Notches on the Bucket #mfrwauthor

WEEK 7 OF THE 2018 CHALLENGE is officially Five Top Things On My Bucket List.  This post is going to be short. Despite my age, I try to tell myself I'm too young for a bucket list (just ignore the silver hair.) However, that topic was covered in the 2017 challenge. Rather than rehashing last year's post where I filled the bucket, I decided to take another tact and cover notches on the bucket.

As a result of my work as a correspondent and feature story writer, a few items have already been taken out of the bucket. I've had backroom tours of the collections of several major museums and attended some of the top antique shows in the country. 

Another notch went on the bucket while I sat in the exclusive pilots area and vintage aircraft perform.

Although unplanned, perhaps the first notch went on the bucket when Around Matawan and Aberdeen, my first history was published.

The next notch went on when Windmaster was released to the world. 


 

I Can't Choose.. Don't Make Me #MFRWauthor

Welcome to week 1 of the 2018 challenge. The official topic is the favorite thing I've written. To an author that is like asking them to choose between their children.

It could be the first feature I wrote on Amercan art tiles. It was special to me because it was not just my first feature story (and got me started on a writing path that has lasted more than three decades,) but also because I became a tile historian.

Or, it could be one of the three local history books I authored. Two still hold a special place in my heart. The third, not so much. However I refuse to visit the troll that ruined that book's release.

But the group is marketing for romance authors so the book showcased should be my fiction. Windmaster was my first book so it will always be special.

Then there is Dragon Destiny. It was used as encouragement during a relative's rehab after surgery. And the main character was based on a family member who has since grown up into a beautiful young woman.

Both those books were followed by others including Hatchling's Vengeance and Imprisoned in Stone. Each presented a challenge to write and the resultant increase in skills makes them a favorite.

But to answer the question?

~till next time, be sure to visit the other authors in the challenge. You might find a new favorite book and author.




Gremlins danced in the links. Here's a couple of correct steps.

Dee S. Knight/
Robin Michaela
Mary McCoy-Dressel

Love, life, and vengeance #MFRWauthor

Every once in a while, a topic comes up that knocks you back on your heels. This week's is one. Life Lessons in your books. Do I want to use the tag lines, look up life lessons online, or just re-read the books and come up with lines of my own. Time available for writing is short so I chose all three, and decided to do a little of each.

Blood may be thicker than water, but in the end, we have to decide whether it is worth our honor. Imprisoned in Stone

This quote from Chico Xavier is perfect for Hatchling's Vengeance.

"Though nobody can go back and make a new beginning... Anyone can start over and make a new ending."

Live the life of your dreams and maybe they'll come true. Dragon Destiny

Be careful of what you wish for.  Windmaster

Click on the covers in the banners for blurbs and excerpts from these books and the rest of my works. And be sure to visit the other authors in the challenge to see what life lessons their books imparted.

Sometimes the links get corrupted or don't come through correctly. Apologies for whatever Internet gremlin is having fun. Other times the link is just too long for the list software. Corrected links follow:

Cathy Brockman - http://cathybrockman.com/2017/07/14/life-lessons-in-my-books-mfrwauthor-lifelessons-blogchallenge/

Mary Dressel - https://maryjdresselbooks.com/2017/07/14/amwriting-life-lessons-in-books-mfrwauthor-blog-hop/

Sherry Lewis - https://coaldancer.wordpress.com/2017/07/14/ask-a-question-but-never-answer-it-mfrwauthor/

Name the Blosson - Rose or Tulip? #MFRWauthor

Among the first things that catch a reader's attention is a book cover, the back page blurb, and the title. Several considerations go into selecting the perfect title. Too long and it might be forgotten. Titles need to be evergreen or at the very least adhere to contemporary rules.

For me the hardest part of selecting a title was finding one that was not already in use. The perfect title is conceived, then your hopes are dashed with a quick online search. A book in your genre was released just six months earlier with the same title.

"Titles aren't copyrighted," your inner self urged. "Go ahead and use it."

However, copyright isn't the primary consideration. Recognition is. If you use the same title as a popular book, yours will appear far, far back in the search results. There might be a coat-tail effect, where readers looking for the other book stumble across yours and decide to give it a try. But it is just as likely a possibility of a backlash when they realize your book was not the one they really wanted.

