Over the moon

Wolf Moon at Venice Beach. Technically, I shot this the day before the biggest, closest full moon of the year, but it was a mighty pretty sky, including the sea haze.

Did you go crazy or get creative with this moon?

I was dealing with life stuff away from home, but I did some reading and finished Diana Wynne Jones' House of Many Ways, a sequel to Howl's Moving Castle. As usual, she delighted me with imaginative story and humor.

Then I picked up The Dead & the Gone, the companion to Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer. The moon seems a little sinister after Pfeffer hit it with an asteroid, pushing it closer to earth and disrupting tides, atmosphere, magma--shoving us into a volatile world. And if you think this is just sci-fi/fantasy, remember that scientists are concerned about future hits by large asteroids. They aren't unknown. In 1908, an object from space decimated 770 acres of forest in Siberia. Pfeffer's books are worth reading for more than pulse-pounding disaster, but for what they say about human expectations and what really matters when the world as we know it becomes inhospitable.

Now for some non-dystopian, crazy fun with the Over the Top Award, which I received from Yat-Yee Chong. Thank you!

The rules are: Answer the questions with one word and pass the award along to five bloggers.

Your cell phone: Awesome.

Your hair: Baby-fine.

Your mother: Tough.

Your father: Distant.

Your favorite food: Pecans.

Your dream last night: Lost.

Your favorite drink: Water.

Your dream goal: Author.

What room are you in: Studio.

Your hobby: Photography.

Your fear: Rottweilers.

Where do you see yourself in six years: Published.

Where were you last night: Venice.

Something you aren't: Extroverted.

Muffins: Cinnamon.

Wish list item: House.

Where did you grow up: Coastal.

Last thing you did: Walked.

What are you wearing: Sweater.

Your TV: Netflix.

Your pets: Gone.

Friends: Supportive.

Your life: Complicated.

Your mood: Determined.

Missing someone: Daughter.

Vehicle: Miata.

Something you aren't wearing: Heels.

Your favorite store: Book.

Your favorite color: Aqua.

When was last time your laughed: Today.

Last time you cried: Book.

Your best friend: Caring.

One place you go to over and over: Seashore.

Facebook: Unused.

Favorite place to eat: Pho.

I pass this along to five bloggers who go over the top in entirely different ways--from gorgeous writing to words to chew on:

Julie Dao

Donna Hole

Stephanie Thornton

Liza Carens Salerno

Myra McEntire

Do with it as you will, my friends. No strings attached.

Finding an opening to fit the payoff

On the way to critique group yesterday I saw this scene and had to jump out of my car and shoot it on my handy cell phone. Flowers and snowy mountains are the bounty of California after it rains. The payoff.

At critique, I read the first chapter of my novel-in-progress, Sea Daughters, and got good feedback. But no one addressed an issue nagging in the back of my mind. I've been thinking it was a slow opening, and, these days, that can get a rejection in five minutes flat.

I decided to speak up and then found out there were concerns. One person suggested a starting point that I think will increase the mystery and tension immediately. The material was all there, but it needed an adjustment--move one thing up front, delete another scene.

The current SCBWI Bulletin has an article "Page One" by Karen Schwabach that suggests you should write the first page last, after you know what you are offering the reader, because it is a promise, a contract you need to keep. Does the beginning hint at what the story will be, where it will end?

I may write and rewrite the opening more times, but I feel like the changes I'm making today are a big step in the right direction. Have you found your opening only after you secured your ending?

P.S. I am going to be offline a couple of days. Happy writing, everyone.

Moment of inhale

Rocks shift. Clacking, grating underfoot. Overhead, two gulls flap and screech at the wind. The air is filled with wild hints of briny depths.
Breakers rear and roar, then finish with a swish and hiss. Fingers of white water drag small rocks in a clattering mass.

Everyone is looking for what the sea spit out. Kelp is strewn like golden entrails. A few tough shells, built for battering, lie spent in the tiny patches of sand.

I find a quarter, it's markings obscured by a layer of hard green and brown tarnish.

The sea gives and takes back and gives again.

Yesterday, the sea gave me setting and atmosphere for my novel-in-progress. I may not have written words in the manuscript, but I found them while I basked in the sun that followed the storms. I hope you found inspiration in those moments of inhale, too.

P.S. After posting this, I realized I should mention that I also went to a boat marina to pick up some more inspiration for that story. I wandered into a yacht dealership, not the sort of place I frequent, and met a very nice man who tried to answer my questions and gave me a magazine full of useful information and pictures. You never know what you will find by looking and reaching out. *smiles*

Watching the rain fall

Rain continues in California, and I am a lucky one who has weathered these storms without disaster or even minor disturbance. That is water, not icicles, streaming from the roof of the lovely Spanish-style apartment building where I live.

Most years, rainfall is miserly in this semi-arid zone, which is why I wrote this haiku the day before the rains began:

with a cloud of dust

a blue heron lands upon a

Montezuma cypress

So I am thrilled to find our very seasonal greenery already blanketing brown hillsides. Some years it turns our golden California into an almost-Ireland for a little while.

Meanwhile, the writing is coming in its own deluge. Yesterday, I wrote 2,000 words on that novel in progress I had started during NaNoWriMo. And since I know where the next couple of chapters are going, I think the next few days might be productive, too.

Oh, and I made a big pot of soup and applesauce cake. Perfect rainy day fare.

I hope everyone is staying safe and finding their own stride. Have a good weekend.

