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In celebration of its new reader/writer website, Tor is giving away ebooks for the taking...
Take advantage now, while you can! I've chosen a few, and was stunned to see an old acquaintance, Patti O'Shea, as one of them. I'll be damned. I remember when she was pursuing romance...good for you, Patti!
I've also been tromping around, lurking through the Absolute Write site. Author James D. MacDonald has a novel writing discussion on there (Learn Writing with Uncle Jim!--lol) that I read through on Sunday--fantastic refresher course, that left my head buzzing. Happily. Membership is free, and I have to recommend it, for anyone who is like me, feeling new and dodgy re: writing (despite years of experience, LOL). I've truly enjoyed tromping through so much good writerly nattering. It just feels...good. You know? Yeah. I don't have time to get involved, but I do have time here and there to read (at least, I hope LOL), and what I've read over the last few days has helped. Lots. Tons of little gems in there for everything from plotting (such comparing novels to chess games, and articles such as the great and amusing and hmmm, very interesting article, The Evil Overlord Devises a Plot). Much I already knew, but suffers from a thick coat of rust.
MIL had surgery today--umbilical hernia repair. I sat in the hospital waiting-lobby (weird setup) at a table for several hours, pouring through all my late Elizabethan period notes and such. Bill Bryson's book, Shakespeare--the World as Stage has turned into my major source of info for my historical fantasy. This book was the first I read, which led me to a slew of others...and the realization that Bryson does a damn good job at research, taking out the nitty gritty and cool stuff, and organizing it in a way that is simply delicious. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in knowing more about Shakespeare (though there honestly is not much to know, despite the overwhelming number of books about him out there), and absolutely if one has an interest in the late Elizabethan period. Which I am, very much so. (An interesting fact that hit home with me today was that the average age of death is a whopping 35 years...plague and various other illnesses pretty much kept London's death rate way higher than the birth rate. And, needless to say, kept the population on the young side...just weren't many old people then. Amber tells me of an even worse time during the Victorian age--that is her area of interest--shudder--I just rather must say though I am enamored of this time period, I sure am glad not to have lived it).
I actually debated quite a bit my decision to target this time period as the basis for my historical fantasy. It is, frankly, not surprising, a common choice. Very. But...I think it is the right decision for me, this book, my first historical fantasy, due to the amazing wealth of information I have already gathered. And, of course, because of my glorious find, the dissertation and its subjects. I haven't found anything else about them, really--strangely enough. Now that work-work has settled back to normal (THANK THE MOON AND STARS!!!!) I can return to normal lunches, and normal brain function. LOL. Anyway...I need to do this, like this, based on this. Just do. I am not afraid of making it unique, actually--
And now, before I go to bed, I think I will go design a plot for Stage. Should be fun, and who knows, maybe I'll use it!
Night all!
Carolyn
P.S. Oh and Amber? That userpic is what Maddox thought of the Furminator--he ate the handle off. Brat. I still use it though--those things are expensive!!!!
Take advantage now, while you can! I've chosen a few, and was stunned to see an old acquaintance, Patti O'Shea, as one of them. I'll be damned. I remember when she was pursuing romance...good for you, Patti!
I've also been tromping around, lurking through the Absolute Write site. Author James D. MacDonald has a novel writing discussion on there (Learn Writing with Uncle Jim!--lol) that I read through on Sunday--fantastic refresher course, that left my head buzzing. Happily. Membership is free, and I have to recommend it, for anyone who is like me, feeling new and dodgy re: writing (despite years of experience, LOL). I've truly enjoyed tromping through so much good writerly nattering. It just feels...good. You know? Yeah. I don't have time to get involved, but I do have time here and there to read (at least, I hope LOL), and what I've read over the last few days has helped. Lots. Tons of little gems in there for everything from plotting (such comparing novels to chess games, and articles such as the great and amusing and hmmm, very interesting article, The Evil Overlord Devises a Plot). Much I already knew, but suffers from a thick coat of rust.
MIL had surgery today--umbilical hernia repair. I sat in the hospital waiting-lobby (weird setup) at a table for several hours, pouring through all my late Elizabethan period notes and such. Bill Bryson's book, Shakespeare--the World as Stage has turned into my major source of info for my historical fantasy. This book was the first I read, which led me to a slew of others...and the realization that Bryson does a damn good job at research, taking out the nitty gritty and cool stuff, and organizing it in a way that is simply delicious. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in knowing more about Shakespeare (though there honestly is not much to know, despite the overwhelming number of books about him out there), and absolutely if one has an interest in the late Elizabethan period. Which I am, very much so. (An interesting fact that hit home with me today was that the average age of death is a whopping 35 years...plague and various other illnesses pretty much kept London's death rate way higher than the birth rate. And, needless to say, kept the population on the young side...just weren't many old people then. Amber tells me of an even worse time during the Victorian age--that is her area of interest--shudder--I just rather must say though I am enamored of this time period, I sure am glad not to have lived it).
I actually debated quite a bit my decision to target this time period as the basis for my historical fantasy. It is, frankly, not surprising, a common choice. Very. But...I think it is the right decision for me, this book, my first historical fantasy, due to the amazing wealth of information I have already gathered. And, of course, because of my glorious find, the dissertation and its subjects. I haven't found anything else about them, really--strangely enough. Now that work-work has settled back to normal (THANK THE MOON AND STARS!!!!) I can return to normal lunches, and normal brain function. LOL. Anyway...I need to do this, like this, based on this. Just do. I am not afraid of making it unique, actually--
And now, before I go to bed, I think I will go design a plot for Stage. Should be fun, and who knows, maybe I'll use it!
Night all!
Carolyn
P.S. Oh and Amber? That userpic is what Maddox thought of the Furminator--he ate the handle off. Brat. I still use it though--those things are expensive!!!!
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(no subject)
Date: 2008-07-23 03:03 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-07-23 06:22 am (UTC)It's good to hear that you are getting back on track with your writing, after all those work-crazy weeks. :-)
Today, I just woke up to the thought that it's more important to write what I want to than what I think I should. Which probably means giving up fest, because I feel more forced and restricted than anything else right now. Hmpf. I still haven't given up hd_inspired, but I feel extremely stuck. I guess I'll decide after the weekend if what I have so far is worth any more hours.