Story Empire – Joan Hall

This Week at Story Empire

Published on December 16, 2022December 15, 2022 by Joan Hall

Happy Friday, everyone! We’re already halfway through December, and soon a new year will be upon us.

Not a lot happening at the Hall household this week. I’ve been knee-deep in the final edits of Menagerie. If I haven’t mentioned it before, I’m a bit of an introvert. Yesterday, I realized I hadn’t been anywhere in a week. I remedied that by going out to breakfast with my husband. After having thunderstorms and rain on Tuesday and Wednesday, the weather was perfect, but a bit cool. But it’s that time of year. Winter solstice is next Wednesday.

We’re winding down another year at Story Empire. Here are the links to this week’s posts.

Beem Weeks started us off with Why Write Short Stories?
Mae Clair’s Wednesday topic was A Christmas Carol and Holiday Reading
D. Wallace Peach wrapped up with week with Writing the End Part Two

No new photos this week, so I’m looking back into my archives. In 2010, we took a trip to Arkansas. I’ll share a couple of pics from our visit.

We spent two nights in Hot Springs. One of the attractions was a walk-through display of Christmas lights. This is one of the photos I took that night. The overnight lows were in the teens, so it was quite chilly for our little excursion.

The following morning, we drove to Mount Magazine. All the trees and vegetation were covered in ice. We learned that’s a common occurrence when there is fog and the temps drop below freezing. It was a winter wonderland!

See you Monday with a new Legends and Lore post!

This Week at Story Empire

Published on December 9, 2022December 10, 2022 by Joan Hall

What a difference a week makes! Only a few days ago we were enjoying the beautiful fall foliage. We live in the country, and across the road behind our neighbor’s house, the trees were brilliant reds and golds. I had an excellent view from my writing desk.

Twilight had fallen one evening, and I hadn’t closed the blinds yet. Even then, the colors were ablaze. Amazing. This week is another story. Most of the trees are now bare and our front yard is evidence of that. But it’s to be expected as the first day of winter is less than two weeks away.

And now for the weekly wrap-up at Story Empire

I began the week with Who Influenced Your Writing
On Wednesday, Staci Troilo wrapped up her series on Story Development and Execution. Her topic was Planning a Series.
Today, Gwen Plano discusses Writing Throug h the Seasons

Another week on the books. Here’s a photo of my front yard. Although you can’t see it, there’s a sidewalk between the lights and the green plant. Looks like a lot of work is ahead.

See you next week!

This Week at Story Empire

Published on October 28, 2022October 27, 2022 by Joan Hall

Hey, everyone! Are you ready for ghosts and goblins? Halloween is just around the corner. Time for me to watch the all-time classic, It’s The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown.

Yes, there are still some things from my childhood that I enjoy. I even reread The Incredible Journey this month, one of my favorite childhood books. It used to be an annual tradition for me to read it in the fall. Several years had passed since the last time, but it was still as enjoyable as I remembered.

At Story Empire, we featured a variety of topics. In case you missed them, here are the links.

I began the week with a post about Using Timelines
D. Wallace Peach’s Wednesday post is titled Writing That First Draft
Today, Jan Sikes continues her marketing series with Book Stores.

Another week on the books. My husband and I plan to take a day trip to Oklahoma to see some fall foliage. Looking for good weather and determining when the colors will peak is tricky, but we hope to hit the road soon. And when we do, I hope to have lots of photos to share here and on Instagram.

In the meantime, I took this photo several years ago at a nearby park. This area was the inspiration for the opening scene of my book, Unknown Reasons.

Hope everyone has a great weekend! On October 31, I’ll have a bonus Mystery Monday post. See you then.

This Week at Story Empire

Published on October 21, 2022October 20, 2022 by Joan Hall

Another week is in the books and it’s been a great one. Last Saturday, I traveled to Dallas to attend an author meet and greet hosted by Rox Burkey. I was so excited to meet friend and fellow Story Empire contributor Jan Sikes.

Although it was the first time we met in person, I felt like I’d known her forever. Now we’re wishing the entire Story Empire team could get together. Jan and I would at least like to travel to the neighboring state of Arkansas to meet with Staci Troilo.

By the way, Jan has a brand new release. Saddled Hearts is the third of her White Rune series. If you haven’t purchased a copy, I highly recommend doing so.

And now for this week’s Story Empire posts

Staci Troilo began the week with her story development series. Her topic this time was Micro-level Self-Editing.
Gwen Plano took the stage Wednesday where she and John Howell discuss part two of Different Than You Gender Characters.
Beem Weeks wraps up this week with A Few Words about Audiobooks.

Here in Texas, we’re still waiting for peak fall colors. In the meantime, here’s a field of goldenrods – a sure sign of autumn.

I’m usually not around on the weekends, but on Saturday I’ll be a guest on Teri Polen’s annual Bad Moon Rising feature. I’ll post a link tomorrow, then I’ll return on Tuesday with a book review.

Happy Friday, everyone!

This Week at Story Empire

Published on October 14, 2022October 14, 2022 by Joan Hall

October is marching on and I’m knee-deep in edits for my short story collection. I hadn’t looked at some of the stories in almost a year, so I got a few surprises. One that I thought would need a lot of edits turned out to be easily done.

Of course, I can’t write short in the first place. When I edit, I tend to add words. There is one monster story I know will need a lot of work and many words cut. I’m saving it for last.

Our weather has wavered between cool days and warm ones. Typical for Texas. Next week there is a forecast of much cooler temps and hopefully some much-needed rain.

My husband and I are hoping to take a day trip to the Winding Stair Mountains of Oklahoma. We want to plan it around the peak fall colors, which should be the early part of November.

In the meantime, I write and edit in preparation for a January release date. Speaking of writing, it’s been another great week for Story Empire. Here are the links to this week’s posts:

D. L. Finn began the week with Writing and The Weather.
John Howell talks with Gwen Plano about writing Different from You Character Genders.
Mae Clair ended the week with Goodies in Your Kindle.

That’s it for this week. I didn’t get a photo of this month’s Hunter’s Moon, so here is a photo I took several years ago. (This is actually the Full Beaver Moon of November.)