THE ZEN OF CHRISTMAS

Things bear repeating.

74 degrees and 9 pm Christmas day.
This one's for Galen - it's a dragon nudibranch. I've taken many photographs of these creatures. I never tire of them. I guess you could call them my passion among many things (horses, sailboats, diving).
So one of my Christmas books was from Touloose. THE ZEN OF WRITING by Ray Bradbury. He said so much that rings true for writers but one thing was especially meaningful to me.
Write your passion.
Take your character and make them love what you love and want what you want. In this way you can make your story authentic and tell the truth.
So I now find myself writing about a poor disoriented woman who is seaching for the perfect black and white cat.
One with opposable thumbs.
Oh yeah,
His name's gotta be Touloose...

JINGLE BELL JINGLE BELL JINGLE BELL ROCK...

WISHING EVERYONE A HAPPY HOLIDAY SEASON

76 degrees and 9 pm.
We will be sharing Christmas dinner with the pirate / beta reader on Wandering Star. Christmas Eve day Gordon and I will have a leisurely horse back ride on Airborne and Veritas.

Although we don't have a tree on board we do have teeny tiny Christmas tree worms that live on ORION's hull.

MELE KALIKIMAKA

THE MYSTERY OF THE VAGRANT VEGETABLE...OR...IS THAT A TOMATO IN YOUR POCKET OR ARE YOU JUST GLAD TO SEE ME

I'm going to kill two tomatoes with one literary metaphorical stone.
I was tagged by sustenence scout.
I'm supposed to list three things that I believe make for powerful writing. So I decided to tell a story. Bear with me...

TOMATO TODAY TOMATO SOUP TOMORROW

The vegetable was dead. No doubt about it. Pierced with twelve to fourteen deep gashes over it's entire circumference. Funny. No blood. I walked into the galley. Another body lay stretched out on the companionway steps. It was a gruesome sight. But again no blood. This murderer was crafty and careful.
Exhibit A found at the foot of my bed at approximately 6:03 am.


Exhibit B found on the companionway steps at 6:05am.

The medical examiner was thorough and blunt. He combed his hair from the back to cover his bald spot. His sansabelt pants were heading toward the south pole.
"These wounds were made by needle sharp teeth," he said. "Any one of which would have been fatal. This is one frenzied killer."
I couldn't believe it. A murderer on the loose. ORION is no longer safe.
I interviewed the two boat cats.
They didn't see a thing.
Didn't hear a thing.
I was stumped.
Looks like another one for Cold Case.

So what does this have to do with three things for powerful words?
Well. First of all.
1. Sometimes perfectly normal mornings can turn into grotesque nightmares. Write about them.
2. Death is compelling even when it's only a vegetable. Write about it.
3.(to paraphrase Clinton) It's the story, stupid.
It's always the story.
Oh. By the way?
The culprit was not who you expected.

The fourth thing? Expect the unexpected.

FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO WANT TO KNOW WHAT I SOUND LIKE...

Back in August I did a radio interview in Seattle
with CBS affiliate KMPS you need to scroll all the way down to the bottom for August 25, Patricia Wood. It's on their website now. How cool is that?
On another note...
This is TOOOOO FUNNY!!!

YOU HAVE TO LET ART FLOW OVER YOU...

THE BRITISH ARE COMING THE BRITISH ARE COMING...
The UK hardback of LOTTERY will be released January 3, 2008. All my blogger buddies in the UK have to promise to take photos of LOTTERY in bookstores like FOYLES and WATERSTONES.
Touloose approves of the UK edition.
IT FEELSSO VERY GOODYES. OH YES

Um. You were saying?
Touloose hearts books.
Hey he's only doing what I'd like to do. Pile all those copies of Lottery up under my pillow and sleep on them.

