Drum roll please! The Home Fire is finally here! Whew! What a long road to publication this little book has had! First written nearly three years ago, it sat-alone and forgotten-for months and months before I began re-writing it. Then came the always fun editing stage, cover design, formatting, and publication date (okay, so maybe not exactly in that order).
So I am very glad I am finally finished with this book. It is a good feeling, to reach a finish line, for sure. Now, I can only pray that no mistakes will be brought to my attention, giving me reason to do any more work on this book. As much as I love each and every one of my books, I only want to have to re-write them once. Don’t get me wrong, spending time with the little bundles of joy is a wonderful thing…unless I’m editing for the…
There’s a lot you have to get your head round as an aspiring writer: rules for structure, characterisation, style, voice, language, how to keep up motivation, how to get things done and on how not to get things done. I could go on. And on. In fact, I have. I’ve been posting on The Path weekly for over a year and still haven’t run out of things to say.
And, yes, that’s just the writing part. After you’ve actually written something, (book, script, poety collection) there’s a whole new ballgame to learn the rules to: do I go straight to a publisher? If so, which one? Do I need an agent? Should I do it myself? If so, how do I get an audience, edit to professional standards, get cover art sorted, promote, market, cover printing costs?
No, don’t cry. It’s going to be ok. It will. I promise. Why? Because, if…
“The threads of fate weave slowly, until at last, an unbreakable knot.”
Beyond Eventide: Bound
The House of Crimson & Clover Book 2.5- Coming in April
“You have a good heart, Tristan,” Colleen said. Anne and Tristan helped her as she put away the candles and china. “But don’t mistake this for an adventure. I don’t know what the three of you will find.”
The Legends of Windemere series continues! On sale NOW: Family of the Tri-Rune by Charles E. Yallowitz. Only $2.99! More satisfying and less expensive than a tall skinny latte :)
The magical adventure continues after Luke Callindor and his friends recover from their battles in Haven.
Nyx still has nightmares about casting the genocide spell in Hero’s Gate. Every night her heart is gripped by the sensation of hundreds of goblins dying by her magic. By the request of Lord Highrider and Duke Solomon, she is returning to fix the damage she caused. With Luke Callindor and Sari by her side, Nyx is ready to face the vengeful goblins and opportunistic thieves that plague Hero’s Gate. Yet, there is a darker threat that was born from her violated magic: The Krypters.
It is another action-packed, character driven story that will reveal one of our heroes has been lied to for their entire life.
Here is the 37th installment of Ten Top Lists of What Not to Do by Marie Ann Bailey of 1WriteWay at http://1writeway.com and John W. Howell of Fiction Favorites at http://johnwhowell.com. These lists are simu-published on our blogs each Monday. We hope you enjoy.
10. On St. Patrick’s Day, do not dye any of your body hair green. If you do, at best, you will get strange looks and a possible reprimand from your boss. At worst, you will have to live with the color until the hair grows out or your divorce is final, whichever comes first.
9. On St. Patrick’s Day, do not try to wish everyone a happy day with a made up Irish brogue. If you do, at best, you might offend a genuine Irish person. At worst, the genuine Irish person offended might just be the local police officer.
8. On St. Patrick’s Day, do not believe you need to bring your homemade corned beef and cabbage to the office to share. If you do, at best, you might have coworkers avoiding your cube since the smell of cabbage might lead them to believe it is something else. At worst, the hazmat team from office services will have foamed down your work area before you have a chance to explain.
7. On St. Patrick’s Day, do not think Guinness stout drinks just like any other beer when you go out to celebrate with your coworkers. If you do, at best, you might have to find a ride home. At worst, you might have to rehearse your apology for the coworkers and your boss in an effort to salvage your job.
6. On St. Patrick’s Day, do not sing your favorite limericks no matter how innocent you believe them to be. If you do, at best, you will start a round of Limericks that aren’t so innocent. At worst, the local authorities will be called in to calm the disturbance reported by those within earshot of what can best be described as X-rated songs.
5. On St. Patrick’s Day, do not follow the suggestion of a coworker to play a Leprechaun at the cake and coffee gathering. If you do, at best, you will be the laughing stock till next year. At worst, you will be asked by your boss to play the leprechaun at the family St. Patrick’s Day picnic and there is still snow on the ground.
4. On St. Patrick’s Day, do not wish everyone Erin Go Bragh unless you know what it means. If you don’t know what it means and you say it to the wrong person, at best, you may get some weird looks. At worst, you may find your self embroiled in a political battle with someone with a different view.
