Ireland and Scotland - Day 5

Day Five - exploring Killmallock and Lough Gur

Our first breakfast at the Deebert House. Ann had asked us what time we’d like breakfast and we’d told her 8:00 – more or less making up a time since our plans are very fluid. I have lists of things to do and no plan in which to do them. Abandoning plans in favor of something better is always an option, too. Serendipity rules!

Good meal, too much food for two people, and off we went to Lough Gur.

Half of the Grange Stone Circle

This was one of my must-sees only because of Steven. When planning for this trip I asked him what was something he most wanted to see in Ireland. He promptly told me, “Standing stones.” Lough Gur has the largest stone circle in all of Ireland. Some of the stones are huge, some not so much. But the circumference is quite large. The stones are set into an embankment all around the circle – it’s thought that those not participating in the ceremonies below stood here to watch.

The Visitors’ Center is fairly new (only a few years old) and is built in the shapes of the two types of ancient buildings whose ruins are nearby: a circle and a rectangle. Our mathematician friends would enjoy the geometry of the Bronze Age dwellings! There was a walk up to the top of the mountain (we’d call them very tall hills in New York State) that included 110 steps. Yes, I climbed them (up is easy). The descent is down a long trail without steps – and yes, I managed to make it back down without incident. Wise guys!

Bouchier's Castle from the top
of the 110 steps

We then took a leisurely walk around the Lough to see the tower building of Bouchier’s Castle. Lough Gur is home to a pair of swans, but they were on the other side of the lake since kayaker’s were on our side taking a test.

There are a few other sites outside the park that are actually part of the park, just not connected to the main section. One of these is the “Giant’s Grave”. Not so named because of the size of the man inside, but because a giant must’ve placed the stones. They’re extremely large. The tomb had been plundered and parts of it thrown down over the years – when it was excavated in the 20^th century, the remains of several people were found inside.

A ruined church was next on our way. This has a cemetery still being used by the family that owns it. But they allow people to come and climb about the ruins and take pictures (which we did, of course). The early 20^th Century owner had decided to renovate the place. It needed a new roof and there were churches in Italy being torn down at the time, so he bought a tin roof from one of them and had it shipped to Ireland. Unfortunately, there was this little skirmish called WWI going on at the time; the ship carrying his tin roof was torpedoed and sunk. He abandoned the renovation at that time and, in the intervening one hundred years, it has fallen further into decay.

And our last stop: the Grange Stone Circle that we came here to see in the first place. Like the church, the land is privately owned and you have to climb through stiles and go through gates to get to it. Still in use to graze cows, you also have to watch your step. No cows within the circle today, but plenty of their evidence left behind. I’m sitting at the side of the road as I type this and my nose also tells me they are near.

My first magpie! Taken at the
Stone Circle

Why am I at the roadside? Because Steven found a perfect spot to paint. Remember I said there is an embankment on which people stood? Well, there has to be a way through that embankment for participants to get through. On the opposite side, placed directly in line with the opening, is a huge, very old tree. There is also one to the right, halfway around the circle and, opposite it, the stump of the third.

By the way, I did put my hand on the largest of the stones, but I didn’t go anywhere. Steven tried but he’s still here, too. There’s also a split stone. He tried going through it but now he’s happily painting just outside the circle. No time-traveling for us. L

Lunch at Reardon’s, a restaurant/pub in Holycross, which is no more than a crossroads where you turn for Lough Gur (if you’re a car, you turn. If you’re a bus, you have to go somewhere else because the “road” at the turning isn’t any wider than a single-width driveway). I had the fish and chips, which in Ireland is always cod and chips and Steven had chicken wings – and a half pint of Guinness. I’ve turned him!!!

 Later –

A pleasant walk through the village, in very muggy weather. It’s still misting, but barely. Still, its weather you can wear. We headed over to the ruin only to discover there are TWO churches in ruins here – one a Dominican Priory (the big one) and the other a collegiate church.

The Collegiate church

First, a collegiate church is one that isn’t owned by any particular order. Several are often represented and it’s a place of reflection and study. They did not follow monastic rule. The one in Kilmallock was the site where, in 1600, the Earl of Desmond surrendered to King James I of England, who promptly turned around and had a Protestant service held in this Catholic church. The people of the town promptly rebelled again.

The Priory - where it was just us, the rooks,
and the ruin

The Priory, however, was a monastery. There appear to be three separate churches all joined together in the middle, but one was the altar, one the chancery and the other where the monks gathered. Very cool to step inside ruins and be allowed to wander at will, touch the stones and let my imagination roam free. No one else was there except the rooks, and they weren’t happy at our invasion of “their” space. We got yelled at quite a bit by them as we wandered around.

My favorite part, however, wasn’t the church, it was a small courtyard bordered on one side by a corridor set off from the courtyard by a series of arches. I set my very first novel (as yet unfinished and unpublished) in a monastery that had this exact courtyard. I could see the scene I wrote playing out here and, as I looked around and found the refectory and bell tower (now falling down), the scenes I wrote came to life in my head once again. I took LOTS of pictures and think it might be time to resurrect that novel when I get home.

I walked through the archway to see this - and stopped cold.
The very place I'd described in my very first novel, written
over 25 years ago.

Even later – Back to the B&B now for a quiet night of reading and relaxing. I walked over 14,000 steps today – Steven did more because he did his morning run. Time to put my feet up and remember I’m on vacation!

Ireland and Scotland - Days 3 & 4

Day 3 - Serendipity rules!

We slept in this morning, getting rid of the last of the jet lag. As a result, no morning walk for Steven. Breakfast in the hotel – a pretty good spread, actually. I tried blood pudding and liked it, although its very dense.

Our initial plan was to walk over to the Guinness Storehouse and stop in a small art store I’d found online so Steven could pick up some additional tubes of paint. Then we’d have lunch, perhaps go to the National Art Museum, walk around and head back for the hotel. That was the plan.

So we head out in 60 degree weather, mostly cloudy, but a good day for a walk. We head up the street, remarking on the variety of storefronts, pointing out various restaurants (if you can’t find food you like in Dublin, you ain’t looking), just being touristy. Partway up the road (literally, up – as in we were climbing a hill), there was a sign for Dublin Castle. What the heck, we’d visit it. Squirrel!

Turns out to be the equivalent of the White House. I really don’t know my Irish history as well as I should. We opted for the guided tour and saw the State Rooms used for major functions as well as going underground to see the medieval underpinnings of the current buildings.

Hard to see the Celtic knot unless you're in the air :(

Because we had twenty minutes before the tour began, we wandered over to the gardens, which is really one big oval with a Celtic knotwork design worked in brick through the center. The knotwork is designed to be seen by the helicopters as they fly in dignitaries for state visits. In the four corners of the walled-in rectangle in which this oval resides, are four smaller gardens. The first is dedicated to the Irish policemen who have fallen in the line of duty, the second wasn’t dedicated to anyone, but has a beautiful peacock sculpture made of stone and glass in the center. The third one is more modern and is dedicated to the participants of the 2003 World Special Olympics. It was the first time the event had been held outside the US and the Irish people wanted to mark it as an historic event. The names of every participant line the outside of the small plaza.

The fourth garden is under reconstruction and wasn’t open to the public. L

So now we know more about the original layout of Dublin, how it got started as a Viking settlement, and some of the important buildings that are still standing today. We leave and pick up our trek to the Guinness Storehouse.

And then the street curves (as all Dublin streets seem to do) and there, right in front of us, is Christ Church, the oldest building in Dublin. We walk around it, take some pictures, and venture inside. My favorite part was standing in the Nave and looking back – the left wall is perfectly fine, the right wall curves backward at the top. It’s off by 18 inches! Oops.

