Blog Tour - The Election Day 2

The Election is the book tour pick for this week.

This is the first book by Jerome Teel.

Jerome is a graduate of Union University and graduated cum laude from the University of Mississippi School of Law. He is a full-time attorney and is actively involved with his church, community, and coaching youth sports. This is his debut novel about faith and politics. He and his wife, Jennifer, reside in Tennessee with their three children where he is working on his next book.

Tomorrow I'll post a review which I shall shamelessly steal from someone else.

About Blog Tours ...(and The Election)

I've received a few questions about the blog tours I participate in, how they're set up, what the purpose is, etcetera.

The Christian Fiction Blog Alliance was begun early in the summer of 2005. It was the brainchild of Tony Hines, who was looking for a way to promote current Christian novels, especially ones by unknown authors. Tony ran the show for about a year, but when his own first book, Waking Lazarus appeared on the shelves (and was duly promoted by the CFBA!) he was unable to take the time needed to continue the program. At that time Bonnie Calhoun took the helm and it has continued its rapid growth.

The purpose of the blog tours is to get people talking about specific books. We are to post about the novel on specific days and include specific links (usually the link to the novel at Amazon and to the author's website or blog). We have the links to the CFBA blogs and book reviews on our sidebars, and we are signed up at Technorati so that our blogging content is tracked. The CFBA has raised awareness of virtually ALL of the novels we've reviewed and promoted to become the most talked about novels on Technorati for at least several days running.

This is important in getting word out about new authors in particular. They have very few fans out there waiting in line to buy their novel the minute it is released. (Except their mothers, of course. And cousins. But I digress.) The sink-or-swim method for new books is brutal, but honestly, what else can publishers do? They can toss a lot (relatively a lot) of books out there and see what catches on or they can put out very few and spend the dollars promoting them like crazy. I think all of us hoping-to-be-published writers already figure the odds are stacked high against us. We'd rather take the chance of being discovered than not make it into a smaller cut. Getting a new book talked about--letting potential readers know it is available--is an important step. The book will still sink or swim on its own merit. If it sounds interesting to enough people, they'll buy it, and if it doesn't, they won't. It's very simple, but at least the book now has a chance to catch attention.

We want to give books a chance. That's all.

Do you want to help give books a chance? It's easy to participate. Just go to Christian Fiction Blog Alliance and sign up. You will be asked to place the links on your sidebar. You will have the opportunity to look through the list of upcoming promotions and determine which of them you want to participate in. In many cases, free review copies of the novel are available ahead of time. Occasionally there is a publisher or author who feels unable to pay the postage other than within the USA, but location doesn't appear to be a huge deterrent. I have to admit it takes longer for books to get to my Canadian address, but they will usually show up.

Featured books are lined up for several months in advance. The publishers themselves are beginning to see strong results from the CFBA and are now approaching Bonnie and asking for books to be included. In a recent box from Harvest House Publishers, I received one book that I had requested (from the upcoming list) along with three books that had not been requested. I presume this was in hopes that I would read, enjoy, and post. (These posts are upcoming.)

You are asked to post at least once in the three days of each tour, and there is a tour nearly every week. (We're encouraged to post each day of the tour.) The minimum is to post the specified links. If you read the book and liked it, please say so. If you didn't like it, you may say so (politely). You may say why. You're asked not to give away the ending. You may post a provided review. You are encouraged to interview the author directly in many cases, if you have questions. There's quite a lot of variation available to you if you wish.

Anyone can apply. The CFBA reserves the right to deny acceptance if they feel other content on your blog is inappropriate. They're not the blog police, but if every OTHER post is knocking Christianity or Christian books, why would they want to link you? :P

What to do with all the books? You may certainly keep them! Or you may loan them out. Donate them to your church library, your public library, a women's shelter, a hospital, a...whatever you can think of. You can use them for giveaways on your blog. They're yours. (Sometimes they're even signed by the authors!)

So most of the books that CFBA covers are contemporary Christian novels. There are romances, chick-lits, suspense, adventure...you name it. But you know that my personal and deepest love is for speculative fiction--fantasy and science fiction.

I belong to the Christian Science Fiction Fantasy Blog Tours as well. We are also looking for new members for this group with a more specific focus. Rebecca Miller is the ringleader for this group. The basic idea is the same as for the CFBA.

But let's face it. There aren't nearly as many new novels out in this smaller playing field. We have a monthly list instead of a weekly list. Some of the monthly features are websites instead of novels. But there is an impressive list of upcoming novels as well--the list is made up through May, and I'm thrilled and can hardly wait for every single one of these to hit my mailbox.

If you're interested in either one of these tours--or both--follow the links and sign up. If you've got questions, feel free to post them in comments or to email me. I'll see to it that Bonnie and Rebecca get them if they're not something I can answer.

Oh, and for the record, I haven't read the book that this week's tour is all about: It's called The Election by CFBA tour's own Jerome Teel. I'll find some info about it and post it up tomorrow.

Puff the Magic Kitty!

The Puff Cat is the most affectionate tomcat I've ever known. Last spring he was a royal nuisance when I raked the yard; you may recall a photo of him reclining in the rakings. Now that he's a mature 14 months, he's still happy for snuggles but isn't quite as demanding. When I did yard work on the weekend, he spent much time up the nearest tree. Maybe he was trying to shake loose a few more leaves for me to rake, I'm not sure. At any rate, he was having photogenic moments and I got several good pics of him in his leafy perch. Here's one:


Puff the Magic Kitty 

Autumn is Beautiful in my part of the world!

 

We went for a drive through the mountains on Sunday afternoon and stopped for a little scramble up an old quarry site. The view was magnificent. You can just make out the highway down below. What a glorious day! 

My own artist!

The Girl Who Cried Squid 

My talented daughter put together this inspiring portrait of Krin with her kitten fairies blissfully unaware of the giant squid lurking in the background. This is going to be right beside my computer all through Nano! I'll also play with it for a signature banner.

Every now and again I have to brag about Hanna. Okay, fairly regularly! Check out her website for more samples of her artwork. Maybe one day she'll be YOUR cover artist. I hope she'll be mine.

Fairies and Mermaids and Squid...oh my!

I hope the difficulty I'm having pulling this outline together has something to do with the fact that I'm trying to view things from all sides and not plot the easiest way out for Krin.

More of the Murky Middle is filled in, but there is still a gaping hole between scene 27 and the landing point for the ending scenes (estimated at about a 10 scene gap still).

The vampire squid from hell showed back up. They were just way too cool to not put in. They are only about six inches long, and their arms are joined by webbing (think bats). The coolest thing though is that they have photophores all over their bodies...well, go look for yourself!

In other news, I've been researching how to teach children rhythm. This has become very important in Krin's little world, because she does not have a sense of rhythm and will not attain one. (This is the one area where Krin is like me. I can't clap anything but the most basic beat without getting confused!) So there have been some interesting detours on the path to getting a working outline.

Yes, there are fairies and mermaids as well. Why not?

Let's see

At the moment, Krin's story (aka Squid) has a nine scene opening sequence and an eleven scene closing set. With a couple half-blank spaces. And a very empty looking middle. This is a strange situation I find myself in. I usually have lots of middle and only vague ideas how the whole thing wraps up. So what I want to know is, when I actually find the MIDDLE of this story, will my ending still fit?

I mean, yeah...I have some vague ideas what happens in that murky fog-land of the Middle. But they aren't snap-shots, let alone movie clips. They're like peering into a smoke-screen. There are some vague shadows and occasional glimpses of movement. I'm hoping to see with a little more clarity soon. Tomorrow would be good.

