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.

The mystery revealed

Today is the Promised Day. You all have been very patient...and I hope at least a little bit curious. But maybe I'm making a mountain out of a mole-hill.

Quick review: Throughout my adult life I have been slowly gaining weight at roughly the rate of two pounds a year. That netted me a gain of about fifty pounds over my weight in 1980. In 1989 high cholesterol was added to my woes. I've been aware of the accumulative problem and periodically have made an attempt to deal with it but basically I am a lazy person.

I don't like counting calories, though I like healthy foods. I like doing things outdoors, but fitness classes bore me. Going to the gym was not much fun, but I did it for a couple of years in the mid-90s. It took so much time out of my week and it seemed I was constantly following big strong men around the strength training equipment--men that didn't bother to remove the monstrous weights they were able to lift or pull.

In 2004 I joined Curves for women. At last I could exercise in a woman's environment with several advantages beyond that. There are no weights to adjust---and the cardio workout takes place simultaneously to the strength-training. Forty minutes three times a week and you're outta there baby. I definitely began to trim up, but lose weight? Not so much.

I've mentioned my bout with arthritis in the fall of 2005 and the shocking revelation that I'd gained an additional ten pounds (seemingly overnight) elsewhere. It took about two minutes on March 10, 2006 to decide that there was no time like the present to mend my ways. It was time to Get Serious. Exercise wise, I realized I'd been going through the motions of the Curves workout but not really pushing myself (and of course I'd been off for a few months due to the flare-up). I vowed to go every Monday, Wednesday and Friday and to go for a brisk walk on the other four days. Every day, I would exercise without fail. On the food angle I began jacking my daily servings of fruits and vegetables from a pathetic average of 2-3 to 8-10. When I discovered the G. I. Diet the remaining piece fell into place.

I have lost 30 pounds and am within 8 pounds of my goal (no need to be as thin as I was when I was 20, methinks.) At first I looked at the GI Diet as a temporary solution. It began working for me very quickly and that helped. However as I lost weight and gained health and energy I began to realize that this was too good a feeling to relegate to the back burner once I had reached my goal. I began adapting my recipes and inventing new ones to meet the requirements of the GI Diet.

What does GI stand for? Glycemic Index. The basic idea is that the founder, Rick Gallop (past president of the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario), has looked at how quickly and efficiently our body burns calories from various sources. In other words, not all calories are created equal.

He divided food up into three basic categories, based on universal traffic lights. Anything he labels *green* means Go for it. Eat as much as you want. The yellow category means Proceed with Caution. And red, of course, is simply Don't go There (at least if you want to lose weight!). His comprehensive charts are found in his paperback book (sold at paperback prices; I bought my copy at the local pharmacy) and categorize food by glycemic index into these three colors.

What makes the GI way different from other *diets*? Gallop acknowledges that simply going low carb means that we deny our bodies a lot of the essentials we need. There are good carbs (vegetables, fruit, legumes, whole grains, nuts, etc) and bad carbs (those high in refined products). The absolute best thing is not counting calories. If I'm hungry, I go have a snack. I have lots of favorites to choose from.

This made a lot of sense to me and still does. And as I've worked through recipes both old favorites and new innovative ones, I've been thinking about the lack of a recipe book that is based on the principles of the GI Diet.

The idea of writing one was born. I write, don't I? Why not a recipe book?

At last we get to the point of this post. I have been researching (ongoing) what it takes to write a recipe book and seek publication for it. I know it is a long shot. Doubtless the world in not waiting with bated breath to hear from me. Still, the idea won't let go.

I am looking for people from all walks of life, with varying cooking skills, and living in various parts of the English speaking world to test recipes. A forum has been created for the posting of these recipes in which the testers can comment. There will be specific forms to fill out. No tester will be expected to try every recipe, but I am looking for reasons why a recipe might not appeal to you enough for you to WANT to try it. I am looking for a one year/ fifty recipe per person commitment (out of several hundred that will be posted).

