Seasons of the Heart

I finally got all the way through Seasons of the Heart/A Season Apart to adapt it to be an original story – gone are all the Tokienisms, Sindarin words, and geography of Middle Earth. Well, not entirely -- some of the names I made up for original secondary characters can be traced to Sindarin, and the distances and general directions of the geography are about the same (the sanctuary is in a valley; the errant prince is from a forest on the other side of the mountains). But I think it'll pass as original (fingers crossed). I'm entering the first chapter and synopsis in one of the Arkansas Writers Conference contests, so we'll see if it passes muster there. I've got a couple of markets in mind for submitting it, so we'll see if it sells. I've restructured it a bit, calling the entire novel "Seasons of the Heart" with a Prologue, Part I (Seasons Together), and Interlude, Part II (A Season Apart) and an Epilogue. I don't know if I'll change the LOTR version to match that structure, I'll have to think about how much work it would be to change all the web pages (since each chapter is a separate page).

Two more weeks until the deadline for the Writers Conference contests, but I don't know how many of the contests I'll end up entering – three for sure, maybe as many as nine, if I can get the muses in dictation mode.

Today I thoroughly embarrassed most of the other members of the Conway Creative Writers Group as I read part 3 of "Handfast," where Gordon and Sarah (originally Duncan and Sarah when it was a Highlander story) finally consummate their relationship. Even though I skipped several paragraphs, there were blushes all around. I'm afraid I may have offended one lady who usually shares very devout inspirational writing with us when I explained that "Handfast" is one of the few heterosexual stories I've written, but she did comment that though she found that distasteful, she thought I should write what I chose to. One of the other ladies was very quick to remind the others that there is quite a market for gay romance, and it's the writing, not the subject that we're there to share. I also assured them that I wouldn't be reading any explicit gay stories. The men in the group seemed to be the most embarrassed by the steamy scene I read part of... but I got the idea that they would enjoy reading it silently...

Now for a more serious note...

I received word this week that a delightful young woman my family knows, a brilliant cellist named Natalie, has been diagnosed with Type 1 (juvenile or insulin-dependent) Diabetes. As many of you know, my daughter-in-law Leia has been insulin-dependent since the age of 8. If any of you are disposed to make any charitable contributions, please consider the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, which is trying to find a cure for this terrible disease. Please also remember when you vote next that stem cell research has been very promising for diabetes, as well as many other devastating diseases and conditions.

Easter ramblings

I can't believe I actually won Carys Weldon's March blog contest. Thanks, Carys! Hey, y'all reading this, visit Carys too!

It's Easter, and as I boiled eggs last week to make devilled eggs for the SF group party, I didn't feel up to coloring eggs this weekend (a bit of bronchitis). But the Bunny of Spring (we're not exactly Christians) brought everyone a bag of treats -- mostly dark chocolate (I only buy what I like for any candy holiday).

I'm working this weekend on de-fanning my long LOTR romance (Seasons of the Heart/A Season Apart) so I can try to market it. It's 70,000 words or so, and it would be a shame to waste a good plot and all....

Still waiting on the galleys for Slash & Burn. Deborah says it doesn't take long once they're back until she gets hard copies, but we're running out of April. Then again, when was a book ever published on time? Speaking of April, I've only got until the end of the month to come up with more entries for the Arkansas Writers Conference contests.

We've had a cold snap (down into the 20s at nights these last few days) and my azaleas have all died in full bloom. Yuk yuk yuk. It'll be months before any other flowers bloom around here (the roses have budded, but they're still little and tightly closed). Even the violets in the bathroom window are wilting and fading. Some spring!