February 9, 2017 · 1:00 am

Writing Influences: Barbara Helen Berger

This is the second part in my series about the authors and books who have inspired my writing. J.R.R. Tolkien was the subject of the first post in this series.

Gwinna by Barbara Helen Berger was one of the first books I discovered in my elementary school library after my parents stopped homeschooling us. I was just beginning the fourth grade that year.

The library was a beautiful introduction to public school as well as to contemporary fantasy stories that reminded me so much of the traditional fairy tales I already loved at that age.

This book started off with a childless couple begging the Mother of Owls to help them have a child. The Mother of Owls agreed to grant their wish on the condition that they return their daughter to her when the baby turned twelve. They agreed, and so little Gwinna joined their lives.

As Gwinna grew, her mother noticed that the girl was beginning to develop wings. She bound her daughter’s wings tightly so that no one would notice her child was different from other children. Gwinna’s parents also refused to tell her about where she came from or allow her to go back to the Mother of Owls when she turned twelve.

Eventually the Mother of Owls had to intervene, and that is when when the plot really became interesting for me. Gwinna wandered into the forest to find out what had caused all of the strange things that were happening in her adoptive parents’ home. She found the Mother of Owls and finally discovered what had been hiding underneath all of the bindings her adoptive mother had wrapped around her. If you want to find out what happened after that, you’ll have to read this story for yourself!

With that being said, these are the things that I deeply appreciate about Ms. Berger’s writing style.

Her Stories Are Highly Imaginative 

The main character lived in a world where magical and wonderfully unexpected things happen every single day. There are certain rules that everyone in this story must follow, though, and there are creative punishments for anyone who doesn’t obey them.

People who did the right thing were rewarded in equally creative ways. I loved the fact that the author spent so much time constructing such a complex and fascinating world for a children’s book. This could have easily been expanded into a whole series about Mother Owl and all of the people and creatures under her care.

I’m frankly a little surprised that Ms. Berger hasn’t written a sequel or two yet. There is definitely plenty of room here to show what happened to Gwinna next and if her adoptive parents ever spent time with Mother of Owls after their daughter grew up.

She Included Thought-Provoking Undertones for Older Readers

I didn’t pick up on the adoption undertones in this book the first time I read it, but I’ve always loved reading the passages where the author described what happened to Gwinna once she learned the truth about her origins. Her shock and surprise was so genuine.

Yes, the main character hated the fact that her parents had lied to her, and she was also eager to get to know her first mother. This didn’t change how she felt about any of her parents, though. There was plenty of room in her heart to care about all three of them.

There were other messages tucked into the plot about perseverance, friendship, and remaining true to your genuine self regardless of whether or not the people closest to you approve. My childhood self didn’t pick up on all of them, but I sure did when I read this book again years later.

She Gave Exactly the Right Amount of Detail

I don’t know about you, but I’ve read more than a few stories in my lifetime that were either bogged down by too many descriptions or barely showed the reader what the settings and characters looked like at all.

One of my favourite things about Ms. Berger’s writing style is that she always toed the line between showing her audience what a scene looked like and allowing us to imagine a few special things for ourselves. The illustrations were an incredibly gorgeous addition to this tale. They fleshed out parts of the storyline that needed it, but they were just rare enough that I still had plenty of chances to come up with my own ideas about what Gwinna’s adventures looked like.

My most vivid memory of this tale was of wondering what it felt like when Gwinna flew through the air. Did her wings get cold when she flew so far up into the sky? What was it like to feel all of that wind running past your feathers? How easy was it to maneuver between one gust of wind and the next?

Some of my questions about flying were answered, but the author left many more to my imagination. Thinking about what that experience would be like kicked off a lifelong fascination I’ve had with human flight. I occasionally still have dreams where I realize that I have wings and I start flying around wherever I am at that point in the dreamscape.

In every one of these dreams, my wings have been brown and soft like Gwinna’s wings were. (My wings are darker than hers, though. Picture something about the same shade of brown as my hair).

Gwinna hasn’t joined me in one of my joyful flights yet…but maybe someday she will!

