The 2012 "Dog Fight"

I'd like to introduce you to someone very special to me.

Sir Mingus has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?

Although I am English, I wouldn’t say I have the debonair attributes that usually go along with a distinguished title. The truth is my dark brown eyes can barely be seen for the wrinkles that surround them. My jowls sag over my lower jaw that juts out, thanks to my pronounced overbite. I snore horribly because, frankly, I can’t breathe very well through my nose due to congenital sinus issues. To top it all off, I tend to drool when I’m hungry.

Despite what you may think, I am a rather handsome fellow. My hair is a soft brown color with swatches of white that emphasize my sophistication. Everywhere I go people stop me to say hello and ask if they can be my friend. I have many friends, and those who call me friend also call me Gus.

When the doorbell rings I rush to see who stands on the other side, because inevitably they are yet another someone to see me. It’s a pleasure to shake hands and offer a gentleman’s greeting to everyone who enters my home. My door is always open and I greet everyone with a smile; albeit a smile that is a tad crooked and could be touted as every orthodontist’s dream. Braces don’t interest me, however. I believe that my misshapen smile is yet another endearing feature. In fact, never have I met a person who doesn’t think I’m charming.

Although I am usually a jovial chap, I have been told that my bark is worse than my bite. I can honestly say that, even at my grumpiest, I have never actually bitten anyone because that would not be polite. It’s with chagrin that I admit that I’ve been known to intimidate more than one stranger who didn’t expect me to greet them. I tend to growl when I’m happy rather than using the rough, ornery sound to voice my disgust. The low frightening rumble is anything but scary when I’m playing with my boys. We wrestle and I use my weight to win each new round. It’s with no small amount of pride that I can say that they tire long before I do. Tug of War is one of my favorite games, and it’s the rare occasion that I get bested. I guess you could say that along with all my cultured qualities I’m athletic as well. My entire body is muscular; from my big, round head to my legs that dig in to hold their ground against my most worthy opponent.

I guess if I had to point out a flaw, I would have to admit that I hate baths—or showers. Honestly, I hate anything that has to do with soap and water. What’s the point? I’m just going to get dirty again. Even when I stink and I’m dragged into the shower, I sit on the tiled floor and pout as the shampoo is scrubbed into my hair. Some may say my hygiene and I guess, if pressed, I might have to agree. Not that I will ever admit that to the wonderful lady who forces me to endure the torture of getting clean. And if you try to tell her, I will deny every word. 

Days are long and tend to be rather boring. I sit on the couch and drift in and out of sleep. I’d hate for the couch to get up and walk away on my watch, so I diligently hold it in place. Late in the afternoon my ears perk as I hear the thuds of running footsteps. When the front door bursts open, I jump to my feet and rush in the direction of the shouts.

“Gus!”  

“Hey, big Gus!”

“Did you have a good day?”

My entire body is overcome with excitement as my name is sung by that particular choir. Those voices announce one, and only one thing: my family is home. They love me almost as much as I love them. They rub my ears and give me treats and I wag my tail. Actually, my tail is very short and I end up shaking my entire rear-end.

I am Gus; Sir Mingus, according to those fancy, schmancy papers. I am an English Bulldog. I am loved, but I love even more.

***

Tomorrow (Friday, 10/19) Gus will be in a Dog Fight.

Don't worry... It's for a good cause.

Please vote at http://caseyholloway70.wix.com/dogfight#!home/mainPage.

Cover reveal: LUCKY 13

Lucky 13,

book 4 in the Deadlines & Diamonds series

has a cover! 

Thank you to Char Adles for designing it

and to Ryan for just being sexy! 

LUCKY 13 will be released November 13th, 2012!

Join me on FACEBOOK for giveaways and the awesome release party!

Interview: Rhonda L. Print

Today, Morgan's Musings would like to welcome Paranormal Romance Author, Rhonda L. Print.

Her work includes the five star reviewed novel Nightwalker, A Leah Wolfe SINS Novel, The Order of Chaos, Justified and Guardian .

Born and raised in the Midwest, she relocated to the desert southwest and lives her husband who is the love of her life and best friend, and their three children.

Let's meet Rhonda...

MK: What’s your favorite drink?

 RLP: Coffee starts my day. If I’m in the mood for something a little more toxic I go for wine or beer. :)

MK: Who’s your favorite author (besides yourself, obviously ;)?

 RLP: Wow! There are so many to choose from. I like Keri Arthur, Laurell K. Hamilton, Kelley Armstrong, and the late, great Erma Bombeck. I read a lot and the genre depends on my mood.

MK: Name 3 things about yourself that can't be found on the internet, in your bio, etc?

 RLP: I’m married to the love of my life, I’m a part time elementary school librarian in addition to my writing career love to spend time with my family and friends.

MK: When do you write (morning, night)?

 RLP: I write mostly at night. It just seems to flow better then.

MK: Action or chick flicks? Why?

 RLP: A little of both actually! If the two are combined, awesome!

Tell us about your book: JUSTIFIED – A LEAH WOLFE SINS NOVEL 

Leah Wolfe, federal agent for the Supernatural Investigations of Non-Human Species—SINS—is determined to put the pieces of her personal life back together. Her relationship with Ian Nightwalker, her vampire lover and a Marquis in the vampire ruling council, has heated up and is going further than she’d ever thought possible.

When her ex-fiancé, Joaquin Wildhorse calls Leah in the middle of the night and asks her to come to the home of Louis Deveraux, Alpha of the largest wolf pack in the country, her first instinct is to hang up. Until he asks her to bring Ian. Lewis has been gruesomely murdered, leaving behind a daughter and a decree that Joaquin is to be the new pack Alpha.

