Reading Before E-Books

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 11 Comments

Life before E-books? Try sailing before E-books.

On our Niagara 42, Allura, we sailed from Toronto to Aruba and back. Every summer I would scour the second-hand books stores looking for a year’s worth of reading material. Trying to figure out in August what I’ll want to read in January is difficult. So many things influence what I feel like reading.

You can imagine the storage space all the books took up, not to mention the weight. Throughout our first sailing adventure, I searched for book trades if I needed to add to my library. I left books in many marinas and libraries along the way.

Enter E-books. I bought my first Kindle after one year on Mattina. Imagine the happiness my husband felt when I cleared out the cabinets and storage spaces under the bed. He thought he could have the space for storing important things like tools and spare parts. So the negotiations began, and we shared the space. I used to stuff the built-in bookshelf on my side of the bed with books, now I don’t know what to put there. My Kindle only takes up a tiny space.

With the Kindle, I have an endless supply of books at my fingertips. I thought of this today because I’m reading all of the books nominated for the Arthur Ellis writing awards for excellence in crime writing. Before an E-book, I never would have had access to these books while I was sailing. Isn’t it nice how technology makes our lives more fun.

Thanks for reading . . .

Farley’s Friday: A Wheaten Terrier and Snow

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 4 Comments

Farley here,

I just realized something. I may be a little slow because I’m a dog, but hey, I still have brain cells that work.

I’m moving from this . . .

Farley in Bahamas

To this . . .

Farley In Snow

You can see by the confused look on my face, I didn’t know what all the white stuff was. I saw it when I was a puppy, and then again in 2010, but not since.

I suspect if Kristina and Matt are selling the boat, that means we might be in for a winter sometime in our future…

Pros of living in the Bahamas: endless off leash time and digging in the sand.

Cons of living in the Bahamas: I’m not very fond of swimming. Go figure for a dog who has lived for 5 winters on a boat.

Pros of living in Canada: Rolling in snow.

Cons of living in Canada: Snow freezes in my paws and hurts my feet.

I’m a glass half full kind of dog, so here’s me wagging my tail at the fun I’ll have on my new adventure.

Woof Woof.

Mattina Spinnaker Sailing

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 4 Comments

Even though we have our lovely boat for sale, Mattina continues to give us gifts as we sail toward Florida.

As we head north, the wind comes from the south at 15 knots and we raise the spinnaker. We sail for two days under these conditions, happy to be cruising at 7 knots over ground heading for our destination.

Mattina Sailing May 2014

 

With the wind and weather treating us well, we’ll make the most of our final days in the Bahamas. If you are interested in buying Mattina or would like to see her in Florida, please check out our listing. You can also contact us through that page.

 

Thanks for reading . . .

Reading to Write Well

~ Kristina Stanley ~ Leave a comment

I believe to write well, you have to read. Read everything in the genre you write in, read everything close to the genre you write in, read books you would never write but love to read, but find the time to read.

This is a lovely excuse to spend time reading. I pretend I’m working. Yup – working. Then I don’t feel as if I’m slacking off and not doing other things I should be doing.

So how do I find books to read?

Every year when the Crime Writers Of Canada announces the Arthur Ellis Short lists, I read all the books on the list.

I read by category. The Best Novel, Best First Novel, Best Novella.

Then I play a game with myself and pick the winners. After the winners are announced I compare my list to the winning list. If I’ve chosen a different book, I go back and look at the two books and try to figure out why a certain book one over the one I chose. It makes me look at the book in  a different way and helps me learn new writing techniques.

I hope you find time to read too.

Thanks for reading . . .

Farley’s Friday: A Wheaten With Patience

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 5 Comments

Farley here,

Sometimes my life is all about waiting.

it’s early, I know, and Kristina hasn’t finished her coffee yet, but I’m ready to go.

She’s in her running gear. I put my head on her lap to give her a big hint.

Farley waits for CoffeeSo what’s the deal?

I think it’s our human friend Sue. They haven’t seen each other in a while and need to “catch up”, whatever that means.

Someone please tell me how to get Kristina to run on my schedule.

