Ready for Autumn

Okay I'm ready, but with 95 degree, sunny days, it still feels like summer in full swing. Except the days are slowly getting shorter, it's cooler in the mornings and evenings (when I'm not outside), and the light is changing. I have a skylight in my kitchen, right about my white, laminate-topped kitchen counter. When we first moved in, I had to wear sunglasses it was so bright, but then my husband and father climbed up on the roof and covered it with a black solar screen--it's still surprisingly bright glancing off the white island in the summer, but in the fall and winter months, the light in there is lovely. I actually notice it, stare and sigh. We haven't quite reached the changeover point yet, but it's coming.

My husband had to work this weekend, or I would have had him get our Halloween decorations down from the attic. If it would just get a little cooler here, we could really get into the Halloween spirit. So far we have one Transformer-wanna-be and one undecided.

After drooling over Beck's blogs, I did manage to bake up a chicken pie this weekend and a loaf of pumpkin bread--both were very yummy, but the pumpkin bread made the house smell amazing. I think I'll make a couple of loaves of banana bread this weekend from my Grandmother's family recipe--seriously, it's the best. And I'm making crockpot beef roast for dinner this week. All very cozy comfort food. Now if it would just drop 20 degrees, I'd be good.

Hilarious!

Friday, I've found, is a particularly slow day for my blog. So today I'm taking it easy--one quick, funny story to start the weekend, and then I've got to get to work on my WIP.

So yesterday I went to get my haircut. Turns out I haven't been since April, and my hair is longer than it's been, probably since I was five years old. I carried in a picture of Veronica Mars, Season 1 with me, and I came out looking more like a flapper-girl. Oh well.

But while I'm sitting in the chair, my hairstylist, whom I've been going to for quite a while now, was telling me how her high-school senior daughter has started taking art classes at the local university. She recently brought home a consent form (seeing as she's not yet eighteen) because they were going to start drawing nudes.

Well, the first one--a woman--came and went without incident. The second one was a 65-year-old man, who according to the daughter was quite 'buff'. He posed DOING A HEADSTAND--NAKED! And he could only hold the position for ten minutes at a time, so then there was a break and it all started over again. A NAKED HEADSTAND DONE BY A 65-YEAR-OLD MAN??? I couldn't stop laughing. Who on earth asks someone--anyone--to pose like this naked??? For this reason alone, I will never even consider taking art lessons. I'd be the goof ball in the back who couldn't stop giggling.

Whew--gotta get that image out of my head and focus...

Have a great weekend!

Thursday 3

Ahhh...it feels so very exhilarating knowing that I just have to come up with three somethings and not thirteen. So much less stress, so much more time...

Here are three blogs I've been visiting that I think are definitely worth a shout-out:

1. Just Keep Writing and Other Thoughts, blog of Liz Fenwick. She's a writer who seems so grounded and upbeat, not to mention friendly and helpful. And...now I know someone in the United Arab Emirates!

2. Eileen Cook, Just My Type, another author blog (seeing a pattern...?) She's just downright hilarious, and her upcoming debut novel has already been billed as 'laugh-out-loud funny'--definitely someone I want to read!

3. Barrie Summie: site of another upcoming author who writes humorous middle-grade fiction. What can I say, I'm a fan of humor.

And I've been tagged for a reading meme by Ms. Fenwick herself...


Total number of books? I couldn't answer with any amount of certainty, but I'd probably say two hundred, maybe. I'm a library girl, and I try to keep my collection of keepers under control.

Last Book read? A Dangerous Beauty by Sophia Nash. My first true historical romance in a while, and my first time reading Ms. Nash. I definitely enjoyed it--it was a very unique story. I've since started on The Manolo Matrix by Julie Kenner, a long-time member of my TBR posse.

Last Book Bought? Lost in Austen--a choose your own adventure, Jane Austen style.

Five meaningful Books?
This Rough Magic by Mary Stewart, cementing her as my all-time, favorite author
Pride & Prejudice (of course), the beginning of a Jane Austen obsession
Twilight by Stephenie Meyer, completely different from everything else I read, but addictive and mesmerizing
Annabelle (The Second Volume of the Six Sisters), a Regency by Marion Chesney, started my fascination with the Regency period
The Little Lady Agency by Hester Browne, the sort of book which I aspire to write.

