The summer of 1997 was the last time I visited England. It was the first time for my two daughters. They agreed with me how much it was like America, yet different, a foreign country. The fact that we generally understood what people said to us, and they understood us, was, I’m sure, a big factor in how familiar it seemed.

Certain words are different over there, as anyone who has watched any BBC shows will recall. Lift, boot, flat, arse, and fringe. Fringe means bangs, and I have read some near violent opposition to our word, bangs. Possibly because it sounds violent. Crash! Thwack! Bangs!

The Avon River in Bath.

When we left London I rented a car. They drive on the left side of the road, opposite from us, and their driver’s seat is on the right front, also opposite from us. One gets used to it rather quickly. Fear of crashes and all that. So one daughter sat to my left and called out whenever I got too close to the left side, where curbs and parked cars lurked. The other daughter sat in the back and navigated. The daughter to my left quickly learned I didn’t need a sentence saying I was a little too close and perhaps I needed to… So it was soon,  ‘Close.’ or ‘Close!’

They must love round-abouts over there, because they have so many. Traffic circles. Navigator daughter (and they took turns because sitting next to mother wasn’t always fun) had to decide which turn I needed to take. One day I really did go around and around the circle until it was decided exactly which ‘kind of to the left’ exit we needed to take. To us, some of them they really did look as though they indicated, go kind of this way or maybe kind of that way.

We stayed a few days in Trowbridge so we could make day trips. I was never, ever, able to quickly find the exit I needed to return there each day. Unless they were humoring me, both daughters agreed it was very weird that each day we should have so much trouble finding our way home to our B&B. But we were near Stonehenge and Avebury and the B&B was wonderful.

One of the proprietors always inquired, “And where has Mother driven today?” when we returned. I think by then he realized I wasn’t satisfied with one half inch of Grande Marnier in my glass when I plopped down after finally getting back. I got the bottle. I believe we amazed him by all the places we attempted to visit. Certainly amused him. Tintagel was the farthest I’d driven in one day, but oh so worth the miles.

Avebury is huge. They say the ditch was dug out with antlers.

The standing stones are huge.

One day we passed a large sign that said, “Cats Eyes Removed For Free”. There was a silent, collective, W.T…..? in the car. We knew it couldn’t mean they removed eyes from cats. Or could it? Was there some trouble with their cats that their eyes needed to be removed? Some disease? We’d seen the affection the people over there had for their pets, taking their dogs with them on their day trips, water bowls always included. We puzzled about cat eye removal all day. That night, after a good laugh, the proprietor explained that cat’s eyes were those round yellow, reflective, metal things on the road. They sometimes got stuck in tires. Which was another thing to worry about.

Tintagel

Obviously, visiting such ancient places had my writer’s mind whirling with new ideas, and making adjustments to old ones. As I mentioned in a previous post, I Know What I Know, I happen to know more than my ancestors knew, mainly because I went to school, our knowledge of the physical world has expanded, and I read. So it makes me more determined that I get it right when I write about times past. Their world view, beliefs and customs. They were different. They were also the same as us.

Which will lead to another post on that subject.

I know that comets return in a predictable number of years. I know about our solar system. I’m aware that the aurora borealis  is caused by solar flare activity from the Sun.

I know that our weather is due to many factors; sun activity, wind and oceans flow patterns, volcanic eruptions. When it veers out of the ordinary, I can watch the news, weather channel or Google to find out why.

If I look at my calendar, I can see where we are in the year, when to expect the next season change, whose birthday is getting close. I know what year it is and how old I am. No guessing about that.

Glaciers come and go, grow a bit and retreat. I know it has nothing to do with our actions, good or bad. Volcanoes erupt, earthquakes strike. We can’t predict them, but our understanding of them increases all the time.

I believe we are as intelligent as the people who came before us. Not any better, morally speaking, or any worse. The same. But we are fortunate to live in this era and have the opportunity to educate ourselves to learn just about anything we want to know. The internet is just wonderful in that regard.

So, I know what I know. But my characters don’t know what I know.

I get to have fun with that.  Especially in my time travels. But I also have to do a lot of research to keep the time in which I’m writing about be as accurate as possible. Which leads to many hours of learning about things I’ll probably never use, but is interesting to me.

I need to know what was considered proper. In a short story of mine, SWEET SAUERKRAUT, which takes place in the Regency era, my heroine loves to bake and cook. Except, she is of the gentry, and granddaughter to an earl. It wasn’t done! I made it work and had fun with it.

My writing and editing continue, and as always I try to keep in mind what my characters don’t know that I know. And have fun with it.

Any comments?

Years ago, in another life, I was a massage therapist. I went to school at night and my Saturdays were filled with practice. It was said that after 1500 hours of hands on work, you knew what you were doing.

