BSG--2009, really? Random thoughts and exclamations on the half-season finale.

I finally got around to watching the half-season finale of Battlestar Galactica on Monday night. I put it off because I knew it would be the last new one for a LONG time. It just about killed me, though, because that meant I had to skip all the online reviews and discussions (of which there were many) of said episode until I could watch it. I knew, though, from the sheer number of discussions that it was either really good or really bad.

 

Okay, so here's your warning...stop reading now if you don't want to know what happens. Also, this entry is really long. : )

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So...wow. Holy crap. They made it to Earth. And we still have TEN episodes (in 2009--thanks a lot, Sci Fi Channel) left. I'm so glad the writers/producers did not do the thing where it's the last two minutes of the final, final episode and we see Earth gleaming in the distance. Ugh. That would have been sucky. Instead, the last, what, ten minutes of this episode blew my mind. 

 

The end.

When the entire fleet jumped into orbit around Earth, I got chills. Though, a little voice in the back of my head whispered, "If we were there, we'd be firing on them already." I mean, seriously, thirty or forty alien ships suddenly appear in orbit? Um, yeah, talk about reaching for the panic button.

 

It was not, then, such a great shock that Earth, or what might be Earth or what might be Earth but not our Earth, was destroyed and seemingly abandoned. Have I mentioned that the scene at the end of Planet of the Apes with the Statue of Liberty is one of my favorites? This scene in BSG did not just ring a familiar bell, it shook the entire freaking bell tower. I LOVED that. Of course, as you know, I do enjoy the post-apocolyptic stuff. I also think it was interesting in that it drew us, the viewers in deeper. We are now part of the mystery. What happened to "us"? Assuming that is our Earth.

 

Some people had a beef with them going to the planet's surface when they clearly could have seen the devastation (and taken readings of the radiation) from their ships.

But here's the thing:

 

You've been on the run for three long years, on the trail of the perhaps mythical thirteenth colony and their planet Earth, and, more importantly, being manipulated into reaching said destination by some unknown Force(s)...hell, yes, I'm going down there and getting out of my Raptor to find out what HAPPENED. Some clue as to why this empty and now lifeless planet is so important. Some reason why we've been so horribly mislead and deceived by a thousand different clues and a few prophetic leaders. And...maybe a giant sign with an arrow pointing toward Mars and the Earth colony there? Just kidding...I think.

 

I would imagine they would begin to wonder if they were following old clues. Things put in place thousands of years before when people still lived there. There are some who believe Starbuck is somehow responsible for the destruction of Earth given that she saw it as it was supposed to be back when she disappeared for, oh, four months. She even claimed to have been on the planet's surface, I believe. 

 

But she wouldn't have destroyed Earth intentionally--at least not the Starbuck we know. Which means either an accident or some other party involved. Or, as some people have mentioned, time travel. 

 

I don't actually care to speculate. I know it will be explained. That is one thing that BSG does fairly well is answer the questions they bring up or at least acknowledge that they haven't answered them. Which brings me to another favorite moment in this episode...

 

Tigh "comes out" as a Cylon to Adama.

The whole time this was happening, I was on the edge of my seat, waiting for them to pull back, to fake us out, but nope. I loved it. It was as perfect for the situation (the plot) as it was for the character. Tigh is okay with being killed for being a Cylon. He probably thinks he deserves it even though he's never done anything (as far as I can remember) to ally himself with that side of things. Other than sleeping with Caprica-6, obviously.

 

The best part, though, was Adama asking the questions we've been asking ourselves. Tigh has aged. Cylons don't age. Adama remembers him from years before skinjobs even existed. How is that even possible?

 

I'd like to know these things too. Did they make a copy of the real Tigh and replace him? That's the only logical explanation I can think of. (Which surely means that is not the right answer). They've persisted in the theme of the final five Cylons being special, revered. That, plus the numbering system they have going on implies that the five were created at the same time as the other seven. Or at least, not much earlier. So, Tigh the Cylon couldn't have existed forty some years ago during the original Cylon war...right?

 

The writers/producers brought up the right questions, which I think help renews faith and the willingness to follow them just a bit further, even if they didn't answer the questions. This technique, I learned, is called hanging a lantern on it. "You address the plausibility problem by highlighting it" is how John August explains it in his blog.

In this case, though, I'm assuming, they're actually going to come through with an answer at some point rather than just shrug it off to "Who knows? You never know how those crazy Cylons work."

 

Making it worse.

There's an axiom about writing as it pertains to story--"Always make it worse." Back the character into a corner, take away all of his options, and then make it even worse. The BSG writers/producers do that, but they've refined the concept.

 

Because it's not always JUST about making it worse. It's a fine and delicate art of give and take. You can't keep taking and taking and taking or else people stop caring. They know it's never going to get better. They give up. Readers and viewers alike, in real life and fiction. But this...this is exquisite torture. Hope makes you vulnerable, makes you care what's going to happen. And they give you hope for a solution on one problem (Earth dangling out there like the proverbial oasis in the desert and the tentative Cylon/human truce) right before they yank it away on another front (the prize you've all been killing for is one big burned out wasteland, ha, ha, still want to fight over it?).

 

That balance between hope and despair, that's what I want to study and learn from.

 

Random Stuff.

Much has been made about Chief Tyrol not having a lot to do after going crazy with finding out he's a Cylon and Callie dying. And he didn't even have many lines in this episode, but you know what, the expressions on his face when they came to get him and Sam and on the planet's surface...they said it all. The man, Aaron Douglas, can communicate more with a look than others could with ten pages of dialogue. In particular, his face while they're on the planet...that sort of "of course, it's a dead planet, a dead end, after all of this" grim amusement, gallows humor. I think he actually laughs, though you don't hear it. Fan-freaking-tastic.

 

Actually, for that matter, all of them on the planet's surface deserve Emmys for those ten minutes, if nothing else. You could watch just that part of this episode and be impressed and moved, for that matter.

 

And finally...much as I hate myself for it and know that I'll regret it, I'm starting to believe in Baltar's transformation. I know he'll revert. I know it. And yet, I can't help but think he's sincere on some of this even if he doesn't completely understand it.

 

Anyway...anybody else have any thoughts on this?

 

Ask and ye shall receive--this is so cool!

Laurie Viera Rigler, author of Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict, a book that I absolutely LOVED, read my post last week about Regency bathroom etiquette and emailed me some answers. How cool! : )

Here's what she had to say:

"I do know that dining rooms often had chamberpots concealed in sideboards or, as in One Royal Crescent, Bath, which is a fascinating house-museum open to the public and furnished as it would have been in Georgian times, there is a chamberpot concealed behind a folding screen. One imagines that when the ladies withdrew to the drawing room after dinner, the men would take that opportunity to relieve themselves. Perhaps the drawing room had similar accomodations for the ladies. Or perhaps the ladies might also have had access to the dressing closet (dressing room) belonging to the mistress of the house. There was also a house-museum from that era that I visited in London, which had a ground-floor water closet. Although an early form of water closet existed then, the chamberpot was still very much in use."

Chamberpots in the dining room! How fascinating...and kind of icky!!! But I love that the decorum of the era is preserved in that men most likely waited until women left the room to use the "facilities." : ) Very hard to be charmed by someone at dinner if all that is going on while you're still in the room, I would imagine.

Thank you, Laurie, for sending me the info and letting me share it here! You rock!!! : )

If you haven't read Laurie's book yet, you're missing out on a rare treat. (Beck, I know you'll love it, my fellow Jane Austen addict). You can read what I wrote about it here.

Antiques Roadshow and Regency Bathroom Etiquette

The other day I flipped on the television (actually, I pressed a button, "flipping" is an anachronism, isn't that sad?) and found myself drawn to Antiques Roadshow. I love that show, especially when it's furniture, books, creepy dolls, etc. I usually place things in history using two factors: Is it before or after the Civil War and/or was Jane Austen alive when said item was in use?

This particular episode contained what one of the curator-type guys said was the top of the line in bathrooms in about 1815 or 1820. Jane died in 1817, so I paid attention. It was basically a cabinet with a marble top for the washing basin and then two spaces beneath: one for the chamberpot and one for the bidet. Ew and eeeew. He also mentioned something that I already knew, thanks to historical romance novels, but never really thought much about: they didn't have a separate room for bathrooms back in those days. They just had chamberpots, and whatever else was needed, in the bedrooms.

