corrinalaw

Sale #2

I am pleased to announce that I've signed a contract with Samhain Publishing for "Freya's Gift," a 24,000 word novella that I wrote as a prequel to Dinah of Seneca.

Freya's Gift will be released on March 16, 2010.

Samhain needs a blurb post-haste and I've been working on that today.

Tagline:
Would you risk the man you love to save your people?

Blurb:

SIF and RAGNOR are the married leaders of a Viking tribe that has settled in the North America. The tribe was thriving until an unexplained sickness killed most of the women. The couple has held the tribe together so far, but both know that their future as leaders and their life together have reached a dangerous crossroads.
Sif realizes that a sexual ritual for the fertility goddess Freya can provide healing but it requires that she give herself to both her husband and another man. If she refuses the ritual, she could lose her tribe. If she accepts, she could lose her husband’s love.

Yes, it's erotica. For slash fans, there's a bit of male/male going on here and there. I like to think it's damn hot. And wet during the climatic ritual, given there's a natural spring sacred to our goddess involved.

And while it's erotica, I wrote this story trying to explore how two people could place their personal feelings aside, have faith in the goddess they worship, and trust each other enough to risk their relationship to save what they believe is more important: their people. When I finished the story, it gave me warm fuzzies.

The fertility ritual comes into play in Dinah of Seneca because Dinah's eventual hero, Gerhard, is the third participant in the ritual.

And because, for me, posting this cover never gets old:
Dinah's cover.


Dinah will be out on July 2, 2010.

I seem to be in the minority among comic book geeks but, as a whole, I either hate or am completely indifferent to live action superhero movies.

Why I Don't Like Live Action Superhero Movies.

I thought when I posted that at Geek Dad, I'd get a lot of disagreements. But I have five comments already and all agreeing with me.

Heh.

Maybe next time I should put together a post about how Green Arrow can take Green Lantern or at least Hal. :)

Usually, I have one a theme.

Apparently, there are too many random things I want to share today.

First, Mad Men.
I have not felt the urge to jump up and cheer at a season finale since Giles appeared halfway through the season 6 finale of Buffy. I've gotten so used to the quiet desperation of Mad Men that to have them do something so outright, well, bold and forceful, was a shock to the system in a good way. I felt positively giddy after the first viewing and stayed giddy after the second. Thank you writer, for knowing that tragedy is not always what keeps viewers coming back. And Joan? I adore you.


Second, my ancient kitty, Elf.
Elf is 22 years old. She's been sick on and off the last few months because she's far older than a cat probably should ever be. :)
The bad news is that she has hypertension and went blind. And a UTI. And a problem with incontinence.
The good news is that all but the blindness seems to be cured. The better news is that she has now figured out to navigate the house, including going up and down the steps to use the litter box.

I am amazed. Clearly, this is not a kitty prone to giving up. Apparently, there's at least one life left in her.


Third, professional writing stuff....
Right now, I have two possible sales on the table but not yet finalized. The first I can't talk about yet but I have fingers crossed. The second is an essay I submitted to a Chicken Soup for the Soul book coming out in March. My essay made the final cut, and the letter said the "odds are very likely" that it will be in the book. I'll know for certain in February, about 30 days before publication. Here's hoping.

I also have an article about Internet Communities that should be in the December issue of the Romance Readers Report, and my workshop on Internet Communities was accepted by the New England RWA conference committee, so I will be a workshop presenter there. Conference is the end of March. I foresee much practicing on the minions before then. :)

Fourth, National Novel Writing month:
I am breaking the rules. About 25,000 words into Sky of Seneca, I got stuck. Taking Michael Hauge's advice that I have second act problems because my first act isn't right, I went backwards. He was, naturally, correct. And I've spent time with the first two chapters and the introduction of my main characters, Sky and Ceti, and now we're cooking. I was kinda slogging with the story before. Now I've reached the point where I'm annoyed that I have to spend time on other stuff and can't disappear into the storyverse. This is a very, very good sign.
And I started with 19k and now I'm at 32k, so there is progress being made.

It always asks such interesting questions first thing in the morning.

"Corrina, Is It Time to Move On?" (From what?)

"Corrina, Is This Your Destiny?" (Does it relate to laundry, picking up sick kids from school, and cooking dinner every night? No? Then not so much.)

"Corrina, Is He Your Soul Mate?" (What if I'm a lesbian Libra?) 

"Corrina, Are You Haunted by a Past Life?" (How would I know? Aha, maybe I find that out when I click.)

