tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-66053608347309400252024-03-06T02:56:04.619-06:00Kathryn Flatt's Author PageWelcome to my blog! Each of my novels has a page of its own with more information about the book, plus a list of my short stories. Just click on the desired title tab below. Each book also has a Facebook page, and I love getting Likes.
By all means, if you read something interesting in my postings, feel free to leave a comment.
Kathryn Flatthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16715696643958200421noreply@blogger.comBlogger453125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6605360834730940025.post-61557335571804050262014-01-31T08:01:00.000-06:002014-01-31T08:01:20.738-06:00Never Say NeverFor a very long time, going way back to childhood, I thought I could be a writer. I dreamed of writing books and having them published and maybe even make a living at it.<br />
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In adulthood, I gave it a real go, writing books and hoping to get them published. If it gets published, people read it, right? I feel fortunate to have started my endeavors just as e-publishing began to take off in a big way. Suddenly, getting published was an easier thing to accomplish. Makes sense. With e-books, a publisher doesn't need to judge manuscripts based on how many copies they might sell or worry about warehousing unsold books or how to promote and advertise, etc., not to mention author advances which might never be equalized with sales. In the old days of print-only, this meant that readers never saw some really good books because what would sell took precedence over what was good and was determined by a handful of people. Now, it's a new world where books get to readers in numbers once unimaginable. This is a two-edged sword, however, in that the book-buying dollars of the public are now spread among many more books.<br />
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Anyway, I achieved my goal. I wrote books, got them published, and even sold a few. But reality has come a-knocking on the door of my conscience. My expenditures in the name of promoting my published works has outstripped income from them by a factor that makes me cringe. I think ten-fold might be understating it. Paid advertising, brochures, business cards, membership fees, conferences and fairs, supplies, and hours upon hours of writing, editing, polishing, proofing, cover designing, and online promotion. In short, it's less a living than an expensive hobby. Added to that, I looked around at the rest of my life and saw rampant neglect. In the face of these realizations, the last time I opened my in-progress ms. to work on it in early December, I stared at the screen and asked myself, why do this? All the time, effort, and expense seemed like a waste. The situation became intolerable and had to change.<br />
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My plan is to resurrect my Information Technology career, and this will absorb much of my time going forward. My free time will be devoted to attending to all those facets of life I let slide while I chased my dream.<br />
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Have I quit being a writer? I don't know that that is something one can quit. The urge to spin stories is wired into the brain, I think. Will I ever write for publication again? Who can say? Never say never. (Oops, I just said it.)Kathryn Flatthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16715696643958200421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6605360834730940025.post-30313909269906295102013-12-06T07:26:00.003-06:002013-12-06T07:26:35.506-06:00The Fun of ItMade excellent progress on "Mongan Manor" yesterday with Stefanie and Paul in the heat of the treasure hunt. Their search took them back to the tower of the title manor where there is supposed to be one or more clues to a family secret and/or buried treasure. They put their talents together and uncovered some major clues, but there is still one element missing. <div>
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At the same time, as they get closer to solving the mystery, various members of the Manor's family are weighing in with information and subtly revealing which side they are on. As with any secret, there are those who want it revealed and those who want it to remain secret. It's a lot of motivations to juggle. </div>
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Very soon, it will be time for a Big Scene, one which has been percolating in my imagination for weeks now and was at the heart of the inspiration for the book. I try to stop myself from looking at the word count on my computer screen as a guide to how far along I am in the story. By that measure, I am at about the half-way point. I know I shouldn't pay any attention to it. (Maybe MS Word will let me turn it off?) I always go back and do major edits after the first draft is done anyway. Still, since my work on the ms. comes is spurts, it's hard to know if I've got the pacing right or not. </div>
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Hope to have word pretty soon on "Where Power Lies." I was talking with my husband the other night, and he was telling me some of what he read in the newspaper. I only look at the weather page usually. Anyway, some of the things he read about were ideas I incorporated into "Power" and its future setting. I don't put myself in the same visionary class as Arthur C. Clarke, but then, his predictions for 2001 and 2010 didn't totally hit the mark either.</div>
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Kathryn Flatthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16715696643958200421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6605360834730940025.post-63652000801667956302013-12-02T10:16:00.000-06:002013-12-02T10:16:57.261-06:00Updates, and Some ObservationsAfter a break over the long Thanksgiving weekend, I've gotten back to writing "Mongan Manor." Some history got laid down this morning, and I'll keep pressing on today.<br />
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I've commented before on the whole zombie craze that seems to dominate Hollywood's output these days, and it was a trailer for the movie "World War Z" that triggered a further observation about it, or at least a question. Beyond the fact that any sort of monster is, in my opinion, an easy villain in fiction. No background to develop, no motivation to explain, the concept itself is enough to tell a reader what side the character is on. Some traditional monsters--vampires, werewolves--have recently begun to straddle the line, sometimes becoming the actual heroes of a story with background and motives that people can embrace enough to make them good guys. But zombies--they're dead people reanimated that need to feed on human flesh. Mindless, soulless, a danger that must be destroyed.<br />
