It is official. The editor and I have just agreed. The title of this new book in my blood magic Victorian steampunk series, the one starring Harry & Elinor, will be HEART’S MAGIC. Because that’s the kind of magic that brings about the happy ending…
Also, Twitter is very bad for me.
I am there, since … Tuesday? I think so. Look for me. GailDayton. One word. Easy-peasy.
Have to go kill the Monster-Kitty!!
Posted in Heart's Magic, steampunk book, twitter, writing
I try to avoid reviews, because if they’re bad, they just aggravate the snot out of me, and if they’re good… Well, it’s hard to know if they’re going to be good or not. But this one–
I am honestly in awe. I not only love what this blogger said, I love how she said it. I never knew that was what I wrote–but I guess I did. I remember doing it. Anyway, go forth and read it if you are so inclined. It’s at Tempting Persephone.
(Yeah, I’m on leave from the p-t dayjob to write the book. Got 8 pages today. Will be at the grindstone–er, desk–to write more tomorrow.)
Oh, and the picture–it’s blurry because the gyroscope was moving, under the muscle power of my darling daughter who got to try it for the first time because grandparents were at the museum to chase the doodlebug (aka the middle grandboy) instead of her. I missed the “when she was upside down” shot. Oh well.
I went to the Romance Writers of America national conference last week and got home last night at midnight or so. It was a great time, but man, am I tired now. Of course, the tiredness is mostly because I walked to the National Zoo from the hotel, and all through the zoo, and back to the hotel again, and my calves are knotted up like a macrame plant hanger. The rest of my legs are just sore.
I will try to get pictures downloaded this week and posted. The grandboys (and their daddy) have come to visit for the week, and their dad is sleeping in my office, but I bet I can get some pictures onto the blog. I have pictures of the panda bears and an orangutan crossing the zoo on the special “O-line” cable, and a wolf, and a few other animals. Do not let me forget the pictures!
I took many more pictures at the zoo than at the conference–I kept forgetting to get the camera out–but I do have a few. It was a good conference. I sold about 12 copies of New Blood at the literacy signing–more than half of those donated. The big news about that was that they were all sold to people I don’t know. It’s easy to sell books to your friends, but not so much to strangers. A number were made curious by the steampunk label, so that was all good.
Had my first “OMG, you’re Gail Dayton!” moment, complete with a hug like we were long lost sisters. That was fabulous. And my “fangirl” was a librarian with the Portland-area King County library system. Who did a little “favorite library story” podcast thing with me. I left her card at home, so I’ll have to get back to you with the link.
Got to see the cover to Heart’s Blood, WHICH WILL BE RELEASED IN JANUARY, instead of February as I had thought. I will get it up here and on the website asap. It is gorgeous, and I can’t wait for y’all to see it.
I moderated two workshops, and volunteered at another where the moderator didn’t show and the speaker had transparencies to put on an overhead projector. I swapped out the pages. I went to a number of interesting workshops, but of course, I can’t remember which ones they were at the moment. Several of them helped me figure out why I am struggling so much with this book–the 3rd in the steampunk series–though the biggest thing I just figured out last night/this morning. Which is:
I am once more trying to cram two books’ worth of plot into one book. So I will have to pull all the extra stuff out and focus on the correct main plot. This ought to help tremendously in the “get the &#@$!%*! book written” department. I am now re-doing all my plot points and such. Trying to get it sorted out. I may do this “Save the Cat” style. Yes, I finally found the book.
So–I’ll do my best to get pictures and such downloaded and posted asap. Again, nag me, if I don’t.
Posted in books, cool beans, Heart's Blood, trips, writing
I meant to post this yesterday, but got too busy. Today’s no less busy, but I am determined.
First, want to say thanks for the “Awws” from Catie and Barb. I have decided that I need to walk more often, but not quite so far, because I get tired and don’t pick up my feet and trip over stuff. My bruises are better, and my hand is doing that “getting well” itching. 
I drove down to the beach to walk yesterday, because it’s more fun, and because I wanted to spend my walking time actually on the beach, not getting to it. And I didn’t take Dolly. I tend to observe stuff more when I don’t have to deal with the dog.
First observation: The seaweed has come in. Blankets of it. I was thinking maybe it’s a little early for the big piles of seaweed, but maybe not. We’re almost halfway through May… I saw some logs that had floated in that looked like they had fur. Greenish fur, but furry, nonetheless. (Yes, I know it’s algae. But it looks like fur.) And a tennis shoe that had been in the water long enough that it had those lipstick clams attached to it. Quite a few decent sized ones… I only saw the bottom of the sole, not the top, so I don’t know how much of the upper shoe survived, but that sole had been floating around a long time.
