Good Monday morning, readers and writers everywhere!  I hope your Easter weekend/school break/vacation was supremely happy and restful. Ready to get back to work? I am. But first I wanted to break from the usual weekly articles and touch base on a few odds and ends.

NEWS:  I am delighted to announce that the eLit Book Awards were announced over the weekend. I am the proud SILVER Medalist for The Book of Now (TBoN)! Let’s have a group hug!AND On Apr 14 I started a FREE Giveaway of ebook copies of TBoN. TODAY is the last day to get your free Kindle copy of it. I will NOT be offering this book for free ever again.  Now is your chance! Last day is TODAY. RUN!
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Next, the Poetry Contest ended yesterday. Judging begins today and winners will be announced on APRIL 26. Stay tuned for the LIVE announcement (see below) and I wish all the entrants good luck!

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I’ll be on the radio! Join me on Yvonne Mason’s blogtalk radio program OFF THE CHAIN on FRIDAY, April 21, at 8pm. We always have a great time and we’re planning to discuss poetry. Call in and ask your questions. And share your thoughts with us! I look forward to our hour together. Click the link and listen live or check back later and listen to the archived program.

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NEW BOOK STATUS:  I’m finishing the final edits on the new book. I finally selected a title and all will be revealed soon. Get ready because I hope to have the book available by the end of MAY!

What is the new book? If you read my MIDNIGHT ASSASSIN – A Tale of Lust and Revenge, then you met Drahomira, my deliciously sexy vampire. She’s back and she’s setting up the reason for the new series called The Evening Bower. This prequel will introduce a variety of characters who will come together (some sooner, others later) in the new stories. Drahomira is my connector, my facilitator (just don’t tell her I said that), and she’s bringing trouble in her wake.

I’ll keep you posted with more information soon.

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New FACEBOOK LIVE EVENT on APRIL 26 at 9pm. The Poetry Contest Winner announced, news about the new book, info on the Space Coast Book Lovers Event, and a few special shout outs.  Mark your calendar!

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Finally, I know I don’t say it often enough but thank you to everyone who supports me with you friendship, your encouragement, you cheering when I do well, your uplifting inspiration when I do poorly, and for filling my life with smiles and laughter. You are all my inspiration and I treasure you.

Next Monday I will have some poetry and thoughts about poetry to end National Poetry Month.

Until then I remain,
Yours, Between the Lines,
Sherry

Tomorrow is World Poetry Day. Created in 1999 by UNESCO, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, the day was designed to promote poetry throughout the world, to “give fresh recognition and impetus to national, regional and international poetry movements”.

On World Poetry Day there will be festivals, celebrations, mic events, random readings. Check with your local schools, libraries, community centers, universities to see what is going on near you. Look for open mic nights and show up to support those brave souls who recite aloud.

And don’t forget to try your hand at poetry tomorrow. After all, poetry is the music of the soul.  I’m telling you now in order for you to seek out some poetic fun.

Years ago, I knew a lady online who wrote some fabulous poetry. She did a poem I’ve kept with me that had a line in it, “just for one day, because we’re all poets.”

Well that’s World Poetry Day!  Because deep down we’re all a bit of a poet, reach in and tap into that crazy, secret part of you and write something funny, odd, serious, sad, wild, unusual or normal! But just for one day let your inner poet have free reign. And leave me something to read later, please?  So here I offer this for you. (Thanks K.K.)

Spring Haiku

Blooming daffodil,
yellow ink of Springtime tales
written for the heart.

-Sherry Rentschler

Ok, how about a CLEAN Limerick?

There once was a girl they called “Sherry,”
Whose poetry was really quite scary.
But you count on good times,
Despite her bad rhymes,
‘Cause at least her poems weren’t hairy!

Now, leave me one of yours! Go on, play! Release your poetic cracken and be a titan, if just for one day.

Don’t forget April is coming and that is National Poetry Month! I plan to share lots of goodies with you, so stay tuned.

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Now for some odds and ends:

• The winner of the Name My Bar contest will be announced this week. I hope you entered! All the details will be revealed — I hope I got a name that I will like!
• Breaking The Glass Slipper won The Book Designer’s Ebook Cover Contest for Jan 2017. I was very excited and psyched! Enter those contests! Here’s my award:

 

• Finally, look for a LIVE FACEBOOK event coming at the end of the month. Don’t know where to find me. Follow me here and watch for an announcement. I’ll also put a note here in the blog.

Before I go, I want to wish you all a Happy Spring! Wherever you are, know that winter is being pushed aside and the world is turning to a new season. The winds of change are here; the rains, the flowers, and the twitterpation of birds follows. This is the season of love and color. Allow yourself to be enchanted.

