Category: GKP Writing News

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GKP Writing News

Finding Writing Time

Normally I reserve mornings after milking as my writing time. This summer has made that time unavailable and left me finding writing time at odd times.

Heat

Many places have had temperatures in the triple digits. Not in the Ozarks. What we’ve had are nineties and humidity almost as high. The sun has seemed to bore through me any time I go out in it.

Before noon has been the only time of day cool enough to get any outside work done. My morning typing time gave way to outside work.

Orange Cat keeping cool
My cats are trying to keep cool in the heat. Usually they spend the day outside. Now they stay indoors much of the day.

Weariness

Working outside in the heat drains energy. By the time I do one or two things, I am tired.

Warm nights with high humidity make sleeping difficult. I go to bed tired and wake up tired.

Finding writing time in the afternoons is possible. But too often I find my head down on the desk and the screen gone blank.

Writers Block

My Life’s Rules wasn’t just on hiatus. I was stymied. Somehow I needed to advance the storyline several months. Sounds easy?

The story has been going on a day by day basis which works very well for the beginning month or so. This can’t continue for several months without killing the story with trivia and boredom.

Now I know how to break and continue the story without sacrificing the storyline. Finding writing time to get it down on the computer is frustrating.

finding writing time comes after researching Dwarf Hackberry Fruits as wild edibles
Before finding writing time for The Carduan Chronicles: Ship Nineteen I need to find time to read the book on wild edible plants. The number and variety of them is amazing. This picture is from a previous year. My favorite hackberry tree has no fruits on it now. I’m checking out more of them. However, the pawpaws and elderberries are ripe now.

Carduan Chronicles

Even if I find time, it’s hard to keep going on this right now. I need to get the story another two weeks or so, but I know that it needs a major rewrite again. I’m also doing lots of wild plant research needed for the rewrite. What’s the point of continuing?

The point is getting this second in the trilogy to the same point as for Ship Eighteen. Then I can write the final book for the trilogy.

In the meantime, finding writing time is getting easier as fall temperatures make it possible to write mornings and work afternoons again.

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Wonderful Words

English is a hard language to learn. At its most basic it is a Germanic language using a Latin rule set. What saves the language is all the wonderful words it embraces.

Those words come from so many places. A large number are based on Latin. Anglo Saxon words take over for many basic names.

Then words come from all over the world, moving into the vocabulary. People make up words that become popular. Words like laser, sonar, snafu form from initials.

Inspiration for wonderful words
Goats can be a nuisance at times. They mean work many times. Their personalities and looks make those things inconsequential.

Writers Mine English Vocabulary

I suppose not all writers go looking for that perfect word, the one that describes a situation more perfectly than the common word. For me that is a waste of the treasure trove of wonderful words at my disposal.

Start with a color word like red. If you read the word red, what do you picture? Every reader can picture a different red which may not matter. If it does, red is not the right word. Perhaps auburn, crimson, brick, fire engine, rusty, blood or others would be better choices, make the reader see what the author sees.

Words Have Sounds

It’s snowing. It better not in August, but perhaps the book is set in December. I know snow comes in many forms and each has its own sound. Icy snow falling at low temperatures has a swishing, sharp sound. Warmer temperatures bring a soft, sibilant sounding snow. Close to freezing temperatures brings a snow that plops.

Alliteration is fun too both for writing, reading and speaking. Goats gallop gaily. Saanens step softly. The eight wait.

cover of "For Love of Goats" by Karen GoatKeeper
Increase your vocabulary and improve your pronunciation with this book. You might even have a few laughs. Get a free eBook copy from Smashwords with coupon code P93KK.

For Love of Goats

I love the sounds of all those wonderful words. I grew up saying tongue twisters. That is the basis of this book about some of the lighter sides of goats.

Each letter of the alphabet has a page of alliteration, tongue twisters or homonyms. Each will enlarge your vocabulary and improve your pronunciation.

The free eBook copy of this book is available through August 31, 2024, from Smashwords with coupon code P93KK. If you enjoy the book, please let others know by leaving a review on the book page or on Amazon or Goodreads.

