Welcome to My Official Web Page!

Welcome to My Official Web Page!

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Reality Bites

You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you. ~Ray Bradbury


I go through spurts where words just pour out of my head onto my laptop screen. Granted, I don't have a lot of writing time every day, but sometimes things just flow. At the same time, my brain is on constant overdrive- imagining scenes and noticing tiny details or phrases I can work into my manuscript.

And then there are the other days.

Reality intrudes. I sit down to stare at a blank screen. I am no longer drunk on writing. I can barely keep my eyes open. Real life chips away at my already-scarce writing time. I persevere, still managing a paragraph or a scene rewrite. Eventually, reality recedes.

Do you sacrifice some aspect of real life to get some words on paper? (I sacrifice my social life. You can count on me being home on a Friday night.) What do you do when reality threatens? Do you give up your writing and take a break or do you plug away?

Happy weekend and happy writing to all!

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Murder & Mayhem!

I don't write mysteries, but I loved this video Janet Reid posted on her blog the other day.




I've killed off characters before, to the extent that if I really were my protagonists, I'd be a serial killer. However, I've never actually had a murder in any of my novels, just short stories. I'm currently in the midst of researching how to murder/drown a large group of people from around 2100 B.C. (Thanks for not leaving a lot of notes on the specifics, Herodotus. Sheesh.)

Have you murdered characters before? Was it a pretty clean-cut death, or a unique sort of murder?

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Birds & Placeholders



I put out a bird feeder in October, excited for the return of my birdie friends from last winter. Alas, the only two feathered critters who decided to grace my feeder all winter were a pair of black-capped chickadees. They're adorable, but last year I had a bird metropolis in my backyard. The neighborhood's been empty.

Until this weekend!

It snowed, which I think threw the birds off. It threw me off. A flurry of redpolls showed up, along with a guy with a super-long hooked beak (don't know his name, but he's cute!), magpies, and some little grey finches with yellow beaks. It's been a smorgasbord of birds for three days!

I'd like to take credit for the return of my feathered friends, but I had nothing to do with it. This feels like writing a lot of the time. I use "placeholders"- phrases, words, or even scenes I know aren't great, but they serve the purpose of letting me move on to write the rest of the story. Occasionally, I come up with something fabulous to replace them with. Often, it's my beta readers and critique buddies who point out the flaws and suggest something new. I just have to be patient and wait for those ideas to show up. Like my birds.

Do you use placeholders when you write? Is there something you're waiting on right now, writing or otherwise? I'm telling you, I'm antsy for the arrival of spring in these parts!

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Dare Mighty Things



Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure... than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat. -Theodore Roosevelt

I love Theodore Roosevelt. A lot. Like stalker-hide-outside-his-house-in-the-bushes a lot. (Yes, I've been to his house. And his grave. I can't help it- I'm a history nerd.)

I have a series of recorded lectures about all sorts of topics in U.S. History and in one of them, a professor mentioned some new psychological disorder they think TR had. I don't remember the name, and to be honest, I'm not going to sit through the hour long lecture again to find out. Suffice to say, the disorder was summed up as Can't-Sit-Still-Always-Has-A-Million-Things-To-Do-And-Drops-Dead-At-An-Early-Age-From-Exhaustion.

Roosevelt was a poster child for the disorder. He dared a lot. The man wrote 30 books, fought in the Spanish American War, went on Safari to Africa, explored an uncharted river in South America (Rio Roosevelt), was Police Commissioner of New York, Governor, Vice President, President, Nobel Peace Prize winner, trust-buster, National Park creator, yada, yada, yada.

Now, I'm no where near as accomplished as Roosevelt, but I sometimes think I suffer from the same new-fangled disorder. (Only I hope to not drop dead at a young age.) I have a hard time sitting still. I make to-do lists for myself on the weekends. I have a gazillion things I want to accomplish before I die, or better yet, before I turn 30. (Yeah, that's coming up soon. Ugh.) I try to dare mighty things.

But I need a break. So I'm taking a few days off from blogging. It's my first non-vacation related blog break so I'm going to test out how much more I can accomplish without the internet. I have a feeling it will free up a fair bit of time.

Of course, I'll still be at the Secret Archives of the Alliterati on Thursday, but otherwise, I'll see you Monday!

Monday, April 19, 2010

Today's Topic- Disease!

Okay, so I'm a huge fan of diseases. Not having them, mind you, but studying them. It's pretty amazing that we don't all die from bacteria, viruses, and prions before we hit puberty. Life in ancient Egypt was hard- the average life expectancy was about 30-35 years old. And there were a lot of diseases waiting to take you down.

Ancient Egypt actually gives history some of the earliest evidence for tuberculosis in the world. The earliest mummy found with spinal TB is actually a Predynastic female from Esna. Spinal TB is pretty cool (unless you have it of course). It actually makes your vertebrae collapse. There is evidence from other mummies and statuettes that spinal TB was present from the Predynastic period on.


