Wednesday, July 7, 2010

The Joy of Writer Friends

Today I had lunch with a woman I met through my writer's class last fall. We had a lot to catch up on! If you've read to the end of my blog, you'll notice I've posted several times on the difference between "live" writing friends, and "internet" writing friends. It's great to have both kinds, but nothing takes the place of talking over lunch and discussing your writing projects and everyting writing related. It's easier to learn from each other when you can take some time to get to know the other person and what thrills them in their writing journey.

And I haven't forgotten my excerpt! I'm fine-tuning my opening and strengthening my heroine in a different way then making her the "kick-butt" heroine so in vogue the past couple of years. Elise is strong and determined but I want to go back to being in tune with who and what women in medieval times were like, the roles they played (and yes, some went to war and some defended their castles and estates while their men were absent), and what mattered to them as women. So, the excerpt might not be the opening of the book, but it will be up next week.

In the meantime, here's my "working photo" of Elise to keep me inspired and on track with her personality. I have no idea who the actress is, but I love her "look".


Now, back to revisions!

Thursday, July 1, 2010

July 1st - New Years 2010

Not only is this CANADA DAY in our country, but I'm making it my personal New Years start-over. I've refurbished my site to reflect a new colour palette in my life, new interest in my stories, and a new yearning to obtain my goals. I'm re-working a medieval story that excites me and makes it easy to pound out those daily words. I've fallen in love with history again. I've fallen in love with this man as my hero....
except he's flawed, selfish, driven, and arrogant. He'll be redeemed against the backdrop of the Third Crusade, a fiery crucible of unimagineable horror between the clash of the dark, superstitious Western Europe, and the united tribal warlords of the Arab world.

I hope you'll enjoy the excerpt I'll be posting in a week or two.