Wednesday, June 09, 2010

Ponds Are Not Golden

Whatever the movie led you to believe. They aren't. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

There are some lucky souls who go through life almost untouched by accidents. They never seem to fall off things, or over things. They never seem to drop things, break things, spill things. And they're often heard to remark that they've "never broken a bone" or that they "might have twisted their ankle once but they can't really say for sure". And you sort of wonder how they manage to live such a charmed life.

Then there are the ordinary folk. The everyday majority. They have the occasional trip. Once in a while they'll spill something. They might even break a bone at some point in their life.

Then there are those like me. The disaster zones. Who seem to be magnets, possessed of an irresistible power to drag every single catastrophe in this, and several neighbouring countries, right to their feet. People who don't so much walk through life as stagger from one incident to the next. Who, if there's something that can be dropped, spilt, walked into, fallen over or broken, will inevitably manage to do just that.

I've been working on a refurbishment job these past two weeks. Gutting & partially rebuilding a house extension. My bit was to repaint inside and out. It's a nice house, with a nice garden but the extension was put up by a right cowboy and seriously diminishes its attractions. It looks a whole lot better now.

Anyway. There was I, on the flagstone patio painting the outside wall (said patio very extensively protected from spillage!!). I was having a spot of trouble reaching the whole wall because there was a largish concrete ornamental bench in the way. They'd positioned it at a nice angle for sitting by the pond but at a very bad angle for painting the wall. I wasn't about to try to pick it up and move it because it looked damned heavy. But I thought I might be able to nudge it out of the way a bit. With this in mind I leant against it and gave it a push with my knee.

Who the hell builds a concrete bench where the top isn't fixed to the legs!!

It went over very gracefully. The top slid sideways and the legs folded beneath it. I wish I could say the same about me. I was completely off balance and fell forwards. Head first.

The pond was not golden. It was not a nice, clean goldfish pond. No, it was as black as a colliers armpit. And a foot deep in sludge. It's a "natural" pond. The householders are very eco-minded. Lots of nice scum - I mean algae - covering it. And absolutely full of tadpoles.

Tadpoles get everywhere. I was smart enough to keep my mouth shut but I was picking tadpoles out of my hair and clothes for hours.

Surprisingly the bench was undamaged. But I'm covered in bruises. And when I got home and went to put my (stinking) clothes in the washer I found a tadpole in my shirt pocket, still alive!! I put it in a beer glass full of water. I added a small piece of pond weed (from my jeans) and some algae slime (from my boots) and it's swimming around quite happily at the moment. But what the hell am I supposed to do with a bloody tadpole?? I'm not about to become surrogate parent to a flamin' frog!!

I can't take it home - the job's finished and we're somewhere else tomorrow. My sister says I can put it in her pond but are tadpoles territorial?? Do they recognise and attack strangers?? If I put it there will her resident tadpole hordes gang up on it?? Or will it settle in to its new home and family without trauma?? (Well, other than the trauma of finding itself trapped in my shirt pocket for two hours...)

I'll have to do some research before I pack its little suitcase and send it off to make its way in the world.

Until then, see you next week. Goodnight and may your God/s go with you.

Ze

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Tuesday, June 08, 2010

Message from an Author

I know, I know, I promised you me this week and I've lied to you again. It's getting to be a habit, and I hate liars almost as much as I hate thieves!! *g* ... But one of our regular readers/writers has an announcement.

News from Lara Zielinsky


    With a huge thank you to the supportive lesfic and uber fic communities, Lara Zielinsky is excited to finally announce the release of her second novel, Turn for Home, the sequel to Turning Point:

    Falling in love wasn’t easy. Staying together may be impossible.

    With her divorce proceeding, Brenna Lanigan is upset by her sons’ cold shoulders and opposition to her intimate relationship with Cassidy Hyland. Cassidy’s son Ryan eagerly accepts their relationship, which makes Thomas and James’ lack of support more upsetting.

    When the women return from holiday hiatus to Time Trails, they sneak precious moments of intimacy in shadows and trailers. With many of the cast and crew showing support, Cassidy and Brenna try to date in hopes of being seen simply as friends. The paparazzi give chase, however, very interested in the attitude change from cold shoulder to coziness between them.

    When their romance is suspected, the “lesbian” label sets off Mitch Hyland, Cassidy’s ex-husband, who plans to remove his son from being raised by a lesbian –

    By force if necessary.

