Ah, yes, only 16 more shopping days until Christmas!
So may I suggest that you take a break from cookie making/gift wrapping/tree trimming to come chat with authors from the area?
The first opportunity is tomorrow, Dec. 3, when a number of authors -- including those from KYOWA Writers – will be at the Boyd County Public Library in Ashland, Ky., from 2 to 4 p.m.
The next is Saturday, Dec.l 17, when nearly two dozen writers will take part in the Holiday Author Showcase at the McConnell House, at U.S. 23 and the Industrial Parkway, near Wurtland, Ky. They'll be there from 10 a.m. to mid-afternoon, as will Abraham Lincoln, Robert E. Lee, several Confederate soldiers with their gear and a musician providing Civil War era music. There is no admission free and so many great books!
Cammie Eicher
Friday, December 9, 2011
Thursday, December 1, 2011
The perfect gift?
Once again, it's the gift-giving season and once again, you're faced with trying to find the perfect gift for that someone who is SO hard to buy for.
May I suggest a book?
"Currents," a new anthology by members of KYOWA #180, the chapter of Romance Writers of America serving my little neck of the world, contains marvelous short stories of all kinds (even a romance or two!) What's best of all is that the royalties from "Currents" are being donated to help support a local ovarian cancer screening center which will start screenings in January.
"Currents" is modestly pricesd at $9.99, and can be purchased from Amazon. com or directly from the publisher, Tuquoise Morning Press, at www.turquoisemorningpress.com.
Check it out. You may decide it's the perfect gift for you to relax with as well!
Cammie Eicher
Thursday, June 9, 2011
It's almost here
That's right, my historical romantic suspense "Bittersweet" is set to hit the e-shelves in the next week or so, and the real shelves a few weeks later. I love every book I write, but "Bittersweet" is one of those books of my heart.
Here's the story in a nutshell: The hero returns to his family's NW Ohio farm to find his fiancee married to someone else, his stepmother dead and his father dying. He gets another big wallop after his father dies and he discovers that the will is entailed: If he does marry and have a child before he is 30, only 18 months away, he will lose not only the farm but guardianship of his 16-year-old sister.
And yeah, it gets worse for poor Coulter. Riding to rid himself of anger despite a pending thunderstorm, he is shocked when a young woman collapses in his path.
Naturally, he has no choice but to take her home ... and soon discovers that this maid of mystery intends to stay that way.
Intrigued yet? Let me say it just gets better and better.
Why post-Civil War when everything else I write is contemporary?
Blame my mother. And maybe "Gone With the Wind."
My mother is a huge history buff with mad research skills. GWTW hooked me the first time I read, and I have made a habit of re-reading it every five years or so. Add in the fact that I edited a Civil War diary that was reprinted in the newspaper I worked for, and there you have it.
I don't care about battles or military formation. I am, however, fascinated with how ordinary people resumed their lives after the epic war that tore apart families and led to mass destruction of towns and farmlands.
That's what started me thinking about how horrible it would be to come home and find your whole world changed. Or losing everything in your world and not knowing how to go on.
Coulter and his mysterious guest, the beautiful Amelia, are both forced to step out into an unknown future, where things aren't always as they seem and danger invades when they least expect it.
I hope you'll give "Bittersweet" a try, and I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I'd love to know what you think!
Cat Shaffer
catshaffer@windstream.net
Here's the story in a nutshell: The hero returns to his family's NW Ohio farm to find his fiancee married to someone else, his stepmother dead and his father dying. He gets another big wallop after his father dies and he discovers that the will is entailed: If he does marry and have a child before he is 30, only 18 months away, he will lose not only the farm but guardianship of his 16-year-old sister.And yeah, it gets worse for poor Coulter. Riding to rid himself of anger despite a pending thunderstorm, he is shocked when a young woman collapses in his path.
Naturally, he has no choice but to take her home ... and soon discovers that this maid of mystery intends to stay that way.
Intrigued yet? Let me say it just gets better and better.
Why post-Civil War when everything else I write is contemporary?
Blame my mother. And maybe "Gone With the Wind."
