The Write Word with Wareeze

Writing the Story Forward

Hello Friends,

Happy Mother’s Day to all of you mothers out there. I lost my mother years ago, but the memories linger. As a matter of fact I took my pen name Wareeze from my mother and I’m carrying her pen name forward. She wrote music. None published as far as I know. Still her legacy moves me forward with the urge to create.

If this is your first time to read a Soul Mate Publishing blog post, allow me to introduce myself. I write historical romance novels with a dash of suspense under my pen name, Wareeze Woodson. Seven of my books are published by Soul Mate and have been released on Amazon. Conduct Unbecoming of a Gentleman, An Enduring Love, A Lady’s Vanishing Choices, Captured by the Viscount, The Earl’s Scandalous Wager, The Earl, Her Reluctant Guardian, After She Became a Lady along with a historical romance western: Bittersweep. I have a self-published one as well (After She Became a Lady). Self-publishing is not for me, however.

I love this font and wish I could write the entire post this way. After all, I write historical romance, and this font seems to fit perfectly. The flair, the unusual lettering all take me back to another era of penmanship, correct manners, and dashing adventures. Of course, that’s just me.

If you’ll be kind enough to read forward, The rest of the post shall be in another font easier to read. Perhaps my words shall offer a little more insight into writing and the turmoil therein. There must be a transition between the action/reaction and the next scene to move the story forward.

Have you have read a book that went on and on without an advancement to the story line? I have and I did want to turn the page alright, but only to escape the tedium of hashing the same thing over until it made me yawn. I hope to show examples of what not to do along with something to move the story forward.

One of my favorite authors, wrote a book where the hero could never convince the heroine of the reality of the situation. She couldn’t commit to him or accept him in her life. Although evidence of the truth of his words was all around her, she fought against the reality of being in another world. I wanted to slap her on the back of the head. Harping on that one element was very off-putting. Start with a strong premise and with characters not as blind as those who choose not to see.

On to moving the story forward. While working toward that end, remember the characters can’t be in one place and simply arrive at another location without forward motion. A transition must occur.

The reader must be drawn into the story by a description of the place, smells, noises, and relatable things that happen in everyday life plus wanting to know what happens next. FORWARD MOTION.

An example while traveling: Conduct Unbecoming of a Gentleman

“Be careful and have a safe journey. I’ll wave you away in the morning.” Adron kissed her and with a pat, sent her out the door.

The next morning, Adron appeared on the steps as Horace, a big, burly dark-complexioned man with black hair and eyes, pulled the coach round to the front entrance. He dismounted and scanned the sky. “Weather appears nasty, Milord.”

Laurel rushed down the stairs. “Please! I must go to my aunt.”

In a slight upward nod with his chin, Adron acknowledged her statement. “The weather does appear dubious but if it becomes too inclement, Horace will pull in at the nearest inn or posting house. Have a safe trip and wish your aunt the best health.”

Breathing a sigh of relief, she climbed aboard and took Jamie from Hester’s arms as the maid flopped on the opposite seat. Laurel waved and watched Adron as he returned her wave before mounting the steps.

Delighted to be well on her way, in spite of the threat of a pending downpour, she was even happier to have Jamie with her. With the gentle sway of the coach, Jamie fell asleep, and Hester nodded off soon after. As the day advanced, Laurel’s eyelids grew heavy and drifted down as well.

The smell of rain-drenched air brought her round, and she glanced out the window. The sky had darkened considerably since the morning and the storm broke with a vengeance. Rain pelted the vehicle making it advisable to put up at the closest inn. Horace drove the coach out on the pike-road, a mile or so north of Han’s Cross on the lookout for the lonely posting house. He pulled to a stop and helped the ladies down.

TRANSITATION INTO THE NEXT SCENE MOVING THE STORY FORWARD

Laurel and her group traipsed into the inn, shaking the moisture from their traveling cloaks. Following the Innkeeper into the interior of the inn, she approved the private parlor off the coffee room with a nod. A cheerful fire chased the dampness from the chamber and chairs were placed before the hearth. She rubbed her hands together before the blaze and pulled Jamie’s chair a little closer before ordering a light repast to accompany the tea.

