Terry's Place

Friday Field Trip - Colorado Mornings

noreply@blogger.com (Terry Odell) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 12:00:00 +0000

Remember, there's still some time to comment on both my Monday post and Mike Nettleton's Tuesday post to enter to win books. Winners will be picked this evening and announced over the weekend, so be sure to check to see if you're a winner.

We've had some glorious sunrises recently. Thanks to Jason and Hubster for these pictures. Some are mine, but I'm sure you can spot the ones taken with good cameras. (Not to mention they put their names on their shots)

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Whose Story Is It?

noreply@blogger.com (Terry Odell) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 12:00:00 +0000

What I'm reading: Contest entry #4 of 8; The Affair, by Lee Child.

Remember, there's still plenty of time to comment on both my Monday post and Mike Nettleton's Tuesday post to enter to win books. And another reminder about my POV workshop at Savvy Authors. I'll be giving books away there, too. If you know someone who might benefit from a basic craft workshop, point them that way. (Link in the sidebar)

In the world of romance fiction, reader expectation dictates that you have (at least) two Point of View characters: hero and heroine. They both must have complete story arcs, almost equally weighted.

Key word: "almost". Because it's not really 50-50. It might be as close as 49-51, but the reader is usually left with the feeling that it was a "his" book or a "hers" book.

Not being much of a plotter, I knew who my characters were, and what their conflicts were, but I wasn't really paying a lot of attention to whose book it would turn out to be. It didn't really matter until I needed a title. (That's another thing I rarely come up with in advance.)

Now, this book is part of my Pine Hills Police series. I've got Finding Sarah and Hidden Fire. There's also Finding Fire, but that's a collection of connected short stories. The new book features two totally new characters, Scott and Ashley, but there are still many familiar faces. The title should somehow "fit" with the others, giving potential readers a signal that the books are part of a series. For example, my Blackthorne, Inc. series all have "Danger" in the title.

When I asked my crit partners and my daughter, who is my first reader, whose book they thought it was, they all said it was Ashley's book, which meant that "Scott Free" wouldn't make a very good title (not that it's a particularly compelling title to begin with).

Against her parents' advice, Ashley has split with her unsupportive fiancé and moved to Pine Hills to start up her dream business: Confections by Ashley. The bakery is under construction, and there have been countless setbacks, which she's not sure can all be attributed to the work crew, which she thinks of as the Klutz Brigade. A dead body found on the premises doesn't help, especially when the cops think she has a motive for doing the killing.

Scott, a county sheriff homicide detective has quit his job after a traumatic case—one that screams "failure" to him, although others consider him a hero. He has to deal with his injuries, post-traumatic stress, and being able to accept that he's not a cop anymore. He's always been defined by his job. He accepts a civilian job with the Pine Hills Police Department, and is having trouble figuring out how he fits in.

Of course, since it's a romantic suspense (or, my preferred "Mystery With Relationships"), Scott and Ashley will hook up and have to deal with helping each other. He thinks Ashley, his new neighbor, is innocent, but when he's asked to help the detectives with the investigation, he has to decide if he wants to be a cop or a protective boyfriend.

But it's the GMC – the Goal, Motivation, and Conflict, that's at the heart of the story. Ashley's goal is simple: Have a successful bakery. Scott's is more deep-rooted. He has to find peace with himself. To me, Scott's inner conflict is more compelling than the more superficial conflict of trying to start up a business.

As I'm in the first round of edits, before I send it to my editor, I'll have to decide whether to go back and add more of Scott's conflict scenes to ramp up the "finding himself" theme, or if I should stick with what my readers have told me is Ashley's book.

What's your take? Based on the brief descriptions I've given, whose story do you think would be stronger? Do you have any better titles to suggest for the book? If I like yours, you'll get credit in the book, and, of course, a free copy.

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What's Cooking Wednesday - Tomato-Spinach Soup

noreply@blogger.com (Terry Odell) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 12:00:00 +0000

What I'm reading: Contest entry #3 of 8

Thanks to Mike for his great post yesterday. Remember, there's still plenty of time to comment on both my Monday post and his Tuesday's post to enter to win books. And another reminder about my POV workshop at Savvy Authors. I'll be giving books away there, too. If you know someone who might benefit from a basic craft workshop, point them that way. I'm blogging about it today at their site. Please pop over.

And, I'm still open to more easy gluten-free desserts for our neighbors. I live in the boonies, so fancy ingredients, like gluten-free flours, are hard to come by. Likewise, baking at 9100 feet presents its own challenges, so I try to steer away from cakes.

My books always include food. Sometimes, however, the scene doesn't end up on the page of the final product, as is the case with Sadie's Tomato-Spinach Soup. In my Pine Hills series, Sarah often eats at Sadie's. One of her favorite things for lunch is their Tomato-Spinach Soup. I'll be making this one for our monthly dinner pot luck on Friday. (In truth, the original recipe, which I've varied, came not from "Sadie" but from Sandra McDonald, my first writing mentor.)

"Sadie's" Tomato-Spinach Soup

Ingredients
Vegetable cooking spray
1 ½ teaspoons olive oil
¾ c chopped onion
1 garlic clove, minced
1 ½ cups salsa
1 c fresh tomato, chopped
2 14.5 oz cans diced tomatoes
1 10-3/4 oz can condensed tomato soup, undiluted
1 10 oz package frozen chopped spinach, thawed

Directions
Coat a Dutch oven with cooking spray; add olive oil, and place over medium-high heat until hot.
Add the onion and garlic, saute for 2 minutes.
Add remaining ingredients; bring to a boil.
Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 1 cup)

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A Pacificist Writes About Violence

noreply@blogger.com (Terry Odell) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 12:00:00 +0000

Today my guest is author Mike Nettleton, a retired survivor of 43 years in the broadcasting business. Mike's career included stints as a deejay in top-forty, adult contemporary, country and album-rock formats. He's co-written five books with his wife, Carolyn J. Rose. His hard-boiled detective novel Shotgun Start is his first solo effort.

Mike will be giving away two autographed copies of Shotgun Start. Winners will be selected randomly from the comments, and announced over the weekend. And I'm giving away a download of any one of my books to one commenter on yesterday's post as well.

How did a life-long pacifist like me end up writing books that are steeped in violence?

In the four farcical cozies I co-wrote with my wife Carolyn J. Rose, the mayhem mostly happens off-screen. We see the aftermath of the bloodshed and join a non-professional crime-solver to determine who-dunnit. Our young-adult fantasy novel The Hermit of Humbug Mountain is filled with the threat of imminent savagery, but only incidental real-time bodily injury.

