Round Up Time #authorevents #outandabout #blogging

While October is usually extremely busy for me, being that I tend to write dark fantasy, dark SF, and horror, October 2016 is especially so! I’m back in my blogging saddle, so let me give you a quick round-up of things to expect (some of which do make blogging challenging because I’m not at home much). Here you go:

This week, I had a most wonderful time being on The Taco Society Presents television show!  You can see the whole thing here.

I also had a great dinner/marketing/shop-talking evening yesterday with the Massachusetts SciFi & Fantasy Authors.

TOMORROW, October 22: I’ll be at the Merrimack Valley Halloween Book Festival! I’m super excited about that, AND I will have a limited (only 18 copies) run of a glossy softcover edition of “Tea with Mr. Fuzzypants” for sale. They’ll be numbered and with some surprise original drawings inside by me! Besides myself, there are about 35 other amazing horror authors who will be signing, a great set of panels, and all sorts of Halloween surprises, so do come and check it out.

On Monday, October 24, I will have a special blog post as part of the #HoldOntoTheLight movement, where over 100 authors of science fiction, fantasy, and horror talk about their experiences with bullying, mental illness, and more. Find out more about this important movement on their website, and check out my Monday blog for my experience.

About the campaign:

#HoldOnToTheLight is a blog campaign encompassing blog posts by fantasy and science fiction authors around the world in an effort to raise awareness around treatment for depression, suicide prevention, domestic violence intervention, PTSD initiatives, bullying prevention and other mental health-related issues. We believe fandom should be supportive, welcoming and inclusive, in the long tradition of fandom taking care of its own. We encourage readers and fans to seek the help they or their loved ones need without shame or embarrassment.

Please consider donating to or volunteering for organizations dedicated to treatment and prevention such as: American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, Hope for the Warriors (PTSD), National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), Canadian Mental Health Association, MIND (UK), SANE (UK), BeyondBlue (Australia), To Write Love On Her Arms and the National Suicide Prevention Hotline.

On Wednesday October 26, I’ll work out another #WriterlyWednesday post about...National Novel Writing Month and be at The Children’s Friend with the Worcester Writers Collaborative, getting in some fiction or poetry words before the big push of NaNoWriMo.

On Thursday, October 27, I’ll be running my Group Tarot Workshop at Generations in Oxford, MA. If you are interested in learning Tarot for divination or writing or your own personal interest, come join us! I’ll be looking at the “scariest” cards in the deck, and sharing a little surprise.

Then on Saturday and Sunday, October 29-30, I’ll be in the Salem Open Market festival with the New England Horror Writers, where we’ll be having a launch party for our latest anthology, Wicked Witches!

And then, Monday, October 31, it’s Halloween, and I plan on snuggling up to the hubby and watching scary movies and getting cheap take-out. Because that’s how you romance this girl, right here. <3 span="" style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> 

(Also, due to our location, we don’t actually get trick-or-treaters... which is sad.)

What are you folks up to? Hopefully the rest of your Halloween Month is as full of treats as mine has been so far! 

BLOGATHON, BLOG-O-RAMA, DAY OF BLOGS - IT'S TOMORROW!

(Photo by BSER volunteer Jane Derosier)

This is my third year of blogging for the Bay State Equine Rescue - and it's been quite an adventure.

My first year, 2008, I had the idea of raising money by "selling" guest posts and advertising.  I raised a good amount, but I was a wreck trying to organize it all.  On top of it all, the "Blogathon" organizers had kind of… dropped the event.  Most of the bloggers still banded together and formed the Day of Blogs community - especially active on Live Journal.  I did pretty well for the rescue, working out a schedule as I posted and figuring out how to optimally place my different sponsors. 

In my second year blogging, 2009, I was totally on the ball with organizing!  I got advertising sponsors, threw out the idea at networking gatherings, and all sorts of great stuff.  It was definitely my most successful year so far.  The biggest drawback:  I was actually away for the "official" Blogathon weekend, so, I, uh, made my own 24 hour slot.

This year, I was not as much on the ball, which is totally bad on my part.  I still found advertisers and a good amount of donations from sponsors beforehand, and I really have some spectacular posts from people, as you'll see.  I will be surprised if I break what I made last year, but I've made 2/3 of what I did already - and I've actually got a proper schedule written up!  So, the day, itself, should go more smoothly.  The problem this year:  Regular Blogathon organizers have dropped their organizing… again.  (This confused a few of my sponsors.)  Fortunately, like in 2008, the bloggers have banded together to form… the Blog-O-Rama!  So, the exponential power of many will be driving things forward!