This is a sketch of an Egyptian mummy with TB. The front of the vertebrae collapse and fuse together. Once you get to that point, there's no turning back.


This young man is obviously not an ancient Egyptian, but gives you an idea of the seriousness of the disease. I once had a professor tell me you couldn't gauge how painful an osteological pathology (bone disease) was by looking at the bones- for that you'd have to ask the person. I'm going to hazard a guess that anyone with TB didn't have the greatest quality of life.

So, do I have anyone with TB in my novels? No, but I'm looking to inflict polio on someone soon!

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Smooch!



I have one of these little guys living in my back yard. His name is Smooch (named by my daughter) and he's flipping adorable. So adorable, in fact, that I almost let him eat my tulips that just started poking their heads out of the ground. Almost.

Smooch is a perfectly camouflaged little snowshoe hare and has taken up under a fallen spruce tree. He sat there all day, blending in with the needles and shadows so I couldn't always tell if he was still there until his ear twitched. He's been there so long that I've started to wonder if perhaps there's a nest of baby bunnies being protected or on its way.

Yes, I realize that would make Smooch a her. But Smooch has been a boy since we moved in a year and a half ago. Old habits die hard. (Hehehe... I almost wrote rabbits instead of habits. Sorry, Smooch!)

How does this tie in to writing? Well, it doesn't really. I just wanted to post a cute picture and gush about snowshoe hares. But in fact, I just rewrote my first few pages of Hatshepsut and with the help of a wonderful critique partner, discovered some residual stuff from my intro that needed cut. I just couldn't see it and what I could see I didn't want to change because it had been there for so long. (Like the rabbit. See, there is a connection!) I felt like I needed permission to chop some of the stuff in there.


Do you have a hard time cutting stuff? Do you ever feel like you need permission before chopping something? Do you like rabbits?

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Demotivators



Have a great weekend! Anyone out there got super fun writing plans?

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Sacrificial Cows



Last week I discovered that I was going to have to write a vivid scene centering on the sacrifice of a bull.

Now, I'm all for writers writing what they know, but I'm a vegetarian who's never stepped foot on a real farm. Or a slaughterhouse (although I used to live near one). Meat is something my husband buys in nice, clean, cellophaned packages.

Hmmm...

So first I sketched out the scene, realizing that I needed to know more about cow anatomy to make sure I was being accurate. Do cows have carotid arteries that gush like humans? (Also not something I've seen in real life, thank goodness.) Do they struggle after their throats are cut? How long does it take them to bleed out? And how in the heck do you restrain a bull before you kill it?

All questions I never knew I needed to answer.

So I went to ask my biology/anatomy teacher-friend. She answered the basics (yes, cows have carotid arteries, in case you're wondering) and said she'd talk to someone who had worked with cows for a graduate study.

Then I decided to google cow sacrifices to see what I could find. And what did I find?

YOUTUBE!

It was like winning the jackpot in Vegas! Okay, not really, but whatever. Do you have any idea how many cow sacrifice cell phone videos are on YouTube? Take my word for it- a lot. And I watched plenty of them, mostly from Pakistan and Ghana. It definitely gives me an appreciation for the rows of meat at the grocery store. And I'm quite happy that I didn't have to actually go sacrifice any cows to do my research.


Have you had to do any crazy internet research for your writing? Anything really out there? (I dare you to beat cow sacrifices.)

Monday, April 12, 2010

Contest Winner!

So I know the cool thing to do is put contest entries into a computer program and let it randomly pull a number. But I like old fashioned stuff so I wrote out all the entries (Yes, it took a while- thank goodness for state-mandated testing last week. Snort.) and let my super cute monkey pull one of the itty-bitty slips of paper out of her shopping basket.



And the winner of Nefertiti, Cleopatra's Daughter, and Child of the Morning and the ancient Roman coin goes to...




LINDSEY BROOKS @ DANGEROUS WITH A PEN!!!


Thanks to all who entered and a HUGE thanks to Michelle Moran, author of Nefertiti and Cleopatra's Daughter!

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Patience, How I Crave Thee

“Patience is waiting. Not passively waiting. That is laziness. But to keep going when the going is hard and slow - that is patience.” -Anonymous


I am not a patient woman. No sirree Bob.

I thought my daughter taught me patience (what else can you learn when you have an infant screaming at you at 3AM?), but writing a novel and attempting to get it published has taught me that you can't learn patience.

It's like a three-hour long class on Statistics that you had to take during the summer. You can only endure.

Chris Rickman from Upstart Crow Literary Agency posted a gem on the Ten Commandments of Publishing that you all must read. Seriously, I'll wait. I think I can handle that much patience.