"Corrina, Discover Your Personal Power!" (Again, I think I must make with the clicky.)

"Corrina, Happiness, Love and Success Await!" Well, AWESOME.

Astrology.Com never fails to make me smile. I'm afraid to make with the clicky. The reality would be such a disappointment.

Yesterday, I went to an all-day writing workshop given by Michael Hauge.

There was a ton of great, crunchy writing stuff at the workshop. I was especially lucky to get a change to talk with Mr. Hauge after the session and after he got over the shock of my fantasy world (wait, what?? You have Romans and Vikings in North America? And explosions? And flying machines?) he pointed out the problem I'm having as I hit the middle of Sky of Seneca is that I haven't given a specific enough goal to my protagonists.

"Saving the community" doesn't quite do it. Well, it is a bit more specific than that, as my main characters are trying to save the community from the forces of a resurgent Roman Empire, but he's right. I need to get my antagonist/threat on the page much, much sooner. And I have a good idea for a proper first scene along those lines and, again, he's right, once I get that down, the rest will click in very, very nicely. Wheels are already turning.

However, I couldn't have realized what I needed without writing the first 25,000 words and seeing where I am. Heck, I didn't even find my antagonist, Makki al-Andulasia until page 117 when he walked on the page and said, "don't mess with me." 

It is a messy and ass-backwards way to do things. But such is my process. It freaks out my critique partner. Heck, it freaks me out but I'm learning to live with it.

On the lecture itself, the most fascinating part of it was about how Hauge talked about the journey from identity to essence.

In other words, the false mask that we were to protect ourselves from the world and our true essence.

It's a great, great metaphor for what happens in most of my favorite books. Look at "A Civil Campaign," which we're still dissecting over on my writing list. Miles is wearing a mask that he thinks will work to win over Ekaterin in the first half of the book. That mask gets ripped off about the halfway point, and thereon, he tries to find a way to reach her with his true self. Meanwhile, Ekaterin wasn't so much hiding as not even knowing what her true essence was but after the halfway point, she's beginning to object to "Vor women like you would never do that," because she's busy tossing away that mask.

Which brings me to Mad Men. Hauge is a big, big fan so we talked about this season. And this season is all about the masks coming off, for everyone. Don Draper's mask is revealed. Sal's mask is ripped off him. Joan's husband has been revealed as who he really is and it's not good news for Joan. Roger tried taking off the mask but he went in the wrong direction. And Betty, Betty has always been unhappy with her role and she's just sensing that she has the power to get rid of it.

Tonight is going to be such a glorious mess.

First, I've been busy with the non-fiction again.

Sequential Tart has my article about Mad men up this week. It's about how everyone seems to be trying to make their own reality on that show. With limited success.

Speaking of Mad Men, last night was so damn powerful. Don and Betty break my heart. And how perfect it was that Peggy was the only other person besides Don who came into the office on that day. And Roger and Joan so should have been together. On Duck, well, my husband's comment on his actions last night was "well, that man certainly has his priorities in order."

Plus, over on Geek Dad,

1. First, the Geek Dad gift guide is up. I contributed a few books but they would all make great gifts. Check it out.

2. I ranted a bit. Parents out there, anyone else hate those damn school projects where you have to create dioramas or posters or some such thing? Yeah, me too. A camera project for geometry sent me over the edge. Interesting. I've got nine comments already. I'm almost afraid to look at them. :) 

And on writing, I'm doing National National Writing Month but I'm cheating. I already had 19,000 words on the sequel to Dinah of Seneca, Sky of Seneca. I'm using the month to get a rough draft done of the whole thing.

I also got an offer for something else via email last night but I don't have the contract as yet, so I don't want to squee too much. It's not a sale of a novel but it's a damn good sale, so more details and things get finalized, because I'm worried about jinxing it.

So I did something very clumsy this morning.

I was walking down the steps, put my foot wrong, and wrenched my ankle.

OUCH! It was one of those sharp pains that make you see dots in front of your eyes. I stayed on the floor for about fifteen minutes, contemplating trying to get up, and the husband and kids helped me to the couch.

A couple of hours later, and I could walk on it. But it's still throbbing softly, and there's a spot just to the left of the ankle bone that is all spongy.

This was NOT in my plans for the day.

On the good news, the eldest daughter's computer is now up and running. It cost me $90, though, and she pitched a fit when she didn't see all her documents saved. Now, I think the repair guy forgot to upload them before we grabbed it because I told him to save all in the documents file--and my husband made him rush finishing when he picked it up. But i'm not sure. It's also possible that the virus (one of those that pretends to be an antivirus) corrupted those files and they couldn't be saved.

