Date: Wednesday, March 10

Where: Hastings Round Rock

Time: 6 pm

I will also be speaking with the paranormal romance readers group later that evening. Please stop by and say hi!

I would like to thank the students of Melony Kempf’s classes for being so engaged and interested in my talk this morning at Pflugerville Middle School. I had fun and hope you all did too.

I talked about how I started writing when I was a little kid and wrote lots when I was in middle school and high school. I brought one of my typewritten short stories from when I was 15 years old, and told the kids they probably had never seen anything typewritten before. I also brought a selection of magazines with my short stories and of course copies of Red Gold Bridge and Gordath Wood.

I gave my writing “rules:” write every day. Commit, don’t give up. Keep everything. Get to the end. You have a writing brain and an editing brain. Don’t try to edit as you go, because you will only hurt your feelings.

I told them that all the entertainment that they enjoy — video games, books, and music — all start with the written word.

We talked about rejections, and they were suitably impressed by the 45-50 rejections I got for Gordath Wood.

And we talked about favorite books. They like Twilight, the Hunger Games, a new book called Unwind, which sounds absolutely fascinating and I must pick it up, so thanks to the kids who recommended it, and Uglies. One young lady is a fan of John Grisham. There were also the Alex Rider series, James Patterson, and Lightning Thief.

People say kids don’t read. Pshaw.

Thanks again, everyone, and read on!

“One of the things I always tell my kids is that it’s OK to head out for wonderful, but on your way to wonderful, you’re gonna have to pass through all right,” Withers says. “When you get to all right, take a good look around and get used to it, because that may be as far as you’re gonna go.” –from the NPR story on “Still Bill,” a documentary on Bill Withers.

So I’m looking around and I’m thinking, is this it? Is this all right? Cause I expected wonderful, and maybe now I’m thinking I have to accept all right.

I loved writing Gordath Wood. It wasn’t effortless and I made lots of creative changes, and threw out a third of it and started over, and when it sold I couldn’t believe it. And there it was. My book, in my hands. In stores. I  get fan mail and it still blows me away. I wrote something that people loved so much they stayed up all night to read it and then wrote to me about it.

That right there, that was getting to wonderful.

I wrote Red Gold Bridge in a state of stark panic. Again I threw out a third of it, and wrote in utter terror because I had a fast approaching deadline and I wasn’t sure it was any good. My editor and my readers reassured me it was good, but I didn’t believe it until I gained some time and distance, and kind of cracked the book open and acknowledged that yes, I had actually done what I set out to do. And also it is possible to write peering through one’s fingers.

That was another kind of wonderful.

So I have two beautiful books that have entertained and moved people. I get letters from fans. I still think my best work is ahead of me, but these books — these books are wonderful.

But I think I passed through all right without looking closely enough at it.  Because here’s the deal. The books didn’t sell well. They were wonderful, and getting published is wonderful, but the reality is, they just weren’t good enough. I’m trying not to think that means I’m not good enough, but there’s that monster lurking on the edges of my psyche.

This might be it. I might never sell another book again. Oh sure there’s Lulu and all, and nowadays we’re all just a vanity press away from being an author, but to really sell a book, in the old-fashioned, dead tree, terribly inefficient, working with an editor kind of way? The book that I’m currently pouring my heart and soul into will likely not be published that way at all. The sad reality is, if the first two don’t sell, you sure don’t get to sell the next one.

So maybe for some people, you pass through all right on the way to wonderful. I’m thinking I got to wonderful and well, it doesn’t get wonderfuller.

Salon’s Laura Miller has an excellent article about what readers look for in a compelling novel. Published writers and aspiring writers can learn much from this column. I especially liked this bit:

3. The components of a novel that readers care about most are, in order: story, characters, theme, atmosphere/setting. Of course all these elements are interlinked, and in the best fiction they all contribute to and enhance each other. But if you were to eliminate these elements, starting at the end of the list and moving toward the beginning, you could still end up with a novel that lots of people wanted to read; the average mass-market thriller is nothing but story. If you sacrifice these elements starting from the beginning of the list, you will instead wind up with a sliver of arty experimentation that, if you’re very, very good, a handful of other people might someday read and admire. There’s honor in that, but it’s daft to write something with the deliberate intention of denying readers what they love and want and then to be heartbroken when they aren’t interested. If you want to engage with more than a tiny coterie, take storytelling seriously; if you think that’s incompatible with art, you are in the wrong line of work.

We won’t be finished arguing about art vs. commercial til the end of time, I imagine, and Miller’s argument here is a succinct and compelling case for the need for both.

Attention, fantasy and paranormal romance fans in the Austin area: I will be at the Hastings in Round Rock on March 10, signing books and visiting with the paranormal romance readers at their meeting later that evening.

When: Wednesday,  March 10

Where: Hastings Round Rock (2200 South IH-35)

Time: 6 pm

I am looking forward to meeting local readers and paranormal fans. If you have any questions you’d like to have answered, email on the blog or save them up for the meeting.

I went out to the farm again today, this time to ride. Since the main ring is closed because it’s still too wet, there was a queue for the round pen, for which we have to sign up. So I got Frisbee, groomed him again (and despite yesterday’s hard work, he had clearly lain down at one point because he was pretty muddy) and tacked him up.

At that point the weather was beautiful: sunny, cool, and only slightly windy. When it was my turn to ride in the pen (which is 40 feet in diameter, so a decent size) I led him in and mounted and began to move him out at a walk.

Not five minutes later the weather turned. A HUGE gust of wind came down, the skies clouded over, and the temperature plummeted. A Texas norther had just blown in.

