Category Archives: Books

May15

#Samplesunday May 15, 2011 First Look into Dragonfire

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I’ve been working diligently on the third book in the Crystal Keeper Chronicles. I want to post the first look at the progress of the book. Some new things are going to be happening to Wanda. Plus, dwarves are starting to become a pivotal part of the Dragonfire secret. It’s all starting to come together. Keep in mind, this is an early draft and will be subject to revision. But I want to give my fans a first glimpse, and then you can let me know what you think. Wanda has just arrived home from school:

When I got home, I dumped my books on the ground and tried to think of something to do. I felt so tired from everything. My head was spinning, and I thought I’d lay down. Maybe a nap would be good. Anything to forget the horrible day I’d had at school.

I took off my crystal pendant and put it by my nightstand. I always did this when I went to sleep. The crystal hummed and warmed in my hand. The crystal fairy that lived within was like an adviser from time to time. I’d learned that if it got warm, she usually had a message. I held it and listened for her head voice. Her voice hummed in my head. Sometimes a break from your problems can help you sort them out later. Rest, and all will be well when you awaken.

Before drifting off to sleep, I remember thinking of Chyra, my unicorn guide in the World of Fairy. She was a master of the fairy paths, and had helped me find Balkazaar’s hidden cave. I wonder what she would think about Eddie. Maybe I just had to rely on my fairy friends now. Malik, a brownie from my home fairy realm, was a real trickster that loved to give advice when not wanted. Lavendora was another fairy that didn’t seem to trust cats. And then there was Brewford. At least he would be there to help. He’d said it often enough.

I thought of Chyra, riding the fairy paths, crossing the large waters to Ireland and maybe other lands. The last thing I remember before my subconscious took over was Chyra stepping onto a rainbow path as I saw her leave from our last adventure.

Then I heard laughter. Small giggles at first, that turned into bubbling laughter. It was followed by a mind voice that sounded like cutting glass. HELP! Wanda, help me. I opened my eyes to see my little brother standing near my bed. He was holding my crystal pendant and pulling on the cord. He started swinging it with a big smile.

“Heah, put that down.”

With an eruption of laughter, my brother ran out my bedroom door and down the hall.

I could hear a scream in my head from my crystal fairy. Help me. I am flying around and hitting the walls.

I scrambled out of bed as fast as I could. I ran down the hall and grabbed him by the shoulders. “Give it back to me now. MOM!”

“No, it’s my pretty necklace NOW.” My brother’s toddler voice spit the t’s at me. “I found it. All mine.”

“No it’s not. I put it there before I went to sleep. MOM!”

“Alright, alright. What has he done now?”. My Mom circled the distance from the kitchen to living room. “You’re only back for a few hours from visiting your father, and already into trouble.”

He smiled back at her. He got the “Puss and Boots” look from Shrek, and gave my Mom the flash of the big brown eyes. My brother got away with a lot by just smiling.

“My pret-ty.” He stressed the ts in a long drawn out demand of ownership. “MINE.”

“No dear, it is your sister’s necklace. Please give it back.”

“No.”

“Please dear, it will make Mommy very happy.”

“No.”

“Come on you brat, give it back.” I was losing my patience.

Mom turned to me and said, “Wanda, you have to be gentle with him. He doesn’t understand.”

“Yes he does. He thinks if he holds anything it’s his. That’s how he understands.”

Mom ignored my quip and continued with her pleading. “Give it to Mama, and I’ll give you a big surprise in return.”

His face lit up for a moment. His shaggy brown hair fell in his eyes as his knobby hands flexed on the pendant. “What surprise?”

Mom eyed him back leading him into the bait. She leaned inward. “A big cookie, just for my little man.”

“Cookie.” He dropped the pendant and toddled into the kitchen. Mom followed as I swooped up my pendant. I looked it over. The wire had broken on one section and I could see a crack on the bottom point. This didn’t look good.

“Mom, why couldn’t he have just stayed at Dad’s until Christmas or something?” I was filled with seething rage. “Why did he have to come back today?”

Mom’s voice echoed from the kitchen. “You know the arrangement with your father Wanda. These month long visits are suppose to help them bond more as men. Plus, it helps out with the budget and preschool schedule.”