NEXT SCENE

Hester tripped into the room. “Everything is right and tight as is proper for your ladyship and the little one.” The maid bustled about the room, fluffing pillows, and drawing a small table and chairs closer to the fire. “I’ve unpacked, Milady.” At the rap on the door, Hester hurried over to open it. “Here’s your supper now.” She arranged the meal on the table and bobbed her head. “Your ladyship.”

“Thank you, Hester. I’ll be fine. Jamie and I’ll go straight upstairs to our chamber. We’ll both go to bed so don’t concern yourself with us again tonight.”

Hester curtsied and bustled out of the parlor. Before the meal was half consumed the maid briefly knocked and burst into the room, drawing a long breath. “Milady, my chamber has been disturbed, searched and everything is in a scramble. I was that scared so I called, Horace and showed him the mess.”

This was an example of a scene and a transition always moving the story forward. Characters moved from one place, a physical location, to another. The tale advances, traveling, but also in further actions, hopefully making the reader want to read the next page and the next.

I hope I’ve given the reader a brief glimpse into using a transition to move the story forward. To learn more about my writing, visit my website or visit my facebook page.

Respectfully,

Wareeze Woodson

Website: https://www.wareezewoodson.com  

face book https://www.facebook.com/pages/Wareeze-Woodson/523727757689755

goodreads  https://www.goodreads.com/wareeze

link  twitter  http://twitter.com/@wareeze

Spring Musings

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Inspiration for my stories

I am lucky to have made friends with many authors over the years, both in person and online. Many are active posters and one of the things they often have are inspiration posts with hot guys and gals. Others will post the inspiration for the characters and that got me to thinking about my own inspiration in that regard.

Sometimes the characters are based on celebrities, usually those ones that I was crushing on from a distance, and other times they leap straight from my imagination. Neither is right or wrong, but the process is different depending on the circumstance, at least for me.

My Soul Mate series is one that the characters are not drawn from any real life source…well, perhaps after the fact, but the characters came from my imagination and not real life. In the case of Ian Sanderson, the hero from Shifting Auras, he kept changing and changing until I landed on who Ian was. Later I found inspiration in what I imagined him to look like in the form of Rob Bell, a host on the Science Channel. Now I can’t imagine Ian without seeing Rob Bell, but it didn’t start out that way. I had a mental image in my mind of the characters, and then went searching for images to fit them. The way they talked and the way they moved was something they dictated to me and not due to any underlying “real life” person.  But of course once I found the right picture and/or the right person, the rest came easily.

All of the characters in the series are like that, but in other series I have definite real life inspiration. David Lee Roth was the inspiration for one, dating back to my college days. That made it easy for me to have “inspiration” if you will, since I knew what the real-life person looked like, moved like, talked like. I could picture them easily, and/or research how they would say something, which helped formulate the interactions.

Neither method is right, or wrong. That’s the beauty of writing.

Claire

Fictional Eating

Should food be part of a novel? Does it add or detract from your reading experience? I prefer it in myself, having grown up reading a lot of Enid Blyton scrummy feasts or supping with centaurs in Narnia. It feels weird to read days passing in a novel with nary a drop to drink or a morsel of food.

 Many fantasy novels do have a bit of a focus on food, with hungry Bilbo drooling over the elven feasts and all the hobbit parties and dwarven drinking. There is a funny scene in Tarzan, where he is at a ritzy English afternoon tea party, and absently picks up a caterpillar and eats it, much to the horror of his guests and wife.

Food in fiction reveals the desires of the characters, the wealth of the world with feasts and famine, and dreams of prisoners on bread and water, or even worse if you are a prisoner of Orcs. Sam Gamgee tried to keep the memory of his home and safety alive by lugging his pots to the doorstep of Mordor. After a pot of stew he realises the truth. That he and Frodo may be in one of those stories that do not have a happy ending.

It might also reflect the author. JK Rowling as a single mother might well have welcomed house elves bearing plates of food. Enid Blyton writing during the food rationing in Britain during the war years may have yearned for a secret feast with cream filled cakes, fresh eggs, and lashings of ginger beer.