My mother is a huge history buff with mad research skills. GWTW hooked me the first time I read, and I have made a habit of re-reading it every five years or so. Add in the fact that I edited a Civil War diary that was reprinted in the newspaper I worked for, and there you have it.
I don't care about battles or military formation. I am, however, fascinated with how ordinary people resumed their lives after the epic war that tore apart families and led to mass destruction of towns and farmlands.
That's what started me thinking about how horrible it would be to come home and find your whole world changed. Or losing everything in your world and not knowing how to go on.
Coulter and his mysterious guest, the beautiful Amelia, are both forced to step out into an unknown future, where things aren't always as they seem and danger invades when they least expect it.
I hope you'll give "Bittersweet" a try, and I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I'd love to know what you think!
Cat Shaffer
catshaffer@windstream.net
Thursday, May 19, 2011
If you need a good read ...
A wonderful story of love, loss and family relationships, BB is set in the luxurious horse country of Kentucky, with the famed Kentucky Derby prominently featured. You can find it in e-book from your favorite vendor, including Amazon.com, and it is also being released in print by Turquoise Morning Press.
(You can order it in either form at www.turquoisemorningpress.com)
If you'd like to meet Lozi in person, then make plans to visit the author tent at Russell Railroad Days in downtown Russell, Ky., on Saturday, June. The tent will be located near the restored depot and caboose near city hall. You can also meet other TMP authors Jennifer Johnson and Cat Shaffer at the festival, as well as many other great authors.
Happy reading to you all!
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Welcome to my world
Hello, friends and word lovers! I've been sidelined with a little shoulder surgery, but I'm back now and happy to be able to work a keyboard again.
I've always been pleased in various reviews of my books to hear my settings praised. There's nothing I like better than building a world of my own, whether in my Cat Shaffer books and short stories or my Cammie Eicher paranormals.
Whether it's a small town, such as in "Kentucky Blues" or "No Safe Place," or the society of the vampires in my Shadow Ancient books, I feel like I'm living there when I'm writing. Of course, I've already designed the world when I start, which makes it soooo much easier,
So for you writers out there, I'd like to offer some tips on world building from my experience.
Start with a location that suits your characters. "Kentucky Blues" had to take place in a small town, where everyone knows everyone. In a big city, no one would care if Hannah Drummond had a younger man living with her. The fictional small town of Brookville is based on nearly every small town I've lived in, yet unique in its own way.
My vampires live in Old Louisville, a part of Louisville, Kentucky, that really lends itself to the supernatural. Their world, however, is more than location. It's the way their society is structured, the rituals that tie them together and their need to live hidden from us "short life" humans.
Next, put people in your world. Yes, of course you know your important characters. But populate your world with others as well, the kind of folks you naturally run into in the course of your life. Examples of this: The grocery store owner in "Kentucky Blues" and the old lady with the big car in "No Safe Place." They add color and depth to your world.
Consistency is important. If your world changes toward the end of the book, go back and lay the groundwork for the changes. Don't puzzle the reader by making them wonder where a building or street suddenly came from.
Last of all, have fun. Throw in a purple house, a quirky character or a brick street from time to time.
Now if you'll excuse me, it's time for to retreat to my own little world – populated primarily by stacks of "stuff," my 15-year-old computer and my gray tabby cat who loves to sleep on top of the printer.
Cat Shaffer/Cammie Eicher
Now available in print from Resplendence Publishing: "Out of the Shadows," Book 1 of the Shadow Ancient series by Cammie Eicher
Coming in May from Turquoise Morning Press: "Bittersweet" by Cat Shaffer
I've always been pleased in various reviews of my books to hear my settings praised. There's nothing I like better than building a world of my own, whether in my Cat Shaffer books and short stories or my Cammie Eicher paranormals.
Whether it's a small town, such as in "Kentucky Blues" or "No Safe Place," or the society of the vampires in my Shadow Ancient books, I feel like I'm living there when I'm writing. Of course, I've already designed the world when I start, which makes it soooo much easier,
So for you writers out there, I'd like to offer some tips on world building from my experience.