She is very, very bummed as a lot of her writing was on it. I said "did you back up your files on your thumb drives?" 
Sadly, no. But she's trying to get friends to send her anything they have.

Sad way to learn a lesson. But she also was the one who didn't run her virus checks everyday and it wasn't the first time she's been hit with a virus. I hope she learns this time.

But because it cost $90 that I don't really have, I told her that she now has to share with the youngest minion, whose own computer died last week. Fried motherboard. It was old.

Hmm..now I'm wondering. Throbbing ankle or computer virus? Which is worse. It's a measure of how much I love my computer that I'm thinking "computer virus." 

And now i should go back up my own files....

I've spent a good part of the day querying my superhero romance, Phoenix Rising, because of a rejection that I received last week:

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Why do I post this? Two reasons:

1. It's not often I get an email from a publishing professional calling me "incredibly talented" and that the agent who will eventually represent me will be "very lucky. "
Since respected agents are very, very busy people and can easily send form letters for a rejection, I am going to assume that she meant every word. So why didn't she want to represent me? I believe it's similar to when a reader picks up a book and knows it's a good book and the writing is excellent but it somehow just does not do enough for them. In other words, a taste match. Often, I rationalize that other rejections are due to taste matches but in this case, I have proof. :) 

2. Ms. Bradford received the manuscript in late August and then got back to me in mid-October. That's light speed for the publishing industry. I realize agents are overworked but when someone manages to get back to me that fast, and takes the time to write a personalized rejection, I want to give them props. No wonder I hear that her clients love her.

Anyway, I considered this rejection a sign that I should be querying more agents, so I'm spending the week doing just that.

Hope springs eternal.

Okay, you know how when writers start kvetching about how editors and agents can't see their genius and just won't buy their stuff and how publishing sucks and that 99 percent of the time, the problem with selling their book is that is sucks? 

Well, this book is the one percent where publishing did totally screw-up. This book does NOT suck.

This book is one of the most fun, fastest-paced thrillers that I've read in ages:

Need to Know by Christine Merrill.

First of all, the main protagonist is a research librarian who has the Dewey Decimal number of "The Right Stuff" tattooed on her ass.

The male protagonist--really a secret-agent type--is moonlighting as a dull accountant named Bob.

And they're both after a guy who could give charm lessons to George Clooney but is busy betraying everyone, including his country, to make a buck.

Bob & Liz have to work together to get the guy. The UST by the end of the book is off the scale for me, and it ends in a great place, though romance readers, it is not a romance. My superhero comic readers, if you like Gail's action stuff w/great dialogue, this will be right up your alley.

I told Chris that this should really be a television pilot.

And I usually did not pimp my friend's work but I think this is the best thing Chris has ever written--and I liked her books for Harlequin HIstoricals a lot. Need to Know is so much her voice, the action scenes are great, and I really love the characters. I beta read it for her but I then re-read it because I loved it so much.

Publishing world, ya screwed up on this one. Happily, through the miracle of epublishing, readers can bypass that.

So, this week's Mad Men was one of the shows that was about one thing on the surface and about entirely another thing under the surface.

Don and Betty take a trip to Rome to see Conrad Hilton. Pete spends the week alone while his wife is at the beach and encounters a nanny who lives in his building.

Except it's not really about that. It's about Don and Betty's marriage as a fantasy. In many ways, they're the same person. Don is living a lie and is not who he claims to be. Betty has her real identity but she wants to do what Don has already done: run away from home and create a new life for herself.

And that completely collides in the scene when Don & Betty play a fantasy pick-up game halfway through the episode. That scene nails why the characters connect and why their marriage is bloody awful.

Now, Pete...

( major spoilers here )

I have a new Geek Dad post on why I ended up listening to the radio feed from the New England Patriots game Sunday and why wish I had better radio reception in my house.

But that doesn't answer the question of why so many television announcers flat-out suck. My son says I should do it for a living, since many times, I'll say something only to hear it on the television a minute later. I know why plays work and how to break it down--but I am not as good as seeing the play as it's set up at the line as the radio announcers, so I don't think a career change is realistic. :) 

I miss the early John Madden, who used to really break down the game for me.

In the meantime, one of the comments on the Geek Dad post pointed me to radio feeds available on the internet, so I'm going to try that out this week.

And, btw, Minnesota is having quite a interesting sports week.

