The New Year
January 6, 2013 by Linda O. Johnston in category Pets, Romance & Lots of Suspense by Linda O. Johnston tagged as Harlequin Nocturne, Linda O. Johnston, Pet Rescue Mysteries, Pet-Sitter Mysteries
My New Year’s resolution this year is much as it is every year: I resolve not to make any New Years resolutions!
I’m happy to see the new year arrive. It’s a fresh start, of sorts. But I don’t plan to do things much differently this year from last.
I do have a lot to accomplish this year, though, with all the writing and promotion I aspire–no, intend!–to do in 2013.
I intend to meet all deadlines. I intend to learn and implement as many ways as possible to let people know about my published work–self promotion has become an integral part of my life! I intend to work on some creative directions that may not fit the mold of what I’ve already been writing. I also intend to flesh out lots of fun new ideas for some of the genres I’ve been writing in.
Hey–did I just contradict myself? Maybe intentions aren’t so different from resolutions.
One thing’s for sure. I’m resolved to attend as many OCC meetings as possible, since interacting with my friends there helps to inspire me to continue. Plus, it’s fun.
So, Happy New Year to you–and may you accomplish all your resolutions or intentions!
1 0 Read moreIn Memorium: Janet Quinn Cornelow
November 16, 2012 by A Slice of Orange in category A Fantasy Life by Janet Cornelow tagged as Janet Cornelow, Janet Quinn, OCCRWA, tribute
All of us here at OCC were shocked and saddened by the sudden death of our friend Janet Quinn Cornelow, and I want to dedicate today’s post to her memory.
Janet joined OCC in 1988 and quickly volunteered to take on the newsletter, a board position. Computers weren’t as sophisticated in those days, so the newsletter was still printed at a local print shop and snail mailed to the membership. Janet would collect the information and compose each story or column on her computer and print it out. Then a bunch of us would gather at her house once a month to literally cut and paste the final proof. Afterwards, we’d have lunch at a local coffee shop and talk writing. Later, Janet did other volunteer jobs like Lunch Coordinator, in addition to judging in the Orange Rose, manuscript critiques and hosting Ask-An-Author.
For those who didn’t know Janet as well as I did, here are some additional details about her.
Janet was a native Californian who grew up in the Riverside area. She attended Call State Fullerton and earned a B.A. and a Master’s Degree in Journalism. In addition to her writing career, she taught for many years and worked as office manager to a Sylvan Learning Center. In recent years, she taught online classes for two private universities.
Janet and I joined the chapter the same year, we sold our first books to New York around the same time, 1997-98, and when the 21st century came along, we went on a crazy e-book journey together. Last year she plunged into the Brave New World of self-publishing. No one can ever say Janet was afraid to take a chance or try a new idea. She had just finished another book, and I hope her family will be able to see it published.
The photo above, from a signing at Bearly Used Books, shows Janet as I like to remember: surrounded by books and with a big smile on her face.
Janet Quinn has always been a story teller. She has put her love of stories into her writing. While honing her craft, she earned a B.A. and an M.A. in journalism. Then she took up teaching high school English and writing. She has also taught novel writing classes at the Learning Tree University in California.
Her first novel, Yesteryear’s Love, was published by Berkley/Jove under their Time Passages imprint. It placed in the finals of the Romance Writers of America/Orange County Chapter’s Orange Award Contest for published writers for best historical.
Wild Honey placed in the finals of the Romance Writers of America/Orange County Chapter Orange Rose Contest for unpublished authors. Also, her manuscript, The River’s Treasure, placed in the finals for best historical in the PASIC Book of Your Heart Contest. The Irish Countess, a historical romance, was a finalist in the 2007 EPPIEs.
At her memorial service, Janet’s family handed out cards in her honor that said:
Janet Marie Quinn
August 14, 1949 – October 26, 2012Janet was the mother to three exceptional boys, Nana to two wonderful grandchildren and an accomplished author.
There are no words to properly sum up such an amazing woman or such a life well lived. She played many roles: mother, teacher, author, friend…
She left far too soon and far too suddenly. There was so much that she still had to give to the world. We will mourn and miss her–but in the same moments that we find ourselves with heartache, we must celebrate her life. We must remember the laughter and humor that she brought and the love and warmth that she always offered.
