Long & Short Reviews Halloween Blogfest!

The Long & Short Reviews Halloween Blogfest - October 29 to November 2, 2012. Win prizes at the blogfest by commenting on one of the many blogs posted between October 29 and November 2, 2012 on the LASR Blog. All the blogs have a Halloween theme. I'm blogging about a century old hotel in my city reported to be haunted. To win my prize, an e-copy of my novella "Home Fires", all you have to do is comment on my post, which will go live at 11 am on November 1.

Carnivalesque: The Traveling Blog Show is Back!

After a summer break in which many of us took the opportunity to read "Jane Eyre", the ladies of Carnivalesque: The Traveling Blog Show are back. Next weekend, some members of our writing group, The Saskatchewan Romance Writers, will be attending an event in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan called Word on the Street, a book and magazine festival celebrating reading and advocating for literacy. And of course, when thinking about attending an event, a writer's thoughts turn to what to wear. For our first week back, Joanne Brothwell posed this question:

With Word On The Street (a book and magazine festival) this weekend, I've been thinking about what to wear. Do you think it's important as an author attending public events to dress in a way that reflects their platform? If yes, what does that mean for you?
We'd love you to weigh in on this question. Please join us at Joanne Brothwell's blog and don't forget to wear your Sunday best!

Your hosts:
Joanne Brothwell
Karyn Good
Hayley E. Lavik
Jana Richards
and Janet Corcoran, who is away on holidays in Scotland, the lucky dog!

The Myth of Multi-Tasking

Tell me if this sounds familiar; you’re trying to write a blog post while at the same checking emails as they come in and posting to Facebook. In the background the TV is playing. The buzzer on the dryer goes off and while you’re in the basement folding laundry, you have a great idea for your blog post. You finish putting away clothes, feed the dog, check some more emails, and send a link to Twitter. Unfortunately, by the time you sit down to write your post, your great idea has evaporated.

If you find yourself trying to do a hundred and one things at once, you’re a multi-tasker. You might think this is the best way to get a handle on your to-do list, but is it? According to numerous studies, the human brain is not designed to multi-task. It’s designed to concentrate on one thing at a time, until that job is done, and then move on. When you multi-task, you lose the ability to deeply concentrate. If you flit back and forth between two or more projects, it will actually take you longer to complete your tasks, and they may not be done as well. For creative types, like writers, lack of concentration on a project can mean not only decreased productivity, but decreased quality. How can I be a good writer if I don’t totally immerse myself in the world of my story?
"Without great solitude, no serious work is possible." Picasso.

Writers who have abandoned multi-tasking report the following benefits: - Stress levels decreased. In her blog post"My Anti-Multitasking Experiment", Kario says she felt calmer because she didn’t have the pressure of a hundred things to do nagging at her constantly.
- Focus increased. Because he limited his projects from 15 to 2, James Mathewson says he was able to concentrate more fully.

- Writing projects were completed more quickly.

- The work became more enjoyable.

- Productivity went up.

- Creativity increased.

- In "10 Reason you need to Stop Multi-tasking" Ali reports that she made fewer mistakes when she stopped multi-tasking. She also reports that as freelance writer, clients appreciate having her full attention. So with all these benefits in mind, I am vowing from this day forth to concentrate on one writing project at a time. Here’s my plan to avoid multi-tasking and scattering my concentration:
- Make a list everyday of the three most important writing tasks I need to accomplish. And then do them. These tasks should relate to my overall goals. For instance, two of my goals this year are to finish writing projects that have lingered for years, and to increase my social media presence. My daily tasks should bring me closer to those goals.

- While I am writing, turn off email, IMs, Facebook etc. Also, don’t try to throw in another load of laundry or any other household task during my dedicated writing time. Writing time is for writing. Period.For other great suggestions to increase concentration, check out these posts – "
10 Ways to Stop Multi-Tasking and Be More Effective" and "Stop multi-tasking and your writing will improve".
Do you believe you get more done when you multi-task, or do you find you get more done when you concentrate on one thing at a time?

What I Learned from Jane Eyre

As a summer project, a group of us are reading "Jane Eyre" and sharing our thoughts about it as we progress. For most of us, including me, it is our first reading of the book. It’s one of those books I’ve always meant to read but never got around to. I wasn’t sure if I was really going to enjoy Ms. Bronte’s fiction, or if like cod liver oil, I needed to ingest it because reading a classic was ‘good for me’. Luckily, I found that reading the book was both enjoyable and educational.

