Saturn Turns Direct

Astro-ALERT from astrology.com.

Saturn in Leo turned retrograde on December 5, 2006, so the beginning of 2007 was all about making sure that what we were aiming for was still what we really wanted. Retrogrades are always about going over territory you've already been through. Saturn represents our responsibilities, our rules for living, how we construct our lives, and where we need to place our boundaries. Leo is the sign of leadership and creativity, and it is very much concerned with self-expression.

During this important retrograde period, it's been important to determine how you can support yourself more effectively and express yourself more fully. Facing limitations -- those of the world in general, as well as your own capacity to limit yourself -- has been a part of this time, along with ending old ways of living.

As Saturn turns direct, you are finally going to get some forward movement. Don't drink that pot of espresso just yet, though! Things are moving forward, but speedy they’re not. Saturn is the planet that represents the builder, who wants everything done right. No shortcuts are allowed, so don’t rush anything. Instead, take your time to build slowly and thoroughly -- you will reap plenty of rewards if you keep this in mind. And with Saturn still in dramatic Leo, make sure you are always sitting in the director’s chair.

Determine in what arena you want to make your mark on the world. Decide what you want to be responsible for and what you need to leave behind; otherwise, someone else could make those choices for you. We are now in the last stage of Saturn’s transit through Leo (Saturn will enter Virgo on September 2).

Basement Bargain Prices

If you ever wanted to purchase a copy of Tall, Dark & Dead but found the trade paperback prices too steep for your pocketbook, fret not! Currently, Amazon.com is selling the book at deep, deep discounted rates (60% off!).

In other news, no new license plates.

But, at least one of my beta readers has gotten back to me so my mini-vacation from writing is over... *sigh.* Tonight, no more BSG, but nose back to the grindstone (or however that saying goes.) Wish me luck.

I talked to my agent via email the other day and our current plan is to continue to propose more Garnet Lacey books. I have to start thinking about what trouble Garnet should get into next....

Down to Two

First of all, if you've thought about buying my book, but decided that paying trade paperback prices was too steep, Amazon.com is having a deep, deep discount on Tall, Dark & Dead. We're talking 60% off. So, seriously, go now and buy yourself several while the getting is good.

Secondly, my family and I ended up at the Mall of America today, and Mason insisted on driving around to see if we could spot any new plate. Keep in mind that of all the states in the union, we're only missing Alabama, West Virgina, and Hawaii. Guess what? Mason spotted Alabama.

We're down to two.

Come on Hawaii, I know you're out there....

Yes, even more plates

Okay, just when you thought that there was NO WAY Mason and I could see any more new license plates we spotted two new ones today: Saskatchewan (Canada) and Mississippi (USA). (Mississippi, btw, was parked on OUR block. How weird is that???)

Now we are only missing West Virginia, Alabama and Hawaii. I am still astounded that within a matter of weeks, Mason has conjured nearly all 50 states and some Canadian provences (like Manitoba!) -- not to meantion several tribal plates.

The END and finally, Maine!

Two pieces of news. Frist, I finished my novel (Book III of the Garnet Lacey series) last night. Before you send in congratulations, I should note that this book is still seriously flawed and needs several more weeks of revision before I can truly claim to be finished with it. However, I have the important bits committed to paper and all the plot is officially (if not yet neatly) wrapped up. The even better news is that I'm right on schedule. My writers' group volunteers will now have plenty of time to read through the rough draft, comment, and get back to me before the May 1 deadline. HOORAY!

Second.... Mason's magic prevails. Yesterday, we saw MAINE.

Even More Plates!

Of course, given our astounding success so far, you'd think we'd stop seeing NEW license plates. However, while driving back from taking Mama in to work, Mason and I spotted three new ones: Connecticut, Tennessee, and Red Lake Band of Ojibwe (Tribal.) [Cool wikipedia note: according to them Red Lake Indian reservation was the first in the nation to issue its own license plates.]

What could be next? Hawaii????!!

