Books

Saturday, December 31, 2016

Jolabokaflod!

      First off, I'm certain some of you are wondering what the hell that word above is. It's the name for an Icelandic holiday that I have begun celebrating in recent years. It translates roughly as "Christmas Book Flood" and the idea is that on December 24th you give friends and family a new book and chocolate. You are then supposed to spend the rest of the evening, warm in your bed, with chocolate at your side and begin reading your new book. It is a  huge thing over there... all of their new book releases tend to be released from September to December just to make the most of this holiday. Also, when they buy books, they don't go cheap. Hardcovers are the preferred gift here and I assume they get snazzy about their chocolate too, though don't quote me on the last.

      Now I've changed that a bit in my own gift giving. For instance, I tend to give softcovers or hardcovers, and the books aren't always newly released. I do my best to not give books out that I haven't read, though it does happen on occasion. I do that so that we can chat about the books once they're done reading it... it's a guaranteed conversation starter later that year. I am also not hung up on giving chocolate. I prefer caramel or salty snacks to chocolate, so I tend to try and give people their preferred snacks (as an example, I gave out small bags of Kernels Christmas flavour popcorn this year and everyone seemed super pleased). But everyone I know gets a book and snack to enjoy.

      Unfortunately, Jolabokaflod is over this year already, but I figured I'd share with you the books that I was given as gifts or that I picked up for myself as part of my Yule book buying binge. I stress that these are in no particular order.

      Firstly, I received Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. I've read the Harry Potter books and while they aren't favourites of mine (I was already over 20 years old when they were released), I do quite enjoy the series so I'll be looking forward to reading this one later this year.


      Next is a super fun and nerdy book called Wordsmiths & Warriors: The English-Language Tourist's Guide to Britain by David and Hilary Crystal. This book is exactly what it sounds like. A look at Britain through the very specific lens of the Warriors who fought for Britain and its poets, writers, ect that helped shape its culture. As a language buff who loves weapons, I can't image a better book for me. Really looking forward to this one.

      Next are three books I bought myself. I am a big fan of the Log Horizon anime and I love the light novels they're coming out with to accompany them, so when I found out that Log Horizon had a set, I picked them up. Last year, I picked up books 1-3 and quite enjoyed them, but then I didn't hear anything else about them until this Christmas when I found books 4-6 gracing the shelves. Needless to say, I picked up all three for myself. I already re-read the first book in the series to prepare for the new set!

      Monstress Volume 1 is a graphic novel that I picked up earlier this year in digital form, but had never finished reading it. A friend of mine picked it up for me in paper copy and I finished it within a day. It's well-written, it has interesting characters and the art is really nice. If you're looking for a good graphic novel to read, you can't go wrong with this one. I think I gave it 4/5 stars on Goodreads.

      Lastly, there's another gift, The Fox & the Peach by Nick Thaler. A YA novel about a kitsune who is being hunted during the time of Oda Nobunga's reign in Japan, I started this one just a few days ago and am quite enjoying it so far. I was really excited to start this one since its a book about a kitsune that I hadn't heard of yet! That is always a pick me up!

      I'll leave you with my personal New Year tradition. Every year, I head to the bookstore on the 31rst or the 1st and buy myself one book. That book must fit three critia to be bought. One is that I must enjoy the cover art. Two, I must find the idea of the book interesting. Three, I must have never read anything written by that author before. Basically, it's like a blind date with a book and makes sure every year I am giving at least one new (to me) author a go. Sometimes I find authors who aren't my thing, and sometimes I find new favourites. The point is that I'm always trying something new for the new year.

      Do you have any bookish traditions? What do you think of the books I got? Either way, let me know and I hope you have a great New Year!


Tuesday, December 27, 2016

OMG, Its Been How Long?!

          Sorry guys, I am normally a lot more on the ball about stuff like this. I did not realise that it had been this long.

          In my defence, between Nanowrimo and Christmas end of the year preparations, my life has focused down and down. Not down as in depression or anything, just that I required a hell of a lot of focus this year. Normally I just buy all of my family books for the great Christmas Book Flood. This year, I decided to paint a set of nine pictures for a friend of mine. They turned out gorgeously, a geeky Mario 3 type slot machine effect where I made a fire flower, star, and mushroom. My friend loved it, but it took me hours and hours to finish, especially since I actually had to change colours on the flower about half-way through.

          Okay, so I agree, it's a sucky defence. I still had time to at least do an update for you wonderful folks. In fact, I wrote two that simply got saved to drafts instead of posting (which will teach me to believe that I'll just finish it up later that night). So let's get right into the update.

          Nanowrimo was not the bubbling joy it has been in years past. I still enjoyed myself, but I felt more stressed than I did jubilant. I think a large part of that was the fact that I was still in editing mode. I had sent Hunter to my editor and was waiting on pins and needles to get it back. More on that later, though. I did finish Nanowrimo though I was writing right to the 30th of November to do it, and when I did, I pretty much just stopped. I got 50,281 words (I think, it was right around there anyway). The story was going well, but it felt a bit weird. I figured out half-way through that one of my characters didn't really have a story, yet I was still trying to give her a fourth of the "screen time". So, I changed my format again and just started writing which chapter came next. I fully think that by the time I get back to it, I'll have quite a bit to go over and rewrite on it. Still, I wrote some great stuff and managed to figure out my religions much more concretely.

          The big thing was that I got my readers review back from my editor. She found a lot of points where I could tighten the story, make things better and pointed out a few idiosyncracies in my writing that make it so my words don't hit emotionally as hard as they could. I have lots to work on which wasn't a huge surprise. This is the first manuscript that I've sent out and its still drawing from its roots a bit too much. I was hoping to start working on it during December, but beyond looking at her review, I had to put it down and finish gifts and other stuff for the holidays. So I still have a lot of work to do on it, but I'm hoping to have it done in only a month or so. Then I'll send it back to my editor again, and get her outlook on it. Hopefully, I'll be able to give you a concrete date for release at that point.

          I did have a lovely holiday season, I spent a lot of time with family and friends, had my birthday celebration as well as celebrating the holidays. I got some awesome gifts this year, but as always, it was the people in my life that meant the most.

          Wow, this post has stretched. I think I'll end this update here and start again with my bi-weekly posts. That means you can expect at least one more post this year. We'll chat more then!


Monday, November 7, 2016

My Top Ten Tips for Writing

Oh, I almost forgot! I gave a presentation on my top ten writers tips for ARWA with a few of the other awesome ladies there. The girls at the meeting loved my list (as well as some of my turns of phrase) and I figure my tips can only help you achieve more words during Nanowrimo, especially since week two blues may start setting in this week.

Top Ten Tips for Writing

     1. Read. Watch TV. Go see a movie. Interact with the stories you see being told by critiquing what was done well and what was done poorly in each. By interacting with the stories others have crafted, you’ll learn a lot not only about how to construct a good story as well as what sort of stories are being told right now, but you’ll also learn about your own style of writing.
      
