Saturday, April 18, 2015

A Good Day

Woke up, found message from Rosie Morgan - My Interview Went Live on Her Blog (see below)

Glorious Day Warmed to nearly 80 degrees. So Wonderful to be Warm.

Watched Game of Thrones - Way behind but taking time to step into that world

THEN

I sat down to write, and couldn't concentrate ...

Errrrr

Ahhhh

Remembered how nice it was outside

Went for a walk in the woods

Talked to myself the whole way.

Men fishing along the river laughed at me.

Smiled anyway.

Talked myself through the problem

Forgot to bring my phone so no voice recorder

Errrrr

Kept talking

Drove home and wrote my way out of trouble.

Yeah.

Good Day.

Sleepy now. 

Rosie Morgan writing in Cornwall - Of kings, knights and reluctant teenage heroes.: Rosie Morgan welcomes Rebecca Ferrell Porter

Rosie Morgan writing in Cornwall - Of kings, knights and reluctant teenage heroes.: Rosie Morgan welcomes Rebecca Ferrell Porter: Award winning author, Rebecca Ferrell Porter, talks about her work... and other things. I'm delighted to welcome Rebecca to m...

A Visit to Cornwall

Not literally, sigh, but fellow author, Rosie Morgan invited me by for an interview this week. Rosie is doubly talented. She not only crafts an imaginative modernity on the Arthurian Legend, but she also fills her books with charming sketches.

To my American readers, if you've never heard of Cornwall, it at the southern tip of England, a stubborn, little horn reaching westward. Cornwall has given us a term we all know. The photo above was taken at Land's End. 

Hop on over to Rosie's blog and say hi, and while you're there, take a look at the world in which Rosie walks. You'll find the magic runs deep in Cornwall as well as Wisconsin. 

Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Snow White and the Huntsman

One of my favorite movies is starting now on FXX. I love the dark side of fairy tales and the grandeur of this production, but my favorite scenes are in the land of the fairies. I highly recommend this movie to all my fans. 
Besides, who wouldn't love these guys?

Tuesday, April 7, 2015

Seven Finger Typing

I learned to properly type back in school. Curses. 

Eleven days ago, I smashed my finger when I tried to e-cycle an old computer tower. I'm lucky enough to live in a city where e-cycling is free, but it's not without peril. After signing in, I drove to the dumpster at the Public Works building. Imagine my surprise when I found a massive steel vessel towering at least two feet over my head and nearly overflowing with battered televisions and abandoned printers. 

Being a responsible citizen, I hoisted my ancient Dell over my head, and swung it down in an arc to propel it over the lip of the dumpster. It should have worked, but my left hand was too slow and became trapped between the lip of steel and the fast-falling fifteen pound chunk of junk. 

CRUNCH!

I couldn't type for a week, and when I tried this past weekend, I gave up after an hour. It's just the tip of my ring finger and a portion of the middle finger, but you try typing a novel without the use of the letter E. 




Saturday, April 4, 2015

I'm Still in Shock

It's taken me three days to wipe the smirk off my face, but Cairn: A Dragon Memoir has been judged by teens in an English classroom as the Silver Medal winning entry in the 2014 Wishing Shelf Independent Book Award. I'm overwhelmed, or rather humbled by this honor. 

First, my designer wins a best of 2014 for her stunning interpretation of my concept (I give Vanesa Garkova 99% of the credit), and now this! In my wildest dreams, I thought maybe I could crow a bit about my Finalist achievement, but I never thought this would happen. 

Honestly, I know deep in my heart that Cairn is a wonderful story, a DAMN GOOD story, but now I have confirmation. 

To celebrate my award, I'm offering Cairn: A Dragon Memoir free on Amazon for the next 72 hours. All I ask is an honest review when you are done. If you think, "meh", deduct a few stars, if you hate it, grumble about it like a troll, but if you love it as others have, Crow as loudly as you can. Just write something as a review on Amazon.  


I want to know if you can solve the mystery before Troika becomes the next victim. Then cheer for the honeybees as they guard Aurora's secrets and jeer the killer whales as they plot revenge for ancient lies while you marvel at the wonders of a dragon culture unlike anything you've ever read before.

The best part, you can jump right in with Cairn. It's a complete story within the larger world of the Legends of the Aurora. Those teens in England hadn't read Blue on the Horizon, but I bet a few have gone back and ordered a copy, in fact, I'm sure they have. 

One last shout out to my competitors. Billy Bob Buttons, the mad brain behind these awards, very clearly said, 
"To all the finalists who did not get a winners medal, just to let you know it was very tight, particularly Category 3, 4(teen), 5 and 6. On a different day, the result might have been different, it was sooooooo close!" 

I guess it was just my day. Now, I must lower my head and start editing my next novel.