From a fellow author.

I chose a pen name after I went out to dinner with my husband, who is elderly and unwell, and I was forced into a corner and bullied by racists for half an hour before I could break free. This has happened twice. I have chosen to use a variation of my name for writing, and when I dine out with my husband it is nice to have some anonymity and not need to defend ones beliefs. I have done this for my husband's benefit. Stress is not what a 72 year old man with frontal lobe degeneration needs in his life just because i've chosen to write historical crime fiction. I love my man more than my writing career.

There are many valid reasons for using a pen name, protecting my family is mine. Bring the rotten tomatoes on, as long as they are directed at me and not someone else I love.

I'm afraid I am one who just keeps pushing on, every day, day after day. I do vary the work, sometimes I'll focus on non-fiction writing of short work, another day might be spent on public relations and the business side and research for writing another is writing or that might pour into a long flowing block of writing and then there is structural and copy editing. At any stage I might do some reference reading to improve my writing, grammar and style skills or stop and read a great move, (never an inferior one) or I'll critique a few other writers works for them or copy edit for someone.

So I find that a writer's work is sufficiently divers that on any day I can split the work into morning, afternoon and evenings and either focus on one part of writing for all that time, if it is working well and I'm loving it or I swap the chores around a bit.

Anything I'm fatigued wit my own work, I switch to coaching another writer or reading a great writer, both bring me right back to loving working in my own project after that short break.  
Like you, I keep myself earthed close to nature and I also choose a fairly reclusive lifestyle freed from distractions of socialising, something that's never greatly interested me anyhow. I strive not to follow other interests while writing a novel. Novel writing is a full time plus job, I retired from my other profession to do it. I put off novel writing until I could give it my all.

Feel welcome to grab any ideas in that lot if there are any, to help you. I wish you luck with it.

The definite article is used before singular and plural nouns when the noun is particular or specific. The signals that the noun is definite, that it refers to a particular member of a group.

The is not used with noncountable nouns referring to something in a general sense:

[no article] Coffee is a popular drink.

The is used with noncountable nouns that are made more specific by a limiting modifying phrase or clause:

The coffee in my cup is too hot to drink.

The is also used when a noun refers to something unique:

Do not use the before:

- names of countries except the Netherlands and the US
- names of cities, towns, or states
- names of streets
- names of lakes and bays except with a group of lakes like the Great Lakes
- names of mountains, except with ranges of mountains like the Andes or the Rockies or unusual names like the Matterhorn
- names of continents
- names of islands except with island chains like the Aleutians, or the Canary Islands

Do use the before:

- names of rivers, oceans and seas- points on the globe
- geographical areas
- deserts, forests, gulfs, and peninsulas.

This is a very long article, but a good read.

Excerpt from article:

These days apparently traditional publishing’s cunning plan is to let first-time authors go the self-publishing route and then, if they do well, pick up the reigns further down the line (if you’ll forgive the mixed horse/train metaphor). However it’s worth noting that this is no longer a foolproof cunning plan. I recently heard about a self-published author being feverishly courted again by her one-time mainstream publisher. Her response was, thanks but no thanks, due to the fact she’s doing perfectly well under her own steam.

I try to read one novel a week between reading the non-fiction on writing, editing and publishing I'm currently perusing for my studies. just completed reading Judgement in Stone by Ruth Rendell and I'm impressed by the way she turned a who dun it into a why they dun it.
I also loved how her work bridged both crime fiction and literary fiction and I can hardly wait to read another masterpiece by Ruth Rendell.

Rendell has received many awards for her writing, including the Silver, Gold, and Cartier Diamond Daggers from the Crime Writers' Association, three Edgars from the Mystery Writers of America, The Arts Council National Book Awards, and The Sunday Times Literary Award. A number of her works have been adapted for film or television.

Baroness Rendell is a Patron of the charity Kids for Kids, helping children in rural areas of Darfur, Sudan www.kidsforkids.org.uk

A Judgement In Stone which was written by Ruth Rendell in 1977, is the first work by that author I have read. it was recommended to me by a fellow writer and reader.  I was looking for great examples of good grammar in writing as well as a good story. This work fulfilled all my expectations. The novel is famous in the world of crime fiction for its opening line: "Eunice Parchman killed the Coverdale family because she could not read or write". That is certainly a great hook.  I found it unusual to hear of the family's death and then go straight into a story where they are alive untilnear the end of the book.

