Category Archives: New Blood

My first Art Contest

Posted on May 16, 2008 | 2 Comments


Okay, here’s the painting that made the cut, that will be in the show. In this light, you can see some of the brush strokes that don’t show in artificial light (I took it outside to photograph), but this is the painting. (Didn’t win a prize, but it’s in the show! Not bad for my first try ever.)

You can’t see the one that didn’t make it, because I haven’t taken its picture yet. Sorry. It’s a painting of three little boys playing at the beach. With sucky hands and feet. I could stick it on an easel and try to fix the hands and feet, and the arm that’s … just wrong. But I don’t think I will. It will just have to be wrong. (sigh) I still like it anyway.

Um. I’ve signed the contract, so it’s official. I have definitely sold three books to Tor. There. That’s my news of the day.

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Posted in New Blood, Old Spirits, painting

Stuff

Posted on March 13, 2008 | Leave a comment

My life is full of stuff. Stuff I have to do. Stuff I want to do. Stuff I want to read. Stuff I have to do something with. Stuff I have to clean or put away or fold up or…something.

I really need to start writing Old Spirits, but I have too much stuff to do. Tomorrow, I’m leaving to go meet the parents at their new house and help them get unpacked and organized. I need to remember to take lots of Post-it Notes to label their kitchen cabinets and drawers, so they can remember where they’ve put things. A large part of this move is because both of them are starting to have trouble with their rememberers. They did pretty good while it was just Mama forgetting stuff, but now Daddy’s started having trouble, so we’re happy they can move so close to one of us children. But I really need to be there to help with the unpacking.

However, going to help them means I don’t have to go to the panhandle for most of the week. It’s either a really long 12-hour drive back to our old house, or a two-day trip, and since the fella has next week of for spring break, he’s making the trek to turn the water on and get stuff ready to move the rest of our furniture to the coast. More stuff. And way too much moving. But we’re tired of camping out. I want my dresser. And my own bed. (We bought a new queen-size, which will move into the guest room, but I miss my king-size…)

Anyway, there’s a lot of traveling and a lot of moving in my future. I have confirmed that I’m going to ApolloCon, the SF/Fantasy con in Houston, in June. I will probably go to RWA National in San Francisco at the end of July (need to find a roomie). I’m still debating whether I want to go to ArmadilloCon in Austin in August. There’s a FenCon in Dallas in September, but I have to see if the dates conflict with a potential trip to New York the fella’s invited me on.

There is the possibility that Tor will have galleys/ARCs of New Blood for me to sign at the Tor booksigning in San Francisco. I’ll let you know if that pans out.

I did get all my RITA books read and judged. An interesting experience, to say the least. I read a lot of books outside my usual reading comfort level–and liked them.

Next week. The writing will begin, next week. Definitely. The fella’s out of town. I’ve caught up on all the stuff. (I think.) I can write.

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Posted in family, New Blood, Old Spirits, trips, writing

Thinking about titles

Posted on February 16, 2008 | 4 Comments

Comment from AG:

COLD IRON makes me think about faeries. cold iron is supposed to be one of the things that can really really hurt them, I guess kinda like vampires and garlic, only it hurts the good guys instead of keeping the bad guys away.

It’s only really in that context that I’ve seen “cold iron” instead of just “iron.”


Yeah. Which gives it a fantasy sound–and then you read it and there’s a twist… Maybe.

The first book is blood magic, hence NEW BLOOD, because 1. there’s a new sorceress, so she’s “new blood” in the magicians council, and 2. blood magic has been essentially lost for 300 years, so it’s new. I like that title. (Dunno if it will fly with editors.)

The second book, I want to call OLD SPIRITS, because the hero is a conjurer, so it looks at a different type of magic used in this universe (though in terms of how it mixes with blood magic). And the older a spirit the conjurer can conjure, the more powerful it is and the more magic can be worked. So I think OLD SPIRITS works for that one.

