Shawn L. Bird

Original poetry, commentary, and fiction. All copyrights reserved.

poem- confessions of an addict September 18, 2013

Filed under: Poetry,Reading,Writing — Shawn L. Bird @ 12:04 am
Tags: , , , , ,

Someone said,

“Books are a hard-bound drug

with no danger of over-dose.”

Lies.

I am an addict.

I have clutched my paper-bound

or hard-bound drug until

my hands are frozen claws,

I have lost hours of my life

in the blink of an eye,

I opened the cover for

just a few pages before bed,

and blinked up at the dawn light

as the birds mocked outside my window.

I turn pages until my eyes

can not focus,

my lids rasp close,

my arms tremble,

my fingers numb,

my neck kinked,

but still I read on, until

my eyes

close.

I stagger in a stupor

to my bed.

When I am lost to consciousness,

my dreams are vivid,

I wake with an aching head,

the morning after.

I am a book addict.

I know over-dosing

is a danger,

but

the paper smells so good,

the rustle of the pages

is music,

the story is magic,

and I am helpless in

its thrall.

That’s all.

My name is Shawn,

and I am addicted to books.

 

 

interview with children’s author Ann Walsh September 17, 2013

Filed under: Literature,Reading,Writing — Shawn L. Bird @ 10:22 am
Tags: , , , , , ,
  •  Let me introduce you to the amazing Ann Walsh, a prolific BC writer of nine novels for kids and young adults. An has also co-written a non-fiction book about forestry, and was editor of two short story anthologies. Her most recent novel is Whatever.

What inspired you to begin writing?

I always wanted to be a writer. Then one day I found myself fast approaching 40 and realized it was time to get on with my dream. So I took a 6 day writing course in Wells, just outside the restored gold rush town of Barkerville, with a wonderful teacher, Robin Skelton. Wells forms the setting for much of my first book, and I still carry a picture of Robin in my wallet, with the photos of the grandkids.

The first book you published was a lovely teen novel called Your Time, My Time that was set in the historical town of Barkerville. Having read the book, I’ve never been able to go past the old Barkerville cemetery without getting goosebumps. You’ve written four stories set in Barkerville. Can you discuss the importance of special places in inspiring story?

Thank you for those kind words. Barkerville still gives me goosebumps, the whole town, not just the cemetery. The first time I ever saw it, in the early l960s before the road in was paved or even more or less straight, I knew that it was a special place, one where the past and present nearly touched. In YTMT my protagonist, Elizabeth, expresses that feeling. She says “It’s as if the old times are jealous of the new and want to be, not the past, but the here and now.” Or words similar to that. That feeling of the past ‘looking over your shoulder’ still haunts me in Barkerville, and in some other historic places.

In your own books, who is your favourite character? Why?

Percival Theodore MacIntosh and Moses (from Moses, Me and Murder) and I have travelled together a lot, and done many, many school presentations together. They are my most entertaining characters. But my favourites change. Right it is Janie Johnson, an elderly (that means older than me) woman who is a central character in my new YA, Whatever.

What author do you read over and over again?

Arthur Conan Doyle; Shakespeare

You’ve recently been studying in Victoria. Why do you feel continuing education is important for an author?

Books need fertile ground in which to grow. A stagnant brain isn’t receptive to the seeds of ideas. I loved re-discovering Shakespeare’s words and themes and had an introduction to Women’s Studies. My brain woke up and a book was finished.

Do you have a favourite writing quotation to share?

“Writing is easy. All you do is stare at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead.”

`Gene Fowler

What do you like about writing for children and teens?

Recently I met a young mother and her two small children. She had been searching for a copy of Your Time, My Time to re-read because it had made such an impact on her when she was a teen. I signed a new copy of the book to her young daughter, even though it will be many years before the toddler can read it. When you write for young people your audience is always new and always changing. One day a teacher contacts you, one day a grown-up fan, one day an Indo-Canadian boy translating for his father who has limited English but who wants to know if a certain part of Shabash! is true. It’s a wonderful audience to write for, and young people are generous in their praise. My favourite quote, make by a young girl who must be in her 20s by now, is “Ann Walsh, do you know you’re world famous in Kamloops?”

