tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-42855775853995644602024-02-28T18:44:35.345-05:00Mystical Magical MomentsDare to Dream - Dare to Imagine - Dare to HopeMaureen Azouz Sevillahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05546107195345824955noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4285577585399564460.post-28091077696311168192021-03-09T15:22:00.000-05:002021-03-09T15:22:50.731-05:00About the musicI keep thinking about the song I've got on this site. I'm not a country fan so I'm surprised at myself. The lyrics are 'country' ... but to me they do paint a picture I find very romantic. Upon a little analysis I wonder why ...
If a guy told me that I was his 'kind of rain', I'd want to buy it! ... now then, what about 'confetti fallin' from a drunken sky' ? I love the line in the song, BUT really!!! Is that really something I can get my mind around as romantic? (It must be the way Tim says it!)
So to you writers ( or to any woman ) ... Is the timber of voice more important than the words, or what a man says ...? Or is it the picture he paints? The question is up for discussion.
And thanks to Erica for her comment on the last question.<div><br /></div><div>She's My Kind of Rain </div>Maureen Azouz Sevillahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05546107195345824955noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4285577585399564460.post-53367721817080830832021-03-09T15:10:00.000-05:002021-03-09T15:10:33.585-05:00Spring ...it's different for all of us<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguCgldIm2STCzOoSPqUu8hyphenhyphenNTyy2lbqaIDTiLKUcbhAuCI2ZQsOSgEoVxDuTEtmcEJ5N45tx52yYB1Wx-zbDpRz-l68TzJOyLP-I9da-hAdWz3qzt9zBeG00ISi2vk2PPKBQjCQxPSgDyY/s1600-h/P5160167.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5451828748605934514" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguCgldIm2STCzOoSPqUu8hyphenhyphenNTyy2lbqaIDTiLKUcbhAuCI2ZQsOSgEoVxDuTEtmcEJ5N45tx52yYB1Wx-zbDpRz-l68TzJOyLP-I9da-hAdWz3qzt9zBeG00ISi2vk2PPKBQjCQxPSgDyY/s320/P5160167.JPG" /></a>I know -- I know, I'm fortunate the weather is sunny and mild. The birds are all chirping announcing spring is in the air. But darn it my feet are bare and freezing and I've got a cool breesze at my back. Those of you who had snow on the ground when you woke up a day or two or go are probably ready to wring my neck. But -- hey -- Florida is supposed to be HOT HOT HOT!
I'll be whining about the heat come September or October when I won't be able to get cool. Right now I'm going to go put on my socks.
MaureenMaureen Azouz Sevillahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05546107195345824955noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4285577585399564460.post-26848833364775944382021-03-09T15:08:00.003-05:002023-11-06T13:56:22.817-05:00SMILES<div style="text-align: center;"><strong>Remembrance</strong></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><strong>by Maureen Sevilla</strong></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><strong> </strong></div><div style="text-align: center;">
Small hand in large one, looks awestruck and trusting </div><div style="text-align: center;">Rocking on horses
Giggling with friends </div><div style="text-align: center;">Hiding toothless grins </div><div style="text-align: center;">Behind chubby hands </div><div style="text-align: center;">Flying down streets, spinning wheels beneath tiny feet</div><div style="text-align: center;">Awesome in denim </div><div style="text-align: center;">Chuckling with friends
Hiding toothy smiles </div><div style="text-align: center;">Behind tender hands </div><div style="text-align: center;">Dance cheek-to-cheek, thoughts heartfelt and loving </div><div style="text-align: center;">Sparkles in dresses </div><div style="text-align: center;">Laughing with friends </div><div style="text-align: center;">Hiding smiling lips </div><div style="text-align: center;">Behind slender hands </div><div style="text-align: center;">Hellos - Farewells, life's emotions run high </div><div style="text-align: center;">Rocking on porches </div><div style="text-align: center;">Gabbing with friends </div><div style="text-align: center;">Sporting empty gums </div><div style="text-align: center;">Behind wrinkled hands</div><div style="text-align: center;">Crying at life, </div><div style="text-align: center;">Beginnings and Endings </div><div style="text-align: center;">Giggling, chuckling, laughing </div><div style="text-align: center;">Smiling or grinning </div><div style="text-align: center;">Behind blue veiled hands</div></div></div>Maureen Azouz Sevillahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05546107195345824955noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4285577585399564460.post-28322924263184061302021-03-09T15:08:00.002-05:002021-03-09T15:08:46.302-05:00Dream On<div style="text-align: center;"><strong>Flying</strong>
by Maureen Sevilla </div><div style="text-align: center;"> Light. Airy.
With but a thought, I elevate
And sweep through rooms at ceiling tops.
Escape through doors
Flying. Jumping.
Running feet lift up from grassy knolls
Float high over rainbow colored fields.
Floral scents rise up to meet me.
Gracefully. Boldly.