     2. For each new book, figure out when you work best. I’ve had novels that only seemed to flow if I was working on them at 2 am in the afternoon and others where getting to work 45 minutes early (around 6am) could earn me 1500 words a day. Don’t expect to always write at the same time for every novel. Circumstances change; your writing should be flexible enough to change with them.

     3. Similarly, figure out where you write best for each novel. Do you write best at home? At work? Headphones on but no music? In a public place, like a coffee house or restaurant? Each novel will draw on different inspirations. Keeping your muse amused is your best bet for writing without issue.
  
     4. When issues do arrive, take time away from your keyboard. Slamming your head against the keys, forcing it, just makes for bad writing. Try to write past it. If it doesn’t work, call a friend, head for coffee or a walk and let your mind dwell on it for a while.

     5. Also, remember your friends when you’re writing. ‘We’ are smarter, wiser and more intelligent than you will ever be on your own. I can’t even imagine how many times I’ll be 100% stumped and blocked, told my husband about it and had him provide a perfect way out for the characters. Use your friends and family whenever you need help.

     6. Find a writing program you enjoy and use it. If Scrivener helps you write, use it. If Word is your thing, go for it. If you need a typewriter in a dark room, lit by candles, it's still valid. Whatever you use, find out about its ins and outs, tips and tricks, so that you can concentrate on your story when you sit down, not the program or technology you’re using to write it.

       7. Writing is hard. Don’t berate yourself over it. Your choices are half chance. So are everybody else’s(Que Baz Luhrmann’s Wear Sunscreen). Seriously, though, allow yourself to make mistakes. Especially for people who don’t plan every detail of their novels in advance, sometimes a mistake can lead your story not only back on track, but to an even better place than you’d originally thought.

     8. Find a friend to keep you on task. However, a critical component of this is having something that you need to keep them on task for as well. Whether it's writing, chores, or something equally unpleasant. Otherwise, every time your friend turns to you and asks, you’ll feel like it’s a nag and that isn’t fun or motivating.

     9.  Patricia Briggs once said that every writer needs a good 'Mike'. In a specific sense, she means her husband Mike, but in a less specific sense, she’s still entirely right. Her husband edits her work, keeps her on task, takes care of her when she’s writing, and can’t take care of herself. He keeps their web page active, keeps track of their online shipping, and does all the heavy lifting and carrying for her when they travel to conventions and the such for work. Whether your ‘Mike’ is a husband, wife, good friend, or family member, there may be many like it, but that one will be yours.

      10. You can polish shit writing into gold. Trust me, I’ve done written the dullest of turds before. But you can’t edit an empty page. If you are writing and it isn’t working, you have just learned one way, not to write this scene. You have still learned something and you can apply that lesson to all of your future works.

    

Wednesday, November 2, 2016

Busy

          And not just Nanowrimo busy either, though of course there's that as well. In addition to Nanowrimo, I have my novel that I'm trying to finish so that I can send it to my editor, and I applied for a new position at work (during November, I know, I'm a writer, of course, I'm insane). Fortunately, having taken time off means that I was able to keep myself on track the last few days. I have one last person (my husband, actually), fulfilling his Mike-ly duties and helping me to edit my book (please note: He's awesome for doing it and I love the fact that he's really enjoying it) and then I can send it off, probably today or tomorrow. Yesterday, I managed to write 2,811 words, so I should only have to write another 500 or so be on track  for today's total. My novel is awesome and actually began with a great discussion between characters on death rites in each of their religions. It was a great scene that blew me away. As well, I'm continuing with my job as Lady of Best Lines, a task that has me posting a request for people to post their favourite lines in the thread to share with the group to help with our motivation!

I enjoy burning candles while I write. This year I picked up this one. It's gorgeous and smells like warm apple pie.

          I don't have too much else to add to this tonight, so I'll my exit and head off to finish those 500 words. #EitherWayKeepWriting #Nanowrimo

Saturday, October 22, 2016

A Raven's Touch Cover Reveal and Contest!

          I have something special for all of you today! A new cover reveal for the first book in Linda Bloodworth's Raven Wing series, A Raven's Touch. Without further adieu, feast your eyes on the newly updated cover for A Raven's Touch.

A Raven's Touch by Linda Bloodworth

          The cover was created by Amanda Walker. Feel free to ask her questions about her pre-made covers. Linda says she is fantastic to work with, honest, and super friendly. She also offers PA services, so do check her out.

          BLURB:  Bullied through high school, seventeen-year-old Justice St. Michaels is grateful for the help of her best friend Moira O’Fhey. Together they’re just managing to scrape through the nightmare they call high school. Between Justice’s bizarre body changes and being involved in explosive school fights, things are going from bad to worse. Darien Raventhorn arrives on the scene only to add fuel to an already burning question—has Justice been living a lie her whole life? Thrust into an unwanted revenge mission Justice must avenge a family death, embrace her birthright, and slay a demon before all Hell breaks loose.

          BIO: Linda Bloodworth loves chips, like really, ketchup to be exact. Ketchup chips are only found in Canada. Lucky for Linda she lives in Toronto with her husband and three fur babies. In between writing, debating for hours about the Oxford comma, and the misunderstood semi colon, Linda enjoys camping and getting away from the city on day trips.

          Here's the only picture that Linda will allow:
linda-hair

          How do I get my hands on this book!?
          Right here >>> https://books.pronoun.com/a-ravens-touch/


CONTEST TIME!! -  THIS IS A 2 PART CONTEST

HOW TO ENTER:  

          1. Post a screen shot of your confirmation order for A Raven's Touch in the comment section
              on Linda's BLOG: https://lindabloodworth.wordpress.com/2016/10/22/cover-reveal-a-
              ravens-touch-linda-bloodworth-contest It doesn't matter when you've purchased the book                     now or before.

          2. Subscribe to her newsletter: http://eepurl.com/bLecmr. PLEASE MAKE SURE SHE CAN
              IDENTIFY YOU. Your screen shot + sign up name should be the same. You MUST approve               the subscription email you receive.

PRIZE: A $3 Amazon Gift Card!

TIMING: Linda will randomly pick the winner Oct. 23 @ 10 AM ET.

          Thank you so much everyone! Linda can't wait to hear what you have to say. Please leave a review on Amazon or any other retailer. Your review is INCREDIBLY important and helps Linda out as an author. Let the contest begin!

Thursday, October 13, 2016

Do You Want to Read an Update? It Isn't Just an Update...

          Wow, I did not realize that ten days had passed since my last post. I should have, but this cold I caught has driven me to the brink of exhaustion. So, I apologize for that. I'm finally getting better and so I figured I should really get on with my next post. Which is part self-congratulations and part gift from me to you.

          First off, a quick update on my plans from now to the end of the year. My novel has been self-edited and sent to my beta-readers. First responses have been overall positive, with one asking me flat-out when the sequel would be ready. I'm hoping to have full comments from them in the next day or so which will allow me to go through it once more before I send it to a professional editor to go over.

