Open Disclosure

This week, I found myself in a moral dilemma.

I have a book tour blog, Virtual Book Tour de Net, where I post blurbs, interviews, trailers and the occasional review. My guidelines say that as long as it's not hate-promoting or erotica, I'm glad to post it. And for the most part I am. People have different tastes and biases and I respect that. I've come to the attention of a couple of great book-promotion companies, who ask me to tour their clients. I'm honored to this for them, and have found they're terrific people to work with.

One of those is Pump Up Your Book Promotion. They're a full service online book promotions firm. They've sent me some fun titles. This month, I toured for them Marvin Zimmerman's The Ovum Factor--and eco-thriller. I went to their site to get the information, and saw he had a trailer, so I checked it out. About a fourth of the way in, an obviously Catholic bishop or cardinal says, "Scientific research is the ultimate threat to God's creation."

Those of you who know me will understand why I stopped right there, why I will never buy this book and why I'm blogging this now.

For those that don't: I write Catholic sci-fi. My husband, Rob's, and my first book, Infinite Space, Infinite God is a rebuttal to this whole Church vs. Science cliché that is not only wrong but stupid and reflecting a narrow-minded albeit popular bias--as anyone who does a few minutes of research into the history of the Church will discover. (No, I don't feel strongly on this subject. Why do you ask?)

I thought about not promoting his book on my site. However, I said myself that as long as it's not hate-mongering or erotica, I'm glad to post it. I don't believe his book is doing either. I'm more inclined to think that he's jumped on the DaVinci Code trendy bandwagon by using the Catholic Church as a conspirator than that he has some particular bias against the Church or religion. And, at least according to his trailer, they are part of a broader group of "conservative forces" out to stop his hero. Nonetheless, it does not matter.

I have no intention of reading Zimmerman's book. I don't want to contribute to his royalties. Regardless of what his book says, if he's content to let his trailer broadcast this message, it's enough to stop me.

I'm posting this along with a link to my site and the Zimmerman's page on Pump Up Your Book Promotion which has the video along with a synopsis. If eco-thrillers are your thing, go look and make up your own mind before you buy.

I don't want to make a big deal of this, but I felt I needed to make it clear where I stand.

King Kluck and Questinos

The Saga of King Kluck is now on video! Ever thought of mummifying a chicken? Great educational project? Along with all the needed materials, get yourself a clothespin for your nose. Learn more here, and feel free to laugh as you do. I did.

This was a homeschooling project my younger sons and I did a couple of years ago. it was actually kind of fun, and the laugh value was priceless. I've blogged about it before and wrote an article about it for Home Education Magazine. Use the search function to look up the blogs.

Now a new word for authors:

Questinos: What you get when you break a query down to its base elements.

Have a great, laugh-filled week.

'S No boarding for me again!

The kids have been asking us for a couple of years to take them snowboarding.

I've got to tell you, this is not something I get excited about. I can do fairly well on skis--or could do, it's been decades since I last trusted my life to a couple of strips of wood. However, I did compromise in Virginia--when Walmart had a sale, I bought some El Cheapo boards the kids could take down the driveway. That worked well.

However, now that we were in North Dakota, land of snow, we were stuck--I mean, committed--to taking them to a real slope.

Rob had it planned for months. We'd go on President's day, which was after the inspection and his trip to New Mexico. He called me from 70 degree weather to remind me to rent the snowboards from the base rec center. I went out in 7 degrees--not once, but 3 times--to get the boards for me and the kids. But I consoled myself with the thought that the prediction for Monday was a balmy 12 degrees Fahrenheit. Rob would have to rent his at the resort, but getting them on base saved us about $50.

We got a late start, which was fine. Rob and I figured we'd get a lesson, goof around an hour and go, anyway--I mean, 12 degrees?!

As we hit the road, we looked at the temperature gage on our car: -9.

