Laura Whitcomb's Blog, page 7

The Secret Vaults of Time

At our June Supernatural Tea Party we talked about Psychic Archaeology, Ancient Astronauts, the Akashic Records, and many other intriguing tidbits of mystery and wonder.

We dined on Scones with homemade butter (well, it was sort of like unsalted butter — rather a bit like heavy whipped cream) and broiled bread topped with apricot jam, Provolone cheese, fresh basil, and chopped pistachio nuts. A neighbor, Margaret, who is one of the (now retired) reference librarians who helped me with research on my second novel came and brought some lovely flowers. Cynthia brought three flavors of Cotswold fudge, Pam brought jam, Susan brought berries, and Don brought homemade black and white cupcakes. Binny brought his winning smile and was a very good boy. As usual, afterwards we moved to the family room for movie clips and popcorn. The perfect day!

Dialogue Contest

FYI — I just heard about a strange sounding writing competition – The Bartleby Snopes Dialogue Only contest. Take a look at: www.bartlebysnopes.com — The rules? You have to compose a short story entirely of dialogue. Use as many characters as you want. It must be under 2000 words. And no he said, she said — just the dialogue.

Interesting, no?  They say, "The winning entry will be the story that most effectively uses dialogue to deliver a powerful and engaging story." If I had more time I would be tempted to enter myself. I love a weird challenge. I believe the entrance fee is only about $10. The winner last year was awarded several hundred dollars, I believe. Good luck to anyone game.

Shrewsbury

If you are in the Portland (Oregon) area this coming weekend, come to the Shrewsbury Renaissance Faire (Sat 9/10 and Sun 9/11) where I will be singing madrigals with my choir, the Sherwood Renaissance Singers. We'll be adding two new songs: "Fyer, Fyer" and "Thus Sings My Dearest Jewel" (see text below) and Binny will be on my knee (sort of) singing along. Visit the faire's website at: www.shrewfaire.com — it really is a charming event.

Thus sings my dearest jewel;

In love delay is cruel.

Or come and kiss me quickly,

Or say thou dost not love me!

Now sings my lovely treasure,

in love a kiss is a harmless pleasure!

Column teasers continue . . .

From "No, Really, I'm Almost Done" August 2011

I love being a full-time novelist, but the last leg of writing a book, leading up to the publisher's deadline, can be stressful. I'm supposed to, I mean I AM GOING TO, turn in my latest manuscript this month. The following is a list of what goes through my mind during big crunches of this kind. 

From "Morning Magic" September 2011

A few months before I adopted my son, I got a cryptic email from my agent saying we might be hearing some good news from overseas soon. That meant a new foreign deal was probably on its way. The largest foreign I'd had before came to about $8000.00. Though it seemed unlikely, during our Morning Magic I said, "Let's picture this new deal being enough to pay for the whole adoption." (The adoption fees were between 10,000 and 20,000 dollars.) So we concentrated on that idea for just a few minutes. Within a couple of days I got the news that I'd sold the German rights to my first novel in a bidding war for 20,000 euros. Not dollars. Euros. More than enough to pay all the adoption costs. This might have happened even without the Morning Magic, but I'm not sure about that.

To join Willamette Writers and (among other things) recieve the WW newsletter that includes my monthly column visit their website at www.willamettewriters.com

September Give-Away

The winner of the August Give-Away is Sharen of Westwood, New Jersey. In honor of Halloween, the September Give-Away will be a copy of Melissa Marr's first adult novel, a supernatural adventure romance called  Graveminder which I reviewed in the Washington Post. Sorry, it is not signed by the author but it's a fun read. (Email your name and physical address to me via the "Email Laura Whitcomb" link on my website.)

 

I'm sorry that the Give-Away listings are not up-to-date on my website. My wonderful web stylist, Brian Batson, passed away and I am in denial about that and reluctant to find a new webmaster or learn how to do it myself. But I promise to get on that right away. Also, sorry that I got behind on mailing out Give-Away prizes — I'll send the June, July, and August winnings tomorrow.

