Happy New Year!!

My blogs have been reduced to holiday greetings. I'll get better when things slow down and I stop drinking so much. (It's those pomegranate martinis...yum!)

In January I'm going to add a bunch of things to the site, Victorianisms, history, that kind of thing. I also plan on finishing that pesky Austria story that's been driving me up a wall for the past 2 1/2 months.

Wishing you a great start to the new year!

Merry Christmas!

Eh, so I'm 2 days late. I still hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas, and will have an equally great New Year.

I plan on taking the rest of the year off from writing (not that there's that much more left to the year) and relaxing. Come January 1 (possibly 2) I'll take it up again and finish my Austria story and definitely finish plotting out at least 2 more stories. That's only in January...we'll see how well that plan goes.

Samhain Publishing

I'd forgotten I'd even submitted to them, but it's been a crazy few weeks, and when there aren't constant emails, my mind wanders. (I'm easily dazzled by shiny objects, sad but true.) Not that I expected them to email me every day, I mean what's the point? Still, when I saw the email last night, it was to sadly read that they didn't want Birthrite. :(

She was very nice about it, but for her, it didn't work. I'm okay with that, everything is subjective. I have high hopes someone else will.

Tis the season for optimism, right? Or is that delusion? Either way, it's all good.

Taking a break

I'm absolutely stuck. Nothing sounds right - it's not funny, it's cheesy, it's way too melodramatic. It's all crap. So I'm taking a break and enjoying the holidays. I'm going to finish decorating, mail out Christmas cards, listen to Christmas music, and not so much as glare at my computer.

Middle of next week sounds soon enough to get back into the swing of it all, and immerse myself in 1817 Austria.

Napoleon

I have searched and searched for more information on Napoleon, specifically his war with Austria. It's near impossible to find anything that doesn't mention Russia or Britain. I don't want either of those, but what happened in Austria, specifically Vienna. One of those helpful books 'Daily Life in Vienna' would be great, but don't seem to exist. I have several - England, Pilgrims, Colonial life in America. Nothing on Vienna.

This goes back to my frustration on doing a story set in Vienna with only the bare information available on it. If I spoke German, I might (might) be in luck. Alas, no such luck. What I need is troop movements, what the everyday people went through, and even a little more on The Congress of Vienna.

There's got to be something out there, I know it. I just wish I knew what it was, or even where to search that I haven't already.

characteristics part 2

The heroine and fashion. I'm a big believer in making the character work for the character herself, and if she's unfashionable, then she is. You can get away with it better in a contemporary, or even in much of the 20th Century than you can previously.

In the upper class there were 2 kinds of women. Fashionable and those too poor to afford fashion. If her family could afford it, she wore the best. Maybe not if she were gardening, but every other time, yes. Whether or not she had any idea what was and wasn't 'in', the dressmaker did, and that was enough. And if she couldn't afford it, then she still wanted to look her best, just as women do today.

Forgetting for a moment those poor relations populating romance, the woman had to look her best. Society was extremely catty, and fashion was what counted among the rich. It affected a woman's place, her marriageable chances, and her social circle. Now, if she wanted to wear last year's style, she could - not at any balls but around the house, assuming she wasn't entertaining there.

She wasn't going to leave without everything in place, and she certainly wasn't going to embarrass herself or her family by making a fashion faux pas.

Fashion vs need - part 1

This is my new soapbox - real characterization. Real personalities, problems, and issues. It has nothing to do with conflict, that's separate from what I'm talking about though sometimes these things are the conflict in a character-driven story.

I try to give my characters real problems, everyday human issues. Allergies, migraines, poor eyesight, bad tempers, snobbishness, etc., etc., etc.

Personally, I don't know anyone who is nothing but altruistic, doesn't ever talk badly about anyone, never needs a tissue, some Tylenol, or eyeglasses for something (ok, I do know some people like that but apparently my circle of friends and family are mostly blind), and has no problems other than they're too nice.

In reading, I've noticed that very few heroines have these issues, and it bothers me. Or if they do, they wear eyeglasses but have no fashion sense. They have allergies or headaches, but never complain. I have both and let me tell you, there are times you can't help but complain. It's human nature.

Those characters don't seem real.

Why is it that the woman needs to be the nice, kind, attentive one, but the man can be arrogant, snobby, and dismissive? Why can't she be the one who knows, the one with the friends, the fashion sense, the attitude?

Austria 1800s

I've let the story sit for a few days, but this morning I woke up with energy (highly unusual for a morning) and loads of ideas. Ideas on a few things, but mostly about this story that's given me so much trouble. Title aside, I always suck at those.

This is an erotic paranormal. It's not necessarily dark but can still be erotic and paranormal. There's no rule saying otherwise.

As such, it needs to start out that way. Sexy dream, sexy ghost, sprinkle in a little plot, sex, bam! Okay, maybe not that simple. But I can work with that, definitely now that I know where the story's going and where it's been. I'm off to write the outline now (also highly unusual) and later, a scene by scene breakdown. With that done, I'm pretty positive I can whip this out in a few weeks.

Now for a title...

Updates

My Austria-set 1800s story has undergone a dramatic change this weekend. Could be the 2 inches of snow, but the entire concept is revised. No longer is it a story of a lost man trying to find his past life through the ghost of his lost love. It's not the story of a man trying to avenge his past - no reincarnation required.

This change had nothing to do with the story itself. I loved that story, but it wasn't working. It didn't work not because of the plot or the heroine/hero, but because of the secondary characters. They were too funny and fluffy for the dark angst I'd originally planned for this story. The sidekick alone had the best lines (all said in very period-appropriate Austrian slang). And he delivered them much the as the sidekick from National Treasure, Riley.

No wonder I had such trouble moving this story along, dark and fluff don't mix well, and despite my love for dark angst, this wasn't the story for it.