I’ll be talking about dreams, favourite children’s books, wings, and more on Twitter today. I hope to see you over there if you liked this post and would like to discuss it in more detail.

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February 8, 2017 · 1:00 am

Things I Learned While Publishing

This is a guest post from Stephen Lomer. 

Let’s start off with an establishing statement: I never once considered going the traditional publishing route with Stargazer Lilies or Nothing at All. Never. Not once. Other authors may be seduced by the potential for big-money contracts and the marketing clout of the big publishing houses, but I wasn’t willing to surrender control of my baby to God knows who for God knows how long for God knows what kind of payoff.

So I did the whole thing myself. And when I say the whole thing, I mean it. I wrote the thing, participated in the editing process, designed the cover, prepped it for publication, released it, and designed the ads for it. That was all me, baby. And did I learn a thing or two? You bet your left elbow I did.

It’s hard

From A League of Their Own: “It’s supposed to be hard. If it wasn’t hard, everyone would do it.” And I think that might be the point. From the specialized formatting you need to do to prepare your book for the Kindle to the exacting specifications that CreateSpace requires, if you’re going to be a DIY publisher, you’re going to jump through some hoops, baby. But I feel like that’s a rite of passage, in a way. A declaration that you’re serious about publishing your book. Because, let’s face it, if there was a one-click button on Microsoft Word that allowed you to upload something instantaneously, there’d be some real garbage on Amazon.

It’s scary

No matter how many writer friends you have or how many friends and family are cheering you on, when it comes time to publish your book, it’s all you. And there’s always one moment just before you click the last button to make it live where you think, “Is this book really any good? Because it’s about to be available to the entire freaking world.” It’s a wonder anyone ever clicks that last button.

It’s not what you expect

I don’t care what any author tells you, they all expect the same thing: the book will go live, a few people will read it, the word will spread, the five-star reviews will pile up, and they’ll be lighting their cigars with $100 bills. Well I am here to tell you that it just ain’t so. The world may stop and hold its breath for you as the author, but by and large, the real world will keep rumbling along, not giving the slightest damn that you’re now a published author. The real work starts after you’re published, not before.

I don’t mean for this all to sound like an awful, unpleasant experience, because it’s not. It’s thrilling, exhilarating, and altogether glorious. Just know that there’s a gauntlet, and you must run it. But every self-published writer has run it, and we’re all rooting for you.

One last little tidbit I’ll pass along while you’re wondering what the hell you’ve gotten yourself into is this: If you’re designing your own cover, leave plenty of bleed on the edges. Trust me, you’ll be saving yourself no end of aggravation.

Happy publishing!


Stephen Lomer has been writing books, novellas, short stories, and scripts for nearly a decade, and one or two of them are actually pretty good. A grammar nerd, Star Trek fan, and other things that chicks dig, Stephen is the creator, owner, and a regular contributor to the website Television Woodshed. He’s a hardcore fan of the Houston Texans, despite living in the Hub of the Universe his whole life, and believes Mark Twain was correct about pretty much everything.

Stephen lives on Boston’s North Shore with his wife, Teresa. Stargazer Lilies or Nothing at All is his first published work. 

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February 6, 2017 · 7:31 am

Things Nobody Told Me About Getting Back Into Shape

I was in great shape in my early to mid-twenties thanks to a physically active job I had back then that kept me running around all day. As my routine shifted over time, though, I found myself gaining weight and losing some of the strength I had built up.

My wake-up call came several years ago when I caught one cold after another. There was a stretch of about four months when I was either coming down with a cold, actively sick, or recovering from a cold. It might have been a string of bad luck, but I took it as a sign that something had to change.

There are some things I learned along the way as I got back into shape that I wish I’d known from day one. Today I’m going to share them with you.

The Beginning is the Hardest Part. 

Starting any new habit is tough. This is even more true when it involves something that leads to sore muscles and moving a body in a way that it isn’t accustomed to moving.

There were a few days early on when I stopped 5 or 10 minutes into a routine and counted that as a workout for the day. The next time I went back to that video or set of exercises, though, I made it my goal to last one minute longer than I had the previous time I’d tried it. I was often able to push through and stick with it much longer than than my original goal had been because almost anything is endurable for another sixty seconds.