          Yes, I have arranged for time with an editor for Hunter in early November. I don't know how long that process will take overall, but given any chance, I'm hoping to have it out and available for Christmas this year. It will depend on a lot of factors and with this being my first time going through the process, I could be severely underestimating the time needed for it. In any event, as soon as I have news on that front, I'll let you know. I'm hoping to give you as much time as possible to get excited for its release before it comes out!

          I will also be working on a new novel for Nanowrimo, the third book in my Kitsune-Ken series (I wrote the second earlier this year). I'm expecting it to be another 65-75k words, so I'll probably have to finish it in December (though I'll be a Nano-rebel and start it early if I have it ready before November 1rst).

          For those of you planning on doing Nanowrimo with me, I got bored a few months ago and put this together.



          The picture is from Frozen, though I'm uncertain of who originally created this version. If you find out, please let me know so I can attribute it correctly. You can customize it pretty much however you want to match your total, the year or whatever. My idea was to use it as a single sheet to keep you motivated since you update it daily. Really however you decide to use it, just have fun.

Monday, October 3, 2016

THE SITE IS BACK UP!!!

          Yes, it's that time again. As of October 1st, the NaNoWriMo site relaunched with all their new bells and whistles ready to go. For me(and 350,000+ other writers, worldwide), "it's the most wonderful time of the year".

          For those of you who don't know, NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month. Every November(to take advantage of the nearly universally crappy weather), people around the world devote themselves to writing a novel. Some write longer novels, some shorter, some write multiple novels, but they are all held fast by a promise to try to write at least 50,000 words during that month. And that's pretty much the rules. Agree to write 50,000 on a novel/work of fiction during the month of November.

          In general, for new writers, they suggest starting something completely new, rather than working on something you've spent years on. This is for a good reason. If you think about how you have to make this work perfect, you'll never finish it in the timeframe, if ever. With a new novel, you have fewer inhibitions to hold you back.

          Personally speaking, I've been doing NaNoWriMo since 2007, which will make this my 10th year(and 9th win, hopefully) and I have to admit, I can't imagine November without it. I've written completely new novels, I've continued old novels, I've rewritten novels for it, always getting my 50,000 words. The one year I didn't win was my first. I signed up early, forgot about it for half the month and then wrote just over 2,000 words before giving up. I promised myself that I would clear my plate for the next November. I did and wrote 67,306 words.

          I suggest that everyone try it at least once. Even if the only thing you learn is that you don't like writing, it's been useful. If you do end up enjoying it, you'll have found a new hobby, a new facet of yourself that you never knew before.

          If you do sign up, please follow me and let me know on the site! My handle there is Feytouched and I would love to keep track of each of your novels with you!

          As well, if you're in the Calgary Nanowrimo group, the Wrimotaurs(like a minotaur, but with a quill instead of a hammer), you'll be seeing me on the Facebook page every day. My nickname there is now The Lady of Best Lines because I started a new trend of asking people what their favourite lines they wrote that day were. I'll be continuing that again this year! So if you write a perfect line, you have a place to share it. It takes a lot to share any writing let alone a first draft line! But I know every one of you is up to the task!

          Lastly, if you haven't seen yet. NaNoWriMo has a new thing on their site this year! It's a timer so you have a place to time your sprints on. Apparently, it will also have a pop-up so you can add your word count immediately onto the site if you wish. I'm totally looking forward to trying it out.

Thursday, September 29, 2016

Stats!

It has been way too long, but I finally have some stats for you.

The original title for this novel was just "Kuzunoha's Story", which changed just before last Nanowrimo to Kitsune-Ken. Kitsune-Ken, while an awesome name, didn't really apply to just this story, so it became my series name. Just last month, the final name I chose suggested itself... Hunter.

Kitsune-Ken (狐県) is the name of a Japanese game. It's basically a type of rock, paper, scissors game, where your choices are Hunter, Fox, and Village Head, though I always remember it better as Lord. The game is played by making hand symbols, like in rock, paper, scissors, but instead of just one hand, you use both hands. To make the sign for Hunter, you move your hands to mimic holding a rifle. To make the sign for Fox, you put both hands up above your head as if they were a fox's ears. To make the sign for Lord, you sit up straight and lay both hands on your legs. In the game, the hunter beats the fox with his gun, the fox beats the lord by tricking him and the lord beats the hunter by being of a higher social class. Perhaps unsurprisingly, there is also a version of this where players lose an article of clothing each time they lose a round.

Hunter was originally 175 pages long when finished and was 76,224 words long. The current version is only 169 pages and 65,263 words long. The original chapters were much longer; I only had 34 of them (and one was nearly 15 pages). The current version has chapters much closer to each other in length; about 4 pages average and has 41 chapters.

The first 17k were written during Nanowrimo nearly two years ago. However, I admit that what I'd written was essentially trash and it sat around on my hard drive guilting me into doing something with it. At When Words Collide 2015, I started playing with it again and apparently had sudden realized what was supposed to happen. I worked on that first 17,000 words and applied essentially heavy cutting and editing techniques before nano and cut it down to nearly 10 of words that would need to be re-written, but would do as a starting place. During Nanowrimo, I wrote another 68,635. but somewhere between 1,000 and 4,000 of it was notes on characters, places or future storylines that didn't fit within the bounds of this novel.

Kuzunoha is the main character and she has the lion's share of the chapters at 21 out of 41. Richard is the next biggest character in the story with 13 chapters. Skylla has 3 and Jocelin and Himiko both have 2. This means for all of you that want a lot of female viewpoints in your books that about 2/3 of this novel is written from a female viewpoint!

And I think that's where I'll stop. Do you guys have any questions about it?

Friday, September 23, 2016

Well, that's all she wrote...

Well, that's it, that's all she wrote, I'm done.
Except that you're never really done when you're creative. There's always another book to write, another picture to draw, another song to create... there's always something more to do.
I am finished with Hunter, the first book of my Kitsune-Ken series. I've sent it out to beta readers (though really another one or two would be helpful) and I'm waiting for them to get back to me on it. With their aid and suggestions, hopefully I can make it even better. Then its a quick trip to a professional editor, while I work on covers and figure out how the publishing world works and...
Like I said, there's always another thing to do when you're creative. This book will hopefully be released just before Christmas this year, though I'll have to adjust that after I find out more from the editor.
In addition to that, I'm planing on what's going to happen in book 3 of this series. I'm going to be writing it during Nanowrimo this year, so another thing on my authory plate.
I will have stats for you... total word count, chapter from a female/male pov, average chapter length... interesting things like that. But for right now, I've been enjoying my rest. Reading, video games, giving blood... I even hosted a painting night!
Soon enough, I'll be back to work, planning, writing short stories, and doing other assorted authorly things. But for this week, there is rest and sleep and relaxation.
What do you guys do to relax after finishing a huge project? Do you have any suggestions for any great books for me to add to my reading list?

Wednesday, September 7, 2016

So close...

