Blessed Samhain!

Happy Halloween to my readers, and a blessed, magical Samhain to my fellow Pagans!

Yasmine

Winners of the Bone Magic ARC Contest!

The two winners of the BONE MAGIC ARC contest are:

Happy Twilighter
Scott Romanski

Congratulations! My assistant Justine will be emailing you soon.

Thank you everyone for playing--it was fun!

Yasmine

Walking Down Memory Lane...

I’m walking down memory lane tonight. I’m walking in the shadows and joys of my past—and thinking of people I haven’t seen in years. Some, I wonder about. Others, I would like to see again. Still others—are better off left behind, no matter how curious I am as to if they made it through.

There are songs I can’t listen to anymore because they bring back parts of my life I need to leave in the shadows, there are movies that I don’t watch for the same reason.

But now and then, a good glimmer of my former youth comes through. Like tonight when my favorite roommate from college sent me a picture of us with a few of our friends we hung out with.

I looked at it, then laughed and shook my head. What a time we had back then. We were free spirits and it’s a wonder we didn’t die from a few of the stupid things we did. But we had fun for that time period. In honor of that memory, I’ve got Pink Floyd on for the moment, and I’m letting myself wander through the years gone past.

I was a party girl. I started college young and in 1979, when I hit The Evergreen State College, I was 18 and a junior. And I had already been away from home for most of the past year. I’d hitchhiked to California with one of my sisters and lived with her for awhile, I’d been engaged (and disengaged), even though I’d been madly in unrequited love with a dear friend—one of those I will leave in the shadows because I’d rather remember him as he was and not the person I last remember him becoming.

I had my Associates of Arts degree and was ready to take on the world—I was out to be an author, and I was going to publish my first book before I was 22. I knew it in my gut. I was all about experiencing life and looking for love.

Within one year, things would begin to unravel, and within two, I would make some choices that still nag at me today. But all of what I experienced made me who I am now—so none of it was wasted.

But when this picture was taken, I was happy for the most part. I was insecure about my body, hating the way I looked, but I loved my friends and I enjoyed my life and I had a lot of fun.
So here…yes, it’s blurry but that attests to the fact that it was taken in 1980. I’m the one on the left.





My roomie (whom I reconnected with a couple years ago and am thrilled to have hooked up with again) is standing next to me in the orange dress. And our friends—Steve, Nellie, and Nina—were all part of our circle. I can’t remember who took the picture, but here’s a rare glimpse from my past. Almost 30 years ago. A lifetime ago, in some respects.

Yasmine

Never After Release Day

Go buy, read, enjoy!

Yeasty Werewolves, Demented Tweeters and Color Coding for fun and prophets

Today, one of the rare, inarguably humorous and downright bizarre moments of clarity and craziness happened on Twitter, when Yasmine Galenorn innocently mentioned a problem she was having, transposing letters in the name “Doug” to the typo, “Dough.”

Below, you'll find the transcript of this metamorphosis from typo to adventures in baking. To help readers out, I have color coded the tweets, but left the content unedited. In other words, I am not responsible for any minor dementias reading the following transcript might inspire. However, I absolutely encourage fans of these ladies, kitchen divas and those who just like to play with their food, to bake us your hairiest, scariest Yeasty Werewolves! Let the dough (and fur) fly, take pictures and send them to me at gev.assistant AT gmail DOT com. If your doughy creations are actually edible, too, send us your recipes. And maybe some “process pictures” so we can see how you bring your werewolves to life. We’ll post the submissions on Yasmine’s blog.

Justine Greene, Geek Gyrl Friday and Yasmine Galenorn's assistant

Yasmine Galenorn
Shiloh Walker
Stacia Kane
J.L. Anderson
Happy Twilighter
Sassy Outwater


Yasmine Galenorn: GAH. I keep trying to spell my character Doug's name as: Dough. I KNOW that's gonna slip through spell check at some point.

Shiloh Walker: @YasmineGalenorn *G* I've got a friend named Scott. every time I write him, I always write SCOOT at least once.

Yasmine Galenorn: @shilohwalker ROFL...I have no idea why I'm suddenly calling him Dough. Just so not a good image. LOL

Yasmine Galenorn: Back to turning Dough into Doug. Doug the werewolf. See (almost did it again, typed it as Dough). doughy werewolf NOT that appealing.

