TBR Challenge: Silent on the Moor

I think the post date was Monday, and Monday I was at the parents going to the doctor with Daddy & gathering up all the tax stuff. (Ooooh, there's a big lightning/thunder thing outside!)

So, I'm doing this one on Friday.

Silent on the Moor is the third book by Deanna Raybourn about Lady Julia Grey and the half-gypsy detective Brisbane. She goes to Yorkshire to stay at Brisbane's house and "have it out" with him about their relationship--and winds up dropping into the midst of a bizarre family situation. Between the mummified infants she finds in the walls and the near-poisoning of one of the residents, Lady Julia has quite an adventure. The problem for me was that she mostly had it alone. While Brisbane is the love of her life, they spent far too much time apart for my preference, and what time they did spend together, she was usually spitting mad at him. Which made the happy ending a bit abrupt and awkward-feeling to me. I didn't get quite why she was so keen on him.

But I still liked it. So... That's the book report.

Art must serve Story

Several years ago--so long I don't remember where it was, much less when--Jennifer Crusie spoke to RWA's national conference as keynote, or one of the big speakers, she said "We need more storytellers and fewer writers."

The whole ballroom full of published and aspiring writers burst into applause.

Genre writers understand that it's about the story. Yes, language and craft is important, but without a story to tell, you might as well be writing poetry.

Not that there's anything wrong with poetry. I like poetry just fine, but I have to admit that my favorite place to find poetry is in song lyrics. I don't read a lot of it, and I don't write it, because--well, I'm all about the story.

A novel is a story--or it had better be. Otherwise, nobody much is going to want to read it. All the art must be in service to that--to the telling of the story. You can be just as pretty or writerly as you want, but if the pretty words don't serve the story, you have to chuck them out.

Because There Are Only Two Rules in Fiction That You CANNOT Break. They are:

1. Do Not BORE Your Reader.

and

2. Do Not CONFUSE Your Reader.

An interesting Plot with interesting Characters takes care of Rule #1 (for the most part). Decent grammar and clarity of language helps with Rule #2. And sometimes, pretty words get in the way of Rule #2.

Every other rule out there that people tell you about--feel free to break them, once you know how and why they work. These two? If you break 'em, you won't sell your book, because your first readers--your prospective agent or editor--will get bored and/or confused and they won't buy or help you sell your book.

Art is great. I got nothin' against art in any shape, form or fashion. (I know, resorting to cliches. Deal with it. It's a blog.) But in fiction, storytelling comes first. Art must serve the function--which is story.

Quick referral post

I blogged over at Paranormality about Steampunk and the blood magic universe books. So while I'm off checking on the parents & accompanying them to more doctor appointments, y'all can go read what I wrote over there. :)

Picture post

Ha! finally got the pictures downloaded off the camera. (The fella STILL hasn't downloaded the San Francisco pics onto his computer, and that was back in October! Grr.) So, y'all are getting the whole shebang.

First, here is the princess wussy granddog with her tug-o-war rope. That spot on her nose is the bobo she got when she scraped a nickel-sized hunk of skin off her nose on the fence while jumping at a possum. It's almost well now, but it made an icky scab.

I have posted about Mardi Gras, and here are some of our Mardi Gras pictures. This first one is of The Strand--Galveston's main downtown street--just before the Knights of Momus parade on the second Saturday of Mardi Gras. The fella took all the pictures of the Aquarius parade on the first Saturday, and I don't know any of the people in it, so I'm skipping to these pictures.

The son's girlfriend came down for the weekend, which was Valentine's as well as Mardi Gras, so for the big parade, we went downtown, had dinner at Bistro LeCroy (on The Strand) and then watched the parade on 21st Street.

This is us--me, the boy and the girl (kinda blurry--the fella took it)--on the street waiting for beads. I think we're just between floats. I did catch a respectable number of beads at this parade, including some fancy gold ones with crowns.

There was a guy who wanted to trade me for some of those crown beads. He offered me a string of plain beads plus a drink of his vodka. Um--no thanks. I'll pass.

The parade theme was "Treasures of the Sea." Hence the shark float here. You can maybe see the beads in mid-air. Some of those people could really throw those suckers.

Okay, so then on Sunday, we went to the midafternoon parade of the Krewe of Barkus & Meoux--the pet parade, sponsored by the local Humane Society. Any pet could march, but aside from a few ferrets in a cage in a wagon, most were dogs. And Oh the Costumes! Here, you see the Elvis Dog. There were greyhounds in Mickey & Minnie costumes, a standard poodle dyed green and purple, and dogs in just bandannas. Lots and lots of greyhounds.

We met up with a friend of mine who went to Baylor too, several years after I graduated. She was a writer friend while she was in Baylor, and now, we both live in Galveston (though she's now way out on the West End).

There was a children's parade after the dog parade, and we got tired and sat down to wait for it to arrive.

She brought her toddler, who is massively cute, and warmed up to me enough to give me a hug, which totally warmed this Gigi's heart. The Toddler also danced. No music, she just danced.

We got massively annoyed at the grownups who brought their beer cooler and snatched the beads away from the children at the Children's parade. I didn't actually Catch any beads at this parade, but I picked up a few--we gave all ours away to the kids. (The folks with the beer cooler didn't.)

The last pictures I want to share with you are first: Orchy, the first grocery store orchid I have ever been able to get to bloom. It's only the third one I've ever bought--the one I bought in the Panhandle dried up, poor thing. But the 1st one I bought in Galveston grew a baby on its flower stem I didn't cut off. It survived the winter inside, and thrived, apparently, outside in our humidity and heat. So I bought another one. And look! It's blooming! I'm all excited. I guess you can tell, huh? I mean, I named the plant. (sigh)

The little clay pot in the background is the baby orchid I cut off from its Mama, finally. It seems to be doing well. Growing a new leaf and everything.

And finally, another flower picture, just because I think they're so pretty. After Valentine's Day, the local Kroger put all its tulips on 2/3 off, so I bought Two bunches. (Hey, they were cheap, fresh and so pretty.)

Those are all the fella's books. I have three bookcases in my office (2 huge), plus some built-ins and another big bookcase in the living room. This does not count all the books in boxes in the garage, or the e-books on the SD card. :)

Oh, and the basket? Corrals all the Wii-motes and Wii games. Mama likes to play. :)

Seven Things About Me

The lovely Carol Burnside presented me with this award on Monday because-- well, maybe because I was somebody she knew with a blog who hadn't received it yet. I'm not sure what it's an award for. Oh, I know!

It's for Being a Great Person! (If I present it to you, you can make up your own reason for receiving the award--or you can use mine.)

The conditions that come with this award are that I must tell you seven things about myself that you may not know, and I must send it on to seven more people.

So, without further ado, here are my seven things.

1. I am an oldest child, and despite my disorganized nature, have a tendency to want to organize others.
2. I have two-toned eyes. Really. Yellow in the middle, and blue around the edges.
3. I am BONE lazy. Alas. My ideal day would be sitting around, reading books all blessed day long.
4. I wrote my thesis for my master's degree in history on Baptist missions in China from 1911 to 1945. Really.
5. I sing alto. I really prefer singing the harmony, and not just because I can't hit those high notes.
6. I once had the Hallelujah Chorus memorized. (Alas, no longer.)
7. I played the flute (not very well) in marching band from junior high through college. (I mimed the piccolo part on Stars & Stripes Forever.)

Now, who shall I present with this lovely award??? I am presenting it to you because you are ALL Great People!!

1. C.E. Murphy (of Urban Shaman fame) at the essential kit.
2. April at In The Face of Dragons (like she needs more to do)
3. Kristen Ethridge, my Baylor Buddy
4. Robin D. Owens the Rita Award winner and Book Cover award winner (Congratulations!!)
5. Nalini Singh, of the new Guild Hunter books and the wonderful Psy-Shifter stories. (I love to say "I knew ya when.")
6. The fascinating Arwen Lynch at her blog Tarot by Arwen
7. Anne Marie Novark who is hugely supportive to writers at Just Write!

(Feel free to ignore me, but it's a nice picture to put on your blog.) (And hey! It's an Award! For whatever you feel you need an award for!) (Also, if you can't think of anything to blog about--which is not a problem for some of you, but sometimes is for me--this gives you something to blog about. Bonus!)

