From Bird to Butterfly: Transition to Blue Sky

By Elaine L. Orr

I feel as if I should hold a funeral for my Twitter (X) presence. Twelve years and more than 11,000 followers! I'd been contemplating this switch because of the growth in negative postings. Until recently, I'd held out hope that Elon Musk would get bored with losing money on the platform and sell it. No such luck.

The final straw came with last Friday's change in Twitter's Terms of Service, specifically, "Twitter's new terms of service allow the company to use users' content to train AI, even if the user opts out." I don't think so.

So, as of yesterday, I've switched to Blue Sky, a similar (but very positive) social network that functions in a similar manner. My profile is https://bsky.app/profile/elaineorr55.bsky.social. 

As with the old Twitter, I'm following people with similar interests to encourage them to follow me back. I may never get to 11,000 followers, but I think it will be easier to interact with other authors and readers. I also found a pretty butterfly-with-blue-sky graphic. 

I read years ago that severely ill children draw butterflies because they can go anywhere unencumbered. I like that idea. That's a concept that can work for anyone who feels stifled.

If you want to learn how to use Blue Sky, which is truly a friendly place, I have one suggestion. When you sign up, you can choose subjects you are interested in. Posts related to those topics will appear in your feed. To keep your sanity, don't pick politics right now. You can see all those posts by putting a subject or name in the search bar, but  you won't be met with an onslaught of opinions when you open the site.

Finally, as I have no expert qualifications, you'll want to learn how to get started from someone else. They have help info on Blue Sky, but I also found another easy-to-understand resource:

 https://publish.obsidian.md/debbieohi/why-bluesky

To constructive commentary.

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Making Your Fiction Matter

 By Elaine L. Orr

Mysteries that draw in readers do so not because the crime is intriguing and the sleuth skillful. They grab attention because what happens matters. 

In You Can Write a Mystery, Gillian Roberts presents the dictum that the fundamental element of drama is conflict. Mysteries embody a crime that means, "Live vs. death, law vs. order are now in conflict with the another, and the magnitude of of the offense forces action, either in the pursuit of justice for deeds already done or the pursuit of evildoers because of deeds they intend to do." The detective (amateur or professional) has to be passionately involved in the case.

As I continued to work on the first Senior Shenanigans novel (Fired Up and Feisty), I realized that while I loved the series concept and enjoyed the characters arising from it, I couldn't care enough about figuring out how someone died in the hotel fire in the opening segment. If I couldn't, why would anyone else? (See my October 31st post for portions of the early scenes.)

I realized I started the book in the wrong place. I mean, really the wrong place. I hadn't shown enough about the characters before the fire. What could pull on heartstrings? Where were the old grudges? 

Because Madge is the primary sleuth, the murder (or at least its resolution) had to matter most to her. I remembered (in Book 10 of the Jolie series, The Unexpected Resolution) reference to a friend of Aunt Madge's, whose scrapbooks from years teaching 2nd grade had a photo of Scoobie as a young child. That teacher (named as Mrs. Anderson) could not appear in the current book, because she had donated the scrapbooks to the library after she died. 

But what if she had a sister who was coming to the high school reunion fort he first time since Mrs. Anderson died? Helping her would give Madge a better stake in the story. And was Mrs. Anderson's death a purely accidental car crash? If not, who had something to hide?

Now I have the story that can leap forward. With that in mind, here are the first few paragraphs of Fired Up and Feisty.  

New Opening for Fired Up and Feisty

MADGE RICHARDS AND HARRY STEELE made their way through Arnie Newhart’s Diner toward the woman who sat alone at a booth in the back. The raucous atmosphere would befit Halloween or spring break at the Shore, but patrons were all senior citizens or, as their nephew Scoobie would say, Super Seniors. The annual Ocean Alley High School Reunion Weekend had begun.

Arnie stood behind the counter and raised his arms at them. “Mayor Madge, you never come to this bash, what’s up?”

Madge nodded toward the back of the diner. “We’re keeping Catherine Anderson company.”

Arnie’s nod was a knowing one. Catherine and her sister had been regulars at reunion events since graduation decades ago, but after Lenna’s death in a bad car accident during reunion weekend a few years ago, Catharine had stopped coming.

Madge often though of Lenna, a retired second-grade teacher who had been a close friend. When Catherine asked Madge and Harry to keep her company when she came to her first event without her older sister, they couldn’t say no, even though they usually avoided the so-called Golden Grad reunion events. Madge wasn’t one for partying in the past.

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I think the new scenes will draw people in better than roaring firetrucks, and the diner scene can show key players through their actions and comments better than simple introductions later, at the B&B.

I'm on a roll.

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Aunt Madge and the Civil Election Wishes You a Good Day

By Elaine L. Orr

In 2020, I wrote a 17,000 word story about elections in the fictional Ocean Alley, New Jersey. As you can tell from the title, it was a friendly election and a good example of how to talk about issues. Plus, I had a fun time writing it. 

In honor of the 2024 election in the United States, I'm offering the book free for a couple of weeks. 

Keep calm and carry on.

Google https://bit.ly/3UoZJJ7

Amazon https://bit.ly/4fhVqan

ibooks https://bit.ly/3YnrKSe

BN https://bit.ly/3YcEPOc

Google https://bit.ly/3UoZJJ7

Enjoy!

                                                   *     *     *     *     *     *

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