One characteristic of food on a quest I will focus on here is its ability to keep while travelling. Other food may be bought, stolen, foraged for or hunted along the trip. But travel food needs to be sturdy, keep well, and adaptable for quick snacking when the hordes appear over the horizon. Another factor is climate. Sure, it’s an imaginary one, but it needs to be realistic. No one is going to believe lettuce in the desert or fruit in a never ending winter.  So Conan, a notorious dodger of Hyborian salad ingredients, munches on dates in between oasis points in the desert. He drinks his fill of ale, wine if he has enough coin, as well as bread and meat in taverns. Quite often he is penniless, leading him to take on a job which leads him deeper into adventure.

People travelling and fighting need calorie dense food. No one diets on a quest. Fat, protein, and a dollop of vitamins. But how have people done this in real life? Two similar foodstuffs are pemmican and fruit mince, which use similar ingredients to produce two slightly different travel foods.

Fruit mince in early English recipes included actual meat, most often some offal such as tongue or heart. This was minced fine, and added to the melted suet or kidney fat, dried fruits, sugar, nuts and alcohol. This made a concentrated food that could be used in pies, cakes and tarts. It also had a long keeping period without refrigeration. The combination of meat and fruit is no doubt a hangover from the crusades and the importation of exotic spices and long keeping nutritious items such as dates. Today, people still eat it at Christmas, however the meat is usually omitted.

Pemmican is an American Indian food. It uses fat as a base, but the meat, grains and berries are dehydrated and crushed to a powder before mixing into the fat. This made rich cakes that kept and travelled well, and could be eaten as is, or used to make a soup base. It was a sought after trade item, and a batch could be made using an entire bison. Your typical fantasy character would no doubt be buying this rather than making it, given the labour that would be in the making of it.

For romance novels? Is the way to a man’s heart through his stomach? Will a woman swoon over a plate of well-seasoned pasta? Or will she prefer her own company and a girl dinner of choice fridge oddments? Many novels make use of picnics, millionaire fine dining, or more realistically a snatched cup of coffee at work. I have used a shared dislike of beetroot as a bonding experience.

What’s your favourite food or meal from a novel?

About Cindy

I write in a few different genres including romance, science fiction and fantasy. My SMP series Druid’s Portal is a time travel action adventure romance series set in Roman Britain. The third exciting novel in the series is now in the editing stage – Boudicca. Roman Britain at its most bloody, and yet love will be found in the darkest and most dangerous of times. Hit me up if you would like to get a copy before publication and review it, or review copies of the first two in the series.

Check out my books and short story collections on Amazon. Many are free, and all of them are page turners guaranteed to help you escape the everyday.

Contact Cindy on

Website: https://www.cindytomamichel.com/  

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CindyTomamichelAuthor/

Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/CindyTomamichel

Amazon: https://amazon.com/author/cindytomamichel

Newsletter: https://tinyurl.com/AdventureNews

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/cindy-tomamichel

Substack blog Travels in Time: https://substack.com/@cindytomamichel

My Midwest Adventure

I love to travel but haven’t been doing as much of it lately, so these past few weeks in the Midwest was a really fun treat.

I was lucky enough to live in the path of totality in 2017, and ever since I’ve wanted to see another eclipse (full disclosure–my family traveled to Mexico when I was a kid for an eclipse, though there was too much cloud cover for a satisfying viewing–so I at least come by my fascination honestly) With the path of totality so close to Chicago, I knew I wanted to figure out a way to fit the eclipse into my travel plans. My husband and I visited one of my cousins near Indianapolis–and got very lucky with the weather in Indiana. I didn’t take any pictures during totality since I was too busy soaking in the awesome sight of the full corona. So spectacular! I’m very bummed that the next one in the US is 20 years away. Did you do anything special for the eclipse on April 8th?

After the eclipse was over, my husband hung around a few more days to try to avoid the worst of the eclipse pricing, before he headed home and I went to spend a week in Chicago. Aside from a couple of absolutely wonderful reader and author events, I also got to spend some time in one of my favorite cities. I did an architectural boat tour on the river that was a total blast. The guide was really knowledgeable and Chicago is home to some very unique, very impressive buildings with a rich history that continues to grow and improve all the time. I also spent a day at the Field Museum–my favorite–and the Institute of Art. I probably could have spent another week there, just enjoying the museums, and soaking up the inspiration for my writing. Though after so long away, I was also happy to be home again with my family and my pets.

