How Leaving Home Made me Fall in Love With Writing again.

I’ve been having a bit of a jaded time recently; you know the sort of thing when you just can’t work

up any enthusiasm for anything…several books almost done but I guess my Muse had taken off on vacation, because she certainly wasn’t doing much to help me get inspired.

So, what to do? A couple of days away from home, work, keyboard, from my life, usually shakes me out of it. Not that we actually live a gadabout life, but a couple of days here and there are within budget and refreshing. Any longer than a couple of days and we return to three felines who turn their backs on us and refuse to be tempted to cuddles without some major grovelling by their humans.

This time it was off to Toronto, an overnight hotel stay curtesy of a special TravelZoo offer. Toronto

is such a modern, clean, friendly city that it’s hard to get bored there, although I wouldn’t trade my country lifestyle for a return to city dwelling.

We visited China Town, which is an outing in itself. The area is so colorful, with stores full of fascinating herbs, veggies that aren’t in our local market,  jewelry, clothing, drinks…and streets full of colorful, interesting, friendly people of all ethnic varieties.

A visit there is a tonic in itself. Totally revitalising.

Our target was the Art Gallery of Ontario. There was a special exhibit of the work of Alex Colville,

the Maritimes artist whose wonderful work has received great acclaim. I’d never seen original Colville works before, and it was mind blowing. Many of his paintings are ‘everyday’ scenes but there is a disturbing element in them…you get the feeling from some of them that everything is not quite as it seems…
I have to admit that I’m fascinated by artistic people; Indeed, from time to time I've dabbled myself. And no, there won't be any of my attempts at acrylics on display ion this blog! However, the heroine of my very first novel, Judgement By Fire, is a wildlife artist who is prepared to take on a huge corporation to save the woodland artists’ colony where she lives. She finds herself falling in love with the CEO of the international corporation, putting her life in danger, and having to unravel a mystery involving a tangled web of hatred decades in the making..

How’s that for writing a teaser without giving the plot away? You can read the first chapter at my website, www.glenysoconnell.com

Seriously, though, if you get a chance to visit a Colville exhibition, do go. Everyone needs refresh their creative soul now and again. And leaving home is a great way to do it. :-) And now I'm signing off, because I'm totally wired and can't wait to get back to writing!

Writing Programs: Help A Writer, Win an eBook!

Spring is all about new beginnings, and I love it. I’m a spring baby – born on March 21^st, the date many people consider to be the first day of spring, after the Spring Solstice. But it gets more confusing – the solstice can occur on either the 20^th or more rarely, on the 21^st, depending on time zone and year. And then there’s the differences between the Gregorian and the Julian calendars, oh my! Small wonder I get easily confused J

Here in the Great White North (rural Ontario, Canada) Spring is all about planning while waiting for the snow to melt. Yep, we still have plenty of the white stuff. So we browse magazines and catalogues to plan spring wardrobes, pore over seed catalogues and plan for fresh veggies and a riot of flowers.

The seed catalogues contain positively pornographic photos of gorgeous exotic new types of flowers, shrubs, and vegetables, plenty to keep a gardener warm in her dreams until the weather warms up!

Yes, I love the new beginnings Spring offers. But some new beginnings are there all year round. New novel ideas are waiting like gifts to be unwrapped. The secret is to know when the time for the great unwrapping has arrived!

With four new releases in the past four months: The No Sex Clause, Saving Maggie, Judgement By Fire, and Winters & Somers – I’ve been feeling exhausted and a bit jaded. The excitement that goes with a new release involves lots of exhausting promoting and talking about the books – at least, once the editing, formatting, and waiting are over – and all I could think about in the last couple of weeks was NOT writing. My DH and I went out a lot, visiting, shopping, exploring. Planning. I did a lot of catching up with friends who thought I’d fallen off the face of the earth. Reading. Housecleaning. Paperwork. Taxes. But most of all, playing and replenishing the creative well.
And daydreaming.

Then it happened. An idea popped into my head and held out its arms like a newborn to several other ideas that were languishing in a file on the computer. Every writer has a file like this – mine is named IDEAS – not very poetic but gee, it serves the purpose.

