Five Years Ago....

I wore this...

And ate this....

That's right, it's our wedding anniversary! Eugene and I are taking the day off to celebrate and enjoy an Odyssey cruise on Lake Michigan. Have a happy weekend, everyone!

Kindle--Highlights and Sharing

I'm not trying to become a spokesperson for the Kindle, but it does change the reading experience.

One of the Kindle's features is that it allows you to highlight text or add notes to it. You can also share your highlighted text on Facebook or Twitter. (Edited to add: the book is automatically cited.) And if you're reading a book that other people have shared highlights from, you can see those as well. (You can turn public highlights off if they distract you.) What I like about the public highlights is that they make me feel like part of a community reading a book.

(I don't interact with a lot of SF readers in my daily life, and I don't belong to any SF book clubs. There are probably forums out there where I could discuss my reading, but as a writer, I'm not comfortable posting about other writers' books. If I say anything negative, it could come back to haunt me.)

I also like sharing my highlights on Facebook. I'm currently rereading my beloved Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig on Kindle, so if you're friends with me on Facebook, expect to see a lot of passages from that book popping up on my profile over the next few days.

Do you mark up your paper books? I generally don't, but ZMM is the exception for me. Do you like the idea of sharing your favorite passages with others? If so, would you do it for fun or publicity?

The Science of Science Fiction--Camouflage and Mimicry

If you ask someone to name an animal that uses camouflage, chances are she may respond with something like a chameleon (we had these in elementary school one year), or maybe a butterfly or a frog. Camouflage and mimicry are widespread in nature. As this article from the NY Times shows, they may be more widespread than most people realize, and they don't just apply to visual camouflage or mimicry.

The article lists several examples of mimicry, such as jungle cats imitating the calls of baby monkeys, baby cockroaches flirting with male cockroaches to obtain food (just when you thought cockroaches couldn't get more disgusting), and octopi that can adopt the coloration of toxic fish over their entire bodies or make an arm look like a sea snake. Interestingly enough, the article concludes with an example of human mimicry; we like other people who unconsciously echo our own gestures better than those who don't.

Shape-shifting aliens are nothing new, but there are other ways to use camouflage and mimicry in science fiction. On Earth, animals use camouflage and mimicry techniques that affect the senses of vision and hearing. Perhaps aliens would rely on different senses and attempt to fool others' senses of smell, touch, or taste. They may even play with senses that we don't have. Would they have other motives for these behaviors besides food and protection? Would they play a part in procreation, for instance, or perhaps alien art? And if they learn to imitate us, will we consider that sincere flattery and accept them? What do you think?

Ten Word Tuesday: Buy a Book from a Bookstore Day!

I bought books a day early. I hope that's OK.

Labor Day Haikus

Is this summer's end?
Not quite--I hold with Nature
And seek the balance.

***

Time is strange today.
There's extra time for errands
But when do I write?

Discussion: The Joy of Rereading

I used to reread books when I was younger more often than I do now. Part of this is because I don't have as much free time for reading at all, so when I do, I attempt to conquer the Mount Everest of unread books stacked in my office. I like to fantasize that someday when I'm retired, I'll be able to reread some of my favorite books I have in my collection, but the truth is I'm more likely to die before I run out of new books to read. Some of the stories I have managed to reread (when I bought new editions) are The Jungle Book and the Sherlock Holmes stories.

When I got my Kindle last week, I discovered that there were a lot of free books for the Kindle--mostly older books that were in the public domain. I took the opportunity to download some classics I've read before. So far, I've reread A Little Princess and The Swiss Family Robinson. I preferred the first one over the second, as it was more of a story. Reading older books shows how much writing styles have changed over the years. Telling and moralizing have become less popular.

Another favorite book I downloaded was Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. I still have my beloved purplish paperback, with lots of underlining and comments. (It's probably the book I've written in the most, even including my textbooks.) I haven't reread this for several years, and given that I now work in Quality Control, it should be interesting to see what I get out of this book this time. I'm looking forward to having this book with me wherever I go and sharing favorite passages on Facebook. I'm also considering buying a Kindle version of Connie Willis's To Say Nothing of the Dog so I can have it in my permanent collection (even though I have it in paperback) and have an excuse to reread it.

Do you read books just once or several times? What are your favorite books to reread? What is it that draws you to them again and again? If you have an e-reader, has that changed your reading/rereading habits?

Enjoy the Labor Day weekend, everyone!

Back on the Blog Chain: It Don't Come Easy

The blog chain has finally worked its way over to me again. Eric had this question for us:

What do you find to be the most challenging aspect of being a writer?  What is your greatest reward from writing?

First, here's Ringo Starr to sing the theme song for this post:



Like many of the other people, lack of time for writing is a big challenge for me at this point in my life. When I was single, I could spend all evening in front of the computer. Granted, I was chatting and goofing off in addition to writing, but I was still able to devote significant time to it. Now it's not just the reduced writing time that I have to deal with, but the lack of "pre-planning" I can do before I sit down and write. There are so many other things competing for my attention that I don't think enough about my current projects. I've been compensating for this by trying to outline the sequel to Across Two Universes and create "character bibles" for Paul and his friends.

Although I've sold a story, it was far more thrilling to learn about the sale and see my name on the back of the anthology cover than to get my royalty statement. (Not that I minded that.) But for me, the biggest reward is the feeling of satisfaction I get when I finish a story. Even if it's just a rough draft that will require extensive rewriting, I know I've accomplished something.

This is the last post for this chain. Please go back to Eric's post and read through them in order, or work your way backward from Amanda's post. Another chain will be starting soon!

Ten Word Tuesday: Paper Books and e-Books

Is a book paper, or the words and the story?

Kindle 3--My Impressions

As I mentioned on Friday, I just got the latest Kindle. Here are my thoughts on it so far:

Setting it up was very easy. It only took a couple of hours for the initial charge. Since I bought it for myself, it was already registered to my Amazon account.

It is very light and easy to hold, easier than some of my paperbacks. We'll see what happens once my cover arrives (I got the one that includes a light.)

I downloaded a sample of the complete works of Shakespeare. While it's great to have it all in something so portable, there's no space for footnotes to explain the language. I admit this is one advantage of paper books.

I also downloaded some free books, such as A Little Princess, Swiss Family Robinson, Ulysses, Swann's Way, and some of the Oz books. Some I've read; some I've been meaning to read. The downloads didn't take long at all. I've already managed to read about one and a half books.

The screen is very readable as is, though you can adjust the font and font size.

Turning pages is very easy. It didn't take me long to get used to the screen blacking out between pages, though sometimes I hit the button to go forward when I mean to go back. But it's nice that your spot is automatically saved.

It's a little weird not having page numbers. I'm not sure exactly what the locations mean (each "page" is listed as being a small range of locations within the book. There is a bar at the bottom of the screen showing the percentage of how far you've advanced in the book.

The Kindle allows you to highlight and annotate the text; you even see passages other people have highlighted, though you can turn off this feature.

