Silk & Shadows

Currently working on: Expanding a story
Mood: Widening

Last weekend, I went to the Oregon Coast with some writer friends for a beach retreat. (I accidentally typed “treat” and it WAS a treat.) Writing retreats are enormous fun, of course, but I also want the time to be productive. So here are some of my suggestions for a productive writing retreat:

Go to the beach at a yucky time of year.

At the Oregon Coast, you can be guaranteed gusting rain November through July (and prohibitive prices August through September). So usually the horizontal “moisturizing and exfoliating” is enough to keep us inside at our computers.

Here’s a picture of me, measuring how many words I have yet to add. See, this is why you go to the beach in bad weather. Sunshine DEMANDS a walk on the beach.

Bring the right friends.

It’s best to surround yourself with writers who share similar productivity goals. Friends who constantly tempt you to walk on the beach as the sun sets are counterproductive.

Sadly, it turns out I am that friend. So don’t bring me. Except you have to bring me because I always bring the mint brownies.

Find an inspiring spot.

Not only is the right physical spot important — like this lovely little beach house surrounded by chirping frogs — but the right spot in your mindset and your work in progress.

I try to prepare for a writing retreat by making sure I have the right sort of project and that I clear my “real life” of distractions that might creep into the weekend. Actually, this last weekend, I did a bad job of choosing the project. I’m working on revising, and I found that I did not do as well as when I bring a hot draft to a retreat. I’ll know that for next time.

Never mind the inspiration, just focus!

Part of my problem with choosing a revision project instead of a hot draft, is that when I’m revising, I tend to stare off into space while I think. When I’m at home, in my little office, there’s not much to look at and I quickly go back to work. But at the beach… I just stared at the waves for hours! I needed to bring my focus closer.

A good writing retreat has a clear focus, whether it’s writing, brainstorming or just refilling the well. Be sure you know what purpose your retreat will serve.

Track progress on the retreat days.

Like tracking the sun across the sky… It’s easier for me to stay accountable if I track my progress in three chunks during a retreat day: morning session, afternoon session, evening session. If I only review my progress once at the end of the day, I might find I didn’t do enough, but now it’s too late. If I track in chunks, then a slacker morning session (sun on the beach!) can be rectified in the afternoon, or a slow afternoon (afternoon nap on the sunny beach!) can be made up in the evening (no sun).

Indulge.

As much as I want a writing retreat to be productive, well, it is a retreat. I try to capture some of that glory — and some of that sun — and take it back with me to rainy Portland.

Do you have a favorite getaway that never fails to rejuvenate you? Do you bring back souvenirs? I love to find good rocks.

*And by “goose,” I mean “writer.”

Currently working on: Finding the worst white elephant gift
Mood: Hunting

Too much butter and sugar is slowing me down. I only have a few days left to find a white elephant gift for my tribe’s annual Christmas Eve bestest party in the whole wide world. As a stereotypical introvert, I’m not usually into parties, but this party is one of my favorites and I want to do it right. Or wrong, as is the right way to do a white elephant.

A good white elephant is, of course, a bad white elephant. For those who aren’t familiar with the tale, the term white elephant came from a story that Siamese kings gave these giant, hungry, pooping, occasionally rampaging animals as “gifts” to people who really “deserved” them. Horrible art, eye-searingly ugly clothing and excessively large items of any sort are perfect white elephant gifts. But I’m having some trouble this year.

At my day job white elephant exchange, one woman got a can of Spotted Dick. There was much adolescent snickering. (Yeah, my day job isn’t too worried about sexual harassment cases, apparently.) Since I do marketing work in my day job, I was horrified to read the instructions on the can and snapped a picture to share with my Twitter friends.

(What? You don’t follow me on Twitter?! Find me there and say hey, so I can follow you back.)

Now you can snicker at Spotted Dick too. I mean, seriously, who uses “spurting” in ad copy?

I thought about getting a can for my giveaway, but it seemed like a cop-out. I need something worse…

So while I was researching/surfing the web for white elephant ideas, I found porcupines instead. So for your Christmas cookie-eating pleasure, here’s Teddy:

I’ve decided to get a talking porcupine in a Santa hat for my white elephant gift. Perfect, don’t you think?

