Small Celebration – PROOFREADING aids!

Small or large? This is a good question.

Let me just say that I am celebrating several things. They have to do with a book I reissued in Kindle, with a new cover, part of a series, free on KDP.

Celebrating? What?

Well, let’s see:

1. the cover design. I’m happy with it. I already posted about that, but

2. I decided to do a trial run with Microsoft Office (free for 30 days; monthly fee after that)
It made inserting clickable chapters and such absolutely easy, and – but I’m getting ahead of myself.

So, the book is free. I want to make certain it’s the best it can be. I get it set up for Kindle which, with this new MS application, is easy.

I then update the paperback.

Typesetting error (insert loud ‘ARGH!’) I pull up the thing, find the problem, fix it, I think… Then I see the page numbering, which is all messed up. At this point, uttering curses, I settle down to fix the pagination which, trust me, is a major pain.

It was not. This new MsWord is a dream.

All done. I’m celebrating! …And I hope you all have something really good to celebrate this weekend!

To Err is Human. To Really Foul Up…

May9

Finish the sentence…

(Hint: …Requires a Computer…)

It is very true.

I was up till 1AM last night updating A Killing Among the Dead (which, by the way, is free today through Saturday on Amazon – Grab a copy HERE It’s part of my wind-up for the release of Mourningtide at the end of the month. Next week I’ll be interviewing the Main Character. Should be interesting: he’s a King) and I started getting messages from my computer – amazing how smug they sound, too –

We Cannot Display The Website…

(…and you know darned well that they are adding the inaudible rider You Blithering Idiot… )

WHAT??? (I am never at my best at 1AM) I have everything done right! Can’t you READ CODE???

It seems to be resolving without my having to resort to hurling my laptop out the window, but at the moment a cruise to the South Pacific might just be what I need to chill out.

What was I doing? Adjusting the cover graphics for my book.

Here it is.

(Sigh. And to think I consider writing relaxing and graphics work energizing…)

Have a wonderful day, folks!

Color-Starved by Winter – ah, Spring!

May6

I love most seasons, though I admit that the seasons that hold February and August sometimes wear my patience a little thin. Nevertheless, each season has its own beauty, from the splendor of Autumn to the silvery pastels of winter. Scents, sights, sounds-all combine to fill the passing seasons with their own special pleasures.

My favorite? Autumn, I think, though it’s near thing.

Spring, though, where you watch breathlessly as the first crocus pushes its way up through the curls of dry oak leaves, comes close.

By springtime I am ready to turn my shoulder on the silvery pastels and clean-washed skies of winter (and the ‘snirt’ – snow with dirt that edges roadways) and seek color and fragrance.

That is when I head to the local greenhouses. I went this morning.

One place was a riot of Impatiens and begonias, sitting in hanging baskets or pots ready to be put on front doorsteps. I admit to a weakness for pansies. A bowl of them is on my front step right now – velvety amethyst and midnight blue petals.

People walked along the rows of plants, looking for purple torenia (I love those) or gazing dreamily at flowering almond shrubs. I like the flats of ground cover (and delighted I was to discover that periwinkle – Vinca – is now growing in my yard).

Reds always catch my attention – the many colors of red or reddish that you see in geraniums, begonias or red salvia (which I don’t care for). I did select poppies in coral and tender red to put in an ornamental garden with a stone bench, a wind chime, two stepping stones, black mulch and white river rocks as a border. (My sister gets credit for the design.)

One of the workers at the greenhouse smiled when she saw that I was purchasing Summersweet, which blooms in July and August and attracts hummingbirds. “Very wise of you! People are so tired of winter and they want color, and so they get what’s in bloom and in a month have a boring garden!”

Hm. I hadn’t thought of it that way.

I bought bunny tail grass (guess what it looks like) and then spent the rest of the time sighing over heliotrope, sniffing roses, dithering over rich wine-colored pansies (did I mention that pansies, violets, violas and Johnny-jump-ups are my favorite?)

I spent some time in Hawaii as a child, among plumerias, birds of paradise and the other lovely flowers. Back in the mainland US, we were all exclaiming over buttercups, daisies and irises.

The big challenge now is to plant the things. I don’t know how many flats of geraniums have given up the ghost while I fiddled around doing other things.

Not this time, though!

Reflections on my A to Z Experience

May3

Well, I survived the A to Z Challenge. I’d seen blog posts with that notation months ago and thought, “What is this?” So I looked into it. “That would be fun!” I thought. Then I signed up.

(Stay with me, here. I’ll get to the point)

I came up with a theme (after someone mentioned a ‘reveal’ and I thought ‘Hmmmm… A theme… How cool!’ And I read what people said, both the ‘guides’ and the ‘participants’ about not doing it at the last moment, understanding that you will be swamped, and minimizing the impact of the commitment.

