Sea Changes revolves around the character Sarah Andrews who is lonely in Australia and still grieving her dead husband.
Sarah sees a psychologist but doesn’t feel that he fully understands. She didn't socialize much outside of her husband so has trouble adjusting to the culture in Australia. Her daughter decides her mother has mourned long enough and pushes her to move on with her life.
Underwater World
She stumbles across a fascinating parallel world in the sea where she feels loved, accepted and at peace. Sarah's original plan was to commit suicide but instead she decides to help her new friends. What’s real and what’s fantasy becomes clouded, especially when she begins to confide in her psychologist.
Suspense, Mystery and Murder
A missing celebrity who happens to look like one of her new friends from the sea adds to the mystery. This complicates her quiet life, as she becomes the prime suspect, which leads her to feel more misunderstood and abandoned. Her own family becomes distant and she can no longer trust her psychologist.
Sarah finally starts to put herself first and is surprised at her new found strength and independence. Eventually, she finds herself cornered and is forced to choose between the two worlds. Should she feel obligated to the family that she has left and her husband’s memory or embrace the love and friendship she has found with a new man?
Although Sarah could be a depressing sort of character, Gail Graham has created her as an adventurous widowed woman who still sees the humor in things. She has also experienced the loss of her own husband and child and is able to describe the grief very accurately.
Sea Changes (Jade Phoenix Publishing, May 2009, ISBN: 9780692001004), comes alive with so many exciting twists and turns that it becomes impossible to put down. Gail Graham manages to maintain the suspense throughout the novel and the realistic details make this unlikely story believable.
Mourning and New Hope
Although it’s an entertaining fantasy, Sea Changes is also an emotional journey that offers hope to others in mourning. Things can never be the same after losing a spouse, but eventually other reasons to live provide opportunities and offer enough strength to continue. This is an excellent book to recommend to anyone grieving or facing depression because it offers hope that eventually, things do get better.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Friday, March 5, 2010
Writing Romance by Vanessa Grant
Vanessa Grant gives detailed and practical advice on how to write a successful romance novel in Writing Romance, Self-Counsel Press,1997-2007.
Subjects covered in Writing Romance include the business of beginning the story, creating conflict, pacing, revision, finding a publisher and preparing for the marketplace. Over half of the fiction books sold in the world are romance, so there’s a huge market for them.
Romance Subgenres
Most novels contain some romance, so Writing Romance would be helpful for almost any author beginning their novel. It makes sense for authors to write about what they enjoy because it will come easier and the story will be better because of it.
There are some excellent notes on writing suspense, paranormal and science fiction along with romance.
A whole chapter is devoted to suspense including the rules and how to keep things unpredictable. It’s important to keep the outcome hidden. Anyone who has read a book where they could predict what was going to happen next knows that doesn’t make for a fun read.
Archetypes
Writers often use common archetypes without even thinking about them but it’s interesting to break them down into recognizable categories. A couple of the familiar standbys are the virginal heroine and the Alpha hero. To keep things interesting it would be wise to throw in a wild woman or passionate artist.
The setting can be a simple background or the main focus in the story. It depends on how strongly the setting influences the characters. Guidelines on how to create a strong descriptive setting authentically are included even if you’ve never been there.
Plot and Conflict
While the plot is important, without strong characters and conflicts there won’t be much life in the romance novel. Helping the reader get attached to characters makes the story better because they will sympathize when they have huge problems. Victory at the end will also be much sweeter because the reader cares about the people in the story.
Brainstorming with a series of questions is one of the techniques used to flesh out characters. As the questions continue, they get harder so more bizarre or interesting scenarios and characters are created.
Controversial Issues
In some cases experiences with such things as alcoholism, mental illness and/or dysfunctional families become beneficial to the writer because they can relate to those issues easier. For alternative lifestyles, occupations or diseases that there are no experiences with, Vanessa Grant shares how to go about researching them.
About Vanessa Grant
Vanessa Grant is a popular romance writer who has authored 30 books and successfully sold over 10 million romance novels. She runs workshops on romance writing and offers online seminars and courses.
The CD-ROM included with Writing Romance is full of writing resources. These include templates for writing the book, an eight part seminar on writing romance, and links to publishers and market information.
Writing Romance is a fantastic step-by-step guide for learning how to write a successful romance novel. Also included are two of Vanessa Grant's novels Taking Chances and Yesterday’s Vows in eBook format. To explore more of Vanessa’s writing resources like her workshops or online courses see VanessaGrant.ca.
Subjects covered in Writing Romance include the business of beginning the story, creating conflict, pacing, revision, finding a publisher and preparing for the marketplace. Over half of the fiction books sold in the world are romance, so there’s a huge market for them.
Romance Subgenres
Most novels contain some romance, so Writing Romance would be helpful for almost any author beginning their novel. It makes sense for authors to write about what they enjoy because it will come easier and the story will be better because of it.
There are some excellent notes on writing suspense, paranormal and science fiction along with romance.
A whole chapter is devoted to suspense including the rules and how to keep things unpredictable. It’s important to keep the outcome hidden. Anyone who has read a book where they could predict what was going to happen next knows that doesn’t make for a fun read.
Archetypes
Writers often use common archetypes without even thinking about them but it’s interesting to break them down into recognizable categories. A couple of the familiar standbys are the virginal heroine and the Alpha hero. To keep things interesting it would be wise to throw in a wild woman or passionate artist.