What has been the most interesting thing that has happened to you because you are an author?

A difficult question. I’ve driven all over BC usually by myself, met people I’d only heard of like Margaret Atwood, Ann-Marie MacDonald and Farley Mowatt. I’ve danced with Pierre Berton, and eaten breakfast with Robert Munsch. I’ve learned so much, about writing, about people and about myself. It’s been a wonderful career, and I wish I’d started when I was younger so I’d have longer to write. However, I’m not done yet!

Which of your books was the easiest to write? Why? (or if you prefer, What is the easiest part of the writing process for you?)

Moses, Me and Murder! was easy and fast to write (after all, most of the story is true, there wasn’t an decision to be made about the ending for me to wrestle with.) However, it took over 5 years to sell to a publisher and got scathing reviews from ‘literary’ reviewers. It was first published in 1984 and, much to my delight, has just been re-issued as a new edition with a different publisher.

Which of your books was the most challenging to write? Why?

Whatever was difficult for me because in it I deal with the issue of aging as well as the Restorative Justice process.

What is the most asked question when you’re doing author visits in schools?

In every session someone asks at least one of the following three questions: “How old are you, how much money do you make, where do you get your ideas?” I now answer them before the question period begins—seventy one, not very much and anywhere I can, in case anyone else wants to know.

Thanks, Shawn. This was fun!

(Note from Shawn:  I am SO JEALOUS that you danced with Pierre Berton and had breakfast with Robert Munsch!)


 

blog chain interview with author Carol Mason September 9, 2013

Filed under: Reading,Writing — Shawn L. Bird @ 7:52 pm
Tags: , , , , , ,

 

Here is a blog chain contribution by Carol Mason.  Carol’s website is being stubborn, so we’re posting her responses here. 🙂

 

Thanks to author Shawn Bird for inviting me to participate here. You have asked some really great questions!

1. What inspired you to begin writing?

When I was graduating university, a fellow student was about to start writing Harlequin Romances. She believed she could write one easily, and that it would be a fast way to making money. Of course, she was deluded, as I’m sure she later learned. Writing is not easy, be it literary fiction or a Harlequin bodice-ripper! And getting published is even harder. But it planted the seed. I’d always wanted to write. So I thought, Ok, if she’s going to try it, maybe I will too…. (I started to try to write Harlequins then wondered what on earth was I doing! I didn’t even enjoy reading these books. But it gave me a starting point until I found my feet so to speak and discovered that it was women’s contemporary fiction that was my calling, not necessarily romances.

2. How does being a British ex-pat living in Canada impact your writing?

My voice is very British. Despite living in fabulous BC for many years, I still feel very British. But I want my books to be sold in more countries than just the UK so I have to remind myself not to use words that are too regional. Sometimes I try to sound more North American but it feels wrong. We have to be who we are at the end of the day, don’t we? That is never more true than when it comes to writing…

3. In your own books, who is your favourite character? Why?

I loved Leigh in The Secrets of Married Women, my first novel. Leigh is a bit of a dark, complicated woman, capable of having great fun and being a great friend, yet equally capable of deceit at the worst level. This makes her fascinating to me. Writing her, I was intrigued by what she was going to do next and how her friends seemed to underestimate her until there was an eye-opening event that changed everything… As far as my male characters go, then Mike in The Love Market. Mike is not your typical hero. He’s not tall. He’s not especially good-looking, or successful or ambitious, and he’s got strange dress sense. But no one could love their wife as much as Mike loves his wife – or, now, ex-wife. He’s the kind of guy we all want in our life – as a 100% reliable friend, definitely. As a romantic interest… well, you would have to decide. Yet as we discover, Mike might be a nice guy, but he’s not a door mat. Mike has a breaking point that gave me as an objective reader of my own novel, tremendous respect for him.