More Plates!

While out at Como Zoo, Mason and I spotted a few more new plates!

There we saw Kentucky and Nevada. But, the biggest score of all came on our usual drive back from Minnesota Historical Society where Shawn works. RHODE ISLAND. I couldn't even believe it. I mean, for crying out loud. It's the smallest state in the union -- how did a license plate from there end up on Summit Avenue? (Well, obviously, Tate, it drove.) Still, this is getting almost spooky, especially given the we may have had a spotting of the elusive Maine today as well. (It zipped past in on-coming traffic so I couldn't be sure, and I promised Mason I wouldn't put it on our "list" until he had a chance to see it as well.)

Romantic Times Reveiw -- FOUR STARS!

Written in the first person, book two of this terrific series by the genuinely talented Hallaway continues to build a likable, if somewhat overwhelmed, heroine who struggles to escape the past and face the future. This is first- rate paranormal reading.

Summary: Powerful witch Garnet Lacey thought she had buried the truth about what happened when six members of a Vatican paramilitary organization murdered the other 11 members of her coven. Besides arriving late, the only other reason Garnet wasn't killed was because she instinctively drew on the power of the goddess Lilith. Possessing Garnet's body, Lilith made short work of the murderous Vatican agents, but Garnet and her then boyfriend, vampire Parrish, had to get rid of the evidence.Unfortunately, the bodies have surfaced, and an FBI agent is looking at Garnet as a suspect. Current boyfriend, vampire Sebastian, is not thrilled with Garnet's need for Parrish's assistance, and this puts their romance on rocky ground.

Adding to her problems is the large number of zombies suddenly roaming around. Apparently there's a new voodoo queen in town, and when she starts messing with Garnet's friends, it means war.

(BERKLEY, May, 294 pp., $14.00) MILD—Jill M. Smith

License Plate Addenum - MoA

Driving around the Mall of America parking lot with Mason, we added just a few more license plates to our list.

We saw: Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Leech Lake Tribal Plate (pictured above), Missouri, Michigan, Manitoba (right) Canada, New York, New Jersey, Nebraska, New Mexico, Ohio, Ontario (Canada), Utah, Vermont, and Virginia.

Lesser Magic

Mason and I have been playing the driving game where you try to spot as many liscence plates from around the country as you can. Ever since we started it, Mason has proven especially lucky. Just while driving around Saint Paul, we've seen: Deleware, New Hampshire, Maryland, Washington, D.C., Ontario, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Gerogia, Florida, Louisiana, Arkansas, Illinios, Wisconsin, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Washington (State), Oregon, Alaska, and California.

When we first started, he said, "I wish we'd see California today!" and, no joke, not two seconds later, one drove by. Then he asked for Utah, but forgot to say when. When we were in Colorado visiting friends what did we see in the airport parking lot? Utah. He really wants to see Maine now, but we haven't yet. I suspect, however, given how close we've gotten (Ontario? New Hampshire? What ARE these people doing in Saint Paul -- and all within blocks of our house!)

Now, when we want to see something new, just for fun, Mason wiggles his fingers like the magician from Fantasia and says, "I'm doing magic!" and often something new will, in fact, appear.

Pretty cool magic. Fairly useless, but still cool.

Jupiter Retrograde

From astrology.com.

Restless? Feeling the need to seek greener pastures? You're not alone. Ever since Jupiter entered Sagittarius, the sign of the traveler and the explorer, on November 23, 2006, we've all been itching to get away. You most likely have pals who've recently fled to some exotic locale or taken serious steps to find a more fulfilling career. If you're been deliberating your own move -- whether it's taking that trip to Mexico or getting an MBA -- it's crucial that you take notice of the next big astrological event: From April 5 to August 6, Jupiter is going retrograde into Sagittarius, the sign of the Archer.

