Sarah Ettritch's Blog, page 9

Did I Write That?

Not too long ago, a writer on a forum I hang out on asked if anyone ever thought “Did I write that?” when they were editing or proofreading their work. I knew what he meant, and yes, I’ve asked myself the question many times. I was reminded of this as I proofread Deiform Three this week.

It happens when I read a darn good sentence or paragraph. I don’t have a problem believing I wrote the clunky stuff. It’s the good stuff that makes me wonder, and the writer who posed the question on the forum said the same thing. When a sentence is particularly elegant, I wonder if it was a suggestion my editor made that I decided to go with, or if I wrote it. To my surprise, it’s usually something I wrote.

I don’t remember everything I write, and it doesn’t take me long to forget. By the time I receive a story back from my editor, I’m already writing another project or two. When it comes to revising and then proofreading, it can be like reading the story for the first time, which is good. I’m more likely to catch the remaining crap that way. Usually there isn’t a lot of it, because my editor and beta reader are great, and I’m not too shabby myself. But it doesn’t matter how often a story is read and by how many people. Something is always missed. There’s always more one can change. A story is never perfect.

The longer ago I wrote a story, the less I remember about it. I don’t remember some scenes from Rymellan 1. I could tell you the gist of every story and perhaps the order in which stuff happened, but every scene? Every word? No. In fact, I’ve already experienced receiving an email from a reader in which they referred to something in a Rymellan story, and I had no clue what they were talking about. I had to go back to the story and look it up. I wrote those stories five years ago, and I’ve written many more stories since then.

That’s why I mentioned that I’d reread the first two Deiform books and created my own wiki of sorts about the series. I’ve also added details revealed in Deiform Three. When I’m writing Deiform Four and ask myself questions like How old was Sam’s sister again when Sam “died”? or What was Jillian’s boss’s name at the agency again?, I won’t have to go searching through the existing books. I can just go to the wiki.

Anyway, things are on track for Deiform Three, so the eBook will be available soon. Here’s the full book description:

Jillian and Sam investigate one of Roberta’s visions and discover a dark secret lurking behind an affluent neighbourhood’s closed doors.

Roberta senses a situation requiring the Fellowship’s intervention, but her vision offers few clues for Jillian and Sam to go on. While the two Deiforms search for the troubled church in Roberta’s vision, Jillian experiences frightening breaks from reality.

Ropes and chains aren’t required to bind people together. Some bonds must be broken. Some bonds can’t be broken. In Unseen Bonds, Jillian and Sam must break one bond and come to terms with another.

Enjoy your weekend.

Did I Write That? is a post from: Sarah Ettritch

Coming Down the Pipe

In Deiform Three, Jillian says something along the lines of, “We were at a dead end, and now we have tons of leads to explore.” I feel the same way about my writing. After not releasing anything new since December of last year, I’m swimming in work that’s coming down the pipe.

Unseen Bonds (Deiform Three)

I received the story back from my editor a couple of weeks ago. It was a good edit, in the sense that there wasn’t much for me to revise. I’m preparing the book for publication. I expect the eBook to be available around the third week of November (maybe earlier). The print book should be available in December.

Like Water and Water

When I first posted that I’d re-released this story, I said that I’d put it into Amazon’s KDP Select program, which meant that it had to be exclusive to Amazon for 90 days. Well, the 90 days are up, so the story is now available at Amazon, kobo, iBooks, Smashwords, Scribd, and B&N. It should also be available from Oyster soon. Details here.

Friends Torn Apart (The Daros Chronicles 1)

This is the first installment of the new epic fantasy serial. I’ve completed the first draft and my first round of editing, and my beta is currently reading it. The installment is around 11,000 words. For comparison’s sake, the first installment of the Rymellan series was around 9,000 words. I’d like to release an installment every two months or so, but I won’t hold myself to that. It won’t be the only thing I’m writing. Having said that, I wouldn’t want to go longer than four months without an installment, so writing this serial will be one of my priorities. The first installment will go to my editor on November 24. I’ll talk more about it around then.

