Lou Anders's Blog, page 4

Thurber House: Day Fifteen (4th of July Walkabout)

Happy 4th of July to those that celebrate it!

Today, I decided to mark the occasion by taking a super long walk around Columbus.

I walked from Thurber House to downtown with the intention of doing "the Scioto Mile" when I got there, and I did start down the path that parallels the river, but then the rain started in earnest. I walked in the rain for a bit, but decided that if it starting lightening (as predicted by my weather app) that being next to buildings one could duck into might be good.

So I came back from the river, where I paused to take a picture with a deer that was enjoying the view from a bridge.



Then I found some kids in bathing suits playing in a fountain in the rain!



I walked to Columbus' brewery district, though everything was closed.



And then I went to German Village, where I was delighted to see that the books I signed for The Book Loft are already selling down.



I found a tiny home belonging to a very patriotic fairy.



And had lunch at the original Max & Erma's.


Finally, I treated myself to a frappuccino at Starbucks and then I walked back to Thurber House.

All told, I was out and about for three hours, most of it moving.

Not a productive day, but a fun one. And I think that's okay! I'm going to spend the evening in, alternating between working and watching television. Hope you are all having a pleasant Independence Day!

Thurber House: Day Fourteen (It Takes a Long Time to Become Young)

Fourteen Days! I have been here fourteen full days (and fifteen nights)! Can you believe it?

I am 7,940 words into the new manuscript. My beta readers are starting to report back positively on the manuscript I completed last week. I've taught children at the Thurber Center and in community programs around Columbus. I have walked all over downtown. I have binge watched two seasons of Game of Thrones (and will watch the season six finale later tonight so I'll be caught up with the rest of you). I have eaten some tremendous food and drank some amazing beer. I have entertained houseguests.

And today, I went to the Columbus Museum of Art and saw the exhibit, Picasso: The Great War, Experimentation and Change.

Oh, and I wore a funny hat and took my picture against a Cubist background.

"It takes a long time to become young." -- Pablo Picasso

Thurber House: Day Thirteen (A Tale of Two Jameses)

It's the start of a long weekend here at Thurber House, with none of the women who work here back
until Tuesday. Good writing time--I'm now 6,243 words and four chapters into the new project and loving it--but it's also a little isolated.

So I was thrilled when my friend and favorite author James Enge drove down to visit me with his wonderful wife  Diana DePasquale.

When I was an editor, a long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, I acquired and edited six fantastic books by James Enge, Blood of Ambrose , This Crooked Way , The Wolf Age and the three books of his "prequel trilogy" A Tournament of Shadows: A Guile of Dragons , Wrath-Bearing Tree, and The Wide World's End . These six novels chronicle a portion of the life of Morlock Ambrosius, a hunch-backed, alcoholic, exhale, a broken man who feels his world is done with him when it is only getting started. I grew up on classic swords & sorcery fiction--works by writers like Robert E. Howard, Fritz Leiber, and Michael Moorcock--some of which still holds up today but a lot of which, I'm sad to say, really doesn't work for contemporary audiences who didn't grow up with it (I'm sorry but that's true).

Enter James Enge.

At a time when fantasy was celebrating the New Weird moment, Enge was consciously Old Weird, unapologetic S&S fantasy that was nonetheless written with a modern, literary sensibility. Blood of Ambrose was nominated for a World Fantasy Award, after all. His books mixed humor and pathos in a way few authors can and in a style that reminds me of nothing so much as the music of Robyn Hitchcock, the writing of Terry Pratchett, and the best episodes of Doctor Who. Like putting old wine in new bottles, Enge was managing to take S&S with all of its tropes and reconstitute it as something that could stand as 21st century fantasy literature. I wasn't allowed to have favorites when I worked as an editor, but now that I'm just another full-time author, I can say honestly and openly that James Enge is one of my top five all time favorite fantasists. I'm an unapologetic fan.

But James is also a person I've come to love spending time with. We hung out on the convention circuit quite a few times, but I don't think I've seen him since I was Editor Guest of Honor at Convergence in 2013. Which is way way way too long. So I was deeply honored and deeply thrilled when James and Diana drove down for the afternoon and evening.

I gave them a tour of Thurber House when they arrived. We sat in the tea room on the first floor, which was weird because I tend to stick to the upstairs when I'm here along. And I took a photograph of James Enge the writer posing with James Thurber's typewriter. The Two Jamses! Afterwards, we went to Wolf's Ridge Brewing, for yet another fabulous meal (and great libations). I visited their Tap Room last time but we ate in the restaurant in front this time. Afterwards, we came back to my apartments here, where we drank tea and solved all the world's problems. And managed to set the burglar alarm off yet again. It was a lovely evening with lovely people.