So. There it is. My award. And my awardees.

Mardi Gras and Mania

No, Mardi Gras did not cause my mania. That came from an entirely different source. But Mardi Gras was a whole lot of fun.

Last weekend was the first weekend of Mardi Gras. Galveston celebrates it too, on a scale commensurate with a town only 1/4 the size of New Orleans. There were three parades along Seawall on Saturday, one at noon, one at 3 p.m. and one at 6 p.m. I was going to ride with the fella in a convertable in the noon parade and toss stuff for the college, but the convertable owner/driver busted up her right foot recently enough that the doctor wouldn't let her drive (Maybe just the night before.) I didn't think there would be room for me on the float (besides I would have had to stand up), so I sent him off to fling beads on his own, and walked down to Seawall with the boy. (The picture is of the arch downtown, at one of the downtown parades. They're next weekend.)

One of his friends had set up a flatbed trailer in front of the grocery store, with a grill, and he and his family were grilling all sorts of things. Chicken, venison-cheese-jalapeno sausage (Yum!), brisket, ribs, boudin--you name it, they were cooking that stuff on that grill. Ate a sausage and a chicken leg, hollered for beads during the Aquarius krewe parade, got sunburned, then walked back to the house. At 6, some more of the son's friends showed up--for the parking. Our house is closer to the seawall parades than a lot of people have to park. So we all walked back up to the grill trailer to watch the Gambrinus parade. Including Dolly the granddog. She was very good for the parade. The Budweiser Clydesdales fascinated her. The drums in the bands scared her, the first few of them. She ate lots of rib bones and snackies, (I had another half-sausage & a Mojito cooler) and she met a dog that looked almost exactly like her. The other dog had the same shade of brindle coat, same white face, same patch over the left eye--the main differences were that the other dog is 11 years old, and Dolly is 3, Dolly is a little bigger and heftier, and she has a white tip on her tail.

I scored some good beads. The fella threw me a string with harlequin jester heads, and never saw me waving at him. But he got me good beads anyway. :) And I got a strand of beads with beer mugs on them that night.

Then the next day I was packing up to travel to check on the Alzheimery parents, and got a phone call from my mom that my dad was in the hospital. So I hurried up to get here--He's home again now. He caught a stomach bug that he needed an IV to recover from. It's been pretty hectic. Haven't been able to write, for taking care of folks. But things just worked out okay. Now to get all their tax stuff together...still missing a couple of 1099s. Sigh.

Have you got ten minutes?

If you've got ten minutes, you can write a book. Ten minutes at a time. (You will need lots of ten minuteses, depending on how long a book you are writing.)

Okay, maybe not you, and definitely not me--but it is possible. There are those who are able to write in 10-minute increments. Then there are the people like me.

It takes me a while to get into the story. I need to re-read what I wrote yesterday, so I can remember where I was and what the dominant mood was for this particular scene. I need to have my Coke Zero (preferably Vanilla), and my pen, and the right number of sheets of paper. Then I need to have at least an hour of uninterrupted time to accomplish much in the way of writing.

Some days I can write 2 pages in that time. Some days, I can get 3 or 4. If I have another hour after that, I can get even more done. (My handwritten pages usually translate to 1.5 typed pages--on average.)

Thing is, those ten minute "power bursts" can still help me get the writing done, even if I can't actually write much of anything in ten minutes.

I don't know about you, but lots of us who are working as writers have lots of other, non-writing stuff we have to deal with. It's that other stuff that usually leaves me overwhelmed and stressed out. But I can take a ten-minute break when I've been sitting so long at the writing that my knees are whining at me, and go pull a load of laundry out of the dryer. I can take ten minutes and call my dentist for an appointment, or call the parents and make arrangements to come see them. The dentist's visit will take more than ten minutes (alas), but once the appointment's made, it somehow ceases to hang over my head as Something I Have To Take Care Of.

I can even group all that stuff together and make myself do it in my less-productive writing time (afternoons, I tend to fall asleep over the writing) in order to free up my more productive hours for the Real Work. I got really good at grouping errands when I lived up in the panhandle, and had to drive 60 miles just to go to Target, or the cleaners. Now that I live in lovely Galveston (we have a Wal-Mart AND a Target! On This side of the Causeway!), I group visits downtown to the post office and library, and maybe even have lunch on The Strand. I save trips off the island till I have more than one reason to go. And I try my very best to protect my good writing time.

When I was talking to a friend about taking a leave of absence from the dayjob to finish my book due last fall, she scoffed and said "Do you really think you'll use that time to write?" I told her, "No, but I can use that time to do all the other stuff that eats away at my writing time." My dayjob was only part time, but I spent an awful lot of my best writing time doing things like getting my hair cut and teeth cleaned.

So, even if you know a technique someone recommends won't work for you--see if you can turn it inside out. Maybe it will work another way.

Try a 10-minute burst of work--whether writing, or that other stuff. See which way it might work for you.

Experimenting with recipes

I made chicken-spinach enchiladas tonight.

I used a vegetarian recipe and...adapted it.

See, I don't live with vegetarians. The men in my life are very much carnivores, so I knew they would not eat anything without meat. And I thought I remembered them both ordering chicken-spinach or shrimp spinach enchiladas at one time or another, so I decided to add chicken. Alteration #1.

Change #2: the recipe called for cottage cheese. I do not like cottage cheese. Unlike the guy in opposition to Sam I Am, I HAVE tried cottage cheese, and I do not like it. It's lumpy. I do not like the lumps. So I bought ricotta, since I'm told it's similar in taste, but it isn't lumpy.

Also, the recipe was for spinach-broccoli enchiladas. I figured by adding the chicken, I would already have a whole lot of filling to put in my tortillas, so I left out the broccoli. Change #3. I put in more salsa, because it seemed a little dry to me--I'm not sure that was a big enough change to count. I mean, I had all that chicken, so I had a great big bunch of filling, of course it would need more salsa and the recipe did call for it. I just used twice as much (and poured even more over the top.

Then, since we are a gluten-free household--at least for our main dish--I subbed corn tortillas for the flour tortillas the recipe called for. Change #4. Corn tortillas are better for you anyway. For reals. (I like them better in enchiladas, usually.)

So, instead of vegetarian spinach-broccoli-cottage cheese flour tortilla enchiladas, we had spinach-chicken-ricotta corn tortilla enchiladas. Flavored with salsa and cumin, with grated cheddar to make them even cheesier (all that, plus the sauteed onion, was in the recipe). I wasn't exactly creating a new recipe, just tweaking it to make something my family could and would eat. They were muy delicioso.

I suppose the daughter could use tofu instead of ricotta for the dairy sensitive grandboy? Make him his own dish of enchiladas?

Oh, and I got THREE pages written today. Go me!

Quick Post about Weird Dreams

I had a doozy. I tend to have rather standard dreams--like the one where you signed up for a class in college and somehow never managed to go, and now it's the final... Or the one where I'm walking to class and realize I'm still in my pajamas.

However, this one was REALLY weird. I blame it on my New Dog Fever.

I was teaching--either substituting or doing some kind of presentation in a class at a high school. (I do not teach high school, and never have.) I was on the third floor of this high school, which was build with wide balconies around an atrium, and the dog had apparently come to school with me, but stayed outside. Mostly, the dog was Dolly the granddog, but sometimes she morphed into Pretty, the other granddog (that doesn't live with me), and for a while there, we had two dogs. Anyway, That was just the set up to the dream.

The actual dream--the dog got into the school, and climbed up to the third floor to find me. I came out of the class, thinking "Oh, no. I have to get this dog out of the school without anybody knowing it's MY dog, and without her causing too much disruption."

But when I came out onto the big balcony, the dogs (there were 2 at this point) were barking. At A COW. On the third floor of this school.

The cow was apparently supposed to be there. In the hall, on the third floor. It was on a leash, and a student was leading it. The dogs were not supposed to be there barking at the cow. (There may have been another animal, but my vision was pretty much locked on the Cow. And the dogs.) I called, without using Dolly's name, hoping she would come to me and I could act like she wasn't really my dog (she's not, after all)--you know, the "come here, puppy," and making kissy noises. She came, and I started walking away, around the balcony, and she followed, jumping up and licking my fingers and such.