So, with ideas linking, characters began to step out of the shadows of my mind and introduce themselves. Considering I write romantic suspense, mystery, and comedy, I sometimes worry about what – or who – exactly is lurking in the shadows of my mind. But let’s not dwell on that!

Anyhow, during my ‘recovery’ time, I’ve been reading a terrific book on getting more written. It’s called 2kTo 10k: Writing Faster,WritingBetter,And Writing More ofWhat You Love. It’s by Rachel Aaron, a prolific writer herself, and well worth reading if you want to – well, if you want to do what it says on the cover!

So now I have a dilemma. I have this terrific idea for a contemporary mystery series leavened with humor, set in a country house in England. My fingers are itching to hit the keys without even an outline – chapter one is already done.

Then I took Ms. Aaron’s advice and downloaded a trial version of Scrivener (click the link for a trial copy). It’s a marvelous program that helps you keep track of, and easily access, everything in your manuscript.

Now I’m torn. Do I plunge into the writing , knowing I’ll face blocks when the plot or characters don’t gel and I’ll have to rework, revamp, or edit like crazy. Or do I take the time out and explore this new program and figure out if it really will work for me?  I know I’ve had problems sometimes (who hasn't?) with having to go back and edit for mistakes in simple details such as character descriptions and names, or chronology. This is a real pain that usually occurs if you have to stop writing for a few days and then try to get back into your manuscript.

So, learn the new program or fly by the seat of my pants into the writing? Any thoughts? Do you use a writing program like Scrivener? Do you outline? Are you a planner or a pantser when it comes to writing? There’s the gift of an ecopy of Saving Maggie from Amazon for the most helpful comment!

 Glenys O’Connell writes romance and mysteries laced with humor. You can read some of her first chapters at Romance Can Be Murder!

Confessions - and Recipes - of a Reluctant Cook

By Glenys O'Connell @GlenysOConnell

                So this month we’re talking recipes here at the Roses of Prose. I thought it was a great idea – after all, I thought of it!

          Great, that is, until I remembered my limited talents in the kitchen. I love books where the characters enjoy gourmet foods, expensive wines, and exotic this and that. Unfortunately, we writers do write what we know. In Judgement By Fire, heroine Lauren Stephens makes a mean tuna’n’cheese macaroni casserole. And in my upcoming release, Saving Maggie, (Crimson Romance, December 31) the heroine, Maggie Kendall, has the local pizza place on speed dial.

                You get my drift?

                But my Saving Grace (that’s the title of a 2013 release, by the way – more about that later!) is that I know how to get help. As always, when in need, I find my fellow writers are darn talented and willing to share their knowledge.

                Here’s one of my favourite foodie sites: Chickens in the Road, by bestselling author Suzanne McMinn. If you haven’t visited, the site is delightful and you really, really should go.

                Susan is the one who introduced me to the world of bread. That is, breads that even I could make. Her recipe, which I adapted for my own use, has saved my bacon on many occasions, from having to rustle up a pizza lunch for the bunch, to creating gorgeous bread to glam up a simple soup meal.

Here’s my version:

BREAD:

Ingredients: 1 cup warm/not quite hot water; 1 packet quick rise dry yeast; 1 teaspoon sugar; ½ teaspoon salt; 1 egg, beaten; 2 cups unbleached white flour; 1 cup wholewheat flour.

What you do: ) Put water in a large bowl, add salt & sugar, stir slightly to dissolve. Sprinkle yeast on top, wrap in a clean tea towel and place in a warm, draft-free spot to ferment – about  15-20 min.

2) Add beaten egg to yeast mixture, then stir in flour. Mix together until you have a dough – you may not use all the flour for this.
3) Turn out onto a floured board, knead for several minutes (push, pull, fold) until the dough is elastic, smooth and no longer sticky.

4) Put a tablespoon of olive oil in the bowl, place dough in and turn until covered lightly in the oil.

5) Cover and put back in a warm place until double in size.

