Patti O'Shea's Blog, page 181
July 15, 2011
July 14, 2011
Adventures In the New Wild Kingdom
I went over to my parents' house the other night for dinner and my dad had an Adventure With Wildlife story. It doesn't have a sweet outcome or humor, so if you feel this might disturb you, I'd suggest skipping today's blog.
The story as told to me by my dad:
The neighbor across the street called and said he'd had a sick raccoon in his yard, but that the animal had left and gone into my parents' backyard. He warned my dad that they shouldn't go outside. It's been reported in the newspapers here that raccoons have a high infection rate for rabies, so a sick animal is definitely dangerous. The neighbor told my dad that he'd called the police.
It was about 3pm when the officer showed up. (I don't know what time the neighbor called. My dad didn't mention this, but I'm imaging it wasn't too long.) He rang my parents' doorbell and warned them that he would need to shoot the raccoon so they shouldn't become alarmed if they heard the noise.
As soon as the raccoon saw the officer, it became belligerent and tried to attack. (Which definitely makes me think rabies.) The officer shot it with a small caliber weapon. My dad said it was barely a pop. Then he gloved up and hauled the carcass away. My guess is that they'll test it for rabies, but I could be wrong about that. If they already know most of the raccoon population is infected, it might not be necessary.
This story was kind of scary to me because if the neighbor hadn't seen the raccoon, noticed it was sick, and saw it go to my parents' yard, my dad could easily have gotten bitten. He loves being outside and goes out all the time. And while he's incredibly spry for his age, I'm not sure he'd get out of the way fast enough.
I'm continually surprised by the wildlife adventures. When did suburbia become an episode of Wild Kingdom?
The story as told to me by my dad:
The neighbor across the street called and said he'd had a sick raccoon in his yard, but that the animal had left and gone into my parents' backyard. He warned my dad that they shouldn't go outside. It's been reported in the newspapers here that raccoons have a high infection rate for rabies, so a sick animal is definitely dangerous. The neighbor told my dad that he'd called the police.
It was about 3pm when the officer showed up. (I don't know what time the neighbor called. My dad didn't mention this, but I'm imaging it wasn't too long.) He rang my parents' doorbell and warned them that he would need to shoot the raccoon so they shouldn't become alarmed if they heard the noise.
As soon as the raccoon saw the officer, it became belligerent and tried to attack. (Which definitely makes me think rabies.) The officer shot it with a small caliber weapon. My dad said it was barely a pop. Then he gloved up and hauled the carcass away. My guess is that they'll test it for rabies, but I could be wrong about that. If they already know most of the raccoon population is infected, it might not be necessary.
This story was kind of scary to me because if the neighbor hadn't seen the raccoon, noticed it was sick, and saw it go to my parents' yard, my dad could easily have gotten bitten. He loves being outside and goes out all the time. And while he's incredibly spry for his age, I'm not sure he'd get out of the way fast enough.
I'm continually surprised by the wildlife adventures. When did suburbia become an episode of Wild Kingdom?
July 12, 2011
Oh, Yeah--Nocturnal
Over the Fourth of July weekend when I was trying to get pages and pages done on the Work In Progress (WIP), I had a memory jolt. I opened my file every day and while I got a little bit written, I certainly wasn't meeting my own expectations. But as the evening got later, the word count increased. Greatly.
I didn't think much of it the first night, but when it happened on Sunday, too. I stopped and wondered. And then a memory came slamming into me. This had happened before. When I was writing Conor and Mika--both half demons--I could only make good progress when it got dark.
It took a while, but I finally figured out that it's because demons are nocturnal.
I'm working on another demon couple now--or at least one full demon hero and one half demon heroine. It was a light bulb moment. No, I shouldn't have been so slow to figure it out, but in my defense, my other demons didn't insist on nighttime writing. Some characters are just more cooperative and pleasant to work with than others.
Thanks, Andras and Bree (Demon Kissed)! Not so thrilled with you, Nicole and Dak (Enemy Embrace).
I didn't think much of it the first night, but when it happened on Sunday, too. I stopped and wondered. And then a memory came slamming into me. This had happened before. When I was writing Conor and Mika--both half demons--I could only make good progress when it got dark.
It took a while, but I finally figured out that it's because demons are nocturnal.
I'm working on another demon couple now--or at least one full demon hero and one half demon heroine. It was a light bulb moment. No, I shouldn't have been so slow to figure it out, but in my defense, my other demons didn't insist on nighttime writing. Some characters are just more cooperative and pleasant to work with than others.
