Surprises, Taxes, and Monday Fortune Cookie, 4/15/13

THERE WILL BE MANY SURPRISES; UNEXPECTED GAINS ARE LIKELY

SNARKY RESPONSE:  On Tax Day, just surviving may be the biggest surprise. After meeting with my tax accountant the only unexpected gain is going to be on the scales. Comfort food is so high-cal.

THERE WILL BE MANY SURPRISES; UNEXPECTED GAINS ARE LIKELY

Actually, Tax Day was several weeks ago for me and, thankfully, not a disaster.

Preparing my taxes gave me a chance to take a walk down memory lane and so I'm going to inflict a few highlights on you. Brace yourself.

The Virginia Romance Writers 2012 Conference - I actually submitted the winning name for the conference - For The Love Of Writing. It was a wonderful conference and resulted in my finding a home for COLLECTOR'S ITEM at the Wild Rose Press!


A SALE! - I mentioned before that I found a home for COLLECTOR'S ITEM at The Wild Rose Press. My first enovella, THE FESTIVAL OF THE FLOWERS: THE COURTESAN & THE SCHOLAR, is currently in their catalogue.

Tea & Strumpets Panel - My second ever speaking engagement at a lovely little venue in Hampton. Just loved the name! What fun with the authors who helped to form the Words, Women, Wisdom (W3) blog group.

Discovering The Porches Writing Retreat - I was invited to join a lovely group of women (I call 'em The Porches Divas) on a writing retreat. I got the spicy scenes in COLLECTOR'S ITEM written there!

W3 was formed - I joined a creative bunch of ladies to form a group blog. We're an amazingly diverse group of writers covering a wide range of genres. The blog is still evolving, and I feel the best is yet to come! My monthly contribution is Myth Perceptions where I explore myths and fantasy on the third Wednesday of the month. Hey! That's this week! Dew Drop In!

I'd worked harder to develop more of an online presence with facebook and blogs. Twitter, sadly, is just not my venue of choice, though I do tweet occasionally!

Mainly, I'd say that my dedication to my career as a writer continued to expand in 2012 and I've been continuing the trend in 2013 with COLLECTOR'S ITEM's release.

However, the best part has been the folks I've met here on Golinowski's Gambol, facebook, W3, and all points in between. I hope that we all have positive returns and happy surprises on this Tax Day!

SHAPESHIFTERS WORLD TOUR

On the Third Thursday of Every Month, my MYTH PERCEPTIONS blog appears at Words, Women, Wisdom.

My current series of Myth explorations revolves around shapeshifters.

This month is about Foxy Ladies - Asian Fox Spirits - Some very interesting spirits with a dangerously mischievous side. Sometimes even deadly intent. But, as the old radio show said, "the shadow knows." These fox spirits are often betrayed by their shadows. So, if your foxy lady is a bit shady, shy of bright lights, you might be in for heartbreak or an unintentional organ donation. Visit W3 to see what I mean.

The Kinziscale, Lost Girl

Oh, and as a bit of late breaking news - One of my absolute fav Syfy series, Lost Girl, featured kitsune as the fae-flavor of the night. A whole sorority of foxy ladies.



Last month was the kick-off post contrasting Werewolves and Shapeshifters - My understanding is that these terms are not precisely interchangeable. Traditional werewolves respond to the call of the full moon. The historic representation of werewolves involve a curse or unsolicited bites. Modern tropes are changing. Shapeshifters have never been unable to control the where and when of their changes.

I'll be continuing my tour of shapeshifter mythology next month with Kelpies.

If you like shapeshifter stories, please check out my book, COLLECTOR'S ITEM, currently available exclusively on Kindle - www.collectorsitembook.com

MONDAY FORTUNE COOKIE, 1/14/13

IT'S A GOOD THING LIFE IS NOT AS SERIOUS AS IT SEEMS TO THE WAITER.

SNARKY RESPONSE: Now you're just trying to be cute, Fortune Cookie Guru. And as they tell most writers, if you think you're funny, you probably aren't. Don't quit your day job. No! Wait! This is your day job, isn't it? Doh!

It's a good thing that life is not as serious as it seems to the waiter.

Well, I don't know about that waiter, but things here at Golinowski's Gambol are about to get REAL SERIOUS. How serious, you might ask? We're talkin' real BITCHOK* here.

My local chapter of the Romance Writers of America, Virginia Romance Writers, has challenged us all to a FastDraft challenge. Author Candace Havens came to our chapter a few months ago and shared her technique to pound out a full manuscript in two weeks. The way to do it is to write 20 pages a day. You'll end up with a 70,000 word manuscript which is publishable length. Now, it'll be a rough draft, but this is about production, not quality.

About 25 of us have pledged ourselves to the effort. I'm on a "crew" with many of the other authors over at Words, Women, Wisdom. We'll be keeping each other honest and accountable, checking in every day when we reach our allotted pages.

I'll share updates along the way - written AFTER I've completed my day's pages, so stay tuned!

NEWS FLASH!

