Have I mentioned lately how much I hate good stories getting ruined due to lack of decent editing? *sigh*
I'm nearly finished reading The Haze by Janine Olsson, and it has some really exciting and intense moments, but I'm finding the story difficult to read due to poor spelling and basic grammar issues. I find myself wanting to seek out the author and ask if I can have a go at editing the book for her. There is no copyright page in the version I downloaded, so I don't know if she used an editor or not. I honestly don't even remember where I got the download. I thought it was from Bares & Noble, but that doesn't seem right coming from them either. I hope it isn't a pirated copy, now that I think about it. (If it is, I'm sorry, Janine. It was not intentionally stolen!)
This story took awhile to get off the ground, but now that I am into the meat of the book, I find myself starting to like all the characters. It's an interesting story involving family betrayal and affairs of the heart. The main characters are vampires, but we also get to see shape shifters and weres of all sorts. I find it interesting how the species put aside their animosity and use their differences to their advantage as the situation warrants. I can't really comment on much more since I have yet to finish reading the book, but I will say that I do like the story. I just wish an editor could get their hands on it, and a more polished version could be released. Ms. Olsson may find much more success if this were to happen.
It's a shame when someone has such potential and it gets held back because they have no help with such basic principles of writing. Irritates me to no end. My mother often chastises me for doing too much editing for free. Many don't understand why I don't charge more, and this book is the perfect example of WHY I provide such a low rate fee schedule and often do editing for free.
There are so many great stories out there to be told. There are audiences for any genre imaginable. Readers will gobble up books in their favorite genre and beg for more as fast as their favorite authors can supply the material. With the digital age of publication taking hold in today's book market, independent authors have more opportunities for seeing their work published than ever before. With that, comes a lot of garbage, but there are also a lot of diamonds in the rough that just need a little polish for their target audience. If I can help those writers get a little closer to their goal by offering an inexpensive editing service to assist them, then that is what I want to do.
It saddens me to read books like Janine Olsson has written when they could be so much better. So if you get word of this, Janine, please consider finding a helpful editor. The story is there. The grammar, sadly, is not.
If anyone out there wishes to contact me about editing, feel free to send me an e-mail creechwriter@gmail.com. I'll gladly send you a fee schedule, references, and samples of my work.
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
Book Rant
I just finished reading the book Game Misconduct by Bianca Sommerland. I am going to have to give this book a weak 2 stars. It had so much potential and just fell flat on its face. I was excited to see something about a sport that interests me that I know very little about. Hockey. I knew better than to expect a lot of technical information since it was a romance novel after all. However, I did expect some kind of plot to develop. Apparently that was too much to hope for from this author.
The entire book was one gang bang after another with a BDSM tossed in for extra fun. I love a good steamy sex scene as much as any reader of the genre, but not at the expense of a good story. There were so many ways the plot could have taken off into a great story. The potential was there to really build up suspense and in some cases this did happen briefly. The problem? Nothing happened with the story except more sex. Little crumbs were laid out giving me hope to find something more in the next paragraph after they get done having sex, or the next page after they get done having sex again, or okay, maybe in the next chapter after they get done having sex....AGAIN. Okay, so it's gonna be awhile before we find out what's happening to the team or the coach and his daughters.
Well, okay, I've made it far enough into the book that I will at least finish reading it. It just won't be on my list of favorites that I read over and over. So I continue to read and look for some other redeeming quality in the book. How about the BDSM stuff? I haven't read a lot of fiction with BDSM involved. I have read all of Cherise Sinclair's books and I am in love with those. I have read a bit about the lifestyle and I understand the basics pretty well. That being said, I found the BDSM parts to this book somewhat unbelievable. These guys were supposed to all be Doms sharing the one sub. That in itself seems a bit odd to me, but I can accept it as possible. The real problem is that these Doms let their sub get away with just about anything she wants and only threaten punishment. When they do finally follow through with spanking her, they find that she is a masochist and only gets off on the pain that much more. They agree that they need to find another means of punishing her for inappropriate behavior, but they never do it. She continues to mouth off at them and tell them what to do. No true Dom would stand for the way she acts.
