"As for my next book, I am going to hold myself from writing it till I have it impending in me: grown heavy in my mind like a ripe pear; pendant, gravid, asking to be cut or it will fall." ~Virginia Woolf
"Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it." ~C.S. Lewis
"The storyteller is deep inside everyone of us. The story-maker is always with us. Let us suppose our world is attacked by war, by the horrors that we all of us easily imagine. Let us suppose floods wash through our cities, the seas rise . . . but the storyteller will be there, for it is our imaginations which shape us, keep us, create us - for good and for ill. It is our stories that will recreate us, when we are torn, hurt, even destroyed. It is the storyteller, the dream-maker, the myth-maker, that is our phoenix, that represents us at our best, and at our most creative." ~Doris Lessing
"Can I be blunt on this subject? If you don't have time to read, you don't have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that. Reading is the creative center of a writer's life."
~Stephen King
"You know, I'm a storyteller. We are storytellers. And ours is an ancient tradition, contemporized by the cinema and the capturing of light. And we should all be very proud of our place in society. On any given night, millions of people across the world buy a ticket for adventures that only we as storytellers can provide. We release burdens, we galvanize emotions, we make people laugh, we make people talk over breakfast. This is a great job and I want to encourage every one of you in this room to give everything you can to the story. God bless narrative. God bless originality."
~Russell
Crowe
2002 SAG Award Winner
"When I write, I feel like an armless legless man with a crayon in his mouth."
~Kurt Vonnegut
"Don't be afraid of your material or your past. Be afraid of wasting any more time obsessing about how you look and how people see you. Be afraid of not getting your writing done." ~Anne Lamott
"America is now wholly given over to a d****d mob of scribbling women, and I should have no chance of success while the public taste is occupied with their trash--and should be ashamed of myself if I did succeed. What is the mystery of these innumberable editions of The Lamplighter (by Maria Susanna Cummins), and other books neither better nor worse? Worse they could not be, and better they need not be, when they sell by the hundred thousand." ~Hawthorne's 1855 letter to his publisher William D. Ticknor, quoted in Pattee, Fred L. The Feminine Fifties. NY: Appleton-Century Co., 1940. p. 110.
Looking back at the list of the 24 books I managed to read in 2007 (two a month, much better than 2006), I’m still appalled that I didn’t fit in more reading time instead of spending so much on TV and Scrabulous and, well, asleep. I read a lot while at work before my July 31 layoff. I sucked down Robyn Carr’s Virgin River Trilogy and shared those with a co-worker. After three starts, I finally got through Karin Slaughter’s BLINDSIGHTED and couldn’t put it down. I read both Laura Castoro’s and Kristan Higgins’ books in one sitting. Chelsea Cain’s pretty much, too. (And when is the second Archie/Gretchen book coming out, anyone know?) I started a few books that I never did finish. Some I’ll go back to and give their deserved due; I just wasn’t in the mood. Others didn’t strike the right chord and have either been passed along to other readers or been boxed up to go to the UBS.
As usual, I read more thrillers than anything. It’s my favorite genre and where I have the most auto-buy authors. Even though I write the steamy stuff, the only author whose erotic work did anything for me last year was Megan Hart. (I think when you write in a genre, you have your own expectations of what a book should bring, and it gets harder and harder for me to find anyone breaking barriers or owning the genre the way Megan does.) The YA’s I read were paranormal, and I have quite a few more on the shelves. I’m loving that particular genre a lot. The mainstream books were two by Jodi Picoult, another auto-buy for me. The inspirational was an accident; I didn’t know that’s what it was when I bought it, but I liked it a lot. Even bought the prequel. I’m going to say my favorite book of the year was Chelsea Cain’s HEARTSICK. I want the sequel and I want it now, and that, for me, defines the best.
One thing I was surprised to see was that I read only one category book. Since the short length is perfect for the overtaxed writer’s brain (and will come in handy now that I’m not going to be having new television to watch, sniff, sniff), I’ve been taking advantage of the free end of year downloads at eHarlequin. But I needed some print books, too (okay, not needed, wanted – the evidence of that is below), and since I’ve sworn off buying new books in 2008 (other than my pre-orders) and am adding what I want to my wish list instead, I had to hurry and get in a quick eHarlequin order for a couple of Silhouette Romantic Supense’s, a MIRA or two, and 3 or 4 Presents and Desires.
Though she took some heat for the comments she made about the inanities of the Internet, Doris Lessing in her Nobel acceptance speech said a couple of things that I truly loved. (The whole speech is worth reading for the gems.) One of them is this:
Writing, writers, do not come out of houses without books.