So, then I started thinking about it...what did you do when you were over at someone else's house and the need arose? I mean, in Jane Austen's books, they are forever going somewhere for tea or to balls that seem to last most of the night. Surely, owners don't have people tramping up to the bedrooms to use the chamberpots, right? Are there guest chamberpots? Is it like china--do you bring out the good ones for company? And I'm fascinated by this whole question, mainly because that era seems so decorous and civilized. Asking for a chamberpot as a day guest (not someone spending the night because then, presumably, you'd have your own room and all its accommodations), that seems so...uncouth.

Believe it or not, I just googled "bathroom etiquette regency period." Didn't find out anything. Does anyone know how this would have worked? Just morbidly curious, not planning on writing a historical novel of any kind.

No A/C

We're now at Day 4 of no air conditioning and for those keeping score at home, it was a blistering 90 degrees today. Fun. I just finished a very intense debate with myself about which sleeping outfit would keep me the coolest without scandalizing the neighbors who are sure to glimpse me through an open window (all of them are open now) at some point tonight. Ugh. I hate trying to sleep when it's hot.

When I lived in Hillsboro, Illinois, grades 4-8, I had the coolest room. It was in the attic, all the walls were slanted at sharp angles and there essentially was no ceiling, just a peak. It was like living in the center of a bunch of triangles. Anyway, in addition to having to walk very carefully over part of the floor--it wasn't reinforced and I was basically striding on the dining room ceiling--there was no air conditioning. You'd think that just one room without a/c in a whole house with a/c wouldn't be that bad. Trust me. It was bad.

However, after years of living air conditioned refinery, I've found I forgotten how nice it is to hear the crickets and frogs chirping outside, feel a slightly cooler breeze bringing welcome relief...and to wake up with a completely stuffy nose and sinus headache, thanks to allergies. Well, okay, the last part is not so great. : )

The a/c repair person is coming tomorrow. At 7:00 a.m. Seriously. Talk about adding insult to injury. Right about that time, it will finally be getting cool enough to start sleeping.

Miss you, Snowy. Every day.

Bitter Pill and Printers Row

I should have copies of Bitter Pill this weekend. I'm so excited! For those of you in the Chicago area, I will be at Printers Row this weekend, signing copies of Eye of the Beholder and Bitter Pill. Printers Row is the big book festival held in the city at Dearborn and Polk on Saturday, June 7 and Sunday, June 8. Come and see me! Please? : )

Thank you!

Just a quick note to say thank you to everyone who posted on Barbara's blog about The Silver Spoon!

 

You are awesome!!! : )

The Silver Spoon on Beyond Her Book blog

The Silver Spoon is among today's book blurbs on Barbara Vey's blog on Publishers Weekly. Woohoo--I'm so pleased! This is big-time exposure, in a good way! You can check it out here:

http://www.publishersweekly.com/blog/880000288/post/1580027158.html

Please comment on the blog entry, if you feel so moved! : )

More Bitter Pill news! New excerpts, too.

Awesome new review quote for Bitter Pill!

"Stacey Klemstein writes in a charming 'you are there' way, such that you feel as if you are traveling with Rennie…tasting, smelling, and touching. You are no longer just reading a book, you are transported…Excellent! I give it a 5!"
–Cynthia Lea Clark, Psy.D., FMAM Review Coordinator

Also, I posted Chapters Two and Three of Bitter Pill. Jake Bristol, the former bad boy turned very hot (and married) sheriff, makes an appearance in these new chapters. So go check them out! : )

The Host

I inhale books. I devour them at a startling (and expensive) rate. However, I bought The Host on the day it came out and within a chapter of starting, I forced myself to slow down, to savor. I finally finished it Sunday afternoon. I admit, I'm a fan of Stephenie Meyer's YA Twilight series, and so I expected to like this new science fiction novel for adults...but I never expected to like it quite this much. Wow. I've already gone back and re-read particular sections of it, meaning I've nearly read the darn thing twice already!

 

Looking at it objectively, it hits a lot of my interest points. It's set after the demise of most of the human race (in a fashion). It's earth-based science. Two compelling personalities are caught in a conflicting situation they can't escape (two "people" in one body--long story, ha!) And the most interesting love triangle (of sorts--kind of a love quadrangle, really) I've read about in years.

 

It's good. Really, really good.

 

Some of the best earth-based science fiction romance I've ever read.

 

Has anyone else read it yet? What are your thoughts?

 

 

Bitter Pill is on Amazon!

Woohoo!

 

Bitter Pill is now on Amazon! It's showing as pre-order status, so should you be interested, please go forth and pre-order.  Yea!!!!

Book Buffet

Haven't been feeling well this week, so I have gorged myself on books. Yum!

 

Fabulous ones you should check out include:

 

Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict--Modern woman travels back in time to live during Jane Austen's lifetime. It's fun and funny...and that says a lot coming from me, one who hates nearly all books that try to imitate Jane Austen's style or even borrow her characters--ugh. (She is inimitable! Not because she's perfect or anything, but because I can feel the difference when I try to read those other books. It's like eating Hydrox instead of Oreos. Looks similar, even smells similar but one tastes better than the other. You know what I mean, right?)

 

I guess that's what works for me here. It's a modern woman's perspective so it doesn't seem so jarring, and she's not imitating. She's providing her own take on things. Plus, I think the author really did her research. I like that she doesn't gloss over the parts that would have been less than romantic--horse poop on the streets, body odor, blood letting as a medically acceptable practice, bathing once a week (if that).

 

Interesting to see that the reviews on Amazon are so disparate. Count me in the "love it--five stars" group.

 

New Moon: Second book in the Twilight series. I'm a big dummy because after reading (and LOVING) Twilight a few years ago, I read a review of this book that gave it low marks because Edward (the hero) was absent from most of it. Yeah, but after reading it, that's the whole point! It's agonizing and heart breaking and wonderful! I'm SO sorry that I waited years to read it.

 

Eclipse: Third book in the series. The second one is still my favorite so far just because of the strong emotions and how well they are described, but this one...wow! I'm dying for the fourth book to be released and it's not coming out until August!

 

Please don't let the fact that Twilight is YA series put you off. It is fabulous! I've rarely been moved by any book as I have by this series.

 

And here, just because, hey, this is multi-media experience, visit the official movie website and watch the trailer--be warned, though, the trailer comes on automatically so the sound will be playing. Apparently, the guy playing Edward is the same young actor who played Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter IV. His hair is weird, though. Hope that doesn't distract me during the movie. I LOVE the poster.

 

Bitter Pill--Coming soon!

I'm reading/proofing the galleys for Bitter Pill, and it's so much fun! This book, unlike many of my others, poured out of my fingertips. At least the first draft did. Fixing it--making it less obvious who the killer was, adding in essential subplots and other suspects--took a lot longer, of course! So much so that I almost despaired of ever seeing it finished and in print.

 

But here we are, several years later, and BP will be debuting in a few weeks at Chicago's Printers Row. Very exciting! The galley went out for reviews last week, and we're already starting to get some responses back.

 

Here's one of the first reviews:

 

"Rennie is creative, intelligent, and witty….draws the reader into Morrisville and keeps the reader wanting more. A stunning development of the thought provoking plot and motive." --Devlynne Livres, Independent Reviewer

 

 

Yea! : )

Tagged!

Okay, Isabo Kelly has tagged me with a meme that requires I share six quirky things about myself. This should not be hard...for me. For you as the one who has to read them...not sure!

1) I am afraid of birds. Little birds especially. Sparrows creep me out! It is the one thing I disliked about Hawaii--all the birds in the outdoor restaurants. *shudder* And before you ask, no, I've never seen The Birds. This is a phobia passed down from my mother who once was chased by headless chicken--no lie, she grew up on a farm, and chickens really do run around with their heads chopped off. Since then, birds have always freaked her out, and I "inherited" that phobia.

2) Oh, let's see...this one was just shared at RT--much to my chagrin and everyone else's delight--so probably no harm in spreading the story further. I'm a science fiction romance writer, among other things. That means there are, occasionally, sex scenes in the story. No problem. I just can't write them on Sunday. My father is a Lutheran minister. Sunday is just not appropriate for that kind of writing--at least that's what my panicky little brain keeps shouting at me! So, if I'm approaching a "heated" scene on Saturday night, I have to either hurry up and finish it (*snort*) or hold off until Monday. Yes, I know I'm a freak. (And yes, I have tried to force myself to write it on Sunday...it just doesn't work).

