13 Fun Words
Words are fun. Hey, I’m a writer. I LOVE words! And some words are just plain fun.
1. Manolo Blahnik – okay, not actually a word. This is a name. But still, it’s fun. 1) it has a funny sound. 2) shoes. Shoes are fun.
2. Spaghetti – just fun. And yummy. When I was young I couldn’t pronounce it. I called it Scabetty.
3. Effervescent. Another fun sounding word. Kinda sounds like “effing pheasant”
4. Egg. What a stupid sounding word! This one must have been around since caveman days.
5. Mississippi. Sounds kind of like a snake with elegance
6. Worcestershire. How do YOU pronounce it? Wishes stir sure
7. Scandinavia. It has such a nice flow, with accents making the voice rise and fall.
8. Possession. There’s not a Z in this word. Why do we pronouce it that way?
9. Earl. Another short gutteral word. Say egg. Then say earl. Which is lower in the throat?
10. Mama. So easy to say it’s usually the 1st word a child says.
11. Pizza. There’s not a T in the word, but that’s often how Italian words with double Zs are pronounced.
12. Wednesday. Do you pronounce the D?
13. No. Another easy word. Do you add a W sound at the end?
There 13 words I think are fun! Happy Thursday!
Thursday 13 6/30/11
Here are thirteen things found in my living room (which is also my writing room):
1. A tower fan. It’s kinda hot these days. Today will get into the mid 90s. I might turn the air on and leave it on all day.
2. My steampunk skirt. I have to move the waistband hooks before the steampunk dinner with friends at a local pub tonight.
3. The cat bed made of fake sheepskin. The inside is liberally festooned with shed cat hair which the fan picks up and blows everywhere.
4. A variety of knitting projects in a wide range of states of completion.
5. My Kromski Minstrel spinning wheel I named Zoya.
6. A beautifully hand painted wood triptych which is my court barony scroll.
7. Five bookcases bulging with non-fiction books. The mysteries, fantasy and romances are in the sewing room and my bedroom.
8. A kitty condo/cat tree which the cats usually ignore.
9. My nook, on which I am trying to read several books.
10. My dumbek, a middle eastern drum
11. A pair of 5 pound hand weights. The dust on them is a sad indication of my infrequent use of them.
12. A tub of Aussie-style black licorice. I adore black liquorice. I just keep forgetting that it makes me sick if I eat too much.
13. My grandmother’s black velvet hat from the 1940s. I was using it for inspiration for my own hat making attempts.
13 Terms of Endearment
Writers are always looking for endearments to have their heros call their heroines. In Sleeping With the Wolf, Taye calls Carla ‘Sweetheart’. In Wolf’s Glory, Shadow tried several before settling on ‘Sunshine’. In Tracking Tami (first draft almost done! Yay!) Tracker’s a matter-of-fact kind of guy, and he usually calls her Tami. Eddie calls Lisa ‘My Sweet Wife’ when he’s feeling insecure and ‘Lisa-love’ when he’s feeling romantic. Here are some foreign words for darling or sweetheart or wife.
1. Cherie – French
2. Querida – Spanish
3. Elskling- Norwegian
4. Kedvenc – Hungarian
5. Alskling- Swedish
6. Lufestre – Old Anglo-Saxon
7. Saiaino – Japanese
8. Habibti – Arabic
9. Winuhca – Lakota
10. Dorogoyaja – Russian
11. Auvati – Hebrew
12. Agape Mou – Greek
13. Jaanemun – Hindi
Most of these would be from a man speaking to a woman. I cannot swear to accuracy or spelling of half of these, as the alphabet used by American English speakers is different than many of these. I’ve read some books where the endearments were so over-used that I couldn’t enjoy the story. Some are ridiculous. “Fairytale Girl” is one that comes to mind. Sometimes they even seem patronizing. What are your thoughts on endearments?
13 Paragraphs from Wolf’s Glory
To celebrate last week’s release of Wolf’s Glory, here are 13 random paragraphs from the story.
1. Shadow watched the woman riding beside him with wonder. At last, his wolf had chosen a mate for him. And what a mate. This was no thin scrap of a woman. No, his mate was tall and strong, with soft lush curves that he wanted to explore in great and loving detail. Her face was a soft oval with startlingly pale blue eyes and a soft, plump mouth that he wanted to taste again. He couldn’t stop looking at her hair. “Why is your hair pink?” he asked, fascinated.