6) Put back on floured board, punch down, shape into loaf or rolls, and place on a baking sheet.

7) Back in warm place to rise to double again.

8) Put in oven (don’t preheat!) turn temp to 400 and bake for about 25 min for a loaf, 15 – 20 min for rolls. Don’t overbrown.

9) When baked, brush melted butter over loaf or rolls, place on a cooling sheet and try to resist nibbling – at least until the bread is cool!

PIZZA:

Follow steps 1  - 5. When dough has doubled in size, place on floured board and roll out in a shape to fit your pizza or cookie sheet.

Place in unheated oven, turn heat to 400, and bake for eight minutes.

Cover pizza crust with pizza sauce or my favorite, spaghetti sauce, then sprinkle with your favorite pizza toppings – onions, garlic, sweet peppers, mushrooms, Italian sausage, pepperoni or whatever.

Cover with a nice layer of grated cheese – I use mozzarella and medium cheddar. Back to the oven at 400 degrees for about 20 – 25 minutes.

Enjoy!

Did I mention my December 31 release from Crimson Romance – Saving Maggie? Well, at the end of the book are Maggie’s/my recipes for chicken stir fry and oatmeal raisin chocolate chip cookies – I can promise you, both are yummy!

Visit Suzanne McMinn’s site, Chickens in the Road, for lots of delicious recipes you can adapt to your own taste, as well as tales of the farm, the animals, and Suzanne’s many adventures, activities, and books.

Glenys O'Connell is busy with two new releases on the way. You can visit her at www.glenysoconnell.com

 

So Many Books – So Little Time…

By Glenys O'Connell @GlenysOConnell

It might sound obvious, but readers and writers have a lot in common.

For example, if you’re like me, going into a real bricks and mortar bookstore is like the proverbial kid and the candy store. Ditto for browsing Amazon, B & N, etc. So many books, so little time.

You start out with a plan to buy maybe one, or two….and suddenly, your basket is full of tasty delights. You get a sweet little flavour boost by reading the back cover blurbs, your taste buds sing the Hallelujah chorus as you dip through the pages at random.

Then reality hits. You can only read and really savor one book at a time (at least, I can). Your To Be Read pile already competes with Mt. St. Helens – and may also be ready to erupt all over your bedroom floor. Your book budget (if you actually had one) is already shot. Your friends, neighbours, significant other, are all going to roll their eyes when they see you sneaking in the back door with your books. True addicts actually change from the bookstore bag to a grocery bag in an attempt to hide their addiction. On your credit card statement, you have the bookstore’s bills hidden under the ‘household’ or ‘car maintenance’ tags. 

You realise you can’t take all the books in your basket. But having to choose is likely to send you into Post Traumatic Shock.  Eventually, you choose one or two books and, tears in your eyes, you put the rest back on the shelves, whispering a sad farewell and promising to come back soon.

For writers, the scenario is the same, but we’re dealing with embryo books – ideas that have snuck into our consciousness and refuse to go away. Most of us have a file marked ‘Book Ideas’. It’s really the only way to silence the clamor for a few weeks while we finish the book we’re working on. But writing The End on one manuscript is like opening the floodgates – all those half-baked, half-formed ideas in Book Ideas now scream for attention. Write me! Write Me!

Which to Choose? Which to Choose?

Often I will start out on one idea, only to realise my Muse, or subconscious mind, needs more time to work on it, then I have to close that file and look for another candidate. Many of the book ideas consist only of a paragraph or two, a signpost towards greater creative effort. Some are several pages, others just a couple of links to news stories or bits of research I've discovered on the web which seem to be crying out for a novel plot. Some will never make it as viable books alone – but joined in matrimony with another book idea, suddenly there’s hope of a long and happy relationship.

The biggest problem of all, rather like deciding which books to take to the checkout and which to leave behind,  is keeping all those other ideas in line while you concentrate on the work-in-progress. My personal scheme is to accept that every now and again I’ll think of a scene, a dialogue line, or see an article, hear a bit of gossip, that will fit one of those story ideas. I open the file, type in the info, maybe add a bit, then firmly close the file before falling into the trap of starting to actually write the book.