Here, things got a bit muddled into the height dream (walking across very high dangerous places without a railing) and getting out of the school--but that was basically my dream. Dogs at school, and a COW.

I know. It must be part of the vivid imagination thing. (I dreamed a couple weeks ago that we were house sitting for Michael Jackson--he hadn't died, apparently, and was living just down the street from us...) Dunno. (When we first met Michael Jackson, he was wearing a dress, much like the one Kiefer Sutherland wore on the Late Night show...) Maybe it just means that I'm warped. Sadly, deeply, warped.

New Words

Today, I wrote 1-1/2 pages of new material for the first time in about 3 months.

I haven't been sitting on my assets during that time. I've revised and sent a science fiction romance partial to my agent in October. I typed in all I had of the historical novel and sent that to my agent in November. I revised a contemporary paranormal romance partial and finally got that out last week. I needed that time off. But now, it's time for new stuff.

The excitement is building for this story, even though I've been doing all kinds of procrastination stuff this week during my writing time. I unboxed and installed my new printer. I read the last 3 chapters of the wip (and cried till tears dripped off my cheeks at the last chapter. Again.) to get back into the world of the story. I made a calendar big enough to write out my timeline on and actually read it. I even looked up rivers in China and the Burma Road. But today, I took that necessary step. I put new words down on paper.

This is a story I'm already about halfway through. Maybe more (I never really know until I get to the end). I love the story. And still, every time, it's the same. The blank page mocks me. Until I pick up the pen and write some words on it. (Throwback, remember? First drafts in longhand. And some of them are Really Long First Drafts.) But then, once those words are written, it gets easier. I remember that I do sort of, kinda know what I'm doing. And that--okay, it's not easy, but it's not that hard either. And I like doing it. It's ... not fun, exactly, but-- satisfying. It feels Right.

I am still a busy, busy person. I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow, and am probably driving with my guys to take a load of stuff to the out-of-hurricane-range storage on Saturday. I may not get anything more written until Monday. But that's okay. Because I've STARTED.

I got the Fever

In our family, we often talk about how various family members get "new car fever." You know what that is. The urge, that grows to a need for a new car. Symptoms include driving by car lots, looking at car sites online, and eventually grow to stopping at the dealers and test driving cars. Severe cases result in, well--a new car. Whether you need one or not.

I don't have new car fever. I'm perfectly happy driving my silver beast. But I got the fever. For a number of things. Right now, I'm wallowing in "new dog fever." Yes, there is a sweet doggie living at our house. But she is the grand-dog, and she will be moving out when her boy graduates, gets a job and a new place to live. She's not MY dog. I was perfectly happy getting my dog fix from the grand-dog, until my daughter got a dog.

She called to tell me about picking her new doggie up. Her name is Pretty, and she's a pit bull/German shepherd mix. I've heard all about how the grandboy wanted to climb in the back of their mini-SUV to ride with her, and how 10 minutes after they got home, he got down in her face and asked "You want to chase me?" I have heard how Pretty met Orm the guinea pig and just sniffed him.

I even got a phone call this a.m. to hear how the doggie and the piggy wanted to play with each other. Fer realz. Guinea pig jumped out of his cage while Momma was getting hay. Doggie sniffed piggy. Doggie went down in a "play bow"--the dog's invitation to play. Momma wasn't sure whether Pretty wanted to play with Orm like he was another dog, or like he was a toy, so she put the piggy back in his cage. Still, when Pretty comes to sniff him, he comes to the door like he expects her to give him a treat...

Anyway, all this talk of dogs had me going through Internet sites looking at the doggies available at local shelters and rescue groups for adoption. They are so CUTE. I want one so BAD. But I want a dog I can let in the house, and as long as we're renting... Sigh.

So, yeah. I got new house fever too. And spring fever--it's time for it to be warm again. Okay, it's still January, but flowers start blooming in February in Texas. The neighbor's jonquils have been blooming since Christmas.

About the only fever I don't have is the fever to write. I am procrastinating SO bad. I spent yesterday unpacking my new printer and getting it installed. I spent this morning re-reading the last 3 chapters I wrote so I'd be in the story. Tomorrow, I HAVE to start writing. The desk is (mostly) clear. The printer's installed. The blog is written (this one and the one at the To Be Read blog for Friday). I have no more excuses. Need to get started.

Yeah, I know all the tricks of the trade. I just have to do them.

TBR Challenge - January's Book

My book for January's TBR Challenge read is a series romance.

Moonlight and Mistletoe
by Dawn Temple

It's a Silhouette Special Edition, published November 2009.
This is a sweet, enjoyable read about a small-town girl and the big-city lawyer who isn't really trying to hustle her--he honestly thinks he's doing her a favor--but it's a favor she doesn't want, involving a pair of sleazy birth parents she'd just as soon forget. He doesn't believe she's as nice as she really is--and has trouble accepting that he's just as nice. There's a big dog, some local holiday festivities that remind me a lot of the holidays in all the little towns where I've lived, and just a great romance. I liked it a lot.

Yeah. I kinda specialize in short-and-sweet review-lets. :)

I'm posting this late on Thursday, but it's still Thursday!

I'm late because I had to rearrange my whole week to go to the parents' yesterday. I had intended to head up on Monday, but the doctor appts. they had on Tuesday they changed to Thursday. So I switched around the days I was going to work, and drove up yesterday.

And then today, while we were getting organized, the doctor's office called. Their systems were down, and they had to cancel ALL the patients' appointments for the day. Who knows when they'll be able to reschedule? And I needed to come back home, because I rearranged my work days to work tomorrow. Sigh.

I hope they can go by themselves. I wrote down Mama's question for the doctor, she put it in her billfold, then I wrote a note and stuck it on the outside of her purse that says "Doctor question is in the billfold." So maybe she'll be able to find it and ask it. If that doesn't work... Well, who knows when my stress level will go down...

I did finish reading my research book...

Riverside writers' retreat

I was here over the weekend, and it was wonderful. (This was Saturday, after the rain stopped--the view downriver from the upstairs deck.) We had workshops with a creativity coach who talked about recapturing the joy in writing, and how to be happily interrupted and other such things, plus there was time to write, and a concert, and white elephant gifting. Some of the white elephants were lovely. Some were...not so much.

The location was a house on an island in, I believe, the lower Colorado River. The only access to this island is by barge, or aerial tramway. It rained all day on Friday, the day we arrived, too wet, really, to cross on the barge. So we crossed on the tram.

The tram was WAY up in the air! And it was small. The wind was blowing, and the car tilted sideways, and it swung back & forth when it crossed the towers (that's the first tower in the picture--the barge landing is right below it, to the left). And I'm real nervous about heights. But I did okay. I did not scream and clutch at the handrails or cower on the floor. And I stopped shaking once we got on the ground. ;)

It was just a wonderful weekend. Everyone brought potluck for meals, and we had WAY more than anyone could eat. We didn't even open the ham someone brought.

My BFF Belinda came down from Waco with her fella, and they spent the night Thursday. Then Friday, in the pouring rain, we drove the "back way" down to the river house. We had to come a different way from everyone else, because the others were all coming down from Houston, and we had to just slide down the coast and come inland some from our island. Belinda and I drove in my "bus" and Ken followed us. In the rain. He likes to drive around and look at the country side. We were driving through flooded fields on both sides, lined with moss-draped trees. It was lovely. (Okay, the several junk yards we passed by weren't so great, but...)

The only access between the downstairs "quiet" floor and the upstairs "brainstorming / workshop" floor was an outside staircase, so we got a little wet carrying things up and down. Mary (whose house it was) got REALLY wet, driving the golf cart to pick people up. She was so wonderful to open up the house to everyone, and work so hard to get everyone there.

B and I got there around noon, so we could just wallow in the experience, and wallow we did. Belinda had a one-on-one session with the coach. I did Tarot readings for at least half of those who came, including the coach. Some of them told me what their question was, and others didn't, but they all said the readings were amazingly spot on. Well, one said she didn't see some of the things, but... Anyway-- I got a kick out of doing that.