*munches some chocolate pretzels, checks email*

Okay, isn't that time line great? Granted, I'm sure it was torture for the author, but it makes me feel better. I told a few people at the beginning of the school year that I had finished the first draft of my book and now they're asking me why they can't buy it from Barnes & Noble yet.

If only it were that easy.

Are you a patient person? Do you have any tricks for how to stay sane while waiting for something? I'm pounding away at Book #2- it's keeping me sane!

PS- What do you think of the new blog background? You have no idea how long it took me to find an Egyptian background that would load right!

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Nefertiti by Michelle Moran




The Dust Jacket Blurb:

Nefertiti and her younger sister, Mutnodjmet, have been raised in a powerful family that has provided wives to the rulers of Egypt for centuries. Ambitious, charismatic, and beautiful, Nefertiti is destined to marry Amunhotep, an unstable young pharaoh. It is hoped by all that her strong personality will temper the young Amunhotep's heretical desire to forsake Egypt's ancient gods, overthrow the priests of Amun, and introduce a new sun god for all to worship.

Observant and contemplative, Mutnodjmet has never shared her sister's desire for power. She yearns for a quiet existence away from family duty and the intrigues of court. Her greatest hope is to share her life with the general who has won her heart. But as Nefertiti learns of the precariousness of her reign, she declares that her sister must remain at court and marry for political gain, not love. To achieve her independence, Mutnodjmet must defy her sister, the most powerful woman in Egypt- while also remaining loyal to the needs of her family.



My Review:

I was so excited when this book came out because until then, Pauline Gedge had been one of the only ancient Egypt writers on the market. I've always been intrigued with the Amarna period and was thrilled that Moran chose to highlight Mutnodjmet in addition to Nefertiti because I've always been intrigued with Mutnodjmet's story. The novel was rich in historical detail (I learned that there were toilets in 18th Dynasty Egypt) and extremely vivid. Moran did an excellent job portraying the historical characters while remaining true to history. I highly recommend Nefertiti for all you historical fiction fans out there- it won't disappoint!


And one last reminder! This weekend is your last chance to enter to win Child of the Morning by Pauline Gedge, Michelle Moran's Cleopatra's Daughter, Nefertiti, and an ancient Roman coin! What are you waiting for?

FTC Disclaimer- All books reviewed on this blog were purchased by me.

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Child of the Morning




One of the books you can win in my Motherload Contest (along with two others by thge marvelous Michelle Moran and an ancient Roman coin) is Pauline Gedge's Child of the Morning. So I thought I'd review it!

Here's the dust jacket blurb:

She ruled Egypt not as Queen but as Pharaoh 35 centuries ago. Yet her name- Hatshepsut- does not appear in dynastic rolls, nor is her reign celebrated on monuments. Prejudice against a female on the throne was so vehement that successors tried to erase all signs of her regime. Records and monuments were destroyed, the tombs of faithful ministers defiled. Similarly defaced were the commemorative walls of the vast and magnificent temple erected for her at Deir el Bahri by the royal architect who was her lover. And yet she endured.

This is the story of the young woman who assumed the throne of Egypt, mastered the arts of war and government, lived life by her own design, and ruled an empire- the only woman Pharaoh in history.


My review:

I read this book years ago and absolutely loved the richness and pageantry Gedge recreated. The story was meticulously researched from the daily facets of life in ancient Egypt to the actual events during Hatshepsut's reign. I especially loved the war scene where Hatshepsut really came to life. A woman at war? Fighting? That totally rocks!

My one issue with this book was that it was hard for me to connect with Hatshepsut due to the language used. It's stiff, at least to my eyes, which could be because the book was originally published in 1977. I prefer my historical fiction to be a little less stiff, but then I've had readers of my MS tell me my writing isn't formal enough for the genre. But overall this was a great read, especially if you want to learn more about Hatshepsut!


And don't forget! The contest to win Child of the Morning, Michelle Moran's Cleopatra's Daughter, Nefertiti, and an ancient Roman coin ends April 11th! Tomorrow I'll be reviewing Nefertiti!


So here's your question of the day: What women from history do you find totally intriguing? I, of course, adore all Egyptians, but also have a soft spot for Elizabeth I.

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

I Luv Spelchek




Proofread carefully to see if you any words out. ~Author Unknown


I have a big secret for you, one that might blow your mind. You might want to sit down for this.

There's a big difference between proofreading and spellchecking.

This is totally crazy! My students don't believe me- they think looking for those dotted red lines really is proofreading. So much so that the following sentences were turned in on papers this semester.

Martian Luther King Jr.'s nonviolent philosophy was more effective than that of Malcolm X.

The girl's sh*t is red, the color of passion and love.



The first is from a paper I graded today. I laughed, imagining MLK Jr. as a little green man. The second mortified the student- she was quite adamant that the misspelling had been a total mistake.

