Faery Swap, and Excerpts!

airies! Susan Kaye Quinn is here today, talking about Faery Swap:

Win paperbacks, magick wands, and a $25 Gift Card! (see below)

Warrior Faeries and Math Magick

by Susan Kaye Quinn

My new middle grade fantasy, Faery Swap, is about a fourteen-year-old boy who is tricked into swapping places with a warrior faery prince and has to find his way back home before the dimensional window between their worlds slams shut.

2 minute book trailer

In my prior life, I worked for NASA and got a lot of degrees in engineering. (Yes, I really am a rocket scientist and have the Ph.D. to prove it!) I used the logical-left-side of my brain to design aircraft engines and study global warming. Now that I write fiction, I love using the creative-right-side of my brain to create compelling characters and dramatic adventures as well as the logical-left-side to weave math, science, and technology into my stories. Math and science have always seemed wondrous to me, so it made sense to me that the warrior faeries in Faery Swap would steal mathematical knowledge from humans in order to enhance their magickal faery powers. 

In my story, knowledge is literally power.

I'm passionate about this message - that knowledge is power and math is magick - and the ethical use of that knowledge is a key theme throughout the story. I wanted to share this message, so I created a Virtual Author Visit, Common-Core-based Teacher's Guide, and a card-based game, so any teacher, anywhere on the planet, could share this message with their students.

9 minute Virtual Author Visit

In this video, I share my background in science and engineering and talk about the book, then show how humans use math in the real world to do amazing things... even without magick to help them. The Teacher's Guide, activities, card game, and videos are meant flexible - teachers and librarians can spend as little as 2 minutes sharing the trailer or they can use the materials to create a whole unit around the book and the Knowledge is Power When Math is Magick theme. My hope is that some of my love for math and science will rub off on young readers, and that kids will see they each have an inner warrior faery capable of seeking knowledge and performing great deeds with it!

(Click here to find out more about the Virtual Author Visit).

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March 3rd - March 21st

A little about Faery Swap...  Kindle, Nook, Print

Warrior faery princes can be very stubborn. Especially when they possess your body. Fourteen-year-old Finn just wants to keep his little sister out of Child Protective Services--an epic challenge with their parentally-missing-in-action dad moving them to England, near the famous Stonehenge rocks. Warrior faery Prince Zaneyr just wants to escape his father's reckless plan to repair the Rift--a catastrophe that ripped the faery realm from Earth 4,000 years ago and set it adrift in an alternate, timeless dimension. When Zaneyr tricks Finn into swapping places, Finn becomes a bodiless soul stuck in the Otherworld, and Zaneyr uses Finn's body to fight off his father's seekers on Earth. Between them, they have two souls and only one body... and both worlds to save before the dimensional window between them slams shut.

NOTE TO TEACHERS: Check out the Virtual Author visit video and Common-Core-Aligned Teacher's Guide for Faery Swap here.

Excerpt

[Author's Note: Faery Swap is told in alternating points of view, between Finn, the human boy, and Zaneyr, the faery prince who tricks him into swapping places.]

Finn's Excerpt:

He looked up at the blanket of haze hiding the sun. The sky had been blue when he had dropped off Erin. How long had he been out? He wrestled his arm around to look at his watch

8:44

The second hand was dead still, frozen between the five and the six. Whatever McFreaky did to knock him out broke his watch, too. The watch his mom gave him. She had strapped it on his wrist that day he was late for the bus and told him that being on time was important. Part of growing up. She drove him to school. The wreck happened on the way home.

It was the last thing she ever gave him. And McFreaky broke it. Finn clenched his fist and slammed it into the grass.

Then the grass punched him back.

The hit to his shoulder was so hard, it flipped him onto his back. A tinkling of glass sounded all around him.

“What the…?” Finn scrambled to sit up. The grass couldn’t have punched him. That didn’t make any sense. Something under the grass then. He jumped up to his feet and stared at the ground, frozen, waiting for it to move again.

Nothing happened.