    Autographed copies are now available. For more info and excerpts, please visit: My site


Promise it will be me tomorrow. I need to tell you about me & the bench...

Ze

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Monday, June 07, 2010

Day Off

The kids and I were home today. It was the last teacher work day of the school year. We've got this week and next week and school is over for this year. The kids are chomping at the bit. Even my student is ready for school to be over.

Today I tidied around the house a bit. Took the kids to McDonald's for lunch. Yes, I went all out. Played some Facebook games and washed a couple of loads of clothes. It was a good day.

Tonight you've got plenty to read.

Tamara

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Sunday, June 06, 2010

Announcement from Mary Griggs on GCLS Winners

Take it away!

Golden Crown Literary Society (http://www.goldencrown.org/) held its 6th Annual Conference in Orlando. The highlight of the conference is the Awards Reception on Saturday night.

The winners of this year's Goldies are:

Ann Bannon Popular Choice Award
Beggar of Love by Lee Lynch

Anthology (Non-Erotica)
And Baby Makes More ed. by S. Goldberg and C. Brush
Year's Best Lesbian Fiction '08 ed. by Fran Walker


Debut Author
Keile's Chance by Dillon Watson
October's Promise by Marianne Garver
Waltzing at Midnight by Robbi McCoy

Dramatic/General Fiction
Detours by Jane Vollbrecht
Family Affair by Saxon Bennett
Gemini by Geonn Cannon

Historical Romance
Backwards to Oregon by Jae
Kicker's Journey by Lois Cloarec Hart

Lesbian Erotica
Attractions of the Heart by Cheri Crystal
Night's Kiss by Catherine Lundoff

Mystery/Thriller
Possessing Morgan by Erica Lawson
Veritas by Anne Laughlin
Who'll Be Dead For Christmas by Kate Sweeney

Paranormal Romance
Barking at the Moon by Nene Adams
Everafter by Nell Stark and Trinity Tam

Poetry
Bird Eating Bird by Kristin Naca
In Praise of Falling by Cheryl Dumesnil
The Heart's Traffic by Ching-in Chen

Romantic Suspense/Intrigue/Adventure
Next of Kin by Jae
The Scorpion by Gerri Hill
Thief of Always by Kim Baldwin and Xenia Alexiou

Short Story/Essay/Collections (Non-Erotica)
Mean Little Deaf Queer by Terry Galloway
My Sweet Wild Dance by Mikaya Heart
Outsiders by Lynn Ames, Georgia Beers, JD Glass, SX Meagher and Susan Smith

Speculative Fiction
Forever Mine by KD Williamson
Second Nature by Jae
The Veil of Sorrow by Crystal Michallet-Romero


Traditional Contemporary Romance
Keile's Chance by Dillon Watson
Stranded by Blayne Cooper
Worth Every Step by KG MacGregor

Directors' Award - Rosa Moran
Trailblazer Award - Ellen Hart

Many thanks to Lynn Pierce of LesFicUnbound who posted the list of winners first! If you love lesbian fiction, join that yahoo group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lesfic_unbound/

The Golden Crown Literary Society (GCLS) is a literary and educational organization for the enjoyment, discussion, and enhancement of lesbian literature. Our goals are to support and strengthen quality lesbian literature by providing places for readers and writers to interact, to encourage and assist new writers and established authors, and to recognize and promote lesbian work.

See everyone next year at the GCLS Conference! It will be the second week of June in Orlando, so make your plans now!

Mary Griggs
http://www.marygriggs.com

Congrats to all the winners! Enjoy your update.

Peace, Health, and Happiness.
Elisa

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Saturday, June 05, 2010

Sun

It was beautiful and sunny today and we spent some quality time in the sun at the Edmonds Waterfront Festival. Everyone but Duncan had fun. He spent the whole time asking when we were going to leave. I'm such a horrible mom I made him get out of the house and go with us. He also had to sit through his brother's dance recital this morning. Yeah, we should be reported to child services.

You've got a lot to read tonight thanks to P&P. Enjoy 'em!

Tamara

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Friday, June 04, 2010

Friday!

I am not sure anything at this point needs to be said. Enjoy your weekend.