A very nice priest spoke to me in Irish, which, of course, I don’t speak. We chatted for a bit and he later invited us to the service at 12:45 (it was now 12:30). We went out and got a bottle of water from the vendor right outside and then went back in for the service. It wasn’t long and only 7 people attended (including the priest).

By then we were hungry and running out of time. We were still only halfway to the Storehouse and we wanted to get to the National Art Museum by 3:00. It was back in the direction of the hotel, so down the street we went. Again, tons of restaurants to choose from; we went to Trinity Bar on Dame Street. Good lunch, although I don’t think any of these places have air conditioning. It’s okay. Sat next to two open windows on the second floor and had a good breeze.

We got close to the hotel and knew we needed to make a turn, but weren’t sure where, exactly. So we stepped to the side of the walk on Clare Street and checked the map. Got it. Just around the corner. Off we went.

Except that entrance is closed at the moment for renovation. Where is the temporary entrance? On Clare Street. EXACTLY where we’d stepped to the side to check the map. Sigh.

My idea of my perfect drawing. Isn't it beautiful? It is, right up
until I put my pastel on it and ruin the picture in
my mind!

It’s 2:30, so we’re in good shape. Inside and up the stairs, find the spot and sign up. For what? An art class, of course! Yep, yours truly, who draws pictures with words, signed up to take an art class for 55+ year olds.

Thank goodness it ended up being more a conceptual art class rather than an “here’s how you draw a wing” art class. They currently have ten pages from Leonardo DaVinci’s notebooks on display and the class centered around his inventions for flight. We studied DaVinci’s ideas, copied down ones that made sense to us, and then designed our own, making notes in the margins as he did. I had more notes than pictures, but did come out with an idea for a story!

Steven did better than I did at the drawing (big surprise!). We will bring them all home and people can giggle at mine and admire his. Oh! And we did look at a number of masterpieces (Titian, Caravaggio, Van Gogh) while we were there.

We’d thought to visit the Storehouse afterward, but they closed at 5:00 and it was 4:30. Out of time. No Guinness and no art store. And no loss. We had fun being spontaneous…and I took an art class in Dublin!

What a couple of tourists!

This evening we went back to Temple Bar for dinner. The man standing is James Joyce (or rather, a statue of him); the seated man is Oliver St. John Gogarty, the original owner of the bar. Much to my chagrin, Steven insisted on sitting at their table, encouraged by the waiter to do so. LOTS of stares and giggles from tourists passing by.

Wandered through some side streets on the way back to the hotel and found the “American” Dublin. A street blocked to traffic so the whole thing is a mall – in the American sense of the word. Coach, Bath and Body Works, Tommy Hilfiger…all I can say is, I’m sorry, Dublin. We didn’t stay long and got back to the real world as quickly as we could.

As we left the restaurant a fog was descending on the city. Hard to see the tops of many buildings…and they aren’t that high. No skyscrapers here – at least in the part of the city we’ve walked over the past two days (17,500 steps just today, btw. Steven has over 20K) – most buildings aren’t more than 4-6 floors high. But definitely walking through an Irish mist!

Day 4 - On the road -- eek!

Today is a travel day. Our first mode of travel we were intimately acquainted with: foot power. After breakfast, we left the hotel shortly after 9:00 AM and headed for the Hertz Car rental, which was—according to Google—a half-hour walk away. Because we were hauling our suitcases, we expected to take about three-quarters of an hour. It took 50 minutes, but I enjoyed seeing parts of Dublin that tourists generally don’t venture into. We made it to the car rental without incident. And that was where it got interesting.

Left side of the road. That’s my job as passenger. To watch the left side of the road and make sure Steven’s not too close to anything on my side. He’s busy lining the car up on the right side and while we were on the motorway (we’d call it an expressway or highway), everything went fine. Getting out of Dublin wasn’t as much of a hassle as we expected and, within a half an hour of driving, he felt comfortable enough to pass some slower moving trucks (slow traffic keeps to the left, btw).

And then we left the motorway.

Two roundabouts, in quick succession, successfully navigated.

Oh. Dear. Lord.

My father had warned me the roads were narrow. I’d gone on Google Maps and “driven” down some before we left. Neither prepared me for the reality.

There are no shoulders. Six inches from the line to the end of the pavement – on roads that have lines, that is. In the US, the road would be worth about a lane and a half on any given street. Here you have not only two –way traffic, you’re traveling the winds and curves at 100 kilometers an hour. That’s right. Imagine two-way traffic along your driveway at 62 miles per hour!

Okay, the Irish are traveling 62 miles an hour. We’re going about 45 and I’m still white-knuckling every corner. But Steven did amazingly well, even if he was stressed and nervous. I know he was ‘cause he wasn’t talking. At all. He was focused on the road and, at one point, said he was looking forward to getting used to this because he wasn’t seeing any scenery. I told him that was okay, I wasn’t either. I was too busy being his left side warning system.

But he did well. We only ran over one orange cone and only drove on the sidewalk once. And that was going around a curve with a truck going the other way, so it doesn’t count.

We made it to Killmallock with only one stop to ask directions. Again, it was more to confirm we were headed in the right direction rather than because we were lost. Road signs are few and far between and, at that point, Steven didn’t really want to do more driving than he had to.

Of course, we drove right past the Deebert House Bed andBreakfast. The entrance, although well-marked, came up too fast and we couldn’t stop fast enough. So around the block we went. Not. One way streets, so we had to go somewhere else first. Like to a gas station to ask directions.

  

The tree was behind the B&B;
his painting of it

Steven’s out painting now. Found a great tree behind the place and has set up. Anne, our hostess (and owner of the B&B) is charming. She got him a pan of water for his paints, brought me tea and a scone and, in general, is the stereotypical tiny Irishwoman. We’re currently the only residents in the house – which is huge. I’ll upload pictures when I can. There is no wireless here Will go elsewhere later and try.

By the way, we’re driving a VW Golf – manual transmission. Gears are in the same place, but he has to shift with his left hand. And remember that it’s a standard. Hasn’t stalled it yet, but come close once or twice. J He asked at Hertz about changing to an automatic and it would be significantly more expensive. The clerk there told us nearly everyone in Ireland drives stick because it’s more economical. And the Golf takes diesel. Before you ask, no, I do not intend to drive here. Or in Scotland. Maybe if I were here six months, I could begin to think about it. But this trip? No, thank you. I’ll continue to be Steven’s left side.

Dinner in downtown Killmallock at a place called Flaherty’s. A pub open early (5:15) for dinner, although there were only a few tables and several stools at the bar. We opted for a table; there was only one other diner and he sat at one of the others. Plain food; I had pork roast with mash and veg and Steven had the roast beef, also with mash and veg. The “veg” was a HUGE helping of sliced carrots and a mountain of squash with three ice cream scoop size dollops of mashed potatoes. I ate one mountain and all of my carrots and squash (Steven ate only two carrots and none of his squash and all of his potatoes). We both polished off our respective meats, of course.

By the time we’d finished eating a few other patrons had come in -  all male. I was the only woman in the place. Fish out of water – and American to boot! But a very Irish establishment.

Back to the B&B, an easy night planned. Reading and watching TV, I expect, since the streets are all rolled up and everyone’s gone home (it’s now 6:00). 

Addendum: I later found out it wasn't squash, it was "neeps" - in the States we call it Rutabaga - and I liked it!

Ireland and Scotland vacation - Days 1 & 2

Diana and Hubby ready to get going!

I promised a travelogue of our recent trip -- here are the first two days!

