Today I’m Versatile!

Thanks to my writing friend, emerging author Sally Moore, for including me on her list of 15 bloggers she watches. The Versatile Blogger Award means people are paying attention and that’s great. I’ve been blogging for a lot of years now including the years as Beadergirl. More on that below.

I love connecting with people and writing a blog is an excellent way to do that. You can make contact with all sorts of other people or narrow your focus to readers, writers, and others in this specific business. That’s what I’ve done with On Becoming a Wordsmith. And the fact that I love to write doesn’t hurt, either.

Here are some of the blogs I’ve been following over the last year. You’ll notice that many are marketing blogs from whom I get ideas about marketing my books. Others are directly linked to books and reviews so it’s not hard to see my passion there. Finally I have a number of other authors I follow, some of whose blogs I’ve guest posted on. I’ve used this meme as a list of people I’m connecting with at this point in time even though I’m sure some of these will be unable to do the actual versatile blogger post.

Blogs I’m Following Just Now

1. Oh, For the Hook of a Book!  Erin is an upbeat and interesting reviewer of books whom I treasure among my online friends. You can get a sense of her style in this review of my book last fall.

2. Sharon Clare is a Canadian author who is always improving her already excellent writing style. She does workshops and readings and even has an online marketing strategy I wrote about last year.

3. Helen Hollick is a relatively new online friend but one whose breezy and happy style just makes me want to know her personally. I wrote about her a couple of weeks ago. What an accomplished writer of historical fiction she is!

4. Amy Bruno of Historical Fiction Virtual Blog Tours’ blog is a veritable feast of historical fiction novels. She runs tours to help promote historical fiction, one of which my second book was on last fall.

5. Patricia Zick writes well herself and features other authors on her site every week. She blogs often and I happened to read about her book on her ancestor who was in the Civil War. I bought the book and loved reading the words of the real day-to-day life of a soldier.

6. Danny Iny and his team at Firepole Marketing just teach so much about how to get our work to the world. I’ve learned a lot from Danny and have a number of his free downloads. And he lives in Montreal! He also lets  you choose how much mail to receive from him so I like that.

7. John Morrow’s Boost Blog Traffic is a site with loads of cool ideas about how to get known and recognized on the web. Read the About page here for an interesting story about John.

8. Brian Feinblum’s BookMarketingBuzzBlog is a wealth of information on just about anything. Check out his topics (and his disclaimer at the bottom of the page.) He’s a big name in online marketing.

9. Tim Grahl’s Outthink Marketing site is another with training and loads of good ideas. I’ve not had time to listen to all of his lessons but hope to make time soon.

10. Denise at So Many Books, So Little Time is one of my favorite reviewers because she has such a positive style. She finds the good in the books she reads but is not afraid to mention less stellar parts.

11. Sally A. Moore is an emerging author who takes the time to get her writing perfect. Her stories are intriguing and insightful and her blog posts always take me to something new while teaching me all manner of things.

12. Meyette’s Musings is another interesting blog because she, too, writes about the American Revolution only from the American side. Elizabeth lives in Michigan, not far from me in Ontario, and we’ve joked that we should do a book tour together–her, with her American view books and me with my Canadian/British view of the same war. What great fun that would be.

13. M.K.Tod’s blog, A Writer of History, has unique aspects to it. Check out her About page for the author interviews she’s done with very well known historical fiction authors such as Sharon Kay Penman, Edward Rutherfurd, and Elizabeth Chadwick, to name a few. And she’s Canadian, don’t you know!

14. Linda Poitevin came to my attention on Goodreads, first because she is a Canadian and then because she writes such interesting posts and always has several things in the Goodreads blurb I get every Sunday. She does a good job of explaining how to do writing-related posts such as this one. She says she writes “Kick-Ass Supernatural and Romantic Fiction.” :-)

15. Copyblogger is one final site from which I’ve received a lot of value. Here’s an article I’ve had starred for a few months but make sure you check out the whole site. And don’t worry about signing up. I didn’t have any flood of annoying emails. Everything they send is useful to a writer.

7 Things to Share About Me

This part is hard but here goes.