I’ve never lived in a city, but Chicago is certainly on my short list of places I’d like to live–if I could afford it! How about you? Are there any cities you particularly enjoy? Do you have any fun travel plans this spring or summer?

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Jaycee Jarvis has been an avid romance reader since devouring all the Sweet Dreams books her middle school library had to offer. Also a fantasy fan from an early age, she often wished those wondrous stories had just a bit more kissing. Now she writes stories with a romantic heart set against a magical backdrop, creating the kind of book she most likes to read.

When not lost in worlds of her own creation, she resides in the Pacific Northwest with her husband, three children and a menagerie of pets.

Jaycee is a Golden Heart® finalist and author of the Hands of Destin series. The award winning first book in that series, Taxing Courtship, released in June 2018. The final book in that series, Crowning Courtship, came out in May 2021.

Learn more about her around the web:

• Website: www.jayceejarvis.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorJayceeJarvis
• Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/18092674.Jaycee_Jarvis
• BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/jaycee-jarvis

Potato Soup for the Soul:

I’ve come to think of cooking as an art that is part gift and part skillful practice. My mother was a very gifted cook. She could make a dish that was perfect and filled with love. One recipe that fed my soul as well as my stomach was her potato soup. I’ve since added some things and made some changes, but deep down, it is still her recipe and wonderful for these last chilly days in “April—or when your soul is a little tender. This recipe is cheap and inexpensive. My mother was a child during the Depression and a young woman in WWII—a time in which many of my books are set.

Ingredients:

3-4 potatoes

2 stalks of celery

1 onion

3 shallots

2 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons pepper

2 teaspoons parsley

3-4 cups of milk

1. Boil potatoes and peel.

2. Sauté shallots, celery, and onion.

3. Place in with Potatoes.

4. Mash potatoes with the ingredients.

5. Add milk.

6. Season with salt, pepper, and parsley

–My mother knew how to make me happy after a hard day. I miss her and her great cooking.

Writing Through Stress…Hello Spring!

All I can say is… it’s about time! What a long dark that was!

As you’re reading this, I’m likely sitting on a beach with a fishing pole in hand! That Man and I are on a “just us” trip to our favorite beach! We’ve been looking forward this since… well, since the last time we’ve had a “just us” trip and it’s probably been about 3 years.

It’s the calm before the storm. When we return it’ll be one obligation after another for pretty much the entire summer and fall. It’s all good–most of it is fun stuff–but it’s nice to have the moment to recharge before diving in.

Currently, it’s the final countdown before we depart. And this is the time where there’s a metric crapton of anxiety… We’re still dealing with pop us issues with the new vehicle and at this point, we’ve taken every precaution and are prepared for anything that could happen, but yikes. Our animals and house will be well cared for by the best house-sitter in the world. But our puppers is an old lady and we worry about her. And you know… every other thing you worry about before going on a trip.

Oh! This happened after my last post, but during the last snowstorm we had here, we wrecked my beloved Jeep. It was pretty awful. We were uninjured (a few bruises from the seat belt and sore muscles), but my Jeep was not. She’s in pretty bad shape, but she’ll be back. Once we return from our trip, the dismantling and procurement of needed parts will begin. I am super sad though.

In other news, I’m working on a new book and I’m over halfway through. I’m kind of stuck right now but I’m working through it in my head. I just feel like something should else should be happening, but I’m not sure what. But I’m plugging along and I do really like the premise and the characters.

And that’s it! Enjoy the sunshine!

Behave!

A Poem with an Intriguing Backstory

April is National Poetry Month, a month set aside to honor poetry and its vital place in our society. First celebrated in 1996 by the Academy of American Poets, this event has grown into a national movement that inspires millions, from the youngest children to the oldest readers. All forms of poetry from sonnets and romantic ballads to haiku and limericks to free verse are shared throughout the month.