BLOG BOOK CLUB DISCUSSION OF LOTTERY

Starting Thursday December 13.
ON MOM AND MORE
This is the rejuvenation of one of the oldest (first?) book club blogs. Here is your opportunity to chat about LOTTERY
Anything goes: you can ask about research, the publishing process, the literary techniques to make the reader feel "slow", the characterization, the lottery...
See you there.
Also inquiring minds want to know what I got from my husband for my 21st anniversary present (besides dinner in San Francisco).
I took a picture of it.
A stone box with a pen and tablet inside that can stay by my bedside. He told me it's for ideas.
The box is covered with dragonflies.
The perfect gift.
This is why we are still married.

I HEART SEALIONS

MY FAVORITE PART OF SAN FRANCISCO...besides the sour dough bread, the steamed crab, the hot chowder...



While I was in San Francisco I discovered THIS ONLINE
I met Martha O'Connor the author of Bitch Posse and had lunch. Jersy Boys was incredible. And I discovered that going to art museums can trigger masses of creativity. Try it sometime.
So does walking up long steep hills. When your vision fades and things go a bit black -it's almost like a hallucination caused by extreme exhaustion.
It can mimic brainstorms...
oh yeah...
and it's cold.
Very.
Very.
Cold.

IT'S NOT NICE TO FOOL MOTHER NATURE

One minute ORION was bobbing softly to the normal trades and the next the wind gusted over 35 knots.
Touloose and I slept through it.
Gordon woke up and put a few more lines on.

The next morning trees and telephone poles were pick up sticks, roads were flooded, Airborne and Baby Horse's wooden tack shed blew over.
It wasn't the howling wind the next day.
Or the debris in the harbor. The raging surf.
That made me break out into a cold sweat.
It was:
NO.
INTERNET.
ACCESS.
Could not blog. Could not surf net and google myself. I actually had to write.
Bummer.
So on another note: I will be leaving tomorrow for SAN FRANCISCO (can't say that city without hearing the Village People).
Going to do some stock signing. Eat some great sourdough bread. See JERSEY BOYS.
"SHARRRREEEEE SHARRREEEEE BAAABBEEEEE!"
Oh yeah.
Touloose is in charge while we are gone.
I just don't remember ordering a Keg but he said I did...

WASHINGTON POST BOOK WORLD BEST OF 2007

EVER ALERT BLOGGERS SENT ME THIS LINK.
WASHINGTON POST BOOK WORLD HOLIDAY ISSUE GUESS WHAT SHE FOUND IN THEIR CHOICES FOR BEST FICTION 2007?
LOTTERY.
HOW COOL IS THAT?
Perry would be so proud...

TOULOOSE ON THE LOOSE

How did you button your jacket with no opposable thumbs TOULOOSE?

A BRAND NEW CONTEST AND THE BEST LITTLE OLD BOOKCLUB IN KOOLINA MARINA

SOS SOS SOS SOS SOS SOS
THIS CONTEST IS FOR BOB THE BETA READER. You see he really wants to re read this thriller but he can't remember the author or the title (no surprise there) - he barely remembers the plot but this is what he thinks it's about:
AND I QUOTE BETA BOB HERE:

"The one where a guy comes upon a car wreck, and rescues a damsel in distress, and almost goes to bed with her, but later finds out she is his long lost daughter, and then he and his daughter try to foil a plot by an evil villan who has created a killer hurricane that will wipe out the entire East Coast of the US unless the government drops a nuclear bomb in the exact eye of the hurricane to rip it apart, which would be a happy ending except that our hero and his daughter are in a mini-sub in the eye of the hurricane as the bomb is just about to be dropped, but are saved by a nearby US Submarine which hovers over them to protect them from the effects of the blast.
No kidding, this is a true story, or at least a real fictional story that I barely remember reading.
Aloha,
Wandering Star Bob."
Gee...You can't MAKE this stuff up.
OKAY BOYS AND GIRLS. THE FIRST BLOGGER THAT POSTS THE CORRECT TITLE AND AUTHOR OF THIS BOOK WINS AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF LOTTERY... I take care of my betas...
What beta BoB wants...Beta Bob gets...