1. I grew up in a large family of thirteen children, 9 boys and 4 girls. And I’m glad I did.

2. I have a degree in French and Spanish, almost another complete one in English, but taught Computer Studies for the last six years of my teaching career, never having taken a computer course. I was all self-taught.

3. One summer I remember sitting on our screened-in porch reading a wonderful book by Jean Little (Listen for the Singing, YA, for a course I was taking) and closing it after reading the last page. I stared unseeing out over our yard where my kids were playing and tears just started to flow as I wished with all my heart I could be a writer like her.

4. For most of my life I have sung in choirs, groups, and even on occasion as a soprano soloist but the best singing I ever did was in duets with my mother’s wonderful harmony beside me. She was the source of all our musical talent. I wrote a song for her a few years ago–I Can Hear My Mom Singing–and it brings a smile to my face whenever I sit down at the piano and sing it.

5. One time when I was teaching and came upon a 15-year-old misbehaving, after repeatedly speaking to him and getting no response, I grabbed his collar and shoved him into the locker. He didn’t understand my soft voice but he understood that and ever after was my best buddy both at school and in the small village where we both lived.

   

6. I started my blogging career when I was deep into making jewelry, especially with a very good girlfriend. Here is one of the last posts I did there on Beadergirl Jewels.

7. My husband and I consider our two children and two grandchildren the joys of our lives. I did a 10-generation picture book of my father’s family so my little grandchildren would have a direct line on my side of the family that they could understand. Now I just have to do the other one from my family and the two from my husband’s family. Yikes!

The Versatile Blogger Award Rules:

• Display the Award Certificate (cut and paste it from my post)

• Write a post and link back to the blogger who nominated you – that’s me!

• Nominate 15 other bloggers

• Inform them of their nomination via comment on their blog

• Post 7 interesting things about yourself

 

What I Found in My Research Today

One of the joys of writing historical fiction is the gob-smacking stories I find while researching. In the second book of the Loyalist trilogy I wrote about a true story found as I researched the burning of Niagara (present-day Niagara-on-the-Lake) when the American troops ended their occupation of Fort George and headed back across the border to the United States. The snippet was about an old woman, too sick to leave her bed that cold December night of heated tempers and hot flames. For me this was a nugget for my own story of Lucy and John’s experiences.

Here is how I integrated the story into The Loyalist’s Luck:

Soldiers ran from one house to the next, their flaming torches setting each and every building alight. The wind blew the flames as they ate up the insides, the roofs, the chimneys, and finally the walls themselves of the little town. Perhaps the cruellest cut of all came with the knowledge of just who was setting the fires. Along with the American militiamen a group of American sympathizers called the Canadian Volunteers tossed torches into their own neighbors’ homes.

People howled in the streets. When the torchers reached the house next door they learned that the old woman who lived there was sick and could not leave her bed. The soldier gave the order to carry her, bed and all, outside into the snow where she lay shivering under her blankets as her house burned to the ground. Lucy ran to the bed and heaped her spare blankets on the woman but they gave no comfort to the woman or to Lucy.

Just now my days are filled with searching for information about the early to mid 1800’s  in Upper Canada (Ontario). Part of that is trying to get a feel for just what was happening at the time with respect to settlers, crown lands, politics both local and across the ocean, escaping slaves, treaties with First Nations people, and especially day-to-day living in this part of the world. Yes, it’s a huge task.

Knowing that I’m studying my own history helps enormously. These are the times my people lived in.

I Came As A Stranger: The Underground Railroad has turned out to be so interesting that I am reading the whole book even though much of it is about times after my field of research. Here are a few of the tidbits I’ve found:

• Even at the time of the 1837 Rebellions in Upper Canada and Lower Canada the widespread fear that the United States might invade again caused  “coloured people” to come to Niagara by the wagonload and volunteer to fight in order to keep the Americans out of their new country.” (p.42) For us, today, that distinction between Americans and Canadians is just not present. How fearful the times must have been not only for blacks but also for those multitudes of whites on both sides of the border who abhorred slavery and did all they could to fight against it.

