IWSG--Writing Schedule/Flaming Crimes Blogfest

Today's post covers both the monthly topic from the Insecure Writer's Support Group and a blogfest. Let's start with the IWSG. This month's co-hosts are Tyrean Martinson, The Cynical Sailor, Megan Morgan, Rachna Chhabria, and Jennifer Lane. Our question is What steps have you taken to put a schedule in place for your writing and publishing?

Well, since I'm a working parent, my job, my family, and domestic chores take up most of my time. That means I have to fit my writing/publishing time in the free spaces. It's actually easier to do this during the work week, when I have a defined lunch hour. (And yes, I insist on taking my full hour.) The early part of the evening is usually devoted to family/household chores, so I write, blog, and do publishing things later in the evening, while my son is getting ready for bed. Even this time gets interrupted for time with my son right before he goes to bed. On weekends, it's more challenging because our schedule can change. If possible, I try to take some time to write Saturday afternoon and prepare blog posts Sunday morning. Otherwise, I seize time to write when I can.

Chris Fey is hosting the Flaming Crimes Blogfest today to celebrate the release of her latest book, Flaming Crimes. She gave us this prompt: What is something ridiculous you would save if there was a fire? Ridiculous is the keyword there. After your family, pets, and important items are safe and sound, what is the one odd thing you'd want to grab from your home?

When I read this prompt, the first things that popped into my head were the Star Wars costumes I troop in as part of the Midwest Garrison. I currently have two, a Jawa and a Staff Imperial Officer. (See photos.) I sewed the Jawa robes and hood myself, so I have sweat equity in it. It also has more sentimental meaning to me, since I've trooped more frequently in it. However, my Imperial Officer boots are custom-made for me (since I had trouble finding suitable boots that would fit), so if I had to choose only one costume, I'd probably save the Imperial Officer. It may be an odd choice, but I wouldn't call saving my costume ridiculous. After all, ownership of a screen-accurate costume is required to maintain membership in the 501st Legion. At least it would be easier to save than my son's Lego collection.

Series: Disaster Crimes #4
Page Count: 304 
Digital Price: 4.99 
Print Price: 16.99

Rating: Spicy (PG13) 

BUY LINKS:

Amazon / Barnes & Noble

The Wild Rose Press

BLURB: Beth and Donovan are now happily married, and what Beth wants more than anything is a baby. Her dream of starting a family is put on hold as fires burn dangerously close and Donovan becomes a victim of sabotage.

Donovan escapes what could've been a deadly wreck. Their past enemies have been eliminated, so who is cutting brake lines and leaving bloody messages? He vows to find out, for the sake of the woman he loves and the life they're trying to build.

Amidst a criminal mind game, a fire ignites next to their home. They battle the flames and fight to keep their house safe from the blaze pressing in on all sides, but neither of them expects to confront a psychotic adversary in the middle of the inferno.

Their lives may just go up in flames…

About the Author: Chrys Fey is the author of the Disaster Crimes Series, a unique concept blending romance, crimes, and disasters. She’s partnered with the Insecure Writer’s Support Group and runs their Goodreads book club. She’s also an editor for Dancing Lemur Press.

Author Links:

Website / Blog / Goodreads

Facebook / Twitter / Amazon

Feel free to comment about either your writing schedule or what you'd save from a burning house. Humm, can one pull time from a burning house? That seems to be the best way to merge these topics....

Remakes Blogfest--Beatles and Bangles

Today, Alex J. Cavanaugh and Heather M. Gardner are hosting the Remakes Blogfest, a chance to discuss the remakes of songs, movies, and TV shows that are equal or better than the original versions. For the full list of participating blogs, please visit Alex's blog using the above link.

I debated about participating in this blog fest for a while before signing up. I'm pretty conservative in my music tastes. I stopped following popular music when I became a devout Beatles fan in 1995, and I tend to imprint on the first version of a song that I hear. However, the Beatles covered quite a few songs on their early albums, so I can discuss a couple of them.

