Today I figured out the reason my heart lives in the Middle Ages. Granted, in the 10th-14th C. where I belong, we had our challenges: unsafe drinking water, childbirth, Viking raids, bubonic plague.
All these pale beside the challenges I faced today. I mean it!
To wit: the RT Booklovers' Conference is coming up. They have graciously agreed to make our e-books available to lovers of such media (which ACFW refuses to do, but do not get me started. Not today). To do that, we authors must go into a particular e-book vendor's site and load our title and publisher information.
"No problem!" I say to myself. Aye, me. Naive was I, and oblivious to the pitfalls awaiting me on said e-book vendor's site.
First, I must sign in. No problem. It already knows my name. I go in and click on that. Then it wants my e-mail addy. No problem. I enter it. Then it wants my password. I type my standard "nobody'll ever figure this out" password.
You guessed right. It rejects.
No problem. I shoot them an e-mail under the "forgot password" header. Apparently this happens all the time. They shoot me an e-mail with my gibberish password they created for me, probably eons ago when I allowed such things.
I return to said web site and enter the gibberish password.
You guessed right. It rejects. It says, "you already have an account."
Well, duhh. I feel stupid, but I already knew I had one, thanks very much. I shoot them another e-mail under the "create trouble ticket" header.
It's now 45 minutes later than when I began.
No problem, say I. I shall go tackle a different issue -- creating the postcards I need for each book for said RT conference, upcoming.
I've created postcards on this very popular site before. It was easy as a wink. I upload the .jpg file the publisher's created and sent me just prior to release. I include some back cover copy for the postcard. I click the "approve" box, place the order for my required number of postcards, and voilá! I'm done.
You guessed right. It rejects.
For some reason, the images I used to create postcards a year ago are now "not high enough resolution" to create them now. I try a different version. It rejects.
It's now an hour and a half and a phone call later. The customer service rep was very nice indeed, and she tweaked, buffed, polished, resized, reformatted, and basically did everything she could to my cover image.
You guessed right. It still rejects.
I'm done for today. Methinks it best to head back to the 14th century and mull the aftereffects of the Black Death. Much, much less stressful.
Showing posts with label medieval centuries. Show all posts
Showing posts with label medieval centuries. Show all posts
Monday, February 13, 2012
Sunday, July 31, 2011
No Post for a While, and Why That's a Good Thing
It's a good thing because I'm pleased to say I finished writing PEACEWEAVER! Yes, you heard me -- the 973 Wales book is done. For a brief period I thought I might never hit the ending. Then once I did, I was strongly tempted to change it.
"Don't," said Janny, my superlative and wonderfully honest crit partner. "It's a boffo ending. Touch it, and I get out the Righteous Nerf Bat."
I obeyed, of course.
In other news, I had a book I won't name, submitted for review. I was anxious to read it, since it's set in medieval England. But I bailed 40 pages in. Why?
Anachronism. Flaming, yank-you-out-of-story anachronism. Words and concepts that didn't exist until the 20th century, inserted into the 14th. Sorry. No excuse. There exist ample sites to research when a word or concept came into general use. I won't be finishing the book, no matter how keen I was to read it. Unfortunately, the author made finishing it impossible for this reader.
"Don't," said Janny, my superlative and wonderfully honest crit partner. "It's a boffo ending. Touch it, and I get out the Righteous Nerf Bat."
I obeyed, of course.
In other news, I had a book I won't name, submitted for review. I was anxious to read it, since it's set in medieval England. But I bailed 40 pages in. Why?
Anachronism. Flaming, yank-you-out-of-story anachronism. Words and concepts that didn't exist until the 20th century, inserted into the 14th. Sorry. No excuse. There exist ample sites to research when a word or concept came into general use. I won't be finishing the book, no matter how keen I was to read it. Unfortunately, the author made finishing it impossible for this reader.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Off With Her Head!
Sorry. Not literally. You see, Anmair of north Wales, the heroine of my 973 tale PEACEWEAVER, has gone and gotten herself captured by Vikings.
"What!" you say. "The Vikings raided in England and France, right? Not Wales!"
Au contraire. They did indeed raid in Wales and for a while, were allowed to spend the winters on the island of Anglesey (a.k.a. Mona) off the northwest tip of the country. From this base they could sally forth every spring in their usual Viking hobbies of rape, pillage and destruction. Not nice fellas, these ancestors of mine.
Anyway, Anmair has been taken away to the Viking enclave near Dublin, Ireland, with the leader's intention to sell her and a few others as slaves. Wouldn't ya know it? His minions come down with the measles and the leader is cursing his bad luck. Has Odin turned his face against them all? Anmair rashly promises to help the measly horde and the leader promises that if she can't, if even one of his men dies, he'll offer her in sacrifice to the All Father, Odin. Only that way can he hope to turn his run of bad luck to good.
It's tense, all right. What will Anmair do to keep herself from being served up to Odin? I really have no idea. She has boldly told the leader that only the true God can be of help in dire situations, and she'll prove His power by saving the raiders. Can she do this? I don't know. Measles is no joke in adult patients. Does one of them succumb? Stay tuned -- our dauntless (so far, anyway) heroine is in a Viking longship load of trouble this time.
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Win a Few, Lose a Few
What to say about the week it's already been? Perhaps the best comment comes from Jeremiah 17: 7-8 "Blessed is the (wo)man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit." (KJV)
My hope and my trust are in Him. Oy, what a week it's been!
Revisions on the existing parts of the 974 Wales book, PEACEWEAVER, are going along great. The book formerly intended for Sheaf House, SEASONS OF RECKONING, is going there no more. Instead, it's being reworked with a new framework and a new (if lame) working title: THE STRANGER-GUEST. It's now a straight medieval, book #2 in a series to be called "The Faith Box."
Janny correctly points out the obvious flaws in its working title: "Stranger than what?" says she, and beshrew me if she ain't right!
The series as I envision it will be four books: the first, PEACEWEAVER, is where the Faith Box originates, in 10th century Wales and Chester. The box travels a bit; book #2 may be THE STRANGER-GUEST or it may morph into a book set between these years. I'm thinking 1215 or thereabouts--who can say? In any case, the box is handed down, a precious heirloom something like a reliquary, from mother to daughter through the centuries. The final book in the series will be present-day, or close to it. Of course, the box's stories are blurred and distorted by time. But the Faith Box always holds items of meaning in its (current) owner's walk of faith -- it never loses its power to inspire.
How say you, minions?
My hope and my trust are in Him. Oy, what a week it's been!
Revisions on the existing parts of the 974 Wales book, PEACEWEAVER, are going along great. The book formerly intended for Sheaf House, SEASONS OF RECKONING, is going there no more. Instead, it's being reworked with a new framework and a new (if lame) working title: THE STRANGER-GUEST. It's now a straight medieval, book #2 in a series to be called "The Faith Box."
Janny correctly points out the obvious flaws in its working title: "Stranger than what?" says she, and beshrew me if she ain't right!
The series as I envision it will be four books: the first, PEACEWEAVER, is where the Faith Box originates, in 10th century Wales and Chester. The box travels a bit; book #2 may be THE STRANGER-GUEST or it may morph into a book set between these years. I'm thinking 1215 or thereabouts--who can say? In any case, the box is handed down, a precious heirloom something like a reliquary, from mother to daughter through the centuries. The final book in the series will be present-day, or close to it. Of course, the box's stories are blurred and distorted by time. But the Faith Box always holds items of meaning in its (current) owner's walk of faith -- it never loses its power to inspire.