Start with a location that suits your characters. "Kentucky Blues" had to take place in a small town, where everyone knows everyone. In a big city, no one would care if Hannah Drummond had a younger man living with her. The fictional small town of Brookville is based on nearly every small town I've lived in, yet unique in its own way.
My vampires live in Old Louisville, a part of Louisville, Kentucky, that really lends itself to the supernatural. Their world, however, is more than location. It's the way their society is structured, the rituals that tie them together and their need to live hidden from us "short life" humans.
Next, put people in your world. Yes, of course you know your important characters. But populate your world with others as well, the kind of folks you naturally run into in the course of your life. Examples of this: The grocery store owner in "Kentucky Blues" and the old lady with the big car in "No Safe Place." They add color and depth to your world.
Consistency is important. If your world changes toward the end of the book, go back and lay the groundwork for the changes. Don't puzzle the reader by making them wonder where a building or street suddenly came from.
Last of all, have fun. Throw in a purple house, a quirky character or a brick street from time to time.
Now if you'll excuse me, it's time for to retreat to my own little world – populated primarily by stacks of "stuff," my 15-year-old computer and my gray tabby cat who loves to sleep on top of the printer.
Cat Shaffer/Cammie Eicher
Now available in print from Resplendence Publishing: "Out of the Shadows," Book 1 of the Shadow Ancient series by Cammie Eicher
Coming in May from Turquoise Morning Press: "Bittersweet" by Cat Shaffer
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Dogwood!
Each Spring KYOVA sponsors a writers' conference at beautiful Greenbo State Park in Kentucky.
This year our conference is April 29-30. We begin Friday night with a get-to-know-you and fun writing expeditions. Saturday we have a plenary session and several break-out workshops. This year we welcome Turquoise Morning Press and Resplendence Publishing for workshops and pitch appointments.
We are exciting about the Dogwood Writers' Conference and hope you'll join us!
Friday, February 11, 2011
The Psychology of Characters
So you've imagined your character. You think you know them well. You hope your readers love them and come to know them like you do. We all want to write great characters. What writer doesn't want a character that is quoted, loved, and remembered? As readers, the characters we remember are genuine if nothing else. They are not predictable but we understand their choices and those choices deepen our understanding of them while still being consistent with what we already know. It's like wow they did that; but, we don't doubt they did it.
As character lovers, we writers must become students of human nature. One way I stumbled upon was personality tests. Originally I took them to better understand myself. The reason most people take them by the way. Then the idea struck me. What if my characters started taking these personality tests? I could answer the questions not as myself but as my character. Then I read the pages of analysis that these online tests produce and often I see insights into my character that I originally did not know. This extra knowledge won't help you write that climatic scene. It will though help you put in those little details that lend authenticity to your characters.
So anyway. I'm going to tell you today about two tests that I think are interesting. Don't limit yourself to these two tests. I intend, and I hope you do as well, to seek out every variety of test I can find. These two though are pretty rich examples. They will provide you with lots of fodder for characters.
The Firo-B test has four types. The Choleric, the Melancholy, the Sanguine, and the Phlegmatic. One thing for sure though is that people will not be 100% a particular type. There are interesting combinations. If you do a search online you'll see tons of stuff relating to the Firo-B.
The Meyers Briggs is another popular and a bit older test. It produces a 4 letter code that represents your personality. You can get a lot of info here http://www.personalitypathways.com about this test.
There are more tests than just these. Try them all. Why not?
Here is a link to a page with lots of links to tests. Many of the tests are free. Some of course are not. I make no money from any of them.
http://www.librarysupportstaff.com/4personaltest.html
So what do you do now? You take the tests for your characters. You can also read the results without taking the tests as a means of jumpstarting your imagination. Maybe one of the types will give you ideas for a particularly interesting character. Good luck and good writing!
As character lovers, we writers must become students of human nature. One way I stumbled upon was personality tests. Originally I took them to better understand myself. The reason most people take them by the way. Then the idea struck me. What if my characters started taking these personality tests? I could answer the questions not as myself but as my character. Then I read the pages of analysis that these online tests produce and often I see insights into my character that I originally did not know. This extra knowledge won't help you write that climatic scene. It will though help you put in those little details that lend authenticity to your characters.
