Agents have very precise guidelines for submitting work for their review. If you fall down on one, say margins or page numbers or typos, the entire submission is trashed, it appears. So, in striving to meet agent requirements, not only do I strive to meet all the guidelines, but I also review what writers the agent represents, and then I read a few of those authors. I’m currently reading a very interesting mystery, however the book is fraught with mistakes and typos. This agent who requires such precision, does not require it from herself when guiding the publishing of her client’s book. I’m not mentioning any names, but do your own research before allowing an agent to represent your work. I know one I’ve taken off my list.
Yesterday, I talked to an old friend who mentioned something that her son and my son had done together when they were in their very early teens. We lived about a half-mile to a mile from a house that had a front room converted to a candy store. It was called Dolly’s. The friend reminded me that our boys would ride their bikes there, quarter in hand, to buy candy. I got to thinking what a wonderful memory and then thought about the kids today. How few have the freedom to freely ride their bike to a candy store, if such a place even exists today. When I was a child, we had a similar place called Matt’s store, where we would buy candy to sell at our backyard circus. Buy it for a penny, sell it for two. Once again, a freedom that few children have today; much less the imagination to create a neighborhood circus. I must say, I’m grateful for my childhood and the childhood of my children, that was much the same. Technology can never replace the wonder of those years.
I have the most amazing Beta readers. Not only do they find errors after 8 rounds of editing; but they also offer insights into the research behind the story. The most enjoyable part is the relationship some of them have made with one or two characters, giving humorous anecdotes regarding their position in the story, their habits, and their tastes. I used to have a thin skin about any reader’s comments, now I relish them all. Sometimes I don’t agree, but I love honest opinions. Thanks to all my Beta readers.
I’ve recently finished my latest Casey Click mystery (working title “Race For It”) but find I need more motorcycle action. I’ve watched numerous races, primarily in the location used in the book, the Isle of Man, but it’s hard to watch as a spectator and represent on paper the actual feelings of racing. I’ve interviewed one racer, but I’m not sure I’m willing to climb aboard to get a sense of those breakneck speeds. Any suggestions?
I invited my good friend Amy to visit our cabin. She was 98. After my husband went to bed, she and I sat on the screened porch and talked. She said she wanted to tell me a story, and boy did she. I had known her for at least 20 years and never knew so much about her. I started writing the book but it’s been a tough road. It’s hard to relate to so many different aspects of her life, and even more difficult to describe in writing. I’m sad to say I did not complete the book before she passed at the age of 102, but I will continue, working from the many notes of our conversations. I miss you, Amy.
Just reread this review and thought I’d share it.
5.0 out of 5 stars A novel that satisfies on many enjoyable levels
Reviewed in the United States on February 16, 2022
It’s both comforting and inspiring to read ICE FLIGHT, a book where the Cool Guys turn out to be the Science Nerds (and not the Snarky Characters, as they are in too many nihilistic novels). This novel kept me reading and reading to its highly satisfying and inspiring conclusion!
I’m truly LOVING the fascinating science factoids throughout this book… the many new words (new to me, anyway) like sastrugi, jumbo ittai, Russell’s Gletcher (a glacier that advances 82 feet a YEAR, astonishing and downright frightening in many ways)… as well as new fun facts like the literal ‘inner heating’ of a very cold glacier… and the 10 polar bears who trapped a group of scientists in Russia for two weeks (true story, I’m assuming?)
Glad to hear a corroboration of my own opinion about black bears, that they’ve become more like juvenile delinquents these days due to many factors. (I remember hearing, back in my younger days: “Oh, don’t worry about coming upon black bears in the woods, because they are more afraid of YOU than you are of them.” But not so anymore…. )
I didn’t know that immersion in ice could cause human mummification either…. well, except for the Ice Man of northern Italy, found along a high alpine ridge where old snow had melted away. It was very poignant reading about the child sacrifices among the Inca in ancient days (the capachocha)… also, very fun reading about ‘swing’ dogs and ‘wheel’ dogs…
I’m also glad to read the most BALANCED view of climate change I’ve seen in ages… so very refreshing to read and agree with.
ICE FLIGHT is a novel that satisfies on many enjoyable levels. Try it, you’ll definitely enjoy it, and feel good about Life (and yourself) at its conclusion.
Haunt your holiday with a new book. Join Casey and her friends when Kit decides to draw down the moon in the Souls On Board series by Susan Egner. Find it on Amazon or her website, www.egnerink.com
There were once over 50 burial mounds in St. Paul before the construction of the city destroyed most of them. Seven have been preserved. There’s a large burial mound in the northern part of Minnesota. It’s said that it was once as high as a two-story building. Ignorance and greed caused it to be ransacked and partially destroyed. In some of my research, I read that over 300 bodies have been returned to their original burial place. What’s fascinating is that burial mounds can be found all over the world. Some are thirty-eight miles long, and others are built as an effigy to a muskrat, bear, or something else; this is without backhoes and tractors, folks.
You may be surprised to read that over three thousand people get lost yearly in our National Forests, and you may be relieved to hear that most are found. Those unharmed are called Saves. Then others are found, injured, or deceased by natural causes; heart attack, fatal injury from a fall, etc. But, at the end of calculations, say in the year 2014 for instance, over 700 were still missing. I haven’t seen anything on the news; have you?
In researching the Laurel people, I found that they made burial masks for their deceased. Legend has it that the masks helped them find their spiritual self. Seems like the dark ages? Not true; consider that Abe Lincoln, Stalin, Dillinger, and even a beheaded queen had burial masks. Eek, was the head still attached? And you can, too. People today can make burial asks of their faces, or whole bodies, way before death. Kind of like Roy Rodgers’ Trigger, except you, won’t have to stuff it.