First up is "Twist and Shout." It was originally performed by a group called the Top Notes and was produced by Phil Spector. That version flopped, so I'll post the more familiar Isley Brothers version instead:



It's a pleasant version, perhaps a soulful one (see the comments below the video on YouTube). The Beatles' version, however, is much more intense and rocking. When they recorded it for the Please Please Me album, they saved it for the final song of a twelve-hour recording session, since they knew how hard it would be on John's voice, especially since he was suffering from a cold at the time. John was only able to manage one take, but it was an immortal one. The version I posted below is from the first Ed Sullivan Show appearance. (I didn't see the album version on YouTube.) The sound isn't great, but you can still enjoy John, Paul, and George harmonizing.



The Beatles didn't release the Isley Brothers' "Shout" until Anthology 1, but thankfully they performed it on TV a couple of times. While the original version is great (and probably the one I heard first), the Beatles' cover is also fun. I think the energy both groups put into their versions is comparable.





I could go on with Beatles covers, but I'd like to finish off with "A Hazy Shade of Winter" by both Simon & Garfunkel and the Bangles. As a teen in the 80s, I most likely heard the Bangles' cover before the original. I love the energy the Bangles put into it; plus they also remind me of the heroines of my Season Avatars series. I can see Gwen, Jenna, Ysabel, and Kay performing this song (though they would be dressed more modestly) to welcome winter in Summon the Seasons.





Which versions of these songs do you prefer? Feel free to let me know in the comments.

Get Healthy Bloghop--Making Weight Watchers Work for You

Today I'm participating in Alex J. Cavanaugh's Get Healthy Bloghop to share my story.

I've been overweight (or is it just undertall?) for most of my adult life. My weight fluctuated up and down, but for the most part I looked like this (I'm the one in front in red, second from the right):

However, I'm middle-aged, and the warranty on my body is long expired with no chance at renewal. After watching some of my friends deal with health issues, I became more motivated to lose weight. So last year, my husband and I joined Weight Watchers (WW). I'm proud to say I've lost over 30 pounds. See below for a photo taken earlier this month. Despite the trench coat, I think you can see a difference.



Even more importantly, after going past my goal weight last summer, I reached a healthy weight that's fairly stable. I'm not quite at my lowest weight, but I'm within five pounds of it and well within the recommended weight range for my height. My clothing size is lower than what I wore in high school--and I'm still amazed by that. Physically, I feel great--except for the utter exhaustion at times from having to do too much on too little sleep.
I followed the Weight Watchers Maintenance program for a few months before letting my membership lapse. I don't track my intake anymore (which could explain the few pounds I've regained), but I keep what I've learned in mind.

So, what made Weight Watchers so successful for me, and how can you make it work? Here are a few principles that I think were key for me:

1. Having your significant other as a partner--My husband and I made the joint decision not just to lose weight, but to follow the same program. That made it easier to plan our meals, encourage each other, and track our intake/activity. Granted, at times it was frustrating because my husband started off with nearly twice as many points as I did. (Instead of counting calories with WW, you count points. Fresh fruits and veggies are 0 points, while other foods have points calculated based on their nutritional information.) However, we weren't sabotaging each other by choosing unhealthy food either.

2. Cooking at home--Cooking may seem like a hassle when you're pressed for time, but it's so much easier to make nutritious food at home than finding low-point value food at a restaurant. At home, you can control how you cook your food, so it's not fried or loaded with salt and fat. The WW website has lots of great recipes to try. I have a board on Pinterest with over 150 recipes; it's my most popular board.

3. Eating more fruits and veggies--They have 0 points raw, so you can fill yourself up without cutting into your points. Even when cooked, they're a healthy use of your points. I try to make at least one vegetarian meal a week. The strange thing is that after a while of eating more produce and less pastries, I find myself craving quinoa/rice carrot fritters or vegetarian shepherd's pie.