Now, right before the start of A to Z a couple things happened. I committed to publish a book the end of May. I committed to revise its sequel (on the timeline, previously published) for release May 15. I was in the middle of a huge project at work – I nearly dropped out. But, darn it!, I’d promised. If not anyone else (face it, I don’t get a lot of traffic), I’d promised myself. It meant a lot to me to be able to finish.

So what worked well: the camaraderie. The knowledgeable participants. The guidance we received from ‘the team’.

What didn’t work well (for me): replying to comments. I was too darned busy. I was overcommitted and I was Tired. I could not keep up my end of the bargain. I will be going back through my posts and responding to comments and visiting the various blogs. I hope the list will still be up. There was so much to see.

A lot of thought went into making things fun and easy. I did pay attention to the leaders’ comments, and I ran into some blogs that I just loved. Lots of them. Of the top of my head, a woman who goes thrift shopping – fun! The artist who crochets flowers, someone in the UK who is into genealogy. The dragon lair (well…I knew of that one before, and enjoyed when I was able to stick my head in). People I knew and followed were lots of fun to watch.

The bottom line is that A to Z was well run and a lot of effort went into making it enjoyable to participate in and to visit. What I will do differently next year (yeah, I’m signing up) is:

1. don’t overcommit. This was a singular occurrence, and I’ll make jolly sure it doesn’t happen again.

2. do as much in advance as I can, so that I can…

3. actively participate in visits and comments.

4. READ THE INSTRUCTIONS

5. Chill out.

6. Smile. It was fun while it lasted and it is great in retrospect.

Celebrating – A Task Finished

May3

SMALL CELEBRATIONS

It’s good to be able to open your eyes to the things around you that are worth celebrating, even if they are as small (relatively speaking) as a smile from a stranger that you know would easily become a friend. Stepping into a brisk May breeze, watching the flowers push their way through the soil, even though you know jolly well you’re a terrible gardener.

Today, though, I’m celebrating completing a task I’d been thinking of for a long time.

I’m writing a series of historical fiction set in Egypt and centered around the city of Memphis. It is known as ‘The Memphis Cycle’, and that city, and the families that lived and ruled there, provide the thread that ties the stories together. Three are published, one is coming out the end of May, another should be coming out in November, and four others are in varying stages of development.

Here are covers 1 & 2. #2 is scheduled to be published May 31:

The covers fell into a sort of theme – statuary or sculptures against a background that referred to something in the story. As the series developed, I began to want them to be visible as a related group. So I redesigned them, keeping the original ‘art’ work, but putting that into a framework specific to the stories.. These are covers #3 and 4. #3 is projected to be published November.

The line under the image is a hieroglyphic text with the name and attributes of the king ruling at the time of the story. It seems to be working out. Here are covers 5 and 6. #5 is in the works, but it is an involved story and will need another year (maybe two) to complete properly. #7 is out.

What really tickles me is that my entire family is artistic and I guess maybe I can pretend to be. (Pretend is the word, too.) For example, while I work with photographic images for my covers, the figure crouching in the corner of Lord of the Two Lands is my own work and is a silhouette drawing. But I’m celebrating, for certain. It’s something I’ve wanted to do in a long time, and it’s coming on the heels of a new release and a reissue.

So join me in a cup of cyber tea, a glass of cyber wine, a stoup of cyber ale, or maybe some cyber lemonade. I’m celebrating!

A Thought for Thursday

May2

…Courtesy of the late, great Shel Silverstein.

I ran across this quote and loved it so much, I put together a graphic for it.

Tomorrow, I’ll be posting some more graphics (book covers) for the small celebrations blog spot.

Zulu – the Final Song

Apr30

(A to Z is done today. I enjoyed participating. Next year I won’t have so much going on (I hope) and will be able to visit the other blogs more. I’ll be doing that over the next week or so – there was so much to see and enjoy, and I want to do that. Thank you to all who visited and to those who commented. I will be returning the courtesy.)

I started this month with one of my very favorite songs, Africa by Toto. Africa has always struck a chord with me – magnificent, huge, varied and beautiful. From the Ashanti empire to Egypt, from the savannahs to the desert – there is something splendid wherever you look.

Years ago I watched a movie, Zulu, that told of the battle of Rorke’s Drift during the Anglo-Zulu wars. A fort staffed by Welsh and English soldiers fought a large Zulu army over the course of several days. At the end, as the English troops were waiting to be overrun and butchered, having sung Men of Harlech (another great song with a wonderful history), the Zulus rose above the circling hills, sang, as they had before the fighting … and turned and walked off.

It was a magnificent moment, a generous tribute from one group of fighting men to another.

Then, of course, the debate began. “Never happened!” “Hah! they had somewhere else to go and didn’t have time to butcher the others!” “What a daydream!”