2. After one last kiss he stepped back. Good thing, too, thought Glory, because the kid was back, all big curious eyes and long black braids. Shadow took the bowl of stew and shooed the kid off. As she spooned warm stew into her mouth she looked around his tent. Spartan didn’t begin to describe it. Glory hated camping even more than she hated clothes shopping. Good thing she wouldn’t be here long.
3. “Excuse me.” This voice was different. Glory looked up and saw one of the plane-crash survivors politely raising a hand like a kid in school. Well, it made sense. She was still in the all-arms and gawky-legs stage of being a teenager. “Excuse me. What exactly do you mean by wolves within you? Is it symbolic?”
4. Glory tried not to cry. She hated crying, especially in front of strangers. But everything hit her at once. Her parents were dead. She was stuck here, in this crazy world with werewolves. For God’s sake, werewolves? She wanted her own bed. Her own bathroom. She wanted her own life back.
5. Glory waited for Sky to hand over the rolled-up bandage, but he was staring open-mouthed at Rose, inhaling deeply, bandage forgotten in one hand. Glory smirked a little. “Rose, have you met Sky yet? Rose, this is Sky, Shadow’s brother. Sky, meet Rose Turner from the plane.”
6. Shadow flipped his waist length hair over his shoulder. This time his kiss was a lot less comforting and a lot more sexy. Damn, he could kiss. His kiss could bring a dead woman back to life just so her toes could curl. It was the type of kiss to make a woman forget the hurt people around her, the blankets boiling in the pot behind her, and even the fact that she was wearing torn, filthy clothes. She felt beautiful and desirable and reveled in it.
7. Did werewolves give off extra-strong pheromones? Glory had read that modern Americans had showered and deodorized natural pheromones away. That couldn’t be the case with the Clan. They all smelled pretty natural, sometimes to the point of stinking. But Shadow didn’t smell bad to her. She inhaled his scent and felt a whisper of desire curl deep inside.
8. He lifted his lips away and stared at her with eyes that shimmered wolf-gold in their black depths. “Are you giving me orders?” he asked with mild disbelief. “All right. But when I come back we’re going to finish this.” He gave her one more kiss and walked away, fading to his wolf form even as he untied the string of his breechcloth and let it drop. Glory had about a second to admire that muscled physique before it blurred into fur.
9. “Yes,” Glory crooned at the dog. “Those two girls are Bad. Calling them bitches would be an insult to you, wouldn’t it? You’re a very smart little dog.” She made little kissing noises before she straightened back up. “Seriously,” she told Shadow. “Those two are a waste of time. The other one, Sherry ? Some guy says she’s his mate, but she’s scared to death of him. And I know why.”
10. Carefully, slowly, Shadow released her. His eyes were almost frightening in their intensity. He turned with deliberate calm and walked with dignity around the fire back to his place. His face was smooth and cold, but his eyes shimmered across the fire at her. Glory swore she saw his wolf in those eyes. And Wolfie was not happy.
11. Before the sun was up Shadow forced himself out of bed. He was careful to smooth the blankets back into place around his mate so that she would stay warm. Did she love him? Once he had thought that just her acceptance of their mating would be enough. Now he knew acceptance alone would never satisfy him. He wanted her heart.
12. Quill put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed. His voice was hardly even a whisper when he said, “It’s hard to not be able to claim your mate.”
13. A familiar scent in the crisp air made Glory inhale deeply, her heart flinging itself into her throat. “Shadow?” She thought she yelled, but it came out in a choked whisper audible only to wolf ears. She didn’t notice the way all the wolves stopped their play to watch her scramble to her knees and swing around. He was there, long hair drifting in the breeze over his naked body, gaze fixed on her. She devoured him with her eyes. He looked magnificent, all bare brown skin and taut muscle under what seemed like miles of black hair.
13 People I Hope to Meet This Weekend
This weekend I’m going to be at Lori Foster’s Reader & Author Get Together in Cincinnati. I’m a brand new author and tho I feel i’ve amde friends in the4 writing community I only know them via the internet. So I’m really hoping to meet them in person!
1. Nalini Singh. This lady is no one I’ve even chatted with, but I LOVE her books. I’m bringing Kiss of Snow and hope to have her sign it for me. I hope I don’t go all fan-girl on her.
2. Monette Michaels/Moni Draper. An editor at Liquid Silver Books, she has been very kind and encouraging to me.
3. Virginia Cavanaugh. A fellow writer who stepped in when I needed some help and encouragement with Wolfs’ Glory.
4. Emily Ryan Davis. Years ago I read her Dragon Queen trilogy and when I first joined Romance Divas I squealed at seeing her name. Then she actually posted a response to one of my questions!