The third book, will have an alchemist, who works magic with physical elements and forces (water, metal, earth, electricity, etc.), and a wizard, who works herbal magic. I have NO clue what to call that one, which is why I thought COLD IRON might work, because there IS magic worked with iron. But there are no faeries.

Fantasy/paranormal books with “blood” in the title generally are assumed to be vampire books. This one isn’t. Not a vampire in sight. So, in that way, the cold iron reference would be a similar twist. The titles I came up with that had something referring to the wizardry sounded squishy. Iron Flowers? Deep Earth? Rooted Deep? The adjective-noun pattern doesn’t necessarily have to be followed, but it would be nice if I could…

Sometimes the titles just come (like SPIRITS–Floated up with the opening line and scene…). Sometimes I have to wrestle with them. A lot.

Mini beach report: The seagulls are growing in the black feathers on their heads. No more smudgy-white headed seagulls. They’re going back to black. Mating season is at hand.

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Posted in books, fantasy, New Blood, Old Spirits, the beach

Settling In, Not Down

Posted on February 5, 2008 | Leave a comment

I don’t think my life will EVER settle down. But I’m trying to settle in to things.

Our mattress is still on the floor, and probably will be for a week–unless the fella decides to put it on the box springs and frame on the one day he’ll be at home this week. I opened 6 boxes this morning, hunting the dryer fabric softener sheets so I wouldn’t have my underwear stuck to my socks. The cable guys came to put in my internet cable (YAY!) but basically re-wired the whole house, and they were here till about 12:50–and the new job starts at 1 p.m. I barely made it.

I typed in about 15 cutlines for “Look what I did” photos–they go in the Applause section, and mostly people mail them in. It was tough remembering all the little codes they want for the titles and this little thing and that, so I kept having to go back and put them in, but it worked. I got them all in. Hopefully, I’ll get the hang of things and be able to catch up on stuff. Still don’t really know how the phones work there, but I doubt I’ll be using them much. And tomorrow, maybe I’ll get to be myself. 😉 I’m still the girl I’m taking over for, because the computer guy has a new grandbaby. I’ll forgive him today, because I know those grandbabies are IMPORTANT!

So. I guess I’d better go finish my judging for this contest. I’m Late! I hate being late. I even worked on these while I was at Mom’s. I got them really late, because somehow, my new addy didn’t get in the system, and the entries went all the way to West Texas, then all the way back to the coast. LOoooooong Way.

Oh yeah. This was the last weekend of Mardi Gras. The island celebrates–and has for at least 80 years–though since it’s a smaller place than New Orleans, it doesn’t get quite as wild. But, after we made the son come down from college to help us move (he brought his girlfriend, too, who was great help!), we took them downtown to watch the big evening parade and have dinner. The place we went to eat wasn’t crowded, (probably because we got tired of waiting for the parade to show up and went on to eat, and everybody else was out in the street begging for beads from the balconies and getting drunk) and was very good. And we caught a good bit of the parade. And beads. I caught a few strands, anyway. This was the Knights of Momus Krewe parade, and we were standing under the Knights of Momus party balcony, so the people on the floats were all focused on throwing beads to their friends on the balcony above us. But I had some very cool dolphin beads, and caught some other neat strands. I had a hurricane. I ate fish. It was a good day all round.

Keep your fingers crossed. There is interest in New Blood. And maybe Old Spirits too. And…whatever the third book in the story might be called… Deep Earth? The third book will be about alchemy and wizardry–non-living magic (water, rock, electricity, etc.), and living, non-human magic (plants & animals). It will have two magics in it. Flowering Earth? Suggestions are welcomed. :)

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Posted in fantasy, life, New Blood, Old Spirits, pastimes, work

Dashing In

Posted on September 26, 2007 | 5 Comments

I MADE myself stop putting edits into the computer so I could come blog and tell all y’all (however many of you there are) what I was doing.

