Happy Summer Solstice -- I Think

Summer Solstice is pulling its usual trick of not letting the sun actually shine through. It was sunny last night as the actual moment of Solstice hit, but today, on Friday, when people who work can actually stay up and play through the shortest nights of the year, the sun has done a runner on us. Or rather, it's called in the thick, gray cloud cover. 

So, Happy Summer, Alaska. It's business as usual here!

It's a bittersweet celebration. Those of us who love the light and accept the winter's darkness as the price to pay for all this lovely brightness, are sad that the planet has now turned the corner and the northern hemisphere will now start slowly sliding further away from the sun.

When I lived "Outside" solstice, winter or summer, never really crossed my consciousness. Up here it is far more noticeable and as people who live half the year in boots and coats, we revere the sun. 

We love the long summer days, although we can live without the mosquitoes, and we use the time to get out and play. Windows and doors are thrown open, houses and heads are aired out. Gardens are grown either for show or food or both. Dogs are walked, people exercise outside, time is spent on decks burning offerings to the gods of summer. Lakes are popular spots for swimming, fishing, boating and all manner of water play. The canoeists shake their paddles at the jet-skiers and campers listen for the call of loons drift hauntingly across the water. 

This is when I miss the cabin we used to own about a thousand years ago. It sat on a hill above the lake and from there we watched wild life cross a narrow channel from one side of the lake to the other. Moose, bear, muskrats and all manner of creatures used the same trail. The tall birch trees would filter the sunlight creating dappled shade and the leaves rustling in a gentle breeze played a lazy song. We'd sit by the firepit on the edge of the lake, telling stories, arguing politics and catch up on life with friends far into the night. Good days.

So however you celebrate the turning of the season, the official end of Spring and start of Summer, take time to relax and enjoy the day. Have a beer or iced tea with a friend or loved one. Grill a burger or two and remember to sacrifice one to the spirit of summers past, present, and future.

Remember to live and enjoy the warmth and ease of summer. Before you know it the sun will be setting before 10pm and you'll begin to wonder where summer went.

Morgan O'Reilly
Facebook 

Inspiration From Your Past

A couple years ago I started reconnecting with old friends, and more than a few former boyfriends, on Facebook. These things go in waves. You find one person who is friends with other people you once knew and next thing you know some guy is messaging you out of the blue and talking about how you were the first girl he ever kissed. How embarrassing when you don’t remember either him or the event.

Anyone who has read my books has surely guessed I was a tart in training in my long ago youth. Once I met my true love that path dead-ended. I’ve been mostly happily married for nearly twenty-three years. We’ve been together twenty-eight and I’ve been faithful the entire time, sometimes to my great frustration. But that’s not what I want to blog about.

When told of my writing profession, one of those old boyfriends passed on a question from his wife. Had I ever used him as a model for one of my heroes? The answer I sent back was a fast NO. I’m not sure if she was relieved or offended, but the subject dropped right there.

Lately I’ve been thinking about that. What I should have answered was, I’ve only used a boyfriend for a hero once and that book is not published because it’s really bad. It was the first manuscript I finished and it will never crawl out from under the bed. Of the other men I once dated, I’ve only used the one or two I had bad breakups with as villains. Those are the ones who should be shaking in their shoes!

So ultimately, I feel the wives of my former beaus should feel blessed when they don’t recognize their husbands in my books. As for my husband, he sees himself in every hero I write, and rightly so, as he’s my one true hero and always has been. And if one or two of my heroes have certain features, well, I do throw myself into research (Facebook) and find inspiration for my hot men in many places (the pics posted by women more dedicated to searching sites for pics than me). Of course a certain type of man will capture my interest more than others. Can’t be helped. Just hope my readers agree.

If you write, where do you find inspiration for your heroes? If you’re a dedicated reader -- just let me say I adore you -- what types of heroes attract you most? 

Morgan Q. O'Reilly

Romance for All Your Moods

http://morganqoreilly.com

Last Frontier Food

A question that sometimes comes up is, what do Alaskans eat? For the most part, we eat like the rest of the USA. We get most of the same national brands that can be found in the lower 48. Kraft Mac N Cheese is big. Lunch meat and canned tuna. Fresh produce is available, but can often cost double to triple of what someone in Arizona will pay for it. However, we do have some unique foods available as near as Costco. King crab legs, reindeer sausage, and smoked salmon to name a few. Jams and jellies made from local berries go great with that jar of Jif you picked up last week. And because there are people hunt and fish with the intent of filling their super-sized freezer, school lunches can look at little different than the kids in Boulder are eating.

