Write Across The Moon

Pardon our appearance while we are under construction....

2011-04-02T00:43:00.004-04:00

Thinking about starting a new blog. No. I mean a REAL blog. Stay tuned to this site to see what I'm up to. I've got something up my sleeve. I'm leaving teaching (I will NOT use the word "retiring" because I dislike the implications of that word). When I have TIME (after I quit my cushy, stress free job teaching art to upwards of 180 hormone infested teenagers a day on about $6 per kid per year), I intend to do this RIGHT! Thank you for your patience.

Crap! Crap! Crap! Crap! Crap!

2010-06-26T08:21:00.002-04:00

Writer's block? No, life block. Seriously, single homeowner, full time job, son moved out...I'm doing it all alone here folks! Not that I haven't in the past but the year I was most prolific wound me up in the doctors more times than I'd like to admit since keeping a schedule of - up at 5:30, teaching high school in an urban-ish district (not too many guns but all the kids say "Aight?") and then coming home to writing until 1 or 2 am....it took it's toll. Then there were family issues - my mom got sick for one - too heavy a load on my mind. SO? I HAD to stop the insanity, get some sleep, regroup. This is going to be THE SUMMER OF SLASH AND BURN! I'm cleaning and reorganizing like a crazy woman in a desperate attempt to SIMPLIFY my life and hopefully get to a point where I'll be able to come home each night and write. I WANT TO CHANGE THE WORLD! My YA fantasy book is about the exploitation of a mermaid colony by a Florida theme park owner (MUCH MORE to it than that but there's the nutshell book cover blurb of sorts). It needs a little revamping in one or two sections before I will feel it is ready. KIDS NEED THIS BOOK! The underlying softsell eco message, something to get them thinking about the ocean, something to fill the gap left by JK finishing Harry.... I've got to get this done!

Blogging from WorldCon

2009-08-05T23:04:00.004-04:00

GREETINGS FROM MONTREAL! I'm here in WorldCon after a bit of a circuitous trip...it's not so much fun remembering that you left half of your clothing home when you're already an hour into a trip...worse yet, I wasn't driving. My friend Rich was a saint and turned around to meet my son at a mall some miles from my home. We made it in time for me to register and I'm excited because one of my FAVORITE agents is at the con. Her name is Jenny Rappaport and she represents YA and fantasy. I follow her blog, "Lit Soup", here. Check it out if you're interested in the current writing scene.

SPEAKING of writing, the e-book publisher wound up passing on the novella. BUT she told me that she passed because the intro was not compelling enough. At first I had that knee jerk defensive reaction that all writers get at times: "What does she mean, not compelling?" So I reread it (after some months distance) and said: "DAMN, she's right! I should have started on page TWELVE!" Major rewrite ensues. VOILA! I think I can pitch it again with more confidence.
Well, I just wanted to update....a trip to Fiji that lasted longer than planned (the WWII prop plane broke down!), many health issues and medical tests (happily nothing serious found)....it's been tough for a few months. WORLDCON is a definite UP! Glad I made it!

Oh Crap!

2009-07-02T23:13:00.002-04:00

So....Drollerie is still holding onto my novelette. Or novella. Or some folks say it's long enough to be considered a real NOVEL at 120 or so pages. I'm so confused.

I haven't been writing. ANYTHING. I had EYE SURGERY in May and there was a small complication that sent me down that dark path of FINDING A GOOD DOCTOR. My own doc didn't seem to know what was wrong but something told me I wasn't supposed to see a constant shadow in my field of vision. Without going into a long dissertation on negative dysphotopsia, I found out what was wrong by contacting a doctor in New Mexico who had written an article on the problem. He assured me that many times the problem resolves on its own and he encouraged patience. Sure enough, it does seem to be improving.

Hopefully, my writing will get back on track now that I seem to have that major issue off my mind. I'm searching for new inspiration.

Wish Me Luck!

2009-05-08T22:59:00.002-04:00

Tomorrow marks the end of the review period requested by the editor of Drollerie Press for my novella, The Darkest Book on the Shelf. I'll be writing to Deena Fischer early in the morning to see if my book is going to be e-published.

My story, "A Warrior Born", is also on hold for the next Sword and Sorceress anthology.