Day One

Thirty-five years ago I married the man of my dreams. Since then we’ve: raised kids together; bought a house, renovated it and sold it, bought another (still living in it); bought a cabin, renovated and enjoying it, planning more projects for it; gone on several family vacations; dealt with ENS (Empty Nest Syndrome); gotten older together. He’s my best friend as well as my husband and there’s no one I would rather travel with.

So its appropriate that we began this travel adventure with a stop in the same town where we spent our wedding night. We didn’t stay overnight this time, but we did have lunch just down the road apiece from that hotel. And because it’s become a bit of a tradition to have at least one meal there, naturally we chose Cracker Barrel!

No stop this year at Niagara Falls. Too anxious to get going to Europe to finish the trip we started last year. Since flying out of Toronto is MUCH cheaper than flying out of the States, yes, we went west to fly east.

Getting across the border at Lewiston wasn’t hard. Only four or five cars ahead of us in line. Typical questions and we were on our way. I’d printed out the directions to the airport and we were fine, right up until we got to the airport. Wound around and about before we found the parking garage—which is HUGE. We drove around it for nearly ten minutes before finding a spot on the top level at the point furthest from the terminal.

It’s okay. We needed a walk after a long car ride. Found the right terminal and managed to get our boarding passes printed with very little difficulty. Now sitting and chilling until we know what gate our flight will leave from (it’s 5:00 and our flight doesn’t board until 10:30. See what I mean about being anxious?). Once it goes up on the board, we’ll leave our very comfy seats and head over.

Step one of our journey – complete!

The view from our hotel room.
Dublin, looking exactly as I expected!

Day Two

We are here! Exhausted by the flight, but here!

Good flight, left on time, arrived on time. As soon as our flight was posted, we got in the security line, which was perpetually long. Took nearly a half an hour to get from one end to the other. But then it was smooth sailing through. Didn’t have to take off shoes, didn’t have to pull liquids out, or meds. I did have to take out my little laptop – I threw my glasses and my watch into the bin for good measure, but I’m not sure I needed to do even that much. No muss, no fuss and we were through.

Sleeping in economy on an airplane is hard. We both took sleeping pills and that helped, but I still slept in only fifteen minute increments. Steven didn’t do much better, although he had one good half hour nap. I know because I was awake for that part. They fed us, sort of. Small meal, which was probably best for travel. Chicken and rice with a roll, a very brown salad and a very dry brownie/cake thingy. I ate the entrée and roll, ignored the salad and took two bites of the dessert before I gave up entirely. At least the banana bread we got for breakfast was pretty good.

Met our driver – he brought us to our hotel and gave Steven some driving tips.  Making the turns is what feels the weirdest about being on the other side of the road. And roundabouts – here they go clockwise and again, weird! I’m sure by the end of the week it’ll feel normal and then we’ll have to adjust when we get home. J

Taking naps now. Just short ones. It’s cloudy and rainy (hey, this IS Ireland!) and we need to take the edge off the jet lag. Will be going out and about later this afternoon.

Later:

We found Trinity College with no trouble at all. It’s just a few blocks down, although the streets do like to curve in unexpected ways. I hadn’t gotten tickets for the Book of Kells exhibit since I wasn’t really sure when we wanted to go. But as we crossed the green, we realized there was no line, so we thought we’d give it a try. Apparently about 2:00 on a Tuesday afternoon is a good time to go – there were about five people ahead of us in line inside and that was it.

The exhibit was crowded inside, however. A tour group milled about, several probably. We’d passed at least a half a dozen on the street outside the college. A well-laid out exhibit, giving the history of Christianity on the Emerald Isle as well as explaining how the Book of Kells came about. The monastery where the books were created was sacked, pillaged and burnt down nearly two dozen times over the centuries. I’m not sure that I might’ve given up and moved somewhere else!

Of course, it was the book itself I wanted to see. When it was found, it was quite thick and the gold leaf covers had been stolen (by some of the aforementioned pillagers). It was gifted to Trinity College because of the mission of their library: to collect in one place, every piece of writing written on Irish soil (or something like that). Restorers separated the single book into the four gospels it contained and gave each section a new cover. Today, two parts are shown at any given time – one page turned to an illustration, one to a page of text. But even the text pages are not plain. Illustrators often chose an important word to embellish with artistic flair and it was a point of pride to never write the same word the same way twice.

Three times a year, the books are rotated so no one book spends too much time in the public eye (and in the light). Each time a book’s turn comes, it’s turned to a different page than before, so if you’ve been to see the Book before, chances are we saw a different set of pages than you did.

The barrel vaulting of the Long Room

And of course, one cannot go to Trinity College and not go see the Long Room. The room built specifically to hold all those Irish books. This is what Heaven looks like, to me anyway. Shelves and shelves of books, their knowledge and stories just waiting to be opened and shared. We walked the whole length of it, pausing to take pictures of some of the nooks and crannies. Seriously, it makes me want to find something I need to study there just so I can curl up on a bench and read!

Don't you just want to curl
up here and read the
afternoon away?

Afterward, we walked around the campus some and came out at the front gate, a beautiful structure in and of itself. We stood on the street outside, trying to determine which way we wanted to go and what we wanted to do next when a very nice Irish man stopped and asked if he could help with directions. I asked him the way to Temple Bar, since there’s a pub I’d seen online (Temple Bar Pub) and thought we might try it for dinner.

Now understand. I thought Temple Bar was just the name of the pub. I had no idea it’s an area, like Greenwich Village is an area of NYC. The slate brick surface couldn’t stand up to today’s vehicles, so it’s pedestrian only (although I did see some bicycles slide past on the side streets).

Steven in front of Quay's.
We ate on the 2nd floor.

Eventually we did find the pub I’d seen online, but we liked the menu of Quay’s better, so we backtracked and ate there instead. It was early (4:00 PM), so no crowd yet. It filled up as we ate, though, so I’m glad we’re still partly on New York time.

Speaking of which, we headed back to the hotel right after dinner. By that point, we’d wandered nearly a mile from the hotel. Good walking! The drizzle had stopped and the sun came out – a beautiful night for a stroll.

And that’s our first day in Ireland!

Just how many times can I pack?

One year ago today, my husband and I started out on our Trip of a Lifetime. We left home for Toronto with a stop at Niagara Falls along the way (because we'd stopped there on our honeymoon - which was also in Toronto) and stayed overnight there, then caught our plane for Rome. We'd planned a week taking a Mediterranean cruise, embarking at Rome, then going 'round to Palermo, Naples, Livorno, Genoa, Toulon and getting off at Barcelona. From there, a short plane ride to Dublin and then another week tooling around the Emerald Isle.

You know what happened. We never made it to Ireland. We had a grand adventure, just not the one we planned.

Last year I packed, repacked, packed again. I weighed the suitcases, measured them, unpacked, repacked, measured and weighed again. We decided to take one carry-on each (besides our laptops) and one MONSTER suitcase (that would have to be checked). Initially we didn't want a checked bag because we didn't want to spend extra time in the airport, but my husband is a painter and wanted his travel easel. It's wooden, carryable, but still took up nearly the entire extra suitcase.

This year, he's decided to leave the easel home and bring a light-weight one that's much more manageable. He can put it in his briefcase, along with several small tubes of paint. So we're back to the one laptop case and one small carry-on - nothing checked!

Of course, that means being very judicious about what I bring. One color scheme (purple, of course. I packed a single print skirt that has many colors - each T-shirt/blouse matches it so I can mix and match as needed). I left the scarf out, and am taking only a light rain jacket (and will probably wear it so I don't need to pack it). No sweatshirt or sweater. I figure I can buy one there. If we need to get another suitcase or if I overpack on the way home? That's fine. I don't mind waiting at the Toronto airport for luggage - we're going home. It's wasting time in foreign lands I don't want to do.