Two more chapters to edit. Literally, just two. I'll be working to finish it this weekend. Friday would be preferable, but I'll take it whenever it's done. I can't wait to have this finished and ready to send out to my beta readers. I'm going to be incommunicado till I finish it. I can say that it's currently at 61,000 words and that I am super excited to be so close to finishing it off.


Monday, September 5, 2016

Bleh.😑

I have been busy lately. Two birthdays this week and the only person in my section at my day job, which means that I haven't even been working as much as I would like. Still, I only have 8.5k left to go so that's something. Hopefully I'll finish another chapter today and be done this week. I am looking forward to having time off to relax completely before I plan my next book and start writing. For those of you playing at home, this means I should be writing during Nanowrimo this year. So woot! Will you be writing? What will you be working on if you do?

Monday, August 22, 2016

Convention

          Just as a quick update, I finished chapter 32 and 33 this weekend and figured out how much more editing I have left to do. There are ten more chapters to edit, two of which will simply be deleted wholesale when I get to them, and only 16,000 words to go. So, yes, I'm still on for having this done right around the beginning of September.
          But I'm sure that what you really want to hear about here is how the conference went. It was incredible. I was on the panels with some truly incredible people.
          First, was my panel on Dark Fantasy and Horror with Patricia Flewwelling, Colleen Anderson, and Nancy Kilpatrick. It started off on a bit of a low note, but after that we settled into an excellent discussion. We talked about what horror is, how it is important, why we write it, as well as answered questions from the audience about women presentation in darker fiction and what genre is.
          My second panel was with Nola Sarina, Jessica L. Jackson, and Lori Whyte talking about Sexuality and Sensuality. I think I was able to hold my own and we had a great conversation about sexuality in fiction, how to work it into your writing. I fully admit that the other people up there were way more brilliant than me though. Check out their work! If you're close by, you can also join the Alberta Romance Writers Association. You get two workshops monthly (except during the summer months) and its awesome.
          I was late for my final panel (I was too nervous and misread the room name) for Mythologies Around the World. My fellow presenters Calvin Jim, Angelica Dawson, J.Y.T. Kennedy, and Jodi McIssac were brilliant and more than kind about my gaff and the conversation we had about mythology, how to apply the myths to our writing and what singularities there were between myths around the world was riveting. All of my fellow presenters were intelligent, wise and interesting and I followed it by having one of the most interesting conversations of the day with Calvin Jim about Japanese legend and myth.
        So that was my incredible convention weekend. I got to talk to so many interesting people and made many new friends! Please come by next year and join me!

Monday, August 15, 2016

WWC Book Purchases

When Words Collide ended on Sunday and I fully admit, I'm still exhausted. When I got home, I had enough energy for a nap and some reading and that was it for the week. I had enough energy to go out for a movie on Monday, saw Suicide Squad and quite enjoyed myself. Plot holes up the wazoo, but its fun as hell, IMO. I'll be seeing Kubo and the Two Strings tonight, hopefully. and then slowly fade into further exhaustion. Part of that is that I came down with a case of Con-Crud... fortunately, I had plenty of new books to occupy myself with!



 I picked up 18 new books and 2 new graphic novels while at wwc! 


These are the two available comics of my friend Kate Larking from the comic she does called Crash & Burn. While I can't remember the names of the incredible people she's working with, I can say that these comics completely rocked and I suggest picking them up when you get a chance. They were even one of the nominees for the Aurora Award in the Graphic Novel category this year!


I won these seven books when I attended the Sirens release party. Most of these are anthologies, I believe, and the one that I am most excited to read about is Demons, Imps and Incubi which is a romance collection of short stories about said Demons, Imps and Incubi. 


These two were stories that are happy kryonite for me. Both use Asian mytholgies to tell their stories. The Good Brother is a Chinese ghost and coming of age story, whereas Cold Hill Side seem to be an Asian political humans vs fae/kami idea. I can't wait to start reading both of these! They are actually the ones I'm second most excited for!


I broke my rule of no book purchases the first day by buying the first book in this series, Stolen Songbird by Danielle L Jensen. The cover drew me in, the back cover told the interesting tale of a girl kidnapped to break a curse and the first few pages left me unwilling to put it back down. When I found out the author was there, I bought the whole series. They look super interesting!


Sirens, an anthology edited by Rhonda Parish was a no-brain purchase; I have the other three books in the series and they have not failed to impress. In fact, I started reading it yesterday and I'm nearly 60 pages in already. It's excellent. The other two had interesting looking stories; Cold Stone and Ivy is steampunk and Spirit Singer is fantasy, both seem to be YA novels. 


There two are reference books that were suggested to me. The first is basically what the people who weren't lords in medieval/Victorian times did (Knocker-Uppers and such) and the second is a food guide for the same time period.


My last purchase was SG Wong's paranormal mystery novels about a Chinese PI with a ghost and a trust fund. I've been meaning to pick it up for a few years now and made a point of bringing it home this year. 

Did you bring home any books? What have you been reading?


Tuesday, August 9, 2016

Translate All The Things!

So, the last few days I have put my novel aside. Part of it is because its requiring a lot in rewrites right now, but the larger part of it is that When Words Collide is no longer coming up soon, but up, as of Friday. Thus, I've been spending a lot of my time researching the ideas that I'm going to be discussing with everyone else during the conference.

Normally, that is filled with reading websites on mythology, bloggers discussing the differences between sensuality and sexuality or reading about what our brains do when we watch Horror movies. Today it took an odd turn though.

I was researching Brazilian mythology, looking over a little bit of the history, reading what sort of tales they tell their kids, seeing what sort of monsters in the dark exist in their little corner of our globe. Today, it meant finding an odd reference to a story that took me in a completely different direction than I expected.

Salamanca do Jarau

A legend of southern Brazil, the Salamanca is a cave full of treasures, looked after by a magical lizard called teiniaguá.
I wanted to know what a Teiniagua was, so I took that name and found it connected with "The Moorish Princess". Now I was really confused. Unable to find an English translation of the myth or a description of the creature other than "magical gecko" I did what anybody else would do and got creative.

First, this meant going to the wikipedia entry for this story and realizing that the computer I was on didn't offer immediately translate the page for me. So I copied the story and did a search for Google Translate. Let me mention here that I do not generally suggest Google Translate. If you're looking for a single word, you'll probably find it. If you want more... well, lets just say they are not particularly clear about language. Google Translate Sings is a thing for a reason, no?

Anyways, I translated it and found out that it was really disjointed. So disjointed that I couldn't really understand what it was trying to say. So I got creative again. Knowing a tiny bit of Spanish and a lot more about mythologies, how they are constructed and what tropes are usually found in them, I decided that despite starting from a very flawed case, that I would try and translate the translated document into something resembling a complete story.

I'm certain I am missing some very important parts of this story and that entire sections of it may be incorrect. Still, please, let me know how well you think I did working just from the Google Translate . If you read Portugal or happen to recall the tale, please let me know.