Peace, Health and Happiness

Elisa

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Thursday, June 03, 2010

*yawn*

Too pooped to write much. Good news though...you've got a decent amount to read. Enjoy 'em!

Tamara

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Wednesday, June 02, 2010

Response

I lied. You don't get me tonight. You get a response, from a guest rambler, to last night's guest ramble.

This is from Oz. A mate and fellow Xenite.


    I have spent about 10 years (with the Academy) doing my damnedest to encourage folks to write (and in the next breath, cajoling people to feed the writers to keep them wanting to continue to write). You can't get better unless you practice. Let's face it, most folks do not write the great American novel on the first try. I truly believe all stories have merit - from the shortest drabble to the longest epic. Writers put a piece of themselves into everything they write. It's not easy and putting your thoughts out there for folks to read and comment on takes courage. Who am I to judge their vision? Even if I too write and especially if I don't write. Don't misunderstand me, I think constructive criticism can be a great help to a writer. I am all for constructive criticism done privately. The operative words...CONSTRUCTIVE and PRIVATELY. I find most reviews of online works highly questionable. They tend to show the reviewer as believing they are more deserving of attention than the writer is deserving of respect. The reviewer obviously has strong feelings and a high opinion of their worth to the world at large, so doesn't the writer deserve a few moments of your time? Write them privately and explain your opinions/thoughts/views to them.

    I actually wonder why some are so judgmental or more importantly why they assume they are in a position to judge, especially if the stories are online. Online and available for FREE. It has always been my opinion that if you are really not enjoying a story, especially a story available to you for free on the net, then stop reading. If you really, really, do not like a story or how a storyline is progressing (or have a BETTER storyline idea)...instead of complaining about it...WRITE YOUR OWN.

    Isn't that how fanfic got started?

    Which brings me to reminding you that next month is FEED THE BARD month at the Academy. It's a month where we ask you to set aside some time out of your busy schedules to sit down and send some emails. Emails? Y'know, those things you send out to a wide variety of folks everyday. But what we are asking for are not your everyday emails. These are special emails. These are emails to Bards who have shared their time and talents with you over the past year. Bards who have given their stories to you…FREE. It doesn't have to be much more than a thank you or a quick note. I know as a writer and as a beta (my Bard shares her feedback with her betas) just how much any and all feedback means to them. It's an indication that the work is being seen and appreciated. Most Bards will respond as well.

    Yes, if a Bard follows you home…you can keep'm. LOL

    So get your "feeding" lists ready. The Academy loves to hear from Bards about their exploding mailboxes. Happy Bards mean more writing and more writing mean more stories posted and more stories posted mean more happy readers. Happy readers always heed the Academy motto (if you read'm, then feed'm) and the win/win cycle continues.

    Life is good.

    OZ, Royal Academy of Bards


You get me next week instead - because I'll let E & Tamara have any guest rambles we get over the next couple of weeks - it isn't fair if I keep snaffling them.

Happy reading.

Goodnight and may your God/s go with you.

Ze

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Tuesday, June 01, 2010

Another Guest Ramble

Another ramble from UK (no - not the country!!)


    Why carry a walking stick if you don’t need one ?

    Would you ride a tricycle if you could balance on a two-wheeled bike? Well I guess someone really high on safety might answer that question with a Yes, but all the rest of us … well wouldn’t we just look a little confused when asked and pinch our eyes together while trying to focus on the part of the question that makes it a trick one.

    If you can walk safely without support and you can ride a great distance without a third wheel, I say you don’t need neither the walking stick nor the tricycle.

    In the universe of uber fan fiction a number of stereotype physical characteristics are always at hand. We all know them so well – our protagonists are always strikingly beautiful, either 6ft tall with a well developed muscle tone or just a little spit, have silky raven-coloured hair or a short strawberry blond bob, and oh don’t forget the eyes; these are crystal blue, cerulean or green with an enchanting sparkle.

    I get the feeling that somewhere in universe of fan fiction someone has put up a sign "WARNING – for your own safety - carry a walking stick at all times!" In the case of uber fan fiction I take it that all the "writer chicks" take this warning to heart and make a leap for the nearest pile of "sticks" and surprise - they all end up with the same set of stereotype physical characteristics for their protagonists - to lean on for safety.

    Ok I do "get it" - it’s canon or something, but in my opinion tribute to the original is just as well paid by including the right character traits in the personification of the protagonists. It’s really not necessary to drive the point home by having "blue eyes meet green" or "large hand holding small" - at least not all the time.

