Barbara Samuel's Blog: A Writer Afoot, page 17

How the wind do howl….

If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook, you know I've been engaged in an adventure with my mother.  We traveled to Washington DC so that my mother could browse the Smithsonians until she dropped and then we would have dinner every night with my son. 

Last Friday, of course, it started snowing.  I nearly cancelled about 12 times, but kept thinking that once the storm was over, it would be okay, and we could go play.   On Sunday morning, they were thinking they might be able to get the airport ...

Playlist for THE SECRET OF EVERYTHING

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I've had a good number of requests to post the playlist for THE SECRET OF EVERYTHING, and here it is.  I had no idea there was so much music in this book, honestly, but music is always playing in my head (and Tessa's!), so I suppose it is no big surprise.

I had a soundtrack that kept growing and growing and growing as I worked, and this is most of it. Not all songs showed up on the actual pages, of course.  And not all the folk songs have names I know.

Orphan Girl, Emmy Lou Harris

The Garden...

A sweet bow from her shy petals

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One of my great desires has always been to have a greenhouse.  In a corner of my dining room is a small conservatory, a Victorian imitation, and within are a cyclamen and African violets.  This morning, this cyclamen was blooming and I spent an hour admiring it, shooting the light on its petals, diving into a wordless orgy of appreciation.  There is something so quiet and renewing about flowers, something that heals all those little broken spots and makes you feel you might be able to take a ...

A beautiful loaf

Jack had to have a bit of surgery this week (he's fine, he's fine!) and when I got home from finding out, I didn't even take off my sweater. I gravitated to the kitchen and started pulling out flour. This is the result, a wheaty loaf, using a small amount of buckwheat in a poolish starter.

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Farewell to the Ancient One

I had to let Sasha go last Friday. You've all been so kind, I thought you'd want to know. Rather than weep, I think in her honor we should all laugh, eat something we love, and raise a toast to the scavenger dogs of the world. Here is a link to one of my favorite stories about her, the butter story:

http://www.barbarasamuel.com/blog/200...

Once upon a time…

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We're doing some spring cleaning around here and while transfering files from a box (really) to an actual file cabinet, I found this query. 

It ended up leading to my first sale. 

The phone number was my mother's, by the way.  I was too poor to have a phone of my own.

Come visit with me in Colorado Springs

I'll be at the Briargate Barnes and Nobel on Sunday afternoon. Come on over!

January 17, 2-4 pm

Barnes and Noble, North Colorado Springs

1565 Briargate Blvd

Colorado Springs, CO 80920

719-266-9960

Grace

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I've said before that my dog Sasha is at the end. It's not a dire situation by any means—she's still hanging out in the kitchen with me when she's awake, hoping to get a treat, as she has done for the last 17 years. She is still very happy to get canned food mixed with the dry at breakfast time, and can toddle around the park nearby my house once or twice a week if I am very patient. She can't hear a thing and all that's left of her sight is the left half of the left eye, and even her...

Finally back to work

Oh, yes–I remember. The book happens as I am writing it. All the thinking, all the planning, all the scene lists and character sketches and theme spiders and metaphorical illuminations are lovely. The brewing time is also good, and I need a lot of it.

But in the end, what I learn over and over and over and over again is that I actually write the book while I'm writing the book. I find out what's really going to happen when my fingers are on the keyboard and I'm watching the scene unfold. ...

An excerpt from the new collection by the Faery Four

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We've been playing again, the Faery Four, and our latest collection of magical stories is out! The book is called THE CHALICE OF THE ROSE novella collection, written by Jo Beverley, Mary Jo Putney, Karen Harbaugh, and Barbara Samuel, and it traces the tale of the Grail through four different time periods. I think you'll enjoy this quite a bit!

Library Journal said:
"Based on legends surrounding the mystical Holy Grail, this quartet sweeps readers across time periods with emotionally...