosby’s corner of the world. An encounter that forever changes the life trajectory of both Mosby and Dykes.

Although written for an adult readership, it would be appreciated by young adult readers, as well. After all, high school-aged readers are not limited to reading books written specifically within the Young Adult genre. High school is where I discovered and devoured some of the great works of literature, from Shakespeare to Dostoevsky to Hemingway. Although parents have less influence over their teenaged children’s reading habits than they did when those offspring were younger, they can rest assured there is nothing, in this novel, that could be construed as inappropriate for younger readers. If it were a movie, I’d rate it PG-14 for subject matter and interest.

The story is told, primarily, from the points of view of its two main characters, Dykes and Mosby, with a smattering of chapters told from the viewpoints of minor characters. Each chapter is devoted to one POV at the time and skillfully captures the voice of the character in dialogue, thought, and action.

Scott Gates, author of Hard Road South

Scott Gates wisely sets the pace of the book to that of a gentle, but steady and unceasing, plow-driven mule. It perfectly matches the pace of the era and the reader easily slips into that 19^th century spirit, never boring, always pushing forward. The author seamlessly weaves in details of life in the 1860s, which add to the interest and credibility of the “historical” part of this historical fiction.

The King’s Oracle by Sherry Torgent

(Published by Blue Ink Press, available June 16, 2020 and may be pre-ordered through Amazon and independent book stores listed at IndieBound)

Set in an indeterminate time, the clothing, modes of travel, and weaponry give

The King's Oracle by Sherry Torgent

the novel’s setting a medieval quality. Because of a long-ago clash and disagreement among the civilization’s leaders, approximately half of its population (the Alrenians,) resides in the tree canopy, living and moving about by an intricate network of rope bridges and platforms, and the other half (the Uluns,) are earth-bound, attempting to survive on the ground, much of which was made toxic during a past event known as The Great Destruction, when fire rained down upon the earth.

Twenty-two-year-old Wynter is a member of the Alrenians, the people of the eagle, and, like her father before her, is a Transporter, whose job is to transport items from place to place among the branches. We first meet Wynter as she reluctantly and secretly takes the place of her cousin, Jack, as an escort for the Alrenian queen. What follows, tests not only Wynter’s ability to disguise herself as a man, but her ability to think on her feet when she finds those booted feet, not skittering among the Alrenian treetops, but planted firmly on the dangerous ground of the Uluns.

The other primary character is Gideon, heir apparent of the Ulus, the people of the wolf. Troubled by a disturbing and recurrent dream of interaction with the Alrenian queen, he seeks the counsel of the Ulun seer, a Merlin-like character named Gotz. As the future king tries to make sense of the dream-induced vision Gotz presents him, and how it plays into his destiny as leader of the Uluns, Wynter enters his world of ground-dwellers and an uneasy partnership of sorts emerges as they both attempt to do what is best for their people.

Sherry Torgent, author of The King's Oracle

I was privileged to receive a digital version of The King’s Oracle as an advanced reading copy (ARC) and have, since, pre-ordered a paper-printed edition of this intriguing novel. Call me old-fashioned, but when I truly enjoy a book, I long to hold it in my hands and give it a home on my bookshelf!

 Although it falls within the young adult genre, I believe it has crossover appeal to both older (11-12 year-old) middle grade readers and adult readers. Parents of older middle grade readers will find the subject matter and its treatment, entirely appropriate for that younger readership. Although, at twenty-two years old, the main character’s age falls beyond the common young adult genre’s teenaged protagonist, “the star of the show,” Wynter, has a youthful personality to which teen readers will relate. (I use the phrase “the star of the show,” because the book has a cinematic quality, which engages the reader and makes the book hard to put down.)

Although the majority of The King’s Oracle is told from the point of view of either Wynter or Gideon, the POV of a few other characters is also entwined throughout the book, with each chapter titled with the name of the character whose viewpoint is utilized in that section. By this method, the reader learns not only the thoughts and actions of the two main characters and their views of the world, but also becomes privy to the co-existing intrigue of other characters of which Wynter and Gideon are unaware.

There is just enough humor to buoy our spirits as the action moves swiftly along among forays into both realistic battle scenes and into the desires and sometimes confusing emotions of the human heart. Sherry Torgent has managed to weave together the look and feel of a long-ago time and far-away fantastical land with a fresh, contemporary voice that invites 21^st century readers to feel at home amid the strangeness.

I invite you to read more about the authors, Scott Gates and Sherry Torgent, at Blue Ink Press.

Thanks for stopping by. Ya'll come back, now! (And, please, stay safe and healthy out there.)
Kate