My work today, Friday, is to clean up the posts I've received, rework some of the information I used last year, and write the new material that I need. (Oh!  And turn in a restaurant review to my editor!)  Since I'll be posting to both my blogger and my livejournal blogs, with lots of photos, that's going to take the vast majority of each half hour that I have… because I still haven't taught myself how to auto-post.  (Also my bad.)  In the time between (besides running to the bathroom and trying not to get any food and drink on my keyboard), I plan on following several of my friends who will be blogging, too. 

So, if you're around anytime from 9AM Saturday until 9AM Sunday, THIS WEEKEND, please, please, please stop by my blog and leave a comment or three.

And, if you can, please follow the link that will appear at the bottom of every post (including this one), and give whatever you can to the rescue.  Even if it's just a buck.  J  Every little bit helps the horses.

Thank you!

Click the apple to donate now to help the BSER horses!

Manic Yet Writerly… bunch of days…

I'm reminded of my earlier comment about having to figure out automatic posts BEFORE I next travel.

For those of you who follow me on Facebook & Twitter, you may already know I'm stuck in a Comfort Inn in Detroit.

Not in the city mind you… on the outskirts of the Detroit Metro airport… which is not entirely bad. My hotel window looks out over some beautiful farmland and a pretty bush that looks like honeysuckle, but if I were down south, I'd have smelled it through my window, so it's either a non-scented northern version or something else. I scared a poor little chickadee doing lower back and calf stretches by the open window; poor thing doesn't realize the screen is bolted closed.

The smoker before me did and burrowed a tiny hole in the bottom where cigarette ash betrays their peccadillo – if my lungs hadn't already clued me in when they required an extra inhaler puff.

I thought it was just the stress of having my flight cancelled after running through the hellishly long corridors of Detroit Metro.

Regardless, I had intended a rant post about crappy flying, but while I'm still indignant, I'm not furious… and I fully intend to negotiate with Delta about making sure I don't pay double luggage and seeing what they can do for me regarding plane tickets for Dragon*Con. I have been very nice and cooperative – if not pitiful or sweet enough to get a nice pilot to kindly skip to the front of the line for me to obtain some basic info, a hotel voucher, and then walk me to the shuttle area in said hellishly long airport. There were very, very many families who were absolutely hysterical because they had to get home to children and sitters. One woman who got word of a death on her cell phone right beside me. And two other families who had separated from children on the connecting flight and now the children (not little, but around their teens) were "home" and they were not.

So, I gird myself for calm negotiating now because I do have a Husband-of-Awesome who is picking me up at midnight on a work night… who I really hope I can get a free or steeply discounted flight for over Labor Day weekend. And no kids.

(To those of you who ask me why I don't have kids yet, see above comments.)

The cause for this disaster? Heavy thunderstorms and torrential downpour & flash flooding at the airports in Detroit and Chicago.

How am I also turning this Writerly post (because, it ought to be pretty evidently manic)?

If you're flying to conferences or conventions…

Don't use those cutesy carry-ons that look like mini suitcases. They are the first to get put below when you have an overstuffed flight where everyone uses them as their two carry on items. Get yourself a small duffle or high-school sized backpack (No, not one of those fancy hiking packs!)

And then pack your netbook (or laptop, though I strongly suggest you get a durable netbook or something of similar small size) in it's protective skin, surrounded by one spare set of clothes, underwear, extra socks, and pajamas, along with all your charging wires (for cell and computer), your important jewelry, and paperwork and/or reading material.

Ladies (and open minded men) you can also carry a small purse (or a small laptop bag that may function as a purse).

The back-pack or duffle should be squishy enough to go below the seat in front of you along with said purse or laptop bag because those stupid carry-ons DO NOT. And if you can get it under the seat in front of you, you won't lose it!

Things that I will now ensure to take in my carry on? Toothbrush, toothpaste. The hotel ran out of it.

I did have baby wipes though (long story, but I keep them in my purse). They make a great facial cleanser in a pinch. I also have a tiny handcream and moisturizing hand sanitizer in my purse. The hand sanitizer also makes a decent facial moisturizer while traveling because stress makes me much more likely to break out – and that is the best anti-zit treatment besides straight-up triple-antibiotic gel to destroy threatening or existing zits.

Looking ahead, and assuming I _survive_ (cue melodramatic music and hand stapled to forehead gestures) the trip back home, Foodie Friday will be usurped by Feminist Friday where I'll disclose my Wiscon adventures… and the Friday after that will resume Foodie-ness because there's lots of fun food to talk about from this trip.

In the mean time, grab a copy of Massachusetts Horse magazine or buy a book from K.S. Augustin and help the awesome horses that I'm missing at the Bay State Equine Rescue.

Also – happy thoughts for making it home tonight are much appreciated!!

What do you Question?

"There's no real answer here, you know."

Aimee said that in the tail end of last week's conversation about freedom, rights and responsibilities regarding creative thinking.