A BOOK CLUB WHERE PATRICIA ACTUALLY GOT FED

The meeting to discuss LOTTERY was held on Vickie's boat - Not too shabby.





The company was way too fun and the discussion lively. They all volunteered to be the beta reader book club for book number two. I promised to put all their names in my book - They want to help me defend my title of being the Putnam author with the longest acknowledgment pages
EVER.
MWA HA HA....MORE BETA READERS.... MORE I TELL YOU!!! MORE!!!
I am STILL not satisfied...
Anyway I was blown away by the questions and they read some of their favorite parts in LOTTERY.
My head now is unable to fit through the companionway door so I'm sleeping in the cockpit tonight...
Good night.
And Aloha.
PS (Don't forget to enter the contest.)

ODE TO BOB THE BETA READER

Female Frogfish hide in plain site.
Kind of like beta readers.

8:30 pm and 76 degrees.
No tradewinds tonight. Christmas lights are up. Starboard is green. Port is red. Aft is white.
The draft of my first novel was written over one summer. I was still teaching high school. I thought it was pretty good but yanno...I was biased. I needed a beta reader.
The great thing about living in a harbor among cruisers is that everyone reads and boat people are notoriously cheap. Ergo if you say you are a writer there are beta readers lining up outside your boat. My neighbor Bob (Wandering Star 45 ft Irwin sloop center cockpit) has read everything I've written and sometimes more than once - you see Bob is the perfect beta reader. He has a very short memory. In fact I'm probably lucky he remembers my name. He frequents a used book store and sells back his books. He's been known to turn books in, stay so long browsing that he actually buys back one of his own books turned in that day - forgetting he already read it.
I am NOT making this up.
The PERFECT beta reader.
I have various beta readers known only by pseudonyms.
The comma queen.
Grammar Police Brigade (several of these).
Plot Hole Finder (which is not the same as a Plot Hole FILLER who is quite invaluable).
Anyway. My point it my beta readers - who are named in the acknowledgments pages in the back of LOTTERY - play a huge role in helping me perfect my novels.
They are anxiously waiting my next one.
In fact.
That's either one hugely monstrous frog fish outside my boat or...
they're lining up now.

PATRICIA'S BIG OUWEE (ALSO KNOWN AS A BOOBOO)

WHAT DO OUWEES AND BOOBOOS HAVE TO DO WITH WRITING...READ ON AND FIND OUT
I have a boo boo on my leg. I noticed it two weeks ago and it didn't go away. Now keep in mind us writers have an exceedingly active imagination. All it took was an article in the paper about ginormous flesh eating bacteria (dogs and cats have dissappeared out of yards... people are missing)...Well, you get the picture.
And speaking of pictures...
(Bandaid covers afore mentioned BOOBOO slash OUWEE hearafter to be referred to as:BSO) ((I had to include scenery with BSO)) (((Scenery = palm trees, water, and other boats)))
So Monday morning I decided to go to the acute care facility and show them my BSO and see what they thought.
Keep in mind After an entire weekend of thinking about this I was convinced my leg would be operated on and I would lose it through some obscure medicinal oversight and be given a peg leg, which held some attraction for me--after all-- I DO live on a boat.
(I hear you yelling PATRICIA GET TO THE POINT!!!WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH WRITING!!!!!!)I'm getting there.
NURSE= "I have some questions."
ME="Okay"
*reluctantly puts sudoku puzzle book away*
NURSE="What do you do."
ME= "Write"
NURSE="No, what do you DO. For a job"
ME= proudly "That's what I do I'm a writer."
NURSE ="No, Really."
ME = even more proudly "I write novels."
NURSE="But I need to know what you do for a REAL job."
ME="That's what I do. I write books."
*pulls out business card and hands to nurse*"I'm an author."
NURSE="You mean like Nicholas Sparks?"
ME=*getting shorter and less proud* "Um, well, yeah"
NURSE="How come I never heard of you?"
ME=*really tiny and not at all proud*"Well, I'm new..."
NURSE="Have I read anything you've written?"
ME= "I don't know. Have you read my book LOTTERY?" *points to cover of book on card*
NURSE= "Oh no, I'm not a reader..."