Actually, I made myself stop earlier so I could get to the bank before it closed and cash my birthday check. Yes, my birthday was way back at the first of the month, but first I lost the card, and when I found it, I couldn’t drag myself out of the house in time to make it by the bank. I had to do the bank and the library today, cause I had some books that needed re-checking. I decided not to get any new ones. I’ve got old ones I still need to read–and there’s that re-checking thing, since I didn’t get some of the old ones read on time. (One research book, and one book(Horse Heaven by Jane Smiley) that I intended to pick up and read a long time ago, but never got around to it. I’m about 7 chapters in and enjoying it so far–and the research book is a really good one. Very atmospheric, very “feel of the situation.” )

So anyway, I spent all of last week revising New Blood and this week, I’m putting the revisions into the computer, and going over it one last time as I do so, looking for more places to tighten or clarify. I do revisions on hard copy, because it’s too easy to miss stuff on the computer. It’s going pretty well. The office looks like a snowstorm hit, because I’m just letting the pages float to the floor, and since the fella’s away for a couple of days, I don’t feel like I have to pick them up.

In fact, since the fella’s away, I had lunch out, between the bank and the library. This was a place on Broadway between the college and downtown that doesn’t have a name that I could see, but has “Donuts, Kolaches, Burritos” painted on the outside. It’s a very Texas place, apparently, since I’m not sure there’s any other state in the nation where that would be a common combination. I was the only customer in there at almost 2 p.m., and had the shrimp poor boy (I’m becoming addicted to those things–I had to pull the shells off the tails on this one) and an apple fritter. Turns out the baker was sitting nearby, and had the counter guy bag me up a couple more fritters to take home, free gratis. How cool is that? I’ll definitely be going back there–just because the food was good, prices were good and the owner/baker was really nice. I had intended to go to this place called The Taco House, but it’s back toward home from the bank, not toward downtown. Oh well.

Oh, and we got to go hear Don McLean (of “American Pie” fame–the original song, not the movie) in a concert on Saturday. We got to sing along if we wanted. :) It was a lot of fun (though I’m not used to wearing shoes with backs on them and got the beginnings of a blister), but dang, the guy got old. So have I…beats the alternative, though.

And when we went to visit a church Sunday morning, a fight broke out in the lobby between two neighborhood guys and a church member, and I got stepped on. Nice church though, but dang, it’s way the heck on the other end of the island.

It hasn’t taken me long to get into the local island mentality. I don’t like to cross the causeway unless I absolutely have to. I’ll just stay on the island, thanks–and what happens on the island stays on the island…

Thanks for all the reports of books arriving. Keep ’em coming. I’m especially wanting to know if anybody sees the book on shelves in a bookstore. I mean, even if you ordered your book off the internet, you might go into a bookstore for some Other reason, and you could just wander by the Charles DeLint shelf (I’m usually not too far in front of his books) and see if there’s a pretty blue book…

My readers are the very bestest. 😀

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Posted in books I'm reading, food, New Blood, The Eternal Rose, writing

There for the Grace of God…

Posted on September 14, 2007 | 2 Comments

I have now survived my first tropical storm.

Humberto blew up very quickly–Wednesday morning, they were talking rain, maybe some thunderstorms. I had trouble finding the newspaper because a big branch had fallen from one of the trees in the front yard. Maybe 3 in. diameter at the base. Very branchy, with lots of dead leaves (so I think it was half-broken before it fell). Not real heavy, though I couldn’t drag it off the front sidewalk very easy. So I went on to my planned afternoon of errand-running and library-visiting.

When I reached the post office, the fella called and told me that the thunderstorms offshore had been officially declared a tropical storm. But it wasn’t raining very hard, so I went on to the P.O. and the library. Still wasn’t raining hard after the library visit–spent a lot of time there, checked out one book. They didn’t have any of the others. So it was after 4 p.m. when I left the library.

