Deanne's Writing World
  • Home
  • My World - blog
    • The Daily Brat
    • My writings
    • Where I've Been
  • Untangling the Knot - Field Goal Vlog
    • Training Log
    • Sneak Peak at Untangling the Knot
    • Kicking and Patriot Photos
  • The World of my Books
    • Book Reviews
    • Molto Mayhem - Favorite Italian Recipes
    • Betting Jessica's Character World
  • Author's World
  • Contact Info
  • Home
  • My World - blog
    • The Daily Brat
    • My writings
    • Where I've Been
  • Untangling the Knot - Field Goal Vlog
    • Training Log
    • Sneak Peak at Untangling the Knot
    • Kicking and Patriot Photos
  • The World of my Books
    • Book Reviews
    • Molto Mayhem - Favorite Italian Recipes
    • Betting Jessica's Character World
  • Author's World
  • Contact Info

Overheard at . . .   Starbucks

4/15/2014

0 Comments

 
“My place or yours?”

What an amazing word ‘place’ is! Webster’s definition of place has twelve parts and is far too lengthy to copy here. And though it includes such descriptions as space, atmosphere, environment, time period, social standing, it still fails to capture the entire meaning of the word.

I love writing about place. It encapsulates everything that goes into great writing: the people, the setting, the time period, the very essence of each story. Maybe it is because of this that Italy is such a simple example and wonderful place to write about.

Italy received a brief cameo in my last novel, UNTANGLING THE KNOT, but claims the entire setting for my next one. Place is so important to my writing that it is even in my tagline, Journeys Inspired by Love.

What is it about place that inspires me as a reader and a writer? It feels colorful to me, filled with food, and scenery and accents and architecture. The light is different in each location (think Picasso on the Riviera). The color of food is unique to place. I visualize the reds of pasta and wine in Italy versus the earth tones of spices in Morocco. All of these things can be used to show, rather than tell, about the place.

Of course there is also accent or language, and in this authors are cautioned to be careful. I once read a fantastic guest post on Kristen Lamb’s blog, discussing dialogue. In it the guest, revealed the challenges of writing great dialogue. One of these pitfalls is using language that pulls the reader from the story and reminds them they are reading. Some examples of this are: overuse of a single word, like an endearment, using dialogue tags other than said, and overuse of a foreign language or local slang. I can recognize myself in this last one as I’ve had to edit 40 Ciao’s (said by my Italian heroine) out of my current manuscript. (And p.s., foreign language is always formatted in italics; a lesson I learned from one, kind, rejection letter.)

Writing place takes in the scent of the foods, the color of the sky, the sound of the traffic and how to say goodbye (other than ciao.) Some of my favorite books which illustrate great use of place are-

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
Chasing Cezanne by Peter Mayle (or anything else by this author)
Around Ireland with a Fridge by Tony Hawks
Molto Mayhem (hopefully coming someday soon, by Deanne Wilsted:>)


I hope you are swept away and find yourself in a new and exciting place.

Buona Suerta,
Deanne

I am always looking for novels with a great sense of place. Do you have any good recommendations? I’d love to hear them and promise to share them! Leave me a comment and let me know.

0 Comments

Overheard at . . .   The ARCE Annual Meeting

4/7/2014

0 Comments

 
“... But maybe wait a bit before coming over to Egypt.”

I was fortunate enough to be tagging along on my (nine year old) daughter’s first ever professional conference. She’s been into Egypt for as long as I can remember. So when we saw that the national meeting of all things Egypt was coming here to Portland we knew we had to attend. At some point she saw that they were looking for student posters. And while my husband and I realized this meant Masters / PhD students’ posters, the beauty of youth is that things like that don’t matter. She wrote an abstract for her presentation and we were all thrilled when it was accepted.

So, there I was acting as chaperone, collecting business cards for her and holding her materials while she talked to specialists in the area of Ancient Egypt. Meanwhile, though, I did get to attend some sessions, albeit the ones she was most interested in. I also got to speak with some of the amazing scholars in the field… when she was done speaking with them.

Many of these people encouraged her to visit Egypt. But what was repeated over and over was, “maybe not yet.”

It would be an amazing trip, don’t get me wrong. And I certainly have spent most of my blog time lately writing about how travel can be messy. But I think this, as a mom, might just be a little too messy for me. It is one thing to concern myself over my own safety; quite another to worry about my daughter’s. Truly, I would be a complete wreck before we even made it off the plane in Cairo.

Still… as I learned more about the wonders that are there, and the wonders still left to be found, I pledged this trip would happen. I would like to be the person who can see through whatever chaos is left when the protesting settles. I would like my daughter to be this person.

For the time being, though, she will continue to build her knowledge through books and shows about Egypt. And now, thanks to the conference, perhaps also through email correspondence with some of the people whose feet are now returning to Cairo even as I write this.

Many Happy Journeys Inspired by Love.

Have you been to Egypt? Do you have a passion that has made you travel somewhere beyond reason? I love so much hearing from readers, so leave a comment and let me know about your own wonderful journeys.

Deanne

0 Comments
<<Previous

    RSS Feed

    Subscribe to my blog:

    Enter your email address:

    Delivered by FeedBurner

    About Me...

    Picture

    Deanne Wilsted

    Link here to Betting Jessica on Amazon.com

    Background - Overheard While Writing
    It's hard to explain, but 12 years ago, when I started to write seriously, the only place where I could get my work done was at Starbucks. 

    Since then, 4 manuscripts and 4 favored Starbucks later, I sill find myself drawn to a cozy corner and a half-decaf Americano.... not to mention the many friendly faces that greet me when I arrive.

    And, while I try to stay focused, there are some times when the conversations or interactions that surround me draw my attention away from my own characters, and into the world of life's own characters. 

    This BLOG captures some of those funny, sincere, inspiring moments. Maybe they will give you a reason to write as well.

    Archives

    June 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    April 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    July 2015
    May 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011

    Categories

    All
    4th Of July
    Agatha Christie
    Age
    Animals
    Anxiety
    Art
    Bath
    Betting Jessica
    Blogging
    Book Covers
    Books
    Boston
    Bullying
    Business
    Camp
    Change
    Charity
    Chocolate
    Christmas
    Covid
    Dessert
    Dogs
    Earthquake
    Egypt
    Emotions
    England
    E Pub
    E-pub
    Exercize
    Family
    Fiction
    Food
    Genre Fiction
    Goals
    God
    Government
    Gratitude
    Great Books
    Happy Hour
    Harry Potter
    Hotels
    Humor
    Inspiration
    Italy
    Jane Austen
    Kids
    Lake Tahoe
    Language
    Literary Agents
    Literary Ficiton
    Lost Dogs
    Memorial Day
    Milestones
    Military
    Molto Mayhem
    Mommyhood
    Music
    Nolables
    Obama
    Observation
    Obstacles
    Online Saftey
    Oxfam
    Parental Controls
    Parenting
    Paris
    Pets
    Poetry
    Politics
    Portland
    Promo
    Publishing
    Reviews
    Romance
    Rules
    School
    Science
    Seasons
    Senses
    Silliness
    Small Business
    Soulmate
    Sports
    Starbucks
    Stress
    Summer
    Summer Jobs
    Talents
    Tears
    Tennis
    Travel
    Untangling The Knot
    Vikingsholm
    Weather
    Weddings
    Writing

Proudly powered by Weebly
Photos used under Creative Commons from Matthew Juzenas, cumi&ciki