The Mysterious Mona Lisa by margot Justes

The Prado Museum conservators have solved another Mona Lisa mystery. Or have they?
It seems that for many hundreds of years the museum held in storage what was long believed to be a replica of the Mona Lisa.

As you might have guessed, it isn't just a copy, using infrared technology they found that the portrait was painted in Leonardo's studio and most likely was painted by one of his students while Leonardo was painting the original Mona Lisa.

The painting at the Prado in Madrid, did not have the flourishing Tuscan landscape that the original portrait had, the background instead was coated in black varnish.

Using infrared reflectography, a system by which they can see underneath to the changes the artist makes before the final finish- known as underdrawings-they found the same landscapes as in the original painting.

It is believed that artists even in Leonardo's time used students, they copied their works of art-after all-we recognize Leonardo's genius now, many centuries later, but in his day, he was one of those 'starving artists' trying to survive and put food on the table. I guess times have not changed that much, the same can be said in this day and age.

I wonder who are the true masters today, where centuries later, after we're long gone volumes will be written about their magnificent talent and far reaching foresight.

I really do wonder...

Till next time,
Margot Justes
Hearts & Daggers
A Hotel in Paris
www.mjustes.com

Face Your Fears! by DL Larson

Before you head to a writer's conference, take a moment to face your fears. Most likely, you will have an opportunity to pitch your manuscript to an agent, or editor or publisher. Deep breath here. It's nerve-wracking when your hard work collides with a potential sale.

The possibilities are exhilerating, yet self-doubt sneaks in and destroys confidence and self-esteem. One way to regain your equilibrium is to acknowledge those fears.
"I suck as a writer," "This is a waste of time," "What was I thinking?" "I'm not ready for this!" "I've spent too much money already." "I'm a fool for trying..."

All those thoughts swirling in your head are distractions from the purpose of your mission - to attend a writer's conference and talk to folks in the publishing world. Consider the small child afraid of the monster under the bed; only after looking under said bed does the child feel better. He's confirmed there are no monsters under the bed or in the closet. He's checked! He feels so much better and calms right down.

Take the advice of the small child. Face your fears. Yes, you are a writer and a worthy one, you've had your work proofed and reproofed. You are a good writer! This is not a waste of time, this is another step closer to your goal. You will not reach your goal if you do not move toward it! You were thinking as a writer and yes, you are ready for this. Even rejections will help you learn how to improve your writing skills. As for money, everything costs too much, at least you know this money went toward reaching your goal. As for being a fool, you're in good company. Dreamers and fools make wonderful friends and enjoyable company.

Once your mind is clear of self-doubt it is so much easier to concentrate on making your pitch. Give yourself five words that can spiral into conversation. These five words serve as springboards to conversation about your plot, yourself or perhaps a sequel or series. It's easier to remember simple words over full sentences. If you have a great opening for conversation, remember to deliver it in a casual way. Excited, too. Excitement for your work will enliven others to become interested as well.

One last thought before you talk to a potential buyer. As you pass through the door to sit a moment with an agent or editor, consider this a step into a circle of comraderie. There are no monsters under the table or behind the door. I know, because I already checked.

Til next time ~

DL Larson

Name One Method to Promote A Book

I've been on a blog book tour for over a month promoting my paranormal romantic thriller, Forever Young: Blessing or Curse. That's because a tour raises Search Engine Optimization for a book and/or author, and in the process reaches out to other readers and authors along the way. I wouldn't think of releasing a book without going on a tour.

If nothing else, awareness of my new release is raised by my constant references to the tour on egroups and social media sites. Anyone I come into contact with online has to know by now I have a new release. Not only that, when I Google Morgan Mandel, many of the tour stops show up in the search.

What about you? Tell us one of your methods to promote a book. It can be the same as someone else's, if it's also your favorite.

IF YOU REMEMBER, PLEASE HIT THE PLUS SIGN - ANOTHER WAY TO PRMOTE!

Would you like to be young again knowing what you know now?
Forever Young: Blessing or Curse is now in Print, also on Kindle, Nook, other Smashwords venues.
See more buy links at http://morgansbooklinks.blogspot.com

PW Daily

As a writer, published or not, if you're not receiving PW Daily you're probably missing out on relevant information for writers today.

Of note is the article about the HMH (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) deal with Amazon for adult titles.   Here's the link:


http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/50345-hmh-in-deal-with-amazon-for-adult-titles.html?utm_source=Publishers+Weekly%27s+PW+Daily&utm_campaign=c3ce08df50-UA-15906914-1&utm_medium=email


As you can imagine there are mixed reactions to the news but one thing that is becoming more apparent - almost every week - is that Amazon is changing the publishing landscape, even if it's one book at a time.