How say you, minions?
Sunday, August 08, 2010
Setting It Free
Hallelujah! My publisher was kind enough to accept the half-edited SEASONS OF RECKONING this past week! She knows it's a first draft after chapter 10 and she was okay with that! Meanwhile I keep editing and will send her the other smoothed-out chapters as I get chunk after chunk done. Praise the Lord for a patient editor.
That said -- I released the document from my jump drive to her computer with no small degree of trepidation. Let nobody deny this -- it's hard to set your story free and hand it into someone else's keeping. The usual bugaboos lift their heads. This puppy is going to be read by another! What if she liked the first book in the "Seasons of Destiny" series (she did like it) and hates this second outing? What if my character's rather dry, low-key sense of humor doesn't work as well as Bethany's out-there one? What if she hates the way Marcus and Ebrel meet? What if what if what if--?
It's not easy.
In other news from Casa Chaos, I see on an e-mail loop we all know and love, what we'd change about CBA publishers. I did respond in my trying-to-be-the-voice-of-rational-thinking mode to the loop. What I wanted to say was: Why is this even a question? Who (except for those three or four remaining CBA publishers) cares what CBA does anymore? The Christian fic market has grown so vastly larger than these few, conservative, "let's ignore the world's need for Christ and push out more Bonnet Books" publishers that the conversation is all but irrelevant before it begins. Please!
Striking my blow for the larger market.
That said -- I released the document from my jump drive to her computer with no small degree of trepidation. Let nobody deny this -- it's hard to set your story free and hand it into someone else's keeping. The usual bugaboos lift their heads. This puppy is going to be read by another! What if she liked the first book in the "Seasons of Destiny" series (she did like it) and hates this second outing? What if my character's rather dry, low-key sense of humor doesn't work as well as Bethany's out-there one? What if she hates the way Marcus and Ebrel meet? What if what if what if--?
It's not easy.
In other news from Casa Chaos, I see on an e-mail loop we all know and love, what we'd change about CBA publishers. I did respond in my trying-to-be-the-voice-of-rational-thinking mode to the loop. What I wanted to say was: Why is this even a question? Who (except for those three or four remaining CBA publishers) cares what CBA does anymore? The Christian fic market has grown so vastly larger than these few, conservative, "let's ignore the world's need for Christ and push out more Bonnet Books" publishers that the conversation is all but irrelevant before it begins. Please!
Striking my blow for the larger market.
Friday, July 30, 2010
Laughs for the Humor Impaired
Two short talking points today -- happy to announce that in edit, Marcus has found his sense of humor. Why did it not come out in first draft (where I usually do better work than in edit-mode--just ask my superb crit partner)? I do not know. I think the scut has been holding out on me.
But there is hope -- he's currently on trial for murder and he just compared the medieval "prosecuting attorney" to a housewife peering into the meat case at the various lumps of ground beef. Good on ya, Marc.
Also I recently posted as an invited guest on my marvelous agent's blog (Hartline Literary) and was taken to task on yet a third blog by one of those lingerers at the margins who knows everything about everything. I love when this happens. It's all safe, mostly anonymous, since the blogger didn't have the guts to post his rebuttal to my opinions on the Hartline blog or this one. No -- his comments resided safely on the owner's private blog. I found them by accident, and called him to account there, where it belonged. Hope my thread there dies a natural death.
Let me emphasize that I love the medieval centuries as fiction fodder. They sing to me. Their ways inspire me and give me plenty of literary meat to work with. That does not require that everyone love them as I do. Everyone should feel free to love what they love and confusion to the "shoulds"! After all, don't some folks like Amish fiction? Does that mean I must, also?
No. Nor do I travel around cyberspace telling folks their research is wrong, their opinions faulty, their "take" less worthy than mine. Life's too short.
Besides, I don't have time -- I'm too busy giving Marcus an intravenous humor-booster.
But there is hope -- he's currently on trial for murder and he just compared the medieval "prosecuting attorney" to a housewife peering into the meat case at the various lumps of ground beef. Good on ya, Marc.
Also I recently posted as an invited guest on my marvelous agent's blog (Hartline Literary) and was taken to task on yet a third blog by one of those lingerers at the margins who knows everything about everything. I love when this happens. It's all safe, mostly anonymous, since the blogger didn't have the guts to post his rebuttal to my opinions on the Hartline blog or this one. No -- his comments resided safely on the owner's private blog. I found them by accident, and called him to account there, where it belonged. Hope my thread there dies a natural death.
Let me emphasize that I love the medieval centuries as fiction fodder. They sing to me. Their ways inspire me and give me plenty of literary meat to work with. That does not require that everyone love them as I do. Everyone should feel free to love what they love and confusion to the "shoulds"! After all, don't some folks like Amish fiction? Does that mean I must, also?
No. Nor do I travel around cyberspace telling folks their research is wrong, their opinions faulty, their "take" less worthy than mine. Life's too short.
Besides, I don't have time -- I'm too busy giving Marcus an intravenous humor-booster.
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Linda Windsor's HEALER
Micro-review follows: HEALER is a terrific story that takes the reader into a poorly illuminated and endlessly interesting period of the past. And no, I do not call them the "Dark Ages" anymore. These were the centuries when a small band of committed Christians copied the Gospels out by candlelight and daylight, to make sure we would have the wondrous Word we enjoy so freely today.
Linda graciously consented to answer a few questions: here they are, so enjoy!
1.) Tell us about your book HEALER. What led you to this particular historical era and setting?
HEALER is a book of my heart that has been percolating in my mind for over ten years, morphing from a former sexy historical into a moving inspirational saga set in Arthurian Scotland. My Celtic Irish series, "Fires of Gleannmara" kicked off my interest in Dark Age history and early Christianity in the British Isles. Many of you know how MAIRE, RIONA and DEIRDRE’s research helped me to reach my daughter after she’d been stalked and assaulted in college, turned against God and to Wicca-white witchcraft. We as Christians could learn a lot from how our first through third century forefathers tamed barbarian Europe when Rome’s might could not. It was that approach that I used when speaking to my daughter, using history and tradition to reach her when she’d not listen to Scripture. It was a process that took five or so years, but then so did the early Christian witness take time to take root and grow.
HEALER is book one of the Brides of Alba trilogy, Alba being an early name for Scotland. And this is Arthurian Scotland—and King Arthur, for that matter—as never seen before. The series focuses on three brothers, their respective brides, and how love and faith grow to enable them to survive those trying times of the Saxon invasion and the church's desperate measures to ensure the survival of Christianity. These measures include matchmaking men and women from the Davidic bloodline passed on by royal Irish and the apostolic bloodlines established in Britain by the first century family and followers of Christ.
The historic Arthur in HEALER, one of at least two arthurs (a title) and definitely the last one, is a product of such matchmaking. So is the merlin (another title) Merlin Emrys, who in this case is a documented Celtic Christian bishop and druidic scientist. In fact most of the Arthurian figures were bred and raised by the Grail Church to become warriors, kings and queens of Britain to ensure the Grail Church's survival. Brenna and Ronan's conflict is a result of that matchmaking gone wrong.