Plus, because of my recent deadline crunch, I fell behind on blog posts. So sorry. To make it up to you I will try to blog once a day for the rest of the month. News, book recommendations, teasers, and tips.

August Give-Away

Chelsea of Tampa, Florida is the winner of the July Give-Away. The August Give-Away will be a signed copy of A CERTAIN SLANT OF LIGHT in honor of me (finally) finishing the sequel/prequel (sprequel or companion novel) UNDER THE LIGHT (which will be out in the fall of 2012.)

To enter the drawing email me your name and physical address via the "Email Laura Whitcomb" link on my website. Let me now if you do NOT want to be on the snail mail list.   =)

Movie news!

I'm thrilled to announce that Summit (the producers of the Twilight movies) is optioning A CERTAIN SLANT OF LIGHT and the script that Kristin Hahn wrote for it. It's so exciting. I'll keep you updated!

new column teasers

From "What I Learned From Five Minutes of Bad Reality TV" June 2011

So what can I learn from something that can't be explained or anticipated? I'm not sure, but I do know I'm taking something meaningful away from these photo critiques. A reminder that making the basics second nature is what gives us the freedom to be great? Yes, but it's more than that. It has something to do with us recognizing the possibility of fabulous success in our futures. We're climbing our way to better versions of ourselves and our writing. We're just getting our footing here, walking that line between too much and almost there. It has to do with confidence. And a heightened love of quality that  is just over our heads, almost within reach. It's about believing that that paragraph or page or chapter we will create tomorrow will be a stunning surprise.

From "Full-Body Research" July 2011

I've done some odd things in my life just to see what it felt like (don't worry, nothing violent or perverse) and it was worth it. I spent a year at the age of fifteen painstakingly learning Joplin's "Maple Leaf Rag" so that I could feel what it was like to sit down at a piano and really let loose. (It feels great, by the way. I've forgotten how to play the song now because eventually I stopped practicing it, but I'll never forget the sensations.) I took archery at a community college for a semester in my twenties because I wanted to write about a girl who could shoot and needed to feel the bow and arrow in my own hands. I never got very good at it, but I did feel the string pressed to my cheek and hear the tick of the bow arching and the soft thwack when my shaft hit the hay bale (or the turf several feet short) and I felt the pain of accidentally striking myself in the arm when I extended my elbow too far. All part of full-body research.

To join the Willamette Writers (receive the newsletter in which my monthly column is published and monthly speaker meetings in Portland, OR, etc, for under $40 a year) go to www.willamettewriters.com.

July Give-Away

The winner of the June Give-Away is Claire of Oklahoma City. The July Give-Away is a grab bag of second-hand writing manuals, so if you're a current or future novelist, playwright, poet, screenwriter, essayist, or journalist, and you love research material and writing guides, email me your name and physical address via the "Email Laura Whitcomb" link on my website before the first day of August. (If you do NOT want to be on my snail mail list, let me know.)

Sorry that I've been on a writing crunch and behind on posting writing tips – forgive me – I'll make it up to you, I promise.

Binny meets the elephant

BTW, the Willamette Writers conference is coming up the first weekend in August. I'll be teaching a workshop on that Friday – "It's So Crazy It Just Might Work", I believe at 10:30 a.m. It's a wonderful conference. I highly (enthusiastically, whole-heartedly) recommend it.

June Give-Away

The winner of the May drawing was Nicole of Morrisville, North Carolina. The June Give-Away will be a signed first edition (the original hardback) of THE FETCH. Send me your name and physical address via the "Email Laura Whitcomb" link on my website (and let me know if you do NOT want snail mail/promotional bookmarks or postcards of my novels in the future.)

Sorry that I am behind with my bi-weekly writing tips. I'll make it up to you! I promise.

Thought you'd like to see the cover of the new German version of FETCH.

Also thought you'd like to see a recent photo of my son, Binny — reminds me of Puck from A Midsummer Night's Dream.