Now I am supposed to tag five people so I tag:
Stacy
Beck
Virginia
Vicki
Christine

A Freaky Trade-off

My husband and I have always shared the same sense of humor--the pair of us laugh like fiends when no one else even gets what's got us going. But lately he hasn't been laughing--at much of anything I say. So I called him on it. And what he said is very, very disturbing.

He said he thought my sense of humor has suffered a little since my 'athletic prowess' has emerged. *KEY POINT*: I have no athletic prowess--never have. Back on the Fourth of July weekend I managed to throw a bunch of perfectly spiraled footballs a good distance (I was impressed with that myself), and I caught the vast majority of frisbees that came my way, but other than that, nothing. I don't slide, dive, tackle, or anything of the sort. My motto is, 'If it comes within my personal space, I'll either grab it or whack it away.' Hardly the stuff of legends.

So now I don't know what to think. Apparently I've lost my sense of humor, right along with the athletic prowess I never had. Or else he has. And neither is a comforting thought.

Interview with Tasha Alexander

I hinted at this interview several months ago, but between Tasha and I and our crazy lives, it got put off until now. But keep reading. It was worth the wait!


Tasha Alexander is the author of two Victorian mysteries, And Only To Deceive and A Poisoned Season. I loved these books--absolutely adored them, and I cannot recommend them highly enough. If you're into historicals, mysteries, light romance, suspense, you name it--these books have got it all. And she's writing more of them! She's also written the recently released sequel to the motion picture Elizabeth, entitled Elizabeth: The Golden Age.

Read on for the interview...


1. How do you set about crafting your mysteries? Do you work forwards, backwards, chronologically, chaotically?

I start with characters and let figuring out who they are point me in the direction of their stories. When I first began And Only to Deceive, I had an idea of my protagonist in my head. I knew I wanted to set the book in the late Victorian period, and I knew I wanted her to have a certain degree of independence. To be independent, she couldn't be married--but I didn't want her living with her parents. So I decided she was widowed. But I also wanted her to be relatively young--so I had to figure out how and why she lost her husband. Just beginning to ask these sorts of questions set the plot in motion for me.

2. What sorts of research do you do for your books?

Because I write historicals I'm incredibly dependent on research. My husband is a professor at Vanderbilt University, so I force him to check out of the library there heaps and heaps of books for me. I turn to the internet for some things, but prefer books. As well as looking up details of daily life, geography, train schedules, etcetera, I also like to read fiction from the time about which I'm writing. Victorian popular novels are a lot racier than I'd expected--I was quite surprised!

The book I'm working on now is set in Constantinople, and I'm in the early stages of planning a research trip to Turkey. If all goes as planned, this could be a very excellent thing....

3. How many Emily books would you like to write?

I will keep writing them as long as readers want. The challenge with a series is to keep the books fresh and different without completely removing the familiar from them. There's a measure of comfort from reading a series---it's like sitting down with old friends; familiarity is important. I'm trying to satisfy that with my characters--letting them grow from book to book, but maintaining their primary traits. By putting them in different locations, I'm hoping to keep things from getting stale. The third book in the series, A Fatal Waltz, is set in Vienna and I think readers will fall in love with the city as much as I have.

4. What is your favorite promotional technique, and what what type of promotion do you think is most effective?

I love getting to meet booksellers: whether at a trade show, a traditional booksigning, or just by dropping by stores and signing stock. There's nothing better than getting to know the people who sell your books.

5. Do you have a favorite craft book? A favorite author?

Ann Lamotte's Bird by Bird is my absolute favorite; it makes me laugh. Especially the chapter about the publication process. As for authors, for historical mysteries, Elizabeth Peters and Anne Perry can't be beat. I also love William Boyd, David Mitchell, Pauline Gedge, David Lodge, Nabuib Mahfouz, Arthur Phillips, Haruki Murakami, Carol Shields, Lionel Shriver, Daniel Handler, Jeanette Winterson....the list gets too long really fast.