This summer will be spent searching for an agent and trying to get Brandy published.

Wish me luck!

Are my scuba diving lessons tax deductible?

2009-05-03T23:22:00.003-04:00

***
Here's my thinking on this, folks. Nym's Tail is my first YA book. It's about a mermaid whose brother is kidnapped by an unscrupulous Florida theme park owner intent on using him as a special attraction to boost flagging sales. Of course, it turns out that there's MUCH more going on than. At any rate, NYM, our heroine, embarks on an epic voyage to find her brother. Trials. Magic. Scrying shells. Enchanted sailfish. Complicity. Pomeranians. (I LOVE Poms...had to get one in there!)

At any rate, in order to think like a mermaid and feel like a mermaid I am taking scuba lessons. Sort of cinéma vérité without the cinema. Or perhaps a better comparison is method acting...without the acting. Whatever. My point is (there's a POINT to this?) that I feel the need to do and see certain things in order to write authentically. World building is one thing. Inspiration for fantasy world building often comes from the real world (Hogwart's modeled after British boarding schools, for example. Berger's electronic inspiration boards = real images to inspire vampire fantasies.)

So...I am breathing underwater (pretty cool), moving underwater (cool...but not as easy as Jacques Cousteau made it look), and generally learning what life is like "Under the Sea" (and, with that, we can all break out into a rousing chorus of Disney songs and go to bed.) And, of course, this is because I am planning on writing the second book in the trilogy!

So? Whaddya think, folks? Are my scuba lessons tax deductible?

Submission Accomplished!

2009-04-19T01:14:00.004-04:00

I worked on revising A Warrior Born last night until 3am and submitted it by email to Sword and Sorceress for their 24th anthology. Around 8pm tonight I got a note from the editor say she's holding it for consideration. This is good. It means the editor liked the story. But there are many reasons an editor chooses or rejects a story for publication. For example, if a famous author (someone whose inclusion in the book would mean sales) submits a long story and yours is also long, guess whose will get chosen? Or if your story touches upon a theme that they already have a story for and the other fits the editors space requirements (it's shorter/longer and they need shorter/longer) you get the idea. I tried to keep the word count down on this one because they did say that shorter stories are easier for them to publish. We shall see.

Now....in case you're wondering....

A Warrior Born is about Brin Torren, a girl with no talent for magic who lives in a world where magic is the norm. She is a misfit who prefers the Old Ways of the sword and is cast out from her home when her mother catches her sneaking around to practice the discipline. A huge and terrible beast (is there any other kind?), who exists by voraciously consuming the power of magic, appears in the southern regions of her world. Is this time for Brin to prove herself? (Oh, for pete's sakes, of COURSE it is!) But, can one young girl who has never even had a sparring partner succeed against such incredible odds?

I hope I've handled the requisite formula in a unique, professional, and interesting enough manner to join some of my published colleagues. Some of the mags that take sci-fi/fantasy are a very far reach for me. S and S was just a little stretch but one I felt I might be able to achieve. If nothing else, it's good practice to leave your comfort zone!

ANOTHER one? (Is she talking about stories or adventures?)

2009-04-14T21:05:00.003-04:00

***

"A Warrior Born", my latest opus, was completed last night. Another marathon "write in" where I did not leave my laptop except to answer nature's calls or pay the pizza delivery boy when he arrived with dinner. This was a short story and I managed to complete it and revise it in a day. It joins the other works on my flash drive, waiting for summer and the time to write query letters to agents so that someone besides my son, my friends, and my writers' group might share the adventures of all these people living inside me.

Speaking of adventures....this summer I go to visit an area that Nym (the main character in my first novel - written at least a year before Nim's Island came out in the theaters, mind you!) might easily call home. THE FIJI ISLANDS! Yes, seven days on a liveaboard, three-masted sailboat, sea kayaking, zip lining, snorkeling, scuba diving, and god knows what else they've got planned for my "adventure cruise". I'm very excited. Bali H'ai here I come! My mother thinks I'm crazy but she doesn't realize this is ALL HER FAULT for making me watch the 1958 version of South Pacific with Rossano Brazzi and Mitzi Gaynor multiple times on television when I was a kid. (Okay! I admit it! I LOVED it. I also ADORED the play on Broadway this year. I cried like a BABY when Paul Szot sang "This Nearly Was Mine".) I always wanted to go to the South Pacific...this summer, my dream comes true!