But if you have another suggestion, please feel free to share and save my friends from either of these terrible gifts.

Currently working on: New project
Mood: Goal-oriented

I love science tidbits. Even when I can’t understand something, that’s fine with me because it’s a great jumping off point into what-ifs. Stories often start with a “What if…?” And if I can’t understand the complexities, the mental workout must burn off at least a half bucket of cookie dough.

One of my perpetual favorite brain games in science is string theory. String theory suggests that all matter in the universe is ultimately composed of 1-dimensional strings that, based on differences in their vibrations, become different particles.

The thing I like best about string theory is that it could be a solution to the “theory of everything,” linking all physical phenomena with one explanation.

Which I have to think would include an explanation for this one plot problem I’m having…

My favorite book on the topic is Brian Greene’s THE ELEGANT UNIVERSE: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory. Part one of the PBS television series with a lot of helpful, pretty, moving pictures is showing here. I watched it again after Greene’s new series THE FABRIC OF THE COSMOS started playing on PBS this month. After reading those books and watching the shows, I ALMOST understand theoretical physics.

Still having trouble with that plot problem though.

Other recent science stuff that has captured my imagination:

Did you know we were almost pulverized by an asteroid recently?

Well, not really almost pulverized. The blast would only have been equivalent to several thousand megatons of dynamite. And those smarty-pants scientists knew it was going to miss us anyway, but still, it got my head whirling. Earlier this month, on November 8, Asteroid 2005 YU55 passed closer to Earth than the moon. I knew it was coming but I forgot about it, which one should never do with a NEO (Near Earth Object) the size of an aircraft carrier. The next time a known object this large will approach Earth is 2028.

I guess it’s a good thing that these things pass us without comment, but I did think about mutant space motes spinning off the asteroid and dusting the Earth with… What? Alien spores? Superpowers? The possibilities spring off in all directions, even if the asteroid itself must follow a predestined path.

Also in space news, the new Mars rover launched on Saturday!

I adored the previous two Mars rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, who in 2004 landed on Mars, tasked with 90-sol (day) missions that turned into years of experiments and exploration. Didn’t hurt that they looked sort of like Disney’s Wall-E. I actually got choked up when NASA lost touch with one rover due to sand on the solar panels…only to regain communications when fortuitous winds blew the panels clean. Though Spirit fell completely silent in 2010, Opportunity is still trundling around the Red Planet.

The new rover launched safety and it will take her eight months to get to Mars. Curiosity (follow her on Twitter! @MarsCuriosity) is the larger, stronger, faster, smarter cousin of the earlier rovers. Nuclear powered instead of solar, with more tools aboard including a rock-vaporizing laser, her goal is to prospect for organic molecules which could provide more information about whether Mars could have supported life. Bon voyage, Curiosity!

And last and almost least...

Only least because neutrinos are very small particles. In September this year, smarty-pants scientists shocked other smarty-pants scientists by announcing that they might have shot particles through the Earth at faster-than-light speeds. (Specifically 60 nanoseconds faster than light. And just to be clear, a nanosecond is one billionth of a second. So not a LOT faster than light.) Since that shoots substantially bigger holes in one of the fundamental understandings of science (that nothing travels faster than light) some scientists believed the findings must have errors. Earlier this month, more tests seem to repeat the findings. How cool is that? We should have our own spaceships by yesterday!

The best part of this story is the word superluminal, which means faster than light. But I also like the idea that something as set in stone as Einstein’s theory of special relativity can change. Okay, maybe it won’t change, maybe there are errors in the findings, but how fun to think about what it could mean if it did.

Were you a good science student? Or did you get the flu on the day you were supposed to dissect the frog? If you have any favorite science moments, do share!

Currently working on: Finishing my Halloween candy
Mood: Bouncy!