• John Brown was one such white man who gave his life in his fight against slavery. (p.83)

• Many slave owners resorted to illegal moves to entice their former slaves back across the border. I read of a turnabout. One owner was seized by his former slaves and whipped with the same number of lashes as the former slave brothers had seen their mother’s naked back receive under the owner’s hand. Following that he was sent back across the Detroit River presumably to return home. (p.95)

• In Niagara a former slave owner trumped up horse theft charges against his former slave so that the slave could be extradited and punished in the United States. A huge crowd of blacks from the Niagara area freed their friend, taking the law into their own hands. Two of the rescuers were killed in the melee. (p. 97)

Wednesday I am lucky enough to be going to hear the author of I Came As a Stranger, Bryan Prince, speak at a library about a half hour away. Coincidentally this library is in the area where my next book takes place so I am doubly excited. I’ll be going early to check out the original documents which pertain to the area and to my own family history. Yes, the next book will have a large fictional component but how exciting for me to be recreating a world where my great great great grandparents first settled north of London, Ontario.

Once I finish Bryan’s book, I’ll be on to another and another and another as I spend the rest of February searching sources and spinning stories in my head for book three, The Loyalist Legacy. Let me know of any pertinent sources I should research and you could find your ideas in the next book!

 

How About an Authors and History Tour? Click here for details of this amazing cruise. Come join us!

 

 

For All Lovers of Historical Fiction!

Book Two in The Loyalist Trilogy!

Purchase The Loyalist’s Luck Here.

John and Lucy escape the Revolutionary War to the unsettled British territory across the Niagara River with almost nothing. In the untamed wilderness they must fight to survive, he, off on a secret mission for Colonel Butler and she, left behind with their young son and pregnant once again. In the camp full of distrust, hunger, and poverty, word has seeped out that John has gone over to the American side and only two people will associate with Lucy–her friend, Nellie, who delights in telling her all the current gossip, and Sergeant Crawford, who refuses to set the record straight and clear John’s name. To make matters worse, the sergeant has made improper advances toward Lucy. With John’s reputation besmirched, she must walk a thin line depending as she does on the British army, and Sergeant Crawford, for her family’s very survival.

The Loyalist’s Wife, Book One in The Loyalist Trilogy!

by Elaine Cougler, winner of the WCDR 2014 Pay It Forward Scholarship

Short-listed for Inspire! Toronto International Book Fair’s Canada Self-Published Book Awards

When American colonists resort to war against Britain and her colonial attitudes, a young couple caught in the crossfire must find a way to survive. Pioneers in the wilds of New York State, John and Lucy face a bitter separation and the fear of losing everything, even their lives, when he joins Butler’s Rangers to fight for the King and leaves her to care for their isolated farm. As the war in the Americas ramps up, ruffians roam the colonies looking to snap up Loyalist land. Alone, pregnant, and fearing John is dead, Lucy must fight with every weapon she has.

With vivid scenes of desperation, heroism, and personal angst, Elaine Cougler takes us back to the beginnings of one great country and the planting of Loyalist seeds for another. The Loyalist’s Wife transcends the fighting between nations to show us the individual cost of such battles.

Purchase The Loyalist’s Wife here.

 

 

 

 

There are Two Sides to Every War

Today I’m guest blogging on Elizabeth Meyette’s lovely blog. While my books are from the British and Loyalist point of view, Elizabeth writes from the American side of the same conflicts. Come join us!

 

For All Lovers of Historical Fiction!

Book Two in The Loyalist Trilogy!

Purchase The Loyalist’s Luck Here.

John and Lucy escape the Revolutionary War to the unsettled British territory across the Niagara River with almost nothing. In the untamed wilderness they must fight to survive, he, off on a secret mission for Colonel Butler and she, left behind with their young son and pregnant once again. In the camp full of distrust, hunger, and poverty, word has seeped out that John has gone over to the American side and only two people will associate with Lucy–her friend, Nellie, who delights in telling her all the current gossip, and Sergeant Crawford, who refuses to set the record straight and clear John’s name. To make matters worse, the sergeant has made improper advances toward Lucy. With John’s reputation besmirched, she must walk a thin line depending as she does on the British army, and Sergeant Crawford, for her family’s very survival.