You can group your titles into collections and choose how you want them organized.

All in all, I'm pleased with it. I don't think I'll give up on paper books entirely, at least not yet. Still, I'm looking forward to reading more books on the Kindle.

Life Imitates Art

My Kindle arrived today! I plan to discuss it on Monday after I've had some time to check it out. So far it's pretty neat, though.

Anyway, in the meantime, here's an article about someone at the Large Hadron Collider who claims to have come back from the future to destroy the LHC. Personally, even if time travel does become possible someday, I doubt we'd be able to travel into our own past. (That's why I have Paul travel to an alternate universe in my book.) Still, the last paragraph of the article makes you wonder, doesn't it?

Edited to Add: Whoops, I didn't look closely enough at the date. This was an April Fool's Day joke. I don't expect people to link to those in mid-August.

Make September 7th National Buy a Book Day!

I found out about this idea through a link a friend shared on Facebook. With both Borders and Barnes & Noble having financial problems, readers and writers need to support bookstores. What better way to do so than by buying more books? I have at least twenty books on my to-read list, but there are still certain titles calling my name. The main problem will be waiting until September 7th to buy the book I have in mind: Rift in the Sky by Julie E. Czerneda. (Ironic I'm linking to Amazon, isn't it?) Please join me in buying a new book from a bookstore on September 7--and if you can help spread this idea through your blog, Facebook, or Twitter account, even better!

White Space and Creativity

White space (or negative space) is the part of the page that's left blank. It's necessary not just to group text and graphic elements, but to give the eyes a rest. Similarly, our minds need downtime to learn and come up with new ideas. But as this article in the New York Times points out, our electronic gadgets provide temptation to fill all our downtime with distractions. If we ceaselessly shovel content into our brains, we will never have enough quiet time to be creative.

I have to admit there are times when I don't give myself enough quiet time--instead of relaxing during my lunch hour, I surf the Net or write. But there are other times, such as when I'm at the park with Alex, that I try to take time to relax, look at the clouds, and try to clear my head. It isn't easy, especially when I get earworms from Alex's shows stuck in my brain. But I've also found that when I set aside some time to be creative--for example, setting aside time to develop a plot or an alien race--several ideas may pile on top of each other.

Do you give yourself mental downtime? If so, is it just walking away from the Internet for a while, or do you take more drastic measures? Do you think more should be done to promote the importance of downtime? I wonder if some future culture will mandate everyone unplug every so often, and what affect that would have on people.

Ten Word Tuesday: Announcement

I added a new page to my blog. Click here.

Trying New Things

Welcome back to Monday, everyone. Hope you had a good weekend. We've had a lot scheduled the last two weekend, and even though we didn't have anything planned, we were still busy as well. On Saturday, I took Alex both to the library and the pool. We shopped for a new bed for him yesterday, then visited the Chicago Botanic Garden and wound up having dinner at a restaurant with my in-laws. More of my husband's relatives stopped by, so we ended up with a spontaneous family dinner for twenty!

Saturday with my son turned out to be a success because he was able to overcome his fear of loud public bathrooms to do these activities. For a long time, he showed no interest in going to the library because he was spooked of the bathroom there. I told him we'd use the bathroom at home so we wouldn't have to use the one there. When we got to the pool, we had to go through the women's locker room to reach the pool. He balked at first, but luckily there weren't any hair dryers running, so I hurried him through. He wasn't interested in the wading pool at first, but after he played in the sand area for a while and had a snack, I was able to coax him in. Once there, he had a wonderful time.

To bring this around to writing, I think it's very useful to keep trying new things. By challenging yourself to do something different, you learn and gain new skills and perspectives. For a long time, I wrote by the seat of my pants. This meant that after completing a first draft, I'd think of new plot points and end up writing an entirely new draft. Sometimes I'd go through several loops like this. I've had ideas for the sequel to Across Two Universes (working title: Catalyst in the Crucible) for quite some time now, but although I had a decent sense of the plot, other areas really need to be fleshed out before I can progress further. So I started by writing myself a rough outline of the story. I was surprised by the inspiration that came from doing this; I generated other plot ideas as I wrote. In some sections, I have multiple ideas listed. It's nice to have a map of my novel that still gives me flexibility to change the story as I write. I'm currently working  a series of character sheets to help me keep everything consistent. When I get those done, I'll be ready to return to my draft and keep going with it.

Have you tried anything new with your writing--a different genre, style, or technique? What did you learn from it?

Due to Technical Difficulties....

I wanted to blog about reading books on my cellphone yesterday, but I can't find an app for that.

There's supposed to be a Kindle app for Android, but I can't find it in the Marketplace.

According to Amazon's website, you should be able to scan a barcode and get the app, except I don't know how to use my bar scanner. And I don't know where the manual for my cellphone is.

Although the thousand-page paperback I'm currently reading is unwieldy, the tech level required is so simple even I can manage it.

P.S. Speaking of more technical difficulties, my son caused quite a few of them as he laid and climbed all over me while I wrote up this post.

The Bechdel Test and Male POV, Part Two

Thanks to all of you who commented on the first post on this subject. (If you haven't had a chance to read it yet, you can find it here.) I hope you don't mind if I refer to your comments. In this post, I'm going to look at ways to help a story pass the Bechdel Test, even if it's told from a male POV.

More is More. It probably sounds obvious, but the more women there are in a story, the greater the likelihood is that they'll talk to or interact with each other. However, as Tara and Ted pointed out, sometimes you have situations where there are few, if any women around. There may be extreme situations where this can't be changed. (I should also point out that it's perfectly OK to have stories with all men or all women, though I personally wouldn't want every story of mine to be like that.) However, sometimes it may be possible to find women if you look closely enough. For instance, Ted mentioned that his first book had few female characters because it mostly dealt with a war. An army of men would attract camp followers and possibly employ women as cooks and laundresses. There may be women working in support positions, serving as soldiers (either openly or disguised as men), or acting as spies. Finally, soldiers might encounter women in civilian positions, especially when they're on the march or stationed abroad. They may take a lover--or claim one as a war prisoner. Not all depictions of women in this scenario are positive, unfortunately. Still, their presence may make the setting seem more complete or even take the story in an unexpected direction.

Let the Women Meet. Again, an obvious point--they can't talk to each other if your hero encounters one woman every fifty pages. Sherry mentioned in her comment that in one of her books, there are several female characters, but they're physically separated over great distances. Are there places where people, particularly women, might gather? Pamela suggested a tavern as one possible meeting place. If a woman is going somewhere, is she by herself, or does she have relatives or other companions with her?


Develop Character. The more we know about a particular character's interests, the more that character has to say to other people. Character development also allows secondary characters more stage presence. This is important if your main character is male, but you still want a strong female presence in your novel.