It was honestly as much a mental challenge as it was a physical one in the beginning.

Your Diet Matters

What you eat and drink affects how you perform. For example, everyone needs to be careful to consume enough water or other fluids when they’re exercising outdoors in hot or humid weather.

I’ve also found that it’s easier to get through a workout when I’m comfortably full but not overstuffed. A bowl of oatmeal or some hardboiled eggs give me the healthy boost of energy I need to get in that final rep or those last few minutes of cardio.

Yes, I did have to make some changes to my diet in order to get healthier. This isn’t something I spend a great deal of time obsessing over, though, and I still have treats. They’re simply chosen a bit more carefully these days, and I don’t have them as often as I used to.

With that being said…

The Scale Only Tells a Small Part of the Story.

One of the most frustrating things for me when I first started exercising regularly again was not seeing any change in the number on the scale. I wanted to lose some weight, but my results bounced around in the same general area from one day to the next.

What I learned is that the scale only tells a small part of the story. For example, everyone’s weight shifts a little from one day to the next. I’ve had days where I magically “lost” or “gained” 5 pounds or more simply based on when I weighed myself, whether or not I’d eaten anything before stepping on the scale, how recently I’d used the bathroom, and how much salty food I’d eaten in the previous 24 hours.

So now I pay attention to the scale only if the number on it trends up or down for a prolonged period of time. It is one way to keep track of your progress, but there are many other questions that are also important to answer.

Is your clothing getting looser because your body fat percentage is changing even though your weight has remained constant? Do you have more energy? Are you now taking the stairs instead of the elevator sometimes (or usually!)? Have you finally moved up to a heavier set of weights or a more challenging workout in general? Did you finally figure out how to use that complicated piece of gym equipment that you thought you’d never bother trying?

Or, my personal favourites, are you catching fewer colds? Are you recovering more quickly from them? I still get sick a few times a year, but it doesn’t happen as often these days and my colds don’t last as long as they used to.

One Size Doesn’t Fit All.

I’ve mentioned this before, but I’ve never been able to get into jogging despite liking the idea of it and trying multiple times to enjoy this form of exercise. I didn’t like how uncomfortable it was to catch my breath after a few minutes of jogging or how jarring it was to my joints.

Obviously, this isn’t true everyone. I have a friend who enjoys jogging so much that they train for and compete in marathons.

I know other people who can’t do any vigorous exercise at all due to certain health conditions that restrict how their bodies are able to move. A few people that I’ve known have noticed a difference in their abilities from one day to the next. Sometimes they have more stamina than I do, while on other days they get worn out easily.

You’re the only person who can figure out what kinds of exercise work best for you. It can take a lot of trial and error, but at some point you’ll find the right activity.

It Gets Better

All of your hard work eventually pays off. My life has changed in many small but important ways since I started exercising again.

The first benefit I noticed was that I was sleeping a little better. I used to have some trouble relaxing and falling asleep, but that started to change for the better once I became more active.

I’m more willing to try new things now than I was several years ago. My confidence that I’ll eventually master them has grown and continues to grow.

My posture has improved. This one is a combination of having a stronger core, feeling better about myself, and having more practice with moving my body in ways it hadn’t moved in quite a while.

I have more energy, too.

Regardless of where you are with your fitness goals, keep plugging away at them. It gets easier as you go along!

 

 

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February 4, 2017 · 1:00 am

Suggestion Saturday: February 4, 2017

Here is this week’s list of comic strips, poems, literary critiques, and other links from my favourite corners of the web.

Overwhelmed. This really does work, too.

Anne of Green Gables Is Obviously Bisexual. While I’m not entirely sure that I agree with this interpretation of Anne’s girlhood, I was fascinated by all of the quotes the author found that could be used to support this theory. Bisexual people have always existed, after all!

Knife Attacks – Pre-Violence Indicators via GershonBenKeren. There was some fantastic advice in this article about remaining aware of your surroundings and having a plan if you suspect that someone wants to harm you.