We finally get through several rounds of sex and a new piece of plot shows up. The ex-lover/head coach has been using her as a PR weapon for the team's investors. It isn't much and doesn't seem to be developing into anything plot-wise, but things heat a beat when we find out her father/the team owner was in on it all along. He cuts her off and she is on her own to find her way through life and get into med school (another plot detail left unused as she never goes to school and only references it weakly a couple of times). So, then we have more and more and more sex. We go meet one of the players' father and an ex-flame and have an almost hockey game that ends up with our main character running out when she gets mad at two of her boyfriends who then run after her. Then more sex ensues. Then we get some meat to the plot when another of the players/masters shows up and takes our heroine (I use the term lightly) home after a scene goes bad with the other two Doms. He shows up and tells them her main boyfriend who got her started in all this got arrested and may end up charged with attempted murder, but his attorney will be trying to get him out on bail that night. Another place where the author veers off into the unbelievable crap. No worries though. Nothing is going to actually be done with this part of the plot either. To further build tension, we learn that the main boyfriend got in a fight with the coach when he tried to get him to throw a game for money and keep the team out of the playoffs.
Now I'm thinking we are onto something. This is getting interesting. We're getting right up to game time and the star player is now in jail unable to get a bail hearing when he finds out the team lawyer is in on the entire mess with the coach. He has to hire another lawyer to get him out of jail. Just as girlfriend and Dom arrive at the arena, out pops boyfriend. His new lawyer miraculously got him a bail hearing in the middle of the night and got him out. Charges for attempted murder were apparently dropped, but that isn't explained until the last chapter. For now all we know is boyfriend got out on bail and has a restraining order against him, so he has to hide from the coaches during the game and rely on girlfriend to sneak into the room where he's hiding and give him updates on how the game is going. Ridiculous! Game is tied and only minutes are left and the coach is doing everything he can to keep the best players from being on the ice together at the same time so chemistry will be off. Then someone gets hurt. He ends up getting rushed to the hospital and girlfriend and main boyfriend rush after the ambulance. Next thing we know all the players are at the hospital and then the other daughter of the team owner comes in and tells her sister their dad had a heart attack. So who won the game? What happened there? Oh we get told by one of the players that the kid had two skull fractures and would be out probably a full year, but he is stable.
Now let's go see daddy in his hospital bed. He is in and out of consciousness. Not sure what's going on here. All we know is he had a heart attack and he is supposed to be in stable condition. He starts waking up and sees his currently cut off daughter at his bedside and yells for her to get out and get the other daughter back in there. That's the last we hear of daddy. He made his favorite daughter power of attorney and eventually turned over the team to her. Did we get any details on any of this? Why of course not. We learn about it in the last chapter when everything that happened is summed up in 2 pages at a barbecue at the player's house FOUR MONTHS later! Nothing about what happened to Daddy. Nothing about what happened to the coach who was fixing the games. Nothing about what happened to the main character who was arrested, only that his lawyer got charges dropped. The two lovers went on a vacation where they got engaged and the master bought her a collar and they agreed to have the wedding and the collaring ceremony on the same day. The end. What the hell? That is it? I wasted two days reading for that? So what happened to the kid with the skull fractures? Oh yeah. At some point he apparently met up with the other player's old flame and they hit it off and she became his Domme. Turns out he was actually a sub and nobody saw it but the Master who collared our heroine. Geeeez.
As if it wasn't painful enough making my way through the first book, I decided to try reading the sneak peek for the next one in the series. It starts off at the wedding and collaring ceremony. Then it ends up at the Blades and Ice BDSM club where one of the Doms is marking her in his own way to claim his piece of ownership. Her sister doesn't know she is into the pain and goes nuts when Dom draws blood with his whip. One of the coaches/a master at the club jumps in and takes over as the sister's Dom and tells her he doesn't give out safe words for use during punishments. I had to stop reading there. I just can't accept that any Dom worth a grain of salt is going to take on a new sub who has stated just minutes before that she isn't into the lifestyle though she was at the club with two other men and tell her she can't have a safe word.
If you are into sex for the sake of sex upon more sex upon more and more sex with multiple partners just for the sake of having more sex with multiple partners then I suppose you'd probably enjoy Game Misconduct. If you want a story with some kind of plot detail involved and at least some semblance of plausibility, then stay away from this one. I'd love to have my time back to spend on a more entertaining read.