That's all I can think of for now. I'm considering submitting this topic as a panel idea for WisCon next year. In the meantime, let me provide a few caveats, courtesy of tvtropes.org (my thoughts are in parentheses):


The Bechdel Test is not meant to give a scorecard of a work's overall level of feminism. (emphasis in the article) It is entirely possible for a film to pass without having overt feminist themes - in fact, the original example of a movie that passes is Alien, which, while it has feminist subtexts, is mostly just a sci-fi/action/horror flick. (As if there's something wrong with that!) A movie can easily pass the Bechdel Test and still be incredibly misogynistic. Conversely, it's also possible for a story to fail the test and still be strongly feminist in other ways, and there's nothing necessarily wrong with that. What's a problem is that it becomes a pattern - when so many movies fail the test, while very few fail to show male characters whose lives don't revolve around women, that says uncomfortable things about the way Hollywood handles gender....It can be interesting to apply the Bechdel Test in a wider context. ... This can be especially jarring in Speculative Fiction, which often claims to be about aliens, vampires, Klingons, or what have you, but they only ever talk to or about humans.

Ten Word Tuesday: On Waiting Rooms

I'll write with crayon and scratch paper if I must.

The Bechdel Test and Male POV

Last Friday, Krista analyzed her writing projects to determine if they passed the Smurfette Test (the work has more than one woman) and the Bechdel Test (it has more than one woman who talk to each other about something than a man or men). These tests are important because many films, TV shows, novels, etc. still feature a token female character or put the female characters off to the side. Krista's post made me think about some of my projects to see if they would pass these tests.

The Season Lord Trilogy (Day of All Seasons, Fifth Season, and the unfinished Summon the Season Lords) featured a group of four female magic-users who have to work together to save their country. This definitely passes both tests.

My short story "A Reptile at the Reunion" is about a woman going back to the University of Magic to meet her friends, one male and one female. The two females discuss magic, not men.

My novella "Move Over Ms. L." featured a young woman who talks to her mother, her labmates (who include two lesbians), the director of the time travel program, and her ancestor's aunt. While some of the conversations are about men, others aren't.

This leads me to my current project, Across Two Universes. While there are several female characters--Paul's sister Cass; his love interest Yvonne; the ship's psychiatrist, Dr. Stern; and the ship's captain--they don't talk to each other as much as my female characters do in other stories. They tend to talk more to my main character, Paul, instead. And even when they do talk directly to each other, they talk a lot about Paul or his plans. I wouldn't say it completely fails the Bechdel test, but it doesn't pass as strongly as some of my other stories. Why?

The answer has to do with my main character, Paul. Almost all of the story is filtered through his perspective. As the main character, he has the most at stake, and his actions drive the story. It's not surprising that the other characters react to him. Paul isn't sexist; he was raised by a strong-willed mother, and he encourages his love interest to pursue her own interests. But he's also a teenager and an actor, so he has a strong ego too.

Another reason that there isn't as much female-female conversation in a book with a mostly male POV is that the women talk more to each other when Paul isn't around. There are at least three spots in my book where Cass and Yvonne (who are friends) are alone together, but since Paul's doesn't hear them, we don't know what they talk about. There are also topics women don't feel comfortable discussing in front of men. For instance, Yvonne and Cass aren't going to discuss 20th century tampons vs. 22nd century menstrual cups in front of Paul. (That's assuming they still bother with a period, that is.) Finally, during the scenes when Paul is having a conversation with more than one woman, the dialogue focuses on plot points (where speakers address the entire group or Paul in particular) instead of developing character (which would allow more sharing between secondary characters like Cass and Yvonne, rather than one of them talking directly to him).

Is a male POV always an obstacle to having a story pass the Bechdel Test? Are there other reasons why this would happen? And are there strategies we writers can use to increase female-female conversation in these stories? This topic is too important for one writer to tackle alone, so I'd like to invite you to comment on this post and offer your insights. I'll return to this topic on Wednesday, hopefully with ideas to help male POV stories pass the Bechdel Test. Stick around!

Day Out with Thomas 2010

I've mentioned before how much of a "trainiac" my son is, so of course we had to take him to the Day Out with Thomas at the Illinois Railway Museum. We bought tickets as soon as we learned they were available. Based on advice from friends, we got the first ride of the day. This was good advice, as parking filled up quickly and we could avoid some of the craziness of such a big event.

We've been to the Railway Museum before (see this post), but there was much more kids' stuff this time: bouncy houses, temporary tattoos, a chance to meet Sir Topham Hatt from the show, and much more. But we didn't bother with any of that, because Alex was much more interested in the trains themselves.

We got to the museum around 9:30 and were able to get to the Thomas train in plenty of time. I was pleased that admission to the museum was included in the cost of the tickets; I thought we'd have to pay for that too. The coaches were regular coaches from the museum, not Annie and Clarabelle. There were some pictures of Thomas, Percy, and James tacked to the inside ceiling, next to the old adds. The train ride was about 20 minutes. During the ride, clowns passed through the cars (Alex paid no attention). At the end, he got a certificate proclaiming him a junior engineer. We'll have to put that up in his room. We took some pictures of Thomas, but we didn't do the official ones. I should also mention that although Thomas led the train, there was a diesel engine in back doing the real work. I doubt a tank engine could handle all those coaches!

After the ride, we stopped by Alex's favorite engine, a gray one numbered 3007. Then we passed through a barn before meeting some friends who were on the 10:30 train. We split up for a bit so Alex could check out all the signals on display and ride a commuter train. Then we rejoined our friends for lunch. While we were at the diner, we heard an announcement about a special tour of the steam repair shed, so we joined that tour. We looked at some more trains, but by that point we'd been at the museum for over four hours. Alex was so interested in the trains he wasn't bothered by hunger, thirst, or fatigue, but we didn't want him to have a meltdown or a potty accident. So we had to skip the ride on a cable car that we'd promised him. I think stopping by the Thomas store cured any disappointment he felt. He held up well throughout our visit, but by the end he was fading. I think we left at the right time. Our little engineer fell asleep in the car, probably dreaming about all the trains he wants to drive.

Here are a few photos from the day:

Alex and his favorite engine.

A closeup of Alex in his train engineer outfit. He was quite a hit! Many of the other kids wore Thomas shirts and hats, but I saw only one other kid in a similar outfit.

The best picture I took of Thomas.

Current and future train engineer.

Beatlefest 2010

Every year, there's a convention for Beatles fans in the Chicago area. It used to be called Beatlefest, but they changed the name several years ago to The Fest for Beatles Fans. (I've been going long enough that the old name is stuck in my mind.) The last time I attended was before Alex was born. This year, I finally decided I wanted to go, so I asked Eugene to take care of Alex while I was gone. When Alex found out where I was going, he asked to come with me. Perhaps in a couple of years I'll bring him.

I belong to an online forum for Beatles fans, and members like to get together before the event opens. I was a little late since, despite printed directions, I managed to take a wrong turn near the airport and wound up by all the car rentals. Fortunately, a gatekeeper at one of the places helped me get on the right track. I chatted with friends for about an hour. We took some pictures, though a few people left before we took them.