Tuna salad sandwiches? Forget it. My nephews took salmon salad sandwiches to school because my brother loved to fish all summer. Other folks I know eat moose burger instead of beef. Moose roast cooks up quite well in the crockpot. Some friends swear by bear pepperoni. Uck. Then again, a while back Boone Brux posted a recipe for Whale Stew. Makes enough to feed the entire village, and then some.

So what is my favorite Alaska dish? You can keep the salmon. I’ll gladly accept some moose burger if you have some to spare. I can buy reindeer sausage at Costco. I’ll never turn down crab, shrimp or scallops. But if you have some fresh halibut to spare, well, you’ve found my favorite.

There are two ways I like best to fix it. One is to deep fry it in beer or tempura batter. Messy and time consuming, but oh-so-yummy! Serve with tartar sauce and fries for excellent fish and chips. But the easiest is simply to bake it. This probably isn’t what your doctor would recommend for healthy eating, but the following recipe always gets me raves.

Ingredients:

The O'Reilly guys and some fish. Not all were theirs,
but they brought home a nice pile of 'buts.

•  Halibut filet
•  Lemon, sliced thin into half rounds
•  Stick of butter, sliced into thin pats
•  Mayonnaise

1. Preheat oven to 350 degF.
2. Start with a halibut filet or two. The thicker the better. I like to remove the skin, but it’s not necessary. I think it tastes better. Wash with cool water and pat dry.
3. With a sharp knife cut into the meat, stopping before cutting all the way through. Make several cuts, about one inch apart. Place in baking pan.
4. Rub the filet with mayonnaise, getting down into the cuts. Stuff the cuts with slices of lemon and pats of butter.
5. Bake until halibut is opaque and flakes with a fork, about 30 minutes depending on the thickness of the filet. Remove the lemon slices and serve with sides of choice. Garnish with fresh lemon slices if desired.

I haven’t made this dish in quite some time, so I’m sad to say I don’t have any photos. Now if you’re really feeling adventurous, you could top off that meal with some Eskimo ice cream. Or, a blueberry pie made from the wild blueberries picked last August. Since I don’t have any blueberries on hand, I’ll be making brownies for my dinner guests coming over next week.

Have a question about food to be found? Toss it out! I have cook books galore from this church or that bazaar. I’ll see what I can find.

Oh, and gratuitous cute puppy pictures, because, well, that's what I'm doing these days, playing puppy mom. Meet Neo the wonder pup! Now two days shy of ten weeks.

Neo's idea of a moose meal.

 

Morgan Q. O'Reilly

Romance for All Your Moods

http://morganqoreilly.com

Location and Setting in Alaska

As they say in Real Estate, it’s all about the Location! And it’s hard to beat Alaska for unique locations.

What do you envision when you think of Alaska? Wide open tundra dotted with lakes and lichen? Soaring mountains covered in ice and glaciers? Stormy seas lashed by gale-force winds and thirty-foot waves? Icy green lakes surrounded by majestic mountains? Forest primeval with moss covered rocks lining tumbling streams teeming with salmon?

Alaska has all that and more. Sand dunes, barren isles, quiet lakes perfect for a canoe or water skiing. Wide rivers, raging rivers and babbling brooks. Big cities, little villages, quaint towns, stretches of land that haven’t seen a human foot in a thousand years or more. It can be friendly or forbidding, forgiving or ruthless, but the same stretch of road is rarely the same each time you drive down it.

When setting a scene or novel in Alaska, research is necessary. You won’t find the same services in Cantwell as you will in Healy, Eek, Ketchikan, Fairbanks or Anchorage.

To begin your research, head for the internet or find a map. Is the location you want on the main highway system? The rail system? Or beyond? Is it on a river or only accessible by air? If your location is on a road system connected to the main highways (to get out of Anchorage, one goes north, the other south) Google Maps might be able to give you an estimate of travel time by car. Then again, they may not have all the facts concerning road conditions.

For example, the drive from Anchorage to Fairbanks via the Parks Highway is fairly straight forward. Allowing for a lunch and gas stop and a couple breaks, it takes about six hours to drive the 358 miles. Many stretches of the road may be traveled at 65mph, although frost heaves north of Healy generally mean slowing down to 50 or 55mph. Depending on conditions, slower might be better. Say, in winter when the road might be icy. In the summer, no worries. Or rather, not many if there isn’t road construction going on. And there is ALWAYS a road construction project, or three, along the highway.

Mountainside covered with fireweed along the Steese Hwy.