Finn stomped his foot on the grass where he’d been lying a moment before, just to be sure. The grass kicked back, knocking him off his feet and landing him with a thump on his backside. The tinkling glass sound rushed up, like a thousand tiny voices laughing.

“Ahhh!” Finn jerked up off the ground. A narrow dirt path was just a dozen feet away, so he ran toward it. Tiny insects rose up wherever he stepped, making the tinkling sound, then falling back down. He teetered on the safety of the path, which seemed clear of the insects. The path was just wide enough for a sheep to pass. A very small sheep.

What was this crazy place?

Zaneyr's Excerpt:

Zaneyr peered at the young sister of Finn. He vowed to respect that kin bond, as a brother would. It was the least he could do, having banished her brother to the eternal changelessness of the Otherworld. And perhaps the House of Finn would serve as good a hiding place as any.

She awaited his answer with an impatience too large for such a small thing.

“No, lass, you cannot stay home with me.” He gestured to the loud guardian of the stone structure. “You need to stay here. But I will be back at the appointed time for you.”

Erin’s shoulders sagged with defeat.

“But I think I will return home now.” Zaneyr looked around at the many dwellings that crowded the path. “Which one would that be?”

Erin fixed that glare upon him again. “I memorized our address, already! When are you going to stop quizzing me?”

“It is the sickness,” Zaneyr said with a smile. “It is stealing my memory like a thief.”

“Dude, you are sick.” She suddenly shot her hand toward his face. Reflexively, Zaneyr leaned away, but she managed to land a tiny, warm hand on his cheek. He froze. What sort of magick was she working by touch? Then he remembered she was only a child, and a human one at that. It had been so long since he had felt the warmth of any touch.

The tension flew away.

“You’re not running a fever.” Her face was a picture of seriousness. “But I should go home with you.”

“Erin!” the woman called again, closer now. “You all right, love? I’m closing the gates.”

“You are summoned. You must go.” Zaneyr glanced again at the dwellings, stacked like cubes on top of one another. He pointed to one. “Is that our home? I don’t believe you truly recall.”

Erin’s shoulders drooped again. “It’s 842 on Earls Court.” She speared his chest with a small finger. 

Don’t forget to come back and get me.”

“I could hardly refuse an order so imperiously given.”

Blog Tour Giveaway

$25 Amazon Gift Card

Signed Paperback of Faery Swap

Two Faery Wands

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Susan Kaye Quinnis the author of the bestselling Mindjack Trilogy, which is young adult science fiction. Faery Swap is her foray into middle grade, which is her first writing love. Her business card says "Author and Rocket Scientist" and she always has more speculative fiction fun in the works. You can subscribe to her newsletter (hint: new subscribers get a free short story!) or stop by her blog to see what she's up to.

Faery Swap

Kindle | Nook | Print

Fourteen-year-old Finn is tricked into swapping places with a warrior faery prince and has to find his way back home before the dimensional window between their worlds slams shut. 

Thanks for visiting, Susan! I loved Faery Swap, and hope we get more stories about the Faery realm soon!

Meanwhile, there are only three weeks left in A Round of Words in 80 Days - and last week I veered away from my vignette submission and went back to my 2012 NaNo story, Captive of the Sea, which I typed up last autumn.

I'd typed it up on PlainText on the iPad - love being able to lounge on the sofa while getting things done - so I had to move it from PlainText into Scrivener, where I had fun sorting the scenes into chapters. 60 scenes, 20 chapters, and 61500 words. Lots of room to add words, which is good, because as usual I'm missing an ending and many scenes need fleshing out. I might read this one on the plane if we plan a spring trip.

I've also participated in another monthly exercise over on the Forum - this one's all about flashbacks. And I've got an addendum goal: stop falling behind in blog comments! I promise I'm visiting all of you, I just don't necessarily comment every time...