GEARING UP FOR THANKSGIVING

MY SWEDISH COVER

And you can order the Swedish version HERE
Doesn't it look like Perry's exuberance and joy.
I think it's lovely.
What do you think?
I believe a close translation of the title would be "fortunate lottery winner" but that's as close as I can come. I welcome all comers to help me out. Babelfish is not my friend...

CONTEST CONTEST CONTEST
If you live in the Netherlands you can enter a contest to win a vacation!! Tell what you would do with 12 million dollars? Well? What would YOU do?

As we approach Thanksgiving I'm reminded of where I was last year at this time. My final tweaked manuscript was turned over to my agent and she planned on submitting to editors the Tuesday after Thanksgiving. I readied myself for a long wait.
Today?
Well I have a stack of books with my name on them that I carry around in my car.
Touloose has been playing nurse.
I had a brief touch of the flu while I was letting my current project sit (funny how that happens)tomorrow I will get back to work.
I think I got sympathy flu from Holly...
A big thanks to fuzzysound for letting me know his autographed copy of LOTTERY arrived safe and sound - he won Church Lady's contest last weekend.
AND I will be in San Francisco from December 6 through the 10th. Any of you SF bloggers who want books signed let me know! I'll be signing some stock at Barnes and Noble and Borders - email me if you want to hook up. Remember Christmas is coming! (How can we forget!)
So aloha and someone help me translate!!

FIFTY WAYS TO DO YOUR RESEARCH

Bright and early I get to work. Revising my crappy first draft.

9pm and 78 degrees.
Research. Everybody's got to do it. I do it concurrently while I'm writing. Below is a photograph of some things I gathered for my next novel.

Although fiction is, well, fiction, it's a priority for me to make sure I know what I'm talking about.
Thank GOODNESS I don't write science fiction or fantasy or I'd be in trouble. I'd have a hard time putting in time on Mars.
So I have enlisted KIMBER AN 's help for those places I haven't been to. (Kimber An's response is MWA HA HA)
The important thing about research is to have dependable help. I put Touloose in charge of reading Edith Hamilton and Thomas Bulfinch. So Touloose. What have you found? Touloose? Touloose? TOULOOSE!!!!!

POSITION AVAILABLE:
Research position working for author. Must be willing to stay awake while reading.
While ability to purr is preferable it is not required.
Dogs need not apply.

A LITTLE SOMETHING TO SHOW YOU I'M NOT...

JUST SITTING AROUND EATING BON BONS ER... PINEAPPLE

This is a photo of the Manoa Valley Church Bookclub and um...the rest of you book clubbers take note - they actually FED me!! Good stuff too.
And now an advertisement for TODDIE DOWNS AND HER BLOG who I went out eat with after the Everett Library Gig with ANTIWIFE.
Toddie asked me for an interview so I said yes and...well...here it is.
And now back to work. Turning off phone. Setting email to stun. Locking muses in forward cabin.
Ready.
Set.
Back to writing.

AUTHOR'S WEEKEND ON THE CHURCH LADY'S BLOG

THE CHURCH LADY is having an author's weekend with ME (Patricia Wood and LOTTERY) on Saturday and JOHN ROBISON (LOOK ME IN THE EYE) on Sunday.
Be there or be square...

LOST IN TRANSLATION OR IF IT'S WEDNESDAY THIS MUST BE THE NETHERLANDS

THE TRAIN BOSS!THE TRAIN!
Welcome to Fantasy Island...

This month the Dutch version of Lottery is released.
GORGEOUS!!!


