Cynthia Harrison's Blog

This blog is over 20 years old. I’ve been on Word Press ten years. Time for a change. I found someone local! The Computer Guru, also local, put me in touch with Jim, a website guy. Jim looked at my site. I was really wanting to read through my posts and edit them into something less messy. Check broken links or posts that did not fully migrate from last hosting site. So he waded in and took a gander. He told me I have 2,740 posts. (I don’t keep track.) He seemed impressed. What with the advent of the chat bots there’s less original “real” content, he says. So I’m like an antique now. He’s got a plan for that I like, but I am not sharing details yet because complicated.

I won’t be having a robot write my future posts. For sure. I’ve already said here I want to do less blogging but I cannot help myself when things in the writing life are hopping. I’m writing my first historical novel (a Christmas novella for 2024) and it takes time. I usually spend three hours on a page, maybe less if its flowing, but it’s more with the historical because it needs to be accurate. So time. I need more

Big changes. Website. Blog. Book genre. Wow.

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Advice to new novelists: Write what you Love

I have loved Jane Austen since my aunt introduced me to the sweet Regency novel almost fifty years ago. Of course, then, my first attempt at publishing a novel was a sweet Regency, when they still published them. I remember my storyline had to do with a charming uncle who looked like Lord Byron…publishers didn’t buy it. I never attempted to write another Regency, but I kept on reading them, reading particularly Jane Austen over and over through the years. Covid saw me deep dive into my old favorite sweet (means no sex, not even close) Regencies, now back in swing via Kindle and authors self-publishing their backlists. I remember all my favorite authors and that Signet published the best ones. My Kindle and I still have not come up for air.

I have published women’s fiction, romance and mystery novels, also a nonfiction writer’s guide, then there’s the poetry chapbook and the pair of fantasy novels. But until now I have not had the courage to try another Regency. And I’m trying to pack a world of writing into my life, not to mention every other one of my heart’s desires. So when I came across a call for Christmas Regencies at my own publisher’s website, I immediately contacted my editor about temporarily putting Jane 3 on hold and taking a chance on another Regency. She said it was up to me and gave me some advice to ponder, also she loves Regencies and usually edits historicals except for mine and a few others!

Be still my heart. Hang on Jane, I’ll get back to you, but just now I’m building a new world for Helena in the aftermath of her first disastrous London season. And it is so much fun.

Advice to seasoned novelists: Write what you love

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I imagine Jane 3 cover something like this. It seems so far off. I did finish first draft of Act 1 Jane 3. But now it’s time to change gears and do another edit for my publisher for Jane 2. I’m still hoping it comes out this summer but heck it could be fall. Or winter. Jane’s house looks like this year-round, though because she’s in Florida. If you’ve read Jane in St Pete, you might wonder what happened to Jane’s condo in Winding Bayou. Somewhere close to the end of Body on the Bayou (Jane 2) (coming soon) there’s a big change in Jane’s life. Huge change.

And it will last into Jane 3 except now I have to take a break from J3 to do more edits on J2. Then I think after these edits I’ll have a cover. And hopefully J3 draft done and revised as well by the end of the year.

What else?

I am changing my main social from Twitter to Instagram and it’s going slow. I’m also changing from photos and my #bookstagram hashtag to reels. So I did one today! I have yet to figure out how to load photos from Mac to Windows. All in good time. We have our house mostly fixed since the hurricane six months ago. Again, going slow. And I’m in a writing group that is very active, thus making me active. IRL. You know, on the circuit selling books at community fairs like the Venice Book Fair. Giving library talks. But mostly behind the scenes, doing my part as Vice President of Gulf Coast Sisters in Crime.

I could not wait to move to Florida full time and write full time and that is what I’m doing. We made it happen! Although there are still other things I need to do and want to do besides writing. Like reading. And catching up with friends. My birthday is this month and my friend since 5th grade invited me out to lunch. I’ll take a picture and hope I can post it here. If not, for sure Instagram.

