Posts Tagged ‘writing’
Guest Post: Darlene Foster
Posted on: January 18, 2020
- In: Books | guest posts | Writing
- 24 Comments
I am pleased to be featured as a guest on Beetley Pete’s blog where I talk about how I turned my own travel experiences into books for kids.
I am delighted to be able to bring you a guest post from the lovely Darlene Foster, a Canadian blogger and published author.
Here is her own short bio.
Brought up on a ranch in Canada, Darlene dreamt of travelling the world and meeting interesting people. She has always loved to tell stories and was encouraged by her grade three teacher to write them down. She is the author of the exciting adventure series featuring 12-year-old Amanda Ross who loves to travel. Readers of all ages enjoy travelling with Amanda as she unravels one mystery after another in countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Spain, England, Germany, Holland and her own country, Canada. When not travelling herself, Darlene divides her time between the sunny Costa Blanca of Spain and the west coast of Canada.
And this is her unedited guest post.
How Travel Memories Became Books for Kids
By…
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New Year, New Decade – 2020
Posted on: January 3, 2020
- In: Books | Dreams | Writing
- 85 Comments
“We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year’s Day.” Edith Lovejoy Pierce
I love the start of a new year. It´s an opportunity to re-evaluate my life and set goals for the next 12 months. They may not all be met, that’s OK, life gets in the way. But if there are no goals, nothing gets done and you just sit there. At least that´s how it is for me and I’ve got to keep on moving!
“Even though you are on the right track – you will get run over if you just sit there.” Will Rogers
With that in mind, here are my goals for 2020.
- Edit Amanda in Malta:The Sleeping Lady and send it to the publisher
- Write Amanda in France
- Decide if I should continue writing Amanda stories or venture into something else.
- Write more short stories
- Write more travel articles
- Help others with their writing as many have helped me
- Work on my TBR list, read at least 40 books
- Visit Venice
- Attend a family reunion in Alberta
- Travel to the UK and visit friends
- Organize my office
- Organize my computer files
- Learn more about writing and publishing a picture book
- Publish an anthology of short stories
My three words for 2020 are:
support – Support others in whatever way I can, as so many have supported me over the years.
connect – Connect with people, stay in touch, facilitate connections.
motion – Keep moving, physically and mentally.
My first goal of 2020 was to write this list and it´s done! I would love to hear about your goals and/or words for this year, the start of a new decade.
“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You’re on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who’ll decide where to go…”
― Dr. Seuss, Oh, the Places You’ll Go!
Amazing Over 50s – Darlene Foster
Posted on: July 26, 2019
- In: Dreams | guest posts | Inspiration | Writing
- 57 Comments
I was invited to be a guest on a great blog called Loving The Fifty Something
Read what I have to say about getting older and check out Sam’s interesting blog where she features other over 50s.
Amazing Over 50’s – Darlene Foster
Amazing over 50’s
I am inviting and featuring ‘Mid-lifers’ who are enjoying life over 50 and who are happy to shout out about great health, fitness, lifestyles, work or their achievements etc, but more importantly who are embracing this time of their lives with pride and open arms.
This month I’m happy to introduce Darlene Foster as my seventeenth guest. Darlene is an author and blogger.
Welcome to Loving The Fifty Something, Darlene
Can I ask you to tell us a little about yourself
Of course, you can, but you might be sorry. I’ll try to keep it to the Readers Digest version. I spent a lot of time daydreaming and making up stories as a child. I dreamt of becoming a teacher, writing books, travelling the world and meeting interesting people. But as the saying goes, life happens when you’re making other plans.
Read more here https://lovingthefiftysomething.com/2019/07/25/amazing-over-50s-darlene-foster/
I’d be interested to learn your feelings about being over 50 if you are, and how you feel about becoming a 50 plus person if you aren’t.
- In: Books | guest posts | Writing
- 17 Comments
I am delighted to be featured on Aurora Alexander’s blog once again.