Between storms

between storms I walk,

jumping new streams, inhaling

sweet sharpness of cedar

We have been drenched by rain in sunny Southern California, resulting in flooding, accidents and downed trees, but also in the delight of blustery wind, pink cheeks, pattering hail and sparkling freshness. I walked, I clicked photos, I wrote.

Most especially, I've written almost 3,000 words in the last couple of days after two dry weeks. Yay, me. Hope you're refreshed, too.

C'mon, get happy

Happiness is contagious, so here's to spreading it around like swirls of frosting. This bright award came to me from Stephanie Thornton at Hatshepsut: The Writing of a Novel. Stephanie is a history teacher who is funny, informative, and she sometimes teases with fascinating tidbits about a mysterious Egyptian ruler. A big thank you to Stephanie for the award and for saying something nice about the occasional bursts of little poems I write here.

In the spirit of passing this along, I am to tell you ten things that make me happy. These are NOT in order of importance, just random.

1) Writers who blog and enrich my life with their stories.

This morning I went to Lisa Schroeder's blog and watched a video of her doing drive-by booksignings. It made me smile. Then I read the links to interviews of her by other bloggers. And I smiled some more. Lisa said in one that she doesn't try to write messages in her YA books, which are often about learning to deal with loss. She said she would just like readers to gain a new appreciation for how precious life is, to realize that each day is a gift.

2) Friends and family.

Last night I went to a welcoming of the New Year, somewhat belatedly, at the home of one of my critique partners. There was amazing food and good company. We were all asked to bring a photo of a pet and a story to go with it. This turned into a blast. People, even the non-writers, came up with such fun and winsome tidbits to share. Laughter is a tonic like no other.

Pretty much nothing brightens my day more than hearing my daughter's voice on the other end of the phone and listening to her comments on life. She is a keen observer of the world.

3) Books. Maybe I should say right here that you can bury me with books, just in case there's any chance I can take them to the afterlife.

4) Art, whether it's beautiful or striking or haunting or thought-provoking. What I love is to see creativity through someone else's eyes.

5) Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I will watch it and laugh and cry until they bury me with all those books.

6) Listening to birds in the morning. Hearing the trees alive with cheerios, chirps, whistles and shout-outs.

7) Saying hello to a stranger on the street and having them smile in return.

8) A magnificent thunderstorm.

9) Walking barefoot in the sand.

10) Sunrise. Sunset.

Of course, I'm to pass this happiness along. This is always too hard, but I will name a few, and I know not everybody does awards, so there is no pressure to accept or pass this along. Only if you please.

Bish Denham at Random Thoughts

Valerie Geary at Something to Write About

Laura Canon at The Paris Hat

Melissa at Chasing the Dream

Shannon Messenger at Ramblings of a Wannabe Scribe

Sherrinda at A Writer Wannabe

Yat-Yee Chong

Wishing everyone a week of happiness and peace.

A little haiku for friends

Today's post is simple but from the heart. I promised Shannon Messenger some poetry in honor of Lisa Schroeder's release of CHASING BROOKLYN.

In the spirit of fun, I was going to post some zombie haiku, but with the suffering in Haiti right now, I'm in no mood for zombies. So instead, I've dusted off two other haiku and found some photos in my vault that at least catch the spirit of the sea and the solace I find there.

pewter sky and sea

cut by the steel-edge

dive of a pelican

translucent waves break,

churn past black mussel hedges

of a limpet town

(I know, I know. This is a sea anemone that I shot in San Clemente and not the tide pool I found in Ireland that inspired those words. But you forgive me, right?)

Shannon has a great interview with Lisa, tons of fun and a contest going on at Ramblings of a Wannabe Scribe, so go check it out. And be sure to visit Lisa Schroeder for her current guest author musing on dreams. Lisa's books, by the way, have nothing to do with zombies. They are lyrical tales of loss and love and renewal. Please forgive me if I'm the one rambling today.

(Blogger is really messing up the line breaks. I don't know if I can fix it)

Surviving planet Earth

Tuesday's devastating earthquake in Haiti, not to mention massive tsunamis in recent years, makes chillingly real the premise of Susan Beth Pfeffer's Life As We Knew It. The book came out in 2006, but I just read it so it's on my mind. We live on a planet in a universe where nature can upturn our lives in moments.

Pfeffer's YA novel, which was followed with The Dead and the Gone, grips you by the throat and keeps you struggling for breath as a girl and her family try to survive the climatic aftereffects of an asteroid striking the moon.

This story is more than a disaster tale, although there is plenty of devastation. At its heart it's a tale about family and love and hope, even when it seems there can be no hope left in the world.

Besides recommending this as a good read to anyone who has yet to discover it, I think as writers we can learn a thing or two about crafting a gripping tale with emotional heart.

I'm keeping it short and bittersweet today, but I do want to shout out a big hello and welcome to all the new people who have left comments and/or made themselves followers. I'm always humbled and honored you enjoy coming here.

The Fire in the Lake

Sometimes

I dance with bears

or run with wolves.

I've been known to

sing with meadowlarks,

see through hawks' eyes

and leap with dolphins.

Sometimes

I can not

dance

or run or sing or see or leap

Until I find

the fire

in the lake.

Secrets of the trees

One of my many works-in-progress has lots of trees, but I'm revealing no more than that. It is an odd storyline that requires full gestation.

I love trees--walking amongst them, resting under them, balancing on solid, old limbs. I'm compelled to touch bark, and find such variety--hard as stone or soft as flannel, smooth as parchment or rough as a pineapple. Sometimes I pick up fallen leaves and keep them awhile. I found one leaf large as a dinner platter, which is now a crisp, curled giant sticking out of a bookcase.

