#sailing
One of the joys of cruising is that the view from our home changes every day.
This lovely sea turtle swam by our stern. We were lucky and the waters were calm, giving us a perfect view. This guy stayed with us for a while, driving the dog crazy, but we loved it.
Who knows what will swim by us tomorrow.
Fracture Line in German
As my translator works hard on Fracture Line, I asked her if she would translate my blurb into German. So here it is . . .
Stone Mountain, Britisch Kolumbien, Canada, Montag 31. Dezember, 7.29Uhr.
An einem kalten Wintermorgen, hoch auf den Purcell Bergen verschwindet Roy McCann in einer Lawine. Unfall oder Verbrechen ist die Frage.
Kalin Thompson kündigt ihren Job mit der Kanadischen Regierung in Ottawa und nimmt den Job als Personalchefin im Stone Mountain Resort im Inneren von Britisch Kolumbien an, um mit ihren entfremten Bruder Roy, wieder zusammen zu treffen.
Nach ihrer Ankunft enteckt Kalin, daß Roy im Verdacht steht einen großen Diebstahl im Resort durchgeführt zu haben.
Kalin muß sich in die Sub-kultur des Ortes reinversetzen und zugleich eine heimliche Untersuchung leiten , die Roys Unschuld beweisen soll.
Kalins Leben wird bedroht als ihre Forschung nach der Wahrheit Erfolge zeigt.
Kalins Dillema ist, wem kann sie vertrauen, und ist ihr Glaube an die Unschuld ihres Bruders gerechfertigt
The next question: What is the title in German? After many hours of deciding on a title for Fraction Line, it’s time to start the process for the German Version.
This writing business is very time consuming.
#dogs #sailing
My 3-year-old Wheaten Terrier, Farley, gets to run on the beach each morning. He likes the 5K he covers without being on a leash.
Stocking Island in the Bahamas is the best beach I’ve found for running. At low tide, the sand is hard and sort of flat. Flat enough to run, anyway.
It’s a great place to exercise your dog if he/she has been on the boat for too many hours.
Cruisers bring all kinds of dogs to the Bahamas. I’ve seen a tiny, little fluffy girl about the size of a slipper (no idea what it was) to a Malamute. Most dogs we meet are used to being off leash and play well with other dogs.
If I could read his mind, I think my dog would tell me he prefers the freedom of the Bahamas to the amount of time he has to spend on a leash a home.
#writetip
How do you overcome the ‘Yeah, but . . .” syndrome? It’s oh so tempting to respond to critique with the dreaded ‘Yeah, but . . .’ – the temptation to explain why you wrote something the way you wrote it.
My advice is delay a rebuttal. You might be surprised what your brain does with the critique if you let it mull over what’s been said. If the answer comes to you in the middle of the night, be sure to write it down.
My reader, Sue is particularly good at pointing out where I need more emotion in a scene.
My reader, Janice points out where I need one level of emotion for the main characters and another for the secondary characters.
They are usually right. They don’t tell me how to fix a problem, only that the scene has one. Invaluable, but only if I’m willing to hear them.
My trick – I don’t respond to critique right away. I listen to it, go away and think about it, and then I have a non-emotional response and can decide logically if I want to make the requested changes or not.
#sailing Cold weather doesn’t deter a good gathering on the beach.
When cruising, the dingy becomes our car. The shoreline becomes the parking lot. The beach becomes the bar.
Happy Hour is a popular activity, but sometimes there are too many of us to meet on a boat, hence the beach!
Dogs are welcome and can roam free.
But be careful – you might get wet feet getting to your car!
#writetip
How you see your work and how someone else sees your work can be quite a surprise.
Romantic Thriller? I thought I was writing a Suspense novel. Then, my agent commented that my second novel, The Final Gate, could be positioned as a Romantic Thriller if I added a little more romance.
Oh, Oh, I think. I like to read novels that are full of action, so that’s what I like to write. But Romance? Who knew?
Over the last couple of months, I’ve been reading Romantic Thrillers to get a feel for the genre and discovered my novel is not that far off. But . . .
I spent three months on rewrites, that’s the fun part, and now I’m back to proofreading. I’ve just sent The Final Gate to my favourite readers for comments, so I’ll see how they like the new romantic version.
This is a change for me, and I’m nervous about the feedback. I guess I’ll have to wait and see . .
Maybe my husband will send me flowers for all the hard work I’ve done – that’s kinda romantic.
#dogs #sailing How many ways can you entertain your dog while cruising? Jasper came spear fishing with us and used his skills to search for lobster.
The lookie bucket has a bottom made of plexiglass and gives us a great view of the sea bottom. Some of us don’t like to get in the water unless there is something interesting to look at.
The bucket is an essential tool on all cruising boats and is easy to make. Well, I think it was easy because my husband made it. We use it to check our anchor if neither of us wants to swim on it. A good night’s sleep depends on the set of the anchor!
Jasper thinks he’s being a big help, although we’re not sure what he’s actually contributing here except to make us laugh.
Check out DogLeaderMysteries if you like to see photos of dogs. There are some fun one’s every Friday on DogLeaderMysteries.
#writetip Should you capitalize parents? Proofreading is an endless task and here’s a mistake that’s easy to make.
Should you capitalize mom? (or dad, mother, father, aunt, uncle, you get the gist)
This short example shows you when you do and when you don’t.
“I don’t want to go, Mom. Really I don’t,” Ian said.
“You must,” Ian’s mom said.
Ian hesitated but obeyed his mom.
If you’re using mom as the name, then capitalize. If not, then don’t. Pretty easy, except when proofreading, one tiny letter is hard to see. I do a search for each mom, mother, dad, etc. and check to see if I’ve used them right.
#sailing It’s Wednesday again and time to post about cruising in the Bahamas.
I thought it was time to share some other boats that we cruise with. Buddy boating is a lot of fun, and we tend to meet with different friends on and off throughout the season. Here is Jabulani (Africat 42) chasing us into an anchorage after a beautiful day on the Bahama Banks.
We have a Lagoon 380, S2, but hang with all kinds of boats. The power catamaran can blast past us if they want, but they like to be social too. Part of the fun of being in the isolated anchorage is bringing our own friends with us.
Someone always catches a fish, and then they get to provide dinner.
#writetip Do you think your dialogue is stilted?
Here’s a quick tip. Look for dialogue where you don’t use contractions and rewrite with a contraction.
“I can not find my rain gear.”
Or
“I can’t find my rain gear.”
Which one sounds less stilted to you?
