Edie Ramer's Blog, page 11

The Unexpected Vulcan Mind Meld

In the scene I’m writing, a character accuses another character of doing a mind meld on him. If you aren’t a Star Trek fan, you might not know what that means. Don’t worry, I’ll show you! I remembered Spock did something with his hands, but not exactly what. So I went to YouTube and found a video that showed the Vulcan mind meld. It also showed a bit more than I expected. Enjoy!

The Vulcan Mind Meld

In the scene I’m writing, a character accuses another character of doing a mind meld on him. If you aren’t a Star Trek fan, you might not know what that means. Don’t worry, I’ll show you. I remembered Spock did something with his hands, but not exactly what. So I went to YouTube and found a video that showed the Vulcan mind meld. It also showed a bit more than I expected. Enjoy!

An Inspiring Story

I missed blogging yesterday. Phone calls to make, dogs to take out and in, a cat begging to be petted and, of course, a book to write. I’m still busy today, so I’m just linking to Dale Mayer’s Story that was posted on Magical Musings yesterday.

You’ll be glad you read it. Even though it’s Tuesday, I hope it’s a great start to an amazing week.

Mean to my heroine

Rose the Beagle

I’m mean to my heroine in the Miracle Interruptedbook I recently started. The heroine lives in a cottage on a farm. There will be farm cats that live in the barn, but I wanted to give her a dog, too. I wasn’t sure what breed; I can obsess about things like. But then I looked down at my 19-year-old beagle… and I was a goner. So my poor heroine has a snoring, bad smelling, arthritic beagle who is nearly blind and deaf. Her appetite, though, is completely healthy.

I also have a title (though it’s subject to change). My heroine makes pies, so it’s A SLICE OF MIRACLE.

If you could give a fictional character a pet, what would it be?

News and Giveaways!

I’m at RomCon today, talking about stories – everyone has them. I’m also giving away an ecopy of STARDUST MIRACLE to 2 commenters. If you get a chance, stop by!

I sent MIRACLE LANE to my editor last week. On Sunday, I started my next Miracle Interrupted story. I was working on the plot and characters as I wrote, so I only have about 2500 words written. Now that I’ve gotten past the beginning, I should write faster. I hope to finish the first draft in 2 months.

How is your week going so far?

Why you should care about author Michelle Diener

Michelle Diener is one of my favorite authors and I’m lucky to have her as a CP. I learned more about her today at Magical Musings where she talks about what writing means to her and how she started. It made me admire her even more.

One of the things she did was make up games and plays when she was young. It reminds me of Jo in Little Women. Hop over and read it to find out more surprises about Michelle.

Fun with Foods

Dale Mayer blogged on Magical Musings about books with food themes. In the comments, a banana and mayonnaise sandwich was mentioned. I thought a banana and peanut butter might make a better combo. Dale revealed that the banana/peanut butter combo is a classic in her house. She also “used to cut bananas in forms of ships, submarines etc and use peanut butter as the glue to hold the pieces together.”

I like that. It would be especially fun to do with children. My mother used to make pancakes on weekends. The stove was on an island, and we would watch in fascination as she made shapes out of the pancakes. She also made Kool Aid popsicles in ice cube trays. I thought of making lemonade popsicles this summer. If nothing else, it would be fun to freeze them and put them in a glass on hot days. I never got around to it this summer. Maybe next year…

Can you think of any fun foods?

Outtake from Miracle Lane

I’m revising Miracle Lane from my CP’s critique. She thought the short introspection below wasn’t necessary and slowed the reader. I agree and took it out. But I still like it, so thought I’d share. There are 3 points of view in the book: the heroine, the hero and the cat. The cat’s is much smaller than the other two. This is from the cat’s POV:

Mating was like any hunger. But with food, you gobbled some things up and if it didn’t agree with your stomach, then you puked.

And with felines, once the male cat mated, he left and the female cat to raise the kittens to maturity alone.

It was different for humans. Human babies took so long to mature. Often it worked out better for both the female and male to raise the child.

One more reason cats were superior to humans.

I’m not sure if I agree with the cat. But who in my house is curled in a circle of sunshine, sleeping? And who’s bending over her keyboard tapping keys?

If you could be any animal right now, what would it be?

Help needed! Sweet or Snarky?

Happy Labor Day! I’m about to start laboring on my new Miracle Interrupted book, but my unconscious has already begun. Last night, I was barely in bed a minute when I got an idea for the beginning. I jumped out of bed and hurried to my office (conveniently located across the hall), where I scribbled down as much as I could remember. Then I went back to bed – only to jump up again with more ideas. This happened one more time before I finally went to sleep.

But an odd thing happened in my scribbles. I wanted my character to have a sweet personality. A happy young woman, a little shy, she likes to please. In this beginning, she still likes to please, but in her thoughts she can be snarky. I think if I keep that, she won’t let a lot of people see this side of her.

I’m not sure if I should change it, so I’m asking you. What you think. Sweet or snarky?

Miracle Lane description

With help from Misty Evans and Dale Mayer – and thumbs up from my CPs, Liz Kreger and Michelle Diener – I have a blurb for Miracle Lane. The 3rd Miracle Interrupted story won’t be out until next month or even October. (This was the novella that was originally supposed to be out in July, but it turned into a novel.) Though Miracle Lane still has to go through editing, I’m very happy with it. I’m very happy with the blurb, too. Here it is:

She forgot how to hate, and now she’s learning how to love…

Brain-damaged Nia Beaudine can’t remember her life before The Accident. Someone intentionally ran over her and left her for dead. Now she’s living in the ‘witch’s house’ she inherited in the village of Miracle, relearning how to live on her own. Well, almost on her own – the talking cat helping her cope is a bonus. But when a hate-filled family member shows up with a gun, Nia knows she needs real help.

Former Army Sergeant and PTSD sufferer Rob Ackerman regularly covers for his identical twin, the village constable, and answers Nia’s emergency call. This strange young woman immediately sees he’s not his brother. In return, he sees that the only way she can fully live in her new life is to find out why someone in her old life tried to kill her…and might try again.

As they dig up Nia’s past, the attraction between them grows. Their brains may be damaged, but their bodies and hearts are working just fine.

You can see by the description that I have too much going for a novella. When I was halfway through I thought it should be a book. But I had a deadline with an editor, so I pulled back. Next time I’ll know better. I’m the kind of person who’s usually early or on time. But this isn’t about being late; this is about putting out the best book I can.

What about you? Are you usually late or early or on time?