Thanks, Andras and Bree (Demon Kissed)! Not so thrilled with you, Nicole and Dak (Enemy Embrace).
July 10, 2011
Hot Ice
Another of my all-time favorite books is Hot Ice by Nora Roberts. It was actually the first Nora book I read and it made her a must-buy author for me. It took me a long time to pick up all her backlist, but I was late enough finding her that she already had quite a number of books out.
Hot Ice features a hero who's a thief and an heiress heroine. They meet when he's on the run from the police and uses her to get away. They end up becoming partners because he has a map to a treasure and she has the money to fund his hunt. But she's not letting him take off alone, she's going to be with him every step of the way.
This book had the h/h on the run in the jungle. Now you know one of the reasons why I loved it, right? I have a thing for this setup. :-) But I also liked that the heroine had such a smart mouth. She zinged the hero constantly and was more than a match for this con artist/thief. The banter kept me entertained and amused and the action kept me riveted.
Action. Adventure. Romance. Equals me, hooked. Completely. :-)
Hot Ice features a hero who's a thief and an heiress heroine. They meet when he's on the run from the police and uses her to get away. They end up becoming partners because he has a map to a treasure and she has the money to fund his hunt. But she's not letting him take off alone, she's going to be with him every step of the way.
This book had the h/h on the run in the jungle. Now you know one of the reasons why I loved it, right? I have a thing for this setup. :-) But I also liked that the heroine had such a smart mouth. She zinged the hero constantly and was more than a match for this con artist/thief. The banter kept me entertained and amused and the action kept me riveted.
Action. Adventure. Romance. Equals me, hooked. Completely. :-)
July 8, 2011
Atlantis
Today, we all went into the conference room at work and watched the final space shuttle launch. It was an awesome experience to watch with a roomful of people, many of whom were engineers. For a minute, when they held countdown, we were concerned there'd be a long delay, but there wasn't.
Our group gathering had some funny moments. When one of the engineers tried to increase the volume, she knocked us off the NASA channel and onto a Jewelry Shopping Network. So then when the space shuttle launch was put on hold, another engineer joked that someone at NASA had tried to find the volume button.
We also had one of our engineers down to watch the launch and everyone kept suggesting we call him. Have him jump up and down, one of the guys said when the camera was on the crowd.
Watching the shuttle go up was an awe-inspiring moment--something I forget with the frequency of launches. If I missed one, it was no big deal, there'd always be another. And yet there will be no more.
And as the big fuel tank separated from the shuttle and Atlantis pulled away, it was sad. There will be no more shuttle launches and America has no new era of space exploration in the wings. This is it. The final hurrah and every time I think of that, my heart feels heavy.
I love the possibilities of space exploration. My first books were science fiction romances set in the future. A future where Earth, specifically the Western Alliance, had begun to colonize other planets. Jarved Nine was the third one. In my future, space is important and moving out into it vital.
Possibilities. I love the possibilities. Maybe that's why I love SF Romance so much--anything is possible.
Dear America, please reinvest in our space program. It's worth the costs associated with it because it allows everyone to dream...at least a little. And it allows us to believe that--indeed--anything is possible.
Our group gathering had some funny moments. When one of the engineers tried to increase the volume, she knocked us off the NASA channel and onto a Jewelry Shopping Network. So then when the space shuttle launch was put on hold, another engineer joked that someone at NASA had tried to find the volume button.
We also had one of our engineers down to watch the launch and everyone kept suggesting we call him. Have him jump up and down, one of the guys said when the camera was on the crowd.
Watching the shuttle go up was an awe-inspiring moment--something I forget with the frequency of launches. If I missed one, it was no big deal, there'd always be another. And yet there will be no more.
And as the big fuel tank separated from the shuttle and Atlantis pulled away, it was sad. There will be no more shuttle launches and America has no new era of space exploration in the wings. This is it. The final hurrah and every time I think of that, my heart feels heavy.
I love the possibilities of space exploration. My first books were science fiction romances set in the future. A future where Earth, specifically the Western Alliance, had begun to colonize other planets. Jarved Nine was the third one. In my future, space is important and moving out into it vital.
Possibilities. I love the possibilities. Maybe that's why I love SF Romance so much--anything is possible.
Dear America, please reinvest in our space program. It's worth the costs associated with it because it allows everyone to dream...at least a little. And it allows us to believe that--indeed--anything is possible.
