The Christian Cafe ~2~

Okay, I'm back.

In answer to your blonde vs blond question - b/c I sometimes use the King's english, I had thought the difference was the same (talk about an oxymoron).

For example, if you type the word 'blonde' (which is the natural way for me to spell it) and click on it for the U.K. dictionary while you're in MS Word, you get 3 definitions for the word as an adjective and another as a noun.

But, if you drop the 'e', the word doesn't exist in the UK dictionary.

Now, if you switch to the North American dict and type in the word 'blonde', the dictionary drops the 'e' and gives you 4 adjective definitions and 1 as a noun.

This would seem to confirm that blonde is British and blond is American.

However, on the contest loops, I've learned that if you use the word blonde to describe hair colour, the judges mark you down b/c they think you're calling the person 'blonde' as in 'blonde jokes' if you get my meaning.

Clear as mud, eh?

Actually Lyn, that confirms that the proper spelling in the US is blond.

Okay, I found my way here! I just got back from ten days at the beach, and I'm afraid my brain might still be on vacation, given how long it took me to get here. It didn't help that I had internet problems when I returned, and I think in the process of fixing it, the tech person wiped out all my favorites, leaving me floundering. The beach was great, especially with all the grandkids, but I'm glad to be back.

 Marta

I'm so glad you had a great vacation!  (How about using that location in a book.....?   ) 

I can't answer your question Marta since I'm only working on my 1st but I think so. I'm setting my wip in small town central Alberta because it's what I know. I really wish there were more LI (harlequin in general) set it Canada. I've read a couple set in Alberta but nothing in Eastern or Central Canada. Maybe after I've got a few books behind me I'd be more comfortable writing in different locations.

Marta -- I do need to know a place to set a book there -- thus my two locations so far have been Pasadena and small town Montana (the two places I have lived the longest in my life).  Dry Creek is small town Montana and my Sisterhood of the Dropped Stitches series is Pasadena. I have toyed with other locations though and may venture further at some point.

Janet 

Marta, I love your low country series as well as your PA ones!  Glad you're setting another series down South! 

I love your CA & MT books, too, Janet. 

Both of you convey a real sense of place, no matter where your books are set.  Knowing them from experience has to be a help.

Beckie, I'd love to read more LIs set in Canada.  The very first one I ever read was set there (though I don't remember which province).  I think that if writers will write them, LI will publish them! 

So far, I'm still prepublished in novel-length fiction, but I remember reading a writing book by some famous author of the 70s/80s who never went any of the places where she set her books.  She just did copious research.  I still like to know a place; you can get basic information about just about anywhere, but it doesn't give you the sounds, smells, the light in the air, etc.  However, I'd think it's all in how comfortable you are with the setting, whether you've been there or just researched it to death.    The book I wrote for last year's NaNo challenge is set in a fictional small town in the real Cochise County of SE Arizona, where we've spent a lot of time vacationing.  The chick lit I'm finishing is set in San Diego, where I used to live.  I wrote a book set in Santa Fe, NM, where we spent only a few hours, but after which I did a ton of research.  (And the science fiction one I wrote required a whole new world.....)

Janet - that's so true. Alot of my family still live in places where they don't lock the doors. EVER! I will leave my during the day without locking and do quite often. Someone who's never experienced this lifestyle just wouldn't understand it. We leave our bikes outside on the lawn as well as our son's toys. And we complain about our crime rate!

I live in a big city and I can't imagine not locking our doors. Sad what the world has come to. We shouldn't have to worry about that.

Margaret 

For years and years we didn't even have a key to our back door! It never occurred to us to lock up here in rural Pennsylvania. Change does come, though, and after a few houses were robbed in our county, we did start locking up when we're gone. When you live way out of town on a country road, anyone can easily tell if you're not home when they drive by, so we're a bit more careful now.

Marta

Anita Mae - I had no idea a writer could get marked down in a contest loop for using blonde.  Wow!

Maybe I'll use blond for everything and be safe.

I just took my heavy bound Webster's down rather than relying on my internet dictionary.  According to my Webster's (American) we're all little right.  Blond is the first and preferred spelling for the noun that describes the flaxen or yellowish color.  The second is blonde.

As an adjective blond is masculine and blonde is feminine but it says Fr.  So, I guess the American is blond.

To describe a person with flaxen hair Webster's says the preferred is blond and the second spelling is blonde.

Why didn't I go to Webster's in the first place???

I live in Brooklyn, NYC and we leave our windows open during the summer when we sleep, unless we have the a/c on.

Of course we have two large breed dogs.  One is 125 lbs and looks more like a small horse than a dog and the other is 70 lbs of pure muscle.

Hey Marta - I would love to locate all my stories in Saskatchewan unfortunately, until I'm an established writer, they wouldn't sell.

A case in point - i sat down to lunch at the ACFW conf with an editor from another pub. She asked what we were pitching. I said my Historical Western located in Wyoming. Then after when she asked for questions, I asked how they felt about Canadiana and she told me that I'm doing it the right way b/c if I wanted to write about Sask, I should submit to Cdn publishers.

To answer your question how I can write about a place I've never seen, I'll say research on everything from weather patterns of the 19th century to the Regional Plant List database for Wyoming. Much to the chagrin of my hubby, I've turned one part of my living room into a display area of 19th century maps including physical features, the Oregon trail, railroads, Pony Express routes, and Wells Fargo. Also, I've dredged up eye witness accounts from the 'net and the library. And, I've spent hours Google Earthing the area to within 100 meters or so of the actual land.

You're right...I don't know if they lock their doors, but then back in 1879, I thought everyone did.

