Looking Forward to Certain Times of the Year...For Me it is all About JERO ... by Delsora Lowe

Yes, I know this is March, but hear me out.

January seems to be my down month. The most I get done is organizing for a new year of writing. Other than that, the lethargy from a busy year previous sets in.

The best part about January, is looking forward to February. February you say? Are you nuts? The coldest, dreariest month of the year. What do you have to look forward to. Yeah, yeah…there is Valentine Day. And as a romance writer that should be exciting. And yes, it is. I love valentine chocolates in red heart-shaped boxes. And I love to write romantic stories.

But… The reason I LOVE and look forward to February… Or more specifically—the end of February is…

Every year, since 2016, I have participated in the New Jersey Romance Writers’ February 30K writing challenge. Thirty thousand words in twenty-eight days—what was I thinking? Or one may edit. Instead of counting new written words, one may count every three edited words as one written word. Something for everyone who wants to participate. By the time you read this I will have completed the 2023 challenge, My head will be spinning, and my energy depleted. But the excitement will carry me through until February of 2024

The first two years I worked full time at a job seventy-five miles away, so my time was extremely limited. I opted to challenge myself to ten thousand words that year and fifteen thousand the following year. Both years I exceeded that goal by a little bit. And…I was so proud of myself.

Emboldened in the third year, I went for the gold. And for the last five years I have exceeded my thirty-thousand words incrementally.

The fun part of this is the participants are not in competition with each other. We all cheer each other on each day. Whether we have a good or bad day of writing…or with life itself. As writers, we all know there are days, weeks, even years when life seems to get in the way of our passion to write.

There are basically no rules, except to report in daily (if you can) and the “never say the word ONLY” rule. As in, I ONLY wrote fifty words today, because my kid was sick, the dog escaped, the laundry needed doing, or whatever other excuse or life’s daily needs get in our way of our precious writing time. Every single word is to be celebrated, whether or not we meet the daily goal of 1072 words. If you write one word, it isn’t “I ONLY wrote…” It is call a friend or report on the loop - “YAY, I wrote one word today!”

If you take a day off or write fewer words, there is always time to make up the word count. I might not be in competition with others, but I am VERY competitive with myself. So, when I set a goal, I do everything possible to exceed my own expectations.

So, for a dreary, short, dark month of the year…I am always excited to see February role around. And YES, I always prep my spreadsheet with daily word count calculations, so it is ready to fill in on the first of February…on your mark, get set, GO WRITE! And I love the interaction and common goals of those who make up the group of writers, whose heads are down, brains and imagination are engaged, and fingers are flying during the month of February.

This year, with more than sixty writers participating, we totaled collectively 2.2 million words in twenty-eight days - WOW!

Sure, everyone is tired, but also exhilarated. We cheered each other on, we encouraged everyone, no matter their personal goals of 30K or lass or more, and we CELEBRATED together! And that counts for a lot, when normally writing is a lonely business.

 What is your favorite time of the year to look forward to AND why?

 

Amazon

https://www.amazon.com/Moonlighting-Serenity-Harbor-Novella-Starlight-ebook/dp/B075TK7KYS/

Books2Read

books2read.com/u/mZ5eop

~ cottages to cabins ~ keep the home fires burning ~

Delsora Lowe writes small town sweet and spicy romances and contemporary westerns from the mountains of Colorado to the shores of Maine.

Author of the Starlight Grille series, Serenity Harbor Maine novellas, and the Cowboys of Mineral Springs series, and the novella The Love Left Behind, Lowe has also authored short romances for Woman’s World magazine. Recently released were two Christmas stories: The Inn at Gooseneck Lane and Holiday Hitchhiker.

 

Social Media Links:
Author website: www.delsoralowe.com
Facebook Author page: https://www.facebook.com/delsoraloweauthor/community/
Amazon Author page: https://www.amazon.com/Delsora-Lowe/e/B01M61OM39/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0
Books2Read Author page: https://www.books2read.com/ap/8GWm98/Delsora-Lowe
BookBub Author Page: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/delsora-lowe-93c6987f-129d-483d-9f5a-abe603876518
Goodreads Author Page: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16045986.Delsora_Lowe
Instagram: #delsoralowe / https://www.instagram.com/delsoralowe/

Photo Credits:
Bringing the New Year: Free New Year Clip Art Pictures - Cli
partix
Phone: free clip art for phone - Google Search Gold Medal: Free Medal Cliparts, Download Free Medal Cliparts png images, Free ClipArts on Clipart Library (clipart-library.com) 
Calendar: February 2023 Calendar Printable (calendar-to-print.com) 
Heart: free hearts images - Google Search 
February with Boy: Free February Cliparts, Download Free February Cliparts png images, Free ClipArts on Clipart Library (clipart-library.com)  
Goals- New Year: Man with ladder and goal Illustrations and Clipart. 805 Man with ladder and goal royalty free illustrations, drawings and graphics available to search from thousands of vector EPS clip art providers. (canstockphoto.com) 
Desk: Table clip art - Office clip art images free (clipproject.info)  
Celebrate: Search by word celebrate clip art - Clip Art Library (clipart-library.com) 

Creating Community as a Character in Our Books ... M. Lee Prescott

 

“Community is the single most important factor in learner-centered classrooms.” (Carol Avery)

Hello,

It’s Mary Lee (alias M. Lee Prescott) saying hello. The quote above is from my life as a teacher (retired in June 2021). Creating a community in one’s classroom is critical if a teacher wishes to build trust among all stakeholders – adults and children – and encourage the kind of risk taking that allows learning to thrive. You might be asking yourself—why in a writer’s blog, is she writing about teaching and classrooms? The answer is simple creating a supportive, nurturing community where my characters live is at the heart of most of my fiction. Certainly, community is, indeed, a main character in all four of my series. I thought in this post, I tell you a little about these communities. Perhaps you’ll come and visit someday?