Now as the slain bodies of more shape-shifters start turning up closer to home, Leah’s personal and professional lives collide. She knows who the killer is but legally can’t touch him. She'll need the help of Ian and Joaquin to step outside of the law and stop a killer to protect the lives of those she loves the most. If she can manage that, things just might get interesting.

 

Rhonda loves to hear from her readers. You can leave a comment and read the first chapter of all of her published books free by clicking on the cover picture at www.RhondaLPrint.com.

Guest Post: Copy Edit, Dammit! by Natascha Jaffa

Every author needs an amazing editor. 

I'm honored to have my editor, Natascha Jaffa, with a guest post today. 

She's an amazing editor, having tackled Heart Ache, 

Out of Left Field, and most recently, Lucky 13. 

________________________________

Copy Edit, Dammit!

by

Natascha Jaffa

With self-publishing making huge headway in the publishing industry, it’s now more important than ever to make sure your manuscript is as polished as it can be. It’s competitive out there, but if your book isn’t what it should be, readers will be stuck on errors and probably not read anything else you put out there.

Not everyone in their right mind goes takes grammar classes. Sadly, I enjoyed it, which is why I became an editor. I LOVE doing copy edits. I’m not sure why, but they make me happy. However, the further in my career I get, the more I notice manuscripts, even books submitted to publishers, are riddled with errors. Perhaps this is because we haven’t learned the correct way to punctuate that dialogue or sentence or it’s because we’ve been taught incorrectly.

Well, hopefully, this post helps you.

I’ve designed this post to point out the five most common errors I see in manuscripts and examples on how to avoid them.

1. Dialogue tags. This includes, “he said”, “she asked”, “they demanded” just as examples. Dialogue tags follow a line of dialogue.

            Shown here: “Oh, baby. Oh, baby,” she said.

Now, let’s look closer.

If you have a dialogue tag (remember our examples from above), your dialogue will end with a COMMA.

            Shown here: “Oh, baby. Oh, baby,” she said.

Also note that the dialogue tag itself is LOWERCASE.

            Shown here: “Oh, baby. Oh, baby,” she said.

Now, in some cases (I hate when this happens), dialogue tags introduce dialogue.

            Shown here: She said, “Oh, baby. Oh, baby.”

Notice, however, the comma has moved. Instead of being inside the quotations, it’s now out, positioned after “said” and introducing the dialogue.

Now, in another case (this is really common), we see continuous dialogue. Let’s say you your character is addressing another character.

            Shown here: “Princess Leah,” he said, “we really should be moving.”

What’s different here? I will tell you. Since he is addressing Leah and you’ve inserted a dialogue tag, the sentence isn’t complete at the end of the tag. Therefore, a COMMA will be inserted after the tag and the rest of the dialogue will be lowercased.

2. Action between dialogue lines. Yay! One of my favorite things to do. What happens when you don’t have a dialogue tag between two continuous lines of dialogue? Let’s see. Very easy.

            Shown here: “Princess Leah,”—he turned in the direction of the approaching storm troopers—“we really should be moving.”

If you don’t have a dialogue tag, use the em-dash to signify action between your dialogues. You’ll notice there is a comma after “Leah”, still making it a direct address and that your second line of dialogue is all lowercase.

3. When to use em-dash. This thing here: —. Aside from signifying action between two lines of dialogue, where else can we use em-dash?

To interrupt dialogue of course!

If you have a character cutting someone off, don’t write, “he cut him off.” Show it with an em-dash.

            Shown here: “Harry, what are you—”

                                 “Shut up, Ron!”

BTW, if you don’t know how to make an em-dash on your computer, try this:

a.       Complete the dialogue before it gets cut off.

b.      Type two dashes (- -), one after the other.

c.       Type any letter you want after the dash, connecting of course. It will transform into a longer dash.

d.      Type space.

e.       Delete random letter.

f.       Type quotation, but please make sure it’s facing the right way! For some reason Word likes to turn this quote the opposite of where it should be. I add a period then turn the quotation around.

4. When to use ellipses. This thing here: … Blasted ellipses. Bane of my existence. This is one of the most wrongly used punctuations I come across. So, here’s a run down of when it’s appropriate to use them and one example of when to not use them.

            Use: to trail off a character’s internal thoughts. Example: I wish Natascha would edit my book… (I can!) This signifies on a dreamlike sigh at the end of the sentence.

            Use: to trail off a character’s dialogue, lost in thought for a moment. Example: “I don’t know. I just think…” She shook her head. “I just think we need to talk about this.”

            Use: to show a slight hiccup in dialogue. Example: “Are you…real?”

            DO NOT USE TO INTERRUPT DIALOGUE. Use an em-dash for abrupt interruptions like we’ve discussed.

5. Direct addressing characters. When two characters are talking to each other through dialogue, there is punctuation involved within the dialogue. One of those is the comma after a direct address.

            Shown here: “Edgar, there’s skin hanging off your bones.” (Name that movie!)

These are just a few of the copy editing errors I see. If you have them down pat, there will be less heartache in the end (and frustration), but remember: it’s nearly impossible for a single person to catch them all.

If you’re interested in learning more, contact me through the links below and I’d be more than happy to help you out and give you a quote. Have a happy edit!

--

Natascha Jaffa dedicates her experience to helping writers grow through her editing firm, SPJ Editing, which she considers the best job in the world. When she isn’t editing, you can catch her snowboarding, rock climbing, or training for her first Ragnar Relay.

She’s an active member of International Thriller Writers, National Association of Writers and Editors, Mystery Writers of America and Romance Writers of America.

She is also published in suspense and romance as Nichole Severn.

Writers can find her on Facebook, Twitter, www.spjediting.com and LinkedIn.