The Girdle of Melian

Second Challenge for the Fourth Campaign - Warning! Contains Nuances of Certain Activities - Also, an Award

2012-03-05T08:11:00.000-05:00

oo! This one's a doozy, Rach!

I won't copy out all the prompts/rules, but here are the one's I've followed:

"Write a short story/flash fiction piece of less than 200 words based on the prompts" - I've chosen prompt 5:

"For added difficulty/challenge: Ask Challenge entrants to critique your writing"

So, have at it!

This is a scene shortened from the original incident in Rome, Rhymes and Risk. Ayten and Devran escaped from their kidnappers that morning and have been walking/running/hiding all day. Tonight they've made camp, with a bit of fire...

The dark woods pressed close all around their camp.

Stirring the fire one last time, he tossed the fir twig onto the flames.

Ayten dozed in the crook of his arm. The blanket had slipped off her shoulder, but her skin was warm against his. They hardly needed the fire.

Her fingers had landed in his lap; if he shifted, they'd be close to - ah.

She hadn't stirred. One by one he raised her fingers, took them in his hand, and tugged them forward to cover him.

"Beautiful girl," he whispered in her ear, and she smiled with her eyes closed, and drew herself up.

Her breasts rose with her movement, and he tasted her gold-shadowed skin, lit by the fire. She arched her back, and her hand fell away from his lap.

"Touch me," he murmured, kissing up her neck, into her hair, redolent of pine needles. He wrapped his hand about hers and guided her, his need at the edge already. His breath came short.

***

"I was right," he said, some time later.

She lay on his chest, hand curled over his heart. "Mmm?"

He traced a forefinger up her arm. "We don't need the fire."

at gave me a lovely award!

Here're my answers to the award questions:

What's your favourite...
colour: purple - or yellow
animal: my cats Frodo and Sam
number: seven
non-alcoholic drink: coffee, with warm milk
pattern: Tolkien's Tree of Amalion (and his friezes and emblems)
flower: jasmine

What are your passions?: reading and writing

Facebook or Twitter: I'm on Facebook, Google+, Pinterest, and Tumblr

Getting or giving presents?: both!

This award goes to... Everyone who's stopping by from the campaign and would like a little ray of sunshine!

Inviting You Over for May, and Desert Island Books (including Neil Gaiman with a chainsaw)

2012-03-02T07:34:00.016-05:00

hat does everyone think of guest blogging? It's lots of fun to hop around and catch authors and fellow bloggers on each other's blogs.

I've had a few wonderful guests here, including Ayak from Ayak's Turkish Delight, Talli Roland on What to Eat While Writing, and Sara, with a wine glass... I've been a guest myself, on Kait Nolan's blog and over at Turkish Muse. I even had a post featuring Vince Ditrich of the band Spirit of the West, listing his favourite children's books.

But it's not enough! I'd love more! If you've got an idea for a guest post and would like to visit my blog in May, please let me know.

To balance out the recent post where I discussed an article poking gentle fun at romance novel covers, here's an essay on The Awl that considers their place in the canon, and why Romance Novels are the Last Great Bastion of Underground Writing.

Speaking of books, which authors would you desperately need on a desert island?

I interviewed Barbara Rogan on Wednesday - here's her desert island authors list. Of course, I'd add Tolkien to my list, among other authors... [cough cough] Neil Gaiman [cough]

Thank you to all my new followers! Looking forward to seeing everyone on Monday, for the second campaign challenge of Rach's Fourth Writers' Platform-building Campaign. I love the way these challenges get me excited about drafting, right when I'm in the midst of slogging through edits. Still 2/3 of Rome, Rhymes and Risk to edit - I'm loftily aiming for the end of March at this point.

And if you'd like to enter another story challenge, Yikici is hosting an exciting collaborative story:

"Just like any other Flash Fiction Challenge; but with a slight twist (I can't help myself); we will each write a paragraph (no more than 250 words per entry) to the on-going story (which will start below and continue in the comment section/linky list, I will create a page to collate all the entries). Once we finish this rather exciting online project, I hope to publish our collected works in an eBook - either market it for free or put it on sale for a worthy cause, I usually choose children charities; but we can decide the final outcome all together once the project is completed."

Come join us!

(Gratuitous image of Neil Gaiman to add excitement to the blogpost. Take a chainsaw to that novel!)

Interview with Barbara Rogan, and a Neil Gaiman Pep Talk, before Saint David's Day

2012-02-29T07:49:00.064-05:00

nterview! With the amazing Barbara Rogan!

I first met Barbara through the Compuserve Books and Writers Community (thank you, Diana Gabaldon), and recently participated in her Revising Fiction Workshop, which helped me no end when I was trying to finalise the edits for Out of the Water (also, thanks to Matthew, I'm going to revise my query again!). And now, here's Barbara, first as an author, and then as an editor:

As an author...
Which is the most embarrassing song, book, movie or TV show that you love?

I watch those high-end real-estate reality shows, "Selling New York" and the like, which is pure voyeurism: seeing how the 1% live and imagining myself in those houses.

Which of your characters is most like you?

There's some of me in all of them, including (or especially) the villains. I do feel a great affinity with one character from my second book, Café Nevo: Emmanuel Yehoshua Sternholz a 72-year-old waiter in a Tel Aviv café. Sternholz is always there, sweeping up, eavesdropping, and interfering in his customers' lives... sort of like me with my characters.

Favourite literary character not your own?

Huck Finn, of course. And Elizabeth Bennet, for her attitude.

Would you like to be one of your characters, or do you the writer torture them too much?

No. I prefer at least the illusion of free choice.

What's the weirdest thing you've researched?

How to make Shaker-style furniture, which isn't so weird, except that I have zero affinity for any activity requiring tools. And of course the various methods of killing people, their advantages and disadvantages.

[Oh! I know what book that was for - Rowing in Eden. I loved it!]

As an agent and editor...

Just a note: I'm no longer an agent.

Do you go out looking for new writers, or wait for writers to come to you?

They come to me, as a teacher and editor.

If you don't like a book, how destructive can you be with your criticism? Do you change your approach depending on the author?

I like to think that I am never destructive. I don't only address flaws; I also recognize good writing or story-telling when I see it. But I do ask tough questions, and occasionally they reveal fault lines in a project. If I know a writer is super-sensitive, I'll wrap an extra layer of tact around my notes, or try to, anyway, but the substance doesn't change.

Day-to-day, what is the most challenging aspect of your work?

I started out on the publishing end of things. Being a writer is a lot harder and lonelier. It's a long wait between paydays, too. But I really have no complaints. I love what I do, and I get to make my living doing what I love. I'm very fortunate.

Which author would you most have loved to represent? Which authors did you love and represent?

I was an agent in Israel, where I represented many great writers for Hebrew rights on behalf of their primary agents. I was lucky enough to meet quite a few. Among my favorites were Isaac Bashevis Singer (who took me to lunch in a Jewish deli on the lower East Side), Madeleine L'Engle, and Nadine Gordimer.

[Madeleine L'Engle! I'm jealous!]

Is rejection a personal issue for agents? Is it harder to submit queries as an author or as an agent?

For agents, rejection goes with the territory. For writers, too, but writers take it more personally.

And now a longish question: I recently read an article about the editor Robert Gottlieb. At one point, author Michael Crichton describes working with Gottlieb:

"When I sent Bob a draft of The Andromeda Strain - the first book I did for him - in 1968 he said he would publish it if I would agree to completely rewrite it. I gulped and said OK. He gave me his feelings about what had to happen on the phone, in about twenty minutes. He was very quick. Anyway, I rewrote it completely. He called me up and said, Well, this is good, now you only have to rewrite half of it. Again, he told me what needed to happen - for the book to begin in what was then the middle, and fill in the material from the beginning sometime later on.

Finally we had the manuscript in some kind of shape. I was just completely exhausted. He said to me, Dear boy, you've got this ending backwards. (He's married to an actress, and he has a very theatrical manner. He calls me "dear boy," like an English actor might do.) I don't remember exactly the way it was, but I had it so that one of the characters was supposed to turn on a nuclear device, and there was suspense about whether or not that would happen. Bob said, No, no, the switch has to turn itself on automatically, and the character has to turn it off. He was absolutely right. That was the first time I understood that when there is something wrong in writing, the chances are that there is either too much of it, too little of it, or that it is in some way backwards."

I've always wondered about editors who take on authors and then expect them to rewrite everything – do they see something in that author that makes the process worthwhile? Would that not work with everyone? How do you feel about that level of editing? Do the lines between author and editor become blurred after a while?

Interesting story, but it reflects more on the past than the present. Very few editors now would take on a book that needed that amount of work. Even then it was unusual. Gottlieb must have thought it a great story, as indeed it was. (I doubt he thought C. was a great writer, or the book wouldn't have needed so much editing.) Notice that Crichton agreed with the changes and learned from them; they weren't shoved down his throat. I don't see an overlapping of functions here, just a zealous editor and a receptive writer.

Thank you very much, Barbara, for visiting on my blog and answering all my disconnected questions!

Parting words on this ROW80 day (I've edited a few more pages and typed up two filler scenes. Yes, it's going s l o w l y) come from Neil Gaiman's Journal:

"It does help, to be a writer, to have the sort of crazed ego that doesn't allow for failure. The best reaction to a rejection slip is a sort of wild-eyed madness, an evil grin, and sitting yourself in front of the keyboard muttering "Okay, you bastards. Try rejecting this!" and then writing something so unbelievably brilliant that all other writers will disembowel themselves with their pens upon reading it, because there's nothing left to write. Because the rejection slips will arrive. And, if the books are published, then you can pretty much guarantee that bad reviews will be as well. And you'll need to learn how to shrug and keep going. Or you stop, and get a real job."

(image found in a Google search)

Tomorrow is Dewi Sant/Saint David's Day. If you're Welsh, wear a leek or daffodil!

Matthew Critiques My Query! More Questions, and An Award

2012-02-26T09:31:00.088-05:00

uestions! More questions! I've mixed up a few from Cherie and from Julie:

1. What's your favourite item of clothing and why?

Leggings. I'm really excited that they're back.

2. If you could have any exotic or fantastical pet, what would you have?

Misha mentioned a cat-sized dragon...

3. What is your current writing project? Ayten's story, Rome, Rhymes and Risk (historical romance, set in 1493):

Ayten, an Ottoman girl kidnapped as a slave, is rescued and embarks on a voyage across the Mediterranean with her new friends, on their way to join Columbus' second voyage. She finds herself falling for the man who owns the ship: Devran, the son of the Grand Vizier.

Exiled for a crime he did not commit, Devran's also got one secret: before Ayten was kidnapped, her father had arranged for her to marry Devran.

Devran's been in love with Ayten for months - but having met him only after his exile, Ayten believes him a penniless rake. Their ship docks for a week at Venice, where Ayten turns her attentions to the Sultan's brother, Cem.

Can Devran prove his worth to her before they set sail again?

4. What's the worst book you've ever read?

Shane. Hands down. I reread it once, just to check, and yes. It's horrible.

5. If you could write any other genre besides the one you currently write, what would it be and why?

Humour. I just can't seem to write like Donald Westlake, or Kurt Vonnegut.

6. You have the winning $50 million lottery ticket. What do you buy first?

A house with a library!

7. What do you usually order for dinner at an Italian restaurant?

Pizza. I can make pasta at home, but not an oven-baked pizza!

8. How many agents have you queried (or are planning to query)?

I've sent out ten letters in January and February, gotten four rejections, and plan to try at least 50. Wish me luck!

9. Name five things you would pack in your apocalypse emergency suitcase.

Wilderness Survival for Dummies. The Lord of the Rings. A crank radio. Matches. And cash from my lottery winnings (ha!).

10. What is your one weakness?

Volunteering for all sorts of things. I need to say no, and take time to write.

If you'd like to answer some questions, feel free!

Matthew's critiquing my query! *wave* to all the lovely people I've met through his posts.

Also, I must be nuts. I just signed up for Arlee's A to Z Challenge!

I've got an idea of a theme, which should make things a little easier.

Voting's still on in Rach's challenge! Mine's number 24 - two posts below.

And I picked up a lovely award from Sarah:

I've had so many lovely comments this week, I'll hand it out to all of you!

Outlander Fun Facts, Tolkien and Jo Bourne, Sam Sykes, and Eleven More Questions

2012-02-24T06:55:00.001-05:00

riday fun facts! That's the name of the fun new weekly feature Karen has on her Outlandish Observations blog. They're all Outlander-related, of course, but interesting even if you haven't read the novels, including titbits about 18th Century printing presses, poisonous tomatoes, what a bodhran sounds like, electric eels, and more.

[Don't forget the Campaign Challenge! My post is below the post about Talli. If you like my entry, please click on Like on Rach's page - I'm number 24]

I've been ~~distracted by~~ reviewing former blog posts for Pinterest, and noticed that I barely knew how to format a blog post when I first started, in 2007. Some of my links are spelled out, and there are hardly any images - some posts are only one one sentence long! One of the first to feature an image was the post where I talked of discovering a photo of my character Austin, from the MG The Face of A Lion. Along the way, I found a quote from Joanna Bourne, featuring Tolkien, on the sillier side of "write what you know" advice.

C. V. Marie tagged me with eleven new questions!

1. Plotter, pantser, or a rad combination of both?

Definitely the latter. I pants my way through the initial two drafts, then start drawing up lists and charts and timelines, and edit in a (s l o w) but organized fashion.

2. Which two fictional characters would you want to see get in a fight?

How about an argument that leads to a kiss? It happens to my characters quite often.

3. What is the first line of your current WIP?

"The two women were disguised in men's clothes." (from Rome, Rhymes and Risk)

4. Two things within arm's reach:

My older cat, sitting on the printout of my wip. (I'd share a photo, but the batteries need recharging)

5. Describe your current book, MS, or WIP in three words:

Rome, Rhymes and Risk

6. If you could go anywhere in the world, where would it be?

All over the rest of Scotland and Wales that I haven't seen.

7. Favorite past time?

Reading. Of course! And knitting.

8. If you were trapped in an elevator, who would you want to be trapped with?

Let's choose someone literary... and not from history... Diana Gabaldon or Neil Gaiman (with Amanda Palmer).

9. Favorite fictional character? male/female

Faramir / Luthien Tinuviel (daughter of Melian, for whose enchantment I named the blog)

10. Favorite time of the day to write?

Early morning if I can get up, late at night if I'm home alone.

11. Who inspires you to write?

All my favourite authors, but especially the ones that write short stories.

If you'd like to answer some questions, you can take any of these, or any of the 22 questions I've already blabbed answers to!

Speaking of questions, Sam Sykes' Denaos and Kataria recently answered some Valentine's Day questions, including one that Devran asked!

And now, the latest Wordle for the blog (the last Wordle was in 2008):

Romance Book Covers and Talli Roland's Miracle at the Museum of Broken Hearts

2012-02-22T07:22:00.038-05:00

on't forget to take a look at my challenge entry below, if you're part of Rach's campaign!

Abebooks did a round up of romance book covers over the years, featuring recurring motifs of nurses, uncomfortable embraces, floating heads, another tropes. While the article generally deplores the kind of 'art' that's graced the covers of this genre over the years, it also seems to reinforce the point that these novels are mostly about fantasizing and escapism - as is science fiction and fantasy.

Er, no. There are worlds in those stories, and there can be just as much character development and interaction as in any other genre of story. They're not all fluff.

Unfortunately, they're right about the old covers: "Just like your favorite sci-fi novel will often be adorned with outdated fonts, blinding color schemes, multi-headed monsters and embarrassingly scantily-clad space-vixens, you’ll similarly rarely find a subtle romance cover. No tasteful muted tones, no small, understated title, not even a plain cover, here. Instead, the covers are generally dripping with flowery, serif-heavy lettering [and the] illustrations (or even photographs, sometimes), leap off the cover with their swarthy, smoldering men, swooning, passion-addled heroines and the like, in any one of a seemingly limitless number of interchangeable scenarios."

It's time to take back our covers! I think we're on the right track with Kristen Callihan's Firelight, and Talli Roland's latest, the novella Miracle at the Museum of Broken Hearts.

"When chief romantic Rose Delaney scores her dream job at London's quirkiest new attraction, The Museum of Broken Hearts, she thinks she's got it made. Sure, it's a little depressing dealing with relics of failed relationships each day, but Rose is determined not to let it break her 'love conquers all' spirit. After discovering the museum's handsome curator is nursing a broken heart of his own, Rose steps in to fix it. Can Rose heal the rift, or will this happy ending go awry?"

Talli had me hooked from the first paragraph - what a brilliant way to set up an intriguing tale! - and I empathised with Rose as soon as I started reading, and couldn't wait to see what happened. And the cover's not schmaltzy at all.

As for my story: Still editing. But my query letter for Rosa's story, Out of the Water, is up for critique again. I won an auction during the Write Dreams auctions for Donna's Dream House, and Matthew will be looking at my query any day now...

Ayten and Devran in the First Campaigner Challenge of Rach's Fourth Writers' Campaign

2012-02-20T10:41:00.000-05:00

ampaign challenge!

Shadows crept across the wall. Devran picked up her quill and twirled it. "I was banished to Smyrna."
"Smyrna!"
"Yes." Orange ink splattered onto his knee. "I was there last autumn."
The quill came close to her dress. "So that's how you knew everyone at my father's funeral." She pushed his hand aside and the quill fell on the sand.
"I wasn't long in Smyrna. My mother took ill and -"
"You said it'd been years since she'd passed away. Or was that a lie?"
"I was not lying, Ayten," he said, rising. The sunset behind cast his body into shadow. "I don't tell falsehoods or embellish my words. That would be the task of a poet." He tossed the quill beside her.
"Tell me the story then, and we'll see what poetry comes of it. A young girl, lost in the city. The spoilt son of the Grand Vizier, who takes advantage of her innocence -"
"Be careful what rumours you repeat. Or have you not heard the one where I have a garden filled with bones?"
He spun on his heel and cut across the beach, trampling the wild grass. The sunk sank into the sea. Everything faded.

Here are the rules I followed (I met every single condition!):

"Write a short story/flash fiction story in 200 words or less, excluding the title. It can be in any format, including a poem. Begin the story with the words, 'Shadows crept across the wall'. These five words will be included in the word count.
If you want to give yourself an added challenge (optional), do one or more of these:
end the story with the words: "everything faded." (also included in the word count)
include the word "orange" in the story
write in the same genre you normally write
make your story 200 words exactly!
Feel free to use the picture [of a couple on a beach at sunset] to inspire you, or else see how whacky, creative, and original you can get :)"

Looking forward to reading everyone else's!

Now for some more Neil Gaiman, featuring quotes from Stardust, reading which is like digging into the world of William Morris and George MacDonald and unearthing a lost story.

"'I am the most miserable person who ever lived,' he said... 'You are young, and in love,' said Primus. 'Every young man in your position is the most miserable young man who ever lived.'"

"He was walking into Faerie, in search of a fallen star, with no idea how he would find the star, nor how to keep himself safe and whole as he tried. He looked back and fancied that he could see the lights of Wall behind him, wavering and glimmering as if in a heat-haze, but still inviting."

"Every lover is, in his heart, a madman, and, in his head, a minstrel."

"He stared up at the stars: and it seemed to him then that they were dancers, stately and graceful, perfomrming a dance almost infinite in its complexity. He imagined he could see the very faces of the stars; pale, they were, and smiling gently, as if they had spent so much time above the world, watching the scrambling and the joy and the pain of the people below them, that they could not help being amused every time another little human believed itself the center of its world, as each of us does."

"It's not hard to own something. Or everything. You just have to know that it's yours, and then be willing to let it go."

Surprise ROW80 Update, A Question About Sailing, and What Magdalena Looks Like

2012-02-17T07:14:00.060-05:00

ow that I've signed up for the campaign challenges, I'll miss my Sunday ROW80 updates this week and later on in March, as I'll be posting Monday. Wish me luck with the first challenge!

So here's a quick update: I've gotten a few more scenes under my belt, and a little more research reading - which reminds me:

If you were sailing from Constantinople all the way to Spain, in 1493, and had left rather in a hurry, what sorts of items would you need in your cabin? Items you might purchase in an Athens market. Candles? Extra clothing? A knife? A lantern? Something else?

I've also been agonizing over this month's Writers' Exercise on the Forum. Something about writing a metaphorical bedroom scene...

Meanwhile, though, I'm closer to finding an exact image of Magdalena, Rosa's mother. The timeline goes like this - Santiago and Magdalena meet in London in the 1470s. Their only child is Rosa, who goes on to marry Baha, as told in Out of the Water. They rescue a girl named Ayten, who falls in love with Devran (also seen here, posing as the Canadiens' Tomas Plekanec), and their story, Rome, Rhymes and Risk, is the one currently being edited.

I haven't started Magdalena's (or Mawdlen's - she's actually Welsh) story yet (barring some of the salient facts of their meeting that Santiago tells his daughter in Out of the Water), but she's the only one I hadn't found a photograph or painting of. I've kept an eye out for months, and come close here and there (love this Ralph Lauren ad, for the romance), and I'm finally getting there!

Magdalena does a lot of this:

(painting by Rob Hefferan)

And bears this expression:

(photograph by Peter Lippmann in collaboration with Christian Louboutin - hence the shoe.
The original painting is here: St Dorothy by Francisco de Zurbaran)

And she's this pretty:

(image found here)

Now, how to put all three portraits together?

Eleven - no, Twenty-two - Interesting Questions and ROW80

2012-02-15T06:31:00.014-05:00

ag! I'm it!

Thanks to Kaylie for posing these interesting questions:

1) What is your most embarrassing moment?

Aha, you think I'm going to reveal that here? I'll think of another one though... there might be something book related... ah yes. I'm a rather bad (read: terrified) public speaker. My brain pulls a Homer Simpson, and disappears. So one day, in eighth grade, I had to do a book review, in front of the class. I'd been warned that we'd lose marks for reading, so I tried not to look down at my notes and instead, out of sheer nervousness, went off on a rant about the author. Caught sight of my teacher's open-mouthed expression and promptly shut up. Afterwards, one of my classmates said, "I could see your knees shaking." Yes, thank you. I was aware.

