I love writing adventure stories and getting into the emotional lives of my characters, and swooping them into big expansive plots, although for The Unexpected Miss Bennet, a big plot would have been out of character for Mary Bennet, so I kept it small and suitable to a respectable young lady of good family. But of course, there are horses, as there are in all my novels.

This past weekend was the Texas Book Festival. Due to so many things going on from Thursday on — The Austin Film Festival among them — I only got out there on Sunday afternoon with my friend Julia. We saw a couple of panels, the best of which was the Tough Guy Panel, described thusly: “new fiction about violence & men, with Frank Bill, Bruce Machart, Donald Ray Pollock, and Daniel Woodrell.”

For a buncha tough guys they were thoughtful and interesting. Bruce Machart had my favorite thought of the panel, which I will no doubt butcher in translation, but went like this — we are shaped by two places, where we are and where we’re from.

And there were books, man. Tents and tents of books. I ended up getting The Key of Amatahns, by a young writer, Elisabeth Wheatley. I will say up front that while it is not exactly self-published, it was put out by Chengalera Press, an itty-bitty press with an absurd lack of web presence. I talked with Miss Wheatley’s grandma, who was utterly thrilled with her granddaughter, as well she should be, but man, there’s something to be said for an apprenticeship before you jump in. That said, a quick skim shows a not-bad proficiency. I am optimistic.

This was also buy a self-published book weekend. While I was picking up morning coffee at my favorite-est coffee shop in town, Genuine Joe, there was an author having a book signing. Not having had coffee yet, but clearly already mellow in anticipation, I dropped $27 (!) on Within the Walls of Santo Tomas by Betty Byron. Since I have been enthralled with the Destroyermen by Taylor Anderson, I had to get this. There are nurses! In WWII on Manila! A quick skim shows less than stellar prose but I remain optimistic.

I am going to try to read these like a naive reader, and I don’t mean that in a bad way. Anyone who writes knows that writing for pure story goes by the wayside once you get into it.

I’ll let you know what I think.

1) Your own favorite Austen character and why?

Patrice:   My favorite Austen character changes with the book I’ve read most recently, so currently it’s Emma Woodhouse. She’s very young and very meddlesome, but girls like her are so common nowadays. They are the leaders and sometimes the mean girls in high school, and they are the very opinionated young mothers at play group and who volunteer at the schools. But she is also good-hearted and loves her father very much. Emma is so timeless. Austen really knew her stuff when she drew her characters.

2) Your favorite Austen book.

Patrice:     Persuasion. I think Austen had fully come into her writing powers at that point and what a tragedy that she died so young. I love and will always love Pride and Prejudice, but I think Persuasion is a better book. She captures family dynamics with a keen eye and sharp wit, and much like Emma, it’s so modern.

Click the link above for the rest!

Page Readers Show

I will add a link to the podcast when it’s complete.

Thanks and hope to hear from you!

Topics will be:

 The Writing Life — how I incorporate my life into my writing and writing into my life

Outtakes — Basically, deleted scenes. I’ve killed a lot of darlings during my career. I figured it would be fun to resurrect them here, and explain why they had to get the axe in the first place.

Announcements — Con reports, interviews, updates, and announcements will go here.

Master Class — okay, I figure I barely made journeyman, so calling this a master class is taking things to an extreme. But there are a lot of people out there who want to publish, and I think I have some advice I can share. If I don’t know, I’ll try to point you in the right direction.

 I hope that you will enjoy my little experiment, and if you have any questions please let me know.

Thanks for sticking with me so far! Here’s to the next stage.

Here are the questions and answers for the contest.

Interestingly, there were actually two correct answers for the one of the movie questions. Either The Horse with the Flying Tail or Sylvester could be correct. I did not know that!

If you missed out on this one, stay tuned: There are going to be more contests with more prizes. Just you wait.

RevolutionSF Baker’s Dozen.

And…think you know horses? Check out the Revolutionsf Horse Trivia Contest. You could win a signed copy of Gordath Wood.