What does this have to do with writing? Read on.

We writers all make a decision to write. It may take years, the stories and people inside our head getting stronger, and then one day we sit down and write. We may or may not keep at it, but we always come back to writing. We can’t not stop writing.

After graduation I continued my studies, because you needed Continuing Educational Units to keep up your certification, and later, your license. So I studied Cranio-Sacral work under Hugh Milne, D.O. Zero Balancing with Fritz interested me so I pursued my certification in that. Then Process Acupressure with Aminah Raheem. Lymph Drainage, Upledger. T.T. Medical massage seemed like a good idea, so I studied that back at my old massage school. So many classes. I learned so damn much.

Did I ever use those different modalities? Yes, but straight massage was what people wanted, what they came back for. So I did massage, but I also used every bit of knowledge I had to add to the massage. I believe that is what kept people coming back for sixteen years. Eventually I could put my hands on someone, and my hands knew where to go, what to do. That was from practice, trial and error.

We writers offer classes about writing, take classes about writing and classes about subjects we’ll use in our books. We never really stop trying to improve our craft. Some things work for us, and some things that work for others don’t work for us. But we keep trying to improve ourselves.

My practice flourished, and I kept it up for sixteen years. Did I advertise? You bet I did. At the beginning. I stopped a lot of advertising when my practice was steady, with only my name in the yellow pages. At the end, my name wasn’t even listed because I didn’t have the time to take on new people. By then it was by referral only.

Funny thing about advertising and promoting yourself. It works. The thing is, you can spend a fortune promoting yourself, but unless you aim it at people who want what you have, what you can provide, it’s money wasted. Know your audience.

There were those who believed they didn’t need to advertise, that if someone was meant to see them, they would eventually find their name and number. Mainly acupuncturists had that idea. Okay, to each his own point of view. But when I referred someone to an acupuncturist by name, unless I had their card or knew their number by heart, and I never did, the person could never reach them…because they couldn’t find them! So they found someone else, someone whose number they could find.

So have a way for people to find you. Have a way for people to see your name. Over and Over. It doesn’t have to be by advertising. Or the shot-gun approach, please not that. FaceBook is a nice way to meet people and have your name seen. Yahoo groups. Google+. Twitter. Goodreads, Shelfari. Join your local writer’s chapter. Attend local conferences and make friends. Start a blog. Follow blogs. Be nice. I believe people are more likely to try one of your books if they are familiar with you.

I have a little plaque hanging on my wall that reads, “Because Nice Matters”. It does. I used to refer people to other practitioners. They would refer back to me.

I recommend authors and books I like, not because I expect them to do the same to me, but because I like them and think others will, too. I love to read and am so happy when I find a new author I enjoy and can enthusiastically recommend. I don’t write horror, suspense, mystery, etc., but I read them and enjoy them.

There are so many books published each year, no one can possibly read them all, let alone buy them all. So it does help writers and readers to say, Hey! I liked this! Remember, with ebooks, they are always available, as opposed to print books with their short shelf life.

Of course, I did have clients who didn’t like what I did. They were used to something different, and by golly, I wasn’t doing it the way their usual person did it! Same with books, isn’t it? I have loved and recommended books to people who didn’t think they were that special. They didn’t understand why I thought the book was so great. I didn’t understand how they couldn’t think it was great.

That’s the way it goes. Some people will like you, and some won’t.

And then there is the Fear Factor, but that is a subject for another post.

Any thoughts about the above? I’d love to receive comments.

I have no resolutions for the new year. Okay, I resolve to put down mulch before the weeds get ahead of me, but that is months away. Other than that, no. No writing 10,000 words a day, no tweeting 100 people a day. No shot gun blasts of promo.

I do plan to make an effort at promoting my books, but softly. When people see my name, they won’t automatically delete my emails. I hope not.

I do plan to finish the manuscripts I have already begun.

I do plan to rework my old manuscripts. Newbie writing, but the stories are good.

And then the usual, weight fitness, blah blah. I do intend to stay away from Gluten as much as possible since it has deleterious effects for me. I will continue the paltry bit of stretching and exercising until I can get back to… ZUMBA!!!! Yes, I love Zumba. My body likes it, too.

I will make a very big effort to understand all the bits that are part of WordPress. I still don’t know how to add the little things for Facebook and Twitter and such. It was Carrie Spencer (and Woody)who bravely helped me turn this page into a blog page.

If you have made resolutions for the new year, I wish you all the best luck in keeping them.

I have a new short story out in the Christmas anthology, ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS YOU. It’s called, MIND YOUR FANGS. The heroine is a sweet sunshine vampire who has a bit of trouble with her fangs. Still, it’s a romance, so we know the hero will eventually succumb to her charms. Eventually.