Alison Kent's Blah Blog

The FLESH TO FANTASY winners are: Scooper and April. If you two will email me your mailing info, I’ll get those sent out to you.

I thought I’d wax poetic a bit more about my indulgences. One of my big ones is television. I love television. It’s not even a guilty pleasure. It’s pure entertainment in the same way I’m entertained by books and movies.

I’m very particular about what I watch. I don’t have cable (which helps with the time management issue) and so only watch the major networks. Cable shows and BBC productions (The Shield, The Wire, The Closer, Wire in the Blood, Rescue Me, et al) I get on DVD from Netflix.

There is some amazing writing being done for television right now – not only in plot, but in characterization. Heroes. House. L&O SVU. Lost. Criminal Minds. Grey’s Anatomy. Ugly Betty. 24. Numb3rs. CSI (can’t wait for Liev Shriever to join the Las Vegas cast).

I love watching in the evenings with the husband and discussing plot twists and turns, and suspension of disbelief. It’s one of the reasons I want to be sure and keep my evenings free! I learn so much about storytelling. Again. Double duty. I love how that works out, heh! Working and recreating all at the same time.

I am also determined to nurture the very special online friendships I’ve made. I haven’t been an active member of an RWA chapter in a very long time. I was working and writing, and it was a rare weeknight/weekend when I could get away to a meeting. Especially if it was a choice between doing that and gettng my pages done.

In her luncheon speech, ACTS OF FAITH, from the RWA conference in 2004, Barbara Samuel talks about the clan mother of a group of women, saying:

Katherine is devoted to the idea of circles of women, creating them, sustaining them, so that their joined unity and power can transform this world of darkness. We are the healers. Katherine tells us that we have to tend our gardens, create beauty and order at all times, especially in the darkest times.

Isn’t that gorgeous? The writer friends I have online provide all of that for me, and just as I couldn’t do half of what I do without my husband’s support, the authors I’ve come to love and appreciate play an equally big part in getting me through. I intend to make sure they know that!

And, so, HAPPY NEW YEAR to you all! May 2007 be full of everything you need it to be!

I met Larissa Ione online late in the summer of 2002 when I joined an online critique group she belonged to.

At the time she wasn’t doing a lot of steady writing because she was moving here and there and everywhere. I think she’s lived in five states in the years four and a half years we’ve known each other.

This summer, we finally met face to face at the RWA conference in Atlanta. She was there celebrating the many many sales she’s made this year – something like 8 maybe? In one year?

And now her first story is on the shelves. FLESH TO FANTASY is part of the SECRETS: DARK PASSIONS anthology. And I’m going to give away two copies this weekend!

If you’d like a copy, post here and I’ll draw names on Sunday night, December 31, at 8:00 p.m.ish. I figure it’s a great way to ring out the old year!

Kelsa Bradshaw is an intense loner whose job keeps her happily immersed in a fanciful world of virtual reality. Desperate to protect her existence, she wants nothing to do with Trent Jordan, a laid-back paramedic who experiences the harsh realities of life up close and personal. But when their vastly different worlds collide in an erotic eruption of fantasy sex and real-life emotions, can Trent convince Kelsa to turn the fantasy into something real?

When I read Barbara Samuel’s post about Indulgences, I thought, oh yeah. I’m so there. The idea of indulgences is one that I have no trouble embracing (no commentary from the peanut gallery husband necessary).

I like indulgences more than resolutions. Resolutions seem harder to keep, and the whole harder to keep thing has become such a cliche. Indulgences seem more . . . sybaritic. I like that.

But I also like the idea of indulgences doing double duty. Nourishing and nurturing. Filling more than a fleeting need. I told the husband the other night that 2007 is going to be an artist’s year for me.

One thing I’ve decided to do – and about which I’m really excited – is scrapbook the whole year of my writing. Collages, yes, much as I do with my character and setting pictures, but more than that.

Snippets of reviews and reader notes that strike a chord, that say something I especially need to hear at that time. Tidbits of news, or photographs, or magazine articles that inspire me.

Even a manuscript’s first page, a page from the copy edits, one from the galleys. Rejection letters on projects I shop. Revision letters. Cover flats.

Tactile items that make the books come alive – the three I need to get done this year – colors and textures, music, even scents if I can manage.