But, as with most books of the hard-boiled persuasion, Shotgun Start is packed with explicit violence. Not because I revel in writing about people committing acts of brutality, but because I couldn’t tell Neal Egan’s story without it. When you throw a former cop with a manipulative ex-wife into a situation that brings him face-to-face with renegade bikers, the Mexican Mafia, internet pornographers, and various and sundry other thugs and miscreants, you can bet somebody is going to get hurt or killed.

Since I’ve never hit another human being in anger, never owned a firearm (although my law-enforcement employed father carried a sidearm), and oppose war in all of its mutations, how can I write books about people who don’t even blink at inflicting major physical and psychological damage to assert their power or take revenge on perceived enemies?

Here’s the answer, a grim truth we hate to recognize but understand at the deepest level of our being; the potential for violence lies in all of us. It’s just the trigger that sets us off that varies in different human beings.

Here’s an example from my own life. When my son, who is now a balding 40-year-old webcast specialist with Intel, was seven or so, he became the victim-of-the moment of a brawny ten-year-old bully who lived in the same apartment complex. Mostly, it was name-calling and minor shoving around, so my wife and I just counseled him to avoid the kid or walk away. One day, I came home from work to find Rob crying. He had a split lip and a black eye. At first, he wouldn’t tell me who did it, but since I suspected the little rat-bastard bully, he soon gave it up.

I left our apartment, seething, in search of the kid and/or his parents. I found the swaggering fifth-grader with a cluster of his friends, hanging around in the common area. I caught his eye and said “Come here, Terry” (not his real name). He took one look and sprinted away.

“You’d better run, you little S.O.B.,” I called out as I pursued. Finally I cornered him in a fenced-in grassy area on the other side of a busy boulevard. “You’re real brave when the person you’re hitting is smaller than you, right, Terry?” I felt an icy anger inundate me. “Wanna try me on?”

He scampered up a tree and my adrenaline rush nearly sent me clawing up after him. My brain was in single-thought mode. “Get him,” it said. “Pull him out of that tree and…”

I was clearly out-of-control. The avenging angel I’d become didn’t have the same set of limits that the rational husband, father, and citizen placed on himself. On the brink of violence—against a ten-year-old kid, for Christ’s sake—I took a number of deep breaths, got a grip and fought the urge to throttle. Instead, I stood beneath the tree, outlining for him calmly, in perfectly graphic terms, what kind of bloody consequences he faced if he ever laid another hand on my kid. “In fact,” I told him. If he even reports you talked to him, I’ll find you and we’ll continue this conversation.”

I’m not, in any sense of the word, proud of this moment in my history. Philosophically, I don’t believe the answer to violence is more violence. But, the reality of the matter was, someone had hurt my son and I wanted to hurt him back.

When I’m writing a violent scene, I try to tap into that out-of-control moment—the nanosecond where I teetered on the edge of committing a truly ugly crime and found, somewhere within me, the strength to pull back. Others don’t back away, or don’t even try. Many use hurting others as a way to assert power or exact revenge. Some are sociopathic and have no concept of anything beyond the gratification of their own immediate needs. But one thing unites them—they all experience that moment when they know they’ve reached the point of no return.

I write about violence as a way to cope with the knowledge that the potential lies within me—within all of us if we’re honest with ourselves. The power I hold, as a writer, is the ability to show how horrific violent acts are and to bring some form of justice to those who commit them. It’s also important to acknowledge the long-range consequences of violence. The children of a murdered man will suffer long after his ashes have been scattered in the wind. A cop who must kill in the line of duty will lose sleep over it, no matter what he may tell you to the contrary.

Violence is a natural by-product of stupidity, greed, jealousy, panic, mental illness and economic disparity. You’ll find accounts of men attacking other men over territory, mates, food and cultural differences in cave drawings that date back thousands of years. No matter how civilized we believe we are now, the motives for the heinous crimes we read about in the newspaper mirror those of ancient civilizations. If you subscribe to Darwin’s theories, man has evolved, but apparently not nearly enough. And, sadly, I doubt we will.

As long as this instinct remains hard-wired into our DNA we’ll be horrified and fascinated by the small sub-set of humans who express their rage, frustration, confusion and narcissism by committing unspeakable acts against others. And, as a mystery-suspense writer and committed pacifist, I’ll continue to explore characters who can’t or won’t pull themselves back from the edge of the chasm.

So, why, as a life-long peacenik, can’t I write stories totally devoid of violence? Because I can only write about the real world I live in, not the world I wished we could create. Plus, my mission is to engage people in my stories, involve them in the struggles of the characters—with the elements, with other people and with themselves. Writing stories only inhabited by nice characters doing nice things for other nice people would be devoid of conflict. And conflict is what brings a story to life and makes it real. My primary obligation, as a writer, other than to entertain, is to hold a mirror up to the disturbing events that constitute the day to day reality of our lives. So I will continue to hate violence. And I’ll continue to write about it.

For more about Shotgun Start, you can read a free first chapter here. Find out more about Mike at his blog.

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What Do Authors Owe Readers?

noreply@blogger.com (Terry Odell) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 12:00:00 +0000

What I'm reading: Contest Entry #2 of 8

First, a warm welcome to my newest followers. Thanks for coming on board, and I hope you'll stop by often. Next, please check the sidebar. I'm teaching an on-line workshop on Point of View next month, and would love to see some of you there.

There's been a lot of heated discussion on the new Amazon Kindle Select program for indie authors. In case you haven't heard, Amazon created a new program which benefits authors. It makes books available for readers to borrow (provided they've paid the $79 to become a member of Amazon Prime), and also gives authors the perk of promoting their books as free for a specific number of days per quarter. Free books raise the recognition factor.

The catch? You have to agree to publish ONLY at Amazon for a minimum of 90 days.
Authors are jumping on the bandwagon to mixed results. A lot seems to depend on whether they're well known to begin with, and whether they're selling established books or new releases. Since the program is less than 3 months old, it's impossible to make generalizations. Obviously, the authors who are the most excited about the program are the ones seeing immediate results.

Clearly, Amazon is in it to suck up as much of the market as it can, and that's simply doing business. The same goes for the authors who choose to participate. Indie authors are no longer controlled by their publishers, and they get to make their own choices.

I've not opted in to the program for a variety of reasons. First, my books are distributed at just about any e-bookstore I can get them in. Sony, Kobo, B&N, All Romance eBooks, OmniLit, Smashwords as well as the Kindle store. Joining the program would mean I'd have to opt out of all the other sales venues, something I'm not ready to deal with. I also couldn't give books away at my blog, or Goodreads, or anywhere else other than Amazon.

But I've got a new book coming out in a couple of months. I could easily put that book up only at Amazon for the first 3 months and see how things shake. Will I? I don't know.