It had warmed to -6 by the time we got to Bottineau in the Turtle Mountains. (Elevation 2600 feet! That's--what?--half the elevation of downtown Denver? But oh, how they advertise. All along the road we say signs: --> Elevation 1617. --> Elevation 2205. We weren't quite sure what the elevation was where we were, since all the signs had a little hand pointing off to the right. Must be higher to the east.

Bottineau is a little resort with Black Dimond slopes that probably count for a nice blue in Colorado. However, we were interested in the bunny slope, anyway. Lessons, we discovered were free! So armed with lift tickets and an instructor, we made our way to the tow rope. That's where the trouble began.

First, everyone's board had the feet facing the wrong way. I had to remove my gloves to twist the attachments. What moved so smoothly in a nice warm rec center fought me out in the sub-zero. I was ready to cry, but I got them twisted.

Our instructor showed us how to latch both feet in and hop to the tow line. Only Alex was brave enough to try.

One by one, the kids grabbed the line and went up. Liam refused to go. Rob finally, convinced him by assuring him he'd be right behind. Of course, Rob lost his grip on the line about a third of the way up. Then Liam lost his. As he went scooting down the hill, doing very well but scared out of his wits and screaming, "How do I stop?" I let go of the time to rescue him. Of course, I had no idea how to stop either, so I struggled to keep my own balance, with my glasses fogging and my hat slumping past my eyebrows, I was shouting "You're doing great! Just fall on your butt!"

In the end, he slid to a nice gentle stop and I fell on my butt. That's when I learned that I was not limber enough to reach my release catch without some serious strain.

Of course, after that experience, Liam refused to attempt the slope again. As he lay on the snow--now he had no trouble with falling back--I looked up the hill for my husband. Maybe he could give Liam that "you can do it speech"--

As I looked up, I say Rob take what was his fourth or fifth tumble of the run.

"I quit!" he announced. "I want to ski. This S(&*s!"

So I left him with Liam and made my way up the hill. At least three of the kids were enjoying themselves. Alex and Amber were especially thrilled. At the top, Steven informed me that he does better with his feet in the other direction.

After another few frozen frustrating minutes trying to push the little pegs and twist the stupid boot latch, I declared defeat. I couldn't tell the difference between front and back anyway. I turned to the instructor. "Is there any reason he can't just turn the board around?"

He told me the front was longer than the back. I measured with my boot. If they were, it was negligible. I looked at the bunny slope, thought of my son's mission--get down in one piece--and declared, "You can turn the board around. it's not like you're going to hot dog." Off he went.

Now to get down in one piece myself.

The instructor showed me how to go and how to stop. You have to lift your back foot, swing your board so it's perpendicular to the slope and lean back on your heels. Easy, right? I pushed off, got a little speed, swing my foot around, leaned on my heels--

--and kept on sliding until I fell on my butt.

He stopped, told me again how to stop, then showed me how to get up. You swing your board around (there's a lot of that in snowboarding, apparently), so that you are on your stomach, then lean back on your heels. I swung my board around, feeling pretty proud of myself (my muscles complained later) and got up--

and started sliding backwards. I managed to twist so I was sort-of facing downhill.

20-20 hindsight, I should have asked him how to steer.

"Uh, you really want to try to stay away from the fence," he suggested, as I lay face first, my board tangled in orange rope and frankly laughing my head off.

"Thanks. I'll get the message to my feet!"

I fell twice more getting down the hill and came to the same conclusion as my husband. thanking the instructor for his patience, I left the kids with him and traipsed to the ski shack. Inner tubing. That was my speed.

In the end, all the kids elected to inner tube. Steven got tired of falling on his butt. Amber sprained her wrist but wants to go again. Alex, naturally, loved it, but tubing is more fun. Rob traded the board for skis and had the time of his life. I ended up in the cantina and running back and forth to the car for the kids.

We stayed about 4 hours. On the ride home, the temperature read -5.

Snowboard rental: $67.50
Skis and lift tickets: $137
Inner tube rental: $18
Snacks on the way home (including hot soup for me): $25
Bragging rights for snowboarding in subzero weather: Priceless.