I soar amidst cloudless blue expanse
Above endless stands of mottled greens
Until the tug of consciousness
Looming. Weighty.
Awareness fights certain gravity
A leaden mass of dragging descent
I am hopelessly earthbound.</div>Maureen Azouz Sevillahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05546107195345824955noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4285577585399564460.post-54263367653116073482020-07-07T19:09:00.000-04:002020-07-07T19:09:03.173-04:00Impressions of LaonLaon: The Scene
The early morning fog swirled around the base of the deep green poplar trees standing tall and majestically at the top of the rise. Removing my sweater, tying it around my waist and wiping the perspiration from my upper lip, I sighed with relief dropping to the seat. I reached into my clutch for the francs necessary to pay for the privilege of resting on the aged, scroll-worked, iron bench. The caretaker, an erect, uniformed, ‘fiftyish’ man, received the francs with stiff somewhat disapproving politeness while murmuring a short “merci”.
As I caught my breath from the long climb, my gaze dropped to the ancient cobblestones at my feet. The cobblestones, a multi-colored puzzle of grays reached across the plaza to the Medieval Gothic style church. Black mildewed bullet holes still riddled the enormous stone structure. I shifted my scrutiny skyward to the Rosetta stained glass window, amazingly still intact after centuries of wars. Here at the top of the craggy knoll, against the backdrop of misty pale blue sky and a variety of greens and purples of champagne vineyards spread as far as the eye could see. The evaporating haze created an impressionistic vagueness surrounding the cathedral, where the stone fortress stood like an immortal guardian on the hill above the landscape.
Around my ankles I felt the rub of the orange and black patchwork kitten who had followed me through the ivy-covered walled gates of the old city. I distractedly heard the muffled sounds of a town awakening; the clatter of old worn wooden carts being brought around with wares, shop doors creaking open, dogs barking, children giggling, birds chirping. A waft of delicious smells, of coffee and pastries and baking bread soon reached my nose and irresistible to the scent of yeast and sugar, my stomach growled. Carts full of multihued vegetables, fruits, and flowers soon filled the square. As the town stirred with the increased tempo of sights and sounds, excitement filled the air. It was Thursday, Marche’ Day. Short Story by Maureen AzouzMaureen Azouz Sevillahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05546107195345824955noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4285577585399564460.post-34187919482509143572020-07-05T19:16:00.001-04:002020-07-05T19:16:00.292-04:00Impressions of a Soldier<strong>Daddy</strong><div><br /></div><div>Above the huge shiny black clodhoppers all she could see was the field of green fatigues he wore. Her little bare feet fit perfectly on the tops of the boots, and he held her hands with her arms outstretched wide as they danced around the living room to one song after another --
She was never too tired after a full day of play to dance with her daddy. He smelled uniquely of aircraft oil and Old Spice, a combination she'll never forget and how Daddy was never too tired to dance with his little girl after a day of tending the F-4's that shook the ground and vibrated her innards when they roared into the sky. </div>Maureen Azouz Sevillahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05546107195345824955noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4285577585399564460.post-71234805965526454372012-09-16T13:29:00.000-04:002012-09-16T14:04:47.385-04:00Working with your editor...I can't make you believe how important a good editor is unless you've experienced bad editing. I'm reading several free self published books on Amazon and suddenly that point has been made crystal to everyone. I can deal with poor formatting and even a repeated word or two in a good story. What bothers me is when a story has great potential but it's marred with character flaws or plot holes. Critique partners can help or a good content editor.<br />
<br />
I'm not a punctuation purest or even a grammatical fanatic. I love Nora Roberts so head hopping, when done well, isn't going to put me off. That being said, what does bother me is...<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Dangling modifiers/misplaced modifiers (Learn to recognize and correct them.)</li>
<li>There instead of their or they're (and all other homonym issues) </li>
<li>Flip flopping between American spellings/language and the Queen's English (Pick one-stick to it.)</li>
<li>Blatant pov issues ( He's thinking what a sexy smile and great pecs he has? I don't think so.)</li>
<li>Bad dialogue (There are too many examples to site.) and/or tags</li>
<li>Misspellings (You have spell check and a dictionary. Use them.)</li>
<li>Warning: cross reference words you find in your Thesaurus with your dictionary. Similar words may not have the same meaning you intend when you stick it in your sentence.</li>
<li>Please do a quick study of when and when not to capitalize. </li>
<li>Learn when to use ellipsis and em-dashes.</li>
<li>Passive writing: he was going instead of he went</li>
<li>Pacing: if it's slow and I want to know what's going to happen, I'll breeze over the slow parts...to a point. (I have to care what's going to happen before this is even a remote possibility.)</li>
<li>And if you can't stay in the correct "tense" I will not continue to read the story no matter how interesting the story.</li>
</ul>
<br />
