Spring colors and fossils

Yesterday I went for a walk and took some pictures of the spring trees and stream.

I love the hazelnut tree, below, with the gold tassle-like flowers. The stream was sparkling, and a wild plum tree bloomed in the hedge.

Then I stopped by the fossil site and found two new fossils. They're the biggest ones I've found there yet, (about 2 inches long) and in good condition. The recent rains must have washed them out of the sand. For those interested in fossils, here are the two shells I found. They're from the Eocene epoch / Lutecian stage (about 48 million yeas ago). I'm kind of nuts about old things, so this is fascinating to me, lol.

Hemicerithium imperfectum
Cerithium imperfectum

Plejona musicalis
Voluta musicalis

The Sorceress’s Monkey

The Sorceress’s Monkey

She rode on a golden palanquin, an albino monkey crouched upon her shoulder.
Four men carried the palanquin. Easily, they held it over their heads, out of the way of the multitude.
The multitude gave way. “The sorceress,” they whispered. It was an anxious whisper. She was evil, but no one could kill her. They knew she took people, but no one ever saw her snatch them. The ones who vanished had no families to report them missing; just abandoned wares swept up with the garbage the next day.
The monkey scanned the crowd, lips pulled back from sharp teeth. “I see,” he chattered.
“So do I. The girl with the black shawl?”
“Yes! I saw her first!”
“Perhaps.” The sorceress moved her hands and spoke soft words into the air. The palanquin didn’t stop, but a farmer nearby raised his head, his attention suddenly fixed on the young woman. He went to her stand.
“Can I help you sir?” The woman’s eyes were sad. She wore a mourning cloak.
“I’d like a scarf for my daughter,” said the man. He spoke slowly, the words coming from far away.
“Your daughter.” Her voice was a sigh. “Choose. All I have is here.”
He picked a green scarf and pressed a coin into her hand. As he did, her eyes grew dim. “Follow me,” he said.
“Yes.” The girl’s mouth moved, and her feet, but she slept even as she followed the man out the marketplace along the dusty road leading to the sorceress’s palace.
“They come!” chattered the monkey.
“Hush! Welcome,” said the sorceress, as the girl crossed the threshold.
The girl saw the monkey, and she woke, screaming. She reached for her dagger and flung it at the monkey. The monkey died, writhing in its own blood. The sorceress uttered a cry, then sank to the floor, dead.
“Why did you kill the monkey?” the man asked, when the spell left him and he could speak.
“One bit my daughter last year, and she died of it.”
Behind them, the palace turned to ashes and blew away.

Sardine Salad

Sardine salad:

Can of sardines (If possible, not in oil! If canned sardines in oil is all you can find, drain them well before use.)
Lemon juice
Rockette salad (arugula)
Balsamic vinegar
Parmesan shavings
Salt & pepper

Put the rockette on a plate and sprinkle with balsamic vinegar and salt. Place sardine filets on the salad and squeeze lemon juice over them. Add the parmesan cheese shavings.
Eat with a slice of whole wheat toast. It's delicious!

Sardines are great with bitter herbs such as rockette, and you can put sun-dried tomatos on the salad for extra 'yum'. I didn't have parmesan cheese today, so I substituted with cantal.

I just looked up arugula, and here's what I found:
"Rocket (arugula) has been grown as a vegetable in the Mediterranean area since Roman times, and was considered an aphrodisiac."

I just love arugula, lol.

New Blog Design!

I have a new blog design thanks to the very talented Daisy Mae - step up and take a bow! It looks wonderful, thank you!

She also designed a header to match for my website, so please go look (www.samanthawinston.com) It is too fun - I love the look - very Newspaper 1930's, Clark Kent mild mannered reporter and all that!

I think my book 'Merlin's Song' is due out today at Ellora's cave - I'll post an announcement tomorrow if it is. I have to say I LOVE this book - it's Hot, it's Fun, it's gor Great characters. I dare anyone not to fall in love with Merlin, and I think Kyla is one of my most interesting heroines after Gladys Hawke (My favorite - is it possible to have a favorite heroine?)
I think (because I'm rambling here) that my three favorite heroines are:
Gladys Hawke
Ashley
Kyla
And my three favorite heros are:
Iskander
Merlin
Tagor the Pirate
But it's so hard to choose because they're all my babies! (wail!)
Authors, do you have favorite characters?
Readers, are there characters you just can't bear to say goodbye to?
Does everyone think Gladys desreves to be number one?
:-)


PS:
I just looked and it's THERE!!!
MERLIN'S SONG is at Ellora's Cave!!!
Here is the LINK!!
I made lots of Links.
Go check it out!
Buy a copy!
Let me know if you fell in love with Merlin and thought Kyla was a great Heroine!!
And Thank you!!!!

Fast Train!

Seeley, I fixed the monster!

I had a business lunch today, and when I got there, everyone was watching the TGV as it tried to break the speed record. I guess it did - going 357mph (574.8km) on the Paris-Strasbourg high speed line. Well, I was amazed. The train looked like a missile, and I thought 'No Way am I going to ride in that thing,' lol.

After the train finished it's run, we talked about the CD covers I'm doing. The group is going to Hachette on Friday to present the project, and they need a mock-up to take with them. I did a few to give them some ideas:

Now I have to do a finished project with front and back, and put the logo on and such.

Well - back to work! (It's not work for me, it's fun! Isn't it nice when you love your job?)

Another Internet Scam

I'm used to the pleas from zillionaire African lawyers who are desperate to move zillions from their defunct client's bank accounts into mine (for a small fee...) and e-mails from my bank asking me to quickly log into my account and redo all my bank information because they lost it, or PayPal jinxes that want me to remind them of my credit card number...
But today I got a new one - an e-mail from e-bay asking me to log in in order to access a message from a seller. The thing is, I just bought something for my aunt, so I clicked on the letter without deleting it. But I didn't click on the link to log on. There were too many warning bells. For one thing, it didn't list the name of the seller -it just gave an ID number. (and I don't memorize those) Then there was the URL - it didn't look legit. I decided to log on and see where it went. It went to a log-in page that mimicked the e-bay site perfectly, and there were real links to e-bay on the page - but the log in and password page was bogus. I didn't log in there, but went to e-bay from my favorites pages, logged in, and checked my messages. Nothing. No message from the seller in Belgium, nothing. It was a scam to get my e-bay log in name and password.
I was pissed, thinking of the hundreds of people who would get scammed, and would find their accounts high-jacked by the scammers. Scammers really Peeve me.
Anyway - this was just a note to let you know there it's better to be safe than sorry. Don't log in anywhere from an e-mail. Don't click on embedded links from e-mails. Don't ever give your banking information out to anyone online or over the phone.

This, by the way, drives the people in the phone company 'Neuf Telecom' over here nuts. They called me in order to propose a new phone contract (they're a company in competition with France Telecom.) That's fine by me, I'm all for competition driving prices down. So I told the person on the line I'd love to see the info, to send it to me e-mail or by post, and I'd look it all over and compare. Well, that wasn't good enough for him - he thought maybe I didn't trust him and passed me to his 'superior'. She gave me the same spiel. I told her I was interested in her offer, but I had to look it over. I wasn't deciding anything on the phone. She then demanded my bank coordinates so she could make sure I didn't have a bad credit record. I told her I'd give her my bank coordinants if I accepted the offer, not before. She said she couldn't make the offer without verifying my account. I told her that I would never give out that information by phone. We argued for ten minutes, then, exasperated, she hung up on me.
I didn't accept their offer. LOL.

I just got another message from some lawyer in London this time. His clients died in a horrendous car accident and left over 42 million dollars in his bank account. The money is dirty, I suppose, because he has to get rid of it, quick. He wants to split it with me 40% - 60%. Aren't I lucky?

Time Flies!

Time flies - when you're busy!
Of course, when all you have to do is housework, suddenly time seems to stop and there are Hours and Hours in front of you. Waiting.

Let's see - took my daughter to the orthodentist and she's going to be fitted for braces in April. According to the x-rays we took, she has no wisdom teeth at all! How bizarre! The dentist said it was rare, but it happened. My son says it's mankind mutating - we don't need our wisdom teeth so they are getting phased out. Looking at most of what's happening now in the world (and who's leading us) I beg to differ.
My daughter was happy because this means no operation to remove the teeth.