It is a very special pleasure for me to welcome you back on ‘Writer’s Treasure Chest’. In your former visits we learned about your writing, your writing process and asked for some advice. But there are so many more questions to ask!
Let’s see what you can tell us today:
1. Would you please describe your writer’s spot?
If you mean where I do my writing, it is usually in my office in my home in Spain. It’s the spare bedroom which we have turned into my office with a desk, computer and comfy office chair. I’m surrounded by books, magazines, a dictionary, thesaurus and other writer’s aids. Pictures of my family grace the walls. It is not a neat and tidy place but it works for me. I also hand write in the car (while hubby is driving, of course) on airplanes and sitting on my sunny terrace.
2…
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- In: Books | Writing
- 51 Comments
Today I’m helping authors Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi launch their new book, The Emotion Thesaurus (Second Edition)! I have already posted about this great writer’s resource here. And some of you have already ordered it. I love my copy and am already using it while writing Amanda in Malta-The Sleeping Lady.
You might know about The Emotion Thesaurus or even have it on your shelf. But chances are, you may not have known a second edition was in the works. Becca and Angela decided to keep it a surprise and only recently announced the book was releasing!
The Emotion Thesaurus is known for its powerful lists that help writers show (rather than tell) character emotion through body language, thoughts, visceral sensations, dialogue cues, and behavior. This second edition gives writers more of what they love: more emotions (55 more to be exact!) more teaching content, and more writing tips.
Here are three of the new entries: Euphoria, Vindicated, and Schadenfreude. This book is almost twice the size of the original, so it’s almost two books in one.
Anyway, if you’d like to check into it, Goodreads has some reviews up, and you can find more information here.
The Emotion Thesaurus 2nd Edition is available in Print, eBook, and PDF
One More Thing…Want to Attend a FREE Writing Conference?
Or a writing retreat? A workshop? Or even have your yearly membership to a professional writer’s organization suddenly paid for?
OF COURSE YOU DO!
Angela and Becca have a giveaway on right now to celebrate their release, and one lucky winner will get their choice of the above, up to a $500 US value. There are some conditions so check that out, but this is the giveaway of a lifetime, so hurry over to enter. And good luck!
You can enter this great giveaway HERE
So whether you write blogs, books, short stories, poems, newsletters or letters to your grandmother, or grandchildren, you need a copy of this book. It is also a great gift for the writers in your life!
https://writershelpingwriters.net/bookstore/
INTERVIEW WITH DARLENE FOSTER FROM “DARLENE FOSTER’S BLOG”
Meet Darlene Foster from Darlene Foster’s Blog
All about your BLOG:
Tell us about your lovely BLOG.
- What is the name of your blog and how did you decide on your blog name?
My blog is simply named Darlene Foster’s Blog because I want people to be able to find it easily. My tagline is dreamer of dreams, teller of tales but it no longer shows up under my name and I can’t seem to fix it. - What prompted you to start on this blogging journey?
My publisher suggested I start a blog when she published my first book in 2010. I’m so glad she did. - To date, what blogging achievement/s are you most proud of?
My blog is read all over the world and that makes me happy. I’ve made a shed load of friends too which makes me even happier. - How would you describe your own blogging style?
Natural, friendly and easy to read. - What excites you most about blogging?
Making new friends always excites me. I love being able to share all the fabulous places I have visited, stories about my amazing family and news about my books.
Hop over and read the rest of the interview where I reveal my thoughts on cucumbers, the sun and confusion.
https://esmesalon.com/interview-with-darlene-foster-from-darlene-fosters-blog/
This interview was posted in June but Esmé had just created a new blog site and I was unable to reblog it at the time. Better late than never!!
You might consider being interviewed by the amazing Esmé yourself.
Winchester Writers’ Festival
Posted on: September 9, 2018
- In: Books | Dreams | Inspiration | Writing
- 52 Comments
In November of last year, I was a guest on Sally Cronin’s blog where I was asked to list two things on my personal bucket list. One of them was to attend a writers’ conference in Europe. A writer/blogger friend, Mary Smith, suggested I check out the Winchester Writers’ Festival, which I did. In June I attended this 38-year-old festival held at the University of Winchester with 300 other attendees, providing 50 talks, readings and workshops. I had a great time and thought I should share what I learned while there.