Saturday night, Kathryn the coach, who is also a singer- songwriter, gave us a little concert with some wonderful songs. She did not bring enough CDs for everyone, and I don't have mine yet. But let me tell you, the song LIVING WELL is a fabulous bluesy creation and You Need To Hear It. I fully expect to hear another of her songs performed by some bigtime country singer in the near future.

Then it was time for the white elephant. I didn't get an elephant. I got a gun rack (for my (non-existent) rifle collection). Yes, those are deer hooves. Real ones. With fur and everything.

As you can see, I did bring it home. It's going in the Lions' Club white elephant Christmas party game this next year. :)

I told my son to bring his friend Walter over to see it. Walter grew up on a farm/ranch outside Tyler, TX. I think he will appreciate it. (Yes, the picture is sideways, but the deer feet are the right way up.)

So now, it is time for me to run to the grocery store for ice cream and Cokes. (In Texas, all sodas are Cokes, whether they are Coca-Cola or not, but I really am going to by Coke Zeros.) And then pack my car and head off to the parents'.

I started rewriting a synopsis for White Elk, Red Sword while I was at the retreat. Mostly I was there to refresh and renew, but I did start on the synopsis. I finished it yesterday. So now I'm reading research books, and I hope to get back to work writing next week. I aim to get my head back into the story so I can do it.

I should Write Something Profound

Instead, I ... well, won't.

I got a great letter from my agent about my historical not-a-romance novel I sent her as a half-finished ms. She wants me to finish it asap. There are things I need to fix, and watch for as I write the rest of the book. I still have to do some research to get the ending right. It's still a romantic adventure story, like pretty much everything else I've written, but it's in an unusual-for-a-historical-novel time period and location, and it's less romance. The main plot of the story isn't a romance. So, I'll write a synopsis and get the current partial out the door, then I'll focus on Thunder in a Cloudless Sky.

I still have to bake cookies for my writer's retreat. (Instead of "Retreat-a-thon" we should be calling it "Eat-a-Thon" given all the yummy goodies everybody is bringing.) And pack. Decide which book files I'm bringing. And figure out how to get everything waterproofed. This location is on an island. We can't drive up to it. And the boat taking us over has no cover from rain. Rain is predicted all weekend. I may pack my clothes in an ice chest...

My friend B is coming in from Waco this afternoon, with her fella. We will go out for shrimps tonight. They're like us. Want to eat shrimp whenever they get to the coast. I got no problem whatsoever with that!

Okay, heading home to get ready.

I know I just did two blogs in two days--I'm trying to work up to Two blogs a week, instead of just one--and I will try to space them out better in the future, but I haven't made it yet. Y'all bear with me. :)

Life in the Newsroom

I have a college degree in journalism. I like working at newspapers. I've worked for several--some weeklies, and the small daily where I now have a very part time job. It's interesting. I've learned a lot about tight writing, and straightforward writing, and grammar.

I had to take a leave-of-absence from the paper to finish my latest book, because it simply would not come together before I got to the ending, and I've come back to work far less time than I did before-- Honestly, I probably would not have come back at all, except that they said they really needed me. (Basically, the Brit begged.)

I like working less. It's not so much that I am writing during the time I'm no longer at the paper. It's that I can do the other, non-writing stuff during that time, and I don't have to do that stuff during my usual writing time. I am also having to spend more time at my parents' as they struggle more to do their everyday chores, and so now I have days I can use to do that.

This week, I've been asked to come in more, because the regular person is taking a few days off. I am also having to juggle a surprise doctor visit, a friend coming into town, and getting ready for a writer's retreat. (The doctor's appointment is a surprise because it was a referral by my primary care person to a specialist, and the letter informing me about the appointment got mislaid somewhere during the holidays. They called me about it--two days early, instead of the day before, and--well, I thought one thing, they said another--anyway--it's been a mess.)

So, here I sit, correcting the grammar in Letters to the Editor. I'd rather be writing--except that the writing I have to do is a synopsis, and I'd rather do almost anything but write synopses. I know it must be done, but... Next week. I'll do it next week. Because, you know, I'm at the paper this week.

I am going to that writer's retreat this weekend. Maybe I'll write my synopsis there, since they're going to have "writing time" as part of it. And then I can brainstorm, or do whatever. Which reminds me. I need to warn them what time we'll be coming in... And stuff.

Off to put pictures into the system. :)

TBR Challenge - trying again in 2010

Okay, I'm going to try this again. Probably, my life will get crazy again and I won't get it all done--it's hard for me to post reviews on a schedule--but I want to try. I want to pull some of these books off my TBR shelves. And even out of the box under my bed.

I am not going to put them down for any particular month, because I often read according to mood and I might not be in the mood for that particular book in whatever month. So...

Here we go.

I'll match them to categories after I've selected them:

1. Moonlight and Mistletoe by Dawn Temple - Series romance (because Dawn's a friend & I've been meaning to read this.)

2. Silent on the Moor by Deanna Raybourn - mystery/suspense (bought this at RWA conference, haven't touched it, and I really want to.)

3. I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith - YA fiction (romance?) I've heard a lot about this over the years & found it at a yard sale. In great shape!

4. The Quiet Gentleman by Georgette Heyer - I'm going to break out Regency from historical romance.

5. Firebird by Mercedes Lackey - fantasy

6. Ships of the Air by Martha Wells - Not Your Usual Setting. It's in Ile-Rien - a made-up place.

7. Southern Comfort by Karen Kelley - Contemporary romance

8. Victory of Eagles by Naomi Novik - fantasy

9. The Captain's Woman by Merline Lovelace - Western romance

10. Mysterious Ways by Terry W. Burns - Inspirational (I've had this a Loooong time...)

11. Dancing with Werewolves by Carole Nelson Douglas - New to me author

12. Love and Honor by Randall Wallace - historical novel (had this a long time too)

Hmm. I may switch the Lackey book out for something else...but my shelves are very heavy with fantasy and SF. 'Cause I like it.

Maybe I'll just name two designated alternates and sub one of them for whichever book I just can't start.

Like Heart of the Wolf by Terry Spear- a paranormal romance, which I've been wanting to read a while now, and For the Love of Pete, by Julia Harper, which looks like a contemporary romantic comedy. :)

I will post blog reviews of these, hopefully when I'm supposed to. If I read them, that will be an accomplishment in itself.

Do y'all have anything you hope to read this year?

To Resolve or Not to Resolve

This is the time of year the media tend to talk a lot about New Year's Resolutions, because (duh) it's the beginning of a New Year. I'm beginning to think that more people don't make resolutions than do make them, because most seem to feel that making resolutions simply sets them up to fail.

I agree with the anti-resolution people. I mean, just think about the word. It has the same root as "resolute" which means (wait, let me look up an official definition) "Determined; set in purpose or opinion," or alternately: "characterized by firmness and determination, as the temper, spirit, actions." Anybody who knows me knows that while I might be determined, my determination is pretty soft and flabby. I intend to do the things I've resolved, but too often I just don't get around to it. I get sidetracked. Or I forget. Any number of things can happen.

That's why I set goals instead. Goals are targets to aim for. If I miss, the target isn't irretrievably broken. It's still there, ready to be aimed at, waiting for me to get around to reaching it. Somehow, it's easier not to beat myself up for not reaching a goal just yet than it is for breaking a resolution. (Again, look at the words. You Break a resolution. You just miss the goal.) (Okay, missing isn't good, but it's not as permanent-sounding as breakage.)

Setting goals fits right in with the lists I make every day of my life. I'm low tech (as seen by my writing first drafts in longhand...), so I have a little 4X6 fat spiral notebook, and each page is a new day's list. On that page, I write down all the stuff I a) Have to get done that day and b) Hope to get done that day.

I don't always get everything done, except for those things like doctor and haircut appointments, but that's okay. I just move them to the next day and try again. Of course, if they've been moved to the next day for, say, a week or so, I start drawing giant arrows at them and putting exclamation points after them. And then I usually remember to get them done. These are items like "Call your sister." Or "Mend beaded purse." Because if it's not written down, I often forget that I intended to do it. I have that type of mind that thinks "If I can't see it, it doesn't exist." And sometimes, if I see a thing too often (like that beaded purse), it stops registering.

