A Love Letter to Our Future House

Somewhere in a big city sits an old house.

Its current occupant lives lightly, her world condensed into four rooms on the ground floor. The dining table is covered with a lace tablecloth and then plastic to protect it, the wood well hidden. In the enclosed front porch, tiny green shoots grow in long planters. A statue of Jesus overlooks the dim living room, where she watches television, alone.

Tag, Who’s Next?

Via Turtleduck Press author KD Sarge, here’s a meme that looked like fun.

So the way it works: answer the questions, come up with eleven of my own, and tag more people to keep the game going. Sort of a chain letter but better.

Here we go…

1.) Of your characters, who would you most like to have as a real-life friend?

Kitty from the historical paranormal novel. She’s smart and bookish and clever-tongued, and she’s not afraid to buck tradition.

Of the stories you can actually read, I’d have to pick Taqulittuq from my short story in Winter’s Night. Facing grief and fear, she digs deep to find courage.

2.) Which would you not want to be around anywhere but in the pages of a book?

Sefu, a villain from my fantasy series. He’s frighteningly stoic and self-possessed, and worse, he’s smarter than my heroine and outmaneuvers her without even trying.

3.) When a song bowls you over and you have to hear it again and again, what is probably the reason? (Great voice, real emotion, clever lyrics, et cetera)

It’s all about the voice. I’ll fall in love with voices even when I can’t understand the words. Case in point: the Corsican a cappella group Barbara Furtuna. Swoon.

4.) Of everywhere you’ve been, where was your favorite place to be? (Home is a perfectly acceptable answer!)

A little valley in Norway at the end of a steep-walled fjord, with the valley rising steeply up to mountain peaks on both sides. I’ll have to write about my travels in future posts, assuming there’s interest.

5.) Where do you want most to go?

Um…besides everywhere? Nepal, India, Greece, Italy, the Arctic…yeah.

6.) What is the meaning of life? (okay, okay–YOUR life.) What do you think your life is about?

Making the world a little bit better. One of the ways I do that (or try, at least) is through writing. If I can inspire, or give courage, or comfort, or move a reader, I’ve succeeded. Then I try to do it again. 😉

7.) What’s the best thing about what you do for a living?

I get to work with words. It’s not writing fiction, but editing non-fiction. There’s something very satisfying about solving a thorny puzzle and making something clearer for the reader’s benefit.

8.) What do you do when you need inspiration?

Depends. If I’m stuck on a particular plot point, I’ll write endless brainstorming notes. If I’m feeling uninspired generally, I’ll either set a timer and stare at the file until the timer goes off, or else fill up the creative well by going elsewhere (a book, Pinterest, my knitting, whatever).

9.) When you need some time for you, where do you go?

This is a bit sad, but usually the Internet. I’ve also found solo walks to be good for the soul.

10.) Plotter or pantser?

I’m a plotser. I like to leave plenty of room to explore, but I plan out character backstories and the broad structure of the acts. (Acts are the most brilliant invention ever, by the way. Except maybe a recent discovery via Jennifer Crusie: scene sequences.)

11.) To close with a (fairly) easy one–talk about a book. Any book.

Wait, that was supposed to be the easy one? This is getting long, so I’ll just refer you to my nostalgia post about Madeleine L’Engle instead. Ha.

~

There! Hope you enjoyed that and learned something about me. For another writer’s answers to the same questions, see fellow Turtleduck Press author Kit Campbell’s blog.

To pass on the meme, I shall tag Kat Anthony and and K.A. Levingston. Because I’m a nice person, there’s no pressure to complete the meme! If you’re not Kat or K.A. but you’d like to do the meme anyway, leave a comment and I’ll add a link to your responses.

And now my questions:

1. Where do you get your ideas from? 😛

2. If you have some terrible old stories that will never see the light of day, which one do you still have a soft spot for?

3. Where in the world would you live if you could live anywhere?

4. Where would you love to visit, but not live?

5. What’s the most awe-inspiring moment you’ve had (that you’re willing to share)?

6. Who’s your captain — Kirk, Picard, Captain Jack from Torchwood, Jack Sparrow, Malcolm Reynolds, other?

7. Which author’s universe would you love to write in if you could?

8.What was your gateway drug into your genre of choice?

9. What’s your favourite hobby, creative or otherwise, when you’re not writing?

10. Are you a morning person or an evening person?

11. What was the most memorable meal you’ve ever had?

Surviving the End of Winter

I have a confession to make.

Normally I hate February. I’m not too keen on January or March either. The holidays are over, New Year’s resolutions are shot, and summer is a long ways off. Here in Toronto, the weather doesn’t turn warmer until April. Even then it’s likely to stay cool and rainy for another month or two, but at least there are spring buds to watch. I’m a solar-powered kind of girl, so I find late winter/early spring to be a tough slog.

This year, though, it hasn’t been so bad. My best guesses as to why:

1. I’ve been busy making plans. I’ve got some big plans for later this year — more on those another time — and they’ve kept me focused on the future instead of the cold, gloomy present.

New blog coming online

As WordPress says, hello world! This is my brand-new author blog. You can read more about me here. Please have a look around, get comfortable, and say hi. I look forward to getting to know you.