Afterwards, I wandered around for a bit, checking out some of the exhibits. My favorite one was of lost Beatles photos taken by their tour manager. I was sorely tempted to buy some of the photos, but I still have several Beatles photos that I haven't hung up yet in the house. I decided to wait for the book to come out next year. Then I met up with a friend of mine, Aviva, and caught up with her for a while. I also met my other friends Susan, Tina, and Kristi. Eventually I went to the dealer's room to get A Date with a Beatle autographed (the author was very sweet) and buy a shirt and toy for Alex. I also stopped in the video room and the art show.

For dinner, I went with several friends (Aviva, Susan, Tina, and Melanie) to Pappadeux. We met with Eugene and Alex. Alex hadn't napped earlier but fell asleep on the way there. He was a bit tired and cranky at first, but once he woke up (after some sugary snacks), he was a hit. I would have liked to have returned to the Fest for the fan fiction panel, but it was getting late, and I wanted to help put Alex to bed. Maybe next time. It was good to be "back where I once belonged" and see all my friends again!

WriteOnCon Recap

First, I'd like to thank the organizers and industry professionals who made WriteOnCon such a success. They put a lot of effort into the presentations and the site. I was among those who couldn't access the website on the first day due to server problems, so I appreciated it when Elana and some of the other organizers posted the presentations on their own blogs. That way, I could still follow along.

There were so many presentations with a lot of information, so it's hard to pick my favorite. I would say I found the live agent chats where the agents reviewed query letters and sample pages most helpful. But all of the presentations are still on the website, so you can go back and view them for yourself. The forums will be available for at least a little longer, so there's still time to post material, critique, and network.

Although the con was set up for working people, I was glad to have the time off. I felt free to watch the vlog presentations, which I wouldn't have done at work. Plus I had more time to critique others' sample pages and work on my next project.

If the organizers run something like this next year, I personally would be happy to donate a small amount (say $10) to help defray server and administration costs. But I think it's great that they kept it free to allow everyone access.

Anyway, it's back to work for me today, so I have to make this short. I have some fun personal things planned for this weekend, so perhaps I'll have time to post some pictures. (After finishing up crits on the WriteOnCon forum, of course.) By Monday, I should be ready to return to a normal blogging schedule. Have a good weekend, everyone!

Social Networking Experiment

I'm reposting this announcement from Nicola Morgan's blog. She's conducting a social networking experiment on Facebook, looking for people to join her fan page. For every 50 people who "like" her page in the next two weeks, she'll give away a signed copy of one of her books. (She'll give away a maximum of ten books.) Although I haven't read any of them myself, they're aimed at teenagers. So if you're a teenager, you know a teenager, or you enjoy reading YA, head on over and join!

Quote of the Day

"Few people think more than two or three times a year; I have made an international reputation for myself by thinking once or twice a week."

George Bernard Shaw

Ten Word Tuesday: Scientific American

Click here for an article about super-Earths and life.

Gearing Up for WriteOnCon

Tomorrow I'm going to a different type of writing convention--an online one. WriteOnCon runs from Tuesday, August 10, through Thursday, August 12. Although it's primarily geared for kidlit authors, the organizers say there will be plenty of information that writers of all kinds will find useful. Since it's free, there's no reason not to sign up.

It's strange preparing for an online convention. I decided to take the next few days off (I have plenty of vacation time) so I could focus on the con, but it looks like most of the chats will be in the evening, when my family will be home. I can always revise my work and critique other people's during the day. Since this convention promises to be a big one, there should be lots of networking opportunities.

Is anyone else attending this con? Have you attended other online cons before? I'm not sure what to expect. At least this is much cheaper than traveling to a real-life con, and I don't have to worry about sleeping in a hotel room or conflicting panels. I think I will miss a real dealer's room, but that may be easier on my wallet too. ;)

As for preparations, I've posted my current query letter for review, and I'll do the same with parts of Across Two Universes once I'm allowed to. Off to go review them one last time...

Oxford's Secret Word Vault

Did you know there are millions of rejected words waiting for the chance to join the English language? According to this article in Time, the Oxford University Press has a vault with "unwords" written on cards and filed away. Some of these words include "dringle" (The watermark left on wood caused by a glass of liquid) and "oninate" (To overwhelm with post-dining breath--I presume this must be onion-breath). Although they were once judged "unsuitable" for the Oxford English Dictionary, there's still a possibility that they could be accepted into future editions of the OED, so they're kept around. It reminds me a bit of Jasper Fforde's Well of Lost Plots, which, if I remember it correctly, contained every book ever written--unpublished, published, good, or bad. As a writer, I think it would be really cool to look at some of those unwords -- and the whole concept sounds like a story idea to me. What do you think? Do we need more words like dringle and oninate, to name things we all come across yet seldom discuss? What unwords would you nominate to the Secret Word Vault?

Back on the Blog Chain: Status Report

For this round, Cole wants to know what we've been working on lately:

Are you querying? Gearing up to go on submission? Writing? Revising? I'd love to hear what's new with you. And if you'd like to share a snippet of your WIP, even better!

Amanda posted before me, and Eric comes next.

Well, since I talk about my science fiction novel Across Two Universes so much, I figure I should discuss it first. I've done as much as I can with it on my own, so it's out to three reviewers. While I wait to hear from them, I've been getting feedback on my query letter and synopsis from the Absolute Writer Water Cooler and OWW. I've also started researching agents on QueryTracker. All this means that after umpteen zillion years, I'm finally gearing up to submit this project. Exactly when this will happen depends on the feedback I get from my reviewers, though I'm hoping I'm past the "tear it up and start over" phase by now.

Even though I haven't sold Across Two Universes yet, my characters have compelled me to start the sequel, currently called Catalyst in the Crucible. I was planning to make it a NaNoWriMo project, but I guess that's out the window now. That's OK; I just want to resolve Paul's story so he leaves me alone. ;)

I haven't forgotten about my shapeshifting sisters either. Although I'm not actually writing their story yet, I'm trying to plot it out. To be more precise, I have one plotline from the first project I wrote with them and a second plot from a short story I wrote while I was taking a break from Across Two Universes. I'm trying to figure out how to merge them. While I'd like to outline this story, I tend to write by the seat of my pants, so I have to make sure the outline doesn't spoil my urge to write the actual story. I think it would be good for me to work on something different from Paul once in a while.

Finally, here's the opening of Across Two Universes:

After standing so long under the hot lights, Paul felt like he’d passed through the wormhole as he entered the shadowed backstage. He headed to the green room for water, but a costume programmer yanked him off to the side, away from a couple of cursing stage hands.

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

Paul removed his sweaty face mesh. “What’s wrong?”

"She was too upset to tell me.”

I hope it’s nothing major. He sprinted down the corridor of narrow dressing rooms to the back. Cass peered through the security window. Mascara was streaked across her face, and her auburn hair tumbled wildly 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 hearing 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.”

I hope you enjoyed it!

Discussion: Let's Talk Science!