It started raining harder while I was at the seafood market buying shrimp. (Hey, I was downtown. The fish markets are on the piers downtown. Why not buy shrimp?) And even harder when I went to the grocery store. By the time I got home, it was pouring. And I had groceries to carry into the house. Not much wind, but lots and lots of rain. Exchanged my walking shoes for flip-flops to keep the shoes from getting too soaked. Lost a can out of one of the grocery sacks, and just left it lying there in the rain. I was trying to carry as many sacks as I could at one time so I didn’t have to make more trips, and didn’t have a hand to spare (didn’t even have one for my umbrella–just sorta held it in place with my chin…) to pick it up.

So by the time the fella got home, Humberto was still hovering about 20 to 35 miles offshore and building up steam. The neighbors had come over to tell us that we flood–if not right away, then maybe when the high tide came in. So after our shrimp dinner, we spent the rest of the evening carrying beds, futon mattresses and assorted other things upstairs to the main floor. (I was already nursing a strained finger–now it’s really sore…) The electricity went on and off a bunch of times, then went off and stayed off, so we went to bed early.

Humberto skirted us. We didn’t even get water in the garage (which will happen in a really hard rain). A few more branches (smaller ones) fell off the trees, lots of leaves on the deck. But at the north end of the county, an older couple had their house moved a foot off its foundation and the roof peeled off. Even though the eye went ashore much farther east. This was maybe 50 miles from us. We are grateful for small mercies.

Yesterday, I was a slug. (Okay, I was writing like a maniac to finish my pages for the BIAY bracelet.) Today, I went out to walk at the beach. The sand is still soaking wet, even up near the seawall where its usually dry. And I found a whole stretch of whole, joined-together scallop shells. (I kinda think the gulls got to them, but maybe not.) Plus some pink barnacle-looking shell things, and a blue crab claw. (The gulls definitely got the rest of the crab.) I didn’t touch the claw, but I did bring the pink shells home. (I’ll post a picture, when I take one…) So Humberto was a little rough on the under-sea residents too, seems to me.

I’m working on the new synopsis for Thunder. I like it, but it’s going slow. I need to decide what I’m going to work on next week…Ought to be getting revisions for New Blood pretty soon. I want to finish my revisions for the proposal of Thunder, get the synopsis written and out, and then…I dunno. Do revisions on New Blood, then maybe start the Irish shaman story over. Or work on my demon slayer story… Hmm.

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Posted in life, New Blood, the beach, Thunder in a Cloudless Sky, writing

Printing

Posted on July 25, 2007 | 2 Comments

At this very moment, I am printing out the complete (and still pretty long) manuscript to New Blood to mail to the agent tomorrow. I like it, I like how it’s turned out–there are still things that could probably be cut, but it works for me, so…

This means that I mail it, and then I have to start doing not-fun stuff like packing boxes. I’m not going to take any books but the research books I’m using for Thunder, and a few of the TBRs–because if I don’t have books to read, I will buy books to read. I will probably buy books to read anyway, but…

Oh, and we may have someone to buy our house after all. Cross your fingers that everything works out. We’re still moving into the house with the big deck first weekend in August, but it’s exciting news. I don’t want to have this dragging on. I’m hoping I’ll be able to move ALL my books into the house, but…

Eww. Just occurred to me–it’s REALLY humid on the coast, which is not good for books. I’ll have to find a place for my comics in the house–or sell them all on e-Bay. I miss them, but don’t have time for them any more. Especially won’t if I have to get a dayjob, which is a possibility.

Next writing project, to be started in the new house/town–I’m going to revise the demon hunter book and see if I can get over the first barrier. Then I’m going to start the re-write on the urban fantasy Irish shaman/Navajo warrior princess story. Oh, and I’m still writing 25 pages a month on the WWII story, Thunder.

