Life, Interrupted

So, have you discovered Blog Hopping yet? Patricia "Pooks" Burroughs invited me to join one, so here goes!

I thought you might enjoy learning a bit about the Work in Progress -- and hearing about some other writers, as well. So read on for my current work, and for links to many fellow writers. I'll try to remember to give you some more links next week, because 'tis the season to find new authors!'

Some Author Answers:

What is the working title of your current book? Spirit Tracks

Where did the idea come from for the book? It's the third Alfreda novel, about how her family ships her off to fabled Cousin Esme's school for young wizards to get that pesky need for ritual magic under control.

What genre does your book fall under? It's dark fantasy for ages 8-108.

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition? Oh, that's hard. The actress who could have been Allie has grown up. Now? Who do you think? My friend Mike Moe could be Allie's father, and Claudia Christian could be her mother. Diane Lane could be Esme -- beautiful, professional, enigmatic, everything a wizard should be. Jodie Foster could play Marta, I think! And the Asian wizard in Spirit Tracks could have been George Takei in an earlier incarnation.

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book? A young wizard discovers that you can survive fantastic change.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency? Excellent question. Haven't decided if I will offer it to NYC or not. Will discuss with my agent after it's complete.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of this manuscript? It's not quite finished, and too long, ARGH!

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre? Allie was unique when she came out -- if anything, Night Calls and Kindred Rites were "Little House on the Prairie with werewolves and vampires." Check out those two books -- if you like strong, grounded, very brave heroes, whose stories take place in an alternative early North America, Alfreda might be the teen for you.

Who or What inspired you to write this book? Jane Yolen talking about an anthology for young adults that she was opening for submissions. My subconscious sent me the image of Allie hanging a woven braid of garlic over an interior door. It was such a strong picture I thought I'd swiped it from somewhere.

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest? It has magic, humor, sentient magical creatures, spirit guides, and a touch of romance. Oh -- and a cat decides that Allie belongs to HIM. We also get great food!

No matter how this book is going, I plan to get Night Calls and Kindred Rites into ebook next year. So progress is happening.

In the meantime? Fires of Nuala, the first of my SF series The Chronicles of Nuala is on sale at Book View Cafe, Amazon and Barnes & Noble. The queen of thieves meets the mutant king, and the planet Nuala will never be the same again. Far future science fiction driven by character and culture.

You can reach all formats through Backlist eBooks.

Thank you, Pooks, for inviting me to Hop!

Would you like to meet some other great authors? Check out these fine people!

Patricia Burroughs http://planetpooks.com/the-blog/
Jeffrey A. Carver http://starrigger.blogspot.com
Pati Nagle http://patinagle.livejournal.com/
Steven Harper Piziks http://spiziks.livejournal.com
Deborah J. Ross http://www.deborahjross.blogspot.com/
Sherwood Smith http://sartorias.livejournal.com/
Laura Underwood http://laurajunderwood.livejournal.com/
Madeleine Robins http://madrobins.livejournal.com/

Now I know why that kid is so afraid of magic.

She does have a gift for prying info out of people.

A tidbit for the end of the week --

“ Break the circle?” I probably sounded like my Aunt Dagmar, she of the fancy airs and oh-so-proper behavior. But once you start a ritual, if you’re going to break the circle, you might as well kill yourself right there.
All right. That’s an exaggeration.
But it’s not much of an exaggeration.

Actually, Alfreda #3 will be 100,000 words or so, so this is half a meter. But he's such an industrious guy, I had to go with him.




This gets you to the site of the meter man creators:


http://www.writertopia.com/toolbox/meters

SPIRIT TRACKS

19,022 / 100,000 (19.0%)

And hard-fought it was...I had the six-month pest people here, I had a plumber who couldn't fix the problem here (and a pox on the woman who laid this tile!) and other distractions, like the inspector not closing the garage door correctly, so I had two Burmese frolicking in the mulch. I kept hauling myself back to the computer, and it was like pulling chewing gum off a desk -- thready and oh, ghod, why does it have to be this way?

Fortunately, much later, I will not be able to tell this from the stuff that came easily -- or so it has always been.

But a new character showed up. He was going to show sometime in the next chapter or two, but I did not expect him to be young, distinguished and rather attractive. So he immediately goes on my "suspicious" list.

I will think on him a while as I shovel off my massage table (clean laundry, two sleeping cats, some paperwork) because my one LMT client comes tonight.

Yes, I have managed to get myself into the caravan leaving for Minnesota Saturday. 1minnesotagirl needed a driving companion, and her daughter needed a therapist. The Critz work I do is probably gentle enough to help her and not hurt me. It's not disk surgery, but it might help R a lot.

Plus, I know how to do museum packing. So I'm on the "packing the antique china" detail.

Any Minnesotans want to help me find a slice of flourless chocolate cake/torte? I'll settle for awesome creme brulee, but chocolate must enter into the visit. Between illness and major life upheavals, I lost track of several Minnesota writers in the last decade. And there are others I don't actually know yet, although I appreciate their humor and zest for life via LJ.

So -- if anyone would like to distract us on this journey, just holler. It's going to be a fairly fast turnaround. I'm taking my computer and the adapter for the car, and will have to keep writing to entertain 1MG while she drives.

( When I am asked Do You Have a Sleeping Bag? )
( We hope for a day off en route. )

I should point out that it took until today for me to find the acid-free tissue paper to wrap the new ornaments in. So the tree is still up. But I didn't get to enjoy it much in December, so having a January tree has been nice. Normally it comes down the day after 12th Night.

I am in no position to throw stones about things staring you in the face that need to get done.

Writing level -- furious planning and research this day, followed by editing eight pages and writing three more. With more to come tomorrow.

*Corrected from mohair. The socks are mohair -- the scarf is baby alpaca wool.

My only excuse is holiday madness, plus I will now freely admit I did too much during WFC. I had no business trying to have a party -- because I think the people who came enjoyed themselves, but I couldn't enjoy it. I didn't know the banquet was Saturday night, or I would have had a much smaller affair -- gotta have two nights for editors and agents to do their thing with clients. (I don't currently have an editor, and my agent never comes to these things. So I don't do that sort of thing.) and I never do banquet because I can't eat most of that they offer. So --

Party went well, enjoyed meeting people, and IncanDragon and BevHale were excellent hostesses, too, and I thank them for their care of my friends and acquaintances.

Got to talk with Ginjer Buchanan during the convention, and she's interested in seeing anything I have to show her. I have passed this on, and I hope that my agent has sent the new outline and chapter of the new Allie novel (SPIRIT TRACKS) to her. Ginjer did ask if I had the rights back to the other two, and I am pleased to say we did that.

I had a reading (there are advantages to knowing the concom) and to my amazement the room was nearly full. I stopped counting at 30 and tried to read well. It was the first chapter of SPIRIT TRACKS. Then I promptly panicked and fled, since I wasn't doing well and didn't want people to see the stress aphasia. But Inky tells me the reading was a good one. Maybe there are people who want to see another book.

Last week I broke down and bought a membership to WFC 2007. I don't know if I will go, but I hope to have a sale by then, and be back in The Game.

( Personal stuff behind the cut )

I actually started a new story -- it's coming out tiny pieces at a time. We'll see where it wants to go. I'm still in the darker parts of the story, in my head, and it swirls. I wanted to write something with humor in it. Just calling it the Curse Book for now.

And that's what has been happening...