The Five W's: Roseanne Dowell's Romance Novel, Time to Love Again

Welcome to the Focused on Story Blog and to the guest author series, The Five W's in Story. 

The 5 W's in Storytelling

The five W's in a story are who, what, where, when, and why. During this event, each author shares the five W's with our readers. The How is often included, but since the how may be a spoiler, I didn't ask authors to tell us that!!

I'm delighted to host my friend and multi-published author Roseanne Dowell today. Roseanne writes romance, mystery, paranormal and all have wit and warmth woven into each book.

Roseanne is sharing her paranormal romance, Time to Love Again.

Time to Love Again by Roseanne Dowell

Who 

The characters are. Rose Asbury, Stephen Daniels, Sarah Daniels, and Emma

What 

The conflict is fifty-eight year old Rose Asbury knows people think she’s a recluse, but she doesn’t care. She just wants to be left alone. She doesn’t need anyone and no one needs her and that’s just fine. At least she didn’t until this year. For some reason this year is different. Suddenly, she’s melancholy and discontent with her life. 

And the man next door doesn’t help matters. He insists on speaking to her. So her stomach tumbles every time she sees him, that doesn’t mean anything. Hunger pangs, nerves, she just wishes he’d leave her alone. Or does she? To top it all off, his granddaughter and her friends insist on playing in her yard, sledding, building snowmen and throwing snowballs at her house.

Then her sister’s ghost shows up and Rose’s life changes drastically.

Where

The story takes place in my hometown in Ohio

When

It's set in the late 90s 

 Why

The idea for this story came to me out of nowhere. I was working on a book about creating stories when this one suddenly entered my head. Parts of it from my childhood are true (maybe a bit embellished) although I grew up with 5 siblings, Emma was my real life sister (not her real name) and I miss her immensely. I can picture her haunting me if I lost my husband and acted like Rose. Emma and I were best friends as well as sisters. 

Time to Love again is available from

Kobo, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books We Love Publishing

About Roseanne: 

Roseanne lives with her husband of more than fifty years, has six grown children, fourteen grandchildren, and several great-grandchildren. Between writing,

quilting, and embroidering, she also enjoys blogging, tweeting, Facebooking, and posting on various writers' groups. Her favorite time is spent with her family.

Click here to find more books written by Roseanne at the Books We Love Author Page

Do you read romance novels? Paranormal? What IS your favorite genre? Please leave a comment below and let us know. Thank you.

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Romance author Roseanne Dowell

Coming Up--

Sunday, April 1--Easter Sunday

The MONTH of April--I'll be participating in the Blogging A-Z April 2018 Challenge-- According to the website, a blogger begins "April 1 with a topic themed on something with the letter A, then on April second another topic with the letter B as the theme, and so on until you finish on April thirtieth with the theme based on the letter Z.  It doesn't even have to be a word--it can be a proper noun, the letter used as a symbol, or the letter itself.  The theme of the day is the letter scheduled for that day."

If you are a Word Nerd, then you'll like my theme for April. Check back on Sunday as I kick off this new and challenging blogging experience. 

Thank you for stopping in today. Please Follow Focused on Story so you won't miss a single blog post. Just leave your email in the Follow by Email box in the top of the sidebar. 
I promise--NO SPAM!

Author Roseanne Dowell's Writing Tips Book, Show Don't Tell, Giveaway

Show Don't Tell
Available at Amazon

Hello and welcome!

I'm thrilled today to be swapping blogs with my friend and talented author. Roseanne Dowell. Roseanne writes warm and entertaining stories, but I bet you didn't know she also teaches writing classes. She has used her experience in writing and teaching to put together lessons with practical examples in her new release, Show Don't Tell and Other Writing Tips, available in Kindle and print. Roseanne is generously awarding a copy of her book to a lucky commenter. 

And because we are swapping,  I am a guest at Roseanne's blog featuring my book on writing tips, Romance and Mystery Authors on Writing. Hop on over to Roseanne's blog to check it out and leave a comment to enter the drawing to win a free digital copy of this book.

Winners of the eBooks will be announced on Thursday.

