Friday, February 24, 2012

Meet Laria...

From "Laria's Guide to Hunting": "If it has more heads than you have limbs, get the hell outta there!"

So yes, yesterday's scheduled post was an epic failure, but fear not! I have gathered my wits enough to get my act together and get it up today. So without further ado, I give you Laria.



First, Liz gave me a little bit of background on Laria that I would like to share.

{Liz: My background for Laria has held true for all aspects.. either table top role-playing or online.. her parents were killed in an orc attack when she was young.. she got angry, and a bit rebellious.. so she learned to fight. Laria went against elf standards and reached out to the world.. she wanted to see what else was out there. She isn't snooty.. like most elves in standard fantasy. She fights to live and lives to fight. She is very independent and proud. She is Leoni's fire for a reason..She is always hoping to revenge her parents, while she builds a life for herself. She may seem tough, but she is very loyal and has a lot of compassion.}

Me: Okay Laria, thanks for taking time out of your busy adventure to speak with us humans. First of all, I hear you like to "cook". Do you have any recipes?

Laria: Cook ye say? Well cooking is simple, sugar.. ye find a meaty animal.. anything will do.. ye pound it a bit till it stops moving.. then ye take it's meat and throw it in a pot. As fer recipes? Well what ye got in yer pack? ::rummages a bit:: I got some salt, a passable bit of carrot ::blows it off:: and oh look! A potato!

::Laria throws it all in a boiling pot of water::

I call this.. Wayfarer's Stew!

Me: Erm, yum. Okay well, let's see... Can you tell us a little about what is important to you, Laria?

Laria: Most important tae me? That's easy sugar! Loyalty. Finding something worthwhile and sticking tae it. A guild, a friend, yer family. Once ye say yer gonna be there, or do something.. don't go back on that.

Me: In my book, you seem to have some issues with the Elven Knight, Talaver, trying to get you to go back to the Elves. You seem to like to be out in the world though, is that correct?

Laria: I do like being out in the world. It's an interestin' place. So many different things tae see- different races, different lives- why would I want tae surround myself with all the same thing- especially when they all look like me. ::Laria winks at this and chuckles:: There is more tae life than pointy ears I always say. Ok, I don't always say that- in fact I just thought of it, but hey, it's good huh? And between ye, me and the quill.. Elves can be a bit pompus. All that elfy pomp and blah can be annoying after awhile.

Now if you'll excuse me love, I think I see tonight's dinner passing by ::Laria takes off after something small, furry and, in your opinion, rather questionable looking::

Me: Well! Okay, safe travels, Laria! Don't tell her I said this, but I think she's got a bit of a short attention span for an Elf...

Laria: Oi! I heard that!

Me: Oops! Well, guess I better be off before it's my rump in that cookpot. Have a great weekend everyone!

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Phew!...

Hey everyone! I must apologize, this week sort of got away from me. I've been a busy girl.

Today I was supposed to post my interview with Laria, the lovely Elven Ranger from my book, Adversarius.

I have to postpone that until tomorrow, possibly Saturday. I WILL post it, though, so don't worry. I promise I won't leave you hanging.

I hope you are all having a great week and soon to be weekend! Woot! I've been a lurker these past few days, so if comments from me are scarce, I am still there.

See you all tomorrow!

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Meet Liz...

"I find that when talking doesn't work, a nice sound thump on the head usually does the trick..." ~ Laria

Welcome to the very first character interview for my book, Adversarius, due out in May of this year! I've signed on with Hellfire Publishing and as the time whizzes by, I'm getting more and more excited.

Between now and then, I'll be doing some interviews for you of my characters and the real life people who inspired these characters.

Meet Liz.

Liz has been a great friend to me from the first time I met her in Legends of Cosrin. We have lots in common, most importantly our love of pirates! If you can't tell by the picture, that is. While I am involved in the Society for Creative Anachronism, Liz has yet to experience that large group. My persona, as I've mentioned before, is a Scottish pirate Captain named Sorcha MacGregor. Liz is my Quarter Mistress aboard my ship. That's our story and we're sticking to it!

One thing I envy about Liz is the fact that she gets to work as a Supervisor of Historical Interpretation at the Mystic Seaport. Forget envious, I'm damn jealous!!! She gets to hang out near those cool ships all the time!!! All right, I'll stop whining. Let's get to Liz, shall we?

Me: So Liz, how did you come up with the name Laria?

Liz: Laria started as a wild elf Bladesinger in a D&D game when I was 15 (yes.. 17 years ago!). The name was pretty simple.. I put an 'L' on paper and just put letters after it. :)

Me: What prompted you to make her an Elf Ranger in Cosrin?

Liz: When I came upon Cosrin it made sense to make her a ranger.. because she is so close to nature

Me: What got you into gaming?

Liz: When I was 16 my friend, John, bought me the first book in the Chronicles of the Dragonlance series and said.. "I think you'll like these". That started a life long obsession with fantasy. I adore Dragonlance. I have been reading them ever since. It is one of my great loves in life. The world is so complete, and I love the characters so much. That is what got me into gaming.. from there we started playing table top RPGs.. which is how Laria was created. I don't play tabletop anymore.. but only because I don't know anyone to play it with. I still play online.. mostly in WoW (World of Warcraft).