By comparison, the drive from Fairbanks to Circle, a city at the other end of the Steese Highway, but not on the Arctic Circle, is 155 miles. A distance Google Maps estimates will take about 4 hours to drive. They’re not off by much. Only 2 hours. The day I drove from Fairbanks to Circle and back, Liz Selvig and I spent more than twelve hours on the mostly dirt/gravel road. Granted, we made a couple of stops along the way, mostly to take photos, but we didn’t make four hours worth of stops. We had the advantage of a clear, hot, sunny day with no rain and mostly dry roads, although there was one section that was sort of soggy and we weren’t all that confident we’d get through it. There was also a section where a “creek” was cutting into the soft side of the road. The creek was wider, deeper and faster than rivers I’ve seen in Colorado and California, but since it was feeding into the Yukon, I guess creek was an appropriate term. Sort of.

In the end, however, no matter how much information you dig up on the internet, there will be huge holes. Holes that can only be filled in by personal experience. This is where making friends with an Alaskan resident can help your manuscript immensely. I’ve been asked questions such as: Is it possible to run the length of the Alaska Pipeline? Um, well, I wouldn’t recommend it, and I’m pretty sure Alyeska Pipeline Service Company security wouldn’t be thrilled with the idea. And there are sections where the ground is so boggy, I doubt it would be possible, although there is the Dalton Highway (aka the Haul Road) north of Fairbanks, but between the dust and mosquitoes in the summer, and the ice and subzero temps in winter… no, it wouldn’t be practical at all. Better to have the hero jump in the Arctic Ocean in the annual Polar Bear Plunge. Or the Seward Harbor in February during a snowstorm. Same idea.

What about medical care? Where will your characters go if they need more care than the handy First Aid kit can provide? 

The largest city with the most options is Anchorage, although hospitals may be found in Fairbanks, Juneau, Sitka, Kenai and the Mat-Su Valley to name most of them. The farther out you go, the smaller the facilities and the fewer services available. Time of year also makes a difference. Some roads are not plowed in the winter, even if they are on the highway system. Anchorage has three large hospitals, only one of which has a Level III Newborn ICU. Many babies from the villages end up there. Medical care in the villages is often re-routed to the larger cities, and sometimes further south to Seattle. If you watched the episode of Deadliest Catch when the captain had a stroke, you would have seen a lovely shot of Providence Hospital with the Chugach Mountains in the background. He was airlifted from Dutch Harbor to the largest medical facility in the state. A process that took more than a few hours.

October moonrise over Broad Pass

Distances are deceiving here. The more remote the location of a scene, the more you’ll need to talk with someone who’s been there if you can’t make it there yourself. The internet can only give so much information. It can tell you what trees grow in the area, average temperatures and snowfall, hours of daylight day by day, even current news – if there’s a news source there. What it can’t tell you is what it smells like, what sounds you’ll hear while standing under the trees, or how biting or soft the breeze is. An aerial view might show you the landscape – are there trees or tundra – but it won’t show traffic patterns, or how fast the placid-looking river is actually flowing.

Like the land itself, the topic of Alaska is extremely vast. To drill down and investigate one facet could fill pages here. It’s certainly filled libraries. I’ve lived in Alaska since 1977, with brief ventures out for college and a few years in Colorado, and I still don’t know everything there is to know about this wild and beautiful land. Sometimes I love it, sometimes I hate it, but I always respect it, because like a wild animal, it can turn from benign to deadly in the blink of an eye. Something it’s hard to explain to Outsiders enthralled with the myths, the mystery and romance of The Last Frontier.

Here’s my advice to people writing about Alaska: choose your location, do your research, then find someone local to talk to. Your book will have a ring of truth that will enhance the reader’s experience and not add to the many misconceptions already out there. If you’re not sure where to start, well, there’s a whole chapter of RWA members here who are happy to help!

Morgan Q. O’Reilly

http://morganqoreilly.com

Romance for all Your Moods

All 2012 Royalties from the sale of Weathering the Storm, Book 3 of the Shaughnessys, will go to the Alaska Red Cross to help with disaster relief stemming from the Sept 2012 floods in Southcentral Alaska.

Weathering the Storm: Available at Kindle, Nook, Sony eReader and from other ebook retail sites.

Lessons in Moving

Today the movers arrive to lift and carry our heavy stuff 13 miles across town to our new, forever, I'm-not-moving-out-of-it-alive house.  We didn't mean to buy a house this year, or even next. However... yeah. The bank told us we could afford one, and the search began, mainly in a quest for more garage space for the man. Okay, so I wanted a change too, but that's almost beside the point. 


Since we're through the purchase phase and into the moving phase, I have some random thoughts. In no particular order, these are things I've learned -- again. I'll happily forget them once the last box is broken down and toted off.


