Sarah Ettritch's Blog, page 12

Back to School for a Bit

A short and sweet post today–a sign of things to come for at least the next eight weeks. On Monday, I start an intensive 8-week business course that involves both theory and implementation. An opportunity came up over the weekend and I decided to go for it, so I wasn’t even aware of this last Friday.

Based on what previous graduates have said, I expect to be quite busy for the entire eight weeks. As far as writing goes, my priority will be to continue Deiform Three, so my posts here will be short. If I’m really swamped, I could end up skipping some Fridays. Things should return to normal in May.

Next Friday, I’ll be blogging over at Canadian Lesfic, so I’ll probably just direct you there. If I go with the current topic I have in mind, my post will be of most interest to Canadian and other non-US writers.

Before I go, Astrid over at Ylva Publishing was kind enough to interview me. If you’ve read other interviews with me, we cover some familiar ground, but there’s also new stuff. Check it out here.

Have a great weekend!

Back to School for a Bit is a post from: Sarah Ettritch

How’s the Writing Going?

Time flies! We’re already on the last day of February. I thought I’d give you a quick update on where I am with the writing thing. First, a couple of quick news items:

I recorded a new audio excerpt from The Atheist. I read part of a scene in which Jillian finds out that she’s wanted for murder. Excerpt below (it’s on Soundcloud at https://soundcloud.com/sarahettritch/excerpt-from-the-deiform for anyone who can’t see the embed):

The Atheist got a great review from a guy named Jack Reidy, who also wrote to me to discuss the series. You can read the review here:

http://www.jackreidy.com/blog/2014/01/24/the-atheist-the-deiform-fellowship-one-by-sarah-ettritch/

He did go on to read Deiform Two and wrote a great review of that book, too.

I’ve also added the first Rymellan story to a platform called Noise Trade. The Dance is already available for free at Smashwords, but if you don’t want to create an account there, you can download it from Noise Trade. You have to provide your email address and postal code, which I receive, but I don’t plan to use the information in any way. Some writers use freebies to build up a mailing list, but I prefer to only have subscribers who are genuinely interested in hearing from me, rather than those forced to hand over their email addresses to get something for free.

If you’ve read and enjoyed the Rymellan series, you can let your friends know by sharing the Noise Trade download. Please do so. The more readers for the series, the merrier. If you can’t see the embed, it’s at http://books.noisetrade.com/sarahettritch/rymellan-story-1-the-dance.

Okay, so what’s going on in my writing world?

I’m focused on Deiform Three, and it’s going extremely well. I’m in the groove with this one, to the point that I tried to start a couple of other stories, but my creative side wants to focus on the one story right now. My daily word count has doubled, without me trying, and that’s always a good sign. It means the story is flowing effortlessly. I’m halfway through the first draft (at least). I’m not quite ready to contact my editor and set up a date, but I’m close.

I always enjoy writing. Having said that, I’m getting more pleasure from writing this story than I have in a while. I think it’s because the story is surprising me a lot (good surprises, not bad ones). The characters are growing and interacting in ways I wasn’t expecting, and the plot is throwing out some interesting twists and turns. I always see myself as the first reader of my books, because I learn about the characters and plot as I write. That has never been more true than for Deiform Three, and that makes me look forward to sitting down at the keyboard to find out what happens next.

This morning I wrote a scene that takes place on Jillian’s birthday. There’s no rest for Deiforms, so she’s busy in the morning and most of the afternoon. But then she gets a surprise, and later that evening she’ll receive something intangible that will make her day. I can’t wait to write that part sometime next week.

Enjoy your weekend!

How’s the Writing Going? is a post from: Sarah Ettritch

Getting On My Nerves Lately

I’m not one to whine, but a few things have been getting on my nerves when I’m surfing the Net.

I hate it when I want to watch a video, but I have to watch an ad first. So I sit through the ad, and then the video doesn’t load. Argh! My frustration is doubled when I try again, see the ad, and argh! No video. It sucks. Seriously. Why do the ads never fail to load? It’s sort of like companies that never seem to do anything right–except when it comes to collecting payment. They never screw that up.

Related to the above, I hate it when the ad before a video is almost as long as the video. I shouldn’t have to sit through a 20-second ad to view a 30-second video. Just sayin’.