PS - Sorry if there's lots of typos in this one. My keyboard is messed up - backspace key is broken. I tried to get most of them as I went, but I'm sure I missed a few.
The entire book was one gang bang after another with a BDSM tossed in for extra fun. I love a good steamy sex scene as much as any reader of the genre, but not at the expense of a good story. There were so many ways the plot could have taken off into a great story. The potential was there to really build up suspense and in some cases this did happen briefly. The problem? Nothing happened with the story except more sex. Little crumbs were laid out giving me hope to find something more in the next paragraph after they get done having sex, or the next page after they get done having sex again, or okay, maybe in the next chapter after they get done having sex....AGAIN. Okay, so it's gonna be awhile before we find out what's happening to the team or the coach and his daughters.
Well, okay, I've made it far enough into the book that I will at least finish reading it. It just won't be on my list of favorites that I read over and over. So I continue to read and look for some other redeeming quality in the book. How about the BDSM stuff? I haven't read a lot of fiction with BDSM involved. I have read all of Cherise Sinclair's books and I am in love with those. I have read a bit about the lifestyle and I understand the basics pretty well. That being said, I found the BDSM parts to this book somewhat unbelievable. These guys were supposed to all be Doms sharing the one sub. That in itself seems a bit odd to me, but I can accept it as possible. The real problem is that these Doms let their sub get away with just about anything she wants and only threaten punishment. When they do finally follow through with spanking her, they find that she is a masochist and only gets off on the pain that much more. They agree that they need to find another means of punishing her for inappropriate behavior, but they never do it. She continues to mouth off at them and tell them what to do. No true Dom would stand for the way she acts.
We finally get through several rounds of sex and a new piece of plot shows up. The ex-lover/head coach has been using her as a PR weapon for the team's investors. It isn't much and doesn't seem to be developing into anything plot-wise, but things heat a beat when we find out her father/the team owner was in on it all along. He cuts her off and she is on her own to find her way through life and get into med school (another plot detail left unused as she never goes to school and only references it weakly a couple of times). So, then we have more and more and more sex. We go meet one of the players' father and an ex-flame and have an almost hockey game that ends up with our main character running out when she gets mad at two of her boyfriends who then run after her. Then more sex ensues. Then we get some meat to the plot when another of the players/masters shows up and takes our heroine (I use the term lightly) home after a scene goes bad with the other two Doms. He shows up and tells them her main boyfriend who got her started in all this got arrested and may end up charged with attempted murder, but his attorney will be trying to get him out on bail that night. Another place where the author veers off into the unbelievable crap. No worries though. Nothing is going to actually be done with this part of the plot either. To further build tension, we learn that the main boyfriend got in a fight with the coach when he tried to get him to throw a game for money and keep the team out of the playoffs.
Now I'm thinking we are onto something. This is getting interesting. We're getting right up to game time and the star player is now in jail unable to get a bail hearing when he finds out the team lawyer is in on the entire mess with the coach. He has to hire another lawyer to get him out of jail. Just as girlfriend and Dom arrive at the arena, out pops boyfriend. His new lawyer miraculously got him a bail hearing in the middle of the night and got him out. Charges for attempted murder were apparently dropped, but that isn't explained until the last chapter. For now all we know is boyfriend got out on bail and has a restraining order against him, so he has to hide from the coaches during the game and rely on girlfriend to sneak into the room where he's hiding and give him updates on how the game is going. Ridiculous! Game is tied and only minutes are left and the coach is doing everything he can to keep the best players from being on the ice together at the same time so chemistry will be off. Then someone gets hurt. He ends up getting rushed to the hospital and girlfriend and main boyfriend rush after the ambulance. Next thing we know all the players are at the hospital and then the other daughter of the team owner comes in and tells her sister their dad had a heart attack. So who won the game? What happened there? Oh we get told by one of the players that the kid had two skull fractures and would be out probably a full year, but he is stable.