5. Sasha Devlin. A fellow author who was kind enough to say she loved Sleeping With the Wolf.
6. Paige Tyler. A fellow author (who has way more experience in the romance pubosihing world than I do) and Thursday 13 participant.
7. Robyn Bachar. Another Romance Diva I want to meet.
8. Ann Christopher. This author kindly volunteered to give me a ride to the airport on Sunday.
9. Keri Ford. A fun loving fellow author and Romance Diva.
10. Eliza Gayle. Another of the Romance Diva crew.
11. Jeanette Murry/KJ Reed. Romance Divas everywhere! This is going to be SO FUN!
12. Linnea Sinclair. Another author I’ll probably squeal over like a fan girl.
13. Mary Quast/Cindy Spencer Pape/Elise Logan/okay, I’ve run out of numbers before I ran out of people I want to meet!
This will be my very first conference as an author, so I’m a little nervous. But I’m going to do my best to put my “I’m-not-shy” face on and get to know some of the marvelous people I’ve rubbed shoulders with online. If you’ll be at Lori Foster’s please come find me and say hello!
Thursday 13
I’ve always kept myself busy with work, church, the SCA, the Loopy Ladies Knitting Group, the Boucle Yarn Studio Sock Club, the Harry Potter Knitting Crochet House Cup, etc, etc … I’ve enjoyed doing those things (except work, but hey, gotta pay bills, right?) But lately I’ve felt like it was a chore. Something I had to do, not something I wanted to do for fun.
I am exhausted! I’ve written very little in the last six or eight weeks because I have so much other stuff going on that I can’t squeeze it in. I’m stressed and frustrated and tired. It might be the pneumonia I had last March, or the stress from the expected flood, or Mom’s surgery in April or the stupid allergies that have taken over my sleep, but I don’t think that’s really it. I think it’s because I’m still living my life as I did before I became an author. I’m still spending my evenings and weekends helping others sew SCA garb, working overtime, teaching people to knit, volunteering at church, etc, etc. But being a writer is really a second job. I can’t focus on writing and also do the things I used to. Something has to change!
Here are 13 things I am going to STOP doing and START doing:
1. Stop imagining I have all the time in the world.
2. Stop working overtime. The money is nice, but I just can’t keep up.
3. Stop volunteering to do things when people don’t even ask me to do them.
4. Stop agreeing to do things when I am asked.
5. Stop feeling guilty for saying no.
6. Stop feeling like I have to attend knitting meetings/SCA meetings. (Not that I go to all of them now, but I feel like I SHOULD go and I feel guilty when I don’t)
7. Stop putting my writing second.
8. Start thinking of myself as a person with two jobs.
9. Start practicing saying “I’m sorry I can’t help you/attend that meeting. My time is booked.”
10. Start scheduling my writing time, just as a second job at McDonalds would have a schedule, and not changing it for any little thing.
11. Start scheduling “ME” time so I don’t get burned out. Reading for fun, going to a movie, getting a manicure, etc.
12. Start believing saying no and guarding my writing time doesn’t make me a bad or unloving or lazy person.
13. Start enjoying my life again.
Has anyone has to deal with this? Did you wake up one morning feeling like your life was a bullet train rushing off without you? What did you do?
13 Characters In Wolf’s Glory
For Thursday 13 I’m going to introduce you to thirteen characters from my upcoming book Wolf’s Glory. Some of these characters were first seen in Sleeping With the Wolf. Others are brand new. Some play large roles, some are mere mentions. Ready? Here we go:
1. Wolf’s Shadow. Hero. Second in Command of the Wolf Clan. He’s claimed his mate and will not accept no for an answer.
2. Glory Peterson. Heroine. Mouthy goth princess. She’ll say yes to a few things, but only on her own terms.
3. Jill Lampett, the Clan Lupa. Called Grandmother by all because she’s the oldest woman in 500 miles.
4. Arthur Muddy Wolf. Alpha of the Wolf Clan and Shadow’s father. He loves his son, but has to act in the best interests of the Clan.
5. Jumping Stag. A wolf of the Clan who has also found a mate. Stag courts her, but won’t force his mate to accept him.
6. Sherry Rowe. A plane crash survivor who is terrified of the wolf who claims her.
7. Blue Sky at Midday. Shadow’s younger brother who had been living at Taye’s den. He sees a survivor and his wolf claims her.
