Thursday 26 March 2015

Nigh 3 is available!

This is it! Halfway point, in what early readers are calling the darkest installment yet!

Pick up a copy!  Spread the word!  Eat some confetti!  No wait, don't eat the confetti.  But throw it around! Make it sparkly confetti for extra points!

WOOOO!



Alva Viola Taverner never thought she would reach safety, especially not in a world so different than her own fractured one.

But sometimes, safety can be the most dangerous blessing of all.


Wednesday 25 March 2015

Stories of Nigh Show Preview

Nigh 3 is coming out tomorrow! I'm so excited!!!

*launches confetti rocket*

Nigh 3 is the midpoint of the serialized novel. Well, sort of. BWA HA HA HA!


Part of Nigh is an experiment in mixing art forms. The whole premise comes from the old faerie stories, which were told from generation to generation.

Hence, the books will be supported and enhanced by a storytelling show, even though you don't need to hear it to enjoy the book, and vice versa. I'm premiering this show in BC next month, and I've been hard at work over the past few months developing it.

IN THE MEANTIME, I'll send parts of it out - the parts that directly relate to characters in Nigh. I have plans for these stories. I'm still ironing them out, but they're ready to be shared.

If you want to hear a bit of the upcoming show Stories of Nigh, sign up for my eNewsletter.   I'll send links out that way. It's going to be informal, because I'm an informal teller that way.

*ducks at exploding confetti rocket*

The newsletter will go out Friday, so don't miss out!

*dances and cackles madly in confetti*

Tuesday 24 March 2015

Extroversion Explosion

If you've ever met me in person and even if you aren't an extremely astute person, you may have noticed that I definitely possess a strong penchant for extroversion. I'm not necessarily about all crowds all the time (though it is easier to get away with tripping people this way), but human interaction works out for me.

Funny thing is: working from home as a writer means that YOU STAY ALONE WITH YOURSELF ALLLLL DDAAAAYYYY LOOONNG!  (I know - weird, eh?)

Almost eight months ago, I'd practically pounce my very introverted Roomy when she got home. We have a French door separating our foyer from our house. I'd stand on the other side waiting for her to cross.  I probably looked psychotic.  I can assure you she looked frightened and a little bit sad.

I learned to curb the crazy extrovert and wait for her to come to me. Like a gazelle. I'd hold out my twitching hand with some chocolate (keeping fingers flat so as not to get bit), and see if she'd come to me. Sometimes, she's bounce upstairs in a flurry. Other times, she'd come over. 

IT WAS UNPREDICTABLE BUT MY EXTROVERSION IS PREDICTABLE!

I invited friends over, but then I became less productive. I met my writing buddy Linda Poitevin once a week for coffee, and almost burst with extroversion every time (sorry, Linda). I wanted to get out of my head so bad at times that I'd go chat up random people in the mall. I'd call up my bank just to say hi. The people at my Internet provider don't even pick up anymore.  I'm like a mad flurry of activity on social media.

And this, people, is me playing it cool.

Part of learning to be a full time writer, aside from mastering routines and time management, is learning to know more about myself. I always *knew* I was an extrovert, but since I had daily contact with people, it never struck me how much I needed that regular human interaction.

Thing is, it's actually impacting my writing. I get an energy from people that I can't duplicate on my own, and that energy goes into the writing. So, basically, I'm learning that I'm better for regular interaction.

Hu.

No one told me that in writing school. Wait, I didn't go to writing school. What do I know.  Still, not wanting to ignore clear signs of growing insanity, I'm going to be helping out on a part-time basis at a local arts organization. I'll get to chat with people and have regular interactions again.

Best part of working in any organization is that people are paid to stand each other.  Brilliant, no?  

I'm very excited by this opportunity. I'm still part of a vibrant community while getting out a few days a week. I've already reworked my routine so word count will stay up.  I'm actually thinking it might increase, but that remains to be seen. 

It's interesting to discover a whole new level of insanity that I didn't even know existed, and to learn about where my inspiration comes from. I feel like I'm figuring out where the sizzling energy of writing comes from, at least for me.

Then I can bottle it and drink it at will!  HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!  (Soylent Green Beverage. Be the most human you can be.  Bwa ha ha ha ha!)

... I know, I know, I need to get out more.  I know! Believe me.  I really know.

And I am.

Monday 23 March 2015

Ad Astra Schedule!

Parté time in Toronto!