The Morgan’s Run books are set in the southwestern United States in the fictional town of Saguaro Valley. An orographic effect characterized by unusual cloud formations and abundant moisture has created this extraordinary green valley that lies between two mountain ranges, vast deserts beyond.

Home to six thousand residents—ranchers, farmers, entrepreneurs, and others – much of the land is owned by a few wealthy ranchers, Ben Morgan among them, who take their stewardship seriously, providing livelihoods and support to every resident. The undiscovered valley mostly remains isolated in its pristine beauty and agricultural abundance, except when the occasional movie star arranges a pack trip up into the mountains. Saguaro Valley is a place where everyone knows everyone and takes care of everyone. If you’re in danger, trouble or need, you are never alone. Many beloved characters leave home and return, to heal, to find love, and to raise their families. Others spread their wings and move east as do two of the Morgan sons, Sam, an architect to Maryland and Kyle, a veterinarian, to Horseshoe Crab Cove, a New England town that is home to the Morgan’s Fire community (see below!).

In this spin-off series to Morgan’s Run, readers come to the village of Horseshoe Crab Cove, home to Ben Morgan’s younger brother. Formerly a world traveler and longtime Maine resident, Richard purchases a five hundred acre property, where he builds an enormous farmhouse, barns, stables and eventually a winery. Richard is also an investor in Field and Field, a farm-to-table restaurant on the property, created and run by his son-in-law.

The community encompasses several small seaside towns, Horseshoe Crab Cove at its center. On tiny Main Street, with its shops and restaurants, is a garden space, Laura’s Community Garden, started by Richard’s daughter, Pam in memory of her mother. There in the four acre plot, residents come to plant, grow, and share the fruits of their collective labors. Horseshoe Crab Cove is also home to the Darn Yarners, a group of eight women in their sixties, friends for over four decades, who support each other, each other’s families, and the village proper. Over the years the Yarners have raised money for parks and other civic projects, their fellowship intricately woven into the fabric of village life. Like Saguaro Valley, no one in Horseshoe Crab Cove is alone and the close community provides a safe, loving place for longtime residents and newcomers like Kyle Morgan, who follows his wife Harriet, daughter on a Darn Yarner, to town. When, at age fifty, Joe O’Leary leaves the priesthood, he, too, comes to the village to learn how to live outside the confines of the church. 

Village of Old Harbor, a coastal village with a Quaker school at its center, seems like just another sleepy town, where murders happen a little too regularly! Born and raised in the area, Detective Roger Demaris, and his team, along with his former schoolmate and high school girlfriend, art teacher Bess Dore, explore the worlds beneath the town and school’s placid surfaces uncovering unimaginable evil. Despite its aura of tranquility, this is a sometimes fractured community, infiltrated by outsiders bent on dredging up the past, wreaking havoc on the present, and changing the course of the future for the residents of Old Harbor. There is, however, a core of community resilience that prevails and triumphs over the darkness—thank goodness!

Finally—there are the communities traversed by private investigator, Ricky Steele. When not chasing criminals at a snobby boarding school or helping a friend find her husband’s killer in the exclusive, coastal town of Windy Harbor, Ricky prowls the mean streets of Spindle City, trailing errant spouses, and mingling with sex workers and drug lords. All of these communities have an identity that shape Ricky’s often bumbling, but heartfelt investigating style. Her office is in one of the old granite mills that populate the landscape of Spindle City. These behemoths, left over from the city’s heyday as a thriving textile manufacturing hub, reflect the gritty strength of the community and its denizens.

The above notwithstanding, the community readers love more than those mentioned, is where Ricky lives—the Grove. There in her ticky-tacky beach cottage, she is surrounded by friends and neighbors like Maddie and Fulton, the deaf octogenarians to the east, who keep the canapes and cocktails coming, and Vinnie to the west, a dear friend who helps with carpentry, security, underworld information, and cat sitting. The Grove also draws to its community, Dr. Charlie Bowen, who renovates a waterfront property around the corner, while wooing the independent Ricky. Will love win out? Time will tell.

So… is “community” synonymous with setting? Are they the same? I would answer no, but I could be persuaded either way. As author, community unfolds in my stories as the living, breathing manifestation of setting. Community allows characters to take risks to dare to be themselves, to grow, to develop, to thrive. Is this the same as setting? Hmm… You be the judge!

Great blogging with you! I love to hear from readers and writers so please be in touch anytime.

Warm wishes,

Mary Lee

Visit my website for latest news!

Follow me on:

Amazon

BookBub

Facebook

Twitter

Instagram