8. Rose Turner. A plane crash survivor, barely 16, who fiercely denies Sky’s mating claim.
9. Two Bears. Not wolf-born, he wants a wife and decides that Rose will suit him well.
10. Connie Mondale. The co-pilot and only surviving member of the plane’s crew, she takes charge of the surviving women.
11. Quill Wolfe. A quiet young wolf assigned to be Glory’s guard in Kearney, he tries to ignore his wolf’s claim to Taye’s cousin.
12. Tami Casper. A plane crash survivor who didn’t fare as well as Carla in the husband department. She escapes her “husbands”.
13. The Tracker. A lone wolf from the Clan known for his tracking ability, he is hired by Tami’s men to find her and bring her back.
13 Things I’ve Made This Year
Time for Thursday Thirteen. Here are thirteen things I’ve made in 2011: 
1. A warm handknit balaclava for my brother.
2. A Moebius scarf/wrap for a friend.
3. A dishcloth and scrubbie for the next door neighbors.
4 & 5. A hat and scarf for me
6.The petticoat to go with my steampunk outfit
7. The bustle skirt for the steampunk outfit
8. My steampunk outfit sans hat
9 & 10. I hand dyed the yarn and hand knit the socks for a secret sister sock exchange.
11. Socks that I knit for ME!
12. Sandbags for the flood fight
13. Wall Art. The covers of my two books framed between two handcarved wolf mirrors that friends gave me as a congratulatory gift for my first release.
Thursday 13 – Flood 2011
Welcome to Fargo. Grab a Sandbag please. Here in eastern North Dakota we are dealing with our 3rd straight major flood. This year it has all been very quiet and laid back. If you are only in the city and not having to drive anywhere, you would hardly know there’s a flood. That’s because we knew this one was coming. In 2009 we had a mere 9 days to build miles and miles of sandbag dikes. This year we started building sandbags in February. And the river crested at 38.75 feet, the 4th highest crest in history. It is receding now, slowly. We’re expecting up to 5 inches of snow on Thursday nmight and friday, so that may slow things down. But the real problem now is in the rural areas. If you look at these pics and onder why is there a foot of water on the interstates, it because we live on completely flat land. Pour a glass of water on a table, and it will cover the entire table. Not very deeply, but it will keep running until something stops it. Here, there are no hills to stop it, so it just goes everywhere. In my county we have over 60 miles of roads closed, and another 50 miles that are drivable but under at least 6 inches of water. One of my co-workers Carla Busche (I wrote Sleeping With the Wolf for her), has to drive for almost two hours to work, since so many of the roads are flooded and everyone crawls along at a snail’s pace on the few roads that are open. It’s normally a half hour from her farm to work, but now she has to leave at 4:45 am to punch in by 7:00. Her husband takes the kids to daycare partly by boat.Fargo is weathering the flood well, but Valley City, only 55 miles away, is fighting hard. Pray for them. Here are 13 pics of our flood:Honey, we’re gonna need the boat.
This is prairie land, not a lake.
13 Titles for My Books
My Thursday 13 this week is a list of titles for books I have published, contracted, written, partially written or just thought of. Naturally, for those I have not contracted, names may change 🙂 Do you have this many partials just laying around? I’ve always written for fun. Now I’m thinking about bringing these out, brushing them off and typing them up for possible publication.
1. Sleeping With the Wolf (book 1, After the Crash)-published by Liquid Silver
2. Wolf’s Glory (book 2, After the Crash)-contracted by Liquid Silver
3. Tracking Tami (book 3, After the Crash) – 1st draft half written
4. Eddie’s Prize (book 4, After the Crash)- 1st draft written
5. Sky’s Rose (book 5, After the Crash) – not written
6. Saving Ellie (book 6, After the Crash) – not written
7. Blood Prince (book 1, Erabiri Trilogy) – 1st draft half written – romantic fantasy
8. The Stinger (book 2, Erabiri Trilogy) – 1st draft 3/4 written – romantic fantasy
9. Demon Prince (book 3, Erabiri Trilogy) – not written
10. Lord of the Black Riders (book 1, Down the Rabbit Hole) – fantasy romance – 3/4 written
11. Lord of Del Tai (book 2, Down the Rabbit Hole) – 1/3 written
12. Lord of Ice (book 3, Down the Rabbit Hole) – 1st draft written
13. Dream Lady – takes place in the After the Crash world, in Japan, 100 years later. 1st draft 4/5 written.
