Friday Freebie: Carole Brown & The Redemption of Caralynne Hayman

Bet you thought I forgot all about Friday Freebies! Life has been very busy, but today, I'm happy to welcome back Carole Brown, author of The Redemption of Caralynne Hayman. Carole has always been very generous when it comes to promoting other authors and commenting on their blogs, and I am delighted to be able to return the favor.

Carole is also a good sport. Instead of traditional interview questions, she agreed to try something different. Read on for some insights into not only Carole's novel, but into Carole as well.

5 reasons to read The Redemption of Caralynne Hayman

Everyone needs to awaken to the true horror of abuse. It exists and I believe everyone should be in the place where they can encourage and/or offer hope to those hurting ones with whom we come in direct contact. 

Life is about more than just fun and games although I love having fun and being entertained at times. I think there needs to be a balance in our lives and for the purpose of this list: seriousness and happiness. Existing on one or the other seriously damages us. A steady diet of pie, cookies and cakes will eventually cause health issues. A steady diet of partying, laughter, jokes and high living will seriously hinder us in our daily lives (unless perhaps we’ve taken up the career of being clowns? Lol) 

You’ll enjoy reading how one scared, but courageous woman takes a stand against the wrongs in her life. You’ll capture the hope shining throughout the book and see the triumphant victory God has when we turn our lives, our dreams, and even our fears and sins over to him.

You’ll bless an author! Authors love readers and fans of their books. It’s an ultimate blessing to our lives to read a great review, to read how it blessed your heart, or to know it encouraged someone. Readers are wonderful!

You gain a new favorite author! Lol. I’m just kidding in a way. Seriously though, every author dreams of having many faithful readers, and I’m no different. Hopefully, you will enjoy The Redemption of Caralynne Hayman, and we’ll both profit! 

4 things Carole loves about the company of writers

Fellowship with likeminded creatures! What fun to talk all you want about writing to those who understand and “get it” because writing is a big part of who they are!

No writer will give you looks because you talk of killing off someone or fighting with the hero. What fun to feel “safe” to kill off whomever you want, to cause fights to happen to those you know, or to create strange events--to your characters. And to have other writers encourage and cheer you on! Lol

I always come away revitalized and excited to begin another section of a book I’m working on. It’s almost as if fuel has been added to this “car.” I’m ready to go after visiting with other writer friends. 

Brainstorming. I can always count on someone to come up with a suggestion that will help me over a slump in my writing! Most writers experience it, and writing friends are a big help in this area--normally. 

3 things every aspiring author should know about launching a book

Do your research ahead of time. Don’t wait until your book has released to start asking for reviews, interviews, guest blogs, good places to advertise with. The more you research and learn before the big day arrives the happier and more peaceful you can be.

It’s hard work! Be prepared to ignore things in your life you previously enjoyed--for a time. Be prepared to ramp up long hours at answering questions, filling in forms, writing guest blogs, and a million other things that require getting your name out there. Be prepared to spend money. Most authors find that spending money to sell your books is a necessity whether it’s for advertising and/or gas and food for traveling to events and opportunities. 

Enjoyment!  Look for the satisfaction of having your “baby” born. Happiness, peace and joy comes from knowing you’ve created a piece of yourself, that you’ve woven words from your imaginationto form a document called a novel. Relax in the knowledge and get all the pleasure you can (because next on the list is getting that next masterpiece started and completed. Lol)

2 fictional characters Carole loves

From my novels? Then here goes:

Caralynne Hayman, from The Redemption of Caralynne Hayman, my debut novel, is so full of courage, although she can’t see it, and love for her daughters, that I can’t help but cheer her on. She could be any woman who’s ever faced darkness in her life. Having fear does not mean we’re not courageous, but letting that fear conquer us does.

In one of my historicals, the first in a three-book series set in WWII, the oldest daughter, Emma Jaine Rayner, is a strong woman determined to help not only her father but to guide her sisters in the way they should go--according to her. She’s such a spunky, fun character, very lightly based on my mother, that I totally enjoyed writing about her. She’s a red-headed fireball that runs smack dab into the middle of a spy. 

1 thing Carole is thinking of writing next:

Only one?