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Nubian Goats Are Loud

It’s breeding season for my goats and I’m having a hard time remembering why I wrote “For Love of Goats”. Nubian goats are loud and breeding season is an excuse to be extra loud.

Just typing Nubian goats are loud doesn’t begin to say how loud they can be. I found out early.

Nubian buck watching for his does
Nubian buck High Reaches Augustus neglects eating during breeding season. He spends most of his time outside standing on top of the goat gym watching the pastures to see where the does are. This is when a buck smells giving people the impression goats smell bad. Only the bucks during breeding season smell bad.

Jennifer

My parents had moved to northwest Arkansas. I’d stayed behind in California until, coming home from work one night, I had an accident. Suddenly I needed to come home to recover and get back on my feet again.

Being stranded over twelve miles from town with nothing to do was frustrating. My parents had a few goats and goats are cute.

Sandy had a little doe kid. We made friends. Goat kids are demanding. When I walked the quarter mile down to the mailbox, I could hear Jennifer calling me.

Milking Time Lately

If I have this correct, the other morning Pamela, Lydia, Drucilla and Opal were all in season. They announced this loudly, continuously. Augustus put on his best display blathering and stomping.

After milking, when the goats finally went out the gate, Opal proved again that Nubians are loud. She bellowed off and on all day from pastures near and far. Augustus answered every bellow.

Maybe it’s a good thing our nearest neighbors are over a mile away.

Two Nubian goats are loud
Out in the pasture Nubian does Rose and Drucilla are looking over toward where Augustus stands. They should be eating some of the food surrounding them. But, it’s breeding season and they are in season.

Breeding Season

In colder places Nubians are like the Swiss breeds with their breeding season being the same as for deer. In the Ozarks Nubians will breed all year, although the bellowing is reserved for the fall season.

The does cycle for a couple of days about every three weeks. Since I prefer to breed the few I still breed in October, all of my does will continue to prove Nubian goats are loud for several more rounds.

Perhaps I will sit down and read some of the fun sayings and stories in “For Love of Goats” to remind myself why I put up with breeding season every year.

Get a free eBook copy of “For Love of Goats” at Smashwords with coupon code P93KK.

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Wild Edible Search

Reading about edible wild plants is one thing. Doing a wild edible search is quite another, especially during an Ozark summer.

Heat Can Be Deadly

Many parts of the country are seeing triple digit temperatures. The Ozarks hasn’t so far. However, the Ozarks has seen 90 degrees plus complicated with humidities in the 70% and more range. This makes a deadly combination for anyone out in the sun too long.

I have had some milder cases of heat stroke and it is no joke. Going out walking in the summer sun is not on my agenda.

Wild cherry is a tree which would be a problem for my Carduans. However, if you can beat the birds and other creatures to the fruit, it is rather tasty when it is fully ripe. This sets it apart from some of the other wild fruits like wild plums and wild grapes, both very sour. other Ozark wild fruits that taste all right are gooseberries, raspberries, blackberries and elderberries.

Thunderstorms

Another facet of Ozark summer weather are the thunderstorms. Usually I hear thunder off in the distance. That is warning to get ready for the goats to come in and to go inside myself.

However, there were three plants up on the hill I needed pictures of. That particular hike takes about 30 to 40 minutes. The thunder was far away. I set out.

Halfway through the hike, just before I got to the top of the hill, lightning lit up the sky and thunder cracked and rolled over me. The camera went in the plastic bags I carried in case I found chanterelle mushrooms. I backed up against a leafy tree. The rain began.

There are several such storms in The Carduan Chronicles: Ship Nineteen. Up to now my descriptions have been from observations done while sheltering in the house or barn. Standing outside under a tree is very different.

I did go back down the hill to the house. Yes, I was drenched.

wild edible search success with chanterelle mushrooms
Mushrooms appear at various times in the Ozarks. Morels in the spring. Chanterelles in the summer. Puffballs in the fall. And lots of others, safe and unsafe wild edibles. Like with all wild edibles, you have to identify it for sure before taste testing.