1. It's almost impossible to have too much packing tape.
2. Boxes packed by males will have almost no detail written on the outside.
3. It's fun to unpack pictures that have been in storage since the last move, especially when it's been a few years.
4. Silver needs polishing after being packed away for several years. Buy silver polish and prepare to spend a day doing it. Or shove it in a cabinet until the next holiday dinner.
5. Unless you start packing weeks in advance, do not expect the males to adhere to your box labeling/numbering system. Once they start carrying things out to the trucks and hauling, they won't bother. If you want them numbered, do it yourself. EARLY.
6. Plants appreciate getting into the new digs as early as possible. Probably because mine were starving for water. Now they're spread out, easy to reach, and living in a lighter, airier space. They also add a touch of life to an empty building or a spot of color in a sea of brown boxes.
7. Tunes on the stereo help keep tired workers moving.
8. Packing and unpacking are more fun when you have help. I've had a chance to spend a little more time with a niece and nephew who came to help. 
9. Whenever possible, recruit tall people. I call them my walking ladders. My niece is ten inches taller than me and could easily reach the top of cabinets when I'd need a ladder to do it. I love tall people!
10. Avoid other appointments moving week. They take far more time than you have. Schedule the massage for after the move.
11. Avoid embarrassment, pack your private things yourself. Otherwise you have family/friends holding up the odd DVD with a raised brow. Fortunately the friend who found the "O" DVD has also read my books... ahem. (It fell down behind a shelving unit - oops)
12. Make sure you get your sleep!
13. If that new house has a big tub, be sure to test it at the first opportunity. Mine works great! I had to test it twice to be sure.
14. Keep cell phones charged and easy to find. No joke, the first day of moving mine was dead and I couldn't find it. My husband's fell down in his truck and he couldn't find it. And a couple of times when I tried to reach the kid and hubby, they had their ringers turned off!!!  Makes it hard to communicate. 
15. Keep a notebook, write down as much as you can, and hold on to receipts!
16. If the title company offers you a copy of your papers on disc, take it! I was able to email the file to my accountant, saving time and paper. And she'll be better prepared next tax season when I can't find the papers...
17. If your move is scheduled during fishing season, your pool of available volunteers will be greatly diminished. Same if you move the same week as RWA National.  -_-
18. Feed your workers! And hydrate them. Also, a beer at the end of the day will help ease tired muscles, theirs and yours.
19. The more little stuff you move, the less you have to pay someone else to do it, but save your back and hire out the heavy stuff to the pros. I'm not moving that industrial sized air compressor, and neither is my husband. 
20. If someone offers you space to store packed boxes early on, jump on it. Mom gave up her garage to store boxes so we'd have room to move around. Bless the woman.
21. Keep a good book, or three, handy!!!  I have my Sony ereader nearby at all times. When I need a break, out it comes and for 15 minutes I can escape it all...
22. Remember to breathe. It will all be over soon! Just keep moving. Each item wrapped, each box packed puts you that much closer to your dream house!

Oh, and one last thing, Weathering the Storm, Book Three of the Open Window Series is coming very soon! Early September it goes on sale, so be ready by reading Books 1 and 2. Both can be found at Amazon and other places ebooks are sold.


Blurb: On the road to recovery, sometimes it helps to circle back to where it all began. She wants a new life, he wants a low maintenance wife. When the storm clears, they both see exactly what they want.

Excerpt

My accident had interrupted the contract I was deeply involved in. Progress had been stalled once I was out of the game. No one else had been quite able to follow my thinking, a fact the Director of Research and Development had griped about one of the times he came to see me. He’d kindly waited until after I could identify myself and count my fingers and toes again. The rants were not because he wanted to make me feel bad, but rather, I think he wanted me to know I was missed. And he wanted to me to heal fast and get back to work before he had to find someone to take my place.

I missed being there and it was my supreme goal to get back. However, that required a doctor’s approval, and until I passed a few more brain tests, they weren’t signing on the dotted line. Which was why I’d flown to Alaska in the first place. To build new paths around damaged memory cells. Part of which included new experiences, such as, maybe, wooing the opposite sex.

And Mr. Paul Bunyan looked like a viable candidate to practice on.




Morgan Q. O'Reilly
Get Some Tonight

The Theme is Travel

In the near future, I've got plane trips and blog tours. It's enough to send me into a tizzy. What has to be done before I leave for Mexico next week? Two weeks in Puerto Vallarta, lounging about breathing in the sea air, storing up Vit D the natural way, and doing my best to just hang loose.

And yes, I'll be taking my laptop. The mini one. I'm torn between hoping there's readily available internet or praying there isn't. After all, what better excuse to totally goof off? Sorry, but I just can't get to the internet easily.

Part of my goal is to get a really good handle on the next book in a series I'm writing. Maybe even start another one. But even more pressing, the day after I return I have a new release!

