Seven Things...

Due to the time of year, and the fact that my brain is in an eggnog / shopping induced frenzy (not to mention that I'm crazy at work on a virtual tour and a book deadline), I decided to do a quick post on seven facts about me (literary-themed, of course). 
 
Here goes:

1. When I first started writing and found my first crit group, I was told my voice was similar to Charlotte Bronte's. At that point, I had never read anything by her. I know. SAD. But after that, I read Jane Eyre and was hooked for life.

2. As indicated above, Jane Eyre was the first classic novel (not counting "To Kill a Mockingbird") I ever read by choice. This doesn't include the classical play I had to read during school: Romeo and Juliet. Since then I've read: Pride and Prejudice, Bram Stoker's Dracula, The Phantom of the Opera, Lord of the Rings, and Wuthering Heights. Still on my read shelf waiting to be cracked open: Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Gone With the Wind,  and my Bible-sized compilation of the Bronte sisters novels including Vilette, The Professor, and Shirley.

3. Before I started writing short stories or novels, I wrote poetry...scads of it. I've written over 200 poems to date. Not the prosaic modern poetry. The eighteenth century style lyrical word scheming which tells a story that rhymes and has a rhythm. The Goblin Market by Chritina Rosetti is a good example of what I'm referring to. I'm convinced that it's this love of writing poetry that shaped my voice and now contributes to the lyrical feel of my prose (most especially in my historical novels).

 

4. In high school, I used to write "books" (random chapters, really, nothing more) about teenage girls and their horses and stashed the pages in shoe boxes beneath my bed. They were lost in the shuffle when I moved out for college, and to this day, I have no idea where they went. For any enemies I might have out there, should you ever find these pages, they'd be great black mail fodder.
 

5. When I'm really into a book I like to take it in my purse so I can read at stop lights, children's appointments, or any interval of time where I can squeeze in a few words.


6. I can read only one book at a time. I also often like to read books written along the same subject or timeline of my current WIP. It keeps me in the right mind set, so it's easier to bounce from reading to writing.

7. In the past, I could whip out a 120K MS in six months--that included time for research and outlining the plot and characters. Things have changed now, since I'm also doing promotional events along with my writing.


That's it! Hope you all have a safe, blessed, and happy holiday.

Eat, drink, and be merry; but above all else, love and be loved. :-)