My Wild Edible Search

After the storm, I went back up the hill. The wild cherry fruit was ripe. Although obtaining it would be challenging for the Carduans, they are rather tasty. These are quite unlike the wild plums which are very sour.

My wild edible search has also found hog peanut and ground nut. These would be much more accessible for the Carduans. I did find ground plum in the spring, but didn’t taste it. Elderberries will be ripe soon.

This wild edible search is getting to be interesting.

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Foraging Wild Edibles

It’s getting hard to keep going on my Ship Nineteen draft as I know it needs major work again. The plus side of continuing is having a better draft of what the Carduans are doing. The negative side is how much is missing, like foraging wild edibles.

What the Carduans Accomplish

There are several major problems these survivors face. One is the need for shelter. For now, since there are so few of them, they can live in the ship and use the ledge they discovered.

Another is defense against the numerous large predators. The Carduans are snack size for coyotes, foxes, bobcats and large snakes. They are edibles for smaller creatures like raccoons, hawks and owls.

These predators are avoided as much as possible. When necessary, the Carduans have discovered a defensive weapon.

Food is another issue. For now they can hunt, fish and forage. Winter will return. They must be ready with stored food.

Red Clover flowers
I know someone who likes red clover flower tea. He gathers the flower heads, dries them and then brews tea. I’ve tasted a few flowers. They have a quick bit of sweet followed by a bit of spice. The Carduans love their morning coffee, but must find a new drink. Will this work?

Foraging Wild Edibles

Over the years I’ve learned about a number of wild plants good to eat. They include lamb’s quarters, dock, plantains, chicory, dandelions and chickweed. Some are more palatable than others.

These can’t be the wild foods the Carduans eat. Why not? Because these are mostly introduced plants that grow near human habitations, not out in the ravines and abandoned pastures.

What does grow out there? I’ve photographed lots of plants growing out in the wilder areas, but don’t know which are edible or what they can be used for.

spicebush flowers
Wild plant foraging begins early in the spring. Spicebush blooms early with spicy flowers. Later the leaves are spicy eating too. The Carduans do discover these flowers and enjoy eating them, the ones they can reach.

Doing Research

Samuel Thayer lives foraging wild edibles and has several books out about foraging. The biggest drawback is his location, far north of the Ozarks. Some of the plants, like wild rice, just won’t be found where the Carduans are.

Even so, “Forager’s Harvest” has many useful items in it. One is preparing wild grains. And some of the plants are found here too.

That leaves two items. One is finding plants accessible to the Carduans who are very small. The other is finding some of these plants and tasting them so I can give descriptions in the novel.

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Plotting Goat Shows

People seem to love showing off things and animals. Goats are no exception which means there are goat shows.

These events occur in Dora’s Story. Emily’s mother wants the recognition of winning them. The girls want to take part as members of their 4-H club. There are two big shows close to them and they attend both.

using goat shows for plotting goat shows
This is an old picture from the first Arkansas state goat show in 1981. The class is for Nubian doelings. Note the whites then the official wear for those showing goats.

Why Have Goat Shows?

I only took my goats to the local county shows. I led a couple of 4-H goat Projects and the shows were part of this.

We held the shows for several reasons. One was for the members to show off their goats. More importantly the judges could help them recognize the strong and weak points of their goats.

The public was the other big reason for holding these little shows. Many people know little about goats and many times what they know is wrong.

This isn’t their fault. Goats are fun to make fun of. Brush goats do tend to have long goatees and big horns. Goats do butt each other and other things. Horns are a great way to tear delicious bark off of trees.

Buck goats (male goats in the dairy goat world) do reek during mating season. Does (female goats in the dairy goat world) do not.

If produced properly, goat milk tastes good. It is also better balanced for human consumption than cow’s milk.

Phelps County Fair goat show
Phelps County Fair has a goat show. Back around 2006 most of the goats shown were dairy goats. This is an Oberhasli sometimes called a Swiss Alpine. Note the show clip and how the goat is set up with front feet across from each other, back feet set directly under the tail and the collar used to keep the goat’s head up, but not straining.

Dora’s Story Goat Shows

The shows in this novel are much bigger shows. I have attended several of these bigger shows as a spectator.

