WordPlay

…Friday

It’s a Write Horse day!  With food for thought!

This week, Patty is posting through the magic that is WordPress scheduling, while she slips away into more high country for more packing, ponying, and just Being There.  I’ve promised to babysit The Write Horse until she gets back, so help!  Make me look good!

Things are on the go here in the office, with–shall we say–converging realities.  MuseWorld vs RealWorld.  Winner to be determined.

Now, so you will not all be in endless suspense (as I’m sure is the case), I’ll mention that my hay source did this week provide me with pretty green grass hay, and I am once again “rich” in horsekeeping terms.  Hay through to late fall, right there in my barn!

(And, maybe I should also mention–there’s one more day in that FaceBook contest, where signing up for a chance to win means “liking” my FaceBook author page and waving to me in the comments.)

(Also, I should add, I really don’t get that “like” nomenclature.  What are we all, in grade school?  I pretend it says, “Subscribe.”)

I think you will find Patty’s thoughts much more profound…

posted on Friday

I Want it All.

Yes. ALL of it.

The muse expands in all directions, and she likes it that way.

The writing? Who knows where that comes from. Started early, never stopped. EARLY, I mean. I’d finished my first book at twelve years old and then…onward. Ever onward!

The art? I come by that honestly. My grandmother, endlessly class under all circumstances (too bad I didn’t get those genes, eh?) and endlessly artsie, too. My mom, whose handiwork quietly decorates special corners in my home and in my sister’s. And then me, trying for many years to incorporate it into a career, never quite finding my niche. And since I haven’t had the space to work with my oils for way, way too long now, I also miss it terribly…and hope changing that will be part of this recent move.

The web sites? Blue Hound Visions, with its web design and grooming for authors and dog/horse people, among others?

Well. It’s a combination of the two, really. It gives me a chance to stay in touch with the art when otherwise I might lose contact entirely. The tools are much different; the learning process is ongoing.

It allows me to be anal retentive (er, not that I am or anything) about the code, while finding ways to explore the art. There are the ads (boy do I really get to play with ConneryBeagle’s performance ads, which I do as an excuse to show off the BHV palette to that demographic), and there are the various graphics, and there’s putting it all together in a design that highlights the content without breaking browsers or confusing visitors.

Since winter, I’ve had fun with several new sites–complete redesigns, brand new sites–and I’ve got a couple more on the schedule.

The muse is replete.

Hilari Bell's fresh new look

Lesley Diehl's spankin' new site

Keeper of the Kaleer Web!

Show Beagle Quarterly Magazine -- TOTALLY AWESOME

posted on Monday

You don’t know when or just how, but it’s out there.

The Bad Review.

Let’s say that again, shall we? Using the Monster Truck Announcer Voice?

The BAAAAD REVYOOOOO-OO!!!

Sigh.   The one where you simply fail to connect with the reviewer.  Fail, fail, fail.

Not, alas, one of those spewing nasty grams that makes it obvious the reader has an ax to grind. (OMG, this book has people who eat meat/eat vegetables/wear toe jewelry/snort alien beverages through a twisty straw and IT REALLY SUXX!!)

Ahem.

No, one of the ones where the reviewer speaks thoughtfully, but clearly just doesn’t approve.

The one where the reviewer says, “This [insert writing element] came in at such a zero for me that I put the book down.”

Especially when [writing element] happens to be terribly important to you.

So you ponder where you went so wrong for this person, and then you notice…but,  s/he seemed confused about [this specific] and the whole point of [that specific] was the opposite of how s/he took it…

(Can we just stop for a moment to admire how I’m talking about this without talking about it? Go, me!)

Unfortunately, since the review remains thoughtful, that leads to more pondering.  Pretty soon, the brain is in a total spaz attack.  Because hey, it’s tempting to think that alongside those factual misinterpretations, such nuances as [writing element] might well have been overlooked. But then that means the writer part of me certainly failed to connect with the reader well enough for any of it to be seen.  My prose, yeye’s eyes…not sympatico.  Or no!  Maybe the whole thing JUST REALLY SUXX!

BUT

*insert foot stomp*

I want everyone to love me!

(Let’s not use the Monster Truck Announcer Voice for that one. That’s just creepy.)

Anyway. There’s nothing else for it.

