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Hiding behind the tower of mini prints.

This has been on my mind for awhile and on the long road trip I had more time to think about it. The business has grown so much in the past couple of years and the direction I want to take it has altered slightly too. The upcoming year there will be some changes, expanding products offered, a book in the works (Shawn get back to writing!), plus some creative, weird stuff from Shawn (I said get back to writing!), along with first and foremost a change in the name of the business.

There are many reasons for the name change, some minor, but  the major one has been growth. I use to share a six foot table with my friend Koko Candles and now I can barely contain everything on an eight foot table, much less a six foot table (which is why I am exploring having booths at certain cons next year). This rapid rate of growth could not have happened without someone very special in my life, Shawn. He has been supportive of me through all of this; he has given me creative ideas, does a lot of grunt work for me, and as he says his official title is, Lifter of Heavy Things. He is very much my partner in this business and I am appreciative of his contributions to the growth of it.

Shawn thinks he is in the new Mad Max movie.

So on a long trip through the desert night of Arizona, Shawn and I started kicking around different names… some good, some hilariously bad. During the banter we had going back and forth it got me thinking; I love the darker side of things and Shawn loves horror (he always disappears from the booth during horror cons to spend money), and we always seem to be on the road lately. The name crystallized in my mind and it just seemed so appropriate. Without further ado I present the new name of the business…

Gypsy Ghouls

This will not be an immediate transition, so Diana Levin Art will still exist. I will still be creating new art and jewelry to have at the shows as these will be the cornerstone of the business as it expands.

More dark things to come…

And finally lest I forget to thank the people who also have made this growth possible, the fans of my art. Thank you so much for your support and love, I could not do it without all of you.

Keep dreaming and creating…

–Diana

The post Times are a changing (along with the name)… appeared first on Diana Levin Art.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Desert Baths

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends November 10, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

I am working on a series proposal and have been asked for a list of characters. Wow, what a lot you can learn from a list.

• Name them all. First, I created a list that just names the characters. It’s interesting to see the variety (or lack thereof) in just the names. For children’s books, I am careful to avoid using the cliched names and to include some names that could represent ethnic groups (of course, being careful not to be cliched with that, either). Did you notice the huge variety of names of competitors in the 2012 London Olympics? I was inspired to push past the usual when naming characters. Try some of these girl names: Soulmaz, Reem, Shaza, Mouni, Layes, Tomomi, and Aminata. Boy names: Alaaeldin, Arnaldo, Amir, Kanat, Raidel, Georgias, Kieron, and Idrissa.
• Write a paragraph about main characters. My next task was to write a paragraph or two about each of the main characters. One check of effective characterization that I like to use if to read ONLY the first five pages, turn over page five and write everything I know about a character from those pages (and ONLY those pages). That was telling! Of course, for this summary, I could add things from later, too. But I will go back and revisit those early pages to sharpen the characterization.
• Minor characters. These characters need to be individuals, too, and I found that I am weak sometimes on this level, too. I need to make sure that each one has a quirky trait, identifiable physical characteristic or unusual way of talking. For example, Freddy has the unusual skill of being able to cram 30 french fries into his mouth at one time. I need to give him a full mouth each time he tries to talk. Indeed, a couple of the minor characters were only a name–not a real character. It’s OK to have placeholders, but before I send this out again, I’ll flesh them out a tiny bit more, at least give them a character tag.







• Types of characters. This is a story set in a school, so I also looked at the type of characters I used. There are students, parents and teachers. Oops! I forgot to create a principal of the school! S/he can be a minor character, but s/he probably needs to be there in some capacity.

What characters have you inadvertently omitted?

I just named some characters, Jane and John Smith. What does that say about these characters? Do you think boring? No, no, think alias. Think clueless that such an alias might be too transparently an alias. What would make them so clueless? Ah, you’re getting interested in my characters just from their names? One hopes so!

What connotations do your characters’ names have? Abraham, might be Biblical or it might be Presidential. Either way, it evokes a certain set of expectations about your character that you can play against or reinforce, as needed.

