Rebecca Writer

Guest Blogging

2012-01-17T08:54:00.000-08:00

Today I'm guest blogging over at Terry's Place: http://terryodell.blogspot.com/

My topic is Self Defense for Klutzes, and I'm writing in as Sue Star, my pen name for traditional mystery. Should be fun!

11 Favorite Books -- 2011

2012-01-14T08:23:00.000-08:00

I tried hard to whittle this list down to 5, but couldn't. I really enjoyed them all! Since my TBR piles grow faster than I can read, these books are not from 2011; that's just when I read them:

Open Season, C.J. Box

Ordinary Thunderstorms, William Boyd

Tell No One, Harlan Coben

Dreaming of the Bones, Deborah Crombie

Finding Nouf, Zoe Ferraris

The Devotion of Suspect X, Keigo Higashino

The Ghosts of Belfast, Stuart Neville

Impact, Douglas Preston

To Fetch a Thief, Spencer Quinn

Amazonia, James Rollins

In the Bleak Midwinter, Julia Spencer-Fleming

Boxing Day--What IS It?

2012-01-07T18:27:00.001-08:00

Boxing Day sales rival any Black Friday--except for the queues.

The elusive sun sets over Hyde Park.

Department stores, ablaze with Christmas lights.

Tower Bridge looks pretty nice, too.

Next day, we stroll through Battersea Park...

And Chelsea, where many writers and artists passed through.

I can't wait to pass through again!

A Merry English Christmas

2012-01-06T18:27:00.000-08:00

Santa plays steel drums on the Jubilee Bridge.

German Christmas market still goes strong under the bridge.

The sun breaks out as we ride the Eye!

Upside down Christmas trees along The Strand.

Christmas Eve dinner at Babur, a fusion Indian restaurant serving Brother Cadfael cocktails--how British is that?

We watch the Queen give her Christmas speech.

Eisenach

2012-01-05T15:07:00.001-08:00

Baby sleds, instead of strollers!

The narrowest house in town.

Christmas market packs up and goes away with 4 shopping days still left before Christmas.

Johann Sebastian Bach was born in this town in 1685.

Thuringian bratwurst is the best! Just ask anyone from Eisenach. The bratwurst stands set up first thing in the morning and break down around 6, not long before the town goes to bed.

Luckily, they keep their store windows and Christmas lights on!

Tomorrow we return to London!

Wartburg Castle

2012-01-04T14:01:00.000-08:00

We hike through a snowy forest, past former mansions now divided into apartments--or else standing derelict.

Ludwig the Springer built the Wartburg in 1067, supposedly after hauling in his own dirt for a foundation. That way, he could claim the castle was built on his own soil.

Knights hung out in this room. This relief shows Ludwig's son, who also founded Eisenach.

Glass mosaic illustrates Saint Elizabeth's life, from the time she came to the castle in 1211 as a 4-year-old, intended to become the child bride of Ludwig IV in 1221. When her husband died on a Crusade, she and her children were expelled from the castle by its new heir. Never mind, she went on to become a nun, advocate of the poor and sick, and eventually a saint after dying at age 24.

Mad King Ludwig II of Bavaria was so taken by this banquet hall on the top floor that he copied it in his fairytale castle, Neuschwanstein.

Martin Luther hid out in this room in 1521, where he translated the New Testament from Greek to German. Stories claim that visitors have taken bits of plaster from the wall where his ink splattered.

Tomorrow we explore more of Eisenach!

Weihnachsmarkt

2012-01-03T15:02:00.000-08:00

Easy Jet takes 1 1/2 hours from London to Berlin, and the autobahn takes another 3 1/2 hours to Eisenach, where daughter Gretchen lives.

Eisenach is a quaint, medieval town on the edge of the Thuringian Forest and in the center of Germany. Its city gates date back to 1200.

No town is too small for at least one Christmas market. Eisenach has two: one at the central market platz, and the other up the hill at the castle.

Christmas market sells candy and gluwein and bratwurst and gluwein and smoking-men incense burners and gluwein. It has blacksmiths and offers kiddie rides (and did I mention gluwein?)

Tomorrow we climb the hill to the castle!

To Europe, for Christmas

2012-01-02T12:01:00.000-08:00

First stop: London, to leave Christmas presents under Emily and Dave's tree. Palm trees grow in neighbors' back yard--and all over London!

