Helen Mathey-Horn's Blog

Late again!

April 5 question – Do you remember writing your first book? What were your thoughts about a career path on writing? Where are you now and how is it working out for you? If you’re at the start of the journey, what are your goals?

Insecure Writer’s Support Group Question of the Month…

My first book was written as a challenge thrown down by my mother. I had been reading her romance novels after I ran out of my sci-fi books, 3 a day during summer vacation. I said something to the effect that I could write one of these. “Well, why not?” Why not indeed.

Still not going to get rich doing it, but it was a satisfying itch to scratch.

And of course, science fiction had been percolating in the back of my brain since a writing class in high school, so another, “Why not?”

In not very disciplined about it. I love hearing how others are and such, but I guess I need the kick in the butt. Mine is more of a scratching an itch that is driving me crazy than in it for the money. (Nothing against making money…it means someone really liked what you wrote…not jealous…much. )

The awesome co-hosts for the March 1 posting of the IWSG are Diedre Knight, Tonya Drecker, Bish Denham, Olga Godim, and JQ Rose!

March 1 question – Have you ever read a line in a novel or a clever plot twist that caused you to have author envy?

This is not exactly what is asked above, but…humorous? 

My mother could sling words with the best of them and if I have a varied vocabulary it has to be partly due to her every day usage in my life.  She was also an avid reader.

She shared with me one of the funniest overlooked typos she ever found.  She read ‘bodice-rippers’ by the dozens, trading them with friends.  The typo she found was in one of that genre of books, which one is immaterial, but you do need to know it was a romance novel.

The line that cracked her up was “Her blood was cursing through her veins.” 

My mother said she could hear in her head, “Goddamit, goddamit, goddamit…”

One little missing ‘o’ made a difference.  lol 

February 1 question – If you are an Indie author, do you make your own covers or purchase them? If you publish trad, how much input do you have about what goes on your cover?

Second post of the day. It’s seems to be a pattern for me at the beginning of a month.

Covers…I had a stepson do a couple of covers for me. He is a graphic artist, but not a reader so…what I was writing and what he proposed did not exactly jive. (I did pay him and no lost sleep on either side of it.) Then my dil started helping me with self-publishing and I think the covers she had worked up have been pretty spot on. Not sure what source she used for creating them.

I like a cover that is ‘ambiguous’. It relates to the story, but does not give the story away.

An example would be “Gift”. The cover is an ivory handled knife on a background of green satin. The knife is an important element in the story but not until the end is the full significance known.

“Dawning” has a cover that is almost perfect in my mind.

I got the ‘feel’ for the story driving to work one morning as the moon was still up but the sun was rising. Nothing about my drive that morning is even remotely to be found in the story, but the sky and time of day just gave a mood that fit the cover.

Laurel is a cover with a ‘mistake’. I love the look and feel of the cover…and if I didn’t mention it, you probably would not notice…the tv antenna on the roof above to the right, lol. Not exactly time period correct?

One thing I do when I’m writing is create a folder in Pinterest where I collect pictures that I feel go with the story I’m writing. I keep them hidden until I publish the book, then I cull, keeping those I feel are best as idea board of sorts. If someone looks for them, they’ll find them. There I also keep folders of potential story ideas, usually hidden.

I’m not really addressing the intent of this month’s topic, but these are a few reflections on covers that have ended up on my books.

Although ‘Groundhog Day’ the movie is supposed to take place in Pennsylvania. They used the city of Woodstock, Illinois for the actual shooting of the film. The square downtown is rather picturesque, and close to Chicago and I guess there were other reasons.

The ‘bed and breakfast’ used in the movie was actually a house less than a block from my grandmother’s house so I feel another tie to the show. My father said when it showed (in Woodstock) a lot of people went to see it twice, once to see the local people and locations and the second time to actually look at the storyline.

I think the same thing may have happened with “Planes, Trains and Automobiles” which has at least one shot downtown with the old county courthouse in the background.