July 7, 2011
Myth or Reality?
I read this blog post last week about myths of writing that kind of irked me. It started out well enough. Item one was that reading and writing alone weren't enough to make people good writers. That education classes shouldn't be forgotten. This one I could get behind because I took a lot of writing classes--in high school, in college, after college. I also read a lot of craft books.
Then the blog post completely derailed for me. Myth two according to this male writer (I think of SF/F, but I'm not 100% sure) is that authors write what their characters tell them. He insisted that characters only do what the writer has them do and that any surprises are because of the writer's awesome subconscious at work.
Dude, maybe your characters are happy to let you move them around like cardboard cutouts, but mine are not. Mine will bring the story to a complete halt until I change what they don't like. You can call this my writer's subconscious at work if this makes you feel better, but I know differently. You suggest that I should write my character putting a gun to her head and pulling the trigger, then delete it later. That I could do this without any problem because my characters are not real and not in control.
Ha! My heroine lowered the gun to her side, looked at me and said, "Are you freaking nuts?" She didn't pull the trigger, she wouldn't even lift the gun to her head.
SF/F Writer Dude, I counter with this question: If your characters aren't real to you, what can you do to make them come alive? What can you do to give them more depth and dimension?
Myth three, according to him, was that there is no magic in storytelling and that writing an outline/synopsis/etc doesn't steal the magic.
I can agree with him to an extent, but not completely. There is magic in storytelling. That's what the surprises are. I don't think throwing together a synopsis steals the magic, I actually like having a synopsis after about the third chapter of the actual story because having a road map is nice. A detailed outline? Maybe one that's 60 pages long? (Yes, there are authors who do this.) If I'm writing 60 pages, my story is done. It's told. It's time to write another one. So for me, over detailing the story before I write does kill something. It kills what makes it magical to me--the discovery, the wonder, the surprises.
I'm afraid I couldn't read any farther. Not only did I disagree strongly with item 2, but his tone really put my back up. It was the "I'm right about writing and if you don't agree with me you're doing it wrong" attitude. I learned early that I was never going to write the way the "experts" said was right. When I tried, I hated writing enough to want to quit it all together. So I do it my way--no matter how wrong it is--and I enjoy it.
Anyone beginning writer who's reading this, just know that there is no right or wrong way to write. If it works for you, it's right for you. His process is right for him and it works for him. Yea for him. But just because my characters are real and in control, just because I don't want to write the story in abbreviated form before I write the real story, doesn't make my way wrong. And no other writer--no matter how successful they are--gets to tell me I'm not following the "one true way." He doesn't get to tell you this either.
Then the blog post completely derailed for me. Myth two according to this male writer (I think of SF/F, but I'm not 100% sure) is that authors write what their characters tell them. He insisted that characters only do what the writer has them do and that any surprises are because of the writer's awesome subconscious at work.
Dude, maybe your characters are happy to let you move them around like cardboard cutouts, but mine are not. Mine will bring the story to a complete halt until I change what they don't like. You can call this my writer's subconscious at work if this makes you feel better, but I know differently. You suggest that I should write my character putting a gun to her head and pulling the trigger, then delete it later. That I could do this without any problem because my characters are not real and not in control.
Ha! My heroine lowered the gun to her side, looked at me and said, "Are you freaking nuts?" She didn't pull the trigger, she wouldn't even lift the gun to her head.
SF/F Writer Dude, I counter with this question: If your characters aren't real to you, what can you do to make them come alive? What can you do to give them more depth and dimension?
Myth three, according to him, was that there is no magic in storytelling and that writing an outline/synopsis/etc doesn't steal the magic.
I can agree with him to an extent, but not completely. There is magic in storytelling. That's what the surprises are. I don't think throwing together a synopsis steals the magic, I actually like having a synopsis after about the third chapter of the actual story because having a road map is nice. A detailed outline? Maybe one that's 60 pages long? (Yes, there are authors who do this.) If I'm writing 60 pages, my story is done. It's told. It's time to write another one. So for me, over detailing the story before I write does kill something. It kills what makes it magical to me--the discovery, the wonder, the surprises.
I'm afraid I couldn't read any farther. Not only did I disagree strongly with item 2, but his tone really put my back up. It was the "I'm right about writing and if you don't agree with me you're doing it wrong" attitude. I learned early that I was never going to write the way the "experts" said was right. When I tried, I hated writing enough to want to quit it all together. So I do it my way--no matter how wrong it is--and I enjoy it.