If I am able to reach my goal and actually sell this recipe book, each tester in good standing will be mentioned in the acknowledgments and will receive one signed copy of the book. There will be no additional cash (or any other type of) payment. If it doesn't sell despite my best efforts, I still believe all participants will have been winners. You will have many healthful recipes to fall back on for the remainder of your life.

If you are looking for healthy recipes (whether or not you intend to go the GI Diet the whole way, every day) and are interested in this pilot project, please email me at: chief_tester AT valeriecomer DOT com. I will send you more details and a basic application form.

Applications close Friday, August 11.

The Bark of the Bog Owl

Some time ago I came across a mention of the The Wilderking Trilogy by Jonathan Rogers at Paraklesis, but I didn't remember much about it. All I remembered was that it was YA Christian fantasy. Imagine my surprise when I discovered the first two volumes in my own church's library! On a whim (and not really from boredom; my to-do list is lengthy!), I brought the first one home today.

The Bark of the Bog Owl isn't a big book; it only took me a couple hours to read. And while it certainly is strongly reminiscent of a favorite story from the Bible's Old Testament, there are plenty enough twists and turns of its own to give it a fresh appeal.

Who wouldn't love a story that begins this way? (and I quote...)

His Majesty, King Darrow of Corenwald,
Protector of the People,
Defender of the Faith,
Keeper of the Island
Tambluff Castle
West Bank of the River Tam
Tambluff, Corenwald

My Dearest King--

You will be glad to learn that I am still available for any quest, adventure, or dangerous mission for which you might need a champion or knight-errant. I specialize in dragon-slaying, but would be happy to fight pirates or invading barbarians if circumstances require. I would even be willing to rescue a fair maiden imprisoned by evil relatives. That would not be my first choice, since I am not of marrying age. Still, in peaceful and prosperous times like these, an adventurer takes whatever work he can find.

As always, I am at your service and eagerly await your reply.

Yours very sincerely,
Aidan Errolson of Longleaf Manor

P.S. I have not yet received an answer to my last letter--or to my fourteen letters before that. Mail service being what it is on the frontier, I assume your replies were lost. I hope you don't mind that I have taken the liberty of writing again.

And thus twelve-year-old Aidan seeks adventures. There would, of course, be no story at all if Aidan didn't find them. Jonathan Rogers spins Aidan's tale out over three novels, and I for one want to read the other two! Any one of you who has a child or enjoys a quick read through a fantasy world will love the story of Aidan.

I found an interview with Jonathan Rogers here. Here's a little quote about writing:

Plumbers don’t get plumber’s block. Lawyers don’t get lawyer’s block. They get up in the morning and do their jobs. Are you a writer? Then get up in the morning and write.

I think I've been told!

One caveat: I'm used to strict rules of point-of-view being adhered to. This author hasn't heard the rules I've heard. Therefore, the reader is privy to the thoughts of many of the story's characters, major or minor. Once I made up my mind to ignore that, the story drew me in.

So...what have I been up to?

Monday is the big day when All will be Revealed.

Yeah, I know, I keep promising. Sometimes it's hard for me to connect with my daughter online, and my learning curve for web work still requires a hand-hold at many stages. But the forum she is helping me build (shall I say that I am helping her build?) is nearly ready for the symbolic ribbon snipping.

Of course you have no idea what the forum is for! It's not just for a bunch of Val groupies to hang out. I'm under no illusions that I'm about to win the World Popularity Contest. The forum does have a purpose, though. Come back Monday and let me explain my evil plan for World Domination. Or maybe I'll leave that to Pinky and the Brain...

Christian Fantasy Blog Tour - Fandom day 3

Today is the last day of this tour featuring Christian Fandom. I talked a bit yesterday about my favorite part of the site, the interviews.

But there is plenty more to the site than that. There are book reviews in various of the represented genres. There is a list of which conventions will host fandom meetings (for example, I didn't know that Kathy Tyers was going to be a guest at V-Con in Vancouver, BC, in October. I'm not entirely sure I would call some of the movies reviewed to be Christian, but it still was interesting to read the reviews.

