wordtryst

Novel Spaces: Giveaways!

2012-01-31T14:41:00.001-04:00

Novel Spaces: Giveaways!: To be entered in the January giveaway, please leave a comment on the Giveaways! page. This month's titles are:

Act of Grace by Karen Simpson (Fantasy, hard copy)

The Unrepentant Rake by Barbara Monajem 9Historical Romance, Digital)

The Check Your Luck Agency by Cara d'Bastien (Urban Fantasy, Digital, various formats available)

Thursday Thirteen: To-Do List # 94,309

2012-01-26T00:01:00.001-04:00

1. ~~Get laid.~~ Lay out my work clothes the night before to save on morning stress.

2. ~~Acquire a toyboy.~~ Reward myself by buying something I love every time I get paid.

3. ~~Flirt with strange men.~~ Be less guarded with people I don't know well.

4. ~~Show more cleavage.~~ Wear only clothes that make me feel great.

5. ~~Show more leg.~~ Stop dressing up to go to the mall. If I can wear shorts to the grocery I can wear them to the store.

6. ~~Shack up with a hottie.~~ Not.

7. ~~Torture an old flame.~~ Bury grudges forever and delete memories of men I got over a long time ago.

8. ~~Torture a current flame.~~ Ditch plans to start a blog along the lines of My Boyfriend is a Twat. :D

9. ~~Pray for a Lotto win.~~ Give thanks for my blessings every day.

10. ~~Acquire a Greek god look-alike to wake me on mornings.~~ Get a really savage alarm. My Tinkerbell cell phone just doesn't do the job.

11. ~~In between romps with Greek god, think about what I should write next.~~ Complete and submit two novels (or a novel and the memoir) to my agent this year.

12. ~~Indulge in romantic fantasies.~~ Get off my dreaming ass and turn those fantasies into stories.

13. ~~Buy lots of fabulous underwear.~~ Save your money, chica.

Carpe diem - again

2011-11-23T09:10:00.004-04:00

Raymond on the peak of

El Tucuche, Nov. 2010

My first piano teacher was a short, rotund, elderly nun. Sister Lucy was so ravaged with what I now believe to be osteoporosis that her upper back was U-shaped and her chin rested on her chest. She could barely manage to show me the proper placement of fingers on keys, but her keystrokes as she demonstrated the movements were strong and sure. She had clear grey eyes magnified by her glasses and was a gentle soul. I think she came from Ireland like the other foreign nuns at St. Joseph's Convent and it was under her tutelage, in one of the tiny music rooms that barely managed to fit a piano, two stools and a metronome, that I discovered the joy of playing something that at least approximated music. I distinguished myself under her guidance - far more so than under her successor, a chain-smoking, gentlemanly English lady who terrified me.

I graduated from high school and went out into the not-so-wide world of work in the same town where I had gone to school, and every once in awhile I'd remember sweet Sister Lucy and resolve to go and visit her. I never got around to it, and when I heard that she had died, along with remorse at my procrastination, I began to understand that for most young people, the reality and inevitability of death is not a concept that can readily be grasped. I realized then that putting off a visit to an elderly person means that when you're ready to make the effort, the person might be gone - forever.

Which brings me to November 2010 and an e-mail I received from an elderly gentleman here in Trinidad. I had written a blog post about hiking my favourite mountain, El Tucuche. He told me he had discovered the post and enjoyed it tremendously because that was also his favourite hike and he had scaled the peak more than 100 times in his ninety years. In fact, he had celebrated his ninetieth birthday just weeks before by climbing El Tucuche once again, a feat that attracted quite a bit of media coverage.

When I finally wrapped my head around what my new friend, Raymond, had achieved, I told him he had become my inspiration: I could think of nothing I'd love more than to be able to repeat his feat if I lived to his age. We began corresponding, found each other on Facebook, and he invited me to join him on his next hike in early 2011. This one would be to Paria Waterfall, a lovely trek along the north coast and into the forest that I had undertaken several times in my earlier hiking years. I decided to work on improving my fitness so that when Raymond and his group next hiked El Tucuche I'd be ready.

The hike to Paria was postponed four times. We had an unseasonably rainy dry season and the weather simply refused to cooperate with our plans. When the hike finally came off I didn't go; Raymond had probably tired of having to call and tell me about postponements and didn't want to disappoint me again. The next time we communicated was in July when my niece graduated and he left a gracious comment on her photo on my Facebook page. By this time the true rainy season was in full pour and hiking was out of the question. The months flew by imperceptibly.

Three weeks ago Raymond contacted me on Facebook and told me he had suffered a heart attack three months before, but was on the mend and spending several days a week in his store. I was assailed by a sense of urgency; I told my friend I'd visit him at his store that week. He said he was looking forward to finally meeting me face to face. I asked if he would be at the store on Thursday or Friday. When two days passed and I did not hear from him I felt a deep foreboding. That Friday night I left a message on his page: "Well, maybe another week. Thinking of you and hoping you're okay, Raymond." The next time I visited his Facebook page I learned he had died on November 10, three days after his ninety-first birthday.

It felt like Sister Lucy all over again. I will never be able to hike and not think of Raymond pounding those trails in his nineties. He is indeed my inspiration to seize the day and to understand that living fully has no correlation with the number of birthdays accumulated..

Write that book. Sail that ocean. Climb those mountains; Raymond climbed them at 90.

In memory of Raymond "Don Ramos" Banfield, hiker, former Spanish teacher and vice-principal, mentor of many, practitioner of healthy living. I will climb El Tucuche again, and I know he'll be walking right there beside me.

My favourite things: The creations of perfumer Sophia Grojsman

2011-11-04T12:01:00.000-04:00

There are women who love clothes. There are those who go shoe-crazy. There are the jewellery whores. Don't get me wrong; I love all of the above. A masterfully constructed leather sandal, a fine Irish linen shirt or a classic gold hoop earring can bring out the acquisitive demon in me just like any other gal. The product that really transports me, though, the commodity I'd spend countless thousands of dollars on if I had the means to do so, is perfume.

Perfume is not just about smelling pretty. I have an extraordinarily keen sense of smell and of all the senses this is the most associative, the one that best transports me to places, people and occasions in my past, creates a mood, makes me deliriously happy just by sniffing my wrist or catching a whiff of something delicious on my pillow, or on a man.

If the sense of smell is the road to wherever I travel, perfume is the powerful, high-performance vehicle that takes me there. It can be capricious or whimsical, lighthearted or deep-blue-twilight nostalgic, indulgently melancholic, quietly joyful or emphatically euphoric. It can conjure elegance, discreet sex, or the powerful animalic kind. It can even conjure... money. Perfume is smoke and mirrors, mystery and mania, quiet and noise, control and obsession. It can attract; it often repels. It can heal or nauseate.

Six months ago the name Sophia Grojsman meant nothing to me - then I discovered she was the 'nose' behind Eternity, a 90s signature fragrance and one of my favourites ever. Since I'm constantly updating my perfume wish list and reading excellent perfume blogs (Now Smell This, Perfume Smellin' Things, Bois de Jasmin) to get an idea of whether or not I might like to experiment with a scent, I've stumbled across Ms. Grojsman's name again and again. Finally, I read an interview with her on Bois de Jasmin and discovered that she has created not two, not three, but EIGHT of my top 10 fragrances.

This has reinforced for me once again that there's no such thing as
coincidence. I've chosen these perfumes out of hundreds over a 30 year period. Of the scores I've owned I've loved only about 10 - and Sophia Grojsman created very nearly all of them. Take Estee Lauder, for example: the only three scents from this line that I've been able to wear are the three she created: Beautiful, Spellbound and White Linen. Did I know back then that she had created them all? No. All I knew was that I liked these - and none of the others.

Don't assume that the smells are similar, because they're not. What do they have in common? Their beauty, their quality - a Grojsman fragrance can never be mistaken for a cheap scent - and that she usually incorporates rose accords. She also creates perfumes from the base up, whereas other perfumers start with the top notes and work from there in to the mid and base notes. Perfumery is a science - Ms. Grojsman has a Bachelor of Science degree in analytical inorganic chemistry - but at the high end it's also very much an art. Sophia Grojsman creates masterpieces.

Among her best-selling fragrances are:

* Bill Blass Nude
* Boucheron Jaipur (1994)
* Bvlgari Bvlgari Pour Femme (1994)
* Calvin Klein Eternity (1988)
* Calvin Klein Eternity Purple Orchid
* Celine Magic (1996)
* Christian Lacroix Christian Lacroix (1999)
* Elizabeth Taylor Diamonds and Rubies (1993)
* Elizabeth Taylor White Diamonds (1991)
* Estée Lauder Beautiful (1985)
* Estée Lauder Spellbound (1992)
* Estée Lauder White Linen (1978)
* Frederic Malle Outrageous! (2007)
* Gloria Vanderbilt Vanderbilt (1982)
* HRH Princess Elizabeth E
* HRH Princess Elizabeth Jelisaveta
* Karl Lagerfeld Sun Moon Stars (1994)
* Kenzo Kashaya (1994)
* Lalique Lalique (2002)
* Lancôme Trésor (1990)
* Lancôme Trésor Sparkling
* Laura Biagiotti Sotto Voce (1996)
* Paloma Picasso Tentations (1996)
* Perry Ellis 360°
* Prescriptives Calyx (1987)
* sexual - Michel Germain (1994)
* S-Perfume 100% Love
* Yves Saint Laurent Paris (1983)
* Yves Saint Laurent Paris Premieres Roses (2003)
* Yves Saint Laurent Parisienne (2009)
* Yves Saint Laurent Yvresse (1993)

Free fiction on Novel Spaces

2011-10-07T23:38:00.001-04:00

Over on Novel Spaces we have dedicated the following dates for free fiction giveaways. These dates are open to group members, guest authors, visiting authors and publishers who would like to increase their reach, visibility and goodwill among readers.

October 30, 2011

December 30, 2011

January 30, 2012

March 30, 2012

April 30, 2012

May 30, 2012

June 30, 2012

Several authors may book on the same day: the bigger the giveaway, the bigger the buzz! To participate, leave a comment on this article stating:

Your preferred date

The title, author and genre of the novel(s)

Hard copy or digital

The featured titles will be displayed in the sidebar on the Novel Spaces blog for the month of the giveaway.

Please note that although Novel Spaces will host the giveaways, individual authors whose books are featured on free fiction days will be responsible for contacting winners and either mailing paper books to them or providing guidelines / coupon codes for downloading e-books. Let the giveaways begin!

Shameful little secrets

2011-09-12T00:15:00.001-04:00

I don't think I'm the only writer who admits only under extreme duress that she writes... [looks around furtively] ...romance. The few times I foolishly admitted to the fact that, yeah, I do a bit of scribbling, I was bombarded with 'Oprah' comments, and talk about 'the great West Indian novel'. Romance was nowhere to be spotted amid the thronging expectations of literary outpourings.

In my circle, few admit to even reading romance; writing it is beyond the pale. Those who read it don't do so openly, and if caught in the act mumble some shame-faced excuse about having 'confiscated' the book from a student. (Borrowed, more likely!) I've seen that scenario played out countless times.

And what about the overwhelming response to romance novels from the male half of the population? Dismissal, snickers, 'girl porn' comments, and the general opinion that no woman with half a brain would read (or write) the stuff. According to the popular mythology, romance novels are the preserve of:

The girl behind the counter at the drugstore, twirling a lock of purple hair and snapping her chewing gum, maybe.
Gauche schoolgirls, definitely.
The old spinster librarian with parchment skin and wattles, glaring over her glasses at the boys and girls flirting instead of doing their research, and hiding a lurid bodice-ripper under her copy of Dostoevsky.
The downtrodden wife trapped in a miserable marriage.
The anti-feminists.

But mature, smart, professional women? Never. They - we - don't stoop to such lows.

Well, surprise, surprise. We do. And after decades, or centuries rather, of being treated with scorn and ridicule by the literary establishment, the romance genre seems to finally, finally be coming into its own. It's becoming so respectable, in fact, that men are jostling to join the ranks of romance writers and many popular authors, formerly hidden behind their pseudonyms, are coming forward and revealing that they're smart, professional women. Some are young. Some are happily married, and feminist to the core. Some are college professors. Some are all of the above. They read romance - and they write it too.

You don't believe me, do you. Well, take a gander at this USA Today article: Scholarly writers empower the romance genre. It's all about college professors working undercover as romance authors and attending Princeton University conferences on the genre. Smart women have always read and written great stories, including romances. The difference now is that, more and more, they're not ashamed to admit it.

—Liane Spicer

What I learned from books on writing

2011-09-05T00:11:00.002-04:00

I sometimes miss that blissful time when I wrote my first novel, unaware that there were dozens of books out there presenting countless rules and recommendations for what I was attempting to do. I've picked up a few things since then, and the advice that has resonated often had little to do with the actual writing and everything to do with the attitudes that might make the difference between being a productive writer or a frustrated one.

On Writing by Stephen King:
I learned from King's recounting of his years spent collecting rejection slips that those little forms are not symbols for "Failed Writer". You place the slip in the appropriate file and move on.