Blog Tour - Like Dandelion Dust

This week's book tour is for Like Dandelion Dust by well-known Christian author Karen Kingsbury.

Karen says Like Dandelion Dust is:

The compelling story of a Florida couple forced to give their adopted son back to his birth parents five years after his adoption. Now the couple is considering the unthinkable: taking their son out of the country and disappearing like dandelion dust.

If this sounds like your kind of novel (or you're already a Karen Kingsbury fan), check it out!

The zoo!

It turns out that many of the best photos were taken by my daughter, so we'll all have to keep an eye on her blog for the next day or two to see when she blogs up her photos!


I couldn't help wondering if the Giant Squid was after these guys. On second reflection, it turned out to be the happy hippo, whose photo was on Hanna's camera and somehow didn't make it onto the computer I'm blogging from today. 

We enjoyed the butterfly pavilion, as you'll also see from the new header and layout! 

The red pandas came out to entertain us. 

We're going to the zoo...

Somehow this reminds me of the Raffi song from when my kids were little: We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo; how about you, you, you... It's from Singable Songs for the Very Young

Calgary Zoo is the plan for Saturday with our daughter and son-in-law. You guys are in luck because I found the cord for my camera so I can take pictures AND offload them too. Wow. Technology is great stuff when you don't lose bits of it.

Book Tour -- Violette Between Day 3

Seems to me like I could at least have posted a photo of the book cover, which is suffidiently artsy for the artist that the main character is!

And here is a photo of the author, Alison Strobel.

Writer's Warning Signs

Go have a look at these great Warning Signs. They're funny, they're print-out-able--and they're just in time for Nano. You still here? Go look!

Book Tour - Violette Between Day 2

Between Here and the PAST,

THERE LIES A PLACE...
a place of longing for what has been rather than hoping for what could be!

Alison Strobel graduated with a degree in elementary education, and in the summer of 2000 she moved from Chicago to southern California where she taught elementary school for three years. It was in Orange County that she met her husband, Daniel Morrow, and the story developed for her first novel, Worlds Collide.

Violette Between is a poignant story of a true artist. When the love of Violette's life, Saul suddenly died, she died too. Then she meets Christian, who also is mourning the loss of a loved one.

As Violette and Christian begin to feel something that they both thought was impossible, tragedy strikes again. Christian finds Violette on the floor of his waiting room that she had been painting to look like a New York rooftop restaurant.

As Christian holds a vigil at her bedside, begging her to come back to him, Violette is in a coma, traveling to a place where she meets her beloved Saul. And she finds that she may not want to come back!

What would it be like to choose a place between the past and the present?

aka Krin and the Giant Squid

Isn't it interesting how ideas floating around in the subconscious of our netherland bump into each other, hang on, and attract more? Yeah, I'm talking about my nano novel which is starting to take some shape. Which is good, because we start writing in just twenty days.

So, my mom gets Reader's Digest and passes along old copies to me once in awhile. Currently I'm working through 2005 (Canadian editions) and ran across an article entitled Giant Squid Hunter by David Grann in the May issue. One of the things Grann says is:

Peter Benchley, in his thriller Beast, described a squuid that "killed without need, as if Nature, in a fit of perverse malevolence, had programmed it to that end."

And I thought, what if it isn't nature programming it, but someone else? And so it leapt onto Krin's bandwagon waving all eight arms (over eighteen feet long each) and two tentacles (which are considerably longer). It is now the visible weapon of the enemy bad dudes.

I've lost track of which website I found this on:

Vampyroteuthis infernalis (meaning 'the vampire squid from hell') grows to no more than about 20cm long and therefore probably feeds on fairly small animals in the mesopelagic zone (400-1,000m deep) where it lives.

Now, I'm not sure I'm going to use a vampire squid from hell, but you never know. It sounds cool enough to be in a fantasy novel I'm thinking!

I've come a long way from the dragons that inhabited the original idea for Krin's idea. This one is WAAAAY cooler and I'm getting stoked to write it.

Book Tour - Violette Between

This week's fiction pick is Violette Between. My understanding is that this is the second book that Alison Strobel has had published. Her first book is called Worlds Collide.

Violette Between is a uniquely written novel about love between a couple whose previous spouses have both died. The difficulty of letting go plays an important part. I enjoyed the contrast between Violette, a passionate artist, and Christian, a psychologist. Alison Strobel used an interesting blend of first person flashbacks for much of Violette's story and third person present time for Christian's. It was a device I hadn't seen before and it was effective. The outcome of the story was sufficiently in doubt throughout the novel--not a classic romance at all.

If you think you would enjoy a uniquely literary novel of love, give Violette Between a try! Alison Strobel is a member of our Blog Alliance and as such I'd like to offer her personal congrats on this great book.

On Nano prep...

So my life right now is all about the YA chicklit fantasy which now has a tentative and somewhat cheesy title, The Girl Who Called Squid. The one sentence synopsis is: Skeptical villagers dismiss imaginative acolyte's warnings until danger looms. Not only have I thrown out pretty much everything I worldbuilt in August when the idea first ambushed me (and the outline I made then which was too predictable and over-done), I may have just tossed out the secondary characters that waltzed through my life last week. I'm quite thankful that the story spark that attacked with a vengeance was the opening scene, so it means the story can change quite a lot and still have the original spark.

I'm eyeing the calendar which says I've got three weeks to get this all in place, though I scared the heck out of both me and Maripat today when I looked wrong and thought it was two weeks. Sigh.

The secondary characters don't really fit because Krin is younger than I thought she was and because her problems are of a slightly different nature. I'll save them, though. They may come in handy on some other project.

In my panic to figure out what story really wants to be told here, I'm giving Randy Ingermanson's Snowflake method of plotting novels a try. Previously I haven't managed to align my ideas to Randy's method and I'm not sure I'm going to make it all the way through the Snowflake this time either. Still, so far so good. Nailing down that one sentence is, in itself, a huge milestone.

The problem with Jhonal (from the 2yn Puppet Prince) is that he isn't demanding enough to get his story told. He's going to have to smarten up sooner or later or keep drifting in nether land. He's too easy going. Come to think of it, that may be a problem for him in the story, too. Needs to act more instead of reacting.

Hmmmmm.

No, Jhonal. You had your chance. Now you have to go away and wait your turn. Shoo.

Dark Hour Giveaway

And the winner is...Maripat. Maripat, if you'll email me your snail mail address I'll see to it that Harvest House publishing gets a copy of Dark Hour out to you soon. I hope you enjoy it!

I haven't read the story yet, but it sounded cool to me as well so I followed the blog tour around, starting at Ginger Garrett's website and submitted my name at other peoples' give-aways. So I won one as well . I thought you guys would hassle me if I accidentally won the draw at my own blog. :P

Enquiring minds want to know...

Okay, Katya asked the other day if I'm doing Nano this year. But of course. I've even had a plan for it for most of the past year. I started out the year doing the 2 year novel (2yn) class at Forward Motion with the full intention of writing this novel, Puppet Prince, during November--or at least getting a good start on it. I wound up letting many of the assignments slide because I was having too hard a time getting into that headspace while I was revising other novels. I *knew* I'd just need to catch up in October so that I'd be ready to fly.

Hello. It's October.

