fiction - grace grits and gardening

about the Setting for my Novel…

December 21, 2015 By Talya Tate Boerner

Today I’m discussing the setting for my novel, The Accidental Salvation of Gracie Lee. First of all, the definition of setting… Setting includes the environment and surroundings of a story. From A. A. Milne’s 100 Acre Woods to Henry’s hospital bed in Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms, the setting includes the landscape and time period as well as items on the kitchen counter.

The setting for my book is rural Mississippi County, Arkansas, the place I grew up. In my story, not only does the setting provides background information and paint a picture of the place, but the setting is integral to the story, affecting tone and mood. At least I hope you’ll find that to be true.Continue Reading

Editing, Punctuation, and Hair belonging to Elvis

October 14, 2015 By Talya Tate Boerner

Yesterday I worked farmer’s hours editing The Accidental Salvation of Gracie Lee. 5:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. That’s a long day with 117,822 words. I took a quick break for lunch at my desk, walked the dogs at least twice, and in the afternoon, I raked leaves for thirty minutes to clear my mind. This morning I’m giving a shout out to the editors who have worked on my book—a good editor is more than worth her weight in gold or good bourbon or homemade pizza or whatever deemed valuable. Editors find needle-in-haystack errors, as well as huge problems, like plot nonsense and timeline confusion.

One thing this process has taught me is that my knowledge of punctuation isn’t as strong as I thought. Continue Reading

House of Cards (100 words on Saturday)

May 14, 2014 By Talya Tate Boerner

Jill never intended to dig such a deep hole. At first she skimmed cash off the top, just a little here and there, money no one noticed. She’d pay it back. Of course she would.

Eight years later, her game had reached a point of no return as she falsified wire transfers, forged documents and kited money across the country. Deep down she knew the day would come. Eventually. Yet eventually became impossible to imagine as the scam became her reality.

Until the slip-up.

One overlooked bank transaction.

Her house of cards unraveled by lunchtime. Really though, truth brought relief.

Grace Grits and Gardening

This week I’m linking up with Write Tribe’s 100 Words on Saturday. Prompt: she realized she could no longer hide the truth. And p.s. this story is fiction—any resemblance to true bank drama is coincidental. No, really.

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