Welcome to my world and beyond...

A collection of snippets of the books I write and, occasionally, my life and the things that inspire my writing...

Monday, May 27, 2013

Sharing some good reading from the April A to Z Blogging Challenge. Sandra Tyler at Woven Tales Press selected 26 from all the submissions she received, and has collected them for a Special Edition. You can read them here by clicking on "Expand", or you can visit her blog and check out all of the other things she has going on! Enjoy. :-)

Saturday, May 25, 2013

Weekend Writing Warriors: Why a sword? continued.





Week 17: "Why a Sword?" continued



Weekend Writing Warriors is a weekly blog-hop. Each week, participants sign up HERE at Weekend Writing Warriors, then post 8 sentences of their work, published or unpublished, to go live between 12:00 noon Saturday, and 9:00 AM Sunday EST.  Then we visit each other, read, comment, critique, encourage--all those great things that do a solitary writer's heart good.


Set up  This scene takes place in the  first one third of the book and continues immediately after last week's post which is HERE. Rissa and her Rialtan protector Jia, are on a world called Amun populated by an all female colony led by a woman named Shaynda. They've been given refuge here from Daekartha.  The residents are considered outlaws in the Rialtan Empire.  This is Rissa's earliest exposure on how to use a sword, and she's not taking it seriously at all. I'll pull from this for several weeks, continuous.

And because people have asked, Cuylrh is pronounced hard C, long I, Ler with the R and H blending into a throaty sound. That is how I imagine it pronounced in their language. I am considering changing the spelling to make it less confusing to the reader. Not sure yet.


*creative punctuation alert--to complete the thought.

                                                                * * *


Rissa lifted her weapon as instructed and clumsily returned it to its thick leather sheath.



“It’s not an ornament, and being in your position, it’s critical that you understand that.”



Heat, more from embarrassment than sunburn she was sure, stung Rissa's cheeks when she said, “I’m sorry. I meant no disrespect.”  She tried to read the woman’s expression, but this one was tough.  With muscular shoulders and a trim waist, had it not been for generous cleavage, her body could have been a man's.  Yet her face was feminine and pretty—in spite of the scar extending from just above the corner of her full lips to where it vanished into a head full of curly black hair. "In my position--what do you mean by that?"

Shaynda's voice was unchanged but her brows arched slightly when she answered, "There are unavoidable threats included with catching the eye of Cuylrh of Medoch, and your inability to sense that doubles the chances of harm finding you."


That's it.  What jumps out at you, good or bad ? I'd love to hear it and am truly grateful for every bit of criticism, opinion, and shared wisdom.  Thank you so much for visiting! 

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Etymology, and Homely Best Friends

Have you ever read a book and thought that the author chose a wrong word, perhaps a synonym that just wasn't spot on, or used a similar word, but not the right word?  Did it make you wonder how their mistake was made? To learn what caused theirs might help you avoid the same in the future.

Being a writer, I try to find the right word, the one that fits. I first use my vocabulary which, though not as large as I'd like it to be, is a fair size. Still, many times, the words I have "in stock" don't include the word to convey just precisely what I mean. 

Then I have to turn to the Thesaurus. I often think that does carry a risk, minimal though it may be.  There can be dozens of synonyms listed. I could miss a fine nuance of meaning. But it does include examples of the word used in sentences.

Or...I could just try to reason out the meaning. :-)

It's a pleasant challenge, trying to reason out a possible word meaning. Do you do that? Take what might be the root of the word and then add the meaning of the prefix or suffix... Yeah. It's fun.

And yes, sometimes it has some pretty bad (and embarrassing results). I jest. It's not really a plan for coming up with new words, synonyms, or guessing the meanings of an unknown word to infuse into writing. When in doubt, check before use.

Case in point. Many years ago, (seriously--many) when I was about 10 years old and my best friend in the whole wide world was 11, we were watching my dad, her dad, and  our uncle all work on a boat motor. 

The day was perfect. Sunshine, puffy white clouds, and her dad and mom had invited all of us to go up river for a picnic and a day of boating. I'd never before been on a boat. There'd be a whole gang, but there was a picnic area with a swim area. And I'd get to spend the day with my best friend, and she with me. Life was good.

There we were in my uncle's driveway, looking forward to the fun ahead of us when Karen, my BFitWWW looked at me and said, "You sure are homely-looking."

Pshawwww. I think I blushed. I thought she'd given me as a big of a compliment as she thought she'd given me. ~ Yes, I'm laughing while I type this.~

The men stopped working and stared while I gushed to her, "Thanks!"

My dad had a goofy smirk on his face. "Homely-looking, huh?"

Karen shook her head and said, "She looks like the rest of the family."

My dad winked at the other two men and went on about his business. 

It took a couple of years before I checked to see what this compliment had meant. Imagine my surprise. :-)

It pays to check the meaning.