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But they were once people, weren't they? I don't watch zombie movies myself, but I'm sure they frequently use the device where a one-time good guy turns into a bad guy which must be obliterated in a desperate decision to be made by the remaining good guys. (Case in point, the movie "From Dusk Till Dawn," although it was vampires in that one. While violent and gory, it was raised to a higher level, I think, by comparing the bad guys in the first half--killers on the lam--with the vampires. There's evil, and then there's EVIL.) But the point I was getting at was that with zombies, a story is saying that we're our own enemies. Anyone you see can suddenly become evil and dangerous. Ordinary folks become the enemy in an instant and can therefore be killed. Anyone who can kill the zombies, those formerly ordinary folks, is a hero. So what does this say about the state of humanity? Has our hunger for control over our destinies reached a point that we feel righteous at seeing multitudes of enemies slaughtered? Violent computer games have come under fire as possibly influencing the isolated and disturbed individuals to act out the same actions in the real world. With a movie, you don't get to control the action as in a game, but you do get to root for the hero(es) out there slaughtering what amounts to other people who are different. While it may be simplistic to say that violent entertainments beget violence in real life, I still find it deeply disturbing that the masses actually enjoy watching it. Kathryn Flatthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16715696643958200421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6605360834730940025.post-41166453489656954542013-11-27T14:07:00.001-06:002013-11-27T14:07:39.962-06:00The Holidays Are Upon UsBeen so-o-o busy lately, something had to give, and I guess it's daily blog posts that gave. I figured that as long as I was producing new pages of "Mongan Manor," I should concentrate on that within the time I have to work on writing each day.<br />
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Got past the stuck places and events are now unfolding at a furious pace. Almost at the turning-point scene that's been in my head for a while, but with a few revisions to the original form. Still waiting to see how the whole thing comes out.<br />
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I've also found my thoughts drifting to future projects. There are many of them:<br />
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<li>Finish third book in Jack Watson series. I stopped before because (1) the timing of it was off, (2) I wasn't sure where to go with it next, and (3) the inspiration for "Mongan Manor" was tempting me.</li>
<li>Revisit manuscript of my first and second completed-but-not-published novels, both science fiction. Oh, do they ever need work . . .</li>
<li>Another paranormal idea that's been shuffling around in my brain. This one would be really different--a male victim who gets involved in an investigation with a female cop and a paranormal investigator (also female) in an uneasy alliance against a new sort of creature. Still very much in the formative stages.</li>
<li>Return to an unfinished manuscript from a few years ago, a medical thriller. </li>
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But I'm trying to stay focused here and do one thing at a time. Maybe if I could clone myself...Kathryn Flatthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16715696643958200421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6605360834730940025.post-64659478567090991252013-11-25T10:33:00.001-06:002013-11-25T10:33:27.673-06:00Stuck AgainWell, not really stuck. Now that an important member of the "Mongan Manor" family has been introduced, I've been wrestling with what she will initially reveal that will lead to solving the mystery of the treasure. Previously, I was still working out her character, but I think I've got that down now--nearly 100 years old, but still sly and a bit mischievous. She and Stefanie have just met, and I need to work out what get said in this first passage.<br />
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As usual, I want to get past this point and on to the more exciting stuff that's coming up. I suspect there are some authors who could work out of sequence and get to "the good stuff" but I can never quite bring myself to do that, no matter how eager I am to write the big, dramatic scenes. Surprising--to anyone but me--is the fact that I still don't know how the story ends! Really. No clue. But experience has shown me that the inspiration will come at the proper time, and the scenes will practically write themselves.Kathryn Flatthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16715696643958200421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6605360834730940025.post-14563694155623752942013-11-21T07:47:00.002-06:002013-11-21T07:47:39.385-06:00A Different Sort of AntagonistI'm at a point in "Mongan Manor" where an antagonist, of sorts, is coming onstage for the first time. I realized that even though I have mentioned her repeatedly in the first part of the book, I had little idea about her personality. Now, before her first active scene, I need to define her better. This person started the trouble at the heart of the story while unaware of what she was starting. Do I make her innocently mischievous or deviously manipulative? Should she be failing in her mental faculties since she's almost a century old or be sharp and cunning? Nice or nasty?<br />
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And how important is it to determine her motivations? And should those motives be complicated or simple? At this point, I have to decide how important they are to the plot. Regardless of why this lady stirred up her family with the notion of hidden treasure, the goal is to find it and settle all the disputes. Her motives will have to fit her personality and vice versa. What keeps coming into my mind about her is a character portrayed in a movie that's a favorite of mine, mainly pertaining to her appearance and manner, but that's just the surface.<br />
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I have some other activities planned for the day, things which occupy the hands while letting the mind roam.Kathryn Flatthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16715696643958200421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6605360834730940025.post-29284739644289922202013-11-19T06:57:00.000-06:002013-11-19T06:57:04.002-06:00The WhyI sat down this morning with the intention of putting something on my blog but with no ideas about what. Distracted by hunger, I got up and made some scrambled eggs. Since it's easier to read while eating than to write while eating, I went into my email to read some messages from <a href="http://thewritepractice.com/" target="_blank">The Write Practice</a>. There was an article titled "The Odds Are Against You, Might As Well Get to Writing." While it presents some daunting statistics about the scant chances of commercial success for a writer, it encourages authors to write all the same. It triggered some thoughts about why I do this.<br />
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First, it's not for the money. Yes, I get paid when people buy my books. I wish more people would to get me to the point where I make a comfortable living at it. Do I expect to move into a mansion and have servants and all that? No. Comfortable would be just fine, but I'm not even to that point yet.<br />