“Yeah, this month it’s our turn to shuttle him back and forth. I know I’m going to hate October. Can November and December count as one month?” I always got Mom and Dad’s crazy mixed-up custody schedule confused. They switched off watching the little terror to help each of them. He was a lot to deal with at once. But I think it was just to help with Mom’s budget. Things were always quieter the month he was visiting Dad.

Now the mischief-maker of the house was back. I could at least escape during the summer by hopping the fence and reading. But now that he was here again, I’ll have to make sure everything was far out of reach. I’d lost track of so much just trying to find Eddie and help the fairies.

I looked at the pendant again. Yes, there was definitely a large crack at the bottom of the crystal. I held it to see if I could get any warmth from the crystal fairy within. I thought talked to her, Are you all right? Did he hurt you?

I felt massive pain in my head. I hurt. He cracked the crystal. You need to take me to the Fairy Queen. And then more pain rushing between my eyeballs. Ouch. It hurt more than sinus pressure headaches from my allergies.

Ok, hold on. I put the necklace around my neck and looked at the clock. 4:30pm. There was enough time for a quick trip to the Fairy World before dinner. “Mom, I’m going out in the orchard to read. I’ll be back in an hour.”

“Ok dear, no more than an hour. I’ll have dinner ready at 5:30pm.” I headed for the sliding glass door that lead out to our backyard. I saw my brother round the corner of the kitchen into the living room stuffing his face with a big, chocolate chip cookie.

“Brat,” I whispered back at him.

“I got a cookie and you don’t.” He smiled again while I stepped out onto the porch and didn’t look back. That’s one thing good about the Fairy World, I can at least get away from my little brother.

**The Crystal Keeper Chronicles are available on Amazon.com as paperback or Kindle editions.

May8

#SampleSunday May 8, 2011 Happy Mother’s Day

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For Sample Sunday, I’d like to take an excerpt from my second book, The Lost Secret of the Green Man. Wanda and Edina, her newly found friend, are getting to know each other. While heading to the crystal store downtown, they stumble onto the subject of their mothers. Excerpt taken from pages 24-25:

Getting out of the crowd worked at least. We headed over to a bus stop that didn’t include my route home. How was I going to get home? Ok, don’t panic. You’re on a Crystal Keeper Quest. Finding out about how to help the fairies by going to a crystal store is a logical place to start. But how do I explain it to Mom? Wait. I could call her.

“Eddie, is there a phone booth or something near the store?” I tried to not sound too worried. I had a tendency to worry too much and show it. Sometimes it drove me a little crazy.

Eddie stopped looking down the road for the bus. “You can use my cell phone to call home if you want.” She dug in her backpack. “You need it now?” She looked up at me from her stance of balancing her backpack on her foot.

“No, maybe it would be better to call her once I’m there. It’s downtown right? I used to go before with my friend, Michelle, on Saturdays. It’s always better to let my mom know I’m ok, and where I am. She likes that. But it’s hard when I have to use pay phones. They’re hard to find now.”

“You can’t get a cell phone?”

“Too expensive. Mom doesn’t have one herself right now. The divorce is making it hard to make ends meet, she says.”

“Sorry Wanda. I remember when my parents got divorced. It was hard not having my mom around, but at least the fighting stopped.”

“You live with your Dad?

“Yeah, my mom went into the Peace Corps. She said she needed to find herself, and left not too long after my 9th birthday.” She picked up her backpack and let it hang on her shoulder. “If it hadn’t been for the fairies, I don’t think I’d gotten through it all. My dad is ok, but he’s not around a lot. But at least the fairies are there for me.”

“Yeah, they have made me feel less lonely since Michelle moved.”

The sound of the bus pulling up changed the conversation into a scurry for our backpacks. We filed into line and found two seats together. -From The Lost Secret of the Green Man

To all the Mothers today, sometimes kids just don’t appreciate you all the time. But they always know deep down that you’re important to them. And there are times others are like a mother to kids. It takes a lot of motherly love to help raise a child.

To all the Moms and any woman that supports a child in some way, Happy Mother’s Day!

May8

Free Libraries: A Thing of the Past?

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Image courtesy of school-clipart.com

Library Books image courtesy of school-clipart.com


I was reading my local newspaper through its website. I don’t think I’ve actually read the paper in several years. Most of my news comes to me through the Internet, the Daily Show, or the Colbert Report. I found out about Osama bin Laden’s death through the Internet. Facebook seems to have news travel faster than the mass media.