4. Portion Control--Weight Watchers allows you to eat whatever you want as long as you account for it. So I could still work fudge into my food allowance, but at a much smaller size than before. Even today, I still measure out my cereal and milk, chips, and rice/pasta to make sure I'm eating the correct amount.

5. Exercising--Exercising allows you to earn more points. In fact, all kinds of activities (even housework) count. The key is finding something you can stick with and a time you can manage. Since I'm cursed to wake up early no matter how tired I am or when I go to bed, I get up and exercise on the treadmill for a half hour or so every day. What makes this enjoyable for me is reading, so I go at a pace where I can still do that. Of course, running upstairs and downstairs doing chores and taking care of my family helps too.

6. Cutting yourself some slack--If you're on a diet and slip up, you may feel it's hopeless to continue and let yourself stop the program. However, Weight Watchers recognizes people aren't perfect. In addition to your daily points, you're given extra points you can use if you eat too much one day or want to have an extra-special meal. Also, as I said before, you don't have to give up your favorite foods completely, but you may have to reduce how much you eat. I allow myself a mid-afternoon snack at work (sometimes fruit, sometimes a serving of trail mix or a small treat) and a low-cal dessert after dinner. This way, I don't feel deprived and am less likely to go overboard on the chocolate.

Do you have questions about Weight Watchers, or do you want to share your own success story? Please share them in the comments.

Spring Cleaning--A Book Giveaway!

Tomorrow is the first day of spring, so it seems like a great time to be cleaning out the bookshelves. I've therefore participating in the "I Am a Reader, Not a Writer Spring Cleaning Giveaway Hop." It runs from March 20th to the 25th; I'm posting early to make sure this is live by 12:01 EST. Here's a list of what I have to give away. These are all paperbacks, and they're organized by genre:

Classics--The House of the Seven Gables

Historical Fiction--Snow Flower and the Secret Fan; Pope Joan

Historical Thriller--The Magic Circle

Science Fiction--Stardoc; Endurance; Eternity Row; Shockball (these are all from the Stardoc series by S.L. Viehl)

Fantasy--Moon Called; Thorn Queen; Storm Born; Wolf's Head, Wolf's Heart; Through Wolf's Eyes; Heir of Autumn; Mistress of Winter; Storm Front; Giants of the Frost; The Autumn Castle; Hard Magic; Spectra Samplings 2004-2005 (I picked up this anthology from a convention and never got around to reading it)

If you see something you'd like, just ask for it in the comments below, and I'll strike out titles as they're spoken for. Don't forget to leave contact information so I can get your snail-mail address. First come, first served. Since I have so many to ship out, I'm restricting this to U.S. addresses only--I have to save on postage!

To see what other blogs are participating in this giveaway, please check out the linky below:

National Wormhole Day--Bloghop

Today is Einstein's birthday; he would have been 134. In his honor, Stephen Tremp, Laura Eno, and Luanne Smith are hosting a National Wormhole Day bloghop. It started yesterday, and even though I just heard about it and don't normally post on Thursdays anymore, I wanted to join in anyway. After all, if you're familiar with Lyon's Legacy and Twinned Universes, both of them feature wormholes, and both of them do a pretty good job of answering the question listed below:

What would you do or where would you go if you could traverse a wormhole through space or time just once? One safe round trip passage. Would you go back in time and talk some sense into a younger you? Go five years into the future and bring back the Wall Street Journal? See just how the heck the Great Pyramids of Giza were really built? View what the other side of the universe looks like? Kill Hitler? what you would do if you had a two-way ticket to traverse a wormhole. This is my way of getting people excited about all the amazing stuff on the horizon that we as a race are on the cusp of discovering! 

If I could only pass through a wormhole once, I'd go back to myself at 20 and give myself some advice--and maybe some investment tips. But if I could go somewhere else too, I'd see the Beatles perform at the Cavern in Liverpool. They were the ones who inspired to write and gave me the ideas for Lyon's Legacy and Twinned Universes. Plus I'd also like a chance to warn John about what would happen in 1980. The dream wouldn't end so soon....

