Sea Otters and Storytelling

Like Lizzie said in the last blog, it’s the time of year for Alaskanwriting conferences! I just returned from the Kachemak Bay Writers’Conference, located in Homer, Alaska. There were four days ofspeakers, workshops, readings, and social events. The faculty was toobig to mention all by name, but the Alaskan and Outside speakers wereall top-notch presenters, and I loved hearing them read their own workat the readings.
This is one of my favorite conferences because of the camaraderie, therapport among the participants and faculty. Even if this is your firstconference and/or first year writing, you are welcome and part of thegroup. Everyone has opportunities to chat with the authors. There isnothing more valuable than discussing showing versus telling withKaren Joy Fowler (You need both.) or point of view with Joni Sensel(There can be more than one.).
Add the unique ambiance of Homer,excellent seafood, and the phenomenal scenery of Kachemak Bay, and youhave a world-class weekend. The only trouble I had was trying to focuson the speakers when I could watch eagles and sea otters through thewindow! Talk about inspiration for writing! I was glad to share it with my AKRWA colleagues Lizzie Newell andDeNise Woodbury, and I invite everybody to consider going next year!See the conference website at http://writersconference.homer.alaska.edu/.
Lynn Lovegreen

North Woods Writers Symposium

It's nearly summer solstice, time for writers' workshops in Alaska. I'm just back from the North Words Writers Symposium in Skagway. If you weren't there you missed out on a wonderful opportunity, although I had my doubts when I flew to Juneau then took the ferry to Skagway. Registration procedures for the conference had been less than smooth. In fact on-line registration didn't work at all, so only the truly committed mailed in their registration. As a result, only thirty people attended and less than half were participants. Never before have I been at a conference where faculty was in the majority and participants were treated like VIPs. I sat next to some of the top writers in the state and spoke with them personally about their views on writing. Faculty attendees included: Buckwheat Donahue, Dana Stabenow, Jeff Brady, Elisabeth Dabney, Peggy Shumaker and Joe Usibelli, Kaylene Johnson, Sherry Simpson, Nita Nettleton, Dave Hunsaker, Tim Woody, Kim Heacox, Dan Henry, and Andromeda Romano-Lax.


I had the opportunity to hear Dana Stabanow giving Nick Jans advice. I went hiking with Tim Woody, Dan Henry, and Andromeda Ramono-Lax. In the excitement, I tended to forget who was faculty and who were participants. I particularly enjoyed Tresham Gregg who does puppet theatre out of Haines, Lisa Weissler who writes dystopian science fiction, Dan Davidson an editor from Dawson, and Art Chance an expert in history from Juneau.

The town and people of Skagway went out of their way to make us feel welcome. We had excellent meals at The Stowaway Café, the Red Onion, and Poppies. Poppies is located in a beautifully maintained garden with a model train running through it.


The conference included a train excursion aboard The White Pass & Yukon Route Railway. This narrow gauge railroad wound through steep gorges and over breath taking drops above raging turquoise rivers. I was torn between the stunning views of peaks, arêtes, and glacial tarns, and the writers discussing journalism, memoire writing, Alaska history, and fiction.

I hate to write up a blog entry that points how the rest of you missed out. Nah nah nana nah nah. But not all is lost. Next year, The North Words Writers Symposium will be in Dawson. I'm going. Either driving or flying to Dawson should be as interesting as visiting Skagway.

See you there. Lizzie Newell

Gone Fishing

It’s June and that means I’m getting ready to head to Alaska to commercial fish on the Bering Sea. You’re probably wondering what this has to do with writing. You wouldn’t think the two had anything in common, but surprisingly they do.

My family fishes for sockeye salmon—red salmon for some of you that aren’t up on the lingo. We also fish with gill nets, not a pole. Poles are for sport fishermen on vacation. This is commercial fishing. Serious fishing where you cast a net into the ocean that is 200 fathoms and hopefully haul in 5,000 to 6,000 pounds (yes I said pounds) of salmon per net. Sockeye salmon weigh on average 8 to 10 pounds each.

Once in a while you catch something bigger. Like a king salmon. King salmon don’t fit in the small webbing of our net. They are simply too big. The only way we catch them is to snag them. Usually their mouth is snagged on the net. One hard pull and they could free themselves and often do. But sometimes you get one snagged tight enough that it stays caught until you’re able to pull it into your boat. We love these surprises and take up bets on how much they weigh. The above picture is of a king caught in just this manner and when weighed came in around forty pounds.

The big six in New York are the king salmons of the publishing industry. They are elusive and hard to catch. Much like a king. You cast your net—send out queries—hoping to snag a big fishes’ attention. When you do get that request, you’ve only got them by a tooth. One upset and they’re swimming away.

So what do you do?

First, you must cast your net wide and often. You quit fishing and you won’t get published. Ever. Second, you must have your manuscript in the best condition to send them and snag them so tight that you can pull them into your boat.

There’s a saying in fishing: “It’s called fishing, not catching.” But in order to catch, you have to fish.

Here’s to catching that big one. See you in August!

Tiffinie Helmer
Writer of Award-Winning Alaskan Romantic Thrillers.
www.TiffinieHelmer.com

The Henna Experience

The Henna experience. How hard could it be?