And I know this shouldn’t be an indulgence, but it seems to be for far too many authors. Next year I plan to indulge myself in books. I think I mentioned previously that since turning in my last manuscript on Nov 17th, I’ve read 6 of the 13 books I had on my “read first” stack.

A book a week – and for me, that’s phenomenal! I’m determined to keep up that pace at the very least. I’ve come to totally believe that Stephen King quote in my sidebar. Obviously, I’ll never again read as a straight reader. But that’s okay. I know what works for me as reading entertainment, and I know I’ll learn something that I can use (or not use!) in every book I read. Again. Double duty.

I also plan to totally indulge in my husband. This is one of the reasons I’m so focused on slowing down and making the most of my time. I don’t want to come home from work in the evenings and write. I’ve done that for too long. Made the sacrifice. Put the work first. Paid my dues. Whatever. No more. I’ll get the work done, but the evenings have to be husband-time. I need to keep that particular well filled.

It was brought home again last night when I had to finish up the galleys for THE PERFECT STRANGER. They’re due back in NYC on the 2nd, so they have to go out in the FedEx today. From the time I got home from work until the time I went to bed, that’s all I did. He was working on the Dragon software he’d put on my laptop for Christmas (knowing how bad my hands are getting), and we didn’t have a spare minute together.

These last six weeks, I’ve gotten used to having him pick me up at the Metro lot after work and then spending the entire evening together. I want to make sure we’re able to do that all of the time, not just when I can fit him in between the pages I need to write.

His patience with my writing schedule for the last six years has been saintlike. It’s time to make sure he knows how much I appreciate him, and how I couldn’t do what I do without him in my life. I need to be with him. It’s that simple.

What about the rest of you? Anything you want to indulge in the next year? Extra long bubble baths with good books? Extra hours spent sleeping? (Oh – be sure and check in this weekend for a special Weekend Winnings giveaway!)

I recently culled my Bloglines list from fifty-something down to twenty-five. I like reading an RSS feed rather than having to visit all the blogs individually. I only visit when I want to comment on what I’ve read – or when I realize Bloglines isn’t picking up the feed in a timely manner for some reason, grrr. (The husband has given Netvibes a try, and I may look into switching.) It’s such a time saver since I do most of my blog reading first thing in the morning with my coffee before getting ready for work.

I left a few reader and reviewer blogs, as well as the blogs of family and friends, but I realized I was wasting way too much of my own time reading about how others were wasting way too much of their time!

I decided to keep only the blogs that regularly offered me something in the way of craft talk or industry buzz (as opposed to one writing-centric entry out of thirty-five). That focus is part of my reinventing of Alison Kent.

Don’t get me wrong. I do still hop around to see what’s going on with other writing friends, but if I visited everyone daily, I’d never get done all the things I need to! And I know that I’ll get industry, craft, and writing life posts most all of the time from these bloggers.

The Thirteen Author Blogs I Read Daily
(or at least as often as the blogger posts –
– and, yes, there are really fifteen)

1. Buzz, Balls & Hype – Because there are over 175,000 books published a year and they can’t all get reviews in the NYTBR. Authored by M.J. Rose

2. A Newbie’s Guide to Publishing – I’m the author of the Lt. Jacqueline “Jack” Daniels thriller novels Whiskey Sour, Bloody Mary, and Rusty Nail. Is it possible to make a living as a genre writer? Well, sort of…

3. A Writer Afoot – The travel and writing columns of novelist Barbara Samuel

4. A Writer’s Life – Who The Hell Is Lee Goldberg?

5. Allison Brennan

6. Robert Gregory Browne – Anatomy of a Book Deal

7. Beth Ciotta – Ramblings of a published author who moonlights as a professional performer

8. HelenKay Dimon

9. Jo Leigh

10. The Man in Black – The Brain Droppings of a Young Novelist (Jason Pinter)

11. Paperback Writer – Writing Pro Since 1998 (Lynn Viehl)

12. Pocket Full of Words – Writing Diary of Novelist Holly Lisle

13. Tamboblog – Writing, Quilting, Life (Tamara Siler Jones)

14. Storytelling2 – Rosina Lippi (Sara Donati)

15. Tess Gerritsen’s Blog

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

Wow. Have I seriously enjoyed the last 6 days. (Really, the last 38, but that’s a whole ‘nother subject!) I left work on the 20th at 5:00 p.m. and have been a vegetable since. (Beyond a lot of cooking and gift wrapping, and then all the cleaning involved in the holidays!)