A Laptop, and Idea, and Thou--the Romance of Collaboration

People laugh sometimes when I tell them that my idea of a romantic evening with my husband is collaborating on a story. However, when we are working together on a story, I see again all the things that made me fall in love with Rob.

Rob is an attractive man, but that isn't what drew me to him. From the beginning, it's been his humor, his analytical skills and his ability to apply his encyclopedic knowledge that I've found admirable and, yes, sexy.

As we married and our lives joined not only spiritually but in the mundane realm of shared experiences and common goals, there was still a lot to talk about and share, but rehashing what went on at work and what the babies had done that day can get old. We've always been great communicators--a result of spending our first two years of marriage with an ocean dividing us--so when we did go on dinner dates, we needed something new to talk about.

So we started making up stories.

Our first venture, nearly 10 years ago, happened while I was writing a series on different orders of nuns and Rob was involved in Artemis Society, a group trying to establish a commercial presence on the moon. Those common experiences got us thinking that someday, humans were going to have a viable commercial presence in the solar system, and the Catholic Church would want to follow--but how? We decided on an order of intrepid nuns who did dangerous search and rescue work in outer space. By working for "air, supplies and the Love of God," they undercut the commercial competition in the S&R field and forced a path for religious in space.

"Leap of Faith" was our first story. That story has led to others--indeed to a whole universe!--and to three anthologies: Leaps of Faith (coming Summer 2008 from The Writers' Café Press), Infinite Space, Infinite God (Twilight Times), and Infinite Space, Infinite God II (accepting submissions now!)

The creative process is exciting for us. As we bat ideas back and forth and hammer out problems, I get to see Rob's mind in action in something that isn't just work related (which gets familiar and old). I can toss the most unlikely things out at him--how do you have a fistfight in microgravity? In fact, much of our collaborating is the two of us hammering out the plot, me writing, and him providing "tech support".

We laugh a lot, too, but we do that, anyway. Still, it's nice to do something with our unique (well, okay, odd) humor beside banter puns.

The key, though, and maybe it's selfish, but when we collaborate, he's focused on something that is just ours--not his and work, not ours and kids'--just his and mine together. And my focus is there, too--not on the house, the obligations of my other writing--just on what we're doing for fun. He challenges my mind to keep up with his, finding new angles, posing new situations. I feel smarter and stronger when we collaborate--and that's romantic (even sexy), too.

The past few years, Rob's work has taken away from our collaboration time, and I find I have to fight to get "storytime" with him. But he's always there when I have a question or a conundrum--and always with an answer that blows me away. We steal what time we can, and dream of the days when kids are in college and Rob's retired and we can really write together.
It's going to be amazing.

w00t! The Catholic Writers' Conference Online!

Found this while looking up I-can't-remember-what: The 2007 Word Merriam-Webster Word of th Year is W00T:

1. w00t (interjection) expressing joy (it could be after a triumph, or for no reason at all); similar in use to the word "yay"

w00t! I won the contest!
Submitted by: Kat from Massachusetts on Nov. 30, 2005 23:18

(I find it interesting that she submitted it in 2005. See the runners-up.)

Well, w00t! is how I'm feeling about the Catholic Writers' Conference Online. When we started organizing this in November, we had our hesitations about how many high-quality presenters we'd find--after all, on-line conferences are new and not well-known. However, we've had an outpouring of support from some major players in the publishing world--from writers to publishers, agents and marketing experts.

Here's out latest media release. For more, check out the site at www.conference.catholicwritersguild.org. Be sure to register!