Forced to live most of her twenty years in hiding from both her own clan and the clan who murdered her family, Brenna of Gowrys wonders how she can possibly fulfill her mother’s prophecy that their family's seed will divide the enemy O’Byrne’s house and bring about a peace beyond his wicked ken. Brenna’s clan remnant would have her lead them to certain death against the stronger O’Byrnes. But Brenna is a healer, not a warrior. Nor is she the shape-changing wolf-woman of the hills she’s rumored to be by the superstitious clans; although she does have a gift with wild animals, including her pet wolf Faol.
So when Brenna witnesses the ambush and attempted murder of a warrior during the annual O’Byrne hunt to find the wolf-woman, she does what she’s called to do. She brings him into her mountain hideaway to heal him, even if he could be her enemy. All she knows is that he is not just wounded in body, but in spirit; that he’d been there as a frightened child when her family had been slain; and that she has seen a future with him. But is her faith strong enough to follow the vision, no matter where it leads?
2. What's your favorite part of the story?
I can’t say I have a favorite part, but I do have a favorite theme that ties in to teaching Christians a bit about Dark Age “magic” or proto-science versus and dark magic. Unfortunately some reviewers are already calling my heroine a witch. And in truth, I expected some controversy, even though I have Scripturally backed up the concepts and provided resources.
Brenna had been taught the proto-science of nature magic, which was knowledge of herbal remedies and of the electro-magnetic neurological circuits in our bodies used in in today’s chiropractic and acupuncture. The existence and efficacy of these is accepted even in the western world, although we’ve yet to find a way to quantify them.
To the common mind this was magic. Even someone who was charismatic and spoke with eloquent persuasion was considered practicing magic. In fact, our learned professionals of today (doctors, lawyers, teachers, judges, etc.) would have been dubbed magicians. She also invoked the power of the Holy Spirit as the apostles did, but gave all credit of healing to God. And she made it clear to others that healing from using herbs and nature magic was not usually a permanent cure. Only healing by the Holy Spirit was complete.
I list my research sources (great book called From Magic to Science, for one) showing that this nature magic was proto-science of the day and I contrast the use of that knowledge by my devout Christian heroine (who is also accused of been too good) by showing how that same knowledge can be misused for evil. Like arsenic. It’s used to kill cancer cells to save lives. It’s also used to murder people. And lastly, I differentiate between nature magic/proto science with dark magic, which involves the aid of spirits or demons. Readers, and my skeptical hero, will see a desperate battle against this type of magic with the triumphal power of the Holy Spirit.
Like I said. Controversial. Food for thought, but wholly intended to glorify how wonderfully made we are and what wonderful gifts we have at hand in creation, all from the Creator God and all to His glory, not that of the practitioner.
3.) What was the hardest part to write?
Differentiating between the two types of magic and showing that much medieval magic was no magic at all, but knowledge of God’s creation—His gift to us to use for good. Making it clear through Brenna’s profession that only God’s healing was complete. She didn’t heal like Jesus did, as one reviewer complained, and she never claimed to. That would be blasphemy to her.
I also gave Brenna the gift of visions, fully Scriptural based. They come at God’s will, not hers, and they prompt her to act against reason and on faith. She becomes dismayed when people, on hearing of this, come to her seeking their fortunes and turns them away, saying God gives her only what He sees fit, not what she asks for or even seeks, for that matter. She tells them their future is in God’s hands, not in her visions.
I prayed through and through this book because of broaching these topics. In it, God used Brenna’s willing heart to work His will, against all earthly odds. And she glorified Him for it.
4.) What's one of the oddest or most interesting things someone has ever said about you?
I fear that is to come, if readers don’t understand what I’ve tried to clarify. On a lighter note, my birthday is marked on the calendar of great historical moments as the day the Liberty Bell cracked. Now I don’t believe in omens, but hey…
5.) Can you tell us a little about the ups and downs on your journey to publication?
How about AFTER publication? It’s been like riding a carousel from my first book in 1999—HI HONEY I’M HOME—to HEALER. I joke that I will someday do a keynote speech title I Failed My Way To Success. Because I’ve been so wordy here, readers might want check out
http://www.lynnettebonner.blogspot.com on July 19th, where I tell the whole sordid ride from rescuing my first manuscript from the garbage, mistakes I made, and how God always took me from one failure or closed door, to a better place…every time. I hope it doesn’t overload her web space. Oh, and it’s has humor as well. The Liberty Bell isn’t the only thing a little cracked.
6.) What writing challenge do you find hardest, and how did you overcome it?
Writing with chemical depression is my best asset and worst enemy. Feelings give me a special insight into life and faith’s conflicts, lending power and inspiration to my stories. But they also discourage me when I am in that dark place. I stall and can’t think how to move on. And I have learned that every time I wait on the Lord, stick to Him like glue, rest, and read the Psalms. Misery loves company, especially company that always reminds me that no matter how low I go, God has never let me or the psalmist down. So while feelings can be great, they can not be trusted and they are temporal. God can be trusted to be there, even when it feels like one’s praying to the ceiling and He is eternal. God and my sense of humor (the cracked psyche) is my salvation in life and writing. He’s plotting the second half of THIEF right now and making me rest after a three-week headache/sinusitis/bronchitis bout. I’m a month behind my schedule, but He won’t let me move ahead until I’m well and ready for whatever is going to happen. All I know is that what I had plotted will not work now. And I have to wait on His time.
Great advice for anyone involved in projects, not just writers...
7.) What advice would you have for a new fiction writer?
I’ve failed my way to twenty-nine books. Get used to rejection and accept that the work wasn’t ready yet according to God’s time. I’ve had the same books rejected one year, published the next without a word changed. God’s timing. My books that grew dusty under the bed and in the attic have always had their day. Every one I’ve ever written has been published. I may have had to revise them or completely rewrite them, but the ideas were good. My craft and timing? Not so much.
Do everything you can to send out your best work and be ready to accept that God may have other ideas. Learn from your rejections if you can, even if it’s only to wait on God. Don’t stop writing. By the process itself, your work improves. I shudder to go back and read some of my first books. The stories were great, but I can’t believe how the craft itself has evolved into tighter, stronger work.
I’ve said this many times. Rejections are like footprints in the sand. If you don’t see any, you are not moving toward your dream.
8.) You’ve had many books published. Which was the “book of your heart” and why?
Before HEALER, I would have said MAIRE. MAIRE introduced me to the Dark Ages and early Christianity. That research helped me reach my daughter, plant the seeds of God’s glory and the idea to worship the Creator, not creation. God watered them until they filled the black void left by her pain and anger from her assault with the light of Christ.
The knowledge I gained of my own faith and of druidism—the root of most New Age philosophy (and old age), has filled me with a passion to inform others how to witness to their lost loved ones, especially those involved in New Age theories. I use history and science and build on what our beliefs have in common, just as the early Christians did. And I extend the grace to them to hear what they believe, without judging. In doing so, I pray they will see something of Christ in me, hear my historical and personal reasons for believing in Him. The rest is up to God. This has become my passion because of the heartbreak my daughter (and I) went through so many years ago. Most of those we are trying to reach have gone through similar heartache and been hurt horribly by an uninformed and judgmental church. Or they perceive their pain as such.