Faith or Madness

I said I was going to title the story about Roberta God or Madness, but I’ve since changed my mind. My beta has read it and reported back. It will go to my editor on December 8. Faith or Madness tells the story of how Roberta came into the Deiform Fellowship. It’s told from her point of view. Jillian and Sam aren’t in it because they weren’t in the Fellowship at that time (they were both children when Roberta came in).

I might offer this story for free. Alternatively, I might initially put it into the KDP Select program, meaning it would be exclusive to Amazon for the first 90 days of its release. Regardless of what I decide, I’m going to give the book to those on my new releases mailing list for free, as a thank you for being on the list. If you’re not on the list, consider subscribing. I only send out an email when I release a book. I don’t send out newsletters or anything like that.

Busy, Busy, Busy

As you can see, I have a full plate. This is the way I see things shaping up from this point forward—subject to change, of course. I’ll write one novel a year, which will be a Deiform Fellowship book until I get tired of writing the series. In addition, I’ll release a bunch of novelette and novella length stories. Some will belong to serials or tie in to series; others will be standalone. All will feature strong female main characters.

Happy Halloween! 

Coming Down the Pipe is a post from: Sarah Ettritch

A Solemn Week for Canada

I usually write my blog posts just before I upload them, but I’m writing this one on Thursday night. I have an eye doctor appointment in the morning, and I’ll have those drops put in my eyes that dilate your pupils. I won’t be able to read or write for a while afterward.

This week has been a different sort of week for Canada. Along with everyone else, my thoughts are with the families of the soldiers who were murdered.

As Canadians will know, the second murder was committed at the Ottawa War Memorial. We visited it twice in 2011, when we went to Ottawa for Canada Day. I blogged about our visit here.

I’m not the best photographer, but I took a few photos of the memorial. It was an overcast day, so the lighting isn’t great. Each section of the memorial commemorates Canada’s participation in a particular war. For some reason, I only took photos of the WWI section.

The full view of one side of the War Memorial

 

The WWI section of the War Memorial

 

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

See you next week.

A Solemn Week for Canada is a post from: Sarah Ettritch

Never Tweak the Muse’s Nose

I don’t really like using the word muse. It evokes an image of someone sitting on a writer’s shoulder whispering stories to them. I believe that my stories come from within me, so when it comes to inspiration and story ideas, I refer to my subconscious mind. But “Never Tweak the Muse’s Nose” makes more sense than “Never Tweak the Subconscious Mind’s Nose”.

Not too long ago, I wrote a post about how I’d noticed that most of the stuff I’d recently written is set in the real world. I then started a science fiction story I’d had kicking around in my head that was set in our world–with a twist. I planned to write it as a serial, which is sort of what I did with the Rymellan series. I’d almost finished the first episode when I put the virtual pen down. My writer’s instinct was telling me that something wasn’t gelling. I thought about it, decided to tweak a few things, started it again, and put the virtual pen down again.

When you create a society, as I did in the Rymellan series, it has to make sense. When you ask questions like, “How did it get to be this way?” and “Why do the citizens accept such-and-such?” the answers have to be straightforward. If you have to think too hard or they’re too convoluted, you could be in trouble. That was the case with the new science fiction serial. The concept is solid and I like the main character. But I need to do a bit more work on fleshing out the society.

So I put it aside, and then had the following conversation with my “muse”:

Muse: I see you’ve been writing a story in the real world again.

Me: Yep. I seem to enjoy doing that lately. I’m putting this story aside for now, though. I need to think about it a bit more. Actually, you need to think about it a bit more.

Muse: *sigh* I’ll see what I can do. In the meantime, I have another serial idea, and it’s really cool. You’re mainly interested in writing stories set in the real world, right?

Me: Yep. What do you have in mind? What’s the speculative element?

Muse: Well, you see, there’s this woman who can…

*Time passes*

Me: You’re right, that is cool. I want to write it. In fact, I’m going to start it right now. It’s set in the real world, right?

Muse: Nope.

