Tuesday, March 30, 2010

News That Brings Me Up From Under My Rock

Although it's been since December that you've seen me here, I want to assure you that I am alive and pretty much well (a persistent sore throat is still bugging me, though).

I have some great news about my ebooks listed on Smashwords. Both The Man from Shenandoah and Ride to Raton will soon be available for the new Apple iPad through the iBookstore.

Smashwords has signed a deal with Apple that will put qualifying books into the new iBookstore catalog, so I've been taking the necessary steps to make sure my novels are in the shipment. This has included obtaining ISBNs (International Standard Book Numbers) for the two books. As soon as the option is available on Smashwords' site, I will take the final step in anticipation of the April 3 release of the iPad.

Of course, the novels continue to be available in several ebook formats at Smashwords.com, so if you already have a computer, netbook, iPhone, iPod touch, smart phone, Kindle, nook, or other ebook reader, you can purchase the first two e-novels in my Owen Family series there at Smashwords; both The Man from Shenandoah and Ride to Raton at 20% off the regular low price right now at Kobobooks.com; and The Man from Shenandoah at Barnes & Noble.com (it's also on sale right now). Amazon and Sony will have both ebooks sometime soon.

Trail of Storms is also available in digital format at iUniverse.com and Books on Board (discounted). This is the original iUniverse version, as I haven't completed a digital edition of Trail of Storms at Smashwords yet.

Now I'll go back into hibernation mode and get back to work on the fourth Owen Family novel. Have a lovely Spring!

Interview with Joyce DiPastena

I first interviewed author Joyce DiPastena in September of 2007. I'm pleased to have her back to spotlight her second novel (and second Whitney Award finalist), Illuminations of the Heart.

Welcome back, Joyce. How long have you been writing?

I’ve been writing silly little stories I never finished since junior high school. When I started a new story my freshman year in college I thought it’d end up the same as all the others…begun but never finished. But this one, my first attempt at a medieval romance, somehow captivated my attention and carried me through all the way to the words “the end”. It took me six years to get there, four years undergraduate and two years of graduate school. Although that book was never published, I’m still in love with its hero to this day!

What genre do you write and why?

I write medieval romances, although I tend to include so much additional plot alongside the romance that I had an agent tell me I don’t really write romances at all. But they’re all romances to me. There may be a lot of other stuff going on…mysteries, assassination attempts, medieval politics…but at the heart of each story is a man and a woman falling in love against all the odds around them.

Where do you get your inspiration to write?

My inspiration comes from many different sources. Sometimes it comes from a book I’ve written before. For example, my first published book, Loyalty’s Web, was based on characters from that first unpublished novel I wrote in college. The hero and heroine of Loyalty’s Web were an elderly married couple in that early romance, and I became curious to find out how they had met and fallen in love, so I wrote Loyalty’s Web to find out the answer.

Sometimes bits and pieces of research will fascinate me and influence how I draw a character’s background. For my second published romance, Illuminations of the Heart, I became interested in the subject of medieval illumination and decided to combine that interest with my new heroine, the daughter of a medieval illuminator from Italy. (Although the novel itself is set in France, like Loyalty’s Web.) During the writing of Illuminations of the Heart, I became interested in the subject of medieval troubadours. So that’s a subject I’m incorporating into the novel I’m writing right now.

Do you ever get writer’s block? What helps you to overcome it?

Writer’s block is a toughie. There was a time I thought I had so many ideas that I’d never get writer’s block. Now I find myself struggling with it quite frequently. I’ve discovered it’s not a lack of ideas that I have. It’s a byproduct of stress. When my stress levels go up, I find it very difficult to “turn off” my worries and focus enough to work on my novels.

The thing that has worked best for me through the years is to set a timer for a specific length of time (an hour, two hours, whatever you can set it for) and tell myself that I don’t have to write anything, but I do have to sit at the computer until the timer goes off. I can’t go get a snack, I can’t play any games, I can’t turn on the TV, I can’t do anything except either stare at my blank computer screen or type something. And that “something” has to have something to do with my new story! Sometimes I only type a handful of words, sometimes I’ll end up typing a stream, but whether out of boredom or inspiration, I don’t think I’ve ever not written something before the timer goes off. And no matter how terrible what I wrote might seem at the time, it almost always ends up moving my story along no matter how microscopically. And I always feel better about myself just for trying.

If you could spend an hour talking to anyone from any time in history, who would it be? And Why?

King Henry II of England! I fell in love with Henry II back in high school when I first read The Conquering Family by Thomas B. Costain. Not “romantic” love. There was just something about the way his contemporaries described him that stirred a great affection in me for him. He seemed to be one of those rare kings who was actually more interested in trying to improve his country than in simply enjoying the “glory” or “privileges” of his rank. He is described as a man who hated war, even though circumstances forced him to spend most of his adult life at war. He was a man of tremendous energy and intellect. And he laid important foundations to the legal system that we have inherited from England and enjoy ourselves today.

His legacy was marred by his quarrel with Archbishop Thomas รก Becket, and the son who succeeded him, Richard the Lionheart, is a more flashy character of legend. But everything I’ve read about Henry II since those high school days has only increased my love and admiration for this man. Loyalty’s Web and Illuminations of the Heart are both set during his lifetime, and although he has not yet actually appeared on the scene in any of my books, the references I make to him, small though they might be, are my own way of paying tribute to this great, underappreciated king.

What is your next project?

Right now, I’m just calling it “my troubadour book”. It’s based on a character from my second book, Illuminations of the Heart, and once again is set in medieval France.