Original Tale from Wikipedia

Ícone da cultura gaúcha, a Teiniaguá, é uma Princesa Moura, transformada em lagartixa pelo Diabo Vermelho dos índios, Anhangá-Pitã. Séculos atrás, quando caiu o último reduto árabe na Espanha, veio fugida e transfigurada em uma velha; para que não fosse reconhecida e aprisionada.

Corpo de lagartixa (ou salamandra), encontra-se no lugar de sua cabeça uma pedra preciosa cintilante, cor de rubi, que fascina os homens e os atrai, destinada a viver em uma lagoa no Cerro do Jarau.

Mas um dia o sacristão da igreja da aldeia próxima, assolado pelo calor, foi até a lagoa refrescar-se. Ao se aproximar percebeu que a lagoa fervia e na sua frente a Teiniaguá surgiu, rapidamente ele a agarrou, a aprisionou em uma guampa, e foi para seus aposentos atrás da igreja. Durante a noite, ao abrir a guampa, ocorre uma mágica, ela volta a ser mulher e lhe pede vinho. Sabendo que o único vinho que podia oferecer era o do padre, não hesitou em buscá-lo. Todas as noites o fato se repetia, e os padres começaram a desconfiar; uma noite entraram no quarto do sacristão, a Teiniaguá, rapidamente se transformou em lagartixa e fugiu para as barrancas do Uruguai, ele foi preso.

O sacristão foi condenado a morte, e no dia da aplicação da sentença, sua amada sentiu um mau pressentimento e voltou à aldeia para resgatá-lo. Utilizando magia, o encontrou e nesse momento houve um grande estrondo, que produziu fogo e fumaça e tudo afundou.

Ficaram confinados após isso, em uma caverna profunda, chamada de Salamanca do Jarau. De onde só sairiam quando surgisse algém capaz de cumprir as sete provas: as espadas ocultas na sombra, a arremetida de jaguares e pumas furiosos, a dança dos esqueletos, o jogo das línguas de fogo e das águas ferventes, a ameaça da boicininga amaldiçoada (única que não está presente na literatura épica, é um proveitamento folclórico), o convite das donzelas cativas, o cerco dos anões.

Com os desafios superados, seria concedido ao valente vencedor um desejo, o qual, ele deveria depois renegar. Após duzentos anos, chega à furna um gaúcho chamado Blau, que conheceu a lenda através de sua avó charrua. Sem hesitar ele cumpriu as provas, pórem, não desejou nada. A princesa ficou triste, pois assim não conseguiriam, ela e seu amado sacristão, libertarem-se do encanto. Quando o gaúcho montava em seu cavalo para ir embora, o sacristão lhe deu uma moeda de ouro, como lembrança de sua estada; sem poder recusar, colocou a moeda no bolso e foi embora.

Alguns dias depois ficou sabendo que um amigo seu desistira de ser criador de gado, lembrou da moeda e foi comprar um boi, mas ao retirá-la para pagar foram surgindo novas moedas e ele conseguiu comprar todos. Admirado com a riqueza de Blau, o amigo espalhou a notícia, e todos ficaram espantados com ela. Acreditando que ele havia feito um pacto com o demônio, ninguém mais quis lhe vender nem comprar nada. Sentindo saudade da vida de antes, voltou à gruta para devolver a moeda mágica. Chegando lá, contou a história ao sacristão e lhe devolveu a moeda. Ao colocá-la em sua mão, o feitiço foi quebrado com uma grande explosão. Da furna saíram os dois condenados, transformados em um belo casal de jovens. Casaram-se e trouxeram a descendência indigeno-ibérica aos povoados do Rio Grande do Sul.




Google Translate Version

Icon of the gaucho culture, teiniagud, is a Moorish Princess , turned into gecko by the Red Devil Indians , Anhangá - Pita . Centuries ago , when he fell the last Arab stronghold in Spain, came fleeing and transfigured into an old ; that was not recognized and imprisoned .
grenadier body ( or stove ) , is the place of his head a sparkling gemstone, ruby color, which fascinates men and draws them, destined to live in a pond in the Cerro Jarau .

But one day the sexton of the nearby village church, plagued by heat, went to the pond freshen up . When approaching realized that the lake was boiling and in front of the teiniagud came quickly he grabbed her, imprisoned her in a guampa , and went to his quarters behind the church. During the night, opening the guampa, there is a magic, she goes back to being a woman and asks her wine. Knowing that the only wine that could offer was the priest did not hesitate to pick it up. Every night the fact is repeated , and the priests began to suspect ; one night entered the sexton of the room, the teiniagud, quickly turned into lizard and fled to the banks of the Uruguay, he was arrested

The sacristan was sentenced to death, and the sentence of the day of application, his beloved felt a bad feeling and returned to the village to rescue him. Using magic, and found that time there was a big bang, which produced fire and smoke and everything sank.

They were confined after that, in a deep cave, called Jarau Salamanca. Where only get out when emerge algem able to meet the seven events: the hidden swords in the shade, the rush Jaguars and furious cougars, dancing skeletons , the game of tongues of fire and boiling water, the threat of cursed boicininga ( one that is not present in the epic literature, is a folkloric proveitamento ), the invitation of captive maidens, the siege of the dwarves .

The challenges overcome, be granted to the brave winner one wish, which he would later disown. After two hundred years, reaches the cave a gaucho named Blau, who met the legend through his plow grandmother. Without hesitation he fulfilled the evidence, however, did not want anything. The princess was sad, because then they could not , she and her beloved sexton, freeing up the charm. When the gaucho riding his horse to leave, the sexton gave him a gold coin as a souvenir of their stay; without being able to refuse, put the coin in his pocket and left.

A few days later he learned that a friend of his had given up being cattleman, remembered the currency and bought an ox, but to pull it to pay were emerging new coins and he was able to buy all. Amazed at the wealth of Blau, the friend spread the news, and everyone was amazed with her. Believing that he had made ​​a pact with the devil, no one wanted to sell it or buy anything. Feeling homesick before life returned to the cave to return the magic coin. Once there, he told the story to the sacristan and handed him the coin. To put it in your hand, the spell was broken with a big explosion. The cave came the two convicts, turned into a beautiful young couple. They married and brought the indigenous Iberian descent to the villages of Rio Grande do Sul

My Version

The following story is an icon of the gaucho culture. It is the story of Teiniagua, the Moorish Princess, who was turned into a gecko by the Red Devil Indians, Anhangá-Pita.

Centuries ago, when the last Arab stronghold in Spain fell, the Moorish princess fled the destruction and was transformed into an old gecko with a thickset body. On her forehead was a sparkling Ruby gemstone that fascinated men. Eventually she came to live in a pond in Cerro Jarau.
One day the sexton of the nearby village church, plagued by heat, went to the pond freshen up. When he arrived, he saw that the lake was boiling and standing in front was the gecko. The priest imprisioned Teiniagua in a guampa (horn) and took her to his quarters behind the church.
At night, he opened the horn and found that the gecko he had captured had changed into a woman. He offered her wine and she, believing that a priest could mean her no harm, accepted. When she became drunk, he seduced her. He did this every night until the other priests began to suspect that something was up.