Anyway, my daily list has evolved. As part of a "career plan" class I took a while back, I have started setting all sorts of goals. See, you can't achieve the career you want if you don't know what it is you want, and if you don't know how you're going to get there. So apparently career planners are real big on setting goals.

I start with the Yearly goals. These are broad, generic goals. Things like "Finish mainstream historical novel" or "Travel more." Then I set some quarterly goals. Here, I get much more specific.

I look at each of my broad annual goals and think of what the next step is. In Goal #1 (finishing that novel), I need to get pages written. But I also have a goal of getting a new book contract. And I have a partial almost ready to submit. So that goes at the top of the list. "Revise chapters, write synopsis & submit by 1/15/10." It's specific, concrete, and it has a time limit. One I think I can make. Then for Goal #1, my quarterly goal is to "Write 150 pp. of novel by 2/28/10." That one could be a bit of a push, but that's good for me. Pushing. And because I need to leave things flexible, I have a goal of continuing to write on the novel through March if I don't have anything else I need to do. Then I set a goal for each of the other annual objectives. Some goals fit more than one annual thing--like going on a trip with the fella works both for the "travel more" goal and the "spend quality time with family" goal. (At least I would Hope it would be quality time.)

But wait! There's more! Now, I set weekly goals. Stuff I want to get done this week. Those goals fit within the quarterly goals, but are broken down further. Like, before I can get this synopsis written, I have to clean off the top of my desk, so that's a big goal for this week (and has been on my daily list 3 days this week).

Then, to help keep myself on track, I have two goal coach partners. We're Internet acquaintances/friends who have agreed to e-mail each other once a week with our goals, and how we did on last week's goals, and encourage each other and sometimes nag. I had already started working on my goals for this year, quarter and week when one of the others sent a "Let's get back on track" e-mail this week. (We all sorta fell off the wagon during the holidays.)

I tend to make one big long list, with the more important things at the top, and the lower priority ones at the bottom, and if I don't get something done, I don't sweat it too much. One of our partners makes a very short list, with only her writing chores, or maybe the Really Big life goals on it. And the third likes to categorize her list with Priority 1 and Priority 2 and If There's Any Time Left groupings, because if they're all on the same list, she feels equally bad for missing any of them, even if they're not so important. (I told you my "determination" was soft and flabby. Sorta like my arms. Or any other part of me... I don't sweat much of anything--even getting to doctor appointments so late, they make me come back another time.) (Yes, I have done that.) So, see--you can adjust the process to Work For You.

I write everything down, because if I can see it, I'm more likely to remember what I wanted to do. I also Really enjoy marking things off my list. I will write things on my list (especially the daily one) just so I can mark them off. I feel like I have accomplished something. Because I have.

So there you have it. The forgetful procrastinator who is easily sidetracked person's plan for getting things (like writing books) done.

No, I'm not writing yet. But it IS possible to see the top of my desk. :)

It's not that I haven't been blogging...

I just haven't necessarily been blogging Here...

Yesterday, I had a blogpost at Borders' True Romance blog, and at the To Be Read blog, and I'm pretty sure I had one at My Book, The Movie-- Yep, there it is.

You can still comment at the To Be Read website during the rest of the week, for a chance to win a copy of New Blood--those few of you who don't have one. ;)

In other news--we had a great Christmas, even though the fella gave me his cold for the holiday. I slept a lot. I cooked, then went to take a nap and the fella cleaned up.

The Dallas grandboys arrived on Tuesday afternoon--they'd come to Galveston with their mom to stay in a hotel overnight--the little one wanted to stay in a hotel for a Christmas present. Then, as they were driving downtown the next day, they recognized the turns to come to our house, and directed their mom straight to our front door, ready for their stay at Gigi & Grandaddy's house. They were out the car with a "bye, Mom" and nary a look back. I did have to tell Mom how to find downtown so she could do some shopping in the historic, boutiquey downtown area. There's a lot of neat stuff to do in downtown Galveston, and it's not hard to find, you just have to go all the way to 25th Street or lower to get there.

I baked chocolate chip cookies, I made cheesecake, I made snickerdoodles (after the chocolate chippies were almost all eaten up), I made buttermilk pie... We had a Lot of food at Christmas. We got our tamales at The Taco House up on Broadway and 50th. I went in to see about ordering them, and the owner brought one out for me to sample. Now, a lot of tamales--you get thick dough and not much meat. These babies had maybe a quarter-inch of dough around a inch-thick core of perfectly seasoned beef, and they were about 6-8 inches long. Most packaged tamales are only about 4 inches long. These cost a little more than a package of Pedro's Tamales (made in Lubbock by a family whose son was at North Texas State U with our daughter--and they're good for "every day" if you can find them), but oh my, were they worth it! Yum!!

I had already made the salsa, and I cooked a nice carne guisada to go with the tamales. (The guisada served by the local LULAC group tastes just like mine, so I figure I'm authentic, even if I'm so white I practically glow in the dark. I'm a Texan.) And I made guacamole. We ate Really Good on Christmas Eve.

Oh, I am a bibliophibian. I got a T-shirt that says so from the daughter. It goes with this comic. Are you a bibliophibian too?

Now, it's almost New Year's Day. The fella and I are going out to a party at one of the local hotels-- It's a private party thrown by the foundation that runs the place, and is always fun. We also went to the local liquor store and bought some of almost every liquor there is: gin, vodka, rum, tequila, schnapps-- The boy brought Scotch whiskey back from his trip to England--we picked them up last night. I don't know when we're going to drink this stuff, since we're going out tonight... I'm really more of a stay-at-home-to-celebrate girl, but we've been invited, and they do have some really great food at this party.

It's lunch time. Better go eat.

Orchids and OCD

Didn't get another blog posted last week here on my own blog. I had two last Thursday in other places. I blogged at Whipped Out about making salsa from scratch (or from tomatoes, onions & peppers, if you can't get any scratch (Ba-dum-ching!)), and I also blogged at To Be Read the same day. So you can go read those posts.

I was coming home from the parents' on Thursday when those blogs posted, so I wasn't in a position to tell you about them--and I've kind of been on a computer break since then.

Do y'all ever do that? Just stay away from the computer, because you know if you log in, you won't get away for Hours, and you just have to much to do to take that much time at the machine? Anyway, I was Verra busy over the weekend--well, except for my major nap Sunday afternoon. If you don't take a nap on Sunday, the whole week doesn't work. So I napped. ;)

Had an all-morning doctor appt. Friday a.m., then errands--got about 6 books from library. One I think I own. Read the library book again anyway.

Saturday, I repotted my orchids--or maybe I did that on Friday afternoon. Somewhere in there. I had bought a grocery-store orchid (phalaenopsis) about a year and a half ago, and it survived my neglect over the winter in the house. (I don't remember if the flowers are like the ones in the picture, or of they have more white on them with the purple just in the middle, but they're similar...) This spring, it made a baby orchid on the flower stalk I neglectfully didn't cut off. So neglect isn't necessarily bad!

I didn't know what to do with the baby plant, so I just left it there. And sometime in the late spring/early summer, I bought another orchid from the grocery store, because the one I got for my anniversary died. (It wasn't potted right, and its roots rotted. I do know that orchids Have to have drain holes in their pots.) The new one had similar flowers. And I stuck them on my outside wire plant stand, watered them occasionally, and finally brought them inside the first weekend in December, because snow was predicted.

That was when I noticed that the newer orchid had new buds coming out on the flower stem I hadn't cut off this plant either. (Grocery store orchids are usually blooming when you buy them. Don't cut off their flower stems!!) So I decided that I ought to go to the library and get a book on orchids and see what I needed to do to put the baby in its new pot and how to take care of the things properly. I figured I was doing the right stuff, but I wanted to KNOW I was doing the right stuff. I guess I'm a little OCD like that. I tend to look up books about things I want to know how to do, and read everything I can about them. Then I try to do things right--but I tend to win more from benign neglect than anything...