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Show Don’t Tell by Roseanne Dowell

Did you ever wonder what made you remember the characters in a book? Or what made a story especially memorable. In Part One, you’ll learn to see, hear, smell, feel and taste your story. By combining many elements of writing, my book will help you learn how to write publishable stories. I’ve worked out lessons that will teach you to use the senses, avoid boring dialogue, and write memorable descriptions.  Learn how to put pizzazz in your writing and how to avoid unnecessary words, using action, senses and self-editing. Show Don’t Tell covers it all.

In Part Two, you’ll learn how to self edit. Editing is, by far, the most difficult part of writing. Okay, one of the most difficult. Editing is where we have to cut precious words, sentences, or maybe even whole paragraphs.  How do we even go about editing? Most of us know to look for punctuation, that’s the easy part. After all we’ve all learned about commas, periods, question marks and exclamation marks in school, didn’t we?

You’ll learn how to create and describe characters, places, and things, keeping your POV consistent, proper dialogues, common mistakes, and how to prepare a manuscript.

How many times has something funny or unusual happened and your friends said you should write a story about it. Should you? What if your friend got stuck on the roof? Would his experience make a good story? How about kooky events, scary dreams? Ever hear a portion of conversation and wonder what it was all about? There are many places and ways to come up with ideas for good stories. Follow these lessons and you’ll enter a land of make believe so real, you’ll think it happened to you. From Uncle Joe getting stuck on the roof, to newspaper articles and even the classified ads, In Part Three – Turning Your Ideas into Fiction, you’ll learn the perfect way. . If you’re wondering where authors get their ideas, you’ll find out in this book. Have you ever wondered how much fact to put into fiction?

Show, Don’t Tell is available from Amazon

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About Roseanne

She is an avid reader. Roseanne writes various types of romance - paranormal, contemporary, and mystery. She has several books available at Amazon as well as over 40 articles and short stories published in magazines such as Good Old Days, Nostalgia, and Ohio Writer as well as several online publications. Besides teaching writing courses for Long Story School of Writing, she also taught two writing courses for the Encore Program at Cuyahoga Community College.

Author Roseanne Dowell

Roseanne lives in Northeast Ohio where she enjoys life as a wife, mother of six, grandmother of fourteen and great grandmother of two.  When she’s not writing or enjoying her family, Roseanne spends her time with embroidery and quilting, especially combining the two. She also enjoys blogging, tweeting, facebooking and posting on various writers groups. 

Visit Roseanne Dowell at 
her author website  
her blog 

her Facebook page 

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Leave a comment to enter to win the drawing for Roseanne's book. Do you have a writing tip to share with us? A book on writing you depend on for great information? A writing website you read every week?

Thank you for stopping by. Get notices about new blog posts on the J.Q. Rose blog by adding your email address to the box in the upper right hand sidebar.

Write on!

Romance and Mystery Authors on Writing: Roseanne Dowell on Characters and Editing, Giveaway

To listen to the welcome and introduction of the Romance and Mystery Authors on Writing series, 

click the red arrow at the top of the page.

Hello and welcome to the kick-off of the series, Romance and Mystery Authors on Writing. Our "tipster" author today is Roseanne Dowell. Roseanne is giving away an e-copy of her romance/mystery, All in the Family. Please leave a comment to be eligible for the drawing on Sunday at 9 p.m.

Roseanne, where do you get your ideas for stories?

1.      Where I get my ideas. That’s easy. Everywhere, from groceries stores, looking in people’s carts,  restaurants, overhearing people’s conversations, to making up stories of people sitting next to me in traffic. Even newspaper articles, classified ads, just everywhere around us.

     Thanks so much for sharing these helpful tips on characters and editing. 

CHARACTER  SHEET 

I always make a character sheet for the main characters of the book. I like to know everything about them – the obvious, of course, age, hair and eye color, height, build, occupation, favorite color, do they like children, animals, where they live, where they grew up, do they have sisters, brothers. Their likes, dislikes, birth date, favorite sport, hobby, general physical description, what kind of clothes do they like to wear, what’s important to them, their dreams, goals, what do they fear, undesirable characteristics *yes even the hero/heroine should have undesirable traits, no one is perfect. 