Also included is an art gallery and some pertinent essays. There are considerable research links with the sf writer in mind (which, to be honest, is what the site focuses on). Various discussion groups are listed as well.

In short, for those who are interested in this genre, Christian Fandom offers a great diving board. Jump in; the water's fine!

Christian Fantasy Blog Tour - Fandom part 2

This week's Christian fantasy blog tour highlights Christian Fandom. What did I find on this site that so revolutionized my reading and writing?

First and most important: I was not alone.

My favorite part of the Christian Fandom site is the interviews. This is where I spent the bulk of my first day or two when I discovered the fandom site. You may well ask, who do they interview? Remember...you asked!

In February 2000 they interviewed Kathy Tyers. Through the interview I learned about her novels with Bantam in the late 80s and their subsequent re-release by Bethany House in the past few years. She also is responsible for two of the Star Wars novels. Because I read this interview, I ordered in (through interlibrary loan) her Firebird trilogy, which I bought afterwards.

I also met Randall Ingermanson for the first time through his interview dated December 2003. Randy has multiple books to his credit, but he may be best known for the Snowflake method of novel plotting. He also publishes a free monthly writers' ezine. If you sign up, tell him Valerie Comer sent you!

In April 2004 they interviewed Steve Laube. Through this interview I learned that there are such things as Christian literary agencies...and at least one agent that loves Christian sff. He'd been an acquisitions editor at Bethany House and in that position had helped start the careers of some of my favorite authors.

The October 2004 interviewwas with Donita K. Paul. Although I wasn't able to get her books through interlibrary loan, I was finally able to purchase the first two this spring and thoroughly enjoyed them. But Christian Fandom is where I first heard of her and the other ones listed above.

By the time Karen Hancockwas interviewed in January 2006, I'd already read two of her novels. She has become a favorite author of mine in the interim and is a member of this blog tour. She blogs at Writing from the Edge.

There are other interviews on the Christian Fandom site on a hit-or-miss sort-of-monthly basis for the last five or six years. I've highlighted here the ones that made the biggest impression on me.

Not only did I come to realize that others shared my passion for sff, but that Christians were writing it and getting published. This was a HUGE discovery for me in my personal writing life. It gave me hope and a direction. Maybe one day, Lord willing, I'll have a book or ten published and Christian Fandom will want to interview me. One can always hope!

Meanwhile, I'm not going to get published if I don't get back to work on the novels, so I'll get right on that. If you want to read more about the Christian Fandom site, check out all the blog links on yesterday's post. Many of these bloggers are posting every day this week about the site.

Christian Fantasy Blog Tour

Once again this week a group of us are discussing a topic near to our hearts--that of science fiction and fantasy from a Christian worldview.

Ten to fifteen years ago I was struggling as a reader. My genre of choice was sff. When I read, I love to be transported to places that don't exist, to scenarios that can't happen. I'm not into girl-next-door stories. There were well-meaning folks (you've all heard of them) who told me that my reading choices were intrinsically evil. Nice Christian women shouldn't read that stuff.

It was true that there were elements in many of the stories that weren't uplifting, but I believed (and still do) that is a problem common to most genres. I prayed about my choices and began to analyze my reading and to set down books that repeatedly were offensive. I set standards for myself in the areas of sex (while I can handle a sex scene or two, I will lay down a book that seems to be about nothing else BUT torrid encounters), vulgarity, violence, and blatant anti-Christianity. I began to use the words of Paul in the Bible (Philippians 4:8&9, New International Version) as guidelines:

Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me--put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

To that point I hadn't seen anything that argued that a Christian worldview was actually compatible with sff other than the writings of Tolkein and Lewis. Were they one-offs? (Or two-offs....) The back of my mind began to play with the concept when I took up the writing craft four years ago. Meanwhile I wrote a couple of more traditional fantasy novels.

One day I was wandering around the internet and googled Christian fantasy. And there were links!!! Astounding, I know. Somehow I'd thought I was the only one out there that had been mulling this over. Silly me.