Today, I am sharing one of my favorite poems, “Comes the Dawn.” I recall first seeing this poem in the early 1970s. At the time, the poet was Unknown. Since then, I have learned that several poets have been credited with creating this inspiring poem.

It is most often attributed to “Veronica A. Shoffstall” (1952 – 2024), a woman who served with distinction at the Baha’i International Community’s United Nations Office and Office of Public Information in New York. It appeared in her college yearbook in 1971.

Other backstories have emerged. A popular one attributes the poem to Jorge Luis Borges (1899 – 1986). It is the first half of a longer poem entitled “Aprendiendo.” Regarded as a key figure in Spanish-language and international literature, Borges was an Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet, and translator.

The poem has been shared with other titles, among them “After A While,” “You Learn,” and “Despues de Un Tiempo.” The layout of the poem also varies from a series of two-line verses to various free-verse structures.

On a whim, I turned to ChatGPT and received the following response to my query:

“Comes the Dawn” is a beautiful poem that is often attributed to Veronica A. Shoffstall, although there is some debate about its origin. The poem speaks to the idea of resilience, growth, and moving forward after experiencing challenges or hardships.

The poem resonates with many people because it captures the essence of personal growth and empowerment through life’s trials and tribulations. It encourages self-reliance, resilience, and the understanding that endings can also be opportunities for new beginnings. While the specific backstory behind the poem’s creation remains somewhat elusive, its message has touched countless hearts over the years.

Without any further ado…Here’s the poem:

Comes the Dawn

After a while you learn the subtle difference
Between holding a hand and chaining a soul,

And you learn that love doesn’t mean leaning
And company doesn’t mean security,

And you begin to learn that kisses aren’t contracts
And presents aren’t promises

And you begin to accept your defeats
With your head up and your eyes open,

With the grace of a woman,
Not the grief of a child

And you learn to build all your roads on today,
Because tomorrow’s ground is too uncertain for plans
and futures have a way of falling down in mid-flight.

After a while you learn that even sunshine
Burns if you get too much

So you plant your own garden and decorate your own soul,
Instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers

And you learn that you really can endure…
that you really are strong
and you really do have worth,
and you learn and learn…
With every goodbye you learn.

You can listen to the Spanish version here.

Do you have a favorite poem? Please share in the comments.

Where to find Joanne Guidoccio…

Website | Twitter | Goodreads | Pinterest | Facebook | LinkedIn | Amazon

Friends Deserve Page Time as Secondary Characters

Do you write loyal, trusted, helpful friends or cheating, conniving, dastardly two-faced friends? Choose wisely and your protagonist succeeds or bleeds accordingly. 

“What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies.” Aristotle.

Oh, the lucky person who finds such a confidant in real life. In fiction, friendships create a backdrop for perfect and imperfect relationships outside of the main character struggling against the antagonist. How your protagonist reacts and supports their friends provides insight to your readers, so when I write, I develop BFF’s with intent.

I’ve published the first three books in a romantic suspense series, Love Thrives in Emma Springs. In The Hitman’s Mistake my heroine, Miranda, relies on her best friend, Corrin, in order to vanish. The second book, Torn by Vengeance, is Corrin’s story and the two friends work together to thwart her stalker. A third female friend is introduced in Vengeance, and voila, the main character in the next story, The Targeted Pawn, gained an audience.

The male heroes in my books remain front and center, but creating engaging female secondary characters pays off. After reading Hitman, my dental hygienist insisted she needed to read Corrin’s story. Oops. I shelved the two other books I’d written for the series, slapped my forehead, and honored her request. In another series I’ve started, Book 1 features the popular friends-to-lovers troupe. Shared childhood memories create a window into their adult emotions.

Common interests, past history, and awkward encounters invite logical ties. I’m personally not a fan of backstabbing woman in fiction, so I carefully balance personality conflicts and disagreements between friends while maintaining underlying love and support for one another. I prefer to portray my villains as trusting the wrong friend and paying the consequences. An excerpt from Torn by Vengeance highlighting the power of friendship is below. Happy trails, Sally

The airplane swooped down from the angry sky, bounced twice on the runway, and taxied to the terminal.

