Category: GKP Writing News

End of Year Book Race

Post author By Karen GoatKeeper
Post date December 15, 2023

Each January I set a reading goal on Goodreads. For several years that goal has been seventy books. There is always temptation to increase it, but the December end of year book race squelches it.

The goal was seventy books again this year. I have been running a book or two ahead of the number Goodreads thinks will meet that goal all year. However, I still have three books to do and two weeks left in the year.

Is This Doable?

Of course the goal is doable. I set the goal to be obtainable. It’s a good feeling to actually accomplish one goal for the year.

At present I’m reading two books, “Sixteen Tons” and “The Cat Who Said Cheese”. Both have fewer than a hundred pages left to read in them.

Two more books are waiting. “The Christmas Pony” seems made to order for a horse crazy person like me. And a new book at the library is “Octopus, Seahorse Jellyfish”, appealing as I grew up near the ocean and studied it in University.

Desperate Measures

Life happens. Last year turned into an end of year book race that seemed unwinnable.

Then I turn to picture books. Now, I do read these all year, but rarely list them on Goodreads.

Picture books are very short and that messes up my average page count on Goodreads. And I rarely check these books out. Instead I stand in the children’s section to read one or two before heading off to do errands. There are several on my book shelf at home for when I want to relax or destress.

Next Year?

Even though this December doesn’t seem to be turning into a frantic end of year book race, I will leave my goal at seventy books next January. It’s a comfortable goal and it’s nice to have something a little challenging, but not out of reach.

Tags reading goals

GKP Writing News

Social Media Headache

Post author By Karen GoatKeeper
Post date December 8, 2023

My internet time is very limited and I’m not interested in joining the social media sites except for Pinterest. Unfortunately I now have a social media headache.

Life’s Rules Plotline

Stephanie Taylor, the main character, is estranged from her children. She would like to reconnect, but doesn’t know how.

Somehow I ended up with her finding their Facebook pages to find out more about her children’s lives and her grandchildren, the ones she’s only seen at Christmas for years. This is plausible as far as I know. I’ve heard many people say they keep up with their families through Facebook.

However, I am not on Facebook and do not wish to join. This is the basis of my social media headache.

Research

I vaguely remember I could visit Facebook pages, just look at them, by typing in the address or doing a search for the person. This works for the library Facebook page. It worked for a cousin with a business.

The big difficulty is the time it takes to blunder along trying to do this. The next step seems to be to ask someone with a Facebook page more about it.

That leaves me back with my social media headache. Whom do I know who would be willing to do this?

In the Meantime

After November, I tend to goof off for a week or two. I opened up my ebook revision for the Pumpkin Project.

cover of "The Pumpkin Project" by Karen GoatKeeper — This was one of my first books. I now have trouble finding where all the pictures, puzzles and other images are. Record keeping is very important in writing not only for writing a novel, but for writing a series or for doing later rewrites.

This takes me to a different set of headaches. The print file is huge, over 96 MB. It needs to come down to under 25 MB.

So far my line of attack is to resize all photographs, some of which are very difficult to find after many years. I’m also removing page breaks, page numbers, tabs, section breaks and extra spaces.

It is working a little. I’m down 10 MB. There are still 140 pages to go to keep me occupied while I solve my social media headache so I can complete Life’s Rules.

Tags doing novel research, writing novels

GKP Writing News

Finishing NaNo

Post author By Karen GoatKeeper
Post date December 1, 2023

Life’s Rules is not done. Yes, finishing NaNo did happen, but not with a completed draft. Difficulties arose.

The Idea

Before November, I made out a bullet list of the major scenes I expected to occur in my nove Life’s Rules. And the first fifteen thousand words went according to plan.

Then the novel took a sharp turn. The bullet list became obsolete. Even though the novel still moved in the same general direction, the route had changed.

Hated Timelines

This novel draft was supposed to move from beginning to end with little deviation. Finishing NaNo with a rough draft seemed a sure thing.

Instead I ended up with a different novel, one requiring a timeline. And I didn’t have one. I blundered on for thousands of words until the novel began to look like a disaster happening in slow motion.

Solution

There were three possibilities. One was to abandon the whole thing, write something else. That wasn’t what I wanted to do.

A second was to continue with the disaster I was working on. The ending draft might be over the fifty thousand words, but it would be a mess requiring months of work and rewrite to straighten out.

This alternative was not attractive. I don’t mind doing rewrites. I do mind doing unnecessary rewrites. And this would be one.