I'm thrilled to announce that Collector's Item, my paranormal romance, will be released by The Wild Rose Press on May 17, 2013.

Here's the "back cover blurb" for your personal edification:

Alpha were-jaguar, Katarina "KT" Marant is trained to protect the pride so when her aunt disappears, KT naturally takes up the hunt. Her suspicion settles on the Collectors, humans who view shapeshifters as the ultimate big game.

Peyton Massey can't believe he's got to blow his cover to rescue a shapeshifter "princess." Even harder to believe is that she wants to stage her own kidnapping in order to catch the leader of the Collectors and find her aunt.

Everything goes sideways when KT is kidnapped for real and by someone she never suspected. Will Peyton find her before time runs out? Or will she become a true Collector's Item?

On May 17th, you'll be able to find out!

* Butt In Chair, Hands On Keys

MONDAY FORTUNE COOKIE, 11/26/12

Depart not from the path which fate has you assigned.

SNARKY RESPONSE: Path? Path! I don't see no stinkin' path. I'm treadin' water over here.

Depart not from the path which fate has you assigned.

Is it just me or is there something wrong with the construction of that fortune? I admit the right-hand end of it was torn off (not sure what happened) but I think the last two words are in the wrong order. So, I'm gonna run with it. I'd love to see what you think the Fortune Cookie Guru intended to write.

That said, I feel the snarky response is not far off the mark.

I've never been able to say I've clearly seen a path laid out for me. Probably just be me, but mostly I am playing it by ear here. There are certainly parts of life that seem mapped out (childhood/adolescence/adulthood, elementary/junior high/high school/college), but after a point, I feel that life becomes an interesting mixture of plans and leaps of faith.

I freely admit that sometimes I should have planned more, and other times I should have taken a flying leap, but mostly, I've tried to make the best of what life or "fate" has dumped, er, shafted, uh, assigned me. Just kidding with the negativity. (Mostly)

No, honestly, I've been very fortunate and I expressed my gratitude on my Thanksgiving blog over at Words, Women, Wisdom last week. So I'm not going to recap it here.

But in my humble opinion, today's fortune is more about perseverance than about blind obedience. If you select a goal and you truly invest in that goal, don't let yourself be distracted. But IF you get distracted or suffer a roadblock, cut yourself some slack and then get yourself back on track.

This is especially apropos my NaNo. I was so far behind at the midpoint it wasn't even worth discussing. I had made a formal commitment to my blog sisters in specific and the world in general to get those 50,000 words in 30 days and at the midpoint I was WAY below halfway. Thankfully, I didn't give up and equally thankfully (mostly due to poor planning on my part earlier this year), I had vacation to use or lose. Soooo, I used last week to make a serious dent in my NaNo goal. I put myself in my chair and I didn't get up except for essentials, and I did it. I caught myself up and then I kept at it until, when the dust cleared, I reached 50,000! Yeppers, I did it! And now, because the story isn't done, I'm pushing on to see just how far I can get before this Friday.

Wow, see what happens when I start with a poorly constructed fortune? I end up with a rambling blog post. So, life path clearly defined or not, I intend to persevere, one goal at a time. What about you?

MONDAY FORTUNE COOKIE, 10/29/12

LET SOMEONE KNOW HOW SPECIAL THEY ARE TO YOU

SNARKY RESPONSE:  Awww, I didn't realize Hallmark owned stock in fortune cookie companies. You know, they've got a card for that!

Let someone know how special they are to you.

It's amazing how many people touch our lives and how those touches, no matter how small, contribute to our experience. Don't miss any opportunity to let folks know how much you appreciate them. It makes them feel good and it makes you feel good. Win/Win

So, here's my attempt to do just that - say a little "Thank You" to some of the folks who have helped my along my writing path!

JRW Contingent & Local NaNoWriMo Liaison

As an aspiring writer, I was fortunate to become involved in several wonderful groups which led to friendships that have become stronger with time.  As a member of the James River Writers, I've met (and continue to meet) such a wonderful diverse group. Some of them were at the NaNoWriMo Kick Off Party last night and posed for a little group shot.

My W3 Avatar

Virginia Romance Writers has brought me into contact with a great group of women. In fact, I've joined with seven of them to create a fun group blog entitled, Words, Women, Wisdom (W3 for short). You can visit us through the link. We're a diverse group of writers and I think we offer something for everyone. Please drop in and then come back to visit, often!

Most influential on my growth as a writer have been the two critique groups I was blessed to find and join - RichWriters and Writers Endeavor. These two groups have done more to help nurture my craft and my confidence in my writing than I can every repay. The members, ranging from aspiring to published, non-fiction to popular fiction, have given so freely of their time and thoughtful consideration and I never fail to thank my lucky stars for every one of them.

This is FAR from a complete list and I hope those I didn't include in this post will understand. It would take pages and pages, but these are the ones I felt driven to THANK today.

As John Donne said, no (wo)man is an island and for me, this is my opportunity to show exactly how true that has been for me.

Now I encourage you to take a moment to recognize and thank those who have helped you along your path. None of us can do this alone.