(See, sweetie? There’s a reason we’re surrounded! And, yes, I promise during 2008 to finish organizing the big mess my library is!)
Since I’m the worst at telling anyone which of my books are the steamiest or most suspenseful or sweetest or most romantic, I thought I’d throw out to all of you this reader letter I received and let you answer:
I’m venturing out into different authors now that I’ve been reading the same ones for a while now. (…) Could you recommend your top three “steamiest ” romances?
Back in September I mentioned some fall shows I wanted to watch. One of them was Fox’s The Next Great American Band. Ended up that I didn’t watch much of it at all. I think part of the first night, and then a few bits and pieces of episodes when the husband was doing his thing with the remote control. And that’s okay. The show wasn’t that great. But there was one band, The Clark Brothers, whose performances I always made sure to hunt down on YouTube after the show had aired.
For their own choice, they picked “This Little Light of Mine/Faith, Faith, Faith.” Oh. My. God. If you saw the performance, it was the epitome of being possessed by the music. I don’t know how else to describe it.
About their cover of Queen’s “These are the Days of Our Lives”, he said:
I’ve said it before. I’ll repeat myself now. These guys need to win this. Oh, even if they don’t win, I believe we’ll see them make a splash in the music industry. It’s as if they’re possessed by the music, men on a mission so much more than the Blues Brothers.
Here’s a video of their win, including the closing song they performed.
To get a real feel for what they can do, I’ve put two more videos after the jump. The first is a full song, their cover of The Rolling Stones’ GIMME SHELTER, which was my favorite performance, and earned them a standing ovation from the judges. The second contains the three short songs they performed in the semi-finals.
For as long as I can remember, I’ve added new Santa ornaments or figurines to my collection every year. I get them from the kids, the husband. My good friend from work used to give me one each holiday season. I would buy them from craft shows, speciality shops.
This year I bought a set of four Jolly Santas through a store selling their wares at Amazon, though they have their own site – and if I’d discovered it sooner, I could’ve done a WHOLE lot more damage than I did with the one purchase! They had reindeers and snowmen and all the cutesy things I love about the holiday (and the husband hates that I love)!
#2 daughter gave me this star. She gave it to me as a gift, so I’ll hang it next year since this year it only got to sit out for a few days, sniff sniff.
The husband picked up a Santa chili pepper for me (see, he’s not a complete grinch) – and being so on top of things, I managed to hang this one on the tree without removing the tag, sheesh, LOL!
Obviously not a Santa, but I just adore this little guy. His big poofy body and his teeny tiny head and wrapped up in his hat and scarf.
Who says reindeers can’t be Santas, too, huh? This one is SO heavy it’s hard to get it to hang without pulling the branch to the floor.
Here’s another set that makes me smile every year when I unwrap them and find that the glass isn’t broken! Yes, I’m a sucker for cute.
You know, when the husband and I married ten years ago and combined our households, he didn’t know that I’d be taking over the theme of the Christmas decorations. He’s never been exactly thrilled with me having another man in my life at Christmas (even one who’s old and lives thousands of miles away and has a belly like a bowl full of jelly), but since I’m the one with the collection and he’s not, well, I win.
If you’re uncertain if you’re the right winner, click on the winners’ names to see their comments. Winners will have until January 4th, 2008 at 8:00 p.m. CST to contact me to claim their prize. If I don’t hear from them, I will draw new names, post those on January 5th, and we’ll start again!
Does my family know me or what? Chocolate of every size and shape (and Peeps!) to keep me all year. Or least for a month. I also had chocolate cookies and cake out the wazoo. #2 daughter made the yummiest buckeye balls and chocolate topped macaroons. I made the Best Chocolate Sheet Cake Ever, and trust me, it is. I found the recipe in November when looking for one for my son’s birthday. You know when the batter tastes as good as the finished product that you’ve got the real thing. The husband and I also made Pioneer Woman’s tiramisu.
Okay, he’s doing most of the “making.” I’m taking most of the pictures.
I did make the zabaglione myself – after he softened the mascarpone.
No, our kitchen does not look at all like Pioneer Woman’s. Yes, that’s batter from the chocolate cake I made earlier on the side of the fridge.
Yes, he’s using a tea ball to sift cocoa. We don’t even own a sifter. Since he has a birthday coming up in five days, that gives me an idea.
At the end of the day, the husband settled in with the remote control and a plate filled with what remained of #2’s baklava (which was outstanding), having had enough Christmas cheer for one year.