For all those very critical readers/reviewers out there--commas, paragraphs, and sentence formation in novels may be still loosely structured for emphasis. So if a sentence is a fragment, it may not be incorrect. The problems I see more often are run-on sentences or incomplete sentences. Once an author gets into this realm the waters get muddy. A good editor can help. Here's a trick...turn grammar and spell check on...if it underlines something...look it up. Use the Chicago Manual of Style or at least Google the problem.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.autocrit.com/">Auto Crit</a> is a service that will tell you when you have overused words, too many repeated phrases or opening conjunctives. It's very useful to the beginning writer or to the experienced perfectionist. To maintain your voice, do not remove every recommendation. Learn how to balance what you need with what might be too much.<br />
<br />
With all this being said, even with ten peoples eyes on a manuscript, often a word will get by now and then. The more one editor has to work on your manuscript, the less likely that editor will be able to see some of these issues three or four edits later. And always remember this is the author's book. In the end, it is the author who makes the final decision on a word choice or sentence length. Editors make recommendations but aren't going to force an author to take it. If two or three different people are saying the same thing...reconsider your choices.<br />
<br />
I hope this helps highlight the key editing crisis in self-publishing. Feel free to share.<br />
<br />
<i>Maureen Sevilla is an editor with The Wild Rose Press and free lances as well. </i> <a href="http://maureensevilla.com/"> Maureen Sevilla, Editor</a>Editor/Writer/Dreamerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11509918535042889009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4285577585399564460.post-44529306232285176332011-01-24T20:57:00.001-05:002011-01-24T21:13:16.029-05:00Editing Your WorkOne thing I've been told is never edit while you're creating. Get your thoughts down, and then when you're finished go back and edit. That may take several passes. The first pass may be for continuity. Make sure the places and characters' names are spelled the same way throughout, or make sure you didn't change someone's name mid-story. It happens. If your main character has blue eyes when the book starts, keep them that way or explain why they changed color. You're the author, you can fix it.<br />
<br />
Spell check doesn't check everything. Make sure the word you wrote is the word you meant. To, two, too or assure ensure. There are more. You know them, don't confuse them. Spell check won't correct words that are spelled correctly even if they aren't the correct word. If you want the word 'and' and you forget the 'd', 'an' is correctly spelled. Proof reading aloud will catch those errors.<br />
<br />
Grammar. You say, "Ugh." I understand. Use the Chicago Manual of Style. The ruled have changed and seem to change annually. Keeps grammar books selling. Even dictionaries have a variety of ways to spell the same word. Some grammar practices 'date' an author. Some rules are old school today and publishers have moved on. Read. See how the publishers are editing the type of book you're writing. If they use serial commas, I'd suggest you follow that practice.<br />
<br />
Ebook publishing has changed the way the industry does everything, from contracting to promotions. Keep up with the trends. At a later date, I'd like to take each topic and break it down for a blog.<br />
<br />
Editor's advanced check list<br />
<ul><li>complicated sentence structure</li>
<li>repeated sentence structure</li>
<li>run on sentences</li>
<li>no basic knowledge of grammar or punctuation</li>
<li>repeated use of a character's name</li>
<li>passive writing</li>
<li>indecisive characters</li>
<li>no conflict</li>
<li>telling not showing the story</li>
</ul>Maureen Azouz Sevillahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05546107195345824955noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4285577585399564460.post-89738850813601255802009-07-13T21:17:00.002-04:002009-10-29T18:33:06.546-04:00Wearing different hatsDo you remember the the children's story about the man who traveled to the fair with all the hats atop his head?<br /><br />Don't you feel like him somedays? here are some hats I'm weraing today:<br /><ul><li>Mother</li><li>Wife (note to self - these are in order of importance at the moment)</li><li>Editor</li><li>Business owner</li><li>Copy writer</li><li>Friend</li><li>Writing partner</li><li>Author</li><li>Marketing director</li></ul>I'm retired from homemaking. What does that mean?<br /><ul><li>No more cooking (unless I feel like it)</li><li>The dish fairy left home (every now and then she drops by and surprises everyone)</li><li>When I'm in the mood I may ride my broom through the kitchen</li><li>But I don't vacuum</li><li>My allergies prevent me from dusting</li><li>We just got a new washing machine and I don't feel the need to test drive it</li><li>I can't grocery shop - I'm always dieting - the temptation is too great to buy donuts</li></ul><p>All those hats are heavy. I had to get rid of the ones I didn't like. LOL</p>Maureen Azouz Sevillahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05546107195345824955noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4285577585399564460.post-12641597513774420152007-06-07T12:19:00.000-04:002007-06-17T09:13:00.990-04:00Writing<strong>The Pen</strong><br />by Maureen Sevilla<br /><br />The pen has power<br />It slides, it glides<br />Over processed wood<br />I feed, it leads.Maureen Azouz Sevillahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05546107195345824955noreply@blogger.com0