So anyway. I'm going to tell you today about two tests that I think are interesting. Don't limit yourself to these two tests. I intend, and I hope you do as well, to seek out every variety of test I can find. These two though are pretty rich examples. They will provide you with lots of fodder for characters.
The Firo-B test has four types. The Choleric, the Melancholy, the Sanguine, and the Phlegmatic. One thing for sure though is that people will not be 100% a particular type. There are interesting combinations. If you do a search online you'll see tons of stuff relating to the Firo-B.
The Meyers Briggs is another popular and a bit older test. It produces a 4 letter code that represents your personality. You can get a lot of info here http://www.personalitypathways.com about this test.
There are more tests than just these. Try them all. Why not?
Here is a link to a page with lots of links to tests. Many of the tests are free. Some of course are not. I make no money from any of them.
http://www.librarysupportstaff.com/4personaltest.html
So what do you do now? You take the tests for your characters. You can also read the results without taking the tests as a means of jumpstarting your imagination. Maybe one of the types will give you ideas for a particularly interesting character. Good luck and good writing!
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Road trip!
Ah, yes, who doesn't enjoy a road trip when it's freeze-your-butt cold and snow can come at any time?
Well, the weather is never too bad to keep an author at home. So come Friday, you'll find Turquoise Morning Press authors Lozi Hart, Elizabeth Chalkley and Cat Shaffer at LaGrange, Ky., for a weekend of meeting readers.
And since Valentine's Day is oh, so close, you'll find all your Rolling Scroll authors celebrating with more meet the author days!
Come visit us from noon to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 12, at the Greenup County Public Library in Greenup, Ky., and from 1 to 3 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 13, at the Boyd County Public Library in Ashland, Ky.
And remember, it's not too late to win an e-book! This month, the book is Cammie Eicher's "Dead Man Stalking," a humorous ghost story involving a sexy cop and a dog only a mother could love. Just send an e-mail to cammieeicher@windstream.net to get your name in the drawing.
Well, the weather is never too bad to keep an author at home. So come Friday, you'll find Turquoise Morning Press authors Lozi Hart, Elizabeth Chalkley and Cat Shaffer at LaGrange, Ky., for a weekend of meeting readers.
And since Valentine's Day is oh, so close, you'll find all your Rolling Scroll authors celebrating with more meet the author days!
Come visit us from noon to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 12, at the Greenup County Public Library in Greenup, Ky., and from 1 to 3 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 13, at the Boyd County Public Library in Ashland, Ky.
And remember, it's not too late to win an e-book! This month, the book is Cammie Eicher's "Dead Man Stalking," a humorous ghost story involving a sexy cop and a dog only a mother could love. Just send an e-mail to cammieeicher@windstream.net to get your name in the drawing.
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Get ready for a fun ride!
Welcome to The Rolling Scroll, a new blog that we hope will amuse, entertain and occasionally enlighten you. The authors are seven writers connected by friendship, a willingness to overlook each other's foibles and an appreciation of the finer things in life, like chocolate and pizza.
A new blog will be posted each week by one of us:
Elizabeth Chalkley
Cammie Eicher
Lozi Hart
Jennifer Johnson
Angela Lewis
Cat Shaffer
John D. Wright
To entice you to drop by, we'll be giving things away. The prize up for grabs this month is the e-book of Cammie Eicher's "Out of the Shadows," the first book in her Shadow Ancient paranormal series (think vampire suspense!) To get your name in the drawing, simply leave a comment; the winner will be selected on Jan. 31.
We hope you enjoy our humble offerings and come back often!
A new blog will be posted each week by one of us:
Elizabeth Chalkley
Cammie Eicher
Lozi Hart
Jennifer Johnson
Angela Lewis
Cat Shaffer
John D. Wright
To entice you to drop by, we'll be giving things away. The prize up for grabs this month is the e-book of Cammie Eicher's "Out of the Shadows," the first book in her Shadow Ancient paranormal series (think vampire suspense!) To get your name in the drawing, simply leave a comment; the winner will be selected on Jan. 31.
We hope you enjoy our humble offerings and come back often!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)