Meanwhile in August I was ambushed by a Christian YA fantasy chick-lit. There were a few things that didn't quite gel in the original idea. Dragons are somewhat overdone, for instance. Vast parts of the idea seemed cliched. And yet there were other bits that stuck in my mind, but I couldn't find the unique story they wanted to connect to. It's been playing quietly in the back of my mind for a couple months now, and I thought it would keep doing that for the foreseeable future.

Wrong again.

NOW it wants to come out and play. Sigh. So which one am I writing for Nano? Neither one is fully fleshed out. Both have solid foundations with rickety ideas held together with safety pins and rubber bands on top. One bump and over it goes. I guess I'll be running with whichever one seems to take best to a hammer and nails.

This is driving me crazy.

Er.

Book Tour - Dark Hour

I've mentioned before that the CBA publishers are getting on board with the Book Blog Tours that have been happening in the past year that I keep inflicting on you, my loyal readers. You are reading this, aren't you? You are loyal, aren't you?

Comment to this post and you will have an opportunity to WIN a copy of the Novel of the Week - Dark Hour. The author, Ginger Garrett, is considered an expert in ancient women's history. This particular novel (not her first) delves into the biblical account of Jezebel's daughter and her attempt to end the line of David.

Garrett explains what drew her to this particular story:

Athaliah was the daughter of Jezebel--a real woman in history--who tried to destroy all the descendents of King David in a massacre. God made a promise that a descendent of King David would always sit on the throne, and one day a Messiah would come from this line. If Athaliah succeeded, she would break the promise between God and the people, and destroy all hope for a Messiah.

One woman, her step-daughter, Jehoshebeth, defied her. She stole a baby during the massacre and hid him. Between them, the two women literally fought for the fate of the world.

And from the back cover:

God promised the Serpent a war with Woman,
and was She ever ready.

One of the darkest and bloodiest stories of all time comes not from a medieval battlefield, but from inside one of the most opulent palaces ever built. The strategies come not from men eager to extend their influence, but from women bent on exercising their wit and prowess in a kingdom not their own. The only rule is that there are no rules. Treason and murder are fair game, marriage is meaningless, children are the enemy, and the days of the house of David are numbered. Unless one woman can find the strength to defeat them all.

Please comment today! My understanding is that the publisher, Navpress, will allow each participating blog ONE WINNER! And it could be you...

Crit came home

I've received back my second (of three) critiques on Marks of Repentance and spent most of yesterday skimming through the comments.

This is the third novel I've had out for critique in the past several years, and one of those went out twice. I look at the two crits I have here and I actually can't wait to start back into this novel, though I WILL wait until after I've finished revising Quest to be Queen. That's a new feeling for me. Previous crits made me despair. It wasn't the fault of the critiquer. It was the fault of the novel...and the fact that now that I could see the issues with it, I couldn't figure out how to fix them. The job became totally overwhelming and paralyzed me.

So is this story that much stronger? Or am I mature enough as a writer to accept the analysis in the spirit in which it was meant? Sure, it needs work. But instead of my brain freezing over at the thought of it, it's haring off in ten different directions seeking solutions.

First I finish revising Quest while learning to multi-task so that I can write Puppet Prince in the same time frame. Then I can bring my mind back to the lands of Khairdazh and Nuomor and the characters I love so much.

I guess that means I'd better get revising!

Free Online Writing Workshop

Mar just gave me this link for The Muse Online Writers Conference which is to take place October 9-13. Signups close on Wednesday October 4th, so if you're interested, hop on over and check it out. I'll be doing the same on Monday when I'm on the computer that isn't on dial-up...

Violet Dawn, Day 3

Brandilyn Collins is the author of Violet Dawn and a whack of other suspense type books. This novel is the first of a new series based in the mostly fictional town of Kanner Lake in the Idaho panhandle.

In rummaging around the internet following the various links other bloggers have posted regarding Brandilyn and her career, I discovered that she was in marketing before she began writing. I think it shows. At her blog Forensics and Faith she details her long road to publication.

She admits here that she was a reluctant blogger, but started at the advice of her publisher's marketing team. To launch the Kanner Lake series, she created a new blog written by...other writers, who auditioned for the privilege.

I asked her, "How did you come up with the idea of the Scenes and Beans blog--and has the outcome met your hopes?"

Brandilyn answered:

I read a lot of marketing books, and the bottom line of all the new ones is the idea of marketing through grassroots. Call it tiger marketing, guerilla marketing, pyromarketing, what have you--it's all the same. Getting people to talk about your product is the key. I wanted to give readers a reason to talk about my Kanner Lake series--more reason than the books themselves. I wanted to get readers involved in my fictional town and in the lives of my characters. I wanted to offer them something that would be entertaining, plus would benefit them in other ways. The writers for Scenes and Beans gain recognition for their own writing, plus they earn an autographed copy of Violet Dawn. Currently the original SBGs (Scenes and Beans bloggers) are writing the posts through December. But auditions have already opened up for any reader of Violet Dawn to submit a post. These reader posts will begin running in January. Details for auditioning--and what you receive in return--are on this page of the Kanner Lake web site.

Scenes and Beans blog is quite new, so the end results of this marketing idea are yet to be seen. I have seen positive results in the lives of the SBGs. Some of them have been written up in their local papers due to their winning their roles--very nice, long articles with photos. Some are seeing increased traffic to their own blogs, due to links from Scenes and Beans. Some have seen recognition from editors/agents at the recent ACFW writers conference due to the fact that they write for Scenes and Beans. Longterm for the blog, however, I want to build readership, and this is what I'm working on now, and will continue to work on.

I also asked her, "What are the best ways (in your opinion) for a writer to aid in marketing their books?"

Brandilyn answered:

Come up with a clever idea to get people talking about your book. Also, at a minimum, have a professional-looking Web site that features first chapters of your books, plus shows something about you as a writer. Build an email address list for a newsletter (remember--people MUST sign up for this, or you'll be considered spam.) Reach out to booksellers. They're the ones on the front lines who are selling your product.

Most of all--write a quality book! And understand that name recognition (which equals sales) takes time to build. You're not likely to hit great sales right away. It's a process that can take years and numerous books.

If you're curious, as I was, how someone comes to think of writing a novel where someone finds a dead body in their hot tub, check out this interview. I could visualize it so clearly...LOL.

Violet Dawn, Day 2

Did you notice that the author of the book I'm plugging, Brandilyn Collins, commented yesterday on my blog and practically OFFERED me the position of president of the BHCC? I accept, Brandilyn!! I accept! Am I off the hook now?

If you, dear reader, are NOT a charter member of the Big Honkin' Chicken Club, you may enjoy Brandilyn's newest novel Violet Dawn. Tomorrow we'll talk a little more about her marketing methodology, including the virtual blog set up to help promote this new series.

Violet Dawn

Remember last week how excited I was cause I got a whole box of books to review and not one of them was suspense? I spoke too soon. The very next day Violet Dawn arrived. This is the second book by Brandilyn Collins that has come my way.

With fear and trepidation (okay, I'm exaggerating--but not much) I opened the novel yesterday evening and read the first few chapters. The question is: what would YOU do if you couldn't sleep at two in the morning and decided to relax in your hot tub...and discovered a dead body in it? And if, for some reason (which I'm sure I'll eventually figure out) you don't want to call the police, don't want your picture on the news? What would you do? Well, I can tell you what Paige would do but it would be more fun if you read the book yourself!