Catholic Writers to Hold Online Conference

World Wide Web--Writers, editors, agents, and other publishing professionals from around the world are gearing up for the first annual Catholic Writers’ Conference Online, which will be held May 2-9, 2008, and is sponsored by the Catholic Writer’s Guild and Canticle magazine. The conference, which will be conducted entirely through the Internet, is free of charge and open to writers of all levels. It will feature online seminars, chats, and forums throughout the week on a variety of topics. Sample topics and presenters include:

• Balancing Your Life and Writing, by best-selling author Donna-Marie Connor O’Boyle
• Can Your Query Pass the Seven-Second Test? by Canticle editor Heidi Hess Saxton. Heidi will also be presenting The Good Writer: Seven Important Habits.
• Ethics of Memoir Writing, by magazine editor and freelance writer Melanie Rigney
• Self-Publishing as a First Resort by author and self-publisher Meredith Gould
• Funds for Writers, by Hope Clark (her website, www.fundsforwriters.com, has been in Writer’s Digest’s 101 Best Websites seven years running)
• Marketing Basics, by Carolyn Howard-Johnson (speaker, editor and author of The Frugal Book Promoter and Frugal Editor) and Karina Fabian (award winning writer and editor of Infinite Space, Infinite God)
• Pitching and Working with Agents, by agent Terry Burns
• So, You Want to Write a Book? by journalist and NCR correspondent Tim Drake
• Virtual Book Tours, by CWG Guild President and sci-fi writer Karina Fabian

In addition to attending seminars, aspiring and published authors alike will have outstanding opportunities to attend moderated chats from important industry contacts, including Vinita Hampton Wright (bestselling author and editor of Loyola Press), Ami McConnell (senior fiction editor at Thomas Nelson), Bert Ghezzi (veteran author and acquisitions editor of Word Among Us Press), and Lisa Hendey (founder of CatholicMom.com and Catholic Moments podcast). Other presenters include best-selling author Tom Grace and award-winning author Tim Powers.

Karina Fabian, president of CWG and chair of the event, said the conference gives writers an unprecedented opportunity to learn and network. “Online Conferences are ideal for writers, and especially for those who are shy, have physical disabilities or are on a tight budget. We’re harnessing the power of the Internet to reach people worldwide to support each other in our writing and our faith.”
Early registration is recommended, as some courses will have limited openings that will be filled on a first-come, first serve basis. Donations are accepted; proceeds will go toward future conferences. To register or for more information, go to http://www.conference.catholicwritersguild.org.

Please Vote for ISIG in Covery Trailer Awards

Infinite Space, Infinite God's book trailer is in the running for the Covey Trailer Awards.

If you'd heard this before and tried unsuccessfully to vote, it's because they were late in setting up the poll! They had technical difficulties. We're not so IT-challenged after all!

Please go to http://thenewcoveytrailerawards.blogspot.com/. Check out the trailers, but if you like Infinite Space, Infinite God, please vote for it. It's #27. The poll is on the left.

Voting ends Jan 31

Doncha Love Really Awful Writing?

Sometimes, it takes a lot of talent to writer really bad prose.

Here are the 10 winners of this year's Bulwer-Lytton contest (run by
the English Dept. of San Jose State University), wherein one writes only the
first line of a bad novel:

10) "As a scientist, Throckmorton knew that if he were ever to break wind in the
echo chamber, he would never hear the end of it."

9) "Just beyond the Narrows, the river widens."

8) "With a curvaceous figure that Venus would have envied, a tanned, unblemished
oval face framed with lustrous thick brown hair, deep azure-blue eyes fringed
with long black lashes, perfect teeth that vied for competition, and a small
straight nose, Marilee had a beauty that defied description."

7) "Andre, a simple peasant, had only one thing on his mind as he crept along
the East wall: 'Andre creep... Andre creep... Andre creep.'"

6) "Stanislaus Smedley, a man always on the cutting edge of narcissism, was
about to give his body and soul to a back alley sex-change surgeon to become the
woman he loved."

5) "Although Sarah had an abnormal fear of mice, it did not keep her from eeking
out a living at a local pet store."

4) "Stanley looked quite bored and somewhat detached, but then penguins often
do."

3) "Like an over-ripe beefsteak tomato rimmed with cottage cheese, the corpulent
remains of Santa Claus lay dead on the hotel floor."