I only saw one seagull. I was out there by 8 a.m., but I think because the sun’s coming up earlier, the seagulls are giving up their “standing by the edge of the water waking up” earlier. I saw lots of sanderlings and ruddy turnstones, all of which had two legs. They have a little butt wiggle when they’re running away from you…
I also saw a shark that had washed up on shore. It was about a meter/yard long (give or take that difference between a meter and a yard), and it didn’t have a tail. I don’t know if it died and got washed up because it had lost its tail, or if it lost its tail after it got washed up. It didn’t look like any scavengers had been at it… I have no idea what kind of shark it was, though. I’ve been looking–not a nurse shark. Dorsal fins aren’t right. Its nose was really square across, so it’s not a pointy-nose shark or a round-nose shark. Hmm. It was gray, with that straight-across nose, one rather pointy dorsal fin, no barbels (catfish-like whiskers), gill-slits in front of its side-fins, and small high-set eyes. Haven’t found the right picture for it yet. And having its tail missing takes away another thing to help ID it. Oh well.
In other, more interesting news, New Blood is a recommended read by the Virginia Beach Public Library! It’s a lovely review–and they’re recommending it!! I’m excited.
I got my copy edits for Heart’s Blood (Grey’s story), and have finished them up, except for the chunk of 25 pages that got left out of the ms they sent me.
What do you think of Blood from Stone as a title for Harry & Elinor’s story? Stoneheart? Heart of Oak? Working on villains for the story… Villains are such a pain.
Posted in Heart's Blood, New Blood, steampunk book, the beach, writing
Again, a quiet weekend. The fella and I had an anniversary Friday–number 33–and he sent me a gorgeous huge orchid plant with many red-speckled yellow flowers blooming on it. HUGE plant. Good thing, because for dinner, we went to the college pot-luck awards ceremony. I did get the promise to go out again the next night.
Saturday, I decided I really needed to write at least a LITTLE, so I sat down for an hour and got 2.5 pages done. Happiness! Then we went out and ran errands. Like getting a birthday present for Idbit (AKA the littlest grandboy)–whose birthday was Saturday, and we had thought about his birthday and a present the week before, and promptly forgot about it until the day before his birthday. (sigh) Typical. We’ll hand deliver it.
I tried out office chairs at Office Depot — the paper is getting me a new one–and then we went across the causeway and got some frames for the two antique map reproductions the fella bought. That took a little time. Also found a frame (finally) for my sunflower-sand dune painting. Then we came home, took naps and went out to dinner at Landry’s for our “official” anniversary date. I really love their shrimp Fresca… Then we came home to watch “The Perfect Man” romantic comedy movie and discovered that the orchid I got was actually the perfect romantic occasion gift. Roses are great, but orchids… they’re the best. So it’s official. I received the perfect romantic anniversary gift.
I like orchids a lot. Have one on the back patio that survived the hurricane and the winter… I hope I can keep this one alive too.
The writing continues to go. Sometimes I’m not sure where it’s going, but at least it’s going…
Haven’t posted a blog here in a week, so it’s time. Because, you know, I try to post at least once a week. I can’t manage to post every day, but once a week–you can check by and see what’s new, but I don’t overburden anybody. (Especially me!) (I’ll get round to the topic in the title, eventually. Bear with me.)
I did an essay for Dear Author on Why I Read and Write… Y’all can go read it. And tomorrow, I’m posting a blog at To Be Read: So Many Authors, so little time… about how I’m so forgetful. (I was supposed to blog on Monday over there.) So it’s not as if I haven’t been blogging at all.
I have been thinking, off and on, about readers and authors and the relationship between them. It started with all the sound and fury over the fourth Twilight book, when so many readers got all up in arms about the way Meyers finished her series. Then I wandered across the post at John Scalzi’s Whatever blog about “Pissy fans,” which got me to thinking again (though it’s really about other factors). Plus, there is the perennial Hate for Laurell K. Hamilton for the direction she’s taken Anita Blake–which doesn’t bother me at all. I still glom onto the books… Suzanne Brockmann even had problems with readers getting upset because certain characters got together with characters other than those that were expected–or hoped for. And now, I think all of that thinking has gelled to the point where I know what I think, and I think maybe I know why I think it. (Profound, I know.)
This may relate to a long-ago post of mine (I’m not going to go look it up right now because I’m supposed to be doing Bulletin Board) about Protecting the Work. Because I firmly, truly and deeply believe The Story Belongs To The Writer.
That’s why I started writing stories in the first place. So I could tell the story I wanted to tell. My story, not somebody else’s.