One night, the other priests burst in to catch him in the act. Teiniagua turned back into a gecko and fled to the banks of the Uruguay. The priest was sentenced to death. However, Teiniagua was bereft without the priest, whom she had come to love. She decided to rescue him. Using powerful magic, she created a huge explosion that shook the town, filling it with bad-smelling smoke and eventually sank the town deep into a cave called the Jaau Salmanca.  

Stuck in the cave, Teiniagua and her lover found they could only leave when a hero had completed seven quests: the hidden swords in the shade, the rush Jaguars and furious cougars, dancing skeletons, the game of tongues of fire and boiling water, the threat of cursed boicininga (a type of snake), the invitation of captive maidens and the siege of the dwarves.

Since they could not fulfill the conditions on their own, Teiniagua offered anyone who could overcome the challenges a single wish. After two hundred years, a gaucho(South American cowboy) named Blau, was told of the legend by his grandmother. Without hesitation, he searched for the cave and completed the quests. However, when he was offered his wish, he declined, saying he needed nothing. The princess was saddened that he would refuse her gift since it meant that she and her love would remain in the cave, their curse unbroken.

But Teiniagua and the priest came up with a plan. When the gaucho tried to leave, the priest offered him a single gold coin as a souvenir of his stay. The gaucho decided that a souvenir wasn’t the same thing as a wish and accepted the coin, putting it in his pocket before he left.

A few days later he learned that a friend of his had decided to give up being cattleman. The guacho wanted to buy all his friend’s stock and settle down. However, even with all his savings he was still short a single coin to buy even a single ox. Remembering his souvenir, the gaucho pulled it out of his pocket. However, new coins continued to emerge, falling to ground around him huge pile. By the time it stopped, he had enough money to buy all of the stock his friend was selling with money to spare. His friend was amazed at Blau’s new wealth and told everyone what had happened. Everyone agreed that this was unnatural and that the Blau must have made a deal with a devil to have such a thing happen. They shunned him, buying nothing from him and selling him nothing, not wanting to associate with one so cursed.
 Blau returned the coin, wishing to return to his poorer existence before. Once there he told the priest what had happened and gave him back the magic coin. At that moment there was a huge explosion and Tieniagua and her priest were made young and beautiful again.

 They married and brought the indigenous peoples of  Iberian descent to the villages of the Rio Grande to live.




Saturday, July 30, 2016

Ass-Kicking

          Both ways really... I've been getting my ass-kicked by this last chapter and then did a little ass-kicking myself. What happened you may ask?

         Part of my novel involves the main characters finding a boat in a hidden grotto. The original chapter where they find it was useless, it required an entire rewrite. Halfway through the rewrite, I discovered that part of my research was incomplete... vastly incomplete, actually.

         One of my characters worked on the docks in his homeland and worked on a ship... he should know the types of ships and nautical words. The main character grew up in a town that had a dock and her family did high-end trade, so she's heard most of the words, even if she doesn't use them herself. I know none... What can I say? I love the water, but I grew up in land locked Calgary. Our outdoor pools open in June and my family never had enough money to go boating. Since I've grown up, I've had the opportunity to go boating once... but other than that, I have little to no experience. So, research, research, research.

          As well, learning about the ocean and nautical terms made me realize that ocean water in May at my characters latitude might be too cold for prolonged swimming. It totally is, in case you're like me and don't know. There isn't any ice in the water, but the chill is still there. Trying to find a different way for them to find the grotto left one option and that one option destroyed most of my plotting and would have required a complete re-write of the end chapters. Which was an option, but in the end, not the better one.

          Instead, I played with thermals and raised some of the waters temperature up so that it was actually warm and went back to my original plot. Sometimes, it isn't a darling that needs to be killed, but is a lover that you need you seduce back to your bed for the night.

          It was exactly what I needed. I'd been working on that chapter for 6 days already, trying to fix and unable to figure out why it wasn't working. One simple change to the original idea and I was able to rewrite it from scratch and edit it within a twenty-four hour period.

          I celebrated by playing Don't Starve and learning to play a Japanese card name called Koi Koi. Now, its back to editing before I hit the sack. Less than ten chapters to go before this novel is done and can be sent to the editor!

Friday, July 22, 2016

Pokemon Pictures

          I said I'd post some pictures. I don't have too many right now, but the one is my character with the other character being my favourite critter so far, an Eevee that I caught. She isn't my highest level guy by a longshot but she is a fun little critter. She may be one that I keep an Eevee since one of her powers is dig!

          What's your favourite pokemon and highest level pokemon so far?

Wednesday, July 20, 2016

Gotta Catch 'Em All

          This week, I'm feeling the need to talk about Pokemon Go. In case you've been living under a rock, Pokemon Go is a new mobile game based on the popular game of the same name(sans the 'Go' part). Basically, your job is to catch mostly adorable pocket monsters and teach them to fight to the death for your honour (don't worry, you can always revive a fallen ally).

          I'm only exaggerating a bit here, as is my usual wont, of course. While I was never a huge fan of the show, I kept abreast enough to become at least casually acquainted with it. The video game always annoyed me though. What I always wanted from the game was more a strategic game like Final Fantasy Tactics, played with the critters as your pawns and ally's.

          Still, when they announced the mobile game I was excited. The early ads for the game showed movement, outside, having to find your pokemon, train them, trading them and fighting battles not only at gyms but with friends and strangers.

          The current game is not offering us all of that. There is movement, outside wandering... We can train our Pokemon to a point and battle them in gyms, again to a point. And I have to say, I'm enjoying it.

          It is nice to have a reason to get outside, to have fiero moments while out walking. Walking is one of my least favourite things to do and I went out walking on both Monday and Tuesday. Not for very long, as I had a killer head cold, but I was getting out.

          There have been news reports about people getting hurt of course. As with any new-fangled thing, some people seem determined to find ways to misuse it. As with anything, blame the idiots, not the technology. You wouldn't blame books because someone was reading while drving, right? It's the same thing.

          Tomorrow, hopefully, I'll have some pictures of the game to share. Until then, are you playing? Are you enjoying it? If you're not playing, why? Let me know in the comments below.