A wave of jitters hit. Miranda would be shocked to see her in Montana. The last time they’d talked, they’d planned to meet in Seattle, prior to her testimony.

“Spontaneous and Corrin Patten never grace the same sentence,” her BFF frequently joked. Well, today she’d refute Miranda’s statement. She shoved legal files into her bag on the floor and checked outside. Beyond the tarmac-and-boondocks version of an airport, Montana stretched in a wide expanse of snow-dusted, midday tranquility. Cows stood in a field off to one side, ignoring the buzz of the planes.

All those years ago, buzzing, waspish tongues in Ebony Cove hadn’t affected her either, until she’d lost her childlike naiveté on that horrible afternoon.

Suppressed images of those falsely smiling lips whispering insults dotted her memory again like the cow pies dotting the nearby pasture. Queasiness rolled through her stomach. She wasn’t the ragtag kid anymore, wondering if she’d scrape together dinner for her siblings—wondering if the neighbor’s steers would trample her as she collected fallen, unwanted apples from the orchard where they grazed.

If her sister-of-the-soul, Miranda, hadn’t frantically called, she’d never have flown here to offer moral support and informal legal coaching.

The Hitman’s Mistake:

Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07DM795GP

Torn by Vengeance:

Amazon Link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07P1D33K1

The Targeted Pawn

Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B085F2Q85M

Are You Ready for Big Magic?

By Jeanine Englert

I am a firm believer that timing is everything and that time (along with dogs) can heal well almost anything. I also believe that books find me when I need them. Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert was the book I needed recently, and listening to it has saved the creator and maker in me.

Do I sound overdramatic? Yes. Am I still serious. Yes. To say that I was in burnout with my writing seems an understatement, especially now that I have finally peeked out of the well I had fallen into. And let me tell you, I denied it for a long while before I named it. Then, even when I named it, I just sat and eyed it suspiciously as if we were having a staring contest. I didn’t know what to do with it. I suppose I just carried it around a while and pretended we were old friends.

We weren’t.

How did I get there? I think the answer when I think about it is simple. I published 6 books over the last 3 years and I have another one coming out in October. For someone who took 9 years to finish their first book (which will never emerge from its shoebox), this pace of output was and is too much for me. I’m a pantster, so the percolating and amount of time my mind needs to create is simply more than what I had contractually allowed myself.

And the other brutal and painful truth is that I did it to myself. I didn’t have to sign contracts and have such close pub dates. I knew when I signed them that I had a full-time job, husband, pups, and the rest of what is a life to lead. I knew there were only so many hours in a day, but I kept saying yes.

I just didn’t know I was saying yes to the wrong things.

Until I listened to Big Magic. I listened to it on the way to work and on the way home from work, and slowly I felt the black gloom of burnout ease back enough to let some creative light back in. So, now I say yes to curiosity, my creative self, and allowing my creativity to breathe. I stilled and listened to the quiet until I could hear and feel that “big magic” within me coming back to life with the slow fluttering of its little butterfly wings.

While I don’t know if you are in, near, or burnout adjacent, please take a moment to breathe and to let your craft and creativity breathe. Sit quiet with it for a while and make sure you pause and celebrate the art of whatever you have made or are making. Nurture your big magic. . . and above all else, if you haven’t given yourself the gift of listening to or reading Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert, do so. The creator within you will thank you.

Jeanine Englert’s love affair with mysteries and romance began with Nancy Drew, Murder She Wrote, and her Grandmother’s bookshelves full of romance novels. She is a VIVIAN® and Golden Heart® Finalist as well as a Silver Falchion, Maggie, and Daphne du Maurier Award Winner in historical romance and mystery.

Her Scottish Highland historical and historical romantic suspense novels revolve around characters seeking self-acceptance and redemption. When she isn’t wrangling with her characters on the page, she can be found trying to convince her husband to watch her latest Masterpiece or BBC show obsession. She loves to talk about books, writing, her beloved rescue pups, as well as mysteries and romance with other readers. Visit her website at www.jeaninewrites.com.

Social Media Links –

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Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/jeanine-englert?list=abouthttps://www.goodreads.com/book/show/46222432-lovely-digits