3) Apparently, people are very afraid to borrow books from me. I don't break the spine, fold the pages or even bend back the cover while I'm reading. I've been told that some borrowers have barely resisted the urge to wear gloves while reading a book on loan from me for fear that I'd be upset by the fingerprints on the glossy cover. I'm not that particular, really...those cover smudges clean up very easily with a soft cloth. What?

4) I can't stand it when I take off my shoes and one of them tips over on its side or even upside down. I have to fix it...immediately. This is problem, considering we have two big dogs who are constantly running through the house tipping over my previously perfectly aligned and upright shoes.

5) If there's a disease out there, I've worried that I have it. 'Nuff said.

6) I don't allow people to touch or use my writing computer (which is my desktop, not my laptop...laptop is open territory) except in case of repair. Even then, the keys, mouse and screen must be wiped down. It's not a germ thing, but an "invaded space" thing. Same goes for my pens. It takes me a long time to find pens that I love and want to use regularly. Once I find them, they become my "good pens." I actually carry extra pens in my purse that I can loan out. But if I forget to pack spares, I will lie my little head off if you ask for a pen and the only one I have is my "good one." (Isabo Kelly's promo pen is currently one of my good pens--it's awesome, nice weight to it, good grip, medium nib...love it!)

Now, do I have any friends left after that lovely recitation of weirdness? I'm tagging Lisa Shearin and Cindy Holby (oops, she's already been tagged). : )

I know her!

My friend and fantasy author Lisa Shearin has an interview up on Scifi.com! Woohoo!!!

the people in my head

Along the lines of my previous post...this entry from author Marissa Scott cracked me up. I know we all sound a bit looney tunes when we talk about the voices and whispers in our head, but it happens and I think most of us love it...even though those people in your head can be quite demanding. Linnea Sinclair talks about writing Gabriel's Ghost in 34 days because Sully, the hero, just would not leave her alone.

I'll tell you what, though, it's like those old commercials for E.F. Hutton...when they talk, we listen! And take notes, usually...

*grin*

A note to Future Stacey...

I love writing! Duh, but still...

I've been playing with an idea for a week or so now, and I did not have a first name for the central person in the story. I already had an idea of what she looked like, even what she sounded like, but no name. In the past, I think I might have tried to force it. Or, the lack of a name might have bugged me enough to interfere with me exploring the various facets of the idea.

Sidenote: I do a lot of exploring for an idea before I ever "write" a word, which basically amounts to asking a lot of questions--of myself but also of the people whose story I've been charged with telling--and following the answers down different paths, checking out possibilities, until the right one appears. Other writers do this same thing in various ways. Often there are so many ways a story could go, you have to make sure you're understanding what you're being told before you start writing. At least, I do. It's my version of responsible journalism. : )

The idea of exploring an idea is akin to letting something simmer until boils over. I have to do the right amount of exploring until I'm practically bursting to write the story before I sit down and write. Trying to force it into happening faster or earlier is not a good idea. It means I haven't firmly settled on the right path. Some other paths are still possibly beckoning to me. That translates to an indecisive wreck of a writer, so I try not to do that.

Anyway, today, I was exploring, just playing, really as usual. (Exploring is my favorite phase, I think!) And the name I'd been waiting for was suddenly just there, whispered in my head and coming out of my pen. I love it when that happens. Right in the middle of the paragraph. Two sentences before I didn't know her name. Had to keep using generic pronouns. But then, there she was. I just freaking love that!!!

The lesson in this for me--because I use this blog to remind myself of important stuff I figure out about my process along the way--is that if I'd gotten all stiff and uptight about not knowing her name, it might never have happened that way or I might have tried to force something that just wasn't ready.

So, Future Stacey, explore and simmer away--there's value in it and you'll know when you've reached the boiling point.

Big Movie Weekend

Summer is movie season for us. We love going to the movies. Sometimes as often as once or twice a week. We kicked things off in a big way this weekend--two movies in three days!

 

 

We saw Forgetting Sarah Marshall on Friday night. Very funny. A little shocking with some of the male nudity, but it was played for laughs and it wasn't gross. Just...surprising. My favorite part was that Sarah Marshall wasn't written as an evil, vindictive person--as ex-girlfriends often are in the movies and television--but rather as just a confused and scared person who doesn't know how to find what she wants and who made some (really) bad choices along the way. (Her current boyfriend, the sleazy rock star guy, is very funny and ICK at the same time). As always because this is Judd Apatow movie, it's fun to see familiar people popping up. Jonah Hill as the maitre d' who keeps trying to give away his demo to the sleazy rock star guy. Paul Rudd as the perpetually stoned surf instructor. Of course, Hawaii was gorgeous and it made me "vacation-sick" to see it. ("Vacation-sick" being a similar condition to "home-sick" only with your favorite vacation spot). Mila Kunis, in the first role I've seen her in outside of Jackie on That 70's Show, was terrific and absolutely luminous.

 

 

 

Greg and I often have very different taste in movies. Unsurprisingly, he is not a fan of my Jane Austen-based movie collection. He prefers stuff like 300 and In the Name of the King--anything historical, battle-related or fantasy (dwarves, elves, etc.). In fact, if someone created a movie in which it is discovered that a big historical battle, say the Battle of Gettsyburg, was secretly fought by warring factions of dwarves and elves with the occasional dragon thrown in, he'd probably be thrilled. : ) (Hmmm, if I wrote fantasy...nope, can't do it.) 

 

 

 

Anyway, one area on which we usually agree are comic-book movies. It's action/adventure with super powers and a love story. LOVE it. We saw all three of the Spider-man movies on opening weekend. X-Men, Superman Returns, Batman, Fantastic Four--all of them.  So, it was last minute and with little discussion that we headed out to see Iron Man last night. We loved it! Funny, well-written, timely (given the subtle but still there anti-arms dealing message). Gwyneth Paltrow looked absolutely fabulous as a redhead and Robert Downey Junior MADE the movie. I mean, it would not have been as good with someone else in that role. It was excellent!!! So, go see it. I was skeptical at first, never having heard of Iron Man as a hero, but I think that makes it even better. : )

Test, this is only a test

Welcome, people in Facebook land. I think I figured out how to make these posts show up on my Facebook page. Unfortunately, it seems to be taking the latest 25 posts over and over again instead of just the most recent. So, I'm posting this to see what happens. : )

Weirdest place to get ideas...

One of the things I love about RT is getting together with other writers and finding out what works for them. Whether it's a certain type of computer, a method of editing or revising, or whatever...

This year, in many conversations, I kept hearing how many of us think of new story ideas, solutions for tricky scenes and good bits of dialogue whilst (do you like that? I'm feeling very anachronistic today) showering. I suspect it's because the environment is fairly relaxing, there are few (if any) distractions, and it's the rare bit bit of private time during which it's acceptable to stare off at nothing and think of random bits of things...unlike, say, when you're driving. : )

Anyway, fabulous fantasy author, Lisa Shearin, mentioned something about shower markers, so when I had a minute this week, I went a-Googling and found the following:

Crayola Bathtub Markers

Woot! If they have these in Target, I'm picking some up, just to give them a whirl. Though, knowing me, I won't want to erase what I've written until I've got it [the scene, the character's motivation, whatever] all worked out, so our shower doors could could become quite colorful over the course of a week or so!

Side note: I also found this blog entry, 10+ Things to do with Dry-Erase Markers, which I thought was great. I never would have thought of all the ways to use dry-erase markers and I LOVE them. Okay, so it doesn't exactly work for those shower brainstorm moments, but I like a lot of the ideas he has!

Anybody ever used tub markers at home? Do they come off easily enough? We have glass shower doors so that's what I'd be writing on...Thoughts?

What he said...