Every now and then, a writing concept gets hold of my brain and won't let go.

Such it is with competence porn, so here I am again.

I've been pondering what brought about the discussion, which was that briefing room scenes are competence porn--i.e.  chance for characters to show how smart they are.

And I've been trying to put together a list of the best briefing room scenes.

1. Hill Street Blues.
"Let's be careful out there!"
Every Hill Street episode had a briefing room sequence at the beginning, with Sgt. Esterhaus and then his replacements giving out daily assignments to an often-rowdy crowd of police officers. The narrative function was to orient the viewer. But it was often the best scene in the show. I miss Michael Conrad.

2. Star Wars. (the original)
I had to think about this one but when I did, I realized it has two brilliant briefing scenes. The first features the Empire. "I find your lack of faith disturbing," says Lord Vader. The second is the briefing of the Rebel pilots about the attack of the Death Star.

3. West Wing. The whole show is often a briefing room sequence...but I liked the scenes in the Oval Office the most, as the staff trades opinions and Bartlett makes the decisions.

The original Star Trek had a great briefing room sequence in the episode where they were fighting the energy thing that used to be Jack the Ripper.

I suppose if I looked hard enough, I could find an interesting briefing room sequence for The Next Generation but most of those put me to sleep in ten seconds.

Anyone else have any others? Books, movies, tv? 

I'm trying to avoid specific spoilers here.....

I was thinking of the competence porn discussion as I was watching this episode last night.

Here's Don, at the top of the world in his profession, landing Conrad Hilton as a client. Being offered a raise and a bonus.

And his decision to reject them stems directly from his flaws--and he makes several stupid choices in this episode as a result of his fear of being controlled and hemmed in. I had thought watching season one that Don's fear came mostly from his transformation from what his life was before and the new life he created.

Not so, it appears it goes way back to his controlling, abusive parents. No wonder he wanted to erase his name.

But, damn, did he do everything wrong this episode. The show is great because it seems to understand his fear but it makes it clear that the stupid choices are going to come back to haunt him.

And Peggy...oh, Peggy. Her choice works story wise. She's spent the whole season trying to earn respect from someone, anyone. Her mother, Don, the others at the advertising agency, even Joan. So far, nada. Until this episode where someone who seems completely successful says she's amazing and wonderful. No wonder she fell for it. It would be more interesting if it gets emotionally complicated, too.

Betty. Oh, dear. This character feels she has no choices and she looks ready to make a bunch of stupid ones, because they're the only ones open for her.

So much to digest in this show.

Prop note: I've decided I miss the old rotary dial phones with attached receivers. They are such *excellent* props. You can walk around a room holding the base and the receiver to your ear. There's heft to doing that, and somehow it seems to add weight to the conversation itself.

This there's awesome discussion of what's now termed competence porn here.

It starts with a discussion about comics but quickly morphs into why we like smart characters. And I realized that's one of my big pet peeves in writing: 

I can't abide stupid characters as leads.

And I don't mean book smart. Take the first few books of the Stephanie Plus series. No one is going to confuse Stephanie with Einstein but she was street smart as a general rule and could take care of herself. Later on, she seemed to cross the line to stupid, and then back, and then back again.

Lack of competence is why I can't abide True Blood for very long without playing MST3K with it. Drives my husband nuts. (I have no idea why the show gets raves, the level of stupid is soo high. A few stupid people, a few stupid choices okay. But everybody, all the time?) 

I like competence.

I looked at my television viewing this week and noticed that trend. And I think I'm not alone.

Look at the success of Burn Notice. As much as I like to look at Michael with his shirt off, it's his brain that's the most attractive thing about him. He always has a plan. And a back-up plan.

A better example: The Mentalist. Only the most popular show on TV last year. Why? 

Well, there's the pretty. Jane is so very, very pretty. But he's also the smartest person in the room at all times. What I like in the best episodes is how his overconfidence gets him in trouble. Where the show lacks is that they need to make some of the other characters smart too. The lead detective, played by Robin Tunney, is close. And Cho. Cho is smart. I knew I liked him for a reason.

I think "competence porn" may be my new favorite phrase.

I will answer every response to this post with an appropriate Springsteen lyric. :) 

OH. MY.

I did not see that coming. I should have seen that coming. Beautifully set up, from Roger's story in the barber shop to Ken's bringing in the tractor.

That was both the sickest and funniest episode of this show ever--perhaps even of any show.

John Slattery got all the best lines.

I think I feel guilty for laughing. Except...not.