9.) Where can readers get in touch with you?
Please stop by my website at www.LindaWindsor.com and check out HEALER and sign up for my contest to give away a signed copy. Email me at Linda@LindaWindsor.com. I’d love a book report on HEALER!
Also you must see the gorgeous book trailer David C. Cook did on You Tube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4jSufmR4us&feature=channel. It’s my first book trailer and I am over the moon with it and the cover. It so captures the essence of HEALER. Plus, the heroine on the cover looks like my new daughter-in-law. I received the proof as I was on my way to my son’s wedding rehearsal and everyone was blown away by the resemblance.
Thanks, Linda, for the insight into HEALER and your own journey!
Linda graciously consented to answer a few questions: here they are, so enjoy!
1.) Tell us about your book HEALER. What led you to this particular historical era and setting?
HEALER is a book of my heart that has been percolating in my mind for over ten years, morphing from a former sexy historical into a moving inspirational saga set in Arthurian Scotland. My Celtic Irish series, "Fires of Gleannmara" kicked off my interest in Dark Age history and early Christianity in the British Isles. Many of you know how MAIRE, RIONA and DEIRDRE’s research helped me to reach my daughter after she’d been stalked and assaulted in college, turned against God and to Wicca-white witchcraft. We as Christians could learn a lot from how our first through third century forefathers tamed barbarian Europe when Rome’s might could not. It was that approach that I used when speaking to my daughter, using history and tradition to reach her when she’d not listen to Scripture. It was a process that took five or so years, but then so did the early Christian witness take time to take root and grow.
HEALER is book one of the Brides of Alba trilogy, Alba being an early name for Scotland. And this is Arthurian Scotland—and King Arthur, for that matter—as never seen before. The series focuses on three brothers, their respective brides, and how love and faith grow to enable them to survive those trying times of the Saxon invasion and the church's desperate measures to ensure the survival of Christianity. These measures include matchmaking men and women from the Davidic bloodline passed on by royal Irish and the apostolic bloodlines established in Britain by the first century family and followers of Christ.
The historic Arthur in HEALER, one of at least two arthurs (a title) and definitely the last one, is a product of such matchmaking. So is the merlin (another title) Merlin Emrys, who in this case is a documented Celtic Christian bishop and druidic scientist. In fact most of the Arthurian figures were bred and raised by the Grail Church to become warriors, kings and queens of Britain to ensure the Grail Church's survival. Brenna and Ronan's conflict is a result of that matchmaking gone wrong.
Forced to live most of her twenty years in hiding from both her own clan and the clan who murdered her family, Brenna of Gowrys wonders how she can possibly fulfill her mother’s prophecy that their family's seed will divide the enemy O’Byrne’s house and bring about a peace beyond his wicked ken. Brenna’s clan remnant would have her lead them to certain death against the stronger O’Byrnes. But Brenna is a healer, not a warrior. Nor is she the shape-changing wolf-woman of the hills she’s rumored to be by the superstitious clans; although she does have a gift with wild animals, including her pet wolf Faol.
So when Brenna witnesses the ambush and attempted murder of a warrior during the annual O’Byrne hunt to find the wolf-woman, she does what she’s called to do. She brings him into her mountain hideaway to heal him, even if he could be her enemy. All she knows is that he is not just wounded in body, but in spirit; that he’d been there as a frightened child when her family had been slain; and that she has seen a future with him. But is her faith strong enough to follow the vision, no matter where it leads?
2. What's your favorite part of the story?
I can’t say I have a favorite part, but I do have a favorite theme that ties in to teaching Christians a bit about Dark Age “magic” or proto-science versus and dark magic. Unfortunately some reviewers are already calling my heroine a witch. And in truth, I expected some controversy, even though I have Scripturally backed up the concepts and provided resources.
Brenna had been taught the proto-science of nature magic, which was knowledge of herbal remedies and of the electro-magnetic neurological circuits in our bodies used in in today’s chiropractic and acupuncture. The existence and efficacy of these is accepted even in the western world, although we’ve yet to find a way to quantify them.
To the common mind this was magic. Even someone who was charismatic and spoke with eloquent persuasion was considered practicing magic. In fact, our learned professionals of today (doctors, lawyers, teachers, judges, etc.) would have been dubbed magicians. She also invoked the power of the Holy Spirit as the apostles did, but gave all credit of healing to God. And she made it clear to others that healing from using herbs and nature magic was not usually a permanent cure. Only healing by the Holy Spirit was complete.
I list my research sources (great book called From Magic to Science, for one) showing that this nature magic was proto-science of the day and I contrast the use of that knowledge by my devout Christian heroine (who is also accused of been too good) by showing how that same knowledge can be misused for evil. Like arsenic. It’s used to kill cancer cells to save lives. It’s also used to murder people. And lastly, I differentiate between nature magic/proto science with dark magic, which involves the aid of spirits or demons. Readers, and my skeptical hero, will see a desperate battle against this type of magic with the triumphal power of the Holy Spirit.
Like I said. Controversial. Food for thought, but wholly intended to glorify how wonderfully made we are and what wonderful gifts we have at hand in creation, all from the Creator God and all to His glory, not that of the practitioner.
3.) What was the hardest part to write?
Differentiating between the two types of magic and showing that much medieval magic was no magic at all, but knowledge of God’s creation—His gift to us to use for good. Making it clear through Brenna’s profession that only God’s healing was complete. She didn’t heal like Jesus did, as one reviewer complained, and she never claimed to. That would be blasphemy to her.
I also gave Brenna the gift of visions, fully Scriptural based. They come at God’s will, not hers, and they prompt her to act against reason and on faith. She becomes dismayed when people, on hearing of this, come to her seeking their fortunes and turns them away, saying God gives her only what He sees fit, not what she asks for or even seeks, for that matter. She tells them their future is in God’s hands, not in her visions.
I prayed through and through this book because of broaching these topics. In it, God used Brenna’s willing heart to work His will, against all earthly odds. And she glorified Him for it.
4.) What's one of the oddest or most interesting things someone has ever said about you?
I fear that is to come, if readers don’t understand what I’ve tried to clarify. On a lighter note, my birthday is marked on the calendar of great historical moments as the day the Liberty Bell cracked. Now I don’t believe in omens, but hey…
5.) Can you tell us a little about the ups and downs on your journey to publication?
How about AFTER publication? It’s been like riding a carousel from my first book in 1999—HI HONEY I’M HOME—to HEALER. I joke that I will someday do a keynote speech title I Failed My Way To Success. Because I’ve been so wordy here, readers might want check out
http://www.lynnettebonner.blogspot.com on July 19th, where I tell the whole sordid ride from rescuing my first manuscript from the garbage, mistakes I made, and how God always took me from one failure or closed door, to a better place…every time. I hope it doesn’t overload her web space. Oh, and it’s has humor as well. The Liberty Bell isn’t the only thing a little cracked.
6.) What writing challenge do you find hardest, and how did you overcome it?