But I'm a little more relaxed about the process this year. I've already packed and am right at the limit, pound-wise, so I might do a little more readjusting, but other than that? I'm good.

I'm also excited as heck! Eight days in Ireland and six in Scotland. I'm hoping to meet up with Cait Miller, a fellow member of the Sizzling Scribes while we're there. My husband teases me that I expect to see Jamie and Claire, too, but pish! I'll just visit places mentioned in the book.

Watch this blog for travel updates - I'll post when I can. Last year I had to wait until we were home because the ship's WiFi was exorbitant and I didn't spend enough time on shore to post much. This year, we're on land the entire trip and the B&B's and hotels all have WiFi, so it should be easier.

And as for volcanoes? Several people have told me they're glad I'm staying away from those this year. Little do they know, I'm planning to climb Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh - which is an extinct volcano! Don't worry, though. I've also told my husband it's HIS turn to get us a first class seat on the way home. :)

Play safe, and I'll see you in Ireland - or Scotland!

Diana

PS. Watch for a new feature coming to the blog on June 1st! I think you'll like it. :)

Whee! Post hits...or not

I generally check traffic stats to this site about once a week, just to see if anyone is out there. When there is no Google Adwords campaign going, I generally get double digit hits each day, making a grand weekly total of three to four hundred hits a week.

So you can imagine my surprise when the blog got 843 hits yesterday. You read that right. Double what I get in a typical week in a single day.

Naturally, I'm curious as to what pages got all those views - and every one of them was from 2013. Hmmm....And where do the viewers come from? This is where it gets interesting.

I stopped running the AdWords campaigns because most of the hits I was getting were from bots - basically unmanned computers trolling for weaknesses they could exploit in a website. The viewed numbers were increasingly skewed by these bots and getting an accurate read nearly impossible. So I cancelled the ads and watched my numbers plummet - to reality.

Most of those bots are located in the countries you'd expect: Russia, Pakistan, China. But yesterday's hits were from Good O'l US of A bots - over a thousand and a half of them in the past week.

Now I'd love to believe that all those views were real people who suddenly got interested in my books/site/life, but then, I'd like to believe in unicorns, too. How do I know they're not real? Because nothing else rose with the increase in views (okay, get your minds out of the gutter!!! :) ). No increase in sales or interest on Smashwords or Amazon, no increase even in looking at the tabs across the top of the site. Only individual hits on very old pages. That says bot, not person.

For those of you who ARE real ... and I know I have a few readers in Russia, Pakistan and China as well as many other countries...The protection against attacks is one of the reasons I stay with Blogger as my website host. It isn't the greatest in form or ease of setting up pages (not WYSIWYG), no way to do direct sales from the site - but also no viruses getting through, no malware or other nasty things that mess up computers and lives.

So thank you to those of you who are real...and pftttt to the bots who aren't!

Play safe,
Diana

An Outlandish Post

Started this post a while back and got sidetracked. Revised and here it is now.

Long-time followers of my blog know I'm a big fan of Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series. With the advent of the Starz series, even more people have fallen in love with Jamie and Claire and the world they inhabit. And it's pretty obvious Ron Moore, the showrunner for the series, is also a fan, based on tiny touches we've seen that allude to events several books away from where they are now.

There are several fan groups dedicated to the books, the series, or both and one of the recurring ideas that pops up is the wish that Jamie could travel forward to Claire's time. It's an established protocol in the books that he cannot. He does not "hear" the stones the way Claire (and others) do, and I, for one, am glad. He's her anchor in time, her North Star that remains fixed and grounds her. He needs to stay put for reasons outlined below

SOME SPOILERS FROM HERE, so if you're watching the series or haven't read past Dragonfly in Amber, you may want to stop here!!!




Claire leaves her time in 1968 to go back to Jamie. Even if she could bring him back, what time would they return to? The last time she made the jump, she'd lost three years of present time (because she'd spent those three years of her life in the past). This time, she's been there a little over twelve years. Should she step back through the stones now, she'd arrive in 1982 (yes, I know 1968+12=1980, but Diana G. seems to have set up an extra two years in the jumps. This site has a great timeline of events if you want to see).

Besides hairstyles and clothing and the adjustment of some political parties, 1982 isn't all that different from 1968. There haven't been major technological advances, although medicine has made great advances in vaccines. Of course, Claire understands what a vaccine is and the use of them wouldn't surprise her.

So really, her coming back to 1982 wouldn't be such a big deal. The Apple IIe is still a year away from hitting the market, as is the first commercially available cell phone (I have a story about that, but will tell it some other time). There are Bulletin Board Systems (BBS) that are available, but only a few thousand are using them (Diana Gabaldon being one!). The explosion of computer technology will happen within a year of Claire's (and, ostensibly, Jamie's) return.

And then what? Claire might adapt to the changing technologies but she's 50 years old in 1968, which means,if she were alive, right this minute? She'd be 98 years old. How many 98 year-olds do you know who do well with smartphones, computers, ATM's?

And Jamie? We love him because he can handle every situation. Not always with grace, but certainly with panache. He loves hard, lives hard, fights hard. Can you see him anywhere in the 21st century? There is no place for him and he'd end up useless and pitied.

No, leave Jamie in the past where he's the man I've come to love. I mean the man readers have come to love. :) Don't bring him forward - and leave Claire in the past as well. Let her be the heroine, saving lives and having adventures. I do NOT want to think of either of them sitting in a nursing home watching the world go by.

All this is a long way of saying, trust the author. Let her move her characters as she envisions them. Fan fiction has a place, but leave them in their own time period.

Rant over. :)

Play safe,
a different Diana LOL

Sales slumps

As with any business, sales slumps come with the territory. In publishing, genres seem to come and go in waves of popularity. While Romance as a category always sells well, the divisions within it change. Westerns are popular for a while, then Scottish Highlanders. Erotica will sell, then everyone's writing steamy sex scenes and the backlash goes to sweet romances or shapeshifters. Or paranormal. You get the drift.

My sales numbers have plummeted over the last six months. Partly that's because I only had one new title (Winter Break) but even that book hasn't done as well as past titles. It's no secret Ellora's Cave is behind in their royalty payments - I eagerly check each week to see if maybe this will be the week they catch me up, but it hasn't happened yet. Soon, I'm sure. They took a chance on me and gave me my start. It is my fervent wish they find their footing and keep going. But even the royalty statements I have gotten show sales for some titles in the single digits for the first time ever.

I suspect the erotica market is now glutted and finding new readers isn't as easy as it used to be with all the authors now choosing to self-publish. The first titles I released on my own did wonderfully well. The last ones? Not so much.

To be honest, I'm starting to grow a bit bored writing erotica, myself. I had a lot of fun with it and am happy to have written as many books in the genre as I did. But it isn't only the marketplace's tastes that change - writer's appetites do, too.

To that end, I've been challenging myself lately, writing in several styles, just for fun. I've written a short story in the Action/adventure genre, several non-fiction travel pieces, and an epic fantasy (that's currently taking up much of my time!).

This isn't to say there won't be more Diana Hunter stories. Hot sex is still fun to write on occasion but honestly? Mystic Shade outsells Diana. You're more likely to see more stories from Mystic than Diana, especially after the egg laid by Winter Break (still don't know if people who bought it liked it or not. Please leave reviews!!!! Good or bad, it's the only way we writers get feedback).