One of the first places I found was Christian Fandom. I spent DAYS poking around in this site, following the many links. What this site lacks in beauty it makes up for in links, lol. I discovered that this group of Christian fans had initially banded together in 1982 to support readers and writers and movie-goers and artists in the genres of science fiction, fantasy, horror, and westerns. Their mission statement?

Christian Fandom is an interdenominational fellowship of fans interested in the courteous and accurate representation of Christian viewpoints in genre fiction fan communities.

Later on in the week I'll discuss some of the particular things that I found on the Christian Fandom site...and the difference they have made in my reading and writing. In the meanwhile, if you're interested in more on the subject, see what these other bloggers have to say about Christian Fandom. Some of them are involved with the site and each has a story or two of some kind to relate. Some of these sites are permanently linked on my sidebar as well.

Kameron Franklin
Beth Goddard
Rebecca Grabill
Leathel Grody
Karen Hancock
Elliot Hanowski
Katie Hart
Sherrie Hibbs
Sharon Hinck
Pamela James
Tina Kulesa
Shannon McNear
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Mirtika Schultz
Stuart Stockton
Steve Trower

A new group blog promoting Christian sff is located here:
Speculative Faith

The Implicit Promise of a Story's Beginning

In June, a bunch of us at Forward Motion discussed Nancy Kress' helpful writing book Beginnings, Middles & Ends. Kress says that the opening paragraphs of our novels make an implicit promise to our reader. The question is whether the beginning gives the promises that we think it does.

One of the things we did in our discussion was trade off some of our opening paragraphs to a total of around one hundred words. Then we examined each others' openings for the promises we felt we saw in them. I provided the beginning of Quest to be Queen which I haven't talked about on the blog for a long time. I wrote it for Nano '05 and it is still in need of its first round of revisions. In the opening scene of this fantasy spoof, Teagren is listening to her sisters argue with each other and their father as she leaves home on her quest that will take her away for a year and a day, during which time she intends to win the hand of the prince in marriage.

The folks in the discussion all agreed that the implicit promise was that this would be a story about the interplay of this family and how her quest relates to the group as a whole. However, the story actually is about Teagren's quest, and while certain things throughout remind her of her various sisters, they aren't seen again until the closing scene. Is this cheating? Am I promising one kind of story and promising another?

You might wonder why this is even on my radar at the moment. You may notice that in the previous post Quest did not make the top of the list of things to do; it didn't even make the discussion at all. (Though I admit I love the story and want to get back to it...sometime.)

I've just finished reading two of Mercedes Lackey's books that have been published by the Luna imprint of Harlequin. Luna is producing light and romantic fantasies (which describes Quest come to think of it...). The two Tales of the Five Hundred Kingdoms are The Fairy Godmother and One Good Knight.

The Fairy Godmother starts off with Elena watching her stepmother and stepsisters pack up for a journey. When they leave, on the twelfth page of the story, they are not seen again until the epilogue, though they are mentioned from time to time. It takes a further 26 pages before the fairy godmother comes along. If I were applying Kress' advice on implicit promises to this novel, I would certainly not feel I was being promised the story I got.

Ditto with One Good Knight. To be honest, it took awhile for this story to get rolling. On the 82nd page of print the dragon appears. I have to admit that's where I would have started writing this story were it my idea. Certainly much of what happens earlier has bearing on the entire novel...and what happens with the dragon. But still, 82 pages until the first REAL action? While there would have been a lot of information that would have had to be dropped in later, it still seems like the story started too soon. If it wasn't Mercedes Lackey and what I know of the Luna line of books, I'm not sure I would have made it to the dragon.

So when is the right time to start a story? How important is it that the initial hook be one hundred percent accurate to lead the reader into the story? Can a story "promise" to be about Elena's stepmother and stepsisters and turn into something else? Can Quest to be Queen start off with Teagren's family squabble and carry on with her quest, having the reader aware of what she leaves behind and why she feels compelled to go?

Somebody once told me the best place to start a story is just before everything changes. What do you think?

and its GONE

Just before noon today I hit *send* on the emails bearing Marks of Repentance off to my critiquers.