Me: *sob*

I’m writing my second traditional fantasy story (the first was The Salbine Sisters). I haven’t written a fantasy serial before, but there’s a first time for everything. Maybe I’ll end up putting the virtual pen down, but I don’t think so. I’ve written a ton of notes about lore, upcoming plot points, and more. I also have an editing date (eek!).

The first installment will be short-ish. The same was true of the Rymellan series. The Dance, the first story in the series, is less than 10,000 words. It introduces the characters and the world, and the first installment of the fantasy serial will do the same.

Depending on how things go, it might be available by the end of the year. It will depend on how quickly my editor turns it around. In December, the bookstores stop accepting uploads at some point because of the holidays. If I don’t make the deadline, the first installment should be available in early January.

So, right now I’m waiting for Deiform Three to come back from my editor, I’m doing the audio edit of the Roberta story (tentatively titled God or Madness), and I’m writing the first installment of a traditional fantasy serial with a cool speculative element. My writing life is good.

Later.

Never Tweak the Muse’s Nose is a post from: Sarah Ettritch

10 Questions (October, 2014)

It’s time for another 10 questions post. But before we get to that, a couple of things:

First, life post-my-partner’s-retirement  is going well. It turns out that planning for a major life change in advance actually works, and she’s doing much better than I expected she’d be doing at this point. She’ll feel even better when she doesn’t have to drive to work through our first major snow storm.

Second, a Rymellan box set is now available. It contains Rymellan 1, Rymellan 2, and Rymellan 3 at a deeply discounted price (less than 50% of what you’d pay for the books separately). This is especially true at Google Play, which has discounted the box set to $9.99. I don’t mind, because Google, unlike Amazon, will pay me according to the price I set, not the discounted price. When Amazon discounts, it makes the publisher/author eat the difference.

Speaking of Amazon, the box set isn’t available there at this time. I might put it into the Kindle Store at some point, but since Amazon will halve my royalty on a sale because the set costs more than $9.99, I’ve decided to wait and see how the box set does on the other platforms. Right now, it’s available at Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Google Play, kobo, and from me directly. If you have a Kindle device and you want the box set, you can buy the MOBI file from me.

Okay, ten questions for October. If you’d like to answer them as well by leaving a comment, please do.

What is your favourite season?

There are things I like about all the seasons. It’s easier for me to say which season I like the least, and this could be surprising: summer. I suffer from sinus problems. The hot, muggy, humid summers we have in Southern Ontario can be a killer for me. In fact, we’ve discussed moving to a better climate for me. We’ve also considered being reverse snowbirds, meaning we’d live here for the winters and go somewhere else for the summers.

Is it more important to love or be loved?

They’re equally important. I believe that you can’t truly love unless you are (or have been) loved.

Do you feel like you’ve lived this day 100 times before?

No. (Well, that was short and sweet!)

What type of phone do you have?

Landline: A Panasonic phone with several handsets, because we only have two working phone jacks in the house. Cell: a regular old flip phone. I don’t have a smartphone. I don’t need one. I’ll get one when there’s something I must do that I can only do on a smartphone. That hasn’t happened yet.

How come the things that make you happy don’t make everyone happy?

Um, because everyone is different (duh).

Would you rather work really hard at an interesting job or slack off at a boring job?

Please tell me nobody ever answers, “slack off at a boring job.”

Do you prefer short or long hair on a guy/girl woman?

Short.

What do you think about when you lie awake in bed?

I’m usually reading.  

What’s the difference between settling for things and accepting the way things are?

I think people are settling when they can change their less than desirable situation or circumstances, but they don’t. I think people accept the way things are when they can’t change their less than desirable situation or circumstances.

Would you rather be stuck in a house with someone you hate or be stuck in a house alone?

Stuck in a house alone. I’m not that desperate for company.

How did I do? How would you answer?

10 Questions (October, 2014) is a post from: Sarah Ettritch

Limitations Are a Good Thing

In a previous post, I mentioned that I’m taking a couple of Holly Lisle’s writing workshops. In one, she discusses limitations. In her view, you have to limit your characters and world in some way. For example, in some stories, vampires can’t go out during the day because the sun burns them. That’s a limitation. Characters and worlds without limitations would be pretty boring.