This fall, two new series started, both using fairy tales as their jumping off point. As a reader, I’ve always ADORED fairy tales! Some of my first books as a kid were fairy tales books, many of them illustrated. I’m also interested in these series as a writer since I’m curious to see how the shows differ (or don’t) in handling the fairy tale elements.

GRIMM is about a cop who discovers he has inherited the ability — courtesy of his last name, Grimm — to see creatures no one else can see and now has the responsibility for destroying the bad creatures. So far, we’ve met big bad wolves (some of whom aren’t so bad, we learn) and werebears. There’s an overarching thread about a faction with witch-beasts seeking to destroy the Grimms forever.

The overall tone is dark. Probably because it’s filmed in my town of Portland where you have to bring your own sunlight. Basically, it’s a police procedural with fairy tale elements woven in.

The other series is ONCE UPON A TIME where the adult daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming must rescue the fairy tale people who are living amnesiac lives in “the real world” under the rule of an Evil Mayor/Queen.

Lighter in tone than GRIMM (at least the cute kid hasn’t been kidnapped YET) OUaT is more of a straight-ahead ensemble drama.

Is TV big enough for two fairy tales shows? They are so different, I hope they both survive. Not that any show I like will survive In a way, I think GRIMM will be easier to watch because every week can be a fun new creature. But what I like best about fairy tales is that they are meant to teach us lessons. Lessons about true love, following your dreams, not eating poison apples. And so far, ONCE UPON A TIME appears to be more faithful to that story behind the stories in fairy tales.

I think there are good reasons fairy tales are forever popular — namely, cute princes! But also the adventure, the overcoming of adversity, the cute princes… Hmm, sounds a lot like romance novels

If you haven’t gotten your fill of fairy tales, here are a few books I’ve loved based on fairy tales I’ve loved:

BEAUTY by Robin McKinley

This is a “classic” retelling of Beauty and the Beast — a story I never, ever tire of reading — but we get to learn more about the heroine. And she’s a nerd! No, that’ s not quite true, but she isn’t beautiful, she’s actually plain and rather bookish (hmm, remind any of us about who we feared we were?) and actually very strong inside.

WICKED by Gregory MaGuire

If you’ve seen the musical but haven’t read the book based on a retelling of The Wizard of Oz (which technically isn’t a fairy tale, I guess, but it DOES have munchkins which are relatively fairy sized) now’s a good time. The last in the series is out now. Although less a classic retelling like BEAUTY above, we still get to learn more about the “heroine” in this version of the tale.

THE MISTS OF AVALON by Marion Zimmer Bradley

Hmm, I guess this one isn’t really a fairy tale either, but the stories of King Arthur have the same mythopoeic power so I’m counting it. I read this before I read the “real” version of Camelot and I’m afraid I could never think of Morgan as evil again.

All three of these books are especially fabulous for young readers because they twist and turn what we think we know of old stories into something new and wonderful and thought-provoking.

And THAT is a lesson worth learning.

Do you have a favorite fairy tale? Which favorites haven’t been retold enough?

Currently working on: Unpacking
Mood: Sandy

My parents were in town this weekend and the weather was that gorgeous secret of the Pacific Northwest: the sunny week in October. See, right before the rains close in, nature gives us one more week of glorious blue skies and balmy temps. A cruel taunt? A promise? Whichever.

So we headed up to the Olympic Peninsula for a bit of walking, then back down Hwy 101 to the Oregon Coast.

While we walked, I thought about the new story I’m working on, and it seems to me, that our hiking and my story have a lot in common.

1. The stuff

When I start a new idea, I am excited and overwhelmed by all the stuff I might stuff in the story. Secondary love triangle! BB guns! String theory!

Much like my car has five doors for stuffing, I figure my story has many, many openings to be filled. But as you can see, Monster Girl is concerned about where she will fit. So it goes with my story; I have to ask myself — fun though it might be — whether I really need a talking, one-armed octopus.

2. First steps

I love the beginnings of hikes and the beginning chapters of a story. Both are so filled with promise. I feel strong and confident, with plenty of chocolate in my backpack.

The way ahead doesn’t necessarily look easy. There are barriers to be surmounted, but the adventure calls.