Thursday, July 14, 2016

Adaptation Makes you a Stronger Writer

          I don’t usually talk about non-writing hobbies of mine on here (or at least, I try not to) but yesterday something happened that made me want to talk about it.
          I have been a pretty avid gamer since my late teens, 20 years or so now. The latest incarnation that I play with my friends is Pathfinder, the non WotC successor to Dungeons & Dragons. Soon after I started playing, my boyfriend (now husband), suggested I try to run a game. With the amount I read, he thought it would be a good fit. He was right.
          I’ve always been creative and while I haven’t always proven up to the task, I am very good at the games part. I prefer running open world adventures, where my players have their own stated goals and I simply match the world to their desires. This isn’t to say that my players aren’t adequately opposed, but I have a knack for creating and encouraging conflicts and resolutions that my players may not have considered.
          For this reason, whenever I’m running a game, my players get nearly (and sometimes more) experience and wealth from talking down the monsters or dealing with them as business associates than they would from simply yelling “Attack” and slaying all-comers.
          Adapting on the fly is something I’m good at, but there are times when my players will confound me. That’s what happened yesterday.
          I’ve been running my players through a book adventure (the last one for a while I think) called Mummy’s Mask. While some of the Pathfinder adventures are well-written and entertaining, some are distinctly more lack-luster than others, being just a general slog of “I hit it until it dies of it. What did it have on the body? Alright, every silver piece has been counted, let’s go… Oh, it’s a what? And looks, like what? Cool, I hit it until it dies of it. What did…”
          I’d have honestly stopped playing it ages ago, but my players do like finishing campaigns, rather than leaving them hanging, so we’ve been bravely soldering on. The bad guy told them that to get to him, they’d have to go through the “trials of the pyramid”… and my players just lost it.
          What started out as a rant from one of the players turned into an actual discussion of whether or not it was feasible, with the tools they had on hand to burrow their way past the defenses. I insisted they do the math to prove that it was, but when they had, I agreed that nothing in the game said they had to run on rails to get to the last bad guy. They’d figured out a new way through. I adapted.
          Which is something that you have to be able to do in writing too. People always get so frustrated when they’re writing and you’ll often hear the lament (if you know a writers) that the characters, “aren’t doing what I need them to do”.  This always makes me laugh, since for the most part, my characters aren’t as separate from me as they are with other people. Not to say that they always do what I want them to; they often don’t and it’s usually my mind giving me a hint that the original idea is unstable or unfinished.
          Learning to adapt and going with it is a really important part of writing, obviously. Fortunately, as with most writing, it’s a skill that can be learned – even taught, to a certain degree.
          My first suggestion would be to try improv. There are usually comedy clubs around most cities where adults can get together to try it out. If younger, check out your local school activities. If you don’t see one, create one. Another suggestion is to try your hand at gaming. Whether on computer or in person, creating stories in your mind about your character is not only a darn fun way to pass the time, its teaching you to react with the punches that come your way.
          When we’re only dealing with our own selves, we can feign surprise, fear, gladness and sketch out what our characters would do, but only with other people will you be able to accurately put that learning into use.

          Not only is it great for your stories (I have 5 or 6 people I ask to be my characters aren’t making dumb mistakes simply because I missed something obvious), but its teaching you to react on the fly and continue on the story, despite hitting a bump or 63 tons worth.

Monday, July 11, 2016

Lets Talk Stationary!

          I started listening to a new podcast recently called The Write Gear. The show is wonderful, spending most of its time and episodes dedicated to the gear that writers use in their craft; Moleskines, paper, notebooks, pens and also the more technological stuff like computers and software that help us to do our work. One of these were devoted entirely to discussing what the perfect pen was.

          The general consensus was that a pen needed to be ballpoint or gel to be considered (fountain pens being different enough to deserve their own little niche). They had to be cheap, smooth to write without applying tons of pressure, have a very clear distinct line, not feather on the page, be long-lasting, dry quickly when used, and they had to be able to sit in a bag for a few months between uses (because some of us don’t use pens as often as others, but you still need to know its going to work when you crack it open).

          My immediate thought to all this was to think happily of my favourite pen and agree entirely with everything they said, at least as far as the requirements went. I don’t know about you, but for me, this essentially describes what I look for. Usually you have to compromise somewhat. If it’s super cheap, then it won’t write smoothly or the ink will remain wet for ages, or it will be cheap, but not smooth to write with and dries up after just a few weeks or something.

          The pen the original survey decided on is one that I’ve never had a chance to try, the Uniball Jetstream. It sounds really nice for me, aside from the size. I have always found that with my messy writing, I like thinner ink trails, .3 is my favourite, though I will take a thin little .1 given half a chance. The pen The Write Gear podcast suggested as theirs was the Pentel Ener-Gels, specifically, with a certain type of gel rollerball refill.


          Neither of these are mine, though I totally want to give both a try. Mine is a pen that has a slightly uncomfortable base, but everything else about it is incredible. Just known as the Sharpie Pen (size Fine was the thinnest I could find… I’d say it’s a .3-.5 width), this pen writes like a gel, smooth as silk, though it isn't a gel pen. Its an ink pen like a sharpie where you have a tip that fills with ink and so long as you have a tip and ink its writes wonderfully and they last a super long time. It doesn't dry out (I've had these ones for over a year and really have only started using them in the last month or so) and they come out to under $2 a pen (I think I payed$12 for a pack of 10 when I bought these). 

          My only gripes about them is that the case is super thin and very hard, so it is less on the comfort side of the equation. The other part is that while it doesn't feather a lot, the tip is so full of ink that it will get all over you if you aren't careful (not from smudging; I'm just super bad at holding my pens on or near the paper). It writes so nicely though that I am usually willing to ignore those two minor issues.


          I have a picture here done that shows the three colours I used off to the side. I usually draw with pencil and then redraw with pen and then begin adding colour, but I wanted to show what the pens could do.  Which reminds me that these are the only three I have left... I'll have to buy another set before When Words Collide later this year. 

         Anyway, those are my favourites! What are yours? Let me know in the comments below! 

Saturday, July 2, 2016

50% and Counting

It has been too long!

Sorry about that delay! I have been driving myself mad trying to get everything done. I've been editing like a madman. I'm 34k finished, which puts me at my halfway point. Here are some interesting points I discovered.

  • So far I have editing 34,353 words.
  • According to the Hemingway App, it would take 2 hours and 17 minutes to read that 34, 353 words. 
  • I have three main POV's. They are... An Asian woman named Kuzunoha, a Norse man named Jocelin and a black man named Richard.
  • Though I spent nearly two months working on the first 10,000 words of this story, I finished the rest of the rough draft (60,000 words) completely during the month of November 2015. 
  • I began editing this book on the 1st of May. I'm hoping it won't take another 2 months to finish the last 35,000 words. 

It's been slow editing this week, because the three chapters prior to this one all needed to be written from scratch and then edited. I'm hoping that most of my book won't require that level of work. Since less than half of the first 35,000 needed that level, I definitely have high hopes for the rest. 

Monday, June 20, 2016

Heroes

          A week or so ago I picked up The Geek Feminist Revolution; its a book of essays dealing with (you can probably guess) feminism and pop culture. It's a good book thus far, and I heartily suggest you pick up a copy. Despite that endorsement, I can't say I agree with the entire book.

          In particular, one of the essays titled Hero (I think, my book is a few feet away) is about how the hero that people get in their mind when you say the word is a male, white, Greek-Adonis type of character. Hercules, Conan the Barbarian, Captain America (not the Hail Hydra version) and Superman (Justice League rather than Justice Lord) are all examples of this character. Hurley suggests that we need to change that.