I’m a writer, so I keep to-do lists and take notes hoping it will provide fodder for my stories. The older I get the longer my list of things to do gets. So, my friend, a fearless thirty-something said, “I brought you some Henna, it’s easy.”
I waited. I considered and weighed the consequences, because that’s what I do. Henna had gone on my list a long time ago. But in my experience when I jump in with both feet and hit the bottom there’s slime and I hate slime.
After a couple of weeks of dithering a day came and the stars aligned themselves. My husband was gone, it seemed a quiet day, what the heck, life is short, do the things on the list. This time I decided to dive in head first, so to speak.
Following the verbal directions my friend gave me I prepared: one bag of powdered Henna, a cup of cold coffee, olive oil, towels. I began mixing the concoction. How much was I supposed to use? All of the powder, all of the coffee, this is amusing I thought, olive oil to taste.
The dusty lump in my bowl wasn’t going to work, I added left-over tea. Then, I added water. Finally, a consistency that would go into my hair. My hair? Was I nuts? I reminded myself that women have been doing this for centuries. How bad could it be? I took a deep breath and dipped my rubber glove covered hand into the mess and began to apply it to my head.

This was not fun. I now had shredded alfalfa the color of a cow-patty dripping down my forehead and sliding down my neck. Enthusiasm waned but darn-it, I finish what I start. Application complete, I wrapped my skull in a plastic grocery bag and waited. Think about that for a minute. Forty-five minutes my friend said to let it sit, I cleaned up. Oh My God, this stuff is everywhere, my bathroom looks like I’d turned loose a three-year-old with finger paints.
Twenty minutes, I simply can’t do this anymore. I’m embarrassed to answer the phone, and then I have to clean the phone. By now the novelty is gone, I want this over with. I strip off the grocery bag and I now have a helmet of dried cow dung stuck to my head. I briefly consider washing my hair in the sink and start stripping off my clothes instead. The shower looks like a scene from Psycho and my drain is resistant to alfalfa.
A day later, the gray in my hair is now bright orange, a nice contrast to the auburn of what used to be my dark brown locks. My husband is amused, my friends say as little as possible. Will I do this again? Probably not, it’s sorta like the bungee jump off the Kuskulana Bridge but isn’t that what the list is about? I took notes.

Yours in the Henna Experience, DeNise Woodbury.

Weeding, Writing, and Arithmetic

Today marks the one-month anniversary of my marathon-writing weekend. And I realize I have not written a single new word on my manuscript since then. Not one … stinking … weed.

Did I say weed?

Gardening season hit, and I’ve ignored everything but getting the ground ready and planted. Kind of my marathon-gardening month. Then I’ll ignore it for a month, until I realize I’ve got to catch up on all the weeds.

I love gardening as much as I love writing. They are both creative endeavors, a chance to put something on paper or in the ground and watch the leaves of a story unfold. But to be successful at either takes discipline. It takes visiting pretty much every day. If I were to spend a half hour weeding just 20 square feet of space every day – that’s a four by five foot area – I’d have weeded my entire garden in a month. (Yes, I have an enormous garden.) If I write 2000 words every day, I’ll have finished a rough draft of a novel in a month.

You do the math. A novel in a month. Give myself another month to polish it, and that would be six novels a year. Even if I took two months to polish it, that would be four books a year. Pretty amazing stuff. Most days, if I sit my butt in the chair and write, I can crank out 2000 good words in about 3 or 4 hours. That’s less time than a part-time job. And I want writing to be my job.

So from here on out, I will visit my creative landscapes. I will weed a little bit every day. And I will write a little bit every day. Between the two, I will have the best year of growth ever.

Weed 'em and reap!

(First published on www.tameralynn.blogspot.com)

My book is out!!

Title: An Invitation: Ariel's Pet
Author: Qwillia Rain
Publisher: Loose Id, LLC
ISBN: 978-1-60737-561-6
Cover Artist: April Martinez
Price: $ 7.99

Ariel Valerian knew cooking techniques and recipes, but a Dominant like Dane Reese had her more hot and bothered than a dozen hours slaving in a steamy kitchen. And 'slaving' is just what she intends to teach her blond-haired, blue-eyed, oh-so-yummy surfer boy. He might be helping in the family cafe as a favor to her sister, but there was no way she was giving him the opportunity to play Dom with her.

For Dane Reese, Ariel Valerian is a full-figured pixie--a life-sized, blue-haired Tinker Bell in a chef's coat surrounded by the scents of chocolate and cinnamon and an aura of mind-blowing, sweaty sex. Too bad she's driving him insane with her determination to order him around. As a Dominant and half-owner of A Master's Gift Dane has seen his share of Dommes and submissives, and, no matter how she might deny it, calling him Master is Ariel's destiny.

Two powerful personalities; a contest to determine who is more adept at control; and less than thirty days to discover if Ariel will bow to Dane's command, or if Dane will become...Ariel's Pet.


Well, how's this for irony--my 6th book is releasing on April 6th.

An Invitation: Ariel's Pet is the second story following the Valerian sisters. Jennifer Cole's An Invitation: Alayna's Training came out in March and it began the adventure for the two sisters. I got to have fun with the younger sister and the Dominant sent to help her at the cafe the two women run. Poor Dane doesn't know what he's gotten himself into, but he will soon.

I was sooo excited with the research for this particular book because I love to cook. And to find foods that Ariel can use to seduce Dane with made it so much more fun. It was also extremely dangerous because the books that are available could easily bankrupt me if I bought them all.

Here's hoping your day is as fun and exciting as mine!! I love release day. It's even better when the release day falls within a vacation period from the day job. I'll be buzzing around the various yahoo groups and updating my MySpace and Facebook pages (avoiding the Twitter thing--way to easy to get addicted to that stuff--LOL)

Take care.

Qwillia

By Daylight Come Available Now!

By Daylight Come was originally released as part of the Enter the Dragon Anthology but now...it's on its own. It's a fun, fast story about a woman who reads a spell from a book of dragon magic and soon finds herself with an injured dragon on her hands. With the FBI and the gorgeous local sheriff snooping around, Tina doesn't know what she's going to do. Oh, and did I mention the evil warriors trying to kill her dragon lover?

It's a m/f/m menage and a lot of fun. Enjoy!

Check it out at Ellora's Cave.