Stacia Kane: @YasmineGalenorn @shilohwalker "Oh, Dough, YES!! You're so big and strong, Dough! I love you, Dough."

Yasmine Galenorn: @StaciaKane @shilohwalker Dough, oh Dough, give me your baguette now! I can't wait! You smell so yeasty!

Stacia Kane: @YasmineGalenorn @shilohwalker @Zombie_Joe As long as he doesn't giggle when you press his tummy.

Yasmine Galenorn: @StaciaKane @shilohwalker Now I'm cringing, you know. LOL

Yasmine Galenorn: Okay, now I think I'm gonna change his name. Thank you very much! LOL @Zombie_Joe @StaciaKane @shilohwalker

Shiloh Walker: @YasmineGalenorn ewww.... yeasty male. not appetizing.about 3 hours ago from TweetDeck in reply to YasmineGalenorn

Shiloh Walker: ok, right now? Glad I'm NOT eating bread with my dinner. @StaciaKane @YasmineGalenorn @Zombie_Joe

Yasmine Galenorn: And Doug the doughy werewolf is now Bran. Still fiber but hey, looks better.

Shiloh Walker: @YasmineGalenorn Branflakes.

J. L. Anderson: @YasmineGalenorn Ok. I laughed way too much about the yeasty werewolf. There is something wrong with me. LOL!

Yasmine Galenorn: @shilohwalker Oh man, that's a whole new level of nasty to think about!

Yasmine Galenorn: So today, my life has been spent writing, raving about my wonderful assistant, and talking about yeasty werewolves. Um...

Yasmine Galenorn: @shilohwalker You could have take Meatloaf and Dough the yeasty werewolf and have yourself a strange little sandwich.

Shiloh Walker: @YasmineGalenorn I would so totally pass on that sandwich.

Yasmine Galenorn: Oh, the pain of having the laughing hordes make fun of my yeasty poppin' fresh werewolf. *woe is me* @StaciaKane @shilohwalker @JL_Anderson

Yasmine Galenorn: Y'all do realize I'm allergic to yeast--quite a strong allergy, actually. *grins* @KateRothwell @shilohwalker @StaciaKane

Shiloh Walker: @YasmineGalenorn well, apparently your yearnings for yeasty bread are coming out in your work. ;-)

Yasmine Galenorn: @shilohwalker Probably so. Subconscious. Freudian slice.

Stacia Kane: @YasmineGalenorn @KateRothwell @shilohwalker A STRONG allergy? A MANLY allergy? Does it have big muscles and a hairy chest?

Yasmine Galenorn: @StaciaKane You're a bad, bad girl. Bad girl! Soooo bad. *grins*

Shiloh Walker: @StaciaKane oven-fresh.@Zombie_Joe @YasmineGalenorn

Shiloh Walker: @YasmineGalenorn Well, ya know, the heroine would probably love to come home to smell of fresh baking bread. @StaciaKane @JL_Anderson

Stacia Kane: @YasmineGalenorn @shilohwalker @JL_Anderson *evil cackle*

Yasmine Galenorn: You do realize I expect one of you to bake me a loaf of werewolf shaped bread and send me a picture! @StaciaKane @shilohwalker @JL_Anderson

Shiloh Walker: @StaciaKane hairy yeast. oh that is so totally yuck... @YasmineGalenorn @KateRothwell @shilohwalker

Yasmine Galenorn: Yeast DOES get all hairy if you leave it out long enough. EWWW. @shilohwalker @StaciaKane

Shiloh Walker: @YasmineGalenorn oh, yuck. but then again, bread gets fuzzy if you let it go moldy. So glad I had no bread for dinner.

Yasmine Galenorn: @shilohwalker @StaciaKane @JL_Anderson Gotta be named Dough though. Doug Dough, the yeasty manly hairy werewolf.

