February 2012: Romance

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Welcome to the February 2012 edition of Broadly Speaking, where this month we are romantically speaking.  Your host, Heidi Ruby Miller, writes stories where the relationship is as important as the adventure. She is the author of the SF Romance series set in the Ambasadora-verse and co-editor of the writing guide MANY GENRES, ONE CRAFT based on the Seton Hill University Writing Popular Fiction graduate program. Find her at http://heidirubymiller.blogspot.com.

Heidi's guests are:

PAULINE BAIRD JONES
The "romance force" is strong in Pauline Baird Jones' family. Her parents recently celebrated 60 years of marriage and she and her hubby will clock 37 years this April. Maybe that's why romance is laced into her 12 novels of mysterious mayhem and space opera action adventure. She hangs out at all the usual social networking sites and has a website at paulinebjones.com

ALEXA GRAVE
Alexa Grave loves to tell stories--it just so happens her characters occasionally take her on an unexpected ride.  Her story "Kindled Morphogenesis" can be found in the anthology Modern Magic: Tales of Fantasy and Horror.  Please visit her at Born to Write--http://alexagrave.blogspot.com.

BRENDA COOPER
Brenda Cooper lives in the rain-sodden and beautiful Pacific Northwest where she works as a technology executive and writes science fiction and fantasy in the wee hours of the morning.  Her most recent published novel,  Mayan December, came out from Prime Books last August, and Pyr will be publishing a duology that can loosely be described as "Evita in Space" in 2011 and 2012.

No matter the level of sensuality, whether the sex is on or off the page, romance has its place among the many stories of speculative fiction from these women. After all, love stories are universal.

Covers! Splendid Covers!

I am late and later in regards to the Spencer Hill Press Cover Reveals, but I'm pleased to finally share the absolutely gorgeous covers on my blog of the two novels I'm editing.

And really, I can't say how happy I am with both books.  :)  I can hardly believe that _I_ get to help these authors with the amazing worlds they've invited me into.

Now… I've got deadlines to both authors that I ought to be finishing, but I just wanted to share the fabulousness.

Look for both books in 2013 from Spencer Hill Press!

The Great Recovery of 2012

It seems more of this year has been recovering:

Recover from Scott's trip

Recover from Arisia

Recover from Boskone

Recover from arrival of new roommate

Oh, yes, an old friend has moved in with me.  :)  I'm very happy about it, but there is a lot of work involved because my house really is quite a mess.

I'm back in that pattern of reaction as opposed to pro-action…

Or not… it was my invitation that brought Katie here, and part of that plan was some serious house fixin' work.  To make Scott's old room livable, I knew there would be a lot of work.  It was pro-active.

But now, I have to react to fit the rest of my life around this.

As it is, I'm going to have to work around much more travel than I planned: two extra international trips to visit Scott.

"Work around" sounds so negative… it's AMAZING to get this chance to travel with my Husband-of-Awesome.  It's an opportunity I can't miss.  But, I do still have responsibilities and deadlines (many of those new, too) that must be balanced around the opportunity.

My blog has not been as regular as I'd like, though.  I'm back to making it a work in progress.

I'll aim for Monday and Thursday updates for now.  That's about all I can promise.  There are too many Fridays that I am traveling and Thursday nights I'm prepping. 

I'll do my best to keep things updated… like, ahem, my website… for which I'll send my webmistress edits tomorrow night.  (And I'll see if I can sneak in a person-to-person visit amidst my errands tomorrow.)

In any case, it's another reinventing of my work, my job "title," and, in essence, my life.

And I'm happy to share it for all its lessons.

Networking (aka Having Fun at) Boskone this Weekend!

Conventions are fun. :)  So is networking… or as I like to call it, "hanging out."

I actually hadn't intended on attending Boskone.  With all the traveling I'll be doing with going to visit Scott, and several other unplanned trips that are now getting planned, I figured I could drop out of this particular New England convention. 

But Patty, my friend and owner of Annie's Book Stop Worcester (which, by the way, could really use readers' help!!), convinced me to go. 

I am not on any programming, save the Broad Universe Rapid Fire Reading (8:00 Saturday - be there!).  I'll definitely be at the Broad Universe table, helping out.  And I volunteered to help my friend, Elaine Isaak, with her Chai and Chocolate kickstarter party at 8:30, Friday night.

Which is a pretty free-time convention for me!

Patty says I need to make this my "bar-con."  Do my social networking.  We'll be each others' wingwoman… because I have a lot to learn from her, and she (and other people, surprisingly to me) think I'm good at this networking thing.

In fact, my new housemate, Katie, is sharing a room with me and also hoping to learn some of this networking mystery.

Quite honestly, I just like getting to know people and hearing their stories.  If they find me interesting, too, we exchange contact info and possibly contact each other at a later date.

Or, someone runs into me and asks me if I know someone who…

I guess the trick of it, and "trick" makes it sound so dirty - it isn't, is that combination of enjoying the company of others and having the mental facilities to remember them in both a social context and a potential business context.

In any case, I'm looking forward to my first low-key, non-programming convention in a very while.  Look for me there - I'll be… just hangin' around.