November 7 is the debut of my long awaited Romantic Suspense novel, Rachel Dahlrumple, by Shea McMaster. (That would be Morgan's sweeter side. The good twin, as it were.)

November 7 also is the launch date of a two week blog tour, celebrating the release of Rachel Dahlrumple. Or Rachel as the book is affectionately known.

So here's the schedule. There will be a quiz later, and I'll be asking for people to drop by.

• Nov 7: Romance with an Attitude Blog: Breaking Writer's Block
• Nov 8: Megan Johns Invites Interview
• Nov 9: Carrie Ann Ryan Blog: Getting Over Betrayal. Fiction vs Real Life. Is there a difference?
• Nov 10: Romance in the Backseat Blog: How does being a writer affect you as a reader?
• Nov 11: Laurie's Thoughts & Reviews Interview
• Nov 14: Good Family Reads Blog: How to find Good Critique Partners and Be One in Return
• Nov 16: Words of Wisdom from the Scarf Princess Blog: I'm working on a topic now.
• Nov 17: Bookin' It Reviews Blog: A day in the life of Rachel Dahlrumple
• Nov 18: My Odd Little World Interview

As of this time, I'm only about half done writing the blogs. The interviews are done and I've only just begun to gather things to pack for my trip.

With all this traveling in the near future, both live and digitally, I'm feeling a bit frazzled and have started a check list.

• Snow tires on car. Check. (It will snow any day now. Any day. There were ice crystals falling from the sky yesterday.)
• Swimsuit, cover-up and hat - because I'm a red head who has been hiding from the sun for the past 6 years - Check.
• Launch tour dates set. Check.
• Sunscreen. Still need to buy.
• Books for trip, both paperback and ebook. Almost check. Have the first four books of the Game of Thrones to read, in addition to several other selections.
• Interviews written. Check.
• Sandals and flip flops ready. Check.
• Shorts and tops. Check.
• Sundresses. Check.
• Blogs written. Well, two down... not even close to check.

Ah, the list, it never ever ends. How do you cope with traveling? I do it so rarely, it's all one big adventure until I get to the airport. Lines. Pat downs. Worrying about what will be stolen from my suitcase once it leaves my hand. Long, long, long hours of sitting. Twenty hours from start to destination, if there are no delays.

Here's hoping the destination is worth the journey!

Morgan O'Reilly / Shea McMaster

Web Page

Coming Soon

New from Morgan Q. O'Reilly

Til Death Undo Us

Book One of the Open Windows Series

She never imagined love could happen twice—until her husband returned from the dead.

Cassidy thinks she’s getting on with her life just fine after her husband’s fall to cancer. Life is quiet, which is just the way she likes it, half a continent away from her overbearing Irish family.

Niall doesn’t want to scare the fragile Irish rose, but her husband, supposedly two years in the grave, has been caught on security tapes at a secret government laboratory. Together, they unearth evidence of industrial espionage and identity theft ...and frightening connections to the Irish Mob that will put more than just their own lives at risk.

Sex, bullets, more sex, intimate body piercings and a few red roses. What more could a girl want?

Excerpt:

“I’m Cassidy Malone.”

“Niall Malone.” He didn’t offer a hand to shake. A part of me was glad, because I couldn’t have disguised my sweaty palms.

Jacob stopped at my side and I had the distinct impression he wanted to step in front of me. “Jacob Levin, senior partner here. What do you want with Mrs. Malone?”

The intense blue eyes shifted to my boss for a moment. “I’m afraid it’s personal. Mrs. Malone, is there some place we can talk?”

“I’m in the middle of a project with a deadline, if you could give me a hint of what this is about?”

“I need to ask you a few questions about your husband.”

“All right.” I folded my arms and waited.

His gaze flicked to Jacob then back to me. “Really, if we can do this in private it would be best.”

“Cassie?” Jacob took my arm and glared at Malone. “She’s been under an incredible amount of stress. I can’t imagine what you have to say will make it better.”

“Nevertheless, it’s important. Mrs. Malone, we can do this the easy way, here and now, or the hard way.”

I didn’t need him to spell that out. I’d watched too many crime dramas. “Give me the first question and I’ll decide if it’s good enough to drop what I’m doing. Otherwise we’ll have to schedule something for later.”

That didn’t go over well. A muscle in the side of his cheek twitched and his lips tightened for a moment. “All right. Just tell me how to get in touch with your husband.”

Ever had one of those moments when it seems the world stops moving? The blood stops, then draws inward, leaving the sensation of limbs filled with ice water, heavy and cold. The roaring in my ears might very well have been the rush of blood leaving my head.

