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Showing posts from January, 2013

Readers Are Cool!

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If you love something, set it free. Or give it away. And when it comes back it's wrapped up in glitter paper and tied with a satin bow, and it pops with confetti and sings a tune. That's what I feel like is happening with Marking Time .  Giving the kindle book away for free on amazon has brought me amazing gifts - totally unexpected and way better than Christmas! Who knew? It all started with an e-mail to a friend who teaches English at a high school up the hill. I told her about the free promo days for my YA urban fantasy book and wondered if she'd be willing to let her classes know about it. If anyone was interested, I'd be very happy to come in and talk about books and writing, etc. Lara very generously invited me to come and talk to her Juniors and Seniors. The night before I went back to high school, after I'd mentally planned an outfit that hopefully didn't provoke ridicule or head-shaking (I dreaded the "what-was-she-thinking" look of pity

The Moral of the Story

My 4th grader has a writing project due next week, which means, of course, that I take it more seriously than he does (at least until the night before it's due). The theme is 'voice,' which, on the surface, sounds like it has to do with characters speaking, or maybe what tone the writer takes as he tells his story. But not this time. This 'voice' project is about the moral of the story. I didn't love Aesop's fables when I was a kid - they were too spare and bleak and preachy; too... moral. But I love the pithy sayings that came from them. The value is in the worth, not in the number. Two wrongs don't make a right. Fair weather friends are not worth much. And one of my favorites from The Boy Who Cried Wolf, There is no believing a liar, even when he speaks the truth, otherwise known as Liar, liar, pants on fire. My son has latched onto one from the Grimm's Tale about the little tailor who killed seven (flies) in one blow, stitched it onto a belt h

Just Write

How do I write? It seems like an odd question to ponder because the obvious answer is "sit your booty down at the computer and just do it." But that's not the answer to the question. Of course I could just make my fingers move (I'm working with my boys on 10-finger-typing, so finger motion is the way to earn minecraft time in our house), but unless the brain is attached and engaged, I might as well take dictation from my boys.  Actually, that's not a bad idea, especially where the nine-year-old is concerned. But I digress. A better, more accurate question might be; what's my process? Not that I think anyone is particularly fascinated, but it's the thing people seem to be the most confounded by - how did I a: come up with my story, and b: find the time and discipline to write it? First, I read a lot. A whole lot. I read every YA book that looked even remotely interesting. My niece, Alexandra, is an inhaler-of-books. She chooses them based on length -

Happy 150th Birthday to the London Underground

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Since a very big plot feature of my young adult urban fantasy novel, Marking Time, is set in the London Underground station at Whitechapel, I thought I’d share some of the more colorful facts I found during my research. Aldgate Station, on the Circle and Metropolitan Lines, is built on a massive plague pit, where more than 1,000 bodies are buried  An estimated half a million mice live in the Underground system  A small section of the old London Wall survives in the trackside walls of Tower Hill station at platform level. One of the largest pieces of the wall also stands just outside this station.  Many Tube stations were used as air-raid shelters during WWII, but the Central Line went one better and was actually converted into a massive aircraft factory that stretched for over two miles, with its own railway system. Its existence remained an official secret until the 80s.  And in fiction: There is a secret lair at Vauxhall Cross in Die Another Day.  A buried Martian Spacesh

Free kindle copy promotion - January 24-28 on Amazon

Whew! I finally committed.  Marking Time  will be offered for free to anyone with a kindle or kindle app on their phone, iPad, computer, etc, for five days - January 24-28th.  I will make no money, Amazon will make no money, but during those five days anyone with an Amazon account can download my book for free to keep forever. "Why do that?" some may ask. "Isn't selling books about making money?" "Eventually. Maybe. On the Film rights. If I'm lucky." I answer. Very lucky. Like striking gold in the Yukon with a pickax and a gold pan lucky. Or stumbling over the pot at the end of the rainbow and not pissing off the Leprechaun lucky. But first, it's about finding readers. Readers who like urban fantasy, or Jack the Ripper, or time travel, or like one lovely reviewer, who never reads novels but enjoys science and history and found them both buried in the layers of story in Marking Time . So I'm offering my book for free to everyone. Then