The War of Art by Steven Pressfield:
Mr. Pressfield wrote this book for me. He turns a spotlight on writers' block in all its manifestations: fear, resistance, procrastination, obsessiveness, self-dramatization, self-medication, victimhood, self-doubt, toxic relationships, support (yes, you read that right), and rationalization. Then he tells you how to combat it all, and his recommendation is simple: You turn pro. How does a professional approach his work? Apply the same principles to your writing and see the difference.

"A professional shows up every day."
"A professional demystifies."
"A professional acts in the face of fear."
"A professional does not show off."
"A professional self-validates."

There's lots more, and it's all written with the authority that comes only from first-hand experience, aka the school of hard knocks.

Page After Page by Heather Sellers:
Here's another writer who demystifies. She knows that declarations like 'waiting for my muse' are nothing but lame excuses. "It's a matter of sitting down, conjuring a state of complete dedication and complete openness, and writing. Putting pen to paper." No hocus-pocus there.

What else did she teach me? To talk less about writing, and write more. That except for a very few lucky souls, being published (finally!) does not change your life. You won't be rich and famous, loved and admired by everyone, rail-thin and immune to chocolate binges. You'll still have to deal with all your bumps and warts; those don't disappear once you get published.

The Elements of St yle by William Strunk Jr. & E.B. White:
This book gives great advice on the fine points of usage, common errors, and style. There was little in there I didn't already know after having taught the language for 22 years, but that slim book clarified something vital I had hitherto understood only superficially: the US version of my mother tongue is a very different beast from the UK version I was taught.

I've got two more books on writing lined up: Zen in the Art of Writing by Ray Bradbury, the title of which has just the sort of new-agey tone I'm a sucker for. (Did someone mention the word demystify?) Next to it on my bedhead bookshelf is The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron. I'll be sure to let you know what I learn from those in a later post.

—Liane Spicer

Micromanaging, overediting and knowing when to stop

2011-08-29T00:36:00.002-04:00

When the Novel Spaces group blog went live two years ago I watched over it like a fussy mama. As co-coordinator, I wanted everything to be purrrrfect. I checked the list of posts already written and scheduled, and noticed that one author had not pre-scheduled his first post. No problem, I told myself. People have different approaches: some will prepare weeks ahead while others will create and post at the very moment they're supposed to go live...

But there I was anyway, minutes to midnight, just before my friend's post was to appear, and there was no sign of his article in the lineup. Sheesh, I wondered. Maybe he forgot, it being a holiday weekend and all. I trotted over to Amazon, did some window shopping, then returned to the blog and checked the list of posts again. Nothing. I shot off an apologetic e-mail to the guy, something along the lines of: Sorry to be a nuisance - but did you forget today's your day to post? Then I clicked over to check the blog once more before I went to bed - and there it was! My friend's post! Right on time, too.

Needless to say, I felt like an idiot. I don't like anyone looking over my shoulder, sniffing at my heels, or whatever analogy there might be for just being ANNOYING! So why was I doing that to other people? Couldn't I have waited at least until the next morning before I started firing off nagging e-mails?

I made a resolution that night: Don't be a bloody pest. Leave grown people alone to do what they have to.

This obsessiveness carries over to my writing, sad to say. I know writers who never rewrite, who edit as they go, submit their product when they get to the end and then move on to the next project. I'm at the other end of the spectrum: when I get to 'The End' my work is just beginning. If I re-read my manuscript 50 times I find things to change each of those times. I delete, add, modify, shift around, rename, reword, rephrase, restore to the original, shift back again and generally edit until I reach a point where I have to say: Hands off. Leave it alone. Didn't you hear me? Step away from that @#$%*! manuscript!

Overediting is a real danger to writers, just like micromanaging is to organizers. You run the risk of running past the point where your nit-picking is beneficial and you begin doing real damage. Instead of growing stronger, the work grows weaker as you focus more and more on minutiae and begin to lose sight of the big picture. Recognizing that point is vital, and truly difficult for micromanaging, perfectionist, anal-retentive writers - like me.

—Liane Spicer

View from the Caribbean

2011-08-22T00:01:00.003-04:00

Maracas Beach, one of my favorite places

Okay, so I live in paradise. I admit it. Can we get past the sun, surf and sand for a moment and look at how location, and this location specifically, impacts on this writer?

When I started the writing gig years ago there were built-in handicaps. Queries were sent by snail mail and the intervals between sending out and getting a response were epochal - if a response were indeed forthcoming. I used to imagine agents looking askance at my stamps, opening the envelope gingerly and thinking: Trinidad? And what are these? International mailing coupons? How... quaint! just before throwing my stuff into the recycle bin. I didn't send out much and I'm eternally grateful to the editors and authors who responded to my neophyte approaches. Debbie Macomber was one. Karen Thomas another.

A breakthrough came when I signed with a local courier company. They provided a US mailing address and, for a reasonable fee, delivered mail to my door. That first company even took my letters and packages and mailed them from within the US. There was a lag, of course, but it was still a huge improvement. The problem was not the courier but the pace at which anything happens in the publishing industry. Months, sometimes many months, would elapse before I got any response from agents and editors.

Four months after I sent out the first round of queries via my courier, I discovered a website that listed agents who accepted e-queries. I sent out a batch and most agents responded, some within days, others within minutes. Not only did they respond, they were lovely and encouraging. That first week I got five requests for submissions, and two months later received an offer of representation. About twenty minutes into our first telephone conversation I pointed out to the agent that she was calling Trinidad. "Oh, that's all right," she responded cheerfully. "We have clients all over the world!" This, dear reader, was my kind of agent.

Over the past few years my location has been of little consequence. Not only do I conduct most of my business over the Internet, but I also discovered a great network of writers and friends across the globe, a network that I can access with a few clicks and keystrokes. I don't even have to put on makeup and leave the house! Right now, I believe, is the best time ever to be a writer stuck on a little rock thousands of miles away from, well, everything.

—Liane Spicer

Novel Spaces: Authors, clean up your act.

2011-08-07T01:34:00.002-04:00

I've got a bit of news for authors of all stripes: 'Indie' publishing is not a free pass.

The new technologies make it possible for writers to bypass the gate-keeping functions of literary agents, acquiring editors, copy/line editors and proofreaders. Writers/authors can now offer their products directly to the customer in digital form. Say what you will about the traditional publishing model, the fact is there was some measure of quality control. The absence of these standards in the new model is proving disastrous to, if not the viability, then the integrity of self-published or "indie" e-books.

According to Rich Adin in The Digital Reader:

"I have to admit that part of the problem is the poor quality of so many ebook offerings ... of every 10 ebooks I acquire, I am certain that 8 or 9 will be trashcanned within the first 30 pages of reading."

Continue: Novel Spaces: Authors, clean up your act.

Novel Spaces: The Novelist and his Work: Degrees of Separation

2011-06-08T02:11:00.002-04:00

Who else found VS Naipaul's assertion that no women writers are his equal amusing? Join me on Novel Spaces for another view on the controversy.

Novel Spaces: The Novelist and his Work: Degrees of Separation: "The furor is at least a week old and has seemingly given way to newer feeding frenzies such as Weinergate . Yet, the uproar over VS Naipaul'..."

Bet you don't know who wrote Jumping the Broom

2011-05-15T15:30:00.013-04:00

Anyone who has been reading this blog from its start in 2007 will remember nyc/caribbean ragazza, a friend to wordtryst and a blogger herself. She hails from LA and has blogged her own journey from Hollywood film producer to her move to Italy to follow her dream of writing screenplays. I'm a great believer in following one's passion so I've read her blog with much interest over the years and felt vindicated when she sold her first screenplay. See? I told you it would happen! Following your dreams might not make you rich and famous in the short term (or ever) but it's the very best thing you can do for your soul.

Nyc/caribbean ragazza's soul must be doing cartwheels across the psychic universe right now because that screenplay was made into a lovely film starring the beautiful Angela Bassett. It's Jumping the Broom which opened in theatres last week and came in at #3, grossing $15.3 million on its debut weekend. The reviews are spectacular. This all reiterates pretty much the same thing that nyc/caribbean ragazza, otherwise known as Arlene Gibbs, has been insisting all along: that there's a lucrative market for films like these, films written by, featuring and starring women, and Black women in particular, a demographic that's terribly underrepresented in Hollywood. Take note, studio honchos: we're not all young males, there are oodles of us out here, and we spend money on movies we enjoy.

I take it personally when blog friends score wonderful things, whether it's a new writing shed, a literary agent, a book contract - or a winning screenplay. The icing on this cake is that Arlene comes from Caribbean stock: her parents are from the island of St. Martin.

Congratulations, ragazza. Wishing you a long, fruitful career doing what you love.

Note to fellow Trinis here at home! You can catch Jumping the Broom at Movietowne right now. See you there!

Novel Spaces: Movie or book?

2011-05-07T20:44:00.002-04:00

What happens when you see a movie version of your favourite novel? Utter disappointment, that's what. Here are the rules for keeping Hollywood from driving you crazy.

Novel Spaces: Movie or book?

Novel Spaces: A Week of Firsts

2011-04-07T10:55:00.004-04:00

Novel Spaces: A Week of Firsts: "I've been wondering when my charmed publishing life of the last two and a half years would come to an end. The truth is I'd never seen a bad review of..."

Ever seen your book being stolen in front of your very eyes? Or had it trashed by a 'reviewer' who probably never even read it? Join me on Novel Spaces for my Week of Firsts.

Novel Spaces: Why I write

2011-03-23T00:32:00.005-04:00

Novel Spaces: Why I write: "I know you think I feed my Internet addiction with Amazon wish lists chock full of delectable perfumes and femme fatale shoes. Well, you're right, but that's not the half of it..."

What do we do when, to quote poet William Wordsworth, "The world is too much with us"? You've invited to join me on NOVEL SPACES today as I share my motivation for writing.

Novel Spaces: Why I write

Fair warning

2011-03-15T17:19:00.013-04:00

Dear Diary,

I've neglected you of late, haven't I? The odd article here, the pointer to my posts over on Novel Spaces there, and not much else in between. Well, that's life for you: it ebbs and it flows; the focus changes; other interests usurp.

Much has been happening off the page: additions to the family, crises, sickness (not me, thank God), achievements and disappointments, publisher woes, changing landscapes and people-scapes, the soap opera that passes for local politics...

Some things don't change, though, like the beauty of this here island, the supporting rock that is my family, the comfort of close friendships, the ongoing challenges of living life, growing up and growing older. My part-time day job is now half of a part-time job. The silver lining is that I now have more time to repair to my psychic bamboo grove to be quiet, to listen to the rustle of the leaves and the song of the birds, to think, to read, and very importantly, to write. My languishing WIPs must languish no more.

I'm giving you fair warning that I'll be visiting regularly, Dear Diary, my cyber-bamboo-grove in this blogosphere-jungle. There are books to be read and reviewed, authors to be interviewed, tales to be told, issues to be explored. Today I'm sharing one of my favourite things: Blue Nude by Pablo Picasso, a painting from his blue period. Of all his masterpieces I love this one best; I used to have a print on my bedroom wall years ago. It's all in the lines, and blue is my colour - cool, to balance the tropical and ancestral heat in my blood. Enjoy!

wordtryst

Novel Spaces: What's in a Name?

2011-03-07T13:14:00.002-04:00

Novel Spaces: What's in a Name?: "Last week I discovered the power of a mere name to energize, galvanize, motivate and eradicate the heebie jeebies. I've been stuck in a rut..."

Today on the Novel Spaces author blog I discover the difference a name can make.

Novel Spaces: Out of the closet

2011-02-24T01:04:00.002-04:00

Novel Spaces: Out of the closet: "To channel Diana Ross's popular song of yesteryear: 'I'm! Coming! Out!' — of the wish-list closet. (Ha. I know what you were thinking!)"

Today on Novel Spaces I discuss my wish list addiction. Come on over!

Novel Spaces: The real deal

2011-01-23T10:10:00.002-04:00

Novel Spaces: The real deal: "I'd be appalled by all the misconceptions about the writing life proliferating out there if I hadn't harboured a few myself in the not-too-distant past..."

Come join me on Novel Spaces as I take aim at some of those myths about living the writing life!

The Goodreads interview

2011-01-12T22:42:00.002-04:00

DeeDee Scott, moderator of the Goodreads group African American Books, has posted her interview with me on the group's page and on her blog Authors on the Rise. If you've always wanted to find a word for having shapely buttocks, (and I don't mean bootilicious!) - you'll find it in this interview!

Goodreads group African American Books interviews Liane Spicer

Authors on the Rise - interview with Liane Spicer

Novel Spaces: Christmas books: A list

2010-12-23T11:41:00.003-04:00

Novel Spaces: Christmas books: A list: "The end of the year is list season, especially in the world of books. What better reason is there to come up with my very own list of 10 books with Christmas themes..."

You're invited to join me on the NOVEL SPACES author blog as I show off my very own list of Christmas-themed books! Inspiration, romance, humour, fantasy, mystery, satire, poetry or classic fare with a Christmas theme - whatever you're after, Liane's got the book for you!

Novel Spaces: Writers I Owe

2010-12-07T09:19:00.003-04:00

"Novel Spaces: Writers I Owe: "KeVin's post Writers of Influence got me thinking. It's difficult to pinpoint writers who have directly influenced my writing; over a lifetime..."

You're invited to join me on Novel Spaces as I pay tribute to the writers who influenced me the most!