Vaping and Tinnitus Risk via janlmayes. No, there haven’t been any studies definitively linking these two things together yet. This blogger’s explanation for vaping could damage your hearing was an intriguing one, though, and I’m wondering if any of my followers know more about it.

Revive the Drive via apexmag. Apex Magazine is looking for bloggers who are interested in helping them out with their subscription drive by posting short interviews with that site’s editors on your blog. All of the details are in the link above. I will be participating in this, and I hope that some of you will consider signing up as well. Apex Magazine has posted some incredible stories over the years, several of which I’ve shared in past Suggestion Saturday posts. I really want this drive to be a success!

Careful Examination via ‪SylvesterPoetry‬. The final line in this poem was my favourite one. It drew everything together beautifully.

From The Phineas Gage Effect:

 If an individual’s character changes enough, can this disrupt identity to such an extent that it no longer makes sense to say that we are dealing with the same person?

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February 2, 2017 · 1:00 am

What Do You Read When You’re On Vacation?

I arrived home from a relaxing, tropical vacation a few days ago.

One of my personal earmarks of a good trip is what I got to read while I was away. Not only is it nice to get lost in a novel while you’re traveling to your destination, it’s also fun to have something to do during the inevitable parts of any trip where you have some free time to spare.

Luckily, I got to lose myself in a great book during those lulls in activity.

Those of you who have known me for a while might remember that Sarah Waters is one of my favourite non-science-fiction authors. A few years ago she released a book called The Paying Guests.

Without giving away any spoilers, The Paying Guests is set in roughly the World War I era. It’s about a formerly-wealthy family who must take in lodgers to help them pay the bills after their fortunes take a turn for the worse. Their adjustment to suddenly sharing their home with complete strangers is an incredibly difficult one for reasons you’ll have to discover for yourself. If you’ve read this author’s work before, you might be able to guess what at least one of those reasons are. The rest were harder to figure out ahead of time.

Humorously enough, I originally tried to read this book on a previous vacation a year or two ago. The trip ended before I could finish it, though, and I didn’t keep reading it because the first few chapters were paced so slowly. I was looking for something more adventurous at the time.

I finally decided to give it another try during this get-away. I knew I was going to have plenty of time to dig into a good story during it, and I was sure the plot would pick up once the characters had all had a chance to fully introduce themselves. Ms. Waters often makes her readers wait a while for the payoff. She’s never disappointed me before. Luckily, I was right about all of those things.

Reading Over a Friend's ShoulderThe atmosphere of this book was old-fashioned, straight-laced, and full of delicious mysteries. Of course, it also included a sweet romance that took a while to show up but felt completely natural for the plot once it did. The whole storyline couldn’t have been more different from the modern, casual, and sunny place I was visiting while I read it.

I haven’t finished it yet, but I’ve sure been loving what I’ve read so far. It’s hard to talk about it without giving away too many details, but this is classic Sarah Waters material. The crumbling but still somehow beautiful mansion is just as appealing to me as all of the secrets the characters are carrying in their hearts.

I love reading stories that are the polar opposite of my current surroundings. It makes both the real world and the fictional one I’m exploring seem more interesting than they’d be if they shared a lot of similarities.

This blog doesn’t host comments, but I’d love to hear what you’ve been reading lately if you’re on Twitter. I will be talking about this book and what other people like to read when they’re on vacation over there today.

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January 30, 2017 · 1:00 am

Why Automated Direct Messages Are a Terrible Idea

monday-blogs-1This is a repost from my old blog. I will be back on Thursday with new material. 

An automated DM (direct message) is a private message that an account sends to you as soon as you follow it. I’ve been seeing far too many of them on Twitter lately.

They are usually used to promote something the account holder is selling like a book or an album. While some DMs don’t follow this rule, all of them are impersonal spam.

Here’s the thing: Twitter is a social media site. People use it to make new friends, share their thoughts, and stay up-to-date on current events. Trying to exploit this to market your product is an excellent way to annoy or even alienate 98% of the people you meet.

As an author, I understand the urge to reach out to potential new readers. I’ve found new readers on Twitter. I’ve also bought multiple books that I first heard about from other tweeps, but it was never due to the author telling me to buy their stuff.

