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As I head into the final chapters of COLD STONE & IVY 2: The Crown Prince, I think I've been procrastinating. There are two ways (maybe more) that I can take it and while I ponder and plot and put off making that decision and writing it, I decided to edit. Good choice, I thought. Editing gets and keeps that proverbial ball rolling, gets you back into the swing of things and in fact every cliche you can think of finds its beginning and its end while editing. My agent should be applauding all the work I have been putting into COLD STONE & IVY 2: The Crown Prince, except that I wasn't editing The Crown Prince.
I edited TO JOURNEY IN THE YEAR OF THE TIGER. My very first novel. My daughter would say WTF? To me that says With the Fantastical! so it's a rather different meaning. You see, I've been getting active on Goodreads and have discovered reviews for my books that I never knew I had before! Great reviews, honest reviews… brutally honest reviews in fact, and I cringe with every truth that is written. That truth boils down to the fact that, while I read and re-read, wrote and rewrote those first books, I never really, truly edited them. I didn't know how. It was an interesting journey (pun intended) for that one. Originally planned as a Graphic Novel when I was pencilling for DC Comics back in the day, it quickly became too big, too sprawling for my artist's brain to contain. I needed to write it down so I would know what to pencil later on. But the story took off and began a journey of it's own, quickly becoming a novel very much like what you read today. Until, of course, I read "Lions of al-Rassan' by Guy Gavriel Kay and stopped all my attempts at the literary craft in shame. (But that's another story for another blog.) I filled my time with life, kids, work, painting, anything but writing. Years later, I picked it up, almost exactly where Journey/Tiger ends and finished it within four months. It was big. It was epic. It was 250,000 words. Equivalent to a 1,000 page novel. Yikes. I didn't know. Hey, I thought, "Epic fantasy is really big!" In my sweet innocence, I googled publishers who accept unsolicited manuscripts and sent it out into the slush pile wilderness. I even printed it in its entirety for TOR as they were only accepting paper manuscripts. It cost me almost $100 to mail it. The rejection I got back cost them 25 cents. I could have been crushed if it hadn't been for a man named Daniel Lazar at a place called Writer's House. Now, to attest to my newbieness, I honestly thought Writer's House was a publisher. I don't know why. This was a different world. Agents, publishers, they all ran together in my zoologist brain like deer and moose or wolf and coyote. In case you don't know, Daniel Lazar is a brilliant agent and I sent him my query, unknowing. He read it and within 24 hours, requested the entire MS. I sent it. He read it, he loved it, he said it wasn't his thing (he reps a very different genre) but he said there was something in the writing that just gave him hope. He knew I was onto something with this story of lions and tigers and bears, oh my, and to keep trying and never give up. He was so gracious, so encouraging that I began to believe that I might just have something to offer. He did have one piece of advice. Cut it. And not 'edit it.' Cut it. In half. Too big, too long, no one would publish it that way. Make it Part 1 and Part 2, or in the case of Epic Fantasy (a world of it's own) Book 1 and Book 2. And so, without really considering the ramifications, I did. I cut this huge monster of a book which was always called TO JOURNEY IN THE YEAR OF THE TIGER even in it's photographic novel phase, in half. And, TO WALK IN THE WAY OF LIONS was born. So this answers all the questions and comments re: the ending of Journey/Tiger. It does seem arbitrary because it WAS arbitrary. It was a natural break and I took it, all on the advice of a man I thought was a publisher! So I began to send it/them out as a duology, a tag-team of Book 1 and Book 2, Siamese/conjoined twins two but one, telling one very big story. I got several rejections from publishers but for the most part, all my beta readers loved it, so I continued, undaunted until I heard that the internet megagiant/superstar sales powerhouse called Amazon was publishing books. I've never really embraced vanity press, but with Amazon, I didn't need to print 2000 books and try to flog them. If I sold, I sold. If I floundered, I floundered. There was little risk and for a science geek like me, this world of rejection and applause was so very daunting. This road seemed like a good way to find out if anyone other than my DC comics crew wanted to read anything I might say. So, again, with bright shiny newness, I uploaded first Tiger, then Lion, sat back and crossed my fingers to wait. End of Part 1 ('cause I'm mean that way.)