On a couple of walks, I saw these strange tree groupings. The one on the left is an intertwined oak tree with two different palms--date and queen. I don't know how they inhabit the same space so congenially. Each is massive, separate and yet part of a whole.

The picture on the right shows one tree trunk wrapped around its partner in a woody embrace that lasted until someone sawed them down. Did their arms wrap around each other too? Is there a story in this tragic embrace?

Trees ask so little and give much--nuts, fruits, shade, shelter. They can even make rain. They adjust to the caprices of nature, even if they can't always adjust to mankind. Some withstand howling salt winds; others live in deserts, miserly with their leaves and hording water deep within their bulbous trunks.

The variety is amazing. Banyan trees send roots big as elephant legs down from branches. Mangroves grow in water. There are cypress trees in Mexico that were living when pharaohs ruled Egypt.

What would it be like to burrow deep into the dark earth, searching for nutrients, bringing molecules of life from the dark to light? Or to experience the exultation of reaching up, up, up towards the sun and sky. I'd like my life to be as rooted and glorious as a tree. Or maybe, at least, my writings. Are you fascinated or inspired by any element of Nature?

So much teen spirit

I'm having a can't-believe-I-just-did-that moment. I've entered some blog fests and contests, but entering Nathan Bransford's Teen Diary Contest is stomach clenching. I think I'm entry #525, which tells you how overwhelming the competition is. I know it's meant to be fun, and it is, but any time we stick our work out in public it's a bit scary.
If you entered, please leave a comment with your entry number. I'd love to read it. I've tried skimming what's there, and I've seen some that rocked my socks, but I seriously don't know how Nathan can read all these. And there will be more entered before deadline at 4 p.m. today.
It makes me think that agents and editors who do contests or take pitches all day at conferences have extra brain cells. How else could you stay sane reading or listening to that many pitches or first pages at once?
Anyway, I wrote the teen-diary entry this morning. It's new, not based on any work-in-progress, so I've really stuck my neck out. Eeek.
And dang but if tomorrow isn't when finalists and commenting begin. I shall be away most of the day on family business. I'll just have to catch up late. Best wishes to you if you entered, too.

Where haiku waits

ghosts of morning drift--

tenuous vapors of air

trapped in lake water

gnarled roots reach greedy

fingers deep beneath

the mirrored surface

I went walking--just a short break, a few blocks, perhaps, I told myself. I needed to stretch my legs after long hours at the computer. My feet kept going, knowing what my body needed. I ended up at a lake where haiku waited. I brought some images back to you with my uber-cellphone.

Here's what I have to report to Accountability Watchers. After proclaiming on this very site that my goal is to write 1,000 words a day on my novel-in-progress, Sea Daughters, I reached that goal two out of three days of this new year. I'm quite pleased because I am at a difficult turning point in the story and would probably keep trying to put it off had I not publicly set a goal. So currently 53,299 words of the first draft are written. Oh, and the day I didn't write was No-Kiss Blogfest, an absolute blast. A big shout out to all who participated and especially to Frankie Diane Mallis for hosting.

How were your first three days of 2010?

No-Kiss Blogfest is here!

Today is made of fun. Dozens of writers are posting almost-kisses for your reading delight. Links to my fellow scribes are at Frankie Writes. Trust me, you'll have a blast whether you write or read.

My snippet is from a shelved novel-in-progress that someday I may be good enough to tackle. I'm not revealing the wacky premise, but I will tell you it's tongue-in-cheek (ha!) adult fantasy. The present-day heroine, Helen, is trying to track down gods of myth because she has good cause to believe in them now. She is in Greece when she runs into Artemis and her brother, Apollo. Yes, the very Apollo that John William Waterhouse painted chasing Daphne before she chose to do something quite rash to escape his amorous advance.

Before I launch into my scene, I shall report to the Accountability Watchers that the first day of 2010 I met my stated daily goal of writing 1,000 words of my YA novel Sea Daughters. Yay!

Now onto the blogfest! This excerpt is from a yet-untitled work and takes place as Apollo joins Artemis and sees Helen for the first time:

"Who's this?" Apollo ran his languid gaze over Helen from her face to her bare legs and sandaled feet.

Before she could answer, he reached out and touched a gash on her thigh where she'd been cut by thick branches. Slow to heal, the wound was gaping and scarlet, but with Apollo's touch, it closed up and faded in moments.

"Thank you," Helen whispered, awed by this proof of his legendary healing power. Now she knew at least one part of the myth was true.

He moved in so close his face was within inches of hers. She couldn't help but notice that his skin was flawless and beardless as a boy's and his jaw and cheekbones were as finely chiseled as the statues depicted him.

"You're a pretty thing," he murmured. His breath was a caressing breeze that carried the music of a lyre. A lyre? Had she ever heard one? His lips were so close to hers, she felt as if they'd almost touched.

He had sunbeams in his hazel eyes. Or was it flecks of gold? He shimmered. Honey on his breath, silk on his fingers under her chin. She leaned toward his lips, which held a promise of nectar.

His other hand began to trace a path up her thigh. Fire in dry grass.

Helen clamped her legs together, causing Apollo to raise his golden eyebrows.

Her head felt full of cotton, her tongue thick with passion. "Remember Daphne," she blurted, finding words. It's not every day a girl turns herself into a tree rather than be a god's conquest.

He looked truly grieved. "I wear her laurel always." He pulled back his hands from Helen's skin.