Near their flat rises One Tree Hill, where Elizabeth 1 went a-maying in 1602 (i.e., she had a picnic under an oak tree). The tree in fence is Honor Oak, for its royal connection, although this is not the original.

We worm through the Christmas crowds at Covent Garden, and we find roses and cherry blossoms still flowering.

The theatre district glitters with Christmas lights.

We end up seeing The Mousetrap.

Tomorrow, on to Germany!

5 Cool Places to Read

2011-12-12T12:14:00.000-08:00

We recently went to Hawaii for a wedding in the family. Naturally, I took along more books to read than I had hours to read them. Here are some of the lovely places I found to read:

Waimea Plantation, Kauai

Poipu, Kauai

Waikiki, Honolulu

Dazzling Dozen--since 1980

2011-10-30T11:49:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I was on the Dazzling Dozen panel at MileHiCon, and we were asked to come up with a list of 12 gems, science fiction short stories since 1980. I love lists! But it was really hard--hard to limit my list only to 12 that covered a period of 31 years. So I ended up choosing the 12 stories that have haunted me the most. Some of them are well known and have won various awards, but mostly they're just the stories that have affected me the most. Here they are:

1. Robert F. Young. “The Summer of the Fallen Star,” Fantasy & Science Fiction, April 1981

2. Octavia Butler. “Bloodchild,” Asimov's, 1984.

3. Roger MacBride Allen. “A Hole in the Sun,” Analog, April, 1987.

4. Connie Willis. “Cibola,” Asimov’s, December 1990.

5. Nancy Kress. “Beggars in Spain,” Asimov’s, April, 1991

6. Arthur C. Clarke. “The Hammer of God,” Time, Sept. 28, 1992

7. Mike Resnick. “Seven Views of Olduvai Gorge,” Fantasy & Science Fiction, Oct./Nov. 1994

8. Paolo Bacigalupi. “The Fluted Girl,” Fantasy & Science Fiction, June, 2003.

9. Robert J. Sawyer. “Shed Skin,” Analog, Jan./Feb. 2004.

10. Carol Emshwiller. “I Live with You,” Fantasy & Science Fiction, March 2005

11. Jack Skillingstead. “Life on the Preservation,” Asimov’s, June 2006.

12. Kathleen Ann Goonan. “Memory dog,” Asimov’s, April/May, 2008

New Publisher!

2011-10-14T09:57:00.000-07:00

I have a new publisher, D.M. Kreg Publishing, who is bringing out two of my books in the next few months!

The first one, Murder in the Dojo, is due out in early November under my pen name Sue Star. It's a light-hearted traditional mystery about a menopausal suburban mother of a teenager. Mom becomes the karate instructor in a down-and-out dojo only to find that it isn't just her family who disapproves--someone will do anything, even murder, to keep her from taking that job.

An electronic version is already available at your favorite bookstore, and the trade paperback edition will be out soon.

You can find more information at the publisher's website: www.dmkregpublishing.com

Guest Blogger Betsy Dornbusch

2011-07-19T15:42:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Betsy, a member of my critique group. Betsy has a new book out, and she's guest blogging for me today to tell you a bit about it. Enjoy!

Be mean. Be very mean.

If you read much great genre fiction at all, you’ll soon realize the plots that really hold your attention thwart your characters, over and over. In mysteries it’s lies, subterfuge, and often the detective’s own faults that stand as obstacles. In urban fantasies it might be a series of large, hairy, mystical creatures. In science fiction it can take shape as alien enemies, prejudices, or science itself.

In my position as an editor for the speculative fiction magazine Electric Spec, I see a lot of milquetoast characters whose problems and obstacles don’t amount to much. Not that it has to be all death and destruction (though I do love me some death and destruction). However, the obstacles should mean something to the characters. It should cause them pain. It should play to their personal weaknesses, preferably forcing them to eventually overcome them.

I have a rule: if it’s tough to write, then you’re probably on the right track. But truly, it was only in the past year or so that I really started working with “what’s the worst that could happen?” in mind.

In LOST PRINCE, my recent release, I purposely put both characters in bad spots. I started by creating horrible backstories for each character. Prince Aric has been on the run for two years, doing his best to keep his identity secret while hunting down the man he believes betrayed his world, resulting in its utter destruction. Katriel, who is AWOL from the omni-powerful Coalition, is the victim of a pirate attack that leaves her hopelessly, desperately in debt to her boss. Both have both done horrible things in the name of war; unknowingly, some of their worst actions were taken against each other. So with histories like these, I had to construct even huger obstacles. But, with such rich backstories, it wasn’t so difficult. It’s as if the characters themselves gave me plenty of material to mine. Which is likely as it should be. Tight stories feel this way: as if that particular story could only happen to that particular character. It felt that way to me as I wrote it. Hopefully it feels that way to the reader, as well.

Visit Sex Scenes at Starbucks to find out more about LOST PRINCE, read an excerpt, and learn about the author. HYPERLINK "http://betsydornbusch.com" http://betsydornbusch.com

Buy the book at Whiskey Creek Press http://www.whiskeycreekpress.com/torrid/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=5&products_id=591&zenid=fff20341650a950e9a437f9254289eda

or for your Kindle http://www.amazon.com/Lost-Prince-Salt-Road-ebook/dp/B005AL3U24/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1310480606&sr=8-1

The only thing that’s kept Alaric, the so-called Lost Prince of Calixte, from giving into his grief over his beloved homeworld is the thought of revenge against the man who betrayed his people. But he couldn’t be more wrong about Haydn, who actually saved two thousand Calixten soldiers from certain death and secreted them on an inhospitable planet. There, they’ve launched a fledgling rebellion against the Coalition that rules six galaxies, including the lucrative Salt Road. They only need their prince to lead them.

Alaric needs a pilot to get him to his soldiers, someone too desperate to betray him. Katriel, a hotshot deserter pilot enslaved to Haydn by debt, is perfect for the job. But neither Katriel nor Alaric realize how the battle over Calixte binds them closer than blood, and when they find out, their collision will send shockwaves through the universe.

Thanks, Bets!

Formats for my Story

2011-05-12T05:43:00.000-07:00

Having just returned from Dominican Republic (more on that in a future post), I'm catching up on news. Big news now is the availability of my short story! "The Seventh Sleeve of Tombaugh," about a man who joins a mission to Pluto to escape the masses of humanity--and then things go terribly wrong--appears in the anthology Alien Aberrations.

Besides being available as a paperback in bookstores, it's also available on iBooks (for iphones/ipads) and at Barnes & Noble for the Nook. Now it's available on Kindle, too. Here's the link:

http://www.amazon.com/Alien-Aberrations-ebook/dp/B004YKU822/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1304110771&sr=8-2

Where on Earth Have I Been??

2011-04-21T11:22:00.000-07:00

1. Santa Fe:

shopping mecca and home of this year's Left Coast Crime convention. It was great fun to hang out with other writers and readers and add to my turquoise collection.

2. The Amazon Henge:

my work in progress. This is the novel that I wrote in a month last November for NaNoWriMo, and it's morphed on me yet again. Strange, how a re-draft takes longer than the first draft!

3. Reading frenzy:

I'm a slow reader, but I managed to read 16 books in the past 2 months. Here are some favorites that stood out:

Open Season, by C.J. Box (first of the Joe Pickett game warden mystery series set in Wyoming)

Tell No One, by Harlan Coben (a thriller about a deadly secret)

Zuzu's Petals, by Lauren Ward Larsen (a chilling story of surviving preeclampsia and the uplifting story of second chances)

The Ghosts of Belfast, by Stuart Neville (a noir treatment of guilt)

4. Gone, painting:

Look out, world, I've discovered that talent is not a prerequisite to paint. Like writing, talent helps, but practice is critical. So...working on that! Here's my first painting:

CARIBBEAN, again!

2011-01-23T10:04:00.001-08:00

Heck, I don't mind going back to the Caribbean, especially in the dead of winter. Someone's got to fill those mega-cruise ships, right? Here are some of my favorite activities:

1. reading on deck

2. soaking up tropical beauty

3. shopping, till Al drops

Can't wait for next time!

New Story Coming Soon!

2011-01-06T12:57:00.001-08:00

"The Seventh Sleeve of Tombaugh" is about a man who joins a mission to Pluto to escape the masses of humanity, only to find out the secret truth about Pluto and what this secret will mean to humanity's future.

This is the story I sold while being a writer on the road (see my post from October 28, 2010). Look for it soon in the anthology Alien Aberrations, which should be available from your favorite bookstore.

