Tam

My daughter has been doing some oragami. I bought her an oragami calendar and she's been making all different kinds of shapes. Tonight though, she brought in what she is calling Tam. You take pieces and you can make different shapes with them by assembling in different patterns. I thought it was cool. What do you think?

It's Framed!

Omygosh - do you see this? It's framed and the roof is on. I'm beside myself with excitement. I walked through the house with the windows in, the door on, the fireplace in and the rooms framed. I'm imagining what it will look like when everything is done. Since I've been through the model, it's not hard to think about what my house will look like. This is amazing. I've also included a picture of the porch and entry door of the model. This is what it will eventually look like. I'm planning my garden now. Can't wait to get dirty.

I'm still pinching myself!

Are You Superstitious?

The fear of Friday the 13th is called paraskavedekatriaphobia. There are many myths surrounding the fear of Friday the 13th. It's considered bad luck for 13 people to sit down to a meal, Jesus was crucified on a Friday, Adam supposedly ate the apple on Friday, ancient man could only count to 12, and so on. But the most interesting tidbit I found is this story: One hundred years ago, the British government sought to quell once and for all the widespread superstition among seamen that setting sail on Fridays was unlucky. A special ship was commissioned, named "H.M.S. Friday." They laid her keel on a Friday, launched her on a Friday, selected her crew on a Friday and hired a man named Jim Friday to be her captain. To top it off, H.M.S. Friday embarked on her maiden voyage on a Friday, and was never seen or heard from again. Every year has at least one and at most three Fridays the 13th, with 48 occurences in 28 years an average of 1.7 times per year. Some famous people who were born on Friday the 13th are Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen, Fidel Castro, and Steve Buscemi.

Dragonriders of Pern Fly

Looks like the Dragonriders of Pern will be getting their own movie. I've been waiting a long time to see them up on the big screen. After the leaps and bounds that were made in bringing Jurassic Park to the screen, I had hopes that Pern wouldn't be far behind. I've read recently that a Canadian company is going to make the film and that Anne McCaffrey is very happy with the script and them. I sure hope they do a good job. It'll be very disappointing if they don't. I'll be eagerly waiting for the release sometime in 2008.

New Contract

I just received word from my agent that Harlequin Blaze has bought the first book in a three book trilogy. Yipppeeee! It's time for an all out Snoopy Dance. It feels great to be under contract again. The trilogy is called Undercover Lovers. The tentative title for the novel is Going Ballistic, but most titles end up changing. I usually get to suggest them and my editor usually likes what I come up with, so we'll see what happens. Good news.

Oops! It's Really Urban Fantasy

Okay, I just posted on dark fantasy. After re-reading an e-mail from my agent, it seems that what I'm really writing is urban fantasy. So, how can an author who has been reading Kim Harrison, Laurell K., and Jackie Kessler not realize what urban fantasy is? Geez Louise. I love this stuff. I can't get enough of it. So, I'm thinking my subconcious took over and I plotted myself an urban fantasy without even realizing it. I say, go me! But, after thinking this, I realize that I'm going up against the above authors who are amazing at this. I'm going to have to bring my A game here. But I think I have a winner. Here's the tagline to my novel.

A banished goddess and a prince of the underworld

join forces to battle an evil so old

even the gods have forgotten its name.

I've decided to rethink the whole thing and give it my all. After all, if I'm going to be in the company of Kim, Laurell, and Jackie, I'd better really bring my A+ game.

Dark Fantasy

I'm in the process of developing a single title proposal. When I started this project, I had originally conceived it as a superhero novel. Well. . .it's still a superhero novel, but I noticed recently that a certain publisher is actively seeking dark fantasy. Hmmm, I thought, my superhero novel fits into fantasy, but what exactly is dark fantasy? I googled, of course, and this is how Wikipedia describes it, "Dark fantasy is a subgenre that combines elements of fantasy, including marvelous abilities, with those of horror." Okay, my novel doesn't really have horror elements. Then, I thought, since I'm not such a big horror fan (except for movies like The Mummy and The Mummy Returns), what are the elements of horror.

Horror by it's very nature wants to make the reader fearful, repulsed, and feel helpless. Fantasy on the other hand includes supernatural or magic. But horror can also encompass these elements. Just pick up a Stephen King novel.

Dark fantasy is then more stylized. In character, dark fantasy explores the nature of evil and the darker side of human nature, but the characters are heroic. They face the dangers in the novel to save others and possess special skills, knowledge or power. In Setting, the world is fantastic or supernatural. Examples can range from Kim Harrison's Rachel Morgan series to the subtle magic of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the action-comedy of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. If you start out in a world where vampires or ghosts or magic are treated as a "normal" occurance by the characters, it's a fantasy world. In plot, the characters usually don't die.

After studying all these elements, I realized that I had a dark fantasy in the making. My character does explore the nature of evil and has to fight a dark side, she is heroic and cares more about protecting the people under her care, she has special skills, knowledge and power, and, although, she dies metophorically, she doesn't really die. Hot damn, I'd already plotted and planned this whole novel as a dark fantasy.

I can't wait to actually start writing it.