Sales are in a slump and the way out for me is to keep writing. Even one book sold is one more reader touched by the story I've written and that doesn't suck. Reading back on this, it sounds pretty depressing and I don't mean it to be. Waves happen in business. The trick it to keep going. If I stop writing all together? Then I'll never find that next wave to ride, and I'd hate to miss the fun. So don't worry - there will be more books, more stories, more genre to choose from.

In the meantime, play safe - and leave a review!!! :)

Diana

Looking forward to looking backward...

My daughter, Kate, works in the theatre, which gives her a somewhat nomadic lifestyle. Mostly she works in theatres within a fifty mile radius of her apartment but she's not adverse to picking up and going elsewhere (even out of state) if that's where the job is. To that end, this week she's attending the USITT (United States Institute for Theatre Technology) conference in Salt Lake City, Utah, with an eye toward that next job.

Initially, she planned to travel with a friend. Unfortunately, the friend had to bow out (pun intended) and Kate feared she'd have to as well, since now she had no one to share costs with. And then she turned those puppy eyes on her mother...and her mother melted. How could I not?

Besides which, I've never been to Salt Lake City. Flown over the midwest twice (once on my way to Alaska and then again when we went to Disneyland) but St. Louis (RT Convention) is really the only stop I've spent time in the middle of the country. 

It will also be the highest altitude I've ever been and still been on the planet (as opposed to flying over it). Rochester, NY has an altitude of about 500 feet above sea level. Our cabin is about 800 feet above - but Salt Lake City is 4000+ feet above. Whee!

At first I'm thinking, Kate will be at the convention all day and I won't have anything to do. Might be time to start a new story or finish an old one. Or go sight seeing. What is there to see in Salt Lake City besides the Mormon Temple anyway?

Um...gee...only the world's largest Family History Library, filled with hundreds of thousands of genealogical records collected from all corners of the globe. And it's open to the public. For free. Guess where I'm spending MY days!

The last two weeks have been spent organizing all the scraps of paper I've written family stories on, compiling lists of what we know and finding the holes of things we don't know. Some of the family lore I've been able to verify with census records or using the SSDI (Social Security Death Index), but holes still remain. And a few very big, very solid walls that I can't seem to find a way over, around or under.

So now I have a notebook and a flashdrive filled with What We Know about the Frawley, Benjamin, Broschart, Schmitt, Ingandello, and Scaramuzzino families. I've chosen not to look further into the Pierces and the Ritters on my mom's side of the family because I have a second cousin who has done a LOT of work, at least on the Ritters. And the Duprey/Garrow lines are so convoluted and twisted it would take a lot more than the three days I have to unravel them alone.

That's right. Three days. Three days spent in a library. Three days devoted to researching the family trees. Three days of uninterrupted immersion into their stories, their joys, their defeats. 

Yep. I am SO looking forward to looking backward!

Play safe,

Diana 

Four books, one low price!

Now available! All four books bundled together in one set. In Secret Submission and Submission Revealed, Phillip and Sarah Townshend have quite the set of experiences, both in and out of the bedroom. Thank goodness for friends like Will and Jill who are there to pick up the pieces!

John and Lauren find themselves needing those friends in Services Rendered. As a Civil War re-enactor, John enjoys the sound of cannon and the thrill of (safely!) charging the field. But Lauren's nursing of real soldiers on real battlefields leaves her baffled by his hobby. Thankfully Phillip, Sarah, Will and Jill are all there to help their friends through.

What happens to couples that enjoy their sex BDSM kinky after ten years? Phillip and Sarah are back again in Diamond Submission - ready to celebrate that milestone anniversary in a very exciting way!

All four books are still available separately or get them bundled today (click on the picture for the bundle)!

Don't forget to leave a review of one or all books. :)



Secret Submission print    Secret Submission ebook

Submission Revealed print    Submission Revealed ebook

Services Rendered print    Services Rendered ebook

Diamond Submission ebook


Play safe,
Diana

A few more changes

The Purchasing Info page is now up-to-date. It had a few books that are currently not available (took those down) and one that  wasn't listed (I'm looking at you, New York Moment!). I've tried to change the font color of two books in the text listing but that change hasn't stuck. Will keep trying on that.

I also changed the donation link on the homepage because of a post made by one of my former students. For years now, I have encouraged my readers to donate to the Red Cross because that group does such good work when emergencies strike, but have known for a while that the monetary distribution was uneven. Not that their CEO doesn't deserve competitive pay - he/she does. It's hard to attract excellent CEO's without it. Why work for the Red Cross when I can work for a corporation for a whole lot more money? It's the same problem when hiring a new Superintendent of Schools. You have to pay competitive rates or you don't get the cream of the crop applicants.

So I get that a huge chunk of their donation money goes to staff. We live in a capitalistic society and why should they be paid less to perform humanitarian aid than those who do the same jobs in hospitals around the country? The answer? They shouldn't. They are still a deserving group who needs donations in order to do their work.

But I changed to St. Jude Research Hospital anyway. Why? Because these are kids. They got stuck with a raw deal and this is an organization that makes an attempt to help. Recently I’ve been involved in the health care system of the United States and let me tell you, it’s a rabbit warren filled with Pass the Buck, self-interest (read: greed), and more gobbledygook and misinformation than I ever thought possible. Any organization that helps families through it when their minds are filled with more important things (like the fact that their child is dying) deserves my support.

Really, though, who you choose to donate to is up to you. As long as you help those in need, there are a lot of places who need your help. Feel free to post links in the comments of groups who could use a lift.

Play safe,

Diana

New design for the website

It has been a long time since this site has seen an upgrade in design. Been bored with it for a while but apparently I needed a kick in the arse and who better to give it to me but Raelene Gorlinsky. She posted a piece on her blog about the nine must-haves for every author website. Yes, I have them all, but some of them were pretty sloppy. And the last one? Time for a re-design, for sure!

You'll notice the text space is wider, as is the sidebar. Didn't know I could change those and found the menu that let me do that this time. I use a two-monitor system with my computer (really helps when comparing drafts!) and one is smaller than the other. I made sure the widths fit on both. If you find things getting cut off on your screen, let me know!

If you've been trying to access the site today, you may have noticed the header picture changing several times. My husband thought it might look nice with my signature rose up there with my name over it. Of course, that meant creating the .jpg first. Couldn't make it look good, so several configurations and .jpgs later, I decided to go back to the original. You know, the original .jpg that apparently no longer exists on my computer. Created it anew, then had to go through several MORE configurations to make it fit right. Still a little pixelated with the text, but best one so far.

Other updates:
The Purchasing Info page was missing New York Moment - added that in. Also re-arranged some but the different sizes of the covers is a pain in the patootie. Will be resizing and fixing all those today as well to clean up the layout.

Added a Google+ badge. Now those with Google accounts can more easily follow me. And widening the sidebar made the link button for Facebook easier to see as well.

I added the About Me page a while back, but widening the text box and going with a different background allowed the tabs at the top to show up better.

Let me know what you think in the comments below. Am up for suggestions!

Play safe,
Diana

Out of my comfort zone...

Strokes in the family have a way of upsetting routine. But after the dust settles, you discover the routine returns, if in a different form than before.

Because of the dust-up in the family, writing time and energy has been in short supply recently. Not one to rest on laurels, my usual routine is to finish one book, get it published, and a day or two later, start the next one. Winter Break released just before Christmas - and until last week I hadn't done more than dabble at my writing.

What changed and got me going again? A complete, total change of genre. No, really. As in, not writing novels at all. Not even writing poetry (which I have done before!).

Nope. I'm writing a play.

You heard it here first, folks! 