The other day on his blog, the husband talked about the biggest holiday gift being surprise. I must say I outdid myself this year with one of his gifts, and he is not an easy person to buy for. I suppose I’m not either, which makes his job just as challenging. Thing is, I think in this day and age of Amazon Prime and instant gratification and downloads, it’s hard to shop for anyone. Many times, we want something? We buy it because it’s so easy to do so. No going out and standing in long lines to checkout.
No browsing shelves when there is Etsy.com and Novica.com and Fungi.com (yes, I shopped there) the Women’sBeanProject, and other cool sites to buy from. (I mean, I bought a dozen pens the other day from Staples and had them here the next day. I could easily become a total hermit and never leave the house since the husband is so good about buying the groceries we need.) I’m that way with books, movies, and music for sure – which is why for 2008 I’ve sworn not to buy any media items for myself (or more than I’ve already pre-ordered) and just add to my wish list instead so the family will have a guide if they’re stuck or I become allergic to chocolate. Funny enough, I didn’t think I’d be buying any books for gifts this year, but I ended up buying quite a few.
Overall, a good time was had by everyone! Even the dog, who got her own new puffy bed that will hopefully keep her out of ours!
Whew. That was some holiday, huh? I hope to post some pictures in a day or two.
A lot of you who came for The Twelve Days of Alison Kent’s Christmas may not know the full deal, the rules, etc. So, here it is – and none of this is new. It was posted before the contest began. I’m just repeating it here and now to make sure everyone gets it. (A lot of you may also be interested in The Great American Book Giveaway where you can register each week to win one of the five offered titles.)
On December 28th, 2007 at 8:00 p.m. CST, I’ll post all twelve winners from the Twelve Days of Alison Kent’s Christmas giveaway. MARK THAT DATE ON YOUR CALENDAR because you must come back here and see if you won and contact me with your mailing info. That’s the only extra little bit potential winners have to do. Winners will have until January 4th, 2008 at 8:00 p.m. CST to contact me to claim their prize.
If I don’t hear from them, I will draw new names, post those on January 5th, and we’ll start the process again! Don’t forget to enter my current contest running through December 31.
Yes, while waiting for 3 last minute gifts to arrive via their various carriers (and only one did, sigh), I also received my author copies of TEX APPEAL, whoo-hoo! At this very moment, somewhere in the blogosphere, there is a place where you can win a copy of your own. And, yes, that’s all I’m going to say . . . except to tell you the photo has a hint as to where you’ll find the giveaway. *g* Good luck!
"Every time you write, you go to a construction site in your head. The words are waiting there, like a couple truckloads of loose bricks. They're not going to build themselves into anything, no matter how often you talk to your hands or mouth-breathe or get in touch with your inner Tinkerbell. You pick up the bricks. You mortar them together on a page. You build a story out of them. And that's it. The sweaty, nerve-wracking, non-glittery, unglamorous, orc-free work of writing."
~Paperback Writer
"Writing’s not rocket science. It’s a helluva lot harder. Because once you learn all that rocket science crap, you can (at least in theory) build a rocket. On the other hand, you can read every writing book known to man and attend classes and work with critique partners and get pages of editorial input and still end up with a book that doesn’t quite hit the high notes. Scary, but true." ~Karen Templeton
"My New Year's resolution is to focus on the book and forget all the crap that surrounds the writing business. To lose myself in a story, and not give a damn if it makes any lists, has a good sell-through, gets glowing reviews on Amazon, pleases my editors, hell, even pleases my readers. I want to love what I'm writing so much that none of the rest of it matters, and if I don't, I won't write it. Life's too short to abuse the muse." ~Anne Stuart
fit in more reading time instead of spending so much on TV and Scrabulous and, well, asleep. I read a lot while at work before my July 31 layoff. I sucked down Robyn Carr’s Virgin River Trilogy and shared those with a co-worker. After three starts, I finally got through Karin Slaughter’s BLINDSIGHTED and couldn’t put it down. I read both Laura Castoro’s and Kristan Higgins’ books in one sitting. Chelsea Cain’s pretty much, too. (And when is the second Archie/Gretchen book coming out, anyone know?) I started a few books that I never did finish. Some I’ll go back to and give their deserved due; I just wasn’t in the mood. Others didn’t strike the right chord and have either been passed along to other readers or been boxed up to go to the UBS.
Since I’m the worst at telling anyone which of my books are the steamiest or most suspenseful or sweetest or most romantic, I thought I’d throw out to all of you this reader letter I received and let you answer:
Whew. That was some holiday, huh? I hope to post some pictures in a day or two.