Some great things I've read lately: Dirty Martini by J.A. Konrath, if you like being scared and somehow laughing at the same time. Dr. Haggard's Disease by Patrick McGrath, a fantastic story told by an unreliable narrator. Evidence of Things Unseen by Marianne Wiggins, which was mesmerizing. Catching Genius by Kristy Kiernan, a stunning debut about two sisters coming together after years being estranged. Every Crooked Pot by Renee Rosen, a coming of age story that will tug at you. Nefertiti by Michelle Moran, an absolutely fabulous novel about the Egyptian queen -- and the best historical I've read in a long time!

6. Do you have any advice for the unpubbed striving for publication?

Read, read, read and write, write, write!

Reading is the best way to learn the craft--you instinctually pick up on what works and what doesn't when you're making your way through books. But no matter how much you read -- or study, or plan, or outline -- you will never, ever get published if you don't write. Try to do it every day. And when you finish one book and it's on submission -- whether you're querying agents or waiting to hear back from publishers -- start your next project. The more you write, the better you'll get.

A Little Black Dress

I clicked a link on Thursday's Mirth in Manchester blog and found Little Black Dress. Having never heard of this publisher, probably as a result of its being in the UK, I was intrigued and explored the entire site. I love the book covers--I'd pick these books up from a bookshop display table in a second. And I love the publisher's logo--how cute is that.

So I clicked the link over to Amazon on a couple of books and eventually found Lost for Words. Seeing its near-five-star rating, I scanned down to read the reviews, and found this lovely review--a poem!--by R. Dastidar of London, UK

Warm, wise and delightful,
A frothy romance,
I say this book is wonderful
And worth a chance.
Spend some time in the company of Daisy;
Publishing type, far from lazy.
Looking for love in a manner haphazardly,
An unsuitable boy causing melancholy.
Then an unbidden manuscript
Causes joy and perhaps a sight
Of a better love, one that's right.
And of the question - how to get it?
Lorelei tells us with verve, style,
And definitely makes it worth your while.

How awesome to have a jaunty little poem written about your book. Now I want one.
All in all, a lovely avalanche of finds!

A Tale of... Oh, just read it.

On Tuesday I went to eat lunch with my boys at school. This was the first time this year, and obviously the first time ever for my kindergartener. He has the first lunch--10:45 to 11:15. My older son, a second-grader, has lunch from 11:34 to 12:04. So I was there a little while, which plenty of time for people watching.

Most of the way through my little one's lunch, a first grade teacher I'd remembered from last year came in with her class. She was wearing a black t-shirt, low-rise tan capris, and those little squatty heels. I thought nothing of it.

People passed, kids left, only to be replaced by another round of kids, and I said goodbye to my little one.

My older one shows up, and about ten minutes behind him, that same first grade teacher comes in again. But this time she's wearing a white sweater, low-rise black capris, and different (I'm pretty sure) squatty heels. Her hairstyle, however, is unchanged. So I'm staring at this woman, wondering why on earth she's gone to the trouble to change her clothes. Admittedly the kids are supposed to bring an extra outfit for any possible accidents, but I never imagined the requirement would extend to teachers.

So I lean in to my second grader, who is absorbed in people-watching himself and barely speaking to me, and say, 'Isn't that Ms. Tan*?' He glances over, says, 'No, that's Ms. Black*.' and glances away again. Ms. Black? Who is this Ms. Black that looks exactly like Ms. Tan? So I ask him, 'Don't you think she looks a lot like Ms. Tan?' His answer? 'No, her hair is different.' Just barely different. I spend the next several minutes trying to convince him that these two women look exactly alike, but he denies it. I ask if there's any relationship between them--maybe sisters. My son--always up on all the school gossip--denies it.

We've been reading a lot of Encyclopedia Brown books, and he's hooked on them, so I nudge him again and suggest he conduct a mini investigation, find out if there's any connection between these women. He smiles at me, but I can't tell if he's patronizing me or actually inspired. And it's killing me.

At the end of lunch his first grade teacher from last year shows up, and I fall on her, morbidly curious. Turns out they're sisters--I knew there had to be something. I'm actually a little shocked they're not twins. My son was a little stunned by this information, but I feel confident he will do his duty and enlighten all uninformed second graders.

And I can now get on with my life.

*names not real but color-coded.

Thursday Three

Okay I think I have officially thrown in the towel on Thursday 13. There are only so many lists of thirteen things that I can come up with. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE lists, but shorter, fit-on-a-Post-it sort of lists. So, I'm going to try something new. I've had it swirling around in my head for a little while, but then yesterday I was reading Catherine's blog and saw she's doing something called 'Check Out My Friend' in which she spotlights one of her blogger friends or possibly even someone she wants to be her friend.