Many years back I wrote a short story as a challenge to myself: tell the story using only dialogue. No descriptors of any sort, nothing other than the words the characters exchange. I had a lot of fun with it and got some good feedback. Two characters only: John Adams and Hugh White, one of the soldiers involved in the Boston Massacre of 1770.

A few years later, I thought about turning that single scene into a play. I added a few characters, wrote a bit more, then set it aside as my erotic romance novels took off. It's been sitting on my computer ever since.

Flash forward to a few weeks ago. A local community theatre group holds a reading of new plays every year. The submissions come from all over the country. It's done reader's theatre style and, although some directors of the pieces do opt for a little movement, mostly it's actors on stools reading from a script on a music stand. 

But its a great opportunity for playwrights to hear the scene(s) out loud, their lines spoken by actors who may have a very different interpretation. 

Well, this year, for whatever reason, there weren't many submissions and the group debated about cancelling the readings for this year. Instead, they extended the deadline. I pulled out that old script and said, "Why not?"

There was only one problem: it sucked. Big time. Like majorly bit the big one. It was pedantic and boring...and did I say pedantic? I gave the script to my husband and he was kind in his review. "I think this might make a good play for little kids to read in their Weekly Reader."

Ouch.

But he also said he thought I was starting the story in the wrong place. History tells us John Adams took the case of the British soldiers, defending them from the charges of murder, because he felt it important that the mob mentality not have any place in the colonies. 1770 was before any real talk of independence - most were arguing for the same rights as other British citizens, rights Parliament didn't want to extend to the colonists.

We know Adams for a Patriot - a man who would not only argue for independence, but go on to be our third President. But in 1770, he was a man with a choice. Defend the British? Or let mob rule take over.

And that's the play I've started to write. I threw out most of what I had and started again, this time exploring the terrible crisis of conscience he faced. To defend the soldiers would put his own career in jeopardy. More than his career - his very life and the lives of his wife and children. But to not defend them was to descend into an anarchy he couldn't live with.

Yeah. Finished the first scene this morning and gave it to my husband. He came back ten minutes later and said, "Now you're talking!" Got half of the next scene done as well. Because I'm researching as I go (just ordered what I hope will be a great book on manners of the 18th and 19th century), the writing is slow...but it is progressing.

So my word count for the day was 1476 words - on a play. Wish me luck!

Play safe,

Diana

PS. I also just read Finding Fraser, a delightful book by kc dyer. A chick-lit book set in the present day about a woman who chucks it all to travel to Scotland and find her own Jamie Fraser. :)

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For a look at what you're missing, click here - and then sign up! :)

Play safe,
Diana

Snow stories

Having grown up in Rochester, NY and watched the Snow Bowl between my hometown, Syracuse and Buffalo each year (which city could take the title as "Snowiest City"), it's been with some amusement that I've watched Snowstorm Jonas take over the news.

Please don't misunderstand me. This storm brought snow to places that normally don't get it. They are woefully unprepared for snow removal and the drivers in those areas have no clue that snow driving requires a different set of skills. Even an inch or two of snow can throw everything into a tizzy let alone several inches when you're not used to it. So I get that this was a serious storm. 

My husband and I, however, both are used to feet of snow dropping in a single storm, so even after all the dire predictions, we still headed to New York City on Wednesday last, knowing we'd be coming home right in the middle of the Snow-mageddon. We took the train, as is our wont (don't drive in Manhattan if you don't need to. It's not worth the aggravation of dodging taxis, trying to figure out the one-way streets, or trying to find a place to park). 

We had a great time, seeing four plays in three days. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime was my favorite. In fact, I think it might've been the best Broadway show I've ever seen, bar none. A crisp, clean production that was flawless in execution and breathtaking in its beauty. I'd read the book and found the play a wonderful interpretation of the story. And stay after the curtain call for a phenomenal extra that blew everyone's mind.

We also saw Something's Rotten -- which is a send-up of musicals over the years. References are made to nearly every Broadway Tony Award-winning musical of the last 30 years and that made it fun. I laughed out loud several times.

The reason we went was to see George Takai and Lee Salonga in Allegiance. It's closing as of February, which is unfortunate. While I found the book a little clumsy in places, overall, it was a wonderful production of a difficult time in America's history. In fact, its a history we've tried to shove under the rug and shouldn't. Especially since we have Presidential candidates who want to relive it in the most negative way possible.

The last show we saw was Finding Neverland. I was most impressed with Matthew Morrison's voice. I'd seen him on the first few episodes of Glee, but since I didn't follow the show, had never heard him sing. What incredible control he has over his instrument! The others on stage were outclassed, that was for sure. Well, except for Kelsey Grammar. He's not a singer, although he has a strong character voice, and his sense of comic timing is nothing short of impeccable. :)

The snow started falling as we left the theatre on Friday night and by morning, the city had four or five inches. But nothing had been plowed and the only sidewalks that were shoveled were those of the shop owners who were doing it themselves. We stayed at the Hotel Edison and had several blocks to walk to get to Penn Station. We made it as far as the Subway station and then headed underground to take the train. Suitcases are not made for snow and, even though they had wheels, all they did was act as little plows to build up snow as we pulled them along. That meant carrying them and, of course, we'd bought souvenirs for the kids so....

But Penn Station was warm and cozy - well, as cozy as a waiting room can be when trains south and east and west are all being cancelled. Only the trains going north were still running. What direction are we going? North, of course. Not only was our train running, it was on time, too!

So we pulled out of the station with a full car that pretty much emptied at Albany. We'd run out of snow at Poughkeepsie but could still see the edge of the snow snowstorm all the way north. Got home to sunshine and dry roads.

I've seen New York in many sorts of weather, but this was my first snowstorm. Part of me wanted to get snowed in and see it in all it's winter wonderland glory, but part of me was saying, "It's just snow, guys. And not even good packing snow." In any case, I'm glad we got out and came home to watch the rest of the events on TV. And since Broadway went dark, we might as well be home. :)

We visited a few other places in the city while we were there, but those are posts for another day.

Play safe -- in the snow or otherwise!

Diana

Happy New Year!

This post has been a long time coming. It’s taken me a while to not only figure out what to say, but to gain enough distance to say it.

On November 9th, an aneurysm burst in my brother’s brain. Sixty percent of the time, that’s instantly fatal. My brother had a headache.

It was a bad headache – so much so that he doesn’t remember much of the next twenty-four hours. But he got home from work and slept for much of that time and, once he woke up on Tuesday night, he called his workplace and they told him he’d refused to go in the ambulance (he vaguely remembered sitting on a guerney) and that, despite their best efforts, he insisted on driving himself home (my brother is a big man—I understand their reluctance to forcibly taking the keys from him).

When he emailed the family Tuesday night (the 10th), my sister and I both strongly encouraged him to go to the doctor Wednesday morning. Okay, we yelled at him to do so.

Long story short, he ended up in the emergency room of the local hospital, the staff of which knew immediately what had happened. They didn’t have the facilities to deal with an aneurysm that was now bleeding into the brain and had been for nearly thirty-six hours. By ambulance they sent him to a larger hospital where, after getting his blood pressure under control, they inserted a platinum coil into the aneurysm (going in through the groin) and plugged it.

That procedure was a success. Unfortunately, he had a hemorrhagic stroke a half an hour after he came out of recovery. Those types of strokes are also usually fatal—immediately. The brain swelled, they rushed him into surgery again and, the upshot was, they removed a large (nearly a third) of his skull in order to 1) drain the blood and 2) allow the brain room.

Yes, he survived the stroke as well. He’s batting two for two. I didn’t need to look far for a Christmas Miracle this year.