I often make storyboards with pictures from magazines of my hero/heroine other important characters labeled with their names, even their houses or other important settings. It’s amazing how helpful that is. 

EDITING

1. Editing. Wow that’s a topic in and of itself. One of the first and most important things to do before editing is to let your manuscript sit for at least a week. I usually let mine sit longer – a month or months. You need to get away from it for a while, forget about it. When you come back to it, it’ll be with fresh eyes.  One of the first things I look for is the word, ‘that’ . Most of them can be removed. And then is also over used. Type in She/he – see if you can change the sentence to avoid overuse. Many sentences can be changed with strong verbs and eliminating she/he to start a sentence. Watch verb tenses keep them consistent. And a pet peeve of mine is the improper use of me and I when combined with another name and and. There’s an easy way to see which one to use. Jordan and I went to the store, eliminate Jordan and – you’re left with I went to the store which is correct. You wouldn’t say me went to the store. Another example. Sarah went to the store with Jordan and me. If you eliminate Jordan and – you’re left with Sarah went to the store with me. That is correct, you wouldn’t say Sarah went to the store with I. 

2. Vary the length of your sentences. Sometimes shorter sentences are better. It’s fine to use a compound sentence occasionally, but if you use too many, or if your sentence is so long you run out of breath reading it aloud, much like this sentence, shorten it. Short choppy sentences add tension. Sometimes it’s good to have a string of short sentences. 

3. Be careful with ing words. If you begin a sentence with an ing word, the action has to be physically possible to carry through to the end of the sentence. Example – Getting into the car, I turned on the ignition. Impossible. You have to be in the car to turn it on.  Sobbing, I got into the car and turned the ignition. That works because you can sob the whole time you’re getting into the car. 

Roseanne's advice to writers--"WRITE! Write every day."

Ø    Back of the book: Taking over the police chief’s job in her hometown should have been easy for Callie Johnson. At least that's what she thought. After working in a big city, small town crime would be a breeze. What a surprise when she arrives to find her grandmother, the judge, accused of murder. As if that wasn't enough she’s attacked while walking to her car. Between criminal investigations, her nutty family’s antics and her Aunt Beatrice Lulu's matchmaking, Callie definitely has her work cut out for her. Will her grandmother be exonerated? Can Callie ward off her aunt’s unsuitable suitors? What other surprises were in store for her? More importantly, can she find the person who attacked her?

      Purchase Link and sample for All in the Family

About  Roseanne Dowell

Roseanne grew up reading first Nancy Drew mysteries and soon moved on to Victoria Holt and Phyllis Whitney. She’s a big fan of Agatha Christie and always loved writing even as a teen, often making up different endings to books she read and writing poems. 

While working as a school secretary, she took  a correspondence course, writing for children. It didn’t take long to realize that even though she had six children, it took someone special to write books for them. So, she tried her hand at nonfiction, but didn’t care for that either.  That’s when she moved on to romance novels. But they sat in the attic with her poems and journals.

In 2002 at a Book Club meeting, she confessed regret about not pursuing a career in writing. That’s all it took.  Her friends convinced her it wasn’t too late. After giving it some thought, she decided they were right and took another writing course. Within a few months, her first article was published in Good Old Days Magazine. Since then, she’s had articles published in several magazines. 

In 2006, Roseanne’s first book, Satin Sheets, was published and sold over 35,000 copies. Since then, she’s decided to go the way of the future – E-books.  She writes various types of romance – paranormal, contemporary, mystery and women’s fiction. Her heroines range from their early twenties to late seventies. Yes, seniors need love, too.  

Roseanne lives with her husband of fifty years, has six grown children, fourteen grandchildren and two great grandchildren. She spends her time between writing, quilting, and embroidering. She also enjoys blogging, tweeting, facebooking and posting on various writers’ groups. Her favorite time is being with her family.

Connect online with Roseanne at her Amazon Author Page.