The article I found mentioned my local county libraries charging out of district fees to non-residences. Yes, the library card as a free prospect was going to be turned into an $80 charge if I didn’t live in the right city. I don’t according to the newspaper website.

Luckily, I don’t use the county libraries as much as the city library. Kind to think of it, I’ve been getting most of my books from either Amazon or book exchange websites like Paperbackswap.com. Agreed, I pay for postage, shipping and or the cost of the book. But these all save me time. The library, if it is free, does save money. But I’m sure if the county is starting to charge fees, the similarly broke cities will follow suit. So I began to wonder, is the Free Library System going to be a thing of the past?

I have wonderful memories of my local library. My first lessons of responsibility came from my first library card. If I lost a book, I had to pay for it with my allowance. As I got older, I used the free aspect of the library to get free movie rentals. If you were patient, the library could save you a lot of money if you were on a student budget. I even remember being absolutely devastated when my local library closed after the 1989 California Bay Area Quake. Two weeks without videos and library books, oh the horror.

Now, video stores are empty with lease signs posted on the doors. Of course, I haven’t walked into a video store since 2005. I’ve been using Netflicks or On-Demand movie rental. Or I even go and see the movie when it is first released.

As far as books, I did make a promise to myself this year to go and start using my local library branch more often. I did, for a while. But then Amazon, with it’s tempting “no waiting list” for my favorite authors, links me to click to charge my latest awaited book. It’s just too easy and fast. I think my patience is less while I’m older. Or it just goes to other places, and I have less tolerance for waiting for library books to come in. Maybe I just like the convenience of the Internet. I didn’t have it in the early 90s when I was a college student.

Then I discovered Paperbackswap.com. Here was a way to get older books from other readers, and send out a lot of my paperbacks from the shelves. I knew they’d get a good home since they were going to people that requested them. Yes, it can take awhile to get a book. But at least you know it’s coming from someone that enjoyed it, and when done, you can pass it along.

So, maybe I have just outgrown the library. If I want a book fast and it’s my favorite author, I’m willing to pay for it and support the author at the same time. Plus, I’ve discovered a lot of Indie Authors that you won’t find in most libraries. Amazon has far more available than most libraries could ever hope to have. And I’ve found that the libraries just don’t take any old books either. Most of my old books end up at Goodwill. But then, that could be just my local system. It may vary in other areas.

Plus, for those hard to find/out of print titles the on-line book exchanges seem to be working. It isn’t free, since you do have to pay postage. But it is more of a recycle program, reusing books and clearing space in your home, so you have more books to read. Plus, a lot of rural areas far from libraries have postal service. This can make it easier than making a trip into the local town library. Or if there is a small town library, the selection isn’t as big as on-line.

Lastly, with cities around the country looking for ways to add to their budgets, programs such as libraries will most likely start having fees. Since one library has started in my area, I’m sure more will follow. If you use the library a lot, it will still be worth it. Of course, that’s only if the fee is reasonable.

I do hope they allow students to have the free card still. That is when I used the library the most, as a struggling student both in high school and college. Any break at that time in your life is well worth it. And if my fee helps kids and college students to use library services, so be it. But then, I’m already paying income, property, and sales taxes. I already know that nothing is really for free.

**Local Newspaper: San Jose Mercury News article on $80 fee for County Libraries
*More free clip art available at school-clipart.com.

Apr30

#Sample Sunday May 1, 2011

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In the spirit of Mother’s Day next weekend, I wanted to post an excerpt from The Lost Secret of Fairies of Wanda and her mother. Remember those times growing up where your mother busts you for coming in late from playing outside. But what if you had a secret you couldn’t tell her?

Excerpt from pages 38-42 of The Lost Secret of Fairies:

Bright light. The sun was blinding after the dimmer light of the crystal caves. There was no sign of Malik. All I could see was a crow. “Malik?”

“Caw…caw…” The crow came closer and bowed. Behind something bumped my leg. A black cat was looking up at me.” “Meow…purr”. She rubbed around my legs.

“Where should I start looking for the spring?” I asked both of the animal-fairies. Both black creatures looked at me. “Do either of you know?” Complete silence. Not even a meow or caw.

“Wait,” I snapped my fingers. “I got it. The old Keeper thought it was north in the creek.” The black cat and crow just stared back. Not even a nod. Hmm. “Then the creek has got to be the place to start.”