Okay, let's try some quickie questions:

Uh-oh!

Favorite food? Chocolate chip cookies
Favorite dessert? Umm…chocolate chip cookies
Jeans and T-shirt, or designer clothes? Both! (Well, not really “designer”, but I also like fun, “nice” clothes.)
Guilty pleasure? Chocolate. (If only I felt more guilt than pleasure from it!)
One word that describes you? Shy. Why do you think this interview is taking place on a blog?
Favorite flower? Snapdragons
Favorite sport? If I absolutely, positively MUST be forced to watch a sport, then I’ll choose figure skating.

Where can readers find a copy of Illuminations of the Heart?

Illuminations of the Heart is available in Deseret Bookstores and some Arizona Barnes & Nobles. It can be ordered directly through Barnes & Noble and Borders bookstores, or ordered online at DeseretBook.com, Amazon.com, and BarnesandNoble.com.

Thank you for the interview, Joyce.

It was my pleasure.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Twilight

The other night I traveled home from town during twilight--that magical hour between the time light fades and darkness descends. It's somewhat dangerous in my neck of the woods. My drive home is into the mountains. This means that at twilight, noctural wildlife is venturing across the highway to find dinner. It's also the time when the car's headlights don't quite work as well as they will come full dark.

I also have a lengthy construction zone to contend with. A two-lane stretch about three miles long has become a speed-reduced zone while preparations go forward for making this segment a divided highway. The preparations have included logging (with the resultant large trucks bearing logs pulling into the roadway), grading, earth-moving, and hauling of various materials.

An additional four miles of divided highway are marked for reduced speed, either as a run-up to the two-lane section, or further on, where a bridge repair has necessitated using only one side of the divided highway for two-way traffic. Fun!

Not that heavy vehicles have been scarce before. This state route bears traffic from I-40 south to Mesa, Arizona. Not only do 18-wheelers abound, but it is the route of choice for winter visitors driving large motor homes, as they come to and go from Arizona.

Road wear has run rampant in the original two-lane area, both because of the addition of all the heavy trucks hauling logs and materials, and due to winter weather. This wear is spelled g-i-a-n-t p-o-t-h-o-l-e-s.

Back to my trip home. Not only did I have to keep one eye peeled for small scurrying creatures darting out in front of me, but for larger quadrupeds of the elk and deer persuasion. The other eye had to view the road ahead to help me in trying to avoid the large chuckholes in the pavement. You can imagine how fun that was. Conjure the image of me with white-knuckles on the steering wheel.

I eventually arrived home, very glad to be safe and sound. Although I hit a fair amount of potholes--some of them are just plain invisible at twilight--I did avoid making contact with elk, raccoons, and skunks. Whew!

Now it's time for my every-six-months alignment.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

More English Errors

Since I posted the link to Nathan Bransford's blog on errors in usage of the English language, I've been noticing and writing down egregious examples of such erroneous usage in printed work:
Shutter used in place of shudder, dribble used in place of drivel, diary used instead of dairy, viscous instead of vicious, hurtling instead of hurling, pummeling instead of plummeting ("pummeling through the sky"!), and whicker (an animal sound) used where the word should have been wicker (a type of furniture).
Some of these examples should never have made it past a competent editor.
Then there was the email I received a week ago from an actual e-book vendor who should have known better: "The Oscar's aired this week and we have alot of the Academy award winner's movie tie-in eBooks featured at . . ."
Gahhhhh!

Sunday, March 07, 2010

It's "Read an E-Book Week"

I've got a special promotion going on at Smashwords.com this week, as one of the authors participating in "Read an E-Book Week". The two novels that I have posted for sale there, The Man from Shenandoah and Ride to Raton, are both half price, this week only. That's right. You thought the price was terrific before this, but now you can buy either novel for the astoundingly low cost of $2.00 EACH!

That's right. I said two bucks each. Both together are under $5!

Go to my biography page on Smashwords.com, scroll down, and click on the book links. Use the coupon code RAE50 (good for either book) during checkout.

Whether you spell it Ebook, eBook, or E-Book, you're not going to see this price for electronic versions of my novels repeated for a long time, if ever. Make sure you download a copy of both for your iPhone, iPod Touch, Sony Reader, Kindle, smartphone, or computer. Several formats are available, so there's just no excuse for not having these novels in your collection.

A bunch of other authors are doing this promotion, and some eBooks are free! Click on the Home page and the "Read an Ebook Week Specials" in the left menu to access the special catalog. You can sort and filter the catalog.

Don't miss out! This promotion ends at 11:59 p.m. PT on March 13.

Wednesday, March 03, 2010

English Errors

Agent Nathan Bransford has a wonderful blog post today about malaprop/mispronunciation/homonym errors. The comments are hilarious. Well, maybe not intentionally, but prolly because they point out errors that our so bad!

Some of the favorite, or should I say least favorite, errors the commentors see other's make in using the English language are using loose when a person means lose, choose/chose, lie/lay, their/they're/there, peeked/peaked/piqued, your/you're, and breathe/breath.

Also mentioned were the misuse of apostrophes, which drives me wild.


A local sign acrost from my public library made me crazy until it was repainted due to weathering: "Condo's for lease". Condo's WHAT? Condo's bedrooms? Kitchens? Living rooms? Its enough to make a writer cry.

Note: my misuses of English in the above post are intentional. I know the difference between probably/prolly, are/our, other's/others, acrost/across, and it's/its. Really, I do!
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