You liiike?

****

REWRITES!

2009-03-26T18:47:00.002-04:00

****

I LOVE having writer friends! Had dinner with Pat Nash and discussed my new vampire short story with her. She said ONE WORD and the brick wall I was facing with the plot collapsed. Had breakfast at Lunacon with Pauline Alama (Eye of Night). She said ONE SENTENCE and I decided to rewrite the beginning of the story I'm submitting to Sword and Sorceress.

Of course, writer friends can also create a lot of extra work! ;-)

Greetings from Lunacon!

2009-03-21T21:40:00.006-04:00

***
Spending the weekend in Rye, NY at the Hilton for Lunacon. Very productive experience. I'm feeling "in my element" surrounded by authors, agents, publishers and lots of people who like to dress up in costume! Went to a Steampunk ball last night. Dragged a purple satin Victorian dress from my closet (yes, I own these things as a matter of course. Hey! You never know when you're going to need a Victorian dress and, as you can see, it came in handy!) I dressed it up with some metal and a bike chain bracelet and I thought I pulled it off well enough for last minute notice (I found out about it yesterday afternoon!)

Today I went to panels, most of which were both fun and productive. (One was fun but NOT at all productive!) Met Lucienne Diver from the Knightsbridge Agency, Michael Kabongo from Onyx Hawke, went to a panel on publishing contracts with Jane Jewell from SFFWA and Michele Lang.

Also met Mercedes Lackey, S. C. Butler, Pauline Alama (my roomie and the excellent author of Eye of Night), Lawrence Schoen of Paper Golem Press, Dave Freer, Mary Robinette Kowal, Misty Pendragon, Michele Land, Paul Levison, Jeff Lyman, Ben Yalow, Eddie Schneider from Jabberwocky, Nathan Lilly (who started Thaumatrope), Mary Aileen Buss of AASL, Aaron Rosenberg, Josepha Sherman of Sherman Editorial Services , Alma Alexander, Neil Clarke, Robert Katz, James Chambers, Laura Anne Gilman, Sean Fodera, Lawrence M. Schoen, Michael Walsh, and more. (I also saw a painting demonstration by Donato Giancola that made me want to burn every canvas in my house and donate my paintbrushes to the Salvation Army.)

My eyes are bloodshot from lack of sleep. I've been running around all day to panels and talking, eating, and sleeping writing.

I feel at home.

Privacy!!!

2009-03-19T19:17:00.003-04:00

So...duh...I just realized my blog could be searched by...well, almost anyone.

I decided NOT to change that feature, that I wanted to share my erudition with the world (I'm just so magnanimous!).

Actually, I realized I haven't said anything (too) compromising yet and that if I keep personal bad habits out of the conversation, I'm probably safe.

I recall Dave Barry once saying that the writing process involved a lot of picking on your feet. YUK! Did I ever forget that? No. Did I ever DO that? (See sentence #3).

Writing School of Life

2009-02-23T20:42:00.004-05:00

Why am I thinking of my next story only one day after I finished a rather difficult project? I was keeping up a crazy pace, writing until 2 a.m., getting up to go to work at 5, and you know the rest of it with family/work/my fifth teaching certificate/health matters and more... I should at least TRY to relax!
*
Writing means so much to me. It feels like such a good fit for who I am. Contrary to the outgoing nutcase that I appeared to be to certain myopic observers in the past, I don't crave a live audience. Even when I was in the entertainment industry I always preferred the jobs that were done behind the scenes...voiceovers and commercials...to getting up in front of hundreds singing or acting live. Give me a camera any day. My short cable TV show stint was probably my favorite acting gig. I got to be funny in front of a camera. Stand up? Don't think I haven't thought of it but I was never able to get up the nerve.
*
But writing works for me. I am disciplined enough to get up every day to work on my own...I LOVE it! I pass up summer days to sit at the pc when I'm into a story. Sometimes I drag my pc to the deck just so I won't waste the fresh air and sunshine locked in the den. Then I am the most content of all because I feel that I have everything I love...my writing, my garden, my waterfall. Even making people laugh.
*
All my life, all the jobs - from cabdriver to dishwasher to waitress serving chili to Johnny Cash in Nashville; the broken dreams - the time that Richard Thomas called me in for the movie part and my boss didn't tell me until closing time; the meat grinder of love, betrayal, and the years of loneliness; the insanity of travel - picking up a Mayan family in a golf cart on a dirt road in Belize, beaches in France, canoe trips down the Corobici with crocodiles, swimming with sharks in Mexico....all of this was, to me, the "school" I attended to become a writer.
*
Now I'm ready to graduate.