ALIEN ABERRATIONS, edited by Stephen R. Pastore

Original cover art by Stephen Bryant

Publisher: Grand Mal Press

http://www.grandmalpress.com/

ISBN: 9780982945919

The Table of Contents:

The Greylings' Song by Allison Littlewood
Omega by Randy Chandler
Second Chance by Zoot Campbell
What Lies Beneath by Faith Kauwe
The Nuclear Lamentation by David Dunwoody
The Seventh Sleeve of Tombaugh by Rebecca S.W. Bates
The Kleptos by Ryan C. Thomas
Greetings by John Bushore
Sunnyville by Alex Leopardi
Love Cubed by Jay French
Pokey Bear by Y.B. Cats
One Hunch is as Good As Another by Patrick Rutigliano
The Nest by Gregory L. Norris
Allies by Christopher Daonahue
Getting Used To It by Patrick Flanagan

Winner!

2010-12-06T09:10:00.001-08:00

Here's a brief summary of my NaNoWriMo experience last month:

week 1: FUN! Story and characters flow out of my head.

week 2: BORING -- I want to be almost anyplace except entering the middle of my story.

week 3: DESPAIR -- Story morphs, and I hope like heck I can find my idea again in the midst of so much garbage.

week 4: PANIC -- The end is in sight, but it looks farther away than ever before, and furthermore, I haven't a clue anymore what I'm writing.

Then, as if by magic, the words flowed into my story for a total of 50,303 words. (Magic is what I love about writing!) I had enough words to win the challenge, but...

The book is not finished.

I will let it simmer, then do the necessary research, and then fill in the gaps. I'm calling the book The Amazon Henge. It's a time-travel, female Indiana Jones sort of story.

NaNoWriMo: approaching the finish line

2010-11-27T08:50:00.000-08:00

With less than a week left of this novel writing challenge in a month, I am almost on target with my word count at 44,000. To my surprise, I am finding the last 6,000 words to be much harder than I expected. I am out of story. I desperately need to research! My characters have changed on me, to the point that I don't know who they are anymore. My plot has taken some surprising twists, morphing into a story that I hadn't planned. I'm ready to take a breath, and let this story rest for a bit, but I still have 6,000 more words to fathom from the great unknown.

NaNoWriMo: a midway report

2010-11-15T09:04:00.000-08:00

November is National Novel Writing Month, and in a moment of blind optimism only two days before kick-off, I decided to take the challenge. Now I have to write 50,000 words this month!

Why sign on? Because..

1. It's a way to kick one of my novel ideas out of my head (I have 9 full-blown ideas that I seriously want to write, sooner rather than later--see my July post on "Starting a Novel--part 1"). I had no idea in July that I would end up doing this.

2. It's fun. I get to tell myself a story, while each day I don't know exactly where the story is going to take me, or who's going to show up in it.

3. It's hard.

"The book is stupid," Critical Voice whines in my head.

"Shut up, just type." I don't have time to listen to CV because I have too many words to type.

Choosing a hard writerly challenge always helps me grow as a writer.

So far I have 22,000 words, not quite half-way to my goal. So, can I get all the way to 50,000 words in just 15 more days? Beats me!

"Crawlers" Is Here!

2010-11-05T09:16:00.000-07:00

I just received my contributor's copy of Infradead, a trade paperback anthology that contains my novella "Crawlers." This anthology deals with human extinction, and here's what the cover copy says:

Does the world end with a whimper or a bang?
2012: the Maya calendar expires
2029: an asteroid takes aim at the Earth
Or . . .
Could a mistake during time travel destroy contemporary human civilization?
How would Satan tempt the last woman on Earth?
Will robots replace humans?
Have the gods played a practical joke?
Could the next step in evolution change our species?
Did someone lose a bet?
The stories in this book are about the "or."

"Crawlers" is about changing our species. The story starts with stealing wildflower seeds from an ecologically devastated Rocky Mountains and progresses through colonization of Mars, where experiments should help restore Earth's ecology. And then, things go terribly wrong...

Infradead is available from Sam's Dot Publishing for $12.00, and you can find it here:

http://www.samsdotpublishing.com/purchasecenter/anthologies.htm

Favorite Reading: October

2010-11-01T21:15:00.000-07:00

China Lake, by Meg Gardiner.