Now let's go see daddy in his hospital bed. He is in and out of consciousness. Not sure what's going on here. All we know is he had a heart attack and he is supposed to be in stable condition. He starts waking up and sees his currently cut off daughter at his bedside and yells for her to get out and get the other daughter back in there. That's the last we hear of daddy. He made his favorite daughter power of attorney and eventually turned over the team to her. Did we get any details on any of this? Why of course not. We learn about it in the last chapter when everything that happened is summed up in 2 pages at a barbecue at the player's house FOUR MONTHS later! Nothing about what happened to Daddy. Nothing about what happened to the coach who was fixing the games. Nothing about what happened to the main character who was arrested, only that his lawyer got charges dropped. The two lovers went on a vacation where they got engaged and the master bought her a collar and they agreed to have the wedding and the collaring ceremony on the same day. The end. What the hell? That is it? I wasted two days reading for that? So what happened to the kid with the skull fractures? Oh yeah. At some point he apparently met up with the other player's old flame and they hit it off and she became his Domme. Turns out he was actually a sub and nobody saw it but the Master who collared our heroine. Geeeez.
As if it wasn't painful enough making my way through the first book, I decided to try reading the sneak peek for the next one in the series. It starts off at the wedding and collaring ceremony. Then it ends up at the Blades and Ice BDSM club where one of the Doms is marking her in his own way to claim his piece of ownership. Her sister doesn't know she is into the pain and goes nuts when Dom draws blood with his whip. One of the coaches/a master at the club jumps in and takes over as the sister's Dom and tells her he doesn't give out safe words for use during punishments. I had to stop reading there. I just can't accept that any Dom worth a grain of salt is going to take on a new sub who has stated just minutes before that she isn't into the lifestyle though she was at the club with two other men and tell her she can't have a safe word.
If you are into sex for the sake of sex upon more sex upon more and more sex with multiple partners just for the sake of having more sex with multiple partners then I suppose you'd probably enjoy Game Misconduct. If you want a story with some kind of plot detail involved and at least some semblance of plausibility, then stay away from this one. I'd love to have my time back to spend on a more entertaining read.
PS - Sorry if there's lots of typos in this one. My keyboard is messed up - backspace key is broken. I tried to get most of them as I went, but I'm sure I missed a few.
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Fun With Drabbles
I'm really going to make an effort to write more regularly here. Hopefully, between writing and editing, I can find some inspiration for something to babble about. Today is all about the Drabble. What is a drabble? It is a 100 word writing exercise that is sure to get your brain working. Okay, so it isn't technically an exercise. It is a story. It has a beginning, middle, and end. It cannot exceed, nor can it be less than 100 words in length. Sounds simple. Sure it is. Until you try to write a full story in 100 words.
What makes this such a good exercise tool is the way you learn to examine every word you've written. I find it best to write something out as detailed and short as possible. Then I go back through every word and examine just how necessary it is for the story. What phrases can be replaced with a single word on its own? What words simply add fluff to the sentence? How does the sentence read if those words are removed? I'm often surprised by just how much I am able to cut. In fact, cutting all those extra pieces of fluff often leaves me with less than the word count needed for a true drabble. I like this because then I can go back and add more colorful descriptions! Only then I end up running long again. So back to the cutting board.
While writing drabbles can be frustrating, it is usually quite fun. In the end, I've found each successful drabble leaves me feeling like a better writer. It's the perfect way to learn how to say more with less! Below are a few drabbles I recently completed for fun with a group of friends.
The Perfect Man
by Carole Shuffield (aka Jeanie Creech)
Tyffani walked with her friend Sarah to their writing class. “Do you think the perfect man exists? I swear I had the perfect dream about him last night. It was so vivid. I didn’t want to get up this morning.” Tyffani asked.
Sarah replied confidently. “He’s out there hiding somewhere.“
“Some say there is no such thing as a perfect man, but I know just where to find him,” Tyffani assured, taking her seat.
“Well, let me know when you find him,” Sarah chuckled as she sat across the aisle.
“He’s tucked between the pages of a good book.”
Winter Love
by Jeanie Creech
Sebastian Blake shivered when an icy winter breeze chilled him to the bone. His mind reflected on better days. Alone in the cold, his stomach growled, reminding him he hadn’t eaten for days. He thought again of precious days spent with Cynthia. He missed her warm hugs and sweet smile. Did she was there? The baby should have arrived last month. If only she hadn’t been taken from him...