2) "Mike Hardware was the kind of private eye who didn't know the meaning of the
word 'fear'; a man who could laugh in the face of danger and spit in the eye of
death - in short, a moron with suicidal tendencies."

AND THE WINNER IS...

1) "The sun oozed over the horizon, shoved aside darkness, crept along the
greensward, and, with sickly fingers, pushed through the castle window,
revealing the pillaged princess, hand at throat, crown asunder, gaping in
frenzied horror at the sated, sodden amphibian lying beside her, disbelieving
the magnitude of the frog's deception, screaming madly, 'You lied!"

Cats and Dogs and Snakes on a Spaceship

Earlier this month, I was researching how snakes react in microgravity for a Rescue Sisters story I'm writing, "Snakes on a Spaceship." Funny: NASA has apparently not done research in this important field of biology. Must still be getting contracts for the best snake tank.

Apparently, however, they did wonder about cats in space...



Dogs apparently handle zero g better, emotionally, anyway.


Here's a reason to work at USA Today: http://www.usatoday.com/tech/columnist/guest/2004-11-12-kridler-fla-today_x.htm
"Hi, I'd like to get more information about the cat flipping going on in the vomit comet..."

And since, as USA Today put it, record-keeping was not as good in the 80s as it is now, and since NASA can't take the political heat for spinning more cats in space, we're going to use robots: http://www.collegecentral.com/Article.cfm?CatID=CNS&ArticleID=2712


Other cat funnies:

http://www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/200108/zero-gravity.cfm
http://www.clydesight.com/space.html

A UFO is stranded on earth and impounded by the US government. Its pilot, a cat with a collar that has special powers, including the ability to allow the cat to communicate with humans, has eluded the authorities and needs the help of a man named Frank in order to reclaim and repair his ship to get back home. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077305/

"Snakes on a Spaceship" will be appearing in Infinite Space, Infinite God II by Twilight Times Books. (If you're an SF writer, there's still time to submit your story! go to www.isigsf.com for details.)

Please Vote for Infinite Space, Infinite God, and check out the ISIG II guidelines

Infinite Space, Infinite God is in an exciting neck-and-neck race with Dreams and Desires for Preditors and Editors Best Anthology of 2007. Please help us push into first by voting for Infinite Space, Infinite God today! (Polls close on Jan 15.)

Go to http://www.critters.org/predpoll/antho.shtml. You may see it listed more than once, but just vote for either one. They'll get it straightened out in the end.

For you writers of science fiction: Infinite Space, Infinite God is getting a lot of rave reviews from readers to journals like St. Anthony Messenger to sites like SFRevu. Even better, however is when your publisher says, "Let's do another!"

Infinite Space, Infinite God II is open for submissions. We're looking for high-quality science fiction with a Catholic viewpoint. We want to see faith and science working together, challenging each other and making the world a better place. Explore those theological "What Ifs" (but stay within the Church's teaching). Give us characters that are real, situations that are exciting and stories that keep us turning the pages.

For full guidelines, check out www.isigsf.com. It's very thorough, including tips on what we will reject, and the synopses of stories from the original Infinite Space, Infinite God.

Deadline is March 31.

Vote now, and write on!

Three Kings Day--Minot Style

In our home, we practice a tradition called "Three Kings Day." It's a Spanish Christmas tradition. The Three Kings are making their way back home after visiting the baby Jesus, and if children leave some food for the camels, the Kings will leave them a gift in thanks. This year, we added a bizarre, yet typically Fabian twist to the event.

One of the "Things To Do" here on Minot AFB is to stuff a scarecrow for Halloween during the Fall Festival. Steven and Amber weren't into it, but the little ones were, so after a couple of puffs of Astelin for my allergies, we bought our kit and spent a fun half hour shoving straw into pantyhose and old clothes to make Stan. At home, Stan graced our front porch, sitting drunkenly on one of the wicker Bahama chairs, with his overlong hands shoved in his pockets.