A thriller about a lawyer-turned-writer in Santa Barbara, California who has to save her nephew from fanatics acting under the guise of religious extremism.

My mystery book group read this, and I loved it because it's full of action, fun, and surprises--just what a thriller should have!

I also enjoy short stories, and one that stood out for me was "Uncle Moon in Raintree Hills," by Fred Chappell, in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Sept/Oct, 2010. I loved the way this story evokes the vivid imagination of childhood along with the smells of autumn in the countryside, all rolled up with just enough creep factor.

Fodder from DC

2010-10-30T10:21:00.001-07:00

Every time I travel to the DC area I see new sights, and I gain more fodder for future stories. Here are some of the places that especially struck me on my latest trip there:

The Carlyle House in Alexandria is a good place for ghost hunters to see orbs.

The clock tower of city hall in Alexandria where justice was served in days long past by displaying the decapitated heads of criminals.

The Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial didn't open until 1997! Set along the Tidal Basin, it's a peaceful series of fountains and statues and some of his timeless quotes.

A blind selection of remains inside identical coffins led to a single unknown soldier for each of three wars, WWI, WWII, and Korean (there are no unknowns from Vietnam) (and... the unknown from the Revolutionary War is buried in a churchyard in Alexandria).

Robert E. Lee's home was seized by Union soldiers and eventually became the site for Arlington National Cemetery.

Writer on the Road

2010-10-28T10:13:00.000-07:00

Washington DC is a national treasure, and not just because some of my family lives there (although that's a good reason!) I just returned from two weeks there, babysitting my 6-month-old granddaughter. I write every day, even on the road, even if it's only a paragraph, which is about all that I managed to do while baby was cutting her first tooth. Boy, did my biceps get a great workout!

Then, exciting writer news: a request for a rewrite for one of my short story submissions. It only took three days of baby catnaps to finish the changes. Thanks to the internet, the story is now approved, never mind that I was on the road.

New Story Coming Soon!

2010-10-06T05:52:00.001-07:00

Any day now, my novella "Crawlers" will appear in the anthology Infradead, to be published by Sam's Dot. You can follow its status here:

http://www.samsdotpublishing.com/

The theme of this anthology is the end of civilization, and my story explores how this might happen in connection to explorations on Mars. The Mars connection coincides with a massive burn-off in our Rocky Mountains. Here's what this might look like, from a recent hike I took in an area of pine beetle kill:

Favorite Stories This Month

2010-09-30T18:07:00.000-07:00

Geoffrey A. Landis, "The Sultan of the Clouds," Asimov's, September 2010.

Imagine, if a handful of families own the solar system, and the ruling sultan of Venus invites you to his floating city in the clouds? Reading this novella made me feel as if I journeyed to Venus and explored its culture.

Kristine Kathryn Rusch, "Red Letter Day," Analog, September 2010.

Students receive red letters (or not) shortly before their graduation, and these letters are shatteringly important because they're from... No, I won't spoil it!

Fourmile Fire

2010-09-08T07:49:00.001-07:00

We were gardening Labor Day morning when we first smelled smoke. The fire started about 4 miles due west of our house. Because of high winds, we were soon engulfed in smoke.

The air took on an orange cast, and we watched ash rain down on our deck.

By late afternoon the smoke cleared a bit. About 3500 acres burned that first day.

Tuesday morning the smoke came back, so thick that it grounded the fleet of slurry bombers and helicopters until noon. 7100 acres and at least 63 buildings had burned.

The area of evacuation spread to a rough quadrangle shape that's about 6 miles north-south and 12 miles east-west. The boundaries are Boulder Canyon to the south, Lefthand Canyon to the north, the foothills to the east, and the Peak to Peak Highway to the west.

Tuesday afternoon a fleet of 9 water tankers was in the air again. Helicopters buzzed our house every 7 minutes, scooping water from our neighborhood lake to carry across the ridge to the fire.

This morning the fire is still 0% contained. It has crept north and east, coming about 2 miles from our house. 92 burned buildings have been counted so far.

Best Reading

2010-09-01T18:22:00.000-07:00

In August, the book that stood out for me was the book my mystery reading club read:

Thunder Bay, by William Kent Krueger. Private Detective Cork O'Connor searches for the son of his friend Henry, an Ojibwe medicine man. His search leads him into the beautiful back country around the Minnesota-Canadian border and back into the 1920's when Henry was a young guide.