While we're sharing excerpts, I thought I'd share my prologue to Captive of the Sea:

I was born on King Arthur's grave.
My earliest memory is of Father telling me stories of the court of the king, who reigned over 500 years ago. Each tale started with daring knight who, peradventure, fell afoul of a lovely maiden, and fought his way through perils back into grace and favour. The stories were scarfed by the mists of time, and my father ended them all with the words, "you are a daughter of Snowdonia, of the mountain whence Arthur will rise again."
Then the battles of the kings of our time began anew, and my father packed up our household and brought us to the teeming, reeking city of London. He disappeared every day into the milling crowds, seeking his fortune, and I hardly ever saw him except for an hour or so at sunset.
The fogs and smoke choked me, and I stayed as much as I could indoors. I'd look out my window early in the morning, seeking green sloping hills and purple-headed mountain ranges. Yet I could not look long; the fog and surrounding walls shut off all farsight, and my mother's strident tones soon summoned me to my duties.
My father returned home later and later of nights, and he did not tell me stories anymore.

If you've got an excerpt or two, please share!

Dragon's Loyalty Award, Seven Interesting Things, ROW80 Check In

. . has given us an award!




A-to-Z Challenge Co-Host M.J. Joachim has awarded all A to Z Challenge Minions, Assistants, and Helpers with the Dragon's Loyalty Award!

Guidelines:

1. Display the award and thank the person that nominated you. Thank you, M. J.!

2. Present this award to 15 other bloggers, making sure to link to their blogs, and visit them to let them know you're sharing the award with them. I'm going to fudge this a bit and link to my last week's post below, where I featured all sorts of intriguing bloggers to visit - each one of them gets this award! And so do all the commenters! And Nicole!, who was kind enough to let her minions know about the award.

3. Write seven interesting things about yourself in your blog post when you accept the award. The last time I shared seven random facts, I noted that: "I can knit but I haven't made socks yet. Even Jamie and Ian [from Outlander] can make socks!"

Not only have I knit socks since then, I've even made a pair of kilt hose!

Let's see if I can think of seven new things...

1. I think the best pizza is at Talk of the Town in Glens Falls, NY

2. For a while now I've been volunteering with the Alfred Russel Wallace Correspondence Project

3. In March I'll be participating in the Self Lovin' Blog Hop hosted by Tara! Come join us and tell us all about something that you're good at.

4. I love Twitter. Recently discovered this blog post by Dorky Mum explaining why Twitter is awesome. It's basically an extra room in your house with an ongoing party that you're always invited to.

5. I've only ever played golf once (but I'd like to go again!). I've never gone downhill skiing. I've never jumped off a diving board.

6. Another "only once": I've only ever once gambled at a casino. I lost ten dollars and stopped there. I was more upset by the fact that some stranger wouldn't get off the Wheel of Fortune slot machine I wanted to try!

7. I have this photo saved on my desktop with the title "DO THIS":

Brief ROW80 update - I've chosen which Canadian literary magazine I'd like to submit my vignette to: The Fiddlehead. Apparently their turnaround time for submissions is three to nine months! I do hope I hear back sooner rather than later, because of course if it's rejected, I'd like to continue submitting elsewhere.

What's the longest you've ever waited to hear from a publisher/magazine/agent?

Have you received any interesting awards lately?

Hope everyone's going to be doing A to Z!

ROW80 Check in, Badges, and Links to Some Great Blogs!

ink happy!

I was catching up on a lot of blog comments this past week (and still have a few more blogs to visit!) so I thought I'd share with you a few of the interesting, intriguing, exciting blogs I've been dropping by:

Carol's got two great craft-related posts, one on Writing Sequences of Events, and the other on Ordering Your Words

In other craft posts, Jo Bourne had a great one recently on setting and the city a story is based in

Forgotten Bookmarks features just that - the cards, leaves, recipes, photographs, notes, poems, etc. that people have left behind in books over the years. Plus she has a giveaway of a vintage books collection every Friday!

Nathan Bransford asks whether you'd like to be a full time writer or keep your day job.

Sara and Lara and ZanMarie shared some lovely photos of the southern snowstorms!

