Wreader Fun

It's finally here! Brenda Novak is at Prairie Chicks Write Romance today, April 30th and she's giving away a tote full of her books and a $25 gift certificate for her online auction to one lucky person who leaves a comment any time until midnight tonight. I'm sorry, but comments left here WILL NOT COUNT toward Brenda's giveaway. So, head on over to the Prairie Chicks blog and leave a comment where Brenda can see it/you. Tomorrow, on May 1st, Brenda Novak's month long auction to benefit Juvenile Diabetes Research starts and this year it appears it may surpass expectations. The online auction is run like eBay and it's really simple to sign up for and receive a bidding number. Since Brenda Novak, the auction's creator, is a New York Times best selling author, a lot of the items have to do with books and writers. In fact, there are a couple hundred books up for grabs and all sorts of adventures like lunch with famous writers. There are also everyday items lik...

Have you checked out the blue banner above this post? It's for a special day we're having over on the Prairie Chicks blog at http://prairiechickswriteromance.blogspot.com/ this coming Thurs, the last day of April. That's the day New York Times Best Selling author Brenda Novak will be spending the day with us and then at the end one lucky person will win a tote full of Brenda's books plus a $25 gift certificate for the auction. And it could be you. All you have to do is stop by the Prairie Chick blog at http://www.prairiechickswriteromance.blogspot.com/ sometime on April 30th and leave a comment. You see, on May 1st, Brenda Novak's month long auction to benefit Juvenile Diabetes Research starts and this year it appears it may surpass expectations. The online auction is run like eBay and it's really simple to sign up for and receive a bidding number. Since Brenda Novak, the auction's creator, is a New York Times best selling author, a lot of the items have t...

Here are images taken last Friday on my trip down to North Dakota: I didn't dally on this section of the highway because it looked like I just missed a car storm. Either that or this guy thinks he can plant cars. From the looks of it, he wants a crop of the 50's or is it the 60's? Okay, give the guy some glasses, would ya. Found in North Dakota along the highway between Noonan and Crosby, this cement box has fascinated me for 2 yrs while I've tried to discover what it is. I've photographed it in all seasons and this is the first time I've seen water beneath it and realized it's a bridge of some sort. This time around, I also saw tracks gouged into the ground leading down to it. I'm going to use it in my Prairie Juntion series as a haven for a runaway. Coal mining along the highway between Estevan and the border. What's left after the coal is retrieved. This is right beside the road south. A few Canada geese mixed in with the Snow Geese. Moose tracks...

I'm blogging at Prairie Chicks today about readability tests. Yes, you know how to read and write, but can others read what you write ? Are you so skilled a writer that the average person can't read and understand it? Come on over and let me tell you where to go to find out. Or come over and tell me it's all a bunch of crock. Either way, come for a visit at http://prairiechickswriteromance.blogspot.com/

Here's Nelson coming home from work in April 2001. When the water rose too high, he left the Mazda at the corner, put on his wading boots and walked home following the road and driveway. Note the shack in the back ground - it's the one we use on the Prairie Chicks blog. :) I was out and about tonight taking 'after the flood' pics and I saw this on the side of the road. It's either a fish or someone pointing the way south. Looking east, this is our driveway when the flood was at it's highest - during the Easter weekend. This is what our driveway looked like today. But, this is what we avoided. It's a pic taken back in April 2001 when we had our last flood. Nelson put a pole to designate the drain that crosses under the road. Note the top of the fence post 4 to the left of it. The road going north on the worst day of the flood this year. This is the road north today. This is what the road north looked like in the spring of 2001. The Red Winged Blackbirds h...