First, I have a Nook, so any authors in the Kindle Select program are no longer on my "buy" list, even if it means saying good-bye to some favorites. Yes, I have the Kindle app for my phone and my PC. I don't read books on my PC. I work on my PC. I have a book on my phone that I won in a contest. It was a Kindle edition, and is DRM protected, so I can't move it to my Nook. I've been reading that book for almost a year, and am just past the halfway point. Phone reading is something I do in tiny bits and snatches when, for example, my husband says he's going to run in to the Post Office and I didn't expect to be needing reading material.

Authors who love the program say they're making more money with the new Lending Library at Amazon than they make on sales at all the other venues combined. Good for them. Everyone needs to decide what works for them, and most are definitely in the writing game to make money. They don't owe those readers who have Nooks, or Sonys, or iPads anything. They owe the reader the best book they can write, but after that, the distribution is up to them.

Yet to me, exclusivity makes my skin crawl. One of the reasons my first books did poorly with the publisher was their exclusive distribution system. They were using the wrong marketing model, and authors suffered. Maybe that soured me on the whole system. To me, exclusivity is not fair to my readers, even though I have very few of them. Don't want to deny them my books or tell them they can read them on a phone or PC (which, of course they can still do with all the other reading apps out there, but that's their choice).

And, because I'm not yet on board with the program, I CAN give away a book here today. So, leave a comment, tell me how you feel, and I'll give you any one of my e-book titles from either Amazon, Barnes & Noble or Smashwords. You've got until Friday. I'll pick a winner and announce it over the weekend.

Tomorrow, my guest is author Mike Nettleton, who's talking about how a pacifist writes violence, and why. And he's giving away 2 of his books!

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Friday Field Trip - Colorado Bike Rides

noreply@blogger.com (Terry Odell) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 12:00:00 +0000

Some of you might know that my daughter Nicole Drummer is an endurance athlete. Or a triathlete. Or just plain nuts. One of the components of a triathlon is a bike ride (for the Iron Man, it was 112 miles). So, she's out on her bike training a lot. She stops every now and then to take pictures. She's sharing some of the sights today -- and you don't have to leave the comfort of your home to see them.

And sometimes she stops for more than just taking a picture:

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Responsible Reviewing, Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Terry Odell) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 12:00:00 +0000

What I'm reading: Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, by Jamie Ford (book club); Contest entry #1 of 8.

After the discussion in the comments on Monday's post about reviews, I decided to carry it one step further. Since there does seem to be a lot of abuse of the review system, I went to both the Barnes & Noble and Amazon sites to see what they said about leaving reviews.

Barnes & Noble (where there's still a lengthy discussion of sick cats on my Danger in Deer Ridge page) does seem to be trying to guide reviewers as to what's appropriate. This is from their site:

What to include in your review:

Please focus on the title's content. Your review will be most helpful to others if you include the reasons why you either liked or disliked the title. Hold your readers' full attention by limiting your review to 500 words or less.

What to exclude from your review:
Don't ruin the ending for others, and please do not write about reviews, commentary, or information posted on the title page. If you see any errors in the information on the title page, please send us an email.

Reviews should not contain any of the following:
HTML tags
Profanity, obscenities, or vulgarities
Comments that defame anyone
Time-sensitive information such as tour dates, signings, lectures, etc.
Single-word reviews. Other people will read your review to discover why you liked or didn't like the title. Be descriptive.
Comments focusing on the author
Comments that may ruin the ending for others
Phone numbers, addresses, URLs
Pricing and availability information or alternative ordering information
Advertisements or commercial solicitation

Then, if you want to flag a review as inappropriate, you'll get the following choices to click:

Inappropriate or abusive language
Off-topic content
Spam, private or commercial solicitation
Suspected underage user
Terms of Use Violation
Suspected copyright infringement

But what happens when you flag a review? Who knows? I flagged the ones on my book, and as of yesterday, they're still there.

Amazon, on the other hand, is much less detailed. There's a button by the reviews that says: Report this content as inappropriate on the site

Clicking it will take you to the following message:
If you find this content inappropriate and think it should be removed from the Amazon.com site, let us know by clicking the button below. This information will be sent to Amazon.com and we will take appropriate action.

What their idea of "appropriate action" is, and how long it takes to get it implemented is another question entirely. Nor do they say who "we" is. (are?)

Tomorrow, we're going biking with Nicole.

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What's Cooking Wednesday - Herb Crusted Pork Tenderloin

noreply@blogger.com (Terry Odell) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 12:00:00 +0000

Thanks to Sue for those safety tips, and I hope you don't have to use them.

Next – I have a request for help. Someone in our community fell and broke her leg, and neighbors are pitching in to bring her food. The catch is that she and her husband are both on gluten free diets, and I need a gluten free dessert recipe. Something simple. If you've got one and would be willing to share, I'd love to have it. Thanks. Email it to me via the contact tab. (Click on "email" for the link)

This week's recipe is an adaptation of a recipe I found on the web. It's super quick to prepare, and you can vary it to your own taste.

Herb Crusted Pork Tenderloin with Fruit Preserve Glaze

Ingredients:

1 whole pork tenderloin
Olive oil
Salt
Pepper
4-5 T mixed herbs – this is where you can play around a bit. The recipe called for Herbs De Provence. I didn't have any, so I looked it up to see if could wing it. According to Emeril Lagasse, it's equal parts of the following:
dried savory
dried rosemary
dried thyme
dried oregano
dried basil
dried marjoram
fennel seed
Another source said it included lavender as well.

As far as I'm concerned, you can blend any favorite spices. I used what I had on hand, which ended up being dried parsley, rosemary, basil, oregano, and thyme.

Directions:

Blend all your spices and salt and pepper together. If you're using dried rosemary leaves, you should crush them first to avoid being poked in the mouth.

Preheat oven to 425

Rub the pork with olive oil, then press the herb mixture all over the meat to coat it. Put the pork either in a roasting pan on a rack, or in a skillet. Roast in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until the meat is no longer pink (or to an internal temperature of 145 degrees). Remove from oven, cover with foil and let it rest 10 minutes.

Glaze:
1 c jam or preserves of your choice. I used apricot, but the original recipe also suggested fig, peach, or plum.
½ c water
1 T vinegar

Mix all ingredients together in a saucepan and bring to a simmer. While the pork cooks, let it reduce until it's a nice glaze consistency.

Slice the pork and spoon the glaze over the slices.
Great with potatoes. I baked mine, but mashed would be good, too. And apologies for the lack of a picture, but it was so yummy, my plate was half-empty before I remembered I should have taken one.