These shows have several goat breeds and several classes for each breed. There are showmanship classes for young goat owners.

In plotting these shows for the novel, I had to list all of the classes, all of the goats in each of the classes and the names and ages of the owners of these goats. This took at least a page of notes.

To complicate this, the same shows occur annually. They show up more than once in the novel. That meant aging the owners and their goats, adding some new owners and goats.

Much of this material was not used in the novel. Emily and her sister showed Nubians and grades only. But they did talk to many of the other owners.

Novel background notes are like that. The notes make writing the novel easier and the result better. But that doesn’t mean all of the notes appear in the novel.

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Dora’s Story Characters

It was September and I wanted a story line to write in November when the idea came. The plot would revolve around a dairy goat moving between several different owners. Then I began creating the Dora’s Story characters.

cover for "Dora's Story" by Karen GoatKeeper
After writing a number of straight plotline novels, this was very different. There was the novel plotline. Yet each of the six parts had a plotline for itself and as part of the novel one. It involved several goat shows and each of these changed as the participants got older. It took over a year to get all of it right.

Who Are They?

From the time my first goat, Jennifer, was born, I’ve met many people with goats. Others I’ve heard of. These were the beginnings of my Dora’s Story characters.

The goat would come from a small time breeder. Her first owner would be Emily. Why would this young girl get a goat? Why would she give up her goat?

This brought in her mother and sister. For the girls, the goats were 4-H projects and pets. The mother wanted the prestige of purebred goats and Dora was a grade goat.

Once sold, Dora went through several owners. Each was a composite of people. One was a bad owner. Another was ill. Finally Dora ends up with a young boy.

Going In Circles

Emily was devastated when Dora was sold. Her dream was to find Dora again. In the original draft, she does.

As years pass, people change. Emily grew up. So did Dora.

Emily wanted to get Dora back as though this would make everything like it was. Long ago I learned you can’t go back except in memories. Such an ending would not be at all realistic.

Yet, Emily did need to find Dora again. But she needed to find her beloved goat in a new time, under the new conditions.

Dora’s Story Characters

Each step of the way, Dora is a possible way to the future for each owner. Some take advantage of this. Some don’t.

We are often blind to or afraid of opportunities that come our way. They pass us by. When it is too late, we realize we went past them, now regretting it.

Carpe Diem.

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Entering Writing Contests

Entering writing contests is not my favorite thing to do. That doesn’t keep me from looking at them.

There are lots of these contests. Many have nice prizes. I know writers who do enter them and get to put “Award Winning” on their book.

Reasons For Contests

There seems to be lots of different reasons for writing contests. Publishers use them as a way to find books they might like to publish. These usually want a complete manuscript.

Writer sites are expensive to operate. They can hold contests as a way to raise funds.

Writer’s Digest magazine holds numerous contests. They seem to both promote writers and raise interest in subscribing to the magazine. Attending their writers’ conference is one of the big prizes.

Tempting Prizes

My writing budget always seems to be slim. That makes cash prizes very tempting.

Attending a conference isn’t possible for me. I self publish and, although being traditionally published is tempting, don’t really expect to go that route.

Choosing Contests

Entering writing contests can be a way for me to support a writing group. That is the main reason I do enter a contest.

My only two at this time are NaNo (National Novel Writing Month) and Arts Rolla. The first is mostly a way to write my way through a draft and isn’t a formal contest. There are supporting sponsors who offer prizes for those who meet their goals.

The latter is a local fine arts group. When I was part of a local writer’s group, now disbanded, I met many of the people involved with the group. It is an important local group.

Now I’m considering another contest. It’s put on as a money raiser for an online group. I’m new to the group and want to become more a part of it.

Facing Reality

Entering writing contests is not something I do expecting to win. When Arts Rolla awarded the first chapter of The Carduan Chronicles second place, I was shocked.

This new contest is for the first page of an unpublished novel. I have three to choose from. I would like to help support this group Great Gutsy Novelists. Are any of them good enough?