Um–I’ve finished the new Harry Potter book. I was out of town when the mail order package came in, but I read it. It was a satisfying ending to the story, I thought. I’ve also read an old Barbara Delinsky, Looking for Peyton Place, which I liked, and Liz Maverick’s launch of the Shomi line, Wired, which I think I liked, but it confused me a lot, so I’m not really sure. On the airplane coming back, I read Karma Girl by Jennifer Estep (liked it) and Soul Song by Marjorie M. Liu (liked it too). Need to sort my ABRs (already been read) into keepers, library donations and trade-ins. I haven’t lived near Waco in 8 years, but I’m still carting my trade-ins to Golden’s Books on Franklin street there–best used book store I’ve found so far. Maybe I’ll find a new one in the new place, but will wait and see.

Oh! I did get my domain up and running again. (It helps when you pay your bills on time. ) Now to update it. And then, to shift my plan. I have it on one that isn’t particularly idiot-friendly. I need something for the computerly ignorant.

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Posted in books I'm reading, fantasy, life, New Blood, Thunder in a Cloudless Sky, writing

Hitting the Fan

Posted on July 23, 2007 | 2 Comments

Something has hit the fan. We shall not endeavor to figure out what the substance is. But it is not pleasant. I have been on airplanes, and spent the night in a place other than home without my suitcase. The trip started off good, but the ending? Not so much.

Went to the island to look at places to live. Spent 3 days doing it, looked at so many houses they started to blur together, and we have a place–or will in a couple of weeks when we hook up the U-Haul and head down to live in it. There is a great big deck. With a roof over it, so one can sit on the deck and admire the rain falling. It rained while we were looking on it. This is something of a temporary solution, but I think we’ll probably be here at least a year, so not that temporary.

We went walking on the Seawall one evening. It was fairly cool, and as long as the offshore breeze could reach me, it was pleasant, but it was so humid, when the buildings blocked the breeze, it got really hot. It’s going to take me a while to get used to the humidity, coming from West Texas, where there isn’t any.

The fella is currently staying in a little beach shack, even though it’s about six blocks from the beach (sounds close, but it isn’t) that really is a shack. The boards flooring the porch are a little too flexible, and a few are missing their ends. It has one living area, a bedroom with a twin bed, a bathroom and a little kitchen. It’s liveable, but not really comfortable. The futon we slept on had to be the most uncomfortable thing I’ve slept on since the floor. But it was good enough for a weekend visit.

We changed my flight to later on Sunday so I could stay a while longer and look at a couple more houses–and when I got to the gate at the airport in Houston, the flight was delayed about 45 minutes–but my connecting flight was delayed too. Then, when it finally arrived and they let us get on the plane, a thunderstorm had moved in and they shut down the ramp, brought all the baggage handlers and such inside. Which was a good thing. I didn’t want them fueling the airplane in the lightning either. But that meant I missed my connection in Dallas (the whole world connects in Dallas–if they’re not connecting through Atlanta). I could get off the plane, have the fella drive back into town and get me, or I could go on to Dallas and stay with relatives, and no suitcase. I went to Dallas. They had a toothbrush for me and a pair of clean underwear (a girl has to keep her priorities straight!)–(I will not return the underwear. I’m buying a new pair for her) and a bed to sleep in. And finally, a day and a half late, I am home again.

I am having domain crises, so yes, the website is down at the worst possible time, when the book is due out at any time. I will try to get it back up asap–but I’m not sure how long that will take, especially since I’m feeling poor. We will just have to see.

Oh, and I got to watch pelicans fishing. They are such huge birds in the air, and they seem to like to fly in straight lines, one behind the other, in groups of three or four. Not in a Vee, in a line. When they were fishing, they would go about 20 feet in the air, then drop like a rock into the water. Big splash, then they’d sit there a while, floating. Don’t know if they were swallowing or recovering from the belly flop (that’s what it looked like)–I wasn’t close enough to really see. But it was totally cool. Can’t wait to see it again.

Getting the steampunk book revisions in the ‘puter this week and printing it out to mail. Hope I get it all together. Have to pack my research books to move… At least we don’t have to worry about moving bookcases–this house has lots and lots of builtins.

