Chapter 20 is posted

To our fans of "Quest for Nobility" Chapter 20 is posted over at Otharia.com. The plot thickens and Eclair tells the twins about the conspiracy to frame them for opening the death portal that killed the Dalcon team. Darius and Dyla don't want to believe it, but have no choice when they find out who Eclair overheard talking about their imminent arrest.

The twins have no choice and must flee if they want to stay alive long enough to find out who is ultimately behind the plot to destroy the House of Telkur. The question is, where can they go? Every portal opening on the planet can be tracked by its signature coordinates. Eclair suggests a bold plan - travel off-world.

“Where is this place?” Darius asked.

“It’s a planet called Earth,” Trinity replied. “Our ancestors had a colony there, but the place was officially quarantined after the exploration party was lost in some kind of disaster. No one really knows what actually happened.”

And the adventure begins.......

Real Writers

No nonsense agent, Janet Reid, has an excellent post today about what constitutes a "real writer." You can read it here. I want to give a big shout out to Janet, thank you for your blog. You tell it like it is, no sugar coating and I love that.

You must be a writer if:

1. You've actually finished a novel.
2. You post your finished novel online.
3. You self-publish your finished novel.

I think you get the picture. You ARE a writer if you've actually sat down and written a complete novel. It doesn't matter if you receive a publishing contract for the novel, it only matters that you finished it. Many people talk about writing a book, but few have the dedication it takes to plot out and actually write the damn thing to the end.

Dave and I have written and finished two novels. We have a great time writing them. If they never get published by a "big publishing company" we'll be a little disappointed of course, but it won't take away anything that we find so enjoyable about writing them.

So, thank you Janet Reid for setting the record straight.

Sharing too much Information

Editorial Anonymous has a great post about authors sharing too much personal information with the audience at signing events. You can read the entire post here. Basically, she warns authors that any information you would share in your therapist's office or while wearing a hospital gown should not reach public ears.

I think this is also true for author blogs. I've posted about this before. It's sometimes difficult to remember what you post on your blog can be seen by the entire world. Do you want embarrassing personal information about yourself to live on the internet forever? If your funny stories can be told in mixed company at cocktail parties or other gatherings without horrifying people, then it's probably OK to share them on your blog.

Chapter 19 is up

Chapter 19 - Deception, has been posted at our author site Otharia.com. Darius, Dyla and Eclair have won the Grand Competition, but at what cost? There is a cloud of suspicion surrounding the twins regarding the origin of the death portal. Could a telepath and an empath combine powers to open a portal? It's never been done before.

Did they open the death portal because they were going to lose to the Dalcon team? Or is there a greater conspiracy to eliminate the House of Telkur once and for all. Who is behind it? Read on and gather the clues.

Chapter 18 is posted

For all those who are following the adventures of twins, Darius and Dyla, Chapter 18 is now posted. This chapter, Race to the Finish, is the last obstacle our trio have to face before crossing the finish line of the Grand Competition.

Do they have enough stamina to finish? What will happen to Eclair with the poison flowing through his system? Will the healers reach him in time to save his life? Head on over to the Otharia website and find out.

It's great seeing our visitor count tick up considerably on Sunday/Monday. Dave and I hope you're enjoying our story. We'd love to hear your comments so sign the Guestbook and let us know what you're thinking or feel free to leave a comment here.

A Day in the Life of Dave

Here's my co-writer's first contribution to our blog. Remember he's a retired Marine. Enjoy walking in Dave's shoes.

How do you get rid of a pain-in-the-ass co-worker? Can't shoot ‘em, so what’s left? I can only recommend that you take a moment to reflect on my experience before you decide how you would handle your own situation.

Brief story – I had a nagging co-worker who seemed to love nothing more than hearing himself speak. One morning, he cornered me and started his nonsensical babble. I was already stressed out and had no time or patience to be ‘politically correct’ with him. So, in my typical ‘retired jarhead’ fashion, I told him to leave me alone. I suggested a place for him to go and even what he could do when he got there. He stopped talking and stared at me a moment, then turned around and left, just as I wanted him to. Problem solved.

So you can imagine my dilemma 2 weeks later when I needed his support for a job I had to do. I tried everything I could think NOT to go and ask him for help. I could just imagine what he would say, “Why don’t you go to ….”. In the end, I had no choice but to ask for his help. Imagine my surprise when he readily agreed to help, with no accompanying malice or ill will. In the end, after a successful job, I was thinking what I had said to him that fateful morning and that maybe, just maybe, I might have reacted too quickly and a little too harshly. So I thought about it for awhile and then said to myself…

“Aw, fuck him, the job’s finished.”

Red Sox Swing Doctor

MIT's Media Lab researchers will be helping the Red Sox players improve their swings by strapping sensors on the players to gauge the physical forces they exert when swinging a bat or throwing a ball. How cool is that?

To read the full story, go to the MIT News page here.

Chapter 16 and 17 are posted

Chapter 16 and 17 are now posted over at our author site, Otharia. Read about the harrowing adventures of Darius, Dyla and Eclair as they make their way through the obstacles in the Grand Competition.

Meanwhile, someone [no spoilers here!] is not very happy about their progress so far and plans to do something to slow them down. Will the sabotage work?