Also, I am so with Sally. Barbies should not magically re-appear in your room when you've tossed them into the shrubbery. Dolls. I hate dolls. :)

I noticed today that the leaves are starting to change.

Fall is my favorite time of the year, there's something about leaves crunching underfoot that sounds so right to me. The temperature is just right, the air is crisp, and the fact that my birthday is the first day of all may have something to do with it as well. :) 

But I happened to see this sonnet today and decided to share because it captures the mood of fall perfectly.

That time of year thou mayst in me behold
When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,
Bare ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.
In me thou see'st the twilight of such day
As after sunset fadeth in the west;
Which by and by black night doth take away,
Death's second self, that seals up all in rest.
In me thou see'st the glowing of such fire,
That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,
As the death-bed, whereon it must expire,
Consum'd with that which it was nourish'd by.
This thou perceiv'st, which makes thy love more strong,
To love that well, which thou must leave ere long.

--Shakespeare, sonnet 73

I think there's one member of my flist who might guess where I first heard this.

Five Great Comic Book Pirates!

And, yes, Corsair is on the list. So there! :)

She wrote a guest essay for me on Marvel's Runaways for Geek Dad:

The Eldest on why she loved Brian K. Vaughan's writing and why Joss Whedon crashed and burned on the title.

All her words.

And she's very down on Joss Whedon at the moment. Refuses to watch Dr. Horrible. :) 

And ETA:

She writes stuff for Teen Ink too.

It's the one entitled "Perfect" by thelastharpy. Hit the front page.

I always hated writing these essays when I went back to school.

They kinda have a different flavor when the minions go back to school and I have a few hours of silence. :) 

It's hard to say exactly what I've been doing but, mostly, taking care of the minions. It's challenging finding activities on a very limited budget.

The youngest daughter spent six weeks at a summer camp run by her special needs school and had a great time.

The youngest son spent a lot of time with me on walks, converting his computer from Windows XP to Linux, and spent two weeks at a local summer camp, which he liked.

The eldest daughter did some college touring and, apparently, wrote massive amounts of fan fiction with her writing partners. I'm not allowed to see it. :) 

The eldest son visited friends and did a ton of reading and video game playing. He's made it through just about all the Harry Dresden series right now and he's very happy with it.

And I just tried to prevent blood from being shed, especially with the twins.

But, writing wise, I did accomplish some things.

I'm three-quarters of the way through a revision of Above the Fold, which I'm doing week by week with my critique partners. The story was good but I discovered what was missing was the storyverse--worldbuilding is key, even in contemporaries. Who knew? 

I've written 53 pages of Sky of Seneca, a sequel to Dinah of Seneca. Right now, they're a mess, of course, and I doubt I started in the right place, but that's par for the course with my rough drafts.

I did the final edits on Dinah of Seneca and we're ready to go to galley soon as I get some author quotes to my editor. Then I will have a release date.

Above the Fold won the Southern Connecticut RWA CONN contest, and placed third in the Golden Acorn, which is run by my local RWA chapter, Charter Oak. This was great validation for my revision.

I went to the National RWA conference in Washington D.C. in mid-July, which was awesome. I saw the National Zoo, visited the White House, which was incredible, and just generally had a good time at workshops and writing. And, next RWA, I am so getting a suite on the concierge level. Well, I can dream....

At RWA, I got a full manuscript request for a big NYC publisher for Phoenix Rising, my superhero romance, and a partial request for the same from an agent. So I worked to get those out. Right now, Phoenix Rising is out at several places & agents. Watch, all the rejections will come in at the end of the month, for my birthday. :) 

And I wrote a bunch of stuff for Geek Dad. I should keep better track but if you click on the geek dad tab on this blog, it should give you links for most of them.

In August, the family visited two local amusement parks, Lake Compounce and Quassy, both of which were great fun, though different.

And we did some hiking in the local wildlife preserve, and had a small picnic at the wildlife preserve on Monday, to mark the end of summer.

If you do click on the Geek Dad tabs, you'll find I wrote about the White House, Lake Compounce, and Quassy for Wired.

What do now?

Write Sky of Seneca.
Finish Above the Fold revisions.
Lots of Geek Dad posts.
Write a short essay for a publication that asked for a submission. It's about mothers, and it's due mid-October.
Put together a workshop proposal on internet communites for RWA National and for the New England chapter conference. These will be my first proposals, so I'm nervous about them but next week is probably fully dedicated to them.

Not enough hours in the day. As usual. :)