4. What author has inspired you?

So many! Rosie Thomas, initially. I remember reading her novel Other People’s Marriages and thinking Whoo! This is the kind of book I want to write! Then I read all of hers and didn’t dislike any of them. I have read so many novels yet this one always sticks in my mind for some reason. Then chicklit came along and some of it was good and so much of it was bad… I never totally latched onto a great, great chicklit author, preferring the more complex stories of the type Rosie writes.

5. You frequently write about your travels on your Facebook page. What is your most memorable travel story?

Just the other day my husband and I were recalling our visit to Tuscany 2 years ago, and laughing about this. We were in the very charming Montepulciano, and it was April and not especially warm. There were few tourists around and we were looking for a place to eat dinner. A charming young Italian lured us into his restaurant with a very long and engaging speech about the purity of his ingredients, his wife’s skill as a chef, and a certain kind of local and rare wild boar that his wife specialized in cooking. (my husband speaks Italian). Anyway, we love our food and his restaurant sounded amazing, so we dutifully trotted back there at 7pm when he opened for dinner. Basically it was a small place of about 10 tables, and his wife worked the kitchen and he worked the floor. There was no other staff. We were to receive a 5 course meal he told us, but little did we know that each course would be introduced with a lengthy description of the origins of the food, his wife’s rationale for pairing ingredients, the history of the various condiments that were served with each course…..a twenty minute lecture on the various types of wine that would accompany each dish… It was a bit like going to cooking school, only instead of the teacher addressing a classroom, this young man addressed each table individually, repeating the same story with everyone who walked in the door, which left him little time to actually serve food. By the time all 10 tables were occupied and he’d repeated his spiel 10 times, we had been in there two hours before we’d even seen the first course – a rather disappointing pasta with dry bits of beef in it. The build-up to his famous wild boar main course was almost more than any of us could stand. Wasn’t that the real reason why we were all here? We had certainly worked up an appetite. My husband and I were salivating with anticipation, as were the two Americans at the table next to us. I had a feeling we were in for something fabulous that would live in our memory for years to come as our truly authentic gourmet experience of Italy. I even had my camera at the ready. When the boar finally arrived, my husband and I looked down at our plates just as we heard the American woman say, “It’s a slice of ham!’ And it truly was. No adornment. No accompaniment. Just one, thin, flat, pink slice of pleasant-enough but highly boring old ham. We suffered through the courses that followed – each one more underwhelming than the one that had gone before. Then the chef came out to take a bow! Yes. And we applaud her because we felt so bad for her, plus we were just glad the whole thing was finally over. I could have gone to the theatre and had dinner and after-theatre drinks in the time we sat there. We weren’t let out until nearly midnight. I suppose I should have known – you know, Boar=Ham. But somehow, being in Italy, and being wooed by a handsome young restaurateur who seemed so passionate about food, I had hoped for a fabulous experience. Well, an experience it was, but fabulous, not so much!

6. Do you have a favourite writing quotation to share?

“If you can’t tell stories, create characters, devise incidents and have sincerity and passion, it doesn’t matter a damn how you write.”  Somerset Maugham. Because it’s true. Being a good writer is not even close to enough.

7. What do you like about writing for ‘women’s fiction’?

I can explore issues that interest me, or ones I’ve personally had experience with, or am familiar with through my encounters with friends. I can really get into that endlessly fascinating territory of what makes women tick – the good, the bad and the entirely preposterous. I don’t have to do massive chunks of research. Nobody is going to think I’m an idiot when I wrongly interpret history. Sometimes I get to shock people because they assume I’ve experienced everything I write about! If only that were true!

8. What has been the most interesting thing that has happened to you because you are an author?

For the launch of my first novel, my publisher, Hodder, invited me to The Grove (a very posh destination spa/resort in England) for a media event. It was attended by 10 other authors – many of whom I admire, and whose novels I have read. It was a fancy event with many of the country’s major media present, complete with an overnight stay and fabulous meals with ever-flowing champagne. I felt so privileged to be included among so many successful novelists. I could never have afforded to stay there if the publisher hadn’t been paying. I got to dress up. I wrongly assumed a writer’s life would be glamorous like this everyday. It isn’t. But I still wouldn’t change a thing about it.