3. Lost

This part is less fun, but it seems to be true of hikes and stories, at least for me. Okay, I’m not EXACTLY lost, but there comes the moment where I definitely want to sit down, where the way seems a little more hazy and bleak than just a few steps or chapters ago.

This is where hikers and writers are made, I think. To quit? To continue? Walking out into the waves isn’t really an option (not on a Pacific Northwest beach, at least, not without a dry suit!) but I could parallel the shore on a new path.

Or build a boat of driftwood and dreams.

4. The view

I must continue — somehow — because I know — somewhere — I will come to the point where I can SEE the point. THIS is why I am here.

5. Panting fun

I’ve said before, I love love love The End. Whether writing or hiking, coming to the end (in mostly one piece with relatively few debilitating blisters) is a great feeling of satisfaction. But the satisfaction does seem relative to the exertion. Some of our best hikes (and by best, I mean make the best stories, of course) have been the worst technical hikes. Too long, too wet, too ridiculous, waaaay too much panting. But in The End, totally worth the reliving.

Especially if there’s a little chocolate left.

Do you find a certain pleasure in some kinds of hard work? Got any favorite hikes I should try someday?

We’ve had a couple winners on Silk And Shadows lately with a little help from Random.org. Congrats to tmaranville who, as a subscriber to the Silk And Shadows, won a prize pack of books from Erin Kellison, Laurie London and Elisabeth Naughton. And congrats also to the winner of last week’s giveaway of Erin Kellison’s SHADOW BOUND, Denise Quiroz. Thanks for commenting!

Currently working on: Plotting a new story
Mood: Wildly distracted by shiny things

“TV is gooder than books.”
–One of my favorite bumper stickers of all time

Last week we talked about our summer reading, so I thought — since autumn is the return of new shows on TV — I’d see what’s on the tube. I don’t watch a lot of television because all of my favorite shows* get canceled. You can still make me cry just by whispering “Firefly” in my general direction. But every fall, I peruse the new and returning shows to see if there’s anything of interest. You know, for something to watch while I’m reading. Oh, admit it, you do that too.

(*Since I don’t have cable, I’m limited to network TV or shows that I can pick up later on my computer. )

Terra Nova

Anything that promises even hints of paranormal, fantasy or science fiction catches my attention. So when I heard about this show — time travel, mysterious etchings, dinosaurs! — I knew I’d check it out. My first impression: Where’s the love story?!

I know, I know, not every story needs a romance in it. But I think you’ll agree that every story is BETTER with a romance in it Actually, the cast in general is sadly lacking in hot males. I know, I know, not every story needs a hot guy in it. But I think you’ll agree that every story is BETTER with a hot guy in it I thought Hollywood understood this. Very strange.

Reviewers have sort of grumbled about the Land of the Lost/Jurassic Park/Lost overtones, but I think the show has some promise. They set up some interesting questions anyway.

Which means they will probably get canceled. Fox has a history of dabbling in sci-fi flavored stories, only to ax them in the first season, so maybe I won’t get invested until I know they are going to stick around.

House

Of course this is a long-running show that doesn’t need my help, but to be honest I had grown a little tired of its disease-of-the-week focus and stopped watching. Until last year when I heard that the sexual tension with the bad doctor was going to be resolved (with at least a HFN — or happy for now — since a HEA — happily ever after — seemed out of character; or maybe it was a HFH — happy for House).

Most series — television or book form — know that resolving the sexual tension can be the death of the chemistry between the leads. But House is such a tortured hero, I knew that consummating the relationship would be even harder for him than dancing around it. And sadly for his heart, torturing the hero makes such a great story.

Even though the love story came to a crashing end in last year’s season finale (if you watched it, you know I’m being funny when I say crashing) I’m eager to see what — if anything — the writers do to pick up that thread, especially when the love interest character is not coming back to the show. Will the bad doctor find a new love? How crazy will she have to be?

Revenge

I don’t even know why I watched the pilot of this new show. I think somebody mentioned it on Twitter and said the characters seemed interesting. So I found a rerun on Hulu. And I think this heroine could be House’s new girlfriend!