Family Holiday Traditions and a Lyon's Legacy Giveaway

It's been a while since I've participated in a blog fest, but when I heard about Briane Pagel's "The Merry Christmas to All (e)Book a Day Traveling Blogathon of Doom," I knew I had to sign up. (If I didn't, I would have been, well, doomed.) You can win a free e-book every day between now and Christmas, so please check the link in the sidebar for the schedule of participating blogs.

For my post, I'd like to share our Almazan family Christmas traditions with you, because we have traditions within traditions. For example, every Thanksgiving weekend, we go to the Kristkindlmarkt in downtown Chicago; the last two years, we've gone on Thanksgiving Day because the weather was good. As part of our visit, we eat potato pancakes and chocolate-dipped fruit, drink spiced wine or cider, and buy German ornaments, a chocolate Advent calendar, and a house or accessories for our Christmas village. We put up our tree on Black Friday and leave it up until January 6th.

Normally I start baking cookies Thanksgiving weekend, but since we don't send out as many cookies as we used to, I decided to slack off this year. We have, however, started a new tradition of participating in a cookie exchange with the families of Alex's friends. I have several favorite recipes I bake every year; these include lemon slice cookies, sugar cookies with homemade frosting, pfeffernusse, and choco-mint snaps. (You can find all of these recipes at christmascookies.com.) My husband makes a couple different types of biscotti.

Since our son was born, we've added a couple other traditions, such as visiting the indoor train exhibit at the Chicago Botanic Garden, going for a holiday train ride, and building/decorating a gingerbread house. We don't make a big deal out of Santa, but we do take Alex to visit him at the mall. Our family celebrations mesh well, as my side of the family celebrates Christmas Eve and my husband's side on Christmas Day.


To celebrate the blogathon, I'm giving away a copy of Lyon's Legacy to a random commenter on this post. Please comment before midnight CST 11/29; I'll announce the winner on Friday. Please let me know what format you need. If you already have a copy of Lyon's Legacy, please let me know, and we can discuss whether you'd rather have copies of my two short stories or wait until Twinned Universes is available next year.

Celebrate INDIEpendence Day!

It's a double post day here on the blog! Even though Monday is my day for the Blog Ring of Power interviews, I wanted to get an early start on the holiday and help celebrate other independent authors. Yes, I'm part of the INDIE-pendence Day Blogfest hosted by The Indelibles. (Click the link to see all the participating blogs.) Today we're supposed to highlight great indie books, so I'm going to mention two I read this year: The 19 Dragons by SM Reine and the Wool Omnibus by Hugh Howey. 

The 19 Dragons is a blend of fantasy, steampunk, and mystery. I don't remember how I learned about this one, though it was probably through a blog. A Land with 19 pillars is home not just to people, but to nineteen dragons in human form. When someone renders the dragons mortal and starts killing them, the Land starts dying as well. Told as a series of vignettes, the story visits each dragon in turn, although a couple of the dragons reappear over and over. It was well-written in a poetic style and fast-paced. I enjoyed this unique story and unique voice.

I learned about Hugh Howey's Wool stories through The Passive Voice blog. The science-fiction saga began with a single short story; when reviewers demanded more, Howey wrote the sequels, successfully increasing the scope of the world and the stakes each time. In a future sterile world, humanity survives in an underground silo. Anyone expressing the wish to go out is exiled--a death sentence. The first story begins with a sheriff whose own wife was exiled; other characters are featured in later stories. Ultimately a young woman engineer becomes the focus of the series. I have to admit I was a little confused in the beginning, but once I understood the workings of this world, I was drawn in. The world-building is believable, as well as the characters. There are several surprising twists in the story, along with scenes where characters I cared about were put into jeopardy. The formatting and copy-editing of this story are of professional quality (and even better than some traditionally published e-books). I don't often give a book a full five-star rating, but I felt this one deserved it. The omnibus edition of Wool has five parts. There is a sixth book out, which I need to read once I clear a few more books out of my "To Read" collection.

