https:// compulsivereader.com/2024/09/ 15/a-review-of-outcaste-by- sheila-james/ Click on the above for my review of Sheila James's new novel, "Outcaste," in "Compulsive Readers."
For the past year I have been researching and writing a new novel about an artist's life in Montreal in the turbulent 1930s and 1940s. I've written earlier Canadian historical novels set during the Great Depression of the 1930s, and enjoyed revisiting this decade (and the following one) through the eyes of a fictional woman painter busy juggling art and motherhood. I haven't yet decided on a title for the novel, but think it will be either "Forty Mermaids" or "Beax,Arts." I will call the excerpt below, "A Father-in-law's Visit." A Father-in-law's Visit. (c) Ruth Latta, 2025 Luke and his sisters called their father “Papa” and deeply respected him, so much so that the phrase “As Papa always says,” came to irritate Merle. Many people found Rev. Mr. Howard Croft profound, witty and wise, but to her he was a bore, and although he always treated her kindly, she doubted that he had the wisdom o...
IF YOU BUILD IT, THEY WILL COME The saying, “If you build it they will come,” originated in Field of Dreams, the baseball movie starring Kevin Costner. The film was Iowa farmer who hears a mysterious voice one night in his cornfield saying those words to him, and feels the need to act. Though others think he has looped the loop, he builds a baseball diamond on his land, with his wife's encouragement, and the ghosts of great players appear on the field. Some years ago a fellow-writer said that authors who intend to self-publish their books believe too much in “If you build it, they will come.” A writer should have a marketing plan, instead of taking the attitude that once the book is written, fate or luck will help them sell copies. Of course she was right. And yet... Sometimes the universe unfolds as it should. I haven’t been posting on my blog for a while because I’ve been researching and writing a novel set in 1940s Montreal about a woman wh...
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