Well, shoot. Frisbee’s biggest fear is wind, because it blows stuff around, stuff that might LEAP OUT AT HIM AND EAT HIM ALIVE !!!! AGHHH!! So that sucked. And sure enough, a rag left hanging on the wash stalls fluttered and he leaped to the side.

But I was determined, so I kept him walking and trotting and doing circles and figure eights and serpentines (not easy in this pen) and so he had to think and pay attention to me instead of the wind. I was planning on at least making him work up a sweat, but decided that it was better to make sure that he was settled and calm under saddle so I rode for less than half an hour.

But boy I was attentive. I had to keep an eye on him plus the entire environment so I could anticipate a sideways leap, while at the same time insisting on his attention on me. (He does this crouch and swoop move that is pretty impressive.) So in a way, I was attuned to his way of thinking, in which everything is a potential threat. It was tiring, living on nerve endings that way, but also exhilarating. We tend to tune the world out, but I had to consciously tune in to everything.

All in all, it was a good ride. I am looking forward to getting back into the main ring and actually doing some real work on horseback. But this is Texas, in winter, and you take what you can get.

I’m trying not to feel bad about having to cancel on ConDFW. What’s helping me is that we have sunshine and crisp cool weather that is perfect for seeing my horse.

I cleaned up my office last week after AggieCon with the expectation that I would get some writing done this week. That didn’t happen for a variety of reasons (mostly because the story work right now is going on in my head, not on the page, and also because of various family obligations) and I had expected not to get any writing done this weekend either since I would be away. But yay! I have a weekend back, and that is also salving the pain of missing a con.

In addition, a kind reader asked for some more stories about Colar, especially about Colar in the US. Well, I can do that. So in the coming months expect some short pieces about Colar in North Salem, and adapting to his new life and possibilities as a typical teenager in America, as opposed to his life as heir to Terrick.

Being bummed about the con, I decided to spend some of my dealer room money on books here, rather than in Dallas. My son came with me and we had a great time picking out books. I got Good Omens, because I’m coming late to that party. Also picked up another copy of Dies the Fire, since I had loaned my first one out and don’t expect to get it back. Finally, I got a romance called Sliding Home by Kate Angell, which I read last night (romances are quick reads).

Well, I think I lost my capacity to enjoy romance. This had good points, but it was a stupid people plot (i.e., it hinged on people being stupid) and that irritated me. The baseball stuff was fun though and the characters were likable and personable and frankly that goes a long way. I don’t like head-hopping but in romance it seems to be tolerated. Note: a multi-viewpoint book (for example, Gordath Wood) is not the same as head-hopping, in which the author writes from different characters’ POV in the same paragraph. I find it jarring.

After discussions with JK Cheney on the subject of romance, I was looking for the final obstacle plot element that she said is in every romance. Basically this is the last step before the couple gets its Happy Ever After.  Sometimes this is called the big stupid misunderstanding, which I think I first ran across on Holly Lisle’s website. In Sliding Home, the last obstacle made  sense in context and no one behaved foolishly so hey, it was a win. But while I am a romantic at heart, I don’t know if I am that interested in romances any more unless there’s more to them than just the romance.

So now I am looking forward to Good Omens, and rereading Dies the Fire. And writing. And seeing my horse and demudding him.

Early this morning I had to make a decision regarding traveling to Dallas. After checking weather sites, news, and TXDot, I decided not to go to ConDFW. Although it turned out that today’s road conditions were safe, the worry during the 3+ hour drive north was just not worth it to me. So I was not able to go.

I hope everyone who does go has a great time.

Quote of the Con:

“I have a problem with fantasy that ignores reality.” — Jayme Blaschke.

The most important thing to know about AggieCon is that I did not win the sword raffle. Man, can you imagine how cool that would have been? That was neat sword. A katana. We already know that it wouldn’t work on zombies, but hey, a girl can dream.

I was very pleased to see a high number of attendees, mostly A&M students, since it is their con, and there were plenty of people gaming in the hallways, dressed as their favorite character from game, history, or novel, and otherwise having a great time. All of the panels were fairly well attended, except for the politics panel, which was like the very first one of the con, and I could have told you that.

Otherwise my two other panels, on feminism and on religion were lively and interesting. Ellen Datlow and I had a difference of opinion about feminism, but she brought up a good point, to wit: literature with an agenda is rarely as interesting as just plain good storytelling.

Religion always brings out audience participation and we had a ton in that session. Panelists and audience alike brought their A game for a well-traveled (well-raveled?) discussion.

Got extensively caught up on the difference between Halo marines and Doom marines. But I forgot every bit of it. Sorry, guy in the well-made costume!

Martha Wells read from her novel about shapeshifters that an editor needs to buy very soon now, please? Because I can’t keep following her around from con to cons to hear the rest.

Hung out with various and sundry and read from Gordath Wood (The bit where Kate and Colar steal the jeep) and talked to other horse people and in general enjoyed myself thoroughly.

Next up — ConDFW.

Frisbee and me

I should have taken a before picture, because he was pretty slathered with mud, but I got most of it off of him. Then I let him graze for a while on the new grass and he was completely content to do so.

He made friends with Ben, who gave him a peppermint, which Frisbee really enjoyed. Ben was wondering if Frisbee would remember him the next time he came to visit, and I told him that horses could be surprising in that way and he just might.

I couldn’t ride today, even though as you can see it was a gorgeous day. Hopefully Tuesday will be as nice a day and I can get some riding time in before Aggiecon. (Speaking of which, preliminary programming is complete and it’s looking pretty good.)

Side note: I just finished 1,600 words today, so GWIII is really coming along!