Not everybody dislikes Winter!

Portia loves the snow. She goes outside on the patio and lies down with her belly snuggled against all that coldness. She’d stay out there all day if Rocky didn’t come inside. She hates to be outside alone, so as soon as Rocky comes in she cries at the door. But while she’s out there, she loves it!

Oh, the ennui of it all! I’m barely able to keep up with all my appointments (wake my mother up by slapping her across the face with a paw, breakfast, napping, turn over, napping, move with the sun, napping, dinner, napping etc etc). Thank GOD my mother booked me in a doggie spa this weekend, I really need to get away from it all. . .

Bizarre!
I saw on the news and read this morning (Scientific American: More than 40 dolphins die in Mozambique beaching) about these dolphins that had beached themselves. It’s so bizarre. What causes them to do this? Do they know something we don’t? Is it a message? A portent? Or does something just go beserk in their brains and they get a case of mass hysteria/mob mentality? I don’t know why I am so fascinated by this, but I am. I can’t stop thinking about those dolphins.

So Ashleigh and I were talking about our books and then she mentioned getting a book on all the genres out there so we would know what they are. This led us to a brief discussion about how to classify our books.
The problem is, there isn’t a really good classification out there for them. I was thinking about the authors that I truly enjoy and even they aren’t classified correctly. Just because it has vampires does not make it horror, and just because there’s a romance, doesn’t make it a romance novel. The term ‘dark fantasy’ was popped out there, but that just sounds sort of kinky and conjurs up 14-year old boys secluded in their parents basement playing a wacked out version of Dungeons and Dragons.

I thought maybe a new title for our stuff would be approprite. Nouveau Horror would be more up to speed, but then after thinking some more, I decided that my stuff isn’t even really horror. So, I have come up with:

Supernatural Fiction

I think it accurately describes a bunch of stuff out there that is currently getting shuffled around by my local Chapters into too many categories. I have several favourite authors whose books are under 2 or 3 different genres (fiction, horror and romance – but truly, none of those fit). I also think it accurately classifies my book, without pigeonholing me too much. So, I’m putting it out there to you, the people. Whaddya think?

Is it a pipe dream?

Those of you who know me know that I have been working on a book for quite some time. I’ve been writing since I was 17 and I started working on My Book in about 1996 (no joke). It’s gone through several transformations: character changes, plot changes etc etc, but the heart of it has remained the same, kept constant by my heroine.

Of late, I’ve been swapping 10 pages a week with Ashleigh, who herself is writing a book. We gleefully exchange pages and ideas; each week nervous about how the other person will take it. You’d think after already giving her 13 chapters, I wouldn’t be nervous anymore, but every week I hit the ‘send’ button and wait anxiously for Ashleigh’s seal of approval.

But this week I’m plagued with doubt and anxiety. With thousands of people out there wanting to be published authors, do I stand a chance? I waffle back and forth between “With all the crap out there, how can they not publish my stuff. My stuff is GOOD!” and “With all the crap out there, why would they publish my stuff? How will I ever get a break?”

But I guess all I can do is keep writing, finish the book and see what happens. But darnnit! I want to get published! I want to make gads off money doing something I really enjoy!

Scrapworthy Moment: my first tin!

For those of you in the know, I am WAY behind the trend of scrapping a lunch pail tin. So far behind the trend, in fact, that it may be considered ‘retro’! But here it is, my first attempt. I made a couple of boo-boos which I then tried to fix by ‘distressing,’ the tried and true method of all scrapping fixes.
Now I just need to figure out what to put in it…

Tattoo You!

Ola compadres! Well, this weekend saw the Squirrelly Girly at her not-so-local tattoo parlour getting inked! Rick, the artist at Strange World Tattoo in Crowchild Square did a faboo job of bringing my ‘vision’ of the infinity symbol to life (yes, I’m THAT geeky). As an homage to my love for math, a nod to my fantasy-sci fi side and an acknowledgement of my personality, I decided to get a dragon eating its own tail, curled over in the shape of an infinity symbol. The dragon eating its tail is based on the ancient symbol, the ouribos, which depics a snake eating its own tail, as a symbol of repeating past mistakes. Got it done in my favourite color, pink, natch! It’s on my lower back and I’m quite happy with how it turned out!

I’d like to give a shout out to my mum, who after much (scary!) internal debate, I decided to tell about my tattoo. I braced myself for recrminations and possibly a lecture, but all mum did was chuckle and say, ‘Okay!’ Although she did mention all the years she kept my lowerback/bum clean and powdered only for it to be covered with a tattoo years later. Thanks for keeping the canvas in shape, mum!