That left the third alternative. I started back at the beginning and did a rewrite of the twenty-three thousand words I’d completed.

This time I put in the timeline. It meant adding some new material and deleting other scenes. Some got altered to fit into the timeline.

cover for "Broken Promises" by Karen GoatKeeper — This was my first attempt to complete NaNo. I had an idea. I had a bullet list. And it all went wrong. Unlike this month, I kept slogging on and ended up with 50,000 words I totally discarded. It wasn’t until several years later I revisited this novel idea and wrote “Broken Promises”.

The Result

I ended up finishing NaNo with half a draft. It isn’t completely right. It needs another thirty or forty thousand more words to finish the draft. This can be done in December.

Perhaps I did break an unwritten rule of NaNo of not editing. However, I ended up with half a draft of workable prose.

Tags editing novels, National Novel Writing Month, rewriting novels

GKP Writing News

Writing Loneliness

Post author By Karen GoatKeeper
Post date November 17, 2023

Writing is considered a solitary occupation. A writer sits in front of a computer or typewriter or has pen and pad in hand. Loneliness is part of the occupation, or is it?

A recent article in “Science News” magazine reveals scientists are taking another look at loneliness and its causes. It is no longer considered as the same as being alone.

What Is Loneliness?

Anyone who suffers from loneliness can tell you about being in the center of a room full of people, yet they are still alone. At other times a peron can be alone as off walking in the woods or sitting at a computer and not be lonely.

Although present measures of loneliness don’t touch on this, the key seems to be connections. If a person feels connected to a group, pets or a place, that person is not lonely.

Hopes, Dreams and Reality cover — Mindy is left with no phone to call anyone and no road to drive out to town. She is alone except for her livestock and cat. This could be a recipe for loneliness to strike.

Writing Loneliness

In my recent novel “Hopes, Dreams and Reality” the main character is cut off from everyone she knows. She is left alone for the first time in her life. Yet, she depends on her goats and cats for companionship. This keeps her from sinking into loneliness most of the time.

“Life’s Rules” has a main character who has cut herself off from everyone. She lives in the midst of a neighborhood, yet knows no one. She walks to town for groceries and library books, knows the people there, yet doesn’t know them.

Her life revolves around travel books and language tapes. These give her that sense of connectedness so she isn’t lonely until she makes a connection with another person.

Mira Cat always seems to be criticizing the world, but she is a loyal companion. She naps in my computer room, comforts me when things fall apart, destresses, counters loneliness and demands I pay attention to the important things in life: food and sleep.

Describing Loneliness

Most people have had that empty longing we call loneliness at one time or another. It isn’t a pleasant feeling, one we try to avoid.

When writing about such a feeling, a writer deliberately recalls the feelings. These are described in writing. And the aftermath colors the day afterwards.

Then writing is not only solitary, but lonely.

Tags emotions in writing, novel writing, using experience in writing

GKP Writing News

Meet At the Laundromat

Post author By Karen GoatKeeper
Post date November 10, 2023

Many years ago I was asked to clean the local laundromat one day a week. As I washed my laundry there, I was already at the laundromat, so why not? Now you can meet At the Laundromat to find out more about this interesting and necessary place.

Any business, especially those open to the public, need cleaning every day. In this case, dirt, hair, dryer sheets, spilled detergent and softener along with bits of paper and spilled food make cleaning essential.

Behind the Scenes

People come into the laundromat with their baskets or bags of laundry, stuff them into a washer to wash, a dryer to dry, fold them up and cart them home again. Sometimes friends meet at the laundromat. They take the place for granted.

Find a topic, start gathering ideas and taking pictures, and a picture book seems to write itself.

At the laundromat I work at, there is the water softener to tend to, any broken machines to fix, change to put back into the machines after getting it out of the washers and dryers. All of that just keeps the place working.

Cleaning is what makes the place a good place for people to come into. Dirt and lint mount up fast. All kinds of things get left in the machines and must be taken out. Do you clean out your pockets before washing your clothes? Lots of people forget.

Folding clean clothes on tables sticky with spilled soda, coffee or mustard defeats the purpose of washing them in the first place. Washing clothes in a machine filled with animal hair doesn’t do much good either.

Using a Laundromat

People think this is easy. Easy until their quarters get stuck. Frustrating when a machine doesn’t work right. Efficient until they find some of their clothes disappeared.

At the Laundromat I work at, these problems do occur. The first is carelessness when feeding quarters into the slots. The second takes a phone call to use a different machine for free. The last takes better checking inside the machines to find clothes hidden inside.

