S.L. Viehl's Blog, page 142

Lucan's Christmas Letter

Lucan decided to write a letter to Santa, and if you're interested in finding out what he wants for Christmas you can read it here.

Nightbred Audio on Sale

Here's a look at the cover art for the audio edition of Nightbred, which along with all of Tantor's audio books is currently 50% off. It's also narrated by Johanna Parker, who did such an amazing job with the audio edition of Nightborn. According to the site this will start shipping on December 17th.

Jamys Arrives

Today is the official release date for Nightbred, the second novel in my Lords of the Darkyn trilogy. As most of you know my published novels are my only source of income, so buying a copy is the best way to show your support for me and keep Paperback Writer funded and ad-free.

December is supposed to be the worst month in which to release a novel, but I always look at it as a better opportunity to sell. After all, lots of you will be out there shopping. For those of you who are fans of my Darkyn books, and would like to see me continue writing in this universe, now would be the time to invest in it. Also, if you enjoy the story, please let other readers know about it, as word of mouth is the best advertising in the world a writer can't buy.

Online Shopping Links:
Barnes & Noble
Books-A-Million
Amazon.com

Elsewhere with Rules

Today I'm over at Shiloh Walker's place talking about how my life is being ruled lately by threes. Stop in if you get a chance and enter to win my Emerald Dreams tote along with the entire Lords of the Darkyn trilogy (Nightborn and Nightbred in paperback, and a manuscript copy of Nightbound, too.)

Under Ten

This year my family and I decided to start a new holiday gift-giving tradition. Instead of spending money on lots of presents, we're buying just one gift for each other that costs no more than $10.00. The rest of the $$$ we normally spend will be donated to folks in need. For 2012 we're giving to the victims of Hurricane Sandy in Rockaway, which was my Dad's childhood home.

You'd think this one $10 gift rule would make shopping difficult, but I love bargain hunting so I'm actually having a blast with it. I'm also finding there are a lot of cool gifts out there for under ten bucks, so I thought I'd share some intel by putting together a list of:

Ten Gifts You Can Buy for Ten Bucks or Less

Kathy Iogo's All You Need is Love . . . and a Cat box sign is a great gift for your favorite feline lover; at $5.95 from B&N.com you'll have enough left over to buy a nice pack of kitty treats, too.

Sometimes you can find bargains even at pricey places like Levenger; they have this ruled ceramic pen/pencil cup for $10.00
which you can fill with something fun you make for your recipient (chocolate-dipped pretzel rods would look neat.)

Office Depot carries Lexar™ JumpDrive® TwistTurn USB 8G Flash Drives in a variety of colors for $9.99; to make it extra personal add some content on it for them, like family pics or some free stories from your favorite authors (I have a whole library of them available over there on the sidebar, not that I'm hinting.)

Target is another site where you can shop by price; they have lots of gift ideas for less than ten bucks including this cute set of Paul Frank Lip Smackers that inlcudes a neat little makeup bag for $9.99.

Writer's Bloc is the place I shop for interesting gifts for writers; they have a bunch of items for less than $10.00 like this Writersblok Woodpecker Notebook that looks like it's covered with white birch bark; at $8.55 you can add an inexpensive pen and still stay under ten bucks.

Pier 1 has 634 gifts under $10.00 on their website, including this cute Mini Desk Supply set for $4.78 (saves you enough to splurge on an inexpensive 2013 calendar, like this one from Office Depot for $4.99) and these adorable Chubby Cat Salt & Pepper shakers for $8.00.

Add some pics to this Vintage Camera Photo Album and you've got two gifts in one; $9.95 from B&N.com.

These Sakura Gelly Roll StarDust gel pens produce a lovely, sparkling ink, and for $1.00 each from Writer's Bloc you can buy a nice set of them and pair them with an inexpensive journal or sketchbook.

The Top Secret Lock & Key Diary is great for teens or anyone who wants to journal securely; $9.95 from B&N.com.

Give your favorite scribe this Writers Block memo pad; $10.00 from, where else, Writer's Bloc.

Finally, a great novel is always a welcome gift, and most paperbacks cost under $10.00. I happen to have one coming out on Tuesday that is $7.99 from B&N.com or at most bookstores.

Dreaming in Emerald

Last night I sewed the last stitch of a dream. To everyone else it'll look like a tote bag, one that might be too large and with a design that may seem a little strange. To me it was exactly what I envisioned when I saw the fabric. Probably every other quilter on the planet would have called that swatch a tone print with a weird dark green crackle; I saw the material equivalent of uncut emeralds.

I knew from the beginning that making this odd, unpretty fabric into the vision I had in my head would take some doing. I'd have to be clever with my thread choices and embellishments -- too much would obliterate it, too little wouldn't communicate the idea. If I was too literal in interpreting the design, it would turn out like a bad joke. So I collected threads and beads while I daydreamed, and let it come together gradually, until I could see it as clearly as if I'd already made it.