Shiloh Walker: @YasmineGalenorn We need @redrobinreader . She bakes bread. @StaciaKane @JL_Anderson

Shiloh Walker: @YasmineGalenorn this is becoming a frightening conversation. @StaciaKane @JL_Anderson

Yasmine Galenorn: I think we passed sane quite some time ago. I'm just hoping we don't hit bottom too hard. LOL @shilohwalker @StaciaKane @JL_Anderson

Shiloh Walker: @YasmineGalenorn well, sane is relative. but scary is scary. this is getting scary. :OP @StaciaKane @JL_Anderson

Yasmine Galenorn: @RubiJayne If you make it, I want a picture!!! Can't eat bread, but I can look at it!

Shiloh Walker: think i'm gonna go write before @YasmineGalenorn warps my brain permanently. #amwriting

Yasmine Galenorn: @shilohwalker Too late, babe. Too late. I'm good at warping brains. This is my season, you know! *hums Season of the Witch*

Yasmine Galenorn: @RubiJayne *grins* Which head? (I am so bad)

Yasmine Galenorn: In honor of my demented ramblings with @shilohwalker & @StaciaKane about my typo that turned Doug the werewolf into Dough the werewolf...

Yasmine Galenorn: ...and the gutter that conversation quickly slid into, if anybody bakes a werewolf shaped loaf of bread in the next week or so, send my

Yasmine Galenorn: assistant @GeekGyrlFriGEV a note, take a picture, and we'll stick the picture on my blog!

Yasmine Galenorn: Hee hee... Yeasty Werewolf Fans stand by....something showing up on my blog in a bit. ;)

Yasmine Galenorn: I'm a gunna put pics of people's werewolf shaped bread on my blog if they bake it! @StaciaKane

Stacia Kane: @YasmineGalenorn I totally want to bake werewolf-shaped bread now. Hmm...how can I make that happen?

Yasmine Galenorn: You could do it like a sculpture-use dough in small pieces to form the various body parts. I've made phallic shaped bread b4. @StaciaKane

Yasmine Galenorn: @SassyOutwater You missed the genesis of the yeasty werewolf fun that will soon be on my blog. Bake me werewolf shaped bread, woman!

Sassy Outwater: @YasmineGalenorn hahaha! No I didn't miss it! I saw the conversation! Staring at my planner, searching for time to bake! Hmm..33 minutes ago from Tweets60

Yasmine Galenorn: @SassyOutwater And send me a pic of it for my blog!

Sassy Outwater: @YasmineGalenorn you really wanna see a blind chick's idea of a werewolf? Talk about demented! This is gonna be amusing!

Sassy Outwater: I cannot believe I am writing "Bake werewolf bread" on my calendar. The things we do for our friends! Lol

Yasmine Galenorn: She's my buddy. RT @SassyOutwater: I cannot believe I am writing "Bake werewolf bread" on my calendar. The things we do for our friends! Lol

Happy Twilighter: @YasmineGalenorn @SassyOutwater the question for those of us only seeing that one post is... is it made OF or FOR werewolves?? haha

Yasmine Galenorn: @HappyTwilighter Shaped like werewolves. *grins* Justine's writing something up for the blog.

Yasmine Galenorn: @HappyTwilighter Started with a bad typo: I kept turning Doug the werewolf into Dough the werewolf. I twittered about it. It just went

Yasmine Galenorn: @HappyTwilighter downhill from there. LOL Finally ended up all yeasty and hairy. LOL

That Burnt Orange Season: When Ghosts Walk (Bone Magic ARC Contest)

Yes, today, you'll have a chance to win one of TWO Bone Magic ARCs. Read on.

Folklore, myth and legend have always captivated me. I read through all the fairytales I could find when I was very young. I read Aesop's Fables for fun. I hunted down mythology and reveled in the tales of the Greeks and Romans. The Faerie lore of Celtic countries--well, actually, worldwide because it is a worldwide phenomenon--always intrigues me. Yes, I do believe in the Fae--but not in Tinkerbell's type. My beliefs in the Fae hearken back to the wild folk of legend, to the glorious Sidhe and to their darker cousins, to the goblins and kobolds and kelpie and pooka and bean sidhe. And when I write about them, the Fae in my worlds are not safe, nor are they cute.