          While I agree with the theory, the practical isn't so clear cut. First of all, when I was asked that question, my first thought wasn't Captain America and the like. The first thing I saw was a feminine face filled with determination and kindness. When I realised that she wanted a view of somebody, I saw my own heroes. While I do admit that one of my heroes, Jocelin, fulfils that stereotype, the other heroes that came to mind for me were Richard, a dark-skinned man, lithe and intelligent and Kuzunoha, an Asian woman who is slim, tiny, and doll-like.

          Obviously, I was not the type of person she was expecting. Since I like asking the hard questions, I put it to my Facebook page as well thinking that maybe because I'm an author and don't generally differentiate between hero and heroine in my own mind that perhaps other people would give the more expected answers.

          The first thing I realised is that, like me, most people (or at least everyone I have following me) do not see an image of a hero when you say that word. They don't see anything, or they see an expression on a blank face that encompasses qualities they espouse in a hero. If pressed, they see their heroes.

          Some of them see the face of Tsukino Usagi (otherwise known as Sailor Moon), or they see famous people they respect (Margaret Bulkley and Elizabeth Gregory MacGill). Some of them did see Superman (heroic preferences include dark hair over blonde hair apparently) and one person said "Baymax sacrificing his big plump robo body to push Hiro and the ship to safety."

 
 Pictures used as example only and are owned by their respective and awesome companies.

          So no, I don't agree with her. Or at least, I don't think its anywhere near as bad as she thinks it may be. I think it's clear that while there are many white, muscle-bound heroes, there are also many heroes that aren't. What do you think? What (or more correctly who) do you see when you think of a hero? And is that the same as your favourite hero? If not, why/what do you think the difference is?

Tuesday, June 14, 2016

Netflix And Honour Seem like Odd Bedfellows

          Yesterday, I finished editing chapter 15, which is awesome. Today, I just about half finished chapter 16, though I'm hoping to get a bit more done tonight. It might be difficult since I signed up for Netflix, though.

          Okay, so I'm exaggerating. Even when I was a kid I tended to read more than I ever watched television. Still, after working a full day at work on 5 hours of sleep, I must admit that the siren song of my pillow is strong.

          I can hear the question that is probably most on your minds... if I don't watch television, why would I ever pay for Netflix? Well, my completely honourable reasons are the documentaries. I am one of those people that actually enjoy watching documentaries and since most of my novels and stories pull on myth and history for inspiration. The less than honourable reasons are, of course, enough awesome shows (like Young Justice and more than a few anime shows) that I want to watch are on it that its worth it for me to pick it up.

           Anyways, I'm going to see what I can get done and hopefully I'll have some good news for my next post.

Sunday, June 12, 2016

And The Realness Just Keeps Coming

I found out yesterday that if you look on the When Words Collide website, I'm at the top of the presenters (that aren't special guests) list. A nice colour picture of me, though I'll certainly have to get an actual official photo done eventually and it even has a link to my website. I was a bit flabbergasted when I first saw it. It still has a feeling of not-quite real when it happens, like I must be looking into an alternate universe, rather than my own. Realizing that it is my own is an even stranger sensation. There is a lot of power in those situations. I've heard it called the "moment of change", and some ascribe intense power to it. You only need to budge the stone of power to make it fluidity itself. It will always return to stone later, but for that instant, you can do anything.

I suppose it will all become old hat eventually and seeing websites mention me or have my picture up won't send me into a fluttering mess inside. In the meantime, its pretty darn amazing and I sincerely hope that it won't get old quickly. In the meantime, please jump over there and take a look!

I haven't heard back from When Words Collide yet about the other workshops I was hoping to take part in, but I'll let you know when I hear something. I can tell you that I will be presenting during the ARWA meeting in October with a few of the other girls there. Once again, I'll give you more information on that when I have it!

Also, I have decided that I do need a newsletter. It will be delivered monthly and much else besides that is still up in the air about it. I think I will have a mythology section, where I will talk about a specific story, mythological creature, or in some cases, historical person if the two overlap. I will have a section for where I am in my writing/editing and what I'm currently working on. Occasionally it will include a short story (most likely under 5k) on a variety of characters, some that will be in my books and some that may have stories to tell that I won't end up writing a full book about. 

I will point it out when it is up and ready to go at any rate. I'm hoping to have it up and the first one ready to go for the first of July, so keep your eyes peeled for it, eh? Let me know if there's anything else that you would specifically like to see in a monthly newsletter beyond what I've mentioned here (or what you don't want to see if any of this makes you not want to sign up at all). 



Tuesday, June 7, 2016

Avast Ye Matey's; Yo Ho!

          A few days ago a friend of mine, Starla Hutchton, brought to my attention a woman online who had been asking for sites to pirate digital books from. I was appalled but didn't think much of it at the time. It sucks but aside from agreeing that these people are dirt, there wasn't much I could do. I will admit that I thought this woman was especially an idiot as she's a photographer and I'm pretty certain that she would be up in arms if I called her up, arranged a photo shoot, and then said I wasn't going to pay her but still want the pictures since I like her work.

          Today, I found out that this blew up online. Authors got involved commenting, she made fun of the authors and started banning people. The whole story is told pretty well right here, so I'll let you read it and make your own decisions. What flummoxed me though was the amount of people who agreed that pirating is right.

          I'll admit that when I was younger and I was making quarters above minimum wage that I torrented stuff. Nearly everyone did when Napster first came out. I never felt entitled to that music, but it didn't seem any worse at the time than waiting for that song to come on the radio and recording it from there. Since then I've gone to some pains to buy the music I listen to, I pay for a Crunchyroll subscription for my anime & buy series when I can, and I make a point of buying all my books.

          So why do I do it? Well, first off, it makes me feel good. Knowing that I am supporting my artists and the things I love makes me feel like I'm making a difference; like I'm letting the author know how much I appreciate their work. Usually I accompany that purchase with an email telling the author why I love their work, since as a writer myself, I've found that being told that somebody loves my work or has suggested my stories to someone else makes my day. But more than that, I do it because they deserve it. Writers and other creative people deserve to make money on the things they create.

          I will add a caveat here. Lending someone a copy of your books to give them a taste of a specific authors work is something that I totally agree with. In my experience it leads to more sales for the author. I've turned at least a number of people into fans of SM Stirling's Emberverse series by doing so and all went out and not only bought that book, but they usually continue to buy the rest of the series as well.

          However, somebody once said that people don't appreciate something they've received for free. And from what I can tell that is true. Whether its a tarot card reading, a book you've written, a picture you've drawn, a song you've made... whatever it is, you deserve something for your time. If its your first attempt that might be as simple as a compliment. But as you work on your craft, you'll get better and better at it, your skill will increase, and you deserve to begin getting paid for your work.

          You don't see CEO's saying that they work at 7-11 on the weekends to pay for their love of working for their corporation, or lawyers saying that they work at Wal-Mart 9-5 because they just can't give up defending people in court. Even priests, generally expected to be the epitome of nobility, are expected to make enough to pay for their expenses through tithing at their parish.So why are people who work in creative pursuits expected to be even more noble and give away what they do for free?