For the record, Brandilyn has written something like eleven novels with the trademark Seatbelt Suspense. Read her books, but don't forget to breathe. In her publishing journey, she's learned a few tricks of the trade as far as web promotion goes. (I mean, look at me promoting her books, and they're not even my favorite genre!) Later this week I want to have a closer look at her promotion because I think there's a lot we can all learn from it. For now, though--if you're curious--head over to Scenes and Beans, the virtual blog for the fictional characters from this series of novels about the small town of Kanner Lake, Idaho.

Little things

It's amazing the things we want to find out to make a novel read believably...and how hard it is to find some of these details. I've spent half an hour googling trying to figure out how far a person can see out over the ocean: i.e., distance to the horizon. And here's the answer!

You'd think I should be writing already, but I also got majorly sidetracked researching Pop-Eye.

Yes, it's all needed. I wrote Quest during Nano, remember? I just *wung* it.

Quest...

I'm finally past the new material in the opening scenes and into revision material. For now that means it's going faster. All of the preliminaries have taken place: Teagren has been introduced as the champion for the Timberlanes, she's received the Kiss of Promise, her father has cautioned her, and the High King has instructed the contestants. She has just opened the magical door to her first quest. Word count: 4616.

Something That Lasts

I finished reading Something That Lasts last night. I wasn't planning to, but I really enjoyed it. It's not a happy book, but I think it is quite realistic and has a bittersweet ending rather than a happily ever after. Well, maybe I shouldn't have given that away!

Yesterday afternoon I popped over to James David Jordan's website and did some poking around. It's a really clean site that well reflects Jim's first novel. I had to chuckle, though, at this bit from his bio page:

Several years ago, James David Jordan set out to write a book of lessons for an adult Sunday school class. He soon found himself embellishing the Bible stories with details that he thought could, or should, have happened. Concerned that the Lord might not view a University of Missouri journalism degree as sufficient qualification to edit His work, Jim decided that the more prudent approach was to weave the stories into the plot of a novel about a family's struggle with faith in the face of scandal and tragedy. The result of his efforts is Something That Lasts, a book about the hope that only faith can provide.

Anyway, if you're curious, please look the book up!

Quest Update

Quest to be Queen now has an entirely new opening scene of 1316 words. And lest any of us get too excited, it's taken me nearly a week to pull that many words together. Today I got sidetracked researching titles of royalty while I finetuned Cecil's full name: His Royal Highness The Crown Prince Cecil, Protector of Dhaneira, Knight of the Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Dragon, Great Steward of the Order of the Spine, Protector of the Spices.

If I think of something to add as I work my way through the novel, I will. And if some of the title seems a tad tongue-in-cheek, rest assured that the whole novel is a spoof. So far Teagren, who is sadly unRoyal, has discovered who her competition is for the hand of the High Prince, and she is trying to hold onto her initial cockiness. She'll get the full spring back in her step in the next scene, but the seeds have been sown.

The original opening scene will be revamped as the third scene, and then things ought to go faster. Snort. Like it would be hard for it to go much slower.

Something That Lasts

Yesterday was a little bit like Christmas. A couple of boxes of books (6 books in all) found their way across the international border and into my hands. I couldn't even remember what was supposed to be in them by this time! My system of getting books across the line, while entirely legal, does depend on my American friends showing up on this side of the border, and they've been away for a few weeks.

Anyway, six shiny brand new release books for me to review. And not a one of them is suspense!! (Can you say, 'yay'?) There's a mystery (looks to be part of an ongoing gum-shoe series) and a sassy chick mystery. I'm eyeing that concept askance at the moment. Three chick-lits that look kinda interesting, and glances at the first pages of each prove very different voices.

And one different. The different one is called Something That Lasts. Seemed to me like I'd come across mention of it yesterday on some blogs, lol, and then realized that was because I was supposed to be posting, too... Anyway, I read the first few chapters of it last night.

James David Jordan writes with a unique voice in this 1970s-era story about a preacher caught in adultery who loses his own family on account of it. The basic, factual style of the account makes for quick reading, though it isn't shallow. Even though the part of the story where I am now is ten years from the novel's opening, there is reason to believe that this family will yet be reunited and made into Something That Lasts.

Recommended.

Musings on Writing

Once upon a time in early January I started in with Lazette Gifford's Two Year Novel class (2yn). This class, perhaps to be offered again this coming January at Forward Motion, takes the would-be writer from the kernel of an idea on through development of characters, worldbuilding, plotting, writing, and revising an entire novel. I had taken the 2004 class as well and loved Zette's approach. In fact, I used the notes from the first class to help me work on a couple of other projects in the interim.

For some reason I had a hard time getting latched onto Puppet Prince. I was focused on a difficult revision during the early months of this year. Strangely enough, it was my 2004 2ynovel... Then I carried onto revising Marks of Repentance. Then I was attacked by a new idea in August, which still has some issues to work through. Now I'm trying to do my THIRD revision this year, Quest to be Queen.

Planning and writing seem to take different mental muscles than revising. In January it seemed like a good idea to call this the Year of Revision. After all, for every first draft one writes, the story seems to need several MORE drafts to bring it through to some semblance of complete. So shouldn't a writer who wants to be published spend three times more revising than writing?

Maybe.

As of today, you couldn't convince me of that. I mean, it seems logical. But my writing muscles are weak. I'm afraid of creating another monstrosity that will require way too much revising. Nano is coming, and I want to be ready for it, but I feel like I'm rusty going in. I don't feel ready. I know I don't need to be ready today, but it's not that far off.

I've said I'm not good at multi-tasking in writing, though I'm good at it in Real Life. I'm a working wife and mother; I've had to be. I think the time is coming--and soon--when I need to train myself to multi-task as a writer. I don't think it will be optional in the long run.

Yesterday I opened my 2yn thread and read it, all 52 pages of printout. It hasn't been touched since May 14. It's hard to get back into that headspace. Today I did the next 2 assignments. There's just a couple more before they head into plotting and outlining. I think FM has a marathon for that in mid-October, so I'll probably hold off outlining until then. I love outlining in a crowd! And then, in theory, Puppet Prince will be ready to go November first.

I wish I could re-generate some of my initial excitement though. Hopefully I can rev myself up over the next few weeks. There are a lot of good ideas in the midst of my assignments, kernels of the plot, the conflicts, the themes. All I'm missing is the excitement. Oh, and the outline!

Part of me thinks I should crank up the YA Christian chick-lit that kept me awake in August for Nano, but it honestly isn't ready to be written. There are big enough holes in that mess to drive trains through. It'll come. It's just not there yet.

Part of me thinks I should write the sequel to Marks of Repentance. The characters and worldbuilding are all done for this being as it will continue the initial story. It even has a title, Children of Sacrifice. I have a fair idea of the plot in my head, and I'm totally in love with the world, the characters and the concepts. But I feel like I should be preparing a stand-alone for pitching first. (Marks certainly can stand alone, as far as that goes; it's the sequel that would find it harder...)

And meanwhile, I'm way sidetracked with the cookbook project and fighting to make even enough time to keep poking at Quest. If I need to leave the revision partially done over Nano, I'm not worried about it.

For the rest of this year, I'm going to try to ride out the writing life as I have planned it. Next year, however, is going to require a different strategy. I just need to find one.

EdenStar website, day 3

Today is the last day of the EdenStar Books and Games website tour. Both Blogger and Mozilla Firefox were scheming against me getting this post up. This is try number four.

Even though I am a reader and not a gamer, I had a look at the gaming section of the site. Most of the games available there appear to be LOTR games in various formats. If you think trying a game based on Tolkein's world sounds like fun, check to see whether your system is supported. The few other games listed don't appear to fit the category of sff games, but I could be wrong. Like I said, I'm not really into games.