I’ve gone to bed early and slept late. I’ve spent hours soaking up the sun in the backyard (the days we had sun), reading or snoozing or listening to the leaves, doing a lot of the “story thinking” I’ve been talking about lately. I watched a DVD of Wuthering Heights that had been in my stocking last year. Watched another one of Water.

Had a great time with the kids and all their partners on Christmas Day, and even the pack of dogs that turned the backyard into a swampy mud pit. And I have enough chocolate to see me through the writing of a dozen novels. Now I’m looking forward to the Girls in the Basement class I’ll be taking starting the first of the year.

Since today is about writing and I missed yesterday’s “Tuedays with Alison Q&A” because I was reading, I’m going to combine the two, and also get a jump on 2007. Since making this post, I’ve been reading my way through the books I chose to gorge on after finishing the last book I had to write this year. I’ve read 6 out of the 13 so far. (Have to take a break the next couple of days to read galleys of THE PERFECT STRANGER.)

Two of the books I’ve read have made me think a lot about writing in first person. I’ve never been shy about admitting that I write for publication, not for myself, but I’m thinking of trying out a story in first person. It may not be anything I ever sell, but the way both of these books made me *feel* the story has me wanting to experiment.

I have a lot more to say about first person, and a lot about voice when using first person, but I’ll hold off on that until after this lazy week when I’m still doing as little as possible. My hiatus from stress will return soon enough, but for now I’m all about indulging my inner slug.

What about you? If you’re a writer, published or not, what’s one thing you want to try this next year? Whether it’s something you do in a story you’re already working on, or whether you give it a shot in a new idea, is there a craft element you’d like to experiment with or take to a new level?

The winners of the Grinch giveaway are KarenJ and Teresa Warner. Send me your mailing addresses and I’ll get those copies (used) sent out!

At the Brava Author’s blog, I’m giving away one of my Christmas stories, A BLUE CHRISTMAS, in the anthology JINGLE BELL ROCK, but I did write another, THE GRINCH MAKES GOOD. Brooke and Duncan’s story came out in December of 1997, and was my third book for Harlequin Temptation. My author copies ran out long ago, but once in awhile I’ll check used book listings online to see if I can find any new copies.

I did this recently, and only one out of the three listed as new was. I can’t stand sellers who misrepresent a book’s condition, grrr. I don’t mind used books. I do mind being told a book is in nearly new condition when it isn’t. So, I now have two copies of THE GRINCH MAKES GOOD that are used. There’s not a thing wrong with them as far as being good reading copies. They’re just not the collectible condition I wanted to keep.

If you’d like one of these copies, post here and I’ll draw two winners on December 26th at 8:00 p.m.ish central time. (And, no, I hadn’t planned on doing a giveaway this weekend, but I found these when cleaning up and figured this was the perfect time for a Christmas book!)

Ho-Ho-Hold Me!

Lo and behold, Duncan enjoyed her joy! Could the Grinch and Santa’s Little Helper end up together in a passionate affair? Only in the season of miracles . . .

In case I don’t get back here before Christmas, I want to wish all of you who celebrate a very merry day on Monday with lots of good food, lots of fun family time, and lots of relaxing hours spent reading good books! For those of you celebrating other holidays, I wish you the same!

I took my last few vacations days and don’t have to go back to work until Wednesday, and am definitely enjoying these days of sleeping in. Our weather today is amazing. It’s 59 degrees and calm with perfectly blue skies. I have baking and cleaning to do, and gifts to wrap, but the tree is up at last – with the same decorations we use every year after my determination to do something new! Ah, well! It’s festive and fun and that’s all that matters. The puppy decided the plush snowman I have was one of her toys, and I had to rescue that, but so far no other damage!

My giveaway is happening at Access Romance this week. You have to enter by 10:00 p.m. Eastern time on the 26th to win a stocking stuffed with several of my titles. I’ll probably let the winner choose the ones she wants (as long as I have copies) so be sure and enter!

I will be posting winners of my copious copies of JINGLE BELL ROCK at Brava Authors on Saturday, the 23rd, at 8:00 p.m. Central time.

“At Christmas play and make good cheer,
for Christmas comes but once a year.”
Thomas Tusser (English Farmer and Writer, 1524-1580)