Ute Carbone
  • Home
  • My Books
    • Book Club Fiction >
      • The Fall Line
      • Dancing in the White Room
      • The Tender Bonds
      • Blueberry Truth
      • The Lilac Hour(short story trilogy)
    • Comedy >
      • Secondhand Love (Annie Hoff)
      • Georgette Alden Starts Over ( Annie Hoff)
      • Confessions of the Sausage Queen (Annie Hoff)
      • The P-Town Queen (Annie Hoff)
      • Afterglow (Annie Hoff)
    • History >
      • The Whisper of Time (novella)
    • Anthologies >
      • Shared Whispers
      • Passionate Cooks
      • Recipes from the Vineyard
      • Poets Unbound
      • Poems from the Cranberry Room
  • Inside the Writer's Garret (My Blog)
  • About me
  • Poetry
  • Contact
  • Annie Hoff
  • My Photography
  • Dream River Press

Inside the Writer's Garret

On writing and life, with a little chocolate thrown in from time to time.

Maybe I'll bring you back a t-shirt.

6/27/2014

1 Comment

 
Picture
Picture
I'm going on a blog tour with Juniper Grove and Champagne Books. It's a triple play, three of my romantic comedies will be featured on blog stops along the way, with interviews, some reviews of the books, and a few blog posts by yours truly. I'll be posting a schedule on the news page when it's finalized.

As you can see from the banner, the tour is being called "Live, Love, Laugh, with Ute Carbone.  I was perusing the 'fun stuff' aisles of my local Michael's craft store and I came across a vinyl tote that said "Live, Laugh, Love, on it.  Serendipity in action, isn't it? I bought the bag and am currently foraging through local stores for little surprises to fill it with.. Including, maybe --I'm not sayin' for sure--a t-shirt. The goodie bag will be raffled off as part of the tour. Oh yeah, this is going to be fun.  

1 Comment

The High Dive. 

6/11/2014

0 Comments

 
In a recent interview, I was asked what I would say to my beginning writer self if I could go back and give her advice. It's an interesting question, isn't it? I mulled it over for a bit. 
The usual advice I mete out --only when asked, of course *grins* -- is to write a lot and read a lot and then write some more. It is sound advice, and I'm certainly not the only one who has offered it. But as I look back, I think my beginner already knew to do those things. We all know practice makes you better at what you do. And most writers I've met are avid readers first.
The other thing, though, the thing we don't talk about as often, is the courage it takes to write. Facing down a blank page can be like standing on the high dive. Maybe it's your first time, or maybe you've taken the dive a thousand times before, but each time there's a thrum in your ear, a roiling in your gut. You know you can do it, or you think you can, and the water is mirror smooth and blue and inviting. But it is a long way down.  And if you've done it before, you know it can go wrong,  and the smooth blue water will feel like concrete as you crash into it. 
My advice is  do it anyway. Close your eyes and jump. Pull out the stops and write with your whole heart, your whole being. All good writing comes from this, the thrilling jump forward, the deep dive, the resurfacing. 
0 Comments

Book Trailers and Other Fun Diversions

6/9/2014

1 Comment

 
Of all of the things I do to promote my books--create flyers and cards,  write blog posts, and answer interview questions just to name a few, the thing I like best is creating book trailers. So far, I've done simple sorts of things, pictures, words and music, with backgrounds I get through Animoto, but there's much more authors can do with video. I'm looking into reading excerpts, talking about the book, and using some more 'movie like' elements. As of this writing, I don't have the technical know how to do those sorts of things, though it might be fun to learn sometime in the future.
Stay tuned, you never know. *grin*. Meanwhile, I've posted the video I made for Confessions of the Sausage Queen. You can check it out  on my writing news page. 
1 Comment

Writing about skiing in the month of June

6/4/2014

0 Comments

 
Picture
The weather here in New England has finally, after much hesitation, turned towards summer. I've been hiking in shorts and sitting on the deck and eating hamburgers cooked on the grill.
And yet,  as I sit at my writing desk, I'm deep in the heart of winter season. I'm making inroads with a new book,  called Fall Line, which is set in ski world. I'd wanted to write another ski book after Dancing in the White Room, but hadn't sat down to do it  until recently. Creech,  a secondary character from DWR, has been calling on me to tell his story. He's become ski coach of world class racers. On his team is Mia Whitmeyer, a champion skier with a long list of accolades. We've all been busy getting acquainted here in the garret. And Mia and Creech dance around each other, slowly, slowly coming to...well, something.  
Those of you who know me know that I've always got several projects brewing on my laptop. I'm going to have to let go of my winter time story soon and turn my thoughts to the eighteen hundreds and clipper ships, because Anton and Lenora too, have one more long story to tell before I'm through with them. And then there's my feisty comedy heroine, Georgette, who likes to grab the spotlight. 
But, for now, I'll ski with Mia and Creech and hang on to winter for just a little bit longer.
Here, for no special reason, are a few lines of the story, unedited and not yet ready for prime time

He laughed. “I am the proud owner of a dilapidated farmhouse. Four bedrooms, leaky roof and a bathroom with rusty pipes.  I’m not sure I want to sell it. I managed to rent it out, which is how I’m funding this place.”

“The farmhouse is in Lake Placid?”

“Wilmington, actually. Not far from Whiteface Mountain.”

“Why wouldn’t you want to sell? It’s a long commute from here.”

He ran his finger over the tape along the top of the box. “I don’t know. I kind of love the place, I guess. It’s nice to think a piece of my life is still back there, waiting for me to return to it.” He shook his head. “Sorry, I’m getting real sentimental in my old age.”





0 Comments

    Welcome 

    This writing journey, this life,  is a long road full of pitfalls and wrong turns. Also, incredible beauty, kindness and friendship with those I've met along the way.I'm so glad you're here to share the road..


    Picture
    Picture

    Archives

    September 2020
    August 2020
    June 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    September 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    March 2018
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014

    Categories

    All
    #amwriting
    Cooking
    #life
    #np
    #poetrythursday
    #ShortStories
    Writing
    Writing With Courage

    RSS Feed

    older posts at blogger
    Posts at Coffee with Friends

    Subscribe to my newsletter.

    * indicates required
    Email Format
    More on my Books
    Ute Carbone on StoryFinds
    Find me at Story Finds
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
Photos used under Creative Commons from Jacopo Marcovaldi, tjuel, tsaiproject, tiswango, g23armstrong