Anyone beginning writer who's reading this, just know that there is no right or wrong way to write. If it works for you, it's right for you. His process is right for him and it works for him. Yea for him. But just because my characters are real and in control, just because I don't want to write the story in abbreviated form before I write the real story, doesn't make my way wrong. And no other writer--no matter how successful they are--gets to tell me I'm not following the "one true way." He doesn't get to tell you this either.
July 5, 2011
It's Not Just a Job
Truly, every day is an adventure inside my head. Something new always happens. Usually, it's a new story or new characters talking. That's totally normal to me and I take it in stride. I can even shrug off a return of old characters. They rarely come around, but it's occurred. The other night, though, I entered uncharted territory.
It started out normal enough. Ravyn and Damon came in with Cam.
It isn't the first time they've shown up and I was like, okay, hello. But after a little vignette with Cam, the strange part happened. I started to see what their romance/story would have looked like if there wasn't a killer on Jarved Nine.
This was a first for me. It wasn't as if I'd made a choice when I wrote the story about what the circumstances were that set it off and that I opted to have someone kill almost everyone on the planet. The story for Ravyn's Flight came to me when I saw Ravyn huddled on the floor, her arms wrapped around her knees. I knew something awful had happened, but I didn't know what and I began writing the story to find out.
I'm still trying to figure out why I suddenly got this scenario. I have to say, though, that although it was kind of a WTH moment, it was pretty cool. Writers are always asking what if? And while this wasn't a question I'd thought of before, once it popped inside my head, it intrigued me.
No one will be surprised if I mention that they fell in love in this version, too, right?
The whole thing, while weird in the extreme, was fun, too. I got to revisit a couple of characters that I liked, saw a cool story, and I wasn't required to do anything except be entertained. I'm calling this a win.
It started out normal enough. Ravyn and Damon came in with Cam.
It isn't the first time they've shown up and I was like, okay, hello. But after a little vignette with Cam, the strange part happened. I started to see what their romance/story would have looked like if there wasn't a killer on Jarved Nine.
This was a first for me. It wasn't as if I'd made a choice when I wrote the story about what the circumstances were that set it off and that I opted to have someone kill almost everyone on the planet. The story for Ravyn's Flight came to me when I saw Ravyn huddled on the floor, her arms wrapped around her knees. I knew something awful had happened, but I didn't know what and I began writing the story to find out.
I'm still trying to figure out why I suddenly got this scenario. I have to say, though, that although it was kind of a WTH moment, it was pretty cool. Writers are always asking what if? And while this wasn't a question I'd thought of before, once it popped inside my head, it intrigued me.
No one will be surprised if I mention that they fell in love in this version, too, right?
The whole thing, while weird in the extreme, was fun, too. I got to revisit a couple of characters that I liked, saw a cool story, and I wasn't required to do anything except be entertained. I'm calling this a win.
July 3, 2011
Bad To the Bone
A recent Twitter discussion reminded me of another favorite book: Debra Dixon's Bad to the Bone. It came out from Loveswept in 1996 and is my favorite series romance story of all time. The thing that made it so awesome to me is the risks the author took.
To briefly summarize the story: The heroine is a retired assassin. She worked through an intermediary for the CIA and this man protected her when she wanted to quit. Now the man has disappeared and his daughter calls the heroine to ask for help. The girl also called the police. The hero used to work for the Houston Police Department, but he burned out and he's now working in the small town where the missing man lives with his daughter. The hero is assigned to investigate. Do I need to mention that the h/h clash swords immediately? The heroine is all about protecting the man's daughter, the hero has his sixth sense telling him that something more is going on than he's being told.
There are so many things to love about this book. The first thing, before I even read it, was the heroine was an assassin. That's not normal series romance trope, not even today, but especially not in 1996. The execution of this story is awesome! The dialogue sizzles, the sexual tension is just short of a boil from the instant the h/h meet, neither character is a pushover, and the action was there, too. Y'all know how much I love action with my romance.
The growth arcs of the h/h are spot on, too. These two wounded characters gradually open up to each other, learn about each other, and reach a place where the reader can believe the happy ending. I can't even say enough how much I love this book.
Normally, I really don't care about autographs. It's just not my bag. But I stalked Deb Dixon at two Romance Writers of America conferences before I finally got her to sign my copy when she did a workshop for my local chapter. I'm not sure I entirely made sense as I gushed all over her, but this book is my favorite series romance book of all time and it ranks right up there with my favorite books of all time.
