Category: Writing

Yesterday I posted on The Aroma of Gasoline In the Morning. If you don’t recall that title…it’s for a very good reason. I didn’t have one! I was checking this site this morning and noticed there were a lot of views on my post from yesterday. So I thought that was pretty special…always nice when people check in and see what’s happening. Then I noticed the number on the post. What?

I’m sure all of you will agree that a title is a pretty special thing on a story. Without a title…well, you don’t know where you are going. If you write a story of any kind, or even a report, a title is good. You may even be able to get by without a cover. Your marketing may become even more difficult, but you could swing it. But a title…you need one.

A title becomes intriguing, makes you want to investigate further. Whatever your content is on your report, magazine article, or novel…you want to give the reader a clue.

So thanks to all that checked out the post yesterday, and a very special thanks to everyone that actually read it to see what it was about! One reader had asked if I was promoting people sniffing gasoline early in the morning. Uh, no, probably not a good idea. But as I replied, it has always had a strange fascination for me. Not entirely bad, but not great either. I wouldn’t want a perfume with notes of gasoline in it! Have a great Tuesday!

The post below is from Author Kristen Lamb’s blog. This post will definitely be more for the writers/editors out there, but I wanted to share it because there is SO much great information. All of us need a kick in the pants every now and then…to motivate, direct and know that there are others behind us. It works wonders. Thank you, Kristen for some great ‘kick in the pants’ posts! Enjoy…

But saying we want to go PRO is easier than knowing what one actually looks like. To be blunt, there are far more people “playing writer” than “going pro.” Even those of us …

Source: Want to Be a Successful Writer? Ten Ways to GO PRO!

Okay…I admit it…I need a full-time secretary to take care of all the duties I cannot handle! Job description: be in my office whenever I need you, take care of all computer and editing ‘stuff’ I cannot figure out and your pay will be a free meal. Alright, I may even be able to fit in a plate of cookies now and then. Any takers?

So, there it is, only about ten days after it went on Amazon…my second book!!! Our son-in-law was able to snatch that cover right out of CreateSpace and display it here and on Facebook for me. That is the church in Rubyville…or at least the one I see in my head. The little road leads to the Barton home and you can just make out the top of the gazebo that is in the park. Now that I am almost finished writing the second book in the series, A Place of Refuge, I almost feel like I live there rather than the small town we reside in. Just click on the little link above the books and that will take you to my Amazon author page. If you purchase Rubyville, you may download the digital version for free!

Notice the side bar to your right? I was able to actually organize it all on my own. I should say re-arrange, kind of like furniture, which I am actually pretty good at. The calendar on your left was added by me…that way you, and I, know what day it is! Now, I just need to do something about the mobile version of this site, because my daughters said it is really ugly. There is a way to change that…but it may take awhile. Cookies anyone?

After my system crash of a couple weeks ago and the loss of a manuscript…we decided to make some changes in my techno world. Not a good idea! As many of you know, I do not do very well with change and the computer stuff is about enough to put me over the edge. My daughter/editor basically said I needed a full-time office assistant to keep me out of trouble and protect my equipment. Something was said about me going back to a typewriter. Children…what do they know?

I do rely on my children, very heavily in the computer system department. Their fingers fly and work magic that I do not comprehend on any level. All my children and my sons-in-law have this ability. So, I am beginning to think it is a generational thing and not a problem with ‘moi’.

Anyway…I am trying again and my morning thus far has been rather frustrating to say the least. I now have a laptop for writing only…research if I absolutely have to, and a desktop for everyday writing, research, etc. I have written on a laptop for the past 6-7 years, so again, I am adjusting. As my daughter said last night, “Mom, just think about it like you used to.” Huh! Easy for her to say. I really do appreciate the larger monitor and I think I am going to really like the new keyboard…once I get used to it. My husband says I am hard on them…but I think this one will handle my frustrations. I do love the little ‘clicking’ sounds it makes.

My son and daughter said something about writing in ‘onedrive’ so it will be in a cloud and I can pull out my writing stuff whenever I need it, wherever I am. I don’t have a clue what that really means, but I think I have the format down. Actually, playing with clouds sounds kind of fun…they are so pretty and fluffy!

I think all of us desire the above title…a place to call home. We want to have something in our memory that evokes happy thoughts and pleasant scenes, remembered friends, and exciting experiences. For me, this is what I think about when I think of home. We can add love and security to that list.

This home is different for everyone, and may even be different within a family that grew up together. I had many houses while growing up, but only a few places really seemed like home. The atmosphere, circumstances and people in my life at that time all contributed to that feeling of home.

You all know by now that I mostly grew up in Colorado. It is a very beautiful place, with the soaring mountains to the west. I was there until the late 1970’s and to me that is very special because it was still rather small compared to today. The cities were not all run together, you could travel for miles in open country, just enjoying the scenery. I loved it when we would journey into the mountains and drive through old mining towns, seeming to hang from the edge of a precipice. I always imagined the people that lived in that forgotten town. They had once enjoyed a life there…marrying, burying, working, and raising families. Today, they are barely a memory because so many have passed on.