Spellcheck isn't perfect, but it's great for discovering that you chronically spell hemorrhage or marriage wrong (yeah, that's me). In fact, I'm quite thankful for spellcheck because I made a pretty idiotic move two nights ago. You see, I thought I was a genius because I used word replace to change a character's nickname from "Red" to "Det." Initially I thought Red was a genius nickname for Reddedet, but the "Red said's" started to drive me nuts. So then I started to go back through some pages and saw a gazillion dotted red lines.

Egad!

I forgot Word changed even the "red" inside another word- scared, marred, barred, etc. Now they read scaDet, marDet, and barDet. So now I have 40,000 words to go back through.

Yay for me. *hits self in head*

I guess the moral of the story is, spellcheck can be your friend and also your enemy.

Or your frenemy.

Photo from Daily Demotivators.

Monday, April 5, 2010

Ohlala! Awards!

I've been hoarding awards like a pirate hoards his treasure (that simile is compliments of my three-year-old daughter who recently discovered pirates are really cool). So it's time to pass some on!

First up we have the Butterfly Award, bestowed upon yours truly by Shannon O'Donnell. I love butterflies so I thought this was pretty cool! It's meant to be shared with the coolest blogs I've found so I'm passing this along to:

Libbie Hawker because she writes about Hatshepsut too!
Lola Sharp @ Sharp Pen/Dull Sword is always fun and is about to reach 100 followers!
Cynthia Reese has a blog I've just discovered, but the letter from the Easter Bunny she just posted is priceless!
Josin @ My Bloggish Blog Thing is pretty darn hilarious!




Next up is the Prolific Blogger Award, given to me by Roni @ Fiction Groupie.

Lindsey @ Dangerous With a Pen: She's a teacher, mommy, and writer too!
Shannon O'Donnell is pretty much just an amazing blogger. And talk about prolific- holy cow!
Jemi Fraser maintains a great blog and I see her comments EVERYWHERE! She's amazing!




Ahoy! Finally, we have the Treasure Award, also gifted to me by Shannon O'Donnell. I'm passing this one along to great blogs that I just adore.

LiLa @ Lisa & Laura Write simply because their blog never fails to make me laugh. I can't wait for their book to come out!
Julie Dao @ Silver Lining because I've always enjoyed her lovely blog.
Elana Johnson is amazing. I know you all know her blog, but it always leaves me with that warm, fuzzy feeling. She deserves another award, darn it!


Okay, I actually have more awards, but it's time to put the munchkin to bed so that will have to do it for this round. Enjoy shopping some new blogs!

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Superstitions & A New Goal!



I just finished reading The Wednesday Sisters by Meg Waite Clayton. In a nutshell, it's about five women in the late 60's who discover a mutual love of writing. The book was a fun read and I often found myself nodding along as the characters discovered some new revelation about writing.

Here's a passage I particularly liked.

I know writers who have a talisman or a ritual to make writing easier: bunny slippers they wear or a certain candle they always burn when they're writing; putting a pen to paper at sunrise, or noon, or 11:00 PM; sitting in a certain chair in a favorite cafe or walking their dog on the beach first; playing one song on their iPod on infinite repeat on one novel, then choosing another song for the next. But that always strikes me as dicey. What if that cafe table is taken? What if the god you walk on the beach eats your bunny slippers? What if your iPod dies? And the fact is, we're mothers and wives; if we waited for the stars to align just so, we'd still be waiting.


There are so many excuses not to write, but they're just that- excuses. I don't have any excuses (except work) and I'm halfway through Book #2. So I'm making my newest goal public.

The first draft of THE RELUCTANT QUEEN will be done by July 15th!

*and the crowd goes wild*

What about you? Do you have any writing superstitions? What are your current writing goals?

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Beautiful Books

Don't forget to enter my Motherload Contest!  You can win three books AND an ancient Roman coin!  The contest ends April 11th!



I think we all know that literary fiction is getting a good and bad rap these days.  It's one of the slower-selling genres in this economy (at least that's what a number of agent blogs have been saying) and often people complain that the plot isn't fast enough to keep their attention.  However, from yesterday's post, it seems to me that a number of you enjoy reading beautifully written fiction chock full of figurative language.  


So I thought I would share my list of favorite literary fiction and we could all compare notes.  I was going to do my top ten, but my favorite number is 11 so we're going to go with that.  


Drum roll, please!


1.  Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd  (I actually love this one so much I'm having my students read it right now.)
2.  Water For Elephants by Sara Gruen
3.  Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
4.  The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje
5.  Little Bee by Chris Cleave
6.  The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
7.  The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini 
8.  The Book Thief by Markus Zusak  (Yeah, it's YA, but seriously... it's literary.)
9.  Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford
10.  Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier
11.  The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho


You all know I'm a sucker for history and my list reflects that.  Have you read any of these?  What did you think of them?  Are there any other literary-ish books that you think were super-fab?