“Wanda!” My name coming from the direction of my house broke my thought. That can’t be good.

“Oh no, that’s Mom.”

“WANDA!”

I looked down at both animals. “She only yells like that when it’s time to come in. It must already be near dinner time.” I looked around, and noticed the sun was already lower than it should be around dinner. In fact, it was only a little time before sunset. Had I been gone all day? But it only seemed like an hour at most in the crystal caves?

“Wanda, Wanda, please answer!” There was a plaintive plea in her tone now. She must have been really worried. How long had she been calling me?

“COMING MOM,” I yelled back. I turned to the crow and cat. “I’m sorry, I have to go in and see what my mom wants. It’s a lot later than I usually stay out here. She’s probably worried.” The crow bobbed down, and the cat lowered its gaze and looked up again.
“I’ll take that as an o.k.”

I headed back towards my house, stepping through the knee-high grass and avoiding the pitted spaces between dirt clogs. My crystal pendant swung as I walked. I tucked it under my shirt.

Finally, I got to my back fence, and hefted myself over. I jumped down onto the backyard grass. I saw Mom standing on the patio; hands on her hips, and the ‘I’m-in-trouble’ look on her face.
“Where have you been Wanda? I’ve been calling for almost 10 minutes.”

I looked down, arms behind my back. “I guess I was further out than I thought. I didn’t hear you till just a bit ago.” There that was the truth; I’d not heard her until I was out of the cave. And I had been too far away to hear her.

“Next time, you need to be more careful where you set up a place to read. I need to be able to call you in Wanda. You’re not really supposed to be out there, close to the house, I can still watch you.”

I hunched my shoulders, getting in the dejected posture that seemed to help show I was sorry when I was busted. I couldn’t tell mom about the fairies. Would you? And if she believed that, would she believe I was their new Keeper? I didn’t even know what that was yet. Or how I was going to find the magical spring. Or how I was going to save the fairies from the pollution disease.

“Come inside. It’s way past dinner. It’s cold now, so I’ll have to warm it up in the microwave.” Mom turned in the patio doorway, and retreated into the house. I turned behind me to see a crow land on my back fence.

“I’m sorry”, I whispered behind me. “I have to go in for dinner. But I’ll be out again as soon as I can.”

“CAW.”

I turned and went inside.

The Lost Secret of Fairies.

is a children’s book for ages 8-12, middle reader novel. It is the first book in the Crystal Keeper series.

Mar14

Sample Sunday March 13, 2011

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The Lost Secret of the Green Man by Tiffany Turner


In the spirit of St. Patrick’s Day, I wanted to post a scene from my new book The Lost Secret of the Green Man. Wanda is traveling to Ireland in hopes to meet the Green Man. She is hoping he may have some answers to help save the fairies, again. She is following her leprechaun guide when she spots a patch of luck. This excerpt is from Chapter 7, pages 53-55 Hardcover edition:

He headed up the narrow path covered in a green blanket of clovers. I had a chance to spot the number of leaves. I glanced down and noticed a four-leaf clover among the others. An impulse over took me to pluck it. I remembered what Broc has said that sometimes the Fairy World made you feel compelled towards things you would need. So, I put it in my jacket pocket. Never could hurt to have a little portable luck.

When I was done, I looked up to see both of them gone. “Brewford? Brewford?” What was the leprechaun’s name again? I’m so bad with names. “Leprechaun…friend? Where did you disappear to?”

The mists swirled around me. I couldn’t see down or up. The swirling turned green and black. A voice started to speak within the mist in front of me.

“Turn back Wanda. You will never find what you seek. Travel the Fairy Path no longer.” The voice echoed backwards into the fog and formed a shadow in front of me. The shadow figure formed into a man shape with red eyes. Glistening spaces in the maw of its mouth seemed pointed into a smile. Then he formed into a pale, thin man. He had on a grey and dark purple robe that swirled about him. He held a large walking stick, which could have passed for any wizard’s staff. His pale complexion made him look sick and ill humored. He started to twirl his thin, black mustache. “ So we meet at last.” His nasal voice echoed in my mind after he spoke.

I tried not to smile as the thought came to me and answered, “No, at first.” If this was the Green Man, maybe he had a sense of humor. “And you are the Green Man I presume?” There, that sounded straight from a movie. I might be getting this hero thing right after all.