Anyway, I discovered that if a phalaenopsis isn't blooming for you, that if you let it deal with cooler evenings, down in the 45-50F range (7 - 10C), a lot of times it will put on flower buds and bloom. Huh. So by leaving the plants outside till it actually threatened to freeze, I was doing the Right thing to get flowers. How 'bout that...

I also learned that I just had to cut off my baby from its stem and put it in a pot. Since my baby had already made four aerial roots, it is a little ahead of other rootless babies--but I put rooting hormone on the stem anyway. :) And I bought a Home Depot orchid. A cattleya, but it's supposed to make sprays of flowers, not singles. (I think they're supposed to sort of look like the ones in this lower picture.) I'm getting brave and adventurous, branching out from the grocery-store easy-grow moth orchids...
Wish me luck with my new enthusiasms.

My 15-year-old Christmas cactus died here in the Land of Great Humidity. It just rotted. And I couldn't keep the bougainvilleas watered. They grow GREAT in the ground, but I'm not planting a bougainvillea until I have my own house. There are some 10 foot tall bush ones on the way to the beach... Anyway, wish me luck. When/if the buds bloom I will post them.

Do y'all have any plant obsessions? Any stellar specimens? Something really cool on your windowsill? Sometimes, just keeping a mother-in-law's tongue alive is an accomplishment...

EDIT: Actually, I looked at the label on the plant in this picture, and I think this is Exactly the plant I bought. This is Slc. Jewel Box 'Dark Waters.' Slc. stands for (something I don't remember) laelocattleya, meaning it's a hybrid. Anyway, I think this is what is on the label on the plant I bought... So. Cross your fingers that I can convince it to bloom. :)

Holiday insanity strikes

I suppose I could say the insanity strikes again, because it does strike every year--but this year's version just hit last week.

I was running around frantically trying to get ready to go accompany parents to the doctor's early last week, and be ready for my RWA chapter party on Tuesday, when someone reminded me that the meeting was the third Tuesday, and therefore this week (tonight) rather than last.

It wasn't that I got the dates mixed up. I knew it was the third Tuesday. I just thought last week was this week. So, in my head, I acquired an extra week for Christmas stuff. I didn't actually get an extra week, but it felt like it. So with "all" that extra time, I went shopping.

I have to go back to the parents' tomorrow, so I picked up presents for all the folks who live there. I got them wrapped last night--even the ones with unwieldy shapes and sizes. Go, me! I got presents for the Pittsburgh folks--except the grandson still needs toy(s). Granddaddy is taking today off from work to go shop for toys. He likes to shop for toys. He is also having to shop for some of the ladies in our lives (like his mother and sister-in-law). He struggles with their gifts, but always comes up with something brilliant.

Anyway, after all the shopping, the Christmas party deluge struck. We had one (potluck) party Friday night, two parties Saturday--one of them was actually a birthday party (Happy Birthday again, Ian!)--two parties on Sunday, and--no wait. That was all. Till the party tonight. And there's two parties at pretty much the same time on Thursday. One starts an hour earlier than the other, so we'll hit that one first, then slip out to the other.

Some of the parties have been potluck (took sour cream mashed potatoes to one, homemade salsa and tortilla chips to another, and may take salsa & chips to the third, depending on how I'm feeling when I get back from the 'rents'). Some call for White Elephant gifts. I couldn't think of anything else, and I've been wanting to get the paints out again, so I painted pictures. If I ever get any time at home again any time soon, I'll try to get them posted so y'all can see them.

Writing? I'd like to get some done, but I haven't been able to hold still long enough to get my brain unfolded. And I haven't even started cooking yet--except for the salsa.

BTW, I will be the guest blogger at Whipped Out on Thursday, blogging about my homemade salsa. It's good stuff. Y'all should go over there and read about it. :) On Thursday. I'll try to remind you then...

Thoughts about books I've read

Ian would get me if I capitalized anything but the first word in that title. He's the (English) editor I work with at my mini-p.t. dayjob at the newspaper, and I spend a great deal of time knocking down capitalization before I send stuff to him. So I will try not to overcapitalize out in the world of blogging as well. (By English, I mean that he is from England. Not that he edits English, which he does but...oh, never mind.)

My last blog was about writing stuff, and I'd like to have readers read this blog too, and since I am also a reader (Big Time), I thought I would write about something related to reading. Then I thought I might write about the books I read recently. Except...

While I liked those books, a lot, and read them both on the same day (stayed up too late to finish the second one), I did have some quibbles about them. (I've read one of them a second time already.) And I've found that when I talk about quibbles, they seem to overpower the fact that I really did enjoy the books, and my discussion winds up saying that I didn't. But I did. So, this time, since I want to talk about the quibbles, I'm not going to name the books. You might be able to figure out what they are, but I'm not going to mention the titles. Because, really. I liked the books. I enjoyed reading them.

So, here are my quibbles. The book I read first is book 7 or 8 (I haven't counted) in an ongoing fantasy series. It is one of my favorite series, I own all the books, and have them in hardback. As said, I liked this book--but it's not one of the better ones in the series.

A lot of writers talk about how--now that they are writers, it's hard for them to read a book as a reader. I don't generally have that problem, and I think it's at least partly because I read so fast. (See above, read both these books in one day.) My process, I read the book, then I have to think about it, and decide why it pushed whichever buttons it pushed. Why it grabbed me by the throat, or felt more like an intellectual exercise (though I can usually figure that one out while it's happening). So after I finished this book, I thought about why it seemed to be a "second tier" book (as compared to the top-tier books in the series).

I think it's because the whole book felt like a transition. You know those scenes in books that are put in to indicate what's happening while time passes? There were a pazillion characters in the book, but most of them didn't really seem to have a purpose, not one that linked to this book. They kinda had a purpose to the whole overall series, but it wasn't clear why they were in this one. There was an overarching plot--a mystery that had to be solved. But the mystery didn't seem to link to the story arc of the series. It was just a mystery stuck in to give the book a sort of plot.

Now we may learn later that the mystery does link to the series story, but right now, it's pretty much a subplot to the series--except that subplots are supposed to drive and link to the main plot. (See, the writer in me comes out when I think about the stories, after I've read them.) I kept waiting for the link, and it never came. And the things that did link to the series plot didn't resolve, which was annoying. Like I said--the whole book felt like "Okay, meanwhile, back at the ranch, these people are doing this, these people are doing that, and remember this guy? Well he's still around, and he's doing this other thing. And we're all waiting for the other shoe to fall." And that's what a transition is.

The other book I read is part of a universe, but it's not part of a series. It begins a mini-series within the universe, I think, (it's a science fiction novel--I will give you that much), but it's not like "book 8 about these people with this plot." It's not quite a stand-alone, but it's not really a book inside a series. My quibble about this book didn't have anything to do with the plot or threads left dangling or story not connecting. It had to do with the conflict.

Writer/story people know immediately what I mean when I say conflict. Reader-type people may not. Conflict is the stuff that creates the actual story. A story is about characters--people--who have trouble and problems, and the story, the plotline, is what they do about those problems.

You can have quiet conflicts--like spouses struggling with their marriage--or you can have big, noisy conflicts--like bad guys trying to do you in. Even those noisy conflicts can be various levels of violence/noisiness. The bad guys might just try to drug you into compliance, or they might want to blow you up. Still, I think that storytellers need to push that conflict--that trouble, whatever kind it is--just as hard as they can push it. And this story didn't. The conflict felt softened. Eased up on.

Even before I was published, I was telling my friends in my writers' critique group to grab hold of the readers' emotions and twist as hard as they could. (I even made wringing gestures with my hands.) I like conflict that goes all the way out there, that hurts and scares and makes me angry.

In this book, several times the author walked right up to the edge of the conflict, the really Bad trouble--and "headed it off at the pass." It was kind of "Oh look, this awful thing might have happened to you--but these people rescued you and so it won't happen now." I wondered if they might have done it because the main character in this book is a child (a teen), and maybe they did--but they've pushed the conflict closer to the edge with other young characters. And the book is not marketed as a YA, and YA books have Really Awful things happen to their characters.