    My motto when it comes to (fan) fiction is – "Less is more" – sometimes the point come across so much more clearly when it is approached with fewer repetitions or in a more subtle way, and I think that most of our beloved "writer chicks" are actually able to let go of the walking stick and carry them self on the merit of their own writing skills!

    I hope I haven’t offended anyone, as I really do appreciate all the time the "writer chicks" spend behind the computers giving life to our favourite ladies in yet a new storyline. Think of this as just a bit of food for thought. I for one will read on even if the "chicks" do stick with the stereotypes. I guess I need the fan fiction to lean on while rambling through real life.

    UK


Well, there you go. Mind you - the tall, dark, brooding/short, blonde, light-hearted stereotype goes back waaaaayyy further than fan-fiction, the internet or for that matter - Lesfic romance... I guess writers work on the principle that you shouldn't mess with a good recipe. But I agree, oh boy do I agree with the eye meeting thing. Eyes don't meet. (Splat!! Icky!!) They don't travel round the room. (Messy). They sure as hell don't sweep over someone's body. Glances meet, gazes travel, looks sweep. Eyes stay right where they are.

Tomorrow you get more of my blathering, but for tonight drop UK a line if you liked the ramble. And now, enjoy your updates. You've got LotS to read. (Geddit...LotS.) Ok it wasn't funny. I know. I know...

Ze

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Monday, May 31, 2010

Ramble from phair

Take it away, phair!
As I sit here typing, an awesome moon is rising. It is full and deeply orange and hanging low in the sky. The night is silent for the first time in hours. Perhaps, folks have finally settled down after a sundrenched afternoon of loud, obnoxious fun. Or maybe, like me, they are frozen, stone still at the magnificent sight which is truly over our heads.

Summer 2010 Unofficially Officially begins this weekend in the US. The weather for the Commonwealth is forecasted to be spectacular. I don't actually need a weather guy to tell me that tonight. The moon is promising a hazy, hot, and humid day tomorrow. My town will swell to three or four times its population with tourists heading for the sandy shores of the Atlantic. Just like when I was a kid. And, just like when my Dad was a kid. And, just like when my grandparents immigrated here. In fact, this location has been a summer retreat since the Massachusetts tribe named the area Nantascot; 'the low tide place.' There is some comfort in that kind of annual redundancy.

I'm living a life with very little redundancy at the moment. A few weeks ago, I wrote about my free fall out of the professional life I’d been cultivating for the past two decades. I am very happy to report that total catastrophic failure did not ensue with the loss of financial security. The truth is, my life is infinitely better in every way possible. This should not have surprised me. It did and does still surprise me but it should not have.

My writing is flowing in a manner I always hoped it would. Huge chunks of time are available not just to sit at the keyboard and hammer out the prose but to sit in the sand and think about what stories I want to tell. Better still, there is ample time to sit in the sand and listen for the wind to tell me stories from another time, from another voice. I have multiple writing projects rolling along and reimbursement for my writing efforts is occuring, as well. My target of a thousand words a day is a benchmark usually blown passed before lunch.

I've also had time to nurture the side of my professional life which was most neglected; treatment and patient care. A non-writing projected related to my clinical work is taking root and starting to flourish. It is a collaboration with a colleague that is shockingly new for our rather uptight profession. Nothing like it has be done before. Groundbreaking excitement for geeks like us.
And, as my personal joy started to take hold making every day a wonderful fresh start, something else happened. A call out of nowhere about a job within my clinical specialty area. It was a really sweet deal but it would be 40 hours Monday to Friday for the entire summer. Sort of where I was when I walked away from my career, just with a little less responsibility and a bit more money. I was really torn. Conventional wisdom was screaming for me to snap it up. As I hashed it out with friends, I found myself describing the clinical work I would like to do and it was nothing like the job offered.

So, I decided to say no. Risky! Dangerous! Then something really strange happened. Before I could decline the offer, the recruiter called to tell me the job was withdrawn from their data base. Odd. I didn’t actually have to refuse the work and give the impression of being ungrateful for a great opportunity. The recruiter felt bad for bothering me. She asked to hold onto my name in case something else came across her desk. Okay, I said but let me describe my dream job situation.