She shivered, as if he'd taken the sun away. Would it have been so wrong to let him kiss her, to taste the lips of a god? Helen shook her head to clear it. Of all people, she knew the answer to that.

Reaching into the future

2010. What will it bring? Many things none of us can predict or control, but there are others we can influence.

I'm wary of New Year's resolutions or wishes, because they can undermine confidence if we set them vaguely or too far out of reach or dependent on someone else. Scottish author Nicola Morgan wrote a smart post on this.

So I've decided to set goals that I could achieve if I work at it. One of my favorite quotes comes from Thomas Edison: "Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work."

I've printed my plan and will hang it near my desk. Under a big, fancy font reading Goals 2010, I've written these items:

Write at least 1,000 words a day on Sea Daughters. Write at least half of those words before blogging, reading email or other business.

Start revising as soon as it is complete, which should be end of January or beginning of February. Use cool tips from other writers to ease this process, such as Laurie Halse Anderson's fun advice to chart the scenes on huge artist paper, using colored pens to make notes on emotional arcs and plot elements.

By March, write short and long pitches and a query letter. Put letter on Public Query Slushpile, or if I'm feeling insanely confident chum it to the Query Shark.

Research agents for best fit and start sending queries in spring.

Now that I've shouted this plan out to the world I'm more likely to stick to it. I think that's why NaNoWriMo worked for me. I said I would, so I did. Then when it was over I let other things distract me from finishing. I'm putting my overalls back on. How about you?

P.S. Almost forgot!!! A big thank you to Wendy Prior at On Words and Upwards for the Kreativ Blogger Award. As I have been honored with it before, I shall add her name in the sidebar of awards. If you aren't already, you must read her blog. She is so talented and funny.

No Kissing Allowed

Prepare yourselves for the deliciously tantalizing, hilarious or break-your-heart No Kiss Blogfest taking place Jan. 2. Frankie Diane Mallis is hosting. Each participant will write an excerpt of a kiss unconsummated. Sign up on a widget at Frankie's site if you're brave enough to put your baby out there or just click on links and lurk when the fest opens. I'm taking the dare and promise to amuse and turn up the heat.

No Kiss is a much-anticipated off-shoot of Sherrinda's Kissing Day Blogfest that drew more than 90 participants.

I am feeling majorly appreciated by my fellow bloggers. Laurel Garver at Laurel's Leaves gave me a bouquet in the Picasso Award and Victoria S. included me in the Circle of Friends. Thank you both!

I feel like a dragon sitting on a horde of awards as recently I also received (and noted and put in my sidebar) the Superior Scribbler, Silver Lining and One Lovely Blog awards but didn't have time to pass them on.

So I propose to nominate some cool bloggers I've met fairly recently and let them choose any of the five awards and make their own rules for passing them along.

Please stop by and visit:

Amalia T.

Nickles

Kelly Lyman

Elle Strauss

VR Barkowski

Solvang Sherrie

Mary Anne Gruen

Ann Victor

Yvonne

And come on everybody. I want to hear those almost-kissed stories!

The art of giving

gift 1: a notable capacity or talent 2: something voluntarily transferred by one person to another 3: the act, right or power of giving

After feasting, exchanging presents and walking a couple of times on brilliant winter beaches, I was home again this weekend. And my gift to myself was time to read one of my presents, The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson.

I had put it on my wish list after it was recommended by Beth Revis, who paid homage here to fiction that inspired her own work.

I don't want to spoil this story for anyone, so I won't give the mystery away. Jenna awakens from a long coma and searches to recover who she was. She struggles to define words and relationships. I suspected the secret long before she did but that didn't matter, because the story is about her peeling away layers of concealment to discover the truth. It is about ethics and fierce parental love. It's learning to be comfortable in your skin, no matter how different you are.

I consider this book a gift from the author, who has written a story that is as thought-provoking and meaningful as it is entertaining, and I thank Beth for noting it and my daughter for giving it to me. Consider gifting this to yourself.

While on the subject of gifts, I can't let this go by. My friend, Donna, gave me one of the neatest surprises of my life. She found old nesting boxes at an estate sale and filled them with goodies, including books and oddments addressed to the main characters of two of my novels-in-progress. I had a most glorious time discovering what was hidden in the boxes, which, by the way, deserve a story of their own. Flash fiction, perhaps?

And I have more good reading! What can be better than that? Hope you have had a grand time whatever you did, wherever you are.

Stories of love and worth

When I was little someone--probably my grandmother-- gave me Miss Flora McFlimsey's Christmas Eve, and I fell in love without even understanding that the delightful watercolor paintings were illustrated by the book's author, Mariana.

I just knew I loved the little doll who was forgotten for years in an attic with only a toy sheep who could no longer baaa and a box of tiddly-winks. She did have a mouse to talk to, though.

Miss Flora had once belonged to a girl with red-topped shoes but that girl had grown up long ago. So Flora sat in the attic, lonely in her faded silk dress and straw hat.

One year on Christmas Eve, she so wanted to see a decorated tree again she slipped downstairs

Santa showed up and realized he was one doll short. When he saw Flora he set her under the tree. The other dolls , a brand-new bride and one in a fashionable coat, laughed at her. Then her mouse friend and the angel from the top of the tree found Flora's trunk of clothes and brought out a blue velvet dress, gold locket, white gloves and hand muff.

Mariana paints a glorious page full of bonnets, parasol, pantaloons, shoes and hats that come from the trunk.

"And then the wonderful thing that she felt was about to happen, really did happen." When morning comes, Miss Flora McFlimsey is sought out and once again loved by a little girl.