If you're curious what some other bloggers have to say, check out these links:

Jim Black
Jackie Castle
Bryan Davis
Beth Goddard
Leathel Grody
Karen Hancock
Elliot Hanowski
Katie Hart
Sherrie Hibbs
Sharon Hinck
Joleen Howell
Jason Joyner
Tina Kulesa
Kevin Lucia
Rachel Marks
Shannon McNear
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Cheryl Russel
Mirtika Schultz
Stuart Stockton
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith

Website Review, Day 2

Just a reminder that we're focusing attention on EdenStar Books and Games this week.

One of the cool things is the extensive list of audio cds and cassettes. I've started borrowing books on cd from the library for hubby's long drives to and from work (three and a half hours every two days). They have a limited number that sound interesting to him, though he has fairly eclectic taste.

Of the 65 audio books offered on this site, a good many are Tolkein and Lewis classics. There is a decent representation, however, of more contemporary works. But the price of audio material is so high (it's no wonder my library has so few!) that I find it hard to justify for a novel that a person may only want to *read* once. I understand WHY they're so expensive to produce; its just disheartening to try to get into.

Okay, that was a bit of a side-slip! Check out what some other bloggers have to say about EdenStar's site today:

Jim Black
Jackie Castle
Valerie Comer
Bryan Davis
Beth Goddard
Leathel Grody
Karen Hancock
Elliot Hanowski
Katie Hart
Sherrie Hibbs
Sharon Hinck
Jason Joyner
Tina Kulesa
Kevin Lucia
Rachel Marks
Shannon McNear
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Cheryl Russel
Mirtika Schultz
Stuart Stockton
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith

I've started another blog!

Because, you know, I have so much spare time and so much to say. As witnessed by the vast amount of posts on THIS blog.

Oh well. I will continue to chronicle my writing life right here, as well as a good dose of the rest of my life. This remains my main blog.

However, if you're specifically interested in the recipe book project, diet and weight-loss, exercise, and the daily grind of testing recipes and canning tomatoes (in short, anything to do with my efforts at a healthier lifestyle) then feel free to link to me over at The G.I. Way Day by Day. Because this is an ongoing project and a major part of my life it seems like it deserves to be more than a footnote to the story In My Little World.

Besides that, I need a place to begin collecting links to websites and blogs that focus on these topics and don't want to clutter up this sidebar with it! Beware, it's pretty much bare over there at the moment. I only have some history posted as of yet, which regular readers of my blog already know, but the initial posts will serve as a grounding for folks who stumble on the blog at a later time.

Edenstar Books

This month the gang at Christian SFF Blog Tours has decided to spotlight Edenstar Books and Games. I've had the link to this site up on my sidebar for several months now, though I don't check it as often as I should. Now that my attention has been re-drawn to this site, I'll be going oftener to see what is new.

The mission statement seems to be:

For those who enjoy a good, clean science fiction or fantasy story, Edenstar Books and Games has a world of resources to explore. With a comprehensive database of over 600 items, we're here to help you find books, videos and games.

The major categories appear to be Books, Audio, Video, For Kids, and Games. Edenstar acts as an Amazon store-front for these items.

Of course, my favorite area is Books. There is an extensive section of Book Reviews. However, it looks rather out of date as the books topping the list were published in 2003 and 2004. A plus is that they link to reviews on other sites as well as writing their own, giving the reader a broader base from which to make a decision.

There are areas set aside specifically for the classics such as Tolkein and Lewis. There's a good variety in the section for kids. If you're interested, go on over and check it out! Or have a look at some of the other linking sites:

Jim Black
Jackie Castle
Valerie Comer
Bryan Davis
Beth Goddard
Leathel Grody
Karen Hancock
Elliot Hanowski
Katie Hart
Sherrie Hibbs
Sharon Hinck
Jason Joyner
Tina Kulesa
Kevin Lucia
Rachel Marks
Shannon McNear
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Cheryl Russel
Mirtika Schultz
Stuart Stockton
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith

Still here

I really haven't fallen off the face of the planet. I really am still making progress on a variety of fronts. Writing blog posts seems to be the part that's suffering most.

Nearly finished the crit for Maripat's novel.

I'm poking away at the opening scene for Quest to be Queen. In first draft you just jump in and write, especially when it's Nano, but now I'm seeing that was one short scene should be more like four scenes. Plenty happens *before* the quest to set the stage. So my brief creative moments are focused there.

Recipe testing and answering forum emails and uploading recipes and photos is very time-consuming. You'd think I'd have guessed that, right? And I'm trying to build spreadsheets for tabulating and organizing results. Poor Mar. There are days I'm sure she wishes I had more basic tech smarts.

Does blog buzz work?

For over a year now I have been part of an experiment. I've had the opportunity to hear about, read, and talk about books--books I might never have met any other way. Books sink or swim quickly in the publishing industry. It's hardly fair, really. It takes time for the news of a good book to filter down. Many bookstores, especially small, local ones, can't jump on every bandwagon that comes around. There are limited amounts of resources to go around and it is often hard to guess (okay, impossible) what is going to take off.

Have all the books I've talked about in the past year-and-a-bit taken off? Not to my knowledge. A few were written by folks with somewhat established niches, but most were written by new authors. Several of these authors have had second books out in the meanwhile, or will have soon. I don't know if there is honestly any way to know for sure how much impact *blog buzz* had on the sales of their initial books, but it can't have hurt. Many Christian publishers have chosen to support this radical marketing method by providing ARCs (advanced reader copies) or first run novels to members of this blogging group. Obviously they believe it is making a difference in getting the word out. (The link is in the sidebar if you're interested in signing on.)

Where possible, we are creating the buzz just before a book hits the marketplace, or in the first weeks. This means that the book gets a bit of bonus support right in that initial sink-or-swim time. But I think it makes a difference long term as well.

Several of the books I've mentioned weren't official Blog Buzz books, but may have been books I discovered through folks along the network. I first heard the name Sharon Hinck at another blog. Sharon's first book came out last spring, and it is entitled The Secret Life of Becky Miller. This amused my blogging friend Becky Miller, who has had great fun promoting this book that is not about her in any way. The novel is Christian mom-lit and so, while I was glad to hear about a great read for young mothers, I'm not exactly the target audience. Even though I saw the book on the bookstore shelf in June and glanced at the back cover, I passed it by.

But a month or two later (I don't remember exactly, so the timing of my tale might be off!) the grapevine buzzed a bit about Sharon Hinck again. This time it said that Sharon had been pitching a fantasy series as well as the mom-lit...and that she had just sold the fantasy series to another Christian publishing house.

Well, you know me well enough by now to know that my ears perked up about this. I love reading fantasy. It made me consider Sharon in a whole new light. Not that she wasn't an interesting person before this, but now she was starting to circle closer to my sphere. (Or I to hers, depending on your point of view.) I'd begun reading her blog Stories for the Hero in All of Us and linked it in my sidebar.

So the NEXT time I saw The Secret Life of Becky Miller on the shelf, I bought it. I finished reading it this evening. Even though I am (still) not the target audience, I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. Becky Miller dreams of doing Big Things for God, and in her daydreams, she accomplishes mighty deeds of valor. In her daydreams, she really IS SuperWoman. Real life, however, is falling apart at an alarming rate. I totally did not see all the twists and turns coming, and even though all the threads are not tied off (as they aren't in real life either, come to think of it) that only leaves Sharon Hinck a bit of room to maneuver in the next Becky Miller novel. Yes, she has more of those up her sleeve as well.