FRIDAY, APRIL 10, 2015

Storytelling Show: Stories of Nigh
9:00 PM - 10:00 PM
Room: Markham B

Come hear stories of the darkest faeries, from old folklore to the current day. Step into this faerie circle and you'll never be the same again... (PG)

Podcasting After Dark 2: Kaiju Boogaloo
10:00 PM - 11:00 PM
Room: Newmarket
With Adam Shaftoe, Kate Heartfield, Matt Moore
A critical deconstruction of gender, racism, sexism, and ableism in Warhammer 40K, peeling back the layers rather than genuflecting to the static fan culture that WH40K has built up over the years.

Late Night Slash Fiction Readings
Time: 11:00 PM - 12:00 AM
Panelists: Michael Matheson, Leah Bobet, Angela Keeley, Simon McNeil, Adam Shaftoe, Kris Ramsey, Beverly Bambury, Kari Maaren, Marie Bilodeau, David Blackwood (Other panelists welcome.)

Note from organizer Michael Matheson: The end time on this panel is an approximation. This one goes as long as the panelists and the audience feel like running it. Also, this panel is alcohol enabled and welcoming. BYOB. (Though some will be provided by yours truly.) All readings will ideally be no more than 500 words. (It’s good in theory, we’ll see how that holds up.)
Late Night 18+ Slash Fiction reading – exactly what it says. BYO Fiction, brain bleach and sense of humour. Viewer discretion is 200% advised.


SATURDAY, APRIL 11, 2015

CAN-CON PARTY
2:00 PM - 4:00 PM
There will be caffeine and a tar pit of chocolate where you can dip dinosaur cookies! Ha ha ha ha! Celebrate the circle of life as you get sugared up.

When the Gods Run Amok: Ancient, New and Urban Mythology
Time: 7:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Room: Markham B
Panelists: Chadwick Ginther, Doug Smith, Kelley Armstrong

Urban fantasy gives us the chance to play around with our archetypal fairy tales and mythology. We can bring the gods down to our level and we get to bring magic into the everyday. Why is this so compelling?


SUNDAY, APRIL 12, 2015

Reading: Marie Bilodeau & Geoff Gander
Time: 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Room: Whitchurch

We're fun.  Come on out!

Fairy Tales: Rewriting Grimm, Anderson and Aesop Time: 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Room: Richmond A
Panelists: Alisse Lee Goldenberg, Anne Bishop, Charles de Lint, Ellie Di Julio

Fairy Tales have been through the press a few times - they've gone from dark and twisted to Disneyfied and back again - they see-saw between "kid friendly" and "dear sweet Satan I am never sleeping again". Fairy Tales are every where, they are archetypal and they inform our lives from childhood on. Why do we cling to them and what do we want from them?

Friday 20 March 2015

No rest for the Weary or the Wicked....

Nigh is reaching its halfway point with Nigh 3, which will be released next Thursday!

Have you had a chance to catch up on the faerie-pocalypse, yet?  Alva and her friends had a rough time so far (faeries are MEAN!), and survival is not guaranteed.

Book 3 is a departure (which I won't spoil), where safety could prove the most disastrous blessing.

Here's the cover, with a sample below!  THERE WILL BE TREATS FOR MY E-NEWSLETTER SUBSCRIBERS NEXT WEEK!  Consider yourself warned. Sign up now.

_______________________________________________________________________________

Water trickled through the crack in the windshield, reflecting twilight. Despite the sun, it glittered with darkness. Alva Viola Taverner looked at it with a strange disconnect, counting the drops as they fell on the dashboard and slid, still glittering, out of the bright sunlight.

Her head chimed with music from distant flutes. And bells.

She watched the water drip down the dashboard, down. She was leaning back on her seat. Her head hurt, but the sounds seemed to keep the pain at bay. She couldn’t move her arms, her body shrouded in the fatigue of an interrupted deep sleep.

The water dripped off the dashboard. Like a diamond tear it fell, then landed on her jeans. It stayed perfectly round against the blue denim, then smoke started to form, wisps of dark glitter.

Pain struck like a sledgehammer, shattering the pleasant numbness and silencing the music in her head. She shot up, screamed and threw open Percival’s door in an attempt to escape more dripping water. Another drop narrowly missed her leg, sizzling on Percival’s floor mat.

Her leg, head, heck, her entire body hurt. Her breath exploded out in short bursts and the sun burned her eyes. She knelt and lowered her head, afraid she would throw up. She closed her eyes and focused on her breathing, slowing it down, trying to still her mind and body.

Each gasp came coated with a different scent. Lilies of the valley. Lavender. Cotton candy. Cookies. Alva re-opened her eyes but kept her head lowered, cold realization numbing her hands.

