Jan 29
2009

Well, I knew that January would be a slow month. I just didn’t figure it would be quite this slow.

Alas, I still don’t have any news to provide for Gemini. It’s going to happen! I know it! I have faith! I just hope it’s not next January before the darn thing is out. I mention 2008 as being “a year ago” in the novel, so let’s hope we won’t have to change that before it hits the shelves. <g>

Otherwise, not a lot to report. I haven’t been writing as much as I should, but I have been writing some. I completely all the things I had outstanding to various people, so that’s a nice feeling to have. Right now I’m trying to psych myself up for revising Silence Out Loud. It’ll be such a huge job, I’m daunted by it. But I’m bolstering myself up. I’m getting ready.

We, like most of the country, had big winter weather. Fortunately, we only got the edges. Ice and snow, none of it terribly bad, and it’s all starting to melt now. We never lost power, so that’s a bonus. I was kind of worried about that. Ice storm usually means a loss of power.

Keeping up with my recommendations: Go rent “In Bruges.” It’s a great little movie you may never have heard of. A little violent, a lot vulgar (the language on these hit men. I swear! <g>), but definitely worth checking out.

So that’s the “news” as it stands. Not writing much, no word on the novel releases. If I weren’t so happy-go-lucky, this could have been a very depressing post. As it is, it’s just a “we’ll have more to talk about next time, I hope.” <g>



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Jan 19
2009

Not really much to update in this post, I’m afraid, but I thought I would go ahead and make a post so people don’t think I’ve gone mute. <g> I managed to finish revising The Following Sea and I’ve sent it off to P.D. So expect word on that sometime in… well, judging from how long it’s been on Silence Out Loud, I would say sometime in December of this year. Maybe. But I’m not bitter. It’s a busy time. I understand. Sort of. <g> Actually, before I wrote this post (I hardly ever check my Yahoo mail because it… well, sucks), Linda from P.D. sent me an email about Silence Out Loud. They want it, but “not in the form that it’s presently in.” Which means I have to go back, rewrite a lot of it, and resubmit it to them. At which point it’s another long waiting game to see if they want it or not. ~heavy sigh~

As you can tell from above, I still don’t have any info on Gemini or World on Fire release dates. I’ll let everyone know as soon as there’s news to share, promise.

I also managed to finish my Valentine’s story for the Academy. So it’s nice to have that out of the way. I have one more story to write (which is due in March, and I haven’t even the inkling of an idea yet) before I can focus on another novel. I have two in mind, and I’m not sure which one I’ll pick to write. I may just flip a coin. <g>

In reading: This month I read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larssen. It got a lot of good press, and it was being held up as some brilliant piece of literature. I mean, I first heard about it on NPR, for crying out loud. But now, having read it… it’s just a standard murder mystery. And not a particularly good one. The last hundred pages or so are unbelievably boring. It felt like the plot ran out of steam and the author just kept writing because… well, because he wanted a longer book. Yes, he was tying up loose ends, but it should not have taken that long. And it should not have been that dull. I would give this one a definite pass, if I were you.

This has been a rather long post to say… I have very little to say. Hopefully I will have Gemini news for you before too long! ~fingers crossed~



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Jan 8
2009

I am proud to say I got my seventh review at Amazon.com! Even if it was a three-star review, I still have a four-and-a-half star average, and that’s not bad. <g> The three stars from the seventh reviewer, I have to say, is deserved. And the reviewer gives valid reasons for giving it a lower than average score.

According to their review, the idea of Squire’s Isle being so densely populated with homosexual couples is improbable. Yes. It absolutely, positively is. It’s not like this island is an internment camp or anything. They weren’t gathered up and sent over on a ferry. But the fact is, improbability is a necessity. And who wants strict reality in their reading? Reading should be an escape. And it’s probably nice to believe, for a little while, that there could be a place like this in the world.

The truth is there are a lot of straight people on the island as well (in fact, they make up the majority of the island’s population). They just don’t get much of a focus because… well, that’s not where the audience is. The police officers are straight, all of Nadine’s coworkers at the radio station (well, except for Miranda, naturally)… the fact is that Washingtonians seem to very open-minded when it comes to this kind of thing, or at least more open-minded than a lot of the country. So it seems to me they would go with the flow.

Also, once Nadine takes her stand and makes the island a more inviting place to be out, who is to say more couples wouldn’t flock there?

So, yes, Reviewer #7, Squire’s Isle is highly improbable. The high number of callers to Nadine’s show, the support she’s shown, the “back to normalcy” that everyone gets by the end of the novel, it’s all very, very improbable and unlikely. Maybe someday it won’t be. One can only hope!

As for the other complaints about the novel (the sex scenes being stunted and the convenient plot twists), well… I can only say that hundreds of authors selling millions of books have far greater sins to their credit, and I can only hope I can take the mistakes from my first novel as learning experiences for future novels. <g>

Reviewer #7, thank you for your honesty! I’d much rather have an earned three-star review than a dishonest five. <g>



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Jan 5
2009

Ahh, the royalty check. It’s always a little like Christmas morning. You know it’s coming, you’re never quite sure how much to expect, but you know what it means: free money. Of course, I need to get out of the habit of spending my free money before it arrives, but hey, I’m human. <g> So I got my January royalty check today (for the fourth quarter, which covers books sold in June, July and August). I also got paid from Khimairal Ink, which is nice.

It’s always nice to get money for writing. Especially on days when you feel like you just can’t write another word. It inspires you to put the nose to the grindstone and get to it. I have two stories to write for various obligations, then I can get to revising The Following Sea and send that in to see what Barb and Linda think of it. Wish me luck there! Hopefully I’ll have all my stuff done by February so I can start my first novel of 2009. I’m thinking perhaps Claire Lance #4 or the Dash Warren novel. We’ll see what the muse says!



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Jan 2
2009

What a way to start a new year! My short story “In Every Port,” featuring Nicole ‘Nick’ Bronwyn, is now available in Khimairal Ink’s January issue! According to the editor’s note, the stories in this issue all deal with non-coming out stories. That definitely applies to mine! Although I won’t tell you how. You just have to read it. <g> My story starts on Page 20, but go ahead, read the other stories, too. They worked just as hard as I did, after all! :)

http://khimairalinkmag.wordpress.com/current-issue/

That would be a nifty embedded link, but my blog is being a knucklehead tonight and is not letting me do any tricks. So I figure it will have to do. Enjoy!



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