It sounds like a conversation ender. It sounds almost depressing.

But it’s not.

It's the point.

Well, part of the point anyway. Even if there isn't an answer, you learn how to think by discussing things. Knowing you will come to an answer, or requiring an answer limits your creativity in thinking. By not assuming there even is an answer, you can explore a topic thoroughly.

I wish more of my students did this.

I cannot keep count of how many papers I receive where a student will assume s/he (at the enlightened age of 18-22) has THE ANSWER, so the paper doesn't explore a topic, it rehashes "known" information.

Hell, I'm guilty of that. Someone on LiveJournal called me on it. A statistic I'd heard from three different people who I generally trust to "know" things: Wrong. And I didn't even think to question it because I believed I had an answer. Or at least a fact, which is an answer to something.

The thing about questions - questions rather than answers - is that they can disturb the status quo more than answers.

"This is how it's done."

"Why?"

"This is what it is."

"How is it like that?"

By being willing to ask, to question, we can find logical fallacies, incorrect facts, causes as opposed to correlations.

And maybe answers. Or at least a little closer to answers because, at this level of evolution and comprehension, it's possible that we CANNOT know the answers.

So, what do you think you know?

What do you question?

Happy Happenings

This Manic Monday post is brought to you by…

Moms and Happiness!!

I hope all the moms out there had a wonderful Mother's Day! Many hugs & blessings to you all!

Newsy Newsiness…

I have a partial MS request out for Kyra - the novel I >just might< href="http://www.stainedglasscreationsandbeyond.com/">Stained Glass Creations and Beyond) drawing for me - and we had some great times using her hubby and each other as models.

We're also working on a more serious schedule than, "once a month, if we can possible, maybe, find one day a month where we are both free." J

And… we found a grant and are looking into it!

- more finger crossing! -

xx

BAD-ASS FAERIES 3: IN ALL THEIR GLORY is coming out end of this month!!!

Our head editor, and my friend, Danielle Ackley-McPhail, has details about the Legendary Triple Launch Party in Baltimore over Memorial Day Weekend. If you'll be at Balticon, PLEASE GO!! There are some fabulous prizes to be won, there's always great food (I’m sending Danielle my famous macaroons), and just a Bad-Ass good time!

xx

And you can still see my poem from the Eye on Life Poetry Contest at Poetry Locksmith here!

xx

This week in my blog, I've got planned a more essay-like response to the conversation on Freedom, Rights and Responsibilities of Creativity that I shared with Dr. Aimee Weinstein. Then, Foodie Friday will cover my adventures with strawberry and rhubarb and thickening agents. (Confession: Mostly, it was adventures of the Husband-of-Awesome with said ingredients: I followed directions and managed not to sneeze, cough, hack, pass out, or slice off a finger while following instructions.)

xx

The one real down note: Allergies are kicking my butt… so that's the end of this post. : ) !

Birthday Fabulosity

I have the most awesome and caring friends & family! J

I was offline all of Friday and Saturday, then panicked today seeing that my inbox was wellllll over the 200 messages - way more than my usual weekend load.

The majority was all birthday wishes!!

So, despite waking up with nasty asthma issues today (heat and humidity spike), once I got to email, I was feeling as happy as I was on my birthday and on Saturday.

For those of you who want to know how all of your positive energy was put to good use, here's how my days went:

My friend, Aimee Weinstein, let me go to bed early by covering my Foodie Friday blogpost! Here are 2 pix she sent me while she was making her Shrimp Parmagiana for her hubby-of-awesome:


Apology: Those are the only pix I have to share. I was too busy with everything to stop and remember to take pictures.

Friday started with the usual chiropractor appt. that Scott and I go to. (Writers, a good chiropractor is golden - especially since we spend so much time on our butts!) Since our chiro is already westbound from our house, I just headed right to my mother's place (where I grew up), in Springfield. Now, breakfast was great, but the strange and interesting thing is I agreed to go through some of the crap that was still in my attic bedroom that my mom (very kindly) has continued to hold onto for me since "I have no room in my house" or "I don't wanna go through old stuff now and then have to cart it home and find places for it!"

I was actually in the mood to do it this time, for some strange reason (Note: No, it's still not carefully put away in my current house.). So, besides reliving most of my pre-teens and teens via my EXTENSIVE (read as: I could open a friggen store) collection of costume jewelry. In addition to the jewelry and craft items I didn't bring to the house because I have craftier and even-more-artistically-inclined friends to whom I gifted some really cool stuff that I just don't have time to play with, I found even more of my art. More comic book creations (HOW did I forget how much I loved comics and comic art?) and some pretty cool still-lifes that I'd drawn in classes I took.

Lesson: I need to make time for my art. Maybe not all the extensive crafts I did when I was younger - but it's a part of my creative self I need to honor.