2) If you had to play a sport as a career, which one would it be?

Good question! Something historical, like archery or swordfighting. I think I could do darts and archery rather well, but I'm not coordinated for games involving others.

3) Who is your favorite music artist, and why?

Just one? That's impossible! But I managed to narrow it all down once, for the 30 Day Song Challenge.

4) What is your favorite movie, and why?

Still hard to choose one, but I recently watched Waking Ned Devine for about the tenth time. So wonderful and sweet. And, of course, there's Ioan Gruffudd in Solomon and Gaenor.

5) Would you rather live in a fantasy/paranormal world or a sci-fi one?

Fantasy, hands down. But a real place, like Middle Earth.

6) Can you list all seven dwarfs?

Bifur, Bofur, Bombur, Fili, Kili, Thorin Oakenshield... Oh wait, that's not what you meant, is it?

7) If you were tossed into a fairytale, would you be a helpless princess/prince, a kick-butt heroine/hero, or the bad guy?

Helpless, at least until I figured out what was going on. Then I'd look out for myself, but probably not be the greatest at saving others. Unless I was part of a kick-ass team! Who's coming?

8) Aside from writing, what is your dream job, and are you living it?

Yes and no. I do get to copy edit a lot at work, but that doesn't see me copy editing for Neil Gaiman (or Diana Gabaldon or the Tolkien Estate or...) or doing the dream copy editing job:

I sit at home, in pyjamas, with a latte, and the doorbell rings. It's the mailman, delivering the latest book from the big publishing house. I get to scribble all my copy edits on the manuscript, and send it back - and someone else has to type them up! Every once in a while, when I crave human interaction, there are meetings downtown, with endless free lattes.

So, anyone hiring?

9) What is the best cheese you've ever tasted?

Ooh, a yummy question. I love very old cheddar, and goat cheese, and Turkish white cheese, but the best is kaşar cheese, melted on a poppyseed Montreal bagel.

(not exactly a bagel, but image from Balbadem)

10) Wolverine or Cyclops? (Either to be, for men, or to have, for ladies.)

Er. Neither? If forced, I'd go with Wolverine. My vision is bad enough for two!

11) Coffee or tea?

c.f. Question 9. Latte, latte, latte. Nothing against tea, though. I usually have one a day, a lovely English Breakfast from Harrods that I received as a gift. Or Lord John Grey tea!

I'll tag... All eleven folks who commented on my post last Friday!

And now, here are the other eleven questions, which Melissa asked:

1. If you were given a yacht, what would you name it?

Something out of Tolkien, definitely.

2. If you could be invisible for a day, what would you do?

I'm not sure... Maybe have some fun scaring/confusing people by moving things in front of them.

3. Where's your favorite place to write?

My favourite place - at home, with coffee, cats and music - isn't conducive to writing. Better if I get out of the house.

4. Give us a sample of a conversation you might have with one of your characters.

I did an entire interview with Devran!

5. What punctuation mark best describes your personality? Why?

The question mark. And then what happened? But why?

6. Just like "Everybody Wang Chung tonight!", what action would your name be if it were a verb?

Well, actually... It all ready is a verb. My boss calls editing "Denizing."

7. What's one thing you'd like others to know about you?

I won't say no to a night out at a pub.

8. What's one misconception people tend to have about you?

That I'm ruthless about grammar. I try to refrain from correcting others.

9. Who cares if the glass is half empty or half full. What's in the glass?

Milk. Coffee. Tea. Hand-squeezed grapefruit juice...

10. Name one of your strengths when it comes to writing?

Er, besides copy editing? Ahem... Bedroom scenes, if I do say so myself.

11. What's the most unusual or outrageous thing you've ever done to understand and perfect a character's POV?

I know what I'd like to do - make the same journey my characters make, back and from from Cadiz and Barcelona, all the way across the Mediterranean in a caravel, to Istanbul.

I'll tag... everyone who commented on my last post!

ROW80 is on track - I've only got a few filler scenes left to write. A bit daunting, actually, because this means I have to start opening up the MS on the computer, and spend my evenings entering all those missing scenes, and deciphering all the messy edits. Maybe I should set up a latte fundraising drive...

How's everyone else doing?

Origins Blogfest! and Pinterest

2012-02-12T10:11:00.000-05:00

ery slow progress. Steady, but slow. I just want to sit there, eating that ice cream, and spend the weekend reading. I think I'll set aside next weekend as Reading Weekend, just to try to make a dent in the TBR hills, especially all my author friends' books .

Although, the other day, I came up with a new trick that seems so obvious, I don't know why I didn't think of it before. I was all stalled and lazy and just wanted to read, so I thought:

Why don't I WRITE the kind of scene I feel like READING?

And I did! I might post a snip, once I've done a little editing.

Then, the next day, I got a little distracted by my new Pinterest boards. It's like Tumblr, but with images only.

Here's one of the images I'm going to add on there,

Quentin Blake's illustration for the Folio Society book bag:

And now... Origins!

This fun blogfest, which officially begins tomorrow, is hosted by DL Hammons, Alex Cavanaugh, Katie Mills, and Matthew MacNish.

"Post your own origin story. Tell us all where your writing dreams began. ... It all started somewhere and we want you to tell us your own, unique, beginnings."

It all started with my Scottish teacher, Mrs Allan, in the first grade. I wrote this story:

Where was All I did not know what All was or where it was
The Adventure was nice but where was All the cow? - I did not know
Soon it was an adventure
I went out to find him he was no where I went up with a jet he was with the moon

Though I don't actually remember showing the story to anyone except my teacher and my mother, it must have sparked something, because I've been writing ever since.

I attempted my first novel in fourth grade. It was called The Strange Girl, and was about a new girl at school and the tribulations that ensued. I wrote it, and rewrote it, on yellow notebook paper. Somewhere in there, the girls TPed someone's house; my mother's only editorial comment was "you can't use acronyms your readers won't understand."

And the rest is - a long and convoluted - history. Now I write same-theme articles for the newspaper Bizim Anadolu with my mum. And, here's a list of all my stories to date, as part of The Rule of Twenty. Since that list, I've started Rome, Rhymes and Risk, and have a pile of new ideas on the back burner - some of which came from dreams, something I'm still excited and slightly scared by.

Jessica Bell, along with Chuck Sambuchino of Writer's Digest, is hosting a writer's retreat in August - The Homeric Writers' Retreat and Workshop.

How I wish I could go, and have all that time to start drafting new stories, by the Aegean Sea!

Fourth Writers' Platform-building Campaign! and Kate Kaynak's Latest

2012-02-10T07:39:00.019-05:00

ate Kaynak's Operative is coming! This is the fifth book in the Ganzfield series, all about Maddie Dunn and the other G-positives who live at the Ganzfield training facility. I reviewed the third book, Legacy, here.

In the latest book, Maddie and the others (including sparks and minders - and Maddie's boyfriend, a telekinetic (who, because of what happened in the last book, is now afraid to touch her)) have to catch the person selling classified information about them to terrorists - before they become the targets. I'm looking forward to reading it this weekend!

And now... Rach Harrie's Fourth Writers' Platform-building Campaign is here!

"the Campaign is a way to link those of us in the writing community together with the aim of helping to build our online platforms. The Campaigners are all bloggers in a similar position, who genuinely want to pay it forward, make connections and friends within the writing community, and help build each others' online platforms while at the same time building theirs."

This time around I've limited myself to one Campaign Group: Group 18 - Romance/Contemporary Romance/Sweet Romance/Historical Romance. So far we've got Frost, Christy, Melissa, Kaylie and Synithia. Come join us!

The Campaign runs until Saturday, March 17, 2012. The List of Campaigners closes 15 February, so make sure you sign up before then. We'll be having two challenges, in the weeks of 20 February and 5 March. Rach always sets great challenges, featuring impossible words and fun scenarios. Here are some that I've participated in:

A snip from Out of the Water, tweaked to include the words "imago", "miasma", "lacuna", "oscitate", and "synchronicity".

A snip from Rome, Rhymes and Risk, tweaked to show that: it's morning; a man or a woman (or both) is at the beach; the main character is bored; something stinks behind where he/she is sitting; and something surprising happens. Also involves all fives senses and includes the made-up words "synbatec," "wastopaneer," and "tacise."

Whew! And don't forget, the challenges from the last Campaign were collated into an ebook, Campaigner Challenges 2011:

176 stories from 81 participants, including mine. All proceeds go to Help Harry Help Others to fund research on brain cancer.

Welcome to all campaigners!

James Joyce and the latest ROW80 Update

2012-02-08T07:37:00.022-05:00

n 1 January, the published works of James Joyce came into the public domain. Apparently his grandson and only living relative, Stephen Joyce, used to keep a tight rein on all Joyce's works, but now that his published novels and stories are in the public domain, they can be (among other uses) freely quoted from.

If anyone knows, please tell me - can't executors of a literary estate keep 'buying' the copyright? That is, if Stephen Joyce was oh so controlling over his grandfather's estate, could he not have kept renewing the copyright?

I first read A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man in my early teens. I had a sweatshirt that featured Joyce and jokingly referred to Beckett going out in the middle of the night to get pizzas. Or something like that. Tried to Google it, but can't find the exact text, so here're Joyce and Sylvia Beach at Shakespeare & Company in Paris:

(image from Princeton Magazine)

Here's the lyrical opening to Portrait:

"Once upon a time and a very good time it was there was a moocow coming
down along the road and this moocow that was coming down along the road
met a nicens little boy named baby tuckoo...

His father told him that story: his father looked at him through a
glass: he had a hairy face.

He was baby tuckoo. The moocow came down the road where Betty Byrne
lived: she sold lemon platt.

O, the wild rose blossoms
On the little green place.

He sang that song. That was his song.

O, the green wothe botheth."

Development on the Round of Words in 80 Days front is rather slow. I have about 15 missing scenes still to write but these, when I originally left them blank, covered more than one actual scene. So my notes say things like:

"add more between the ball and the expedition - there has to be a reason Ayten starts becoming attracted to Prince Cem..."

and

"does she rescue him at the end or do they work together?"

Not very helpful. I think, like it or not, I'm going to have to return to my waking-at-5am-to-write regimen. At least I get a latte when I do!

Messy Edits, Helen MacInnes and Kristen Callihan's Firelight

2012-02-05T09:48:00.031-05:00

y latest update for ROW80:

If slow and steady wins the race, I might have something tangible by the end of this round. I started with 25 scenes to fill in and I've done close to 10 of them already. I hope I don't cringe when I come to type them up. I do still love the story and the characters, and that's always been my benchmark for whether an MS is worth sticking with.

But look at all the scribbled paper edits I have to deal with once I've typed up the missing scenes:

The opening:

A few blurry shots of the worst messes:

Frodo gets in on the act:

"Keep this page":

Helen MacInnes' books are coming back into print!

I really hope they reprint and publicise Friends and Lovers.

I picked up this novel at a book fair or secondhand bookstore years and years ago and fell in love with it - with the story, with the characters - on the first page. None of the handful of other MacInnes books I've read have had that same effect. Every few years I reread Friends and Lovers with a shivering sense of delight.

Firelight by Kristen Callihan is out now!

Once the flames are ignited...
Miranda Ellis is a woman tormented. Plagued since birth by a strange and powerful gift, she has spent her entire life struggling to control her exceptional abilities. Yet one innocent but irreversible mistake has left her family's fortune decimated and forced her to wed London's most nefarious nobleman.

They will burn for eternity...
Lord Benjamin Archer is no ordinary man. Doomed to hide his disfigured face behind masks, Archer knows it's selfish to take Miranda as his bride. Yet he can't help being drawn to the flame-haired beauty whose touch sparks a passion he hasn't felt in a lifetime. When Archer is accused of a series of gruesome murders, he gives in to the beastly nature he has fought so hard to hide from the world. But the curse that haunts him cannot be denied. Now, to save his soul, Miranda will enter a world of dark magic and darker intrigue. For only she can see the man hiding behind the mask.

Kristen's agent shared some of the rejections Firelight received before an editor finally snapped it up. And now look!

"Callihan has a great talent for sexual tension and jaw-dropping plots that weave together brilliantly in the end." Diana Gabaldon, New York Times bestselling author of Outlander

"Debut author Callihan pens a compelling Victorian paranormal with heart and soul... Readers will cheer for the couple, especially when the obstacles piled in their paths appear unsurmountable. The compulsively readable tale will leave this new author's fans eager for her next book." Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

Congratulations, Kristen!

Charles Dickens, and Getting To Know You Blogfest

2012-02-03T07:44:00.062-05:00

wo hundred years ago on 7 February, Charles Dickens was born. If I was in London, I might try to get tickets for the bicentenary dinner at the Dickens Museum.

"In celebration of the birth of Charles Dickens 200 years ago, a dinner will be held at Mansion House.

The evening will commence with a sherry reception at 6.45pm, followed by a three-course dinner at 7.30pm with wines and coffee. Carriages at 10.30pm.

Featuring Dickensian entertainment led by Sir Patrick Stewart." (emphasis mine)

Wonder what carriages means? Do you get driven home in style? How come you don't get picked up, too?

Sometime back, during NaNo, J. L. Campbell hosted a getting to know you blogfest for the romantic suspense group of Rach Harrie's Writers Platform-building Campaign. I came across this the other day on Tara's blog, and thought I'd answer the questions.

Only, of course, I'm going to do them from a historical romance point of view...

1. Name two historical romance authors who inspire you.

That's easy - Joanna Bourne and Diana Gabaldon. Diana's not a romance author, of course, but that's precisely why she's so inspiring - she's an everything author.

2. How did you start writing in your genre?

Short answer - I don't know. Long answer - One day in high school I stopped writing middle grade stories and started writing a romance between two real life musicians. I knew they were meant to be together, even if they couldn't see it.

Some years later, after two finished novels and a few aborted story ideas, I went back to MG. But everything moved slowly. Ideas were halting, editing was plodding along at a snail's pace. And then... well, I've told this story before:

I sent my characters off to another houseparty.

"One or the other of them had previously participated in the writers' houseparties that take place on the Compuserve Books and Writers Community; there have been eight such parties to date and I – and my characters – were present at the very first one in June 2007. Each party after that grew in size and complexity, as more writers joined in the fun, bringing their characters to interact with the characters of other members, who all come from varying places and time periods. Houseparties are a great way to thrust your characters out of their familiar worlds and learn things about them that you may not have known before. Writing for a houseparty is just like writing your first draft – fast paced and fluid, with no second guessing; anything goes at a houseparty, from magic to skipping between time periods, to anachronistic events and language, to romantic interludes..."

I rediscovered my love of romance, the ideas began to flow - unstoppable - and I haven't looked back.

3. You've landed a meeting with your dream agent. Write a one-paragraph pitch to sell your novel to him/her.

Let's go with the one I'm pitching to agents right now:

Out of the Water is a 15th Century historical romance, complete at 115,000 words.

Rosa becomes separated from her family as they flee their Spanish homeland – and the Inquisition. Now her one hope of reaching Constantinople, and reuniting with her family, lies with a stranger, Baha, an artist from the Ottoman Empire. As they travel together, Rosa's drive to find her loved ones is matched by a deepening desire for the man at her side.

Her family refuses to accept this man of a different faith, but when janissaries arrest her father and brother, Rosa and Baha risk everything to rescue them. Together they will prove that their love can withstand their differences... if the Grand Vizier doesn't throw them both into the dungeons first.

4. Sabotage or accident - which would you put your female lead through, and why?

I have to say, I don't plan many of the incidents. Some appear out of nowhere and some are the characters telling me "I know you thought this would happen, but I'm going to do that."

Sometimes they grow out of exercises on the Compuserve forum; that's how I met Baha.

And I always, always, worry that I'm not raising the stakes enough.

5. Plotter or panster - who are you?

Oh, definite pantster. Especially for the first draft. Then I do a read through, with editing, and make a list of all the scenes and links I need. And pants my way through them.

If anyone else wants to turn this into an ongoing blogfest, feel free!

Mr. Dickens:

Neil Gaiman Writes Back, Insecure Writers, and a Shower Curtain Story

2012-02-01T07:28:00.048-05:00

umping up and down:

Neil Gaiman wrote back!

Hope this catch sways Gaiman towards taking me on as copy editor (she says wistfully).

Insecure Writers Support Group (thanks Alex!)

All this is very timely as I'm in the midst of editing insecurity. So many missing scenes (25 to be exact) to draft for Rome, Rhymes and Risk, and each time I sit down to write one all I hear is a negative inner critic cackling at my efforts.

I know, I know, just quiet that critic with a little ~~whisky~~ latte, right? But it doesn't always work. Yet the only way to plough through is to do so despite the insecurity. As John D. MacDonald said, in his introduction to Stephen King's Night Shift:

"The only way you learn how to write is by writing. ... Because that's the way it is done. Because there is not other way to do it. Not one other way. ... Compulsive diligence is almost enough. But not quite. You have to have a taste for words. Gluttony. You have to want to roll in them. You have to read millions of them by other people. You read everything with grinding envy or weary contempt. ... Diligence, word-lust, empathy equal growing objectivity and then what? Story. Story. Dammit, story! ... Story is something happening to someone you have been led to care about. It can happen in any demension--physical, mental, spiritual--and in combination of all those dimensions." (lucky for me, someone else had already typed all this up)

Or you can, you know, try something new:

Shower curtain story

Dave Eggers has published a story on a shower curtain: "The McSweeney's founder has given a new meaning to idea of reading in the bathroom. His text is printed on a shower curtain for people to read while getting clean. It costs $65."

I don't know. I think I'll keep using my notebook.

Have you ever printed a story on something other than paper?

Top Writing Blogs, Missing Scenes and Stephen King

2012-01-29T09:12:00.000-05:00

ollege Finder have come out with their shortlist for the Top Writing Blogs Award, and you can vote! I'm on there, but so are many others, like Alex Cavanaugh, Adam Heine, Glynis Smy, Michael di Gesu, Medeia Sharif, Denise Covey, Melissa - well, you get the idea. Vote for some or all of us, there's no limit to voting.
And to the 15 people who voted before I put my vote in or even mentioned it on this blog: wow! thank you!

I've finished all my edits on paper and discovered that: a) I have 25 gaping holes that require lots more writing; and b) penultimate scenes are hardest for me to write. Endings, no problem. But all that high-octane action and emotion leading up to the final sweet resolution? Let's make no bones about it, I suck.

You'd think I'd have learned something after all these years of writing, and of reading the best. Which reminds me, I'm rereading Stephen King's It for the first time in 20 years. I wondered if I'd be affected the same way as I was when I was 13 and read It and The Stand in one week - I was. There may be some so-called rules -- such as: don't have characters with similar sounding names, don't introduce too many characters early on, don't use flashbacks too often, and all that sort of dribble -- but King breaks them all so easily that you wonder why anyone ever though such tricks were wrong. His world, and characters, are terribly real; you don't just want to be friends with them, you're afraid they won't like you. Here's an essay that explores King's legacy and worth.

My latest review, of Leigh D'Ansey's The Duke's Blackmailed Bride, is up at One Hundred Romances.

And now, more Neil Gaiman. In Fragile Things, he mentions writing to the author R. A. Lafferty, and I've printed a few of Lafferty's stories to read. Apparently, after Lafferty died, they sold the rights to all his works, for about 70,000$. I wonder who bought them? Does anyone know? I discovered this quote about Lafferty which I quite like:

"He always admitted he had a drink problem, and magically appeared at the head of the queue whenever the bar opened. Smiling, enigmatic, uncommunicative, he showed few signs of the inspired blarney in his fiction. A French publisher nervously asked whether Lafferty minded being compared to G.K. Chesterton (another Catholic author), and there was a terrifying silence that went on and on. Was the great man hideously offended? Eventually, very slowly, he said: 'You're on the right track, kid,' and wandered away."

I asked Neil Gaiman a question on his Tumblr feed. Let's see if I get a response. Oh, and Jenny's got some more awesome posts on Gaiman. And Lynda's hosting a BBQ for Australia Day!

Interview with a Character: Secrets, Lies, Hidden Love, and Bloodshed

2012-01-27T07:36:00.108-05:00

ve! And welcome to Interview with a Character.

Anne Gallagher interviewed her Lady Olivia the other day, and she's inspired me to seek an audience with one of my characters.

Devran is the hero of Rome, Rhymes and Risk. He's the son of the Grand Vizier, who is the highest official of the Ottoman Court under the Sultan himself. An exalted position, to be sure. Yet Devran's been exiled, for a crime he did not commit, and now he's forced to sail the length of the Mediterranean.

He kinda sorta looks like this:

(snapshot from my Tumblr page)

Devran's also got one secret - but I'll let him explain.

Thank you for joining us, Devran Bey. Please, have some wine.

It is my pleasure. Thank you. [Takes cup]

Many of our readers are not familiar with your story. Can you tell us where you're travelling from and why?

[Frown] I'd rather not discuss the why, actually. I have left the Ottoman Empire and am on my way to Cadíz in the Kingdom of Castile. I'm told the Admiral Columbus will be sailing from there in some months' time, and I propose to join his expedition.

How exciting! This will be the Admiral's second journey, I believe?

So I'm told.

And who are you travelling with?

Ah. [Smile] Some others were exiled along with me, for entirely different reasons. A man named Baha, whom I knew in my childhood. His wife, Rosa, who actually hails from Castile, and her guardian, Brother Arcturus. Her father, Santiago, who is Sailing Master under Admiral Columbus.

Is that all?

Er, no. Rosa has a maid - well, they call her a maid, but she's more of a companion. Her name is Ayten. She has... quite an interesting background.

Is that so? Are you at liberty to tell us about it?

It's not my secret to reveal, exactly. She was kidnapped by slave traders some months ago. I was very pleased to find that Baha and Rosa had rescued her.

And how has the journey been? I hope you've had good weather.

We haven't, as a matter of fact. There was a terrible storm, which cracked the bowsprit, and we've been forced to remain in Rome for many days. They promise to have the ship ready to sail the day after tomorrow.

That doesn't sound so bad! I hear you were guests of the Sultan's brother, Cem.

Hmmph. [Crosses arms]

He is not a gracious host?

Oh, he's gracious, all right. Has a way with the women, that one.

Does he, now?