It was SOOO exciting.; I got my VERY FIRST EVER FOREIGN REVIEW and I couldn't read a word of it.
It was in Dutch.
Did that stop me?
No. Not at all.
I pasted the text into a free translation program online.
THIS WAS ADAM'S IDEA (and you know who you are!)
Simple right?
Er...
Maybe not.
Here's what I got:

Perry B. Crandall are a bofkont. At least, that is true B. in its name for state according to its granny and actual Perry that themselves find also. He is not mentally handicapped such as others frequently think, because are IQ are 76 and that is still above the border of 75 and therefore is he not mentally handicapped. He is ordinary what slow. A simple description of a captivating personage from the intriguing debuutroman of Patricia Wood.


Ly, but not insipid moving, funnily and sober is the words which are appropriate at this book. Patricia Wood wrote from simple but certainly not insipid view of a slow boy, who is only busy with happy is with what he has. The remaining personages remain because of this what superficial, but this is not annoying. Perry's experience and how he stipulated matter take its enough to continue captivate you the complete book. Its simple look on things works clarifying and logically. It makes the book not too heavy, in spite of the nevertheless violent things that he to process gets. What, however, is notable, is that it seems be here and there written with a film in the down-stream cutwater, especially the last chapters have this strong by the speed which sits there then all of a sudden in. Some what slightly disturbs in this book are haste identical ends of each chapter, but this can become remedied by simply continuing read to you this splendid book from has.

I can't even read this without peeing my pants I'm laughing so hard.
By the way the reviewer gave me 4 stars.
I SERIOUSLY need to learn another language.
Any of you know Dutch?

I thank you most happy with but are got grateful me.
aloha aloha much

IS SHE OR ISN'T SHE? ONLY A STALKER KNOWS FOR SURE...

OK blogging buddies. Help me out. A very nice man sent me a very nice email. He's reading LOTTERY. I made him cry. Can you help him feel better by saying ALOHA HERE and reading his blog and commenting???
That's me.
The FULL SERVICE author.
I knew you wouldn't let me down...

FUTURE HOME OF THE HADAR WRITER'S RETREAT

Flash flood warnings and rain rain rain...but have I got a deal for you...
Friends of mine are building a "mobius" house.


It should be habitable in a year. High in the mountains on the North shore of Oahu it will be an artist's haven. A place a novelist or painter can go to find time, space and quiet to finish their project. Oh yeah, and my friends will be living there.
My name is already down on their list...
There's something about real life which gets in the way of writing that wildly successful tome.
There's laundry to do. Meals to fix. Cats to play with...
Not to mention the thirty new leaks to repair in the deck after a deluge of rain.
And on another note...
I've been asked about my next book. My lips are zipped shut but maybe just maybe a small tantalizing morsal tossed out to those who want a hint about my next novel...
Here's clue number one:

For all the rest of you who have asked about how I write or want to know how I keep all my plots straight while I write?
Here:


And then there's the rest of you who have no interest at all in anything except for the continuing adventures of Touloose the wonder cat...
Touloose is penning his memoir. He's describing his travels in Paris...in Africa...The celebrities he's met in rehab...
I tried to explain to him that a memoir has to be true...
But he's having none of it.
"It's true because I say so", he says and goes into "cute cat" mode.

A BRAND NEW WEBSITE: AUTHORS AS REVIEWERS

CHECK THIS OUT!
WRITERSAREREADERS

DA DOO RUN RUN RUN DA DOO RUN RUN

This is what the imagination looks like running free...The creative process full speed ahead.