In one of my very favorite books, The Queen of Attolia, the author, Megan Whalen Turner, lets the main character get his Hand Cut OFF!! (The story opens that way, so it's not a spoiler.) And it is Marketed as a YA book. (Apparently a new book in this universe will be out soon. Can't wait!)

So, I don't know why the author eased up on the conflict. I still liked the book, but I didn't like that easing off, that softening up. I want to see the protagonists really have to fight to achieve their goals, and when the author lets them off easy like that, I miss the emotional impact that struggle will give.

And what have I learned from reading these books? 1. If I ever do write a series with continuing characters and an overarching series story line, I will make sure the individual book plots support that overarching series plot. 2. Also, I will not have so freakin' many characters. I have written books with as many as nine (9!) POV characters. Nine is not too many, but it's pretty much my upper limit. (Yes, this story had More than that.) 3. I will not soften, or hold back the conflict. I will not "be nice" to my characters. I will put their hearts in the wringer and twist until they weep, or scream, or whatever is in their character to do. And only then will I let up and let them win. (Hmm. Did I do that in the last book? Will have to go back & make sure.)

So there. Have you learned anything from a book lately? What was it? (It doesn't have to be about writing. It can be anything. Like--I learned from Steve Harvey's Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man that women have power and they give up way too much of it. But that's a blog post for another day.)

Share!

Writing contests--the good, the not-so-good & the truth

I've seen a number of articles and blogs about writing contests for the unpublished lately, whether they're worth entering, and just how much they are worth. On the whole, I'm in favor of them, if you know why you're entering and what you hope to get out of it.

I actually personally know of only one all-genre writing contest sponsored by a non-profit writing organization. I'm sure there are more, but the Frontiers in Writing contest, sponsored by Panhandle Professional Writers is a pretty good one. (I'd have linked directly to their 2010 contest info, because it ought to be starting pretty soon, but the website hasn't been updated just yet.) There are other contests, of course, but some of them look to me like they're sponsored by business ventures solely to make money off hungry authors.

Of course, the non-profit groups use the contests to make money to support their organization--but that's not their sole purpose. The Romance Writers of America sponsor the Golden Heart contest to give unpublished authors a chance to shine. The RWA chapters have contests for the same reason, and to give the entering authors some feedback on their manuscripts. The finalists and the winners in these contests also have a chance to get their pages in front of editors and agents in the business. That's the main reason some writers enter.

And contest finals and wins are good credentials to put in a query letter. Some contests are better than others, but if you start finaling in contests, especially if you make the finals in more than one, the "people who count" (aka those who are in a position to get you published) are going to start taking notice.

Yes, there are judges out there who will tell you that the whole premise of your book is faulty because they don't believe in terminal cancer, because prayer will heal you, or that your English heroine needs a reason to move to Ireland--when you thought marrying an Irishman was reason enough... But think about it a minute. This is actually a good thing. It gives you an opportunity to grow a thicker skin. A chance to learn to deal with rejections--even if the rejections may not be "fair." And with any luck you will also have those judges who will encourage you to look deeper at your story, dig deeper into your characters' psyches and then put it on the page.

Then there is the truth. Winning a contest will not get you published. Not even if it is the big Mama contest, RWA's Golden Heart. Yes, many of the winners thank the editors who just bought their book, but there are also many finalists and winners who still haven't sold a book.

There is also this truth. NOT Winning A Contest Will NOT PREVENT You From Getting Published. I Never won any contest for unpublished authors. I finaled a number of times in some good contests, but never, ever came in higher than 2nd place. And I Never, Ever Finaled in the Golden Heart. Ever.

But I have been a RITA finalist. For those who may not know, the RITA is RWA's big Mama contest to recognize the best in published romance fiction. In 2002, I was a finalist for Best First Book with my little Silhouette Desire romance.

And every single book I have had published since (so far, knock on wood) has either finaled, or won a contest. I won the Aspen Gold for best series romance with my second Desire, and my One Rose books--The Compass Rose came in second for the Prism Award, behind The Smoke Thief by Shana Abe, for Best Fantasy in 2006, The Barbed Rose won the Prism in 2007, and The Eternal Rose won it in 2008. (I did not enter any of the Rose books in the RITA.)

New Blood has been entered in several of contests. We'll see how it does. (Wish me luck--or a broken leg, whichever is appropriate.)

The thing is--contests can be helpful, both before and after publication. Just don't start believing that contests, in themselves, will can either get you published, or keep you from it. Only the writing can do that.

So keep writing!!

Vampires, Werewolves & Moons, Oh my!

I have noticed a lot of clamor floating around the Internets about vampires, and how many people wish they would go away. "No more vampire books!" they cry. "Vampire movies--HATE!" and more things along that line.

There are also a lot of hilarious reviews of the Twilight saga movie New Moon. I love these review/recaps. They are SO true. I thought there was too much standing around looking angsty (though they might have been constipated--hard to tell.)

And yet...I enjoyed the movie. Really. (All the shirtless werewolf dudes helped a lot. Hey--past 50 does not mean dead. My eyes work just fine with the glasses.)

And I do understand how so many teen/tween girls (and their moms) can love the books and the movies.

Confession time. I am not myself a big fan of vampire stories. I read Interview With the Vampire way back when it came out--didn't read any of the stories that came after. Most vampire stories I can take or leave. I do read a few vampire series, but only a few--most of which have a different mythology for their vampires: they're different species (J.R. Ward's Black Dagger Brotherhood), or they're humans who caught a virus (Lynn Viehl's Darkyn books). I also am addicted to Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake books (they are my crack!)(I like Hamilton's Meredith Gentry books a little better--but it really doesn't matter. Crack, I tell you, they are crack). Do not tell me how bad they are, and how bad they are for me. I do not care. I like them. And because I have this addiction, I Understand.

And to all those who wish to see no more vampire books, and no more sparkly vampire stories or movies or anything vampire (unless it's related to blood & gore & violence), I say SHUT UP. You do not get to pick. You do not get to dictate to people what we should or should not read, watch or enjoy.

As long as people are buying and reading sexy/sparkly/emo vampires, publishers will keep publishing the books. As long as people are going to movies about sparkly/sexy/emo vampires, (and Hoo-boy! Are they!) Hollywood will keep making movies like that, trying to repeat the phenomenon.

And yeah, we do get a glut of them, and some of them aren't as good as others. Some might be downright bad. In the Opinion of Some. But people are still buying them. When they get tired of them, they will stop buying them, and that will be okay too.

People (even pre-teen/tween people) are allowed to like what they like and read what they want to read.

I don't like bloody, ultra-violent books where people get both hands cut off with a hacksaw. (Ick.) But I don't go around saying "Publishers should stop publishing horror novels!" You can like what you like. You can even say that you don't like vampire books. (Though I've found that most of those who say they don't like vampires like them just fine when they're bloody and violent and horrible, they just don't like the sexy-sparkly ones.)

Just let me like what I like too, and don't try to tell me what I Should like. I don't care. I'm going to make up my own mind, thank you.

(Disclaimer: I resisted reading any of the Twilight books for a very long time, until after the fourth one came out. (They're vampires. I'm not a fan of vampires.) I did not even know they existed, until my 27-year-old son, who read them and loved them, insisted I read them, and gave me his copy of Twilight. I did enjoy it. But haven't got round to reading any more. I also liked Meyers' The Host. And I liked the movies.)

Pre-Thanksgiving Baking Frenzy

We're going to visit family for the holidays. My older son, the buttermilk pie lover, thinks it can't be Thanksgiving if he doesn't get buttermilk pie. The recipe makes two, so there are two pies in the freezer waiting to be packed. The younger son's girlfriend requested pecan pie, which also happens to be my favorite, so I baked a pecan pie yesterday. I buy ready-made pie crusts, because --well, you know why. And there are 2 pie crusts in each package. I made 3 pies. I had a pie crust left over. So I made another pie. The fudge pie is baking as I type.

Also, since the buttermilk pie recipe didn't use up all the buttermilk I bought, I baked a recipe of my no-flour cornbread so we could have some for dressing, or whatever. (We may need to take a separate pan of gluten-free dressing for those who can't eat white bread.) My cornbread recipe calls for buttermilk. I didn't have quite enough, so I also soured a cup of regular milk to go in it.

