The Read ...
Web and Other Stuff ...
Yeah. I've been reading ... and putting the book down ... and reading ... and putting the book down. Did I finish anything. Well, yeah ... but the book I read puzzled the heck out of me. What puzzled me more was the books I put down.
I remember being an avid reader of Patricia Wentworth back in the day. She had a British spinster sleuth in the Miss Marple vein. She told a several good tales [it seemed from what I skimmed] about the vices of the gentry, but I couldn't get interested in them. Maybe it was the amount of telling in the story line. I'm guessing screen writing has had a greater influence on my reading than I thought.
What did I read? C. S. Harris' When Gods Die which opens with Prinny [George the IV while his father was still alive] talking to and clutching a corpse. The characterization was so sharply drawn, Harris drew me into her story of would-be revolutionaries capitalizing on the Napoleanic Wars, the main character/sleuth's discovery that his mother is still alive after he thought she'd died when he was a child, and other subplots that keep the action popping. Harris really knows her Regency history, unlike a thousand other writers I can't name. More interestingly, she gets her characters out of the drawing rooms and into the sewers ... literally.
So why did this surprise me? Well, I bought three books in the series on the basis of a review ... and put the first one on the to-trade pile without getting more than a couple chapters into the book. Read the second that had been languishing at the bottom of the to-read pile. Started to read the third, and it went on the trade pile. There's a fourth where the MC solves a crime with the daughter of the MC's nemisis. It looks intriguing, but I doubt if I'll go looking for it. Stephanie Laurens did something vaguely similar in one of her later Cynster novels.
I remember being an avid reader of Patricia Wentworth back in the day. She had a British spinster sleuth in the Miss Marple vein. She told a several good tales [it seemed from what I skimmed] about the vices of the gentry, but I couldn't get interested in them. Maybe it was the amount of telling in the story line. I'm guessing screen writing has had a greater influence on my reading than I thought.
What did I read? C. S. Harris' When Gods Die which opens with Prinny [George the IV while his father was still alive] talking to and clutching a corpse. The characterization was so sharply drawn, Harris drew me into her story of would-be revolutionaries capitalizing on the Napoleanic Wars, the main character/sleuth's discovery that his mother is still alive after he thought she'd died when he was a child, and other subplots that keep the action popping. Harris really knows her Regency history, unlike a thousand other writers I can't name. More interestingly, she gets her characters out of the drawing rooms and into the sewers ... literally.
So why did this surprise me? Well, I bought three books in the series on the basis of a review ... and put the first one on the to-trade pile without getting more than a couple chapters into the book. Read the second that had been languishing at the bottom of the to-read pile. Started to read the third, and it went on the trade pile. There's a fourth where the MC solves a crime with the daughter of the MC's nemisis. It looks intriguing, but I doubt if I'll go looking for it. Stephanie Laurens did something vaguely similar in one of her later Cynster novels.
Web and Other Stuff ...
A Twitter link underlined one of the questions rotating in my mind. What the heck should I blog about to interest people. You might read Dawn Rae Miller's blog about: you shouldn't be writing about writing. Miller has some serious credentials on building platforms, so I think her opinion is worth thinking about.
If you've been pressed for time [like I have been], you might check out Brooke Favero over at The Writing Bug, the blog of the Northern Colorado Writers. She's gleaned some good posts from the blogosphere from last week.
If you want a second opinion, you might also check out Patti Struble's blog, The Writer's Bump. Patti offers her on take on the week in her Friday Mash-Up.
One last promotional thing: N. R. Williams has been doing a blog book tour for her new fantasy book: The Treasures of Carmelidrium. You want an example of good promotion? Go spend some time at Nancy's blog reading her posts and following her links. She made me tired just twirling my mouse.
If you've been pressed for time [like I have been], you might check out Brooke Favero over at The Writing Bug, the blog of the Northern Colorado Writers. She's gleaned some good posts from the blogosphere from last week.
If you want a second opinion, you might also check out Patti Struble's blog, The Writer's Bump. Patti offers her on take on the week in her Friday Mash-Up.
One last promotional thing: N. R. Williams has been doing a blog book tour for her new fantasy book: The Treasures of Carmelidrium. You want an example of good promotion? Go spend some time at Nancy's blog reading her posts and following her links. She made me tired just twirling my mouse.
Progress ...
The more I work, the behinder I get. Or, at least it seems that way even though I finally figured out a framework and did the revision for another Renna's Tale. Check it out. It'll take you a lot less time to read it than it took me to figure out how to write it.
Had a 2000 word first chapter for Maren and was all set to jump into chapter two. Only new ideas kept popping out of my brain. Of course, I ended up making revisions as I inserted the new ideas into the text. The chapter is now over 3,000 words long ... and I still have some scribbled notes for additions.
Had a 2000 word first chapter for Maren and was all set to jump into chapter two. Only new ideas kept popping out of my brain. Of course, I ended up making revisions as I inserted the new ideas into the text. The chapter is now over 3,000 words long ... and I still have some scribbled notes for additions.
Trivia ...
Spent waaaaay too much time in nursing homes ... checking out the facilities. At least, they let me out again.
8 comments:
I liked Dawn Rae Miller's post - I agree, there's so much great stuff on writing out there already. Maybe I should stick to crazy animal tales!
I think writing blogs are a two-edged sword. Granted there are a lot of them out there, but people you know, you like to know how there writing's going.
Maybe you could do both.
Blogdom wil continue to grow and expand until its flooded with blogs. But as long as we develop relationships now we'll be okay and not get lost in the countless blogs that will soon be out there.
You mean we haven't already reached the total blog inundation point?
I'm often overcome by the paralyzing fear that I won't have something to blog about on any given week. Then I remember: I can always post some of my really awful early work for folks to gawk at...
My concern with blogging is that I don't seem to ever have enough time to do it justice.
At the same time, I'm wondering if I should go back to blogging two days a week. -- Actually, that's three since I also do the Half-Elven blog on Mondays.
The blogs I enjoy the most are those that focus on books, authors, the writing life, and fun stuff. If I feel I can get to know the blogger, then I consider my time there well spent. Like here, Kay. You have a darned good blog.
Why thank you, Pat.
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