I'm not a person who has a great interest in the drug culture however the story of hemp as a practical product interests me. It would seem to be a more sustainable method of creating fiber for paper than trees. I'm sure it could be grown in a controlled manner. They succeed in growing the opium poppy in Tasmania for the pharmaceutical industry and don't have too many dessicated problems.

Hemp is also a great alternative to the more pesticide and water dependent growing of cotton. I grew up with string and rope made from hemp as a common item around the house and garden. I never even know it was a related to drug trade product. Perhaps we can disassociate the practical use of hemp from the negative use of the drug and benefit from it.

In 1916, the USDA published Bulletin No. 404, a report on using hemp hurds as a paper-making material. The bulletin proclaims that: “Without a doubt, hemp will continue to be one of the staple agricultural crops of the United States.” The report also warns that: “Our forests are being cut three times faster than they grow.” It finds that (over a 20-year period) 10,000 acres of hemp can produce the same amount of paper as 40,500 acres of trees. The test results are so favorable that USDA Bulletin #404 is printed on paper made from hemp!

Now hemp is making a comeback of sorts, with licensed production in most states supplying growing markets in masonry, fibreglass replacements and textiles. But a push to legalise foods made from hemp seeds could be the key to Australia's hemp industry taking off.

Blank Slate
by Zack Hamric
Still free? Click Here to find out! What happens when the Russian mob decides to go in business with the Columbian cartels in Miami? Nothing good, as Kyle Jackle quickly finds out in this tropical thriller.

His undercover investigation for the FBI takes him from the slums of Naples to the seamy nightlife of Miami in a mission to bring down the kingpin of a human trafficking organization.

After almost being beaten to death in an alley one evening, he awakens to find himself hunted by the mob, unable to trust anyone he meets, and with no memory of his past life.

There us a Santa Clause :-) My happiest moment in the last half if my uni course. No, not my mark, they plummeted in the assignment after I complained. Probably lost marks for attitude. Can't blame them.
Why I am happy? The Muslim man who was put in Coventry by most and bullied by one, half way through, and 'disappeared,' after that. Well, he has is reappeared in final week and submitting work. I am hoping that my complaint of bullying might have him exempted from not submitting his mid point work as that is an automatic fail. There should be an exemption in his case. His passing, this unit, will mean more to me than my passing, and I don't even know the young man.


I hope my complaining made a difference aside from my getting a shock at a barely pass mark on that weeks work. That dropped any hopes I had of passing with good marks, now I need to only be concerned about passing. I did think about appealing the low mark as I knew my work was better than the mark, but I thought, if I got someone who judged me harsher on my 'stirring attitude' I might do worse. So I accepted the mark. My fingers are crossed now for my last assignment due in tomorrow.

But, I was so happy to see he was back. It sort of irked me that the criticizing him statement is still 'in there' on show as a comment by a student on his work. But while it was still there I could tell 'others' at the university it was there and they should have a zero tolerance of sit. I withdrew from my next units on the basis if this as I said I couldn't bare seeing people get their BA in inhumanity and another be bullied out. I have to pay a withdrawal fee too. I really took it seriously,

Ryn Shell, Fiction & Non-Fiction Author. Talking author speak here to assist another author who has asked about POV
Here is a POV that is actually used quite often, and successful, yet few critiquing authors understand that this is not first person nor OMNI.
*
POV Third-Person Limited Omniscient
(a.k.a. Third-Person Limited Flexible)
A hybrid of 1. Third-Person Limited (a.k.a. Close Third Person) and 2. Third-Person Omniscient .

The author gives readers access to the mind of just one character ()per scene) but also provides information to which the pov-character is not privy.

In other words, we view the world through the main characters eyes and through the narrator’s (or author’s) eyes. Usually, authors do not present information about scenes in which the pov-character is not present, but exceptions abound.
Thought I'd mention too. the Harry Potter novels are written in POV Third-Person Limited Omniscient which allows the author to drop into the thoughts of a single person within any scene and it does not need to be the main character, as long as there isn't any head hopping in a scene you can do it with a few characters. Another author who uses this POV is historical novelist, Philippa Gregory in the Red Queen.