So, today, I'm short-listing three blogs that are new to me. Three blogs I've found via the comments on one of my must-read blogs or some other round-about way. I'll check them out and hopefully, add them to my blog roll.

1. Heidi's World. Found her via Stacy's blog, and discovered she has an 'everyday' blog and a Bookworm blog. I like her lighthearted, spunky, upbeat attitude.

2. Mirth in Manchester. Chock full of British talk...probably mostly because she's British...this blog just makes me smile.

3. U2 vs. Jane Austen. You gotta just love the title, and she's as snarky as Stacy. In a good way.

So there you have it--just three. And this list you might actually find useful. I feel very good about this.

Heads Up

Well...I have found me a new obsession! Stacy discussed this on her blog some time ago (I'm too lazy to go look up exactly when), and I made a little mental note to look into it. Well, apparently the mental Post-it got lost, or I got lazy, or I had a case of 'don't-want-to-know-itis', so I've just now gotten around to it.

I'm talking about StatCounter. I signed up, added a counter to my blog (somewhat sloppily, I might add--I need to fix it), and now have become very, VERY interested in all the little statistics that get recorded.

Some things I've found out today:

1. The vast majority of visits to my site last between 1-5 seconds. YIKES! Apparently my welcome wagon needs to be spiffed up a bit.

2. I had at least one hit for the search 'MIL sex'. She would be so proud of me...

3. I've unearthed some lurkers, and I will be visiting you very soon...

4. My numbers are getting skewed by my own page loads. I access my own blog to visit my linked blogger buddies. Need to fix that. Although...*lightbulb moment*...maybe I'm part of the 1-5 second problem!!! It's an encouraging possibility.

I will be finding out more and will keep my loyal readers--all three of you--posted.
Until then...I'm watching you. Or at least collecting statistics on you. Have a pleasant tomorrow.

Night Scares

I had the WORST night, sleeping-wise. I didn't fall asleep until sometime just after twelve--probably all that bedrest on Sunday catching up with me--but then, in about a three hour time frame, I bolted up with the same dream five times. Each time I was looking for something that was missing, something that affected my boys, and so I was searching, and checking on them, all the while not really having any clue what I was doing. And then, after a minute or so, once I was completely and totally wide awake, it would kick in that I was dreaming and there really wasn't anything to look for, anything to worry about. But even then, it seemed so real, and I wasn't absolutely sure. So I would drop back into bed and think about it, unable to fall back to sleep.

Ick! I woke up exhausted and with a sore back, just wanting to curl back up and sleep and sleep. Didn't happen. And since I don't drink coffee, I'm hoping hot chocolate will give me a little caffeine kick. Or maybe I'll go straight for the hard stuff and crack open an RC this morning.

I really, really hope tonight is better.

Recovery

Saturday morning I had a sore throat, but then it disappeared during the day. Then Saturday night it came back, along with that achy feeling you get when you're starting to get sick. So I started in on the Zicam, and all through yesterday, feeling rather under-the-weather and lounging around, catching up on my reading, I kept it up every four hours. Today I feel better, but weak. I was hoping to get my hair cut, but I've just found out that my regular lady is out till the end of the month. So...I wait, staying home today with no excuse but to work on my WIP, catch up with my blogging friends, and maybe read a little more. Not such a bad existence...

I finished two books this weekend that I would recommend. Garden Spells was a Barnes & Noble selection of some sort, and the idea of it--a family with a magical garden intrigued me, so I had to check it out (literally, from the library). I enjoyed it, particularly the author's handling of so many unique and memorable characters. The other I had purchased on Amazon after stumbling over the book, reading all the rave five-star reviews, and wondering why on earth I'd never heard of NYT Bestselling Author Eva Ibbotson. The Countess Below Stairs was an absolutely lovely read, and it comes highly recommended.

