A Novel Idea

Beta readers rock! If you don’t use them, you are really missing out on a wonderful opportunity to get virgin eyes on your work and help you identify strong and weak spots. On my second pass by the alpha reader he saw much improvement in my first crime novel  and I still have a few places that I want to go back and touch up to strengthen a character’s position on certain pertinent matters. So that, along with some beta notes trickling in, is what I have been doing all week.

I have an outline for book two, and another story in my head for book three, but I am feeling a need to break away from this and write something different. I just read a very good “relationship” novel (will tell you more about that later) and I have been mulling over some ideas. It really stimulated me to think about just what comprises a good novel.

Honestly, being human or not, relationships are what most every novel boils down to. The relationship between people and their world, the relationship between lovers, the relationship between individuals, parents, children, siblings, friends, elves, war lords, bad guys, good guys, pets, robots…relationships are what make good novels relate-able.

So I got restrospective and started thinking about all the relationships in my life. There is really some good fodder there. It has not been a typical life, though, but some typical relationship issues were resolved.

The only piece I have really written well in first person was about a gay guy coming to terms with his identity in a community that was less than accepting. I liked the practice of getting into his character, but that story has been done to death.

I am thinking of taking another angle, and writing a piece in first person about a woman who finds herself with two grown children, divorced from a gay guy, and five hundred miles from her home at the age of forty. How she starts over with her life. Having never had her twenties, because of family responsibilities, she suddenly finds herself in a world she has been isolated from for twenty years. She violates the old double standard by trying to juggle relationships.

It sounds sad, but it really isn’t…there would be humorous undertones throughout as she acclimates to a new lifestyle and the dating scene again.

I don’t have a clue what genre it would fit into. Women’s fiction? Chick-lit? I don’t read much in either genre, so I really don’t give a flying flip about rules. I just want to tell the story. The underlying theme is about forgiveness.

I am not one of those paranoid people about sharing unpublished ideas online, because we all have our own ways of telling our stories.

I haven’t made an outline. It’s just a thought. What do you think about it? Boring or interesting? Amusing, maybe?

Any ideas for a working title?

Book Review: Weed Therapy by Mark Paxon

My husband and I both read this book and talked about it for days.  We have already recommended it to a friend who is in a bad relationship.  With a “Part Two” added to this book, it has the potential to be a masterpiece in the self-help genre on relationships and I will tell you why:

I loved the craftsmanship in the way this book was written and the author’s writing style.  The word pictures created were superb.  The beauty of the well written story was magical.  The novel really moved me in a deep and spiritual way. Mark Paxon’s insights and intuitions were well woven into this account of a man’s quest for understanding his own unhappiness.  It reminded me that men, whom we often regard as the stronger, less emotional sex, really do have feelings, hopes, and desires.

The characters, both primary and ancillary are truly tangible.  Kelvin, his family, and the people of Santa Cielo are very real people to me now.  You can see the characters, hear them speak, and feel their pains. Father Santos is a humble man.  Santa Cielo is a most inspiring place that I visited with Kelvin, and his home is not unlike so many in America.  The settings are vivid and clear, and come alive with the people, sights, sounds, smells, and flavors of the distinctively different cultures. At times, I thought Kelvin most selfish, and as I read on, I realized that he was truly selfless, compassionate, and wanting the happiness of all, himself, the people of Santa Cielo, and his family. Kelvin, however, is not a humble man.

The author is very talented, and I would have loved to have seen him expound on how Kelvin was able to achieve happiness, the changes that were necessary in both his thinking and behavior, in order to attract the sort of happiness of his desire. I did not feel that Kelvin ever thoroughly and effectively cleaned up the weeds on his side of the garden. I wanted the book to be longer.  It felt somewhat incomplete.  What it was like, and what he intended to do different were there, but what it is like now was not. There needed to be a conclusion chapter, at least, for a more satisfying ending. I felt this was an awesome and inspiring book wherein the author does not preach his ideas, but relates to people and their issues in a way that is genuine and not forced.  All good books leave you wanting more.  If you have ever been in a relationship, are in a relationship, or plan to be in a relationship, you really should read this book.  I would love to read a sequel by this author.  I would definitely buy it, read it, and most certainly find it interesting. I love books that get me to think, and not simply entertain.  This book did both!

When reading this book, it is important to keep in mind that the POV is exclusively Kelvin Rockwell’s, and Kelvin has some work to do. We all need to be mindful of tending our gardens.

A must read if you want your Gravatar to work for you!

Are you lost in the cyberspace of the blogosphere? Most everybody knows what a Gravatar is, right?  It’s that little image you inserted that tells people who you are. However, if you “like” something on my page, but you have not commented, I have no way to check out your site to see who you are.  (BTW, if I have a lot of likes/comments on something, the notifications box has probably scrolled you away before I had time to check you out, especially if I wasn’t sitting by the computer.Checking archives can be a pain.)

Make it easy for me! We might could become good friends and have a nifty online relationship…if I can find you.

So help me out, if you have not done this already!  I would love to check out your stuff, chances are, if you “liked” mine, I would “like” yours, too.

1. Go to your Dashboard, then Users, then My Profile. 
2. Scroll down to LINKS.
3. Copy and paste your own site’s URL  into the links box, and put in the title of your blog. (It might be useful to have a second tab opened to your homepage if you don’t know your URL address by heart.)
4.  Hit the  “add links” button.

It is that easy!

Now your blog’s link will show up in your gravatar when I click on it, and I can find your blog easily!  You can do the same with any pages you would like to promote; your website, your Facebook page, other blogs you have or want to encourage people to check out, or even your Amazon page to promote your book sales.

I cannot count the number of folks I have tried to connect with, but had no means.  I would love to get to know you 🙂  You will get more followers if people can track you back.  A link to your site is NOT automatically provided on your Gravatar.

I thank you very much and hope this was helpful!

Your Gravatar is an image that follows you from site to site appearing beside your name when you do things like comment or post on a blog. Avatars help identify your posts on blogs and web forums, so why not on any site?