Selecting a title is even more difficult when the standalone book became a series. So here's the story behind the titles of the Dragshi Chronicles. You'll notice that the keyword shifted between the first book in the series and the rest. That's because when the titles were being selected, it seemed like every combination with "dragon" was in use. And I had to have "dragon" as that was a critical component of the story.

The Dragshi Chronicles

Dragon Destiny
Hatchlings Curse
Hatchling's Mate
Hatchling's Vengeance

Dragon Destiny was chosen to reflect the hopes of Lord Branin Llewlyn of the dragshi that the trader girl Anastasia would have a destiny as half of a dragon-human pairing. Hatchlings Curse hinted at the price paid for the freedom of flight. Spoiler alert. After the curse was broken, the hatchling had to search for a mate to continue his kind. The final book of the tale of the dragshi was told in Hatchling’s Vengeance. So each of the chronicles had something related to dragon. Hatchling was chosen as the keyword as at the time there were few titles with "hatchling" in them.

In each of the chronicles, a legend or tale from the past was recounted. When Hatchling's Vengeance was completed, there seemed to be something left unsaid. I knew it wasn't another book in the series. I realized that the legends needed their own due, which meant another book. One based in the world of the dragshi, but not of the tales of Branin and the trader girl Anastasia. After they legends were written (which ended up being a collection of five novellas and short stories. I didn't want a "dragon" or a "hatchling" title because I consciously wanted something different.

The anthology needed to have separation from the Dragshi Chronicles. A reread of the stories gave the answer. The one thing each had in common was first change-- the event when the dragon soul twin awoke. Hence the title selected was First Change: Legends From the Eyrie.

Do you like your titles to relate to the storyline or just be a catchy phrase? Leave a note in the comments below. And don't forget to visit the other authors who are participating in the 52-week 52-post challenge

~till next time, Helen

Characters Have Favorite Things Too. #MFRWauthor

For the first time I'm attempting a challenge. Not because I'm bored (as a 24/7 caregiver for an elderly family member time is limited) or that I don't have anything else to do (2 novels, 6 poems, and 4 interviews await the pen). No, I accepted the challenge as a symbolic gesture for the new year.

The immediate reaction to the topic "A Few of my Favorite Things" was Julie Andrews singing "raindrops on roses..."

Stop right there by mind said. Too prosaic.

Take two. Friends, family, Smokey Mountains, sitting on a lakeside dock. Nope. Too common. Back to "whiskers on kittens..."

Favorite things should invoke warm fuzzy happiness. "Ain't gonna happen," my darkside snarled. With the release of the last book in a series, I'm saying goodbye to a world I created. A book pirate's complaint that I wouldn't gift him all my books and the anniversary of one of the worst days in my writing career didn't put me in a light-hearted frame of mind. So I reached out to books--and their characters. So here's some of my favorite characters' favorite things.

Dal of Clan Daimh, Archmage (Windmaster Legacy) 

• Taerneach, the stallion and I've been together since before I was a fetlock high. He's helped me accept I'd never be clan chief
• the magic dagger given me by Gabrielle when she could no longer practice magic.

Lord Branin of the Dragshi (Hatchlings Curse)

• the freedom of flight when I take on my soul twin's dragon form. Even if it comes with heavy responsibility and the curse of childlessness.
• the protector of Mt'wan, the enspelled sword has saved my life on more than one occasion

Anastasia of Clan Miller (Dragon Destiny)

• the feeling of belonging to clan
• the dragon comb that was a present from Branin at the special naming day party given me by the dragshi

And lastly, a few favorite things of Ellspeth of the House of Cszabo, captain of Sea Falcon. (Windmaster)

• the breeze in my face as I stand a midnight watch at the helm of my ship,
• shipfish dancing on their tails as the silver notes of my flute float across the waves.
• the sun glinting off my gold bracelets of rank.

To visit more with the characters who shared their favorite things, click on the covers. Each appears in the entire series, but I listed the cover they appear on. To read other posts about favorite things, click on the list below.

~till next time, Helen