Sunday Summary, ROW80 Fail, Nesting Eagles, and the Saint Patrick's Day Parade

aking a leaf out of Kait Nolan's blog today and posting a summary:

Writing and editing: For one week now I've taken an unexpected, unplanned and unadulterated break from editing Rome, Rhymes and Risk. I did manage to revise the query for Out of the Water, thanks to everyone who offered insightful comments over at Matthew's, but I haven't sent out any new queries. A little scared...

Blogging: I've posted, and thanks to everyone for coming by - I will visit all your blogs soon!

But, and the reason I've been so slack with social media - though I did manage to vote for Jo Bourne and Kait Nolan and Darlene Marshall as they moved up the ranks in DABWAHA - is that I've been:

Knitting: Yes, it's The Saga of the Kilt Hose! I started this project two years ago, for a Scottish friend, and every time I dropped it and started again there was a new deadline. His next birthday. Robbie Burns' night. The Saint Patrick's Society of Montreal Annual Ball. His birthday again.

Not sure what stuck a spur into me this week - the derisive laughter of colleagues who've seen me work on this project on and off for two years might have had something to do with it - but I've been determined to complete the socks for his birthday on Wednesday. I'll put up full details and the annotated pattern (I had quite a few problems understanding it) on the knitting blog at a later date.

Here's what the kilt hose looked like when I had only the feet done, two years ago.

I've got ten rows left to go and then comes the 'finishing' (weaving in the ends and possibly washing and blocking them, if I have the nerve). Wish me luck!

(image courtesy of the Shady Shamrock blog)

Until then, it's parade day! I promise not to get too happy, so that I can finish knitting tonight. Montreal has the second oldest Saint Patrick's Day parade (after NYC, of course) in all of North America; this year's is the 189th edition. I was in/on a float one year (college float - any and all alumni were invited!), but I still can't decide if it's better to be a participant or a spectator.

Two extra items:

Friends of mine participated in a Polar Bear Plunge yesterday, to raise money for the Special Olympics. While the plunge is over, I believe you can still donate - head over to the Feisty Fusion team page!

Now, for your viewing pleasure, live stream of nesting eagles in Iowa:

Free desktop streaming application by Ustream

She's sitting on three eggs that are due to hatch at the end of the week!

DABWAHA, Britannica, Gabaldon and Pez Dispensers, St Patrick, and Me in Real Simple!

appy Saint Patrick's Day tomorrow! Today it's breakfast at McKibbins Irish Pub, bright and early.

Why not listen to some Irish Rovers:

We're also drinking to the demise of the print edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, the reasons for which are succinctly explained in Wired. The one slant I disagree with is the assertion that "I suspect almost no one ever opened their Britannicas" and "Britannica's own market research showed that the typical encyclopedia owner opened his or her volumes less than once a year":

I guess I'm part of the minority that has an affinity for research books. I enjoy idly flipping through encyclopaedias, and I often pull out the (print!) Oxford English Dictionary for a good hunt/read.

DABWAHA is on right now! I know voting is confusing, but that's no excuse - just sign in every day (though I tried to vote in the first round while at the office and discovered that I was blocked from the site, as it somehow got registered as a 'gambling' site. Huh?) and VOTE whenever you see the polls open. There are three awesome amazing wonderful books that deserve to go head to head in the final round:

The Black Hawk by Joanna Bourne, Sea Change by Darlene Marshall and Red by Kait Nolan.

Once you've done voting, head over to the Free Par-tay!!! and nab some free e-published books!

And some links:

I replied to Real Simple's What Author Do you Admire Most and Why? and they printed my answer in the April issue! Er, I chose Tolkien, of course.

And here's a lovely long interview with Diana Gabaldon. Love the part where she talks of readers expecting writers to be like creativity Pez dispensers!

Speaking of Diana, there's a Canadian connection to the creation of her books, especially The Scottish Prisoner, which is set partly in Ireland.

Which brings us back to Saint Patrick's Day. I remember memorising Dear Old Donegal when I was a kid, but can't remember if it was my school that taught it, or if my sister learned it at her school and passed it to me. In honour of the release of his latest album, though, here's Springsteen, performing another Irish ballad, Mrs McGrath:

Blackadder Status Update Day Is Tomorrow - What's Your Magnificent Octopus About?

've had two Blackadder (one of the funniest shows in British TV history) related posts before: two of my favourite quotes, for last year's Blackadder Status Update Day ("so what was the chicken impression in aid of?" and "fortune vomits on my eiderdown once more"); and a post on Procrastinating with Rowan Atkinson.