Let's journey inside to that special place where novel premises are born and pages of fantastical prose are released into the world with much bated breath and anticipation (not unlike ketchup).
Deep.
DEEP.
DEEPER.
Deep in the recesses of the author's mind whence come those little nagging voices. Those tinkling inner conversations that are SOOOO helpful to the creative process.
Let's listen to them now shall we?
Chapter one...
"It's going well isn't it?"
"What? Are you kidding? Look at that dialogue!"
"What's wrong with the dialogue?"
"You can't make your characters say Pishtaw!"
" It sounds good to me."
"Anyway you have to change that description!"
"What about the description?"
"Blue sky? BLUE SKY??!! that's such a cliche. Think of something else"
"Azure? How about azure?"
"You already used azure for the drum majorette's eyes. You can't use it twice in one chapter."
"Why not?"
"You just can't."
"Okay I'll make her eyes brown."
"Everybody's eyes are brown. Enough with the brown."
"There's just no satisfying you is there?"
"Look if I wasn't watching your every move you'd have the mother dead in chapter one and alive again in chapter three."
"It was merely an oversight. I'd have picked it up in copyediting."
"Some oversight! Was relocating the Grand Canyon to California an oversight?"
"This is just a first draft! I can't be worrying about the details."
"Not worry about details? NOT WORRY ABOUT DETAILS???!!! ARE YOU CRAZY?!!!!!!"
Yes.
Yes I am.

WHERE IDEAS REALLY COME FROM

I didn't want to keep it to myself. It's not really fair. I have often been asked where I get my ideas. Every writer is asked that. Well I'm coming clean.

Here.

I walk down the dock.
"Hey Pat! Hold on a minute."
It's Kevin. He lives on a catamaran.
"What's up, Kev?" I ask.
"I got this idea," he says. "A GREAT idea for a book! These guys they go on this boat and then like go after these other guys on another boat and then...um...oh yeah a guy gets killed and then the CIA comes after them. It's kind of like DaVinci Code meets Mutiny on the Bounty..."
"Gee thanks Kev but..."
"Hey it'd be a good story! You just have to write it."
I continue walking down the dock.
Mike leans against his boat and waves me over."Hey Pat! Got a minute? I had this dream. It was about vampires. Only these were like fishermen. Got it? Fishermen vampires. That'd make a great story wouldn't it?"
"Gee Mike why don't you write it?"
"Aw I can't write! How about you write it and we'll split the money?"
I buy a cup of coffee at the marina store.
"You the writer?"
"Yeah" I say.
"You wrote a book?"
"Yeah" I say.
"You gonna write another?"
"That's the plan." I say.
"How about martians? You gonna write about martians landing here and then like taking all our boats. You could write that couldn't you? I mean nobody's done that yet have they?"
"No I'm sure they haven't."
"OK then you write that and then let me know 'cuz I wanna read it first."

I get into my car just to get away and drive to the North shore. Wonderful silence. The tradwinds blowing in the ironwoods. I grab my saddle and bridle and walk to the gate.

"PSSSSSSSTTTT!!!" I hear.

"I GOT THIS IDEA!THERE'S THESE HORSES SEE...AND THEY'RE IN A BOAT SEE..."

WHERE SMILEY FACES COME FROM

You can see the eyes just moving into place...
Shhh. Don't move.
You'll scare it.

soon the smile will form and the fully evolved face will crawl out of the primordial soup of visages and emoticons.


What was I doing on October 18th?
Judge do I have to answer that question?
I do? Well uh er at 8 pm Mountain Standard time I was on the phone.
Yes I have witnesses.
My alibi is ironclad.
It was a book club.
In San Antonio, Texas.
Really.


AND HERE THEY ARE!
They'll back me up.

I can't tell you HOW MUCH FUN it is to talk to book clubs. Trust me. It is. This group from Texas asked some amazing questions and laughed at ALL my jokes.
That made me happy.
Another thing that made me happy?
This POST from booknook!

