MOVING!!!
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Alright folks, I'm leaving Blogger behind.
Haven has designed a pretty new website for me -- lovely graphics, gorgeous colors -- and we've moved the whole shebang over to Wordpress.
SO! Come visit me at
my new blog.You can click on the
HOME page here, too, and that'll take you to the new spot.
See you at the new site!
Slavic Mythology at BTV
Friday, August 31, 2007
I'm continuing my series on the pantheons of different cultures with a short piece about Slavic mythology. It was fun to research, but half of the real sources are in Lithuanian!
Check out
Beyond the Veil today!
Did it again
Friday, August 24, 2007
I'm sorry. I dropped off the face of the earth for a few days there, didn't I? I apologize. And I'd been doing so well, too, with blogging regularly.
I got overwhelmed with a lot of internet stuff and living in Romanceland became more stressful than it was worth, so I went on holiday. Not literally, I'm afraid, but mentally. Very restful.
I've been enjoying the Steampunk Forum over at Brass Goggles. It's good to get out of Romanceland and Writingville every once in a while. It's a different mindset and very valuable, not just for research, but also for widening personal paradigms.
Anyway, I'm back. What's going on, you ask? I'll tell you. I've turned in my ARC for LOVE & LORE. I'm arranging interviews for us at various locations. And I've been working with my local library to see if they'll carry it. Once they carry it, they'll put me on their local author list for doing programs, too.
We're supposed to head to the drive-in tonight, provided the weather holds. They're showing
Stardust and I'm very excited to see it! Apparently the airship is awesomely Steampunk!
You know it's a good seminar when...
Sunday, August 19, 2007
The teacher tells you how to kill a man with a pair of kitchen tongs!
It was awesome. Jim Henke and his wife, Shirl, absolutely rock. I don't think I'll be that cool. Ever. They tell the best stories and have the neatest friends. Plus, Jim has lethally nifty ideas.
See, the class was about choreographing fight scenes. It started with Jim and Shirl each reading a fight scene out of books they'd written. After that the real fun started. Essentially, it was Escaping Heroines 101. There were tons of little tidbits. Any weapon will do. And anything can be a weapon.
A very tightly rolled up newspaper can, if applied with enough force, fracture a man's wrist. Keep your keys out when you walk to your car with the point sticking out between your fingers, then use the point on an attacker's throat or eyes or whatever you can reach. It hurts. If you're going to use a gun, use the right one, appropriate to the time.
And remember. Once the bad guy is down,
run away, screaming like hell. Well, maybe not the kick-ass heroines, but for the ordinary life ones.
After that was a great Q&A with several of the multi-published authors in our chapter. We got some really useful information out of that, especially about the business side of the deal. They've all been through ups and downs, but I think the key is that they keep writing books they can sell.
The last session was with Eileen Dryer, who is a trauma nurse IRL with all kinds of nifty certifications, and has taken to writing more romantic suspense lately. It was about Writing Villains Worthy of Your Heroes. There was a ton of info on criminal psychology and serial killers, but I thought the most useful stuff was about writing really powerful villains, not just cardboard characters. She reminded us of one of my favorite pieces of advice:
The villain is the hero of his own story. Now, his story may be a twisted freakshow with him as the gory ringmaster, but in his mind, he's doing what needs to be done.
I also met new people, in particular a couple of ladies who write mostly mysteries/crime fiction, and it was interesting to hear their take on the organizations that specialize in their genre, MWA, etc. I guess our particular type of insular, inbred blindness isn't that uncommon on the higher-up organizational level. Strangely, that made me feel better. *gg*
Overall, it was a great day. I guess they usually do this outdoors at a park, but with the heatwave, one of our wonderful members opened her home to us for which we're grateful. It was steeenkin' hot outside. The tabbouleh went over well -- it's nice to find adventurous eaters.
I think the upshot of this is that if I have to deal with the national organization to stay in my local chapter, then I'll deal. MORWA is golden.
Oops!
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Missed blogging yesterday.
Have hideous feeling also missed group blogging at Beyond the Veil. Naughty author. Shame on me. Very embarrassing. So sorry.
Going to MORWA Camp Write-A-Lot today to learn how to write fight scenes. Very excited. Made tabbouleh. Again. Very tasty.
Bye!!
Not reading much lately
Thursday, August 16, 2007
I've got a stack of books on my night table and I'm not reading them. Does anyone else go through these phases? It's not like the books aren't interesting, they're ones I've been dying to get to! But I can't quite seem to work up the enthusiasm for reading I usually have.
Wasn't it nice when all you had to worry about was writing the book?
I wish it was that easy.
First Day of School!
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
It's done. They're gone. Lunches made, shoes tied, everyone spiffy in new clothes.
It's so quiet here. Just me and the dog. Even dh is out today.
Of course, there's plenty to keep me occupied. I didn't write a word yesterday. So much for the Fast Draft. I had a mini-meltdown instead. I'm better now.
But now there are all these ... possibilities. What should I do first?
