Unintended silence

My apologies for not posting for a week. I'm trying not to do that again, but Blogger's being weird on me, so it's been a struggle to get in. Those of you who left me comments, I'm not ignoring you! Thank you, Teddy! I'll check out your page, Ciar! And I was referring to the Triskelion issue, Lenora, but there's more than that floating around the romance blogoverse.

Since I last posted, I have given my first ever all by myself workshop, on synopses. It was for my local chapter, and went a lot better than I thought it would. I didn't even need to resort to imagining people in their underwear. Go me! I'm considering posting the handout I did to my website. I promise that I haven't cracked any amazing synopsis-writing secrets, but people seemed to think the information was good.

And I've discovered today that The Dragon Undone, my fantasy romance at Cobblestone Press, is now available at Fictionwise. It's a new book for them, so there's a discount, if you're interested and haven't picked it up already.

I'm in a grown-up phase (wearing nicer clothes, painting the fingernails, etc). It's a girly grown-up phase. Any time I'm going to National, I do this, and then eventually I'm back to my t-shirts and normal nails again. This time, I've gotten my ears repierced too. It's all part of my "officially official" image, I suppose. :)

Mid-week Wednesday

As if there'd be a Wednesday anywhere else. Hee.

The bloffle continues around the net, and probably will for a while. Settle in, it's going to be a long summer.

So I think I'll mention some good things.

Samhain Publishing is looking for submissions to its On The Prowl anthology. I know Maggie's written a story for it. Who's going to join her? Anyone? Anyone?

Skyla Dawn Cameron has a great project in the works, called Nothing But Red that you should all check out.

And last but not least, my ice skates have arrived and now I can finally get out of cheapo rental skates for my lessons. Woohoo!

Bloffle

I made up a new word: bloffle. This refers to kerfluffles of various sizes occuring in blogs across the net.

And, unfortunately, we romance writers seem to excel at stirring them up. Whether it's an author lashing out at a reviewer, her fans or her publishers, it seems like there's always something going on.

Publishers don't escape the rumor mill or the social commentary. If an author is fortunate enough to avoid being targeted, sometimes her book isn't so lucky.

If you speak your mind, your appearance in an argument will always be suspect. If you want to stay anonymous, your comments will be discounted. Around and around we go.

What I really want to know is, does this affect you personally? If an author/publisher/blogger you like takes a stance in an argument that you don't support, does that change your mind about them? Will it keep you from buying the next book? Entering the next contest?

Or do you let it roll off your back?

The Color of Sound

So I'm thinking about synesthesia today. Actually, I started thinking about it last night, but that's not the point.

Synesthesia, as Wikipedia defines it, is two bodily senses combining, like sound and sight to make music have color. Or sight and taste, so that words and letters have flavors. Or even better, the personification of letters. If you read the Wiki, you'll see quotes about not being able to trust the number 3, or how Ts are "crabbed and ungenerous".

Supposedly this is more common than people think. Meaning, it's not something that one in a million people have. Wiki (which is not always right, I know) says it's more like one in 23.

And of course I'm going to oversimplify it by saying how fascinating I think it is. To see color when hearing music? How much more interesting (and distracting, yes) would that make the world?

What if the world were reversed and people who *didn't* do such things were the one in 23? Imagine a person who lacked the ability to smell sounds or color by music in a world where that was the norm.

...and they wonder where writers get their ideas.

Deadlines

I need deadlines. I know this. I have known this for some time, but there's nothing like frustrating myself by pushing deadlines further and further out because I can.

I have tried, in the past, to set deadlines for myself. I've had other people attempt to set deadlines for me, but they tend to get squishy and I'm not held in the strictest fashion to them, and so they wander and I procrastinate and ...it's all a mess.

When I have a concrete, external, you *must* meet this deadline imposed, I'm golden, but if I'm doing it on my own, I can tell myself that I don't *really* have to do it, because the only person I'm putting off is me.

Argh. I despise it. I don't suppose anyone has suggestions for how to get around that, do they? All suggestions cheerfully accepted.

The change has come!

As stated, I've been making changes, and today is the big day. As you can tell, if you've been to the blog before, this is not the usual look. I have a new title, I have a new color scheme and ...

*drumroll*

I have a new website!

This new look more accurately reflects what I write, and gets me away from peppy, cheery blue and yellow. Don't get me wrong. I like peppy blue and yellow, but my writing's not quite that upbeat and cheerful and curlicued.

So, a new look.

The look of the blog is new, but temporary. I'm hoping against all hope to get Wordpress installed on the site sometime soon. When that's done, we'll just move over there.

But the first stage is complete. What do you think?

Changes, changes.

There will be a change, as I mentioned, coming to the looks of my website and blog soon. I think it's pretty cool, as I've seen the design. Not flashy or extra-sparkly, but I like it. And it reminds me of a website Catie did for me once, so you know, that's fun too.

Oh, and it's June. That means my Cerridwen book is only two months away. (It feels like it's been forever since I sold it. *pant pant*) And so, I offer a peek at the cover:



Pretty cool, no?

Went riding this past weekend, again, and had a ton of fun actually getting the horses to canter. Lots of trotting to work up to it though, and lots of bouncing around, means that Sara is pretty sore. Oddly, it's all in the torso. Well, not so oddly, as you have to hold yourself up, but man. Places I didn't remember I had are sore. It's all good!

Still in holding on the career scene, but that's par for the course. I'm finishing cleanup on a book to turn in and I so don't want to. I keep thinking 'but I just read this book, do I have to do it again?' Woe, woe is me.

Speaking of reading, I've been doing quite a bit of it lately. Clearing out Ye Olde TBR Mountain Range. It's funny to me how, reading back through old series romances from 2002 (yes, you read that right), I've really seen the truth in the concept of having to read what a line's releasing now to know how to write for them. The tone's completely different, the story styles have changed. This is actually a pretty good exercise for me, I think, but wow, what an on-the-page eyeopener.

Anyone else had one of those lately?

Finally Friday

The week is over. How are you all celebrating? I think I'd like to see a movie this weekend after a sort of rough-start to the week. Tuesday, I mailed something at the post office. I had lunch, came home.

And discovered Wednesday morning that I'd left my wallet behind. How did I discover this? Someone had used a credit card to try to buy gas. Thankfully the company called and let us know, but still. I felt like a fool. I've gone through all the steps to start getting things back, but not fun.

Today, we'd been invited to go out and be part of a local film being shot at the stables where Dia is. We were supposed to be part of a mounted search and rescue team, which I thought sounded like *loads* of fun. But the shoot got canceled, so, no film time for us! Boo.

But today is a good day anyway, because it marks the release of my latest book, Finding Home. I was one of Cobblestone Press's launch authors, and so I get to participate in the Anniversary Celebration today. Swing by Cobblestone Press today and take a look at all the books available.

And happy reading!