Some of my other favourite quotes are:

"Sausage?!"
(Dr. Johnson, and the word he left out of his dictionary)

"Nathaniel sits on a spike. I sit on Nathaniel. Two spikes would be an extravagance."
(Blackadder's Puritan relatives)

"You shot my Speckled Jim!?"
(Colonel Melchett, on the loss of his passenger pigeon)

"Permission to jolly well speak right now sir, otherwise I might just burst like a bally balloon."
(George, as he's swindled by Blackadder)

"Some beans."

(Baldrick's answer to 'what is two beans plus two beans?')

"Madam, without you, life is like a broken pencil... pointless."
(Blackadder curries favour with the Queen)

"Wobble."
(Blackadder tries to get out of the war, with pencils up his nostrils)

And so on. But, in honour of all of us writers, here's Blackadder describing his magnum opus ("Edmund. A Butler's Tale. A huge, roller coaster of a novel in four hundred sizzling chapters. A searing indictment of domestic servitude in the eighteenth century, with some hot gypsies thrown in"), and Baldrick telling of his own 'magnificent octopus' ("Once upon a time, there was a lovely little sausage called `Baldrick', and it lived happily ever after."):

Troll Fest - Remembering Your First Ever Blog Post

roll fest!

Siv Maria has a lovely post about Norway and trolls and how she "can sit on [her] front steps, have a conversation with a moose and listen to a waterfall while drinking [her] morning coffee". To celebrate her Blogiversary, she's hosting a Troll Fest this month! All you have to do is share a story about your first blog post or post it again.

My first post looked like this:

Thursday, 30 August 2007
My First Post
Baby steps... Right off the bat, here's a to do list:
- decide on focus for blog
- write intro message
- email link to everyone
- add quotes, photos
- add music?
- link to Ryan's music page
- don't forget to edit!

It's almost as though I didn't realise other people could see my posts... My second post was a little more focused:

Friday, 31 August 2007
What I Am Writing
This year I have finished a short story, begun a novel, and every once in a while I take out an older novel and tinker with it.
The finished novel is tentatively entitled An Arnavutköy Spring, and is about a young Greek girl in pre-WWI Istanbul who falls in love with a dashing travelling musician from Brittany.
The work in progress does not have a title yet (watch for a contest - with prizes! - coming soon) but for daily purposes, is referred to as Austin and Kedi. Austin travels two millenia back in time to Ephesus in 41 AD, and helps to ensure that the Roman invasion of Britain actually takes place. His friend on this journey is a grey cat named Kedi. I am halfway to my goal of 80,000 words - woo hoo!

This story eventually became the Middle Grade novel The Face of A Lion, which went out on queries last year. I'll be editing An Arnavutköy Spring soon, after I finish the current round of edits on Rome, Rhymes and Risk (only one chapter away from meeting that goal!). And Austin's story is set in 43 AD, actually...

And in exciting news, The One Ring has a new Google calendar: the Today in Middle Earth calendar. Here, for instance, is today:

Hope they start adding items from the First and Second Ages, too!
Don't forget to vote in Rach's Second Campaign Challenge! My entry is one post below...

Writers Events This Weekend, DABWAHA, and I Want to be Anthony Horowitz's Copy Editor

riday! There's lots going on this weekend.

First we've got what would have been Douglas Adams' 60th birthday on Sunday. Neil Gaiman says (and you have to do what he says): "To celebrate this event, Douglas' family and friends, in association with 'Save The Rhino' (one of Douglas' favourite charities) are holding a very special birthday celebration in his honour at the Hammersmith Apollo in London. An evening's entertainment from some of the finest names in the world of science, comedy, entertainment and music, with a very special premiere performance of Douglas' material, this is one event that is definitely not to be missed."

That's if you're in London. If you're in Montreal, we have the annual Antiquarian Book Fair! I always go, just to drool over ancient books I'd love to own. Especially if there happen to be volumes of Tolkien.

And if you're in Regensburg, Germany, you might try to sneak a peek at one of the 500 new fairytales discovered there. The stories were "locked away in an archive" for over 150 years and are "part of a collection of myths, legends and fairytales, gathered by the local historian Franz Xaver von Schönwerth (1810–1886) in the Bavarian region of Oberpfalz at about the same time as the Grimm brothers were collecting the fairytales that have since charmed adults and children around the world."

Also in The Guardian, Anthony Horowitz, author of - among other books - the Alex Rider series, and the only new Sherlock Holmes story authorised by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's estate (on my wishlist!), recently had an article entitled Do We Need Publishers Any More?

I thought this comment was rather telling: "I asked my own publisher, Jane Winterbotham, why I needed her and she came straight back with the reply. She said she'd call me next Tuesday. When she did finally ring me, she suggested that without her, I would miss 'all the peripherals'. These were: the promotion, the marketing, the editing and the advance. Well, let's forget the marketing and the advance for a minute, because the funny thing is that when I actually needed them, at the start of my career, that was when they were in short supply."