What does this mean for you? Jupiter's movement through Sag means your own moving-and-shaking tendencies are sticking around. However, during the retrograde period, even the most seemingly insignificant of obstacles could throw a long-term monkey wrench into any plans you've made. Sounds sinister, but in actuality this is a positive -- not to mention cyclically natural -- opportunity for you to step back and ensure that your actions are in line with your goals. In addition, fiscal belt-tightening is in your best interest now, so think twice before maxing out your credit cards! Finances often improve when Jupiter turns direct, and new opportunities for advancement and growth will present themselves. That which is inaccessible today will prove unnecessary in the long run; further, the actual withholding will turn out to be a blessing in disguise.

Don't let Jupiter's retrograde impede life's pleasures. Sure, it's time for introspection -- but fun is on the agenda too! In fact it's advisable that you go off your diet for a gourmet meal, or read a tabloid gossip rag. Indulge, but study the cause-and-effect patterns in your life and look for ways to improve. Then, enjoy the resulting revelations!

Pre-Apology

It's deadline crunch time, so I'm going to pre-apologize for not blogging much in the month of April. I have to write about 20,000 words (and do some revisions) before April 30. Shouldn't be a problem as I religiously write 1,000 words a day. BUT, I like to get a draft done ahead of schedule so that I can have some writer friends review it for major plot problems, etc.

Even so, I'm going to try to keep up with it, if only because I have a pretty good schedule for blogging -- Mason gets to watch TV on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday of each week. I usually sit in the TV room with him because wireless reception is good... and sneak time to check my emails and such. I can't really write during this time, as I get interrupted a LOT. Plus, the TV is on, and I'm just not one of those people who can completely tune it out.

Hugo Nominations Announced

NOVEL
Blindsight, Peter Watts (Tor)
Eifelheim, Michael Flynn (Tor)
Glasshouse, Charles Stross (Ace)
His Majesty's Dragon, Naomi Novik (Ballantine Del Rey; Voyager as Temeraire)
Rainbows End, Vernor Vinge (Tor)

NOVELLA
"A Billion Eves", Robert Reed (Asimov's Oct/Nov 2006)
"Inclination", William Shunn (Asimov's Apr/May 2006)
Julian: A Christmas Story, Robert Charles Wilson (PS Publishing)
"Lord Weary's Empire", Michael Swanwick (Asimov's Dec 2006)
"The Walls of the Universe", Paul Melko (Asimov's Apr/May 2006)

NOVELETTE
"All the Things You Are", Mike Resnick (Jim Baen's Universe Oct 2006)
"Dawn, and Sunset, and the Colours of the Earth", Michael F. Flynn (Asimov's Oct/Nov 2006)
"The Djinn's Wife", Ian McDonald (Asimov's Jul 2006)
"Pol Pot's Beautiful Daughter (Fantasy)", Geoff Ryman (F&SF Oct 2006)
"Yellow Card Man", Paolo Bacigalupi (Asimov's Dec 2006)

SHORT STORY
"Eight Episodes", Robert Reed (Asimov's Jun 2006)
"The House Beyond Your Sky", Benjamin Rosenbaum (Strange Horizons Sep 2006)
"How to Talk to Girls at Parties", Neil Gaiman (Fragile Things)
"Impossible Dreams", Tim Pratt (Asimov's Jul 2006)
"Kin", Bruce McAllister (Asimov's Feb 2006)

John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer [Not a Hugo]
Scott Lynch (first year of eligibility)
Sarah Monette (second year of eligibility)
Naomi Novik (first year of eligibility)
Brandon Sanderson (second year of eligibility)
Lawrence M. Schoen (second year of eligibility)

Full list at: http://www.locusmag.com

MIA

If you're wondering why I haven't posted anything new in several days it's because I'm on vacation at the Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado with my family and our friends the Jacksons.

See ya when we're back!

Spring Equinox, Astrologically-Speaking

From astology.com

On March 18, a powerful solar eclipse in sensitive Pisces signaled the importance of your spiritual life, so now is a great time to take a retreat or set aside time to be more contemplative. Additionally, with Pluto in a tight square to this eclipse, intensity ratcheted up and something had to be released.