I also hate it when sites lump a bunch of useless email categories with a critical one, so you can’t unsubscribe from the crap. For example, let’s say you want to stop receiving “What’s in the news this week!” emails. So you click on unsubscribe, but the description on the unsubscribe page says, “I don’t want to receive news and feature updates.” Well, I do want to receive feature updates. I don’t want the spammy news ones. But nope, it’s all or nothing. Sleazy.

Related to that is being presented with tons of email categories, and I have no idea which category to choose because the emails that annoy me don’t give me that information. So I choose the one I think fits best, and then I get the same type of email the next day because I chose wrong. Just spell it out, already!

I’m trying to cut down on the amount of email I get, so I’ve run into the email ones quite a bit this week. Grrr.

And then there are the captchas that I can’t solve. Is that a ‘l’ or a 1? Is it an ‘O’ or a 0? Is that “rn” or an ‘m’? I’ve talked about this before, so I won’t go on.

What do you hate when surfing the Net or dealing with email?

Have a great weekend!

Getting On My Nerves Lately is a post from: Sarah Ettritch

Shout-Outs and More

I’ve recently popped up at other places around the Net, and I’ve also updated my FAQ, which was out of date for some questions.

FAQ

I’ve updated my FAQ, mainly to add questions I’ve been asked about the Deiform Fellowship series. I also updated my answer to the question about whether I’ll write a sequel to The Salbine Sisters. It has gone from “Probably” to “I don’t know.” I haven’t ruled it out, but despite giving it some serious thought for this year, I’m more interested in writing other stories at the moment.

Shout-Outs

Author AJ Adaire interviewed me on her website, and author Jill Edmondson posted a short excerpt from Threaded Through Time, along with brief remarks from me. Thanks to both of you for your generosity. I always appreciate it when authors spotlight others.

I don’t host authors here, but I do own Online Lesbian Fiction, which links to (legally) free lesbian fiction around the Net and gets quite a bit of traffic. If you’re an author and you’d like me to link to your free fiction, check out the guidelines and drop me a line. I’m also one of the admins at Canadian Lesfic. Anne Azel is at the blog today.

Broad Universe, an organization that promotes women who write science fiction, fantasy, and horror, included me in its February podcast. I read from the Rymellan story Priorities.

Also, back in September I did an interview for Smashwords. I can’t remember if I ever posted about it on the blog, so here it is.

Happy Friday!

Shout-Outs and More is a post from: Sarah Ettritch

First Comes Love, Then Comes Marriage…

When I asked for feedback about what you’d like me to blog about, one of you wrote to me and suggested that I blog about same-sex marriage. For example, are my partner and I married, and what’s the state of same-sex marriage in Canada? Both of those are easy questions to answer. Canada has had same-sex marriage across the board since 2005, and yes, we’re married.

Jen and I tied the knot in 2009. When the federal government legalized same-sex marriage in 2005, we looked at each other and said, “Yeah, we’ll do it sometime.” It wasn’t a high priority for us. Common-law couples pretty much have the same rights as married couples do (except in the area of estate law), so there wasn’t any rush. Occasionally we’d say to each other, “You know, we should get married,” but there never seemed to be time.

In the spring of 2009, the company I worked for was struggling, and we were all told to schedule at least five days off without pay during the summer. I decided to take more than that, so I booked off every Friday in June, July, and August. “Hey,” I said to Jen, “Why don’t you take a couple of Fridays off and we’ll finally do the marriage thing?” She agreed.

Our first step was to get a marriage licence, so we went down to City Hall one Friday afternoon, filled out the form, and paid the fee. But we didn’t stop there. It hadn’t taken us long to decide where we’d get married. We weren’t compelled to rush out the moment same-sex marriage was legalized because we see marriage as a legal agreement, nothing more. If there weren’t any legal advantages to getting married, we wouldn’t have done it. We don’t attach any religious significance to marriage, so we knew we wanted something cheap, simple, and not in a church.

Not quite married, but getting there…

After getting our licence, we headed upstairs to the wedding chambers at City Hall and booked our wedding for another Friday. The clerk asked us a few questions, and we bickered over an answer, which made us laugh afterward. We figured the woman must have thought, “I give these two six months, tops.” :)  We told the clerk that we didn’t mind who married us as long as it was legal. We also departed from tradition in a big way: we said we wouldn’t exchange wedding rings.

And we didn’t. We never bought rings, so if you ever run into me in person and notice that I’m not wearing a wedding ring, it doesn’t mean I’m getting divorced. ;)  These days, I don’t wear any jewelry, not even a watch. Jen does, but she’s worn a family ring for years that has great sentimental value, albeit on her right hand. When I asked her if she minded if we skipped the rings, she said she had no great desire to wear another ring on her left hand, and that was that.

