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!)

Broad Universe Blog Out: Jaleta Clegg

Welcome to the Broad Universe Blog-Out Tour I've been talking about!

The first bodacious Broad on this tour is the woman who had this fabulous idea to start with: Aleta Clegg. Thank you, Aleta, for being on my blog and coming up with this idea!

Aleta Clegg, who writes as Jaleta Clegg, was born some time ago. She's filled the years since dabbling in many things - cooking, sewing, rock hounding, costuming, quilting, slaughtering virtual zombies, freeing zillions of Snoods, and of course, much storytelling. Aleta caught the writing bug over fifteen years ago although she has only recently reached publication status. Her first novel, Nexus Point: The Fall of the Altairan Empire Book One, came out in December 2010. The second one is scheduled for release in early 2011.She further describes herself, "I live in Utah with a horde of my own children, my husband, and one elderly, toothless cat. Cats are required for SF/F authors, aren't they?"

How can we find you? Website, Facebook, Twitter, blog, etc. - please share your public links.

My website is http://www.jaletac.com/, Facebook under Jaleta Clegg, Twitter under ursulasquid, and my blog, The Far Edge of Normal, on Blogspot.


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 write mainly science fiction - space opera, where the characters and stories are the main focus. My first novel, Nexus Point came out late last year. It's a tale of desperate survival on a primitive planet. Only sort of - the main character literally crashes into the middle of a undercover investigation into drug smuggling on a planet that, for cultural reasons can't know, about advanced technology. Complicated? Yes. Add in a dash of romance to complicate everything further. It was lot of fun to write. I absolutely love the characters.

I've got several short stories in print, mostly comic horror. I'm working on a vampire story that just makes me laugh. What happens to the poor vampires when people become too medicated with high cholesterol? I love twisting things on their heads and poking fun at tradition. The first section of the vampire story is on my website as a teaser.


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

Computer games like Plants vs. Zombies. Slaughtering zombies is very therapeutic. Virtual violence makes me feel so much better when I'm frustrated. I rationalize it as self-therapy. It's cartoon violence so it doesn't count, right? And the game includes levels where you get to play the zombies so it teaches empathy for the underdog. I can rationalize just about anything. I'm a fiction writer. And a mom.


What is your favorite comfort food or drink to help you write? What do you save as reward treats for meeting goals and deadlines?

Chocolate, in very large doses. Although I learned the hard way that fudgesicles and keyboards don't mix.


"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 laugh. So many author photos include their cats you'd think it was a requirement, especially if you write speculative fiction. We own a cat, the second one recently died. Considering she was 16, it was about time. The one we have left is just as old, toothless, and a source of endless amusement. I'm not much of a pet person, though. I can kill any houseplant in a matter of weeks. How do you think pets fare? The cat belongs to my husband and kids, not me. He stole a spot in my author picture by climbing into my lap while we were shooting. As soon as the camera left, so did he. Silly animal.


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

Main advice: Just do it. Write, and write, then write more. Keep at it. Eventually you'll think, "This is good enough to be published." At that point, find some good editors who aren't necessarily your friends to read through it and rip it apart for you. If you can't handle that, you aren't ready for publication.

For those still looking for direction and help, Forward Motion (http://www.fmwriters.com/) is great, although it can be overwhelmingly large. Critters (http://www.critters.org/) is also a great resource if you're looking for feedback and aren't quite ready for the brutal editing phase.


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

I'm a relatively new member. I only joined last November. I ran into a group of "broads" at World Fantasy. They were doing a rapid fire reading. I loved the feeling of support and the positive enthusiasm they had. So many online groups are critical and negative, I've never felt that from Broad Universe. It's a great way to find that extra support and encouragement all authors need. It's also great to find other women who are sci-fi geeks, just like me.

Broad Universe also doesn't discriminate on the basis of your publication list. Whether you're an established author with multiple books on your resumé or a newbie who hasn't published a thing anywhere, you get the same support and friendship. I'm new to publishing so this group is just what I need.


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

Finding time. I seriously need a wife or at least an Alice from Brady Bunch - someone to cook, clean, schedule appointments, do the shopping, pick up the carpool, deal with the kids, clean up after the cat, etc ad naseum. I love being a wife and mom but it doesn't leave a whole lot of time for writing most days.

The greatest asset? We're few and far between in the SF field, which makes us stand out. And we have this great support group called Broad Universe. We also have a great legacy left by other women authors. Andre Norton is my writing hero. Her list of published works is more than just impressive - it's astounding. And she did it in the days when women were not supposed to have careers.