How about this? I’m trying to finish a fun, lighthearted, suspenseful historical novel set in the late 1800s --a new time period for me. Destiny Rose (named after my husband’s niece’s baby daughter who passed away) is the funnest, flirtiest, drive-you-mad character I’ve created. She’s just got to have her way even if she runs right into the chest and arms of withdrawn Michael McCallaugher. But then with gold, a missing man man named Caleb, and her traitorous heart involved, what else can she do but seek for answers?

As the end of my first semester of teaching at the college level runs head-on into both Christmas preparation and book launch preparations, I'm finding it hard to get to this blog I've worked so hard to maintain. Sitting here this morning, trying to come up with a topic for this post (teaching? Christmas? book launch? the clutter that results when they collide?), I did what I usually do -- I procrastinated by going onto Facebook.

But today, what greeted me was inspiration. A little boy who lives in my town, and who goes to  school in a neighboring district was featured on the Today show. And since his actions speak for themselves and offer a bit of optimism on a gray December day, I decided to share the video here.

Cop out? Maybe a little. But after seeing this video, I can't imagine writing anything here today that's more powerful than the simple action begun by this little boy. And I can't think of anything that's more in keeping with the spirit of this season than kindness.

http://www.today.com/video/today/53733368/#53733368

An Attitude of Gratitude

www.facebook.com
30-Day Thankfulness Challenge

I have friends who did a great job posting gratitudes on Facebook this month. I took one look at the title of the project ("30 Days of Thankfulness") and -- for once -- opted not to take on one more thing, especially since it required a daily post I was likely to forget about at least once.

That's not to say I'm not grateful for all of the blessings in my life, or that I don't express that gratitude. And today, the day before Thanksgiving, seems to be a good day to be grateful for all of my blessings -- especially those that come in disguise.

So here, in no particular order, are some "blessings" I've noticed in my house today. I may not always appreciate them on a surface level, but I do appreciate their hidden meanings.

• I don't always appreciate the faint smell of smoke that lingers in my house after one of my culinary adventures....but I'm grateful for the electricity that powers the traitorous stove, and the fact that I'm able-bodied enough to fend for myself.
• I don't always appreciate the piles of laundry that greet me on a daily basis...but I'm grateful for clothes to wear and linens that help me stay warm and dry.
• I don't always appreciate the volume or content of the noise that fills my house when my family is here...but I'm grateful for the love and the company of the people who make the noise.
• I don't always appreciate the fact that burning the candle at both ends leads to my sometimes running out of steam in the middle of the day...but I'm grateful for a schedule that allows me to relish a nap and recharge when I need to.
• I don't always appreciate the stacks of papers sitting on my dining room table, waiting for me to grade them....but I'm grateful for the opportunity to teach, influence and be productive.
• I don't always appreciate the clutter (most of it mine) that litters the surfaces in my home....but I'm grateful for the busy, full life that it signifies.

Happy Thanksgiving. Wishing you many blessings -- in disguise and otherwise.

Excising the Errors

Two weekends ago, I was mired in edits. I'm not complaining. This is the sort of thing that comes with the territory if one is fortunate enough to get a book published.

When I told my critique group that my editor had shone a light on all of my bad habits, one of the members asked me if I was willing to share what those habits were. And thus, a blog was born. (Thanks, Anne!)

Bad habit #1: Too many character crutches. I had no idea my characters spent so much time sighing, nodding and shaking their heads. My critique group caught these gestures when they were repeated within a chapter, but with a month between meetings (and a novel written in alternating points-of-view), I sometimes got away with it when characters disappeared until the next even (or odd) numbered chapter....at least until my editor got her hands on my manuscript.

http://www.quickanddirtytips.com

Bad habit #2: Point-of-view slips. As the author envisioning the characters from both the inside and the  outside, I had complete access to their thoughts, feelings, gestures and facial expressions. But as soon as I stepped inside one character and told the story from her viewpoint, I could no longer look at things from the same perspective. Regardless of how tempting a visual is, if my point-of-view character can't see herself do it (widen her eyes, for example), I can't put it on the page. I know this...yet somewhere between knowing it and dreaming up my characters' reactions, I lost sight of this rule and these reactions snuck onto the page.

Bad habit #3: This, then that. Okay, I have to be honest here. I still don't understand this one. I just know that I had to fix it. A lot. Sometimes it had to do with a comma. Sometimes, it was a mystery. Enlightened readers, please enlighten me if you understand the reasoning behind this one.