Seeds of Inspiration: Author Roseanne Dowell with No Regrets and Giveaway

Welcome multi-genre author Roseanne Dowell to the Seeds of Inspiration Event. Remember to enter to win a copy of Roseanne's e-book, Trouble Comes in Twos, by leaving a comment below. Winner will be chosen after 12:01 Sunday morning.

Now let me tell you a little bit about Roseanne Dowell. She is an avid reader. Roseanne writes various types of romance - paranormal, contemporary, and mystery. She has several books available at Amazon as well as over 40 articles and short stories published in magazines such as Good Old Days, Nostalgia, and Ohio Writer as well as several online publications. Besides teaching writing courses for Long Story School of Writing, she also taught two writing courses for the Encore Program at Cuyahoga Community College.

Roseanne lives in Northeast Ohio where she enjoys life as a wife, mother of six, grandmother of fourteen and great grandmother of two.  When she’s not writing or enjoying her family, Roseanne spends her time with embroidery and quilting, especially combining the two. She also enjoys blogging, tweeting, facebooking and posting on various writers groups. 

Visit Roseanne Dowell at 
her author website  
her blog 

her Facebook page 

No Regrets by Roseanne Dowell

Like most authors, I always loved to read. From my first book, Dick and Jane to the Golden books, I read every chance I had. I grew up reading Nancy Drew mysteries and soon moved on to Victoria Holt and Phyllis Whitney. I was a big fan of Agatha Christie –still love her books, actually.

Ever since I can remember I’ve been writing, even as a teen. I often made up stories and wrote poetry. Of course, I kept a diary/journal. The stationary department of stores always drew me. My favorite places to shop to this day are Office Max and Staples. I have a love affair with paper and pens. I still can’t resist notebooks, especially if they’re on sale. It’s nothing for me to come home with three or four various types of notebooks, file folders, and pens during the school supply sales.

While working as a school secretary, and encouraged by my coworkers, I took a correspondence course -writing for children. It didn’t take long to realize, that even though I had six children, it took someone special to write for them. I also tried my hand at nonfiction, but at the time, didn’t care for it. That’s when I moved on to romance novels and mysteries. Two of my favorite genres. Not that I did anything with those stories. At least not then. They sat in the attic with my poems and journals. Back then we didn’t have computers, let alone the internet. Finding time to write with six children wasn’t easy either and I never submitted anything.

It wasn’t until 2002 while I was at a Book Club meeting, the conversation turned to what we most regretted in our lives. I confessed I hadn’t pursued a career in writing. That’s all it took. My friends convinced me it wasn’t too late. There was only one way to find out, I decided to give it a shot and took another writing course. Part of the course was writing nonfiction, my least favorite genre. Within a couple of months I published my first article in Good Old Days Magazine. I framed a copy of that check. Since then, I’ve had several nonfiction articles published. My first published book in 2006, Satin Sheets, sold over 35,000 copies. Not too bad for a first novel. It’s out of print now and available as an ebook, It’s Only Make Believe. 

As I said previously, I love mystery and romance and often combine the two. I also love the paranormal (ghosts) and incorporate them in a couple of my books, Time to Love Again and Shadows in the Attic. Entangled Minds is a paranormal about ESP.  A firm believer in love at any age, some of my heroines are older women. Time to Love Again, Geriatric Rebels, and Another Day all feature older heroines. I try to insert a bit of humor in most of my stories also.

My latest book, Trouble Comes in Twos, released with Books We Love Publishing was intended as the third book in a Trilogy.  Circumstances beyond my control made me change it into a single book. My inspiration and idea for the book came from a visit to Locust Grove Cemetery in Twinsburg, Ohio. I have a thing for cemeteries, especially old ones, and visit them every opportunity I get. Fortunately my husband indulges my strange habit.

While we were walking around, reading the headstones –something else that intrigues me-- the story idea began forming. The cemetery is located off a main street and set way back from the street. It’s a very small cemetery, and if you didn’t know it was there, you’d drive right past it. We almost missed it the first time we went there. It’s surrounded by stores two sides and a retirement home on another and slopes down a hill. My imagination immediately reacted. What if someone got killed here? How long would it be before someone found the body? The graves in this cemetery are very old, so I doubt too many people visit them anymore.

