Unrelated Musings...

"Why do books have to look like they did in the 1500's? Why are they still made of paper? Imagine a beautiful synthetic book, feather weight, with bright white pages, impervious to mildew, water, or rot. Why not? Why is there no investment in this area? A new synthetic book could preserve the age old fonts, the glory of full color illustrations, the beautiful feel of the volume in hand, yet be cheap to produce, cheap to ship, and easy to store. To save the book, we need to remake the book. We have reinvented clothing with synthetics. Why not books?" – Anne Rice (Facebook post)

It's been a busy October full of literary happenings. I started the month out travelling across the state line to historic Jefferson, Texas, dressed in full black Victorian attire, to have dinner and meet author Karen Essex. Having written the novel Dracula In Love, I was excited to chat with the woman who dared to take on Bram Stoker's legendary vampire. She was elegant and witty and shared with the dinner guests the short play Asylum that she wrote based on her novel. It was a wonderful evening and I now find myself reading the original Dracula for the first time since grade school, now able to look at it in a whole new light. I am also reading The Countess by Rebecca Johns about the first female vampire Erzsebet Bathory...historic novels fit for Halloween!

Just a few days after having dinner with Karen Essex, I sat with several book club friends in front of the web cam, having a Skype interview with Major Pettigrew's Last Stand author Helen Simonson! She is such a sweet lady and inspiring for those of us who have to balance writing and family life.

Speaking of family life...with motivation from my husband and friend Connie, I have started writing again, although just in time for my daughter's fall break from school. Argh! I bought a new lamp and set up a little computer station in the living room. Each morning I fixed a cup of coffee in my favorite New Orleans coffee mug and turned on jazz from Terence Blanchard on my iTunes and typed away. Let's hope the muses stick around and are patient with the Caddo Parish School System calendar.

So, Saturday is the day. After much waiting, I will be speaking on a panel at the Acadiana Book Festival in Lafayette. I am excited to meet new and interesting authors and I hope to have many photos and stories to share with you soon.

Acadiana Book Festival Program

Acadiana Book Festival

Saturday, October 30, 2010

8:00am-5:00pm

Cite des Arts, Lafayette, LA

Program includes complete schedule and author bios! (My bio is on pg. 14)

Acadiana Book Festival Program

Peculiar Jaunts: Pg. 25 . Horror Writer Michelle McCrary Leads Shreveport Zombie Invasion.

My Article In Louisiana Cookin'

The new October/November issue of Louisiana Cookin' Magazine is now on newsstands! Pick yourself up a copy and check out my article on the Louisiana State Fair (pg. 44)!

September Louisiana Road Trips

My column Peculiar Jaunts: page 10.

When In Doubt, Open Up The Toolbox

Sometimes life can throw you curve ball, most times it is when you are still looking for the catcher's mitt. For two months I had been preparing to go into the hospital for major surgery. I saw this as an opportunity to read and write and be creative when I got home, seeing that my recovery time would be about 6 weeks. A month and a half...that's a lot of writing and reading time! Just what I needed, a lazy vacation with endless possibilities!

I am now coming up on week 2 and have just now felt as if I could read without pain killers throwing me into orbit. So far I haven't done the things that I had hoped to do; I spend a lot of time just sitting and staring off into space. I guess this time recovery means just that...recovery.

I have, however opened up my toolbox...well, I should say that I had a little help from my other half. Lying in bed, unable to even wiggle, my husband fires up his iPod Touch so that we can listen to the Writing Excuses podcast. In this podcast, sci-fi author Brandon Sanderson and friends discuss basic trouble-shooting, piece at a time, for new and old writers alike. Each episode lasts only 15 minutes, which I've found is nice when you're waiting in the carpool lane or trying to keep your eyes open before the medication knocks you on your back.

Another tool that I have discovered is Sonar. This easy to use (and free!) program is an excellent way to catalogue your writing submissions so that you don't accidentally send the same manuscript to a market that you've already tried. Surely I will soon feel well enough to lick envelopes and affix stamps to get another wave of submissions on its way.

At the end of October, when my recovery time is up, I plan to do back flips and cartwheels all the way to Lafayette, LA for the first annual Acadiana Book Festival, in which I will be speaking about non other than blogging!

In the meantime, perhaps the writing fairy will sprinkle some inspiration on me so that I can finish several of the projects that I began before I got hit with that curve ball!

Personalities and Bookcases

Each had his past shut in him like the leaves of a book known to him by heart; and his friends could only read the title. - (Virginia Woolf, Jacob's Room)

I just finished reading an article on npr's website written by Tom Rachman about his eccentric collection of obituary compilations that he keeps on the bottom shelf of his bookcase. I think we all maybe have one of those "shelves" that we don't necessarily point out to neighbors or certain family members. I also think that we all have some topic that we find ourselves reading about over and over, whether it be obituaries, zombies, or in my case, Hurricane Katrina books. Some take it one step further and make it an obsession whereas others just dabble occasionally.

After contemplating Rachman's article, I stared for quite a while at my own bookcase. With the idea of soon installing built-ins for the living room, I am now double-stacking various cheap Wal-Mart bookcases throughout our house. One small bookcase holds signed editions that I hold dear to my heart, another holds my husband's fantasy and military novels. But the one that I happen to be looking at from the comforts of my couch is an interesting mix. It is a home for my college anthologies of art and dramatic literature; popular novels; an odd collection of non-fiction about the Black Death of Europe, and of course, my Katrina/Louisiana shelf. Peppered from one ledge to another are little trinkets...my curiosities. A little wooden box full of my grandfather's old keys; a milk glass candy jar given to my by my husband's grandmother; a treasure box holding my late father's cheesy leather belt, true 80's style; Mardi Gras beads depicting funny little Voodoo dolls; a Mexican jar candle and chocolate grinder; and no doubt, much dust. So what does your bookcases say about you?