Since science is obviously an important part of science fiction, I thought it would be interesting to talk about it and our attitudes toward it. I've been interested in science since I was a child. I became particularly interested in genetics when I was a teenager. I'm adopted, so genetics was a way for me to learn about my biological parents by studying my own genes. (I have a lot of recessive traits, so it didn't help much.) I also read books on quantum mechanics; they were written for a general audience. I don't think I could follow journal articles on quantum mechanics! I majored in molecular biology in college, intending to become a geneticist. Things happened along the way, and today, although I do work in a lab, I'm currently in Quality Control. I still suffer from Research Withdrawal from time to time.

How do you feel about science? Do you prefer one type of science to another? (E.g., biology vs. physics.) What types of science would you like to see me cover in my Science of Science Fiction posts?

Ten Word Tuesday: Relaxation

Sometimes one needs to stop, lay back, and watch clouds.

Crossing the Genre Border

I recently joined a Facebook Book Club started by some people I went to high school with. The first book chosen was one I hadn't heard of before: Life as I Know It. I'm currently about two-thirds of the way through. Although I'd consider it women's fiction, the premise is rooted in fantasy. Briefly, after two women are struck by lightning at the same time, one of them finds herself living both lives, switching back and forth from her own life as a single working girl to a married mother of four kids. For me, this would be enough to call it fantasy, though I can see why it's marketed as women's fiction. I think mixing genres in a given book can enrich the story. However, unless there's a way to indicate that the story fits multiple genres, it can be very difficult for a book to reach all the members of its potential audience. Plus, the differences in genre conventions may confuse or alienate some readers.

Do you read or write books that cross the genre border? If so, do you find them more challenging than stories of a single genre?

The All Aboard Diner

I've mentioned before how my son is a "trainiac," obsessed with everything train-related. There's a restaurant not too far from us that caters to his type. It's called the All Aboard Diner, and it features trains, trains, and more trains. We decided to take Alex there today on a whim.

As you walk into the diner, which is tucked into a strip mall, there's a model train setup next to the door. It's glassed off so kids can't touch it, but there's a raised platform they can stand on and lots of buttons they can push to make items move.

Another model train runs on a track near the ceiling:

More trains, from plates to murals, decorate the walls. Thomas the Tank Engine plays on the TV screens. But the chief attraction of the diner is the long U-shaped bar in the center, where a model train hauls your order to your seat:

Alex was too excited to eat much; he was more interested in the train whistle that came with dessert (a chocolate chip sundae with a cookie) than the dessert itself. Unfortunately, not even the promise of trains in the bathroom could entice him into using it. But the service was good, and I'm sure we'll be back there soon so he can watch more trains in action.

E-Reader Update

My post yesterday turned out to be quite timely, as Amazon announced they were coming out with a new version of the Kindle next month. I decided to jump on it and pre-order. I even pre-ordered my first book for it (Blameless, by Gail Carriger, due September 1.) I still have a slew of paper books to read, but I'm excited about the Kindle and can hardly wait.

How do you prefer to read, paper books or e-books? If you read e-books, do you have a reader, and if so, which one?

Where the SF E-Books Are

Although I've read a couple of e-books on my laptop, I've held off getting a reader like a Nook or a Kindle. I admit I have a soft spot for physical books; just handling them and rearranging them on my bookshelves brings back memories. Still, my bookshelves are nearly full, and I don't have much space in my office to add more. It might not be a bad idea to switch to e-books, but I wasn't sure which reader I preferred. And honestly, I wasn't even sure what the selection of e-books was like. I normally buy SF/fantasy paperbacks; how many of them are in electronic editions these days? I decided to conduct my own experiment.

I chose six books I recently purchased:

I took this picture on my cellphone, which is why it's so blurry. Here are the titles: The Dragon and the Stars (an anthology), Gaslight Dogs, A Cast-Off Coven (mystery), Infoquake, Nine Gates, and The Patriot Witch. I then checked both Amazon.com and Barnes and Nobles' website for electronic versions of these books.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that there were indeed digital versions of all these books available. However, Amazon.com had all six books, while Barnes and Noble did not have e-book versions of The Dragon and the Stars and Infoquake.

I put the Kindle on my wish list. It's temporarily out of stock, otherwise I might have been tempted to go ahead and buy it. There will probably be some books I will still want to buy in paper editions, but the Kindle might keep my bookshelves from overflowing.

The Science of Science Fiction--All the Lonely Planets

Planets--others in our solar system, gas giants, frozen planets, and many others--have long been a staple of science fiction. While these novel environments can evoke a sense of wonder, planets similar to ours could host something even more wonderful--life. When I was born, we hadn't found other planets outside our solar system. About fifteen years ago, the technology to find them became available, but at first, we could only find Jupiter-sized planets. Today, we've detected 150 Earth-sized planets, the kind most suitable for life as we know it. It's estimated there are 100 million planets similar to ours in our galaxy. For more details, check out this interview with astronomer Dimitar Sasselov on CNN.

If there really are so many other possibly habitable worlds out there, that should be good news for science fiction writers and explorers. The problem is our galaxy is so vast we couldn't visit these planets with our current technology, at least not in any reasonable time. This is why science fiction writers need to come up with some way of making faster-than-light (FTL) travel possible. For me, I use a wormhole; a spaceship can enter one end and pop out somewhere else.

One other interesting point in the article is how long life has been a part of the universe. According to Sasselov, it's been around (at least on Earth) for about a third of the universe's life. (We had to wait for other stars to create other elements besides hydrogen and helium.) With so many planets and so much time to work with, there can be all sorts of alien beings out there. Perhaps some are similar to those here on Earth, or perhaps there are worlds where the biology is just a little off. (For example, perhaps some lifeforms use the same chemicals as we do but different optical isomers of them.) Or perhaps some worlds have biology so bizarre it could have only been imagined by a science fiction writer.

Perhaps the planets aren't so lonely after all.

Ten Word Tuesday: From James Norman Hall

Loafing is the most productive part of a writer's life.

Weeding and Writing

We have a never-ending battle with weeds on our lawn. I seldom find the time to go out there and pull them, and with Eugene's schedule, he hasn't been able to spread the Weed-n-Feed recently. Yesterday, I did manage to get outside while Eugene was with Alex. I trimmed the roses so they weren't blocking the sidewalk, then pulled some nettles. Most of the ones I found were small, at least on the surface. When you look at the root (assuming I managed to get all of it), the root can be much longer than the rest of the plant. It made me think of a couple of ways in which story roots can be much more extensive than the actual story.

All stories require a certain amount of pre-planning, such as characters and plot. Even though I don't formally outline a story before writing it, I do have some ideas of the beginning, ending, and a few points along the way. For science fiction and fantasy, the pre-planning work can be more involved if you also have to create the setting or establish rules of magic. It's not enough just to create the parts specifically mentioned in the story; you have to know the underlying details that make the world realistic. This doesn't mean that you have to know every detail about the history of a location, for instance, but sometimes it can enrich the story. Sometimes it's useful to think about the resources and economy of a setting to make sure the story makes sense. For instance, if you're writing about a top predator such as a dragon, it'll need a large territory to find enough food to support itself. Dragons may seem to be a natural part of a desert, but if the area can't support dragon prey, it can't support a dragon either.