My weekend went the gamut from wonderfully satisfying to frightfully awful. On Friday, I headed down to North Dakota to pick up my mail, exchange the free books at the Crosby Library and visit a bank for some state quarters. I listened to writing podcasts while I drove. A tiring, but satisfying day. Sat morning found the kids and I packing the van with our overnight bags and heading to Regina. First stop was the Regina Coin Club’s Spring Coin and Stamp show where my son, JJ and I set out our displays. JJ’s display of Dinosaurs contained Coins and Tokens. I entitled my display ‘Motherhood’ with the description: On these coins, bank notes and medals, you’ll find mothers nursing, rocking and playing with their babies. And yes, even protecting them. Once the set up was complete, we headed off to do a bit of shopping as Jessie needed an item for her recital costume. At noon, I dropped her off at the Royal Conservatory of Music and took the 2 boys back to the Coin Show. First up was selling ...

Yay! Looks like the 2009 flood is over because the waters are receding. I'll take some pics this morning and post them tonight if I have time I'm off to North Dakota this morning and will bring my camera to see what else is going on in my little corner of the world. Have a good day! What are you planning to do today? Enjoy the weather? Go for a walk? Pray? Hug someone? You could always write... lol

The flood water has receded to the edge of the road so it looks like the danger has passed for this year. Meanwhile, I'm blogging over at Prairie Chicks Write Romance about the use of rhetorical devices in writing. Rhetorical devices are things like metaphors, similies, alliteration, and hyperboles. I give references for dozens of others. Everything to liven up your writing and give your reader a satisfying literary experience without them realizing why. And if you're wondering about the big words (like I was) don't because most writers use these all the time without realizing it. Knowing the term isn't necessary, but using it is fun. My questions for discussion today are: Do you use rhetorical devices in your wips? Do you feel there’s a place for them in the modern fast-paced 55,000 word romance books? What’s your favorite rhetorical device?

My son was a 3 yr old the last time we flooded but doesn't remember the water. Since he's fascinated by it and keeps running out to look at it, I gave him my camera this morning and said to take shots of whatever caught his fancy. Just make sure he took pics of the road. I showed him yesterday's photo and said to make sure the photo's not all sky. We do live on the prairies, after all. These are the pics he took: This is the pasture behind our house (on the left). Usually, you'll see land and a dugout but at the moment it's hard to see where the dugout starts and stops. The road heading north. It looks like the water is holding back for now. JJ's close up of the road. I wonder what caught his eye... Ah - so this is the chattering I've been hearing all morning. The blackbirds are back. That's all the pics I have today. In other news, the plug hubby put in the basement is still holding although we're to check it every few hours which we'll do ...

Okay, we're officially flooding. If you look at this driveway pic, check out the fence posts on the left. Uh - oh! The road north just before you turn down our driveway. Close up of the action. It's quiet outside - well, except for the chatter of birds and the sound of rushing water. I'm standing near the part where the water is over the road and I'm looking south. The farm is on the right. Looking west to our farm yard. See the fence posts... But it's so beautiful. We have the sump pump going on an 8 min on and 3 min rest cycle and it seems to be holding its own. Still, there are several inches of water in the lowest part of the basement. I took the first watch until 3 am when my knees gave out from going up and down the stairs. Then hubby took over and I went to sleep on the recliner. I woke at 8 to find the boys doing sump pump duty. They said Dad fell alseep while reading his Bible at breakfast but he's gone to work now.

The basement is flooding. Water in the ditch is 1/3 across the main road that you see in the photo below. I will upload a new photo in the morning but for tonight, I am on water detail. Every 10 mins, I must go down and put sump pump on until water level lowers. But, it's rising faster than we can clear it. With the temp above zero, there's no chance of the water stopping. We need a good long freeze to stop it.