9. Which of your books was the easiest to write? Why?

Send Me A Lover. For some reason I really related to the young widow who wanted so badly to believe her husband was up there looking after her and helping her find new love. Plus it includes a lovely trip to Greece where I had recently been. And the young widow’s mother is a lot like my own – so I felt I could write their quirky dynamics so easily! It was a funny and sad book that somehow just flowed for me.

10. Which of your books was the most difficult to write? Why?

I think my first one. Or at least, the first one to get published (The Secrets of Married Women). Mainly because I had what I thought was a structure, then it had to change as my editor at my literary agency thought it wasn’t working. Then it went through so many edits when my agent found me a publisher. I constantly felt like it was 100% good enough, only to be told that I still had far to go before it was up to the standard it needed to be at. It really showed me how you can write a good book, in fact a knockout book, but there are lots of other published writers out there writing knockout novels, and the competition is very very stiff. If you’re not as good as the best, then you simply aren’t going to compete. You won’t get published. Then you won’t stay published.

11. I remember you telling me that someone broke into your house and stole your computer, and the two completed novels on it. Was losing those works a blessing or a curse in the long run?

Those were the two Harlequin novels I wrote in the very beginning! I was really just cutting my teeth on them. I learned how to start a book, finish a book and give a book a middle. So that was valuable, of course. At the time it felt like a huge trauma to have them stolen. But really, it was probably a blessing. I really don’t think they were all that great anyway!

Next in the chain!

I am going to ask 11 questions of Kim Hornsby, author of The Dream Jumper’s Promise and Necessary Detour, to name two. http://www.kimhornsbyauthor.net/ Kim, here goes…

1. Describe the type of books you write, as I believe you also write under a pen name.

2. You were once photographed with Sylvester Stallone. Is there something about you that we need to know?

3. What is your ultimate dream as a writer if you could map the course of your writer’s career?

4. What is the best novel you have read recently and the one that disappointed you the most, and why?

5. Describe your writing process – to plot or not to plot, before you begin?

6. Since you first started writing, up until now, how would you say you have grown as a writer?

7. How do you come up with a book idea?

8. How secure are you as a writer (given that creative people are thought to be quite insecure about their art)? If you had a great book idea and 5 of your writer friends shot it down, would you write it anyway?

9. Without giving away any plot, what is your favourite scene in a book you’ve written?

10. If you were forbidden from writing novels, what would you do that might come close to satisfying you?

11. Tell me about Beach Read Authors. What can readers hope to find there?

 

interview- blog chain from Jodi McIsaac to Carol Mason September 7, 2013

Filed under: Reading,Writing — Shawn L. Bird @ 8:21 pm
Tags: , , , , , , , ,

In August I met the lovely Jodi McIsaac at When Words Collide Writers Conference in Calgary.  I loved her excellent novel Through the Door.   Jodi has invited me to participate in an author blog chain.  She asked me eleven questions. Here are my responses.

1. What do you love about the YA genre?

YA is awesome because it encompasses everything that the teen years encompass- pathos, angst, joy, celebration, challenge, success, energy, dreams, fear, possibility, and hope.  Whether it’s fantasy, sci-fi, horror, adventure, sports, drama, or romance, if it’s YA it has that vital spark of youth.  I love that.

2. What do you hate about it?

I don’t think there’s anything to hate.  It’s so diverse a genre that hating anything seems a bit shallow and pointless.  I do dislike authors who write for a young adult audience like they’re preaching and teaching to idiots.  I know teens are capable of deep thought and understanding.  They deserve a respectful attitude.

3. What was the first story you ever wrote?

I don’t know for sure, but my mother found a story called “Minnow’s Pride” that I’d written in grade three or four.  It was about a pride of lions.

4. What is your favourite mythological creature?

I quite like griffins.