I played some golf today (I know - hard life) but the weather is NOT going to hold, and it was positively Balmy and Gorgeous out, so hubby and I went to the driving range and whacked golf balls. I will suffer for this - I was at the gym this morning, lifted weights, and my arms are sore.

I did get my edits done for Merlin's Song (last edits after the proofreader - yay!) Got the blurb written, found an excerpt...It's all set to go!
I am adding about 5k to a novella I just submitted to a brand new publisher, so that's kind of exciting. It was accepted, and it's going to edits next week already, so I have to build the story up some more.

I am waiting for tomorrow to do the housework - the temperature is supposed to drop ten degrees C°, and it's going to rain for the next week or so. Argh - UGH! Here's where I go to check my weather:
www.meteofrance.com
I am a bit of a nerd with the weather station. I check the weather every day - and it's not like I can't look out the window, but I have to be able to plan ahead. I have to prepare myself. You have to understand I grew up in the tropics, and so weather was never an issue. It was hot, or hot and raining.
If you put the cursor on the map, you can find 'Région Ile-de-France' which is the area I live in. If you click on that, it will pop up and you can then click on 'Departement Yvelines' and see the department I live on. Then if you move the cursor around, you can find Houdan and Mantes La Jolie, and you will know I live somewhere in between the two towns.
I also spend lots of time on the NOA site, looking at satelite pictures. I love Google Earth, and can procrastinate for Hours with that thing.
So what's your favorite procrastination?

Getting organized in three easy steps

Three easy steps? If that was true, I'd love it, lol.

I am looking at my desk. It has this on it:

There are books, coffee mugs, photos, pens, CD's, a speaker, two telephones (that don't work) my address book (that purple book beneath the NY Yankees CD holder) 'Guns, Germs, and Steel' by Jared Diamond (I'm almost done with it) a pack of tarot cards, 'Going out in Style' by Chloe Green, (great fun!) my son's schedule for the university, a note from my daughter's teacher (about the German book she's translating) and various and sundry things. Just stuff. I have to organize my desk.

I also have to do a second draft of a first draft I sent off last week. (It was accepted but I have to do the second draft before it can go to editing.) I have another English student! So I have two on Tuesday, three on Wednesday, and two on Friday.

Here is how I keep organized - my calendar (Rugbyman Calendar) and my weekly schedule.

I have two other calendars in the kitchen, and one in my bedroom, (but not as nice as this one).

Calendars are what keeps me organized. What about you?

Agent Hunting

Walk softly and carry a big query...


So here I am, hunting the elusive agent again. Shy creatures, they must be approached with care as the sound of a cliché will send them scurrying.

Every hunter knows there are several techniques you can use, and here are the best known:

Stalking. The agent is a herd beast, and during the convention season, will congregate in places known as 'the bar', or can be approached during a 'pitch'. Both bars and pitches have their drawbacks and their advantages. The bar is dimly lit, and you can often move in quite close before the agent realizes he's been stalked. Since there are usually many people around, if you take care with your camoflage, you can fit in with the crowd. Do not carry a large shoulder bag, as this can signal an alarm "Warning, Manuscript!" and will make the agent flee. Instead, carry two drinks and walk slowly, holding one out toward the agent with a non-threatening smile.
The drawback of the bar is that the agent may have been approached by too many hunters, and therefore not completely lucid when you finally get around to cornering him at a table.
A pitch session is the second method used at the conference season, here you can sit facing the agent for almost a minute, and you have a minute to impress him and make him want to repersent you and your book. Use this minute wisely. Do not whip out your index cards, do not stutter madly, don't knock over the agent's glass of water or pull your seven hundred page manuscript out of your shoulder bag and plop it on the table between you. All these methods will make capture impossible. First, send a reassuring message to the agent. Non threatening smile again, then say 'Hello'. Bonus points are awarded for getting the agent's name right and not mispronouncing it. More bonus points are awarded if you introduce yourself without forgetting your name or mispronouncing it.

Antother method for finding an agent is the 'Query' method, often compared to 'fishing for an agent'. This consists of shrinking your seven hundred page novel into one paragraph and then casting it out to a slew of unsuspecting agents. Agents, in their own waters, (offices) are more sure of themselves and have a secret weapon at hand - 'The Form Rejection Letter'. They use this to fend off the agent hunter's queries. Don't be discouraged. A real fisherman does not let a couple missed casts stop his quest. Instead, the fisherman will hone his hook until it cuts like a diamond and will send it out to at least fifty agents. If his bait is not take, the form rejection letter is all the hunter will get.
Sometomes form rejection letters will have a handwritten note tagged on. This, to the agent hunter-fisherman, is like a nibble.
Whatever you do, don't jerk on the line! Calmly, you reassess your options. The handwritten note says, "This wasn't right for me, but I'd like to see something else. Send me your next project." You definitely have a nibble. The worm you sent wasn't to the fish's liking...er, your query didn't quite hook the agent, but you have an opening to resubmit.
First, wait until the other agents have replied. Don't rush another project off while your first one is still at forty nine other agents. One of them might bite. Be patient. An agent fisherman must be willing to wait.
Sitting patiently by the lakeside, the fisherman casts his hook into the water, waiting for the right fish to bite. Sitting at his desk, the writer sends out his query and waits for the agent to become interested.

There are other methods. One agent can probably be bought by giftwrapping George Clooney and presenting him to her, but catching George might prove to be harder than landing an agent. But only one thing really works, and that's a great query and a good hook. (and good writing) So, while I'm dreaming up ways to stalk the elusive agent, I'm working on another book - because a real hunter never gives up.

A caberet, 2 birthday parties, a busy week!

This week I went to two surprise birthday parties - both were fun, but very different. One was just a dinner in a fabulous restaurant, and one was a huge bash organized by my friend Andrea for her husband. When Andrea organizes, she makes Martha Stewart look like a slob. The party was FUN, with a show, a slide show, music, Italian food, and a red and black theme, that made it look really chic, even though the whole thing was at a warehouse! It didn't look anything like a warehouse when Andrea finished with it - balloons, confetti, and one Very Very surprised husband, lol. (here are two photos of the black and red surprise party - one with the kids (my son making balloons) and one of my hubby and me.

The caberet show was from a friend who called last minute and asked if I wanted to come to a private show at the brand new Bobin'O caberet in Paris. I'd never been to a caberet, so of course I said 'YES!' The caberet has just opened, and this week it is having shows for the press, for the hotel industry, and for the 'Friends of the Bobin'O', - and that's the party we went to. My friend's husband is a sound engineer, and he set up the sound for the show.
It was a lot of fun, a great troop, a nice mix of comedy and dancing, talented actors and dancers, and wonderful scenery and costumes. I wish I'd brought my camera with me, because the caberet was stunning - sparkling new with great decor and like I said, the costumes were amazing. Afterwards everyone mingled - the dancers and actors came to have drinks, and we got home at 3 a.m. after driving through the second snowstorm of the year, lol.

Here's a link to the Bobin'O site - it loads slow, but you get a good idea of the caberet.

Cuddling

It's officially spring, but it's winter. After an incredibly mild winter, we got a small snow storm. (I posted some photos over at 'Sam's Shot')

Today the snow has all melted, and it looks back to normal, but the north wind is still making the air chill, and the dogs are curled up on their bed, next to the heater.

Here is Auguste sleeping with his doggy bone, and Rusty using Auguste as a pillow.

We have a Winner!

Sandy!


Sandy - can you please e-mail me your snail mail address at samantha_winston@ hotmail. com
(no spaces)

Thank you!

The Promised Elf Contest

I said I was going to have an elf contest, and I am!

Today I got my new cover too!

The Fairnight series consists of:

Elf Song

Llewellyn's Song

Merlin's Song

And is at Elloras Cave

So...Here is the prize:

A download copy of Elf Song and a paperback copy of 'Fever Hot Dreams'.

And to win, all you have to do is tell me why YOU deserve this prize!

(Example, "I deserve this prize because my uncle's wife's nephew Seymour, won a gold medal shaped like a pig for eating the most franks at the fair and I want to win something kewl too.".)

I'll draw the winner from all the answers!

Good luck!

Just an image

There are images I love. This one is of my daughter setting the table for lunch. The bread is fresh, the sun coming in the window is cold though - it's winter and there is no warmth to the light. The white table cloth is the brightest part of the picture, and the subject is in shadow.