Novel Spaces: More Darned Publishing Myths

2010-11-23T02:26:00.004-04:00

Novel Spaces: More Darned Publishing Myths:
One month ago I wrote about Those Darned Publishing Myths. Today we'll examine four more of the publishing version of midwives' tales that can mislead writers in their quest for publishing success. You're welcome to join me there!

Reading right now: health & beauty, boudoir insights, writers' spaces and Beelzebub's handbook

2010-11-13T15:03:00.028-04:00

There isn't a single novel in the stacks of books on and beside my bed at the moment. The thing about reading non-fiction is that I can read several books at the same time - unlike novels where I get so engrossed in a story I can focus on nothing else until I get to the end of it. I'm enjoying this desultory approach to reading for a change; it leaves me space to ponder and assimilate, especially at a time when RL is demanding much of me attention-wise.

Aveda Rituals: A Daily Guide to Natural Health and Beauty by Horst Rechelbacher

Mr. Rechelbacher is the founder of Aveda, a line of cosmetics that maximizes the use of natural ingredients as well as the Ayurvedic principles of health and well being. Over the years I've increasingly incorporated a holistic, natural approach to all areas of my life. My way, however, has been undisciplined, unstructured, uncommitted and downright capricious.

Aveda Rituals presents a harmonious approach to personal care, with practical applications, explanations of the Ayurvedic philosophy behind the recommended practices, and lots of information on the various systems on which it draws: aromatherapy, the chakras, natural balance, cleansing and restorative rituals, herbal healing, yoga practice, organic diet, and much, much more.

What this book does not do is push the writer's products at you, although he does explore the philosophy behind his work and shares his personal voyage. It does not tell you what you must do, or eat, or buy, but encourages you to find what works for you so you make nurturing, healthy choices not only with regard to enhancing your natural beauty, but in every facet of your life, choices that are good for you, for those around you, and for the planet.

Victoria Magazine's Bedrooms: Private Worlds and Places to Dream

My bedroom isn't just the place where I go to sleep: this tiny space functions as my writing room, reading room, music room, private movie theatre, gym, zendo, meeting/chatting place for my RL and cyber- friends, dream space, boudoir and sanctuary. I'm constantly seeking ways to make it as easy on the eyes and as comforting to the body and spirit as it can possibly be.

There's nothing earth-shattering by way of bedroom design elements in Bedrooms: Private Worlds and P laces to Dream, and that's not what I'm looking for. What I seek, and what I find in this lovely coffee table quality volume are lots of photos of beautiful dream-spaces with short, poetically written descriptive notes that put me in a calm zone and feed my thirst for aesthetic harmony. It stimulates me to be mindful of the value of enhancing the beauty of my own space via sensual elements that appeal to me: scents, textures, forms, colours, sounds, and yes, taste as well. This is not indulgence: it's spiritual necessity.

A Writer's Space by Eric Maisel

This book was recommended by fellow Novel Spaces author Shauna Roberts. My own space is always evolving as I journey from not having a dedicated writing station and using my bed, the floor and the dining room table, utilizing tools that encompassed a biro and stacks of legal notebooks, a Brother electronic word processor, and various second-hand, quirky PCs, to my current writing nook next to my bed complete with desk, new laptop, cork board and some sweet little speakers to replace the squeaky laptop-issue variety.

I'm not very far into A Writer's Space but what I'm liking already is that Maisel does not address just the physical space but also the psychic as he guides you into enhancing your own creative process by devising writing rituals to get you started and keep you going, optimizing the time you spend writing, and designing a schedule that you can follow no matter what.

The Devil's Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce

This is not a book you can sit and read from cover to cover despite its lack of girth; you take it in delightfully piquant little bites, maybe the 'E' entries today, the 'W' lot two weeks down the line. The Devil's Dictionary began in 1881 as a weekly article in a San Francisco paper. Bierce's searing wit and bruisingly satirical commentary on people, life and society ('life, the universe and everything' for you Douglas Adams fans out there), is uncannily relevant to today and not at all dated as one might expect.

I'd never heard of Ambrose Bierce (1842 - circa 1913?) before my friend D gave me this book for my birthday, but researching his biography turned up some fascinating information. According to Wiki, he was an American editorialist, journalist, short story writer, fabulist and satirist, best known for his short story An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge and his satirical lexicon, The Devil's Dictionary. His motto 'nothing matters' earned him the nickname 'Bitter Bierce'. Despite his satirical, critical approach to everything, he had a reputation for encouraging young writers and became something of a cult figure.

His story ends on a dramatic note befitting of such an interesting writer. In 1913 Bierce traveled to Mexico to investigate firsthand the revolution in which that country was embroiled. While traveling with rebel troops he disappeared without a trace. He was 71 at the time.

Novel Spaces: Blogging: Dead or alive?

2010-11-07T18:52:00.003-04:00

Novel Spaces: Blogging: Dead or alive?: "When I got hooked on the blogging phenomenon back in 2005, this new (to me) toy was the smartest, hippest, most exciting thing around. Over ..."

Today on Novel Spaces I'm wondering whether the blogging phenomenon is on its way out. You're welcome to join me - and don't forget to share your opinion on this issue by taking the poll!

Chimamanda Adicie: The danger of a single story

2010-10-25T18:56:00.003-04:00

Chimamanda Adicie is the author of Purple Hibiscus (2003) which was shortlisted for the Orange Fiction Prize (2004) and was awarded the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best First Book (2005). Her second novel, Half of a Yellow Sun (2006) is set before and during the Biafran War. Her collection of short stories, The Thing around Your Neck, was published in 2009.

In the clip below she discusses the danger of viewing a culture through the lens of a single story.

Novel Spaces: Those darned publishing myths

2010-10-23T10:14:00.004-04:00

Novel Spaces: Those darned publishing myths: "We've all read them, and we start out with loads of misconceptions on account of them. How do we separate the industry wisdom from the urban..."

You've invited to join me on Novel Spaces today as we go about shooting down those urban myths of publishing!

Paper good, Kindle bad?

2010-10-07T12:44:00.005-04:00

Yes, I've absconded to the dark side: I've begun buying e-books on Kindle on the sly. You're invited to join me as I discuss my defection on Novel Spaces today.

The Dark Side

Bachac attack

2010-09-12T11:14:00.013-04:00

Photo courtesy Santiwah blog

Anyone who's been reading this blog for awhile knows that I live in a forested valley teeming with wildlife that often gets much too close for comfort. Vipers, hairy spiders the size of dessert plates, centipedes, bats, foul-mouthed frogs, quarrelsome manicou families - we live intimately will them all. I've never mentioned bachacs, though, because they've never posed a problem.

I like walking outside at night, and sometimes I open the front gate and stroll in the street for awhile, enjoying my favorite time of the day. It's a quiet street but I don't go very far, just to the end of our wall and back. About a month ago, as I strolled along the grass verge, I saw something strange: a dark, foot-wide swath stretching across the paving. Closer inspection revealed it to be thousands upon thousands of bachacs going about their business.

The bachac is Trinidad's leaf cutter ant. It's about half inch long, medium brown, with a hard body and mandibles that can give you a painful pinch but not take the piece of flesh off like its cousin the tac-tac. Bachacs are a common sight, bustling along in single file, each carrying a shorn piece of leaf back to the underground colony where they grow their fungus gardens. Never, ever, have I seen anything approaching the numbers of them that I saw crossing the street that night, those going away from our wall carrying their cut leaf sections on high, those going toward the wall carrying no load. My eyes swept the wall. There they were, a wide band of them, moving up the wall like a dark insect wave and disappearing down the other side into in our yard.

Photo courtesy Maniac Muslim forum

There's something very unsettling about the sight of millions of insects, apparently moving with one mind, coming at you. When we lived higher up the valley, a four-inch wide column of large jungle ants marched down the mountain, crossed the neighbour's lawn, entered our yard through the chain link fence and began to swarm the laundry room which was separated from the house by a narrow passageway. It took a lot of wild scrunching of ants and dispersal of cans of insecticide before they got the idea that they weren't welcome. Watching this bachac invasion didn't come close to that hysterical experience, but it was still somewhat unnerving.

I couldn't imagine which plant they were decimating, but I wasn't left in suspense for long. Over the next week or so we noticed that a line of variegated crotons planted on the inside of the wall was beginning to look a bit sparse. Days later, they were naked twiggy sticks shorn of every leaf. That was when my mother took herself off to the garden store and brought home a small plastic bag of bachac bait. She scattered it around the base of the wall. The next night the bachacs were still there, crossing the road in a thick swath. When I checked on the second night there wasn't a single bachac to be seen. The poison had done its work.

As always, when we tamper with nature I feel a twinge of conscience. I even feel it when I kill poisonous snakes in the yard. But it had to be done. My mother's vegetable garden has been devastated by the heavy rains; now that we're entering the petit carême, the short dry season in the middle of the rainy half of the year, she's putting her yard back into gear: ochroes, dasheen, sweet potatoes, patchoi, peppers, lettuce and tomatoes are all going into the dirt. With food prices going through the roof right now there's no way she'll allow the bachacs to reap what she's busy sowing every day, pottering around in her big ridiculous straw hat, holey jeans and the bright green Crocs I got her in the hope that she'd stop ruining all her good shoes in the yard.

The DON'Ts

2010-09-07T08:11:00.002-04:00

Two weeks ago I discussed the things readers can do to help their favourite starving authors. Today I'm across on Novel Spaces again looking at the stuff readers should not do:

How To Help A Starving Author Part 2: The DON'Ts

Novel Spaces: How to help a starving author

2010-08-23T00:44:00.003-04:00

Novel Spaces: How to help a starving author: "Writers don't make a lot of money. Debbie MacComber, Sue Grafton and John Grisham are the exceptions; the truth is that it's difficult for midlist authors to make a living from writing - and it's getting harder all the time...."

Come join me on Novel Spaces today to find out what you can do to help your favourite authors - apart from buying their books, that is!

Getting the sex right

2010-08-07T01:07:00.003-04:00

When does romance become erotica, and erotica become pornography? How graphic should the sex in romance novels get? And is it even necessary?

You're invited to join me as I ponder these questions in The Sex Thing on Novel Spaces today.

Where do writers get their ideas?

2010-07-23T11:28:00.004-04:00

From the compost heap, of course. Come join me as I blog over at Novel Spaces today on the source of writers' inspiration.

The Raw Material

...and the Versatile Blogger award goes to...

2010-07-10T12:11:00.023-04:00

Me! The lovely K.S. Augustin who blogs at Fusion Despatches around the corner in Malaysia has given me this fetching thing:

Thank you, Kaz! I'm supposed to pass this award (I do love green!) along to fifteen deserving bloggers (eek!) and tell you seven things about myself that you never knew. I'm beginning to feel like Oprah: everything about me is out there already! I exaggerate, I exaggerate. There's a lot you don't know, such as:

1. In my youth I was often asked why I didn't model. Flattering, but the mere thought of strutting my stuff on a catwalk would turn me catatonic.

2. People who don't know me well get the impression that I'm 'quiet'. Every time my son hears this he all but rolls on the floor. I keep my wild side carefully camouflaged from all but my near and dear.

3. I'm a brand new grandma, and my grandson Ryen is gorgeous!

4. I used to play the piano, like my friend Kaz. She also played the flute, though, so she's far more versatile than I am.

5. I'm a crack shot, but not as good as the cousin (a former soldier who won the prize for best shot in his batch) who took me to the range and put a sweet little Glock in my hands. My bullets go through the bullseye 9 out of 10 times and the tenth hits really close. It runs in the family: my father won the silver spoon for best shot when he graduated from the police academy.

6. I'm that weird contradiction: a cynic about marriage and a die-hard romantic who loves it when couples, married or not, get it right.

7. I enjoy all kinds of music and my collection is fairly eclectic, but I find myself playing classic rock songs most often.

There you have it! Now to pass along this award... Fifteen? Hm, no. I'll spare everyone but Chris Stovell over at Home Thoughts Weekly whose debut novel, Turning the Tide, is a brand new release from Choc Lit. Congratulations, Chris! Wishing you and TTT an illustrious journey!

Inspiration from nature

2010-07-07T00:26:00.003-04:00

I'm across at the Novel Spaces author blog today. Does being surrounded by nature take you into 'the zone'? It certainly does it for me!

Natural Inspiration

Burglars & snakes. There's paradise for ya...

2010-06-25T22:37:00.006-04:00

Maybe it was just a matter of time, the state of crime being what it is in these parts, but we've been robbed. Almost everything of value is gone: laptop, jewellery, DVD player - even my LL Bean backpack, apparently appropriated by the thieves to carry their haul away. I'm trying to be upbeat but seriously? It was horrible. It still is. I alternate between wanting to throw away whatever the thieves left behind, scrub the house again and again with every detergent and antimicrobial agent known to man, and planning elaborate and extremely painful retribution for the perps.

Can there be a silver lining to this cloud? The answer may surprise you. Come join me as I post today on the Novel Spaces author blog: Adversity: Friend or Foe?

Oh, the snakes. I promised snakes. Yup, we've been busy around here. As the repairman finished fitting a new back door to replace the one the thieves broke down to gain entry to the house, he trod wearily out the front gate - it was nighttime, after all, and he'd had a long day - only to start dancing around and shrieking because he had almost stepped on - you got it - a mapepire right outside our gate. Mapepire is the local name for fer de lance, a deadly pit viper. We have lots of them around here, and believe me, they're not what one wants to face after a hard day's - and night's - work.