5. Do you write on a regular schedule, or just whenever you can find time for it?

When I have a project on the go, I try to keep a regular schedule of about 6000 words a week.  I aim for 1200 words a day, Monday to Friday, and if I don’t reach that, then I have to have it done by Sunday night.  I tend to write throughout the day in three or four spurts.  I’m most active at night, though.

I’ve also done NaNoWriMo in November.  This involves writing 50,000 words in the month, averaging 1867 words every day.  This is a killer pace!  I prefer Camp NaNoWriMo in July because you can set your own goal.  I chose 28000 words which was much more humane pace for me.

When I’m working on the editing and re-writing I tend to procrastinate a lot.

6. What is your ideal writing space, and how does it compare to what you have now?

I want to write with a view of the lake and hills, but my current windows are too high for a view of the hills visible from the front my house, and my house is about five feet too low for a lake view, so….

I dream of a writing turret set as a third story with a wall of floor to ceiling windows on the front and wrapping six feet along each side.  On the rest of the wall space, I’d like floor to ceiling book shelves.  Following Stephen King’s instructions, the desk will be in the middle of the room.  There will be a comfy arm chair with room for dogs, who will readily climb the spiral staircase with a skill that amazes guests.

I keep mentioning this wonderful writing space to hubby, but so far he has not bought into the brilliance of my plan, hired the architect, or scheduled a builder.  (I do have a friend who’s an architect and my brother is a builder, so I could make this happen with the barest of encouragement…)  😉

Now, I write all over: lying on the couch, at a desk in the living room, in the bath…

7. What is your best strategy for dealing with critical reviews? 

If it’s a reviewer you trust, consider whether there’s any  observations there to take in order to improve the next project.  If there aren’t, and it’s just a matter of the reviewer having different taste or expectations, ignore it and focus on the positive interactions with those who enjoy what you write.  No point dwelling on the negative.  I had one review where the reviewer plainly hadn’t done more than skim the book, because she made several blatantly incorrect statements about the plot.  What can you do?

8. What is your best piece of writing advice for young writers?

Read.  Write.  Read.  Write.  Repeat.

Kids don’t accept the simplicity of that, though, so here’s what I repeat ad nauseum in my English classes to encourage them to do the above:

The words are in the pen.

The act of writing frees the words.

Don’t think: write.

Write crap.

First drafts don’t have to be good, they just have to be written.

Yes.  You can.

9. Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter?

Harry Potter.

10. If you could be one of the characters in your books for a day, who would it be?

Auntie Bright.  (I”m giggling as I type that).

11. Who is your literary hero, and why?

Diana Gabaldon.  She is a brilliant writer, crafts characters so real they are like dear friends, builds relationships with her fans, generously shares her wisdom with new writers, and encourages excellence.

.

And now onto the next person in the literary chain! Let me introduce you to Carol Mason,  best-selling author of The Love Market, Send Me A Lover,  and The Secrets of Married Women.  The books are published in more than thirteen countries and available in more than nine languages.   I met Carol at the Surrey International Writing Conference where she was presenting a workshop on writing a good pitch.  She coached me through the writing and polishing of mine.  Her advice was so good the publisher requested  three chapters.  Carol is from Britain, but lives in Vancouver, BC now.

1. What inspired you to begin writing?

2. How does being a British ex-pat living in Canada impact your writing?

3. In your own books, who is your favourite character?  Why?

4. What author has inspired you?

5. You frequently write about your travels on your Facebook page.  What is your most memorable travel story?

6. Do you have a favourite writing quotation to share?

7. What do you like about writing for ‘women’s fiction’?

8. What has been the most interesting thing that has happened to you because you are an author?

9. Which of your books was the easiest to write?  Why?

10. Which of your books was the most difficult to write? Why?

11. I remember you telling me that someone broke into your house and stole your computer, and the two completed novels on it.  Was losing those works a blessing or a curse in the long run?

Now stay tuned to see how Carol replies!  I’ll provide a link when she does!)