Yes. He began making love to Ayten almost from the moment we arrived. And I can't say anything because -

Because?

Never mind.

[At this point Devran stands up and makes to leave. In his agitation, he knocks over his cup, which shatters and drives a splinter into his palm. He falls back into his chair, sucking the cut.]

Well? What do you want to know?

Nothing you're not willing to tell us, of course. How's your hand?

I'll do. Listen, Cem is a swindler and a cad. He's flattered Ayten no end, and I guess she's swayed by the opulence of his court. She... She likes fine things, Ayten. Pretty dresses and gilt tableware and all that sort of thing. I had enough of that growing up, myself. I can do without it. Still, she deserves the best. And I guess she thought...

Look. I'll tell you. Before Ayten was kidnapped by those slave traders, her father had arranged a marriage for her. All that fell apart when she was kidnapped. Everyone in town spent weeks searching for her, and it was only much later that the truth of the matter was discovered. But by then it was too late.

How so?

She never saw the face or knew the name of the man she was betrothed to.

Do you mean -

Yes. It was me. Her father had arranged for her to marry me. But she didn't - doesn't - know that. She came on board my ship having heard all the rumours of the terrible deeds I'd been accused of. She thinks me an exile, a penniless rake. How can I blame her for considering the Sultan's brother? How can I tell her that she's betrothed to me? She thinks I'm a liar, a criminal. She'd never believe me.

I cannot force her. I want her to come to me willingly. How can I prove my worth to her?

[There is a silence. A maid comes in and clears up the spilt wine. Devran stares out the window at the bright winter's day outside. The maid leaves.]

Can you give us an idea where you'll be travelling to next?

We're still bound for Cadíz. I hope we leave Rome soon. I hope I can give Ayten reason enough to forget the awful - and untrue! - rumours about me. Her eyes glow when she's pleased, and I - I want that glow turned to me. Anyway, I've gone on long enough. I'm sure you have other interviews to get through today.

Thank you very much, Devran Bey, for answering our questions so patiently. I do apologise about the blood. [Turning to audience] If anyone has any questions for Devran Bey, I'm sure he'll be pleased to answer them. Send them on through the comments page, please.

Sweet Lovin' Man by the Magnetic Fields

Burns Night and New Releases, Including a Banshee!

2012-01-25T08:05:00.068-05:00

onight is Burns night - anyone out there having a Burns supper? If I can get some in time, I'll raise a dram of Laphroaig (what Neil Gaiman calls body-in-the-bog whisky in American Gods). Allan Scott-Douglas, actor, played Robert Burns in Ae Fond Kiss: The Life and Loves of Robert Burns, and sings the voice of Jamie Fraser on the Outlander CD and will play Jamie in Outlander: The Musical.

(I was trying to find a photo to share with you, of Diana Gabaldon and Allan Scott-Douglas together. For some reason, when I search on Google Images, Page 2 gives me a picture of my cat lying on my "I Love Big Books" Diana Gabaldon tote bag, from my knitting blog. I don't think I have the new 'include my entire social media life' setting turned on, but you never know.)

You'll have to settle for Allan as Jamie:

Tiffany Allee's Banshee Charmer is available!

"When she's sent to a crime scene and finds her second dead woman in as many weeks, half-banshee detective Kiera 'Mac' McLoughlin is convinced a serial killer is on the loose. Incubi are extinct, her boss insists. But what else can kill a woman in the throes of pleasure? When her partner is murdered after using witchcraft to locate the killer and Mac is thrown off the case, her frustration turns to desperation.

Certain the killer is an incubus, Mac works behind her department's back to chase down slim, sometimes perilous leads. While the killer eludes her, she does discover handsome Aidan Byrne, an investigative counterpart from the enigmatic Otherworlder Enforcement Agency. Mac typically runs her investigations fast and hard, but with Aidan at her side, she's running this one 'hot' as well. But Aidan knows more than he's letting on -- something that could shatter their blazing romance and add Mac to the killer's growing body count..."

Read Chapter One of Banshee Charmer on the Entangled Publishing website.

Later, March will see two new releases (squee!): When I Was a Child I Read Books: Essays (awesome title) by Marilynne Robinson and Wrecking Ball by Bruce Springsteen.

And in a new-old release, the final volume of Patrick Leigh Fermor's story of his travels, beginning in 1933 (!), from the Netherlands to Constantinople (!!), on foot (!!!), will be published for the first time in September 2013.

As for ROW80... I've completed the paper edits! But the list of missing scenes is endless. So that's what I'll be working on for at least the next month.

How's everyone else doing?

I Want to be Neil Gaiman's Copy Editor, Whisky Trench Riders, and A Wrinkle in Time

2012-01-22T07:23:00.033-05:00

ery exciting when you discover a new author and a whole new world of fandom. New for me, I mean. Yes I'm still gushing over Neil Gaiman. What can I say? He's been creating since around the time I was born, and I'm only just exploring his works now. Time is a funny thing. He should know; he's been in the TARDIS:

Have you?

Oh yes, about the copy editing. It's one thing I really enjoy. Neil says (I expect the blog will be full of that for the next little while. Neil says. Yes.):

"...And on, and on, for six hundred and fifty pages. And if all this seems pedantic, on the copy editor's part or on mine... well, yes. That's the point. He's paid not to see the wood for the trees. Actually he's paid to look up at the wood now and again, but mostly to keep track of all the leaves, and especially to make sure that Missy Gunther on page 253 isn't Missie Gunther when she returns on page 400."

Well, I'm a she, but we'll make do. I love keeping track of the leaves. In fact, it's more than that. It's an instinct to keep track of the leaves. Other people hear symphonies in their heads. I notice misplaced apostrophes and character eye colour changes.

A penultimate Neil thing. I hearby announce and proclaim and declaim that should Neil Gaiman ever embark on a tour for anything and he or his publishers or publicists overlook Montreal (as so many often do. We are cooler than Toronto, you know), then I will... I will do as Neil says:

"If there's anyone else out there who wants to hold a "The bastard isn't coming to [Anchorage/KansasCity/Orlando/NewOrleans etc] -- but we're going to have a party anyway" event, drop a line to Jack Womack."

I will host this thing. I'll find someplace, don't worry. A bookstore or a pub. Or a park or a sushi place. There will be books and drinks and Neil. (No promises on the latter.)

A final Neil thing: If you have read American Gods, but want one more paragraph, "about a garage in San Clemente with box after box of rare, strange and beautiful books in it rotting away" hie thee to Neil's journal.

The other day I mentioned Feast of Fiction, which I found out about from Jamie (aka Mithril Wisdom), and we were all blabbing about lembas - not only have they done lembas, but they brought in Montreal's own Epic Meal Time for the recipe! Which explains, completely, the bacon strips.

It's not food, but another literary thing I've always wanted is... well, I've always wanted to be able to kythe. 2012 marks the 50th anniversary of the publication of A Wrinkle In Time.

"When she completed the book in early 1960, it was rejected by at least 26 publishers, because it was, in L'Engle's words, 'too different', and 'because it deals overtly with the problem of evil, and it was too difficult for children, and was it a children's or an adults' book, anyhow?'" (wikipedia)

ROW80 news: I'm about two chapters away from finishing all the paper edits on Rome, Rhymes and Risk. Then I've got to make a list of all the missing scenes/bridges and draft them. Very excited - here's an excuse to buy a new notebook and have lattes in the mornings!

Also got my second rejection for Out of the Water. Two out of Five. Will send out another five queries this week...

Inspiration comes from the Whisky Trench Riders' second album, Underneath the Tavern Sign, which is available for FREE download. First album still for sale at only 10$. Ask me!

<p>&amp;lt;a href="http://whiskytrenchriders.bandcamp.com/album/underneath-the-tavern-sign"&amp;gt;Underneath the Tavern Sign by Whisky Trench Riders&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt;</p>

An Unexpected Post About Neil Gaiman

2012-01-20T07:50:00.049-05:00

eil Gaiman.

Here's how it began.

Some years ago, I heard about him, probably through the Compuserve Books and Writers Community (of which, if I'm not mistaken, he used to be a member), and found some of his free short stories on his website (they're still there). They were interesting but not earth-shattering, so I let it go.

A couple of years ago, I borrowed Anansi Boys off a friend, but when I read the back, I realised American Gods came first (sort of), and I didn't own that. So Anansi Boys sat on that 180 books to read by 2015 list (down the side of the blog) for ages.

Until two weeks ago, when I went to pick up my mother at the airport, forgot to check the flight before I left the house, and discovered, once there, that the flight was delayed and that I'd have an hour to spend in the bookstore. Was looking (drooling) at all the books I wanted (I tallied up - if I'd bought them all, I'd have spent 150$ on about ten books), when I suddenly saw that they'd put American Gods on sale for 15$.

And that's when the current obsession started. I've already barrelled through American Gods and half of Anansi Boys. Unplanned, but timely, Jenny happens to be featuring Gaiman as mentor of the month, and has some thought-provoking posts on Why to Read Widely and Chapters In Which Something Happens.

On top of all that, Gaiman's got me listening to The Magnetic Fields again. Here're some linked sounds and images and words one after the other:

"The book of love is long and boring / No one can lift the damn thing up."

"daniel handler, who's the accordion player from the magnetic fields, was magically on hand to play us 'the book of love'" - Amanda Palmer, on marrying Neil Gaiman.

Amanda Palmer singing Radiohead's No Surprises:

Neil Gaiman and Amanda Palmer together in the bath:

In a recent blog post, Gaiman says, "I should go and write some more."

I think that's sound advice.

ROW80, Link Happy and Susan Mitchell Drawings

2012-01-18T07:12:00.022-05:00

ere goes... another ROW80 check in.

I can't believe how many holes there are in my story - I'm going to be busy next month writing more to fill up all those gaps. I knew I didn't have to worry about only having 70,000 for the first draft, at the end of NaNo. There's always more description, more dialogue and more motivation that can go in there!

This Wednesday is Link Happy Day! Or so say I. Here are a few blogs I've enjoyed this past week:

Outlander Kitchen is dedicated to all things Outlander and food related. Here's Jamie and Frank playing whisky checkers!

Alberta asked, what would you do if it was the end of the world?

The Write Dreams charity auction is on now! All proceeds to benefit Donna's Dream House: "Donna's Dream House is a holiday home for children and teenagers with life-threatening or terminal illnesses, situated in the heart of Blackpool. The Dream House is run completely by volunteers and encourages and sparks the imagination. It's how any child would imagine the perfect holiday to be. It's full of light and laughter, fun and - most importantly - life."

Hop over to the Celery Tree blog tour and celebrate indie authors!

The masterful Joanna Bourne has a new technical topics post - this one's all about what to do and what not to do in the opening of your novel.

Susan Mitchell is still posting daily drawings! Here are a few of my recent favourites:

ROW80 and What Makes You Stop Reading A Book?

2012-01-15T12:47:00.000-05:00

ounds! It's another ROW80 check in!

Rather slow going this week. I edited a short story I'd written over ten years ago, found it was a lot less lyrical and lovely than I'd imagined all these years, and then I played card toss with five scenes in Rome, Rhymes and Risk - I tossed the scenes in the air and hoped they would land in the right order. I think they might have done, but the entire chapter that follows is a wash.

It's time I chased one of the characters up a tree and brandished a stick at him - or her. Failing that, I'm considering a near-drowning. Especially as I've just found out (thank you Neil Gaiman!) that an old sailors' cure for near-drowning in cold water is a hot bath. Writing a romance after all...

Which brings me to Kristen Callihan's Ember, a short story set before the time of Firelight (coming next month!). Read an excerpt of Ember on Kristen's blog!

Seeing as how I got discouraged by my own writing, now's a good time to answer Heather's question from my Books Read in 2011 post:

"I'm interested in what makes you stop reading.
I can only think of a few books that I stopped reading in the past few years, and both were highly acclaimed favorites of a few good writers I know.
It's really so subjective!! :)"

It is subjective! I've had a few books I've stopped reading - either the writing was bad (and this in a hugely popular, bestselling romance author!) that I couldn't slog through and had to skim; or the writing was good but the story never latched hold, such as with Dorothy Dunnett's Niccolo Rising. She's a very detailed, very well-researched author, but the story just hasn't struck a chord with me; overall, it's just a little too omniscient for my taste.

On the other hand, I expect I'll return to Dunnett someday. The same reaction took place, after all, with Orhan Pamuk's My Name Is Red, and I not only returned to it a couple of weeks ago, after a gap of some years, but devoured it within a week.

On the third hand, there are some books I return to simply to see if my initial reaction of this sucks! was accurate, or whether I missed something the first time around. I remember doing this with Shane by Jack Schaefer. And yes, it was just as awful the second time. If I have to hear about that tree stump ever again, I'll...

Well. I'll do something. What books have you stopped reading?

Meanwhile, here are two sets of Royal Mail stamps I want, one new, one old:

Roald Dahl (illustrations by Quentin Blake):

(image taken from The Guardian)

J. R. R. Tolkien:

(image taken off Ebay)

Photograph Links, Fictional Feasts, and An Award

2012-01-13T07:50:00.000-05:00

orgeous images of seasons in Kirazlı village, in Turkey - head over to Being Koy. I love the idea of doing a year-end summary in photos - I'm always so focused on word counts and such that I forget to explore the lighter sides of what I've accomplished or pontificated on during the year (such as trying to decide whether actor Tom Ellis looks like my character Devran).

In other fun images and ideas, Jamie from Mithril Wisdom (who's lucky enough to live in Wales), posted a link to the Feast of Fiction project: "Each week he takes a dish from the realms of fantasy, science fiction and video games and recreates them in real life as close to their original intended recipe."

They've already done butterbeer! I wonder if they'll try cram, or lembas, or miruvor, or... I'd love it if they recreated entire feasts, such as the meals the hobbits have at Tom Bombadil's, or all the pub food or, from other novels, the tea that Lucy has at Mr Tumnus' home, or Christmas feasts from some of Jean Little's stories, or the cordial that Anne and Diana drink or... I know, I know! The island breakfasts that Margaret's uncle loves in Bernice Thurman Hunter's Margaret in the Middle. Well, okay, I guess they won't be doing YA for a while.

One more photo link - there's a new interview with Diana Gabaldon at Skip Prichard's. Hope over, if nothing else, to see her bookshelves and one of the resident pugs.

And now, an actual photo from me! Thank you to Carol Riggs, who awarded me this:

It's for those who make regular and great comments! So let's see... I'll pass it onto everyone that commented on my last week's blog posts. Thanks for the support on my snip and my query-sending!

O! To Be In Wales, and Vachel Lindsay

2012-01-11T14:17:00.000-05:00

lfred R. Wallace, naturalist, wrote in 1858:

"This makes me hope I may soon realize enough to live upon and carry out my long cherished plans of a Country life in Old England."

I like his dream quite a lot. One of the first places I would is visit Hay-on-Wye in Wales, to spend a day in Bookbarn International. They have this new technology called a BOOK:

"The "BOOK" is a revolutionary breakthrough in technology: no wires, no electric circuits, no batteries, nothing to be connected or switched on. It's so easy to use even a child can operate it. Just lift its cover! Compact and portable, it can be used anywhere, even sitting in an armchair by the fire yet it is powerful enough to hold as much information as a CD-ROM disc.

Each BOOK is constructed of sequentially numbered sheets of paper (recyclable), each capable of holding thousands of bits of information.

These pages are locked together with a custom-fit device called a binder which keeps the sheets in their correct sequence.

Opaque Paper Technology (OPT) allows manufacturers to use both sides of the sheet, doubling the information density and cutting costs in half.

Experts are divided on the prospects for further increases in information density; for now BOOKs with more information simply use more pages. This makes them thicker and harder to carry, and has drawn some criticism from the mobile computing crowd.

Each sheet is scanned optically, registering information directly into your brain.

A flick of the finger takes you to the next sheet.

The BOOK may be taken up at any time and used by merely opening it.

The BOOK never crashes and never needs rebooting, though like other display devices it can become unusable if dropped in water.

The "browse" feature allows you to move instantly to any sheet, and move forward or backward as you wish.

Many come with an "index" feature, which pinpoints the exact location of any selected information for instant retrieval."

Later on, they tell you how you can "make personal notes next to BOOK text entries with an optional programming tool, the Portable Erasable Nib Cryptic Intercommunication Language Stylus (Pencils)."

Thanks to Jayne for the sneak peek at this bookstore! Visit her post for a glimpse at the bounties of Bookbarn.

Speaking of books, don't forget to visit Susan Kaye Quinn's Indie Book Fair. "Did you find a new Kindle, Nook, or iPad under the Christmas tree? Browse the Indie Book Fair and find a new ebook to break in that reader!"

So far, off that list, I've read and enjoyed Build A Man by Talli Roland and String Bridge by Jessica Bell. Looking forward to exploring the others!

Meanwhile, though, I've inching forward on my ROW80 goals. I'm 1/3 of the way through editing Rome, Rhymes and Risk (do you like the new title?) and I've started drawing up a list of research items for which I need to head to the library:

Rome
Cem Sultan
What items do you need in your ship's cabin?
Jade, silver, brass and other items of trade in the Aegean
Summertime storms on the Tyrrhenian Sea
Horses and mules and carts - how much weight can they carry?
Travel by donkey when kidnapped

Ayak was asking the other day how other bloggers come up with ideas for posts. One of my new favourite ways to discover stuff is by reading Malcolm's Book Bits and Notions, a daily (!) wrap up of interesting writing- and book-related links.

The other day, for instance, he linked to a Slate article on Vachel Lindsay: "The Mystery of Vachel Lindsay - How did the most visible poet in America—and a father of the Beats—become nearly forgotten?"

I read my first Vachel Lindsay poem in fifth grade, and I've never forgotten it. Here it is:

The Little Turtle

by Vachel Lindsay

A Recitation for Martha Wakefield, Three Years Old

There was a little turtle.

He lived in a box.

He swam in a puddle.

He climbed on the rocks.

He snapped at a mosquito.

He snapped at a flea.

He snapped at a minnow.

And he snapped at me.

He caught the mosquito.

He caught the flea.

He caught the minnow.

But he didn't catch me.

[caretta caretta, an endangered species; images taken from Google]

A Kiss Snip! Also, Queries and Titles and New Releases

2012-01-08T09:24:00.000-05:00

uery! Yes, it's query time...

I've sent out one. Only one... But I did participate in Mindy's Saturday Slash and I'll be tweaking my letter based on her super-helpful comments. Hope over and slash - er, comment - if you like.

Also, Adam Heine's query, with which he got his agent, is up for your viewing pleasure over at Matthew's, along with some great background info and discussion.

Medeia participated in a fun blogfest the other day - the almost kiss.

I've got just such a scene in Rosa's story, Out of the Water, which I shared a draft of on Carol Riggs' blog.

Here's the final version of the scene:

Rosa put a hand to the wreath in her hair, intending to pull it off, but Baha's hand came over hers.

"Don't remove it for their sake," he said quietly. Once out of earshot, below decks, he raised his voice. "You look like a peri."

They stood before his cabin, his hand still holding hers at her side. The door was open; Arcturus had not returned.

"What's a peri?"

"I think you'd know them as hada. Spirits of good or evil, from fairytales and legends." His thumb brushed the back of her knuckles. "Will you visit the dragon in his cave, beautiful Peri?"

She nodded, not trusting her voice, and went in, intending to take a seat on the stool. But his hand had not left hers, and he pulled her beside him to sit on the berth. She kept her eyes on her hands, clasped together on her lap. Was it because the ceiling was so low that he leaned in close to her, and rested his chin on her shoulder?

She cast about for something to say. Her mind was full of images from the carnival; the jugglers, jesters and fortune tellers; the cakes they hadn't stopped eating; the ladies and their expensive clothing. The drums tattooed in her ears.

"What are you dreaming of?" he asked quietly.

"Colours," she whispered. "All the women had such pretty gowns today. I can't remember the last time I –"

His arms came about her, and his lips rested on the nape of her neck. "You're beautiful in your own colours, Peri," he murmured. "But we'll find a gown for you at the next port, if you like." His fingers pushed aside her shawl and kisses moved along her collarbone.

"What are you doing?" she asked, again in a whisper. His lips lingered on her skin, for a moment, and then the kisses resumed.

"You've cast a spell on me, Peri. The dragon has turned into a man."

She let the fingers of her right hand move, slowly, and land on his knee. His breath had quickened; hers as well. She shifted, ever so slightly, so that his lips approached hers, grazing along her cheek.

Footsteps pounded on the deck above their heads. Loud cries echoed from bow to stern. The others had returned.

She pulled away and rose, shakily, to her feet. Her wreath had fallen over one ear. She slipped it off and met his gaze. He had one hand outstretched still, as though he would tug her back to him, keep her in his cave. Yet he said, "fly away, Peri, fly away. The dragon won't try to keep you."

She held herself steady until she was back in her own cabin, then collapsed on the berth, shaking, clutching her wreath.

"I wanted to stay," she said aloud into her pillow.

No, no, I'm not avoiding my ROW80 goals. I have been editing!

At the moment, I'm editing Ayten's story, which for now I'm calling Rome, Rhymes and Risk (thank you, Zan Marie! I wish I could use raspberries, Sara - I love the flow of a tri-syllabic word at the end).

I've still got two short stories to edit as well, one of which I hope to submit to Vine Leaves Literary Journal. The first issue is out now!

And, you can preorder Kristen Callihan's Ember, the prequel short story to Firelight!

Meanwhile, according to The Guardian: "Tolkien was nominated [for the Nobel prize] by CS Lewis, that was the first thing I saw ... Lewis was a professor of literature, and hence qualified to nominate. However, the short commentary from Anders Österling, the dominant literature critic in the academy, was fairly sour. He basically just said about the [Lord of the Rings] trilogy: 'the result has not in any way measured up to storytelling of the highest quality'."

I think the Nobel Committee was all wrong on Tolkien.

But I won't repeat myself here. Instead, here's a shot of the night sky on 5 April 1493, when Rosa and Brother Arcturus sat on a rooftop and worried about what to do if her husband Baha did not recover from his illness. This is from the Planetarium app that you can get on Google Chrome.

Insecure Writer, New Release and 2012 Challenge

2012-01-06T08:31:00.026-05:00

heck it out!