Woof Woof.

Crime Writers Of Canada: Arthur Awards

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 6 Comments

I’m giddy with happiness and need to share.

Writing  and trying to publish a novel is a long, seriously long, journey, with very few accolades along the way.

With trepidation, I entered DESCENT in the Unhanged Arthur competition. This competition is for Canadian writers and is given for excellence in mystery, suspense and crime writing to unpublished authors.

I submitted my entry last fall. In January came the first exciting news. Descent made the long list. A wild sense of relief filled me. Descent had made it that far, and I felt pretty good. Now, all I had to do was wait until April 24th for the short list announcement.

That’s sounds easy, right?

Wrong. I didn’t sleep for the four nights leading up to the announcement. On the night of the 24th, I went to bed not knowing if Descent made the list or not. I woke up more times than I want to admit, but forced myself not to turn on my computer and check. If Descent wasn’t on the list, I knew I was in for a completely sleepless night.

On the morning of the 25th, I took my first sip of coffee, opened my laptop and collected my email.

The first message I read was from a facebook friend. The text read : Congrats on making the short list.

I looked up at my husband and smiled.

“I told you, you would make it,” he said with a big grin on his face.

Next I read the email from CWC (Crime Writers of Canada) with the official notice that Descent was short listed.

I asked my husband to read the email, just to make sure I wasn’t reading only what I wanted to see.

“Yup, he said. You made it.”

Friday turned out to go by in a blur. I couldn’t quite believe I was on the list.

Saturday morning, I woke up with the first feeling of happiness about the award.

I’m still in the middle of my journey, but once in a while it’s good to stop and enjoy small successes.

Thanks for reading . . .

Here are the places I found the announcement:

CBC Books

Crime Writers Of Canada

Blog Mystery Fanfare

Blog Criminal Element

Blog Shots Crime and Thriller Ezine 

Blog Mystery Mavin Canada

Blog Black Mask

Blog The Rap Sheet

Blog Mystery Scene

Farley’s Friday: A Wheaten Terrier Wants to Go Kiting

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 4 Comments

Farley Here,

I’m a dog who knows how to get what I want, and what I want today is to go to he beach and watch my human friends kite.

As you know, I don’t use words, but I can use body language to get what I want.

Farley want to go kiting

I jump off Mattina and onto the kite gear. My thought, they can’t kite it I’m sitting on the gear, so they have to take me with them.

Don’t I look evil? There is no way they can refuse. And they don’t.

Off to the beach I go. I love humans.

Woof Woof.

 

Farley’s Friday: Heat Makes A Wheaten Tired

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 8 Comments

Farley Here,

I think summer is coming to the Bahamas and the heat is exhausting. Kristina makes me get up early to go for a run. She says this is for me – ha ha – so that I don’t overheat. I know who it’s really for, and I don’t like to get up early.

A Farley Sleeping

As you can see, the rest of the day is spent napping 🙂

 

Woof Woof

 

ps. I know it’s Saturday but Kristina said the we had not internet access yesterday, so Farley’s Friday is one day late…

Character Development

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 6 Comments

I’m excited to say I’ve added a new spreadsheet to my box of writing tools.

Getting to know new characters, or even existing characters, is exciting.

For each scene, I ask the POV character the following questions and then answer in their first person voice:

  • How did you get into the predicament you’re in?
  • What do you want?
  • Why do you want it?
  • How did you feel when (insert disaster or setback here) happened?
  • What are you going to do next?

The questions open my mind to new ideas and remind me to keep character personalities consistent.

Do you ask your characters questions to get to know them?

Thanks for reading . . .

 

Farley’s Friday: My Human Came Home

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 5 Comments

Farley here,

My human is home.

Playing on the beach, I heard a noise. I know that voice, I thought. I looked left, looked right and there she was. Yay.

Farley Greets Tina

I’m was soooo happy I jumped on her. Now, I’m not allowed to jump on people, but I could see Kristina felt guilty about leaving me, so she hugged me instead of telling me to sit. I still don’t get where she went. Humans are strange sometimes.

Life is good again.

 

Woof Woof.