Samhain Publishing Ltd. Weblog

Favorite Writing Books

I need motivation and inspiration…far more than I expect my friends and family to provide. I have sworn off bugging them with questions like, “Do you think I’m a good writer? Did you really like my last book, or are you just saying so to be nice? I mean, did you really, really like it? Really? Was it better than the one before? Should I do another in this series, or move on to something completely different? Can I write something completely different? What if it sucks? What if I suck, and never sell anything ever again?”

Funny, but they also seem to be less than thrilled with the latest industry news, looking at me blankly when I say. “Publisher X just got bought out by Publisher Y, which means a major restructuring. And Publisher Z has announced a twenty-percent decrease in new book releases next year…do you know what that means? And the editor I just submitted to quit. What happens to my submission? Should I call? Re-submit? Crawl into a cave and never write again?”

I’ve learned that if I am to survive in this business, I need to be my own support team. Not that the special people in my life don’t care—they do—but they have their own wishes and dreams to pursue, and can’t focus on me twenty-four-seven. So I constantly read, and re-read, books about writing and creativity. Most are filled with fabulous quotes and inspirational sayings in the margins, along with the experience and stories of other successful artists.

Here are a few of my favorites:

DUNMORE RISING

Book IV of my Demons of Dunmore series releases today.

Love is mightier than the sword…

Sir Graham Dunmore is looking forward to competing in his first summer tournament—until he gets saddled with babysitting a prince in disguise, three fairy-godmothers he would much rather see fly back to where they came from, and a woman for a squire. Gone for years, Jiliana is now back in Westmyre, older, colder, with a lethal fighting skill that leaves him both impressed and intrigued.

Jili doesn’t recognize this sleek, well-trained man as the awkward friend from her youth. But seeing Graham again brings back painful memories of a brutal past. One that forces her to live a life of tight control, lest one slip unleash a deadly monster capable of hurting everyone in her path.

Yet as Graham patiently teaches her the arts of love, Jili has a glimmer of hope that she can finally control the killer that lurks inside her—until a ninja assassin begins to stalk the tournament.

With a heavy heart, she realizes Graham is going to need every skill she possesses to protect the prince—the very skills that could tear them apart forever.

Warning: This title contains cranky fairies, a gorgeous hero, and a heroine who just about kicks his ass…plus really sizzling sex told in naughty language.

Check it out, at Samhain Publishing , and enjoy this exclusive excerpt!

BAD HAIR WEEK

I got my hair cut for the big Romantic Times Convention next week. It sucks, no doubt about it. Honestly, I don’t know why I felt the need to change my style, I had a perfectly good cut. I could roll it into a cute bob, or leave it curly if I wanted. On bad hair days I could pin it up—I was going for that Mrs. Lovett look in Sweeny Todd, just a couple of more inches and I could have had it down.

But I wanted something new, different, hip and chic. Something that says I am a happening, with it, kind of menopausal old lady. In actuality, I look more like Little Orphan Annie’s mother, my frizzy red corkscrew curls a reminder of the bad perms of the seventies—yeah, I was around then, and old enough to have a perm.

Why is it that I had planned to lose 30 pounds, take ten years worth of wrinkles off my face, and blossom into a fabulous woman of indeterminate age in just 7 days? I saw Priscilla Presley on Dancing with the Stars. She scared me. She’s had so much work she could barely talk, her cheeks didn’t move a bit when she tried to say something, and any semblance of a smile was right out. The stuff nightmares are made of.

Sigh. But is aging gracefully an option? I remember the Dove commercials of a few years ago, one had a beautiful grey-haired lady, and I thought she looked just wonderful for a woman in her fifties…then I read that she was just forty-five. Not good to be thought of as a decade older, even if the word beautiful was included.

Which is why I appreciate the anonymity of writing. In my mind, in front of my computer screen, I can be as glorious as I imagine, and if I don’t have the light on or get any glare, not even the glimmer of my true self breaks in to upset my musings. No one ever knows if I don’t have on my make-up, or if I am wearing my baggiest sweats, the ones I bought two sizes too big, just because I liked the extra belly room.

But I am still faced with the problem of my hair. I can make the style work, with a lot of hairspray and two different curling irons. I will survive, and it will grow, and maybe, in a few more years, I’ll get that Mrs. Lovett look. There was an insane sort of elegance to the mess…and I know she never once worried that the rain would make it frizzier. :)

Gia

PRINCESSOF THIEVES!

Is finally here. I love love love this story and am so happy it is now available. This is the story of Dunmore brother number two, Allard. This was a difficult book for me to write. It took ages and ages—I finished two novellas in between—and both my father and a very dear friend passed while the book was still in progress.
Life happens…you learn to write through everything.

I went over this plot so many times, even my husband was tired of hearing about it…lolol…you know you have totally overthought your work when you end with the same basic story line you started with—after you changed it seven or eight times in the middle.

But, as a famous playwrite once said, “all’s well that ends well” and Allard’s tale ends well indeed. You can read en excerpt at my author page here at Samhain: www.samhainpublishing.com/authors/gia-dawn or read a spicier tidbit at my website: www.giadawn.com

Waka

My current work in progress, next in the Demons of Dunmore series, has a distinctly oriental flavor. The heroine has studied the arts of war in the east for many years.

As I have researched eastern culture, I have come across some utterly beautiful poetry. Traditional Japanese poetry is called waka. It literally means Japanese poem. Waka has no concept of rhyme, in fact certain arrangements of rhyme (even accidental) are considered dire faults in traditional Japanese poetry.

There is little concept of line…instead waka has the unit, or phrase, which is often turned into line when the poem is translated into western languages.