In fact - thought! - I found some beautiful cameo lockets that would look fabulous in steam-punk inspired necklaces. I asked Renée, Sean and Stef - the professional artists - if they could design necklaces for me… but, why couldn't I do it on one of my next visits to the glass studio? It doesn't have to be a long commitment to regular beading, but it would honor that part of me that needs to create beyond the keyboard.

:D See - even personal blog posts can be a discovery method if you're willing to listen to yourself! :D

Besides my stroll down pleasant memory lane with my mom and thinking creatively outside of words, I indulged in a long afternoon nap, and then went out to dinner with the husband-of-awesome (at a restaurant I also get paid to review - so, damnit, it was productive, too!). Dinner was fabulous. We came home to drop off some stuff (because the carload of "stuff" isn't something you want to park in Worcester), and then condensed ourselves to just one car (Yay! I didn't have to drive anymore!), and headed off to Sweet!, a great dessert-only café with fancy drinks and fancy coffees. I ordered a chef's selection.

The cheese cake was good, the fancy bread pudding was delicious, the bites of the spicy hot-chocolate sundae Scott had were great, coffee was most excellent!

But:

Croissant Donuts. Filled with Peanut Butter. Deep Fried. Sugar Coated. With Chocolate Sauce.

-Let's pause a moment in deep, meditative appreciation.-

Where was I? Oh - yeah. Fabulous birthday!

My Beltaine (May 1st), was also exceptionally great. We spent it in CT and it included grilling, more jewelry perusal, and another 2-hours of killer psycho-tennis that exercised our laughter muscles as much as anything else.

(For those unfamiliar with psycho-tennis, it's basically try and keep the ball moving and can include up to 6 people in the same game while equally trash-talking and supporting each others' fragile egos… while trying not to soil ones panties due to extreme laughter and horrible, horrible puns about balls.)

So, the moral/purpose to this post? Besides hopefully entertaining some of you … Don't forget to enjoy life. I have more writing fodder, more energy, and more overall jubilation from being disconnected from my e-life for those days. Also, though I didn't get to read all of your wonderful messages on my actual birthday - they manifested anyway. :D

Thank you - and spread the love!

Introducing the DragonWriters Blog!

A good writing group can mean all the difference in a single writer's career.



I've mentioned writing groups before and what makes a good writing group… and I cannot find the link to that post. But trust me, I did!

In any case, my first professional writing group was the DragonWriters, who I met at the 2002 Dragon*Con in Atlanta, Georgia. The group of us all signed up for A. C. Crispin's writing workshop, which started a day earlier than the convention.

Since then, many of the members of our group have stayed in contact and even when some of us (like me) slip up on our critiquing returns, we do still support each other through email and instant messaging. We not only push each other to do our best, but we're also each others fans - and that is a rare balance to strike.

In addition to our special chemistry, we've also got a good mix of writers at different levels. There's a novel published, along with many short stories, and countless non-fiction pieces… and many blogs.

Oh… you want to find out more about these great reading items?

Come visit our blog!

www.dragon-writers.com

Broad Universe Blog Out: KS Augustin

The last fantastic woman I get to interview in the Broad Universe Blog Out is KS Augustin, a Malaysian-born writer of science-fiction, romance, and permutations of the two. She also dabbles in fantasy and contemporary action romances from time to time. She has been nominated for a CAPA award and has been a Spectrum award finalist. She has visited, lived or worked in the UK, North America, Australia, and has now settled back in south-east Asia so she and her husband can draw breath and the kids can manage to get some education in. Also travelling with them, with species-appropriate passports, are their two fur-shedding cats, Fluff and Squeak, and their irrepressible miniature bull terrier, Sausage.


Kaz, please, tell us about your writing. What genre do you prefer to write? What books, stories, other publications that you've written are your personal favorites? Anything new coming up?

My first love was, and still is, science-fiction. I tend to read right across the genre from social SF to hard to slipstream, although my favourite is space opera, so I suppose it isn't any surprise that I tend to write space opera romance the most. While I love a good space battle as much as the next geek girl, I always thought that a bit more characterisation and interpersonal dynamics in my favourite novels would go a long way, which explains why I add romance to the mix.

I'm sure someone has already said that wherever you go, you always take yourself with you, so why would it be any different in the future or in another galaxy? You always take yourself with you--brain, heart, wishes, regrets, yearnings. Everything else is an extension of yourself, and engagement (whether positive or negative) is when an extension of one person or group meets an extension of another. Technology is merely one channel through which such engagement can play out, but it's not the only one.

And indeed, I do have something new coming out. Carina Press is the new digital-first imprint of Harlequin Enterprises and I am extremely pleased to have a novel of mine as part of their June launch. ENEMY HANDS is a hard SF romance that covers stellar mechanics, politics, a bit of pharmacology and--of course!--romance between a brilliant physicist and the savant she falls in love with. I hope there's something there for everyone, but we'll see.