Yes, it was thrilling for my story to be chosen by my new writer’s group in Florida for their first anthology. But not perfectly thrilling. So far I have been told several times by people I trust that the story is triggering. One of my Michigan critique group members quit the group and couldn’t finish my story it triggered her so bad. Also found out that according to Sisters in Crime national, it will need a content warning if I don’t change those triggering bits. That’s not such a bad idea, really. I want to entertain people, make them happy, with my writing. I had actually pulled the story from Jane 3 because it wasn’t cozy. And it was another teenage girl trying to take over Jane’s trilogy. I pulled it and thought maybe I’ll use it in future. Which I did. I spoke to my editor for anthology and she agrees it should be edited if I don’t want a content warning. Example of how it would read:

Some content, such as kidnapping and rape, may be triggering. Read at your own peril.

Ok, second sentence I made up. Anyway that is Imperfect thing #1. Also I can’t get the indent off now.

Imperfect thing #2

My website is out of control and the people I rely on the work on it were not able to help. One of them is seriously ill and the other just could not figure this site the fuck out. I have a lot of content. This is true. 20 years worth of blogs and hundreds of photos and all kinds of banners and book covers and whatnot. I was just going to migrate to something easier but it cost $600 because I have so much content. And the media person at my publisher showed me how to do some cool things on Instagram with my content. My husband said “Just stay at WordPress and hire someone there to help you.” Which is a good idea but then I saw some of my plug-ins would disappear until I switched to jetpack. So I did, because the comments say it’s so much easier. Well, I beg to differ. It’s a teeny tiny bit easier but I still am not happy with the appearance of my website and I need help. Know anybody?

imperfect thing #3

My Mac, which I was trying to keep chugging until I finished editing Jane 2, crapped out before revisions even started. My editor is understanding but it is embarrassing when I do something she asked me to do, something simple if a little bit time consuming, and then I send the manuscript to her and she says “I don’t see any changes after page 100” and asks nicely again for those changes. I look for and find them and am able to insert them into master document but it is so unprofessional to not know how to use your tools. People warned me not to switch from Mac to Windows. But I love WORD in Windows. Not so much WORD for MAC. Except WORD now is like, a whole new universe from when I first used it.

and another imperfect thing

Life. Life is imperfect. I have not seen my grandkids (and of course my kids. and their wives.) in over a year, but we are going to see them all finally this summer on a long trip. I moved into an older house (2006) formerly owned by a master gardener who had lovely plants and blooms everywhere. Which I have mostly killed or if I didn’t the hurricane did. We did not lose any palm trees (or our lives) so that’s good. I worked in the yard for twenty minutes today and my legs were shaking from exhaustion. It used to take four or five hours before that happened. Hmph. On the plus side, I have a book out this summer on top of the anthology story and as every writer knows, that makes up for everything else.

Cindy x

I’m giving away five copies of my first mystery “Blue Lake Christmas Mystery” during December 2022. On December 23 I will choose five random names from the comments section, contact you for your address, let you know you’ve won and mail a book to you anywhere in USA. I can send Kindle copies to UK, where I know so many of you from blogging, reviewing and Twitter. I have not had time to tweet, but I love and miss my blog and chatting with other bloggers. How did I let this happen? Here’s the story, short version.

Al and I moved to Florida, where we had a little condo for winter getaways. Soon we were looking for a bigger place and moved again. Al realized his lifelong dream of becoming a landlord. Yes, we kept the condo too with the understanding that I would not be involved except when shopping or decorating. Florida, we love it here. Except less than a year after we moved, a CAT 4 hurricane blasted us. We are still recovering. Most of our damage was to the outside: no more garden, no more screens on lanai, toppled trees. We’ll be needing a new roof but we have a temporary one our insurance guy says will “last a year.” He said this cheerfully, which is not a good sign.

The condo in St. Pete sustained no damage from the hurricane although we are doing a refresh for new snowbirds. I chose the carpet and furniture and Al deep cleaned everything. He’ll also wait for the various deliveries and installations. Likewise he is dealing with renters and contracts, past and present.

Speaking of contracts, I just sent in my contract for the second in my JANE IN ST PETE series, so there will be a new book in 2023. Happy Holidays!