If you're on Goodreads, you can find more books featured in this blogfest on this list. Go forth and celebrate the Fourth with an indie book!

My Star Wars Haiku

This is my biggest beef with the Star Wars prequels, yes, even bigger than Jar-Jar:

They got Padme wrong;
Mothers endure all for kids
And live past heartbreak.

In case you're wondering why I wrote a Star Wars haiku, it's all Briane's fault. (I mean that in the best possible way, of course.) He's hosting a blogfest challenge to write haikus about Star Wars, and as soon as I read about it, the idea for the above haiku popped into my head. Unfortunately, I couldn't fit the Wookies into my seventeen syllables. If you'd like to write a haiku about Wookies or whatever Star Wars theme inspires you, you have until April 8 to submit yours. Full details are at the link above.

Deja Vu Blogfest

"Feels like deja vu."

"What?"

"Feels like deja vu...."

Welcome to the Deja Vu Blogfest! If you're new to this site, welcome! I'm Sandra, an indie SF/Fantasy writer. Please look around the blog to learn more about me and my SF novella, Lyon's Legacy. I can't resist a plug: my novella is on sale this month for $0.99 at Amazon, B&N, and Smashwords.

Anyway, below is one of my favorite blog posts. It's part of the blog chain I belong to, and it was originally posted in March 2010.

Back on the Blog Chain: Holding out for a Hero(ine)

Yep, the Blog Chain post is making its first appearance on my blog this month. Eric posed this question:

Do you create characters that are larger-than-life or are your characters more like the average Joe?

(For discussion purposes, let's use his definition of "larger-than-life" as meaning exceptionally talented. It doesn't have to be a supernatural talent--an Olympic athlete would be larger-than-life.)

In his book Characters and Viewpoint, Orson Scott Card discusses how these two types of characters go in and out of fashion. Most of my esteemed fellow Blog Chainers, from Eric to Kate, have been on the side of the average Joe or Jane. I think some of this is due to genre. A few people admit their characters have a slight supernatural twist, but for the most part, larger-than-life characters are considered too perfect, too hard to relate to, or even too cliched. We're at the end of the chain now, and there's only one person left to champion the champions: a short, overweight, almost-middle-aged speculative fiction writer. In other words, me.

Let's cue some music for our discussion:




Most of my protagonists have had some extraordinary gift. My first two books featured magicians, as does my short story "A Reptile at the Reunion." My NaNoWriMo book from 2007 had a pair of shapeshifting sisters. Paul, the hero of Across Two Universes, lives in a science fiction universe, but he has a "quantum quirk" of his own. The only protagonist who might be considered an "ordinary Jane" is Paul's mother, Joanna, in my novella "Move Over Ms. L." So, how do I avoid the previously mentioned pitfalls of larger-than-life characters?

First of all, I don't think a larger-than-life character is necessarily perfect--or should be. Many legendary characters had flaws as big as their virtues. Hercules was very strong, but he wasn't above using dirty tricks in battle. Lancelot was in love with his liege's wife. Modern-day larger-than-life athletes like Michael Phelps and Tiger Woods have shown what I'll call lapses of judgment. Even my beloved Beatles have done drugs, had affairs, made poor business decisions, and otherwise proved they're not perfect. Having an extraordinary talent doesn't mean you're invincible either; just look at Achilles and Samson. I could go on, but the point I want to make is that the larger-than-life characters may be good at what they do, but if they're too good, then the story loses any suspense factor. Struggle is at the heart of all stories, so your characters have to face challenges that force them to stretch themselves. Heck, much of the time my characters struggle just to get along with their allies!