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Carpe Diem Seize the Day

Autumn Cornwell really struck a chord in “Carpe Diem” with me. I use lists a lot. Her main character, Vassar Spore, creates her life in lists of things she wants to accomplish.

My lists have a different purpose. They are lists of things to accomplish, but are tasks needing to be done rather than life goals.

In the Book “Carpe Diem”

Vassar is 16 and in stiff competition to be valedictorian for her high school class. She plans to take AP courses over the summer in pursuit of a 5.3 GPA on a 4 point scale.

Her life goals include being valedictorian, attending Vassar College, marrying a blond surgeon and writing a Pulitzer Prize book. She is a super achiever.

My Lists

To Do lists are so boring. Mine include chores, watering garden, cleaning out the barn, making cheese, cleaning house. Mundane goals for a quiet life.

My life goals are equally modest now. I want to finish a couple of books I’m working on. And I want to finally get my website organized and attracting visitors who will buy my books.

Life Intervenes

Vassar’s goals are upended with a phone call by Grandma Gerd. Suddenly her AP courses are gone as she will be in Southeast Asia for the summer.

Instead of Latin, Vassar will be writing a novel for AP credit. From the pieces put into the book, she will be rewriting and editing for years.

In addition, Vassar is trying to find out why her parents let Grandma Gerd blackmail them into sending her off for the summer. Even though she is constantly getting into trouble, usually her own fault, she does find the answer.

Carpe diem? Not these goats hiding in the barn from the horseflies.
My Nubian goats have discovered the old cow barn. Now that the horseflies are out, the herd goes out the pasture gate and straight to the cow barn to wait out the day. I see them sneak out from time to time to graze.

For me, I write in the morning just after milking. I’m awake and thinking about the plot. The other things happen in the afternoon.

Except the temperatures are now too hot to work outside by noon. So I am doing the work in the mornings and trying to write in the afternoons when I am tired, hot and wishing I could do nothing.

“Carpe Diem”

Seize the Day. Vassar is so busy making her lists, she forgets what is happening each day. How many of us do this?

It’s hard to stop trying to live in the past or the future, yet we can do neither. We can only live today. Planning is great. However, don’t let it rob you of your life.

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Writing Book Reviews

Writing book reviews is becoming big business. There are numerous websites and people who do reviews professionally.

As an author, I see lots of advice for authors. One mainstay is finding people to review your book so you can use the reviews, if they are favorable, in your book promotions.

Review Guidelines

Supposedly the author is not to pay for book reviews. This might be considered as a way to buy good reviews, deserved or not.

Amazon wants a reviewer to first purchase the book from them in order to leave a review. Since the company makes money from selling books, not reviews, this is understandable. It also makes it hard for anyone else to leave a review.

cover for "Capri Capers" by Karen GoatKeeper
Capri Capers is being offered as a free eBook this month at Smashwords with code H2X8G. This is my gift to you. Is it worth a review from you?

Review Considerations

I write book reviews. However, there are genres I am not qualified for writing book reviews as I rarely to never read those genres.

People who read only one genre might be considered good book reviewers for that genre. It also makes it harder for a new author as their book will be compared to all the other books in that genre.

Giving copies of a book to a reviewer can taint the view of a resulting review. As I don’t buy books, but borrow them from the library or pull them off my own shelves, I am limited in which books I can review. My personal stash is old, some going back fifty years and difficult to obtain any more.

Doing Ratings

Goodreads, where I post my reviews, has a five star system for rating a book. It usually suffices.

The biggest drawback in this system for me is that five stars says a book is amazing. Even three stars which should be a so so rating says I liked the book. That leaves me writing book reviews with ratings of mostly four stars.

Another drawback is that it asks for a single rating. A book can be very well written and still be one you did not enjoy, maybe even loathed. My work around is to give a second rating in the comment section.

Review Tyranny

Another big drawback to the rating/review requirement for books is how people are coerced into thinking a book with a lower rating or few reviews isn’t worth their reading time. Any book, no matter how good, has readers who don’t like the book and can lower the rating for the book.

Then there are those who read a book and leave no reviews. The author and the book are at their mercy in today’s marketplace. And the reader let them down.