He only gave me a smile and said, “No, I wouldn’t presume to be him. I’m someone much more important to you.”

He didn’t seem overly friendly, and there was something not right about him. This guy just seemed down right creepy. Maybe he was another kind of trap. He made my skin feel prickly as he looked at me.

Then, I remembered the clover. I held it in my pocket and it tingled. Maybe there was something to the luck being in a four-leaf clover.

“You will let me pass.” I felt bolder. “For it is my choice.” I reached in my pocket and rubbed the clover in my coat pocket. “I don’t have time to deal with super, spooky wannabe shadows.” I started to walk past him.

“Wanda, surely you know not what faces you.” He blocked my path. “I am who you seek.”

“Oh come on! I’ve heard better lines in most horror films. You’ve got to do better than that.” I went to walk past and he blocked the way in front of me. “I’ve faced shadows before. You were never real.” I tried again, and he took two steps back with me.

He seemed to rise up a bit in front of me and said, “I do remember how you faced my allies in the real world. But now, you are in the World of Fairy. And here, fear can become reality in the speck of an instant.” His red eyes gleamed down. “We will meet again. Luck is with you today, for I cannot touch you with a charm of the Fairy Realm held within your hand. But…”
He leaned forward. I could smell his stink like a strong whiff of a cat box right after usage. “We will meet again; sooner than you think.”

A whoosh of black mist ended his words stronger than a period. I was waiting for the whoosh of fire to come up like in the Wizard of Oz. But there was only a strong wind with the scent of rotten leftovers.

Wanda? Wanda? Brewford swept through the murkiness to me. Where have you been? His whiskers were smoothed back against his face. They started to lower some when he continued, along with the fur on his back. He even looked concerned. We lost you in the fog. And then Balkazaar appeared.

“We thought for the worst, friend Keeper.” Lubdan rushed up next to him. His hat was gripped in his hand as if he had been running with it. “Were you frightened with the Master of Shadow Sorcerers blocking the path? We thought surely he would do away with you.”

I noticed a shiver escape my shoulders as I pulled out the four-leaf clover. It was a bit crumpled now, but still whole. “I don’t know what really happened back there, but I know one thing, I definitely had a bit of luck.”

The Lost Secret of the Green Man is available at Amazon and Barnesnoble.com.
Kindle Edition also available.

Mar9

Read An Ebook Week March 6 – 13

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Smashwords is sponsoring the “Read An Ebook Week” March 6-13. Tons of ebooks for children are listed under a special promotion from 50% to 75%. I’m even finding a few books for free. It is a bit hard slogging through the website trying to find all the books. But luckily, Indie Authors are letting me know which of their books are listed in this one week promotion. Here are some featured children’s books below.

I’m starting off the fun with my first book, The Lost Secret of Fairies, FREE. Yes, that’s right, free. So there is no excuse to put off reading an Ebook with your child this week. Here’s the list to get started:

1) The Lost Secret of Fairies:
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/6090
Free with Coupon Code: RE100

2) My Sparkling Misfortune
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/38174
-25% off with coupon code RAE25

3) The Journey
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/35118
-Free with coupon code RA25

4) The Adventure of Anna the Great (a middle-reader/YA adventure story)
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/13520
Coupon Code: RAE50

5) Tempest (YA/Sci-fi Fantasy)
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/18735
Free with Coupon Code: RAE25

6) Rita Morse and the Sinister Shadow (YA/Sci-Fi Fantasy)
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/39929
Free with Coupon Code: RAE25

OK, you have no excuse. Get your kid reading. Happy Ebook Week!

Feb13

Sample Sunday Feb. 13, 2011

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Thought I’d start adding to the Books Section in my blog by starting my first Sample Sunday blog entry. This is a thread that helps connect different blogs on a Kindle Writers Board that I frequent. I thought I’d start out with an excerpt from one of my books to start to get people familiar with what I’ve done. I’ll later add some drafts of two current writing projects, one being the third book in the Crystal Keeper Series.

Let’s start out the festivities with an excerpt from my first book,

It is a children’s book for ages 8-12, middle reader novel.

Wanda has discovered that the Fairy World is real. She is given a choice by the Fairy Queen. A choice that could end all of her adventures.