Not only did I love that book, I remembered it years later and mentioned how much it had meant to me to a friend. And what did my friend do? Found me a library edition online. Miss Flora McFlimsey and I are reunited. And we feel the love.

I'm feeling lots of award love these days. Julie Dao at Silver Lining

passed along the Silver Lining Award. Julie is a YA writer with some fantastic works-in-progress. Be sure to check her out. Thank you, Julie.

I plan to do some blog links in the near future for this and two other awards. After the holidays!

And finally, I just want to sincerely wish every one, of all faiths or non-faiths, of all ethnicities and nationalities, a peaceful holiday and a most happy and prosperous New Year.

PEACE ON EARTH. That's my wish.

A great day for kissing

Are you under the mistletoe? Today is Kissing Day Blogfest, and almost sixty people signed up to write a scene for your swooning pleasure. Gustav Klimt's famous The Kiss seems a perfect accompaniment for my little scene from a YA paranormal/fantasy, a work-in-progress called Sea Daughters.

"What's wrong? You're a million miles away." Ben slipped his arm around Hallie as they sat on his living room sofa. He was so close she could smell the freshness of his just-laundered shirt.

Hallie's heart fluttered, just like the rapid beat of a tiny bird she'd held as a child. Ben's parents were away and she knew he wanted to make love to her, at least as much as she'd allow.

The trouble was she didn't know what she might allow. She'd become confused about life, how tenuous it is, how it could change like quicksilver before you knew what happened. She wanted to be saturated with Ben's kisses in case she was about to lose him.

If he found out who she really was he would flee, she was sure.

He reached in his pocket and pulled out a shell bracelet. "I got this for you. Kinda simple, but it goes with your necklace." His hand shook a bit as he held it out to her.

"It's beautiful." She fumbled with the clasp, her eyes tearing. The bracelet slipped from her wrist.

Ben grabbed it before it hit the floor, and his large hands became steady as he deftly hooked the tiny clasp. "I like having something from me wrapped around you, even when I'm not there."

He kissed her palm. The brush of his breath caused a warm rush to surge through her.

He looked up, his eyes meeting hers, and she wanted nothing more than to dive into those blue depths and not think about the other deep that pulled stronger every day.

"Sometimes life is more complicated than we ever imagine it could be," she said.

"What has got you twisted in knots? I will help you untangle it. I will slay dragons, help you write essays, punch out anyone who hassles you, cover you with kisses. Whatever you need, baby."

She smiled. "My hero."

"I wish I was. But sometimes I think you will leave me behind. It's a feeling I get."

For a moment Hallie couldn't speak. "I don't want to go places without you. Ever. But I get caught up in stuff and can't always talk to you about what's going on. I want to be able to tell you everything."

His arms wrapped around her and anchored her in a safe harbor. This time, she could feel his heart--a steady drum.

"Don't leave me," she whispered. "No matter what."

His face was in her hair, his breath hot. "Nothing could ever make me leave you."

Not even my darkest secret? She banished the thought. Her mouth found his--lips parted, hint of peppermint.

His hands tangled in her hair. Hers slid around his waist. His kisses trailed down her neck to her collarbone like liquid fire. She flamed and melted. She was wax on a candle. There was nothing but Ben.

Check this out

Today is about announcements. Teasers! Awards! Contests! Milestones!

And one grumpy note about Blogger Comments. I have been having trouble making my comments stick--have to scroll down and click publish a few times. Hopefully, nobody left a comment after the first click and it didn't take. I went to the Help page and found many people are having problems. Some have lost all old comments, some are getting wrong counts. So check to be sure your comments are not being lost, and leave Blogger Help a message if you have problems.

On to more fun stuff. Shannon O'Donnell at Book Dreaming awarded me the Superior Scribbler, which is too cute, and, yes, I have been writing since that age, for sure. I'll pass it along, as well as the One Lovely Blog Award I received from Liza and Shannon, in the near future.

Today I want to shout out to Beth Revis, who has signed with the amazing Writers House (if you haven't taken the online tour of their site, you must). She is holding a contest to celebrate, and you really need to check her out. Beth is super.

Drum roll. Trumpets, please: I want to invite everyone to a super-fun blog party Monday. Sherrinda at A Writer Wannabe came up with a fabulous idea for mistletoe season--excerpts of kissing scenes. A bunch of writers have signed up and anyone can play. Post a scene you've written and then enjoy bloghopping to savor what is going to be a wide array of smoochiness. Sherrinda has put up a widget with links to the players' blogs. Swoon away.

And finally. I let it slip by, but my last post was my 100th. And that seems like a milestone since I only stuck my toe in the blogging water seven months ago. I'd like to thank everyone who drops in to read what I have to say. I am grateful to all who have left comments and become followers. I so love this community of writers who encourage, teach and support one another.

The road to my heart

I almost didn't pull the boxes off the shelf this year and take out this exquisite wax angel or hilarious blue feathered bird. The angel was a gift from my mother-in-law, a woman who took me under her wing and believed in me when I was lost and broken. I think of her every year I place it, with love, on a tree.

This year, I had settled in Eeyore-land and was moping. I was sure there was no way I was going to hunt down a tree small enough to fit in my Miata, light enough for me to haul in and set up. Too much trouble. Why bother?
But one bright morning after days of rain, I went out to run chores, and my mind said, "Wouldn't it be a nice day to look at Christmas trees, to smell that heady scent and just see--not buy, of course--if they have any small ones."