As the day approached, I grumbled about having to go through a ceremony to get what’s essentially a legal document. “Why can’t we just go to a lawyer’s office and sign papers, like you do when you buy a house or draw up a will?” I said to Jen. I hope couples have that option in the future.

The big day finally arrived. Of course, we dressed casually. I showed up for my wedding wearing a blouse, casual pants, and sneakers with rainbow laces. Before the ceremony began, we had a quick word with the woman who would marry us—a lay minister from the Ontario Old Roman Catholic Church. She confirmed with us that we wouldn’t be exchanging rings. Then it was show time.

We’d invited immediate family and a couple of friends we’ve known for years, who were our witnesses (we did that to avoid anyone in our families feeling slighted because we’d chosen another family member to be a witness  ;)  ). The ceremony went smoothly. I was surprised at how long the non-religious vows were. At the time, I thought they were lovely. I can’t remember a single line now, but they were lovely! Afterward, we signed the register, then headed to a restaurant that had a buffet to enjoy a relaxed meal with everyone.

One more point before I go…

You might have noticed that I refer to Jen as my partner, not my wife. What I’m about to say might ruffle some feathers, so I want to make it clear that I don’t have any problem with what other lesbians call their legal spouses (as long as they’re not being rude!), and I always follow their lead. If a lesbian refers to her legal spouse as her wife, I’ll ask, “How’s your wife?”

But I have to admit that using the word “wife” to refer to a lesbian spouse has never sat well with me. It’s too heterosexual, and the word “wife” doesn’t exactly have a great history. It makes me think of women as possessions, with no rights; women who existed to support and obey their spouses; women who were sold and traded like cattle into arranged marriages that would benefit their fathers. When same-sex marriage started to become a reality, I wish we would have come up with a new word. Oh, well.

Married!

Jen feels the same way. About a week before our wedding day, she came to me and said that she was fine with us getting married, but she didn’t want me to call her “my wife.” I laughed and said, “We’re a good match, because I was thinking the same thing.” And that was that.

So, we’re married. We have the paper to wave around if someone’s ever being an ass (denying one of us access to the other in a hospital or something along those lines), but Jen was my partner long before we said our vows. A marriage certificate is a piece of paper. It doesn’t make a relationship special. Love does, and love doesn’t require anyone’s permission or the state’s seal of approval.

Having said that, I think it’s important, at this time in history, for same-sex couples to have the legal piece of paper to wave around. I hope that every gay man and lesbian on the planet will gain the right to marry their same-sex partner.

To be honest, I think (and hope) that society will eventually abolish marriage and replace it with something more modern and practical, but that’s looking far ahead into the future. We’ll be long gone by the time it happens.

Have a great weekend!

First Comes Love, Then Comes Marriage… is a post from: Sarah Ettritch

Canadian Lesbian Fiction

Earlier this month, I participated in the Canadian Spot-On at the Virtual Living Room. Henriette Bookgeek, one of the hosts, said it was difficult for her to find Canadian authors. She was also surprised at how much lesbian fiction comes out of Canada. I think readers assume that many Canadian authors are American.

During the lead up to the Spot-On, a couple of Canadian authors were discussing how it’s more difficult to promote books to Canadians at live events. I don’t think it’s any more difficult to reach people online. When it comes to blogging, social media, forums, etc., it doesn’t matter where you are in the world. But if you want to actually get out there and meet readers in person, there isn’t as much opportunity to do so in Canada.

I piped up and suggested that perhaps Canadians could benefit from a site similar to UK Lesfic, which showcases UK authors. Henriette enthusiastically agreed. I said that I’d be willing to buy a domain and host the site, and during the Spot-On, I called for volunteers to help me manage it.

I’m pleased to say that Canadian Lesbian Fiction (aka Moose Hall) is now open for business. To find out who answered the call and what we hope to do with the site, head on over to Canadian Lesbian Fiction and read my first blog post, Make Yourself at Home. The authors managing the site will take turns blogging on Fridays, and we’ll also be hosting guest bloggers on a regular basis. While you’re checking out the site, say hello and vote in our poll.

See you over at Moose Hall!

Canadian Lesbian Fiction is a post from: Sarah Ettritch

Bits and Bobs #2

Updated to add: Just after I posted this, SF/F author Chele Cooke told me that an interview I did with her has gone live. You can check it out here. I focus on Rymellan 1.