Bad habit #4: The dreaded -ly adverbs. Again, I know better. I thought I'd killed off most of them, only to find a bunch of them nesting in a single paragraph. Apparently, I had not been brutal enough. Either that, or sheer proximity allowed them to reproduce. Yeah. I'm going with that one.

Bad habit #5: Anything other than "said" as a dialogue tag. At one point, one of my characters chirped. Excising that one was a piece of cake, but leads me to....

Bad habit #6: Clichés. I'm happy to say this one was the least of my worries. I'd sent most of them packing before dinosaurs ruled the earth, but a few did manage to slip by me.

It's humbling to have someone else look at your work and give his or her opinion...and it's downright embarrassing to be caught in mistakes you know better than to have made in the first place. Thank goodness for critique groups and eagle-eyed editors who can take a step back, give you a nudge and look the other way while you blush and fix it because without them, our work would stagnate.

http://www.quickanddirtytips.com

I'd like to believe that I can now eradicate these errors, making my first drafts stellar, but it appears that knowing something is a problem is only part of the process. So, I suppose all I can hope for is fewer occurrences...

...and ongoing relationships with good editors.

Just Fifteen Minutes

flylady.net

One of the many places I visited (and still visit from time to time) in my never ending quest for an organized life is the Fly Lady site. Although Fly Lady and I have different styles, I have to give credit where credit is due. Both the site and her plans are very comprehensive; she has wonderful, workable ideas for keeping life neat and organized.

A key piece of advice I took from her site was the simple idea of spending just fifteen minutes a day on a task. When I am feeling overwhelmed that is often my go-to strategy.

And "overwhelmed" definitely describes the past few weeks. November has been a busy month, filled with trips and events that have been wonderful, but those things have also edged out necessary tasks. The clutter wars (from which I emerge victorious only about 50% of the time anyway) have been more brutal than ever, accumulating writing projects, class paperwork and various and sundry bits of mail as ammunition against which, based on a quick visual assessment of my house, I appear to be powerless.

Finally, today I faced a calendar with few outside commitments. Since I teach on Tuesdays and Thursdays, Fridays are my day to write guilt-free -- the need to plan a lecture, grade papers or create a quiz or rubric is less pressing, and I can focus on writing projects (not the least of which was FINALLY posting here) with a clear head and a clear conscience.

Unfortunately, the clutter in my house was calling me almost as loudly. Although my writing is more important to me than a neat house, I live with other people who have different priorities. Consequently, when the house gets to the point where it's distracting me, it's time to take action.

But give up my quiet, undisturbed writing day? I don't think so. Obviously, this called for a plan that struck a balance. It was time to take Fly Lady's advice -- or adapt it, anyway.

My strategy? Polish off a writing task, then spend fifteen minutes tackling the the clutter. Then, back to my desk.

I've used this "fifteen minutes method" so many times I don't know why it still surprises me how much I can get done in a that small block of time if I stay focused, but it amazes me every time. I pick an area, set the timer and get to work. In the first fifteen minute block, I cleared off most of my desk, unearthing a broad enough expanse of clear space to inspire a sigh of relief. The next block found me unpacking a Thirty-One box so I could get the contents delivered before the weekend.

It's amazing how much peace of mind an expanse of empty space on my desk inspires.

It's almost as good as posting a long-overdue blog.

The Art of Teaching

After twenty-seven years in education, I thought I was pretty knowledgeable about working in a classroom. And though I headed into fall semester teaching at the college level with some degree of trepidation, I didn't doubt my ability to deliver information. And nearly a full semester later, I still don't.

But not surprisingly, this semester has taught me a few things as well. How to use the projector that connects to my laptop so that my Keynote slides project onto the screen. How use the college email system and upload information so that my students can access it on their computers. How to send quizzes remotely to the print shop so they're ready when I need them.

But these are practical, everyday things. The most important things I've learned have to do with the art of teaching.

wikipedia.org

Reaching out to college students is dramatically different from reaching out to elementary school students. While elementary school students are all about nurturing, college students are all about independence, and by the time a new professor makes a connection, the semester is half gone.

In my class of 29 students, more than 25 are education majors -- students preparing to enter the field I just left. Jobs are scarce, and scoring one will be, for some, a Pyrrhic victory as idealism slams into the realities of teaching in the twenty-first century.