Nothing like being a ‘scenic’ town close to Chicago.

Oh, and as to ‘famous’ I think Orsen Welles when he was young and at a local school for boys(troublesome kind) having performed on the Woodstock Opera House Stage is something too. I, myself, was in one high school production there, “She Stoops to Conquer” and one county beauty queen pageant(I was not in the running but part of the ‘entertainment’ with a group from high school). So, I can say I ‘trod the boards’ that Orson Welles trod, lol.

And Bull Valley had “Dick Tracy”. Another time.

Ah, DeJa’Vu, all over again.

The day when Spinners would get back to spinning after the Christmas break from work. Apparently, the men were still off work and would ‘harass’ the women by messing with their spinning equipment. Somethings never change, lol.

The distaff was a stick used to hold the unspun fibers, either wool or flax, although flax is the usual fiber on a distaff. The distaff kept the fibers orderly for pulling off and spinning. Since mostly women (but not exclusively) did the spinning, the ‘distaff’ side of a family came to mean the women’s relatives or side of the family tree.

Tow was the shorter pieces of flax that had been ‘combed’ out of the flax in preparing it for the distaff. Tow was still spinnable, although the fabric made from it was not as fine, but nothing would be wasted considering all the work that went into preparing linen.

So, ‘now you know.’

My short answer is No. I like and appreciate the bloggers who do. I can see how it can shape their outlook/view of their world. But, no, it does not seem like something I want to do.

I think it is; different strokes for different folks. We’re all different and we may choose to do things differently. I’m glad if it works for you. I’m not a very ‘disciplined’ person and I think I would find it confining and demanding to stick to one word. So, there it is.

I hope everyone has had a good start to this new year. Yes, it is only four (4) days in, but a lot can happen to a person in four days.

To you writers out there…may you find lots of words and the right words you need for your writing.

To everyone, good health.

Happy New Year!

Insecure Writer’s Support Group for the response of other writers.

The “divorced, beheaded, died / divorced, beheaded, survived” wives of Henry VIII as a sassy musical, ala modern pop divas.

Just came back from seeing it at Tulsa Performing Arts Center. Wowwww!!! If you get a chance, see it.

I didn’t carve last year’s pumpkin and when Halloween and Thanksgiving were past I merely shoved it off the porch into the area behind the azaleas. If something chewed on it fine. If it rotted fine, fertilizer for the garden.

It seeded itself. And I have been watching in take over the front azalea bed. It is not bothering me much as I figure the leaves provide shade for the azaleas, which really shouldn’t be in direct sunlight in the middle of the day.

Not only did it take over the azaleas (see opening picture), it climbed the rose and into the holly tree (crossing over the porch entrance) and on the other side crawled through the crepe myrtle and crept into the trellis where I hang my orchids.

Pictures.

In the last photo you can see evidence of pumpkin flowers, but as they do not have a ‘swollen’ base I’m assuming they are all male. I don’t think I’ll get any pumpkins. It is entertaining to watch it take over the house. Feels a bit like “Little Shop of Horrors”. “Feed me, Seymour.” No blood involved here.

At supper the other night I had a squash blossom appetizer…I certainly could do that at home this year.

Also showing in the last picture (besides the crepe myrtle and hibiscus) are my pink Surprise Lilies. That time again. Always a welcome sight in the heat of summer, as other things kind of peter out.

August 3 question – When you set out to write a story, do you try to be more original, or do you try to give readers what they want?

I write for me as I don’t think about what readers want. I do try (I hope) to make what I write original in some way. That said, if you are writing a ‘romance’ everyone wants it to end happily and if it doesn’t, it will probably leave an unpleasant ‘taste’ for the reader. Fantasy might be a little freer in how a story ends, but it still needs to ‘satisfy’ so perhaps not so different.

How you get to that ending, however, could be varied. That is where the creativity comes in? All stories have a ‘conflict and resolution’ arc. Fortunately, there are endless ways to complete that pattern.