In those early days, traveling down to see him, to consult with nurses and doctors, I didn’t have much time to think. My brother isn’t married and has no children. He lives alone and his circle of friends are mostly his co-workers. He lives two and a half hours away from me, three and a half hours from my parents. Close enough to make the round trip in a single day. I drove it once a week (sometimes twice) and made decisions as his health care proxy—decisions that often needed to be made in moments with little time to think.

Some decisions I made with my parents’ input, but many I made on my own. I signed the paper that let them take his skull off. I signed the paper that let them put it back once the swelling went down. I signed the paper that put a tracheostomy in his throat and the paper that moved him from the hospital to an acute rehab facility. I signed them all.

I hold my brother’s life in my hands. I have avoided thinking about the responsibility, but responsibility has a way of lurking in the background, waiting for a crack, a small vulnerability it can exploit. Once that crack forms, all the guilt, second-guessing, and endless replaying of events pours into one’s soul and burdens one’s shoulders.

For me, that crack formed a week and a half before Christmas. There was no bed for him in any facility anywhere in New York State. He had to be transferred to a facility in Scranton, Pennsylvania – a full hour further away. I hung up the phone after giving permission and cried for over an hour. I told my husband I thought I needed therapy because I was losing my grip. His solution? He called a friend of mine who didn’t even think twice. She took the next day off from work and came over to help me bake Christmas cookies. We had a great day talking things out and she helped me gain perspective again, reordering some of my priorities and helping me to see I wasn’t a bad sister for making the decisions I had.

Is it any wonder I love the man? He’s been my rock, in more ways than I can count.

Now here I stand, on the first day of the New Year, with many more decisions to be made. My brother never made out a will, never appointed anyone to act as Power of Attorney should he need one. If you’re reading this and you haven’t? MAKE THAT YOUR PRIMARY NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTION. Because his cognitive functions are impaired, his neurologist has declared him unable to sign such documents now. That means we have to get a court-appointed guardian for him so we can do simple things, like pay his bills.

And yes, my husband and I worked with an attorney last year and filed our wills. The lawyer also strongly suggested designating POA’s and Health Care Proxies at the same time. We took his advice. If both of us are incapacitated, there are those with the power to take over our financials. I also made up a “Where Things Are” list and gave copies to all the parties involved. Our bank accounts, our credit cards, our debts and our savings are all listed so they don’t have to dig and do too much in the way of financial forensics. MAKE A LIST LIKE THAT AS YOUR SECOND NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTION. The peace of mind is worth it.

My brother had neither of those. The stress and amount of work we’re doing to handle this is overwhelming at times. DETERMINING A SUPPORT SYSTEM FOR YOURSELF SHOULD BE YOUR THIRD RESOLUTION. I’m still finding mine. My husband is first, my girlfriend and her husband are my backups. I’m working on expanding that circle this year (sharing breakdowns isn’t easy for me. I’m the one everyone vents to – I don’t do the venting).

The snow has finally arrived this winter. Right now we’re getting that big, fluffy Christmas snow that turns the world into a beautiful wonderland of white. I am grateful it held off as long as it did – it made the traveling I had to do in December that much safer by its absence. Today I will enjoy it – for that’s my biggest New Year’s Resolution: Enjoy the moments, big or small, because you never know when an aneurysm is going to burst in your brother’s brain and change your life completely.

Play safe,

Diana

WINTER BREAK Releases!

Now that my newsletter readers know, I can announce it to the world, WINTER BREAK, my newest novella, is now on sale!

That's right. Followers of this blog know this story's story. After a second round of edits, Lynn and Tony's story is finally finished, formatted, and ready for you to read.

It was fun writing a story with (somewhat) older characters. These two are in their early forties and have a romantic, sexy, fun-filled past that now comes back to haunt them. Love rediscovered, though, can conquer the mistakes of their youth, right?

Buy links are here, as is an excerpt from the story.

Of course, if you've signed up for my newsletter, you already know there's a sale going on. Click here to get a 20% discount not only on WINTER BREAK, but on several other of my Christmas stories as well. And if you're not signed up for my newsletter (which goes out 4-6 times a year - no inbox spamming!), you can use the form below to subscribe and get these deals faster.

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Play safe, 

Diana

Just some news...

Deciding not to do NaNoWriMo this year turned out to be a good decision. Life has a way of taking unexpected turns, doesn't it? And sometimes decisions you make for one reason end up being the right one for very different ones.

WINTER BREAK was in edits at the beginning of the month and my second Sweet Spot book was half-written. The initial reasoning for not participating had to do with those two stories. A few days in, it had become obvious that the editing time and the writing time would conflict, so I bowed out of the annual, wonderful write-in that is NaNoWriMo.

And then an aneurysm burst in my brother's head and everything else took a backseat.

Editing is easier to do than writing when a crisis occurs. So WINTER BREAK will release before the end of the month, as promised. But the Sweet Spot story? I haven't written a word on it since November 9th, when the world turned sideways.

Mike's not doing as well as we'd hoped. The initial surgery to repair the aneurysm went well - he woke afterward and spoke with the nurses and the doctor in ICU. But a short time later, his brain swelled and they had to take him back into surgery. He hasn't been awake since.

Modern medicine is a true marvel. What they were able to do (and are doing) is nothing short of amazing. But hard decisions are coming on us and it's very difficult to be creative when they loom in one's thoughts.

The upshot? WINTER BREAK will be released in less than a week (Yay! A bright spot!!!), but the still-unnamed Sweet Spot story will be delayed until after the New Year. You'll like it, though. Remember Emily, Wiste's best friend who is her safety when Wiste does her self-bondage? She got short shrift in TIED TO HOME, so I decided she needed her own story. Good thing she meets a hunky psychiatrist who has only recently hung up his shingle in Port Clef...:)

Keep my brother in your thoughts and prayers, if'n you would. Thank you.

Play safe,
Diana

PS. A special treat for those of you who read this far. Click on any of the links above for a sneak peek at WINTER BREAK. :)

Okay, so maybe not so much NaNoWriMo...

November starts with such good intentions. Write a novel, start to finish, in thirty days. It can be done. Did it last year. Can do it again this year, right?

Yeah. About that.

Last year's NaNoWriMo novel was an historical romance set in 1777 British-occupied New York City, entitled THE REVOLUTION OF CLARA SIMPSON*. I'd spent several weeks in October doing the research and, at the start of the month, already had the first chapter (more or less) written. While more research was necessary during November, the bulk of the time was devoted to writing.

Eliza Floyd is the best friend of Clara Simpson in last year's novel. I've wanted to tell her story, too, and thought this year's NaNoWriMo would be the perfect time to sit down and do it.

So, starting on November 1st, I pulled out the two paragraphs I'd written last year and set aside and let my fingers start creating, drawing a clear picture of Miss Floyd and her mother in a carriage as they left the city for safer environs.

Fifteen minutes later (after writing one hundred and fifty words), I needed to look up a detail about the family. Which, of course, led to delving deeper into the New York City culture of the time. And where, exactly, was their destination? I know I bookmarked a map that was very helpful last year...

Two hours passed and the story wasn't any further, the questions in my head that needed further research had quadrupled and it became quite clear that, if I wanted to complete a novel for NaNoWriMo, Eliza's story wasn't the one to tell.

I have another novel I'd been working on that I set aside when WINTER BREAK (a novella that will be released at the end of this month) came along. It's already 22,000 words long. Another 30K should finish it off. But then I couldn't count it as a NaNoWriMo novel. The goal is one novel, one month, 50,000 words.

What to do? What to do?