I loved this book on many levels. The sense of place is spectacularly drawn, the history is fascinating, and the love story is so tender! Maybe even more interesting were the parallel stories about being a dad.

AMAZING ALASKA! Juneau to Ketchikan

2010-08-27T20:02:00.001-07:00

Continuing with my top choices...

The most upside-down trees: in the rainforest of Tongass

The most photographed glacier: Mendenhall, outside Juneau

The most impossible state capital to drive to: Juneau, which has no roads in or out.

The biggest catch: grabbing your float plane.

The fishiest street: salmon swim up Ketchikan's Creek Street, where bootleggers used to deliver goods by boat through trap doors under the buildings.

AMAZING ALASKA! Glacier Bay to Skagway

2010-08-26T18:41:00.000-07:00

Continuing with my top choices...

Superlative scenery: Glacier Bay, balmy at 57 degrees F

The hardiest souls: fish wheels count salmon for the fishermen who sustain themselves over the winter with their yearly catch.

Most majestic bird: bald eagles come to this sanctuary for the salmon fishing, too.

The best graffiti: ship captains who've docked at Skagway's wharf

The most scenic fjord: this is what glaciers leave behind when they retreat.

To be continued...

AMAZING ALASKA! Whittier to the Inside Passage

2010-08-25T19:42:00.000-07:00

Continuing with my top choices:

The quietest sailaway

Most OMG moment: here come the icebergs!

Yikes! Can the captain really sail this ship through 1,000-year-old ice?

Most haunting sound: the thunder of calving icebergs from Hubbard Glacier.

The prettiest fog

To be continued...

AMAZING ALASKA! Mt. McKinley to Whittier

2010-08-24T18:18:00.000-07:00

Continuing with my list of top choices...

The most watched clouds: Mt. McKinley is under there somewhere.

The best wildflowers: fields and fields of fireweed!

The most cooperative neighborhood: they share a runway in their backyards.

The most critical timing: trains and cars all use the same one-way tunnel under the mountain from Cook Inlet to Whittier.

The best delay: the ship waits for us, and we're only 2 hours late!

To be continued...

AMAZING ALASKA! Fairbanks to Denali

2010-08-23T11:49:00.001-07:00

We recently returned from a 2-week "cruise-tour" of Alaska. We flew to Fairbanks, where we caught the train to Denali National Park, then continued south to Whittier to board the cruise ship and sail the inside passage to Vancouver. Here's my list of top choices during the first leg of our journey:

Best meal: asiago-crusted halibut and Alaska Pale Ale on a deck at the Fairbanks Princess Lodge, where we overlooked the river and watched sternwheelers plow by and float planes land and take off.

Most eager athletes: sled dogs pull a tractor during the off-season.

Most confusing directions: where the pipeline has to surface because of discontinuous permafrost.

The longest train: yes, that's the engine of our train, rounding the bend ahead, on our way into Denali National Park.

Most impressive animals: grizzlies in Denali (I know, I know, it's not moose!) This mama and her two two-year-old cubs romped about 50 yards away from our park bus, fighting over a small, 4-legged meal. Mama won.

To be continued...

Celebrating the Colorado Book Awards

2010-07-09T08:19:00.001-07:00

I read a portion of my story from the CBA finalist anthology, Broken Links, Mended Lives to a happy hour audience at Baur's in downtown Denver. Five other finalists read from their works, too. Thanks to so many of my friends who showed up, the readings were a fun event!

We took the scenic route over Independence Pass on our way to Aspen, where the awards were presented. My anthology didn't win, but we enjoyed hearing the results and hearing the speakers, who included the mayors of Aspen and Denver. Thanks for everyone's support, and to my neighbors who joined us there!

To see a list of the 2010 winners of the Colorado Book Awards, go to this website:

http://www.coloradohumanities.org/content/2010-colorado-book-awards-winners-announced

ON STARTING A NEW BOOK--part 1

2010-07-02T10:39:00.000-07:00

I'm feeling the urge to start a new book, and I thought it'd be fun to log the process here. Right now I have no idea what book will develop from this urge, or when I'll finish the project.

