Jennifer Thorne

Myths and magic ~ with a dash of romance

I spent the afternoon at a green living fair in Toronto today, and got some green street cred by carpooling down there with friends in a small car. (pats self on the back in a smugly self-congratulatory way, knowing that it’s smug and being fine with that The two things that stood out for me were the ‘nanodot’ solar panel paint from the University of Toronto and the waterbuffalo cheese from Monforte Dairy. A very earnest and helpful grad student explained to my friend and me how this ‘paint’ worked, and the cheese was strangely pungent, but it reminded me of adventures and trying new things. I also had no trouble at all finding food booths with gluten free samples, which kept my energy up quite nicely.

Yesterday I got out on my recumbent bike for an hour and a half, and sweated quite a bit. We stopped for tea and hid from the short rain shower under an awning. I removed the pad from my seat so I wouldn’t have to lie prone on a squelchy, cold, wet cushion for the entire rest of the ride. Lovely sunshine and company, and a good, healthy workout.

The stories are puddling along quite nicely, and edits on the one to be released in September are also proceeding well.

It’s been a good weekend, but I’m tired now. Hot shower and bed.

The weather has turned, and so has the worm! (Now that I’m thinking about it that’s a strange saying, isn’t it? I’m wondering if it’s meant to be maggots or Ouroboros? Hmmmm. Something to look into for later).

All first edits are done for A Road Not Taken, and we’re getting closer to the perfect cover. It’s hard to find good pictures of guys with dreadlocks. Does anyone have any suggestions?

I have two more fairytales underway- one on the theme of Sir Orfeo, and another one that’s a retelling of an Itallian witch folktale. The Italian one is bogged down right now, but the other should be done by the end of the next week. *whew* And to think that I started writing short stories thinking that they would be impossible. It’s good to laugh at myself sometimes.

The Ancient Music submission package has been put together for Tor, and a good friend is going to chip away at the manuscript over the next few weeks. The second half of the manuscript is still quite rough, but I have at least four months before I hear back in *any* way. That ought to be enough time to fix it up nicely.

Big Scary Deadlines are a good way to get motivated!

So is beautiful weather and playing in the garden. Yay for planting peas and spinach! And the purple hyacinths have all come up under my window. I can’t quite see them from where I’m sitting. I might have to do something about the placement of my desk. Also the placement of some of the flowers. I seem to have put some daffodils in deep shade. They’re barely making greenery right now, let alone flowers. It’s a new backyard and a new learning curve. I should get my husband to take pictures and do another before/after like the last place. It won’t be quite as dramatic, as this backyard didn’t start out covered in dirty socks and broken pallets (I kid you not), but it’s going from bare, patchy grass to cobblestone pathways, 8x the garden space (at least), a small pond and a grape arbour- which won’t have grapes on it, unlike the last place, sadly, but the trumpet vine should cover it nicely in a few years.

Well, back to writing.

(Thank goodness we were able to replace my stolen iPod. Music. I can’t write without it. I tried, and it was painful. Thank you Norland Wind and Loreena McKennitt. You make all this possible.)

Instead of working on something that can get released quickly… I’m working on an epic historical fantasy set in Bronze Age Mesopotamia.

*facepalm*

But. But. But. It’s so shiny! There’s angst, betrayal, war, love, assassinations, evil crazy gods of chaos, the end of the world as we know it… What’s not to love?

Oh, right. The fact that it’s going to be about 100k long and I work full-time and have a family. And I’m only 4k in so far.

*sigh*

Shocking for this time of year, I know. But, I just had to do a little happy dance.

As of this afternoon, an editor at Samhain has offered me a contract for my novelette ‘A Road Not Taken’. It’s scheduled for publication sometime in mid fall of 2012.

At this rate I’ll have one short story a year. LOL.

Maybe I should try to up the rate of writing to finishing…

It’s that time of year again. The time where I disappear for a few months, and start obsessing over seed catalogs- ‘Oh, the things you will grow’- And wait for spring, and sunshine, to return.

Perhaps I’m part bear. I *know* I’m a Momma-Bear. So, if the shoe fits…

But, in other news. I just had to rationalize sex. To myself.

Here’s the backstory.

I got a rewrite and resubmit request from an editor at Samhain. One of her conditions was putting in more, and more graphic, sex scenes. Now, I’m a bit raunchy, I’ll admit… but, only in private, and sometimes only in the privacy of my own head. But, one comment that the editor made got me to thinking. She said ‘we deserve to see more’. As in, the reader deserved to have more sex in the story. That was not how I’d ever thought of it before.

You see, to me, in my own head, these are real people. I have invested a bit of my soul into them and unleashed these characters on the world. It felt like invading their privacy. Honestly. I’d swear on any holy book you provided. It did. But, I’m a semi-crazy author. Not a reader (well, I read, but, you know what I mean).

So, what did that mean? I had to think about that a bit. And, this is what I came up with. Perhaps it’s just a rationalization…

When people read stories they want to be taken out of their own life, and brought into another world to explore. Irregardless of genre. That’s it.

In a romance book people want to explore someone else’s life. A whole life. And any whole human being has a sex life. (Don’t argue semantics with me on this one. Yes, I know that not everyone *wants* or *needs* sex, but if they don’t then why are they reading a romance story? If you don’t want sex then go read ‘Literature’ with a capital ‘L’.) And in a real way, in reading the reader becomes the character as well. It’s not a privacy issue. It’s living the whole life, and sharing in an expression of joy and love.

This could never be a bad thing. Everyone deserves that.

Now, I just have to get over my blushes at everyone knowing what I carry around in my head sometimes… That’s the next hurdle. But, I got over the first one of letting the characters that haunt me out to have a story and a life.

I’ll wrap my head around it in time.

I’m shy about putting myself out there, but I realised today that adding The White Cat to the Preditors and Editors/Critters’ Workshop ‘best of’ poll was a good way to get some more free advertising. It’s two days before the end, and I don’t exactly have a large ‘fan base’… but, hey. Gotta try.

If you liked the story and feel like voting for it, you can do so here, with my thanks.

Hope everyone’s Christmas break was relaxing. Back to work tomorrow… I’m ready, but getting up in the morning is going to be painful.

Dark Diva Reviews gave The White Cat four divas. But, what truly made my day was the absolutely glowing review.

And then, earlier this week, Elisa Rolle posted her listing of the top ten links clicked in December. Her review of the same story tied for #8 with two others.

I don’t know whether to blush or Snoopy dance.

Both, maybe?

The Simpson’s version of The Raven.

and the Omnia version.

Both have their merits… but only one gave me chills.

Right here.

And it was way easier than I thought it would be.

The Fairytale Survival FAQ…

How to tell if you’re caught in a fairytale, and what to do if you are.