She’s one of the heroines I like: almost as tortured as a hero and not shy about torturing everyone around her too. See why she’d be so good with House?

But I guess I really want my paranormal story line AND my tortured hero AND my kick-ass heroine all in ONE story.

And for that, I read a paranormal romance

So are you watching anything that I’m missing?

First off, congratulations to Sharon Ashwood for her RITA win with UNCHAINED! The RITAs are the Romance Writers of America’s Oscars, so this is wonderful acknowledgment of her Dark Forgotten book. AND she gets a golden statue!

Currently working on: My tan
Mood: Summery!

Summer doesn’t officially arrived in the Portland area until the first week of July, but it’s here now! I’m typing this outside, sitting in the shade, actually, because it’s finally warm The raspberry bushes are kickin’ out the berries so of course I had to use them in a holiday dessert.

Happy Fourth of July! (For those in the U.S.) Happy Summer! (For those in the Northern Hemisphere.) Happy Monday! (For pretty much everybody, I think.)

Red, White & Blue Cupcakes

Start with a box cake mix. I’m sure there are times when baking from scratch is called for. Mixing up festive cupcakes for people who will be drinking beer all day is not one of those times. I’ve enthused before about the Cake Mix Doctor‘s cookbooks. I recommend the chocolate cake mix cookbook and choosing one of the recipes with pudding in the mix as well as sour cream/yogurt for extra scrumptiousness.

The fun of cake mix doctoring is the doctoring part anyway. For these, I injected the cupcakes with a raspberry/strawberry coulis and then made a barrier wall of buttercream frosting around the top of the cupcakes and backfilled the interior with the coulis.

Berry Coulis

• 1 cup of raspberries
• 1 cup of strawberries (or whatever berries you have)
• 1 cup of sugar
• Juice of 1 lemon (about 4 Tablespoons)

Mix all ingredients the day before to let the flavors blend if you have time, then blender/food processor it all together into berry soup. Sample repeatedly over vanilla ice cream, because you’re the cook, and cooks deserve to sample. (Some people take out the seeds, but the beer drinkers won’t notice such niceties so I don’t bother.)

While the cupcakes are still warm from the oven, make a hole in the centers with a chopstick or similar implement. I used a cookie gun/cake decorator to aim the coulis into the hole, but you can just spoon it in too, as long as you have decent aim.

Let the cupcakes cool. Sample a few just to make sure there’s enough coulis in the middle.

Buttercream Frosting

• 1 stick of butter (room temp)
• 1 8-oz package of cream cheese (room temp)
• 1 tsp of vanilla
• 2-4 cups of sifted confectioner’s sugar (the recipe calls for 3 3/4 cups of sugar with more for spreadability, but I think you lose some of the cream cheese flavor to the sweetness if you use all the sugar. So I just add enough sugar to make enough to cover the cupcakes. Plus, the less sugar/slightly thicker frosting works well in the cookie gun/cake decorator.)

Make a monk’s tonsure/barrier wall in a circle around the cupcakes’ tops. Usually I am a “more frosting is better” gal, but this ratio works out nicely with the strong mouth feel of the buttercream. Plus, the barrier wall gives you room to spread more of the pretty red berry coulis.

To thicken the coulis for the top of the cupcake, mix corn starch with just enough water to make a thin paste. Gently warm the leftover coulis and add the starch/water mixture until the coulis thickens enough to stay on top of the cupcake.

Spoon the thickened coulis behind the barrier wall, top with a berry (I might have used a blueberry instead of a raspberry, but I don’t share my blueberries with anybody), add a light dusting of blue decorator sugar, and eat.

Happy Cupcakes!

The first season of HBO’s new series Game of Thrones (based on the books by George R.R. Martin) came to an exhilarating end on Sunday night.

I have to say, they have me hooked. It’s grim, violent, and full of graphic sexual content … and I’ll be waiting with bated breath for next season, which won’t happen until Spring 2012.