And then, there are the delightful creatures of legend and myth that truly belong to October--the vampires and the werewolves, the shapeshifters and ghosts and things that go bump in the night. Now, I firmly do believe in ghosts. As to werewolves and the rest, I keep an open mind. But ghosts--ghosts are perfect for October. Ghosts can be found year round, but really, what better time to watch spooky movies and tell tales of things that go bump in the night, than this glorious burnt orange season. (I admit, I got that phrase off a card. I love it, and it speaks volumes to this time of year).

As I said, I do believe in ghosts. As you know, I'm a 'modern-day' shamanic witch. I've dealt with spirits and ghosts--clearing them from a few houses. And now and then, I find them dropping in on me. I admit, they can, and do, spook me, even though I'm used to the idea that they exist.

One spirit in particular scared the hell out of me and my friends. We'd cleared a few houses for people before, but this was the hardest one to shake loose. There were several spirits living in Cindy’s house, and most were willing to go once we showed them the way. But this one ghost--an old man, a vicious old man--didn’t want to budge. Finally we managed to roust him out of there but over the course of that evening, the spirit pulled several tricks on us, including manifesting as a skull. My friend D. and I happened to glance at a door that had a window in the top half (it was an inner door, so nobody was outside pulling pranks) and we plainly saw a skull with glowing eyes staring at us. Talk about low budget horror film fodder, but at the time it was terrifying.

For witches, Wiccans, and Pagans (I’m a pagan and witch, but not Wiccan--but we all share similar beliefs), Samhain--November 1st (and pronounced Sow-een)--is the day of the dead. The day when we celebrate those who've gone before and pay honor to the dead whom we miss. During this time, in my tradition, we invite our lost loved ones to join us, to visit and spend an evening with us. One of our rituals is to perform a silent meditation, thinking about what they meant in our lives, what we learned from them, and quite often we'll catch glimpses of them, or snippets of conversations from them. We usually do this on the night of October 31st, the time when the veils between the world are thinnest.

During one Samhain, I was sitting in my living room and the spirit of a tiny kitten--a little orange tabby--crawled in my lap. I could see my dress shift as it curled up on my lap. I started to cry because I realized it didn't understand that it was dead. I called to the Lady Bast, who cares for all cats, and asked her to help it over to the other side. I've seen a number of cat spirits, I think they feel safe in our house.

And on another Samhain, we gathered with friends and a young man appeared in the doorway. I could see him clear as day. He was wearing a mechanics uniform and carrying a motorcycle helmet and he told me, "Nobody remembers me…" After the meditation, we all talked about what we'd experienced and a friend of mine, when I described the red-haired young man, let out a startled shout. Turns out that years before, she'd dated a young man named Rusty. He had red hair, he was a mechanic, and he'd died in a motorcycle accident. So after that, she included him in her remembrances at Samhain.

After my mother died, she began to show up here now and then. She always looked so much happier and so much stronger than she had during life. I know she keeps an eye on me, and she also shows up at my sister Wanda's house. Mom's watching over her girls in death, since she couldn't do so in life.

So tell me, in this wonderful burnt orange season when woodsmoke curls into the sky, when the rains drizzle from silvery skies and the cedars and firs lend a crisp scent to the air--tell me, have you had any ghostly visitors, pleasant or unpleasant? Do you hear things that go bump in the night, and do you sometimes glance around a corner, thinking you've caught a glimpse of someone…or something…from the other side?

Rules--and follow them because if you do NOT follow them, you will NOT be entered to win:

• Must be 18 years of age or older and state so in your entry
• Must be a resident of the US and state so in your entry
• Must include your email address in your entry (you can write it like: me AT host DOT com if you want to avoid spambots)
• Tell me your real world ghostly encounters, or about spooky ones you've heard about, in 250 words or less (use word count because we WILL check).
• If you don't meet the above criteria but want to comment, feel free--just state that you aren't entering the contest. :)

PRIZES: 2 people will each receive ONE copy of the Bone Magic ARC.

IF YOU WIN: you must be willing to give us your name and address via email. You must promise me not to sell the ARC or give spoilers online if you review it, and you must promise not to illegally pirate it to the net in any way. You will have ONE WEEK to answer my assistant's email (and she keeps copies of sent emails, so we'll know if it went out). If you do NOT answer within that time, we will choose another winner (s).