Roni's Crash Into You is available!

"Brynn LeBreck has dedicated herself to helping women in crisis, but she never imagined how personal her work would get, or where it would take her. Her younger sister is missing, suspected to be hiding from cops and criminals alike at a highly secretive BDSM retreat—a place where the elite escape to play out their most extreme sexual fantasies. To find her Brynn must go undercover as a sexual submissive. Unfortunately, The Ranch is invitation only. And the one Master who can get her in is from the darkest corner of Brynn’s past.

Brynn knows what attorney Reid Jamison is like once stripped of his conservative suit and tie. Years ago she left herself vulnerable only to have him crush her heart. Now she needs him again. Back on top. And he’s all too willing to engage. But as their primal desires and old wounds are exposed, the sexual games escalate—and so does the danger. Their hearts aren’t the only things at risk. Someone else is watching, playing by his own rules. And his game could be murder."

Read an excerpt of Crash Into You here.

I missed Alex Cavanaugh's Insecure Writer's Support Group day on Wednesday. Not to say that I'm over confident, far from it. Now that reading break is over, I've got to start editing Ayten's story, Rome, Rhymes and R...

See what I mean? I don't even have a third R for my title. And so, I bring you plot bunny:

In order to keep my strength and inspiration up, I've signed on for the 100 Books in 2012 Challenge. Here are the rules:

"1. The goal is to read 100 or more books. Anyone can join. You don't need a blog to participate. --Non-Bloggers: Post your list of books in the comment section of the wrap-up post.

2. Audio, re-reads, eBooks, YA, manga, graphic novels, library books, novellas, young reader, nonfiction – as long as the book has an ISBN or equivalent or can be purchased as such, the book counts.

3. No need to list your books in advance. You may select books as you go. Even if you list them now, you can change the list if needed.

4. Crossovers from other reading challenges count.

5. Challenge begins January 1st and continues through the end of December 2012.

6. When you sign up under Mr. Linky, put the direct link to your post where your books will be listed. Include the URL to this post so that other viewers can find this fun challenge. If you'd prefer to put your list in the sidebar of your blog, please leave your viewers the link to the sign up page. Again, so viewers can join the challenge too."

My list grows throughout the year, at the bottom of this blog. Got a few books on there already... Now to get back to editing my own.

Books Read in 2011 – Statistics – The Fourth Year

2012-01-04T07:41:00.226-05:00

ear with me! A longer post, as I go through statistics of books read in the past year...

The full list of books is in the post below this.

Here's the list of Books Read in 2010, Books Read in 2009, the addendum to the 2009 list, Books Read in 2008, and addendum A and addendum B to the 2008 list (the statistics posts come after those posts).

Books read: 101, plus 6 that I skimmed, 16 short stories, and 1 PhD thesis, as well as 24 poems and all the poems on this list, for a total of 124 plus the poetry.

This is compared to 92 in 2010, 131 in 2009 and 101 in 2008. As usual, there was another batch of writers' houseparties over at the Compuserve Books and Writers Forum – the best writers' hangout on the web! – that ran to hundreds of thousands of words, plus other forum writings and magazines and so on.

My average over 50 weeks, not counting the poems, is about the same as the year before last, 2.5 books per week (or two books and two short stories).

Authors read: 89, plus a few compendiums and all the short story authors; much more varied, compared to 63 in 2010, 57 in 2009 and 69 in 2008 (not counting anthologies). I read fewer series this year, but the higher number might also have something to do with the fact that I was reviewing books for the One Hundred Romances blog.

Most by one author: Lilian Jackson Braun, with 5 Cat Who... books. There are over 30 books in this series, and I've still only read half of them!

Last year I reread L. M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables series, including The Road To Yesterday. In 2009 it was Janet Evanovich, followed by rereads of J. K. Rowling, Diana Gabaldon and Agatha Christie; 2008 was Anthony Horowitz's Alex Rider series, Emily Carr and Dorothy L. Sayers.

As usual I reread Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and The Tales of Beedle the Bard before seeing the last movie; I was too busy again this year to reread the entire series.

Oldest book: Easily the 14th Century Book of Good Love by Archpriest Juan Ruiz, though the translation is only a hundred years old.

After that, it's the chapter on the Earl of Rochester from Samuel Johnson's Lives of the Poets, and Murder Must Advertise by Dorothy L. Sayers, as well as P. G. Wodehouse. Last year it was the Earl of Rochester as well (and Perreault's fairy tales).

Oldest published is the Turkish novella Tireli Hafsa Hatun: Yildirim Han Zevcesi by Mahmut Ozay and the swashbuckling romance Lord Johnnie by Leslie T. White, but neither are even close to 100 years old.

In 2010 it was Hours at the Glasgow Art Galleries by T. C. F. Brotchie, An Old-Fashioned Girl by Louisa May Alcott and When the Going Was Good by Evelyn Waugh; in 2009, there was Shakespeare and a handful of books from pre-1950; in 2008, the oldest authors were Aesop and Pliny, but the oldest original book was by Dorothy L. Sayers, followed by John Fante and John Steinbeck.

Thanks to Google Books and Gutenberg and reprints, I just don't have very many original copies of books published from before 1850. Unfortunately.

Newest book: In 2010 I had 13, plus 10 new books by Forumites. In 2008 I had only two books, by Joanna Bourne and Marilynne Robinson. Many more in 2009, including books by kc dyer, Hélène Boudreau, Linda Gerber and Diana Gabaldon - Forumites all!

This year, Forumites have done it once again:

The Scottish Prisoner by Diana Gabaldon

Outlander (20th Anniversary edition) (reread)

Down These Strange Streets (anthology) edited by George R. R. Martin and G. Dozois (featuring a new Lord John story by Diana Gabaldon)

By the Pale Moonlight by Jennifer Hendren

The Comrades by Lynne Sears Williams

The Black Hawk by Joanna Bourne

Lure by Deborah Kerbel

Dutchman's Puzzle by Marte Brengle

The Finnish Line by Linda Gerber

3 other forumites' books that I read this year:
Pirate's Price by Darlene Marshall
The Scent of Shadows by Vicki Pettersson (skimmed)
Rowing in Eden by Barbara Rogan

New books by blogging buddies (links are to reviews):
Blindsight by Kait Nolan
Devil's Eye by Kait Nolan (novella)
Red by Kait Nolan
Build A Man by Talli Roland
Watching Willow Watts by Talli Roland
Dogsled Dreams by Terry Lynn Johnson
Byzantine Provocateur by Melissa Bradley
Legacy by Kate Kaynak
Life, Liberty and Pursuit by Susan Kaye Quinn
String Bridge by Jessica Bell
Heroes 'Til Curfew by Susan Bischoff
The Toilet Business by Stacey Wallace Benefiel
Immortal Champion by Lisa Hendrix
Craving Perfect by Liz Fichera
Maddie's Marine by Lynne Raye Harris

New books reviewed on the One Hundred Romances blog:
When Harriet Came Home by Coleen Kwan
The Girl Most Likely by Jana Richards
Flawless by Jana Richards
Maybe This Time by Jannine Gallant
Hearts in Darkness by Laura Kaye
Don't Quote Me by Charlie Kramer
The Kraken's Mirror by Maureen O. Betita
Double Take by Kerri Nelson
The Wrong Target by Sherry Gloag
Fairies Forever by Ellen Margret

A Wing and A Prayer by Ginger Simpson (short story)
Pilgrim For Love by Anna Austen Leigh

Other new books:
The Darling Strumpet: A Novel of Nell Gwynn, Who Captured the Heart of England and King Charles II by Gillian Bagwell
The Day of the Pelican by Katherine Paterson
The Inheritance by Simon Tolkien
Nicholas St North and the Battle of the Nightmare King by William Joyce and Laura Geringer
Unearthly Asylum by PJ Bracegirdle
Pandaemonium by Christopher Brookmyre
The Summer of Skinny Dipping by Amanda Howells
An Object of Beauty by Steve Martin

Rereads: Diana Gabaldon's Outlander, Zan Marie Steadham's An Easter Walk and A Christmas Walk, J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and The Tales of Beedle the Bard, Kait Nolan's Blindsight, J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings (yearly reread) and The Silmarillion, and Mad's Maddest Artist Don Martin Bounces Back.

My tastes definitely don't change much. Lots of YA, Tolkien, Gabaldon, Christie... Fewer rereads this year, though.

Stories/Authors I didn't like: The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen (too much tell and no sympathetic characters), The Constant Princess by Philippa Gregory (a strange jumpy writing style), and The Darling Strumpet: A Novel of Nell Gwynn, Who Captured the Heart of England and King Charles II by Gillian Bagwell (too many vignettes and not enough real story).

Last year there were two authors, Libba Bray and Thomas Cobb (the film version of Crazy Heart was much better). One author in 2009 (Ilyas Halil) and three authors (Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Ian McEwan and Ian Rankin) and one story ("Hairball" by Margaret Atwood) in 2008.

Otherwise, I was very moved by many of the books I read this year (including The Restoration by Rose Tremain, The Finnish Line by Linda Gerber, The Book of Tomorrow by Cecilia Ahern, Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen, The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson, and Lure by Deborah Kerbel), so much so that I've added a new category:

Books that made me cry:
The Scottish Prisoner by Diana Gabaldon
Outlander (20th Anniversary edition) by Diana Gabaldon (reread, except for the new bits)
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling (reread)
The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien (yearly reread)
Rowing in Eden by Barbara Rogan
The Only Alien on the Planet by Kristen Randle
This and That by Emily Carr
The Summer of Skinny Dipping by Amanda Howells
Dancing Through the Snow by Jean Little
Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay
The Day of the Pelican by Katherine Paterson
Fifteen by Beverly Cleary

Youngest books: The Frog Wedding by Maggy L., Les Oiseaux by Germano Zullo and Albertine, and The Little Golden Book About Cats. As usual I got at least one toddler book in there. And there were quite a few Middle Grade books, just as in the last three years.

Fluff but Fun books: Andy Capp, MAD, and an Archie. Seems to be fewer than the past three years.

Books/Authors I'd recommend: All the Forumites listed above! And, of course, my old favourites, if you haven't read them yet - Tolkien, Lewis, Sayers, etc. - and all the authors I reread, as well as all the Middle Grade and Young Adult books. The last two years I said I'd recommend the entire list, but this year... not so much.

Shortest book: Besides the short stories, the youngest books, Andy Capp, Archie, and MAD, I suppose the shortest would be The Tales of Beedle the Bard, same as in 2008 and 2010, and The Object Lesson by Edward Gorey.

Longest book: Not counting anthologies, or research books (loved Graves' The Long Weekend), the longest are the same as last year, Tolkien and Sayers, as well as Gabaldon, The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan, and the Girl With the Dragon Tattoo series. Our houseparties come close, as usual, and in 2009 and 2008 it was Tolkien and Gabaldon.

Research books:

The Long Weekend by Robert Graves and Alan Hodge - about England between the wars. I couldn't resist reading this, as it's part of my favourite era, and counts as research to the story I hope to wrote after the next one.
The Ode Less Travelled by Stephen Fry - poetry! I wrote a gazel for Rosa's story, Out of the Water.
Tireli Hafsa Hatun: Yildirim Han Zevcesi by Mahmut Ozay - a Turkish novella; a romance. Slightly later than my era, but I picked up a few tips on old-fashioned Ottoman treatment of disease.
Wildflowers of Turkey by Nazan Ozturk - not half so useful as:
The Natural History of the Mediterranean by Tegwyn Harris - I'm still constantly referring to this book for information on plants and animals.
Cultures in Conflict by Bernard Lewis - an exploration of Islam meeting Christianity.
The Book of Good Love - this is the book that Rosa reads during her voyage to Constantinople.
A Panorama of the Renaissance - A Folio Society edition, full of colour photographs and illustrations, kind of like a hardcover Wikipedia.
The Constant Princess by Philippa Gregory - I didn't really like Gregory's style of writing (this was the first book of hers I'd read), so I kept reading for research purposes, since the novel takes place just a few years after my story's time.

Books from the 19th Century: None! This is dismal, compared to the past few years. I'd better read some more Dickens and Stevenson, at least.

Books from 1900-1960: Only 12 novels and two short stories. There were 27 such books in 2010, 17 in 2009, and in 2008 this time period made up 1/4 of my list. This is the first year in a while I've read a lot of new books - odd, for me.

Honourable mention goes to The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson, which is all about growing up in a small midwestern US town in the 50s.

I also had four beta reads this year! Very exciting. And, finally, here's the list of poems, besides the handwritten list of poems read:

Winter Has Waned by Nahum
Writer and The Pen by Shem Tov Ardutiel
The Lord Is Good and So I'm Tormented by Todros Abulafia
London by William Blake
The Brook by Alfred Lord Tennyson
At the Round Earth's Imagined Corners by John Donne
A First Attempt in Rhyme by Thomas Hood
Talking Turkey by Benjamin Zephaniah
Lesson for A Boy by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Red Beauty by Gerard Manley Hopkins
The Oak by Alfred, Lord Tennyson
I think that I shall never see by Ron Wodaski
Some keep the Sabbath going to Church by Emily Dickinson
As kingfishers catch fire... by Gerard Manley Hopkins
The Writer's Bestiary by Zan Marie Steadham
The Sparrow's Nest by Wordsworth
Der Erkolnig by Goethe
Philosophy 34 by Irving Layton (reread)
The Mother Mourns by Thomas Hardy
Lullaby by W. H. Auden
Composed Upon Westminster Bridge by William Wordsworth
Shakespeare's Eighteenth Sonnet (shall I compare thee...) (reread)
The West's Awake by Thomas Osborne Davis

Last year I stopped reading the following and I still haven't finished them:
An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon (first reread)
Journey to the Alhambra by Washington Irving
A Farewell To Arms by Ernest Hemingway (reread)
Warriors (anthology, featuring a new short story by Diana Gabaldon)
An Acceptable Time by Madeleine l'Engle
All My Life Before Me, the diary of C. S. Lewis
"Parma Eldalamberon" 14 and 18: Tengwesta Qenderinwa and Pre-Fëanorian Alphabets by J. R. R. Tolkien
Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan

This year we have the following to add, though I hope to finish the first three this week:
Poems from the Edge of Spring by Elise Skidmore
Unfinished Tales by J. R. R. Tolkien (reread)
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
The Great Explorers
Niccolo Rising by Dorothy Dunnett

Whew! There you have it! Hope everyone else had a fun year of reading!

If you'd like, you can visit Theresa and check out her list, or hop over to Raelyn's and peruse hers.

What were some of your favourite books?

Books Read in 2011

2012-01-04T07:29:00.001-05:00

ere's the full, unedited, list!

Nicholas St North and the Battle of the Nightmare King by William Joyce and Laura Geringer
The Long Weekend by Robert Graves and Alan Hodge
Lord Johnnie by Leslie T. White
The Cat Who Went Up the Creek by Lilian Jackson Braun
Murder Must Advertise by Dorothy L. Sayers
The Scent of Shadows by Vicki Pettersson (skimmed)
The Cat Who Robbed a Bank by Lilian Jackson Braun
Rowing in Eden by Barbara Rogan
A Christmas Walk by Zan Marie Steadham (reread)
The Inheritance by Simon Tolkien
The Only Alien on the Planet by Kristen Randle
The Scottish Prisoner by Diana Gabaldon
When Harriet Came Home by Coleen Kwan
The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets' Nest by Stieg Larsson
Dogsled Dreams by Terry Lynn Johnson
The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
secret beta read!
Samuel Johnson's Lives of the Poets, the Rochester chapter
Allured, short story by Theresa Milstein in Fangtales, a new YA anthology
short story in Fangtales, a new YA anthology
short story by Brian Doyle in Hoping For Home, a Dear Canada collection
Build A Man by Talli Roland
By the Pale Moonlight by Jennifer Hendren
This and That by Emily Carr
The Comrades by Lynne Sears Williams
Fifteen by Beverly Cleary
Down These Strange Streets (anthology) edited by George R. R. Martin and G. Dozois (featuring a new Lord John story by Diana Gabaldon)
The Girl Most Likely by Jana Richards
The Silmarillion by J. R. R. Tolkien (reread)
String Bridge by Jessica Bell
The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien (yearly reread)
The Doll by J. C. Martin (short story)
Flawless by Jana Richards
Blindsight by Kait Nolan (reread)
Red by Kait Nolan
Unearthly Asylum by PJ Bracegirdle
The Black Hawk by Joanna Bourne
Impulse Control by Susan Bischoff (short story)
Heroes 'Til Curfew by Susan Bischoff
Watching Willow Watts by Talli Roland
The Cat Who Went Into the Closet by Lilian Jackson Braun
random articles from Reader's Digest back issues from 1964-1968
The Frog Wedding by Maggy L.
Birds That Streak the Sky by Corinne Stikeman (short story)
The Toilet Business by Stacey Wallace Benefiel
The Ransom of Red Chief by O. Henry (short story)
The Doll House by Katherine Mansfield (short story)
Pandaemonium by Christopher Brookmyre
Winter Has Waned by Nahum (poem)
Writer and The Pen by Shem Tov Ardutiel (2 poems)
The Lord Is Good and So I'm Tormented by Todros Abulafia (poem)
Life, Liberty and Pursuit by Susan Kaye Quinn
The Summer of Skinny Dipping by Amanda Howells (brilliant. I cried and cried)
The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J K Rowling (reread)
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J K Rowling (reread)
Maybe This Time by Jannine Gallant
Outlander (20th Anniversary edition) (reread) (except for new material)
Hearts in Darkness by Laura Kaye
another secret beta!
James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
List of poetry at http://thegirdleofmelian.blogspot.com/2011/06/mall-at-end-of-time-and-poetry.html
The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen
The Ode Less Travelled by Stephen Fry
2 secret betas!
Maddie's Marine by Lynne Raye Harris
Les Oiseaux by Germano Zullo and Albertine
Blindsight by Kait Nolan
Craving Perfect by Liz Fichera
Dancing Through the Snow by Jean Little
The Brook by Alfred Lord Tennyson (poem)
The Cat Who Saw Stars by Lilian Jackson Braun
London by William Blake (poem)
The Organization MAD
The Invisible MAD
MAD's Don Martin Presents Captain Klutz II
None of Your Lip Andy Capp by Smythe
At the Round Earth's Imagined Corners by John Donne (poem)
A First Attempt in Rhyme by Thomas Hood (poem)
Talking Turkey by Benjamin Zephaniah (poem)
Lesson for A Boy by Samuel Taylor Coleridge (poem)
Red Beauty by Gerard Manley Hopkins (poem)
The Oak by Alfred, Lord Tennyson (poem)
I think that I shall never see by Ron Wodaski (poem)
Some keep the Sabbath going to Church by Emily Dickinson (poem)
As kingfishers catch fire... by Gerard Manley Hopkins (poem)
The Writer's Bestiary by Zan Marie Steadham (poem)
Don't Quote Me by Charlie Kramer
The Natural History of the Mediterranean by Tegwyn Harris (constant skimming for research)
Mad's Maddest Artist Don Martin Bounces Back (reread)
Help! I'm a Prisoner in the Library by Eth Clifford
Lost in the Post by Amelia Carr, The Day Aunt Edith Danced by Amanda Hodgkinson and Virtual Mum by Lucinda Riley - 3 short stories in the May/June 2011 issue of Woman's Own
The Cat Who Played Brahms by Lilian Jackson Braun
The Restoration by Rose Tremain
The Kraken's Mirror by Maureen O. Betita
The Finnish Line by Linda Gerber
Philosophy 34 by Irving Layton (poem) (reread)
The Book of General Ignorance by John Lloyd and John Mitchinson (foreword by Stephen Fry) (skimmed)
Tireli Hafsa Hatun Yildirim Han Zevcesi by Mahmut Ozay (novella)
Wildflowers of Turkey by Nazan Ozturk
My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George
Shakespeare's Eighteenth Sonnet (shall I compare thee...) (reread)
The Book of Tomorrow by Cecilia Ahern
Archie Laugh comic from 1989
The Mother Mourns by Thomas Hardy 9poem)
Cultures in Conflict by Bernard Lewis
An Easter Walk by ZanMarie Steadham (reread)
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen (Book Club #3)
Immortal Champion by Lisa Hendrix
Lullaby by W. H. Auden (poem)
The Book of Good Love
A Big Boy Did It And Ran Away by Christopher Brookmyre
Double Take by Kerri Nelson
The Man With Two Left Feet and other stories by P. G. Wodehouse (genius)
An Object of Beauty by Steve Martin (yes, that Steve Martin. Brilliant book. Read it now!)
The Sickness by Steve Fuller
The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson (brilliant!)
The Sparrow's Nest by Wordsworth (poem)
Der Erkolnig by Goethe (poem)
PhD thesis by Ryan Bevan
two essays and Connie Bronson (short story) by Marilynne Robinson
Byzantine Provocateur by Melissa Bradley
A Panorama of the Renaissance (Folio Society Edition)
Pirate's Price by Darlene Marshall
After the Night by Linda Howard (counts as research, right?) (skimmed last half)
Cursed Gold by Lois. D Brown (short story)
The Little Golden Book About Cats
The Wrong Target by Sherry Gloag
Dutchman's Puzzle by Marte Brengle
The West's Awake by Thomas Osborne Davis
The Darling Strumpet: A Novel of Nell Gwynn, Who Captured the Heart of England and King Charles II by Gillian Bagwell (too many vignettes and not enough real story)
Composed Upon Westminster Bridge by William Wordsworth
Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay
The Constant Princess by Philippa Gregory (mainly for research. I don't like her style much...)
Fairies Forever by Ellen Margret
The Object Lesson by Edward Gorey
The Day of the Pelican by Katherine Paterson
The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan
The Wedding by Julie Garwood (skimmed)
The Bride by Julie Garwood (skimmed - all the head hopping was driving me crazy)
Devil's Eye by Kait Nolan (novella)
Lure by Deborah Kerbel
Legacy by Kate Kaynak
A Wing and A Prayer by Ginger Simpson (short story)
Pilgrim For Love by Anna Austen Leigh

Toast the Professor and ROW80 Starts Again

2012-01-01T19:21:00.002-05:00

uesday is the 120th anniversary of J. R. R. Tolkien's birth.

