I'm Not a Performing Artist

Tryna do it like I seen 'em do it over on the UToob

My big, amazing idea to break through with lots of sales of my latest book (which happens to be intensely important to me because it commemorates 800 years of my man, Alfonso X) was to do a series of videos, which would naturally go viral. 

Largely due to the sweeping cultural changes of 2020, I've become much more aware of the power of sites like YouTube. I have a unique voice and can talk on subjects that are interesting to at least a few people, so videos seemed like something I should do. 

I wanted a video introducing the Cantigas de Santa Maria, why they're awesome, and why I wrote a book using some of the stories from them at this moment in time. Then I would have at least one video for each of the stories in Our Lady's Troubadour explaining where the miracle came from, cool details about where it takes place and/or its illustrations in the manuscripts, and the melody of at least one verse and chorus, sung by yours truly. 

Ideally, these videos would've been released throughout 2021 and built up tons of excitement for Alfonso's 800th birthday, as much excitement as I already feel! 

But here we are in November, and not a single video has been made. 

Why is this? I'm not lazy, not a procrastinator. Ask anyone who knows me, who went to school with me, or worked with me: I never miss a deadline. 

Answer that may seem like an excuse: I'm a widow, and if I don't work (at my editing business) and meet my deadlines, nobody (me) eats. It feels counterproductive to pour time into my day job when what I want is for my writing career to take off. That's the suffering of artists in our time. 

Of course I manage to make some time to forward my writing career, so the question remains--not a single video?

Every time I sat down to put together the graphics and think about what I was going to say, I got overwhelmed, and then the slightest thing would distract me. Me, the Great Concentrator. I can concentrate long enough to edit a 200,000-word book that seems to have been written by a drunk fifth-grader (I don't think that about all my editing clients, not by far), but I can't spend a few hours to make a ten-minute video about one of the things I love most in the world? 

It's finally dawned on me that unlike the troubadours at the court of Alfonso X, I'm not a performing artist. 

Surprisingly to this lifelong wordsmith, making videos is not my forte. I bought a microphone and have loads of strategies for making the best of my strange lighting situation. And then the cat starts to meowl. Or the construction project two houses down makes a racket. And then I have to get ready to go to choir practice. 

I'm not great at conversation. Never have been. When it comes to speaking on camera, I'm only really comfortable when I know exactly what to say. I can't seem to sustain a coherent structure on the fly. But who can memorize a script these days? And reading on camera looks terrible. So I'm left with few choices. See the video below if you're curious about what I mean. 

I can barely keep it together for one minute. Plus my voice sounds weird. And perhaps that wasn't the best lighting solution, after all. This is as far as I got before my grand epiphany that the video project is too much at this moment in time, and I'll be happier if I switch to something else. 

What else?

Kind of obviously, my forte is the written word. Always has been. Whenever a professor "generously" "let" students do presentations instead of writing a final paper, I never took them up on the offer. A presentation, easier than a paper? What planet are they on? Not the same one I am. 

That goes in the other direction, too. I'm much likelier to enjoy, understand, and retain something if I've read it as opposed to hearing it. 

So I'm going to do the same series as blog posts. They'll be fun for me to write, and informative and hopefully joyful for you to read. They'll include video snippets and lots of pretty pictures. 

I realize blogs are antique in 2021, and that videos are the wave of the present, and hopefully the future, because I wouldn't honestly look forward to that marvel my brother and I mentioned many times, smellavision. 

But after all, Our Lady's Troubadour is historical fiction, so I'm going to support its release with this historical medium. If you want to read historical fiction, maybe you want to read blog posts, too...?

If I had a lot more free time to tweak the technology and write and remember scripts, a video project might seem doable again. So if you see more videos from me, they're either quite short and manageable, or my life circumstances have changed for the better! 

Lands of Legend: The New York Public Library Invites You

We all miss those magical times when we could travel. Now you have a chance to travel without leaving the safety of home. 

If you missed this event, scroll down for links to the special video replay of the content. 

Thanks to the generosity of the New York Public Library, you can join yours truly, author of Seven Noble Knights, on a Google Meet virtual tour of medieval and modern Spain. You'll learn the legend of the seven noble knights, see the places where it all happened, and learn the ways Spanish people today celebrate this legend. Photographs, anecdotes and excerpts bring this fascinating country alive. I'll also answer your burning questions!