Finally after two years of Covid, another year of moving three times, and a hurricane, I have started to plan and attend book events. First a great weekend at Cedar Key. No hurricane debris! Working WiFi! New writer friends! Sold many books

I’ve got two more one day events coming up in November and January at local libraries. I want to make a Kindle Exclusive thing to show off my e-only books. Tried on Canva all morning. About to cut and paste something by hand. Maybe with help from an office supply store.

Unless anyone has a better idea…

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It has been a while. Only a few months until my 20th website anniversary, which is when I’m leaving the weekly blogging commitment…so I’m tapering. The earliest iteration of this website was mostly just a blog. I wrote every day for many years and yes you can read it all here. I’m not disappearing…but I didn’t have any books out yet in 2002. Blogging was my bliss. Now I’m a multi-published novelist with e-publisher The Wild Rose Press. I’ve just turned in the second book in my second series for them. I’ve written a few stand-alones too. I even have a couple of free books and stories here on the website. My earliest novels were Kindle novels and I think they’re all 99 cents.

It’s difficult to dedicate yourself to too many things, and so not a lot of blog posts while I moved from Michigan to Florida and finished my 12th book. I’m about 75 pages into the third book in Jane in St Pete series–and wondering if it will be a trilogy. It feels like something new is hovering. Hoping to get Jane 3 out closer to Jane 2–Covid kind of upended life for me (and the rest of the world).

The most difficult thing moving has been finding new doctors and explaining things to them like the Hines Shakes. I was born Cynthia (Cindy) Hines. Sorry, the Hines Shakes are not milkshakes, but a condition medically referred to as “essential tremors.” It can interfere with writing. In our family some folk can’t write their name without meds.

I use medication, but I don’t want to become a prescription medication addict, so I check in with the doctors. I think I have finally got a plan with a good doctor and a therapist as well as a neurologist and other specialists for other conditions besides these shakes. One priority besides being able to type my novels is having the energy to run a household again. We have been in condos for almost a decade. Now we have a big yard, several garden areas, a lanai (that’s what they call a screened in porch in Michigan) with a built-in hot tub. The house is our largest, too. Not by much, but at 67, it’s a bold move. My husband has more energy than me. As our financial manager, he’s been riding this crazy stock market wave with a cool head and well as fixing up this place, which was a bit more of a mess than we thought.

He does all the difficult jobs like landscaping and keeping the hot tub spotless, plus he’s been working on the master bath walk in shower. He had to pull up tiles, clean up rot and re-whatever it is you do to make them new. We have chosen a painter, who starts on the inside end of June. After rainy/hurricane season he’ll do the outside. The hurricane shutter guy is coming in a few days. We do have hurricane shutters but after having to buy a water system, replace a dishwasher plus those floor tiles and more, we don’t quite trust them.

I’m doing my same old cooking and cleaning and laundry and shopping. Al finally got a grill so I try to have him cook dinner on that a few times a week. I still make the salad. And I’m writing!! Just not blogging so much.

Look what popped up as we got our gardens ready to grow! We had no idea what most of the gardens would look like aside from the palms. Ed, who takes care of our lawn, also trims the palms. We have seven of them. They’re beautiful. It’s starting to rain a bit here in SWF (Southwest Florida) and rainy season soon will be about an hour shower or storm daily. That’s beautiful too. With wind, the palms stream water through the rain. So otherworldly. Well, if your world for 66 years was Michigan.

A snag occurred in Jane Book 3 last week when our calendar overflowed with invitations from friends. The Michigan people are going home, so we had get togethers to say a final goodbye (until next year) and the new neighbors are inviting us for get to know you cocktails. Someone had a party every day last week. At first I thought, oh that’s fine, I’m done writing by 2 o’clock in the afternoon. Well, ha, writers need to be in shape to write. Maybe just older writers? Party drinks and fancy snacks will sneak up on you. Over the week, instead of writing, I filling the gas tank with naps and reading to get myself ready to be social. The just-started story was reduced to scribbled plot notes.