(Interlude: Three authors I love are nominated in the DABWAHA
(Dear Author Bitchery Writing Award for Hellagood Authors)
this year: Joanna Bourne, Darlene Marshall, and the self-published awesome Kait Nolan. Go vote!)

When it comes to editing, Horowitz says: "I'm sure there are some very good self-published books out there and this may well be one of them – anyway, who am I to say? - but my feeling is that in some indefinable way, having a publisher raises the bar."

I think I tend to agree with him. At least for the moment, when I'm still querying and attempting to publish the traditional way. Ask me again in ten years!

At the same time, I definitely also agree with his idea that "it may be that traditional publishers have less to fear from the digital revolution than they think. Perhaps they should embrace it. I'd love, for example, to write a murder mystery where you could actually tap on a bit of dialogue you mistrusted and discover that the character was telling a lie. Where the reader actually had to become a detective and where the last chapter, the reveal, had to be earned. Or how about a book with different points of view, where you could choose which of the characters became the narrator? I believe someone is experimenting with added music and sound effects as part of the book. For me, the digital revolution offers fantastic opportunities – if you grab hold of them."

At one point, Horowitz adds: "Relations between us have been strained ever since they published my Sherlock Holmes novel, The Mouse of Slick, with no fewer than 35 proof-reading errors. Their proof-reader tried to kill herself. She shot herself with a gnu. Even so, we're doing another book together … a story of murder, suspicion and revenge." (That's actually The House of Silk, by the way)

So there you have it, part two in the series. I want to be Anthony Horowitz's copy editor! Just as I want to be Neil Gaiman's copy editor.

Which author would you like to interact with?

My entry for Rach's campaign challenge is here: please critique or like or both! I'm still visiting everyone's entries, they make for such fun reading.

Insecure Writers, Flash Fiction for Özlem Yikici's Continuing Story and Books from Kait Nolan (it's ROW80 Check In Day!)

ou'll have to forgive me. I'm feeling a bit insecure at the moment. I've hit a good stride in my edits for Rome, Rhymes and Risk but, you know, it's easy to hit a stride when you keep leaving blank spots in your wake. [insert scene] and [add more emotion to this] and so on; easy to discard so-called edited pages when you've still got square brackets littering the prose.

On top of that, the blasted alarm clock went off in the middle of such an exciting film/story of a dream this morning. I've been scribbling like mad, trying to get all the pieces down, but I missed the ending, and didn't even get to find out the hero's name - the heroine was just about to call out to him, as a wave took him under, when the furshlugginer alarm jangled me awake.

Even trying to relive the dream in the shower didn't help. What do you mean, I'll have to imagine and write the ending? Oh, right. I'm a writer.

An insecure writer. Thank you, Alex, for the support group!

And if you'd like, you can read my story for Rach's second challenge, vote (she's got Like buttons!), and offer critiques. I need to be more insecure before I can be confident, right?

At the same time, I've got a bit of flash fiction to share with you all!

Özlem Yikici has come up with a wonderful idea: "I want us to write a story together. How? 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." Another added twist is that Özlem has put up four images for us to draw inspiration from, including the two that I used:

The Lady of Shalott, John William Waterhouse

Nightfall Down the Thames, John Atkinsonn Grimshaw

So here're part one, at C. M. Brown's and part two, at Lara Schiffbauer's, of Paper Canvas Tapestries Collaborations, in which our two heroines find themselves in a frightening hallway in the middle of a windstorm, and one has just been attacked by a sunflower. Or so it seems...

Delphina cried out, but the wind snatched her words away. I leapt forward and snatched the petal off her cheek.

"Jasmine, help me," she managed to whisper, and then she began to cough. Another petal fell out into her hand.

"Let's get out of here." I grabbed her hand and pushed forward, into the wind, down the red-carpeted corridor.

The first door to the left had a rose engraved on its handle, which seemed like a good omen. The wind pushed us harder than ever, but I set my shoulder to the door and shoved.

The door opened and we fell through --

--onto a ship.

No one had seen us. We clutched the rail and looked around at the tall masts, the caravels, the fishermen's rickety rowboats that cluttered up the docks. In the distance, I could see the dome of St. Paul's Cathedral.

We were still in London, then. Yet the cityscape didn't look anything like the London I knew.

"Jasmine? What's happened?" Delphina gaped up at me, expecting me to have all the answers, as she always did. There was a vivid red line on her cheek where the petal had sliced her skin.

"We're in London. But as to when..."

That's when I saw her: in a boat with a dragon-head prow, floating towards us on the current, long-haired and pale, the Lady of Shalott.

"Help me," the lady called. She raised her arm, shielded her eyes, and her gaze met mine. "Is this Camelot?"

If you'd like to play, please write to Özlem!

And Kait's books? They're all 50% off at Smashwords, in honour of Read an Ebook Week. Happy reading!

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

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)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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?