Excerpt from starts on page 26-27,

I took a moment to think. This was big. Really big. I mean, when else do you get to hang with fairies. But I didn’t want to be bashing slime all the time either. There’s no reset button in real life, right?

“Well, there’s got to be a reason for everything.” I thought out loud.
“Maybe I was meant to go into the orchard to read right then, and see the crow, and see what the World of Fairy is really like.”

“This must be your choice and yours alone. I would give you more time if there wasn’t such the need for a cure.”

“Cure?”

“Yes, we fairies suffer greatly from what you humans call pollution. It is poison to the land that we draw our magic from. The fairies get sick from the pollution that destroys the land they tend.”

“And you need me to get a cure, don’t you?”

The Queen nodded with a smile. “You are a quick one, Wanda dear.” She chuckled to herself. “You can have some time to think it over.”

I looked down for a sec. This could be dangerous later, I guess. But I’d managed to come through so far, figuring out how to make it. I had the brains. After all, I get tons of “A”s in school.

But then, I remembered the look on Jessica’s face when she got the gold metal at the gymnastics meet, and I hadn’t even placed. I wanted to be good at something. That’s when I dropped out of the advanced class and took intermediate instead.

Then, I felt a knowing that this was right. Like it was somehow my destiny. Somehow, this would help me not only with gymnastics, but with other stuff too.

“I don’t think I want this to be a dream. I want it all to stay real.” I breathed in deep. I was really going to do it. “I’ll be your Keeper.”

For more samplings of Indie Authors, visit this thread KindleBoards.com. There are a variety of Indie authors with several genres represented on the thread.

Jul29

A New Journey in Research

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You never know where research will take you. Well, at least this is what I’ve found out while researching my books. I love to go to different places and find out about legends and myths. There is adventure in exploring an area and using the description as some setting in your book. This is the joy of writing and researching. They seem to go hand and hand, and they are a very creative, fun step in the writing process.

I recently got back from an adventure in London. I wanted to return to the British Museum book room that had a range of information on things in the museum. I learned the book room had been closed and all the books moved to the British Library in another part of London.

The British Library in London
So, off I went to investigate. I am proud to announce I’m the new proud owner of a British Library card. The librarian got excited when she learned I was an author researching my third book. And I must say, I did find some interesting legends and myths on dwarves and dragons, which I’m focusing in on the third book. Plus, a changeling will play a pivotal part. So, I researched as much as I could on that.

The third book is turning into an adventure that will involve dwarves. So, I was thinking I needed more than just information about legends. I wanted some hands on experience of something that is closely associated with dwarves, mines.

The next logical step would be to find a mine. Luckily, I live in California, and it is famous for the Gold Rush and the many mines in Gold Country, the Sierra Mountain foothills where much of the gold was panned and mined during the Gold Rush. On July 24, 2010, I headed onto Route 49, the highway that connects many of the gold rush boomtowns. And yes, found myself a gold mine.

Tiffany Turner on the Sutter Gold Mine Tour

The Sutter Gold Mine is located off of the old Route 49 which leads through the old boomtowns. Complete with red construction hat, I was driven on a miners’ transport truck 200 ft. underground. There was a chance to walk around and look at the white quartz. Veins of the quartz contain the gold. It is mined and processed as gold ore. The walls were testimonies to the hard working miners that had blasted out the tunnels I traversed.

Unfortunately, the price of gold dropped to around $200 an ounce, and the mine closed in the early 90s. Of course, now the price of gold is around $1,000 an ounce. Talk of reopening the mine has been going on for 10 years. However since it’s closure, it’s being used to give tourists going through the area a look at a real gold mine, both modern and historical.

When you write a story that often includes crystals, a good exploring research trip wouldn’t be complete without discovering a new kind of crystal. I walked into the On Purpose Higher Awareness Book Store in Sutter Creek, and found a fabulous new crystal stone to inspire me for my next book. It’s called Septarian or “Dragon Stone”. It’s a type of fossil stone that includes clay sediment wrapped with ancient shells that formed together with calcite crystal. I leave the beautifully polished stone on my nightstand to inspire me as I write.

This is why I love researching for my books. You have to bring a little of real life into fantasy to make it believable. To go and experience your settings and base them on real adventures breathes life into writing. Writing from experience is the best way to drive writing, and of course, it makes the research an enjoyable part of the writing process.