In some ways, it’s just the normal exactness that you need with any of your language. But this is a very important tag for your character. When you name your character, think about these things:

Top 5 Tips on Naming Your Characters

1. Meaning of the name. Buy a good baby name book or something like The Writer’s Digest Character Naming Sourcebook. What does the name mean and how does that relate to the character qualities you want to show-don’t-tell? You can use it to reinforce or contrast. For example, my name means Dark Fortress, while my husband’s name means Blond Warrior. Kinda nice combination, don’t you think, a love story meant to endure!




2. Origin of name. Does the name come from a certain language, time period, or ethnic group? How does the origin affect the connotations for the name?
3. Think of possible nicknames for this name. What complexities can you bring to the character just by using an apt nickname? Will the nickname contrast or reinforce the real name? For example, Rebecca could be called Bec, or she could be called something totally unrelated like Wisdom.
4. Say the name out loud. Is it easy or hard to pronounce? Does it “trip off the tongue lightly”? Or, does it tie the tongue in knots? What would each of these options say about your character? Will the reader be put off by a hard-to-pronounce name? Or is it an expected part of your genre, like fantasy or science-fiction?
5. Try out several names. Write a sample chapter using the name, but use the Find and Replace on your word processor to change out the name for an alternate. Reread the chapter. Which name seems apt? Repeat until one feels right on all levels!

NEW EBOOK Available on Nook Kindle PDF Now an iBook

Today my guest is author and reviewer, Mayra Calvani.

Also available in Spanish!

FINDING THE PERFECT NAME FOR YOUR PUPPY

by Mayra Calvani

Getting a new puppy is an exciting time for a family. It's just like the arrival of a new baby! If there are kids in the family, then the event is even more thrilling. Hopefully, you have done your homework and read books on the subject and know all about the responsibilities of owning a new pet.
There's only one thing left to be done: finding the perfect name for your puppy.
How do you find the perfect name for your dog? Ideally, it should reflect its character, and even its physical appearance. If you already have a name in your mind because that's the one you have always dreamed for your dog, then congratulations. Your job is easy. If you don't have a name in mind, this will take some thinking, and even-as it was in our case-an official family meeting!
Would you like to name your dog like a famous philosopher-Homer, Plato, or Aristotle? Or perhaps like a famous scientist, like Einstein or Mr. Hawking? What about a biblical name like Noah? Or maybe a goofy name like Wacky or Taffy? Or even a food name, like Honey or Cinnamon? What about a common name like Sam, Max, or Lady?
In my children's picture book, CRASH, five-year old Marcelo sets out to find the perfect name for his new golden retriever puppy. His parents keep making suggestions, but Marcelo refuses, as he must find not just any name, but the perfect name for his beloved new puppy. Finally, something really peculiar about the puppy helps Marcelo come up with the perfect name.
So observe your puppy carefully. Maybe it has a quirk or odd character trait which belongs only to it, and one which will help you come up with the ideal name.
There are hundreds of sites online to help you choose the perfect dog name. Just do a search for 'dog names' on Google.
Ideally, the name you give your puppy should be short (one or two syllables), and should not sound like another member of the family's or like a dog command, for obvious reasons. But this isn't a rule and in reality, the sky is the limit.
Have fun finding that perfect name and good luck!
Mayra Calvani is a multi-genre author, reviewer, dog lover, and animal advocate.A regular contributor to Blogcritics Magazine and American Chronicle, she is also the author of CRASH!, a children's picture book about a little boy and how he learns to care and find the perfect name for his new golden retriever puppy. Check out her 'Crash the Puppy' blog at http://www.crashthepuppy.blogspot.com/
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mayra_Calvani

Mayra will be giving away an autographed copy of Crash! on her blog. http://www.mayrassecretbookcase.blogspot.com/

*Crash has his own blog at http://www.crashthepuppy.blogspot.com/ (games and coloring pages for kids)

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*Mayra is donating 50% of author royalties to Almost Heaven Golden Retriever Rescue and Sanctuary.

