Saturday, April 1, 2017

Class Flash ~ Laurie Schnebly Campbell's List of Upcoming Classes

I'm happy to share this list of Laurie's upcoming classes.
I'm a huge Laurie fan and love her method of teaching.

onlineFROM PLOT TO FINISH
(April 3-14)
writeruniv.wordpress.com/classes
            A continuation of the March process open solely to people who've taken PVM online or in person at some point, this no-more-than-30-people group gets you plotting a brand new or already-begun book (using your completed 14-point worksheet) from start to finish. No need to prepare a new story idea, character bios, goal charts or anything else, because you'll see how to plot an entire book -- and actually have it ready to type -- by the end of this hands-on workshop.
blogWHY FATAL FLAWS RARELY ARE
(April 18seekerville.blogspot.com
            How will your characters overcome weakness for a happy ending?
live in Atlanta, GAALL-DAY WORKSHOP
(April 22georgiaromancewriters.org/meetings/april-meeting/
            A day with Plotting Via Motivation & From Plot To Finish, plus Block-Busting and Revisions.
onlineNINE FLAWS, NINE TRIUMPHS
(May 1-26rwamysterysuspense.org/node/112
            Writers who discover the versatility of enneagrams, the nine personality types and subtypes discovered by the Sufis and brought west a century ago, are fascinated by how easy it is to identify their existing characters and create new ones -- each with uniquely heroic and distinctive traits, as well as a fatal (or not so fatal) flaw that naturally brings them into conflict with other characters AND with themselves.
live in PhoenixTHE ALPHA MALE, FROM ABE TO ZEUS
(June 29:30-10:30desertroserwa.org
            What makes an alpha male? How can you make yours compelling? 
onlineBLOCK-BUSTING
(June 12-23)
sinc-guppies.org
            This class offers practical and psychological techniques for dealing with writer's block. Part of that block is a lack of joy in the process, so this roll-up-your-sleeves session looks at the causes -- including boredom, exhaustion, and fear of success -- and the benefits of getting blocked. Writers finish with new awareness of what works for them, and with renewed inspiration for returning to the craft they love. 
live in ColumbusALL-DAY WORKSHOP
(July 15, 9-4) cofwevents.org/meetings
            Alpha Males, Building Characters, Plotting Via Motivation and From Plot To Finish

live in CincinnatiINFORMAL AFTERNOON
(July 161:15-3:30) email booklaurie@gmail.com
            A casual get-together over Description & Dialogue, followed by The Personality Ladder





Laurie's Bio:
Laurie Schnebly Campbell loves giving workshops for writer groups about "Psychology for Creating Characters," "Making Rejection WORK For You," "Building A Happy Relationship For Your Characters (And Yourself)" and other issues that draw on her background as a counseling therapist and romance writer. 

In fact, she chose her website (www.BookLaurie.com) so people would find it easy to Book Laurie for programs. 

But giving workshops -- for students from London and Los Angeles to New Zealand and New York -- is just one of her interests. During weekdays, she writes and produces videos, brochures and commercials (some of which feature her voice) for a Phoenix advertising agency. For several years she would turn off her computer every day at five o'clock, wait thirty seconds, turn it on again and start writing romance. 

It finally paid off. Her first novel was nominated by Romantic Times as the year's "Best First Series Romance," and her second beat out Nora Roberts for "Best Special Edition of the Year." But between those two successes came a three-year dry spell, during which Laurie discovered that selling a first book doesn't guarantee ongoing success. 

"What got me through that period," she says, "was realizing that the real fun of writing a romance is the actual writing. Selling is wonderful, sure, but nothing compares to the absolute, primal joy of sitting at the computer and making a scene unfold and thinking 'Wow! Yes! This is great!'" 

After six books for Special Edition, she turned her attention to writing non-fiction -- using her research into the nine personality types to help writers create plausible, likable people with realistic flaws. Her other favorite activities include playing with her husband and son, recording for the blind, counseling at a mental health center, traveling to Sedona (the Arizona red-rock town named for her great-grandmother, Sedona Schnebly) and working with other writers. 

"People ask how I find time to do all that," Laurie says, "and I tell them it's easy. I never clean my house!" 

Laurie welcomes email from readers—send he
r a "Hello!" 



Friday, March 31, 2017

Last Friday of the Month Recipe from Author Terri Reed ~ Sourdough French Toast


 Yum, there isn't too much more to say, except add a few more yums in there. I love the combination of sourdough bread and egg.  
This recipe from author Terri Reed looks incredible.  Enjoy, I know I will.  

And don't forget, she has a book to share, Guardian, Classified K-9 Unit.  A Love Inspired Suspense!!

The recipe and why you love making it:

Saturday morning brunch has always been one of our family’s favorite meals together. We usually sleep in a little and gather in the kitchen where we laugh and talk about the week. Our favorite brunch menu includes French toast, bacon and fresh fruit. This recipe was perfected by my daughter. I’d never heard of vanilla bean paste, let alone used it until she decided to become a pastry chef. The paste adds such a richness to the batter that vanilla extract doesn’t. And the almond milk gives a touch of sweetness as well as flavor. Yum. I hope you’ll enjoy.