Contest is open from the time this blog goes up until midnight Pacific time, October 25, 2009. No purchase necessary. Void where restricted or prohibited. All taxes responsibility of winners. We are not responsible for emails gone astray or post office emergencies or anything like that and cannot replace books lost in the mail.

Good luck, and Dark Sparklies to you,
Yasmine

Justine Greene Interviews Siobhan Morgan, Selkie

Never After releases Oct 27, 2009


Siobhan Morgan Interview

Siobhan Morgan, the selkie out of the Otherworld Series, takes a starring role in The Shadow of Mist, in the Never After Anthology. Here, you will find an interview between Justine Greene and Siobhan.


JG: I'm fascinated with the idea of wereseals. I remember reading fairytales as a child that included selkies. As a young woman, the stories became more adult, as well, and selkies were portrayed as these sensual, fluid beings that could capture your heart and drown your emotions. I know, after reading your story that the reality is so much more than the fictional tales I recall.

However, it seems that starting with the reality, concept and mythology of the selkies, or roane, and Meré is a good place to begin, if you don't mind.

JG: What was it like, when you were a child? You lived in the Orkney Islands, didn't you, before relocating to Queenstown in Ireland?

SM: It was lovely, when I was small and the fishing was still good. It's a hard life, but the feel of the ocean on your skin, the scent of the waves and seaweed, the cold snap of the wind, it makes you feel every inch of being alive. Being human was harder than being seal then-the days were chilly and the nights were colder, but we scratched out a living and we were free then, and didn't feel hedged in by civilization.

JG: I've been curious for a while...I'm not sure how to ask this without it seeming a bit too personal, but.... Your seal skin. I understand that you're not a shape changer, like, say, Delilah, and that you're not controlled by the Full Moon. What I am very curious about is the nature of the skin and how you come by it. Do you grow it? Is it given to you as a family passes down precious heirlooms? Do you have to obtain it from a true seal?

SM: We are born with it-we are born in seal form most often, in the water, and it grows with us because it *is* our skin. It is a magical part of our very bodies and when we take human shape, it slides off like a coat. We are not humans who change shape into seals, we are seals who change shape into humans.

JG: Are you looking forward to giving birth? Little girl, right? Are you and Mitch registered anywhere? When you give birth, will Juniorette be born as a seal? Or humanoid? On a related note, are you able to don your seal skin and transform when you're pregnant? Or do you have to restrict yourself to your human form? Oh! And that brings me to another question...how long is your gestation period? 40 weeks, like most humans, or....

SM: Yes, we are expecting a girl. And no, we keep to a tradition where the baby shower is thrown after the baby is safely in this world, so there will be no sad reminders if something happens. And yes, of course, the seal skin is my natural state, so it changes with me. We will, as far as I understand, give birth in the water. She will be born seal unless something drastic were to happen. And gestation is a little longer than for humans, but not much.

JG: I know you left Ireland about 100 years ago, under far less than perfect circumstances. Can you tell us a little bit about that?

SM: Not until the book comes out-my story has remained a secret for all these years and it would be unfair to give it away before it actually comes out for all to read. ~gentle smile~

JG: Once you arrived on Ellis Island, what did you do to gain the skills necessary to survive and hide within human society? I seem to recall hearing something about the macramé craze of the 1970's for example. ~grin~

SM: I could already read and write-my mother had seen to that. But I hired myself out as a maid, eventually saved enough to take a class here or there and as the years went on, got several degrees and certificates from various schools. I've got quite a few skills accrued.

JG: Anything you miss about Ireland?

SM: Yes, so many little things. The smell of the wind on the islands, the old-world feel that you can't find over here in America...but I've come to love my adopted land. Truly, and I've found love here. This is my home now.

JG: So, maybe a little happier discussion is in order, now....How did you and Mitch meet? And is it true; I heard he likes to play World of Warcraft? I am an avid (rabid? Even) player, myself. For the Horde! ~laugh~

SM: Yes, Mitch does play though he limits his time online for the sake of our relationship and his job. We met when I joined the Puget Sound Harbor Seal Pod. It was love at first sight, I think, for both of us. One of those meeting-of-eyes situations where you look at someone and you know you need to be with them forever.

JG: Do you consider yourself a WoW widow? Or is Mitch good about logging off and spending some quality time with you, too?