Ego.

Mush.

You don’t know when or just how…and then suddenly it’s now.

Actually, that had better rhythm in my head than it does on paper. Oh well. Can we pretend I’m clever?

Truth is, all my clever is being sucked up right now by other things. For it is proposal season! Two different series, four different books…the muse is set to Warp 10 (“Cap’n, that’s all she’s got! She’s gonna blow!”)

Unlike some, I don’t talk about my proposals in process–it’s a superstition thing. It’s also a greed thing…the muse likes to keep it all to herself. The more to wallow in, y’know. But it does mean I’m particularly immersed right now. Very absent-minded professor.

Just shy of drooling, however.  Not quite that far gone.

Still, it’s a good time for my current production request–to ponder cover particulars for STORM OF RECKONING, which I think is coming out in December. Maybe. (The author is often the last to know for sure…) And the reason I have to think specially hard about it is that the cover artist who did my beloved RECKONERS cover is already booked.

So to speak. (Don’t hit me!)

That means I’ve got to come up with druthers for a new cover artist. I’ve got some ideas–oh, I do love good cover art!–but want to look around a little more.

So who do you like for cover art these days?

The Wednesday Post
with obligatory cover shot for current release

Well, wrap me up in a neat little bow and call me happy!

On Monday, I mentioned that I’d finished Demon Blade over the weekend–a fact I’m so particularly pleased with because second draft is perfect to work over a move, while first draft…not so much.  And also because I came in under word count, which has been a challenge for me since last year’s illness.

The Monday Post

It’s a different kind of Monday this week…out of kilter, out of pattern, and full speed ahead!

(Okay, that last part…pretty much always that case.)

Coming off a holiday weekend of packing and moving stuff, it turns out that Demon Blade, the WIP,  is…well, it’s  DONE DONEDONE.  It’s time to dive right into second draft, of course–not to mention more packing, and wow,  I’m about to dismantle the stereo, so you know I really mean business!

This week, while I have some web work to tend, most of it is for little old me.  With books out in January and February, I’d darned well better get my act together, oh yes.

So this past weekend, I played with graphics.  It’s the best way I learn, because I’m on my own time–and by golly I’m not afraid to waste it!  And so, with “two-page” ads all the rage these days, I have made me one of those.  See it, over there, to the left?  Is it not so very pretty?  My very first shiny, annoying, two-page ad made by my very own self!

(I swear, the author banner I’m making for this same site will be a nice static little piece.)

Still, isn’t it fun?  Don’t you just get that same little thrill, looking at something you’ve put together from pieces of this and that, and finding the whole of it then sitting before you?

Today I am all about the Fiendish.

*pause to go practice this face in front of the mirror*

Caught in earlier fiendishness, with Beagle looking over my shoulder…

Because the book is rockin’ and rollin’ on toward the BIG FINISH, and that means my muse is turned loose on my characters, and boy have I learned…it’s really best to give her just what she wants.

And what she wants is to explore the best in people, by seeing how they overcome the worst.  I know that’s not why everyone writes, and it’s not why every reads (it’s not always why I read or write, either, but it very often is).  But for this book, this moment…that’s where it’s at.

(Okay, plus the muse thinks the magic bits are really cool.)

What that means exactly for Devin and Natalie in Demon Blade isn’t quite clear yet, because I tend to discover these details as I go along.  I know the bad guy has them in a very difficult spot.  (Mwah ha ha!!)  I know he’s a very, very bad man indeed.  And I know that in order for them to get out of it, they’re going to have to overcome their personal demons…and to accept some unexpected consequences.

But in the meantime, my muse is rubbing her hands together in a rather wicked glee.  And Devin and Natalie are in for indeed, a difficult afternoon.

Did I say Mwah ha ha! yet?

It’s Monday!  And there’s the week, stretching out before.

Because yay, we made it through the weekend!  UHaul rented on Saturday, corral panels, pallets, and agility equipment moved (A-Frame…grunt), and lo!  The corral gate panel moved, too!  (We estimate this puppy at about 200lb of awkward, oscillating steel.)

Duncan Horse is now in a sized-down paddock, giving me a look that says you haven’t slipped this one past me, in case you’re wondering.

No toes broken!  No heads bashed in!  No fingers crushed!  And everyone’s standing up straight today!