Never a dull moment, I tell ya.

Review of Any Woman's Blues, a Novel of Obsession by Erica Jong

2010-06-14T22:48:00.006-04:00

Read in June, 2010
3 stars

Let me confess right up front that I'm an Erica Jong fan. I was titillated and shocked by Fear of Flying in the 80s, then read How to Save Your Own Life at the start of the 90s and it became, and still is, one of my favourite novels. Yes, Erica/Isidora/Leila seems obsessed by sex - but then who isn't? Because, you see, our libidinous heroine is not just after mindless coupling. She's not simply promiscuous. She doesn't use sex as a tool to manipulate men or situations. What she's after is what we all crave, although some of us don't have the wherewithal - or the guts - to take the quest as far as she does. What she craves is connection, the 'zipless fuck', the skinless encounter that takes us out of ourselves and that we approach only when the coupling is at its most vital, most intense, most passionate and probably most obsessive.

Jong has inspired me for years with her heroines and their lack of sexual inhibition, and with her honest and fearless writing. She goes where most of us writers - and readers - fear to tread, into the physical and psychological messiness, the self-sabotage, the contradictions, strengths and weaknesses of a woman trying to live as authentically as she can, in a society and time where female roles have changed dramatically on a superficial level, but much less so at the heart of things. Becoming a rich, famous author doesn't make the real deal any easier; if anything, it facilitates delusion, avoidance and self-destructive behaviour, but even at her worst there's an endearing self-awareness and deprecation that redeems Jong/Isidora/Leila.

It doesn't hurt that Jong can write; she puts you there, right into the story, even when you want to stand aside and judge: you're a woman, and you recognise, nay, you own the neuroses. Plus, I love the way she sends me off to research all those classical/literary/cultural references that have become hazy over the years. Another reviewer (on Goodreads) hated this. I don't. It adds to the richness of the experience for me.

So why the three star review? Why not four or five stars? Because I enjoyed How To Save Your Own Life more. Because so many of the themes are repetitive, which should not work against her because that's the way life is, but this is literature, and it does. Because I'm somewhat impatient with the heroine's substance abuse. I'm beginning to understand why people do it, why they are driven to seek escape from themselves by any means necessary. All the same, I can't help but be judgmental about this aspect of Jong's character(s). Life is hard, and it f***ing hurts, but medicating/drinking/drugging one's way through it gets no respect from me. Also, although I'm partial to New-Agey gobbledegook, sometimes it can seem like so much, well, gobbledegook. It's not Jong's fault; if I'd read the book when it was written I might have been more patient with this aspect of it. But two decades have passed since, and I've grown up a bit, and grown more discriminating. The 'California way' has palled somewhat.

For better or worse, Jong's stories have inspired me - as a woman, a feminist, and a writer, as someone who tries to live (and write) authentically, and who finds the whole realm of erotic attachment and exploration nothing short of riveting. That's quite an achievement for Jong. Now I'm off to read her Fear of Fifty.

Word!

2010-06-10T03:19:00.005-04:00

Join me on NOVEL SPACES as I turn the spotlight on those pesky words that go undercover and evade the editing scissors despite our best efforts.

My Word!

Guest author KS Augustin: Sharing the lurve

2010-06-01T00:01:00.015-04:00

I'm truly delighted to host KS Augustin, fellow author, fellow Novel Spaces member, IT specialist, martial artist, and much more besides! Science-fiction romance is her first love, but she has also dabbled in fantasy and contemporary action romances, picking up a CAPA award nomination along the way. She was a Spectrum award finalist and has appeared on the Fictionwise Best-Seller List. Kaz has visited, lived and/or worked in the UK, North America and Australia, and has now settled back in south-east Asia. Without further ado, I give you... KS Augustin!

You can't believe how happy I was to discover Liane! The one thing that I love about being a writer is the ability to form friendships with extremely talented people from around the world. And, considering that Liane is in Trinidad and I'm in Malaysia, that's some distance to cover.

But one thing that also brings Liane and I together is language. With all those North Americans filling up the ether, it's nice to touch base with someone else who uses British English. You wouldn't think it's such a big deal, would you? It is. Finally, someone who can spell “centre” correctly. ;) Who's not going to confuse me with usage of the word “fanny”. (What, you mean...there [pointing to one part of the anatomy]? But I thought it meant...here [pointing to another part]?) Who knows that you cut up your meat as you eat it, not all at once at the beginning.

There's also a certain reserve to those of us who don't use US English. We're the more shy, retiring type. It takes a major effort, plus crowbar work, to get us to actually (shhhh!) promote ourselves. Mix in a Roman Catholic education and it's a wonder we don't faint the moment we're introduced to someone new. Oh yes, take all the neuroses of the average English person you've always read about, inject it under the skin of a colonialist education mixed with Catholic guilt for just breathing and you have us. ::waving:: Hi.

So, in true self-deprecating fashion, that's my roundabout way of introducing you to my latest novel. It's a science-fiction romance about an astrophysicist, the man she falls in love with and a weapon of immense destruction. But, it's written in UK English and I'd like to give each and every member of the Carina Press editorial board a big, smoochy kiss for that alone. Thank you Carina. And thank you Liane.

IN ENEMY HANDS

The Republic had taken everything from Moon―her research partner, her privacy, her illusions. They thought they had her under control. They were wrong.

Srin Flerovs, Moon's new research partner, is a chemically enhanced maths genius whose memory is erased every two days.

While he and Moon work on a method of bringing dead stars back to life, attraction between them flares, but that poses its own problem. How can their love survive when Srin forgets Moon every two days?

When she discovers the lethal applications her research can be put to, Moon knows she and Srin are nothing more than pawns in a much larger game. Together, they must escape the clutches of the Republic before they become its scapegoats. But there are too many walls around them, too many eyes watching. They want to run, but they're trapped on a military vessel in the depths of space, and time is running out....

COMPETITION: I'm giving away two copies of IN ENEMY HANDS at my blog, Fusion Despatches. To be in the draw, stop by and comment at the Competition post, telling me at which blog you read about my book. You have till 30 June!

Kaz Augustin is a Malaysian-born writer of science-fiction, romance, and permutations of the two. Her website is at http://www.ksaugustin.com and she blogs at http://blog.ksaugustin.com You can also find her on Facebook and Twitter; just look for “ksaugustin".

To 'net or not to 'net

2010-05-27T10:45:00.008-04:00

Should new writers immerse themselves in online reading and writing communities or is this detrimental to their creativity? I'm posting on this topic today over at Novel Spaces. Come join me!
New Writers and the Online Conundrum

Reading right now: The End of the Affair

2010-05-18T10:03:00.021-04:00

I've had the movie on my wish list for years, but the lure was Ralph Fiennes, I'm sad to say. Recently I was reading a book blog discussion of the best novels on infidelity and discovered that The End of the Affair is based on a novel of the same name by Graham Greene. I hadn't read Greene since childhood, so off I went to the Amazon store and got myself a used copy.

Glad I did. What I liked most about this book was the author's honesty in dealing with the emotions involved in a love affair, in this case an illicit but profoundly affecting one. This 'affair' was no casual dalliance but the kind of 'once in a lifetime' connection that the parties could not get past. Greene explores all of it - the joy, despair, jealousy, pain, hopelessness, desperation and destructiveness inherent in such a relationship. I'll be accused of being sexist here, but I haven't come across a novel written by a man that explores such a theme in such a truthful manner, one that faces full on the vulnerability of the male in matters of the heart. I'm well acquainted with the woman's emotional perspective; it was fascinating to get a good look at the man's. Nor have I read any similar story that deals as sensitively with the cuckolded husband in a love triangle.

This is a superbly written, brave, honest book, and I'm glad I read it. It explores profound themes, including the nuances of forbidden love between men and women as well as the complexity of love of God, and the tangle that ensues when these intertwine and intersect. Now to get my hands on the film and see the delectable Mr. Fiennes at his sensual, intense best...

Sorry. Got a bit carried away there.

Sweet & sour

2010-05-12T02:45:00.004-04:00

I'm posting over on Novel Spaces today about two women with Caribbean roots, one of whom is Trinidadian, whose novels made it to the list for this year's Orange Prize for Fiction.

There are some out there who think a writing prize for women is no longer relevant, this being the age of feminism and equality and other such wonderful ideas. They think men should be allowed to compete for the Orange, or that there should be a men-only literary award. I talk about that too.

Oranges and Lemons

My other columns for Novel Spaces are here.

Random yard shots: purple petrea goes berserk

2010-04-29T00:15:00.008-04:00

Toward the end of the recent drought the purple petrea by the front gate struggled to flower for weeks, managing only a few scattered sprays. Two weeks ago the rain came and it got a good drenching. This is what followed:

Looks a bit like photos I've seen of wisteria, but not as drapey, and ours is a shrub, not a vine. The pink poui has also been displaying itself for weeks, almost too beautiful to be real, and now its gold cousin is popping all over the hillsides and verges. Makes me glad to be alive!

[I took these photos with my ratty cell phone camera. My son needs to drop by with his trusty Canon to do this thing justice.]

The Joy of Rejection

2010-04-25T02:13:00.006-04:00

Today on Novel Spaces I take a look at some famous writers whose work was repeatedly, scathingly, cruelly rejected. Compared to some of their stories, our rejections are gravy.

WHO Was Rejected?

CLS interviews Vaughn Stanford

2010-04-14T20:21:00.008-04:00

My writing buddy Vaughn has an interview up on Caribbean Literary Salon this week. Some of you might remember him: he once caused a bit of a stir among a couple lady-bloggers who hang out here. He said if I didn't announce his interview on my blog I'd be in dire trouble and he'd de-friend me. I'd be so lucky...

Vaughn is an author and mathematics teacher in Trinidad. He has written, produced and directed theater plays, and also writes screenplays, short stories and novels. Remember ladies, we don't want his head swelling up now, so don't be too nice!

Interview with Vaughn T. Stanford at Caribbean Literary Salon

El Tucuche, sacred mountain

2010-04-10T23:45:00.027-04:00

Let me tell you about my favorite mountain. It's in the northern range of the island, to the east of Maracas Bay, that very bay featured in the masthead above (Ed. note: the masthead changes so the one you see might not be the one that features Maracas Bay). See the cloudy area at the top right of the photo? Go inland a bit, and east some more, and there's my mountain: El Tucuche. In school we were taught it was the second highest mountain on the island, and according to local lore, it was considered a sacred place by the Amerindians. The only known Amerindian glyphs in Trinidad occur on a rock outcrop here. I've hiked El Tucuche twice in my fitter days when I belonged to a naturalist group.

That first time was the hardest hike I've ever tackled, and I've been on quite a few. It makes No Mercy Hill on the trail to Paria Bay look like something in a child's sandbox. The first time I ventured up there I didn't think I'd make it home alive. On the way back down the mountain I was sick and trembling and wanted nothing more than to lie at the side of the trail and die. But, with the help of a fellow hiker (wonder what became of Vibert?) I made it down more or less intact (although my toenails slowly turned black and fell out and took forever to grow back).

El Tucuche, Trinidad
Image courtesy Carole Anne Ferris/CafeMoka Gallery

But the climb was so worth it. It's another world up there on the peak, where mists swirl through the trees and imbue everything with an eerie other-worldliness that defies description. The vegetation is different, and so is the fauna. Strange bird calls abound, and the frogs are painted in such brilliant colours they must surely be poisonous. This is the home of the El Tucuche golden tree frog, found only here and on that other bump on the local landscape, El Cerro Aripo. The ground is cushioned with super-thick, bright green moss that's a balm to feet that have been abused for hours.

After the last steep scramble there you are, on the plateau at the summit of the mountain, with the world spread at your feet. At first you're too exhausted to do anything but sit or lie there, semi-comatose, dreading the long, arduous hours of descent still ahead, but as your breathing slows and your heart stops pounding and there's a glimmer of light in the dark vortex of weariness that has become your world, the euphoria begins to set in. You did it! My first-hand experience of the devastating beauty of the physical world, especially on these hikes where I'm able to climb above the clamour of man-made existence, is one of the main reasons I'm not an out-and-out atheist. To me, it's as irrational to think that the universe is some random accident as my strange substantiation of intelligent creation must be to a nonbeliever.

But I digress. The second time around, El Tucuche was still a long, hard, exhausting climb to the top and back down, but I fared much better. The "never again!" of the first round gave place to "well, maybe I can be persuaded to make it a hat-trick".

There's an amazing footnote to the El Tucuche anecdote. Some years ago, there was an announcement that more accurate measuring technology had revealed that El Cerro Aripo, formerly believed to be Trinidad's highest mountain, was actually the second highest, and El Tucuche assumed its rightful place as the point on the island that comes closest to touching the heavens, a fitting tribute to that strangely shaped rock at the top of the world. Well, my world anyway.

...and another amazing footnote:
Raymond Banfield contacted me after reading the article above. He's a 90 year old veteran climber who has scaled El Tucuche more than 100 times over his lifetime - and still climbs it! His most recent ascent was earlier this month as part of his 90th birthday celebrations. The local media covered the event; the link to the Trinidad Express article is here.