The Loyalist’s Wife, Book One in The Loyalist Trilogy!

by Elaine Cougler, winner of the WCDR 2014 Pay It Forward Scholarship

Short-listed for Inspire! Toronto International Book Fair’s Canada Self-Published Book Awards

When American colonists resort to war against Britain and her colonial attitudes, a young couple caught in the crossfire must find a way to survive. Pioneers in the wilds of New York State, John and Lucy face a bitter separation and the fear of losing everything, even their lives, when he joins Butler’s Rangers to fight for the King and leaves her to care for their isolated farm. As the war in the Americas ramps up, ruffians roam the colonies looking to snap up Loyalist land. Alone, pregnant, and fearing John is dead, Lucy must fight with every weapon she has.

With vivid scenes of desperation, heroism, and personal angst, Elaine Cougler takes us back to the beginnings of one great country and the planting of Loyalist seeds for another. The Loyalist’s Wife transcends the fighting between nations to show us the individual cost of such battles.

Purchase The Loyalist’s Wife here.

 

January’s Gifts to a Writer

I love the new year. It’s the chance to start over, to etch my life on a fresh slate. Like the brand spankin’ new whiteboard my husband gave me for Christmas. Notice number one on the list? RESEARCH! That’s because I’m really stepping up the quest for the third book in my Loyalist trilogy and want to make research the first thing I see every morning and all day as I work at my desk. And because it’s a new year I seem to have renewed energy and excitement about finding my story through reading history.

The second thing on the list is Cruise Ideas. You’ll be hearing more about this VERY soon as it includes everyone.

The next things are all

 

How My Workspace Fuels My Fires: 12 Points, With Pictures

“It’s never too late to be what you might have been.” George Eliot

When I step into my sunny office I’m surrounded by objects and remembrances I treasure and that fill my heart (and my head) with joy and thanks. Every morning I put my glass of water on a stone coaster imprinted with Eliot’s quote. This coaster has been a talisman for me for over eight years and each time I read it, I’m refreshed and ready to push on with my writing.

1-3.  The picture on my computer screen is bright and beautiful to me, my light, which I originally bought for beading, bathes my workspace, and a card on the left at the back tells me to Celebrate! I got it from a lovely couple at my first book launch.

4.  A bulletin board to the right of my desk holds pictures of many of my life’s treasures.

5-6.  I have a long table attached to my desk where I can assemble the projects I’m working on and, in the foreground, my book selling paraphernalia are stacked ready for the next person who comes to my door for a copy. Yes, they do that and it’s wonderful both for the sales and for the personal visits.

7.  One evening my husband and I were dining in a new restaurant on a trip and this painting caught our attention. The local artist (the restaurant was in Orillia) had several of her paintings displayed there but we loved this one. My lovely husband promptly bought it for me and I painted my office  to match it. (My snapshot hasn’t rendered the colour of the paint at all correctly!)

8-9.  As we circle around the room past the door, my own framed photograph of a spot we found walking one day in Hilton Head, South Carolina hangs above my “imagine” sign. A perfect gift for a writer that sign, and I received it long before I’d published any books. How wonderful for writers to have people believe in us!

10. Here are more family pictures. I’m there at nine and at twelve, I think, posing for a record of our good times. I didn’t think much about it then but now I smile into the memories.

11-12. And on the other side of the window my siblings and I are posing for our last family photograph while we were all still alive. My family is so much a part of who I am. Oh, and on the filing cabinet beside my desk in a pottery dish I myself crafted is my collection of rocks and minerals which I and my wee grandson have rearranged thousands of times.

Things in and of themselves are not all that important I know, but these things glow with the memories they elicit and wonderful memories are worth everything. On a day when I have just a bit of an urge to chuck the revision and go walking or just watch a movie, being surrounded by my things and my people reminds me to keep working at being what I can be. Thanks, George Eliot.

For All Lovers of Historical Fiction, Just Out!

Book Two in The Loyalist Trilogy!

Purchase The Loyalist’s Luck Here.