Of course, I could sleep for a week…

But no!  This week has SO MUCH left to do!  Packing, packing, PACKING and ooh, a few more Blue Hound Visions chores to finish up before I go offline for the holidays, and hey, did I mention that book I’m trying to finish?  Demon Blade? I think the race to get it done by Christmas has been lost these past couple of days.

Maybe if I hadn’t come home from yesterday’s day-long adventure and drooled through the evening instead of working…but I did.  OR maybe if my muse hadn’t dug in her heels and said, “Excuse me, but I don’t think this transition is working.  I’m willing to go where you want to go, but find a different way to get there.  I’ll wait as long as it takes.”

Okay, I think we’re coming to an agreement on that one.

So it’s now full speed ahead!  The new cookies are frosted, the  boxes are ready to be packed, the office floor plan has been remeasured to the inch for planning purposes, and if the fence goes up as planned so the dogs are safe, we’ll even have our holiday dinner over at the new place as hoped!  Ooh, I’d love for the end of that book to be within sight on Thursday night…

And how’s it for everyone else?  If this is your holiday week, are you working full steam to the end, or are you taking the days to immerse yourself in the spirit of the season?

(first posted at agent Lucienne Diver’s blog)

It always happens this time of year–everyone one does it. The little trade-offs to incorporate the holidays into our busy schedules. The decisions: what doesn’t get done so we can have the fun?

I’m always determined to get those seasonal cards and letters sent. I want at least a small tree! And oh, please, some cookies! A party or two…some thoughtful shopping…the chance to gleefully examine my choices for a new holiday CD…

Did I mention cookies?

And, as it happens, to me, the very best holiday is one in which I have some silence time for writing.

Not that I want it all or anything.

Well, this year I have it ALL, all right.

Because this year, I’m also moving. Not actually on Christmas (my personal seasonal holiday), but all around it. (Because that’s so much better, right?)

So instead of writing cards, I’m packing boxes. But hey, I’m *thinking* about cards…about what I would have said…about all those people who don’t yet have my new address…oops…

Instead of decorating a tree–because, seriously, do I have the faintest idea where those decorations are, anyway?–the weekend before Christmas is scheduled for a big UHaul adventure–all the extra corral panels I can spare from the horse set-up, the agility gear (you really don’t want to know how much an A-Frame weighs), and the various bulky barrels, pallets, hoses, dogloos, etc, that we can fit into the UHaul without…well, without hurting ourselves. Because we are but middle-aged writer and geek people, y’know.

On Christmas, we plan to christen the new home with a dinner event–three of us, family, pretending that the smart way to learn new appliances is to use them on a holiday feast.

Er. Feastlet. Maybe.

And then commences the packing in earnest, and shortly thereafter, while everyone else rings in the new year, we begin the process of tearing down the barn. It looks like this one, but is a little shedrow of two stalls, one of which holds the hay. I had it built when we moved to this state last year (over the holidays, but that’s another story and I know, I know, you’d think we would have learned but it just happened, okay?) and now it will be unbuilt and moved, a week-long process.

Sometime during that process, Duncan the Lipizzan will be shifted from one property to the other, and I’ll be camping in the new place with dogs until the weekend, at which point some fine strong movers with their fine strong muscles will load all remaining items into their truck and deposit them at the new place and we will then stare numbly at the boxes, and maybe giggle a little hysterically.

Are you still waiting for the part about the muse? Well, here it is, and you may laugh: I’m also finishing a book. Demon Blade, the first of a new Nocturne series. It’s been an astonishingly fun book to write, fast and clean, with characters who know what (and who) they want. And yeah, I could be sensible and throw my hands in the air and say, “Well, I’ve got to PACK, don’t I?” Or I could maybe manage seasonal cards, or get some fancier wrapping on those gifts.

But. I am greedy. And my muse is greedy. And we want this book! So I don’t think of it as being Scroogish. I think of it as The Muse Wins.

But really, that’s the way it should be, don’t you think? My muse certainly does, and I have to admit…when push comes to shove, she’s the boss.

PS Happy Holidays, Lucienne. I, um, don’t think I’m getting cards into the mail…

PPS
Oh, and by the way…book on the shelves! But for some reason, I’m not sending out my usual postcards…