Charlotte Bronte had a few things to teach me this summer. Here’s my take on lessons learned from "Jane Eyre":

1. Don’t forget the importance of setting. The novel abounds with detailed descriptions of each of its settings. The austerity described at Lowood School for girls lets us feel the continual cold and the pervasive hunger. Moor House is as warm and homey as Gateshead is cold and prisonlike. And of course Thornfield, Mr. Rochester’s mansion, is described in such a way that it feels impressive and lonely at the same time:

"...advancing onto the lawn, I looked up and surveyed the front of the mansion. It was three stories high, of proportions not vast, though considerable: a gentleman’s manorhouse, not a nobleman’s seat: battlements round the top gave it a picturesque look. Its grey front stood out well from the background of a rookery, whose cawing tenants were now on the wing:…Farther off were hills: not so lofty as those round Lowood, nor so craggy, nor so like barriers of separation from the living world; but yet quiet and lonely hills enough, and seeming to embrace Thornfield with a seclusion I had not expected to find."

I could see, feel, taste and experience each one of Ms. Bronte’s settings. I have to remember to put my readers in my books by using details as well as the five senses.

2. Don’t forget to flesh out characters with vivid description. Jane Eyre has the uncanny knack of being able to describe people. Here she describes Adele on first meeting her:

"...a little girl, followed by her attendant, came running up the lawn. I looked at my pupil, who did not at first appear to notice me: she was quite a child, perhaps seven or eight years old, slightly built, with a pale, small-featured face, and a redundancy of hair falling in curls to her waist."

3. Don’t forget to make secondary characters come to life. Ms. Bronte has a gift for bringing secondary characters to life. All her characters are interesting, and all are individuals. Every character has a distinct personality. For instance, Adele is shown as being, of course, very child-like, but with a very big personality:

"Descending from her chair, she came and placed herself on my knee; then, folding her little hands demurely before her, shaking back her curls and lifting her eyes to the ceiling, she commenced singing a song from some opera."

4. Make each character unique. In the descriptions of ladies in the party scene, I was able to see each of the eight ladies as separate and unique. I could also form opinions on each of the eight ladies. Which brings me to my next point…

5. In a romance, always show how the heroine is different from any other woman the hero has ever known. (The same is true about heroes being different from any other man the heroine has ever known.) I think Ms. Bronte introduces Blanche to show the contrast between her and Jane. Blanche is loud where Jane is quiet, beautiful where Jane is plain, oblivious where Jane is observant, mean where Jane is kind, and dim where Jane is smart. Jane observes all the differences between them that would make Blanche, in theory, a better wife for Rochester, including the fact that she is rich and of the same social standing as he. But Rochester would rather have an interesting, unique and piquant (stimulating) companion.
6. Show the characters’ passion. Though Jane rarely shows it, she has a passionate nature that makes her an interesting person to spend over 400 pages with. One of my favorite passages occurs when Jane is separated from Rochester and working as a school mistress:

"…dreams where, amidst unusual scenes, charged with adventure, with agitating risk and romantic chance, I still again and again met Mr. Rochester, always at some exciting crisis: and then the sense of being in his arms, hearing his voice, meeting his eye, touching his hand and cheek, loving him, being loved by him—the hope of passing a lifetime at his side, would be renewed, with all its first force and fire. Then I awoke. Then I recalled where I was, and how situated. Then I rose up on my curtainless bed, trembling and quivering; and then the still, dark night witnessed the convulsion of despair, and heard the burst of passion."

 But Jane controls her passions well. "By nine o’clock the next morning. I was punctually opening the school; tranquil, settled, prepared for the steady duties of the day."

7. Every heroine doesn’t have to be a beauty queen. Charlotte Bronte takes great pains to stress that Jane is plain:

"I sometimes regretted that I was not handsomer; I sometimes wished to have rosy cheeks, a straight nose, and small cherry mouth; I desired to be tall, stately, and finely developed in figure; I felt it a misfortune that I was so little, so pale, and had features so irregular and so marked."

A heroine who is truly original can be much more interesting than one who is merely beautiful. In fact, in the Afterward of the version of "Jane Eyre" that I read, Marcelle Clements quotes the biography of Charlotte Bronte written by Elizabeth Gaskill:

"She [Charlotte Bronte] once told her sisters that they were wrong—even morally wrong—in making their heroines beautiful as a matter of course. They replied that it was impossible to make a heroine interesting on any other terms. Her answer was, "I will prove to you that you are wrong; I will show you a heroine as plain and as small as myself, who shall be as interesting as any of yours."