*The Spanish version will be out this summer

*My Pets and Their Authors blog at http://www.petsandauthors.blogspot.com/

*I'm the Latino Books Examiner athttp://www.examiner.com/x-6309-Latino-Books-Examiner

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Crash!by Mayra Calvani

Illustrated by Anna Pylypchuk

Guardian Angel Publishing

ISBN: 1-933090-54-5

April 2008

Paperback, 32 pages, $10.95

Picture Book,

Ages 2-6

Marcelo is thrilled when he gets a golden retriever puppy for hisbirthday, but now he faces one of the toughest jobs of his life, not only because owning a pet is a huge responsibility, but because he has to find the perfect name for it-and that's hard!

Multi-genre author, reviewer, dog lover and animal advocate MayraCalvani hails from San Juan, Puerto Rico. She's a regular contributorto Blogcritics Magazine and Suite101. When she is not writing, she enjoys reading, playing the violin, interviewing other authors for her blogs and newsletters and watching too many reruns of Gilmore Girls and I Dream of Jeannie. She’s the author of the picture book, TheMagic Violin, also published by Guardian Angel Publishing. She's also the Latino Books Examiner for Examiner.com:http://www.examiner.com/x-6309-Latino-Books-Examiner

My dog articles:http://ezinearticles.com/?Finding-the-Perfect-Name-For-Your-Puppy&id=1252779http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Responsibilities-of-Owning-a-Dog&id=1252771

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Friday you will find Mayra Calvani at Joy Delgado's website.

Today Shari Lyle-Soffe can be found at Donna Shepherd's website.

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LEAVE A COMMENT ON THIS BLOG TO BE ELIGIBLE FOR THE DRAWING FOR AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF NOTHING STOPS NOAH!!

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Last week when I was interviewed on Wisconsin Public Radio about notable new words like locavore, some listeners called in to ask about words that seem to be missing from English. One such lexical gap that came up is the absence of a non-gendered singular third-person pronoun to replace “he or she,” as I discussed in my last column. Another listener raised the question, why don’t we have a suitable name for the first decade of the 21st century? It’s a curious situation: here we are at the end of 2007, and we still lack a commonly accepted term for the current decade. Very often English speakers deal with this quandary by employing the strategy of “no-naming” (a term that sociolinguists use to describe the avoidance of address terms when one is unsure what to call one’s interlocutor). You can hear this kind of no-naming when a radio station announces that it plays “hits from the ’80s, ’90s… and today!” But that’s hardly a satisfying solution. Surely we can do better in the next two years before the decade runs out?
(more…)

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By Anatoly Liberman

The Devil is uppermost in people’s thoughts, and his names are many. One of them is Old Nick. Its origin is obscure. The word nicker “water sprite,” explained as an old participle “(a) washed one,” is unrelated to it. Then there is nickel. The term was easy to coin, but copper could not be obtained from the nickel ore, and Axel F. von Cronstedt, a Swedish mineralogist despite von before Cronstedt, called the copper-colored metal copper nickel (German Kupfernickel), later shortened to nickel, after the name of a perfidious mountain demon (wolfram and especially cobalt have a similar history). (more…)

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Hello everyone!

Here are three names I chose, it was really hard to go for only three names. Well if you just pick your favorite one so then we can count our votes and eventually name the poor girl!
My vote would be for number 1 which is "Eye"Da (IDA).

By Anatoly Liberman

Nowadays we are not expected to correspond to our names. Our friend Makepeace may be a bully, and a girl born in December may be called April or June. But in the past, people looked on the name as part of an individual. Knowledge of a hero’s name gave allowed the enemy to do him harm. To be sure, at all times there have been cowardly boys called Wolf or Leo and battered wives called Brynhild (bryn- “armor,” hild-“battle”), but things may not turn out the way we predict. (more…)

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I have a character who is a TV reporter. She is a main character. In her mid-30s. I wanted her to have a slightly unusual name. First it was Jordan, until I realized one of my other character's names was Jacqueline. Then it was Morgan, until I realized that two other characters were named Jacqueline and Allison. Too many people with "n" sounds as the last syllable. Robin got ix-nayed for the same reason. Jenna was good until I realized that I was back to the whole "starts with J" issue. Currently she's Riley, but that's not working for me.

Any suggestions?





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