Today is Wednesday - my crazy day. I have three young children for a morning English lesson. Today the 5 year old was in a bad mood and sulked through the lesson. I think it's because he's having growing pains. He looked tired and cross. All he wanted to do was hold the stuffed sheep I was using for the lesson, so I let him have it, and forgot about trying to teach them 'Old MacDonald', and instead I read a story called 'Max's Chocolate Chicken' - using the vocabulary they knew instead of the real words. One thing I've learned about children - it's best to be flexible, lol.

Afterwards I was a chauffeur for a while - driving children to and fro. And in a couple hours I'm off to Paris with my neighbor (the one who gives me the goose eggs) to get our dogs confirmed. Our dogs are brother and sister, and we have to go to a wire-haired dauchshund judge and get a certificate saying they conform to their breed. (It's part of the buyer's agreement I made with the breeder - if the dog is not confirmed, then the breeder gives me half the price back - which is very fair, I think.) But the judge lives just outside Paris, to the east. (We're to the west, lol.)

I've been trying to work but not concentrating very well. Spring is here, there are flowers - daffodils, forsythia, primroses, & narcissia - blooming everywhere, and as soon as the sun comes streaming in the window, I usually stop everything and go sit outside.

I've created a MySpace page for Calderwood books - I'd be so happy if you "friended" me, lol.

http://www.myspace.com/calderwoodbooks

(There is the link)

I've put two books on the back burner for now, and am busy editing. I have a new book coming out in April (Two, actually, if the paperbook from EC comes out that month - not sure) so I have to think about promoting. A contest? A Fairnight Elf Contest? Hmmm. Sounds good. I'll have to think of a contest and get some prizes.

OK - Tomorrow I'll announce the contest. It will give me time to think of something.

Books I'm reading:

Jennifer Colt's 'The Butcher of Beverly Hills' (Loving it! Funny and lighthearted with tons of action and witty one-liners.)

Suzanne Frank's 'Reflections in the Nile' (Been looking for that book for AGES - it is out of print and I finally found a copy. It is FABULOUS.)

Moon over Montchauvet

I missed the eclipse, but not by much. This photo was taken Saturday night. I'd just gone to pick up my son from the fire station, and when I got out of the car I noticed the full moon. It was swathed in a light mist and hung just behind the church.

My husband saw the eclipse and said it was awesome.

Did anyone else see it?

Goose egg crepes

The best crepes in the world are made with goose eggs. Richer than hen's eggs, they add a wonderful taste and color to the crepe batter that just can't be beat.

So when my neighbor gives me goose egs, I make crepes.

500 grams flour

1 liter milk

2 goose eggs (or 6 regular eggs)

4 tablespoons sugar

4 table spoons vegetable oil

2 teaspoons salt

1/4 cup beer or white wine (I add this to make the batter lighter, but you don't have to. Some people like to add a dash of rum for flavor. My friend Andrea adds grated orange or lemon peel, and that's really yummy too!)

Mix well - let stand about an hour, then heat and oil crepe pans. Have a pan of water boiling with a plate on it and a piece of aluminum foil. (As you make each crepe, put it on the plat and cover with foil - this will keep them hot without drying them.)

My son makes the crepes. I can make the batter, but I can't cook them, for some reason!

Paradise Earth

My sci-fi erotic romance Paradise Earth has a new review!

Frost from 'Two Lips Reviews' says:

"...Paradise Earth collects the three Paradise Earth stories from author Samantha Winston who combines a remarkable gift for futuristic world building with the romantic yet steaming m/m intimacy that provides the foundation and the sizzle in this trilogy. There is sufficient post-apocalyptic background, asteroid collisions, interstellar travel and planet Federation, colonization of other planets, and social issues to satisfy all aficionados of science fiction. Paranormal elements are represented through the various types of shifters, some of whom result from alien-human interbreeding, others from genetic manipulation. The characters of Adam and Evan are drawn in depth, yet the secondary characters also are clearly written. The plots are fast-paced and the themes will linger in the reader's mind for quite some time to come. Caution to reader: the main intimacy theme is m/m."

And in other publishing news, my publisher LOOSE ID has been recognised by RWA - way to go IDDY!!

Using Description

Just a little post for those interested in writing techniques.
I love a good descriptive passage in a book, but they're hard to write. Some are too long and lose the reader's concentration. Some are too short and leave the reader unsatisfied. Some of my favorite writers are character writers who give concise descriptions.
Agatha Christie gave us a pompous, curious, intelligent little detective with a ridiculous mustache and a soft heart. Hercule Poirot is a complete character, his picture springing to mind thanks to details that Ms. Christie was careful to give us in small doses. His shiny shoes, his pursed lips, his flicking dust off his coat all give us the image of someone fastidious.

And some writers use adjectives like paint, making deep, vibrant, and rich passages:

"It was raining when Rahel came back to Ayemenem. Slanting silver ropes slammed into loose earth, plowing it up like gunfire. The old house on the hill wore its steep, gabled roof pulled over its ears like a low hat. The walls, streaked with moss, had grown soft, and bulged a little with dampness that seeped up from the ground. The wild, overgrown garden was full of the whisper and scurry of small lives. In the undergrowth a rat snake rubbed itself against a glistening stone. Hopeful yellow bullfrogs cruised the scummy pond for mates. A drenched mongoose flashed across the leaf-strewn driveway. " (Excerpt from 'The God of Small Things' by Arundhati Roy)

And yet, you can overload on details. Description is hard to get just right. Even now my editor sometimes circles things with a red pen and says, 'unnecessary!' So I cut it out. It's easy to get carried away with description. Often, a few well chosen words can say more than a whole page of description. It's easy to get bogged down. Here is a passage from a book I'm working on. It's a fantasy, and has an enchanted unicorn in it. A young man is trying to catch the unicorn. He's never seen one before.

First, I set the scene:

The first sign of the unicorn glade were tiny, pale green ferns curled like baby fists in the shelter of ledge and root. Snow sifted through the branches, but it didn’t reach the ground. Instead, it turned to small droplets of water. Underfoot, the frozen ground suddenly thawed and became mossy. As Sylvain advanced, he spotted bare branches sprouting green leaves. Soon, overhead, there was a canopy of dappled greenery and sunlight.

Then I show the hero and what he's feeling:

A balmy breeze tickled Sylvain’s nose and his horse arched its neck and whickered. In a patch of sunlight, water sparkled. Something moved, reminding Sylvain of a white curtain blowing suddenly in the breeze on a hot, summer day. He was a small boy again, sitting in his room early in the morning, with no worries, his only thoughts about what he would do that day; pick blackberries, wade in the stream, catch butterflies in his new net. For a second the world seemed to tremble, poised upon the knife-blade of his memories. He glimpsed the quick movement again, but he was too slow to catch it. He heard no sound, but scented a faint whiff of lily of the valley. He dismounted, looping the reins over his arm. The air grew warmer. “Leonie?” he called softly. “Are you there?”

Then I describe what Sylvain sees:

The unicorn stepped out from behind a pine tree. Each step was as light as a falling feather. For a moment Sylvain felt blinded, dazzled, and he could not take in the whole creature at once. Instead he saw her in flashes; a tall, spiraled horn the color of sea-foam, shy eyes that darkened or grew pale as she turned her narrow head, a mane and tail as fine as silk floss, a coat like frosted white velvet, and strong, nervous legs. A unicorn. He hardly dared draw a breath.
“Why are you here?” The words sounded in his mind. Her voice. Leonie’s voice.
The unicorn only stared at him with eyes as deep as the ocean.

Maybe five or six sentences each time. All of it description, but about different things.
The setting, the character's feelings, and the unicorn.

I've been reading chapters from the slush pile this weekend, and one thing that jumps out at me is when the author uses too much description or when description is unnecessary. One went as far as to name the make of the car (in parenthesis) in the middle of a chase scene. If you're writing a tense chase scene, don't break off to tell what kind of car the hero is driving. Or the color. Instead, see the scene from the hero's eyes. Feel it with his whole body. Is the steering wheel vibrating with speed? Is the engine screaming? Does he catch a whiff of burnt rubber as he slams on the brakes, his seatbelt digging into his chest? Probably all of the above. But don't write - 'He stepped on the gas and his car (a light blue 1986 Thunderbird) took off with a roar.'
Don't write, 'Jessica Olander thought that the whole things was just silly. She tossed her silky blond hair out of her eyes and peered at the map with a sea-green gaze.' If you're in the characters POV (point of view) she's not going to think her own hair is silky or her is gaze sea- green. Don't describe the character whose POV you're in. (Unless the character is staring in a mirror, but mostly that device is over-used, or if you do use it, make it intrinsic to the story.) Both mistakes (but not exactly the ones above) were in one of the submissions I read yesterday, and although I thought the idea was terrific, the writing told me that the author needed to work on his craft a little more. Working on description is important. It's a small effort to make, but well worth it.