Sometimes the limitations arise naturally from the world. For example, before cell phones came on the scene, it was easy to have a plot in which tension and conflict arise because a character can’t communicate with someone from anywhere, and at any time. Perhaps a woman is being followed. Before cell phones, she couldn’t pull out her phone and call 911.

Now writers have to resort to stuff like phone batteries dying. How many times have we seen scenes in movies and TV episodes where the battery-low light is flashing right in the middle of a conversation? Another tactic: “I can’t get a signal.” Mystery and thriller writers in particular say that their stories can be much harder to plot because anyone with a phone can usually contact someone from wherever they are, 24 hours a day. This is why limitations are good for stories and worlds. They create tension and conflict.

In the Deiform Fellowship series, Sam explains to Jillian that the gifts are watered-down versions of abilities that are usually associated with God. Imagine if I’d given them omniscience, omnipotence, etc. It would be pretty darn hard to have them investigate anything, because they’d know right away what was going on and who did it.

Despite limiting them, it can still be difficult to write a convincing scenario that the gifts can’t overcome. I ran into this when I was writing the climax for Deiform Three. On the surface, the gifts might appear to be rather weak. Jillian says as much when Sam tells her about telepathy’s range. But used in the right way, they’re actually quite powerful, and when you put two Deiforms together, even more so.

I wanted a particular thing to happen in Deiform Three’s climax, but every scenario I came up with led me to think, “Well, why wouldn’t they just shift? Why wouldn’t they stop a heart?” I was watching an episode of Covert Affairs last night, and I kept thinking, “Why doesn’t she just shoot him?” For the entire season, the heroes in Covert Affairs have been pitted against a certain baddie, and Annie, the main character, has had ample opportunity to just shoot the guy, and she’s not above shooting people. It’s driven me crazy throughout the season. I’m still enjoying the show, but that nagging question is always at the back of my mind.

I’ve also read books where I’ve wondered why the character doesn’t just do [something obvious]. I know the answer, of course: because it wouldn’t be as interesting or dramatic or tense. But in that situation, I always think that the writer should have found another way to write the scene. I didn’t want readers to ask or think the same things about Deiform Three’s climax.

I wrote that damn climax three times. The first time, it just sucked. I read it over and thought, “No. No, no, no!” The second time was dramatic and cool and interesting, but completely out of character for someone, to the point that after I finished writing it, I envisioned the next scene as another character saying to the character who’d taken action, “WTF? Are you serious? I don’t know who you are.”

When that happens—when you and one of your characters is protesting—you know that no matter how dramatic and interesting the scene is, it has to go. Character assassination, in the sense of having a character do something completely against everything you know about the character, is usually wrong. At that point, you have to flex the creative muscle and come up with something better that won’t blow away a character’s integrity.

It took me a while. I gnashed teeth over it. I remember when lightning struck. I’ve mentioned that some of my best ideas come to me when I’m doing mundane stuff. In this case, I was feeding the cats. I was setting a bowl on the floor in front of a hungry feline, and bam! My subconscious mind had been working on the problem and had come up with a great solution. I was able to write an interesting climax that makes sense all around—for the characters, for the gifts, for the story. I think I wrote over 10,000 words to get the few thousand I wanted. Writing is sometimes like that.

Have a great weekend! 

Limitations Are a Good Thing is a post from: Sarah Ettritch

The New Normal

It’s a beautiful morning here in Toronto, and I’m enjoying a nice cup of tea. Next Friday, and every Friday from this point forward, will be different. I mentioned way back in January that my partner was eligible to retire in the summer. She didn’t retire back then. She wanted to finish a few things at work, so she stuck around a while longer. But this coming Tuesday (September 30) is the big day: her last day at work. Then she’s a free woman.

It will be quite an adjustment for us. Jen has always been a bit of a workaholic. I haven’t minded, because we’re not an attached-at-the-hip couple. I couldn’t be with someone who wants me to do everything with them and basically meet 99% of their social needs. It would drive me crazy.

It’ll be a much larger deal for Jen than it will be for me. Her life will significantly change. For me, it’ll be a matter of having her home more than she is now.