Writing with chemical depression is my best asset and worst enemy. Feelings give me a special insight into life and faith’s conflicts, lending power and inspiration to my stories. But they also discourage me when I am in that dark place. I stall and can’t think how to move on. And I have learned that every time I wait on the Lord, stick to Him like glue, rest, and read the Psalms. Misery loves company, especially company that always reminds me that no matter how low I go, God has never let me or the psalmist down. So while feelings can be great, they can not be trusted and they are temporal. God can be trusted to be there, even when it feels like one’s praying to the ceiling and He is eternal. God and my sense of humor (the cracked psyche) is my salvation in life and writing. He’s plotting the second half of THIEF right now and making me rest after a three-week headache/sinusitis/bronchitis bout. I’m a month behind my schedule, but He won’t let me move ahead until I’m well and ready for whatever is going to happen. All I know is that what I had plotted will not work now. And I have to wait on His time.
Great advice for anyone involved in projects, not just writers...
7.) What advice would you have for a new fiction writer?
I’ve failed my way to twenty-nine books. Get used to rejection and accept that the work wasn’t ready yet according to God’s time. I’ve had the same books rejected one year, published the next without a word changed. God’s timing. My books that grew dusty under the bed and in the attic have always had their day. Every one I’ve ever written has been published. I may have had to revise them or completely rewrite them, but the ideas were good. My craft and timing? Not so much.
Do everything you can to send out your best work and be ready to accept that God may have other ideas. Learn from your rejections if you can, even if it’s only to wait on God. Don’t stop writing. By the process itself, your work improves. I shudder to go back and read some of my first books. The stories were great, but I can’t believe how the craft itself has evolved into tighter, stronger work.
I’ve said this many times. Rejections are like footprints in the sand. If you don’t see any, you are not moving toward your dream.
8.) You’ve had many books published. Which was the “book of your heart” and why?
Before HEALER, I would have said MAIRE. MAIRE introduced me to the Dark Ages and early Christianity. That research helped me reach my daughter, plant the seeds of God’s glory and the idea to worship the Creator, not creation. God watered them until they filled the black void left by her pain and anger from her assault with the light of Christ.
The knowledge I gained of my own faith and of druidism—the root of most New Age philosophy (and old age), has filled me with a passion to inform others how to witness to their lost loved ones, especially those involved in New Age theories. I use history and science and build on what our beliefs have in common, just as the early Christians did. And I extend the grace to them to hear what they believe, without judging. In doing so, I pray they will see something of Christ in me, hear my historical and personal reasons for believing in Him. The rest is up to God. This has become my passion because of the heartbreak my daughter (and I) went through so many years ago. Most of those we are trying to reach have gone through similar heartache and been hurt horribly by an uninformed and judgmental church. Or they perceive their pain as such.
9.) Where can readers get in touch with you?
Please stop by my website at www.LindaWindsor.com and check out HEALER and sign up for my contest to give away a signed copy. Email me at Linda@LindaWindsor.com. I’d love a book report on HEALER!
Also you must see the gorgeous book trailer David C. Cook did on You Tube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4jSufmR4us&feature=channel. It’s my first book trailer and I am over the moon with it and the cover. It so captures the essence of HEALER. Plus, the heroine on the cover looks like my new daughter-in-law. I received the proof as I was on my way to my son’s wedding rehearsal and everyone was blown away by the resemblance.
Thanks, Linda, for the insight into HEALER and your own journey!
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Early in the SEASONS
I'm pleased to announce that reviews are beginning to post for SEASONS IN THE MIST. So far, every one I've seen has been 5 stars, and I'm getting some great comments as well.
Today, Dina Sleiman posted an interview on Inkwell Inspirations, her blog. It was fun to dig a little deeper into the question: "why Christian medieval time-travel?"
A good and interesting question, and quite valid, but you could just as easily ask, "why Amish?" or "why Regency?" First, a writer does well to write what interests her most. If I were passionate about the Amish, I suspect I would dig into everything I could find about them, learn all I could, and then write what I love most.
So it is with me, with the medieval era. SEASONS has never been anything but a time-travel story from its earliest (shuddering at the quality) versions. So when I re-wrote it with a hope toward publication, it seemed natural to tell of the 14th century through the eyes of a passionate, prejudiced, backslidden medieval historian. With thanks to my editors, it became what it now is: what I hope will be a fun, stimulating, and may I say mildly educational romp into a fascinating era.
I'm working on the sequel. I hope it will be everything it should. If passion alone can make it so, I won't have too much trouble.
To God the glory.
Today, Dina Sleiman posted an interview on Inkwell Inspirations, her blog. It was fun to dig a little deeper into the question: "why Christian medieval time-travel?"
A good and interesting question, and quite valid, but you could just as easily ask, "why Amish?" or "why Regency?" First, a writer does well to write what interests her most. If I were passionate about the Amish, I suspect I would dig into everything I could find about them, learn all I could, and then write what I love most.
So it is with me, with the medieval era. SEASONS has never been anything but a time-travel story from its earliest (shuddering at the quality) versions. So when I re-wrote it with a hope toward publication, it seemed natural to tell of the 14th century through the eyes of a passionate, prejudiced, backslidden medieval historian. With thanks to my editors, it became what it now is: what I hope will be a fun, stimulating, and may I say mildly educational romp into a fascinating era.
I'm working on the sequel. I hope it will be everything it should. If passion alone can make it so, I won't have too much trouble.
To God the glory.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Apparently I Told the Story
I gave the full edited MS of SEASONS IN THE MIST to my crit partner Janny over the weekend. Mind you, she's seen pieces of it as it's grown, but never the full.
I'm tearing up now, because here is her assessment of the part she has read so far:
"...your characters have a relaxed sense of humor that shines through; I think that many historical romance writers are so cognizant of the necessity to put in crackling sensual tension that the characters almost end up being too intense and focused on those things, to the exclusion of being balanced human beings (unbalanced, unrealistic human beings in romance books? Surely I jest!).
"And, of course, because there's a spiritual content to yours that is more straightforward and wholesome than secular medievals tend to have, the entire world and the people in it 'hang together' better. One temptation that contemporary writers always have to fight is the tendency to forget that their heroines cannot be modern women in costume dramas--they have to sound, as much as possible, like women of that time WOULD sound, act, and yes, even think. This is hard for most of them to do, especially in the area of faith, religion, and/or the Church.
"In that sense, your characterization of Michael is especially wonderful--he balances the hard (and sad) reality of clerics who don't do their jobs and/or aren't educated properly and/or are lazy against the spiritual reality that, in fact, this is all the people HAVE and that no servant of God is gonna be perfect anyway. There's an almost tender regard he has for the human weaknesses of the priests and other clerics in this book that I think would ring much truer to the time period than the more cynical, jaded, or sarcastic viewpoints that so often show up on the part of characters in other medievals. In that sense alone, you've already risen above the crowd.
"And it goes without saying that as a Catholic, I'm thoroughly sick of reading contemporary liberal anti-Church speeches coming out of characters who wouldn't have made those speeches in the times in which they lived. You not only stayed out of that trap, but you made the character come alive as a man of faith as a result. To which I can only say, 'Brava!'"
As I say, this gets me, like, all misty. I've aspired to something and apparently in my crit partner's eyes, achieved it. All glory to God. This is a story I've wanted to tell for years, and it seems to me a very wondrous and humbling thing that it'll be coming out to the world in general.