Well, I write historical fiction, which means that I have had to research a lot of historical facts. Over and over again I have found instances of generosity, heroism, kindness and courage. We are, after all, dealing with humans. There are creeps – and there are heroes. I choose to watch the heroes.

Here is the song. Ah… Africa…

Y = Dogs and Cats

Apr29

Everyone needs a good laugh on a Monday morning. I have been posting songs that meant a lot to me, that made me think, and one or two that made me chuckle. Today’s offering was written and composed by a man who was responsible for most of the truly clever lyrics found in songs from the thirties through the sixties.

Deft turns of phrase, sly humor were the hallmarks of Cole Porter’s work. I wanted to use Begin the Beguine, or a couple others, but they were ruled out this past month.

But while ‘You’ sung by the Carpenters, or ‘You’ve Got a Friend’ by James Taylor, ‘Yellow Submarine’ by the Beatles or – what I was going to chose – Year of the Cat by Al Stewart were strong runners, I present instead…

The Yale Fight Song by (then) undergraduate Cole Porter:

Bulldog! Bulldog!
Bow, wow, wow
Eli Yale
Bulldog! Bulldog!
Bow, wow, wow
Our team can never fail

When the sons of Eli
Break through the line
That is the sign we hail
Bulldog! Bulldog!
Bow, wow, wow
Eli Yale!

…and here is a splendid recreation of the moment when Mr. Porter presented the song (from ‘Night and Day’)

CLICK HERE

If you’ve had enough jolliness, I present my real top choice:

Graphics by Yours Truly. The cat’s name is Frida…

The Year of the Cat:

THE VIDEO:

On a morning from a Bogart movie
In a country where they turn back time
You go strolling through the crowd like Peter Lorre
Contemplating a crime
She comes out of the sun in a silk dress running
Like a watercolour in the rain
Don’t bother asking for explanations
She’ll just tell you that she came
In the year of the cat.

She doesn’t give you time for questions
As she locks up your arm in hers
And you follow ’till your sense of which direction
Completely disappears
By the blue tiled walls near the market stalls
There’s a hidden door she leads you to
These days, she says, I feel my life
Just like a river running through
The year of the cat

She looks at you so cooly
And her eyes shine like the moon in the sea
She comes in incense and patchouli
So you take her, to find what’s waiting inside
The year of the cat.

Well morning comes and you’re still with her
And the bus and the tourists are gone
And you’ve thrown away the choice and lost your ticket
So you have to stay on
But the drum-beat strains of the night remain
In the rhythm of the new-born day
You know sometime you’re bound to leave her
But for now you’re going to stay
In the year of the cat.

X = eXecerable Uh, I mean XANADU!

Apr27

I personally believe that this is the movie that brought movie musicals into such disrepute that they went away for a while.

Xana-DON’T

Gene Kelly made an appearance, which I am sure he bitterly regretted with every fiber of his being, though at an advanced age, wearing roller skates, Mr. Kelly still out-danced every other buskin-wearer who stumbled across the stage.

But the finale really was a hum-dinger.
Would you have thought that the Ancient Greek Muses were a pack of fluffy-haired disco babes? On roller skates? With neon auras? Wearing knee-length bloomers under their dresses?

Me neither.

(I imagine them at the walls of Troy. Uh… No.)

Click at your own peril….

XANADU

W – Water from Another Time…

Apr26

John McCutcheon is a folk singer and player of all sorts of instruments including the hammer dulcimer. I ran into this song of his on a cassette a friend gave me half a lifetime ago. I write historical fiction, so the connections between one generation and the next have always fascinated and touched me. This song is very special to me.

The lyrics and the words say it all. Pity there isn’t a video there I like, so this beautiful photo of water will have to do. A favorite of mine. Listen to it.

WATER FROM ANOTHER TIME

New mown hay on a July morn

Grandkids running through the knee-high corn

Sunburned nose and a scabbed-up knee

From the rope at the white oak tree

Just another summer’s day on Grandpa’s farm

With Grandma’s bucket hanging off my arm

You know, the old pump’s rusty but it works fine

Primed with water from another time

Chorus: It don’t take much, but you gotta have some

The old ways help the new ways come

Just leave a little extra for the next in line

They’re gonna need a little water from another time

Tattered quilt on the goose down bed

“Every stitch tells a story”, my Grandma said

Her mama’s nightgown, her Grandpa’s pants

And the dress she wore to her high school dance

Now wrapped at night in those patchwork scenes

I waltz with Grandma in my dreams

My arms, my heart, my life entwined

With water from another time

(Chorus)

Newborn cry in the morning air

The past and the future are wedded there

In this wellspring of my sons and daughters

The bone and blood of living water

And, though Grandpa’s hands have gone to dust,

Like Grandma’s pump; reduced to rust,

Their stories quench my soul and mind

Like water from another time