Not much to say this week, so I thought I’d mention a couple of items I’ve recently added to the site. First, you can now buy eBooks directly from me, and if you share the news of your purchase, you’ll get 10% off. I’m using PayHip, a service designed for selling eBooks. It accepts PayPal.

Second, I’ve added Rymellan 1 and Deiform One to a discoverability service called jellybooks. If you like the Rymellan or Deiform Fellowship Series, you can share the samples with your friends by clicking the sample buttons that appear underneath the book covers in the sidebar (my site’s sidebar, not jellybean’s). Word of mouth is the best way you can help me raise awareness of my books, so please share the samples. More readers means more future stories in the two series.

Lastly, I had waffled about whether to update the Rymellan 1 and Deiform One print covers to match the eBook covers. I finally decided to go ahead. I updated the Deiform One cover late last year, and I’m currently in the process of updating the Rymellan 1 cover. In a week or two, all my print covers should be in synch with my eBook covers (exception: Threaded Through Time, which will remain different because the two books are bundled together in the print book).

I’ll end with a cat video filled with geeky humour. Enjoy!

Bits and Bobs #2 is a post from: Sarah Ettritch

The Up Series

We met friends for dinner just before Christmas, and one of them told us about a cool series she was watching called The Up Series. In 1964, Granada Television in the UK filmed a group of seven-year-old children selected from different social classes. They asked the children questions like, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” and “Do you have a boyfriend/girlfriend?” The idea was to explore the Jesuit saying, “Show me the boy at seven years old, and I will show you the man.” In this specific case, Granada was suggesting that one’s social class will predetermine one’s future.

The first documentary was intended to be a one-off, but the team went back to interview the children when they were 14. They did it again at 21 and 28, and they’ve returned every seven years since then. The last installment was filmed in 2012, when the participants were 56.

Our friend lent us 21 Up to 49 Up, and I bought 56 Up at Amazon. Unlike those who started watching the series back in 1964 or joined in earlier than I did, I got to see all the installments (21 – 56) over the course of a few days. What an experience!

Births, deaths, marriages, divorce, infidelity, estrangement, homelessness (one of the “children” was homeless for a time), mental illness, layoffs, physical illness, the list goes on. You’ll share in their triumphs and tragedies, joys and disappointments, optimism and disillusionment.

Some of the participants feel ambivalent about having their lives exposed every seven years. A couple of children have dropped out. One (John) only participates every second or third time. Most say it’s uncomfortable, but they’ve realized it’s an important project. Only one (Tony) seems to love it. My award for the most breathtaking change in a person from one installment to the next goes to Suzy. What a difference from 21 to 28!

As many reviewers have said, watching the films makes you think about your own life. It’s fascinating to drop in on people every seven years and see whether the hopes and fears they’d expressed during earlier installments actually occurred. John Lennon was right: “Life is what happens to you while you’re making other plans.”

The series also reminded me that most people live hum-drum lives, which was frankly reassuring. In this celebrity and consumer age, we’re made to feel that if we’re not doing something brilliant every five seconds (while wearing the latest fashions and using gadgets that become obsolete every five minutes), we’re wasting our lives away and can’t possibly be fulfilled. Not so. Not even close.

The series really drives home how fast time flies. When I was a teenager, my mother told me that time goes faster as you grow older. I didn’t believe her. I do now. When I was younger, six months seemed like a long time away. Now it’s, “Six months! That soon?” Maggie Smith said in an interview that being old is like having breakfast every half hour. I’m not quite there yet, but I believe her.

Live in the present. Yesterday is gone, and tomorrow may never come.

If you’re looking for something different and thought-provoking to watch, try this series. The director, who has been with the project from the beginning, is now seventy-something. He’s said in interviews that he hopes others will carry it on when he’s gone, and I hope so, too. I wish it had shown up on my radar earlier. I can’t wait for 63 Up. Are the Jesuits right? You be the judge.

Have a great weekend!

The Up Series is a post from: Sarah Ettritch

The Year of Change

My first post of the year is usually about what I hope to write and release over the next twelve months. This year was different, and it will continue to be different. I used my first post to remind everyone of the Canadian Spot-On at the Virtual Living Room. We had a lot of fun.

As for writing . . . last year, I released The Missing Comatose Woman, The Cult (Deiform Fellowship Two), and Identity Crisis (Rymellan story). I also took a four-month break from writing. While I edited stories during August to November, I didn’t do any original writing. I started something new in December.