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Self Defense for Klutzes

noreply@blogger.com (Terry Odell) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 12:00:00 +0000

Today my guest is author Sue Star. Sue writes mysteries about families in chaos. In real life, she teaches young adults, and in her leisure time, she enjoys hiking, skiing, martial arts, and hanging out with her family. Her novel, Murder in the Dojo, the first of the black belt mystery series, is newly released from D.M. Kreg Publishing.

And while Sue is here at Terry's Place, I'm a guest at Sarah Grimm's blog. And, on top of that, it's my day over at The Blood-Red Pencil where I'm talking about the apostrophe. Hope you'll pop over for a peek and say hello.

A word of warning! If you don’t have the proper training, then we recommend that you not try playing ninja at home. Some of the martial arts techniques we have to use are pretty darned complicated, and my fictional characters and I have been practicing them for years.

Aside from fancy techniques, here are four basic safety rules that everyone should follow. Yes, staying alert to basic safety is the real secret behind self defense.

First: Avoid trouble. This is the number one rule! Another way to put this, as my sensei would say: don’t be stupid. Stay away from dark alleys. If you have to walk in unlighted areas (as we’ve all been known to do from time to time), then walk in the middle of the sidewalk, not next to dark bushes or parked cars where thugs can hide.

Second: Don’t look like a victim. Always show confidence (whether or not you feel it). Walk with head held high, chin up, back straight. Thugs look for victims; they don’t want to tangle with confident types.

Third: If the first and second rules don’t work, then use your lungs. Scream! Thugs don’t like witnesses, and screams bring witnesses to the scene.

Fourth: Remember to always carry your car keys in your hands (not lost at the bottom of your purse or pocket) as you walk toward your car. Better yet, splay the keys between your fingers to make a fist your thug will not want to meet.

Okay, so those are just basic safety rules. But what about actual self defense? Here’s a simple trick that even non-ninjas can use if they have to (heaven forbid):

If all else fails, you might be able to make a thug release a grip on you by jabbing the soft spot in the thug’s neck. This is the soft windpipe spot where the neck meets the breastbone, as seen in the illustration.

These are only a few of the many tips for self defense that a non-practicing martial artist can use. Safety and being aware of your surroundings is an easy way to begin. Good luck, have fun, and remember to stay out of trouble!

Murder in the Dojo, by Sue Star, can be purchased at any bookstore. ISBN: 9780615570723. To find out more, see her publisher’s website at www.dmkregpublishing.com

Responsible Reviewing

noreply@blogger.com (Terry Odell) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 12:00:00 +0000

What I'm reading: Of Noble Birth, by Brenda Novak (Nook); Viscount Breckenridge to the Rescue, by Stephanie Laurens (bike).

Side note: Last week, all my "likes" in the sidebar disappeared. I have no clue as to why. But it looks so sad, with nobody liking my blog. If you're so inclined, a click would be much appreciated.

There was some discussion about reviews triggered by offering books for free on the new Kindle Select Program. Being able to get books for free at Amazon was one of the "selling points" for signing up with the new program, as it generates more exposure.

Note: for a myriad reasons, I did NOT opt to join this program, but that's a subject for another post, another day.

One complaint voiced in the discussion was that people were reading books out of their genre, and then giving poor reviews because they didn't like the genre. To me, this is NOT a valid reason for a poor review.

Since I joined a local book club, I've been reading books outside my genres of choice. This month's selection is totally outside my preferred reading. It's literary fiction, and I prefer my books to have an actual plot (or at least one I can follow). Where I can care about the characters. Where I want to know what happens next. Not so in this book. But although I'll give it a low score when the book club meets, because the criteria there is, "Did you like it?" I would never consider giving it a negative review on a review site. To me, a review isn't "I liked the book" as much as it is, "This is WHY I liked the book" or "These are the plusses and minuses of this book."

The book club choice is well-written, by a Big Name best-selling author. I can't find fault with it given the parameters of the genre. The fact that I don't like it really shouldn't enter into the equation when evaluating the writing. The "rules" are different in literary fiction.

Likewise, I also downloaded a free book in the romantic suspense genre. I wasn't paying a lot of attention to the blurb. If I had, I might have noticed it was labeled "inspirational" and probably would have given it a pass. Although closer to my genres of choice, I'm not big on religion in books. However, I would think it highly improper to post a review and say the Christian themes made it a bad book.

I think a reviewer owes it to the readers (and the author) to be fair and objective. If you don't like the theme of a book, say so, although again, why did you choose to read it in the first place? Be fair to those who might be using your review to decide whether they want to read a book. They may love Christian themes. Or literary fiction.

I received a less than stellar review recently, but the reviewer was honest and fair about the reasons the book didn't work for her/him, including the fact that there was too much time spent (in the reviewer's opinion) on the developing relationships between the characters. This way, someone else can look at the review and say, "But I DO like relationships in mystery books, so I'll give this a try." And, as more people (I hope) post reviews, readers will be able to compare and make their own choices.

And then I found a totally new use for reader reviews at the e-book stores. I noticed I'd received 14 reviews for one of my books at B&N. Now, I don't usually get more than 5 reviews for any of my titles, so I went to read them. For whatever reason, a group of people were using the review page to post private conversations about sick cats. (Not that there were even cats in the book in question!) Granted, they were posting 5 stars before leaving their comments, but that was a new one to me. Reviews as Instant Messaging?

Tomorrow my guest, Sue Star, will be sharing some self-defense tips. Well worth reading!

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Friday Field Trip - Landmarks

noreply@blogger.com (Terry Odell) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 12:00:00 +0000

When I put out my request for picture sharing, my faithful mom sent along some of her travel photos. Her theme was going to be clocks, but she said she didn't have enough of them, so she sent some "untimely" ones to fill out the post. She told me to let my readers figure out where they were taken. So, have at it.

Oh, and do you suffer from Triskaidekaphobia? If so, you might want to stay in bed today.

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Words

noreply@blogger.com (Terry Odell) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 12:00:00 +0000

Recently, I was ~~hornswoggled~~ ~~coerced~~ invited to play Words With Friends, which, if you haven't heard of it, is an on-line Scrabble game, where you play against another opponent. As time sucks go, it probably has slightly more redeeming value than Angry Birds.

I also subscribe to the "Word of the Day" from Dictionary.com, and I get a random vocabulary word in my email each day. I post these to my Facebook wall, and some of my readers over there have fun coming up with alternative definitions.

Now, knowing obscure words might help when you're playing Scrabble. (Especially if you're savvy enough to understand the strategy of using all those bonus scoring spots on the board—I'm not.) And what about knowing the meaning of those Words of the Day?