Surprise Gift

Yes, I wrote this little picture book as a surprise for the laundromat owners as they are special people. But it wanted to be more than that. I hope it is.

Tags picture book, using a laundromat, working at a laundromat

GKP Writing News

Reviewing the Pumpkin Project

Post author By Karen GoatKeeper
Post date November 2, 2023

I try to keep several copies of each of my books in case someone wants to purchase one. Getting ready to order more, I am reviewing the Pumpkin Project.

Another reason is to look over the pumpkin cookie recipe. The three sugar pie pumpkin vines were very prolific and pumpkin cookies are my fall indulgence.

Wandering Down Memory Lane

This was my first science activity book. I’ve had to revise and edit several times already as I learn more about constructing puzzles.

This book also introduced me to the world of giant pumpkins. The growers I met both in person and by email were very interesting people. A pumpkin weigh in is a great place to be that first weekend of October.

Massive File Size

In reviewing the Pumpkin Project this time I did find a few grammar mistakes, some misspellings, mior things. What really impressed me is how big the file is for this book. I started wondering why it is so big, which is why I haven’t been able to make a digital version.

All of the pictures in this book are at 400 dpi. In the City Water Project, the images are only 300 dpi and print fine. And, even though this science activity book is half the length, it is one fifth the size.

Future Plans

I would like to have a digital version of the Pumpkin Project. For now I will keep the massive file to have more of these books printed.

The images can be resized to 300 dpi a few at a time. It won’t take a lot of time to do a few each day. I’m starting with the Investigations.

In reviewing the Pumpkin Project, I’ve accomplished several things. I corrected some minor problems and found the possible reason I’ve never been able to create a digital version. Perhaps I should review some of my other books.

Tags botany experiments, science activity book, science experiments, science projects

GKP Writing News

My Book Signing

Post author By Karen GoatKeeper
Post date October 27, 2023

Scheduling a book signing in the fall is difficult. So many other things are going on. My book signing had a lot of competition.

Our Ozark Natural and Cultural Center has recently been painted with beautiful natural and people scenes. It’s grand opening was that day along with an arts and crafts affair behind it, the Pumpkin Days sale by the Ozark Arts and Craft Guild.

Why That Saturday?

I had thought about having my book signing the Saturday before. But I wasn’t sure the books would arrive on time.

There was the next Saturday. But that is up against all kinds of Halloween and other fall events.

My book reading was held in the children’s section of the Salem Public Library shown behind the book display.

Measuring Success

The easy way would be counting how many people came. For most people my book signing would be a flop as fewer than a dozen people came.

I look at it as a success. The three little girls had a good time listening to me read the story and show the pictures of “The Little Spider”.

Several people came by to purchase a copy of the book. And some copies of “Waiting for Fairies” sold as well.

What Would I Change?

Nothing. Well, some things. I could do a better flyer. And getting the book done sooner would help a lot as I would have more leeway in scheduling my book signing date.

The type of book makes a difference too. Picture books lend themselves to doing book readings. Parents enjoy bringing their children to such an event.

Novels are different. Unless I become much better known, I doubt a book reading event for a novel would draw many people.

A little goat graces one end of my book display to call attention to the five books by Karen GoatKeeper involving goats.

Next Year?

Yes, I’m making plans for next year. They may not happen, but they just might.

My book signing success was because of the book reading. So, I want another book reading. That means another picture book of some kind.

Opal and Agate: Partners In Adventure is coming up.

Tags book marketing, finding a book audience

GKP Writing News

Writing Press Releases

Post author By Karen GoatKeeper
Post date October 20, 2023

Having a book signing/reading is no fun, if no one comes. Since this is a smaller town, I put up flyers. And I practiced writing press releases for the local paper.

What Is in a Press Release?

Having never really written a press release before, I wasn’t sure. I have read a few in the local paper and in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch Sunday edition.

They seemed mostly to say what was happening and something about the author. So I tried writing a short piece with those things in it.

How Long?

When I called the local paper, the person on the phone said they would fit something in, trimming what I wrote to fit. That sounded like a short piece which is 300 to 400 words to me.

So I wrote a 400 word piece. It was hard to do as I was talking about me. And I sent it in.

Authors write books. Readers read them, if they know about them. Writing press releases is one way to let readers know about the books an author writes.

What Happened?

The paper wanted only 300 words. So someone cut out 100 words.

