The Girdle of Melian

uick update, especially since I missed posting on Wednesday. Lots of Real Life going on, which I hope will all be revealed during the AtoZ Challenge ! This has meant that I missed doing anything constructive for the last week of ROW80 . Hope all you other participants got lots of words in! I did take time to continue rereading the seventh book in the History of Middle Earth for... Tolkien Reading Day! I also learned a new phrase. Whether you're a pantster or a plotter, there are always scenes in the novel that get you really excited to write them. The ones that fill your head and make you want to start scribbling/typing Right This Second. You know those? I never had a good term for them before, but now Kait Nolan's given us a great one: Magical Cookies ! She links to a post by Susan Dennard, who "argues that every scene should be a magical cookie, and there's a lot of sense in this. If you're super excited to write every scene, they'll go

imme some lovin'! Self-lovin', that is! Tara's hosting the Self-Lovin' Bloghop , which asks participants to give themselves a pat on the back for something they're good at: "I wanted to know what you're good at. I started it from a writing standpoint, but it doesn't have to be inclusive to only writers. I have some (amazingly talented) photographers who follow, some (fabulous) artists, assorted various others, and some great friends. It's too easy to be hard on yourself, and sadly difficult to pat your own back. That's what today is about. Or the whole week. ... It can be as long or short as you like. And if you haven't signed up but are interested, please do. I'd love to come to your place and read about your greatest talent." This might not come as a surprise to some of you, but my strength lies in copy-editing. I can spot a missing apostrophe or a misplaced comma from a mile away. I've been known to deface train sig

ou know how sometimes you think it's one day but it's really another? The best, of course, if you work regular hours, is thinking it's Thursday and then finding out it's Friday. Yesterday I knew it was Wednesday, but I was so busy thinking of all the catching up I have to do on blog comments that I forgot to put up a new post! So let's pretend it's Wednesday on the blog for a few minutes... In honour of that, I'm taking a tip from author Linda Grimes , who also forgot to post yesterday, but got hers up before midnight. If you haven't visited her blog before (and why not?!), you should know that she shares a camel with us every hump day, and sometimes more often. Yesterday she also shared a photo of crocuses, but we won't get into that here, mostly because Montreal is in the midst of another snowstorm and I've basically forgotten what the word spring even means. I found a public domain image of a camel in Turkey! (I do have a photo somew

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 f ourteen-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 sens