Other than playing Words with Friends, am I really going to get a lot of mileage out of words like Xi, or Qat, or Tench? To be honest, a lot of times I just put words I've "made up" out there to see if the game's dictionary approves them. I've been surprised many times. And how would I work in words like paregmenon, heterotelic, or anamnesis into my stories? (Side Note: I'm typing this post in Word, and it's giving me lots of red squiggly lines.)

As writers, aren't we supposed to know lots of fancy words? Maybe, especially if we're writing literary fiction. And even in genre, or commercial fiction, knowing a variety of words can keep us from having to repeat the same word over and over.

But…

If our readers aren't familiar with the words, we've lost them. If the words aren't appropriate to the characters, we're pulling readers out of the story. I remember very early on when I was learning the craft, I had a young character trapped in a dark basement. My scientific background came into play as I tried to figure out what he would do in that situation. However having him "walk transects of the room seeking a method of egress" brought forth immediate and vehement protests from my beta readers. Transects? Egress? What teenaged boy would know or think in those terms?

Another example: The protagonist in a best-selling author's series had a vocabulary which didn't seem to ring true to the background the author provided--until the 4th book (or so) into the series where the character explained having spent long hours in the library as a child. For me, it would have made the first 3 books clearer had the author tossed that tidbit out there in book 1, because until that point, it sounded a lot more like the author talking than the character.

Lesson learned. Vocabulary has to be true to your POV character. And even if your character is an erudite professor of literature, or ancient history, or physics, if you have him speaking in his own jargon, it's probably not going to fly with your readers unless you make sure it's in context and somehow explained in the scene.

Tomorrow, we're going globe-trotting with my mom.

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What's Cooking Wednesday – Applesauce Drop Cookies

noreply@blogger.com (Terry Odell) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 12:00:00 +0000

Thanks to Roy & Alicia for yesterday's entertaining blog. I don't think Hubster and I would make a good writing team, although he's very good about beta reading for me.

It's a double recipe Wednesday. If you didn't get over to Chicklets in the Kitchen, there's a recipe for Blonde Brownies that I shared as part of my guest blog post on Monday.

This recipe came from a box of C&H brown sugar. I used to make it in a 13x9 pan as bar cookies (much easier than doing the cookie sheets and scooping dough) but I wasn't sure how it would work up here, so I went with the drop cookies.

Applesauce Drop Cookies

Ingredients:
1 c raisins
1 c applesauce
1 c brown sugar, firmly packed
½ c shortening
1 egg
2 c flour (I used 1 c AP, 1 c whole wheat)
½ t salt
1 t soda
1 t cinnamon
½ t nutmeg
¼ t cloves
1 c chopped nuts (I used walnuts)

Directions:
Oven at 375
Mix raisins and applesauce; set aside. In mixing bowl, combine sugar, shortening, and egg; beat until fluffy. Mix flour with salt, soda & spices; add and mix well. Stir in nuts. Drop dough by rounded teaspoonfuls (I use a small ice-cream type scoop) about 2 inches apart on greased or parchment lined cookie sheet. Bake for 13-15 minutes. Makes about 4 dozen cookies, which keep well due to the pectin in the applesauce.

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Mars and Venus Writing Together

noreply@blogger.com (Terry Odell) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 13:00:00 +0000

Today I welcome Alicia and Roy Street to Terry’s Place. Alicia and Roy collaborate writing rom-com mysteries as well as romantic comedy. In 2009 they won a Daphne du Maurier Award for Excellence in Mystery/Suspense.

And while Alicia and Roy are here at Terry's Place, I'm at Sarah Butland's blog. Hope you'll visit me there.

Do men and women approach work differently? Some studies say men approach work as they would a competitive sport and their sense of competency (i.e. ego) is always an issue. Then again, today’s women aren’t exactly pushovers. It’s a jungle out there and the female lioness is a formidable hunter. So then just how do the two sexes work things out when moving in for the kill on a project that entails loads of creative energy and specific decision making scene-by-scene and word-by-word?

When people find out we are a husband wife team writing together they often cringe, saying, “I could NEVER write a book with my spouse. We’d be divorced before we got to the second draft.”

So, here’s a short quiz to see if you could write a book with your significant other. Are you ready?

You have a deadline, and the two of you have been working for hours in your home office. You encounter the following situations . . .

1. You’ve motored through all the snacks in the house and there’s only one piece of chocolate left. You say:

a. Go ahead, sweetie. Enjoy.

b. What say we split it?

c. Yo! That’s got my name on it. Touch it and I’ll break your fingers.

2. You’ve been focused on the same difficult scene for so long, Partner A keeps drifting into idle chatter about diverse subjects. You say:

a. You have such a fascinating array of knowledge. It’s one reason I love being around you.

b. Interesting info, honey. How about we save it for break.

c. Back on task, Bonzo. Like I give a rat’s buttocks about your new electronic golf ball retriever.

3. For obvious reasons, writers run the risk of becoming sedentary creatures. So when it’s time to work out, you say:

a. Gee, I love training side by side with you. Couples who sweat together, stick together.

b. Guess we better hit the gym.

c. Tennis time, Fatty. Twenty bucks says I can whip your sorry butt.

4. The section you’ve been working on all week has to be totally revised. You say:

a. Not a problem. We can do it, thanks to our being able to work so efficiently in a state of complete and unspoiled harmonious unity.

b. So we goofed. We’ll hit it out of the park next time at bat.

c. Don’t look at me, Slobbo. That dumbass part was your bogus idea.

No need to tabulate your score since everybody knows there are no answers.

But we’ll be wrestling with some more gender related topics regularly on our blog at http://aliciastreet-roystreet.com/

For more about Alicia and Roy, check out Aphrodisiac, their wacky, gritty, award winning rom-com mystery about a paranormal perfume, and Kiss Me, Dancer, the first book in our Dance ‘n’ Luv series.

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Cooking With Characters

noreply@blogger.com (Terry Odell) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 12:00:00 +0000

What I'm reading: Too Close to Home, by Lynette Easton

Today, I'm over at "Chicklets in the Kitchen" talking about characters and cooking. I hope you'll pop over and leave a comment, even if it's just to say hello. (There's a recipe!) And why not send some of your friends over. (In case this post goes up before hers does, PLEASE make a note to go back later.)

Normally, I try to blog even on days when I'm a guest elsewhere, but sometimes, you just need a day off to deal with all the other aspects of writing, which right now include workshop proposals and "lessons" for my February workshop on Point of View at Savvy Authors.

And take a peek at this new site for mystery books for the Kindle. Don't you just LOVE the banner? Kudos to daughter Jessica for putting it together at very short notice. One quick question. When you visit a blog or website, do you click on images? Just curious to see whether people are aware that the banner is a clickable link.