Otherwise, I’d have a hundred works-in-progress – none of them ever finished.

So, I’d love to hear how other readers and writers choose which books to buy, which books to write!

There’s a copy of my very first novel, Judgement By Fire, waiting for one lucky commenter.

 

A print copy of Winters & Somers, my Irish romantic comedy/suspense: Lisa Rayns

Lisa, please email me at glenysoconnell at msn. com with your email addy  and home address for the print. Thanks for taking part!

 

Glenys O’Connell is busy with edits for her upcoming release: Saving Maggie, a romantic suspense with paranormal elements, just contracted by Crimson Romance! You can keep up with her news & articles at www.glenysoconnell.com

Introducing another Roses of Prose author: romantic suspense writer Glenys O'Connell

I'm delighted to join the talented writers at Roses of Prose, but I hate it when people ask me to introduce myself. I mean, I'm a writer – that's about the closest you can get to multiple personality disorder without being in a psych ward. Really.

Let's see, here's the mundane stuff. I'm a wife, mother of four, and slave to two spoiled felines. I'm a country girl at heart and I live out in what my kids call The Middle of Nowhere in Ontario, Canada. It's actually a beautiful area of lakes and forests, you know, the kind of place where even the poorest locals feel sorry for the 'summer' people who own the very expensive lakeside cottages – after all, we get to live here all year round, while they, poor things, just get to visit!

That said, I've lived in some big cities, too, and they're all reflected in my writing: Toronto, Canada; Dublin, Ireland; Leeds, Yorkshire, England; Cambridge & Bedford, England. I adore Italy and France; could wander around Rome for hours, although the traffic in Paris scares the…whatever out of me! But I'm at my happiest back in the Middle of Nowhere, tending my garden, feeding the birds, sitting out on the patio and writing (see the pic). And in my spare time, I'm a counselor and enjoy poking about in other people's minds.

That's the boring part. There's another part of me, too – the Woman in Jeopardy part. I've been a Canadian wildlife artist, loved by two powerful men and stalked by a killer (Judgement by Fire). I've been a struggling female Irish private investigator, making a living by testing the seducability quotient of husbands and boyfriends for the insecure woman in their lives while coping with a jewel thief, a crazy grannie and a homicide cop who writes sexy romances (Winters & Somers). I've been a British special crimes task force detective, framed by a gang of thugs and stalked by a psycho killer (Resort to Murder). Still in Britain, I've been an aristocratic lady, broke and determined not to be the last of the 500 year old line, so I've gone off with my BFF to snare an Irish millionaire (Marrying Money). I like a bit of mystery and the odd – with the emphasis on odd – murder with my romance.

I've also been a lonely little boy whose best friend is a magic talking pebble (the Pebble People Save the Day, The Pebble People Make a Garden) but we won't talk about that now.

In my next incarnation, I'm a counselor living in a small Ontario village. However, because characters are drawn from real life, no matter how we try to disguise them, I guess I'll have to move far away before that one hits the book stores.

And, in order to lure other unsuspecting would-be novelists into my strange world, I teach a quirky online creative writing course titled Naked Writing: The No Frills Way to Write Your Novel. Soon to be made into a book by the same title.

So that's my introduction, my life in a nutshell. I hope you're still awake and you'll come and visit the Roses of Prose often – especially on the 8^th and 29^th of each month. Those are my blogging days, and I don’t want to be all alone out here….

Glenys O'Connell is currently working on a romantic suspense series about a counselor who attracts more than her share of nutzoids, and a book on creative writing coming in September. Her work has been published by The Wild Rose Press and Red Rose Press (what is this with roses?) She also writes non-fiction, with her latest book, PTSD: The Essential Guide,  also due out in September. If you still want more, you can find her at her web site: Romance Can Be murder, www.glenysoconnell.com; on Twitter at http://twitter.com/GlenysOConnell; Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/glenys.oconnell. She also hangs around other blogs while trying to escape the voices in her head.