Everybody, read James' books. You won't be sorry. And James, great to see you, my friend!

Thurber House Interlude: Upcoming Events

In Columbus, Ohio? Well, come see me then.
On the last night of my residency, I'll be doing a casual meet & greet and signing of Frostborn and Nightborn at The Book Loft of German Village.

This is an amazing independent bookstore with no less than 32 rooms of books! I've been inside several times now since first arriving at Thurber House, and it's a maze of goodness with endless shelves across multiple stories. It's exactly what a bookstore should be.

So check it out and come see me on:

Friday, July 15th, 2016 at 6 PM
The Book Loft of German Village 
631 South Third Street
Columbus, Ohio, 43206
(614) 464-1774

Thurber House: Day Twelve (Selling Out, Signings, and the Fire Alarm)

I am 4,687 words into the new project. I've reached Chapter Three, which is the chapter where our heroine discovers what she's going to have to do to survive this book. I'm very happy where things are going, although I haven't added very many new words today. That's because I'm still working out the specifics of what it is she's about to learn. When I know, she'll know!

But we had another book signing for this week's group of campers at the Thurber Center. This time I signed in the center, not the house, for the kids that I taught last Wednesday. And what a signing it was! The Thurber House bookstore has nearly sold through its entire stock of Frostborn (and the four remaining are spoken for), so they're going to have to reorder because I'm only halfway done with my Children's Writer-in-Residence stint. It was a great bunch of kids this week and I really enjoyed teaching them, as well as meeting some of the counselors.

Afterwards, I came back here, where I managed to set off the fire alarm not once but twice in the preparation of tonight's nachos! I started heating oil in a pan, only to realize I had an unused green pepper I should slice. I didn't realize how fast the smoke would start. The whole apartment filled up and I had to open as many windows as could be opened. But the nachos were worth it! Totally!

It's a long weekend, with no one who works at Thurber House coming in again until Tuesday. There's a fireworks display at the river around 9pm tonight, but I think I'm going to skip. I want to spend a good chunk of time tonight writing and that would fall right in the middle.

And tomorrow I've got company coming!

Thurber House: Day Eleven (...and sometimes you get the bear!)

Today I've spent the whole day working on my new project.

I'm 3,938 words in, near the end of chapter two, and really really proud of it.

Although there are connections with my other four books (the three Thrones & Bones novels and the just-completed secret manuscript), it's a departure from what I've done so far in other ways.  And I'm really thrilled by how it starts.

It's really an amazing opportunity to be able to concentrate so completely on my work, with the only interruptions being when I get to talk about my work. Wow.

Tomorrow I'll have another signing with the campers. And that's cool! But tonight, more words!

Thurber House: Day Ten

Today began with two back to back sessions of the writing camp at the Thurber Center next door. I taught two groups of approximately forty students total.

I created a special presentation when I got to Columbus that lasts an hour. The first fifteen minutes are about my Thrones & Bones books, then I spend forty-five minutes teaching a writing workshop. This is a super-condensed version of my ScripTips presentation, broken into three fifteen minute parts with a writing exercise in each one. I'd given it four times prior to today, and--if I may say so myself--it's really come together. Plus, today's campers really felt engaged and enthusiastic (though that's been true the entire time I've been here.) The trading cards remain a big hit, as ever.

When I got back to Thurber House I learned that the Book Loft has been getting requests for my books and wanted me to sign some copies of Frostborn and Nightborn for the store. So if you're in Columbus and you want signed copies, you might give them a holler.

Then it was such and back to working on the new project.

As per usual, I took an end of the afternoon walk to German Village and back. The evening was spent making nachos--I browned some turkey meat this time--and then returned to the work. I'm now 2,180 pages into the new project, closing in on the end of chapter one. I really like what I've done so far, though I am again writing without a detailed outline.

I spent some time looking for the right angle of approach for the initial pages, and as it does many times, humor came to my rescue. I didn't think this one was going to be a humorous story, and its certainly got the promise of some dark elements as it appears in my mind right now, but I'm glad that there's going to be lighter moments as well.

I also got word today that a dear friend maybe coming into town on Saturday. I'll save the details for the blog of the day of, but I'm excited to see him (and his wonderful wife). And that's it. I've left a thief trapped inside a mark's guarded estate and I really need to figure out how she's going to get out. So I'll leave you here and return to the world of Qualth.