Bee Afraid.

I've been reading about disappearing bees lately, and it worries me.
I found this online after reading an article in the New York Times.
(part of an interview - to read the rest go here:
http://www.earthfiles.com/news/news.cfm?ID=1214&category=Environment )

WHAT HAPPENS IF ALL THE HONEY BEES DISAPPEAR?

First of all, a third of the food supply in the United States – and actually the world – a third of the food supply is directly related to the honey bee: fruits, vegetables, nuts, just a lot\ of stuff that we eat, that we’re accustomed to have every day, the honey bee is directly responsible for it. And then, there is probably another 30% of what we consume that honey bees are indirectly responsible for. Take the milk we drink. The cows have to have hay. They’ve got to eat clover and alfalfa to produce milk. And if you go back and listen to what (Albert) Einstein told us – he said if the honey bees disappeared off the face of the Earth, within four years, all life would be gone. Even the wildlife depends on plants pollinated by the honey bees for berries and so on. So, it’s not just humans not being able to get apples and carrots. We’re talking about a real big, serious problem!

WHEN YOU TALKED WITH THE PEOPLE IN THE GOVERNMENT AND THEY SAID THE HONEY BEES WERE LIKE A CANARY DOWN IN THE COAL MINE WARNING THAT IF THE BIRD DIED, THEN THE MINERS MIGHT DIE – WHAT DID THE GOVERNMENT PEOPLE SAY THAT THEY THOUGHT MIGHT BE THE PROBLEM?

They really don’t know. That was in the preliminary stages, but that’s the first time in my 40 some years of beekeeping that anybody had ever said that to me. I mean that was something I’d never heard before.

WHAT YOU MEAN IS THAT OUR ENTIRE FOOD SUPPLY, NOT ONLY IN THIS COUNTRY, BUT ALSO IN OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD, COULD BE THREATENED AS THE HONEY BEES AND OTHER BEES ARE THREATENED BY WHATEVER IS KILLING THEM?

Yes, that’s exactly right.

Chasing Auguste

The weather report said rain all day, so at 8:30 am, when the sky was still clear blue, I put the dogs on their leashes and headed out for a long walk. When we got to the fields on the top of the ridge, I took the leashes off and let them run. Rusty, who never much liked running, stayed nearby and snuffled in the hedges and grass. Auguste took off in huge, delighted circles, staying always in sight, but as far away as he could without actually disappearing. We walked through the stone fields, crossed a stream in the bottom of a narrow ravine, and then headed across the big fields towards the back road to the village. We were alone. Auguste runs like a dachshund -with ears flying and butt bouncing because of his ridiculously short legs. He bounced up the path, then startled a meadow lark. Auguste loves to chase birds. It's absurd and futile, but he works himself into a frenzy over birds. The lark darted off to the side and Auguste launched himself off the slightly raised path and into a ploughed field. He landed in the mud and was stuck for a few moments, then managed to thrash over to a field of winter wheat and he was off - away, running with his ears flying and his tail whirling and his barks getting fainter as he headed over the rise.
"Auguste!" I cried, and of course started running across the field after him. "Auguste you silly dog, come back here! Leave the birds alone! You're supposed to hunt badgers! Come back here, you mustached wiener!" As I ran across the field, now sloping down so I was going quite fast, my yellow boots flashing in the morning sun, I vaguely noted we were approaching the dairy farm. I caught up with Auguste, still yelling things about birds, badgers, and wieners, (in French, of course - I would pick today to scream at my dog in French.) and put his leash on. And looked up.
The farmer, his son, and his two grandsons were standing in the doorway staring at me.
I straightened up, tried for a dignified expression, and waved. "Bonjour," I said.
A throat cleared. The two boys huddled to their grand dad, their eyes round. The father's mouth twitched, and he gave a half a nod.
I tromped out of their field, onto the road, and noted that I was covered in mud, Auguste was covered in mud, and Rusty was still about a hundred yards behind us, trotting in her loopy, floppy style, her tail wagging, her mouth open like she was laughing at me.
I waited up for her, put her leash on, and went back home where I hosed myself and the dogs off before going inside. (Why do dogs always wait until they are inside the house before shaking off?)
My husband says not to worry - the villagers already think I'm eccentric. I can just imagine what the dairy farmer and his family think now, after watching me fly down their hill after Auguste, calling him a mustached wiener.

Both Sides Now

I've been busy reading submissions.

Our new publishing company is developing nicely. We finished drawing up the contract and showed it to a few authors who pronounced it "very reasonable". The website is set up and the shopping cart is in order. We've ordered ISBNs for the books, and our editor is already excited about the books already on her list.
I'm looking for proofreaders now. Anyone interested in proofreading and getting not-yet published books for free can contact me.
:-)
It's funny being on the other side of the submissions process.
Usually I'm the one writing the query letters and submitting chapters. Every time I hit the "send" button and see my submission go, my heart flutters, so I know what the authors feel like when they send me their 'babies'.
Luckily I'm not in acquisitions, but I do read the YA submissions and I can read others if I want, although right now I'm in charge of the YA, fantasy, and science fiction part of the submissions.
Here is what I've learned so far:

You can tell a great deal from just the query letter.

You can't tell very much from the synopsis, and the first three pages are usually enough to go on.

I really, really don't like synopsies that don't tell the ending of the book. It's not a blurb, it's a synopsis. I need to have the whole story!

Out of ten queries:
I've requested the first three chapters for 4 out of the 10 queries I've read.
From these, I've requested 2 fulls.
I sent the 2 other 'first three chapters' to our editor to see if she's willing to work with the author. (One maybe, one no.)
I've rejected 4 out of 10 queries after just reading the synopsis and first three pages.
Out of 10 queries, we have 1 definite yes.
1 out of 10.
2 fulls pending.

This is another thing I've learned. You're not as excited about reading when you 'HAVE' to read. That's why finding a great book is such a thrill.
It's not easy to see the diamond in the rough. That's the hard part.
So far I hope I haven't missed any diamonds.

At any rate, being on this side of the submissions process has made me look at agents, editors, and publishers differently. There is simply no way I can be on the internet all day, no way I can intercept mail all day, and no way I can read all the submissions at once. And you don't want me to! You want me to be relaxed, in a good mood, and in a quiet place before I open your query. Otherwise I can't give it the attention it deserves.
The query was sent with a fluttering heart and has hopes pinned to it, so unless the time is right and I HAVE time, I won't read it, even if it means letting it sit in my files for a week while I get other things out of the way. I want to be able to see the diamonds in the rough, as well as those that already sparkle.
I wonder if all agents, publishers, and editors feel like this?

Rainy day news

I woke up to the sound of rain pounding on the roof. Gusts of wind made the shutters rattle. I grabbed a coffee and worked out with Gilad - my personal trainer.

I should add he's on a DVD and he works out on a beach with a steel drum band. A great way to start the day.

My daughter came down and criticised my style. Then my son came down, took one look at my red, sweaty face, and decided that he had work to do up in his room.

Afterward I took a shower, caught up with e-mails and news, and then took the day off. My daughter and I went out to lunch and went to a movie (Charlotte's Web - very sweet) and then we went shopping. Euro-Dif had a 60% off sale - I got flower-power curtains for my kitchen, a striped tablecloth to match, and my daughter got a tee-shirt and a jean skirt. The kitchen is now Kitch, as my daughter says, with the red, orange, pink and blue flowered curtains (daisies, of course!) and the same colored striped catch-all on the counter.

It is still dark and rainy out, and the curtains make the room look brighter.

Another bright spot is Auguste in his head scarf. My daughter put it on him, and I couldn't resist taking his picture!

Have a Great weekend!

What I miss most in winter

I miss summer nights - sitting in the garden with candles lit, talking with my sister and daughter, feeling the warm air growing cooler, and watching the sky turn electric blue.