And there I was. Breathing deep, sticking my face wantonly into the branches of dozens of trees, falling in love.

I saw one about my height--a tad above 5'2"--and told the tree elf that I would take it if he could wedge it in the front seat of a Miata. They wrapped it up tight and, oh my, it fit. My tree and I drove home, very chummy.

And then the forest came to live with me. At least for a couple of weeks. And I took down the boxes full of memories, loving and savoring the story of each ornament I placed on the branches.

Because that's what Christmas is to me, remembering the love and joy we have experienced and the people with whom we shared that.

This being the year of my sea novel, I was elated to find this wild and wacky fish. Nearby, I hung an enameled sea horse and a gorgeous white shell. I've added several of the shells I found in November while the novel was tumbling from my head to the page.

So the tree cradles my current dreams, too.

Here are dough ornaments made years ago when my daughter was small. She made the adorable Santa on the left, and, for years, didn't want me to hang it because it didn't look like the ones I made. But now she sees the delight in a child's art, and I can remember my lovely, amazing daughter every time I snug it on a tree.

This cherub angel I purchased in Notre Dame in Paris. Every year I get to recall that wonderful trip when I uncover it again. There are so many more ornaments, given by friends, found in back streets of New Orleans, made by hand--each speaks to me.

While decorating, I let music lift my spirit. I listened to the great Christmas music CD I got from Tess Hilmo and another one an old friend recorded of himself singing holiday songs while strumming a ukulele. Glen McGuire is an Irish-Pawnee poet who moved back to Oklahoma years ago, but when I put on his CD, I remember him with great fondness. I interviewed him when I was a reporter and he was a teacher at a BIA school. He had written a chapbook of poetry (Spider Spins Between Two Worlds), and I remember him tapping his hand in syncopation as he recited a poem about jazz musicians.
On the CD is also a lovely, haunting poem he wrote and set to music. It tells, in a way, what I love about a holiday that brings back to memory the people who have made my life special. I'm sorry if I misquote or only get the gist of some lines, because I scribbled it down from the recording. Forgive me if I messed up anything, Glen:

Had a chance to go to London once,

Stayed in Kansas and held your hand.

Had a chance to go to Paris once,

Stayed in Laramie and kissed your hand.

Had a chance to go to Athens once,

Stayed in Santa Fe and touched your lips.

Haven't traveled far, oh Lord, in this world,

But a long road to the city of my heart.

Once again forgive me, Glen, wherever you are, if I got any words wrong. It's hard to take them down from a recording, but they touched me and I want to say that is what this holiday means to me--the journey to the city of my heart and all the wonderful people I've met along the way.

Happy holidays, everyone, no matter how you celebrate, no matter what your beliefs, I hope this time of year warms your heart.

Abby tagged me and ran off to Idaho

I must be It. Abby Annis tagged me, and there appears to be a Santa-sized list of questions to answer. So here goes:

1) What's the last thing you wrote? What's the first thing you wrote that you still have?

Most recently I've been working on a YA novel--a contemporary supernatural/fantasy set largely in the sea.

I still have a chapbook from a writing course that includes some of my poetry, as well as some magazines that published my early haiku.

2) Write poetry?

Always. Have written sonnets, free verse, haiku.

3) Angsty poetry?

Oh, yeah. But that mostly stays buried in a drawer unless ritually burned.

4) Favorite genre of writing?

Fantasy--all forms.

5) Most annoying character you've ever created?

Was it the petulant princess or her bossy mother? Both are better off in the drawer.

6) Best plot you've ever created?

I'm still working on it.

7) Coolest plot twist you've ever created?

It's got me tied up in knots.

8) How often do you get writer's block?

I don't get writer's block. I can write by demand. What I get is plot block when I get stopped because I'm not sure what I want to do next.

9) Write fan fiction?

No, my mind is too filled with its own creations.

10) Do you type or write by hand?

Type. But I will write by hand--if that is all that's handy. Ha.

11) Do you save everything you write?

Since some of my files have ancient parchment in them, I guess the answer is yes. Unless it was something I ritually burned.

12) Do you ever go back to an idea after you've abandoned it?

Oh, yeah.

13) What's your favorite thing you've ever written?

People should never be asked to choose between their babies.

14) What's everyone else's favorite story you've written?

My critique group seemed to be very fond of a YA fantasy I wrote last year about a girl whose magic stemmed from music.

15) Ever written romance or angsty teen drama?

Tried to write romance and never got past opening chapters. I guess it's not my genre, but I do toss romance in my stories. I think of it as seasoning, not the main course.

16) What's your favorite setting for your characters?

Where they are at home. Addendum: I don't mean the characters are in their houses. I mean I set the place to suit the characters. I usually send them to the ends of the earth, however.

17) How many writing projects are you working on right now?

Two novels, assorted short stories and the occasional poem. Mostly, it's the sea novel.

18) Have you ever won an award for your writing?

Yes, I took third place in an online fiction contest, and I received an honorable mention at a SCBWI event. I also received runner-up in a haiku contest and some awards for non-fiction when I was a newspaper reporter.

19) What are your five favorite words?

I don't have favorite words, but I love the name, Daggett, a desert town. Let's see. Mangle and malicious are descriptive. Obfuscate is hilarious.

20) What character have you created that is most like yourself?

I'm sure they would all argue they are nothing like me.

21) Where do you get your ideas for your characters?

Synaptic connections?

22) Do you ever write based on your dreams?

Yes but not as linear stories. I may get an idea or character from a dream.

23) Do you favor happy endings?

