Liane Spicer's Blog, page 19

Reading right now: Kindred

I featured Octavia Butler here on the blog last June, and Kindred, her classic tale of a modern black woman who is transported back to the days of slavery, has been on my (very long) wish list ever since. Now, thanks to a blog buddy, I finally have a copy. I couldn't put down this book!

Don't understand why some insist on labeling the novel science fiction, though. The writer herself notes that there's no 'science' in it. Is it because of the time travel? I consider it more speculative, or parano

"Carpe vino", or "Seize the wine"

My niece, The Chicken, gave me the little plaque above for my birthday, much to my delight. I do so love wine. Her dad, my brother, presses a bottle on me every couple of months, and I buy the occasional litre myself. I don't drink wine to get drunk. I drink it because I love, LOVE the taste. It also puts a sparkle in my eye (okay, I haven't seen it but I feel it, which is proof enough). It sharpens my perception, enhances my enjoyment of every nuance of conversation, beauty, wit. Especially my

Elizabeth Gilbert: A New Way to Think About Creativity

Found this over at The Largest Writing Group on Facebook and just had to share. I don't think the author of Eat, Pray, Love needs an introduction.

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Another lovely day

On this date last year my post title was Lovely Day and I embedded the Bill Withers song of the same name. Yes, folks, it's my birthday once again! Now, you can't ask me my age - you know girls don't tell - but I have to say that growing older isn't as bad as it's cracked up to be. Really, I feel wonderful, and blessed. I know too many good people who didn't make it this far, so I'm grateful for every year that I continue to have the gift of life; I try to remember that it's precious and should

February hunks

Did I have a January hunk? I don't think so... To make up for this unforgivable lapse we've got two hunks on show today. Ta-da!


I don't know his name, but he's featured on the Calendrier Paysan 2009 calendar and the photo stopped me in my tracks. Comme il est délicieux! Just look at him - driving a big power tool, all sweaty and dirty, doing man-stuff. Don't you just want to take him inside and give him a shower? Mais oui! **fans herself frantically at the thought** He can be my lead character's

Little green things

Yes, I've been doing it again: staying up late fiddling with... widgets. I've been seeing blogs with lovely website-like tabs at the top, and avarice got the better of me. I wanted some! Had to have them to shore up my author-website resistance! So off I trotted into the cybersphere on the scent of tabby-widgets. Apparently Blogger doesn't provide them, but techies have been designing their own all over the place and I stumbled across this site. Hey presto! Instant tabs!

Well, not exactly. The o

For Lisa

Lisa Ratcliffe, a member of the Novel Racers, a UK-based writers' group that I belong to, has passed away. Her courageous, inspiring journey is chronicled on her blog, Hesitant Scribe.

"I wanted a perfect ending. Now I've learned, the hard way, that some poems don't rhyme, and some stories don't have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what's going to happen next." - Gilda Radner (1946-1

Thursday Thirteen: Distractions

With apologies to Paige who did the last lovely Novel Racers coffee morning post, and to my fellow Racers who've read this shameful list already:

The top 13 distractions that keep me from writing:
The day job.
The wonderful, bloody Internet in general where it's so easy to click your way into oblivion without realizing how the hours are flying, and specifically...The blog. Writing it. Reading others. Fiddling with widgets, stats etc.Facebook. Another black hole where time takes on strange otherworl