The Girdle of Melian

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...

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...

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-b...

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 ...

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 s...

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 i...

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 go...