Tomorrow, I'll have the writing duo of Alicia and Roy Street talking about how a marriage can survive being writing partners. And while they're here, I'm going to be a guest at Sarah Butland's blog, so plan to leave yourself a little extra time for your blog hopping!

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And the Winners Are ...

noreply@blogger.com (Terry Odell) — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 17:41:00 +0000

Thanks so much to everyone who entered my giveaway contest. I forgot to count as I crammed the books into the box, but I think there are at least 15 that will be on their way to

Kathy Crouch!

Congratulations, Kathy, and I hope you'll find some books in there that you'll enjoy.

(I still have some books on my shelf that didn't fit, so there might be another contest. And there's an exclusive contest in my newsletter, so if you haven't read yours yet, be sure to check it out.)

And, the ARC of ROOTED IN DANGER goes to Newsletter subscriber (and frequent blog visitor) ...

Karen C!

Congratulations, Karen, and I hope you'll enjoy your advance look at Fozzie's story.

Again, Thanks to all!

Friday Field Trip - Grand Canyon

noreply@blogger.com (Terry Odell) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 12:00:00 +0000

Remember - today's the last day to enter my Big Giveaway. Details here.

Today's trip to the Grand Canyon comes via frequent blog visitor and commenter, Karen C. She proves that you don't need bright sunny days to take pictures. There's a totally different mood on a cloudy day. Thanks so much, Karen, for sharing!

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Twitter: Who Do You Follow? Why?

noreply@blogger.com (Terry Odell) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 12:00:00 +0000

What I'm reading: The Bargain Bride, by Marbara Metzger (bike) Saving Fish From Drowning, by Amy Tan (book club)

Promo alert – there are only a few days left to get Deadly Secrets for your Kindle or Nook (or apps thereof) for 99 cents.Also, my contest for a USPS Flat Rate Box of Books ends Jan 6th. Details here

Although I never thought I'd be a Twitter person (Tweeter?) I've found the platform to be a fun place to visit. Working in relative isolation, it's like the office break room, where you can exchange quick bits of information, pictures, and other updates. Do people care what you eat for breakfast? Probably not. But they might care about your weather (I've got one follower from Florida who's extremely jealous of the climate up here. Others are glad they don't live where I do.) People ask and answer questions. Also, quite frankly, it's a way for me to know what my kids are up to!

After the holiday weekend, I noticed I had a rather large (for me, anyway) number of new followers. I thought I'd share what makes me follow someone, or follow them back.

First, unless it's clearly a spammer, I'll never block someone who wants to follow me. There's no limit (as far as I know) as to how many followers I can have, so why kick them out? I also don't "unfollow" people who don't follow me back. To me, it's not a game of reciprocity. If someone finds my Tweets interesting, why not let them have access to them? If they unfollow me because I don't automatically follow them back, that's their right, and if that's the way they're using Twitter, that's fine. I think it's a kind of snobbery, but that's just my opinion, and they're free to have their own.

Here's how it works for me. I get an email that says Jane Doe is now following me on Twitter, and there's a link to her profile. I'll click over to that and look at:

How many followers she has. If she's got 50,000 followers and 50,000 people are following her back, odds are nobody's going to see my tweets anyway. The Tweetstream is far too fast, and unless you've got lots of lists with a limited number of people in each, it's totally unmanageable.

What she's Tweeting. If it's nothing but promo for herself, I'm not going to follow. While social networking can be a useful marketing tool, to me, seeing only promo posts is tantamount to watching only the commercials on television rather than the programs.

Does she tweet at all? I've seen some who I call "collectors"—they just want followers, although they never have anything to say.

And, then there's the person who follows you, but when you check her profile, she has to approve you before you can see it. That's an automatic 'no, thanks.' She asked me, not the other way around, so why is she hiding?

There are those of "celebrity status" who have thousands of followers but only follow a handful back. Again, that's their prerogative, but it's easy enough to create a list for that handful of people so they don't get lost in the stream. And I'm not talking true celebrities, (I've never followed one) but just those popular enough to attract thousands of followers.

Normally, I'll start with a 'generic' follow if it's someone I don't "know" well enough. Once I see their tweets, especially if they mention me, I will move them to a list. Oh, and if I follow someone and immediately get a "thanks for the follow now go buy my book" message, I'll delete them as well. My take on Twitter is that marketing should be more about name recognition and having people interested in YOU rather than hitting them over the head with promo. My guesstimate is that my posts are about 25% marketing and 75% chatter.

My management system is TweetDeck. I can create lists, and although I might have almost 2000 followers, I'm really only aware of what a few hundred are saying—and even then, I don't catch all their tweets. I have my Family list, my Writer's list, my Foodies list. I have another list called "extras" which includes people I'm interested in, but don't necessarily fit into a category. I've got a list of fellow authors I try to support, so I can see their tweets and retweet if I think it's appropriate. Which brings me to another pet peeve, although I won't unfollow or not follow someone who does it---adding "Please Retweet" (or Pls RT in twitterspeak) to a self-serving post. I get cranky when I see those. And if I do RT, I delete the "Pls RT" part. The exceptions, for me, are actual worthwhile, noble, charitable causes, or things I think the universe ought to know about.

I've even created a list of people I follow who inundate the tweetstream when they're active. By moving them to a separate list, I can still see what they're saying, but they don't usurp the tweets of those I want to hear from. And, just like with the regular Twitter site, I can see who's talking about me. If I'm mentioned in a tweet by someone I don't know, I'll pop over to their profile, and use the criteria I've mentioned above to decide if I want to follow. Your mileage may vary.

Want to follow me? There's a link on the sidebar, or find me at @authorterryo
And I'd love to hear what you like or don't like about Twitter, if you use it, and how.

Another Field Trip tomorrow. Blog visitor Karen C shared some pictures of the Grand Canyon. Don't miss them.

Illustration by Kate Greenway

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What's Cooking Wednesday - Irish Whiskey Cake

noreply@blogger.com (Terry Odell) — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 12:00:00 +0000

Today's recipe comes all the way from Northern Ireland, via my daughter, Jessica.

Irish Whiskey Cake

6 T each: Irish whiskey, milk
1 c raisins
½ c packed dark brown sugar
½ stick (1/4 c) butter
¼ c vegetable oil
2 eggs, beaten
1 t baking soda
½ t baking powder

¼ t each: salt, cinnamon, mace, nutmeg
1 ½ c flour
¾ c chopped pecans

Whiskey Syrup
⅓ c water
¼ c sugar
6 – 8 T Irish whiskey

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350F. For the cake, heat whiskey and milk in a medium saucepan to boil. Remover from heat; stir in raisins, brown sugar, butter and oil until butter melts. Transfer to large bowl; cool until warm.