I must remember that interesting and unique trumps beautiful any day. Jane Eyre proves it.

8. The hero and heroine must suffer before they get to their happy ending. In modern stories, there must be a compelling reason why the two lovers can’t be together. There must be conflict. Bronte gives Jane and Rochester ample conflict to keep them apart; Rochester is already married. I honestly didn’t know if this story would end happily. When his marriage comes to light and before they get together again, both suffer tremendously. Jane nearly starves. Rochester is disfigured. Perhaps that’s a little drastic, but the point is that the stakes for the lovers must be high.

Though it took me a while to get through it, I’m glad I read "Jane Eyre". There’s always something to be learned from great writers.

Have you read "Jane Eyre"? If not, what lessons in writing have you learned from a favorite writer or book?

Hot Summer Heroes Blog Hop!

I'm participating in the Hot Summer Heroes Blog Hop! One of the requirements for participating in this blog hop was to talk about what constitutes a hot hero to me. As I write this, the Olympics are on TV. There's no shortage of buff men with impressive biceps and even more impressive abs - can you say six-pack, anyone?

But what makes a lot of these men heroes in my book is their committment to their dreams, their sense of fair play, and good sportmanship. It was heartwarming to see the genuine congratulations given to Oscar Pistorius from other runners in his 400 meter heat. Although Pistorius, the South Africian double amputee who runs on carbon fiber blades, didn't win his heat, his historic run was a triumph of the human spirit. There's a hot hero for you!

Closer to home, my idea of a hero is a man with integrity, tolerance, and intelligence. Having great abs (have I mentioned that I'm a sucker for great abs?) is just a bonus. A guy can be built like Adonis and have a face like Brad Pitt, but it means nothing without qualities like kindess and a sense of humor.

So, getting back to the Hot Summer Heroes Blog Hop. What is it? It's your chance to win lots of prizes. About 82 authors are participating, so you can hop from one blog to another and enter to win a prize at each one. A grand prize of a $100 Barnes and Noble Gift Certificate will be awarded at the end of the Hop.

My prize is a PDF copy of my most recent novella "Home Fires". All you have to do to enter my contest is to email me at jana.richards@hotmail.com  and tell me what your idea of a hot hero is. Or simply tell me the name of one of your favorite fictional heroes, from books, TV or movies. I'll be picking the winner of my contest at random from all entries received on August 19, 2012. Chances of winning depends on the number of entries. To read an excerpt from "Home Fires" please go to http://www.janarichards.net/ExcerptreviewsHomeFires.html

After you've entered my contest, hop on over to Hot Summer Heroes Headquarters for a listing of all the participating bloggers. .

"

Click here to take you to a page with the names and addresses of all the participating authors.

Have fun on the Hop and best of luck!

"Home Fires" to be given away at TRR!

A PDF copy of "Home Fires" will be given away at The Romance Reviews today in their Sizzling Summer Reads Party. All you have to do is register and log on to the TRR site to play the game and win my book. For more information, please go to http://www.theromancereviews.com/event.php

Winners on my Blog Tour!

The winner of the $25 Amazon gift certificate that I offered as a prize on my virtual book tour is...

Marybelle!

Congratulations! I hope you enjoy all the new books you're going to purchase, and I hope at least one of them is mine! Happy reading.

I also gave away CD copies of some of my books to three readers who followed me all over the Internet. I wanted to show my appreciation for supporting me.

Catherine - wins a copy of "Till September"

Gladys - wins a copy of "Till September"

MomJane - wins a copy of "A Long Way from Eden"
Anonymous - wins a copy of "A Long Way from Eden"

I hope you enjoy the books, ladies. Congratulations to all, and thank you for making my blog tour so much fun.

And don't forget that even if you didn't get a prize on my book tour you can still be a winner. Purchase any of my books and receive a PDF copy of "Rescue Me", my contemporary romantic comedy. All you have to do is to let me know you purchased one of my books by emailing me at jana.richards@hotmail.com and I'll email "Rescue Me" to you. To read an excerpt from "Rescue Me" please click here. To see a list of all my titles please click here. Hurry! Offer ends July 18, 2012, midnight CST.