So being part of this blogging experiment has broadened my reading horizons yet again. I'd say it works. I bought only one copy, but now I'm telling more of you. Maybe some of you will go buy it. Maybe you won't. But like me, maybe the seed of purchase thought has been planted and if you see it on the shelf, you may pick it up, curious. And maybe you'll set it back. But at least it will have crossed your line of vision in a way that it may not have otherwise.

Is it important to talk about the books you read, especially the ones you liked? I think so. Many of us are writers. We need readers. We need readers who BUY BOOKS. I think it's a good thing to spread the word when we find books that are important to us in our own little worlds.

Hey, that reminds me. Who is on your Christmas list this year? Think about giving the gift of books to as many of them as possible. Find new releases that you believe your loved ones would enjoy. Broaden their horizons and spread the BUZZ on books.

Anniversary dinner...backfires!

Some things are so totally not worth it.

We decided to drive to a city two hours away for our anniversary dinner. It would give us time to talk, do a little shopping, and have a nice meal somewhere we don't exactly frequent. I'd made up my mind that, having lost 30 pounds in the past six months, I'd order what I felt like eating and enjoy the meal.

Didn't work. I ate too much fat, too many carbs, and--at 2 am--I am paying for it with discomfort and a sleepless night.

We were still in the restaurant when I knew my plan had backfired. I said to Jim, "I am not going to obsess over what I had for dinner; I made my choice in advance. Once in awhile isn't going to hurt anything. However, I'm uncomfortable and don't want to repeat the performance again any time soon."

We got home about 11 pm, having just caught the last few minutes the border was open. I drank three glasses of water as soon as I walked in the door. (Can anyone say 'too much salt' on top of the other woes?) Had another two glasses before I went to bed half an hour later, feeling sleepy and sluggish.

Jim had had coffee to keep alert for the drive so he stayed up to watch some tv. (He's a night owl anyway, and I'm not.) About 12:30 I woke up from a fitful sleep because I heard the fridge opening and closing, (he was HUNGRY???), followed by the tv going up a couple notches, presumably so he could hear it over the sound of his chewing.

I stretched my toe down to the door near the foot of the bed and nudged it mostly shut. The cat squawked. Okay, fine, I'm awake. For some strange reason I need to pee anyway, so I may as well get up for a minute. Oh, and more water please... Cat wants to play and attacks my ankle. Not impressed. Don't feel like playing.

Stumble to the bathroom, then the water cooler, then back to the bedroom. Cat attacks ankle in the hallway again. Grr backatcha, cat. I get back in bed. Brain turns on. How I hate when that happens.

Stare at ceiling. Can't get comfortable. My hips hurt. I think about that. Okay, they don't hurt, but they're not comfortable, either. Jim comes up to bed and promptly falls asleep. I roll over. I can't get comfortable on that side either. Not on back. Not on tummy. Would my brain just turn OFF so I can ignore my hips and go back to sleep? The alarm will go off at 6:30. I need sleep. Not gonna get it, though.

2:15. Finally I get up again. You've guessed the reason(s). Is it okay to take a painkiller when you're not in actual pain? I take one along with a couple of valerian to try to get back to sleep. Soon they will kick in. Or so I hope. I may as well pee again, being as I'm up.

Have I learned anything? Oh my goodness YES I think so. Minor deviations from diet, fine. Major ones? Asking for trouble, girl. It's not worth it. I'm not sure I can blame the hips on it, but I can try. This isn't a usual problem. None of them are. Can you tell my brain isn't shutting off yet? Yeah, me too... Sigh.

9:30 am. I got to sleep around 3 am and ignored the alarm as best I could while hubby got up for this day's round of haying. Rolled out of bed myself at 8:30, shock. I now have achey knees and a twitchy shoulder to go with the hips. I'm thinking I can't blame all of this on rich food! The morning run feels out of the question.

First off, a *normal* breakfast of a peach, a banana, and some Fiber 1 cereal topped off with vanilla yogurt. Let's see if I can get my system back on track. I have a lot of tomatoes to can today.

Where the Map Ends

Does anyone know what there is beyond the edge of the map? Not really. If we knew, it would be ON the map. But we can certainly speculate about it. Speculate. Interesting choice of word, that.

Where the Map Ends is heralding itself as a well-rounded home on the web for Christian Speculative Fiction. The host, Jeff Gerke, has experience in multiple areas of CSF. He's written several books as Jefferson Scott. He's worked as an acquisitions editor for major Christian publishing houses. He's now striking out on his own (into uncharted territory) in an endeavor to assist CSF in finding its way into higher profile.

This site hosts a comprehensive list of CSF books both old and new. And that is only the tip of the iceberg as far as the contents of the site. If you have an interest in Christian spec fic (fantasy, science fiction, chiller, time travel, etc) pop on by and have a look around.

Great post

There's great post up at Kit Whitfield's blog likening cover letters to editors to date pickups at a bar. Some of the parallels are truly hilarious, but on the other hand, they make a lot of sense as well. Go read it; it's not long!

Happy anniversary to me

...er, and Jim. However, he's been out of town since Monday and won't be home until tomorrow. Twenty-six years ago today over a hundred people gathered in beautiful Nelson, BC, to witness our vows. We were young (some say cradle robbers! :P) but believed that we had the love that would stand the test of time. Would you say--after 26 years--that we've proved that?

Yes and no. We have friends who would have been celebrating 25 in November, but just this year things have come apart at the seams. We know others, too, who have reached this milestone and beyond--up to 40+ years--and decided that they didn't love each other any more. Seeing this happen to our good friends causes us to ask questions. Why are we okay when they're not? What have we done differently? Does it make a difference? And hey, we ARE okay, aren't we?

We've had ups and downs. Days I looked at him and thought, "What on earth did I get myself in for?" I'm under no illusions he hasn't thought the same from time to time! Nights I cried because there was no way out but through (over 20 years ago now, thank God, and I don't say that flippantly).

We're Christians. We believe in commitment to God and each other. That's not the answer though, at least not fully. Plenty of Christians divorce. Plenty of non-Christians don't. So what is the answer?

I don't know. We've made the choice that we will stay together. That *out* isn't an option. Please understand, there are people who have very good reasons for getting out, but we aren't one (or two) of them.

I heard on the radio this morning that August 30 is the most common breakup day in North America, closely followed by I-can't-remember-which day in late December. Today, however, is the day we choose to celebrate togetherness. Or we would, if we were together. Hmm. We'll go out for dinner on the weekend. I'm okay; I can wait!

and revising wins...

My new novel isn't quite ready to be written. It's begging for a bit more gelling time so I am letting it percolate on the back burner for awhile more. (I'd hoped to start writing this week.)

That brings the revision of Quest to be Queen to the foreground. I'm hoping to have a round on it done before Nano. Quest is a light-hearted fantasy spoof following Teagren through the seven lands of Dhaneira as she searches for the seven tokens that will confirm her eligibility to be chosen as the Prince's bride. Thus, the story is divided into seven long chapters. One of my jobs will be to look at additional appropriate divisions within each task.

Another problem is that the story is a little short at 70K. Okay, a LOT short. I need to consider how to best complicate some of the shorter chapters as they're not all the same length. Or possibly weave in another sub-plot or two.