No writer could have expressed it better. Janet was a good friend and I will miss her, as we all will.
Please feel free to share your memories of Janet in the Comments below.
Linda McLaughlin
6 0 Read moreOCC’s Upcoming Meeting and More
November 6, 2012 by Linda O. Johnston in category Pets, Romance & Lots of Suspense by Linda O. Johnston tagged as Harlequin Nocturne, Killer Hobbies, Linda O. Johnston, Pet Rescuer Mysteries, SoCal RWA ConferenceI’ve missed OCC! I was unable to get to the last two meetings because of family travel plans, but I’m in town now and am delighted to say I’ll be at the Saturday meeting.
Both speakers sound interesting to me. In the morning, Tara Lain will be speaking about blog tours–and I’ve participated in quite a few. I’d love to learn other people’s perspectives about them. I try to utilize a few different social media avenues to let people know what I’m writing, and blogging is one of them.
I’ve said this before, but once upon a time, when I started writing, I thought that was all it was: you write, get published, and things are great from there on. It turns out that, yes, things are great, but there’s more to it than that. These days you write, publish and promote. As a result, I’m always eager to learn about other promotional opportunities.
For example, I’m participating in a blog hop tomorrow. Come visit my post at KillerHobbies.blogspot.com and learn more about me and this particular blog hop.
I’m delighted to say that I’ve signed up for the SoCal RWA Conference in March. Have you? I belong to two of the four participating RWA chapters and have for years. I’m really looking forward to this first SoCal RWA joint conference.
How about you? Do you blog? Are you going to the SoCal RWA Conference?
0 0 Read moreMissing OCC
October 6, 2012 by Linda O. Johnston in category Pets, Romance & Lots of Suspense by Linda O. Johnston tagged as Linda O. Johnston, OCC/RWA Birthday Bash, Savvy Authors
Conversations with Barb and Jann
October 2, 2012 by Jann Ryan in category Jann says . . . tagged as Barb Delong, Conversations with Barb and Jann, Jann Audiss, Journaling, Memories
The Power and Joy of Journaling
The other day I was going through an old childhood trunk I call my Trunk o’ Memories when I came across some of my trip diaries from the ‘60’s. My husband and I sat down, read through them and had a great laugh. Back in the day, my frugal mom would put $25 in an envelope for each day of travel, all road trips, of course. That $25 covered all expenses for me and my mom and dad, including gas and the motel. I duly recorded said expenses in the diary and some days we even had a buck or so left over to add to the next day’s envelope. The diaries brought back so many memories of the places we visited (mostly the northeastern U.S. – we were from Toronto, Canada), the ‘60’s era, my thoughts at the time, and the weather. Yes, I also recorded the daily temperature and precipitation.
I had forgotten about those diaries this summer when we embarked on an epic family road trip where I once again kept a daily diary. This time I tapped away on my iPad in my Pages app. I call it epic. Think eight people in a GMC Yukon SUV, three of them six years old and under, on a road trip up the California coast to Portland, Oregon, and back. We stopped along the way (many times), had some fun and some not-so-fun adventures, went through a lot of diapers, laughed and cried (sometimes it was me), and I duly recorded it all. Yes, including the weather.
What I’d done back in the day and now, was journaling. As I wrote in my journal before bed last night, I realized that I have always journaled. But why? Why did I feel the need to record the daily routines, the life-altering events, my thoughts and feelings, the weather? I’m sure it was not just to place these things in the historic record, to be read twenty or thirty years from now.
Remember that secret diary with the tiny key you kept as a teen, the one your bratty little brother read excerpts from to all his friends? You snatched it from his grubby hands and wrote that night,
Dear Diary,
I’m going to strangle my brother and stuff his body into his stinky gym bag!
That was journaling. Admit it. You felt a darn sight better after venting. And so, that’s why I journal. I feel better afterward. I throw down on the page my innermost thoughts, my deepest feelings, loves and hates, hopes and dreams. For my eyes only.
I think everyone knows this about journaling. But when I was researching the subject, I came across a website that listed no fewer than 100 benefits! Check it out at www.appleseeds.org/100_journaling.htm.
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