I REFUSE to have writer's block! MY THIRD BOOK IS BORN!

2009-02-22T01:30:00.001-05:00

I laugh in the face of danger! I bungee cord jump off mountains! I achieve the impossible! And I REFUSE to have writer's block!
*
I don't know what came over me. Maybe SAYING I had writer's block jolted me out of it because the very IDEA is anathema to me. Writer's block is like some odd literary disease for which there is no sure fire cure. It could last days or weeks...or years! I'm too much of a control freak to live with that uncertainty! It's bad enough living with cholesterol! But writing isn't hidden deep inside the flesh. It's in the heart and mind and only God knows how many times I've torn THOSE apart! Surely a modicum of introspection, a measure of concentration and I could beat THIS monster?
*
So I sat and stared at a blank screen until a semi-lame idea blossomed. I went with it and it metamorphosised into a good idea, which grew into the ENDING OF THE BOOK! I'm too close to it now to state that it is an excellent idea, an excellent ending. Like my paintings, I have to step back and away for a little while before I can determine what might need tweaking.
*
I know I beat things to death and I will go back, reread, revise. But I can go to sleep IN PEACE now. My baby has come full term. It may not have a perfect APGAR score, it may need a bit of care, but not too intensive I think. It's out and I feel relieved.
*
Hmmmm....maybe it was the FORCE! Thanks, Obi Wan!

You're My Only Hope

2009-02-21T11:24:00.000-05:00

Finished a short story. I felt very good about that. I am really pleased with the piece. I'm waiting until Sword and Sorceress opens up for submissions again. But, when it comes to my banshee plagued heroine from Dover, time does not seem to be on Brandy's side. I've got my heroine hanging on the cliff, so to speak, (actually, she's locked in a basement) and I'm experiencing my FIRST case of writer's block. My house looks like...well, let's put it this way....if I called the police and told them I'd been robbed they'd believe me. There are thirty some odd library books I'm using to research another story I'm concocting in my brain covering every available surface in the kitchen area. I've had a lot of loose ends to catch up on...important things like not letting the 50+ foot oak trees in the back fall on my house. And doctor visits. And bridal showers. And work. And the work keeps piling up in the course I'm taking as well. It seems like every time I log in there's a new assignment, and not necessarily one I understand! Someone SHOOT ME if I EVER take another online course! I feel overwhelmed and I can't seem to focus. And, truth be told, if I had a clear idea of the finale, I'd be writing like a nut case but I'm....blocked! Help me, Obi Wan Kenobe....

I should be in bed....

2009-02-01T23:30:00.000-05:00

Let's see...family illness, graduate course, squirrels in the attic (the flying variety. Who knew? I thought they were only in National Geographic, not New Jersey), overload at work. It's been a tough few weeks for writing. I've gotten one chapter completed and the aforementioned events (plus more) are sapping my creative energy. Everything from the attic is now in my great room (due to aforementioned squirrels) so I have to negotiate my way to my computer with a machete and a balancing pole. Ah, yes, this too shall pass. Just wanted to explain my absence.

It's Nice to have Friends....

2009-01-14T17:26:00.001-05:00

***

About a month ago, Dave Sklar, one of the writers in my sci-fi/fantasy writers' group (aptly named Writers of the Weird), introduced me to Deena Fisher from Drollerie Press during an online chat. He mentioned my banshee book and she said she'd love to see it. But, of course, there was Dublin. Then family matters came up. (Auntie is much better, thank you. My forcible intervention helped her to avoid that small medical complication called death!) At any rate, I'm currently humming along with Brandy every possible moment I'm not working, saving lives, or trying to prevent the sky from falling. Meanwhile, back at the desk, The Darkest Book on the Shelf was already completed. To sum up this long story...Deena is looking at it now. WISH ME LUCK!