Raymond "Don Ramos" Banfield gives the thumbs up signal on his historic
ascent to the summit of Mount El Tucuche, November 2010

Raymond is planning his next hike to the top for early next year. I can think of nothing I'd like to do at 90 that tops this. Keep on climbing, Raymond! You have become my great inspiration. Hope to see you on the summit some day soon!
- November 20, 2010

Note added 19-Nov-2011: Raymond passed away on November 10, 2011, three days after his ninety-first birthday. I'll climb El Tucuche again, and I know he'll be there hiking next to me - in spirit.

Random yard shots, March 2010 edition

2010-03-30T22:10:00.003-04:00

The drought has been terrible and the hills are burning, but in my mother's parched garden these plants continue to pleasure the eyes and the spirit.

Ground orchid

Another orchid in a hanging basket. Don't know the name of this one...

Or this...

Oncidium or bee orchid growing happily in rubble in a basket

Marigolds in the background. Phlox and chives in the foreground. Yeah, my mom mixes it up, vegs and flowers in the same beds and borders.

Photos copyright R.S.V.P. Studios. Please contact blog owner for permission to reprint.

World Literature: The Caribbean - Part 2

2010-03-26T15:03:00.006-04:00

Come join me on Novel Spaces today as I continue my feature on the works of great Caribbean writers!

World Literature: The Caribbean (2)

T.G.I.F: In the pink

2010-03-19T21:27:00.019-04:00

In the news today...

My writer-buddy Vaughn celebrated a birthday recently so I took him out today to induct him into the Death by Chocolate cult of which there are two members I know of, my friend D and me. (I neglected to take a photo of the DbC so I'll just say it's large, and there are lots of chocolate things in it, like chocolate ice-cream, chocolate sauce, chunks of brownies and more stuff that I can't recall. Then there's whipped cream and a cherry on top. And an umbrella; umbrellas are important.)

Vaughn seemed to have a slight problem first with the fact that, according to him, there were no men in the place. When I pointed out three of his gender he complained instead that the place was, ah, pink. He seemed to think that particular colour scheme indicated dire things about portion size. (Men are really hung up - no pun intended - on size.) He eventually looked at the menu and discovered there was actual food to be had, and not just dainty, pretty, small things, so he brightened up considerably. By the time the Death by Chocolate dessert came around he had settled down and was as close to normal as he gets, which ain't sayin' much. Here he is in the pink place, with the initial get-me-out-of-here expression on his mug:

I have another photo of him rolling his eyes and looking really freaked out, but I'll refrain from posting it as we don't want to scare the, ah, horses.

Verdict: the membership now stands at three. D, we've got a convert!

In other news... I read the Sandra Bullock-Jesse James revelations and could not help but feel sad for the woman. The timing well and truly sucks, for one thing, and for another, Ms. Bullock appears to be such a great person. I know from personal experience that many (most?) good people get effed over in matters of the heart. The hardass badasses, on the other hand, seem to thrive. But then that's probably my cynicism, always at war with my romanticism, kicking in.

And to round up the Friday bulletin: The school to which I applied requested a sample of my writing. I'm enclosing a copy of Café Au Lait but knowing how snobbish universities tend to be about the romance genre, I'm also enclosing a serious review I wrote a while ago that was published in newspapers in Trinidad, the Bahamas and Florida, as well as a short story and a personal essay. Hopefully the powers that be will forgive me for writing a romance novel - long enough to let me into their program, anyway. Wish me luck.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Update: Vaughn thinks I should refrain from enclosing a copy of the novel with my sample writing. You know what? He's right. Out it goes.

Caribbean Literary Salon

2010-03-03T20:23:00.008-04:00

Anouska Kock, moderator of Caribbean Literary Salon, has posted her interview with me on the brand new site:

Interview with Liane Spicer

CLS is a treasure house of all things literary in the Caribbean, and I can tell I'll be spending a lot of time there. Ms. Kock is from Aruba, a Dutch island in the Caribbean, and the CLS site showcases not only English-language related information on the world of West Indian books, writers and poets, but also a Dutch-Caribbean version with the focus on Suriname, Bonaire, Curaçao, St. Maarten, and, of course, Aruba.

The community site features, among other things:

Interviews with writers
Readings
New books
Articles
Discussions
Events
News
Photos
Videos
Book groups
Profile pages for members
Community guidelines
FAQs
Bookstore
Reviews
Links to related sites (English and Dutch)

Caribbean Literary Salon is just three days old and already I'm very excited about it. Membership is open to anyone who enjoys books about the Caribbean and the works of Caribbean authors. I signed up today; come join me!

So you like world literature...

2010-02-23T00:33:00.007-04:00

Join me on today on Novel Spaces as I blog about some great works of fiction from right here in the Caribbean.

World literature? Try the Caribbean.

Greenhorn landlubber

2010-02-17T00:01:00.005-04:00

If you read my novel Café Au Lait you might recall mention there of the Bocas Islands that lie off the northwestern peninsula of Trinidad between the main island and Venezuela on the South American coast. Excursions to these islands are popular with locals, and we call such trips 'going down the islands'. Gaspar Grande (or Gasparee), Monos, Huevos and Chacachacare belong to Trinidad. The fifth island, Patos, belongs to Venezuela. I've been down the islands quite a few times and last Saturday, the first day of the long Carnival weekend, was the most recent.

My brother, who must have been a fish in his last incarnation because he's far more at home in the ocean than on land, took a few of us out on his boat. The day was blistering and bright. The islands shimmered in the heat, but the wind was cool and refreshing as we made our way out. We soon arrived at the buoy that marked the end of Trinidad's territory and could see Patos clearly. The green hills of the Venezuelan coast at Guiria beckoned but since we didn't fancy a run-in with the Guardia Nacional we ventured no further.

Those Guardia Nacional boys are very strict. They don't mind venturing into Trinidad's waters to arrest our fishermen, rough them up a little, and confiscate their catch and equipment. Sometimes the fishermen end up cooling their heels in makeshift jails on the South American mainland. I've heard stories of some of their experiences in those cells from reliable sources and they do not make for great dinner conversation.

Huevos Island and Second Boca, Trindad

Somewhere off the coast of Chacachacare we ran into much more congenial company: a school of dolphins. I recall seeing real live dolphins years ago on a trip to these same islands, but those dolphins were much smaller, further away, and went about their business without giving us a glance. Saturday's dolphins were another matter altogether.

My brother spotted them in the wake of our engines, and I turned around just in time to see the fin and back of one of the creatures cresting. That, my friends, was one huge dolphin. Then the show really began as we ran from one side of the flybridge to the other, pointing and exclaiming: "There! Oh my gosh! Look! And there! They're coming!"

We turned the boat so we were going around in a circle and the dolphins were all around us, some swimming on a collision course with the boat, some swimming alongside, disappearing underneath and appearing on the other side. The water was very clear and I could see them just feet away as I looked down into the water - grey, smiling torpedos that were easily six to eight feet long. We knocked on the hull, and they just kept coming.

That pretty much made my day. I have a 'thing' for dolphins, and they were a hell of an improvement on the thousands of dead fish we saw floating on the water - the by-catch from a commercial fishing ship - the last time I was out there a few months ago.

I'm generally a good sailor - once the boat is going somewhere. When we drop anchor I'm usually all right once the water is extremely calm. On Saturday there was a brisk wind and the water was a bit choppy where we anchored off the coast of Chacachacare. The boat rolled in that slow, sickening way that boats do, with a looping, side to side motion. I began to feel queasy, eventually accepting my sister-in-law's invitation to retire to a cabin when my questions about closing one's eyes so the horizon didn't seem to be constantly dipping around became too pointed. Thankful to be horizontal, I curled up, my sis next to me, and proceeded to feel progressively worse. My stomach seemed to start somewhere at the top of my throat, and I could tell it wanted to come all the way out my mouth. Jumping into the sea and drowning began to seem like a reasonable improvement over that lurching, rolling, loopy movement.

My brother decided that it didn't make sense to remain out there if we weren't comfortable, so he pulled up and started heading back. My sister got up, but I stayed for awhile until my stomach began to feel like it might consider returning to its normal location, then I swayed, stumbled and clambered my way up to the flybridge to rejoin the others, my white shirt flapping in the wind 'like a ghost', according to my niece.

When we got back to the marina and tied up I climbed on to the jetty, ignoring all the teasing about abandoning ship, and sat there for the next six hours, one foot propped on a rope, while we ate, drank, and talked. I developed quite a fondness for that jetty: it did not move! It was after ten at night when my sister and I left the beach bum branch of the family and drove away home.

It was a great day, even though my reputation as an adventurous seafarer now lies in sodden tatters in the drink somewhere beyond the Third Bocas. Godspeed, me hearties!

Footnote:
1. I promise to take and post photos of my own next time around.
2. These islands have a colourful history, still evident in the ruins and lore that abound. Interested in learning more about the Bocas Islands? Read Night Calypso by Lawrence Scott. It interweaves the authentic history of 'Down the Islands' into a compelling novel.

Circle of Friends

2010-02-10T16:28:00.006-04:00

...Awarded to all members of the Novel Racers writing group. Thank you, Graeme!

I'm supposed to tell you five things I like to do so here goes... Um, this is the PG list. E-mail me for the adult version. :D

1. Write. Not all the time, though. That means I'm not a REAL WRITER, because REAL WRITERS don't faff around and play the ass but set their butts in the chair and write every freaking day.

2. Read. Now we're talking. This I can do all day and all night. (There are other things I don't mind doing all day and all night, but you'll have to get the adult version of my list to find out about that.) I've looked up from countless all-night marathons to see daylight staining the sky outside my bedroom windows. All night READING marathons, you!

3. Hike. Don't do much actual traipsing through forests these days, but communing with nature is one of my great joys. And boyohboy - am I in the right place for communing. I can sit and commune all day - and all night. The stars as seen from this valley? Incomparable. Full moon nights here make me very, very happy to be alive.

4. Flirt with favourite ex. Sigh. The less said about that the better. I need a cell phone with no text messaging feature. Or no cell phone at all.

5. Shop. I don't consider myself a typical anything, but this one throws me right in there with all the other shopaholic women. I don't do the malls, though, unless I absolutely have no choice. My poison is online shopping.

There you have it - TMI. I pass this award on to everyone in my online writing circle. Thanks for being there, guys.

Rating my life

2010-01-29T07:12:00.007-04:00

It's been awhile since I did one of these. Saw it over at KeVin's and couldn't resist.

This Is My Life, Rated
Life:	6.5
Mind:	7.8
Body:	6.6
Spirit:	8.8
Friends/Family:	5.3
Love:	2.1
Finance:	6.6
Take the Rate My Life Quiz

I too would have given a higher score to family. And since writing wasn't among the talents I ticked art. As for the love aspect, what can I say? I'll coin the intriguing Facebook romantic status option: It's complicated. :D

Amazon rant

2010-01-25T14:56:00.001-04:00

I'm next door at Novel Spaces today. Come join me as I discuss the antics of my favorite store in Amazon Shenanigans.

Of transfixing call girl diaries

2010-01-20T00:01:00.006-04:00

I know I'm extremely late to the party and my UK acquaintances will point and hoot at this, but I've only just discovered Belle de Jour, Diary of a London Call Girl. How did I happen on it? By the circuitous route of: reading a Times Online article about Zadie Smith, her father, and British comedy, and following a side link to an article and video clip with the innocuous caption: I Miss the Game - Belle De Jour author misses pride of "doing a job well". It was one of those times when you click a random link out of idle curiosity, or because your attention span is short and getting through the Zadie Smith (or whichever) article is taking more perseverance than you thought it would.

Anyway, I clicked the link, read the article, and discovered that Belle de Jour is the pseudonym which Dr. Brooke Magnanti used to write the online journal about her adventures as a highly paid London call girl. I did a Google search for the blog, naturally, and have been reading through the archives to find out what exactly started the Belle de Jour phenomenon. Because that's what it's become, what with the blog winning a Guardian prize for best-written British blog back in the early days, followed by the book offers, a TV drama, and Dr. Magnanti's coming out from behind the veil of anonymity. There've been follow-up books, of course, and some degree of celebrity for the writer.

So, yes, I've been reading Belle's journal. I've already learned a couple things - no, not those things, you! Things like the name of a shade of nail polish that I suspect is the one I saw on a woman's exquisitely manicured digits a few years ago in Miami and have been searching for - and attempting to replicate myself - since. (Chanel Le Vernis beige, which has been discontinued, but which can still be had via eBay.) I've also discovered additional sources of one of my guilty, secret indulgences: fabulous underwear. The sources tend to be UK-centric, though, which would make shipping charges a bit beyond what I'm willing to, ah, put out.

I've read through about seven months worth of Belle's blog entries and I'm not bored yet. The writing isn't bad - no, that's not true. It's pretty good. Then there's the voyeuristic thrill of the whole thing. But would I buy the books? That's an easy no. Would I read one if it came my way by some other means? I doubt it. There are limits to my appetite for voyeurism. I also have to admit that there are some aspects of the work, and the lady's lifestyle, that make me cringe. I'm not a prude, and I try not to be judgmental, but I'm squeamish about some things. Um, fisting? Threesomes? Oral sex with strangers with no latex in between? That's stretching my comfort zone a bit too far.

When I'm tired of the blog, which should be sometime over the next couple of days, that would be it for me. No further Belle de Jour titillation necessary.