After completing the last thirty pages of editing that I'd had to leave yesterday, I ran a few *find* functions. Two were for *minute* and *hour*. Hey, I found WAY more of those than I would have guessed! I also inserted several paragraphs in a couple of places for a tad of foreshadowing I'd missed. Then I ran spell check. For some reason I've never gotten around to setting up special dictionaries for my projects. I can see it would be a huge help! I had some interesting typos on some of the location and character names, as well as a few on *normal* English words that I really should have caught in the edits. Oh well. Now it is up to the critters to see what I missed and how the whole thing hangs together. I don't expect to have it back from everybody for a couple months or so.

What to do with my time?

Two of the three crits are back on False Perceptions. I'm planning to wait for the third before taking out a fine-tooth comb and going through them. I've read enough of the first two to know that I don't know what I'll be doing to it next. The four months' worth of rewriting didn't solve all its problems to be sure. So that's kinda frustrating.

I could get back to the worldbuilding for my new Christian fantasy project, Puppet Prince. It's the 2 year novel (2yn) that I've been ignoring for several months now. I think it's going to be a fun project; it has some solid skeleton already in place.

For the next few weeks I'm planning to concentrate on getting my website operational and my secret project up and running. Then I have a week's holidays in early August. Maybe by then the project will be ready to roll (generating some of its own steam) and I'll go back to Puppet Prince.

For now, that sounds like a good plan. Good plans are always subject to change.

Okay, here's the deal

Just in case you care! We bought a laptop about a month ago. I get to share it with hubby, so when he's working out of town, he takes it with him. (It gives him a place to watch dvds, play games, and listen to music.) When he's home, I get to use it. That's been a lot lately because of haying, but that's another (much longer) post.

I've really enjoyed having the laptop on the kitchen table where I can poke at edits and things while waiting for dinner to cook or whatever. Besides, its cooler in the kitchen than upstairs in my office. You may also recall that I bought a flash drive.

A wonderful combination in the right hands. Yesterday, my hands were not the right hands. At the end of six hours of editing, I copied my file of Marks from the hard drive to the flash drive. Or at least, that's what I thought I'd done. Instead, I copied from the flash drive to the hard drive, effectively erasing a day of work. Thankfully the flash drive was only out the one day.

Today I have re-done yesterday's work and added a bit more, but of course, I'm still not done.

I did read about half of Ammit though. You all remember you saw it here first. One day M.S. Sluyter will be a famous YA author.

Every day...

Every day I don't post because I think, 'Tomorrow I can announce that Marks is done and on its way to critters.' And every day it's not true, so I say nothing at all. Still, I'm only 50 pages from the end of this read-through. I have a couple of *find*s to do after that, as I've found a couple references to hours and minutes which my fantasy world does NOT have, and I'm not 100% sure I've caught them all. And it needs a final spell-check as well. Word doesn't like to keep showing the spelling issues when you have 95K in one file!

Tomorrow. Really. It will be off my hands tomorrow. And then I spend a couple weeks working on my secret project. Announcement should be arriving here at this blog early next week.

Oh, yeah, and I have Maripat's YA novel, Ammit's Judgment, here and waiting for me to begin the crit. Never a dull moment.

Congratulations!

Two gals whose blogs I frequent were Christy Award winners this past week. These awards are given out at the International Christian Retail Show for books published by Christian publishers.

Deanne Gist won the award for Best Romance of 2005 for her novel A Bride Most Begrudging which I read last summer and thoroughly enjoyed. The story is laugh-out-loud funny in places, so I'm not surprised to hear that I wasn't the only one who loved it! Deanne blogs here.

The winner of the Award for Excellence in Christian fiction in the Visionary category was Karen Hancock for her 2005 novel Shadow Over Kiriath, the third book in her series Legends of the Guardian-King. Karen blogs at Writing from the Edge.

Of course, other people won awards as well, but these are two authors whose careers I have been following, so they're the ones who get an honorable mention here!