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In the same vein of a blog tour, I bring you a Blog Share. I tend to travel in artsy circles and one of my best friends is a renowned prairie painter. She decided this week to blog about 'Dearest', a charming superlative to Dear, and happily, I fell headlong into that category! Here is the text and a link to her site. Take a gander at some of her paintings and see if they move you as much as they do me. SASKARTGIRL: Funk, Food and Living a Creative Life  "My grandmother used to start letters and cards to me with “My Dearest Carri,” and somehow it made me feel more special than if it had said “Dear Carri”. She is long gone but not forgotten. :) I was her first grandchild of only four and I always felt loved by that quiet lady. So anyway, I was thinking about a few people in my life who I would call “dearest”. Now of course, there are the obvious - my sister, husband, mother and sons. Then there are those who are not officially family, but hold places of importance in my heart. I’ve often thought of myself as a collector of people; quality people, people with moral fibre, principles, ethics, and a sense of humour. It’s intriguing to me how some of these dear people can be similar to me, yet others can seem to be opposite- the yin to my yang. Take H. for example (that’s her in the photos to the left). I’ve known her for YEARS [since 1977?]; she’s my best friend from high school and we still love each other. We are alike and dissimilar: we are the same [short] height, same age, she is blonde and I was brunette, we both have green eyes, different body builds, both very artistic & creative, when I was ‘into’ boys, she was into DC/Marvel comics & sci fi movies, we are both readers and photographers, and we love to laugh. I love to bake and cook, she does not, but we both like wine. And chocolate. :)  H is an animal person- her family has a horse or 2, 3 dogs and I think 3 cats. She is a friend I value greatly and whenever we get together, no matter how long it’s been, it’s like we were never apart. One of the most heartfelt gifts she gave me was to sing with me at my father’s memorial service. I knew she could sing from ‘way back, but apparently no one else knew. She’s got a lovely voice. I really wish we lived much closer- she’s 1300 kms of highway away, *sigh*. She’s one of the best huggers I know.  Another person is V. – that’s her and I in the photos to the right. She inspired me to start this blog in the first place; thanks, V! I’ve known her since about 2003 when she was a customer of my bakery. Later on she taught my sons, and somewhere in there we became fast, fast friends. At first glance we may not seem as similar as H and me, but don’t be fooled. I would defend her like a mother bear. We are not the same age (she’s a few years older than me, but I really don’t know how many- it just doesn’t matter), she is taller but we are both brunette, she is the same body type as H but not like me, her eyes are brown, we both like to read, and drink coffee or wine. Like H, V doesn’t especially love to cook. Unlike H, V does not have animals. V is not as similar to me creatively as H, but man, she’s WAY better at keeping dust bunnies at bay and closets tidy! ;) We like clothes and shopping together and ‘doing’ lunch. She is a retired teacher, I am a teacher. And there’s laughter. Laughter is so important. And hugs. She is also further away than I’d like- about 300 kms. We need more together time – I feel ‘at sea’ when I go too long without her.  Both of these women are loyal and reliable and great to talk with. Both are happy to have me cook and bake for them…and it just makes me feel good to know I have solid friends, fans, people I can lean on or rant to. I like to make them laugh, and as I look at these photos, I’m struck by the fact that they both have wonderful smiles, and they are young and open to the world. In this age of “social media”, all of which is screen driven electronica, real true flesh-and-blood friends are all the more important. They keep me grounded and help me remember what is real is most important. Hmm. I may have started something here, as I can think of a small handful of other friends who should be introduced to you as well. In other news: My knitting is on pause right now, the one act play I’m directing (adult actors, not school kids) goes onstage next weekend, dance continues, as do rehearsals for my school drama troupe. I am looking forward to doing creative, artistic things on the May long weekend. Take care, Carri" (And here's the link to her site and her paintings.) http://saskartgirl.wordpress.com/2014/05/03/dearest-friends/ Brings me to tears, that girl. I'm not the maudlin type, but friends are special, and friends who have been friends for almost 40 years even more so. Think about all the 'Dearests' in your life. Maybe drop them a line and tell them so. Feels good, really. And then go create something out of the colours.
Cheers, H |
H. Leighton DicksonAuthor. Zoologist. Imaginary Genius. Engineer of Fantastical Worlds. Master of None.
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