And...a very appropriate THANK YOU, DAVE!

Snowed in and under....

2009-01-11T01:28:00.001-05:00

***
I have not yet gotten back on track since my trip to Dublin. First I had to reconstruct my home from my son's 21st birthday party with the guys. Then, when the floors were mopped and the beer was moved off of the refrigerator shelves so that I could once again store less necessary things like milk and eggs, there was a family emergency. My 88 year old auntie had to be taken (almost forcibly) to the hospital. Once we got her there, she made a point of reminding everyone that it was her FIRST time in the hospital ever. She was loathe to break her record but I called her doctor and, when he heard of the condition of her leg, he directed her to the emergency room for admission...stat!

First crisis of the week averted and auntie nestled snugly in her bed (at 3 am!), I decided that facing 127 teenagers on 2 hours of sleep was beyond even my superpowers so I called in sick. Good thing. A half hour fire drill in the freezing cold because of a smoke bomb set off two doors down from my classroom would NOT have improved my mood!

Friday was a blur and today I had to catch up on all the details that I neglected during this tough week. It's 1 am and I'm finally done with bills, e mail, the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune...

BRANDY IS WAITING FOR ME!

Tea and no sympathy for the (unintentionally) obnoxious American...

2009-01-02T16:32:00.000-05:00

***

It's easy to feel sorry for yourself when you don't feel well and you're thousands of miles from home. Three gals from London asked me to join them for an evening of drinking and watching Irish dance and I had to decline. Instead, I'm eating Jacobs Crackers and drinking Barry's classic blend tea in my room,trying to settle my stomach since my flight is tomorrow morning and right now, on level ground, I feel the need for dramamine.

The Irish days are short and the sun arcs low. I've slept three hours or less every night I've been here. Luckily, last night was the exception and I'm glad I slept well because I needed to be alert to conduct my research at the National Library of Ireland. Still, in spite of a good night's rest, I cannot tell you how many photos I took before I actually saw the sign that stated: UNAUTHORIZED PHOTOGRAPHY PROHIBITED. I also took out books without a readers' ticket. I had the application with me but no one asked to look at it and, since it was not filled in or validated, I was basically looking at books from 1748 without permission. It was only when a very stereotypical librarian in tweed came shaking fingers at some students in front of me, chastising them soundly for lack of a ticket, that I realized what I was doing. For some reason, she passed me by and I was glad of it since her demeanor brought back every fear I ever felt from year's of similar castigations by vicious Irish nuns in parochial school.

I spent a long time in the geneaology department (taking photos! Will my camera be confiscated at Dublin airport?) I'm glad I didn't see the signs. What I accomplished in five hours with photos would have been impossible to do by handwritten notes in pencil. I would have needed several days there and, with the holiday hours, I couldn't have managed that. I also took photos of the Yeats exhibit. I ASKED this time since I did not want to be "the ugly American" or obnoxious, which I am certain anyone observing me taking photos in the verboten areas must have thought I was. Photos were permitted without flash so I snapped away. I spent so much time copying a replica of an esoteric journal that it was only when a woman next to me commented in Italian that I was taking too much time that I stopped. Sometimes it sucks to be alert...and multilingual. I would have loved to have had a visual of the entire book. Yeats was fascinating and so much of what he devoted his spiritual and religious energies to fits in with the types of things I am writing. His journal was both illustration and addendum for Rosa Alchemica. The library should jump on a printing of the story (if they have the rights as I was told they do with the journal) with pictures from his journal. I guarantee it would be a money maker for them.

I hadn't had anything all day but toast when I left the library so before I went back to my room I decided to make one last stop at my FAVORITE place to eat in Dublin - LEON'S on Exchequer Street. There are three Leon's in town but I frequented the one near the end of Exchequer. Anri and Rachel were DELIGHTFUL! They got to know me by name. Anri took my card to contact me on Facebook (and I hope he does because he was fun) and Rachel hugged me Happy New Year and Bon Voyage before I left. FABULOUS food and equally fabulous people. I highly recommend the French pastries!

I have enough material now to finish Brandy's trip to Dublin. I have actually written a chapter here. I think I've stayed away from the story a bit too long though. I don't feel the same inspiration. Ah well, I think what I need is a few nights of sleep, more tea, my own bed, and a to examine a few gigabytes of photos !