She wasn’t in her world, anymore.
_______________________________________________________________________________

(Ooooooooo!)

Thursday 19 March 2015

Nigh 1 is available in PRINT! MY FIRST HARDCOVER! *swoon*

In the tradition of fairy tale books, Nigh 1 is now available as a beautiful hard cover edition, with special hand drawn art inside (by Kerri Elizabeth Gerow, the artist who did the cover art).  You can order your copy online or get one from your bookstore (go nuts and encourage them to get them in if they don't stock it!)

If you do buy one, send me a note about it and I'll gladly mail you a signed bookplate.  Or, find me at a convention!  

I'll be at Ad Astra next, and I'll definitely have copies with me.  Check out where in the country I'll be in April.  I got exhausted just updating April, so I'll update the rest later. 


Here are some links where you can order the hardcover edition:

And look at some of the pretty art!


The end is NIGH!

If you haven't read the book, this looks romantic.
The FEELS!

Monday 2 March 2015

GUEST POST: Letting the Words Flow

I've invited Jamieson to write guest posts here before, notably his Writing Past the Wall post. Jamieson is a good friend and writer, and just a nice all around guy. Check out his stuff!

A lot of people have asked me how I write. The truth is, I work best when I just sit at the computer and write what comes out.

I've tried plotting books many times, however all those plotted books have become my unfinished works. I get too bogged down in plotting, in making sure that every detail is perfect, that I lose the story and it get stuck midway.

At that point, I usually leave it aside and work on something else hoping that a new work will clear out the cobwebs and let the sun shine through to clarity. Sometimes this works. Three  of my recent works (69B, The Other Side of Oz and my most recent work in progress Boy Friends) were all overly plotted, set aside novels that I came back to eventually.

Other times, I'm not so lucky. I have tons of short stories, several novels and hundreds of poems that are just sitting there, waiting to be finished. But you know what? That's okay. They will always be there waiting to find their happy ending.

I've tried plotting and it always leads to writers block. It doesn't work for me. So I always go back to what works for me, what an old high school teacher would call verbal diarrhea of the mind. I know that there are lots of writers who plot as if their life depends on it. I'm just not one of them.

My writing starts from an idea, a nugget of inspiration, and goes from there. I have a general idea of where the story will end up but that's it. I always let my characters say what they want and do what they want to do rather than control them and have to deal with the resulting writers block.

Really, I think of myself as an automatic writer. I just let the words flow. Sure, on the first draft, there are far too many words and a lot of it isn't good. However, the secret to good writing is just writing what wants to come out. The rest can be fixed in edits.

The same trick works well for titles, too.

When I was thinking of a title for my new collection of poems, Talking with the Earth, I was stuck. I had published Talking to the Sky last year. That title had just come to me and it made sense with regard to where the poems came from.

I had been struck with Multiple Sclerosis in 2013. For several months, I would stare at my computer screen, the blank white page mocking me. It felt as if I was trying to talk to clouds. When I was able to write again, that image stuck in my head and the title was there, already formed.

When I came to the title for the next book of poems, I was stuck. I had the idea of doing a series of poetry collections, each representing one of the elements. Talking to the Sky was Air, so the next one would be for Earth. Trouble was, I didn't want to just name it Talking to the Earth.

So I did what I normally do when I hit a mental wall. I had a good think about it. I walked away from the title and focused on writing the poems and I thought about what I was trying to say with this collection. Whereas Talking to the Sky had been all about coming to terms with what my life was like now and trying to push past the wall to learn to write again, the new collection was different. This collection of poems was all about letting go of the past, of moving forward along the path I was on and regaining my strength and sense of self.

I knew that I wasn't talking to the Earth; that felt wrong.  Instead, I was working with it and listening to what it had to tell me. Then it hit me: Talking with the Earth. Who would have thought that so much went into the title of a book?

Now I'm stuck on the title for my third poetry collection, that has a working title of Talking to the Flame. I know I'll think of the right title. I just have to stop over thinking it and let the words flow...

Get a copy of Talking with the Earth in ebook or paperback.

_______________________________

Jamieson is an award-winning, bestselling author of over sixty books. He is a poet, a blogger and, above all, a story teller. 

Jamieson is also an accomplished artist. He works in mixed media, charcoal, pastels and oil paints. He is also something of an amateur photographer, a poet, perfume designer and graphic designer.

He currently lives in Ottawa Ontario Canada with his cat, Tula, who is fearless. You can find Jamieson at home at www.jamiesonwolf.com. You can also read his blog at www.jamiesonwolfauthor.wordpress.com.