Weeds and plants in writing

  This shot of wild yarrow, taken from the same location as the rainbow in my previous post, captured just one little patch of several around our cabin. Given how many patches there were, I’m surprised none made it into the bouquet of wildflowers picked for me by my granddaughters on my birthday. But you can see there

Is there a genre for fictional tulips and daffodils?

Tulips don’t grow in my garden. Deer eat them before the buds even develop. I’ve planted dozens upon dozens of daffodils and narcissus because I’m told deer don’t like them. They bloom beautifully the first year, but only a few make it through to the next, and by the third year there are none. I suspect

Talk about cold feet!

You were duly warned. You were. I distinctly remember saying, “we’re probably doomed to an abundance of cruising analogies here for the next little while.” Then I began browsing through the 500+ photos I took last week. A lot are just mediocre shots; I’ll undoubtedly trash a good many of them. But the odd one made me smile…

Queries and Submissions… Oh, my!

It’s a no-brainer: writers love to write. Find a plot or an interesting character lurking in the brain’s back room and away we go, plotting (or not) and happily unravelling story complexities for hours, days, probably weeks… to the exclusion of all sorts of potential distractions. Housework? It can wait. Family? They’ll understand. Grocery shopping?

#WIPMADNESS WEEK #3 – Basics of the Craft

Welcome back for our Week #3 check-in, Wipsters. “I’ve had a story rattling around in my head for years, waiting to be told. Maybe it’s time I wrote it.” If you’ve been a writer for very long, you’ve likely encountered similar comments. Whether you’re having lunch in the cafeteria at work, chatting over coffee after

Using more than half a brain (or, hints for successful querying)

Nesting birds are testing our patience this week. A junco decided to build a nest in the middle of one of the twelve-inch flower baskets that hangs just inches from our family room window. (Yes, the same basket from which the finch eyed me last week. What’s with these birds?!) It’s an impossible location for

Following the Road Signs

. I’m good at telling people where to go, although I know not everyone appreciates being told what they can or cannot do. On our recent Christmas trip we encountered many highway signs. Some told us what we couldn’t do, like exceed a specific speed, while others were very helpful. We didn’t appreciate signs that

Patience may be a virtue, but….

. It was nearing dinnertime, at least for our Labrador. Hubby and I wanted to get the Christmas tree up first, so we ignored the blatant hints. Tynan’s a patient dog and finally lay down to wait.   . That was hard to ignore! As soon as the tree was secure and before any decorating

Are we poisoning our chances for publication?

. Common snowberry, or Symphoricarpos albus, is a deciduous shrub in the honeysuckle family. It grows wild on shady hillsides and woodland areas but its attractive clusters of white berries have also made it a popular ornamental shrub in many gardens. It grows in wild abundance on our family’s Okanagan property and provides winter food

Query Letter Advice: How to Avoid Being Buried in the Landslide

. If you’ve been writing with the goal of publication you’ve likely read a whole lot about pitching, querying and submitting. There are books and blogs filled with everything you need to know, but if you’re at all like me, there are times when you begin to experience “information overload” – that sense of being