Sourdough French Toast

Ingredients:
Sourdough bread: about 8 pieces, depending on the size of your bread
3 medium eggs
1 cup of unsweetened almond milk
2 teaspoons of vanilla bean paste
1 tablespoon of ground cinnamon
A stick of butter on hand
Topping as desired





Instructions:
Brown two tablespoons of butter in a pan on medium heat. Whisk together the eggs, almond milk, vanilla bean paste, and ground cinnamon. 

Drench the sourdough bread pieces in the egg batter and place in the browned butter simmering in the pan. Let sit until the underside is golden brown; flip the bread and cook the other side. Brown additional butter in the pan as needed.

When both sides are golden brown, place the French toast on a plate and top as desired. Consider an additional slab of butter melted on top, along side powdered sugar and warm maple syrup.



Short Book Blurb:
Protecting The Single Mom ...
When a fellow FBI agent is kidnapped and a protected witness vanishes, Leo Gallagher will stop at nothing to find them both. So when he discovers a link between the case and a single mother in Wyoming, Leo and his trusty K-9 partner rush to question Alicia Duncan. Could she be the key to locating the missing persons? Not if a killer has anything to say about it. Someone is determined to keep Alicia from talking, so Leo and his chocolate Lab must keep her and her little boy safe on their family ranch. With danger lurking around every corner, Leo must work overtime to not lose another person who's important to him.

Buy:


Bio:
Terri Reed’s romance and romantic suspense novels have appeared on Publisher’s Weekly top 25, Nielsen’s Bookscan top 100 and featured in USA Today, Christian Fiction Magazine and Romantic Times Magazine, finaled in RWA’s RITA contest, National Reader’s Choice Award contest, ACFW’s The Carol Award contest. 

Contact Terri @ www.terrireed.com or P.O. Box 19555 Portland, OR 97224
  
Find Terri:



Wednesday, March 29, 2017

Take Five And Meet Author Sylvie Grayson


Woot! Another new author to me. I love finding authors to share with you.  
And wait until you read the answer to question #2!

Welcome to An Indie Adventure, Sylvie Grayson.  Tell us, what inspired you to write your book Weapon of Tyrants, The Last War: Book Four?


I started The Last War series a few years ago. My critique partners and I have been unable to decide whether these stories fit in the science fiction or fantasy category, so I list them as both - sci-fi/fantasy. In book three, Damian had a tough life and he goes through a very difficult situation where he ends up killing someone to protect his sister. He tried to ignore it but it continued to bother him.
I had started a different adventure for book four, but Damian kept talking to me and I decided he deserved his own story. So I put the original fourth in the series on hold and wrote Damian’s book. I’m happy with it – it’s the story of a good man caught in a tough spot and his redemption is as important as the continuing saga of the Last War.
If you were not a writer, what vocation would you pursue?
I have been a lot of things. I have been a lawyer, a businesswoman, a pub manager. I really loved being self-employed – it suited my personality to have that kind of freedom and responsibility. I think being an author is similar – freedom and responsibility. If I don’t sit down and work, the writing doesn’t get done.

Do you prefer to read in the same genre you write in, or do you avoid reading that genre?  Why?

I write sci fi/fsci-fi and contemporary romantic suspense – and I read a great deal of both of those. But I also read adventure, suspense, mystery. I don’t read thriller as a rule, as they are so often about psychopaths who murder people for the fun of it, and I don’t find that entertaining. I like to find a compelling story behind the actions of the characters. For favourite authors, I’d have to list Bernard Cornwell, Neal Stephenson, Anna Markland, Linda Howard.

How do you create internal and external conflict in your characters?  I find conflict often the hardest to create when I start planning a book.

Believe it or not, the conflict comes automatically. When I begin a story, I already know there is great hardship ahead for my characters J And their job is to work their way through the hotbed of chaos, conflict and catastrophe that awaits them. I usually have at least a couple of major hurdles in mind before I start writing, and that helps.

If you could live during any era of history, which one would you choose?

I would live today. I love history, and exploring former eras is great fun. But the freedom we have now is amazing, the things we are able to do today that weren’t possible even fifty years ago, this is a real gift. I wouldn’t trade it.


Give us a brief summary of Weapon of Tyrants, The Last War: Book Four:
Fanny Master is running for her life. Can she trust a criminal enforcer to keep her safe?
Fanny is from the elite in Khandarken, and when both her parents are murdered, she is forced to run for her life, or be the next victim of the people who hunt her. Amid the chaos of the International Head Ball Games, and as Emperor Carlton ramps up his plans for invasion to the north, her attacker makes another attempt on her life.
Damian Stuke was an enforcer for an illegal gamer, but now he is in training as an undercover agent for the Khandarken military. Then he encounters a fascinating woman with a hidden agenda. But when he discovers what she’s hiding, his protective instincts kick into high gear. Will Damian be able to save her from her unknown enemy, or is he still working for the other side?
 "Ms Grayson has created a fascinating new world with a lot of the same old problems. Sci fi and fantasy rolled into one with a sure hand and enormous imagination, a stunning portrayal of a new world created from fire and consumed at the edges …- sci-fi and fantasy at its best…"

Buy Links: 


Bio:
Sylvie Grayson loves to write about suspense, romance and attempted murder, in both contemporary and science fiction/fantasy. She has lived most of her life in British Columbia, Canada in spots ranging from Vancouver Island on the west coast to the North Peace River country and the Kootenays in the beautiful interior. She spent a one year sojourn in Tokyo, Japan.
She has been an English language instructor, a nightclub manager, an auto shop bookkeeper and a lawyer. Now she works part-time as the owner of a small company, and writes when she finds the time.