In fact, an automatic DM is one of a handful of things that will prompt me to immediately unfollow someone. It leaves a horrible first impression that is hard to shake off.

Why have I purchased all of those books, then?

Because their authors didn’t make their Twitter streams or their private messages into nonstop commercials. Yes, they shared links when their newest book came out and occasionally mentioned older projects as well.

Most of the time, though, they talked about all of the other things that were going on in their lives. Some of them shared hilarious stories about the  naughty things their pets did, while others talked about more serious subject matters like grief or recovering from child abuse.

They retweeted other people’s links regularly. I can’t count the number of times that I discovered a new author, blog, or Twitter handle to follow because someone chose to share something that they enjoyed.

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Just as importantly, they kept tabs on their followers lives as well. They regularly responded to people who asked them questions or said something they found interesting.

I often saw them cheer for friends who had finally reached a big goal and support others who were going through a hard time.

In short, they were genuine and generous.

So please don’t send out an automatic DM when you gain a new follower any more than you would use pop-ups on your website.

Get to know people as individuals instead.

Build your following one person and one friendly interaction at a time.

Don’t rush it.

Twitter isn’t a race.

It’s more like a party. Slow down, relax, and enjoy the festivities. Nobody is going home anytime soon.

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January 28, 2017 · 1:00 am

Suggestion Saturday: January 28, 2017

Here is this week’s list of comic strips, advice, poems, and other stuff from my favourite corners of the web.

Maybe You Should Try Not Being So Much Yourself? via ferretthimself. There’s something to be said for this.

South for the Winter. I’m guilty as charged of this. How about you?

Hot Chocolate: A Tasty Brain Booster. This is yet one more reason to indulge in hot chocolate.

Cue Jaws Music. I’m sharing this mostly because my husband loves sharks. Let’s see if he likes this comic strip about them.

The Soul Bar via jdubqca. What an imaginative take on what the afterlife might look like.

My Fan Experience with George Michael via BillyDees. I found this utterly fascinating. I didn’t grow up with George Michael’s music, but now I feel like I understand a small part of why fans were sad when he died.

Being a Good Person Is a Choice. A friendly reminder for all of us.

From The Sexism Problem:

With every new report, a wave of weariness washes over me: ‘Really?’ ‘Still?’ my mind cries. When will we get over this? Anger used to be my pre-eminent response, but I’ve seen so much sexism in science over the past 30 years that nothing much surprises me any more.

What have you been reading?

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January 26, 2017 · 1:00 am

5 Reasons Why You Should Be Watching Glitch

This is a repost from my old blog. I will be back next week with new material. 

Glitch is an Australian sci-fi show about a small-town cop named James Hayes who is trying to figure out why six people have risen from the dead in the local cemetery. None of the dead remembers their previous identities, and all of them have come back in perfect health.

I absolutely love this show and can’t wait for season two to begin. If you haven’t checked it out yet, here are five spoiler-free reasons why you should be watching Glitch as well:

monday-blogs-1It’s Brutally Honest About the Past

The people who came back from the dead didn’t all pass away in the same year or even in the same era. Some of them were gone for a long time before they suddenly came back, and the writers on the show never ignore that when they show these characters adjusting to life in 2016.

I can’t go into any further detail about this aspect of the plot without giving away spoilers about the episodes I’ve seen so far, but I can say that I absolutely loved how the huge cultural differences between the past and the present were handled when they came up.

The Dead Aren’t Scary

No, they’re not zombies, ghosts, or vampires. They’re human beings. Just like us, they eat, sleep, feel emotions, and breathe.  The fact that they can’t remember who they are or why they died is a huge mystery, but it’s only part of who they are as individuals.

As I get to know their personalities better, I become even more eager to figure out why they were brought back and what will happen to them next.

The Living Are Empathetic and Kind

I have to admit that seeing nude people who were covered in dirt crawl out of their graves would freak me out.

This is one of the reasons why I was so impressed by how James and the other residents of the town responded to finding the dead wandering around in a graveyard in the middle of the night. They were quite understandably shocked and confused at first, but they also quickly began rescuing the dead and finding a safe place to take them.