Story roots also make me think of the several drafts a story can go through before reaching the final version. The final draft may not have any traces of the original, but the writer still had to create that first draft before getting to the final one.

The final way in which stories can be like weeds is in the way they multiply. Once I get one idea for a story fleshed out, I'm more likely to come up with a sequel, possibly several of them. Sometimes it can be very hard to tug a beloved set of characters out of my head, even when I need to work on another story.

I think that's about as far as I can push this analogy. I certainly don't want other people thinking of my stories as weeds that need to be removed! :grin:

Back on the Blog Chain: Revision

I'm back again with another blog chain. For this round, Sarah asked us this question:


How do you handle revisions? Do you revise as you're writing, or do you wait until you've gone through beta readers and crit partners to revise? How soon after you finish do you begin your revisions?

Amanda posted before me, and Christine follows me.

I'm one of the people who likes to revise as I go along. In fact, I usually start my writing session by reviewing what I last wrote and tweaking it. This helps me get back into the world of my story. Before I post a chapter to the OWW Writing Workshop or send it off to crit partners, I review the whole thing again. I'm pretty good about writing a "clean" draft, one that doesn't have many spelling or grammar mistakes, but I'd rather catch the mistakes myself first if I can. More importantly, I want to make sure my draft is as strong as I can make it. For instance, I know I have a tendency not to use much description in my initial drafts, so if I find the setting seems sparse to me, I'm not going to wait for someone to tell me to add description; I just weave it in. That way, my reviewers can focus on the problems I can't see myself.

If I'm revising on a chapter-by-chapter basis, I like to wait until I get feedback from several people (at least three or four) before revising. I'll print out the marked-up copies and go through them one by one, making changes to the manuscript. Sometimes, to speed things up, I'll lay out all the copies side-by-side so I can see all the suggestions at once. That way, I can see if several people pick up on the same problem.

When I finish a story, I believe in giving it a cooling-off period before looking at it again. After I finished the current version of Across Two Universes back in late April, I took about six weeks away from it. I filled the writing void in the meantime by writing a short story/first chapter about some different characters. I then go ahead and print out a copy so I can read the story on paper instead of onscreen; sometimes I can catch different things that way. I like to make notes on the paper manuscript, though sometimes I just go back to the electronic copy and work there. This is, of course, assuming I don't just toss the previous draft and start over. It may seem like a lot of work, but as the song "Simple Gifts" says, "To turn, turn will be our delight/Til by turning and turning we come round right."

Alex's Bed Train

I've just written my shortest book ever, at 101 words.

As you may have guessed from my Ten-Word Tuesday, our three-year-old son is having trouble sleeping. He gets scared of noises, even asking about them long after they've stopped. He's a champion staller, and when we do get him into bed, he tosses and turns like I do before falling asleep. (Though I don't bring trains to bed and play with them to stay awake.) Lately he insists on having my husband stay in the room with him until he falls asleep, which can take well over an hour. (And Alex has a late bedtime to begin with.) If we leave Alex alone in his room, he bursts out, crying and looking for us. Even once he's safely asleep in his bed, if he wakes up in the middle of the night, he comes into our room, ensuring no one sleeps well.

Last night, to give my husband a break, I sat with Alex. I sat just outside the open room, watching him do everything but sleep. Finally, when it was past my bedtime, I tried to leave, and Alex went into crisis mode. I had to bring him back to his bed a couple of times. In the end, he finally fell asleep--probably because I gave in and sat by his bed until he fell asleep. But while I was there, I stroked his hair and told him a story about the bed train taking him to the sleep station. (He's quite the "trainiac.") At least tonight he slept through, though he has roused a couple of times this morning calling for me. So I jotted down a quick story for him. I plan to illustrate it with pictures of him and his bedroom. If I get ambitious enough, I may have a copy bound for him. (I hope this self-publishing doesn't turn off any editors or agents.) Who knows, maybe I should do some research into selling the text to a picture book publisher. I figure that would be even harder than the regular book market, though.

I'll be rewarded enough if Alex sleeps well--so we can too.

Contest Annoucement

Michelle Davidson Argyle has a novella coming out next month. It's called Cinders, and it's a take on Cinderella, where the happily-ever-after didn't last and Cinderella has to find true love without magic. To celebrate, Michelle's giving away lots of prizes on her website. Spread the word about the contest and leave a comment to enter. The contest runs through August 13th. Good luck!

Ten Word Tuesday: Sleep Habits of Toddlers

It's amazing how toddlers can take over their parents' beds.

A Tale of Two Queries

Last Friday, I discussed the difficulties of writing query letters, especially for science fiction/fantasy novels. Today, I'm going to post part of my original query letter and a second I wrote to address some of the concerns my reviewers had. I'm just posting the part specifically about my novel, Across Two Universes; it's the same length in both queries.

Query #1:

On the day Paul’s mother was murdered, he didn’t perform his key scene in Hamlet. But when he realizes his Great-Uncle Jack may have been behind his mother’s death, his life becomes more like the play than he ever wanted. As the clone of a 20^th century rock star, Sean Quinn, seventeen-year-old Paul is the heir to musical talent his great-uncle yearns to possess. Now that Paul’s mother can’t stop him, Jack plans to force Paul to become a full-time Sean impersonator and give up his acting career.

Paul temporarily escapes his great-uncle by returning to the spaceship where he lives. Every year, the spaceship makes a round-trip passage through a wormhole to an alternate 20^th century universe where Sean is still alive. If Paul can persuade Sean to let him make a holo-likeness, then he can impersonate Sean’s ghost and trick a confession out of his great-uncle. But before Paul can meet the man he was cloned from, he first must convince other wary time travelers to let him visit the 20^th century Earth. Sean himself is slated to be murdered soon, something Paul’s mother tried to prevent. Would Paul honor her memory more by saving Sean or incriminating Great-Uncle Jack? If Paul chooses to save Sean, he could strand the spaceship in the 20^th century—assuming he doesn’t die in Sean’s place. With his life at risk in one universe and his freedom in another, Paul will need his friends, his holoprojector costume, and a quantum talent he didn’t know he had to avoid tragedy.

Query #2:

Every year, the spaceship Sagan passes through a wormhole to an alternate 20^th century Earth. Time travelers visit this planet to observe historic events as they occur and to take genetic samples back to their century. Sometimes they take samples from famous people, such as Sean Quinn, a rock star and peace activist.