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Second, I know the odds are against fame and a Pulitzer Prize, and neither of those things ever inspired me to write. Recognition is certainly nice, and I get some of that now and again. Nobody stops me on the street or in the grocery store to indicate they recognize me. I'm not a household name and wouldn't expect to be unless I get more books sold. <br />
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Third, I've already proven that I can write a novel, get it published, and get paid. Therefore, what drives me is not a sense of accomplishment from doing once what many are never able to do.<br />
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So what, then, is the point? Why do I do it?<br />
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As I imply on my websites, I can't NOT write. It goes on in my head whether I want it to or not. Story ideas, scenes, bits of dialog, characters and their relationships--my imagination keeps generating the stuff. The only way to control it is to put words together in a "permanent" way. Only, that just makes room for more stuff to gush out of my brain. It's as if there is a story that must be told, and since I don't have throngs of people waiting with bated breath to hear me tell it, into print it must go. Once it's in a manuscript, why not try to get it published? I have, and it continues to be a rewarding experience. Just not monetarily rewarding. Yet.<br />
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I've often heard advice from big-time authors who say not to try to write to the market. Just because Young Adult vampire/shapeshifter/zombie/wizard stories are the rage one day doesn't mean that the thirst for such books won't be quenched by the time YOUR book finds its way to the marketplace. The best advice I ever heard was, "Write the book that is in you."<br />
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Which is what I do. There seem to be many of them in there waiting to get put down in words. Fine by me. I would continue to do it even if nobody wanted to publish or read anything I wrote. But I think someone who writes stories of any length actually taps a common well of human experience which stands to ultimately touch others. Writing stories is a high form of communication, of human communication, of sharing experience and ideas and emotions. Perhaps that is the bottom line of why it feels so rewarding.Kathryn Flatthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16715696643958200421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6605360834730940025.post-81312304526770314652013-11-19T06:56:00.003-06:002013-11-19T06:56:41.115-06:00Catching UpHaven't had much time to devote to anything writing related over the last few days as I have been trying to catch up on a number of other things. With the possibility of a full-time job on the horizon, I may have less in days to come, and my blog posts may become far less regular. The time I have available for writing activities will probably be devoted to writing first rather than social media.<br />
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Work will continue on "Mongan Manor" which is now picking up pace toward a turning point event.Kathryn Flatthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16715696643958200421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6605360834730940025.post-16031312968000318002013-11-13T10:11:00.004-06:002013-11-13T10:11:50.916-06:00Point of View Can Be TrickyGot through a tricky passage in "Mongan Manor" where Stefanie gets some good information from a member of the family, putting a different spin on the treasure. Her conversation went through a few fits and starts as I worked out how much to reveal and how many red herrings to toss out.<br />
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Arline Chase, my publisher, always has excellent information on her blog for <a href="http://writewordsarline.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Write Words</a>. Her post yesterday was about author intrusion, something I try to stay on the lookout for. In a nutshell, it has to do with not including information unavailable to the point of view character. Since I do a lot of my work in first person POV, I really have to watch out for this. My character cannot narrate that <i>My cheeks turned red </i>unless she's looking at herself in a mirror at the moment. Instead, her narrative might say, <i>My cheeks burned with embarrassment.</i> It's a bit trickier when writing in third person, harder to catch. I think the key is that the point of character<i> feels</i> things about him/herself and observes things about other characters to draw assumptions and conclusions. As someone who read Arline's post remarked, big-name authors fall into the trap frequently, and maybe the average reader doesn't notice, but critics and editors sure do.<br />
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Both POVs have their benefits and limitations, and the choice of which to use is largely a matter of style and preference. I use third person for the Jack Watson series as a device for giving the character information my main protagonists don't have and to take the reader where the action is. If not for this ability, stuff would happen off stage and Jack would be ferreting it out later. I think letting the reader witness important events "first hand" adds to the tension. For my other series, the plot unfolds through the eyes of one character who must unravel what is happening and how to protect herself. First person sort of locks me into a female protagonist because I'm not sure I would know how to write a first person male character for a novel. I did try it once in a short story, but those are usually so bare-bones in character development, it did not matter. Maybe I'll try it in a novel someday.<br />
<br />Kathryn Flatthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16715696643958200421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6605360834730940025.post-11013330870138545942013-11-12T10:36:00.000-06:002013-11-12T10:37:10.473-06:00More on The Name GameStarted in on "Mongan Manor" this morning, backtracking a bit to pick up the rhythm of the scene. I also had a flash of inspiration about providing Stefanie with the clues to the family secret and treasure mysteries, so I went forward with that. Had to stop and do some research on coats of arms and the various symbols used, and while I haven't yet decided on a key symbol for the story, I'm comfortable with the concept at least.<br />