I've been writing long enough now to recognize that in every book there will be scenes that nearly kill you in the writing of them. It may not even be an emotional, climactic scene. I don't know why it is that some scenes do this--refuse to die, as I call it--and others don't. I can't even predict which ones are going to make me wrestle them to the ground and which ones will go quietly. I was intrigued, then, to discover that this happens to screenwriters as well and John August, whose blog I LOVE, talks about what he does to work through the scene. What I found most interesting is that the questions he asks himself are some of the same I use when I'm wrestling with a difficult scene. (And it is wrestling--sweaty, backbreaking, frustrating, so close to pinning it down and yet so far.) ETA: Not that it would be surprising for a novelist and a screenwriter to use similar questions, but I was surprised to find that many of the questions I sort of discovered on my own, after hours or days of head pounding against the wall struggling, are ones he has and uses as well. So...cool! I must be doing something right! : )

The following is from his blog entry called the Six Hour Scene:

After writing three comparatively easy scenes, I took another stab at it. I asked some obvious-but-necessary questions:

• Was I starting at the right place?
• Was I ending at the right place?
• Could another character drive the scene?
• Would changing the location help?
• Did it need to be two scenes, rather than one?
• Did the scene even need to exist?

The answers confirmed my frustration: it was the right scene. It was just a bitch to write.

Jump over to his site and read the whole entry. It's both interesting and helpful, a rare combination in the world of writing advice, IMO.

: )

Did I mention I met Fabio at RT?

Okay, technically, I didn't meet him so much as pass him in a little narrow hotel hallway. Only Lisa Shearin was brave enough to say hello! (Yea, Lisa!!!) He's better looking in person and SUPER tall. Or so it seemed to me. : )

On that topic, here's a link to a video about how they make romance novel covers (Thanks to Colby Hodge for the link! Watch for her book, Star Shadows, in the video.):
http://better.tv/bettertv/?cid=507869917&tid=1493152359

Stephenie Meyer

I loved Twilight. If you haven't read it, you must! It's romantic, beautiful and sexy...without being sexual. Not sure how to describe it. It's a novel about resisting, I guess, and there's much deliciousness in that. I loaned it to my sister a couple of summers ago, along with a few other books, and it was the only one that I put a post-it on the inside of the front cover (I do NOT write in books) that said, "Return Me to Stacey." She also has a really cool "adult" novel coming out in a couple of weeks called The Host. At RT, one of the booksellers had an advance (or is it advanced? I'm never sure) copy, and I was embarrassingly close to salivating over it. : )

 

Anyway, I was reading a very interesting article comparing her to J.K. Rowling on Time.com and found this quote, which I loved:

 

" And people do not want to just read Meyer's books; they want to climb inside them and live there...There's no literary term for the quality Twilight and Harry Potter (and The Lord of the Rings) share, but you know it when you see it: their worlds have a freestanding internal integrity that makes you feel as if you should be able to buy real estate there."

 

 

I love that quality about certain books and what I've read of Stephenie Meyers definitely has it. That is what I want for the books that I write. I want readers to care about the people that inhabit the pages and wish to visit them again and again...or possibly become neighbors. : )

 

RT in photos

Okay, here are photos from RT. Start from the bottom and scroll up. Yes, I know that's backward but it's late and I'm too tired to fix it! : )

Also, take a look at the Rebels of Romance videos on the RT home page. Days three and four are now up. They show snippets of the Mr. Romance competition and the giant book fair! They did a great job!!!

Walker on the floor in my writing room, relieved that Mommy is home after a week of being gone. : )

My favorite piece of SWAG from the RT registration bag--new mouse pad! : )

The gorgeous Chris Winters, Mr. Romance 2008, posing as one of Colby Hodge's heroes in the pose-down portion of the competition.

Aack, sorry this one is out of order. This is more from Isabo's baby shower! Authors Jade Lee, Lisa Shearin and Linnea Sinclair. Did I mention how much fun this baby shower was? : )

Authors J.C. Wilder and Isabo Kelly!

Isabo and me at the book fair. Doesn't her hat look absolutely fabulous? It is SO her! : )

Louise and yours truly at the book fair. (Thanks for the photo, Louise!)

Me, at the huge book fair on Saturday.

Isabo did her best Cousin Itt imitation! Had us in stitches. : )

Baby presents!

Author Isabo Kelly's baby shower. We had so much fun!

Another sideways one! Authors Leanna Renee Hieber and Marianne Mancusi dressed for the vampire ball. : )

Authors Isabo Kelly and Carolan Ivey having a chat in the bar.

One of the advantages of coming to RT early--prime positioning in Promo Alley. Linnea's materials are on the left and mine are on the right.

Sorry, this one is sideways and I don't know how to fix it! The hotel was under construction and this was a door they evidently didn't need anymore. I found it kind of creepy and

very Stephen King like!

Day 2 of RT: Author Colby Hodge is catching a ride down to the lobby on a luggage cart! : )

Want to see what RT is really like?

Check out these awesome videos made by authors Marianne Mancusi and Liz Maverick. Leanna Hieber, another fabulous strawberry blonde author and a new friend, also worked on these.

These videos give you a pretty good taste of the costumes, the chaos, and the crazy fun. In fact, you'll see me, for a very quick second, in the first video when they show a snippet of the Intergalactic Bar and Grille. I think Linnea is on stage, but I'm not sure. It goes by very quickly! Isabo Kelly, dear friend and fellow SFR author is interviewed, too! She looked fabulous. She was dressed as a (pregnant) ninja with a huge (plastic) sword across her back. Kick ass!

Greetings from Pittsburgh!

I'm here! I've been teaching at the pre-con workshops and catching up with my friends Linnea Sinclair, Colby Hodge, Isabo Kelly and meeting new people like Jennifer St. Giles.

 

Have I mentioned how much I love RT? Seriously. I was trying to explain it to my husband, but the feeling of community I experience here kind of defies my ability to adequately express it. Here, it's like I don't even have to explain what I'm going through or trying to figure out. Everyone here has either been through it, is currently experiencing it or has found a way around it. I LOVE that. I learn so much, even, or perhaps especially, when I'm teaching and listening to other authors on the panels. The closest thing I've experienced to this before was when I was in college and we were all going through many similar experiences at the same time and helping each other out. I just love feeling a part of this larger community. : ) Writing, as much as I love it, is sort of lonely sometimes.

 

Anyway, I arrived on Sunday afternoon and found both Linnea and Isabo at the airport. Cool beans! Never had that happen before. Of course, finding someone at O'Hare would be quite a different thing than at Pittsburgh's airport. : ) Colby picked us up at the airport and brought us to the hotel. Linnea heard about this fabulous restaurant, Palomino, so we all went Sunday night. I had one of the best meals I've had in a really long time there. Chicken Parmesan and garlic herb linguini, plus a vanilla apple como, of course. SO GOOD. Of course, we're working with hotel bar, trying to help them replicate this most fabulous drink, but no luck yet!

 

Yesterday, Linnea and I did a panel on Plotting and, as usual, enjoyed the hell out of it. We work so differently from one another and yet I think that only makes her feedback to me that much more valuable. We think differently, but we end up in the same place. I also spoke on a panel about Sensuality, which was interesting to see the range and scope of what that means these days from YA to erotica. Then another dinner at Palomino. Flatbread pizza and another vanilla apple cosmo.

 

Today was a panel on submitting and querying agents. After which, Isabo, Linnea, Colby and I headed out to do a little shopping. Had to stock up for the little mini-party we're having in Linnea's room tonight. We're assembling the goody bags for our Intergalactic Bar and Grille reader party tomorrow from 3:30-5:00. We had so much fun last year and there are so many cool giveaways this year, I wish I was eligible!

 

Okay, so that it's for now. I'm going to try to attach a picture of Colby and Linnea. We'll see if it works!

 

More later...

Quick update

Eye of the Beholder is now available on Fictionwise!

 

Yea! : )

 

http://www.fictionwise.com/eBooks/eBook66279.htm?cache

 

Will be updating my site as soon as I'm back in town.

Woo me with paper products...

As almost all of you know, I LOVE office supplies, journals, pens, all that kind of stuff. One of my favorite notebook purchases in the last year or so was a side flip notebook with different colored sections of graph paper instead of lined paper. After deciding to splurge on a new notebook earlier this week (and it is splurging when they're almost ten bucks a piece), I found one in a faux-leather that is full to the brim of graph paper. Love it. Like, my heart actually skipped a beat when I found it on the shelves at Barnes and Noble. I realized then that I'm obsessed with graph paper notebooks. Lined paper implies a right or wrong way of use. Graph paper says, "Look out, I might start going in circles, and it's okay."