Register at the bottom of the page linked here, under the book cover and my photo, to receive a link to this program with a reminder 10 minutes before event. 

You can preorder Seven Noble Knights so that you'll receive it on release day, December 11. 

Or, if you're a NetGalley member, you can pick up your review copy right now and ask questions about the story on December 5! 

Lands of Legend await you! 

This event went really well, with lots of engaged audience members. I've recorded a special replay of the content for those of you who couldn't make it on the day, available in four parts: 

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Facebook page

Enjoy! 

Achieving a Big Goal without My Soul Mate: Seven Noble Knights at the Harvard Book Store

My trip to Massachusetts last week was the culmination of so many hopes and dreams. It was also the first time I'd been back to the place where I met my husband without him. Friends, beauty, and acute loss combined to create an emotionally complex triumph for my writing career.

Reading at the Harvard Book Store is the most obvious validation I've had of my book baby, Seven Noble Knights. I've been planning this event since before my husband passed away so unexpectedly. I always thought he would come with me, be his wonderful supportive self, and take photos and videos. I had to look elsewhere for the support I needed, and am amazed and thrilled that I found it.

Among the awesome people who attended the event were the other reader, talented memoirist Nadine Kenney Johnstone, author of Of This Much I'm Sure; Jennifer S. Brown, author of Modern Girls; Rick Heller, author of Secular Meditation; and Maile Hulihan, author of the forthcoming comedy Trinity of Bitches. Their enthusiasm helped me focus on the wonderful things about the evening.

I've rarely seen anything more beautiful than my book baby for sale in the Harvard Book Store.

Right next to checkout, ready for the next eager reader! Looks like it's already sold a copy or two...

I wanted the audience to love my epic novel as much as I do, so I read from it with great gusto.

Want to see the reading in action? You can because of kindness and support from my college creative writing advisor and dear friend, who took the video.

After the reading, Nadine Kenney Johnstone and I took questions from the audience. We discussed inspiration, how to get the writing done even when moving across the country, our next projects and sequels, working with an academic press, the lost medieval epic poem on which the novel is based ("It doesn't get more exciting than that!"), and the value of human life in the tenth century in light of the excerpt's mention of a "homicide fee." One audience member astutely pointed out that Seven Noble Knights would make a great television series. I'm not the only one who thinks so!

On a side note, look at the book behind Nadine: The Regional Office is Under Attack! This is by Manuel Gonzales, with whom I'm going to have the honor of working this July at the Tin House Summer Workshop!

Nadine also spoke about the reliving/processing/healing effects of writing her memoir and I wondered if that was in my future, too.

One of the prettiest city blocks in the entire USA

Many readers purchased books and I got to sign them with a nice pen I wish I could've kept. After the rush, Alex from the Harvard Book Store had me put my name in the remaining copies. Signed copies of Seven Noble Knights are now available if you drop by or order online! Nowhere else.

Friends tell me my husband's spirit was there to witness this event that meant so much to me.

I know. It wouldn't have happened without him.

If you can't get enough Seven Noble Knights videos, don't miss the intimate reading of Chapter I—murder, mayhem, and machismo in just five minutes!

Reading Up a Spring Storm in Oregon

On Saturday, I went with my supportive mother to the Saint Helens Spring into Art phenomenon at the community center. There were culinary arts, rug weaving, paintings and sculptures on display, a dog adoption area, and ukulele band performances, to name just a few.

The community center building houses the town library, and I found my baby, Seven Noble Knights, in really good company on the new shelf.

I wore my shirt with the awesome medieval sleeves in order to read the first chapter of Seven Noble Knights for a diverse and enthusiastic audience in the auditorium.

Audience members told me I brought the story and the time period to life with my reading, so I felt pretty good. This was great community-centered practice for my reading at the Harvard Book Store later this week!

Afterward, I set up Seven Noble Knights (with a printout of its Historical Novel Society review), Tree/House, Unpredictable Worlds, and Awash in Talent in the children's area of the library with several other local authors. Even though we were tucked in the back of the community center where people had to come looking for us, I sold and signed several copies of Awash in Talent and one of Unpredictable Worlds, and chatting with readers and the librarians was a lot of fun.