It is true that some of the chapters flow better than others as well. Some of them just naturally took all the twists and turns that could be spoofed out of traditional fairy tales, myths, and cartoons. Others I struggled with more. I need to evaluate those chapters and see if I'm completely on the wrong track with those tasks or if they just need a new character or situation tossed in to make them come up smelling sweeter.

Besides the Quest revision, I've still only done about a third of Maripat's novel crit. And the recipe forum keeps me hopping as well. I probably have enough going on for the next couple months.

What can I say?

I get bored. And I play with photos. This is one I took last weekend at Fox Lake close to the BC/Alberta border. The blog was begging for a makeover...didn't you hear it?

Book Giveaway!

I just discovered a book giveaway hosted by Brandywine Books. Folks who enter the contest by commenting on the post before Sunday have a chance to win a novel by Lars Walker. His writing is an interesting mix of historical fantasy in a Norse setting. I've read one and would be delighted to own it so I could share it with you. Or if you win, you could share it with me...

More photos!

Should you *happen* to want to see more photos of Elk Lakes, check out my Flickr account and click on Elk Lakes album. Or you can check out my daughter's Flickr account or her blog Hanna's Life is Cool.

Camping, Day One

 
Last weekend we met our daughter and son-in-law for three days of camping just outside Elk Lakes Provincial Park. Two of the days we went for a day hike into the park. It was great to spend the time together enjoying nature and stretching our legs. Oh, how they were stretched... 

 
Here is the map of the northern part of Elk Lake Park. You can see the red line that loops to the north and back again--that's the Day Three trail. The red line that meanders along the lakes and on in to the left (west and south) is the trail for the Day One hike 

 
We found three fat frogs lurking in the bushes at the ends of some of the bridges. Here my daughter is conversing with one of them. It was like the trolls and the billy goats gruff...only not. 

 
The rugged mountain scenery made every step worthwhile. The trail varied from smooth gravel to rocks-and-roots to pine needles to planks-over-bog to...? And the view was different around every bend. It's an awesome world our God created. 









 
We've just crested the last climb and have gotten our first good look at the waterfall we've hiked 7 km to see. Definitely worthwhile! 

 
The objective of our hike has been reached at the base of Petain Waterfall. Even whisking the camera out for a quick shot resulted in getting spray all over it. I got it back under cover pretty quick! 

Camping, Day Two

 
Much of our second day was spent recuperating from the hike on the first day! Can you say 'relax'? 



 
Even from the campsite the view was fantastic. In fact, this is the mountain that we hiked along the other side of for much of Day One. No wonder we were tired! 

 
Just like a stone-age man, hubby uses a sharp rock to try to break through the fault line of a larger layered rock in the creek near the campsite. 

 
All that chipping away at fault lines in the rock paid off with this fossil. Only we don't know what it's of! 

Camping, Day Three

 
On this day we broke camp, then drove back to the park gates (several kms) and headed north towards West Elk Pass and Fox Lake. The trail rejoins the Petain Waterfall trail a few km further west after making a loop of roughly 6 km. Here hubby points out a pine mushroom that is worth about $50 on the mushroom market. Too bad we found it at the beginning of the hike and don't have all the connections lined up for selling them! 

 
We climbed steeply for the first while but an amazing portion of the hike was along this meadow that comprises West Elk Pass. It was huge! 

  
Fox Lake was our lunch stop at roughly the half-way point of the hike. Up above the lake, cradled in the valley half-way up Fox Mountain is Frozen Lake. Next time we're going to try the hike up into there.

 
The view coming down from West Elk Pass was magnificent. The air was a little hazy which made for less clarity in the photos. Still, the haze added an interesting mood element. 


  
Coming down off the mountain towards the end of our hike. I'm not too fond of heights, but this section was the only one all weekend that even hit my radar for a minute. From the bridge at the bottom the trail rejoins the trail from Day One about 2 km from the parking lot.

Recipe forum

is now open to registered members. If you think you should have heard from me but haven't...leave me a comment or email me: chief_tester AT valeriecomer DOT com.

Christian Fantasy Blog Tour - The Firebird Trilogy

The August Christian SFF Blog Tour has been running this week while I've been on vacation. Don't they know they should consult with me before setting the dates? I mean, really.

However, I'm here to catch the final day and to point you to many worthy posts on the topic of Kathy Tyers' most noted set of books, The Firebird Trilogy.

I first came across mention of the first book, Firebird at an interview Kathy did a few years ago with Christian Fandom. I ordered it in by inter-library loan and loved the story. Books two and three followed, and then I started hunting for my own copies of the stories so that I could share them with others (and help support the author).

Rumors via Kathy Tyer's writing buddy, Karen Hancock indicate that a new novel set in the Firebird universe may be on its way. Beth Goddard has posted a current interview with Kathy on her blog. Reviews of the three novels can be found at Jason Joyner's blog. And who doesn't love a good giveaway? Stop by Rebecca Grabill's blog for information on how to enter.

Here is a further list of bloggers participating in the tour:

Leathel Grody
Elliot Hanowski
Katie Hart
Sherrie Hibbs
Sharon Hinck
Pamela James
Tina Kulesa
Shannon McNear
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Cheryl Russel
Mirtika Schultz
Stuart Stockton
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Rachel Marks
Jim Black

Create a Character Clinic by Holly Lisle

Way back in February I posted that I had won a free copy of Create a Character Clinic by author Holly Lisle. It's in e-book format and I printed it out and popped it in its very own binder.

I haven't done any first draft work since Nano, so I haven't had a solid opportunity to work through the clinic until recently, when Krin popped into my head.
  

Here is a photo of our campsite last week. Note that I am all set up to work hard on the prep work for the novel! Hubby's reading here, but he alternated that with fishing, eating, and napping. We both got to relax.

  


Here's a close-up of the picnic table. I've also got the 2ynovel workbook out. And a mocha. It's a necessary part of the morning routine, in case you didn't know.

Holly Lisle is an established author with over 25 novels out at the moment. I do believe she is a master of creating characters and this clinic provides a different approach than other writing books I've read.

Holly breaks up the character building into three sections.

The first is called: Ask Them Anything.
In it she talks about the type of needs this particular character might have, and how it affects what he does. She talks about his past, present and future. I've looked at the past a lot with my characters before this, because (amongst other things) I believe this is where their fears and phobias come from. Holly takes this to a deeper level. Other chapters in this section have to do with the character's relationships, stakes, moral stance, and culture.

The second section is: Bring Them to Life
Good idea. Sometimes those characters we've drawn up lay flat on the page. This section gives oodles of tips for giving them that third dimension, from first person interviews to exposition, dialogue, and action.

The third section is: The Sins of Characterization, and How to Commit Them Right. There are plenty of ways to incorrectly use dialogue, action, and exposition in a novel. Holly guides her student through the various options and shows how to make effective use of the tools.

That picnic table and I worked through a lot of Krin's personality during the two days we were camped there...and the camper table got some as well when it rained and the wind blew. I felt like I was far away, though. I was directing a movie where a teenage girl learned her parts--learned how to perform her story--while an experienced director guided ME while I guided HER.

I'll certainly be using Holly's book again for other creations of my mind in the future. If you believe your characters could stand some deepening, I highly recommend Holly's book. She also provides a great affiliate program for folks who provide links to her e-store on their websites or blogs. I haven't gone that route, but that doesn't mean I don't recommend her book highly. While you're in there, have a look around at some of the other fine e-books for writers that Holly carries, some by other authors.