What the greatest lesson you've learned so far as an author?

Be willing to take criticism, but always with a big dose of salt. Hearing people pick your writing apart hurts. Writers want people to gush over their work with positive remarks, but most of what you hear will be criticism, what you did wrong. Learn to listen without getting defensive. But also learn which opinions matter to you. I put a lot more weight on my editor's critique than I do in a neighbor's.


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

Buy my kids new video games. I'm guaranteed at least a few days of peace. Quiet comes only if I lock myself in my bedroom.


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

CONduit in Salt Lake City UT the end of May. Fun local con. I do the hospitality suite. This is my first year attending as a published author not just a local fan. I'm excited for our Guest of Honor - Barbara Hambly, another one on my list of author favorites.

Priestess of the Eggstone: The Fall of the Altairan Empire Book 2 will be out early next year.


Thank you so much, Jaleta, for visiting my blog and putting together this wonderful blog tour for all of us!

Please leave a comment for Jaleta or Trish… and keep following our great Broad Blog Out tour!

More Food, and More Feminism

Foodie deadlines were about to usurp my Friday Blog, but then I read this great article on Copyblogger, and decided, "Damnit, I'm doing my blog!"

So, my blog:

I have 2 cool food deadlines today. One is about the packaging of dried fruit & nuts in the produce section, and how that caters to different demographics who buy these products. J That should be out in Produce Business in May. The other one was a most excellent food review that you can catch in Worcester Magazine next week. Hint: I refuse to use the Wii Fit until Monday due to the caloric intake.

xx

A quick, fun cooking thing to share: Dessert Pizzas.

I don't cook pizza often, and I seriously cheat with dough. The only dough that works for me (and no, they aren't paying me to say this) is the Pillsbury pizza dough. Even when it rips (like it did last night), it's the easiest to manipulate for me. I can easily spread it out in a foiled and oiled cookie sheet with minimal effort.

I made 2 pizzas last night. One of leftover deli meats, Easter dinner, peppadews, hot peppers, red onions, mushrooms and cheese. (Wicked delicious; pizza is great for leftovers in general!) The other was a dessert pizza, which I'll share with you.

1 package strawberries
2 lemons (I happened to have Meyer lemons, which are extra sweet)
handful oats
a few tablespoons vanilla sugar (sugar in which I keep vanilla bean pods for flavor).

Slice strawberries, zest and squeeze lemons into strawberries, add sugar to sweeten to your preference. Let sit about 30 minutes. Prepare pizza crust, spread strawberries and juice over pizza crust, sprinkle with more sugar and oats (to catch some of the liquid), and bake per crust instructions.

You can play with this with just about any fruit-pie filling you can dream up… and possibly plenty of others. (I can imagine a very simple cinnamon sugar topping with dollops of cream cheese.)

Surprise someone you love with dessert pizza!

xx

And for the Feminism Friday Alliteration, next week is a week's worth of guest blogs!!

Several of my wonderful colleagues and friends from Broad Universe are joining me for a great Broad Blog-Out!

I mentioned it already, but I'm all for promo-ing the **** out of this because it's so awesome, so here's a sneak peek - once again:

Jaleta Clegg will kick us off on April 11th.

"I live in Utah with a horde of my own children, my husband, and one elderly, toothless cat. Cats are required for SF/F authors, aren't they?"

Lynn Flewelling will appear on April 12th.

"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."

Brenna Lyons will appear on April 13th.

"Starting at about age 11, my teachers insisted on me entering anything they found for me. One even took my work to a local newspaper without telling me and suggested they publish me. […] I’d been published in recognized venues since I was 13."

Tracy Morris will appear on April 14th.

"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."

Pauline Baird Jones will appear on April 15th.

"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?"

Kaz Augustine will appear on April 16th.

"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."

Now, each of us crazy Broads has a different style of giving good blog (as Indie Biz Chicks says). A few of us came up with our own questions we wanted answered, and others of us (like Tracy Morris) have fabulous journalism backgrounds, so they outright turned the interviews into even cooler articles.

Please peruse around and check out a little bit about each of us bodacious Broads!

Writing Community

I've said it on many occasions, but I think it's important: Writers shouldn't be islands.

I do spend many hours on my own writing when no one is around, but it's less than you might think. Just about any time I want, I can find one of my writing friends online and reach out to them if I need help, and I respond when they call on me. I belong to a lot of wonderful groups, like Broad Universe, the DragonWriters, my Smarthinking colleagues, and many wonderful individuals who I can call on via Twitter or instant messaging. Being part of this virtual community is no less powerful than being part of an in-person community – and in many ways, its better.