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Posted in New Blood, steampunk book, trips, writing

Gigi tries to keep up

Posted on June 27, 2007 | Leave a comment

It’s interesting, the things a three-year-old boy finds hilarious. Or an almost-six year old. The simple mention of the word “fart” or even “toot.” “Tee-tee,” will send them into gales of laughter–falling-down-on-the-floor laughter. Which itself is also cause for more hilarity. In two and a half days (they aren’t awake yet today, which is the only reason I’m here writing this…), I have learned alot about preschooler potty-mouth. Yeah. I’ve got the grandboys. They’ll be here for another week.

I did get the entire ms. of New Blood gone through, but haven’t got it all into the computer yet. Need to get busy with that, maybe at night after they’ve gone to bed. They don’t go to sleep once they go to bed, understand. I have to stay up to send them back when they pop back up again. It’s a little like whack-a-mole, except without the whacking. And to carry the little one to “Wunka Bob’s bed ” when he falls asleep in mine. (He tends to annoy his big brother, who really would rather sleep, and likes Granddaddy better anyway.)

We’ve been going to the library. Summer Reading program is this week, so we go listen to someone read stories, and make things, and sing songs and eat cookies, then we check out ONE video each. (The first day we went, they had a pile of about 15 videos they wanted to check out.) And ONE book each. (Police Cat is a pretty cool book. Not so wild about The King Who Sneezed.)

I have four packed-up boxes of books in the middle of my office floor…the box of totebags is in the garage already. I’ve cleaned out the TBR books I don’t think I’ll ever read–most of them, anyway, and have packed a box of hardback contemporaries to thin out the bookshelves in the living room. Took three boxes of cookbooks, a box of paperback fiction, plus three totebags stuffed full on Monday–and there are more yet to go. And of course, more books coming in. I’ve got to have something to read, you know. Even if I’m moving… 😉

Better go get the boys up, if we’re going to make it to the library on time…

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Posted in books I'm reading, family, New Blood, volunteering, writing

Once More, Into the Breach!

Posted on June 21, 2007 | 1 Comment

The title I stuck on this blog refers to war. It’s from a poem, or story, or something. Anyway, I feel a little like I’m at war. At war with all the stuff in my office.

See, we’re moving. Which means we need to sell the house. Which means I need to clean up my office which is packed to the rafters with totebags and magazines and books, both read and to-be-read. I am currently in the middle of revising New Blood, trying to cut 643 pages down to the vicinity of 500 or so…not doing too badly, but probably not doing quite well enough at that. And I need to proof a few things on the ARC of The Eternal Rose. And the grandboys are coming to visit on Sunday, so next week will be impossible to work. Well, until their daddy comes for a few days.

Anyway, I need to go tape a box together and stick some stuff in it. (Totebags probably.) And I don’t want to. (whine, whine) My neck is sore (from bending over those revisions, probably) and I’m tired and I’m lazy and whiney and–well, you’ve probably given up on me.

Still, the story is verra cool… I was trying to pitch it to a romance editor a while back, and my pitch was totally amorphous and awful–and I realized it really fits the epic fantasy structure better than it fits the romance novel structure. It IS a romance–the romance plot is the last one resolved–but resolving the romance also resolves the fantasy conflict… And it has a fantasy structure. Heroine learns she has magic talent and meets the hero who acts as a mentor. They defeat early bad guys and go on a quest for learning, and encounter a new, more evil bad guy. They escape him, keep going on quest, while new bad guy chases them. They think they reach safety, discover there’s an even greater evil which they team up with allies to defeat–but the evil bad guy brings the first bad guy to cause new trouble and… Well, in the end, love conquers all. Literally. Sort of. Still, it’s more a fantasy structure than a romance structure. We will see how it does.

I’d better go tape up that box…

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Posted in family, New Blood, The Eternal Rose, writing