One male reader asked me what Tree/House was about, and I amazed myself saying, "It uses Jungian archetypal imagery to retell the Bluebeard legend." Tree/House is kind of a hard sell to a male reader, anyway, but I'm not sure what made me venture into the alienating scholarly definition of a book many people have enjoyed without knowing about Carl Jung or the Bluebeard story. Note to self: Tree/House is the story of a woman's empowerment through sleeping in trees.

Another note to self: If I had mentioned the book signing at the reading, I might have attracted more historical fiction readers to the second event. It's not easy to remember to be your own publicist when you're having fun.

Thanks to everyone who listened to the first chapter of Seven Noble Knights and who stopped by my booth! And to my mom, who was my biggest fan on Saturday!

If you just weren't in Oregon on Saturday, I did a special YouTube reading of the first chapter, which you can watch any time here.

Enjoy! And I'll see you at Harvard!

The Fourth Largest Book Festival in the United States

Partial view of the Tucson Festival of Books from the second floor
of the student union 

Only the fourth largest? In its eighth year and looking forward to the ninth, the Tucson Festival of Books sees more than 130,000 visitors over two days, with hundreds of workshops and exciting author events.

This year has been my third time at the festival, but the first time I enjoyed it as a reader only. In 2011, I was pushing my own boundaries by volunteering to run some events at the festival, and in 2012, I volunteered and helped out at the Fireship Press booth. Unforgettably wonderful experiences, yes. But the freedom of being able to do what I wanted (and especially to get out of the burning sunlight whenever necessary) combined with showing my mother around the festival—she bought a wondrous quantity of books—to create bookish bliss.

Mystery authors J. A. Jance, Margaret Coel, and Anne Hillerman
at Southwest Women of Mystery 

First, we attended a panel called "Southwest Women of Mystery" in a ballroom that can hold 640, and it was packed. I'm not too current on mysteries, so I had no idea these authors were so popular. Rightly so. Each author displayed a great sense of humor as well as adventure while they discussed their research, the Southwest, and the way their work is received in Native American communities. I ended the hour with huge respect for all of them.

The Fireship Press booth, with Loose Leaves titles visible 

The Writers Studio Tucson booth with festivalgoers and bright sunlight 

We used some free time after the the first event to visit my friends and associates at the Fireship Press and Writers Studio Tucson booths. Both are Tucson literary institutions not to be missed if you are a reader or a writer.

Next my mother and I had tickets for a session titled "Star Wars, the Shannara Chronicles, and Outlander: From Book to Screen and Back." If I thought the first event was packed, I stood corrected at this one. Everyone in the state of Arizona wanted to hear this talk. Under any other circumstances, Terry Brooks (author of the Shannara Chronicles) and Chuck Wendig (author of a ton of great stuff, including the novelization of The Phantom Menace) could fill a stadium by themselves. But they were sharing a panel with someone who commanded every reader's rapt attention. When Diana Gabaldon is in the room, anyone else is forgotten.

Terry Brooks, the moderator, and Chuck Wendig wait to the side of
Diana Gabaldon's celebrity. 

Diana Gabaldon graciously humors one of her many admirers. 

Diana Gabaldon's approach to the event was a study in literary celebrity. When she appeared from the ready room, the auditorium applauded. Then, as regal as you please, she walked slowly down the aisles, allowing the masses to take her picture as she processed. It wasn't over when she went to stand next to her copanelists. That was when the queue formed for taking selfies with the famous author. Festival volunteers had to call and end to it so the panel could actually start.

Diana Gabaldon talked about the Starz adaptation of her Outlander series, Terry Brooks shared his experience with the brand new adaptation of his Shannara Chronicles, and Chuck Wendig discussed his graphic novel Star Wars adaptations, thus the "From Book to Screen and Back" title. I adore Chuck Wendig's general wisdom and appreciated the practical way he answered an audience question about film rights. Upshot: make sure you get paid for all your rights. Terry Brooks was amazing, too, with his quips about the adaptation process and a striptease that ended at a T-shirt reading "The book was better." Diana Gabaldon got the most questions and I heard a level of detail to be expected only from utterly obsessed fans, which all of them appear to be.

The best thing about this panel was that finally, after years of my fruitless efforts to convince my mother of this fact, she said, "I guess the book and the movie are different formats and you can't really judge them by each other." Amen! If Diana Gabaldon says it, it must be true.