Let's see--I had all these pies, and I was saving them to eat at Thanksgiving, or while we were visiting relatives, but I wanted something sweet, so I mixed up a little package mix of chocolate chip cookies. (I took a few to the Brit at the paper, who has something of a sweet tooth.) And then, I really needed to make some dessert for the fella, since he can't eat the pie crusts. (He can eat the fudge & pecan pies, and if I'd thought to sub cornstarch for flour in the buttermilk, he could eat those. But he can't eat the crust--and I know I can sub crumb crusts--but they're not as good with these really sweet pies...) So I made gluten-free brownies from a mix last night. They look and smell pretty good.

And then--Mama gave me her bread machine. It was just taking up room in their laundry room. She hasn't used it in two years (maybe more), and I know she won't think about using it again. So I said thankyouverymuch, and brought it home with me. And it is now baking a loaf of gluten-free bread.

When I plugged it in, all the lights started blinking at once. So I started punching buttons. After a while, those lights stopped blinking, and another set of lights came on. I kept punching buttons. I hit stop, start, menu, timer--sometimes I got a beep, sometimes I didn't. Eventually, I hit some right button, because the timer lit up, and the lights stopped blinking, and only a few lit up, and when I punched a button, it didn't beep at me, and something happened when I hit the button, like the program changed. I think I have all the settings right. I punched the Start button, and it is actually working. The dough got all stirred up. I ought to have a loaf of GF bread in another couple of hours. Cool!

The fella doesn't eat many sandwiches, but he might like to, if he had bread. He does love French toast for breakfast, on the mornings he eats breakfast. We'll take it with us to his folks' because he eats breakfast during the holidays. I'm hoping this works.

The thing is--I really do enjoy baking good things to eat for my family during the holidays. I don't bake much the rest of the time, because my family is nearing an empty nest, and the boy still living at home is the one who would have Halloween candy left over at Easter. Not much for sweets. So when I fix special things for him, they tend to be pot roast with herbs or shrimp enchiladas.

(Oh--and I have a blog post at "My Book, The Movie" about who I would/did cast as the main characters in New Blood. Go read it. It's fun. ;) )

And since I'm in a baking, sharing mood, and everybody on the internet is sharing recipes, it seems like, I'm going to share my easy-peasy not-from-scratch shrimp enchilada recipe, and the famous buttermilk pie recipe (which came from a Southern Living cookbook.)

Easy-peasy shrimp enchiladas

1 pound peeled, cooked shrimp
1 jar Alfredo sauce
1 can chopped green chilis
1 can green chili enchilada sauce
8 oz. grated cheese
12-14 corn tortillas

Mix the cooked shrimp with the Alfredo sauce and chopped green chilis. Spoon sauce with 2 to 4 shrimps in each tortilla, add cheese, and roll up enchilada style in a 13x9 baking pan. When all the tortillas are used/you're out of space in your pan, pour any remaining Alfredo sauce over the top. Pour the can of green chili enchilada sauce over it and top with any remaining cheese. (If that doesn't look like enough cheese, add more!)

Bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes. Till the cheese is melted and everything is heated through.

You can use shrimp frozen raw in a bag (you have to cook it & usually peel it), leftover shrimp from those rings they sell in the grocery store, or leftovers from a shrimp boil. It's all good. (But the fresh leftovers are the best, of course.) I like the Alfredo sauce with cheese, but it's all good. We eat corn tortillas because of gluten issues, but if you really want, you can use flour. (I think corn are better.) I did not specify a type of cheese, because I have used Monterrey Jack cheese, mild Cheddar cheese, and a mix of both. You could probably even use Mozzarella, if you really wanted to. It's all good. I just used what I had. (Jack cheese with peppers would be good, if you want to spice it up more. This is pretty mild.) This is easy to fix, and you can use whatever you have on hand...

If they don't have green enchilada sauce in the stores where you live--I am so sorry you have to live in a place that doesn't know what good eating is, and you can probably find some in a specialty store. I buy the store brand here... Can y'all even get green chilis at all? Not jalapenos. Hatch or New Mexico green chilis. They're not as hot as jalapenos but have lots of flavor.

Okay. Now for

Mary's Buttermilk Pie
which is from The Southern Heritage Cookbook series in the Pies and Pastry book c 1984 by Oxmoor House. I keep a bookmark on the page.

1 cup butter or margarine, melted
3 cups sugar
6 eggs
1/4 cup all purpose flour (can sub 3 Tbsp cornstarch to make it GF)
1 cup buttermilk
2 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
2 unbaked 9-inch pastry shells (GF for those who need it)

Combine butter, sugar, eggs, flour/cornstarch, buttermilk and water in a medium mixing bowl. Mix well. Stir in vanilla and lemon juice. Mix well.
Pour filling evenly into pastry shells. Bake at 350 for 50 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool pies before slicing. Yields two 9-inch pies.

(I usually have to bake them closer to 60 min. to get them done, but that may just be my oven.)

Remember, this makes TWO pies.

It's Been a While

I've been out of town. I blogged about it here.

I guess that's why it doesn't feel like it's been that long since I posted a blog. Because I did. Just not here. Oops. Sorry, y'all.

And when I got home from coping with all of that, I had medical stuff, plus Ian at the newspaper wanted me to work extra last week, so I did. Then I had a thing Saturday, and... well, it was just really, really busy.

So, anyway--I did have some pretty good news today, after weeks of running like a crazy person. Heart's Blood, the book that's coming out right before the new year, was given 4-1/2 stars from RT Book Reviews and named a Top Pick! in Science Fiction & Fantasy.

I'm not sure why it wasn't in the Paranormal Romance section, since it's published by Tor Paranormal Romance, but there were only two Top Picks in SF/F. Less competition. ;) Anyway, I still don't know what the review actually SAYS, but it's a Top Pick, and I'm happy.

Today is the boy's birthday. My baby is getting old. He's 23. (He should graduate next spring? A nasty chemistry course has popped up that he may have to take in summer...) Anyway, we had a card, and a nice dinner (pot roast with herb gravy & Real mashed potatoes with lots of butter), and then a pineapple cheesecake. I'd never made it before, but it was GOOD. Yum. And we watched Star Trek on DVD.

Even in this new version--I like Dr. McCoy and Mr. Scott the best. Karl Urban and Simon Pegg. Rowr.

Seems like there was something else cool I could tell you--Oh! I got the excerpt for Heart's Blood up on my website. Go check it out. :)

Now I think I am going to go dissolve in my bed.

Something to Talk About

That's what I need. A subject for my blog. The weekend was far busier than I wanted it to be. I really wanted a lazy weekend, but the fella wanted to Do Stuff. We went to the Wings Over Houston air show and saw the Blue Angels we missed in San Francisco. We hurried home to be there for trick-or-treaters, and got exactly four kids, in two families--two kids each. Then we went over to friends for drinks and snackies. It was fun, but I was ExHausTed.

The week has flown by. I feel like I've been working all week, but I've only gone in two days. I have to go to the parents' house tomorrow to go with Mom through some doctor stuff, and won't be home again till Monday. Then I have doctor stuff of my own. Ugh. All of which makes the week feel VERY short. Because I haven't Done Anything. At least I don't feel like I have.

The boy introduced me to an online game. (Bad boy!) It does allow for lengthy breaks in which to do one's business.

Also, I was smacked in the head with a new story idea, and since I need to send the chapters I'm revising out for a read, I think I'm going to take part of November to do a me-style NaNoWriMo (I don't sign up, don't log in words, etc. because I don't do them on a computer) and see what I can do with this. Especially since I'm going to be out of pocket for 5 days. I woke up this a.m. with scenes and dialogue floating through my head, so I really think I'm going to have to. For a little while at least. Then maybe it will leave me along. Maybe I can write it episodically.

So. This is a very short post, because I'm having a short week. Or maybe it's a long one. I don't know. I feel rather brain dead. Next week doesn't look to be much better. The Brit at the paper wants me to work 3 days to make up for the other person being out half a day--but I have this doctor stuff, and I'm not sure I'm going to feel like it. We will see. I may only want to come in ONE day. Ah well. I'll hang in. Y'all hang too.