2. Stir in eggs, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, mace and nutmeg. Stir in flour and pecans just until moistened. Spoon batter into greased 9x5 inch loaf pan. Bake until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean, 40-45 minutes. Cool on wire rack 10 minutes. Poke holes in top of cake with a fork.

3. Meanwhile, for syrup, combine water and sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat; cook, stirring until sugar is dissolved, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in whiskey. Pour the syrup over the cake while the cake is still warm; let stand until cool. Wrap well in plastic wrap. Cake tastes best if allowed to mellow a day or more.

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One Writer’s Resolutions

noreply@blogger.com (Terry Odell) — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 13:00:00 +0000

Remember: My newsletter goes out tomorrow. If you're not subscribed, take a minute to do so at my website (and don't forget to click through on the confirmation email)

Today I welcome Susan Paturzo as my first guest of 2012. Susan has accumulated houses during the economic downturn and to support her unfortunate real estate addiction turns to work as a software developer. When she manages to escape from a cubicle, Susan writes mysteries and has won awards for her short fiction. She also blogs about life – or the lack thereof – in corporate America. In today’s blog she shares with us her writing resolutions for 2012.

First of all, thank you for the opportunity to be the first guest of the year at Terry’s Place! I don’t ordinarily put much stock in New Year’s resolutions, but when it comes to writing I need all the help I can get. Herewith, one writer’s goals for the coming year:

I will put writing first instead of waiting until the email is read, the bills are paid, the laundry is done, the dog is walked, the web is surfed, and all the other myriad “necessary” tasks I reflexively put ahead of my creative life.

I will look rejection in the face and laugh. Or, at least not whimper. I have, as I write this, “only” been rejected by three agents. That’s nothing, a grain of sand, a proverbial drop in the bucket. When I’ve hit three hundred I can complain.

I will complain less. A wise friend once pointed out that the word complain shares the same root as the word comply. As long as you’re complaining about something you’re not ready to make a change. Here’s to more change and less complying in 2012.

I will write my next mystery. I took so long to write my first one that I think my friends expected every cataclysm from frogs and locusts to fire and brimstone to descend once it was finally finished. The refrain of “almost done” got very old. It’s been lovely to bask in the glow of completion but it’s time to move on.

I will not fear rough drafts. I personally love revising. I can re-work the same paragraph 150 times – in fact, it’s hard for me to stop. But the blank page? Putting something where once there was nothing? That’s when my inner critic gets vicious, inventive, and shuts me down completely.

I will prove that self discipline is not an oxymoron. According to Wikipedia, self discipline is the ability “to motivate oneself in spite of a negative emotional state.” See? I had to look it up. But this year I will experience it first-hand.

I will find out what the hell a platform is. In this context, I know it’s not a wooden structure to stand on but I swear, if I hear that word one more time – oh, wait. That’s complaining.

I will stop procrastinating. I will no longer list procrastination under hobbies along with sleep and self loathing. Time is a limited resource. I will do my best to act accordingly.

Organize, don’t agonize. Words first spoken by a professor of mine at the University of Colorado. I recently put them in the mouth of my fictional homicide detective, and I think they’re worth reiterating.

I will tell my stories. As often seems the case this time of year, I’ve heard of several deaths, some that hit close to home. I resolve to tell the stories in me that I was put on this earth to tell, without worrying about whether it’s any good, or marketable, or fashionable, or hip, or trendy, or what someone else thinks.

Happy New Writing Year everyone!

KILLING STREAK is Susan’s first mystery in a series featuring Denver Homicide Detective Jack Fariel. To find out more, including sample chapters and a link to Susan’s corporate blog, please visit www.susanpaturzo.com

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Generic or Name Brands?

noreply@blogger.com (Terry Odell) — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 12:00:00 +0000

What I'm reading: Because of You, by Jessica Scott (Nook)

If you haven't read my weekend post, please take a minute to check it out, because there's giveaway information you don't want to miss. My Newsletter will go out on Wednesday, and while you can still get an extra entry if you sign up after that date, you won't get the newsletter until the next issue comes out in April.

Today is one of those strange days. It's January 2nd, which is usually a "normal" day. But because New Year's Day fell on a Sunday, it's a holiday. But yesterday was the "real" New Year's Day. I'm confused! There's something just not "right" about not having the Rose Parade on television, not to mention the Bowl Games. But the NFL has commandeered Sundays—or so we think. But before that, back in 1890, the Tournament of Roses organizers established the precedent that it would never be held on a Sunday. Why? Because they were afraid it might scare the horses tied up outside the church. (I'm not making this up, honest. I'm not that clever. See for yourself.)

So, I'm feeling that there are probably a lot of you out there who aren't into your normal Monday routines, either. I thank you for stopping by.

While watching so many football games (or just having them on in the background—I'm not a faithful "watcher"), the repeated commercials quickly grated. While I grasp the concept that there's no way these manufacturers could create enough commercials so they're all different, hearing the same ones over and over had me hitting the mute button. The same thing happened in a couple of books I read recently.

Which brings me to "product placement" in our novels. Most of my publishers don't like using brand names. One makes its authors list every trademarked product and the page it's on so their legal department can make sure they're not going to get sued. Another goes so far as to list every single one in a "disclaimer" at the front of the book. The temptation exists to make up or avoid brand names. However, you still have to look them up in the trademark database, because a made-up name could actually be real!

In my mind, using brand names serves a purpose. They're quickly identifiable by the reader. If I refer to a "cream-filled chocolate wafer cookie" or a "doughnut shaped toasted oat cereal", you're probably going to stop, re-read, regroup, and then convert those descriptions to Oreos and Cheerios. One editor I spoke with said she'd never let "Walmart" through. She'd change it to "mega discount store". For the above reasons, I'm glad she didn't edit my manuscript for Danger in Deer Ridge. Walmart, in addition to being the only "large discount store" where the book is set, has that immediate image.

Cars are another one. I use brand names because they also say something about the character. A snazzy red sports car doesn't say the same thing to me as 'Vette or Porsche.

In When Danger Calls, my hero came into a bar and ordered "Jack". I skirted the issue and never referred to it as "Jack Daniels", but when the heroine wanted to upgrade his drink, I did refer to Knob Creek. And I asked the company if it was okay. They thought it was cool that I wanted to use their drink in the book.

In Where Danger Hides, I set a scene at Denny's. Not because it was important that it actually take place at a Denny's, but because that one word would create the right atmosphere for most American readers. Again, I spoke to Denny's legal department and got them to send permission to the publisher. They thought it was cool, too.

One caveat. If you're using something real, Don't Have Bad Stuff Happen. You don't want to have someone get food poisoning at Denny's, or have your character get drunk on Knob Creek and kill someone in a traffic accident. And definitely watch the dead bodies in real public places.