Thurber House: Day Nine (Gladden and a River walk)

Today I went to the Gladden Community House, a United Way affiliated non-profit agency providing education and recreation programs, emergency assistance, and advocacy and support for individuals, families, and groups.

We set up in a recreation room and tapped into a wall-mounted television, where I gave a presentation to about twenty kids of varying ages on my Thrones & Bones series and my (abbreviated) ScripTips writing course. The kids were great--there was one boy in particular who really took to the material--and the Thrones & Bones trading cards that I gave out were a very big hit. As they always are.

Then it was back to Thurber House for the afternoon. I worked for a bit and then, at five, I went out for a two hour walk. I walked to the river, where there are really nice bike trails, then walked along one for 1.5 miles before crossing and coming back along the Scioto Trail. It's the furtherest I've walked since arriving here, the highlight of which was being hissed at by two geese.

Although I'm eating a lot of yogurt and fruit, I'm starting to feel vegetable-deficient, so tonight I sautéed broccoli and spinach leaves to go along with a ham, cheese, jalapeños and guacamole sandwich. Also had some very spicy pickles. Very.

I won't stay up quite as late tonight because I have to teach two hours back to back tomorrow at the Thurber Center from 9:30 to 11:30, but I've still got to accomplish more today before calling it a night.

Meanwhile, as a side effect of the long periods of isolation, I have started to talk out loud to myself. This is okay in the apartment, but I seem to be doing it outside during my walks as well. We'll see where this goes.

Thurber House: Day Eight (Sometimes the Bear Gets You)

I finished a manuscript last night, and today was the first day of working exclusively on something brand new. Or should have been. I spent some of the morning sending the previous book out to beta readers for feedback. (Very important.) And a lot of the day banging my head. (Necessary evil.) And some of it watching TV. (Refilling the well?)

I do have names for several key characters now and that's a big deal, because with the name comes the first suggestions of personality. The name makes them real. And I've got some idea of my starting location. It's a new city, and when I visit a location I tend to build it from the ground up first. So I've been working on its key features and peoples. Things are shaping up. But I need to know more about its history and how the MacGuffin connects to same.

And I should say a thank you to Pathfinder Tales author Dave Gross for pointing out how I name I almost went with could be misconstrued. Now that I know Dave has such a dirty mind I'll run more things by him for a vetting.

But other aspects of this tale haven't given up their secrets yet. I teach that the bad guy and the antagonist aren't necessarily the same thing, and that's the case with this story. So I've got my antagonist--and boy is she--but I'm still fleshing out my bad guy and what they're up to.

I took an hour and forty minute walk today hoping to clear my head. It didn't. What I did manage to do is to surreptitiously insert two Thrones & Bones trading cards into a copy of Frostborn at The Book Loft of German Village.  What I didn't managed to do is crack wide open the nut of inspiration and gulp down its wisdom. Still working on that.

But it's 10pm and I'm still staring at the screen, doing that which you do before the words flow.

Meanwhile, here's a unicorn munching on some roses, in the park across from Thurber House. It sprang from his mind and the story it comes from is on a plaque on the ground. The rest of the park is well-manicured but the unicorn gets a sort of flowery grove to himself.

More, I hope, tomorrow!

Thurber House: Day Seven, Week One & a Manuscript Complete!

Woohoo!

This evening marks a solid week I've lived in Thurber House as the 2016 Children's Writer-in-Residence.  I've spent the time working on a rewrite of a recently completed manuscript, and today, I knuckled down and wrote for the longest protracted session since I got here. I didn't even stop for lunch, just drank a protein shake at my desk.

I did take a break at 5pm, to take an hour walk around the city, during which I passed the spot of the original Wendy's hamburger restaurant. (It isn't there anymore, but a marker is).

Then I came back and wrote for another two hours and I finished! Draft two of the secret project is done, and it's already been sent to a few of my volunteer readers.

So this Herculean accomplishment must be celebrated in style, and it was--with a huge plate of nachos, Dragon's Milk, and catching up on episodes of Game of Thrones.  (I'm not to the finale yet, but I'm getting there. So far, though, I prefer season five to season six.)

Meanwhile, I've been making notes towards the next project all week, and tomorrow I start working on it in earnest. No other obligations tomorrow, just writing, so I have a good chunk of time to dive in on day one of project two. And three more weeks to go!