What writers inspired you to become an author?

I still clearly remember reading "A Martian Odyssey" by Stanley Weinbaum as a child, and being mesmerised by it. Henry Kuttner, Isaac Asimov, Harry Harrison, Ray Bradbury, EE 'Doc' Smith, Eric Frank Russell, they were all wonderful and still are. I got made fun of at school for reading a book entitled "The Stainless Steel Rat Saves the World". Female high-school students didn't read books with such titles, but it didn't worry me too much. *That* place was where I wanted to be--ravening beams of destruction, conflicts in the oceans of Venus, high-jinks across the galaxy, interstellar puns. Why would I want to be in school where people made fun of me because I wore glasses and had different-coloured skin? I think science-fiction saved my sanity then, and I'm forever grateful to it for doing so.



What about you as a person? What do you do to relax? Favorite movies or TV shows? Hobbies?

I mostly read to relax. And I also love kite-flying. To me, there's nothing quite so exhilarating as harnessing something you have no control over (the wind) to make something you do (the kite) do what you want it to do.

I also cook. I love cooking, I adore cooking, although I don't have enough time to do much of it. In our library at home, we must have at least 200 cookbooks and I sit down and read through them in much the same way as I read a novel, from start to finish. I find it exceedingly relaxing. And it helps that my husband and children are happy to act as my guinea pigs.


What gets your creative juices going? Do you write to music, and do you want to share your playlist?

I think I'm in the minority on this one, in that I tend to appreciate silence, but I also think that's a holdover from my martial arts days. You can't be aware of what's happening around you if there's music blaring out of several loudspeakers and writing, by itself, is distracting enough. If you're talking musical tastes, then I listen to everything, from opera to techno. However, there is one sub-genre I never, ever listen to and that's Country & Western. I just can't get into it.


"All writers must have cats, especially if they write fantasy or speculative fiction." Do you have a stand on this one? Any cute pictures of your kitty or other pet?

Ah yes, I think cats are favoured because they're lower maintenance than dogs. We have both: two cats called Fluff and Squeak and a mini bull-terrier called Sausage. Each type of animal has its own characteristics that make it quite lovable. I occasionally have updates on our pets in my blog but not often enough, or so I've been told.


What organizations do you recommend for those wanting to become writers? Any advice you'd like to share about writing?

There are lots of organisations around for aspiring writers, and they even span national boundaries. The constraining factor is that you have to have access to an Internet connection in order to fully leverage the information and resources out there. To be honest, I may not be the best person to ask about such things. I sold my first novella in almost complete isolation in 2006. It was only after we left the USA that I discovered thriving writer communities in and around San Francisco. And it was only after we left Australia that I discovered the same about speculative fiction writers in Australia. I'm sure the same thing will play out after we leave Malaysia. I always tend to be behind the curve like that!

Having said that, the best advice I can share about writing is that, if you want to make a living at it, it's not enough to be JUST a writer. You have to be able to run your own small business, and that means self-discipline, multi-tasking, organisation and planning skills, and so on. And you have to realise that there's always something out there you need to know that you haven't learnt about already.


Any special appearances or events coming up that you want to mention?

It's difficult being a writer living literally on the other side of the world to North America. I often feel that I'm missing out on lots of opportunities to connect with potential readers. But still, with the interconnectedness of most of the world today, the situation is a lot better than it used to be.

For the latest news, best to read my blog, and I'm always available via email at ks [at] ksaugustin [dot] com.


How else can we find you, Kaz?

My website is http://www.ksaugustin.com And I have an opinionated blog, called "Fusion Despatches", at http://blog.ksaugustin.com where, quite unfashionably, I tend to discuss politics ... but that's only because I love the topic so much! Given enough time, I'm sure my blog will end up offending pretty much everyone in the world, so you've been warned.

Broad Universe Blog Out: Pauline Baird Jones

Welcome to the fifth day of the Broad Universe Blog Out, where it's my honor to introduce you to Pauline Baird Jones. She is the award-winning author of nine novels of science fiction romance, Steampunk, action-adventure, suspense, romantic suspense and comedy-mystery. She's written two non-fiction books, Adapting Your Novel for Film and Made-up Mayhem, and she co-wrote Managing Your Book Writing Business with Jamie Engle. Her seventh novel, Out of Time, an action-adventure romance set in World War II, is an EPPIE 2007 winner. Her eighth novel, The Key won an Independent Book Award Bronze Medal (IPPY) for 2008 and is a 2007 Dream Realm Awards Winner. She also has short stories in several anthologies. Originally from Wyoming, she and her family moved from New Orleans to Texas before Katrina.