By the time we got home, my mind was whirling with ideas for the book and before long the first draft was born. Several months later, I was ready to submit.

Trouble Comes in Twos Back of the Book:

After a five year absence, Kate Wesley returns to Twinsburg Ohio to open a florist shop. She’s content with life until Mark Westfield enters the picture. To make matters worse her ex fiancé is back in town, looking to pick up where they left off, and she’s attracted to both men. As if her life isn’t complicated enough, she finds a dead body in the cemetery, the twin sister of the victim shows up and another body is discovered. Can Kate sort through the confusion her life has become or will she become the next victim?

You can find this book as well as all of Roseanne Dowell's books at Amazon

Please leave a comment to enter the drawing to win Trouble Comes in Twos. We love a wave, a hug, high five, or even a giggle. Thank you.

Dieting is Like Writing, This Week, Giveaways

Image courtesy of debspoons / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Wishing you a fantastic Saint Patrick's Day and loads of Irish luck to ya'!

Dieting is Like Writing by J.Q. Rose

Image courtesy of Master isolated images / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Dieting is like writing? Yes, depending on what results you want to achieve. Will you be dieting for a few days, a couple of weeks, or is it a lifestyle change with foods and exercise that you can continue for the rest of your life? How about writing? Do you plan to dabble in writing stories or do you want to make writing a part of your life?

Honestly I never thought about how the writing and dieting could be alike, so let's examine the idea a bit further. During the Lenten season my home church has chosen to study the Daniel Plan. According to the blurb for the book, Pastor Rick Warren and well-known respected doctors have put together the plan which "is an appetizing approach to achieving a healthy lifestyle where people are encouraged to get healthier together by optimizing the key five essentials of faith, food, fitness, focus, and friends." 

I had never heard of this plan, but the idea intrigued me that dieting is to achieve a healthy lifestyle. That doesn't mean for a short time, but rather for all of my life. It's not a get-thin-quick program. It's one that will take some study, some planning, some trials and failures, some patience, and adjustments in my life to achieve success for the rest of my life.

I want to be healthy so I can experience life with zest and joy. 

"Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming -- WOW-- What a Ride!"Attributed to Bill McKenna, Anonymous and in a Nissan ad

Do I ever want to be able to say "What a ride" when I'm done with this body. 

Compare the lifestyle change to achieve a healthier way of life to the change in my life since I decided to pursue writing. Writing demands study, planning, and patience indeed! Trials and failures in writing? You bet
. 
Writing and the faith component in the Daniel plan fills my life with purpose.

Keeping fit will give me strength and energy and writing certainly exercises my brain and stretches my writing muscles.

Needless to say I study the information on food and I study the art of writing by reading books, learning from colleagues on forums and chats, attending webinars, and lurking on writing blogs.

Friends together support each other in trying to achieve success in weight loss and fitness as well as writers helping writers. 

I think if I can make room in my life to be a writer, then why can't I make some adjustments in my life to become healthier? 

If you would like to find out more about the Daniel Plan, there is information on the Daniel Plan website. Get a buddy to do it with you so you can support each other. Focus on your health and discover more about faith, food, and fitness.

Can you see how writing and dieting have the same requirements? Have you found a successful diet? Any tips on dieting? Any tips on writing? Please leave a comment with your ideas. Thank you.




This Week: 
Thursday March 20--Romance author Roseanne Dowell is my guest on the Seeds of Inspiration Event. Roseanne writes romance mixed in with many genres. Find out what boosted her into the writing world. Enter the drawing for a giveaway, Trouble Comes in Twos.







Friday, March 20--I'll be visiting with Katie Carroll at her blog. Lacey, Pastor Christine's best friend, in my mystery, Coda to Murder, joins us as we discuss her role in the book. 

This Month:

The Seeds of Inspiration Event!

Every Thursday this spring, a guest author will tell us what inspires her. 

Be sure to mark Thursdays on your calendar as the place to be to learn more about your favorite author or discover a new one. 

You'll also find great reads and have a chance to win prizes every week.

The Romance Reviews Third Anniversary Party