by Charlene Teglia | Aug 18, 2006 | Uncategorized
I did this a little while ago, but here is my updated reading list.
Just finished: The Distressing Damsel (Samhain), Shelly Laurensten (who just sold to Brava, yay Shelly!) Book 2 in the Dragon Kin series. Book 1 is at Triskellion and I must have it while I wait for Book 3. Funny, sexy, complex, big cast of characters, a story you can sink your teeth into and stay awhile. Very, very different from the cast of gods in Lois McMaster Bujold’s Chalion series but it’s interesting to read another fantasy series with gods who take an active part in the story.
Next ebook read will be Six Feet Under, Mackenzie McKade. Next print book, The Rocky Road to Romance, Janet Evanovich, Seize the Night, Dean Koontz (2nd Christopher Snow book), Captive Moon, CT Adams and Cathy Clamp.
I noticed I’m reading a lot more print books lately, and I think the reason is twofold. First of all, the mainstream publishers are picking up so many favorite ebook authors that that’s where their books are now, and second, it’s hard to pass up Walmart prices. Seriously, when you can get a book for $3.50 to $4.50, well, I toss one in the cart along with the diapers. Sometimes two. I’m trying out new authors there I might not pick up at the bookstore if I had to pay full price. Captive Moon is a perfect example. I’ve heard good things about it, but I usually don’t love collaborations. At $7, I probably would have passed it by. The combination of positive recommendations and low price sold me. Well, that and it’s got werecats. Rrrowr.
by Charlene Teglia | Aug 15, 2006 | Uncategorized
Done with edits on Night Music, yippee. Well, not the final line edit, but close enough to bask in the happy glow. And the woot? Found out this morning that Wolf In Cheap Clothing is an Ecataromance Reviewer’s Choice nominee. Sweeeet!
In case anybody is wondering how our new kitty, Muse, is settling in, she now has us all trained to pet her constantly, offer laps while typing (she has to be between us and the keyboard), and feed her canned food twice a day. Yes, we’re suckers, but we’re going along with the canned thing until she regains some weight. She was far, far too thin. And if you haven’t seen the cute kitty picture yet, go here.
by Charlene Teglia | Aug 15, 2006 | Uncategorized
I’m done with my deep, deep dive into story structure and the hero’s journey. I learned a lot, not just about the book I was focusing on, but about how to do this again, on an ongoing basis. I’m having to change the way I work, from just writing a book to thinking through the business and marketing side of the book in advance, starting with the pitch, the proposal, the synopsis. Not only does looking at it from that side make me more effective businesswise, it gives me a deeper appreciation and understanding of the story from the get-go and helps me identify any weaknesses early enough to fix them in the development stage.
I don’t mean that I haven’t had to think in terms of business up until now, but it’s definitely reached a different level. Anyway, it’s been good for me and good for the book. By plotting out the entire hero’s journey in advance, I have confidence in my story and I think that confidence shows in the synopsis. It’s very, very solid.
I’ve also been studying themed trilogies with an overall story arc. Nobody does that better than Nora Roberts, so I’ve been reading hers. Just finished the Key trilogy (Key of Light, Key of Valor, Key of Knowledge) and they’re phenomenal books. The last time I read one of her trilogies, I wasn’t looking at it in terms of “how was this put together? How does it work?” I was just enjoying the stories. I think I’m going to revisit the Three Sisters Island and Born In series and look at them from a craft perspective next.
In other news, Jordan has a new agent. Yay Jordan!
by Charlene Teglia | Aug 14, 2006 | Uncategorized
I’m still at work on a project I plan to finish today. It’s sucking up most of my available bandwidth, which leaves me wondering what to blog about? There’s a new review of Wolf In Cheap Clothing from Love Romances & More, 4 Hearts. Happy surprise to get a new review on that just before Wolf In Shining Armor comes out, which is set in the same “world” although medieval age instead of present day.
For the last week I’ve just been immersed in work and the computer shuffle and I think kind of feeling the pace I’ve been keeping up. I find myself curling up with a book more often, taking more walks. Eating carbs. Right now, the world-famous Poulsbo Bakery is calling me.
I picked up When He Was Wicked (Julia Quinn, Bridgerton series) at Walmart, and devoured it along with some pastry. Very enjoyable and absorbing read. When the brain starts to feel tired, there’s just nothing like a happy escapist read to recharge. Speaking of which Tess Gerritsen has an interesting blog about book Nazis who try to force everybody to read books that are Good For You as opposed to fun. When I’m tired, the last thing I want to tackle is something like Finnegan’s Wake. I want to read a romance novel, or something with aliens, or maybe both.
by Charlene Teglia | Aug 13, 2006 | Uncategorized
Making the switch from Flower Power to the new box. Also switching from OSX to Linux in the process. The Guru Husband has figured out how to import ALL of my proprietary data, like mac mail and mac journal. (In case anybody else wants to go from MacJournal to Linux, he did it with gjots2.) It’s so cool, I thought I was going to lose going on six years of journal entries, and a lot of them are brainstorming around stories so I didn’t want to lose those notes.
So now I’m back on the KDE desktop, and it’s been so long since I used that, it no longer has Kandalf as the Help Wizard. But it’s a pretty smooth switchover. I’m moving to Open Office, which we tested to verify it could see Word’s comments, so it shouldn’t affect my workflow.
All these changes should really speed things up. More processor power, more RAM, no lag while opening up a huge document. Cool. These changes have been needed for a while, but we put off and put off getting new equipment until it just couldn’t be put off any more. Now that it’s done, I wish we’d done it sooner! Isn’t that always the way.
In other news, Wolf In Shining Armor has a release date, Sept. 20. Woot!
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