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While doing my research into family names and histories, coats of arms, etc., I'm starting to wonder if I should include a disclaimer in the book when it's done. I want to stay true to the Irish heritage, but not so true that anyone could think I meant to portray real people. I'm making this up out of pure imagination and using facts from research for authenticity. I remember reading about another writer who was getting threats from someone who claimed her book of fiction exactly mirrored a relative's life. Is that how these things get started? Someone reads a book and figures any supporting details which match with him/herself or someone they know in life (notice, I did not say "real life" because life is real and fiction is fiction) and automatically assume that the writer based the book on them. Nonsense like that is nothing but ego and/or greed. I don't know anyone with the last name of Sheehy, the family name in the book. I chose it because of its meaning--eerie or mysterious. I did web searches for Irish-sounding names, both given and surnames, but mainly used those with certain meanings which will be part of the clues to the family secret.<br />
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I completely avoid using names or physical descriptions that might lead someone who knows me to think I wrote about them. I don't even like the idea of loosely basing characters on someone I've met. For one thing, when I meet someone, I never think "Gee, he/she would make a great character." It just doesn't happen for me. For another, when I'm developing a story, the characters are contrived to play certain roles in it. I need good guys and bad guys with a large proportion of people who are neither all good nor all bad. The role each plays determines their appearance, age, profession, history, demeanor, attitudes, and all the rest and can change as needed. Even the main POV character is subject to this treatment. Perhaps that's why I don't spend a great deal of time deciding who my character is before I set to writing the story, although that is an exercise many teachers of writing encourage.<br />
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Stefanie in the Windsong Lake series is a case in point. When I decided to resuscitate the "Dabblers" manuscript I finished a few years earlier, I decided that the character was too wimpy, too needy. She needed to be stronger. That was when I decided that she had known about her psychic ability and kept it secret for most of her life, even from her husband, Paul. Voila! More conflict was born. And her situation required her to "make peace" with her ability which kept trying to warn her of impending trouble, which meant she would be growing, developing, changing. Once I settled on that, my muse let out a sigh of relief and said, "Ahhh, now we've got it."Kathryn Flatthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16715696643958200421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6605360834730940025.post-28916297641304528062013-11-11T09:44:00.001-06:002013-11-11T09:44:40.393-06:00Updates and A Bit of NewsI did some more fiddling with the cover for "Where Power Lies" and with the blurb as well. I wanted to do some experiments with changing the background colors and to be sure that there is ample room for the title and byline to be added without losing any important elements. I reduced the shadows to only one row so that more of the background is revealed, which also adds a bit more color. Unfortunately, my graphics skills and toolkit are very limited, so all my attempts to change the color pallet resulted in shades of one color only, which looked less attractive than the original.<br />
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Also added a small amount of text to "Mongan Manor," getting through a scene where I was not really sure what I wanted to happen. It needed to be an event of some importance, but what was it supposed to say? The resolution brought me new inspiration for how a subplot unravels going forward.<br />
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This afternoon, I'm going on a job interview. Yes, out of temporary retirement, perhaps, and back into a day job. Thus far, it could go either way I suppose. While I would certainly love to continue focusing on my writing career, it isn't bringing income in a major way. So it looks like I'll return to squeezing it in around a real job. Ah, well...Kathryn Flatthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16715696643958200421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6605360834730940025.post-56444877995430111802013-11-08T11:01:00.002-06:002013-11-08T11:01:51.742-06:00Updates and MiscellanyYesterday afternoon, I received my print copy of "Dabblers," and frankly, the sense of satisfaction never diminishes with each book. One more print book left to receive, and I understand it's on its way.<br />
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I checked with the libraries where I donated books and was delighted to find "The Dreamer Gambit" in both their catalogs. One of them was even checked out! Might this lead to people discovering my other books, too? Sure hope so, because that was the whole idea about donating to the libraries.<br />
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Everything is prepped for "Where Power Lies" now, as I've pretty much settled on the most recent cover design, the one with the blood on it. That red spot really pops, I think, and more or less settles the fact that the woman beside it is the murder victim mentioned in the blurb. Anyway, I think it will work.<br />
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Back to Mongan Manor today. I need to sit back and consider the scene I'm working on next and what change it will bring about. I think I know what it is, but it's just a matter of how I can reveal it.Kathryn Flatthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16715696643958200421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6605360834730940025.post-47043914630829185332013-11-07T10:35:00.000-06:002013-11-07T10:35:39.325-06:00The Name GameWorking on a crucial piece of "Mongan Manor" this morning, I realized that one of the names I had selected early on caused a problem with the method of delivering pieces of the puzzle. I went back to my list of Irish names previously collected, but I did not find anything workable. Back to the Internet. A little searching on the Behind-The-Name site gave me a good name to use but it then too closely resembled another name I had selected for a different character, already changed once before for the same reason. So I found a new name for that one too. (Bless Microsoft Word's find and replace.) Now I'm deciding where the next step goes, especially in light of the pacing issues I mentioned in an earlier post.<br />
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After another peek at my cover for "Where Power Lies," I played around a bit with the background colors looking for a way to charge it up a little. Then I had a burst of inspiration, and this morning, I managed to execute it in another sample cover.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeFzf0_Ut3OoXbrOaQOpEDXjL918tY8SzSAtDb0gA8o27syFC6ue4NyMZWSm9cj5q_vWO0ib0lGOJysYGtPmkyXHIs13dVz3KgSBmI4VBPXn5RZK87bgJF4MFjOfo9mo5M71MB0A0Ym7hy/s1600/Power+Cover+7+Blood.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeFzf0_Ut3OoXbrOaQOpEDXjL918tY8SzSAtDb0gA8o27syFC6ue4NyMZWSm9cj5q_vWO0ib0lGOJysYGtPmkyXHIs13dVz3KgSBmI4VBPXn5RZK87bgJF4MFjOfo9mo5M71MB0A0Ym7hy/s1600/Power+Cover+7+Blood.png" height="320" width="225" /></a></div>