Margo's got a great list of Reasons Why I Love Being a Book Reader/Blogger - I agree with them all!

Ayak at Ayak's Turkish Delight has been recently blogging about her efforts to rescue and treat stray dogs in Turkey

I'm echoing something Alex posted today:

"Our good friend Roland Yeomans is undergoing surgery today for cancer. Please keep him in your prayers this week. Since Roland is also struggling with the funds for this surgery, Sean McLachlan suggested a Buy-A-Thon for his books. I've read several of Roland's books and highly recommend following the adventures of one Victor Standish. Visit Roland's author page on Amazon to see a complete listing of his eBooks and audio books. If you've never read any of Roland's work, now is a great time to do so!"

On the writing front, Jemi, and Victoria J. Coe while visiting Theresa's blog, have been talking about the writing process and how it can feel s l o w at times (but there's hope!)

Sam Sykes has an intriguing discussion about fantasy books being given non-traditional-fantasy covers in a possible attempt to lure different readers

An intriguing new faith-centred blog, Ragged Stranger! And two similar blogs, one centred on Tolkien: Liturgiae Causa, and one that sometimes features Tolkien-related essays: Ironical Coincidings

A hug from Michael! He recently sent me some yummy coffee beans:

coffeecoffeecoffeecoffeecoffeecoffee

Have you read Linda Grimes' novels about the adventures of Ciel Halligan? What are you waiting for? And, say, her blog is full of camels!

And Claire's got a round up of World War I related events and items to follow (link added by me):

"Centenary commemorations are rolling out all over the world in 2014, and the incredible volume of information, the sheer number of projects underway, and the massive quantity of time, emotion and research being contributed is just overwhelming.
I'd love to list off all the many things that are going on, but I can hardly keep up with them. If you're not already on Twitter, I'd strongly recommend joining up there and jumping into the conversation, because it's all happening. Here are just a few of the things I've been involved in recently, big and small."

Sheri's drawn up a Writer's Creed!

"All you have to do is add your name and link to the linky list HERE and snatch the CREED badge.

Post it wherever you know you'll need a reminder of support and encouragement to keep on writing."

In other badge news, Nicole's created a badge for those of us who are her minions for the A-Z Challenge!

I actually have a theme idea, but it's all dependent on factors outside of my control. If certain events come to pass, I'll have a great theme!

...and the winner of Hélène Boudreau's Real Mermaids Don't Sell Seashells...according to the random number generator...is Jack! Please email me, Jack!

ROW80 is progressing slowly. I've gotten a gift certificate for our local bookstore so I get to splurge on some Canadian literary magazines!

Meanwhile, I'm still trying to wrap my head around this:

Neil Gaiman as Badger, from The Wind in the Willows:

It doesn't even look like Neil!

26 Characters Exhibition at the Storytelling Museum in Oxford

I'd love to attend this exhibition!

Which intriguing blogs have you visited lately?

Will you be joining us for the A-Z Challenge? Got a theme yet?

The Latest in the Real Mermaids Series - Giveaway! and Character Faces for ROW80

ermaids!

But first, we have two winners of Tara's giveaway of Hands-on Therapy: Ella and Brigitte! Congratulations! Please email me your Amazon Kindle contact info.

And now, mermaids!

Teenage girls have to deal with a lot of tough firsts. First zit. First crush. First... mermaid's tail?

In the fourth installment of Hélène Boudreau's breezy, fun and "unputdownable" Real Mermaids series, our favorite mer-girl Jade can't think of a better way to celebrate peace in the underwater mer-world than with a tropical vacation in the Bahamas with her family and BFF.

Soon, Jade is enjoying the tropical sunshine, all-you-can-eat buffet, and island day trips. But when Jade gets lost in the island's famous waterfront Straw Market, something doesn't feel quite right. A body splashes into the water as a cruise ship enters the harbour and a teen boy selling conches from his boat behind the market knows more than he's willing to admit.