In ancient times it was common for writers to exchange waka instead of prose…especially between lovers. A famous example of this is found in the book Hannibal Rising, by Thomas Harris. The exchange takes place between a young Hannibal Lector and the Japanese aunt he has fallen in love with:

~Women pick up surveillance faster than men do, as part of their survival skills, and they at once recognize desire. They also recognize its absence. She felt the change in him. Something was missing behind his eyes.

The words of her ancestor Murasaki Shikibu came to her and she said them: “The troubled waters Are frozen fast. Under Clear Heaven Moonlight and shadow Ebb and flow.”

Hannibal made Prince Genji’s classic reply:

“The memories of long love Gather like drifting snow. Poignant as the mandarin ducks Who float side by side in sleep.”

“No,” Lady Murasaki said. “No. Now there is only ice. It’s gone. Is it not gone?”
“You are my favorite person in the world,” he said quite truthfully.
She inclined her head to him and left the room.~

A very emotional scene that gets to the heart of Lector’s character.

Let me share a few more waka that I find particularly lovely. Translated by Kenneth Rexroth, 1955:

I have always known
That at last I would
Take this road, but yesterday
I did not know that it would be today. NARIHIRA (9th century)

Out in the marsh reeds
A bird cries out in sorrow,
As though it had recalled
Something better forgotten. KI NO TSURAYUKI (10th century)

This life of ours would not cause you sorrow
if you thought of it as like
the mountain cherry blossoms
which bloom and fade in a day. MURASAKI SHIKIBU (974-1031)

In the dusk the path
You used to come to me
Is overgrown and indistinguishable,
Except for the spider webs
That hang across it
Like threads of sorrow. IZUMI SHIKIBU (11th century)

Not speaking of the way,
Not thinking of what comes after,
Not questioning name or fame,
Here, loving love,
You and I look at each other. YOSANO AKIKO (modern)

I hope you have enjoyed. Gia

A Fairy Special Gift

I am gonna wow you all with a picture of my beautiful cover by Anne Cain….LOLOL

Enjoy a couple of my favorite lines from A Fairy Special Gift, and check out the rest of the Love & Lore Anthology available in both print and electronic format.

“Grabbing her sketchbook, Meara funneled her fury into her work. The drawing took shape with little effort on her part, and in less than an hour she was looking happily at her latest creation. A tiger-striped cat sat licking one paw, a fairy wing sticking out of its mouth. The other paw held a struggling fairy in its out-stretched claws.
Meara wrote the caption in satisfied amusement. Fairies, you can’t eat just one.”

Send me a note at info@giadawn.com with Samhain Anniversary in the subject line to win a signed print version of the Love & Lore Anthology, or Lord Demon’s Delight.

If you include your snail mail address, I’ll send you some fun stuff, whether you win the book or not!

You can buy the print version of the Love & Lore anthology here:
http://samhainpublishing.com/print/love-and-lore-print

Gia

Habitualities

Are there daily rituals in your life that keep you on track? Do you have to have a hot bath every night before bed? Do you meditate on a daily basis, say your prayers, have chocolate and coffee in the afternoon?
Most of us are creatures of habit. I read somewhere that nearly 90% of everything we do is habit. We get locked into a routine, stuck in a rut, wonder in fear what’s waiting outside the box.
Not that this is all bad. Our daily habits give our lives continuity and flow. They comfort us when the going gets tough, and ground us in the midst of chaos.
Nothing like that lucky shirt to cheer on a game, or that special cup we have to use everyday. (Mine is a metal thermous I got on sale at Wally world. It got me through an endless stream of too hot days this summer while having more hot flashes than I dreamed were humanly possible. They say the average woman at my stage in life has five to ten a day….LOLOL I had more than that in a single hour. Cross my heart, honest. Did I mention growing old sucks?)
But I digress…another sign I am becoming my mother. How did that happen when I fought so hard against it?
Okay, Okay…back to my favorite habits.
I have to have a bath before I settle down to write. It seperates my writing day from all the other stuff I have to do. Tells my creative brain to get in gear. I’ve come up with quite a few good ideas soaking in the tub.
I start my day the same and end my day the same. Yes, it gets boring on occasion, and yes, there are times I fight to change it.
But more often than not, with my husband and children safely home both before and after they have ventured out into the world, I count my blessings.

Lady Strumpet release day!

Yeah, Lady Strumpet, my second published work releases today! This is the story of Jane—the lovely dancer in Lord Demon’s Delight, and the unusual man who finally wins her heart.

Snapdragon, Pansy and Rose are back and up to their usual grumblings—while Jessaline and Llewellyn continue to make mad passionate love.

So lets have a giveaway! Send me an e-mail at info@giadawn.com Put Lady Strumpet in the subject line, and I will draw a name tonight at midnight EST to win a free download.

Simple enough. Come celebrate with me.
Thanks so much. Gia

Sorority Sisters

I am spending the weekend with my Sorority sisters from college…you do not want to know how long ago that was. LOL We have started to get together every year, spend the weekend, share food, successes and disappointments.

With a Little Help From my Friends

This was another author’s day to post, but in her part of the world, the electricity just wasn’t co-operating. She sent out a message for help.

So here I am, filling in. I didn’t have a great topic in mind, but one sure came up fast. How on earth can we make it without a little help from our friends?

Years ago at a writer’s conference I heard a well-known author moan “why should we train our replacements”? Granted the sentiment does have merit—if your world is filled with scarcity and competition.

My world isn’t. In my world I have been blessed to be associated with some of the most supportive, giving, and amazingly talented authors and friends I have ever met. Period.

Their talent both on and off the page boggles the mind, their energy is amazing, and their desire to spend endless hours in tasks that benefit other authors is truly cool!

So, this is a great big thank you everyone out there who has taken the time to help out a friend.

However you have done it, whoever you have done it for, know your efforts are appreciated.

Thanks from all of us who have benefited from your efforts.