In my early teens, my family moved to the east coast. First Vermont and then New York…upstate New York. I loved the east coast and still do. The seasons are beautiful and each one unique. I was amazed at the history…300 year old houses?! I loved touring Boston and walking where so many people from my history books had also walked. We lived in Crown Point, New York for almost three years. It is a beautiful area there by Lake Champlain. So much history! The winters were cold and long with a lot of snow. We filled our time with sledding and ice-skating. My siblings even skated across Lake Champlain one winter. I thought they were crazy and didn’t follow. The ice-shanties speckled here and there probably gave a clue as to the thickness of the ice, but it wasn’t enough evidence for me!

I met my husband in the Hudson Valley area of New York. Another gorgeous place. I love the history there as well. Beautiful houses…magnificent mansions lining the Hudson River. Huge trees seem to grow everywhere, towns tucked between. My first book, ‘To Thee I’m Wed’ takes place in a fictional town in that area. So many of my memories of my home there are interlaced through that book.

So now, I arrive at my destination. We reside in Kansas and have for almost twenty years. The area we live in has hills and in the spring, red buds blossom, powdering the hillsides with pink. Cottonwoods grow along the rivers and in the spring, little white ‘puffs’ float everywhere. Some years, our yard is covered with these little ‘puffs’. Not a good thing for those that are bothered by them! This area also has much history. The houses are not as old and the state younger than some, but still very interesting.

Kansas also has its share of abandoned towns. People came here, full of expectations and hope. They built towns. Some were fairly large at one time, boasting newspapers, several churches, banks and schools. I drive through these lonely, vacant towns and wonder what it was like so many years ago. Rubyville – A Place to Call Home, was written about these towns. I always wonder who lived there, what they did, what they looked like. I would like to go back in time for just a bit and see the town as it was. This was the inspiration for my Rubyville series. Many people called these towns their home…some for their entire life. I pray I reach my goal of telling some of their stories so today we can experience just a bit of that life so long ago. No, the Barton and Langworthy families are not real. But I hope they become real to you as they experience life…just as we all do… and that transcends generations. Enjoy my new series!

To Thee I’m Wed and Rubyville – A Place to Call Home, Book 1 are both available at Amazon. Look for Rubyville – A Place of Refuge, Book 2, coming spring of 2016! I would love to hear from you and would greatly appreciate a review on Amazon. I DO want to know what you think! http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=deborah+ann+dykeman

I now have an Author’s Page on Amazon! You can check it out at the link below. At this site you can read my bio and see what books I have published. You can also link to my blog posts from there…and how easy is that? So, please be sure to take a look and let me know what you think! I LOVE your comments! Have a great day!

http://www.amazon.com/author/deborahanndykeman

There are days when I look back on all the technology we have and I am really ‘wowed’. When I was still in school, microwaves were just coming into homes…and my close-knit group of family and friends weren’t there yet! A TV dinner seemed like a pretty big thing for me!

Phones, as I have mentioned before in other posts, were still attached to the wall in most homes. You were really going places if you had a long cord and could walk around with it! Again, I was fairly impressed if I could stir a pot on the stove and talk at the same time. In one of our houses in my teen years, we still had a party line! It was cleared up shortly after we moved in, but I think it’s safe to say that the people before us didn’t have a problem with it.

Traveling across Arizona to California recalls signs posted in hotels and restaurants that they had air-conditioning. I know our car didn’t, so that was a FANTASTIC way to spend a meal or sleep. On the trip home with our lobster-red sunburns, the air-conditioning would have been even more appreciated. Many homes and even stores did not have air-conditioning.

Computers at school? Seriously! You took typing class and hit the return, most of the guys aiming for the trash can at the end of their desk. If you wrote a report, you wrote it over and over again in pen, hoping you wouldn’t make a mistake and have to start all over! I still marvel at the delete button!

We have so many items today to make our lives more easy and convenient…and I really appreciate them, most of the time. But yesterday, my laptop wasn’t on the top ten or even five list. Going off the grid, living in a small cabin by a stream, no phone, electricity, etc. was beginning to feel pretty good. (And in reality, I really wouldn’t have a problem with that once or twice a year to just get away from everything.) But, our son was able to come over and work diligently to try and figure out the problem. And to be fair, I shouldn’t say it took all day…just from 10 a.m. to around 8 p.m. Just enough to pretty much ruin the bulk of getting anything done.

The plus side…my laptop is running much quicker than it has in a very long time. It will actually keep up with my typing, now. Yes, that was extremely frustrating before! Our son showed me ways to be more efficient in using my laptop…and the joy on that one is still being considered. I really do understand what he is saying, but this old dog gets pretty stuck in her ways. But I guess I’m stretching my brain and it probably could use a little exercise. So…maybe I’ll get some writing done today and my computer won’t have to try and catch up with me! Have a great Saturday!