BioBooksAwardsComing NextContactBlogFun StuffHome

Archive for September, 2007

Garden Space

Friday, September 7th, 2007

It’s official–I have insomnia. Sigh. Four nights with little sleep. I think it took me this long to figure out because I’ve had nothing to really worry over for most of the week. Don’t know what’s up with that. I’m having a second cup of coffee–for the second day in a row–or I won’t be able to keep my eyes open.

Yesterday, I ordered my weeder that my mom found in a catalog. I did a search online and found a TV station in Utah had done a test of it and said it performed well, so that gave it the green light for me. :-) The search also turned up a company that was selling it for $6 less than the company that had the catalog my mom saw, so I got it for $8.50. Of course, that’s not all I got. They had this duster system for people who have vaulted ceilings and I’ve been planning to get one of those since I moved into my house. I also picked up a cover for my air conditioner. I figure anything that keeps the snow and debris out has to be a good thing for my purse in the long run.

The other thing I did yesterday was have a strategy session with my parents about how to lay out all the flowers for my garden. I finally added them up, and while I didn’t order that many types of flowers–certainly not the amount I wanted to order–I somehow ended up with 104 bulbs. Gah! I ordered the smallest amount available for each type of flower, too.

I’ve been thinking about adding a flower bed with decorative stone around it to the front yard in a year or two, but I wasn’t planning on doing it now. I might stuck, though, whether I like it or not. I don’t know what else I’m going to do and I’d like to order more in the spring. :-(

How do I get myself into these situations?

Reappearing Friends and a Furniture Near Miss

Thursday, September 6th, 2007

What is going on with MySpace friends? I know they were cleaning out the deleted profiles, but yesterday about half the number I lost started to magically reappear. There hasn’t been an announcement about that as yet–at least not that I’ve seen.

I heard back from my agent yesterday about the synopsis I sent her and had some small changes to make. I wanted them done last night, but I got hung up on one item and didn’t quite make it. At 10pm, I finally went to bed. And again, my mind didn’t shut down leaving me with yet another night short on sleep.

Oh, I almost forgot! Those of you who are regulars know my coffee table saga. Here’s the latest installment. I went back online to the Coffee Tables Galore site to see if they had anything new in, and on the home page I see this totally fabulous round table! I loved it! All excited, I click to check out the details–and discover the table is 39 inches in diameter.

My hopes–my excitement–were dashed. The coffee table of my dreams is too big for the space I have. I measured it out anyway, wanting there to be some way that it would fit. There wasn’t.

I checked out the matching end table, hoping that maybe that would work. Unfortunately, it didn’t. It was only as wide as the ottoman and that meant if I had my laptop down on it, there’d be no room for my coffee cup. My search will have have to continue.

Gardner Gone Wild

Wednesday, September 5th, 2007

Since today is the last day to get the early bird discount off the flower bulbs I want, I spent last night online putting in my order. Why not save $35, right? And I was planning to order anyway, the discount just pushed up my time frame a bit.

I ended up buying some really unusual things. The Christo Tulips are major cool and then there are tulips that look like peonies! Although, I suppose I could have just gotten real peonies from my mom since she said she needs to thin out her bushes anyway. Ah, well, deer don’t like tulips–let’s hope rabbits don’t either. I ordered two different daffodils and some giant hyacinth in multiple colors. I got hardy gladiolas and this really unusual looking peach-colored lily. I also got some flowers that will come up early in spring and I’m hoping I hit a wide enough variety to have blooms all season long next year.

There were more flowers I really, really wanted to order, but they were either too expensive or the smallest quantity that could be ordered was too big for my yard. TBH, I really only have my tree ring for flowers and I might have to do some improvising on where to put them. I’d like to get a really huge planter for the front of the house and fill that, but I haven’t even looked yet. Oops. Guess that is going to jump higher on the priority list.

I ended up joining some gardening club thing. I’ll get issues of some gardening magazine, which I won’t have time to read; be able to join an online site for members only with bulletin boards, which I either a) won’t have time to read, or b) won’t understand what they’re talking about. For all my chatter about my flowers, I basically planted them and forgot about them except for one weeding excursion and my never-ending battle with that wascal wabbit. As a member, I also get discounts at all these different flower bulb sellers, which will be cool because I plan to order some more stuff in the spring–as soon as I dig up more of my yard to add more beds.

I’m making fun of myself and the fact that I’m such a novice when it comes to flowers, but I really enjoyed watching my lilies bloom this summer. I liked the tiger lilies I got from my parents, too, but it wasn’t the same was watching my flowers come alive–if that makes sense. So I want to fill my tree ring and add some color to the front of my house for next year and just enjoy them all.

I also found some really cool flowers that are supposed to attract hummingbirds. I’m thinking of putting them on my spring 2008 To Be Bought List.

My Take on World Building–Or Something

Tuesday, September 4th, 2007

I didn’t get a lot accomplished this weekend. My notepad that I planned to use for world building remains blank. I do, however, have three notes jotted on a notepad at work. Two of them were made before the weekend, and one of them I wrote down this morning. I am hugely backlogged–again. :-(

World building can be interesting. (And I’m talking about paranormal/futuristic world building here.) On the one hand, I want to know everything I can about the world I’m creating because it’s going to impact the characters and their actions throughout a story. On the other hand, I don’t want to read too much about anyone’s world no matter how fascinating I find their books. Since I hate a lot of description anyway, I tend to go light on the details when I write my own stories.

My own personal bias is also toward the society rather than the technology, although I suppose the type of gadgets and gizmos in widespread use would influence culture. I think I’m going to be running into this with this next world/idea since I “see” some advanced tech stuff. I guess I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.

From past experience, the tech stuff that I use tends to come up from necessity as I write and isn’t something I always know ahead of time.

My other problem with world building is the authors who feel the need to spend forever setting up their world while nothing really happens. I’ve judged some of these entries in the unpublished contests and they’re misery to read. Get the story started!

If you read my latest book, In the Midnight Hour, I do a lot of world building in the first chapter. And no, I’m not contradicting myself. :-) As the heroine fights an evil wraith (hopefully an exciting suspenseful scene), the reader is also getting the vital information they need to make sense of the world.

Which leads me to another point–starting with action before the reader gets to know and care about the character. I’ve seen this a lot in unpublished contests as well. The trick is to give the reader a chance to like the characters before putting them in jeopardy. If I don’t care about them, all the action/suspense/jeopardy in the world isn’t going to make a difference. I can read with indifference because I have nothing invested yet.

Um, I think I had a topic when I started, but I’ve wandered off and can’t seem to find it. Since I’ve only had about 4 hours of sleep, I’m not too surprised. I think I’m going to stop here before I ramble forever.

French Cover for Crimson Veil

Saturday, September 1st, 2007

Through a Crimson Veil was released in French this week! It’s up at Amazon France and I totally love the cover for this book! I can’t wait till my copies arrive so I can see it up close and personal. I’ll let y’all judge for yourselves: