Month: November 2014

Banishing the Monster of Author Envy

‘Tis the season to give thanks, and I would like to give thanks to fellow Virginia Romance Writer Adriana Anders for not only giving me the idea for this post, but giving me some much needed perspective.  Last night, Adriana announced she got an agent, and not just any agent, but her dream agent. As someoGodzillane who recently embarked on the great agent search and hasn’t gotten that call yet, the green-eyed monster should be rampaging around my brain while I devour a pint of mint chocolate chip ice cream.

I’ll admit the green guy did raise his head and sniff around for a sec.  I’m  only human after all. But the important thing is he didn’t linger. So what gives? (more…)

Surviving the Season of Guilt: NaNoWriMo

Nanowrimo Guilt

It’s that time of year again. If you’re a novelist you know what I mean. November: Season of Guilt.  And I don’t mean from too much turkey and pumpkin pie. We are now in the midst of National Novel Writing Month.  For weeks prior, writers have been blogging about it, forming NaNoWriMo email coaching groups, developing complex battle plans, and generally stressing out about reaching those 50,000 words by November 30th.

Then there’s the rest of us. The slackers who don’t do NaNo. The infidels who refuse to convert our writing routine in order to win. (more…)

Creature Feature: The Alder King

Erlking Fresco by Carl Gottlieb Peschel

Who rides there so late through the night dark and drear?
The father it is, with his infant so dear;
He holdeth the boy tightly clasp’d in his arm,
He holdeth him safely, he keepeth him warm.

“My son, wherefore seek’st thou thy face thus to hide?”
“Look, father, the Erl-King is close by our side!

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s poem,  Der Erlkönig (as translated by Edgar Alfred Bowring) depicts an elven king that would leave most little kids sleeping with the lights on for weeks, and their parents checking on them every hour. But Goethe’s vision of an Erlking,or Alder King, who entices little children away from their disbelieving parents in order to murder them, isn’t really in keeping with the original Scandinavian mythology. (more…)