Come winter, we didn't have the heart to dump ol' Stan in the trash, so we stuck a ski jacket and winter hat on him, put a fake present in his hands and left him up for Christmas. As Three Kings Day approached, we thought about giving the straw to the camels, and a wicked idea emerged:

"Let's feed Stan to the camels!"

The evening of January fifth saw Mom and two little boys plotting scarecrow slaughter while Dad looked on. I went to write "Camel Food" in paint on the snow while the kids wrestled Stan's jacket off and set him in the front yard.



Rob however was suddenly struck with the vision of patrolling SPs finding the hay-filled corpse sprawled in the front yard, its chest torn open like some cheap remake of Aliens. Not eager to guest start on the next day's police blotter, he made us move our project to the back yard.

We opened his shirt, shoved in a couple of pieces of celery for a treat, left a note for the kings (on which Alex drew a camel) and headed to bed.





The next morning, Alex dashed outside. "The camels must have really liked Stan," he declared as he surveyed the scarecrow's sunken chest and the hay and celery bits scattered everywhere. A fitting end for Stan.


Will we do this again next year? I don't know, but it was worth the chuckle this year.

Blog Blessings

My friend Ann Lewis blog blessed me this past week. In a blog blessing, you bless, praise and pray for three blog friends. So today, I pass on my blessings:

First, naturally, back to my friend Ann Lewis. Ann is a terrific friend, a great writer, and a wonderful and patient webmistress. We met about a year and a half ago, and became fast friends--something that actually is rare for me. Even though we've only met in person twice, we talk almost every day with Yahoo IM, often while writing or working on a project. I love bouncing ideas off her because she knows how to get right to the one thing that either wasn't working or will make my story so much MORE. Her stuff, primarily mystery romances involving Dr. Watson of Sherlock Holmes fame, are wonderful and absorbing to read. I can hardly wait for them to be published. My prayer for her is that she have the graces she needs to successfully navigate the next year with its many challenges, from having a strong-willed three-year-old to finding a publisher for the Watson Chronicles.

Next, I want to bless Lea Schizas. I met Lea when my publisher at Twilight Times suggested I present at the MuseOnline Conference. She got me involved in marketing, web-building and networking with other writers. You think I'm busy? You should see all the pies she has her fingers in, yet she manages to do them with such grace and giving. She inspired me to write a really funny "romance" involving Coyote the Trickster and to start an online conference with the Catholic Writers Guild and Canticle. It's because of her influence that I've made so many friends on-line. My prayer for her is that she continue to have energy for her many tasks.

The next two aren't really my friends, but I admire their work and their attitude, so I'm blessing the Curt Jester and Jimmy Akin. These two gentlemen run blogs with a conservative Catholic viewpoint. I find these gentlemen not only know their stuff but also think. My prayer for them is that god continue to grant them wisdom and that those that need to "hear" their words find their blogs.

Now, just for fun, I want to bless my character, Vern the dragon. He's given me a lot of fun and a whole universe to explore. My prayer for him--that I have the time and dedication to write him lots of case summaries in the next few years--and that lots of people read all about him!

Merry Christmas!

I love this house! Have a Mad Russian Christmas!



Music: "Mad Russian Christmas" by Trans-Siberian Orchestra

blogger course

I've been taking an on-line class called Simpleology 101. It's got some good information, but I do my best to ignore the hype. However, they sent me an interesting offer: They'll send me their newly-developed e-mail blogging course for free if I post the following message about it in my blog.

Hey, I like free stuff and would like to be a more effective blogger, so here ya go.

I'm evaluating a multi-media course on blogging from the folks at Simpleology. For a while, they're letting you snag it for free if you post about it on your blog.

It covers:

• The best blogging techniques.
• How to get traffic to your blog.
• How to turn your blog into money.

I'll let you know what I think once I've had a chance to check it out. Meanwhile, go grab yours while it's still free.