 

Yes, I am a complete weirdo. I've come to grips with this fact.

 

Despite the fact that I love my new notebook, I'm almost afraid to write it in. Which is typically why I don't buy the kind that are more like books (faux-leather and perfect-bound rather than plastic and spiral) than notebooks. I feel guilty tearing pages out. But you know what, screw it. I don't want it to look perfect. I want it to be a useful tool, a place to gather all the thoughts that are running circles in my head, and it should have post it notes and scribbles and pages missing. It should look well-loved.

 

Ha, take that perfectionistic tendencies!

 

(Yeah, we'll see how long that lasts.)

The latest

All right, I know I'm WAY behind on blogging. For example, we had a book launch party/community mixer event on March 29 for Eye of The Beholder. Stacy G. took fun pictures for me, but they are not posted yet. Eek. I'm just very, very behind on everything. (And they're on the other computer, which I can't get at right now, so I can't post them now!)

 

I always forget how busy this time of year is. From about January through July or so, things are a little crazy with conferences and events, family stuff, etc. Right now, I'm in the midst of RT prep. Can't wait. Next week at this time, I'll be there in Pittsburgh. That seems so hard to believe! But I've got the plane tickets (rather, the email confirming them) and the hotel confirmation number (ditto), so I'm all set...sort of. I need to get my promo items to Pittsburgh. 200 earth-shaped stress balls. : ) Fellow SFR author and panelist, Colby Hodge, has generously offered to take them with her in her car, but I've got to get them boxed up in something other than the ratty and somewhat broken-down box they arrived in or else they'll never make the trip! I don't have my promo alley stuff ready yet either. Promo alley is an area at the convention where all the authors put out their displays and people can come by and take bookmarks, postcards, etc. Some of these displays are quite elaborate. Yeah. Mine needs work.

 

Finished edits for Bitter Pill last week. Yea! It will be available for the first time at Printers Row in Chicago. : )

 

I'm wearing my glasses all day long for the first time in, literally, years. For those who missed this bit of drama, I managed to scratch my corneas with my lenses. Both eyes, though the left is worse than the right. I got a good scolding from the eye doctor and was told not to wear contacts for a week. Well, that was almost two weeks ago but it still bothers my left eye when I put a contact lens in. So, I'm wondering if I'm done with contacts for good. That would SUCK! I'm just so aware of the glasses on my face. I miss having corrected peripheral vision! But I'm being careful because I'd rather wear glasses than lose my already rather poor eyesight.

 

Anyway, what else?

 

Eye of the Beholder was available on Amazon for a brief and glowing moment...before it sold out. : ) More will be coming into stock, though, I know. I apologize to everyone who received the repeated emails from Amazon about its lack of availability. More books will be coming soon. Please continue to let me know, though, if you have trouble. I make sure my publisher is in the loop.

 

Okay, more later...

 

: )

 

 

Yes, I am a freak.

I have this weird thing about diseases. It's a combination of overactive imagination and anxious tendencies. Whatever disease read about, hear about, whatever, I inevitably begin to see said symptoms in me. It's a pain in the ass, but most of the time, I can manage it by just avoiding books, movies, tv shows, where a character is suffering from a specific fatal disease that I could conceivably contract. They're usually depressing anyway, so I don't feel like I'm missing too much. Life is real enough. I like my fiction, whether on screen or on the page, to be an escape.

 

But, alas, this week I was ambushed! I picked up a book that looked interesting and remembered, vaguely, that I'd decided against reading it before for some unknown reason. Well, this time, I decided to just go for it. Yep, major character, approximately my age, dead from an undiagnosed brain tumor. Fab. u. lous.

 

Can I tell you that it took me approximately 10 seconds after discovering this to start seeing mysterious spots and convince myself that my regular old migraine headache (which I've been getting for years) had to be "symptoms"?" Arggh.

 

I want warning labels, people.

My interview is up!

I did a promotional interview through Nikki Leigh and it's now posted.

 

: )

 

http://inspiredauthor.com/v3/blogs/litekepr/stacey-klemstein-promotional-interview

Books!

I received my copies of Eye of the Beholder from my publisher this weekend. I'm thinking it should be up and available on Amazon soon. I'm not quite sure what the hold up is. My thanks to all of you who pre-ordered. I promise, it is done and it will be coming to you soon!

So, what's new?

I feel strangely out of practice, sitting down to write a blog entry. Let's see what I can ramble about...

 

First, a quick reminder...

Tomorrow night at the Schaumburg Library at 7:00 p.m., I'm teaching "The Secret to a Good Query Letter." I'll be giving the same presentation at the Des Plaines Library on Saturday at 10:00 a.m. Come on over and see me! Learn a lot about query letters and improving (hopefully) your response rate.

 

I miss SCC.

It's only been a week or so, but I miss the Sarah Conner Chronicles already. It's the only show I made time for during my self-imposed hermit-dom. I realize that we're still suffering the effects of the strike and new episodes of some shows will be returning soon. But I'm going to have to wait until fall for more SCC, and that's if they renew it. There were some iffy episodes (the one where John gets locked in the warehouse with the Terminator who is in standby mode? Ugh.), but most of them were, in my opinion, pretty good. And actually as reluctant as I am to admit it, once I got past thinking "David Silver" every time Brian Austin Green showed up on screen, I kinda liked his portrayal of Derek Reese. The, um, shower scene may have helped.

 

The season finale--two eps run together--were actually two of my favorite. I loved Derek's birthday gift to John. John was not too horribly whiny. And the interaction between Cameron and John was intriguing and endearing at moments. Bring on more, please!

 

Of course, I've got less than a month now until BSG returns on April 4, and I'm beyond excited for that. Does anyone know if they will be running all the remaining episodes during this "season" or are they going to make us wait until '09 to get the last eight or ten or so? I know some of the eps weren't finished by the time the strike rolled around.

 

Books you must read!

Grimspace by Ann Aguirre: Fantastic SFR novel in my opinion. Interesting concept and well written. Can't wait for the sequel!

 

The Other Boelyn Girl by Phillipa Gregory: I don't typically read historical novels, but I got completely sucked into this one and couldn't stop. It was flat-out fascinating.

 

Good Girls by Laura Ruby: I read her collection of adult short stories and they didn't really speak to me, but I LOVED this YA book. Above all things, I liked how it took a different approach to the topic of teen sex and, in particular, the female view of it. Also shows how sex scenes can be emotional, moving, surprisingly detailed and NOT sleazy. Above all else, it is not overtly lesson-y. I SO appreciate that. : )

 

The Girl Who Stopped Swimming by Joshilyn Jackson: To be fair, I just started this one, but I love her books (I think they're technically considered either mainstream fiction or women's fiction, not sure. I consider them "good fiction" and that's enough for me!) If you haven't read Gods in Alabama, drop what you're doing and go out and buy it right now! Seriously. Any aspiring writers out there want to learn about the much-talked-about-but-difficult-to-describe concept of voice? That is the book to read.

 

RT

Just one month away! Anybody in the Pittsburgh area, please come out and see us!!!

 

 

 

 

I'm back!

Revising is done. Hermit phase is, temporarily, over. :  ) Hope to be able to share details on this project with you soon. I had so much fun writing it, and I'm really proud of it. Right now, I'm in that weird disconnected period that always happens when I finish working on something. The pressure is off, for the moment, and all the stuff I want to write has equal appeal. Sooner or later, as I keep mulling over my options, one of them will jump out at me. I just hate this in-between, not attached feeling. *shudder*

 

More later!

 

 

Random stuff to entertain you...

Still working away on revisions, so limited blog time again. : )

 

But here are a few things I found interesting and wanted to share...