Your thoughts?

Reminder that the Love Is Murder Mystery Conference is this weekend.  This year a Pre-Conference book signing event on Thursday evening is scheduled with our featured authors - Donald Bain, Julie James, David Morrell, Hank Phillippi Ryan, and local guest author Julie Hyzy.

Being a Reader and a Writer

I used to love to read romance. I could spend hours lost in the story of someone else's happily ever after. Once I'd start one, I'd pretty much be lost to anything else as I hungrily devoured each and every sentence and page, not putting the book down until I'd read the very last word.

I still love romance. But it's harder to read these days. Especially when I'm in the middle of my own story. If I'm working on a mss, reading another romance is too distracting. I can't get caught up in another story when I need to be caught up in mine. And then there are those rules. As a writer, we're taught to follow certain 'rules' in romance: POV, show, don't tell, stay away from -ly words, etc. etc. So it drives me crazy when I'm reading a romance when the author doesn't follow these rules.

Sometimes I get dejected, too. As I read I think I won't ever be able to write a story as good as this one. Of course I swing the other way, too, and get haughty with the How in the world did this ever get published? I am a million times better than this.

And then I've been judging contest entries. I don't mind helping my RWA chapter out, but I tend to be a very critical judge. Maybe moreso than is warranted. It's those rules again. Since I'm in the middle of a mss trying very hard to follow those rules myself, all I can spot in the entries I'm reading are the times the author hasn't followed them. (And isn't it funny how it's so much easier to find these 'errors' in another's writing than in your own?) It makes it difficult to get into the story.

It kind of bums me out that reading romance isn't quite as much fun as it used to be. I got a Kindle for Christmas and it's already loaded with lots of books: mostlys romance, but not all. I also bought a whole bunch of paperback series romance when Borders went out of business. But I'm having a hard time getting motivated to read any of this. Maybe when I'm done with the mss I'm working on I'll be more in the mood.

For now, since I can't be without something to read, I've picked up the Harry Potter series again. I've read it a couple of times already, but, not only is it a good story, it's a safe story for now. Completely different in style and genre than what I'm working on. So there's no confusion. No noticing when rules are broken. I tend to read a lot of YA these days. Mostly first person, which again is different from anything I'm working on, so it doesn't mess with my head or creative flow.

*sigh* It's tough to be a romance writer who's also a reader.

Until next time,

Happy Reading!

Debra
www.debrastjohnromance.com

Amy Alessio and Hearts & Daggers by Margot Justes

I'd like to introduce my partner in crime or in Hearts & Daggers, Amy Alessio.

Amy is an outstanding YA librarian, an author, a collector of vintage cookbooks, and Amy offers very successful cooking & cookbook programs to Libraries-successful as in room filled to capacity-successful. Did I forget to mention that Amy is a wife and mother? I have no idea how she does it, maybe some of her energy will rub off on me. Amy was the driving force behind Hearts & Daggers, and I'm absolutely delighted to introduce Amy to Acme Authors.

Thanks so much to Margot and Acme Authors for letting me discuss my vintage cookbook and crafts fixation and how that resulted in the novella I wrote as part of the Hearts and Daggers Valentine’s mystery trilogy. Like Margot Justes and Mary Welk, the authors who round out the trilogy, my story is part of a series. I’ve now published four stories about Alana O’Neill, a bookkeeper at an antiques mall. In this adventure, Alana and her eighteen year old son Elliott try to figure out what happened when a booth owner is murdered. They are in the midst of a Valentine’s weekend festival at the mall. One speaker at the festival is Rebecca Standish from Margot’s story, talking about the art of valentines. Mary’s Caroline Rhodes character also makes an appearance in the story and Alana has a cameo in each of the other novellas.

Alana, much like her author, collects vintage cookbooks. Also like her author, she’s not a great cook. A new café is opened in the antiques mall and one of the bakers makes fun of the foods in old cookbooks, something not easily forgiven by Alana. Alana tries to make a fancy chili chocolate candy herself to show she can be modern –with terrible results. Did I mention Blast From the Past, my novella, contains over twenty recipes and variations? One is for eight variations of classic Butter Cake. All the Alana stories have recipes, and no chili chocolates appear, don’t worry. I’ve enclosed one of the recipes below for you to enjoy. If you like seeing recipes from old cookbooks stop by the Vintage Cookbooks and Crafts blog at my site. I love it when people write in with their own food memories.