Join us in a toast, hosted by the Tolkien Society!

"To celebrate this event, on this day each year Tolkien fans around the world [are] invited to raise a glass and toast the birthday of this much loved author 21:00 (9 pm) your local time.

The toast is "The Professor".

For those unfamiliar with British toast-drinking ceremonies:

To make the Birthday Toast, you stand, raise a glass of your choice of drink (not necessarily alcoholic), and say the words 'The Professor' before taking a sip (or swig, if that's more appropriate for your drink). Sit and enjoy the rest of your drink."

If I can obtain some, I'll be sipping Lagavulin or The Glenlivet.

Don't forget, the second year of A Round of Words in 80 Days starts today with round 1 of 2012! Set your goals now! And don't worry, you can always change them as you go along.

Mine are as follows:

send out queries for Out of the Water

print out Ayten's story and do a read through, writing any missing scenes (such as the, er, ending)

edit my plot bunny story

Happy new year to everyone!

And don't forget, the Whisky Trench Riders' second album, Underneath the Tavern Sign, is coming out soon! Listen to the first three tracks for free on ReverbNation.

30 Things I Want To Do, Coda

2011-12-30T08:34:00.027-05:00

xactly two years ago I posted a list of 30 Things I Want To Do.

I thought it might be fun to revisit the list and see if I've done any of those things or if I even still want to do some of the items...

1. Find an agent for my novels! [this is still top of the list!]

2. Pick out and decorate a real Christmas tree [hmm... Talli Roland picked out a real tree this year! But not me...]

3. Visit all 50 states (15 down, 35 to go) [27 to go! I've seen 8 new States in the past two years]

4. Drive from London to Istanbul (taking the Dover-Calais ferry, not the Chunnel, natch) [definitely still on the list, this one]

5. Actually finish reading all the books I own (see 180 list below) [I'm working on it, I swear!]

6. Have a proper English library [yea, this will take some time]

7. Spend some time being a boat and fishing person [someday...]

8. Snowshoe [someday soon?]

9. Travel more in Europe. Actually use all the German and Welsh and Swedish and Russian and Spanish I've learned [this might be on the agenda for this coming spring]

10. Ride on a fast horse [anyone own a ranch?]

11. Practice archery [or a bow and arrow?]

12. Play more golf [you'd think this would be easy to do]

13. Milk a cow, make yogurt, churn butter, that sort of thing [anyone own a farm?]

14. See The Divine Comedy and Gyllene Tider and Runrig in concert [I wish!]

15. Attend the Surrey International Writers' Conference [this is a tentative plan for this year, since it's the 20th anniversary of the conference]

16. Stay at the Algonquin Hotel, NYC [especially now that Matilda needs more kindness!]

17. Watch more old movies from the 50s and earlier [hmm...]

18. Get a Master's Degree and write my thesis on Tolkien [ah yes. Still a goal.]

19. Subscribe to the NME or Q or Mojo or the New York Times [only if the price goes down]

20. Use my CrockPot and juicer [juicer yes, crock pot fail]

21. Grow a garden [not with my black thumb!]

22. Complete my state coins collection (only missing Texas, California, Minnesota, Nebraska, South Dakota, Washington and Alaska!) [I've got Minnesota and South Dakota now!]

23. Ski [this is never going to happen. No one ever wants to go cross-country skiing with me]

24. Learn how to cure olives and attend an olive pressing (for oil) [anyone own an olive farm?]

25. Read more books in different languages [see number five]

26. Attend Festival in the Shire in Machynlleth! [unfortunately we might visit the UK in spring and the festival's in August!]

27. Visit Saint Catherine's monastery at Mount Sinai and Sumela monastery at Trabzon [someday...]

28. Watch a cat give birth (or another animal) in real life and not on YouTube [see number thirteen]

29. Visit Patagonia and Antarctica and Australia and other far places [see number nineteen]

30. Really learn how to crochet and spin [I'm trying!]

What's on your list?

Review, Giveaway, Typewriter and A Second Book in the Wild

2011-12-28T08:47:00.024-05:00

y latest review is up over at the 100 Romances Blog! This time I'm talking about When Harriet Came Home by Coleen Kwan.

Pam had a post the other day about sounds that have disappeared, which you can hear over at the NPR site for lost sounds. I still long for an old-fashioned typewriter, but I've heard there's only one store left in New York City that sells ribbons for such typewriters. I suspect they stay open thanks to Woody Allen, who has been using the same typewriter for 50 years. Lucky guy.

Julie Dao's having a giveaway to celebrate 400 followers! And one of her prizes is a copy of Outlander, so if you haven't yet started Diana Gabaldon's series, now's your chance. I mean, just look how happy her books make us:

That's Aven holding her copy of The Scottish Prisoner (part two of my Books in the Wild, inspired by Random Acts of Reading). Got a book in the wild? Send it on to me or Random Acts!

Shakespeare and Company, a New Paranormal Romance, and a Bookshop Cat

2011-12-26T00:35:00.001-05:00

isited Shakespeare and Company ages ago, so I'm afraid I have no photos, unless I dig them out from an album and scan them. I've only been there twice; the first time I bought the history of the bookstore, and the second time, a couple of copies of Julian Barnes books I already had (no point really, but for some reason back then I liked owning different editions of books I enjoyed).

The founder of Shakespeare and Company has now passed away. Publishers Weekly featured a nice memorial the other day.

"George Whitman's death indeed marks the end of an era on the Paris bookselling scene. Even in an age when online retailers and e-books seem to hold sway in the book industry, though, Shakespeare & Co. surely will thrive, continuing to draw customers to the little bookshop near the Seine, with its slightly-dilapidated façade, the cute little courtyard in front filled during store hours with bookcarts, the wishing well in the center of the main floor, and especially the rabbit warren of rooms on three floors, all filled with books, that can be accessed only by climbing rickety stairs."

Even though I trawl secondhand bookshops less often than I used to, that sort of space - often featuring a resident cat - will always be my favourite place to browse and make discoveries. Amazon is (generally) cheap and (usually) convenient for instantly placing orders when I know which books I want. But you'll never make a serendipitous find or uncover a dusty treasure through an internet portal.

New releases are another story! Entangled Publishing has a great book coming out in the next week or two: Tiffany Allee's Banshee Charmer (From the Files of the Otherworlder Enforcement Agency, #1), a paranormal romance.

"When she's sent to a crime scene and finds her second dead woman in as many weeks, half-banshee detective Kiera "Mac" McLoughlin is convinced a serial killer is on the loose. Incubi are extinct, her boss insists. But what else can kill a woman in the throes of pleasure? When her partner is murdered after using witchcraft to locate the killer and Mac is thrown off the case, her frustration turns to desperation.

Certain the killer is an incubus, Mac works behind her department's back to chase down slim, sometimes perilous leads. While the killer eludes her, she does discover handsome Aidan Byrne, an investigative counterpart from the enigmatic Otherworlder Enforcement Agency. Mac typically runs her investigations fast and hard, but with Aidan at her side, she’s running this one "hot" as well. But Aiden knows more than he's letting on—something that could shatter their blazing romance and add Mac to the killer's growing body count..."

Back to bookshops. Here, for instance, is the Owl's Nest Bookstore in Fredericton, New Brunswick. How can you not love this space?

What kind of book person are you?

The Ring Goes South

2011-12-23T16:44:00.018-05:00

ndulge me a little.

It was this time many many years ago that the Fellowship of the Ring set out from the Last Homely House.

In honour of that anniversary - I'm a little behind on this, but I only recently discovered that Ian McKellen was blogging during the filming of The Lord of the Rings - I'd like to quote a little of Ian McKellen on the nature of Gandalf:

"I have never felt that these commercialisations of his image impinged on Gandalf himself. When I'm asked to sign Gandalf as well as my own name by importunate autograph hunters, I explain that Gandalf doesn't give autographs and I remember how Alistair Sim always refused, often really upsetting the juvenile with her album. If anyone persists I also explain that Gandalf isn't here with us. Last week I went on to say that Gandalf doesn't exist! Although of course he does.

Gandalf is a spirit, laid down in Tolkien's novels with love and respect. The wizard and his creator had more in common than a bowl of weed. Isn't Gandalf the old man that Tolkien (and many more of us) would like to be? I wouldn't mind having a few tricks like his up my sleeve and I would be pleased to have a life as active and fulfilled as Gandalf's. Is that why he is so beloved and respected by the readers and now the filmgoers?

I like him for his sense of humour and sense of occasion. I like his independence and need for company. Kids, some as young as five, look wonderingly up as their grandparents introduce us, searching for Gandalf in my face. I hope they feel as I did aged three sitting on Father Christmas's knee in the grotto of our local store in Wigan. I could see it was a cotton-wool beard and it didn't fit. This wasn't the real Santa Claus. He was elsewhere preparing my stocking. The real Gandalf is elsewhere and I bet those kids know it because they trust him and love him like their grandad." —Ian McKellen, October 2003

Now there's a character that lives on.

Bodleian Treasures on the Last Day Before Reading Week

2011-12-21T08:06:00.030-05:00

at chasing its own tail...

Well, not quite. But I am scrambling to print out Ayten's story for future editing, clear emails, reply to all lovely commenters, organize the piles of paper I've accumulated in the past month or so, and arrange the To Be Read stacks.

Reading Week starts tomorrow. Mmm, blankets and cocoa and books...

Part of the piles of paper involves random writing tips that I collect, including this, from an older Nathan Bransford post on John Green's Looking for Alaska:

"Every single interaction between Pudge and Alaska advances their relationship in a series of incremental steps that swing between positive and negative emotion, with each interaction more intense than the last. ... The variance between up and down moments creates suspense as the reader wonders which way it's going to end up going, and since we feel each up and down more acutely than the last, the reader becomes increasingly invested in the relationship. Each time the line swings up to a positive experience it feels earned because Pudge had to suffer through the last negative one.

Too often when aspiring writers try to craft jousting or intense relationships between characters, the relationships will feel one-note because the characters have roughly the same level of interactions over the course of the book with, say, a positive spike at the end if the they get together. They may well be interesting characters, but when every interaction between them ends in the same mixed place, there isn't the same feeling of investment and suspense. If the relationship doesn't grow in intensity or change dynamics, the reader will very quickly decide they know what they need to know about the relationship and won't be that interested in where it ends up.

On the other hand, when the relationship-o-meter swings between positive and negative poles it feels more true to life. Add increasing intensity and the reader won't be able to turn the page fast enough to see what happens."

Reason 76498953 for why I wish I lived in the UK (part two) - treasures from the Bodleian! Luckily, many of these are available online, including these:

Notebook of poems by Gerard Manley Hopkins:

The first ten Penguin books (I've only read Sayers and Christie):

Wilfrid Owen's Anthem for Doomed Youth:

J. R. R. Tolkien's Conversation with Smaug:

Best ROW80 Update Ever - I've Finished Editing!

2011-12-18T09:14:00.006-05:00

ow!

As of this weekend, I've finished ALL the editing for Out of the Water, Rosa and Baha's story.

That's it! It's over! No more tweaking or tinkering! Now the querying starts...

Sort of. I'm going to collate a few query letters this week, but only start sending them out in January. Here's my pitch:

Eighteen-year-old Rosa becomes separated from her family as they flee their Spanish homeland – and the Inquisition. Now her life is in the hands of a stranger, Baha, an artist from the Ottoman Empire. He is her one hope of reaching Constantinople and reuniting with her family. As they travel together, Rosa's drive to find her loved ones is matched by a deepening desire for the man at her side.

Despite her family's refusal to accept her marriage to a man of a different faith, when janissaries arrest her father and brother, Rosa and Baha risk everything to rescue them. Together they will prove that their love can withstand their differences... if the Grand Vizier doesn't throw them both into the dungeons first.

I've come so far with these two. I do hope I can launch them into the world and share them with lots of readers.

Meanwhile, Kristen Callihan's Firelight is coming soon!

Publisher's Weekly (as an aside, I've paid attention to Publisher's Weekly reviews ever since I was a kid - I noticed early on that all my favourite novels always had a favourable PW review on the back cover) gave Kristen a starred review!

"Debut author Callihan pens a compelling Victorian paranormal with heart and soul. Miranda Ellis has an unearthly talent for creating fire from thin air. Lord Benjamin Archer has lived for decades under the influence of a dark curse and wears a black mask over his disfigured face. After Miranda’s family is ruined, she weds Benjamin for his money and is surprised when passion and romance follow. Shortly after the wedding, Benjamin stands accused of a gruesome series of homicides. As he and Miranda hunt the true killer, Miranda soon sees the innocent, passionate man behind the mask, while wary Benjamin begins to trust in his wife's love even though it endangers them both. Readers will cheer for the couple, especially when the obstacles piled in their paths appear unsurmountable. The compulsively readable tale will leave this new author’s fans eager for her next book."

In other book news, Kait Nolan's Red is out in paperback!

Here's my review of Red. Funny, I haven't reviewed Firelight yet. But Publisher's Weekly got it spot on with "Readers will cheer for the couple, especially when the obstacles piled in their paths appear unsurmountable." Add it to your wishlist!

How Do You Select Contest Winners?

2011-12-16T07:23:00.016-05:00

ow do you choose your contest winners?

I realised that, while I posted the winner of my 300 Followers (yay!) giveaway on Wednesday, I forgot to show exactly how Zan Marie won.

So here you have the patented Deniz method of random selection:

Numbers corresponding to the entrants are written on scraps of paper and displayed for the benefit of Sam:

What do I do with them? he wonders

Perhaps if I keep staring...

Frodo offers to help

Let me first investigate these small bits...

Then I'm going to stare in a pensive fashion

And, here it is. This is the one.

There you have it. Foolproof!

Regular writerly posting will resume Sunday!

Giveaway Winner and Reading a Book is Like the Star Trek Revolving Door

2011-12-14T08:11:00.041-05:00

here's an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation that features a revolving door on a planet in the middle of nowhere.

The characters step through the door and enter a Vegas-style hotel called The Royale – darkness and void behind them, and light and music and people on the inside.

That's what reading is like. (Never mind that, on the show, they're trying desperately to escape.)

Some books you read as you revolve in the door, and you come out the other side having gone nowhere.

Other books bring you into a sort of vestibule, and you hang out in the lobby for a while.

Then there are the real books, the good books. You take one step into that revolving door and a wind of language shoots you forward and you stumble into an entire world, filled with laughter and tears and a host of people you're so glad, so proud to be with. That same wind had better return and push you back out the door or you'll never leave.

It's a breathtaking rush, that feeling of dropping in amongst characters you'd be honoured to have smile at you, and stories that linger inside you for days and weeks and years.

These are the books that make you keep reading, that you would love to write.

I've been very fortunate - this weekend, I read two such books. One was Diana Gabaldon's The Scottish Prisoner.

And the other was Kristen D. Randle's The Only Alien on the Planet.

"He never speaks. He never makes eye contact. No one has ever touched him. They say he's retarded. Autistic. Strange. His name is Smitty, but everyone calls him "The Alien," and Ginny is intrigued. She's been feeling like an alien in a strange world since she and her family moved here from the West Coast. Against her first impulse, Ginny vows to make contact with Smitty. To be his friend.

But still waters run deep. And Smitty is like the ocean. Ginny soon finds herself being sucked under – going out too far. But Smitty is the one who could drown. Because the world he's created is safe from love, from pain, from everything. There's no room for anyone else. At least – till Ginny comes along..."

As Ginny says: "That's what I love about good films and good books – you can climb right into them and be there. I just hate it when I'm doing that, and then somebody butts in and messes with my concentration."

Randle writes in the tradition of Norma Fox Mazer, E. L. Konigsburg, and two other books that made me cry in the last few months: Looking for Alaska and The Summer of Skinny Dipping.

Giveaway winner!

Thanks to all my 300+ followers! The winner of the contest is...

Zan Marie!

Let me know which of the four books you'd like, Zan Marie.

Speaking of contests, guess what? Katharine at the Insect Collector is giving away awesome bug prints like this one:

I wish I could draw like that.

Aaaaannnnnd... here's the revolving door:

ROW80 Update, Book Links and a Book in the Wild!

2011-12-11T11:15:00.000-05:00

ropped off the internet for a day and a half while I was reading this:

Reading Diana Gabaldon's books is not only an exciting, touching, moving (funny and sad) experience, but also a great way, if one is an author, to fill up one's well of words and rhythm.

That said, I've got three big projects on the go at the moment: finishing the edits to Out of the Water; typing up the last few scenes of Ayten's story and adding some more; and completing the revision of my plot bunny story.

As for links, Adam Heine recently posted a comparative list of his novels and milestones. I've got too many to list here, and probably wouldn't remember the details accurately enough. But I did come across hilarious-to-read-now statistics I posted last August (2010) in reference to Out of the Water:

WIP Title: Out of the Water
Author: Deniz Bevan
Genre: YA historical, set in 1492
Stage: First draft, book 1
(53,000/ 70,000 words complete)

It was a month or so later that the book's genre changed to historical romance (the Cherry Hill houseparty was three months gone, and the Constantinople houseparty was in full swing), and that I realised 70,000 was hardly enough to tell the story. By June 2011 I had c. 140,000 words. Yet now I've got too many, and I've been cutting ever since. At 119,000 at the moment and going down...

Nadja's Twelve Days of Christmas has officially begun! Check out the list of awesome books and authors that are featured, and don't forget to leave a comment to win one of the featured titles.

Random Acts of Reading have an ongoing Books in the Wild series, and now I've got one, a book in its natural habitat - in Germany (though the book is in English)!

The giveaway in my last post continues until Wednesday!

So you still have time to comment and win one of four books.

300 Followers Giveaway!

2011-12-09T08:00:00.022-05:00

ow that I've done the reading pile and the writing to do list...

What about some new books?

Singing Dragon Books in the United Kingdom is re-releasing Evelyn Eaton's last and finest novel, Go Ask the River, on December 15 - just in time for the anniversary of Eaton's 109th birthday. More information here, including a review from the now-defunct Montreal Star.

Carol's playing a Finish This Story game! Head over and add your sentence.

My latest review - of Jana Richards' The Girl Most Likely - is up at the 100 Romances Blog.

Get your books in now! The One Hundred Romances Project will cease taking review requests for 2011 publications at the end of this week. Submit requests by midnight tomorrow, or wait for us to re-open to submissions for 2012 publications in January.

Resia Stone's latest, Baba's Kitchen: Ukrainian Soul Food with Stories From the Village is out now! Here's Baba herself:

"Why is call Ukrainian Soul Food? Yizha dusha, soul food, is powerful thing. Dusha, soul, is fierce vitality force. It is roaring flame you cannot put out, inside cage of thick flesh and hard bone. Not some kind airing fairy floating around like chiffon scarf. That is Nu Age barfola. Baba going to show you Old Age. Ha! Food is for create more life force, make nourish your soul as well your physical body. You need more? Baba so generous, she give you recipe. Click on Free Sample button to read all about."

Thank you to all 301 of my followers!

Yes, there's a giveaway!

All you have to do is comment on this post and you'll be entered into a draw to

win your choice of the books listed in this post:

there's romance, YA, nonfiction and a historical.

(If you choose Carol's book, you'll have to wait for its release!)

Insecure Writers' Support Group and Houseparties and 300 Followers

2011-12-07T08:12:00.000-05:00

ur Insecure Writers' Support Group meets again!

Welcome, all writers.

Today let's revisit the best cure for writer's block I know:

The writers' houseparty!

Last year, I wrote a guest post on Kait Nolan's blog, describing what these houseparties are:

Houseparties are a great way to thrust your characters out of their familiar worlds and learn things about them that you may not have known before. Writing for a houseparty is just like writing your first draft – fast paced and fluid, with no second guessing; anything goes at a houseparty, from magic to skipping between time periods, to anachronistic events and language, to romantic interludes...

Links to all of the previous parties are here.

I mention all this as we've just had another party! This time the setting was the Madcap Mansion. Anything goes at these parties, you know.

Having raced, out of breath, to the finish line at NaNo, it felt great to reconnect with Ayten and Devran on a less structured level. After the Constantinople Houseparty, I asked: "Houseparties are so fast and exciting and fun; what if the novel seems dull after this?"

The answer seems obvious now - you know you're hitting the right notes in the novel when it moves as swiftly as a houseparty.

Don't forget to participate in the giveaways for Nadja's 12 Days of Christmas Reading Gift List!

Speaking of giveaways, I've passed 300 followers! Thank you everyone! There'll be prizes soon, I promise.

Traditions and Resolutions and Little Christmas

2011-12-04T09:31:00.052-05:00

welve days of Christmas. No, I won't start singing about a partridge. This is a literary twelve days!

The final task in the Literary Resolutions for 2011 is to: Buy books, give books, talk about books, and spread your love of literature throughout the holidays.

I can't think of anything more fun, and actually, it fits right in with my own goals, as seen in the post below.

Also, Nadja's hosting a Twelve Days of Christmas gift list starting on 10 December. Be sure to stop by!

One of my favourite Christmas stories, besides the Christmas story itself, is Agnes Sligh Turnbull's Little Christmas.

I read it for the first time ages ago in an issue of Reader's Digest from the 1960s, and only recently found out that it's actually a longer novel. The story as I read it (I have a feeling Reader's Digest excised quite a bit) is very sweet, about a couple and their two children who come together for the holidays and the family dramas that ensue - until the mother recreates the Christmas traditions from when the kids were younger, and they work through their problems.

Aw, I know it sounds cheesy when told like that (I can't even write my own books' blurbs!). But now you have a chance to read it for yourself - I've found a copy printed in the Australian Women's Weekly!

"Suddenly a soft, startled flush rose in Margaret's cheeks. She sat there thinking intently, and then she spoke aloud. 'Little Christmas!' she repeated over and over again. 'Little Christmas; now, today, and mine if I want it!'"

(There's a weird quote about Englishwomen as wives in the margins of the newspaper; I can't tell if it's meant to be a joke or not.)

Which are your favourite Christmas tales?

The Teetering, Toppling To Read Pile

2011-12-02T07:39:00.026-05:00

ooks, books, and more books.