I MISS MISS SNARK

ALSO TITLED:

THE CONTINUING SAGA OF THE I'M A NITWIT AND PROUD OF IT FAN CLUB


I miss Miss Snark.
I miss Buffy Squirrel and following her back to her hole. I miss Bill E. Goat and M G Tarquini when the wit flew thick and heavy.
I miss Anon. I miss Clueless Anon. I miss Snarky Anon. I miss Nitwit Anon.
And I miss Anon Number 512.
I miss getting up in the morning going online and immediately having to clean the coffee off my keyboard before I can start my work for the day.
I miss the camaraderie.
I miss the glamour.
The quality of charisma.
I miss all that.
And more.
I miss Miss Snark
I miss being a part of a club.
I miss being a part of the group.
I miss nuking the scammers.
I miss saving another snarkling from the clutches of nefarious BB (and we know who you are)
I miss fiction novels.
I miss cluegun.
I miss guaranteed best seller.
I miss urban-romance-thriller-mystery-fantasy only with vampires and butt weasels ala Stephen King.
I miss the crapometer.
I miss gin.
I miss yanno.
I miss wtf.
I miss dear dog.
I miss clueless.
I miss have a clue.
I miss get a clue.
I miss Miss Snark.
And her little dog too.
I miss it.
I
miss
it
all.

PARABLES AND PARTY ANIMALS

I will blog today about THE ANT...hardworking...studious...focused...



and THE GRASSHOPPER...flippant...live for the day...devil may care...

Monday morning (for me) 75 degrees. My muse at my hip.
I went to the stable this weekend and worked with Baby Horse -- he's really coming along. Light. Balanced. Responsive. He's a pleaser. He's learning his job as a horse. Has figured out what I want. He listens to me. Thinks. Analyzes.
Then I go home.
To Beelzebub.
Hell Cat.
Grasshopper.
What? YOU back? I don't know WHO pulled all your clothes out of your cupboard. I was busy doing kitty litter therapy art in the forward stateroom.
I have no idea where your keys are and besides you shouldn't leave them on the table where it's so tempting to paw them off so they slide under the sea chest.
AHHH so many hours in the day and so many naps to take. I am inspired...
So what are you? The ant-like Baby Horse who works hard at what you do taking this writing stuff seriously.
Or are you a grasshopper like Touloose? At turns slovenly but with moments of inspired creativity and unparalleled genius (according to him).
I am both.
I think it takes both.
During the revision process that I am an ant. Thoroughly focused. Knowing where I need to go with a manuscript.
But during the first draft stage? I am Touloose. I am the brilliant but foolish grasshopper flitting and darting from one plot point to the other.
Never keeping to the point but getting there all the same.
But what is my true nature?
What am I deep inside.
And what are you?
Because it only took a second.
For me to realize.
That I am.
A Dragonfly.

THREE'S A CROWD...NOT!

How many manuscripts does it take to pillage and plunder from to get a decent second draft?
Hint.
How many do you have?*

75 degrees by my air conditioner outlet. 78 degrees by the nav station. 86 degrees outside ORION.
4:30 pm.

*Four. One to put under your coffee so it doesn't make marks on the table, one to prop open the forward cabin so it doesn't shut on a cat, one to sit on so you are ergonomically correct and one to lean against so you have proper alignment of the lumbar region.

A little sleepy.
Just a tad. Stayed up late chatting.
Had a marvelous interview by THE BOOK SELLER. The UK publishing magazine. Veddy.Veddy exciting for me.
She was an UBER INTERVIEWER (I hope you're reading this Anna.)
First of all the UK is 10 hours later.
And second.
She was one of the very few interviewers who had actually READ my book completely before interviewing me. We had such fun and talked about loving books that give you a good cry. So cathartic.
How cool is that?
I have to admit no matter where someone is from -- after a few minutes I start to talk like them. I started saying "Brilliant!" and "righty ho!" and "All right then."
I do it to people from the south too,
"Weeeellll honeeee chile..." and "Ya'll"
I just can't help it. I also couldn't prevent myself from saying "Aloha" in New York. If you want some really GREAT looks do that to a cabby.
I'm so grateful no one has hung up on me or hit me yet.
Yet.