Writing Exercise:
What can you research and write about?
Post comments and ideas below, and I can share them in a future blog.

Jun22

To Error Is Human

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Ever wonder about those mistakes you find in books? How could the editor and writer miss them? Little things like in the book, Carrie, Stephen King has the owner of the Kelly Fruit company named Hubert on page 69 and Henry on page 217. Or in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Buckpeak is tied to a tree before Harry and Hermione go back in time. However, when they travel to the past, Buckpeak is tied to a fence.

After reading through a writing blog this morning, I discovered an unusual website. It is called Bookmistakes.com, and there is an impressive list of mistakes found in some famous books.
http://www.bookmistakes.com/best_book.php.

It makes you think that we are all human, no matter how famous the book or author. Everyone makes mistakes. Of course, they are usually found by readers and fans. They are not usually distracted by the processes of writing or never see the pounds of revision that lead up to a novel.

I can relate to some of these mistakes that most likely come out of hours of revision. A character name is changed later in a revision. Often one change is missed. Or when the writer is thinking through all the details, or going from draft to draft, a detail is remembered wrong or confused.

Smallest of details can get by the editor and writer. There is so much detail and description in every book. To error is human. It is the natural course of things. But sometimes, just to find an error is exciting. The thought occurs, ah, they didn’t catch everything. As in Angels & Demons Langdon swims in the water of the Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi after a man has drowned. But of course, the fountain only is about one foot deep.

These little mistakes bring out the joy in reading. It’s like being a book detective to find out even authors are human. Because if writers like Stephen King, J.K. Rowling, and Dan Brown can make mistakes, they are just like the rest of us. It makes us all feel a little more human.

Crystal ClusterTiffany Turner is the author of the Crystal Keeper Chronicles. Her books can be found at Amazon.com.

Referenced Links for this Post:
Lauren’s World of Mystery Writing
Bookmistakes.com

Mar17

St. Patty’s Day Magic-The Leprechaun

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St. Patty’s is a special day of Irish Heritage in the US and Ireland. Though it is most often associated with the famous St. Patrick that brought Christianity to Ireland, it is also famous for wearing green, leprechauns and four-leaf clovers. The pot of gold signs with rainbows may decorate the office, but where did all the leprechauns come from? Why are they connected to the Irish?

Leprechauns are one of the most famous fairies or fey in Irish myths. The legends tell of Leprechauns being solitary shoemakers. According to Sir Walter Scott’s book “Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry”, they are also confused or combined with two other fairies, The Cluricaun and the Red Man. The Cluricaun tends to drink the ale away in the cellar while the Red Man enjoys doing practical jokes. Sometimes they are considered the happy brothers of the Leprechaun.

The Leprechaun legend continues with tales of becoming rich if one can find the Leprechauns gold from selling his shoe wares. Later in legends, the rainbow became a marker for the hiding spot of the Leprechauns acquired treasure.

Whether you find gold, Leprechauns, or at least a chance to spy a rainbow on St. Patty’s Day, wear green in the tradition of showing support for Irish Heritage. It’s a way to share your history or even join in the fun that the Irish Culture loves to do, sing, dance, and be merry. May there be luck for you this day!

Tiffany Turner is the author of a new fairy series called The Crystal Keeper Chronicles. Her first book entitled “The Lost Secret of Fairies” is available through Trafford Publishing and Amazon.com. The second book in the series “The Lost Secret of the Green Man” will be released this summer.

References:

  1. “Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry” by Walter Scott. Original published date 1888.
  2. “Encyclopedia Mythologica: Fairies and Magical Creatures” by Matthew Reinhart and Robert Sabuda.

UPDATE: This original post is from 2009. I’m going to add a link to the book that was mentioned above. It came out in the summer of 2009.

grmancover2

All Crystal Keeper books at Amazon.com!

The Lost Secret of the Green Man is the second book in the Crystal Keeper Chronicles. Wanda is a Crystal Keeper, kid helper to the fey in her local area, and she needs the help of the Irish Leprechaun to solve the problem of why bees are dying. Can she find help in time? And what is it with her talking cat?

Join Wanda in her final adventure, The Lost Secret of Time, out in May 2018. This is the final book in the Crystal Keeper series and will answer all the final series of being a Crystal Keeper. Follow this blog to get all the updated info of it’s release!