After giving up on a few other science fiction shows partially due to how poorly their characters behaved in a crisis, I was pleased to find one that shows people helping each other in an uncertain situation.

People Make Sensible Choices in This Universe

Do they always make the right decision? No!

They do have common sense, though, and so far they have been pretty good at learning from their past mistakes when something goes wrong.

This is the sort of thing I love finding in a TV show. It’s completely possible to have a great deal of tension in an episode without relying on a character to ignore something that happened five minutes ago in order to get them to wander into the wrong area or trust someone that they know they should be wary around.

The Opening Credits Are Visually Stunning and Important to the Storyline

Let me be honest here. I usually don’t pay a lot of attention to the opening credits of the TV shows I watch. Most of them are simply replaying scenes from the show that I already know. They’re fun to watch a few times, but the repetition eventually makes me lose interest in them.

This isn’t the case for Glitch.

While the opening credits are deceptively simple at first, they do give away some important information to anyone who pays attention to what’s going on in them. Without giving away spoilers, they’re also incredibly beautiful.

So do pay attention to them if or when you watch this show!

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January 23, 2017 · 1:00 am

Why Everyone Should Stop Using Pop-Ups

StopThis is a repost from my old blog. I will be back next week with new material. 

I don’t normally rant on this blog, but I’ve been having issues with pop-ups lately. Pop-up advertisements are one of the fastest and most efficient ways to drive me away from a site. It doesn’t matter how much I loved the article I was reading, what the pop-up is saying, or how long I’ve been a fan of that blogger or website.

If the administrators interrupt my concentration with an unwanted pop-up, they’re going to lose a reader for good. If their ad includes a video that starts playing automatically, I’ll be so annoyed that I will tell friends and family members to avoid that site as well.

No, I’m not opposed to the use of advertisements on websites in general. They’re a necessary part of making money on the Internet, and I completely understand that. Banner ads are fine, as are advertisements that are inserted halfway through whatever essay or article I’m reading as long as they don’t make noise or cover up the text.

I don’t care what kinds of racy pictures an ad might include or if they use clickbait titles to grab the reader’s attention. Those are some of the things I’ve come to expect from the web. Non-intrusive online ads are like billboards: sometimes they’re silly; often they’re cheesy; rarely they might even be helpful or interesting.

When a website decides to interrupt me when I’m reading one of their articles by launching a pop-up that I never wanted, though, they’re sending a very clear message about how little they value my time and attention.

It would be like a server interrupting you in the middle of a meal in order to take your half-finished plate away and ask if you wanted to order another entree. I can count the number of times that is acceptable on one hand, and every single one of them would begin with you asking for help due to something like undercooked meat, a fly in your soup, or food allergy issues.

You don’t just randomly start taking things away from people if you want them to keep coming back.

So, please. For the love of pete, stop using pop-up ads.

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January 21, 2017 · 1:00 am

Suggestion Saturday: January 21, 2017

Here is this week’s list of comic strips, short films, and other links from my favourite corners of the web.

The World of Snow Angels During Winter. I couldn’t stop chuckling at the last panel of this comic strip.

Five Problems With Sending Humans to Mars via Danlevesq. This was such a fantastic article. I hope we all live long enough to see how science overcomes these problems. It would be thrilling to see the establishment of the first human colony on Mars.

Reset.A short science fiction film about a girl living in an isolated, prairie farmhouse with her mother who is counting down the days until the girl’s father writes them another letter. I can’t say anything else about the plot without giving away spoilers, but it was fantastic.

How Far Does a Sneeze Travel? Fair warning: this may make you want to lock yourself in your house until cold and flu season ends. On a serious note, this video was fascinating. It’s no wonder so many people get sick this time of year.

I Follow You Back If via ‪TerryTyler4‬. I couldn’t stop laughing at this post. My criteria for who I follow on Twitter is very similar to hers.

From My Dark Secret via TransEthics:

With a title like that, you already know that what I’m about to reveal to you, Dear Reader, is not something I easily admit. It’s a confession of sorts. You see, I wouldn’t wish being transgender on anyone.

And I mean anyone.

What have you been reading?

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