If there's a point to this post is: they say, "Write the book of your heart," and it's true. I was told this piece would never sell. I put it away assuming the industry was right and I was all wet, that it would never find a home and I alone would travel this road along with my characters. I guessed wrongly. A most humbling thing.
I'm tearing up now, because here is her assessment of the part she has read so far:
"...your characters have a relaxed sense of humor that shines through; I think that many historical romance writers are so cognizant of the necessity to put in crackling sensual tension that the characters almost end up being too intense and focused on those things, to the exclusion of being balanced human beings (unbalanced, unrealistic human beings in romance books? Surely I jest!).
"And, of course, because there's a spiritual content to yours that is more straightforward and wholesome than secular medievals tend to have, the entire world and the people in it 'hang together' better. One temptation that contemporary writers always have to fight is the tendency to forget that their heroines cannot be modern women in costume dramas--they have to sound, as much as possible, like women of that time WOULD sound, act, and yes, even think. This is hard for most of them to do, especially in the area of faith, religion, and/or the Church.
"In that sense, your characterization of Michael is especially wonderful--he balances the hard (and sad) reality of clerics who don't do their jobs and/or aren't educated properly and/or are lazy against the spiritual reality that, in fact, this is all the people HAVE and that no servant of God is gonna be perfect anyway. There's an almost tender regard he has for the human weaknesses of the priests and other clerics in this book that I think would ring much truer to the time period than the more cynical, jaded, or sarcastic viewpoints that so often show up on the part of characters in other medievals. In that sense alone, you've already risen above the crowd.
"And it goes without saying that as a Catholic, I'm thoroughly sick of reading contemporary liberal anti-Church speeches coming out of characters who wouldn't have made those speeches in the times in which they lived. You not only stayed out of that trap, but you made the character come alive as a man of faith as a result. To which I can only say, 'Brava!'"
As I say, this gets me, like, all misty. I've aspired to something and apparently in my crit partner's eyes, achieved it. All glory to God. This is a story I've wanted to tell for years, and it seems to me a very wondrous and humbling thing that it'll be coming out to the world in general.
If there's a point to this post is: they say, "Write the book of your heart," and it's true. I was told this piece would never sell. I put it away assuming the industry was right and I was all wet, that it would never find a home and I alone would travel this road along with my characters. I guessed wrongly. A most humbling thing.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Stolen Goods, Part II
Why is this important, you ask? After all, doesn't "every generation/blame the one before"? Isn't it just human nature to get revisionist about history and claim that THEIR age is the one that has sole possession of The Light?
Human nature, maybe. Resistible, definitely. If we counter, at every possible opportunity, the human tendency to dismiss an entire millenium as unenlightened, backward, all those terrible adjectives...I think there is hope to redeem the middle ages as fiction-fodder.
The marketing wunderkinder claim if we want to tell historical tales, they must not be set in the medieval era. Why is this? Because "it doesn't sell." Are they really saying, "we can't feel the love for this era because the characters, no matter how fervently Christian, must be Catholic"?
Horrors! We cannot honor THAT! Didn't we spend decades and buckets of martyrs' blood to get away from all that? Yes, the Reformation was necessary, though I think in places, particularly England, it went way out of hand. It also got out of control because of the aforementioned human nature. "What!" says sin-prone humanity. "Some children are bad? Throw them ALL away!" And from this mindset we get excesses of all horrific kinds.
We who read and write in the Christian market can reject this "throw it all out" mindset. We can refuse to accept the "no medievals" position on the part of the publishers, and write (and request, as readers) books that will be Entirely Unrejectable.
Recent events have shown that some publishers are ready to consider medieval-set fiction. Witness Michelle Griep's superb GALLIMORE and several other titles I have not yet read. I have hope.
Human nature, maybe. Resistible, definitely. If we counter, at every possible opportunity, the human tendency to dismiss an entire millenium as unenlightened, backward, all those terrible adjectives...I think there is hope to redeem the middle ages as fiction-fodder.
The marketing wunderkinder claim if we want to tell historical tales, they must not be set in the medieval era. Why is this? Because "it doesn't sell." Are they really saying, "we can't feel the love for this era because the characters, no matter how fervently Christian, must be Catholic"?
Horrors! We cannot honor THAT! Didn't we spend decades and buckets of martyrs' blood to get away from all that? Yes, the Reformation was necessary, though I think in places, particularly England, it went way out of hand. It also got out of control because of the aforementioned human nature. "What!" says sin-prone humanity. "Some children are bad? Throw them ALL away!" And from this mindset we get excesses of all horrific kinds.
We who read and write in the Christian market can reject this "throw it all out" mindset. We can refuse to accept the "no medievals" position on the part of the publishers, and write (and request, as readers) books that will be Entirely Unrejectable.
Recent events have shown that some publishers are ready to consider medieval-set fiction. Witness Michelle Griep's superb GALLIMORE and several other titles I have not yet read. I have hope.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Stolen Goods
In keeping with the "what's in it for YOU" feature of the blog, I offer the following mini-rant and some food for comment/thought.
A few years back I saw in the bookstore William Manchester's A WORLD LIT ONLY BY FIRE. Woot! thought I. A new research/enjoyment tome about the middle ages! So I yanked out the gift card and it was mine.
Surprise. I never finished reading the book (and those of you who know me are aware I ALWAYS finish a good medieval nonfic book). Here's why. It did not deliver on the unspoken promise to be a scholarly, thoughtful look at those centuries we call medieval. Oh, no. Instead it claimed that people in the middle ages "invented nothing" and were shackled to superstition, starvation and stupidity.
Hence the problem listed above: that of Stolen Goods. See, I've been canoodling this for a while, and I propose the following conclusion: the middle ages have been "stolen" from Christians due to the fruitbasket of biases Manchester so ably enunciated.
The medievals did nothing, accomplished nothing, knew less. They were one step up from Saxon/Viking/name your barbarian paganism. Barely Christian, right? After all, they weren't Protestants. Never mind that fervent believers spent almost a thousand years making sure the Gospels and other Writings were not only preserved, but enhanced. They found better source documentation in the Arabic and Greek writings as they came to light. They worked by candlelight in freezing or damp monasteries, hand-copying the Word of God one letter at a time. They dedicated their lives to doing this.
But they aren't worth writing about. They were pre-Reformation, therefore Beyond the Fictional Pale.
I submit otherwise. I find them very worthy of admiration. More so, the more research I do for the medieval fiction I seem stubbornly determined to write. My ancestors survived the Black Death, feudalism, probably slavery. They were admirable people despite they believed in a religious system to which I do not adhere.
Please, readers. Let not this fascinating time period be stolen from us by those who say that only the recent centuries matter.
A few years back I saw in the bookstore William Manchester's A WORLD LIT ONLY BY FIRE. Woot! thought I. A new research/enjoyment tome about the middle ages! So I yanked out the gift card and it was mine.
Surprise. I never finished reading the book (and those of you who know me are aware I ALWAYS finish a good medieval nonfic book). Here's why. It did not deliver on the unspoken promise to be a scholarly, thoughtful look at those centuries we call medieval. Oh, no. Instead it claimed that people in the middle ages "invented nothing" and were shackled to superstition, starvation and stupidity.
Hence the problem listed above: that of Stolen Goods. See, I've been canoodling this for a while, and I propose the following conclusion: the middle ages have been "stolen" from Christians due to the fruitbasket of biases Manchester so ably enunciated.