Seventeen-year-old Paul lives on the Sagan with his family. After his mother is murdered during leave in the 22^nd century, he learns he’s Sean’s clone, created at his great-uncle’s insistence to be a new Sean. Although Paul loves acting, he doesn’t want to be stuck in the same role all his life. He suspects Great-Uncle Jack had his mother murdered to make Paul’s life more like Sean’s, but there’s no evidence. Paul decides to trick a confession out of his great-uncle by impersonating Sean’s ghost. He feels the best way to do this is to meet the man he was cloned from. But the other travelers refuse to let him do so, fearing Paul could change the 20^th century Earth’s history if he warns Sean about his own upcoming murder. Paul manages to escape from the time travelers to find himself caught in a horrible dilemma: continue with his original plans and let an innocent man die, or risk his own life to save Sean’s. Even that may be preferable to returning to face Great-Uncle Jack, who is plotting to use Paul’s girlfriend against him. Facing risks in two universes, Paul will need a quantum talent he didn’t know he had to avoid tragedy.

Which one do you think works better, and why? Do you have any suggestions for improvement? I'm planning to pitch this book as YA as well as science fiction; do you think one version would work better for that market than the other? Thanks in advance for your comments!

Query Letters: Mind the Gap

Well, Across Two Universes has been sent off to my beta readers (though I have room for a third reader, if anyone's interested), so now it's time to work on the query letter and synopsis. I've drafted both and posted the synopsis on OWW and the query letter on Absolute Write for feedback. So far, I've had one review on the synopsis, and there was only one paragraph the reviewer had trouble following. That's not bad. My query letter, on the other hand, still needs work.

Writing query letters is tough, but I think for SF/fantasy writers, it's even harder. It's not enough just to summarize the story; you have to explain the setting too, especially if it's much different from our world. To boil down a novel to a couple hundred words, you have to leave out a lot of details that help build credibility. There's a big gap between the novel and the query letter you have to mind, much like the famous "gap" of the London Undergound.

I think for my next draft of my query letter, I'm going to start with a background paragraph before diving into Paul's goals and conflicts. We'll have to see if that works better. In the meantime, have you experienced this gap between story and summary, and how did you deal with it?

The Six Million Dollar Raid

I don't play some of the most popular games on Facebook, but I have a few I really enjoy.  Two of them involve raising pet dragons; you can find them here and here. The premise behind both of them is simple: you raise a dragon from an egg, deciding when it should grow, how it should train, and send it to attack other dragons for gold and assist your friends. Tuesday night I was looking for someone to raid and came across a dragon two wealth classes above me. The dragon was bigger than mine, so I wasn't sure I would win, but I tried it anyway, figuring it wouldn't hurt. When I woke up Wednesday morning, I found my dragon had brought home over six million units of treasure, earning me an achievement and sending me up to the next wealth class. I tried something similar with my other dragon, sending her to raid a dragon 1.5 times her size. It was a long battle, but in the end I emerged triumphant, though my take-home prize wasn't quite so big.

I'm telling you these stories not to brag or to entice you into trying out the Pet Dragon games, but to make a point about writing: sometimes you have to take risks to succeed. That can mean anything from trying something new with your writing to submitting to your dream agents/editors first instead of someplace that seems safer. Sometimes you're going to fail, and you have to accept that as part of the game. But sometimes you can succeed beyond your expectations.

While I think you can find writing metaphors anywhere you care to look, sometimes it's best not to push them too far. My newly wealthy dragon is under attack by a much bigger dragon, and I'd hate to take that to mean writers have to compete with each other* instead of helping each other along.


*if we do have to fight, remember that though I be little, I be fierce.**


** That's a Shakespeare reference. Anyone recognize the play?

The Science of Science Fiction: Microbes Are Us

 Warning: If you have a squeamish stomach, you may want to skip over some of the details here.

I'm back again with more microbe news, this time from the New York Times. From the moment we're born, we're constantly being colonized by different types of bacteria. In fact, the microbes in our bodies outnumber the human cells by a factor of 10 to 1. Each part of the body is home to different types of bacteria; the mouth alone can have up to a thousand different species. But before you run for the nearest bottle of Scope, don't panic; not all of these bacteria are going to make you sick. In fact, some of them are necessary to produce enzymes to help you digest certain types of food or prevent more harmful bacteria from settling in. Without exposure to microbes early in life, the immune system doesn't develop normally, which can possibly lead to asthma and autoimmune disorders. (It's nice to know the six-month stretch of musical colds/ear infections our family endured when our son first entered daycare may actually be good in the long run.) Scientists are now starting to study the populations of microbes in our bodies; this collection is called the microbiomes. Each person has a unique microbiome, and the microbiome can change in response to illness. For example, when our son was on antibiotics for ear infections, we needed to give him yogurt to replenish the good bacteria in his digestive tract. One doctor has even performed what could be called a microbial transplant, giving a woman who had a severe bacterial infection some of her husband's bacteria. The woman had lost 60 pounds due to diarrhea that had lasted for months, but the diarrhea disappeared a day after the transplant.

So, what can a science fiction writer do with a microbiome? For starters, you can explain why some people are resistant to some diseases while others aren't. You can even use the microbiome as a way to create differences in identical twins; they may have the same human DNA, but not the same microbes. I'm personally intrigued by what would happen when humans go into space or visit other planets. If you're stuck in a spaceship for a long time, without exposure to other new microbes, will that have an effect on your own microbiome? What happens when you go to another planet? Is it possible to find extraterrestrial microbes compatible with the human body? While it seems unlikely the biochemistries would be similar, microbes have short generation times and perhaps could evolve to work with us. Perhaps we might even develop a symbiotic relationship with them. Like all tools, bacteria can be used for good or bad purposes; it all depends on what you want to do with them.

Ten Word Tuesday: Synopsis

The sins of a synopsis are confusion, wordiness, and dullness.

How To Write with a Toddler in the House

1. Tell your spouse that you want some writing time in the afternoon and would appreciate it if he/she could look after your toddler during that time.

2. To prepare your toddler for you not being by his side every single second, do some household chores upstairs first before settling into your office.

3. Try to ignore the questions of "Where's Mama?" coming from downstairs every five minutes.
3a. Do check in briefly before your toddler gets too upset.
3b. Do realize your toddler will be OK, even if he refuses to nap.

4. Since your time is limited, limit the amount of goofing off you do and actually write.

5. Wish your office had a door, especially when your toddler comes upstairs to find you.

6. If possible, finish what you're working on before devoting your attention back to your son.

7. When he goes to bed extra early because of the missed nap, take advantage of the time.

Date Day: Adler Planetarium

On Wednesday, my husband and I took some time off work, dropped our son off at daycare, and visited the Adler Planetarium. Neither of us have been there in ages, so I thought that would be better than some of the other museums we've seen umpteen zillion times. We saw one of the shows (featuring what could be seen in the Chicago sky this time of year), lots of old telescopes and astrolabes, and items related to the Apollo missions. Afterwards, we went outside to take some photos:

(Sorry, I'm not sure how to fix the text wrap, so I can't put captions right by the photos.) The first photo is of the projector used for the show we saw. Believe it or not, it's not computerized. The next photo is of a sculpture outside the planetarium. That's Eugene, my husband, in the red shirt taking a picture.

The Shedd Aquarium.

Above is a statue of Copernicus. These flowers are next to a walkway outside the planetarium.