SM: I would not be with Mitch if he put a game before our child, his job, and me. ~soft smile~ He spends no more than an hour a day playing, and only when there's time to spare. On weekends, he spends three hours. So no, I am not a WoW widow because he understands his priorities.

JG: On a similar vein....how did you meet the D'Artigo sisters and Iris? I won't ask you one of the typical questions, and put you on point to say which sister you get on with the best. They might read this interview. ~grin~ And I plan to stay on their good side....~points at self~ Not as dumb as I look. ~grin~

SM: I happened to enter The Indigo Crescent one day and met Camille-I was looking for a book on scone making and she has both new and used books of all kinds. We started talking and before long, they invited me out to their home for dinner and our friendship blossomed from there. Iris, I met through the shop, too.

JG: Do you ever think about going home, again? And if you did, would home be Queenstown or the Orkneys? Do you think you'll contact your parents or brothers about your daughter?

SM: Well, with what happens in the book, yes they will find out, but I'll never set foot in their house again, nor will I let my daughter be alone with them for one second.

JG: What about Mitch? Does he have family that are eagerly awaiting the arrival of Juniorette?

SM: Mitch's family still aren't that happy about me, but now that I'm pregnant they're being very gracious. They will treat their granddaughter just fine-I have no qualms about that. He has one brother who was sent to a pod of seals across the country, in the Atlantic. We haven't heard from him in ages.

JG: I heard you two just moved into your home, recently. Have you been able to do the baby's room, yet?

SM: When I've given birth, I will stay within the safety of the Pod for several days. During that time the baby's room will be prepared by family, according to our wishes. It's tradition-well, tradition here. It wasn't in my Father's pod.

JG: What's an average weeknight like for you and Mitch (when he's not playing WoW)?

SM: We eat dinner, do the dishes together, discuss our days. I'll knit and he'll workout while we watch a movie together, or we'll play games at times-board games, before you ask. We are very low-key people and enjoy our privacy. We do get together with friends, though, and every Sunday the Pod has a social meeting that takes turns at various members' houses.

JG: Okay, lightning round: Favorites -

Color?
SM: Blue with off gray.

Food? Are you craving anything odd since you got pregnant?
SM: oddly enough, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. And Oreos. I can eat a bag of them without any problem.

Music?
SM: Classical, flute, piano, swing, Celtic.

Flowers?
SM: Hyacinths. Foxglove. Lupine and delphinium.

Drink?
SM: I love a good Merlot or Cabernet.

Indulgence?
SM: The most expensive chocolates I can afford. ~smiles~

JG: If you could change one thing about your adopted homeland, what would it be?

SM: I wouldn't even know where to start. How about: Tolerance. Empathy. As in: creating more of both.

JG: Thank you for allowing me to meet with you, Siobhan. I've truly enjoyed getting to know you a little better and I think our readers will enjoy it (almost) as much as me. Bright blessings to you, Mitch and Juniorette.

Join Borders Books Sue Grimshaw...

...over at the Witchy Chicks today!

Yasmine

The Care and Feeding of Your Favorite Authors (or how to interact without being a PITA)

We all know some authors behave Very Badly and frankly, can be an embarrassment to the industry. Showing up late to signings without a good excuse, showing up drunk to signings and workshops, hitting on readers or calling them names, being rude to booksellers, trash talking other authors, editors, and agents—all Very Bad Form. But there’s bad form for readers, too…and in a day and age when many of us are out there interacting with our readers via the net—I’d like to give you a few pointers as to how not to piss off the authors you enjoy so that we’ll stick around and not retreat back into our caves.

• Understand that most of us cannot read your work. Legally, it puts us in a bind when you ask. We can’t take a chance on you thinking we’re stealing your ideas. Most beginning writers don’t realize how common so many ideas are. Second: most of us have very little spare time and we want to spend it with our families or on hobbies or even just sleeping. So don’t ask us to read your work, please. Don’t think you’ll be an exception. You won’t.


• We aren’t here to teach you to write. Some of us do our best to offer writing advice when we can, but it takes time and energy to continually give advice. Search our websites for FAQs where we’ve tackled the subject—I have a page on my site devoted to advice and recommended reading for aspiring authors. I give workshops now and then at conferences, and my blogs have a LOT of writing advice—but you have to do the legwork to find it.