John and Lucy escape the Revolutionary War to the unsettled British territory across the Niagara River with almost nothing. In the untamed wilderness they must fight to survive, he, off on a secret mission for Colonel Butler and she, left behind with their young son and pregnant once again. In the camp full of distrust, hunger, and poverty, word has seeped out that John has gone over to the American side and only two people will associate with Lucy–her friend, Nellie, who delights in telling her all the current gossip, and Sergeant Crawford, who refuses to set the record straight and clear John’s name. To make matters worse, the sergeant has made improper advances toward Lucy. With John’s reputation besmirched, she must walk a thin line depending as she does on the British army, and Sergeant Crawford, for her family’s very survival.

The Loyalist’s Wife, Book One in The Loyalist Trilogy!

by Elaine Cougler, winner of the WCDR 2014 Pay It Forward Scholarship

and

short-listed for Inspire! Toronto International Book Fair’s Self-Published Book Awards

When American colonists resort to war against Britain and her colonial attitudes, a young couple caught in the crossfire must find a way to survive. Pioneers in the wilds of New York State, John and Lucy face a bitter separation and the fear of losing everything, even their lives, when he joins Butler’s Rangers to fight for the King and leaves her to care for their isolated farm. As the war in the Americas ramps up, ruffians roam the colonies looking to snap up Loyalist land. Alone, pregnant, and fearing John is dead, Lucy must fight with every weapon she has.

With vivid scenes of desperation, heroism, and personal angst, Elaine Cougler takes us back to the beginnings of one great country and the planting of Loyalist seeds for another. The Loyalist’s Wife transcends the fighting between nations to show us the individual cost of such battles.

Purchase The Loyalist’s Wife here.

 

What’s a Blog Tour and Why Do Writers Use Them?

This week and next, my second book in the Loyalist trilogy is touring on the Historical Fiction Virtual Blog Tour. A few writers in my LinkedIn group wanted to know more about blog tours.

What’s a Blog Tour?

Loads of bloggers cover the Internet with amazing blog posts on their blogs. This is my blog, On Becoming a Wordsmith. Through it I have met lots of writers, readers, and other publishing world people. If you want to start an online presence for your writing, a blog is a vehicle you might use. Of course the ultimate goal is to find a following for your writing.

If you don’t have a blog yet, now is a good time to start one. Mine is hosted by WordPress and I quite like that platform. It has lots of great templates and widgets so each person’s site can be personalized. My first blog was on Blogger and it worked quite well, too, especially for a beginner. Both of these are free versions.

Look at all the blogs other people have, especially in areas like yours. I’m a writer of historical fiction so I gravitated to blogs who talked about that. If you look at the tour list below, you’ll see that a lot of them are historical fiction blogs. Having my posts there helps me find READERS of my genre. This is why Amy Bruno’s Historical Fiction Virtual Blog Tour was my choice for this tour. Take a moment and click on the link to check out the list of blogs.

Once you have your own blog and are ready to promote your book you can set up your own blog tour. It’s just a matter of organizing sites to host you over a week, two weeks, whatever you like. Or you can pay someone who already has a huge list of appropriate sites to do it for you. With two historical novels out, I chose the latter as marketing, speaking, promoting, and researching book three take up all my time. Amy makes my life much easier. There are a few things you can do on these blogs. I mentioned four briefly in a previous post, The Loyalist’s Luck is on Tour!

Four Ways to Showcase Your Book/Writing on a Blog Tour.

1. The blogger reviews your book and hopefully posts the review on Goodreads and maybe Amazon or wherever your books are for sale. This allows readers to easily buy your books. You wish for 5-star reviews but 4 is good, too. It’s important here to pick bloggers whose style and personality you like. You want to be sure they’ll like your work.

2. The blogger interviews you and posts both the questions and the answers on their site. Of course all of these bloggers will post links to your website, your books on Amazon, your picture, your book cover, and many other links.

3. You write a guest blog post for the bloggers who choose that. I always use a topic which somehow relates to something in my novel, and then I include a segment from the book which relates. (I’ve included a template below you might use to set this all up, putting in your own information.)

4. Some bloggers use the term spotlight which just means they use all the information you give them about you and your book and put a spotlight on you.