Jacob plucked Malone’s card from my numb fingers and studied it as the receptionist gasped.

“That’s not funny,” I managed to whisper from a throat so dry I could barely swallow.

“I’m not joking.”

“You want to know where my husband is?”

“Yes. Please.”

“All right.” If this were some sick joke, I’d play along for a minute. Maybe the goons at lunch had been setting me up after all. I didn’t think so, but the same conversation, twice in one day, less than two hours apart, who knew?

I gave him the street and number. I drove past it every single day. Sometimes stopped and sat on the grass to pull the weeds and tend to the Forget-Me-Nots I’d planted there.

I watched as he drew the map in his head. A crease formed between his heavy black eye brows. It took a minute, but he had it.

“That’s the Oak Knoll Cemetery.”

“Precisely.”

Coming July 18, 2011 from Lyrical Press

Morgan Q. O'Reilly

Website / Facebook

Books available on Kindle, Nook, Sony eReader and many places where ebooks can be found.

Editing: Does it REALLY matter??

Spell checkers and other editing things.

Love them or hate them, they are helpful and useful tools. In fact, I recommend every writer have Spell Check turned on at all times. In MSWord, that little red line will help you catch misspellings immediately. Then there's the blue line to alert you to the wrong spelling, or possibly the wrong word—also a useful tool. The green grammar lines? Those I tend to ignore since fiction writing takes some liberties with proper English.

However.

Yeah, you knew that was coming. However. These built-in tools in super-smart word processing programs do not take the place of the human eye and, I hope, human intelligence.

After the program has done its best to help is when a really sharp-eyed editor or beta reader comes in. Someone who can catch the things your MSWord program and tired eyes won’t. There, their, and they’re all sound the same with very different meanings. She’s and she’d are very easy to mix up with the “s” and “d” keys being side by side. I see loose and lose mixed up more times than I care to mention. Your program won’t flag any of the above as misspelled.

Same with roll and role. “He acted out his roll with finesse and skill.” Does this mean he knew how to play a bit of bread? (Ha! Word just tried to correct the word for me. I set it straight.) I suppose it could mean he did a perfect job of rolling down the hill, across the floor, into bed… but in the context of the story, this was not the meaning.

I recently found this sentence in a published book: “He drew in a shaky breath, tried to recall if this was how he felt about her first kiss as a green lad of fourteen.” One word. Just one word is out of place here and makes the sentence ludicrous. Yet to a spell checker program everything is just hunky dory. Had that been the only instance of an error, I probably would have blown it off. Sadly, it was one of at least half a dozen errors that leaped off the page and threw me out of an otherwise entertaining story.

Of course, I’ve seen the spell checker do harm by trying to correct a word here and there. A badly spelled word can be switched in the blink of an eye. Back in the day when I edited technical reports for scientists, I caught one trying to marinate a laser. He’d tried to type “maintain” but mangled it so badly MSWord changed the word to “marinate.” I learned to read his reports very closely.

The key here is editing. Careful, thoughtful, intelligent human editing. A good edit will catch these little goofs that can cause an author’s intelligence and education to be called into question. Yes, typos will at some point escape everyone. It happens. I’ve seen it in NYT bestseller books. If there are no more than two per novel, those are easily shrugged off. More than that? Well, that’s where credibility begins to be called into question.

Years ago, two or three at least, I was reading a book released by my then publisher (the book was not mine, thankfully) and was horrified to see that consistently throughout the book, barely (Merriam Webster Definition of BARELY 1: in a meager manner : plainly 2: scarcely, hardly) was consistently replaced with barley. (BARLEY: a cereal grass.)

I’m sure the author knew the difference between the two, but no one caught the misspelling before release. One time in a novel, well, ok. But more than two dozen times? The author really liked that word, I suppose. Too bad it was the wrong one. At least it was consistent? Nah. Bad ju-ju all the way around.

Which leads me to something I’ve said since the days I was an editor and in charge of other editors who had the joy of editing my books.

NO-one is above editing, least of all me.

I don’t care who you are, or how many novels you’ve sold world-side, we ALL make mistakes. Whether from reading a manuscript too many times, fingers hitting the wrong key or an extra key, or MSWord trying to help out, we all need one more pair of sharp eyes to help us see the tiny errors hiding in the text. Or the not so tiny errors, such as missing words or extra limbs appearing in a love scene. Or the magical leap across the room complete with bouncing eyes. Or unintentional time or head hopping. Or changing hair/eye color without a reasonable explanation. No writer is immune.

Bottom line here. For all the “eyes” who beta-read and edit your brilliantly written book (novella, blog, etc.), the final responsibility falls to you, the author. That’s what galleys are for. They’re our last chance to make it perfect. Never, ever, rush this stage, or you might have me gently knocking at your inbox with a kindly worded email, which you’ll hopefully take to heart in the spirit intended: support and assistance.