With no body, no leads, and no other witnesses, though, the local police don't seem too concerned. Maybe Jade's imagination has been acting up on her, just like Cori said, considering everything she's been through in the past few months. But with Mom and Dad off on a honeymoon excursion it wouldn't hurt to check things out, would it?

Little do Jade and Cori realize, they are about to uncover more secrets about the splashing body, dangerous cruise ship cargo, and more questions than answers lurking in the nearby Caribbean waters.

"Absolutely fresh and sweet, a quirky coming of age story complete with first periods and bumbling dads...an unputdownable adventure, part Judy Blume, part Hans Christian Anderson, and 100% delightful, this fun, fresh tale (tail?) will have girls begging for a sequel..." –The YA-5

"[T]he author keeps suspense high and her prose moving while tapping straight into young teens' angst about friends, enemies and boys." –Kirkus

I love this series and can't wait to get my hands on this latest installment. And look! There's even a handy chart on how to create your own mer-name:

Plus, guess what? Anyone who'd like to win a copy of the book just has to comment below!

Meanwhile, for my ROW80 update this week, I'm going to be a bit sneaky. Haven't actually gotten any new words on paper, but have been thinking about the stories, and I realised it's been a while since I updated my characters' faces file.

Without further ado...

The Face of A Lion

Austin

(I have been trying to track the source of this photo, discovered in Real Simple magazine, for years.)

Kedi

Out of the Water

Baha

(this photo was taken by Ara Güler.

The surroundings are completely anachronistic (picture Baha carrying an easel, not a mattress!)

but the pose and expression are just right.)

Rosa

(this is actually Edwin Long's The Marriage Market, 19th Century.

I discovered the image on The Orientalist Gallery.)

Brother Arcturus

(this is actually Anthony Van Dyck's Portrait of the Sculptor Duquesnoy, 1627-29)

Rosa's father is in there too, but he also has a story of his own:

Captive of the Sea

Santiago

(ahem. Some of you might recognise him as Mike Wolfe from American Pickers.

What can I say? It's that expression on his face, it's pure Santiago.)

Mawdlen/Magdalena

(this is from the Elegance series by Rob Hefferan)

Rome, Rhymes, and Risk

Devran

(um, yes, that is Canadiens defenceman Tomas Plekanec. Why?)

(actually, Devran also looks a bit like actor Tom Ellis.)

Ayten

(another image from The Orientalist Gallery)

They also look like this when they're together:

(Solomon and Gaenor is one of my favourite films.)

Druid's Moon

Frederick

(this guy is French Formula 1 racer Romain Grosjean.

I saw his photo in the paper and thought, "Frederick! Since when do you race cars?")

Lyne

(this is a screenshot from some survey that I took.

I was halfway through when this image appeared on my screen. I was very excited!)

Larksong

George
This is completely the wrong face, but the outfit and stance feel right. I still haven't quite located a photo of George's face.

Alice
I don't have a picture of Alice! Well, I do. I have a gorgeous shot of a couple on the beach that looks exactly like Alice and George once they've openly admitted to their love for each other, but unfortunately it was a photo that an author shared of her parents (from close to Alice and George's time period) and I haven't yet asked permission to share it here. Sorry, Alice!

And finally, there's this image, which makes me feel like I'm inside a story every time I look at it.

It's Daniel Ridgway Knight's Rural Courtship, but when I saved it on my desktop, I called it "nothing changes, huh?"

Have you read any mermaid themed books recently?

Do you have faces for your characters? Sometimes I wish I could draw/sketch mine!

Tara's Visiting Today! Also ROW80, Blog Blitz, ISWG, Ninja Captain Alex's Giveaway, and Mini Book Reviews

ot a visitor today!

Happy to have Tara here, talking about her new book and other writing related chat:

Thank you so much for having me, Deniz, but also for all of your support over the last handful of years. It means an awful lot.