I have a plan. It involves lots of hard work on editing and preparing queries for Out of the Water, and printing and doing at least one read through of Verse, Venice and Viziers (which still needs a title change, as they're in Rome not Venice).

All of that will be done from now until 22 December. And then!

Ah, yes, and then. I'll be off work from then until 3 January. And the plan is: To Read. To plough through the To Read piles. To devour books at the rate I used to before I devoted time to my own.

See what I'm up against:

180 Books to read by 2015 (list on the left)

The pile in the closet:

The three piles and shelf by the bed, including rereads:

The pile at work:

And there are at least twenty other random books scattered about the house.

Here's one more! Our Campaign Challenges book is now in print, and available on Amazon! All proceeds go to Help Harry Help Others to fund research on brain cancer.

I Survived NaNo - Or Did I?

2011-11-30T12:14:00.021-05:00

ou know when you're in a language class and the teacher asks you a question that you simply don't have the vocabulary for?

You fill the air with words, so that instead of saying something as brief as "my grandfather lived in France" you start blabbing.

"My relatives on my father's side two generations back used to reside in France." You use 'backside' instead of 'back' and the wrong conjugation of the verb reside. And if you don't cut yourself off, you sink into even deeper mires of wordiness.

That's what the last week of NaNoWriMo felt like for me. There were certain scenes I knew I needed, but every time I drafted them they came out shorter than intended. I know the book will grow when I go back to add everything that's missing from the drafts (namely any and all description and dialogue tags - the thing looks like an overblown screenplay at the moment), but for now I feel like I've staggered across the finish line, and just want to catch my breath.

I've got a couple of pages still to type up. Then I've got to turn back - and edit Out of the Water based on beta reviews. It feels like a lot of work but hopefully won't require much stress. Or should it? Is a novel not worth it unless all your blood, sweat and tears goes into it at each stage?

Author Sam Sykes had a morale-boosting take on why writers shouldn't despair, just this week: "Your writing moves the way it does. You can nudge it along, you can try marketing techniques, you can try holding your breath and whistling Dixie if you think it'll make your moustache grow quicker. But the only way to succeed at being a writer is to write, no matter what else happens."

For now, I've got this:

Meanwhile, it's Mark Twain's 176th Birthday and Google has a Doodle:

And the awesome Claire Legrand is hosting a giveaway to celebrate the announcement of her second book!

How did everyone else do? And if you're not doing NaNo, where are you on your ROW80 goals?

Talli Roland's Build A Man

2011-11-27T09:46:00.000-05:00

ound of Words check in - I had a dry Friday and got a few hundred words yesterday. Trying to write as much as I can in order to devote the last few days of NaNo to typing them all up.

Meanwhile, though, I've been reading - finally got around to The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo series, and I've also just read Talli Roland's Build A Man, out now on Kindle.

(cover image by India Drummond!)

"How far would you go to create the perfect partner?

Slave to the rich, rude and deluded, cosmetic surgery receptionist Serenity Holland longs for the day she's a high-flying tabloid reporter. Unfortunately, every pitch she sends out disappears like her clients' liposuctioned fat, never to be seen again. Then she meets Jeremy Ritchie -- the hang-dog man determined to be Britain's Most Eligible Bachelor by making himself over from head to toe and everything in between -- giving Serenity a story no editor could resist.

With London's biggest tabloid on board and her very own column tracking Jeremy's progress from dud to dude, Serenity is determined to be a success, even going undercover to gain intimate access to Jeremy's life. But when Jeremy's surgery goes drastically wrong and Serenity is ordered to cover all the car-crash goriness, she must decide how far she really will go for her dream job."

This book was both funny and touching. Serenity draws you in right away - I loved seeing London through her expat eyes and her caustic comments on all the "Botox Bitches". I enjoy the pacing in Talli's books, and this one is no exception - she always has me turning the pages, even if it's past midnight!

I could have used a longer denouement, but that's me, always looking for more romance. Still, it's great know there's a sequel coming, Construct A Couple - yay for more Serenity and Jeremy! Well, of course they get together, what did you expect? But you'll have to read the book to see what happens - it's not necessarily what you'd expect.

Meanwhile, I was a third of the way in before I even realised that the story's told in present tense - the last time that happened was when I read Water for Elephants. Nothing better than a story that feels so real that you forget the craft!

Talli's having a launch party on 7 December:

"Drop by to vote in an interactive poll to construct the 'perfect partner' -- if such a thing exists."

Read the opening chapter of Build A Man here!

Ioan Gruffudd and Character Photos, and Sharing Old Snips

2011-11-25T07:31:00.001-05:00

he other day, Joshua posted a snip from an old work, and then asked me to do the same.

I've already shared my kitchen mystery story, and the strange circus poem I wrote in high school, but here's something else:

First half of an untitled very short story I wrote in 1995:

"gary had a sweetheart, my sweetheart, he called her. she was years younger, it was almost like a father and a daughter; she called him daddy, cos he made her feel happy in a way pops never had. gary was a drunkard like her father but not a bottle-throwing, window-smashing
drunkard, simply a nice chap who grew calm and happy as a child when he was drunk. they had some good times, gary and his sweetheart, lola. other days, it wasn't so tranquil.

but on the nice days, people would come by their flat, people of all kinds. once, they had a circus clown come for dinner, he laughed at odd moments, yet had these long periods of serious silence, when he looked like a chess champion considering his next move. his face would twist up into a determined scowl, and lola asked him if he was trying to solve the problem of world peace. gary laughed, he always laughed or smiled when lola spoke, and suddenly, so did the clown. so they broke out the bottles of wine, and the clown told a few jokes.

after a few months of serenity, gary was fired from the warehouse due to "low performance value from excessive drinking, before, and during company hours." lola was sympathetic, and tried to be caring. even though he did not want to - it was too much effort and he was suddenly very tired - gary could see her mind working, planning where she would go once she had left him. finality hung in the air about them, thick as the fog over the streets of their city."

Joshua's been handing out awards, too! I'd like to pass the Liebster Award on to all the blogging buddies that come by this post:

I've blabbed before, possibly on the blog, and most definitely on the Compuserve Forum, that the only actor I find worthy to play James Alexander Malcolm Mackenzie Fraser is Ioan Gruffudd.

The other day, I was looking for photos to support my case, when I came across the following still shot from his film Solomon and Gaenor. I saw this movie almost exactly ten years ago; at the end, I cried and cried... It's a very sweet, sad tale of star-crossed lovers.

Meanwhile, since I'm in the middle of Ayten and Devran's story, I'm constantly on the lookout for images that will add to my inspiration (I'm also looking for an image of Magdalena, or Mawdlen, Rosa's mother, for the prequel to Out of the Water, but that is a whole other story).

Imagine my excitement when I saw this image from Solomon and Gaenor, and realised it looks exactly like the scene in Ayten's story where she and Devran find themselves barricaded in a cave:

(Ioan Gruffudd and Nia Roberts in Solomon and Gaenor)

I've got to finish drafting this story so I can share snips from this scene with all of you...

And now, two fun links:

J C Martin's having a birthday bash and massive giveaway!

Susan Mitchell has been posting 15-minute drawings in a sort-of-illustrators'-version-of-NaNoWriMo, and they're absolutely adorable and pensive.

Wednesday Link Happy - and Giveaways!

2011-11-23T07:53:00.016-05:00

ward!

Jon Paul's given me this gift:

I'd like to pass it on to... all of you! Your comments always put a smile on my face. Whoever comes by that doesn't have this award yet, feel free to snap it up.

I came across Jon Paul's blog through his NaNoWriMo Video Songfest. If you haven't signed on yet, you still have a week to do it! My post was up last week and featured the Whisky Trench Riders.

Two celebrations!

Michael's having a giveaway and a party for his one year blogiversary and for reaching 500 followers.
Congratulations, Michael!

Len's hosting a thanksgiving and friendship celebration, with a giveaway!
Very glad to be your blogging friend, Len.

Meanwhile, the folks at Random Acts of Reading are hosting a series called Books in the Wild, showing books in their natural habitat, with kids, booksellers, animals, or just proudly on display. Snap some photos of your own novels, and your favourite books, and send them over.

Here's one from me, back in 2008 or so:

So excited to meet Diana Gabaldon again that I've got red eyes!

As for A Round of Words in 80 Days, I've finally caught up with NaNo. But in the true spirit of ROW80, my goals got revised a little. Now it's all about completing the draft of Ayten's story this month. Then December I can focus on editing Rosa's story, Out of the Water.

As usual, during NaNo (or a writers' houseparty, or any big event), housework is the first task to fall by the wayside. But one thing I do without fail is make the bed. I mean, would you rather come home to this:

(Yes, there's no bed in that image. But given the state of the room, I'm sure you can imagine what the bed must look like!)

Or this?:

(Image taken from the Tommy Hilfiger site)

Where do you stand on bed making? Is there any one chore you perform without fail?

Finally, Nathan Bransford had a hilarious post the other day about writing styles and What Not To Do. Go have a laugh!

What I Did On My Summer Vacation

2011-11-20T09:38:00.021-05:00

esterday was my birthday, which explains the NaNo-fail this weekend.

Way back when, Michael at In Time hosted a What I Did On My Summer Vacation blogfest. I didn't get a chance to play then, but since it's finally starting to snow around here, I'm thinking back to heat and sunshine.

There were a couple of weddings, the Bleu Lavande lavender fields, a concert or two and the Cirque du Soleil... Then came the trip to England and Turkey:

England from the sky

Dorothy Sayers' house in Witham, Essex

Windsor Castle, looking across from Datchet village

Kadınlar Denizi Beach

Kuşadası Marina

The water. Ah, the water

Sunset

Olive trees

A kervansaray, or Ottoman inn

A 14th Century mosque

Kystros, a river god

A road in the ancient town of Ephesus

A statue of Artemis

Istanbul, looking across the Golden Horn toward Topkapı Palace

The Maiden's Tower (or Leander's Tower) in the distance.

What do you remember from your summer vacation?

Who Is Frances Rain? and P. G. Wodehouse

2011-11-18T07:57:00.038-05:00

oing to talk about two things today, a great book and writing styles.

Has anyone else read Who Is Frances Rain? by Margaret Buffie? Apparently it's also known in the United States as Someone Else's Ghost. I don't remember how I first came across this book. Must have been a choice from the Scholastic catalogue.

"It's going to be a long, hot summer for 15-year-old Lizzie. Normally a vacation at her grandmother's northern Manitoba cottage is the highlight of the year, but this summer the whole family is going along, including her new stepfather whom she detests.

To escape the family's bickering, Lizzie explores a nearby island, where she finds the remains of an old cabin and uncovers a pair of spectacles. When she tries on the old glasses she is surprised to find herself watching a woman and girl from the past. Lizzie is determined to find out who these ghosts are, and why they are appearing to her. Enlisting the help of her grandmother's teenage neighbour, Alex, she puts together clues about the ghosts' identities and in doing so, finds a way to help her estranged family reunite."

The book has won all sorts of awards, including the Canadian Library Association Young Adult Canadian Book Award. I've reread it a few times since that first read, and fall in love with it each time. It was part of a jumble of Canadian YA books I read when I was a kid and they each showed me a different way of being Canadian - and introduced me to parts of Canada I'd never seen.

I haven't lost my love of this genre. I'll be reading Dogsled Dreams by Terry Lynn Johnson this weekend!

And now, writing styles. Specifically, the transferred epithet, which is when an adjective is applied to the wrong thing. The Inky Fool wrote about this the other day, in reference to that master of the transferred epithet, P. G. Wodehouse:

"I balanced a thoughtful lump of sugar on the teaspoon"

"He was now smoking a sad cigarette"

Aren't they lovely? And yet I can't imagine using this style in my own writing at all. Not unless I happened to have a character who talked this way naturally...

Are there any styles you love but haven't used yet?

Also, here's Stephen Fry on Wodehouse. Just because.

Your Typical Day As A Writer

2011-11-16T08:15:00.088-05:00

our typical day as a writer...

Sara's just done a post detailing her usual daytime routine. Now here's mine.
(Read on, three bits of really exciting news will follow!)

6 am - alarm goes off. I don't leap out of bed. Cat lands on belly and purrs. Other cat sits on the floor and stares up at me.

6.10 - get up, write for an hour (this is a NaNo- or Drafting-Stage-only routine. Otherwise, sleep wins out).

7.10 - shower, dress, head out the door. Read for beta reviews or book reviews on commute, run errands before work.

8.30 - 4.30 - work. Work work work work work.
At lunch:
run errands,
lunch with friends or family (especially if I'm starving from having skipped breakfast),
write,
edit,
work on Alfred Russel Wallace transcripts,
work on translations if I've received any
OR (not 'and'. You didn't think I was going to write 'and', did you?)
clear emails (saving blog comments and emails that require longer than one line for later).
Sometimes I drop everything and make lists just to clear my head. Wrote up a revised Christmas gift list today.

4.30 - 6 pm - read on afternoon commute. Get groceries, do dishes, make dinner and eat it, read the paper and maybe flip through a magazine. Do other chores if I'm out of clean clothes or people are coming over (read: speed clean the bathroom).

6 - 10 pm. here's where things get tricky. Ideally, I type up my words from the morning (I'm more inclined to do this during NaNo, otherwise I save it all for the weekend). It takes me about an hour to type 1000 words because they invariably need editing.
Other times I do blog-related stuff. There're exercises on the Forum to attend to. Pub Trivia Night on Mondays! Knitting to catch up on, friends to visit with...
And if Diana Gabaldon has a new book out, this entire schedule goes out the window: I read. (That's where the girl in the Martini glass comes in. Kidding! I'd rather have a single malt...)

Speaking of which, ooh boy! Now it can be told: a number of us November Birthday Girls got together on the Forum for a colossal Big (not beg, big: Bigging 101 rules), including Karen Henry of Outlandish Observations. And Diana Gabaldon gifted us with not one but two excerpts, one from The Scottish Prisoner and one from the next Outlander book, Written in My Own Heart's Blood.

Also, our Campaigner Challenges eBook is here! The wonderful Cat has put together an ebook of 176 stories from 81 participants in Rach's Campaign Challenge, including mine. All proceeds go to Help Harry Help Others to fund research on brain cancer.

Available now on Smashwords and Amazon.

***

Random contest alert! Gotham Writers' Workshop Young Adult Novel Discovery Contest.

***

How's everyone doing with their goals for A Round of Words in 80 Days? I've been writing consistently for Ayten's story, and collecting reviews from beta readers for Out of the Water, but it looks like December is going to be editing month for the latter. I'm excited because now I can see all sorts of places in the novel where I can cut words - scenes I was too close to before and didn't want to chop off. But I'm at 110,000 words, so I've got lots of room to play. And here I thought I'd be querying already... Still, better to polish as much as I can.

Hope everyone's having a good week!

The Dreaded Middle: NaNo, ROW80 and Literary Resolutions

2011-11-13T08:19:00.045-05:00

oe is me.

It's here, the dreaded middle of the novel. Except that, because I'm a pantster/chunkster, the middle is not quite the middle.

Instead, I'm 30,000 words into the latest novel (while waiting on beta reviews for Rosa's story, Out of the Water, whose own middle needs editing before I start thinking of querying again) - which was called Verse, Venice and Viziers - a nicely convenient and alliterative name - until I discovered that for historical accuracy, the characters need to be in Rome, not Venice - and I don't know if I've got any more words to add.

I feel as if I've written all the pivotal scenes (even though only half of them are typed up) and I'm starting to wonder if this is more novella than novel. On the other hand, I had this same trouble with Rosa's story and ended up with 140,000 words. I'm at 120,000 now and still trying to cut down.

I seem to go through the same ups and downs with every novel. Do we all have patterns as writers?

I know I said I wouldn't do a lot of NaNo posts, but this one's in honour of the penultimate Literary Challenge/Resolution for this year: "Jump on the NaNoWriMo bandwagon and try to write a novel in a month."

I don't think I'd do NaNo at all if it didn't fit the way I already write - mad drafting and scribbling, followed by gradual typing, then editing ad infinitum (I use a Latin phrase with some trepidation. I once used cum instead of and, but Facebook, when transferring my blog post to the news feed, cut off my sentence to end at that word, and I got some, ahem, comments...).

I'll add that signing on for NaNo helps keep me disciplined, wakes my inner competitive self, and - mainly - a lot of my author friends from the Forum are participating, and it's exciting to work on a solo project yet be part of a group that's embarked on the same journey.

I, I, I. Maybe instead of focus on me, the writer, I ought to think some more about my characters and their needs. So let's see...

Escaping from brigands in a cave, somewhere in the wilds of Granada, Spain, in June 1493...

Hero and heroine have to fend for themselves.

They have no money, don't speak the language, and need to get back to their friends at Cadiz.

Oh, and neither will admit to being attracted to the other.

What happens next?

Jessica Bell's Amazon Chart Rush, Take Your Child To A Bookstore, and Whisky Trench Riders

2011-11-11T14:17:00.000-05:00

uthor's helping authors! And all you lovely readers out there:

Help author Jessica Bell top the Amazon charts today with her debut novel String Bridge, and receive the soundtrack, Melody Hill: On the Other Side, for free!

Here're the links:

eBook on Amazon US and on Amazon UK.

Paperback on Amazon US and on Amazon UK.

In other book news, author Jenny Milchman has organized an annual Take your Child to a Bookstore Day for 3 December, and you can help spread the word!

Print the poster of the event and take it to your local bookstore, library or school - or any other place where children and books come together. Or simply spread the word about the event on your blog or other social media sites.

By the way, I just discovered an interview on PBS with Katherine Paterson.

And I'm finally posting as part of the NaNoWriMo Video Songfest!

In honour of NaNo, and to wish all writers good luck, here's a song called The Perfect Ending, by the Whisky Trench Riders, as featured on UK station Amazing Radio:

The first single off the first Whisky Trench Riders album is Driftin':

And while I'm at it, here's The Wandering Ragged Stranger:

Please post your own inspiration songs! What fuels your writing?

Jennifer Hendren and By The Pale Moonlight

2011-11-09T07:12:00.030-05:00

erewolves!

Jennifer Hendren's By The Pale Moonlight is out now (get it from Amazon, Barnes and Noble or Smashwords)!

"Makenna Wilhelm knows all of her friends have their quirks, but when Ty shows up naked in her yard one morning, she finds it beyond weird. Stranger still are the deep gashes across Ty's chest and his sudden ability to hear and smell things that no human should.

During a moonlit night, Ty's secret is revealed. He's no longer the boy she's crushed on forever, but rather a werewolf with one serious aversion for all things silver.

Makenna is left wondering if he's to blame for the recent death of one of their classmates, the apparent victim of an animal attack. With the help of Melanie, the dead girl's friend, they manage to shed doubt on Ty's guilt -- only to discover Makenna was the intended prey. Even worse, she's still a target.

In a race against the full moon, the trio struggles to find who murdered the young woman. However, without a way to cure Ty, they have no way of knowing who poses the greater threat: Ty or the unknown enemy."

Jen's dropping by the blog today to answer a few questions... Welcome, Jen!

Thank you so much for hosting me, Deniz!

Which is the most embarrassing song, book, movie or TV show that you love?

I can't believe I'm about to admit this. Okay, I'm a hopeless fanatic of Little House on the Prairie. There. I said it. I can't help myself. I cry nearly every episode. It just gets to me. I mean, the episode where Laura trades her horse to Mr. Oleson to buy Ma the stove she wants... wait... *fans her eyes* Gah. I'm a SUCKER for that show. I still love to watch it whenever it's on, and my family always gets a kick out of it.

Which of your characters is most like you?

Madison from Faking It. Hands down. She's a total geek and has my sense of humor. I just wish I had her metabolism. The girl is always eating ice cream and she never gains weight! (g)

Have you secretly chosen actors to play your main characters?

Gulp. Yes. I have actual actors for my Faking It books (Rachel McAdams would make such a good Madison)... but for the Moonlight series, I have pictures I swiped from the internet. The one I chose for Ty is a model... fits my image of him perfectly.

How's the indie/self-publishing journey been so far?

It's going well. I really didn't know what to expect when I began. Though By the Pale Moonlight is by no means selling in record numbers, its sales are steady. I can only hope they will increase as time goes by. There's a great reliance on word of mouth when you self-publish, and I really hope that if people read and enjoy my book, they'll recommend it to friends. [I sure do!]

Favourite werewolf not your own?

Oh, goodness. This one is hard. I have to tell you, I'm a fan of the oldies. Lou Chaney as the original Wolf Man has a special place in my heart. I love the idea of this lovable guy turning into a monster he can't control. His character really showed the helplessness a werewolf must feel -- how the moon rules everything. Special mention has to go to Joshua Jackson in Cursed because I think he's a cutie patootie -- and Jacob Black, in parts. Definitely before that imprinting mumbo jumbo.

Who was the last person that haunted you?

I've actually had my fair share of paranormal stuff happen. Part of me wants to write it off as my imagination, but I'm not really sure... Last thing I remember happening was when I was living in Tennessee. I toured a local plantation and I swear something followed me home. The tour guide told us that Union soldiers were held in this small closet beneath the stairs, and at least one of them died there. Be it my imagination or sub-conscious messing with me, the light in my closet kept mysteriously turning on -- even when I double-checked it several times. It happened for over a month, and then just stopped... yeah, it was freaky, but not scary in a horror movie type way. [ooh!]

Getting a good review from which author would make you freak out the most?

Oh man. Where to begin? Anyone I admire would probably top that list. I wouldn't want to let them down. If I had to name one person, though, I would probably say Maureen Johnson. Anyone happen to read her review/guide to Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol? The woman could rip me apart, and I'd probably laugh the entire time. That's just wrong on so many levels. To get her thumbs up would be AMAZING. [oh man, that guide is hilarious!]

What's the weirdest thing you've researched?

My research tends to be pretty minimal (yay contemporary). I did a lot of research about werewolves and the various legends for the Moonlight series... But the strangest is probably when I researched how to shoot up heroin for Faking It. I kept expecting some alert to go out to the police or something. :)

What's your earliest memory related to writing?