Me: If I lived close to you, we'd be playing tabletop, girl! Woot! What other interests do you have other than games?

Liz: My other interests? I like to read, I make jewelry, and I love spending time with my niece and nephews.

Me: If you could go back in time to any era, which would you choose?

Liz: If I could live in any other time it'd be ancient Egypt.. I'm just fascinated with it.

Thanks so much for joining me on my blog, Liz! Everyone be on the lookout next week when I interview Liz's alter ego and all around, kick-@$$ (and not to mention drop dead gorgeous) half Elf Ranger, Laria! She has some interesting views on what things would go into a cookpot and not necessarily come out edible... Have a great rest of the week!

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Feeling The Love...

First I want to say HI! to all my new followers. And thanks everyone for your comments on my Origins Blogfest post. I didn't get to respond to each individual one like I wanted to, I got busy.

Happy Valentine's Day to all, even if I am a little late. I have nothing but love for all of you! You know that right? Good.

Well, a quick head's up for Thursday, I'll be having my first interview with my friend Liz whose character, Laria, appears in my book. Drop on by and meet her, she's an awesome girl and has been a friend of mine for years!

I hope you all had a great Valentine's Day. Have a great rest of the week, the weekend is just around the corner! ;)

Monday, February 13, 2012

Origins Blogfest...


Since I missed out on IWSG, I decided to join this one at the last minute!

Origins Blogfest is where we tell about how we got started in writing. You can see the list here.

Everyone has a unique story, a moment when they said, "Hey! I'm gonna be a writer!"

I just started writing stories when I was in high school. The first thing I wrote creatively was a journal entry for my English Lit class. The topic was "Describe a Forest Fire". So I did, from the perspective of the animals. I think this was when I was a Junior and up until that point, I wasn't impressing anyone with my mad English skills.

I failed English in high school every year. No joke.

I just didn't apply myself, plus lots of other reasons. There are times when I wish I could do high school over, without all the drama and teenage angst.

But I digress...

After the reaction I got from the teacher after that first burst of inspiration, it gave me a little boost. But I didn't write anything until my last Senior year (yes, I was on the 6 year plan...) when we were asked to write a Fable. We were all given the moral and had to write the story based upon that. Right about that time is when I was reading more fantasy and playing Dungeons and Dragons.

My fable knocked my teachers socks off and she actually approached me after class and said I had potential.

I did?

I was a struggling teenager. At that moment in time, I was working to help pay the bills and my mom had just gotten out of the hospital and was back on her feet work wise. I dropped out for a semester of school to work full time and decided I wanted my diploma, not my GED. How was I going to even go about writing stories? I wasn't even sure if I was going to go to college.

But the one thing my teacher told me was to just give it a shot and see what happened. I think that was the moment I let the floodgates of my imagination fly open. This woman had more faith in me and my skills and saw a talent. I don't think I would have ever pursued writing if it hadn't been for her. She knew I understood English and grammar, she could see it in my writing even if it didn't reflect in my grades.

From that moment, I began to write stories for my D & D character. Yep, Kayta. I jotted down little stories here and there and things progressed. By the time I was 22, I had a whole story. Horrible as hell, but a story nonetheless. But then it got put on hold until things in my life returned to a semblance of normal.

Two kids and two bad marriages dampens the writing spirit of some people (not my kids, the marriages) and I didn't pick up writing seriously again until I met Larry. He is the reason for my success. He's my support. I wrote short stories for my characters while playing Legends of Cosrin and had lots of people tell me I should write for a living, but I just blew it off. However, every time someone commented like that about a post, it gave me a thrill. I gobbled up those comments like a starving animal. Because I WAS emotionally starving. I was getting attention.

But that isn't what made me want to pursue writing as a career. I have a story to tell and I want it to be told. Now, I'm getting that opportunity and I have worked hard to polish my craft and hone my skills as a writer. I labor over every sentence and feel I have come a very long way from that first story I wrote way back when, describing the forest fire from the viewpoint of the animals. And much like everything else I do, I'm pretty much self taught.

Thanks to all the hosts of this blogfest! Again, you can see the list here of who is participating!

Is It Monday Again?...

At least that is what the calendar says... Hopefully the next few weeks will go by quickly. But not too quickly as February 14th is my 10th wedding anniversary. That day can go by a little slower so I can savor it.

Ten years.

Longest relationship I've ever been in and that includes pets...

ANYway...

So, sorry to all of you for kvetching so much about the weather up here. I suppose if I didn't like the snow this much I should have stayed in Arizona. However, I do love it up here when the sun is shining and I'm able to walk out the door with sleeves rolled up. Like today, as a matter of fact. (Sunday) It was a balmy 31 degrees, the sun was shining and things were good. Then before I left work, it began to snow again. But before the clouds rolled in, I watched the sunlight dapple the ocean waves and followed the lazy swirl of an eagle before it landed on the top of a pine tree across the street from my work. Those are the moments I have to remember. Those are the things that make living up here worthwhile.