3. On St. Patrick’s Day, do not think Bushnell’s in coffee is no more harmful than sugar. If you do, at best, you may find yourself slurring your words when you say Erin Go Bragh. At worst, you may find yourself totally wide awake and unable to find your way home.
2. On St. Patrick’s Day, do not put any kind of green-colored hat on your head. If you do, at best, you will look ridiculous. At worst, there will be several photos snapped that you will pay large sums to have deleted.
1. On St. Patrick’s Day, do not drink anything green. If you do, at best, you will have the lips of a lizard. At worst, you will need to schedule a dentist appointment to have your teeth restored to their original color unless you plan to attend a vampire convention.
This week has been quite the emotional roller coaster, with my husband and I having a few teary-eyed discussions about our oldest cat, Luisa. I’m happy to say that right now she is stable and seems to be regaining some of her old spunk and energy.
Luisa nodding off.
Okay, she’s not looking too spunky here, but this is the first morning in a week that she’s felt well enough to walk all the way from the back of the house to the front, climb up on the couch (with a little help from moi), and then take a nap in front of the window. And I have the pleasure of giving her a cocktail of drugs twice a day: her usual methimazole (for hyperthyroidism) and Pepcid (for her tummy; I don’t know that it helps but they say it doesn’t hurt); in addition, an anti-nausea pill once a day; appetite stimulant every three days; a liquid medication for colitis; and a food supplement similar to Activa. Fortunately, Luisa is very good about taking pills and even having a syringe of cold liquid splashed at the back of her throat. We are not assuming that she’s out of danger yet. I mean, she’s at least 20 (my husband argues that she’s closer to 22) and her body is shutting down. We’re just trying to slow the process and make her comfortable. And right now, our efforts are paying off :)
With Luisa as my distraction, I’ve fallen very behind in writing and blogging and commenting. Fortunately, this morning I came across this post from CommuniCATE Resources for Writers: Don’t “Write” Yourself Off: I Don’t Care How Old You Are! Indeed, I needed to read this! One of the (many) struggles I have with my writing is my age: Will I someday be too old to publish a FIRST novel? Is time running out for me? If you ever have any of these thoughts, read Cate’s blog post.
And if you feel that sometimes the world is too full of bad news and bad people, there’s a new blog that you’ll want to visit and perhaps even contribute to: Good People Doing Great Things. This is the brain-child of Margaret Jean Langstaff, a wonderful writer and blogger that you may already know through her blog, The Langstaff Retort. For Good People Doing Great Things, Margaret wants “to hear your stories and experiences, events and acts of spontaneous kindness that you have witnessed or initiated yourself.” She is looking for guest bloggers, columnists, advisors, people who understand the importance of compassion in our humanity, as well as anyone with WP expertise who would be willing volunteer their time to make the new blog visually engaging.
Almost finally, Interesting Literature had two very interesting posts last week: one about 19th century inmates of insane asylums (click here) and another one on great quotations from women writers (click here). My favorite quote of those listed: ‘Lock up your libraries if you like; but there is no gate, no lock, no bolt that you can set upon the freedom of my mind.’ – Virginia Woolf
Now really finally, for Belinda at Busymindthinking.com …
The one, the only Helena Hann-Basquiat, everyone’s favorite dilettante
Have you ever met someone who made you nod your head and say, yes? Or, who phrased the jumble of letters and words that form our language in such a way that you could not help but grin and smile?
Helena Hann-Basquiat, everyone’s favorite dilettante, made me nod, grin and laugh from the moment I met her. Remarkably, she met my nerdy persistence with enthusiasm. Though she may be right in that I simply decided we were going to be friends, what made me stick around her site was the way she made words come to life.
Since meeting her, her words have made me smile. They have made me cringe with trepidation, and flip electronic pages as fast as my mouse could click them in anticipation. Her words have frightened me, and they have made me cry.
Legends of Windemere: Family of the Tri-Rune is set to debut on Sunday, March 16th!!!
The magical adventure continues after Luke Callindor and his friends recover from their battles in Haven.
Nyx still has nightmares about casting the genocide spell in Hero’s Gate. Every night her heart is gripped by the sensation of hundreds of goblins dying by her magic. By the request of Lord Highrider and Duke Solomon, she is returning to fix the damage she caused. With Luke Callindor and Sari by her side, Nyx is ready to face the vengeful goblins and opportunistic thieves that plague Hero’s Gate. Yet, there is a darker threat that was born from her violated magic: The Krypters.