In other news, our friend Rick (who was sent to the Regional Hospital for rehab on June 2 after he was diagnosed with Guillain-Barre) is coming home today! The rehab has been a long haul...and the complete recovery will be much longer...but at long last he is coming home. He is now able to hobble about with a cane. The family has been able to borrow much of the equipment they need from the local Red Cross. Sunday is Rick and his wife's 18th wedding anniversary so it is particularily cool that he will be home for that. I have offered to take the three kids off their hands for the afternoon and to supply an anniversary supper at their house. (It's going to be awhile yet before he can navigate vehicles and restaurants with ease.)

So close I can almost taste it...

I've sent the novel crit back to Mar and have just four chapters left in the edits of Marks of Repentance. I saved the best for the last, of course. These chapters don't even vaguely resemble the outline they were (theoretically) derived from, and for some reason that I can't remember I thought it would be a good idea to throw in a third pov character four chapters from the end. I had this vague idea that I would let him put in a bit of time earlier in the novel as well, during rewrite. What was I thinking? The book is a love story. The two main characters are the pov characters. This guy doesn't belong. However, he has information...and I now need to figure out how the reader learns this. Duh...when Shanh and Taifa do. But I don't want too much *telling*.

Think think think.

Extreme frustration issues

Why did I ever think I could build a website? I purchased a domain name in April, along with a hosting service from Hasweb. This is not user-friendly, folks. I'll be lucky to have any hair left soon enough.

My problem? On Saturday I tried to create a php bulletin board for use in the secret project I mentioned last week. Simple enough, as my control panel has a place to click for that. But...as soon as the bb is created, I can't log in to it. So I hunt down Hasweb's help desk. I need to log-in. Fair enough. It won't accept my username and password as valid, even though I used them five minutes ago to access my control panel. Hunt, hunt, hunt for a way to send for help without logging in. Finally I find a contact form (not in any obvious place, I assure you. The link for *contact us* only has non-800 phone numbers and snail mail addresses on it) and fill it in.

From that contact form I received three emails. First, someone saying he didn't know but would refer it up a level. The second email said she didn't know, but would pass it on to admin. The third email was from admin saying that it is an older version of bulletin board and if I upgrade it, it should solve my problem.

Hello?

They have precisely ONE option for building a bulletin board in the first place, the one I had clicked an hour or two before. If it isn't the newest version, how is that my fault? Of course, the email addies these *helpful* emails came from are non-existent and bounce when you try to reply to them.

Today I finally had some time again and went hunting through the Hasweb site for that elusive contact form I'd found on Saturday. After about half an hour of hunting, I finally found it and copy/pasted the information from my original request into it along with their most unhelpful answer. Also vented about not being able to access a real live person.

The contact form bounced. I am no further ahead, but I can tell you my blood pressure is a little higher than it was.

Oh, yes, they have a support forum, but there's no place to post request for service. I can share links to sites I find helpful, however, or talk about the weather. I kid you not, the headlines for the various boards in the support forum say: Do not post support requests here; they will be deleted.

AAAAAARRRRGGGGHHHHH.

/rant

2/3 done the edits

After a week of vacation and a couple of weeks working on a *secret project* to be announced here in a few weeks time, I am finally back in the saddle with editing Marks of Repentance. A year ago a border guard waltzed into my story and made a much broader statement than I'd expected him to. He hinted at previous links with the heroine, Taifa, but didn't explain much. He didn't even have a name, though after awhile typing *the border guard* got a bit tedious. Today I revised him and gave him a name, Huidsor. He's begging me for a part in the sequel, Children of Sacrifice, that is somewhere on my to-be-written pile. My TBW pile is trying to grow as tall as my TBR pile. For an all-time high, I believe there are three novels and a nonfiction begging at the moment to be next in line.

First things first. Marks needs to be done by the end of next week, along with my current novel critique. Then I need to focus on my website again, get it up and running. It's been sitting unfinished too long...along with many other things. Summer. This year it seems to be attacking me. Would someone please call it off?