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I think the pool of blood draws the eye fairly well. The most time consuming thing about this cover design is the shadows. When pasted over the background, tiny flecks of white surrounded each "head" and needed to be touched up.<br />
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Just for reference sake, I'll include my working blurb here, too.<br />
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<i>In 2075, fifty years after a cataclysm nearly leveled the continent, the United States has been reborn with cities rising from the ruins. Deanna Kirkland struggled out of poverty to land a job in one of them, working for Senator Wolfson. On the bottom rung of the new society, Dee spices her humdrum life with daydreams of glamorous adventure while accepting that working for Wolfson is as close as she'll ever come to realizing her fantasies.</i><br />
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<i>Then she happens to find a coworker dead in the Senator’s office and her life becomes more like one of those fantasies. Although everyone tries to convince her the woman committed suicide, Dee seems to be alone in thinking it was murder until she runs into Reese Ballard. He says it's evidence of the machinations of secret networks he calls Power Blocs that run everything while hiding behind a sham of democracy. Leery at first, she joins his search for the truth and soon finds his conspiracy theories are not merely theories. She plunges headlong into a different and dangerous world as those shadowy networks seek to silence them before they can reveal the truth about where power lies.</i><br />
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Kathryn Flatthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16715696643958200421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6605360834730940025.post-63050530098250538832013-11-06T15:52:00.001-06:002013-11-06T15:52:53.824-06:00Too Much Too Soon?Had time on my hands today without Internet access for most of it, but I did some work on "Mongan Manor." There is an important piece of the puzzle to the family secret involving names of ancestors, and I had thought I would put that off until much later. As I started down a different path this morning to do a different sort of scene, it struck me that it had the potential for more drama and would fit better at a later point, closer to the Big Scene, as it were. So I switched gears and started dropping some hints about names.<br />
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As always, I'm concerned about pacing. Each chapter must reveal something and institute a permanent change, hopefully with increasing tension and surprise, until the final wrap-up. The problem is getting a feel for where on the upward curve I am at a given point. In an earlier post, when I was working on the third Jack Watson book, I realized that things were happening too fast. A series of events occurred in the space of a day and it just didn't seem to be reasonable. Granted, I'm writing fiction, but as Stephen King once wrote in his "Danse Macabre," fiction requires a suspension of disbelief. Disbelief is a heavy load, like lifting a grand piano with a hoist to a third floor apartment. If you do it right, the reader gets swept up in the story and will believe just about anything, but if it flies in the face of reason to flagrantly, it's game over. Using my Jack Watson story as an example, I could imagine the reader thinking: "The killer found a phone number, called someone from out of town, got hooked up with a contract shooter, and then a snitch mentioned to Jack that someone was gunning for him ALL IN ONE DAY?????" Since I write in fits and starts, from day to day, the gaps make it hard to notice this, but when I went back to verify what day of the week I was currently writing (yeah, I do that a lot), I realized how much had happened in the space of a day and it just seemed impossible, even for fiction.<br />
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The other challenge with the Windsong Lake characters is that they're intelligent people. Paul's a genius and Stefanie recognizes patterns and never forgets anything. If a clue is too obvious and they both miss it or misread it, that grand piano is a pile of splinters.Kathryn Flatthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16715696643958200421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6605360834730940025.post-36531577726345980322013-11-05T10:40:00.000-06:002013-11-05T10:40:11.792-06:00OMG I'm Writing a Cozy!Well, not really. Added another scene to "Mongan Manor" which reveals some of the relationship issues among the extended family who owns it and dropping some important clues, too. While writing it, however, it struck me how much of the cozy mystery feeling keeps cropping up. A bunch of people with different agendas around a dinner table. There are clues and red herrings at the same time, some of it innocent because each character has a different goal and different background knowledge. One of the things that makes it fun is to have a character speak from their point of view in a way that the others will misinterpret or read more meaning into it than is there. I find myself returning to my notes document where I have a synopsis of the family history, its secrets, and where each character present stands on it.<br />
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I'm still waffling a little about how the mystery will get solved, vacillating between a down-to-earth versus a paranormal sort of resolution. At present, I'm favoring the paranormal, but the problem I'm having with it is that if Stefanie's psychic experience puts the final piece into place, there is no proof to present to the rest of the players. She's an outsider and there's no reason for anyone to take her word for it. She'll need corroboration of some sort. There's also the issue of a murder or at least an attempt at it. I have some ideas about it, but they are still sort of nebulous. Perhaps that's not such a bad thing because I can make adjustments as I go, as the family conflicts take shape. I need a murderer, a victim, and a motive.<br />
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The one thing I don't want to do is repeat myself. This time out, I think Stefanie should take the lion's share of credit for solving the mystery with some help from Paul of course. The experience should also enhance or change her psychic gift in some manner, and I've got an idea about that, too.Kathryn Flatthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16715696643958200421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6605360834730940025.post-11783292125786349972013-11-04T10:18:00.000-06:002013-11-04T10:18:09.446-06:00Lo and BeholdI do believe I have a cover for "Where Power Lies" and the blurb is now in pretty good shape too. A couple of ideas/thoughts/inspirations led to the cover design process, and I thought I'd map that process out.<br />
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I started with the blurb. First pass was very wordy and included way too much information. I honed it to the essentials after a few passes, realizing that the blurb cannot possibly convey every aspect of the plot or the setting.<br />