It is another action-packed, character driven story that will reveal one of our heroes has been lied to for their entire life.
About the Author:
Charles Yallowitz was born and raised on Long Island, NY, but he has spent most of his life wandering his own imagination in a blissful haze. Occasionally, he would return from this world for the necessities such as food, showers, and Saturday morning cartoons. One day he returned from his imagination and decided he would share his stories with the world. After his wife decided that she was tired of hearing the same stories repeatedly, she convinced him that it would make more sense to follow his dream of being a fantasy author. So, locked within the house under orders to shut up and get to work, Charles brings you Legends of Windemere. He looks forward to sharing all of his stories with you and his wife is happy he finally has someone else to play with.
Dear Reader, you see this lovely specimen of a feline in repose. Reading is hard work, you know, especially of The New Yorker (such long articles!).
Luisa sleeping on a copy of The New Yorker and my husband’s stargazing log.
The girl does love to sleep. And she deserves to sleep as much as she wants because she is at least 20 years old.
Luisa asleep on the porch
What Luisa doesn’t like is going to the vet.
Luisa at the vet’s
Unfortunately, we’ve had to take her in twice in less than a week. Last week, she started throwing up her food. Nothing terribly unusual. She often had these spells of puking up food and then begging for more, and then she would be fine for awhile. But last week was different. The frequency of her throwing up increased until the point where all she could throw up was frothy liquid because there was no longer food in her stomach. And of course this was in the wee hours of the morning. So I laid in bed and told myself that “if she has one more episode, I’m taking her to the emergency vet.” And of course all was quiet after I made that decision, as if she had read my mind.
Of course, I was in denial and, to a degree, I still am. I wanted only for the vet to prescribe over the phone some anti-nausea medicine and an appetite stimulant. Oh, yes, I forgot to mention: Luisa had stopped eating.
So the first visit to the vet involved Luisa getting subcutaneous fluids to hydrate her, an anti-nausea shot, and an antibiotics shot (her white blood cell count was elevated). We took her home and observed her, tried to feed her, watched her every movement. Oh, did I mention that she was also constipated?
By Monday, she had only eaten a spoonful of food that I held in front of her. She would have no more. So back to the vet we went. I saw a different doctor this time, one that I was more comfortable with since she had treated a few of our other cats as well. It’s very simple: we can try a few non-invasive procedures and if they fail, well, there’s euthanasia. We can try invasive procedures and if they fail, well, there’s euthanasia. Luisa is at least 20 years old.
We found her in a local park almost 18 years ago. My husband fell in love with her and as days past and she seemed to always be on the top of the restrooms whenever he came to the park to run, he grew more anxious. There were student apartments nearby so we suspected the usual. When the nighttime temperatures started to fall, my husband grew even more anxious. So one day I drove out to the park, coaxed her off the roof of the restrooms, and cajoled her into a pet taxi, and off to the vet we went. I left behind info on the vet … just in case, but of course, no one ever called. So. She was ours. We named her Luisa because we found her in San Luis Mission Park.
It hasn’t been all roses with Luisa. She is a “crazy tortie.” Until recently, she wouldn’t tolerate being petted. She always wanted to be in the same room with us, but we were to look and not touch. It was hard not to laugh when I would go to pet her and she would hiss and slap my hand.
But in the last couple of years, perhaps you could say now that’s she is in her dotage, she seems to enjoy being petted. In fact, she sleeps with me, often curled up on the inside of my left arm. Or on my pillow where her whiskers tickle my face. She is still with us, as of this writing. We are trying the non-invasive treatments: anti-nausea medicine, appetite stimulant, another round of subcutaneous fluids. But if this regimen fails, we can do no more. We will do no “heroics” for our aging queen. All we want to hear her purr and know that she does not suffer.
So, if I seem to be absent from blogging or distracted when I am here, she is my cause. I don’t want to let her go. Of course, it’s inevitable. She’s not getting any younger, and keeping her beyond her comfort zone would not be fair to her. But right now, she does not seem to be in distress. She still seems alert. But she still won’t eat.
For now, dear Reader, understand that I am rather preoccupied because Luisa is still here and I need every minute with her that I can get. Even if she spends most of those minutes sleeping.
The one, the only Helena Hann-Basquiat, everyone’s favorite dilettante 
Marie at 1 Write Way 