The setting can be a simple background or the main focus in the story. It depends on how strongly the setting influences the characters. Guidelines on how to create a strong descriptive setting authentically are included even if you’ve never been there.
Plot and Conflict
While the plot is important, without strong characters and conflicts there won’t be much life in the romance novel. Helping the reader get attached to characters makes the story better because they will sympathize when they have huge problems. Victory at the end will also be much sweeter because the reader cares about the people in the story.
Brainstorming with a series of questions is one of the techniques used to flesh out characters. As the questions continue, they get harder so more bizarre or interesting scenarios and characters are created.
Controversial Issues
In some cases experiences with such things as alcoholism, mental illness and/or dysfunctional families become beneficial to the writer because they can relate to those issues easier. For alternative lifestyles, occupations or diseases that there are no experiences with, Vanessa Grant shares how to go about researching them.
About Vanessa Grant
Vanessa Grant is a popular romance writer who has authored 30 books and successfully sold over 10 million romance novels. She runs workshops on romance writing and offers online seminars and courses.
The CD-ROM included with Writing Romance is full of writing resources. These include templates for writing the book, an eight part seminar on writing romance, and links to publishers and market information.
Writing Romance is a fantastic step-by-step guide for learning how to write a successful romance novel. Also included are two of Vanessa Grant's novels Taking Chances and Yesterday’s Vows in eBook format. To explore more of Vanessa’s writing resources like her workshops or online courses see VanessaGrant.ca.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
How to Quit Smoking Without Gaining Weight
In How To Quit Smoking Without Gaining Weight, Martin Katahn has formulated two programs. One is for those ready to quit and the other is for those still struggling.
It’s explained in detail the reasons why people gain weight even if they don’t ingest more calories. Apparently an ex-smoker’s metabolism slows down so much that it equals as much as 200 calories. According to Martin Katahn, 70% of all people who quit smoking gain weight.
Knowing these things doesn’t help lose the weight, but it helps by reassuring others that it’s common. His plans go into greater detail about how to either prevent weight gain before quitting or lose the weight after quitting. There's a 7 + 7 Program for those about to quit and an Ex-Smoker's Weight Management Program for those wanting to lose the weight gained after quitting.
The two things that will help someone quit are to be highly motivated and confident about it being a success. With this well thought out and researched plan; it’s more likely to be able to quit smoking successfully. Other benefits are that healthier eating and exercising habits will replace smoking and energy levels will increase.
Cut Fat & Choose Healthy Carbohydrates
His simple but not necessarily easy methods include cutting down on fat. Along with that are suggestions on how to replace fatty foods with complex carbohydrates. Specific food choices are given with lists of alternatives to use as a reference. There is a detailed appendix called Fat and Carbohydrate Counter. It lists common foods and the serving size, total fat, carbohydrates and calories. Although there is a present trend to go low on carbs, they’re necessary for energy. Martin Katahn assures people that if fat intake is lowered, they choose healthier carbohydrates and they exercise, they will lose weight.
Recipes
One of the best parts of How To Quit Smoking Without Gaining Weight is the healthy but delicious recipes demonstrating how to make things like chocolate chip cookies, muffins and lasagna lower in fat and higher in fiber. Many of the recipes are included in the menu suggestions.
Exercise
Anaerobic exercise or strength training is also encouraged and suggested as a method to help quit smoking and lose weight. Lifting small weights for ten minutes a day will suffice.
How To Quit Smoking Without Gaining Weight by Martin Katahn, publisher W.W. Norton & Company, 1994-2004, ISBN-10: 0743466233 is packed full of expert advice to assist those motivated to change their lifestyle and quit smoking. Marting Katahn is also the author of the T-Factor Diet
and The T-Factor Fat Counter
.
Knowing these things doesn’t help lose the weight, but it helps by reassuring others that it’s common. His plans go into greater detail about how to either prevent weight gain before quitting or lose the weight after quitting. There's a 7 + 7 Program for those about to quit and an Ex-Smoker's Weight Management Program for those wanting to lose the weight gained after quitting.
The two things that will help someone quit are to be highly motivated and confident about it being a success. With this well thought out and researched plan; it’s more likely to be able to quit smoking successfully. Other benefits are that healthier eating and exercising habits will replace smoking and energy levels will increase.
Cut Fat & Choose Healthy Carbohydrates
His simple but not necessarily easy methods include cutting down on fat. Along with that are suggestions on how to replace fatty foods with complex carbohydrates. Specific food choices are given with lists of alternatives to use as a reference. There is a detailed appendix called Fat and Carbohydrate Counter. It lists common foods and the serving size, total fat, carbohydrates and calories. Although there is a present trend to go low on carbs, they’re necessary for energy. Martin Katahn assures people that if fat intake is lowered, they choose healthier carbohydrates and they exercise, they will lose weight.Recipes
One of the best parts of How To Quit Smoking Without Gaining Weight is the healthy but delicious recipes demonstrating how to make things like chocolate chip cookies, muffins and lasagna lower in fat and higher in fiber. Many of the recipes are included in the menu suggestions.Exercise
Anaerobic exercise or strength training is also encouraged and suggested as a method to help quit smoking and lose weight. Lifting small weights for ten minutes a day will suffice.
How To Quit Smoking Without Gaining Weight by Martin Katahn, publisher W.W. Norton & Company, 1994-2004, ISBN-10: 0743466233 is packed full of expert advice to assist those motivated to change their lifestyle and quit smoking. Marting Katahn is also the author of the T-Factor Diet
and The T-Factor Fat Counter.
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