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An earlier cover concept featured the bright, modern city surrounded by what is called the No Zone, areas of crumbling buildings and such. As I worked on the blurb, the No Zone definition got cut, so the illustration of it on the cover was no longer workable.<br />
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The latest version of the blurb has a number of significant details: a main character who comes to the reborn city, a dead body in the Senator's office, shadowy secret networks, the Senator as a puppet for those networks.<br />
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I had a few elements already--woman's dead body (and I'll bet I'm now on a watch list somewhere for searching on THAT any number of times!), a man in a suit (the Senator), silhouettes of male figures, i.e., shadows. I experimented with some tools at my disposal and finally got the Senator and the dead woman in a black-and-white graphic look. I put them on a gray background which resolves into groups of shadow figures. Then I needed a back drop for all of it, and I found it in the print shop program I bought some time ago. It works well because I can format all the elements in an image that is the correct size for the cover art. I tried a few background options, and fortunately, found the perfect one.<br />
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And now, here is the design I've come up with. Penny for your thoughts?<br />
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<br />Kathryn Flatthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16715696643958200421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6605360834730940025.post-33003181384107114762013-11-01T10:23:00.001-05:002013-11-01T10:23:51.253-05:00Still Two Worlds at OnceI did some more work on "Mongan Manor" this morning, tweaking a few things in earlier pages and double-checking details. I was pleased to note that some early clues are suitably ambiguous yet fair. I then got past the hump to move forward. Four more players have shown up at the house, and next up, Paul will meet Robert Markey, heir to Mongan Manor and another genius. The wordplay between them is where I had to pause, and I'll pick up there again once I decide what information they should exchange. Their interactions are going to be crucial and tricky.<br />
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Yesterday, I did some more polishing of the blurb for "Where Power Lies" in order to help define what the cover should look like. I also thought my first pass was too long with too much detail. The whole idea of the blurb is to intrigue and entice the reader, deliver a flavor of the story without going into a lot of definition. The current version is down to around 200 words, which is not a bad size. Interestingly, without really trying to do so, the editing has removed mention of certain elements that would justify one of my cover design concepts. With that, I can focus on the remaining idea I had for it, and I'm going to play with it today while I work out the next scene of "Mongan Manor."<br />
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<br />Kathryn Flatthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16715696643958200421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6605360834730940025.post-37026900350913517142013-10-31T09:40:00.003-05:002013-10-31T09:40:44.679-05:00Feel the Power!Query for submission of "Where Power Lies" came back positive, so the manuscript is on its way to the selection committee! I spent some time fiddling around with the cover art (not so good) and with the blurb. I think the blurb I've got truly represents the story, but it's too long and not really "snappy." While my intent is never to falsely represent anything, I want to come up with a descriptive piece that's quick and intriguing. As for my cover art attempts, I have a couple of designs in mind. One features a futuristic city growing out of the ruins of the old, i.e. the "No Zone." The other concept is to have a silhouette vignette of the woman's dead body with a man (the Senator) standing over it, but the shadow he casts starts at his feet and then becomes the shadows of many people. I guess it depends on the blurb again, so if I rewrite what I have, one or the other covers may seem like the better option. The problem is, I'm not sure I can execute either of them very well with my meager tools and skills. I actually had a third option but it doesn't fit well with a blurb because it uses symbols that the reader will only discover by reading the book. Ah, well. Back to the drawing board.<div>
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"Mongan Manor" is still waiting to move to the next scene, but "Power" has been the focus of my attention and I haven't even thought about what should happen next in any detail. I find that sitting and staring at the computer screen, waiting for inspiration to come, doesn't work for me in these cases. I just have to sit and think about it, not doing anything else. On a few occasions, I've been able to just start typing something and my muse suddenly reveals the path ahead, but usually not. And I have never yet been able to skip over a leading section and just write the scene I've been so eager to get to. Just can't bring myself to do it. Maybe it has to do with not working from an outline. The story must unfold for me as it does my characters, so I can't skip over connecting sections to write the "fun stuff" out of sequence.</div>
Kathryn Flatthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16715696643958200421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6605360834730940025.post-54438317707145784842013-10-30T10:01:00.000-05:002013-10-30T10:01:00.189-05:00Gone and Done ItI completed my edit of "Where Power Lies" yesterday, and this morning, I sent off a query letter to Write Words about it. Guess that's that. Of course, until I get a request to see a sample, I can still make minor changes, but I'm going to try to avoid that. It's time to move on. If the manuscript is accepted, I already have the blurb, but the specter of cover art will then loom. Perhaps when I reach the next stuck place on "Mongan Manor," I'll take another whack at a cover image I have in my head.<br />
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Back to "Mongan Manor." I had some ideas on how to move forward, which involves Paul determining how the search for answers will move forward. I'm still pulling the passage together, getting ideas into proper sequence. Stefanie and Paul will be trying to get more information from the members of the family at Mongan Manor and to determine who might be behind the trouble the Ken is warning Stefanie about. Of course, their investigation is going to stir up the antagonists and bring some of that trouble their way. I've also considered a few aspects of the big conclusion scene which has already been foreshadowed, but there are a lot of details to work out. A key element is that while events of the past shaped the current situation and many of the players are long dead, there must be enough information among the living to enable Stefanie to solve the mystery.Kathryn Flatthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16715696643958200421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6605360834730940025.post-88394269546972998382013-10-29T10:25:00.000-05:002013-10-29T10:25:05.398-05:00The Final Edit?Finished reading hard copy of "Where Power Lies" and I have started the painstaking effort to make electronic changes without introducing any new errors. Once that's done, its query time.<br />