The word is scrotum.

The word is scrotum. Not balls, not baby-bean bags, not nut bags, not nuts, not even the pope's figs. But according to the fuss about 'The Higher Power of Lucky', an author writing for children should not use such a word. OK, I can sort of see that if it were a rhyming book aimed at tiny tots. "Jack be nimble, Jack leapt over the totem. Jack misjudged its height and Jack banged his scrotum."
But for kids ages 7 and up, I can't imagine where the problem is, unless the children are raised by Puritan Victorians and tend to faint when confronted with words representing body parts or functions, such as thigh and burp. Librarians have been suggesting boycotting the book. Parents have been up in arms. Letters to the editor have been flooding the publisher.
I think that there is a serious disconnect in reality here.
By the age of 4, most children have witnessed at least two hundred and fifty murders on the television, some of which are in cartoon form. They have witnessed rape and drug abuse, alcoholism and prostitution. (And murders. Let's not forget how blasé TV is about portraying someone getting shot.) As a matter of fact, I don't think you can watch television and not see someone get killed.
So, children can watch murder but they can't read the word scrotum?
Where is reality in this?
What is this teaching kids?
It's teaching them that it's perfectly acceptable to take a gun and run rampage in the streets shooting other people. In fact, they will probably become famous and get a million dollar book deal if they don't shoot themselves first. It teaches them that the gangs are cool, and drive by shooting is all right. Murdering another human being does not raise eyebrows.
But it's teaching them that parts of their own bodies are something to be ashamed about. Fifty percent of the world's population has scrotum. Are they all going to be embarrassed about having scrotum but proud to own a gun, which kills other human beings?
Wouldn't it be nice to live in a world where having a gun is something horribly embarrassing and having scrotum was perfectly normal?
Where, on TV, children can watch shows without a single murder, and maybe hear the word scrotum mentioned a few times. Maybe even the words breast, solar plexis, clavicle, malleolus, and scapula while we're at it.

How to make a Splash at book conferences

Having been to many conferences, I have (from experience) seen with (my own eyes) what makes for a big Splash. So if you want to make a Big Splash (from herein known as BS) you should do as these authors have done:

1) Hassle agents in the bathroom about submissions - slide the darn thing right under the door of their stall if they insist on acting coy.

2) Carry a huge (800 page) manuscript around and beg people to read it. Better still if you can carry two of these around - put them in canvas bags and make sure the pages are all numbered correctly.

3) Make sure your clothes for the conference are eye-catching. Sequins, lots of bare skin, feather boas (all authors walk around with feather boas) and a huge hat and/or jewelry will set you apart.

4) Wear a long neckace with clips and put all your cards and bookmarks on it. Pull them off and hand them to Everyone you meet. Make sure your nametag has flashy lights.

5) When you put your cards and bookmarks on the promo tables, make sure to sweep everyone else's promo shit aside. I mean, Really, the nerve of them.

6) Chase after the male models screaming 'I want your BABY!'

7) Don't forget to tell everyone that Your book is the only good one out there - the rest is just trash.

8) Hang out at the bar & drink cosmos until your see triple, and make sure you flirt with everyone. People go to conferences to flirt.

If you do all these things, I promise that people will be talking about your BS for years to come.

A Book Blog

A Book Blog

2 reviewers give their impressions of books they've read in short blurbs. If you ever wanted to find a good book to read, but didn't know where to go to look, check this blog out. Books galore of every genre!

http://www.reviewers-choice.com/Spinoff/book_blog5.htm

A funny little naked guy

I never really noticed him. He was on the side of an ancient building in a nearby village. He's been up on the wall, playing with himself, for about five centuries now.

There are lots of small details that, when you see them, suddenly cast things in a different light. This old house suddenly becomes mysterious. Why did someone put that carving there? Was he an imp? Something like a gargoyle, meant to keep the evil spirits away? The house becomes fixed in time. It's now the house built in the middle ages. The wood came from trees that grew in the fourteenth century. The man that carved that statue would never believe what sights the statue would see, perched up on the wall overlooking the church square.

Just below him is a bar / cafe, where people sit outside on sunny days and sip their coffee and their beer. To his right is the church, and although it hasn't changed much since it was built, the cars parked around it are nothing like the transportation the woodcarver knew. Airplanes fly overhead.

Will he still be there five hundred years from now? And if so, I wonder what he'll see?

Church in the Evening

Have a wonderful St. Valentine's Day!

Worst query letter bloopers

I've written many, many professional letters. Query letters are the hardest. They are hard to compose, and hard to hone, and hard to get just right. (Is there a perfect query letter?)
There may not be a perfect query letter - but we know that there are lots of imperfect ones.
Like the one I wrote stating...
"I'd like to send my novel for possible repersentation..."
Repersentation? I saw that after I hit the 'send' button, of course.
There are worse mistakes. Over at Miss Snark's blog a writer admitted to mispelling his first name. He said he'd carefully gone over the whole letter a hundred times....and mispelled his first name. (Sincerely yours, Boob)
Once I sent off a query and realized I hadn't put the title of the book anywhere, and another time I cheerfully wrote "Thank you for your kid attention."
Another person (again from Miss Snark's blog) wrote as his opening line: "I am sure you are very busty but hope you will..."
Or this one I sent off just recently: "It was perviously published..."
I would have thought spell check would have caught that one. LOL.

Groovy Tuesday

A Few Questions about my WIP, asked by Lolo and answered here:

What am I working on?
The road to Eternity. It's about a third of the way done, and I'm taking a break here and getting my thoughts together. Sometimes, when I run into a bit of a slow-down, I stop and write a quick blurb to get myself back into the story. Or I think about just the moment I'm trying to capture (like right now, with my hero.) A slow down is when I can see where the story has to go, but I'm not exactly sure how to get it there. Something is missing, and I need to find it. One of my characters is from the sixties - grew up on a commune - & is feeling a bit lost suddenly projected into 2001. Things have changed so quickly since then. He stepped from Woodstock, where he was dying from an overdose of heroin, into a troop of demi gods, nymphs, fauns, and humans, led by Zeus on the road to Eternity. Now Zeus is missing and he's in 2001 - and my character's mission is to find Zeus before the makhais (a bunch of low-life demons) find him and kill him.

How do I research my stories?
I'm a Greek Myth buff - I think (honest) I'm pretty knowledgable about them. My dad & mom gave me a huge book on Greek Myths for my birthday when I was 11, and I still have it. I've read the Illiad and the Odysee (do NOT mind my crappy spelling please. Dyslexics 'R US.) And I have the internet at my fingertips. I alos know a lot about the Nordic pantheon, and there are Nordic gods mixed in here too.
What about Woodstock? Well, I'm listening to Judy Blue Eyes performed by Crosby Stills Nash & Young in Woodstock. If you go onto the internet there is the whole program there, hour by hour, day by day, so I don't have the Who singing in the evening, when they actually started around 3 a.m. and continued until after sunrise. I'm writing a fantasy tale, but what's important are the details. I love mixing fact and fiction, walking that fine line between make-believe and reality. (Sometimes I feel like that's where I live, but that's another story, lol.)

What kind of story is this?
Well, it's probably close to an urban fantasy, and it's one of those 'for all ages' books. (I might push it more YA, come to think of it. But then again, I don't actually write FOR any age group - I'd rather write just for me right now. When the book is finished (probably after spring break if I can get enough writing days in) I'll look at it again and see what group of readers I'm aiming at. Right now I think that if you liked Ariel by Steven R. Boyett (and if you haven't read this book say to you, what are you waiting for?) or Kris Reisz's Tripping to Somewhere, you'll probably get a kick out of the one I'm writing. It's a mixture of myth and reality, a roadtrip theme through time and space...

Does it bother me to have books similar to mine?
Well, yes and no. Yes because we all want to be completely original, fresh, and new - and no, because I think it was Homer who said that all plots in literature had already been taken, and the only difference was the dressing. Was it Homer? Wouldn't he have said the toga? Maybe it was Shakespere.

Are you out of the slow-down yet?
Not quite. I'm jotting down ideas. On the pad next to me are:
??
Clio's Memory
A kidnapping
Loki's Choice
???
The question marks are the part I'm trying to work out.
Good thing I have yoga tonight. I will meditate with tying myself into a pretzel.