Hands-On Therapy

After yet another failed attempt at meeting a worthwhile man, in-charge businesswoman Marie Reid drunk dials a so-called sex therapist. Not one to back down from a challenge, she keeps the meeting even after sobering up and vaguely recalling some reference to spanking. When the guy shows up with endless blue eyes, sexy bare feet, and a commanding demeanor that literally wets her appetite, Marie’s reluctance vanishes in a wave of lust. But submitting to just a few deliciously sinful nights of hands-on therapy has her already falling for her very hands-off counselor.

What's your earliest memory related to writing?

The year the space shuttle Challenger exploded my 6th grade English teacher assigned the class to write a poem about the tragedy. She entered mine in a state-wide competition and it got 3rd place. That's my earliest "big" memory I guess. I was writing poetry and song lyrics before that.

Who inspired you to write?

I wouldn't say any one particular author since I admire so many in so many different genres, but my mother's love of reading was passed to me so I suppose in a round about way my mom did. And all of my incredible friends from the Books and Writer's Compuserve forum inspire me on an almost daily basis, and have been for five years.

Which scenes are hardest for you to write?

Sex scenes. There are times I'm rearranging the pantry or folding laundry, or doing some other inane chore, and I realize I was smack in the middle of a sex scene a few moments before and have no recollection of making a conscious decision to get up and do something else! I think highly charged emotional scenes overall have that effect on me, but sex scenes in particular definitely take the top spot.

What's the weirdest thing you've researched?

Good grief, the list is so long I can't even think of anything specific. I also do this for my day job, which means my history is pinging multiple bright lights off every watch list out there, lol!

Do you have a method for creating your characters, their names and what you think makes them believable?

All of my stories, with the exception of Hands-On Therapy, have come from dreams. I dream vividly, and lucidly, and wake up with pretty much the main characters and the basic story arc. They almost always have names already, too. If they don't, I start writing and usually just type a name out automatically. This is how my secondary characters typically get their names, too. I think changing names causes the biggest rebellion from my characters.

How's the indie/self-publishing journey been so far? Do you have any advice for others who might be attempting that route?

I've been happy with it. Formatting was far easier than I thought it would be on Amazon. And once a friend emailed with a tip for Nook that was easy, too. I have yet to figure out Kobo so I'm not sure when I will get my book up there! The support I've received here in the writer blogosphere, from forumites (see Compuserve reference), and from my best friends has been amazing. And the personal feedback I've received on the actual book so far has been astounding.

As far as advice for self-pubbing... I'm going to beat the dead horse: professional editing. It makes all the difference. If you can't afford it, use your CP's and betas to their fullest. For example, I know you are fantastic with both overall arc and grammar, so I save your beta for the last round to make sure I fixed my story arc/continuity issues and also to help me catch those pesky missing words, comma splices (of which I am a ninja master), etc. I have another beta who is phenomenal at the both small and big picture content so she gets it in the first round to save me some embarrassment from the next group reading the original trash.
;-)
[Aww, thanks Tara! *blush* I'll put in a plug for the Compuserve forum too - that place is wonderful!]

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

Wow, there's a long list. I will cop to liking Barry Manilow. How's that for embarrassing?


T.L. Watson is a South Floridian transplanted to North Carolina, a wife, a lucky mom of twins, and a lover of Happily Ever After. She writes romances that range from sticky sweet to spicy, and beyond. She can usually be found scribbling hieroglyphics on the wall of her Word cave, and doesn't like chocolate, so in case of emergency lure her out with pumpkin lattes.

Blog | Purchase Links: Amazon Nook

Win a copy of Hands-on Therapy!

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I've read two other great books this past week, both widely different to each other but fun and intriguing in their own way.

The first was Chicken Soup for the Soul: O Canada The Wonders of Winter: 101 Stories about Bad Weather, Good Times, and Great Sports.

Very appropriate for the freezing cold weather we've been having lately! Featuring all sorts of essays and remembrances from various Canadians, including NHLer Vincent Lecavalier (a local boy!).