Today I was determined to get back to work but it took me an hour just to turn on my new computer and find the Word program. I tried to do a blog post first but Windows didn’t recognize my Word Press sign in. So here I am on the Mac. But I have to stay with the story on Office/Word. I HAVE TO. I would like to maybe take an online class. Or two. http://www.wethegeek.com had some good info. I’d like a personal class like I got with my genius at the Apple Store. Not sure Miscrosoft has that. In an ideal world I’d like one tutorial for switching from MAC to WINDOWS when blogging and one for writing novels. Also email would be good too. Had no luck finding my email on Windows.

A thing about getting older is learning new stuff takes longer. Also Al is only willing to help me with this up to a point. He got my garden growing, moved furniture, painted living room, keeps the spa ready, and so much else. Even some golf. My plan for now is to just use Word and get on with my story. And blog on the Mac. For now. Until school starts.

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My editor will get feedback on my manuscript to me July 1. I have started book three and I need the time because Al bought me a new computer and I can hardly type my name on it. July won’t be our last work together on Body on the Bayou either. Usually we have three rounds of edits, each looks at different things. Each round takes a month or two. And then there’s the marketing and admin stuff. But I am happy to have this block of time to relearn Windows. I bought a manual that’s coming today something like Windows for Seniors. My parents are in their 80s and have refused to learn how to use a computer or a smart phone. I suppose that makes me the senior.

There are good and bad to Mac and Windows. In a way, I wish I would have stayed with Mac because I’d know it and not have to learn new stuff. But learning is good for seniors; we need to keep our brains sharp. Also I am hoping I won’t have to deal with the photo thing (converting to JPEG). My other issue with the Mac is the keyboard was shot and I had a keyboard on top of a keyboard. I had to finish my book in good time so that’s why it’s now. Start a new book on a new computer. Especially if you’re going from Mac to PC.

I originally got the Mac because my website was being hacked. I heard Macs do not get hacked. That is the ONLY reason I bought a Mac. But I liked the lessons, too. My work was right across the street from the Apple Store and I utilized those lessons. Now I live 30 minutes from an Apple store, which is fine, but Word for Mac is just not as good as Word on Windows. I use the computer mainly for word processing. My website, my books. So it makes sense to go back to Windows. Easier said than done.

One thing I wish I could change is the mega monster keyboard. I have always had a “normal” keyboard but the new one has a whole other side with an adding machine and etc. I am a good typist. (Was once a secretary.) I type fast, almost as fast as the scenes come to my mind. This is a nice talent to have if you are not rich and do not have a typist. I am not typing fast on the new machine. I am getting better, it’s just something that will take practice.

I tried to post the blog today on the new machine but it doesn’t like my log in. Also I talked to my website admin and she says she knows basically nothing about Windows; she is a Mac lady all the way. There’s so much more to learn besides email which is the one thing I have mastered. I’m going to hop on Word and get Book 3 going. I hope that’s as easy as email. And maybe look around the internet for a trainer. All advice happily accepted. Except “you shudda stayed with Mac, stupid.”

Finished the second Jane in St Pete mystery! Wrote it, read it over, edited on hard copy, took notes on what needs to be added (not much). I dislike going from hard copy to computer but there’s not much of that. I have hung on to this computer despite all the problems; my treat once I submit to editor and finish edits is a new computer! One that works better with Word. I don’t have an idea for the third artist. I was thinking of a 1960s era feminist, like Judy Chicago.

The happy way to sustain a series is to have a theme you love and a symbol too. The theme for me is art and the artist is new with each book. I’m planning a trilogy but we’ll see. If things go as usual, I will be working with my editor for several months.

Finally got a title on the last day of writing! Body on the Bayou. My books are often released in November/December. That would be a dream.

I’m shocked that WordPress accepted my personal photo. It’s a jpeg. My artist for this book (every book has the large theme of art and the personal symbol of a particular artist) is Frida Kahlo and I just happened to come across this snap from years and years ago. It easily folded itself into the narrative. This one has been a joy to write and I look forward to revising, even with the labor of revision with hard copy and computer.

In other writing news, I tweeted the blogette again last Monday. I really like the form. I don’t usually have much to say on Twitter, so this gives me something to contribute.