Charlie Lovett, the UA professor moderator, Carol Goodman, and
Jennifer Lee Carrell at Shakespeare Mysteries 

After a sack lunch and a yummy gelato from Frost, we went to a session in one of the large tents. The attraction for a panel called "Shakespeare Mysteries" was the Shakespeare part. A First Folio had been residing in Tucson for the past month and there was a big Shakespeare theme at the festival, including a booth where you could put on a ruff and crown and take your selfie with Will. Among other accomplishments, these three authors had written mystery novels with Shakespeare as a character or based on his writings. As a historical fiction lover, I was salivating over their ideas and research process and was dying to buy their books. We did, and got them signed. Where else can you do that in such a gluttonously huge quantity?

Marja Mills speaks about her relationship with Harper Lee and her family. 

We started the second day at the Arizona Daily Star tent. We didn't know with what authority Marja Mills would be talking about Harper Lee, and we didn't count on the tent being so totally packed. It was silly of us. Of course everyone wants to know what Marja Mills thinks about Harper Lee: she lived next door to her and her sister for a year and a half! Marja wove a tale of a charming pair of brilliant sisters who could tell you stories for hours on end, and a town where everyone was in everyone's business. Most importantly to me, Marja believes Harper Lee wasn't in favor of the publication of Go Set a Watchman, but what's done is done.

The Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies booth. Their imprint
Bagwyn Books is publishing my Seven Noble Knights on December 15! 

My mother has a moment with J. A. Jance. 

I think most bibliophiles would be satisfied with one of these events alone. But there's all this and so much more going on at the Tucson Festival of Books. Great local food, children's events, Science City, more bargain books than you can count, a literary circus, live music, a mariachi competition, and, and, and... This year, there was also the convenience of the First Folio being in the Arizona State Museum, which is walking distance from the festival. So we started with contemporary mysteries and ended with the Bard himself. No wonder it takes a week to recover.

See you in 2017!

Grand Finale to the Rhino Audio Series

The grand finale of the rhino audio series, a reading of my Five Species Forever flash fiction series, is about the least "grand" rhino species: the smaller Sumatran. The Sumatran is the only hairy rhino, having descended directly from the now extinct wooly rhinoceros of millennia past. Now that Harapan has left the Cincinnati Zoo, all Sumatran rhinos live in their homeland.

This story is called "Old Paintings." A whole world of fascination in less than five minutes!

Thanks for listening! I hope you enjoyed this series, which is close to my heart. More amazing 2016 news next week!

"Old Paintings" is available, with other great stories, a few with more rhinos, in the "delightfully off the beaten track" Unpredictable Worlds: Stories. Kindle • iBooks • Nook • Kobo • Smashwords• Inktera • Blio • Softcover • Softcover Indiebound • Softcover Amazon • Softcover Barnes and Noble  • Request it your local library or book store!

In the Presence of Greatness

I was honored and excited to be accepted into this little thing called Launch Lab.

I can't believe it's over. I know so much now that I never expected to discover. I had a lot of information before Launch Lab, but this program gave me the tools to sort through the information and think critically about what will work for Seven Noble Knights. Today is T minus one (leap) year and one day, or 367 days before the launch date for Seven Noble Knights, so I have just about enough time to plan.

Massive added bonus: I got to meet and share in some of the joys and sorrows of some excellent authors. In Launch Lab, we talked a bit about making ourselves seem like "regular people." Yes, we do want to seem approachable. But this group was made up of anything but regular people. There were so many accolades and so much talent in the room, I'm surprised we all fit. But we did, because everyone was so down-to-earth. I'm so proud to work with them! With me in Launch Lab 2015 were:

Moderator/Expert/Consultant Lynne Griffin is the author of the novels Sea Escape (Simon & Schuster) and Life Without Summer (St. Martin’s Press), and the nonfiction parenting guide, Negotiation Generation (Penguin). She has just launched the harrowing novel Girl Sent Away and the nonfiction companion Let's Talk About It: Adolescent Mental Health. For more about Lynne’s work, visit her website, www.LynneGriffin.com or her blog, Field Guide to Families.

Moderator/Expert/Consultant Katrin Schumann is the co-author of The Secret Power of Middle Children and Mothers Need Time-Outs, Too. Current works-in-progress include a novel of psychological suspense, a book on parenting strategies that can make or break affluent children, and ongoing editorial work for editors, agents and writers. For more info, check out her website www.katrinschumann.com and join the conversation on Twitter: @katrinschumann

Katie Bayerl's young adult novel, A Psalm for Lost Girls, will be published by Penguin/Putnam in spring 2017. Find her online at @katiebayerl, Facebook/katiebayerl, and katiebayrl.com.