• Don’t ask for free books. We make our living by selling books. Most of us encourage readers who can’t afford to buy new books to use libraries. But please, don’t harangue us for freebies—unless an author is putting on a contest—and these contests are voluntary and NOT an obligation—well, don’t expect us to hand over free copies. Most authors don’t make a lot of money. A few of us have risen out of midlist and manage to make a living at it, but most authors can’t pay the rent on what they make.


• Understand that we may not have time to go look at your website, read your blogs, or answer our email right away. Twitter’s easy—we can hop on, spend a minute and then hop off. Answering email takes time. Reading blogs takes time. And our writing takes a lot of time. Like everybody, I have a few blogs I follow—but like everyone, I pick and choose and have to be very selective if I want to get any work done.


• Um…I, for one, don’t want to see nekkid pictures of you and your…toys. And really, truly, your sexual fantasies are pretty much your personal territory. There’s a strong line between joking around and getting sleazy. Skip becoming fodder for warnings from one author to another, okay? Behave yourself and we’ll be happy to joke around and interact with you.


• Regardless of how much you’ve chatted with us on Twitter, realize that we aren’t good friends, unless a friendship has evolved and we both acknowledge it. By the same token, remember that even though you’ve read our books, our blogs, etc., there’s a lot more to our personalities than what you see out there. Humans are complicated beings—we all have sides we keep for just family and friends.


• Don’t pirate our books. Period. I’ve already ranted on this subject ad nauseam but y’know…we aren’t going to want you for a reader if you pirate our books to the net and offer them free. Frankly, I’d rather NOT have readers who choose to do that. My words to them would be: go write your own fucking entertainment and quit stealing mine. It’s terribly disheartening to find out that someone who’s called themselves a fan has been uploading your books to a torrent site. Makes you want to just shove it all and walk away from the net.


• Gifts are lovely but truly, I’m a little uncomfortable with receiving them—unless it’s a hand drawn fan art picture (which I find delightful), or a letter saying how much you love my books—jewelry, statues, charms, they all make me a bit uncomfortable. I’d rather you take the money or time you spent on me and donate it to an animal shelter or a food bank. Or that you just tell people how great my books are—one of the best gifts you can offer me is to post about my books (well, obviously I would hope in a positive light) on reader’s forums, post reviews on Amazon and B&N.com, tell friends about the books. Word of mouth is a powerful tool and we are always grateful to readers who spread the word about our work.


• I have no problem with people telling me they’re disappointed by a book or because I won’t write any more mysteries, but understand: it has to end there. There’s nothing I can do once you’ve told me, and while I’m sorry and sad I disappointed a reader, that’s where it ends for me. Cajoling won’t make me change my mind about what I love to write. Ranting at me won’t change what I wrote in a book, nor will it change what I write in future books. Asking me to hook up certain characters isn’t going to affect what I choose to do with the books…because these worlds are my vision. If you’re disappointed by what I write, there are hundreds of wonderful authors out there who you might enjoy more. I understand—authors know they won’t please everybody. We can’t possibly. And sometimes we lose readers—and that’s something we accept too. I’m proud of everything I’ve written, but not once will I change something because a reader wants me to.
  

This list was not meant to offend anybody, but to nip problems in the bud. Most likely, the few who NEED to read it won't, or they won't see themselves in the list. Most fans and readers are wonderful...but there are a few...

And just like a doctor doesn’t want to be bothered at parties by people asking his advice, so sometimes, writers just want to hang out, laugh at a joke, or vent about a bad hair day. ~smiles~

Yasmine

Vampires, Weres, and Zombies, Oh My

Vampires, Weres, and Zombies. All are hot stuff right now and most of us Witchy Chicks have written about at least one of them. I, of course, have Menolly—the vampire, and Delilah—the Werecat, and the upcoming creatures in my Indigo Court Series…and as far as zombies, you’ll be seeing plenty of them on the other side for the Sisters to fight.