There might be a few places in the story where it was necessary to suspend my disbelief, but I honestly didn't care and was willing to go there without hesitation. That's how tremendous this book is.
I have a copy on my keeper/reread shelf--the highest honor possible. I also pick up it whenever I spot it at a used book store. I bet I have four or five copies now, but I want to be able to loan it out to friends and my autographed copy is not leaving my house. :-)
To briefly summarize the story: The heroine is a retired assassin. She worked through an intermediary for the CIA and this man protected her when she wanted to quit. Now the man has disappeared and his daughter calls the heroine to ask for help. The girl also called the police. The hero used to work for the Houston Police Department, but he burned out and he's now working in the small town where the missing man lives with his daughter. The hero is assigned to investigate. Do I need to mention that the h/h clash swords immediately? The heroine is all about protecting the man's daughter, the hero has his sixth sense telling him that something more is going on than he's being told.
There are so many things to love about this book. The first thing, before I even read it, was the heroine was an assassin. That's not normal series romance trope, not even today, but especially not in 1996. The execution of this story is awesome! The dialogue sizzles, the sexual tension is just short of a boil from the instant the h/h meet, neither character is a pushover, and the action was there, too. Y'all know how much I love action with my romance.
The growth arcs of the h/h are spot on, too. These two wounded characters gradually open up to each other, learn about each other, and reach a place where the reader can believe the happy ending. I can't even say enough how much I love this book.
Normally, I really don't care about autographs. It's just not my bag. But I stalked Deb Dixon at two Romance Writers of America conferences before I finally got her to sign my copy when she did a workshop for my local chapter. I'm not sure I entirely made sense as I gushed all over her, but this book is my favorite series romance book of all time and it ranks right up there with my favorite books of all time.
There might be a few places in the story where it was necessary to suspend my disbelief, but I honestly didn't care and was willing to go there without hesitation. That's how tremendous this book is.
I have a copy on my keeper/reread shelf--the highest honor possible. I also pick up it whenever I spot it at a used book store. I bet I have four or five copies now, but I want to be able to loan it out to friends and my autographed copy is not leaving my house. :-)
June 30, 2011
More Ebooks Please
For a variety of reasons, I've been looking for some of my favorite books in e-format. Specifically for Kindle since that's the e-reader I use. To my great disappointment, the results have been less than stellar.
One of the books I wanted was available, but priced ridiculously high. I blogged about that last week, I think. The other titles I'm looking for don't seem to be out as an ebook anywhere. I assumed that because these were older books and out of print that the authors had their rights back. I found out with one author that this wasn't the case--she hadn't been able to get her rights back from what I read online. I don't know about the third one.
It's not that I'm going to get rid of my paper copies of these books--I'm not--but I would like them in e-format, too. I guess I have an interesting perspective on things because I know so many authors who do have their rights back and who are getting them out there as ebooks. It honestly shocks me when I can't find what I'm looking for on Amazon for my Kindle. Although, after the past week and all the books I can't get, maybe I shouldn't be so stunned anymore, huh?
I guess my plea is to all the authors who have their rights back and aren't doing anything with them, please, get these books formatted for the different readers and available for sale. At a reasonable price. You don't know who is out there, waiting to buy it. Like me.
And readers, I do have the rights back to my first four books and I am working to get them out there in e-format. It's just taking longer than I'd hoped. My goal is before Christmas. I can do this. I hope.
One of the books I wanted was available, but priced ridiculously high. I blogged about that last week, I think. The other titles I'm looking for don't seem to be out as an ebook anywhere. I assumed that because these were older books and out of print that the authors had their rights back. I found out with one author that this wasn't the case--she hadn't been able to get her rights back from what I read online. I don't know about the third one.
It's not that I'm going to get rid of my paper copies of these books--I'm not--but I would like them in e-format, too. I guess I have an interesting perspective on things because I know so many authors who do have their rights back and who are getting them out there as ebooks. It honestly shocks me when I can't find what I'm looking for on Amazon for my Kindle. Although, after the past week and all the books I can't get, maybe I shouldn't be so stunned anymore, huh?
I guess my plea is to all the authors who have their rights back and aren't doing anything with them, please, get these books formatted for the different readers and available for sale. At a reasonable price. You don't know who is out there, waiting to buy it. Like me.
And readers, I do have the rights back to my first four books and I am working to get them out there in e-format. It's just taking longer than I'd hoped. My goal is before Christmas. I can do this. I hope.