Jennifer S. Brown is the author of the novel Modern Girls (NAL/Penguin, April 5, 2016), which is already getting some buzz as a most anticipated debut novel of 2016. Find her at jennifersbrown.com, on Twitter @j_s_brown, and on Facebook at authorjennifersbrown. The novel is on Goodreads.

Lindsay Hatton's evocative emotional history of the West Coast's most famous aquarium, Monterey Bay, will be released by Penguin Random House in July 19, 2016. The novel is on Goodreads.

Freelance journalist and meditation instructor Rick Heller is the author of Secular Meditation: 32 Practices for Cultivating Inner Peace, Compassion, and Joy – A Guide from the Humanist Community at Harvard, which has already launched from New World Library.

Maile Hulihan is the author of the hilarious series Trinity of Bitches, the first book of which is due out in November 2016. You can find her on Twitter @MaileHulihan, www.mailehulihan.com, or Facebook.

Katherine Ozment's first book, Grace Without God: The Search for Meaning, Purpose, and Belonging in a Secular Age, will be published by HarperWave June 21, 2016. You can find her on Facebook, Twitter (@katherineozment), or her website: www.katherineozment.com. The book is at Goodreads.

Marian McMahon Stanley's The Immaculate will be launched by Barking Rain Press in May 2016. To learn more, visit her website marianmcmahonstanley.com, or Facebook page, or follow her on Twitter @mjs_mysteries. The novel is at Goodreads.

I have it on good authority (having heard synopses and excerpts) that each of these books is worth a read and even a pre-order. Not a bad start to a To Be Read pile.

Seven Noble Knights is also at Goodreads. It's a great idea to add it to your To Read list so you can get notifications of publication and possible giveaways.

A Two-Minute Story for Your Story-Hungry Ears and New Releases

Here's another video that's meant mostly to be listened to. It's the shortest of the flash fictions in the series Five Species Forever, each of which celebrates on of the surviving species of rhinoceros.

The little rhino in this video is the cutest stuffed animal on the planet, I believe. My husband named him creatively: Rhiny. He's lived with us since before we were married and he's our favorite pet.

The black rhinoceros is the smaller of the African types and there are also fewer of them. Some 4,500 are left on the planet.

This story isn't really very fictional, unfortunately.

Enjoy! And look for the other four species soon.

As you know, I'm proud of the new edition of Tree/House. I want to disseminate it as widely as possible. On November 20, when you're not watching the final Hunger Games movies, you can have Tree House from just about any venue you like!

It's already available in Kindle and Nook and in Softcover, Softcover at Indiebound, Softcover at Amazon,  Softcover at Barnes and Noble, and you can already request it at your local library or bookstore. Many other ebook sites will have it on November 20. Preorders are available at Apple iBooks and Kobo. Buy it now and on November 20, it will magically appear! (I love preorders!)

I love preorders so much that I have a few of them going for the much-anticipated wide release of Unpredictable Worlds. As you know, at first it was in Softcover, Softcover at Indiebound,  Softcover at Amazon,  and Softcover at Barnes and Noble, but only in Kindle for ebooks. Now, it's ready for you on Nook! Those amazing preorders are being taken at Apple iBooks and Kobo, so you have something downloading to your device while you're waiting for the next showing of the final Hunger Games movie on November 20. Many other retailers will have it on November 20. If you feel like shopping at your favorite ebook retailer, it will be waiting for you!

Unpredictable Worlds contains "Safari" and many other rhinoceros stories. As you think about the holiday season and what gifts would be best for the readers in your life, please consider authors you've never tried before. At the very least, you'll be supporting a labor of love, and in the best case, you'll help your reader friend discover a new author he or she loves to read!

Stairs to the Beach from UNPREDICTABLE WORLDS

By way of a sort of podcast or vlog, just in time for Halloween, I'm sharing with you my reading of "Stairs to the Beach," the award-winning flash fiction from Unpredictable Worlds.

This is probably the most atmospheric and creepy of the flash fictions in the whole book. People with children may find it horrifying, while others may take a secret delight in it... Immerse yourself in a whole unexpected world in less than five minutes.

Enjoy! Happy Halloween!