Pauline, tell us about your writing - What genre do you prefer to write? What books, stories, other publications that you've written are your personal favorites? Anything new coming up?

I started out writing contemporary romantic suspense, but have been moving persistently into action/adventure type romances for years. I committed to paranormal AA when I wrote OUT OF TIME, a WWII time travel, then headed into space with THE KEY. For now I’m solidly into science fiction romance, with a fillip of Steampunk romance for fun. I’ve also recently had some short stories published in a variety of anthologies.

I’m a “love the book I’m writing” kind of girl, though I have to say, I’m really feeling the SFR love. It’s just a heck of a lot of fun to write about space travel, to break the bounds of gravity and head for distant galaxies. I’m hugely excited about my April release: GIRL GONE NOVA, a follow-on to THE KEY (though both books can be read stand alone).

I had so much fun writing Doc, my kick-butt genius heroine. And my hero is a redeemed, semi-bad guy from THE KEY. I did NOT plan that. He wouldn’t leave me alone until I gave him a girl to love. What’s an author to do?


What writers inspired you to become an author?

Georgette Heyer. Mary Stewart. Elizabeth Cadell. Helen McInnes. Alastair Maclean. Each of these authors delighted me when I found them and taught me important things about what needed to be in my novels.


What about you as a person? What do you do to relax? Favorite movies or tv shows? Hobbies?

Well, obviously I read, but I also like TV and movies. My current favorite shows are: HUMAN TARGET, LEVERAGE, BIG BANG THEORY and NCIS. I also like to mix a bit of reality tv into my viewing. Favs are TOP CHEF and DANCING WITH THE STARS.


What gets your creative juices going? Do you write to music, and do you want to share your playlist?

I do use playlists to gin up the creative juices. I create one for each book, because my characters have different tastes. The songs tend to filter into the book, so I have to go in and remove them when I edit, because you can’t use songs without proper permissions. I did post playlists for my last two books. Back when I wrote earlier books, I had to create my own music mixes. Wow, does that date me.


"All writers must have cats, especially if they write fantasy or speculative fiction." Do you have a stand on this one? Any cute pictures of your kitty or other pet?

We do have a cat, though technically he belongs to my son and loves only him. Me he tolerates because I feed him (and my son is now at college). He is quirky and demanding. Only likes fresh water, but won’t drink from a pet fountain. Can tell time (DST messes him up more than it messes me up!). And can whine like nobody’s business when I don’t do what he wants, when he wants it. He is bitter and suspicious, which helps us get along when the son’s not around.


Any advice you'd want to share about writing?

The advice I always give is: reject rejection. There will always be people who will tell you that you can’t, or what you shouldn’t do or how you shouldn’t do it, but this is a business littered with people who went over and around barriers to get where they wanted to do go (legally, of course!). DO YOUR RESEARCH. KNOW WHAT YOU’RE GETTING INTO, and you’ll like it better.


Are there any special appearances or events coming up that you want to mention?

I’ll be running release contests to celebrate GIRL GONE NOVA debuting in print and e. I have a contest page on my website, so check back often to see what’s going on! http://www.perilouspauline.com/


Here are more ways to find out about and meet Pauline:

http://www.perilouspauline.com/
http://twitter.com/paulinejones
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Pauline-Baird-Jones/
http://perilouslyyours.blogspot.com/
http://www.myspace.com/perilouspauline
http://worldsapage.blogspot.com/

And get this, for one lucky person who comments on the blogs for the Broad Universe Blog Out, Pauline will randomly pick someone to receive either a digital or print copy of A TEXAS BOX OF CHOCOLATES anthology!

So, leave Pauline or Trish a comment!

Broad Universe Blog Out: Tracy S. Morris

Tracy S. Morris is the next beautiful Broad I get to introduce you to in this Great Broad Universe Blog-Out! I had the opportunity to meet Tracy in person at Dragon*Con last year, where I heard her hilarious reading from Bride of Tranquility. I was so happy to hear a piece of it again when she sent me her recording for the Broad Universe Broad Pod of Romance. You have to listen just for the "reedeeculous Frainch acceaint" - seriously! (Just make sure you are not drinking anything over your keyboard.)

Tracy, please, tell us about your writing! What genre do you prefer to write? What books, stories, other publications that you've written are your personal favorites? Anything new coming up?

Mostly I write urban fantasy. Or more accurately, rural fantasy since the settings are generally towns in the Ozarks with smaller populations. My best known work is the Tranquility series, which is sort of what you would get if Jeff Foxworthy wrote the X-Files and set every episode in the town of Cicely, Alaska. The second book in the series, Bride of Tranquility, just received an honorable mention for the Darrell Award.

My tendency is to write offbeat, satirical genre stories.