Entrance to the University of Winchester
I arrived Friday evening in time for dinner where I met other authors over stimulating conversation. Later I attended a talk by James Aitcheson who discussed researching and writing historical fiction which was interesting.
I stayed on campus and found my little room to be comfortable. I felt every bit a student.
My digs for the weekend. My room was on the second floor.
The next morning, after a good sleep and a hearty breakfast (there were even vege sausages!), we listened to the keynote address with Patrick Gale interviewed by Judith Henegan, Director of the Winchester Writers’ Festival. This prolific writer of 15 novels and counting, spoke about “A Life in Writing”. He offered some great advice and this is some of what I took away from the entertaining and informative discussion.
- Write in ink first
- Use setting as a character
- Place defines a person
- End with a glimmer of hope and leave some things unanswered
- Remember the reader in the second draft. (are they seeing and feeling what you want them to?)
- Children are good to have in a novel as they disrupt, are indiscreet and honest
- Readers respond to recognition
- Cut out unnecessary stuff, remove anything that reminds people that they are reading
- Learn to write by reading
- Time is a good editor
- Dialogue is good but can slow down the action. It’s OK to use reported speech sometimes
- Readers rewrite the book when they read it
I bought his book, “A Place Called Winter” and he signed it for me. He was very interested in the fact that I was raised near the area in Canada where the story takes place.
For the remainder of the day, I attended a number of workshops. One by children’s author, Patrice Lawernce, on “Whose Voice is it Anyway”. She discussed making your characters sound authentic by listening to how people talk and being perpetually curious, knowing their backstory and culture and getting under the skin of your characters.
Another workshop on “Creating a Picture Book”, was facilitated by Andrew Weale. He explained that you have to think visually as you write, write a lot, then pare it down to a few words as you let the pictures talk. Picture book stories can be generated by asking unusual, quirky questions.
“Twitter For Writers” by Claire Fuller gave me a few more ideas on how to maximize my time on Twitter. “Myth, Mystery and Magic” with Sarah Mussi reminded us that goodness wins in the end with examples through the ages. The hero should have a flaw, even if it is a good flaw like being too kind etc. The excellent dinner came with a guest speaker, Helen Dennis, who gave an animated talk about her route to success as a children’s author.
Sunday was an all-day workshop, “Casting the Spell of Place”, with Lorna Ferguson. I loved this as we were given prompts with time to write and share our work. A few points I took away with me.
- Cut out unnecessary details of description to avoid making it sound like a travelogue
- Don’t make lists
- Think of the reader and what effect you want to create
- Setting can create mood and atmosphere and help with plotting
- Location often takes the character out of their comfort zone
- It should transport the reader out of their ordinary world (armchair travelling)
- It should create a perception of the culture
- Description needs to be broken up with dialogue and action
- Be careful of information dumping, it will pull the reader out of the story
- If it doesn’t work, try a different setting!
Another point that came up which was very helpful for me and my stories is that a character can’t always have someone help them. They need to solve their own problems, sometimes in an unfamiliar location.
We were given a list of quotes. I love this one. Place is paramount. Annie Proulx
I also had two one to one appointments with authors who looked at the first chapter of Amanda in Holland and gave me great feedback.
With limited luggage space, I only bought two books, (amazing for me!) and an Elizabeth Bennet tree ornament to remember my time.
Elizabeth Bennett Christmas tree ornament
Charming bench on the grounds of the university
One of the many great buildings on site, the Business School
Staying in a historic city, meeting other writers and learning more about the art of writing made this a perfect break for me and just what I needed to continue with my writing. Thank you so much, Mary Smith, for this suggestion. Check out her interesting blog and wonderful books.
https://www.amazon.com/kindle-/entity/author/B001KCD4P0