The first step of the process is recognizing the need to start. It's an addiction, this need to write. This urge starts almost as a hunger pang, a sense of being incomplete. What this means today is that I will have to clear (most of) the projects from my desk. Then I'll have to sift through my ideas (currently there are 9 burning my brain), then research, then find my story. If all goes well, I should be able to start writing the first draft of this unknown book in January.

Colorado Book Award--Finalist!

2010-05-19T06:45:00.000-07:00

My short story "Losing the Light" appears in Broken Links, Mended Lives. This anthology is a finalist for the Colorado Book Award! These awards, presented by Colorado Humanities and Center for the Book, will be announced June 25th at the Aspen Summer Words Literary Festival.

The anthology's theme is the same as its title. My story is about an intergalactic pilot who travels by transforming to light...until she's recalled from duty, to be replaced by a newer version.

In anticipation of the Colorado Book Awards, there will be a series of readings. I'm scheduled along with other popular fiction finalists on:

June 16, 2010

at 5:00 pm

at Baur's Italian Restaurant, 1512 Curtis Street, in Denver, CO

Waiting for the New Grandbaby!

2010-04-11T17:49:00.000-07:00

This is the post I should've posted the end of March. Instead, I got to plant tomato seeds with my two-year-old granddaughter while we awaited the birth of her little sis.

The cats only come out when the children are away.

Writing Workshop

2010-03-05T13:34:00.000-08:00

I've just returned from another round of fabulous workshops, and people often ask me why on earth do I keep going back? Didn't I learn it the first time?

Well, not exactly. Here's what it's really all about:

1. I don't have to cook, find lost household items, or clean the litter box back home, while instead

2. I enjoy the beautiful Oregon coast and

3. get to hang out with like-minded folks and discuss devious things to do to characters while

4. light bulbs are going off in my foggy head, and I find myself in a candy store of ideas(!!) and then

5. I return home with several finished new stories, and most importantly

6. I'm fired up to tackle new projects and new ways of doing them!

New Story Out!

2010-02-05T12:14:00.000-08:00

My short story, "Flour Power," appears in the February issue of Sorcerous Signals. You can find it here: http://www.sorceroussignals.com/FlourPower.html

This is a story about a wizard caterer in Washington D.C. It bubbled up from my imagination after hearing tales from my daughter, who worked for a high-end caterer in D.C.

I usually practice new techniques with each short story, and with this one, I was experimenting with structure. So I tried switching the order of the beginning and ending, as a sort of reflection of playing with reality.

Bon appetit!

Caribbean Cruising--7 reasons why this is one of my favorite vacations:

2010-02-01T13:53:00.000-08:00

1. We leave winter behind as we sail away.

2. We are pampered in decadence aboard ship.

Our cabin

steward makes art with our towels.

3. I get to sit on a beach and ponder:

how many shades of blue are there in the Caribbean Sea?

4. Flowers! And more flowers! And palm

trees! And...um?

Barbados

5. It's colorful and cheery.

Dominica

6. We get vistas like these:

Martinique

Sint Maarten

And sunsets, oh my!

7. I always learn something new. This is a ruined sugar mill from the 19th century. Slaves gave their lives to run this unreported mill on a sugar plantation on St. Martin.

The Wedding Dress

2010-01-03T10:41:00.001-08:00

When my daughter asked me to make her wedding dress, what other answer could there possibly be but YES!!!? Never mind that I'd never made a wedding dress before, or that she and I live on different continents.

The process:

19 months Before Wedding: Em tries on dresses from bridal stores and picks the various features she likes.
12 months BW: I draw a new pattern, combining features from four different commercial patterns.
8 months BW: the muslin version fits!
7 months BW: the first silk version doesn't fit, but no problem, because Em moves in with us while working out visa issues.
5 months BW: sewing machine breaks; new part has to be ordered from Switzerland. Can't wait for that, so I buy a whole new machine.
4 months BW: learning to use the new machine.
3 months BW: despair sets in somewhere around the fifth silk version that still doesn't fit, but in different places. I get a tip from a costume designer friend about the wonders of fabric glue.
1 month BW: we consider buying a dress off the rack but reject that idea because I'd have to alter it, since it's now too late to hire anyone else.
2 weeks BW: the eighth version fits!

Biggest challenge:
Combining a size 14 bodice with a size 8 skirt in a smooth seam.

How I fixed it:
I trimmed the sides of the bodice and added a chiffon band that connected to the back waist.