It has been a while since I released a new short. I guess I got all caught up in the euphoria of my ‘Perfect Murder’ being released to the third world by World Reads. However, I feel the need to release a new freebie on my webpage. Now which one shall I choose? Decisions, decisions. Watch this space..

1. Dear Eastlink, I would like you to know how monumentally unimpressed I am with your miserable apology for a service. It wasn’t just the fiber fracturing that knocked out all of Alberta for a good twentyfive hours, or the outages last week. When I try to phone you to find out why the service I pay for is not working, I do not want to hear the automated message telling me to unplug my router for ten… seconds. I can assure you I know this one by heart and have tried many times and I have also tried connecting directly to my desktop before I ever call you. I do not want to hear the second automated message encouraging me to go online to hook up with a tech there to save me time waiting for a real person. If I could go online, then I wouldn’t be calling you in the first place. I had, however, never heard the third automated message telling me of the fractured fiber. Now that was new and different. So new and different, as it turns out, that a goodly few of your phone techs were blissfully unaware of it.

   The first tech I spoke to mumbled about checking something when I declined to unhook my router after multiple times of doing this and when I explained that my cable tv was also offline. I was then cut off. The second tech told me the problem was resolved and therefore the fault was in my system, despite the tv still being down. Yes, I did check before each call. The third tech advised me the problem was not fixed and they had no idea when this would be accomplished. Always good to know.

   Having given up on trying to get an answer from internet techs I tried the tv techs. Wow, night and day. The lady pinged my tv and I now have service. She also pinged my internet, and guess what? It is back again. Imagine that? Why didn’t your internet techs try this? Does this happen to be restricted information they can only achieve after they have scored a certain number of pissing off customer badges? Is this how it works? Do tell.

   Oh, and I was asked for a pin number to get access for help. Do you imagine anyone in their right mind would want to steal your service? Really???

   No love,

   Me.

It is said that there are only seven basic plot lines for any form of speculative fiction. Probably true when a clump of well-know books are studied in depth. So what makes the work stand apart? One of these things can be the characters.

In a really good book, there is no such thing as a good, or a bad character. The hero/heroine will have flaws and the bad guy will have good points. Why is this important? Because the reader can relate. The majority of the human race will have flaws or saving graces. It is what makes us human and how we are able to relate to each other. Sympathy/empathy stems from feeling sorry for someone essentially good who flubs. Forgiveness stems from the nicer traits of the less than stellar person who tries to do something right for a change.

So who was the best flawed good guy/girl and who was the best bad guy/girl and why?

The ones that come to mind for me are out of Lord of the Rings. Aragon was the good guy, and yet he has his moments of selfishness and indecision. Had he been less wrapped up in himself, then maybe Boromir wouldn’t have died. Golem, the quintessential bad guy is shown agonizing over killing Frodo. He likes Frodo and he battles with his evil half to stop the killing and yet he can’t help himself in the end as the ring is his master and drives him on. Nevertheless, there are moments when a reader can feel sympathy for him.

Who do you choose and why?

Every day we make the decision to get out of bed and start the day, but what promotes a writer to choose writing in a particular genre? How much does early reading/parental guidance/availability guide us?

I would say a lot to all three having thrashed over what books I have ever read in the course of this weekend and why I happened to like them. I remember going for fairly stories from the moment I could join a library. I progressed through Agatha Christy, historical romances, fantasy and sci fi. I occasionally dip into horror and have always devoured myths. It is no surprises that I now write dark romantic fantasy, science fantasy, high fantasy, urban fantasy and science fiction.

What about you? What do you like to read/write and were the early years a part of this? 

There are some places I should not be allowed near in any circumstances. (Sometimes I get lucky and my weakness is not known so this happens anyway). Bookstores are on this list and so are crystal shops. Imagine my joy when I discovered a book I craved in a crystal store? Surrounded by crystals? This was an oh dear moment.

First on my list of lapses must go the book, Haunted Spaces, Sacred Places by Brian Haughton. Um, I can justify this as I really do need it for research for a work in progress. Even the dh thought this would be interesting and that he might like to read it also.

Then we come to the frivolous that I wanted just because. There was a little emerald, a little blue apatite, a large fluorite and it that were not enough, when we went back the following day I succumbed to the urgings of a large labradorite. This is like a butterfly’s iridescent wings and they all have healing properties for the chakra. It says so on the cards I got with them. So there!

Everyone has a vice and this is mine. I will pick up a rock from anywhere in the world we have visited and bring it home. Not polished rocks like these ones, but rocks I have found that look interesting to me. I also have a couple of geodes I haven’t cut open yet. Oh, and ok, I carry a small amethyst in my purse. Well, it is my birthstone. I will post on Pinterest next week as the light has now gone and they all look amazing with the sun shining on them. Yes, they are going in my office. Those I chose help to promote concentration and finishing projects. LOL.

This was a culmination of an amazing weekend we spent with a dear writing friend of mine and her wonderful husband. The boys get alone great, so can amuse each other while we ladies get down to book talk. Yes, we brainstormed over plots. The thing is that we know each other’s work, so it needs no explaining. We can both jump right in. It is impossible to describe the fun of that to anyone who is not a writer.

The second venture out to the crystal shop coincided with a spiritual fair, where there was a local writer selling her books. Now there is food for thought. We are thinking of teaming up to get a booth later in the summer and plugging ours. Hey, she seemed to be doing good and with two of us pulling together, maybe this will pan out nicely? Nothing ventured, nothing gained and we will be one again in the close proximity of the crystal shop. Um, the venue. The crystal shop has nothing to do with this. Really it doesn’t. (I did forgo buying an amethyst bracelet so I consider I have been very good).

Hellava lot as it happens. The primary consideration is what the home owners actually like and what will work in their area/zone.

Next comes the ideas and the mock up of several plans. This includes several 3D sketches. How else is the home owner going to know what the prospective designs look like? Not from an overhead. Overheads only work when the owner knows the product and can envisage the outcome.

Getting something that works means everyone pulls together. The product has to be right for the location and also for the home owner. Bottom line is he who pays the piper calls the tune.

This is a labor of love

I don’t know. I am guessing like everyone else. What I do feel is a change in the air. Cross genre seems to finally coming into its own and I see a lot of new books doing a remarkable job of letting in some fresh air. Steampunk sci fi, fantasy western steampunk, sci fi satire, and others that are more than awesome with no definite label.

I guess this is good news for me as my stuff has always veered towards the different. I like deep stories, with layering, so the reader can go back and find something new on each re-read. This most certainly wasn’t planned as I am incapable of outlining. I tried this on several occasions and the story just ran away from the outline, coming as it would. Perhaps this is the main joy of writing for me. I get to find out what happens as the story unfolds.