We’ve known this time is coming, so we’ve had a lot of conversations about it and we’re prepared for a few bumps in the road here and there. We’ll eventually work out the new normal. She has several activities she’s interested in doing that will get her out of the house on a regular basis, which will help both of us.

We had a practice week of sorts when the film fest was on. In past years, I’ve taken the week off. This year, I didn’t. If we weren’t going to a movie, I carried on as I would when she’s at work. We were both pleased that I was able to write and do my other activities as usual. We’ve worked out a system for how to let her know that I don’t want to be disturbed without her having to ask me.

She won’t expect me to hang out with her during the day (though I’ll be making an effort to spend time with her initially, while she adjusts to her new normal), but I took a look at where I spend my time, with the view of eliminating stuff I don’t think is doing anything for me or anyone else.

As a result, I won’t be blogging over at Canadian Lesfic anymore, at least not on a regular basis. Before I wrote my last post for the site, I considered asking Liz Bugg, who oversees the blogging schedule, to remove me from the rotation, but I put it off. I was only delaying the inevitable. I sometimes find it difficult to come up with posts for this blog. It was harder for Canadian Lesfic, because the topics have to be more generic (I wouldn’t write this post over there, for example), and I’m not an essay-type writer.

As I said to Liz, even though I only had to spend an hour or so every six weeks writing a post for Canadian Lesfic, it adds up, and I could be spending that hour on something that makes more sense for me. It can be a struggle to fit in everything I want to do, so stubbornly doing something that wasn’t a good fit for me was starting to feel foolish. I might write the occasional guest post. I’m still the tech person over there. I’m still an admin. I just won’t be blogging there on a regular basis.

My editor has Deiform Three, and I should finish the first draft of the Roberta story on Monday. I timed everything that way in case my writing output dips while we’re adjusting to the new reality. If it does, I won’t miss any deadlines.

See you next week! 

The New Normal is a post from: Sarah Ettritch

Deiform Three Excerpts #2

I’ll send Deiform Three to my editor next week, so it’s time for a few more excerpts. Here’s a one-sentence teaser for the story:

When Jillian and Sam investigate one of Roberta’s visions, they discover a dark secret lurking behind an affluent neighbourhood’s closed doors.

The story clocks in at almost 80,000 words, which is about the same length as Deiform Two. I’ll have more editing to do after my editor is finished with it, but I don’t expect the length to significantly change.

Excerpts:

Anyone who thought politicians were the most ruthless, scheming hypocrites on earth had never belonged to a congregation. ~ Jillian


You should all form a union. ~ Jillian, to Roberta


You once accused me of doing mental gymnastics. From where I’m sitting, you’re pretty good at swinging around those uneven bars yourself. ~ Sam, to Jillian


To think that some people wanted to connect with their inner child. She had an inner adolescent she’d like to kill right now. ~ Jillian

You can read the first four chapters of The Atheist (Deiform One) in my book sampler. Download it here.

I mentioned in my last State of My Writing World post that I was going to write the story of how Roberta came into the Fellowship. I started it that very afternoon, and it’s going really well. I predicted that I’d finish the first draft by early October, and I was right. I should finish it within a couple of weeks. Of course, I deviated from the outline. Outlines are like making plans.

“Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.” ~ John Lennon

Have a great weekend! 

Deiform Three Excerpts #2 is a post from: Sarah Ettritch

TIFF 2014 Roundup

I’m blogging on Saturday rather than Friday, because I wanted to bring you my annual Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF)  round-up, and we only just saw our last movie this morning. We go to five movies every year. I don’t know about my partner, but five is a good number for me. I don’t know how people do 30 (or more!).

True stories seemed to be our theme this year. As a local reporter pointed out, it seemed to be TIFF’s theme, too. There were a lot of “based on a true story” movies to choose from.