Haiti: How to help

2010-01-13T12:08:00.006-04:00

The current disaster in Haiti feels very close to home for two reasons: I live in the Caribbean and Haiti, although not an immediate neighbour, is a neighbour nonetheless. I also met many Haitians during my frequent stays in South Florida. Some became my friends, and several characters in my second novel, which is set in Miami, are reflections of these very real people.

When this type of disaster strikes the worst feeling is the helplessness. So many people want to do something, but aren't sure how to go about it.

MSNBC has posted a list of links to charitable organizations active in Haiti. One of them, Yele Haiti, is the brainchild of Wyclef Jean. You can text Yele to 501501 to donate $5 via your cellphone. Another option for anyone interested in helping immediately is to text HAITI to 90999 and a donation of $10 will be given automatically to the Red Cross to help with relief efforts, charged to your cell phone bill.

Um, goals, not resolutions

2010-01-11T14:05:00.002-04:00

I'm on Novel Spaces today, going on about my writing goals for 2010. You've welcome to join me there!

Not Another Top Ten List

2009 - the good stuff

2009-12-31T19:52:00.018-04:00

In the spirit of gratitude for my blessings, I've made a list of the stuff I've had reason to be thankful for in 2009.

Watching my son's business go from strength to strength.
Completion of my second contemporary romance novel. Here's wishing it finds its wings in 2010!
The launch of author blog Novel Spaces.
My book stacks have been growing again, thanks to gifts from friends and late nights spent prowling Amazon's alleys.
Found almost every movie I've always wanted to see on Amazon, and am thrilled to order a few every month.
Got lots of great reviews of and feedback on Café Au Lait!
Met more wonderful people, writers and readers, on the net.
Goodreads, I love you! Thanks for inviting me, Sandra!
Pillaged the M.A.C. store in West Mall several times. If I look terrible it's not for want of beauty products!
Created a proper writing space in my bedroom.
My Dell laptop continues to run like clockwork after more than a year, despite my initial skepticism as I don't have a good history with the brand.
My family remains safe and sound.
I've finally, finally gotten around to renewing expired ID and travel documents. That took some intense running back and forth, not to mention generous dollops of cash. No, I didn't bribe anyone, but when the registration office suddenly throws up its hands and tells you the name on all your documents, certificates, and expired IDs is actually your third name, and tries to foist a new first name on you, you get your butt to a lawyer to sort out the mess - and those fees don't come cheap. Deed poll, statutory declaration et al out of the way, I'm well on the way to being fully back on the grid, y'all!
I never, ever take the beauty of my island for granted. It's easy to forget the local politics and social challenges when I look out my windows at the verdant valley where I live, or take a drive up the North Coast to Maracas Bay. It's medicine for the soul.

Here's to friends, family, love, laughter, accomplishment, soul medicine and dreams that come true in 2010. Happy New Year, everyone!

Gifts

2009-12-27T10:38:00.003-04:00

I'm posting over on Novel Spaces today on Precious Gifts. Come join me!

Painting-pilates

2009-12-20T10:06:00.012-04:00

You already know I'm no fan of Christmas fuss, and I'd happily run away for the entire holiday season and amuse myself doing the stuff that pleases me: reading, walking, writing, observing nature and exploring new places.

Sometimes one must compromise, though. I live with my mother and Christmas means a lot to her. I have one sister who doesn't participate on account of her religion. I have one brother who has taken his family and sailed to another island for their Christmas vacation. That leaves me to provide the 'family' and 'celebration' in my mother's Christmas.

So, my little getaway in a far-flung beach house with a writer friend begins after the big day, as I wouldn't dream of leaving my mom alone with her turkey and Christmas tree on December 25th. And, since a big part of the excitement for her is getting the house all spruced up, I offered to give her the gift of a newly painted living, dining and kitchen area.

I bought the paint on Wednesday, and figured that I'd have it all done by Thursday night - two coats on every wall as we had decided to change the colour from coral white to shy shrimp. It's four days later and I'm still not done. The pale peachy-shrimp colour on the catalogue swatch just looks pink on the wall, but it's a pink with a peach undertone, so we're not too disappointed. It might not be the colour we envisaged but it looks quite beautiful.

And I ache. Climbing ladders, balancing a can of paint in one hand while, bent at odd angles, I apply the colour to walls, stooping, stretching, lugging, pushing and pulling heavy furniture and large appliances around - it all adds up to pains in muscles I'd forgotten existed.

I'd come out of this painting jag fitter and trimmer - if the exertion wasn't making me so hungry I devour everything in sight the minute I step off that cursed ladder.

For those who still hate Christmas

2009-12-12T11:56:00.004-04:00

Last year around this time I ran a post in which I countered a friend's blog call to nominate the best Christmas movie ever by offering a list of 10 movies For Those Who Hate Christmas. Still not content to keep my Scrooging around to myself, I'm blogging on Novel Spaces today where I offer more twisted advice for those who're thinking of jumping the Yuletide ship right - about - now.

T'is the season - to run away!

Naches

2009-11-25T08:41:00.002-04:00

I'm blogging over at Novel Spaces today on the special joys of being an author. See you there!

Almost Paradise

2009-11-22T14:05:00.008-04:00

Photo courtesy Richard Voisin

In the valley where I raised my son, there's a waterfall just a few minutes walk away - up the road, on to a forest trail, a short hike up a boulder-strewn stream... and there it is. It's a little waterfall; everything here is island-scale. It cascades over a rim of rock into a pool of cold, fresh water. This waterfall and the area around it is my son's favorite place on earth.

Photo courtesy Richard Voisin

High above the first waterfall, further into the forest, there are other pools, other cascades. I've never ventured beyond the first falls because, well, it's lonely and isolated up there and hikers have been robbed repeatedly. One pool goes by the chilling name of Coffin Hole, and the myth is that no one has been able to fathom its depth.

Photo courtesy Richard Voisin

A few weeks ago my son did a photo shoot with some models up there, and the images blew me away. This has existed a few minutes away from me for all these years? No wonder, I thought, my son loves this area the way he does. For all those who insist on thinking I live in paradise, these shots should add weight of your argument. Paradise indeed.

Photo courtesy Richard Voisin

Photos copyright Richard Voisin / R.S.V.P. Studios. Please contact the blog owner for permission to reproduce and/or transfer images used in this article.

When is English not English?

2009-11-10T07:57:00.003-04:00

I'm blogging about US versus UK English today on Novel Spaces. Come find out what you get when you ask a UK or Caribbean native for a 'ride'. :)

Cemetery saga

2009-11-01T18:48:00.024-04:00

Today is All Saints' Day, and tomorrow is All Souls' Day, also known as the Feast of All Souls, Commemoration of all the Faithful Departed. Both are celebrated by the Catholic Church, the denomination in which I was raised. On these days Catholics (in Trinidad & Tobago anyway) get busy cleaning the graves of departed relatives, and this is followed by the traditional 'lighting up' of the graves with candles.

I have never been interested in any of this; for one thing I haven't practised the religion in many years, and even more pertinent, I've always considered the entire production the preserve of the 'old folks' in the family: my great-grandmother ('Granny', who raised my mother), my great-aunt and my mother. My great-gran has been dead for many years, and my great-aunt is in Canada with her children, so I wasn't too surprised when my mother asked me this morning, just as I was about to start cooking lunch, if I would go with her to see about cleaning Granny's grave.

"Now?" I enquired, taken aback.
"Yes."
"All right," I replied, suppressing a little spurt of irritation.

The cemetery, with grass cut in the foreground and high grass giving way to forest in the middle and background

By the time I showered and dressed I was actually looking forward to the expedition. We drove to the valley where she was raised and where I spent the first thirteen years of my life, and swung up the side road to the cemetery which is the final resting place of almost everyone on my mother's side of the family.

We parked outside the mildewed wall and entered the unimposing gates where I ground to a halt, flabbergasted. On the right someone had created a small dump, and I identified, among other flotsam and jetsam, a broken computer monitor. In the middle distance, and running all the way to the far perimeter of the cemetery where it began to climb to the hill and merge into forest, was a common species of tall grass, as much as six feet high, covering and completely obscuring the graves beneath. In the foreground and to the left the graves and headstones were visible because someone has recently made a half-hearted attempt to cut the grass.

The makeshift dump, with broken computer monitor in the background

Aghast, I asked my mother who was supposed to maintain the cemetery. I thought it was the church, but she explained that it was a public cemetery and the City Council was responsible.

We picked our way between the graves, clumps and heaps of drying grass and found Granny's grave without much trouble. The only other person in the cemetery was an old man cleaning the grave at the back of Granny's. After a brief chat with my mother, during which she explained who she was in the town hierarchy and he did the same, they agreed that he would clean the high grass in my great-gran's grave, and they came to an agreement on the price. He started immediately, hauling his fork over Granny's headstone and sinking it into the huge clumps of wild grass while my mother and I set off, picking our way through the obstructions as she tried to find the graves of her great-grandparents, their siblings and offspring, and all the others down through the generations.

My great-grandmother's headstone. Her mother, brother, son, and the grandson who died at 8 months are also buried here.

Cemeteries used to unnerve me. Usually, I couldn't get out of there fast enough, and I would try not to think of the dead bodies, rot, worms and bones beneath my feet. I would see a fresh grave, several of which we encountered today, and shudder. Something must have happened in the years since my last visit there, maybe an acceptance of mortality, but I felt none of that old dread this time, and even joked with my mother: "Careful, Mom - you're standing on someone's head!" Or maybe my old negative feelings have been ameliorated by the process of writing about this cemetery in my work-in-progress, a book set in that valley. The cemetery scene is at the very end of the book (I wrote the beginning and the end of the story first), and in it there's a sense of peace, of coming to terms with life and all its complexities. Sometimes I honestly don't know where my writing ends and my life begins.

Granny's grave, cleared of high grass and root clumps

I was fascinated as we discovered the graves of the long departed, the great-great-grandparents, the great-uncles and aunts, the cousin who died of a brain tumor the year I was born and about whom I'd heard many stories, the uncle and aunt who passed away just a decade or so ago. There was more, such as my maternal grandmother's grave, but we had to stop where the head-high grass began. And all the while I couldn't help but think that it's a shame, a disgrace, really, that the cemetery should suffer such neglect from those responsible for its upkeep. I can't pay someone to do the work of the City Council, but there's the power of the pen, and I intend to harness it to try and make a difference.

By the time we returned from our circuit the old man had a friend working alongside him, and I asked if I could take their photos for an article I was writing. Here they are - two old men from the valley of my childhood where all my oldest and deepest memories lie sleeping.

Of course we could not simply pay the good men and leave, life being what it is. When we returned to the car my mother couldn't find her keys so we traipsed back into the cemetery and my heart plummeted. We had spent the better part of an hour weaving between numerous graves, picking our way over and through clumps of grass, holes, broken gravestones and more. Much drama ensued as we called our sister to pick us up and take us to my brother's house where the spare keys are kept. They weren't where they should be, and we could not raise him on the phone. My mom, in desperation, called a friend who has a metal detector. The guy came without a murmur of protest, never said a word about being disturbed in the middle of his peaceful Sunday lunch, took us back to the cemetery, and found the key within five minutes of arriving there. And he didn't even use the detector. (Thank you, R.J.!)

R.J. found the keys down in here where my mother had slipped and almost fallen.

My mother plans to go back tomorrow with white paint and candles to finish the job. I have the day job to attend to, so I'm not sure if I'll be involved in that segment of the proceedings. But my sister and I have agreed on one point: from now on my mother is going to keep her keys on a chain around her neck. We won't entertain any objections; we've had it up to here with her lost key dramas.

Hunk of the Month: Olivier Martinez

2009-10-31T18:46:00.016-04:00

I recently watched the movie Unfaithful, a cautionary tale about infidelity and the tragedy it can unleash. My sympathies should have all been with the cuckolded husband, right? I did empathize with him, but also, to my surprise, with the guilty wife. I totally understood the madness, the passion, the recklessness that drove Diane Lane's character into the affair. I blame my regrettable lack of moral steadfastness on Olivier Martinez' character in the movie. Someone, please tell me how on earth can a mere female mortal find the strength to resist the charms of such a one?

The man is beautiful. He's French, and his accent is to die for. "Heet me!" he tells Diane Lane at the start of their first erotic encounter, and she does hit him, shedding her principles and inhibitions in the process. Not only is Olivier's character très bandant, but his house is full of books - everywhere, on shelves and stacks from floor to ceiling. Aarrgh! He's dangerously hot and he's got thousands of books too? It was easy to understand how he could make a woman like Lane's character lose her head and risk everything that was good in her life. Far, far too easy. And very disquieting.

Martinez is 43, the son of a French mother and Spanish-Moroccan father. During his promotional tour in the USA he was billed as "the French Brad Pitt." (A preposterous comparison, in my opinion. So - you can tell I'm not a Pitt fan!) He's dated Kylie Minogue and Mira Sorvino, and lived with Juliette Binoche.

Personal quotes:
"I like Paris. My problem is I don't like Parisians."

"I'm not very comfortable in love scenes because I'm shy, because I don't play naked. It's very rare for a French actor. I have an issue with that." [Awww!]

"I personally think you must believe in something. You must have a point of view on everything even if you have to change it often."

"I don't consider myself a sex symbol because all my cousins would laugh at me."

Monsieur Martinez, you're a sex symbol, and I'm not laughing.

Shed envy

2009-10-26T12:39:00.003-04:00

I'm blogging over at Novel Spaces today about one of the seven deadly sins: Shed Envy.

Dude!

2009-10-18T09:43:00.001-04:00

The last time I posted a photo of my son here I had to clear up a few misconceptions; certain ladies thought that he was my hunk of the month! Now that we've established that this is my SON [scowl, scowl] we can get on with stuff. The boy was supposed to go surfing in Tobago on the weekend these shots were taken but couldn't make the trip after all, so he went to Sans Souci (North Coast) instead.

I 'napped these from his Facebook album. The captions are his.

Not the happiest camper at this point... lil pissed that I bolted up there at 6am for NOTHING!!!

WHERE DE WAVES, DAMMIT!!!

Went vert for this one and landed on my HEAD!!!

I know I can get in there... just a lil... bit... more...!

...made it in... didn't make it out...

...small cutback...

Running from an EXPLOSION of a wave...

For Love of Words

2009-10-12T22:33:00.005-04:00

The lovely Shauna Roberts, author of Like Mayflies in a Stream, is interviewing me on her blog today! Please drop by and say hi!

Shauna is an award-winning medical writer and editor specializing in diabetes and related subjects, as well as author of fantasy, science fiction, and romance stories and novels. She lives in California and is a member of the author group Novel Spaces.

Random yard pics: Bougainvillae

2009-09-30T00:11:00.005-04:00

I was with my mother the day she bought this plant. We had gone to Central Trinidad to look for bargains - or rather, she had. I was just along for the ride, providing her with company and a sense of security as she doesn't like to drive far from her familiar haunts alone. The plant was little more than a twig in a pot, but it was covered with masses of the most beautiful bougainvillea flowers I'd ever seen. (To be botanically correct: the tiny white splotch in the middle of each bloom is the real flower, and the colourful parts surrounding it are actually bracts or modified leaves.)

"Should I buy it?" she asked, indecisive as usual, eying the exorbitant price tag.

"You'd better," I responded.

That was at least two years ago. It's still in a small pot, but the twig is somewhat larger now. Several times a year, particularly during drier spells, the flowers emerge, and they're a sight to behold. When they fall they continue to enchant, looking like the most delicately hued rose petals scattered in the grass. That was money well spent.

The small white flowers in the background are periwinkles, or 'Old Maid' as they're known here. Our common varieties of periwinkle are so hardy they flourish in cracks in concrete. We tried planting an entire border of the more exotic, hybrid varieties and they all died out in a few months. That was not money well spent.

Word rat

2009-09-25T00:01:00.001-04:00

Are you a pack rat or a word rat? Join me as I blog on Novel Spaces today about the stuff I can't throw out.

Random yard pic of the week: Heliconia

2009-09-18T15:22:00.008-04:00

Heliconia flowers in border

I started fiddling with my cellphone cam again since my son showed me that I can change the resolution etc. etc. Yeah, yeah, I've had it for a year and a half and didn't figure out I could do something about the teensy tiny images I've been getting. That's what children are for - to point out the blatantly obvious to their technically challenged parents.

Took a bunch of yard shots but most are badly pixellated (my son's word) so I'll have to tinker a bit to get the hang of things. The one above is of my mother's heliconias in a border, mixed with a miscellany of other plants that all grow happily together. Too happily, if anything. Ignore it all for a few weeks and it turns to jungle.

Anti-writing

2009-09-10T00:01:00.001-04:00

I'm posting over at Novel Spaces today on Anti-writing. See you there!

Blog vacation

2009-08-22T17:37:00.005-04:00

The blog is tired. I'm tired. Over the past three months my part-time, low-stress day job has morphed into something else altogether with long hours and triple the responsibility.

Hopefully, things will revert to normal within two to three weeks and I'll have the time and mindset once again to take care of my writing and my blog. Right now it's a struggle to balance all the facets of my daily life, so for the next few weeks I won't be blogging unless something spectacular happens that I just have to share with the cyberworld. I'll still be posting over at Novel Spaces when my turn comes around, and I'll still drop by your blogs to see what you're up to now and then.

And now for some good news. The house wrens, our tiny, animated coco rachelles, returned after a prolonged absence and have been making happy sounds around the eaves on mornings. One even paid me a visit, hopping and chirping along the rafters in my bedroom. And the manicou (opossum) family has also reappeared; I hear their sounds at night and even spotted one making its way along the back fence. I take the flourishing of the wildlife as a good omen for, oh, life in general.

Blessings, all!

Two years and counting

2009-08-14T17:05:00.005-04:00

My second blogiversary came and went in June - and I was so busy I didn't even notice. I believe one should never pass up an opportunity to celebrate, so...

To all who visited, commented, stuck around, became my blog buddies and friends, shared their thoughts, opinions, and wit, empathized, commiserated and celebrated along with me, and whose thoughts, adventures and misadventures I've followed on their own blogs, here's a great, big,

YOU'VE BEEN WONDERFUL, AND MADE IT ALL WORTHWHILE. IT'S BEEN ALL GOOD...
THANK YOU!

Interview with Elizabeth Naughton

2009-08-13T06:55:00.003-04:00

I'm being interviewed on Elizabeth Naughton's blog today. Elizabeth is the author of three romantic adventure novels, Stolen Heat, Stolen Fury and Stolen Seduction. You're invited to drop by and say hi!

What I learned from books on writing

2009-08-11T08:23:00.004-04:00

I'm blogging over at Novel Spaces today on "What I learned from books on writing". You might be surprised to find what those books taught me had little to do with the words themselves!

Guest blogger Susan Schulman, literary agent

2009-08-08T00:01:00.003-04:00

My literary agent, Susan Schulman, is the guest blogger over at Novel Spaces today. Hop on over and find out what she looks for in a fiction manuscript, and her must-read novel recommendations for writers.

Susan has been in the business for close to thirty years. Some of her better known projects are The English Patient (Miramax) by Michael Ondaatje, Holes (Disney) by Louis Sachar, and The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron.

The making of an author photo - Part II

2009-08-01T19:59:00.002-04:00

Novel Spaces decided me. Every member had to submit a head shot and I liked the new blog so much that I didn't even mind. A rectangle with a question mark or a beach scene absolutely would not do. I stuck a hazy cellphone self-portrait in my appointed slot and scheduled a photo shoot with my son. Just in time, too, as the very week the group blog went live Connie Ogle, books editor at the Miami Herald, contacted me about doing a small feature - and a photo was required. All that was left was for my son to appear with his beloved Canon, take a couple shots and I'd be set, right? The fact that I asked twice if he had a slimming lens should have forewarned me.

The morning of the shoot was rainy and grey. The rain eventually stopped and I proceeded to get ready. Predictably, my hair refused to cooperate. Sighing, I hooked it up in my everyday banana comb and gave it up as a lost job. I have all the right makeup but as I rarely touch it, hurriedly swiping on powder and lipstick most days, sudden expertise in such matters as concealer calculus and the Sine Law of eye-shadow application did not spring from my inept fingers. The biggest problem, though, was - the fat. There it was in the first round of photos, mocking me. The Death by Chocolate from Jardin de Tuilleries. The Baileys Irish Cream. The potato salad. All transformed into that f-word. It was hopeless.

My son protested. "But Mom, I love these! You look nice!"

"I look fat! No way. Let's try again." A less good-natured child would have rolled his eyes.

Round two began, this time in the backyard. My skirt was long and the grass was wet. My stomach horrified me despite my son's assurances that he would crop it out. I hated every shot. The problem was not the photography; it was me! The boy requested, then pleaded, and finally ordered: "Smile, Mom. You look like you're suffering. Let's get those dimples. Smile!"

I would have consigned all 125 shots to the recycle bin but my submission to the Herald was due the next morning. I agonized then chose the one that now appears in the sidebar of Novel Spaces, the one in which I had actually managed a half-smile. Get used to it, folks, because it'll be a long while before I subject myself to that particular form of mortification again.

Micromanaging, overediting & knowing when to stop

2009-07-25T08:53:00.003-04:00

I'm posting over at Novel Spaces today on Micromanaging, overediting & knowing when to stop. I plead guilty to the first two charges. All are welcome to visit!

Grab the Miami Herald today! :)

2009-07-21T07:47:00.010-04:00

It's today! I'm being featured on "What are you reading now" in the Miami Herald, so if you're in South Florida please grab a copy - and an extra one for me!

The online version is on the Herald's "Between the Covers" blog so you can click the link below, hop on over and leave a comment. I'd love to hear from you, and Connie Ogle, the books editor, would too!

http://miamiherald.typepad.com/between_the_covers/2009/07/what-are-you-reading-now-2.html#comments

I'm especially pleased to be featured in the Herald because it's one of my favorite newspapers. During my extended sojourns in Miami my entire Saturdays were devoted to the paper. There was so much of it, and it was all good. It was there I discovered writers like Dave Barry, Carl Hiaasen, Leonard J. Pitts Jr., and others - all great columnists. I didn't know until long after that most of them were nationally acclaimed and had won Pulitzers and such; all I knew back then was that I loved their work. It was also through the Herald book reviews that I discovered writers like Zoe Heller (Notes on a Scandal).

So, if I seem happy and excited today - it's because I am. It's the Herald, after all!

R.I.P. Frank McCourt

2009-07-20T14:30:00.008-04:00

Even though he was 78, the news still shocked me. Chauncey Mabe, former books editor at the Florida Sun-Sentinel who now writes a blog for the Florida Center for the Literary Arts, has written a tribute here. I'll repeat my comment on his post:

This is indeed sad news. As a former teacher in the process of reinventing myself I take a particular pride in Frank McCourt’s achievements. Teacher Man is the most unsentimental and profound reflection on the profession that I’ve read. The prologue to that memoir was circulated among my teaching colleagues; it is a brilliant, painful shaft to the heart: Yes, he’s one of us. He knows.

He will be sorely missed, but he’ll live on in his work.

I reviewed Teacher Man on this blog almost two years ago. (The post is here.) His other books, Angela's Ashes (for which he won a Pulitzer Prize) and 'Tis, have been languishing on my wish list for too long. I'm moving them to the head of the queue.

My first Novel Spaces post

2009-07-11T08:41:00.002-04:00

My first post over at Novel Spaces is up today... Don't be a stranger - come across and say hi!

The making of an author photo - Part I

2009-07-11T08:19:00.004-04:00

I didn't want my image on the Internet. Didn't want it my book(s) either, and definitely not in any newspaper. For an author these days achieving this, I realized, would demand a bit of dodging, running and conniving.

When the editor of Café Au Lait sent me the list of items I needed to submit, a photo was among them. Was this optional? I asked hopefully. Yes, she replied. Bingo! One down - but how many more to go?

The blog came next and I saw that I had lots of company in the incognito-blogger department. Then I realized that although this was true of writer blogs in general, it was certainly not the norm for the sites of published authors. Norm be damned, I resolved. My avatar would be a beachscape, and that was that.

The press releases were a bit trickier to negotiate since an author photo was de rigeur there but no one made it an issue - except for the features editor at one local newspaper. She called and told me she'd run an article, but insisted on a photo.

"I don't have a recent, decent one," I replied. That was the truth. All my decent pictures were taken years ago when I was young. And thin.

"No problem!" she chirped. "Are you in Trinidad at the moment?"

My alarm-o-meter redlined. "Uh, well, yes..." Damn. A lie would have solved the looming problem but where was one when you needed it?

"Okay, then. I'll send a photographer around."

"No!" I thought fast. "You can't do that."

"Really, it's no problem. We do this all the time."

"You don't understand," I squeaked. "I have the cold, I've been in bed for two days and I'm an absolute wreck right now. I cannot, CANNOT face a photographer." This was the truth, but it sounded like a whopper even to my ears. I produced a wracking, hacking cough for effect and the editor lady capitulated.

"Okay," she decided. "I'll run it as is this time but I'm just letting you know I'll be coming back at you for that photo."

Ha, I thought. Catch me. But I could feel my time running out...

Men, Fidelity and a Skillet

2009-07-07T16:08:00.010-04:00

Novel Spaces is honored to host Bonnie Glover, our very first guest blogger, on July 10th. Her column, with the intriguing title Men, Fidelity and a Skillet: Back to the Basics, promises to be a thriller - so don't miss it!

Bonnie is the author of Going Down South (nominated for an NAACP Image Award for an outstanding literary work of fiction earlier this year) and The Middle Sister.

News just in: Bonnie Glover's novel Going Down South is #3 on Essence magazine's paperback fiction list - that's the August issue that's on newsstands now. Congratulations, Bonnie!

Novel Spaces Launch & Giveaway #7

2009-06-30T00:01:00.025-04:00

You are cordially invited to the launch of

Novel Spaces

Date: July 1st, 2009

Venue: NovelSpaces.Blogspot.com

Contributing Authors:
Phyllis Bourne Contemporary Romance
K.S. Augustin Science Fiction & Romance
KeVin Killiany Science Fiction
Stefanie Worth Paranormal
Farrah Rochon Romance
Terence Taylor Horror
Karen White-Owens Contemporary Romance
Marissa "Pynk" Monteilh Mainstream & Erotic
Jewel Amethyst Contemporary Romance
Shauna Roberts Fantasy, Science Fiction & Historical
Liane Spicer Contemporary Romance

Giveaways * Contests * Guest Columns by Agents, Editors,
Publicists & Award-Winning Authors

A couple months ago I started a series of book giveaways on this blog. Six have gone by and the last, a copy of Café au Lait, will go to a visitor who leaves a comment on any post on Novel Spaces. Just mention over there that you came from here - and you're in! Contest closes July 31! *

*Update: The giveaway has been postponed. Leave a comment on Novel Spaces in September for your chance to win a copy of Café au Lait!