The second book was Dr. Anthony Martignetti's follow-up to Lunatic Heroes:

Beloved Demons stretches slightly further in time, chronicling early teenage and then early university-era memories. In some parts it's darker than the previous book, and yet not (can't get much more heart-wrenching than Swamp, featuring Bullfrog). But for those of you who have beloved pets, you'll love the two chapters on the love between a man and his dog (you know when you reach that point where you see your pet's face everywhere? A hippo in a National Geographic - looks like Sam!) and on a cat named (sometimes) Java (sometimes) Mocha. The eBook version comes out on Valentine's Day!

Today is also Insecure Writers' Support Group Day! Check out the IWSG Facebook page here.

I've blabbing about three promotions that'll help us celebrate fellow authors.

The first is the upcoming A to Z Challenge!

Have you signed up yet? There are over 500 of us so far. Visit the A to Z blog to meet the hosts and co-hosts and sign up on the linky list.

And help spread the word! Ninja Captain Alex is hosting a giveaway for when he reaches 2000 followers.

Leave a comment on his post here. Meanwhile, all this week CassaFire will be 99 cents on both Amazon and Alex's publisher's page!

Finally, there's our Blog Blitzes, hosted by DL Hammons!

Sign up on the linky list to become a member of the Blog Blitz team. Every once in a while DL picks a blog - and you can recommend blogs too! - and on the appointed day we all visit that blogger and leave a comment on the most recent post. I've seen bloggers get close to 200 comments in one day - what an awesome feeling that must be!

As for ROW80, my main update is that I've been moving forward on the submission front. I'd like to try submitting my SIWC-shortlisted story to magazines, and I'm going to focus on Canadian magazines for now. Got a list of ten options, and now comes the fun part - reading a couple of their latest issues to see which one might be a good fit for my story!

Which new releases are you celebrating this week?

Hope your writing projects are going well!

A Different Kind of ROW80 Update: Non-writing Hobbies!

nusual sort of post today.

I haven't been editing lately due to stuff happening at home (good things, but things that take time), and I'm very far behind in updating the knitting blog!

For this week's ROW80 update, then, I'm cross posting a knitting update from my Simple Scarf blog!

First a quick recap of 2013 in my knitting life:

I was nominated for a Liebster Award in February! As part of the award, I answered eleven questions and, funnily enough, this was the first one:

1. What prompted you to start your blog?
I was trying to keep knitting and cats off my writing blog!

A temporary lapse in format, I suppose!

I also offer the Liebster Award to anyone who'd like to accept it, but I've got eleven questions for you to answer!

Next up, I shared knitting related photos from a visit to the New York Public Library, and then I offered a sneak preview of mini-Alex's Doctor Who scarf!

Inspected by Sam, along with a Christmas scarf that I knit

Here's mini-Alex sporting the scarf during his first concert - a live performance of Rush's YYZ.

Later, in April, I got a booth at the Notre Dame de Grace Artisan's Fair to benefit our local food bank!

Actually, that was a spring for fairs. I attended a beer fest, hosted a charity book fair, and spent a day at that artisans' fair. Here's me at the latter:

Later on in the summer I started a long, complicated blanket, mixing a basic pattern with a leaf pattern from the turn of the century, which I found after Googling Mrs Lynde's apple-leaf patterns, from Anne of Green Gables.

Begun!

First set of leaves

Nearly there...

Finished!

There was also a visit to Upper Canada Village, a recreated 19th Century village, with lots of photos. I shared some of my Shetlands visiting dreams...

And another blanket, this one for Christmas!

At the start

Ongoing...

Nearly done!

Sam and I had a dispute over who the knitting bag belonged to:

And because he seems to be in all the photos, he's a gratuitous shot of Frodo:

To bring it all back to reading, here's a lovely shot of a crochet Amanda Palmer and a crochet Neil Gaiman, reading a book, a screenshot from Amanda's blog post:

Regular writerly posts to resume next week, with a review of Chicken Soup for the Soul: O Canada, the Wonders of Winter, and a guest spot with Tara Watson!

What are you busy with when not writing or reading?