February 2012: Romance

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First, we’ll hear two romantic excerpts from the Renaissance Festival Tales anthology. Both take place at modern Renaissance Faires, but that’s where the similarities end.   Kim Vandervort wrote "Faire Aria" at a writers’ retreat in Stinson Beach, California, in the company of fellow Broad, Julia Dvorin…and a pomegranate martini. Kim is the author of two fantasy novels, The Song and the Sorceress and The Northern Queen, as well as a smattering of short fiction. Her book Outcast is due out in July.

 

Julia Dvorin wrote her novella, Cupid For A Day, after asking herself the question, "What if Cupid were real and worked at the archery booth at the Renaissance Faire?"

 

Diane Whiteside’s story, “Vanished,” is from The Fiction Studio's April 2012 A Cast of Characters anthology. In this scene, Cindy and Richard learn just how much one dance truly means to each other.

 

Our next author, Jaleta Clegg, likes to mess with words. She doesn't consider herself a romance writer, but it keeps creeping into her stories. Like this one. It's in a horror anthology, not where you'd expect to find a sweet romance.

 

And we end with KT Pinto, who adores traveling back in time through her research and then changing history through her writing. She hopes to change the present with her writing as well, and it seems like she's on her way to succeeding.

So grab your sweetie—or at least a box of chocolates—and settle in to hear from five Broads who know how to make their stories sizzle!

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Foodie Friday: My Keurig!

As I mentioned around Christmas, one of Scott's surprises for me was a Keurig coffeemaker.  It took me a little over a month to clean off a spot for it, and then actually take some time to set it up (which, actually, took less than 10 minutes, including cleaning and all).

So, in good geek spirit, I started playing with immediately.  I ran a few of the pods that it came with for me and my mother-in-law for lunch, and then I started playing with what I was most looking forward too, which is the little individual cup you can fill with your own stuff.

I started with an Irish Breakfast tea.  It's an easy gauge for tea, simple, black, I know what it should taste like.  My theory, though, was that it would be too weak because A) black tea needs boiling water, and B) a 4-5 minute steep.  The Keurig heats the water to the optimal coffee temperature, which is between 170-180, and it's a fast brew, also optimal for coffee.  Regardless, I tried.  My theory was correct, and the black tea was too weak. 

Next, though, I tried green tea, which I know has a lower brewing temperature and, ideally, should only steep for a couple of minutes or it gets bitter.  I measured out some jasmine green tea leaves into the little filter and, et voila! - PERFECT green tea.  It had a great bouquet of the jasmine, still plenty of green tea flavor (and I'm sure all the nutrients), and not a hint of bitterness.  Success!!

I have not tried white tea, but I'm guessing I'll have similar issues because, though it has a low temperature requirement, it also has a very long steep requirement.  Herbal teas will probably depend on the herbs, as some need hotter temperatures and/or longer steep periods. Something simple, like chamomile, ought to be fine, but the medicinal herbs will need me to continue using my other methods.

Still, I'm SO thrilled with the quality of the coffee that the perfect green tea is a bonus!

Yay, Keurig!

Corrupts Absolutely?

I'm in another anthology coming out this March!

The call came through last year, and I'd been moved to write the story for some time.  I kept re-emailing myself the call for submissions because I was so intrigued with the idea:

A superhero anthology playing with the extent of how much power would corrupt your average, real person.

I didn't get a full idea until the editor added an extra wish list:

Female writers and protagonists

Non-meta* individuals who are just super smart or technologically enhanced

Teams or siblings

And a few other things, but those three clicked a switch in my brain, and Victoria jumped into my head and started complaining about her boss at this engineering firm who treated her like crap and had grand delusions of being the next Tony Stark.  Ok… maybe the boss wasn't that delusional, he really was building a massive weapon war suit thing.

Thing is, while her a-hole boss may not have any superpowers, Victoria does: She can make technology bend to her will.

To find out what happens, you absolutely need to order this book! 

If not for me, there are some other great writers - including at least two other fabulous Broads that I know.

I also have to say, that I'm liking the editor's marketing plans for this anthology.  He's already working on promotional blog posts, we've got the cover (see the pretty picture), and we've gotten a lot of other emails with ways that we, the contributors, can help.

As I've progressed in my writing, I'm learning how much I love anthologies.  Not many pay well, but I do love having physical books - and the themes totally get my creative juices flowing.

Besides Corrupts Absolutely?  I'm working on two other stories for two other anthologies.  I'm not accepted in either yet, but I'm writing!

On top of that, Christy and I have reunited yet again. :D  Yaayy!! For those of you who are Shadow Guard Fans, keep an eye out for some Super Special Updates!!!!

Happy Writing!

*meta - a common word for "mutant" or someone with special powers.

My blogging plan…

It's not working so well. 

Well, there's a post here when it ought to be scheduled, more times than not… but I'm barely hanging on, and there's been a lot of borrowing from other sources - look, the podcast!  Look - a cute cat!

I have a lot to say; I have articles in my head.

I have no time…

Little things around the house, reworking my whole schedule, fitting in this exercise and eating protocol… total time eaters.

I may end up just posting a photo of my houseguests on Friday.

Also - people near Worcester - sign up for the Writing Workshop I'm doing with two great friends this Saturday.  Today is your LAST DAY to do it. :)  Here's the info on how to register.

Part of the blog-eater is this workshop - so I'm sacrificing for you!

:)  Happy mid-week.