 

writing quote- write to know them September 3, 2013

Filed under: OUTLANDERishness,Quotations,Reading,Writing — Shawn L. Bird @ 10:30 pm
Tags: , , , , , , ,

Anne Lamott in Bird by Bird writes about the importance of learning about your characters as you’re writing them:

Say this boy meets a girl….Things need to happen.  Then need to get to know each other, even if just a little.  They will talk to each other, and they will talk about each other to friend.  Get all this down.  After you’ve spent a while with them, they will start to sound more like themselves–because you are getting to really know them…

The better you now the characters, the more you’ll things from their point of view.  You need to trust that you’ve got it in you to listen to people, watch them, and notice what they wear and how they move, to capture a sense of how they speak. 

As you learn who your characters are, compassion for them will grow.  There shouldn’t be just a single important character in your work for whom you have compassion.  You need to feel it even for the villain–in fact, especially for the villain.  Life is not like formula fiction.  The villain has a heart, and the hero has great flaws.  You’ve got to pay attention to what each character says, so you can know each of their hearts.

The books that stay with you are the books that have characters with many dimensions to their personalities.  Yin and yang.  Evil in the good.  Good in the evil.

One of my favourite examples of this is Laoghaire MacKenzie in Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series.  In the first book, we hate her for being so jealous of Claire that she sets her up to be burnt as a witch.  By the end of the series we sympathize with the bitterness that grew when she realised her adoration was unrequited.  She loves Jamie, and since we as readers do too, we can relate to her pain at not ever being loved as she wanted to be by the man she has loved since childhood.  She believed erroneously that they were star-crossed lovers.

What examples from your reading support this view?  What author is a master at this strong character development?

 

the fundamental fiction July 13, 2013

Filed under: OUTLANDERishness,Reading,Writing — Shawn L. Bird @ 2:01 pm
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

In love with a fictional character?

Honey.

Don’t you know that

ALL

objects of our desire

are fundamentally fictional?

Courtship

is a time of great performance,

convincing the other,

showing the best face,

doing things you’ve never done

(and won’t do again)

pretending you love each moment

to impress the object of your desire.

Love is always

fictional.

We love what we wish

it to be.

If we’re lucky,

when rose lenses are lost,

what we created in dream

bears enough

resemblance to reality

that truth

becomes better

than fiction.

.

.

In response to a Tweet about all the wild Outlander fans in a tizzy about Jamie Fraser coming to life.  I was thinking how we fictionalize real people all the time.

 

living a dream with Diana Gabaldon July 12, 2013

Filed under: anecdotes,OUTLANDERishness,Quotations,Reading,Writing — Shawn L. Bird @ 1:14 pm
Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
Sam Heughan Headshot - P 2013

Sam Heughan is already charming Outlander fans and schmoozing with them via Twitter. Things are only going to get better from here for this youthful tri-athlete actor!

For the last week, I have had the privilege of being a fly on the wall as an author has a dream come true.  The Starz network signed Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series last spring, and has finally begun casting.  This week her lead character, Jamie Fraser, was cast, and the role went to Scots actor Sam Heughan.

With typical enthusiasm Diana shared her excitement  over his audition tape with her Facebook followers:

She observed how she started watching the audition tape, “and five seconds later, Sam Heughan’s GONE, and so am I.  It’s Jamie Fraser, right there in front of me, moving, talking.  One of the biggest thrills ever.”

Talk about understatement!

Of course, not everyone is able to visualize Diana’s quite explicit descriptions of what Jamie looked like at age 22 in the first Outlander book, and those people leapt up complaining about Sam’s physique, his hair, etc.  Diana firmly and unequivocally put them in their place.  (A hilarious blog about the whole storm  on Thatsnormal.com if you want the details)

Meanwhile, Diana took to Twitter and started messaging Sam Heughan (like many in the Outlander world!) Sam is embracing the enthusiasm of his army of new fans and he and Diana are carrying on a public flirtation for the whole world to see.