A lone tear slid silently down his cheek as he knelt by the granite marker and carefully placed a single red rose at her feet. “I’ll see you soon, my love.”
And this one was just for giggles:
Drabble Babble
By Carole Shuffield
Miss Carrie sat down to write out a drabble, but all she seemed able to do was just babble. She tapped on the keys with the greatest of ease, but nothing she wrote was of any note. She wrote about pigs. She wrote about dogs. She even tried writing one about frogs. She wrote some that were sad, but most were just bad.
Between each line she sipped on her wine. Soon she felt just fine.
"They all came up short," Miss Carrie did snort. "Eagles aren’t pink, but they do make one think before pouring oneself one more a drink."
Thursday, August 2, 2012
Say Thanks to Your Man, Ladies
Been thinking a lot the last few days about what to write about on my new blog. Probably been thinking too much. It feels strange to just sit down and write stuff with nothing to really write about, but I remind myself that sometimes that very act will lead to something interesting. So here I am as I wait my plastic lunch to finish cooking in the oven.
It's one of those days today where the brain just feels like mush. It's difficult to focus on one thing for very long. I'm not sure if it is the MS acting up because it is so hot, or maybe it is just the lack of sustenance so far today. All I've eaten is a small amount of junk food with a bottle of Diet Dr. Pepper to wash it down. Gee. Isn't that just what you want to read about? LOL
I have been tossing around some story ideas, but nothing I feel ready to start writing just yet. So I think I'll just ramble a bit today about various tidbits that made me think more than normal. You know. Those little questions that people ask on Facebook or other social forums that make you stop and wonder why you never really gave that much thought before. Yeah. That's what I'm talking about. For instance, a fellow sister-wolf posted a question on her page. What would you do if you woke up and found you had changed to the opposite sex for the day? This brought about all the funny comments you would expect from guys and gals alike, but another person put forth a little more thought. "Just think what you could learn about your partner if that happened."
It makes me wonder if it would actually make us closer or push us apart. How would it feel to walk a mile in his shoes? How would it feel to be the only one who has to get up and go to work for 10 - 15 hours a day, five days a week, sometimes more? How would it feel to shoulder the responsibility of caring for a wife who has MS? Then there are all the other things that need to be done at home that she can't do. Oh and let's not forget the nagging in-laws and mother. How would it feel to know all of this is just expected of you by society, and you can't show any stress or real emotion about it because men don't do that? How would I keep all of the crap I go through everyday just dealing with normal work stress held back so I don't take it out on my mate?
Thinking about all of this in depth made me feel somewhat humbled. I think us women sometimes tend to take for granted just how much our men shoulder burdens day to day. Even the ones who seem a bit selfish are still saddled with a lot of responsibility that we don't even think much about. We just expect it because they are men and that is what men are supposed to do. They don't complain about it, at least mine never does. They just go on with life as if it was just a walk in the park. So that brings me to the question of how often do we tell our men thank you? How often do you thank your man just for doing what people expect him to do everyday without complaining about it or asking for anything in return for it? We see these psychologists and self-help authors and such giving out advice to men where they tell them to appreciate the little things us women do for them everyday. But just how often do we tell them they are appreciated for just doing the little things they do everyday? Human kindness works for both sexes, I believe.
I think I'll greet my husband with a hug and a thank you when he walks in the door tonight. I'm sure the look he will give me will be hilarious as he wonders what in the world I'm talking about, but who knows. Just maybe it will ease a little of the burden he carries if he knows he is appreciated, too. Give it a try with your own mate, and let me know how it goes.
It's one of those days today where the brain just feels like mush. It's difficult to focus on one thing for very long. I'm not sure if it is the MS acting up because it is so hot, or maybe it is just the lack of sustenance so far today. All I've eaten is a small amount of junk food with a bottle of Diet Dr. Pepper to wash it down. Gee. Isn't that just what you want to read about? LOL
I have been tossing around some story ideas, but nothing I feel ready to start writing just yet. So I think I'll just ramble a bit today about various tidbits that made me think more than normal. You know. Those little questions that people ask on Facebook or other social forums that make you stop and wonder why you never really gave that much thought before. Yeah. That's what I'm talking about. For instance, a fellow sister-wolf posted a question on her page. What would you do if you woke up and found you had changed to the opposite sex for the day? This brought about all the funny comments you would expect from guys and gals alike, but another person put forth a little more thought. "Just think what you could learn about your partner if that happened."
