Using accents and dialects in dialogue
In a recent author talk, one of the audience members asked me why Two Hawks spoke English with a Scottish accent. I explained that my hero needed to speak English in order to communicate with the heroine and that using a Scottish accent in dialogue seemed reasonable since his father was a Scots fur trader. […]
Book marketing strategies
There’s more to book publishing than simply writing a book. The next step is book marketing.
All things Norwegian
Happy Syttende Mai! For those of you unfamiliar, Syttende Mai, the Seventeenth of May, is Norwegian Constitution Day. It’s the day in 1814 that the Constitution of Norway was signed at Eidsvoll, Norway. It’s (sort of) similar to the Fourth of July in the United States — without the fireworks. Flags are flown, there are […]
Happy 70th Anniversary, KELOLand
If you live in South Dakota, northwestern Iowa or western Minnesota, you live in KELOLand. “KELOLand” was the invention of KELO-TV’s founder, Joe L. Floyd. He took the new station’s “call letters” and created a brand that is still dominant today. The station will celebrate 70 years of broadcasting on May 19, 2023. That’s a milestone in […]
When the character took control
No one was more surprised than I was when my character took control of the scene in the book I’m currently writing. There I was, typing away. The scene was set. My characters were interacting, and then my heroine made an unexpected move. It sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it? I recalled webinars that discussed the possibility […]
The value of historical research in writing fiction
I’ve described Proving Her Claim as “historically accurate.” The novel itself is historical fiction, but I relied heavily on non-fiction research in the process. A statistic sparked the story: 42% of women homesteaders proved their claims, while only 37% of men successfully proved their claims. The premise for the novel was “Why did a higher percentage of […]
Typos happen
Typos happen. Whether they’re grammatical errors, missing or misspelled words, typos are the bane of every writer’s existence. That’s not an over-statement. Part of the path to publishing is hiring a professional proofreader to catch those errors. But even before that step, an editor reviews and edits the manuscript for character development, copy flow, point-of-view and a […]
Support independent bookstores
Even though Amazon sells 80 percent of all books sold in the US today, there’s something cozy about bookstores that Amazon can’t match. When you walk into an independent bookstore, you’re presented with tight aisles and shelves packed with books of all sizes, colors and topics. You can smell of the paper and (sometimes) leather covers. And […]
Pasque flowers: the first blooms of spring
The pasque flower plays a prominent role in “Proving Her Claim.” I chose it for its color and because it is one of the first signs of spring — something that we’re desperately waiting for this year on the prairie. The flowers bloom in a range of colors, from deep purple to pale lavender, and […]