The Girdle of Melian

irst week of the new year gone by already! See, that's what it feels like if you don't make goals and plans, and stick to them. (If your goal is to Do Nothing and take each day as it comes, that's okay too.) As we do every month and year on the Forum , we all shared our goals for 2013 at the start of January. I re-started editing Druid's Moon a few days ago, and was thinking about how long it's going to take me, and so on; so these are the goals I came up with: Finish editing Druid's Moon . I'd love to finish in a month or so but that's not going to happen. It took me an hour the other day to change (among others) this ridiculously passive telling sentence: "Lyne hurried home with her shopping, pulling her head as far down as she could into her collar" to something more like showing, in deep pov: "Lyne drew her head as far down as she could into the collar of her raincoat, and shifted her grocery bag to her other hand, wres...

elcome to the first Insecure Writer's Support Group of the new year! Today, I've got two items for insecure writers - like myself. The first is a toast , to an accomplished author, linguist, subcreator, and so much more. A toast, to The Professor! The toast works like this: "On the 3rd January 1892, J. R. R. Tolkien was born in Bloemfontein, South Africa. To celebrate this event, on this day each year Tolkien fans around the world are invited to raise a glass and toast the birthday of this much loved author at 21:00 (9 pm) your local time. The toast is "The Professor". For those unfamiliar with British toast-drinking ceremonies: To make the Birthday Toast, you stand, raise a glass of your choice of drink (not necessarily alcoholic), and say the words 'The Professor' before taking a sip (or swig, if that's more appropriate for your drink). Sit and enjoy the rest of your drink." You can join in by filling out the entry form ....

ot a treat for you all today! I love Hélène Boudreau's Real Mermaids series of books, which all started with Real Mermaids Don't Wear Toe Rings : Read the first chapter here ! Today I'm lucky enough to have heroine Jade here, presenting... Real Mermaids Festive Treats Hi everyone! Jade here from Real Mermaids. One of my favourite things about the upcoming holidays is the great treats we get to make and share. I love food so much, in fact, that I included a recipe for some of my favourite snacks in each of the Real Mermaids books. My friend Cori and I thought we'd experiment a bit and 'holiday-ize' each recipe for you! In Real Mermaids Don't Wear Toe Rings , I was stuck at my Gran's cottage without any chocolate in sight. That's when I turned to Google and found a recipe for a 5-minute Chocolate Mug Cake. Yes! Cake in FIVE MINUTES. I added raspberries and whipped cream to this version. Holiday dessert, anyone? Chocolate Mug...

ay blog award! Thanks so much to Melanie for the 2012 Blog of the Year Award! Here are the official rules: 1 Select the blog(s) you think deserve the Blog of the Year 2012 Award 2 Write a blog post and tell us about the blog(s) you have chosen – there's no minimum or maximum number of blogs required – and present them with their award 3 Please include a link back to this page Blog of the Year 2012 Award and include these rules in your post (please don't alter the rules or the badges!) 4 Let the blog(s) you have chosen know that you have given them this award and share the rules with them 5 You can now also join our Facebook group – click like on this page Blog of the Year 2012 Award Facebook group and then you can share your blog with an even wider audience 6 As a winner of the award please add a link back to the blog that presented you with the award and then proudly display the award on your blog and sidebar... and start collecting stars... I've learned f...

ong post ahead, beware! Brief mention of an award, reviews of The Hobbit , and The Books Read in 2012 Statistics! Thank you to Melanie for the Blog of the Year Award ! I'll be passing it on in my next post. So, The Hobbit . I've posted reviews on a few blogs, and I'll summarise my main points here. I'm sorry if it all sounds like criticism. But I've been reading these books every year for over 20 years, and I have to say, they change things and I simply don't understand the reasoning for it. Not everything has to be over-the-top. It can be real , without losing any of its epic nature. Here's the review I submitted to The One Ring (with a couple of embarrassing typos corrected): As a lifelong fan of Tolkien, I'm excited to be living through the release of these grand-in-scope movies, both of The Lord of the Rings and of The Hobbit . Having relied on my own imagination and Tolkien's illustrations for years, it's interesting, and mo...

Round of Words in 80 Days ends tomorrow! The current round, that is. Thanks to NaNo, I met my major goal, which was to get Santiago and Mawdlen's story, Captive of the Sea , down on paper. Also sent a few more queries for Out of the Water . But I've stalled on the editing, so my goals for next round will involve more of that, in better structured fashion. I might have to start doing some early morning rounds again; it's just so much easier to be productive earlier rather than later in the day, after work. As for all the goals from the past year... back in January we posted yearly goals on the Compuserve Forum . I've met quite a few of mine: Edit Rome, Rhymes and Risk . I did, but on paper. I haven't yet entered the edits on the MS... Keep agent-hunting for Out of the Water . Ongoing. Try to write another short story or two and submit them somewhere, and edit the darn plot bunny story already . Sort of done. Rejections. Think about cutting back on blogg...

hat gifts are you hoping to receive this year? No one has actually asked me, and those who have, are family members and friends whom I feel guilty sending on what - to them - might be feel like wild goose chases. Easiest to ask for stuff for the house (who doesn't love new towels?). There are a handful of items that I really, really want, however: Miss Lupescu , Banana Peel in a Graveyard , or The Owens' Tomb perfume oil blends from the Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab . Yes, all inspired by Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book . A Tolkien Society membership. Yes, really. Can you believe I'm not a member? At first it was because teenage-me couldn't afford it. Now I'm not sure what the excuse is. It's about time! I've got tickets for The Hobbit tomorrow. No spoilers in the comments, please!   Lush stuff, such as a Space Girl bath bomb and Big Shampoo . I'm not much of a bath person, but I love the feel and the smell of (most) Lus...