Of fantasy and chick-lit

This new story is way too much fun. Fluffy stories aren't exactly the kind of plotting I usually do. Fantasy seems to want to have some eeeeevil creeping through as well so it's entertaining balancing both sides. However, the outline marathon started today at Forward Motion and so I roughed out what was currently floating around in my head concerning this new novel. And came to 33 scenes. I'm estimating I'll need 45-50, so 33 at first go is decent.

At least now I see where further plot development needs to fit to link the logic together. Maripat seems to object to the sentence after the fifth scene as well: Training, relationship development, travel scenes go here.... Ah well. Why have a perfect outline straight out the starting gate?

Krin's story needs a working title. Badly. Maybe it needs an un-holey plot even more though.

Of plot bunnies

Back in the winter one of my writing buddies Erin and I wrote a short humor piece called The Plot Bunny Purchase Agreement which was published in a recent issue of Vision: A Resource for Writers.

It seems the article is making the rounds and it occured to me that I had never posted the link here before. Today Erin came across a mention of our piece at SF/F copyeditor Deanna Hoak's blog. How cool is that?

Ambushed...

So, I've been ambushed by a brand new novel.

I've been mulling over the concept that for some reason, the Christian market seems to be more open to fantasy in YA than adult. I'm not sure what they expect fantasy-loving youth to read when they get older, but that seems to be beside the point at this time. The reality remains. Though a lot of my stories seem to be about younger adults, they aren't really YA in theme. But what makes a book YA? Yeah, that's what I've been mulling.

We were camping for a few days, see. And the very first night I lay awake in the camper for a couple of hours. I don't usually have trouble sleeping and the camper is just as comfortable as my bed at home. It's even cooler up in the mountains than at home. No reason at all to be awake, but occasionally there is a night like that.

When the idea crawled in, I knew sleep was going to be awhile in coming. What if, I wondered, what if I could write a YA fantasy in a chick-lit style? Throw in a first person narrator, journal style, a bit of humor...I can do that. What if this was the story for the girl named Krin? But what would Krin be doing?

What if Krin woke up one morning to find a trio of fairies circling her head? What if her family and the townspeople thought they were angels, but she knew they weren't. Not only were they not angels, they were bunnies. Fairy bunnies. What if...

I did get back to sleep eventually. In the morning, I hauled out my trusty spiral-bound notebook and began scribbling my thoughts into it. Then I had a moment of gratitude that I'd brought along the entire 2 year novel course and began working through the assignments with this new idea, ignominiously shoving poor Jhonal and the Puppet Prince off into a corner again (where unfortunately he has been residing since March. I was going to catch up on this vacation. Honest.)

When I had a dozen or so pages scrawled in, I fired up the laptop and typed them in. I had to use the battery time judiciously; it only lasts so long so I couldn't waste it on thinking time. But I also know that given a few days I can rarely read my own handwriting so it's dangerous to leave handwritten notes for too long.

When I got home I pulled out Holly Lisle's Create a Character Clinic which you may recall I won in a draw a couple months ago. Perfect for working with Krin. She and I have been through the first section on the hierarchy of need and she is developing nicely. We'll go through some of the other sections on our next camping trip.

Next week we're running an outline marathon at Forward Motion. I'd intended to have the Puppet Prince worldbuilding done by then so I could outline it. Then it would be ready to write anytime the urge became too great. The real plan was to revise Quest to be Queen between now and Nano and then write PP for Nano. But I've been seriously hankering for a run of first draft again. I haven't first drafted since November but have rewritten two novels in the meanwhile. I NEED first draft to keep me sane.

So all of a sudden I'm planning to start writing this new novel for Forward Motion's one week Labor of Love challenge starting August 28. See, because it is a YA I'm aiming at about 60K for it, which should be doable by the middle of October or so. In other words, I could go straight into Nano with PP at that stage.

Unfortunately, that puts Quest to be Queen's revision on the back burner again. But it will come around again I know. I like that story a lot.

Meanwhile I have the finishing touches to put on the recipe forum and Maripat's novel to crit. Why should there ever be a dull moment?

Me and Krin can whup them all. WooHoo!!

More on the project...and assorted

Thanks to those of you who have volunteered already. Emails will be going out in the next 30 hours or so to the so-far list. I've been uploading recipes to the forum like crazy all week and have lots more to do. If I seem slow on the uptake communication wise, that would be the reason.

Also, for the next ten days I'll be in and out...but more out than in. Hubby is off work till the 14th. Over the next couple days he and his nephews are *topping* the haystacks and then first cut will officially over. The bale wagon stacks the hay in rows with a flat top which doesn't shed rain or snow all that well. So they create a peak with more bales over the center of the stack, then tarp it down so it will keep well for the required months.

Because this is a temporary shut-down at his place of employment and wasn't figured into our vacation days, we're not wandering far from home. By the time these dates were announced, my in-laws--who live on the farm and are our backup--had already made appointments in a city far from home. Hubby's fancy water system requires somebody keep a close eye on it at this time of year, so we'll ask a neighbor to do that a few times. We plan on doing some local camping overnighters, including taking his dad's boat across the lake and camping for a couple days there.

Our water system, in case you're interested, consists of a shallow well in a place where most households are hooked into a community system. Because we have two households on one deeded property (legally I might add), the community system refuses to service us. It's a mixed blessing actually, because hookup would cost us ten thousand dollars plus several hundred dollars a year usage fees. His folks, back when they owned the farm, put in a 1300 gallon cistern. In the months of the year that the well was usable (February through June or July, depending on the year) they ran the farm off the well. The rest of the year they filled the cistern using a 300 gallon slip-tank that fits in the back of the pickup truck. Then they'd switch back and forth between the well and the cistern whenever the water level in the well came up enough to use. Because the cows can go through 300 gallons on a hot day, that meant hauling a load of water became part of the daily chores (especially during the hottest part of the year which so happens to coincide with haying, the busiest part of the year.) The well water does not pass health standards, so an extra tap in the kitchen was permanently hooked up to the cistern, which always had clean water in it.

Hubby wasn't thrilled with that chore when we took over the farm. We did it for a few years and then he came up with a brainwave. He stuck a sump pump down the well so that whenever there was a bit of water in it, it would get pumped directly into the cistern. When the well doesn't keep up with the usage, we haul water. Allowing it to come in a little at a time prevents us hauling water for most months of the year. In spring there is so much water in the well that I would turn on the sump pump for about 15 minutes daily to top off the cistern. Now it is taking about four hours of running the sump pump daily, which is why we can't leave the farm totally unattended. In a few weeks I'll likely be able to leave the sump pump on around the clock. The last time we hauled a load of water in the slip tank was November.

The downsides are fairly minor compared to the gains. We now have a water cooler in the kitchen for all our drinking water--one of those commercial ones with the 5 gallon jugs. For awhile last fall I couldn't lift those into place but if I was careful in managing the water, I didn't run out while hubby was away. The other downside is changing filters often on the pipes around the cistern. The well water is quite murky.

Well. I had no intention of going off on water systems when I started this post! All to explain why we can't just throw the camper on the truck and disappear for the entire week, being as the cows are happy on grazing and don't require any personal attention.

We live in a beautiful part of BC--I've shown you pics before so you already know that--so it's not a hardship to camp nearby and do some day trips. We're hoping to find a good huckleberry patch or two as well. I've gotten kind of addicted to having fruit at the ready and our local huckleberries are superb. It's a little early in the year yet for the best spots, but we'll see what we can find.

Behave yourselves while I'm gone. I hope to come back at *it* all refreshed and ready for anything. Ha.