She is a wife and mother and still loves to travel. She lives on the coast of the Pacific Ocean with her husband on a small patch of land near the sea that they call home. She loves to hear from her readers, so send her a message on facebook,  or drop by her website and leave a note.

Find Sylvie:


Monday, March 27, 2017

Screenwriter Robert Gosnell ~ Pants On Fire


 Pants on Fire

Lying has become a nebulous thing, of late. In the good-old-days,  facts were never up for debate. Now, for far too many of us, our facts are driven by emotion and ideology, rather than reality.

As writers, we lie. That's our job. We make up stories and tell them, and by definition, that's a lie. Even stories about a real-life incident or person must be embellished, compressed and dramatized. Truth sprinkled with lies.

What we have going for us is that our audience knows we're lying, going in, and they're fine with it. They're willing to suspend their disbelief in order to be entertained. To a point.

While they will accept our stories as fiction, the way we tell those stories is the subject of great scrutiny and held to a high standard. The world we've created must be accurate.

I recently encountered a blog discussion regarding the bear attack on Leonardo DiCaprio's character in the film "The Revenant." There were many comments criticizing the filmmakers for a lack of authenticity in the scene. Some were valid, some picky, some far-fetched.

The bear wouldn't do that. The character would have done this. The season was wrong. The cub was too young. The bear didn't look real.

It harkens me back to a classic Hollywood story concerning the TV comedy series, "Mr. Ed," about a talking horse. A writer on the show pitched a line for Mr. Ed to George Burns, who was a producer. Burns listened to the line, then shook his head.

"The horse wouldn't say that."

The writer responded, "I got a flash for you, George. The horse wouldn't say anything!"

"No," George replied, "the character we've given the horse wouldn't say that."

Mr. Burns put himself in the audience. He was willing to believe a horse could talk, even knowing it wasn't true. He just didn't believe Mr. Ed would say that.

Mistakes can come in many forms in the making of a film. Sometimes, it has to do with continuity.

"Hey, the top button of his shirt was unbuttoned in that last shot!"

"Her drink was almost empty. Now, it's full!"

They point out these little flaws because they feel cheated when they encounter them. They were totally involved in your story, and now you've lied to them. You've rudely jerked them back to reality.

Other times, the problem stems from a choice based on time considerations, editing issues, lack of research or just plain laziness.

It's such a little thing, they tell themselves. The audience won't notice. Except, they do. They always have and they always will.

No place in our world for alternative facts.

 ~ Robert


 "The Blue Collar Screenwriter and The Elements of Screenplay" is currently available at:
Amazon digital and paperback
Find Robert at:
Website (with information on classes)
Email






BIO: 
A  professional screenwriter for more than thirty years,  Robert Gosnell has produced credits in feature films, network television, syndicated television, basic cable and pay cable, and is a member of the Writers Guild of America, West and the Writers Guild of Canada.

Robert began his career writing situation comedy as a staff writer for the ABC series Baby Makes Five.  As a freelance writer, he wrote episodes for Too Close for Comfort and the TBS comedies Safe at Home andRocky Road.  In cable, he has scripted numerous projects for the Disney Channel, including Just Perfect, a Disney Channel movie featuring  Jennie Garth. In 1998, he wrote the  Showtime original movie, Escape from Wildcat Canyon, which starred Dennis Weaver and won the national "Parents Choice Award." Robert's feature credits include the Chuck Norris/Louis Gosset Jr. film Firewalker, an uncredited rewrite on the motion picture Number One With A Bullet starring Robert Carradine and Billy Dee Williams, and the sale of his original screenplay Kick And Kick Back to Cannon Films. Robert was also selected as a judge for the 1990 Cable Ace awards, in the Comedy Special category.

In 1990, Robert left Hollywood for Denver, where he became active in the local independent film community. His screenplay Tiger Street was produced by the Pagoda Group of Denver and premiered on Showtime Extreme in August of 2003. In 1999, Denver’s Inferno Films produced the action film Dragon and the Hawk from his script. In 2001, Robert co-wrote the screenplay for the independent feature Siren for Las Vegas company Stage Left Productions. His feature script Juncture was produced by Front Range Films in March of 2006. 

Robert  is a principal member of the Denver production company "Conspiracy Films." He is frequently an invited speaker for local writers organizations,  served on the faculty of the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers Conference in 2002, and in 2007 was chosen to participate as a panelist for the Aspen Film Festival Short Screenplay Contest. Robert regularly presents his screenwriting class "The Elements of Screenplay," along with advanced classes and workshops, in the Denver area.