Another concern writers have about writing larger-than-life characters is how to make sure the average reader can relate to them. It's not as if most of us turn into animals every full moon or perform magic and read others' minds. Here, I think the key is to focus on emotions or experiences that can be universal. Many larger-than-life characters in speculative fiction face problems readers can relate to; for example, Carrie Vaughn's werewolf Kitty has a mother dealing with cancer. A classic Star Trek episode, "The Devil in the Dark," features an alien that's basically a sentient rock. Yet this creature is also a mother trying to protect her young. How can any parent not relate to that? If you can relate to a rock, magicians and other larger-than-life characters ought to be easy.

As for whether or not larger-than-life characters are cliche, I think anything can become one. It's not always easy to find a unique spin on a subject, but it can be done.

Going back to Eric's question, why do I prefer larger-than-life characters? Part of the reason is escapism and wish fulfillment. I live in Midwestern suburbia, and I like taking mental breaks from it with my fiction. Having high-powered characters means you can demand more of them; they buy you a seat at the high-stakes plot table. But there are other reasons for enjoying larger-than-life characters and speculative fiction. By looking at the extremes of the human condition (or even examining non-humans), we can learn something about the ordinary parts too. And while ordinary characters in extraordinary situations can do astonishing things, extraordinary people can inspire us to transcend the commonplace and reach for something we never thought possible. Our future depends on how far we can see and our drive to try new things. If we work at it, what was once considered extreme or even impossible can become part of our mundane reality.


I hope you enjoyed that blast from the past! I expect to be busy at work today, so it may take me a few days to visit all the participants in this blog fest. I'm also going to cut back my blogging schedule during the holidays. At this point, I'm not sure how often I'll post. Enjoy your weekend, everyone, and see you soon!

Superheroes of Science Blogfest

Look, there in the lab! It's a flask! It's a fruit fly! It's...SUPER SCIENTIST!

That's right, this week, Claudie A. is hosting a Superheroes of Science blogfest. If you'd like to join in, please sign up on her blog for a chance to win a prize. Here are the writing prompts:

Who is the most memorable scientist character to you? What's so special about him?
What scientists - dead, alive or fictional - made a difference in your life?
Is there a scientist you admire? What has he discovered or what is he working on?


Today, I'm going to discuss fictional scientists. One of my favorite scientists in fiction is Dr. Mackenzie "Mac" Connor from Julie Czerneda's Species Imperative trilogy. Mac is a biologist whose work with migrating salmon proves to be vital for understanding a deadly alien race. She cares passionately about her work, and her relationships with her friends, both human and alien, are as important to her character as her science.

If you're interested in alien scientists, check out Robert J. Sawyer's Far-Seer, Fossil Hunter, and Foreigner for dinosaur counterparts to Galileo, Darwin, and Freud.

Finally, even though it's going to be a few more weeks until my novella Lyon's Legacy is ready for publication, I can't resist mentioning the heroine, Joanna Lyon. Joanna is the descendant of a Twentieth Century rock star, but she prefers genetics to music. As she struggles to find a lab where she can work on her dissertation, she shares her love for science with everyone, even those who are indifferent to science.

Do you have any favorite scientists in science fiction? If so, who are they?

A-Z Blogging Challenge

If you follow Arlee Bird, then you already know that yesterday he announced the return of the Blogging from A-Z Challenge. The idea is that each day in April (excluding Sundays), bloggers will use a letter of the alphabet as inspiration for their daily posts. It starts with A on April 1st and ends with Z on the 30th. (This means I have to blog about X on my birthday, but luckily I already have a topic in mind.) If you're interested in joining this challenge, please sign up on Arlee's blog. This year, he's also asked three other bloggers (Alex J. Cavanaugh, Jen Daiker, and Talli Roland) to help him organize the event. I'm already getting organized by setting up a table in Word so I can easily see which letter I'm blogging about on which day and brainstorm topics for each letter. It never hurts to start early.