I read Hamilton’s books to see where she’s taking the characters. I’m along for HER ride, not mine. If I didn’t like where they were going, I wouldn’t ride along–I’ve stopped reading a number of authors for just that reason (George R.R. Martin’s series among them–well written books, but not for me)–but I sure as heck wouldn’t get mad at them for not writing the story I wanted. Because it ain’t my story. It’s theirs.
I think this is why I stopped writing fan fiction long before I really got to writing my own stories. I understand loving the characters and wanting certain things to happen. I can even understand feelings of ownership, because of that huge love, but guess what? Readers don’t own the characters. And if the author sufficiently motivates the event–the love affair with the new/different character than the one the reader wants/expects, say–I’m perfectly willing to go with it.
In the case of Brockmann’s Dark of Night, in which characters who have been pining for each other through five or six books wind up with someone completely different, the book worked perfectly for me. I think in part it’s because “real life” doesn’t always work out like we want it to–but if we’re open, we can see that the change of plans is even better than what we originally thought we wanted. Maybe the folks who got all upset are that way in real life too–wanting what they want without being open to the possibility of something else. Or maybe not.
My point is–and I hope it’s clear that I have one–the relationship between readers and authors must include the recognition and acceptance of the fact that The Story BELONGS to The Author.
By publishing a book, we are inviting the reader to come along on the journey with us, whether for one book, or fourteen–but the author is still the one in the driver’s seat. That’s just the way it is, my dears.
If you want to tell a different story, Go for it! Write the story the way YOU want it to go. But please, use your own characters and your own universe. And that story will belong to you. Until then, enjoy the ride!
According to my goals list, I didn’t get a whole lot accomplished last week. It felt like I was spinning my wheels most of the week too. Got my opening scene written, and then stalled out. Couldn’t figure out where to go from there. Part of it was an “order” issue. I’m a linear writer, which isn’t the same as a plotter, or a “pantser”–someone who just starts writing and figures it out as they go. The other kind of writer is a “puzzler” who writes scenes as they come, and then figures out what order they go in. I Really can’t do that. I have to write mostly from beginning to end, because my scenes build on each other. If I leave something out I decide I need, I can insert it without much of a problem, but during the first draft stuff, I pretty much have to have stuff in the order it happens.
I am also trying to do my first draft on the computer this time. Not really because of the time issue, but because of my vision issues. So I’m doing a LOT of stuff on the computer. I also have a lot of my thinking files on the computer–including a scene list. I put the scenes I’ve already written in red for his POV and in blue for hers, and the ideas for future scenes–if I know I need the scene, it’s in black, and possible scenes are in purple. I’m not very far ahead. I sort of know where I’m going, but my roadmap is REALLY vague.
I also need a new title for Old Spirits. It sounds like booze to the New Yorkers, and isn’t “romancey” enough. (I don’t know what was so “romancey” about New Blood…) So I have to get my brain in gear and figure out a new title. Not my best topic. All suggestions invited. (The Conjurer’s Apprentice?) And I have to do a few revisions on it, ramp up the action early on. I think I know how to do that. (First, cut out all the boring stuff that I didn’t already cut out.)
Last week was a really lazy week. I did take Dolly the granddog to the vet, because she apparently ate something that made her sick. She quit eating and almost quit drinking, and acted like a sick little doggie. She’s all better now, though. Back to her high energy, Gigi-exhausting self.
I am enjoying my new Sony e-reader. Alternating between reading a book on it, and reading one of my backlist TBR books. I have caught up on my RITA books. Finished them off, unless I’m asked to do a second group, and can read stuff just for fun. Or from my TBR Challenge list. I have Sabriel off the shelf, sitting on my desk… Okay. After I finish Kitty and the Dead Man’s Hand, I’ll read that one.
Oh, and I have two articles to write this week, and a list of interview questions to answer. The first article is due Wednesday (I think.) The questions need to be answered before next Tuesday, and the second article is due next Thursday. Need to doublecheck on the newsletter topic.
AND, I need to get a newsletter out to my newsletter subscribers. New Blood is out NEXT WEEK. How did it get to be almost March so fast? Ack!
Okay. Off to work.
Posted in articles about writing, books I'm reading, New Blood, Old Spirits, work, writing
Galveston celebrates Mardi Gras. Not quite as big time as New Orleans–but it’s not nearly as large a town. Even before Ike washed away about half the population. So you wouldn’t expect it to be quite as wild, or as big. But it’s plenty big enough for me.
Saturday was Valentine’s Day, but we mostly did Mardi Gras. There were three parades on Saturday, all down the seawall on Seawall Blvd. One at noon (Krewe of Aquarius, I believe), one at three (the Firetruck Parade) and one at 6 p.m. (Krewe of Gambrinus), complete with fireworks over the gulf at the 37th St. Pier. I was invited to ride in one of the noon parade entries–a convertible, not a float–and throw stuff at people. We had candy, beads and college promo freebies like keychains and rubber bracelets to throw.