I used to make up these really elaborate songs when I was maybe five or six. I used to sing them to myself for HOURS. I'm sure it was wonderful to listen to. (heh) The first time I remember putting pen to paper to write fiction was probably right around fourth grade or so... I recall it being one of those teenage books where some mean girl is trying to steal the main character's boyfriend. It didn't really go much further than that. I just knew this girl was mean and that she was up to all sorts of shenanigans.

What's next?

What's next is Walking in Shadow -- the sequel to By the Pale Moonlight. It's a completely different book in many ways, and it's going to be challenging on a lot of levels. I'm excited and nervous to really dive into it fully. But dive in, I shall. I hope to have a solid first draft by the end of November. Wish me luck! :)

Thank you again for having me, Deniz! These questions were a blast!

Thank you for visiting, Jen! I didn't ask you how NaNo was going but I hope the words are flowing...

It's been steady for me; better than the first year I tried it, but not as crazy as last year,

when I was writing and typing non-stop.

Still on track for my ROW80 goals, though, I hope. And November's barely begun!

Theresa Milstein in... Fangtales

2011-11-06T13:38:00.001-05:00

angtales!

Sounds delicious, no?

Fangtales, edited by Berni Stevens, is the third YA anthology by Wyvern Publications, after Dragontales, published in 2009, and Mertales, published in 2010.

Fangtales visits the terrifying realms of the most popular creature ever to grace the pages of fantasy fiction. The vampire. The tales are fresh, original and scary enough to send delicious shivers down the spine of every reader. Lose yourself in the blood-soaked pages of Fangtales, where a best friend mysteriously disappears, a small child roams the woods alone at midnight, and a terrified girl seeks help when her house is surrounded by hungry vampires.

Theresa Milstein's Allured features in Fangtales, and I'm lucky enough to have her stopping by today to answer a few questions about the story - and more.

Which is the most embarrassing book, movie or TV show that you love?

Where to begin. I watch too much reality TV. I've watched LA Ink, NY Ink (I have two tattoos, maybe that's why). The Soup is one of my favorites. I'm really into cooking shows. Most are pretty normal like Top Chef and Chopped, except for Hell's Kitchen. The most embarrassing? First season of The Jersey Shore. (Should I even admit that?) By the second season, I despised myself.

Getting a good review from which author would make you freak out the most?

Just one? Okay, I can do this. J.K.RowlingLoisLowryJudyBlumeNeilGaiman.

Would you like to be one of your characters, or do you the writer torture them too much?

I do torture my characters too much to want to live their lives. Besides, what makes me able to write YA are my vivid memories of what it was like to be a child and teen. I'm not living those years again. I'm no fool.

Have you secretly chosen actors to play your main characters?

If I tell you, it's not a secret. [good point! but we really wanna know...]

I created an older Italian character, and used Fabio from a previous season of Top Chef. In my book, he's Antonio. When I saw the show where they had former Top Chef contestants, I kept getting confused why they called him Fabio.

Another time, my vampire protagonist who was based on a contestant named Alison from America's Next Top Model. (Oh no, I just admitted another embarrassing show. But I don't watch it anymore. I swear.)

Other than that, I use my own imagination or an amalgamation of two or more people, living and/or famous.

How many times did you rewrite Allured?

I don't keep track. I probably looked it over at least 10 times, maybe 20. Then I gave it to my critique partner, Aubrie Dionne. When I edited based on her suggestions, I sent it to Judy Mintz. After I edited from Judy's critique, off it went to Wyvern Publications.

Which scene(s) in Allured were most difficult to write?

The end of Allured was the most difficult to write. That's when the complete mystery is revealed. Some of it was thought and some was dialogue. I had to find a good balance.

How did you come up with the idea for Allured?

Beats me. Seriously, that's kind of the answer. I read the guidelines for submissions for Fangtales and did some research about the rules of traditional vampires in Bram Stoker's Dracula. Then I just looked at a blank page. A sentence sprang in my head, and I wrote to see where the story would take me. I write in the fog, with a vague sense of where I'm going. Sometimes I know the final destination (sort of) but I have only the foggiest (sorry) notion of how to get there.

The original lines are not far off from this final version:

"I twisted a golden curl in my usual alluring way. Guys loved it when I did that. I lowered my voice, so Reid had to lean in to hear me, his elbows propped on his knees. I locked his green eyes with my gaze."

Do you keep a journal?

No. I've tried a few times in my life, but then I lose interest. For a time, my blog felt like a journal, but I've done fewer essay-like posts since I started working full-time and returned to graduate school. I'm having a hard time squeezing in any writing.

Who was the last person that haunted you?

Nobody, thankfully. Sometimes, I'll get a whiff of a certain coffee scent, and feel like I'm in my late grandmother's kitchen. Or I might have a strong memory of someone who died out of nowhere. In those moments, it's like those people are with me.

I like to write spooky, scary, fantasy but I'm a wimp in real life. I'd like to be placed in Gryffindor, but there's no way The Sorting Hat would place me there.

Deniz, thanks for interviewing me on your blog and being a part of my Fangtales tour. I've appreciated your support ever since we became blogging buddies.

***

Thank you for being here, Theresa, and I wish you the best of luck with Allured and all your writing!

I'd like to be in Gryffindor with you!

Meanwhile, back to NaNo for me - it's helping me no end to keep up my ROW80 goals. Hope everyone else is having a good writing week.

String Bridge Blog Tour and Other New Releases

2011-11-04T07:09:00.064-04:00

aNo!

No, no, what am I saying?

I mean, yes, I'm doing NaNo and writing like a fiend in the mornings and trying to type it all up at nights, but that's neither here nor there.

Jessica Bell's String Bridge comes out this month!

"Greek cuisine, smog and domestic drudgery was not the life Australian musician, Melody, was expecting when she married a Greek music promoter and settled in Athens, Greece. Keen to play in her new shoes, though, Melody trades her guitar for a 'proper' career and her music for motherhood. That is, until she can bear it no longer and plots a return to the stage -- and the person she used to be. However, the obstacles she faces along the way are nothing compared to the tragedy that awaits..."

There's no way to read an intense book like this and not take sides. Jessica does an amazing job of luring the reader in and, even though the story is told from Melody's point of view, every character's background comes through.

First you're on Alex's side, then on Melody's, then... Well, by that point you're so caught up in the emotional whirlwind that there's no turning back.

The sights and sounds - and smells - of Athens are strongly evoked, and the lyrical imagery puts the reader right there on the streets, in the homes, at the dinner tables. Each chapter could almost be a short story in itself, as Melody works through her fears, reaches a plateau - and then meets the most difficult challenge of all.

And of course there's rock 'n' roll. How can you resist?

Here's a glimpse of the trailer:

Jessica's not only an author, musician and poet - she's also hosting a writers' retreat in September 2012: the Homeric Writers' Retreat and Workshop on the Greek island of Ithaca, home of Odysseus.

If you'd like to participate in the String Bridge chart rush - and get a free copy of the soundtrack! - do so on 11 November on Amazon.com, and Amazon.co.uk.

If you can't wait, the book is out now via Lucky Press - and don't forget Jessica's contest to win a signed String Bridge paperback, signed String Bridge soundtrack Melody Hill: On the Other Side, signed copy of Jessica's poetry book Twisted Velvet Chains, and random book off her bookshelf.

So many ways to celebrate - congratulations, Jessica!

Two other releases this month:

Susan Kaye Quinn's latest release, Open Minds - the first book in the Mindjack Trilogy - is now available!

Jennifer Hendren's By the Pale Moonlight is out in paperback!

And finally, a propos of nothing except last weekend's post, Tuesday was the anniversary of the first performance of Shakespeare's The Tempest, on 1 November 1611.

Lynne Sears Williams' The Comrades and Insecure Writers

2011-11-02T08:09:00.001-04:00

aNo Day Two.

Insecure enough yet?

Actually, there's no reason to be insecure when writing during NaNo - turn off that inner editor and get scribbling!

I think fears never leave us - c.f. Joanna Bourne's first comment in her latest blog post - but we can learn and relearn ways to quiet those fears and work past them. On of the best ways is to arm yourself. You've got your pen, paper, computer, research books, library card, and so on. But what about the words? What about the grammar? In a recent interview, Grammar Girl talked about new approaches to teaching grammar, and how important it is to know the basics for clear thinking and writing.

So, fellow insecure writers, stockpile your arsenal and you'll feel braver. If it's the writing itself that's got you blocked, take a look at the 30 Questions Writers' Exercise that Ron Wodaski set up last September on the Forum. It's the quickest springboard to getting to know your story and your characters.

Speaking of characters you'd like to know, Lynne Sears Williams has a new release, The Comrades, available now on Amazon.

[That quote on the cover is from Diana Gabaldon: "Three more engaging Welshmen have never been written! By turns hilarious, poignant, bloody - and bloody accurate - historical fiction seldom gets as good as this."]

"9th century Wales...

Evan, king of Powys, returns from a wedding to find a village ransacked, with women and children dead. Neighboring Gwynedd has broken the peace, crossing the mountain to pillage and murder. The dead babes tear his heart, and Evan vows to break the heart of Gwynedd.

Gwynedd's most guarded treasure is a pampered princess. In a bloody raid, Evan's comrades return to Powys with Gwynedd's heart. Evan knows holding the princess will be dangerous and her safe-keeping may mean the difference between the lasting peace he desires and a bloody war. He's prepared for her to be kept safe but unprepared for the girl's intelligence, compassion and damnably kissable mouth.

Morleyna's secret gift of Sight reveals a cruel betrayal that sends Evan on a mystical journey where he discovers his only chance for redemption rests in the hands of his captive. Her brothers will arrive to claim their sapphire-eyed sister. Will her kinsmen, bent on revenge, destroy Evan and his comrades? Or will destruction come from Morleyna, who may be the reincarnation of someone whose beauty captivated a nation?"

That just gives you a taste... There's a lot in this book you'll want to read and savour slowly: from manly men to wise cats, scenes that make you weep to dialogue that has you bubbling with laughter. Of course, I'm also a sucker for stories set in Wales. The names roll off one's tongue, and the world - the Keep, the crofts, the food and feuds, the hills and heights - are vividly realised.

I'm trying to find a wonderful line to quote, but don't want to throw out phrases out of context. Here's a lovely bit:

"'I admit I made a mess of this, dragging you here the way I did. I have no regrets; I never in a hundred lifetimes would have visited Gwynedd and met you. Yet, here you are.'

...

'All right, then, I will do it.'

'Which?' he said, in a half-strangled voice. 'Be impertinent or marry me?'"

If you would know the answer to that question, read The Comrades! But meanwhile, you may watch the trailer:

Fun Links, News and Atkinson-Laurie-Shakespeare

2011-10-30T10:33:00.000-04:00

ollowers! Nearly 300 followers!

Can you tell I'm blushing bright red? I'd like to thank each and every one of you.

And of course there will be prizes!

In other news, beta revisions are progressing nicely - and I've got a pile of handwritten pages for the new novel, and lots of ideas heading into NaNo!

Until then, I leave you with these links:

Word Wenches: eight historical authors who share a blog. Featuring a little history, a little wordplay and a lot of wit.

Jill Murray: YA author currently leading a workshop on crafting YA stories. And very generously sharing her workshop notes!

Agent Suzie Townsend is holding a query letter contest.

And, if it's been too long since you read something new about Jamie Fraser or Lord John, and you don't mind spoilers, come by the forum, where Sarah and Sheila celebrated their birthdays with an awesome big (a special form of begging designed to elicit a snip from Diana Gabaldon): a bigging cake! Who know how the next bigger will top that?

Finally, are you in the throes of editing? Perhaps being requested to make changes you're not sure you agree with? Why not bargain with the editor, as Shakespeare once did:

Haunting - Romantic Friday Writers' Blogfest

2011-10-28T07:26:00.091-04:00

oooooo... All Hallow's Eve is coming... And, to celebrate, another blogfest:

"Romantic Friday Writers, a weekly on-going blogfest run by L'Aussie and Francine Howarth, has an open challenge to everyone to write a 400-word story or poem on the theme Haunting for Friday 28 October." If you'd like to participate, head over to the Romantic Friday Writers site.

Denise asked me to play, and the more I thought about Ayten and Devran, the quicker my resistance crumbled. So here she is from a scene early on in her novel, Verse, Venice and Viziers. She's waiting in a chapel of the church in her hometown; it's about an hour before her father's funeral begins. And we're in Devran's pov:

She had an elbow propped on a lectern, scribbling on a scrap of paper with the stub of a pencil. He coughed, to let her know he was there without startling her, but she jumped all the same, whirling round with a hand over her heart.

"Who were you expecting?" he asked.

She narrowed her eyes. "No one."

"I thought - the look on your face -"

"Who would seek me here? Except you, it would seem. Must you dog my every footstep?" She set down her pencil and curled the paper into a tight scroll.

"You of all people ought to know it's not safe to wander alone."

"I came with Rosa." She tucked the scroll into her sleeve and strode past into the church.

She hadn't changed her dress, he realised, but someone had lent her a black cloak to wear over all. Why hadn't he thought of it? But she never would have let him help.

Her firm footfalls resounded from column to column. Nothing hesitant about this girl. She'd decided he wasn't worth talking to, and would ignore him as if he'd never walked in.

But there had been fear in her face. He crossed himself, with a glance at the altar. I can't help it; I've got to follow her.

She sat in the first pew, her head bowed.

"Ayten. I apologise if I'm intruding." When she did not speak, he slipped in beside her. "I lost my mother two years ago. I know a little -"

"So do I." The snap had gone from her voice. "I was twelve when my mother died. Sometimes I can still hear her voice."

"Can you?"

"It grows more faint with each passing year." She fingered the scroll in her sleeve. "That's why I write to her."

"Do you now?" As gently as he could, he held a finger to her cheek and brushed aside a tear. "I'm sure she's reading over your shoulder. And now your father will, too."

***

I came in at 332 words. I might have kept going except that in the next line, Ayten and Devran are interrupted by others arriving at the church... It's funny - I keep sharing the moments where the two of them are connecting. Next time I might post an argument or two!

Final Installment of Rule of Three Blogfest Story, and a Whisper

2011-10-26T07:39:00.001-04:00

enaissance has been good to Ayten.

If you've been following along, we've been having a Rule of Three blogfest, posting a story each Wednesday exploring the relationship between three characters in the created town of Renaissance.

The setting is the same for all of us, but everything else - genre, characters, etc. - are our own. I've been writing a historical romance:

Scene One featured Prince Cem, avowing his love for Ayten.
Scene Two featured Ayten herself, and a narrow escape.
Scene Three featured Devran, holding his emotions in check as he offered Ayten a way out of her dilemma.

And now, without further ado, Ayten on board ship:

he took up the lap desk on Devran's trunk and brought it over to the bunk, unhooking the silver clasp and lifting the lid. Two quills, a bottle of ink, a sheaf of smooth paper. She'd been using bits of lead and charcoal for weeks, while he'd had this wealth of writing material. Judging by the shine of the wood and lack of scratch marks on the blotter, he'd never used it once.

Of course, it was the only wealth he did have, and if he saw fit to squander his last coin on such temporary possessions, it wasn't her affair. If she'd been in his place, she'd have been more concerned with re-establishing her reputation among the rulers of the Ottoman Empire. Yet he seemed unconcerned with anything important. The feast he'd supposedly ordered for that night, and new writing implements – these held more worth, apparently.

"I see you've found it."

She gripped the quill, steadied the ink bottle. And peered at him out of the corner of her eye.

Devran kicked the door shut behind him. He had a cup in his hand, and did his usual trick of slipping his tongue out before taking a sip. The familiar thrill swept her at thought of how that tongue might make her feel, if once he set his mouth on hers. She shut the lid.

He drained the cup and dropped it onto the nearest shelf. "I did not have time to wrap it." One stride and he sat beside her, touching her at knee and shoulder. He raised the lid and pointed out all the items. "There's more paper underneath this partition. Sealing wax, a few sheets of parchment."

"It must have been quite expensive."

"Would you rather I'd handed you a bouquet of wildflowers?"

"I – me? This is for me?"

"Yes. A wedding gift."

"But it was meant to be a contract, in name only. To be annulled as soon as possible." The desk and all its contents would tumble to the floor if her hands didn't stop shaking.

"But I don't wish to. And I hoped you might... Never mind." He dropped the lid, narrowly missing her fingers, and headed for the window.

"What can you see?" she asked, after a while.

"Come, see for yourself."

She set the lap desk back on his trunk and stepped up to the window. Devran stood behind her, his breath cool on her flushed neck.

"I can see the whole town!" Despite herself, she was moved by the sight of Renaissance, fading against the horizon as their ship sailed away. The forests, the barest shimmer of light that marked the desert. "There are the Roundeli mountains, where we went on that expedition."

"And my heart nearly stopped beating when I thought you’d fallen to your death."

"Is that so?"

"Yes." His hand landed on her shoulder. "Ayten. I am not so impoverished as you think. And a letter arrived from the Sultan this morning. An official pardon. They've discovered the truth of the matter – the same truth I've been stating all this time. So I ask you..." His fingers left her shoulder, grazing her neck. "If we do not dissolve our contract right away, do you think you might come to care for me, a little?"

She turned in the circle of his arm, and met his gaze. Hope flared in his eyes. He had helped her elude Cem's clutches, after all.

"I think I already do."

He cupped her cheek in his hand and sealed their hope with a kiss.

Renaissance had a happy association for her now.

I used two of the prompts: "The misfortune is resolved/accepted" and "Relationships mend/are torn asunder" and came in at exactly 600 words (had to cut it down from the first draft of over 800!)

Thanks to all our hosts (Stuart Nager at Tale Spinning, J.C. Martin at Fighter Writer, Lisa Vooght at Flash Fiction, and Damyanti at Amloki) for such an exciting blogfest. I'll miss posting snips so regularly and reading everyone's exciting and mysterious tales.

On the other hand, this blogfest has been an amazing way to stick to my ROW80 goal of delving further into Ayten's story, Verse, Venice and Viziers, and [whispers] a warmup for NaNoWriMo.

Alright, it's out in the open. Yes, I'm doing NaNo this year, again, and hope to have as much success as I did last year (and way more than my first year, when I failed abysmally). As always, I promise not to fill up the blog with all NaNo all the time. Add me as a buddy, if you're doing NaNo, too!

ROW80 Update, Story Links and Into the Woods

2011-10-23T15:11:00.000-04:00

've been writing like mad, even if it doesn't feel like it.

While I wait for the final input from beta readers for Out of the Water, I've been delving more into Ayten's story, Verse, Venice and Viziers.

For a while, it was hard to make the switch: Rosa was in my head so much and so often that every time I fell into that world, it was her and Baha I saw. I had to wrench myself from their happy ever after and focus on Ayten and all her conflicts with Devran.

A little of what I've come up with found its way into the Rule of Three blogfest: Part One featured Prince Cem, and Part Two featured Ayten Hanım (Miss Ayten), and Part Three featured Devran, the son of the Grand Vizier. Part Four - the final part - comes on Wednesday.

An outtake, from a scene occurring somewhat later in the story, was my entry in Rach's third challenge as part of the Third Writers' Platform-building Campaign. If you liked my story, please Like it on the linky list for the challenge.

And yesterday I wrote 1,800 words of all the story bits that have been filling my head. Longhand, of course, and with great gaping holes of description, along with nuances missing from when I first saw the scenes unfold. But all that, and further writing, will have to wait for November. Who else is taking part in NaNoWriMo this year?

So that's my ROW80 story. Meanwhile, last week I saw a local production of Into the Woods, Sondheim and Lapine's topsy turvy hilarious take on a few fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm. Nothing could ever be as good as the original Broadway production, of course, but the Music Theatre Montreal production was a great one nonetheless, that matched the singing and nuances of the original.

No YouTube links for the Montreal troupe, so here's the original Agony, sung by the two princes, one in love with Cinderella and the other with Rapunzel:

Ayten's Story Outtake for Campaign Challenge Three

2011-10-21T08:24:00.070-04:00

ampaign Challenge Three!

I have to stay in the wip, of course. This comes far, far ahead in Verse, Venice and Viziers, after some harrowing events have separated Ayten and Devran from the others on board Devran's ship (challenge details below):

A ship was approaching.

She stood on the hilltop in the shade of the pine, and shielded her eyes from the rising sun. Three masts. Not their own ship, then.

Devran had led them from the brigands' cave, and estimated that they would reach the city in another week's time. If he was right, and the brigands were unable to track them, then they would only have been gone for two weeks.

She had no idea what to expect - had the brigands demanded a ransom, so that Rosa and the others would at least know they'd been wastopaneer? If there'd been no word whatsoever, she couldn't begin to imagine the worry and confusion the others might be feeling.

She sank to the roots of the pine, the knotty bark digging into her back. It was easier to think about the others now, this far from the horrors of the cave.

Devran had insisted they spend two nights on this hilltop, so that he could hunt and fish for them. It wasn't an attractive spot by any means. The land was dry as a desert, and something rotten to the north had even attracted a vulture. Every once in a while, its beak clacked, making her jump.

She took the last of their tacise, stolen from an orchard four days ago, and held it to her nose, breathing deeply of the clean scent before digging in. The juice was tart, but washed with delicious coolness down her throat.

Boot heels rang out on the rocks below and she scrambled to her feet. Had Devran caught a synbatec, perhaps? She hadn't even gotten a fire going.

"Don't be alarmed, Ayten," he called. "I've got someone with me."

He appeared over the top of the hill - leading another woman by the hand.

These were the rules: "Write a blog post in 300 words or less, excluding the title. The post can be in any format, whether flash fiction, non-fiction, humorous blog musings, poem, etc. The blog post should show:

that it's morning,
that a man or a woman (or both) is at the beach
that the MC (main character) is bored
that something stinks behind where he/she is sitting
that something surprising happens.

Just for fun, see if you can involve all five senses AND include these random words: "synbatec," "wastopaneer," and "tacise." (NB. these words are completely made up and are not intended to have any meaning other than the one you give them)."

I think I did it all... in 300 words! Not sure if events as written will appear quite this way in the wip [wink]. Looking forward to seeing everyone else's entry!

Third POV in Rule of Three and Some Book and Contest News

2011-10-19T07:29:00.000-04:00

hat would Joss wear?

Susan Bischoff's having a contest!