I’m thinking about some of my fave creatures from the dark as portrayed on TV and television.
Vampires: well, in movies, it has to be Stuart Townsend as Lestat—I love him in that part, I want him, I lust him, I drool over him, and he’s one of the few bloodsuckers I’d show my neck for! ~grins~ Then we have Gary Oldman as Dracula, again, a to-die-for (literally) vampire in the remake of Dracula, one of the most luxurious visions I’ve seen of the legend. And who can forget Spike, off Buffy? Oh man, he could be my vamp boy any day.

I’ll skip Angel, Edward, and numerous other vampire portrayals on TV, though, thank you.
While I love Eric off the Sookie Stackhouse Series, I don’t really find he has the same regal energy as portrayed on the TV show, though I do enjoy the show itself.

Weres? Weres don’t seem as popular in movies, though I loved Natasha Kinski and Malcolm McDowell in Cat People—they both did a wonderful job.

And Zombies…well, the zombie of my choice is Rob Zombie, thank you—not really a Night of the Living Dead fan.

What about you? Who did a job so well you’d brave all the things that go bump in the night just to open the door and invite them in?

Yasmine

The Living Garden

Today (writing this Monday) is one of those days authors just wince at. Not a bad day, mind you, but I’m on deadline. Major deadline. And I have a conference this weekend. Well, it occurred to me that I should be getting Bone Magic page proofs soon and I wrote to my editor today to ask when they were due. Well, soon I get a return email saying, essentially, ack, they’d come in, somehow got overlooked, and they were on their way to me right now, due Friday if possible, though if I desperately needed it, the time frame could be extended a few days.

Well, here’s the thing: yes, I could use the extra time. This is hair-pulling territory. BUT…but…I’d rather save that “I need a little extra time” for a rougher situation, for some time when I am just totally treading water. So, like the good professional author that I am, I sucked it up and said, “I can do it.”

So yah, I’m swamped. And I know I’d better get this done now or I won’t get it done at all. So…let’s see…today I’m going to present something a friend recently let me know about for your perusal. When I first saw this, I was breathless, taken aback by the incredible talent and beauty here. And the brilliance? I want to meet the person who came up with the idea…I want to talk to them, to see where the flash of inspiration came from.



The Living Garden is a unique experience that brings magic and the mystical to life, and I so very much want to go see them. Seductive, bringing nature into our realm, bringing the divine into dance…I want them to release a DVD so I can have it—because this…this exemplifies how I feel about nature as deity, bout the gods being living, breathing entities we can reach out and touch when we wander among the forest, when we glide through the water, when we even open a book and hear the muse calling from within.

So tell me, what have you seen or read or heard that inspired you recently? That took your breath away? That left you thinking, “That is so beautiful … or powerful… or brilliant…”?

Yasmine

Announcements! Please Read if you follow me on Social Networking Sites

Interrupting your regularly scheduled reading for a few announcements:

All three of my personal blogs are now rolled into one. I’m trying to condense where I’m at on the net more and more—I simply don’t have time for all the social networking I did. Right now, all posts from my Gluten Free Blog and my D’Artigo sisters blog have been integrated into this one. In a short while, this blog will be located on my website and I will be abandoning blogger. As of after this posting, I will no longer be re-posting blogs on MySpace either. I will still be with the Witchy Chicks and with the Fire & Ice Blog.

FYI: at this time, my husband is taking care of my MySpace and my Facebook. I seldom go there. So don’t expect answers from me there—he will answer the important questions but he doesn’t have time to read through most of the comments on Facebook. I also feed my Twitter into FB, so you can keep up with me that way if you like.

Yes, I’m on Twitter, but I do not autofollow there. I try to answer my @ replies as soon as I can, but I no longer answer writing questions, and I do not answer personal magical questions for people. Period. If you have questions about the books, etc, you can leave me an @reply on Twitter, you can post them in my forums, or you can leave a comment on my blog here.

My forums have been streamlined and are open as usual for business. ~grins~ Play nice. I removed a forum recently because over the years, I’ve had repeated problems in that forum with people bashing other beliefs than their own. It will not be reinstated.

I now return you to your regularly scheduled programming. ~grins~

Yasmine

Welcome to the Witching Season

Over at Witchy Chicks today, blogging about the Witching Season. :) Come over and stay for our everything-Halloween/autumn/Samhain month!

Yasmine