May 30 2016

Finding the apostrophe

This may not seem like a blog-worthy topic, but I feel strongly about the misuse of the apostrophe. Whenever I see a sign where an apostrophe has been placed where it is clearly not needed, I want to go and remove it. The reverse is true for signs where it has been left out.

darth_ap

Yes, I am the kind of person who uses apostrophes when sending text messages and emails from small devices. So the discovery I made only this past week is what inspired today’s blog.

I was looking for the hidden smart (curly) quote mark on the computer keyboard – because I was using a software program that was putting in straight ones (inch marks). And I recalled that I had a printout of keyboard tips in my drawer. I found the sheet in a plastic folder and was able to locate the curly quote marks I needed.

When I turned the folder over to return it to the drawer there was a printed sheet on the other side. At some point, a few years ago, I had put together a list of iOS tips for iPads.

Tip #6 was titled ‘Hidden apostrophe key on the keyboard’. I’ve always thought Apple had made a big mistake in not having the apostrophe on the first screen of iPhone and iPad keyboards…having to click onto the next screen to find it. Now here it was, the answer that I must have quickly scanned, put in the drawer and forgotten about.

And it is so simple. Just tap and hold the ! key and voilà – an apostrophe is placed where you want it. And for quote marks, tap and hold the ? key. Amazing. How I’ve lived with my iDevices for so many years without knowing this is also amazing.

So, I just wanted to share this. For any other apostrophe control freaks out there who might not know about this vital time-saver.

puppies

Where to buy books by Jen Silver:

The Circle Dance: Affinity eBooks /Amazon US / Amazon UK / Barnes & Noble / Bella Books/ Smashwords / Apple iTunes

The Starling Hill Trilogy:

Starting Over: Affinity eBooks / Amazon US / Amazon UK / Barnes & Noble / Smashwords / Apple iTunes

Arc Over Time: Affinity eBooks / Amazon US / Amazon UK / Barnes & Noble / Smashwords / Apple iTunes

Carved in Stone: Affinity eBooks / Amazon US / Amazon UK / Barnes & Noble / Smashwords / Apple iTunes

May 21 2016

GCLS in Washington DC

Counting the days…has it really been almost a year since last year’s GCLS Conference in New Orleans?

GCLS 2015 – Author signing

I feel the time is passing quickly and July 6 will be upon us very shortly. Especially now that I’ve checked the schedules and discovered that I’m on the very first Author Spotlight session on the Wednesday afternoon. So after you’ve registered, caught up with friends and met new ones, you’ll be able to listen to me and three other authors reading from our books. I’m thrilled to be in the same session with Jane DiLucchio, MB Panichi, and Chris Parsons. I think it’s quite an eclectic mix of writing styles. And Catherine Maiorisi has the moderator’s job of keeping us in line.

On the Saturday morning, I’m taking part in The Politics of Poetry panel. When my friend and moderator for this panel, E M Hodge, asked if I would be willing to participate, I was rather hesitant. I’m not a poet and I there’s not anything I know about politics that I would like to share in a public forum. But now the full line up has been revealed, I can relax. Jewelle Gomez is on this panel. Jewelle Gomez! I think the rest of us should just sit back and let her do the talking. Who wants to hear what I might have to say about the politics of poetry when you can listen to Jewelle Gomez?

I thought nothing could top last year’s GCLS with the abundance of lesbian icons in attendance…Dorothy Allison, Lee Lynch, Rita Mae Brown, J M Redmann. But the GCLS conference organisers have done it again. If anyone’s not sure about the value of attending a GCLS conference, just take a look at the line up. As well as the aforementioned Jewelle, there are authors I’ve admired from afar for many years…Katherine V Forrest, Karin Kallmaker, Lee Lynch, Radclyffe, Georgia Beers, Fay Jacobs…to name a few.

Annette Mori, Jen Silver and Ali Spooner with C.d. Cain – who we had obviously coerced into buying our books, but she’s still smiling!

In the not-so-famous corner, Ali Spooner, Annette Mori, Renee MacKenzie, and myself are representing Affinity eBooks at the conference this year. Please come along and talk to us at the Affinity book table. We will have some super swag to give away…plus an awesome range of books for you to buy. (Apologies – no photo of Renee here – she was probably wrestling with an alligator somewhere.)

The Jen Silver collection

Where to buy my books:

The Circle Dance: Affinity eBooks /Amazon US / Amazon UK / Barnes & Noble / Bella Books/ Smashwords / Apple iTunes

The Starling Hill Trilogy:

Starting Over: Affinity eBooks / Amazon US / Amazon UK / Barnes & Noble / Smashwords / Apple iTunes

Arc Over Time: Affinity eBooks / Amazon US / Amazon UK / Barnes & Noble / Smashwords / Apple iTunes

Carved in Stone: Affinity eBooks / Amazon US / Amazon UK / Barnes & Noble / Smashwords / Apple iTunes

May 13 2016

My Writing Time

When I’m working on a novel, my morning goes like this: out of bed by 6am or 6:30 at the latest (panic sets in if its later than that). Make breakfast for myself and my wife. This consists of putting together two bowls of oats, yogurt, banana, a few prunes, seeds, various dried fruit. I drink some orange juice while I’m doing this. We make our own coffee. I like proper coffee dripped through a filter, she likes instant (yecchh!). How did we ever get together, you may well ask?

That morning coffee

Take coffee and breakfast bowl into the living room, sit in chair, glasses on, open iPad. Quick scan of emails and Facebook. Open up newspaper app. Read a few articles that interest me and then look at the weather…endlessly fascinating for anyone living in the British Isles. As we live in the middle of the country, it’s often wrong.

After washing up my bowl, spoon, coffee mug, filter, I pour myself a large glass of water and go upstairs to my office. Resisting the temptation to have another look at Facebook, or maybe a peek at Twitter, I open up my writing program, Scrivener.

Usually I will have had some thoughts on waking up about what I think is coming next in the story, which scenes I need to tackle. If I’m lucky, the day before I might even have added a few notations into blank scenes with the name of the character so I have a clue as to what I was thinking then. Better still, I might even have made some notes in the notebook I have for the novel.

Distractions, other than social media…glancing out of the window I watch the young man across the way getting ready to cycle to work. He’s a bit OCD about it, taking a long time to check and double check everything. Then the neighbor whose garage backs onto the lane directly across from my window opens her garage door and I gauge by her clothing what her activity is… gym, golf, picking up her mother to go shopping.

Back to my own screen and a new blank page. I need to get into the head of this character and describe what happens next in the story.

The man with the bike is almost ready now. I know the signs. He’s locking the side door, checks it once, twice. Goes to the back of the house and checks the patio door is locked. Back to the side door, puts his cycling gloves on, carefully. Checks again to make sure the side door is locked and gets on his bike. He’s gone, so now I can get on with writing something.

My goal every day I’m working on a novel is to write one thousand words. This mostly works and generally averages out over the week if I miss that target for the day.

The closer I get to finishing the first draft, the more this writing time gains in importance. I’m monitoring my word count, checking the chapter lengths, wondering if the title makes sense now that I’m near the end of the story.

Mugs for writers

Five hundred words on the page. I finish my glass of water. Go downstairs to make another coffee. The cat next door is staring out of a bedroom window and follows my movements with inquisitive green eyes.

Sometimes the words flow, sometimes they don’t. I remind myself that no one is making me do this. It’s my choice to sit in front of a screen and try to put the words one after the other on the page. But when I’m not doing it, I miss it. So I need to make the most of my writing time and enjoy the process.

Is it time for another cup of coffee yet? It’s a nice day, maybe I should go for a walk.