I am currently collecting all the things people have said to me at signings starting with this from Washington.


"Did you write this book?"

"Yes."

"All of it?"

STUPID AUTHOR TRICKS, UNINTERRUPTED WRITING TIME AND OTHER FANTASIES...

OKAY SO SHOOT ME...

At least it's a PRIUS and not a PORSCHE.

10:37 and 75 degrees inside ORION and 85 degrees outside ORION.
Air conditioning status: cool...very cool.

Let's get this over with right off the bat. It's a complete and utter fallacy that writing becomes easier once an author becomes published. No.
An author's life is one interruption after another

pitter patter gallumph CRASH!!!!!
WHAT ARE YOU GUYS DOING IN THERE???!!!!!

nothing...



type type type type
finally getting somewhere...

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

(hit save hit save remember to hit save)
*climbs companionway and looks out

"Down here!!!"

"I'm selling chocolate covered plankton for the school...do you want to buy some? It's so our band can go to Sea World..."

*be polite. Say yes. It's a deduction.

type type type type type

ding ding ding
email
EGO: oh an email. I'll read it later when I have time.

ID: WHAT??!!!ARE YOU KIDDING!!! IT"S PROBABLY FROM OPRAH!!!YOU BETTER READ IT!

EGO: Now just calm down ID you're never going to get anything done if you answer each and every email as soon they come in.

ID: ARE YOU F***ING NUTS!!!THIS COULD BE IMPORTANT!!!IT COULD BE THE PULITZER PRIZE COMMITTEE NEEDING YOUR ADDRESS TO SEND YOU THE CHECK!!!!

EGO: Oh ego be reasonable...

ID: I AM BEING REASONABLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*much time is wasted listening to id and ego argue
**looks at watch
Oh no.
Must make cat hat out of grapefruit rind.

ORION HAS LEFT THE BUILDING
LEFT THE BUILDING
LEFT THE BUILDING

ONE YEAR ANNIVERSAY OF ORION'S BLOG

9:45 PM and 77 degrees.So here is ORION at anchor off Kahe point. Emblematic of what is happening now. A bit of a lull. A rest. And then looking off at the horizon to what will be happening in the future.

A year ago.
Newly agented. Polishing LOTTERY. Anxious for submission.
Wondering what will happen.
What tomorrow will bring.
So why did I start blogging? Well I was addicted to Miss Snark and I wanted more interaction with other writers. I kept a low profile and didn't "come out" until LOTTERY was sold. I then focused on giving other writers a glimpse into what the publication journey was like for me -- but yanno -- I then became involved in a cyber community that -- although it can suck mass quantities of writing time -- has been SO rewarding. Each blogger I meet on the mainland has been like reconnecting with an old friend.
And then I get to create new friendships...

I never could have predicted how this year would have turned out. Never in a million years. It is only when I read the reviews on Amazon. Read what people have to say On Barnes and Noble. Only when I read the emails from readers telling me they enjoyed my novel LOTTERY.
My novel.
My published novel.
Heady stuff.
That's why it's even more fitting what I did today.
AND HERE THEY ARE...

I spent Sunday afternoon WITH THE RAVISHING READERS OF EAST COUNTY
And it was totally good fun. We talked about what inspired the story. What was behind the story and talked about my choices as an author.
Would I have done anything differently?
No not really.
I explained my reasoning behind plotting and characterization and was analytical about what my intention was with my story.
My only complaint? AGAIN? I was not able to partake of what I was told was GREAT FOOD.
I'm going to have to work on this virtual snack thing...
As Perry would say?
That is SO unfair...

TRUTH IS STRANGER THAN FICTION

For the those reviewers and readers who were incredulous after reading LOTTERY that there were people in this world who would take advantage of anyone with a mental challenge I produce this EVIDENCE
from the Seattle Times.
The thing is. This is only an example of individuals who were caught.
Makes a person think doesn't it?