 

First, my friend Becky, an avid traveler, read about my experience with de-icing and wrote the following:

 

Stac, I had to email you about your latest blog and de-icing. As a traveler (especially from northern MI), de-icing is a ritual that we live with on every flight. So I chuckled at your comments. It never occurred to me that people who don't fly may be off put a bit by being de-iced, and not realize it's a COMMON happening during the winter months. Did you know that the de-icing liquid (which comes in pink and orange varieties) is actually the same thing as inexpensive shampoo? Basically you are making the wings too slippery for water to build up on and freeze. Also, because de-icing is only good for 13 minutes, you want to be on the plane when it happens. That's also why planes generally are delayed in the winter. It takes time to de-ice a plane, and you don't want to do it until the plane itself is within 13 minutes of taxiing down the runway. It causes a backup, especially at large places like O'Hare. See, I'm a plethora of de-icing information. :) So, next time you are on a plane being de-iced, breathe easy dear friend...it's good. (Actually, if you are on a small prop-job plane like we get up here, don't breathe easy, breathe shallow - that stuff stinks!)

 

Thanks for the info, Beck. Fascinating stuff. I LOVE random bits of fact like this. : ) Never know when the smallest detail (like the de-icing stuff being pink or orange) can be used in a scene to add that touch of veracity.

 

Second, check out Barbara Vey's blog entry with Margie Lawson, a kinesics specialist, on body language. This is incredibly useful information for writers when you're trying to convey emotion without being direct or obvious. Or, when you're trying to convey an emotion that the character doesn't want to acknowledge he or she is feeling...if that makes sense! So, check it out. There's even a quiz!!!

 

Finally, Barbara also has an excerpt from Diana Holquist's blog on the issue of posting e-books for the world to read (ala Napster) without the author or publisher's permission. Diana, in the excerpt, explains it beautifully. It's not just about the money. It's about sales. Publishers LIVE by the numbers, therefore writers must as well. If a writer does not sell enough copies, he/she may not be offered another contract, regardless of quality of writing, story originality, fan response, etc. That means, every copy counts. E-books are an especially tricky thing because, unlike paperbacks, when you "loan" copy of an ebook, you're actually duplicating it. You get a copy and the person you're sending it to gets a copy. I thought it was good information and a passionate plea for understanding from Diana.

 

Also, just a note, this same idea doesn't really apply to paperbacks, obviously. Most of us use libraries, borrow from friends and even visit used bookstores. But in each case, the author has been paid for that copy of the work. Multiple people are reading that copy, but that's okay because it's not duplication. I, for one, think it's great to borrow, lend or buy used. People are far more likely to take a chance on a new author at a library or a used bookstore. : )

 

Okay, back to work now!

Florida Trip, Part One

Sad to say, but I'm back in Illinois now. It's good to be home, safe and sound, but I had SUCH a good time at Linnea's house. I didn't want to leave. Seriously. I wanted to just hole up in a closet somewhere, emerging only to write by the pool and drink watermelon Cosmos (Linnea's husband, Rob, makes the most DELICIOUS Cosmos ever--strong ones, too!) Somehow, though, I think they would have noticed. : ) Especially if Rob had to keep making watermelon Cosmos!

I know I'm a midwestern girl and have been for the vast majority of my life. But when I was really little, there were those few years there on the Carolina coast that must have made quite the impact on me. I love sunshine, palm trees and warm, sunny beaches--and Florida has all of that in spades!

We got into town late on Wednesday night, weary and salt covered. Literally. It was snowy and slushy when we left Chicago, so the back of my jeans were stiff with salt about 4 inches up my leg. Also, we were late by about two hours. Our plane was delayed for de-icing, which is a uniquely terrifying thing to have announced when you're already on the plane feeling rather vulnerable and trapped. Greg and I joked about watching for the guy to come clean off our window with a car scraper. It wasn't anything that funny or scary for those who have never been "de-iced." It's just a bunch of orange liquid they squirt all over the plane. But me being the disaster-freak that I am, I'd just watched a special on how some airline trained employees in de-icing by giving them the answers to the required multiple choice test...while said employees were actually taking the test! Yeah.

Linnea and Rob were waiting at the airport to meet us, which was awesome! It was so good to see her again. I don't get much opportunity to gab about books and writing here in my regular life, and I just knew we'd have a blast catching up and sharing news. We left the airport and I drank in my first gulp of air that was not frigid but humid. My hair immediately frizzed, but I didn't care. I was warm!

They have a fabulous house--of course--with the coolest swimming pool area I've ever seen. It's completely screened in and it's HUGE. So you can sit out there at the table, working on the laptop with no bugs or birds (*shudder*) flying by your head. It's awesome.

We hung out poolside (yeah, I know, don't bother hating me though because I'm back here with the rest of the people-sicles) on Wednesday night, drinking and talking and eating. Rob introduced us to Lemoncello, an Italian liqueur that he'd made at home. Very powerful stuff. Tastes like liquid lemons but sweet, not sour.

I also met Daquiri that night. He has the biggest tail I've ever seen and the clearest green eyes. He's a cat, by the way, not a drink. Actually, I'm pretty sure he's a person, masquerading as a cat. : ) As I was not someone he knew, he did not deign to pay me any attention that night. But by the end of my visit, he was taking treats from my hand. Though, I apparently committed a grave offense by only giving him two treats--I was thinking like a dog owner--and after that, I'm pretty sure he thought less of me. Though, he did let me scratch behind his ears.

The four of us stayed up incredibly late on Wednesday night--2:45 a.m., I think--talking about books, career plans, writing, everything. At least, that's what Linnea and I were talking about. We left Rob and Greg to their own devices by the pool!

Thursday was a work day, but it was great. I set myself up in Linnea's kitchen to work on EOB edits. Greg was out by the pool, wheeling and dealing as he is wont to do in the course of his real estate day. Linnea went to her office to get some work done, and Rob went to the golf course. (He's a professional golfer--isn't that so cool?) I seriously cranked on the edits, and Linnea was standing by when I had questions or was dithering between two word options--that was incredibly helpful to be able to get a second opinion. So many times, I'm too close to what I'm working on to see it clearly. Also, I'm apparently in love with the word "but," especially putting it at the beginning of the sentence.

After a quick break for lunch at the club house--no, seriously, they have a clubhouse in their subdivision where you can go for lunch and dinner everyday, I'd never cook again and I'd weigh like 5,000 pounds--we took a tour of the neighborhood, enjoying the sunshine and the palm trees. Oh, and I forgot, we met the Muscovie ducks that live in Linnea's back yard! Also, she has an egg she rescued and is incubating--duh--in an incubator in her office. It was so cool to be able to see the duckling moving around inside the shell. It's not a Muscovie duckling, though. I think it's Mallard.

A few more hours of work and then we were off to downtown Naples and dinner at Tommy Bahamas. I had the Sanibel Chicken, and it was the best chicken I've ever tasted. It had a parmesan cheese crust and it was filled with more cheese and red peppers. I kid you not, my mouth is watering at the memory. And you know I'm not much of a meat-eating person. We also had fun watching tourists get embarrassingly drunk and dance to this sort of awful one-guy band (he had a keyboard that created the sounds of many different instruments).

 

Back at home, more Cosmos and Orangecello this time! So good.

 

Friday, we hit the beach! Something about being that close to the water--salt water, lakes don't count--just makes me feel peaceful inside. First, though, we took a little tour around Naples so we could check out the amazing houses there. The part that kills me is that most of these are "part-time" residences. Meaning the owners are probably there only a few months or even weeks out of the year. Sheesh.

 

If I lived in Florida, I'd get myself all bonded and insured to be a house-sitter. That would be awesome! I'm sure it's not nearly as much fun as I imagine it to be. Nor do you probably get to live at these fabulous houses for weeks at time "sitting" them. It's probably just dropping by every few days. Still, very cool.

 

More on my Florida trip, specifically on the hockey game (go Blades!) and the Donald Maass seminar, to follow....

 

 

under deadline again

I haven't disappeared off the face of the earth or abandoned Illinois for Florida again...though that last one is tempting! I'm working on revisions to another project, and I need every second I've got to pull everything together in proper fashion. I know...perfectionist, much? Can't help it. It's me! So, I expect to be a bit scarce over the next couple of weeks while I finish up.

 

Meanwhile, first part of my Florida trip should be up later today, sans pictures. Haven't had time to get that part organized yet!

 

: )

Weird

I did something last night I haven't done since college: I fell asleep while writing.

 

Not typing, mind you. Oh, no, I've done the head bobbing downward toward sleep at the keyboard plenty of times over the years since then. But last night, I was writing with a pen and notebook--yeah, I'm old fashioned that way sometimes.