Writing by Hand

Our street lost power today for a few hours and as I lay in bed thinking about what I could actually do without electricity, it made me wonder how many people write anything in long hand these days. When was the last time you wrote in a spiral notebook? When I was in school, we had spiral notebooks for every subject. Yes, I realize I'm dating myself here.

Most of us use computers or our phones for communication and between instant messaging, texting, facebook and twitter, I wonder when was the last time any of us wrote a full sentence without abbreviations? Is this the future for the next generation? What will inspire the next generation's writers?

Luckily, the power has been restored and I'm back on my computer posting and working on our current WIP. As much as I love the written word, I didn't relish the thought of writing out in long hand the next scene.

So what about you? When was the last time you wrote a letter, a journal entry or even a school paper in long hand?

World's Shortest Fairytale

This fairytale was forwarded to me by my co-writer Dave:

Once upon a time, a guy asked a girl 'Will you marry me?'

The girl said, 'NO!'

And the guy lived happily ever after and rode motorcycles
and went fishing and hunting and played golf a lot and drank beer and
Crown Royal and had tons of money in the bank and left the toilet
seat up and farted whenever he wanted.

The End

I could say a lot about this, but I won't. I'm going to give my brother his moment to shine in the "spotlight" because, of course, I'm the best sister ever.

Chapter 15 is posted

Chapter 15 of "Quest for Nobility" is up over at our author site, Otharia.com.

Our unlikely trio, Darius, Dyla and Eclair, have just completed their first objective in the Grand Competition. Eclair has done something no one else has ever seen, but there's a long way to go before they can relax.

If you're enjoying the story, leave us a comment here or sign into our guest book at the author pages. We'd love to hear from you!

Royalty Check

I watched "Bones" last night and loved how Brennan casually threw out her sales numbers and oh yeah, she has already received a "very large" royalty check.

If only it could be that easy.....

Future of Health Care?

Here's a cartoon from the MIT's Faculty Newsletter about the future of health care. It's quite clever and a little scary. What do you think? Don't you love those MIT techies?

The bat on the bottom is for anesthesia and the Mental health lists says:

1) Bang your head against the wall

2) Stop

3) Feel Better?

4) Repeat as necessary

MacArthur Foundation awards 2009 Genius Grants

It is awesome to see the MacArthur Foundation select a poet, short story writer and a novelist among its 2009 Fellows. These grants are very prestigious. Fellows receive $500,000 "genius grants."

The MacArthur Foundation supports creative people and effective institutions committed to building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world. In addition to selecting the MacArthur Fellows, the Foundation works to defend human rights, advance global conservation and security, make cities better places, and understand how technology is affecting children and society.

Congratulations to all the 2009 Fellows. Click here for the link to the full list.

Thumbs Up for the Writers of "House"

Last night's episode of "House" was raw and engaging. I'm glad for something different instead of the usual formula - you know--a patient gets assigned to House and his team, they usually nearly kill him two or three times before House has a quirky connection and bam, the patient is diagnosed and cured.

I hope the rest of the season focuses more on the emotions of the cast and not so much on the medicine. I'm looking forward to it.

500 Visitors!

Wow, the visitor count hit 500 yesterday. That's awesome, but still a long way to go before we gather a loyal following.

So leave me your comments and let me know what you're thinking!

Querying Again

"The Crystal Facade" featuring the Otharian twins, Darius and Dyla Telkur, has been finished now for a few months, numerous rounds of edits have been done and Dave and I are satisfied with it. It's time to start the querying process.

Lots of research to do trying to match our science fiction story with agent wants. Sending out queries in batches of 10 or so to see how agents respond to our query letter. If we get too many rejections in a row, we'll know it's time to tweak the query letter again.

Persistence, perseverance and patience - the 3 P's of the querying process. Oh yeah, throw in some luck with that too! Hopefully, we'll catch the eye of an agent this fall.

In the meantime, it's back to the hero of our WIP. BTW, we changed his name to Rathbone Blare - has a nice ring to it doesn't it?

A Fantasy is Born

After numerous discussions and a lively 3-hour long Skype session on Sunday, Dave and I have hammered out the outline for our next writing project. We are moving ahead on a fantasy this time.

We went back and forth many times on the main characters, conflicts, and the general characteristics of this new world. It was engaging, stimulating and at times frustrating, but we kept an open mind and our egos in check and came out with a great new story.

We're both happy with the general outline and can't wait to start writing the adventures for our hero, Christian.

Hubble is awe inspiring

New pictures are being taken by the newly repaired Hubble Telescope and they are unbelievable. The colors that are out in space are gorgeous.

Looking at these galaxies gives me so many new ideas for my science fiction writing. How many alien races do you think there could be in each of those billions and billions of stars within the 3 galaxies? Just mind blowing stuff.

September 11

September 11 evokes all kinds of memories for each individual. I'll never forgot that day. My daughter was getting ready to head off to her college class when she called me to say a plane had crashed into one of the twin towers.

Everyone in the office gathered around a television and watched helplessly as the second plane slammed into the second tower. It was surreal - like watching a movie, except it wasn't a movie. It was horrifying.

My heart and prayers go out to all those who lost loved ones on that terrible day. I hope that in the intervening years, you have found some peace.