Anyway, on to the movies:

Trick or Treaty

A documentary about Treaty 9, the 1905 treaty Canada (or rather, the king) made with who we now call the First Nations. Canada made oral agreements with the chiefs, but asked them to put their mark onto written documents that they didn’t understand. They didn’t understand that they’d just agreed to surrender their lands. Journals written by people involved in the treaty process have turned up, and they support what the First Nations are saying today: Canada cheated. Not our finest hour, by a long shot. I’ll certainly have a different perspective about all the related issues now. If you’re Canadian, try to see this one.

The Imitation Game

Based on a true story, it covers the life of Alan Turing when he was at Bletchley Park, and the terrible way his life ended. Being a software developer, I was already familiar with much of the story. If you’re not, Alan Turing is considered to be the father of computer science. During World War 2, he designed and built a machine that cracked the German’s enigma code, which allowed the allies to decipher German messages. As the movie stated, historians estimate that cracking the code shortened the war by two years and saved over 14 million lives. Turing was also gay, and despite what he did for his country and the world, he was convicted of indecency in 1951, and as a result, he was chemically castrated. A year later, he committed suicide. He was 41. Imagine what he could have accomplished, if he’d lived longer.

You might have heard of the Turing test, which is used to determine whether one is conversing with a human or a machine. Also, the Turing machine was the precursor for what we now call the computer.

The movie will be released in November. Recommended.

Love & Mercy

Another one based on a true story. If you like the Beach Boys, you’ll want to see this movie. It’s about Brian Wilson, the genius behind the band and the songs. We see his life when he’s younger and writing songs for the band, and when he’s older and being taken advantage of by a psychiatrist. If you’re not familiar with the story, Brian Wilson has struggled with mental health issues from way back when he was part of the Beach Boys. In the movie, he meets his current wife (they’ve been married since 1995), and she helps to free him from the psychiatrist who’d cut him off from his family and controlled his every move. I wondered how much of the movie was true, and how much was romanticized, so I read up on it when I got home. The movie got the basic facts right. It piqued my interest for more details, so I’ll probably buy a book about Wilson’s life.

There doesn’t seem to be a trailer for this one, so here’s Good Vibrations. The movie spent some time on how it was recorded.

Pawn Sacrifice

Another one based on a true story, this time, Bobby Fischer, the American chess grandmaster. He also had mental health issues and really went off the deep end later in his life. The movie focused on Fischer’s desire to beat Russian world champion Boris Spassky. It recreated the famous match between Fischer and Spassky. Of course, I had to come home and read up about it, and the movie got the facts right. You don’t have to know how to play chess (or like to play) to understand and enjoy the movie. It’s not about chess. It’s about Bobby Fischer.

No trailer, but here’s the director (who was at the screening) and Tobey Maguire (who played Bobby Fischer) talking about the movie.

The Forger

Finally, a movie that isn’t based on a true story and isn’t a documentary. The Forger is about a guy in prison who has a teenage son dying of cancer. With the help of a criminal on the outside, a judge is bribed so the guy can be released early to spend time with his son. To pay back the criminal, he has to steal a Monet painting and replace it with a forgery. It sounds like a heist movie, but it isn’t. It’s a movie about a family of three guys: the grandfather (Christopher Plummer), the father (John Travolta), and the dying son (Tye Sheridan). Recommended.

No trailer again, but here’s some red carpet footage from the gala screening.

It was a good fest for us this year. A couple of observations, though. It’s getting really expensive to see a movie at TIFF. Tickets went up to $24 this year. If there’s a Q&A with the director or anyone from the cast, maybe the price is justified. But if there isn’t, that’s a hefty price to pay to see a movie.

Also, we noticed a lot more empty seats this year. In past years, they often had to count how many vacant seats there were before they let the rush people in (rush means you don’t have a ticket in advance. Ten minutes before the movie starts, they sell whatever tickets are left to those in the rush line). This year, not so. At The Imitation Game, there must have been at least 20-30 seats near us (we always sit in the back row). At Pawn Sacrifice, most of the balcony was empty. Maybe it’s the ticket prices, or maybe there just aren’t as many people going.

Anyway, that was our fest for 2014. Onward.