Thank you for dropping by.
I remain, Yours Between the Lines,
Sherry

At a recent Writers’ Group meeting, we went around the table and introduced our work-in-progress, genre, and what we hoped to achieve in the group. There we were chatting about our “stuff” and I overheard one writer make a comment, “I realized my character went through the entire book and never changed clothes.” We all had a good belly laugh at this but then – you know me – I turned that into a discussion about what characters have to have or do to be relatable, for the story to actually live and breathe.

And yes, your character needs to change clothes. More, your characters should do what you do, eat, sleep, go to the bathroom, shower, drive, be ill, burn food, shovel snow, etc. There should be food and dining — sleeping, relaxing, sex (do not have to have scenes but couples do mention it), accidents, arguments — well, the list goes on forever.

The reason for these “life events” is twofold. First, these real events give truth to your characters (even ones on odd, new worlds). Second, they can be the catalysts for moving your story forward.

I am particularly aware of my “scenes” when I write. How do you show and not tell when your character is listening to others? Maybe it is in the food. Does it remind your character of something unpleasant? Maybe the smell of Lysol from the kitchen brings back a hospital stay, so your character cannot eat because the smell drives him/her from the room. Remember you don’t have to outline every nuance for your readers; hopefully the subtle meaning will be enough.

Everyone is good at sights and sounds. What about the way a person speaks? Are characters’ voices clearly understood? Maybe a drawl gives a false perception to your character that causes them to jump to conclusions or say something untoward to the other person. Let those things happen and suddenly you have a much richer moment and your character has character (good or bad). Church bells, car alarms, screaming, laughter — all are important aspects to character but can also move action forward with purpose, too.

Do you use touch in your moments? Perhaps the silk of a flower against a cheek or the rough skein or a woolen scarf in winter reminds a little boy of being wet and cold and scolded by his mother. Or a single finger tracing over a woman’s knuckle by a reticent lover enlarges her pupils. Often these activities tell more than any dialogue could. Use them to advantage and let the action explain the character (he was a romantic man is better understood through the touch of a rose to her lips).

Back to that character who never changed clothes during the entire book. Of course, the writer is going back to fix this, but when the fixing is happening, so much more will result because of the change! Nakedness can have an important voice (mind out of gutter now) for babies, surely, but for adults the bare necessity holds a myriad of possibilities. A dress chosen instead of a pantsuit by a pants-wearing character. A pair of jeans and a Henley instead of Mr. Wall Street’s usual Armani suit. Hmm, casual Friday, weekend getaway or…something more nefarious afoot? Maybe an allergy to silk can lead to murder or laughter. How you need to develop the tale can depend on how your clothes feel to your character. Maybe she changed her hose because it wasn’t her skin color or there was a hole in the sock.

Sometimes, the senses can let your character down, and you should allow it to happen. What about the guard dog that failed to pick up a critical scent, the speeding driver who didn’t hear the fire truck for the loud music in the car with the screaming pregnant woman in the back seat, the little child who holds a first dandelion (stares at it and promptly eats it), the plastic surgery gone awry and the moment a patient gets that first look? The failures can be critical too. Use them but use the sensory part of it to tell your tale. Don’t simply tell us about it. That’s so boring and not nearly as fun.

So, you ask, why didn’t the character change clothes? Did the writer lack the talent to do this? No, the writer spent more time on the surroundings instead of the intimacies of the character. The writer made a lush, active sci-fi world but forgot to let the character live fully within it.

That’s why you need to let your character use all the senses and become a real person. Change the clothes; maybe do the laundry. Notice the stinky socks. Your story will thank you for it and we, the readers, will be begging you for more stories that we can’t forget or stop reading.

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Coming in April, I’m going to do a series on understanding poetry. So be sure to tune in for a perspective that I promise you have not seen!

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I’M RUNNING A BAR/CLUB NAMING CONTEST!  Are you clever? I’m running a contest to find a very cool, not cliché, name of a vampire bar/club in New Orleans. This establishment belongs to my redheaded vampire Drahomira from my urban fantasy novella, Midnight Assassin – A Tale of Lust and Revenge.  There will be permanent name recognition to the winner and signed books too. Contest ends on March 19.  So ENTER HERE!  And Good Luck!  Winners will be announced on March 21.

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LOOK FOR A LIVE CHAT ON FACEBOOK COMING AT THE END OF THE MONTH!

As always, thanks for dropping by. Leave a comment and say hello.

Yours Between the Lines,
Sherry