I am so thrilled for her.  I suppose this is how Stephenie Meyer felt when Rob Pattison was cast to become Edward in the Twilight movies.  Bad makeup and a low budget probably couldn’t kill her buzz either.  I’m sure when Charlaine Harris first saw Anna Pasquin bring Sookie Stackhouse to life she was equally thrilled (Sookie be damned, how about the perfect choice of Joe Manganiello to be  Alcide Herveault?! Be still my heart!).  Both Twilight and the Sookie Stackhouse series took some serious deviations from the original plots.  No matter.  How amazing must have been those first halcyon days when the incarnate word was made flesh!

Starz has a budget and a social media savvy author who is sharing her excitement with a legion of fans.  The buzz is amazing.  On one hand, I feel very sorry for all the companies over the years that optioned the rights to make a movie or TV series out of this story and then had them lapse before funding could be put together.  Foolish money men.  You will see what you missed!  On the other hand, I think Tall Ship Productions and Ron Moore are going to do Diana’s work proud.  They know very well that rabid fans are going to be unforgiving if they screw up Diana’s story!

The absolutely best part of this, what has me grinning constantly and bouncing around my house, has been the fun of watching Diana in the absolutely giddy excitement of seeing her character come to life.  I can hardly wait until she gets to go on set and meet all the cast!

Some day, perhaps, I’ll get to see my Grace, Ben, Marco, and Alex become flesh.  In the meantime, I’m living vicariously through Diana, and I’m enjoying every minute!

Diana on Sams audition

 

Poem-book journeys July 11, 2013

Filed under: Poetry,Reading,Writing — Shawn L. Bird @ 7:30 pm
Tags: , , ,

MINOLTA DIGITAL CAMERA

I’ve travelled roads I’ve never walked

Leapt chasms I’ve not seen

Met madmen, trolls, and dreamers, and

watched lovers, lairds and queens.

I’ve journeyed to the future, friend

and I’ve explored the past

I’ve heard the thoughts of robots, dogs,

slaves, aliens and rats.

I’ve been around this great wide earth

and fantastic worlds, too

I’ve lived a thousand lifetimes, and

I’ve swum in oceans blue

A magic travel agency’s

in pages if you look.

Explore lives you’ve not imagined,

Come sit  and read a book.

 

farm wives June 27, 2013

Filed under: OUTLANDERishness,Quotations,Reading — Shawn L. Bird @ 10:40 pm
Tags: , , ,

I was listening to the audio book of Diana Gabaldon’s A Breath of Snow and Ashes on the way home from work when a line was casually tossed into the narrative, that made me burst out laughing as I drove.  Such brilliant understatement!

“…somehow one never translates the strength required for daily farm life into a capacity for homicidal fury.”

Well no, we don’t.  Not from sweet, docile, farm wives who spend most of their time around the stove, at least.

However, given that Mrs. Bug (who just exhibited the homicidal fury in question) is an 18th century Scottish Highlander, it does make it more likely!  ((cough)).

 

 

Twitter, publicity and propaganda February 20, 2013

Filed under: Reading,Writing — Shawn L. Bird @ 3:26 pm
Tags: , , , , , ,

I spent an hour today participating in a Twitter chat with a ‘big name publisher’ and several authors involved in a recently released anthology.

There were a few of us tossing in questions and responding to the assorted tweets. Key word: few. 3 authors. A publicist. Members of the reading public? Maybe 4? (I was one of those) All those people had obviously been promoting the event on their own blogs and websites. It just doesn’t seem like a very useful exercise.

I was glad to rub shoulders with these talented folks and banter back and forth with them, but to be honest, it seemed like it was a waste of their time. The messages are now there for posterity for others to enjoy, which could provide some latent publicity, but I’m doubtful of its value.

In theory, a Twitter chat sounds like it’s a good idea. Each author brings his/her own following, exposing them to the other authors. Connect with the fans. Spread the love.

Sounds great. In practice, is it?

What do you think? Do you use Twitter for promotion? Do you use Twitter chats? Have you participated in them?