In ROW80 related news, I'm moving pretty steadily; looking over reviews from beta readers for Out of the Water, and drafting here and there for Verse, Venice and Viziers. It's so exciting diving into the free flow pantsing of a new story!

In sad book-related news, this year's book fair at McGill University is the last.

I ran up the hill on my lunch hour and had my final browse, discovering a few gems (including an A. A. Milne I'd never heard of) and the hardcover of the first book of Janet Evanovich's new series for only 4$. The fair has run for four decades, but there're no volunteers left to organize and run it.

And now we come to part three of my Rule of Three Blogfest story! An as-yet untitled historical romance: Part One featured Prince Cem, and Part Two featured Ayten Hanım (Miss Ayten).

For this part, which is at 596 words, I used the prompt relationships unravel or strengthen.

Devran tapped his quill on the blotter. His eyes strayed to the letter before him, but he'd placed his palm over the offending words. It was dangerous, covering the letter that way, for his fingers twitched with the urge to crumple the paper and launch the rude demands into the cold grate.

The door opened and a maid stood aside, admitting Ayten Hanım. She kept her head down as she crossed the room, and stood before the table, and all he could see was a part of her high forehead, furrowed.

She might well wonder what had dared him to summon her to his presence, in this oddly furnished chamber. What he wouldn't give for a proper, comfortable, divan, and none of these straight backed chairs and rigid tables.

He motioned for the maid to leave, and felt his lip curl when she left the door ajar behind her. Once again reminding him that these were not his halls. That they were all guests of 'Prince' Cem, in the town of Renaissance, outside the bounds of the Ottoman Empire.

He looked again at Ayten's figure, as straight as any one of the chairs, and the paper crackled under his hands.

"I have here a missive," he began, smoothing out the sheet. "From our host. He goes on at length of last night's masquerade and the feast to be held tonight. I shall be blunt in my retelling. He asks for you."

"He summons me to his chambers?"

"Ha! If only that were all. He will have you to wed."

Raise your head, Ayten, he wanted to command. Look at me, so that I may see what these words mean to you.

"But is he not –"

"Yes, of course. You would be his second wife. For a while. I doubt not that he would choose another concubine before long." The thought of fair Ayten being used in such fashion smote his heart and he lost control of his hands. The balled letter smacked against the chimney and landed in the grate.

"I have been a slave before," she said, "and will not willingly become a chattel ever again. I am free." Yet her voice wavered, and she had not lifted her eyes.

"Of course. There are, however, conditions." He rose. Taking up the poker, he pushed the letter deeper in amongst last winter's ashes. She was only a step away from him. "I did not say he asked for you. I said he will have you. The only way to prevent his taking you by force would be for you to wed someone else."

"That's absurd!” Finally she met his gaze, but her eyes were chips of blue ice. "We leave in two days' time – would he send a fleet after us? For me?"

"There is no knowing what he might do. He is a man dangerous to cross. Thwarted in his claims to the throne, dependant on the rabble of Renaissance for succour, he is used to having his way in all smaller matters."

"How dare you!"

"I did not mean that you should be considered as such. If I had my way –" He closed the space between them, but she stepped aside. He flung the poker on the marble floor and threw himself back into the desk chair.

"Yes?" she whispered. "If you had your way?"

"I am willing that we should be married. It will keep you from a servitude you do not deserve. Only a contract, with no grounds for preventing an annulment at the soonest opportunity. If you so desire."

By the way... here's what Ayten looks like:

7 x 7 Link Award and ROW80

2011-10-16T19:55:00.000-04:00

un!

Thank you to Trisha for the 7 x 7 Link Award!

So I've gone through four years (!) of blog posts and found the following: a quote about Tolkien and orcs by Joanna Bourne, a fly-by comment about myself writing romance that was oh so wrong ("I guess writing romance has had it, now that I've gotten those two fan-based novels out of my system and don't seem to be writing any new, adult stories..."), a question about bringing snails to Constantinople, a dream about being a snail, thoughts on serendipitous character naming, and a review of Lady Chatterley's Lover that was very pleasurable to re-read, if I do say so myself.

I also seem to have learned a lot about blogging after the first two years, when I was merely throwing words into the dark - and at a select few friends. I'm glad to be part of a wider community now!

But the award actually specifies that you link to seven types of blog post:

Most beautiful

I'm not sure it's beautiful, but here's the longest sentence I've ever written.

Most helpful

Not sure I've ever had any helpful posts. I have, however, had a few posts where I've asked for help:

What is this thing in Bardstown, Kentucky?

What trees are these?

Where do these quotes and literary references come from?

On the other hand, I did contribute two posts to the Your Neck of the Woods contest by Marsha Moore (aka Talli Roland), one on Istanbul and one on Montreal.

And I have a recipe for börek, featuring Charlie Sheen's mug.

Most popular

I was hoping this one might be: Why Tahereh Mafi should read The Lord of the Rings.

And I thought this one, a guest post by Talli Roland, might be.

But, nope, it was actually the Second Challenge of the Second Writers' Platform Building Campaign.

Most controversial

It wasn't at the time, but for better or for worse I'm bringing it back into the light: the post where I critique Ariana Franklin and Jason Goodwin.

Hmm, there's a spelling mistake in that post. And one more each in two other posts. Tsk!

Most successful

Wrap-up of the Constantinople Writers' Houseparty.

Fifteen minutes of fame for my MG/YA The Face of A Lion!

Most underrated

The post in which I interviewed Vince Ditrich of Spirit of the West about his favourite children's books.

Also my kitchen mystery story, which I wrote in elementary school.

Most prideworthy

Something about having twenty story ideas under my belt...

Hosting a book fair to raise money for charity.

And, I reach 500 posts!

I'm adding an extra one:

Most frustrating

I mentioned that I woke up, in New York City, with a fully fledged idea for a mystery.

But I didn't write down the idea! Now I can't remember the details, anymore, unfortunately.

Since I originally saw the 7 x 7 award on a number of Aegean bloggers' sites (Ayak's Turkish Delight, Turkeys for Life, Being Koy and Glynis Smy), I'll pass it on theme-wise as well, to fellow Compuserve forumites:

As for my ROW80 check in, I've been doing really well, making corrections/changes to Out of the Water based on beta readers' reviews, as they come in. And I've got my query letter and synopsis ready to go. Also, my essay on the lavender fields is up! It's hard to believe that summer's over already...

Pay It Forward Blogfest and More Fun Links

2011-10-14T17:54:00.043-04:00

ay it forward blogfest is here!

The brainchild of Matthew MacNish and Alex J. Cavanaugh (whose blogs you really should visit), this one is really simple:

"List, describe, and link to three blogs that you enjoy reading, but that you suspect may fly under the radar of a lot of other bloggers. Or they can be famous blogs, as long as they're awesome. But don't stop there! Certainly visit and follow all the blogs that are featured in people's posts the day of the blogfest, but those don't have to be the only blogs you visit. You can visit everyone who enters in on the fun, and signs up on the linky list."

Here are the three blogs I'd like to showcase:

The writers at All The World's Our Page. Five brilliant authors with amazing stories to tell - and two of them are on their way! The stories, that is. Kristen Callihan's Firelight comes out in February.

Jennifer Hendren's By The Pale Moonlight comes out in just a few days! (Trailer in the post below.) Here's the scoop:

"Makenna Wilhelm knows all of her friends have their quirks, but when Ty shows up naked in her yard one morning, she finds it beyond weird. Stranger still are the deep gashes across Ty's chest and his sudden ability to hear and smell things that no human should.
When her boyfriend tries to take advantage of her during a moonlit night, Ty's secret is revealed when he comes to her rescue. He's no longer the boy she's crushed on forever, but rather a werewolf with one serious aversion for all things silver. Makenna is left wondering if he's to blame for the recent death of one of their classmates, the apparent victim of an animal attack. With the help of Melanie, the dead girl's friend, they manage to shed doubt on Ty's guilt, only to discover Makenna was the intended prey.

Even worse, she's still a target.

In a race against the full moon, the trio struggles to find who murdered the young woman. However, without a way to cure Ty, they have no way of knowing who poses the greater threat: Ty or the unknown enemy."

Kait Nolan. Any time I think of myself as an overachiever, or feel as though I'll never get anything finished, or wonder if I'm the only list-hungry person out there, I turn to Kait. She blogs every day (and also has an amazing cooking blog, Pots and Plots), she writes stories I have to read, though they're not my usual genre at all, she introduced me to Susan Bischoff's stories, and she's amazingly organized about sharing everything she learns along her indie publishing journey. Yea.

Joanna Bourne. Yup, I included one famous one. You see, I've been writing stories since I was... well, since I learned to write. But it was only after I read Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series and joined the Compuserve Books and Writers Community five or six years ago that I realised I could do more than write stories, share them with my family, then shove them in a drawer. And all the authors and readers I've met on the Community have been so helpful along the way - with advice, with information, with humour and wit. I've got a file going of tips from Jo, and if you're a writer, you can't do better than to start with Jo.

Also, three more, just for fun:

The Inky Fool, who dissects all your favourite English words, plus words you've never even heard of, and has a book coming out next month, entitled The Etymologicon. In his own words: "It's a beautiful book all about the strange connections between words in the English language. It explains the link between film buffs and buffaloes, monks and monkeys, science and going to the lavatory."

Pop Sensation, where crossword puzzle solver extraordinaire Rex Parker showcases his vintage paperback collection and makes snarky comments about the covers. Every post makes me laugh.

One Hundred Romances, where we review all kinds of romance novels and stories. Got one of your own to submit? Please do! Here's my latest review, of Jana Richards' Flawless.

And now, a gag:

Finally, before I forget, there was a very interesting post the other day by Michael Offutt on understanding men in fiction: men want to be somebody. It's worth reading if you're waffling in any way about your male characters' motivations.

Now if you'll excuse me, I've got some new-story plotting to do...

Rule of Three Blogfest Story Part Two and By the Pale Moonlight Giveaway

2011-10-12T16:16:00.000-04:00

ow we come to Ayten's point of view...

The first part of my story for the Rule of Three Blogfest featured Cem Sultan, finally confessing his love for the maiden Ayten, a guest at his temporary home in Renaissance.

This blogfest runs all month; each Wednesday we'll have a new post exploring the relationship between three characters in the created town of Renaissance. The setting is the same for all of us, but everything else - genre, characters, etc. - are our own.

And today's post is belongs to Ayten. My word count is 594, and I was inspired by these three prompts, given by the blogfest hosts:
Someone is killed or almost killed.
A relationship becomes complicated.
A character lies to another on an important matter.

Ever since we arrived in Renaissance, we've been feted. I felt like idle lady of the court yesterday; choosing my gown for the masquerade, rifling through a stack of silk ribbons, sitting perfectly still -- with not even any needlework -- as my hair was piled higher and my neckline tugged lower than I'd ever dared. And that's nothing to say of the masquerade itself, when both Prince Cem and Devran Bey...

But that was last night. Today we've joined an expedition to the Roundeli Mountains, alongside a Professor, and a woman - apparently in Renaissance, there's no bar to a woman holding whatever position she chooses. Imagine! I could continue my father's business, use all my trader's skills, perhaps open my own merchant's booth in Smyrna.

I'm far from the Ottoman Empire now, though, travelling under Rosa and her husband's protection, as part of Devran's retinue.

I've been avoiding explaining to you about Devran. It's hard for me to speak coherently. Every time I mention his name, images crowd my mind.

There was that time I poked my head up through the hatch, only to see him on deck in nothing but his long shirt, washing, with two sailors pouring buckets of water over his head. His hair was plastered to his head as his shirt was to his shoulders, and --

Then there was last night, at the masquerade. I hid in a curtained alcove to rest my feet, and he came to offer me a cup of sherbet. His fingers brushed mine, and then he asked me to dance. I'd never dreamed that men and women could dance together like that. These Renaissance customs are very new to me.

So these images crowd my head, and I find it difficult to speak. Worse, now there are thoughts of Prince Cem that intrude and I --

Aagh!

"Ayten!"

Devran's voice rings down the cliffside in a scream so sharp it's as if he's torn my name out of his chest and thrown it down to me.

I've caught on a stiff bush, thankfully, but my sleeves are torn and needles prick my legs through the linen of my skirt. I can hear them up there, berating our guide for not warning us about the treacherous footing.

I try not to look down, and to breathe evenly. Somewhere down in the depths of the gorge I can hear rushing water tumbling along a stony bed.

The guide has a length of rope. Still they argue above; they do not trust the guide, and Prince Cem declares that he will come down himself.

I say nothing. I will not speak until there is solid ground under my feet once more.

Devran stands on the edge, not arguing, not even speaking, simply staring. Our eyes meet for an instant, or so I think. The sun shines bright and hot, so that the very air shimmers and his face is indistinct.

There's an inch of ledge beneath the bush. Cem steps aside onto the rock and winds the rope about my waist. His hands are steady and don't touch me at all, even as he knots the end. Of course, not with all those faces looking down.

I'm hauled up and stumble a little, clutch Rosa's arm as they lower the rope for Cem.

I can see the expression on Devran's face clearly now. He looks as though, if I tripped again, he'd rush over and taken me in his arms.

But I stand up straight. "I'm all right," I say. The lie burns in my throat.

***

Hope you liked it! Meanwhile, today is Rosa's birthday! She would be - counts on fingers and toes - 538 years old today. Happy birthday Rosa! It's also - not coincidentally - the day that a sailor, let's call him Santiago, Rosa's father, spotted land on Columbus' first voyage.

You know, next year is the 520th anniversary of Columbus' first voyage. Wouldn't it be exciting if I could promote Out of the Water at the same time? Even though Columbus only appears very briefly, at the beginning. He's also mentioned very briefly, at the ending, of the sequel, the story about Ayten, which I've begun tentatively calling Verse, Venice and Viziers.

I mentioned Jennifer Hendren's By the Pale Moonlight the other day. Here's the book trailer:

Enter Jen's contest to win a copy! You can also enter through the All The World's Our Page site. Ah, YA. What would I do without you?

A Round of Words in 80 Days and HEAP

2011-10-09T18:34:00.026-04:00

quiet sort of check in today as I've slowed down a bit since I finished editing Out of the Water and sent it out to readers.

I try not to think about what they might be doing to the MS with their red pens and their eyebrows raised in disbelief...

Let's not think about that. Remember MAD Magazine? The really old ones from the 50s and 60s? Does anyone remember HEAP? The full colour version is available on Dr Hermes. I learned a bit of the background from that post:

"The two main elements giving basis for this story are the old time radio show, INNER SANCTUM, with its famous creaking door and its sepulchral-voiced host Raymond (his ghoulish puns and wisecracks were obviously a big influence on the hosts of EC's horror titles like TALES FROM THE CRYPT.

But the story presented by "Ramon" here is interesting in itself, in that it does a take-off on the Heap. You can read more about the Heap by clicking on the tag below. He was a long-running character in a back-up strip in AIRBOY COMICS. Inspired by Theodore Sturgeon's great story "It," the Heap is the source for every stinky shuffling muck-beasts like Swamp Thing and Man-Thing. And although there have been any number of odd Swamp Thing stories, I don't recall any where he fell in love with female garbage heap and started wearing a Zoot Suit...!"

Here's a sampling of the black and white version. I took photographs of all the pages in my parents' copy, since they're crumbling and I'm always afraid I'll find they've been reduced to dust one day. This story never fails to make me laugh (if you'd like the whole story, try to squint and read the colour version or e-mail me and I'll send you all the black and white images).

And oh yes, A Round of Words in 80 Days. I've been tweaking my query and synopsis. Now to draw up a list of ideal agents... Wish me luck! I've also returned to writing a regular column for the Bizim Anadolu newspaper (follow the link, scroll over the bar down the left-hand side of the page until the names appear, and click on my name) - latest column is on tasting exotic fruit.

Dragon fruit, anyone?

Carole Anne Carr's Thin Time

2011-10-07T19:51:00.023-04:00

uick post from me today!

I'm working on the next installment of my Rule of Three Blogfest story - see post below - and having a great time reading everyone else's stories.

Also, this month's exercise over at the Compuserve Forum is a doozy: can you make Barbara Rogan cry?

My entry features Rosa and Baha from Out of the Water; please let me know if you think I've succeeded. Er, not that I want everyone bawling their eyes out or anything...

Last week I read Carole Anne Carr's middle grade story Thin Time.

"In the Shropshire village of Tong, a bad tempered tomb dog called Fymm makes a mistake and chooses the wrong girl to be Task Bearer. Chased by gargoyles, Alice reaches the Green Lady's cottage, receives the first of her three gifts, and learns that she must enter the Other World at Thin Time.

Her task is to bring back the New Year seeds before midnight, and prevent the world from dying. With her small stepbrother Thomas, Ratatosk the squirrel who can't be trusted, and Fymm by her side, she sets out on her dangerous quest.

Using the skipping rhyme password to enter the door into the Tree of Life, she travels into the Other World. With the help of the singing cockerel from the church tower, and armed with a stone and a gargoyle's shield, she must face the terrible Sisters at the Well of Wyrd, and the fury of Nidhogg the Snake-Dragon.

But does she possess the one thing that will protect her – a loving heart? For without that, she will never be able to return to her own time, and the treasure, whatever it may be, will never be hers."

The story is a perfect blend of excitement, adventure and coming-of-age that draws you in right from the first paragraph:

"I'm looking for Fymm now that the early frosts are nipping my fingers and toes, like a bite from his small sharp teeth. It's nearly a year since I last saw him, and I'm scared and excited too. It won't be long before Thin Time is here again."

And, Carole Anne is a Shrophsire author! Shropshire's a part of England I've been to quite often, and it's the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution, where the Ironbridge is located. I once had a story idea come to me in a pub across the bridge (going west along the Severn Way)...

Speaking of ideas, if you aren't doing so already, then Explore Your Ragged Edge. Step Outside Your Comfort Zone. Write big!

Rule of Three Story, #ROW80 Party, Insecure Writers - Drinks for All!

2011-10-05T06:20:00.001-04:00

ail and well met, visitors!

Stick around, we've a lot to get through. If you'd like a drink, the bar's on the left, and I believe everyone at #ROW80 is having Jello shots. Share a dram of Lagavulin with me if you like.

Now then, first up, here's my #ROW80 party photo!

Yup, that's my ridiculous FarmVille farm - but look, I've got a pub! Told ya you could have any drink you wanted. I kept my Viking costume on, too.

Need I check in for A Round of Words in 80 Days? Do we check in on party day? I'm holding my tumbler over the first draft of my query, but the words are starting to blur a little. And look - there's another party going on - Indie Book Collective is one year old!

Now comes the maudlin bit, where I've "taken as much ale as is good" for me. It's the second posting day for Alex J. Cavanaugh's Insecure Writer's Support Group. Boy am I feeling insecure. Out of the Water's in the hands of betas, my query and synopsis are at a Barbara Rogan course, and one of my saddest scenes is being picked apart in the October Exercise at the Compuserve Books and Writers Community. Please be gentle with me everyone!

Let me top up your drinks. I've got some pumpkin cheesecake to pass around. Everyone comfortable? Then here we go with the most important part of the party - storytelling!

The Rule of Three Blogfest is here! J. C. Martin's one of the hosts, and she was very generous to us participants - we all got to read her shivery short story The Doll; a satisfyingly creepy tale.

The blogfest runs all month; each Wednesday we'll have a new post exploring the relationship between three characters in the created town of Renaissance. The setting is the same for all of us, but everything else - genre, characters, etc. - are our own.

[Edited to add: My entry was 494 words and used these two prompts: "There is fear of an impending misfortune" and "Someone might fall in love"]

My story takes places in the 15th Century, and is historical romance. Here is the Sultan's brother Cem:

On the eve of the Traders' Festival, I hosted a masquerade the like of which had never before been seen in Renaissance. It is not I who boasts thus; the Mayor himself said as much to me, and he has been head of this town through fifty seasons of carnevale.

I had as my pretext the visit of Devran Paşa, son of the Ottoman Grand Vizier to Sultan Bayezid II, my brother. I, Cem, am exiled here with no hope of return – unless my brother should fall prey to illness, or battle wound, or an assassin's blade, and I be summoned to take his place. Until then, I remain exiled, as a so-called honoured guest of the Mayor of Renaissance.

But the masquerade, now. Devran Paşa and all his retinue were invited, being guests of my halls. Yes, all his retinue, even down to the lady's maid and companion of his translator's wife.

Ay, Ayten. Ayten the moon-skinned. Lady's maid did I call her? I do her gracefulness no justice, for she is meet to be a lady in her own right.

Shall I describe to you my awe and captivation on her arrival at my little masquerade, when I first beheld her without cape or shawl veiling her features?

Stay! Rather, I shall relate to you her appearance, attempt to create a portrait with mere words, and if I can depict but a tenth of her beauty, then you too, fair listener, shall share in my fascination.

Moon-skinned her name means, and moon-skinned she is. Fairer and more delicate than any rough maiden of Renaissance. Miners' daughters and traders' sisters have no hope of inhabiting the same realms of loveliness as Ayten. O! the touch of her arm against mine as I led her out onto the floor of the ballroom in a slow pavane. Ah, the chestnut waves of her hair, held back by flowers at her brow, to expose that high forehead, those almond shaped-eyes.

Others would still be scrabbling among the marshes at the feet of Espadon River, while she wandered high above, in the glades of the Forest of Assart.

Well, I see your eyes glaze over. Perhaps you have a maiden of your own and wish to hear no comparisons. Perhaps you are considering how best you might win the hand of Ayten, should you chance upon her long and gentle fingers cupping a rose, in the gardens at the crossroads of Targe and Kris.

You may not!

I have erred, maybe, in revealing my heart to you.

Hear this! I have seen Devran Paşa's avid gaze follow her footsteps. I have caught his glare on me as I slipped her arm through mine to lead her home. She shall be mine; she is mine.

The Mayor hosts a dinner tomorrow at the halls on the Villein route. Devran is set to sail the morning after.

If I have my way, Ayten shall not take ship with the others.

She will stay with me.

***

There you have it, the beginning of the intrigue.

One last item before we clink glasses in a farewell toast - if you're querying, as I am, why not submit your query to Kate Kaynak's latest query critique contest?

Have a good night everyone!