With most of these different types of blog tour exposure, having a template already made up with all your links, pictures, etc. will save you hours. For my present tour I’m doing 6 guest blog posts and I set up a template for them. Notice I’ve put everything I want in each post and only have to change the novel quote and the post itself.

Guest Post and Giveaway: The Loyalist’s Luck by Elaine Cougler

[blogger intro here]

Post Title

Quote from The Loyalist’s Luck

Blog Post

Goodreads Button

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7142385.Elaine_Cougler

When the Revolutionary War turns in favor of the Americans, John and Lucy flee across the Niagara River with almost nothing. They begin again in Butlersburg, a badly supplied British outpost surrounded by endless trees and rivers, and the mighty roar of the giant falls nearby. He is off on a secret mission for Colonel Butler and she is left behind with her young son and pregnant once again. In the camp full of distrust, hunger, and poverty, word has seeped out that John has gone over to the American side and only two people will associate with Lucy—her friend, Nellie, who delights in telling her all the current gossip, and Sergeant Crawford, who refuses to set the record straight and clear John’s name. To make matters worse, the sergeant has made improper advances toward Lucy.

 With vivid scenes of heartbreak and betrayal, heroism and shattered hopes, Elaine Cougler takes us into the hearts and homes of Loyalists still fighting for their beliefs, and draws poignant scenes of families split by political borders. The Loyalist’s Luck shows us the courage of ordinary people who, in perilous times, become extraordinary.

Praise for book one, The Loyalist’s Wife:

“….absolutely fascinating….Cougler doesn’t hold back on the gritty realities of what a couple might have gone through at this time, and gives a unique view of the Revolutionary War that many might never have considered.”  Sharon’s Garden of Book Reviews.

“….an intriguing story”                                             A Bookish Affair

“I highly recommend this book for any student of history or anyone just looking for a wonderful story.”       Book Lovers Paradise

“Elaine’s storytelling is brave and bold.”                 Oh, for the Hook of a Book

BUY THE BOOK LINKS

Book 1: The Loyalist’s Wife on Amazon http://amzn.to/1wNWN94

Book 2: The Loyalist’s Luck on Amazon http://amzn.to/1tm6x6D

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

 A lifelong reader and high school teacher, Elaine found her passion for writing once her family was grown. She loves to read history for the stories of real people reacting to their world. Bringing to life the tales of Loyalists in the American Revolutionary War and the War of 1812 is very natural as Elaine’s personal roots are in those struggles, out of which arose both Canada and the United States.

 

 

 

 

LINK TO MY SITE www.elainecougler.com

VIRTUAL BOOK TOUR SCHEDULE

GIVEAWAY— US AND CANADA, The Loyalist’s Luck in e-book format, Kindle or Kobo.

I hope this helps everyone but especially those new to this format and these procedures. Feel free to borrow my template but make it your own with your links, your data. Use it to increase your online presence and hopefully further book sales. And please leave a comment!

 

 

The Loyalist’s Luck is on Tour!

Come join me for the next two weeks (Nov. 10-Nov. 28) as I and my new book, The Loyalist’s Luck, tour some exciting and informative blogs. Reviews, interviews, guest blog posts, and even a spotlight await. If you like historical fiction you’ll want to check these out. Oh, and you’ll get a chance to win a copy of The Loyalist’s Luck if you comment.

The Loyalist’s Luck Blog Tour Schedule

Monday, November 10
Review at Oh, For the Hook of a Book

Tuesday, November 11
Guest Post at The Writing Desk

Wednesday, November 12
Guest Post at Historical Fiction Connection

Thursday, November 13
Guest Post & Giveaway at Peeking Between the Pages

Friday, November 14
Spotlight at Historical Fiction Connection

Monday, November 17
Interview at Oh, For the Hook of a Book

Thursday, November 20
Guest Post at Just One More Chapter

Friday, November 21
Interview at Caroline Wilson Writes

Monday, November 24
Guest Post at Oh, For the Hook of a Book

Tuesday, November 25
Review at So Many Books, So Little Time

Wednesday, November 26
Guest Post at So Many Books, So Little Time

Friday, November 28
Review at With Her Nose Stuck in a Book