A few months back, the Guardian ran an article of tips from famous/accomplished writers and someone said something along the lines of it being doubtful that good writing comes from someone who has an Internet connection. I couldn't disagree more. Not only are there great writers who are very connected online – Neil Gaiman, for example – but more agents and publishers require authors to promote themselves (online is great for that!), and humans are naturally social creatures. It's just healthier – mentally, spiritually, and even physically – for us to build a community.

My online community has done some amazing stuff for me – and I'm happy to return the favors.

A true and excellent community doesn't happen overnight, or even over weeks or months. In fact, it's always changing, developing, and getting better based on your interaction. Rather than give you a big old "how to" article (because if you search, you'll find plenty of those anyway), let me share some of my community and how we relate.

My friend, Kelly Harmon, who I met through Broad Universe, just released a new short story and a novella. I loved both, so I left her reviews on Amazon. Kelly and I also trade critiques with each other semi-regularly. We got to meet in person at last year's Balticon, and I stayed at her beautiful home. When we manage to gasp breaths of freedom in our crazy schedules, we drop each other a "How are you?" note. (Hmm… Ok, that last line is true for a lot of my friends, actually…)

Aimee Weinstein, aka TokyoWriter, is someone I met through my tutoring job at Smarthinking. Because she's in Tokyo, and I'm just a night owl, we often found our schedules overlapping, so we ended up great "Do you have a minute for a second opinion on this problem?" friends. Rather than stay completely business-like, we took time to find out more about each other and ended up being friends, even after she left Smarthinking to freelance entirely. I am proud to say she's beaten me to a book deal. An idea of her writing: She sent a 2nd draft out to agents and was getting personalized rejections (not form letters) based on partial requests. Her writing is that good!

Christy Tohara, my writing partner, is my longest online-based friend. We met over some fan-fic role playing games about 8 years ago, discovered we had a fabulous writing chemistry, and have been friends and creative partners since. I met her in-person for the first time in 2008 at the Bad-Ass Faeries 2: Just Plain Bad release party – where we celebrated our first fiction publication – individually and as a team.

I met Victoria Durm under another name only a year ago at Conbust in Northampton, MA. I gave her some basic writing business advice, and she gave me (and Chris) a great review on our short story. We've since become friends and each other's cheerleaders.

Julie Radachy and Jen Barber are two more colleagues-become-friends from Smarthinking. Both are absolutely fantastic editors who have come to my last-minute rescue for much of my writing. Also, Jen has magical manuscript manipulation powers, and Julie is a networking/opportunity genius.

Back in 2002, I was part of A.C. Crispin's writing workshop at Dragon*Con. Our particular class became very close, and I regularly chat with Kim Stotler and Karen Schuler. We cheer each other on even beyond writing and enjoy each other's company while slogging through the less-fun aspects of writing and life.

Morven Westfield, Inanna Arthen, Phoebe Wray, Jennifer Pelland, Elaine Isaak, and Justine Graykin are all part of the most active segment of what we call the New England Broads. We all started off only knowing each other virtually through Broad Universe, but realized we were all in close enough geographic proximity to do local events together, and support each other in-person as well as online.

All of these people are those with whom I've spent many years chatting with online, and while I have had the great opportunity to finally give in-person hugs to some of them, some I have not. Many got to know me first through communities, like Broad Universe, Editorial Freelancers Association, Smarthinking, gaming groups, etc., and then we discovered we had something extra in common or that we had some sort of chemistry that made us want to spend more time together.

Now, not all of these people regularly chat with each other and are friends of each other (though some are), but we have all helped each other at least indirectly. When I promote these individuals' work, I share my community of friends with them, and they share theirs with me. Sometimes if there is a topic that I'm not as familiar with in someone's writing, I can check my community to see who would know better than I would. People who get crits from me (and in critiques I've received), more than one person has contributed – even if it's just to check a grammar rule.

Maintaining a community of writing friends enriches the life and writing of everyone in the community. It takes time to build, and a desire for mutual support and honor, but it's worth it beyond any measurement.

What kind of community are you developing around yourself?

Organizing April

If you receive my newsletter, you may have seen that I tried to keep April pretty free because of birthdays. If you don't get my newsletter… and want it… let me know, and I'll add you to my list.

Anyway, so, April. My birthday is the 30th, the H-of-A's is the 3rd… and there's a bunch in between and around. H-of-A & I throw a huge party in the middle of the month to celebrate them all. It's a very busy month… but a whole lot of fun!