I expected that. What I didn’t expect is how they were cut off. The person did not read the piece, just hacked things out so some parts of it didn’t make sense.

What I Learned

Writing press releases is not easy for several reasons. One is writing about myself. I can get past that by pretending to write about someone else.

Another is making sure all of the important information is given right at the beginning. That part is not cut out.

The third thing I learned is to edit the piece myself down to 300 words. That way the printed piece will look more like what I wrote, not what someone else left when they hacked it off. Hacking is not the same thing as editing.

Writing press releases is an important skill for any self published author to have. It is one way to let potential readers know about any book events the author has planned.

Tags book marketing, book publicity

GKP Writing News

Delicious Book Research

Post author By Karen GoatKeeper
Post date October 13, 2023

World building is part of planning any novel. This means doing some research. My planned NaNo novel called for some delicious book research.

Delicious?

One of the possible scenes in the novel will involve the main character doing some cooking, a simple Arab recipe. Except I don’t, or didn’t, know any simple Arab recipes.

Of course I could just do a search for such a recipe. What’s the fun of that? Finding a good cookbook to read or browse is much more fun.

I checked out “Arab Fairy Tale Feasts” by Karim Alrawi and Nahid Kazemi. This began my delicious book research.

My Plans

I had thought I would use a chicken recipe. This made it tempting to just look at those sections in the cookbook. I’m glad I didn’t succumb to this.

Instead I spent time enjoying the Arab Fairy tales. They each ended with a moral reminding me of Aesop’s Fables.

Each tale had the flavor of “The Thousand and One Nights” yet the familiarity of fairy tales I’d read long ago. The illustrations made the tales come alive, even though they were simple colored sketches.

New Plan

The chicken recipe idea got canceled. Instead I found a meatball with a honey glaze recipe. It’s fast to prepare and sounds delicious.

My main character will prepare a variation of this one as she will use a tomato sauce glaze, something the recipe notes tell me is another way to prepare the dish. One of the honey glaze ingredients called for would not be found in a regular kitchen not set up for Arab recipes.

That doesn’t mean I won’t try to make the original recipe. I’ve already tried out another recipe from this delicious book research, a lentil soup.

It would be great if the rest of my world building research was delicious book research too. Unfortunately it won’t be.

Tags Arab Fairy Tale Feasts, NaNo, researching for novels

GKP Writing News

Fall Pumpkins

Post author By Karen GoatKeeper
Post date October 6, 2023

My first science activity book was “The Pumpkin Project” which I’m presently going back over trying to see how I can turn it into teaching units, all 215 pages. Seeing the fall pumpkins encourages me.

Porch Displays

Several houses on my town routes have porch displays out. Many include pumpkins and other winter squash varieties. These come in so many shapes and colors.

These will sit out for people driving and walking by to admire at least until the end of October. The sad part is that these pumpkins and squash will get dumped into the trash.

“The Pumpkin Project”

As in my other science activity projects, this one includes pencil puzzles, trivia, stories, activities, projects and investigations. In addition, this book includes pumpkin recipes.

In the U.S. pumpkins are thought of as dessert, usually pie. Searching through my cookbooks, I found pumpkins can be cooked in many ways.

The flowers are used in a Mexican soup. The roasted seeds are a great snack. Pumpkin soups taste good.

There are several pumpkin breads. In fact, I just found a new one, a yeast bread using pumpkin puree and little sugar so it’s not a sweet bread. The Caribbean one has nuts, raisins and dates in it.

My favorite recipe is for pumpkin cookies. These taste a lot like pumpkin pie, but in cookie form.

Pumpkins have been around for centuries. Native Americans in South America were the first to plant them. They moved north and were planted by tribes in North America. Europeans adopted them and spread them around the world. This is no surprise as pumpkins taste good any way you fix them.

The Main Ingredient

Doing the activities and investigations require having pumpkin seeds, plants and pumpkins. The seeds can be purchased in the spring. Pumpkins are available in the fall.

But growing pumpkins is fun. The mini types can be grown in a big pot on a porch. Giant pumpkins take lots and lots of room and care as the stories about giant pumpkin growers explains.

I grow sugar pie pumpkins. These don’t get really big, but they are the best for eating.

My Plans

As I walk through my pumpkin patch admiring the many pie pumpkins, I picture them as breads and cookies. There are enough to share with the goats as they love pumpkin pieces. Perhaps I will ask for some of those display pumpkins and winter squashes for the goats to enjoy.

Tags growing pumpkins, science activity books