Midwinter Blogfest--Snowballs in Space

As I mentioned yesterday, I signed up for a Midwinter Blogfest hosted by Marieke. She wanted to know how our main characters celebrate midwinter. This is a scene I wrote especially for this blogfest, featuring characters from my science fiction novel Across Two Universes. Paul is the main character; Scott and Yvonne are siblings who are his best friend and girlfriend respectively. They all live on a research spaceship named for Carl Sagan. Without further ado, here's my scene:

Snowballs in Space

Paul paused in the living room on his way to see Yvonne. Either Dad or his sister had switched the holoprojectors to holiday mode overnight. Lights and pine branches looped around the illusion of a fireplace in the wall. Four stockings were displayed, but Mom’s stocking didn’t belong there anymore. The first Christmas without her. I’d give every present I ever got to have her back. He debated for a moment if he should remove it from the holo program, but it was more comforting to have it there. Even so, he’d lost some of his Christmas spirit. Hopefully Yvonne would help him recover it. He opened the door—

And something cold, white, and wet smacked him in the face.

Scott stood smirking in front of his family’s suite. He wore bright purple gloves from the lab, and a tub of more white stuff blocked the door. “Merry Christmas, Paul!”

Paul wiped his face. “What the hell was that?”

“Snow! I made it in the lab freezer. It’s an old tradition to make it into balls and throw them at each other during winter.”

Paul had only seen snow a couple of times and couldn’t imagine why anyone would want to handle the stuff. His face stung with cold, and his best shirt was wet. He turned up the heat fibers to dry it. “I think this is one tradition that should be left in the past.”

“You don’t want a snowball fight?” Scott frowned. “Normally you’d start it.”

“Not now, Scott. I have somewhere to go.”

Paul hurried down the Sagan’s hallway to the garden, where tiny lights nestled in the plants. Yvonne was waiting in their favorite nook. “Merry Christmas, angel.” He handed her a box.

She slid it open and gasped as a twisted gold bracelet studded with gems slipped out. “Isn’t this your mom’s bracelet? I can’t accept this. This must have cost thousands of credits. Besides, isn’t it a family heirloom or something? Shouldn’t it go to Cass?”

“She has the rest of Mom’s jewelry.” Paul swallowed, remembering how tough it had been to redistribute his mother’s things. “But Dad said I could save something if I wanted to give it to my wife when I get married.”

Yvonne shook her head, but a twinkle in her eye belied her exasperation. “I’ve told you, it’s way to soon to talk about that.”

“Why not? I've said since I was five that we were going to get married someday.” He drew back warily. “You’re not going to throw ice cream at me again, are you?”

She tilted her head. “That wouldn’t be a nice way to thank you, would it? How about this instead?”

She leaned forward and kissed him, proving they didn’t need mistletoe.

When their lips finally parted, Paul said, “Yvonne?”

“Yes, Paul?”

“Do you know how much snow Scott made? I say after dinner we steal it and pelt him good.”



I hope you enjoyed the scene! Please stop by Marieke's blog for a complete list of the participants so you can check out their entries too!

First 250 Words Blogfest

A couple of weeks ago, Elle Strauss hosted a First 250 Words Contest. I was fortunate enough to be one of the finalists. Today, she's hosting a Blogfest so everyone can share their openings. Here's my entry, the opening of Across Two Universes:


            After standing so long under the hot stage lights, Paul would have crossed the wormhole without a spacesuit for a drink of water. The greenroom was down the hall, but crew members dashing around and setting up for the next scene made the backstage area an obstacle course. As he reached the hallway, a costume programmer yanked him off to the side.

            “You’re Paul Harrison, right?” she asked. “Your sister’s at the back door. She says there’s a family emergency.”

            He removed his sweaty face mesh. “Just her? What’s wrong?”

            “She was too upset to say.”

