Tag: Writing

Blog

He wants to be a Star

ellenparkerwrites

My final blog for 2017. It’s been one of those years where one month will zip past at light speed and another dawdle like a kid walking to the dentist.

It has been filled with words. Lots and lots of words. In case you wonder, an author does not write a book, or a chapter, or even a page only once. No, it is written. Then re-written. Then edited. It may even end up deleted. And brought back. Or not. But expect it to be edited even then. Even after you are brave enough to let another person read it, the polishing does not stop.

My writing time in 2017 included much of this procedure with a story I once thought was finished. It was not. It needed to be changed and improved. I have great hopes for 2018. The distant relative of this fellow wants to find his name on the page.

Blog

Old-Fashioned Laptop

ellenparkerwrites

You may be reading this on a laptop. Some days I write the blog on one. The modern, electronic version.

But the need for a portable, secure writing desk has been around for some time. The first time I saw one — more elaborate than the one below — was in a display of Napoleon’s mobile headquarters.

This portable desk held all the necessary supplies: paper, ink, quill, and blotter. And while this did not follow a general on the battlefield, it enabled the Justice of the Peace to write decisions and letters while away from home. And in Missouri during the early decades of the 1800’s you could not always depend on your boarding house, inn, or host to have these items available.

From my brief inspection. I believe if it was filled with modern pens and pencils, and paper and folded to it’s compact position — you could use it as an airline carry-on. Imagine the other passengers as you unfold it and work while waiting at the gate.

 

 

Blog

Open With Care

ellenparkerwrites

A good mystery catches my attention.

As an author, I ask and attempt to answer the question — What if?

What if the house really is haunted? Or a tornado takes the old barn? Or your sister gives birth to twins?

So imagine this, a girl is running away from an abusive situation at home. She sees lightning and hears the thunder coming closer. Will she open this door?

What lies beyond?

Good luck as you think about some of the “what if” possibilities.

Blog

House Hunting for Imaginary People

ellenparkerwrites

Authors have a variety of methods to do research.

Yes — fiction requires research. Few things stop a reader in the middle of a page, or a chapter, quicker than a bit of background presented as fact which is not in agreement with the real world. (Okay, paranormal and fantasy writers have a different set of parameters to research — but they need to be consistent with the rules they create for their book world.)

The internet is a wonderful tool. And the library has materials which fill in many gaps.

Yesterday I choose to use a different method. My characters need homes. So I went for a drive in my extended neighborhood. Several places did not suit. Many of the homes were too large for what I wanted for my characters. But a turn off the busy street at the right place brings nice surprises.

Rich Taylor's neighborhood

Can you imagine a widower downsizing to this neighborhood of small ranch houses?

(Please ignore the author’s dirty windshield.)

Blog

Performing to Expectations

ellenparkerwrites

Students study.  Doctors doctor. Teachers teach. Bookkeepers keep books.

It’s what people do. Many occupations are descriptive. Take writers.

Writers write. Some use pen and paper. Many use computers. Some write short, concise directions. Others long, multi-layered sagas. They record true events. Or make up fictional worlds and characters. It all comes down to writers writing – either for their own enjoyment or to inform and entertain others.

Want to try a little romantic suspense? Check out this collection of five, a variety pack of sorts, at a bargain price.

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Available for purchase on your ereader at:

bit.ly/1KpFIe1

amzn.to/1oJyU0T

Blog

Open the Door

ellenparkerwrites

Open the door and let the book out!

Door #3. Please.

Stare Down, a sweet romantic suspense set in St. Louis is trotting down an open path into the wide world of readers. Step, step, step. May it be as welcome as the black Labrador which makes a brief appearance. (I could say cameo — he doesn’t speak.)

A city park. Small apartment building. Police headquarters. A teaching hospital. These all furnish backdrop for two young professionals running toward the horizon. It’s the little things they find on the journey, and the influence of past trauma, which puts the twists on the path.

So click on the link below. Load up your Kindle. (Nook users too.) Or order the print edition. Then settle in for a jog in a Midwest spring.

GetAttachment

For Amazon Kindle: amzn.to/1LXiTwP

For Nook readers: bit.ly/1OcFozC

Description back cover blurb may be viewed on Stare Down page of this website.

Blog

The Beginning

ellenparkerwrites

Every story needs a starting point.

top level, against resevoir wall

Stare Down opens with our hero going for a job after work. While the details are changed, this St. Louis park – see The Arch in the distant center? – supplied a location for a meeting with great potential.

Who is that woman? The one with the perfect legs. Runs like a gazelle. Wears a long, green and silver safety vest.

You are invited to read the answers to these and many other questions in this sweet, romantic suspense. Available for pre-order today. Available on demand from The Wild Rose Press and Amazon on Oct 23. Barnes & Noble promises to release it on Oct 24.

Click on the following for the Kindle edition: amzn.to/1LXiTwP

 

Blog

Harvest Time!

ellenparkerwrites

Orchards are in their busy season. Some of them in Northern areas are harvesting their final fruits, closing the roadside stands, and bringing down the signs.

A little further South and you’ll still find a wide variety of apples, pears, and a scattering of late peaches.

What happens in an orchard the rest of the year? What keeps the owners busy the nine or ten months before the fruit ripens? And what about the early years? You don’t plant an apple tree one year and harvest a bushel of fruit the next.

Patience. Off orchard jobs. Patience. Planting and spraying and mowing. Patience. Repairs and painting. Patience.

For a fictional peek at a new orchard in June try Hiding Places. He’s running out of time. She’s running to safety.

Anything can happen in a Big Red Barn.
Anything can happen in a Big Red Barn.

To purchase Kindle edition click here:  amzn.to/1LXiTwP

Blog

Below the Surface

ellenparkerwrites

Every business has a slack season. For example: Who buys a Christmas tree in January?

I’ve met procrastinators. But none that severe.

So when Laura Starr Tanner’s relatives ask her to take care of their Christmas tree farm for the first two weeks in January she accepts. She can do a few farm chores and have plenty of time to inspect locations for her new business.

She arrives with no expectation that her arrival will set off a chain of events related to professional criminals.

Interested? Check out the entire story in Starr Tree Farm.

 

 To purchase on Amazon =   amzn.to/1rjzBsk  

To purchase at Barnes & Noble =  bit.ly/1uxax18  

Blog

Take one and pass them down

ellenparkerwrites

Keeping a promise. Reporting on breakfast in the library.

Take a pen, and a business card, pass the extras down the side of the table. A brief introduction. An attempt to get a laugh. Displaying my published book while talking about the wide genre of commercial fiction librarians would shelve it among.

The attendees are polite as they nibble pastries and fruit and sip a morning beverage. The smallest group is three ladies, clustered at one end of the table. Other tables are full, nine readers and one nervous author. Questions are welcomed. Some are asked. I even manage to answer a few.

The librarian makes an announcement from the auditorium stage. Our fifteen minutes is up. It’s time to move to the next table and start over by passing out business cards and pens. A volunteer keeps me supplied with coffee and water.

My voice and the event reach the end together. We chat. Encourage people to purchase our books. Or at least to look us up on the internet. People scatter out into a beautiful early fall day.

Speed dating as an author experience complete. Next year I think I’ll attend as a reader.