Now, as the Sun enters Aries, we begin a new solar year, a new season and a new journey. Aries' pioneering spirit signals that it's time to take the initiative, express your creativity and make your move. Yet, with bold Mars held in check by an opposition to taskmaster Saturn, it is vital to be careful and thorough. Assessing your plans can be essential to your success, so don't bang your head against a closed door, but don't walk away either. Maturity helps, and so does the capacity to work hard.

Furthermore, Mars -- the planet of personal will and the ruler of Aries -- conjuncts Neptune, the planet of spirituality and illusion. Determine the difference between your fantasy life and your dreams. Ask yourself what you are willing to work for. This is an aspect of manifestation if you know how to use it.

Balance is key. Hard work mixed with a healthy dose of idealism will help you begin something new, whether you want to start a new business, turn over a new leaf or embark on a new path. Aries loves adventure, so take a few risks of your own -- and have fun doing it.

Ta-Dah, Full-Stop

I’ve ended my novels the same way for years. I rush headlong toward a climax, and then when all the various threads are all tied up, I stop writing. Invariably, some critic (either professional or amateur) says that the book feels rushed or as if it’s missing something. Comments like this used to leave me confused and baffled. I mean, you have to quicken the pace the closer to get to the big, final showdown, don’t you? And, as long as all the bits are nicely tidied up at the end, you’re done, right?

I used to think so, and, in the end, I think that the answer comes down to a matter of style. Because, after all, for every person who complained, there were probably dozens who thought the book ended just fine. Certainly, my editors have never asked me to change the way I do endings, so they must be “correct” in at least one sense of the word.

But, I think I’ve figured out what so many people have that reaction to the way I tend to end books: readers don’t like to leave stories. As writers, sometimes, I think we’re so driven towards writing those precious words “The End” that we forget about the experience a reader has during the final chapters of a book. The headlong rush is great, but when all the bad guys are defeated a reader wants to take a moment and catch their breath and know that the characters that they’ve come to know and love (hopefully!) are going to be all right in the end.

I don’t usually give this moment to my readers. I tend to stop writing when the action is done. It’s very much, “Ta-Dah! Full stop.” I get why a reader might feel a little whip lashed by that, even though I still tend to resist the idea of the “wrap-up” chapter. It reminds me too much of the “let’s all stand beside the captain’s chair and make some lame joke at Spock’s expense” wrap-up of the Old Trek episodes. The “morning after when everything is okay again” chapter always felt to me (as a reader, but even more so as a writer) as contrived.

I’ve come around, however. I think about what Charlotte’s Web might have been, for instance, if the last chapter was “Final Triumph” where, after Wilber’s life is saved and the egg sac is safely on its way back to the farm, Charlotte dies alone. That’s definitely the end of the whole character arc and conflict that White set up for Wilber and Charlotte. Even some minor character’s issues, like Templeton, the Rat’s, are resolved. Everything is tidy. She dies. The end.

Except White knows better than to leave us there, with a sob in our throats. He gives us a condensed vision of the winter, and brings us around to the next spring when Charlotte’s babies are born, grow, and leave Wilber to say good-bye again. Though three of her daughters stay, White tells us that no one is ever a match for Charlotte, and, in effect gives the reader several small chances to slowly let go of a beloved character and to be filled with the sense that although her death seems unfair, she will be remembered fondly by the one who loved her best, and that’s all any of us can ever hope for, and that’s all right. Sadder than sin, but all right.

Readers need an opportunity to let the story go. I think I have been ending my novels too quickly, without a good sense of that need.

And so, without further ado, good-bye.

Good-bye. See you tomorrow.

Music and Mason

In our household, Leopold Stokowski is a rock star. Leopold conducted the Philadelphia Orchestra in the 1940s and is the conductor featured in Fantasia. Mason adores this man. In fact, he’s made him into a kind of “invisible friend.” Mason’s imaginary friends are actually interactions he has with me, while I’m “in character.” Such as:

Mason: Who is that I hear knocking at the door?

