Randomosity whilst sick with a cold

I apologise for my recent silence. I have been entertaining the Cold From Hell for nearly Two.

Fricking. Weeks.

The CFH slows me down. What would normally take my brain five minutes to accomplish, now take me a good half-hour or more. The Nagging Cough isn't helping my mood much either.

I should be working on a line edit. But when one is too sick to even read, not much gets done.

Meanwhile, enjoy the following:

After he wrote The Hobbit and before he wrote Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkein wrote Leaf: by Niggle. Lovely little allegory.

Love cinnamon rolls?  I do.  Came across this recipe for Vegan Cinnamon Rolls from the Minimalist Baker. (I do wonder, is yeast suitable for vegans?) If you aren't a vegan (i'm not), and don't mind substituting cow milk and butter (I do), remember to scald (and cool) the milk, as unscalded milk will affect yeast growth.  Also, I recommend using dental floss for cutting your rolls. Slide the dental floss under the log, Cross the ends over the log, and pull like tightening a shoelace. So much neater than a knife.

Are you on Facebook? Then you'll be able to watch this mesmerising and NSFW bellydance video. (Note: if you are on FB, you may need to log in to see this. And you do want to see this if you enjoy:
*Bellydancing
*Stereotypical Shirtless Romance Heroes
*Gladiators
*Hummina!  (Didn't know a man could move like that.)

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Her Grace is going to take two Panadol and go back to bed now.

What Novels are REALLY About

Think about a Really Good Book, perhaps your favourite novel, or something you read last month that captured your heart. You know the one. You're still thinking about it. You would read it again, if you could.

What is it you like so much about that book?

Chances are, it's a character. Sure, books fall into two categories--plot-based and character-based. I know people who detest character-based book "because the plot doesn't go anywhere". (Fair enough; I understand.) Consider this: in plot-based books, the plots are going somewhere for whom? The characters. They're the most important part.

Ultimately, books are all about the characters. It's to the characters we relate, we cheer for, we follow and we have our hopes, our dreams, our anxieties. We don't emotionally invest in plots. We invest in characters.

I've belonged to an Online Writing Workshop for the past, oh dozen years or so. I've had the opportunity to read hundreds of chapters of dozens of books. Those books that are memorable, even years later, are those that had strong, well-rounded characters.

In the workshop I came across chapters that had vast sweeping plots of beautiful complexity and very forgettable characters. When this happened, the whole book fell flat. The plot couldn't save it. It just couldn't keep my interest. I couldn't invest.

Characters are everything and need to be well-developed. Give me a book with a richly-developed character going places, and I'm yours.
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Her Grace acknowledges your mileage may vary. She dares you to tell her about a book you love where any of the characters aren't terribly memorable.

Me vs Sucky Reality

In the first corner, at a hundred and fifty pounds and seventy-five pence, we have Me (aka Mighty Heidi, aka Hey You).  Dressed in dreams and other grandiose ideas, she is destined for great things... if only she had the time (and a really lovely smooch from Richard Armitage).

In the other corner we have Sucky Reality, as heavy as a wet blanket, as dour as an old maid schoolmarm from 1887, and armed with a big, thick Reality Clue Stick.

Long-story-short, my blows lead with:

• Having a novella out in the end of 2014.
• Plans to go to grad school in 2015.
• Win over one of the twenty Dream Agents I've been researching.
• Convince the "You're publishable, Heidi" editors to move from from Tell to Show.
• Pass Grade 6 Piano.
• Get a good night's sleep.

Sucky Reality counters with:

• Stomach flu.  An entire weekend gone down the loo.
• Temporary full-time promotion. Talk about a time-suck. I have time for nothing that truly matters, like writing, and piano, and keeping the loinfruit clean and fed. This complex move came with a most excellent feint called "increased income", but don't be fooled, because the one-two punch includes...
• Medical bills. Whilst Australian Medicare is vastly superior to anything the US currently has on offer, it doesn't cover all possible medical bills. Sometimes one has to fork out. Bye-bye extra income. Thanks to...
• Injuries. Curse you, body, for getting too old to go for a jog. How will I keep up my cardiovascular fitness?  After all...
• Diet and exercise is a Lie (just like the cake)!  Especially when plagued with PCOS.
• Grad school entrance quals change. Forget the fact that I've budgeted my time to include Grad School for 2015. If I don't apply by Semester 2 of 2014, I don't get in at all. (Really, a musician can study astronomy. Really. They're quite closely related.) One cannot work full-time, study part-time and still have any time for writing. Sorry.

Lest you think Sucky Reality has completely knocked Me for ten, thanks to the double-blow of Full-time and Medical bills, a fall to the mat has put me in an excellent position to lash out with my (uninjured) leg and deliver a crushing blow to Sucky reality's knee.

And she's back in the game, with a Good Night's Sleep!  That move alone means that at this point, it could be anyone's game.

Who will win: Me, or Sucky Reality?

Stay tuned...


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Her Grace has learned many valuable things over the course of the past few months:
1. She does not want to work full-time. Unless it's to be a full-time author. That would be okay.
2. She definitely wants to be an author and dedicate her life to that pursuit.
3. Grad school is really hard when one doesn't have enough study time.
4. Playing the piano is like riding a bike--not as bad for your joints as you would think.
5. How's your math:  T>$ when $>X when X=financial needs.

Because I love them.

I want y'all to read my stories. Not necessarily buy (though that would be nice) but definitely read.

Why?  Because I love them so much. My stories make me so excited. They thrill me.

I'd very much like you to feel that way too. That is one of the biggest reasons I publish my stories--to share and to make happy.

There's not much out there that's free at the moment, as anything older than about five years... the archives don't seem to exist any more. Alas. But you could read my story "Erasure" in Moonlight Tuber #1 and What to Do when your Husband is Zombified in the post-apocalyptic housewife's domestic companion, issue 2. If you haven't read these two quirky little pieces, go read them right now.

And for something more recent, of course there is always "As Good As Gold", and soon my next novella "For Richer, For Poorer" will be released by The Wild Rose Press, real soon now. I've got pretty cover art and everything.  Also coming out soon in the Aphrodite Terra anthology is my short story "Goldilocks Zone", out from Whippleshield Books later this year. It's science fictiony goodness.

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Her Grace has lots of stories yet to be published that she hopes will continue to thrill others as well.