Okay, seriously, only my closest compatriots get those emails. I barely have time to write my own novels and beg for critiquing without adding more to my plate. Because with what I throw at them? I get it back ten-fold. Lord love my crit partners, because I sure do—after I finish whining about their comments.

So what do you do? I’ve heard of several things authors do to help catch these little things.

• Read the work out loud.
• Read it backwards.
• Read it very slowly, out loud, and backwards.
• Know your weaknesses and do searches for them.
• Surround yourself with excellent critique partners who will actually give you the bad news that your grammar stinks. Better them than a reader or reviewer.
• Find a beta reader who excelled in English. (Mine beat me bloody about improper and over-usage of the word “that.” Still does to this very day. And no, you may not have her name or email address. She’s all MINE.)

I’m sure there are many more techniques out there. I’d love to hear yours. Maybe it will help me do a better job. (And yes, I had at least three people read this article! Any mistakes still here remain entirely my own fault.)

Morgan Q. O'Reilly

Get Some Tonight

http://morganqoreilly.com

Metaphors and Rivers

For my current WIP I needed a metaphor. Preferably something to do with water. I’d already used one concerning sirens, and needed something deeper.

Deeper.

Still waters run deep.

Ever stop to think about that old saying?

The old adage immediately brought two images into my mind. The first, a cheerful, sparkling, babbling brook tripping down the stones of a garden. The other, a wide, flat-surfaced creek. The exact picture that came to mind was Sally Field and Rob Liebman in the movie Norma Rae, swimming in the crik. Other images of steady waterways in my mind include the Yukon and Mississippi Rivers. I’ve actually spent more time sitting and watching the Yukon than I have the Mississippi, which still isn’t saying much. Neither can be counted in hours or days.

Anyhow, to get on with my metaphor situation--ahem, I sidetrack easily--some people are like brooks and streams. Bright, pretty, active. They provide a pretty melody, and if there’s no other source of water around, they could, in a dire emergency, keep you alive. Provided there’s not a drought going on, as they’re amongst the first of water sources to diminish and dry up. And if you were a small fish, or a leaf, you could catch a ride on a stream and tumble your way down to the larger creek or river or lake it runs into. Useful in a limited capacity, sometimes all you need from a stream is a pretty song, a peaceful interlude, and time to luxuriate in its beauty. You can see right clear through to the bottom and might see your distorted reflection smiling back at you. When stormy weather comes, they bubble up fast and furious. A strong enough storm can change their course and rearrange the rocks along the way, perhaps forever drastically altering the nature of the stream.

On the other hand, there's the broader, steadier, deeper river. The surface is mostly smooth, the water giving the appearance of slow movement, but sometimes when you climb in, you find the current is stronger than it looks. For the most part, you can depend on that river to be a solid predictable support. Water, fish, plants… it provides for an abundance of needs. It sustains life in many forms as well as means of travel.

Sure, there may be rapids along the way, but you generally know where they are and how to navigate through, or, around them. That’s not to say rivers are boring, but no means. Even they can change their nature, but usually it takes a pretty big event to rile them. A huge rainstorm or extra large chunks of ice breaking free in the spring can devastate for miles, wiping out homes and villages. The bigger they are, the more immense the havoc they wreak. All things in proportion. However, smaller storms often to unnoticed by them. They can absorb the tempest with hardly an extra bubble.

The power it takes to stir up a river is awesome, mighty and far reaching, but you know, in the end, eventually it’ll settle back down, possibly with a slightly altered course, maybe with a little more silt, or maybe with a whole lot less. But essentially, the changes won’t be great, and once more you’ll have your solid, dependable, nourishing river back.

So how does this metaphor work? Turn it around to the people in your life. Are you drawn to rivers or brooks? Of course it isn’t that simple. People are too complex to fit into a narrow description such as river or brook, but I think I can see signs here and there that make for amusing comparisons. Sort of like using astrology to figure out your friends and loved ones. Doesn’t always work because there are too many other factors at play. A Taurus with Irish ancestors. Now there’s a mix.

I find I’m drawn to both the brook and the river. I tend to be more river-like, slow and pondering and appreciative of a steady course. But every once in a while, I want to break out and let my bubbles go wild. I want to sing and dance and carry a pretty leaf along for a ride. I get to do this with my characters. Which woman is the hero most drawn to? He can have a most difficult choice. This is what makes my job interesting. I get to study both the brook and the river and the man choosing between them. Or the woman contemplating her options between attractive heroes. If she's really lucky, she lives in a world where she gets to keep one of each.

