Winter Memory

I thought since everyone else is sharing a winter/snow memory, it's only fair that I do the same. (For the free pass post to the query contest Sun versus Snow go here. For information on the contest and our 15 agents go here.) Here's a quasi embarrassing story from my misspent youth. 

I grew up in Tennessee, not exactly the snow capital of North America. Instead of flaky white stuff that you can throw at people or roll into rotund statues of adorable Christmas icons, my part of Tennessee mostly got stuck with ice when winter weather arrived. Instead of snow days we had ice days.

Another thing about Tennessee, they have lots of tall pine trees. Now ice and tall trees with all the branches at the top are a bad combination. Let me tell you something about icy pine trees, they're really elastic, like an Olympic gymnastic flexible. They bend right down--onto the ground, or onto roofs, or onto, say, power lines. A coating of ice over everything in sight is a beautiful scene until it's a pine tree on your electric line. Then you end up at a motel for a week until things thaw enough for the emergency workers to drive again. Cause yay, Tennessee, no salt trucks either.

But I digress from the quasi embarrassing part. My parents who wanted to give their kids everything, gave us an above ground swimming pool with a nice deck around it going right to the house. A wonderful spot in the summer, but that swimming pool used to turn to ice in the winter as water tends to do. You can see where this is heading, right? But wait, there's more...

In my misspent youth, my sister and I had a favorite hobby of, wait for it, roller skating. This was in the way back, before roller blades, we're talking roller skates. The kind that you might put purple pom-poms on the laces. Sis and I pretty much roller skated day and night, up and down the driveway, all around the garage. It's what we did. Don't ask me why. We used our imagination when we played in those times.

Well one genius day, I decided to roller skate onto the deck. And lo and behold what do I see: a solid surface on our swimming pool. A BRAND new place to skate that had never been skated before! Being the shy little thing that never did anything by herself, I turned back and went and asked my mother. Wait. Are you buying that garbage? I was ten, I didn't ask anyone.  

I skated right out there onto the ice. Look at me; I'm cool on top of the swimming pool. It lasted all of three feet then kersploosh 'cause Tennessee ice ain't that thick, people. So I'm floundering in freezing water with roller skates weighing my feet down like bricks. I'm yelling and panicking. My mother comes racing out, puts her hands on her hips and says, "Stand up."

Yeah. Our pool was only about three and a half feet deep. My family doesn't let me live that one down.

Song Lyric Inspiration and Snow Pictures

Robin braves the cold. Pippin is hiding inside.

We got a snow day today, no school for the kids and no work for me. With the temperature around four degrees and the wind chill where I don't want to think about numbers, we're inside with plenty of free time. Today you get a two-fer, pictures of snow for those who don't get any and something about what helps me write. I was considering inspiration and where mine comes from. For me, it comes from many places, but a big source is music.

My yard gnome has a new hat.

I keep quite a list of music in both CD form and on my mp3 player. My family hates that I play the same music over and over. It drives them nuts. But I need deep emotion to get my thought process flowing. So I tend to repeat the same songs, making additions every few months. All the music I choose has to be intense. The singer has to make me experience an intensity, a drive. The best source for that, for me, has always been Nickelback. Now I know that lots of people don't care for their songs, but it works for me.

I decided to list some lyric examples as the easiest way to talk about it. I'm probably going to want to hide after admitting all this, but here goes:

Against the grain should be a way of life, What's worth the price is worth the fight -- If Today Was Your Last Day  This is just a good song when querying is getting you down.

Nobody want to go it all alone, Nobody wants to be all alone, You can't give up, when you're looking for a diamond in the rough -- Gotta be Somebody Very cheesy, but this is my search for an agent song. Even after years of playing it, this one sticks with me.
 

My ornamental grass is buried.

Stealing comes with practice, Lying comes with ease, But neither one is faster than falling to your knees -- Kiss It Goodbye This one is more writing orientated. It's for a character that is a dark hero. A liar, a charmer, and a cheat, but a good man at heart. He is in my shelved manuscript. I'll be back for you someday, Jorge.

Can't see the silver lining down here on the floor -- Trying not to love you This one applies to my last mc, Little Bit. You've got to remember to bring your mc to a low point so they can show their stuff.

I'm the villain you're willing to save -- Holding on to Heaven  This one just completely sums up my favorite villain I've ever created. Some villains are over the top, they are the obvious bad guys or girls. From Kindar's Cure, this character was the opposite, the villain that is hidden in the shadows. Despite doing bad acts over and over, beta readers kept forgiving him. They can't seem to help themselves and neither can he.

I'd fight for you, I'd lie for you, Give my life for you-- I'd Come for You  And this last one, is for my character, Garrett. I'd call him my soft spot character. There is something about this guy I really love. He keeps trying to save his girl no matter what. And of course as she is the mc that can't happen. She can't be a Cinderella. She has to save herself.

No butterflies on this bush today.

I'd could go on and on with more lyrics, but I've embarrassed myself enough for one day. It's funny what can come to symbolize your writing.

So now I've shared my most sappy private stuff. Don't let me be the only one. Don't let this confession die an orphan as my husband would say.

Have a song that represents a character you love? Some lyrics that keep you sending out those query letters? Please share them in the comments.

Snow and A Little Catch Up

I promised snow pictures for my friends in those warm climates who never see any of the white stuff. (Grumbles under breath about lucky SOB's in warmer climates. You know who you are!) We got our first snow fall on Boxing Day, not that we celebrate Boxing Day, but it's such a cool name. It was only a small amount of snow for us in Northern Indiana, about three inches. I'm sure we will get plenty more. So if anyone wants more pictures, shout out in the comments. I could mail you a few boxes of it, but they'd be soggy.

Here are some equal time pictures for my two dogs. The brown one is Robin--not named for the superhero, but for the bow and arrow guy. He doesn't like the wind. The black one is Pippin--yes named for LOTR's Pippin. And he is a pretty princess who doesn't like to get his feet wet. He also wouldn't look at me until I took twenty pictures. My fingers were freezing. You might be able to see Pippin is sticking his tongue out at me.



I did get to see the Hobbit movie. I liked it a lot, but I didn't love it. It seemed like they stretched the material a bit. Three hours is pretty long even for LOTR. We went the Saturday after the tragedy in Connecticut so that might have been on my mind also. I will definitely see it again and maybe it will strike me more favorably. 

In other news, I'll be starting the contest to win a copy of a Wheel of Time book this weekend, either the Eye of the World or A Memory of Light. I'll let the winner pick which one they want and whether an ebook or a paper version. Not sure whether the post will go up on Saturday or Sunday because my motivation is as uncertain as the weather. So stay tuned for that.

Oh, and Kindar's Cure is now on Goodreads in anticipation of a March 2013 release. I'll probably do another announcement about that. You can friend me here  or add Kindar to your 'to be read' list here. My editor is healing up after some surgery so there hasn't been much movement by the publisher. I wish her well and healthy and back to work soon. I wouldn't be surprised if the release date gets pushed back a little bit which give me more time to prepare.

Happy New Year to everyone.