This year . . . I’m going to dub 2014 The Year of Change.

Writing

I’m not sure what’s coming down the pipe. I’m currently writing Deiform Three, but at a slow pace. If I keep it up, the book could be available late in the year. It will depend on my editor’s schedule.

The other potential project I’m considering right now would be written under a pen name, because it would belong to a completely new genre for me and likely have heterosexual main characters. Now, I originally thought the Deiform Fellowship Series would have straight characters. It didn’t turn out that way, but even if it had, the series is speculative fiction. The potential new story would be quite different from what I usually write.

I have an accountability/goals partner, and we’re meeting on Wednesday to discuss our initial goals and plans for 2014. I’m going to tell her about this potential project and see whether she thinks I’m nuts. Her reaction won’t decide for me, but her feedback will factor into my decision. If I decide to go ahead, it will mean one less story under my own name this year.

In addition, I’m considering a couple of non-fiction projects, which would also reduce the amount of time I have to write fiction.

If all that wasn’t enough, my partner is in a position to retire this summer, and we’re leaning toward having her do so. We’re not an attached-at-the-hip couple, so having her at home a lot will be a huge adjustment for both of us. It will take us time to settle into a new routine, and I expect that my writing will be disrupted while we figure out the new normal.

As you can see, there’s still a lot up in the air as far as writing goes.

The Blog

There will be changes here, too. I asked you to tell me what you’d like to see on the blog, since I won’t have as much to talk about regarding my writing this year. You gave me some good ideas that will make their way into posts, but I’m also going to loosen up a bit and talk about interesting stuff I’ve come across on the Net, or whatever happens to be on my mind.

I’ll also occasionally talk about a book I’ve read (something several people mentioned), but I have to warn you that, more often than not, it won’t be a lesbian fiction book. Because I like to read what I write (lesbian main characters but not romance), there isn’t a lot out there for me when it comes to lesbian fiction. I have a couple of lesbian books on my TBR pile, but as I said during the VLR Spot-On, 99% of what I read is mainstream.

I’m also of the opinion that it’s not exactly kosher for an author to comment on books in the same genres in which she writes, and I prefer not to do it. I know some authors feel differently, but I’m in the “it’s not advisable” camp–glass houses and all that. So I’ll probably stick to non-fiction, but I’ll see how it goes.

Today, let’s start out with something interesting I came across on the Net. A long time ago (when I was young!), my girlfriend at the time was staying at the YWCA, and there was another woman there who’d just come out. She’d sometimes go to a bar with us, and one night she turned to me while we were waiting for our drinks and said, “I’m so glad I’m a lesbian.”

I asked her why.

She said, “Because a woman will never hurt me. We’re not like men.”

I turned back to the bar and thought, “Oh. My. God. Talk to me after you’ve had a relationship or two and we’ll see if you still believe that.”

Women can be just as cruel and sadistic as men, as this article about Hitler’s female accomplices reminds us. If you’ve read The Hiding Place, a book I highly recommend, you’ll already know about how cruel the female guards in the concentration camps were. Chilling.

See you next week.

The Year of Change is a post from: Sarah Ettritch

Hello, 2014!

Happy New Year! :)  I wish you a fabulous 2014. Many Torontonians were glad to see the back of 2013 because of the nasty ice storm we had just before Christmas. I knew the storm was bad when I lifted the blinds in my makeshift office and couldn’t see outside. All the windows at the back of the house were covered with ice.

My partner and I were fortunate. We lost power for all of twenty minutes overnight. Many people were without power for more than a week, and it was cold. One of our neighbour’s trees was bent over our cable line, but the line held. I think we were spared because most of the trees on our street are in backyards, whereas the power lines are out front.

The trees looked very pretty. Unfortunately, Toronto lost 20% of its tree canopy to the storm. Here’s a photo gallery that CBC Toronto put together:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/photos/ice-storm-hits-toronto-1.2473602

Our mayor Rob Ford provided regular updates throughout the storm’s aftermath and didn’t say anything embarrassing (for a change).

On another note, today the “O Canada” Spot-On kicks off at the Virtual Living Room. There will be giveaways! To enter, all you have to do is contribute to the conversation. To get in on the fun, you’ll first have to join the group, which you can find here:

http://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/Virtuallivingroom/info

The Spot-On kicks off around noon EST and runs through Sunday. Come and join us!

Hello, 2014! is a post from: Sarah Ettritch