Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Idle Hands...

It's amazing the sort of fodder that can run through one's mind while idling away the hours on the couch. I've spent the last four days doing just that, lounging, reading, watching movies...thinking. Always dangerous thinking. At least for me. YOu see, a writer's mind is never still. It is always churning, formulating, thinking....at least mine is. I'm either highly creative or I have ADHD! lol!

My four day sabbatical was rather rejuvenating, despite the nosebleeds and headaches that came along with this illness! Most inspiring was a documentary I watched on BBC Canada about the Celts. Fascinating stuff, and they talked in depth about the kind of warriors the men were, and how they revered their females. Did you know, that way back when the Celts roamed Britain, that when a woman came to her marriage with money and lands that she kept them?! I mean, this is HUGE! Another fascinating detail was the expose the documentary went into about the how the Celts worshipped not only the moon and sun but the seasons and well. They talked about the great hunt, and the great marriage, and that immediately sparked a very naughty scene in my mind. I jotted it down and thoughtit perfect for Vanity's book. Those Fey princes are perfectly naughty!!!

I also came up with an idea for a new series--a straight historical series that I'd like to pitch to HQN once the as yet un-named trilogy is nearing completion. Amazing that I could still think while whining on the couch!




Also while lounging on my sickbed, I felt this overwhelming need to get back to England. I need research! I need creative visuals! One place I must get to (and I've never been despite numerous tripsto England) is Glastonbury Tor. So much fascinating information to be had there. It's reported that this was once the Island of Avalon, also, home to King Arthur's Camelot. It's also purported to be a Faery Mound. Whatever it is, I have to get there! It feels mystical and some place where I could sit with my notebook and pen and jot down pages and pages of inspiring description.

That led me to think of money...writing conferencesvs. research trip. What is in my best interests? This corrundrum made me question numerous things involved in marketing a book. It made me think back to the days when I didn't go to the net for books and to look up hors. And then I had a bit of a panic when I realized that I didn't know how I bought books before the internet and blogging and RT Magazine. Good Lord, I suppose I just went to the bookstore and started pulling out books. If I liked the cover I flipped it over to the back cover copy. If I liked the sounds of the plot,I skimmed a bit of the writing, deciding if I liked it. Is so, I bought it. If I loved it, I immediately bought the author's entire back list. This is how I discovered Stephanie Laurens, Mary Balogh, Julie Garwood and Amanda Quick.

So, this has been a very long rambling post (remember, idle hands, idle mind!) and I wantd to ask you how you buy your books. Before blogging, how did we find our romances?

Because tomorrow is Wednesday, and it's hump day, here's a hunk for you!!!
This is Irian, the Fey Prince of Sloth...I could totally stay in bed with him for four days!

5 comments:

  1. "I'm either highly creative or I have ADHD! lol!"

    --

    LOL!! I am so glad I wasn't drinking when I read that!

    Years ago when I would go book shopping (before the Internet at home), I would first look for my favorite names- the romance authors I cut my teeth on- Linda Howard, Jude Deveraux, Johanna Lindsey etc. if they had produced anything new I'd grab it. If there was nothing new by them, it was the covers and blurbs that sold the book to me - mostly the blurb. I was very much in to the damsels in distress back in the 1980's - I loved the rich handsome hunk riding in to save the day!
    Now I HEAVILY rely on blog book reviews. They determine at least 90% of what I read. As I read book reviews I keep a TBB list on my desk and I jot down book titles and authors to look for, then I either order online or head to the store with a specific list of books to look for.

    :)

    MsM

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  2. interesting1 You know, blogs reviews are how I've been buying books, too and I'm not ashamed to admit, that it's the blogs that have turned me onto debut authors, and that's something that is so invaluable to a new author, finding a way to get noticed! Thanks for the imput

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  3. Yup - the old fashioned bookstore. I still love going there and wandering, pulling out random books to look at the OBC copy. I find that the Zebra debuts are books I still buy that way. I also read a lot more category then, since I didn't know who else to read other than my favorites.

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  4. I think originally I found the authors I loved by checking the library - then I'd go to the used bookstore because we rarely had any money LOL
    So thank God for Amazon and the internet, especially since now I live in BFE and the closest B & N or the lilke is about 2 hours away
    I love blogs, thats where I've found the majority of my new favs.
    I would love to go to Glastonbury Tor. Oh the history over there! England is my favorite place in the world (not that I've been to that many places haha)
    Thanks for the eye candy Sophie :D

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  5. I still do it the old-fashioned way - going to the bookstore and pulling them off the shelves. Since I don't have a credit card or a paypal account, I don't shop online.

    I do read excerpts on some blogs and websites, because I'm more interested in how the story sound to me then it sounds to someone else (sorry to all you reviewers out there!), unless it's someone I know pretty well, and know how their mind works and how it interacts with mine.

    Glastonbury and the Tor are beautiful places, although the town is quite commercialized. Not just because of Arthur and Camelot, but also because of the Druids, and being not too far from Stonehenge.

    Later,

    Lynn

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