Quotations: Creativity

While I was cleaning out my office earlier this week, I found a clipping with quotes on creativity. I'm not sure where I found it, but I know I've had it for years. Here are a few of my favorite quotes from it:

Very few people do anything creative after the age of 35. The reason is that very few people do anything creative before the age of 35. -- Joel Hildebrand

Highly creative people are often off their rockers.--Stanley Hoffmann

Artists die twice. First creatively. Then physically. The second one is easier.--Sylvester Stallone

Back on the Blog Chain: There's a Place

Welcome back to the Blog Chain! B.J. picked the topic this round:

Is there a place you like to write that's extra special? Have you carved out a writing niche? Is there a certain time of day (or night) when the words fall into place, and your brain is focused on nothing but writing?

Mandy posted before me, and Eric will post tomorrow.

It's taken me a long time to set up my office in this house. I finally cleared out all the boxes this Tuesday, so now I can show you a few pictures. The first one shows the Beatles poster and photos above my desk; a writer has to have her inspiration, after all. The second is of my desk. I had a third one of my office, but it was too dark.

I do write in here sometimes when Alex is asleep or out of the house (sometimes I take a vacation day and send him to daycare so I can get stuff done). Most of my writing these days is on my lunch hour at work. I bring in my laptop and write at my own desk. I used to be able to write at night, but these days, by the time my son is in bed, I'm too mentally drained or need to catch up on finances or household chores. Sometimes I like to go to the bookstore to write at the cafe. I feel more motivated to write there since I'm taking time out of my routine and reserving it for writing.

While it is useful to have a designated place/time set aside for writing, I've found that as a working mother, I have to be flexible to make the best use of my free time. In the past, I used to print out the current page from my WIP and bring it with me so if I had a free minute, I could jot down a sentence or two. I need to get back in that habit again. But I think first I have to relearn how to focus. There are so many distractions out there that it's hard sometimes to concentrate on my own work. If you're focused enough, you can write anywhere, anywhen. After all, the muse is everywhere!

The Science of Science Fiction: Robot Companions

A Silver Metal Lover may be much closer than you think.

According to this article in the New York Times, robots that look like animals (in this instance, a baby seal), have been developed that respond to their names and to touch. They are being used in nursing homes to provide comfort; the article called it "pet therapy without the pet." Other applications include a robot mentor for dieters (dieters report on their meals and activity on a daily basis and get encouragement in return) and sensors that help addicts cope with their cravings. In all of these situations, the responsive interaction is key. One manager at a nursing home conducted her own experiments and found that residents responded better to the interactive robot seal than to a teddy bear with the same type of fur. It's part of our psychology to treat something that responds to its environment as alive, even when it isn't.

Robots are such a staple of science fiction it's hard to think of new ways to write about them. Who could do them better than Asimov, after all?  As robots become more lifelike and better able to interact with people, will we see more stories featuring them as romantic interests? Perhaps we could have a new type of urban science fiction, with robots and androids replacing the vampires and werewolves of urban fantasy. Will we ever reach a point where we deal more with robots than people? What would society be like then? And if we learn to give sentient robots rights, will that help us tolerate the differences among human beings? I don't have answers, but I can always come up with more questions.

Ten Word Tuesday: Editing

Final edits are more nerve-wracking than the first ones.

Expanding Universe Contest

Sharon Lee & Steve Miller are the author team behind the classic and ever-popular Liaden Universe®. This series of “adventurous romantic space opera” holds cross-over appeal for both romance and science fiction readers.

To celebrate the release of MOUSE AND DRAGON, Lee and Miller’s thirteenth Liaden novel, the authors are hosting a contest. It’s open to anyone and everyone who has yet to sample a Liaden Universe® novel. They're giving away 36 digital copies of THE DRAGON VARIATION omnibus, which includes CONFLICT OF HONORS, LOCAL CUSTOM, and SCOUT’S PROGRESS.

Not only that, but if you’re a blogger who wants to help spread the word about it, you’ll be entered for a chance to win a $36.00 gift card from Barnes and Noble! And if you’re a blogger new to the Liaden novels of Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, you can enter both tiers of the contest.

Here is an excerpt from the official announcement at Sharon Lee’s blog:

In celebration of the publication of Mouse and Dragon, the thirteenth novel set in their Liaden Universe®, authors Sharon Lee and Steve Miller are holding an Expanding Universe Contest!  Yes! No less than thirty-six electronic copies of The Dragon Variation will be given away.

The Dragon Variation is an omnibus edition of three Liaden Universe® novels — Conflict of Honors, one of the first modern SFRomances; Local Custom, second place winner of the Prism Award for best Futuristic of 2002; and Scout’s Progress, the first place winner of the Prism Award for best Futuristic of 2002, Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice for Best SF Novel of its year, and the prequel to Mouse and Dragon.

That's three complete novels under one cover.  No prior knowledge of the Liaden Universe® required. Electronic! In Baen Books’ DRM-free, multiplatform style.  This omnibus can be read on your Kindle, your phone, your iPad, your desktop, or other ereader.

To enter the contest, visit the Expanding Universe post at Sharon Lee’s blog and follow the instructions you see there (it’s easy). The contest ends at "midnight Eastern Daylight Time (4:00 a.m. GMT) Friday, July 16". Winners will be announced on Saturday, July 17, 2010.

Sticky Post: You Make Me Want to Shout....

My writing friend Maria Zannini is looking for blogs to shout out. She'll be doing this until July 2. (That's why I've made this a sticky post.) All blogs are welcome as long as they're not spam or porn blogs. If you'd like her to give your blog a shout-out, e-mail her at mariazannini AT gmail DOT com. And to get you in the mood:

Twitter Pitch Contest--WINNER!

Thanks to all of you who commented on my Twitter pitches. It was good to get some feedback, and I think Maria's suggestion improved the pitch. Of course, now I have to wait until next week and see how the agent likes it. But in the meantime, here's the winner of the $10 gift card to B&N:

barbaraannwright!


Congratulations, Barbara! Barnes and Noble offers e-cards that can be used online or in the store. If you can tell me your e-mail address (either here or by e-mailing me at my address: sandra at sandraulbrich dot com), I'll have a card out to you ASAP!

Annoucements

I finally joined the Absolute Write Water Cooler forum. You can find me there as SF4-EVER, though I still have to make my first post. I'm not sure yet if I'll start an introduction thread or just jump on in. It looks like a very useful site--as long as I don't use up my writing time on surfing!

My Twitter Query Contest ends today at 5:00 CDT. Which pitch should I use next week in a contest? Check out the link for your chance to win a $10 gift card to B&N.

If you look at the sticky post above this one, you'll see that today is also the last day you can ask Maria Zannini to give your blog a "shout-out." This is not only a chance to promote your blog; you can also win a very Texan prize package. Better hurry!

I'll be back later this evening to announce who won the gift card.

Mid-Life Inspiration

If you've been "chasing paper, getting nowhere," for a long time, here are a few examples of writers and other talented people who didn't peak until mid-life or later.