Thursday Thrills

I think I might have to start easing out of my comfort zone to finish my WIP this year. Today, for the second day this week, I was roped into substituting again. So pretty much the whole day of potential writing was shot. This has the potential to happen every Tues/Thurs...unless I somehow unvolunteer myself. That would not be good (the loss of writing time, that is). But for now, I guess, I'm okay with it. These kids are so sweet and I'm just trying to help ease their transition into Mother's Day Out. So I'm going to see how it goes. If I have to back out and have her put my name on the bottom of the list instead of the top, then I will. She's admitted to calling me first.

Until then, I think I may have to start writing at night. I stay up later than my husband already, and I figure I could work in a couple of good hours every night (or several nights a week) before I go to bed. I've done this before--I just didn't have a regimen. Now I think I need a regimen. I was all hyped up about making time for writing, but so far, it's not working out as I expected. This week I lost two days to substituting and one day to a Girls Day Out. I'm down to Friday--one measly day. And I'm definitely not finishing this book on one measly day a week. So starting tonight, I'm going to be a night owl. We shall see.


Sidenotes: My little friend of the vagina revelation today told me that her daddy has a freckle on his 'bootie'. I think these parents of hers need to be introduced to the concept of TOO MUCH INFORMATION.


Oh, and my kindergartener's homework was to choose a type of tree to represent our family and then decorate it and label it with each of our names. Here's what he came up with...

Good Stuff

Sorry! I said I'd post about my awesome RWA meeting yesterday, but then I had no time. I actually spent the day shopping with a friend, and then I picked up the boys and stayed busy till bedtime. And then today, I had the best of intentions, but I was called to substitute at Mother's Day Out. A little bit tougher than I remember from last year. This was only the second day of school for the little two-year-olds, and there was a lot of crying. I also had a Kindergarten Cop moment when one little girl told me during lunch that babies come out of women's vaginas. Good to know.

So anyway...on to the Saturday presentation. Basically it was a combination of two really interesting ideas. One was the Snowflake Method by Randy Ingermanson, which is basically a way of building up your story from the bottom up. Start with a single, descriptive, carefully honed sentence that describes your WIP or the book you're wanting to write. This is your high concept to be used as a teaser for editors and agents, in promotional materials and on your website, for marketing and publicity, etc. When you're happy with your sentence, you move on to a paragraph describing your book. Then to paragraphs describing your characters. Then take each sentence of your summary paragraph and expand it into a paragraph and when you're through you'll have a one page outline of your book. You get the idea... I think I'll try this (or at least part of it) before I attempt Fast Draft on my next book.

The other part of the presentation was on screenwriter Michael Hague's Six Stage Plot Structure, which breaks a book down into three acts, with six stages, and five turning points evenly distributed throughout the story (a big boost for a sagging middle). There's also a rule of thumb, percentage-wise, on how far along in the story these things should happen. I'm comparing it to my current WIP and finding it a very useful way of looking at things.

So that's it, in a nutshell. Just tools for getting started and refining what you already have.

Weekend Update

Well I had a very full weekend. Saturday morning I got up early to hurry across town to an RWA meeting, which turned out to be VERY enlightening and informative (I'll blog about it tomorrow). I also finally finished up Agnes and the Hitman, which I highly recommend. I liked this one much better than Don't Look Down, the last Crusie/Mayer collaboration--very quirky, witty, and complex. Hubby and I are still working our way through Season 5 of the Gilmore Girls--I'm not really sure what to make of that Logan...
But, what I want to blog about is a new review of U.P. posted on Amazon.com.

I probably shouldn't even mention it--because it's a two-star review--but I want to because I was just so impressed with the way she handled her comments. She was so constructive and diplomatic that I didn't feel bad for myself at all. Admittedly I felt bad that she hadn't enjoyed the book, but that's another story.

I'll paraphrase: she thought the book was slow, with too much character introspection. But she went on to say:

"...I agree with one of the reviewers that some parts were witty and well-written, and I especially agree that Ms. Goodnight needs, without a doubt, a better editor.

I hope Ms. Goodnight does not do what I did and pay attention only to the 5-star reviews; this is just the beginning of her career and we welcome new writers and fresh ideas. I'll be looking for new titles under her name, as many will, too. Simplify, don't underestimate the readers' intelligence, learn to string events in a cohesive manner, live your characters and give them depth and consistency."

I am just so impressed with her! I love that she's willing to give a future book of mine another read. And I wish I could tell her that I'm striving to get better with age.