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Since I got onto this editing pass, I haven't had time to consider the next phase of "Mongan Manor" as yet, but once again, it's one of those cases where I want to get through the buildup and on to the next action which will be a major turning point. I also have to work out the murder aspect. I have the players and motives arranged, I think, but how it actually happens has yet to be developed. Of course, Stefanie and everyone else at Mongan Manor will first find the body and have to work out how it happened. All that's down the road a bit, nothing more than an outline of events at this stage.<br />
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A friend of mine has been posting Halloween music videos (from YouTube) on his Facebook page for some days now, and one of them is a recently-discovered favorite for me. "Voodoo" by Godsmack. He laughs at the notion of what people who don't know me would say to my liking it, but people who really know me know I have a widely (wildly?) eclectic taste in music. Anyway, in response to his post, I mentioned how surreal it was to listen to the song (which I could not resist) at 7 a.m., and he said something about a new story line. I said I'd see what my imagination could come up with. Voila! An idea. Still very formative, but I'm intrigued by the notion of doing a horror story. Well, maybe not horror as the genre is usually taken to be. I'm not a fan of blood and gore because, as Stephen King once wrote, the icky factor is the lowest level of horror fiction. I'd rather try for the top level--pulling the reader into the story so that he/she feels the terror and horror of the characters. An interesting challenge...Kathryn Flatthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16715696643958200421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6605360834730940025.post-78770548905148915952013-10-28T09:59:00.000-05:002013-10-28T09:59:13.987-05:00News and UpdatesI heard from the publisher over the weekend and hopefully "Game Faces" and "Dabblers" will soon be out in paperback! Can hardly wait to get my author's copies.<br />
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I started writing a blurb for "Where Power Lies" in the interest of coming up with a cover concept, either that I could do myself or hire someone to do. Of course, I still have a long way to go on the proofing from hard copy that I began, and then making all the corrections to the manuscript. You'd think as many times as this story has been rewritten, I'd have it down by now, but alas... Sometimes, how I respond to reading my own book relates to my particular mood at the time. I had thought I would hold off doing more editing for a bit, but I may get back to it sooner rather than later.<br />
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That's because I'm stalled in "Mongan Manor" for the moment. It's time for Paul to get involved in solving the mysteries, an his interactions with the other characters are crucial. They will reveal things in very subtle ways which makes the coming passages tricky to plan and write. While I'm making every effort to not fall into the same plot pattern as in the first two books, there is one pattern that stubbornly exerts its influence, and that's not necessarily bad. Stefanie absorbs events and details and she reacts to them in her own emotional way. Paul comes in and applies his logical thinking and people-reading skills to pull her observations together to indicate what people are planning and doing. This is their synergy, filling in each other's gaps in ability. In this outing, in the name of changing things up, Paul is not resistant to the uncanny and Stefanie is not hiding anything from him any more. I guess another recurring theme is that Stefanie's psychic abilities continue to develop, but that's intentional. It's part of her character growth, which in turn is what makes me want to keep writing the same characters.<br />
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Also on my mind of late is more promotional activities. I need to polish my book brochure for a slicker look, as well as on-site materials for book fairs, etc. Since there may be speaking engagements in my future, I should probably outline a talk to give. I'm also considering a sort of book give-away, but I need to work out the details before I announce it. Kathryn Flatthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16715696643958200421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6605360834730940025.post-34995389263989281032013-10-25T10:51:00.003-05:002013-10-25T10:51:57.315-05:00Useless WordsAnother appointment this morning gave me more time to read "Where Power Lies" off hard copy, and I keep finding tons of stuff to change. All those conversation tags that add nothing--I said, he said, she asked. So remembering some tips from one of my favorite editing books, I devised a set of "rules" to follow regarding tags.<br />
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<ul>
<li>Replace a tag with some action where feasible. "I think you're wrong on that." He looked down his nose at her. "You need to rethink your reasons."</li>
<li>If there has been a break in conversation, a narrative passage for example, tag the first two exchanges of dialog to establish who is speaking to whom. </li>
<li>Use tags a bit more liberally (or better yet, the action substitution mentioned above) when more than two characters are speaking. </li>
<li>If a line of dialog opens a chapter or scene, make sure the reader knows who is speaking.</li>
<li>If the tag does not clarify anything, cut it.</li>
<li>Watch out for overuse of adverbs on tags, i.e., seriously, jovially, softly, gently, etc.</li>
<li>Avoid repeating the same pattern of avoidance. For example, doing the first option above over and over again. Mix it up.</li>
</ul>
What I also (re)discovered is that by removing those useless words, it leaves room for more creative stuff where it really makes an impact. I'll be reading more in days ahead.<br />
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Now I'm eager to write the next scene in "Mongan Manor" which will crank up the action some more.<br /><br />
<br />Kathryn Flatthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16715696643958200421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6605360834730940025.post-80711327292677782302013-10-24T11:09:00.000-05:002013-10-24T11:09:19.185-05:00Decisions, DecisionsWhile waiting for workmen to keep an appointment this morning, I started reading a printed copy of "Where Power Lies." Aaargh! Found mistakes--real mistakes!--on page 2. It's that old closure thing again. Also, having been away from the manuscript for a while, I spotted a couple of things to change for the sake of clarity, as well as unnecessary stuff I could remove, mainly tags that aren't needed. I've read about half way thorough Chapter 2 and I cringe at the number of corrections to be made. Lots of corrections also means lots of opportunities for me to introduce MORE errors. But maybe it'll all be worth it.<br />