Winter just gives me the blues sometimes and I'm getting that usual itch to be outside again. Everyone in town gets grumpier the longer the snow stays on the ground. I did promise you all a picture too, didn't I? It's from my cell phone so it isn't the best quality. This first one shows the sun on the peak across the bay. From my house you could barely see the wisps of snow being blown off the top and highlighted by the colors of the sunset. The second one was taken before snow fell way up at the top of the hill I live on and shows the Spit.



Okay, that's it for now. I have been working on my short story. So far I'm liking the way it is working out. I think I needed to switch genres for a bit and then hop back over into Fantasy.

Have a great week everyone! And Valentines to all.

Saturday, February 11, 2012

Ain't That The Truth...

My friend Gene shared this pic on FaceBook specifically for me:She hit the nail on the head with this one!

I've been sick this week. Missed two days of work I really needed. Would have helped with the mound of bills we've got these days, but it's not like I got sick on purpose. But it also took away from anything else I could have been doing such as writing, blogging, cleaning the house.

I slept for practically two of the three days I was off of work. The third day was scheduled off. So there's the truth of it, I wanted a three day mini break! Yeah... I so wish it was for that. I hate being sick to my stomach. Like my mom says, it takes an act of God or congress to make me throw up.

But, aside from a headache, I am doing better. Still a little queasy, but craving salt and vinegar chips like nobody's business.

Writing is still slow going. I did get a little over 400 words typed out on my short story series, but that was mostly to get the damn information out of my head so I could sleep. I'll work on it, I promise!

I'm getting a washer and dryer... woohoo! So that helps on my days off not having to travel to the laundromat. But my house will soon be filled with maintenance people since the small entry near my back door decided it wanted to be a rain forest. The snow has been melting and it sounded like I had a rainstorm going in my back room. The water seeped through the roof and light fixture as well as part of the kitchen ceiling. Oh, and when I walk in my kitchen, I hear the water squishing beneath the flooring. Such fun.

I'm done griping for the moment. I need something good to happen. Like getting a couple extra hundred bucks so I don't have to skimp on groceries or choose what freakin' bill to pay. Oh well. Eventually, right?

Have a good rest of the weekend everyone and I'll hopefully see you all next week!

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

I Missed It...

I totally missed the IWSG last Wednesday... I'm bummed!

I now have a new desk, with a calendar on it so I won't miss again. I guess it isn't a bad thing, I didn't have much to blog about as I have been far too busy to feel any insecurities and feel like boosting up someone else's confidence would have fallen flat.

I'm one of those kind of people that believe everything happens for a reason. Right now, I'm stumped on my short story, "The Wicked One". It really is OK, though. It just isn't meant to be written right now. I've got another story on the back burner and I'm thinking of busting that up into a short story series. I also have revising to do on Book Two: Veritas.

In the meantime, I need to be gearing up for my book release in May. I'm also falling a little flat with my character interviews. I'll get there, it is just going to take some time.

Hopefully the next few weeks will go by quickly and Spring will begin to show as our snow melts and breaks up. Then I have more work and planting a garden to look forward to. That is the one thing about winter in Alaska, everyone works hard so they can play hard in the summer.

Have a great week everyone! I'll hopefully catch you soon.

Saturday, February 4, 2012

Snow...

Snow how's it going? Heh. My failed attempt at snow humor. It is difficult to find humor in the snow unless someone has spelled their name in it with pee... but sometimes even that isn't funny.

I've just been working a lot lately and it seems like every night I've had to close this week, I've had to trudge through the snow. We have had a couple of blizzards, one right after the other and most of the snow plows in town can't seem to keep up. Funny thing is, the harder it snows, the more people show up to get gas. Emergency mode kicks in and everyone goes nuts.

As for me, if it is going to snow and I get blocked in, I call a cab. Let them deal with the idiot drivers. I don't worry about running out of food, because quite frankly, I can walk to the store if need be and so far these storms haven't lasted for more than a day or two.

I've lost weight as well. I kept sitting here wondering, "How the heck am I losing weight?" and then one night at work, while using a shovel to get the 4 inches of snow off the lids of the dumpster it dawned on me. Oh yeah... that's why!

I'm looking forward to Spring simply because I'll be able to catch up on my sleep! It seems as if even my days off contain a workout of some sort to either get to the bank or store.

I think I am done complaining for now. After all, I DO live in Alaska. But seriously, this is the worst winter we have had in the last ten years. I feel like I've heard this before. Maybe every winter is the worst winter for me. I think I need to look into moving back to warmer climates. Hope you are all doing well and have an awesome weekend! I may go build an igloo. :D

Friday, February 3, 2012

M. I. A...

No, I am not ignoring you guys. I've been so super busy with my job and winter is just kicking everyone's butt here right now.

First, a co-worker had a death in the family. So I am picking up an extra day on top of the extra day I asked for as far as hours go.

Then, this last week we've had at least two blizzards and driving in the snow has been a nightmare. Plus, when I close at work I have to drag the trash to the dumpster and if the plow hasn't come by, I get the whole Alaskan experience... Fun!

So bear with me. My free time is being taken up by sleep or goofing off or sleep...

I'll get back to you all as soon as I can! Have a great weekend.