Alana has a lot on her mind besides recipes after a booth owner is murdered. She researches how the crime is tied to a diary and a necklace that owner had recently found in boxes of stuff brought in to the mall. Elliott is a big help to her as always but is also busy denying a crush on a lovely teen vintage clothing collector.

It was a Blast for me to do this project with Margot and Mary and we are looking forward to a Halloween trilogy from our series this year as well. I suspect there will be haunted objects in the antiques mall among other odd occurrences.

Happy Valentine’s Day!
Punch Bowl Cookies
½ lb. butter
5 Tblsp. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups flour
Form small balls – press with fork or glass. Bake for 10 minutes at 375F. Sprinkle with confectioners’ sugar while still warm. Makes 3 dozen.

-Amy Alessio

More Elements of Style

Ahhh...class is in session. OK....about that wind whipping about ghostlike in your story and why it works... Look up metaphor and simile....in any grammar text. This is the nifty writers' tool for saying such as My father was like a tree, tall and straight and beautiful....LIKE is the KEY...you get to this kind of metaphor via LIKE and the word AS used in the "double AS" sense... Example: When I was a kid, my dad was as tall as a tree, and just as straight and beautiful.

                                                         

 Like and AS - your keys to how disparate things are alike....creating a connection between truly unconnected things. A man is not a tree...but we can imagine he is LIKE a tall Oak. Or Mother was as hard and callous as stone (logically impossible but metaphorically possible).

 Take it a step farther and often it is cool if you can turn the metaphor or simile - how things are kinda sorta alike to say they are equals, THE SAME. This is an absolute statement. Absolutes take you to a higher level of IMAGERY (which this is all about...pictures in your readers' minds). Look up Absolutes - words that are absolute...EXAMPLE... The fog is a veil. It is not LIKE a veil or as thick as a veil....it g'damn sure IS a veil...IS acts as an EQUAL (=) SIGN.

'Nother example. The man is a walking cipher, or timepiece, or enigma. The man is a walking encyclopedia. More flowery might be: The thick jungle became a carpet of blackness by nightfall. A camel is a horse created by committee.  Lots of jokes rely on metaphor, simile, and absolutes.
It is also an absolute to say simply this: The fog lifted from the carpeted cemetery.

THINK about that sentence. The fog did not SEEM to be lifting...did not perhaps or maybe begin to make a move toward lifting (Qualifiers - BAD for sentences, weakens them). No, the fog "ABSOLUTELY" lifted, NO doubt about it. AND the cemetery is absolutely carpeted....ever been to Arlington National Cemetery?

This is the magic secret surrounding that kind of thinking. My wife wrote a novel, The Well Meaning Killer. She had me edit it, of course, and there was a scene where her heroine goes out for a jog in the city of Baltimore and all along her route are trash bags for delivery pick up in her neighborhood, and being a cop, her first thought is how it looks...It looked as if the street was littered with body bags.

She put the bags out there; I merely suggested the body bag image come from her character's sense of things. The author liked it, and she added it.

 Of course, if you like the ghost image I added in this article in first paragraph, and it is likely that you do, by all means it is YOURS for the taking. No one owns imagery, symbolism, representational language. Hey even Shakespeare learned from authors that came before him...like Plutarch from who he stole much.

 Well just be certain to look up Qualifiers in a grammar book to know what to avoid; sometimes, as in the use of sometimes in this sentence, a qualifier like some, very, maybe, perhaps, etc. is 'absolutely' needed but most are way overused, for instance a word like VERY, maybe, perhaps, and the phrases 'I think' and 'in my opinion' and 'to me'....when it is totally NOT needed and only undercuts your strong sentence, weakening it.

 By all means, look up Absolutes, words that are opposite in nature to Qualifiers. No wishy-washy with these words and using them MOST of the time, working toward all the time (all is absolute, most is qualifier) makes your fiction STRONG in voice so the reader BELIEVES you and is so willing to follow you because you are not 'hedging' like a politician (in my opinion).

This coupled with metaphor and simile gives readers a strong visual image deposited in their minds. One reviewer once said of my book of the time, "Mr. Walker quite literally snatches the reader's mind for the duration of the book!" -- Midwest Book Review, it was. Love that as that is my goal...my watchword stamped in my mind's eye is MAKE it COMPELLING - and do not forget to bring in your POV character in each scene via his five senses, his eyes, brain, hands, nose, smeller, taster, ears.

These are the elements of style. For more find my Dead on Writing on Kindle books or read my Titanic 2012 or Bismarck 2013 to determine if I practice what I preach.

I hope you will find time to comment here!
Rob Walker

www.robertwalkerbooks.com