Maybe I should just stop with the dreaming and get the book written…

Morgan Q. O'Reilly

Come Play with Morgan and Get Some Tonight

http://morganqoreilly.com for books by Morgan O'Reilly and Shea McMaster

Available now: Borealis II A Space Anthology, Bleu Lies by Shea McMaster

Coming 2011 from Lyrical Press: Til Death Undo Us and Rachel Dahlrumple

Halloween Treats for All!

It's such a busy day today, I'm not sure where to start...

Today is Day 9, and the final day to enter the Cupcake Give Away hosted by Romance in the Backseat. Lots of great items being given away in the name of Breast Cancer Awareness. Juniper Bell and I (Morgan O'Reilly) are participating, so you could win one of our books.

Today is also the Halloween Hotties Blog Hop in which Tielle St. Clare joins the fun. Hop from blog to blog, comment, and you're automatically entered to win free books! Some of the authors have more give aways on the side, so be sure to read carefully. And of course, enjoy the eye candy. Fat free goodies galore!

Morgan O'Reilly
Get Some Tonight

http://themorgandiaries.blogspot.com

The Sweet Smell of September

School,
Effort, and
Play.
Trying your best
Each hour of the day,
Making new friends,
Being good as you can
Exciting discoveries,
Reading books with a friend."
- Boni Fulgham

This is most likely more appropriate at the beginning of the month, rather than the end, but as I was searching for inspiration, it struck me.

I always look forward to September. For me, rather than January 1, it has always seemed to be the true start of the year. Probably from associations with school. The death of summer, the start of a new school year. Tom Hanks said it well in “You’ve Got Mail” when he spoke of newly sharpened pencils. I also like to buy a candle in the scent of MacIntosh Apple for September.

For us here in the Far North, September brings leaves of red and gold and the smell of decay. You can smell the mustiness of leaves and mushrooms and the crispness of snow in the air. It’s a month of change. Flip flops are replaced by racks of snow suits in the stores. Boots and slippers go on sale. Sweaters take over the clothing racks and snow shovels push aside the grills and patio umbrellas. Halloween will be on the shelves if not this week, next for sure.

This week I’ll dig up my summer garden of weeds and scatter Arctic Lupine and Shasta Daisy seeds hoping come spring I’ll have an instant garden. Well, almost instant garden. The lemon thyme and Johnny Jump-ups should come back next year and I’ll start my Sweetpeas come March. I’ll also buy my pansy and petunia starts much, much sooner.

So until my garden can grow outside once more (inside my tomatoes are ripening one by one!) I’ll look to the last line of the poem above – Reading Books With a Friend – or three. And writing. Yeah, it’s a good time of year to hunker down and spend my time reading and writing.

What do you like about Fall? I’d love to see recipes, hear about rituals, and even see what you’ve got on your TBR pile. What makes Fall great for you?

Morgan Q. O'Reilly
Get Some Tonight
Find me on FaceBook

Congrats to the AK Heat Wave Winners!

First, we want to say a huge Thank You to everyone who entered!

What a fabulous turnout we had.

Our Grand Prize goes to Marilyn S. from Seattle, Washington.

She had the luck to have her name drawn to recieve all four books!

Our runner-up winners are:

Virginia C.

Juniper Bell’s The Extremist

Sandra M.
Kianna Alexander’s Skye’s the Limit

Ashley V.
Shea McMaster’s Six Foot Hero

Heather H.
Tielle St. Clare’s Maxwell’s Fall

Thanks to everyone who played along and/or purchased our books!

Stay with us as more exciting announcements are made in the coming weeks.

Also, our chapter members will blog weekly. If you have questions about life in Alaska, we'd love to hear them. Post your questions here, or email them to networking@akrwa.org

New Releases Begin Tomorrow!

The heat in our Heat Wave is about to go up a few dozen degrees!



Tomorrow kicks of the first two of four new releases for AKRWA authors and we couldn't be more excited!



First up is Debut Author Juniper Bell and her novella The Extremist. Be sure to check out the excerpt on her website and then follow the link to Liquid Silver books. The Buy link will be live tomorrow, Monday August 17, 2009.

Also releasing tomorrow is the re-edited, improved, with a new publisher, Six Foot Hero by Shea McMaster, the sweeter side of Morgan Q. O'Reilly. An excerpt is now up at Lyrical Press, and the Buy link will be live tomorrow as well.

And if you want a chance to get these books and two more for free (the Grand Prize), or one of the four new releases (Four second place winners), send an email with your name to contest@akrwa.org.

Welcome to the hotter side of Alaska. Find out why our volcanoes like to pop off every once in a while.