The medievals did nothing, accomplished nothing, knew less. They were one step up from Saxon/Viking/name your barbarian paganism. Barely Christian, right? After all, they weren't Protestants. Never mind that fervent believers spent almost a thousand years making sure the Gospels and other Writings were not only preserved, but enhanced. They found better source documentation in the Arabic and Greek writings as they came to light. They worked by candlelight in freezing or damp monasteries, hand-copying the Word of God one letter at a time. They dedicated their lives to doing this.
But they aren't worth writing about. They were pre-Reformation, therefore Beyond the Fictional Pale.
I submit otherwise. I find them very worthy of admiration. More so, the more research I do for the medieval fiction I seem stubbornly determined to write. My ancestors survived the Black Death, feudalism, probably slavery. They were admirable people despite they believed in a religious system to which I do not adhere.
Please, readers. Let not this fascinating time period be stolen from us by those who say that only the recent centuries matter.
Sunday, November 08, 2009
A Change of SEASONS
That's right--SEASONS IN THE MIST, the time-travel romance that's been percolating through the writing/submission/ publishing process for many months, is just about revised and ready to send back to Sheaf House. I finished the substantive work yesterday, so the coming week is for tweaks, polishes and a final re-read.
Why rewrite, do you ask? Good question. The publisher thought the middle was "flat."
So I rewrote. It's the first time I've done such a thing, though I've heard other authors moan about rewrites. I did feel their pain, but since I'd never been asked, it didn't affect ME, now, did it?
God uses such things to keep us humble.
Since that's true, SEASONS has morphed into something a little different. There is now a political subplot to the story, and the tension between Lord Mike the Hunky, Lady Bethany Who Tells Lies, and Hairy-Nosed Git Brother is now ratcheted way, way up.
I think it's a better book now.
Stay tuned. The new, improved version is already available for preorder on Amazon and CBD. It'll be released in April.
Why rewrite, do you ask? Good question. The publisher thought the middle was "flat."
So I rewrote. It's the first time I've done such a thing, though I've heard other authors moan about rewrites. I did feel their pain, but since I'd never been asked, it didn't affect ME, now, did it?
God uses such things to keep us humble.
Since that's true, SEASONS has morphed into something a little different. There is now a political subplot to the story, and the tension between Lord Mike the Hunky, Lady Bethany Who Tells Lies, and Hairy-Nosed Git Brother is now ratcheted way, way up.
I think it's a better book now.
Stay tuned. The new, improved version is already available for preorder on Amazon and CBD. It'll be released in April.
Friday, August 28, 2009
SEASONS IN THE MIST Gets a Cover!
This is what we arrived at (less me than the incomparable folks at Sheaf House). I'm thrilled, awed, happy, humbled, thankful. Isn't it beautiful?
For me, they captured exactly the right mood. Good fiction ought to evoke the same strong emotions as good music -- they ought to make you feel. This cover does. I hope the book lives up to its skin. I trust in God that it will.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
A Cover-to-Be!
My publisher sent the proof of the cover for SEASONS IN THE MIST. They want the cover done early, because the spring catalogs need to get whipped into shape now. Who'd have believed it?
The cover is a honey. Truly. The designer got the mood just exactly right. She wants to tweak it a little more, so I can't share it quite yet. I'm so pumped, though, that if I could post it, you'd be admiring it with me. As soon as I can, I will.
Rejoice with me!
The cover is a honey. Truly. The designer got the mood just exactly right. She wants to tweak it a little more, so I can't share it quite yet. I'm so pumped, though, that if I could post it, you'd be admiring it with me. As soon as I can, I will.
Rejoice with me!
Thursday, August 06, 2009
Time Portals, Cats, etc.
href="http://icanhascheezburger.com/2009/08/05/funny-pictures-narnia-portals/">
see more Lolcats and funny pictures
Pity, isn't it, that cats weren't generally kept as pets in the middle ages. Dogs, yes, although those were mostly working animals. In my reading right now I'm concentrating on medieval ways that were NOT of the upper class, and learning a great deal. See, the heroine in THE PEDDLER'S PACK is not going to be a fair lady with a delicate silken veil and well-kept hands. I'm not sure yet what she will be, but she'll be a yeoman's daughter, or a middle-class farmer's, or a merchant's. Someone who's used to hard work, and very practical. So I doubt she'd have a cat.
I miss Cat Kelly Kinnard very much. In June Cat Kelly went to that big Tuna Feast in the Sky. I do miss her. Maybe my heroine will be iconoclastic and a bit defiant, and keep a kitteh just because she likes it.
Hmm...
see more Lolcats and funny pictures
Pity, isn't it, that cats weren't generally kept as pets in the middle ages. Dogs, yes, although those were mostly working animals. In my reading right now I'm concentrating on medieval ways that were NOT of the upper class, and learning a great deal. See, the heroine in THE PEDDLER'S PACK is not going to be a fair lady with a delicate silken veil and well-kept hands. I'm not sure yet what she will be, but she'll be a yeoman's daughter, or a middle-class farmer's, or a merchant's. Someone who's used to hard work, and very practical. So I doubt she'd have a cat.
I miss Cat Kelly Kinnard very much. In June Cat Kelly went to that big Tuna Feast in the Sky. I do miss her. Maybe my heroine will be iconoclastic and a bit defiant, and keep a kitteh just because she likes it.
Hmm...
Sunday, July 26, 2009
DK's Muse, a Fickle Brat
If ever there was one...mine takes the prize.
I got an idea for a new story. Fine, say I, and go open a new Word document to start making story notes. I use MS One-Note when I want virtual 3x5 cards, but when an idea germinates I'm not ready for those yet, so I just scribble down random thoughts.
Good, huh?
Not so fast. My husband is sometimes very good (read: TOO good) at giving me story ideas. I wish he'd warn me when something's brewing in his head, though. It's always timed wrong. Anyway, along comes this same husband and starts talking about an idea for ANOTHER time travel, and this time it's a guy who does the traveling. The character's a medieval re-enactor in this day, and thinks he's cool and competent. But he gets to the middle ages and is VERY surprised at what he sees. The locals are Not Impressed. My main character, though passionate about his re-enactment efforts, is nowhere near as authentic as he thinks he is.
Wham! Scuttle project #1 and start scribbling notes for time travel project #2, which in the process morphs to a time travel piece that's a sequel to SEASONS IN THE MIST.
How in bejabbers did that happen?
Don't ask me why. This muse is a fickle brat and that's for sure. But I'm making character notes and writing furiously now, have it well into chapter 2 in first draft, and by the Rood this thing is humming!
Working title: THE PEDDLER'S PACK. Wish me bonne chance!
I got an idea for a new story. Fine, say I, and go open a new Word document to start making story notes. I use MS One-Note when I want virtual 3x5 cards, but when an idea germinates I'm not ready for those yet, so I just scribble down random thoughts.
Good, huh?
Not so fast. My husband is sometimes very good (read: TOO good) at giving me story ideas. I wish he'd warn me when something's brewing in his head, though. It's always timed wrong. Anyway, along comes this same husband and starts talking about an idea for ANOTHER time travel, and this time it's a guy who does the traveling. The character's a medieval re-enactor in this day, and thinks he's cool and competent. But he gets to the middle ages and is VERY surprised at what he sees. The locals are Not Impressed. My main character, though passionate about his re-enactment efforts, is nowhere near as authentic as he thinks he is.