Lunchbox Notes

This is the first time in 5 years that our children have not homeschooled, and I've had to deal with packing lunches. One thing I felt was important--as much to me as to them--was that I include a little note. After the first week, "I love you" and "Have a great day" got tiresome, so I started writing pithy quotes--funny, profound or Biblical.

Yesterday, Steven, my 8th grader, asked me to stop including noted in his lunches. It seemed one kid had made a sport of snatching them out and reading them aloud. (You can guess the tone he was using if it made my usually oblivious child embarrassed.)
This started quite a discussion on lunch box notes. I didn’t want to stop writing them--it was my way to let them know during the school day that I loved them, and I found that is very important to me. Amber said her friends often pass them around and have told her she's lucky to have a mom who packs her lunches and gives her notes. Alex told me he saves his to he can re-read them. Rob, my husband, wanted to know why Steven wasn't defending his lunchbox better.

In the end, we came up with a better alternative. The next day, I packed his lunch with this note:

Eavesdroppers are seldom admired, but people who steal lunch box notes to read aloud are especially pitiful! Merry Christmas from Steven's Mom

Of course, Steven, somehow not getting the concept to the Gotcha! Factor, warned him and the kid has decided to lay off lunchbox notes. In the meantime, one of Amber's friends whote "HI MOM!" on one of Amber's notes.

Guess I've got another person to write for.

Christmas Suprises: Websites and Wonders

Work on my new website continues at a snail's pace. Right now, we're trying to figure out how to change the colors on the skin--or find a new skin. We're going with something lighter because, as I said, it seems my writing is moving in a somewhat different direction.

In the meantime, people are still looking at the site, and that's led to a terrific Christmas surprise.

Rob has often mentioned to us the childhood friend that saved his life, John Wells. They had been digging in a ditch, making a battleground for GI Joe, when the cave they'd managed collapsed on Rob. His friend, though only eight, dug Rob out, got him to the highway and got them a ride home. (This was on the Air Force Academy.) Rob's parents took him to the hospital, where they discovered one of his ribs had been broken and had sliced his liver to shreds. Rob said one surgeon was ready to give up; the other said, "No. I've seen this in Vietnam." To this day, Rob says two people saved his life: that surgeon and his friend John Wells. He and John lost track of each other, as happens to military brats, but Rob has never forgotten him and has told our children the story many times.

Would you believe that John has often thought of Rob, too? And that he would feel he's the one that owed Rob a debt of gratitude; for my bibliophile husband infected him with a lifelong love of books.

Last week, John found us through my website. Rob shouted with joy: "That's my friend! That's they guy who saved my life!" Me, I'm a sentimental biddy; I still have tears in my eyes just thinking about it. What an incredible gift!

So John, even though I already e-mailed you, I want to say this publicly:

Thank you, thank you, thank you for the gift of my husband. God bless you and Merry Christmas.

Priceless!

Rob sends me the funniest stuff! he found it on www.worth1000.com.

Christmas Gifts for the Author that Don't Collect Dust

Rob likes to complain that I am a hard person to buy presents for--and he's right. I just don't want a lot of stuff--and the things I do want, I have to earn myself: a book contract with a big publisher, an agent, for Infinite Space, Infinite God to sell out. No one can give those to me. There are a few things, however, that could help me achieve those goals.

I think they might work for other writers, too, so here's my version of a Writer's Wish List. (And guess what? Most of them don't need dusting or have complex instructions written by someone with limited command of English! What could be better?)

--Buy ad space for the person's book in a magazine, convention magazine, fanzine or on-line venue that caters to their readership. (You may need to get the person's help in making the ad, but it's still a great gift!) Ads can run anywhere from $20 to $2000, depending on the venue. Sometimes more expensive is not better, either.

--One of the many guides to agents or publishers out there is always a good gift, but better yet--look up a half-dozen leads yourself and give your author the website link and requirements. One of the hardest things for me is researching the agents or markets. If you've read your author's rough draft or heard the story often enough, you might be able to point them in the right direction.