 

I was sitting in the big comfy chair in my office (mistake one) with my feet up (mistake two), taking notes on some revisions I'm going to make. I'd been at a conference all weekend, getting up early and staying up late (not a mistake, but a contributing factor for sure). And it was 11:30 at night and I was in my new flannel pajama pants and fleece shirt (exactly how was I planning to stay awake is now my question).

 

Anyway, I was doing the head bob thing and feeling that momentary blast of adrenaline that comes when you wake yourself up after those little micro naps, so I convinced myself I was still awake enough to keep going. Until, during one lucid moment, I looked down and saw that I'd written words that made no sense in the context of what I was doing. I was dream writing or something.

 

In my notes on a story, I'd written "Creating RWA..." without any recollection of doing so. Unlike college, however, where notes I took in an 8 a.m. history class often resembled a failing EKG readout, these were perfectly legible and normal words. RWA was even all caps as it's supposed to be.

 

RWA is Romance Writers of America, an organization I belong to. I'd spent some time talking with various other members over the course of the weekend. No idea what the "creating" was all about. The weirdest part was, like I said, I had no memory of writing the words or even what bizarre dream thoughts triggered such words.

 

Anybody else ever dream write? Is that even a real thing? I'm just making up terms now. : )

 

Should have Florida post(s) and pictures up soon. This weekend at the latest. I really want to go over my Donald Maass notes and post the relevant thoughts/points. Not just because it might be helpful to someone else out there, but also because it'll make it easier for me to find them later when I inevitably misplace the notebook I wrote them in. : )

 

Hope you all are surviving your February so far. We've got about eight inches of snow on the ground. Actually, it's less now that it's started to rain, thunder and lightning. My mom says their forecaster called this "thundersnow." I told her I felt pretty certain "thundersnow" was a sign of the coming apocalypse. But we're under a winter storm watch tomorrow evening for another 6 inches or more of snow. I'm awfully darn sick of this.

 

It's crazy this week...

Hey guys, just a quick note to let you know we're back safe and sound from Florida. I personally would have preferred to be marooned there for several years, but alas, that was not the case. : )

I'm working on a full trip report. We had so much fun! I've got about half of it written, but I want to include pictures and I haven't even written yet about the Donald Maass seminar. We did a lot last week!

Anyway, at the moment, I'm attending Love Is Murder, having a blast and meeting lots of new people. Tonight I met a bunch of members from RWA (Romance Writers of America) Chicago North chapter. Thanks everyone, Deb Gross in particular, for being so friendly and welcoming and just plain great.

I also had the pleasure of meeting Barbara Vey who writes a great blog over at Publishers Weekly. Be sure to watch this weekend as she'll be posting pictures of the conference, and there are some terrific ones, particularly from the crime scene panel tonight. I'm also in one with two other authors, so keep an eye out! : ) Barbara also had a very interesting entry on reviews, which turned out to be a very hot topic with a lot of people. I've only recently come to the notion of not reading reviews before going to see a movie. I suspect, otherwise, I might not have enjoyed 27 Dresses as much as I did. I thought it was cute, fun and funny, but boy, the critics did not agree. And you know what? I respect their right to have an opinion, as much as I respect my right to make up my mind for myself without first being tainted. So, no more pre-movie reviews for me.

Anyway, check out Barbara's blog and contribute to the conversation, if you like. : )

More later...I met Tess Gerritsen and Lee Child this weekend as well. It's a star-studded conference all around!

Checking in...

Don't hate me because I'm warm. I'll be back there in there in negative sixteen degree weather soon enough, right? : ) Donald Maass seminar is tomorrow. Today was the beach : )

Water was too cold to do more than stick my toes in,

but it was warm enough to enjoy the walk and the sand!

Our new house...ha!

What is that big ball of glowing yellow light in the sky?

I swear, I'm not saying this to rub it in but...I'm leaving for a few days to attend a seminar. In FLORIDA! Woohoo!!!!

I'm going to be hanging out with Linnea, and we'll be attending a seminar taught by the great and powerful literary agent Donald Maass. : ) I'm very excited! Writers speak his name in a hushed and reverant whisper, so it'll be interesting to see what he has to say. I've taken classes from people who've taken classes from him and use his techniques and found them to be helpful when it comes to viewing common writing problems in a different way. So, that's great. I'm really hoping to come away with some new methods to try and new ways of thinking, and I'm grateful to Linnea for getting me in to the class. However, I fear I will be fighting back a case of the giggles as well as the urge to whisper, "the man, the myth, the legend" when he's introduced. : )

Anyway, this is my long and roundabout way of saying that I'll be gone for the next few days. Don't know how often I'll be able to post from the road, especially because I have another round of EOB edits that must get done. But I didn't want you to think I'd forgotten about you, and I'll be full of details and photos when I get back!

Pre-order Eye of the Beholder!!!

Eye of the Beholder is now available on Amazon.com! Look, isn't it beautiful!!!! : ) I'm SO excited.

Thank you!

Thank you to everyone who voted for The Silver Spoon in the P&E poll. It was at #6 when the polls closed! Nothing will be official until February, but how awesome would it be to finish in the top ten?

Again, thank you!!!!

I just got telemarketed...

It serves me right because...shh, don't tell anyone, but I haven't signed the new number up yet with the Do Not Call list. (No fear of government conspiracies or anything, just laziness.) The woman who did the telemarketing was supposedly calling for a charity, something about policemen rights and benefits. Probably legit and probably a very good cause. However, after seeing some special on, like, 60 Minutes a few years ago about how some of these charities are fakes with the supposed cause receiving little or no money and said fake charities may use criminals in jail as free labor to make the calls, I have not made a donation in this manner. I still feel horrendously guilty, though, and am always looking for a way to extricate myself without out and out lying. I hate lying to them, even though they'd have no way of knowing for sure that's what I'm doing and they may, in fact, be lying to me.

 

Anyway, this woman, clearly following a script, says something like, "We're looking for law-abiding citizens who want to make sure policemen have the same rights as the criminals they take off the streets." Okay, honestly, based on that description, I have no idea what her specific cause was--a new Constitutional amendment, not sure--but she was definitely leading up to the "asking for a small donation" bit. The part that stopped me was the "looking for law-abiding citizens." How absurd. How do you know I'm law-abiding? Would you not take my money if I was a criminal?

 

And, of course, I soooo wanted to interrupt her right then and say, "Ooohhh, sorry, I totally can't donate then. I'm a convicted hash dealer." (To be honest, I don't even know what hash is, but it does lend a nice air of specificity to the statement, doesn't it?) Just because the dead air on the other end of the phone would have been hilarious. But I am a good girl to the core and kept my mouth shut. : )

 

 

Edits almost done...

In the meantime, though, please check this out: The Green Bee Buzz. Most of you know the Green Bee as the oft-mentioned Stacy G. here in this lovely blog locale. I have been after her for years--literally years! (though not every day because she probably would have killed me by now)--to start her own blog. She is one of the funniest people I know and an incredibly sharp writer. She has a gift for taking an everyday kind of circumstance and turning it into something that will make you laugh (read the thing about the soap and lotion mix-up and you'll see what I mean).

 

So, please go read and leave a comment to encourage her. Most of us out here in blog-land are, to quote another friend, "attention whores." We love seeing that you're out there and our words are reaching you in some way.

 

Okay, other stuff...watched the Sarah Connor Chronicles (SCC) last night and--how do the kids put it these days?--it rocked my face off! I loved it. : ) I am so looking forward to the continuation of the premiere tonight. The actor playing John Connor may have a tendency later in the show to go all whiney, but I'm hoping the writers resist. The actress playing Sarah is awesome, tough, but in a different way than Linda Hamilton. Harder around the edges somehow, I think. And what can I say about Summer Glau? Oh, that girl can play creepy-tough like nobody's business. I am intrigued by her character, by the hints they have given that she's different than the others. And yet, she can't be too different. We saw her take multiple bullets last night. Perfect example of her awesomeness...John, Sarah and the good Terminator (Summer Glau) are closed in a bank vault. The good Terminator (gT) is assembling a weapon while Sarah and John watch. A loud noise sounds outside and John steps closer to the door to check out.

 

gT without looking up from her weapon: "Get away from the door."

 

John, backs up maybe a little but mostly just looks over at her with a frown: "Why?"