Wanna guess what happened next? Not one, not two, not three, but four former employers independently contacted me within 72 hours of that conversation and offered me the freelance work I had described to the recruiter who has never spoken to any of these folks. Can I get a WTF?

The faith I was raised in, religiously organized redundancy with candles, actually taught me to expect this exact result but I have not been paying attention for a very long time. My heart remembered the lesson but my head took longer to catch on to the concept. What is the concept, you might well ask. I'll tell you...in paraphrase because I'm too lazy to look it up at the moment; 'without love, I'm a banging gong.' The translation is very loose, I know, but the idea is simple. I hated what I was doing and nothing was working out for me. Once I walked away from the daily despair and began to embrace living I started to love my whole life again. I love what I'm doing everyday and abundance has followed me all the way home.

Feel it? Wind rushing by, hair whipping wild, free falling still...and loving every minute of it...

Can you feel it now too?

phair


Words to run with! As this is Memorial Day in the USA, may it be filled with the memories of the good. Enjoy the updates.

Peace, Health and Happiness.

Elisa

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Sunday, May 30, 2010

Slugs

The only productive thing we did today was go to the grocery store. And you know what? I'm perfectly happy with that.

Enjoy the updates!

Tamara

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Saturday, May 29, 2010

Where Did It Go?

Anyone notice May slip by? Where did this month go? The entire year seems to be moving by quickly, which in my case seems best, but still it's flying. One way or another, June is knocking on the door. Summer is moving up quickly.

I've lucked out the last few days though in terms of weather. My favorite rain and gray have been the leading factors. Enjoyable for me. See I do live in the right place.

Enjoy your update and may the weekend find you Joy, Peace and Fun.

Elisa

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Friday, May 28, 2010

Light Night

Three day weekend for us. The kids will be scarce due to being with other parental units. We don't have much exciting planned...checkbook, errands, sleeping in. I'm ready to be a slug.

Tamara

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Thursday, May 27, 2010

Ramble from UK

Enjoy...I certainly did!
Another ramble - this one on Manuals !

I've been looking around for the Manual.... everything comes with one of those these day's, my heart rate monitor came with one, the GPS I got for the car had one, even the new car had one or rather two – there is a separate on for the radio! But I still haven't found the manual for readers of (fan) fiction. You know the little booklet that tells you all the things you ought to know to get around in the world of (fan) fiction.

Some might ask what I would want with a Manual. We have Google and Wikipedia along with loads of blogs and sites that will tell little interesting things about everything or sometimes a lot about something, which you don't really want to know. Well I've made good use of a number of different online resources during my time in the universe of (fan) fiction, but I still would have liked that authoritative guide on "How to..."

Wouldn't it have been nice to have someone tell you "How to get hold of you poison". Think of all the time you could have saved or spend reading (fan) fiction instead of browsing around the net looking for the absolute best sites to sample fiction from and for the best stories to spend your time on. I for one love the archives at The Athenaeum and The Academy of Bards, but I guess that I just lucked out coming across those pretty early in my (fan) fiction career. And it goes without saying that The Uber Ect is a favourite of min as well – think of all the time saved by having this one place to look for the news in the world of (fan) fiction.

A Manual might also come with one of those "For your own safety read this before use" chapters listing warnings like "wear a safety line if you insist on reading stories labelled "unfinished" the writer is likely to leave you with a cliff hanger", or always "be on the look out for "head hopping" if you insist on reading stories with a declaration that no beta reader has been used".

For those of us who came into the (fan) fiction universe well after the end of the Xena show it might also be quite useful to have a chapter titled "Don't worry your not imagining it...." This chapter might explain the whereabouts of the yet undiscovered part of the world inhabited by infinite numbers of women with either raven hair and blue eyes or blond hair and green eyes, and endless amount of large hands that holds small hands .... I mean it's not just my imagination playing a trick on me ...is it?

If one of you, with a long history in the universe of (fan) fiction, would be willing to spend some time writing up a Manual, I for one would be a happy reader. I'm not too old to learn new tricks that could be helpful on my rambles round the universe!

UK


LOL..UK, thank you for making Tamara and I laugh while I was putting this into our evening update. On that note may you all enjoy and let UK know we love to have more rambles. Also if one of you has that manual by all means share it with us all, thanks!

Peace, Health and Happiness.

Elisa

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