We live on a farm and we just started locking the front door 2 yrs ago. The back is still open. Our closest neighbour is a mile up the road. The next closest one is 2 mls as the crow flies. We're at the end of the road. Once so far, a hydro worker got stuck in the winter and needed to use our phone. That why we leave the back door open. Winters are cold and rough. We spend a lot of time in the city. You never know when someone will need shelter. When we leave, we ask God to put a hedge of protection around our stuff. After that, if someone takes something, they probably need it more than us. Having said that, I usually ask for triple protection for my laptop.

I used Prairie Junction, ND as a location for my contemporary series but it's a fictional town between 2 real towns that I visit regularly to pick up my mail and visit the local library and coffee shop.

I guess the contemporary I targeted for Har American is the only iffy one b/c although I've been to Montana, I've never drifted 3 more hours south to the location of my hero's ranch.

Still, out here on the prairie, if you don't look at a road or speed sign, it's hard to tell which side of the border you're really on. Of course there are physical differences in the towns, but after talking to the locals in North Dakota, the faming communities on the prairies on both sides of the border are pretty much in sync as to what they talk about over on coffee row.

Phyllis Whitney was always my idea of the writer I wanted to be. She usually visited the places she wrote about, but when she couldn't, she collected boxes and boxes of stuff--anything and everything she could find to create that world.

Of course, even if you think you've lived in a place for years, you can make a mistake that someone will catch!

 Marta

I don't know what editors look for but when I took my secretarial course, we were instructed 1 space after a period because of word processors. I haven't double spaced for years and now I find double spacing to look odd.

Yup, double spacing is out now that computers are in since the word processors take care of the problem and leave that smidgeon of extra space to designate the end of one sentence and the beginning of another. Yeah for progress.

Janet - I installed an updated version of Google Earth today and yes, there's certainly a difference between Montana/Wyoming and North Dakota.

ND has draws and gullies but not to the extent of WY. It's like God dropped a washboard on the state. And what's wilth all those buttes?

Now see, I was supposed to have my partial off to Emily Rodmell within 3 weeks of the ACFW conf but I decided to take the stuff I learned there and improve my ms. And I am improving it, but I'm striving for perfection with the geography, etc and I still haven't sent it out!

Yikes!

Anita Mae -- There's a difference in the people in Montana/Wyoming and North Dakota as well.  I'm real familiar with Montana and have visited my brother-in-law's family in North Dakota so have a feel for there as well. Not quite sure how I'd describe the difference in a word or two.  I think it might have to do with North Dakota being settled by Germanic people -- Montana/Wyoming by Scandinavian (I'm just speaking of the southeastern part of Montana and the northeastern part of Wyoming).

Janet 

Actually Janet, I'm not sure what the stats are for the Germanic peoples of ND, because I'm more familiar with this site: http://www.norway.org/history/Norwegian-Americans/noram.htm, which says:

Percentage of the state's white population is of Norwegian ancestry:

North Dakota - 33%
South Dakota - 17%
Montana - 12% 
Wyoming - 5%

My research in ND has been in the Crosby local library and with the Divide County Sheriff who is himself of Norwegian descent. Maybe that's why I feel so comfortable in ND...my grandparents came from Finland, another Scandanavian country.

Like I said before, I'm nervous about locating my wip in Wyoming but you know, after all this research, I'm dying to visit there. It's like watching 'The Virginian' and 'Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid' all over again.

Whew.  Really good stuff going on around here.  I think I read (on looking for formatting) to double space after periods if you're using Courier and single space for Times.  I still double space, even with Times.  The jury is still out on underline vs actual italics, so I'm doing my with underlining, the holdover from typewriters.  If the editors want me to change it, it is a quick fix. 

Isn't it fascinating talking about different regions of our countries?  I love reading about places where I've never been, as well as places I know & love. 

Well, housework and wip call.....  16,883 to go (38,117), and NaNo in 9 days.

Wouldn't that make the basis of a great story?  Maybe romantic suspense...

I-heard-on-TBN-that-November-will-be-Dr.Graham's-90th-birthday.His-son-was-on-saying

that-people-have-asked-him-to-tell-Dr.Graham-how-his-preaching-and-ministry-through

the-years-helped-bring-them-to-Christ.He-says-to-go-to-the-website-and-tell-him

yourself.That-would-be-a-great-birthday-gift-to-him.

Aurelene

I was typing away and *Pouf!*  It vanished. 

Oh, well.  What I was saying went something along the lines of:

Thanks, Aurelene, for sharing about Billy Graham's upcoming birthday and where we can go leave a message! 

Thanks, Margaret, for sharing that about underlining for italics.  I agree about it's being clearer to spot than regular italics.  Sometimes when I'm reading books, I almost don't see the italics, except if there are a lot of them, which makes it harder to read. 

LOL Anita Mae -- I suppose it does sound strange to buy a house with my brother-in-law.  Actually, I bought the house for him.  He's a wonderful man and he and my sister were having a hard time with their youngest daughter so he worried and worried.  I bought him this rundown, but charming house in his 'home town' in North Dakota -- the town is almost deserted, no one but a couple of his uncles still live there.  Anyway, after he got his house, his mind was working on how to fix it and my sister said he had a new lease on life.  That has been a few years ago and he has had wonderful times with his uncles who come over when he's there to give him advice on the house. Oh, and i bought the house on ebay for a couple of thousand so it's not like buying a 'real' house anywhere.

Janet 

.

can you seriously buy houses on ebay?  What does he plan to do with it when he's got it fixed up? I'd have no problem living in the middle of nowhere (I grew up in the middle of nowhere) as long as it's within a drive to somewhere more than nowhere.