Wind and Rain

On top of the hill... The Washing Shed...

This past week has been a mixture of storms and sunny moments. Hailstorms, thunderstorms, windstorms and rainstorms washed upon us. In between there were bright spots of watery sunlight and the dogs ran about and splashed in the mud.

One blustery day we took a walk to the top of the hill and along the fields in the back of the village, then we went to the washing shed in the bottom of the valley to rinse the mud off the dogs and our boots. I can't tell you how muddy the house is - I have two mops, one standing by each door, so that when anyone comes in, I can clean up the footprints!

Since the workers are still doing the roof, the road just outside the house and the walkway to our front door is muddy, and the mess of tiles and boards and scafolding is not a pretty sight! You can see why I'd prefer to go on long walks than look out the window and see this all day!

This weekend I also discovered you can never put too much garlic in a dish. I baked chicken breasts with a massive amount of garlic, some soy sauce, some lemon juice, a dash of worsesteshire sauce (can's spell that lol!) , and about 2 cups of chicken bouillon. Had it over Chinese noodles and green beans. The kids & hubby LOVED it. It's now in my recipe book. Remember - LOTS of garlic.

The scaffolding mess outside. I can't wait 'till it's done!

Happy Birthday Julie!

Happy Birthday to my Sister Julie!!

Julie is my little sister, and no matter how old we get, she'll always be fifteen months younger than me. I miss her SO much. We used to be this close (holds up hand with fingers twisted together.) We always shared a room. When I left home, it was like cutting off part of my body and leaving it behind. (Good thing she liked to travel, and she would come visit me in Europe).
She and I are completely different. She's very serious and I can't do serious unless I'm actually crying about something. She's nice - I'm really not nice. She's got a dimple, and I've always been really jealous of that dimple. She went as far as to give her dimple to her son - really it's the cutest dimple you ever saw. She's also the perfect person. As a child, she never got scolded and never got into trouble. I swear - she had this little halo above her head, and everyone saw it. (It's still there, honest. I bet Lee and Nick see it all the time, right?) She never got into trouble or did anything stupid...except this one time. (Big Grin Here.)

It was the last day of school, the day I graduated highschool, she and I went to a bar downtown and got PLASTERED. We honestly never drank. (I always get sick when I drink, and Julie is, well, serious, lol) But that was a Special day. No more School ever for me EVAH. So we hit Sparkys on the waterfront and ordered screwdrivers until we couldn't see straight. And then we had a problem - how to get home. Without our mom knowing just how PLASTERED we were. After discussing it very...seriously, we decided to ask our gym teacher to give us a lift home. (This is NOT something I'd suggest anyone do, because my gym teacher was celebrating the end of the year, and his fiancé had just dumped him, so he had been in the bar drinking for longer than Julie and I & he was really in bad shape.) But, he agreed to drive us home - whereverthehellthat was.
I ended up shifting for him, and since I was PLASTERED we drove home in Second gear all the way - which was probably the safest thing to do.
"Over there!" Julie yelled, when we saw our road. The gym teacher drove the car to the side of the road and let us out. Then he waved goodbye and drove on. Unfortunately he forgot to turn back to the road so he went into a ditch. It wasn't very deep, and the car stalled, so he just waved out the window and passed out. Julie and I started walking back to the house.
About halfway there, I thought I heard a car coming behind us. "Off the road sister!" I yelled, and shoved her into the grass. And I jumped after her. Unfortunately, it was a very small verge over a rather steep cliff, and we fell down it. About ten feet, I'd say. We landed in a heap. We looked up to the road where there were no cars passing. "Thanks a lot, Jenn," she said.
"Watch that last step!" I joked.
We managed to get back up and stagger to the house. Our back stairs were cement. They went straight then zigged to the right.
Just before we headed down, Julie said to me "Watch that last step!" in a really sarcastic voice. Well, I got going down them, missed the step and the zig to the right, and cracked my chin on the wall. Julie says the reason I don't remember the rest is because I was knocked out, just like a boxer who got an uppercut to the chin. I went down like a ton of...Bricks. I still have the scar on my chin.
She got me to bed and the next day we both had the worst headaches. I had to go to work & was in sheer misery all day long, and I haven't gotten Plastered since the day I graduated high school.
Julie was a good influence on me most of the time. She really did try to talk me out of all the idiotic things I did as a teenager. She was my Jimminy Cricket.
And I'm writing this story for her on her birthday! (It's the only one where she does something stupid - honest, the rest of the time she was PERFECT!)
I LOVE YA SIS!!!

Zee Best Creeps in the World!

My brother called crepes 'creeps', and that's how I always think of them. They're fun to eat, easy to make, and kids love them. (So do grown-ups, lol)

I have several crepe recipes - but this one tops them all.

Andrea's Splendiferous Crepe Recipe!

4 Eggs

2 Cups flour

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 whole lemon or orange rind, grated.

2 soup spoons of mazola oil (corn oil or any veggie oil without a strong taste - no peanut or olive oil, for example)

Enough milk to make the batter velvety. (not too thick, like pancake batter, but not watery either.)

Put eggs, vanilla, rind and milk in mixer, then add slowly flour & oil.

Pan has to be HOT!

A spray oil is handy to make crepes.

I can't tell you haw to cook them, because my husband or son does this. I cannot cook a crepe. t's easy - you pour in a bit of batter and swirl it around so that it covers the bottom of the pan. When the batter starts looking dry in the middle, flip it over. Serve with: (one at a time, lol)

Nutella

Strawberry jam

butter and sugar

Maple syrup

Orange marmelade and Grand Marnier

Sliced bananas

Hot chocolate sauce

Cooked apples and Applejack brandy

Cinnamon and sugar

...

And here is the photo of me at the dinner party last week. I had my mouth full of desert, and of course, that's when the camera pops out and someone yells 'Cheese!'

Dinner was rack of lamb with truffle sauce, eggplant soufflées, porcini mushroom and foie gras terrine, and desert was a tiramisu! (recipe follows)

This, according to the great God of the Internet, is Sophia Lauren's very own Tiramisu recipe.

EGGS, 3 separated
SUGAR, 5 tablespoons
MASCARPONE CHEESE, 6 ounces
LADYFINGERS, 1 large package (approximately 36)
ORANGE LIQUEUR, 1 cup
ESPRESSO COFFEE, 1 cup
BITTER CHOCOLATE, 2 ounces, grated
UNSWEETENED COCOA POWDER, 1/2 cup, or 2 ounces grated bittersweet chocolate
Directions
Combine egg yolks and sugar in a medium-sized bowl and beat well.
In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites to stiff peaks.
In a third, larger bowl, combine the egg yolk mixture with the mascarpone, then fold in the egg whites to produce a creamy mixture.
Arrange a tight layer of ladyfingers in a 9-by-12-inch serving dish.
Using a spoon, drizzle about half the liqueur and half the espresso over the ladyfingers.
Cover the ladyfingers with the mascarpone mixture and the grated chocolate, and dust it with a little more than half the cocoa.
Cover the filling with a second layer of ladyfingers and drizzle with the remaining liqueur and espresso.
Place the dish in the refrigerator for at least 12 hours (the Tiramisu can be made 24 hours in advance).
Top with the remaining cocoa before serving.

Bon Apetite!

Rainbows

As I was driving home this evening I saw this beautiful rainbow.

I spent the day in Paris doing marketing research and then I had lunch with 2 American friends. We went to a sushi bar with the little plates going around on a conveyer belt. You sit and grab whatever you fancy. It's quite fun, but it's a good way to eat too much. I never thought I'd be stuffed with sushi, lol.

For tea we had crepes à la Andrea - she gave me the recipe and they are Fabulous. :-) Unfortunately I don't have time to post the recipe right now because I have to go pick up my son at the train station. But I'll post it tomorrow for my 'drool war' with Daisy Dexter Dobbs.

Racism in Publishing

Here is a post from Karen Scott - while reading her blog I discovered something that shocked me - in the US, books are separated by race. Yes, I'm afraid it's ture. Several people said that books in their bookstores (such as Borders) are segregated. Black authors and black characters on something called an AA shelf. Evern romance books are kept apart from 'white' romance books.
I will admit I never noticed this. Mostly because I buy my books from either Amazon or a very small bookstore near my mom's house in NY. I was really shocked when I heard this. My husband was shocked when he heard this. He's French. Does this shock anyone else?
At any rate, here is Karen's post - if anyone can help her out, please do!