It's not quite as "easy" as I planned, though.

This April, I've also got a few non-fic deadlines too, which will take some time. I'm also doing a Tarot event at Stained Glass Creations and Beyond. I've also got to do more recording for the April Broad Pod intros/summaries. And put it together. And then watch the tutorials of how to make them smaller. And try it… and post them. You get the picture.

I've also got a new adventure this month. I'm sharing a blog tour with several fabulous members of Broad Universe. I'm starting next week, and I'll open with more details for the next Manic Monday… but here's a little taste…

Jaleta Clegg will kick us off on April 11th.

"I live in Utah with a horde of my own children, my husband, and one elderly, toothless cat. Cats are required for SF/F authors, aren't they?"

Lynn Flewelling will appear on April 12th.

"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."

Brenna Lyons will appear on April 13th.

"Starting at about age 11, my teachers insisted on me entering anything they found for me. One even took my work to a local newspaper without telling me and suggested they publish me. […] I’d been published in recognized venues since I was 13."

Tracy Morris will appear on April 14th.

"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."

Pauline Baird Jones will appear on April 15th.

"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?"

Kaz Augustine will appear on April 16th.

"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'm wicked excited to have gotten to know these women more through these interviews - and I'm happy for the opportunity to share and spread their audiences. We've got a few different interviews floating around out there, so check out all of our blogs!

Hooray, April!

Funds, Food, Feminists… and other mostly positive F words

… because all the negative ones have been flying around all week since I have finally gotten around to do my business taxes. The Husband-of-Awesome delivered them while I made a dinner of paninis and spinach salad.

If you freelance or write, seriously, forget what I said in the interviews that will be coming out all this month…

GET AN ACCOUNTANT!!!!

My accountant is Made of Awesome.

Yes, I do a lot of work for prep… but if he hadn't guided me on how to make tax-friendly spreadsheets, my 10 or so hours of prep with no tears and minor headaches and jaw-clenching would have been 40 hours with major tears, screaming, stuck jaw, and God only knows what else.

And it's getting better every year. This year, I finally made a minor-yet-big change on my "Make Sure You Get Paid And Your 1099 Matches The Amount" spread sheets and added a "mileage" column. Sooo, when I update my pay info, I remember that I DO NOT want to spend 6-8 hours on Google maps next April as I count down hours until meeting my accountant.

Oh, and speaking of those "Make Sure You Get Paid And Your 1099 Matches The Amount" spread sheets, the super-fabulous award goes to Stephanie Sanders-Ferris, from whom I had a 1099 within the first week of January, and it perfectly matched my records, making the time-spent-for-taxes for my Massachusetts Horse work less than an 30 minutes - with 28 of said minutes being me looking up the mileage for where I drove for interviews.

Admittedly, I am blessed with a bunch of awesome editors for whom I work… but, < 30 minutes of tax reckoning means a lot to me this week.

So, perhaps, not only Get an Accountant, but get an accountant who will advise you on how to make it easier for when you will inevitably procrastinate calculating your earnings until the week in which you are scheduled to file with your accountant.

Did I mention I <3 my accountant?

I should bake him cookies…

… speaking of cookies, since it's Foodie Friday, the super Jaleta Clegg has this delicious sounding recipe I MUST TRY here.

And, you may notice, before you get to the recipe, that she has organized this WICKED COOL Blog Out for a bunch of us Broads!

Pauline Baird, who has the wonderfully titled "Perils of Pauline" blog, already has my interview up!

Here's the who-all of the lot of Broads throwing this crazy party. And I can't say I'm not doubly thrilled as it's in April - my favorite month of the year. Between mine and H-of-A's birthdays - along with most of our closest friends - and the Big-Arse Birthday Bash… Yeah, April rocks! Join us for this online party:

Jaleta Clegg, The Far Edge of Normal, http://jaletaclegg.blogspot.comLynn Flewelling, Talk in the Shadows, http://otterdance.livejournal.com/Brenna Lyons, The Lyons' Den, http://brennalyonsden.blogspot.com Trisha Wooldridge, A Novel Friend, http://www.anovelfriend.com/blog.htmTracy Morris, Rambling Roses, Purple Prose, and other Asinine Alliteration, http://writertracy.livejournal.com/Pauline Baird Jones, Perils of Pauline, http://paulinebjones.livejournal.com/
Kaz Augustin, Fusion Despatches, http://blog.ksaugustin.com/

Best part? It'll be damn near impossible for the rain to mess with this virtual party!