For those of you who haven’t seen the show, I’ll avoid spoilers as much as I can, but I’m going to list some of the reasons why I think this is a great series:

1. Conflict. There are masses and masses of it. Yes, there are also masses of characters, but after the first show, I had a pretty good handle on who was who. The conflict exists on a number of different levels: between ousted royalty and their replacements, between houses (or clans), between members of families, between duty and family, between societal dictates and individual preferences, between old beliefs and new beliefs, and so on. Very deep, very interesting.

2. Characters. The characters are revealed through their actions, both good and bad. They make choices we like, we hate, and we wince over. Bad things happen (see item #1) and the characters are forced into situations they’d really rather avoid. People scheme, lie, and make promises they don’t keep. What does all this mean? It means the characters that are vivid and complex. You want to spend time with them, week after week.

3. Mystery. The world unfolds slowly, with each show providing more and more detail. The people change as events influence their lives. The political landscape shifts, creating turmoil for all. And through it all, you’re left wondering. Not in a frustrating way, but in a curious way. What will happen to the characters? How will the characters react to events? How will the political intrigues play out? Who is trustworthy, and who is not? What better way to engage the audience than to have them wonder and hope and question?

As a storyteller, I’m filled with admiration for George R.R. Martin. As a viewer, I’m just plain enthralled.

Anyone else out there a fan of the series?

Currently working on: Another round of editing
Mood: Determined

Yesterday was Father’s Day, and since romance novels are all about heroes, it seems only right to take an extra day here to mention the first hero many a kid– hopefully — encounters: a father.

From my dad, I inherited enough engineering DNA to make me a plotter rather than a pantser. I got from him a love of deserts (“eroded dirt” as my tree-loving mother calls them) and desserts. He taught me how to catch garter snakes — and taught me to leave them alone. He passed on to me a hefty dose of his sense of humor which I in turn pass to my heroes.

He also gave me good advice over the years, which I’ll share with you:

“Always pursue your dreams, or at some point your dreams will end up pursuing you.”

Inspiring yet mildly menacing, like all the best advice. It contrasts poignantly with the advice a friend got from his father when we were all in our early 20s: “Fergit yer dreams.” (My friend’s dad wasn’t a hick but he was intoxicated at the time of the advice, hence the slurring.) What kind of bitter sorrow drives a man to say such a thing to his son?

“Success will come with patience and persistence.”

This advice made me laugh because my paternal DNA lacks the chromosome for patience. I wish I’d listened anyway. Persistence is probably the more critical component of success, but patience makes the wait more pleasant.

“We love you and will always be here for you. But don’t move back home.” (Paraphrased)

I figure he saw a nature show about the papa bird kicking the baby bird out of the nest. But really, giving his kids the space to spread their wings and the freedom to fall must be a scary moment for a loving father. But then he gets to remodel the empty bedroom into a home office, so it’s probably worth a few sleepless nights.

“The key is to enjoy life while you work to reach your dreams. That way, the path becomes as rewarding as the objective.”

This is advice I struggle to remember every day. Or at least every other day. Once a week, minimum. Enjoy. Work. Dream. Good balance. Thanks, Dad.

Having a loving, supportive, smart, interested father is a great gift. What’s the best advice your dad gave you?

I happened to see a short interview with singer ADELE up on YouTube the other day. It precedes a rendition of Someone like You, but gives a bit of background on the song.

As you watch the video, it becomes very clear that she’s not afraid to share her emotions—in fact, she pours them into her songs, heart and soul.

There’s no holding back, not when she’s writing the songs and not when she’s singing them. Her words and her performances are intensely personal—she even admits to having cried as she performed Someone Like You at the 2011 BRIT Awards—yet she doesn’t shy away from the feelings they evoke. She openly bleeds as she sings, and her feelings reach out and grab you by the throat.

As a writer, especially a writer of romance, tapping into real emotions should be your aim as well. Don’t be afraid to reveal a big part of yourself in your writing. Dig deep, find those emotions that wring you out and pour them onto your pages. If you want your readers to feel, make your characters feel. To make your characters feel, look inside yourself. The truth is there.

Don’t be shy. Put it all on the page.