Racism In Publishing, How Does It Affect You?

Are you an African American author who’s been published for at least one year? If so Karen Scott wants to hear from you.

She’s conducting a survey based on the racism within the publishing industry, and whether or not it’s as prevalent as some believe. She’s looking for black or African American authors who have been published for at least one year.


She would like to know about your specific experiences within the industry thus far. She wants to know how AA authors feel about the current shelving policies, and niche marketing. She wants to know who you feel is to blame for the problems that you face. She also wants your suggestions on how things can be improved upon.


In all, there are twenty questions in the survey, and all that she asks is that people be as honest as possible. Confidentiality is assured if requested, but for the findings to yield more weight, she would request that she be granted permission to directly quote from the answers given by the authors.


She’s hoping to poll at least 100 AA authors, in an effort to ensure that a fair representation is achieved.


If enough authors agree to partcipate, (and depending on the findings) the results may well be sent to representatives within media and press. No promises that Oprah will hear about it, but all efforts will be made to get the message out.


If there are AA authors out there interested in participating in this poll, please e-mail Karen at hairylemony @ gmail. com (without the spaces) with the subject header ‘Please send me the survey'.


The deadline for the survey to be completed and returned to Karen is March 1st 2007

Calderwood Books

Aspiring writers welcome - established writers too!
Submissions are open!

www.calderwoodbooks.com

Confessions of a murder mystery writer

Day One
I finished the book yesterday. It looked pretty good for having been taken apart and put back together halfway through. I was afraid of holes, you know, holes in the plot.
But everything holds together.
I sent it to my beta reader. She'll probably tear it apart again. This is normal. She's a tough dame with a red pen and eyes like laser beams.
The story is about Rachel Martin, a woman who is a crime scene expert. When the story opens she's working with the F.B.I., with a guy who she's been in love with since she was a kid. She's a mess though. She has no confidence in herself anymore. See, she got married and moved to England, and then she lost her husband and infant son in a car accident. She's devestated. She thinks she could have saved them. After all, she's psychic. So how come she sees things that can help other people, but not herself? She tries to keep her psychic abilities a secret, because she doesn't believe in them. Even after the dreams, and even after finding the lost boy. She still doesn't trust her powers.
Stan Wheeler is her boss, and he has a couple secrets himself. He knows Rachel is special, so he creates a new division for her. She has this incredible talent - she can find lost children. But right after they start working together, a girl disappears. And they find out that she's the third in a series. Every year for three years now, a girl vanishes on the same date, at the same time.
So there's the premise.
Rachel finds out who the kidnapper is, but she has no proof - only her dreams. And she knows that the kidnapper has decided to destroy her completely. She has to find proof before it's too late. Because the people she loves are in danger.
There's a bunch of interesting secondary characters and I did something different for this book. I used the POV's of Rachel and of her partner, Chris Winter. But I didn't use Stan's POV. I have my reasons.
Anyhow, it's at my beta reader, and I sent out one query to one agent so far. We'll see what happens.

Syllogisms

Just as I finished my blog post I must have hit a wrong key, and suddenly I'm looking at the log-in page, and my post (of course) had disappeared.
SO, I go to the kitchen, make a pot of boiling water for tea, and pretend my tea-bag is Blogger (or my keyboard - darn old thing) and I poured the water on the teabag and listened as it screamed.
Well, of course it didn't scream, but I have a wild imagination.
I suppose most writers...all writers...have a wild imagination. It can even be a syllogism.
All creative people have wild imaginations.
Writers are creative people.
Therefore, Writers have wild imaginations.

I was teaching my daughter about syllogisms. It's a reasoning presented in three parts: major, minor, and conclusion. It can be true or false. It was her vocabulary word of the day yesterday.
Syllogism: A kind of logical argument in which one proposition (the conclusion) is inferred from two others (the premises) of a certain form.

Every syllogism is a sequence of three propositions such that the first two imply the third, the conclusion.
Here is an example of a true syllogism:
All men are mortal.
All philosophers are men.
Therefore, all philosophers are mortal.
Easy, right?
Well, what about:

The more Swiss cheese you have, the more holes you have.
The more holes you have, the less Swiss cheese you have.
The more Swiss cheese you have, the less Swiss cheese you have.

This is the syllogism the French love to quote to kids just learning about this logic. It's kind of funny. And has nothing to do with the post I lost or wild imagination. Unless you want to imagine that syllogims have been around for ages. Aristotle is thought to have developed the concept. The word syllogism comes from the Greek words 'sun' and 'talk'. Was this because the ancient Greeks would stand in the marketplace and discuss philosophy? Or does it come from the three phases of the sun: dawn, noon, dusk?
If you want to get a little complicated, Aristotle noted five basic rules governing the validity of categorical syllogisms: The middle term must be distributed at least once (a term is said to be distributed when it refers to all members of the denoted class, as in all x are y and no x is y); a term distributed in the conclusion must be distributed in the premise in which it occurs; two negative premises imply no valid conclusion; if one premise is negative, then the conclusion must be negative; and two affirmatives imply an affirmative. Phew!

I have come across blog posts said to be written by dogs. From this I can create a syllogism:

All blog posters are people. (major premise - I think we can all agree here...)
Some blogs are posted by dogs. (minor premise. Haven't you ever come across a blog written by a dog?)
Therefore, some dogs are people. (Logical conclusion, right?)
LOL.
If you want to have some more brain twisters, go here to read about the paradox of the heap of sand. It's quite interesting.

confessions of a chocoholic

OK, I confess. I'm addicted to chocolate.
I went shopping to buy a pizza for my son, to take it to the firehouse where he's on duty today. While in the store I walked past the chocolate aisle.

(Important: Don't read any further if, like me, you love chocolate. Or at least put something over your keyboard so you don't ruin it with drool...)

I usually avoid the chocolate section in my store, but today, a woman was blocking the aisle and I had to use the next one over, and before I knew it, I was in front of a whole shelf of chocolate. My eyes immediately found the familiar red and gold package from Cote d'Or, my favorite brand. And, oh no; they had the one I love...Milk chocolate with toasted pecans caramalized with with sea-salted butter.
My hand reached of its own accord, and then I saw the white chocolate with the whole hazelnuts, and then a dark chocolate bar with wild cherry caught my eye. I hesitated. White chocolate with hazelnuts and nougatine? Milk chocolate with caramelized pecans and a touch of sea-salt? Dark chocolate with wild cherry bits? There was also the classic dark chocolate and marmelade orange peel, or the...no, no! It had to be the milk chocolate and pecan.
I snatched it off the shelf and, before I could swipe more bars into my shopping cart, I dashed to the check-out counter.

Then I went to the firehouse to deliver the pizza to my son.
He saw my shopping bag. "You have some chocolate," he said, his eyes shining.
What can I say? I love my son more than chocolate. I smiled bravely and took it out of the bag. "For you," I said.
He gave me a crooked grin and broke it in half. "We can share," he said.
Now that's a nice kid.
And guess what I'm eating right now?
Hmmmmm.
I love chocolate!

How scary can you get?

This, to me, is truly terrifying.

Poor kids.

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God help them.

Breakfast

The kitchen early in the morning.

Mornings around here have always been kind of strange. We never got that 'the whole family sitting around the breakfast table' thing. At first, my husband got up at 5 a.m. and went to work. My sons were next, getting up at 6 and leaving the house by 7 for their bus. At 7 I got up and took care of the baby.

Now the baby is in junior high school, my sons are in college, and my husband doesn't have to get up early any more. So now my son gets up first, then I get up and drive him to the train station for his train to Paris, then I go home and wake up my daughter. By 8 a.m. the housework is done, and I can sit down with a cup of coffee and blog. But at 8:50 I jump up and rush out the door to get to the gym. (Class at 9!) And that's what mornings are like here!

More morning stuff:

My daughter likes to eat a Finnish breakfast. That is: cucumbers, a slice of cheese, and a slice of ham on toast with a mug of hot chocolate. My breakfast is a handful of dates, a slice of cheese, and an orange. My husband likes a yogurt and toast, and my son loves cereal and an apple.

The French are not big breakfast eaters. Mostly they eat leftover baguette, (toasted, with jam) and hot chocolate or coffee. All French tables have a bowl of apples and small oranges called 'clementine's'.