--Hire the services of a good editor. Every manuscript can use a good polish by someone with a keen eye and experience. Caution: make sure the editor is reputable (have they edited books that went on to sell with traditional publishers?) and make sure your writer will consider this a help and not an insult.

--Membership in a writer's association: You may have to ask your writer friend about this one, to find out which one he likes or qualifies for. Again, these can be very cheap (The Catholic Writer's Guild is only $24 a year) or up into the hundreds.

--A domain name. There are several places that let you create websites for free, but it's always better to have your own domain name. This can be as simple as authorname.com

--A conference. Offer to pay their fee to a writer's conference. Again, these can vary greatly, and of course, there is the expense of travel, hotel, food, etc., but it can be done.

--Set up a book signing. If your author has a book out and is nearby, offer to do the legwork to arrange a booksigning for them. It's really not hard--call the store, get them to agree and order some books, and show up with pen in hand and a notebook for taking names to start a fan list. If it's a stay-home parent, offer to watch the kids for 3 hours so they can do this.

--Arrange a Virtual Book Tour for them. Go to my Virtual Book Tour Primer for more information.

--Offer your services. Authors need to do more than just write stories. They need to research, contact editors, send out queries, track expenses, keep files, compile lists of contacts, fans, bookstores, markets, etc. If you are the organizational type, offer to take some of those piles of papers, post-it notes and typo-filled e-mails to oneself and put them in a database or file or whatever form your author can use. (Come to my house first, and I'll show you what I mean! Really, no charge!)

So if your author has enough pens, notebooks, writing manuals, and programs, consider one of these ideas. You'll do more than make their season bright--you'll help them make their career brighter.

Announcing Twisted Fairy Tales Anthology

I am pleased to announce the release of “Twisted Fairy Tales” by Eternal Press. Familiar children’s stories re-written for adults. Sometimes weird, sometimes sexy. My own story, “Cinders” is definitely in the weird category.

Check it out at www.eternalpress.com.au.

I'm happy dancing. I've been seeking a home for this story for over 11 years. Perseverance pays!

30K for Christ: Goal not met, but I won

This year, I decided to opt out of NaNoWriMo and instead join my Guild's 30K for Christ project. 30K is more open-ended, so I could work on my last book in the Miscria Trilogy: Savior Psychic. it's been on my back burner for a year at least, and I'd felt both guilty and stubborn about it. After all, Miscria I: Asylum Psychic still hadn't sold; why bother? (Yes, the answer is "Bother because the story is in you," but some days, that's hard to remember, isn't it?)

At any rate, I didn't make the 30K goal, but I do think I won in a lot of ways:

Above all: I prayed about my writing more.

1. Once I made myself write, my characters led me out of a lot of plot problems I was having when I was just imagining things. It always amazes me how getting it on paper can make the problems seem easier to solve.

2. I pushed through some of my self-doubt demons. They will return again, I know. For now, however, I've conquered them, and each time I do that, they get weaker.

3. I dedicated some of my writing time to re-crafting my agent letter. It's much stronger thanks to some wonderful critiques, so I'll be ready to send it on in December.

4. And, hey--I'm 21K farther than I was on Nov 1!

That's really the goal of a writing month like this: to push past blocks, to face our fears and to learn that yes, we can do this. We've only to set our minds to our craft.

I'll have to slow down again, as I need to catch up on stuff I let slide, but I intend to keep forging ahead. I hope all who participated in write-ons like this continue to do so as well

So, to everyone who did NaNoWriMo or 30K for Christ, I salute you. We're all winners, regardless of how many words we wrote. Congratulations to all who participated!

Blessings,
Karina Fabian
aka Madame Prez'

Laugh it up, Baby!

I'm having one of those days when I'm accomplishing less than I'd hoped, and I just realized I forgot to blog yesterday. So, in order to cross off another thing on my to-do list, I offer the following humorous links:


Trusting a Bad Man More sarcastic than humorous, but they have a point.

What I Can't Do as an RPG Good if you're a gaming geek.

Badgerphone song Just funny.

For Moms

Have fun!