Saturday, May 18, 2013

Weekend Writing Warriors: Sunday May 19th






Week 16: Why a Sword?



 Weekend Writing Warriors is a weekly blog-hop. Each week, participants sign up HERE at Weekend Writing Warriors, then post 8 sentences of their work, published or unpublished, to go live between 12:00 noon Saturday, and 9:00 AM Sunday EST.  Then we visit each other, read, comment, critique, encourage--all those great things that do a solitary writer's heart good.


Set up  This scene takes place in the  first one third of the book. Rissa is on a world that contains an all female colony led by a woman named Shaynda. Rissa and Jia have been given refuge here from Daekartha.. On this world, Amun, no men are allowed.  The residents are considered outlaws in the Rialtan Empire.  This is Rissa's earliest exposure to how to use a sword, and she's not taking it seriously at all. I'll pull from this for several weeks, continuous.




"The mighty daystar at its zenith, scorched the world around her as she wiped sweat from her face then nodded a greeting to Shaynda.

As seemed to be her way, Shaynda minced no words, “You have caught Cuylrh of Medoch’s favor, no?”

Relieved for the interruption of another half-hearted attempt to learn, she rested her sword tip on the ground, giving Shaynda her full attention.  “I 've spent some time with him, but I wouldn't don't think there is favor involved.”

“Traders and smugglers are making a nice bonus telling a tale of otherwise.” The leader’s eyes followed Rissa’s arm, down across the sword to the ground. “Sheath your sword, or hold it off the ground.” Her tone was matter of fact, “Tip down when bowing to a superior opponent is one thing, but all other times, it’s disrespectful to allow it to rest on the sand like that.”

That's it.  What jumps out at you, good or bad ? I'd love to hear it and am truly grateful for every bit of criticism, opinion, and shared wisdom..  Thank you so much for visiting! 


Sunday, May 12, 2013

Weekend Writing Warriors: May 12, 2013






Happy Mother's Day to all those moms out there--whether you gave birth to a little human, or you mother the child of someone else, or your child has four legs and fur.  :-)

Week 15: "A barroom brawl..."
 


  Weekend Writing Warriors is a weekly blog-hop. Each week, participants sign up HERE at Weekend Writing Warriors, then post 8 sentences of their work, published or unpublished, to go live between 12:00 noon Saturday, and 9:00 AM Sunday EST.  Then we visit each other, read, comment, critique, encourage--all those great things that do a solitary writer's heart good.

Give it a try--we're a pretty nice bunch of people.  :-)


This week, returning to my WIP, ATNS. This takes place about a third of the way through the story. Rissa, the MC, a woman abducted from Earth, has been left under the care and protection of Jia, a childhood friend of Cuylrh. The goal is to lay low, stay out of trouble, and give Daekartha no opportunity to discover her whereabouts. She's on a space station, still doesn't have much of a grasp on the Rialtan language, and is now facing what seems to her to be abandonment. She's just indulged in some very potent drink at a space station version of a club. Jia encouraged this without realizing beforehand the effects on the Earth woman.




     Music began to play, loud and fast, much too loud for the tiny room full of tables, stools, and intoxicated creatures. 
     Rissa took Jia by the arm, tugging until--  amid protests, the tall, dark woman stood on a black and white patterned dance floor. Well, Rissa thought it was a dance floor. And any problem the lack of space could have caused was avoided by a  complete lack of other dancers.
     Then, good judgement dashed by too many good drinks, her missing inhibitions had been replaced with a total lack of self-awareness; she was now oblivious to the public spectacle she'd become.  
     She was a goddess, a dancing queen, and her moves were smooth and polished.  Her feet had never been so perfectly synchronized with her arms which had become wings, flapping, gliding, flapping, and her body was so fluid, so in control. She was a dove, no...she was a tap-dancer, wait…she was a belly dancer.



I think the girls are about to encounter some trouble.
That's it.  What jumps out at you, good or bad ? I'd love to hear it and am truly grateful for every bit of criticism, opinion, and shared wisdom..  Thank you so much for visiting! 


Note* If you are launching a book, offering one for free promotion, or  have a blogpost you'd like shared, tweet me @Teresa_Willow and I'll retweet it for you. :-)

Saturday, May 4, 2013

Happy Sunday

If you  came here looking for weekend writing warriors, it's not here. I didn't sign up this week. I'm still making my rounds from last week. So I'll continue that this week. 

And for anyone stopping by, I hope you have a great week!

This week, in my neck of the woods.

Springtime can be quite colorful. Maple buds are astounding, some years.

 A field of dandelions with drifts of violets scattered throughout. The violets this year are the most abundant I've ever seen.
 Sunset th8is evening (Saturday, May 4th)
Looking northeast from back porch, at dusk.
Have a good day, all. :-)