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Made some progress on "Mongan Manor," especially in the thinking department which led to the next scene to be written. But now I'm into "Power" again, but maybe I can juggle the two books at once.<br />
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Since my morning appointment required a bit of a drive, I found myself thinking about the cover for "Power," and trying to figure out how much ease of execution should weigh into my decision on a design. There are a lot more factors that go into a cover concept. Eye-catching is certainly paramount, but I personally hate it when an attractive book cover misrepresents the story within. I believe that when someone reads the blurb on the back (or screen), the cover art should mesh with that little information and invite further investigation, i.e., reading the book. Some of my concepts for "Power" would be impossible(?) for me to do myself, but before I run off to find a graphic artist, I have to decide if a particular concept will follow my rule above. Perhaps what I should do is write the blurb first! Haven't done that yet, maybe because my early attempts have indicated it will be a tough job.Kathryn Flatthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16715696643958200421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6605360834730940025.post-33155932781993933232013-10-23T10:06:00.002-05:002013-10-23T10:06:40.127-05:00Planning AheadI have an errand to run tomorrow which will require me to sit and wait for an unknown period of time, so my first activity this morning was to print a copy of "Where Power Lies" to proofread. In the past, proofing from paper has allowed me to find errors I missed, and I hope it will this time too. I'm still thinking about giving self-publishing a try on this one, just for the experience. Got to do a cover for it as yet too.<br />
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Some work happening on "Mongan Manor," but I find myself at a point where I need to figure out what happens next. Paul has arrived at the manor and is about to meet some of the family there. He'll go head to head with one of them who happens to be a genius, too. I need to plan that conversation carefully to move things in the right direction. It's also about time to provide some more clues and perhaps for Stefanie to have a warning vision of something bad about to happen, i.e., the murder. Seems I have a few things to iron out in order to move forward.<br />
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Still prevaricating on the whole book trailer thing. It's going to take a good deal of work even after I decide what I want the finished product to look like. I have to wonder if my time would be better spent elsewhere, like spiffing up my promotional materials. I was showing my hubby one of my book brochures compared to that of another author which I picked up at Glen Ellyn Bookfest a few weeks ago. Hers was on slick paper, not just plain bond, and the graphics were more professional looking rather than clip art and other images available on Microsoft Word. Also on the promotion front, I may have some personal appearances pending next year, and it may not be too early to outline a talk about my writing career. I've spoken in public a couple of times before and was on a panel discussion at Love Is Murder this year, but being the "star" will be somewhat different. On the up side, I'll be talking about a subject close to my heart.Kathryn Flatthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16715696643958200421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6605360834730940025.post-35510145537816926792013-10-22T10:41:00.001-05:002013-10-22T10:41:33.577-05:00Updates et al.Working on "Treasure of Mongan Manor" this morning, still in the easy going stage before I hit the first "stuck place." Maybe I won't hit one this time around. The book has so many elements in it--psychics, geniuses, ghosts, treasure, greed, inheritance, puzzles, genealogy. I noticed a certain Gothic edge to it as well, which doesn't surprise me under the circumstances, mainly due to the setting in an old manor house.<br />
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I think my antagonist candidates are pretty solid now, each having a motive to justify their actions. I might even have decided on the murder victim. There are a couple more characters to introduce that will muddy the waters somewhat and provide more information, but Stefanie's husband is about to join in the "fun." (In quotes because fun for me to write generally means not much fun for my characters.)<br />
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Yesterday, I did some more thinking about a book trailer, focusing on "Dabblers." I wrote out a script, as suggested by the article I hit on, and then viewed some examples on YouTube. I think many of them were professionally produced, which makes me fear creating something that is instantly recognizable as the work of an amateur. Then again, one of the book trailers I saw at the Glen Ellyn BookFest a few weeks ago looked as though it could have been produced by the techniques I thought I would use. Well, there's one way to find out how well I can do the job. I am considering doing more of Stefanie's "sleep drawings" like the ones I made for the book's cover, and those would work well in the first part of the trailer, although I'll still need some other images as well. I can try putting something together and then try it out on some friends for their opinion.<br />
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Also, while writing this morning, Microsoft Word presented a new Gotcha. I typed the following sentence:<br />
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<b>I stared after her, unsettled, wary, and wishing I was better equipped to figure it all out.</b><br />
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Word flagged "was" with a green underscore indicating a grammar error. I right clicked on it and took the suggested replacement of "were." After the change had been made, Word put the green underscore on "were" and suggested replacing it with "was." This is one of those grammar rules I struggle with because "I was" seems intuitively more correct than "I were," so I did some research. I found my answer on this web page. <a href="http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/subjunctive-verbs" target="_blank">Quick and Dirty Tips</a>. The answer is "were," and the reasons given are quite interesting.<br />
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My own quick and dirty tip for the day? Be leery of spelling and grammar checking by a computer program.Kathryn Flatthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16715696643958200421noreply@blogger.com0