I don't want to be left miserable but neither do I think happily-ever-after is satisfying. It's somewhere in between--the place we all live where bad things happen but hope returns.

24) Are you concerned with spelling and grammar as you write?

If I see a mistake I fix it, but I don't obsess over it.

25) Does music help you write?

Sometimes it really keeps me in the flow. It must be the right mood and nothing that makes me want to get up and dance or sing because then the song wins, the story loses.

26) Quote something you've written. Whatever pops in your head.



I posted this not long ago. The character is a twelve-year-old boy who responds to another character telling him "it's just a story."
"Never is just a story. Ma was always a'tellin' me, 'Samuel, remembers you that a story is the bones of the past, and worlds are built upon those as was and ever will be.' The stories be all around just waiting to come alive. Can't you see?"

And now. Drum roll. I must tag!

Bish Denham

Robyn Campbell

Victoria Saavedra

Search those writing souls. Have fun!

Freshened

I walked up a little hill yesterday, rain pattering on my favorite umbrella with suns and moons all bright yellow on dark blue. I bought it in a downpour years ago in Toronto.

On this walk I saw lots of pretty foliage freshened by the gift from the sky.

Besides sharing the photos, I'm giving you a little haiku.

after the rain,

muffled crunch of soggy leaves,

air spiced and still

Today's post is short. I know we are all up to our chins in holiday doings. I found a perfect fir tree that fit in the front seat of my Miata, and now it is filling my living room with the memory of forests. I will post its picture soon.

A huge thank you to Liza Carens Salerno at Middle Passages for this One Lovely Blog Award. It is always an honor to be selected by another blogger.

Liza absolved her honorees from following the award rules, so I am taking her up on that. But since the challenge was to share new blog links, I'm going to do that some time in the near future. It's always nice to get recs from friends.

Hope everyone had a super weekend, productive but not stressed, happy and not hysterical. If you need to vent, though, feel free. My comments are always open and I love to chat.

A little perspective here

A few years ago I noticed a picture across a contemporary art gallery on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles and was drawn to it.

At first glance it resembled Hokusai's "Great Wave off Kanagawa," but when I got close I saw the sea-foam bunnies and laughed. This scary mountain of water was transformed into "Uprisings," a witty and wonderful digital work by the two artists known as Kozyndan. (this work is copyrighted, see www.kozyndan.com for more info)

I had to own it, and now the framed print hangs on my living room wall where visitors are drawn to it and either giggle like me or gasp and say something about poor bunnies.

Both the artwork and the reactions relate to our personal perspectives.

I have mentioned in previous posts that I adore and need the sea but also fear it. So for me, I think this work turns fear to whimsy and fun. But other people may be disturbed to think the bunnies are being pummeled.

My last post about signs, portents and mysteries elicited a number of interesting comments, including this from Lisa Dez: Perception is truth.

Lisa got me thinking about the link between perspective and perception, something that is integral to human beings and necessary to artists and writers. Perspective certainly is truth at a given moment in each person's eyes. But it can be different in another's eyes or altered by circumstances.

Dictionary descriptions also show shifts in defining perspective: To look through. To see clearly. Relating to. Capacity to view things in relative importance. Sense of proportion, of depth. View of relative distance and position. Overview. Vista. Outlook. Prospect. Viewpoint.

This leads me to ponder that an author's viewpoint will always come through but he/she must be sure that each character has a unique perspective and perception of the world, as well.

Here is a painting that alters perception. When I first saw this work, "Petra," by Katrin Wiese, I was reminded of the portraits by Renaissance painters--not because of her style which is expressionistic and contemporary--but the setting of a girl in front of a landscape is much like those of Bellini or Botticelli or even DaVinci. Remember "Mona Lisa?" She is posed, hands in front of her, landscape behind.

But like "Uprisings," my perspective and perception was jogged by what was in the landscape.

It's dystopic, apocalyptic. This young girl isn't in front of her family home or bucolic meadow. Her backdrop is chaos and destruction, but she has a serenity about her.

Some of you may wonder why I purchased a painting of such dark undertones. Because, once again, I find it thought-provoking and witty--a comment on our times.

This painting also has an entirely different perspective built into it. Wiese continued the artwork on the sides of its wood construction.

So if you view it from an angle, you get this added perspective.

And I can add one more variable: how we illuminate or choose to highlight things. I shot the two photos of this painting on different days in ambient light. One created sepia tones and the other is more brilliant as the original work is.

I have carried on here about our perceptions (which I think is awareness and comprehension based on experience including perspective). Don't know if I've made sense to you but it was interesting to me to explore this a bit.

Addendum: I realize another element that plays with perspective/perception in these artworks is that things are not as we expect them to be; there is surprise, shock. Good to remember as writers, as well.

Signs, portents and mysteries resolved

Gorgeous, perfect shells wash into some beaches so often the inhabitants of those shores line their window ledges and gardens with the gifts from the sea.

Other beaches are stingy with such offerings. I found these lovely, fragile shells at Venice Beach in California. It is not a shell beach. Often it's shore break pounds the sand and what little is left is broken. But on one walk I picked up all these, including the tiny angel wings at the bottom of the photo. I felt like a kid on an Easter egg hunt to have found so many treasures in one day.

And it happened during November when I was writing the beginning of my new novel that takes place in the sea. I happily added this sign to others popping up around me--a license plate in front of me with two mermaids, a kelp forest sheet of stamps and others. But the one I made a big deal about was the tiny, worn sea shell I found on an inland mountain.