Brandy makes it to Dublin!

2008-12-30T17:35:00.000-05:00

***

When I arrived at the airport the genial, white-haired customs official asked me why I was in Dublin. When I told him I was a writer doing a bit of research for a book he quickly stamped my passport and wrote something in it. What? No one ever wrote something in my passport so, of course, I was anxious to read his note. It said: “30 days. Business.” I feel so…blush…validated! Here I am in Ireland, the home of how many? famous writers, and I am here on a 30 day business visa. One of my fellow hostelers was complaining that they had written “six days” on her passport because that was the date of her return ticket. Not moi!

Speaking of hostels…deciding to stay at at a hostel was one of my better travel decisions (we won’t even BEGIN to compare this to the “Belize incident”!) This is one of the best trips ever! Traveling alone can be such a drag...especially in hotels or resorts where everyone is family or coupled up. I have gone DAYS without so much as a hello from anyone, all in their own world. I'm not saying I blame them, of course, just stating a fact that doesn’t suit me. Well, last night I had dinner with two gals in their twenties (both named Rachel) and it was a RIOT! I'll e mail post the silly photos on Facebook when I get home. (I forgot to upload the software for the new camera on this pc.) I had my first glass of Guinness and loved it but the waiter said it didn't count because I took someone's suggestion and tried it with black currant. He said: “Your first Guinness should be plain, in a pint, and served by a cheeky waiter.” I told him: "Well, I've got the cheeky waiter part right!" It was fun to banter with him. I'll be visiting the brewery tomorrow so that should be my first “real” Guinness.

I am really enjoying staying at Abigail's. I'm sure it's noisy as hell in the summer with the windows open but now it's doable. All my roommates so far have been fellow teachers. I guess some of us take the job at least in part because of the vacation time! I’ve met people from New Zealand, Australia, California, and Hong Kong. Although I’m still on my own, I get the feeling that most of the people here would be approachable if I wanted or needed to speak with someone. And last night the two Rachels and myself had an inane, mostly one-sided conversation with a quasi insane resident named Charlotte. Suffice it to say that speaking with her made me feel as if it were the 60s again. Things like this certainly add color to the experience of travel!

Right now I'm in a bright, populated lounge. The tv is on, people are ambling in and out, and one of the Rachels I had dinner with last night chatted with me a bit. I’ve accomplished some work on Brandy. This trip definitely resolved a few questions about the direction of the story and has added some authenticity to Brandy’s experience.

Tonight I had dinner in a French place - Leon's on Exchequer Street - recommended by a friend of a friend who lives in the area and she was spot on. The food was amazing and they even had La Religieuse Choclat! My very favorite French pastry in the world. I really enjoyed it and, since I’m on a business trip, it might even be tax deductible! ;-)

Happy New Year to all! I will be spending New Year's Day in the Irish countryside on a tour.

Hugs

Maria

Snowed In

2008-12-21T00:16:00.000-05:00

***

I can eat myself into oblivion on days like this! Too much snow to go out, cold weather perfect for cookie baking. I feel as if I should be writing but I'm taking a holiday week retreat. Besides, I really must bake - I have enough nuts in the fridge to make baklava for the entire middle east!

Happy Holidays all! I am looking forward to writing in Ireland.

You have a friend in Ireland...

2008-12-18T21:48:00.001-05:00

***

I recently became interested in the provenance of a particular stained glass window. It was supposed to be the image of Mary but the iconography was blatantly pagan. I wrote to the professor in Virginia who took the picture in order to uncover some information about it but the man didn't recall exactly where he shot the photo. He thought it was taken in a Catholic church in Kilrush, Ireland and he attributed it to Harry Clarke. I know that the images in some of Clarke's church windows caused controversy (the eroticism in the Geneva windows a case in point) and that the clergy were onto Clarke's dark side...how could they possibly have overlooked this?

In order to crack the mystery of the window I joined a forum about Irish architecture and contacted a man who was a prominent poster. He is going to Kilrush this week and he is going to take some photos for me. How nice is that? I'm hoping that he finds an answer.