In June, one of my short stories will be released in the Yard Dog press Rednecks vs. Zombies anthology, A Stitch in Time Saves None. This is the 5th anthology set within the Bubbas of the Apocalypse shared universe.


What inspired you to become an author?

I was a huge reader before I ever wrote, but I made the decision to write when I was about 12 years old. I can't remember just what it was that I read at the time, but I put the book down thinking that I would love to write like that and put out books and short stories.


What about you as a person? What do you do to relax? Favorite movies or tv shows? Hobbies?

I actually spend a lot of time in front of the computer. My day job involves writing content for websites. I write a lot of how-to articles, travel articles and gardening articles. No surprise that my hobbies include photography, travel and gardening. Things that I can get dirty doing, as opposed to sitting in front of a computer. If I have down time, I try to read for fun.


What gets your creative juices going? Do you write to a music, and do you want to share your playlist?

I don't write to music because it's distracting. Stirring music makes me want to jump up, run around the house, choreograph the next fight scent that I am going to write, etc. I actually carry a journal and pen with me everywhere so that I can write when the inspiration strikes. Usually it strikes when I have to be in a meeting and I'm daydreaming, so at least I can look like I'm taking notes.


"All writers must have cats, especially if they write fantasy or speculative fiction." Do you have a stand on this one? Any cute pictures of your kitty or other pet?

I'm not a cat person. I've got two Shiba Inu puppies that my husband and I adopted. They keep me company while I'm writing. Mostly they lay around getting fat. Occasionally when the mood strikes me to get in shape they will take a run with me. Dogs have friends. Cats have staff.

I used to have three ferrets, which are the inspiration behind the ferrets in my detective novels. They're partially a tip of the hat to all the great pet mysteries out there. The thing with ferrets is that they're not really focused animals. So while dog and cat detectives might help their owners out, a ferret will be off sleeping in your sock drawer or hiding your keys.


What organizations do you recommend for those wanting to become writers? Any advice you'd like to share about writing?

Writing is a process of collecting rejection letters. Don't get discouraged, because rejection is a part of it. Today was a good example for me. I checked the mailbox and found a certificate for an Honorable Mention award that I was recently given by Writers of the Future tucked in next to a rejection letter from a major publisher.

I would also suggest finding a good (emphasis on good) writing group. That kind of mentorship is invaluable to your growth as a writer. If your writers group is not helpful, or if it's just stroking your ego, it's time to move on.


Any special appearances or events coming up that you want to mention?

I will be at ConQuest in Kansas City on May 28-30, and then Soonercon in Oklahoma City June 4-6. Soonercon is helping my publisher, Yard Dog Press celebrate their 15th anniversary. They will be releasing their anthology A Stitch in Time Saves None at the convention.


How can we find out more about you, Tracy?

The best way is through my website: http://www.tracysmorris.com/
All my other accounts including, facebook, twitter, livejournal link through that.

Broad Universe Blog Out: Brenna Lyons

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Broad Universe Blog Out: Lynn Flewelling

On this second post of the Great Broad Universe Blog Out, it's my pleasure to introduce you - for a second time to Novel Friend - to Lynn Flewelling! Lynn has posted here before about loving your characters, and I'm glad to host her again.
Lynn is the author of some fabulous books and has grown a loyal fan base with her characters that challenge sexual conventions. She is also hosting a writer's workshop in a CRUISE this spring!

Lynn, what made you into a writer?
The inability to stop daydreaming when I grew up.

So, please, tell us about your writing: What genre do you prefer to write? What books, stories, other publications that you've written are your personal favorites? Anything new coming up?

I am a fantasy novelist, author of the ongoing Nightrunner Series and the Tamír Triad. I have a few short stories in anthos to my credit, but that's not my forte.

My favorite short story is "Perfection," which appears in Elemental: The Tsunami Relief Anthology. All of the contributors donated the profits to the relief efforts for the 2004 tsunami in Sri Lanka.

As far as my books go, I'm especially fond of The Bone Doll's Twin, the first book of the Tamír Triad. It's dark fantasy, it's a ghost story, it's a hidden child story, and it deals with issues of gender and identity. As for the Nightrunner Series, they're all so different that I can't really claim a favorite. I modeled the series on the Sherlock Holmes model; a series of book-length adventures loosely tied together, but complete in themselves, although some of them are duologies within the series, rather than a single long epic. The main characters are rather dashing spies who solve problems with wits as often as they do with weapons. They are both men and end up becoming lovers as well, although that is not the focus of the books, just an aspect of their characters.

My upcoming publication is the fifth book in the series, titled The White Road. That's coming out on May 25. It's the sequel to Shadows Return—one of those duologies I mentioned. At the moment I'm at work on a sixth Nightrunner book, with a seventh under contract.