Yesterday, I solved the mystery of the shell so far from the ocean. And, phooey, it isn't magical but mundane.

I was hiking up a side trail made of decomposed granite. The same one where I found the shell. A rainstorm had roared through the day before and eroded the trail, so there were new gullies. As I walked, I saw another shell! I dug it out of the damp earth, amazed. And then I saw another! And another.

How could this be? Had I stumbled upon an ancient cache of shells?

As the evidence mounted and I picked up a handful of discolored, tough old shells, I had a dawning realization.

Sandbags. Of course. Sometimes the park workers put sandbags along the trails to keep them from eroding. The shells had probably been in bags that disintegrated over time.

Well, darn. I was deflated and put down my handful of collected shells and snapped another photo. But just as I was chiding myself for believing in signs and portents, I thought, it doesn't matter how the shells got here. I've been hiking this mountain for years and never saw a shell until November, and now I see dozens.

It is a sign for me to believe in me--in my curiosity, my imagination, my desire to be open to whatever comes my way.

What do you think? Are there nudges from the universe, or do we see what we want to see?

Rocky portents

Is she writing about boulders AGAIN? Um, yes. Don't snort or run away, please. I have browsed through my photos all day, looking for something to jump start a post. I have considered lakes and trees and seas and flowers. I have contemplated writing sad poetry or poking at my childhood traumas. I have stared at the steady rain and turned up the heater. I have sighed and lamented that the universe doesn't give a rat's ass about my so-called life.

It was a day when the creatures who live in the hidden deeps could have claimed me, but I seem to still be here.

So I figure I better pick a photo to write about. Yes, it is a boulder, but my last post was about my novel that has actual boulders in the storyline. This is about my shiny new novel that takes place in the sea where boulders will probably never move beyond window dressing. But you see that boulder jutting up? What does it look like?

A whale spyhopping, that's what. I have written news articles about spyhopping, which is when a whale sticks the top part of its body out of the water and checks out the scenery. And I say that's a gray whale spyhopping on top of a mountain. Which is a sign to this sometimes-fragile writer that her sea novel is meant to be. Since I started writing it I found a shell on top of this boulder-strewn inland mountain and the US Post Office put out kelp forest stamps, which surely is a sign.

I'm going to stop now, because I really am odd today. Hopefully, I will soon write a new post that will be boulder-free.

What comes next or snippety snippets

I saw this boy hiking past a favorite boulder of mine on the local mountain I haunt. The light was

in the magic zone when gray and beige granite turns golden as the sun sinks toward the horizon.

I shot the picture (on my uber-cellphone) and remembered a character from my YA fantasy currently in revision repose. That's my new terminology for: I had to put it aside or go bonkers.

The character's name is Samuel and he is a 12-year-old with little education, strange speech patterns and a gift for storytelling. One of his tales is about a place called Thane's Tor. He and the novel's protagonist, Fiona, are searching for it. She asks why he is certain he will recognize that particular outcrop of boulders in the rocky terrain they are traveling.

"Simple as flatcakes. Ma telled me Thane's story many a time, and sometimes I took charcoal and drawed the creatures. That's how much I likes it."

Samuel settled back against a fallen tree trunk, ready to spin his tale.

"Once't long, long ago in the far, far-away north lived Thane, a giant amongst men. Now, Thane was a warrior-mage. He could heave boulders big as houses on his enemies and squash them like a worm underfoot."

Samuel stopped to tell Fiona an aside: "Me Ma never said that worm part. But I figured it out."

I'm interrupting this snippet to condense the story: Samuel describes a battle Thane has with goblins. Thane defeats them by turning boulders into beasts that crush the goblins "flat as slapped flies." The creatures, whom Thane changes back into rock, include a dragon-sized snake, enormous wolf, a bird-headed toad and a bunch of gingermen that resemble baker's treats.

"Now I gives you that gingermen do not sound so scary, but methinks if you had an army of gingermen tall as cottages, you 'ud get out the way."

(So on my hike, I think I saw the gingermen. Do you?)

When Samuel tells Fiona the beasts are still guarding Thane's Tor, she says it's just a story.

"Never is just a story. Ma was always a'tellin' me, 'Samuel, remembers you that a story is the bones of the past, and worlds are built upon those as was and ever will be.' The stories be all around just waiting to come alive, can't you see?"

Obviously, storytelling is on my mind. I loved a comment Neil Gaiman put on his blog. Someone asked what quotes he would like to see on library walls, and he said it would be the one every writer loves to hear from reader/listeners:

"...and then what happened?"

The sound of adjustment

I'm going to a favorite beach this morning to walk before I undertake some stressful family duties. Sea air and the whoosh and boom of waves seem to both energize and soothe me.

What I really want is that external barrage on my senses--to still the yapping of my mind, to quell anxiety, to give me strength for the trials--and for a sad weight I'm carrying in my heart for another friend's family.

I have no idea what the beach will be like, although I did check my tide guide, which says I'll get there between the high and low tides today. If the tide is high at this beach, I walk on a trail east of railroad tracks. If the tide is low, I can go barefoot along the shore. Although it might be cold on the toes today.

The other thing that happens at this beach is periodic deposit of rocks and pebbles, all worn smooth by the grinding of surf but still too much for bare feet.

What I love about the rocky days is the sound. Have you heard it? The clattering of stones as they shift with the rush in and trickle out of each hissing, sighing wave?

What sounds do you hear? How would you write it?

Clack. Rattle. Clink.

Chatter. Can rocks chatter? I think so.

I'm listening for them to tell me how to adjust to the tides of life.