Writing Distractions

We've got Gilmore Girls, Season 5 from the library right now and are slowly plugging our way through it. After all this time, all this build-up, all this sexual tension, it's so hard to believe that Luke and Lorelai are finally together. It's almost weird. I like that they're still being so snippy with each other even though they're in the throes of new love. Any-way...it's kind of funny, because my husband--the one who never wanted to watch the show in the first place and then was totally gung-ho and addicted--he had a little bit of a melt-down at the end of Season 4 when Rory made some bad choices. I think it was sort of difficult for him to start watching again. Slowly, but surely though, he's forgiving her. Hee hee hee.

As everyone knows, I'm a big, big, HUGE fan of Jenny Crusie's, so whenever she's working on something, I make it my business to find out what it is. That's how I discovered BenBella Books. I read Flirting with Pride and Prejudice (edited by Jenny Crusie) and really, really enjoyed it. It's not really my kind of thing, being a collection of essays on the classic, but it totally worked for me. (And then, coincidentally, about nine months after I'd read it, my sister called me up for the express reason of telling me about this book. She never does that).
After reading it, I looked over BenBella's list, and they have a vast collection of books on pop culture. Now I want to read Coffee at Luke's (also edited by Jenny Crusie, essays on, you guessed it, The Gilmore Girls) and Nepture Noir, essays on Veronica Mars, edited by the shows creator, Rob Thomas. I need to save some money, because the library doesn't have them.

Thursday 13

Thirteen Things To Do in Austin, TX That I Have Done

1. Watched the Congress Avenue bats--the largest urban population of bats in the U.S.--come out at sunset

2. Sarah MacLachlin concert at The Backyard. October Project Opened.

3. Canoeing on Town Lake (mentioned last week)

4. Waterskiing on Lake Travis (I was up for about half a second, but I tried)

5. Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center

6. A visit to the LBJ Presidential Library

7. Mount Bonnell: a short little hike and the most amazing views

8. The Old Pecan Street Festival--a big arts and crafts festival held on the streets of Downtown.

9. A visit to the Whole Foods World Headquarters and Landmark Store and the first Central Market

10. Barbeque at The Salt Lick (slightly outside of Austin, but still very popular with the locals). Served buffet style.

11. Graduated with honors from the College of Engineering in the largest public university in the nation (at the time), The University of Texas at Austin.

12. One pub on Sixth Street: Fado's. I'm not much of a drinker...or carouser.

13. Many, many visits to the Chuy's Chain of Restaurants


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A Writer's Transformation

I always eschewed the idea of being a plotter. I was a rampant pantser, with no time to get bogged down in outlines, character sketches, planning, or any of that other stuff. I just wanted to write...and write...and write. While writing my first novel, Unladylike Pursuits, I found that that meant quite a number of rewrites, but other than having to reread and re-edit and review over and over and over again, it didn't bother me.

Four years later, and I'm only on book 2...writing and writing and writing. I'd say I've easily written 750 pages or more for this book. And yet I'm still going strong with fresh material that I feel good about. I finished my first draft with Candace Havens' Fast Draft, and since then I've gotten one long-distance critique partner (who's really working out well) and one local, ocassional C.P. who also has plenty of good insights. So I've been making changes, trying to trim and edit and hook and emote, and that's all been good, but now I'm really ready for the home stretch. Kids are in school, I can arrange for big chunks of time to work on the WIP, and I'm really gonna push.

I made an outline (my long-distance C.P.'s idea). It's numbered by chapter, and each chapter has a sentence or two or four about happens. I've color coded the sentences based on plot lines, and separated the chapters into Acts and Turning Points a la the Jenny Crusie/Bob Mayer
Writing Workshop, and I'm thinking big, trying to keep it all in my head, referencing my handy-dandy print-out everyday. And so far, so good--it's working.

So...I think after I get that initial idea for a book, I really need to give into my pantser tendencies and do a Fast Draft, but then I need to step back and write the outline, the synopsis, the blurb, the one sentence idea--all of it--to make sure I know where I'm headed.

My first book was total trial and error--I wrote alone, with no help from workshops or conferences or RWR articles. And now, I learn new tricks, techniques, and ideas, and I'm trying something new all the time. Maybe on my next book, I'll finally settle into a zone. I really, really hope so.