TIFF 2014 Roundup is a post from: Sarah Ettritch

10 Questions (September, 2014)

I have a file that contains 1500 questions and quotations meant to stimulate discussion. I figure it’s also good for blog posts. I downloaded it from a Facebook group. There’s lots of repetition, and the questions range from the shallow to the silly to the deep to the personal.

Anyway, today I’ve chosen 10 questions to answer, just for fun. If you feel like answering any (or all) of the questions in the comments, please do. I’d be interested in your answers.

What is your favourite movie of all time?

I wouldn’t say I have a favourite, but there are three movies I can watch over and over again without getting bored: The Sound of Music, It’s a Wonderful Life, and True Lies.

Now, you might be thinking, the first two are classics, so okay. But True Lies??? It surprises me, too. I like the humour. I like the character arcs. For the longest time, I resisted watching it, because I’d read that the movie didn’t treat women well. One day, I thought, “You generally don’t let others dictate what you do/watch/read/whatever. Why are you letting them do it with True Lies?” Because, you see, I love thriller and spy movies, including ones that are tongue in cheek, so normally I would have jumped at watching True Lies.

I went ahead and watched it. I loved it. I don’t understand why the heck anyone would think the movie doesn’t treat women well. The female character has the best character arc and kicks ass, IMO.

Related to this, if you’re a Netflix subscriber, try out Covert Affairs. It’s got strong female characters and it’s fun to watch. The first two seasons were sort of tongue in cheek. It gets more serious in the third season, but it’s still great. I’ll start the fourth season over the weekend. The writers do tend to pair up Annie, the main character, with a male spy or victim (yeah, in this show, it’s usually a woman protecting a guy, which is great!), but the regulars are all pleasant guys, so I don’t mind.

It’s also filmed in Toronto, which is a bonus for me. It’s always a hoot when they’re supposed to be racing around Washington DC, and I see Toronto Transit signs and places I know.

Do you believe people are inherently good?

No. I believe most people try to do the right thing (which isn’t the same as being inherently good), but there are some people who are just nasty and/or amoral and/or out for themselves and only themselves.

What is the best piece of advice you’ve received?

I wouldn’t say it’s the best piece of advice, but it’s certainly come in handy. As I was setting up my very first website, someone who knows me well said, “Don’t think you have to answer every email you receive through your site. Nobody does.”

I tend to be polite, so I would probably have answered every email, unless the sender was incredibly rude or clearly trolling. But I don’t answer everything I receive, and there are reasons other than rudeness/trolling for why I won’t reply. For example, the contact page on this website clearly states that I don’t want to be contacted by people selling services, but I regularly receive emails from people doing just that, and it’s not bots sending them. I bin those. I also bin emails when people are asking me for too much of my time or expertise, without offering anything in return.

What is the closest you’ve ever come to fearing for your life?

When I was 19, someone held a knife to my throat and threatened to kill me. It all went down as part of a botched robbery, botched in the sense that the burglars didn’t expect anyone to be there, but surprise! There we were. I might post the full story some day, since there’s a lesbian angle. Eight of us were participating in a lesbian discussion group when the armed burglars burst into the room. I obviously survived the experience, and I’m glad to say that I was rather calm about the whole thing. No crying, whimpering, or begging for my life.

If someone could tell you the exact day and time you are going to die, would you want them to tell you?

No. I already feel pressured for time. It would be worse if I knew when I’d be checking out.

Would you rather lose half your hair or half your hearing?

Please tell me nobody ever answers with “half my hearing.”

Do you drink coffee or tea?

Tea, all the way!

Do you think crying is a sign of weakness or strength?

Neither. It’s an expression of how someone is feeling, is all.

What was the last book you read?

I just finished Enter the Death Circus (Tales from the Longview 1) by Holly Lisle. I’m also reading Quiet by Susan Cain and Play to Win by Larry Wilson and Hersch Wilson.

When you have a random hour of free time, what do you usually do?

Read, game, or watch Netflix.

Voila! There’s 10 questions and answers. I’ll do this again from time to time.

How about you? How would you answer these questions?

Enjoy your weekend! (It’s film fest time. We’re seeing our first movie tomorrow.)

10 Questions (September, 2014) is a post from: Sarah Ettritch