I took this photo as we left home yesterday around 11 am. It shows the water around our farm at a high level. Nine years ago when we first moved to the farm, the water rose up over the road. Hubby had to wear waders and walk through the 1-2' high water to get to his truck parked on the other side just so he could go to work. We're praying it won't happen this year, but that water is high and there's still a lot of snow to melt. Plus, it rained yesterday. I'll keep you posted... I enjoyed a wonderful Easter celebrating Christ's resurrection with the family in Regina. My sister-in-law, Teresa, always puts on a delicious meal with lots of side dishes. It's a special treat to celebrate a holiday at her house. In the photo, our daughter Jessie is taking a pic of her dad, his mom, and his sister, our hostess, Teresa. After we ate, we played canasta - a card game. It was more fun than usual because we had extra players and when one player had to leave - like when ...

The Canada geese are back. Here's a pic of a gully I wrote about in one of my books. This is how it looked on Wed... And this is how it looked just 2 weeks ago. This is an arm extending off the big Qu'Appelle Valley. This is ice, but you can see how the water froze in a circular pattern. Have you ever seen snow melt? It just kind of recedes. This was taken Thurs night. Snow melting in the ditch. If you look way up, you can see my first hawk sighting for 2009. My first robin sighting of the year. The mama's are watching over their babies. Newborn bull calves gone exploring. I stopped to take a pic of the bison and they turned to look at me. What caught your eye this week?

I'm having a discussion about character arcs over at Prairie Chicks Write Romance . How fickle a reader are you? Do you close the book if you don't like the main characters? Or, do you read on to discover if the hero or heroine has a character arc and will be redeemed at the end? Do books even need character arcs? As a writer, I'd really like to know what you have to say on this subject. You can comment here or on the Chick's site, but please, let me know what you think...

See my new banner? A big thank you going out to Jeannie Ruesch who does the main design and updates for Brenda Novak's website. She customized one of Brenda's banners for the Prairie Chicks blog. I am positively thrilled to the tips of my toes to have New York Times best selling author Brenda Novak guest blog with us Prairie Chicks on April 30th. Absolutely thrilled. The reason for her appearance is her on-line auction throughout May for Diab etes research. It was actually because of the auction that I found the courage to send an email to Brenda in the first place. I asked if she could get her PR people to send me a press release and I would use my Thurs spot on the Prairie Chicks Write Romance group blog to showcase the event due to start the next day on May 1st. Brenda is such a gracious lady. Her response was to ask if I'd like her to guest blog instead. Well, yeah. It's confirmed for Apr 30th at http://www.prairiechickswriteromance.blogspot.com/ And, as you see on...

March was cave month. A writing cave, that is. Of the 3 tasks I’d set for myself, I managed to accomplish 2 of them: - I entered both Charley’s Saint and An Outlaw for the Lady in the Genesis contest. This is the biggie of the American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) with the award being presented at the ACFW conference in Sept. I went to the one last year in Minneapolis and am looking forward to the one this year in Denver. - I also entered Charley’s Saint and Outlaw in the Touched by Love contest hosted by the Faith, Hope and Love (FHL) chapter of the Romance Writers of America (RWA). This award will be given out at the RWA’s conference in Washington DC in July. I haven’t attended this conference yet, but will go if I final. Oh, wouldn’t that be something, eh. I wanted to write and submit my story, The Christmas Ball to The Wild Rose Press for their historical Christmas anthology but, it was a case of working on what I have that needs work instead of starting something new. So, ...

Here's a pictorical post of some of my encounters this past week. I've blogged about my trip up to Saskatoon last Sat for my mtg with the Sask Rom Writers. Well, half way there I took these pics of someone building farm buildings made from the abundance of flax straw. Here's the house in the foreground with some type of barn or outbuilding in the back... ...and here they're putting up a couple more outbuildings. One might be a garage but I'm not sure what the other could be. I'll keep you posted on the progress. Hubby was working on Thurs evening so I ended up taking the boys to their guitar lesson. This was taken at 7 pm in Grenfell, SK while we waited for a train to pass. This is what I see as soon as I step out my door and turn right to the east. We sometimes use this rooster clanger to summon everyone in. It's more decorative rather than practical since the clanger gives off a thud rather than a clang. As you can see, still lots of snow here. Another f...