 

Glass inside the door shatters and everyone flinches except gT who doesn't even look up from what she's doing. "That's why."

 

One weird thing...I saw Nick Wechsler's name on the credits, but I didn't see him. He played Kyle on Roswell. It says on IMDB he played Deputy Ridge in the Pilot of SCC, but if he did, man, I missed it. Anybody else see him?

 

I did watch Persuasion as well, but I fell asleep about halfway through. I liked the actor playing Captain Wentworth better, but I preferred the actress from the BBC version for Anne Elliot. The read on the character was just slightly different. She was more visibly emotional and not as resilient, in my opinion. The whole point of Anne is that even while she may cry in private, she holds herself together in public. She knows the choice she made and that he'll never forgive her for it. And she suffers in silence. I don't know...I can't even put my finger on what's so different. I'll have to watch what I missed and see if my opinion changes, but right now, the better version is the older BBC one.

 

 

More fun with links and other stuff...

So, I'm stuck now on what I'm working on. Really stuck. This is supposed to be a short(er) SFR piece. More space opera than what I typically write. Very escapist type storyline. I started writing it last winter/spring in fits and starts because it wouldn't leave me alone, even though I was devoted to another project at the time.  (Yeah, I "cheat" on my main project with another occasionally. Not proud of it, try to resist, but sometimes it happens). But at this rate, it's going to take me as long as a full-length novel! (Although I really, really hope not...)

 

I think some of the "stuckness" is because my brain is in edit mode, thanks to the EOB edits I'm working on as well. Sometimes you just lose that rhythm and it's hard to pick back up again. Everything feels offbeat...and not in the good way. Unfortunately the only situation is to keep plugging (or typing, as the case may be) away. The great part is, if you do that long enough, everything will eventually start to flow again...at least that's been my experience so far. The rough part is getting to that point.

 

Anyway, the purpose of all this blathering is to say that I usually beat myself up on this kind of thing, trying to figure out some way to keep moving, figuring I must be doing something wrong. But then, this week, Lisa Shearin (fabulous fantasy adventure author) and I were exchanging emails about writing books on schedules and she wrote a blog entry about it that contained this (and many other) fabulous line(s)..."I'm arriving at the conclusion that novel writing -- like any other creative endeavor-- refuses to be confined to the schedule of a mere mortal." Ha! So true. And I'm so relieved it's not just me.

 

Other stuff...This weekend a new version of Persuasion (my second favorite Jane Austen novel) will be on WTTW-11 (I think that's Chicago's PBS station) on Sunday at 8:00 p.m. It stars Anthony Steward Head (Mr. Giles from Buffy!) as Anne Eliot's father. Anne is the heroine. I love her. She is fabulous but in a totally different way than Elizabeth Bennet. As a younger girl, she fell in love with this guy, Wentworth, that her family disapproved of (he had no name and no money) and she turned him down because of their advice. She was too young, really, to really  know the ones who were giving her advice, if that makes sense, and know they weren't people she should listen to. Then, years later, he comes back with both a name and money (made his fortune in the military) and Anne's family is poor (and ridiculously spoiled, despite it). Now her family thinks Wentworth is okay, but he's courting this other annoying but younger chick. Anne is still in love with him, of course. Never stopped being in love with him. But, of course, he won't want her now. He never understood why she turned him down before, completely crushing his feelings. Can these two sort it out? *sigh* I LOVE this stuff. So, check out the book or the movie. Can't vouch for this version of the move, but the book is awesome!

 

Sarah Connor Chronicles also start this weekend on Sunday at 7:00 p.m. Can't wait to see that one as well. Hope the TIVO is fixed by then (long story...) I love that Summer Glau (Serenity, Firefly, The 4400 ) is playing a young Terminator. She just has that other-worldly look down pat!

 

Here's an article from Maureen Ryan at the Chicago Trib talking about Persuasion and The Sarah Connor Chronicles.  

 

 

Edits are in...

Eye of the Beholder edits are in, and I'm (MUCH) farther behind on incorporating them than I'd like to be. So there will be less original content this week, but I'm still hoping to maintain my regular updates. Hence, much linkage to follow in the coming days...

 

I've been reading John August's blog to keep up on the latest strike information. It's work-safe and he has some really cool and informative posts about scriptwriting and writing in general. The article I'm sending you to this time is full of good advice, not just for writing, but for life in general. I've never played World of Warcraft (heck, I'm still trying to master my serve in Wii Tennis), but I can imagine it based on his description and I really like how it works as a metaphor for life. So, check it out... Seven Things [John August] Learned from World of Warcraft.

Me being sappy and sentimental...again!

We took Susan back to Valpo last night. I know it's ridiculous, but even after ten years, I get just a bit homesick for it and kind of weepy when have to leave. Some of it was dropping Susan off, who I miss and don't get to see as often as I'd like. Some of it was the weather. We're in this very weird warm streak. 65 degrees in January! So, when we got to campus, all of the snow had melted, and it was that damp warm feeling of spring. The ground smelled wet and well, earthy. You know, that "plants are going to start growing soon" smell. Plus, the pine trees had lost a lot of their needles during the rain, so you could really smell them and I always find that scent comforting, familiar.  It reminded me of those spring semester days when you were so desperate for the sun to shine and the weather to warm that people stopped wearing jackets and donned shorts in 55 degree weather. 

 

But most of it was just memories. Susan lives in a dorm that I used to live in, and despite all the other changes on campus, it remains virtually the same as when I was living there in 1994-1995. I walked past the exact spot in the grass where Julie, Becky, Debbie, Jill and I (and others) took our Sophomore year floor picture. The Chapel still looms in the sky as the tallest building on campus, but now with the Center for the Arts (which was built between my sophomore and junior year, I think. Someone know for sure?) and the new union in the way, you can just see the top of the roof. The back doors/maintanence entrance for the science center are right there too, near the front of the dorm, and it's there that a nail punctured my foot, through my boot, thanks to the VUCA construction, probably. Fortunately, Julie has a much steadier hand and stronger stomach than me, and she patched me up. 

 

The dorm still smells the same too. Girly lotions and shampoos on the girls floor, plus that stale old building scent. Made me feel like I could go up another two flights of stairs and find my friends waiting for me.

 

Not to mention the fact, after we dropped off all of Susan's bags, I walked back to the car--on the same sidewalks I'd walked countless times before at eighteen and nineteen years old--holding hands with my college boyfriend. Who knows me well enough (these days as my husband) to look at me as we were leaving and say, "You okay?"

 

And yeah, I'm fine. : ) Don't miss being nineteen and full of angst. But I do love to remember it!

The Silver Spoon--Please vote!

I'm so excited--The Silver Spoon has been nominated for a Preditors and Editors Reader Award! I've never been nominated for anything before. : )

Please go and vote today. Voting ends January 14, I believe. The only requirement is that you give your email address (which will not be saved or distributed--it's only to make sure voting is legit) and vote just the once.

http://www.critters.org/predpoll/novelsf.shtml

Just scroll down until you see The Silver Spoon.

Thank you!!!

A Happy New Year's

Okay so for all my bitching and moaning about New Year's, I had SO much fun. I'd forgotten how that works sometimes. I remember as a kid, dreading certain events and activities only to discover that, hey, they were great! 

 

We went over to our friends' house and saw other friends we haven't seen since Greg's summer volleyball league. We played Guesstures--I totally suck at that game, by the way, and I kept getting body parts or things I could only describe using body parts ("rear" and "bosom" are two that I recall off the top of my head). And we watched Roger Rabbit because it was on tv and nobody could quite remember how it ended, ate a TON of "bad for you but good tasting" food (Doritos, cookies, Bagel Bites, corn dogs!), played the dice game and broke in our new Wii system. The Wii was fabulous! We played tennis until we were sore and boxed until everyone was out of breath and sweating. Sounds gross, but it was great!  

 

On New Year's Day, Greg and I made breakfast together and then promptly slept for another two hours in front of the television. Football games make for great white noise when you're trying to blank out your mind and get some sleep! Then I FINALLY fixed my iPod, which is to say, got (most) of my music loaded back on after my hard drive crashed in September and then in the afternoon/evening, we met our New Year's Eve hosts at the movies to see National Treasure: Book of Secrets in our little downtown theater.

 

All in all, a pretty awesome holiday and a great start to 2008! : )