For those of you who follow the goings-on at Publishing Renaissance, you may be interested to check out some of the exciting new changes that are afoot there.

• Changing of the guard.
• Changes afoot.

Oh…and we were mentioned on April Hamilton’s 10 Best Blogs for Indie Authors! We’re wicked excited about that!

In other news, I’m going to be participating in Script Frenzy again, a “write 100 pages of a screenplay in 30 days” challenge. April 1-30. This year’s script? You guessed it. I’m going to be working on an adaptation of Waiting For Spring. Yes…again! It’s not cheating, though, since I’m starting from scratch. Last year I managed to write 106 pages, which technically means I “won,” but since I only managed to get 1/3 of the book  adapted in those 106 pages, I don’t look at it as a victory. I think I can really do it this time, though. I just needed some time away from the novel, some distance so I could ruthlessly cut characters and subplots and get to the meat of the story like a good adaptation is supposed to do. I’ll keep you posted on my progress.

In the meantime, appropos of nothing, enjoy this Coldplay video. For some reason “Speed of Sound” puts me in a good writing mood. Plus, I really dig this video. Chris Martin is so damned hot. I could just eat him with a spoon.

Last night at work, a customer called me “hot,” and he did it without a trace of irony or jest. I suppose I should take it as compliment, because it is a compliment. But he’s only 19. He’s literally half my age. He’s only five years older than my son. Technically speaking, I could have given birth to the guy. So instead of feeling flattered, all I could think was, “Ick!” I didn’t say it, naturally. Actually, I don’t remember what I said. But I’m pretty sure it wasn’t “Ick.”

Love requires absolute devotion.

“As you wish.”

But sometimes a little bit of healthy cynicism is a good thing.

“Hold it, hold it. What is this? Are you trying to trick me? Is this a kissing book?”

Patience is a virtue.

“You rush a miracle man, you get rotten miracles.”

Be sure to get a detailed job description.

“You never said anything about killing anyone.”

Always keep a holocaust cloak handy.

“Oh, what I wouldn’t give for a holocaust cloak.”

 Scientists must be watched closely. Very closely.

“As you know, the concept of the suction pump is centuries old. Really that’s all this is except that instead of sucking water, I’m sucking life.”

Keep vaccinations up to date.

“I spent the last few years building up an immunity to iocane powder.”

Learn to delegate.

“You know how much I love watching you work, but I’ve got my country’s 500th anniversary to plan, my wedding to arrange, my wife to murder and Guilder to frame for it. I’m swamped!”

Sometimes you find a richer reward when unexpected events change your plans.

“When I hired Vizzini to have her murdered on our engagement day, I thought that was clever. But it’s going to be so much more moving when I strangle her on our wedding night.

 If a psychotic, six-fingered man slaughters your father, commit a very clever, very cool line to memory that you can whip out at a moment’s notice in the event you run into him along your travels. Practice it on every new acquaintance.

“Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.”

 But the most important lesson I learned, even though I knew it before I saw The Princess Bride, was the joy a good book can bring:

“When I was your age, television was called books. And this is a special book. It was the book my father used to read to me when I was sick, and I used to read it to your father. And today I’m gonna read it to you.
Fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, miracles…”

 

And speaking of books, my latest post is up at Publishing Renaissance. Check it out!

Joe Glasgow!!! Congratulations Joe! And thanks to everyone who entered and helped me to spread the word about my novel. Stay tuned for more giveaways in the near future…

Thanks to everyone who participated in the “Win an autographed copy of Waiting For Spring” contest!  The following names will go into the sombrero Monday morning (yes, it’s a literal sombrero):

Joe Glasgow

Shannon Yarbrough

Jen O

Hoosiertoo

Kaitlyn (who entered on my MySpace blog, where I also posted this contest).

The winner will be announced Monday morning. 🙂

In the meantime, here’s that Neil Diamond song I was talking about last week. (Thanks Robin and H2!)

To celebrate the first weekend of spring, I’ve decided to give away an autographed copy of “Waiting For Spring.” Here’s all you have to do to enter.

Mention the book in a blog post, your Facebook or MySpace profile, or on Twitter. Then come back here and post the link to the mention in the comments section of this post. How easy is that? Wicked easy! (If you’ve already mentioned the book before, that counts. Just leave the link here.)

The contest will run all weekend, ending Sunday, March 22, at 11:00 P.M. EDT. I’ll write each name on a piece o’ paper and draw the winner from my trusty sombrero on Monday morning at 9:00 A.M.  EDT (or when I crawl out of bed, whichever comes first.) I’ll even post a video of the drawing to make things all fair and square.

Happy posting! And good luck!

Some of you may be wondering where the “sneak peek” on the Waiting For Spring page went. Well, I deleted it. I’ve decided to go in a different direction with the Rick & Wendy book (a sequel of sorts to Waiting For Spring), so the information and excerpts I had on the page are now obsolete. Therefore, it is gone.

The basic story is the same, but the more I work on this thing, the more I realize that this is Rick’s story, not Wendy’s. How weird is that? I started writing the damned thing to get inside her head, but I couldn’t quite do it. Then I figured that maybe the real story lay with the two of them together, and added his POV into the mix. Now, though, he’s the one who’s really speaking to me, the poor sad sap, not her. Maybe it’s because I know there’s nowhere for her story to go. I mean…she dies*. There’s no changing that. Any grand awakening she comes to is hindered by the fact that it doesn’t matter in the long run. That makes for boring writing, and I know it will make for ghastly reading. Writing for Rick, on the other hand, is amazing! He’s such a wounded, pathetic, selfish asshole. But I know WHY he’s that way, and I want so badly to help the idiot find some peace.

In between novel writing, I’m also working on some pages for a comprehensive Waiting For Spring website. It will include bios, some deleted scenes, and maybe (if I’m feeling brave) some of Tess’s artwork. I tried to create a map of New Mills as well, but cartography is SO not my thing. Anyway, I’m hoping to have it ready by the middle of April. We shall see. If there’s anything in particular you’d like to see on it, drop the suggestion in the comments section here. That’s right…I’m taking requests.

In the meantime, I’m gearing up for Bruce Springsteen’s appearance on tonight’s The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.  You should be, too.

* Not a spoiler.

For those of you who subscribe to my blog feed, you may have noticed that I accidentally posted my Publishing Renaissance article here instead of at PR. What’s worse, I posted the unfinished copy. I can tell you why it happened. I teased Zoe about doing the same thing a few weeks ago, and Karma is a bitch.

SO…for those of you interested in reading the actual, finished article in its proper place, here you go.

Over the weekend, my best friend brought over a Get Well Gift that lifted my spirits and immune system better than flowers or chicken soup ever could have done:

Tonight I was chatting with a friend about Neil Diamond (yes…seriously) and it brought back something I hadn’t thought about in many years. Back in sixth grade I was in the school chorus. Not because I have a loverly singing voice. Quite the contrary. My singing voice sucks big time, a fact to which all of my friends and family, young and old, can testify. It’s just that I had (and still have) a rather deep voice, there weren’t any boys in the chorus whose voices had broken, and they needed an alto. Anyway, for our Christmas concert we sang a Neil Diamond song that I really dug, and for the life of me I can’t recall the name of it. I can’t even find it with a Google search. All I remember is that there was a great deal of Latin in it, and the only lyrics I that come to mind are, “Sanctus, Kyrie, Glory, Holy.” In fact, I have a vague idea that those may have been the only lyrics, but that might just be 20+ years of time eroding my already swiss cheese-like memory.

Anyway, if this rings a bell with anyone who might know the name of the song, I’d be grateful if you’d let me know.