Category: inspiration

On the [belated] [again] anniversary of Terry Pratchett’s death.

GIVEAWAY CLOSED. LUCKY #2 HAS BEEN EMAILED.

Sir Terry Pratchett passed away two years ago on March 12, 2015.

I blogged about his passing here.

For the second [belated] anniversary of his death I would like to once again celebrate his work by hosting a giveaway for a copy of Wintersmith, which was the first book of his that I ever read. I’m slightly peeved that I’m ‘belated’ with this post again. I did have a warning in my calendar. But better late than never!

 

To celebrate Sir Terry’s life and his work, I would like to buy a copy of Wintersmith for one of you – for kindle, or iBooks, or Kobo, or in paperback. You name the format and I’ll buy it.

Comment below to enter. Tell me your favourite book of Sir Terry’s. Or why you’d like to read Wintersmith specifically. Or if you’ve already read Wintersmith who you’d like to gift it to (and why).

RIP Sir Terry Pratchett. Thank you for the entertainment, the inspiration, and for the strong women and inspiring world you created.

Notes/Rules: OPEN INTERNATIONALLY. Each comment will be assigned an entry number. ONE winning entry will then be selected via random number generator. One entry per person. Please make sure to fill out a valid email address in the comment form. Email addresses are not collected for any purpose other than notifying the contest winner. No purchase necessary.

If you haven’t commented on the blog before, or you comment from a different IP address, the comments are moderated. So don’t worry if you don’t see your entry right away. I will approve it, then assign it an entry number.

Giveaway closes WEDNESDAY, MARCH 15, 2016 at 8 p.m. PDT.

Reconstructionist 1: a view from a hotel window

I took these shots in the wrong season (Dec 31. 2016 and Jan 1, 2017 to be specific) and from a higher floor but I thought you might be interested in seeing the view from Wisteria’s hotel window in Catching Echoes, Reconstructionist 1.

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An excerpt from Catching Echoes, Reconstructionist 1, Chapter Two:

I lapsed back into gazing out at the gorgeous city and toying with my bracelet again. I brushed my fingers over one of the two tiny reconstructions hidden among the platinum house and tree charms.

Effortlessly, I pulled a glimpse of a darkly tanned boy with golden-hazel eyes out from within it.

A sudden gust of wind hammered rain against the lower pane of the window, drawing my attention. And for a moment, through the blurred wash on the glass, I thought I saw a blond, pale figure standing in the rain at the edge of the outdoor pool, four floors down.

A figure that I would have sworn in that instant was Kett, gazing up at my hotel room.

Heart thumping, I threw myself out of my chair, pressing my hands against the rain-spattered window and scanning the wide, adobe-tiled patio below.

The image I’d pulled from the reconstruction winked out.

The area around the well-lit pool and hot tub was empty. The lounge chairs were all folded and tucked away along the edges of the sundeck. A slight haze of steam rolled off the tranquil light-blue water of the pool, and what little I could see of inside the hotel from this angle was devoid of people.

I had just imagined it.

Kett.

I was allowing the tension of the day to make me feel vulnerable, even hunted. And that was a state I knew too much about already. I didn’t need to be randomly manifesting monsters stalking me in the dark.

Catching Echoes (Reconstructionist 1) is available on

 AMAZON – BARNES & NOBLE – iBOOKS – SMASHWORDS – KOBO – CREATESPACE

in paperback and ebook.

In Today’s Mail: Hummingbird Chocolate

At the end of May Sue mentioned an article about an award winning chocolatier on my Facebook Page. It turned out that the small batch chocolate maker, Hummingbird Chocolate, was Canadian and had won a bunch of awards when up against a bunch of big names that I mention around here often, including Amedei.

So, of course, I instantly had to track down this new-to-me chocolate and see what I could score. Thankfully, I discovered that they had an online store and I ordered the three bars that appealed to me the most (including their award winning bars).

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I’ll taste them separately and make notes, but I wanted to share these pretties right away.

Day. Made.

So this was waiting in my inbox for me this morning.

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How freaking cool is that?

Here is part of the scene from Shadows, Maps, and Other Ancient Magic (Dowser 4).

The single-storey buildings and homes of Hope Town were all painted in bright colors, dominated by seashell pink. Kandy cut up between buildings toward the red-and-white-striped lighthouse that towered easily five storeys higher than any other building in the village. I spotted a few people dressed in bright colors, most of them shopping or hanging around a local coffee hut, but no one gave us a second glance. Kandy had outfitted us perfectly for what was obviously a tourist destination. The sparse population of three hundred — according to Kandy’s brochures — appeared to be a mix of Caucasian and people of African ancestry, but the village didn’t feel desolate. More like everyone was elsewhere — perhaps the cluster of taller buildings on the edge of town that the golf cart was zooming toward. A hotel, maybe.

My stomach grumbled, but I ignored it.

The lighthouse was before us. A pink rope hung across the entrance, which I took to mean it was normally open to the public. Just beyond and down a slight hill, the ocean lapped against a grassy shore. Tiny seaside houses on that shore had boats tied to individual wharves. The low buildings surrounding the lighthouse were painted pink with white-trimmed windows and balconies, which was an odd contrast to the thick red-and-white stripes of the lighthouse tower. We’d left the pine forest behind us. A few palm trees were mixed with the low buildings, but nothing as dense as where we’d come through.

Population of 300!! [wiki link]

What are the freaking odds? Yes, I’m totally jazzed!!

Thanks for making my morning, Jade Mackey! Oh, and I <3 your first name!! 😉

There is always that moment …

Yes, that moment. The breath that can turn into hours or days or weeks if  I’m not careful. The pause before I seriously lay my pen to the page or my fingers to the keyboard.

The whispers that weave through my mind.

What if I can’t do it again? What if I mess it all up? What if I can’t get what is in my head onto the paper? What if I’m done? What if I’m tapped out? What if the first ten books were a fluke? What if … what if … what if …

I could drown in that moment. No, freeze is the better word. I could be frozen in that pause with all this burbling story trapped in my mind.

But I’m not.

Or so I remind myself every time the thought occurs to me.

‘That moment’ is exactly what Post-its were invented for.

I am the Dowser

This is the view out my office window this morning. This is my defence against the what ifs. The key to keep me moving through that moment … that pause …

So … yep. I’m writing.

I’m writing Dowser 6 to be specific.

#iamthedowser

Then the sun set over the chicken coop …

… and all was lovely and well.

Sunset over the chicken coop, Dec 11, 2015
                                                                                                      – Margaret Avenue, December 11, 2015

Though, I wouldn’t complain about having more hours in the day devoted to writing. 😀

Chocolate in bed

I’ve decided that living in a single room with approx 620 square feet of space makes it perfectly acceptable to eat chocolate in bed.

While working, of course. 😉
Maranon 68%

And especially when I’m savouring this tasty, tasty bar from Fruition Chocolate. I grabbed this limited edition 68% along with their Maranon 76% at the Northwest Chocolate Festival. I can taste why they’ve won so many awards. Both bars are/were amazing – smooth, dark deliciousness.

Happy National Chocolate Day USA!