Taking the first stitch was a leap of faith. I don't jump all that well so while I worked I also tried to talk myself out of it. There were easier things I could do; smarter things, things more acceptable that had been done a hundred times and always came out well. That and it was just a tote bag, for crying out loud. Why was I getting so worked up over something I was giving away, that would never be mine?

I stitched on. I stitched, measured, pulled out threads that had gone in crookedly and restitched them. I discovered I'd made an error with the seam allowance and had to trim an eighth of an inch off four sides of one panel. There were moments when I wanted to toss the entire project in the fireplace and watch it burn. I stopped thinking about how many people wouldn't like it and how no one but me would really understand it and stitched on.

I finished the needlework and moved on to the beading. I had piled a small mountain of packages and strings of beautiful crystals and stones and glass, all in different shades of my dream emeralds, all waiting for me to arrange them and feed them to my beading needle and stitch them in place. One of the prettiest strands turned out to be plastic, and when I realized that I threw it across the room (and then I ran and picked it up before the dogs could use it to play tug of war.)

I moved on to binding it all together. The green binding I'd picked out for the project now seemed too much like a crayon color, and when I switched it to black that seemed even worse. It was going to be too dark, I told myself as I sewed it on and mitered the corners. The fireplace was still burning. I had enough time left to do something else . . . but I hadn't put it all together. I needed to see it finished, and then I'd decide.

I took my guy out to dinner right before my last sewing session, and over salmon and a baked sweet potato I listened to him talking about work so I wouldn't think about the tote. I thought about it anyway. It was waiting for me, waiting on me to make it real. And when I got home I gave myself one last chance to give up on it, then laughed at myself and went to the sewing table.

An hour later it was done. It definitely wasn't perfect -- I'd made it a little too large, and the strap was a bit too wide. But when I carried it past the fireplace, the crystals and the threads sparkled into life, and I saw my dream in my hands, almost exactly as it had been in my head, and that made it worth all the trouble.

Whoever gets this bag may think it's a little weird, not exactly pretty and definitely not the usual thing. I don't know; what someone thinks of my art is not something I can control. They won't be able to appreciate the time and thought and effort I put into it because they weren't with me while I was making it. But when they open the package and take it out, they'll be holding my dream in their hands, and that's why I did it. Because the best dreams are the ones you share.

Elsewhere Keeping Warm

Now that I've finished my NaNo novel, today I'm over at Under the Covers talking about my secret to keeping warm while enjoying winter reads. Stop in if you get a chance and enter to win signed copies of Nightborn and Nightbred along with warming nibbles and a gift basket of luxurious bath products from Le Petite Maison.

Done

As of 7:57 am this morning. How did everyone else do? Let us know in comments.

NaNoWriMo 2012 Wrap-Up

As I write this it's actually Sunday, and I'm enjoying the last night of my mini-vacation. We had a terrific Thanksgiving with family and friends, and it was exactly the sort of break I needed before heading into this final week of NaNoWriMo. During my four-day holiday I didn't ignore writing entirely but I didn't worry about it, either. I'm rested, recharged, and I've gotten everything lined up for the week ahead, so I'm ready to finish the last leg of this race.

This last week brings a lot of stress with it, because we're all making that last mad dash. I plan to reach 50K by November 30th, but I really won't know if I do until I get there. I've paced myself accordingly, and if all goes well I will. If all goes south, I'll still try. Winning is great, but staying in the race is just as important.

I didn't run this one alone, either, so I'd like to thank my family for giving me the time, space and support I needed throughout November; Tim Kim and the folks at the Office of Light and Letters blog for offering me a chance to reach out to all their readers, which was wonderful; the comraderie and many kind messages from my NaNo writing buddies (who should know I meant to pester them more but I ran out of month); the writers on the NaNo forums who talked shop and shared ideas and links and all sorts of useful info with me, and everyone here for the many comments and nonstop encouragement you've offered all month long. I could not have done this without you.

Now I'm off to write the rest of the way to 50K. See you at the finish line.

NaNo Sub Op

I found this call for submissions from Avon on the NaNoWriMo forums: "Avon editors will make themselves available to the author community via online forums at www.nanowrimo.org,and by sponsoring "NaRoWriMo," the publisher hopes to acquire original works of romantic fiction, to be released in 2013 by Avon Impulse. "NaRoWriMo" romance fiction submissions should be submitted by December 10, 2012 to Avon Romance’s online submission portal (www.avonimpulse.com), and tagged "NaRoWriMo." All novel and novella-length submissions (50,000 words and above) will be reviewed, and will be considered for publication through Avon Impulse" (and for more information on how to submit a completed “NaRoWriMo” manuscript, visit www.AvonImpulse.com.)