Oh – and why I started this post to begin with. I did get bugged by constant references to brand names in a couple of books I read recently. Both were cell phones. One author's character always referred to her Blackberry, and the other to her iPhone. I have a cell phone. It happens to be a Motorola Droid 3, but if I think about it in any context, it's my cell phone. Is there something special about iPhones and Blackberrys (or is it Blackberries?) that makes their owners think of them by brand name? How do you think of your cell phone? Or your car?

Tomorrow, my first guest of 2012 is Susan Paturzo, who's talking about her writing goals for the year.

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Happy New Year and Contest Recap

noreply@blogger.com (Terry Odell) — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 16:21:00 +0000

Farewell, 2011. Welcome 2012.

A few updates for the end of the year.

First, thanks to all my followers, friends, readers, "likers" and commenters. I write this blog as much for you as I do for myself. And a special thank you to those who have bought and read my books, with even more thanks to those who have taken the time to tweet, rate, or review them somewhere in cyberspace.

My newsletter is just about ready to send, and thanks again for all the feedback. There's still time to sign up so you won't miss the first issue of 2012. And I'm having an exclusive giveaway for those getting my newsletter, so if you haven't signed up, be sure to take a minute to do it now.

And my ongoing book giveaway contest … although I didn't hit all my goals, I'm still giving away books. But if you want some, you have to enter.

A recap:

I'm cleaning out overflow on my bookshelves. Some new, some gently read. Some autographed. Maybe even a 'collector's item' from my box out of print books. I'll stuff as many as will fit in flat rate priority mail box.

There are five ways to enter, and you get one entry for each:

1. Follow the blog on Google Friend Connect (sidebar)
2. "Like" the blog (sidebar)
3. Sign up for my newsletter at my website
(remember it's a 2 step process; you have to click through the confirmation email)
4. Share a recipe for my What's Cooking Wednesday
5. Share photos for my Friday Field Trips.

Send your entry to contest @ terryodell. com (remove spaces) Put "Big Giveaway" in the subject line. 1 email is enough, just tell me what categories you're entering, and I'll add your name to the list as many times as needed.

Contest entry deadline: Friday, January 6, 2012.

And don't forget the Backlist eBooks 99 cent sale. It ends Jan 8th, so don't miss your chance to pick up some great bargains from some great authors. Deadly Secrets is my sale book, but you can find others here.

Also, if there's anything you'd like to see more (or less) of on this blog, you can let me know at terry @ terryodell. com (again, remove spaces)

Have a safe, healthy, productive and Happy New Year! See you in 2012.

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Friday Field Trip - Birds (not angry)

noreply@blogger.com (Terry Odell) — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 12:00:00 +0000

I asked Jason if he had any more pictures to share. He said he'd already given me all his "good" ones and didn't have anything new. So, I dug through my hard drive and found these that he'd given me back in 2005, before he took up photography full time. I think they're just fine.

Happy New Year. Be safe.

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Fun With Rhetoric

noreply@blogger.com (Terry Odell) — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 12:00:00 +0000

What I'm reading: Surrender at Dawn, by Laura Griffen (Nook)

Many of us (not saying me, mind you) remember those grammar and rhetorical device lessons from our English classes. You know, things like analogies, metaphors, similes, and the like. Well, today, as my last "writing-related" post of 2011, I thought I'd share a fun one: paraprosdokian. Everyone could use a smile or two.

Disclaimer: Hubster sent this via email, and I don't have sources for the examples.

A paraprosdokian sentence consists of two parts where the first is a figure of speech and the second an intriguing variation of the first. They're used typically for humorous or dramatic effect.

- Never argue with an idiot. He'll drag you down to his level and beat you with experience.

- Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.

- The last thing I want to do is hurt you. But it's still on the list

- If I agreed with you we'd both be wrong.

- We never really grow up, we only learn how to act in public.

- Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit; wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.

- The early bird might get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.

- How is it one careless match can start a forest fire, but it takes a whole box to start a campfire?

- Dolphins are so smart that within a few weeks of captivity they can train people to stand at the edge of a pool and throw fish.

- I didn't say it was your fault, I said I was blaming you.

- Women will never be equal to men till they can walk down the street with a bald head and a beer gut and still think they're sexy.

- A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.

- You don't need a parachute to skydive, but you do need one to skydive again.

- The voices in my head may be fake, but they have good ideas!

- Hospitality is making your guests feel like they're at home, even if you wish they were.

- I scream the same way whether I'm about to be eaten by a shark or seaweed touches my foot.

- Some cause happiness wherever they go, others whenever they go.

- There's a fine line between cuddling and holding someone down so they can't get away.

- You're never too old to learn something stupid.

And here's a quick quiz. This is an example of another rhetorical device.
Abso-blooming-lutely (I cleaned it up a bit for this blog!)

Anyone know what the term is? If you do, email me at contest @ terryodell .com (remove spaces). Don't give it away in the comments. There will be a prize!

If I can scrounge up some pictures, there will be another Friday Field Trip tomorrow.

Meanwhile, I'd love a nice round number of followers to ring out 2011. My goal of 500 might have been a bit lofty, but goals can be revised. What about 425?

Enjoy your weekend, and be safe!

Image credit for this blog: Painting depicting a lecture in a knight academy, painted by Pieter Isaacsz or Reinhold Timm for Rosenborg Castle as part of a series of seven paintings depicting the seven independent arts. This painting illustrates rhetorics

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What's Cooking Wednesday - Ham Sandwiches

noreply@blogger.com (Terry Odell) — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 12:00:00 +0000

What I'm reading: Freaks, by Tess Gerritsen; Second Son, by Lee Child (Nook); Highlander's Curse, by Melissa Mayhue (bike)

Thanks to Jonnie for yesterdays' guest post. Series and Stand Alone is something I can relate to.

My physical therapist's office hosted an Open House, and I'd like to thank Carol Greenstreet, who enjoys poking me in the back with needles, for sharing her recipe for some yummy ham sandwiches. If you had a Christmas ham, this might be a good way to use up leftovers. If not, you can certainly find ham in the deli section of your local grocery store.

Ham Sandwiches

1/3 c butter, softened
2 T finely grated onion
3 ½ T poppy seeds
2 t Dijon mustard
2 t Worcestershire sauce
2 dozen small dinner rolls
½ lb thin sliced baked ham
8 oz package sliced Swiss cheese

Preheat oven to 325. Beat butter, onion, poppy seeds, mustard and Worcestershire sauce in a small bowl until blended. Split rolls with serrated knife; spread butter mixture on both cut sides. Place ham and cheese on bottom half of roll. Replace tops.

Place on baking sheet and bake until brown and a bit crispy on the edges.

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