Me: (trying to guess, because when I ask him he says, "you have to tell me!") Is it Leopold Stokowski?

Mason: (hopping with excitement) Yes! Hello, Leopold!

Me (as Leopold): Hello, Mason. How are you today?

Mason: Good. Do you know what I learned today? I can conduct jazz! (Mason then demonstrates by standing very still and waving his hands around very frenetically.)

Me (as Leopold): That’s great. You’re ready to be a conductor like me.

Mason: Do you like the zoo, Leopold Stokowski? (or another completely unrelated question, which then continues in several minutes worth of conversation with “Leopold.”)

Mason has generally been very interested in the music of Fantasia, to the point of quizzing me about which instruments might be playing at any given moment. The only draw back is that my ear is not very well trained in this regard. I can pick out strings from brass, but when it comes to specifics I end up doing a lot of guessing. People have suggested Peter and the Wolf as a good story that helps break down various instruments, and also another friend (thanks Paul!) suggested checking out various concertos from the library that feature various instruments. We’ve also tuned the car radio to the classical station so that as we drive around doing our various errands, we can listen to “Fantasia-like” music.

Hooray!

You may (or may not) have noticed that my web site was off-line for several days. I'd called my service provider and found out that their server "got fried. bad." but they were working on it. Well, it seems things are up and running again, so if you want to read an excerpt of Dead Sexy or find out where I'm going to be in the next several days, feel free to hop on over to my web site and check all that out.

Hooray!

Things To Waste Time On...

Here's something to waste your time on: Which Famous Vampire Are You? quiz!

Seasons of Writing

I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but it’s still jacket weather outside. Even though I’ve seen evidence that spring is on its way – crows gathering sticks for nests, buds darkening on our silver maple on our boulevard, large clumps of brown grass, litter, and mud poking through the shrinking clumps of snow – the temperatures here in the Midwest are still hovering awfully close to freezing.

Yet the novel I’m writing is taking place in June, in the full blossom of summer.

Sometimes, when I sit down to write a scene, I forget. I find myself typing “she shrugged out of her coat” because that’s what I would do, now, when coming in from outside. After tapping the delete button, I have to take a moment to remember what summer was like. I have to mentally call up nights so hot that the only relief is a bathtub full of ice cold water. I have to remember sundresses and sandals – or even bare feet on hot sidewalks or through stiff pokes of drying grass. I have to picture birds – summer birds, not the winter juncos, chickadees and cardinals, but the great blue herons, noisy red-breasted robins, and squawking blue jays. Bugs! Mosquitoes, cicadas, blue-bottle flies, crickets, gnats, ants – all the stuff that’s EVERYWHERE during the summer, that, somehow, I completely forget about during the winter.

It’s weird to write out of season, but I kind of enjoy the process of trying to recall a summer day while snuggled under six blankets. In fact, it’s one of my favorite things about writing contemporary settings. I love the challenge of trying to convey what a Midwestern season is like. I try to imagine someone who’s lived their entire life in southern Texas cracking open my book and being (hopefully) transported to a farm in the upper Midwest in springtime. I want that reader to smell the clover and alfalfa in the gentle spring drizzle. Just the way I FELT the oppressive heat and smelled the magnolias the first time I fell into the New Orleans of the Dave Robicheaux series by James Lee Burke.

Burke made me appreciate location. He made me realize that if you’re going to write about a place, you should fill it with the sights and sounds that are unique to the place you’re writing about. Why? Because, as a reader, I like going there as an armchair tourist – and weather (along with fauna and flora) is a surprisingly large part of that experience. Some of it didn’t work, because I didn’t have reference points for some of the specifics, but most of the time that didn’t matter because he gave me enough that I could imagine it (however wrongly.)

Eh, besides, you know us Minnesotans. We love to talk about the weather.