So, while I want my students to learn the subject matter in my class (an elective), I also want them to be prepared. I set my standards high and kept them there. And some of my students are struggling.

It would be easy to just shrug and place the responsibility entirely on them. They are, after all, on the cusp of entering the real world.

It would also be easy to lower my standards -- to consider that I might be expecting too much -- but I think that does them a disservice.

There is an art to achieving student success. Despite legislation to the contrary, all students do not learn in the same way, nor do they demonstrate their knowledge in the same way. Some of my students write beautifully or give insightful answers in class, but consistently fail to make the correct choices on multiple choice quizzes.

It's my responsibility as their instructor to give them a variety of avenues through which they can demonstrate their mastery of the information -- and to show them that this is a viable option.

When I laid out the syllabus for the semester, I thought I had planned diverse assessments, but as the semester progressed, I discovered that more options were needed. And so, throughout the semester, I made changes.

At first, I worried that this made me look as though I didn't know what I was doing. And while I'm sure it does look that way to some of my students, I would much rather be flexible and meet their needs than be rigid and watch them fail. And since I am teaching tomorrow's teachers, I think it's important to let them see that blind adherence to standards is not always the only option.

Along the way, I've also made some odd observations. Rainy days are tough, and rainy Thursdays are tougher. If I give them a quiz on a rainy Thursday, they are lost to me for the rest of class.

And so it is always about two things: reaching them (which is especially tough on a rainy Thursday) and keeping in mind what it is I want them to learn. I don't want them to memorize concepts and spit them back to me -- though I know this is as far as some will come. I want them to understand how the subject matter relates to their future as teachers and, maybe someday, parents. I want them to grasp not just the concept of child development, but its importance because I know from bitter experience that preserving the childhood that enhances development is an enormous struggle in a profession focused on one test score.

safekidskansas.org

I don't expect them to love every class, every concept or every theorist, and I don't expect them all to like me. But I want them to walk away with the notion of what childhood should look like so that they can -- against all odds -- preserve it in their little corner of the world as teachers and as parents.

Is that too much to ask?

The Lure of New York

New York is noisy. Funny, but I don't remember noticing that before. On this trip, though, I was more aware of the noise, especially at night. Sirens and large trucks lifting dumpsters which in turn clanged and banged like Oscar the Grouch having a temper tantrum  -- sounds I didn't seem to remember hearing as we traipsed through the city during the day, but which seemed to emerge unbidden right around bedtime.

My daughter didn't take her first trip to New York City until she was almost thirteen -- a one day, bus trip whirlwind with the obligatory Radio City Music Hall show. Other trips soon followed, and now, three years later, she has seen two Christmas shows at Radio City Music Hall, two Broadway shows and countless sights. She has seen the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Plaza and explored the interior of the New York Public Library. She has skated in Bryant Park and watched the big piano demonstration at FAO Schwartz (although she refuses to pose with the toy soldier at the door). She knows which restaurants she wants to go back to, which sights are worth seeing again, and which not-yet-seen destinations top her wish list for future trips.

Artwork by Willard Bond on 50th Street

This trip, we spent much less time in Times Square, and we spent our last few hours exploring the area around the United Nations. Having failed to get tour tickets ahead of time, we settled instead for photo ops outside the gate and from the park across the street in Tudor City. A history buff, my daughter had nearly as much fun tracking down consulates and photographing flags as she did seeing a show, and not only did I enjoy watching her and her friends, I was glad to see a part of the city I hadn't seen before.

As always with a trip to NY, we come home with a list of "glad we did that" items and its companion: the "I wish we'd had time to do that" list. Somehow, the Empire State Building never seems to make the cut, and while Ground Zero usually tops the list, it's so far removed from both where we stay and where we spend most of our time that we never quite make it there.

This trip, we took stock of everyone's first choice destination over lunch on Saturday, so in addition to seeing Newsies and ice skating in Bryant Park (both of which we'd planned ahead of time), we shopped at both Macy's and Niketown, ate pretzels on the benches in Central Park, stopped in a variety of Starbucks locations (I had a partner in crime on this trip) and, as usual, walked for miles through  familiar territory (Fifth Avenue) and new areas (the Diamond District).

I'm happy to say that by the end of the day yesterday, we had fit everyone's top choice in, with time to spare for new explorations this morning. Still, no matter how long we stay, I always leave wishing we'd been able to stay a little longer.

www.un.org