Here's the Finnish breakfast, with the bowl of apples and clementines.

Sunday, Sunday

It's Sunday morning and dawn is nowhere in sight. I got up early to take my son to the fire department where he's on duty today.
I'm dropping my daughter at the pony club in a couple hours. She has to get her horse ready for the show. I'll go and see her this afternoon. Horse shows are completely different beasts than polo games. A polo game lasts an hour, for one thing. A horse show lasts all day too - but when your daughter goes into the ring, you better not blink or you'll miss something. It lasts less than two minutes. Gallop, gallop, jump, jump, jump...and that's it! (Well, there are 12 jumps or so, and maybe I'm exagerating, but I'm used to watching polo, lol.

Well, the weather has gone back to mild here. It must be in the sixties this morning. The air is so mild it felt like spring when I stepped out of the house. And here I was afraid I'd have to scrape my windshield. I've only done it once this year.

I promised I'd finish my mystery book this weekend, so I better stop blogging and get to work. I will be writing and driving around today - but not both at the same time.
:-)

International Holocaust Remembrance Day

Today is the third International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Please spare a thought for the millions of people who were persecuted and killed in the name of their race and religion.
May it never happen again - for anyone.

Afterburn by S.L. VIEL

S.L. Viel, better known as Paperback Writer for blog hoppers, very kindly offered one of her books to me from one of her many contests. I was thrilled - I'm an avid reader, but books are rarely on my budget. I used to review for Midwest Book Reviews and for A Romance Review, which was where I got most of my reading material. But I stopped when I started writing, mostly because I was starting to review friend's books and I realized I'd always be a bit biased.
I don't know S.L. Viel personally, and this is the first book of hers I've read. (And my reviewing skills are more than rusty.) But I'll try to do the book (and author) credit.
But before I write the review, I'd just like to say that 'Afterburn' is not like anything I've read before, so I can't compare it to another book. It's science fiction, set in the far future, and most of the characters are not even humanoid. I love science fiction, but I read mostly techno fiction or space operas, and I can't recall ever reading any book where the main characters were not humans. (Except in books where animals were talking, of course.)
I'm going to be brutally honest - I could not identify with the porpoise-like characters. I enjoyed their story, but I could never get the image of a sleek tuna out of my mind as I read about them. They were fascinating, and I LIKED reading about them. But they were always fish. However, Ms. Viel, perhaps with readers like me in mind, added several human characters who were all very captivating.
Anyway, here is the review:
S.L. Viel's 'Afterburn' is not like anything I've read before. On a world where anything is biologically and scientifically possible, different species meet, interact, and fall in love. Set against the backdrop of peace talks, the story focuses on several interwoven storylines, mostly concentrating on a race of ocean-living, space-faring aquatic creatures, and several earthlings. The conflict comes from political and scientific intrigue, with one of the most interesting monster creations I've ever read about - the mogshrike. Action abounds, with outer space fights, rescue missions, and exploration. The characters are all vivid and fascinating. I took the book everywhere with me once I'd started reading it. I read it mostly in short bursts, because it's written in a series of short, intense chapters. This worked for me - my attention span is not the greatest, and these past few days have been hectic, so it was the perfect book to carry with me (to the hospital, to the pony club, to the theater group conference that usually puts me to sleep - this time I read!) What I didn't like was probably what other readers love - cliff-hanging chapter endings. My son's 'Goose-Bumps' books had them. each chapter ended in a cliff hanger that made you turn the pages. 'Afterburn' has that sort of page-turning appeal. But as there were many different threads, the chapters didn't actually follow the action, so I admit to skimming backwards and frontwards to read in the order I wanted. This is because I'm very linear, and has nothing to do with my enjoyment of the story. I simply picked one thread I wanted to follow, and read it to the end, then grabbed another one. To Ms. Viel's credit, all the threads got wrapped up nicely in the end!
I loved the world building - I love descriptions, so more descriptions would have been welcome. Again, I'm not every reader, so I can see where some readers prefer to get on with the action. (Loads of that here!) I was fascinated by all the different species in the book. In short, I was sorry to see the story end, and will definitely be picking up more of Ms. Viel's work.

Thanks Erin!

The Lumberjack Song is now stuck in my head, and I'm apt to start singing whenever I catch sight of my hat. LOL. Quite funny though. And not as bad as some songs that have been stuck in my head. It's bitter cold here - the ground is covered in a pale sprinkle of frost and the ground is like stone.


I think my geraniums are finally dead. I left them out because of the warm weather, but the temperature dropped suddenly.


(You can tell my life is insanely exciting, lol)


Yesterday I was at the hospital all morning (my daughter had a mole removed - nothing serious - everything is perfect now) and today I am planning on finishing my mystery novel. That is, if I can get some peace and quiet. My husband and son are here today, and it's hard to work with them in the house.


My husband has lots of work to do on the computer for his blurb work for 'Seasons'. Yes, one of his jobs is writing the blurbs about the shows that are on television. He's good with blurbs. How lucky is that? I'm pretty good with blurbs too, actually. When he first started his job, I was the one who taught him how to take the synopsis of the show and make it into an announcer's blurb. I do the same thing with my books, since I usually have to write the blurbs for them. I think I've written blurbs for all but two of my books - My Medallion books.


Sunday my daughter has her last horse show of the winter - she's excited because she's already qualified to be in the finals. She's had two clear rounds out of three. I much prefer a polo game. You can sit and chat and watch it (it lasts almost an hour). With the jumping, if you blink, you miss it!

I think this is a funny picture - it looks like the pony is sort of hanging in the air!

Snow?

Snow?
Well, no snow today. I would have looked perfectly ridiculous with my lumberjack hat so I kept it in the closet.
There was a tiny sprinkle of white on the ground, like powdered sugar on a donut - but not enough to get excited about, and as soon as the sun rose it melted like...snow.
So I didn't go for a huge walk, I did lots of housework instead and wrote 2 chapters on my new book.
I'm stalled on my suspense book. I'll tell you why (maybe you've gone through the same thing?) I just don't know if it's any good! I wrote it all the way up to the last chapter or two - and stopped. I was going to hand it in to my agent, (she asked for it after looking at the proposal I drew up) but when she terminated our contract, I just lost interest in it. Is that normal? I suppose the best thing will be to put it away and not think about it, but the characters are all FURIOUS with me.
Chris's mother is lying in a pool of blood in the kitchen - is she dead? Is she just injured? Who hit her on the head? And Chris is drugged and helpless, lying in a narrow bed with a psycopath staring at him...
Rachel just found out who her father really is, and she's torn between elation and grief. She just discovered Chris's mother, and now she's terrified something has happened to Chris. (She's right...)
Stan is in a meeting with his boss. He doesn't know yet that Rachel has decided not to quit - he thinks he's lost her. And he knows now that the three missing girls will never, ever be found...and it's destroying him. How can he bring closure to their parents?

And I'm just sitting here ignoring my characters' enraged screams and teeth gnashing, writing in my blog, starting a new book, and thinking I must be crazy. Are all authors nuts?

Snow at last!

Okay, I admit, I'm like a little kid when it snows. I wait for it every single winter with foot-tapping impatience and then when it gets here I shiver in front of the radiator and wait until spring comes. LOL
But tomorrow they ('they' you know - 'the ones who know') anyway, THEY say is will snow.
So I've gotten my boots out of the attic, and found my scarf and my Canadian lumberjack hat. I am ready for the snow now. Tomorrow, when it comes, I will put on my boots, my hat, and my scarf and go outside. (And I promise I'll even put on pants, a sweater, and a coat...)
I will go for a walk in the woods with my dogs, and I'll take some pictures to show you all Montchauvet in the snow - which is so much more charming than Montchauvet in the pouring rain and mud, which is what we've had so far this year.
What's really nice is that a lot of the neighbors have left their Christmas decorations up in a vain atempt to add some seasonal cheer to the rotten weather, so with the snow, it will Finally look like Christmas. (On Christmas day we were all walking around in shorts...well, just about.)
Viva la Snow!
(Looking out the window. Nope, no snow yet!!)

Happy Birthday Twins!

Today is my twins BIRTHDAY! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TWINS!!!
I can't believe it was 21 years ago already that you both decided to come into this world three months ahead of schedule!! I think they have learned to be patient now...