Wham! Scuttle project #1 and start scribbling notes for time travel project #2, which in the process morphs to a time travel piece that's a sequel to SEASONS IN THE MIST.
How in bejabbers did that happen?
Don't ask me why. This muse is a fickle brat and that's for sure. But I'm making character notes and writing furiously now, have it well into chapter 2 in first draft, and by the Rood this thing is humming!
Working title: THE PEDDLER'S PACK. Wish me bonne chance!
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
It's the Time of the "Seasons"
Hurray! I got all required edits done on the sold book, SEASONS IN THE MIST, and sent it off to the publisher.
My pub has given me such good suggestions on this book--they have made it a much better story. I declined one recommendation 'cause I didn't really feel it was needed, but otherwise I incorporated everything she said. I like this book. I really like it.
Done enthusing now. Until further suggestions come, or until I get my galleys, this book is now put to bed...time for further work on PEACEWEAVER, methinks.
Although I DO have a germ of an idea for a SEASONS sequel...
My pub has given me such good suggestions on this book--they have made it a much better story. I declined one recommendation 'cause I didn't really feel it was needed, but otherwise I incorporated everything she said. I like this book. I really like it.
Done enthusing now. Until further suggestions come, or until I get my galleys, this book is now put to bed...time for further work on PEACEWEAVER, methinks.
Although I DO have a germ of an idea for a SEASONS sequel...
Saturday, November 08, 2008
Action, Reaction, Life...Stuff Like That
Doing mini-edit on PEACEWEAVER. There's a natural lull in the action. My main character is trying, with more or less success, to settle into her new life as lady of the manor. I don't want this next section to lose impetus, so, hmm: what next shall I do?
I'm tempted, strongly, to let her have it: WHAM! How about a nice Viking raid (this is 973 England, after all)? Some pillage? Burn down the family holding? Or maybe the action should be part of the internecine warfare between her family and her family-in-law?
In fiction, I'm told that the surest way to prevent a Sagging Middle (a thing to be avoided at all costs) is to throw catastrophe after catastrophe at your main characters. I've resisted doing this 'cause I don't write action/adventure, I write romance. But in this young lady's case, I think a Major Challenge, and her reaction to it, would be compellingly consistent with the way people lived in 973.
As support for my fictional endeavor, I'm reading a nonfic book set around the year 1000, called BLOODFEUD. It deals with a certain late Saxon family-with-political crisis and the charges, countercharges, treachery, and murder that resulted. It's been a really good insight into the instability of life in the early middle ages.
Life was tenuous. They dreaded winter because late winter and early spring were the hungry times. Had they spared enough animals from fall slaughter to provide for the spring increase? Had they slaughtered enough animals, put up enough non-meat foodstuffs to last through the cold, till the next harvest?
They dreaded summer because that was the time for war. From my readings I've decided there were maybe 6 weeks all year that early medieval countryside folk might, maybe, feel safe.
Such is my characters' world.
I'm tempted, strongly, to let her have it: WHAM! How about a nice Viking raid (this is 973 England, after all)? Some pillage? Burn down the family holding? Or maybe the action should be part of the internecine warfare between her family and her family-in-law?
In fiction, I'm told that the surest way to prevent a Sagging Middle (a thing to be avoided at all costs) is to throw catastrophe after catastrophe at your main characters. I've resisted doing this 'cause I don't write action/adventure, I write romance. But in this young lady's case, I think a Major Challenge, and her reaction to it, would be compellingly consistent with the way people lived in 973.
As support for my fictional endeavor, I'm reading a nonfic book set around the year 1000, called BLOODFEUD. It deals with a certain late Saxon family-with-political crisis and the charges, countercharges, treachery, and murder that resulted. It's been a really good insight into the instability of life in the early middle ages.
Life was tenuous. They dreaded winter because late winter and early spring were the hungry times. Had they spared enough animals from fall slaughter to provide for the spring increase? Had they slaughtered enough animals, put up enough non-meat foodstuffs to last through the cold, till the next harvest?
They dreaded summer because that was the time for war. From my readings I've decided there were maybe 6 weeks all year that early medieval countryside folk might, maybe, feel safe.
Such is my characters' world.
Wednesday, November 05, 2008
North Wales, 953...or Is It?
Buzzing comfortably along on my WIP, PEACEWEAVER. Set in Clywd, North Wales, in 953, when Edgar the Peaceable was King in England...
Or was he?
Thought I had my chronology down pat. You historical fans may know how fusstrating this is. You've read swackloads of material in your chosen era. You KNOW this stuff.
Until you stumble upon a fascinating new history book that you didn't already own, set smack-dab in your era of interest. You buy it, read it with interest, and discover YOU'VE GOT YOUR CHRONOLOGY WRONG!
Aaargh!
It can't BE 953 Wales if Edgar is king in England. It has to be 973. Gacck! I hate when this happens.
However: better in draft than in edit. Can you imagine the agently phone call: "Um, Deb, you know, hon, Edgar didn't ascend the throne 'til 959. You wanna make some tweaks...?"
How embarrassin' to have someone besides ME catch this!
You folks know, but (psssst): don't tell anybody.
Or was he?
Thought I had my chronology down pat. You historical fans may know how fusstrating this is. You've read swackloads of material in your chosen era. You KNOW this stuff.
Until you stumble upon a fascinating new history book that you didn't already own, set smack-dab in your era of interest. You buy it, read it with interest, and discover YOU'VE GOT YOUR CHRONOLOGY WRONG!
Aaargh!
It can't BE 953 Wales if Edgar is king in England. It has to be 973. Gacck! I hate when this happens.
However: better in draft than in edit. Can you imagine the agently phone call: "Um, Deb, you know, hon, Edgar didn't ascend the throne 'til 959. You wanna make some tweaks...?"
How embarrassin' to have someone besides ME catch this!
You folks know, but (psssst): don't tell anybody.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
SALE!
Except for my DH, you guys are the first to know:
I'm pleased as spiced ale to announce that Sheaf House has offered to publish SEASONS IN THE MIST. SEASONS, as all two of you blog fans will no doubt recollect, is a time-travel romance set (mostly) in 1353 Cornwall.
We're mulling a spring '10 release for it. Due to the awesome nature of Sheaf House's previous covers, I hope & expect a really bodacious cover for this book.
Though I've known about the possibility for some months, my agent advised me to keep mum until released to announce by the publisher. Well, today we all agreed it could come out! As in, SQUEEEE!
Still grinning almost wide enough to split my face.
I'm pleased as spiced ale to announce that Sheaf House has offered to publish SEASONS IN THE MIST. SEASONS, as all two of you blog fans will no doubt recollect, is a time-travel romance set (mostly) in 1353 Cornwall.
We're mulling a spring '10 release for it. Due to the awesome nature of Sheaf House's previous covers, I hope & expect a really bodacious cover for this book.
Though I've known about the possibility for some months, my agent advised me to keep mum until released to announce by the publisher. Well, today we all agreed it could come out! As in, SQUEEEE!
Still grinning almost wide enough to split my face.
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