There was a time I could throw a softball or baseball pretty well. But that was a LONG time ago, and I wasn’t sitting in a car while doing it. Now–I basically suck at throwing. I have no arm, and I’m a klutz anyway. So I took on the job of throwing bracelets. I had to take each bracelet out of its little plastic zip bag, because if you threw them in the bag, they would plummet to the asphalt about a foot from the car, but if you took them out, they had a chance of flying a ways out, at least to a spot safe to pick it up. However, you must take into account the fact that I was throwing them.
Some of them flew right to the folks I was aiming at. Some sailed over their heads. Some sank like a rock. Some hit the balloon tied to the side mirror and went in strange directions. Some went practically behind the car because my arm got all contorted into a crazy side-arm sort of throw… Anyway, the bracelets were very popular, perhaps because they were different. Not your usual bead.
Saturday was a rainy day on the island. It sprinkled lightly while we were waiting for the parade to kick off. It cleared up right as we were heading out (we were about 30 minutes into the parade). Then it started sprinkling again harder when the parade was almost over. We ran out of stuff about 54th St. The parade went to 59th. Oops.
We went back to our house afterward–at about 2:30–to have lunch and warm up. It wasn’t that cold out, but when wet–I had hot chocolate. It was wonderful. And while we were eating our homemade soup (I didn’t burn it!) for lunch at 3 p.m., just as the firetruck parade was starting, the sky opened up and the rain POURED down. It rained really hard for about 20 minutes, then just rained for another half hour or so.
And after a little nap, we went back out to watch the evening parade and fireworks. We walked. It’s not far from our house to the seawall. But we walked all the way down past 45th St. so we could see the fireworks. The rain had stopped, but it was still foggy and cloudy. I thought they were going to do the fireworks after the parade, but they started shooting them off before the parade reached us (which admittedly, was an hour and a half after the parade started). They looked very cool lighting up the clouds. We walked back to 45th St., met some friends and their kids and grandkids, and watched the parade with them.
The floats were fabulous, the people all dressed up on them, and I caught a lot of beads. Or rather, I picked up a bunch from the ground in front of me. I actually caught one strand. But I had beads up almost as high as my ears… And I danced with a member of one of the bands marching by. As former band members, we were hollering and cheering for the bands, so when this one–North Forest High School out of Houston–stopped right in front of us, and the tubas and drums took over the music, the kid took my hand and we boogied till he had to march off again. It was hilarious, and no, the fella did not get the camera out of his pocket fast enough to get a picture. (Thank goodness!) But it was fun. Then we went over to our friends’ house for a glass of wine and some stuffed grilled jalapenos. Yum.
We have pictures. I’ll try to remember to download and upload them when I get home.
We also finally found and ordered a sofa to replace our old ratty white one. We’ve only been looking about 2 years to find something we liked. It will be a while before it arrives, but not another year, which is probably how long we’d go before trying to shop again… We still need lamps and end tables and recovered chairs and… Lots of stuff. But not today.
I’m up to p. 33 on the book. Better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick, right?
Okay, actually, there’s no dancing. Just lying around and reading books and playing videogames. I took a whole day to do absolutely nothing but what I wanted to do. Why, you ask?
Because I FINISHED THE BOOK! (Snoopy dance) Finished it. Cut out all the boring stuff (I hope) and cleaned it up, and sent it off to the agent and editor. It came in at 576 manuscript pages. One page more than New Blood. Just over 135,000 words. New Blood has just under 134,000 words.
Today I played. Even went out and walked along the seawall–but didn’t go down on the beach, because they’ve piled the sand up 4 feet high (or so) and it requires climbing down a cliff to get to the hard-packed sand, and I didn’t want to do that. Maybe if it’s warm enough for my flip-flops tomorrow… The seagulls have their black heads back, so it’s already courting season for them, or will be soon.
And tomorrow, I have to start the next book. Oak and Iron? Maybe I can do a hyphenated adjective to go with the noun of the title… Need something to go with both elements and with plants. Hmm. I also have to figure out the magic processes a little better. Wish me luck.
Posted in New Blood, Old Spirits, the beach, writing
Down to 586 pages at 9:04 p.m. CST.
Had Shrimp & Stuff dinners out and took time to watch Jumpers with the boy. Back at work. It’s going to be do-able!
Edited to add: 11:39 p.m. Reached the end. I’m at 581 pages.
The last hundred pages was a lot tighter. It gets that way.
I have two scenes I want to thin out considerably–they’re repetitious, padded, and boring. I’ll do that tomorrow. Then–maybe–do one more read through and ship this puppy off.
Posted in food, movies I watched, Old Spirits, writing