I am still doing minor tweaking on the novella, The Darkest Book on the Shelf, for which I did a bit of research on alchemy, Yeats, and stained glass iconography. That is how I came across this puzzling gem. I'm obsessed with it now and plan on working it into a story even if it is only the briefest mention. TOO interesting!

I will tell you more WHEN I find out and IF the telling doesn't constitute a spoiler to my story!

***

Yeats, Harry Clarke, and banshees...

2008-12-16T19:00:00.001-05:00

***

Serendipity and kismet...

I begin with going to Ireland to finish my book and now, thanks to the internet, I am corresponding with a few Dubliners. The connections between my works are also forming like a steadily growing web... banshees led to fairies and Tir Nan n'Og which led to ancient Latin alchemical symbols and Yeats' symbolist stories about Irish mythology and alchemy all discovered in the darkest corners of a musty old library. Then an image search on Google for a mystical piece of stained glass in said library turns up information about one of Yeats' contemporaries, Harry Clarke, and an amazing piece of iconography in glass that is already growing into another idea. All the while, Faleen of the spider crystal and rose wings traipses through my mind in a perlucid green meadow.

My life as a writer seems to be taking on the rambling quality of my dreams which, most likely due to my incessant reading in the YA fantasy genre this year, are populated with demonistic dogs, walls that crumble as I enter the room, and terror filled ocean scapes where I am threatened by tsunami-like waves. I'm juggling too much, working too hard, and writing like a fiend.

I'd "take it down a notch"....

....but only if I could quit work and write full time.

***

Catching My Breath...

2008-12-14T14:23:00.000-05:00

Right now the only piece I haven't completed is Brandy's book (if I had enough followers to this blog I'd start a "Name This Book" contest because, unlike most of my works, the title is coming LAST on this one). I'm sort of catching my breath for a week until I go to Ireland to finish the writing.

Someone told me the latitude in Ireland creates very short days this time of year...that will give me a LOT of time to write since I'm not all that thrilled about going out to enjoy night life alone. I'm really looking forward to the writing. Travel always motivates me if I feel stalled about something. When I went to Florida to research some details for Nym's Tail it was really a booster shot. I think Dublin will do that for Brandy. Just THINKING about the trip has given me some ideas about how I'm going to procede. Temple Bar is supposed to be crazy, gypsies abound...

Now I have to face the realization that I'm STALLING on pitching my pieces and finding an AGENT!

Nyquil and the Muse

2008-12-07T20:34:00.000-05:00

Aaaachoo! AAAAchoo! Ahhhh...ahhh...aaachOO!

Yes, I had a cold this week. Did nothing but write and drink tea. Write and sleep. Write and go to work (sneezing and coughing but...hey!...you gotta eat!) I was so sick I actually took Nyquil - something I never do - and quickly discovered that it interefered with everything except passing out.

FINISHED THE NOVELLA TODAY. 22000+ words. I'm going back to tweak the final chapter but, basically, I'm done. It could easily go to full length novel but I'm just going to do the tweaking and then get back to Brandy when I go to Ireland.

When I get back I have to start a serious search for an agent...

Who Can Blog in a Turkey Coma?

2008-11-30T13:09:00.000-05:00

Blog, shmog. I have to WRITE! I have a 20-40,000 word novella that I MUST finish by December 31st. I started it about a week or two ago and I've become OBSESSED. On Thursday I posted that I had completed 7000 words. Today I'm up to 15000 in spite of all the holiday activities because one of my friends from my writer's group gave me a lead about someone looking for novellas. The title of the collection has something to do with alchemy. Guess what my novella is about?

Serendipitous.

This is so beshert.

Love you,
M

The Alchemy of Writing and Turkey

2008-11-27T09:55:00.000-05:00

The "little" short story I decided to write to keep the juices flowing until I go to Ireland has taken on a life of it's own! It's 7000+ words and I've gotten wrapped up in a complex business involving lock picking, alchemy and William Butler Yeats! I haven't forgotten about Brandy by any means, I've just left her at JFK, waiting for me to join her in December where we will have the adventures and experiences necessary to finish her story in Dublin.