And the winner is...

2009-06-22T00:01:00.004-04:00

The winner of Book Giveaway #6 is DeeDee. Congratulations! I'll be e-mailing you shortly to request a mailing address, and A Thousand Days in Venice by Marlena De Blasi should be winging its way to you soon.

There's one more giveaway to go... I'll try to tie it in to the launch of Novel Spaces, so stay posted!

A third Amazon review :)

2009-06-19T22:22:00.013-04:00

This writing life is so uncertain, you learn to treasure every glimmer of light that comes your way. My ray today came from Café Au Lait's third review on Amazon. It was added June 17 but I didn't see it until tonight. The reader got the book in a library and is actually considering buying it. Here are some tidbits that have me smiling into the screen right now:

"Wasn't a 'romance' reader until this book!"
"a book that transcends the genre"
"plot is well-thought out"
"kept me intrigued the ENTIRE time"
"love the characters"

Thank you, reader, whoever you are. Now where did I put those happy-dance shoes? Never mind - I'll dance without!

Book Giveaway #6: A Thousand Days in Venice by Marlena De Blasi

2009-06-13T15:49:00.002-04:00

The second-to-last in the series of book giveaways is A Thousand Days in Venice by Marlena De Blasi. National Bestseller. Random House trade paperback. 2002.

You know the drill: leave a comment in the trail and you're entered in the draw.

Lane and Flowerpot have confirmed receipt of their packages. If any other winners are reading please let me know whether you've received yours.

Interview with Eddie Tadross

2009-06-07T12:01:00.002-04:00

"An outstanding artist" - Taxi A&R

"[A] gifted songwriter" - The Deli Magazine

WT: Welcome to the blog, Eddie. I'm honoured to have you as a guest on Wordtryst. I 'discovered' you when I created a promotional video for my novel, Café Au Lait, on the Animoto site. I remember going through hundreds of song clips, but the decision was easy: I wanted your music. Can you tell us a bit about your background?

Eddie: I grew up in the Long Island suburbs of New York City, started piano lessons around 11 and played open mics in the city as a teenager. I headed to New Orleans at 18 on a scholarship to Tulane University and got hooked up opening up for local bands at Jimmy's, a rock club uptown. After a year in the U.K. (I vaguely remember briefly singing for an Oasis cover band), I moved to southern California, where I fronted an alt-rock band in San Diego and played solo there and L.A. Now I'm back in New York City, where I've been performing solo/writing/recording, etc.

WT: What kind of music did you love growing up? Which artistes in particular inspired you to write your own music?

Eddie: I was very into some of the greats, such as Tom Petty, Eric Clapton, Billy Joel, Paul Simon. So I guess you could say "classic" rock.

WT: When did you begin creating your own music? What prompted you to start?

Eddie: At some point I switched piano teachers from a stuffy classical teacher to a vary cool jazz/rock musician. I was probably around 14 or so. I love classical, but I wanted to write my own music. So he taught me chords, and it all started from there.

WT: Tell us a bit about your process.

Eddie: Usually the basic idea and melody of a song will come out of me, most often when I'm not thinking about it (on a train, in a hotel room, taking a shower). Then I develop the lyrics and the rest of the song from that first idea. Sometimes it's easy, and sometimes I end up shelving an idea and returning to it later, if at all.

WT: Sounds a lot like the writing process! I love the You Without Me track that I used on my video, and when I found you on MySpace I listened to some others songs that were equally impressive. I thought: I want this! Where can a fan buy your music?

Eddie: For now there are some free downloads (including You Without Me) on my website. I am [currently writing] an album, which will be available on iTunes and everything when it comes about. Hopefully in 2010. Otherwise, there is an electro-pop EP I recorded back in 2004 available on iTunes; search "Governortea" to find it.

WT: How would you describe your genre? (pop, alternative, easy listening...?) Are there other genres you'd like to explore?

Eddie: That's a tough one. I guess it's a little of each of those, with a bit of indie thrown in. I've done electronic music (see above-mentioned Governortea EP), I also love country and jazz. I think there will always be elements of different genres in my music.

WT: Who are your favorite artistes currently? Have you met any of them?

Eddie: Tom Waits, Rufus Wainwright, Regina Spektor, Brazilian Girls. I ran into Regina on a flight to Chicago a while back, I'm sure she doesn't remember :)

WT: How do you fit family life into what must be a hectic schedule? Do you have a day job as well? I ask this because most of us writers cannot support ourselves by our writing, and I wonder if it's the same for the majority of musicians.

Eddie: I do have a day job and a family, so yes, it's not easy. Everybody is totally supportive of my music, at work and home, and it is just that I have to put things off until 11 at night or even for a few weeks...definitely requires patience.

WT: Hm. That scenario sounds familiar. I doubt it's ever easy balancing a creative life with the demands of everyday living. It was great having this chat with you, Eddie. I'm on your mailing list now, so when your album is released I'll be sure to mention it on the blog.

Eddie: Thanks for the interview opportunity and I wish you all the best with your writing.

WT: You're welcome, and thank you for the music!

Eddie's news:

He is currently in Vienna, Austria writing an album.
"You Without Me" is on the Best of SongHall CD, Vol 7, released June 2nd 2009. www.songhall.org/
"You Without Me" appeared on Billboard's 12-song compilation CD for the inaugural Music & Advertising convention at the W Hotel in NYC, June 4th & 5th. http://www.billboardevents.com/billboardevents/ma/index.jsp

Eddie's website: www.eddietadross.com
Eddie on MySpace: www.myspace.com/eddietadross
You Without Me on YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdTnVxGLdS0

What's your word?

2009-06-06T00:45:00.002-04:00

Your Word is "Think"

You see life as an amazing mix of possibilities, ideas, and fascinations.

And sometimes you feel like you don't have enough time to take it all in.

You love learning. Whether you're in school or not, you're probably immersed in several subjects right now.

When you're not learning, you're busy reflecting. You think a lot about the people you know and the things you've experienced.

What's Your Word?

Those numbers again

2009-06-04T16:10:00.002-04:00

Okay, I can see where this obsession can get really boring for everyone but the author involved, so I promise to stop posting search results after today. I'll even attempt to not check in with Amazon on a daily basis, but don't know if I have the required self-control. Consider that a work in progress. So here goes...

When I looked at the search rankings this morning Café Au Lait showed up as:

#1 of 1,659 in African-American romance
#1 of 201 in Caribbean romance
#9 of 1,676 in African American romance (no hyphen)
#29 of 32,003 in contemporary romance

This must surely signify something! Not sure what, though. Probably some anomaly in the Amazon algorithm.

Those numbers

2009-06-02T16:27:00.011-04:00

I think all authors must be obsessed with numbers: sales rank, print runs, royalty percentages, etc. etc. etc. Then there are search rank numbers. I don't know what, if anything, these esoteric indices reveal about sales, but...

On current (as in today's) Amazon searches (search rank, not sales rank) CAFÉ AU LAIT comes up as:

#1 (out of 757) - African-American romance novels
#2 (out of 1,657) - African-American romance
#2 (out of 201) - Caribbean romance
#11 (out of 1,673) - African American romance (without the hyphen)
#32 (out of 31,963) - contemporary romance

This can't be bad. If you know otherwise, do NOT burst my bubble!

Giveaway burnout & Debs you're it!

2009-05-28T16:08:00.007-04:00

Debs, blogger from Jersey and owner of an enviable writing shed, won the copy of Connie Mason's Caress and Conquer by default. Congrats, Debs! You should receive your copy sometime within the next month or so. I haven't heard from any of the winners so I'm wondering just how long it takes snail mail to get around these days. If any winners of the first four giveaways are reading this, let me know when/if you received your package.

The blog is suffering from giveaway burnout so I'm postponing the last two to sometime in June. Okay, Vaughn? Now you can stop complaining that I haven't posted any news in ages. Hullo! You want my news, there's e-mail, text message, telephone, smoke signal, talking drum...

Hacked!

2009-05-24T19:11:00.007-04:00

...or phished, or whatever it's called. Yup, got a message in my Facebook inbox from a lovely friend, with a somewhat mysterious title: Look at this. When I opened the message there was a succinct instruction to click on the link given. Nothing else. I wondered why my friend was being so mysterious and, curiosity piqued, clicked on the link which took me to a blank page. Thinking the page hadn't loaded properly I went back and clicked again. Same result.

This morning I got a message from her - sent to all her Facebook contacts, I imagine - advising us that she hadn't sent us the link and that if we got it we shouldn't click on it. She also mentioned that Facebook had frozen her account while advising her to change her password.

Then the messages started coming in from some of my other FB friends: Hi, did you send a link to me? I clicked but nothing happened. One friend did not click because she got a phishing warning. Another friend told me her click opened a window that asked for her e-mail address and password - which she entered!

A flurry of messages followed, all from 'friends', all with the same title and invitation to click. I changed my password, posted a warning on my FB page and sent a warning message to everyone on my list. Then I ran my antivirus and spyware scans, hoping for the best. I had no idea what the hackers would do next so I painstakingly made a list of all my FB friends and their contact info. Wouldn't like to go over there and find everything had disappeared into the cybervoid. Minutes ago another friend - who had gotten the message to go click from 'me' earlier today - let me know that FB had frozen her account as well, pending her changing the password. Interesting, no?

Beware, beware, beware. These villains thrive on the trust we put in our friends. If something with, for example, my son's name in the sender field comes into my inbox, my defenses disappear without my even thinking about it, and I'm clicking away and following instructions before I'm even aware of what I'm doing. Hopefully this episode will serve as a warning to me, and to you. The Internet isn't the fuzzy friendly place we imagine it is sometimes. Let us not fall into complacency.

There's another angle to this. I've been hearing rumors about FB beginning to charge users for the privilege of using their services. Being a great fan of conspiracy theories, I've been wondering if they're engineering this rash of break-ins to convince us that we need a more secure, PAID version of their service? What think you?

Happy Birthday, Kim!

2009-05-23T10:40:00.011-04:00

Kim, my blog buddy from It's a Maze aaand a Maraca, is celebrating a birthday today. So what does she do? She creates the lovely tissue box above for me! Bee-yootiful! For a 360 degree view, go here.

Isn't she something? Giving gifts away on her birthday! I think this trend should catch on! Thank you, Kim. And look what I got you!

No? Are you sure? Well, then, I'll take him off your hands!

Happy Birthday!

Book Giveaway #5: Caress and Conquer by Connie Mason

2009-05-21T15:00:00.001-04:00

The winner of Book Giveaway #4 is akalol, that Trini humorist, satirist, reader, movie enthusiast, reviewer, photographer, engineer, provoker of security guards, and much more, I suspect, from This Beach Called Life. Congratulations! The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams is all yours!

This week's giveaway is Caress and Conquer by Connie Mason. Warning! If serial rape and ravishing of allegedly innocent maidens is not your cup of tea, opt out of this one. From the back cover:

"Lovely, young and poverty-stricken, Amanda Prescott was forced to support herself and her invalid mother any way she could. Cast into prison for stealing, she was horrified to learn that she would be transported to the American Colonies to serve her term as an indentured servant. Her master turned out to be none other than dashing plantation owner Tony Brandt, the very man who had unwittingly caused Amanda's downfall. Yet from their first passionate embrave, Amanda knew her heart would belong to him forever. Despite the difference in their stations, Tony was determined to wed her. But his jealous mistress had other plans..."

Love Spell, Dorchester Publishing, 1999. Mass market paperback.

Book Giveaway #4: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

2009-05-14T15:22:00.002-04:00

The lovely Lane who blogs over at Lane's Write is the winner of last week's title, Wifey by Judy Blume. Congrats, Lane! Hope you don't have another encounter with crazies when you go to collect your package at the post office. Remember, avoiding eye contact is the key!

And now for #4: The NYT bestselling The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. Good condition. 2005 mass market edition. I have to admit, it's hard letting this one go!

The winner will be announced next Thursday when title #5 is posted. Good luck!

Book Giveaway #3: Wifey by Judy Blume

2009-05-07T07:00:00.005-04:00

Flowerpot from Cornwall who blogs over at Flowerpot Days is the winner of last week's title, Lost Hearts in Italy by Andrea Lee. Congrats, FP!

My bookshelf clearing project continues this week with Wifey by Judy Blume. Hardcover, dust jacket, excellent condition. Putnam Penguin.

"Sandy Pressman is a very nice suburban wife whose boredom is getting the best of her. No matter how much her husband urges her to make friends at the club, she just can't seem to concentrate on improving her golf game or getting her hair done. For some reason these things pale in comparison to the naked man on the motorcycle who keeps appearing outside her bedroom window. The story of how Sandy trades in her conventional wifely duties for her wildest fantasies is hilarious, affecting , and simply unforgettable."