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Showing posts from July, 2020

Stories by Barbara V Evers

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This week, I'm reading one of my short stories on my YouTube channel. This will become a regular feature of this blog and on YouTube. The story in today's selection remains a favorites of those I've had published. It's called "Gentle Snow" and originally appeared in  the moonShine review  literary journal. Don't miss out on other features and announcement. Please use the Join the Watchers Tribe link on the left to subscribe to my mailing list.  Every new subscriber between now and November 1, 2020 will receive a favorite picture of mine that I took of a 4-day-old  giraffe calf at my local zoo.

What I'm Reading

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As I've shared before, I read a lot, and I thought it might be fun to share what I'm reading and find out what books you're reading, too. During quarantine and social distancing, a lot of people have posted their joy about finding more reading time. My time to read decreased instead of increased. With my grandchildren in the house every day, I've found myself juggling their needs and my work needs into the evening hours. Result? Less reading time. But like any avid reader, I've found ways to squeeze books in. So, what am I reading this week? Quite a few books, actually.  Voyager by Diana Gabaldon (Time Travel Romance) I've read this series before, but after a friend raved about the audiobooks, I decided to give them a try. This is book three, and I'm halfway through it. Last summer, I started watching the TV series as it became available on Netflix, so it's been fun to see and hear books I read years ago. The added plus to audio

Why Write About Giraffes?

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Last week, a friend asked me why I chose to use giraffes in my fantasy novel, The Watchers of Moniah (coming soon from New Mythology Press). It's not the first, nor will it be the last, time I've heard that question. The short answer? I love giraffes. I've been fascinated with them for most of my life.  If you're around me any amount of time, especially on social media, you will know this. The long answer? Believe it or not, I don't remember why. Unlike some of my story themes or ideas, I can't pinpoint the exact moment when giraffes became a part of the kingdom of Moniah. Long before giraffes joined the cast of characters, I developed a story concept about a warrior queen returning from her ally's kingdom when overtaken and captured by soldiers of her allies. The added twist involved her betrothal to the son of these same traitorous allies. This story morphed over the years, yet elements of this early plot remain. But back to the question of

Share Your Writing Journey: Writing Tribes

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Image courtesy of Armin Schreijag @Pixaba y Last week, I acknowledged and thanked three women who provided significant encouragement during my writing-to-publish journey. I stand by my point that writing is never a solitary endeavor. It takes people who share information and give you feedback. Although those three women played chief roles in my journey, my writing tribe remains huge. If you're wondering if you have a writing tribe or how to get one, I wanted to share two  resources you should investigate. Writing Groups My critique group opened my eyes to many aspects of writing: the unwritten rules of writing, errors I couldn't see (because we should never proofread our own work), access to conferences and contests, and feedback. The most important contribution was how to give feedback on someone else's writing. This is how most writers learn in a writing group: members look at the same piece and give individual feedback. The array of feedback helps the writer