It makes me wonder if it would actually make us closer or push us apart. How would it feel to walk a mile in his shoes? How would it feel to be the only one who has to get up and go to work for 10 - 15 hours a day, five days a week, sometimes more? How would it feel to shoulder the responsibility of caring for a wife who has MS? Then there are all the other things that need to be done at home that she can't do. Oh and let's not forget the nagging in-laws and mother. How would it feel to know all of this is just expected of you by society, and you can't show any stress or real emotion about it because men don't do that? How would I keep all of the crap I go through everyday just dealing with normal work stress held back so I don't take it out on my mate?
Thinking about all of this in depth made me feel somewhat humbled. I think us women sometimes tend to take for granted just how much our men shoulder burdens day to day. Even the ones who seem a bit selfish are still saddled with a lot of responsibility that we don't even think much about. We just expect it because they are men and that is what men are supposed to do. They don't complain about it, at least mine never does. They just go on with life as if it was just a walk in the park. So that brings me to the question of how often do we tell our men thank you? How often do you thank your man just for doing what people expect him to do everyday without complaining about it or asking for anything in return for it? We see these psychologists and self-help authors and such giving out advice to men where they tell them to appreciate the little things us women do for them everyday. But just how often do we tell them they are appreciated for just doing the little things they do everyday? Human kindness works for both sexes, I believe.
I think I'll greet my husband with a hug and a thank you when he walks in the door tonight. I'm sure the look he will give me will be hilarious as he wonders what in the world I'm talking about, but who knows. Just maybe it will ease a little of the burden he carries if he knows he is appreciated, too. Give it a try with your own mate, and let me know how it goes.
Friday, July 20, 2012
Brand New Blog
Yes, I am a blog virgin. For some reason, I suddenly decided it would be a great idea to use a blog to get myself back into writing everyday. Great idea, right? Sure. Just one problem. How on earth does one set up a personal blog? So I pulled up my trusty Ixquick search engine and set about trying to find a place to start up a free blog. Wow. There are actually web pages dedicated to listing sites offering free blogs. Who knew? Okay, so this just might be easier than I thought it would be. I'll just start with the first item that comes up on ixquick...
click...
BAM - BAM! Both AdAware and Security Essentials pop up windows warning me the site has been listed as "an attack site" and could be harmful to my computer. Yikes! Guess that's what ya get for going after a freebie page. Get me outa here! click.
hmmmm.....Now what? Guess I'll try the next one. BAM AdAware didn't like that site either. 30 minutes and more research later, here I am with a plain-jane blog that is supposed to be customized to my liking, but heaven only knows how that works, but hey! I'm writing, and wasn't that the ultimate point? Who needs a fancy schmancy page with cool pictures? And what is a Permalink? sigh So much for user friendly. Guess it's time to admit defeat and plead for help from my sister wolves over on TLS.
I don't know how well this blog thing is going to work out, but I am writing again, and that feels pretty good. Hopefully, I'll get things figured out soon and be able to offer up some tidbits of interest. Meanwhile, JC's World of Words is here just waiting for some creative musings.
click...
BAM - BAM! Both AdAware and Security Essentials pop up windows warning me the site has been listed as "an attack site" and could be harmful to my computer. Yikes! Guess that's what ya get for going after a freebie page. Get me outa here! click.
hmmmm.....Now what? Guess I'll try the next one. BAM AdAware didn't like that site either. 30 minutes and more research later, here I am with a plain-jane blog that is supposed to be customized to my liking, but heaven only knows how that works, but hey! I'm writing, and wasn't that the ultimate point? Who needs a fancy schmancy page with cool pictures? And what is a Permalink? sigh So much for user friendly. Guess it's time to admit defeat and plead for help from my sister wolves over on TLS.
I don't know how well this blog thing is going to work out, but I am writing again, and that feels pretty good. Hopefully, I'll get things figured out soon and be able to offer up some tidbits of interest. Meanwhile, JC's World of Words is here just waiting for some creative musings.
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