As I already mentioned, the jaunt to Ireland now serves two purposes - seeking Brandy's banshees and learning more about W.B Yeats. I read his life story awhile back but I want VISUALS! I want to see the letters and the first editions. Last week I read Rosa Alchemica and I must say - it is no wonder that man had several nervous breakdowns! If that story was not inspired by massive quantities of hallucinogens then Timothy Leary is indeed dead. And, although I hate to admit it, I have a great deal of difficulty following the convoluted phrasing and complex sentence structure. Listen, I will admit to being able to drag out a sentence with the best of them but reading a sentence THREE TIMES just to get the meaning leaves me with the desire to take a ride to the GWB and throw my Mensa pin in the Hudson River!

It's THANKSGIVING DAY and I am most grateful for one thing - my writing. After all those years in a band, singing, songwriting, acting, doing voiceovers in Manhattan (Hungarian poodles for dog food commercials!) - after poverty, single motherhood, abandonment and drama - after Thailand and California and France, Italy, Monaco, Spain and the Caribbean - I have finally returned full circle to the place I began. When I was a naive teen, slobbering over a broken heart and writing poetry, seeing a therapist because of abuse and setting myself up for abuse-yet-to-come because I just wasn't getting it, something inside told me "You ain't seen nothin' yet, kid!". I knew if I wanted to be a writer I had to LIVE first, to have memories, knowledge and experience to draw from that would put the early pain into perspective and, more importantly, carve new depths. Well, life carved so deep I had to crawl out with Prozac but now the worst is long behind me and the best is yet to come. And THE BEST THING - the sense of humor that carried me through all the tough times has not only stayed with me, it's made it's way INTO MY WRITING.

BRANDY KICKS ASS!

Current Writing Projects

2008-11-25T21:27:00.000-05:00

Ah yes...a good day is a day when you stay home and write. Still waiting to finish Brandy's banshee book but the trip to Ireland will bring both of us through the adventures needed to sew up that package. While I'm there, I'm going to visit the National Library of Ireland's exhibit on William Butler Yeats. Some of his work with mythology, alchemy and the occult are already firing up a new idea. So here's the tally:

One book (Nym's Tail) completed with a sequel laid out and the idea for the final book of the trilogy.

Brandy's book (working title White Noise) - six chapters completed. All the rest waiting for details that I will acquire in Ireland. This will be completed quickly once I get back, perhaps even in Ireland where I should have many evenings to write since I will be alone and I don't drink beer!

The Darkest Book On the Shelf. Short story status thus far. I don't want to work on this much now but it keeps calling me and, today, I answered.

So...that's the tally. The house looks like a war zone but I have decided that my two greatest priorities are eating (my job) and getting out of my job and find a way to eat that makes me happy (writing).

Musings, dreams, nightmares, fantasies

2008-11-24T15:51:00.000-05:00

And a dash of reality.

First, let's get the dash of reality out of the way......

I went to the SFWA reception tonight. It was an excellent exercise for ocular muscles. All the name tags were color coded. Everyone who passed through the room glanced first at your face then immediately down to your name tag and then, all too often for those of us wearing author red, away. Are you my new agent, blue? Can you help me publish my book, purple? Maybe you can do my cover, green? Awww...you're red like me.

The predominance of red did not work for some I spoke with ("I haven't spoken with one agent tonight!") but I felt the energy of being with writers exhilarating. Isn't this my future? Isn't this where I belong? I could be at my grad class instead of trashing my average with this ONE more absence. (Oh! You wicked, wicked girl!) But I'd rather be in a room full of writers.

Actually, what I'd really rather be doing is writing so that the next time I'm in a room full of writers someone will want to look back at my face after they read my name.

On to nightmares, etc.

I feel the pain of the dog's weight pinning me flat on my back. His huge black paws press into the tender depressions over my breasts, just below my collarbones. Teeth bared over my face, hot saliva in my eyes.

Mermaids flash irridescent tails; their cupped hands offer pink lotus, plait my hair with pearls and seaweed. I swim with Blue Tang and Emperor fish. A flash of gold, a shoal of silver with yellow tails.

I'm on the top floor of a dingy white clapboard house. The wall of the room I am standing in crumbles, falls away like dust to reveal the night sky, jagged rocks along a distant shore. White waves scrape the moon, rush toward the empty, broken room, engulf me.

I wake in the sand at the edge of the ocean. Another wall of water roars towards the shore. Everyone is running but I am naked and wounded.

Where are the dreams of flying?