What's the best or most memorable piece of fan mail you ever received? What's the worst/weirdest?

I do get a lot of fan mail from readers all over the world. For the best, I can't really narrow it down to a single letter so much as a type: many gay readers have written to thank me for Seregil and Alec, heroes they can identify with. They've used the books to get through rough times in their lives, even to come out to family and friends. When I created the characters, I never imagined anything like that.

The weirdest fan letter, if you can call it that, was definitely one I got from a man who wrote to tell me, at length, in tiny hand printing, over six sheets of paper, how I was "destroying the fabric of the American family." The return address was a state prison.

What gets your creative juices going? Do you write to a music, and do you want to share your playlist?

Tea and music, both chosen to suit my mood. Lately I've been drinking a lot of matcha and listening to Tom Waits, Apocalytica, and the sound tracks to Alice in Wonderland and Henry V.

What is your favorite guilty pleasure (be it food, a habit, a show…)? And how do you rationalize giving into it?

"Ghost Whisperer" It's on Fridays when my work week is over, and it has ghosts in it. I'll watch just about anything that has ghosts in it.

What's the best thing about being a writer? What's the worst?

The best thing is that freedom to bring the visions from inside my head out into the world to see. I love entertaining people, and the fact that the stories I tell do that is deeply satisfying, but the actual creative act is the best of it. It's not always fun, but I can't think of anything I'd rather do.

The worst part is the isolation. Years ago I worked in an office with people I liked, and the socializing was a big part of my day. Working alone all day with only the dogs for company wears on me at times. So does being the only person at a party who does what I do. I don't live around many other writers. It's such a relief to get to a convention and sit around with other writers, comparing notes, bitching and complaining about the same things, talking shop and everyone around the table is nodding and saying "Oh I know!" It's good to be among your own.

What brought you to Broad Universe, and what do you like best about the organization?

A friend told me about Broad Universe and I appreciate it as a place that supports women writers. It's a great networking site, and I've met some great women through the organization.

What do you feel is the greatest challenge and the greatest asset of being a woman author?

To be honest, I don't think of myself in those terms most of the time. I am a writer. I write what I am moved to write and have been fortunate that my audience embraces both genders in equal measure. My agent is a woman and so is my editor. Perhaps that's smoothed my way? I don't know. As far as an asset, I think every author benefits from their own life experiences. We writers are who we are, the sum of all our parts, and we draw from it.

Any advice you'd like to share about writing?

Do it. Do the work. Write those awful stories and terrible books that you have to write on your way to becoming good. Classes and workshops can help, but you learn the most about writing by writing, and learning to look at your work with a critical eye. A good writer's group can be a wonderful resource and source of inspiration. Feedback can help you pinpoint weaknesses, and strengths in your writing. And, very importantly, when you're first starting out, don't worry whether you're "good enough." To publish? You're not. You won't be if you don't do the work. To write? All it takes is a willingness to apply pen to paper or fingers to keys on a regular basis and work on those basics: character, plot, theme, dialog, etc.

What is your favorite organizational trick for meeting all of your goals and deadlines?

Ha! I wish I had some!

What special appearances or events are coming up for you?

I'll be doing books signings at Mysterious Galaxy bookstore in San Diego on June 5, and another at some point during Comic Con, also in San Diego. In October I'll be a guest at Yaoi Con. I don't write yaoi, but because of the Nightrunner books, I have a lot of overlap with that fandom.

Most exciting of all, however, is the writing workshop I will be teaching aboard a Royal Caribbean cruise ship May 23-30. It's going to be a lot of fun. We'll be cruising in the Caribbean, and alternating between at sea workshop days, and four ports of call, days when people can get off the boat and explore exotic places. We still have some space in the workshop. The cruise price includes the cruise and all the amenities, including meals, and the workshop. For more information:
http://www.connectiontocruise.com/cruises/offerdetail.asp?priceid=1612862&sid=11239

Find out more about Lynn at any of these places:
Email: lbflewelling@roadrunner.com
Website: http://www.sff.net/people/lynn.flewelling
Live Journal: http://otterdance.livejournal.com/
Facebook Personal Page: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=532719346
Fan Page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lynn-Flewelling/145593970532?ref=ts
Yahoo Groups: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Flewelling
Twitter: http://twitter.com/LynnFlewelling

"The LJ is my main hangout these days, but I repost to the FB fan page, Yahoo, and Twitter, too."

Lynn also has a special treat for anyone who comments!!! She will send bookmarks to the first 10 people who comment and the eleventh person to comment will get a signed copy of her newest release, The White Road, as soon as it comes out.

So, leave comments for Lynn!! (Or me, or anything - but leave a comment! J I will count you no matter if you are on LJ, Facebook, OR Blogger!)