It's already the third day in and so far, I have nothing to show for it. With edits soon to be returned for WINTER BREAK, and a half-written novel started, it really makes more sense to abandon the noble NaNo goals and concentrate on those works-in-progress. This way, I'll have one new piece released just after Thanksgiving and another new novel ready for release just after Christmas.

All that means, no NaNoWriMo for me this year. The timing just doesn't work out.

Play safe!
Diana

*THE REVOLUTION OF CLARA SIMPSON is currently "in the queue" at two publishers. Thought going the traditional route might bring in a wider audience for my other books. Am losing patience, however. One company has had it since April and the other hasn't returned/acknowledged my query. If I hear nothing from either by Christmas, I'm going to self-publish it and not keep readers waiting any longer.

Hmmm...three books released in three months? I'd better get writing!
D.H.

NaNoWriMo is coming!

So here I am, on the cusp of NaNoWriMo, trying to finish WINTER BREAK before November 1st so I can start fresh with something else on Sunday.

Why isn't WINTER BREAK finished yet, Hunter? You've had two full weeks to write one more scene. What's up?

The biggest reason is my daughter. I have two children; my son moved out over a year ago and married last May. My daughter, having graduated with a degree in theatre and loving Stage Management, hasn't been able to get anything full time and so has been living at home to save money. That's changed. She's now the full time Business Manager for two businesses - Water Gallery and Cafe and the West Main Kitchen in Waterloo, NY. The first is an art gallery, the second is a recently-renovated diner that will be opening VERY soon (menu tasting is tomorrow by invitation only and my husband and I snagged invites. Can't wait!).

The upshot of all this is that she's taken the apartment over the diner (and two doors down from the gallery) and has been moving out. We've painted her new kitchen, her new living room and her new bedroom (the bathroom was still in good shape), moved furniture - I have a garage back! (she's been collecting for quite some time) - and bought groceries. There is still a closet full of clothes to go through and a lot of childhood "stuff" to sort out, but we're almost done.

And that's what I've been doing instead of writing. It's both a fun and exciting time for her (and us) and a scary one as well. She's been on her own before, but I think this is it. Her last move out of our house, starting her own life. She's launched and I'm thrilled and saddened at the same time.

But NaNoWriMo is just around the corner. So today, I'm going to finish WINTER BREAK so I can send it out for another round of edits. Remember the no-conflict problem? Fixed!

I know, I know. Stop writing this post and get back to that story, Hunter!

Play safe!
Diana

edited to correct the name of the new restaurant and to add in the link

No conflict? What???

What do you do when your story has no conflict?

This happened to me lately. I started the story WINTER BREAK as a Christmas Quickie for Ellora’s Cave. But I’m a pantser and the story, while set at Christmas, doesn’t contain the holiday as an integral part of the story (EC’s requirement). It also doesn’t have a lot of sex in it, which makes it more a traditional romance than an erotic one.

Finished, I sent the manuscript off to several of my Sizzling Scribes sisters for proofing/editing. I always ask them to be brutal, because I want the best story I can put out there. Many thanks to both TaraNina and Lynn LaFleur for their comments (and expertise at finding my typos!).

It was Tielle St. Clare, however, who pointed out (rightfully) that I had no real conflict in the story. It was a slice of life piece – which is fine if that’s what I meant, but she rather thought it wasn’t. You see, as a pantser, I discover the characters like to drop little clues, hints about their problems that they divulge rather early in the story. As the plot progresses, I take these clues and follow them, determining as I go which are important and which are not. In the re-write, I take out the false clues (unless I’m writing a mystery like SHOOTING STAR – those red herrings are there specifically to mislead you!).

Except in WINTER BREAK, I hadn’t done anything with the hints at something in the female protagonist’s past that might hinder a current relationship.

Now mind you, I knew what it was in my head. I knew the hero and heroine would have trouble because of it. It was all right there – the characters had told me fairly early on and then trusted me to deal with it later.

Except I hadn’t. And Tielle called me on it. This is why writers need editors!

So I’ve been rewriting the story. It’s gone from just over 10K to 14K in the past week as the conflict has come home to roost. Tara and Lynn think it needs another sex scene (grin) and it might get that as well. Haven’t decided yet. Will let the characters make their choices (although I have a sneaking suspicion what they’ll want!). If they do, it will probably end up closer to 18K by the time I’m done.

Writers need editors. Writers know the story too well to have an objective eye—we miss the obvious. Thank you to Tara, Lynn and Tielle for their editing help. I couldn’t do this without you sisters!

Play safe,

Diana

Happy World Teacher Day!

Celebrating a profession I believe in with all my heart!

NaNoWriMo in less than a month -- already?

Hard to believe NaNoWriMo will so soon be upon us. Seems like just yesterday we were furiously writing novels, grabbing every spare minute to write another section, another paragraph, another sentence. Anything to advance our word counts and get to the finish line: 50,000 words in a month.

NaNoWriMo is good because it forces one to take time and do what writer's do: write. As a retiree, it's all too easy to slip into lazy practices - I'll do one more load of laundry...dust the dining room...read this book - any excuse to avoid the BIC step (Butt In Chair). An event such as NaNoWriMo reminds us, if you want to write a book? You have to sit down and write a book.

Last year I worked on THE REVOLUTION OF CLARA SIMPSON, an historical romance. I'd started the research earlier and had some of it written before November. During NaNoWriMo, however, I added 52K to the story. When I finished it a few weeks later, the story ended up around 75K total. But for the November push, it would've taken a whole lot longer for me to get that puppy finished.

What happened to that manuscript, you ask? Let me tell you...

The book sprang from a conversation I'd had with C. J. Hollenbach, one of EC's original cover models. He's a sweetheart and, at the Romanticon convention, I remarked that he'd never graced the cover of any of my books. I told him I'd write one specifically for him, a book that would cry out for him as the cover model.

At one point, he was the model for Karen Hawkins' Her Master and Commander and I loved that picture of him. Dashing, handsome, romantic...yeah. I wanted to write that C.J., so I did. The Revolution of Clara Simpson.

But it didn't turn out to be an erotic romance. Historical romance, yes. Sweet romance, yes. Erotic romance? No so much.

That meant Ellora's Cave wasn't the right place for it. I could self-pub it (and still might!), but thought this might be the book to bring in a wider audience. So I sent it off to Carina Press.

Who promptly rejected it.

I sent it to Harlequin next. But, three months later, I contacted them again (since I hadn't heard from them aside from the initial auto-response) and asked if they were still interested. I got a very nice note in reply from Dieidra McCluskey, an Editorial Assistant, stating that their response time of 12 weeks is approximate and that my manuscript was being reviewed by their Historical Romance response team.

I haven't heard from them since. I suppose I'll send another email at the six-month period to see if I can goose it along, one way or the other. It's hard, having written a book that I know is good, to wait on others for a yay or nay, especially in this time of self-publishing when I could've had it out there already (let's face it, Mystic Shade wrote, edited and published two more books and I've written a Christmas story that's currently in edits in the time Harlequin has taken to decide!).

So I'll give them a courtesy email in another week, upon the six-month anniversary of my submitting it. I would very much like them to publish it, even though it means a smaller royalty for me (compared to self-publishing) because it means a wider distribution. More eyes on the book - and that's worth the trade-off. Why? Because that book will lead new readers to say, "I liked this. What else has she written?" And my entire backlist will get a boost.

So what's up for this year's NaNoWriMo? What book will I work on? Not sure yet. I have that fantasy I keep talking about and would love to get a chunk more written. But there is also a follow-up story to Clara Simpson's and I'm thinking I might like to give that a run. I have a few weeks yet to make my decision, thank goodness!

NaNoWriMo in less than a month - already. Have any ideas about what project you're going to work on?

Play safe,
Diana