            Dad and his sister had been shopping for supplies to be sent up to the spaceship; why wasn’t he here too? Frowning, Paul sprinted down the corridor of narrow dressing rooms to the back. Cass peered through the security window. Mascara was streaked across her face, and auburn hair tumbled around her head. After he let her in, she clung to him so tightly her jacket became entangled in his holoprojectors.

            “What’s up, Sis?” He strained his ears to follow the onstage dialogue. “I have to go back before my next scene.”

            She looked up at him, her blue eyes glistening. “Mom’s in the hospital.”

             Shit. A spasm of itching crept over Paul’s arms. “She was fine at lunch. What happened?”

             “I don’t know!” Cass released him. “Dad got a call from one of the ushers saying Mom threw up and passed out.”

            “I’m right here. How come no one told me?” 

I hope you enjoyed that! To visit the other blogs participating in this contest, please check here. 

Cancer in the Ancient World

I just came across this article on CNN about how cancer was treated in the ancient world. Cancer was much less common back then than it is now. This may be due to a couple of reasons; there were fewer toxins such as pollution, but people didn't live as long as we do now. (Cancer can take a long time to develop, though this may be shortened in people with a genetic tendency for the disease.) Anyway, I thought this might be an interesting resource for anyone writing a fantasy set in ancient times. The American Cancer Society has a much longer and more detailed file about the history of cancer here.

Have a happy weekend, everyone! If you're online, stop by tomorrow to check out my entry in Elle Strauss's First 250 Words Blogfest--or perhaps head over to her blog to sign up too.

The Great Blogging Experiment: Creating Compelling Characters

A couple of weeks ago, Elana Johnson (along with Jennifer Daiker and Alex Cavanaugh) proposed a blogging experiment. They challenged readers of their blogs to post today on the same subject: creating compelling characters. The idea was to show how each participant (there are over 150) would have a unique take on the subject. I figured that in order to create a compelling character in fiction, it would help to look at a real-life compelling person. Those of you who know me are probably not surprised at my choice: John Lennon. Here's a short list of the traits that make John Lennon a compelling figure, at least to me. All of these traits can be given to fictional characters as well.

A Dramatic Backstory: John Lennon was born during World War II (some sources say there was an air raid in progress at the time), and his childhood and adolescence weren't peaceful times either. Abandoned by both his father and his mother (when John was five, his father forced him to choose between them), John was mostly raised by his aunt and uncle. He started seeing his mother again when he was a teenager but lost her for good when she was killed in an accident. He also lost both his uncle and his best friend. All this happened before the Beatles became famous. Perhaps it's no wonder John had what I'll call...

A Complex Personality: John presented a brash, rebellious face to the world to cover up his inner insecurities. His wit could be quite cruel, especially if he sensed vulnerability. But he could be kind to fans, signing autographs for them when they waited outside his house. John's personality was large enough to contain other contradictions, as if he was a "sweet bird of paradox" himself. He sang about peace yet had a temper. An intelligent man, he could still be taken advantage of by unscrupulous people. He described himself as the laziest man in England, but he had the ambition and drive to travel across Liverpool to learn a single guitar chord, play for hours on end in Hamburg--in short, to do whatever it took to make the Beatles the best. Throughout his life, John continued to grow, seemingly conquering his inner demons. Although he wasn't much of a father to Julian, he was much more nurturing with Sean.


Leadership: John was the one who started the Beatles, but he inspired countless other people to do things, whether it was playing guitar or giving peace a chance. He was even one of three Men of the Decade (the 1960s, of course).

So to summarize, compelling characters have unique backgrounds that affect their personalities and actions in the story. They aren't one-sided, but have multiple aspects to their personalities. They have both strengths and flaws. And to make them compelling to readers, show how other characters in the story find your main characters worth watching and listening to.

I'm sure there's more I could say, but I'd rather watch this:



For a full list of the people participating in this blogging experiment, please check out the link to Elana's blog at the beginning of this post. And if you're here because of the experiment, hello! Please leave a comment so I can check out your blog too.